Episode 4
実権
Enter my true power!
My alarm clock rang, waking me up and causing me to fall on the floor on my butt. I got up and I made my bed. I put on my uniform and went downstairs. Then, when I was halfway down the stairs, I heard something fall on the floor in the kitchen. I ran to the kitchen.
In it, I saw Hikari picking up a tea-pot from the ground.
"Hi." I said.
Hikari was surprised and she fell on her back.
"Good morning." She said.
I helped her get back up, and I put the tea-pot back on the counter.
"Your breakfast is on the table."
I nodded and I went in the dining room. I sat down and I began eating my breakfast. It was quite good. Once I was done eating, I brought my plate to the sink, then I went to put my shoes on. I was early today, so I had no need to run.
I said goodbye to Hikari, then I walked towards the park. The air was cooler than usual for an early summer day. I reached the park, and I sat down under a tree to wait for Tony and Sakura. I didn't have to wait long as my two friends came walking from the opposite way I came from. I got up and went to them.
"You're early today."
"So what?"
"You're never this early. I am sure something bad will happen."
Sakura punched Tony on the shoulder.
"Don't say that. It's bad luck."
"We're not in a cartoon, anime or TV series. There is no one that controls the bad things that happen."
Sakura looked desperate. I only snickered. We then went to sit under a tree.
"So?"
"What?"
"Are you adopted?"
I nodded. Tony grinned in victory.
"I knew it!"
As soon as Tony sat down again, I saw a man wearing a black suit, and he wasn't wearing a golden pendant. He had black shades on, and his grey hair was short and neatly placed. However, he didn't look too old, maybe mid-twenties.
"Who's that guy?" Tony asked.
As if to answer him, the man lifted his arms and pointed them at us. Then, a sphere of energy appeared between his hands, and when it reached a certain size, it launched towards us. Sakura and I reacted quickly. Sakura jumped in the tree while I dove to the ground, grabbing Tony in the process. The sphere hit a nearby tree, creating a crater where it impacted.
I got up and Sakura jumped down from the tree. Tony was struggling to get up. Sakura lifted her right arm and pointed it at the man. Her right hand became surrounded by her aura, and the man stumbled backwards. He regained his balance quickly, and shot lightning from his left hand. However, then lightning never reached us as it hit the tree beside the man.
The man gritted his teeth, then he moved towards us. Once he was far enough from the tree, he shot lightning again. This time, it went straight for me. I raised my hands in an attempt to protect myself as I waited for the painful burning sensation.
It never came. I lowered my hands to see the lightning was orbiting around my left arm. I acted on instinct and shot the lightning back at the man. It hit him in the knee. He fell to the ground in pain. We then ran away towards the school, but we were soon cut off by three more men wearing black suits and black shades. But they were also wearing golden pendants.
"Where are they coming from?!" Tony asked, completely desperate.
Then, The men all lifted their right arm towards Sakura and I. Their hands were then surrounded by magical auras, and small fireballs shot from them. Sakura's hand became surrounded with her aura, and a shield appeared, blocking the fireballs. Meanwhile, Tony had run away towards my house. What was weird was that no one followed him.
Suddenly, vines caught Sakura's arms and legs. The same thing happened to me.
"We finally got you." One of the men said.
Then, the vines were cut by a strong gust of wind. I turned my head towards the way we came from and I saw the man from earlier leaning against a tree.
"You won't get away with them. Here, we have strict rules, and you need to go along with them or you'll be caught."
"Kill him."
The three pony River agents all pointed their right hands at the human River agent. They then shot fireballs at the human. But when the first fireball was about to hit him, a grey shield appeared in front of the human River agent. Then Hikari came to him running. Tony then arrived.
"Thanks."
"Three against two... Seems fair enough..." One of the pony River agents said.
The human River agent then lifted his right hand. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then, slowly but surely, a sphere formed a few inches away from his palm. The sphere grew until it was the size of a football, then the human River agent shot it towards the pony River agents. Then sphere emitted a tremendous amount of energy, and when it hit one of the pony River agents, it exploded on contact, blowing away the three pony River agents.
"You should be more careful, kids." The human River agent said before he took off his shades.
Once his shades were taken off, it became clear he was American. His eyes were green.
"Why should we trust you? You attacked us!" Sakura said as she aimed at him with her right hand.
"Wait, Sakura! He is not an enemy!" Tony said.
"The kid's right, you know. Name's Tom Banks. And you were right, Hikari. He does have something weird about him. He caught my lightning and sent it back at me. Fortunately it hit my knee."
Hikari nodded and she put her right hand on the knee that was hit by the lightning bolt. Her hand became surrounded by her aura, and she began to heal him.
The bell of the end of the day rang, and Tony, Sakura and I went to the park. Once we arrived, we sat down under a tree.
"How did you catch that lightning bolt?"
I let out a loud exasperated sigh.
"Quit it, Tony. I already told you, I don't know!"
"If The River keeps attacking us, we will need to be able to defend ourselves. I will ask Hikari-san if she can give me lessons on how to use magic here." Sakura said.
"Great idea!" Tony said.
Sakura frowned in anger and punched Tony on the back of his head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"For a lot of things, the most important being that you keep calling me Anime girl."
"But you look a lot like anime characters. When you're angry, there's almost the vein that pops out."
Sakura growled and clenched her right fist. She then glared at Tony.
"Baka! Anata wa watashi ga animeda to itte okuranaba, watashi wa gattsu de anata o panchi shimasu! (Moron! If you keep saying I'm an anime, I'll punch you in the guts!)" Sakura shouted at Tony in Japanese.
"Sorry, but I didn't understand a thing." Tony said with a big smile.
Sakura groaned and then punched him in the guts.
"Baka!"
I laughed a little as Tony rubbed his stomach. Then, a weird-looking old man walked to us. He looked like some kind of monk.
"Hello there, young people. Why don't you go to the shrine in this park?"
"Thanks, but no thanks. We're kinda busy right now." Tony said, still rubbing his hurting stomach.
"But you should really come, especially you, young boy." The old man said, now pointing me with one of his old fingers.
"Are you deaf? We don't want to go!" Tony said, nowreally pissed off.
"The shrine could answer your questions..." The old man said before he left us.
"Finally..." Tony said, relieved.
Then, Sakura and I got up. We both ran after the old man.
"Can it really answer our questions?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, but you need to forget everything you think is true. Free your mind of what you think is, and then the shrine will answer your questions, even the deeper and more secret questions." The old man said before gesturing for us to follow him.
The old man led us on a path that was rarely used. After several minutes, we finally arrived to a clearing. In the middle of it, a small wooden box stood.
"Go ahead." The old man said.
I walked to the shrine. When I was close to it, I saw a place where there was no grass. I knelt there and closed my eyes, opening my mind to anything that could be the truth.
"Who am I?" I asked out loud.
Then, everything began to swirl...
I opened my eyes, but I was no longer in the clearing. I was in a big hall with many columns.
"You asked 'Who am I'. I can answer your question directly, but where would be all the fun of showing it to you?" A deep voice resonated throughout the entire hall.
Then, I was no longer in the same hall. This one was smaller and had less columns. On one wall was painted something. It was a bluish white circle with a figure in the middle. Around the circle were three golden rings with writings all over them.
"This is a representation of the source of energy known as The Origin. You have a strong like to it. I think you already met someone that can teach you how to control the energy. However, I doubt you even need it." The deep voice said.
Then, everything rumbled, and dust fell from the ceiling.
"You need to wake up now." The deep voice said.
Everything swirled again, but in the opposite direction...
I opened my eyes, only to see Sakura's head against the blue sky. She was blushing wildly.
"Noah! Are you okay?!" Sakura asked.
I slowly got up. Then, the ground next to me exploded. I looked around, and I saw a dozen human River agents. And Tony was nowhere to be found, nor was the old man. Sakura tugged on my sleeve, and we ran away as fast as we could.
But as soon as we were away from the shrine, more River agents blocked our way. In a matter of seconds, we were surrounded by three or four dozens of River agents. Sakura's right hand was then surrounded by her aura, and several River agents were pushed away. Sakura then summoned a shield around the two of us.
The River agents then began to attack the shield to make it go away. Some lifted their arms and shot energy spheres, others made circular motions with their feet, sending pressure waves at the shield. We could feel every hit as if it was a direct hit.
Then, a fireball engulfed three River agents and lightning hit five other. I looked towards where the attacks came from and I saw Hikari and Tom in a tree. Tom was still wearing the black shades and the black suit, but the vest was unbuttoned. They jumped down to the ground, Tom's vest opening and wraping itself around his torso.
"Looks like we're just in time to save the day." Tom said with a smile that was just missing the sparkling effect.
Hikari rolled her eyes. The River agents all looked at the duo. Then, one of the agents walked to Tom and Hikari.
"Well, well, well... If it isn't Tom Banks... One of the most known rogue agent."
"Thanks! I worked hard to gain that title." Tom said, grinning.
The agent growled, and energy began to gather in his right palm. I reacted by instinct.
"NO!"
As I yelled, I lifted my right arm and I pointed it at the agent in front of Hikari and Tom. Energy began to spark on the tip of my fingers. Soon, the sparks became bigger, and after a few seconds, I shot a continuous lightning bolt at the agent. After a few second, the lightning bolt faded away, and the agent fell to the ground, motionless.
All the River agents stood there like complete idiots. Tom took advantage of the opportunity and fired small energy spheres at several agents. Those agents fell to the ground, motionless. The shield Sakura had brought up then vanished. I looked at Sakura to see if she was okay, and she was top shape. Her right hand was already surrounded with her aura, and a rock that was surrounded by Sakura's aura smashed the skull of a nearby River agent.
The remaining agents then fought back, but it was already too late. In a matter of minutes, all River agents had been dealt with. Tony then came in the clearing, followed by Markus. Markus looked around at the carnage.
"What the hell is going on?!" He asked.
"Sakura-chan and Noah-kun were ambushed by River agents." Hikari said.
"We need to get out of here as soon as possible." Markus said as he turned around.
"Good idea Markus." Tom said.
"And don't talk to me." Markus replied.
Sakura and Tony were back to their respective home. I was sitting down in the living room with Hikari and Tom while Markus was busy in the kitchen. He came back after several minutes. During the dinner, I told them about what happened at the shrine.
"It is as I have feared. Because you have a strong connection with The Origin, The River wants to get you so they can locate The Origin." Hikari said.
"But why attack him and Sakura? I mean, Sakura does have some magical abilities, but she has little connection to The Origin. Why would they need her?" Tom said.
"My guess is, since she's from Equestria's branch of The River, they want to make sure she will obey their rules." Markus said.
"And Tony?" Tom asked.
Markus and Hikari shrugged.
"The important for now is to make sure Noah-kun and Sakura-chan are safe. I will teach Sakura-chan how to use her magic here." Hikari said.
"Then, this means we have to wait for them to make a move." Markus said.
"I hate that." Tom said.
I got up and went to my bedroom. I closed the door and I sat down on my bed. I began to think about everything that had happened. And especially about the question I asked the shrine. My question was 'Who am I?' as in 'What am I?'. Instead of showing me my past, it showed me I had a strong connection to what The River was seeking. Everything made my head spin, and spin, and spin...
Next episode: "Its finally summer! Tony and Sakura are coming with me, Markus, Hikari and Dad to the sea. But what is that? Is that... A pony?! And what is Tom doing here? Was he following us? And are you okay Sakura? Each time I look at you, you keep blushing... Weird. Next episode:
Episode 5
起源
My past revealed
Don't miss it!"
(c) 2014 The master of the game
