Chapter 124 Into The Morning

- Hours Later -

Lee Seng and the bot danced around the gym. The bot swung its fist forward as Lee Seng dodged and rolled. The bot immediately dashed towards Lee Seng as Lee Seng spun and kicked the bot. The wisps flew out on the bot, followed by an immediate blast of gravity. The room shook at the impact and the bot went flying into the wall with a loud crash.

The wisps seemed to lap back and forth from Lee Seng's body to his hands and feet. The sound of something flying towards Lee Seng caught his attention. A metallic whip flew straight for Lee Seng. Lee Seng jumped, only to feel the whip wrap around his ankle. With one hard pull, Lee Seng went flying towards the bot.

Lee Seng flew straight towards the bot, readying a punch. Lee Seng's tail extended and cushioned the punch, rocketing him into the ground. With a grunt and the air knocked out of him, Lee Seng's vision blurred as his ears could hear the bot's punch flying straight for him. Lee Seng rolled away and listened to the punch reverberate next to him.

Lee Seng blasted himself off the ground with his gravity and forced the metallic whip off of him. Lee Seng threw a gravity blast sideways and distanced himself with the bot. Lee Seng slid on his feet backwards and grunted. The effects of his negative were piling up. He could feel his body slowing down. Lee Seng wiped the sweat off of his face and watched the bot turn towards Lee Seng.

A chime went off and the bot immediately stopped. Lee Seng looked up and noticed the room was lighting up with the familiar colors of the AI whirring to life.

"The time is currently 9:00am. I have deactivated the bot as per your instructions, Lee Seng Chang. What else would you like me to do?" The AI voice asked. Lee Seng took in big breathes and wiped the sweat off with his drenched shirt. He had slipped on his shorts again and turned to look at the gym room with only him and the bot in it.

"Yeah, cancel everything." Lee Seng rolled his arms. He could feel the damage on his body.

'I should go see a healer, but I don't really wanna meet that guy again... I'll just tough it out and hope I see Manny or something... Ugh, did I really get okay with that?' Lee Seng shook his head as the room's Dark Matter energy pulled into the center of the room and dissipated. The private mode frost on the windows and door lock clicked and disappeared. Lee Seng turned and slowly moved to the exit.

'At some point you're gonna have to move on from that.' Lee Seng reminded himself. He shook his head and reached the door when the AI voice chimed.

"If that is all, please have a good day, Lee Seng Chang. Come back to train more." The AI spoke. Lee Seng waved and took a step forward before he realized he had two tails.

'Oh, right. My tails.' Lee Seng sighed. He took a step back and imagined himself having one tail. It was a delayed response, but a response he had gotten used to while practicing with Keng in between sparring with the bot.

"If it's a delayed response, I think we should be careful." Lee Seng spoke to Keng. Keng nodded his head. Lee Seng could barely remember the night. He was tired and wanted to rest in some form or way. He and Keng had practiced shapeshifting and Lee Seng realized they could physically alter their appearance but Lee Seng's limit was limited to his height.

"Maybe as time goes on, you might be able to alter your height and put clothes onto yourself." Keng theorized.

With his tails back to a single tail, he stepped out, barefoot. The slow moving memories from last night moved away from the forefront of his mind and he turned right out of the gym. He saw students milling about in the halls. They were going in and out of the huge gyms.

'Even on the weekends, the students are still practicing.' Lee Seng turned right, following the right wall. 'It seems like they use the bigger gyms for training with many people instead of one person. I guess I should find a smaller practice space... Ugh, stop thinking about training and just get some rest...'

Lee Seng got strange looks from passing students. He was in his night clothes which was a blessing for all of the students cause he would've rather been in his boxers or even nude. Lee Seng wandered down the lit hallways, recognizing where he was. It didn't take him too long to move down the steps and towards the field in front of him.

Five minutes later, he found himself entering the dorm. He had managed to lower his heartrate and managed to push through the annoying effects of his negative. If he could, he would've jogged back and been back two or three minutes earlier. The elevator dinged and students poured out. Lee Seng managed to be the single person entering the elevator and listened to the elevator groan with his weight. He turned and hit the second floor button.

'Please don't tell me I'm gonna overweight the elevator system...' Lee Seng watched the door close and noticed the weight limit was 1500 pounds. Even with his negative, he didn't think he would be <strong>that </strong>heavy. The elevator shook has it went up and quickly came to a stop at the second floor. Lee Seng watched the doors open and stood there for a couple of seconds before realizing he could get out.

"Yeah, dude, the texts are strange. We're supposed to meet a random designated time? What do we do then? Sit around?" Evan's voice asked. Lee Seng stepped out into the floor and turned right. He was too tired to look at his new friends.

"Oh, Lee Seng!" Ritsuka's voice called out. Lee Seng stopped and sighed. He turned to look at Evan and Ritsuka coming to a stop a few feet behind him. Ritsuka and Evan scanned him and realized he was wearing no shoes.

"Where'd you go?" Evan asked.

"You went out like that?" Ritsuka added. Lee Seng nodded and covered his mouth as he yawned, loudly.

"I ran into a problem and had to go to the Academy. I forgot my card and my phone, so I was stuck in the Academy..." Lee Seng sleepily answered.

"Ahh, well I guess you didn't hear then. We're drawing groups in a couple of hours and then we have to just wait around for our mission." Ritsuka informed Lee Seng. Lee Seng sleepily nodded and turned around.

"What time do we draw groups?" Lee Seng asked as he started to walk to his room. Ritsuka and Evan followed behind the tired Lee Seng, a bit surprised by his tired reaction.

"You got three hours. We gotta meet in the Third Year Academy building. There's some Fourth Years that're gonna be in the auditorium." Evan answered.

"Okay... I'll set an alarm and meet y'all out front then. I need sleep." Lee Seng moved to his door and looked at the punch code. "Ah, dammit. I didn't even look at the code." Lee Seng started to pound on the door. Ritsuka and Evan watched as the tired Lee Seng groaned and complained. A rush of footsteps came from behind the door and the door opened.

Manny looked at Lee Seng and noticed he was bruised and tired.

"Where the hell did you go? You left everything here, dude." Manny said. Lee Seng brushed past him and into the somewhat shaded room. Ritsuka and Evan popped their heads into the open door and waved at Manny.

"He got locked out of the dorms cause he forgot to bring his card and phone." Evan answered.

"Ahh, you guys just saw him come back?" Manny asked. Ritsuka and Evan nodded. Manny turned to look at Lee Seng landing on his bed and sighing in relief.

"He has to get up in three hours to go to the auditorium." Evan pointed.

"Ah, leave it to me." Manny smiled. "I have to help so I'll drag him out when he needs to go."

"Alright. We're gonna meet up with the girls for breakfast. Do you wanna come?" Ritsuka asked.

"Ahh, lemme check on him quick and I'll be out." Manny nodded.

"Alright, we'll meet you in the lobby." Ritsuka waved. Manny waved and shut the door and turned to look at the already sleeping Lee Seng. Lee Seng's feet dangled off the bed and his head poked off the bed.

"Lee, at least sleep like a normal person." Manny lightly slapped at Lee Seng's leg. Lee Seng was knocked out and Manny shook his head. "What did you do at the Academy all night then? You got some much bruises." Manny pulled Lee Seng half off the bed and grabbed him. He lifted Lee Seng up with ease and managed to pull the blankets away before setting him onto the twin bed.

He studied Lee Seng's bruise marks and shook his head.

"These aren't too bad. Did he spend all night training or something? It looks like he fought or something. I guess I should just heal him so he isn't as sore." Manny scooted over and set both hands onto Lee Seng's chest. The healing aura spread across Lee Seng's body and Manny watched the bruises slowly fade. "What would you do without me, huh? You really turn into a single minded person when you're deprived of sleep."