The weekend Vati and Terpsichore wait near the station and finally see Laura arrive.
She was breathing heavily and wearing a tracksuit.
Laura: "Sorry for the delay, I was uh...."
She fell silent immediately after seeing Terpsichore, who was behind Vati.
Laura: "Vati, you didn't tell me we had such a cute, I mean, older partner."
She said, blushing.
Terpsichore: "I'm not old, I have, uh....
3 weeks, finally, I think."
He said while counting on his fingers.
Vati: *sigh* "It's my cousin, he doesn't understand our language very well.
Well, now come on."
They took the train, which was as crowded as usual.
They get off the train, Vati walks ahead and shows them the way until they arrive in front of a sewer grate.
Vati: "Laura, remind me of the basics of psychic powers."
She stands at attention in a military position.
Laura: "Psychic energy is a substance created by the human brain.
It allows supernatural abilities to be given to its user, and by stimulating certain neural networks through the training of their will, it can be shaped to produce certain actions, and this is what is called psychic ability.
Chef!"
Vati: "Alright! Terpsichore, explain to me what a psychic spirit is.
He also stands at attention in a military position."
Terpsichore: "Chef! A psychic spirit is a being capable of absorbing the psychic energy of humans; they are generally shaped according to the brain activity of humanity."
Vati: "Exactly! Today, you will have to navigate through these sewers and find the exit, but above all, you will have to confront a psychic spirit.
If you succeed in your mission, your willpower will become strong enough to alter your psychic energy and manifest your psychic abilities."
After the explanation, Laura and Terpsichore descend into the sewer and walk straight ahead.
Vati closes the opening and heads towards the other manhole that serves as the endpoint.
Laura: "So why do you want to be a superman? I've dreamed since I was a child of having real powers!"
Terpsichore: "I want to be strong enough to save my mother from everything."
Laura: "ho"
Terpsichore: "wait, I feel something."
Small waves appear above the stagnant water, full of small dark silhouettes emerging from the water and gathering into a large dark mass.
Rat spirit: "which psychic spirit dares to enter my domain!"
Terspichore: *smile* "My name is Terpsichore and I come to kill you, you walking experiment!"
At these words, a wave of rats rushed towards them.
Laura: "Quick, let's search!" she said, grabbing Terpsichore by the arm.
After moving away from the territory of the rat spirit, the wave of rats stops chasing them, they settle in a hidden place, and Laure collapses to the ground to catch her breath.
At his words Terpsichore thought to herself, "Oh really, they didn't seem very strong.
But well, this girl is older than me, so she must have more experience. It's better if I listen to her."
Laura: "It's a composite spirit.
It means that the more it merges with small rat spirits, the more powerful it becomes.
So, I came up with a plan!"
The mass of rats, initially calm, turns back upon sensing the presence of the two intruders.
Step one: make them believe we are weaker than we are.
The rats charge towards them when suddenly
Step two is to separate to force the mass to divide.
The mass of rats divides to pursue the two intruders; normally, when facing an adversary, the small-minded rats gather as much as possible to increase their chances of victory.
But faced with enemies they have identified as extremely weak, dividing to eliminate them quickly at the same time is the best possible choice.
The mass thus divided continues to pursue Laura and Terpsichore in opposite directions.
Laura and Terpsichore now alone face to face with half of the great spirit rats stops.
Laura: *exhale* "step three, surpass yourself against your opponent!"
Laura: "We did well to flee quickly, otherwise we would have been torn apart by all these spirits."
Krikrikrikri
Terpsichore: "Hmm, very well, so I need to concentrate my psychic energy in my brain and stimulate my will to power by overcoming an extremely difficult situation, like defeating this spirit I suppose, and I will finally be a superman!"
For her part, Laura did the same.
"FORWARD!"
The fight seemed endless for her, her clothes were torn, her skin scraped, and her hair completely tangled. But her eyes express no suffering, only ecstasy; a new world is opening up to her.
"So this is what it means to be a superman, I feel like all the stressful problems I used to consider important in my life are now trivial.
It's like an adult laughing at the playground problems of a child who is complaining hahaha.
That's fascinating!"
She watches the remnants of the little rat spirits gathering again, leans down with her hands on the ground in a running position, gathers her psychic energy, and propels herself towards the cluster.
She moves so quickly that the spirit didn't notice she was behind him, and especially, he didn't notice the hole in the middle of his body that ended his life.
Laura moves forward without looking back towards the finish line.
On the path, she hears footsteps and encounters Terpsichore.
Despite the pitiful state of her appearance, she wore a radiant smile upon seeing him.
Laura: "Oh, it's you, Terpsi!" The plan worked, I managed to defeat the spirit and on top of that, I awakened my power. It was incredible, I didn't even need to think.
Terpsichore: "Oh, what luck! I didn't even manage to become a superman."
Laura: "Don't worry, you'll succeed next time..."
Exhausted by all the events, she falls into the arms of Terpsichore and falls asleep.
Terpsichore continues the journey towards the exit with her on her back.
Vati: "You made it, well done, mmh! Where is Laura?"
Terpsichore: "she's here, she fell asleep"
Vati: "very well awake here"
Terpsichore lays it on the ground and touches its face with her finger.
Terpsichore: "hey hey hey hey"
Laura: "mmh... Ha! where am I?"
She looks around her and remembers what happened to her.
Laura: "I did it, Vati!"
Vati: "Have you become a superman!?"
Laura: "Not just that, I also awakened and controlled my ability!"
Vati: "So quickly, it's amazing. So explain to me how it works."
Laura: "Well, I focused on the concept of kinetic energy, but it was too vast a concept to grasp, so I focused on the kinetic energy produced by my legs.
That's when I told myself it wasn't enough! So I made the choice to restrict my speed after deactivating my ability.
So now, by storing my psychic energy in my legs and choosing the duration of my ability's activation, I can multiply my speed exponentially.
but the duration of my paraplegia will also increase exponentially."
Vati: "Hmm, it's a good ability for combat. And you, Terpsichore ?"
Terpsichore: "Uh, sorry, I didn't make it."
Vati: "You didn't manage to beat the rat spirit."
Terpsichore: "oh yes yes it was quick but I didn't feel anything special"
Vati: "mmh I see"
Vati holds his chin, thinking about this situation.
"This fight wasn't difficult enough for him to push himself mentally."
Vati: "It's not a big deal, we'll find another solution."