“Hey,” someone whispered into Ebenezer’s ear. The boy jerked awake and nearly screamed when he saw two people who wore his face standing right above him. One of the doubles quickly clamped a hand over the kid’s mouth.
“Don’t scream!” he hissed. “It’s us! Your clones! Remember?!” Instantly, Ebenezer remembered everything. Mount Huaguo, the Wukong, his new powers, all returned to his drowsy mind. ‘Still not a dream…’ the boy thought in relief.
“How’d it go?” Ebenezer asked as he crawled out of bed. “And what time is it?” He noticed his room was dark, and a glance at his window showed no sunlight outside.
“About 2:30 in the morning,” the first clone answered. “We just finished the chores.”
“I took care of the homework and mailed it out!” the second added proudly. “We’re set until morning!”
“Until morning…” Ebenezer repeated. The feeling of relief and contentment he had been building immediately died, replaced by an emotion he’d had for a long time but refused to acknowledge: Anger. Dark, Bitter, Anger. Ebenezer had been unhappy and frustrated before, but it didn’t hold a candle to the intense burning sensation he felt spread throughout his body.
How fucking dare they! They drove him to his breakdown! Laughed in his face when he needed help! And they send him more homework as if it’s business as usual!
Now that Ebenezer thought about it, the fact that the folder had so many projects was outrageous itself. Only one student was needed to figure out where he lived to send him his homework. Having several assignments from his usual “clients” meant that someone had to collect the different exercises before sending it to him! They won’t help Ebenezer when he needs it, but they’ll go out of their way to help each other screw him over?!
Ebenezer wanted to scream, to curse out his classmates, to do something other than just take the abuse for once! The doppelgangers both looked at their creator with concern. They stood awkwardly in the room with the seething teenager.
“Um… Boss?” One of them asked. “Are you alright?”
“No!” Ebenezer snapped. “I’m not alright! I’m filled with so much rage right now, I feel like I’m going to explode if I so much as twitch!”
“Is there something we can do…?” the other clone asked carefully.
“I don’t know!” Ebenezer barked. He stood up and began pacing the room. “I’ve never been this angry before in my life! Or maybe I have been and I’ve just been too tired to notice! Now I’m rested and well aware of how much bullshit I’m dealing with! The problem is I don’t know what to do now! How the hell am I supposed to deal with all this anger?! I’m supposed to be the Nice Guy, yet all I want to do now is scream and break stuff!”
The clones looked at each other uncertainly as their creator ranted in anger. They kept an ear out for any signs that the family was waking up, but other than that they were content to sit back and watch Ebenezer rage. Eventually, the teenager ran out of steam and sat back on his bed, breathing heavily.
“So…” one of the clones began. “What now?”
“I don’t know…” Ebenezer repeated with a huff. “I really don’t know… I want to say “Fight Back” but I don’t know how… Plus, they suspended me just for freaking out over my homework, I can’t imagine they’ll take me beating someone up any better.”
“Fighting back doesn’t always mean fighting, y’know,” the second doppelganger stated. Ebenezer snorted at that.
“What are you suggesting? ‘Tell a teacher’?” Ebenezer thought back to Mr. Colbert who always sat back and watched as he handed his classmates their homework without an ounce of secrecy. “They know what’s going on and they don’t care.”
“Well, we do know someone who knows a thing or two about fighting back against people who mistreat them,” a clone responded with a smirk. Instantly Ebenezer, realizes who they're talking about, and pieces start clicking into place.
“Uncle Sunny…” Ebenezer muttered in understanding. Even even half of the stories from Journey to the West are true, then the Monkey King would know what to do in his situation. Also, Sun Wukong knew that Ebenezer wasn’t happy and that something needed to change. Ebenezer didn’t know what kind of change he needed, but now that he could acknowledge his new requirement, he could start looking.
“I need to talk to him,” Ebenezer stated. “How do I…”
“Same way you go there the first time,” his clone answered the obvious question.
“Right…” Ebenezer looked around his room. It wouldn’t be the worst idea to meditate in here since only he used it, but it still felt dangerous. The last thing he needed was his father deciding to inspect his room or something and find one Ebenezer meditating when another was doing chores. The attic was another option but it had the same issue, anyone goes up there and sees him, the jig is up. That left Ebenezer with one choice, he had to leave the house.
“I have to leave and find someplace safe to meditate,” he stated.
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” a clone said. “Just turn into a bird, fly onto a roof, and meditate there.”
“Right…” The idea that turning into a bird and flying away was considered “easy” threw the boy for a loop. Ebenezer had never flown before so he was worried he wouldn't get the hang of it. Then again, he never crawled down a wall as a bug before but he did that just fine. Was it because he didn’t think about it? Could he just become an animal with all the perks and none of the hard thinking that would be needed to move in a vastly different body?
Deciding to test it out, Ebenezer transformed into a pigeon. He meant to practice flying in his room and see how much he needed to control consciously, only to find himself automatically flapping his wings to hover in the air. With just a thought he flew around in circles like he had been doing it his whole life.
“I can fly,” Ebenezer stated in a monotone voice, which came out of the pigeon despite its lack of lips. For any normal person, this would’ve been a monumental discovery, but after the events of yesterday and with how naturally flight came to him, Ebenezer found himself oddly underwhelmed.
“Wait until Uncle Sunny shows you how to ride clouds,” a clone snickered.
“So, I’m going to head out…” Ebenezer began before he realized an important issue. “Is there a way I can check in with you guys?”
“Meditation,” they responded. “Like with how you got to Mount Huaguo. Just meditate and think of us and our minds will connect.”
“Does it work the other way around?” Ebenezer asked. “Can you contact me if there’s something I need to know?”
“We can send you visions of important events, or just send you a feeling if we need to talk.”
“Good, good,” Ebenezer sighed. While he desperately wanted to talk to Sun Wukong, he didn’t want to leave his doubles alone in this house. As intelligent and capable as they seemed, accidents could happen, and then he’d really be in trouble. “You know what to look out for?”
“We’re copies of you,” a clone stated. “We know what you’ll find important.”
“Unless there's something specific you want us to look for?” the other asked.
“No. Just keep doing what I told you before. Keep your head down, don’t talk too much, and only one of you out at any given time.” The two saluted Ebenezer before opening the window and letting him fly into the open sky.
Despite how unexcited he felt over discovering his flying capabilities, soaring through the night sky was still a surreal experience. Flying into the black sky, feeling the cold air on his feathered body, Ebenezer couldn’t help but feel the thrill of flying as he kept going higher. The parts of his brain that still thought as an Aver told him of how dangerous this was and that he could fall to his death at any moment, but that only added to Ebenezer’s excitement.
Once he was high enough, Ebenezer looked down to take it Poppytown. From his height, the city looked like it was the size of a toy model. The lights from the streets and buildings made the town glitter like a cluster of diamonds, but the effect was lost on the teenager.
Did it matter how beautiful and opulent a city looked when the people who lived there were so awful? Ebenezer knew he only saw a small part of this place, but it wasn’t a stretch to assume the rest of Poppytown was just as cruel as his classmates. What else was he supposed to think of a city that boasted about protecting and celebrating toxic traditionalism and intolerance?
Ebenezer landed on a tall building with no roof access and enough vents to shield the boy from any unlikely prying eyes. It was a paranoid approach but given how Ebenezer was capable of flight now, he’d be remiss to think he was the only one. Sitting down, Ebenezer closed his eyes and began to meditate, closing his mind to the world at large and the chilly night air. He embraced the silence as he calmed his mind and breathed. When he felt the comforting heat of the sun, Ebenezer opened his eyes and found himself in Mount Huaguo again.
“Hey there, cousin!" Klara's voice greeted Ebenezer as he stood up. “Welcome back!”
“Hi, Klara,” Ebenezer said shyly. “I need to talk to Uncle Sunny.”
“Yeah, we figured as much. Follow me.” Once again, Ebenezer followed Klara toward Sun Wukong’s cave. Unlike last time, when Klara and Ebenezer walked past the other Wukong, they swarmed Ebenezer and pelted him with a myriad of questions.
“Who are you?!”
“Where’d you come from?!”
“How’d you find out you're a Wukong?!”
Ebenezer had no hope of answering his cousins as their voices melded together in a chaotic medley of shrieks and excitement. Luckily, Klara dispersed the crowd by letting them know they were going to Sun Wukong. The crowd immediately dispersed though some promised to get the answers out of the newcomer eventually.
“Don’t mind them,” Klara said afterward. “They’re always excited to hear the stories of newcomers.”
“But I’m nothing special…” Ebenezer muttered.
“You are to them,” Klara replied. “Most of the Wukong here don’t leave this place, so anyone from the outside is a novelty they aren’t going to pass up.”
“They can’t leave?” Ebenezer asked, feeling concerned.
“It’s not like that,” Klara quickly reassured him. “It’s just that most feel safer here than in the outside world.”
“Why is that?”
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“The world isn’t kind to things they don’t understand,” Klara said slowly. “Most Wukong struggle to fit in after they’ve uncovered their true nature.”
“How come? I know my hometown isn’t safe for Gifted, but there has to be other places they can live in.”
“It’s not that simple,” Klara sighed. “Bucking tradition and social norms is in our blood. The Wukong don’t do well with conformity and most communities don’t appreciate our brand of willfulness.” Klara’s words struck Ebenezer deeper than she probably meant to. Wukong are naturally rebellious, does that mean his anger at his life only came about after discovering his powers, or have they always been there, and becoming a Wukong has just made them worse?
‘Does it really matter at this point?’ Ebenezer asked himself. Whether he was influenced or not, it didn’t change the facts of his situation. Ebenezer was being used, treated like dirt, and punished for the smallest amount of defiance. The boy knew this before becoming a Gifted; he was just willing to do something about it now.
Soon, Ebenezer returned to Sun Wukong’s cavern. The boy was tempted to call it a throne room, but that didn’t feel right. Uncle Sunny was again lounging, but when Ebenezer and Klara walked in, he stood from his leafy couch and met them halfway.
“Hey, kid,” Uncle Sunny greeted. “Welcome back. So… what do you want to do?”
“I want to fight,” Ebenezer said with conviction.
“How?” the Monkey King pressed. “There are many ways to fight against injustice and evil. Some straight forward, others more complicated, and the method usually depends on who or what your opponent is. So, what do you want to fight against?”
“I…” Ebenezer wanted to say 'against the people that hurt me', but something stopped him. Was that the right way to go about this? Just attack his enemies? It was the straightforward option but there had to be repercussions he wasn’t thinking about. Did he even want to “fight” or was he just angry? The answer should be obvious but for some reason, Ebenezer couldn’t find the conviction he had moments ago. “I don’t know…”
Uncle Sunny didn’t seem annoyed by Ebenezer’s admission; he nodded as if he had been given some trivial news.
“So, why are you here then?”
“I… was hoping you could help me…” Uncle Sunny shook his head with an easy smile on his face.
“I may be the Monkey King,” he began gently. “But I don’t dictate the paths of my children. Only you can decide how you want to live your life.”
“But I can’t live my life…” Ebenezer replied. “Not like this… I… want to free myself, but I don’t know how…”
“Is that why you’re here? For advice? Guidance?”
“I… I want to get stronger… I still don’t know what I want to do but I’m certain if I’m strong enough, I can do anything.” The Monkey King stared at Ebenezer for a long time, taking in every ounce of the boy carefully. Ebenezer squirmed under the scrutiny but held his ground.
“Fine,” The Monkey King said after a moment. “I’ll train you in Martial Arts, and if I deem you worthy enough, I’ll unlock more of your power.”
“T-Thank you, Si- Uncle Sunny!” The next thing Ebenezer knew he was holding a a wooden staff and facing against the Monkey King as he twirled his golden weapon. “W-We’re starting now?”
“No better time,” Sun Wukong said with a shrug. “I’m assuming you want to get stronger as soon as possible, so why not start now since you're here?”
“I guess that makes sense…” Ebenezer spent the next few hours sparing with the Monkey King. Honestly, it was more like the boy was swinging a big stick around like a child play fighting, none of his attacks could even touch Uncle Sunny. Sun Wukong gave Ebenezer pointers on his stance, motions, and even his breathing. It wasn’t long before Ebenezer was out of breath and exhausted but Uncle Sunny forced him to do more exercises before allowing him to rest.
“Every night when you go to sleep, you’ll instead come here,” the Monkey King stated as Ebenezer lay on the ground while struggling to breathe. “We’ll train while you dream, and you can continue your life in the mortal world undisturbed."
“Okay…” Ebenezer wheezed out.
“Return to the Mortal World and rest,” Uncle Sunny commanded. “We’ll continue training tomorrow night.”
“Right…” Ebenezer forced his eyes open and saw the rooftop he hid in. The aches and pains of the body were gone but Ebenezer still felt exhausted. He moved slowly as he stood up. The soreness was gone but Ebenezer’s mind was certain his body was injured and needed rest. It was still dark, but a distant light on the horizon told the boy it would be morning soon.
Ebenezer knew he should start heading home, but didn’t see the need to. His clones could take his place in his daily life so he didn’t have to go back. With duplication and shapeshifting, Ebenezer could go anywhere, anytime he wanted, even when he needs to be somewhere else. He was technically free; the same way someone on House Arrest was technically free because they weren’t in jail. Ebenezer entertained the idea of just living his usual life with the clones taking all the abuse for him. That idea was quickly squashed.
Whether out of pride, indignation, or his Wukong blood, Ebenezer would not tolerate living this life anymore. Even if he could make his clones his proxies, Ebenezer wouldn’t be able to live with himself knowing that the injustices he endured were still being preformed. If he didn’t take a stand now, what else would he do with himself? He could move away to rid himself of the rotten people of Poppytown but that option was years away. Even if he waited for that, what kind of life he could live after knuckling under for so long. Poppytown was only a small part of the world, and there were plenty of people who thought they could treat him like garbage.
Ebenezer still needed to figure out what he could do to fight back. Going through the system wasn’t an option, even if the school staff and the students weren't working together to ruin his life, his suspension was proof that the higher-ups would pick keeping the majority happy over helping him.
Literal fighting was also not an option, there was little to gain from going down that route. Ebenezer could beat someone up now if he wanted to, but no doubt he could only injure one guy before being expelled. At best, he could go on a rampage after being fully trained and put a couple of his classmates in the hospital, but that would lead to a similar result. He’d be expelled and probably arrested, maybe even be labeled a villain, and have the Crusaders after him.
“Villain…” Ebenezer mumbled in thought. The idea of being labeled a villain didn’t bother Ebenezer as much as it should. If anything it seemed worryingly appealing.
In today’s society, if you were a villain, you were a monster. The pinnacle of evil. A violent psychopath who wanted nothing more than to see the world burn and be the one who set it on fire. At least, that’s what the general public always said. Ebenezer understood that nothing was as black and white as that, but people were more comfortable writing off dissidents as maniacs. That was the life Ebenezer could look forward to if he became a villain.
But would that be that much different than what he’s dealing with now? Ebenezer wasn’t respected and his issues were brushed aside as if they didn’t matter. If he were to become a villain, the only difference would be that the amount of people who hated him would extend to the whole city, which is something he could live with.
The more Ebenezer thought about it, the more appealing becoming a villain felt. The idea of rebelling against society in the most extreme way, terrorizing the people that hurt him, and freeing himself from the unfair expectations that are put on him, just imagining it made Ebenezer smile.
The boy’s heart was into the idea but his mind refused to play along. It forced Ebenezer to face reality and the problem waiting for him down this road. If Ebenezer became a villain he’d have to deal with local superheroes. Sellouts they may be, the Crusaders were still dangerous, especially for some punk who just got superpowers. Another issue was that Ebenezer was just a teenager. Angry as he was, the boy could still recognize his hunger for villainy as a knee-jerk reaction. It wouldn’t do for Ebenezer to ruin his life while throwing what amounted to a superpowered tantrum.
There was also the possibility that Uncle Sunny would disapprove of his plans. Just because he encouraged Ebenezer to stand up for himself didn’t mean he’d support becoming a villain. He could probably take away his powers and leave him helpless again if he wanted too. The thought terrified Ebenezer and it was enough to cool the rage that was pushing him towards the reckless decision. Ebenezer shook his head to clear his mind and push aside the idea of villainy for the moment. The thought appeased him too much to be dismissed outright.
“What about being a Hero?” Ebenezer asked himself. His mind immediately grew bitter. The boy wasn’t in the best place to think about the “greater good”. Still, he forced himself to consider the possibility, if nothing else to go over all of his options. Becoming a hero wasn’t out of the question, it just wasn’t as appealing as the villain idea. To be a hero, Ebenezer would have to put aside his anger and use his powers to help others, which would have worked for the Ebenezer of yesterday, but not now.
Anger aside, Ebenezer knew the first step of being a hero meant helping out those around him, and that hadn’t worked out too well for him. Not to mention, Poppytown may have liked the Crusaders but they didn’t tolerate other upstart vigilantes. There had been a few would-be heroes over the years trying to start their careers in this city, and the townsfolk usually ran them out of town. If Ebenezer tried to be a hero, he’d have to start in another city, particularly one far away where people were more tolerant of the different.
“If I’m going that far, I might as well just run away,” Ebenezer mused. Like his thought about villainy, running away was logically bad but emotionally good. If he ran away he’d be truly on his own, with no family, no stability, and no roof over his head. He’d be sleeping in the streets and have to scavenge for food, maybe live as an animal, and eat nuts and bugs. Ebenezer could help people by day and scavenge by night, but of course, that was the worst-case scenario. He wasn’t sure what the living arrangements were like in Mount Huaguo but Ebenezer was certain he could work something out with Uncle Sunny if he went down this route.
Running away… Was that the best Ebenezer could hope for with his life? Just leaving everything behind and starting from the bottom of the barrel? It might be worth it if it got him away from this town and its people. But it’d mean throwing away his hard work trying to make something of his current life. All those hours he spent struggling to finish all those assignments would be meaningless if he left. Part of Ebenezer wanted nothing more than to get away from this awful place, but he also wanted to get some use out of his suffering.
At this point, the sun had risen and the light warmed Ebenezer, not as well as Mount Huaguo, but Ebenezer wasn’t chilly anymore. His musing was interrupted by a strange feeling that came out of nowhere. It felt like something was humming in his stomach.
‘My clones are calling me,’ Ebenezer realized. The boy wasn’t sure how he knew that, he just did. ‘Must be a Wukong thing.’ Ebenezer went back to his meditation and focused on the humming. His mind was filled with images of him flying through the sky as a bird. For a second, Ebenezer thought he was reliving his previous journey but the distant sunrise told him otherwise. One of his clones decided to go out and have their own flight through the city. But why?
“Hey boss,” the clone said. His voice echoed in Ebenezer's head yet it sounded like the copy was right next to him.
“Hi…” Ebenezer replied. His mouth didn’t move, the boy thought the words more than spoke them. “Can you hear me…?”
“Loud and clear!”
“Cool… So… what’s going on?” Visions of Ebenezer’s clone watching a car take out the homework folder from their mailbox and leave. Soon after, the clone turned into a bird and flew out his bedroom window to follow him.
“I saw the guy leave with our assignments,” The double explained. “But I had a bad feeling and decided to watch him…”
“Why?” Ebenezer asked, an ill omen of his own forming in the pit of his stomach.
“Just a feeling,” the doppelganger replied. The next thing Ebenezer knew he was flying through the city again while following the car. No, it was his clone flying, not Ebenezer, but he could see through the copy’s eyes. Ebenezer watched as his double flew through the air, making sure the car was always in sight. Ebenezer thought a small bird would have trouble following the vehicle, but its ability to fly straight over buildings while the car was forced to make several twists and turns on the city road made it easy to keep pace.
Eventually, the car stopped in front of Ebenezer’s school and the clone perched on its roof to continue observing. The driver got out of the car and handed the folder to a familiar blonde thug who waited out on the front steps.
‘Pery…’ Ebenezer realized as the dread he felt intensified. With the folder in hand, the car drove away, only to stop in the school parking lot. Ebenezer didn’t see the driver as the clone focused on the folder but it was clear that the driver was someone that worked in the school. ‘Maybe they were working together…’ Ebenezer wondered, a thought that both terrified and infuriated him.
Ebenezer’s clones stayed over Pery and watched him open the folder. The thug started rifling through the papers and taking out specific sheets. Ebenezer stared with bated breath as Pery finished fiddling with the papers and closed the folder. Then he crumbled up the papers he took out and threw them into the bushes. Pery then entered the school, smiling like a child who just stole from the cookie jar.
Ebenezer didn’t need to retrieve the sheets to know what happened, to know whose assignments Pery just threw away. After all, what would be more funny to that sadistic bastard than to get Ebenezer in more trouble for not doing his homework?
The anger returned, but it wasn’t an overwhelming wave like last time. Ebenezer had his big revelation this morning so this latest injustice wasn’t as hard-hitting. Instead, he felt a dull pain, the kind you feel when an old injury is aggravated. He should be furious, be ready to rant and rave again because not only were they adding to his torment, but they were attacking one of the few things Ebenezer could be proud about, his grades.
But Ebenezer was only tired because, of course, they would do this. Of course, they’d make his life worse, because why not? Why not add to his suffering? There were no consequences for picking on the easy targets. Everyone in school knew that Ebenezer was born to be bullied and used. Why not keep going even though he’s suspended and at risk of losing everything he’s endured to get?
“Fuck this…” Ebenezer muttered. That whispered declaration brushed aside all of his concerns and forethoughts. The boy felt something inside of him… not break but loosen. The part of Ebenezer that wanted to hang on, to stick to his morals no matter how much it hurt, officially gave up. “I don’t care what happens anymore… So what if I get burned at the end of all this… I’ll get hurt no matter what I do.”
Ebenezer could still see the arguments against taking revenge and how they still held up even with his newfound apathy to the consequences.
“I don’t care,” He reaffirmed. “I’ll just have to make sure it’s worth the consequences.” With his mind set, Ebenezer again turned into a bird and flew away. He had a lot of thinking to do, but he knew his end goal at least. Ebenezer would become a Villain, and he’d make them all pay.