Aramus #2

The next morning, Avery wakes up in her bed wearing pajamas. Remembering all the eventful things yesterday, she was hesitant to get out of bed. But she knew if she didn’t get out of bed, her mother would burst into her room and force her out of bed. And she didn’t want that to happen. Then, she looked at her alarm clock and saw that it read “7:50 am”. She had to be at school by 8:15 am, and it took her twenty minutes to walk there. She quickly rushed around her room to get dressed, leaving after images of herself in various places. Then, someone knocked at her door and opened it.

“Sis, aren’t you ready yet? We have to go.” Her brother said.

“Yeah, I’m ready, but I was just thinking I should be more active and exercise. I’ll just run to school.”

“Okay, but your powers won’t manifest just because you run. You have to have that spark to yourself.” He said as he caused a tiny explosion.

“Shut up,” Avery yelled as she threw a pillow at the door. He closed the door quickly, avoiding the pillow. However, the pillow hit the door harder than expected and cracked the door.

“Oh, Shit! I didn’t mean to do that.” Avery thought to herself. However, she didn’t have time to worry about the door. She had to get to school. She took off down the stairs and went out the door. After leaving their yard, Avery flew off into the sky at high speeds. Instantly, she was floating above her school, wondering where she could land without being seen by anybody.

“Phase through the roof into the second-floor bathroom.” A voice said in her head.

“Huh, you want me to phase through the roof. Is that possible?” Avery asked the disembodied voice. Upsettingly, the voice didn’t respond. “Alright, I’ll try.” Avery thought as she flew into the roof. Luckily, instead of crashing a hole in the school’s roof, she passed right through it into an empty classroom on the third floor. Once she landed, she walked to the door and immediately left for her homeroom class. Once there, she walked to her class, sitting at their desk, and the new headmistress and teacher of her class.

“Glad you can join us, Ms. Satin. Please take your seat.” The headmistress said. Avery silently went to her seat and sat down.

“As I was saying, this is your new teacher, Mrs. Amagiri. She is highly qualified to teach you anything you may have questions about from any other classes you may have, so please do not hesitate to ask for help. Oh, and for the young lady that was late, this is for you. I hope you find it very interesting.”

Avery got up and went to get the letter the headmistress was holding. Then, she went to her seat, opened it, and read the note.

“Come to the third floor’s abandoned science lab during lunch period.”

Confused, Avery thought about what the new headmistress could want with her at the science lab for four periods straight. But she couldn’t guess any explanations. Then, the lunch bell rang, and everyone in her class ran out the door to the cafeteria. But Avery had different plans. She went to the third-floor science lab and saw six other students standing outside the door.

“Hello, I’m Greg Davis, junior year. This is my little brother Jullian Davis... he’s a freshman. I hope we can get along.” A plus-sized boy said as he rushed to introduce himself to Avery.

“Hi, I’m Avery Satin, Sophomore. Why are you guys waiting out here?”

“We, it seems we all got a letter from the headmistress saying to come here during lunch. I’m assuming you received a letter too.”

Avery nodded.

“I wonder why we seven were asked to come here.”

“Well, that’s because you seven are enrolled in our new Superhero 101 class.” The headmistress said as she walked to the door.

“What!” The seven students yelled.

“First, follow me inside. I’ll explain everything in there.” She said as she opened the door. Oddly, the inside was engulfed by a bright light, which made the students hesitant to enter the room. “Don’t worry, nothing bad will happen to you.” She reassured the students. One by one, the students cautiously entered the room. However, there wasn’t anything dangerous. It was just a large room filled with tables full of food and students from other schools looking at the seven students entering through the door. Nervous, Avery and the others walk into the crowd and started to talk to the others there; however, none of them were in the mood to talk.

Suddenly, microphone feedback fills the room.

“Ahem, good evening, students. Some of you may be aware of this; you have been selected for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You all have been selected to become NHP(Nexus Hero Program) Agents to help an infinite number of people in different universes.” The headmistress said.

Confused, Avery stayed silent and looked around the room. It seems the other six from her school were just as surprised as she was, except for one. Greg Davis. He was too busy eating than paying attention. However, the other students from the other schools were very calm and collected. Some of them were even conversing among themselves about it.

“Judging by the looks on your faces, the majority of you know what I mean, and there’s no reason for any more explanations. So, I propose a little test. A friendly little competition between students to set the status quota here. Every school shall draw from two boxes; one for their representative and the other for the place on the tournament bracket. I’ll start by having someone from my school draw. Greg Davis, please come up here and draw a name and number.”

“Um, yes, ma’am.” He said with his face stuffed with food. He walked up to the stage and stuck his hand in the boxes. Out of the name box, he drew a piece of paper with the name “Alex Garrison” written on it. And, out of the number box, he drew the number one.

“Alex Garrison, please come up to the stage,” Headmistress said. And a boy wearing dark shades walks to the stage. “Next, the school to pick will be Baltimore High.”

A girl wearing a black and red uniform walks to the stage and picks from the boxes.

“Danny Morrison, number 6,” she said.

“Demin High.”

An older woman, wearing a black sleeveless top and a knee-length skirt with stockings and a lab coat, walks to the stage. And as she picks the name and number from the boxes, she and Avery’s eyes meet. She smiles at Avery while showing her the papers.

“Erwin Thomas, number two. Come up to the stage. You will be fighting one of my students in the first fight. Shall we begin with the first match?”

Immediately, Alex and Erwin Thomas were teleported to the center of the room, and the students moved into a circle.

“Let the first match begin!” The headmistress yelled.

Immediately, Erwin charged Alex and clawed at him. Luckily, Alex dodged his claws by an inch. However, Erwin wasn’t letting up on Alex. He kept attacking Alex in different animalistic ways. He pounced, clawed, and bit. He even left craters on the ground when landed. Growing tired, Alex started to slow down, resulting in small cuts and injuries. Then, Alex unusually fell to the ground. Towering over Alex, Erwin took a strange stance to give the final strike. And, as he pulled back his left arm, Avery grabbed his arm and said, “Enough, the fight is over. You won.”

Then, students from the same school as Erwin jumped into the circle.

“Let him go before we make you.” A girl, wearing a black tank top and a skirt with black shoes, said.

“Stand down. You will not lay a finger on my niece.” The woman, who drew Erwin’s name, said, floating above the ring.

“Did she say ‘Niece’?” Greg said.

“Really, She floating in mid-air, and you’re worried about her calling that girl niece.”

“Mom, why are you stopping us?” The girl in black said.

“Well, Kira, it’s my duty to protect both my family and my students. If I don’t stop you now, you’re only going get yourself hurt.”

“Do you really think I’ll take that as an answer?” Kira said before charging at Avery.

Suddenly, a shadowy figure came out of Avery’s shadow and stopped Kira in her tracks.

“Seriously, you shouldn’t attack your cousin. Especially since she just awakened to her powers a few weeks ago.” Mrs. Amagiri said as she formed out of the shadow.

“Auntie?” Kira said.

“Auntie? Wait! Why did my homeroom teacher come out of my shadow? And why did that lady call me her niece?” Avery thought to herself.

“Many good questions, but now isn’t the right time for that. Are you okay, Avery?”

“Yeah, but why are you here?”

“Well, Avery, Mrs. Amagiri is going to be your personal teacher for you to control your powers. The one I told you about yesterday.” The headmistress said.

Suddenly, Avery realized who the Headmistress was really. She was the holographic woman that helped her yesterday. Surprised, Avery yelled out, “It’s you!”.

“Did you not realize who I was when you first saw me? Really?”

“Sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention this morning. Speaking of which, don’t we have to be back soon? The lunch period is almost up.”

“You don’t need to worry about the time. This world’s time runs at a faster pace. Forty-five minutes there will be around five hours here. Enough time for you to start your first lesson with Anko.”

“First lesson? What about the tournament?”

“Well, your school has been eliminated due to your interference. And our school will no longer participate, because a certain student refusing to restrain himself. So, while the rest of the tournament going on we can go to your first lesson.” the lady said.

“We?”

“Well, of course. You’re not the only one who needs to learn about their powers. Plus, it’ll be great motivation.”

Couldn’t argue with that logic, Avery accepted what was coming to her. Walking away into another room, Avery and the others felt like they passed through some kind of force field. Anko explained to them that they passed through a magical barrier spell that prevents them from getting hurt too badly. It does this by decreasing the amount of actual damage done to a non-threatening level. For example, a gunshot to the head wouldn’t pierce the skin. It’ll feel like a flick to the head. Curious by her explanation, Greg and Julian pinched each other on the arm. And, to their surprise, neither one of them felt it. Immediately, an overwhelming urge to pinch each other took them over, resulting in them in a pinching war.

“Enough, you two.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” Greg and Julian said, as they looked ashamed.

Anko sighed. “Alright, let’s get started. First, a test.” She said as she snapped.

Suddenly, a large meteor slowly came down. Immediately, Greg and the others panicked while Avery and Kira looked at them with embarrassed expressions.

“Why aren’t you panicking?” Kira asked.

“Well, I don’t know why, but I feel extremely calm right now. But there's also something else.”

“That’s your Jan-gu instinct. It appears whenever you’re faced with strong emotions. Usually, when you’re in a tough fight.” Kira explained.

Avery thought back to when she fought Raous. She felt the exact same way during that fight. Greg noticed that Avery and Kira were just talking to each other.

“Hey, what are you two doing? Don’t you see a giant meteor headed for us?” He asked.

“Oh, right. Don’t worry, I got this.” Kira said as she flew up into the meteor, slowing it down a little.

“Looks like she needs help. Avery, would you like to go.” Anko said.

“Okay,” Avery said before taking off.

As she reached the meteor, she saw Kira, with burnt clothes trying to push the meteor up. Avery flew beside her and helped her push, stopping the meteor.

“Thanks for the help. Now, how should we handle this? It’s not like we just throw it back into space.” Kira said.

“No idea.”

“Smash it,” Anko said to them telepathically.

“I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case,” Kira said.

“What does she mean smash it?”

“As she said, we have to break this meteor down into tiny pieces. However, that's a little difficult since we don’t know how dense this meteor is.”

“Not to mention, it’s taking the two of us just to hold it in place.”

“I got an idea. But, first, I’m going to need you to transform into your Alpha form.”

“My what?”

“Right, plan B,” Kira said as she grabbed Avery’s hand. She flew back to the ground as quickly as she could. “Alright, this is what we’re going to do. You and I are going to fly at that thing as fast as we can and punch a hole right through it. Hopefully, that will break it.” Kira explained.

“Alright, we can try it,” Avery said.

Avery and Kira knelt down on the ground and focused all of their strength on their legs. As they got ready to take off, Anko yelled, “Alright, I’ve seen enough,” as she snapped her fingers. Instantly, the meteor disappeared.

“What’s wrong, Auntie?” Kira asked.

“Well, a bunch of things were wrong, but that can be fixed later. Right now, Avery’s Earth needs her help right now.”

“What?” Avery asked.

“Some idiot released a horde of Kaiju on your country, and your heroes only have three people who can fight Kaiju. So, you need to get back now. I’ll bring back up later.” Anko said as she opened a portal.

Avery quickly left through the portal. However, she didn’t realize Anko had opened the portal on the other side of the planet, in the middle of an ocean. Slightly annoyed, Avery didn’t notice she was standing on the water. Immediately, she took off toward the United States as fast as she could.

“Auntie, why did you not send her directly to the fight?”

“You have seen it yourself, right. She has great potential to be as powerful as Reo and me. But she was too afraid to actually push her limits. She needs to push herself to release that potential.”

Meanwhile, on the east coast of the United States, Hundreds of giant beasts called Kaiju are destroying cities. Valkyrie, Atomic Master, and Zeus were doing their best to bring one down, but they weren’t even able to slow one down. Neuron and the others were busy evacuating the civilians out of the cities to a safer location. However, no matter how much they tried, they couldn’t save a majority of the people on the east coast. The US government requested aid from other countries, but they weren’t willing to help due to the large losses. As a last resort, the government sent their most powerful weapon in their possession, the O-bomb. This bomb would destroy the oxygen within a five-thousand-mile radius, killing everything. This weapon was never supposed to be used by anyone. But they were desperate.

“Valkyrie, Atomic Master, Zeus, retreat from the area,” Neuron said as he helped a man to stand up.

“What! Why would we do that?” Valkyrie asked.

“Because I received a transmission from the government saying that they were launching an O-bomb at the monster. Everything within a five-thousand-mile radius will be destroyed.”

“Okay, wouldn’t that destroy all of the civilians?” Atomic Master asked.

“Apparently, they prepared large bomb shelters that can house the entire population of the United States in every state capital. So, right now, our priority is helping everyone into the shelters.”

“Alright, we’ll change our priority.” Atomic Master said as he looked at Valkyrie, who had an expression that clearly expressed disapproval of this plan.

“Damnit, is there nothing more we can do?” Valkyrie thought to herself.

Suddenly, she heard a loud boom coming from behind her. She turned around and saw a Kaiju’s headless corpse collapsing on the ground.

“Attention, Kaiju. You aren’t welcome here! Go back home, or you will die.” Avery’s voice echoed.

Valkyrie looked at her with confusion.

“What the heck? They’re three of us, and we couldn’t even slow one down. But she shows up and kills one instantly. What is she?” Zeus said.

“Dangerous,” Atomic Master said as he flew up to Avery. “You’re a little late, aren’t you.” He said sarcastically.

“Well, I was kinda off-planet. But I’m here now. What’s your plan?”

“Plan? Our plan is to get the people to bomb shelters before the bomb hits the area.”

“Bomb? Are you telling me you’re planning on nuking the place?” Avery yelled with a concerned expression.

“Sadly, yes. We have no other choice.” Valkyrie said.

“Yeah, right, something tells you tried everything that came to mind,” Avery said sarcastically.

“What? You have no idea!” Valkyrie yelled as she punched Avery. However, she shattered her hand in the process.

“I only told you the truth. Now, sit back while I do your job.” Avery said as Anko and a man appeared beside her.

“It’s time,” Anko asked.

“Okay, but any idea on how we are supposed to get rid of these Kaiju without killing them?”

“Easy, we take them all back to their home, Underground City.” The man said.

“How?”

“Right, you just got your powers. Well, it’s time for a quick lesson.” The man said as his eyes glowed.

He touched Avery on the side of her head, sending a pulse of energy throughout her mind and body. This fully unlocked her potential.

“What did you do to me?” She asked.

“I released your full potential. You now have access to all of your powers, but it’s up to you on when and how you use them.” The man said.

“Okay. Then, do you mind if I handle the Kaiju problem myself?” Avery said, eager to test her powers.

“Please, be our guest,” Anko said.

Avery instantly disappeared and reappeared in front of a lizard Kaiju with four arms. She then took a deep breath and sent a pulse of Ki that instilled fear inside all of the Kaiju. As a result, the Kaiju turned around and went back to the hole they’d come out of. Following them, Avery, Anko, and the man-made sure every single one of them went back through the seal entrance before sealing it permanently.

“Good job, kid. You just single-handedly stopped a cris-is. Shit!” The man said.

“What’s wrong?” Avery and Anko asked.

“The bomb!” The man said.

“Oh, Shit! I totally forgot about that. Where is it now?”

“It’s passing the moon. Looks like you need some help.” The headmistress said telepathically.

“You have no idea. Avery, go handle the bomb. We’ll seal this back.” Anko said.

“Yeah, okay,” she replied as she felt something weird from Anko.

As soon as she left, Anko hit the man on the arm.

“How could you unlock her powers like that? I thought we agreed that I would teach her and have her experience this life before we showed her everything.” She said angrily.

“I didn’t show her anything besides how to use her abilities. She doesn’t have any clue what she is?”

“Okay, but what would happen if she discovered it while exploring her powers?”

“You mean like using dimensional hearing to listen in on our conversations.” The man said, looking over at a wall.

“Or dimensional displacement to spy on us,” Anko said as she looked at the same wall.

“Come on out, Evee.” The man said.

“You two, Kira,” Anko said.

Instantly, Kira and her mother appeared in front of Anko and the man with guilty expressions.

“Do you want to explain yourselves?”

“In our defense, we weren’t spying on you. We wanted to see if Avery was alright handling something so huge by herself.”

“Okay, that’s believable. But she is capable of doing things pass someone’s expectations.”

“Wonder where she got that from?” Anko thought to herself.

Anko and the man hear Avery’s soft cry for help. Immediately, they left and flew to Avery. Once they arrived, they saw a giant snake-like creature crushing her and the O-bomb.

“Ouroboa? They’re not supposed to be in this universe.” Anko said.

“It probably came through a rift. I have never seen one so large and aggressive.” The man replied.

“Can you two stop admiring the snake and get it off me? This thing is hurting me.” Avery said, struggling for relief.

The man immediately flew towards the snake’s head at high speed and pierced its skull, killing it immediately. Free from its grip, Avery burst free and looked at its corpse.

“Jesus, I thought I was going to die. That thing had a strong grip.”

“That thing was an Ouroboa, a giant snake creature that usually stays in a dormant universe free of intelligent life,” Anko explained.

“And they usually eat planets. So, why it attacked you, it’s a mystery.” The man added.

“Well, at least that thing destroyed the bomb while trying to destroy me.”

“Good, you can see a positive on this. Now let’s get you back to earth. Your parents and others must be worried sick,” Anko said.

“Right,” Avery said before she, Anko, and the man took off toward Earth.

However, they didn’t realize that they were being watched by Raous and his mistress.

“See, mistress, she is strong enough to break the seal between the planes of existence,” Raous said.

“Indeed, but she won’t be helpful to us. Only a thorn in our side,”

“Should I eliminate her now?”

“No, Raous. I will be the one to do it.” His mistress said as she flew off towards Jupiter.

As Avery, Anko, and the man entered Earth’s atmosphere, they were intercepted by Valkyrie, Atomic Master, and Neuron.

“What do you want?” Avery asked.

“We only want to talk,” Valkyrie said.

“I already told you I have no interest in joining Central.”

“No, we wanted to say thank you for helping out with those monsters. We didn’t have any kind of defense against them.” Atomic Master said.

“However, you were able to send them back without even fighting. It almost as if you were controlling them.” Neuron said.

“What?” Avery said.

“Don’t get me wrong, but you did something that the three strongest of the entire superhero community couldn’t. You repelled those monsters. Not to mention, you appeared out of nowhere. Almost like you were wai…

Furious at Neuron, Avery released a strong aura, causing Neuron, Atomic Master, and Valkyrie to gasp for air.

“Okay, kid, that’s enough.” The man said as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Avery immediately calmed down. Anko then waved her hand, which allowed Valkyrie, Atomic Master, and Neuron to recover faster.

“Okay, before you decide to talk again, let me explain it to you. First, those monsters were called Kaiju. And they’re semi-intelligent beasts, not monsters. Monsters don’t have intelligence. Secondly, Avery didn’t control them. She used her aura to instill fear in all of them as she did just now. And, lastly, Avery was with me, practicing her powers. But her whereabouts aren’t your problem.” Anko said as she got into Neuron’s bright red face.

“Alright, we’ll leave for now, but I still don’t trust you,” Neuron said.

“I don’t need it,”

Avery then took off toward her school. And, to her surprise, it was still intact. It was turned into a relief center. Anyone whose house was destroyed could come here. Seeing the school was too crowded to land, Avery flew home to change out of her suit. As she arrived, she noticed an unknown car parked outside of her house. Floating outside her window, she saw her mother, father, and two men.

“Ma’am, it’s only been a few hours since the monster’s attack ended. And we’ve just begun our search for survivors in the wreckage. Your daughter might be somewhere among the wreckage.” One of the men said.

“No, I’m telling you that our son said that she and some other kids went missing during the chaos. Worried that they went outside to see the monsters, so he went outside to search for them. Afterward, only he came back. I just want my daughter back.” Avery’s mother said as she began crying.

“And, the Oscar goes to Sydney Satin, for Worried Mother of the strongest being.” Avery thought to herself. “Oh right, this suit covers my clothes,” she said softly. Suddenly, her suit collapsed into her armband. Then, she noticed something her armband, which was originally like a bracelet, turned into a metallic band. “What happened?”

“This band around your wrist is the upgraded version of the communication device. This way, you can use it without it being seen by people. It also allows you to materialize your suit off your body too, just in case you might want to make upgrades of your own.” the headmistress said telepathically.

“Upgrades? The suit is already perfect.”

“Nothing is perfect. We all have room to grow. Even Anko and her husband are still discovering new abilities every day. Speaking of which, what do you think about him?”

“Who?”

“Anko’s husband?”

“Did I meet him?”

“Yes, you did, but I didn’t have time to introduce myself. My name is Reo Amagiri, your father.” the man said as he appeared.

“MY WHAT!” Avery mistakenly yelled, causing everyone to rush to the window. Opening the window, Avery’s mother saw Avery sitting on the roof in her school uniform. As she climbed through the window, Avery’s father yelled, “Be careful, dear!” but she didn’t listen. She slipped and fell off the roof. However, Avery and Reo caught her in midair, with everyone witnessing them floating. As they lowered her to the ground, her father and the two men ran outside. But, before they had a chance to ask questions, Reo froze time around the two of them.

“Okay, now you must have thousands of questions about what I just said, but let me show you.”

“Alright,”

“Thank you,” Reo said as a vortex formed around them.