Aphrodisiac for the Wicked
by Moonraker One

CHAPTER THREE

Both teenagers simply stared at the vial; they could scarcely believe they were staring at the same substance that came out of the spacecraft. The implications of the object in front of them gave them a paranoid feeling. Neither Akira nor Hikaru were much for being suspicious of random people this quickly, but they believed there was only a short list of things that the vial could mean. Obvious thoughts surfaced, and each of them knew at least a brief version of what the other thought. "I think I know what you're wondering about me," the tall man explained, "and no, I don't work for the government."

"Let me guess," Akira chimed in. If the man didn't work for the government, that left one other possibility. "You work for some corporation, that's dead-set on unlocking the mysteries of that and duplicating it."

Sai shook his head. "Nope. In fact, I highly doubt there's a company that managed to get anything, because the craft that landed in that field was destroyed, and it was the only one in a few decades."

Hikaru squinted in suspicion. "You...know about the field?" This revelation, he didn't find to be very pleasing.

"Of course I know about the field...I'm part of a group of scientists that are independently researching the alien craft and the red mist that comes out of it."

The farm boy checked his watch. "Oh crap, I've got to get home."

Upon hearing that, Sai perked up. "Um, if it isn't too much trouble, I'd love to go with you. You've each been 'changed' by the mist, there's things I need to tell you."

"Akira, I live about three hundred kilometers away from here, do you have any way of getting him to my house in less than an hour?"

"We'll take my helicopter," Akira answered. He turned to Sai. "Is that okay, Fujiwara-san?" A nod was his answer.

"I'll see you guys at my place. Bye." And with that, he took off. One with really good eyesight might see his blur as he sprinted. He arrived at his destination, where several chores awaited him. He first loaded the hay into the proper place in the barn. Then he ate and explained to his parents what he experienced.

"It's good to see you've got your abilities under control," Hikaru's mother explained. "You have to be careful; this guy you're bringing sounds ok, but there are people who would exploit you."

"Mom, I know," he shot back, scooping food into his mouth. "But I can't just let people get hurt if I can do something."

"Hikaru," his father answered, "sometimes you have to choose yourself over others. I'm not saying become arrogant and selfish, but if you always put others above yourself you'll only get into trouble. After all, you're not Superman." Hikaru glared at him. "Well...uh...you know what I mean."

"My powers must be getting stronger. This morning, when I saved the woman from her car exploding, there were no burn marks whatsoever, and I barely felt the heat. On top of that, I arrived at the city in eighteen minutes instead of twenty-two. Then, a faulty machine in the shop fired a piece of shrapnel and I barely felt a tap."

"Hikaru, that's all the more reason to be careful. I don't want you having to become a science experiment."

Just then, they heard the sound of a helicopter landing outside. "That's them," Hikaru said, finishing his plate. "I'm gonna talk to him."

Hikaru's father threw him a sack of nails. "Put up some fenceposts while you're at it."

Dashing outside, he met his friend, and the scientist from the city. "Hikaru! It's nice to see you again," Sai cheered. "Anyway, I wanted to see your powers in action, then I'll explain them."

Hikaru walked over and picked up a long piece of wood for the fence. "You've already seen my speed," he explained, "I've also got strength and durability." He lifted the post with his left arm, and furiously shoved it into the ground. He then placed his hand on top of it and pushed it down effortlessly to the depth of the others. Then he lifted the intermediary board and held it against the fenceposts, placed a nail over it, and pushed the nail in to attach the boards. He did this until he completed the fence.

"Okay, I know which one you got."

Akira looked at Sai weird. "Which one? You mean there's more than one?"

"There are six we know of," he replied. "you got the most powerful one, Hikaru. Your body uses energy of virtually any type, and your mind transmutes that into psionic abilities. Your speed works by your mind altering your flow of time around you. Your strength is tactile telekinesis."

Hikaru interrupted him. "Tac-what?"

"It means, Hikaru, that when you need strength, your mind augments your physical strength according to your load. And your durability, is an invisible psionic barrier in your skin."

Akira looked at him. "So, you've seen my abilities already, what is the deal?"

"I don't know why the mist changed your gender. But your power is the ability to alter the flow of life energy; you can take it, and kill the subject, or give it, and heal the subject." He noticed the two of them seemed more than slightly weirded out by the prospect of all of this. "I know what you guys are thinking."

"Where did these alien crafts come from?" Hikaru interrupted.

Sai was waiting for that question. "We have studied a craft that we have in our laboratory. It didn't explode like most of the others do; upon later inspection, we found some incredibly advanced self-destruct mechanism that failed to go off. It was designed, not to completely vaporize the craft, but to simply destroy all the useful equipment.

"We have data files that were put into the craft. One of them gave a very simple look into a very advanced species. They have psionic abilities, not unlike the ones you two have, and they sent these pods to Earth presumably to enhance a few members of the species and see what happens." He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't understand the motivations any more than you do. But what I do know is that the mist in these ships is designed to induce activation of specific parts of the brain we no longer use."

Hikaru scratched his head. "All of this is very new to me...why don't we go inside?" He turned his attention to Akira. "We can play some Go."

Akira grinned. "Always up for a challenge, huh? Sure. Why not."

After doing some more chores, Hikaru met the other two up in his room. Akira got out the goban and they decided Hikaru would be white. Sai merely watched the two play and was quite impressed by their skill. Unbeknownst to them, he had played quite a bit of go and had a 9 dan rank. He just didn't play professional matches much anymore. To him, the kids had tremendous skill for their age. A forty-five minute game resulted in a victory of two moku for Hikaru. "Wow, I actually beat you this time, Akira! That's amazing!"

"That reminds me, Hikaru, what are you doing about the pro exams? Are you planning on becoming an insei?"

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "I hope so. I'll probably have to just hope I get strong enough to take the exam without becoming an insei."

Akira cringed. "Ouch. Being so busy you can't take extra time to become an insei?"

"No, most likely they won't take kindly to the thought of focusing more on something other than school."

"You can come to my lab," Sai spoke up. "I can teach you Go under the guise of showing you stuff about your powers! I am a professional, after all."

"That's a great idea!" Hikaru responded.

Akira checked his watch. "Oh gosh, we have to get going. Look at the time."

Sai stood up, shook both their hands, and headed outside. "I'll meet you at the chopper, Akira."

On his way out, Sai sent a text message via his phone; "I've made contact. Get the equipment ready; I want to see the stuff under the scope."