Zack and I basked upon the rusted metal doors and stared into the dark abyss of the factory building. I glanced at Zack and saw he had the same excited look in his eyes as earlier. Which eased my heart a little.

Right, I'm not running in alone. We're both doing this, together.

I took a step forward and walked inside. “Let's see if we can find more of them.”

Zack snickered. “Yeah! Let's snuff out more of those roaches!”

Zack hurried ahead of me and held out his hand. This time however, I noticed something odd. Right before Zack summoned his flame, he tapped his middle finger to his wrist. Then the familiar emerald spark erupted and a floating ball of fire came to life.

Oh? I wonder if that's a prerequisite for his fire? I'll have to ask him later.

Zack held out his hand and illuminated the areas that weren’t bathed in the sun's light. Then we started our journey around the old dusty factory. The place was eerily silent, with only the sound of Zack’s crackling fire and our steps keeping us company. However, a while of searching. I was starting to believe those were the only things keeping us company.

Damn, were the ones outside really the only Red steel gang members?

“Here steely steely!” Zack called out. “I've got some balls you can play with!”

I stopped walking and looked back towards him. He looked back at me and laughed. “What?”

“Some balls you can play with?”

“I'm hilarious and you know it.”

“You're something alright…”

We kept walking through the factory and eventually found an assembly area. Where a crane was stationed next to it! Why haven't I explored this place before!?

I raced over to the wall near the crane and ran up it a few steps. Then I kicked off towards the crane and latched onto it.

“Man! Can't find dick here!” Zack yelled and kicked over a box.

I focused on climbing up the crane and once I got to the top, I sat criss-crossed on top of it.

“Ya know, the shooting here probably made the gang scatter.” I pointed out. “The Goddesses voice came in just before the Red steel gang showed up. So I'd assume that means the Goddesses might’ve sent them.”

“lame!” He huffed.

I looked around the room some, taking in the railing across from me, the assembly line below, and another crane a few meters away. Sweet! I can totally do a parkour run around here.

I stood up to leap. But just before I did, a bright green light flashed from out of the corner of my eye. I quickly jumped down and grabbed the sides of the crane, just barely dodging the green hell flame that exploded against it. The crane shook and I held on tight as it skidded against the ground.

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What the hell!?

“Hey! Stryder! I just had an idea! Why don't we play a game of tag.” Zack called out.

I hung off the crane to look at Zack, who had multiple balls of fire in his hands now.

“What the hell are you talking about!?”

“I wanna try my powers out!”He complained. “And shooting around town isn’t a smart idea.”

“You're kidding...”

“Don’t act like you don’t wanna test your powers too.”

I looked away. Well, he’s not wrong. The best way to gauge my abilities is to use them in combat. Especially if I plan to use this to fight the Red steel gang in the future.

I sighed. “Yeah, well, I guess that makes sense. But I’m making rules.” I held up one finger. “One, we can tag each other with anything thrown from our hands as well as touching.”

“Wimp.”

“Two! We need three tags to win, and three, if you kill or severely maim each other, they lose.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, yeah, whatever mom, fine. Let’s go!”

“Fine, lets-”

“Iron man!” He yelled.

What?

Zack’s hands erupted in an emerald spark and he blasted towards me. I activated my eyes but it was already too late. He bashed his fists into my face and I flew off the crane. Damn, that’s what he meant by Iron man. I looked up and saw him blasting towards me for another strike. However, I activated my eyes this time, I could see his body moving in slow motion. As his fist came in I blocked his arm with my own and spun around onto his back.

“What!?” He screamed.

A smile tugged at my lips and as he went to twist his hand around to blast, I yanked his arm up and threatened to break it.

“Tag!” I cheered.

Then BAM! I slammed him down onto the concrete floor. As we crashed Zack croaked and I immediately sat up and stomped on his back.

“Ta-”

I choked on my words as the world seemed to change. The gritty floor of the factory had morphed to that of soft matts of the martial arts dojo. While the loud echoes of distraught families swirled around me.

‘Oh my gosh what did he do!?’

‘His arm! He broke my son's arm!’

‘What kind of monster is he!?’

“I-i’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” I started.

“Don’t apologize now!” Zack screamed.

The world quickly came back and I was greeted by Zack’s fast movement. He blasted up with fire from his hands and knocked me off him. I stumbled back and saw Zack spinning around on his hands, making a tornado of fire.

What!? How does he have such control over his fire already? Mixing his breakdancing with it so easily! That's not fair. Wait, maybe I should do that too!

The raging tornado exploded and I guarded my face. The flames splashed over my skin and I was shocked by how gentle it was. I lowered my guard and I immediately met Zack’s jade eyes. His nose was bleeding and I could see a crazed look in his eye.

“As if I’d lose to a loser like you!” He yelled.

Then his fist slammed into my stomach. I croaked and flew back, skidding on the floor. My lunch almost came up. What? Since when did Zack hit this hard!? Did those modifications change us this much!?

Zack kept forward and went to strike at me again. He held his hand out, making flames erupt, but nothing happened. Only small farts of flames spat out this time. What? Wait, was he trying to change his flames? Or was he running out of fire?

“Damnit!” He yelled.

I took that moment to lunge for his arm, but he immediately blasted fire out from his hand and sent himself backwards and blew smoke in my eyes. I coughed and jumped back, as soon as I could see again I saw Zack summoning more balls of fire. That familiar feeling of a smile etched itself onto my face. Damn, I'm gross, so gross. This is getting me hype! Zack is someone I can cut loose with! I pushed my eyes and watched as green flames rained down upon me. I dove to the side and dodged a flame while grabbing a pipe. As I rolled to my feet I immediately popped up and batted away flames coming towards me.

“Bring it!” I yelled.

More flames rocketed forward, this time they were much more focused on me, like a mini gun! I raced forward and smacked the flames aside again and again, slowly growing closer to zack. However, the low moan of machinery bounced off the factory walls. I glanced up and saw the top of the crane falling down onto me. Damn! He stole my focus with his flames! I can’t even see where he went! He’s probably behind me to fake me out! I spun around and leaped backwards. Our bodies are modified to be stronger, so I should make this jump!

As I turned and jumped, I saw Zack coming behind me, stumbling forward. He shot a fire ball out and the falling crane smashed it as it came down. I skidded to a stop and laughed.

“Nice try!” I yelled.

As I relaxed, my whole body grew heavy. Sweat ran down my face and I desperately tried to catch my breath, but I was exhausted. W-what? Why am I so tired?

“I’m gonna remind you why they call me, The destroyer of worlds!” Zack yelled.

I looked ahead and saw Zack slap a chunk of metal off the crane top. A bright red spark came from the metal, and I swear he was melting it. I tried to activate my eyes, but I immediately became more exhausted as I did. My concentration broke and I couldn't hold it, I dodged the piece of metal and turned it off. Just as I did, a red converse smacked my face. I stopped and watched the shoe fall to the floor.

“Ha!” Zack screamed. “Take that Stry-dork!”

“Seriously? A shoe?” I grumbled.

“Hey! You were the one who made the throw rule and didn’t throw anything!”

“Let’s go again! I-”

Suddenly the door to the warehouse was slammed open. We both jumped and looked over, seeing two men in uniform storming in.

“Hey! Who's in here!?” An officer yelled.

“Crap the cops!” I whispered.

Zack held out his hand and threw fireballs rapidly in their direction. I jumped in panic to help them, but saw they all crashed into things around them, creating a nice cover of smoke and falling debris.

“Move hero boy!” He yelled.

“R-right!”

We both turned around and raced off! Man! Day one with these gifts and we were already almost caught!