A couple of weeks later, almost everyone had their power. One by one, each of the Youtubers had discovered their gifts. Marzia was an air elemental, Minx had telekinesis, Yami was a water elemental, Cry could turn invisible and create force fields, Sky could control electricity, Deadlox could shoot energy beams and summon energy tools/weapons, and Jake had super stretchy powers. Mark and Ken were the only ones who haven't received their powers yet. Why the fuck do I not have my gift yet? I should've been the first one to get my powers! Mark bitterly thought as he took a bite of his sandwich. Almost everyone at the table was practicing their powers. Marzia was using her air powers to flip the pages of the book in front of her while Felix proudly watched. Yami was moving the water inside his water bottle while Minx tried desperately to float her sandwich into her mouth, but failed miserably. Sky accidentally sent a spark of electricity that fried his sandwich to a crisp and everyone broke into laughter. Deadlox was trying to summon a knife to cut his sandwich, but when he tried he could only make a neon green screwdriver appear.
"Hey Mitch and Jerome, how is your training going to far?" Saph asked.
"Well, it's pretty tough. Lots of exercises and sparring." Jerome sighed. They both did look very tired, but they've seemed to build up in the past few weeks. Mitch was silent as he stared into the distance.
(Flashback)
"I WANT TEN MORE PUSHUPS YOU HEAR ME?!" Brice was yelling at Mitch and Jerome as they did pushups on the dirty floor of the gym. Mitch felt as if his arms were going to fall off right then and there! Sweat seemed to drip from every pore and his breaths were short and heavy.
"Please no! I can't do anymore!" Mitch pleaded while gasping for more air.
"LIKE HELL YOU CAN'T DO ANYMORE! NOW I WANT TWENTY MORE PUSHUPS FROM BOTH OF YOU!" Brice paced back and forth. Mitch was beginning to really hate this guy, and he could tell that Jerome was as well. If Jerome had enough energy left, he probably would've given Mitch a dirty look for giving them more exercise. Both of them struggled to complete the last of the pushups.
"Ok that's enough for now." Both of them fell to the floor wheezing and lay there until Brice made them get back up again.
"Now get up we're not done yet!"
Training, at first, was "all about preparing yourself for the physical strains of battle" as Brice would always put it. There were so many exercises that eventually they lost count and they would always love returning to their dorm and sleeping after training. Jerome and Mitch did become much stronger through the intense workouts. Mitch had even caught Jerome marveling at himself shirtless in the mirror once! Then one day, training took a different turn. Mitch and Jerome had warmed up like usual, but this time they didn't continue on to more intense exercises.
"Now that you both are in good physical condition, I can begin training you two to fight." Brice explained.
"Sweet! So are we gonna use cool practice dummies or something?" Jerome nearly bounced with excitement.
"No, you're gonna use each other." Brice slyly grinned. Mitch looked to Jerome with confusion in his eyes.
"Each other?" Mitch asked.
"I want you two to spar. Show me what you got!" Brice stepped back and signaled for the sparring to begin. Mitch looked back to Jerome who was already in a fighting stance. Wait, I don't want to have to fight Jerome! Well, I guess it is just practice… Mitch shook his head and got into a stance.
(End Flashback)
"So I'm guessing that's where you got that nasty bruise." Deadlox pointed to the black and blue mark on Jerome's left arm. He looked down at the mark and winced in recollection. Mitch's heart sank; he had given his friend that bruise during a sparring match. He still felt horrible about it though Jerome said it was fine.
"Um yeah." Jerome nervously chuckled and scratched the back of his neck.
"Hey so are we gonna meet up and play some videogames in Felix's room like we always do?" Cry changed the subject.
"If so, I might not go," Ken said.
"Awww… why not?" Felix asked.
"I just don't feel that well." Ken answered quickly; it wasn't exactly a lie. He hasn't been feeling like himself lately. He had recently been having strange urges to cause trouble. It felt as though his entire subconscious was steering him to bang on his desk or throw the book he was holding across the room. For about a week he had been repressing these feelings but recently they've become especially strong. Ken just didn't want anyone to get hurt. Everyone was staring at him in concern, for they had no idea what had gotten into him recently and he didn't want them to worry.
"I guess I'll go." Ken sighed and Pewd's perked up. Light and friendly chatter then started up again among the gamers until they had all devoured their lunches. Felix was the first to stand up.
"You guys coming or what?" Felix smiled and motioned towards the door of the cafeteria. Everyone else followed and the table was left empty.
(Back at Felix's dorm)
"So what do you guys wanna play?" Felix asked the group, staring at the games section of the Xbox interface.
"How about Worms?" Yami suggested and everyone shook their heads in unison. They've been playing Worms way too often and they needed a break.
"Minecraft?" Sky asked and once again, everyone disapproved.
"How about Rayman? We can have a soccer tournament!" Mark suggestion and everyone agreed to the idea. A little competition wouldn't hurt anybody.
"Ok so who's teaming with who?" Pewds asked. Immediately, Mitch and Jerome paired up along with Mark and Saph, Sky and Deadlox, Felix and Cry, Yami and Ken, and Minx and Jake. Marzia was sitting on the sidelines.
"I don't feel like playing today, I'll just watch." Marzia shrugged.
Now that the teams had been formed, gameplay commenced. In the first few rounds, Mark and Saph crushed Sky and Deadlox. Team Merome wiped the floor with team Pewdiecry and the two teams of Ken and Yami and Minx and Jake were now about to face off. It was a close game, and it came down to both teams being tied in overtime. The ball bounced back and forth across the field for a while, until Yami made a fatal mistake. Instead of hitting the ball to the other side, his finger slipped and he scored against his own team, losing the game for them.
Minx and Jake stood up and cheered at their victory while Yami groaned in frustration, but Ken was silent, dead silent. He knew that it was just a game, but he felt as if his entire world had been shattered by Yami's incredibly stupid mistake. His blood began to boil in his body as all of the feelings of the past weeks bubbled to the surface, until it popped. Ken let out a low and somewhat animalistic growl and lunged for Yami's throat. Missing slightly, his hands reached the collar of his shirt and pulled him up so they were staring inches from each other's faces. Yami let out a small whimper as he saw the pure savagery in his friends deep brown eyes. Ken's lips were drawn back in a snarl and his white teeth shone in the light of the room.
"Ken what the fuck are you doing?!" Mark yelled as he grabbed Ken and tore him away from Yami. At first, Ken flailed and kicked, attempting to free himself. He didn't even know who was holding him back, and frankly he didn't care. He just wanted to release the energy he's been holding back on something…on someone. It was Mark's dead serious voice in his ear that brought him back down to Earth.
"Ken get a hold of yourself!" Mark spoke, in a very serious tone, into his ear. Ken relaxed and tried to wrap his mind around what he had tried to do…what he wanted to do. These few moments of confusion didn't last long, the feeling of wanting to hurt, to destroy was returning fast. He had to get out of there! Muttering, "I'm sorry" Ken rushed out the door. He had to get away from everything and work this out alone; the North fields would suffice. Ken sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him and quickly arrived in the fields.
If not for the aching feeling in his body to destroy, he would have admired the beautiful scenery. The long blades of grass were dotted with shimmering spheres of dew that seemed to dance in the moonlight. The evil side of him began to take over as he became quite annoyed with the field. It was mocking him with its beauty and perfection…IT MUST BE DESTROYED. Without a single thought, Ken kneeled and began to tear away at the ground. The moist soil stuck under his fingernails as he flung chunks of earth and grass behind him. With each dig at the earth with his hands he felt his conscious self, his real self, slipping away deeper and deeper into the recesses of his mind. He finally felt the evil side of him take over, as it seemed to flow through his entire body. Ken's skin felt as if it was stretching and his body felt as if it were growing larger and larger. His hands had been replaced with two brown, furry baseball-glove sized paws that bore five long, sharp claws.
At this point, he had completely lost sight of himself. It seemed as if his entire life revolved around him digging, to destroying the beautiful field that tore at his very being. Then, he heard something strange. It was a deep, somewhat animalistic breath that he did not recognize. Ken stopped his passionate digging to listen to the breathing and was shocked to realize that it was his own. The rustling of grass snapped him back into his primal state of savagery. He turned around to see Cry, Sky, Deadlox, Mitch, and Jerome staring at him. All of their eyes (except for Cry because of his mask.) shone with shock and fear. HE WANTED TO BE ALONE COULDN'T THEY SEE THAT?! Ken rose to his feet (not noticing that he was nearly 10 feet tall) and let out a spine chilling, bone-racking roar.
"BEAR!" Sky shouted, feet still planted to the ground in a state of utter panic. Without a second thought, Ken blindly swung his mighty pawn at Sky and knocked him to the ground. He landed with a thud and Ken pointed his muzzle directly at him and let out a deep growl. Sky tried to scream, but the wind was knocked out of him and he could only wheeze in pain under the large bear that hovered over him. Ken turned his large head to see Jerome hurtling at him.
"GET OFF OF HIM!" Jerome screamed as he pounced and landed on the bear's back. The bear effortlessly turned and plunged its jaw in Jerome's shoulder, flinging him away like a ragdoll.
"NOOO!" Bajan cried out, seeing his friend's limp body roughly thrown across the clearing. This had to be a nightmare! How could this even happen? Where was Ken? Mitch quickly glanced around and saw that Cry was nowhere to be found. He must have turned invisible! Mitch thought. Deadlox was a couple feet away, his eyes were shut tight and he was muttering something. He must be trying to summon a weapon. Well if no one is going to do something then I will!
Bajan ran at the huge animal and karate kicked it square in the face. The bear opened it's mouth to bite down on his leg, but before it could it began to gasp and wheeze as if it were being strangled. The beast backed up and threw its massive head from side to side. What the hell is it doing? Mitch thought. Suddenly, Cry appeared on top of the bear with his arms around its neck. Before long, the bear slumped onto the ground from lack of air in it's lungs and fell into unconsciousness. Cry released his grip and stood over his defeated enemy.
"Good job Cry." Deadlox approached the beast carefully.
"Jerome!" Mitch nudged his friend's body that was sprawled on the ground. Please say something! Bajan's words got stuck in his throat and tears began to form in his eyes that hopingly stared down on his injured friend.
"I-I'm fine M-Mitch." Jerome sputtered. Bajan let out a sigh of relief and pulled Jerome up and hugged him.
"Thank God you're ok!" Mitch breathed. He could feel his friend flinch and pulled back to see a series of scratches along Jerome's shoulder, probably from the teeth of the bear. Bajan winced from just looking at the injury it must really hurt. Jerome noticed his friend staring at his injury.
"It doesn't feel as bad as it looks." Jerome lied, it hurt like hell. But he didn't want Mitch to worry about him. Bajan helped Jerome up and they both walked over to join Cry, Deadlox, and Sky who were standing over the bear.
"So where do you think this bear came from?" Sky asked, still wheezing.
"Better question, where did Ken go?" Deadlox wondered out loud. As if to answer him, the beast began to shrink and shrink until it was in a humanoid form. A second look confirmed that the figure that lay before them was their friend, Ken.
So sorry that it took forever to finish writing this chapter. I've been super busy with school and my other story that I'm writing. I just want to warn you guys that uploads may slow down from time to time. Don't worry I'M NOT GIVING UP ON THIS STORY! I'm just really busy sometimes. Well, see you guys later! Bye!