Acteon: Starlite Secrets

Episode 5: Something They Don't Know

"She'd rather not answer that, I think," Silkver said, shrugging.

"How come?" Ace prodded.

"I dunno ask her."

Ace looked at Karu again but she was still looking at the ground.

"Huh, guess you won't answer that one either." Ace turned back to Silkver. "That's alright. A lady can have her secrets."

"Like me! I have secrets of my own too," Silkver announced.

"What secrets can someone like you possibly hide?" Ace asked.

Silkver giggled. "Well, if I tell you them, they won't be secrets anymore."

"Right right," Ace said. "Let's get back on track. I still haven't seen much from you."

"Okie dokie."

The two promptly resumed their training after, with Ace continuously complaining how Silkver looked like she wasn't trying. Despite what he said, she still kept her distance from him most of the time and only came close when there was a clear and easy opening. That was rare.

The other times when Silkver did attack him, she would always aim for his feet and kick him of the ground. She never fully succeeded and Ace always anticipated this.

"Come on! What, are you scared of me or something?" Ace groaned.

"Nah, you're pretty tiny for someone your age," Silkver snickered.

"Then why do you keep running away?"

"'Cus you're more skilled than me? And wasting your energy on someone you can't defeat is usele-"

"YOU USED THAT SAME EXCUSE LAST TIME," Ace yelled.

Karu in the back heard Silkver quote her word for word and looked up.

"Oh, did I?" Silkver said, looking up to the blue sky. "I don't remember . . ."

"I guess I'll have to repeat myself then," Ace mumbled, rubbing his temples. "You're right about that even though it seems very pessimistic but I haven't been using my full strength the past half-hour. I have control. That's something your friend doesnt have."

Silkver tilted her head. "Say wha."

"If I was using my full strength on you, you'd be on the ground bleeding out with a few broken bones. I've been trying to level down with you so you could have a chance to try some moves on me. Sadly, you don't seem to be doing that."

"Ohhh you should've said that to me before we started," Silkver said, nodding. "But still, isn't me not fighting back much enough to tell you what level I'm at?"

Ace took the words in and processed them for a while. "I guess so . . . But that is extremely hard to believe. How can you be that bad?"

"Maybe part of it's 'cus I can't use me lil' clawers," Silkver drawled as she flexed and extended her fingers.

Ace raised a brow at her. "What's wrong with your hands?" He didn't even question her choice of words.

The correct answer would be, "Since my hands are less protected than my feet, I'm scared I'll accidentally have them cut or scraped and start bleeding out the black stuff and freak you all out. That's what kinda happened when I punched the raccoon kid all those years ago." But of course, Silkver couldn't say that. Instead she just said, "Uhh, I just . . . It just finished healing from a broken wrist . . ?"

Ace looked at her, unconvinced. She then looked over at Karu. "Did she really break her wrist?"

Karu looked back at him, then at Silkver who was frantically trying to get her to play along with the lie by nodding her head.