Hidden Soul

1.3 | Planned Destruction

John remembered the time he found Noah in a broken-down house 7 years ago. The boys had been living together since then, rebuilding the house, and finding stuff that would be of use for them. Years have passed, but up until that day, only his school knew his secret. The hard landing forced him to take on another form, sealing away his power. His telepathy attempts with Johnson seemed to work, because he hadn't felt him going crazy.

The entire clinic shook, and John was on his feet in an instant. The sound of a jet filled the air, something he hadn't heard in years, and he thought, "Why would the Air Force be flying planes above the school? Something's not right."

He ran outside the door into the library, and looked out the window. It wasn't a jet, but a missile, headed in the direction of another city. The only person he knew who was insane enough to do this was none other than Jin-Suk, the one who took over the country as a tyrant after blasting him away.

He glanced at the clock, seeing only minutes left until dismissal time. He walked out the library doors, before making a run for his classroom. He got to the door within a minute, and opened it, catching his breath as he looked at the chaos in the class. The teacher couldn't calm everyone, who were all talking among themselves, Mei had taken off her beanie, and his table was flipped. He closed the door behind him, before kicking his table up. His strength had improved a little, and he took the chance to fix his stuff before going back to studying. He placed his pencil case and book back on his table, and sat down.

"You've recovered faster than I thought." Mei said.

"And you've changed your mind faster than I thought." John said, seeing her change in attitude.

"I decided to stop hiding myself."

"Nice."

The school bell rang, and everyone was rushing to be the first to get out of the class. John calmly placed his things in his backpack, before hoisting it over his shoulder. "I'll be going to my place for today." Mei said, walking away with her backpack. John was alone again, but he shrugged his feelings off as he started walking back home.

Along his way, he found a random colored stone lying on the road. It looked like it was carved out of a statue, with a rune on top. He remembered something, but couldn't put a finger to it, having lost half of his memories. He placed the yellow stone in his bag, before walking back home.

He opened the door to find a letter on the hard ground. He picked it up, and it read, "I'm going to be out with my friends for today. The carrots are in the bottom drawer."

"He's going out by himself for the third time this month. At least he's getting into going out more." he said to himself as he placed the note on a nearby table. He put his backpack on his couch and took off his shoes before laying on the bed, exhausted from today's events. Another missile could be heard from afar.

"Fuck is Mu-Jin doing now?" he asked himself. He took out his phone, and saw the news. The headline read, "War On Other Nations: Mu-Jin Launches First Attack"

"For fuck's sake, man. Are you trying to colonize the entire world?"

He heard shouts outside the house, and walked over to investigate. A group of soldiers were about to fight a young boy who refused to get out of their way, aiming their weapons at him. He opened the door, before closing it behind him as he walked out. He stood on the sidewalk, watching the two sides prepare a devastating attack each. The soldiers charged up their weapons as the boy charged up a light beam.

"If this street's gonna be fucking destroyed then I won't allow it." John said, before using an advanced version of Wind Kick on the soldiers, blowing them away. He then turned to the boy, and said, "I didn't know you lived here, Timothy."

"Just doing a favor for my hometown."

Timothy was now wearing his casual clothes instead of his school uniform. John hadn't changed, but he still looked stylish. "Well, I'm heading back inside now." he said, opening the door to his house.

"There's a few more soldiers heading this way." Timothy said, walking towards him.

"Alright. I'll get changed first."

"What, are you trying to be a hero now?"

"No, I want to slap some people in anger."

"Then why aren't you slapping me?"

"Slapping you isn't important. Slapping those soldiers is."

John walked inside and took off his school uniform, before wearing his casual clothes. He walked back out just as the soldiers arrived, and Timothy asked, "What move did you use earlier?"

"Neutral Style: Tornado Kick."

"Neutral Style? I thought it died along with the old traditions!"

"It won't die 'till I die. I learnt it in my spare time, creating new moves and such."

"New moves?"

"Neutral Style: Vortex Blast."

John punched the air so hard it created a vacuum dragging in the soldiers. He used Inferno Punch next, and blasted them all away, Timothy assisting with a beam that pierced through all of them. "Sizable amounts of damage, but you gotta work on your charge speed." John said, seeing an improvement in Timothy's power.

"How do I do that?"

"Try focusing while simultaneously looking at your target, like someone charging a normal beam."

"Like this?"

Timothy took half a second to launch a beam from his palm.

"A little faster. Focus on that point."

This time, Timothy took one-tenth of a second to launch a beam.

"A huge improvement."

"It takes up a lot of energy though."

"If that's the case, try going for a quarter of a second."

He did so, and John said, "You catch on fast."

A soldier was charging straight at them, but stopped after realizing their ability didn't work. "Why'd you stop?" Timothy asked.

"Damn, why isn't my Legend Power working? Time should be stopped, yet you kids are still moving!"

"I think it's because of me." John said, "Somehow, in some way, the Legend Powers, or most of them, resonate with me, meaning its amplified if its a teammate and completely useless if its an enemy. Like him and you."

"Really? So you're saying that my Tristan Legend Power isn't going to work near you?"

"Tristan... Haven't heard that name in a very long time. Hey Timothy, wanna see a magic trick?"

"Sure." Timothy replied.

John turned into Keith and slammed the soldier in a split second before reverting back to his normal state. Timothy witnessed it, and said, "That was around 1000 times your normal power, John. Why aren't you constantly in that state?"

"It uses too much of my energy. 5 minutes in that state and I might die of exhaustion."

"Oh, I see. How can you transform into The One, though? I thought Legend Powers don't include transformation."

John placed a hand on Timothy's shoulder, and in an instant, the latter felt immense amounts of energy coursing through him. "Try transforming." John said.

Timothy focused, and within 10 seconds, he had the appearance of Charles. "Just like the old times. You can go back now."

"Why aren't you letting go?"

"I'm not letting you die from exhaustion. You need a lot of energy just to maintain this state."

Timothy went back to being himself, and said, "So, we friends now?"

"Yeah."

"You wanna get a drink?"

"Sure. Where to?"