A New Hand Touches the Barbell

Noah was kneeling on a plastic chair, feet extended through the holes in the back, his upper body leaned over a wooden table. Across from him was an annoyed Kaylee, eyes down on a piece of paper. He was helping her out with some language exercises, something he has frequently helped her on.

"I really can't thank you enough for helping me out with my language studies, Noah."

"Please think nothing of it. Noah is just doing what Noah aught to do."

"You know that just makes me feel even more bad, right?"

Noah frowned, disliking the feeling of someone else feeling like they owe him for doing something that should naturally be done. He thought for a second for an idea, "Hmm... what about teaching Noah how to fight?"

"Me? I'm not sure if I can teach you well..."

"Why not?" Noah pouted.

"Shit..." Kaylee swore under her breath, inaudible to language-sensitive boy in front of her. As confident as she was in her fighting abilities, she wasn't so sure she could teach the same, depending mostly on her own instincts than knowledge, "You don't want Jugo teaching you? He knows more about martial arts than me, you know?"

"Jugo doesn't 'owe' anything to Noah."

"What's that gotta do with anything?"

"Noah doesn't want you to feel like you owe anything."

"That's..." Kaylee paused, deciding that arguing further with an adamant Noah was a lost cause. "Fine, fine. Let's go to the gym after class, you have your gym clothes, right?"

"Mm-hmm," an affirming hum and nod in response.

"Good. Let's head back to class then. I'm gonna lose my mind if I keep staring at this paper in this musty, old library." She sighed, before adding a silver lining, "Least I'd never see those bi- I mean, those girls here."

Noah was about to scold her, but she showed a surprising amount of restraint not swearing, so he decided to let it go. The pair packed up their things and headed back to their classroom. After an hour and a half of listening to another of Ms. Rosethorn's lessons, the school day came to an end, and Noah and Kaylee proceeded with their plans and went to the gym.

The two briefly parted to change in their respective locker rooms before Kaylee called over Noah to a punching bag. Kaylee looked down at the smaller boy, wearing a normal, white t-shirt but ill-fitting, baggy shorts. It was nothing short of a miracle that it stayed around his waist.

"Hey, aren't those a little too big? They won't fall down?"

Noah lifted his shirt to reveal the cord of his shorts pulled to the limit, both ends pulled all the way around his back before it's properly tied in front. He let go of his shirt and gave a thumbs up, "All good."

"Shouldn't you get something around your size so you don't have to..." She gestured pulling on strings around her waist as she said her next words, "... do that?"

"Hmm, Noah's fine doing this, and Father said Noah would grow into it."

"Just curious, when did you get them?"

"Four years ago. Why?" A clueless and innocent question.

"Nothing," Kaylee simply responded with a smile, not wanting to voice a bitter truth. "Let's just get started. Here, I'll help you put these on, give me your hand," She said with a cloth wrap in her hand.

Noah extended his left hand out to Kaylee, who took it and advised him, "Make sure you're watching." She started wrapping the cloth around his wrist, palm, base of his thumb, knuckles, and wrapping the rest of the leftover cloth before finally going back to his wrist, secured with velcro. "Now you do it for your other hand," she said as she handed the other bundle of cloth to him.

Taking his right hand, Noah started wrapping it the same way Kaylee did with his other hand: wrist first, then palm, base of the thumb, knuckles, and secured around his wrist. He flexed his fingers around a bit, feeling the cloth's tightness and security, the enormous difference between the application on his left and right hands apparent. It was a good try for his first time, nonetheless.

Kaylee snapped her fingers, catching Noah's attention, and threw a pair of boxing gloves at him, who caught them and put the gloves around his hands. Surprisingly, they fit. She walked and stood behind the punching bag, placing her hand firmly on the opposite side of Noah, "No quirk. Just punch as hard as you can."

The boy nodded, then winded up before throwing a strong right hook. Kaylee was surprised, even without his quirk, Noah could still pack quite a punch... in relation to his tiny size, at least.

"Pretty good, but it needs a bit more... 'oomph'."

Noah squinted, an odd look on his face, "'Oomph'?"

"Yeah, y'know? Oomph! Punch like it's someone you really hate- wait, no, never mind... Punch it like..." Kaylee paused to think about a good motivator, but could not come up with anything. "Why don't you just shout while you punch?"

"Well, if you think so." Noah prepared himself, before shouting a light "Ha!" and struck the punching bag.

"Oh, come on! That was weaker than the other punch! Shout like you mean it! Punch like you mean it!"

"O-okay!" Noah prepared himself again, breathing in before giving a louder shout as he made a stronger right hook.

"Again! Louder! Stronger!"

Noah took a deeper breath, and with a mighty bellow, eyes shut tight, he threw his all into this next punch, "HAA!!" His effortful shout and the following impact of his fist against the punching bag echoed throughout the gymnasium, prompting some curious eyes to look oddly at their direction. Not that they cared enough to notice.

"That's better. Now keep going, alternate between your fists."

An eager Noah nodded, continuing Kaylee's drill, punching left and right for a minute or two longer. By the end of it, Noah had already been breaking a sweat and his arms were visibly trembling.

"Let's stop here."

"We're done already?" Despite that question, the strain was obvious with him panting between each word.

"Punching, yes. I already got a basic idea of what you need to improve on."

"That is?"

"Lift some weights so you can punch harder. Some cardio workouts too so you can punch more."

Just as Noah finished catching his breath, someone approached the pair, both immediately taking notice.

"Jugo!" "Jugo." Both greeted him in unison.

"Hey! What are you two up to? I didn't think I'd hear Noah shout like that, I could hear him from the locker room!"

Noah became self-conscious, blushing at Jugo's news. "Kaylee is teaching Noah how to fight."

"Certainly sounded like it," Jugo taking note of Noah's current fatigued state.

"We're just about done here and we were going to think up some cardio exercises he could do."

"You're done? Already?" It wasn't very long since the end of class, leading Jugo to be curious. "What exactly was Kaylee teaching you?"

"She had Noah punch the bag really hard."

With a sneaking suspicion, Jugo prodded further, "Can I see? No need to shout or anything."

"... Okay." Noah turned towards the punching bag, Kaylee this time stood beside Jugo instead of holding the bag from behind. Noah threw a right hook, not very strong, just demonstrating how he was punching.

"That's it?"

Noah nodded.

"Well there's your problem!" With a finger pointed at Noah, Jugo made a proclamation, "You lack technique! No wonder you already look tired, you won't last long punching like that."

"That's why we're about to think of something to improve his stamina."

"That's good and all, but Noah won't go far like that. It works for you because... you're you. But it would take him years to catch up. Here, try this." Jugo stepped towards Noah and with his hands, started moving Noah's upper body and arms, and with his foot, he shifted Noah's legs and feet, until Noah had the stance of a boxer. "Now turn your body with your punch. And make sure you have space to extend your arm."

Following his friend's instruction, Noah took a small step back in the same stance: fists raised in front of him, feet apart but firm. He stepped forward as he twisted his hips, then with a heavy impact, his right fist collided with the punching bag once more. It wasn't as impressive as when accompanied by a mighty shout, but the results were clear as day.

"Much better, yeah?"

Noah looked down at his fist. He didn't put in as much strength in that punch as the last one with Kaylee, but they were still almost comparable in impact. "Waow~"

"I can get a better idea on what style can fit your... physique the most if we spar, but this is a good start. Well done," Jugo proudly said with a thumbs up, a smirk planted on his face.

Kaylee sighed and crossed her arms, "See? Told you Jugo knew more than me."

"Yes, but now you can help Noah with exercising."

"That's..." She paused, again knowing better than to try and argue, even more so when Noah was doing this to make her not feel like she owed him. "Yeah, I get it."

Just then, the now trio noticed even more familiar folk approach.

"That's a face you don't see here often," a boy with a train-head yelled out, Sen. Accompanying him were two other boys, the pompadour'd Hifumi and the blonde Bobby.

"Hello, everyone!" A happy greeting from the winged boy, his greeting returned with waves or nods.

Kaylee looked around the group, noticing a lacking presence, "Victor not here?"

"He's taking a break, still recovering..."

Hifumi noticed Noah, his feelings on the matter apparent as his upbeat greeting was quickly replaced by downcast eyes and the wings on his head drooped, a rare emotion to see on the usually cheerful cherub. "Hey, he said he's already feeling better though. Won't be too long 'til he's back in action."

Realizing that he was bringing down the mood, Noah recollected himself, he was doing this to prevent something like what happened to Victor in the first place. No time to wallow in pity, his own and otherwise. "Right, Victor is strong, he'll be back soon," He said putting up another smile.

There was a short silence between them, only broken by Bobby who tried to shift the topic, "Anyway, what are y'all up to?"

"Oh, Kaylee and Jugo are teaching Noah how to fight," A swift answer from Noah, understanding Bobby's intent.

Hifumi noticed the pair of boxing gloves on Noah's hands, "Taking up some boxing then? Hell yeah."

"Only the basics for now, I'd need to spar with Noah to get a better idea on what style fits him best."

"Ooh, what about learning how to use a sword? Or a spear! Like one a' those sick paintings of badass angels!"

"No need to get all fancy, I think. Punching is all he needs," Sen and Kaylee looked at each other and nodded their heads, a sense of kinship between their 'unrefined' and wild combat styles.

"I'm just saying, it'd be cool if he got a flaming sword. You got similar quirks, Bobby, what do you think?"

"Anythin' should be fine 's long as Noah fights well, right?"

"Come on, you're just saying that because he's already getting into boxing."

"Well, why don't we ask him then?"

The group turned to Noah, expecting an answer from him. He thought about it for a moment: he was already a bit familiar with just going by instinct, but learning 'proper technique' as Jugo said, could help, especially when he still wants to perfect his flying dropkick. As for weapons, he didn't have a fondness for them, but he did remember watching old videos of his father in his hero-ing days wielding an assortment of weapons, each recording equipped with a different one. Regardless, in the end, Noah couldn't think of an immediate answer, "Hmm... Noah doesn't know much about fighting, so maybe Noah can try a bit of everything?"

A non-answer, one they could accept, but one they couldn't leave on. They discussed for a while longer, suggestions about what Noah should learn as his future fighting style. He didn't voice his own opinions too much, his martial knowledge extremely limited, but he was still happy to listen, ever grateful that he was blessed with such considerate friends.

"Anyway, I think we've spent enough time talking, let's actually use the gym before they close," A restless Sen announced. With everyone in agreement, they split off into whatever activities they had planned on doing.

Kaylee turned towards Noah, "You ever lifted before, Noah?"

He shook his head, "No."

"I'll teach you proper form and how to spot for someone else..." She looked behind him at his wings. A slight concern, but surely this state-of-the-art gymnasium meant to be used by all kinds of folk with a variety of quirks would be usable by Noah. Well, something to deal with later.