Be a Dragon: Simulation (ch.16) (Patreon)

It really couldn't be understated just how much wearing a condom muffled sensations, I realized as I plunged into Raven's depths. She tried to keep back a moan, turning it into a breathless whimper of need and that was a thousand times hotter. I felt every fold with incredible detail -- the only thing I could compare it to was the time I finally got glasses and realized I spent my life until that point blind as a bat. 

And it wasn't just me that was feeling it. As my hips found their pace, Raven's hands gripped the sheets, her toes curling. She was bracing herself for the pleasure, trying to keep control over herself, but she couldn't. With her face down, her ass in the air with me positioned behind her, each thrust making her glorious ass shake as I pounded away at her drenched pussy -- Raven couldn't control herself. 

A book flew across the room, nearly braining me, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Her magic was connected to her emotions -- meaning while the only obvious signs of her pleasure were the soft pants for breath and how her intensely hot pussy massaged my length, the fact her room was a wreck was a much more obvious hint. I drove my hips harder, the harsh sound of her thick ass smacking into my hips, meeting my thrusts by shaking her hips, I listened to the hints that another orgasm was brewing within her. 

A book on her nightstand jerked forward, prompting me to pick up the pace. I looked down at Raven's surprisingly muscled back, her gray skin was covered in a sheen of sweat as droplets raced down her flesh. Slapping her ass once, Raven flinched at the pain but the book jerked forward far enough that it fell off the nightstand while her walls clamped down on me. 

A grin found its way into my face as I brought another hand down on her fat pale gray ass. It wasn't a bubble butt, but it was damn close. "Oh? You like that?" I asked, knowing the answer as I spanked her again. It seems like I was dead on the mark with her tastes in bed. Raven spent her entire life being in control over herself so she seemed to love losing that control, giving it to me. 

Her words echoed in my head to make her mine. If it were possible, my cock would have gotten harder. Instead, it just throbbed within her, warning us both of my impending orgasm. 

"I-" Raven couldn't answer, cutting herself off as my thrusts became more desperate. I heard the mirror break again behind us -- which was a shame because I was hoping to use it again. Since she didn't answer, I spanked her again, her ass taking a reddish hue to it. "I…! I'm… cumming!" Raven warned before the contents of her last remaining bookshelf were emptied in a violent swarm of heavy books and knickknacks.

Her walls milked my length, clapping down as her folds massaged me. I have been able to endure it if I was wearing a condom, but without one I had no hope. I slammed my hips forward, burying myself inside of her as deep as I could go before my orgasm erupted. I couldn't even remember what number it was. I only knew that her womb was already overflowing with my spunk, so trails of white poured out of the tight seal, following premarked trails down her thighs from the other trails of cum. 

"Fuck!" I cursed, my chest heaving as I emptied myself within her again. As my orgasm tappered off, I felt pounds lighter but my balls were working overtime to prep another orgasm for me to dump inside of Raven. Raven moaned senselessly, trying to contain herself, but it was too much for her. I pulled myself out of her pussy, her walls doing their best to keep me within, but when the crown of my cock emerged, a flow of cum dripped down from her pussy. It looked more than it was, but it looked like I had came inside of her a good dozen times. 

"Oh… fuck," I gasped out, still breathless even as my cock stood ready for another round. I really hope that spell of hers worked. As cum spilled onto the sheet, Raven swayed and tipped over, the sides of her hips hitting the bed. Looking down at her, I watched her tremble like a leaf, still experiencing the aftershocks of an intense orgasm. 

Catching my breath, I leaned over Raven -- I knew she liked giving up control in bed, but I didn't know how far that went. Did she want to be dom'd? Did it go as far as wanting a slave master kink? Did she have an interest in BDSM? I didn't know. What I could do was test the waters a bit. 

I grabbed one leg, shifting it over so I was between her legs. Cum dripped out of her, forming a puddle of white that slowly grew with every second. I don't think I've ever been more proud of myself as I was in that moment. Even still, I pressed forward -- the underside of my cock rubbed against Raven's exploded clit, making her breathing hitch hard enough that her breasts shook. 

"You're cumming so hard… but you're doing a pretty good job of keeping the room intact," I commented, my hands ghosting upwards, over her firm and flat stomach, towards her breasts. Raven hissed when I rolled her nipples between my fingers, her hips lurching up desperately for more pleasure. "I'm guessing you have some practice keeping your magic in check while you're cumming? Did you masturbate and call it training?" As I spoke, I started to rock my hips in shallow thrusts, dragging the underside of my cock over her clit. 

"I-" Raven cut herself off, rising her hips even higher as if she were trying to make my cock slip back into her if she found the right angle. "I did! Played with myself to train- ah!" This time Raven was cut off as a low, husky moan emerged from her throat as I continued to play with her nipples. 

"And who did you think about when you were playing with this naughty pussy of yours," I asked, smirking as Raven looked up at me with pure need. She managed to let go of the bedsheets, one hand going to one of mine as it palmed her breast while the other went to my painfully hard cock. 

"You," Raven answered breathlessly, shaking her hips to eek out even the slightest bit more pleasure. "I-I thought of you," she told me. 

God, it felt good to hear that. 

"Oh? And how does it measure up to what you imagined?" I asked teasingly, tormenting her nipples, and clit with my torturously slow thrusts and tweaks. 

Raven groaned, her face scrunching up in frustration and desire. Her face was free of cum, having cleaned it off at some point. But I vowed that Trigon's prison would be covered in cum again at some point. Just because it made me feel utterly powerful. "It's so much better than I could have imagined! This, you cock…!" Raven trailed off, unable to find the words because I stole them away from her by pulling on her nipples. 

"I'm happy to hear it. Do you want my cock again-” I started to give some dirty talk but Raven’s hips lurched, trying to capture my cock with her tight hot tunnel. “Hey now, you have to ask nicely. What’s the magic word, Raven?” I asked, eager to be within her again. I was getting drunk off of her body, craving to hear her breathless moans and to feel her cum around my length. 

“Please!” Raven half-shouted, “please fuck me Nero! Please- OHHhhhh!” Raven moaned, biting her lip as I lined myself up with her entrance and plunged back as deep as she could take me. “Thank you. Thank you for fucking me. Thank you for choosing me!” Raven moaned, throwing out her arms to hold me close, her voice thick with desire and emotion. 

I leaned forward, falling towards her lips as if pulled by a magnet while my hands slipped underneath her legs and pushed them forward. When our lips touched, her tongue battling against mine with a desperate need for intimacy, I eased her into the mating press position. The dirty talk had been for her, but it worked on me a little too well. I felt another orgasm drawing close, and her furnace of a pussy was burning through whatever fuse I had left. 

I jacked hammer thrust into her, pounding Raven into the bed with her bedboard banging against the wall with each thrust. Her hands clawed at my back and traveled down to grope at my ass in equal measures, her own hips trying to meet my thrusts despite being completely out of position for it. And that set my blood on fire in the best kinds of ways. 

A heavy book hit me in the ribs, but I barely noticed it. The mirror behind us shattered into pieces, slamming into the wall before it was launched forward and broke. The bed frame groaned, but I couldn’t tell if that was because of how desperately I was fucking her into it or if it was her magic acting out. 

Breaking the kiss, I pressed my forehead against hers, looking into her eyes as my orgasm neared. Raven’s eyes butterflied before her eyes rolled back as an orgasm slammed into her. The face that she made, the one twisted in utter bliss with a sheen of sweat on her face, sent me over the edge. My balls clenched, aching as they released every last drop of cum contained within them. 

Whatever room had been made in her womb was rapidly filled right back up, and then some. Raven moaned senselessly, her body trembling beneath me as she rode out another orgasm. And despite how empty my balls felt, my cock was still hard as a rock. Pushing through the natural spell of sensitivity, I continued to hammer away at her pussy, intending to drag out her orgasm for as long as I could and deliver another one to her. 

I didn’t stop even when the bed broke underneath us. 

…

You’d think that after hours of sex, after emptying out my balls so thoroughly I was certain that the next time I came it would be a puff of air, after thoroughly destroying Raven’s room with the force of her orgasms… that my dick would want a break. It needed one. The muscles ached, begging for a break, but the body was weak and the spirit was very willing. Of its own will, undergoing a Herculean task, my cock hardened as I drank in Raven’s body as we got into the shower. 

From my cum that dripped between her legs, trailing down her thighs, to the heart-shaped ass that faced towards me, to the lines of faintly defined muscle that told the tale of an active lifestyle. The image was seared into my brain, a sight I would never forget. 

My growing erection wasn’t missed by Raven after she turned the standing shower on, bombarding us with scalding hot water. It poked her in the back, prompting her to look down, then up at me with a faintly exasperated expression. “How?” She asked, not sounding displeased as she turned to face me. 

“How could I not?” I said, a grin in my voice, earning a faintly embarrassed expression from Raven. “But, let’s just ignore it for now. It’ll go down eventually,” I said, grabbing a bar of soap. “Let me help you get cleaned up.”

Raven continued to face me, water washing over us from the faucet in the ceiling. Despite my words, Raven reached out and grabbed my cock with her hands -- this time more out of curiosity than anything from the looks of it. I tried to pay it no mind as I began to lather up her body, my hands sliding over her smooth skin. 

“Nero?” Raven asked, taking the soap to return the favor, “when you said that there were other girls…”

Oh. So we had just pushed back that conversation, not side stepped in completely. “I’m a live in booty-call for Kitten -- and no, I’m not sure if that’s her real name or not. When I first found myself here, Kitten was the one that picked me up. In exchange for letting me stay at her place, I pay rent with sex,” I explained. 

Given that she was a master of suppressing her emotions, it was impossible to tell what she thought of that. But I continued -- she deserved to know what she was getting into, or evaluate if she wanted this to be a one-time thing. 

“Then there’s Hinata. I’m the rebound guy for her. She’s sweet. I actually think you would really like her,” I said, unsure if I should have said that or not. “She was in Love with a guy, confessed, but she never heard his answer. She’s trying to move on, and I’m helping her with that.” Lastly, I hesitated for a moment, but Neo was an eventuality rather than a possibility. 

“And lastly, there’s Neo. We actually haven’t done anything yet, but… well, she’s wanting no strings attached fun since I’m sleeping with Kitten and Hinata… so I think she feels left out, or something?” I finished, carefully watching Raven’s reaction. Water washed over her, plastering her hair to her, and the rivers of it drew my attention to her body. 

“What are we?” Raven asked bluntly, her voice monotone to hide what she felt. “I’ve… never done anything like this before Nero. I have no idea what… I want, or… my only frame of reference for relationships are those of my friends, and most of them have been trainwrecks,” Raven admitted. 

I had to think about it for a second. When it came right down to it, out of the three girls before Raved… the only one I would consider being in a long term relationship would be Hinata. The issue was that she was still very much in Love with Naruto, and likely would be for a long, long, long time. And I think that she knew that. 

Which is why she gave me the okay to come here in the first place. Things were getting messy with Hinata -- feelings were getting involved on both ends, but I wasn’t willing to go any further. And neither was she. Both of us recognized there wasn’t a point until she got over Naruto. 

With Kitten… she was getting possessive and I knew better than to date her. Neo… well, that was a bad idea all around. 

“We could try feeling it out,” I said after a moment, making Raven blink questioningly. “I know that’s a whole lot to throw at you. So, if you want, we could go slow. Go on a few dates, I could introduce you to Hinata, Neo, and Kitten. We could just take it one step at a time until you decide what you want.”

Raven seemed to think about it, “and what do you want?”

“You,” I answered instantly. Raven flushed but didn’t look displeased with the answer. 

Raven looked away, “I think… I could try that. Meeting Hinata and Neo. I’ve already met Kitten though,” she informed, earning a blink of surprise out of me. 

“Wait, what? You have?” I asked, surprised by that. Raven glanced up at me, a slight frown tugging at her lips. 

“So you didn’t know. Kitten’s father is Killer Moth. Kitten used to be a villain -- well, calling her a villain is a bit much, but she used to run with that crowd,” Raven informed me. And… that explained so much about Kitten, I realized in hindsight. From being willing to pick me up in the first place to the cameras… “Kitten isn’t considered a villain now. She went straight when her dad did.”

“Huh… then how do they have so much money? Crime pays, but I didn’t think it paid that well,” I commented with a shake of my head, stunned by the revelation. 

“Her dad sold patents to Lexcorp. It’s something that Lex Luthor does to build inroads with supervillains. Most of them can’t patent their work for one reason or another, so Lex buys it off them for ridiculous prices, buying himself goodwill and favors while supporting villains,” Raven explained. 

“Oh,” I muttered, wondering if this changed anything or not. Raven seemed to sense my thoughts. 

“Kitten’s fine now, and you don’t have anything to worry about,” Raven told me, earning a grin from me. 

“Well, if she is trouble, then I’m relying on you to save me,” I told her in a teasing tone, meaning it as a light-hearted joke, but a grimace passed over her features. My eyebrows drew together in concern, “what’s wrong?”  

Raven hesitated, and that was telling. “I was supposed to talk to you about training with the Titans,” she admitted, making me go still. “Not to become a Titan or a hero, but similar to how Donna had said. Just training to learn how to handle combat situations. But… we got a little… distracted.” 

I fell silent at that. I hadn’t liked the idea when Donna brought it up and I didn’t like it now. I didn’t want to see any kind of combat. I wanted to spend the rest of my life getting rich off of my bakery and having sex. That’s it. Not life threatening situations, no too high stakes to fail, no heroics. At all. I tried it once and people got killed.

“I…” I trailed off, stopping myself from giving my knee jerk reaction of saying ‘hell to the fucking no.’ I gave it a moment of thought, really considering what I was about to say next. “I understand the argument… and I don’t exactly disagree with it.”

Because, in the end, Donna wasn’t wrong. The entire reason I was learning to control my magic and mold chakra was for the sole purpose of protecting myself and others. That, and to leverage them to gain a lifestyle that I want. That fact itself meant that one day, I expected to see combat again.

Right now? I was half-assing it. I was learning how to use my powers, but I wasn’t willing to learn how to use my powers. 

“I just don’t want to be put in that situation again,” I admitted. I was responsible for the death of a family because I hadn’t thought. Because I didn’t know enough. Because I went into a dangerous situation expecting everything to be fine without any kind of experience or training. Worse, rather than owning up to it, I learned how to protect myself with the hopes that Hinata and Neo would be able to take care of any actual fight. 

“I can’t promise that you won’t,” Raven told me, stepping forward, pressing her body against mine. The hug was hesitant but genuine. “But I think Donna is right. As much as you regret what happened, I think you would regret it more if you stood back and did nothing when you could have done something.” 

I didn’t think she was wrong about that either. 

“I’ll… give it a try,” I agreed with more than a little hesitance. Raven smiled up at me, relieved that I had agreed. I felt the moment and leaned down, pressing my lips down onto hers. Raven responded in kind, deepening the kiss as I felt my cock swell again, pressing against her stomach. 

“Again?” Raven asked as I reached down to grab her ass. It really was something else, I thought, feeling the flesh spill between my fingers. I answered her with another kiss as I lifted her up, pressing her back against the wall of the shower. Hot water still poured down on us when I lined myself up with her entrance and slowly sunk my length inside of her once again. 

We kept going until the water went cold. 

…

I didn't even know how much later, we stepped into Raven bedroom once again. Looking at it from a different angle, it looked absolutely wrecked. The bed sagged where the bed frame broke, the floor was covered with books and some glass from the mirror, with entire bookshelves turned over. It looked less like wild sex was had and more of her room was vandalized. 

Looking at it, I felt a bit bad. "Sorry," I apologized, feeling fairly responsible. Even if it was only because hearing Raven trash her room on accident as she came had been one hell of a motivator.

"Don't be," Raven said as she shook her head. "I should have been better prepared. Sex is… more intense than I thought it would be," she said, giving me a Look. And… no, I actually didn't have another round in me. I think my dick was finally tapped out. "And I don't keep anything important out in the open. It's just decoration." 

Still… "Maybe I could help? I tested it out on my car and I can undo the damage done to things provided that I have all of the pieces," I offered, and Raven's Look became far more intense as less lustful. 

"I suppose that shouldn't be surprising," Raven remarked before she nodded. "If you think you can, then give it a try. My wards will stop anyone from sensing your magic or hearing anything." And I guess that explained why no one had kicked down the door to find out what was going on. 

I held out my hand and a black candle flame flickered to life above my palm. Focusing on my desire to undo the damage done to her room and bathroom, I dropped the flame onto the floor. It splashed like a drop of water, but the ripples of fire expanded over her room until it was covered in black fire. Once they cleared a few seconds later, they dissipated and left behind a restored room. 

"Interesting," Raven observed, floating forward to a bookshelf that was refilled with books. "It put my books back on the shelves. I thought it would just leave them on the shelves… but they're in the wrong place," she continued, picking up an occult tomb covered in symbols. 

"My bad?" I offered an apology. 

"You're fine. I'm just interested in the exact mechanics of your magic. Did you try to put the books on the shelves?” Raven questioned, and I shook my head. I had just wanted to undo the damage done to her room. “Then you magic acted under the subconscious assumption that the books belonged on shelves. In time, you could fine-tune it by learning exactly what goes where and it’s possible that your magic would organize the books-”

Raven cut herself off when she looked to the side, behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see that it was the mirror. It was intact once again, showing our reflection, only something was different. Above the actual mirror, there was a black jewel. My eyes narrowed at it, knowing that it had been empty earlier because I noticed that detail when I was watching Raven watch herself as I fucked her. 

“Cool,” Raven noted, floating over to the mirror to inspect the gem. She waved her hand, a black light enveloping her hand as tendrils of magic reached out to the gem, only to be erased the moment that they touched the gem. “Your magic seems to have interacted the little ambient magic that was left inside the mirror -- the jewel that’s missing was made of pure magic… hm.”

Raven was talking to herself and I felt completely lost, standing in her room wearing nothing but a towel. I spotted my clothes in a pile, so I started putting them on. “Is that a good thing?” I questioned, shrugging on my pants. Raven glanced over at me distractedly, her eyes roaming my torso before they settled on my face. 

“It means that the mirror was a much more powerful object than I originally assumed. The jewel that had powered it has been lost, but the jewel that your magic created could return it to its former glory, but…” Raven trailed off before she used magic to remove the stone. “It’s too dangerous for careless testing. The mirror and this jewel,” Raven said, holding up the full jewel for me to see. 

It looked like a black diamond the size of my fist. There was no shine to it at all, making it difficult to see the detail work, but it was like it was a solid black chunk of void that just ate up light. And magic, I noticed as Raven had to continuously pour magic to keeping the jewel afloat. I expected to feel some kind of connection to it since it was made with my magic, but I didn’t feel anything at all. No odd sixth sense of awareness of the jewel. 

“Do you want me to destroy it?” I asked, holding up a palm with another black flame to destroy the jewel made out of the power of destruction. Actually, that might be a bad idea trying to destroy it with the same power that created it. It could end up being a putting a bag of holding inside a bag of holding type scenario -- meaning bad things would happen if I tried. 

Raven seemed to think so as well, “No, not yet. It’s worth exploring to see what it is first. Perhaps it could be used to help understand your magic. For now, I’ll seal it away in a pocket dimension for now. Along with my mirror,” Raven added before she waved her hand and black magic swirled midair. I nodded, prompting her to deposit the jewel and the mirror within. And with that, I put the topic out of mind, far more interested in what came next. 

“Turn around,” Raven told me, going to undo her towel, only to pause when she realized I was watching. She looked embarrassed when I cracked a grin, but I turned around all the same. I probably could have pushed my luck, but if watching her get dressed devolved into having more sex then my dick my actually rebel. 

It only took a few moments for Raven to get dressed, I’m guessing with the use of magic. When I turned around after she gave the all-clear, I saw that she wore a simple long sleeve with a black and white striped pattern, ripped black jeans and a pair of converses to tie the outfit together. She floated above the ground, her face blank but her body language screamed uncertainty. 

“You look great,” I told her, earning a risen eyebrow in response, but she seemed more confident after receiving the compliment. 

“I think we’re passed the point where you need to flirt,” Raven remarked, betraying just how little she knew about relationships. 

“I’m just being honest,” I flirted, taking a dangerous step forward. “And I misspoke -- you look fantastic,” I corrected, earning a sharp Look from her but she seemed pleased. 

“If you’re hoping for another round, then you’re going to be disappointed,” she warned me off. Despite her words, she welcomed my touch when I reached out and took her by the hand. “I’m at my limit for now,” she continued, and I paid close to attention to the fact that she said ‘for now.’ Meaning that she wanted this to happen again. 

“Is that why you’re floating instead of standing?” I hazarded a guess, feeling damn proud of myself when Raven looked away sharply. 

“Are you ready to go to the training room?” She dodged the question, and that took off the edge to my good cheer. My teasing smile slipped off my face as I gathered myself. I didn’t answer with words, choosing to give a stiff nod in response. Raven opened up a portal beneath us and we both sank into the floor. 

When we emerged, we stood in the center of an utterly massive room. The walls were covered in segmented in massive plates, each one taller and wider than me with my arms spread, while the floor was a milky white. The area itself was huge -- If I had to guess, it was about the size of a city block and the ceiling way high. Hundreds of yards high. 

I let out a low whistle as I took in the room, wondering where in the hell we were. “I had no idea anything like this was underneath the tower,” I said, glancing at Raven. 

“It’s a little more complicated than that, but we’re underneath the city. Given the nature of some of the Titan’s powers, we needed a fairly large place to run simulations,” Raven answered before she looked at me, looking like she wanted to say something. But, whatever it was, she didn’t say it. Instead, she asked, “are you ready to begin?”

The truth was no, I wasn’t.

“Yeah, sure. How do I start?” I asked, my eyes searching from some enemy to spring out of nowhere. There was none. Raven answered by floating away from me before speaking clearly. 

“Console: Threat ranking low. One enemy,” Raven said and in response to her words, the light that illuminated the room shifted colors as before me a figure took shape. A large bulky robotic with four spider-like legs for mobility. Its arms were simple guns while the head was built into the bulky torso. As I watched it rapidly form, Raven continued. “The enemies are made of hard light, so it’ll take some force to destroy them. Are you ready to begin?” She asked again and when I answered with a stiff nod, Raven began the simulation. 

I gathered-

All I heard was a loud bang before I felt something slam into my stomach hard enough that any air in my lungs was emptied. I grasped my stomach, struggling to breathe for a moment, as I dropped down to a knee. And that was exactly the wrong thing to do. I looked up at the fake painted gray robot, and all I saw was the business end of a barrel. 

“Simulation stop!” Raven quickly shouted as I rubbed pain out of my stomach. “Nero, are you okay?” 

I felt like a complete idiot. “Yeah, I’m good,” I yelled back, unsure of what I had expected. It had guns for arms. Of course it was going to shoot at me. What else could have happened when I just stood there like a lemming? I forced myself to stand up, gitting my teeth as I focused and actually prepared myself for the fight. 

Raven was quiet for a moment, her expression unknown to me since I was focused on the robot that stood before me. After that moment passed, she spoke, “Simulation continue.”

This time, I reacted. Black flames covered my hand before I shot them forward, sending a stream of the flames to wash over the robot made of hard light. I heard another loud bang, but this time the flames destroyed whatever it shot before it could reach me. The fire bulged for a moment, the robot acting like a stone in the stream, and once the stream leveled out, I cut off the fire. 

The black flames ate at the edges of what was left of the hard light robot until nothing was left. I glanced over at Raven, looking for an evaluation, but I had my answer when she looked thoroughly unimpressed. Which was hardly surprising considering that I didn’t feel impressed with my performance either. 

“Nero, your magic is incredibly versatile, and you need experience with using your magic in different ways,” Raven started. Meaning that I needed to stop using my magic like a sledgehammer. And she was right. “I’m going to restart the simulation. This time, I want you to only use your white flames and for you to defeat the robot with things that you create with it.” 

That was going to make things harder. I thought about transforming but decided against it. Raven was right on all accounts. I needed to get better in general, not just with my powers but how I fought as well. I just… needed to be better.

“Restart simulation,” Raven said and another robot formed in front of me. 

This time I didn’t just stand there to be shot. I darted to the side, gathering the white flames in one hand as I did. One thing I hadn't really considered was how chakra would enhance my body. Further, then it already was. I blitzed to the side, shattering olympian speeds with ease. The robot twisted its body, its gun arms taking aim at me. Despite my surprising speed, it only took it a moment for it to get a bead on me. 

The guns jerked back and I reacted on instinct. The white flames grew and condensed around my hands, becoming a simple shield. They formed in time for the pellets it shot to slam into its surface, jerking my arms back as I was nearly sent sprawling from the surprising force. I looked at the round shield that covered up most of my body, a simple grip to keep it in place. 

I was disappointed. A shield. A simple shield. Years ago, I had gripped at how disappointing the Green Lanterns were because they only used such simple constructs like giant boxing gloves or guns. And here I was, using a shield of all things to block pellets. Worse, I wasn’t even on the level of a Green Lantern because I had absolutely no idea how to make a gun. 

“Come on,” I told myself with a shake of my head as I continued to run in a large circle, this time I braced for another shot to slam into my shield. I can’t just keep on sucking. I needed to think -- how could I best use my powers? How could I best leverage them?

I had magic and chakra. How could I use them?

The robot kept shooting at me as my mind raced, my feet moving in a blur. It was being passive, simply taking shots at me. I’m guessing that the AI level was set to dumb to let rookies like me try stuff out. I quickly came to a conclusion -- I needed to be able to use my hands to perform any jutsus, so I needed to be able to use my magic without any hands. 

In my other hand, another white flame appeared. I poured more magic into it, making the flame swell until it became about the size of a softball. The heat it gave off was intense, though the only signs I could tell were the fact that my shirt started to get singed at the wrist. Before my sleeve caught on fire, I tossed the flame up, letting it hover above my shoulder. More importantly, above my shield. 

I pictured a spike -- a deadly tip, sharp edges, and about a foot long. What I pictured emerged from the white flame, racing towards the robot. I peeked over the edge of my shield just in time to see that the white spike punched through the robot's thick armor, sticking out of it only because it lacked the force to go all the way through. 

Feeling emboldened, I channeled more magic into the white flame, sending out another three spikes in rapid succession. It was difficult to aim, but the three spikes hit their mark, slamming into the torso of the robot, one of them punching through its head. 

That feeling of success was swiftly lost when the robot moved for the first time. Apparently it had wheels underneath those spider legs because it rolled towards me at breakneck speeds, closing the distance between us in a fraction of a second. All the while, the loud crack of its guns could be heard, echoing in the massive training room. 

I threw myself back in response, firing off a few more shots, this time aimed at its legs. One of them found their mark while the other two buried themselves into the ground. The spike in its joint didn’t even slow it down, and the next thing I knew I was staring down the barrel of a gun. 

“You’re doing better,” Raven encouraged. “The difficulty will increase as you progress. Now you have to either take it out before it can move or find a way to outmaneuver it.” I glanced at Raven to see her nodding encouragingly at me. I felt like I took a step forward, but I was still miles away from the finish line. 

“Alright…” I said, nodding to myself as I considered the advice. I could do two things -- increase the output of my shoulder cannon flame or maybe I could put up some obstacles in its way? The first idea had promise, but I didn’t want to continue to brute force my way through encounters. What else did I have?

My eyes drifted up at the vast space I had available above me before my gaze landed on Raven as I confirmed that I was ready for another round. The white spikes fell to the ground as the robot reformed itself back at its starting position. Then my eyes landed on the shield that I was carrying. 

Summoning more white flames, I realized that I could alter the shield the moment the small flame touched the shield. The shield became fire again, shifting and changing with every moment, delivering searing heat that set my shirt on fire. I ignored it, the flames not bothering me at all as I focused on what I wanted the shield to become. 

I imbued an idea, a desire inside of the shield. Willing it to do what I wanted, not just what shape I wanted it to take. 

“Begin simulation!” Raven called out and the robot moved instantly, darting for me as it’s guns fired. Pellets slammed around me as I dropped the shield to the ground before I jumped on top of it. The white flames consolidated, still looking like a shield, only to prove that it was something far better as I willed myself to go upward. 

In response, the disk below me lurched upwards fast enough that I nearly lost my balance. I would have if I wasn’t sticking to its surface with chakra. I sailed through the air, my stomach clenching, but it was a lot better than being hit with a pellet. I stopped myself with a thought, a wide grin finding its way onto my face, “Hell yeah!” 

I did it! Holy shit, this was so cool-

Wait, I’m fighting a robot. Now wasn’t the time to fanboy at how awesome my powers were. 

I looked over the edge of the disk down at the robot to see that it was racing to the wall before it jumped, tilting back as its legs hit the wall. Instead of falling down like it probably should, it raced upwards, angling its body to start taking shots at me. I flew to the side, and it was only then that I realized how jerky my flight was that I nearly flung myself off the disk on accident. My shoulder cannon returned fire, but the robot scaled the walls too quickly and I wasn’t leading my shots well enough. Combined with my poor aim, I didn’t come close to hitting it. 

The answer in this case was more dakka. 

Forming another shoulder cannon that began firing away at the robot, my shots slowly getting closer as I learned to multitask flying and shooting. My eyes narrowed into slits when the chest compartment of the robot slid open before missiles streaked out of it, which made them widen to the point that my eyes could have fallen right out of my head. 

Shifting targets, I fired at the missiles as I flew away, giving myself more time to shoot them down. There was a simulated explosion when a white spike hit one, the sound it gave off sounded real, but there was no heat or shockwave. But out of the ten that chased me, I only managed to hit one. 

The rest honed in on me, forcing me to take evasive maneuvers. My jerky flying nearly took me out of the fight before the missiles did as I darted and flipped in wild patterns. I had plenty of room to work with, and I made the best of it, all the while I continued to get shot at by the robot. 

This time, it was my lack of aim that did me in. A rocket zoomed towards my face, and right when it was about to hit me, it came to a sudden stop. My chest heaved, more exhausted after a few short minutes of chase than I was with hours of sex. What was left of my shirt was slowly drenching through with sweat, my heart pounding like it belonged to a hummingbird. 

Fighting was more intense than I remembered. 

“You’re doing very well. Do you want to try again?” Raven asked as the robot reset itself. 

“Yeah, I do.” And unlike the first time, I actually meant it.