The moon rearing its head through the clouds was reflected in the beads of sweat glazing my face. I panted loudly as I flexed my fingers to ease their tension and gripped my knife harder. It still felt wrong to call this “my” knife, but I had to accept that they had given it to me. I was putting in this much effort to become efficient at using it. If I didn’t think of this as my weapon, then I would only end up using it worse.

 

    I practiced stabbing in the air towards an imaginary opponent. After a few minutes of slashes in a wide X motion, I tossed the knife into my left hand. Without any break in momentum, I stabbed in the side of where I imagined the chest would be, then in one swift motion I moved to slash where the lower stomach would be and then stabbed in the side opposite to which I had attacked earlier. Doing this with my non-dominant hand was really putting a strain on my muscles. I repeated this for a while, trying to ingrain it into my memory by making it an exercise. This was also good for working on my abs and arms, I heard. Those could certainly use a lot of work…

 

    Near the end of that training drill, I started to incorporate some straight down slashes as well as some crescent-shaped slashes up the side, swapping hands every once in a while. I remembered Rubi telling me that a knife in this world is not guaranteed to be the same kind of threat it is in our old world. It is more important that I learn to vary my attacks since I’m more likely now to run into an enemy who can last long in a confrontation with an armed foe and is confident in doing so. If my opponent is the type to be less affected by knives and adapt to my swings after I repeat the pattern a few times, then catching them off guard is even more important than it would be normally. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be able to read a pattern from me at all, but I’m assuming that my opponent is more perceptive than me in any instance just so I don’t get caught lacking.

 

    I stopped, lifting my head up to the sky as I took deep breaths and loosened the grip on my weapon. After letting the dark blue, dotted sky sink into my eyes, I shook my head and then let the knife drop from my hand. I leaned against the nearest tree and looked back to the camp to make sure that the other three were still awake in case of an attack. It did make me a bit anxious to be in our training spot alone at night. A bit more than “a bit,” actually, but lessening the burden on Rubi was my reason for staying up to practice. Lessening the burden on all of them, actually. Would there be a point to any of this if I had to ask them to cover my ass at night just so I’m not scared? As long as I’m asking them for help, they’re being limited in what they can do. I know they’re going to worry about me if I can’t take care of myself in a fight. If they do that, they’ll die for sure. I couldn’t live with myself if my weakness caused that.

 

    I let myself slide down the tree trunk and landed on my butt. I couldn’t keep myself on my feet anymore. I picked up a cup made out of wood that had been carved out of a tree by Barb. Really impressive. There was water from the nearby river in it. I drank all of it in a flash. The desire for a refill was what finally made me give up on this night of training and return to the tent with the weapon in-hand.

 

    Rubi seemed to be doing better. That was good. As I walked by her, Barb tapped my leg and gestured at me with her hand. She was sitting with her legs crossed in front of the knocked over tree. “Gimme. I asked for guard duty first so I could carve out a little knife holder while everyone slept.”

 

    I lowered myself so I could put the handle in her hand safely. “This cup feels great, by the way. Thanks.” I left the comment as I took said cup back to the river and scooped up some more water with it. Garald from beside me tossed his soaked shirt at my face.

 

    “Yo, I just got done washing it, so go ahead and use it as a towel before I hang it up to dry.”

 

    I chuckled as I gulped the rest of the water in the cup down and hooked the wet rag with my fingers. “A little gross, but guess we can’t be picky.” I buried my face into it and wiped hard, trying to get that sweat out. I then ran it across my hair, although I knew I would have to really rinse that later. “If this place is based on Earth, I hope we bump into a nice hotel with a bath in it.” I said dryly.

 

    Rubi replied to me from behind us, revealing tactlessly that she had been listening to everything. “I wouldn’t base any of my decisions on it, but the introduction of the knife makes me think that the alien may feel the need to spice things up if things stagnate. Maybe it will make us battle over things like luxurious shelters.”

 

    “I hope.” I scoffed. That’s something I wouldn’t mind getting into a fight over.

 

    Garald smiled as though he had come up with a bright idea. “Why don’t we all agree to stop fighting until the alien gives us guns or something? That’d be awesome.”

 

    I blinked at him, no words spoken. “Garald, I think that would make it worse.”

 

    “Haha! I’m joshing, man. Imagine, though.”

 

    I swallowed my spit and smiled awkwardly. He can be hard to read sometimes as well, surprisingly. Barb was doing what looked like a really good job on the holder she was cutting out. I was surprised that she was so adept at arts and crafts. Guess she always was the creative, artsy type among our group. I stood around for a bit with nothing to do, about to say something before Barb spoke up without looking away from her work. “So, we were going to scout around? Should we do it during the day or at night? It’s pretty late already.”

 

    Garald looked like he hadn’t considered the question before, but Rubi replied quickly. “We should do it during the day. I believe that most people will want to play a conservative game at this point. It’s too early for us to worry about playing around weird powers. Tomorrow is day 3, so I think if we run into other teams, it’ll be more likely during the night, where everyone has the same idea to scout then… We want to get a good idea of how many teams are near us and what the members are like. To do that, we want to find them while they’re preparing. Once the sun falls, they’ll use the advantage of darkness to scout without worry of being seen-”

 

    All of her rationalizing was making my brain hurt. “So, like, we do the opposite of what everyone wants to do.” Barb cut off Rubi’s monologue.

 

    “Uh… Yes. It will be harder to get around under the sun, but there will be less people out scouting.” She said.

 

    “Should we really think nobody else has powers?” Garald said. “Half our team got powers already, plus you told us about those scary guys on the ship when we first got here.”

 

     Rubi was a little surprised by this. I, for one, had just assumed that it wasn’t unnatural for Rubi and Barb to awaken their powers given their personalities, but the perceived normality of it made me forget that every other captain chosen was allegedly chosen for the same reason as Rubi. Garald was ahead of us here.

 

    “W-Well… We can’t make use of our powers at the moment, so it’s safe to say that any enemies who happen to have awakened to one won’t be able to pose a serious threat. None of the people we have encountered thus far have had the same menacing aura as the two captains I saw on the ship, nor did anyone else who stood among them. I must assume they are exceptional people who awakened early. Their teammates will likely be much weaker, so they would have to go solo to get very far. I can’t imagine why anyone would do that in this situation. We’re most likely going to be safe from them, for now.”

 

    Such confidence… I decided there was nothing we could do about such powerful people anyway, so I would go along with this plan. She was probably right about it being mostly safe.

 

    “I want to train you all some more tonight, but not being able to tell the time is really frustrating… Normally, I would look for the North Star and try to calculate the time, but the stars here don’t actually make up any constellations. It’s uncanny…” She sounded worried, as though what she had learned for survival was coming to be inadequate.

 

    “Even if we could tell what time it is, you don’t need to do anything else tonight.” I said. “It’s late, so let’s sleep, then get whatever training you want in, then go out on that scout. Cool?”

 

    Rubi sighed and got up to walk towards the tent. “Alright, I am pretty tired… But tomorrow is going to be intensive compared to what’s been happening now! We’re going to start our offense, no more defending. Is anyone going to complain?” I was relieved she didn’t look upset. She looked pretty hyped up, in fact. We all jokingly replied, “Yes, ma’am!”

 

    With that, she went to bed first with Garald and Barb following. I came in behind them, but Barb stopped me before we entered, presumably to not be heard by the others.

 

     “Yo,” she began, “I just wanted to let you know that I get it. As much as I can, anyway. I appreciate you being considerate of Garald and I getting to say our piece earlier today, when we were talking about killing n’ stuff, but we know how personal this stuff is getting for you two. Don’t get me wrong, no way in hell I’m letting you two make all the decisions around here, but don’t feel bad about baring your feelings in front of us, even if we have nothing to say. If you feel like you need to set Rubi straight, then do it. We’ll help when we feel the need to, of course, but letting you hash it out is better than trying to provide rational advice.”

 

    Judging from her reaction, I must have looked pretty stupid with my eyes wide open like that. I gathered myself and replied quickly. “Oh, right… Thanks, Barb. I’m sorry for making this about me when the situation is so serious…”

 

     “Shut up! I said we don’t care, so do whatever you need to do. Nobody’s stoked about being here. We’ve all got to process it in different ways. You and Rubi have always had a weird relationship, so we’re not thrown off by this.”

 

    Despite her trying to cheer me up, it made me embarrassed that Rubi and I getting into these fights has become such a trend that she noticed it even before we came here. I guessed from what she said that she must be pretty anxious about being here too and still decided to give Rubi and I the space to have our childish squabbles.

 

    “Haha… I’m thankful. I love all of you guys. When I get in arguments, you know it’s not…”

 

    She turned her back to me as she responded and stepped into the tent before I could reply. “I know. We love you, even with all that teen angst. I trust you to get over it and quit being a baby.”

 

    I wanted to get another word in, but I realized that it wasn’t going to lead anywhere besides me justifying my actions to nobody. As always, she knew just the right things to say in the bluntest way possible.

 

    

 

    

     The next day, I stood next to Garald and Barb in the training field with Rubi standing across from us. The sky was still faintly dark. It was earlier than we usually wake up, but it’s better than doing this at night. The knife was lying next to the cup of water and Rubi’s sword. It was in the sheath that had just been completed.

 

    I was as eager as I was nervous. I was doubtful that I could hold a candle to any of these battle freaks, yet happy to finally be working together with them in some tangible way that didn’t involve some debate. Knock on wood.

 

    “Garald, Yu, come forth.” Rubi said. “Barb is the most balanced fighter here, so first I want to see how you two do as a big fighter and a small fighter. Try and take the other person to the ground.”

 

    The two of us followed her order and stepped forward, turning to face each other. I caught Barb snickering from the corner of my eye, causing me to stare at her. I wouldn’t let her have the enjoyment of watching me get destroyed. Even if Garald was many feet taller than me…

 

    “Aight, bro, here goes!” He opened his arms wide, seemingly leaving his chest wide open. I raised my hands up to hide my face behind my clenched fists. I wasn’t ready to fight without a weapon without instruction from her, but I should have expected it. I was beginning to see that she has a very “trial by fire” mentality when it comes to this stuff…

 

    I knew his arms were far longer than mine. I couldn’t rush in as if he were vulnerable here. If he suddenly closed his arms in, he would grab me before I got to him. Besides, he was staying light on his feet, stepping left and right in-place slowly so that he could kick off the ground if needed. I was starting to notice how different a fight was in a situation like this where I can calmly analyze my opponent compared to a surprise attack like before. I clearly took too long, since Garald shot forward and closed his arms towards me.

 

    I tried to apply my knife training to this and squatted. His arms brought a gust of wind with them as they missed me. I wrapped my arms around his leg and straightened my legs back up, but he didn’t fall on his back like I had anticipated. In fact, I was stopped by his weight and sturdiness before I could go all the way back up.

 

    When fighting with a knife, an attack to the legs can’t very well be powered through. But grappling is different, especially from someone who isn’t trained in it. Garald was more than ready to put his wrestling experience to the test, though. Since my attempt had left me bent forward with my legs up, he was able to wrap his arms around my abdomen and lift me off of my feet with ease. As if I were a feather, the world went upside down.

    “Okay, okay, I lost! Quit it!” I panicked as I smacked his arm. He halted, holding me up in a position that was ripe for a piledriver. On that hard ground, I was almost certain to break my neck. Barb laughed while she held her chest. Garald dropped me and I adjusted my scarf to stop it from falling off. I looked at Rubi with a look of embarrassment in my eyes.

 

    “You knew that would happen… Shouldn’t I be using a stick or something?”

 

    “It’s hard to simulate a real fight with a knife without hurting someone.” She said. “Good judgment, Garald. Most people would be anticipating the fall too much to counter so quickly. You must be confident in your strength. Just remember to have a plan in the event that somebody does manage to overpower you.”

 

    The big guy nodded. She turned to me and continued. “As for Yu, it was a little unfair but it’s harder to get a baseline on you than it is for those two.”

 

    A little. I scoffed. “Is my training just going to be me getting smacked around forever or are you going to teach me something?”

 

    “Hey! Doing a bit of training by yourself doesn’t mean you suddenly forgot that I showed you the basics, right?”

 

    We shared a laugh, hers a bit more cheerful than mine. “Okay, Yu, I’m going to teach you some more Kali today. Specifically open hand techniques.”

 

    I tilted my head and she responded before I could ask what that meant. “Knifeless techniques. It takes what you learned while wielding the knife and applies it to hand-to-hand combat. It’s not the best technique, I’ll teach you something else later, but this is the easiest way to apply what you already learned. It should be the fastest way to get you fighting with your bare hands.”

 

    She instructed me in swinging my hands similarly to if I were wielding a knife, but with my hands positioned to hit them with chops and elbows instead. She showed me that I could clench my fist and hit them with the bottom of it instead of my knuckles, in the same motion I was practicing my knife swings in earlier.

 

    “Punching is dangerous. Especially for thin people. The odds of hurting your knuckles as much as if not more than your opponent are high. Even higher if you hit them in the face. Punches to the body are fine, but for your frame I think we’re going to focus on the face.”

 

    She took a wide-legged stance and struck out at the air in front of her, making her hand linger in the position it had hit to show me what it looked like.

 

    “Aim for the face with these to stun them. They can do serious damage, maybe a nosebleed that will clog up their throat and make it harder for them to fight. These are to disorient them so that you can get them with a knee to the ribs.”

 

    Once again, she demonstrated by pretending to grab something and thrusting it down into her knee. I held back slight laughter at how weird and impressive her balance was to hold that pose for so long.

 

    “You do not want a knee to be interrupted or countered, since your balance is really easy to disrupt from this position, so strike them in the face first. You’re going to have to analyze whether or not you should knee them in the ribs, stomach or face. If you’ve got them stunned enough to bring their head down into your knee, that will finish a fight against anyone without powers, or if not it will put them in a position they’d be hard pressed to defend from. A hit to the ribs can be just as deadly, but it shouldn’t be relied on as a finishing move. It’s more likely to be conditioning for the finisher, dulling their reflexes.”

 

    I was really trying to focus on this, nodding my head as I tried to remember everything she was saying. To ensure I did, I ran through a few of the drills in my head while I waited for her to continue.

 

    “Would you two like to try again?”

 

    Garald and I turned to look at each other, and Garald replied for me. “Yup!”

 

    “Then go ahead.” She stepped back and playfully held her hands towards us, as though giving us the stage.

 

    Garald faced me and took up the same stance as before, clearly confident in it since it worked before. I brought my hands up to my face with more distance between them than before, but less like a peek-a-boo boxer and more like I was holding two knives. I considered what I had just learned. Without getting to practice it as much as I would like to, I could only think of how it would work in concept, but I felt like I got the idea. Despite that, what would work against a normal person was hard to imagine working against someone this huge. The open arm stance must also be some sort of intimidation tactic. It works.

 

    I decided to step in as a feint, causing Garald to tense up and almost bring his arms down, but stopped very shortly after. I didn’t expect that to win me the fight, but he was more perceptive than I thought. I slid my foot out and leaned in to his left side, trying to make it look like that was my target. He leaned in the same direction and tried to grab me with the nearest arm, leaving the left one away for defense. Before he could grab my arm, though, I was already moving away and going for the middle. 

 

    When he noticed, he used the fact that his body weight was already leaning left to dodge that way, since trying to shift himself in the other direction would take too long. I didn’t slow down, though. I found my way to his back and shot my hand out to chop the side of his stomach. He grunted loudly and swung around quickly. He was clearly disoriented, as he wasn’t expected me to chop at his face. I had to aim up to hit him. A one-two. This made him stumble back, so I grabbed both of his wrists and pulled as hard as I could while my knee shot up into his stomach. He hunched over my shoulder in pain, but without any hesitation, he clenched his arms around me and easily pulled them out of my grasp. 

 

    “Haha, that’s the spirit!” He was getting into it now. I went for another knee to the gut, but with how tightly my body was being held, I couldn’t generate any force by twisting. He twisted his body and sent me into the dirt alongside him. The force made me lose control of my limbs for a split second and he had already gotten me in a chokehold. His legs wrapped around mine and squeezed while his arms gripped my head.

 

    “O-Okay, I got it, this is the part where you break my arm and kill me… I lost.” I spoke with a slightly high-pitched voice thanks to my throat being pressed up against his meaty arms. He released me and let me roll off of him, slowly getting up and wiping the dirt off my pants and shirt.

 

    “Sorry if that was too rough, dude.” He held his hand out. I took it and smiled. “Man, I hit you way more. Sorry about that.”

 

    “Don’t worry, I barely felt it!” That didn’t make me feel better as he expected, but I appreciated it.

 

    Rubi looked a little stumped. She held her chin and contemplated what to say. “Uh… You did better that time, Yu.”

 

    I stared at her. Surely, she would say something constructive. Some time passed and she spoke again. “I think we should work on making sure you don’t have to fight big people like Garald in the near future. Until we can teach you some better moves.”

 

    I stared at her harder. She looked back at me meekly.

 

    “That’s all?” I said.

 

    “Yeah…” She said.

 

    “...Thanks.”

 

    We stood awkwardly.

 

    “Okay, you two can keep practicing if you want!” She changed the subject. “Barb, remember what we discussed last time we were out here? We should try to find out how your electricity is triggered and how we can bring it out manually. I would liken you to an electric eel and compare you to their anatomy, but there’s no way you developed an electric organ in only a couple of days… It doesn’t hurt you when you shock someone, right?”

 

    “Nah.” She exhaled in annoyance, holding the tips of her fingers together and trying to get them to zap each other. Nothing happened.

 

    I glanced at Garald. “I’m going to practice by myself.” Garald nodded and looked as though he were guilty of making me want to stick to myself. “Don’t look like that, I just want to watch what they’re doing.”

 

    Rubi sat on the ground and started drinking from the cup. “You don’t feel any different when you drink or touch water?”

 

    “When I put my hands in the river, it feels kind of tingly, but nothing when I drink from it. Sometimes my lip tingles where the water touches but that’s rare.”

 

    They pondered in silence. I started swinging with a closed hammer fist in an X motion in front of me, stepping left and right occasionally, though my focus was sometimes taken by their conversation.

 

    “Well, we haven’t really talked about it…” Rubi started. “...but I think my power makes flames stronger rather than creating them. It’s possible that your power just takes what’s already there and makes it stronger.”

 

    “You’ve tested your power alone?” Barb said. I related to her tone, feeling left out of something important.

 

    “Yeah, I couldn’t figure out how to make fire out of nothing, but when I rubbed some sticks together, I could make it into a great big one by focusing on it. Do you have any way of manipulating your electricity like that?”

 

    Barb looked down at her open palms and closed her eyes. She started straining herself, gritting her teeth, but sighed when nothing came out.

 

    Rubi stepped closer. “Hey, fire is a plasma, right?”

 

   “I guess?”

 

    “Hold your hands out!” Rubi did the same, and they held their hands with a bit of space between them. Rubi stared intently at the opening. Suddenly, a spark appeared and vanished between them, causing Barb to jump back with a gasp. Rubi simply smiled and started laughing.

 

    “Woah! I knew it! Haha!” She clenched her fists together before holding them open again for Barb. “Try it again! Be ready for it, try to sustain it once it appears.”

 

    Barb nodded hesitantly and did so. The same happened, faster than last time, but Barb didn’t stand back. The spark was only for an instant, but then multiple appeared, like fireworks. It only lasted a few seconds, then they were just staring at empty hands.

 

    “Guess that’s it.” Barb said, but Rubi grabbed one of Barb’s hands, which made a loud crackling noise and caused Rubi to yell in shock as she pulled back.

 

    “H-Hey, moron, are you okay?! What did you think would happen?”

 

    Rubi was panting. “Just m-making sure… Heh… This is amazing!” She rubbed her hands together to ease the sting.

 

    Barb ignored the weird girl and shifted over to grab the knife out of its sheath. She touched the flat part of the blade with a finger and observed a spark.

 

    “Hey, Rubi. Think we could, like, supercharge this thing? The handle is rubber, so if we can charge up the blade, then it wouldn’t hurt the wielder.”

 

    Rubi nodded. “Not a bad idea. We can try it, but there’s nothing to keep the electricity in the blade. We would have to produce a lot of electricity to make it ‘supercharged’ without melting it.” She chuckled.

 

    Barb blushed. “Yeah, I knew that… Just thinking out loud…” She did not know that.

 

    They both put their hands on either side of the blade and formed some sparks. Rubi grit her teeth before eventually pulling back and yelping. “Yow!! Okay, not gonna work…”

 

    Barb held the knife up to look at it closer. There was no residue of electricity on it like she had hoped. Maybe in the future, the electro-knife will be real.

 

    

 

    

    Garald and I had one more match before we ended for the day. It ended with my ass on the ground, as expected. Rubi finally came up with some advice at the end, though. I should use my long legs more. I liked how that sounded, but she was the one who said that it’s hard to keep your balance while kicking. I guess that’s one of those other martial arts she wants to teach me later.

 

    As we all walked back to the camp, Rubi stepped ahead of us and started talking. “So, guys, I was thinking and do you remember what I said at the start? When we first got here, I mean. I said we have to look inside ourselves to understand our powers.”

 

    The three of us seemed unenthused compared to her. 

 

    “Like I was saying, we should try to understand how Barb and I got our powers so that we can help Yu and Garald! Barb’s power comes from her rough exterior, I bet. She’s like a rose that pokes anyone who gets too close, but she’s full of vigor and the desire to do what’s right! She’s like an electrical outlet that you can’t touch, but you know that the outlet is essential for keeping everything running. Am I right?”

 

    Nobody had anything to say to that. Barb eventually replied. “Didn’t you already say that the other day? I’m glad you see me that way, but how does that help me?”

 

    Rubi held out her sword and twirled it around like a baton. “In my case, I’ve got a real fiery personality, wouldn’t you say?!” She just ignored Barb’s question. That explanation was even vaguer than the last one.

 

    “Yeah, that makes sense.” Garald said.

 

    We stopped walking in the camp and split off. I extended a hand to Rubi as she faced away from me, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. After all the times I’ve made a big deal out of nothing, I hesitated to say anything. If I was having this many doubts and nobody shared them, I must be overthinking it.

 

    “What’s wrong, Yu?” She turned her head to ask me. I gulped. I guess I was staring at her back for a while there.

 

    “Nothing, just thinking…” I averted my gaze. I had suppressed the feeling in order to focus on giving her the help she needed, but her lackadaisical attitude on things like this just couldn’t sit right with me. Saying this now would only increase her burden…

 

    “I recognize that look. You think I’m overstepping my boundaries.”

 

    I froze. “Um, not quite…” She was more perceptive than I expected her to be, but this expression was broader than that. Although it’s probably true that it’s the same way I look at her when I feel the way she said. “If you want me to be honest, I think you’re having too much fun with these ‘powers.’ I can see you working hard, so I didn’t pay it mind at first. I was just reminded…”

 

    “I-I’m not just doing it for fun! I told you, it’s important that we-”

 

    “Yeah, I know, I get that… When you first awakened to your.. thing. Your expression was a little startling. Like your gaze was only focused on one thing. I was waiting for someone else to mention it but I guess nobody saw it as a problem…” My voice trailed off. As always, I was jealous, whether I noticed it or not. “I can’t tell, I mean. I can’t tell how serious you are and I feel like an asshole for doubting you…”

 

    She considered her words carefully. Seeing that, my suspicion that it would be more weight on her than she needed was confirmed. At that point, I wanted nothing more than to just cut the conversation short and go to bed. Of course, I couldn’t sleep now when we were about to go on our midday scout.

 

    “I don’t know how I can prove it to you… I am happy that I get this opportunity, but I don’t think it’s hindering my decision-making skills. I’m sorry if I’ve come off as childish, though…”

 

    “Agh!! It’s fine, forget I said anything! I’m sorry!” I rubbed my forehead with my palm and started to walk away toward the trees lining the river. 

 

    She replied despite the distance I made. “It’s okay! I’ll try to be more considerate!”

 

    “Shit…” I rested my hand against a tree trunk and tried to focus on the calmly flowing water.

 

    Just go with the flow, Yu. Following your feelings gets you in stupid conversations like that.