and Kotetsu saw cracks begin to form. As he stepped back, the orb burst, and Kotetsuwas enveloped in light and searing heat.
"Kotetsu!" Kotetsu surfaced from his sleep, his head pounding with a steady ache. "Kotetsu, wake up!" Kotetsu opened his eyes blearily to find he was on the floor of the lab next to the pod,
Saito's worried face looking down on him. "My head feels like it's split open," grumbled Kotetsu. "And why am I lying on the floor?" "Well," said Saito, "You were in the pod for longer than you were supposed to be. For half an hour longer, to be exact." "What?" exclaimed Kotetsu, "What happened?" "Well, right before I was going to disconnect you, the power went out in the building. Butnot in your pod, because it has a generator so you don't become trapped and have touse your Hundred Power. So I was helpless in the control room until the power cameback on and I could disconnect you." "What does this mean? Will the extra serum do anything?" "I'm afraid I don't know, Kotetsu. I'd recommend going home and resting, though. Wecan test your Hundred Power tomorrow and see if the serum worked."
Kotetsu went to his apartment and sat on his couch, flicking through repetitivecommercials and the drama of daytime soap operas. Around dinner time, he whippedup some fried rice, (Still unable to make anything else) and munched thoughtfully at thedinner table. If everything works out, thought Kotetsu, I'll be able to be partners with Bunny again. After Kotetsu had joined the second Hero league, he and Barnaby had,
understandably, seen much less of each other. Barnaby had retained his lead rank since Kotetsu's departure, and Kotetsu was glad he was still doing so well. He justwished, however, that he could've been fighting alongside Barnaby still with the samecamaraderie they'd had. Like when they'd fought the H-01 android. Sighing, Kotetsumoved his bowl to the dishwasher and returned to watching TV. After watching a boringnewscast and the successful apprehension of a crook by the other Heroes, he turned offthe TV and went to bed.
Kotetsu groaned as the shrill cry of his alarm clock pierced his sleep. Rolling over, heslapped his hand down on the clock, hoping to silence it.
Crunch
Kotetsu opened his eyes. That didn't sound right. He sat up and turned to look at his nightstand, where his alarm clock had been reduced to a rubble of plastic and metal. "Now how did I-"
Kotetsu stopped as he stared down at his hands. They were, as well as the rest of his body, engulfed in a very familiar blue aura. I've got to see Saito right away! ThoughtKotetsu, hurrying to get dressed. I hope he can figure out what's going on. Hurrying tothe roof of his apartment, he put his mask on. He burst through the door to the roof, andwas soon bounding across the cityscape towards the Apollon Media building.
Kotetsu careened through the doors of the building and shouted a quick apology to thesecurity guard as he entered the elevator. As soon as the doors opened up, Kotetsurocketed to the labs. He soon found Saito, returning the pod that had given him theserum to its original format. "- - - - - -?" whispered Saito. "Eh?" Saito scurried over to a workbench and put on his hard hat, which was outfitted withspeakers. "I asked what you are doing here!" Saito repeated, his voice blaring out of the speakers.
"I did not expect you to be here for at least another hour." "Well, my Hundred Power is working..." began Kotetsu. "Excellent! When did you activate it?" asked Saito. "Erm, I don't exactly know. It was activated when I woke up this morning. I got over hereas quickly as I could." "Hmm," mused Saito. "This is certainly an interesting development. How long has itbeen since you woke up?" "About... 10 minutes," stated Kotetsu, spying a clock across the lab. "Well, while we wait for it to wear off, let's do some tests to see if the strength of your Hundred Power has changed," suggested Saito. "Sure," Kotetsu agreed. Giving a small nod, Saito led Kotetsu to the testing facilities.
30 minutes. It took 30 minutes for Kotetsu's Hundred Power to wear off. He had been lucky that the sparring robot hadn't taken off his head when it happened. Barely having time to give asigh of relief, Saito had pulled him into the observation room to share the data results. "Your strength is the same as before," Saito had said, "as is your speed, endurance,
and agility. I'd like to test you once a week though, just to see if anything changes." Kotetsu contemplated this as he rode up with Saito to speak to Mr. Lloyds and Agnes about returning to Hero TV in the main league.