Chapter XXIII

Stargazing

Ren was lying on the ground, saliva drooling from his mouth while others were whispering and chuckling around him. As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw Marco and Vhiz standing over him with a marker in Marco's hand. "What?" Ren moaned, rubbing his eyes. He needed a second to realize what was happening. He slapped the marker away and opened his phone's front camera to look at his face. On his forehead the word 'balls' was written in all capital letters and over his mouth they drew a pencil thin, curly mustache. Ren rubbed the ink, but it was a permanent marker. He quickly jumped up ready to murder his two friends, but he realized checking on the others was more important. He turned to look at Niel who was filling the craters created by his fist. Niel turned to look at his friend and he belted out laughing.

"Bwahhaha! You look like an idiot Ren!" What Niel was unaware of is that his face was similarly decorated with a monocle over his right eye and the word 'taint' on his chin. He didn't need much time to realize his new look, because instead of attacking him for the mockery, Ren chose to laugh back at him.

"You're the one to talk? A pince-nez suits you! You've never looked this sophisticated!" Ren chuckled. As their chuckle died down, they held a gaze for a second then nodded to each other. The next second the two of them chased down Marco and Vhiz to give them similar decorations.

"I don't have a marker on me!" Niel groaned as he tackled the two kids at once.

"Don't worry, I have a pen! It'll hurt more!" Ren answered, searching his pockets.

While Nile restrained Vhiz under one armpit and Marco under the other, Ren pulled out his pen with a sadistic grin ready to paint his magnum opus. Their impromptu wrestling match was cut short by Hook jamming a shaker into their hands.

"Drink up kids! You'll need the energy!" As the children had a second of calmness amidst the tackling, they all suddenly felt heavy. They slowly sank to the ground tired.

"Yeah... I feel weak all of a sudden." Ren dropped the pen and started sipping the drink.

"That's the trial for ya! But don't worry! Two days of rest, and all your strength will be back!"

"So, who passed?" Marco asked looking around. "Vhiz already bragged about it but who else?"

"I think I was one of them." Ren slowly raised his hand.

"Yes!" Hook declared slamming his hand on Ren's back.

Niel squeezed his eyebrows together and tilted his head towards Ren. "Really? Ren, that's great! I'm so proud!"

Marco leaned closer to Vhiz. "He's super jealous!" He whispered, but not quiet enough. Niel's hands wrapped around his throat. Marco, wanting to survive this ordeal turned into the only possible person Niel wouldn't hurt, Ginna Niel quickly drew his hands back letting Marco escape.

"The second you turn back to your ugly self I'll punch the freckles off your face!" Niel shouted with his face red as a tomato.

"If Terry was here, I'd ask for his sage stick." Ren said to Hook while patting his friend on the back, trying to calm him.

"Yeah, I think meditation should be part of our training for a couple of kids." Hook chuckled supporting Ren's idea.

"Now can you tell me, what changed now, that some of us are level two?"

"Let's wait with that discussion until everyone is up."

"Who's left?" Ren looked around.

"Sun and Ken are still out." Hook turned to look at Sun. "It's not surprising, you were probably too busy to notice it, but he went critical zero from the stress."

"Is that common with this trial?"

"Not really. As long as you have a way to discharge your powers, the only thing you should be concerned about is staying conscious for the seven hours. Sun has a power that needs someone to be used on. Without that it just built up inside him, pushing him over the edge. That was an oversight on our part, I'm sorry."

"And what about Ginna?" Hearing Ren's question Hook raised his eyebrows impressed with the boy.

"Good catch. She's in the same boat, but her ability is innately more pacifistic. That combined with her being kind of an airhead meant that she could reign in her urges, avoiding critical zero." Hook explained looking at the girl who was combining a small scoop of all the different flavors of protein powder into a shaker, deviously looking around like a seasoned criminal. Hook's mouth arched a bit in the corner but let the girl go unnoticed. He then turned to the unconscious Ken.

"Ken was a bit rough with his powers letting a lot of it escape, but he seems to have great stamina. He could wake up any moment."

"Then we better enjoy the silence while it lasts." Ren chuckled.

"The person I'm most worried about is Faul. He failed the trial, but he still hasn't woken up yet." Hook turned his gaze with visible worry to the boy in question.

"Oh... Oh, I forget, you don't know us that well." Ren smiled, but Hook still did not understand. "He's faking it. He uses every chance to take a nap."

Hook turned to look at the boy. He slowly walked to him, squatted next to him, and waved his hand over his eyes making Faul flinch. "You devil! And I was dumb enough to worry about you." Hook threw Faul up in the air. Everyone looked up to see history's first and only shooting-faul. He was just as good at making wishes come true as shooting stars. The boy suddenly opened his eyes and screamed as he landed in a bush.

"A thousand push-ups right now"

"Put it on my tab." Faul moaned from the bush.

"We don't do that here!"

Faul slowly lowered himself to do the pushups.

The others were laughing at the scene while Luna sat next to Sun. Iiwa walked over to her with a shaker in her hand. "Seems like everyone is happy that the trials ended."

"Not surprising. Feeling helpless and in pain was terrible, I'm glad it's over." Luna said looking down at her brother.

"At least five of us leveled up." Iiwa said sitting down next to her.

"But for the rest of us, it was for nothing."

"You really are helplessly negative!" She nudged her from the side spilling some of the shake.

Luna blushed as she felt called out. "I...I just hated seeing everyone in pain! Especially Sun..." She blushed and whispered the rest of the sentence. "...and you!"

"Say it quieter! I almost heard you!" Iiwa teased her. "Relax Luna. We have a good reason to go through all this. It could've happened to any of us."

"Yeah sis, relax." Sun moaned on the ground. Luna quickly turned to look at her brother.

"Sun! Are you alright?" Luna leaned over her brother.

"Take it easy, I was just tired. When the mantis guy hit me, it was way worse." He rubbed his face as he sat up.

"You went berserk like Ken did." Luna was a blunt person, sometimes to her detriment. But that's why Ken respected her, and they made a good team. Sun on the other hand knew of the struggle she felt. Not wanting to hurt feelings but still saying what felt right to her. "I'm not sure it was worth it."

"It was. As Iiwa said this could've happened to any of us. You cannot tell me you wouldn't try everything to get my voice back, or Ken's, or Iiwa’s."

"Yeah... you know me too well." Luna let a tense smile on her face, while Sledge approached them from behind, disturbing the discussion.

"Ken woke up as well. If you are ready to stand up, come! You guys are ready to get the rundown on what this means to you." Sledge called them to a hillside where everyone was gathering.

"I am a BEAST! I am the best! Where is Luna? I need someone to appreciate my greatness!" Ken screamed in the distance then as quickly as he jumped up to celebrate, he fell on his back completely spent.

"Yeah I hear him..." Luna looked away embarrassed.

Now that everyone was up, Hook, Sledge sat the kids down.

"Where's Watch, Blitz and Medicine?" Ren looked around the area. Hook and Sledge shared a look of unease as they held back their worries.

"Blitz is out for some snacks. As for the other two... They... had to go home."

"Who cares where they are? What did we gain from leveling up?" Ken abruptly changed the subject. The two trainers were relieved by the subject change even if some kids raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"First of all, we need to tell you about classes." Hook declared.

"Classes? We have enough in school! On Monday we'll have a history exam!" Niel exclaimed with a deep sigh.

"Don't worry! It's not that kind. Overhumans can be divided into three main classes. Affecters, who change their surrounding area and manipulate others, creators who can make stuff out of thin air, and morphers who can change their own body in some way. The five of us are all morphers. Even if Watch's and my power don't seem similar, both of us change our bodies in some way." Hook explained.

"That being sad we are sure about most of your classification." Sledge added.

"Most?" Sun looked at them concerned.

"Someone like Niel who's power is still unclear could be a morpher who changes something in his arm that pulls him down or an affecter who has a connection to some unknown force." Sledge clarified while looking at Niel. The boy looked uncomfortable, being an example of someone who cannot even use his powers.

"But let’s go over all of you." Hook excitedly grabbed the attention of the children. "The morphers in your group are Iiwa, Faul, Terry, and Marco. The creators are Taran, Ken, and Luna. We weren't completely sure about Taran because he usually raises columns of rock from the ground, but he can create rock armor on his skin, making his class evident. The affecters are: Vhiz, Sun, Ginna, Rosa, and Ren."

"Why am I not a creator?" Ren asked confused.

"We were also unsure of your classification. It depends on what you feel while using your ice. Do you feel like your ice comes from freezing the moisture in the air or just appears on command?" Hook interviewed the boy.

"I'm not sure." Ren thought about it for a second. "But how does that help us with training?" He deflected the question.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Now that some of you leveled up you have some new possibilities open to you. First of all, critical zero is no longer a concern to you. Level two means you are in the reigns when it comes to your power."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief looking at Ken "It happened once! And all of you are alive!" He yelled at the others.

"It also means you can refine your powers a bit more. Understanding where your powers originate from means you can choose the direction it's going." Hook continued. "A great example is Iiwa. She's been in tune with her powers even before leveling up." Everyone's attention focused on the short girl. "I heard you could morph just your arms into wings without changing their size. If you think about it that's not how your powers should work. They should look like small crows wings on your regular body." Everyone chuckled at the thought of Iiwa with tiny wings. "I assume you cannot fly in that form for long."

"Yeah... After a minute or so I am spent!" She confirmed.

"Now that you are level two you could try again. And a bit of advice. You created that "harpy" form instinctively which is impressive, but with some practice you could refine it."

"How so?"

"Birds have hollow bones. Which might be true to your wings while in this form, but because you focus on your wings so much your other bones don't change, making you weigh more. It's a bit risky, as hollow bones break easier, but you could improve your flying like that. After a while you can achieve that form effortlessly and you can focus on your other bones being hollow too."

"Wow that sounds so complex!" She wiped sweat from her forehead.

"Yeah! That's a lot to think about while using your powers." Everyone looked at Iiwa impressed by her potential.

"But just so he doesn't feel left out. The force field Ken could create on his head has emanated from his whole body during the trials. Meaning he has this immense aura he can draw upon and all that stops him from complete control is his egotistic personality."

"I would take that as an insult if you didn't coat it in a compliment!" Ken said as the exhaustion kept him quite tame compared to how he usually is.

"So your homework for the next two days is to come up with a new technique! Think about where you draw your power from and maybe you'll realize a whole new aspect to it. Even those of you who are still level one should think about it. After all, you will be repeating the trial on Monday." Hook declared.

"Yeah about that..." The kids looked exhausted and beaten. None of them had the guts to say what was on their mind. Except...

"How do you expect us to go through that again?" Luna stepped forward confronting Hook. "There's a thirty percent chance that the seven hours of suffering will end in faliure! And there's the chance of going critical zero any time! I cannot imagine how it must feel to lose your mind and be a slave to your power, and you made my brother go through that!" Luna looked back at her brother while her arm was pulled back by Iiwa.

"Jeez all this screaming, no wonder you are such good friends with Ken." Sledge provoked her ignoring her concerns.

"Sledge, I think we should-" Hook tried to resolve this peacefully.

"No. No. Let's address missy's concerns one by one. If you failed congrats! It's your fault!" Everyone tilted their head at Sledge's harsh words. "We told you to keep your dreams and desires in mind while the trial is happening. It wasn't a joke, but a warning. Without it you cannot put your heart into anything, and with half-asrsed commitment you get lackluster results. You failed Luna, because your 'dream' is to see your brother succeed. That is not a dream." Sledge stared down the girl relentlessly. "When it comes to Sun's predicament, I admit we overlooked the risk. But here's a story for you. Twenty-two years ago, when I was six, I got my powers. One day when I fell and scraped my knee, I went critical zero and accidentally killed our family's dog. After that I was treated like a monster by my entire family. My father celebrated the day I moved out. I don't even know where he is right now!" While she explained her eyes jumped from one kid to another making sure all of them heard her. "Blitz put himself into harm's way to assure that your brother doesn't hurt anyone. That's all we can do to help you. Or you have to consider giving up one of your classmates to the Mad Carnival!" Sledge's breakdown resulted in the children going completely silent.

"Me... or Rosa, right?" Ren muttered.

Sledge stepped back, lowering her offensive stance, and let out a guilty whisper. "Yeah."

"But why are they so interested in them?" Sun asked.

"I... don't know. But they must have a reason." Hook looked away suspecting the reason but being too concerned to say it.

"If you guys manage to get Ginna's voice back, come to our usual gathering place. We will be there. They'll retreat once they see us." Sledge ordered the kids, reaching her hand towards Luna.

"Alright. Our fate is in your hands. Please don't make us regret that." Luna squeezed Sledge's hand and shook it.

"Now let's stop the worrying and focus on recovery! Blitz should be back any second." Hook lightened the mood.

Blitz suddenly appeared with a stack of pizza boxes almost blocking his eyes. "It was hard to run and balance all these at the same time. But I'm finally here."

"Pizza? Great!" Marco jumped up and grabbed a box.

"We thought some cheat meal should be allowed." Hook said proudly as he saw the children's face light up.

"I prefer hotdogs." As Faul declared Blitz gave him the death stare, making him sweat. "But this is fine too." He took a slice of pizza and walked away.

Everyone sat on a hillside and took as many slices as they wanted. Hook on the other hand was standing behind the hill contemplating the argument he had with Medicine. He noticed Ren approaching him with two slices of pizza.

"Want one?" Ren offered a slice.

Hook shook his head refusing it. "Ha! No Ren! I have a strict meal plan that only allows one cheat meal a year, on my birthday!" Hook chuckled.

"When is that?"

"July 30th. I always eat waffles seared with brown butter and honey-plum compote." Hook said a bit embarrassed.

"That makes my mouth water!" Ren wiped the corner of his mouth. Meanwhile Hook looked at him concerned but tried to play it cool.

"Why don't you go and mingle with your classmates?"

"I feel like you need to talk about something. You are worried. Watch and Med took the van. Did you argue?" Ren pried for an answer and Hook quickly gave in.

"You are very perceptive!" Hook smiled, but it quickly faded as he remembered the argument. "Yes. They felt like we strayed from the path our master set us on. So, they left. But don't worry! They'll be back." Hook forced the smile back on his face.

"I remember you mentioning your master before... I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did he die?" Ren inquired carefully.

"He..." Hook sighed as he reminisced. "One day Master and Med came home with this injured kid. We fed him, cared for him. One night as everyone went to sleep, I wanted to say goodnight to him and when I opened the door, I saw him standing over our master's body..." Hook swallowed. The visage of his master's body appeared in front of him, making his vision blurry with tears. "Before I could catch him, he jumped out of the window, and we haven't seen him since."

"I'm sorry for your loss. This explains why Watch is so hard on us all. He might be fed up with children." Ren whispered with a soft smile.

"That was years ago. He cannot judge you for what Ben did." Hook dismissed Ren's consolation. "Now I just want to create a world where overhumans use their powers responsibly. Maybe my master would still be alive if this child would've been more in control of his power."

"Do you feel vengeful?"

"I used to... I was angry for a long time. Then I realized what a useless trait that is. Now I just want to know why he did it."

"I don't think it's useless. Anger can be a sign that something has to change."

As the two of them were talking the cloudy veil in the sky slowly moved aside revealing the night sky of the Second Reality.

"Hey Ren! Come! You need to see this!" Niel shouted to his friend. Ren and Hook quickly made their way over the hill where their friends were. On the sky among the stars the moon was glowing gloriously, like it had a halo. The human reality's moon could not compare to the beautiful light this celestial object shined with. But as the children looked at it for a while, they realized that the light was behind the moon. Soon the kids noticed that the light source was something else shining in the deep space.

"Woah! What is that?" Ren asked, his eyes gleaming.

Sledge and Hook looked up at the sky unfazed by the light before realizing this was the first time the children had got to see it. "Oh right! Our training always ends before sundown. That is where the wave came from that gave us powers. That thing has many names, but we just call it the Surge of Power." Hook explained, staring into the light.

"It's beautiful!" Sun exclaimed with awe.

"Do you guys feel it too?" Vhiz asked excitedly, reaching out towards it.

"Yeah. I want to touch it!" Faul agreed.

Hook stood in front of them casting a shadow on the kids. "There is a poem among overhumans. Passed along as a warning of sorts:

You look up to the Well of Blessing

and you feel their voice call on

but if you walk the path of yearning

be ready to walk alone"

"What does that mean?" Marco asked confused.

"Who cares about some silly poem? Did anyone come up with a plan on how to get Ginna's voice back?" Niel shut down the discussion as his stomach was full, the feeling of urgency returned to him.

Did he just disregard the calling like it was nothing? Hook looked at him bewildered.

"What? You're too dumb to come up with a plan on your own?" Ken mocked Niel's struggle.

"Of course I am!" Niel admitted with full honesty, wiping the smile off Ken's face.

"Let's revise what we know of them. Their numbers, powers etc." Hook asked the children.

"Dibdin was the showrunner he did not use his powers, so we have no idea what it is. Then there's the clown dude who can manipulate plastic." Niel reminisced yesterday's show.

"That explains how he kept the balloons from popping right until I showed up." Ren contemplated what he experienced.

"Your power is a good counter against him. Cold could make his rubber rigid and limit his power." Sun entered the conversation leaning on Ren's shoulder.

"Agreed. What else do you remember?" Ren took his phone and began making a list of all their opponents and who's going to fight who.

"The two muscle guys just seemed strong, nothing else."

"We can let brawlers like Ken and Taran handle them." Sun pointed at them.

"Hell yeah! Finally, some action!" Ken cracked his knuckles excitedly while Taran munched on his pizza disinterested.

"What about the ribbon girl?" Luna inquired.

"She can create ribbons that can wrap around you and make her float." Niel explained while Ginna drew a pretty accurate representation of what she looked like with the ribbons behind her.

"I call dibs on beating the shit out of her!" Luna declared with a serious expression.

"Just because she was a bit rude to us?" Iiwa asked embarrassed.

"Exactly because she was a bit rude to us!" Luna answered with fire burning in her eyes.

"There's also the kid who can dodge everything. But don't worry I can handle him." Faul said with confidence.

"Faul! It's weird to see you take action like this." Sun looked at him puzzled.

"I just want to see his face when I get him." Faul let out a cheeky smile.

"The ones left are the twin girls. Rollette and Karma."

"Rollette! She's the camera woman. She can turn her eye into a camera and broadcast it on the internet. She's also a great kis-" Vhiz explained but he was shut down by Luna before he could finish. "No one asked! "

"And her sister, Karma was the one who took Ginna's voice."

"How did it happen exactly?" Ren patiently awaited to write the next part of the note.

"She said 'I take your voice.' That's all." Niel reminisced, trying to remember every detail.

"Did she touch her? Did she say anything after that? We need all the data we can get."

"She did! She touched her face. But she did not say anything after."

"Hmm. Hook, are the powers of an overhuman limited by anything?"

"Short answer. Yes, of course. Long answer... There are two limitations on your powers. Let's say hypothetically Ren wanted to freeze the planet. It would be impossible, because to do that he has to comprehend what that means. The planet's size, every other overhuman trying to stop him, volcanoes you get it. But there is another limitation. The one you put on yourself."

"Why would I limit myself?" Ken could not fathom the idea of putting a limit on his power.

"Right now, you couldn't even if you tried. It is an intermediate power between level two and three and it's a sign that you are in tune with your ambitions." Hook explained, clenching his fist, imagining what this ability feels like. "When you are familiar with your power and dedicated to your dream you begin to see your abilities as a tool you can shape to your needs. Restrictions allow you to weaken your powers in some way but in return strengthen them in another way."

"That seems like a high risk, high reward move." Sun remarked whit other kids nodding in agreement behind him.

"Only if you don't know what you're doing. Restrictions like that are the only thing that give a fighting chance to a second level overhuman against a third level overhuman. But let's stick to the topic. I believe that this Karma girl could be using some restrictions on herself to strengthen her stealing ability."

"If we could exploit that somehow we could have the upper hand when it comes to battle." Finally, a plan was forming in Sun's mind.

"What you're saying is that we need to gather information on this Karma girl's power." Ren concluded, looking at his classmate for reassurance.

"Yeah. And we all know who we need for this job."

Somewhere in the village Terry sneezed.

"Before we conclude the discussion there's one last person on their crew." Niel gathered the attention of his mates. "He looks like a caveman with long hair. He almost knocked me out with one punch."

"How would you compare him to your other fights?" Hook tried to get an idea on how powerful this person was.

"After exchanging blows with that Mantis dude, and Med, I am sure of it. That guy means business. He's somewhere between the two of them. But the reason I wanted to tell you about him is simple." Niel stood up clenching his fist, remembering how powerless he felt. "He's mine! So, I ask all of you to help me get Ginna's voice back, while I beat that guy."

"Don’t you think that will be too much for you alone?" Hook voiced his concern putting a hand on Niel's shoulder.

"If I cannot do it, I don't have a place among you!" Niel's dedication shook the kids!