21 DAYS BEFORE THE REMATCH IN HALLOWSVILLE

  It took one minute for the giant transformation to wear off, which probably meant that was the set time limit for my other Type Two Forms as well. The only problem with the theory was that I distinctly remembered being in my Nuclear Form for way longer than a minute — especially during my fights with Daemon and Spring Head.

  In order to properly confirm it, I went Nuclear and Dr. Banana timed how long it’d take for me to turn back. And the second my transformation disappeared, the doctor gave me the truth.

  “Sixty seconds exactly,” he said, writing it down.

  “C’mon. It had to have been longer than that,” I insisted, stepping off the levitating platform and back to the floor. “Right, Sun?”

  She sighed. “Nope, he’s right. Sixty seconds exactly. Sorry, Dad.”

  “Yep, that was totally sixty seconds,” Sunflower added whilst inspecting another one of the inventor’s gadgets.

  “You weren’t even listening,” I told Flower. I turned back to Dr. Banana. “Doc, you telling me my time limit got decreased?”

  “Maybe adding another Type Two to your roster decreased it,” he theorized. “How many do you have in storage now? Three? Four?”

  “One.”

  “Huh? Then what was that-” A fly buzzed past his head, prompting him to clap his hands in front of his face. After realizing the fly dodged, he continued. “What was that black form with the green fire on your body? That was one of two I saw today, no?”

  “It’s hard to explain unless I show you visually.” I raised my hand at Sunshine. “Shoot me some energy.”

  Making a finger gun, her aura materialized into an orb that shot into my palm.

  “Alright, look at this.” I held up my right hand, orbs emitting from and resting at my fingertips. “I have four orbs of, uh, aura inside my body, and these all represent Type Two Radions. But only three of these are other zombies. Let’s say the orb at my pointer finger is the orb representing me.”

  The inventor nodded, writing down in his notes.

  “The other three I’ve absorbed so far are Kevon the invisible zombie, Rosalina the nature zombie, and Big Bobby the giant zombie. But after Hallowsville…” The orbs at my middle and ring finger dispersed. “I only have myself and the giant.”

  “I guess I understand that part, but I’m still having trouble with the invisible one,” Dr. Banana said. “You made it sound like he wasn’t fully absorbed back in Boomsbarrow, but then you said you used his invisibility in Hallowsville. But how would you have used it if he was never absorbed?”

  I rubbed my chin. “I wouldn’t say I was consciously using it. It just happened out of nowhere. Right before I was a goner. It was like I was getting saved at the last minute.” I turned to my second daughter. “Hey, Flower, have you ever seen another orb besides Rosalina and I’s.”

  She shrugged, though I could tell she wasn’t really interested in the mystery. “Maybe it was invisible."

  “That’s it!” Sunshine and the doctor said at the same time.

  “An invisible orb, huh? But it doesn’t matter now. He would’ve gotten lost when I died, remember? Just like Rosalina.”

  “Eh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Sunshine said. “That Radion’s power worked less like simple invisibility, and more like removing his presence from the world entirely. At least, that’s what Jesus told me.”

  “Isn’t that the same thing?” I questioned.

  “Not really,” Dr. Banana cut in. “You might not be able to see an invisible person, but you can still hear their footsteps, their voice, their breathing. And the other senses would also apply — except for sight. But if this Kevon guy could remove his presence from the world, then none of the five senses could affect him.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “In other words, whatever Jesus did to me-” An orb returned at the fingertip of my middle finger. “wouldn’t affect Kevon. But then that would also mean I can’t use his powers consciously like I can with the others. After all, I can’t find his orb.” I pondered for a bit. “Unless, someone else can do it for me.” Sunflower and I exchanged looks. “Are you ok with spending some time in my body? Until you can find his orb. If you don’t want to, then-”

  “I’ll do it,” she interrupted, walking over to me. “If this’ll help you in the long run, then that gives me the chance to brag about it in the future.”

  I hugged her. “Thanks, kid. You’re really making me more and more proud every day.”

  “Hurry up and absorb, old man!” Flower exclaimed, trying to push me off.

  “Can’t a father show some affection once in a while?”

  “No, just do it already!”

  I obliged, releasing the teen from my affectionate torture. After she was absorbed, I said, “So, just to reiterate, less Type Twos absorbed means a longer time limit, and more absorbed means a shorter time limit?”

  Dr. Banana sat at his desk. “If that’s the theory you want to work with, then go ahead.”

  I sighed. “You’re the one who brought it up though.”

  “Jerome, everyone’s Radius Ability subconsciously tells them the basics of their ability through gradual use, but it’s up to you to expand your knowledge on the deeper intricacies of your power. Hypothesizing, experimenting, and realizing are the three aspects of life that have taken humanity so far. If you had objective answers to everything, then life wouldn’t be fun at all.”

  “That’s easy for you to say, Doc. Your head is literally a banana.”

  “Wait, his head is actually a banana?” Moonlight asked, popping up next to the doctor. “Are you edible, Mr. Doctor?”

  “Did you just call me ‘Mr. Doctor?” He laughed. “Who educated you? A rabbit?”

  “Yes, actually,” she answered, immediately destroying the doctor’s amusement.

  I took a seat on his desk. “Why is your head a banana, by the way?”

  “Take a wild guess,” Dr. Banana replied dryly.

  Sunshine sat down on the other side — close to her friend. “You’re a Rad, right? Radioactive.”

  “The hell is a Rad? Like radical?”

  All three of them looked at me.

  “Radioactive energy, Dad. One of the four energy types. Don’t you know this already? I feel like I already told you.”

  “If you did, then I don’t remember.” Probably ‘cause of the manipulation she had over my mind, but I didn’t wanna mention that out loud.

  Dr. Banana shook his head, clearly disappointed by my response. “Are you an idiot? You want to go to Hallowsville without knowing the four types of Radius Abilities? No, no, no. That’s not good.” He got up and brought over a whiteboard. “There’s no way my glorious test subject is going to be a dunce!”

  “Who the hell are you calling a ‘test subject’?”

  “Listen up, Jerome.” Dr. Banana wrote down the words “NUCLEAR, RADIOACTIVE, MOLECULAR, ATOMIC” with a black marker. “Nuclear energy-”

  I raised my hand. “Could you dumb it down for Moonlight and I to understand?”

  Sunshine gently punched my shoulder. “Hey, are you calling her dumb?”

  “Aww, you think I'm dumb? Thank you, Mr. Hunter!” the zombie girl exclaimed, smiling.

  “That's not what I mea-”

  “To put it simply, Nuclear Energy involves big booms, big blasts, and big beams,” Dr. Banana informed us, drawing an explosion under “NUCLEAR”. “That’s you, Jerome. You’d be classified as a Nuke.”

  So, short for nuclear, I guess.

  “Some nukes can also control and reshape the energy around them. Such as the ones you see in the environment.”

  So Dante and Spring Head were also Nukes. Did that Two-Face ever tell me that?

  My kid raised her hand. “But since Dad needs to absorb energy to release it, wouldn’t he also be a Rad.”

  “That’s correct, Sunshine.” The doctor drew a regular dog transitioning into a radioactive one. “Radioactive Energy is basically the physical mutation of one’s own body, or mutating objects and aspects of the world around them. Jerome, your body mutated in a way that lets you suck up and store any energy that comes your way.”

  “So that means Rosalina and Sunflower Rads too since they can control and create plants and stuff. But if I’m a Nuke and a Rad, does that make me special?”

  “Well, you’re one of the few I’ve seen with a Combo Radius Ability,” Sunshine said. “I think Kofi’s a combo type too, right, Doc?”

  “He combines the electrical discharge in the environment created from nuclear bombs with his ability to change his body into electricity. So, that crazy kid is an Atom and a Nuke.”

  “Before you ask, Dad, Atoms are Atomic Energy users that can change their bodies into something else.”

  Dr. Banana drew a rock and a circle under “ATOMIC”. “Think of it like a rock smoothing itself out until it turns into a bouncy ball.”

  “Hey, what about me, Sunny?” Moonlight asked, shaking my daughter’s leg.

  “Moony, your power uses Molecular Energy just like mine does.” Sunshine’s pinky coiled around her friend’s pinky. “Which makes us twins!”

  The zombie girl’s mouth gaped in awe.

  It surprised me how quick it took for them to be cool with each other again. I guess being simple-minded came with its perks.

  Dr. Banana looked at Moonlight. “What is this very ugly girl’s Radius Ability?”

  “Hey, don’t call her that!” I shouted.

  Sunshine was about to answer until her friend did it first. “I take people to this beautiful, warm beach in their minds and heal all the bad things that make them feel not so good.”

  “Ah, so you’re a combo type too, uggo.”

  “What the hell did I just say!?” I growled, throwing a box of pencils at the man’s face.

  “Jesus, I’m sorry!”

  Moonlight approached the whiteboard. “A combo of what?”

  “Oh, um, since you can also heal people, you’d be an Atom as well. Atoms don’t just change themselves. They can change others too,” Dr. Banana explained.

  Would Daemon be an Atom then? He did change my body a couple times.

  I walked over to the board too. “Sooo, judging by Moon’s ability, Moles are all about the mind.” I snatched the marker from the doc’s hand, and tried my best to draw a brain. “Mind control, mind manipulation, making people… forget certain things.”

  “Pretty much.” He looked at my drawing. “That looks like shit. Like actual feces.”

  I patted the guy on his back. “Thanks, Doc! I think I have a better understanding of all this stuff.” It was hard to believe I survived that long without knowing the basics, and that’s exactly what all our enemies used against me. It wasn’t gonna happen again.

  Moon patted him on the leg. “Yeah, me too. Even though half of it went in one ear and out the other.” A healing ability in our squad would've been useful, but not only did she not strike me as a fighter, that rabbit dad of hers would've been pissed.

  Sunshine climbed up my body and patted the doc on his head. “I already knew all this stuff, but the refresher was nice. Thanks, Doc!”

  “Stop patting me!” Dr. Banana demanded, pushing us away. “And no, none of you guys have a better understanding of the powers this world gave us. Not even halfway.”

  The floor beneath our feet disappeared, but the doc and all his stuff remained in the air, as if gravity only decided to target us. I grabbed the girls, energy sprinting toward my feet. Yet, it didn’t burst out. There wasn’t enough to let me fly. So the only thing I could do was hold the kids tight and ready my feet, bracing for impact.

  A couple seconds later, and we landed on grass. My toes curled around its soft texture as I let go of the two. Trees surrounded us, and I heard a river flowing nearby.

  But the sound that really caught my attention was the growling behind us — a growl that sounded like the revving of a car.