Page 41 (1/1)

I then challenged Salem His psychic punch wasn’t all that dissimilar fro as David had; he didn’t have David’s patience Instead, violence-lover Sale my shield Ballsy, but stupid The psychic punch ricocheted both ti ‘Fucker’ at the punch each ti I needed and pretty soon a gush of water sent hi backwards toward the wall He didn’t care – the adrenalin was pu from his mistake however he took a leaf out of David’s book and waited for his chance, and got his opening My shield protected me, of course, or I’d have been unconscious on the floor

Da He peeped out one side, then the other and then above, but it turned out that he was onlythat here he was In fact, it was his astral self that had peeped out –that his physical body was safe and sound If he did that during an attack, he could keep his body safe while still baiting the enemy

Next was Chico As his aim still needed to be improved on, he couldn’t e a visual of where I was It took a few tries but he eventually got his opening – again my shield came in handy He wasn’t too pleased when I used a teensy bolt of fire to singe his hs from the others of course and it served to make him concentrate better onhi weakness because he was kind of like the alpha of the squad I could ehtly

Denny farted some musk at y blast After that he decided that taking his eyes offravatedhis full potential; he needed to realise that attacking was just as i hiush of water He got the point that beingooze at ift depended on physical contact, I allowed hi it easy on hi of it because he was too busy concentrating on dodging ifts to concentrate onAs he believed that it wasn’t possible for hiy to teift and asked Denny to repeatedly spray ooze aton an enemy’s movements would both help him pre-empt their movements and notice when an eneift It took under thirty seconds for me to physically touch Denny, which ested that th hair so it did not disturb his vision

Butch did ith negating anything I flung at hi that crooked grin of his and challenging me with those unbelievably dark eyes I put more force behind one of ate everything and would need to learn to bring up his shield better We had practiced this last session, but Butch had only ed to do this the once Not because he wasn’t a capable person or in very good control of his power, but because Butch was only just getting used to the idea that he can use his defensive negating power in different ways

Max was absolutely delighted when I called hiift and kept pro me that one day he’d rob me of my senses and then kiss ut Each ti out I popped my shield up, however I was iift – his agility really had i

God, Jared I hadn’t once forgotten that he was up there I couldn’t Not when those eyes were drilling into me I daren’t look up at him in case my brain shut off for a second; that’s what it felt like would happen if we made proper eye contact for the first time in days

Out of all of the recruits, Stuart was the least enthusiastic Mainly because he was still sore about not being able to do much else other than shred He was able to explode into ift hit him But the al it extremely difficult to move froress

"You all did good," I told theh toto ask you all to line up; five of you against the eastern wall, the other five at the western wall I want at least three-car spaces between each of you"

"Yes, Coach," was said in unison

Without delay they found themselves a spot Chico, Butch, David, Denny and Stuart lined up against the eastern hile the others stood against the western wall; Da Butch, Reuben was facing David, Harvey was facing Denny, and Max was facing Stuart

"Space yourselves out a bit ood look at who’s opposite you Reifts, because in a ht at you" There was soainst each other before "I’ll shout your names individually As soon as you hear it, I want you to do your thing And I want you to do it fast Because that’s what it will be like out there:without hesitation If you panic now, if you buckle under this pressure, then you know you’ve got so left to do Do not turn this into a spar Only when I shout your na at you, block it if you can, or dodge it But do not retaliate That all understood?"

"Yes, Coach"

Turning and pacing back the way I caoal was to ifts of the rest of your squad; this exercise should therefore also give you an idea of just how near or far you are to that goal Right, first I need you, Reuben, to weaken Max, Chico and Salem’s powers"

"Coach," obeyed Reuben He touched each of them for only three seconds Then his face twisted in confusion "Coach, what about David?"