Gifted

Chapter 4

"Hey, that was a good battle, you guys," said Carter, noticing Landen and Dez heading toward him on the balcony. "Both of you are getting stronger, and you may actually become two of the best here at our school at the rate you're growing."
Walking over toward Carter, Landen rose his head up at him as he gazed at the tall, blonde Gifted. He had slicked back hair, light blue eyes, fair skinned and had a slender build.
"Thanks, Carter," replied Landen. "You're pretty strong too. One of the strongest here at 01-18. People around the school are talking about how you've won a lot of training matches yourself. Some are even saying they'd like to see you and me in a match sometime."
"And guess who's going to be stronger than both of you?" asked Dez.
"Me. But you already knew that, right Dez?" replied Landen before snickering at him.
"Don't get cocky, you two are strong, but you still have a long way to go before you're at my level. In fact, I can't wait until it's my turn to go down to the arena and show you both just what I can do," said Carter.
"Yeah, and what is that, Static Shock? Make it rain with all the oodles of money your family and you have to get ahead?" asked Dez before laughing at Carter.
"Dez, leave him alone. We both saw that you lost to me in our match anyway," said Landen.
"You two have seen me fight other people out on the training field. I haven't lost a match yet. Mr. Riley thinks I'm talented with my powers. Plus, electricity is cooler than fire anyway."
"Is that right, Carter? I bet I could beat you in a training match. You're not the only strong Gifted here," said Dez as a considerably sized ball of fire suddenly formed in his left hand.
"You just lost to Landen, Dez. A Gifted who doesn't have any advanced powers like we do. What makes you think you could take me if you can't take him?"
Noticing the conversation escalating from being friendly to increasingly hostile, Landen raised out his hand in between Dez and Carter.
"All right guys, that's enough. You both are strong. Dez, back off Carter."
"I'll see you guys later on. And again, good match guys," said Carter, turning his back as he walked away, sliding his hands into his jean pockets.
"See you later, Carter. Can't wait to see you in a match," said Landen, watching Carter turn his back to Dez and him as he walked away.
"Later, Carter. Can't wait to beat you in a match," said Dez arrogantly, earning Landen's quick sigh of annoyance.
"What?" Dez asked.
Landen looked at Dez for a moment before smiling and shaking his head at him, followed by a quick laugh under his breath. He turned around from Dez and set his focus on the Gifted students fighting below the balcony. He looked carefully at their fighting, getting chills from their almost invisible figures clashing at each other with remarkable speeds.
Both students quickly enhanced their agility more and more as their battle raged forward. One student manipulated water, and their opponent controlled the wind, both fighting fiercely, exchanging blows to one another through their powers.
The student who managed wind tried valiantly blowing away the Gifted who controlled water, but it had little effect. The Gifted who controlled water conjured up balls of it that she then expelled from her hands at her opponent. The wind-based Gifted blew the water balls back with a gust of wind before blasting at his opponent with an even stronger gust. This blew her into the wall of the arena. Mr. Riley then stepped in to end the training match and had school nurses come in to check the water Gifted.
The match was over almost as fast as it had begun. The unconscious Gifted girl was carried away on a stretcher by Advancement School nurses and taken to a nearby resting room to heal. She was to be checked to be sure her protective training gear wasn't too damaged over her clothing. The Gifted students on the balcony started clapping and cheering the wind-based Gifted's name, praising the Gifted for his victory and pleasing training match.
"Wow, did you see that, Dez? Dez?" asked Landen, turning around to face Dez, noticing his best friend talking to a group of girls across him.
"So yeah, I pretty much let Landen win and think he was stronger than me just to make him feel good about himself. I'm a good friend like that, and Landen is my dude," said Dez, looking at one of the girls in the group, smiling a cocky smile before noticing Landen walking up to approach him.
"You're so nice, Dez. Not many people would do that. I always knew you were strong," said one of the girls as she smiled, then blushed as she looked at Dez.
"Yeah, Dez is a good guy. That sounds like him," said another girl as she leaned close to Dez's shoulder, grabbing his attention.
"Still the same old Dez. You don't even recognize your best friend Landen trying to speak to you, do you?" asked a female voice that crept up and echoed into Dez's ears.
It was Kayla, his and Landen's close friend. She had long, red, straight hair that ran down her back and swayed from side to side whenever she'd walk. She had bright hazel eyes, fair skinned, light black eyeliner around her eyes, and had curves along her waistline.
Many Gifted students, both male and female in Landen and Dez's Advancement thought that Kayla was beautiful. For her age, she looked fully mature compared to the other girls in the Advancement School. To Landen, it wasn't just her looks that were mature, but it was also her personality.  She didn't argue with other Gifted students, she normally kept a cool head on herself, and she took her schooling seriously.
"What? Oh, I'm sorry, Landen. I didn't even notice you were there, buddy. Tell the girls here how much stronger I am compared to you, and how I ended up letting you win," said Dez, gazing up at Landen trying to form a nervous smile.
Landen crossed his arms as he stared daggers at Dez, anticipating his best friend to make an excuse for himself.
"You really are something, aren't you, Dez? Is it really that hard to believe that I'm actually stronger than you?"
"You both are strong. If you were a little more serious, Dez, Landen and you would stay at the same level," said Kayla. "Who knows? You might have even been stronger than him."
"Yeah, well, I'm not gonna let Landen get stronger than me. I can't. I'm confident in my abilities. After all, he may have gotten lucky in our training match, but in actuality, I would've won."
"Let's go, guys. Dez, you're a liar and wannabe. We can't believe we thought you were stronger than Landen," said one of the girls, disgusted, as she and the others left, leaving Dez speechless.
"I look forward to a future match between you two then, Dez. Both of you have for sure gotten stronger, and you'll only get stronger from training unless you continue to stay cocky."
"We won't, Kayla. We promise," said Landen.
"Thank you. Anyway, I can't wait 'til I'm able to show Mr. Riley how much I've grown with my powers myself. I feel stronger than last time, more refined or something."
"Your ice abilities are strong, Kayla. You could definitely do a lot with them."
"Oh, you really think so Landen? You're sweet. Thank you. I still have a lot of training to do, though. I want to get stronger. More refined, you know?"
"Yeah, and maybe with her refined ice skills, she can create snowmen and snow angels too," said Dez, laughing as he tried nudging Kayla's shoulder before stopping in shuddered silence at Kayla's unimpressed expression on her face.
"You really think you're a comedian or something, don't you, Dez? Maybe you should train at a comedy school rather than a Gifted school, huh? You're such a jerk! You'll never be half the gentleman Landen is!"
A small smile formed over Landen's face.
"Kayla, you're too nice. Don't mind Dez, he's just trying to be funny. He doesn't mean any harm."
"Yeah. I know, Landen. But hey, I'm really sorry, but I gotta go. I'll talk to you later, okay?" asked Kayla before walking up to Landen, embracing him with a warm hug before letting go and walking off in another direction.
"Oh! You like her!" said Dez.
"Kayla and I are just friends. Nothing more, man."
"You're a bad liar, Landen. How long have we known each other? You can't fool me, man. You like her, just admit it. It's ok, I think Kayla looks good too."
"Yeah, whatever. So what if I do like her? It's not like I have a chance with her anyway. I've known Kayla about as long as I've known you, and since that time we met and became friends, we haven't gotten any further than that. I'm in the friend zone forever, man."
"With that attitude, you're right, you won't. If you keep positive though, you just may pull it off and get the girl," said Dez, turning his eyesight and attention down toward Mr. Riley and the other classmates finishing up their training.
Gazing down the balcony, Landen saw Mr. Riley signal the rest of the students who were waiting on the balcony to come down and gather together near him. Landen knew this meant training was over for the day and regular class sessions were to resume. This was something Landen was never a fan of.
"Good job today, class. I'm very proud of all of you. It's time for a break now. You're free to yourselves for the next thirty minutes. I expect to see you all in class on time. Dismissed," Mr. Riley said.
"Hey, Landen, let's check out the school's gym real quick while we're on our break. I'm thinking about signing up. Been feeling kinda rusty with my abilities lately," said Dez.
"What? No. Dez, I don't want to be late again for class because of you. You're fine, and besides, you like to look around and waste time too much for us to make it back before class begins."
"Oh, c'mon, Landen. You're always so tense about going to Riley's class anyway. You need some adventure in your life. Look, I promise we will make it back in time. Please, man."
"Fine. But it needs to be quick. You go there and get a form, then we go directly to history class."
"That's my boy. You're not so boring after all, huh?" asked Dez, smirking, before both boys walked out of the training room through its sliding doors, then made their way across the halls of connected buildings attached to the school.
These other buildings held different class sessions in several rooms located within them. The hallways were loaded with many Gifted just like Landen and Dez. Each of them unique in their own ways, ranging from how they fought, their strengths and weaknesses, and their thoughts on society and the galaxy beyond Earth.
Each building of the school served a different purpose than the rest, and each Advancement School that existed in America was massive in size. The idea behind it was to have a place of refuge for Gifted who could freely explore and learn to use their powers while maintaining control of them. It also sought to teach them, just the same as non Gifted schools.
Despite the training sessions, all Gifted students were required to complete upon graduation, the Advancement School offered more options to its students as well. Students who wanted to become a doctor or "Healer" in the medical field were able to take classes that focused its practice on healing injured animals as well as learn from fake human bodies with body parts dislocated or bleeding out that needed healing. This was only one of several special classes for Gifted students.
The Gifted who were especially proficient with their telekinetic abilities could also be presented the option to join law enforcement, learning how to use the most of their powers with trying to decode past events of a crime through great concentration, smell, and touch as well as find the criminal behind the crime. They would go on graduating the Advancement School to be highly respected in their field by other officers due to their abilities. Telekinesis, however, took years of practice to become proficient at, and it wasn't always guaranteed to work.
The many different buildings of the Advancement School held different cliques and groups as well, walking throughout the halls when a class wasn't in session. One group may be a group of fire-based Gifted, while another may be pure water users. Each had their own ideas about the other, whether gossiping about the elemental group's members or getting in the other's face, the halls were always full of chatter.
Coming by a group of Gifted students in the halls, Dez and Landen crossed paths with a group of fire-based Gifted. In the group, they saw their friend, Trevor, who they called Kurlzz, talking and walking with the group before he turned up his head and noticed Dez and Landen walking up across from them. This also grabbed the attention of the others in the group as they looked over and saw the boys.
"Hey, Dez, Landen. Where are you guys heading off to?" asked Kurlzz.
"We're heading to the gym. Dez is trying to sign up in Daniel's gym," replied Landen.
Kurlzz grinned as he looked over at Dez. "Feeling kinda scrawny, Dez?"
"Nah, I'm still tough enough to handle you just fine, ya youngin'. I just feel like I've been slacking off lately. Especially since I'm the strongest Gifted here."
"Strongest Gifted here, huh? Better tell that to Carter then. Or even your bro Landen standing right next to you," retorted Kurlzz, laughing, before turning his attention at Landen. "We just came from working out in the gym not too long ago, and we saw one of Zach's friends in there, so be careful."
"Yeah, man, if it weren't for the simple fact we go to the gym and work out, Zach and his guys would try us too," said Zeke, chiming into the conversation.
"We'll be careful. We're not trying to start a fight if we can help it," Landen said.
"We're not worried about them. We score higher than any of Zach and his friends in the training sessions we have anyway. Mr. Riley even knows it. He said that Landen and I are becoming even more powerful each time we have a match against each other. Zach and his boys are soft. You're looking at the strongest Gifted in the school, Kurlzz. We beat Zach and his friends every single time!"
"Dez, you're getting too hyped for a fight again. Come on, we have to go. We'll catch you later, Kurlzz. You too, Zeke," said Landen, grabbing Dez's arm and pulling him with him as both boys proceeded to Coach Daniel's gym.
After walking through the halls and out the sliding doors of some others, the boys finally came across their school's gym that was led by Coach Daniels. As Landen and Dez entered, they looked around in amazement at the building, they saw punching bags, sparring bots, running machines, and holo sky cycling machines, as well as many other training objects spread out around the room to train the Gifted students.
The boys found Coach Daniels as they walked along beside each other. He was watching a few Gifted teenagers use the gym equipment inside his gym, ensuring they didn't harm themselves. Luckily for the boys, he didn't have a class session when they arrived.
Coach Daniels was bald, he had light brown eyes, stubble facial hair, he was thin, and he wore a full body tracksuit.
"Coach Daniels, good morning. I wanted to get a form from you to let me work out in your gym after school and when you're not teaching gym classes," said Dez.
"I didn't expect to see you here, Dez. Out of most students I know, it is actually a little surprising. The word from the students around the school is that you claim you're the strongest here and need no further training."
"Yeah, I am. But the strongest Gifted should never stop training. Especially if they plan to join the Gifted branch in the military."
Coach Daniels let out a short laugh, smiling while looking at Dez's serious and confident expression on his face. "You're very wise, indeed, Dez. A Gifted should never stop training, and only build their power instead," he said before running to his nearby office to grab a gym form then passing it to Dez's hands. "Read over and fill out that gym form, then bring it back to me, and I'll look over it. If everything checks out, I'll have one of your teachers call you back over here to my gym office to say you're good to go, and I can answer any more questions you have."
"Thanks, Coach Daniels. I'll have this back to you soon," said Dez, before Landen and he said goodbye and left the gym.
Both boys immediately set out to Mr. Riley's class as they pressed for time. Arriving into his class just before the high pitched bell rang, the boys sat down in their respective seats as they heard Mr. Riley beginning to talk.
"Now class, today we will be recapping the last discussion we had about the history of Gifted and our abilities in preparation for your test coming up," Mr. Riley said, starting up a green holo projection depicting an image of Area 51 with text in front of it. "We shall begin with our history in 2018. In this year we first became who we are to this day in 2318."
"Wow, so you'd think as advanced as we were in 2018 with our military force, space force, even with our atomic weapons, we'd have been more ready for aliens like the Celestials," said Dez.
"Keep in mind, Dez, this was a different time period. Three hundred years ago to be exact. While we did experience quite a boom in technological advances in our military during that time, we weren't nearly as advanced or ready to take on the Celestials."
"I guess that makes sense, Mr. Riley. I'm just having a hard time seeing all that since I'm so used to seeing our world in 2318."
"Landen, what about you?" Mr. Riley asked. "I'm curious on your thoughts to this as well."
"The Celestials were too advanced for us during that time. Plus, they came out of nowhere. We just weren't ready, and there was nothing we could've done to be ready for them since we never encountered anything like them before."
"Yes. Very good. Now, where were we? Oh yes, the two beings referred to themselves as Rina and Raphael, who claimed they had come from a world far into the wide galaxy. They were described as beautiful beings, despite possessing a few characteristic alien features. Both Celestials had pale skin and were bald, possessing not a hint of hair on their heads. Their eyes were described as large and opaque, their irises and pupils being completely white."
Mr. Riley reached over for his glass on his desk to take a sip of water. "Now does anyone else in the class know what happened next, and can briefly explain it to the rest of us? Myself included?"
A girl sitting in the back of the class raised her hand and Mr. Riley called on her. "Lizzi, go ahead," he said.
"The Celestials asked to speak with the leader of the base of Area 51. The Celestials told the leader they came to give us a gift. They picked out a nearby soldier in the crowd named John who Rina helped unlock his powers. That made him the first Gifted in our history on Earth."
"Perfect, Lizzi. Very well put. Yes, that is exactly what happened."
"Mr. Riley, how were we able to tell if the first Gifted were able to use their powers for offensive and defensive purposes?" asked a boy from the back of the class.
"That is a good question. I meant to explain that next, actually," Mr. Riley answered.  "The US military learned through the Celestials that it is more efficient and easier to train young minds early on by accessing their sixth sense rather than trying to with much older adult men and women.
Basically, when you are born and you reach the age of five, you are required by law to be taken to an Advancement School to be taught by Gifted teachers on how to meditate and access your latent abilities, granted that you are able to show signs early on and that they are present at all to a usable level. It takes about a full year of practice. During that year, Advancement School training teachers are able to tell if you'll be able to use your powers to a level that'd deem you as a Gifted. And if not, usually most non Gifted children can barely push an object a very short distance, as well as lift tiny objects, and that's it.
Not everyone with their sixth sense awakened can use their power to a useable level. Those not able to use their powers are required to have their training ceased, and are then raised more or less as normal children."
"But then how were the Celestials able to awaken Gifted instantly back in 2018, but we don't do that now?" asked another student.
"Another good question. Raphael told the soldiers that Awakening Gifted was a very tiring process. Complex and difficult for all other races to achieve," Mr. Riley said. "Some young boys and girls experience an easier time at showing their level of potential than others, but the point of it is to separate the Gifted from the non Gifted, as well as teach the young to be able to focus their concentration and energy into bringing out their individual powers. When I was young, I was taught to close my eyes, breathe in deeply before exhaling, and focus on making something move or levitate through imagery in my mind."
"You had no trouble at all, Mr. Riley?" asked Landen.
"Well, of course, Landen. No one starts off learning anything in this world easily. It takes much time, patience, faith, and guidance. But I had good teachers who had faith in me and my abilities. Just like I have faith in you all sitting here listening to me today."
"I just hope I can become as strong as you, Mr. Riley," Landen said. "I've gotten the chance to see how strong you are, and it's crazy what you're able to do."
"You will in time, Landen. You're a strong young man, and I've seen what you, your friend Dez, Carter, and everyone else in this class can do."
Mr. Riley promptly walked from the holo projector in the classroom to the front of the student desks facing him before stopping, returning his attention up at his class. "Now it's time to move on to a recap of the different abilities you all love so much that Gifted students possess. Only today, class, you'll get a special treat. We'll start with the most basic of powers Gifted have. Telekinesis. After a person has their sixth sense unlocked, the first main ability they gain is telekinesis."
A hologram appeared of a Gifted using telekinesis before the students.
"Allow me to show the power of it in my ripe old age. Perhaps one day you, too, will gain the ability I have at such a high level. Great power requires patience and focus. The longer you keep at it, the more easily focused you'll be. Now watch, class."
The class ran silent and intent on watching Mr. Riley as he faced them. He closed his eyes, beginning to draw himself into a meditative state, reaching out his focus to his students' desks. He took in the weight, the proportion, and the feeling of every worktable in the room including his own.
To everyone else watching in the room, what Mr. Riley was attempting seemed impossible. Within a minute, Mr. Riley lifted all the desks in the room, leaving the students stunned by this display of power in their seats.
The class grew deathly silent in awe as they witnessed Mr. Riley's strong feat of power. Mr. Riley opened his eyes to see the fruits of his mastery of the power he possessed from many decades of training.
"As you can see class, with years of experience and dedication, you too can become quite skilled as I have. A strong Gifted student never shirks on his or her training and studies."
"You never cease to amaze us, do you, Mr. Riley? I'm sure I'm not the only one here in the class who'd like to know what your full power can really do," said Landen.
"All good things come in time. What kind of teacher would I be if I gave you all the answers and showed you the maximum potential of your powers without you all experiencing it first yourselves? You wouldn't learn anything that way, and I wouldn't be a teacher worthy enough to teach you."
Mr. Riley walked over toward the holo projector, turning it off just as the school's bell rang alerting him and his students that their last class session was over for the day.
"It looks like our time is up, class. I will see you all here tomorrow, so don't be late because you know I don't miss a single one of your smiling faces. And we don't want that, do we?" he asked. "I want you all to go home and study what you have learned here today. Be sure you're reading through your datapads, too, so you learn more about the Celestials, the soldiers, and how Gifted unlock their sixth sense and abilities. We have a test coming up soon!"
"See you tomorrow, Mr. Riley," said Landen, grabbing his bag and proceeding to leave the classroom in search of Dez.