“Some say that the destruction of the proto-men was never an absolute deed. In fact, they believe that remnants of these forgotten races of man could be found littering the surface of Gaea, even now as her chosen sons inhabit her surface and enjoy her bountiful gifts. They say that the planet-mother, whether out of compassion, grief or pragmatism, would carry over a template of each of her previous creations to the new cycle. Vampires, Jiangshi, baku – some think them all archetypes of our predecessors; Gaea's failed experiments.”

It’d been a hectic week since the start of the semester, with the demands of Titan Academy already beginning to take their toll on its unfortunate students. Their only consolation was that this week was finally over. Ahead of them were three days of rest, relaxation and a little fun on the upcoming public holiday if they were lucky.

Two such students of Titan were all too eager to get started on their rest and relaxation, having already left the massive campus and made their way to a small diner near the capital of Merricent. There, at the Watering Hole, Tyler and Elf waited for the last two members of their small band. The two had already been waiting for well over an hour and it was fast approaching two before Roun and Jinn made their way through the automatic door.

The light tone that announced the arrival of a customer drew the attentions of both young women to the door, where Jinn was strolling in while Roun staggered behind him. Elf laughed lightly at the sight, watching as Jinn made his way over and sat next to her before Roun almost collapsed at the other end of the table next to Tyler.

“I take it your gym session went well.” Elf suggested playfully, drawing a light chuckle from Jinn and a faint growl from Roun.

“I’m actually certain he’s been trying to kill me all week – today he got fed-up that I wasn’t dead yet and upped-the-ante.” Roun replied between deep breaths.

“He’s extremely dramatic.” Jinn laughed dismissively. “He gets like this everytime we workout powered-down.”

Tyler laughed at the two, who quickly found themselves engaged in a shouting match as they debated the situation.

“So, what did you two actually do today?” She interjected, diffusing the argument.

“Weight training.” Jinn replied. “We’ve been doing cardio and combat training all week so I decided to focus on the bar today.”

“I can see why you’re struggling Roun.” Elf did her best to console the much smaller of the two channelers.

“Yeah, if we’re gonna work out powered-down, give me cardio or sparring any day.” Roun sighed. “Tossing around huge chunks of metal for two hours is about as enjoyable as dental surgery.”

“That’s why you’re a stick.” Jinn scoffed loudly. “And why despite us having similar energy levels, I can still lift three times what you can.”

“I fight with speed and finesse, not brute strength.” Roun retorted, drawing an audible growl from Jinn.

“You fight by dancing around cuz you hit like a girl and can’t take punches.” Jinn snarled. “That’s why Stryke always beats your ass.” He added, much to Roun’s displeasure.

“If I wasn’t so sore, that comment would cost you.” Roun retorted with a glare, but Jinn just laughed in his face.

“So genius, why don’t you just power-up and start the healing process?” Tyler inquired now, watching Roun suffer the effects of fatigue and muscle strain in the chair next to her.

“If he powers up, his body resets; all that training goes to waste.” Jinn explained.

“Yeah, I’ve gotta let it ‘update the hash’ before I power up.” Roun explained with air-quotes, causing Tyler to laugh lightly at the terminology, while Jinn and Elf looked on with confusion.

Roun just laughed lightly.

“School stuff.” Roun waved his hand dismissively, but Jinn and Elf still looked on with intrigue. “We’re learning about how you store information on your regular body so we can figure out how to power-up into a separate form – the lecturer uses a bunch of these programming analogies to explain it.” Roun explained somewhat dismissively.

“Speaking of which, how are you coming along with that braver-form thing anyway?” Tyler inquired.

“Pretty good actually, I’m mostly done… just have to practice a bit more to make it automatic.” Roun replied. “How about you?”

“Oh, I’m hopeless.” Tyler shook her head. “I’m just gonna wait until you figure it out and copy that.” She added, causing Roun to laugh lightly at her solution.

“Okay seriously, what are you two even talking about?” Elf now inquired, just as puzzled as she was before Roun’s nonchalant explanation, forcing the two to explain what they had learned so far in greater detail.

“So you’re essentially creating a second, completely zeta-based body?” Jinn surmised, causing the two to nod. “Which you have to ‘code’ like it’s one of your regular abilities?” The two nodded once again. “And Roun is getting it, but you’re struggling Tyle –” He puzzled. “—aren’t you pretty much the master of code?”

Tyler just giggled lightly.

“No. I’m the master of reading other people’s code; backwards engineering is my specialty. So, I got as far as backwards engineering how my recreant-form – my non-powered state – works, and then I was stumped.”

“That’s where I came in.” Roun smirked. “I suck at reading code, but creating techniques from scratch and modifying pre-existing ones is kind of my thing. That’s why we’re the dynamic duo.”

“Yeah, I passed off what I learned to Roun so I’m hoping he’ll have this figured out by Sunday, so I can steal it and be ready to present on Tuesday.” Tyler smiled deviously.

“—and this is supposed to be my role model.” A female voice drew the attention of the group away from each other and towards two new bodies that had entered the room unnoticed while they were chatting.

“Red!” Jinn announced as they all turned to see Nicola and a pale skinned, blue-haired young man.

“Hey, Jinn.” She replied as she walked around the table to greet the bulky Blitzkreig player with a hug. “How’re you doing Alphia?” She inquired next as she turned her gaze to Elf, addressing her by her real name and resting her hand on the young psychic’s shoulder.

“I’m good Red. How’re you doing?” Elf replied.

“Great.” Nicola smiled, before turning to the young man that had accompanied her. “Guys, this is Daito Paine – or as I like to call him, Roun-lite.”

The group chuckled lightly.

“Daito this is my sister Tyler, her best friend Roun – the guy I was telling you about – Jinn and Alphia.” Nicola continued with the introductions.

“Nice to meet you guys.” Daito replied in a soft-spoken manner, while Roun and Tyler scooted around to make way for the two youngsters to sit.

“Why does she call you Roun-lite?” Elf inquired to the young man, who was standing in place somewhat awkwardly.

“She claims my abilities are very similar to his.” He explained. “I’m a speedster and teleporter.”

“So unoriginal.” Roun shook his head in jest, causing the others to chuckle lightly in response.

“Yeah, it’s uncanny how similar you two are.” Nicola smirked. “I’m almost tempted to start scouring his form for new abilities.”

“Hey! We already talked about that.” Daito replied, instantly protesting the mere suggestion.

But Nicola just laughed.

“Just kidding man.” Nicola shook her head with amusement. “Why copy the knock-off when I have unimpeded access to the original?” She added, causing Roun to smirk while Daito’s gaze narrowed.

“You let her steal your techniques?” Daito inquired toward Roun was complete shock.

“Not like I have much of a choice.” Roun shrugged. “She see’s an ability about half a dozen time and she can jerry-rig a functional copy, that’s just how her abilities work. But there’s a big difference between being able to copy a technique and being able to use it properly.”

“Yeah, super-speed abilities are probably the easiest to replicate.” Tyler now cut in. “But without the physical conditioning and reaction time, you’re just setting yourself up for a painful collision with the nearest wall.” Her statement caused Roun to laugh loudly.

“I still remember that.” He chuckled, drawing a nasty glare from his best friend.

“Either way, I don’t just rip-off people’s abilities without their permission.” Nicola chimed in. “Especially not friends, so relax already.”

“That’s good to know…” Daito replied with visible relief. Nicola just smiled in reply.

“So… where’s the food?” She pressed.

“Just so you know Red, normally we send the newbies to go get the food.” Jinn stated as the two late-comers began to get settled.

“That sucks.” Nicola replied. “Good thing I’ve been hanging out with you guys since I was twelve.” She laughed lightly, making herself extra comfortable in her seat.

Jinn just laughed as well. “This is why I like this kid. So, rock-paper-scissors?”

Roun just shook his head at the absurd suggestion. “I’ll get the food, man. I assume everyone is getting the usual order?” He inquired, drawing nods from Tyler, Elf and Jinn. “What about you two?”

“I’ll have what you’re having.” Nicola replied, causing Tyler to shake her head.

“Predictable.” Tyler scoffed.

“Uhm… I’ll have whatever the special is, I guess.” Daito also replied, causing Roun to nod before sauntering over to the counter to place their orders.

With this Roun made his way over to the counter, where he expected to see the owner of the small diner. Instead, he saw a young woman – around his age – who he had never seen there before. This young woman was short, with a petite but athletic build and she possessed dark skin with black hair that looked almost purple when she moved under the lights. Roun’s gaze narrowed slightly as he approached her, picking up another unique feature about the young woman.

“Hey, you guys ready to order?” She inquired with a pleasant smile that caught Roun off guard.

“Oh yeah.” He smiled back before resting his hand on the counter. “Can I get three orders of fries with baked chicken and coleslaw, an egg salad will grilled chicken, a large greek salad and… whatever the special of the day is.” He recited, making sure that he’d gotten all the orders right. “Oh and five zeta-ades and a bottle-water.”

“That’ll be seventy-six fifty.” The young woman replied, prompting Roun to take out his phone and digitally complete the payment.

Like most transactions of the day, this one was completed in a matter of seconds, allowing the young woman to input the order into their system so that it could be processed by the kitchen, leaving her very surprised to turn around and see Roun still waiting at the counter.

“Your food will be ready in about twelve minutes – is there anything I can help you with?” She inquired.

“You’re new around here, right?” Roun inquired, causing the young woman to smile slightly.

“Yeah, I recently moved here from Amridad for school.” She replied, drawing a slow nod from Roun.

“Ah, makes sense.” He smirked. “Merricent’s too small for me to not have seen you around before.”

“It’s not that small.” The young woman replied. “There are almost nine hundred-thousand people living here.”

“Yeah, but only about three hundred channelers and I know all of the locals.” He replied once more. The young woman just smiled.

“I’m surprised you can sense that, I’m hardly channeling at all.” She replied. “And even if I was, it’d barely qualify.”

“I could probably tell even if you weren’t channeling at all – you’ve got the look of a braver – but I can also sense a faint zeta signature on you.” Roun explained.

“I’m surprised, I can’t sense anything coming off you.” She replied to the still heavily fatigued young channeler.

“Well that’s because I’m fully powered down… a decision I regret more and more by the second.” He replied, causing the young woman to laugh lightly.

“And why is that?” She inquired, intrigued by the gold haired young man in front of her.

“Yo Itami, can you feel that?”

Unfortunately, their conversation was interrupted by Jinn.

“What?” Roun replied with slight annoyance, not bothering to turn his gaze away.

“That weird-ass zeta signature, don’t tell me you can’t sense that.” Jinn replied, causing Roun to roll his eyes slightly, much to the amusement of the young woman with whom he was talking.

“I don’t sense anything by the way.” She shrugged. “Not that that says much.”

“Actually, I do sense something… but it’s pretty far away.” Roun replied now, before turning his attention to the small group of channelers that he was with. “What is that?”

“No idea – I’ve never felt anything like it.” Tyler replied, much to the intrigue of her best friend and classmate.

“Okay, well now I’m officially curious.” Jinn replied before Roun could say a word.

“We should go check this out.” Nicola quickly added, much to the delight of Daito and Jinn who both seemed to be on the same page as the red-haired young woman.

“Roun, you coming?” Jinn inquired as he made his way to his feet and powered up fully, before making his way to the door.

“Doesn’t look like I have much of a choice.” Roun chuckled lightly as the remaining members of his group also began to move closer to the door. “You mind holding our meals until we get back?”

“No problem, as long as you get back in… ten minutes.” She replied with a coy smile, causing Roun to laugh lightly. “Your friends have left by the way, so you should probably get going.”

“Oh nah that’s fine, I can catch up.” Roun shrugged. “So what’s your name anyway?”

Roun watched as the young woman paused and looked at him before answering. “Zadavia.” Roun continued to wait. “Zadavia Moreno.”

“Moreno? That’s definitely not a name you here around these parts.” He pondered. “Is your family from Amridad?” He continued to inquire, but he could see her attention being fixed on the door.

“You’re giving them a pretty big headstart.” She stated, ignoring his last question.

“Yeah, that way I have wait less for them to catch up.” He shrugged, before realising that he wasn’t getting anymore information out of the young woman. He just smirked. “We’ll probably be back in about fifteen minutes.” He finally conceded before turning towards the door.

“Then I hope you like cold food.” She responded, drawing light laughter from the young speedster.