No one said anything. The Dueling Hearts looked at each other. They were all hurt, and tired, and the thought of training was, alone, enough to make them even more hurt and tired. This time, Jo didn’t hesitate to speak for the group. She frowned, and said, “Wil, I’m sorry, I know that we don’t have a lot of time to get ready, but we’re not in any shape to train today. We need time to recover.”

She said it like she was surprised to have to say it, like she was explaining the obvious to someone. Wilson was a martial artist. He knew the affect that hard training could have on a body that simply wasn’t ready for it. Beginning their training now could end up causing far more harm than good. The suggestion that the Dueling Hearts begin their training immediately was insane.

Wilson knew that, though. He smiled at Jo in a knowing way. “Oh, of course, you need time to recover,” he agreed. “That’s exactly what today’s lesson will focus on.”

“I don’t understand,” Jo told him.

Wilson smiled at her again, and a thoughtful look passed across his face. After a beat of a second or so, he said, “You all know that increased amounts of life energy can help people to heal faster.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement, and yet Jo and the other Dueling Hearts all nodded in affirmation.

“That’s all well and good,” Wilson explained, “for someone who has the ability to harness external life energy, or someone who specializes in, or knows someone who specializes in, using Sol and life energy to heal. But that isn’t the case for everyone, and,” he looked at Jo, “some of us wouldn’t be any better off even if we did.”

Wilson approached Jo, and looked her right in the eyes, “You, Miss Sieger, are at a disadvantage compared to the majority of fighters. The nature of your Sol means that, when it comes to healing, you are restricted to your own life energy.”

Jo was a little surprised. She couldn’t remember the last time that Wilson had brought up her unnatural Sol. He was aware of it, of course, he’d just never seemed to care enough to bring it up, choosing to instruct her in ways that were best suited to her overall. Her first instinct, especially after the recent events at the Megadojo, was to be offended by Wilson brashness, but she was just exhausted enough that she couldn’t find to energy to feel as offended as she wanted to. Wilson continued speaking, and she was faced with the truth that he was not, in fact, being offensive, and that he had only brought up her Sol out of necessity.

“What happens,” Wilson asked, “when a Sol fighter forces their Sol and life energies to mix?”

“Both energies flare up,” Jen answered eagerly, “and someone who knows how can take control of the increased Sol energy to create an aura.”

Wilson nodded, “That’s correct, but only in part.”

Jen looked surprised. She wasn’t used to someone calling her knowledge into question.

“Very few fighters know this,” Wilson continued, pacing back and forth again, “but when a fighter mixes their energies together, creating an aura from the resulting spike in Sol is not their only option. Someone who knows how can choose to seize the increased life energy, and create an aura from it instead. It’s not possible to create an aura from Sol and an aura from life energy at the same time, and an aura made from life energy doesn’t increase one’s speed and strength, but it does infuse the fighter’s body with high amounts of their own life energy, continuously, for as long as it is active.”

It took a second to realize what Wilson was suggesting, but once that realization struck, Jo’s eyes lit up. Her mind was flooded with new possibilities. “Wait,” she exclaimed, “you’re saying that I can create a healing aura? That there’s a way for me to recover from fights faster?”

“Not you specifically,” Wilson replied, “but yes, the technique that I plan to teach all of you today can help all of you to heal much more quickly from injuries entirely on your own. It is not a fast method of healing by default. A healing aura is limited in its potency by the intensity of the energy that is generated to create it, just like a Sol aura, but it will heal your body over time, and even restore some of your stamina.”

“It makes sense,” Jen said, almost to herself. “I’m really surprised that none of us thought to try something like this before.”

“It isn’t all that surprising,” said Jo, just as thoughtfully as her cousin. “I remember hearing since I was a kid that making an aura out of Sol was the pinnacle of what could be done by mixing energies. It’s all I focused on for a long time, and as soon as I worked out how to do it, I just kind of stopped thinking about it.”

“This life aura thing sounds great,” Tucker announced excitedly. “I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but my fighting style involves getting hit a lot.”

He said it in a way that made you wonder if he was serious or not. Maybe it was how tired they were, or how thrilling it was to learn something new about something that they already knew so well, but Jo and Jen and Tucker all felt like laughing, and they almost did. The first chuckles were upon their lips when Sara interrupted their sudden happy mood.

“But I can’t create an aura.”

All eyes turned toward Sara. Jo’s stomach dropped. She’d completely forgotten about Sara’s limitations compared to the others. Even Jen, who hadn’t quite worked out how to create a proper aura, could still manifest her Sol in a similar manner.

“I’m aware of that,” Wilson told Sara, his tone straightforward, but not harsh. “It may take a little extra work, but I think you will also be able to master this technique within the time that we have. The principles behind creating the two auras are similar, but not exactly the same. It is technically possible for someone to master the creation of a life aura, and never manage to create an aura from their Sol even once.”

“No,” Sara began, “you don’t-.” Then she stopped talking abruptly, and looked away from the others.

“What is it, young lady?” Wilson asked.

“It’s nothing,” Sara replied, though she didn’t look him in the eyes, “if you think you can teach me how to do this, then let’s do it.”

Wilson eyed her for several seconds, but in the end, he seemed to decide that he was satisfied with Sara’s reply. He looked one more time at each of the Dueling Hearts in turn, “Then that’s that. You all know what the focus of today’s training will be. Meditate, mix your Sol and life energies together, and try to create a healing aura. It will not be easy, but it will not put a substantial strain on your bodies, either, and should you succeed, your injuries will begin to heal themselves. I will be meditating as well. Disturb me only if you need my assistance, or you manage to create the aura.”

He stepped past the Dueling Hearts, and he walked to the far end of the training floor. Slowly, he lowered himself into a sitting position. He crossed his legs, pressed his fingertips together, closed his eyes, and began to breathe slowly and deliberately. The four Dueling Hearts lined up, and dropped to the floor as well, following suit.

They meditated for hours, taking periodic breaks only to use the bathroom, and to recharge, taking advantage of the stock of protein bars and bottled water that Wilson kept in a fridge in the back corner. Jo was surprised by how difficult it was to do as Wilson had asked. He’d said that creating an aura out of life energy wasn’t like creating one out of Sol energy, that it sounded more similar than it was, and he had reiterated that point when Tucker had, twice, interrupted Wilson’s meditation to complain, but as time passed, and afternoon threatened to encroach on evening, Jo found that she was genuinely surprised by how right he was.

It was around four-thirty in the afternoon when Wilson finally, suddenly, ended his own meditation, stood, and addressed the Dueling Hearts again. “I think that that will be enough for today,” he announced. “Even though none of you have managed to create the aura yet, you all seem to have  a grasp of how you might, which is enough for the time being. Take two days to recover, to heal in your own ways, and to practice creating a life energy aura on your own time. Return here the day after, whether you have managed to create the aura or not, and we will move on to the next phase of your training.”

Jo opened her mouth to speak, but Wilson interjected, smiling, “Yes, you may do your independent training here. All of you may, if that is what you wish.”

Jo returned his smile, and stood up slowly, taking care of her aching muscles.

“I have a different question,” Jen asked, finding her feet as well. “What should we do if we manage to create the aura before the two practice days are up?”

It was an innocent enough question, but there was a certain tinge of anticipation beneath her words. Jen loved to learn, and was always looking for new things to try. It was clear to everyone present that she was hoping that Wilson would tell her what their next training exercise would be so that she could start early.

Wilson gave her a knowing look, and replied, “In that case, you are to practice sustaining that aura. A healing aura will not drain you in the same way that a Sol aura would, but it will take far more concentration to keep going. If you manage to create one, then you should practice creating it again, and again, until it becomes effortless to do so. Then you should practice keeping it going for long periods of time while you perform other activities. Try to run through your regular forms with the aura going. For example.”

Jen nodded. It probably wasn’t quite what she had expected, but it was intriguing enough to satisfy her curiosity regardless.

The Dueling Hearts filed from the building one after another, and went their separate ways. As Tucker and Jen made their way to the nearest bus stop, Jo and Sara walked towards home, together. Where Jo was left feeling optimistic after everything that she had learned, Sara was just as quiet and as downtrodden as she had been that morning. It didn’t take Jo long to notice, but even once she had, she wasn’t sure what, if anything, she should say.

As the two of them approached the house, Jo finally decided to just say something, even if it was just whatever popped into her head.

“Hey,” she said, “we’re gonna get those guys. You know that, right? And you’re gonna get the handle of your auras. Both of them.”

Sara paused, and she looked over her shoulder at her sister, but she said nothing, and her expression was unreadable. She started walking again, and didn’t look back.

She’s feeling down, Jo thought, as she watched her sister go. She was defeated more completely than she’s ever been, and she can’t help but wonder if having an aura would have changed that. Wilson’s training is reminding her of that.

Jo followed her sister inside. This was exactly the kind of situation where Sara would want space, and so Jo decided to give that space to her. She knew that, unsure of herself or not, Sara would do everything in her power to improve, and she would meet the Sol Takers with everything that she had when they returned.

Two days passed quickly enough. The Dueling Hearts spent very little time together. Only Jo and Sara, and Jo and Tucker, saw each other at all. Sara spent all of her free time training wherever it was that she usually trained. Jo didn’t know, and not for the first time, she was curious to find out. Strangely enough, Jo saw more of her best friend than she did of her own sister. Tucker showed up out of nowhere the morning of the second day to show Jo that he had succeeded. He wanted to demonstrate. It took almost a full minute to pull it off, but soon he was surrounded in a swirling, sparkling, shell of golden light. He had to visibly strain, but he was able to keep the aura going for a few more minutes after that.

Jo was impressed, and after seeing Tucker create a healing aura, she rededicated herself to creating her own. Tucker tried to help, but he couldn’t quite put into words what had been different the time that he had finally managed to pull it off. They had been best friends for years, and Jo still didn’t speak Tucker as fluently as she wanted to.

It was that afternoon, once Tucker had left, that Jo finally got it. It lasted only a few seconds, but she had done it. She had created an aura from her own life energy. After the fact, she couldn’t really describe the sensation either. If she had tried to put it into words, she might have said that, where creating an aura out of Sol required that you mix Sol and life energy, and then grab ahold of that Sol energy and shape it with your will, creating an aura out of life energy was less about forcing the energy, and more about holding the Sol energy back, and allowing the life energy to flow outward and fill you up, overflow, and create the aura all on its own. Even that, however, wasn’t entirely right.

Still, the sensation was unique enough that Jo remembered it, and the experience was meaningful enough to her that she was eager to repeat it. Just as Wilson had said, because the aura was made from her own energy, her body didn’t reject it. For the first time in her life, Jo was able to experience what so many Sol fighters took for granted: the ability to use Sol training to heal.

She didn’t recover all that much, despite managing to create her aura again and keep it going for the better part of half an hour, but as someone who had always had to recover from fights the hard way, feeling her injuries disappear before her eyes was life-changing.

Jo woke up the next morning at the same time that she had three days ago, but this time she awoke feeling very little pain, and quite a bit of confidence. She dressed, and made her way out of her room, and just as she had three days ago, she bumped into her sister. Sara’s spirits didn’t seem nearly so high, but when she saw Jo, she seemed more at ease than she had since the fight. At ease enough, at least, to roll her eyes in response to her sister’s comparatively good mood.

“Morning,” Jo said, as she fell in step with Sara.

Sara rolled her eyes again.

“I haven’t seen you much lately,” Jo continued, treading as carefully as she felt that she could, “and I was wondering, how did your training go?”

Sara didn’t look at her, but after a moment’s pause, she said, “I got the aura to work. Yesterday. I still have a little trouble making it whenever I want, but I can do it.”

Jo and Sara filed together into Wilson’s. Memories of the night before had been coming back to them since their brief conversation back at the house. The stages of each of their fights that had led to the two of them being defeated flashed into their minds again and again, and the sisters, with their characteristic stubbornness, were crushed. They couldn’t meet each other's eyes, and once they were inside the building, they drifted to opposite corners of the main room and stood in silence. So far, they were the only people there. Even Wilson himself seemed to be absent.

It wasn’t long, however, before the two girls were joined by the first of their friends. Tucker walked through the door, slowly, with his head down. His hands were placed firmly in the pockets of his baggy sweats, and there was some slight spotting on his white shirt where the wound no his side had continued to bleed a bit, even in spite of Wilson’s efforts the night before. Tucker met Jo’s eyes, and then the two of them looked away from each other. They didn’t speak. Jo knew full well that Tucker didn’t mind losing, even if he lost badly, but this loss was different. It had hit all of them harder, and cut all of them deeper, than any defeat before. Tucker didn’t know where to go from here. He didn’t know what to say, and he knew that Jo wouldn’t want to say anything. So Tucker simply didn’t say anything either.

Another few minutes later, Jen arrived as well. She scanned the room, and after just one glance, she understood what every one of her friends was feeling. Their body language and their silence gave it all away. Jen was, thankfully, above such things. She didn’t allow things like this to get the best of her. To draw her emotions to the surface where they could override her logic. Since returning home the night before, she had been going over the exchange with the Sol Takers in her head, trying to piece together as much as she could about them, and even deduce weaknesses in the fighting style of her and Tucker’s opponent, should she have to face him again. She didn’t have anything concrete to go on yet, but she was confident that she would soon.

With all four Dueling Hearts present, Jo found that she couldn’t ignore the situation anymore. She felt responsible for what had happened to them. She felt like she needed to say something, but before she could, Wilson beat her to it. So suddenly that not one of the Dueling Hearts noticed, Wilson appeared in the doorway to his office, dressed, strangely enough, in a pressed shirt, a sweater vest, slacks, and a tie. He adjusted said tie, and began.

“I’m glad that all four of you came,” Wilson said. “I had half expected one or more of you to ignore my invitation.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Jen told him, “you promised to explain things, and all four of us want to know what the hell is going on here.”

Wilson didn’t answer. Instead, it was Sara who spoke. “I almost didn’t come,” she said, almost too quietly for the others to hear. Suddenly all eyes were on her, but she didn’t acknowledge their gaze, and she didn’t volunteer any more information.

“What the four of you went through,” Wilson said sympathetically, “is something that should never be experienced by anyone. The people you fought do things with Sol that are, frankly, immoral and reprehensible.”

“Which is actually the first question that I’d like you to answer,” Jo interjected. “How did you know who they were?”

“I didn’t,” Wilson answered, “at least not specifically. I was simply able to deduce who it was that they were with.”

“How?” Tucker asked. “You’re old, and those three were not. So unless they’re, like, fifty years younger than anyone else in their organization, it can’t be that old either.”

“The Sol Takers is an old organization,” Wilson explained, “but this particular incarnation, it would seem, is not.”

Wilson stepped the rest of the way into the room with the Dueling Hearts, and he began to pace. The four young fighters could see on his face that he was trying to decide how to proceed with his explanation, and they were surprised by his choice. Suddenly, he stopped walking, held his hands behind his back, and without looking at them again, he asked, “How much do the four of you know about the history of Sol?”

The Dueling Hearts looked at each other questioningly. They were Sol fighters They all knew the history of Sol. Why would Wilson ask them such a ridiculous question? He had to be joking, and yet he said nothing else, waiting patiently for an answer. It was Jen who gave him one.

“We know as much as anyone,” Jen told him.

“More,” Jo added, “since there are things that Mom knows that most people don’t.”

Wilson met Jo’s eyes. Between her still-arching body, and the fact that, even now, her brain was still processing the events of the night before, it took her a few seconds to realize that Wilson wanted Jo to actually recount what Shannon had taught her.

“Sol appeared thirty years ago,” Jo explained, “and changed the world when people learned how to use it, but if you look at history, it’s pretty clear that Sol existed in ancient times, too. All of the old myths and stories of magic and mysticism can be explained by Sol.”

Wilson nodded, “That’s true. Sol has existed since ancient times. The few thousand years leading up to the resurgence thirty years ago was the odd exception. That means that Sol, the power that we wield today, is the same power wielded by men and women long dead. And I mean that literally. It is the exact same power.”

“What does that mean?” Jen asked. All eyes were firmly on Wilson now.

“There is reason to believe,” Wilson said, turning to face the four Dueling Hearts, “that Sol, like other forms of energy, cannot be created or destroyed, and so the Sol that people possess now must draw from the same well of Sol energy that those ancient people also drew upon. The Sol that we all bear today existed those thousands of years ago. It hasn’t changed.”

“That makes sense,” Jen remarked. “It’s like when you burn something. You’re not actually creating new energy. You’re just releasing the chemical energy stored in whatever you’re burning. Energy which has been recycled since the big bang. But what does any of this have to do with the guys who attacked us?”

“If Sol is so ancient,” Wilson continued, “and ancient myths are actually stories of people with strong Sols, then that would mean that the ancient gods of those myths were real people with unique Sols so strong that mortal men could not compare.”

“You’re saying,” Sara chimed in, “that, like, the ancient Greek and Egyptian gods were real? That’s where you’re going with this?”

“Exactly,” Wilson replied, and then moved on immediately, without giving the Dueling Hearts even a moment’s pause to let this new information sink in.

“For lack of any better term,” Wilson explained, pacing again, “I’ve been calling Sols like these Divine Sols. They are incredibly rare, and they do not come about when a person’s Sol awakens, like a natural or an unnatural Sol. Someone is born with a Divine Sol, and then it awakens just like any other, becoming either a Divine Natural Sol, or a Divine Unnatural Sol.

“As far as I can tell from what little research I have been able to do,” Wilson continued, his words coming faster and faster now, “there is only one person alive today to have been born with one of these unique kinds of Sols, and that’s the leader of the Sol Takers. Divine Sols have broader powers that most other Sols can never grow to match, and Their Leader has one of the deadliest Divine Sols of all. He can draw the Sol from the bodies of others and add that Sol to his own. If the rumors are true, he can even take some of victim’s knowledge into himself at the same time, stealing some of their abilities. And from what those three were saying, he has the ability the pass that power to his follows now, as well.”

“This-this is a lot to take in,” Tucker stammered. He walked over to a chair against the far wall and sat down, touching his injured side gingerly.

“I suppose it must be,” Wilson agreed, nodded, “but unfortunately we simply don’t have time for me to ease all of you into this slowly. I realize that this information changes everything, but we don’t have any choice but for the four of you to internalize it quickly.”

“Okay,” Sara said, “sure, I’m internalizing. But I still don’t understand a few things. If this guy had such a dangerous Sol, why did he disappear for thirty years? And what does any of this have to do with us?”

Wilson stopped pacing and looked to each of the Dueling Hearts in turn, “Thirty years ago, a small group of brave warriors stood up to the leader of the Sol Takers. They were naturally talented in the use of Sol, but working together they managed to injure their foe, damaging his Sol itself. He was left with no way to repair that damage and regain his old abilities. Until now, at least. Back around the time that Sol faded from the world for the first time, another man with a Divine Sol met a similar fate.

“He lost a battle, and his Sol was broken into pieces and scattered to the wind. However, it was foretold that the pieces of his Sol would be reborn one day in a select group of special warriors with natural talent and a drive great enough to one day grow those fragments into full Divine Sols once again. The leader of the Sol Takers seeks those warriors so that he can take their Sol energy and use it to heal his own Sol.”

“But the Sol Takers were after us,” Jo replied. Wilson met her eyes, and she ran through all that he had said again, and it clicked. “You mean,” she said, “that the four of us are those special warriors?”

“Some of them, yes,” Wilson answered.

“Who are the others?” Sara asked, with a dazed look in her eyes.

“I don’t know,” Wilson told her.

“How can someone’s Sol be injured,” Jen asked curiously, “and how can someone else’s Sol heal it?”

“That one is difficult to explain,” Wilson replied, “as I don’t understand it fully myself, but from what I can tell, Divine Sols are more tangible than regular Sols. And since their raw energy is only a perfect match for other Divine Sols, only the energy of other Divine Sols can serve as a bandage to repair them. He might be able to use the Sol energy of other, regular Sol fighters to stop the wound from getting worse, but he will never fully recover in that way, because the Sol of regular Sol fighters is more metaphysical.”

“And if there were someone, other than the warriors you were talking about,” Jo asked, still speaking as if she were having trouble counting herself among those warriors, “who was known to have one of these Divine Sols, Their Leader would be going after them too?”

“That’s right,” Wilson answered. “In fact, it is likely that he would have given up hope by now, if not for the old story that I mentioned that spoke of the Divine Sol Fragments being reborn in modern fighters. It is only because of that story that he even knows that you exist.”

“So do we have, like, special powers?” Sara asked. She sounded skeptical, rather than excited, and she looked like she was desperate for the answer.

“Not automatically,” Wilson told her, and the other Dueling Hearts. “You have the potential to become stronger than most people with regular Sols. You also have the power to grow during combat, if you fight fiercely enough, but your Sols are still yours to develop however you choose to. You have the potential for greatness, but just like everyone, it is up to you to reach that potential.”

He stood there, silent, as if waiting to take more questions. Jo felt like she should have more to ask, but nothing actually came to mind, so she didn’t say anything. It was Tucker who spoke next. He’d had enough time now to process what Wilson had said, and he’d come to one conclusion. “This is crazy,” he announced.

“Would you care to elaborate regarding what exactly you find crazy, Mr. Tucker?” Wilson asked, in a tone that sounded kindly, but purposefully so.

“All of it,” Tucker ranted, hopping up from his chair and pacing back and forth. “Everything that you said. It’s all nuts.”

“And is it also ‘nuts’, Mr. Tucker,” Wilson asked, speaking deliberately, and giving Tucker a look very much like the one that he had given the Sol Takers the night before, “that a group of three might appear in town, with training in Sol that goes beyond anything that any of you four have seen, and target the four of you specifically?”

Tucker glared at Wilson, but his expression wasn’t as harsh as he wanted it to be. Jo could already see the beginnings of acceptance behind his fiery gaze.

“Because that happened, Mr. Tucker,” Wilson continued, taking a slow step toward Tucker, and then another, “and they intend to return in only two short week, or rather thirteen days if you don’t count today, and if you aren’t ready to face them when they arrive, they will take your Sol from you.”

Tucker looked away from Wilson submissively, but he was far from admitting out loud that he was beginning to believe Wilson’s story.

“Wait,” Sara said, “Tucker was right, at least kinda. This is crazy. It’s crazy that you expect us to fight those guys again.”

“Yeah,” Jo agreed. “Wil, those guys seemed to know you, and they were afraid of you. Can’t you do something about them?”

“They did not know me,” Wilson replied, a tinge of sadness in his tone of voice, “they were merely able to use Sol to gauge my potential. In their tired state, my full strength might have been enough to drive them off, but even fighting at my full potential for that long might have been enough to finish this frail body of mine. If I were to fight them at their best, even going all out with every technique that I know, I would lose instantly.”

Jo didn’t know what to say. She’d hoped that her master were somehow some sort of superhuman, like Roshi, from Dragon Ball, who could just handle the problem of the Sol Takers for her and the Dueling Hearts, but powerful or not, he was an old man. She thought about suggesting that the Dueling Hearts fight with him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. What if he were overestimating himself, and any amount of serious combat would kill him? Jo couldn’t risk that.

“That’s actually not what I meant,” Sara said, interrupting Jo’s thoughts. “It’s crazy that you expect us to fight those guys again, when we could run away. They’re coming back here. All we have to do is get out of town until they leave.”

“I could get behind that plan,” Tucker agreed, his hand shooting up over his head.

Wilson looked like he was about to say something, but Jen beat him to it, “No, that’s stupid.”

Sara glared at her, and Jen said, “Sorry, I don’t mean that you’re stupid. I just mean that I don’t think you guys are quite grasping how impossible that would be. If these Sol Takers are really so numerous that they are able to organize on a global scale, which they would have to to seek out a few special Sols among billions of people, then to escape them, we’d have to disappear forever. And even then, we’d still be at risk of them finding us by accident. That’s why witness protection is so tricky.”

Jen looked to each other member of the Dueling Hearts in turn, “I think Wilson’s right. The only way to end this is to get strong enough to fight these guys ourselves.”

The Dueling Hearts looked to Jo. It took her a second to notice, but once she did, she realized that they was expecting her to decide what they would do. She was technically the leader of their team, but this was far from what she’d signed up for. These were the kinds of decisions that she had never even imagined having to make, and yet she found herself ready to make this one, if only so that none of her friends would have to. She considered their options for a few moments. She found herself once again thinking about Karen, and how she had moved during their fight, and, strangely enough, about her smile. That was enough to snap Jo out of her reverie, and finally she asked, “Wil, do you really think that you can train us to beat those guys in two weeks?”

Wilson grinned confidently, and nodded, “I do.”

“Then we stay,” Jo announced, “and we fight.”

The Dueling Hearts didn’t seem exactly happy about Jo’s decision, but they did seem accepting of it. No one so much as looked like they might argue, which was something that Jo found strange. However, she didn’t have time to think that for long.

“In that case,” Wilson announced, noting the same looks of acceptance on the faces of his newest students, “the first lesson begins right now.”

Jo didn’t know how to react to what Karen was said, and it was clear that Karen was waiting for a reaction. All Jo could do was stand there, her face throbbing. After a second or so, she finally uttered a simple, “What?”

“We’re here for your Sol,” Karen repeated. “That’s Sol in the plural sense, by the way. Our Leader seeks a number of special Sols. He wishes to possess their unique energy for himself. He scouted you and your Dueling Hearts as potential bearers of those Sols. We were sent to confirm his suspicions, and if he turned out to be right, to take your Sol energy from you.”

Jo felt like she’s been smacked in the face, now metaphorically as well as literally. Her head felt foggy, but that wasn’t the reason why nothing that Karen was saying was making any sense. “You can’t take a person’s Sol energy,” she told Karen, “that’s not possible.”

“Our Leader can,” Karen countered insistently, “but because his movements as of late are, let’s say, limited, he has to rely on his allies to seek out strong Sols for him.”

Lawrence removed a metal amulet from his pocket and held it up for Jo to see, with a nasty grin spreading across his face. It glowed faintly. “Our Leader has the ability to share powers with others, or even with some objects,” Karen explained. “He allowed us to borrow his technique for identifying those with the Sols that he is looking for, and he put his power to take the Sol energy from others into this artifact. It will store your Sol until we can return to him with it.”

“Others within our organization,” Monty explained, “will take the Sols of any strong opponents that Our Leader sends them to assess, as an offering to him, even if they don’t turn out to be what Our Leader is looking for. The three of us, on the other hand, will avoid doing so whenever possible. You four were simply unlucky enough to actually have the Sols in question. Some of them, at least.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Jo stammered. “Everyone’s Sol starts out the same, and only changes based on who they are. Everyone’s Sol is just as special as everyone else’s. Even if you could take Sol from someone, that doesn’t explain why you would want ours.”

“You don’t need to know the specifics,” Karen told Jo, sounding almost sympathetic. “All you need to know is that the three of us intend to be as delicate as we can. Even Lawrence wouldn’t just kill you for no reason. You’ll almost definitely survive the process, and because of the unique nature of your four Sols, you may even be able to develop Sol all over again and regain some of your former strength one day.”

Karen looked over at Lawrence and nodded. He stepped forward, and it hit Jo for the first time that these three were absolutely serious about this. Even injured, with her stamina depleted, Jo could feel that there was power in the amulet that Lawrence held. Jo reacted on instinct, stepping back into her back stance. Energy crackled in the air around her as her body settled into position. Lawrence’s only reaction was another of his broad, intimidating smiles. He saw that she intended to fight, and that excited him.

Jo would, of course, fight. If there was even a chance that the Sol Takers might actually be able to live up to their name, and that it might kill her and her friends, Jo would fight, no matter how hurt she was, until she couldn’t fight anymore. She’d fight all three of the Sol Takers if she had to, and she could see, in that moment, that they were prepared to make her if that’s what she chose.

And so, because she saw no other option, she made that choice.

Jo felt her energies churning within her as she focused on mixing them together, and building them up. Her life energy flared alongside her Sol energy, alleviating some of the pain that she was feeling, and she bore down on her Sol energy and wrapped herself in it. As weak as she was at this point, her aura was so small that could barely be seen, but it was all that she had. She planted her feet firmly, prepared to launch herself at her assailants with everything that she had left, but she was saved from additional pain when a new voice lent itself to the conversation.

“What’s going on out here? You’re making near enough noise to make the dead, which just happens to be barely enough to wake an old man like me.”

Jo turned, along with the Sol Takers, toward the source of the sound. Standing in the open back door of his dojo was Wilson himself, dressed in a robe, carrying a straight wooden cane that Jo knew he sometimes carried when he had to leave the dojo for an extended period of time. Jo couldn’t breathe. She’d forgotten why it was that she and the other Dueling Hearts had agreed to fight the Sol Takers in the first place. Now she was reminded, and there was nothing she could do to protect Wilson any longer if the Sol Takers decided to use him for further leverage.

“Wil,” Jo said, trying to hide how desperate she felt, “go back inside. Let me handle this.”

Wilson smiled at her, and then looked at the other Dueling Hearts still lying on the ground nearby. Jo took his meaning. She hadn’t been able to handle things so far. What made her think that anything had changed?

That doesn’t mean that you can do anything here that we couldn’t, Jo thought, but she had enough respect for the man to refrain from saying it out loud.

Instead, she looked the old man in the eyes and said, “These three are dangerous, Wil. They don’t want you. They just want us. Just go back inside.”

Wilson walked over to her, and he looked over her broken nose carefully. “I have this dojo for a reason, young lady,” he said, “I can handle myself.” He reached up, and with a swift twist, he popped the cartilage in her nose back into place. Then his hand glowed, and he gripped her nose, hard, so hard that she almost blacked out from the pain, but when his hand came away, most of the pain was gone.

Then, without another word, Wilson turned away from Jo, and stood between her and the Sol Takers. He planted his cane firmly in front of him. All of the sudden, it was like he was a different person. Jo took an involuntary step back. She could feel an intense wave of Sol pouring from her mentor’s frail body. Looking past him, at the Sol Takers, he could see that they felt it is well.

Monty and Lawrence looked at each other with varying levels of concern and confusion. Karen kept her eyes fixed on Wilson, but the calm smile that had accompanied her since her first direct interaction with the Dueling Hearts had faded from her face.

“I know who you are,” Wilson told Karen and her companions, “or rather I know who you represent. I may be trapped in the frail body of an old man, but I know more about how to augment the human body with Sol than almost anyone else alive. The three of you may have defeated these four,” he gestured to Jo and the other Dueling Hearts, “and you may have done so relatively easily, but you can’t fool me as easily as you can then. I can feel how worn out you are.”

Wilson looked to Jo, “Miss Sieger will fight at my side.” He turned back to the Sol Takers, “You three can sense the power that I wield. Are you really confident that you can take both of us as you are now?”

Jo was caught completely off guard. She’d never seen Wilson like this before. She knew that he had knowledge of Sol, obviously. He had a dojo, and he had advised her many times on how to better focus her energies, something that was often difficult for someone with a Sol like hers, but she never thought of him as threatening, or as all that capable of fighting. Now he was threatening some of the most powerful fighters that Jo and her friends had ever seen, and his threats seemed to be giving their enemies pause.

Karen in particular seemed to really be considering Wilson’s words. Finally, after a pause of several long seconds, she looked Wilson right in the eye, and she asked, “What would you have us do? Our Leader suspects that these four possess four of the Sols that he seeks. Even if we lie, his quest for those special Sols will lead him to these four again one day. It is much safer for us to simply do our job.”

“Your leader,” Wilson inquired, “prefers that you bring him the most potent Sols that you can, correct?”

Karen nodded.

“Then he would be forgiving of a delay if it meant bringing him special Sols even stronger than the ones that these four possess here today.”

“That’s true,” Karen admitted. Jo could see from the look on her face that she was already beginning to follow Wilson’s line of reasoning, but Jo herself was as confused as ever.

“Then leave here,” Wilson offered Karen, “and come back in two weeks. In that time, I’ll train these four.”

“Making them stronger,” Karen said, continuing his thought for him, “and therefore more worthwhile for Our Leader.”

“Except,” Wilson said, a fierce edge to his voice, “you’ll have to fight them again when you return, and if they’ve managed to get strong enough to beat you in those two weeks, you have to leave them in peace.”

“If you can train these four weakling to beat us in only two weeks,” Lawrence said, laughing, “then you might just be able to make that miracle come true, too.”

Karen looked over at Lawrence, and he fell quiet. She remained silent again for a few more seconds. Jo could tell that she was deep in thought, that she was trying to work something out. Jo found herself trying to read what she was thinking on her face. She almost thought that she could, too, that she could see Karen trying to come up with a way to use this situation to let Jo and her friends go, but that was just wishful thinking.

Either way, Jo was too distracted waiting for Karen to answer that she didn’t notice at first when her friends began to stir, one after another, as they shook off the unconsciousness brought about by their recent altercations. She kept her eyes on Karen. She almost couldn’t tear them away. She didn’t even realize that she’d been holding her breath until Karen spoke, saying, “I accept your terms.”

Jo’s eyes darted to the other Sol Takers. Monty didn’t seem disappointed by Karen’s decision, but he didn’t seem enthusiastic about it, either. Lawrence didn’t seem necessarily disappointed, either, but he didn’t seem like he thought it was a good idea. He looked at Jo and Wilson like he might attack them on his own, but he restrained himself, eventually turning away from them completely. Karen turned away next, followed by Monty, and the three started moving away, toward the street. As they did, Karen turned and looked over her shoulder, saying, “Two weeks. Use them well.”

Wilson continued to stand his ground, but Jo turned to her friends. They were all awake, now. Tucker was up, and he was carrying himself well, ignoring his injuries. He reached down, and he helped Sara up. She was still so dazed that she didn’t even mind leaning on Tucker to avoid using her damaged leg. Jo rushed over to them, and she helped Jen to stand up as well.

“What happened?” Tucker asked.

“Did you win,” Sara asked, looking around, “and why is Wilson out here?”

Jo opened her mouth to respond, but Wilson himself beat her to it. “That,” he said, turning, finally, to look at the Dueling Hearts again, “is a very long story, and the four of you have had a long night. You are injured, in some cases quite seriously. I can alleviate the worst of that for you, but the four of you require rest, and time to start recovering. Go home tonight and sleep, and return here tomorrow, and we will sort everything out.”

Wilson said all of this with absolute authority, in a tone that commanded respect. This was a side of Wilson that Jo was familiar with. She had encountered this Wilson before during training. This was a Wilson that she could deal with. So, when the other Dueling Hearts looked to her for answers, despite Wilson’s words, Jo said, “We’ll do as he says. He somehow seems to know more about what’s going on here than I do, anyway.”

The other Dueling Hearts didn’t seem to like her answer, but they were too tired to argue, or even think about arguing. They followed Wilson inside the dojo, and allowed him to use some of his Sol to reverse the greatest of the damage that had been done to them that night. Then they went home. To Jo’s surprise, considering all that she was feeling, and her history with nightmares, sleep actually came easy to her that night.

Even more surprising, though, was what Jo dreamed about. Rather than the nightmares of which she was accustomed, Jo’s subconscious caught her off guard. That night, of all things, Jo dreamed of Karen. Of her face. Of her confident smile. Of the way that she walked, and the way that she moved when she fought. Of her eyes, and her voice, and how it had felt when Karen had finally told them what it was that she and her allies wanted.

Jo awoke the next morning feeling confused. She was still confused about all of the things that the Sol Takers had said, and about everything that Wilson had said. She was confused as to how Wilson had been able to heal her nose, when her unnatural Sol should have rejected his life energy and made healing her impossible. On top of it all, now, she was confused by her dreams as well. Had her loss to Karen affected her so much? Why, then, had her dream left her feeling, not shaken, not afraid, but content? She didn’t have any answers, and even though talking with Wilson and straightening things out would not answer these fresh questions, any answers at this point would be welcome.

So Jo hopped up out of bed. She’d forgotten momentarily just how injured she was, and she winced when her muscles protested her movements. She had to take a few seconds to collect herself before she could stand up completely. She’d slept in her clothes, but they were too ripe, and covered in blood, to wear for a second day in a row. She changed, and then headed out into the hallway, where she almost ran right into Sara.

The two sisters just looked at each other for several seconds. Neither of them knew what to say, and they were each the kind of person who, when they didn’t know what to say, they didn’t speak. Finally, though, Sara broke the silence. “I don’t think we should tell mom about any of this,” she said, “at least not yet.”

Jo didn’t even have to think about it. If their mom found out about the Sol Takers, she would insist on helping to fight them, and Jo and Sara didn’t want to put her in danger. So Jo nodded, and the two sisters walked together. They walked down the stairs together, they walked out of the house together, and they walked to Wilson’s dojo together, all in complete silence.

Jo put everything that she had into that Shadow Step. The speed of her Shadow Step depended on how fast she could move without it, and with her aura up, she was more than twice as fast as she was normally. No one could perceive her movements during a Shadow Step of that level. No one could see for sure just where the Shadow Step would end and Jo would strike, and yet Karen, as Soon as Jo vanished from her line of sight, sidestepped in such a way that, when Jo completed the Step, her fist outstretched to strike, the attack missed Karen by inches. Even worse, Karen somehow knew just where to attack to hit Jo where she was most open, scoring two solid jabs to Jo’s ribs. Jo stumbled to the side, away from Karen, grabbing her side in surprise.

That doesn’t make sense, she thought. She must have guessed where I’d end up, and how I’d attack, and got lucky.

Jo stepped in close to Karen. She threw a series of punches at full speed, aiming for sensitive areas of Karen’s torso. With her aura up, she hoped to be able to strike so fast the Karen wouldn’t be able to react, but only her first jab came anywhere close to accomplishing that goal. Karen deflected it at the last moment, and then began stepping and leaning in such a way that each of Jo’s strikes hit only the air around her. She moved as little as possible to accomplish this goal. It reminded Jo of the way that she would move to dodge attacks, but Karen’s movements were even less than Jo’s, and she seemed to start each movement just as Jo struck, before it was possible to see how she was going to attack.

Jo cranked up her aura, and began circling back and forth around Karen, attacking from multiple directions. Even without Shadow Step, using the speed of her aura alone, it still sometimes seemed that Jo was attacking from more than one place at once, but Karen was never fooled. Even though it should have been impossible to see at least half of Jo’s attacks, Karen always seemed to know where they were coming from and make the exact movements necessary to deflect them with the least amount of effort. Finally, after a few minutes of this, Karen sidestepped inside of one of Jo’s kicks, deflected her leg outward, and then, without even looking, stepped back, inside Jo’s guard, and elbowed her in the abdomen. Jo fell backward, her balance lost, but she managed to recover quickly and spring back to her feet.

Jo Shadow Stepped again. This time she changed things up, circling Karen a bit before attacking from behind. Karen didn’t turn with Jo, proving that she wasn’t actually tracking Jo’s movements when she Shadow Stepped. In fact, just as Jo moved to attack, she saw Karen raise her defenses, looking in another direction. Jo felt momentarily relieved, until Karen ducked and turned, avoiding Jo’s attack, and driving her own fist into Jo’s chest. Without even looking, she’d countered a sneak attack that should have been impossible to follow.

Jo fell back again. Karen didn’t hit hard, and her movements weren’t particularly fast, but she had the advantage of being able to move within a small radius. Coupled with the simplicity and the precision of her attacks, Karen was using far less stamina than Jo, and as far as Jo could tell, Karen wasn’t using any Sol yet. Already, keeping her aura going was wearing Jo out. She had to score a good hit using her superior power if she was going to have any chance of evening things out.

So Jo once again Shadow Stepped right at Karen, only to change direction at the last moment. She started to circle Karen at high speed, just as she had Christopher Johnson in their final exchange. She leaped from shadow to shadow. In the center of Jo’s technique, Karen could feel Jo’s presence in the movement of the air around her, but all she could see of Jo was a faint blur. Karen seemed just as calm as ever, however, which surprised Jo. She almost stumbled and lost the Shadow Step, but she managed to recover.

Still, the close call left her with adrenaline pumping through her veins. She attacked on impulse, flickering back into Karen’s field of view. Karen even looked momentarily surprised, as Jo’s swinging fist drew toward her face. She turned, leaned her body to the side, and raised her hands in time to push Jo’s attack ever so slightly off course. The strike missed, but Jo could feel the hairs on Karen’s face tickle her hand, the attack was so close.

Jo smiled, and she renewed her Shadow Step, darting back to the corner of the makeshift arena, and then zipping between it and the other three. She was sure now. Karen was guessing at Jo’s movements. Maybe her Sol gave her extra awareness, like the ability to feel where people were without having to see them at all. It wasn’t unheard of, and it was a useful power. It allowed you to react more quickly to what your opponent planned to do, but Jo had proven that she was fast enough to overwhelm that sense, whatever it was. Unless Karen was holding back her true speed, Jo had her outclassed.

She zipped toward Karen again, and again, jumping between the corners of the arena and the center at full speed. She was depleting her stamina, but it would be worth it. She was building up more and more speed, and Karen didn’t seem to know where she was or where she would appear. She didn’t seem confused, either, but she and her allies had proven to be able to keep composed in the face of shocking situations, so that wasn’t surprising.

Jo made her move. She flickered into view in front of Karen. Karen struck, but her attack sailed clear through Jo, revealing this Jo to be a latent image, like the one that she’d used against Christopher. Karen was surprised, and turned quickly to try and locate the real Jo before she could attack in earnest, but she made a mistake and turned the wrong way. Jo flickered back into view behind her opponent, and threw her heaviest punch at the back of Karen’s head. Backed by the strength of Jo’s aura, and the momentum from her Shadow Step, Karen, with no aura of her own, would be knocked out instantly.

Jo was sure that she’d won, so it was a huge surprise when Karen turned and ducked beneath Jo’s attack. She brought her right fist back, and suddenly energy surged from where she stood. Her body became wrapped in silvery light, and she punched Jo square in the gut. The force of Karen’s attack was enough to cancel Jo’s forward momentum. All of that energy meeting and clashing within her torso was enough to leave Jo seeing stars, her stomach churning, as she fell to the ground. Her own aura collapsed, and Karen, as calmly as ever, allowed her aura to fade away.

It took Jo a minute to recover. She stumbled to her feet, and shuffled away from Karen, who waited patiently. Jo relived the last exchange in her head. Karen had begun turning at the very moment that Jo had committed to her attack, at the very moment that she could no longer change direction. It was insane. She’d reacted not as if she knew where Jo was, but as if she knew where Jo was going to be. Was Jo telegraphing her attacks in some way that she hadn’t realized? If so, then how? And why, then, had Karen seemed genuinely surprised by her attack earlier?

Jo was amazed. She’s never seen anyone fight like Karen. Her movements were so simple and clean that there was an elegance to them that Jo hadn’t thought possible. Jo tried to renew her aura, but she found that she couldn’t. Her heart was still beating fast, and now…

Is my hand shaking? She thought. She looked down at her right hand, her main hand, and sure enough, her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her. She was so off-put by Karen that she was actually unable to control a part of her body. She didn’t know how to react, so she did what she always did when things seemed out of her control: she doubled down. She clenched her fist, and willed her hand to go still, and then she bore down as hard as she could on the energies within her, and her aura flashed back to life.

Jo lunged at Karen. She struck twice, once with each fist, and then threw a kick at Karen’s head. Karen deflected each punch, and then ducked beneath the kick. She shuffled to the side, and her aura flashed to life again, for just an instant, propelling her inside Jo’s guard. With one foot still off of the ground, Jo couldn’t Shadow Step away as Karen launched a swift jab to her sternum, but she could bring her arms together to divert Karen’s strike down and to the side. She brought her foot back down, and drove herself forward, aiming to drive her right elbow into Karen’s chest, but Karen sidestepped, and knocked Jo’s arm up and away, and struck with her own elbow, driving it into Jo’s side.

The two stepped apart from each other. Once again, Karen had moved as if she knew what Jo was going to do. So this time, when Jo moved to attack, she tried keeping her arms close to her body until the moment of her attack, coming in low with a left jab, followed by a right. She hoped that this would prevent her from telegraphing her moves, in whatever way she was. It slowed her down a bit, as it meant varying from her usual technique, but she hoped that that wouldn’t matter. Despite her efforts, however, Karen avoided the first strike, and deflected the second. She seemed to almost have an easier time than she had before.

So Jo, desperate to surprise her opponent again, this time when she was prepared to do so and could use that surprise to her advantage, tried another straightforward feint, followed by a Shadow Step around behind her opponent, but Karen didn’t even flinch, and she turned ahead of Jo, shuffled forward, and struck Jo with her knee, knocking her out of her Shadow Step. It had only been a glancing blow to her oblique muscles, but with the speed of the Shadow Step behind her, the impact was magnified several fold. Meanwhile Karen remained unharmed, protected by her hard knee cap.

Jo almost collapsed. She had to catch herself to keep from falling, and stumbled away from Karen, clutching her side. She took a deep breath, and forced her body completely upright, but it was painful to do so. She’d taken a major hit thrice now in roughly the same area, and the pain of it was starting to get to her. Sweating, and shaking again, she returned to the question of how Karen was able to keep track of where she was, and predict where she was going to strike. She looked once again at Karen, and she was taken aback. Karen was ignoring her, running through a series of practice forms as if Jo weren’t even there.

“What’re you…” Jo began, but her question evaporated when she realized that Karen’s movements were familiar. Karen darted back and forth quickly, alternating punching high and low, utilizing elbow strikes in between her other blows. It took Jo less than a second to realize where she knew these forms from. She took a step back, and then another.

“Sorry if the technique is a little off,” Karen said in between attacks, “I’m not as practiced as you are, but I saw enough that I’ve managed to get pretty close.”

She stopped moving, and gestured toward a building further down the street, “I was watching from over there when you were practicing here a couple days ago. Between seeing you practice, and seeing you fight at the exhibition match, it was more than enough to note the basics of your fighting style, and then work out the rest from there.”

She turned to face Jo again, “Now I can predict how you’re going to attack each time you attack. Granted, you’re really fast, and keeping up with you, even when I know where you’re going to be, takes some effort, but it’s enough. I’m able to predict every move that you make before you make it, and even identify the best moments to strike to inflict the most damage with the least effort.”

Jo was reeling. She thought back on the fight so far, and suddenly it was obvious. Of course Karen hadn’t been guessing. That was impossible. Karen had actually been predicting her movements. It was the only explanation for everything that she’d been able to do. Even knowing how she was doing it, Jo had no idea what she could do. If she’d been aware of this at the start of the fight, she might have been able to change up her fighting style enough to counter Karen’s advantage, but after taking so many devastating hits, that wasn’t an option anymore. The moment that Karen saw that Jo was trying to mix things up, she would attack with everything that she had before Jo could get her bearings.

Jo let her aura disappear again, and she stood there in silence. Karen, realizing that her opponent was deep in thought, had the courtesy to wait. What could Jo do? She was honestly tempted to surrender the fight, so that Karen and her allies would finally explain what their intentions were. If she could buy enough time, she might be able to recover a little of her strength, and catch Karen off guard and drive her off. She put that idea out of mind instantly, though, seeing as how Karen wasn’t the only enemy that Jo had to worry about.

This is crazy, Jo thought, she was able to work out my entire fighting style after seeing so little. I didn’t think that my fighting style was so predictable, except to my friends, and myself, I guess.

Suddenly, like a spark, Jo was struck with inspiration. An idea which might be able to turn the tables in this fight. She didn’t know if it would work, but she didn’t see any choice but to give it a try. She straightened up, and met Karen’s eyes. Karen, rightfully so, took that as her queue that the fight was about to resume.

Jo had to be quick. She forced the energies within her to mix and build once again, and her aura flashed to life around her. It wasn’t as large as before, and it flickered wildly, but Jo still felt it charging her muscles, making her faster and stronger. She rushed at Karen again, repeating her feint from earlier, but this time, when her muscle memory threatened to take her sharply to the side, she fought that instinct, and acted on impulse. She shifted slightly to the other side, and then shifted forward. Karen turned in the opposite direction, but she immediately realized that she had misread her opponent and swung around to face Jo again. She was too late, though, and Jo struck Karen square in the chest, sending her sliding back.

Jo again fought against her instincts, and moved on impulse. She Shadow Stepped to the side, and then focused her will and turned her aura away from her, throwing herself forward, increasing the speed of her Shadow Step even more. Before Karen could recover from taking her first hit of the fight, Jo was right beside her. She slammed her fist into Karen’s gut, and then turned in place. Mid turn, she Shadow Stepped to Karen’s opposite side. This meant that, rather than hitting Karen in the less-protected back of the head, Jo hit her in her much sturdier forehead, but it still sent her stumbling back further.

Jo Shadow Stepped back and forth randomly, and then lunged at Karen from the side. Karen turned toward her at the last second, and managed, just barely to duck beneath Jo’s strike. So Jo Shadow Stepped past Karen, and turned sharply, aiming an attack at Karen’s back. Karen spun around on her heel, and knocked Jo’s attack to the side, but by the time she countered, Jo had flickered out of her view again.

Jo’s plan was working, but she couldn’t let that go to her head. She was still in pain, and she was breathing heavily, more so than her opponent, but she didn’t allow that to distract her. She continued to fight her own training, and move on impulse alone. She attacked Karen again and again, but she was well aware that, between her injuries and the shake-up to her fighting style, she was moving slower than usual. With every passing second, Karen was better and better able to keep up with her opponent. Jo had no choice but to finish this fast, even if it was going to hurt to do so.

Jo zipped back from Karen mid-attack, throwing Karen off. She began moving randomly around the makeshift arena, building up speed. She moved close to Karen, and then changed direction, leaving behind a latent image of herself. Karen, acting on instinct, turned toward that image, only to whip around further when she saw Jo flicker into view off to her side. Karen moved to strike, but she hesitated, realizing too late that Jo’s aura was flashing not in front of her, but behind her. Jo had created a second latent image to distract Karen further. Doing so had cancelled most of her momentum, weakening the overall power of her attack, but it had given her the opening that she needed.

She threw a punch, backed by the full force of her aura, right at Karen’s head. Karen flared up her own aura, and turned in place, lashing out with a full power punch of her own. Their auras clashed, flashing in Jo’s eyes, blinding her for just an instant, but it didn’t matter. The attacks of the two young women crossed. Each would score a direct hit on the other’s jaw. It would be a matter of fortitude which of them would be least affected, and therefore most likely to take advantage of their opponent’s fresh injury, and frankly, Jo was more fit than her opponent. She was sure that she would have the advantage.

So you can imagine how surprised she was when Karen’s fist sailed right through Jo’s jaw, and Jo’s fist sailed right through Karen’s. Jo realized instantly that that wasn’t Karen, that Karen had used that one moment of blindness to replace herself. It was like a latent image, except that it had somehow been able to move, like some kind of autonomous illusion, and the real Karen was hiding behind it. Jo was shocked, too much so to react when Karen lunged forward, through her own illusion, and drove her shoulder, with her full weight behind it, into Jo’s chest and jaw.

Jo was knocked back. Her head bobbled back and forth, and her ears rang. She could taste blood on her lip. Karen was still on top of her, unleashing another flurry of blows. Jo, acting purely on impulse, sidestepped her opponent’s attacks one after another as she stepped into position. She reached up to catch Karen’s outstretched arm, giving her leverage to counterattack, but her hand sailed clear through Karen’s arm. It was another illusion! Karen had, in the aftermath of her last attack, created another illusion to draw Jo’s eye, giving her clearance to step out of Jo’s line of sight.

The illusion faded. Jo turned, desperately searching for her opponent, but she didn’t have to search long. Behind her stood four Karens, their stances perfectly identical. Jo looked from one to another, but she saw no way to tell which was real, and which were just tricks meant to draw her eye. So Jo stepped back, and took up a defensive stance. It was clear that Karen was about to come at her with a finishing blow. Hopefully, once the four Karens started to move, Jo would be able to work out which of them was the real one.

Jo had barely a chance to breath before the first of the illusions made its move. It rushed forward. Jo sidestepped its attack, but she realized at the last instant that, just because it was the first to move, that didn’t mean that it was an illusion. So she drove her elbow into its chest, or rather where its chest would be, and felt no resistance as it disappeared. At that point, the second was already on its way. Jo ducked beneath its attack, and drove her fist upward toward its chest. Again, she felt no resistance, and this illusion, too, faded from existence.

That’s when the third Karen moved to attack. As it did, Jo had the strange feeling that this was the real one, but as it moved to strike, she saw the final Karen’s foot adjust position ever so slightly. It drew her eye, and led her to believe that it was not an illusion, but Karen herself. So, hoping to get the drop on her opponent, Jo renewed her aura, and launched herself forward. She intended to pass through the illusion, and bear down on Karen before she knew what was happening, but the moment that she shifted her weight forward, the third Karen smiled, and Jo realized her mistake.

The third Karen, the real Karen, was well inside Jo’s guard. Jo had let her inside. It was no surprise to Jo when, as the final Karen faded from existence, a silvery aura flared to life around the real deal, and she drove her fist as hard as she could into Jo’s gut. Jo coughed, her aura collapsed, and she doubled over, only to see Karen’s knee sailing upward toward her face. She closed her eyes, and felt a surge of unbearable pain travel from her nose throughout her entire body.

Her head spinning, Jo stumbled backward, to the edge of the place where Lawrence had shattered the asphalt during his fight. She tripped over a chunk of raised asphalt, and toppled over backwards. She felt her mouth fill with blood, and spat it out. Her head felt heavy, and her arms and legs didn’t want to move, but she still, after several long seconds of painful effort, managed to pick herself up.

Jo reached up and touched her nose gingerly. It was broken. There was no doubt about it. She looked at Karen. Despite having taken several solid hits, it was clear that Karen could continue to fight for some time, and that Jo simply could not. It was amazing. In the end, it was Jo who had been outclassed from the start, and not the other way around. So Jo straightened up as much as she could. With her nose the way it was, it was hard to breath, and she was still out of breath, but she still found it within herself to say, “That’s enough, fighting you anymore would be pointless. So let’s get this over with. No more stalling. What do you want with us?”

Karen shifted her stance slightly, relaxing in the wake of Jo’s surrender. She brushed herself off, and then met Jo’s eyes, speaking the words that would change Jo’s life forever. “Isn’t is obvious from our organization’s name?” Karen asked. She smiled, and announced, “We want your Sol.”

Not too far away, the local park bustled with activity. Two large playgrounds sat behind three large ball fields, a tennis court, and a basketball court. Children scurried across them all, laughing and happy, their parents and their friends rushing to keep up. The entire grounds was wrapped by a walking path, leading right up to a thick line of trees that marked the park’s furthest point. Or so it would seem. If one were to follow the path far enough, into the tree line, they would find that the path continues through. It’s overgrown, and clearly in disrepair, but it exists. Walk it long enough, and you will make your way through the trees to the Old Park, an area abandoned by the city, but not by young fighters in the area.

In the Old Park, it was quiet, the bustle of the park proper just far enough away to act as little more than a background ambiance. The air smelled of grass and pollen. It was peaceful, and free of distraction. That’s why, every day, Sol warriors in the area wanting to test themselves would go to the Old Park and fight each other. Some of them regularly trained at one of the local dojos. Others were self-taught. All of them came to the Old Park with the understanding that they would fight fair, or be forced out by the other visitors.

In the Old Park, upon one of two dilapidated basketball courts, a lanky young man stood ready to defend against an attack. He had messy red hair that stood up on his head, and resembled a flame. An intense look passed over this young man’s freckled face and sharp green eyes. His black tank top and red shorts left his arms and legs exposed, showing off scrapes and bruises from near-constant sparring and testing of his abilities. This young man was Paul Tucker, known as Tucker to his friends, and Pyro Tucker to everyone else, and in the Old Park, he was the guy to beat.

Across from Tucker stood another young man about the same age, with medium-length brown hair, wearing a loose T and sweats. Tucker didn’t remember the other man’s name, and despite the other man’s notably sturdier build, and the fact Tucker was on his third fight of the day, and his opponent was completely fresh, Tucker wasn’t worried. He was wary, but not worried, and his opponent could tell. He was hesitant to attack.

The two locked eyes. Tucker had no idea what his opponent’s abilities might be, while his opponent had seen Tucker fight many times. So of course, the obvious move for Tucker to make was to wait for his opponent to strike first, and get a feel for his movements. Instead Tucker, bored with waiting, did the exact opposite. He rushed at his opponent, and threw a very direct right hook. His opponent ducked slightly to the right, and bent his knees. Tucker’s fist sailed past his opponent’s ear, leaving his torso wide open. His opponent struck twice with each fist, in rapid succession, pummeling Tucker in the ribs. Tucker gasped, as the air was knocked from his lungs, and he doubled over. His opponent drew back, and kicked Tucker in the face, knocking him backward. He stumbled, but managed to remain standing.

Tucker’s opponent was surprised. He’d managed to score two solid hits against one of the best fighters in the area. His previous apprehension evaporating, he pressed what he saw as his advantage. He surged forward, his fists becoming wrapped in soft white light, and he wound up to attack again. He was surprised when Tucker looked up at him, smiling. He seemed completely unfazed by the pain that he was undoubtedly feeling, and in spite of that pain, he moved so fast that his opponent could barely track his movements. He slipped into a better stance, and deflected both of his opponent’s jabs without much effort.

Tucker shuffled back, putting distance between himself and his opponent, and then, with less than a second to reestablish his footing, he lunged forward again. Puffs of smoke arose where his feet touched the ground, and before his opponent could react, Tucker struck him twice in the chest, with enough force that it left his opponent stumbling back to avoid falling. Tucker pressed forward, twisting his body in less time than it took his opponent to realize what was happening, and elbowed his opponent in the gut. Then he twisted his body back again, back-handing his opponent in the face. The other young man was sent sprawling to the hard ground, Tucker standing over him, more bruised than before, but triumphant.

“Oh, yeah,” Tucker exclaimed, “that’s one more for the books! Any other takers?”

He looked around at the small crowd that had gathered to see the fight. Not one of them would meet his eyes, and most of them scattered, until only a group of one girl and two guys remained, standing far off to the side. Tucker grinned wide, prepared to call it a day. He was surprised when a familiar voice rang from behind him, saying, “I’ll fight you, but we’ll be late.”

Tucker turned to see Jo walking up to him, her hands pocketed casually, a stupid grin marking her face. Tucker grinned back, “No way, man. That’d take way too long.”

“And you’d lose,” Jo goaded.

Tucker’s friendly smile changed, becoming competitive and fierce, “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

For a second, it almost seemed like the two might actually take the time to fight it out, and it was clear that, if they did, they would enjoy the experience. Instead they had a good laugh together, and Jo waited as Tucker removed a pair of jeans from a bag sitting off to the side of the court, slipped them on, gathered up the bag, and stepped up to Jo’s side. The two walked together back toward the new park, talking and laughing. Neither of them had any idea just how closely they were being watched by the last three spectators.

“That can’t be them,” one of the young men said to the others. He was the tallest of the group, with short brown hair, fierce hazel eyes, and a practiced scowl marring his hard, yet handsome, face. He stood there with his hands resting at his sides, but he didn’t look at all relaxed. He seemed like the type who was always on edge. Always ready in case he was attacked, and always ready to attack back.

“Why’s that?” the second of the group, the second young man, asked. He was as much the opposite of his male companion as he reasonably could be. Where the first young man was dressed casually in a dragon print t-shirt and khakis, this second young man wore a pressed white button-up shirt under a purple vest, and black pants. His hair was long, wrapping his face. He was far less tense, and spoke calmly in contrast to his companion’s overt harshness.

“You saw the red-headed one fight,” the first young man answered, scoffing at the mention of Tucker. “He doesn’t hold a candle to any of us.”

“He was pretty clearly holding back,” the second young man replied thoughtfully. “We didn’t see him use energy from his Sol once, even to defend against his opponent’s energized attack. And don’t forget, there are two more of them in their group who are supposed to be roughly as strong.”

“Two more or twenty more,” the first man argued, “it won’t matter. All four of them could be ten times that strong, and I could still beat them on my own.”

That’s when the final of the three spoke up. Like the other two, she was about Jo and Tucker’s age. Her long brown hair flowed gracefully past her shoulder blades. A spattering of pale freckles adorned the nose and cheeks of her pretty face. She hadn’t once looked away from the two departing figures. Even now, as they crossed into the tree line, she kept her gaze fixed in their direction, anticipation pulling at her lips. “And yet,” she said, “Our Leader has his eye on them. He went to the trouble of sending us to assess their strength. There must be something special about them.”

She looked back at the others. Neither of them argued with her, and they had halted their own argument when she’d spoken. They looked back at her, waiting for her to continue, ready to defer to her.

“We’ll know more after their match, obviously,” she said, curiously, “but I don’t think that we should take these four lightly. I get the feeling that they’re more than they seem.”

She turned once again to look at the place where the two had disappeared into the trees, hoping for one last glimpse at, not Tucker, but the one who had come to meet him.

Jo and Tucker made the short trip to the nearest bus stop in almost no time. Unfortunately, as it turned out, they were still going to be late. The bus showed up a whole twenty minutes later than it should have. The two of them didn’t really mind. No one expected them to be on time. In the end, they arrived at their destination almost half an hour after the time that they’d decided on. They made short work of another quick walk, finally coming upon an inconspicuous single-story house on a curved street, alongside multiple nearly-identical houses. They would have knocked on the door, but there was no need. As they approached, it swung open, and a young woman, a couple of years younger than the two of them, stood waiting.

It would be hard to tell that she was younger to someone who didn’t know. Despite her relative youth, this girl was a little taller than Jo, and nearly as tall as Tucker. She was solidly-built, but not heavy. In fact, an onlooker might find her quite pretty, assuming that they appreciated her dark, lacey clothing, her heavy eye make-up, and the black and purple streaks in her hair.

“You’re late,” the girl said, looking right at Jo. “Your sister’s pissed.”

Then, with a smile, she looked past Jo, at Tucker, and said, “Hey, Tuck.”

“Hey, Jen.”

She led the two arrivals inside, through a modestly-furnished living room. An even younger girl sat on the couch, and waved at Jen and her visitors as they passed by. The three of them made their way through a small kitchen, and down a staircase in the back of the house, into a large finished basement. As they rounded the corner into the first, and smaller, of two rooms, which was furnished with a couch, a chair, and a TV, another girl immediately made herself known.

It was hard to imagine that anyone so small could be so scary, and yet both of those words described this girl. She was slight of frame, but what muscles she had were well defined. The yellow jersey that she wore did nothing to hide her slim, yet powerful, arms. She stood there like a cobra coiled to strike. Her cute, youthful face looked unexpectedly hard. Her shining blue eyes were fierce. Her full head of bouncy golden curls did nothing to soften her appearance.

“You’re late,” she almost spat, her hands planted firmly on her hips. “I told you that I had somewhere else that I need to be. You promised that this wouldn’t take long, and that you’d be on time.”

“Sorry,” Jo replied, shooting the girl the closest that she could come to an apologetic smile while she was trying not to laugh. Jo was afraid of her sister. She was like an angry badger when she got like this. She had no restraint at all, and yet Jo still found her anger amusing.

“Don’t you ‘sorry’ me,” the girl replied harshly. “I can tell when you don’t mean it.”

“Oh come on, Sara,” Tucker said, speaking up from his place behind his friend, “it wasn’t our fault. The bus was late.”

“You stay out of this, Tucker,” Sara snapped, and Tucker hid behind Jo’s back.

Sara looked again at her sister, “You’d better hurry up and tell us what you got us together to tell us. If I hurry, I can still make practice.”

“That’s actually the thing,” Jo said awkwardly, like a woman walking on eggshells, “I was thinking that the four of us should practice. You know, for this weekend.”

“So your plan all along was to get me here and convince we to miss practice to train,” Sara said. It was a statement. Not a question. She sighed, “Fine, I’ll train. I’ll train against you, right now. Fight me. If you win, I’ll stay and work with you and the others instead of going to practice. But when I win, I go, and you don’t get to say a word.”

Jo frowned, “Okay, fine. We’ll have a Heart to Heart to decide if you stay and train with us.”

At the utterance of his words, sparks literally flew between the two of them. Jen and Tucker stepped back, and watched as Jo and Sarah stepped into the second, larger, basement room. This one had no furniture in it. The walls were blank, save some wood paneling, and a rack with some wooden swords and bo staves perched upon it. The floor was covered in a thick mat. The two would-be combatants stepped to either end of the mat. Sara took up a ready stance, her feet close together, and her arms tight to her body. Jo didn’t bother to prepare herself outwardly at all, though Sara could see that she was giving the fight her full attention.

Sara was the first to strike. By now, Jen and Tucker had made their way to the entrance to the room. Sara’s movement across the mat alone was enough to stir their hair and clothing. Her strike was so fast that it could barely be seen, and yet her sister traced it with her eyes the entire time, and avoided it with a carefully timed sidestep. The strike missed her by a centimeter. Sara turned in place. Her movements were tight and controlled, reminiscent of a ballet dancer’s, but with less flourish. She struck twice more at her sister, and then four times more, and then eight, in rapid succession. Her body twisted and turned, putting weight and momentum behind each blow, and yet Jo avoided every single one.

Frustrated, Sara turned on her heel. It was a risky maneuver. One that she’d been practicing, but that she’d never used in an actual fight. She nearly lost her balance, but the maneuver paid off. Without having to regroup, she had moved herself back into position to press her attack. She caught her sister by surprise. Jo actually had to raise her arms and deflect the next strike rather than step out of the way. She was visibly taken aback, and then a smile spread across her face. She knocked Sara’s next barrage of attacks, a quick strike with each fist and a single swinging foot, away, and then stepped in close.

Intending to end things quickly, Jo struck hard and fast at her sister’s torso. She was surprised again when Sara was able to twist once more and curl around her strike, coming in close with her own. Sara couldn’t believe it. She had managed to get inside her sister’s guard. She’d never managed to get inside her sister’s guard before. Jo was just as surprised. It was plain on her face. Sara had been training to improve the fluidity of her movements, and it had paid off! She was going to score a hit. Then, just before her fist could make contact, her target was gone.

“That was really good,” said Jo, from her new place behind her sister. Sara spun around to face Jo as she said, “you’ve almost completely overhauled your fighting style. If you can do that this weekend, it’ll be almost impossible for you to lose. But you’ve got to work on your footwork. Someone could still hit you easily enough if they aimed for your center of gravity.”

“H-how did you move like that?” Sara demanded.

Jo smirked at her, the literal competitive energy arcing between them dissipating, “That’s a secret. Something that I planned on saving for the match. I’m really impressed that I had to use it on you. I guess you’re ready enough that you can go along to practice if you want.”

She meant it, and Sara could tell, but she wasn’t having any of it. “No way,” she exclaimed, “I’m staying. I’m gonna keep practicing until I hit you!”

Jo laughed, and looked to Jen and Tucker as well, “Alright then, let’s pair off.”

The four young warriors spent the rest of the evening sparring with each other. Sara, too stubborn to go home until she’d scored a hit against her sister, did manage to do just that, but only because Jo was too stubborn to risk showing off her new technique again, as she put it, “before it was time”. Meanwhile Jen soundly defeated Tucker multiple times, something that Tucker had come to expect, even if he did find it a little annoying.

Before long, it was late evening, the sun falling steadily below the horizon, and all four fighters were tired, sore, and sweaty, even more so than usual. It was time for visitors to head home, and for all four to get a night of rest to recharge their batteries. Tucker would have to take the bus home, but Jo and Sara weren’t so unlucky.

“Thanks again for the ride, Aunt Val,” Jo told a middle-aged woman who resembled a plumper version of her own mother, as she gathered up her car keys from their hook beside the front door. Jo waved over her shoulder one more time at her cousin Jen, and made her way for the door. Tucker and Sara were close behind. She was a little surprised when Jen stopped her.

“Jo, wait a second,” Jen exclaimed, asking, “weren’t we going to talk about our team’s name? I thought you needed one to finalize our application.”

“Oh,” Jo said awkwardly, “about that. Turns out we ran out of time, so I had to come up with one on my own.”

Jen and Tucker groaned in unison. They knew from experience that most of what Jo thought sounded cool was painfully cheesy to everyone else.

“Yeah,” Sara said, her tone dripping sardonicism, “just wait until you hear this.”

Jo scoffed at her, “Hey, it’s a good name! Memorable and dynamic. Just wait. Before long everyone will know it. From this day forward, the four of us will be known as Team Dueling Hearts!”

The two fighters danced around the entirety of the arena that was their stage. Energy crackled between them. Each time that they touched each other, miniature bolts of lightning lanced outward from the point of impact, jumping to the edges of the arena, and travelling up, clashing with the energy field that the competing energies of the two fighters fed. It was the first time so far that the Megadojo’s unique technology had come into use, and the crowd was thankful for it. Many of them flinched, and drew away from the action, until they were reminded that there was no need to be afraid. That they could enjoy the action taking place before them without worrying about being affected by it.

Not that there was much to see at the moment. Jo and her opponent were pushing their speed to the maximum. They were moving about so quickly that an outside observer barely had time to pin down where they were before they had already moved two or three more times. It was exciting at first, but as the fight drug on, it didn’t offer much of interest to look at.

Then, suddenly, something changed. They two fighters flickered into view. They skid to a stop in the center of the arena. Both of their auras were still burning brightly, but Jo’s fluttered irregularly, while Christopher’s remained completely unchanged. Likewise, Christopher showed no outward signs of exertion, save for a slightly elevated rate of breathing. He showed no injuries, and his stance was as casual as before. In contrast, Jo looked significantly more battered and bruised than she had before, and was breathing heavily. As the two drew to a stop, Jo drew back her right fist, and struck with all of the strength that she could muster, aiming right for Christopher’s jaw. He raised both arms and crossed them in front of his face. The impact of Jo’s attack was enough to push Christopher back nearly to the edge of the arena, but he was, overall, left completely unharmed.

Yet, he wasn’t out of danger. Just as soon as he had managed to find his footing again, Jo pressed him and launched a follow up attack. She was suddenly directly in front of him, driving her right knee upward, underneath Christopher’s guarding arms, and striking him in the chest. He was thrown upward, and back, his feet sailing several inches off of the floor. Taken aback, he wasn’t able to defend as Jo shuffled to the side, and drove a right hook right into the side of his face. He was knocked sideways, his feet flailing from beneath him, but he never made it to the ground. Instead, he was struck in the gut by Jo’s left knee with so much force that he was sent flying, only to land sprawled out on the arena floor, sliding the rest of the way to the arena boundary, stopping short of falling out of bounds.

Her opponent downed, Jo stepped back and waited for the stout man to begin the count. As he had earlier when met with an unexpected turn of events, he took almost a full second to start. Jo didn’t mind. She knew that, regardless of when the count began, it wouldn’t matter. Her opponent wasn’t going to stay down for long. She placed her hands back into her pockets as the count reached two, and, as Jo had expected, Christopher Johnson pushed himself back up to his feet.

“You’re resilient,” Jo told him. “I’m not sure how many times I hit you back there, and your defenses barely faltered the entire time. It doesn’t even look like I’ve hurt you at all. That ice Sol of yours really is impressive.”

“It is,” Christopher told her, “but it comes with its down sides. It hampers my movements so much that keeping up with someone like you is almost impossible. I’m not sure how many times back there I had to choose between trying to score a hit, and keeping ahead of your next attack.”

Jo had noticed that as well, and despite the fact that Christopher’s aura looked just as strong as it had been since the fight began, she had also seen it falter more than once during their brief clash, and even again just now, just before she’d scored her hit on Christopher’s jaw. Looking, she could see a bruise forming there, just below the jawline. If she hadn’t been looking for it, she might have missed it.

Jo smiled, and sighed with relief.

“What are you suddenly so happy about?” Christopher asked, only half invested in the answer to his own question.

“I was worried for a second,” Jo answered, stepping back from Christopher as she spoke, until she stood once again in the arena center, “but I just figured out how to beat you.”

She rushed forward again. If Christopher was surprised by her statement, or believed that she might be right, he didn’t show it. He moved to meet Jo’s attack, taking her first strike in the right breast. Jo recoiled, and struck again. This time, Christopher defended, but he did so casually, as if it didn’t matter. As he did, though, his aura flickered. Jo watched it, and after just a second, she saw what she’d been looking for.

Her smile widened. She shuffled to the side, so that Christopher was between her and the nearest of the four lights situated at the four corners of the arena. As she passed into the shadow cast by Christopher’s body, it was like she became a shadow, if only for a moment. A shocked Christopher reacted, purely on instinct, raising his arms up just in time to guard against the next thrust of Jo’s fist. He hadn’t even seen her move, and yet she was right on top of him, in a completely different stance than she’d been in less than an instant ago.

And then, with no warning, she was just gone. Christopher hadn’t even had time to register her disappearance before he found himself flying forward, a sharp pain erupting from the small of his back. He was sent tumbling forward, and landed sprawled out a few yards away. This time it took him until the count of seven to rise again, and even longer to straighten up completely. Jo was positively beaming with pride.

“See,” she explained, “when someone hits you, in any part of your body, when your aura’s up, your aura springs to cushion as much of that blow as it can. That’s why it flickers. Your aura, it tightens up. It pulls itself toward the point of contact, leaving itself thinner everywhere else, and then springs back. But I noticed, completely by accident, when I hit your jaw, that if someone is quick enough, they can get ahead of it before it snaps back into place, and they can hurt you. That’s what I just did.”

“I’m impressed,” Christopher replied, smiling right back at her, “but at this point I’m less interested in how you hurt me than I am in how you moved like that. You didn’t telegraph your moves at all. It’s like you were in one place, and then you were somewhere else. I’ve never seen anyone move like that.”

Jo hesitated. If she told Christopher how her technique worked, he might be able to find some way around it. However, with his aura hindering him, he couldn’t hope to keep up with her technique, and she had figured out how to get around his aura, so maybe it was only fair to even up the score a little bit. Besides, Jo was proud of her technique, and she didn’t want to keep it a secret forever.

“I call it Shadow Step,” she explained. “It’s a technique that I created that allows me to multiply my speed in quick bursts without giving any indication of when and how I plan to move. Like a shifting shadow.”

“That’s not the only reason you call it that,” Christopher interjected, before Jo had a chance to say anything else. He met her eyes, “You can only use it when you’re standing in a direct shadow.”

Jo was taken aback. She wanted her technique known, but she didn’t want the whole world to know how it worked, and yet Christopher had figured out its weakness after one use.

“How?” she almost stammered.

“I noticed,” Christopher replied, “that you repositioned yourself so that, when we clashed again, I would be directly between you and the light. Then you disappeared as soon as you stepped into my shadow. Hearing the name that you gave it just proved me right. You have a shadow Sol. An unnatural Sol. And you figured out how to use it to make yourself faster in the shadows.”

Jo took a step back. She felt like someone had dropped a rock in her stomach. It was no big secret that she had an unnatural Sol, a Sol that manifested itself with powers that don’t exist in nature. A Sol born of self-doubt and denial. It was no big secret, but she didn’t go around announcing it, either. It was hard to tell what people would think when they found out. Most people with unnatural Sols were just like everyone else. Their unnatural Sol was born of no more than a childish insecurity that they had outgrown over time. A few, however, were different. Their unnatural Sols were born of some evil impulse that the common person didn’t share. Jo almost didn’t blame those who immediately assumed the worst of anyone with an unnatural Sol and shunned them. Almost.

“No judgment,” Christopher added, when he saw Jo’s reaction. “Truth is, I’m impressed. I heard that unnatural Sol doesn’t mix well with life energy. That, when they mix, it goes out of control. That makes your aura even more impressive. You were able to mix them together and control it.”

He sounded genuinely impressed. Jo could tell that he was serious. He didn’t care if she had an unnatural Sol or not, but he wasn’t the only person in the room. Jo was well aware of the crowd watching them. They had heard everything that Christopher had said. Most of them only seemed concerned with when the fight was going to continue, but Jo could see some of them murmuring to one another. She felt her face grow hot. She had to force herself to ignore them, and focus once again on her opponent, and their unfinished business.

“I’ll admit,” Christopher told Jo, “even if I divide my attention between fighting you off and maneuvering you out of any direct shadows, you’ve still got my ice Sol beat, hands down. I just don’t have the speed or the offensive power to bridge the gap that your Shadow Step creates.”

Jo frowned, I sense a “but” coming…

“But,” Christopher explained, “like you, I have a Sol that isn’t entirely normal.”

Suddenly the energy surrounding Christopher changed. Jo felt it first. Up until that moment, Christopher’s presence had felt cold, distance, and guarded. In an instant, that changed. He began to radiate warmth that put Jo on guard, that made the hairs on her arms stand on end. Just him being there in front of her made her feel like she was growing too close to something that would burn her. It reminded her of when she would fight against Tucker.

Jo hadn’t even begun to internalize the sensation, when this sudden difference in Christopher’s energy turned outward. His calm, stable, icy blue aura flared out, and turned hot red and wild. A wave of heat rolled off of his body and singed Jo’s cheeks like the beams of a direct summer sun on a cloudless day. Jo was astonished. The rest of the room was equally surprised, the revelation about the nature of Jo’s Sol all but forgotten. Even the other members of Christopher’s team seemed surprised at this turn of events.

“I don’t just have an ice Sol,” Christopher explained, “I have a dual Sol! Fire and ice!”

Another wave of heat exploded from Christopher’s location, and he launched toward Jo like a rocket. She was able to avoid the oncoming strike, just barely, but shuffling swiftly to the left. She’d acted on impulse. She hadn’t even had a chance to internalize what she’d just seen. A dual Sol. It wasn’t unheard of, but it was so rare that she’d never expected to meet someone with one.

“This is my fire Sol,” Christopher announced, as he bore down on Jo, unleashing a flurry of attacks that she was only barely able to either deflect or avoid. “As much as my ice Sol limits my speed and boosts my defense, my fire Sol enhances my speed, and boosts my offense.”

He drew back his right fist, wrapping it up in his red energy, and struck right at the center of Jo’s torso. She couldn’t avoid it, so she raised her arms to guard. The force of Christopher’s attack knocked her arms right out of the way. She took a clear hit to the chest, and was knocked backward. The air burst from her lungs. Before she could recover, Christopher pressed his attack, driving an uppercut into Jo’s gut, spinning in place, and launching a kick right at her jaw. She managed to throw up her arms in time to cushion against the attack, but the force of the impact still sent her tumbling over sideways, sprawled across the arena floor. Her aura flickered, and then disappeared.

The stout man started counting the moment that Jo fell. Christopher’s attack had been relentless. Jo was left lying there, gulping down air to replace what he’d taken from her. She wasn’t in any position to even consider getting back up. Christopher had all but won, and yet he didn’t let down his guard. He’d seen how stubborn the Dueling Hearts could be. He stood back from Jo, his red aura still burning around him.

Then, just as the count reached seven, Jo pushed herself up. Her lungs still burning, her chest aching, her arms throbbing, she sprung to her feet, and then lunged. Prepared or not, Christopher had not expected that. He threw up his arms, and his red aura shuttered, and changed back into his blue one. Jo’s attack hit Christopher’s guard with earth-shattering force, but Christopher barely budged. There was a burst of heat, his aura turned red again, and he countered, aiming for Jo’s gut, but she sidestepped, and spun in place, launching a backfist at the side of his head. His aura flashed blue again, as he raised his left arm to deflect the strike, and then turned red again as he shuffled forward and threw a right hook at Jo’s jaw.

Christopher was faster than her old sparring partner Keith, by a wide margin, and yet, in that moment, Jo didn’t see a difference between them. As Christopher’s fist drew close, she leaned out of the way, and the strike sailed over her shoulder. She reached up, and gripped Christopher’s wrist in her left hand, as she thrust upward with her right, catching Christopher in his elbow. There was a loud pop, and Christopher staggered back, cradling his injured joint. It was a reflex, one that took him less than a second to overcome, but in that second, Jo forced the energy of her Sol to mix again with her life energy, and multiply in power. She bore down on that power with her entire will, even as she launched herself forward, and her aura flared to life all around her once again.

Christopher was taken aback. He’d never fought someone so persistent. Despite his surprise, though, as Jo approached, he didn’t fall into what was undoubtedly her trap, and use his newly-injured arm to defend. Instead, he took a risk. Without shifting back to his ice aura, he deflected Jo’s next attack, with significant effort, and launched a kick, backed by the full power of his fire Sol, at Jo’s sternum. Jo took the attack, allowing herself to be knocked back, using that momentum to flip backward and launch a kick of her own at Christopher’s face. He blocked, but the force of the blow still sent him stumbling back. Jo pressed, and Christopher sidestepped, and deflected another kick to the side.

As Jo stepped past Christopher, though, Christopher was confused to see a triumphant smile pulling at his opponent’s lips. She may have found her second wind, and gotten a few hits in, but Christopher was still in considerably better shape. Why did she look like she’d won? It wasn’t until Jo suddenly disappeared that he realized that he’d allowed himself to be maneuvered into the very center of the arena. Between the overhead ceiling lights, and the four bright lights at each of the arena’s four corners, he was casting deep shadows in multiple directions. Before he knew it, he could feel the movement of the air around him as Jo jumped from one shadow to the next, surrounding him, boxing him in, and picking up momentum with each pass.

Christopher turned, trying to pin down Jo’s exact location. If he could just find her, he might be able to push himself hard enough to catch her and disrupt her attack before she could find an opening and hit him with all of that built-up momentum. His aura turned icy blue, and he mixed the energy of his Sol with his life energy again and seized hold of it, causing his aura to burn brighter, making his defenses even stronger. His eyes darted around, tracing the path of the shadow circling him. Then, just before he could pin down the pattern of her movements, Jo flickered into view directly in front of him. She hung in the air, her fist drawn back, her aura flaring, ready to strike, but she hesitated for just an instant too long, and she’d left her torso wide open.

It isn’t even possible to describe how relieved Christopher felt in that moment. His aura changed, turning red again, and he reached out to strike Jo’s exposed torso with all of the strength that he had left. This meant dropping his defenses, but it didn’t matter. There was no chance of his attack not connecting. He’d won.

That’s when his fist sailed right through Jo, and all of that relief turned sour.

She used her speed, he realized, to create a lingering image of herself!

The realization crossed his mind too slowly for him to do anything about it. The lingering image faded, and the real Jo flickered into view in his peripheral vision, her fist already an inch from his face. He didn’t have time to change his aura. He’d been overconfident, and left himself wide open, and his opponent had anticipated the whole thing. The force of Jo’s final attack was substantial enough to send Christopher tumbling out of the arena entirely, and it was just as painful as that suggests, and yet, as Christopher fell, more than anything, he felt satisfied.

Meanwhile, Jo skidded to a stop in the arena center. She took a second to catch her breath, and drop her aura, and then her face lit up as it sunk in what she’d just managed to accomplish. Christopher was a professional, a champion who hadn’t suffered a single loss since beginning his career as a professional fighter, and she’d defeated him in front of an entire room full of people. She looked around, as the same realization came upon the crowd, and Jo’s friends, and they began to cheer.

Nothing seemed real. Jo couldn’t remember a happier experience. She was sure that she’d been happier than this, but in that moment, it didn’t matter. She stood there in the center of the arena while the stout man announced her victory, and basked in that glory until, finally, she was asked by the stout man to step down, and the crowd began to disperse.

Is was then that fate, or karma, or whatever force in her life kept making things more difficult for her, decided that Jo had had enough happiness for one day. As soon as she’d stepped down beside the arena, the stout man approached her, and he didn’t look particularly happy.

“Excuse me,” he said, in the way that someone tends to just before saying something monumentally offensive, “but I’m going to have to ask you and your team to leave, immediately.”

“What,” Jo asked, genuinely perplexed, “why?”

“You didn’t make this company aware when you applied to win a place in this match that you had an unnatural Sol.”

Confusion turned to guarded dispiritedness, as Jo asked, “So?”

“So,” the stout man replied, indignantly, “you had to know that this match would be used to promote this location. Quite frankly, our parent company, ProCorp, isn’t the type to be associated with such people.”

By now, Jo was fuming. She felt a coldness seize her fast-beating heart, and she clenched her fists. It was everything that she could do to keep herself from hitting the stout man then and there. To keep her aura from flaring up around her again, and knocking the stout man away. The stout man hadn’t bothered to keep his voice down. The remaining crowd, and the rest of Jo’s team, had all heard what he’d said. They watched the two as if watching a trainwreck, as if they didn’t see any way to intervene, and yet couldn’t tear themselves away.

“It’s nothing against you, personally,” the stout man said pompously, “I don’t know what lie you told yourself to turn your Sol bad, but generally I think that it’s best not to take the chance that someone might misunderstand things. So, to avoid damaging this facility’s reputation, you’re being asked to leave and not return.”

Jo might have attacked him. She might have lost control. She’d never been so mistreated, so humiliated, in her entire life. She was so angry that she was beginning to literally see red. She, and the stout man, were only saved by, of all people, Christopher Johnson. Beaten and bruised, he still carried himself with calm poise as he stepped up beside Jo and the stout man and said, simply, “Well that’s just stupid. My agent told me that ProCorp approached him and asked if I might be willing to consider promoting this place. If this facility has such backwards policies, then I guess I don’t have to think too hard about the answer.”

He turned to Jo. He was hiding it well, but he was almost as angry as she was. Despite the nature of the conversation, and all of the people still watching, he offered Jo his hand. Surprised, she took it.

“I’m sorry I brought up your Sol,” Christopher told her. “If I hadn’t, this probably wouldn’t have happened, but I want to be clear that that was the best match that I’ve ever had, and I’m proud to call you my rival. You’d better get stronger, because next time our teams fight, I won’t make things so easy for you.”

Jo had never slept well. For as long as she could remember, she had a tendency to have nightmares. In them, she would feel cold, the kind of cold that comes from being in a dark place untouched by the sun, but the cold would be inside of her, and she would feel like it was also somehow creeping up on her, trying to catch her and drag her away. It was one of the many reasons why she enjoyed fighting so much. After a good fight, she would be so tired that, nightmares or not, she would almost always get a good night’s sleep. The night after the match at the Megadojo was one of her better nights. She had the sense upon waking that she had had the nightmare, but she didn’t remember it.

Her entire body still ached. That wasn’t surprising. Jo was used to being sore after a hard fight. Still, this time was a little different. She’d never had to push herself so hard. Every aspect of that fight had been taxing. Even using her Shadow Step so much at once had been exhausting. She considered just lying there in bed for the rest of the day, but she knew from experience that sore muscles need to be used. Reluctantly, she pushed herself up, dressed in a simple t-shirt and black shorts, ran her fingers haphazardly through her hair, and then made her way slowly down the stairs.

There were many reasons for Jo to wish that she had a more common and conventional natural Sol. As Christopher had said, people with unnatural Sols like hers had more trouble controlling their Sol energy. That meant more trouble creating auras, and making attacks out of Sol. People with unnatural Sols tended to have more Sol energy to work with, but many of them couldn’t amplify their Sol energy without losing control of it and burning themselves out. Jo had, with a lot of hard work and dedication, managed to overcome that handicap, but it wasn’t easy, ever, and that wasn’t the only downside that came about as a result of her Sol’s nature.

Jo reached the bottom of the stairs. She could hear her mom talking to someone. Based on the direction of the sound, it was likely coming from the backyard, carried inside through the open glass back door on a warm spring breeze. It was a Sunday, which meant that Shannon was teaching again. This time, rather than a class of young amateurs, it would be her apprentice, Kimi. Jo leaned around the corner, and confirmed that she was right. Shannon stood across from a cute, slight, Japanese-American girl with shoulder-length straight black hair. The two of them took turns reaching down and touching the ground beneath them. They were practicing Shannon’s signature technique, Life from the Earth, which allowed the user to connect with the life energy of the planet itself and borrow some, using it to supplement their own life energy. They could mix it with their Sol energy, amplifying their Sol more than they ever could using their own life energy alone, or even…

The right kind of Sol, Jo remembered, and her relatively neutral early morning mood turned sour.

Jo thought back to her mother’s Sol lesson only a few days ago, at the part of that lesson that she’d overheard. “More life energy makes a person quicker to heal when they’re hurt,” Shannon had said. That was true. All Sol fighters could use life energy to make their bodies heal faster. Most Sol fighters could also borrow life energy from other sources, helping themselves to heal after a fight, but fighters with unnatural Sols didn’t have that luxury. Jo’s Sol would reject any life energy that wasn’t her own. She could still mix her Sol energy with her life energy, amplifying them both, but that only boosted her ability to heal for a second or so at a time, it was tiring, and, ultimately, it didn’t help much.

Jo turned away from the training session, and made her way around another corner, and down a short hallway to the kitchen. A good breakfast would help push her pain aside and bring her mood back up again. She was pleasantly surprised to see Sara sitting at the kitchen table, gnawing absentmindedly at an unwrapped banana while she read something on her phone. She looked as sore and groggy as Jo felt. Jo knew that, at some point soon, her sister would use their mom’s techniques to get the healing process going, but that didn’t alleviate the sympathy that Jo felt for her in that moment. She tapped Sara’s shin with her toe to get her attention.

“Owww,” Sara moaned, and looked up at her assailant.

“Yo,” Jo asked, “want some eggs. I’m making eggs.”

Sara nodded, and Jo pulled the refrigerator open, gathered up four eggs, butter, and milk. She set the butter to melt in a pan, cracked the eggs into a bowl, splashed them with some milk, and whisked them together with a fork.

She poured the eggs into the hot pan and scrambled them, taking care not to cook the fluff out of them. Once they were done, she separated them between two plates, placed one in front of her sister, and one in front of herself as she sat down at the table as well. She took the banana from Sara’s hand, peeled it, and broke it in half. The two of them ate their breakfast in silence, but Jo, at least, was happy for the company.

As she shovelled the last of her eggs into her mouth, Jo chose to break the silence. “So,” she asked, “any plans for today?”

“No,” Sara replied simply, still reading from her phone. Then, as if she’d suddenly remembered that conversations are supposed to be two ways, she asked, “What about you?”

“I figured that I’d head down to Wilson’s,” Jo replied, sitting back in her chair and crossing her legs casually, “and try to work some of the ach out of my muscles. You’re welcome to come.”

Sara rolled her eyes, “Pass.”

“Fine,” Jo told her cheekily, “go ahead and sit around all day, and let yourself get all stiff. It’s your choice.”

She hopped up and sauntered dramatically toward the doorway separating the kitchen from the rest of the house, but after a moment it became clear that her sister wasn’t going to take the bait, so she shrugged and picked up her pace. Sara didn’t usually like to go with her to Wilson’s to train, but for some reason that she couldn’t pin down, Jo had really wanted her to this time. Maybe the thought of training without a sparring partner after having Keith around for a while was actually getting to her. Either way, she put her odd feeling out of mind and took the few blocks to the dojo at a jog.

Wilson didn’t open the dojo on Sundays, or Mondays, but that didn’t stop Jo from using it. She’d always gotten on well with the old man, and as his one and only permanent student, Jo was allowed full run of the place, whether its doors were open to the public or not. She even had access to her own key, which Wilson kept hidden in a false rock behind the building. Worried, though, that, as early as it was, the old man would still be asleep in his apartment in the building’s back office, Jo decided that she would start her training out on the back lot. It was padded with the same rubbery material that they put under jungle gyms, and was more than large enough even for her to practice her Shadow Step if she wanted to.

Mom and Kimi have the right idea, training outside, Jo thought as she stretched her muscles. It was a gorgeous day. Not too warm, but still sunny enough to get the blood flowing. She moved into basic combinations, darting around the back lot, kicking and flipping at ridiculous speeds. It was no surprise that she failed to notice the same brown-haired girl from earlier that week, at the park, standing in the shadow of a building further down the street, watching her with interest.

********

Sara purposefully ignored Jo as she left. She knew that it irked her sister when she acted so detached, but, as usual, she shrugged it off. She waited a few minutes, and then, once she was sure that Jo would be a good distance from the house, she stood up, and walked down the hall until she could see Shannon and Kimi through the back door in the family room. They were engrossed in their training. Kimi touched her palm to the ground again, with a look of concentration on her face, and suddenly her body radiated golden light. She’d drawn a portion of the Earth’s life energy into herself. Sara frowned. Then, rather than use one of Shannon’s techniques to alleviate the pain of the previous day, as Jo had expected her to do, she turned toward the front door, and she left as well.

Sara followed the same route that Jo had earlier that week, when going to meet with Tucker, and soon, she made it to the park. She walked the path for something like ten minutes, and soon, she found herself in the Old Park. She walked for another ten minutes, until she was at the deepest part of the Old Park, which was a little swampy, and surrounded by dying trees. It was the only part of the Old Park that no one except for her ever used, and that’s exactly why she used it.

After taking a few minutes to stretch, Sara moved to the center of the secluded area. It was only about twenty feet by twenty-five feet, but it was enough for what she needed it for. She adopted a stance identical to the one that Shannon and Kimi had been in for their training: her feet squared with each other, and her hands held together in front of her chest, as if praying. She closed her eyes, and took a calming breath that didn’t quite succeed in erasing the look of anxiety from her face. She reached down and touched the ground. A bead of sweat rolled down her face. For just a moment, the air around her stirred, and a golden glow flickered around her for less than a second. Then it faded, and the air stopped moving.

Sara took a breath. She checked her stance, and tried again. This time, nothing happened at all. Sara scowled, and kicked the mud at her feet, sending it splattering out in front of her. She kicked again, and again, almost losing her footing and toppling over. A near-fall was enough to calm her down, if only a little. She centered herself again, and closed her eyes, this time concentrating on moving the Sol energy in her body. She tried to draw out the life energy in her body and mix the two, but it didn’t work. She could feel the life energy at the core of her being, but she couldn’t make it do what she wanted.

She stomped the ground, and then dropped into a sit. She didn’t even care that she’s half buried herself in stagnant water. She tried, and almost failed, to hold back tears. Sara was the younger child of a practiced Sol fighter. She’d been born with a lot of Sol. Even more than Jo. She’d also trained her Sol to make it even stronger, and make her Sol energy even greater, and just like any practiced Sol fighter, she could bear down on her Sol and make it do what she wanted. She could use raw Sol to make herself stronger or faster, or use her water Sol, the Sol specific to her, to control the water around her, but she couldn’t access her life energy. She’d never been able to, and no matter how hard she tried, no matter how hard she trained, that never changed.

Sara wasn’t one to give up, though. She let herself vent for a few more minutes, and then she stood back up, and she kept trying. She worked late into the day, but she didn’t make any more progress than she ever had. Today was different, though, in that her private, secret training wasn’t quite so private this time. Today she was being watched closely, from the shadows, by a well kempt young man in a silk vest.

********

Jen stood outside of the Megadojo, looking up at the grand opening banner still hanging from its facade. She eyed the place with restrained contempt. She wasn’t as overt with her anger as her cousins, but she felt it just as strongly. She had heard the words of the stout man the day before, and even though she didn’t have an unnatural Sol herself, she was just as disgusted by what that man had said to Jo as Jo herself had been. Jo was a good person, just like most people with unnatural Sols, and it wasn’t like there weren’t people with natural Sols who had horrible secrets. The difference between natural and unnatural Sols was just another way for people to categorize others and gives them a target to hate.

Jen was the type, though, to compartmentalize her feelings when logic was needed. When there was a puzzle to solve, or something of interest to reason through. The interesting thing today was why she was here. Despite the stout man’s words, particularly the ones that indicated that ProCorp and the Megadojo shared his views, Jen had awoken to find that she’d received an email from the Megadojo’s management asking to speak with any members of the Dueling Hearts who would listen. Jo, Sara, and Tucker were all copied on that email, and yet Jen was seemingly the only one who had seen it, as she was the only one here. Or so she thought.

“So you saw it too?” inquired a masculine voice, one that Jen recognized, though its fierce tone was something of a surprise. She turned to see Tucker walking up behind her. She was surprised all over again to see a flash of literal fire in his green eyes. He crossed his arms. He was breathing heavily, and Jen could feel heat radiating from him.

Jen didn’t blame him. She didn’t see this side of Tucker often. Usually he was a lovable dork who liked physical competition, but when it came to standing up for one of his friends, he became almost an entirely different person. All of the Dueling Hearts could handle themselves, and yet Tucker would throw down for any of them anyway, but none more so than Jo. The connection between them was something special. It wasn’t anything overt, but anyone who knew them well could tell that they trusted each other completely, and cared for each other as family. Thinking back, it had probably been nothing more than surprise that had kept Tucker from exploding on the stout man yesterday. Jen couldn’t help but smile. A bond that strong was really something to admire.

“You have any idea why they asked us here?” Tucker asked.

“No,” Jen answered, turning back toward the building again. “That dude yesterday said that ProCorp wanted us not to come back. I’m tempted to honor that, and go home.”

She looked over her shoulder at Tucker, “Then again, I’m curious. You think you can resist hitting anyone until we get an answer?”

Tucker shrugged. Jen smirked, and started toward the door, Tucker following just behind her.

Inside the Megadojo, to the right, was a desk where new prospective members could find literature, and talk with staff about joining. Almost as soon as the two Dueling Hearts were through the front doors, a woman approached them from that desk. She was in her mid twenties, pretty, with light brown hair and strong cheek bones. She had a nice, eye-catching smile, accentuated by her perfectly applied lipstick. She looked like a salesperson, and it only took Jen a second to realize that it would be people like her who would eventually be in charge of convincing people to spend their money on the promise of this place. Jen already didn’t like her on principle.

The pretty young woman told Jen and Tucker that management was awaiting their arrival. She looked behind them, as if expecting all four of them. Jen didn’t bother telling her that Jo and Sara weren’t the type to think of checking email, ever, unless they were expecting a message. Instead, she let the woman go and get her boss. Jen had expected the stout man. Instead, a middle aged Latino man emerged from an office behind the counter. There was a ruggedness to him, and, unlike the woman, this man looked like he would actually know his way around a Heart to Heart arena. Despite his hardness, when the man saw them, his expression cycled through surprise and relief, before settling on sympathy. When he told Jen and Tucker how truly sorry he was about the way that the stout man had treated them, Jen believed him.

The man introduced himself only as Eric, and promised that the stout man did not speak for ProCorp, or the Megadojo and its staff. He explained that the stout man was not originally supposed to be the only manager at the opening, and that, if he hadn’t been, he never would have been allowed to say the things that he said. He told them that the stout man had been let go, that he had been asked not to return, and that the facility, and that Eric personally, were offering the Dueling Hearts a sincere apology.

“It’s not enough to apologize to us,” Tucker said. “You’ll need to apologize to Jo, too,”

Jen agreed with him, and Eric insisted that he would, at the very next opportunity. Jen believed him this time, too. It seemed like Tucker did, too. He didn’t let it show, but his mood had improved dramatically. Jen could feel that he wasn’t radiating heat anymore, which was always a good sign.

Jen thanked Eric for everything that he’d said. When he offered all of the Dueling Hearts free memberships, even past the end of the Megadojo’s free period, and asked them if they would be willing to stay and use the facility for the day, and give it a second chance, Jen and Tucker both, tentatively, agreed.

The two of them found a mat, and they spent a few hours doing some basic forms, and a little bit of sparring. They eventually left after it became a little too annoying seeing people watching them, recognizing them from the exhibition match. If only they had paid attention to the people watching them, rather than trying to avoid them, they might have noticed the tall, hard-faced young man with the hazel eyes who watched them with more intensity than the rest.

********

That night, after everyone had gone home, the three secret observers met up in the Old Park, on the square of asphalt where they had watched Tucker fight. They showed a familiarity with each other that was reminiscent of family, and yet they didn’t make small talk of any kind. As soon as they were close enough to hear each other without raising their voices, the tall one, with the hazel eyes, spoke.

“I’m sure,” he said, “there’s nothing special about these four.”

“As hard as it may be to believe,” said the one in the silk vest, “I actually agree. The one I was shadowing, Sara, she can’t even draw on her life energy. At all. I mean, she has talent, but there’s no way she’s a candidate.”

They looked to their leader. The dark-haired girl considered it for a moment. She twisted her hair in her fingers, and thought about Jo. She thought about how unlikely Jo’s victory over Christopher Johnson had been, and about how she had managed to keep fighting even after she probably shouldn’t have been able to. About how she had managed to create a technique that was as impressive as any of theirs, on her own, at her age. Even if the others weren’t, and the girl was still not convinced of that, Jo was impressive. She deserved another look.

“I disagree,” the girl said to her male companions. “They were impressive enough that, considering Our Leader’s interest, it’s worth testing them.”

The well-dressed young man nodded his assent. The young man with the hazel eyes frowned, “Fine. At least I’ll get to fight someone. If I dial it back, it could be fun.”

“Fight them however you want,” the dark-haired girl told him with a cheeky smile, “but despite what we’ve seen, I still think that these four might surprise us. Let’s give them a few days to recover from their last fight, and then find out.”