MrPenguin589

Okay, so, this is basically a book I'm writing, and it's pretty about like me and my freinds, but we have superpowers and stuff, and yeah. In the beginning, it may seem like there's not much of a plot and it's just stupid stuff, but it will all make sense in the end.
If I had to choose a genre for it, I'd say somewhere between sci-fi and fantasy, with some comedy mixed in for good measure.
Since there is so much material that I have so far, I'll be posting it chapter by chapter, so yeah. Oh, and for reference, I am Alec in the book.
And now, without further ado, I introduce my first chapter.


Chapter One: Another Boring Day At School

7:00 AM, Monday
Fallbrook, CA

Alec sat in his bed, silently staring at the wall. He had woken up twenty minutes earlier, noted the time, and had no idea what to do. Normally, he wouldn't be waking up for another four hours at least. Surprised at this new found time, he was relatively confused, and was unable to cope with this idea. He reacted in the only way he figured would work; he stared at the wall. He considered several times getting out his guitar and practicing, but refrained because it might annoy other certain people in the house. Also several times he considered playing the Xbox, but refrained due to the fact that he wasn't allowed to at the time (and for god knows why... he decided that his parents were insane) and if he got caught, the rapture might come a little early.

So he sat.

And sat.

And sat.

And sat.

And sat.

And sat.

He checked his watch...

...and realized he had lost it a few months earlier. "Damn," He muttered. He picked up his palm pilot, turned it on, and saw that five minutes had passed.

"Damn," he said again, sighing. He contemplated turning on the TV. He hardly ever watched it, but nevertheless was able to determine that the best shows were not on at 7:05 in the morning. Sighing again, he got finally got up and walked outside. He looked up into the clear morning sky. A thought crossed his mind briefly. Then it crossed his mind again. Finally it sat still and he grinned. He knew what to do. He just wasn't sure whether anyone else would be amused by it. He looked back up at the sky, and jumped.

***

7:40 AM

Patrick was asleep in his bed, dreams as random and insane as any acid trip were in his mind. His facial expression, however, was only that of tiredness. If one were to think about it, one would realize that dreams are probably the reason a lot of people don't sleep well. I mean, if your mind is making up all this shit, then it's not resting, like it should be. If Patrick knew this, it did not show. He didn't know, so it didn't matter, anyway. He shifted in his sleep, which was probably a sign that he was close to waking up. Or far from it. He would have to get up soon anyway. School is a bitch like that. And being a freshman in high school, Patrick knew this well.

The person hovering above his house knew this well also. Luckily for him, though, Alec was in college. His first class didn't start until 9:30. Grinning, he touched a ring he always wore on his right hand, on the ring finger. The ring transformed into a large, black dai-katana that was etched with red runes all along the blade. He admired the blade as he usually did. It looked particularly wicked in the early morning light. He decided he might make a point of waking up early from now on.

Alec lifted his left hand and swept it down in front of his face. A mask that looked akin to the ones you find on the Slipknot guys appeared on his face. It was cold and metallic looking but at the same time was detailed enough to actually be the face of something. It clung to his face in such a way as to reflect his facial expressions. He grinned, and the metallic mask grinned as well. He swooped down silently and came in through Patrick's open window.

"About time I show our singer exactly what you down with your voice," he muttered quietly. Patrick shifted. Alec held his breath, but Patrick didn't see him shift again. Alec hovered as close to him as possible, leaned down, and screamed in Patrick's ear as loud as he could.

The effect was instant and gratifying. Patrick screamed loudly and leapt about three feet into the air, which was really rather impressive. Alec doubted he could leap that high while lying on his back. Then again, they both could fly, so either could probably do better, but still it was impressive, nonetheless.

When Patrick landed back on his bed, he instantly rolled off, thudded on the floor, stood up, and said "What the fuck are you doing?! I was fucking sleeping!"

Alec laughed loudly. "I'm just having fun, dude! Chill out!"

Patrick frowned. "Why the hell do you have your sword out? And your mask on?"

Alec looked at it and raised his eyebrows. "Umm... I'm not quite sure..." He transformed the sword back into a ring, touched the mask, causing it to dissappear, and then looked at Patrick, and said tauntingly, "So, Patchies, you ready for school today?"

"Fuck you, dude," he said tiredly, "let me go back to sleep."

"Why?" Alec said. "You're already awake." He paused for a moment, and then added, "When does school start for you?"

"7:45." He muttered, rubbing his eyes.

Alec laughed again. "Looks like you might be late. Wanna fly, Patchies?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

***

7:44 AM

Ed stood outside his math class, looking tired. He looked around, and noted that everyone else in the immediate vicinity looked tired, as well. Well, he mused, it is morning.
He yawned widely. If his hair long, then it would be blowing slightly in the wind. But it wasn't. It was short. And black. Ed liked it that way. It's easy to take care of. And stuff like that. For no reason, he happened to look up at the sky at that moment. He wasn't sure why he did. He wasn't sure why he did most things, but he especially wasn't sure why he did this. But he did. And he sighed at what he saw.

Alec and Patrick were flying side by side through the air, as if they were in Dragon Ball Z or something. But of course they weren't. They could fly, though. Ed could, too. He just didn't feel like it most of the time. Most people could, but not everyone. Ed had seen them fly many times before, sometimes along with Garrett, too. They didn't always want to bring Garrett, though, He had the tendency of being rather annoying. Especially since he could be really difficult to understand a lot of the time. But now it was just Alec and Patrick. Penguin and Patchies. Two of the Potato Ninjas.

Ed sighed. 'They can really act like losers, sometimes,' he thought. The bell rang, and he turned and walked to class.

***

8:07 AM

Garrett sat in Math class, not listening at all to what the teacher was saying. He had an idea it had to do with numbers, but he wasn't completely sure. He stared at the blank paper on his desk, wondering whether he should draw something. 'But what I draw?' he wondered. He grabbed his pencil, looked at his paper, and then had a better idea. He looked at the pencil and it made a small popping noise as it turned into a potato. Garrett grinned happily. The others may have their flashy powers, but Garrett was perfectly happy with his. "Potatoes." He said quietly to himself.

He held the potato in his hand, again unsure what to do. 'Maybe I can carve a face in it,' he thought. He frowned as he realized he had nothing to carve it with. Then he grinned. 'I'll just turn it back into a pencil, and then I'll have something to carve with!' He looked at the potato and tried to turn it back into a pencil. It didn't work. He frowned and tried harder. "It's not working..." He said quietly. And indeed, it wasn't working. As many times as he did it, he still didn't want to believe that he could only turn things into potatoes, and not back into what they were before.

Someday I'll be able to change them back, he thought tiredly. His thoughts then drifted back to his room, and the large pile of potatoes underneath it. If only he can remember what they all were to begin with...

He sighed. School was so boring. It wasn't even worth listening to. At least that's what he figured. He couldn't remember actually listening in class for a while. When had he paid attention in class last? He had no idea. He looked at his blank paper again. He got an idea, and then turned that into a potato. It made a slightly louder popping noise, and the person sitting next to him looked over, saw a large flat potato on Garrett's desk, as well as one in his hand. The person shook his head and went back to whatever he was doing before.

Garrett didn't notice any of that. He was now attempting to write with the potato in his hand on the potato on the desk. It wasn't working. He sighed, put his head down, and fell asleep.

***

8:13 AM

Zack was sitting in the back of the same class as Garrett. Unlike Garrett, he wasn't changing things into potatoes. Instead, he was watching Garrett change things into potatoes. It was rather amusing to him. Especially when Garrett tried to change them back. The expression on his face was priceless. It was especially great since he had been doing the same thing in class for a few weeks, now. He saw Garrett put his head down and fall asleep almost instantly.

He grinned, and cupped one of his hands over his desk. Light started gleaming from under it. He slowly uncovered it, and a small dense packet of light was sitting there. He quickly lifted it in his hand, aimed, and chucked it straight at Garrett's head. It went straight inside, and a second later, came back. On its return trip, it was large and bulky, and slightly brownish colored.

Zack caught it in his hand, and it melted into his skin. It gleamed for a moment, and then disappeared. He then looked at one of the markers on the whiteboard at the front of the class. It made a small popping noise that was almost completely inaudible, and turned into a potato. God, I love stealing people's powers, he thought happily. He then began turning random things into potatoes all over the room. A paper on the teacher's desk, the pencil in someone's hand, a book on the shelf, a whiteboard eraser. He giggled like a small child, and then launched the ball of light back at Garrett. It went into his head, and returned again, small and golden. He had given Garrett's power back. He chuckled again as the bell rang and he quickly left the room.

***

11:58 AM

Aaron was on the edge of his seat, staring at the clock intently. Come on, he was thinking, just two more minutes until lunch... come on... Around him, most of the people were doing the same. At junior high school, that's all most kids think about. Aaron, however, had plans.

Why sit around in school? Why not take off and find the Potato Ninjas?
Aaron was not a PN himself, but rather a sort of groupie. He followed them around as best he could, and did what he could to help. Of course, he wasn't the only one. One other kid, Connor, tried to follow them around, too.

Unfortunately for him, everyone but Connor could fly, so avoiding him was a lot simpler. Aaron could fly, too, but not as well as the PNs. After all, they had had more practice than Aaron. The PNs were all in high school. Except for Alec, that is, who is in college.
All the PNs had nicknames, and Aaron did as well. Aaron's was "Spuddy." His brother had been a Spuddy, too, but then decided there were better things to waste his time with.
The bell rang, and Aaron was the first out the door. Without hesitation, he jumped into the air as soon as he was outside, and took off for the high school.

***

12:03

Zack, Garrett, Ed, Patrick, and Aaron all arrived at their spot at the same time. Their spot was on top of the science building.

The first time they had congregated, it had caused quite a stir on campus, and they had to take off before everyone not on top of the science building began throwing rocks at them.
In time, however, everyone got used to it, and the people below hardly gave them a second glance anymore. The school faculty wasn't happy about this whole thing, of course, but they were powerless to do anything about it.

At first it had just been Zack, Garrett, Patrick, and Ed showing up there, but then Alec started coming, and so did Aaron.

And speaking of Alec, he landed right in the middle of the group about a minute after the others showed up.

"So," he said to no-one in particular, "What's new?"

"Absolutely nothing." Zack replied. Everyone nodded in agreement. Except for Garrett.

"I got detention!" He declared. "For turning too many things into potatoes in class!"

Zack was barely able to keep from bursting out laughing.

Alec sat there, amused. He could read minds, and what he saw was amusing. Garrett was confused about the detention, and did not remember turning that many things to potatoes. He remembered his pencil and his paper, but that what it.

Zack was thinking how perfectly that had gone, and how stealthy he was when doing such things.

Ed was picturing Zack sitting in the back of a classroom, stealing Garrett's power, and turning a bunch of things into potatoes before Garrett noticed. Not bad, Alec thought, that's exactly what happened.

Patrick was checking out a chick down below them and was not listening to the others at all. It's pretty obvious what he was thinking.

Aaron was thinking about telling a tree to go crashing through the fence, but wondered if anyone would know that it was him.

Of course we would know it's you, Alec thought, you're the only one that can control plants like that...

Alec sighed and looked around. It had been cold earlier in the day, but it was starting to heat up again. Rapidly. He wondered in the back of his mind why they hang out on a rooftop, and not under shade like any normal person. Well that's obvious, he mused, we aren't normal people. At least not totally.

Thinking about their irregularities gave him an idea. Everyone else had lapsed into a conversation about something (Alec wasn't sure what), and Alec slowly edged away. He got about three feet outside the group, and then disappeared.

"God, I love shadow magic," he said quietly. He then snuck up behind Aaron, raised a hand, and proceeded to make a waterfall above his head. Aaron jumped when it began splashing over him and looked around. He saw no-one. He frowned. Probably just Alec, he thought.

Alec snuck around behind Patrick, who had returned to checking out girls. He gently placed his hands an inch from behind Patrick, and then pushed as hard as he could.
Patrick tumbled over the side with a yelp of suprise, managed to get control of his falling, and zoomed back up to the roof, turning red with anger.

"Who did that, damnit?!" He shouted. Everyone froze and looked at him. Alec silently appeared right in front of Patrick.

"Sorry Patchies. Couldn't resist." Alec grinned, and then shot a stream of water into Patrick's face, and, laughing, flew up into the air.

"Stupid bastard," Patrick muttered under his breath as he rose to meet Alec. "So you wanna play? Huh? Then eat this!" Patrick created a powerful ball of fire and flung it at Alec. Alec's eyes went wide, and he dodged it at the last moment, and then shot a spray of water into the next ball of fire Patrick was about to throw. It went out in a puff of smoke.

Patrick created another ball of fire, this one with a dense core of death energy, and threw that at Alec.

Alec turned invisible, dodged the attack, and then flew right up to Patrick, slapped him in the face, and then flew straight up above him.

"Stupid bastard has to turn invisible," Patrick mumbled as he looked everywhere for Alec. High above him, Alec created a ball of water and dropped it. It fell down and hit Patrick directly on his head, temporarily stunning him. Patrick recovered quickly and shot a ray of fire up to where he thought Alec was. He missed by several feet. Alec now flew down to Patrick's level and began going in circles around him, shooting small streams of water at him.

Angry, Patrick created a fire shield around himself, and then created a shockwave from it. The shockwave hit Alec and gave him a nice burn all across his body. He turned visible again, and said, "Okay, okay. No more."

They both landed on the roof again, Patrick still glaring at Alec, who was grinning, in spite of the fact he just pretty much lost.

"Well," he said, "That was fun."

Patrick mumbled something incoherent under his breath. Alec didn't have to ask him what he said. He already knew.

MrPenguin589

Uh oh... looks like the next chapter is too long by about 788 characters. And that's not good because it isn't nearly my longest chapter...
What should I do?

Seras

I just wanted to comment on the second section before I forgot. I really like the first section, but I kept getting really confused at what the hell was going on. Was Patrick wearing the mask or was Alec? You could probably fix this problem by spacing out the paragraphs (I'm guessing you just copy pasted from a word processor. Those can be a bitch when you are pasting to a forum box thingie cuz you have to go through and hit enter for every single paragraph otherwise you just get a massive block of confusing text )

As for the character problem, I see that your chapters are broken into sections, perhaps you could condense each post into one or two sections a piece and whenever you change chapters just put a bold heading at the beginning of the chapter with either the name or number of the chapter

__________________
Lead me into temptation 'o' dark one, for I am a divine animal.

check out my podcast at www.cubackslash.com/pagan

Seras

Okay, finished reading it. First of all, you're title is amazing. I can totally see this as an anime

Though I will admit, it gets rather confusing trying to figure out who has what powers (I really got confused by the shadow magic and waterfall thing in the last part). Also, unless you are going to reveal more about the world/universe this story is taking place, like why these guys have their powers, or how seemingly random people can fly I would like to see more of that . Other than those things, I really like how your writing style keeps the story flowing.

Keep up the work! Insert some other sort of encouraging phrase here!

__________________
Lead me into temptation 'o' dark one, for I am a divine animal.

check out my podcast at www.cubackslash.com/pagan

MrPenguin589

Well, I'll take your suggestion of posting the chapters in sections. I'm actually up to Chapter 10 in it, so I'll be posting more soon. I can't right now since I don't have my flash drive on me, but yeah.
The first chapter here was basically to introduce the characters, and I wrote it out really quickly. Now that I actually go back and read it carefully, I can see your confusion. But don't worry, it'll make more sense later on. Also, I have a character sheet type thing, so I dunno, if I posted that, would it help?
Probably not, now that I think about it...
As for why they can fly, the explanation for that is not in the first book, but perhaps I'll incorporate it into the second. If there is one.

EDIT: As for being an anime, that was my first idea, but then I realized I can't draw at all. Perhaps it'll be some sort of anime some day. That would be sweet.

MrPenguin589

Chapter Two: Breaking The Habit

3:00 PM, Wednesday
Fallbrook, CA
Ed walked slowly out of class, his mind occupied by thoughts that wouldn't go away. He had no idea what to do about it, or whether he needed to even do anything. Besides, thoughts were just thoughts, right? He wasn't so sure about it. He wondered whether staying up all night watching old episodes of Robot Chicken and Family Guy had anything to do with it. Maybe not Family Guy so much, but maybe Robot Chicken...

He sighed and continued walking. 'But perhaps,' he thought, 'the problem really is...' his thoughts were interupted when Patrick jumped out of a nearby bush screaming like a lunatic. His idea was to scare Ed, but instead only managed to acheive a blank stare from his freind. Patrick laughed.

"What are you looking all emo about?" He asked.

Ed sighed, "It's nothing."

Patrick laughed again. "Yeah right. What happened? You finally realize you are completely retarded?"

Ed shook his head. "Do you ever think of anything original, Patchies?"

Patrick looked confused, and then angry. "Shut up, fag."

Before Ed could retort, Alec happened to land right next to them at that moment.

"You ladies having a nice little chat here?" He said tauntingly as Ed sighed yet again.

Patrick turned to him and said, "I think Ed has gone a little emo here."

Alec laughed. "What else is new?" He looked at Ed. "What is it? Have you been watching too much Robot Chicken again?"

Ed looked at him incredulously. "You watch it too, you idiot."

Alec smirked. "So, what's your point? It's a funny show."

Instead of replying Ed just shook his head and started to walk away.

"Woah there, Eddy boy," Patrick said, "you ain't leaving until you tell us what's got you so emo."

Ed stopped. "Okay, fine, I'll tell you guys." He sighed. He wasn't sure exactly what he would say, but he thought he knew what the problem was.

"You see, I've got this bad habit."

Alec and Patrick both stared blankly for a few seconds, until Alec said, "And...?"

"Oh, yeah. You see, I've got this bad habit of..."

Before he could continue, Garrett suddenly ran in front of him, arms raised high over his head, shouting something about potatoes. Everyone in the near vicinity stopped what they were doing and watched the running kid, confusion spread across their faces.

Alec watched him with amusement on his face. Not only was Garrett's powers to turn things into potatoes, but he was also incredibly good at confusing people. At first no one thought it should be considered a power, since nothing supernatural seemed to be involved. After a while, they started to wonder whether it really was a power, or just his nature. He was damn good at, but they still weren't sure what to consider it. Alec didn't consider it to be a power, but rather just an amusing gift. His timing for it was questionable, but it was always amusing to watch.

"So Garrett," Alec said to Garrett after he finally calmed down, "what has you so excited?"

Garrett grinned, looked at him, and said, "Potato!" And then, giggling like a small child, jumped into the air and flew off.

Everyone stared at the spot where he had been for a short time, and then suddenly returned to whatever they were doing before, like nothing had just happened. Seeing Garrett fly off made Alec feel like doing the same thing. Unfortunately, Patrick turned to him and said, "Okay dude, we need to help Ed."

Alec shrugged. "Okay," he said, "how?"

In reply, Patrick turned to Ed and slapped him. Hard.

"Ow! You stupid bastard!" Ed cried as he kicked Patrick in the balls.

Patrick fell over on the ground, looking rather distressed. Alec looked on indifferently. He had seen this routine many times before, and had just learned that it goes quicker if you try not too laugh too much. He quickly became lost in other thoughts, and drifted away into a sort of sleep-standing thing. At least, until Patrick shook him hard enough to wake him up.

"Okay dude," Patrick was saying, "What we need to do to fix Ed is to give him this potion thing." He held up a vial that had a murky blue liquid in it. It didn't look particularly tasteful, but hey, medicines ain't supposed to be.
"But what is Ed's..." Alec began.

"So you up for this, Ed?" Patrick said, cutting Alec off mid-sentence. Alec was going to ask what Ed's problem was, as Patrick seemed to know now. 'No matter,' Alec thought, 'I'll ask later.'

Ed nodded to Patrick's question and took the vial from Patrick's hand. He looked at it for a moment, and then drank the whole thing in one gulp. From his facial expression, it was quite apparent that it most definitely did not taste good.

"I think I'm gonna puke..." Ed managed to say.

"No! That's my only potion!" Patrick shouted at Ed. "I don't have any more!"

Alec looked at Patrick. "What the fuck are you doing with potions anyway?" He asked.
Patrick laughed. "This is a fucking story dude! We can fly! We have superpowers! Of COURSE we have potions!"

"Umm... Patrick?" Alec said.

"Yeah, what?" Patrick replied.

"What makes you think we're in a story?"

"Because we are."

"No we aren't."

"Yes we are."

"No. We aren't."

"Yes. We are."

"Patrick, look. This is real life."

"No it isn't."

"It isn't?"

"Nope. We're all a part of a story that you are writing."

Alec looked surprised. "I'm writing this?"

"Yep." Patrick replied happily. "Except you're in a different world than this. But it is pretty similar."

Alec frowned. "Another world?"

"Yeah. Kinda like a different dimension or something."

"A different dimension?"

"Umm... sorta."

"Sorta?"

"Yeah. Sorta."

"Okay, then where am I in this 'other world?'"

"At the moment, you are sitting in a practice room at OCC. You are waiting for 12:30 to roll around so you can go off to Computer class."

"... right..."

Convinced that Patrick had finally gone insane, Alec then turned to Ed. "So? You feel better?"

One look at Ed's face would reveal that no, he was not better. He was worse. Or something to that effect.

He was looking around spastically, his eyes both moving independently. He wore a large sloppy grin and was jumping up and down very quickly. His breathing was loud, and for some reason in sync with his maniacal hopping. He would have looked very funny, if he were faking it. But Alec could tell he wasn't. Even Garrett stopped and looked at Ed, and luckily, he was the only one. All the other "background people," as Alec thought of them, had disappeared.

"Oh god," Alec muttered under his breath, "Now Ed's gone insane, too."

Over the next five minutes, Alec, Garrett, and Patrick (who had stopped talking about 'other worlds,' thank god) stood and watched Ed continue his weird little motions. Ed's head started to twitch slightly, too, and he began blinking rapidly intermittently. Worried, Alec moved towards him and said, "Ed..."

He stopped. Ed had jerked his head and stared directly at Alec. All movement ceased and he stood perfectly still, looking something like a very realistic statue.

"Ed..." Alec began again, but this time was cut off as Ed suddenly shrieked like a small cornered animal and began running away from them.

"Damnit," Alec grumbled as he began chasing after the runaway kid. He didn't look over his shoulder, but he knew nonetheless that Patrick and Garrett were following him.

Ed continued to run until Alec caught up to him and managed to tackle him to the ground. Ed managed to squirm his way out of Alec's grasp. He then proceeded to jump up, slap Alec across the face while making noises that were somewhat similar to a demented squirrel, and then jumped into the air and flew off. In a matter of seconds, he could no longer be seen.

Garrett and Patrick caught up to Alec and followed his gaze into the sky.

"Got away, did he?" Patrick asked solemnly.

"Yep." Alec replied glumly. "What should we do?"

"I dunno." Patrick sighed. "Just go home I guess. Ed'll probably show up in a day or two."

"Yeah," Alec agreed, "He probably will." He began hovering a foot off the ground. "See you guys later, then."

"Bye." Patrick and Garrett said. Alec dissapeared in cloud of shadow magic, blasting off into the air, headed north.

Headed home.

***

Aaron sat at his desk in his house, laughing. He had managed to sell that stupid potion to Patrick for $20! What a success! He had followed the books instructions and made it accordingly, and it was supposed to cure most ailments. He had no idea how much it was worth, and of course, he had no idea how much money he had spent making it, but nevertheless he was sure it was much less than $20. Especially since he still had a very large jar of it on his desk. 'Nothing goes better with success than drawing pictures of random things!' He thought happily. He grabbed a pencil and began drawing. It slipped out of his hand, flew through the air, and landed in the jar of murky blue potion. Aaron watched it almost instantly disentegrate.

He shrugged, grabbed another pencil, and that one also slipped out of his hand and into the potion.

He repeated this several times until he ran out of pencils and pens.

"How am I supposed to draw now?" He wondered aloud. He looked around, and saw that the last thing left was a black crayon sitting on his desk. Sighing, he picked it up and began to draw one last time.

The crayon, like every other writing utensil, jumped out of his hand.

But unlike the others, this one didn't disintegrate.

It exploded.

Aaron sat in his desk, looking at the blackened scorch mark where the jar used to sit. It had a peculiar smell about it that was something like sulfur, except not. He frowned. "Perhaps..." he began to think aloud, and then shook his head.

"Naw." He said muttered. "No way THAT could happen."

He stood up and walked out of his room.

***

MrPenguin589

Continuation Of Chapter Two

A week later...

Patrick walked slowly out of class, his mind occupied by thoughts that wouldn't go away. He had no idea what to do about it, or whether he needed to even do anything. Besides, thoughts were just thoughts, right? He wasn't so sure about it. He wondered whether staying up all night watching old episodes of Robot Chicken and Family Guy had anything to do with it. Maybe not Family Guy so much, but maybe Robot Chicken...

He shook the thoughts away. As much as he hated to admit it, he was worried about Ed.

Ed wasn't the type of person he liked being worried about, but it seemed he had no choice. It had been exactly a week since the incident with Ed that he had brought on. If he hadn't given him the potion, then maybe none of it would have happened. He wondered what had caused the strange reaction. Aaron had told him it was a completely legit potion, and it would cure most anything. And plus it had cost him a couple more dollars than he was happy about...

And for what? All it did was fuck up Ed and make him disappear to god knows where. 'Maybe Alec will show up today,' he mused, 'I haven't seen him since the Ed incident.'
Exactly on cue, Alec landed softly on his feet right in front of Patrick. Unfortunately for him, Patrick was walking with his head down, and too engrossed in his thoughts to notice. As a result, he walked straight into Alec, and fell over backward.

He jumped up quickly, already starting to feel extremely stupid and embarrassed, but when he saw that it was Alec, his embarrassment turned into hope.

"You have any news about Ed?" He questioned hopefully. Alec shook his head.

"Nope." He said. "I don't."

Patrick's hopes fell. The small ray of light in his heart suddenly went out. 'Why am I so upset about this?' He wondered, frustrated.

Alec smiled sadly. "You are so upset because you are guilty about Ed. You think that since you gave him the potion, it's all your fault."

Patrick groaned. "Dude, do you always have to read my thoughts?"

Alec shrugged. "Sorry. Can't help it. It's just a part of me."

"A nosy part of you..." Patrick mumbled.

"What was that?" Alec asked. Of course he knew what Patrick said. It was written all over his face and thoughts. He was just amusing Patrick.

"Nothing." Patrick sighed. He paused, and then added, "You think we will ever see Ed again?"

Alec smiled. "Of course we will. It's just a matter of time."

There was a pause, and Garrett and Zack showed up at that moment.

"Garrett told me what happened last week," Zack said, "And I'm willing to help if I can."

"Good," Alec said, turning to him. "'Cause I think we'll need all the help we can get."

Alec was now looking over Zack's shoulder. Everyone turned to follow his gaze.

There were several black dots in the sky, all of them rapidly growing larger. Pretty soon, it was quite apparent what they were; people. And not just any people, either. Each one of them was dressed in battle armor. Big bulky suits of iron and steel that would protect against damn near anything. All of them, that is, except for one.

Ed was in the middle of the group, and instead of wearing armor, he had only his big insane grin on his face, and his large claymore in his hands. The group landed in front of the gathered Potato Ninjas and Ed stepped forward.

"So," he said in a voice that was very much not his own, "You think you can just give me a potion and fix what's wrong with me? Eh? EH?!"

His face was now contorting, growing more and more wicked, and less and less like himself. 'This isn't good,' Alec thought unhappily, 'this isn't good at all. He apparently thinks we were trying to poison him or something...'

"You think you are going to poison me? Is that it?" Ed's voice was rising and rising, like a frustrated chipmunk. "You think can just kill me? Eh? EH?!"

'Yep,' Alec thought, 'he's delusional.'

"Well now I'm going to get my revenge!" Ed's voice had almost achieved a shaky soprano. "Guys! Attack!!"

The armored coneys rushed at the potato ninjas, weapons raised. They each were armed similarly: a broadsword in one hand, and a war hammer in the other.

'Damnit,' Alec thought as he summoned his dai-katana and his armor. 'I was hoping for a peaceful conclusion.'

He raised his weapon high over his head, and swung.

One armored enemy dropped to his knees, blood spraying in a constant stream from his neck, all over the people gathered. As his face was splashed with blood, Alec made an important discovery; blood is hot.

He had no time to ponder this newfound knowledge, as he was getting bum-rushed by the remaining armored clowns. To Alec's left, Patrick drew his Daggertail, and whipped one in the face, jerking back his hand at the last moment. The helmet of the unfortunate soldier was ripped off his head, and thrown several feet backwards. The facial expression was priceless. It went from overconfident to surprised to scared to angry to scared again in under a second. The next second, the facial expressions ceased, as Patrick whipped his weapon again, this time taking off most of the soldier's face. Blood sprayed all over the pavement as he slumped to the ground.

Garrett, however, was having a bit of trouble. He got his club out, no problem, but he was quickly realizing that it wasn't very effective against his armored foes. One of them knocked Garrett off his feet and into a nearby tree with one swing of his hammer. Garrett slumped down, a thin stream of blood leaking out of a corner of his mouth.

The soldier who knocked Garrett off his feet had only a moment or two to celebrate his small victory. The next moment, his head was laying in the dirt several feet away from his body.

Zack continued his decapitating swing and managed to clip Ed with the tip of his sword. A thin gash bled from Ed's side to his other side. Ed looked surprised for a moment, and then swung his claymore back at Zack. Zack brought his own sword up and blocked it with a loud clang. Ed gritted his teeth and pulled his sword back to swing again.

To his right, Alec was engaged in battle with the last of the armored fools. He swung rapidly at his opponent, only to be blocked again and again by the soldier's weapons.

Alec swung high, and was blocked by the soldier's hammer, while the sword in his other hand swings at Alec's midsection. Alec jumped back and avoided being hit. He held the sword in one hand, and raised the other toward his opponent. A high-pressure blast of water streaked from his hand and knocked his opponent of his feet.

The soldier hit the ground hard, but sprang up again, hardly missing a beat. He swung his broadsword in a wide arc, and a wave of fire burst fron it abd blasted toward Alec. Alec raised his hand again, and shot his own blast of water toward the soldier. Their attacks met in midair and exploded in a ball of light. Both combatants were knocked backward.

Alec managed to get back on his feet first, and threw his sword at the soldier. The soldier jumped up, only to be knocked back over, a sword sticking out of his chest. Alec smirked, and put his hand forward. The sword jumped back into his hand, stained with blood. He turned and watched Zack fighting with Ed.

Ed's launched himself forward, swinging his sword upward. Zack jumped into the air, avoiding Ed's attack, and then dropped with his sword straight down at Ed's head.

Ed looked up with fear in his eyes. He raised his claymore, and managed to block the attack. They remained in sword lock for a moment, eyes blazing at each other. The moment broke, and they separated in a burst of fire and light. Zack took a step back, and suddenly lit his sword up with flames. He waved it tauntingly in front of Ed.
"Come and get it, Eddy boy." He chided.

Ed gritted his teeth, and charged forward again. His sword was met by Zack's and sparks flew in a flurry of steel. A series of rapid attacks and blocks followed, almost so fast as to be imperceptible. The flurry was ended as Ed blasted a burst of light from his fist into Zack's chest.

Zack was flung backwards in the dust, the breath removed from his lungs. He tried to gasp in breath, but only got a mouthful of dust. He coughed several times and struggled his feet. Ed was standing there, his eyes blazing.

"Come and get it, Zacky boy." He taunted. Zack suddenly noticed Alec and Patrick standing to the side, watching patiently. Zack mouthed out a word at them, and Patrick nodded. With lightning speed, he spun towards Ed, and launched a ball of fire and death at Ed.

Unaware of what was going on, Ed was hit with the full force of the spell and was knocked into a wall, unconscious. Alec seized the chance and sprang into action. He rushed at Ed and slapped him across the face as hard as he could. Ed's eyes flew open, and a mixture of saliva and blood flew from his mouth. He stayed like that for a moment, his eyes open wide, and mouth in a small "o". He then slowly turned and looked at Alec, who was standing over him, dai-katana held in one hand, a ball of water in the other, and covered head to toe in battle armor.

Ed raised an eyebrow and said, "What the fuck are you doing, man?"

His words ringed in the silence, and he seemed to notice for the first time the bloody and occasionally headless corpses littered on the ground. His mouth dropped open and he looked up at Alec, a question already forming on his lips.

"Yes," Alec said before Ed even said a single word, "This is your fault."

Ed looked confused.

"You went insane." Alec explained, his armor slowly disappearing into his skin, and his dai-katana transforming back into a ring. "Patrick gave you a potion to make you feel better, and you went all insane and flew away. You returned a week later and attacked us. And this," he waved his arm at the carnage behind him, "is the result."

Ed nodded, accepting all this. He had a vague recollection of what had happened, but it was just that; vague. He looked over at Patrick, his armor and weapon also gone. "Why did you give me a potion that would make me insane?" He called.

Patrick walked up slowly. "I didn't know it would make you insane." He said. "Aaron said it was supposed to make you better."

A thought suddenly occurred to Alec. "Hey Ed," He said, turning to him, "what was your problem, anyway?"

Ed looked confused for a moment, and then laughed. "Oh, that. Yeah, I was addicted to eating crayons. But I think after today, I'm over that."

He laughed again.

Alec was confused.

Garrett remained leaning against the tree. The flow of blood had stopped, and the front of his shirt had a long stream down it. Under his shirt, one hell of a bruise was forming. It would be there for at least a month. He was lucky that his skull was not broken. Only the tree was broken. Or, at least, somewhat.

As the others walked away, nobody seemed to notice Garrett still slumped there. That was okay. They hardly noticed him anyway.

MrPenguin589

Chapter Three: Affliction

4:23 AM Saturday
Fallbrook, CA

Alec sat in bed, pondering a new problem he had come across. He had been watching the news a lot of late, and now realized a major threat. There was a sort of disease that was spreading through the town, killing or crippling many people. Fallbrook was not a big town, so Alec figured it wouldn't take long for everyone to keel over in the streets and die, effectively creating a ghost town out of the place. What would happen then? Would the government try to seal off the place, try to quarantine this plague? What if they failed? What then?

Alec sighed and pushed the thoughts away. He stood up, walked outside, and gently lifted off from the ground. He was dressed warmly, so the bitter winter wind that cut the sky didn't affect him too terribly. He floated up, up, surrounded by his thoughts.

He was having too many sleepless nights of late. Part of the reason could be because he was staying up late watching TV, but usually he would fall asleep after a while if he did that. The problem was when he didn't. Then he could hardly fall asleep at all. He would lie in bed for many hours, wide awake. He felt most awake when he should be asleep, and most sleepy when he should be awake.

He wondered what was causing it. There was really no reason why this should be so. Perhaps he was just meant to be nocturnal. That wouldn't be half bad if he actually had things to do at 4:30 in the morning.

He leveled out a thousand feet or so above the ground and looked around. All was dark. Even the relatively small business district of the town was out for the night. Err... morning. Not a single house had a light on, but the moon was full in the sky, and Alec could see many things below. Most of the things were inert, but once in a while he was see a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eyes in the shadows below. Mostly he figured this was just the movement of a lonely coyote or perhaps even a mountain lion. He hadn't seen any around recently, but he knew for a fact that they occasionally strolled through the yards of the outlying houses.

'Perhaps animals are affected by this disease, too,' Alec mused, thinking of the plague of the town. 'And perhaps I might catch it floating around up here...'

Nobody was quite sure how it spread. Was it by contact, or is it airborne? All Alec knew was that he didn't have it, and didn't plan on getting it. He descended back towards the ground, this time looking around more alertly. He was about halfway down when he saw movement in the bushes near his house. He froze where he was, suddenly too terrified to move. Thoughts blazed through his mind, each as unlikely as the next. He calmed himself down as best he could. Perhaps it was just a coyote. Perhaps a stray dog. Perhaps a...

(werewolf)

... no! Not a werewolf! They did not exist!

Alec's mind screamed that at him. It could not be! They did not exist!
'Oh really?' Another voice deep inside spoke. 'Is that so? Look around. It's a full moon.'
Alec looked up. It was indeed a full moon. He looked back where the bushes had moved. Alec turned invisible and waited.

A few minutes passed, and there was no sign of further movement from the bush. Alec was about to continue his descent when something suddenly walked out of the bush.

It stood upright about seven feet tall, and appeared to be covered in coarse brown fur. It had a long snout full of viscious looking teeth, and two ears were perked up on it head. The eyes were black, but glittered in the moonlight. The body looked long and muscular, and when it moved it looked like liquid in action. The movements were fluid and silent, and looked very well practiced. It was the body of a predator, but not one born of this world. There was suddenly no doubt in Alec's mind. This was a werewolf.

His mind tried to reject the idea. 'No,' it cried, 'it's not possible! It's irrational!'

Irrational or not, it was there. The weight of the situation finally hit him, and Alec gasped. There was a werewolf in his yard! What the fuck was going on?!

The head of the creature swung towards Alec and settled there. The snout parted and the creature uttered a growl that was deep, rumbling, and capable of freezing anything in it's tracks in fear.

Alec gulped. It could smell him. It could hear him. It could taste him. Alec was afraid, but he knew something had to be done.

He descended slowly towards the beast. The werewolf backed up a step and crouched down, ready to pounce at it's intended prey as soon as it was in range. The cold calculating eyes had a deep intelligence in them. One not found in ordinary creatures.

Alec landed about fifty feet away from the werewolf, still invisible, and summoned his sword. He held it tightly in front of him as his armor rose from his skin and covered him.

In moments, Alec was ready for battle. He dismissed his invisibility and stood there in all his glory, his deadly dai-katana ready to destroy anything that stood in his path. The werewolf looked him in the eye, growled, and charged.

***

It only took a few minutes. When it was over, Alec stood over the body of the creature, triumphant in his victory. The beast lay for a moment, and then slowly began changing. First the fur fell off, and then the body shrank and contorted.

A moment later, the dead body of a man of perhaps twenty lay before Alec's feet. Somehow, during the transformation, the man's clothes had returned to his body, and Alec searched the body.

He found nothing except for a folded up note in the left pant's pocket. Alec lifted it gently and opened it.

The note was short and to the point, and looked as if the hand that had written it was highly experienced at writing, as it was neat and clear. There was a well-drawn map of the area around Alec's house, followed by this message:

Your target is at this address. We believe him to be the leader of the group
we have spoken of. From our reports, he should be asleep at around 4:30 or so, and will wake up a few hours from then. I trust you will be silent and swift as always.
- T

'So somebody wants me dead,' Alec thought. 'Interesting...'

***

9:36 AM

Garrett woke up coughing. His lungs felt as if they were filled with fire, and his eyes were clouded to the point where he could hardly see. 'The plague,' he thought vaguely. 'The plague is here...'

He fumbled for his phone, managed to open it, and dialed a number.

***

10:03 AM

Alec stood slightly off to one side as the others landed on his driveway. Once everyone had arrived, he stepped forward and began speaking.

"As you know," he began, "Garrett has apparently contracted the disease. Before I wasn't so worried, but now I am."

This was a partial lie. He had been very worried before, and now he was even more so.
"I think that the least we can do is try to figure out what the fuck is going on here," he continued, "and if we can, then we need to destroy the source of the plague." He didn't like saying that word, but it felt necessary. "Any ideas on what we should do?"

Nobody spoke. Aaron fidgeted where he stood. He liked hanging out with the PNs and everything, but he wasn't so sure he could really help them out here. He thought that nobody here could really do anything about it at all.

"Aaron, though you think you are not needed here, you may be." Alec looked at him. "Perhaps you could be more helpful than you think." He paused for a moment. "You are still experimenting with potions, correct? Of course you are. I can see it in your eyes. And your mind. So I want you to go home and bring back as many different potions as you think could help Garrett."

"What if he dies from a potion? Or goes insane?" Ed asked.

"Then we'll have to try other things." Alec said. "Just because you went insane from the first potion you ever had doesn't mean everyone else will. Besides, I think the crayon had something to do with your uh, reaction." Alec grinned.

Aaron took off without a word and returned a few minutes later with a backpack on. Alec looked at it, and then spoke. "Let's get to Garrett's house and do this, then, shall we?"

***

10:30 AM

"Well, I think this one finally worked." Aaron announced to the room.

Garrett opened his eyes and looked around. "What happened?" He asked. His speech was slurred and he was cross-eyed, but other than that he looked okay.

"We gave you a bunch of potions and watched what happened." Ed explained. "A few of them seemed to had adverse effects, however..." Ed's eyes traveled over the large red bumps on Garrett's face that had not appeared until they gave him a purple potion, and then to a mark on his head that happened when he started twitching violently after drinking a brown potion.

"... but I'm sure those will heal in time." Patrick finished for him. He looked like he was trying very hard not to burst out laughing.

Garrett stood up, tottered, and then fell over.

"Don't worry," Alec said, "I'm sure you'll remember how to walk in time. Oh, and Aaron," he continued, "you have any more of that particular potion?"

"The light green one?" Aaron asked. "Yep. A bit. I can make more if you need it."

"Oh, we will." Alec said. "We will."

"But how will we get it to everyone in town?" Ed asked. He decided long ago that if the plague got too bad, he would just take off and go somewhere. Canada maybe.

"I dunno. Shoot it out of a big cannon all over town? And you are not going to Canada. You are staying here." Alec said.

"I hate it when you do that..." Ed muttered.

"Perhaps Garrett and I could make a storm and somehow incorporate the potion into the rain?" Aaron offered. He and Garrett both had air elements, and Aaron had water also.
"That could work." Alec said. "Garrett, you up for it?"

"Of course!" Garrett shouted. Something on the other side of the room spontaneously turned into a potato. Garrett laughed.

***

4:13 PM

"Umm... I think it worked, but everyone looks like they're all knocked out now."

"Then what are we going to do about it, Aaron?"

"I dunno. Have a dance party?"

"No, that's for later. You got any potion that wake people up?"

"Yep. I got a lot of it, too."

"Then get to work."

***

6:59 PM

"They're waking up now! They're waking up!"

"I know, Garrett. I know. I have eyes."

"But what about that guy?"

"The really tall one? What about him?"

"How come he looks all angry?"

"Well, it seems that we ruined his plans and now he's go to kill us. Wait..."

The tall person in question walked up to the group that was standing in the middle of Main Street, where they had dragged all the unconscious people for the waking up, and looked at them angrily.

"You bastards think you can just come around and mess up everything I've tried to accomplish?!" He shouted at them.

"Umm... yeah. That's what we do." Alec replied. He suddenly thought of the werewolf he had fought that morning. A connection formed in his mind, and he rushed forward and grabbed the man.

"Who told you to do this?" He growled into the man's face. "Who?"

The man pushed Alec back. "I did it on my own accord, fool. People equal shit, and I want to end them."

Patrick cheered. "Slipknot! Hell yeah!"

"Yeah, yeah, Slipknot. Woohoo." Alec said. "If he were Corey Taylor, then we would be happy. But he's just some freak."

"You know, Alec," Patrick said, "You aren't writing this part very well."

"Damnit Patrick," Alec said turning to him, "How many times do I have to tell you? This is real life! This is not a story!"

"I have my facts and I am sticking by them." Patrick said smugly. Alec shook his head and turned around to face the man again.

"But as for you..." Alec stopped. The man was gone. "Damnit!" Alec shouted. "Now he's gone, thanks to you!"

"Not my fault," Patrick said. "You're just lazy and don't want to write out a whole big battle scene. 'Cause you're so lazy."

"Which reminds me," Alec said, "I have something else to tell you guys."
"Which is...?" Ed asked.

"I was attacked this morning."

"By who? The Boogeyman?" Patrick laughed. He didn't want to admit it, but he was rather uneasy about this.

"I'm being serious here." Alec said. "I was attacked. By a werewolf."

The group didn't say anything, but there thoughts were all the same: there was somebody behind all of this.

"I know what you're all thinking," Alec said (which was, of course, true), "and I'm thinking the same thing. There's somebody out there who wants us dead. Why? I don't know. But there is. So we need to be ready for them. Okay?"

Everyone nodded.

"Now I have another announcement." Alec said. "I'm fucking hungry. Let's go get something to eat."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and they left.

'Well, this story sucked.' Patrick thought. 'There was hardly any humor, hardly and battling, and it's short. Oh well. Maybe the next one will be better.'

"Patrick! We are not in a story! Now stop thinking stupid shit and come on!"

They all left. Except for Garrett, who was amusing himself by turning random things (occasionally people) into potatoes. When he turned to follow the others, they were already gone.

MrPenguin589

Chapter Four: Chris

4:35 AM
Fallbrook, CA

In the early morning hours, the air was cold, clear, and crisp, the sky outside still a star-studded cloak covering the land in darkness. The moon was just a sliver in the sky, hardly large enough to even see. Below, there was no movement on the streets, not even a lone car or a restless hobo.

As we descend towards the earth, our attention is drawn to a particular house, which sticks out from all the others for one simple reason: there is a light on. We drift slowly in through the window and see that inside the room, there is a boy sitting on the side of his bed, looking at the ground. His hair is long and black. His face and entire body gives off the feeling of one who doesn't care for society or even people in general.

His name is Chris. He is 15 years old, and goes to the local high school. He has few friends, and even to them he is cold and distant. His thoughts center around life and death, and what the meaning of it all is. Little does he know, but he will soon learn much more than he ever imagined.

As he sat, he was consumed by his dream he had just woken up from. Even for him, it was strange and disturbing...

(In it, he had been a cloaked figure, a shadow in the darkness. He jumped from house to house as lightly as a bird through the air. He landed on one roof, and felt a presence inside. A strong presence.

He slipped in through an open window, and silently scoured the house. Finally, he found what he was looking for...

Laying in bed was a boy of perhaps 13. The boy's hair was short and blond. He looked as innocent and defenseless as any high school prep, but the power coming from him was incredible.

Quietly, Chris drew a dagger from a sheath in his belt, and slit the throat of the boy. Though not one drop of blood spilled, the dagger suddenly illuminated in a powerful light, of gray and blue. Chris put his dagger back in it's sheath, and saw that the cut was as clean as a cut in a piece of bread. Not one drop of blood flowed from the deep slash across the boy's throat.

Satisfied, Chris stood up and turned to go, but in the doorway there was a dark figure, dressed in armor and holding a large curved sword. The face was covered by a mask, but Chris could tell this was no ally. He quickly turned toward a window and attempted to run out, but suddenly, the figure was in front of him, holding the sword horizontally, blocking Chris' escape. Chris turned again and headed for the door, but the figure was in front of him again.

Desperate, Chris drew the illuminated dagger and plunged it deep into his enemies chest.
For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, the figure slowly raised a hand, reached out toward Chris, and clamped down on his throat.

Chris was lifted into the air, struggling for breath. In the last moment of the dream, Chris felt another hand press against his head quickly and powerfully, snapping his neck like a twig.)

... and wondering what it all meant. He had never snuck around at night killing innocent kids in their beds. He had snuck out at night, but that was only to fly when there was no-one to gape and stare at him. He would sometimes fly up high, higher than the clouds, and then hover, staring at the moon...

(The air was cold. Undeniably cold. He was hovering just a few feet from the top of a cloud that loomed out in all directions over the land. The moon was full in the sky, and he could see that the top of the cloud had hills and valleys and plains, much like the earth below. Where he was it was relatively flat, and the moonshine reflected off the cloud and made it seem almost as bright as day.

Chris twitched suddenly. Had something just passed in front of the moon? He shook his head. Probably just a bird...

...out for a midnight flight? He doubted it.

He spun in the air. He felt something fly past his back, narrowly missing him. Though he had not seen what it was, his mind's eye saw a pair of great leathery wings, attached to the shoulder blades of an otherwise normal looking man. But wait, did his mind really think of the fangs protruding from it's mouth, as it turned toward him in an evil grin? Was it prepared to strike? To reach out and take Chris' life in an instant?

He turned around again. Was that it?! Did he just see it?!

Frightened and confused to no end, Chris descended toward his house.

He slept with the windows closed and the doors locked that night.)

... and the wicked things that come out at night.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He needed to get some more rest. School started in only a few hours, hard as it is to believe.

'Or perhaps I can go out for a quick flight.' he thought suddenly. As if commanded by a force from elsewhere, he mechanically got up, opened the door, stepped outside, and flew.

***

He landed quietly on the side of a hill a few minutes later, with no recollection of the flight over.

He had no idea where he was, and the silent hills around him gave no clue. He sighed and looked up the hill. Nothing there, except rocks and dirt.

Suddenly, he felt a hand push him in the back. He stumbled a few steps forward and up the hill before quickly turning around.

"Nothing there," he said quietly, trying to keep calm, "Nothing at all."

He looked back up the hill, and was a large group of rocks that he had seemed to have missed before. Curious, he walked toward them.

He felt a hand against his back again, but this time it was warm and encouraging. He turned his head as he walked, but saw nothing there.

He reached the rocks quickly, and realized that they were actually stacked around a cave entrance in a manner that did not seem in the least bit natural.

He should have been afraid and gone home immediately, but he didn't.

Instead, he went in.

(It was dark and cold. Everything was cold. The dirt was cold. The rocks were cold. The air flowing in and out was cold. Chris was in a corner, shivering. Who were these people? These mean people who did this? I'm only nine! You can't do this to me!
They hit him. They abused him. He screamed for them to stop, but they didn't. They laughed as they hurt him. Who were these people? Who were they? Why were they attacking him? Why him? Why? Why?
Why?)

He hated caves. He didn't know why, but whenever he went into one, he felt pain. Not physical pain, but emotional pain. Had he fallen in one and been hurt as a child? He didn't know.

He walked further and further in, his hands out in front of him to feel for any obstacles.
'Perhaps it's more than just claustrophobia,' he thought, 'why are caves linked to pain? Why?'

Suddenly, he stopped. The light had reduced itself to a point where it was only shades of black, but he could tell he had entered a large room. The blacks went blacker, and the feeling of claustrophobia he had been feeling suddenly lifted a bit. The silence was complete. He had stopped breathing for fear of breaking the silence.

Then, the silence broke.

"Hello there." A voice called. It was low and seemed serpentine, as if the voice belonged to a viper or something of the sort. Chris was suddenly more afraid than he had ever been before.

"Hello." The voice spoke again. This time it was closer. Chris shivered involuntarily. There were no sounds at all, and then the voice was right in his ear. "I've been waiting for you... Chris."

Chris screamed.

***

"So let me get this straight, you want me to help you?"

Chris was sitting on the floor in a corner of the cave, which was now illuminated by floating balls of fire. The old man stood in the middle, surveying the frightened Chris.
"Yes. You are one in a million. You are perfect." The man grinned, showing many teeth. Two of which were long, curved, and struck fear into Chris' heart. It was all he could do to sit and act calm.

"Well, could you explain all of this again? I'm not sure I understand."

"Fine," the man said, "I will." He cleared his throat. "I want to train you in the art of necromancy." The man paused for effect, and then continued. "You, as I have said, are perfect for this. You posses power of the two elements needed..."

"Life and death." Chris put in.

"... and your attitude toward others is excellent for this line of work." The man continued. "It is hard to make a good necromancer out of those who love other humans." The man spit in the dirt in disgust. "Love is for the weak-minded. For the foolish." He spit again, and then continued. "You, much like myself, could care less about one life out of the several billion in this world. You have already proved that to me."

"In my dream." Chris said.

"In your dream." The man agreed, and grinned again. There were those fangs. Chris was getting the idea that this man was more than just a necromancer...

"In your dream," the man began again, "you proved that you have the guts to kill an innocent person in their bed. And with minimal guilt." The man began pacing back and forth. "Unfortunately, you lost your nerve when the visitor showed up. And you died." The man stopped pacing and faced Chris.

"If you were faced with that situation again, you would not allow yourself to go down so easily, am I correct?"

"You are indeed correct." Chris replied. "But I have a few questions for you."

The man laughed and said, "I believe I know what they will be, but go ahead. Ask."

"Well for one," Chris said, "you were controlling my dream, weren't you? And it was you who forced me to come here, right? And you aren't human, are you? You are a vampire, aren't you?"

The man smirked. "Not bad, boy. Yes. You are correct on all those questions and assumptions. Of course, I didn't make much of an effort to conceal my tracks or who I am... but I saw no need."

"So now you are going to make me into a vampire and teach me the ways of necromancy, am I correct?" Chris asked. He knew the answer before the man said it.

"Yes."

The man walked over to Chris and put his hand out. Chris reached out, grabbed the man's hand, and hauled himself up.

"So," the man said, "which first? Necromancy, or vampirism?"

"Do I have a choice?" Chris asked.

The man grinned. "No."


***

Chris was sitting in the corner again. This time, however, he felt stronger. Faster. Smarter. He felt like he could take on the world. And he wanted to.

"So," the man said, "now it's time to learn."

He turned to the cave entrance, paused, and then turned back to Chris. "Actually, it might be better if you went home now. After all, you need to go to school today, don't you?"

"I don't have to," Chris replied, "but if my parent's see that I'm not in bed in the morning, then I'm going to be in very big trouble."

The man laughed. "My dear boy, don't you realize? You don't need them anymore. You don't need anyone anymore."

Chris stood up and walked up to the man. "Really? But won't they worry about me?"

The man smirked. "Maybe they will, maybe they won't. But I think it would be better if you went home now."

Chris nodded and began walking out of the cave. He noticed another thing. He could now see infinitely better in the dark.

"Wait." The man said. Chris turned around. "Don't forget to stay out of the sun."

"But wait," Chris said, "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Cover yourself completely with clothes. And wear a hood. A deep hood. If your face is in shadow, the sun can't affect it, can it?"

"I suppose not..." Chris sighed. "But what about my hands."

"Gloves, my boy. Gloves."

"But what if it's hot out?"

"Wear thinner gloves. Just as long as they shield your skin from the sun."

"Would sunblock work?"

The man gritted his teeth. "I wouldn't bet my life on it. Which is what you will do if you try to use it instead of gloves."

"But what if..." Chris began.

"No more questions." The man cut him off. "Return here after sunset tomorrow for your first lesson."

Chris nodded. "But wait, what's your name?"

The man smiled. "I am Tancred."

Chris nodded. 'Tancred,' he thought, 'what an odd name. '

And without another word, Chris turned and left.

***

Chris managed to convince him mom that he was sick and needed to have all the windows covered with paper so that no light could come in. It seemed liked it would be hard to convince her at first, but he soon realized that she went with it suprisingly well.
All day, he sat in his room, examining his new body. His muscles had grow incredibly, and he found that he felt lighter than he had before. His fangs came in quickly (befoer he even got home), but the pain while they did was intense. It was all he could to keep from screaming. Now that they were there it seemed like there weren't leaving anytime soon. He also noticed as he looked in the mirror that his eyes had turned from blue to red. It was a deep, rich red, and would stand out in a crowd like nothing else. He wondered for a long time how he was going to cover them up.

His first idea was contacts, but he realized that it would be hard to convince his parents he needed them, and that it wouldn't exactly be easy to explain to the eye doctor why his eyes were red.

His second idea was the one he stuck with. He would have to steal them. From whom and how he would do it he didn't know, but he decided he would figure it out in time.

Finally evening came. He was hungry. And he was starting to get pretty thirsty, too.

For blood.

***

Chris landed lightly at the cave entrance and went in. He was able to easily navigate his way through and into the chamber where he had been the night before. And as before, the man was there.

"Ah, you have arrived." The man said, turning around. Now that Chris' night vision was fully developed, he no longer needed to balls of light the man had created the night before. The man knew this, of course, so he didn't bother to ask about them.

"So," the man began, "necromancy." He smiled. "As I'm sure you must know, necromancy is the art of creating undead servents from corpses and skeletons."

'Geez, this guy doesn't waste time,' Chris thought, and nodded.

"Good. So, the first thing you need for it, obviously, is a corpse."

Chris nodded.

"Now, one thing about corpses... no matter how long they have been dead for, most still retain some residual part of their soul. So naturally, if you want a good skeletal warrior, you need to find a corpse that was a soldier or a serial killer or something while he was alive. Understand?"

Chris nodded. He understood.

"But nevertheless," Tancred continued, "the soul fragment they still hold on to isn't strong enough to sustain their corpse. So naturally, they need a new one."

Tancred paused and surveyed Chris for a moment, and the continued.

"So you must steal one. With this."

Tancred pulled out a dagger and handed it to Chris. The blade on it was about six inches long, and seemed to be made of bone or something similar, as it seemed to be semi-translucent. The handle was made of what looked like black steel. The entire dagger reflected no light. Rather, it seemed to absorb it.

"This is one of only a few daggers like it in the world. This is a Soul Reaper's Dagger. You slit someone's throat, and the dagger captures their soul." Tancred smirked. "But not all souls are good, of course. If you steal the soul of a sick person, then the soul would not be fit for use in a minion."

He began pacing back and forth and continued. "The best souls are those of the young the strong. Which is why the best necromancer's are those who care not for lives. After all, we must do all of the dirty work ourselves."

Chris spoke for the first time since entering the cave. "Why don't we have other people do the dirty work?"

Tancred laughed. "Because we can't trust anybody else, kid. We can't just go out and ask if anyone wants to kill some kids for us and steal their souls."

"But what if we find people who would? People who we could trust?"

Tancred stopped his pacing and sighed. "It's doubtful. Perhaps one day it will happen. But not now. And to continue..."

Tancred continued pacing again. "But after you have the soul, you have two choices. You can either store the soul in a soulstone for later use, or you could enchant it directly into a corpse. The spell for doing which, I will teach you another time, but now..."

He stopped pacing and faced Chris. He grinned widely, his fangs gleaming. "Now you need to learn to hunt."

***

Chris fell into bed, exhausted, and looked at the clock by his bed. It was 3:13 AM. School was in a few hours. He groaned. He would have decided then and there to skip school, were it not for the words Tancred had left him with...

(Chris and Tancred floated a few hundred feet above Chris' house, their cloaks blowing out behind them in the wind. Tancred smiled and looked at Chris. "You have done well. Few could hunt as well as you on the first try. You will make a good necromancer. A very good necromancer."

Chris grinned. His teeth, as well as his lips, were stained red with blood. "I'm glad you have confidence in me, master." He felt better than he ever had before. The blood he consumed strengthened him, empowered him. He felt like he could conquer the world with hardly raising a finger.

"But you must remember that no matter how you feel, no matter what you want to do, you must remain inconspicuous. Continue going to school. Act the same as you always have."

"Shouldn't be hard." Chris smirked. "Being a vampire shouldn't change much."

"But don't forget that you must keep you skin away from the sun."

"I know, master. I will not forget." Chris grinned.)

... which he would not forget.

He had washed his mouth out with mouthwash to rid the smell of blood on his breath. He debated whether he should sleep or not for the rest of the night. He had already found the clothes he would wear. All black, including the boots, the gloves, and the sweatshirt with the hood. The deep hood.

He put it all on and looked at himself in the mirror. A shadow lay across his face, and his eyes glittered beneath them. His skin was pale and smooth, his lips a light red. He cursed in his head. They would be able to see his eyes at school!

He calmed himself down and thought. "Okay," he said quietly, "if anyone asks, this is all just makeup. There are other kids who dress like this at school. I won't be that out of place."

A thought occurred to him then. "What if the others that dress like this are vampires?" He whispered as he stared in the mirror. "What if they are? But how would I approach them about that?"

He looked down. "Perhaps I shouldn't."

He looked up at himself in the mirror again. "Perhaps..."

He shook his head and went to bed.

***

The next day, nobody seemed to notice him. Nobody gave him a second glance. Nobody stared at him. He passed through the day as quietly as a ghost. Several times he had to restrain himself from taking out a person and draining their blood.

The thought was primate and savage, and very difficult to restrain.

The day passed without incident. At least he thought it did.

Chris did not notice, but in one class, there was someone who could not take his eyes off him.

Patrick sat in the back of his English class, watching Chris. The kid has always creeped him out a little, but he was different this time. Chris was dressed slightly differently, and from what little Patrick could see of his face, it was a very pale white. And Patrick also sensed something in Chris... something new and different.

Patrick pondered this throughout the class, and as he walked out when the bell rang, it hit him.

Chris was a vampire.

Chris was an enemy.

MrPenguin589

Chapter Five: Surfacing

1:34 PM Monday
Fallbrook,