10; New ability

Denki sat in his early morning floating, slight perspiration running down his face. The physical exertion of keeping himself suspended off of the ground slowly wearing away at his reserves.

This imperfected technique was simply just too draining. Even now, only a bare few centimeters into the air, he struggled to maintain it for more than a few minutes at most.

Denki knew that it was simply because the electrostatic levitation of this scientific phenomenom was nowhere near being a match for the gravitational potential of his body as it is being pulled to the earth's center.

Because of this the energy required to manage even this level, was excessive. It was like trying to defy the very laws of physics itself.

With that in mind, Denki imagined every possible work around he could think of. This electrostatic charge obviously had better effects on lighter and smaller objects

but what about those that could already be affected by electricity?

If he could input the charge inside of the object then the pressure on his stores would be alleviated massively.

'there are so many possiblities I have to explore, for now lets stick to the basics' Denki had to persuade himself before he ended up deep down another endless rabbit hole.

Denki experimented relentlessly, trying the technique on a plethora of random objects varying from those that were small and light to large and heavy.

The results came as expected to Denki and the knowledge he had, but it was still reassuring to see.

Next came irregular objects, those that were either lightweight but large or small yet incredibly heavy.

This came up with more interesting results. The overall experience was that weight most effected the maximal levitation he could achieve, while the size and shape of the object tested his control.

The larger objects were harder to maintain a balanced floatation for. Either he put too much charge in one area and the whole thing tilted and swayed.

Or his focus became too split up and it would become a chaotic swirling mess that struggled to fight the natural forces against it.

Neither were good. With practice he could improve but that would take time... Lots of time.

So for now Denki focussed on making his control over easier sizes and weights perfect.

This would already increase his versatility loads.

Before he had always struggled in finding a way to hold the projectiles still for more accurate railgun shots.

What he had done was simply fling it in the air and hit it like smacking a ball with a bat.

He had gotten pretty good but still he couldn't gaurantee he could hit small targets. Like ut had been for him in the entrance exam.

He had had to aim mostly for body shots, letting the insane momentum wreak the needed havoc on their metallic frames.

Now though, things would be different. He could hold the projectiles in place in mid air, allowing for a much better, more direct, hit from the railgun charge.

He could also improve the projectiles themselves. Their current size and shape has been because of his awkward firing method, the extra area needed to guarantee his shots took off.

But now he could make them much smaller and more pointed rather than spherical and flat design from before.

Like small arrow heads similar to sharpened bullets, without the need for any of the rest. The older larger discs seeming like the round balls of old rifles, a relic of a simpler time.

The power this could now gain was terrifying, even to Denki himself. They would be capable of achieving incredible velocity, reaching targets in a mere blink of an eye.

'maybe I should hold off on that auto-railgun of destruction idea I'd had a while back, might not be... Real heroic looking' Denki chuckled to himself.

All of this though had taken him longer than he had expected. It was time to test it all out for real, otherwise he might run out of summer break to do so.

With that in mind, Denki stood up and shook off his limbs. He had cleared out a space in one of the corners of the hall for some specialised training.

It was a small area, maybe around 10 meters by 10. Within it he had placed multiple wooden and metallic dummies, these were his targets, the mock villains of his test.

Various barriers as well as pieces of scrap and litter covered the room in a sporadic attempt to mimic the dirty streets that made up most cities.

This also helped in breaking up the villains from each other and making it so Denki would have to maneuver himself around any obstacle while trying to position himself in the best way to move forward.

After all a hero who caused more property damage than the villains themselves was only a nuisance, not a pro. Steadying his breathing, Denki envisioned the course laid out before him.

His mind jumped as he planned his every step before him carefully.

Each path he could take was analysed as he weighed up their pros and cons. The walls, actung as the buildings that line the side of any alleyway, penned him in.

The roof of his training hall over head cut of any attempt to shoot over the barriers, besides that would kinda defeat the point.

He would have to go through. Electricity flashed off his skin, arcing in a yellow buzz. His legs coiled, ready to explode forwards.

Like the crack of a whip, he was off. The first target in the clearing ahead, easy to get to but if he sped into him, he'd end up crashing into the wall behind.

Then the next target could take him down whilst he re-orientated himself. No. Instead Denki raced staight toward the wall to the side.

Jumping and kicking swiftly off it, he now shot in a straight streak into both dummies.

He barreled into them in a tackle, pressing them against the wall on the other side of the course. Bouncing off of their bodies he turned.

Flinging an empty metal can, lying amongst a pile of rubbish, into the third dummy.

With his distraction striking the dummie's wooden head denki leaped into powerful movement, punching ruthlessly into where the solar plexus would be.

Creaking woode splinted slightly under the force. Denki held back jusy enough but made sure that even a powered villain would go down with each punch he brought.

No nasty surprises that way, but maybe a broken bone or two. 'Hey don't commit crime if you can't take a hit' Denki mused a little darkly.

He knew it was ever them or him, no real villain is holding back so neither can he... atleast not completely anyway. He didn't want any deaths on his hands.

With the third villain down. Denki used his momentum to barge the dummy into the wall and allow him to launch pad himself off of him.

'Three down, three more to go.' witht that he round the low wall, a dummy crouched behind it. Acting quickly, Denki leant out of the the way of a beanbag fired at him at high speed.

Each Dummy had a beanbag gun, if they had a clear line of site for more than a second the guns would auto fire. A sensor at the end of each barrel giving the go ahead to a robot trigger.

This way Denki could really train against a somewhat reactive dummy. 'Not far off the real dummies out there really' or atleast that was Denki's thought.

Denki tore the gun from the dummy's grasp. Its metallic frame making it easier to affect.

'I need to test that more' Denki couldn't help but think as he worked. Gun in hand, Denki fired it at the dummy.

Denki pushed off a metal disc through the open window of the last wall, shooting through the gap. With a spin in the air, he threw out four metal bands.

A magnetic push sent them flying off at the dummies, pinning them to the walls as Denki bent the bands to hold them in place.

He looked down at the stopwatch. 2:38 flashed across the screen as he slammed down on the stop button.

A small smile graced his face as the lines in his forhead smoothed out. Sweat trickled down his matted hair as he swept it back.

Deciding another run would simply be a waste, Denki called it a day. He had been getting faster on each round, but he knew that training against static wooden block could only help so much.

Besides he had already done a run using every technique in his arsenal, changing it up and varying what he allowed himself to use.

With a sigh that left his lungs empty. He knew he would probably have to ask the old man for help in sparring.

No way around a real active opponent. No amount of dummies or beam bag guns would help. He needed to fight someone who could react and respond to what he did.

"Great, the last thing I need is to owe him a favour... He's gonna make this brutal isn't he?" Denki mumbled to himself in a tired voice.

As if sensing his grandson's vote of confidence, a stern voice broke out behind him. "What'd you say brat?"