"Phew! Now I can take this thing off!" Nicholas exclaimed as he threw the cloak and hood off of himself, revealing the coat he wore underneath. Today was a sunny day and the cloak just made him hot. Sure, he could have left the coat behind, but he simply refused. He just didn't feel complete without it. He had needed the cloak to slip through the town unnoticed. After all, the place was under the control of the marines, and it really wouldn't help to get himself arrested, especially when it was someone who stood out like Nicholas did. Thankfully, he was out of the town and in the woods surrounding it, out of prying eyes.

Nicholas removed his coat and with more care than he had with the cloak, hung it up on a tree branch, reaching into its pockets to pull out the dials he was keeping in them. He had developed a bit of a talent in storing these things, and it was these things that were the reason why he was out here. Dial were a fascinating piece of natural technology. Shells that were capable of storing up and utilizing a variety of things, from wind to flame to even pure force. While the secret to how these things worked still eluded him, he knew full well that he could use their abilities to his advantage.

He reached down and removed the dial attached to his leg, the Jet Dial, the first dial he had gotten his hands on. It had taken him a bit get used to its abilities, especially after he fixed it to he could wear it on his leg. He sat on the ground, looking at the dials he had collected. Four in all so far. Jet, Axe, Flame and Impact. Thankfully he had managed to test all these out during their little incident on the way here and they all worked perfectly. Now it was just a question of what else he could do with them. While simply holding them in his hands and using them one at a time worked well enough, for Nicholas, it wasn't just about function, but style as well. Simply using them in the usual way was just so boring.

The question was HOW was he going to use them? Maybe attach them to his feet like he does with the Jet Dial? Nah, then it's just kicking with the dials instead of punching with them. The only real difference was the limb being used. No real difference. He pondered for a moment, fiddling with each one. Like the Jet Dial, he had made some slight alterations so that he could attach them to various parts of his body, without having to hold them. Made them easier to use when you didn't have to hold onto them.

He looked over at the, his mind going over various ideas. He had read you could attach dials to weaponry, but then Nicholas would have to learn to use those weapons. Plus, it seemed like the dial would take a back seat to the weapon, and these things had enough potential to stand out on their own. He felt they really didn't need to be combined with anything.

Combined...Maybe there was some way to combine the dial's abilities together.

He looked over the dials, his mind now racing as new ideas popped into his head. Like a chef combining ingredients, or a chemist mixing chemicals, Nicholas began to wonder how he could mix the various dials together. Not literally. He wasn't going to create some sort of dial frankenstein (...yet), but rather mix their capabilities together. He reached down, picking out the Jet Dial and the Flame Dial, his mind concocting an idea for the two. He attached the Jet Dial to one of its usual positions, on the back of his foot. It had helped speed up his kicks in the past, and speed was what this idea called for. He then took the Flame Dial, sticking it to the underside of his shoe.

He slowly stood up, getting used to the weight of the dials on his leg. He took a deep breath. "Alrighty," he murmured to himself, "Jet/Flame combination test, take one." Then, preparing himself, Nicholas swung a strong roundhouse kick, triggering both dials at once. Normally when he did this, he would stop the Jet Dial from carrying him too far. But this time, he let it carry him around, spinning him around in place as the Flame Dial spewed forth its burning payload. Nicholas yelped as he spun and lost his balance, falling to the ground as the ring of flames above his head dissipated. Thankfully he hadn't caught himself on fire by accident. Nicholas, from his position on the floor, looking up at where the flames one were, laughing. "It works!" he crowed out. "Well, sort of. Got to work on the balance a bit." He pulled himself to his feet, detaching the dials and looking over them with a sense of satisfaction. "The only issue with dial experiments," he murmured, "Is the wait time between tests." He looked down at the other two dials, laying in the grass. "Well, while I wait," he murmured with a small smile, "Let's see what I can get out of you two."

Word Count: 879

"Alrighty, this is Axe/Impact dial experiment number 5. A.k.a, the Safecraker." Nicholas spoke out loud, though he didn't really have anything that could record his words. He was more just doing it for the hell of it. His body was aching from his previous tests involving the Impact Dial. He wanted to try and get this right as quick as possible, though he was telling himself now that this would be the last experiment for a while. He'd need to rest after all this. Trying this via kicks, but it was proving rather impractical. The placement of the dials was making the combination rather ineffective. In the end, he had decided to simply use his hands for this, holding the Axe in one hand, and the Impact in the other. He was standing in front of one of the many trees in the forest, others around him baring the marks of his past experiments.

Nicholas took a few deep breathes, prepping himself for this latest experiment. Then, he lashed out, striking the tree with both hands, slamming the dials against the wood. Both dials triggered, and the impact shot through both his arms, as the tree's trunk almost exploded from the blast. Nicholas stumbled back, having learned to roll with the recoil, rather than try to withstand it. He looked back at the tree, seeing a good chunk of it blown off, but more importantly, seeing the groves cut into the wood by the Axe Dial, split apart by the Impact. The tree creaked and groaned, threatening to collapse from the damage. Nicholas couldn't help but feel some satisfaction from the results. A definite improvement from his previous tests. "Final verdict. The Safecracker shall be used with two hands only. This is definitely not a leg based attack."

With that little experiment over, Nicholas sat down on the ground, leaning against one of the trees. His body was still aching from his uses for the Impact Dial, so he was going to take the time to rest and recover while he pondered his next 'experiment'. Setting the four dials down in front of him, he pondered as he looked at them. So far he had what he dubbed the "Burning Spin Kick" and now his "Safecracker" attack. What else to add to his repertoire? He pondered and thought back to his first meeting with Liara, when he used the Jet Dial in order to launch a barrel at her. A nifty little trick and one Nicholas had already gotten used to. He didn't need to practice it here, but he mentally stored it in with his new moves.

But now, what sort of new technique could he produce? He looked at the dials, pondering. It wasn't long before a pair of ideas came to mind which were too good to ignore. The young man groaned. He would have to wait for the Impact Dial to charge up again.


"Ok folks, this is Flame/Impact experiment number one. A.K.A, Burning Impact." Nicholas had learned from his Safecracker experiments, and this time was going straight to the hand based strike. He didn't want to spend a lot of time injuring himself with the Impact Dial. He stood before the tree ruined by his previous experiment. No sense in damaging anymore trees around here. Taking a deep breath, he thrust his hands out, similar to how he did with the Safecracker. Both dials triggered, and there was another blast, this time sending splintered, burning wood everywhere. Nicholas was knocked back by the impact, almost falling over. Smoke surrounded where he had struck. He tried to peer through the smoke, but he heard the damage before he saw it. With a creaking groan, the tree finally gave out and began to fall. Nicholas let out a yelp as he dove to the side, the tree crashing to the ground. Inspecting the fallen tree, he could see he had pretty much blasted out what was left of it, the wood charred from the Flame Dial. Nicholas couldn't help but smile. "I would very much like to say," Nicholas spoke up, "That the Burning Impact experiment was a huge experiment, and on its first try." Even if it could be done better, he could work that out a little later. Right now, it was time to take a break, and work out his next dial combination. Using that Impact Dial really hurt after a while.


Word Count: 744