Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel (12 page)

“We‟re not exactly sure.” Arjun
admitted. “This is a new drug collected from the cells of
apes, apparently. Not only are you the first person to have undergone this transformation, but
I‟ve been told that the effects of the serum on someone of your age group is different from
what was being expected. So we‟ll be keeping our eyes open tosee what happens.”

“Right.” Neel said
. He had a sudden vision of himself with hair sprouting all over his
body as well as a long tail, leaping around the hall and throwing exercise gadgets at his
trainers. The image was not in any way helpful.

“So, let‟s get started.” Arjun said. “
First you need to change.” He handed Neel the
exercise clothes he had worn yesterday. Neel went to the room attached to the gym and
changed quickly.

When he returned, the three had moved to the centre of the mat and were waiting for
him.

“Your body is now the most powerful of its
kind on the planet.” Arjun began. “You saw
what you did to the punching posts yesterday. That was an untrained and unrestrained
exhibition of your power. To handle that level of strengthis not an easy task.” He looked at
Neel shrewdly. “Have there been any accidents, these last few days?”

“Well, yeah.” Neel admitted
slowly. “I had a really hard time getting my brain speed
under control.I still can‟t control it completely. And I have to be careful how I touch things,
and hold them,so I don‟t break them.” He stared at Arjun and added in a burst of candor.
“I‟ve really scared of holding anything too hard.I‟ve tried to stay away from my mom and
everyone else the last few days becauseI‟m afraid of hurting them.”

Arjun was watching him closely, and a flicker of pity appeared in his eyes
. “Well, our
work from now on will be to help you cope with your new abilities, and turn them to your
advantage.” he said gently. “We‟ll teach you how to manage your strength and brain speed.”

He
moved over to the edge of the mat, leaving the middle of the mat empty. “You need
control overyour body and your movements.” he said. “You need to learn how much strength
you can use, and how much you have to hold back. Train your body, and your mind will be
trained in its control as well. There are actually two ways to learn that kind of physical
control, through dancing and through fighting.”

“Unfortunately,
doing the moonwalk will not be particularly helpful in a combat
situation.” Negi added. “So we‟ll just focus on teaching you to fight.” Neel gave a small
laugh.

“You‟ll be learning a composite of various fighting techniques.” Arjun continued. “They
will be of invaluable use to you in learning control.”

 

Neel nodded. He had been expecting something along these lines. But again, he felt
compelled to point out a crucial point.

 

“I‟ve never done anything like this before.” he said. “And you saw what I did to the posts
the other day.”

 

“That day showed us that you have the potential.” Premi said. “It is up to us now to tap
into it and see how far it can be taken.” Neel nodded.

 

Arjun motioned to Negi. The stocky little man moved forward to stand in the centre of
the mat, directly in front of Neel.

“Karate is the discipline that teaches you the importance of posture and technique in
combat.” Negi explained. “See my legs?” He stood with his legs positioned apart, his knees
bent slightly.

“Balance is the key.” he told Neel. “No matter what position you are in, you need to
maintain your balance. Try it.”

 

Neel moved to stand in front of Negi, and imitated Negi‟s position, arms raised to
shoulder level, legs bent and spread slightly apart.

Arjun walked up behind Neel and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back sharply in a
single sudden movement. Neel wasn‟t expecting it, and tumbled over backwards until Arjun
steadied him.

“Always be prepared for the
stealthattack.” Arjun said, helping him resume his position.
“Merely assuming the correct position is not enough. You have to actively stop your
opponent from throwing you off balance, and that means that when I pull you towards me,
you pull away from me, and do your best to maintain your position, allright?”

Neel nodded, assuming the position again. Arjun paused for a moment. Then, he swiftly
grabbed Neel from behind and tried to pull him back. This time Neel was ready. Any other
person would have still found it hard to maintain the position, but Arjun was unable to move
Neel an inch.

“Good” Arjun said, releasing him and walking to his side. “Now let‟s try punching.
Watch Negi.” Premi came to stand on the other side of Neel.

Negi curled his hands into fists and raised them halfway up to his face. His hand shot out,
fast and hard, and came back almost at once to its original position. Again, Neel imitated him,
moving his hand more slowly and carefully.

“Always keep your fist closed tightly.” Premi said, holding Neel‟s
outstretched hand and
closing his own hand around his fist. “And don‟t bend your wrist when you‟re punching. One
of the biggest mistakes amateurs make is that they keep their fist and their wrist loose. When
you punch like that, all the force behind the punch is misdirected. You accidently bend your
hand on impact, and end up spraining your wrist.That‟s unlikely in your case, but it‟s still a
very painful experience.”

Again, Neel nodded. He repeated the punch, trying to do it exactly as Negi was showing
him, first with one hand and then with the other.

 

“Better.” Arjun nodded. “Now keep punching till we tell you to stop, and keep in mind
what Premi told you.”

Neel‟s instructor
s stood watching as Neel mutely punched the air in from of him, still in
the defensive position. As Neel‟s confidence increased, so did the speed of his punches, until
his hands became mere blurs in the eyes of those watching him. Negi shook his head in
disbelief, and Premi‟s dark eyes watched the young boy intently as he tried to follow the
movement of Neel‟s hands. Arjun glanced up at the white window, from where he knew both
Doctor Fahim and Divya were watching. He returned his gaze to Neel.

“Okay, that‟s enough.” h
e said. Neel heard his voice, and stared at him
uncomprehendingly. He stopped punching, and closed his eyes for several minutes. The
others knew what was happening, and they stayed quiet until he opened his eyes again.

“Sorry.” Neel said. “My mind started running fast again. You told me to stop, right?”

“Yes, I did.” Arjun said, looking
at him thoughtfully. “Your speed certainly seems to be
a problem at the moment. We‟ll see what we can do about it. Now it‟s time to learn how to
kick.”

Negi moved back, and Premi took his place in front of Neel. He also placed his feet apart
like Negi had done. “Balance is even more important for kicking then for punching.” He told
Neel. “You‟re putting all your weight on one leg. That makes your body unstable, and easy to
topple. So you need to be sure how long you can keep your body in that position when you
kick.” He paused for a moment, and then kicked once in the air, his foot moving smoothly
above his head. He returned to his earlier position and paused, looking at Neel, who was
watching intently. This time he kicked twice, his leg in the air for a longer period of time.
Another pause, and this time three kicks in rapid succession, all the time his body
maintaining perfect balance. Neel watched him in awe.

“How far you can control the speed and force behind your kicks depends on you.” Premi
said. “Let‟s try a single kick for now.” Again, he showed Neel the position he needed to
assume.

“Right. Now try a kick.”

Knowing full well he would not be able to do anything remotely similar to what Premi
had done, nevertheless, Neel assumed the position. In a sudden motion, he raised his leg up,
in his nervousness raising it higher than he had intended to, and exactly as yesterday, he
toppled over backwards. Arjun and Negi were waiting for him, and managed to catch him
before he reached the ground.

“Never mind.”
Negisaid, grinning as he helped Neel to his feet. “It takes a little
practice. But try not to raise your leg so high. You might wind up knocking yourself
unconscious with your own foot.”

“Try it again.” Arjun said, “Focus on doing the right movement, not the height. Stop
when your foot reaches your waist.”

 

Neel obeyed. This time he stopped his foot at his waist level, and managed to stay on
his feet, although he knew his kick had little of the grace and force that Premi had exhibited.

“Again, repeat the kicks until I tell you to stop.” Arjun told him, his instructors stepping
away from him. Neel repeated the kicks, improving his balance as he continued the exercise.
He managed to raise his foot to his chest level, and gradually, his kicks became more
forceful, and much faster, until again, the men could hardly follow the movement. Once
more, Arjun called for him to stop.

Neel closed his eyes again, trying to regain control over his mind. Arjun stared at him,
and then turned to the other two men.

“I
think I‟ll take him out now.” he told them. “He needs to learn to control his speed
before he can focus on anything else properly. Go tell DoctorFahim that we‟ll continue the
combat training tomorrow.”

The other two nodded. “
Till tomorrow then, Neel. Take care.” Negi called out to him.
Neel had regained control by now and waved back to him, a little surprised by the abrupt
departure. Premi nodded to him as well as the two turned away.

“Let‟s go outside.” Arjun said, leading Neelout the gymnasium. “Learning to manage
your speed would be a better idea right now. How often do youhave trouble with it?”

“It‟s better now.” Neel said. “It was
really hard the first few days, but I stayed up all
night till I learnt that trick Doctor Fahim taught me tofocus on one thing till I‟ve relaxed. But
I still can‟t control it completely.”

“W
e need to move beyond just slowing down your brain.” Arjun said. “Your speed can
be an incredible advantage if you learn to use it well, and if you can learn to control it to
speed up and slow down at will.”

They arrived at the vast field they had visited the day before, with the huge open ground,
and a smaller one to the far side which contained various curiously shaped bars and bluffs.

“This‟ll do.”
Arjun said, bringing them to a stop in the middle of the field. “Now you
don‟t have to worry about keeping your speed down. Start running around the field with as
much speed as you can manage. Stop runningwhen you feel tired.” Neel made his way to one
end of the field.

Arjun turned his attention to his watch, ready to time the young boy. Neel reached the
end of the field and turned, assuming the running position. Arjun nodded to him and called
out, “Ready…
Go!
”

Neel took off down the field. He began slowly, trying to keep his speed under control
so as not to trip and fall. But his brain began to speed up, and his legs moved unconsciously
to keep up. And then suddenly he was running flat out. His heart beat loudly and joyously. He
had never felt so completely alive After days of having to stay cooped up in the hospital, days
of having to keep his speed slow and keeping his brain under control, it felt amazing to
finally be able to leave all the worry and care behind and just run as fast as his legs could
carry him. The wind swirled and whipped around him in powerful waves, and he experienced
the same exhilaration he had felt the day before while jumping. Arjun kept an eye on his
watch even as he followed the progress of the blur around the field.

Ten laps later, Neel was still running at top speed. Arjun checked the time. No slowing
down at all. Most impressive. He wondered how long it would take to tire the boy out.

 

Thirty laps later, Neel was still running.

After the fortieth lap, Arjun finally called for him to stop. Neel saw Arjun waving to
him, and raced straight for him. He skidded to a halt fifteen feet away from Arjun, small bits
of grass and roots flying behind his trail. He walked slowly towards Arjun, a big grin on his
face.

“Very impressive.” Arjun said with a smile. “Did you feel any fatigueat all?”

 

“I was starting to feel somethingat the end.” Neel admitted “But I‟m pretty sure I
could‟ve still gone twentymore rounds.”

“Your endurance is certainly beyond anything I‟d
been preparing for.” Arjun remarked.
He studied Neel closely. “I noticed your speed changed pretty quickly from fast to normal
just now.”

“
Yeah,I don‟t really know how that happened.” Neel said uncertainly. “One second I
was going as fast as I could, and then I saw you waving, so I came to you, and then when I
stopped running, it‟s like my mind stopped speeding up as well.”

“That would
make sense.” Arjun nodded slowly. “When you slowed down the speed of
your body, your mind, which was in control of your speed, slowed downas well.” He looked
at Neel thoughtfully. “It‟s a useful fact toremember.” He motioned to the smaller field on the
other side. “Let‟s see about your reflexes now.”

“How fast was I going?” Neel asked with interest as they walked towards the field.

 

“About ninety miles an hour.” Arjun said, shaking his head in wonderment.

 

They reached the smaller field, and Arjun took Neel to the place where the various
barbells were kept.

“
As incredible as your running speed is, the speed of your reflexes should be faster
still.” Arjun said. “It‟s going to take a lot of concentration to use that speed the right way
when the time comes, and you‟ll have to learn some techniques to combine them all in a
useful manner.”

“Do I learn all of themtogether?” Neel asked in surprise. “Shouldn‟t I just concentrate
on learning to fight for now?” But Arjun shook his head.

“Ideally,
it takes years tobecome a proficient fighter.” he said. “Unfortunately, we don‟t
have thatkind of time. That‟s why the way we plan to teach you is very different from
normal combatclasses.” He looked thoughtfully atthe young boy. “There‟s also the matter of
the accelerated speed of your mind, which should mean that you are able to grasp subjects
much faster than the average person can. That‟s why you‟ll be learning several techniques at
the same time.”