Thursday, August 9, 2012

Cadets Redux

The air was thick with fog, masking Uroko’s little joy flight much easier. Tonight felt so much better than all the previous times he’d snuck out. He soared above the low clouds until the sky was clear. The moon and stars seemed brighter than usual tonight. He couldn’t help but do back flips like he was circling the moon. The mountains felt a lot taller than they had on his previous ventures out of the academy. He wasn’t at all tired when he reached the peak of the nearest one. Spinning around, he tried to take in all sides at once, until he got dizzy and had to steady himself. He stopped, facing the inviting glow from the city. He’d never dared to approach it before. He was always afraid of being spotted. Even the slightest rumor of someone flying above the city could easily be traced back to him, since he was the only known person capable of flight in this hemisphere. But tonight there just seemed to be a certain luck in the breeze.

His green scaled wings glistened in the moonlight as he made his way to the city. The smile on his face was still gleaming. He couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to fight a real villain. He was one of the top students at the academy. One of the four members of the best combat team. He’d been in numerous battles between rival teams trying to take the top spot away from him and his friends, but so far no one had come close. He knew he was capable, and tonight was the night that he could do anything!

Silently, Uroko landed on a rooftop above one of the many dark alleyways. His wings vanished into his back as a green half-mask covered his face. He went from rooftop to rooftop looking for the slightest sign that someone was looking to break the law, but there was nothing. He should have known that a city so close to an academy would be well protected. What he failed to realize was the fact that if a criminal wants to commit crime in such a well protected place then they needed to be very good at what they did.

The hit came from behind, the pain was so blinding that he couldn’t tell if it was from an object or if it was psychic in nature. All he knew was that he was in trouble. There was a voice just behind the loud whine from his pain. Uroko rolled over to see who had hit him just in time to catch a foot to the chest. Years of training his scales payed off. The blinding speed of the assailant's foot hit just a second after the scales burst through Uroko’s skin to cover the top of his chest underneath his clothing. There was no pain where he was hit, but the kick was so strong that it slammed him into the bricked edge of the roof feet away. Dust kicked up from skidding across the rooftop flittered down in the teen’s eyes. He hadn’t felt this helpless sense the first time his powers surfaced.

Hokkaido, Japan 28 of April, 2003

It was a night like all the others. He was lying down beside the dinner table coloring a picture. Trying his best to ignore his father’s yelling at his mother. He knew if he tried to go to his room and hide that he too would become a target for the man’s anger. So he stayed there trying to block it out until his mother brought dinner to the table while apologizing for nothing she’d done wrong. Dinner came, his mother apologized, his father slapped her. Just a night like any other. He was only six so there was anything he could do but maybe get hit too. After dinner his mother took Uroko to get washed up for bed. while she was washing his hair she noticed something hard on his scalp. She asked if it hurt. He replied by shaking his head. She poked at it again and that’s when he felt it. All over his body these little green scales began to emerge and sink back into his skin very quickly. His mother screamed and backed away while pushing him in the opposite direction. Her loud horror filled ramblings drew his father’s ire towards the bathroom. When the angry man reached the doorway silence fell in the house. Uroko staring in horror at his own hands, his mother and father looking equally horrified at their child. He never saw them coming, wasn’t even paying attention. The next thing he knew he was fighting the large hands of his parents as they tried drowning him. He lost consciousness. The little boy never saw his savior or found out what happened to his parents. The parents that tried to kill him.


The sharp sound was fading in and out. Whoever was kicking his ass liked hearing themselves talk, because he still heard noises from the general direction of the person. Uroko knew there was no way he was going to win. He was far too inexperienced to ever exceed. His one choice was the only thing the dealer of his coming death would not expect. Still slightly dazed from his unknown wound and blinded from the dust, Uroko’s hand felt for the edge of the roof. He could hear the laughing and footsteps slowly getting closer. The owner of them probably thinking the cornered rat had no way out. As he rolled off the roof, willing his wings to burst out of his back, he could hear the unknown pursuer’s cries of shock and anger as his wings carried him further away.

The Academy seemed much further through his dust filled eyes and the pain. He didn’t need to rely on stealth, thanks to the fog still covering the valley that the academy sat in. The lack of kids with flying powers worked in his favor also. There were no security system that would catch incoming objects his size from the air. He landed on the roof with what must have been a loud thud. But no guards came to check the sound. Maybe the fog muffled it? He didn’t really care if they did come. He just wanted to get inside and lay down before he passed out.

The bathroom window was still barely open. Climbing through it seemed to go much quieter than his previous roof landing. He ripped off his torn shirt as he staggered to one of the sinks. After washing his eyes out he stood there staring at the mirror. He couldn’t feel or see anything on the back of his neck. This explained why he was still reeling from the first attack, it was a psychic blast of some kind. He stumbled to the last stall and pulled off a group of tiles, the clothes were still hidden. The room began to spin as he tried changing into his night clothes, placing the dirty tatters in the hiding spot. He recalled only one time he’d been hit with an attack that lasted this long, Katie Velez. It was like he’d pissed her off all over again.

The male dormitory, like the female’s, was connected to their bathrooms. It was a large open room full of single beds. Each bed had its own nightstand, clock, and trunk. There was a hierarchy to the bed positions. The top tiered teams had their area closest to one of the two bathrooms. Lucky for Uroko, this meant his bed was one of the first ones he came to.

Uroko wasn’t sure if it was just paranoia after the beatdown, but he felt like someone in the room was watching him. He found that he really didn’t care. All he wanted to do pass out. His mind finally welcomed the pain as the pillow gave way to his first real nightmare in years.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Two Hearts

Jorace picked up the picture remembering the past with tearful eyes.

“Kyler and I were both born with weak hearts exactly one year apart. Neither of us were able to do any strenuous activities. We lived in the New Brighten district back then. Neither of us ever wanted for anything, but our parents tried to give us as much as possible. Father worked three jobs, usually different ones every month. Mother worked one, but tried to be home as much as possible in case something happened to one of us.”

Handing the photograph to Saryna, he continued the story.

“I was in the hospital most of the year when I was seven. Being that young all we wanted to do was play, even if it was bad for us. I was released a month before our birthday, which was already the best birthday present I could have hoped for.”

As we sat down on November 5th to watch mine and Kyler's favorite movie while enjoying our birthday cake, the phone rang. I remember mother coming back crying with a huge smile on her face. We asked her what was wrong and all she said was our birthday present would arrive in a little while. Of course hearing that would brighten the face of any child.

Impatiently, we waited and waited for what seemed like months as we watched the movie and waited for the doorbell to ring. We kept stealing glances at the door hoping that our minds would make them come sooner.

Just as we were sitting down for dinner, there was a rap at the door. Kyler and I launched ourselves at the front door so fast that it scared mom and dad. After they scolded us for being too rowdy they answered it.

A delivery man rolled in a big silver case followed by a man in a dark blue suit with gray hair. Dr. Brintam would become the grandfather we never had. We had never seen anything as expensive as that mysterious box.

Dr. Brintam explained that while I was in the hospital he had come across mine and my brothers files, and the many petitions my mother made for heart transplants. He told us that he was from BioNet, the largest medical company in the world, and that he had chosen us to test their newest product.

"This is the 'Synthetic Muscle Oscillating Network' or Symon." He waved his hand over the box as the delivery man opened it. "One of the problems we found with growing organs in a lab was that they were, for lack of a better word, lifeless. We created Symon so that the organs could be exercised as they're grown." He knelt down in front of Kyler and me with a big smile. "Basically, Symon is growing two new hearts for you so that you can run around all you want one day." That brought the biggest smiles to our faces that mom and dad had ever seen.

“Before he left, Dr. Brintam wanted to get a picture of me and Kyler with Symon. But we wanted a picture of everyone together. Mom and dad, me and Kyler, and the Doc and Symon. The two of us may have been young, but we knew how special all of them were, and we wanted to remember that day for the rest of our lives.”


Jorace and Saryna looked up as Kyler walked in the room and sat next to his brother while taking off his tie. "I can't believe Doc's gone." The three of them sat in silence, staring at the photo, remembering the life that Dr. Brintam had given those two young boys.