When the two Geruda factions found the radio tower they made an open broadcast, calling for anyone like them to respond. They got an answer, others who also thought the same. The factions grew as they took ways to communicate other than the radio station, using items such as phones that still had service and walkie talkies.
The Rebuilding faction decided it was a good time to start building for the future. They first wanted to see the state of their world to see what could be rebuilt and salvaged. The history faction thought to join them to see if anything salvaged held anything of the past.
However a third faction had formed. The faction of study. Mammals, mostly from the history faction, found odd things as they traveled, like large cracks in the ground and broken roads and structures, as if the earth had moved. Not only that but they found certain creatures hadn't evolved, livestocks like chickens and roosters. They wanted to investigate and study the reasons for such odd happenings.
Before the three factions split up, they decided to find out what the date was, wondering how long they have been sleeping. That's when they first realised time unsynced with various devices, strengthening the Study factions cause. They atleast found out they've been hibernating for about four decades. Seeing as how humans were supposedly extinct they decided to mark that day as the beginning of a new age, resetting the clock. Thus began the Great Reset Years.
----------------------------------------
"These are nicely painted figurines." Jackson said as he looked at the numerous models displayed on the display. He and Mitch waited to be called to the front desk for the figurine they came there for. They needed to wait a bit as there were others before them coming in for pickup.
"Yeah, They always do a good job when making these, and they're not too expensive either." Mitch complimented.
"You say that as if you've been adding to your collection."
"Hey, I just realise art."
"So in other words, I'm right."
"Shut up."
"Hey, you guys hear? A new Meta has been sighted!" Someone from behind them said.
Jackson and Mitch took a peek behind them to see a group of three mammals. One a white cat, one a brown bird, and the other a squirrel.
"You mean the one that flew out the water when that bus tipped over?" The squirrel asked the cat.
"Yeah! There's a video of them and an interview with one of the mammals they saved! A little mixed cat girl." The cat replied.
"They find out anything?" The bird asked
"No, sadly the Bus's video feed got damaged, and even then it's not like they can release it publicly yet."
"True. Nothing is known about them yet, they don't know if they're part of an agency that they just joined or in the process of joining, if they're a mid-bloomer, or if they're a good mammal."
"I'm thinking mid or late bloomer since no-ones sited them before." The squirrel added.
"How old are you?" Mitch asked
"Eighteen." Jackson answered
"Ah. If that was when your powers awakened you'd be a late-bloomer by one year."
"Oh yea, classification for late bloomers starts at the age of eighteen. Thought they changed that."
"What made you think that?"
"Idk."
"Why must you speak in text lingo?"
"Cause screw ya!" Mitch grinned
"You're not my type." Jackson grinned back.
"Oh! Senpai rejected me!" Mitch said dramatically while acting the same way.
"Snrk!" Jackson held back a laugh.
Mitch brought his hands to his face, placing his knuckles on his chin while giving Jackson puppy dog eyes. He basically did a moe look. "You don't have to be so mean, senpai!"
"Pft st-sto- krk! Stop it!"
"Uwu!"
"PAHAHAHA!" Jackson busted out laughing, kneeling forward, holding his gut. "Ahaha-ha-ahaha!"
Mitch was looking down at him with a big successful grin.
Jackson took a breath as his laughing fit ended. "Hooo you're such a weeb!"
"And damn proud of it!"-
The intercom came on. "Mitch Thorn, your order is ready for pick up. Mitch Thorn, your order is ready for pick up."
"Sweet!" Mitch went to the front desk along with Jackson.
The man at the desk, a white jaguar, was holding a package. "Mitch Thorn?" He asked
"That's me." He handed him a receipt as proof.
The jaguar looked it over and nodded. "Here ya go!" He handed over the package.
"Thanks!" Mitch took it and left with Jackson in tow. "Just gotta give this to mom tomorrow."
"What's the figurine of?" Jackson asked.
"A sword in a stone removed by a knight."
"Oh yea. Your mom was always into medival stuff. What species is the knight?"
"Human."
"Oh really?"
"My mom took an interest in the human era recently after reading a novel made by a historian."
"What was the novel?"
"No idea."
The two entered the limo and Ferris told the driver to head to Jackson's house.
"So when I go to the agency tomorrow where do I go?" Jackson asked Ferris.
"Mr. Thorn will take you to training room three and I'll meet you in the lockers. I'll have it reserved for us."
"Alright. I'm guessing you have the officials there ahead of time?"
Ferris nodded.
"Ok then." They pulled up in front of his house. "Welp, see you tomorrow then." He and Mitch exited the vehicle and Dauch bid them goodbye before leaving. "Wanna come in for a bit?" He asked Mitch.
"Yea sure." Mitch answered.
The two walked inside and Mitch set the box on the small table beside the door. He then walked to the side and sat on the white couch that laid in front of the flat screen tv. He grabbed the remote and turned on the tv, flipping channels.
Jackson sat on the lounge chair next to the couch and took out the package Ferris gave him. He held it in his hands and looked at it.
Mitch glanced at him. "Gonna look through those now?"
He sighed. "Yea. Might as well get it over with." He slid his claw over the top, ripping it open. He reached in and took a breath. He pulled out the first picture. It was him on a scuba gear along with his father in the same type of gear but different, both of them being underwater, waving at the camera. "Ack!"
His brain surged as the memory appeared.
Through his younger self's eyes he could see himself on the deck of a boat, his father in front, putting on his goggles. "Ready to dive?" His dad asked.
"Yea!" Young Jackson replied.
"Ahem." His mother coughed behind him. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
He looked down. He was only wearing light orange swim trunks. "Oh yea! Create!" Scuba gear appeared on him. It had a chest plate with turbines on the back with a tank of oxygen in the middle, steel gloves, brown metal knee guards, pads on the bottom of the feet, and the goggles also acted as a visor giving him info on his status and oxygen levels, which were going up as the device on his back filled itself with air. "Now I'm ready!"
"Great! Let's go!" His dad said, geting up.
"Wait, how come I don't make you a suit, dad?"
"Well you don't know my measurements kiddo plus this scuba gear was a gift and I'm not gonna waste it." He jumped in and his son followed.
Jackson swam next to his dad, the pads on his feet opening up and expanding to flippers, with fins coming out the back of the kneepads, and heard his mom call out to them. "Smile for the camera!"
They both turned and saw a camera in the water, held down there by a stick. The two smiled and waved at it.
The flash back ended and Jackson rubbed his temples. "Memories hurt."
"What'd ya see?" Mitch asked
"My dad and I going scuba diving." A light blue ring spun on his eyes.
Mitch noticed this. "What are you doing?"
"Looking through schematics." The ring disappeared. "Found the gear I was wearing."
"Really? You know there's a ring that appears on your eyes when you're using your powers?"
"Really? I was only looking through blueprints."
Mitch shrugged.
"Well that's interesting to know." Jackson set the photo down on the end table in front of him. "Alright, next." He slipped out the next photo.
The photo was of him licking off cream on a drill on his arm, glancing at the camera with a look of surprise.
He cringed as the memory came to him.
Young him was looking around for something. "Where is that darn wisk?" Young him said to himself.
He kept looking and looking in each drawer but couldn't find it. He huffed. "I need to mix this cream!" He then thought of something. He held out his left hand and used his power to spawn a drill. The drill covered most of his forearm, his arm being in the red arm sleeve holding onto a bar with a squeeze trigger. The drill part had an inward spiral.
Young Jackson smiled and went to a bowl on the counter. He stepped up on a step and softly squeezed the trigger over a bowl. The drill slowly spun and calmly mixed the white and red cream inside it. He hummed as he mixed.
Finishing up, he pulled out the drill and took a look at it. The cream had gotten into the ridges and over its surface. He looked around and leaned in to take a lick. "Hey!" He heard beside him. He looked and heard the snap of a camera.
"What the- dad!?" Jackson said in surprise.
"Using a drill to mix? Creative." He commented. "Can I have a lick?"
"Sure." He leaned the drill to his father could get some of the cream.
"Just don't drill my tongue."
"That was one time!"
The memory stopped and Jackson took a deep breath, smiling.
"Good memory?" Mitch asked him.
"Yea…" he groaned and played his head in his hand.
"Head hurting?"
Jacksom nodded. "Remembering hurts."
"Maybe it's cause of the fake ones being replaced."
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
"Maybe. One more."
"You sure? I think it'd be better if you took a small break."
"I will, but one more." He slid out the next picture. "Hm? Schematics?" It was a picture of an electric energy blade. It had a round gear on the hilt and a trigger on the handle, the blade of it was single curved and the edge was the conducting part that produced the electricity. The blue ring flashed in his eyes and he felt something. "What the-?"
"Something wrong?"
"N-no. It's just when I looked at this I felt it go in my head."
"What does that mean?"
"It's like...when I looked over it, the image of it, what it's supposed to look like, entered my head. I guess that was me scanning it."
"Weird."
"You're telling me." He looked closer at the schematics. "They do kinda look fa- AH!"
As if on cue the memory appeared. It was his dad sitting at a desk, writing something and young him walked up behind him.
"Whatcha working on?" He asked
"A new weapon for me to use." His dad answered.
"One I can make for you?"
"Well it is a machine, so probably."
Jackson looked over his shoulder. "It's not done."
"No shit, Sherlock. It's a work in progress." His father suddenly stiffened. "....I'll give you five dollars not to tell your mom I swore in front of you."
"Ten."
"Deal."
The flashback ended with his father reaching for his wallet.
Jackson chuckled. "Mom didn't want me cursing till I was fourteen so she made it a rule to not curse in front of me, dad was not the best at it."
"I remember you telling me that. Why'd that memory have a delay?" Mitch asked
"Cause this one's the finished one. The one in my memory was a W.I.P."
"I see. So that's why it was saved."
"Yea. Mitch? See if that blue ring appears again."
"Ok."
Jackson held out his hand and activated his power. The sword he just saw appeared in his hand. The color of it was white with the edge and ring of the gear being blue.
"It appeared."
"You talking about the sword or the ring?"
"Both."
"Is it still there?"
"The blades still there as you can see."
"The ring…"
Mitch shook his head. "It appeared for like a second."
"Hm. I guess it appears when bringing out a weapon, going through my blueprints, and maybe when I scanned?"
"It did flash in your eyes when you saw the blueprint pic."
"Will it appear when I disengage it, I wonder."
"Disengage it?"
"Well what else should I call it?"
"Disarming? Dissipating? Sending back?"
"Send back where? I dont pull it out of anywhere so it's not like it has a sending back place."
"I guess."
"Anyway. Check to see if it appears when disengaging." He held out the weapon and had it disappear in a scatter of fading light.
"It appears but for a split second."
"Alright guess that's just an outward sign or something."
"I guess."
Jackson leaned back.
"Break?" Mitch asked
"Yea. Heads aching more. Whatcha watching?"
"I'm still flipping to be honest….oh hey! It's that detective show Johnnie on the Case."
The tv displayed the image of a female vixen wearing a white dress shirt and a leather skirt. She was currently looking over a file.
"Looks like we only missed the intro. Man, we missed her saying 'looks like I'm on the case!'" Mitch lamented.
"Oh how sad," Jackson replied with sarcasm, "She's a Meta right?"
"Yea, her ability, Search, is really handy for detective work. Her shows a parody on her actual cases."
"Neat. During commercials I'll look through some more photo's."
The rest of the day went by with Jackson getting more memories of his parents and his past back as the fake ones were overwritten. He went slow with some help from Mitch to keep him from overdoing it. Time passed and the next morning came.
——————-
"Wake up." Mitch told his sleeping feline friend, gently shaking him.
"Hm?" Jackson opened his eyes and groggily got up. "What happened?"
"You fell asleep on the couch."
"Shit." He stood up. "What's the time?" He asked while stretching
"It's about seven-o-two. We should get going in about thirty minutes, we need to be there at eight fifteen."
"How long is the drive?"
"About fifteen minutes from here. Shower, get dressed, and break some dummy's in your morning training and let's go."
Jackson yawned. "Aarggh. Sure thing uncle Mitchy."
"Shut up. I'll get you some Micky Rick's on the way."
"Sounds good."
Jackson went off and got ready. He wore a red shirt and blue jeans for the day, opting for casual. He did his morning practice, attacking two dummies using Counterpoint before finishing both and breaking them with Smashpoint, at the same time, getting an applaud from Mitch. The two left, getting some breakfast sandwiches from Micky Ricks, and made their way to Sky Limits.
The building was eighteen stories high with the roof having a dock for the flying Metas, a garage at its below level and inviting front door with its name plastered at its entrance.
Jackson marveled at the building. "Never really been to an agency." He said out loud. He heard the sound of tires and a roaring engine. From one of the exits came a canine Meta on a motorbike, driving off somewhere. "Active."
"Hey! Quit ya gawking and come on!" Mitch yelled at the entrance.
"I'm coming!"
They walked into the main floor. There were sofas in the waiting areas on the right and left of the entrance with a few mammals sitting there and reading magazines. The front desk had three mammals in work attire ready to help anyone. On both sides of the desk were black iron doors with keypads on the beside them.
Mitch led Jackson to one of the doors. He put in a code and placed something on his keychain onto a small scanner on the top of it. The devices flashed green and Mitch opened the door. "Right this way."
Jackson walked in behind Mitch. He looked to his side and saw what looked to be conference rooms with some mammals talking to each other, some dressed up in gear. "I see that some of the mammals here are Meta's."
"Yea. These rooms are where mammals come in to talk to Metas or officials about their issues and such." Mitch explained. "It's usually stuff a Meta is needed for, like someone seeing a violent Meta gang, or a Meta sighting. Some stuff are requests though, that Metas aren't particularly needed for, like missing mammals. The officials chose a Meta to tackle the issue, they come in, work on it, yada yada."
"So people come here to hire them?"
"A little. There is a fee but it's only for requesting, not the job itself. Think of it like an entry fee to a tournament, you pay to enter the tournament, not the tournament itself."
"Ah."
They walked forward to the end of the hall, taking the elevator up to the fifth floor.
"Ya nervous?"
"Honestly...yes. I'm gonna be evaluated by some officials when I just relearned my powers yesterday."
"Yea but you seem to understand them well enough. Those pictures from last night really helped, plus you're a badass martial artist."
"I haven't fully mastered Point Style. I only have a custom stance for Counterpoint and Breakpoint, and I haven't learned the other Points."
"You've trained for how long? Two years?"
"Just about."
"I'm sure you'll be fine. You're hella strong with it, those two mammals you took down yesterday is proof."
"Maybe I'm overthinking it."
"You are." They got off the elevator and walked down the hallway. "Training room three is this way." They took a left.
Through the windows they passed, the other training rooms could be seen. They were big white rooms that they were above, looking through the observation floor. One room was in use. Two Meta mammals were attacking targets that came flying out the walls. One was a black sheep with red hair and one was a thin rhino. The rhino was swinging at the targets, launching something of his arms, while the sheep shot projectiles from his fingertips. The sheep's shots were more accurate while the rhino's had a wider range.
"Wonder what their abilities are." Jackson asked
"You can ask them later." Ferris spoke.
Jackson looked forward to see the eagle. "Oh hey, Uncle Ferris."
"Hello Jackson. How was your night?"
"It was good. I looked through the photos."
"I made sure he paced." Mitch told him.
"Good good, now if you will follow me." Ferris asked. He led them to a large white door that had the number three at the top and pressed the side button. The door opened and they walked in, it was an elevator to take them to the locker room of training room three. The door behind them opened and they walked in. "Some of these lockers hold the training gear of some workers here. I've had the liberty to reserve you this training room for your evaluation. The officials should arrive in about ten minutes." Ferris informed.
"Alright." Jackson recognized
"Now Jackson," he turned toward the cat, "we're going to have you register as a private Meta. The officials will know your identity along with me, but only them. I've already told them your power, so it's going to start with combat. There will be three levels to it, the last one having the biggest and strongest enemies, which are just training bots, and the levels come at you in waves. Afterwards there will be a series of tests, some for rescue, some for more miscellaneous tasks like something needed for deduction," he placed his hands on Jackson's shoulders, "I believe this is something you can handle well, you're a smart cat and quite strong too," he smiled, "just stay calm and do your best."
Jackson smiled at him. "Alright!"
"Good. Mister Thorn and I shall wait at the observation floor. You'll get a ring from the intercom when it's time to come out, and when you do, wear your suit."
"Got it!"
"Knock em dead, Jackson!" Mitch told, hanging his fist out for a bump.
Jackson bumped his fist and they two left him alone. He took a seat and took a breath.
Mitch and Ferris took a seat in front of the window of training room three. Ferris decided to make conversation while waiting.
"So, Mr. Thorn?"
"Hm?" Mitch brought the eagle his attention.
"How did you and Jackson meet?"
"Well. It was a few days after his parents death. The day he started school where I was was the day after the funeral….he was a silent cat, not talking to anyone nor trying to. Makes sense. The teachers told us to leave him alone and let him come to us when he's ready, but I was never the patient one."
Mitch thought back to the day they met. It was recess and Jackson was sitting alone at a table, messing with a Rubix Cube. Young Mitch walked up and sat in front of him.
"Hey." Young Mitch greeted.
"Oh. Um, hi." Young Jackson replied.
"Whatcha messing with?"
"A Rubix Cube."
"Oh yea, something from the ancients."
"The Ancients?"
"Yea. Humans. I sometimes call them Ancients."
"Oh."
"So, you find the trick to solve it?"
"There's a trick?"
"Yea."
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
"What!? But you brought it up!"
"Doesn't mean I know it."
"Then how do you know there is one?"
"Everything's got a trick, just gotta find it."
"You're weird."
"Well duh," he pointed at young Jackson with a serious face making the cat shrink back some, "that's how you know I'm awesome."
"....pft….Pahahahaha." Jackson started to laugh in reaction and Mitch smiled triumphantly.
Mitch stopped reminiscing. "And ever since then, we've been best friends."
"I see." Ferris smiled. "...Thank you."
"Hm?"
"I was worried about how he'd grow after Adison and Tania's death, worried that it would make him cold, but you kept that from happening, so thank you."
"It's fine. I'm glad too, gloom never looks good on anyone."
"Oh, they're here." Ferris got up and walked up to two mammals, one a fox in a black suit and blue tie, the other an otter in a red dress shirt and a black skirt, wearing red glasses. "Thank you for coming." He greeted them, shaking their hands.
"You're quite welcome." The otter smiled.
"I'm quite interested in this young man's power." The fox stated.
"I'll go notify him that you're here." Ferris told them. He went to the door and pressed a button on the right side of it, and spoke into a microphone that popped out. "Jackson, are you ready?" He said silently to not create an echo in the hallway.
Jackson stood up. "Yeah!" He replied.
"Proceed to the training room."
Jackson walked up to the door. "Time to get my game face on." He activated his power and created the suit he had on during the bus incident. He looked down at himself in the suit. It felt odd how nostalgic he felt wearing it considering his memories. He walked forward and the door opened, letting him in the room.
"Sir?" the intercom spoke and Jackson looked to his right towards the window, the fox was talking in the microphone near the window. "My name is Scott Fex. This lady here," he motioned to the otter, "is named Julia Alan."
"Pleasure." Julia greeted.
"We’re the officials for this evaluation. As you may have been informed, we will start with combat. If things get too dicey, let us know."
"Ok." Jackson confirmed.
The two nodded to Ferris to start. Ferris swiped his card on one of the panels and it opened up to reveal a keyboard and monitor. He typed on it and started up the training bots.
Inside the training room the side walls opened up and out came robotic exoskeletons with sharp fangs, red eyes, and tails with the prongs on them. They all locked onto Jackson and jumped out, running straight for him.
Jackson responded by activating his jets and ramming right through one with a hard kick. He then swiveled and aimed his fist at the two beside it. He flexed his index knuckles and out shot a wire that latched onto the machines. He yanked them upwards before flying up and spin-kicking one and slamming his fist into the other, knocking its head off. He landed and one swung its claw down at him only for its arm to be grabbed and it pulled in and palm striked in its center, sending it flying away and into the wall.
"Impressive." Scott noted
"Indeed. He has quite the fighting prowess." Julia said.
Jackson slammed his fist into the gut of another robot, nearly breaking it as he made a big dent. A few were dashing up to him. He stretched out his hands and created two hand cannons, shooting them at the bots heads, plowing holes in them. He swiveled back and shot the remaining bots.
He squinted, having his visor scan them and notify him that they were eliminated. He looked around and saw the pile of bots he had defeated and broken. 'Wave one down.' He thought.
"Good work. We will now start the second wave." Ferris informed him.
The upper wall panels opened up and out came bee-like machines, it had two arms that were bulky and its stinger was equipped with a machine gun. The wings were actually copter wings that spun to keep itself in the air.
"Those guns shoot pellets so you won't be harmed by them, but getting hit will affect your score." Ferris told him
"Got it!" Jackson replied.
One of the bees flew up to him and jabbed at him with a right hook. Jackson pushed it away and sent a spinning backhand to its face before jabbing at its neck and arms. It slumped down after getting hit on both sides of its neck, the copter stopping, signaling its defeat.
Three bee bots shot at him from the side and he ran to the side of them, dodging the bullets, before running up the wall and jetting to them, materializing an electric sword and slashing two before stabbing the last one. A bot flew at him and tried to swing at him but missed as he flew to the ground. Four bots from the last wave charged at him from behind. He ducked from the two on the side and kicked one of the two in the middle before stabbing at the other middle one in its legs and arms, making it kneel before lobing its head off.
"Huh. That was the Breakpoint." Mitch spoke.
"Breakpoint?" Julia asked.
"It's part of his martial arts. Breakpoint is a stance that focuses on the joints and breakpoints of the enemy. He told me his point style could be incorporated in weapons but I've never seen it till now."
"Interesting." Scott commented.
The last bee bot was finished with it becoming thrown to the ground and slammed through the chest with his fist. Jackson took a breath and looked around at the pile of bots, making sure none were left standing.
"Nicely done." Ferris spoke. "Move back while the clean up starts then we can start the final wave."
"Ok." Jackson moved away from all the machines.
From the floors came out claws and some plates opened upped to reveal holes. The claws grabbed hold of the robots and dropped them into the holes. It took about five minutes and the place was cleaned of dead bots.
"For this last wave there will only be three enemies." Ferris informed him
"Only three?" Jackson questioned. 'Must be the tough ones.' He thought.
"Let's begin."
"Ready!"
A buzz was heard and the floor opened up. Three large machines came out. They were big and bulky and the head was shaped like that of a dinosaur but had no mouth.
"I present to you the dino bots."
"Lame. Mitch Must of came up with it."
"Hey!" Mitch yelled.
The first dino bot charged at Jackson and slammed his fist towards him. Jackson pushed down on the top of its fist, raising up from it, launching off in a forward flip, activating his jets and slamming his foot down at its head. With its head lower and Jackson knelt in front of it, he created two pistols, aimed at its eyes and shot.
It reeled back, giving Jackson the opening he needed. He sliced at its knees with his sword before flying up and slamming both his fist into the sides of its head, disabling it.
The other two dino bots came beside Jackson and slammed their fists down at him. He jumped back and shot at them, making a few scratches. They ran to him and he flew to meet them head on. He replaced the gauntlets on his arm for a different pair. These gauntlets had a large piston in the middle and two air tanks on the back. The air tanks quickly sucked in the air, filling itself and compressing it. The bots swung and Jackson increased speed. He got between them, right between the arms they tried to hit him with. The pistons pulled in and he punched both their arms, the pressure from one canister pushed out the piston and slammed into their elbows, breaking them.
The two dino machines turned to him and punched at him with their undamaged arm.
Jackson stood there, tensed up in his Smashpoint stance, the pistons pulled in and ready, and thrusted both fists forward, connecting with theirs. He destroyed their hands, the pistons breaking off its fingers and shattering the palms. He jumped up, body still tensed, and jet kicked one in the side of its head, smashing it in and then materialized an electro sword and impaled it in the other bots head, eliminating it.
Jackson untensed his body and his breathing was slightly heavy. He heard the claps of the officials along with Ferris and Mitch.
"Very impressive!" Julia complimented.
"Thanks." Jackson replied.
"Go back to the lockers and take a rest." Ferris told him.
Jackson complied and walked to the lockers, taking a seat. He sighed, remembering that the main reason he was slightly tired was from all the machines he created. He remembered a memory he got last night about his power. It was a short memory he gained after experimenting some. Apparently Creation uses his stamina, the more complex, bigger, and/or stronger the machine is, the more tired he gets.
"You good?" Mitch asked, entering the room.
"I'm fine. A little tired from Creating."
"Guess you're out of practice."
"Yea."
"But the officials couldn't stop talking about how awesome you fought. "
"I pale in comparison with uncle Gary. He's not a Meta yet he could've taken them all out without moving from his spot."
"Well he's a master of the Point style so I don't think it's fair to compare yourself to him."
"I guess you're right."
"Sir? Are you ready to continue?" The intercom spoke
"Yeah sure."
The evaluation continued. Jackson had to protect fake civilians from an onslaught of enemies until a rescue came and he used shields that he had to protect them while he fought. Next was rescue from a burning building, underwater rescue, scouting, and a bunch of other things. By the end, Jackson was exhausted.
"Is it over?" Jackson asked, panting and laying on the bench. The officials were in front of him along with Dauch and Mitch.
"It's all done, Mr Stone." Scott told him.
"Thank goodness. That took two and a half hours."
"It's quite lengthy but you actually finished rather quickly." Julia told him
"That was quick!?"
"How did he-?" Ferris started.
"He did exceptional. We'll be certifying it starting tomorrow." Julia told Ferris. "But first," he turned to Jackson, "what shall you choose as your codename?"
"Since you'll be a private Meta this is what you'll be referred to as twenty-four seven by Meta agencies and the general public, so choose wisely cause it takes a while to get a name change." Scott smiled as he informed him.
Jackson sat up. He had already thought about what he wanted his name to be, it was one he remembered last night. The memory was him and his parents discussing it one night.
"How bout the Creationist?" Young him said in the memory.
"How bout Machine man?" His mom said.
"No, that sounds like I am a machine."
"Well how about The Creator?"
"Sounds like I can make anything, which I can't."
"Well I'm out of ideas. Adison?" She looked towards her husband
"I got the perfect name."
"Oh?" He gained her attention and young Jackson
"The name I chose is," Jackson stated to the officials as the memory continued to play in his head.
"Artisikat." He said in unison with his father in the memory.
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End.
Next chapter: Promise