Chapter 8 Precision
"The blood!" Zoe shouted. Dr. Valentin was already pulling her away from Lee Seng. If it was going to be like earlier, they didn't want to be anywhere near Lee Seng in case Zoe's barrier did fail. Zoe quickly bubbled the blood sample and pulled it towards her. She grasped onto the bubble as the door flew open and the two were pulled out.
Lee Seng's white tail was swirling with gray energy. The energy in the room was bouncing between heavy and light. The bed and cart groaned loudly in pain as the room fluctuated.
"Direct the energy into a specific place!" The Creator shouted into the microphone as his voice began to break from the static. Lee Seng turned to look at the mirror. The Creator looked worried. Two bodyguards were trying to pull him away from the room. "Lee Seng, if... correct then... you can... the laws of gravity...!" The Creator's static voice was breaking. The immense amount of energy started to crush and pull things apart. The window started to crack and Lee Seng watched as his father was pulled out of the room.
'Laws of gravity,' Lee Seng thought. 'Could I alter it?' Lee Seng raised his hand up towards the mirror and took a shaky breath.
----
A small Lee Seng stood in front of a younger Akio. Akio was holding a wooden sword and showing Lee Seng how to properly hold the blade.
"Remember, both hands on the handle. One hand goes in front of the other." Akio demonstrated it and Lee Seng mimicked Akio. "Good, like that. Remember this, Lee, when you strike, don't swing like you're going to hit with a baseball. A katana strike must follow the motion all the way through."
Akio began to demonstrate strikes onto a dummy. His slashes were quick and fast. The young Lee Seng stood in amazement. His excitement began to bubble and he began to wack at the wooden dummy. Akio chuckled and quickly came over to stop the young boy from building any bad habits.
"No, don't be crazy like that. Do it like this." Akio said. He kneeled down and wrapped his hands around the young boy's hands. He began to slowly demonstrate the strikes. "It's like that, okay?"
The little Lee Seng looked up at Akio and pouted.
"Why does it have to go like that? Why can't I swing however I want? You said you teach me how to fight but this is boring!" The young child complained. Akio sighed, collecting himself.
"C'mon, pipsqueak, you gotta follow it right or else you won't be able to go out on missions with us." A female voice spoke up. Akio turned to look at his sister, Akali, who was rising off the floor. His older twin sister was about to say something that would upset Lee Seng. Akio knew this as Akali always meant well but how she said it wasn't that great for a child.
The little Lee Seng turned around and tilted his curious little head at Akali.
"Big sister, what do you mean?" Lee Seng asked. Akali sighed and grabbed a wooden katana off one of the racks and walked over.
"You're going like this," Akali began to swing the sword randomly in the air. "If you can't follow with your strikes then you aren't going to get anywhere, pipsqueak." Her voice became louder and this scared Lee Seng. Lee Seng ran behind Akio who was sighing. He glanced at Lee Seng who was grabbing at his shirt and starting to tear up.
"Akali, don't scare him like that." Akio said.
"His mom wants us to teach him how to fight because he keeps asking about it. If the kid wants to do it right, he has to do it right." Akali replied. She wasn't wrong. Akio and Akali were truly dedicated when it came to training. They didn't know why Lee Seng grew fond of them, but they both thought of the kid as their little brother. Akali sighed as Lee Seng began to sob. She dropped the blade and walked over to Lee Seng and pulled him into a hug.
"Lee, you want to learn, right?" Akali's voice softly asked. Lee Seng nodded through his sobbing. "We have to teach you this way because that's how we learned it, okay? I-I'm doing this so you can show your Dad how much you're getting stronger. You wanna be a big boy like Brother Akio, right?" The little child nodded, wiping his tears. Akali smiled and wiped his face and he smiled.
"Okay, are you all done?" Akio smiled. Lee Seng nodded. "Alright, then let's keep working on it. You gotta be precise."
"Preciiiise?" Lee Seng asked. Akio and Akali nodded.
"Precise. Precision."
"What does pre-scissor mean?"
The two twins laughed and ruffled the boy's hair. He angrily tried to push their hands away and the two kept laughing.
"Precise means to do it exactly the way we are trying to teach you how to do it. Precision is the same exact thing. Do it precise and do it well." Akio explained. The three giggled and Akio clapped his hands and motioned for them to start again.
----
The memory came to him like it was meant for this one moment. He held his hand out in front of him and shakily took another breath.
'This is like sword training. Be precise. The intent must be precise.' Lee Seng thought. Lee Seng's tail flared and Lee Seng felt the energy starting to burst outwards. He began to concentrate the energy going out of his hand and shooting out straight into a single point in the mirror. The energy quickly flew towards Lee Seng's left arm and out of his left hand and rippled out.
CRASSH!
The mirror began to shatter into a million pieces. Lee Seng began to see the pieces be pushed into the wall behind the mirror. The wall began to groan cave in on itself. His left arm and hand were becoming heavy. The push of gravity cracked the walls, spreading the cracks like a spiderweb. Lee Seng groaned and tried to focus on the wall not breaking. The energy began to pull and the wall started to shake inwards.
'Please stay, please stay, please stay!' Lee Seng screamed into his head. He closed his hand and his arm swung down, pulling him to the ground.
THUD!
His fist crashed into the ground, cracking the floor. He felt the energy dissipate and sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness..." He muttered. He pulled his arm towards him and shifted his position to lie on the ground facing up. His arm and hand were heavy. He huffed and puffed with a smile.
'I can push and pull.' He observed. 'If I can do that then I wonder what else I can do... I wonder why my body always gets heavy?' The only noise coming from the room was Lee Seng's heavy breathing. It had taken a lot of focus to not let his power break a wall. He inadvertently learned he could disrupt the flow of gravity and alter it to his will. He could push things away from him. That he was sure of, but he didn't think he could pull things towards him.
The door to the room swung open. It creaked loudly. Dr. Valentin and Zoe peeked into the room. They only heard breathing and stepped into the room. Rubble, glass and dust seemed to be scattered near the entrance and mirror area of the room. The two slowly walked in and saw Lee Seng lying on the floor.
"Lee, are you okay?" Zoe asked. She started to make her way over when Dr. Valentin grabbed her. She looked at Dr. Valentin and gave him a confused look. He shook his head.
"Let me go first. Barrier me in case." He said. She slowly nodded. She touched him and a glowing outline of a barrier surrounded him. Dr. Valentin made his way over towards Lee Seng and kneeled. Lee Seng began to chuckle when he saw Dr. Valentin.
"Are you okay, Lee Seng?" He asked. Lee Seng nodded.
"I focused the energy through my left arm and hand, so it's heavy." Lee Seng replied. Dr. Valentin nodded and raised his hand above Lee Seng. Green energy began to disperse all over Lee Seng and the calming sensation flooded his body. Lee Seng sighed in relief.
'Hmm, he's perfectly fine, but I can't heal his left arm. Could it be a negative?' Dr. Valentin asked himself. He let his healing go for a bit longer and Lee Seng felt his arm's weight lighten a little bit, but it wasn't letting up on the weight. Lee Seng waved Dr. Valentin to stop.
"Stop. I'm fine. My arm isn't letting up because of the weight." Lee Seng said. Dr. Valentin stopped and sighed.
"Might be your power's negative." Zoe said. Dr. Valentin snapped his head back, hushing her. Zoe looked at Dr. Valentin with an odd look and wandered over. She popped her head into Lee Seng's view. "Every power has a negative. Everytime I barrier, it uses my stamina as well as Dark Matter. Those with fire abilities tend to burn themselves or have a heat negative. In your case, you could be inflicting yourself the weight as the negative of using your power."
Lee Seng nodded. It did make sense. Every power had its positives and negatives. The strongest Biohumans had negatives too. They had to train and find ways to negate the negative to use their powers well.
"So if I figure out how to negate the negative properly, it won't be as taxing?" Lee Seng asked. Zoe nodded as Dr. Valentin sighed.
"It won't be as easy as you think it is. Zoe and I have to rest to regain our stamina and energy while people like Akio needs to replenish himself with some sunlight to stop his power from overtaking him." Dr. Valentin explained. "The more powerful a power is, the bigger negative."
A loud beep was heard and Zoe tapped her wristwatch. A small message appeared and her eyes quickly scanned the message. Her happy attitude switched to a more serious attitude and she looked over at Lee Seng before looking at Dr. Valentin.
"It looks like they need us right now." She told Dr. Valentin. Dr. Valentin nodded and stood up. Zoe looked at Lee Seng. "You should rest for awhile until your arm is moveable, again. The Numbers are being called in for a problem. Sorry we can't help you. I can send someone to check up on you if you want."
"Oh," Lee Seng said. "Don't worry about me. I'll lie here for a bit. The weight is letting up anyways." He forcefully smiled and Zoe gave a concerned nod before turning.