Space and Time

Was that a Cooldown or Warmup?

Jab. Cross. Jab. Hook. Duck, and concentrate. Force force force force... now!

I can feel the gravity around me change just a little bit, and I lock my gaze on the heavy target Nevaeh's thrown down from the rafters. I curl my fist as tightly as possible and release the most powerful left punch I can muster. It all happens in a fraction of a second: my fist flies straight into the heavy target and knocks it across the room. The bag of sand hits the wall with a loud bang. I barely felt my glove connect with the leather.

Nevaeh climbs down from the rafters and checks out the target. I'm panting and sweating profusely. I feel like I'm about to keel over.

"Better than yesterday, but your accuracy still needs work, Aika," Nevaeh says as she walks back my way. I laugh. Or rather, I try to laugh through my panting, and I think I manage to make a weird chuckling noise.

"When my fist is going faster than light, it's hard to control, Nevaeh," I say.

"I'm your coach, it's my job to yell at you," she answers coolly as she throws me a towel. I can tell she's smiling behind her bite, though. "Anyway, that's enough sparring drills for today. With your power, as long as you hit your opponent somewhere, I'm positive it'll be a knockout."

"Here's hoping." Knockouts are what I've been relying on, after all. It takes effort to accelerate time, not to mention for only my power moves. Localizing a fast-forward has a price. Physics is push and pull, all about balance. All that to say I'm dead in an endurance fight.

"Have the matchups for the NCC been posted yet?" Nevaeh asks me. I shake my head as I start undoing my boxing gloves and hand wraps. "Let me know when they are, we need to scout out your opponents. Anyone picking you up today? Your dad?"

"No, Dad's at work. Lev's doing some assignment for one of his college courses. Takumi too, probably, though I'd be surprised if he showed up to one of my training sessions."

"Takumi in college, huh? I haven't seen him in ages, and suddenly he's all grown up," Nevaeh folds her arms and I chuck my gloves and hand wraps into my gym bag, "Let's end off this session with some conditioning and stretching. Just bodyweight, we can't have you seize up before your first fight."

We exit our sparring arena, me with gym bag in tow and Nevaeh with keys in hand to lock up behind us. I drop my bag in a random corner on top of the mats and ready myself for Nevaeh's cooldown.

"50-50-50, squats, sit-ups, push-ups. Let's do that for a couple of five-minute rounds, some stretching in between," Nevaeh instructs me as she takes out her stopwatch. I bend my knees at her mark. "Seriously, though, Takumi's in college? When did that happen?"

"We're only a year apart, Nevaeh. It's probably weird to you because he's 17. But he's got a late birthday, you know," I manage to answer as I count out my squats in my head. "He's doing a co-op apprenticeship thing through one of the local colleges. Wants to be an electrician, but also wanted to do the college experience with his friends. This program he's managed to find gives him the best of both worlds."

"I still can't believe kids these days are going to college at 17... Does he even have his figure yet?"

"Yes," I can't believe Nevaeh's making me talk through all of this, she's just standing there not breaking a sweat, "Lightning. He's like a conductor. Funnels electricity through his body."

"Hah! And he wants to be an electrician! He's always been logical."

I switch to sit-ups. "I know. It's pretty inspiring. When we were younger, he was so afraid of being electrocuted that he'd make me plug in all our electronics. Didn't want to swim at pools that stood near loudspeakers either."