Fraction

Fraction Chapter 8 - Restart

When Pony opened her eyes, her mother was gone. She looked around and saw Morning lying on the ground while Eve was lying on Chris. They were all unconscious. She shook Morning. No response. She shook Eve. No response. Chris opened his eyes slowly. "uh..." was all he managed to say before he fell into sleep again. "Well, well, well..." came a vaguely familiar voice. Pony turned around defensively. It was that doctor... the man who had refused to accept money from them... He walked towards her calmly.

"This is an interesting case... I think I'll take it..." He said while inspecting the three unconscious protagonists. He took out his phone and forced Morning's eyes open and took a picture. He then lifted Eve and began to slide up her shirt. "What are you doing?!" Pony shouted. "Oh, right, now you are outraged... what about the time when I was messing around with your brother's eyelids? So much for gender equality... Anyway, don't interrupt me when I'm doing my job." He said while revealing a marking on Eve's chest... which he immediately took a picture of. "What's that supposed to be?" Pony asked. To this, the man replied by reaching to her chin. "Open wide, princess." he said in a sarcastic tone. Pony instinctively opened her mouth. He immediately held up his phone, took a picture of her open mouth and pushed her chin up to close it. "What was that about?!" Pony protested. He turned his phone's screen towards her. "That's... my tongue... and it has a- that's the same marking on Eve's chest..." Pony observed. "A most astute observation, princess. It is indeed, the same mark. I suppose you'll want to see this as well..." he swiped right and showed her a picture of Morning's eyes. "The same mark again." He continued on his monologue, "Now, what to make of this? Never mind that, I need to get these kids to see her as soon as possible... come on now, Princess, lift them up, carry them and let's move along." Pony gave him a look and said, "Lift them up and carry them? What do I look like?!" "Oh, so bothersome..." the man spoke to himself again, "Very well, I'll carry us all there then..." he stomped his foot and almost instantly, the ground below them was cut in a neat circle. This circular platform rose up.

"Where are we going?"

"Sightseeing."

"Did you wake up this morning and say to yourself 'I'm gonna confuse the hell out of every little girl I meet'? Huh? Did you?"

"Oh for the love of... such inane queries... It's not like you would understand if I explained it to you anyway..."

"Oh come on! I'm totally clueless about everything that just happened and is happening right now and you seem to be a guy who knows what he's doing but YOU'RE NOT HELPING!!!"

"I suppose I might as well explain since this is going to be a long ride... You must be wondering about all the weird eye-gouging and heart-ripping... and the creepy tongue rubbing... well... what your mother did was... I mean, what your mother is... I mean, argh damn it! It's a giant circle! I don't even know where to being!"

"You can begin by telling me if I can trust you... and if Eve and Morning are going to be alright..."

"Trust me? I leave that to your judgement. I am a doctor after all... I can only offer you my services if you want me to help you... as for them... they are just fine... except that the kid is blind and the girl is in a coma."

"WHAT?! HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE FINE?!"

"Well... they've been blind and in a coma respectively all these years... they just didn't let you notice..."

"And now you're making me even more confused!"

"Your brother was born blind. He has been constantly calculating the probability of everything happening within his line of sight to make it look like he can see. As for your sister, most of her nervous system is non-existent except for the few things essential to make her brain and senses work. Unconsciously, she has been Vectoring every cell in her body to make it work correctly. Of course, because of this, a huge portion of their concentration is devoted to just this... and because of that, they can't use or even realize a major part of their powers..."

"Okay, okay, that's enough... but how do you know all this? You literally just met us today."

"So what? I looked at them and I knew what was wrong with them."

"You took one look at them and you knew what was wrong with them? How is that even possible?"

"Princess... who do you think you're talking to...? I am Adam Fort."

"Why do you keep calling me Princess? Adam... Fort... the world's craziest doctor...?! I read about you in Volume 14... but you're supposed to be dead, right?!"

"I- uh, that's enough chit-chat and exposition for today. We've reach our destination. Now that we're here, I should be able to temporarily fix your friends and then maybe you can all gang up on me and demand an explanation..."

Adam brought them down into a forest. "You're gonna fix my brother and sister in the middle of the forest with no equipment of any sort?" Pony asked in a disbelieving voice. Adam grinned and clapped his hands. Branches shot out from trees and grabbed everyone except himself. "HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON NOW?!!" Pony screamed. Adam put his finger on her mouth.

"You talk too much... Now relax and let the forest heal you... These trees have accepted you as a part of a symbiotic relationship. They will replenish your energy and life... and also repair any irregularities in your bodies. In return... let's just say they get a little something out of it..."

"What...? That made no sense..."

"Come on. Don't you feel it? The energy flowing into you?"

"No I don't..."

"Huh...? Does this mean that you still have your complete power? But how is that mark on your tongue... OH! I see... She didn't steal your power. She only sealed your tongue so that your power can no longer flow through it. Clever... it looks like she can't handle all your powers together."

Eve opened her eyes slightly. All she could see were branches and leaves. She looked to her side and saw Morning and Chris opening their eyes as well. She heard a man's voice through the leaves "Alright Diana, you can let them go now..." Then, something strange happened... a woman's voice echoed throughout the forest, as if the forest itself was speaking, "Yes sir. Data collection complete. Organ systems restored. Releasing subjects." The voice was very mechanical... as if it was a computerized recording. The branches parted and let them fall gently to the ground. Eve moved her head, looked at herself and saw that her clothes were completely gone. Coincidentally, leaves were strategically covering her in various important parts of her body. She noticed that both Chris and Morning were in the same condition. "Ah yes, I'm sorry about that tiny discomfort." The man in front of her spoke, "Diana prefers to dissolve anything she considers unnecessary for her operations. I supposed I'll have to grab her and fix this little bug in the software one of these days... but for now, I hope this will suffice..." a cloth came flying towards Eve, which she promptly grabbed and covered herself.

With the four teenagers now fit and able to continue on their own, they stood and stared at the stranger who had saved them from certain death. It was now clearly understood that the same strange pattern was etched on Morning's pupils, Eve's chest and Pony's tongue... presumably, a result of whatever Kelly had done to them. "Mom wants us to start from scratch?" Morning asked. "Precisely." Adam replied, "If you understand the basics of your powers, you might have a better chance of understanding your true capacity... and make no mistake, each of you here is potentially capable of changing our very universe... except that clairvoyant over there. He's just fodder." "HEY!" Eve shouted as she hugged the crestfallen boy, "Don't worry Chris, I don't think you're useless..." Chris smiled and nodded though he was crying on the inside. Adam turned to the siblings again and this time, he spoke seriously, "Okay, Lesson One. You will pretend to be traveling orphans and join a hero or someone and see if you can convince them to let you fight alongside them. If you succeed in befriending someone who is truly devoted to their job, maybe I'll let you in on a little secret... a little secret which might help you get back your powers... Now go on! Shoo! Get going!"

Morning, who had already started walking away half way through the speech, turned around and replied, "Yeah, yeah I get the point. Come on guys... we've survived eye-gouging and heart-ripping... how bad could a little adventure be...? We have little to lose..." His sisters smiled and walked towards him. "Um..." Chris interrupted, "I think we should be going the other way..." Morning raised an eyebrow... "Why would you say that?" he asked sarcastically. "It's... just a feeling..." Chris replied. Eve put her arm on his shoulder and said, "That way it is then! Lead the way, Chris!" Morning and Pony looked at each other and shrugged. Thus, the four youngsters set off on the first real journey of their lives. I wonder how long it will take for them to reach me...