10 Young Male, Nude and Laughing Uncontrollably

Laying next to the pool of water, as the fear and confusion faded away, Zac gradually realized the enormity of what had just happened.

'My Augmentation wasn't a failure! All I needed was a Mana Core! To think, that all this time I'd been living like a f***** loser, when all I needed to do was to get another X-Type Assessment done.' Zac shook his head in disbelief, a big grin slowly forming, as sat up, rubbing the tears and snot from his face.

'Alright, I guess I can transform into Magical Beasts that I touch, that's pretty f***** OP isn't it. As long as I can touch higher and higher tier beasts, there's no limit to how powerful I can become' Zac started to laugh maniacally, an odd sight, since he was totally nude, laying in the middle of a Transition Zone, and laughing madly to himself.

"Bzzt. Team this is Fredrick, survivor spotted, in shock. Young male, nude and laughing uncontrollably. Will attempt to calm him down. Over." Zac heard a rough voice speaking behind him, along with the crackling of a walkie talkie.

He flushed completely scarlet, and covered his parts with his hands before standing up and turning around.

"I'm fine, I'm not in shock!" Zac protested, as he turned around. But the rescuer was still standing in the trees, listening to the response from the walkie talkie.

"Fredrick, this is Rachel. Confirming you've found a survivor. We've yet to spot any. Let us know if he has any info. Over." The reply came, the man stepping out from the shadow of the surrounding forest, and into the clearing.

The rescuer looked as though he was at least in his fifties, with white hairs scattered through his buzz cut. His face was worn, and he had a large scar that sliced down through one side of his face, a glowing red eye in the eye socket that the scar passed over.

As Zac's gaze swept down his body, he realized that the man was an M-Type Augmented, the very first Augmented, those who had sacrificed their humanity for humanity, undergoing invasive and dangerous surgeries to replace their body parts with machines.

He wore a combat vest and military fatigues, his camouflage patterned sleeves and trousers rolled up, revealing the machinery that was in place of his arms and legs.

The technology was old, with visible pistons, and wiring, the arms and legs dwarfing his torso. The machinery had plates to protect the interior from attacks, and these had been painted bright red once, but the paint was faded and chipped.

"I don't mind if you stare lad, I'm a walking relic. You never seen a 1st Generation?" The man walked over to Zac, a kind smile on his face, the pistons in his legs creating hissing and clanking noises as he walked.

"Huh, oh. Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. Don't see many Augmented at all, not in this area." Zac replied, his hands still covering himself between his legs, still so surprised that he forgot that his entire area had Transitioned.

"That'l be changing now, with all this." The man gestured at the forest around them. "I guess you aren't in shock then, seem to be talking to me just fine. I'm Fredrick, by the way." Frederick extended a hand to Zac, he towered over Zac, his enormous machine legs making him almost 7 feet tall.

Zac stared at the hand for a moment, looking at the pistons pushing the fingers, and the pointed claws at the end of the fingers, created solely so Fredrick could tear apart Magical Beasts.

"Sorry, I didn't mean t'" Zac quickly took the hand, realizing that he had been staring again, but Frederick cut him off.

"No worries, kid. It's been a while since anyone was surprised by me, to most I fade into the background, you staring at me reminds me of the old days, when I was fresh out the lab." Frederick grinned, as he reached around behind him, with inhuman flexibility as his arm completely spun around.

The arm whirred and clanked, and then Fredrick handed Zac a shiny, reflective rescue blanket that was folded up.

"How about you wrap this around yourself, so you don't have to walk around with your hands over your privates." Fredrick said with a little grin.

Zac took the blanket and wrapped it around himself, immediately realizing how cold he had become, as it instantly began to warm him.

"So, why don't you tell me how you ended up all the way here, completely nude?" Fredrick said, kneeling down on one leg, which put him face to face with Zac.

Thoughts began to whirl through Zac's mind as Fredrick asked him. 'Should I really tell him what happened? No! I'm nowhere near strong enough to be able to stop someone from kidnapping me once they hear about my odd ability. Besides, I don't even know how it actually works myself. I'll have to keep it quiet for now.' Zac decided on telling Fredrick a slightly different version of what had happened.

"When I transitioned, I was lucky enough that I ended up on a tree branch, since I lived in an apartment building. The others, well they fell and-" Tears began to well up in Zac's eyes as he remembered the gruesome scene that had followed the Transition.

"You don't need to describe everything that happened. Just tell me how you ended up here." Fredrick's arm whirred as he lay one his enormous hands gently on Zac's shoulder.

"People climbed down using their clothes and other things as ropes to hold on to the trunk. But a Noxious Viper was on my branch, so I jumped off, and managed to use a leaf as a parachute. Then, I was chased by a Flame Fennec, which set my clothes on fire, so I threw them off, and ran away through the forest, and that's how I ended up here." Zac sighed as he finished describing what had happened, seeming like he was exhausted. But inside, he was desperately hoping that Fredrick wouldn't ask too many questions.