Outfit for Combat

"It's pretty flexible too... I'd feel bad destroying it, are you able to make more like this one?" I asked the old man.

"Oh, don't worry about that! Your Essence Strands will repair the outfit as you go, so you won't need anything else. With that prototype, however, you might run into cooling problems. Just take it off if it gets too hot." Manny said. He turned back around behind the counter and began working on something different.

"I don't mean to be a bother to you still... but I got this jacket from a person very important to me, and I was wondering if you could add something to the prototype? I'll find a way to repay you, if at all possible." I asked him, waiting nervously to see his response.

"Like what? Trust me, an Old Man like me understands the importance of sentimental items," Manny clarified for me.

"Well... I had this jacket made for me when I was on The Isle in the sky, and I lost most of it due to cuts and wounds... and I wanted some initials on it as well," I explained to him.

I took the jacket off per his instructions, and he pulled out a weird needle with a stem at the end of it, colored with white strands.

"And this jacket from the Isle... you'll be able to mimic the look of it by imagining the strands around your body to form the way it looked. As for the initials... what were they?" He asked.

"Ali and Lucas Asterio, if you could please put those on it somewhere," I asked him.

"Kid, why don't you hold onto this needle and imagine what you want to remember those people by. I'll let the Essence Strands do the work," Manny said.

I grabbed onto the needle, but it didn't move... however, Manny seemed to be perplexed by something, closing his eyes and letting the needle in both of our hands move on its own.

"I see... something like this... and this... and... here..." Manny muttered as the needle got to work.

He finally let go, holding the new jacket up in front of me.

"Here kid," Manny told me.

On the back of the jacket, there was a broad portion of pure black coloring where the armor plating was, on my shoulder blades. Instead of that blank area, there were now a few shapes all intersecting one another.

In the same blue coloring as the rest of the jacket, the letter 'A' was intersected by a straight line... what looked like a saber at a second glance. Right beside it was an 'L', with a scythe intersecting it... and behind both of the letters and symbols of weaponry, was another large A, resembling my last name.

A for Ali Asterio, and her Golden Saber.

L for Lucas Asterio, and his amazing Scythe.

And the A for Asterio, and the people they once were.

It was perfect... I couldn't imagine a better engraving of my parents...

"Thanks, Manny... it's amazing. I'll come to visit soon." I told him, putting the jacket on. I felt at home as soon as it touched my skin.

"Glad you were touched by his efforts... I only heard vague details about Ali Asterio and Lucas Asterio… what kind of people were they, if you don't mind me asking?" Umbra asked as we walked further down the street.

"Amazing people. Mom was the first person to implant the idea that maybe I shouldn't use my Wrath to react to everything... and Dad's courage to save my friends and everybody else while sacrificing himself was the motivation I needed to take a stand and save everybody as well. Without Dad, I don't think I could've kept the citizens of Zealous safe against Quake's attack." I told Umbra.

"I see... they do sound like delightful people... I'll ask you one more time, Sky, what do you fight for? Is it for them? Is it for your friends? Is it for yourself?" Umbra asked me.

She stopped at the beginning of an alleyway and peered down it, as it led into an open, grassy field behind a cluster of buildings.

"What do you want my answer to be?" I returned her question.

"I hate to be harsh, but that won't get the right answer out of me. I'm guilty of this, but family bonds are what make Asterios weak. Although admirable, your bond with your parents will weaken you in the long run. Part of what makes Asterios so powerful is our resilience and our lack of emotional response in intense situations. So far, you've made it to this point by reacting with your emotions... but those emotions limit you, and I wish to teach you when it is okay to be vulnerable, and when to be impenetrable." Umbra said to me.

"I'd argue the opposite, Umbra. My emotions are what pushed me to this point, not hard work. Sometimes, it's okay to feel things. You cannot break the humanity in a man unless you steal everything away from him, right? Pushing a man into a corner is what killed Orion, Providence, and what helped me win against Cole. I don't want to doubt your ideology, but I also don't want to study it. I can react how I want to situations... what I need is strength, speed, and intelligence on my own body, not on Avie's." I told Umbra.

"It seems you got to the right answer on your own then. I can help you with all of those things with another Asterio strategy called Parallel Thought. You may have been adjusted to it in battle, but using it outside will improve your intelligence and capacity. You'll use Parallel Thought with Strand Reinforcement, and a ton of other things, which will strengthen everything at once. Fear not, Sky, I'll return you to the powerhouse status that you once were." Umbra said with a smile.

"I expect nothing less. So, teach me this Parallel Thought," I asked her.