Grit in the air. Smoke and fire. So many memories attached to its irking tang that all it muddled together. One war zone blending into another and itself. Long ago freedoms carved out of tyranny. Geopolitics defied and refined to candor on the battlefield. The betrayals and betrayed buried along the path forward. So many heroes caught under sights they never even knew they were threatened by. Even the smell of his own blood was just another commonality between them. All these similar memories. All these battles won, and lost. Can’t win them all after all.

  But there was one above. One that stuck. One that refused to leave. One that scared too deep to forget. That cost more than could ever be retaken.

  What was a sniper without his good eye?

  What was a villain without his pride?

  Yet here he was. Drawn away from the marginalized life given out as pity. As reward for service rendered in protecting this world. Labor and consulting. Insults all of it!

  But what choice was had but to accept. The others needed the structure, and his soft spot was always that lovely voice grating them to sleep. That raucous smile sprawling out like a big cat on a full stomach. That idiot making himself useful and basking in the glow.

  But of course… all of that was gone.

  His minions had been broken just as he had been. That voice gone, that smile twisting every time it tried to relax, and that idiot paying worse for trying to help. They had all suffered. And knew plain who was a fault for it.

  So who wouldn’t take up the chance to see them pay as they did? To cast the retched life they’d thought generous back into their faces. To exact the same cost upon them. He just wished it had been somewhere cleaner. He hated the smell of fire. And the damn grit was getting in his eye.

  “If you have any questions, better to voice them now.”

  The figure who called them here made them out to be fools. Cloaking away in the dark of an old workshop and wavering between high and low pitch. But he knew that voice. They could modulate it all they wanted, as was their right by power, but he couldn’t forget them so easily. Which made their proposal so much more… treacherous.

  So he turned his head ever so slightly, up and away toward the only source of light in the dust covered trash heap they called a meeting place. Because he knew full well how to make a hero squirm. The glint of that light across his imperious sight drawing up oh so miniscule a shiver. But it was more than enough to get the point across.

  “Why?”

  The question came out lopsided as all his words did, the scars of that final war so engrained they demanded even his voice. But the barely covered teeth on his right side had their own marginal effect.

  “Why is it that you cannot do this, I wonder.”

  “Because times change.”

  The modulation dropped. Finally giving him the respect he deserved. It was almost pleasant to hear that gruff tone again. Like he was about to shout down god.

  “I have too many eyes on me and can only do so much. And what better way to get all you can out of someone than to watch one they care about die. The weak will filter themselves out after that.”

  The smile rising from his slashed open face was too crooked to say it clear, but he couldn’t help but feel proud. Who’d have thought the old message was still being learned. That it had gotten through after all these years. Though after what all of them had been though… peace had a way of making hypocrites of everyone.

  “If you wanted that, why not just show them what it is like beyond the wall. Or was that deemed too traumatizing for the little ones?”

  “They will see it soon enough. More than some can handle.”

  His smile turned down, sinister not a full enough word for it.

  “Then this is something you are actually scared of. You really want someone dead.”

  “If getting back all your gear isn’t enough, I have the supply schedules for their offsite test range.”

  “Hey now, you had us at the 50 millimeter. Though I feel as though you jump the gun a little. You couldn’t have waited till after they had repaired it all fully.”

  “Time tables don’t wait. And some shake up in upper management was too much to ignore. They’ll work. They have to.”

  “Fine. Fine. So how long must we wait for our absolution then.”

  “You have a month at the earliest. If the other methods succeed, you can blow yourselves up however you want. But when I call, you answer. And make it worth it, Omni-Max has a cell made up just for you if you fuck up.”

  “Oh don’t worry. We have all long since given up on this world. I just hope you have too…”

  He turned harder and let that one light turn glint into pure crosshair shine. Letting his empty eye socket torture all the souls it had taken already.

  “Because I will make… your League pay!”

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Monday morning, the recruits were lining up in the arena as usual. But the air was a touch more excited than the last month of extreme workouts. It was finally time for them to learn how to fight like real heroes. Aegis followed in shortly after them, but there was no Para to speak of.

  “Okay recruits, we finally made it to fight month! And not a single drop out either. Things are actually looking kind of nice for this class.”

  The ever able smile on Aegis’ face just cemented the mood all around. It was so much better without Para.

  “So, of course this month will consist of training each of you to fight properly at the level of a junior hero. Either in your own style or in a more practiced one of your choosing. You still can’t use your powers on demand, we still need you to learn to fight without them. But don’t worry, there will be plenty of opportunities to keep your skills sharp. And power month is looking to be special as well. Aaand, since Para took away the last week from me, I get to set the lesson plan for the month, starting with a full week of just me on the training field.”

  Everyone lit up even more. No more berating, no more derogatory nicknames, and… Seth perked up slightly to get Aegis’ attention.

  “Yes. You can take the weight off your back now.”

  He beamed in excitement, ignoring most of his other trainees watching him with snide glances. He looped his thumbs under the leather straps that had been digging into his shoulders for far too long and yanked fast and hard, snapping them instantly. Letting the suit fall free like a ton of bricks, slamming down hard and kicking up a cloud of dust, to the surprise of the side eyeing trainees.

  “What? You thought it was cardboard or something? The armor plates alone weigh a thousand pounds, add in the frame and all the internals and you’ve got like… ughhh.”

  The trainees’ eyes were glazing over, so Aegis cleared her throat to get attention back.

  “Now then. You’re all probably expecting things to be easier for you since Para is stuck on the sidelines, but-”

  bwoo “BUT DON’T EXPECT ME TO FORGET ANY MISSTEPS I CATCH!!!”

  The arena’s sound system was not ready for the-devil-spoken-of to blare over it, and neither were the trainees.

  bwo “I may not be able to dictate the regimen, but I’ll be watching you like a hawk, and counting each and every mistake you make! Once I get command again, you’ll be expected to pay for every single one! Got it!”

  Everyone collectively lost most of the excitement they’d found. And Aegis, a little ticked off she was losing her trainees drive, refused to just accept this. Her hand flicked open and-

  bwooiii

  And a soft orange glow illuminated the control booth, followed by a few flashing sparks. She… she cut the microphone cord with her shield! Seth didn’t even know she could use them like that, let alone offensively!

  “Now then. We got a bit of understanding of how you fight from your monologue performances. Sorry for leaving you all in the dark about that by the way, always testing your preparedness. Though it was SUPPOSED to be something a bit less embarrassing, the results still spoke for themselves. Heh, don’t be surprised if there’s a couple fan clubs waiting for you once you’re graduated. The League really likes making a show of things. But, despite all that, I’m still going to need a lot more from each of you. A light sparring session with a training dummy or five isn’t going to cut it.”

  Seth grimaced at the insinuation that a swarm of Para clones were just training bots. Not to mention fighting Para himself alongside them. Or… at least Seth thought it was him. No telling at this point.

  “So, to get that better understanding, I’m going to need each and every one of you to fight me. Right now.”

  The easing back atmosphere of eagerness suddenly flat lined, devolving into looks passed for any hint of missing the joke. But only finding more surprise, and dread. A large amount of reeling dread. Some knew full well what was ahead, Seth included, but everyone was understandably apprehensive.

  “What? No takers. I’m not that scary am I? sigh Fine, I’ll make it easier, you only have to land a single unblocked blow. You can all fight as one or try your luck individually. Ye-yeah that won’t really matter much. Here, I’ll even allow limited power usage, only movement related stuff, nothing directly offensive. And only blunt edges please, this suit doesn’t need any new holes in it. Huh… and of course I won’t use my powers or my shield. Gotta keep things ‘fair’ you know.”

  The apprehension was unabated, but slowly the reality that this was the best they had set in.

  “Come on. Come on. Let’s see whatcha got.”

  And so the trainees fanned out around her. Those scanning looks turning to silent team ups. Seth left his suit behind and moved wide behind everyone else. And could feel the air turn to soup. This just became a waiting game for whoever struck first, and what would happen to them for it.

  The trainees surrounded Aegis in a loose circle, some bunching up close and strategizing. Maya, Jacob, and David huddled together. Kabar and Cleo nodded with just looks. It seemed like Kaz and Razor were also working together, just from opposite sides. M.J.D. set up behind Aegis at the opposite side from Seth, Zeleny on their right and Marco on the left. Kabar and Cleo stood in front of him, with Alex and Tabby flanking them respectively. Kaz and Razor in the center line flanking her. Ohm was setup behind M.J.D., but was hanging back near the arena wall.

  The tension soon became more discernible. Fists tightening, solid whispers passing between team members, knowing glances and careful signs for those spread about. The four corners in cahoots as well, leaving just Seth and Ohm to fly solo. But everyone still scanned from Aegis to each other and back to Aegis again. No one wanted to make the first move and get used as a lesson. Seth took the relative lull as an opportunity though, because Ohm certainly was. Limited powers still meant he was allowed his, even if he was hiding it.

  He focused, breathed, tuned out as much of the tension as he could and listened inward. For the whisper of the abyss seeping out at its edges. The chatter in the Garkah control room became discernable, they knew what he was attempting and were ready to regulate as best they could. Because he knew how Aegis fought, and was going to need the edge.

  He felt the whisper, let it flow into his figurative hands, but didn’t pull at it. In one smooth metaphorical motion, he cleaved the whisper from its escape, clenched it tight for what it truly was. That whisper became power, power he knew and could use. But instead of flowing in and suffusing like normal, for some reason it writhed, gave more than he wanted. He strained to keep it down, to keep it held tight. To keep back everything that came along with it. Harsh emotions tossing about as everyone else made their moves.

  The silence was broken by Maya stomping forward, solid sandstone armor formed around her like a roughhewn statue in a hard blocking stance. M.J.D. was stepping up to meet the challenge first and Aegis turned to accept it. But didn’t move from her spot. Maya stayed as well, keeping David and Jacob covered while they prepared behind her. Seth couldn’t lose focus on his control, but he could hear splashing and sloshing. All the while their target just waited patiently for whatever was about to happen.

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  Suddenly a ball water was flung between Maya’s legs, rolling along and leaving a trail of drenched sand. A trail that quickly froze before it could soak away. Without so much as a flinch, Aegis kicked the ball as it reached her, splashing it back as it froze. Like it was supercooled, forming a spotty wall of ice and slush.

  “Eh, at least you’re working together, but you’re kinda pushing the- SHIT!!!”

  The ice shattered in a glistering rain, as a water jetting block of Maya blasted at speed from down that frosted path. Aegis’ surprise was leapt from, a guard put up as Maya’s staunch battering ram stance barreled into her. But found no impact worthwhile. Instead only traveled along with as Aegis’ leap became her redirection.

  A once blocking arm shot across and grabbed what wasn’t reacting at all. Sandstone battering ram chosen as outright antithesis to movement. The momentum David gave her all she had, and all she lost as Aegis let her foot drag her leap to an end. And pivot with weight set to fly. Swinging her around and hurling her back at her teammates. That living slab of armored rebuke sent skipping back across the ice like a rolling pin, right into David and Jacob prepping to follow her in. Instead getting bowled over and splashed with the freezing water they were prepping with. Leaving two sore, wet, and cold and a third dizzy and battered.

  “Wooh, 3 down already! Just 10 more to go.”

  Before Aegis could finish her celebration and her turn, Cleo and Kabar struck. Leather straps shooting up from the sand all around her, nipping at her foot like the world’s worst puppies. Forcing her to reel her other leg up as they wrapped around and held her in place. Again liberal interpretation of movement applied, denial of such in question. But more in line as one of Kabar’s lines whipped past her face. Instead of striking and missing though, it was targeted. Another leather strap formed in the air just behind her, and Kabar’s line wrapping up tight with it. A leverage point for yet another yank powered flying kick. Aegis was stuck on one leg, but was far from helpless.

  She swiveled in line, parallel kicks but only one advantaged. Because she could actually still move. And all Kabar could do was stamp himself in the face. The sense and variety kicked out and into him respectively, Aegis grabbed his line before it went slack. Pulling along it to rip free of the strap around her leg. But she never let go of that line. Yanking hard, she pulled the still airborne Kabar face first into the field she just escaped. Straps slapped at anything they couldn’t wrap around, so mostly his already shoe printed face.

  One now thoroughly stuck in place, Aegis wrenched the line free from the leverage strap and borrowed his technique. Charging and pulling herself forward over the, only just now, disapparating field. She took Cleo off guard as she slammed the ground just short, line still gripped tight. Another hard yank, and Kabar came flying over, turned into a human missile aimed straight for his teammate. They smashed together in a tossed pile just short of Seth still internally straining. And now thoroughly regretting this lesson.

  “?8 left.?”

  Barely off letting Kabar’s line fall out of her hand, she was flanked on all four sides by Zeleny, Marco, Tabby, and Alex. Tabby in the form of a lioness like her parents, and Alex copying Aegis proper. If a bit shorter. They struck first, and fast. A rushing blitz to fists raised and footwork swinging. Alex with a quick wide right and to left jab, Tabby trying an overhead batting combo. And yet both were rebuked on the first swing.

  Arm guards flashed up with timing too perfect, throw their momentums off before they could even start their combos. Still they desperately continued, despite the dawning ineffectuality. Jabs and whole paws, wide arcs and knees, all of them just smacking off forearms and shins like even two on one was too slow a pace. Until Tabby swung her whole right side in an effort to get something through. Aegis pulled her own right side, meeting both paws in deadened impact. Alex in the same instance tried to haymaker feint, but had it snatched through her strike. Elbow skimming the haymaker away and grabbed that hidden fist before it struck. This was when Zeleny and Marco finally made their move.

  Zeleny had flown over and pulled him up by his feet for a dive bomb drive by. Now that Aegis appeared preoccupied, the time to strike was now. She dove down at her back as Marco prepped to slam an airless air fist into her, come what may.

  Except, even as her hands seemed tied, Aegis turned her head as they gained speed. The air was whistling with powered flight, and their sneak attack wasn’t so sneaky anymore. She countered her immediate assailants, folding over her blocks around their grapples to completely take control. Then forcing her blocking leg past Tabby’s, knocking her off her feet and giving Aegis all the weight in the equation. As she pulled the lot of them around. Both trainees were swung and scrunched together into a human shot put and spun hard to the left. Zeleny could see and tried to pull out of the dive, but couldn’t turn away quick enough with so much weight tying to her. They were all sitting ducks.

  Aegis completed her spin as Zeleny flew over, dipping slightly on the far end and releasing the doppelcat shot put straight up. Slammed her face to face and face, leaving Marco to tumble past his target. He managed to flow a current and right himself, landing on his feet. Right in Aegis’ range. The last bit of her momentum followed through with a foot into Marco’s side, and a kicking dismissal from the ring. As the human fireworks fell behind her, she turned to regard Ohm juicing up at one of the arena’s power sockets.

  “4 to go! You guys better pick your game up. And you better believe you’re paying that electric bill!”

  Ohm let go of the socket, his body practically exuding the power he’d collected. Nerves visible even without any extra sight and illuminating his skin from the inside. Seth worried he might actually meltdown, but instead he just calmly stepped up to bat.

  “So… I’m only allowed to use my powers for movement purposes right?”

  Ohm was talking, but every word elicited a lightshow of sparks between his teeth.

  ‘Jeeze he’s over juiced!’

  Even Aegis was looking slightly disturbed.

  “Y-yup. No fancy electro punches here. Though… with how long you take to get ready, it’s not like you’d really ever hit me with it.”

  Aegis made a show of smugly shrugging away from him, but it seemed like Ohm was too far gone to pass the opportunity up. She looked back down in time to see that he was already three feet in front of her, a burned streak of lightning in his wake propelling him. And his expression a cross between a manic episode and a cutlery set in the microwave. Even his eyes sparking on the inside.

  The power in his legs still flaring from the shot, he’d focused most everything there and blasted forward at unimaginable speed. A small sonic boom resounding as Aegis blocked for dear life.

  An uncharged right hook, three spread out left jabs, right round house, left crane kick, all this in just the first two seconds. Aegis met each attack with a block, but he was getting faster as more electricity was discharging behind him. One-two combos, no four-six, ten-twelve. This shit was getting out of hand! His combos were causing a friction fire across the padding on Aegis’ arms. He finished with a right sweeping kick across those smoldering pads, like he was striking a match with the sole of his shoe. She was finally recoiled at this, head kept low behind her flaring guard. And that was all Ohm needed, he used his kicks momentum to swing a massive right around.

  But as he swung back around Aegis had released her guard, arms dropped wide to her sides. He disregarded this, as if he could do anything else but charged his fist in without care. A bolt of lightning shooting from his elbow, propelling him and his punch beyond his previous speed. But his punch hit nothing but air, and his face fulling with regret at double speed.

  Seth tried to keep up, hard fought power shifted around to perceive what just happened, but it may as well have been a blur to anyone else. Aegis had stepped to the side, let Ohm slip past her like a charging bull, but dragged a left hand in the wake of this step, and raised it right in the path of his face. And slammed that arm with a little too much force.

  She clotheslined him, body retaining its inertia and flowing forward, desperate to defy the force applied. But Aegis wasn’t letting him down so easy, she kept pushing forward. And down. Dropping a leg and dropping him all the way to the ground. Slamming his head into the arena floor, undoubtedly knocking him unconscious and finalizing the perceptive disparity between them. She rose back up, the focused and cold expression she was wearing dimmed into facetious concern.

  “Sheesh, it’s like he doesn’t understand limits or something. Having that much power is fine, but if you can’t even control yourself with it then what’s the point. Oh, and that’s 9. So who’s ne-? Shit! Shit!”

  Aegis’ arm padding flared up again as she struggled to pat it down.

  “Ugh, you asshole!! It’s not like suits like this grow on trees or something!”

  She said knowing full well that several of her trainees were wearing surplus suits exactly like hers. Seth, Razor, and Kaz, gave her looks saying as such.

  “…Hey this suits special okay. You all got hand-me-downs you can just replace, mine can’t be!”

  Through the embellishment Seth could see a hint of sincerity.

  ‘Don’t tell me that’s really the same suit after all this time.’

  The weird thought broke his strain, but even the abyss found that odd.

  “Anyway, you guys going to fight or what?”

  Kaz and Razor both looked across her at each other, they could see they were outmatched, or Kaz could see it and Razor at least followed his lead. They lowered their weapons in submission to this very obvious fact.

  “Ah come on, don’t chicken out just because everyone else failed. You still have a chance, those blades of yours are sure to give you some kind of advantage.”

  Kaz smiled glumly a little, but Razor reprised his delinquent demeanor.

  “And risk you killing us for cutting your suit slightly!? HELL NO!!”

  Aegis chuckled.

  “Fine be that way. So then. All that’s left is you.”

  She stared down Seth, still smiling.

  “Let’s see if you’ve got the hang of yourself.”

  Seth had kept hold of the power he cut, kept it contained and under control despite how it protested. It wasn’t much compared to its source, but it was pressing at the edges of what he could keep at bay. But what happened against Para wasn’t about to happen again. Because now it was time to let it go and use it.

  He focused, tightened like it was blood transfused into him, that power shooting through to every muscle, spreading thin but viable across every avenue. He breathed in tensing, he breathed out releasing. The power following his every move, his every breath. It was his, and he was it. And the both of them were ready.

  His breath shallowed out, dropped him forward in a somewhat feigned faint, but didn’t offer any time to mistake the fa?ade. His foot stamped down and his eyes shot ahead, the slightest flicker of powered perception glaring behind them. As a sudden burst of sand blasted him away, like a piece of shrapnel leaving an explosion.

  Running low to the ground, scathing grains with an uppercut as low as it could be, he charged Aegis at speed. An expected block closing her away, upward fist harmlessly sliding across scorched padding, but that momentum continuing on. Seth spun with it, swinging his bunched up right leg over for a stamp. Aegis kept her guard up as the foot passed by without striking. A still extended left leg came into battery, threatening to hook a foot past her guarding arm. She shifted to catch, to repeat the cycle of tossed away trainees. But all were feints upon feints. Seth twisted himself around, bringing his right back into place to stamp her chest. Barely enough time to pull her guard back up to block as he kicked off, knocking her back and flipping over. His momentum finally dying with handfuls of sand.

  Another burst shot him off before that impact died, both arms locked to strike while the iron was set to fall over. Recoil fighting balance, but Aegis still holding her guard against the oncoming. A flurry of punches loosed into charred guard, disrupting her stance further until she was set to fall, but then really fell backwards before the final input.

  Her body pulling fully like a gymnast, arms stretching out to catch the ground, and legs out just so wide. Seth whiffed his last punch and fell forward, narrowly falling into her backflipping form. But instead he found himself between her legs, shins hooking under his arms like a violent forklift. As she flipped with force and catapulting him away.

  Seth tumbled into a half-baked summersault, bouncing off the sand on his butt rather than his neck. He was tossed over once more before he cut his momentum, sliding to a stop on his back with his heels and elbows dup into the sand. He craned his head back to reacquire, but found Aegis still backflipping and threatening to stick the landing on top of his head. He twisted harsh, narrowly avoiding both feet stamping sand to dust. Quickly pulled his legs back behind him as she shifted out to kick while he was down. Ducking on all fours, he swept forward underneath, striking at the other leg with his own. She threw herself forward to avoid, target leg slipping away as he pushed himself off backwards. Back upright as she tumbled forward in a somersault of her own, both face to face again.

  A beat passed. The preceding tussle was over in seconds, but both already appearing winded.

  “Well.”

  Aegis rolled her shoulder with a halfhearted smile.

  “You’re certainly more limber than I expected. Nothing weighing you down right? But you’re still not quite there yet. And the thing is… this was all to see if you can take as much as you give. So sorry about this.”

  ‘The hell?’

  Seth tensed, but suddenly Aegis shot forward with almost no notable motion, a fresh guard firmly in place, and a slight whistle in her wake. He tried to meet her charge, tried to catch back up, but a kick came screaming into his side before he could even react.

  Inertial lurch slowing it all down for him. As a rippling aura trailed the air around her, and his diaphragm was squeezed for all the air in his lungs. Shot to the side in inexcusable force, he rolled uncontrollably. Scraping and scrambling for control. Clawing hands skidded him to a stop face down, seething for a breath that wasn’t spiked. A rib poking a hole and denying even meter, and a shadow following him the whole way down. He sucked in and whipped over violent, flipping into the air and bringing both arms together in a desperate guard, just as Aegis slammed back down to earth. The impact rippled the air and the floor in equal wave, aerosolizing sand to grit on the wind, and emptied that desperately held breath to puff it all to cloud.

  What perception he had pulled together was thoroughly bashed to pieces, his sternum was caved and a lung still skewered. His heart still beat but hit bone like it was invading its personal space. And collapse wasn’t enough of a descriptor for the other side. A hacking, pitiful rebuttal sounded, hands gripping at his chest and focusing all they could to get things back to actual breathing. All as Aegis leaned down and ignored his struggles, pulling him up back upright by his collar and holding him firm. Just as that collapse was righted in heaving pang.

  “hurgh So much for hrr for not using your powers.”

  Aegis recoiled slightly in surprise.

  “Hey I said you could use yours for movement and most of these guys stretched that pretty far. So what if I did the same… a little. And besides, you-”

  flick

  Aegis blinked off facetious lecturing with Seth's freed hand in her face. A finger bouncing off her forehead as a pained smile grew to meet her blank stare.

  “I win.”

  “…”

  Aegis looked annoyed for a second, but quickly grew wide eyed.

  “Th… That- That doesn’t count!”

  “You hrrrr said all we had to hu do was hit you once without getting blocked. hrmm You didn’t block that so… I wi-hiiinn”

  Seth kept smiling, even as a slight drip of blood ran out of his mouth. Aegis half smiled trying to laugh off her technical defeat, but quickly deflated and set Seth down out of concern. She’d over done it. He wobbled a little, holding his chest as the damage was more properly assessed.

  ‘Yup… That’s not where that’s supposed be.’

  He felt a rib realign under his hand, the dent in his diaphragm punched back into place, the hole in his lung fuse over. But couldn’t really do much about the taste of his own blood in his mouth, or it coming up with every breath. Thankfully the pain subsided into warm waves as Mediknight broke through the falling dust cloud around them. Seeing if he was needed, but only seeing an unscathed Aegis slumped and disappointed in herself and a still hacky and internally bleeding Seth smiling in pyrrhic victory.

  “Do I even want to know what happened here?”

  The cloud dissipated and the rest of the flash triaged trainees came back into view, most slumped against the nearest wall of the arena. Aegis turned in mostly exaggerated defeat.

  “Nothing… I just lost. UGH!! Para’s going to fucking hold this over me forever!”

  Seth heaved at a piece of bone in the pit of his lung, but laughed.

  “Heuh. Just wait, he’ll probably say I just got lucky or something. S-speaking of which… I’m gonna go lie down now.”

  Seth took a step toward the triage wall but lost the strength in his foot and then the rest of his body. Faceplanting into the ground. The Garkah taught him to heal the pain away, not block it. And he’d also used up way too much energy in that fight just holding all that power back. But, that was that lesson down at least. And the sand was nice and warm.

  “Ow…”

  But it still hurt.

  ‘Why does everything hurt?’