As Evan exited the warmer confines of the Bullhead and entered the chilling winds of the Tundra, he held the small container of fire dust close to his chest as if his very soul was tied to it. After his discussion with Ironwood, Evan knew that he would be performing some experiments with Pietro in order to determine the source of his bizarre transformation.
Because of this, Pietro had constructed this weird helmet/visor combination. From what he could gather from Pietro's explanations, the device is made to monitor brain activity while he transforms. It was multiple times larger than the teen's head as he attempted to keep it balanced against the harsh winds. The bulky thing made movement awkward for Evan to say the least. Suddenly, a familiar voice burst to life in his ear.
"Evan? Evan! Can you hear me?" Pietro replied as static continued on in the background of the miniature speaker.
"Yeah. I can hear you pretty good down here! You and Penny A-OK up there?" Evan questioned.
"Indeed! While our altitude is at a level that could lead to significant, if not fatal, injury, our professional pilot all but guarantees our safety!" Penny exclaimed through the device.
"Alright, glad to hear it Penny. So Pietro, what's the clock looking like? We've done this song and dance before. The sooner we get this experiment over with, the sooner we can all get some sleep, preferably somewhere that's not a freezer. I imagine tonight will be just as eventful as the past few tests." Evan questioned.
"Currently it's 7 minutes till sunrise. Although, comparing the moon's current orientation with how it is today, I believe tonight will be different. Prepare yourself, in case my hypothesis is correct. Alright?" Pietro explained.
"Sure thing." Evan responded.
"Great to hear! Ok, Ace Ops, be ready in case Evan goes berserk again!" Pietro called out through the earpieces.
A couple of feet away, Evan glanced over to see the Ace Ops standing by.
"Understood." said Clover, as he and the other Ace Ops pulled out their weaponry.
"I can't let what happened at the mines happen again here. I refuse! I just need to concentrate on Elm, Penny, and the others. Something to keep my focus on." Evan contemplated to himself.
"OK! Here I go!" Evan exclaimed as his voice echoed throughout the empty snow banks.
Gazing up at the moon, at first, Evan didn't feel anything change. For a moment, he thought nothing was going to happen. But just as he began to move his head away, he felt it. His head was filled with a cacophony of loud drums as he continued to look upon the moon. Bit by bit, he began to increase in size. His fur coated body began to shake as was transfixed by the fascinating orb. It would be so easy to just get lost in that noise. To let it overwhelm his senses. To just-NO!
"I'm not giving in! Focus! If I don't control this form, then everyone could get hurt. Penny, Pietro, the Ace Ops! If I'm too weak to stop myself, then I'll never be strong enough to become a real huntsman." Evan thought to himself.
As he finished growing, Evan stood there, the icy winds of Atlas brushed against his brown fur. Moving his head away from the moon, he looked around his surroundings. Far below him, he could see the Ace Ops standing at the ready. Close by, he could barely make out Pietro and Penny through the flying Bullhead's window. Everyone looked like a bunch of toys in comparison to him. Thankfully, the large helmet that Pietro had constructed was just barely large enough to fit on his now massive head.
Holding his hands up, he opened his mouth.
"It's…alright! I…think I got…a handle on this." Evan's voice slowly boomed outward for everyone to hear.
"This is fantastic, Evan! I'm getting so much data on our end! I wonder…" Pietro happily cried out, his voice quietly buzzed in his massive ears.
Slowly and carefully moving around his surroundings, he called out, "So what do you think Penny?"
"This is utterly amazing! What kind of metamorphic processes could lead to such a gigantic sight?! I think it makes you very imposing and tough!" Penny exclaimed.
"I…guess you're…right about that. I bet…I could…crush a whole horde of Grimm beneath my feet! That's certainly pretty amazing!" Evan bellowed out.
"What if I…Yes…I think I got it! I know what's the source of these transformations!" Pietro declared.
"You do?" Evan asked with surprise clear in his voice.
"Indeed! It's honestly surprising how simple it is! Evan, I'm going to need to push back our 3 pm meeting to 7 o'clock. When you meet up with me in my workshop, I should have something you'll find very interesting!
"Sounds great, Doc!" Evan replied happily.
In the distance, a bright light shined outward, as the sun began to peak over the horizon.
Shrinking back down, Evan stumbled forward, his hands stopping his fall onto the cold snowy ground. The Ace Ops, quickly moved over with Elm taking the lead, concern covering their faces, but Evan looked towards them in response.
Breathing heavily with a smile on his face, he explained, "It's…It's all good. G-Guess that giant ape form takes more out of me than I expected!"
Standing back up and stretching his arms, he called out in an upbeat tone, "So! Anyone else starving? Hope the cafeteria's serving up some meat! Today feels like a sausage day, y'know?"
/-/
As the sun sat high in the sky, Ironwood placed a completed file on the right hand side of his desk. A silver thermos, half full of black coffee, sat on the other side of his desk. Reaching for another file, he heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." Ironwood replied.
"Here's the report of Pietro's analysis of Subjec-I mean Evan. Apologies, sir." The Atlesian scientist explained.
"It's alright. You are excused." Ironwood responded as the scientist handed him the file.
As the doors closed, Ironwood opened the file and began to read the following:
After the initial incident at Schnee Dust Company mine, Evan, myself, and various other trusted individuals have gone out on nightly expeditions in order to properly find the cause of Evan's first transformation. Interviews from each of the Ace Ops believed that the moon played some sort of role in the first incident, especially with how its absence was seemingly the reason that Evan returned to normal. Most nightly experiments had Evan wear a device of mine designed to study numerous factors in his biology. Each night we took Evan far out in the plains of Atlas, minutes before dawn, and we had him gaze upon the moon's surface. Just in case he did transform and went berserk once more, the Ace Ops were on standby as a precaution.
For the past 12 days, nothing notable had occurred during the experiments. However, last night, Evan had taken the form of the giant monkey again. I believe that the moon's phase that night, which matched that of the initial incident, is currently one of the main factors that cause Evan to change. During the trial, Evan seemingly was able to control it himself alongside being able to communicate with us. My research indicated a massive increase to his muscles and other tissues. This transformation gives Evan an incredible multiplier in strength and speed from what I can determine.
While his power is incredible, it would be next to impossible to use it in any sort of densely populated area. Thankfully, I was able to determine another important factor that can prevent Evan from transforming entirely. It seems that a specific form of light radiation that reflects off of the moon during a specific phase is also key to Evan transforming. When Evan's eyes absorb enough of this light radiation, Evan then transforms.
Since this type of light is required to transform, preventing Evan from seeing and absorbing this light is mandatory to keep him from becoming a giant ape again. As you're reading this, I'm working on a type of eyeglasses that block out the range of light radiation that can result in Evan transforming. I should have the first model finished by the end of the day. I hope everything works out in the end.
Until we meet again, Pietro Polendina.
"I hope so as well, Pietro. The sooner that this issue is resolved, the better it is for everyone in Atlas and Remnant as a whole." Ironwood thought to himself.
Closing the file and placing it to the side, Ironwood pulled out a white and blue file with an all too familiar snowflake symbol on the front.
"I don't recall any updates that were supposed to be coming in today. What have they been up to now?" Ironwood muttered to himself.
Opening the file, he read the following:
After Pietro Polendina's new engine successfully passed its initial trials, the engine was copied, replicated, and began to be implemented for various Atlesian ships. Due to the new power and energy conservation of the engine, both fuel costs and travel time have decreased. Multi-day long journeys have been practically cut in half thanks to it. Naturally, this new development has caused a not insignificant amount of growth and profits for the SDC.
Currently, the progress on completing the production versions of the Atlesian Paladin-290 mech suit has increased due to the new engine allowing for parts to be shipped from one factory to another at a faster rate. However, the most notable development that has come out of this was when some of the engineers tied to the project began to use various parts of the new engine in a few of the existing production 290's.
The result of which has been a Paladin with the same firepower, durability and strength, but with even better speed and mobility. This new class of Paladin seems incredibly promising to look into and expand upon and thus requires a separate classification from the existing 290's. With your permission, we would hope you would consider allowing the Atlesian Paladin-300 to go into official production.
With Best Regards, The Schnee Dust Company
"It's astonishing how much is being done already with Pietro's new engine. With this new model, Atlas will be able to stand ever taller in its ability to fight back those who would try to bring harm to the innocent. Hmm…very well. It appears I'll need to make a call soon." Ironwood thought to himself.
/-/
"Aha! It got you now Penny! You're finished!" Evan shouted out.
With a mighty slam, Evan placed his Rook down onto the chessboard.
"And that appears to be checkmate!" Evan smiled confidently as he crossed his arms.
"Check." Penny quickly retorted.
"Wha-?" Evan replied as his arms dropped to his sides in shock.
"If it weren't for my Knight being close to your Rook, that would have been a checkmate otherwise. But, if I move my Knight to eliminate your Rook…" Penny explained as she knocked Evan's piece off the board unceremoniously.
"And with my Knight, Queen, and Bishop in their current positions, it appears that you are the one now in checkmate." Penny finished with an innocent smile.
"Aaagghhh!" Evan's frustrated screams were muffled as he roared into his coat sleeve.
"You're too dang good at this! I'll never be able to beat you at this rate!" Evan said as he threw his hands in the air.
"Oh, don't be like that! You ARE improving after all. How about we do a best three out of five?" Penny responded compassionately as she began to quickly reset the chessboard with incredible precision and speed.
"Now wait just a moment you two. I need Evan's assistance for a bit." Pietro called out to the two teenagers.
"Ok Pietro, what is it that you need me to do?" Evan inquired as he got up from his stool and approached the man.
"Well you see, I need you to place your hand in this." Pietro replied as he gestured to a white mechanical gauntlet, held up by various metal bars and wires. In the palm of the hand, a circular transparent material showed off some of the inside of the device.
"Your powers over energy manipulation and projection are very unusual. Because of this, it has been difficult to construct and complete your gauntlets in a way that can not only handle, but also channel your energy through that opening in the palm. I need you to use your powers while wearing the gauntlet, and I want to see how my current model can withstand it. That way, I can make improvements on the next model. I recommend starting off small with your attacks so I can get the best amount of data possible." Pietro explained.
"Alright. Let's see what this thing can do." Evan responded as placed his left hand into the gauntlet.
Focusing the energy into his left hand, the gauntlet began to vibrate slightly. Firing off a small yellow energy blast, from the palm of the gauntlet, the energy emerged before shortly dissipating.
"Intriguing. Try exerting yourself a bit more this time." Pietro asked.
Channeling more energy into the gauntlet, Evan fired off a couple more blasts from the gauntlet before they too vanished. Pushing himself further, he focused a large blast that began to fill the palm of the gauntlet. In response however, the gauntlet began to shake and tremble as smoke started to leak from the object. Instinctively, Evan let the energy naturally dissipate as he quickly retracted his hand from the device.
"Sorry if I broke it, Pietro." Evan muttered out apologetically.
"Oh, it's fine. You didn't do too much to it. Besides I was expecting as much from the first model anyways."
Pietro said as he examined the interior of the weapon.
"Hmmmm….It seems that while the opening that fires off your energy seems to be working alright, the rest of the internal circuitry is being put under a lot of stress. I wonder why that is." Pietro continued on.
"Well, my energy courses through my whole body, I can't just exclusively keep energy from firing out of my palm. Some of it's going to leak out into my hand and palm. Does that help at all?" Evan asked.
"Indeed. In that case, I'll have to reinforce the internal workings of the device with some of the same material that I used for the opening in the palm. In fact, I have an idea in mind that could help alleviate the amount of energy going through the palm. But that's for another day." Pietro explained.
"Well not that this hasn't been fun and all, but didn't you say that you had something that you wanted to give me?" Evan questioned the scientist.
"Oh yes. Well to quickly explain, the moon can give off a special form of light radiation that, when absorbed through your eyes, can cause you to transform into that giant monkey state of yours." Pietro quickly spoke as he searched the various workbenches behind him.
"I was able to craft a set of goggles that can block out that unique type of light and prevent you from entering your eyes. I designed them after aviator goggles so they would fill your vision and prevent any moonlight from slipping in. If everything works as I imagined, you won't transform so long as you are wearing these." Pietro finished as he pulled out a new device.
Aside from the glass itself, the goggles were made out of a silvery metal that was cool to the touch. The glass of the goggles themselves were wide and encompassed his whole vision as he wore them. Not only that, but the glass was a slight shade of orange as well. The ends of the goggles were connected by a black elastic band.
"You can use the elastic at the end to keep the goggles secure and tight around your head. They wouldn't be all that practical if they fell off your head while you used them!" Pietro exclaimed with a chuckle.
Securing the goggles to his head, he smiled as he turned to faced Penny and Pietro.
"This is awesome, Pietro! Thank you so much for doing this! You really are a genius!" Evan spoke aloud with an excited tone as walked over to hug the man.
"Hah hah! Don't mention it. I'm so glad you like it. Now you should be heading back to your room. It's getting late." Pietro replied with a grin.
"Gotcha. Guess I'll be heading off. What do you say Penny, want to meet up at the same time tomorrow?" Evan asked as he looked toward the female teen.
For once the smiling girl's face shifted into an upset and dejected one.
"What's wrong?" Evan asked the teenager.
"Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be heading off to Vale. I'm going to be there for quite some time. I was going to tell you about it tomorrow morning before I left. To be honest, I'm not sure when I'll be back. I asked Ironwood if you could come with me, but he said that it would be unwise for you to leave Atlas, especially since we haven't confirmed yet if Pietro's goggles work or not. I really do wish that you were able to come with me, though." Penny responded as she looked away from Evan.
"I…I see. I-I think I'm going to head back to my room for now. I need some time alone right now. Please let me know when you're leaving tomorrow, I want to see you off. Ok?" Evan responded with a downtrodden look towards Penny.
"I will. You can count on that." Penny replied with a small smile to Evan.
/-/
As Evan retrieved a towel and stepped out of the humid shower. The same thoughts bounced around in his skull.
"It took like two weeks for me to transform again. Who knows when the moon is going to force me to transform again. I know Ironwood isn't doing this out of spite or something like that. If I grew into a huge ape while inside a city like Vale, tons of people could die. It's still not fair, though! I didn't ask for these powers! Until Pietro and the others can confirm that those goggles actually work, I'm stuck here in this frozen pit." Evan thought to himself.
Drying himself off, Evan entered the main room. The large prominent windows that showed off the night sky of Atlas had been boarded up and sealed shut. Some workers came by his room and did it after the incident at the mines in order to prevent anything bad from happening. Aside from the light of the bathroom, the room was a black void. Not a single beam of moonlight was able to peak its way through the sealed up window. Turning off the bathroom light, he wandered his way over to the soft bed.
"Well, it's not like I can do anything about it tonight. Might as well get some sleep in. I don't want to miss Penny's flight leaving." Evan contemplated to himself as sleep slowly crept over him.
In his dreams, Evan found himself in the same destroyed city as before. However, in the sky, the completed full moon was reduced to a cloud of grayish space dust.
"Would ya look at that! Without the moon, you guys aren't so tough to take on." A gravelly voice called out to him.
As he stood in a massive crater, he looked to see three, muscular, multi-arm green aliens slide down the crater's sides. Stretching their four arms, the aliens surrounded him as Evan's body immediately entered a battle stance.
"You might as well give up now! Us Ternopians don't surrender from a fight. We fight till we drop!" The same alien yelled out with a smug grin.
"Is that so? Well then, I guess this'll be a pretty good showing of both our mettle and resolve. I do hope you're ready to put your money where your mouth is, though. Come on! I'll show you just what it means to be a Saiyan!" Evan declared as his mouth moved on its own.
As he charged forwards towards one of the aliens, he suddenly regained control of his body as he bolted forward in his bed. Awakening from his dream, he questioned himself.
"Who were those guys? What was the reason for them wanting to fight me? Who WAS I before I came to Remnant?" Evan contemplated.
But no answers came to his mind as he sat alone in that solitary dark room.
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Hello once again! I sincerely apologize for not posting any updates for those of you still interested in my story. School and work forced me to keep this story on the back burner. Then, Tears of the Kingdom came out and consumed my life for a week. However, with more free time currently, I hope to publish more often. I have a lot of the story planned out, I just need to start putting pen to paper, or words to google doc I guess. Let me know your thoughts on the story so far, and I hope you have a good day!
