The next day, as the sun rose up, a scream reverberated throughout the motel.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Kinsei was hugging the corner of the wall, as River stood there covering his ears.
"Me?! You just suddenly screamed!" He argued, "Your the one getting jump scared easily!"
"You don't just walk around so silently like that!" He peeled himself off the wall.
"What? Was I suppose to make loud footsteps to tell you my every movement?" River's eyebrows twitched, as he walked to his bag to grab a towel.
"Yes!"
"Won't that be worst though?" Reginald yawned as he had long been awoken by Kinsei outburst, "Bam bam bam, suddenly turn the corner and bam, there River with his dead ass vibe."
"My vibe is much better than yours." River quickly corrected, and he giggled, "I never knew Kinsei was so jumpy, maybe we should scare him till he faints."
"That's a good idea!" Reginald agreed, as Kinsei hit the wall.
"I'm still here you know!" He grumbled, "I'm going to punch anyone that scared me!"
"On purpose or on accident?" Reginald and River asked in unison.
"Both!" He stomped to the toilet.
The two burst out laughing.
Knock knock
The two stopped laughing and looked at the door.
River went and opened the door to see Sezia standing outside.
"Gather in the van within an hour." Was all she said and left.
Reginald got up and went outside the toilet door as River closed the main door, "Hurry at the toilet, I need brush my teeth!" He hit the door.
"Shut up!" Kinsei yelled, "I need to take a shit!" Reginald slowly backed away, as River tried holding in his laughter.
"What if I shout I will kick down the door?" He asked Reginald, who shook his head left to right.
"I can hear you!" River also slowly backed away, and went to pack his bag.
"Do you think there's enough time to shower?" Reginald asked, looking inside at his bag.
"How many sets of clothes you bought?" River asked, looking down at his white shirt, "As long I wear my jacket, it doesn't matter what shirt I wore. But you don't have a jacket."
"It's in my other bag in the van," Reginald took out a dark blue shirt, "Does this match my hair colour?" He looked at River, pulling it beside his head.
River shrugged, "I don't do colour theory."
"I do." Reginald said, "But it's different on paper and in real life."
"Did you bring your art supplies?" River asked as he zipped his jacket.
"Yeah." He took out the small sketchbook from his bag, and the pencil that's hooked on the book.
"Heyy, you should draw me." River used his hands and pushed his hair back, "How's this?" He put his hands in his pocket, and shifted his weight on his left side.
Reginald chuckled, "If you can stay in that pose till its completed, sure."
"My back gonna hurt if I stayed in that for too long." He stood straight up again, "Maybe in the van."
"The road is bumpy, I will make mistakes." Reginald kept his sketchbook back inside, "How long do you think it will take him to shit?"
"Let's hope it won't take too long." He shrugged, "I should get a watch, it's more convenient telling time." He pinched his chin with that thought in mind.
"Or a phone, but it's too expensive.." Reginald looked in his bag again.
River walked over to the curtains, and opened it.
His eyes shone, "Snow!" He turned and pointed at the window, "Reg! Snow!"
"Snow?" He looked up from his bag, 'Now?'
"Hey! We can try freezing you now!" River smirked, which caused Reginald's hair to stand.
"I rather not." He took out another shirt, "I didn't think it would Snow so early this year."
"We are considered far away from the city, right?" He closed the curtain again, as he heard the toilet flushed, "Well, go bath. We need go soon."
"Mhm." He took his shirt, "Is there towels?"
River asked back, "You trust the hygiene of this place?"
"Nope." He took out his small towel from the bag, and walked towards the toilet. The toilet door opened, and Kinsei walked out.
"You guys are so loud." He grumbled as he walked out, "I can't shit in peace."
"You can never shit in peace again with us around." River gave a thumbs up, "Also get ready, we need leave in like thirty minutes?"
"I didn't shit for so long." Kinsei walked over to his bag, and took out another jacket and wore that instead of the school uniform.
"How do you maintain that hair? Why not cut it?" River asked when he saw Kinsei taking out a comb.
"To annoy my mom." He smirked, "And the teachers."
"I should do that." River thought out loud, "But it would be troublesome if it gets in my view."
"If its long enough, you can tie it and it won't get in your way." He shrugged as he tied his hair.
"Mah, I prefer short hair." He used both his hand and push his hair up, "I can make it spiky like this."
"That isn't spiky, you just made it look like there's a tower on your hair." Kinsei chuckled, which caused River to flatten his hair again while pouting.
"Maybe when you sleep, I chop your hair off as a prank." River muttered under his breath, as he giggled at that idea.
Kinsei didn't hear it, and just ignored River giggling by himself.
Soon, the three of them all got ready and went to the van.
They saw Dealla wearing the same shirt but this time she wore long cotton pants, standing outside.
"Isn't it hot in that?" River asked as he got closer.
"It's not as cold as expected." Dealla didn't deny, "Come on, let's wait inside. Mr Dav is settling the bills." She opened and moved inside the back seats.
Reginald went to the trunk first and took out his jacket from his other bag, and went to the middle seat.
Otta still sat at the same spot, as Dealla sat beside her.
Kate sat at the same spot as the first time, while the Reginald sat at where Dealla sat before.
"Everyone in?" Sezia asked as she entered the passage seat beside the driver seat. Frad looked at the rear mirror and did a headcount.
"Nope, Mr Dav isn't here yet." River said, looking out the window, "Oh he's here."
Dav sat beside Dealla, and closed the door.
"Does everyone want to grow stronger to protect your home?" Sezia asked, looking at the rear mirror, as a few looked back at her.
"Of course!" Kinsei said, "It's my home! I will defend it with my life!"
"You don't even know if you got power dude." River poured the cold water on Kinsei, who crossed his arm and pouted.
"I'm sure everyone is aware that the world is bigger than just Duerrin, and there's other big city similar to them. Yes?" Sezia confirmed, as the van started moving out of the carpark.
"There is?" Everyone expect Otta and Kinssi asked.
"There is.." Otta and Kinsei sighed.
"Oh." The three suddenly felt dumb.
"Well, you just need to know. After the invaders war," Sezia started explaining, "Many powers has evolved and thus the world went to a standstill for a about a decade, trying to understand the powers. But the greed of humans can never be silent for so long."
"In short," Dav took over the explanation, "War is going to come soon, and our city is on its own."
"But what about those who wants to destroy it now? We haven't stopped them, have we?" Kinsei asked in a panic, "We won't survive a war!"
"Let's not think about war first, let's think of surviving Duerrin." Sezia looked back outside, "Duerrin plans to… find people around and make them into an elite troupe."
"How so?" Dealla asked, which she noticed the teachers shifted a little.
"They plan to awaken and forcefully evolve their powers, to fight in the war." Frad steered the steering wheel.
"Is that even possible?" Otta looked up from her laptop, "Awakening powers is already something uncommon, but evolving it forcefully?"
"That's what Zone G was about." Frad explained, "But something happened that caused its collapse. Many of those that survived the experiments fled."
Sezia took a deep breath and continued, "They still have many of the successful experiments recorded, and they plan to recreate it."
"Recreate Zone G?" Kinsei asked, "Are they the ones attacking our home?"
"Their technology is so advanced that they don't have to resort to such means." Sezia corrected, "But eventually when they are searching for people, they will come to the city."
"Shouldn't we be training more people than? Instead of just five of us?" Kinsei asked, which caused Sezia to shake her head.
"The attack on our home.." Dav glanced at Kinsei, "Is created intentionally."
"What?!" The four asked, looking at Dav.
"One method to awaken the power is when someone is pushed to their limits, mentally or physically." Dav ignored their glares, "That's what Sir wishes to achieve. Don't look at me like that! I only knew when we were about to leave too!"
"What's the point of telling us this now?" Reginald asked, as Kinsei hit the van door.
"I cried for nothing?!" He kicked the chair in front of him.
"Hey!" Sezia complained, "I did nothing!"
He crossed his arm and pouted, "Adults are a bunch of liars."
Dav coughed to get everyone's attention, "Back to the point…the five of you were chosen because of your potential to change the battlefield."
"What kind of shity potential do I have ?" Kinsei emphasised on the 'I', "My power hasn't been awakened."
"How the shit did I awaken my power?" River muttered, "And how do you know?"
Dav shrugged, "Classified info."
"So where are we going now?" Otta looked back at her laptop while asking.
"The plan is to train everyone to that potential." Sezia said, "We are going to go gather a few materials for Otta to build. Those machines will help everyone train without causing too big of a damage."
"Training arc?" Kinsei muttered, "What kind of training can I even do?"
"Yours is the awakening arc." River smirked, "While everyone else shall be going through training arc."
"How do you guys awaken your powers?" Kinsei glanced at everyone in the van, which just caused silence in the air. He glanced out the window, looking at the trees slowly becoming lesser and lesser.