I scruffle my hair “Hey Brandon is it possible that we can get superpowers as well?” I ask

“I mean yeah you’ve probably already had a pseudo-awakening considering what you went through,” Brandon says

“huh?” both me and Athena exclaim.

“Yeah typically a human from our world gets an ability after going through a stressful situation” Brandon explains.

“Like taxes being overdue?” I ask causing Brandon to give a light chuckle.

“Close but not quite; more like near-death experiences, or witnessing a murder, or genocide,” he explains.

“Oh,” me and Athena say simultaneously.

“Yeah… but it doesn’t necessarily have to come from such traumatic methods you can also develop your ability by training” Brandon points out like he’s trying to sell merchandise

“Considering you’ve probably been through a pseudo-awakening already, you just need to activate you’re ability with the intent to use it,” Brandon says rubbing his chin “So I guess you just have to try real hard to awaken your ability” Brandon shrugs.

“What do you mean try real hard?” I ask

“Just try real hard,” Bradon says once again as if it helps explain anything

“Ok I guess I’ll give it a try,” Athena says cracking her knuckles. Athena pulls her arms back and plants her legs into the ground getting into a powerful kung fu stance, she then starts flexing all her muscles and screaming like she’s in an episode of Dragon Ball Z.

She honestly looked like one of those people who watch too much anime, it was kinda embarrassing “Hey are you just messing with her?” I whisper to Brandon

“Not at all, yo- will you look at that it's already starting to show” Brandon mentions causing me to glance back at Athena

A golden, yellowish light was being emitted from Athena’s head and hair as she strained her body more and more. Hold the fuck up! is she really turning Super Sayain!? My mouth gapes open I guess all those times I've called her a silverback gorilla had some truth to them.

“Ok, that's enough you’ve awakened it,” Brandon politely tells Athena to shut up.

“O-k I- Go-t it,” Athena says, still flexing every muscle in her body.

“Can’t you chill?” I ask.

“N-o, it-ll s-top work-ing i-f I do,” she says.

“Yeah, you’ll get used to it eventually the more you use your powers the longer you’ll be able to use them, and the less effort you’ll have to use to awaken them. To be honest it’s kinda impressive how long you’ve been able to hold on for; you’ve got some serious potential” Brandon cheers her on.

“T-Ha-Nks,” Athena says trying to smile while gritting her teeth.

After a few seconds, Athena is forced to turn off her power and gasp for breath; Babban quickly creates a blob-like tendril and pats Athena on the back.

“Yo-ur tur-n Ga-el,” Athena points at me while puffing for air.

“Ok, yeah, my turn,” I say a little excited.

I begin flexing all my muscles and screaming like Athena. I wonder if I'll also become a Super Saiyan as well, if possible I wanna emit a green glow Broly was always the coolest dragon ball character in m- before I can finish my thoughts I feel the weight of a car drop on me suddenly. I don’t even have the time to try and push against it as it just pushes me down to the floor.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I scream in pain and confusion noticing there is no car around me causing Athena to laugh “did-n’t e-ven l-ast f-or a sec-ond” Athena mocks, but has to cough immediately after.

“What the hell was that!?” I yelp. Babban summons another streamlined tendril but stops and retracts its tendril before doing anything with it. Does it not like me? I wonder, well it's not like I care; I don’t like it either, to be frank.

“That my boy is a barrier you must overcome to reach the second awakening of your ability,” Hankali states matter-a-factly

“You should now be able to freely enter and exit your ability, it’ll still tire you out like a full-blown sprint, but the more you train the more stamina and strength you’ll get, and the more you’ll be able to use your ability freely” Brandon explains

“So, how long can you use you’re ability?” I ask

“However long I want I guess” Brandon bashfully scratches his head

“I’ve never really tried to test it, but I’ve kept it on for over a day before if that's anything to go off of” Brandon bashfully smiles making Athena's and my eyes go wide

“What even was my power?” I ask trying to not lose faith in my own abilities “Yo-u hav-e the ability to giv-e a convin-cing de-ath sc-ream” Athena says with a grin; breathing heavily.

“You’re a human glowstick” I fire back immediately shutting Athena up.

I win, I grin to myself.

“In all seriousness, I am also unaware of what you’re ability could be as well,” Brandon says rubbing his chin “I guess we’ll learn in due time, but the suns are already rising, so we should have breakfast”

“Ok,” I pout a little. Come to think of it there was a light bulb here- how? I glance up and on further inspection, there was something moving in the lightbulb. I quickly look away. Ok let's not think too deeply about it there's just the native population in our walls and ceilings, but that's completely normal. Here… I guess…

I try to ignore the thing in the lightbulb and take a seat with Athena “Oliver can you cook again today, ill get the ingredients?” Brandon asks getting up and walking over to the fridge “Nah, sorry the story got to a good part,” Oliver says offhandedly wholly engrossed in the book, making me rather curious.

“Alright, Babban, will you help me out?” Brandon asks the blob monster which Babban nods and creates a pipe to the other side of the kitchen by the stove; through the pipe, the blob monster transfers its form through the tendril getting from one side of the room to another

“Whoa” Athena exclaims with wonder

“What would you two like to eat?” Brandon asks while scavenging through the fridge “OO Then can we get some French toast; I’ve never had French toast made by an actual French person before” Athena says with childlike excitement.

it's not like I can't read the mood, but this is Important. “Can we go back to the site of the massacre to see if we can find our friends or family” I mention causing the room to go once again silent

Athena stays silent for a moment before answering “...Yeah can we go?” Athena asks with a determined expression

“Sure… I’ll escort you there, but are you sure you’ll be ok?” Brandon asks

If we see that our family and friends have died it’ll probably fuck us up, but still, we gotta find them and that’s the only place to start.

“Yeah, we need to confirm that they're safe or well- you know…” I say getting more and more silent with each word

“...Ok, but when we go be sure not to leave my side no matter what,” Brandon says sternly while pulling out some eggs, vanilla extract, milk, and butter, from the fridge

“Ok,” me and Athena say simultaneously

“Don’t be alarmed think of what I'm just about to use my ability” Brandon summons a tree from the ground causing me to nervously sit up in case something happens, but he only summoned the tree to get the rest of the ingredients from the pantry, which consisted of the cinnamon, bread, brown sugar, and salt.

Brandon quickly gets to work getting a bowl and mixing in the eggs with the milk then putting in all the seasonings with the custard and mixing until homogenous. After that, he left the custard with Babban who started summoning a multitude of tendrils to cut the butter, get more pans, and more ingredients.

“Tu es tellement extra,” Brandon says with a grin after seeing Babban get the extra ingredients. Babban glances at Brandon for a second and then goes back to focusing on the food. Babban starts multitasking; dicing onions, washing, and cooking rice, enveloping the toast in custard, and cooking it; he was doing it all and he was doing it flawlessly at that. Athena watched in wonder at the monster chef putting all the culinary practitioners to shame with its extra dozen or so hands. Even though I was hungry, my hunger was justified because I hadn’t eaten in two days. Luckily I didn’t need to wait long because after just a few minutes the creature known as Babban had already finished the meal providing everyone with a plate of omurice and french toast; a strange combination, but a welcome one.