Ryan’s head was throbbing, and he couldn’t open his eyes… What happened? Slowly, fragments of his memories began to resurface in his mind, The Star, Space Research Incorporate, the warnings from his own mind and the worker through the intercom. He also remembered how touching The Star felt; warm, but not in a painful way though, coupled with the hum in his ears and the way the green celestial body began to glow upon his touch.
Before he could remember more, he heard someone’s muffled voice calling to him.
“Yo, fucking weirdo, wake up. Hello??”
Ryan jolted awake into a sitting position with a gasp, his eyes automatically having to narrowing at the bright sunlight as he did so.
“WHERE THE FUCK AM I?! AND WHO ARE YOU??!”
Before the stranger could respond, who Ryan hadn’t seen yet due to his eyes needing to adjust to the sun, his right hand suddenly started to slowly glow a bright green, before a faintly warm flame emerged around it. Both him and the stranger stared at his green, flaming hand in utter confusion, it started emanating a high-pitched hum, the flame began to grow brighter, before focusing itself into a line-shape. Out of nowhere, the flame turned into a lazer beam, which accidentally was pointed at the stranger’s face. To Ryan’s surprise, the stranger Blitz’ed out of the way, the beam instead hits a tree behind them, causing it and the surrounding ground to combust upon impact, leaving a small, smoking crater behind.
Stranger: “Woah man, you’re trying to take my head off?”
Ryan: “What the hell was that?! Why is my hand glowing green?! And who are you??!”
Stranger: “What..? You don’t know what that was? And by the way, you asked that last question already.”
Ryan: “No!! I don’t know whatever the hell that was! And I’m aware I asked “Who are you?” twice already, but you didn’t answer, smart-ass!”
The stranger smirked and let out a muffled snicker: “So you’re not even aware of your own powers?”
Ryan: “No- Wait, powers??”
Stranger: “For real? Alright, you know what? How about we start from the beginning? I’m James.” He said, sticking out his hand for Ryan to optionally shake.
Ryan: “I’m Ryan… Ryan Connors.”
-MOMENTS LATER-
James and Ryan were having a cup of tea at James’ place. Ryan’s memories had basically returned to normal, he remembered the objective from Space Research Incorporate: Investigate The Star. Well… He technically did just that. He doesn’t quite remember how he got back on Earth though, but his helmet’s glass visor was shattered and his shuttle was as useful as trash now. Oh well, at least his weapon, a white, futuristic blaster the size of a pistol, which can fire both lethal and non-lethal laser bullets was fine and working, not that he needed it now, with his new ‘abilities’.
James spoke up, breaking the silence between the two of them
James: “So wait, why exactly were you knocked out?”
Ryan: “Don’t know exactly, I touched this strange, green Star up in space when I was investigating it for Space Research Incorporate. All I remember is blacking out and waking up to you calling me a weirdo.”
James: “Oh, really? Bummer.”
Ryan looked down at his astronaut suit, which had a lot of rips and burn marks in it and smelled like smoke, the Space Research Incorporate logo was torn off from the fabric: “Yeah… Come to think of it, touching The Star might’ve given me my powers, right? I mean, It was green, so was that laser I accidentally shot out. Exact same color and glow man.”
James: “Wait, so you are an astronaut right, judging from your suit?”
Ryan: “Yeah, I work for Space Research Incorporate.”
James: “Well since you got powers now, you might need training with that, to be honest. I’ll try and teach you.”
Ryan: “And how exactly are you gonna do that?”
James: “I got some ideas already…”
Ryan: “Before we do that, how do you even know what to do? And how did you dodge the laser that quickly?”
James: “Well, I guess I somehow became a master one day… I guess it’s because I once had a extremely strict teacher, then again, he was Asian, so that makes sense. But basically, since I was a little kid, my entire routine through every single day was: Eat, sleep, train hard as hell and sleep again. And as a little kid, that was exhausting for me. So now, I’ve decided to be less harsh on my own students, since my master would beat my ass on occasion for not listening and all.”
Ryan: “Alright, nice long backstory and all, but what about my powers, man?”
James: “Jeez, relax man, I was getting to that part. So, first things first, do you know how to fight? Without powers, of course.”
Ryan: “Uhh… Yeah, I mean I did fight in school once or twice when I was a kid.”
James: “So, how exactly did you fight?”
Ryan: “I guess like street fighting? I don’t know man.”
James: "Alright-“
Ryan: “But I want to learn martial arts, so I could fight better.”
James: “Thanks for interrupting, but let’s start anyway. I’m bored anyway.”
James takes Ryan to the main training room to give him a gi (martial arts robes), ignoring Ryan’s question on if he has it in green. 10 minutes later, they’re outside the dojo, standing at a race track.
James: “Alright, let’s start. First up, run two laps. You know what? Make that five laps while we’re at it.”
Ryan: “I mean, alright, but just so you know, I used to be the fastest kid in my school.”
James: “Alright, “Barry Allen”, prove it. Run those five laps, and for your attitude, make it ten.”
Ryan: “Hey! I thought you said you weren’t strict?! But alright, fine by me!”
James: “Alright, ready? Three, two, one… MOVE YOUR ASS!”
Ryan dashes off, his body starts to glow that same green again and his speed is suddenly amplified to the point he becomes a blur. He finishes the ten laps within a second, but trips like an idiot over a small rock due to not knowing how to control his Super Speed yet, causing his body to twist into a side flip, before he lands on his back with a groan. Both their eyes are wide at what just went down.
After a few seconds, James speaks up.
“MY GOD! You are fast, man!”
Ryan: “HOLY SH- HOW’D I DO THAT?!”
James: “I don’t know man, you tell me!”
Ryan: “I know I told you I was fast in school, but DAMN!”
James: “You got some actual potential kid!”
Ryan looks at his hands, which are still glowing a faint green, he’s amazed at his own powers. He’s stumped and can’t speak for a second.
After a few minutes, him and James walk further from the dojo towards a few weapon racks and a training dummy in the middle.
James: “Alright, the next phase is a test of your strength. Try and do a combo on that dummy, like this:”
James walks over to the dummy and delivers a uppercut to it’s chin, causing it to fly up a good 50 meters into the air from the sheer force, before he blitzes up to it and low ball kicks it back down to the ground.
Ryan looks at the dummy, stumped for a second as James sets it back down, before he speaks up: “How did you do that?!”
James: “A fuck load of training, man.”
Ryan: “Makes sense. So, is it my turn now?
James nods and gestures towards the dummy: “Yeah sure, go ahead.”
Ryan: “Welp, here goes nothing, then…”
Ryan mumbles out as he walks over toward the dummy, before delivering a uppercut to it’s chin, like James did. He however, put more force behind the punch on accident, causing it to shoot up, before falling back down onto the ground as Ryan misses the mid-air attack.
James: “Well, it’s a good start!”
Ryan: “Thanks, but I think I definitely need to keep training, it was kinda sloppy.”
James nods in agreement. “Yeah definitely, wanna go grab something to eat first though?
Ryan feels his stomach hungrily growl at the sound of food, he can’t remember the last time he’d eaten properly before his objective, back in space.
“Hell yeah, you got ramen?
-TO BE CONTINUED...-
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