Chapter 30———Going Home, Little Flower
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Ugh....My Head....What the heck happened? My memory's so fuzzy, and my whole body is in so much pain... Akina Willoby groaned from waking up, her body felt that she got squished by a monster truck, before noticing she was in the infirmary or medical wing in Surwick.
What happened to me? My bones feel as if they've been snapped in half.... She wondered before breathing sharply....Okay. I remember I was doing that Cult Takedown Exercise; then we were ambushed by Kadoku and....Funka...After that, Ryoji told Takeo and I to keep moving. I felt weak, unable to help my friends....What happen after that?
Akina Willoby looked at her bruised limbs sorrowfully, then she moved her left arm. The pain was very terrible by her breathing sharply as she continued to blink frequently. Although the pain was sharp enough, it felt better.
Then it dawned by her: The reason what bought her here in the first place: Right: Now I remember: I'm an Ultiman. I fainted in the end, but I still got my win.
I won..... Akina thought happily, smiling a bit before pumping her fist in motion. "Yes! I won! I won!" If her body wasn't hurting; she would have continued on with it, yet: Her senses were enhanced, she could feel someone's presence.
Her curtains moved as Red Alert came in, with a genuine smile on his face and a paper in your hand.
"Hi, Akina. How are you feeling?" He asked, she replied with caution. "....Okay-ay."
His smile was gone and thus began to explain on his condition. "Do you feel a bit dizzy?"
"Yes, sir-r."
"It comes with the medicine. Although you did stunning on your training, you broke your body in order to win. Your entire body was broken, Akina. I thought it would take months for your body to heal, let alone be to be awake. Not four hours." Her attention has been aroused, fixing her posture. Hold on? Did he say four hours?
He fixed his glasses and looked at his notes before August and Marcus Duncannon entered, both of them were happy to see Akina.
"Oh my baby. Oh, sweet baby." Her adopted father comforted by slowly hugging her. Even hugging her caused some discomfort. "Hey, Dad….."
"Hey Lucius, good to see you again. I see that you grew a goatee——" August Duncannon said while smiling sheepishly.
"Stop it with the smalltalk, August." The doctor cut him off quickly, seeing how he was going to waste time by small-talking. "I just need to tell you what you need to give her. Since her recovery has been miraculous, she can go to school tomorrow."
Their history is rather...Unpleasant to go over and even Marcus and Akina felt a bit uneasy.
He focused on Akina yet again. "This is something else...You are one of a kind, Akina. The blue pills are for tonight for sleeping and relief the swelling and the yellow pills are for any discomfort in your joints. Take one everyday for eight days straight. If the pain is still there——Let me know." He told her by adding more emphasis on his orders, Akina nodded her head in compliance, readying to get out of her bed.
No red pills? August and Marcus shared the same thought as they left with Akina, who struggled to put on her jacket.
———Later———
The drive towards Zanark Town was too quiet: There was no music blasting out of the radio, no talking and an atmosphere of awkwardness was here. Akina kept playing with her hair, a sign that she was incredibly bored.
"Sooo…..How did it go?" August finally asked Marcus about his time during the exercise. Marcus felt ashamed by his loss against Regis, who won it all by himself. "...I lost. Turns out the Prince got many tricks up his white sleeves. I'm gonna get stronger, Dad." He declared to his father.
Then unexpectedly, August parked in the garage slowly and applied the parking brake. He turned around; Marcus never felt so unrelieved currently.
Pinching his cheeks would do the trick. "You lost because you were 100% there, Marcus. You were thinking about Akina and that's how it. So, you lost. You get back up and try to win next time. Doesn't matter how many times you fall down——It matters if you get back up." He consoled his son gently, putting his hand on his shoulder.
The dinner table was fixed by none other than Cierra Duncannon; who went to get today's dinner since it was a bit too late for her or August to cook.
The best decision for today is go with Döner Kebab for dinner from the Kebab place a few blocks.
Everyone sat down and ate their respective foods; Marcus and August with their Large Döner, Cierra with her special Falafel Box, and Akina with her Doner Box with Special Sauce, extra tomatoes and more feta cheese.
"Akina, let me hear how your day went…" Cierra asked her daughter on how her day went.
"It was awesome, Mom! I won and I finally have superpowers!" Akina bursted into pure excitement while her family looked at her, fascinated of how her life was changing.
"I heard, sweetie. That's so nice." Cierra said before asking August something. "Hon——can you please pass me the red chili flakes for me?"
Suddenly, Akina went under another transformation as her hair rose up and gained that bright pink once again and symbols appeared on her face, she got up and slammed her right hand on their dinner table.
"Come on! I got superpowers and the first thing you say is "pass the red chili flakes"'? WHAT's up with that?!"
Woah...It happened again...Akina thought as she felt the strength coursing through her hands, causing a small crack at her side of the table. Marcus uttered silently to himself. "Oh, shit."
"Aki, We don't know exactly if those powers were caused by were a recessive gene or maybe they were innate….." August tried to his best in not getting upset (it was an expensive table), and Cierra jumped in. "Plus Akina, just because you can now glow and destroy an entire forest section; doesn't mean you scare us so easily, young lady. You didn't have to hit the table, but you decided to hit the table in anger. So, you're grounded. For two weeks."
"But-" Akina tried to defend herself but her mother was too quick for her; she was already regretting it.
"No buts!" Cierra said in an authoritative tone, which made Akina stand up in guilt. Admitting defeat, Akina walked away from her family slowly and went to her room without slamming her door.
"Am I grounded too?" Marcus asked, scared of losing his game privileges for two weeks.
"No, sweetie. I'm sorry to hear about how your day went. You can go to the living room." Cierra said softly.
"Do you think we're a little harsh on her?" August asked as they were all by themselves now at the table and kitchen.
Cierra defended herself, putting the plates in the dishwasher carefully. "Akina just gained powers and she's out of control with her emotions. We can't have her wrecking the whole town."
He agreed with his wife. "Yeah. You're right, but you could have been more gentle with Akina. She has superpowers now."
"I hope what we did is right…" Cierra queried to him, which he consoled her back like any loving husband. "As long as she doesn't end up burning the house up by a sneeze——we'll be A-okay."
She chuckled a bit before closing the dishwasher up and turned it on, embracing August as they went to the living room.
———Akina's Room———
No TV, no Switch, no Snap or Instagram! I can't believe this! Akina complained, laying on her bed while making more points. Then again: I shouldn't act like that in the first place... What's next: Funka barging in like she always does?
"Hey, Aki." Funka, said hello to her friend as she opened up her window carefully without a sound, while Akina screamed at her. "What're you doing here?! My parents grounded me and if they see you——It's a death sentence for me!"
Funka ignored her, her forehead was covered in bandages and was a bit of woozy from her medicine.
"You box now, Akina? And how did you get grounded?"
"I lost my temper." Akina answered in embarrassment. "Again." She added in further shame.
I get it when I lose my temper. Everyone's calm. They're used to it. When the pink-hair girl yells——Panic! Funka complained mentally as she sat down and asked the same question.
Akina said "No" before sighing: She needed someone to tell how it sort of happened, for a 11 year old. "You might wanna sit for this.." Said Akina, preparing to explain her how it all happen.
"I am sitting. I'm just waiting for you to explain."
———Later———
"......So, Those powers came from you being frustrated and then they came outta the blue? Just like that? That's nuts!" Funka was
"I know."
".....So, what now?"
"....I dunno." Akina shrugged. "Maybe...We'll see what happens."
Footsteps were coming towards her bedroom and Akina was high-strung already. "Hide!!" She told her friend quietly, who then hid under Akina's bed. There was no difficulties as the sheets hung low to keep her hidden.
She picked up her phone to pretend that she was on FaceTime with Funka started laughing out loud before saying to the black screen. "Ok! Ok! See you tomorrow!"
August opened the door and interrogated her while looking around her bedroom. "Who are you talking to?"
"I was calling FaceTiming Funka and I just hung up. Sorry, dad." Akina lied horribly, even making Funka facepalm from that lie of hers.
Although a bit skeptic on Akina's horribly crafted lie, August, nevertheless was deceived and closed the door. He was more lax when it came to the rules, and Funka immediately rose up again to talk to her friend. "Cool powers, tho. I wish I had powers like that, instead of blowing stuff up."
Akina had let off the part that she was an Ultiman. A revelation like this would mess with their whole relationship and even telling her about the Spirit shook the foundation a bit. Akina felt bad but she needed to make sure if there was someone who could help her with this.
"Whatever your superpower is...." Funka began before making a declaration to Akina. "You need to get better, Aki: The Skirmish is only four weeks away, and you better be in the quarterfinals." She wanted to shake her hand, which Akina returned the feelings.
Her hair changed again colors. "You versus me: I won't pull my punches next time." Akina challenged her friend, making her shocked more than anything at Akina's growing confidence. Oh man...If Aki was pulling them; then that Braceface Heart-Bond better prepare to be a punching bag that match.... Funka thought while clenching her stomach in fear as she left to go back home by using her signature blasts.
Akina was again by herself, turning her her lamplight and tucked herself into bed. I'm gonna show everyone that I have balls to be in the class! I can pull my own weight and I won't break my bones every time I use them! Akina felt triumphant now, a great feeling than to feel useless. Never again does she want to feel those negative notions, concentrating on how to improve herself.
After all——I'm an Ultiman!
Is an Ultiman worse than a Heart-Bond?
Today is probably going to be a good, normal day. I should eat scrambled eggs for breakfast…..
A normal day…. The last thoughts before Akina dozed off.
———Track 30 Ended———