4th Wall Break, Zac's P.O.V.
It has been three weeks since what happened in New York.
It's funny.
It feels surreal... time moving forward, considering what happened. In reality, it might have been three weeks, but for me, it felt like an eternity. Time in this place is way different than outside in the real world, and there isn't any other way of telling except Navigator having to display a real-world clock. Three weeks ago, I also joined Team Beta, but after that, not much has happened, and I still don't know what I'm supposed to do here. The only thing I did was visit Jason in the infirmary until he was discharged. I guess they needed space for more people, but they did tell him to take it easy, and Chopper also told him to stop by if he felt worse.
Sometimes, I would be helping the marines around team Beta's station, like carrying heavy barrels or moving cannons, among other things. All of them were grateful for the help, and in the end, some of them seemed to like having me around.
But if I'm being honest here, this whole thing with the Jump worlds and the Venoms felt like it happened way too fast. Not to mention joining Jump Force. You know, my whole life, I've dreamed of doing these kinds of things. Being able to lift a car over my head; to run faster and longer than anything else; to have bullets bounce off my skin…
Yeah, I'm a huge Superman fan, sue me.
But you wanna know what's been bothering me? All the things I've fantasized about. All of them came true, but I don't feel any excitement. I don't feel any joy. Perhaps it was because of what it cost or maybe its something else.'
3rd Person P.O.V. (Jump Force dormitory):
Inside the dark bedroom laid Zachery Nelson, a survivor from the now dubbed, New York attack and the new recruit of Jump Force.
At the moment, Zachery is busy turning in his sleep with a frown on his face, and cold sweat pouring down his images going through his mind consists of fire, exploding cars, and burning buildings. People are screaming all around him, the most vivid being the time he sees his family's death at the hands of the mohawked venom. The nightmare made Zac roll around in his bed the whole night. It continued for a few more moments before Zac just couldn't take it anymore. The final straw was the sight of the Venom's face that showed only one look: madness. Then, a ball of light was shot from the venom's outstretched hand toward him.
"NEE!" Zachery yelled and lunged into a sitting position. Zac could not stop his body from vibrating with his heartbeats. He was out of breath, and he was soaked. He grabbed his forehead, and when he took it off, he looked at his hand at the amount he wiped off. It was then started to sting his eyes. The memories of all the good times they had are helping to keep him sane and offer him comfort, but for how much longer?
"Oh Lord, please help me get through this day. Amen." Zac prayed before he threw the duvet off him and sat on the side of bed. He took off his soaked, sleeveless T-shirt and threw it to the floor. Now, all he was in was a long pair of baggy pants. The room he was in wasn't a very big resembles a standard university dorm room, with two beds on opposite ends of each other, each big enough for one person, two build-in closets at the foot of each bed, one window (that only had the view of clouds and strange cubes floating in the light blue sky), and one bathroom, which had a shower, a sink, and a toilet. However, the silent room didn't stay that way any longer because a loud snore erupted from the bed right in front of Zac, reminding him of his roommate. Zac chuckled lightly as he stood up from the bed and walked to the bathroom, not really caring if his footsteps caused creaks on the wooden floors.
When he entered the bathroom, he went through his morning and then he walked out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel around his waist and another towel over his head, which he is currently using to dry off his blue hair. When he was standing in front of the mirror on the door, he once again took in his new and again he remembers how he used to look and compared it to how he looks now. Like his heavily chiseled chest, a six-pack, big arms that looked like he could pick up a car, and shoulders that looked more like small cinder blocks. Now of course his body wasn't big enough that it would make people think that Zac was taking steroids or anything, instead he just looks like someone who spent his entire life in the mountains training like some kind of beast.
However, there was one thing that Zac just couldn't get around, and that is his new hair colour. The style didn't bother him, but the colour was a different story. "I don't think I will ever get used to this." Zac said as he picked up the lock of blue hair that was sitting halfway on his forehead, but he dropped it when he heard the snoring again.
Instead of laughing, he sighed. "Jason... Jason! Wake up!" But it didn't work, the snoring just continued. "Jason, seriously wake up, we're gonna be late! Come on, man... WAKE UP!" Zac yelled, but it still didn't do anything. Before he got anymore annoyed, Zac noticed something sticking out from the covers. It was Jason's feet. He then grew a little smirk and walked to the foot of the bed. "Rise and shine!" Zac said before he flicked the bottom of Jason's left foot. Zac could actually see the pain shoot up Jason's body and the covers start to shake before a pain-filled cry was heard and the body jumped out from underneath the covers and fell on the floor, while holding his foot.
"OW! OW! SHIT!" Jason said. "What the hell man?! Ah jeez, you almost broke my foot?!"
"Don't blame me. Yelling didn't work, so I had to think outside the box." Zac defended.
"So what?! That gives you the right to bust people's feet?! What are you, a mobster?!" Jason said as he rubbed his foot with his left arm.
"Oh quite being a baby. Now come on man, hustle. I don't wanna be late." Zac said as he reached into the closet and pulled out some clothes.
"Great, already lost an arm, and now I almost lost a foot. What's next?" Jason muttered under his breath. "Who pissed in your coffee this morning?"
"Dude, come on. You know how long those cafeteria lines are. I don't wanna stand there until dinner-time to finally eat breakfast." Zac said as he threw the clothes he grabbed onto his bed, but he still saw Jason sitting on the floor.
"Today, please!" Zac said. Jason was caught off guard a little at his friend's annoyed look, but he held in his comeback and just went into the bathroom. Both of them finished getting ready, with the awkward tension in the room.
3rd Person P.O.V. (Hallway):
When Zachery and Jason stepped out of the room, Jason had on a black shirt and a jean-short but with no shoes on. Zac gazed down the white painted hallway to see if someone else came out, but no one else did. All he could see was a hallway that would resemble a mental hospital wing, with the only exception being the scarlet red patterned floor rug. It made him wonder if they were the only person who had a room in this hallway.
*GROWL* was the sound that echoed through the white walls and it was none other than his own stomach declaring its existence. Jason raised an eyebrow at him, which Zac noticed. "Ok, I get it… Jeez after getting that cube, everything changed."
"No kidding, do you know how many times you scared the bejesus out of me?" Jason asked. Zac felt a little awkward when he heard that. But as he looked down, his attention was drawn to Jason's bare feet.
"Why aren't you wearing shoes?"
Jason just sported an incredulous look and slowly lifted up his right arm. "Kinda hard to tie shoelaces with a stump, don't you think?" He asked rhetorically.
"Sorry." Zac responded, embarrassed. They then walked in silence. It didn't take long to walk down the hallway until they eventually exited it into the cafeteria. It was a big place, it had three floors (they were on the third) with tables, chairs and whatever else a cafeteria needs and luckily on each floor is a station where you can order your food. Each floor even had a bar. This was a foodies' heaven. But at that moment, the cafeteria had little-to-no people walking through it. Usually whenever it's time for breakfast, there would be people streaming towards this place by the masses, but now it's almost empty. He didn't know why, but every time Zac saw this view, he couldn't help but appreciate it. Jason too. Both of them looked at this view every time they exited the hallway.
"So, what's on the schedule today?" Jason asked.
"I don't know. Didn't really think of anything yet. Why, you have an idea?" Zac asked, too which Jason just shrugged.
"Nope. I got nothing." Jason said. Once again, the silence returned and the awkward tension reared its head.
*GROWL* However, lucky for them, Jason's stomach decided to wake up. This caused Zac to laugh a little, because Jason's stomach didn't sound nearly as loud as his. Jason also laughed, thinking the same as his friend.
"But before we do that, let's get some breakfast. What do you say?"
"You're right. Man, I still think there's a dragon sleeping somewhere in your body."
"Whatever." Zac said humorously.
Scenes change. (Cafeteria, level 3):
When they arrived at the cafeteria lines, they didn't have to wait long, and after a short wait both Zachery and Jason are now sitting at the first empty table they saw. While Zachery is eating his breakfast, Jason was taking a sip of his coffee. Why wasn't he eating? Well he couldn't help but stare at his livelong best friend, with a slight sense of awe but mostly with a sense of disturbance. Well to be honest it wasn't Zac that he was staring it at, it was the large amount of food sitting right before him, which Zac was expertly wolfing down at a fast rate. And he seemed to do it with a large smile on his face. He then looked at his normal size plate of eggs, bacon, toast, sausage, and salad and then compared it with Zac's Vegas style all-you-can-eat buffet. "Well, there goes my appetite. Seriously where do you put all that?" Jason asked.
This made Zac stop his munching and looked at Jason with then swallowed the food he already had in his mouth and asked: "What do you mean?"
"What do you think I mean? Look at this. There used to be a lot more on table. I swear, if you chase away the chicks, I will make you regret it!" Jason said, with a visible stink eye on his face. Which only made a large sweat drop appear behind Zac's head, before he wiped his mouth.
"Come on, man. I can't help it. After I got that cube, it made me so hungry that the amount I used to eat, don't help anymore." After saying that Zac then took bite of an omelette he already had on a fork. "Oh man, this is good." He then swallowed it and then position his final plate in front of him. But before he could dig in, he looked at Jason's plate and asked: "Are you gonna eat that?"
Jason looked down at his plate and said: "Of course I'm gonna eat it. I'm not gonna start wasting food." After saying that, Jason started to eat the food on his plate. 'Wow, he's right, this is so good. But there is no way I'm saying that after a glutton said the very same thing.' Jason thought.
Now both of them decided to enjoy their breakfast in silence, because every single time they open their mouths, they plugged with more food, so there wasn't any time to talk in between. Unfortunately for them, they finished a lot quicker than they thought. Now Zachery is just leaning back while rubbing his satisfied belly, with a big smile on his and Jason was using a toothpick to pick out bits of food out of his teeth.
Zac then decided to lead the conversation into a topic that he wanted to know about for a while now. "So, Jason, what do you think of superpowers?"
Jason stopped and looked to Zac with confusion. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"Well, it's real now. So? What do you think?" Zac asked again.
"Buddy I'm not the one with the powers. So, I don't know what to think." Jason quipped, before he continued picking his teeth. Zac wanted to elaborate, but he couldn't find a way to do it.
"You're right. To be honest, it doesn't make me feel any different." Zac said.
"There you go. But if I'm being honest, it still hard for me to see you so..." Jason stopped. Too which Zac tried to finish: "So what? Blue? Big?"
"I was gonna say tall." Jason finished. But Zac did not expect that response at all and could only raise his eyebrow in confusion. "Tall?" Zac said.
"Yeah, you know. Before all... this happened, you were my little Irish lad. My tiny wingman. But now... sheesh you look like a gym rat." Jason finished, but Zac still kept his eyebrow raised. "A gym rat?" Zac asked. "Yeah, maybe not. You look more like a K-pop star." Jason said.
"A K-pop star. Really? You think I look like a K-pop star?" Zac asked humorously.
"Yeah man. We get you a mic and a gig, the girls will be lining up everywhere." Jason said. Zac laughed and Jason joined him, and for a moment both of them just couldn't stop laughing. If people looked at the two, they would have thought they finally lost it. Zac started to bang his fist on the table while Jason just laughed in his seat. This continued for a few more moments before they finally stopped.
"W-wow, that was the lamest description I have a ever heard. K-pop star *snort* what a joke." Zac said before he chuckled. "You realise I can't sing right?"
"Yeah sure, back when you were the old you. I mean, let's face it, back then the sound of your voice made want to smash my head through a window, but maybe the new you has some promise." Jason said.
"No, the only singers in my family were... my mom and Ronny." Zac said, but his voice got softer and he seemed to be somewhere else. He sighed before he looked down. Jason noticed his change and he took a closer look, but when he did, he saw Zachery's eyes had noticeable bags under them, and his skin was bit paler than usual, granted his skin complexion did change alongside his entire body, but Jason could still tell something was off. And he knew what it was. "Dude, are you alright?"
Zac became irritated when the topic changed, but he knew he couldn't keep his problems locked away for long. So, Zac decided to answer.
"*sigh* Depends." Zachery answered.
"On what?" Jason responded.
"What is your definition of 'alright'?" Jason got quiet when he heard that answer because he knew what Zac was referring to.
"It's the nightmares, isn't it?" Jason asked. This made Zachery look at Jason with a half-raised eyebrow, sporting the 'you-know?' look. "How do you know about that?" Zac asked.
"Dude, let's just say, you're stomach wasn't the only thing that woke me up some nights." Jason said, making Zac look down again before he shifted in his seat to make himself feel more comfortable. Jason kept on looking at him, and for a short while they sat there in silence. Zachery didn't know what to say, other than: "Sorry."
"Zac don't. Ok, just don't. It may have happened three weeks ago, but it still happened." Jason said. Unfortunately, the conversation threw a wet blanket over the mood, which then resulted in the two boys to stay quiet for some time. Not knowing what either of them wanted to say to each other.
"Morning, you two."
The two teens then took their attention away from each other and looked at the owner of the voice, who turned out to be Trunks.
"Ohh hey Trunks. Good morning to you too." Zac said, while Jason gave a wave and a nod to acknowledge him.
"Wanna join us?" Jason asked. Trunks waved back at Jason.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not here to eat breakfast. As a matter of fact, I came here on orders from the director." When Trunks said that Zac-and-Jason's attention peaked, as well as some people who was sitting around them. They also quieted down their conversations a bit to overhear what Trunks had to say further. "Zac, I've been ordered to tell you that you will start training with two of our top members here at Jump Force."
Zac felt excited at the mention of training. "Ok by who? Is it people we know?" Zac asked, and Jason leaned in.
"I've been told not to reveal their identities. So, you're gonna have to meet them yourself if you want to know who they are." Trunks answered.
Zac felt his excitement dwindle, but only a little. "Alright. When do I start?" Zac asked again.
"Director Glover said to take you to Team Alpha's station immediately. There you'll meet your instructors." Trunks said.
"Why Team Alpha? Why can't I go to Beta?" Zac asked again. "Because your instructors only agreed to train to you, if the actual training takes place in Team Alpha's station. Why they said it, I have no idea." Trunks answered again. Zac felt his hesitation creep up and looked back to Jason. Jason looked at Zac, but he didn't know what to say to him, so he just shrugged.
*sigh* "Well, sure I'm done eating. So..." Zac said.
"Then we better get going. We wouldn't want to keep them waiting." Trunks said. Zac got up from his seat but before he could walk away, he heard a sharp whistle causing him to turn back around. "Keys, please." Jason asked, while holding his left arm up.
Zac quickly fumbled around in his back pocket and threw the set of room keys to him. Jason caught them and put them in his pocket before he sat back down. "After this I'm gonna do some sightseeing and then meet you back in the room." Jason said. Zac just gave a thumbs up before he followed Trunks. When Jason saw Zac walk away he looked back down to his tray in deep thought. 'Hell, here we are talking about training like it's nothing. For a second there, I thought this would be the start of Zac's personal training montage. Maybe I should follow them and start playing Eye of the Tiger.' Jason thought while laughing at the idea. He then put the idea to rest and finished his breakfast.
Scene Change (Team Alpha's Station):
After their little get-together at the cafeteria, Trunks, Zac made their way to the Team Alpha's station entrance. When they arrived, Zac followed Trunks down the stairs and into the station. The first thing Zac noticed was the hot wind reaching them, before the heat hit his face and the glare burned his eyes. He squinted but after a few seconds his eyes adjusted and he saw nothing more than rocks. It was way different than Team Beta's beach, because it looked like Team Alpha's station is right in the middle of a rocky, desert. The member were also dressed differently than in Beta. For starters, where most of the members on team Beta were dressed like navy marines, the people of team Alpha were dressed in fighter uniforms, that probably was from the Dragon Ball series (from what Zac could have guessed). There were still people who dressed differently and/or looked differently from the majority, though, but there were too many to describe, and Zac couldn't get any more time to do so before he noticed them quiet down and look at him.
Most of them looked at Zac with curiosity, but there are more who gave Zac stink eyes. For what, Zac didn't know the reason. Trunks, however didn't pay any attention to Zac being on the receiving end of a group intimidation tactic, instead he just kept on walking even when some people made room. Zac tried to ignore them, but it wasn't an easy thing to do, considering it felt like a dozen daggers with being stabbed in his back. Trunks kept walking until he reached a stone structure that remind him of the same one in Beta. Standing there talking with each other on the platform are two individuals. One of them is Goku, who Zac immediately recognised, but the other one, Zac did not recognise.
The first thing that stood out was the fact that this guy has a purple martial art uniform on, and tied around his waist is a red cloth, with a white cape. His head was also covered by a hat that looks like it is made out of white cloth with something purple sticking out of the top. He also looks like he had some brown boots on. It took Zac a few seconds to realise he was way taller than Goku... and green. 'Whoa!' Zac thought.
"Oh hey there Trunks." Before Zac could contemplate the "guy" right in front of him, Goku noticed their arrival.
"Hey Goku." Trunks greeted. Goku then noticed Zac standing next to Trunks.
"Oh hey it's you... uhm sorry about this, but what was your name again." Goku asked, acting sheepish. The green man next to him looked at Goku with exhaustion and a little bit of confusion, while Trunks just looked like he felt awkward at what Goku just said. Zac on the other hand, felt a little more self-conscious not at Goku's lack of memory, but instead at the sudden chill going down his spine and the increase intensity of people now trying to blow a whole through his head. It felt like he was a gazelle currently being stalked by a hungry pride of lions. "Uhm, it's Zac." Zac answered.
"Hahaha, ohh right thanks Zac. Sorry about that." Goku said while still laughing. Zac felt a little insulted at the fact Goku forgot his name, but he cut him some slack, because it has been weeks, since they last met.
"Honestly, Goku, that's just pathetic. How on earth can you forget someone's name, even when you talked about him non-stop for weeks." The green man finally spoke up in a deep, rusty voice that made Zac feel more intimidated. 'Man, his voice fits his height.' Zac thought.
"Haha, sorry Piccolo. I had his name on the tip of my tongue, but I just couldn't get it for the life of me." Goku said without even an ounce of shame, which only made Zac feel like his deadpanned expression was permanently frozen on his face. But still Zac couldn't help but feel that the target on his back suddenly got bigger and more people suddenly switched from daggers to swords or axes. 'Oh man, this is getting out of control. What the hell is their problem?' Zac thought.
"Alright, I brought him here like you asked Piccolo, so I'll be leaving him in your care." Trunks said. But before he turned to walk away, he first turned his attention to Zac one final time. "Ok, Zac, Piccolo will be your instructor from here on. The director said to meet him here everyday for training. And don't feel too intimidated, I know he looks like a villain but he's really a big ol' softy." Trunks said, trying to cheer Zac up, but when he heard Piccolo's growl at Trunks' comment, he didn't buy it.
'Yeah, right. He looks as cuddly as a cactus. But wait, hold on, I thought he said instructors.' Zac thought. But before he could voice his thoughts, Trunks already left.
Suddenly, that deep, rusty voice turned on him. "So, you're Zachery Nelson?" This made Zac jump a little in shock. When he turned to look at Piccolo, he was at a loss for words, immediately forgetting what Trunks said, earlier.
"Are you going to answer me or are you going to continue being rude?" When Piccolo asked this question, Zac was taken out of his daze.
He ignored the next increase in heat from the people behind them and composed himself before answering: "Yeah that's... uh... that's me." After Zac said what he did, Piccolo just continued to look at him with the same grumpy expression. "Follow me." Was all Zac got before Piccolo turned and walked away. Zac was a bit confused by the "person" he just met, but he did feel familiar for some unknown reason, but he couldn't say from where. However, Zac couldn't waste more time thinking about this, because he heard Piccolo's voice at the bottom of the stairs, saying: "Quite daydreaming and keep up, newbie!" Zac then started to jog to catch up.
(Scene Change) With Jason:
After Jason left the cafeteria he went to do a little sightseeing around the base. He didn't see much of the base while he was in the infirmary and even when he was discharged he still needed to take it easy, which meant he couldn't go on long walks whenever he wanted to. But now he finally could. 'Alright... what to see, what to see?' Jason thought. So far, immediately after leaving the cafeteria he was met with the main junction point where all three stations and the Director's office met. Currently he was on a platform right above it, and looking down he could see many people walking around the area. Some looked like normal people. Others looked way to 'wacky' according to him to be normal. 'Sheesh, check out the hair on that guy. He must be loaded to afford the care on that thing, but hey at least he could get on all the rides." Jason thought while looking at a particular man with a big blue mohawk. But that was nothing when he noticed the girl, the mohawk guy was standing next too.
'And holy shit, I can see who wears the pants in this relationship. Good luck breaking things off with her, she'll probably break you in half for that.' Jason said as he looked at the girl with large muscles. He nearly laughed at his own joke, but luckily he kept it to himself. Feeling bored with this particular view, he fished his phone out of his pocket and took a picture of it, before moving on. He went down the stairs and joined the large mass on the first floor. As he was walking he couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable at the amount of people currently walking around, so he put his hand in his pocket and looked for a way out of this crowd. He noticed the relatively empty area right above the stairs descending into the Director's office, and right away he made his way towards it. When he got there, he was mesmerised by the sky. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't look away or maybe it's because he didn't want to.
While his attention was totally focused on the cubes floating in the sky, he didn't notice the people around him. More specifically, the person standing a little way to his left. The difference between this person and Jason is the fact that their attention wasn't on the view, instead their attention was fixated on Jason. The individual in question had their identity hidden by a large black cloak. The only part of them that could be seen was the mouth, which was morphed into a noticeable smirk. 'To easy.' The individual then stepped away from the rail and made their way towards Jason. While Jason was still looking towards the sky, he still didn't notice the individual walking past him, still smirking without a care in the world.
Just when the individual thought they were home free, they suddenly bumped into someone else. The bump stopped them dead in their tracks. "Oh, beg your pardon, young lady." An old gruff voice said. The man, this now identified girl bumped into, is a rather large built man, with arms that looked like it could break melons just by flexing. But the man's attire was that of a cook. He had a white, plain shirt with a messy apron around his waist. Underneath the apron, was a pair of khaki, brown pants with boots. His face was mostly covered by a big white beard, signifying his old age. His right eye even had a red cloth that was wrapped around almost half of his face, and his head was completely clean shaven. Not even a patch of hair and the skin was smooth.
The girl looked stumped at the man, but shrugged it off, before moving around him, saying: "Out of my way." The girl said roughly. The man didn't show any emotion at the rudeness. But on the inside: '*Hmph* Kids today. They have no manners, whatsoever.' The man thought as he brought the cigar back to his mouth, while still keeping an eye out for the covered girl walking away. When he saw the girl disappear in the crowd he made his way back to where Jason was standing.
"Hey, kid." Jason heard someone call out. When he turned he was face to face with the old man. "Missing something?" The old man said. Jason scrunched his face in confusion. "What?" Jason asked.
*sigh* "You got grease in your ears kid. I asked, are you missing something?" The old man asked again, upping the intensity. But Jason just scrunched his face more, not liking the situation.
Sensing the question not making any progress with Jason, the old man just showed him his phone. "I'm talking about this." The old man said. Jason's eyes widened and his left arm instinctively dove towards this pockets, making sure this wasn't some sort of trick. "If I wasn't on my smoke break, that lousy pick pocket would have made off with this thing." The old man said, before he threw the phone back to him. Jason almost dropped it, but he luckily caught it.
"Wow man, thanks. But when did it..." Jason tried to ask, before the old man cut him off. "Don't mention it." The old man said, before he took another puff from his cigar. "What is that thing anyways? Must be pretty valuable if someone wanted to snatch it from yah." The old man asked.
Jason, not fully realising, why the old man would be asking that, answered: "It's a phone."
"Am I supposed to know what that is?" The old man asked again.
"U-Uhm, well it helps with long range communication. You know, you type in someone's number and then you call from anywhere." Jason said. The old man just looked at Jason stoically, so much so, he swallowed a lump. 'Man, I always understood old people not knowing about today's tech, but I really hope he understands my explanation, because I can't dumb it down better than that.' Jason said.
"Ohhh you mean like this." The old man while pulling something out of his back pocket. When he finally grabbed what he was searching for, he showed it to Jason. It was a snail.
"That thing works like my phone?" Jason had to blink a few times just to make sure the old man wasn't playing a trick on him, but the more he paid attention to the snail the more he noticed it wasn't a prank. The fact that the snail had a small receiver on it's back reminded Jason of his grandma's old rotary phones. But still it was bizarre.
"Yup, it's called a transponder snail. The way you explained how that gizmo of yours worked, reminded about this thing. I just got it, so I'm still figuring out how it works, but basically if someone wants..." Before the old man could finish his explanation, the snail came alive.
BADA BADA BADA BADA BADA
BADA BADA BADA BADA BADA
BADA BA- *CLICK* The receiver was lifted up from the snail and the old man brought it up to his ear.
"Hel-" Once again the old man was interrupted. "JAKU! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" A loud feminine voice boomed through the snail's mouth, freaking Jason out and causing the old man to winch in pain. "YOU'RE SMOKE BREAK WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE AN HOUR AGO! I'M ALREADY BURRIED UP TO MY NECK IN ORDERS, I'M PRACTICALLY SWIMMING HERE! IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR GREASY BUTT BACK HERE IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES, YOU'RE GONNA FIND EVERY CIGAR YOU HAVE WHERE THE SUN DOESN'T *click*" The snail stopped midsentence. Jaku, the now identified old man, then put the snail back in his pocket, before flicking his cigar off the rail.
*sigh* "Well, guess it's back to work. See you around kid." Jaku said before he turned around and walked away. Jason still looked at his retreating form with a bizarre look on his face, still not fully understanding what just happened. He looked around the area and luckily found that he was alone for now and no-one was looking at him. 'What the hell?' Jason was the first thought that went through his head. "Ohh and stop by the Sea Basket when you got a chance." Was the last thing Jaku said before he finally left his line of sight.
"Huh?" But this left Jason confused.
With Piccolo and Zac. Team Alpha's station.
Piccolo and Zac are seen standing, in what many people would say is the middle of nowhere. Near a cliff that looks out over a wide area that includes, rocks and stone pillars. The pillars looked like stones that were stacked on top of each other, but there are also a lot of mountains and other cliffs that lead into canyons. All while the sun seems to be at its highest. It could have been noon, or it could be well before or even after noon. Unfortunately, Zac didn't bring a watch with him.
Zac is seen looking over the cliff down to the bottom and he couldn't help but admire the height. "If you don't stop looking over the cliff like that, you're gonna fall over it." Zac turned around to see Piccolo standing behind with his arms crossed, looking past him.
"Ok, well are you gonna tell me why we're near a cliff to begin with?" Zac asked. He wasn't arrogant when he asked that. Not at all, because when he saw Piccolo, he could tell that he would be a tough guy. He didn't know how, but he could tell just be looking at him.
Piccolo chose to remain quite for a little while before he answered that question. In that time, his thoughts flowed like follows: 'Zachery Nelson. According to Director Glover, he was the one who defeated two Venoms straight after he was given an Umbras Cube, in New York. According to the report, those two were low-tier Venoms, not strong but not push-overs at all, but still even if that were the case, it still raises a question. There's no way someone as wet behind the ears as him would be able to pull that off, so how is that possible?' Piccolo thought when he turned his attention to Zac, who was now looking back over the cliff again, since he thought Piccolo was ignoring him.
'How is it possible that someone is able to take down Venoms at all, when he has no prior experience? Much less low-tiers? According to Trunks, he said Nelson was already trained in martial arts, and he displayed his skills that made him look like an expert. There were times he made rookie mistakes during his fight, but that is to be expected. Glover also said his power level is remarkably high for a new recruit, so maybe that is what gave him the edge in his last fight or maybe it's something else entirely. I guess I'll have to find out for myself.' Piccolo finished thinking.
"Nelson!" Piccolo said. Zac perked up and turned around to face him, ready for what he was about to say. Piccolo then took off his cloak and helmet until only his purple uniform was left and his antennae was exposed. It caused Zac to almost do a spit-take, but he caught himself just in time. "Let me make this clear. I was ordered to be one of your instructors, but today, I'm not here to train you." Zac was a bit taken back by that.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Zac asked. It didn't make sense for Zac at all. If he weren't here to train him, then why did he take him all the way out here? From his serious expressions, Zac thought Piccolo wasn't the type of guy that would waste time like this. However, Zac then got a bad feeling, so he placed his right leg behind him.
His facial expression didn't change. "I thought it was obvious." Zac then got confused again by that statement, however he didn't get the chance to think it through before his body was then slammed against the ground. It took the wind out of him. He then opened his eyes to see Piccolo standing over him with the same facial expression. "That was pathetic. You didn't even see me coming." He said.
That made Zac regain his breath and without missing he beat he rolled backwards and when he felt his feet touching the ground, he leaped backwards again just to get some distance between them. Not like it would help anyway. Zac was stunned at the speed of Piccolo and the fact that he got him on the ground before his body had time to react. For some reason this brought up the memory of his first fight with the Venom in New York. He remembered how the Venom's first attack couldn't even hit him, but this is something else. Now he felt like the first time he came to his dojo and was knocked on his behind. It hurt back then, and it certainly hurts now.
"What are you doing staring off into space like that?!" Piccolo yelled out before he rushed towards Zac. He covered the distance between them easily, but this time Zac anticipated what was going to happen, so without delay he rolled out of range of Piccolo upcoming attack. Luckily for him it worked, because as soon he was out of the way, Piccolo shot right past him and skid to a halt. As he skid, Piccolo's body already turned to face Zac again. Zac was scared, so far, all Piccolo has done is make Zac feel like an ant that could be squashed at any time. It was frustrating!
But back with Piccolo: 'Good. He dodged it. But for how long will he be able to do that? I need to push him further if I want to see what Director Glover finds so interesting about him.' Piccolo then pointed at Zac and said: "Listen up Nelson! You better not pull your punches, because I won't be holding back! If you don't keep up, you're gonna DIE!" Piccolo might have downright yelled at this point. Zac only grew more confused at the situation, but at the same time he didn't realise what he was really in for.
Scene Change (Back to Jason):
After his encounter with Jaku and the pick pocket, Jason decided to finally end his sight-seeing and just pack it up for the day. During his walk back he kept the right side of his body close to walls and other surfaces, while his left arm was in his pocket, where is phone was. Whenever he saw someone walk past him he always kept his attention in front, but at the same time gripping his phone in his pocket like it's a life-line. After the pickpocket incident, his attention to his surroundings seemed to go up and now he was paying attention to everything and everyone around him. As he did he noticed how people were staring at him. More specifically at his bare feet. He heard a few groups whispering and giggling at his lack of footwear, but he didn't let that bother him. But after a while, the whispers started to sound more concerned and then he realised that the conversation shifted to his missing arm.
It's frustrating! He knows he's missing something, but damnit do these morons want to remind him all over again?! 'F*cking hell, what am I? A clown or a goddamn zoo animal?! I swear if they start throwing peanuts, I'm throwing them back!' Jason thought. He decided to pick up the pace and speed walked back to his room. When he reached the white hallway, his left arm left his pocket and fished the room keys out of the back pocket in order to unlock the door quickly. Unfortunately it proved to be uncomfortable for Jason, since he isn't operating with his dominant hand anymore. When he finally unlocked the door, he almost broke it down when he opened it and then slammed it shut.
He breathed a sigh of relief, before he walked up to his bed and fell on it, face down. It seemed to be a few minutes before Jason rolled over on his back and just stared at the ceiling, where the ceiling fan got more of his attention. The quiet room allowed his thoughts to go wild, but he struggled to keep them down. Questions started to roam around and pop up and everyone of them started with 'why'. 'Why did this happen?', 'why did he lose his arm?', 'why did his best-friend lose his family and almost his life?' and 'why us?'.
"What did we do to deserve this?" Jason asked out loud, but the silence quickly returned.
The silence comforted him, but after a few more minutes of this, it got uncomfortable. With a grown, he lifted himself up and sat at the edge. He would have sat like that for a few more minutes before he suddenly felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out of the pocket and looked at it. He got a message. 'Oh yeah.' He thought. It was a message from his mother. It said the following:
Jason. I know you're out there. I hope you're well. We are fine, so please don't worry. If you want to call me, please do it. I want to hear your voice and I want to know if you and the Nelson's are alright. I love you.
A tear ran down his cheek and fell on the screen. He turned off the screen and placed on the nightstand next to his bed. Then he put his left arm on his face in order to fight back the next wave.
Scene change (Back to Zac):
With the sun setting on the horizon, the terrain suddenly had a different feel to it. Instead the hot rocks, ready to burn someone's hand at a single touch, they cooled down and offered someone a cold feel. The rocky canyons can be home to many things. If one finds himself between canyons, the first thing you see are the rocky surfaces making some art pieces look like they were attempted by small children. You can also experience the local wildlife from small critters like lizards to flyers like buzzards. But the one thing, however, that makes it the most interesting is the perfect balance between silence and sound. One moment, the canyons could be dead silent and the next...
*BOOM!
A giant dust cloud explodes from the top of a cliff. On the cliff, Piccolo is seen standing in front of the cloud, with his arms crossed. When it started to clear, Zac was now stuck inside of a rock wall. He is covered head-to-toe in cuts and bruises. His shirt has cuts in it and his pants is currently missing a part of its leg from the knee down. He still has both of his sandals, but they are covered in dust and soil. Zac then removed himself slowly from the wall and he fell down on the ground on his one knee. Zac felt like he wanted to pass out from the pain but he didn't give himself the chance, he was still fighting after all.
With a grunt, Zac stood up and focused on Piccolo, who is still unharmed. The wasn't even dust on him. This frustrated Zac. Without thinking, he lunged forward again and tried to punch Piccolo in the face with a straight right, but Piccolo was too quick and he blocked it with his forearm. Zac didn't let up. He followed up left roundhouse to the head, and then another flurry of jabs and crosses, but all of them were blocked. No, scratch that, Piccolo swatted them away with his just his left hand and the next instant, unleashed a devastating uppercut into Zac's stomach that send his body tumbling over Piccolo's and then he landed on his back behind him. Without giving Zac the time to recuperate, Piccolo turned around with his leg in the air and send an axe kick down at him. Zac luckily saw this in time and rolled to his right. Piccolo missed him, but when his heel struck the ground, it got stuck in it. When Zac thought he was safe, Piccolo then soccer kicked him in the back with the same leg that was stuck in the ground and send him flying off towards the cliff's edge.
When Zac landed hard, Piccolo then flew straight at Zac, and delivers another strong right down into Zac's stomach, causing spit to fly out of his mouth and the wind being knocked again.
Piccolo and Zac have been going at it for some time now. Well to be honest, Zac has been going at it while Piccolo was barely doing anything other than reacting to Zac's attacks with minimal effort. At this point, Zachery's body is was numb. How he is able to stay conscious after everything that's been done to him so far, could be considered nothing more than a miracle. All he can do at this moment is try to get his breath back. "This is pathetic!" Piccolo says as he picks Zac up of the ground and then throws him over his shoulder, causing him to fly another distance and then roll on the ground until he stops. Now Zac is laying with his face on the rocky surface in even more pain.
"I told you to take this seriously. Don't tell me that this is all your capable of, Nelson." Piccolo said. Zac wanted to reply, but he's currently in too much pain to do so.
"How you were able to beat those Venoms, is beyond me. So far, all I've seen are weak attacks that are not being aimed to defeat me. You're form is off, and your strikes are predictable. In fact, it's so predictable I could win this fight with my arms tied behind me back while blindfolded!" At this point, Zac doesn't know what hurts more: his body or his confidence.
"Come on, get up! On your feet. This fight is far from over." Piccolo instructed. Zac is then seen shifting and twitching on the ground before he pushed himself up with arms and then he got his feet under him. He then turned around and looked Piccolo straight in the eyes. His heterochromatic eyes staring deep into Piccolo's, and he could see the anger boiling in Zac's green and blue eyes. But he wasn't intimidated. In fact, he just scoffed at it.
"Giving me a dirty look is not going to change the fact your weak Nelson." Piccolo taunted. 'Arrgh! We've been fighting for hours now and I'm not closed to seeing what I want. Was the director exaggerating his power or is there something different about him today? I recreated the same life or death situation for him, but it's not working!' Piccolo thought, as he's staring at Zac with his arms on his knees, trying to regain his breath. Piccolo wasn't the only one not thinking about the fight, because Zac has been inside his own head too.
'Arrgh Damnit! What the hell is going on?! He's beating me up and I can't even land one hit on him. It's been completely obvious that he's a strong guy, but I didn't know he was this strong. Look at him, he barely broke a sweat! It's obvious. Beating him is out of the question, but I should have at least landed one hit today.' Zac thought. The problem is that it is easier said than done. Zac doesn't know this, but Piccolo is barely even using his power at all and if he doesn't think of a plan soon then he might lose big time. But no matter how hard he tries, he just can't think of something. 'This is so frustrating!' Zac thought again.
"Nelson!" Zac looked back up at Piccolo. "Are you just going to stand there all day?" He asked hoping Zac would react at it, but not to his surprise Zac stepped back, unconsciously. This made Piccolo think of another strategy that might get Zac's full attention.
"What's the matter? Are you scared? Are you scared that you might miss me when you attack? Is that why you're hesitating?!" Zac flinched at that comment. He's right and Zac knew it, but he didn't know how to respond to it. But it's not like it mattered, because Piccolo just continued. "You wanna know what I've been seeing all day? I've been tasked to train you, but so far all I've only seen is someone not willing to be trained. You're not concentrating, instead you are overthinking and that is causing you to hesitate." Piccolo said.
"What? I'm not overthinking. I'm just trying to come up with a plan." Zac said, but Piccolo wasn't believing him.
"Don't make laugh. If that's the case, then why haven't I seen your plan in action? Is it because you're not liking the first plan you come up with and you want to think of something that might lead you to a winning blow against me?" Piccolo asked again.
"No, it's not that." Zac answered.
"Then what is it? What's really going on?" Piccolo asked once again.
Zac really didn't know how to answer that, or he didn't where to start. But before he could, his mouth started speaking. "Look, I know I told Director Glover that I will fight with you guys, and I thought I could handle this, but I haven't been getting any sleep since the attack on New York. Every night I close my eyes, I just see my family dying. It's not even something that happens only once every night. Every time I wake up from those nightmares, I go back to sleep again thinking it might be different, but it's not. The second my eyes close, I see them again. It's like the memory is playing over and over and over again like some broken record! I swear it feels like I woke up more times then I slept for the last few days! AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO STOP IT! IT'S SO VIVID! IT FEELS LIKE I'M BACK IN THAT PHARMACY EVERY TIME I TRY TO SLEEP!" Zac didn't know why he's spilling everything, but he can't stop. He's even crying right now. All the while, Piccolo is just standing there soaking it in.
"You wanna know what makes it worse? The one thing that stands out to me, is the fact I couldn't help at all. I'm standing there, trying to break the damn glass, but it doesn't do anything. No one else was there to help and I was useless. If someone else was there, at the very least my dad would have had a chance, but NO, THERE WASN'T! IT WAS ONLY ME AND DAMNIT EVERYTHING I TRIED WAS USELESS!" Zac finally let out. Piccolo just stood there in dead silence. His face didn't show a reaction but in his mind was it a different story.
'I get it now. He hasn't mourned their death. That could be what's causing him to have nightmares and it might also be the reason to what's holding him back. He thinks he's useless.' Piccolo thought. To be honest, Piccolo knew all about Zachery's situation, because the director spared no details from the report he had on Nelson, but he didn't know it would be this bad. 'If I knew his situation was this bad, I wouldn't have brought him out here today. It's obvious he needs more time to get over what happened, but now that we're here, I can't just let the day end like this!' At this point Piccolo was furious, but it wasn't directed at Zac. Instead, it was directed at the director and himself, because he has been fighting someone that wasn't even in his right mind and the director send him to train him.
But the problem is Piccolo doesn't know how to fix this. He read in the report that it was Frieza who lead the attack on New York with his new army. Piccolo knows that most people in Nelson's situation would jump on the chance to get even with the Frost Demon, but when he found out Nelson had no plans about revenge against Frieza, he had to admit, it left him stumped.
As he remembered what the director told him earlier, he then realised something. 'There is still one thing I can try.' Piccolo continued to stare at Zac as he tried to cover his eyes in order to not let Piccolo see his tears. He then saw Nelson's body full of bruises and it hit him.
"Nelson." Piccolo called, getting Zac's attention. He stopped his crying and looked up at Piccolo, who was walking him.
When Piccolo stopped in front of him and said: "You have move on." This confused Zac.
*sniff* "Move on?" Zac asked. "I don't think I can change even if I wanted to." Zac continued.
"Change what? The fact that you're useless?" Piccolo asked. Zac nodded, but when he did that, Piccolo scoffed. "Then you really are useless." Piccolo said, causing Zac to flinch.
"Let me take a guess. You're family's death traumatised you and right now, it's holding you back, because you think you're useless. You said it yourself, everything you did for your loved ones didn't help. So yeah I can see you're right and it's disappointing. You want to know what makes you even more pathetic? It's the fact I knew, because you've made that painfully clear since the day started." Piccolo said and that caused Zac to put his head down in defeat. But he didn't give Zac a chance to respond and walked past him.
"Where are you going?" Zac asked.
"Back to the base. I'm gonna tell the director that I'm not gonna train you." Piccolo said. That shocked Zac. "What?" Zac let out softly, but Piccolo still picked that up. He then stopped walking and without looking back at him he spoke. "You heard me. I'm done! I'm also gonna tell Glover it was a mistake to accept you into Jump Force and then ask your suspension." Piccolo said, still not looking back.
Zac felt like he couldn't breathe. Suspend him? Why? He was just accepted as a member. If he gets suspended that means he and Jason will have to leave the base and then what? Life out there lives fighting for survival against monsters who can easily kill them whenever they want. That's insane. 'But what if I change?' Zac asked himself. But he didn't like the answer.
"Ok." Zac said, stopping Piccolo in his tracks. Now Piccolo was confused.
"What?" Piccolo asked.
"I don't want to be useless anymore. I can't do anything to change the past and I don't know if I can change... but I want to try and I need you're help." Zac said. "I can't promise that I'll be better overnight, but I can promise that I'll give it my all." Zac said as he turned around to look at Piccolo's back. But Piccolo stayed quiet and kept his back turned to him, but it didn't stay that way long. He turned to face Zac and walked to him. He stopped when he got uncomfortably close to him, and despite the discomfort Zac felt, he kept his posture.
"Are you going to waste more of my time?" Piccolo asked, while studying Zac's eyes. But Zac kept his gaze on him. He then wiped the blood trail from his mouth before he answered Piccolo.
"If I do... then you can drop me and then I'll leave the base." Zac said. Piccolo didn't show anything on his face, instead he studied Zac for a little while longer. Then he answered: "Fine, I'll hold you to it. But just know this, I'll be upping the intensity every day and the training I have in store will make sure to push you past your limits. I won't stand for any whining and if I so much as smell that you want to quite I'll kick you off the base myself. You will feel like you're in hell. Can you handle it?" What Piccolo asked seemed to make Zac feel even more uncomfortable after that explanation. But that's what Piccolo wanted to do. He wanted him to understand that this wasn't a game. Zac looked to be in thought, but he didn't stay that way long. With a determined look, Zac nodded 'yes'.
Piccolo didn't show anything on his face, but on the inside, he felt relieved. Zac then grunted in pain before he asked: "So what now? Should we continue?"
"No. That's enough for today. Go back to base." Piccolo said.
*augh* "Alright." Zac said, as he tried to walk away, but his right knee suddenly flared up in pain. 'I guess my first stop should be the infirmary. Chopper might be able to patch me up.' Zac thought, but he forgot Piccolo was still standing right in front of him. Then he fished something out of the sash on his waist. It was a green bean.
"Here." Piccolo said, offering it up to Zac. When Zac looked at the bean in Piccolo's hand, he got confused and didn't try to hide it. "A jelly-bean?" Zac asked. Piccolo almost lost his composure, but he quickly remembers that Zac doesn't have any prior knowledge of their world. "Not a jelly-bean. It's a senzu bean." Piccolo corrected, but it didn't change anything for Zac.
"Would you just eat it already." Piccolo said.
"Sure~" Zac said. He took it from his hand, eyes it for a few seconds, but when he hears Piccolo growl impatiently, he put it in his mouth. 'It taste almost like medicine.' Zac thought as he chewed the strange bean. But the next moment, Zac suddenly felt alright. He looked down at his body and noticed he wasn't bruised anymore and the pain was gone.
"Whoa. I'm fine." Zac said.
"That's what a senzu bean does. It restores your body to full health. The whole base's supply comes from my world and its used by every active fighter whenever they are out on missions." Piccolo explained. "Now get going." Piccolo said, before he walked past Zac.
"Oh yeah right. But wait when should I come back?" Zac asked.
"Tomorrow morning and don't be late! Tardiness is gonna cost you." Piccolo said, before his cape and hat magically appeared back on his body. Zac looked at the spectacle but he quickly regained his composure and walked away. While Zac was walking down the mountain, Zac couldn't help but think about what just happened and it left him feeling embarrassed.
'I can't believe I messed things up back there. I was supposed to train today and show him what I can do, but all I did was show him that I am a loser. But I remember what happened after I got my cube. Those Venoms weren't hard to beat, but today showed me it's just gonna get worse before it gets better from here on. I have a responsibility now and I can't let my family's demise hold me back. But it's like my body refuses to let me move on... or maybe I'm just trying to forget.' Zac thought as he kept walking through the hot desert. The heat wasn't hard to ignore, but the glare from the rocks did make things harder.
'I wished I had sunglasses.' Zac said as he hid his eyes with his hand. '*sigh*Lord please help me move on.'
Scene Change (With Piccolo):
Back with Piccolo, things got quiet. As he sat in his meditative form, Piccolo suddenly opened his eyes and looked really annoyed. "Alright enough, are you going to stay hidden or come out?" Piccolo asked out loud. A man then walked out from behind a rock, the same rock where Zac was lodged in a few minutes ago. The man had spiky, silver hair that was oriented to the left, with a headband on his forehead which also covered his left eye. His outfit was a flak jacket with a long sleeve shirt underneath and dark blue pants. His hands were covered with fingerless gloves that had metal plates on the back and sandals on his feet. The man was also reading a small book.
"Nothing gets by you, Piccolo." The man asked.
"You were supposed meet up here hours ago, Kakashi." Piccolo asked, without looking back.
The now named, Kakashi Hatake, closed his book and put his back in his pouch and said: "Sorry about that. I lost track of time." Piccolo then turned back and gave him a stink eye. "Why were you hiding behind that rock? And don't try to play games. I'm not in the mood." Piccolo said.
"Kind of obvious, considering the way you threw our new recruit around." Kakashi remarked, but Piccolo still his gaze, which almost burned a hole in his head. 'Wow, if looks could kill.' Kakashi thought but he kept his composure.
"You know it was weird when the director gave us the assignment to train Zachery Nelson. Especially given the fact he was inactive for three weeks. At first it seemed director Glover wanted to give him special treatment, but after hearing all that, it's pretty clear we have our work cut out for us." Kakashi said as he walked up to him, all the while Piccolo kept his attention on him. Kakashi then stopped right next to Piccolo.
"Indeed. But I believe we'll get him in shape for his first mission." Piccolo said.
"Wow, you seem pretty confident. Why is that?" Kakashi asked.
"You probably read the reports too, but according to them, Nelson was able to beat two Venoms right after getting his Umbras cube. On paper that sounds impressive, and after today I could see it was possible." Piccolo said.
"Hmm? It sounds like you didn't trust Trunk's report." Kakashi said, finding it weird that him of all people didn't trust the report.
"Not at first. But today when we fought I could see that the report held some truth to it. The times where I had to block, I could assess the power behind those blows and trust me, they were capable of dealing some real damage." Piccolo explained. "So yeah, I believe Nelson has a lot of potential to survive this war, but as he is now it will be a problem."
"You might be right on that, but like you said, I think we'll be fine." Kakashi said.
"You never said why you were hiding." Piccolo commented, he didn't show it but he was eager to know why Kakashi did. "Well, at first I wanted to join in on your match and introduce myself, but, from where I was standing, it looked like you handled things pretty well. So that gave me an idea on how we should train him from now on." Kakashi said. Piccolo kept looking at him, waiting for an answer.
"How about this: we split up." Kakashi said, making Piccolo raise an eyebrow. "Didn't you hear what the director said?" Piccolo asked, confused.
"Yes I did, but I'm merely offering up a way to do our assignment. I noticed a lot more than Nelson's break down and conviction, while I was 'hiding away'." Kakashi said, making air quotes. Piccolo knew where this was going, but he sat silently instead. "You and I have completely different methods. While I understand the brutal tactics you have, I wouldn't want to put my students through that. In other words, we'll just be getting in each other's way." Kakashi said, holding eye contact with the Namekian and vice versa.
"You know, you're right. My methods are brutal, from a different point of view, but it's for his own good. This war isn't going to be a cake walk and he needed to know that. After our fight, I saw it had results. And besides, you shouldn't be acting like you have the moral high ground. I've paid attention to your methods and where you call me brutal I can turn around and call you neglectful." Piccolo said. It then got quiet between where Kakashi kept the eye contact and vice versa. After a while, Kakashi closed his eye and sighed.
"I'm not trying to accuse you of anything Piccolo. Like I said, while I deem them brutal, I understand why you're doing it. What I'm asking is not for us to compromise anything, but instead to work together while training him separately. You heard what the director said. We shouldn't be wasting time trying to determine which training methods are the best, instead we should focus our efforts in trying to prepare Zachery for what's to come, the best way we know how." Kakashi said. Piccolo kept his gaze, but it wasn't as intense as earlier, but a second later he broke eye contact and looked up at the clouds in the sky.
"Yeah you're right. His training comes first." Piccolo said, but Kakashi then noticed him increasing his grip on his own arm. Kakashi noticed this, but chose to keep silent. Instead he nodded with a 'hmm' and the next second, he vanished with the wind. This didn't phase Piccolo at all, but too be honest, he didn't pay attention to it, instead he kept his attention towards the horizon. Thinking.
Scene Change (With Zac):
Zac was jogging when he reached Team Alpha's station, only to stop and walk through the camp. But when while he was walking he suddenly felt the others eyes on him again. He prept himself for this on the way here, but what caught his attention was some of the eyes wandered to his torn clothes and that he couldn't understand. There were still some that was trying to bore right through him, but it felt lesser than this morning. What Zac didn't notice was some of the people looked at him with curiosity. Sure, everyone held looks of contempt when they overheard everything earlier, but that changed when they looked at Zac now. While the majority still held their contempt, there rose a small minority who couldn't help but respect him. Only a little. That is why they cut him some slack.
When Zac reached the staircase, he decided to hop them two at a time. Not wanting to feel like the main act on a stage any longer. Before long, he reached the top, but he had to get use to the lighting on the base. It felt strange to him. One minute he experienced the sun setting, but then the next when he arrived on the base, it was like everything was just like he left it. The only difference being more people walking around. Unfortunately for him, that meant more people staring at him. But while there where parents who motioned their kids to walk faster and not look at the almost naked man, there still a few people who kept their eyes on Zac longer than they should have. More specifically a large group of girls standing at the desk in the centre of the room. From their outfits, they looked like they were either returning from or going to the beach. It took one to look at Zac and then the rest just followed suite. Those hungry eyes made Zac uncomfortable, but he didn't show it, instead he acted like he didn't notice them and walked faster. The girls just giggled.
Before he knew it, he already climbed the stairs to the second floor and he disappeared into the next section of the base. He walked past the cafeteria and entered the hallway where his room is. When he got to the door with the large number 53 on it, he knocked. "Yeah? Who is it?" Zac heard someone call and lucky for him he recognised the voice.
"It's me Jason. Can you open up?" Zac asked.
"Door's already open." Jason said. Zac then opened the door to see Jason laying on the bed.
"So, Rocky junior, how was - Whoa!" Jason let out when he looked at Zac. "Dude what happened to you?"
Zac just answered with one word: "Training."
"Training? You look like you fought a pissed off gorilla." Jason said.
"You don't know the half of it." Zac said as he opened his closet and took out fresh clothes. Zac didn't really want to talk about today, but he knew Jason and he was going to ask, so to stop it, Zac asked: "So how was sightseeing?" Zac asked.
"Ahhh well, it was... eventful. I met some people." Jason said. Zac almost had a new shirt on, before he paused and looked at Jason. A small bit of excitement bubbling up in his body. "Really? Is it someone we know?"
"Ahhh no... No. I don't think we know him. But he works at a place called the Sea Basket." Jason said. Zac got more curious.
"What's that?" Zac asked.
"A restaurant, I'm guessing." Jason said. "But how I met the guy was weird. See, I didn't know my phone got swiped by someone, but this random guy came up to me and returned it. Then we started talking about phones I guess. He showed me his, which was also weird, because it was a talking snail." That explanation immediately got Zac's attention.
With a new shirt finally on, Zac turned to Jason. "Wait a minute. A talking snail. Was it a transponder snail?" Zac asked. Jason then nodded. "Yeah that's what he called it." With this new information Zac sat down on his bed.
"Then he's probably from One Piece. What did he say his name was?" Zac asked.
"I think it's Jaku." Jason answered. Zac never heard that name before, so while nodding 'no' he said: "Never heard of him. He must be an off-screen character." Jason then chuckled and Zac lifted his brow.
"What?" Zac asked.
"Nothing... it's just... you said it like it was normal." Jason said. He had a nervous smile on him, but Zac also grew a smirk and snorted. "Yeah that did sound weird didn't it?" They suddenly laughed together. "What about all of this is normal? I mean, I got beat up by an green alien with actual antennae on his head." Zac said. Jason laughed louder to the point he couldn't breathe.
"Was he asking for our leader?" Jason managed to get out before he struggled to breathe again. Zac wasn't better, since he fell sideways onto his pillow, however Jason started letting out pained grunts and then he held his ribcage. "Ow, ow. Oook, ok that hurt." Jason said and then too fell sideways on his pillow. Both had to stay there and get their breath back from all the laughing. It took about a minute or two, before both finally breathed normally.
Zac then asked what seemed to be on both of their minds. "Hey, Jason do you think everything is going to go back normal again?" Jason didn't have an answer immediately, but he then lifted up his stump and looked at it. This also caught Zac's attention and then both guys looked at it. Jason didn't mean to do it, because he was still looking for a way to answer the question, but Zac actually got an answer to his question.
"Maybe not." Zac said as he sat back up. Jason, while still laying down, looked away from his arm and back at Zac.
"Hey man, uhm. Did you take pictures on your phone?" Zac asked again. Jason didn't understand why he asked, but he answered anyway: "Yeah sure, I took a lot of pictures today. Man, I have to tell if I can find a way to make some money, I would love to try a few restaurants and bars around here." Zac kept staring at him and Jason found this odd, like really odd. Why would he ask a question like that and then be quiet about the answer?
"That's not what you wanted to know is it?" Jason asked. Zac nodded 'yes'. Jason kept thinking, but a second later it clicked.
"It's New York. You wanna know if I took pictures in New York, right?" Jason said and Zac nodded 'yes' again. "Yeah man I did. I even took a group shot of us in Time Square, when..." Jason was about to finish, but one look at Zachery's face made something else click in his mind. "You want to see them."
"Yeah, I don't remember much about that day." Zac said. Jason finally understood why he wanted to see the pictures on his phone. So without thinking any further, Jason grabbed the phone on the night stand and threw it to Zac, which he caught. "You know the pattern." Jason said. Zac nodded and then formed the pattern on the lock screen to unlock the phone. He scrolled through the Android until he found the gallery and scrolled around some more until he found what he was looking for. The picture Zac is staring at brought back a few locked memories back. It was taken when Jason, Zac, his parents and Ronnie were standing on the sidewalk in Time Square, moments before they crossed the street.
He remembers how his mom kept on asking to take pictures, but Zac and Ronnie didn't like the idea, because they thought it was a waste of time. But Jason got everyone together and took a selfie, with one of those giant screens in the background flashing a commercial. He then closed his eyes and for a moment, Zac felt at peace as he stared into the faces of his family and then got nostalgic when he looked at his own face. All he remembered were the good times they shared with each other and that made tears form in his eyes. But then he didn't stop the memories that came after, like the invasion and then ultimately their deaths in the pharmacy. After that was his transformation, his fight and then Jump Force. He let it all flow in his mind. 'Lord, I swear in your mighty name. I will get stronger and I'll make sure that this doesn't happen to anyone else. Thank you, Lord, for giving me the family that I needed. Blessed it be your name. Amen.' Zac prayed in his mind with conviction, before opening his eyes.
For a second, Jason could have sworn he saw a different colour blink in his friend's eyes. It looked like Jason was staring at someone else, but it wasn't a bad thing. Zac then smiled before taking one final look at the picture and then he threw it back to Jason. Jason stared at the picture and asked: "Are you ok now?"
"Never better. Thanks." Zac answered, feeling more ready to start the day tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning (Back with Piccolo):
As the sun rose above the desert canyon, Piccolo is floating, meditating with a few rocks floating beside him. The next moment, his ears picked up the sounds of approaching footsteps. He knew who it was, so he descended and the rocks dropped on the ground next to him. When Zac was close enough, Piccolo spoke first: "You're here. Good. I hope you're prepared. Today won't be like yesterday." Piccolo then stood up and looked at Zac. He couldn't help but notice his eyes. The conviction he had in them.
'Good. He's finally taking this seriously.' Piccolo thought before he threw his cape and hat off, then took a fighting stance. His power glowing around him.
"Are you ready, Nelson?" Piccolo asked. Zac then clenched his fists and raised up. Putting his right leg back, he finally assumed his fighting stance. "I'm ready." Zac answered. Piccolo didn't show it, but he was glad to hear it. What Zac didn't know was they weren't alone today. Sitting on top of the rock, where Zac got pinned into yesterday, was Kakashi, reading his book. For a moment, he took his attention away from it and looked at the two fighters. More importantly, he looked Zac and noticed his power rising to the point the air around him started to heat up and steam. 'Looks like Jump Force finally has a new Hero in its ranks.' Kakashi thought before he returned back to his book.
Zac and Piccolo stared at each other some more before both lunged at each other, ready to fight.
TO BE CONTINUED.