Chapter 9: Discovery

Teal and Van looked at the direction Ryu shot the laser.

Both their eyes wide and jaw dropped witnessing the power of the laser which pierced a clean hole in the tree and blasted a rock off.

When they turned their head to look at Ryu, he was even more shocked than they were. His eyes more wider than theirs and his jaw dropped like it was going to fall off.

"What the..." Teal spoke with his voice breaking.

Ryu snapped out of the shock and gave a smirk "I guess I have a new weapon now."

Teal's face turned red with jealousy "Ughh... Why didn't the guy who modify me add my limbs with such cool weapons."

Van analyzed Ryu's palm "Hmmm. The small hole doesn't only pop up your compressed shield. It has the deadly, offensive laser which literally pierced through that tree. Noting this, Ryu may be our number one fighting force if we run into someone who is rampaging."

Teal starts acting hurt "Agh... my heart... how could you switch sides..."

"Quit it. We have a good fighter. You can be uhh... llike our sub damage dealer." 

"And what will you be? Our motivator?" Teal replied in a mocking tone.

"I can be your strategist. You both are blockheads anyway."

"Blockheads?!?" Teal and Ryu shouted at Van in unison.

The sky suddenly turned pink, but for only a fraction of a second.

Teal seemed to be the only one to notice that. 

"HEY!!! DID YOU SEE THAT JUST NOW!?! THE SKY TURNED PINK FOR A SECOND!"

Van and Ryu looked at Teal who was acting like a mad man.

"Dude, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Yeah... you have been rambling on about pink sky. You are imagining things like that day when you had your skin melt."

Teal's ears started ringing, he covered his ears instinctively.

Muffled sounds of Van and Ryu could be heard "Du... Are you o..."

"GAHHHH!!" Teal shook his head violently "IT'S... IT'S THE RINGING!! MY EARS FEEL LIKE THEY ARE ABOUT TO EXPLODE"

Teal collapsed on the ground.

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Teal slowly opened his eyes finding another unfamiliar ceiling.

It wasn't his ceiling nor Van's ceiling. It had a luxurious look. He guessed who's bed he was in at that moment.

His eyes looked at the ceiling "So you bought me to Ryu's house, huh?"

Ryu may have looked like he was poor. But he had a large amount of wealth, well not technically his wealth, his father's wealth.

Ryu was dressed in black t shirt and a track pant that looked too expensive.

Van was also dressed in luxury maybe borrowed from Ryu.

Ryu looked at Teal from where he was sitting "Well. My house has more comfortable beds and a few empty rooms so yeah."

Van who was sitting beside Ryu started speaking "What happened? It looked exactly like that time when you collapsed."

"Well... I don't know... it was different from then... It wasn't a headache... it was a ring... a loud one. It felt like my ears were about to explode."

He suddenly heard the squirrel squeak "Do you hear that? The squeak? Maybe a squirrel?"

Ryu throwed his arms in the air getting up from the chair "Why does keep bringing random things up!"

"Teal... I think you have official lost your mind... is what I would have said but nothing you guys say is crazy anymore. Ryu tell me where the nearest tree is."

"I think there is one outside the window from the other room."

"The one across? That one?" Van points at the left room just outside the room they were in.

"No, the room on the right side."

Van got up and walked into the other room. He stepped in front of the window and opens the window door. A maple tree visible just a few foots away, a squirrel on its branch.

Although he looked at the squirrel squeak but his expression wasn't that of a surprise.

He walked back to the room Teal and Ryu were.

"Well? What did you discover, Mr. Detective?"

"There was a squirrel squeaking in the tree over there."

"What?" Ryu looked a bit confused by the calm exposure of Van "You don't look like you are surprised like you did when you looked at all the surprises."

Van still had that blank look on his face "I guess I just got used to the surprises. So the new discovery is, Teal has a heightened hearing ability now."

Van starts getting excited "Dude! That's so cool!"

Ryu looks surprised "This guy is as weird as you Teal"

"Like you are one to talk." Teal replied with an annoyed expression.

Teal starts hearing Van's and Ryu's heartbeat, their breathing and their gulp.

"This new power sure is crazy. I can hear your heatrbeats from here. Guess I don't need to be jealous of you anymore."

"My power is a lot more crazier than yours. You just have a soundwave blast and a good hearing. The most you are capable of is supporting me." Ryu looks too proud that the power he has is a lot more cooler than Teal's.

"I guess you haven't watched movies like me. The power doesn't matter, if you find a good way to utilize the power you can be powerful."

"If it was Van who had a power like this I would have trusted that the power may have been used in a better way. But you..."

Teal couldn't handle the mock towards him "Yeah same with your power. If it was Van he would have used the power more efficiently."

Ryu smiles offended "Oh? But you did see me use that shield and that was my first fight too"

Teal didn't have any words to counter Ryu, he groaned gritting his teeth "W—well it was my first time fighting too and I discovered something with just observing it! That makes me better than you."

"Stop you two. Can't believe you are fighting over such a stupid argument. Teal is better at understanding the concept and principles of the power, on the other hand Ryu is good at adapting to the situation and utilizes his weapon well."

"Now if you two are done arguing can we address what may be the reason of the sudden collapse of Teal?"

Blood started flowing from Teal's nose.