Stolen Powers: Rise of the NGZ

Chapter Three: Early Risers

I was finally able to get somewhat decent rest that night, but when somebody shook me awake, everything came crashing down on me once again.

"Hey, wake up Mason," a male voice said to me. "We have lots to do today."

I opened my eyes and turned my head to see who called out to me, and I yelped and scrambled back in surprise.

"S-Simon??"

"Uh, yeah, it's me," he said with a confused expression. "Now come on and go wake everyone up. Breakfast is in twenty minutes."

With that, Simon exited the room and closed the door enough to where nobody would see me. I sighed and slowly climbed out of the bed. Walking over to the mirror, I stopped to look at myself.

Messy hair, dark and baggy eyes, a couple of small pimples beginning to present themselves. Perfect.

I slipped on a short-sleeve shirt and some loose pants. Even in the late fall stages, it was still warm enough to it not be a necessity to bundle up.

Opening the door, I peered down the long hallway that we had to ourselves. Everything was still quiet, which made me a little confused. How early was it?

I trudged down the hallway and found myself in front of Donovan's door. I knocked a few quiet times on it and waited for an answer. A few seconds later, I heard footsteps coming in my direction. He opened the door with a drowsy expression.

With a surprised but sleepy look, he mumbled, "Huh? What's going on Mase?"

"Simon says get up for breakfast," I answered. "Claims that we have to do something. Breakfast is in twenty."

He looked at me with a confused expression. "Oh, okay. I'll be downstairs soon."

I shrugged. "I'll get everyone else. Meet you down there."

Donovan nodded. "Heard. See you in a bit."

With that, he closed the door, and I began to wake the rest of the Powerclan up before I returned to my room. I slipped on some tennis shoes and brushed my teeth. On the way out, I ran into Jamie who was struggling to fix her hair.

"Oh, hey Mason," she greeted. "How are you feeling?"

I returned a kind smile. "I'm alright. What about yourself?"

"I'm still trying to figure out what we have to do. Are you sure that you don't know why we're getting up earlier?"

I shook my head. "Trust me, if I knew, I'd definitely tell you. I'm sure it's nothing to serious, I hope..."

I trailed off due to the remembrance of the conversation from yesterday. Jamie looked down to the ground beside her. "Well, let's get some breakfast, okay?"

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Around thirty minutes later, everyone filed into the cafeteria. It wasn't much of a surprise that we were one of the only ones there. Besides us, Simon, the guy that was with him at the conference meeting, and Giovanni were also there. They all looked tired, but when they saw us, their expressions softened. Giovanni gave me a friendly salute before he walked up to us.

"Good morning, Powerclan!" he exclaimed cheerfully. It did cause me to lighten up some, seeing as his thick accent hasn't changed. "Today, we will improve your powers!"

"Wait, what?" Landon said. "Why?"

"If we're going to fight off more of the NGZ in Bolivia, we're going to have to get stronger, right?" Simon asked with a stern facial expression. "The three of us will help you grow your powers to a bigger level."