1.19 -Rip

Nathan had chosen black, but not only that; he went with something a bit stylish.

He honestly looked almost as if he had a normal outfit. On his torso, he had a jacket that wrapped around his body tightly and gave him the look of a motorcyclist, except it obviously still signaled him being a superhero. Green stripes went from his shoulders to his waist, and on his back was a logo that he had chosen, a fitting one. It was a chameleon.

Probably, he would go with that name, as silly as it sounded. It would make some of the others probably think that he could change his abilities at will and not only on a daily basis.

His pants looked like they were made of leather as well, but they were armored and made his legs look thicker. All of this seemed kind of dope, like an outfit that he would actually choose to wear, and still it provided him with a lot of defense that he would never get from a normal outfit. The clothing felt stiff though, and he knew that he would have to break it in.

He even considered getting a helmet, but waved the idea of it away. It would be silly, unless he got a power that would spawn a motorcycle.

Without further ado, he went back into the training hall, ready for another duel. This time he wouldn’t be quite as powerless as he was a week ago. He began rolling his arms, storing the momentum. To the others, it would simply look as if he was stretching though.

“As I said, that outfit looks rad, my man.”

Nathan wasn’t sure what the goal of this guy was, but who was he to refuse compliments? “Thanks, dude. Anyway, what’s your power?”

“I chomp.” The guy gave him a thumbs up as if it was something to be proud of. In hindsight, his power seemed a bit easy to see, but Nathan didn’t like making assumptions.

“That’s cool, dude.”

“I know it is. Won’t find any others like me. Well, class is starting. Now let’s get cracking.”

They joined the crowd of students who already gathered in the hall, and Nathan did his best not to ogle the others’ outfits too much. Despite his fears, none of the male or female students chose to be quite as provocative as Vermilion Strike’s was. There were some costumes more on the skimpy side compared to Alicia, but nowhere near outright swimsuit-y.

Nathan scanned the crowd looking for Alicia, and he found her talking to some of the female classmates from 1F. Well, maybe not quite so talking, but she was standing there, looking away shyly as she nodded to something that the other woman had said.

The girl talking to her was the one Nathan fought last week, the girl with a giant rebar. He considered going there, but chose not to. He would leave space for her to make friends. She didn’t seem to have any back in the game, and whatever changed, he hoped that she would capitalize on the chance now.

Nathan could socialize a bit more too. He was getting used to it now, with Alicia constantly pestering him throughout this last week. And as weird as he seemed, Minato didn’t seem like a bad dude, if a little bit crass. And so Nathan did his best to make some chit chat.

“What’s your goal? Wanna be a hero?”

“My goal? Well, I guess so. Though getting a girlfriend wouldn’t be that bad.”

“What a mighty super hero goal.”

“Hey, don’t judge me. Who doesn’t want a little bit of love nowadays? And if you don’t try, you never capture the heart of anyone.”

“I guess so.” Nathan smiled, chuckling at the fast talking rhythm of Minato. He talked as if he was on drugs, but clearly it was just his personality. He never liked talking about girls, to be honest. It always made him feel a little bit nervous and dirty, but as long as the conversation didn’t stray too deep into nasty territory, he didn’t mind that much.

Deadlock, like last week, used his whistle and then ordered them to run in a circle. Nathan didn’t mind, and strangely enough, he was excited for it. He did try to train back at Alicia’s home, but exercise simply felt nice, especially now. The now enhanced body allowed him to run without feeling like he was ready to puke his guts out, and that was a pleasant change. He was only slightly winded, and that was only after 1,000 dollars.

“Does… power up on my body not disappear… when I spend the money? That seems convenient.” He mumbled in between breaths.

Once the run was over for everyone, Deadlock once again had them line up and told them to get into pairs. Nathan immediately headed towards Alicia, but Deadlock continued.

“This time around, the rules will be different. I’ll explain before the first duel. Also, you must choose a different partner, and don’t think I won’t remember who you were with last week, because I will. Now get ready; you have five minutes.” He shouted as if all of the students angered him somehow.

Nathan looked at Alicia, who shrugged her shoulders and then began looking around.

I guess I should do the same. He thought and was about to turn around when a hand gripped his shoulder. He turned, jumpy, and found Minato giving him a wide, crazy grin. “What do you say, partner? Want to beat some superhero ass together?”

Nathan stared at him for a moment before nodding. “Sounds good to me, dude.”

They joined the line of completed pairs, the line forming a bit more slowly this time around. Apparently, the people here did know a single person from their class, but they didn’t spend enough time together to know two.

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Three more minutes, and everyone was in the line.

“Good. I see you are gathered. Now, for the rules…” Deadlock shouted, small droplets of saliva leaving his mouth. “You will fight in pairs like last time, but now you have your superhero costumes. That means that you are protected at least somewhat. Today you will battle on either out of bounds or three hits instead of one. No life-threatening force, no attacks on the head. Are we clear?

“Yes, sir!” The hall reverberated.

“Good, step forward!”

Nathan watched the two duels that happened before his own. It was definitely more fun than he would have expected out of 1-F students. All of those present had a spark in them, an ember that made them angry and willing to fight for their win. Nobody took the situation at hand lightly, and it showed in how much they tried.

The 1-E students were a bit more proficient, but Nathan seriously didn’t understand how they even classified them. To his untrained eye, some of the 1-F class abilities seemed more potent than those of 1-E, and yet there wasn’t even a single voice echoing his concern.

Thinking of it, was Minato even 1-E or 1-F? Nathan never asked, but as he opened his mouth to do so, Deadlock called them forward in line, and Nathan obliged, still rolling his arms. The charge meter was already almost as full as it was in his scruffle against Vermilion Strike.