Chapter 6

For a while I stared at her, mouth partially agape. She groaned and plucked me in the forehead before turning around.

She whipped out a picture and looked at it and then back at me in a worrying disdain. "Your last name's Xin?" She asked, reeling back slightly as she led my last name. Too many x's probably.

"Huh? Oh-oh uh y-yeah, how'd you know?" I asked as I got a hold of my luggage and straightened up. She lifted up the picture of me in a large plaid shirt from my dad. It was the latest picture my mom could get since the divorce. People in the 17th Ward of New Midland didn't really have the money for things like lulevs or Orients.

"You were due yesterday. Come on now, it's my job to make sure we make it to Orientation on time. All the New Midland kids were meant to arrive at once yesterday, I don't get what your problem us. Why the hell are you late?" she spoke so fast it felt like she was slurring her words at me. If you had heard her, you would have hesitated too. She started walking toward the street and I followed after my small panic at being yelled at so fast.

"Well?" She yelled at me again. A little bit used to it now I tried to respond.

"Oh! U-um, yes," I said, scratching the back of my head as I angled my chin down. Typical. I have to deal with another Renjin?

"Was that the answer to my question you shiesse?" she yelled. She took out her transport card, and swiped it on the vehicle terminal. A hovering moped materialized before our eyes.

"Right, there was this Immortal that attacked the boat I had chosen to take and it got damaged," I responded. I left out the part about me killing it because that was really Jack's handywork.

Of course it was. I almost blew the place up. GENTELMAN STYLE!

No. Just no.

"Well it seems like someone has got shitty luck. What buisness does a guy like you have being a Voyager, anyway? You don't exactly seem like the violent type with that fake stutter you got going on," she said as she got onto the moped and I loaded my things into the cart behind it.

"Um, well, in all I guess I'm just here for a second chance," I replied as I sat behind the girl. I had seen some other people riding these things and I knew they went super fast, but I was wondering where to put my hands. On her hips? No, maybe she has a partner and it would be awkward. Shoulders? No, that's just creepy. Okay wait, I'll just hold onto the seat.

"What do you mean 'second chance'?" She asked as she started up the floating moped and took off. Without a helmet the pockets of wind ripped through my nappy hair and stung my previously lukewarm face, making my eyes water.

"I mean that I want to supercharge my social status! Take advantage if that so heavily advertised social mobility you New Mericans brag about! I just need to fit in," I yelled over the howling wind, as I couldnt help myself and started clinging to her waist and leaning my head to her upper back. She felt very toned, probably from physical training. Also strangely cold.

Well that's a flat out lie. Why wouldn't you tell her about your mom?

"Ah man, you're so basic," she laughed. I could feel her back spring up and down from chuckling. It may not have been the whole truth, but telling her about my mom would be leverage for her. I didn't know her well enough to say anything like that. Better to keep that to myself.

I lifted my head a little bit to see a man walking into the middle of the road with what seemed like a device strapped to his chest.

"STOP THE MOPED NOW! YOU'RE GONNA KILL HIM!" I said as I reached for one of the steering sticks and forcefully put my leg on the break. The vehicle slowly halted, but it didn't stop fast enough as the bomb attached to the man's chest exploded.

Disoriented from the explosion I woke up and looked around. Everywhere around me was dark. "Haha. I'm dead aren't I? Well that was anti-climactic," I sighed and chuckled a bit. I was holding something toward my chest. It was warm and soft but other parts were cold and harsh.

"You're not dead dumbass, I'm right here. You simply activated your ability. Lucky us," I heard the girl's voice. It seemed far away, but rather still close.

"Where are you? It's too dark," I shouted, curled up on the ground.

"Dumbass," she said as she bopped my forehead with her palm. "I'm down here, in your arms!"Suddenly, slivers of light started to eek through the black void we were in and I saw the girl basically glued to my chest. She smirked. "You sure seem to have taken a liking to me. Sorry, but you don't seem to be my type. You act way too meek with a stature like that," she laughed again as she got up and started to take off her denim jacket.

Out of nervousness, I shot up and put my head down again. "My name is Leona, by the way. Leona Ionlay. The others call me "Blitz". It's a stupid nickname, I know" she said as she folded up the jacket. "But I guess they just had to give the null the short end of the stick,". The black, one piece swimsuit she wore that covered her neck and torso clashed well with the arms and almost entire back, replaced almost entirely with bionic enhancements of a gray metal and gold touches. A technobuggy.

"You're a Geralist?" I asked as she handed me the jacket.

"Oh hell no. I will never be one of those weirdos. Getting a hard on for techies," she laughed. "My mom and I are Yotamites. We've found our purpose helping others with our own....special talents. Just sit back and watch," she said. As she said it several angry roars came out from the smoke and debris that had resulted from the explosion. "Looks like we have a Hybrid on our hands. Lucky me. I get to test the new upgrades,". She clenched her fist and twisted her neck slightly to the side and I heard a crack echo from her skin.

Out of the hole the man lurched and stretched to fit a much more muscular build. Much taller and more grotesquely shaped. His purple and red skin stretched and tore, making him look even bigger. With black blood dripping from his eyes. The poor bastard, was actually an Incomplete Hybrid. Must have gone crazy. "Hey! Ken-Kaneki-looking motherfucker! You gonna help me with half-and-half over here?" Leona asked as she cracked her (knuckles?) and looked back at me.

"Oh, uh, me?" I asked pointing at myself. Suddenly, I felt something, sort of, attached to me. I turned, and stuck to my back were four tentacles growing out of the middle of my back, right below my shoulder blades. As I inhaled and exhaled, they moved along with my body. Still apart of me, but somehow...new.

Good job kiddo. You have unlocked  Restraint Level 4! Thank goodness, I thought I was going to have to take care of you forever.

"Wait! What's that?" I asked in my head.

It's just your limiter. All children of Lady Complexity have one. Right now focus on dodging and blocking. Let the lady worry about the offensive! I can't have you dying on me just yet.

I looked up and saw Leona charging at the monster.

"Wait! Don't get involved! It hasn't noticed us yet. It's not our problem to deal with!" I called out as she charged. "Great, this crazy techie is going to pull me into this mess with her!" I thought. I made the mistake of blinking as she launched herself at him. Before I could even move, she had made the monster stumble away while holding it's nose as black blood dripped from it's fingers.

"How do you like that for a null?!" she yelled as she slammed her left fist into her chest. She then chuckled to her self and keeled over a bit. "Ah jeez. I guess I'm just a little excited. I even forgot to fix up my hair," she said as she reached in her pocket to pull out a rubber band  and tie the bushel of hair covering her right eye behind her head in a large bun. The monster arched it's back, and winded up it's fist preparing to strike as it roared with contempt at it's caved in nose.

Out of fear, I bolted to get in front of her as the monster swung. I used the tentacles on my back to block the fist, layering the four for a more productive shield. The blow had a tremendous amount of weight behind it but I was able to withstand the pressure. "Looks like the nanobots gave you some leverage. Lucky, lucky, lucky," Leona chuckled as she stepped out from behind me and finished her bun. "Please do yourself the honor of being my shield," she said as she bolted toward the monster and let out a volley of punches.

"Cocky much?" I laughed as I backed up from the force of the punch shivering throughout my body.

Looks who's talking.

"Can you not right now?" I said, trying to focus in what I could do with these tentacles. The punches that Leona had been sending out were keeping the monster off balance. I looked at the monster up and down, and I figured if I could snap its neck, this fight would be over and we could get some real Voyagers here soon and take the credit. Would be a good start.

I circled around the beast and leaped onto it's back, but I was too slow and I couldnt get my tentacles to latch onto the Hybrids neck. Because of this, it snatched me from it's back and slammed me into the ground in front of it. But somehow, the damage didn't register as that much. When I got up and there wasnt even a scratch. "The nanobots in my body must be working over time. That or it's a healing factor", I said out loud to myself.

"DEXTEEER!" Leona cried out. I looked over to see her about to get thrown just like I was and I ran over to where I thought she would get thrown and opened up my arms and tentacles to intercept it. However, I was off by a long shot and she went over my head.

Luckily, I was able to catch her with the tentacles by jumping with my new body. When I landed, I put her down and asked "Just my damn luck! First day back in New Merica and you get us into a fight!". She was silent for a minute and then responded while rubbing her shoulder.

"Lucky us I guess," she said in a grave tone. She bent her head to the right to crack her neck, which made me cringe a bit. "Can you, like, please stop that?!" I said as she got up.

"I guess I have to do it all then. You're no help. That video must have been a fluke," she continued as she walked up to the monster slowly.

"Can you also not ignore me?!" I hollered after her. Right as I yelled, I could see someone Borgen Voyagers approaching from afar. They were yelling something, but I couldn't hear them.

"We're going to talk about this later. For right now, we need to leave. We don't have the liscence to be doing all of this. Everyone without abilities is gone for now. Let's go," she said as she picked up her denim jacket and threw it back on. The monster started to charge her again, and without talking I tried to block for her like she wanted me to. There was no use in trying to talk to her.

In a split second between my feet leaving the floor and her ruffling with her jacket, she flung her left arm from where the monster approached, almost carelessly but all the more precise. The entire top half of the monster exploded. It's burly upper half and the skinny bottom half which once juxtaposed now separated and the boiling black blood spilled over the hole it had come from.

I skidded to a stop as Leona picked up the levitating moped and started it up again. She must have been seriously holding back the entire time we were fighting. Was she taking care of me? Or was it just to observe me? "Hey! Xin! Get on already or else they're going to catch us!" She yelled at me, waking me up from my thought process. I ran over and got onto the moped and she drove away through the black plumes of smoke that back dropped our fight.

...

When we finally pulled up to the school's front courtyard, I grew wide eyed at the large spanning towers and columns. While it was largely just a castle, Jurok Academy's peaks and buildings all were large in grandeur but simplistic in design. The middle tower stood the tallest of all the five and was made if cracked pieces of grey stone and color stained glass. It was obviously from Olde times, but it had the twist in technology and architecture of modern day.

The four smaller buildings that were at each corner of the main building were much newer and PlaSma Inc. inspired. They had box-like shapes with class windows that expanded the entire height of the walls so you could see people moving around in them. Classes empty, meeting rooms being cleaned, and at each building's side was an entrance to the underground layer. Each building's walls were edged with neon blue lights that glowed like the sun as the actual sun started to go down. Large and stubborn shadows cast themselves defiantly over the school's frontal marbel walkway.

This was too fancy. Even for me. And especially for a training facility.

"Good to see this place is as over the top of ever. Typical of New Mericans," I scoffed as I slung my bag over my shoulder and dragged out my suitcase.

"Quit gawking, Xin. We've already missed the welcome speech because of our little tumble, we have to get going," Leona said as she shifted her goggles up to her forehead and grabbed me by my hoodie.

"Yeah yeah, I got it. Where we headed?" I asked as I looked around some more to take in the enviornment. And get used to the giant, cracked, stone pathways that line the spaces in between the buildings.

"Toward the center of course. Top floor. Jeez I hate mom for this," Leona rolled her eyes as she tugged forward, probably angry at the stairs.

"Consider yourself lucky. Stairs are a blessing," I said. I didn't really want to admit it, but fighting the monster today was the scariest time of my life. Well one of the scariest times. But I couldn't help but be intrigued by her. I felt responsible for getting her hit. "Can't you just teleport up?" I asked. Her head snapped back at me in an instant and a shiver ran down my back.

"Ugh, that's not really how it works," she said. She took her hands out of her pockets and let her hair down from the bun she had earlier and let it flop back onto the side of her face before putting the band back around her wrist as she started to do what I could only describe as "visibly thinking". She started humming and scratching her chin and tapping her foot.

"Well, it's weird. It's alot like quantum entanglement. I can control all of the molecules and atoms inside of my body and rearrange them. I'm simply replacing the molecules of my body with the air molecules in the area I want to go to.. Along with anything that is immediately touching my body. I know it's a gross oversimplification but it's all I can really give you," she finally explained as she kept walking. "But what about you? Are those extra limbs your abilities? It's much different from your testing video," she asked.

My eyebrows perked up and my stomach started to twist. How the hell do I explain that that wasn't me? All of a sudden I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to be pleasantly surprised by another girl. This one had cream colored skin but without the natural blush in her cheeks most others had. She stared at me with uninteresting grey eyes behind thin, black glasses that looked me up and down and was severely unimpressed. Didn't even try to hide it. Her right lense was slightly chipped. She wore a white button down shirt with a navy blue hoodie with stripped arm skeeves, black jeans, and sneakers

"Why is there another New Midlander here?," she said. While the words she said suggested urgency, she spoke as if none of it mattered to her. Appearantly I stood for a bit too long because Leona yanked me by the hoodie again out of her way and she walked past us with alot of urgency.

"Ah jeez, not even gonna stop to say hi? I thought mom went over this with you," She asked the girl with uninteresting grey eyes.

"No. She taught me. I just forgot," she responded without looking back. Leona laughed out loud. It sounded strange. Almost like she was choking. Like a hyena choking. The girl with grey eyes then looked at me. With an almost robotic movement, she stuck her hand out. I leaned back abit out of fear.

"Shiloblven. What is your name," she greater me in a Deideric clan tongue. That explained the blue tint to her hair and pale and freckled skin. While she did ask me a question, she said it less like a question and more like a demand.

I slowly lifted up my hand, inching closer. She was so still it was terrifying. She stared right at me. Waiting for my hand. Right as my hand stretched out a bit, she snatched the hand and shook it vigurously.

Leona laughed again as the once robotic girl became rich with life. "Alright then, let's get going guys. Ten more flights to go!" She said.

As we walked, I thought about everything that had happened recently. Something is happening in New Merica. With that lady in Ned's jacket, and that fisherman. Color Gang members? No. They couldn't be. I thought they were always made of just petty street thugs. But with that video in the waiting room, why would they kill someone if it wasn't for money? What was it for then? But other than that, what about this girl that could literally make things explode on command? I looked up from my feet to Leona. Right. I should probably thank her right?

As we finally stood in front of the doors of the auditorium, I turned to Leona, who looked back at me, giving me her attention. I sucked up my breath and bowed.

"Don't bow your head here. You'll get weird looks. The thing about New Mericans? They love people with pride who stand tall. Make eye contact and say you're grateful. This isnt the sticks in Midland kid, get it out of your head," she said once more in her speedy way.

"Oh sorry. Thanks," I said looking into her honey colored eyes. I almost bent my head again but her advice made me force myself upwards.

"Alright then. It seems like all of the formalities were skipped. Typical of mom. Okay look, every year they show the combat testing video for every single Auslese level Apprentice Voyagers. It's tradition here for the students to give them all codenames as a sort of marking. There are only ever 10 Auslese levelers at a time,, don't worry. The dorm won't be crowded. It's done for a lot of reasons, but the only one you have to remember is that it's meant to motivate you to keep that claim to fame. If you drop below Auslese you lose it and have to earn it back," she explained.

"That's ... a pretty simple merit system. We have a similar one in Nes Midland. How do you know so much about all of this?," I asked as I dusted off my hoodie and hair trying to make sure everything was in the right place.

"My mom runs the school. I know everything. And don't forget that. My word is law," she said as she dusted off her own jacket and jeans and shot a quick glance at me.

"Pft, yeah right," I scoffed under my breath. She opened up the relatively normal looking  pair of doors in front of us, but in the most attention-seeking way

Extra force, both arms spread put. Almost as if screaming for us to be looked at. And it made my spine curl. Attention wasn't my strong suit.

The loud boom of the doors hitting the walls of the auditorium instinctively made me hunch over, trying to hide my new, large stature behind her smaller frame. Going from, like, 5'5 to 6'1 would forever be the most jarring experience of my life.

On a large screen that was almost the size of the entire wall was a video, edited together, displaying the fights of the noteworthy student. "Well, lucky us. We entered just in time," Leona chuckled as she looked up as the last fight faded to black and my name in bold white letters came up reading;

XIN, DEXTER

TEST TIME: 340 SECONDS

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice could be heard coming from my right side. I twisted my head to see none other than Ned Iraki approaching me, chin held high, flirtatious smirk, and excited eyes still graced his face. However, I wasnt the only one with the growth spurt from the nanobots serum. From a simple 6'0, Ned had bolted up to 6'10. Looks like my luck was great as ever. Just when I thought I was taller than him too.

"Glad to see you've made it! Let's watch your testing video together," he said with that stupidly cute smile on his face. Leona looked in Ned's direction and immediately turned around. Her blushed cheeks seemed to suggest a history.

I looked back at the girl with grey eyes to see if the same gad happened. She was looking right at me, eyes still blank as she gnawed on what looked like candy. But she was holding something in her hands while she sat with her legs crossed on the floor. She lifted up a collection of flavored chewing sticks. Way more than was necessary. "Sharing is caring. Correct?" She asked as if trying to confirm.

I smiled a bit and nodded as I took the red apple flavored one. A basic flavor. I actually liked the banana flavor more. But this would solidify me as an agreeable person. Suddenly, she poked me on the shoulder. When I turned again, she was holding out the yellow flavored one. The banana flavor.

I paused for a bit. Shocked. Could she read minds? "Take it," she said, barely changing her facial expression. "I don't like the taste of the banana one. It's sour," she explained. Then the mysticism faded and I simply took it.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?" we heard someone yell several feet away at the events transpiring on screen.

You wanted to know what I did right? I'm ready for my thanks. Because I put you on the map!

I usually tried to match Jack's sassyness with my own snyde remarks. But the events I saw on screen had me aghast. While there was no way to tell what he was saying since the video was so far away, but either way Jack had taken physical form on stage. Complete with his suit vest and an old side pouch.

He seemed to pull knives from thin air, launching them in vollies that the cameras could barely keep up with. While they sent robot after robot at him in waves, he dispatched all of them with little to no effort at all. Some he slammed into the ground with incredible strength. Some he binded with my tentacles and wires. Whilst summoning things out of thin air, he ran through each droid hacking and laughing to his hearts content. He seemed to be talking the entire time. This lasted for a few minutes before eventually puttering out and a plume of black smoke enveloped my body before evaporating completely and I stood there before collapsing.

As the video faded to black, the entire audience was silent for at least 10 good seconds. Jack told me later, as I was too shaken at the time to think it was me that did all of that. What was I going to tell them? That I have a someone living in my head?

"So that's what you can do," Ned said, his silently. " I didn't realize you could be so... violent," he said as he turned to avoid my gaze.

Here it comes.

Suddenly the entire auditorium erupted into a noise I could only recall  an ecstatic whiteout.