Note: I don't own anything.
Prologue 4: Fullbring
To my disappointment, as well as to my relief, nothing flashy or violent happened. Both I and the watch on my hand looked exactly the same as before. I could feel that the bond between me and my watch was complete, that I pulled its soul out, that it wasn't just a broken mechanism anymore. If before that I had to reach out for its soul, now it laid bare to my senses, no longer hidden inside. It was like an extension of myself. What I still didn't know was its ability. The moment I thought to demand a demonstration... everything changed.
'What is this?'
I noticed that something was wrong when I tried to move. It was like my body couldn't catch up to what my mind wanted it to do. It was always just a second too late. When I tried to turn around I finally figured out what was wrong. My mind and my body were out of sync. There was an obvious difference between what my mind knew and what my body perceived. I knew exactly what I would see behind me right before I turned around.
'Ooh, that's very trippy.'
"You can see this as well?"
'More like I can feel or know about it as well. Although it's probably a bit different from whatever you are experiencing.'
I demanded my Fullbring to stop, and it did. Even if it was its only ability, it would probably be incredibly useful once I mastered it. While it would've been great to get a Fullbring that could deal a lot of damage in a fight, I was incredibly pleased with what I got. The most incredible thing about this ability was its energy cost. It cost me nothing to use.
"I wonder if its the only thing that it can do. Is there anything else?"
Obviously, there was no answer. It's not like the watch suddenly became sentient or something. It would've been so much easier if it did. I demanded another demonstration, and the watch drained a noticeable amount of my energy, but I didn't see anything happen.
"What the hell just happened? I know it did something, and it probably had something to do with time, but what was it?"
'Try throwing something in the air, then use the ability, whatever it may be, again.'
"Hey, that's a good idea! Look at you, being all helpful." - I said teasingly.
'You are insufferable.'
I picked up a small rock from the ground and threw it up in the air. While it was falling I used the ability again. I was certain that I was tracking the rock with my eyes before I used the ability, but right after I used it there was no rock in the air anymore, and I didn't hear it drop to the ground either. The same rock I threw was lying on the ground in front of me.
"So, one of two things must have happened. Either one, this ability locks my body and mind in time, or two, it lets me jump into the future."
'Try throwing the rock so that it would land on you. If it ends up right under you, then you jumped into the future and the rock fell through where you should've been. If it ends up anywhere else, then your body was locked in time and the rock bounced off of it.'
"Let's do this then."
It turned out that this ability was indeed a self-targeted timelock. We couldn't think of a way to determine the exact time interval without using a working clock, but I suspected that it would be equal to one second.
"Okay, that could be pretty useful as well. Let's see if this thing can do anything else."
After another demand for a demonstration, I could feel the watch steadily draining my energy. All sounds became a bit deeper, and I could think of only one time-based ability that would do that. I picked up the rock again and threw it up in the air. It moved at normal speed, flew up quite a bit higher than I intended it to, then started to fall in slow motion. I felt so happy that I wanted to jump around and scream in joy. Turning the ability off, I tried my best to calm down and failed completely.
"Did you see that?! That was awesome!" - I screamed. Thank god nobody else was here to see this.
'Yeah, now you will be able to run away from your problems twice as fast.'
"Ugh, my heart, it hurts so much." - I did my best impression of a heart attack.
'Clown.'
"So, super watch that is now also my new best friend, anything else you want to show me?"
The answer was, obviously, silence. Watches don't talk, duh. I demanded another demonstration, but this time nothing happened. No energy drain, nothing. It was a bit disappointing, but when compared to what Ichigo got when he manifested his Fullbring for the first time, what I got was much, much better.
"The last ability must be accelerating my time flow."
'You sure?'
"It's only a guess, but the first ability gave me minor precognition that was tied down to my senses, and the second one locked both my mind and my body in time, so if the third one is following the same pattern, then it should be doing something like accelerating my time flow or turning one second of my time into two."
'We should probably test all three abilities again once we solve our money and shelter problems.'
"Okay, the last thing I need to try now is dismissing my Fullbring. While it doesn't have a flashy transformation, that may change in the future. Better if I learn to do this sooner."
I demanded my Fullbring to go back to normal and it didn't do anything. The bond was still there, and its soul was still there as well, just as exposed as it was after I pulled it out. I tried taking the watch off, but again, nothing changed. Only after I let go of my watch and grabbed it again did it go back to its normal state.
"This... is not right." - I said uncertainly.
'Maybe it's supposed to do that?'
"I don't know. Fullbrings are weird like that. Orihime could do partial manifestation, Icjigo's first Fullbring form didn't have any transformation at all, it just emitted energy. Ugh, whatever, it's actually better that way."
*~grrrrrrrrrr~*
"Damn, I almost forgot that I didn't eat anything for who knows how long? Let's go find some cheap fast-food restaurant and eat."
'You go do that. I'm gonna grab myself a quick nap, now that the fun is over. Call me when you are ready to eat.'
"Yeah, leave all the boring things in life to me, traitor. Now I wish my Fullbring let me timeskip my way through training, problems solving and all the other not so exciting parts of mundane life."
I manifested my Fullbring again and started to move out of the park while training to turn the time acceleration on and off at the same time. As I walked, I wondered if I should give my Fullbring a name, and what kind of name would fit it more. By the time I arrived at one of the numerous fast-food restaurants scattered throughout the city, I still didn't pick a name for it yet.
'Damn this place looks shabby. Hope the food tastes better than this place's looks would make you think. Wait, why does everyone inside give me these dirty looks'
I looked down at myself, trying to figure out what was the issue. Then it hit me, I forgot to clean my clothes after I lost control of my body and kissed the ground with my face. It wasn't quite as bad as when I just woke up this morning. I didn't look like a murderhobo anymore, now I looked like a regular hobo instead.
'Fuck!'
I walked inside, ignoring everyone, and went straight for the men's restroom to clean myself up. There were no other people here, so I quickly pulled at my clothes' souls and cleaned myself up. Turning on the water, I quickly washed my hands and my face for the first time today. Then I turned the water off used the mirror to check if I missed anything. Staring back at me from the other side of the mirror was a reasonably tall and unreasonably lanky young man with very pale skin, short and a bit spiky brown hair that obviously needed to be washed, and tired looking amber eyes. The skin under his eyes was of a slightly darker, barely noticeable violet color.
'Alright, everything looks relatively fine now. Let's check out the local cuisine, huh?'
No answer.
Author's note:
Another chapter. Once again, a bit shorter.
