As a few days passed, Evan had returned to the training room again and again in order to improve himself. Practicing these new energy powers required a lot of focus from him. Although, implementing them into his normal punches and kicks was a lot easier than expected, it almost felt natural to do it.

During the night, he would sometimes dream of that mysterious individual again, although he only seemed to dream of the two of them fighting in that rocky wasteland, with no words coming from either of them. The man's face was always obscured by shadows, as if his mind was a puzzle and that particular piece was still missing. Whoever this person was, he had to have meant SOMETHING in his life before he lost his memory.

Occasionally, Elm would stop by to talk with Evan during the midst of his training. However, she wasn't able to stick around for long as she had to head out on missions with the rest of her team. While he understood why she needed to leave, it still hurt him a bit. This pain that he felt only further motivated Evan to improve his abilities even more so.

"The sooner that I'm able to head out on missions, the sooner I'll be able to start lifting my weight around here. Everyone here has done so much for me! I won't let their kindness go to waste! Maybe I'll even be able to join Elm on some of her missions." Evan thought to himself.

Facing a stationary Atlesian robot, he kept his stance wide. Holding both hands, side by side, in front of him, he began to charge up an attack. The yellow energy began to intensify and change into a bright red color. He could feel his arms begin to shake violently in response to the massive amount of energy that he was now holding. He knew that in order to land this attack, he needed to focus, he had to steel his resolves, he had to block out any and all distracti-

"Hello there!" a new voice shouted from behind, startling Evan.

In that one moment, he accidentally released the energy he was storing. Soaring through the air, the erratic red beam began to dissipate and get smaller as it soon found its target. Although, it was not the lone robot, but rather the wall behind it, about 20 ft above his actual target. The room briefly shook in response, but the wall stood firm. Flinching in response, Evan looked upward at the cloud of black smoke as it dissipated, only to see a nasty looking scorch mark upon the wall. He turned around to see Winter, accompanied by a young girl, around his age, who was waving at him with her left arm.

The girl had green eyes along with short, curly, orange hair. She had a pink bow placed on the back of her hair. She wore a gray dress with white sleeves, black leggings and black shoes. Her whole outfit had green circles and lines throughout her attire. The girl still waving at him, Evan walked up to the two people.

Looking closer, he felt there was something off about this new individual. Her smile seemed forced and somewhat over expressive. It was kind of like someone had told her what a smile was, but she didn't fully grasp the specifics of it.

Winter turned to look at the girl and spoke, "You can stop waving now, Penny."

The girl quickly turned to face Winter and responded, "Understood, Specialist Schnee."

In an instant, her arm stopped waving and dropped back to her side.

Quietly sighing, Winter looked at Evan and said, "It's good to see you training again, Evan. I've always believed that diligence in one's effort to improve is a key aspect of any proper huntress or huntsman."

Gesturing to the girl next to her, she continued, "This is Penny Polendina. She will be escorting you to Pietro's office after you've finished training with me today."

Penny, looking at Evan, spoke aloud, "Salutations! It is a pleasure to meet you."

Even the way she spoke was a little weird. Giving a small wave to Penny, he asked Winter, "Why do I need to head to Pietro's office?"

Winter replied, "If you are going to work alongside Atlas, you'll need a weapon to help fight against the Grimm. Also, it might be useful to have something to help keep your energy more stable in a fight." Winter finishes as she raises her right arm towards the large scorch mark.

Nodding in response, Evan questions Winter, "So, I'm finally going to be fighting you?"

As Winter walked to the center of the room, she responded, "Not exactly."

With a quick flick of her wrist, she pulls out her saber. Bringing it to the floor, a strange glyph begins to appear in front of her. The floor begins to glow as the glyph begins to spin rapidly.

Looking towards Evan, she explains, "Instead, you will be fighting against some Grimm. Since they will be a summon of mine, they will fight with a lower level of aggression than a normal Grimm would. If you are successful, you will be allowed to embark on your first mission later on tonight with Elm and the other members of theAce Ops."

Evan, standing at the ready, prepared himself for the attack. This was his chance to prove himself! He would take whatever Winter threw at him, in order to come out on top.

"I understand. I'm ready when you are Winter. I'll give it my all!" Evan shouted out excitedly.

Nodding, she summoned a Boarbatusk. It looked exactly like the ones he had seen in the books he had read. Although, this one was almost entirely white with blue vein-like lines across its body.

It stamped its hooves upon the ground before roaring at Evan. The young man stared down the beast as it began to charge at him. Rolling out the way, Evan turned and ran toward the creature as it moved around to face him, charging at him once more. Bending his knees, he grabbed the monster by its tusks.

The beast pushed Evan back, attempting to topple the teen over and trample him. Pushing back against the monster, his feet slipped slightly but held firm. Stopping the creature in its tracks, he lifted the creature above him, and slammed it into the ground. With its underbelly exposed, Evan charged up an energy attack and blasted the summon away. With the creature vanishing in a trail of blue and white smoke, Winter prepared to summon another Grimm.

"An interesting approach Evan, but how will you fare against multiple opponents?" Winter proposed.

In an instant, three Beowolves had appeared. The three beasts proceeded to circle the young man, each snarling and growling at him. Glancing at the monsters, Evan thought to himself.

"If I go after one, I'll be attacked from behind by the other two. I need to distract them if I want to even the odds and beat them."

Charging another attack in his left palm, he pointed it to the ground creating a cloud of black smoke. The Grimm, surprised by the attack, moved backwards in response. Their eyes focused on the smoke cloud, attempting to see anything move within. Jumping into the air and above the cloud, Evan charged up another attack and blasted one of their heads clean off its body.

With the cloud dissipating, he landed back on the floor and lunged towards the second wolf. Ducking its initial swipe, he gave the beast a punch to the gut, sending it rolling backwards across the room. He turned around to see the third Beowolf sprinting towards him. Attempting to bite at him with its large maw, Evan sidestepped the attack by jumping to the left and proceeded to pounce onto the creature's back. Holding both hands together, he delivered a hammer blow to the beast's skull. The attack makes the creature collapse in a heap on the floor.

Facing the final Grimm, who was running back towards him, he began to sprint towards it in response. The Grimm leaped into the air, attempting to land on top of the young man. Seeing this, Evan slid against the floor. Sliding past the creature and facing its rear, Evan launched a barrage of energy blasts at the monster, leaving nothing but white and blue smoke behind.

As Evan turned to face Winter, the Specialist announced to the young man, "Perhaps you need a more durable opponent who isn't as easily susceptible to your attacks."

With a smile on her face, she prepared one final summon. From the circle, an Ursa Major had appeared. Charging at Evan, the young man launched numerous blasts of energy at the beast. Its bony armor shielding itself from the onslaught, the monster continued its charge. With the beast nearly on top of him, he crossed his arms as the creature slammed its head into him. Sending him falling backwards, he looked up to see the creature swipe at him with its massive claws. He rolled to the side to avoid the beast, its claws leaving an indent where Evan was prior.

Getting back on his feet, he thought to himself, "This creature's armor is WAY too tough to pierce through with my normal blasts. And I can't charge up any powerful attacks that could take it down without the beast tearing me apart! Winter wouldn't summon something that she knew I couldn't defeat."

As the beast turned to roar at him, its mouth agape, he continued thinking, "Maybe if it's too tough on the outside, I need to launch an attack into its insides!"

Charging an attack in both hands he kept his distance from the creature. As the energy fully coalesced in both palms, he smirked at the beast. Taunting the Ursa, he yelled out, "Come on, you huge pile of fur! Aren't you going to attack me? Or are you just too scared to finish me off?"

The beast began to roar again as it charged Evan. Sending another claw to swipe at the young teen, Evan dodged the attack and launched both blasts directly into the Ursa's maw. Jumping back, he watched as the creature exploded from within, disappearing into blue and white smoke like the rest of the monsters.

Breathing aloud, he looked to Winter, who had released her saber from the floor. With the glyph disappearing, she faced Evan.

With a pleased look on her face, she responds to him, "Congrats on your victory Evan. I'm glad to see you use your intellect and wits in the midst of combat. A huntsman should always use both their mind and body in order to defeat their opponent, never forget that."

As Evan nodded to Winter, she continued, "You have certainly proven yourself capable of going on this mission. After you've returned from Pietro's lab, I would advise you to rest and recover for your mission tonight. When you return to your room, there will be a little surprise waiting. At 0300 hours, or 3 am, Elm will escort you to the docking bay where you will meet up with the rest of the Ace Ops. They will debrief you on your mission from there. If you will excuse me Evan, I have a lot to accomplish today and I am needed elsewhere."

She finishes as she gives a salute to him.

Evan responds in kind with his own salute. Although it's not as perfect as her own, she nods and accepts it regardless, turning away and leaving the room.

Turning to Penny, Evan questions the girl, "So how do we get to Pietro's office?"

Continuing to hold that weird smile, she replies, "Oh, that's easy. I'm great at navigating! If you follow me, I'll bring you straight to my father!"

As the two left the training room, both of them walking side by side through the halls, Penny asked the young teen, "That fight of yours was truly sensational! Although, while your fight was occurring, I couldn't seem to locate any records regarding your identity from the CCT. Why is that?"

Responding back, Evan replied, "Oh, that? Well, let's just say that I'm new around here. I don't know much about Remnant, so I've been reading to understand it more."

Curiously, Penny tilted her head in response, analyzing the young teen. Her smile was quickly replaced with a more neutral expression, seemingly amidst her thoughts. For a second, he swore that he saw her eyes glow momentarily. Maybe it was just a trick of the light. Regardless, her smile returned as quickly as it left, although this one seemed more real, so to speak.

"That is quite similar to what I'm currently going through! I'm quite new to Atlas as well, and I don't have any friends. My father is helping me learn so much about the world around me. I know I'm not perfect at understanding the little things, but I really am trying. I'm just so glad that I have someone who can really understand and relate to what I'm experiencing! Would you like to be friends with me?" Penny replied back.

Surprised by the abrupt question, Evan asked, "Friends?"

Nodding, Penny continued, "Yes, we should be friends! Friends are people who like each other, share common interests, and enjoy being in each other's company. Do you not like my company?" She finished with a small frown.

Shaking his head, he replied pleasantly, "No, I don't dislike you or your company. I guess I don't have that many friends, so sure! I'll be your friend!"

Her face beaming with joy, she rushed her arms around Evan in a viselike hug. He thought to himself, "Is this how I die?! Crushed to death in the world's strongest hug?!"

She shouted aloud, "Oh this is wonderful! This is sensational! This is utterly fantastic! I can't wait to tell my father all about this!"

Releasing Evan from the death hug, she grabbed ahold of his hand. Just as he regained his breath, Penny shot off like a rocket, with Evan trailing behind like an old flag. Navigating through the halls, Penny stopped like a dime at one particular door. Evan, collapsing onto the floor in a heap, looked up to his overly excitable friend.

Proclaiming to the world, she exclaimed, "We have arrived Evan!" Glancing at the ground she asks him, "Evan? What are you doing down there? Don't you know that floors are the 17th most germ ridden objects on Remnant? I wouldn't want our newfound friendship to be ended by some random disease that you picked up from it. Here, allow me to assist you!"

Grabbing him by his shoulders, Evan was lifted back onto his feet by the smiling girl. Penny opened the door, and entered. Holding her hands to her mouth, she called out, "Father! I've returned with Evan!"

Entering the office, he was overwhelmed by the display before him. Various workstations littered the room, each one with a machine in various stages of completion. Each workstation had a computer with incomprehensible amounts of code on the screens. Blueprints and tools were sat across various shelves along the walls. In one corner of the room was a large cylindrical device. The inside of the machine glowed a light green.

Looking over to the other side of the room he saw a man with dark skin and white hair working on another machine. He wore a green cap and glasses alongside a red vest and tan pants. Strangely enough, his chair had four robotic legs attached to it, which then proceeded to turn him towards the two teens.

Looking at Penny, he questioned, "How have you been dear?"

With a large smile across her face, "Oh, it's been wonderful! Today, I've made my first friend!" She says gesturing towards Evan.

Nodding, he looks at the old man. "So you are Pietro. It's nice to meet you, sir." Evan replied.

"The pleasure is all mine, Evan. Understanding and replicating your ship's technology has been quite a challenge for me. Although, I'm getting fairly close to completing the first copy of it. Won't be long before Atlas's ships will be flying across the sky, faster than ever before, while only needing half the dust they did originally! I've also seen some of your combat footage, and I'm fascinated by your abilities. I'm actually rather excited to get started on this weapon." Pietro explained with a smile as his chair moved him over to an empty workstation.

"Now, what kind of weapon would you like? A sword shotgun? Pistol batons? Maybe even a taser whip?" Pietro asked.

Shaking his head, Evan replied, "What? How would you even create a sword shot—Nevermind. Honestly, I don't really want a gun or a melee weapon. I kind of want to stick with my own two fists. It just sort of feels right. Does that make any sense?"

"Hmmmm. In that case, perhaps you could use a pair of gauntlets. With weapons like that, you would still be fighting with your hands. You would just be hitting harder thanks to them. Plus, I could custom make them so you could harness and hone your energy even better than before! How does that sound?" Pietro questioned Evan.

"Yeah! That sounds fine to me! Where do we start?" Evan agreed.

"For today, I'll just need to take some measurements for your arms and hands so I can get started on the base designs for the gauntlets. I'll need you to come in sometime in the future so I can test out the prototypes along with getting a better grasp on the energy that you emit." Pietro answered Evan.

Facing Penny, he continued, "Penny, could you please go and grab the measuring tape. It should be in one of the workstations over there."

With a smile, she quickly turned around and started to pull open the various drawers in the workstations near her.

Gesturing Evan to sit on the stool next to him, he whispered to the young teen, "I know that Penny can be a bit bizarre at times, but she means well honestly. I just want my daughter to be happy and experience the world. You're the first friend that she's made around here, so please give her a chance. Could you give her that much at least?" His eyes filled with fragile hope as he spoke.

His face softening, he whispered back to Pietro, "I will Pietro. I promise."

Nodding to the teen, Pietro reached into the drawer next to him, grabbing the measuring tape. Turning his head over to Penny, he called out, "Sorry Penny, it seems I forget that I had the tape over here all along. You can stop looking for it now."

Extending his arms and hands onto the desk, Pietro carefully obtained Evan's measurements, writing them down onto a nearby notepad.

Stepping out of the stool, Evan walked over to the door. "It was nice meeting you guys! Just let me know when I need to come over again." The young man thanked the two individuals. Looking over at Penny, he continued, "If you want to meet up again, I'll be in Training Room 4 during most days."

Penny beamed with happiness in response as Evan looked on as he turned to leave the room.

Navigating through the halls he questioned, "Now, what kind of surprise did Winter imply back in the training room? I hope it's an extra portion for lunch, I'm still rather hungry after having breakfast earlier!"

Heading back to the medical wing, he found a note on the door addressed to him:

Please head to the nearest elevator and head to Floor 3, Room 18. Your surprise is waiting for you there.

/-/

Following the instructions, Evan headed up to the third floor. Walking up to Room 18, he knocked on the door and waited for a response. Knocking a little harder, he waited again. Shaking his head in frustration, he opened the door.

Hanging from the ceiling was a paper banner saying: Congratulations!

From what he could tell, no one else was in the room currently. The room was similar in size to the medical room that he was in prior, if not a little bit bigger. Off on the right side of the room, four beds were embedded into the wall. With two of the beds suspended above the ones at ground level, with a small makeshift ladder in between the four beds. On the other side of the room, there was a door leading to a bathroom and shower. The back wall held a large window, showing off the brilliant midday icy tundra. Although, the thing that got his attention was a large box placed atop a desk to the left side of the room.

Opening it up, he saw a set of multi-colored armor, a key, along with a handwritten note, also addressed to him, within the box. Picking the paper up, it read:

If you are reading this, then you have successfully completed your preliminary training with Winter today. Considering how much effort that you have been putting into your training, I believed that you deserved a substantial reward. This room is officially yours now. You can use the key provided to you to enter your room, should you decide to lock your doors. You are also allowed to order and eat at the main cafeteria on Floor 4 with the students, although I would advise that you wear one of the Atlas Academy uniforms whenever you head up to eat. You can find them in the drawers under the beds.

Since you are about to embark on your first mission with some of Atlas's finest soldiers, I thought it would be fitting to give you access to the armor that we found you in. It is incredibly durable, and it should assist you in your future endeavors. Wear it with pride, Evan. I can easily see that you are shaping up to become an incredible soldier. I wish you the best of luck on your mission, Evan.

Sincerely, General Ironwood

Filled with a sense of accomplishment, Evan slipped on the armor set with relative ease. It felt quite natural on his skin, and there was even a hole for his tail to slip through as well. Looking in the mirror, he thought to himself.

"Winter did tell me to get some rest for the mission, so I might as well do it now. The mission's at 3 am, so I would rather be drowsy instead of sleep deprived."

Stepping into the comfortable bed, Evan dozed off into sleep.

/-/

In his dream, he found himself walking amidst the rocky terrain once more. Although this time, the sky was filled with stars and the full moon shined down. The shadows of the rocky pillars covered the area in darkness, with only the light of the moon illuminating the path ahead of him. In front of him, the same mysterious man was seen walking ahead, his back facing Evan.

"Why do we have to be out here so late?! You know that we could just make a blutz wave ball whenever, right?" Evan's mouth was moving without his input. He tried to speak on his own volition, but to no avail.

"Those balls give off pure unfiltered blutz waves, making it harder to control our great ape forms. Out here, we got a pure source of blutz waves at our disposal. Don't forget, perfecting and harnessing your great ape form is like training a muscle. If you don't practice often enough, you'll just be an uncontrollable rampant beast, becoming a menace to your enemy AND your team. Now, do you recall what you need to do in order to keep your mind intact while transformed?" The mysterious figure explained.

"Uhhhh…..Oh yeah! In your mind, you need to hold onto a memory, a person, or a thing that holds great value and significance to you." Evan's mouth moved on its own once again.

"Good job. Now, when you're ready to go, you know what to do."The figure responded back.

With a knock on the door, Evan awoke from his dream. Getting out of bed, he approached the door. Opening it, he saw Elm standing in front of it.

"Up and at 'em, Evan! We gotta get going! Just follow me to the Docking Bay, and Clover will tell you everything you need to know." Elm exclaimed.

Nodding in agreement, Evan trailed behind Elm to the docking bay.

Upon arriving, a Bullhead stood at the ready. In front of it were four individuals. Each of them wore an outfit similar to Elm's attire.

"Hey guys, I brought Evan with me! Now kid, let me introduce the rest of the team. There's Harriet Brew." She says while gesturing to a dark-skinned woman with mechanical gauntlets.

"This is Marrow Amin." Pointing towards a dark-skinned man with a dog tail. Evan looked to see him wielding an overly large boomerang of some sort.

"Over here is Vine Zeki." Gesturing to a pale-skinned man with symbols on his face. In his hand was a throwing star.

"And, of course, we have our leader Clover Ebi." She says while pointing towards the white-skinned man. In his hands was a fishing hook, bizarrely enough.

"Hello there Evan, Elm told us all about you. It's nice to finally meet you face to face." The man said aloud.

Deciding not to question the man's weird choice of weapon, he announced to the others, "It's a pleasure to be working with you all. So what's the mission?"

With a smirk, Clover responded, "Eager to leave the nest, eh? Well, there's been some noticeable activity at an abandoned SDC mine some distance away from Atlas. Scouts investigated the site and observed a Gheist Grimm inside. Our goal is to locate it and eliminate it. Your job is to provide support and assistance when told, do you understand Evan?"

The young man replied to the leader, "Yes sir."

Smiling, Clover turned to face the rest of the team. "In that case, let's move out! The sooner we complete our mission, the sooner we can head back to base."

As the six soldiers climbed into the Bullhead, the machine came to life as the pilot turned to head out into the night sky. After some time passed, the Bullhead soon landed in front of the mine's entrance.

Exiting the warm insides of the plane, Evan's whole body began to shiver. His tail instinctively and instantly wraps around his body for warmth in response to the cold climate. "G-G-Gods! It is FREEZING out here! How could anyone set up a mining site all the way out here!?" Evan stammered out.

"You think this is cold? We're actually in the middle of a hot flash if you can believe it." Marrow replied in complete serious back towards Evan.

Reaching into his pocket, Vine pulled out a small cylindrical object, about the size of a pen.

"Here, place this against your skin. The adhesive on it will allow the machine to stay attached to your body. It's a small tube of fire dust that's designed to regulate your whole body's temperature to normal levels. It should keep you warm for a few hours. Most of the SDC workers here use devices like them so they don't die from hypothermia while mining out dust crystals." Vine stated.

Quickly grabbing the small device, Evan stuck the machine against his skin. Automatically, he could feel his body filled with warmth. Nearby, Clover waved to the pilot to head back, as it was soon airborne once more.

"Alright team, let's find that target. It was last seen near the west entrance, so let's start there. Hopefully, we'll be back to Atlas before sunrise." Clover announced.

As the Ace Ops entered the mine, Evan began to follow behind. Although something was bugging him in the back of his mind. Turning around, Evan looked up at the broken, cracked moon above. From what he could see, half of the moon was still in one piece in an almost crescent shape while the other half's pieces were scattered and floating right next to the unbroken half, still somewhat bound by the moon's gravity. He always saw illustrations of it in the history books he read, but it looked even more bizarre now that he was actually seeing it with his own two eyes.

Thump-thump

His heart began to beat faster as his breathing began to quicken in response. There was something about the moon that seemed so fascinating!

"Hey Evan, you ok?" Elm questioned him with a quick tug on his shoulder.

Snapping out of it, Evan shook his head before turning to face Elm, mild concern strewn across it.

"O-Oh yeah, I-I'm fine. It's just my first time outside. Seeing the moon like that feels so surreal, right? I guess I was more wound up than I thought. Let's just head in." Evan muttered out.

Nodding, Elm and Evan headed into the mine, catching up to others. As they reached the center of the mine, they saw the Grimm. Its massive body composed of a collection of rock, ice, and dust crystals, the Gheist had mine cart tracks running across its body like veins and tendons. Its feet was a mismatch of rock and ice haphazardly assembled into "legs".

One of its "hands", was composed of two minecarts and various pickaxes. The other "hand" was more so a massive club composed entirely out of a huge block of ice. Throughout its body, various types of dust crystals stuck out from the main body. Finally, near the top of the 30 ft pile of random and possessed junk was the Gheist itself. Its face was sticking out from a large rock that one would assume to be its "head". Turning to face them, it began to charge at them.

Holding his hand out, Marrow yelled, "Stay!"

Instantly, through the power of Marrow's semblance, the creature slowed down and was halted in its tracks. Rushing out to the right leg, Elm pulled her hammer out.

"Evan! Get ready to blast the left leg! You and Elm attack on my command!" Clover yelled out.

Evan, holding out his arms, began to charge up an attack as the yellow energy began to shift into a reddish hue. He knew that he couldn't make any mistakes here. He had to focus and wait for the time to strike!

As Clover launched himself into the air with his fishing rod, he prepared to fire the weapon at the Gheist's head. The creature began to stir and shake as it attempted to free itself from Marrow's semblance. Evan's arms began to shake wildly as the energy began to fully coalesce and charge up. With all of his might, he kept his arms steady as waited for Clover's signal.

"Now!" Clover exclaimed.

In an instant, Elm struck the leg with all of her might. Nearby, Evan yelled out "Crimson Cannon!" as he unleashed the beam of energy. Blasting outwards in a concentrated burst of energy, the red blast eviscerated the leg of the Gheist, leaving a sizable indent in the wall behind it.

With Marrow's semblance ending, the Gheist lost its balance, and it began to fall over. Using the opportunity, Clover launched his fishing hook into the head of the Gheist, tearing it away from its makeshift body.

Pulling out his boomerang, Marrow threw the weapon towards the monster, destroying it.

As the body began to fall apart, Vine and Harriet quickly collected the various crystals of dust falling from the body. As the two grabbed as many they could with their semblances, one lightning dust crystal remained. As it began to fall to the ground, Evan looked on at the descending object.

"I got it!" Evan called out to the others.

His feet already moving, he rushed towards the crystal. Hopping across the Gheist's former body to better reach it, he jumped out with all his might. Holding his arms out, he tried to reach for it.

Looking upwards, he saw that he was going to miss it. If only he had a little more height, he could've gotten it. In an instant, his body glowed with pure energy as he rose upwards into the air, grabbing the crystal in the process. In awe as he soared through the air, his excitement was short-lived as his body began to dive back down to the ground. With a thud, Evan bounced off the ground before skidding to a stop, holding the dust crystal close to his chest.

Picking himself from the floor, he turned to see Clover approach him, a pleased look across his face.

"Not bad Evan, although I didn't know that your semblance included flight of all things. Maybe there's more to it than I thought." Clover said aloud.

Smiling back at him, Evan approached the others. Marrow called out to the young teen, "Oh man! That laser WAS crazy! It cut through those stones and ice blocks like it was nothing! You even gave it a name!"

"Personally, I think calling out an attack like that would only prove to be detrimental against a smarter opponent." Vine chimed in.

Elm, placing an arm around Evan's shoulder, disagreed, "Nah! If you use it when an enemy is unable to counterattack or get out of the way, it won't matter whether or not you call out its name. Besides, I think it's pretty cool. How did you come up with it anyway?"

Facing Elm, Evan responded, "It just felt fitting. It kind of just popped into my head a while ago."

Indecipherable sound began to come out of Clover's earpiece as he pressed against the device and spoke into it. "This is Clover Ebi, reporting back to base that the target has been terminated. Requesting Bullhead transport back to base as soon as possible.

As more noise erupted from the tiny machine, Clover addressed the others. "Alright team, let's head back outside. The Bullhead should be back in about 25 minutes or so."

As everyone made their way outside, Evan felt that same strange sensation fill him again. Compelled to look to the sky, he saw the moon patiently awaiting him once more. Although at this point, the moon was getting rather close to the event horizon.

"Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing tha-"

Evan stopped his sentence on a dime.

Thump-Thump

Transfixed upon its white surface, his heart began to thump faster and faster. He started to clench his fists as his stance widened.

Thump-Thump-Thump

Breathing aloud, he caught the attention of Harriet who turned to face the teen. "Hey Evan, are you…..ok?"

Her question fell on Evan's deaf ears as the the sound of his heart filled his mind.

Thump-Thump-Thump

The others looked back towards him as his body started to pulse and grow. His jaw and mouth began to extend as his teeth sharpened. His eyes beginning to change into pools of pure red. The only thing that he could utter was, "AAAAGGHHH!"

In the background, he could faintly hear the Ace Ops calling out to him.

"What on Remnant is happening to you Evan?!"

"Kid! Can you hear me!?"

"By the gods…"

"EVERYONE, GET BACK!"

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP

His size continuing to increase, his whole body proceeded to be covered in hair. His muscles bulged outwards. His feet began to crush the very ground he was standing on. His arms raised to the sky, Evan roared towards the moon, his changing voice booming outwards into the barren tundra.

"AAAAAAGGGHHHH….ROOOOAAARRRR!"

/-/

Oh wow! I wasn't expecting this chapter to be as long as it was, but I feel pretty satisfied with it.

Here's a little joke for everyone to put this chapter into context!

Me(Ch 1: 1089 words): You're going to love this, trust me!

Me(Ch 2: 2089 words): This is a Super Saiyan!

Me(Ch 3: 4214 words): And this is known as an ascended Super Saiyan! Or you can just call this a Super Saiyan 2!

Me(Ch 3: 4214 words):And this…is…to go…even further beyond! Aaaahhh!

Me(Ch 4: 5835 words): I'm sorry for the wait! I'm not used to this form! This is what I like to call a Super Saiyan 3! I'm ready! Show me what you got!

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on the story so far, and thanks for reading! I'll see everyone later on this week!