Alakazam

It was getting late and his mother usually came home by now at least for lunch. His mother had one rule for him, not to head outside alone, and especially not without her. But he was getting worried and hungry, he stepped outside and as he looked he saw the mat was covered in dried up blood, and as he looked forward he saw his mother's body except it was missing a head. He jolted up from his sleep waking up in a cold sweat and his heart beating rapidly, he got out of bed and wiped his face of sweat. As he saw himself in the mirror, he could only see his mother and he sighed as he got dressed and made his way to the basement.

As he walked down he saw Zade waiting at the speed bags. The windows were open and she had a freshly lit cigarette in her mouth, “can't sleep?” She asks as he takes a seat near her, “We have a big task ahead of us, if we want to get enough renown to challenge Jabari I have to win this belt.” He clenched his fist as Zade nodded, taking another hit, “this seems more personal than that, what's up?” He fished in his pocket to get a flask and he downed it. “My mom was a Kinetic Boxer back in her days, she was close to getting the championship belt but the nobility made sure she wouldn't ever see it and banned women from participating since. And the current champion is the very man who beat her, Ogun the Bazooka.”

Her eyebrow raised in surprise, as she sighed. “So it all ties in then, Ogun is the younger brother of Jabari and has been the champion for over ten years. But he's heavier and more skilled than you, and with all these boxers duped up on Spike. Getting to him will be harder than ever.” Zara said as Alakazam put his flask back in his pocket as he stood up and put his guard up. “All that means is I gotta keep training.” He said with a smile as he wrapped his hands up and started punching the bag, Zade laughed as she gave him some pointers and he focused on his footwork and technique.

The next day Alakazam made his way to the library, he passed many women and men dressed in noble attire and wealth. Many gave Alakazam a dry look as he stuck out like a sore thumb. He was in common clothes and had no jewelry or status of wealth on him, he was used to it and made his way inside. As he checked for all the books he could on Kineticism and Spike, he tried to study as much as he could about these topics since he came back home. He couldn't find much on Spike but research findings on the effects of Spike and some speculatory essays on the origin of Spike. From what Alakazam read and his knowledge of it, Spikes has been around for over ten years the origin of it stems from the resurgence of Kinetic Boxing. Which was originally a wartime sport to train young men into soldiers, after the war it was deemed a barbaric practice and in times of peace was forgotten.

The Wandere Family brought it back and it has become a popular sport for the nation and leisure activity for the nobles, the books don't detail who made Spike but Alakazam knew it was the bastard Jabari Wandere but besides that, there was nothing else to find. The books on Kineticism were pretty interesting though, as he found some things he never even knew. He saw a lot of texts detailing the religion of Akility, and some detailed explanations of Kineticism. The art of manipulating the invisible element of Aether, which is said to be the element of life since all things are also composed of aether, the two types of Kineticists are Telekineticists and Tactikineticists.

Alakazam was a tactikineticist, the two types had been divided by gender and their different roles. But the books hint that long ago these types were not separated by gender, a telekineticist can shape aether into a hand that allows them to better control and manipulate things from a distance. While tactikineticist create a personal field of aether around their body, that protects them and allows them to manipulate things they physically touch. He knew all this but the thing he did not know of is the next step, Kineticism is an invisible force, but to make things easier Kineticists visualize their powers for instance Alakazam visualizes the field around his body as armor. But advanced users can strengthen it and increase its durability and its manipulation, making it tangible and visible to the naked eye.

This technique is known as Psychic Hardening, he had never heard of this but as he read about it he had gotten an early memory of this. He recalled his mother using this technique in her final fight, if he wanted to defeat Ogun he would need to learn this technique quickly. He smiled as he clenched his fist eager to learn more and full of enthusiasm for his next fight. Alakazam was much more self-taught and wasn't the library type, but ever since he came back home he was having a very fun time learning more about his culture and his abilities.