Chapter 08: Tribulation(04)

Vector scratched his chin.

('Oh, right… It should be fine. Hold on I got an idea.')

Vector disappeared from in front of Justice.

Before Justice could respond he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned to see Vector standing behind him.

('It still messes with me when you do that.')

Vector just looked at Justice.

('How long was I gone?')

He looked at Vector with confusion.

('What do you mean?')

Vector laughed silently.

('You'll be fine… Let's go get Matt and take him somewhere safe. We can take him to the bunker I had my awakening at. There's no one around and nothing important should get destroyed… Just follow me and try not to touch anything till you get used to your strength. ')

Justice started to follow him, then stopped.

('Wait… How come you're handling this so well?')

Vector shrugged.

('... I fought life and death battles with constant swarms of monsters that were trying to eat me for what seemed like 5 years… So I've had a bit more time to process. Also we didn't get eaten and the solar system is still here. So i'm just happy we all made it back alive!')

—---------------------------

Matt's room

A few minutes later.

When Vector and Justice returned Supreme was standing outside of Matt's shattered window looking in with confusion on his face. As the boys came through the hole in the ceiling his eyes narrowed.

"Kai! John! How is that kid an S+ rank. When I saw him a few weeks ago he was an A rank."

Vector picked up Matt then looked toward Supreme.

"Not in a way that's repeatable. Also not suggestable. I was wondering why the dragon was leaving so early and now I know. He didn't want to get caught in his own trap."

Supreme glanced around the room.

"Is that what happened here?"

Vector nodded.

"Yes sir. It nearly killed everyone to be honest. We managed to deal with it though. We also managed to absorb a good bit of the energy from the blast. So it powered all of us up. I hope you don't mind but I've got to take Matt somewhere it'll be safe for him to get used to his new strength. Justice and I have to adjust a bit as well so we were going to see if it was OK to go out to my family's awakening bunker till we got adjusted."

Supreme scratched his chin while looking at the 3 boys.

"OK. That's fine, I'll talk to the principal. I'll need weekly progress reports though. Also, make sure you're back before the trial starts. We'll definitely need you here then. Got it?"

Vector looked at Justice

('Your dad says it's OK to go to the bunker, we just have to send him weekly reports and be back here before the invasion starts.')

Justice nodded his head creating a sonic boom that shattered all the windows within 200m. Vector looked back at Supreme.

"Yes sir. We'll make sure we're back beforehand."

Then all three vanished in front of Supreme's eyes. He blinked twice then looked to the west grinning.

"So John and Kai have gotten even stronger. I couldn't even sense their presence. Also those two managed to create another S+ rank under age 30. This will make negotiations with the alien's easier."

Then he flew towards the principal's office.

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Former Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Colorado, USA, Earth

Thursday, October 27th, 0109 PA, 1400(MST)

Inside a large gymnasium within the complex a 15 year old boy with dark grey hair and eyes carefully picked up a ping-pong ball and attempted to carry it across the gym and put it into a cup.

Around halfway he accidentally crushed it.

"DAMN IT!!! THAT'S IT!!! Vector, why do I have to keep doing this?"

Vector looked at Justice who was standing next to him and grinned.

"You hear that Justice? He wants to know why…"

Justice grinned and looked at Matt. He walked over to a room attached to the gym. After a few seconds he came out holding a shot put in his hand. He tossed it to Matt.

"Here catch."

Matt caught the shot put, crushing it as if it were made of wet clay. His eyes opened wide in shock.

Vector looked over at Matt.

"That's why… You don't want to accidentally rip Gloria's arm off the next time you hold hands. Right?"

Matt's face went pale and he shook his head. He looked back at the bowl full of ping-pong balls on the table at the back of the gym. His face took on a stoic and serious look.

"I'll get this down even if I have to crush every ball in the world…"

He then rushed towards the table and picked up another ball. Matt carefully made his way back towards the other side of the gym. He made it a quarter of the way before he crushed the ball.

"Damn it! Where there's a will there's a way. I can't let something like this stop me from being with Gloria!"

Matt ran back to the table to get another ball.

Vector and Justice just watched trying to contain their laughter. Justice glanced at Vector out of the corner of his eye.

('Well at least he's motivated now.')

They both burst into laughter distracting Matt. He froze in place and looked at the now broken ping-pong ball. Then he looked at Vector and Justice.

"Could you two take this a little more seriously? This is my love life that's in jeopardy here."

The two paused for a moment then burst into laughter again. Matt returned to moving the balls across the gym.

A couple hours later Justice and Vector were practicing their breathing exercises while Matt was still attempting to get another ball across the gym without breaking it.

Both boys opened their eyes at the same time and looked up. Matt froze gazing up at the ceiling.

"Ummm… guys. Should we be concerned about that?"

Black clouds had begun forming above the complex. They were nearly bursting with cosmic energy, specifically lightning. The energy was all gathering directly above Kai.

As Kai continued looking up towards the ceiling his face went from curiosity to worry.

'Is that a tribulation cloud?'

"Oh, s**t!"

Justice's eyes went wide as he looked over at Kai.

"What do you mean; Oh, s**t?!"

Matt went pale then turned his head looking at Vector.

"Dude… I think I know what that is…"

Justice looked at Matt.

"Well, what is it?!"

Matt gulped audibly.

"Vector's tribulation…"

Justice looked at Vector then back to Matt.

"What do you mean by tribulation?"