[Fountain of Youth, Later That Week]
There were few times in her life when Valerie McKenna had ever felt as excited as she did now. Even as she stared down the group of three sorcerers standing opposite her, the tall blonde couldn't help but feel the adrenaline rushing through her body.
"So…this is the little McKenna girl that we've heard so much about, huh?" Cassandra Owens said casually as she floated in the air atop her electro-disc.
"I was expecting her to be taller." Davante Owens added with a slight look of disapproval on his face. The young man with the scar on the bottom portion of his jaw was very obviously not in the best of moods today. "But at least she looks pretty tough."
"Geeze…" Victor quickly interjected from a bit further away as he prepared his own electro-disc. "Would it kill you guys to not sound like a bunch of assholes?"
"Fuck you!" Cassandra shot back at her cousin while flipping her middle finger in his direction.
Today was a special day when it came to Valerie's training under Zharia Owens. Over the last few days, the 'lightning magic' user had tried to push the tall blonde to enter into her berserker state during their sparring sessions. But after several days of failed attempts and unceremonious beatings, it was decided that they would need to up the stakes a bit in order to get the desired result. Which brings us to where we are now.
With a little bit of convincing and the promise of a nice seafood dinner, Zharia was able to get her husband, Chief Agent Norman Owens, to lend her Cassandra and Davante for the day to help with Valerie's training. Both of whom were two of their family's more capable young agents when it came to raw combat potential.
The plan for this special training was simple. Have Valerie fight against Victor, Cassandra, and Davante at the same time in order to simulate a more stressful combat environment. Such a method was commonly used by Zharia whenever she needed an extra bit of help to train her other students. And it looked as though this might be what was needed to get the result that she wants.
"Will the three of you shut the fuck and get ready?!" Zharia shouted at the trio of youngsters. "I didn't bring you out here to flap your gums all morning!"
Davante couldn't help but roll his eyes after hearing that. But he quickly got his attitude in order after receiving a death glare from his aunt that he knew from personal experience meant that she wasn't in the mood for any of his nonsense today.
"Pussy…" Cassandra smirked in her cousin's direction after watching the exchange.
"What did you say-"
Davante's oncoming insult was cut short when a bolt of green lightning suddenly landed on the ground in between him and the dreadheaded woman, courtesy of Zharia.
'Man, these guys seem like real characters.' Valerie couldn't help but think as she watched the exchange take place.
She had heard from Victor and Julian last night that these two were notorious in the family for having hair-trigger tempers while they were having dinner. And to be honest, both Cassandra and Davante reminded her a lot of some of her relatives back home in California. As weird as this was to say, she was glad to see that other families had to deal with this kind of thing and not just hers. After spending so much time with the MacNamaras, it was easy to forget that people in the Nine Families still acted like regular people at the end of the day.
"Alright, you all know what we're here for!" Zharia then shouted from atop the rock she was standing on. "The goal of this little party that we're having is to try and get McKenna to activate her berserker state. So I need you three to push her as much as you can until she either does it or falls unconscious. That being said, you will avoid using lethal attacks. So red lightning attacks only. Anything more than that and I promise you that you're not going to like what happens next!"
"Easy enough." Cassandra nodded in agreement.
"Got it." Davante said.
"Sounds like a plan!" Victor said a bit too cheerfully for Valerie's liking.
"McKenna, you ready?" The elder woman then looked at her new unofficial student.
"Good to go!" Valerie said with a thumbs up.
"Good! Y'all can start whenever you're ready."
The moment those words came out of the woman's mouth, Valerie quickly got into a fighting stance and activated her total armament across her body. Thanks to all of the training that she's been doing ever since the Iznana raid, the tall blonde has been able to go in and out of this state a lot easier than before. And although the skill was a drain on her mana reserves, she didn't have to care about the cost since the goal of this little sparring match was to get her to push herself further than what she was used to.
"Total armament, huh?" Cassandra let out a low whistle as three light blue baangs suddenly appeared above her head. All of which were surrounded by steady arcs of red electricity. "I guess that means you're a close combat specialist."
"Something like that." Valerie replied.
Next, it was Davante's turn to speak. "Alright then, let's see if that body of yours can handle my speed!"
The young man with the scar on his face quickly surrounded his body with red electricity before activating his body reinforcement and dashing toward the tall blonde at speeds that genuinely surprised her.
Despite his less-than-amicable attitude, Davante Owens was noted as being remarkably talented when it came to using his 'lightning magic' to enhance his speed. Like most of his kind, the man was able to use some sort of bio-electric enhancement to dramatically boost his body by stimulating his nerves in a certain way that allowed him to move faster than others. Or something along those lines.
To be honest, Valerie didn't really understand how the whole thing worked. The whole concept was simply way beyond her understanding. But what she did now was that this unique skill granted to him by his magical attribute allowed him to move shockingly fast over short distances.
"Let's see what you got, blondie!" Davante shouted as he closed the distance between him and Valerie and began unloading a barrage of punches on the 'fire magic' user with enough force that they almost forced her to break her guard.
In response to the sudden onslaught, Valerie did her best to bob and weave away from the attacks. The tall blonde was deceptively elusive despite her size. And she made sure to use all of her previous battle experience to make sure that she didn't get hit.
'Damn, she's good.' Cassandra thought to herself as she watched Valerie evade her cousin's attacks. 'But that still won't be enough.'
The 'lightning magic' user then sent her three lightning-covered baangs forward to give Davante some backup. Thanks to her mana-sensing ability, Valerie was able to notice this new attack just in time to jump out of the way and avoid getting hit. But as soon as her feet hit the ground, Davante was already waiting for her.
"Gotcha!" The young man shouted as he threw his right hand forward and connected a strong hook to the side of the blonde's ribcage.
"Argh!" Valerie grunted in response to the punch. But before she could put her guard back up, Davante wasted no time in delivering another three punches to her torso.
With Valerie now firmly on the back foot, Victor decided that this would be his chance to join in on the fun.
The youngest of the trio activated his own lightning-style body reinforcement spell before zipping across the battlefield and positioning himself right behind Valerie. And the moment he came within arm's reach of the young woman, he placed both of his hands on her back and activated his enchantment.
"Mana Disrupter!"
Valerie instantly felt all of the mana within her body go haywire from the spell. So much so that her total armament had completely broken. 'Fuck, I forgot that he knew how to enchant.'
With her body now working against her, Valerie decided that she needed to put some distance between herself and her opponents. So, against her better judgment, the woman threw her hands up before activating her 'fire magic' and shooting off a horribly executed wave of smoke and orange flames that covered everything within ten feet of her body.
Although it was only a short burst of power, the attack was enough to cause Victor and Davante to leap back to avoid getting burned. And fortunately for Valerie, this was exactly what she needed.
The tall blonde proceeded to rush forward and closed the distance between her and Victor. Thanks to all of the smoke, the young man's vision was momentarily obscured. And that was all Valerie needed to try to get close to him.
"Take this!" Valerie shouted just as she reared her fist back. But right before she could land a hit, a bolt of red electricity came flying toward her, causing the woman to readjust her body on the fly to avoid getting hit in the face.
"Not good enough, blondie!" Cassandra shouted from a few feet in the air, high above the smoke.
What followed was a good ten minutes of back and forth between the two sides. Even with the numbers advantage, neither one of the Owens family members was able to land a decisive blow on the woman. Mainly due to how sturdy she was when it came to her physical strength. As for Valerie, the constant barrage of attacks forced her to play a more defensive role during the fight. And with the effects of the mana disruptor still lingering in her body, she couldn't generate enough power to take either one of them out.
"Alright, I've had enough of this!" Davante shouted as his mana began to surge all around him. "Let's see if you can handle this! Discharge!"
The young man proceeded to slam his hands on the ground before a cascading wave of red electricity shot out over the area immediately in front of him.
"Shit!" Valerie said as she watched the attack come toward her.
The tall blonde quickly recognized that there was nowhere on the ground that was safe for her to move to. So, the woman activated the flying enchantment on her back and used what little control she had over it to throw herself into the air. However, before she could get her body fully stabilized, Cassandra came flying in her electro-disc and hit the woman with a lightning-covered fist right in the middle of her sternum.
"Ergh!" Valerie let out a pained groan in response to the punch. But she had just enough wherewithal to grab the other woman's arm and use what remaining strength that she had to fling her over to where Victor was standing.
The dread-headed woman collided with the young man with enough force to send both of them into the dirt. But before Valerie could get her bearings, another bolt of red electricity came flying toward her from down below.
As soon as Davante's attack landed, Valerie felt her entire body seize up, and she fell back down to the ground with a loud thud near one of the large rocks of the cave. The woman quickly got up and saw that the assailant was rapidly approaching her position. So, with no other options, the tall blonde used all of her strength to pick up the rock, which was almost just as tall as she was, and threw it at Davante with as much strength as she could muster.
"Fuck!" Davante said right as he used his improved perception to lean out of the way. But right as he was about to continue his sprint, he turned around just in time to see Valerie right in front of him.
"Gotcha!"
Valerie then hit the young man with a left jab powerful enough to send Davante sliding across the ground over to the shoreline of the lake. However, before the woman could revel in her success, two streams of red electricity hit her in the back.
"Lightning Javelin!" Both Victor and Cassandra shouted in unison after recovering from the blonde woman's earlier throw.
Even though they were using the non-lethal version of their powers, the two attacks were strong enough to cause Valerie to drop to the ground. The young woman tried to stand back on her feet, but thanks to the attack, her muscles weren't responding to her the way that they usually did. Her arms were now in the middle of an uncontrollable spasm. And her left leg was stuck in place and refused to move.
Davante, who now had a bloody nose from Valerie's earlier punch, fought back the dizziness that he was now feeling and saw this as the perfect opportunity to give the woman some payback for what she had just done to him. But right as he was about to charge up his next attack, Zharia decided that it was time to make her presence known once again.
"Rolling Thunder-"
"Stop!" The older woman shouted at the four youngsters.
"What?!" Davante looked at his aunt with confusion.
"You heard me." The woman replied. "The four of you are going to take a break to get yourselves back in order. Take a dip in the lake and give yourselves some time to recover. We'll start back up in about thirty minutes."
"Fine by me." Cassandra shrugged.
"Cool." Victor quickly echoed.
"McKenna, you good?"
"Yeah…" Valerie breathed out in response, even though her muscles were still spasming uncontrollably. "I'll live."
In truth, the tall blonde was relieved that the fight ended right there. She was absolutely certain that Davante was about to hit her with a knockout blow. And with the way that her body was acting at the moment, she knew that she wouldn't have been able to defend herself.
That being said, Valrie was still satisfied with her overall performance for the match. Sure, she may not have been able to land any solid punches on her three opponents. And there was the fact that they were intentionally using a toned-down version of their magic on her. But she still handled herself pretty well in a three-on-one match. Enough to allow her to confidently say that she didn't make a fool of herself in front of her new instructor.
"You're tougher than I thought you'd be, blondie!" Cassandra then shouted over to Valerie. "And you know how to take a punch!"
"Thanks!" Valerie replied. The sudden praise from the dread-headed woman gave her a warm feeling in her chest.
"Just be glad that we're going easy on you." Davante then added his two cents.
"I keep that in mind."
Before the conversation could continue any further, Zharia quickly shut the group up and told them to get back in the water. And so, Valerie and the others did as they were told and made their way into the lake to begin their short recovery before their next match.
'Man…this is awesome.' The tall blonde thought to herself as she slowly dragged her body into the water.
Even though she's only been here for a couple of weeks, Valerie was already starting to notice how much she had improved under Zharia Owen's training. Sure, she may have once again failed to enter into her berserker state, but all of the combat training that they were doing was starting to sharpen her skills. And thanks to the properties of the magic water, it only meant that she could get more and more training than she could under normal circumstances.
This whole trip was turning out to be exactly what the young woman wanted it to be. And she was certainly looking forward to the rest. With how things were going, it was only a matter of time before Valerie reached the next level of her potential. And when she did, she was going to make sure that everyone saw the results.
But until then, she had to remain focused. Getting a big head wouldn't do her any favors. She still had a long way to go before she could get her instructor's seal of approval. And Valerie McKenna was determined to make sure that she proved herself to both her and everyone else here.
'Just you wait, Captain Mubele, when I come back, you're gonna be begging me to join your team!' The woman thought calmly as she dunked her head beneath the waves and let a wave of refreshment wash over her.
-(o)-
Info Card: Owens Family
One of the nine families that serves as a major faction in American sorcerer society. They are among the smallest of the Nine Families, with only 130 confirmed members as of 2023.
The Owens family began with Warren Owens, along with his four brothers and younger sister. Warren Owens was a physics student at Grambling State University during the time of the Great Awakening and was recruited as one of the founding members of the DPA due to not only his strength, but his scientific acumen alongside Rudolph Chandler.
The Owens family is widely considered to be one of the strongest groups of 'lightning magic' users in the world. Due to the relative rarity of 'lightning magic' users outside of North America, they are often lauded as the foremost experts on the magical attribute. And years of research into their magical attribute by Warren Owens has granted them vast amounts of knowledge on how best to utilize it.
The Owens family holds significant swaths of land and influence across the southeastern region of the United States of America. This includes Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and some parts of Texas.
The Owens family is well-known for being the most interconnected family among the Nine Families. They have marriages or close blood relations with every other one of the Nine Families. This is primarily due to Janet Owens-Burton, the eldest daughter of Warren Owens, being known as one of the best "matchmakers" in the country when it comes to sorcerer society.
Most members of this family are practitioners of an obscure version of Louisiana Voodoo tailored specifically for sorcerers and those who can perceive mana.
The Owens family has a significant presence in the worlds of sports, applied sciences, and magical research. Several members of this family are in key leadership roles at NASA, the Magical Research Association, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Notable Members: Warren Owens (Family Head), Maxine Owens, Janet Owens-Burton, Maurice Owens, Norman Owens, Roland Owens, Zharia Owens, Mary-Anne Owens-Conley, Julian Owens, Wyatt Owens, Caleb Owens-Chandler, Madison Owens-Chapman, Monique Owens, Brianna Burton, Mason Owens-Blair, Jordin Monroe, Tristan Owens, Madeline Owens-Alvarez, Casey Owens, Treyvon Parker, Mallory Owens, Virgil Owens, Kimberly Owens-Pattinson, and Geoffrey Owens.
Fun Fact: Due to Ezekiel MacNamara's marriage to Maxine Owens, the younger sister of Warren Owens, all members of the MacNamara family are also considered to be members of the Owens family.