Waking up one might expect the smell of breakfast or even the sound of birds chirping from out your window. Normally the sound of frying bacon and pancakes fills my room as my mom cooks breakfast. God bless her. Somehow she manages to juggle late night work, partying, and me all without needing a break. Half of it thanks to her ADHD, the other half is just her strong will. Orange juice and the bacon would’ve smelled great, but when I opened my eyes what filled my brain wasn’t breakfast but instead fear. Instant shock filled my body as the feeling of cold water stunned my nerves.

I couldn’t see where I was, let alone past my arm length, but what I did know is I was submerged underwater, knowing I went to sleep in my bed. My first actions were to panic, thrashing around the darkness which was stopped short when a dark object headed towards me. My first thought was my bed heading towards me, but as it came into the picture, the figure slowly turned into a large oak tree. Panic steadily grew as I try moving away, but as anyone who’s been underwater knows that water has a way of holding onto you, making it seem like you’re trying to run in molasses. The tree coming closer into view, I knew dodging wasn’t an option.

Come on Ethan, you’re smarter than this. I look down at my hands, realizing I have my Gear. That idea leaves as quick as it came, realizing I’m surrounded by water and using electricity is a death wish. Soon, I could see the details of the tree and braced for impact. I shielded myself and at the moment the tree should’ve collided with me, a chilling sound went off and as I looked, Chris floated in front of me, hands extended out, the water in front of us freezing with ice. For once, I’ve never been happier to see the arrogant kid. As the water freezes, the tree slows to a stop.

He turns back towards me, points downwards, and swims down till the dark water envelopes him. Realizing I have no better choice, I swim down towards him, my sight limited to the few feet I could make out in the dark. My muscles ached and my arms felt as if they were going to burst if I took any more strokes. At several points in my swim, I stopped so I could float to relax, but couldn’t do it for long as I would float upwards, losing the essential progress I had made. After what seemed like hours, on the verge of giving up my head pushes against a soft surface, getting repelled back. I feel out in front of me and realize that there is a membrane-like surface blocking my exit. I push against it but barely get anywhere, my muscles crying out for a break. I can feel my arms hanging on my sides, only being able to move thanks to the lightness created by water. I knew that I couldn’t stay in this water forever though. Unlike normal water, my oxygen levels weren’t so low, as I’ve made it to this point. Still though, even with the increased oxygen levels, I could feel my air slipping away, black spots appearing every so often when I blink.

With one desperate attempt, swimming as fast as I could, my shoulder makes contact with the membrane stretching it outward with no sign of breaking. I keep kicking, using all remaining strength to push through the blockage. With the first sign of freedom coming from a slight tear in the layer, I pry open that tear, pushing and tearing like never before. I’m too busy to notice the water isn’t pouring through the increasingly larger hole as I manage to make a space large enough for me. With one last push, my body breaks free and I’m outside in the normal world once more. My excitement and relief are quickly turned to desperation and fear as I feel the rushing wind blowing on my face and as I look around, I find myself falling through the sky.

The world came into focus revealing that the usually filled streets with houses and trees were replaced with tall buildings and bright lights as nighttime filled the sky. Panicking, I tried to activate my Gear soon realizing that electricity wouldn’t do me any good. I needed my second Gear, but if you haven’t realized, falling thousands of feet mid-air makes it hard to concentrate. Besides, even if I could somehow activate it and even control it to make me stop falling, my arms wouldn’t be doing any moving. Fully depleted of energy, I was falling like a raindrop in the sky. No control of where to move or even stop myself, only the inevitable splat. Or so I thought as in the passing of what seemed like an office building, I was whisked away by someone, only to tumble down as they threw me atop of a building.

I felt what sounded like a crack in my arm, but seeing as I was able to move it, I figured it was alright. My body ached even more now brimming with pain as I attempted to sit up. Every bone and muscle in my body felt as if it was liquid, just waiting to fall off. Attempting to look at my new surroundings, I stumbled a bit as I made my way to the edge. About 5 stories, great. That’ll make me liquid if I try to get down. I look up and see the water where I came from, approximately another 4 stories higher, and as wide as an eight-wheeler truck, the one thing I didn’t understand is how people below or around were not panicking. It was silent except for the bustling of people down below and the honking of traffic. Taking in my new surroundings, I hadn't noticed the man behind me, floating.

“Mhmm”

I whip around, definitely pulling a muscle in the process. A man, tall stature, white hair, and well into his 60’s is looking at me as if he’d been waiting for me to turn around this whole time.

“Glad you could be with us. Welcome, I hope to make this experience as painless as possible.”

Painless? Is he joking? I woke up to myself submerged underwater, luckily able to breathe, swimming for what seemed like miles, fell through the sky, thrown on top of a building, and now laying down in front of some old man who claims this was all painless. Not only that, Chris is still nowhere to be found after disappearing into the dark waters back inside. Did he get stuck behind the membrane too? No way, he should’ve been able to make it out, all he had to do was either boil or freeze it. So where was he?

“If you’re done drooling, I’m going to need you to stay still. Removing Gears is a very annoying process with live subjects, and I’ve been ordered NOT to kill you.” The last part said as if he was sad about his orders.

“Look man” sitting up straight. “I don’t know who you are, but right now I’m way too tired to deal with you. So if we could just do this another time, that’d be great” giving him the best fake smile I could manage.

At first, I thought it worked, his serious demeanor dropped, but that was not the case as he propelled himself at me, a sword made of wind aimed for me. I tried to get up and run, but a shock went up to my body as I collapsed. Just before his blade could connect with me, a pillar of flames quickly separates us as he attempts to stop mid-flight. Standing at the ledge of the building, Chris is drenched in water, hair shaggy and plastered across his forehead.

“You look great for someone who just fell 4 stories.”

Snapping out of it, I realized he was talking to me.

“Yeah, thanks to the old man here” pointing at my savior and attacker.

“How are you alive? Where is Percival?”

Smiling, Chris walks towards us. “You mean your friend? He’s currently unconscious, though I will admit, using him because I’m a heat manipulation Gear is impressive.”

Rolling up his sleeves, he raises his right hand slightly, he smirks as he gets down low and charges at the old man. The old man is quicker than he looks though as he easily dodges a flaming fist from Chris, grabbing his arm and with ease flipping him over, smashing him on the ground. He forms another wind blade, striking it downwards, but Chris rolls aside just before it clashes with the ground. They start trading blows, Chris getting a few good punches, while the old man is easily dodging and parrying most of his punches, getting in a few slashes when he could.

Watching the fight from the ground I felt useless. My body was still aching all over, I couldn’t even stand myself up let alone engage in combat, yet here Chris was, fighting my enemy after beating the man who trapped us in the water. I knew I didn’t have much time though. Chris was getting sluggish with his punches, and the old man was using that to his advantage so he could lessen the rush and take him out with ease.

Using all my might, I pushed myself up, just enough to lean on a heating unit. A scream pierces the sky, and when I look up, Chris is hanging from a giant lance made from the wind. The lance protruding from the other side of his chest, blood dripping and soaking up his shirt.

“This was fun, boy. You saved me the job of having to find you later on. Thank you.”

Rage filled my heart, heat rose inside of me reaching my brain, shutting down all logic and senses. The only thing that I could focus on was how much I wanted to fight. Putting out my hand

“Gear Shift-” but instead of glowing blue, my arms started to tingle, and the next thing I knew my arms were glowing orange. I didn’t have enough time to examine my new Gear as right on activation, the old man charged, wind sword in hand. I extended my hands in front of me, concentrating on changing the pressure of the area around me. I hear a thud, peaking my eyes open, I find him lying on the ground, howling in pain as he grabs his arms and body. At first, I’m confused, but I realized that the air pressure has decreased as I see rain clouds start to form like before a bad storm. I try to activate my first Gear on my right hand, but instead, my second Gear goes away, allowing electricity to flow through my arms and spark off my hands.

He tries to get up, groaning in the process, but his efforts are quickly negated as I lift my hand and strike him down on the center of his back, lighting crashing down as I do, sending his body into convulsions. What lay on the floor was no longer a threat, but an old man with his entire backside charred, a darker circle on the center of his back. I wobble back, as I look at my efforts in success. Remembering Chris, I rushed to his side. Well, it's only rushing if you consider hobbling and stopping every so often to catch a break, rushing. I kneel next to him and see the hole in his chest is still bleeding, his pulse very low. Does his family just have a habit of getting holes in their chest or what?

I rip a part of his shirt, trying to soak up the blood but most of it has seeped out already, covering a great part of him. Come on Ethan, there’s gotta be something, I couldn’t take him to a hospital seeing as there would be no logical way to explain this wound and that I had no clue where we even were. That’s when an idea popped into my head, one that I knew had less than a 10 percent success rate, but at this point, it was better than letting him bleed to death. I placed my hands on his hole

“Gear Shift: One!” My hands lighting up, the tingling sensation coming back. I closed my eyes, concentrating on his blood flow, thinking back to health class when we learned how blood pressure affects oxygen levels and our ability to survive. I gave it a shot and sent a pulse through his body. I felt my energy drain, but I knew that if I stopped now he’d go into cardiac arrest. After a few minutes, I opened my eyes and saw that the bleeding had stopped, his breathing becoming much steadier than previously. Laughing in exhaustion and just the sheer fact that we were still alive, I surveyed the area. How to get back home, let alone off this roof I had no idea. Chris was the one who flew here, and I didn’t know how much energy I had left to be carrying both him and using my Gear.

I also knew that I couldn't just stay here because I had to know what happened and if my mom was okay back home. Four stories, okay normally I'd jump, break a few bones and walk it off, but Chris wasn't even conscious and I was barely functioning. Still, did I have a better idea? I dragged him towards the edge, only getting groans in protest. Reaching the edge I peered over, nausea hit me as my head spun from our height. Okay well here goes nothing. I hauled Chris on my back,

"Gear Shift: One!"

My hands vibrated in response, lighting up the area around me. "Hang on man, this is going to get real bumpy and hurt a bit" and with that, I jumped off.

If you've ever jumped off anything you know how terrifying it is. I'm already scared of heights, so adding another person on my back, extreme fatigue, and about four times the height, let's just say I'm glad Chris wasn't there to hear me scream at first. My screams were stopped short as my lungs quickly dried out. Alright Ethan, concentrate you got this. My hands vibrated more and I felt a slight push of air as my speed slowed down and I was floating down instead of free falling. The hardest part of falling off a building using your Gear isn't keeping yourself up. It's trying to find a place to land. I hadn't planned where I was aiming for so as I came into view of people, they started pointing, screaming and what I'm assuming is calling the police and fire department. I found an ally and aimed myself in that direction. It was hard enough to aim myself there and when I came close enough, my arms felt they had done enough and decided to stop working for today.

What followed was two teenage boys falling a couple of hundred feet onto a fire escape, rolling off, hitting a few pipes and stairs until we crash-landed onto a pile of garbage bags. Thank you trash people for not taking out the trash yet. I heard the echoes of sirens passing by as I moaned trying to sit up. Every bone, muscle, and fiber in me was screaming at me to just lay here and rest, but I knew I couldn't. Any minute the police would be here and we'd turn into a whole investigation which would cause more problems than we needed. I heaved myself up, checked Chris's pulse, and sighed in relief as I felt a pulse. Hauling him on my back once more, I exited the alley. Passersby glanced at us every so often confused at first, but figured we were just homeless kids on the move. And who could blame them, we did look and smell like homeless kids. My clothes were tattered, soaked from head to toe. Dirt covered my face and my arms scraped, marking up my hands. As for Chris, he was in even worse condition as the bleeding had stopped but dried blood still stained his clothes. Not only that but he was also soaked with dirt mixed in his hair. Let me tell you, blood, dirt, and sweat mixed do not create a pleasing look or smell. People moved away or crossed the street to avoid us but I didn't mind, it kept attention away from us.

"Hey, where are we?" I hear as I see Chris trying to keep his eyes open.

"Hey man, just rest, we're almost home. Don't you go dying on me now, I didn't do all this just for empty results."

I trudge on, my legs shaking and my back burning with pain. My entire body feels on fire as I walk past a billboard advertising the apparent best burgers in Ocean City. I'm aimlessly walking until I see a homeless man crouched over in some sort of booth. As I walk past I see he’s eating food, but more importantly, he’s in front of a payphone. I thought these things were extinct. I tried talking to the guy, even waiting, but he never budged. As if he didn't want another homeless person taking his area.

Fine, have it your way, old man. I kept walking down the street, once stopped by some people who gave me money. One of the many benefits of appearing homeless. Finally, I make it to an empty payphone and imminently my body lurches from the horrid smell. I examine the booth and see what appears to be vomit markings all over. Gross, but what other choice did I have? I take a deep breath of air and walk-in. Who do I call? My mom is working and I won't be able to explain my situation without telling her about Gears. Oh wait, I do have one other person I could call.

“Yeah, hello?”

“Cain it’s me look-”

“Kid, what did I tell you? I’m busy right now, whatever your problem is figure it out your-”

“Cain, will you shut up just for a second! Look, I don’t have much time, I only had a quarter. Me and Chris, we need help, almost dead. The alleyway on Crescent Street, Ocean City. Come before-” a loud beep echoed in my ears, signaling I ran out of money in my call. I hope he got my message, that was my only quarter. I stumble out of the booth and make my way to the alley that I mentioned earlier. I lay Chris down as gently as possible, lay next to him, and let exhaustion finally take over as my eyes slowly close and let my consciousness fade.

Nausea hit my brain, bursting my eyes open as I’m sent into a coughing fit. I try to sit up, but my body isn’t fully rested, and mixed with the mysterious smell, I hunch over, grasping my stomach in hope that any contents don’t come out. I look around and I’m no longer in the alleyway I fell asleep in.

“So nice of you to join us. Welcome” boomed a thundering voice. I look up and a tall man is looking down. He’s a large build and looks athletic, but his face is hidden behind the shadows.

“It’s okay, I know you don’t know who I am, but I know all about you Ethan. This won’t be for long. Your chaperone Cain is close, he’ll snap you out of this, but I wanted to take this time to congratulate you on your efforts thus far. And to also warn you. War is coming, one that you and your little friend Chris aren't ready for yet. So please do your best to entertain me, thank you.”

“Oh and by the way. Tell Cain his employer says hi will you.” And with that the area faded away, making me realize it was all a dream, though it felt less of a dream and more of a message.

“Hey kid, wake up, we’re almost here.” I try opening my eyes, but the sun is beaming down on my face making me wince from how bright it was. I groan as I feel as if I had just come back from consecutive parties. I feel around and realize I’m in a pickup truck.

“Here where?” As I look around I see open fields, the smell of honeysuckle filling my nose. “Wait where are we?” This time I managed to sit up and take in my surroundings.

“Welcome to my home” as Cain motions his hand showing a house off in the distance. “Oh and don’t worry, I told your mom I’m your school teacher and there's a trip for several days.”

Instead of answering back, I fall unconscious again, slipping into a deep sleep once more.