Powers

It took a few seconds for the bullets to come out of 3's torso. The white lights shortly disappeared from 6's hands but massive healing on that scale took a lot from her. She sat back, leaning against the wall behind her and breathing very heavily.

3 slowly sat up. "You're at your limit already?"

"well, we both nearly died. It takes a lot more when it's a grave injury."

As she was talked, sirens rang nearby. She continued, "We need to go, 3. If any of us get injured again, I may not be able to do anything about it."

As they got out, he put his arm around her shoulder. "Your power really is amazing, Toki"

She blushed and smiled, "I told you to stop calling me by my real name"

He laughed as they left the alley way, looking for a new hiding spot.

*

The day after was filled with excitement for the students. It was their first day back and although they enjoyed their holidays for the most part, most of them were ready for life at the academy again.

Even though it was early, the guards were already patrolling.

"It's kind of reassuring" Chino said to Fukuma as a vast majority of the student walked to their first lesson of the day.

"What is?" He asked

"seeing how serious they have become about security"

Fukuma decided to tease her, "What if next time, the attack comes from the guards. Like, what if they're patrolling to know everything about the academy?"

"Oh shut up" She responded, punching his shoulder, while the both of them laughed.

While Sezato and Hayasato walked to the main building, they were suddenly startled by a voice behind them.

"'Sup losers?" Takeyomi said, suddenly appearing behind the both of them.

Sezato laughed, "good to see you haven't changed, Takeyomi"

"Still buzzing around like an annoying bee" Hayasato added. " It's good to see you though. I thought you were never coming back"

"my parents and I worked something out. I'll tell you about it later, I'm gonna go say hi to the others"

"more like annoy them" Hayasato added, as Takeyomi disappeared again.

After greeting the rest of his classmates, they headed to their first lesson of the day. The teacher wasn't there yet, so they sat in groups and continued talking until an elderly man walked in and cleared his throat.

As the students heard this, the room went silent. He appeared to be in his late 50's, a bald man with a well kept beard that was beginning to turn grey. Fully dressed in a grey suit, he stood in a way that suggested people automatically respected him when they spoke to him. He cleared his throat once more before he began speaking.

"good morning students. As you all have probably noticed, I'm a new teacher at this Academy. I am Dr Yahara Saramao. I specialise in powers and abilities. That's where I obtained my PhD...Anyway, I don't want to bore you with the details. Why don't we get on with today's lesson.

My role here at the Academy is to educate you all on your powers and also help you all maximise your potential.

Now, who can tell me the types of abilities there are?"

As he asked this, the entire class looked confused.

"Excuse me Dr" Minako said, "what do you mean by types?"

Yahara smiled, "I thought as much. I suggest you all take some notes. Now, we all know that some humans are born with powers, and some without and I'm sure you are all aware of the origin of these abilities.

In case you aren't sure, eons ago, a large asteroid of unknown origins crash landed on our planet and the resulting dust from that crash caused certain mutations in the humans around that time which manifested several generations later."

He paused, then asked, "I hope you're all with me so far?" There were several nods from the students, so he continued.

"Now fast forward to today. There are numerous abilities out there, ranging from individuals who can create elements from their hands or others who can soar through the sky, as free as birds.

These abilities can be classified into two types. Physika and Magika." He paused again for several seconds, looking around the room at the faces staring and listening intently.

"Humans under the physika classification are those who can change and manipulate parts of their bodies. For example, if a man or woman turns their arms into wings, they are considered to be physika users.

On the other hand, magika humans are those who can manipulate their environments, or conjure things from their bodies. Using the example of wings again, a magika user wouldn't necessarily turn their arms into wings, they would either sprout actual wings from their backs or use their ability to create wing like things. Any questions so far?"

Dota raised his hands and started speaking as Yahara nodded at him.

"So, in the case of the physika user, they would actually have to possess the wing ability to turn their arms into wings but a magika user with a compatible ability would be able to replicate those wings. Right?"

Yahara smiled as he responded, "exactly, Dota"

Dota was surprised Yahara knew who he was, so he addressed it.

"Oh if you're wondering how I know who you are, I took the time to familiarise myself with your student profiles but yes, Mr Amaku is correct, the key there is compatibility. Not every magika user would be able to replicate those wings, only those whose abilities can mimic the properties of wings could.

Any other questions?"

Aibuto raised his hand, "wouldn't that mean that magika users are more powerful than physika users? if they can mimic physika abilities"

Yahara smiled yet again before answering, "well, haven't you ever heard the saying "the copy can never be better than the original"? But to answer your question seriously. Although that's a fair assumption, it is not the case. Almost all physika abilities have a near infinite growth potential.

What I mean is there is little to no cap on how much a physika users ability can grow.

Still on the wings example, the wings that are made will continue to grow in size and strength the more the user uses that ability but a magika user mimicking that ability would not be able to keep up with that growth. So in terms of speed, wing strength, possibly even size, the physika user would win, after some time had passed that is."

Rando raised his hand this time, "Dr, my ability is steel like skin. Meaning it's a physika type. Does that mean as I progress through life, the tensile strength of my steel would keep increasing?"

"That's good, I'm glad you're all starting to understand now. As long as you continue to use and train that ability, Rando, your steel will reach a strength no magika user can replicate"

This reply made Rando and several others smile

There was a big smile on Yashiro's face as he realised what this meant for him. To him, his ability was muscle expansion. Which simply meant that the more he trained his body, the more powerful his expansion would become. He let his mind wander as he envisioned how powerful he could potentially become based on this knew found information.

Yahara continued to speak, "magika users also have a lot of room to grow in terms of their abilities. Just like physika users, constant use of ones ability leads to it being strengthened but there's also one more important thing to learn here today and that's what unifies these two abilities.

It's the energy known is rika. A lot of users do not know this but the amount of rika one has determines the duration of ones ability use.

As the physika wing user soars through the sky, his or her rika is consumed. If they're a reckless user who lacks control, their rika would be consumed at a faster rate than one who has good control of their ability."

Yashiro raised his hands, "so it's like mana points in a video game? If there's none left you won't be able to use your powers "

"you're all on fire today" Yahara replied "that's correct. That's a lot of information you all had to take in at once. I've booked a time slot for the skyline arena. If you could all please get up and follow me there, we will now begin the practical part of this lesson."

Immediately after they all entered the arena, Rando activated his steel skin and faced Yahara. "Does rika have anything to do with the duration I can maintain this form for? I can only maintain it for 6 minutes now"

Yahara tapped Rando's shoulder. "Hmm. To me, it sounds like you're burning through your rika too quickly. Have you tried using this form with a lower tensile strength? If this is near your maximum strength, it would make sense why rika is burned faster"

"thank you so much Dr Yahara" Rando said excitedly as he went away to try something new.

Yahara addressed the room once more. "I'm going to try and teach you the basics of rika conservation. So one by one, could you all display your abilities? I'll give you some suggestions."

The students all lined up with smiles on their faces, except Dota who was already attempting something with his ability.

He closed his eyes and breathed slowly as the air around him shifted.

It slowly began to take a form behind him and in a matter of seconds, he had made huge wings on his back, made with his air manipulation ability.

His classmates were all shocked as he momentarily levitated 3 feet above the floor for 5 seconds, before dropping back down to the floor and dissipating the air wings.

He chuckled as Yahara clapped.

He was extremely pleased with the students.