If Dave were to describe what had happened in the last twenty-four hours, perhaps he would still be lost in the dictionary.
His world was turning upside down. He hadn't felt this way since the Saudi Arabia incident, but now that it involved his mother, it was on a whole different level.
Dave held his phone, still on the unread messages from Hina:
~ "Sorry about yesterday."
~ "It was a clone."
~ "I will explain it better if you get to school, and by the way, hurry. I don't think those scumbags will be coming today."
It was 8:30 and Dave was still relaxed on his bed. He got up, took a deep breath, and was ready to start the next day.
'Hope today doesn't surprise me too. I hate surprises,' he thought.
Minutes later, he arrived at school. No teacher was in class, and everyone was busy doing what seemed to be fun for them. Of course, Hina was right, Derek and his gang were nowhere to be found. Dave was rather worried than happy.
'Hope she didn't kill them yesterday. Hope they are okay. I mean, it's good they didn't come back though.'
"Hey, you are lost in your head again. Still shocked from yesterday? What happened to you? Did you get any sleep at all?"
"Barely. Scared of the nightmare, I guess," Dave said, taking his seat close to her. His movements were still wavy, his eye bags were visible, and he had spent the entire night awake and thinking. His hands were slightly trembling, still lost in his thoughts.
It was a normal occurrence whenever he was in this kind of shock. Hina held his hand, and he felt the warm embrace of her palm. It instantly calmed him down. His heart beat faster than usual, and he didn't even know when he locked gazes with Hina. She was beautiful. If only he could get closer, maybe something might happen.
"Emm, Dave, are you alright? I used my powers to warm your hand for a bit. I thought it would help, maybe."
Dave snapped out of the dreaming world, realizing he got too close to her.
"Oh, oh, sure… of course. It's helping. Thank you. Well, about your clone…"
"Well, I'm not sure you have heard about the different clans of the Izigans."
"I have not. Enlighten me."
"I know there are eight of them. I am from the Scarlet Clan of pink cosmic energy. When you do activate your powers, you may learn yours."
"But why are you here? You are supposed to be at the Sub-Sector Unit Academy with the others so you could go to Galaxia during the call-out."
Hina's expression changed. She sat up straight, uncurling her legs that had been folded to the side and no longer facing Dave. She went from happy to gloomy.
"Is it your dad?"
Dave asked. He already had his guesses the moment he asked her the question. He knew something wasn't right when he first saw her and her dad. It wasn't a happy family, he knew that. Dave didn't know if he should try to push on with it. He just ruined the mood.
"You guessed right, but can we talk about something else?"
"Yes, no problem about that," Dave quickly agreed so as not to spoil the good mood.
She wanted to know all about him, but she preferred to hide her own instead. He could be abusing her or using her as a slave or something terrible. It may be too disturbing to be mentioned with words. Different instances and thoughts crowded his mind.
'What am I even thinking?
I'm weak.
What would I do even if I get to see what's really going on with her? I'm such a weakling,' he thought.
Brave Blave, his idol. He wasn't able to afford getting his original photos to use in his room when he was little, the Izigan who took down a single alien ship. He fantasized about being strong one day, but that vision was blurring out.
"Well, do you have any idea why you haven't manifested your powers yet?" Hina asked, looking at Dave with a fake smile.
"Honestly, I don't think I'm an Izigan at all. These markings are just here. There is nothing really special about me."
"You sure about that? You said your mom wasn't an Izigan. What about your dad? What Izigan color is he?"
"Hina, I never met my father, and my mother didn't speak about him except this necklace she said was once his," Dave said, holding up the silver necklace. It had circular carved markings on it with line designs around it. Hina held it to have a good look.
"It's beautiful," Hina smiled, looking at it, then at Dave, who smiled back.
"I'm sure he's okay."
Washington DC Head Hospital. Rita lay unconscious on the bed, and the doctors and nurses stood to attend to her.
It's been hours and no one had been able to make sense of what may be going on with her. They had checked all signs and run tests, but nothing came out. So what was really wrong with her?
"Have you tested her with the CRS (Cosmic Resonance Scanner) yet?" one of the doctors asked.
"She isn't Izigan. Why do we need it?" a female nurse added, knowing full well that the device was used to check their cosmic energy levels.
"It's not what you think. I intend to make use of it, it has other purposes. So grab one from the drawer over there." His tone spiked, and the nurse caught the urgency.
She sprinted to the drawer and pulled out a yellow cylindrical device with a handle on top for easy grip. Embedded on its front was a small digital screen that lit up with a soft blue glow.
As the device powered on, the screen displayed pulsing waveforms and numerical readings.
The doctor held the device, and as soon as it got close to her, it read a certain amount of cosmic energy, which was measured in meganuwits.
The circular gauge on the screen lit up, displaying number readings on it. The numbers kept rising and falling between the range of 82.5 to 90.
"Ah, as expected. She's been exposed to a large amount of poisonous atmospheric cosmic energy. It's all over her. No wonder she passed out. This will be easy, at least."
"What were the readings, sir?"
The nurse asked while she updated Rita's file on a tablet.
"It's… what's going on?"
His expression changed, and his focus was locked on the screen of the device. The numbers were moving higher and not just that, the device couldn't recognize the cosmic energy around her.
The doctor turned once more to observe Rita, who clearly didn't have any Izigan markings. Yet something strange was happening. A contaminated human has a constant reading in the device, but hers was moving, which implied that his speculations were false.
"Are you sure this lady is not an Izigan?"
"Isn't it obvious? Is there something wrong?"
"We need to change her ward now. She's in the wrong place."
The doctor said nothing as he moved to drop the device and prepare for her transport. But what they didn't know was the quiet, unsettling way her skin had begun to shift. A faint ripple crawled across her arm, and the soft human flesh slowly hardened.
One of her hands morphed, its tone deepening into a dark yellowish hue, the surface roughening into thick, reptilian scales. Her fingers stretched unnaturally, and sharp, claw-like nails began to grow.
Unaware of the impending danger, the doctor had not taken notice of what was to come, for they were not ready for it. He had first thought something had passed him, he didn't know when half of his body from his waist had gone missing.
It happened so fast. The sharp claws swept through faster than the eyes could see. Before his brain cells could report what had happened, his head met a huge dark scaly hand and, in an instant, his head was smashed like a ripe melon under a hammer.
The nurse didn't know whether to scream first or run, she wasn't sure. She wasn't too far from the exit, but whatever stood in front of her was neither human nor Izigan.
Rita's form was twisted and terrifying. Half of her face had transformed into something monstrous, its surface covered in rough, dark scales with a glowing yellow eye burning where hers used to be.
The other half still held Rita's familiar features, making the sight even more disturbing. Her arms had stretched unnaturally, ending in long, sharp claws.
Thick, sinewy tentacles extended from her back, writhing as they lifted her body into the air, holding her like a puppet.
The nurse attempted to move after being frozen for a minute, but her head went missing before she could even take the next breath. Blood filled the room, staining and leaking out of the door.
Things didn't end there. The Tranamite, now in control of Rita's body, burst through the room and from room to room, hallway to every corner, no one was spared. It was a bloodbath, a veritable fortress of terror, and the lucky ones who were downstairs had left running for their dear lives.
During the attack, a heavy object struck the wall and cracked a gas pipe. A sharp hissing sound followed as gas began to leak out, filling the room with a strong smell. It spread quickly, unnoticed until it met a small fire.
In seconds, a loud explosion shook the area. Flames burst out through the windows, drawing the attention of people nearby. Some took out their phones to record, while others shouted and called for help.
It didn't take long before the news got to Dave's school. Everyone was looking into their phones, watching the live video of the incident occurring right then.
It sparked talks and spread fear like wildfire through the halls. Dave noticed this and turned to Hina, who was visibly still sleeping on her desk.
He opened his phone to check what everyone was looking at, and when his eyes met the top headline, his heart stopped. His eyes widened, and the voices around him, the footsteps and laughs, all faded.
His body reacted before his mind could catch up, he shot up from his seat, the chair scraping loudly behind him. Without a word, Dave bolted out of the classroom, the door slamming open as he dashed through it.
Heads turned, eyes widened, but no one stopped him. His footsteps echoed down the hallway as he ran with everything he had, driven by panic and a storm of emotions.
He didn't slow down, not even to breathe. He ran past streets, pushing through crowds, ignoring honking cars and shouting voices.
A cab might've been faster, but in his state, he trusted only his legs. His lungs burned, his legs ached, but he didn't stop until finally, just ahead, he saw it. The place. It was close. Almost there.
He approached from a scanty tree woods.
The next step he took made him waver a bit. He knew something was wrong and didn't know why. He tried to stay focused, but the more he moved, the dizzier he got.
'This can't be caused by just running alone,'
He felt a sharp pain on his neck and reached up. His fingers pulled out a small dart. He stared at it slim, with a needle tip and faint blue liquid.
Then he felt another on the other side and pulled it out too. His eyes widened. They were tranquilizers.
"Oh shit."
He fell to the ground unconscious. His vision blurred, but he heard some voices around him just before he passed out.
"Mom."
He said before his vision faded.