The fall of the temple-like building revealed our location to me. The air was cold and the wind made it colder, there was snow as far as the eyes could see. It appeared we were at the top of a mountain somewhere on the other side of the world.
There was no sign of life for miles, it seemed like we were in the Himalayas, all I could see was mountains upon mountains. Relentlessly, the subconscious kept burning up the snow and slicing smaller mountains upon mountains causing massive avalanches. The damage this power caused could be likened to the damage of twenty-four atomic bombs and apparently there seemed to be no off switch.
I tried to reactivate my system in order to stop the Mindblown ability but the system wasn't responding to me. It seemed my subconscious was determined to bring the world to ruin and there was nothing my consciousness could do about it. I was awake while sleeping and powerless in the midst of my strength. Suddenly the laser stopped, my head tilted down with the eyes focused on the rubbles of the temple.
There, standing beside the severed head of one of the statues was a man looking up at me. My eyes peered to capture the man's face but alas the steam from the snow blocked his appearance, the only visible thing from that distance was the cape he had on, dancing to the tune of the wind. The subconscious watched him closely, and he returned the look, waiting for who would make the first move.
Then within the blink of an eye the man flew up to my position, face to face. It was like he teleported there, for the speed he used to fly was practically faster than the speed of light. He stopped before me, three feet apart, hovering with a distinct, bold stare at my face. It was Ezekiel, my father, wearing a white cape fixed to the yellow shirt he was wearing with what appeared to be black big buttons on his shoulders. A yellow pair of trousers held by a black belt with a yellow buckle, red gloves and red boots. I instantly figured he was dressed as an anime character.
"You need to calm down, son," he said with a serious look on his face.
He reached out his hand, trying to grab a hold of my shoulder, but my subconscious retaliated, shooting a laser blast that came for him with great speed, but he dodged it instantly, moving in a zigzag manner in the middle of the air. It was like, dash to the left, dash to the right, then dash to the left again, dodging the laser blasts with ease. It was a very cool display of power control despite the weird outfit.
At a certain point and a safe distance, he stopped dodging. Looking at me with intent, he zapped right in front of me, face to face, toe to toe, before my subconscious could react and shift away, he grabbed a hold of both arms making it impossible to move. My body gave out a loud cry of anger, preparing to shoot him with a laser at point range. He immediately covered the place the laser was coming out of my forehead and pressed his thumb and index fingers on the side of my head like he did back at the cell.
"Switch!" He said immediately.
At that command, my subconscious shut down and my consciousness took over. My powers deactivated and the forcefield protecting Lemon's body and mine in the air disappeared, causing us to start falling fifty feet down. But Ezekiel didn't let our bodies touch the ground. He swiftly caught Lemon, then me and dashed far away from the mountains to a town thousands of miles from the destroyed temple.
He placed both bodies on the ground with our backs resting on the wall of a building, then he stood over us and watch as I checked Lemon's pulse if she was still alive. We were in an alleyway.
"She's still breathing," he said. "Zoarites are hard to kill, like a cockroach."
He was trying to be funny, probably wanted to make me feel better, but I didn't get the joke. I glared at him for a while, then I gradually stood on my feet, taking off my coat and laying it on Lemon's body.
"So you weren't a daydream after all?" I asked.
"Daydream?" He replied. "What are you talking about?"
It probably was a stupid question to ask, as the evidence stacked in front of my eyes, by Halo and Levion, were quite a lot to prove that what I experienced back in the cell was indeed real.
"Nevermind," I replied. "What's with the outfit?"
"What this?" He asked. "You don't recognise Saitama?"
I shook my head. "Who the hell is Saitama?"
"Only one of the greatest heroes in anime history," he replied. "Men, you really forgot alot. I guess I should add that to the list of things I need to teach you."
Just then, Lemon moaned, turning her head slowly. It seems she was waking up. I immediately turned, kneeling down to check her condition.
"She needs to get to a hospital," he said.
"Yeah no kidding," I replied. "We don't even know where the hell we are, what faction of the Cosmic Prime is stationed here and how to get back to Yolo Central to give her the treatment she needs."
"Kathmandu," he said.
"What?"
"The city, we're in Kathmandu, the capital of Yolo-Nepal."
I exhaled, walking out the alley and looking around. The city was huge, hotels and diners everywhere I turned, hover cars, hover bikes and hover jet skis high above my head, zooming past. In this part of the world there was little to no disruption of the peace, it was a calm place, so a very small number of cosmic troopers were assigned to keep the order. So naturally, I thought it was going to be hard to find a Trooper in this big city.
But fortunately, I found one. I noticed a Trooper motorbike in front of a small restaurant. That was our way back to Yolo Central. The moment it looked like I could handle everything on my own, my dad disappeared…again. With the help of the Kathmandu Troopers, we found our way to the airport and took a flight back to Yolo Central.
The Chief could hardly believe the report I gave him, I didn't blame him. I wouldn't be able to believe it if I were in his shoes too. Many of those in the Precinct though, had this belief that I was the cause of Lemon's severe injuries, that I had gone berserk again and almost killed her…teleporting her to the Himalayas! It was absurd, but it was their word against mine.
I was put under arrest for the time being. And temporary leave, with my weapons taken away from me. How great was that? Taking away the weapons of a guy being targeted by a powerful cult which no one believed existed. It didn't bother me though, as long as Lemon was okay. In the end, she was the only person who could testify that I was telling the truth.
I sat in my apartment for six days, watching TV and calling the hospital daily to check on Lemon's condition. I sent flowers and balloons to her hospital room since I couldn't sit there with her like she did for me. I kept telling myself that everything was going to be alright, that she would be alright and we would return to normal. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of a series of outrageous abnormalities.
On the sixth day of my house arrest, my father appeared, like he did back at the cell and on the mountain, like a ghost. And the first words he uttered out of his mouth when he saw me were;
"It's time son, the arena awaits you."