CH6: "WAKE UP"

"Kai?"

"He's moving!"

"Yeah, but he's not awake yet."

"I wonder what's going on within him."

"A bad dream, perhaps?"

His friends wondered as Kai shivered in his unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, Kai opened his eyes to find himself in the void with no sign of the mysterious figure.

"Still unconscious, I see." Kai realised, looking around to see himself in a void. "Show yourself, man. We need to talk."

Suddenly, the void began to display flashing images of past events in quick succession, overwhelming Kai.

"Wake up to reality."

Images of a crumbling dimension were displayed, and Kai tried to understand what was being shown to him.

"I know it's you, man. Come on out, will you?" He called the figure out.

"Welcome back, Kai," the mysterious figure greeted.

Kai turned to see the figure right behind him. The images soon faded away as if they were illusions.

"You…" Kai grunted angrily.

"Congratulations," he smiled. "You have tapped into the Power Within."

"What did you do to me?" he asked, his anger evident.

"What do you mean?" he asked sarcastically, feigning surprise.

"You changed me! Is that what it is? Does tapping into the power within mean I have no control over my own body?"

"This was your first time, Kai. It wouldn't be so easy to control, but with intense training, I will teach you how…"

"No! Enough! Let's be real. I'm not going to be a lab rat in your tests. Find another pawn for your stupid games."

"It isn't a game, Kai. Face reality. Face your destiny. You need to learn to control…"

"Shut your mouth! I've heard enough of you."

"Very well then. Till we meet again."

"I don't hope to," he concluded.

The void swallowed them. Kai woke up from his unconscious state yelling. His eyes met his friends' eyes, excited that he finally awoke.

Kai looked around to establish where he was.

"How long have I been knocked out?" he asked curiously.

"Almost two days now," Ash replied.

"It's good to have you back, buddy," Akira joked around.

"Your mum has been worried. She left you this," Yua informed as she pointed to the meal on a stool with a letter. "We assured her that we'd take care of you."

"Yeah, she's been here by your side all through. She began to fall sick. Your dad took her home," Ash added.

This caused Kai's emotional side to emerge.

"She shouldn't have done that. If the two of us are hurt, how will dad survive?"

"She's getting better now, so no need to worry," Akira said to ease his worries.

"Thanks, guys. For everything," he said as he composed himself.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Sorry to be the one to break the ice like this, but I gotta ask. How were you able to do all those moves in such a short period of training?" Yua questioned.

"More especially, how could you and Sensei create giant gusts of wind from your attacks?" Ash asked curiously.

"Guys, enough! He just woke up," Akira yelled.

"No, they're right. We need to talk about this," he sighed. "To answer your question, I really don't know. But, what I'm more curious about is that dragon."

"Huh?" Ash, Akira, and Yua exclaimed.

"What dragon?" a puzzled Ash asked.

"You know, the dragon that appeared when I performed the Blazing Dragon in the fight. You guys didn't see it?" Kai clarified.

"Nope. You must be imagining things. You see, this is why I said we shouldn't talk about this right now." Akira tried to change the subject.

"I'm not 'imagining' anything. You guys felt the waves and the collisions but didn't see the dang dragon?" Kai asked in frustration.

"Well, if I can remember correctly, when he took his stance that day, about performing, I couldn't see what happened next. He moved too fast for me to see." Yua confirmed.

"Yeah, that's right. I couldn't even see the finisher either." Akira testified.

"Hmm… that's strange. It's really hard to miss a big-ass dragon trying to devour your entirety in one bite." Kai said sarcastically.

"First wind gust generation, then dragon creation. All in one match!" Ash wondered.

"Only heaven knows how you two developed superpowers in one fight." A confused Akira reasoned.

'Hmm…' she thought. "Well, studies do show that those are outcomes of 'superhuman' feats. Godlike attributes if you must. But, they're mostly mythological beliefs, and the present day views them as assumptions of our ancestors, nothing more," Yua theorized.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you trying to say? That we're superhuman or something?" Kai asked, doubting.

"In theory, yes. It is quite possible. We have to think outside the box to figure out what's happening between the two of you." Yua answered.

"Y'all are just bizarre. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this myself," Kai affirmed.

Soon enough, a nurse opened the door to check up on Kai.

"I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over."

"C'mon he just woke up! Can't you wait a little more?" Akira begged.

"Hey! It's alright," Kai said.

He drew his friends closer to whisper a message to them.

"Meet me at the front door of this place at 11 pm sharp. Don't be late."

They all nodded in agreement.

"Thanks for looking out for me, guys. I'll see you tomorrow. By then, I'll be discharged, right, nurse?" Kai continued, acting naturally.

"Certainly, Kai."

The four exchanged a quick approving glance. Kai bid them goodbye as they left the room one after the other. The nurse soon followed after doing a quick check-up on him.

'There's only one person who'll understand what's wrong with me,' Kai thought to himself.

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"Sensei Shujin? Are you crazy?" Ash exclaimed.

"I mean, it's worth a shot. If that's what it takes to figure it out, then we gotta go meet him," Akira suggested.

"Even though we do agree on meeting him, who's gonna give us his exact location? He's just a teacher. We don't know where he lives or what he does after school hours," Ash clarified.

"Actually, I do," Yua revealed.

"Then it's settled. Let's go!" Kai concluded.

As they made their way to the destination, Yua explained that she had seen him heading in the direction of Tokyo High Campus. About twenty minutes later, they arrived at their school. After another five minutes of searching, they found him in the middle of the garden, meditating.

They whispered to each other.

"Found 'em," Akira said, spotting their Sensei in meditation.

"Yeah, but he's meditating. We can't just barge in," Ash cautioned Akira.

"Well, we've come this far. Do we really wanna wait?" Kai questioned boldly.

Yua interrupted, "Could you lower your voices a bit? We don't need any undue attention..."

"Children these days," Shujin's voice interrupted, while still meditating. "You really don't know when it's past your curfew, do you?”

With the night's secrets hanging in the balance and their Sensei's enigmatic words echoing in their minds, they stepped closer, ready to embrace the unknown.