Chương 6: The Neutrals

"What do we have here?" I looked up, only to be greeted by the bullies, Theo and Ben.

"Shall we leave the two lovebirds be?" Ben asked Theo.

"Looks like the novels addict has finally made a friend. He actually listened to my suggestion. Do you see that, Theo? He's one step closer to finally acknowledging reality." Theo nodded.

"Oh yeah, I think it's time to leave now. See you, thief." I watched as Theo and Ben walked away from us. Wait, they were actually leaving? That's a really good sign! Not. As soon as I turned my head to face Maya, I was met with a punch to the face. Smash! This was no ordinary punch to the face; it was at least ten times stronger than the one I received yesterday. The impact sent me airborne and crashing down on the ground, where I coughed up several pools of blood, painting the green grass ruby-red.

I was projected at least five feet in the air by that wild punch. Maya shrieked.

"How things can change in one day," Theo mused.

"Looks like Robert really has listened to us for once." I couldn't believe it – I had just gained confidence, and now it was going to be shattered and thrown into the recycling bin.

"And as for you, pretty one," Ben said, turning his attention to Maya, "you would make a good girlfriend for me, since that quiet girl is pretty much out of my reach. How about it?" Quiet girl? Was that meant to mean Ellie?

"Be careful with her," Theo replied.

"She looks like she had just been bullied before. Well, it wasn't us this time, wasn't it? Tough luck, girl, 'cause you're gonna get it now." No. I couldn't let them bully someone I had just met, especially not straight after they had been traumatised by their childhood friends.

"Hey," I said, struggling to stand up. My face was a painting of blood.

"I don't think you should be messing with her. How about you punch me again. Let's see how you like that." I said that despite knowing I was going to cough another pool of blood.

"Hmm, what do you think, Theo?" Ben asked Theo.

"Who should we go for, the weak guy or the weak girl?"

"Also, thief, where the hell did you get all that confidence from?" Theo scratched his head with curiosity.

"Weren't you labelled as the socially awkward one who couldn't even start a conversation just yesterday?" I stood up.

"Looks like things change," I replied confidently. Wow. Looks like I did have that confidence in me after all.

"Come and get me if you dare!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The whole school might be able to hear my screams, but that just meant I was getting the attention of a bunch of teachers.

"Ok, so he wants to play it like that," Theo said.

"Ben, how about you get the girl, and I'll get the thief. Justice for Ryan!" Smack. Smash!

"Ugh!" That was only five punches, but it felt like I had just taken fifty punches. How could one's punches get so much stronger overnight?

"Watch what you say, thief, because you're getting it," Theo said, landing the final blow on my legs. No, it can't be. Maybe Theo and Ben were both awakened as skill users as well. If that was the case then this situation would be extremely disastrous. I had to save Maya. She was weak, and on top of that, she had just been brutally bullied by her friends, as well as by the insane Ben Oxley. I couldn't allow that. I channelled all of my strength into my legs, then pounced towards Ben, reaching to protect Maya.

"So, the final verdict, Robert the thief and Maya the weakling are indeed lovers," Ben snarled.

"Looks like we have a juicy love story on our hands, Ben," Theo answered.

"Indeed." Ben agreed. I held on to Maya tightly.

"You've just been bullied, so I'm not going to let you get bullied anymore."

"What do you say? Shall we punch the living crap out of them both?" Ben asked Theo. Theo nodded.

"Let's." [Skill, 'Reading Bubble (basic)', has been activated.] What? Clang!

"Ow!"

"What the heck? Are you OK?" The following chain of events went by so quickly I couldn't process the whole thing. What I remembered clearly was the message saying the skill had activated pop up and Theo's knuckles being hit by my reading bubble. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Maybe the makeshift shield had some uses after all.

"What the hell?" Theo bellowed.

"What was that just now?"

"He must be one of us," Ben murmured.

"He must've gotten that message yesterday as well." So that confirmed my suspicions. Theo and Ben were also skill users. Damn. Crap. Any curse word that I could dig out of my brain in thirty seconds. The bullies. The bullies were skill users????? What were they going to use their skills for? Terrorising the freaking country? No, no, no, no, no! Please, Cayman, fix this mess. Just please.

"Are you OK?" I asked Maya, breathing heavily.

"This may be a bit too close for comfort," Maya replied, and that may be true, since I could feel her breathing.

"Hey! You there! Hope you're having a good time in there! Rest up, since it's my turn to punch through this dome!" Clang! Clang! Clang! There was no damage to the dome.

"Ouch! What the hell is this dome made out of? This is definitely a skill." Ben was grumbling, staring at his knuckles which were bleeding profusely.

"You got lucky this time, but once we level up, you two lovebirds are toast," Theo declared.

"We're off now. Catch you later."

"Not so fast." What the hell? I looked up, and the face staring back at me was none other than that of Cayman William Grace.

"Whose skill is this?" Cayman grumbled.

"And why are you using it in public?"

"Those two!" I blurted out, pointing at Theo and Ben.

"They're both skill users! They must have some super strength or something, just look at the blood on the grass!" Cayman studied the red stain on the grass.

"Then this one I'm protecting is also a skill user who has the power to read minds. She was bullied by her friends this morning because of it, and I'm just helping her as a fellow skill user!" Cayman sighed. Ellie Grace, who was standing next to him, just stared at me and Maya emotionlessly.

"Crap, what have I caused?" Cayman said to himself aloud as he face palmed.

"Are you also Hoppers?" he asked us. Theo, Ben and Maya looked at Cayman with blank looks. Only I could understand what he was saying. Cayman and Ellie were Hoppers, the skill users who were qualified enough to travel to different dimensions and complete missions given to them. I shook my head.

"We've been living on Earth since the day of our birth."

"Shit!" Cayman cursed.

"What the heck have I caused? This was not intended to happen. Is this what he meant?" Me, Theo, Ben and Maya all looked at Cayman with confused looks.

"This is what he didn't want to happen, and it's happened. What the hell am I going to tell him now?" I think I knew exactly what happened. I watched as Cayman continued his exaggerated rant. Cayman sighed.

"Right," he said after a few minutes.

"I think I have a way around this. You can release the dome now." He pointed at my reading bubble. I wanted to ask him how, but I didn't want to annoy him more, so I stayed silent. But then the blue dome around me disappeared before I could do anything.

"The only way this could get worse is if we end up with more skill users on this planet." Cayman let out another deep sigh.

"What's this about skills and skill users?"

"Crap." Cayman cursed. We all turned our attention to the people who were walking our way. They were two boys. One was taller than the other, about Theo's height, and the other was slightly shorter than me.

"Skill users?" The shorter boy was intrigued.

"Is this some new trend or something?" Cayman shook his head. I knew exactly what he was thinking: we're screwed, we've been exposed.

"No," Cayman said.

"This is not a new trend. This is reality."

"What? You might've lost the plot." It was the taller boy's turn to speak.

"It is reality? You might need to get checked out, mate."

"No I don't," Cayman challenged.

"Hey Jamie, this guy looks familiar, right? We've seen him before. Was it yesterday morning?" The taller boy was able to recognise that Cayman was in that class yesterday morning. The boy called Jamie nodded.

"He did seem a bit awkward. Maybe he needs to go to the nurse's office. There might be something going on with his brain." His voice was fairly squeaky for a boy his age. Yeah, that was right. I knew these two boys. They were in my maths class, and they were there when Cayman and Ellie entered the room for the first time. The taller boy was Daniel De Souza, Maya's brother. He had an athletic body and looked like he would be a perfect fit for a basketball or football team.

He had me to thank for saving his sister from bullies all over the school. The shorter boy was Jamie Denton. An eccentric boy, he was. He wasn't extremely popular, but he also had some friends, unlike me. He was the kind of guy who you would forget existed if he wasn't mentioned directly. They were the type to not get involved in anything, whether it was controversy or fights. They usually kept to themselves, which was why they were considered teacher's pets, earning them the nickname 'The Neutrals'.

Daniel looked at Theo and Ben, who were just as astounded as Cayman and Maya.

"You sure you aren't getting bullied?" he asked us.

"This looks rather suspicious if you ask me." Cayman walked closer to the two boys.

"Just forget anything that happened today. Unless you're skill users, that is. If that's the case, you'll be joining us." Both Daniel and Jamie shook their heads.

"I've heard of no such thing as a skill user," Daniel said.

"Me neither, and that's why I thought it was a new trend," was Jamie's response. At Cayman's response, Theo flinched.

"What? We will be joining you?" Cayman nodded.

"Looks like you need someone to beat some sense into you. Do you even know what is going on? Two non-skill users are looking at us after our skills got exposed. Do you know how serious that is?" Theo and Ben shook their heads. Bang! A punch that was at least five times stronger than Theo's punch on me landed on Theo's cheek. Theo's face turned at least ninety degrees before he fell on the grass.

"Umm." Ben was in shock.

"Cayman, I'm sure we can talk about this. You don't have to give me the same treatment Theo got. He's more responsible for this than I am." Bang! Ben received the same treatment as Theo. Blood poured out of his nostrils.

"This one's for bullying an innocent person, and this one's for trying to go against my words!" Cayman shouted. Bang! Bang! Theo and Ben were sprawled on the floor, unable to move, with blood flowing out of their nostrils and mouth. Cayman walked over to the bullies.

"Let's cut each other a deal," he said sternly.

"How about this? If you stop bullying those two over there and if you decide to follow me, I won't beat the shit out of you both."

"I promise!" Theo wheezed, coughing up some blood in the process.

"I won't ever bully those two ever again! I swear!"

"Same here!" Ben gasped for air.

"I will stop bullying those two and just leave them alone! Theo and I won't ever be bullies again! We will change our ways!" Cayman nodded.

"Good," he said with a scowl.

"Now make sure you stick to your word."

"We will! If we don't, you can kill us!" Theo shouted, coughing up a mouthful of blood afterwards. Daniel stared at the mess Cayman had just created, trying his best not to wince. Jamie was speechless.

"Sorry you had to see that," Cayman said, massaging his hands after that monster punch.

"I just had to teach these guys a lesson,""We'll be on our way then," Jamie said, waving at us while me, Cayman and Ellie were awkwardly huddled together surrounding Maya. Before Daniel left, however, he had one more thing to say to me.

"Thank you." He got closer to me and whispered into my ear.

"Thank you for saving my sister from those bullies." He then walked up to Jamie and left. As they disappeared, Cayman turned to face us.

"You guys," he began.

"You have two choices. You have to understand that if word gets out that you have developed superhuman powers, there will be uproar. So the choices are either to kill yourself or follow me." What? What was the purpose of this question? Obviously there was only one correct answer to the question, and it did not involve a journey to the afterlife.

"I value my life," I announced, raising my hand. There was no way I would turn down an opportunity to work alongside arguably the greatest skill users of the entire universe.

"Me too," Maya chimed in, her face covered in dried blood which she didn't bother to wipe off.

"Us as well," Theo croaked, being careful to not cough up any more blood.

"We don't want the Cayman treatment again." Cayman glared at us.

"You all made the right choice. From now on, you will be working with me, and you will be following my orders."

"Yes sir!" we all shouted in unison. That was the turning point of my life.