CTMAS - Chapter Snippets

Computer, Tell Me a Story
Snippet 1 - Emrys vs Kass (Sample combat training scene between two experienced Espers)
“Remember when I told you that displacement is a whole other discipline?” Jezriel asked.  Rayan nodded in response, never taking his eyes from the field.
“The thing is, displacement involves moving an object’s physical form from one place to another.” Jezriel explained.  “The esper needs to perfectly understand the elemental composition of the object, the origin, and the destination.”
Kass is staring intently at Emrys from the other side of the field, knife in his right hand.  Emrys let an arrow loose.
Blink.  One can hear the strained sound of air as the arrow whizzed past and struck the sand.
“Wow.  Fast!” Rayan gasped.  Kass vanished and reappeared at the center of the field, still crouched steady.  The arrow did not have a chance of even reaching him.
“It’s not physical speed.  He is displacing himself.” Jezriel explained.  “He already mastered remapping his entire physical body from one location to another.”
“Watch out!” Aurora shouted, pointing at the combatants.
Kass moved slightly, vanishing in a cloud of dust, reappearing behind Emrys.  “Got you.” He said in a monotone, stabbing at her neck.
Time seemed to slow down.  Emrys’ eyes shifted to the right, tilting her body back just enough for the knife to miss.  “This move had 63.333% possibility.  A big predictability rating compared to your other options.”  She replied, grabbing Kass’ wrist with her free hand, pulling it downwards against her shoulder.
“Gnyaaah!” Kass screamed, following up with a panicked kick to Emrys’ side, allowing some distance between them.  The knife dropped.  His elbow was dislocated, effectively disabling his grip.
“That was quite unexpected.” Emrys smiled, clutching her hip.  The kick was wild and did not have much force.  However, it did allow Kass some time to recover.
“So this is the power of a calculator.” Kass sneered, snapping his elbow back in place.  “Hurts, but you haven’t seen anything yet.”
Two arrows in succession.  Kass displaced just in time to avoid them, reappearing further away.  Emrys knew her arrows are not infinite.  She needed to end it fast.  Distance between them is not good.  It allows Kass more time to spot the direction of her projectile.
“Emrys is in trouble.” Jezriel observed.  “Even if she sees things coming, it doesn’t mean she will always have the ability to defend against it… and there’s one other thing...”
“Huh?  What do you mean?” Rayan squinted, trying to follow Kass’ displacement technique as he avoids arrow after arrow.
“Emrys doesn’t have a full grasp on how displacement works.” Jezriel replied.
One more well timed arrow.  Kass looked up and displaced himself a good thirty feet above the field.  Emrys aimed.  She was down to her last three shots.
“Ermrys.  Let me tell you something about my ability!” He shouted while starting to drop.  “Displacement is essentially an exchange!”
Kass vanished.  Emrys felt herself being scooped up by a powerful vacuum, and in the blink of an eye she was falling.  Kass was where she originally was, smiling.  “Calculate yourself out of this.” He chuckled.
Emrys frowned.  Very little time.  The velocity of her drop, her body mass, the amount of cushioning provided by the loose sand... her body wouldn’t be in a shape to fight after the impact.  Last three arrows.
Twenty five feet.  Emrys fired one shot, right above Kass’ right shoulder.  He didn’t have to displace.  As calculated, he didn’t.  The second arrow aimed at his left knee.  Twenty feet.  Looking down, Kass displaced a foot towards the right.  Lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice.  The first arrow influenced the direction of his displacement.  The second arrow struck sand.
Ten feet.  The last arrow is not in Emrys’ hand.  A loud thump as the sand absorbed the impact.  She fell flat on her right side, dispersing the weight at the same time protecting her vitals.  She was still battered badly, but managed to roll and get up on her knees.
Kass fell on his face.  The third arrow buried between his ribs.  “Misdirection.” Emrys murmured.  “You didn’t have three hundred sixty degree awareness and could only observe one projectile at a time.”
Jezriel got up as the bell rang.  Emrys won the match.  “She took a risk.” He said, smiling.  “Calculating the probability where Kass would appear after a displacement.  The earlier arrows were shot as tests, studying his transport behavior, as well as teaching Kass about how to predict her shots, and then guided his movement using the first of the three remaining arrows.”
“And fired two consecutive arrows afterwards, relying on Kass’ eyes to follow the second shot, predicting he would move to the right and appear just as the third arrow passes through that location.” Rayan closed.
Echo ran into the arena, ready with reinforcement magic, mending stitching broken bones and wounds.

Snippet 2 - Aurora’s Esper Skillz (Will be part of a different chapter later)
“Ready?” Jezriel asked.
“Yes sir!” Aurora gave an excited reply.
Rayan followed hesitantly.  “How… exactly is she expected to fight?  I swear if anyone hurts her…”
“Take your little spitball toy out, Rayan.” Jezriel said.  “You will be her opponent.”
“Meee?” Rayan gasped, puzzled and unprepared.
“You will make sure she doesn’t get hurt, right?” Jezriel smiled.  “So you will be the best sparring partner for our young esper.  Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping close watch and make sure no accidents happen.”
“I guess… you have a point.” Rayan grumbled.  “Which ball do you want?”
“Let’s try something relatively soft.” Jezriel replied.  “Load a water ball and stand over that mound of sand.”
Jezriel walked over to Aurora at the center of the arena, standing behind her, kneeling.  “Aurora, your job is to protect both of us.  You must not let us get wet at any cost.” He whispered.  Use your mind and reach out.  The esper skill you manifested is communication.  Try to change Rayan’s mind, throw his aim off, or something.  Think creatively.”
“I… I’ll try.” Aurora replied.  There was determination and focus in her eyes, but her knees are shaking.  Slowly, she managed to keep still and calm, her stare went blank.  “Ready.” She said, but the voice did not come from her mouth.  Both Rayan and Jezriel heard it in their minds.
“Here goes nothing!” Rayan gave a deep inhale, and gave the pipe a powerful blow.  “Whoaa!” He shouted.  A huge droplet, containing about two full buckets of water shot out from the far end of the pipe towards Jezriel and Aurora.
Jezriel braced himself and closed his eyes.  He was pretty sure about getting wet on the first attempt.  A loud splash and he felt the sand budge a little.  Silence.
“Mister Jezriel?” Aurora asked.  This time it was a real voice.  “Did you get wet?”
Jezriel opened his eyes and was surprised to see himself in darkness.  “Where are we?”
“Under a mound of sand.” Aurora replied.  “All I could get a hold of was a group of ants… they said they were builder ants… so I asked them to make us a shield.”
The mound collapsed, and they saw Rayan’s worried face as he ran towards them.  “What the heck was thaat?” He shouted.
“Haha… I guess it was not strong enough.” Aurora gave a cute giggle.  “But my ant friends were very fast!”
Jezriel was quiet, analyzing what happened.  Inspecting the sand, he could see one or two ants scurrying away.  An accident maybe?  He asked himself.  A summoning type of esper would typically need to make pacts of deep friendship, force, or love before bending another creature to its will.
A summoner type is rare because it typically requires two esper skills, communication and displacement.  Aurora has the special ability of communication, but hasn’t displayed displacement skills yet.
“Tell me…” Jezriel said slowly, still in deep thought.  “When you guessed every card in my hand earlier, were you reading my thoughts?”
“No, Kyukyu was telling me.  He could see your cards from behind.” Aurora replied.
“The horbit?” Jezriel’s eyes were full of amazement.  He realized just now the nature of Aurora’s powers.  “A different angle of communication… I see.”