Day 6 had arrived, and the recruits were all gathered in a new room. This one was significantly larger than the others. The room was large enough to hold a football field and then some. Not only that but it was filled with uneven dirt terrain and obstacles spread throughout the large field. It looked more like a ruined cityscape as opposed to a training ground.

  Above the training ground was a sky box overlooking everything. Inside were the 30 individuals; 29 of them were mentors. One of them looked down at the recruits heading toward the edge of the training field and pondered,

  “How well do you think our rookies are going to do?”

  “It depends on what kind of head space Zac is in.” Another responded.

  “Doc, you were with him all yesterday, right? So how was he?” A dark-haired woman asked.

  “Do you guys remember Budapest?” Dr. Varma said placidly.

  “Oh, shit…”

  “Oh, no…”

  “Damn…” Countless dispirited groans echoed through the room.

  “What happened in Budapest?” A newly promoted Mentor spoke up.

  “A friend of Devin and Zac’s was killed by the Weaving Adders. Devin went on a rampage, assisted by Zac. A lot of Adders died that day.” One of the other Mentors commented.

  “Assisted? No, it was more like it was fueled, coordinated and directed. Every step Devin took was premeditated by Zac. Devin didn’t have to think; he could just lose himself in his rage while following Zac’s instructions. Those two together are impossible, and at the time, Zac was especially focused.” Franky sighed as he recalled what happened that day.

  “Shiiiiiiitt! I hope he doesn’t break them.” The newly promoted Mentor commented.

  “They’ll be fine. There’s a reason why Zac needed to focus so hard. It’s because he had to. We have some very shocking recruits this time around.” Devin spoke as everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Devin looked over the recruits and then stared at Kenji and Watabe. Devin then turned to Franky,

  “How is he?”

  “The kid’s a monster,” Franky said pleasantly.

  “Of your own making, I’m sure,” Devin responded with a smirk.

  “You know it. The only thing holding that kid back is himself. Once he learns to let himself go. No one’s stopping him. Not even you. ” Franky laughed.

  Kenji not only had enhanced physical condition compared to other Chasers, but his ability to comprehend and learn was even more remarkable. He had absorbed and learned much from Franky in such a short amount of time. Franky couldn’t wait to get his hands on him again. Everyone’s eyes then looked at a door opening on the other end of the training ground. They all saw Zac walking out and sighed,

  “He’s really taking this seriously. He might actually break a few.” Hachiman said.

  “My little cutie won’t break, it’s impossible.” Helena giggled; her fists were currently wrapped in bandages.

  Zac walked onto the training field; unlike Day 3, he was in proper gear. He wore a black hooded cloak with a black full-face mask that conformed to his face. Everything from his mask to his gloves and boots, even his black cargo combat pants, had been specially made by the Twins under Zac’s design specifications. He walked to the top of one of the dirt mounds and looked down at the recruits. The mask on his face peeled back as he said,

  “Hello, my Tiny Tots. How are you all this fine day.”

  “Better now; I expected you not to show up.” One of the recruits said. As some of the other recruits began boisterous laughter.

  Ume didn’t find any of this funny and looked over at the laughing recruits with ridicule. Did they think they had become so much better in just 2 days?

  “He hadn’t even broken a sweat on Day 3. They seem to forget quickly now that they have a little power.” Kenji commented. Ume nodded in agreement.

  Ume shook her head in disappointment as she stared at Zac. Zac didn’t have a Program but was still a Chaser and a Taboo Child who had been training far longer than any of them. Last time, he was jet-lagged, hungover, and in nightwear. Today he had come prepared for a fight.

  “Fools.” Ume spat out involuntarily.

  “Yes, yes. You guys are terrifying with your new powers you’ve barely had for 48 hours. Especially you guys who don’t even know how to fight. What shall I do?” Zac mocked them, pouring cold water on quite a few of their heads.

  “So what’s the task today? You want us to make you bleed again?” Kenji asked sarcastically.

  “No, that’ll be boring. This time, there is no task. You guys have the next 12 hours to kick my ass to your heart's content. If you can. Come up in Teams or all together; it doesn’t matter.” Zac chuckled as he walked down the dirt mound, and the mask reformed around his face.

  “So, who’s first?” A metallic voice rang from behind the mask.

  Zac knew well that they would be too proud to come at him all at once. This taunt was nothing more than to get under their skin. As Zac was thinking, a team came forward. Zac tilted his head towards the side.

  “You guys, huh?” Zac was a little surprised.

  “You guys didn’t get enough last time?” Zac mocked them even more.

  This group had gone up to fight him more than anyone else on Day 3. They were rather tenacious. They had proper coordination, and they synergized reasonably well. They were a solid group. They just weren’t enough. The team leader looked rather upset with Zac’s remarks and made a simple hand motion. The group then charged him.

  “Not using your Programs? Wow…” Zac seemed insulted as they charged at him. With nothing more than their weapons. Zac entered a low crouching fighting stance with two daggers primed.

  The 5 of them were multiple times stronger and faster than before and had much better control over their bodies. However, no matter how they attacked, they couldn’t lay a hand on Zac. The smiles on the spectating recruits' faces began to slowly fade as they heard the metallic laughter of Zac fill the area.

  Kenji’s eyes narrowed as he watched Zac every movement. He was much faster than day 3, much sharper and cleaner. As he commented Zac's movements to memory, there was no room for improvement he could deduce. Or at least nothing he could currently achieve.

  “Perfection, as it should be. It’s over.” Kenji whispered, as Ume looked over her shoulder at him.

  Suddenly the Team stopped in their tracks. Everyone looked up to see Zac sitting on top of a mound of dirt.

  “Let me put you Tiny Tots on some game. Number 1, being Chasers doesn't make you invincible. You still need to train your body and your awareness. Number 2, those Nano-Machines are exactly that, machines. They share some of the same weaknesses.” Zac clenched his fist, and the Team of recruits that were bound in place all screamed as electricity coursed through their bodies. As the electricity flowed, everyone saw the almost imperceivable wires binding them. Those wires used bits of the surrounding poles and obstructions as anchors.

  “For instance, overloading them. Now you won’t be able to use your Program for the next 5 minutes even if you wanted to.” Zac chuckled as the Team crumbled to the ground.

  “When did he?” The recruits began to become anxious. None of them had seen him using wire. Hell, even the ones fighting him didn’t pick up on it until it was too late. Expect Kenji. Ume looked at him and then smirked.

  “Number 3, and this is the most important thing. Do you know why I spend so much time studying your Programs? It’s because that’s the only thing that concerns me. I’ve never understood it. Even with the Nano-Machines, you Chasers always seem so… weak and slow. The only thing of note is your Programs.” Zac's metallic voice rang out towards the recruits.

  It made sense to some of them. Zac was a Taboo Child, his physical prowess far exceeded normal humans. Since he had no Program, the only thing he could do was train his body.

  After getting their Programs, they all understand how complex they could be. They’d need to spend most of their free time experimenting and studying their abilities. Most of them would have little time to train their bodies. Trying to overpower Zac without their Programs was a fool's errand.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Many thought of getting revenge on Zac without the need to use their Programs. The reality of that not being possible hurt a great deal of their pride. They started to understand why Zac had the moniker “The Anomaly .” Nothing really made sense when it came to him.

  “It’d be better to consider him as a Chaser whose Program increases his physical attributes beyond common sense,” Watabe stated to his Team.

  “Ume, what do you think our chances are?” Watabe asked.

  “If what everyone told me is true, then 50%,” Ume answered as she crossed her arms.

  “Just 50%, even with me.”

  “Yes, Kenji, even with your Program. If what you told us is true, while impressive, it’s only giving us about an extra 10% at most. I don’t think you understand how deep Sensei Zac’s mind goes. Nothing he does is pointless. Even now.” Ume commented as Zac commanded someone to pick up the unconscious Team.

  “Who’s next?” Zac called out after the training field was cleared of the defeated Team.

  Over the next hour, 3 teams went up, and three fell. The only 2 teams that had yet to make an attempt were Team Watabe and Team Micheal. It seemed the two of them were waiting for the other to make a move first. Micheal looked over at Watabe’s Team and then asked a young Japanese woman within his group,

  “Miko, are you ready yet?”

  “Yes, I’m ready.” She responded.

  “Then let’s go,” Micheal said with confidence.

  “Finally!!” An excited Travis blurted out.

  Micheal led his group of five toward the edge of the training grounds. Miko looked around and started to point toward different areas. She began to speak, but no sounds came out of her mouth, or at least there were no sounds that Zac could hear. Zac’s eyes narrowed behind his mask as he stared at Miko. She was pointing to every area where he had set wire traps. No one up till this point had been able to pinpoint them. Zac nodded his head in approval.

  “Program: Reverb combined with Program: Pulse. Not bad.” Zac thought to himself as he watched Micheals's team prepare.

  Program: Reverb; allows Miko to create, interpret and manipulate sound waves. She could act as a sonar to find all Zac’s light-refracting wire, invisible by normal means. Also, by combining Program: Pulse’s ability to manipulate all forms of waves, Miko could hush their verbal communications to less than a whisper. At the same time, Micheal directly guided those sound waves directly into their ears. They didn’t want to use nano communications out of fear that Zac could somehow hack their communications

  “Unfortunately for you, I can read lips… wait, what’s this?” Zac thought to himself as he picked up strange readings for his masks. Light waves were moving oddly. Zac then started to chuckle,

  “That Micheal kid really is something.”

  Micheal moved the sonic waves and bended the light waves subtly to influence what Zac saw. Reading lips was now out of the question.

  “Let’s go. Travis goes wild; Patrick and Izumi get rid of the wire traps, then come to provide Travis with support. Miko, keep track of any unusual movements. I’ll guard Miko while providing instructions.” Micheal called out.

  “Initiating Program: Mind Matter!!! HAHAHAHA!” Travis was the first one to jump forward with a crazed look on his face. Suddenly a light blue construct manifested.

  “Is that a fuck’in Quad Tube Rocket Launcher?!” Zac shouted.

  “No… it’s a Quad Tube Zac-tracking Rocket Launcher!” Travis responded.

  “That doesn’t exist!!” Zac protested.

  “It does in my head! HAHAHAHAHAH!!!” Travis’ crazed laughter exploded as he fired off psionic rocket constructs.

  “Son of a bitch.” Zac sounded flustered for the first time.

  It was hard for anyone to predict the mind and the movements of a lunatic. If Travis didn’t know what he was thinking, how could Zac possibly? Zac dove behind a mound of dirt as the rockets exploded in psionic light. However, Travis kept it going, firing off another 4 rockets.

  “That’s not how Mind Matter is supposed to work!” Zac shouted in an upset voice.

  In the Mentor's room, everyone looked over at Travis’ Mentor, alias Mawu. She looked at them and just shrugged her shoulders.

  “I was just like Zac yesterday. My little lunatic has no restraint in his thinking, because I don’t think there’s much thought going on. He just wishes something into being, and poof! There it is. If it’s not supposed to work, he makes it work. I can’t explain it either. Maybe this was how Mind Matter was always supposed to be used.” Mawu let out a soft chuckle.

  “Seems like he is the antithesis of Zac. I wonder what he’ll do?” Duende commented with a satisfied expression. He was wondering why Micheal was readily willing to play the support role. Now he understood. Micheal understood how best to use his people and what was required to make a mission successful. Being prideful and inflexible would only result in failure. Out of every recruit here, the individual who had the best chance against Zac was Travis.

  “You guys both choose fascinating students,” Devin said.

  They all watched as Zac was bombarded by Zac-seeking psionic rockets. He looked and sounded panicked. However, Devin knew more than anyone that Zac was probably having the time of his life. Not only that, he was already more than likely halfway to figuring out his next move.

  “Hmm, looks like the Taboo Child’s Team may not get a crack at Zac at this rate. I know he’s still going easy on them, but I didn’t expect them to put him in such a tight spot.” One of the mentors spoke.

  “It’s Watabe’s Team, not Kenji’s. And is that what you see? I see a cat playing with a mouse.” Devin corrected that Mentor, who closed their mouth and looked back at what was happening. Mawu was the first to nod her head,

  “He saw through it already.” Everyone looked over at her, and she clarified.

  “Travis’ Mind Matter is unique, but it uses much more mental energy than what is recorded. He also hasn't had enough time to familiarize himself with it. Zac just needs to wear him out. He’s already showing some fatigue.”

  “I doubt Zac is going to do something so boring,” Helena said as she leaned against the window.

  “Indeed, that is not his style at all.” Dr. Varma smiled.

  After handling the wire traps, the explosions continued to sound off as Patrick and Izumi made their way toward Travis. Zac poked his hooded head from behind cover to take a look, before diving out of the way again. Zac zipped around the training grounds as he kept his eyes on Travis.

  “What is he planning?” Kenji thought to himself. Zac was his goal, he wanted to take every opportunity, to get inside his train of thought as much as possible. He understood that he could never be Zac, his mind didn’t work like his, but he could at least try to understand how he approached difficult situations.

  “Show me…” Kenji whispered with non-blinking eyes.

  “It’s now,” Zac said to himself, as there was a lull in the rocket launcher bombardment. Zac smiled beneath his mask as he saw the fatigue encroaching on Travis’ face.

  “Here we go.” Zac mused to himself as he began to charge straight toward Travis.

  Travis let off another continuous volley of rockets as two black daggers appeared in Zac’s hand. Zac did not stop his charge; he pushed forward. He avoided the rockets at the last moment, not giving them time to adjust their course and crash into the ground behind him. Those that could not be dodged were sliced down their middle. Travis’ Mind Matter was weird, but there were still some limitations that it had; those rockets were not more sturdy than your run-of-the-mill rockets, which made them easy to pick apart. Zac closed in, the volley of rockets stopped, and Travis’ breathing began to pick up.

  “It should be 20 seconds this time,” Zac mumbled.

  “Patrick, Izumi, stall him for 20 seconds!” Micheals's eyes widened as he gave out the command. Zac had caught onto something that Micheal was sure even Travis didn’t know. Micheal then touched the ground. The ground began to quake in front of Zac.

  “Localized earthquake, not bad, Micheal,” Zac whispered.

  Micheal felt a chill run down his spine. Zac already knew they were listening in on him? Zac jumped into the air and threw a dagger at Patrick. The stocky scottsmen began to dodge, and Miko shouted,

  “Deflect, don't dodge!!!”

  Patrick stopped himself in his tracks and stomped the ground. As he stomped, a slab of dirt shot up in front of him, deflecting the dagger.

  Program: Mound, allows its Chaser to manipulate earth minerals. There was a wire attached to the dagger. Miko’s quick warning saved Patrick from going down for the moment. Zac saw the slab of earth rise and snorted,

  “Earth Bending motherfu-” Zac then tilted his body to dodge out of the way of a flying object. However, that object was not visible. Izumi looked at Zac, shocked.

  “How could he see my throwing dagger?” He wondered to himself.

  Program: Refract allows the Chaser to bend and manipulate light waves and particles to do a host of things. At its lowest levels, making things invisible or causing shallow illusions. Unknown to Izumi, Zac’s mask had features designed to help detect such things.

  Zac retracted his dagger and landed on a mound of dirt. There were still 8 seconds left. Zac again jumped into the air, throwing both of his daggers this time. Patrick made several motions, but nothing seemed to happen. However, Zac’s daggers crashed into an invisible wall. He smiled as he then pulled himself towards that wall. Now Patrick and Izumi worked in tandem. Patrick continued his furious motions, but Zac lashed out and kicked at the invisible earth debris coming his way, as the retracting force continued to pull Zac towards the invisible wall. Zac landed on top of the wall of earth and looked at Travis.

  “Travis!!!!” Zac’s metallic voice shouted out with excitement. He then charged at Travis using the earth wall as a leaping point.

  “Too late!!!! HAHAHAHAH!!” Travis let out an excited laugh as he aimed his rocket launcher at Zac.

  “There should still be 3 seconds left. I guess he miscalculated.” Micheal said as he let out a sigh of relief. Just as that thought left his mind, he felt a chill. Zac didn’t make miscalculations. Zac also knew they were listening in on him. That 20 seconds line was all a set up, to lower their guard for exactly this moment! Micheal was going to shout for Travis to get out of there when Zac said,

  “Confetti!!”

  “What?” Travis’ face was filled with confusion.

  Travis then fired his rockets, but nothing came out. Except, well… confetti.

  “I knew it.” Zac laughed as he sent a diving kick straight into Travis’ head. Travis was knocked through the air, smashing into a dirt mound.

  “Incredible… nothing without reason. I think I get it.” Kenji thought to himself .

  Zac saw the mental fatigue that was being put on Travis. He also noticed how almost empty and yet chaotic Travis’s mind seemed when he used his ability. It was his greatest asset in using that Program and his greatest weakness. In his mentally fatigued state and with his naturally chaotic mind, anything Zac said would have jumped to the forefront of that lunatic's brain. If you ruin the image of the construct in his mind, the construct will no longer function.

  “Understanding that is one thing, being able to emulate him… is something else entirely.” Kenji sighed, but kept his determined gaze on Zac’s every move.

  “That’s one down,” Zac said as he turned to face Patrick and Izumi.