Stolen Powers: Rise of the NGZ

Chapter One: Stressed Out

With my eyes closed, I took a deep breath. I widened my stance to where my legs were bent just past shoulder-width apart, and my pointer and middle fingers were in an "X" shape with my hands extended to where my waist was level with it. Pulsing, electricity began to crackle, but I waited. Suddenly, I yelled and reared my arms back and threw them out, and as expected, electricity shot out and hit the circular target.

I cursed under my breath and regained a more comfortable posture. "Damn it. Not quite in the middle, but closer."

To explain things a little more in detail, Donovan and I have been working on accuracy with our electricity powers. Simon, the leader of the resistance team, has been helping us out with more physical training, but when it comes to things like this, he leaves it more to us.

One thing I've learned in the weeks that's passed, using too much of my electricity at one time tires me out. It's just like Jamie; she gets dehydrated if she uses too much of her heating ability.

I was panting hard when the glass door knocked outside. Turning around, I saw a dark figure standing outside. "Come on in."

Donovan opened the door and stepped inside the room. He handed me a water bottle which I downed instantly. "You can take a break, you know. It's been an hour and a half."

I looked at the clock hanging above the door. It read 7:35 in the evening. "I've been making progress. This accuracy work out should pay off in the end."

"It's gonna have to, man," he said, giving me a worried look. "When we go out to find your dad, we're not going to have much of a choice."

I nodded and looked down thoughtfully. A few seconds passed before Donovan clapped his hand on my shoulder to get my attention. "Listen, Mase, you've been working your ass off for all of us, and we couldn't ask you to do more. Come inside and eat dinner with us, okay? Besides, Bailey's been more worried than all of us combined."

I couldn't help but smirk at that. "Alright, I'll take a breather. My stomach's been calling me inside anyway."

Donovan smiled. "Good. Come on then."

He led me out of the training room and down a hallway that eventually led to the dining room. A lot of familiar people sat at their usual seats, but one was saved just for us.

"There's Mr. Workaholic," Jamie said, giving me a kind smile. "About time you showed up."

"Jeez, you're sweaty!" said Bailey. "I told you not to overdo it, but you never listen to me."

As I sat down between Quentin and Bailey, I wiped my face off with a napkin and turned back to her. "There. Better?"

She chuckled and kissed my cheek. "I missed you. Now, can we eat now?"

"Please, I'm starving," Quentin said. "I heard that they were serving tacos again, but I don't care at this point anymore. I just want food."

Another thing that I've learned was Quentin's surprising change of attitude. Before, he was mostly kept to himself, but he later decided to grow on us a little. He began to joke around with us more and be a bigger part of the Powerclan. Which, was desperately needed of him.

"Yeah well, welcome to Mexico," Landon said in a sarcastic manner. "Might as well get used to it."

Finally, the cooks stepped out of the kitchen and headed our way with our food. When they sat our plates down in front of us, the headwaiter said, "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

I looked around, and nobody said anything. "No, we're good. Thanks, man."

He smiled and left us to ourselves. At first, everybody was treating us like celebrities when we arrived, but all of us decided that we didn't want that. I eventually spoke up about it and everyone fortunately understood. Bailey even said that it was beginning to make her uncomfortable, which I agreed. It really was.