The PulseTeam, Book One: Origins

Chapter Nine: Growth

Part One: After The Conference

Two weeks after the press conference, Akura enrolls in our school. John, being a notorious ladies man, is smitten with her immediately. But after a few weeks of dating her, he actually asks her to be his girlfriend! He's never done that before. I pull Akura to the side and tell her, "Every girl in this school is super jealous of you."

"Why?" she asks, "What reason have they to be jealous of me? I've done nothing to them. Besides, I've never felt this way about another being before. I think I'm falling in love with him."

"Aw, that's really nice. But here's one reason that they are jealous of you: You must be really special to John, because you are the only one whom he's actually being serious about. Coming from John, asking you to be his girlfriend is big for him. It's basically saying that he means business, and whosoever messes with you is basically asking for a life of misery."

"Wow," she says.

I add, "Just something to think about."

Then, I see a group of really pretty girls walk up to John and ask him if he's single yet. He replies, "Sorry, ladies, but as of right now, I'm strictly a one-woman man."

I go back to Akura and I tell her, "Tell Alitia that it's time John found out the truth."

She says, "Will do, sir."

Part Two: The Truth

John says, "Where are we going? Is this some kind of a joke?"

We stop and I say, "This is no joke, John."

He says, "Whoa... back the heck up-- why did your voice just all of a sudden get so deep? What's going on?"

"Shut up and listen for a minute, John! You ever notice something strange about Scratch? That she always lets her ears show? And about your new girlfriend? That she never lets her ears show? Do you want to know why that is? Why don't you go ahead and show him, Akura."

When I say it, she hesitates for a few seconds, then she pulls her wavy dark red hair back, slits her pupils, and extends her canine teeth. John looks starstruck.

As if that's not enough, I say, "Now John, if Akura is part of the PulseTeam, then who would Alitia and I be?"

His eyes grow wider as he points us out and calls us by name: "Scratch... Pulsate... and... and... and The Pulse!"

I take a bow and say, "In the flesh."

As he (literally) stumbles back in disbelief, he clutches his head and says, "My girlfriend and my best friends are the PulseTeam! Un-freaking-believable!"

Akura catches him and says, "I apologize that we had to lie to you. But it was for your own safety. You've got to understand that!"

"Screw that: My friends are the freaking PulseTeam!"

Part Three: The New Guy

He then says, "I'm joining. I ain't taking 'no' for an answer, neither."

Caught completely off guard, I stammer, "W-well, w-w-what can you do?"

He replies, "Yeah, so I was thinking about my audition for a spot on the team, so I'll just show y'all what I can do."

He steps back from us and starts to transform into some kind of bio-technic entity. Here's what he looks like:

He says, "Cool, right?"

While tapping on him, I ask simply out of curiosity, "Is this a battlesuit, or did you just turn yourself into something else?"

He says, "Well, I never thought about it like that. I guess it's a little bit of both."

"For now, we'll just call it a battlesuit."

"Alright."

"Now, what can this battlesuit do?"

"I can fly, I'm considerably stronger in it, and I can make guns. Big guns. In or out of the suit, though, I can stretch any part of my body."

I say, "I'm sold. All in favor of letting Johnathan Michael Smith join this team, please raise your hand and say 'I'..."

All three of us do so. Then I say, "I know this is unnecessary, but all opposed, you have the same right. Please raise your hand and say 'Nay'..."

Of course, since they already voted once, and they can't have two votes, nobody raises their hands.

I tell John, "Congratulations, sir. You are officially a member of the PulseTeam."

Part Four: Another New Recruit

A month has passed, and my team is doing a very good job in helping me keep the city safe. I found a titanic cavern under my home, and its size is equivalent to five Allen Manors. Freaking huge, man! As I spend some time alone in the cave (everyone is calling it "The PulseCave"), I hear, then feel a gradually growing earthquake, and then the cave's ceiling bursts.
Shockingly, the hole is small, but emerging from the hole is a very bright white light. The light is so bright, that even when I cover my eyes, I can still see it.

The light dies down to a dull shine and stays hovering in the air. In the light is a winged, humanoid figure, and it looks extremely familiar. It speaks to me with a teenage male's voice and says, "David Nathanael Allen, Junior, I knew that you were The Pulse."

I immediately prepare for a fight. I defensively demand, "Who are you, and how on earth did you find this place?!"

"God told me who, what, and where you were," he replies.

I think about what he says, and start piecing things together. The one person who I just can't do anything wrong around, the one person who always talks about God is...

"GABRIEL?! How are you-- wait a minute-- why do you have WINGS?! And how were you even able to hide them?" Because he looks like this:

"Look, David," he says as he lands, "I know you have numerous questions, but I will answer them later. I am on assignment by Elohim to join this team and help bring light into the world."

I say, "So, what: you're an angel?"

"An ArchAngel, yes."

I immediately bow to respect the Angel of the Lord. He says, "Stop bowing, David. I'm not too comfortable with formalities. However, I thank you for not being too afraid, and for respecting God."

I lift up my head and say, "So, is this the reason why I can never do anything wrong around you?"

"Yes," he replies with a wry smile, "that was me. Every time you were around me, and I sensed you getting ready to do something stupid, I made you re-think it. You thought it was you, but it was God acting through me. Your hot temper would have prevented you from thinking straight, so all of it was me."

I think to myself, You buzzard. But he says, "Shut up, Pulse."

He then proceeds to fly out of the cave.