Spirit Powers

The next morning, Ray wakes up early. He sits up and looks right. He sees Yuki curled up and sleeping next to his pillow. He pets her and gets up. He freshens up, gets ready for the academy, and comes down. As he enters the kitchen he sees Ms. Karim making breakfast in her office wear. He greets Ms. Karim good morning and opens the door of the fridge. Ms. Karim says, "You're up early again? Wait a moment, I'll ready your breakfast."

Ray takes out a milk bottle and thanks her as he goes towards the coffee maker. He takes his cup full of coffee and sits at the dining table. Ms. Karim readied four plates of toast and omelets and wrapped two of them with wrapping polythene. She then puts one before Ray and sits down in another chair with the other. Ray takes a bite of the food and praises Ms. Karim's cooking. Ms. Karim thanks him and says, "So, you're leaving for the academy this early again? It's only 6:00 in the morning."

Ray says, "I kinda like the empty academy in the early morning. It helps me concentrate on my training."

Ms. Karim says, "Why don't you take Rohan with you? A little training won't hurt him."

"Rohan's a marksman type while I'm more focused on strength training. So, I don't think our training routines match."

By then Ray's breakfast is finished. He takes his empty plate and cup and goes towards the sink. He washes his dishes even after Ms. Karim tells him to leave them. He then bids Ms. Karim, goodbye and leaves for the academy.

He enters the academy grounds and goes straight to his classroom. He puts down his bag there and goes to the changing room. He changes into training clothes and gets to the running track. He takes position and starts running. Just as he starts running he feels something different. He feels light. He feels that his running speed has increased. As he reaches the obstacle course he jumps before the first obstacle. But to his surprise, he jumps around 17-18 feet up in the air. He gets scared that he's going to fall and get hurt. But again to his surprise he lands on his feet but doesn't get hurt, even though he stumbles a little bit. He doesn't stop and continues running. While running he thinks about what's happening. He figures out that these might be the powers he got by making a contract with Yuki. He gets happy that he has finally got his powers. He decides to test how much his abilities have increased. So he starts running full speed and gets shocked and fascinated as he completes a 200-meter lap in just 2 seconds. He then tests his jumping abilities. He jumps with all his abilities and jumps high in the air. He stops after getting almost 50 feet in the air. But as he was getting ready to fall he felt the powers go away and He fell face-first on the field. He sits up and starts rubbing his face. At that moment three students approach him. The one in front had medium dark-brown hair. He was tall and bulky. He says, "Yo, spiritless sage. Again training early in the morning?"

Ray gets annoyed as he realizes that they've come to taunt him. He says, "Yeah, wanna join, Koda?"

The girl to his left had long blonde hair and a sharp face. She says, "No thanks. We don't wanna train with worthless junk."

Ray retaliates, "Shut up, Aditi."

The boy turns back and says, "Let's go, Aditi, Avni. Let's not waste our time here."

They turn back and start heading back. Avni comes to Ray and says, "Sorry about my sister and Koda. Don't mind them."

She runs and joins them. As they were leaving they saw Yuki run past them while yelling, "Ray? How dare you go off to train alone? Why did you leave me, your spirit behind?"

Ray gets up and says, "Well, you were sleeping so peacefully. I thought it'd be better to let you sleep."

She bites Ray's hand and says, "Idiot."

Koda, Aditi, and Avni come back and stand before Ray. Koda says, "Oh, so you have a spirit now? I bet the spirit's as lame as you."

Ray finally snaps and challenges Koda, "Wanna try out my spirit powers?"

Koda takes off his jacket and hands it to Aditi and says, "Sure."

Yuki gets on Koda's shoulder and says through telepathy, "You sure you wanna fight now? We just formed the contract last night. Who knows if you can control your powers or not."

Ray replies, "It's OK. Just watch me."

Koda calls his spirit, a bear. The bear runs into the training ground and stands behind Koda.

Koda says, "Be ready to be crushed by sheer power."

Ray just gives a small smile.

Koda lunges at him at full speed. As he gets close to Ray he readies a punch. Just before he could hit Ray, he swiftly moves out of the way and Koda falls face-first to the ground. Ray laughs. Koda gets back up, grinding his teeth. He screams and lunges back at Ray. This time Ray dodges the punch but grabs onto Koda's punching hand. He bets behind Koda and Twist's Koda's arm. He lets go of Koda and kicks his hips. Koda stumbles forward. As a final blow, Ray jumps in the air and gets back down at Koda while making a fist forward. The punch lands at Koda's face. As they both stand back up Ray sees Koda bleeding from his nose. Koda comes to him and says, "You….."

Before Koda could continue Ray says, "I think you should let your injuries be checked first, before coming at me. Avni, take care of my friend, will ya?"

Avni smiles and says, "Sure."

Ray takes his jacket and leaves the training area.