Chapter 10

Hello?"

"Hey, Mom."

"Oh my goodness, Kevin! Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm fine, Mom. I'm at a motel in Cherry Falls."

Kevin leaned back against the wall as he heard an audible sigh of relief through the black phone pressed to his ear. The late morning sun shone warmly onto him through the large windows of the building's lobby. It was warm, but it did little to combat the uncomfortable drafts wafting across his newly-healed skin through tarnished clothes. He shifted around uncomfortably, trying to ignore the looks he was getting from the people around him. Betraying that feeling, though, he was in high spirits. He'd found that a good night's rest, which he hadn't gotten for almost two days, was enough to completely replenish his PSI.

"Did you get the book back?" his mother asked.

"Yeah, it's fine." He reached into his pocket and smiled as he felt the small book tucked deep within it.

"That's good… Wait, did you say 'motel?' Did you have enough money to rent a room for the night?"

"No, but they saw me all cu—" He stopped himself mid-sentence.

"They saw you all what?"

"All cu… c-covered in mud! Yeah, and the owner is really nice, so she let me take a shower and stay the night!" The latter part was true, at least, but he shifted his position on the wall a little. He felt a little guilty for lying to his mother—a rarity despite his usual attitude towards his friends, he mused—but if she was ever going to let him go out on his own again, the last thing he wanted her to know was that he could get as hurt as much as he did in the forest.

"…You got hurt, didn't you?"

The boy nearly slipped down the wall and onto the floor.

"W-what are you talking about? O-of course I didn't—"

"You've always been a terrible liar," he heard her say softly, "but that just means you're a strong, honest boy."

"Wh-what do you mean? You're not mad at me for getting hurt?" Kevin asked.

"Of course I'm not mad! I'm just worried for you."

His eyes lowered a little. He could almost see his mother with a phone pressed to her face, holding it with one hand and using the other to gently grab its cord. She would always do that when she told his father to get home safely from the Jawbreaker factory, which was a fairly long drive from his own home. "Well, don't worry Mom. I'll be home in a bit."

"Do you have any money to buy food with? It's an awfully long way uphill from our house, and your father took the car to his new job so I can't pick you up. You'll probably have to walk your bike up for most of it."

Kevin felt into his pocket, and felt a few coins jingle in his hand. "I have a little mon—"

A beat.

"…Hello? Kevin?"

The phone's spiral cord was the only thing that kept it from crashing into the floor as it dropped from the boy's hand. Before it could bungee back up a second time, it was hit with a breeze from a rapidly turning revolving door.

"MY BIKE!"

The boy raced down the street at breakneck speed. Buildings whizzed past him in a blur as he made a beeline for the forest. However, in a spark of rationality, he pirouetted on his heels and ran right back to the hotel. The phone was still swinging on its cord when he seized it and held it up to his face.

"Mom! Are you still there?"

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"I forgot my bike in the woods!"

He heard a small sigh of relief, and a bit of guilt gurgled in his stomach for leaving her on the phone.

"Be careful out there, Kevin."

He paused for a moment, ignoring his rapidly beating heart. "I will Mom. Please don't worry about me."

"I love you, sweetie."

"I love you too, Mom."

With a click on the other end, the phone buzzed to signal there was no connection and he hung it up.

Kevin then resumed running toward the forest at a speed normally reserved for motorized vehicles. The blur of buildings suddenly morphed into a blur of trees as he entered the forest. In another spark of rationality that wormed its way through the need to find his bike, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wrench.

A Spiteful Crow drew near.

Bang!

Then a coiled-up snake.

Boom!

Another Coil Snake.

Smaaaash!

Kevin tore his way through any threat that crossed his path as he sprinted through the forest. Anything that came between him and the chance of finding his bike was given a crescent wrench to the face and not another thought afterward.

After a few minutes of running, exhaustion finally managed to overpower his need to find the bike, and the boy slowed to a walk. It was around then that he took a look at his surroundings for the first time, and deduced that he was completely lost. He sighed, and suddenly wished he was in Peach Creek's forest. Before it burned down, there were numerous landmarks and distinct areas that helped him and the other kids find their way around. In this forest, however, every tree looked exactly alike, and there was no way to tell where he was going.

Thinking about Peach Creek reminded him of Rolf and his friends. He took a moment of rest to wonder where they all were and what they were all doing. He doubted anyone else was lost in a forest, except for maybe Rolf and his family on their way back to "the Old Country", where in the world that is. He never bothered to learn exactly where that boy was really from, and a pang of regret told him that now he may never be able to ask.

When he'd caught his breath, he resumed searching. Hours of running and resting, six Spiteful Crows, four Coil Snakes and two strange yam-shaped creatures (he didn't know what to make of them but they hurt nonetheless) later, a glint on the ground a ways off caught his eye. Chills of excitement swept down his spine as he approached it, and they immediately morphed into chills of elation when he saw that it was his bike.

"Oh baby!" he shouted, picking the contraption up and wiping it clean with a rag he kept in his pocket. "I'll never leave you again! I swear!"

When the bike was removed of dirt and leaves, he rested it against a tree and looked around. Whatever tracks the it may have left the other day were gone now, and the sun was high above the trees. Kevin was lost again.

He sighed and leaned on his bike. Now that his body wasn't fueled by the sheer need to find it, the exhaustion took over and demanded restitution for being ignored. The only thing that felt like energy in his entire body was his PSI, but to his frustration, he found that using Lifeup didn't restore stamina. The boy wiped sweat off of his brow as the heat of the day beat down upon him. But then he noticed that it wasn't hot out. In fact, he noticed that he was shivering despite how hot he felt.

"Aw man, am I sick or something?" he asked himself. The silence of the forest was his only answer. Along with the fever, he realized that he was very hungry, and his throat was almost completely dry. Figuring that staying put wouldn't help anything, he mounted his bike. He rode off through the forest in as straight of a line as he could, hoping he'd either reach a town or his house.

The shadows of the trees were longer than the trees themselves by the time Kevin finally reached a river, which was good enough for him. Ignoring the possibility of tainted water, he quickly dove his cupped palms into it and drank the cool, clear liquid. Though it revitalized his throat and mouth and curbed the growling in his stomach slightly, he still felt sweat dripping down his burning face.

Having quenched his thirst and gained a bit of strength back, he decided to follow the river upstream. If there wasn't civilization there, at least he might get high up enough to see where he could find it, he figured. The trees were tall, but none of them had branches low enough for him to reach and climb up. He'd have to be friggen Jonny to scale them, he scoffed.

Despite the fact that there was no path, man-made or otherwise up the river, Kevin managed to ride his way alongside it on his bike. Any enemies he found along the way were either run over or quickly dispatched by his wrench. He panted as the incline became steeper, and his now intense fever didn't help. The boy found himself taking increasingly frequent breaks to splash water on his face and rest. However, the sun was beginning to lower from the sky, so he hurried and rode with more determination.

By the time he was tired enough to have to walk his bike up the steep hill, he reached a point where it began to level out. A few feet later, he found himself at the bottom of a small but imposing cliff. The river poured out from the bottom of it, from an opening too low and flat for a boy to fit through.

Seeing no way to get any higher, he turned around to find that he was high up on a mountainside. The world below him was covered in an enormous forest bathed in golden light. Trees blanketed the land, rising and falling into various hills and mountains. Squinting, Kevin could make out a small patch of buildings at the base of the mountain he was on, just past where the river appeared to end.

"Of course!" Kevin said to himself, lightly smacking himself on the head, "this is where the waterfall comes from!"

He snorted at his stupidity for a moment as he turned back around to the cliff. Right next to the river, he noticed, was a peculiar cave. It was just a bit taller than he was, and almost perfectly round. He peered into it curiously, setting his bike up next to the cliff. It was very straight, as he could see light coming from the other side, though what was there exactly was too far away to see. With his curiosity winning over his desire to get back to civilization, he made one quick look behind him and went in.

The cave was as uniform on the inside as it was on the outside, from what he could see with the little light pouring in through either side. It was almost perfectly circular, except for the top which had two deep grooves carved into it. He wondered if anyone lived near here.

When he was about halfway through, the light on the other side of the cave suddenly disappeared. He stumbled and took a few steps back in fear. He heard a low hiss, followed by the sound of something scraping against the stone of the cave. The sound amplified, and air began rushing past him. He quickly turned around and ran out of the cave as fast as he could. Despite his speed, he felt a small breeze go past him. Whatever was in the cave was catching up.

Before it reached Kevin, he managed to reach the end of the cave dive to the left. The thing burst out of the cave behind him. Kevin turned to see an enormous snake before him, its white scales shimmering in the twilight. It loomed over him, its head adorned with sharp, horn-like protrusions and its mouth open to reveal large fangs.

Kevin stood before it, frozen in fear. Suddenly, however, a thought appeared. When it did, his fear turned to disappointment. The snake lunged at the boy, but he jumped to the side to dodge it.

"A giant snake," he complained to himself. He pulled out his wrench, and continued "why does it always gotta be a giant snake?!"

The behemoth struck again, but the attack was slow and he managed to smack its head with his wrench as he sidestepped it. His fear had been replaced with anger and disappointment, allowing him to move and think. He latched onto it for all it was worth.

"Why do they always gotta be friggen' evil?! I like snakes for crying out loud!" It whipped its tail at the boy this time. The attack was much faster than its head and he yelped as it caught him in the stomach. The force of the snake's tail knocked him off his feet and back toward the cliffside. Kevin rolled along the ground as the snake tried to slam its tail on top of him.

"Except when they're trying to kill me!" Kevin scrambled to his feet. The snake lashed its tail again, but he ducked and ran toward its head. "Well, if you really are a snake, I bet you can't blink!"

Kevin positioned himself in front of the snake's head. Ignoring his protesting fever, he gathered as much psychic energy as he could into a tiny point in his body.

"PK Flash Alpha!"

The words rolled naturally off of Kevin's tongue as the point exploded into a blinding light right in front of the snake. It hissed in agony. Kevin just barely managed to jump back as it thrashed its body at him. The snake writhed around, knocking down trees and slapping its body into the cliffside.

It stopped quicker than he expected, however. The monster held still, sticking its large tongue out of its mouth and whipping it up and down in the air. It turned around until it was facing Kevin. It charged. The boy jumped to the side only to be hit almost immediately afterward by the snake's tail. He flew through the air and slammed into the cliffside.

Pain surged through Kevin's body as he fell down onto the ground. His fever made the ground seem like ice. The snake wrapped itself around his body. It seemed even colder. He wheezed as air involuntarily forced its way out of his lungs from the snake constricting around him. He struggled to free an arm, only to find that his wrench was on the ground. He tried to conjure up another PK Flash, but he couldn't focus his PSI. His fear began to come back to him. He felt his head buzz with blood that could no longer flow past it as his vision began to fade. He caught a glimpse of his bike, and wanted nothing more than to ride it. Ride it away from the snake. Away from this horrible fever. Away toward that faint melody in the distance…

Kevin felt the wind rush past his face and through the opening in his cap as he sped down the road. His bike glided under him as he pedaled effortlessly on it. He felt the world move around him as he stood perfectly still, the wheels on his bike spinning in place as the ground sped past under them. Everything turned into a blur as he raced down the road and into the light.

This last offensive PSI move has no real name. It differs from person to person, but in essence it is a powerful psionic wave, and possibly the most devastating ability there is. It is deeply intertwined with the user's subconscious, more so than any other technique, and many people are incapable of learning it for reasons not yet known. As best as I can put it, it is related to the user's favorite thing, be it their favorite thing to do, favorite thing to have, look at, listen to, etc. It is the thing that helps define them as a person, a personal trait that is the strongest and most identifiable thing about them. Whatever it may be, there is an unwritten rule that it will be the name of the user's attack.

Kevin's fever disappeared in an instant. A brilliant, multicolored glow surrounded the boy's body for the second time in his life. The snake held tight to him, but he felt his consciousness returning as he encouraged the energy along. His fear melted into courage. His uncertainty gave way to confidence. He felt the memories of riding his bike turn into pure energy that he let swell within his entire body, swirling around it more and more intensely until he couldn't hold it in anymore.

With the remainder of his breath, he called out the name of his attack. The light exploded out from him.