Team Galaxy!

Chapter 3

One day, all six of them will wonder why, oh why, did they follow Derek and Chlera into the small forest, and why on earth it had to be them, and they would often wish to redo that day. But, on other days, they decided it was the best solution. No matter how they feel about this day, or how they felt, suffice it to say that their lives would never be the same... 

Soon, our characters came upon the asteroid. It really is humongous. Bigger than Greg, and Greg himself is rather large. Derek and Chlera, although dwarfed by this huge specimen, get to work. They start chipping at it for samples, and souvenirs for each of the members of this unexpected run-in. Soon, a bright glow starts to emanate from the asteroid. Greg, out of pure curiosity, abandons Cara and chips in to get to the strange glow. Rubble falls like a foggy blanket, and everyone coughs, waves their hands around to clear the air, and repeat. through the cloud, they see five glows emanating from within. After the dry fog clears, five stones are revealed in a'a mini temple-like model viewer. Wordlessly, Greg and Cara grab each other's hands and each is called to a certain stony crystal. Deborah, to the blue, Galy, to the green, Chlera pink, Derek to the purple, and Greg, still holding Cara's hand, shuffles over to the pulsating yellow. "On the count of three," Deborah says breathlessly, "we each touch our stones."

"One," she counts,

"Two," she continues slowly,

"THREE!" they all shout as the rush forward to claim their stone. As soon as they felt the surface of their crystals, they only see a flash of the color. Then, absolute darkness. within the black, Greg finds Cara's hand and squeezes it.

Derek awakens with a start. He's in his bedroom. At home. Not in the middle of the forest, that's what. "How was your sleep?" inquires his mother, in her 'curious about a girl' voice, mixed with her normal 'wake-up call' voice. All without a hint of anger or aggression of any type. "Uh..." he replied, not wanting to tell her the distant, foggy, truth. "What happened?" he said instead. 

"You came in at ten, dear. Said you were over at Chlera's." Ah. So that would explain the kindness. His mother always was overly curious about girls and him. A hopeless romantic, ever since his dad left... "So. Who is she?" 

The others awoke to similar scenarios; strange, you might say. Yes, very...

The very next day, school was in session. That is the day that the unintended attendees had strange things and occurrences happen...

Galy was enduring the same old day, full of the usual teasing, threats, and suffering, when suddenly, she runs. Faster than any person you and I know, and faster than any well-being human should. She comes to the (closed) Physical Education gate. She's supposed to be at P.E. five minutes ago. She jumps in vain, mostly of frustration, but to her surprise, she somehow jumped over the fence! She's still late, of course. And it's a long walk from here to there... but, without thinking, Galy takes a running start... and flies!

Derek had experienced his own weirdness. Today, in math, although not much of a shocker, he knew every answer. But he somehow already knew the lesson being taught! The same was true for history, and even his weakest subject, Spanish! But, that wasn't the end of all this weirdom. When he dropped his pencil, as he had a foolish, silly habit, (no need to bother him, he knows full well,) he tried to move the pencil with his mind from the floor onto his desk. He was pretending to pay attention when he looked down to get the pencil himself, and saw that the pencil had obeyed his orders! Now, Derek wouldn't believe it for a second. It took him until reading a book while eating that he realized he was using this 'magic' to hand him Cheez-its! At was at that time that Derek knew... Something was up. 

Chlera, however, unique as always, was the only one to know the extent of her new... abilities. "Hey!" she said as she approached Derek. Her abilities kicked in; she could read minds! She read Derek; something was worrying him. He had had some a strange day, too. "I've noticed... strange abilities." Chlera said, which caused an internal freak-out on his side. "You've had brilliant intellect and telekinesis, while I know this because," she paused for dramatic effect, "I can read minds!" that's when the power went out.

Meanwhile, Greg had caused the school to shut down. He'd been absentmindedly toying with an outlet when he'd accidentally stuck his finger in. But instead of a life-threatening shock, he felt... POWER. He felt more awake than he ever had felt. He could run seven marathons straight! What do you expect a power-hungry teen to do? He sucked up more! Then, quite suddenly, the power went out. Oops. He deposited some power... okay, there was the light! He, however, kept some power for himself... just in case.

Deborah herself had had her own strange experiences. During a long, tedious meeting on something or other, she 'played' with a small corner of the table, looked away to answer questions, and when she looked back she saw it had shaped to her desire! She immediately stopped and rose. It's so hot today... she thought. She looked over to the water fountain. Suddenly, BOOSH! Water came flying at her in a large quantity. She jumped out of the way for it to hit a rather surprised Galy in the face.

Deborah knew something was wrong. They concluded the meeting, and Deborah went with Galy. "Remember the asteroid?" Galy asked her, "Well, it's given us all some... abilities." She led Deborah to Greg, Derek, and Chlera. "For example. Greg, show her what you can do." Greg stuck his finger into the outlet and withdrew it, then aimed a small bolt at a piece of rubber. Deborah let out a small gasp. "You're thinking how incredibly insane this is, and how you summoned the water." Chlera intoned.

"How-"

"I can read minds." Suddenly, another chair drifts forward. "Have a seat. I have telekinesis." Derek grins. Deborah warily turned to Galy. "And you?" Galy, in response, jumped twenty feet up.