Author's note: Hi everyone, welcome to the first Chapter of my recent novel, but before you begin, and I want to make this note short, let me explain a quick guide in order for you to not get confused, first of all. This is a new story base on nothing but my sharp thinking, ok let us continue, the text underlined with ( qhjtjghk) is what the characters are thinking, if you already know that, good for you. And then lastly the Title does match with the story but you don't get to know that until the next chapter. Well that's about it, hope you enjoy and understand. I said it was a quick note didn't I.

Summary : (The Esponja elements are the source of a long running development of power sealed in pop-cans. The sell of each is illegal but worth a try, the only problem is the curse that each one has, not to mention that the goverment and detectives want to hunt down the counter-men who sell this pop-cans. The story takes place in Marlon's point of view, he's a constumer who wins the most mysterious power of all, and for that, he'll soon face danger.) Unique!

Chapter 1 : Mysterious Power.

7:30PM ... Monday.

His mother called him from downstairs ...

His ears were far away from her voice ...

His hands were on the table as the spittle came out of his mouth and into his homework ...

He was receiving an hour or two of sleep since he came back from the party.

But ... The question remained. Why was he trying to sleep on the table? His room was all he had, he was suppose to be studying, but he was so tired that making an effort to respond his mother was just ... Too much.

"I'm alright mom ... I'm really tired, we will talk tomorrow."

Tomorrow was the response that trembled across his room until it reached the door where his mother did not bothered in answer, because it was obvious that he was a sleepwalker.

8:30AM ... Next day.

"Marlon! ... Marlon? ... MARLON." she screamed disappointed as her son opened his eyes realizing that he slept all night in his desk.

"Mom ... I'm sorry I was so tired I ... I ... " his mother was about to scream again.

"Wait ! Mom, I still can catch up the bus ..." he ran across his room taking a towel and shampoo and heading to the shower ... Every day was the same thing, and now it was common even for his mother, after all this time it became a ritual, but for some reason, this day was coming to the end of Marlon's ritual.

He got inside the shower and as he touched the handlebar of the hot choice, he made a quick move with his hand, and as he pull it, all the screws came out of it, it was as if Marlon had forced the handlebar to take it out of the wall. The ... Hot water came in such response, that it burned his skin. He screamed, his mother hurried to get inside the bathroom but Marlon had locked the door from inside. He jumped out of the shower and took a deep breath of relief.

"It's ok mom ... I'm ok." his bone with his mother was special, and it was clear.

"Marlon, are you ok? ... I'm going to prepare you breakfast really quickly." SHE HURRIED DOWN STAIRS.

Marlon went to his room and put his clothes on so fast ... That he ripped his pants and t-shirts. He was not able to reach for words to describe what had just happened.

"What's going on!? ... What's happening here? ... Why this always has to happen to me? ... Am I getting too strong or ... My clothes too delicate, I though this clothes were expensive ... so, why?" his mother called him again.

"Yes mom I'm coming." he ran downstairs.

"Sweetie you are suppose to take care of me, not the other way around, why do you always make my job so hard? " Marlon sat on the table, looking at her, just as if for some reason the situation could turn at his favor, trembling his lips thinking about the day he spent at his friends birthday party rather than celebrating mothers day, about to cry but holding back, his mother ... blindness was a torture that only a sound would had told her that he care. He remembered his happy days, a smart woman that sensed his feelings, emotions, and needs, while he is always in a rush most of the time, and probably will always be, wondering where and why she ended up blind and widow. At that particular moment she noticed his breath, silent and shock, but nothing was added. He started eating his breakfast so fast trying to avoid the topic of any conversation that made him careless. He bit his tongue and a drop of blood, just as tiny as a needle, was enough sound for her to notice how careless he was. She threw a napkin at him.

His mother warned him. " Slow down, can't believe my poor baby is now a grown up."

He spoke as he chewed. " Mom ?..."

" Yes! ... What honey?"

"I just realized that I have abs, and my muscles are twice big, and I have not visit the gym for a while, and also, the color of my eyes faded too."

" OH stop it ! Finish that already ... I am going to drive you to school." her voice suddenly energetic, she made the effort of a smile but only a tear came out of her sunglasses that were suddenly dried with auto defense, hoping that the most modern car with automatic voice would be in the good mood to help her on a absurd journey.

Marlon kept eating while looking at his plate, considering himself idiot for a complement she couldn't see rather imagine. He was almost done, but when he looked up again to see his mother, he realized that she was at the other end of the kitchen getting a broom. She came back as soon as she grabbed the broom.

" Marlon watch out a cockroach is on top of the table." Marlon put the plates aside and took off one of his shoes, not asking but rather impressed of how powerful she could sense as if seen.

" Do not worry Mom, am gonna kill it." he hit the table and it was broke in half so suddenly that the wooden pieces went flying across the whole room. ! The expression of her mother said everything, the sound, impact, and farther effects disturbed her normality. She walked casually towards and bent touching what was left of the table.

"! What kind of son breaks a table of hard wood in half so easily? ! He is not the same ... Is he my Marlon? ... No, Marlon would never act so rough, but, if he is so strong, why did I notice it just now? He is not even tired I can tell, If he keeps acting like this, someone may end up hurt ... Why is he acting like this? What does he intent to do? surprise me? Well ... All I can say now is that I have a son who is a show off."

"! Are you ok Marlon?"

" Yes ... its just

... I think I killed it."

His mother complained " Well now we will have to get a new table."

9:45AM at school ... Moments later.

The classroom was quiet, Mr. Stuart, the teacher, walked side to side expecting to heard a knock on the door because he knew that in the whole class, Marlon would never dare to miss school, even if he was sick, or disappointingly late.

"Open your books to page 256 and start reviewing for your final exam ... Ok let's get are going to be working with the equations y=abx , starting point, common ratio, and growth factor, but let us start with M=M(1/2)T/H where t represents time and h represents half. Now let's solve the first equation, with the letter that represents the first question.

C=(1/2)50000/5730

C=(1/2)8.7

C=2.4045 make sure to move the desmo two places.

Now a harder one

(2x^2)^3 = 2^3x^6 = 8x^6 are you with me, people?

Now the one everyone is having problems with

(1/2)^2 = 1/2 x 1/2 = 1/4 Are you with me people? ..."

A sound reached the classroom from the closed door, everyone yawed "Here comes Marlon." the teacher opened the door and Marlon entered with embarrassment, then slowly walked across the classroom while everyone stared at him from top to bottom. He sat at the end of the room in his noisy chair. He was the disappointment of the class, but not just for being late, but for being smart at it and getting away with it, a senior student of fifth year of high-school, gaining the teacher's trust and understanding of social issues.

"Ok, let us continued ..." the teacher began the lesson again but Marlon just wanted to daydream for a while. Then the only question that drove him into confusion came to his mind as lightning, the answers awaited him only if he dares to drive away his attention from the class and focus on the facts. It was a hard decision for Marlon knowing that using his head to break down what drove him into debt with his mother's wallet was enough excuse for him to brain-storm for possible explanations, on the other hand, this was his last year on high -school, he could not possibly dare to lower any mark down, to make it to university, it had to be accurate.

"Alright ... What happened yesterday? ... It had to be at the party, no, it must had been when I left work, that's when odd things started to happen, but no it wasn't that time either. I ... think I'm getting closer, I remember now."

2:30PM ... Monday, the same week, the day of the party.

The knocked on the front porch was soft enough for an old lady to sense the difference; she quickly approached to open the door.

"Hello Ma'm, here is your mail as usual."

"Marlon! You don't have to pass by with my mail every morning, is it just because you are my neighbor? And so, I don't know why you keep calling me Ma'm if I already told you my name a hundred times. Huuhh? ! Dear, my back hurts every-morning when you knock on the door, well I have to say that I'm thankful that you work as mailman and save me the trouble of walking all the way out, but passing a little late is too much to ask."

Marlon looked down and then spoke. "Ma'm is already 2:30."

"I told you to call me by my name." he felt her nerves getting on him.

"K, find, well here's your mail." He handed the mail and slowly walked away as he said "Goodbye."he kept walking alone the street and did not look around because it was his neighborhood and he knew it well.

One or two minutes passed and the difference in the neighbor was like a call ... In his whole life, Marlon for the first time doubted to be smart enough to remember every small detail of the neighborhood. It was a store with shinny and bright colors, he had never seen that store before and it was in front of his very own eyes, in his own neighborhood, but more than anything in the world, Marlon did not know what the store was selling.

And so ... He made up his mind and left the mail-bag beside the entrance as he walked in.

Marlon entered without panic, and he ignored the counterman. As he walked around wondering he realized that it was a CHINESE STORE.

"Do you want something?" said the counterman, Marlon did not response but reacted.

EVERY LITTLE THING IN THE STORE WERE ITEMS THAT MARLON HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE.

"You are our first costumer in years, and you are lucky that we still have a special price for our first costumer ... You." said the counterman as Marlon looked back speechless.

"! You ... You are kidding, right? This store opened just today, right? I think you made a mistake when you said in years." ... They both looked at each other without blinking.!

"No! ... I actually said what I meant, this store has been open here for years, five to be exact."

Marlon's thoughts contradicted him ... "Liar ... It can't be possible, this is my neighborhood and I have never seen or heard about a Chinese store in this corner, I have even walked this same street my whole life and I have never seen a store build up with carps, it's as if appeared out of nowhere ... No I'm saying non-sense, this might be just a game or a joke, but he said that for a purpose, what if he just opened today and expected me to spread the word? ... Yeah I think that's what he wants, he's having low income and wants his costumers to stick around more."

"Hey! Boy, don't you want to see your price?" Marlon approached.

"Yeah, why not."

"OK you see that shelf there besides the game-machine?" the counterman pointed aside.

"I see it but it's too high ... I can barely see it, no way it's almost reaching the roof, why did you even put a shelf so high up?"

"From preventing robbery you fool."

"Well what's with the shelf? ... I only see pop cans and it looks like they are old, I won't even bother in drinking that if that's my price. May be there's something else for me?" Marlon kept complaining until the counterman finally spoke smiling creepy.

"Each one of those cans contains a chemical power mix, in other words, a mix of powers just like a mix of colors, but that's the problem, you can't have all the colors together, and is the same with science elements. What I'm saying is that all you see there comes from a spensive research of the goverment, the cans where created and gathered in the same place, a lab to be exact. The mix ... is the name of these special elements when coming together, the final result was used by the government, it was called, the birth of true power by a genious guy and his team, the power of elements were mixed together but it didn't work that way. You see, separating power is the same as separating elements, but since the mix was created in china rather then the country that was using it, the cans were sealed with a different mix with negative or unstable results called the Rainbow mix, just a few elements and hard work from a team of scientist, it was work put together to create a real power, you might say supernatural. The cans remained with the Chineses, unfortunately the other governments were so amazed by it's results in battle that they paid a huge sum of money, the good part is that we were hired to hided the most important can with the best mix of elements called the Esponja elements, originally that can has an interesting power, it contains the only elements that were hacked from bad Rainbow Mix into good Mix by a genius scientist who named his recipe of elements the Esponja elements. So now I've his master piece of work, along with those other four cans that were brought back for it's bad results because the Rainbow Mix is unstable, but it's not as bad as it sound, what I mean by bad results I mean a curse, because nobody ... deserves to have powers! That's what the curse is trying to advise. Others say it was only part of the failure of scientists, the man who hack the Rainbow Mix apart and put it into a single can suddenly quit, what a shame."

"So you are saying that I can have the best can and try it out, right."

"No! ... You are having one of the other cans there, I think you have luck, so yeah you'll be able to handle unstable power. What? did you though I was going to give it to you just like that? You're a funny Boy, but there's a way you can have the one you want, by paying the price or bet your first can and decode a maze in a minute." Marlon looked at the prices that were barely seen.

100 000 eyes of the dark.

340 000 mental development.

410 000 super strength level 1.

589 000 increase the possibility to live more than 184 years.

799 999 ?

"Are you crazy! Who's going to buy something like that in a small store like this one? and with a price that touches a Ferrari. What is this guy up to? is he actually going to fool me with that story of his? ... I'm starting to think that this is far from a joke, but I should go along and see what happens, after all, he can't harm me just yet."

"So ... did you made up your mind or are you going to take the risk with eyes of the dark?"

"What! No I haven't giving up hope just yet. Mmmm ... Alright I'll decode the maze." the counterman handed a paper full with numbers.

"What is this?"

"Find what is the difference in every six numbers with the perfect match for the next three following even numbers that would add the amount of the price, if any of the numbers are not connected or unmatched you are out ... Here is a pen you can use to underline the numbers, now start! You have now one minute." the counterman watched Marlon grab the pen with fear of losing.

It was a quick blinking for 31 seconds.

32-33-34

The seconds were tattooed in the atmosphere as the intense mood filled the emptiness, as if he was a super genius he underline anything suspicious. 46-47-48-49 the door bell sounded ... "Another costumer? Can't be ... who is coming towards us? is it someone I know? ... Is it someone I have seen? No ... Why am I being distracted by it? Hoh crap I'm trembling and I haven't even found the right answer ... No ... No ... NO." 57-58

59 the counterman took a deep breath. "It seems you lost your chance after all."

60 "ha,hahaha, HAHAHA! I got it, I won, I did it. JEJE. Never expected to use my math skills in a minute with so much though. But well ... I'm ready to received it, give me the price." the counterman climbed a ladder and opened the shelf as Marlon looked side to side looking for the costumer that entered earlier.

"Hey! 799 999 ? What does the Chinese letters stand for?" the counterman handed the can without saying a word. Marlon was about to ask another question but his cell-phone rang.

It took about six to seven minutes for Marlon to end the call.

"Sorry it was my buddy who wants me to buy beers for his birthday party. Do you sell any beers here?" The counterman felt that Marlon had already decided to enlarge their relationship, it was not a bon but he considered more as an abuse because he well knew that Marlon was under age.

"We only sell what you see here." the cell-phone rang again. Marlon decided to leave ... As he approached to the exit he remembered his mail-bag, he took it on his way out and talked on the cell-phone on his way home, but as he hung up his cell-phone, the idea of opening the can overwhelmed him.

He was in the middle of the street and he didn't care or bother at all. He opened the pop-can carefully and as he did ... A smoke came out of it and entered into his nose, he felt high for a second or two and then looked down at the can and it was empty.

"It was all a lie from the very beginning, I knew it ... How? I can't believe they sealed a can with nothing but air ... I got to think this straight, he said that it would bring me powers, what kind of powers? he never said anything about this can, he is not just crazy but a maniac, and he convinced me. Why am I so easy to convince? I got to find the trick of this. Was he just playing around with me? Or was he just hiding the secrets behind this awful bad joke? I got to find answers and get back to the party on time. Well ... I made up my mind, I'm going to just ask him how this works."

Marlon ran with his mail-bag back to the same spot but there was not such a thing as store in front of his very own eyes.

"It was just as I suspected ... It was illegal, everything was illegal, but ... In another person mind this guy would have been a total sociopath ... He unfolded the store so fast. Why? Everything was planned or just coincidence? And how? No way ... I never met anyone that would fool me that easily ... Wait I minute, may be he was right about those cans, in the worst case I could get sick, but now that I think of it ... What a fool was I, when I opened the can, I was convince it was a joke and threw it in a garbage, may be I could get those Chinese text translate in Google, but then again, I'm not sure whether or not is true, I've got to get that can back, it may come handy in the future ... There's a possibility that I could lose that can, but only I know where the trash can is ... Wait a minute, the first costumer was there all along, he might understood everything and took it more seriously than I did, in the worst case ... He may have followed me on the way out, and if he did, he may know where the can is, I've got to hurry."

To be continued...