Author Notes

Thank you so much Gem and Aztec for the lovely reviews! Means a lot.

Quite some interesting ideas there Aztec, guess we'll see 3

TDZ Chapter 3

After 10 minutes Noah almost fell asleep before he heard the footsteps of Dwayne as he came back. He looked up and saw him smiling to himself as he carried a bunch of firewood. He knelt down and started putting some of the wood in the fire.

"You still awake there? Hope I didn't wake you." Dwayne said, concerned.

"I was about to actually, cheers for the noise," Noah complained grumbling a little.

"Oh," He chuckled. "Sorry about that boy. I tried my best to be quiet" he gave a small smile before relaxing by the fire. "You don't have to stay up, you can try to sleep you know."

Noah frowned a little before relaxing his expression. "It's fine." His stomach then grumbled.

"Oh looks like someone is hungry." Dwayne laughed a bit more. "Luckily I found these berries for us to eat" He digs through his pocket and gets out a couple of dark purple coloured berries. He started to put it in his mouth "These seem good enough to ea-" suddenly the berries get slapped from his hands "owwieee!".

Noah is seen sitting up frowning. "You shouldn't eat random food in a forest unless you know what it is. Could be poisonous." he then sighed.

Dwayne wiggles his hand a bit in pain before looking at Noah. "I guess you're right, I'm just so hungry though"

"I know, we will try to find something tomorrow ok?" he then laid back down and closed his eyes.

Dwayne nodded before he laid down near the fire.

"Not too close to the fire, I don't want to wake up to well-done human steak," Noah stated.

"Oh, right thanks! I wouldn't want to become human steak myself. Wait… how would I taste like exactly?" Dwayne questioned as he rolled away a bit.

"Like an old boot." Noah frowned with his eyes closed.

"Well, I think I'd taste better than that personally like I do ha-"

"Good night Dwayne." Noah interrupted.

"Oh uh yeah goodnight Noah" he also closed his eyes before he fell asleep.

…

Noah woke up to the sound of birds as they chirped. He looked up and saw 3 sparkling pink birds chilling at the top of the tree by them.

What the…

The birds then started flapping their wings and flew away leaving a trail of glitter behind.

I must be dreaming right.

He pinched himself "ow".

Ok, I guess I'm not dreaming. If I'm not dreaming then where exactly are we…

He then heard the sounds of groans as Dwayne sat up.

"Morningggg…" he did a large stretch before he clapped his hands a single time. "Well are we off for breakfast then?"

"Guess so." Noah stood up and looked around.

"Looking for anything?" He asked.

"Oh, I saw some birds earlier that sparkled and had glitter scatter everywhere as they flew. I'm just looking to see if there are any more around."

Dwayne simply looked at him and blinked. "Well little man, I can really see the hunger is getting to you. Let's get going shall we?"

He frowned "I'm telling the truth here!"

"Oh I believe you boy" he laughed a bit as he started to lead.

Noah simply grumbled and followed.

They walked for a good 30 minutes amongst themselves.

"Really wished I brought a lunch box or something," Dwayne said.

"Well, it's not like we could have predicted being thrown into this never-ending monstrosity of a forest," Noah frowned and stated.

"Hmm oh! Apples!" Dwayne shouted as he pointed to an apple tree ahead of them. In an open grassy area "Finally some food" he smiled to himself and did a little dance.

Noah raised an eyebrow at Dwayne and looked back at the apple tree. The apple tree had a massive base, it also looked very healthy with shining red apples on it, as he saw them his stomach grumbled.

"Well my boy, looks like you're hungry as well" Dwayne chuckles as he walked ahead.

"This all feels a bit too suspicious to me, suddenly an apple tree in the middle of the forest? Just as we get hungry?" He followed carefully.

"Oh lighten up, we got food!" Dwayne walked and struggled to climb the tree. "Gh… Erm, a little help here please"

Noah just rolled his eyes and walked to Dwayne, he tried to climb himself, also failing.

Of course, pair up the two weakest people they could find… going to starve cause we can't even get an apple from a tree

"Ghh…"

"Noah, you really are hungry aren't you? Your stomach is going wild today" he chuckled.

"That wasn't me." Noah blinked.

"Eh? It wasn't me either…" Dwayne looked at him a little confused.

"Ghhh…" The sound could be heard from behind the tree.

Noah wandered behind the tree and saw a person laid against the tree. At the sudden sight, Noah jumped back a bit.

The person had white short hair, a uniform which looked ripped and old, their skin was blueish like what you'd find on a cadaver. They simply sat there with yellowish-green eyes.

"Uh, you ok there?" He looked at the person wide-eyed.

"Ghhh…"

He timidly stepped forward and saw a nametag on the person. As he saw the nametag his eyes widened more.

I remember that style of name tag… That's the same nametag I had when I was one of Chris' interns… So that means…

"Erm Dwayne we should probabl-" suddenly the person got up and grabbed his arm, squeezing it hard.

Noah Flinched and felt a lot of pain as the person's grip kept getting harder and harder. "G-gah! B-buddy what are you d-doing!" He squinted his eyes in pain as the grip got tighter.

From the corner of Noah's eye, he saw Dwayne step from the other side of the tree.

"I'm coming, Noah!" He slid before he fell over and landed on the person's arm, separating the grip. Dwayne flopped into the tree straight after. "Ouch! Hey, I did it!"

The tree shook and apples fell down by Dwayne, he grabbed a few. "Ay, I got some!"

As soon as the grip stopped Noah ran over to Dwayne and he helped him up. "We need to go."

Dwayne nodded and they started to run off. The person trailed behind them, it was obvious the person was catching up to them.

"D-Dwayne…" Noah was slowly starting to slow down as his low stamina caught up with him.

"What is it, little man?" He continued to dash.

"T-the apples.."

"Hm? Isn't it a horrible time to start eating now?" He ran with the apples still in hand.

"I-i meant, throw them!" He shouted.

"Ohhh!" He looked back and saw the person almost at grabbing distance, he threw an apple straight at the person and it hit them straight at the head, knocking them down.

"Woo! Living the baseball dream right here!" Dwayne smiled to himself.

Noah then pointed to a log nearby. "B-b-behind there" His face was red as he slowed more and more.

Dwayne nodded and led them behind the log. They sat down and rested for now.

"Who was that…? What was that?" Dwayne blinked and looked at Noah.

Noah was breathing hard "give….. me…...a ….moment".

Dwayne looked around "Ok, it looks like we are safe for now"

"G-good" Noah kept himself low.

"So what even happened there?" Dwayne blinked.

"I-i just saw them behind the tree and well they grabbed me out of the blue," Noah replied still with a bit of shock in his eyes.

"Well, i-" suddenly Dwayne's mouth got covered with a hand.

"Shh" Noah glanced at Dwayne with a serious expression.

The sounds of footsteps could be heard in the distance lightly.

Noah nervously looked up a little and could see the shadow of the person as they approached.

The footsteps got louder with each step.

Sweat started to develop on Noah's brow as he heard more and more steps.

The person walked by the log they are hiding behind and looked around.

Noah and Dwayne simply sat there unable to move their body.

Suddenly a fist is seen as it went through the log and broke out between the two.

"Ahh!" screamed Dwayne.

Noah jumped and rolled over a bit before standing.

The fist retracted and the person glared at the two of them before they dashed at them.

Noah braced for impact, he covered his face with his arms and closed his eyes preparing for the end.

…..

…..

…..

Am I dead? Why hasn't anything… happened?

He opened his eyes and saw his arms as they blocked the attack. A white aura was formed around him.

Noah could still feel pain from the hit but it felt much less than he expected

Dwayne simply looked at Noah with awe.

Noah lowered his arms as the person looked shocked to see their opponent still standing.

What is… happening… I feel a rush of power around me…

Noah looked at the person "Look. I don't know what is wrong with you but we don't need to-"

Suddenly the person swung a second punch hitting Noah in the stomach.

Noah coughed a little as the punch hit, but like before it felt minimal in actual impact.

I feel… I feel like I can do anything right now.

Dwayne gasped "Are you ok Noah?!"

He looked at the person with a glare "dude i-" sudden punch to the face, he fell back a bit.

Gh it's clear this person is just here to fight… Maybe I can actually win this.

The person swung another punch.

Noah grabbed his fist before he let go "last chance."

The person scowled before they looked over to Dwayne on the sidelines.

They suddenly dashed at Dwayne.

Dwayne jumped "Ah!"

Noah felt a burst of energy as he crouched his legs a bit and suddenly created a burst of energy which sent him straight at the person's path, colliding a fight straight at their chest. They fell back straight into a tree.

Noah landed with his eyes widened.

Woah, how is this not a dream again?

Dwayne looked at him more in awe "That was amazing"

"It is no time for celebration. I feel this isn't over" he looked at the person as they shook their head and got up, they looked badly damaged.

"We don't have to fight you know. I don't want any trouble, fighting isn't exactly my forte" Noah looked a little concerned at the person.

The person simply gave a fight stance.

He sighed and looked at them. "So be it." He went into a pose.

I've only really seen movies so I'm not really sure if this fight stance is right. Hope I don't look too ridiculous.

Dwayne simply looked at Noah with sparkling awe.

The person starting glowing a shade of blue in their aura.

Well, this is new.

The person dashed at Noah, they were faster than before. He braced again and the collision caused the ground around them to shake, Noah fell back and hit against a tree. "Gh!"

Dwayne's eyes widened "Noah!" he got out an apple from his pocket and aimed it at the person. "Don't you touch him!"

The person glared at Dwayne before they prepared themself for a second attack.

Noah got up, a few bruises on him. "Jeez that hurt…" he blinked and looked at Dwayne. "Don't."

Dwayne simply kept his guard up with the apple.

Noah then prepared himself as well.

This is it...

They both then dashed at each other, they threw a fury of punches. Some hits and some misses.

Noah skidded on the ground and circled a little before he delivered a side punch to the person's cheek, they fell back into the main tree, an apple fell on their head dazing them a little.

Noah's eyes widened.

Wait…

He looked at Dwayne. "Old man prepare the apples. I got an idea, I need you to prepare a throw ok?"

Dwayne nodded and gripped on his apples tighter.

The person got up and dashed towards Noah again, they collided fists which caused a little shockwave between the two.

He grabbed the person's fists as they went for a punch and he spun him around, flopping them to the ground.

The person got up suddenly and went for a kick. Noah grabbed his leg and swung him through a tree.

The person crashed through a tree and landed on their feet, they looked at Noah determined before dashing back towards him.

"Now Dwayne!" He shouted.

Dwayne closed one of his eyes and threw the apple as far as they could, the apple went into the person's path.

The person suddenly tripped over the apple, as they fell forward Noah dashed right in front and delivered a final uppercut. The impact sent the person flying in the air before crashing down into a bush completely knocked out.

As soon as the person disappeared from sight the aura around Noah disappeared. He felt like his normal self again.

Suddenly he felt his energy completely drained and fell to his knees in exhaustion. "Gh…"

Dwayne looked a Noah happily. "We did it!" he ran over and looked down at him "You ok?"

"I… I have no idea" Noah simply blinked and stayed on his knees.

"Either way that was amazing! It was like 'puaaa' and I was like 'ahh!' And and"

"Please. Just quiet a little, you're giving me a headache." Noah said.

"Oh sorry" he chuckled a little. "So what even was that light stuff? I didn't know you could fight"

"Neither did I," he said.

"So… how do you do that then? I want to be able to fight too!" Dwayne started doing fight poses.

Noah finally got up onto his feet and looked at him. "I really don't know what happened to me there. But I have a sneaking suspicion it is connected to how we got here."

"Oh? If that's the case then… I must have powers too! Junior always tells me about superheroes and their powers! Ohhh I must have something great!" Dwayne said enthusiastically.

"Maybe I'm spiderman!" he imitates trying to shoot out webs. "Oh. well! Maybe I have super speed!" He ran around for 10 seconds before losing his breath "W-well.. That wasn't it… maybe I'm strong like you Noah!" he walks up to a tree.

"What are you planning Dwayne?" Noah looked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm 99% sure its super strength!" He punched the tree and yelped. "Owww! Ok, it's not that…"

Noah rolled his eyes and gave a tiny smirk. "You know maybe your superpower is that you don't have a superpower?"

Dwayne gave a tiny frown. "Oh, I'm sure it is something! I'll find out soon! You did after all."

Noah looked at his hands. "I guess I did huh… I'm not really sure how to even activate it. It just happened in the moment…"

Dwayne looked at Noah curiously. "Well if it happened once, it will happen again hopefully next time I'll have my great dad powers."

Noah looked around. "I think they are gone for good now, we should get going."

"Oh wait first, can we go back to get more apples?" he smiled.

Noah looked at him and nodded. "Sure, I'm hungry after all that anyway" they then started their trek back to the tree.

"So what would even be dad powers anyway Dwayne, dad joking them to death?"

"Honestly I'm not sure, I'll think of something. I do hope I find mine soon though."

"You're an interesting presence Dwayne you know that."

"So are you Noah, so are you."

As they walked off to get some apples, a mysterious figure was watching them in the distance.

"So... I'm not the only one. How... interesting..."