Adventures of an Employed Planeswalker

(Matt's PoV)

With that out of the way, I can train harder.

Using my powers feels like second nature, I use them all the time, but it's not enough. If the rock's drone has better fine control of the power than I have, I'm clearly not putting in enough work.

I've been training with small things, improving my telekinesis and multitasking ability. It's working but... what about raw strength? I have been mostly neglecting it.

That's why I'm going to a junkyard. My objective for the day is to be able to levitate all of its contents by midnight. It's now 2 P.M.

{I know I've been quiet but... are you ok?}

'Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going to train.'

{... You know I'm in you, right? I know you're not okay okay. You're frustrated.}

'... Yeah, and? What's going to change if I just go home and keep staring at the wall?'

{Oh, I don't know, maybe you'll think about it and feel better after!?}

'It's a waste of time.' She needs to trust me; I know how I work best.

I landed at the biggest junkyard I found nearby, on a secluded corner. Flying is much more convenient than driving; there is no comparison.

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I start small: lifting a couple of blenders, some microwaves, and a few broken electronic devices here and there.

After a few minutes, all the little things I could see were levitating exactly one inch off the ground.

'I don't want to have to see to control.'

Suddenly, the reach of my power became my eyes, my ears, my touch. I extend it to cover the whole junkyard... easily.

I smile, my head itching slightly and a weird feeling spreading from my chest. I ignore it.

Next was levitating heavier things: fridges, ovens, cookers, washing machines, small lumps of melted slag or rusted iron. It all levitated in due time, joining their smaller and lighter companions.

I feel the weight of it all on my mind, making my shoulders sag.

Still, I smile. 'I can push further.'

I levitate engine blocks, car skeletons, motorcycle scraps, big steel pipes...

By now, I was levitating one whole junk mountain's worth of scraps.

I tried to levitate even more, but I felt a pang in my stomach, making my control waver for a moment.

I scowl, 'Let's see if this is a soft or hard limit.'

I focus my all on my power. The control stops to waver and the snag on my stomach grows.

I tried for several minutes, but it really was a hard limit on what I could do for now.

'If this doesn't work, then...'

Putting the burden of holding it all to the background, I concentrate on Observation Haki, extending it to cover the same area as the telekinetic reach. I cover my body in the thickest, most potent Armament Haki I can muster, which I feel is almost about to darken. I concentrate my will in a bubble around me, pushing my Conqueror's to the limits.

'Symby, prepare to regen.'

{Oh, here he goes...}

I activate my Aura on full blast, intent on finding my limits again and pushing past them. This is what it means to evolve, to progress. 'I can still push myself.'

The pang in my stomach now feels like a hook is stuck in it and pulling into my own body from me. My body feels tight like something is pressing onto me from inside and outside at the same time.

Still, I push further.

I can feel the bubble of Conqueror's Haki around me grow thicker and thicker, the area of my Observation getting more precise, almost as if learning from my telekinetic reach and furthering its progress. I feel my Armament darken on my arms, my sheer will making it stronger, more durable.

Finally, my Aura clicks and the snag I felt on my stomach disappears. However, now my Aura is draining way faster and I feel my whole body under even more pressure.

'This must be... my Semblance.' I say with a smile, sweat pooling down my body to cool it off.

All my Haki are stronger; my Armament is now a firm black over my arms and legs, my Observation scans the place like a radar, still developing and the bubble of Conqueror's around me now presses into the ground, its pressure building.

I reach for greater and heavier objects: whole scrapped cars, dumpsters full of rusted metal, a scrapped forklift...

I eventually feel the snag again, no longer able to physically push further without hurting myself. Still, I smile, even as veins in my head throb and pulse, my heart beating like crazy and in my head a pounding headache.

'Now, I keep at this until I'm better.' My smile tastes of iron, but also of progress.

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It's been eight hours since I started my training. My concentration is waving, and my vision is blurry, but still, I push forward.

My efforts are paying off: Slowly but surely, I've been able to get more and more scrap to levitate. If I keep to this rhythm, I'll be levitating the whole junkyard by another hour.

My Semblance - which I aptly named Overclock - consumes Aura to boost other powers. In these eight hours, I've tested it with Haki (counts as one power, but Aura expenditure rises when using more than one at a time), Aura itself, the biokenesis shard, and telekinesis.

Overclock doesn't remove my limiter, it boosts it for as long as my Aura can fuel it. Like a real Overclock, it puts pressure on my body: Blood runs faster, my body heats up, muscles tighten, and synapses fire like crazy. There is something about this Semblance though, that I can't quite put into words. My best guess is that it also burdens the soul somehow.

Still, boosting the limiter for a while lets me push that much further, accelerating my growth.

'I'm only lacking a constant, consistent way of regenerating. If I had Wolverine or Deadpool's level of regeneration, I could push myself even further.' Even now I feel the pressure in my brain. All the times I've boosted my biokenesis, I used it to heal my brain. I had to passively make it so the power heals it to continue this training, but I have a goal and will complete it.

These last few minutes have gone like a hazy, foggy dream. I became so absorbed in my powers, that I no longer see, hear or feel anything through my body. It's almost as if I am the power, reaching out with my hands and lifting all the junk up.

{Matt! You did it! You can stop now!} I hear Symby excitedly say.

I know my smile returns, even if I don't feel it. Slowly, all the junk is lowered to the ground and I immediately fall asleep when the pressure leaves my body.

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"Yaaawnn!" I stand up, feeling lighter than ever. It's dark and quiet around.

'What time-'

|3:45 a.m.|

'Not a long nap, then.' 

I pick myself up - that's such a weird way of saying I start flying, by the way - and start flying towards the Norman Cabin.

On the way there, I started trying all my powers one by one... they all felt great, like a nicely healed muscle. They are all stronger and snappier in their response. It's even better than the time I tried decoding that alien language with Spoiler. These mutations are doing so much, it's insane.

Once I get to the cabin, I remove the tree trunk in front of the entrance and make a passage just big enough so I can get in. I make a personal barrier for myself again, getting inside easily.

The thing is still there, the late Gina Norman now nothing more than a zombie, a puppet with no strings. I came here as a challenge to myself:

Can I heal her?

Let's find out.

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It has been three days since I started this process.

I received some calls to my phone, but I want to focus on the here and now.

My Semblance is absolutely busted and I love it! It boosts whatever power I want, by a base of 10%, but that can increase if I up the Aura consumption. I can boost all my powers at once, but they all eat their own portion of Aura per second, so it's really costly. Where boosting just one power by 10% is doable for 2 hours of hard usage, that measure changes once I boost the powers by more than just 10%. My max boost is currently 50%, which is crazy.

During these three days, I've been boosting my biokenesis whenever I could, by varying amounts. Overclock, surprisingly enough, is considered a power of its own, so it can grow...

I would be completely insane if I didn't test boosting the power with the power itself, but it just doesn't work, unfortunately.

But as with any other power, it benefits from my mutations as well, making its growth a thing of beauty. With these mutations I never feel stagnant anymore; the only limiter is my imagination and the amount of effort I'm willing to put in... and the snag in my stomach, whatever that is.

I had a lot of time to think during these three days.

I don't think what I did was wrong per se, it was just a bit... impulsive. I already had to listen to a lot of bullshit last life and now this punk ass kid is trying to make me feel worse... by saying I'm better than him?

Like, what the fuck?

Anyway, the calls on my phone are probably them. Maybe Andrew is trying to thank me? Maybe Steve is trying to talk to me? Maybe Matthew is trying to apologize? It doesn't really matter anyway, as soon as three months pass I'll be gone and it won't matter if we're friends or not.

Sigh

In other news, I made progress!

Gina is looking like a normal human being now. The damage to her body and mind was so extensive and severe, I had to tread very carefully.

The first hurdle I had to pass through to start healing her was giving her body energy.

The thing is: she was too weak to even eat in that state. I had to get creative, then.

I racked my brain until I tried something that could be dangerous to me, if my control was any weaker: I started transferring little increments of Aura to her.

As Aura works like lifeforce or life energy, that worked... a little too well, as it stands, as her barrier grew stronger.

By then, I knew I had to... "deactivate" her temporarily. Her barrier was not only keeping things and people outside but also holding the cabin together in parts. Nothing a healthy dose of my own telekinesis didn't solve.

It was finicky messing with her brain when it was being actively controlled by her telekinesis, but my changes were deeper than her hold, so they eventually stuck. I identified the part of her brain that was messed up and... it was messed up, for sure.

My power wouldn't even recognize it as part of her brain anymore, so warped and corrupted it was. I had to isolate it and cut it out.

It... wasn't pleasant, knowing I was basically lobotomizing someone, but I was trying to save her.

I managed to make that part grow again and her brain is perfectly healthy now, even the part that controls telekinesis. I did, in fact, locate where the biological mutation happens and analyze how it grew compared to mine. I could potentially grow mine artificially using biokenesis, but I don't think evolving powers this artificially will benefit me in the long run.

Developing them by training, making discoveries myself, pushing past my limits... these are all parts I enjoy about my powers. Being powerful is fun, but training my powers is my favorite hobby. And training shapes them my way, not just generically.

Deep philosophical reflection on whether I should or should not cheat my way to power aside, I have a perfectly healthy Gina Norman in front of me, right now.

Problem is... I don't know what's going to happen when I wake her up.

As I said, I regrew her brain and healed her whole body with beefed-up biokenesis, sure, but the brain is such a plastic organ and the way it stores information is so complex, that I'm not sure who or what is going to wake up.

Is it going to be a drone waiting for orders? Or a drone ready to follow its last orders, whatever they were? Is it going to be a scared teenager? Or a totally different person?

"There's only one way to find out..." I say, hyping myself up and finally finishing healing her brain, 'jumpstarting' it, as it were.

I step back, as I see her start to stir awake on her chair. She looks this way and that, finally locking onto me.

"Who- where am I?" She asks, her voice barely a croak with what must be a very parched throat.

I hand her a water bottle, which she gratefully takes, opens, and drinks.

"... Do you have more?" She asks me, voice better this time.

I silently give her another bottle, floating it to her hand. Her eyes widen and I heave a deep sigh. If she doesn't recognize that then this will be-

"You can do that too!?" She asks, excitedly.

... oh. Hm.

"Yeah, I can. Do you remember your name?" I ask, trying to take things slow until I'm sure how much she remembers.

She frowns and I take a good look at the girl in front of me. From the outside, I mean.

Where there were sunken cheeks, now just a hint of baby fat can be seen on her light caramel skin. Her eyes are such a deep brown you'd think they were black, with arching eyebrows framing them making them pop out all the more. Her nose is slightly round and small, making it look like a button in the middle of her face. Her mouth and teeth are perfect and white, with no mismatch. Her body is thin, but not in an unhealthy way, I made sure of that. She had some bones that healed in the wrong place in her right leg and arm, but I fixed those. Overall, a cute little skinny girl.

"I... No..." She looks around the place, her nose crinkling in disgust at the smell. I wave my hand and make a barrier around her, which immediately makes her take a deep, relieved breath.

"This is my home... but it's so broken now..." She looks back at me, a lost expression on her face. "What happened?"

"I don't know the full details myself." I start, "Me and some... friends, found you here in this cabin, sitting right there in the chair. You were just... unresponsive, isolating yourself and this place with your powers. We only found you because we were looking for you, Gina Norman," She has no outward reaction to her name. She really doesn't remember it. "and two other students of Seattle High."

That also doesn't ring many bells, so I go for the only thing she reacted to until now. "How do you know about your powers?"

She smiles brightly, "I had those in my dream! It was so much fun, being able to walk without crutches and flying around!" but then makes a funny face. "It was only weird when I would get cows and animals from the woods to drop in the hole, but the hole was hungry..."

I deeply frown. She remembers parts of what she did but as a dream? "You said this is your home, what else do you remember about this place?"

She looks around, "This cabin is where me and my father live. Or should I say was? Where's my father?" She asks, voice rapidly coloring with worry.

A quick search found the man, Marco Norman... I can't find him.

To be honest, it's not like Seattle is a particularly technological city and it's 2012 so it doesn't surprise me that much.

What I do know is that he was a worker for the family that owns Haven Hills, taking care of their cattle and the woods. He was fired along with a plethora of other local workers when they withdrew from here. He does not have any current address or occupation I can see.

I shake my head lightly, "I don't know. The family that owns Haven Hills went away from here, abandoned it all, and he was fired. As you were declared missing some months back, he might still be in town waiting for some information." I offer. Her mood and expressions were a roller coaster; sad when I said I didn't know, shocked when she knew that the family was not here anymore, and hopeful when I mentioned the possibility her father may still be in town.

"Take your time to think this through. I don't have warm food here, only snacks, in case you feel hungry. I recommend walking around and stretching. Get used to your body again." I say, standing up and getting my phone.

She cringed slightly when I said walk - most likely those bones healed wrong were the reason she used crutches - but then got up to try anyway.

I dialed Steve's number, knowing that even if it's midweek, he should already be home now.

He picked up on the second ring, "Matt! Where've you been!? We were looking for you all around! What did you do, man? HOW did you do it!?" Well, he's excited.

"Get the boys and come to the Norman Cabin. I got another surprise here we need to deal with." Is all I say before hanging up. He did try to call me again immediately after, but it wouldn't have the same dramatic effect if I were to just pick up, right?

I turn back to Gina, only to see her flying around the cabin. She keeps a low altitude, but her movement is pretty gracious for someone who just woke up. 'Her powers are in a very advanced stage...'

"Gina... Gina!" I have to yell to get her attention.

"Yeah?" She asks, with an airy tone of voice.

"Just to make sure... you are not dreaming right now. You are here, with me - I'm called Matt by the way - and I'll get you some help. We'll try our best to find your father, ok?" Her expression twists into a mixture of disappointment and hope.

"For now... wanna play ball?" I say, taking a ball of hardened symbiote biomass from my back and floating it by my side. She smiles in a silly way, nodding her head.

I wonder where this girl is, mentally.

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(Matthew's PoV - Wednesday, around 6 p.m.)

Ok, maybe I was a bit rude...

I can't help but think back on Saturday when I blew up at Matt like that. It was just so frustrating seeing him be so much better than me at everything. Then there were the little signs of something being hidden and...

'Something was hidden alright... guy pulled up to Andrew's home and got rid of Aunt Karen's cancer just like that... late-stage, too.'

Aunt Karen... She's a fighter, that's what she is. She dealt with all of that, at home and with that bastard Richard doing all he could to splurge all their money on alcohol.

A whisper of my mind supplied that he still tried taking care of her, but I smash that little thought to pieces. He could've bought more medicine for her if he saved that money, he could've tried to get another kind of job, one that didn't rely on his busted leg, he could've... he could've done so many things and yet he just wasted away at home all day.

Every time I think about it, I get angry.

Angry with him for being a turd, angry with Andrew for not telling anyone, angry with... myself, for not noticing this before. I don't even need to hear Andrew's response to my question from before anymore.

'Am I a good cousin?' Of fucking course not.

I sigh, stealing a look at Andrew sitting in the passenger seat. You can tell the guy is happier now just by looking at him. He's got no more bags under his eyes, he's smiling for no reason, no more snappy responses... he's chill.

He still carries his camera around, but he doesn't record literally everything anymore, just what he thinks is interesting or fun.

And it is all due to Matt... the guy I disparaged for being too good to be true.

'No, It wasn't just because he's better, it's because he was hiding it from us.' I thought about what really bothered me about the dude these past few days.

While being basically a better version of myself stings, I think what made me blow up was his subterfuge. I mean, we're friends, right? Then why would he keep dodging our questions, why would he hide his power, why ask for our help-

'He wanted to include us... damn, I'm so stupid.' I suppress the urge to hit the wheel. Even Andrew notices me grinding my teeth.

"Calm down, Matt. It's ok, I don't think he's mad at you. Let's see what he got for us at the cabin and we move on from there, ok?" He says.

"I- it's just..." I can't even complete the sentence; so many things I want to say, so many feelings I don't know how to express. Fuck this shit.

"Yeah... let's take it easy." I end up saying.

Twenty minutes later and here we are, dirt road in front of the cabin. I see Steve's car already there and the barricade we built over the cabin's door has a passage.

I park by the roadside, getting out of the car and not even bothering with the parking situation. I see Andrew mentioning it with his hands, but I shake my head and head to the cabin.

Inside I can already hear conversations. I take a deep breath, belatedly noticing the odor still coming from the place has lessened somehow. No matter, time to see what's this 'surprise' Matt has to show us.

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(Matt's PoV - Wednesday, August 30th, 2012, around 6:30 p.m.)

"Oh, here they are. The last friends I spoke to you about." I say, turning to Gina as I keep the 3 balls floating.

Steve arrived a few minutes ago and after a very enthusiastic handshake and a short hug, he started asking me questions. I immediately stopped him, saying we should wait for Matthew and Andrew to get here before we started our talk. As we waited, I introduced him to the game and he took to it like a champ.

Someone's been training, I see I see.

I wave at Andrew and Matthew, "How you doing?" Matthew awkwardly waves back and Andrew walks up to me. He looks like a new man, he's even walking straighter now.

"Matt, thank you." He puts his hand on my shoulder, smiling widely. "I don't know how you did it, but honestly it doesn't matter... I'll admit, you gave me quite the scare." He chuckles lightly while I frown.

It takes very little time - with a bit of help from Spoiler - to realize what he meant by that. I chuckle as well, "I guess what I said could be misinterpreted. My bad."

He twists his face to the side slightly. Huh, he didn't expect me to notice?

"Anyway, you're welcome. See that you solve your... familial issues. I know they are not finished yet. If you need help, just ask." I extend my hand to him and he shakes it, nodding his head with a newfound determination brewing within.

"Onto another situation to solve..." I turn to Gina, and everyone turns to her as well. She blushes and looks away, not seeming used to the attention.

"This here, in case you did not yet understand, is our friend in the chair, Gina Norman." I gesticulate towards her, to the shock of the three boys.

"... no way. I thought you got rid of it! HOW do you do that??" Steve yells, shocked to his core. I don't blame him; she was basically dead. It took even my boosted biokenesis the most part of 3 days to get her in working order even if I might have taken my time to make sure everything was in order - no use healing her fast but getting something wrong in the process after all.

I shrug, "I have my secrets, as you noticed Saturday. I trained my powers long and hard to do it and when I felt confident enough, I tried. The results speak for themselves." I say, looking at Gina with a modicum of pride.

"When I say effort and creativity or imagination are the only limits to these powers, believe me. I won't be repeating myself anymore." I intone seriously, addressing everyone in the room. With a clap, I turn to Gina again. "Our friend here had a very... damaged part of her brain. I'm no neurologist, but I believe it wiped any and all sense of self she had, as well as parts of her recognition of what is real and what isn't."

They all look at her with pity, which makes her scowl slightly, curiously. A remnant, perhaps? I continue, "She obviously will need extensive psychological help to recover fully if that's even possible. What we can do to help her, however, is find her dad, Marco Norman. I believe we can now ask for the police's help."

Looking at Gina, I say, "I think it would be better if you hid your powers for now, ok? At least until you find your dad and get a new lease on life. After that, you do with it whatever you want, as long as it doesn't kill innocent people."

Steve seems happy they can help, Andrew nods satisfied and Matthew is still somewhat awkward, though he does seem happy as well.

"With that said, let's roll?" I say, gesturing outside. "Oh and Steve? She's with you."

"I'll take her gladly- no wait, I can't! What if Samantha sees us!?" He despairs his expression one of such fear we all laugh, even Gina.

I look at her, "See? I told you they were funny." I say with an amused expression. She nods happily, a silly smile on her face.

As we leave the cabin, Steve guides Gina to his car and they get in. I stop by Matthew and Andrew.

Matthew seems to want to say something, but I put up my hand to stop him. "Another time." I say seriously, "I just want to say, Gina has the same powers as us, and she is powerful. It is dangerous to have so much power, even with the amount of control she has, when she is possibly mentally unstable, mixing reality with a long dream."

They get serious when they hear that. "I can see what you mean..." Andrew mutters.

I nod, "I... won't be around for long. I'll leave come November, going to... another country." I say, trying to find an explanation why I need to leave.

"Didn't you say something about flying? You can just come back here if shit happens." Matthew says and even though I feel some envy, it's no longer venomous like it was before. It feels more like a resigned sense of inferiority.

"Yeah I can fly, but it'll still take a while to get here in case of emergencies. Besides..." I look at Steve's car, watching him maneuver it. "I want to see if there are more people like her." Andrew and Matthew widen their eyes.

"You think...?" They both say. I shake my head.

"I don't know, but I want to make sure. I never really bothered with school anyway and these powers... it's something I'm good at, so why not pursue it?" I say, looking at my own hands for added effect.

They seem pensive, but I grab their attention again. "Let's go, he's already waiting for us," I say, pointing at Steve.

They get in their car and I remember I didn't come here by car. Sending them all a cheeky smile, I start flying. "Race you there!" And I take off.

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"That's right officer. We were filming a documentary to raise awareness to the missing people and we found her around the cabin she used to live in. We cleaned her up as best we could, but as you can see," I point at her ruined clothes, still reeking of decay and rot. "She needs clothes, a place to stay and to find her dad."

The man I'm talking to, Officer Harrison, takes a while to finish his notes. "Alright... and you are called?" He asks, looking at me.

"Matthew, officer. No last name." I respond truthfully. He does raise an eyebrow at that, but I simply pull up my ID which he checks and double-checks before handing it back.

"I see... yep, that's all. We'll have her here and we'll be looking for her father as soon as possible." He finishes and clicks his pen closed. He gets up, prompting me to get up as well, and extends his hand to me. "You did a good job, son. You and your friends possibly saved a life. Well done. If you happen to find any other missing persons, call us before doing anything. We handle the rescuing too." He says with a serious tone, undermined by his amused half-smile.

I smile too, shaking my head. "We were just nervous, wanted to make sure she was alright. If that's all?" I look to the exit, where I see all three boys waiting for me.

"Yes, that's all. You kids better go home soon, it's getting late." He says, basically dismissing me. I agree with him easily enough and with a wave, I start walking out.

"Let's go, it's over," I say as they keep up with me to go out. "I know we need to talk, all three of us this time, but it's getting late and the widdle kiddies have school tomorrow." I make a baby voice to mock them. The either scoff or chuckle, not taking my teasing that seriously anymore.

"I'll have you know my bedtime is indeed quickly approaching!" Steve enjoys the banter, adding to it.

"But seriously, what talk?" He says after smoothing out his expression.

"Well, I had a quick talk with Matthew and Andrew about being careful with Gina and about the possible future, but we get together tomorrow or Friday and we'll talk about it." I dismiss the subject for now. Steve still wants to talk but holds himself back.

"Alright, this Friday then." He agrees and gets to his car."I'll change my schedule with Samantha to Sunday..." He mumbles on and on, before looking at us and waving, driving off.

Andrew and Matthew look at me for a while longer, with both of them this time thanking me for healing Karen. Ugh, her name takes away a bit from the gratification I would feel, but I guess this is before that name became cursed.

I'll allow it.

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(Matt's PoV - Friday, September 1st, 2012, afternoon)

So, I taught them how to fly... it's going as well as it did in the movie.

"WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!" Steve passes me by, with Matthew closely behind him. They're both racing from me to Andrew, with this being the second lap. Steve secured the lead for most of the race, but I see Matthew getting better and better at boosting his speed.

At the last stretch, Matthew gets very close to Steve but still ends up in second.

"Damn, man! Everyone is faster than me!" He yells out in frustration.

"You're getting better buddy, don't give up!" Surprisingly, Andrew was the one who said that. He - as always - was the fastest between them to understand how to fly, Steve being a close second. I taught them only the basics, so they're still using hoodies to keep themselves warm and to not get hurt by the air friction.

I dealt with the friction problem pretty easily; a simple slanted barrier reduces it significantly, though I wish to one day make a barrier that negates it entirely. The cold never bothered me anyway, maybe because of this new body? Wait, why did I say it like that-

"OK! Let's play ball!" Steve says, getting a football out from his backpack.

I'll admit I was never a sports guy, but throwing a ball and catching it is doable.

We spend the next half-hour or so just enjoying ourselves, throwing and catching the ball. This time, Matthew had to remind Andrew to turn on his camera and record it all, so focused and joyful he was while flying. 'It does feel freeing... especially when I don't need the armor anymore. I have to get on that soon...'

I feel a lot of auras appearing in the range of my Observation Haki even before I hear the turbines of the airplane. I yell, "Hey! Be careful, there's a plane coming. Let's reduce the altitude!"

They all look confused, but soon follow me down to cloud level.

The plane passes above us, disrupting the air around us and making them a bit unstable, though they laugh it off and catch themselves.

"Good warning, Matt! As always." Matthew said, with a tone of slight sarcasm. It feels like an inside joke to him now, instead of full-blown envy.

"Thank you, thank you, fellow Matt." I bow down to him. "You guys need to watch out for that, though. Happens more often than you'd think." I warn seriously.

"Yeah, I didn't even hear it! Damn!" Steve says, getting closer to us.

"Hey, Matt! How do you fly so... upwards? Like, we're all flying like we're hanging from cables. I'm trying to form a 'hand' to hold myself but it's weird." Andrew floats over and asks.

I look at them all, "It's the same principle I used before discovering the different ways to mold the reach; imagine the energy covering your whole body - which also can work as a barrier to reduce the air friction and the amount of ar that flaps onto your face - and manipulate that. 'Catching yourself' is a good way to describe it, but I personally prefer the term 'Holding and dragging'." I explain.

He ponders momentarily, "Can you hold me for a bit? So I can feel how it is." He asks, looking interested.

"Sure!" I create a cube around him and nod. He lets his control go completely, making me widen my eyes as I thought he would slowly come down. Quickly catching him, I mold the hold around him making it the same as mine. "Done. I'll fly you around in a few laps, get your reach around mine, and feel how it's layered."

Andrew gives me a thumbs-up before closing his eyes. I fly him around, much to the amusement of Matthew and Steve when they come over. After 15 minutes of this, he opened his eyes. "I think I got it!"

"Ok, I'll form a platform under you and when you're ready, just say the word!" I do as I said and not a minute passes before he flies off my platform, now flying much like I do; with a free-flying smoothness.

"Hey, this is pretty cool! Though it's still cold."

I shrug. "Haven't solved that one yet."

"Look at him go!! Looking like a baby bird, spreading his wings!" Matthew says. Steve looks impressed as well.

"You up for teaching us too?" Steve asks, Matthew nodding along.

"Sure! Let's start from the top."

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(Matt's PoV - Friday, September 1st, 2012, evening)

"Ok, about that talk..." Steve starts, making me look up from my bag of chips.

"Yeah, that's right." I sit up, turn the bag onto my mouth, chew it all, and clean the crumbs off with telekinesis.

"I told Matthew and Andrew before that you guys will need to keep a close look on Gina. I'm keeping tabs on her situation for now, but I'd advise getting her number once she gets a phone." Steve starts smirking, but I shake my head in exasperation. "Not for that, dumbass."

"She's got the problems I listed and those on a powered person like her... could be dangerous. She's better at using her powers than I am and you know what I can do." I conclude, seriously.

"You know, I've been thinking about what you said about seeing if there's more out there. More people like her, like us." Andrew says, thoughtful.

"Yeah...?" I prompt him to continue.

"Well, you said that you wanted to 'pursue it', this power I mean. Do you mean you'll be a hero or something? Help people with it?" He asks, looking into my eyes.

I feel the urge to look away again but force myself to hold the stare. "I don't know about being a 'hero', but I don't mind helping people here and there." I shrug.

"But don't you think we could do more with it? Really try to make a change?" Andrew insists.

"Look, Andrew, I'm not sure how much of a change you mean. Changing society? Humanity? Climate Change? Or changing the neighborhood?" I shake my head. "I won't discourage you; if you want to make a change, be my guest; I'll root for you. Just be prepared to face a lot of resistance."

"Jean-Sartre once said "Human beings prefer the comfort of known misery over the discomfort of the unknown."" We all stop and look at Matthew. It's been a while since he said any philosophical quotes, I almost forgot he did that. "But I don't think it's impossible, just very hard." He complements.

Andrew sighs, "Yeah, it would be hard having to deal with people wanting to know things like where the powers came from or if I'm the only one with powers and such..." He lists with a wistful look.

I pat him on his shoulder, "I'd say don't give up before trying, just don't lose sight of what you have to pursue a hopeful dream." This... well, shit. Way to go me, giving good advice for a guy probably on the same cliff I once was.

Getting on that good university was never my dream, it was my parents'. Still, I wanted to help, wanted to make them proud, and above it all... I wanted to prove I could do it. I was always somewhat average: average height, smarts, 'size', bellow average weight, looks...

The thing I had going for me was my ability to improvise and spin narratives in my favor. But I wanted to prove that I, too, could go to a prestigious learning place. I could be the golden child if I put my mind to it.

And I did it. If only the world rewarded such efforts...

"...att. Matt!" Andrew calls out to me.

I briefly shook my head, "Huh? Oh, yeah. You have your mother back now and a bright future ahead of you. I bet you're pretty smart, Andrew. You don't need to do it just because you have powers; the powers are yours, not anyone else's."

He looks at me for a few seconds, absorbing the words. "Why did you seem lost in thought just now?" He asks curiously, a small grin playing on his face.

I wave it off, "You know how old people like to babble about their lives and regrets? I just happened to remember one such story. Don't bother with it."

'Own Your Path. The past is the past, we look forward.'