Antonio's Nightmares

Things went back to normal for Antonio after that. Well, as normal as they can be for a boy with a super powered evil side. He was still having nightmares about Eduardo Hyde.

One nightmare was very vivid for him. It started out like his first one, what with Eduardo taking off his shoes to reveal his hand-like feet. But then, he cornered Antonio to the wall with his feet, and told him...

"Now, Antonio, for as long as you can remember, you've kept me trapped inside the prison that is you. Now I can be free to get my revenge on you!"

Antonio found the idea of a hand-like foot cornering him to the wall very creepy, and looked very uncomfortable while Eduardo cornered him.

"Help me!" he screamed.

Juan came into Antonio's room to give him a comforting hug.

"Are you alright, Antonio? It was just a dream, just a dream. But it's over now, and now you're awake. It's okay, Antonio, oh poor baby."

And the night after that, he had an even worse nightmare. He was caught in a humongous maze, with a big screen of Eduardo talking to him.

"You can run, but you'll never, ever be able to hide from me, Eduardo Hyde!"

Maybe that's why they call you Eduardo Hyde, then. Thought Antonio to himself.

As it turns out, he was actually murmuring it to himself, and it lead to him morphing into Eduardo as his hair and skin turned white, teeth and nails sharpened, eyes turned yellow, and whole body tore loose.

"Antonio, good morning…OH MY GOSH!" said Michael Fox when he found Eduardo in his bed.

"There's something wrong with Antonio. He turns into this strange creature out of the blue from time to time, and he gets much more bizarre-looking. He's also very strong and fast," he told Juan, as Eduardo was outside lifting their car.

"That's not part of his condition. That's called taking after his dad," said Juan.

"Well, the more he uses Eduardo, the stronger he gets."

Thing was, one of the main reasons Antonio was having more and more nightmares was because his meditation lessons with Floyd Eagle-San was making him much more in touch with his fears.

For example, at his meeting before his nightmare, Floyd was basically telling him "Don't think about your fears. Feel them. Face them head-on," as he and Antonio were sitting cross-legged on a big mat.

This will make Antonio an unstoppable monster, he thought with an evil grin, shortly before Juan and Michael went to pick him up.

"There's just one more thing, Antonio," he said evilly, showing him a vial of purple liquid, which was obviously PX-41.

"Are you really going to make me drink that?" he asked.

"Of course. This is, umm….calming liquid." He lied.

Antonio took a whiff, then noticed that it smelled terrible.

"I'm not sure…"

"Oh, go on…"

Meanwhile, Michael and Juan were arguing in the car.

"So you know that they have reality TV but no reality movies?"

"Mike, reality movies are called documentaries."

"Yes, but aren't there docu-series?"

"Maybe so, Mike, and WILL YOU PLEASE LOOK AT THE ROAD for goodness sake!"

The two of them very narrowly avoided a fender bender on the road.

"Well, look at what you made me do, Mike!"

"That's Dr. Fox to you!"

"Mike, Dr. Fox, what difference does it make?"

"We could've been late picking up Antonio! Or worse, we could get stuck in a fender bender!"

"What difference does it make if we're a little late picking up Antonio?"

"Nothing really. Except that the mall closes in five minutes…WAIT A MINUTE!"

"Juan, we're right here," said Mike.

"Oh, sorry, I was so stressed I forgot. Now, let's make a run for it!"

The two men rushed into the mall.

Before they could catch, though, Floyd was trying to make Antonio drink the potion in various ways, but then settled on merely forcing it to him.

However, Mike and Juan made it right on time.

"We're here to pick Antonio up."

"He's ready to be picked up," said Floyd.

Antonio ran to give his uncle a hug, then he noticed the vial on his desk.

"Hmmm….this must be PX-41. The same connection that turned my brother into a monster."

"Uhh…no, this is just, uh, grape juice," lied Floyd.

"Very funny, Floyd. I'm El Macho's brother, and that means I know EXACTLY what happened, even if no one else did. This also means you don't mess with someone like me. EVER."

"Yeah. And if it's really grape juice, drink it," said Michael Fox.

Floyd was so scared of the two of them, he ran away.

"Well, that does it for any more meditation lessons for Antonio," said Juan on the car ride home.

And so, the two of them finally cancelled the meditation lessons that Antonio had with Floyd Eagle-San.