I was a little worried about doing a power experimentation chapter this time around. At this point in time, it would be very easy to show more than I currently want to. But at the same time, Wes can't discover a new power and NOT want to figure out how it works and what it does, so it needed to be done. So what did I do? I mentally outlined what I wanted to share and what I didn't, and I made it work. So here you go. XD
It was 2 o'clock the following day when Wes woke up. He slowly rolled onto his back, stretching his arms up high. He smacked his lips, his eyes finally cracking open. He didn't remember falling asleep in his bed, but it wasn't that much of a stretch to guess what had happened. He would have to thank Danny later.
Wes sat up, realizing that he was definitely more well-rested than he had been in days. Everything was quiet; he couldn't hear the blood rushing through his ears, nor did he feel like his whole chest was convulsing. He was a tad restless, but that was about normal for him anyway. He measured his pulse, and was happy to note that he was only at around 70 beats per minute. Half of what it had been before. He sighed with relief, flopping back onto the mattress.
So he had control over light. Or at least, that's what that power seemed to be. He still wasn't completely sure what had happened. He knew he'd lit up, but he couldn't tell how bright he'd gotten. Enough that Danny had kept rubbing at his eyes up until the moment he'd passed out. Wes wondered what else he could do with that power. He hadn't had a chance to delve into any of the intricacies before, but now that he was wide awake, he longed to explore every single possibility. He closed his eyes, mentally locating his core. Intentionally tapping into it while in human form was like swimming through molasses, but he could tell that the energy was still buried there, the tips of his fingers twitching in anticipation. Surely it wouldn't hurt to get some practice in.
Wes glanced at his desk, where his camera sat innocently. He got to his feet, picking it up and checking the battery. Low, of course. He hadn't used it since getting caught, but he had also neglected to charge it. He huffed, rummaging through his desk drawers until he found a couple of spare batteries. He didn't want another video with a premature ending.
His stomach growled, and he winced. All he'd eaten the day before was a bowl of cereal, and it was already well into the afternoon. You need to eat three square meals a day if you want to fuel your powers properly, nagged a voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Danny. And really, what a hypocrite. But eating did sound like a good idea. If he was going to spend the day training, he would definitely need the energy to do it. He looked through the fridge, pulling out some leftover chicken and rice to reheat. He devoured it in record time, then jogged towards the woods. He needed somewhere more private to train such a conspicuous power, after all.
It felt like no time at all when Wes reached the clearing. He transformed, then turned on the camera. "Wes Weston again, and it's now November 12th, 2005. I had to put this on hold for a bit because I had school, and a game to practice for, but the good news is, I've discovered a new power. I can make my aura bright enough to blind people, I guess. Not permanently, thank god. But still, it's really bright... I should probably put an epilepsy warning here, because I'm about to do it."
Wes set the camera down, then stepped away so that his whole body was in view. He reached into his core, and the reaction was instantaneous. Power lit up within his veins, muscles flexing as if in preparation to sprint. It wasn't nearly as intense as the first time, didn't have quite that same pull. And now, Wes was awake and fully alert. There was nothing holding him back this time as his own energy tried to elevate every aspect of his being, nothing requiring him to resist it. He no longer had a reason to fear it. He even found himself welcoming it, the way it made his heart sing, made him feel like he could run forever and never stop. Like he could do anything.
He reeled that energy in, focused it all to one point in his chest. Then he let it escape him, his aura creeping closer to his skin before exploding around him. Wes laughed at the sensation of his power rushing through and outside of him, leaving him buzzing and lightheaded in the most pleasant way. He held himself that way for only a few seconds, then drew the power back, his glow dimming to something more standard. His heart still beat quickly in his chest, his core thrumming in time with it. Wes was grinning.
"Pretty cool, huh?" he asked giddily, shaking his hands out to ease the residual nerves. "So that's what my power looks like if I just let it come out. What I'm going to try doing today is focusing on getting it to do more specific stuff. First, I'm gonna see if I can choose how bright I get."
Calling on that power again was easy, when it still rested under his skin. His arms and legs trembled excitedly, but he resisted the urge to push everything out, and instead let it simply seep out of him. His aura dimmed only slightly before it surged, brightening enough that he couldn't quite see his own skin through it. From there, he let his glow increase, then ebb, brighter and dimmer in time with his breathing. With one last puff of air, it settled once more, leaving his freckles and pupils a vibrant shade of yellow.
"...Wow. Heh, it worked," Wes chuckled disbelievingly. "So I can change how bright I am, but I do have to concentrate to do it, otherwise it all sort of comes out at once. Definitely not bad for a first attempt, I think.
"Next, I want to try changing the color," he told the audience. "I already know my eyes and freckles can do it. Here, look." He leaned closer to the camera, so that it could observe as he willed his blurry attributes to turn a vivid shade of blue. "My glow changed once before on accident, so I bet I could do it on purpose if I really tried."
Wes concentrated, willing his energy to change to a blue similar to his eyes. It took more focus, but soon his aura saturated and deepened, matching his other features perfectly. Smiling to himself, he pushed himself to turn fire truck red, then indigo, and finally black. Satisfied, he let his concentration break, his glow flickering back to its usual cyan while his eyes gleamed a happy chartreuse.
"That worked pretty well," said Wes, making a show of smugly dusting off his hands. "It's a bit harder than doing just my eyes and stuff, but it's cool to know I can do that if I want to."
Wes checked his camera batteries, humming when he saw that it still had two-thirds of a charge left. Nodding to himself, he moved on. "So I can change colors, and I can change brightness. Now, I'm gonna try to see if I can make only part of me glow at a time, instead of all at once. Hopefully, it'll work out just like everything else has so far."
The Halfa strengthened his resolve once more, his core stirring back to life yet again. He recalled his prior solo training, when he had attempted to fire a laser from his hands. That approach hadn't worked at the time, but maybe that was because he hadn't known where his core was. Perhaps it would work better if he imagined the light coming from there first.
So that's what he did. Energy pulsed from his core, and he envisioned it traveling to his shoulder, then down his arm, past the elbow, to his wrist, and finally in the palm of his hand. His aura dimmed to almost nothing as he concentrated, but as he watched, mesmerized, his veins slowly lit up like they were full of glowstick fluid, the faint glow starting at his elbow and traveling downwards. His heart fluttered excitedly, and soon the light under his skin reached his wrist, branching across the palm of his hand and to the tips of his fingers. Smiling victoriously, he brought that power to the surface...
...where it promptly snuffed out and died.
"...Huh?" Wes tried again, but nothing happened. He flapped his hand, hoping that shaking it would help, but his core simply gave a weak stutter before settling down again. With a confused huff, he tried to wake it back up, but it didn't respond at all. Even his aura was completely gone. "...Did I... run out?"
No, that was impossible. If he was really out of power, he would have reverted back to human form, wouldn't he? Or at the very least, he would feel that deep ache in his chest that he had learned to associate with core exhaustion. Instead, he felt nothing. Experimentally lifting his feet showed that he still had access to his other powers, as did turning invisible. But somehow, light was suddenly beyond him.
"...Okay, so I'm all out of juice," Wes sheepishly told the camera, "which means I'm gonna have to wait for it to come back... Unless," he surmised, "I have a way to get it back myself.
"New experiment. While I was gone, I was going through something that Fe... someone who helped me thought was a core overload. Basically I had too much energy. But I noticed that moving around made it feel better for a little while, only for it to sometimes feel worse once I stopped. So I think that, maybe, if I run for a little bit I'll be able to replenish myself. It wouldn't hurt to try, at least."
Wes picked up his camera, opting to keep it on. He didn't know how long his stamina would hold out, nor how much power he could actually glean from running, but that would be yet another thing for him to become familiar with. Anything he could learn about how his powers worked would prove helpful.
He crouched, and then he took off.
Wes was off like a shot, feet pounding against the forest floor. He ran away from Amity Park, leaping over roots and swerving around bushes almost on autopilot. Running... felt good. Really good. A grin broke out across his face, hair billowing behind him as he pushed himself as fast as he could go. His calves burned pleasantly, spurring him to keep going. Harder, faster, his strides growing longer as he gained confidence in the terrain.
As Wes ran, his aura slowly flickered to life, until it was back to its usual vibrance. But he didn't stop. His core was still nearly mute in his chest, only barely supplying enough power to maintain his ethereal glow. He couldn't stop yet, and he didn't want to. Even when it felt like his lungs were on fire, his forehead soaked with sweat, he was determined to run until he couldn't run anymore.
He couldn't recall when, exactly, he lost his legs, but he soon found his tail snaking behind him, snapping and sizzling when it made contact with the ground. Wes laughed, picking up speed as he lowered his torso, barely keeping it above the ground as he moved. His tail twitched and flailed, the tip smacking eagerly against the neighboring trees with every swerve and sharp turn. Every contact sent an exhilarated thrill up Wes's spine, motivating him to push himself more, more, more...
His phone rang without warning, and he startled, skidding to a stop. His tail coiled and writhed beneath him as he pulled out his phone, the caller ID telling him it was his dad. Panting with exertion, he hit the green button and held the phone to his ear. "Hey dad. What's up?"
"Wesley," Walter breathed. "How are you feeling? You missed dinner last night, and you were still asleep when I left."
"I'm feeling loads better," Wes replied. "Actually, I'm feeling great! I slept good, I had a big breakfast... er, lunch, and right now I'm doing some training. I don't think what happened yesterday will be a problem anymore."
"Good. That's... That's good," said Walter. He sounded relieved. "I'm glad you're doing better. What kind of training are you doing now?"
"Daaad, not over the phone," Wes hissed. "Anyone could be listening in."
His father chuckled, deciding to humor his son. "Alright, alright, I get it. You can tell me all about it later tonight. I should be home for dinner this time. How do you feel about pizza?"
Wes smiled softly at the rare opportunity. "...Pizza sounds great. Could you grab Hawaiian?"
"Hawaiian it is," Walter promised. Wes's phone beeped a warning, and he pulled it away from his ear to look at the screen. Low battery. He frowned with a hum; he knew Danny hadn't plugged it in for him, but he still could have sworn it had more charge left.
"...I gotta go, my phone's almost dead. But I'll see you when you get home, okay?"
"Alright. I should get back to work, anyway," Walter conceded. "I love you, Wesley."
Another smile. "Love you too, dad."
There was a soft click, and Wes pocketed his phone. Remembering what he had been doing before the call, he brought his camera back up. Totally dead. Strange, it had been well over half battery ten minutes ago. Maybe it was the camera itself that was going bad, not the battery. "I guess practice is over for the day..."
Wes sighed, then opted to fly home rather than walk; a quick glimpse at his core showed that it was already brimming with energy once more. So running did have something to do with it. He decided it was a good idea to burn most of it off on the way home. He wanted to be able to sleep that night, thank you very much.
The idea of flying without someone there to catch him was a little nerve-wracking, but he reminded himself that he was more than capable of becoming airborne on his own. The faster he flew, the more stable he would be. As long as he kept that in mind, he would be fine.
Wes raised himself from the ground, his tail unraveling from its coiled posture as he got higher up. He rocked back, and then shot forwards, his core singing and awaiting release. He readily obliged, shining like a bright beacon of light as he hurtled towards his house.
If that was what having a full core was supposed to feel like, Wes thought it might be nice to work a jog in in the mornings.
({O})
"So you can actually run out, huh?"
It was a rare instance where Danny and his friends arrived to the first class of the day early. The room was devoid of other students, and even the teacher had yet to arrive. That meant there was plenty of time for Wes to regale the ghost hunters with tales of his new abilities.
"Apparently. One minute I have a handle on my powers, then bam. Next thing I know I'm not even glowing. But I could still fly and stuff just fine."
"Huh, weird," hummed Tucker. "Most ghosts can make their own core energy, I thought. At least I've never seen a ghost run out."
"Maybe it's just because you're new," grunted Sam.
"That's what I thought, too," Wes agreed, hardly noticing Sam's tone as he scrolled through a local news feed on his phone. "I can recharge if I move around enough, though. I went jogging this morning, so I have some power to spare right now. You guys wanna see?"
"Maybe after school," Danny cut in before Tucker could enthusiastically agree. "Someone could walk in and see you, and you nearly blinded me last time you used your powers."
"Did you now," Sam said with a quirked brow, unimpressed.
"Not on purpose," Wes pouted defensively. "I can at least control how bright I am now..."
"After school," Danny repeated. Wes huffed, focusing his attention back on his phone.
The classroom was silent for several minutes, save for Sam and Tucker discussing the class's homework. Danny laid his head down to work in a nap, and Wes quietly scrolled through his feed. Then without warning, he sprung to his feet, his free hand slamming down on the top of his desk. Sam and Tucker jumped, and Danny jolted awake, hands instinctively curling into fists.
"Fenton! Fenton, look at this!" Wes screamed, shoving his phone in Danny's face. The teen lowered his fists, leaning away from the device before reaching out to grab it. The screen was practically a wall of text, a story submission about an alien sighting on the border of Ionia, as far as he could tell. He skimmed the article, not really reading any of it, but he paused on the attached photograph. It depicted the Michigan sky, with a bright blue streak bisecting the view. It looked like it could have been a lightning strike, or a meteor.
Wes was quivering with excitement. "You see that? Someone caught a real life photograph of an alien spaceship, just a couple miles from here!" he cried ecstatically.
Danny narrowed his eyes disbelievingly, then peered at the image more closely. Something seemed off about it, and not just the fact that it looked like it could have been fabricated. "...Where did you say you were practicing again?"
"At the edge of town, by the woods. Why?"
Danny sighed in exasperation, then held the phone out for Wes to see. He zoomed in on the picture, showing that there was a vague but clearly humanoid form at the blunt end of the streak. "Any chance you could have gotten caught on camera?"
Wes took his phone back, a disappointed frown on his face. However, it quickly turned into wide-eyed delight. "...I'm a UFO," he breathed, voice barely above a whisper. Danny had the decency to cover up his amused snort. Tucker didn't bother.
And then Danny and Wes gasped, almost in unison, the latter nearly dropping his phone and the former's breath clouding in front of his face. The two blinked at each other, a silent understanding between them, and Danny groaned. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
Finally, we're getting into another action chapter. And this one should have some actual action in it, not just a bunch of running around like last time, haha.
Slowly delving into the inner workings of Wes's powers, and likely more to come soon. I was happy to learn that quite a few of you have been paying attention to the little bread crumbs I've left behind, and hope you continue to enjoy doing so. I've been using this story to try to get better at showing and not telling, and to leave hints more often rather than telling the audience everything, so it's been really awesome to see some of you gathering the evidence and forming your own conclusions.
And yes, I know light can't actually be black in any way we can perceive with the naked eye. But this is ghost light, so I get to bend the rules a bit. XD
I do already have an idea on how I want this next chapter to go, so I should hopefully have that done really soon!