"Show me something new. Fight me for real if you're going to fight. " he shouted making Knox look at him with more respect, but in an odd crazy way.
Damon was giving it everything he had, pushing himself while degrading himself at the same time. With every punch Knox connected, Damon would talk crap to himself, calling himself a fool for not blocking or foreshadowing the strike. He didn't know why he had begun to insult himself, but it was actually hyping him up.
It was a weird way to think, but it helped him with filtering out the pain of Knox's hits. Although he was giving it his all, he felt he could do more. He could feel a discovery was right at the edge. Something that could help him.
They exchanged blows again and Knox could feel it as well. Something was changing right before his eyes with Damon.
"His strikes, are they getting faster ? "
As they're fist collided again, Knox's wrist bended, instead of pushing forward he retracted his fist allowing Damon's momentum to move forward. Warping in Damon's shadow, he returned with a sweeping double kick. The sweep took Damon off his feet while the second launched him a few feet up.
Shadows rippled as Knox threw a wide swinging kick followed by a roundhouse spinning kick that made Damon's body fly. His body rolled uncontrollably crashing into the brush on the other side of the road.
"Hmph, you wanted something new, my shadow kick pacts a punch doesn't it." He thought with a smile.
Knox flapped his cloak, flinging off the mud Damon's rain had created. They had been fighting in three inches of rain and counting, the hard dirt road had begun to change.
He walked over to Raya and dragged her next to Jasper looking over them before walking towards Damon who was in a ditch face first.
Grabbing him by his legs, he dragged Damon beside the others and flipped him on his back.
"You'll thank me in the end, hopefully you will be a friend again." He spoke to Damon who's eyes were closed.
The rain turned steady, then a drizzle, then finally a light sprinkle before stopping completely. Unbeknownst to Knox, Damon was not unconscious, not yet.
His entire body was in pain, Knox's shadow kick was nothing he could just shake off so he laid there as if he was completely done. He knew if Knox performed that same move to his head or face, he would have been knocked out cold for sure.
"Come on, you have more, think you idiot and do something. This growing feeling inside me is still on the edge, force it out you weakling." He told himself while trying not to make any clear facial expressions.
It was the same feeling he had when creating the new skill of his rain affecting what he wanted. Focusing his breathing, he dived into his mind trying to locate the uprising feeling. Seconds passed, then minutes, but he had successfully found the pulling feeling that called to him. Smiling inwardly, he was just about to tap into it when the sound of clanking carriage wheels entered his ears and then a voice.
"Well done, i wasn't sure you could make it in time, but I should have known better." A familiar gargling voice spoke making Damon tighten his jaws in discomfort.
It was the Man called Chum, and also called the torturer.
Another voice Damon hadn't heard before spoke as well.
"Doubting my student ability to take care of a simple mission like this is like spitting in my face. Watch your tongue." The man's voice was smooth yet firm.
"My deep apologies Mr. Grimm." Chum said with a nervous bow.
It was the same two men from before, the dark skinned slim man wearing a black and silver suit with silver hair and the one they called the torturer. The man called Mr. Grimm face was slim and his hair was cut very low, he walked with his hands in the pockets of his suit pants as he approached.
"I detect traces of multiple energies, and from the look of this area and your posture, you're clearly hurt. Did you run into some bandits here Knox?" Mr. Grimm asked.
"No sir, it was these three. They're awakened sir, I had to use force after they uncovered my true intentions. "
Mr. Grimm eyes shifted to Chum and then at the three bodies on the road.
" all kids taken should have been under the awakened age. I will fix this mistake with force." He said cutting his eyes at Chum who took a couple steps back before speaking.
"Sir Grimm please, I had no connections with hiring the kidnappers. That was handled by the faction, my only job was to mark them as the factions property. " he responded with twitching eyes and is head down.
Mr. Grimm looked at him for a moment before Knox politely interrupted.
"Excuse me sir, but let me please explain a few details that should clear things up. Jasper, the big one with red hair recently had a birthday a day after his escape, however the other two are early awakens."
Mr. Grim eyes shimmered with a green glow, seconds later a grin formed on his face while Chum looked at the beautiful girl and dark skinned kid with short dreadlocks with disdain.
"Well, we have already drafted over 10,000 kids and none have been early awakens. This is a super rare find indeed, great work Knox. It would have been a great loss to lose such promising individuals. From the look of you, I am sure their abilities are very impressive."
Knox tilted his head towards the three he called friends, or rather wanted as friends.
He then explained all of their abilities in great detail, however once he reached Damon. He didn't know how to exactly describe his power. Damon's rain didn't feel like energy, it felt like simple rain. No matter what ability a person developed, the essence of their energy would leave traces after using it.
Highly skilled individuals like Mr. Grimm could determine what kind of ability was used, but only if it was an element of some kind like Raya's power. Many people had fire abilities, but they all were very different. Determining a person ability from the essence it leaves behind without actually seeing it was easy, but to know how a person ability function was only known by the user.
Jasper's ability was different, it wasn't based on fire, water, earth, wind, dark or light. While his power did leave energy residue, his ability couldn't be determined by someone going off that alone. You would have to see it to understand it. The same went for abilities such as speed, insane strength, sight abilities or any ability not directly connected with the six elements.
Damon's ability on the other hand seemed to be connected to water because of his rain, but that was only by sight. It left no traces of energy behind, nore did it bring energy when active. Not energy that could be felt anyway. It was like natural rain. An occurrence of nature doing its part which was why Knox couldn't wrap his head around it.
While Knox explained the best he could, Chum was ordered to get the kids and put them with the others. A large black bear with six legs pulled a large dome shaped carriage, it shook its body flicking off a ton of dead hair while lazily sniffing the air. Another beast of the same kind pulled a second carriage.
"Just wait till I get you three alone, you'll wish you were dead." Chum spoke softly to Raya, she was the first he picked up. Opening the carriage door, he threw her in with a pile of kids that were unconscious with shackles on their wrists. After throwing shackles on her, he went to go grab Jasper.
"Rain, thats a very odd ability, and you say it does absolutely nothing ?"
" yes, it just rains."
Mr. Grimm looked at Damon with curious eyes for more than a few seconds before asking further questions.
Knox explained how it was Damon who put the pieces together about him and that Damon called majority of the shots.
"His ability may be weak, but his physical capabilities are amazing, at a glance you would think Jasper would be the strongest physically, but Damon is actually stronger. He's also very cunning, smart and observant. He catches on quickly, he was able to block a warping shadow strike on his sixth attempt. Most of all, his tolerance for pain is incredible. "
"Oh please, the brown bird was screaming like a little girl when I branded him. His tolerance for pain couldn't have changed that much in such little time. " Chum said interrupting them as he picked up Jasper.
Mr. Grimm listened to Chum, but was looking at Knox with steady questioning eyes.
"I see you have respect for this boy, its nothing wrong with that. Oh and Chum, say excuse me next time you're thinking about jumping in a conversation of mine." Grimm said with a green flash in his eyes.
Chum bowed with apologies and quickly carried Jasper away.
"Chum is a fool, the boy could have been crying out of fear more than pain, I too believe he really can take a beating, after all he's not unconscious like the other two. "
Knox frowned looking at Mr. Grimm and then Damon.
"Wait, what."
Mr. Grimm smiled before speaking further.
"I knew you had so much to still learn, but being able to tell if someone is playing possum should be easy, its all in the rhythm of each breath. Unless a person is having a extreme nightmare, or has a body illness of some sort, the rhythm never changes if they are truly unconscious. "
"Get up boy." Mr. Grimm spoke, now talking to Damon who heard everything.
Damon hesitated for a moment, but opened his eyes and sat up making Knox step back in complete disbelief.
"No, I hit you with my strongest combo. No one has ever been able to withstand my shadow kick combo." Knox spoke. Surprisingly his soft voice was not there, it was a bit more firm.
Mr. Grimm smiled once more while looking over Damon again.
"Alright Knox, finish what you started."
" Damon, right?"
Damon cut his eyes towards the tall dark skinned man looking him over and said nothing.
"No need to speak, just continue with your fight. Im really interested in seeing this strange rain Knox mentioned. " he said with a smile while walking out the way towards the wagons.
"Oh and escaping isnt possible, but do hurry Knox, I have other business I must handle."
Standing up completely, Damon ignored everything he had heard while playing unconscious. He didn't care that Knox respected him and thought highly of him. It didn't matter at the moment, the only thing that mattered was kicking Knox's ass for Jasper and Raya.
"Damon, look its over. Just show him your power and get in the carriage. We dont have to fight." Knox said softly.
"Knox." Mr. Grimm said loudly with glowing green eyes. A strong current of wind shot between the two of them.
Knox nervously gulped and took a fighting stance. Mr. Grimm didn't have to say a word for Knox to understand that he was to follow Mr. Grimm original command, and that was to fight.
Damon was still silent with wire shut jaws. He leaned forward stepping only a half a foot to the side before clouds began appearing all over.
Mr. Grimm watched with great interest, he had never seen anything like it before. Chum the torturer walked forward with balled lips and narrow cutting eyes seeing Damon's ability. The night of his escape played back in his head.
"It was him the entire time." He mumbled angrily.
The next moment a downpour separated from the clouds and both boys launched forward with great force and readied fists.