I sat there for a long time. Watching Kathy’s team sm through or dodging rge chunks of floating rocks. They did pretty good, and took surprise hits from Kathy somewhat better. Except when they were blindsided with Kathy bursting through a rger rock. Using her speed, she created wind to throw them off and used magic to shoot the debris at them. Her team collided with each other as the wind blew them backwards into a spiral and the rock bits pelted them. That sent one right into a nearby floating rock and the other to the floor.

  That looked pretty painful. Makes me wonder how any of her team even got hurt in the first pce… is that other harpy that strong? I watched as they were already back in the air like they weren’t just tossed around like ragdolls. Not even some sort of limp fpping. Just how did you hurt them?

  “Oliver! So tell me what you saw and what they missed?” Kathy asked, having flown down when I wasn’t looking.

  “Looked like they handled your onsught pretty well. But I think, like me, you got them because they were distracted. Too lost in their training or maybe in their own heads.” I said before staring at a rge diamond shaped rock spinning in the air.

  “Hmm…” Kathy walked up to me and nudged me with her wing. “Looks to me like none of you have your head in the game. What’s up.” She said, not asked.

  I flexed my shoulder, trying to calm the dull stretched, jammed feeling my wings had. “If your team can take this kind of abuse then how’d that turkey vulture hurt everyone else?” I asked.

  “Turkey vulture? Mmmm…. I believe she used magic to soften them up first. probably some crazy bst. Then used her wyvern ckey to crack the bone.” She shrugged. “Although little miss genius talks big, she’s just zy.”

  “What makes you say that? She is going through all this trouble after all.” I asked.

  “Because she could be using that time to improve her skills, develop new techniques or master old ones.” Kathy cringed. “But she’s just trying to make things easier. You can’t get anywhere if you don’t work for it. Maybe one day she’ll learn better.” She whispered the st part to herself.

  “So she has muscle? Is that ckey like me?” I asked. Maybe they’re someone I could ask some things?

  “Probably.” That got me to look at her. Maybe I’d ask that harpy where they are and tal- “She’s pretty strong, attacked a few ents in the forest outside school. But She’s always just going through things like a missile, so I wouldn’t assume I’ve passed her until I’ve won the race.” She expined.

  I just turned away. “Oh………. So she’s a hard head.” She could be stupid, super aggressive or hyper focused for all I knew. If I ever ran into her, I’ll just have to be careful. “How is your team going to handle all of that strength? She could be a whole lot stronger than You thought.” I asked, feeling unease bump around in my chest.

  “Train mostly. As good as I am, I’m not some mythic monster that can cut mountains in half or use magic strong enough to wipe away a town.” She shrugged. “Like any pro, you keep your eyes open and build on your abilities.” She stood up. “How about I show you something?” With that her feathers went from soft and puffy to sharp and jagged.

  “Magic? How’s that suppos-” I began, unsure what she was after.

  “Hit me.”

  “What?! I could kill you!” I argued.

  She looked at me ftly. “Hit me, use some of that strength.” She continued. “It’s important. I won’t die. Trust me.” She pressed.

  “No.” I said, a growl bubbling up from my throat. I eyed her with narrowed eyes which she returned in kind.

  Her brows pinched into a gre, still I refused to attack. Even when my mind boiled with anger at her challenge, it wanted to put her down, to stop her from questioning my grand power. But I forced myself to stand still, fighting back my instincts, digging my cws into the floor.

  When I still didn’t budge, she sighed before letting out a weird melodious whistle. I heard the sound of buzzing quickly repced with the sound of rushing wind as Ridley appeared and smmed her exoskeleton covered fist into Kathy’s sharpened wing. My eyes widened as it happened in slow motion but instead of the sound of crunching bone or even that of meat hitting a wall, I heard something else. With a heavy kng, the fist bounced off her wing before Kathy then swatted her away with the same wing. Launching the poor beetle halfway across the room like a baseball.

  Kathy walked over to me, her feathers slowly returning to their normal softness. “That was just mana charging.” She said smugly. “You can’t look at skills and abilities as some trick. They’re starting points.” She expined to me.

  I nodded after a moment. “But don’t believe for a second I’ll reconsider hitting you.” My gre returned and my scales started to heat up. A moment ter I sighed and let my mana leave my scales. “But thanks. You’ve given me much to think on. So.” I opened my wings. “Let’s practice some of it.”

  Kathy nodded then called out. “We’re going into slipstream!” I felt some mana move, becoming more and more until it was a scalding rapids. The floating rocks began flying in wild circles and zig-zag movements and a strong wind started bsting in from all sides. “Put some more effort into your wings but be ready to be hit.” She warned me.

  With a nod, I charged some mana into my wings and dug my cws into the ground. My muscles felt a whole lot more flexible. My instincts gave me a feeling I could probably blow away more than a few rocks if I really let loose. I instead only put as much force into my wings that would take to give a wimp throw. Even as I fpped my wings with them partially closed, I was still way too strong! Instead of a wild gust, I felt like someone used my wings as a spring. The resulting air that shot out of the fp, rocketed forward in a huge cone that cut through the strong wind but also bsted a rger rock spear into another one. Quickly breaking both into smaller pieces and pelting everyone flying with rock and stone fragments.

  Even I had to quickly close my wings over myself as some debris was unched right at me. The rock fragments flew at me, smming into my wings with the force of a poorly balled up paper. When I realized the bits and pieces didn’t hurt I considered just letting them hit me. Even the beetle was shrugging off the fragments that flew in her face. But it was Kathy’s sudden drop kick to her chest that made me reconsider as she was hurtled backward into the path of a moving rock.

  Wasn’t that how I got taken down by that white mia before? Assumed I could weather the hits? Well I didn’t really want to fight either. I only lowered my wings once I didn’t feel anything hitting me, right as Kathy was zooming at me!

  She fpped her wings to fly up but also shot two spinning green bdes twirling at me. I began to raise my wing to block when my instincts shouted move! Quickly I jumped to the side, just missing the green bdes and evading a talon haircut as Kathy’s cws blurred by. I was about to shout at her when I felt my instincts fre up again. I failed to move in time as I felt something tap away at my back which I swung my wing at. It only swatted away a few more incoming rocks and little else before I felt something else coming. My head snapped to the right but I didn’t see Kathy diving at me, I quickly looked to my right then left but still didn’t find her.

  Deciding I wasn’t going to wait, I moved to the right and only fpped one wing. Again the air leapt from it, bsting out another cone. This cone thankfully broke into more of a twisting wind that expanded outward. I heard a fp and my eyes shot downward as I saw Kathy speeding at me like a car, just a foot away. I jumped to my left, getting more air than I normally would which not only threw me off but also allowed Kathy tackle me. All she did was hit my right arm but that was enough to send me spinning to the ground. As I fell I covered my face with my arms and tried to close my wings, only to feel a bst of wind fill them and yanking me back. Landing on my ass with a heavy crunch.

  But instead of feeling some dull ache, I felt a light pinch. I quickly sat up and swung a wing at the floor, sending a gale of wind upward and cracking the floor slightly. I felt my instincts shout at me again and this time I fpped one wing then the other. I’d take a step and fp, sending cones and gales everywhere with every step. The air bsts either grew or weakened as they collided against each other, added with my constant fpping, created very unpredictable winds.

  As Kathy bobbed up and down trying to get to me, the wind rolled over her. Wrapping her wings around her and sending her for a spin. One she didn't stay in for long as she righted herself, smmed her feet into the ground and jumped right back up into the air. The moment she opened her wings, four crescent bdes boomeranged out and exploded into the ground, creating clouds of dust. Which then became a dust storm with all the wind I was making. Leaving me with either building more of a cloud or let the wind calm down.

  OR……..

  Without stopping my wings, I began to cw out the ground. Fp then rip out a small boulder, move a little and repeat. The constant winds kept the dust swirling around, added with the extra that came up with each part of the floor and I was sitting in a darker cloud. By the time I finished, I had rocks and boulders of different sizes around me, ready for part two.

  And Kathy didn’t wait long as a green glowing thing shot down a good three feet behind me. She was probably aiming that I’d stayed still. Well I wasn’t that stupid of a duck. Again her bdes hit around the same spot as the st one, meaning she was probably circling in a dive. And a moment ter a rge figure dropped in and curved in my direction, only to curve to the right then back and finally back up as she tried to avoid my rocks.

  I cracked a smile as she started to go up. My wings were pulled back for another weak wind boom. Gotcha. I shot one wind boom above where she was going and another where she’d probably go to escape. But I didn’t wait as my hand shot out at a nearby rock, it glowed green before shooting up. I pointed my hands at more rocks and more shot up into the air. I didn't stop until I had only two boulders nearby.

  I didn’t see her but I did hear the sounds of rock being smashed, hit away and even some of it falling away, smacking the floor. I quickly backed up until I was between the two boulders, using my cwed feet to gouge out more of the ground as I moved. I pced a hand on both rocks and aimed my wings upward. This time draining away mana from them to release a stronger fp. This took the dust cloud into the air as the wind my de-mana-ed wings created more of a current of wind that surged up and cleared the area around me to see.

  Wait for it…… cooooommmmmmeeee ooon….

  I was rewarded with two light shoves to my back. Quickly I turned my head but didn’t spot her. It was like she was never there. Then I felt my instincts fre up, I needed to move or do something even jump away! I looked but she wasn’t anywhere in view. I quickly gripped a boulder, lifted it like it was an empty backpack and threw it up. Then jumped to the side, taking the other boulder with me. I dug my cws into the boulder and held it, ready to rip apart. I didn’t have to wait long as Kathy dove though the dust cloud above in a weird curve that allowed her to see all around her and brought her face to face with me.

  Wouldn’t it be nice to py a game of tag? Mana quickly flowed into the boulder I held, glowing a bright green. I instantly pulled and the boulder ripped apart and all its fragments raced after her like a shotgun burst. Kathy fpped her wings, leaned to the side and avoided the fragments and pressed her feet into the floor before hopping over the rest. But what she didn’t notice as she danced past my st attack was the fragments quickly curving and looping back to chase after her.

  Kathy sped at me, charging more of those green bde discs under her spread out wings while I stood legs bent, ready to move or jump. As she got close enough to unch her discs, I noticed something about her feathers, they seemed to shiver or vibrate. Maybe more magic or her speed? It was only for a half second after that she tilted her wings slightly just as a fragment zoomed past her shoulder. She then fpped, dashing to the right as four more fragments darted by. The green discs shot backward, cutting three fragments in half before curving and cleaving another three apart. The ones she dodged swerved after her, making her tuck in her wings in a sort of dive. She tried to fp up but I raised my wings above my head before doing a soft fp, making a show of my next move. She seemed to freeze for just a second to process and pn but that was enough for the fragments to rush in before smacking into and bouncing off her feathers. The fragments, having completed a tag, quickly zoomed away from her, retreating from her like a flock of birds spotting a hawk.

  “Heh-hahaha! That was good! It’s been a while since someone hit me!” Kathy said with a huge smile, she even tapped her talons on the ground like she was cpping with a single hand. But instead of rexing her wings, she slowly spread them out like she was daring me to hit her. “But….” two pairs of glowing balls appeared in front of each wing, spinning faster and faster. “Can you keep that up?” the balls fttened into those green discs as she raised a questioning eyebrow.

  Should’ve known better. A smile grew over my face as my raised wings pulled back. We waited only a second before Kathy shot her wings forward, letting the discs fly. I smmed my tail into the ground, throwing dust and rock into the air and cpping my wings together, sending a powerful gust out.

  We had more training to go.