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With his new resolve, Derrin improved exponentially over the next few days. He cut his obstacle course time in half each day, and the target practice was finally beginning to be two sided. He felt as if the assistant had to somewhat try now to stop his stars from connecting with a target. And while he still got no where even close to the assistant in their mock battles, he was still able to try out new attacks, skills, and methods of attack he was reading about in independent study. At night during his free time, Derrin practiced the more advanced skills that would take much time to even become usable. Not only that, but he had physically improved overall. He had more endurance; he was much faster, and could jump noticeably higher. As he had read in one book:

The potential to be great lies inside everyone, but the ability to unleash that potential is what makes one truly powerful.

Despite his progression, he found it frustrating that he was unable to completely focus on the task at hand. Several times a day, he found himself daydreaming about the girl. He felt that it was not anything special about her that distracted him, but simply the element of mystery surrounding her. He was sure that if he could just find out a little bit about her, she would go to the back of his mind and stay there for good. It was no surprise then that he eagerly anticipated her next visit to the hideout.

In the fourth day of hiding, his wish finally came true. Again, the door opened during his independent study. This time, however, he noticed. Looking up, his heart skipped a beat as he saw her entering. She looked over to the couch where he was sitting as she shut the door behind her and gave a polite smile. “Hey, Derrin, right? I just dropped by to give the assistant some more reports.”

“Yeah, he’s in his room. I’m sure he already knows you’re here,” he said shakily.

“Oh, well I guess I’ll wait then,” she said brightly as she set down beside him. An uncomfortable silence gripped the room for what seemed like hours to Derrin, but could have been no more than a few seconds.

“I’m sorry; I don’t think I ever heard your name. You are?”

“Kayla Redel. The leader of the Guiding Force is my grandpa, so I’m constantly doing errands for him.”

His face simply nodded as his brain scrambled to figure out what the surprising information meant to him. “So, you’ve been with the Guiding Force you’re entire life?”

“Essentially, yes. Well, ever since I could read at least. I’m one of the most senior members of the Guiding Force by years associated with it, but I haven’t been on a single mission besides delivering messages and running errands.”

He began to feel more comfortable with her, and his unease began to melt away, “Yeah, it must be frustrating never being able to do anything. It’s been the exact opposite for me ever since I got back from Maple Island, and trust me, it’s not as great as you expect it to…”

The door to the assistant’s room opened and Derrin stopped mid sentence. Kayla stood up as the assistant entered the room, “I’ve got more reports for you from the leader.”

He nodded as he took the papers, “Thank you, Ms. Redel, without you I’d be in the dark.” He paused for a moment, “If you have time, perhaps you might stay a bit longer?”

“Oh, certainly, I was simply going to browse the market afterwards. I can stay.”

“Well then please do, we haven’t had much company needless to say. Though I don’t think we can spare any time to talk, you’re welcome to watch as we have a little friendly sparring.”

She smiled, slightly confused, “I’d love to.”

The assistant smiled, a rare sight, and led the two downstairs to the elevated platform where all of their duals had taken place. Kayla safely stood a few feet from the edge, as Derrin and the assistant grabbed their gear and took their positions on opposite sides of the platform. Derrin felt as if his heart could be heard a mile away, and an unusually large surge of adrenaline was racing through him as they prepared to attack. Eager to begin so that this strange feeling could disappear, Derrin dashed forward. He jumped off one foot, spinning quickly around in the air, the centrifugal force giving even more momentum to the stars he had unleashed with all his might. The assistant deflected them easily, but he gripped his hand in pain from the force behind the stars. Derrin continued forward, throwing three pairs in quick succession that not only went straight for the assistant, but covered all lanes of escape. Now he was not limited to sending each pair of stars thrown at a time to the same place. He could select two separate targets and send a single star accurately to each one. The assistant leaped high into the air and knocked down the star in his path, landing a few feet from Derrin.

Derrin cursed his foolishness. He had been so eager to show the girl how good he was that he had thrown caution to the wind and had forgotten about his huge disadvantage in close range. The assistant stabbed forward swiftly, beginning a furious chain of attacks. Derrin flipped backwards and sidestepped just in time to avoid the onslaught. He ducked under a stab, and darted under the assistants arm. Grabbing another star, he attempted to stab the assistant’s back. The assistant spun around and knocked the star out of Derrin’s hand with his dagger. Derrin dove backwards as the assistants dagger swung down, his ankle nicked by the daggers edge. He scrambled to his feet and continued his retreat. The assistant charged forward, and Derrin, taken by surprise, was upended as the assistant went straight for his knees. Derrin was sent flipping into the air, his sense of direction all but lost from the attack. Surprised, he saw the assistant’s back unprotected as he started to fall. If he threw a star, he’d hit the ground unprotected. However, this might be his only reasonable chance to even get close to touching the assistant, and with Kayla watching, it was a no decision. He flung two stars straight at the assistants back. The last thing Derrin saw was the assistant throwing himself to the right attempting to dodge the attack, and then, nothing.

What to say? I liked it, hope you do. Just for those who don’t know, centrifugal force is the force that pushes something away from the center. Click the button if you enjoyed. . . rate out of ten if you could.