Altered Cosmos

Chapter 17; Another Level

Almost an hour later, Jerry ushers the class out of the room and across the campus grounds to a large training hall.

“Before we call it a day. I want us to have some trial battles. Think of it as a practical example of what I’ve been talking about.”

“Jerry.” A sturdy man chuckled as he approaches the class with Jerry giving him a nod.

“You all set up?”

“Of course.” The man said with a hand gestured to one of the stages. 

Minutes later, the students were seated in the stands of a large cube-shaped stage with a concrete base and four pillars erected at each corner. The man interacts with a console beside the stage and gives Jerry a thumb-up.

Jerry turns to the class from just outside the ring. “Alright. We’re going to have 6 fights. The rules are simple; the fight ends when one of the combatant’s surrenders or is unable to continue. Gears that leads to extreme injuries or fatalities are highly prohibited. Got it?”

A few murmurs spread in the stands and Jerry nods as he inputs a code into his band interface, projecting two slots with an empty bar beneath them.

“Now for the first match…” He hits a key and the slots scrolled randomly until it lands on……… “Mike Markus Vs Levi West.” 

Most of the student turned to Levi once they saw his picture in one of the slots. Levi lets out a sigh and Felix gives him an encouraging push as he gets up and heads toward the stage.

He gives MJ a little smile as he moves past her and focuses his mind on the stage. 

He steps onto the concrete and stares at his huge and muscular opponent. Jerry hits another key, causing the four pillars to create a transparent barrier around the ring.

“This barrier will ensure that your attacks won’t leave the ring.”

<Guess I should give my all.> Levi thought as he glances at his opponent who cracks his knuckles and grins at him when Jerry suddenly speaks again.

“Get ready.” Mike lets out a loud groan as he forces out a massive amount of energy which transformed him into a large human-rhino hybrid. The students cheer in excitement and Jerry nods at the man by the controls before speaking up.

“Alright.” Mike crouches down a little, ready for combat while Levi stares at him calmly with hands in his pockets. “Fight!”

Silence suddenly fills the ring as both combatants wait for the other to make a move. Mike growls as he shifts his foot forward while Levi continues to stare, no emotion written in his face.

<A Mastron with rhino-related powers. Meaning his physical strength is obviously above mine…Heh…He kind of reminds me of that gorilla months ago…>

After a moment of deep thought, an idea fills his mind. <I guess I’ll use that.> A grin suddenly plants on his face which aggravates Mike.

“Are you mocking me? I’m going to wipe that grin from your face!” Mike shouted out in rage as he charges forward just as electricity bursts out of Levi, activating his Static shell and causing the entire world around him to slow down. 

Levi causally walks forward, hands still in his pockets as Mike moves in slow-motion towards him with a punch thrown forward.

<I really hate short-tempered guys like you.> He stops beside Mike and pulls a hand from his pocket, raising it high. <I win.>

He suddenly gives the back of Mike’s neck an electrifying chop and time seemed to resume as Mike suddenly collapses on the ground with nearly everyone in the room staring in complete shock since Levi’s movements were extremely blurry and almost instant.

Mike grunts as he attempts to stand but his movements were uncoordinated. 

Levi places a hand to his back and Mike glances back, his expression shaking in fear due to the terrifying electricity crackling in Levi’s eyes.

“Give in.” A sudden shock fires into his back, stinging him a little and Mike hangs his head in defeat as he reverts back to his normal form.

“The winner is Levi West.” Levi lets out a sigh as his static shell fizzles away and he steps off the stage with a bored look on his face.

As he moved across the stands, several students applauded him while some just stared in curiosity as he plopped back to his seat with Felix shaking him proudly. Jerry waits until Mike manages to return to his seat before going on.

“The next battle is between…” The battle slots move again……… “Jake Norman and Dennis Tennyson” 

Levi turns to see a familiar British figure as he stands from his seat and heads over to the stage with a scrawny tron with baby-blue coloured patterns under his eyes following.

After placing the barrier over them, they both entered their fighting stances. “Fight!” Dennis suddenly acts, firing bullets of water at Jake who runs across the stage to evade them.

Levi watches as Jake suddenly leaps back and creates a small ball of green energy and fires it at Dennis but the energy bullet weakens a little, making Jake click his tongue in frustration as Dennis uses a wall of water to block it.

“A Transmutron?” Levi mumbled and MJ chuckled as she slides down beside Levi.

“Yep. You’re looking at this year’s prodigy. Jake Norman.” She said with legs crossed and Levi’s eyes widen he hears the name again.

“Norman?”

“Yeah.” MJ sighed with a hand, rubbing her brown hair. “He’s the grandson of the head of the southern Index branch. Dad told me about him. Some kind of super-genius, I heard.”

Levi nods before turning as the students gasped as Jake now holds a weirdly curved shield.

Dennis grunts as he fires a column of water but Jake blocks it with the shield which caused the water to spread out around him like a geyser.

Jake then charges forward, the water splashes from the shield serving as a screen. Dennis groans as he jumps aside to avoid Jake’s collision course when he realised Jake now had a cannon around his arm.

Before Dennis could react, Jake fired a powerful blast of energy that sends Dennis flying into the barrier.

The sheer force of impact sent ripples to the barrier and Dennis collapses to the ground, completely unconscious.

“The winner of the second bout is Jake Norman.” Jerry said and the students cheered as Jake focuses his energy into the canon and shield, causing them to shatter with a cool and collected look on his warm-beige skinned face.

“Damn…” Levi mumbled and MJ shakes her head with a laugh as Jake steps off the stage while some medic officers came to clear the stage and take Dennis away.

“For our next battle…” Everyone turns back to the screen as names fly by until it lands on ‘Hana Lee Vs Craig Noah’. 

Felix suddenly shoots up, cheering loudly and embarrassingly. “Yeah! Get him Hana!”

Levi drags Felix down with an embarrassed expression on his face as people turned to them. “Dude. Calm down.”

Felix lets out a laugh and Levi sighs in disappointment before realising that the combatants were already on their way to the stage.

He then realised that Hana was the young and shy Asian girl he has seen a few times. “Do you know her?”

Felix gives Levi a confused stare as he answered. “I talked about her earlier, didn’t I?” Levi raises a brow at him, completely lost and Felix sighs. “That’s the childhood friend I was talking about.”

“Oh.” Levi mumbled as he turned back to get a good look at her.

She was most likely Chinese with a light skin tone, silky black hair styled into a standard Chinese bob and she seems short and a little younger than Levi or Felix.

She also had a pair of spectacles on and her stance was that of a very timid individual.

<She doesn’t seem strong at first glance…> He thought but recalls how much energy she was able to release in the entrance exam. He then looks at her opponent with hands on his hips.

He was a tall brunette with buff coloured skin and a little muscular figure. He puts on a cocky smile and waits as the barrier around the stage forms.

Their energy level rises, coating their bodies with their respective energy colours. Levi leans over and whispers to Felix. “What’s her power?”

Felix cracks a little but doesn’t make eye contact, curious. “You’ll see.”

Levi was about to retort when Jerry suddenly speaks up. “Ready?” Hana nods while Craig scoffs in confidence. “Begin!”

Hana suddenly enters a strange combat pose, the timidity in her eyes gone as Craig sizes her up before slowly walking toward her.

Levi furrows his brow and rubs his chin in thought. <Since he beat me at top speed, he should be able to out speed her just like I did.>

MJ suddenly nudges his shoulder, dragging him out of thought. “Who do you think is going to win?”

Levi hums in contemplation as he stares at Craig who had stopped with a cocky grin on his face. “I’m going with Craig. His speed is crazier than mine.”

“I think so too.” MJ said with a smile on her face which was drained as Felix lets out a cocky laugh. “What’s so funny?” MJ asked Felix who folds his arms with a proud smile on his face.

“One thing I’ve learned about trons…” He glances at both Levi and MJ with a sudden serious stare. “…is to never judge a book by its cover.”

“Here I go!” Craig said as he bounces on his feet a little and enters a runner pose while Hana watches with caution……

A moment of silence suddenly passed before Craig’s energy level sky-rockets and he propels forward……but almost instantly, Hana’s energy level bursts out sending out a wave that causes Craig to fall to the ground, hard.

“What…the…hell?” He grumbled as he struggled to push himself up but an invisible force continues to hold him down.

Levi’s eyes widen in shock as Craig remains pinned down while Hana causally walks towards him. “Gravity manipulation?”

MJ turns to Felix with an excited smile. “She’s a Paratron?”

Felix rubs his nose as he answers with a grin on his face. “That’s right. She’s a tron capable to controlling gravity itself. Dope, right?”

“Very dope.” Levi mumbled as Hana stops in front of Craig with a serious stare in her eyes.

Craig looks up with strained expression as Hana raises her fist up, causing the force on him to increase to the point that the ground beneath his pinned body cracks.

“Yield.” She said with a weak Chinese accent and Craig glares at her for a moment………before hanging his head.

“The winner is Hana Lee.” Hana sighs as her gravitational field fades away along with her energy. She then helps Craig up and gives him a respectful bow before walking away, her timidity returned to her behaviour.

MJ suddenly stretches over Levi and punches Felix slightly in the arm. “You better introduce us later. I need to meet other Paratron girls.”

Felix laughs as he rubs his arm. “I promise.” They all shared a laugh which stops once Felix gest Hana’s attention and calls her over. “Guys, this is my close friend Hana. Hana, this is MJ and Levi.”

Levi could swear he saw a hint of concern/fear run over her face when she made eye contact but he shrugs it off and stretches a hand to her. “It’s nice to meet you, Hana.”

“Same.” She mumbled as she takes his hand and shakes it. “Your match was amazing.”

Levi chuckles as he releases her hand. “Thanks. Yours was pretty dope too.”

“Thank you.” She said with a little bow and before she could say anything else, MJ jumps in and hugs Hana.

“I’m MJ and it’s so nice to meet you. I’ve never had a Paratron sister before.” Hana glances nervously at Felix who stifles a laugh and they continue to interact with each other and becoming friendly as the last two matches went on……

The next match was between a girl named Mary Sanders and some guy named Sam Harvard.

After another short moment, the match goes on but Mary wins instantly with her ability to manipulate sound waves, followed by another instant win by Veronica Hunt.

The final match was now between Levi’s roommate Vivian Hunt and a guy named Jack Cotran.

They were both Mastrons with Vivian’s ability to change into a fox-humanoid hybrid with red fur on her limbs and back, and Jack’s ability to control robotic drones to fight for him. 

After almost 3 minutes of combat, Vivian grins as she rips a drone apart, grabbing a piece of its broken part and flings it at Jack’s legs.

This sends him tumbling forward……just as she appears in front of him, grabs him by the neck and slams him into the ground, pinning him down with her sharps claws inches from his face.

The moment Jack opened his eyes and saw those beast-like eyes staring down on him, he immediately surrenders, leading to a victory for Vivian.

Jerry then steps on the stage and stares at all of the students with a smile on his face. “I want to thank all those participated and I also want to tell those who lost the match to not feel bad…”

He trails off a little and adjusts his spectacles again. “Do you know why you shouldn’t feel bad?” The class gives a weak ‘no’ murmur and Jerry looks up as he continues. “Because none of you were meant to win your opponents.”

The class murmur in concern and confusion and Jerry holds a hand up to silence them.

“I want to tell you that none of the matches today were random. I never said they would be. Instead, I purposely set up individuals that would most likely defeat you despite the difference in power or speed.”

The class murmurs again and Craig stands up with a slightly angered look in his eyes. “How did you know they would win? I only lost because I wasn’t really serious.”

Jerry shakes his head as he stares at Craig. “Even if you were serious or not, it still won’t change anything…” Craig takes a shocked step back and Jerry chuckles as he continues.

“Mr Noah, was it? You asked me how energy detection is helpful to those whose talents lie in fighting?”

“No way…” Craig mumbled in shock and even Levi widens his eyes when he realises what these matches were about.

“Yes.” Jerry turns back to the rest of the class as he speaks. “All the 6 winners here are the 6 trons who were about to pass my test an hour ago.”

Several eyes gazed at all 6 winners with Felix and MJ staring at Levi in shock. “If you noticed, all six trons were able to perfectly react to their opponent’s attacks and created perfect counter-measures."

"Their indebt ability to perceive the opponents’ aura and tactics was what created the solution of which they used their gears to execute. For example, …” 

He projects a holographic screen that displays the five matches. He opens up the first match and slows it down to show Levi’s movements and attack.

“Mr West used detection skills to anticipate his opponent’s tactic and used his speed to quickly solve the problem.” Some of the class gasps when they see Levi’s high speed chop in slow-motion and Felix grins at Levi.

“You used Disrupt?” Levi nods with a laugh and MJ inches closer to them.

“What’s Disrupt?”

Both of them shared a smile and Levi turns to MJ. “I’ll show you later.” He turns back to Jerry who switches the display over to Hana’s fight.

“Miss Lee for instance, waited patiently for her opponent to enter a destabilized positon and reacted immediately, pinning Mr Noah down with her gravity manipulation.” Jerry turns to Craig with a serious expression on his face. 

“I also paired you with her was because you have a history of running into situation, relying on your speed while she has a history of careful planned tactics before acting despite having a very easy way to defeat any foe. In essence, there are some problems you can’t just run into.”

Craig sits back down with an embarrassed expression and Jerry turns back to the class. 

“Listen. You may be powerful, or strong or fast… but if you’re unable to detect and react to your opponent’s actions, then you’re good as dead. And as you’ve seen, that skill comes in handy in no matter what situation you are in. Take Mr Norman for example…”

The screen projects Jake’s fight as Jerry explains. “His reaction and detection skills allowed him to avoid his enemy’s attacks just long enough to form a plan which turned his opponent’s own gear against him."

"This ability can also help you find your opponent’s weakness or even over power them like Miss Sanders or the Hunt sisters.”

A hand shoots up and Jerry nods at the lady. “Excuse me sir but how can we improve our energy detection ability?”

Jerry chuckles and stuffs his hands in his pockets before responding. “There are numerous ways and methods but the truth is that it’s extremely difficult to improve when you don’t have the talent naturally."

"I, for instance, took almost ten years to fully master it yet I’ve met students of age 10 who can still sense energy better than I can.”

A discouraging tension washes through the faces of students but Jerry lets out a laugh of confidence. 

“But it’s all worth it…because once you do master this skill and couple it with our own fighting abilities…you’ll be a powerful force to reckon with.”

Excitement suddenly replaces the discouragement of students and Jerry raises a palm to them.

“I and the rest of TC will put you through training that will hurt like hell…but for you to be in this class means that you should be able to handle it.” Jerry grins a proud/evil grin with a finger pushing his spectacles back.

“Let’s break through our limits, shall we?” 

A single thought runs through Levi's head. <This place is crazy.> Yet…he couldn’t help but smile a little in excitement.