Samurshy

"I don't care how we get there, honestly. At least with Misha, I know we will be getting there in style. I am beginning to wonder just how long it takes to put a piece of pie into milkshake, though." Zeke said. As if on queue, Zeke's stomach growled ferociously. "Where the heck is our food?" Zeke wondered out loud.

"Well, the Quantum Beasts don't actually have a physical form, per se. He does have a body in my dreams, but I am almost positive that his form in my dreams is what he wants me to see him as. Or I could be wrong, it could be what I want to see him as. But I know that he isn't bound to a 3rd dimensional existence aside from my own, which would have normally been impossible without the help of the other Quantum Beasts. The forms they possess can't possibly be one that we could even comprehend. All Niveus did was project his essence. His essence is basically his mind, and mind isn't a visible or even tangible object." Zeke stopped talking for a brief moment. He realized that his vocabulary and speech skills were completely different than before. Almost more advanced. Had Niveus done something to me? Maybe he was whispering words to me in my sleep, or just placing them in my brain directly. "Needless to say, Niveus isn't tangible except through me. And so his essence can't be perceived by very many beings. He'll be fine."

"Well, she was the one who gave me the information about Lightlyn Mountains in the first place. In fact, without her I wouldn't have met you guys. But, she said in return that she never wants to see my face in Vertlyn again. It was kind of insinuated that if she saw me again she was going to bring her wrath down upon me. And as a magician saint, excommunicated from the catholic church, she certainly has quite the arsenal of spells at her side. It would be dangerous to try and reconcile with her." Zeke replied, "But since we don't know anything at this point, as I said before it is just speculation. We would need to be able to know what we are up against first." Zeke, forgive me for listening in on your conversation, but there isn't really any possible way for me not to listen. Anyway, I have the coordinates from earlier from that Technopath. I, in theory, could do something that may help this situation. "What can you do, Niveus?" Zeke asked. To any onlooker, Zeke's team members at the table, it appeared as though Zeke was talking to himself, but he was in reality speaking to the quantum beast that was fuzed with him. Well, I could astral project my presence to that location and scour it for you. I can give you the information you need about what you are about to be up against. However, it will come at a price. Niveus replied. "Alright, well, as long as it isn't going to cost me an arm and a leg. I think I can take whatever it is." Well, my presence is required to activate your quantum attunement abilities. In other words, you won't be able to use your powers while I am off searching this geographical location for you, and it may take as long as two hours for me to get there and get back. "Hmm... Well, I suppose now would be the best time to do this. We are about to eat breakfast. It could take an hour or two. I don't see any danger in that." Alright. I will leave, now. It was odd having Niveus's presence gone. Niveus's essence was still within Zeke. They were forever linked, and one requires the other. So, Zeke's birthmark was and tattoo was still etched on his arm. But, with Niveus's presence gone, he no longer felt the second voice within him constantly formulating. It was as if a part of himself had gone silent. Zeke looked around at the confused faces around the table and decided to elaborate on what they had just witnessed. "So, last night, I figured out about my powers. It turns out that my parents were neo-magicians who sought to use magic and science together. They were trying to figure out the origin of esper abilities. They stumbled upon some ancient texts that told them about a sort of being that was created by God to oversee the quantum level of reality. These beasts are the reason why the quantum level is always so fine-tuned. And also, the are the reason for esper abilities and personal realities. They are the medium which connects the quantum (micro) with the physical (macro). My parents found out about this and around the same time, found out my mother was pregnant. They saw this as an oppertunity to try and combine a Quantum Beast with a human. This would have normally killed everyone including me, the Quantum Beast, and everyone else who had a hand at this. But, the other Quantum Beasts saw what happened and felt bad... I guess. They took some form of pity, and changed the laws a bit, to allow us to live." Zeke realized that his explanation might not be making much sense but he continued anyway. "But, I guess they couldn't change the laws too much, or for too long. And at some point, my existence as well as my parents and sister's existence will fade away from the earth. My parents learned of this truth when they were told by the quantum beasts after the incident. And so, they tried their best to give me a good life and make amends for what they did. Soon after the incident, my sister was born. They knew that at some point we might all fade away, but they didn't know having another child doomed them to the same fate. About twenty years later they were all killed by a level 5 esper. Originally, I was on a mission to get God's Hand so I could change the universe that my parents and sister would not have been killed. But, now I know that is not enough. Because, even with them alive, we may fade from existence anyway." Zeke took a pause to collect his thoughts before continuing. "Last night, I almost faded from existence by accidentally falling through a quantum crack. And during that time the Quantum Beast inside me told me all of what I just told you. That Quantum Beast is named Niveus, and he is the source of my powers. The conversation I just had with him, when you saw me talking to myself a few minutes ago, was about our problem. Apparently, Niveus can astral project his presence or his consciousness I guess, to a part of the world and scope it out for us. When he does this, I don't have access to my powers, though. So that is what he is doing. He is currently in Axoana or at leas arriving in Axoana, at the location to look it over." Zeke's stomach rumbled. "I am powerless for a few hours, but as long as all we are doing is eating for a bit, I think we should be safe." Zeke finished

"This is all just speculation anyway. We have no idea what we are dealing with, we just know roughly where we are dealing with." Zeke said. "Worst case scenario, I will try and contact my old friend Raiya. but I doubt we will need a magician saint's powers just for a small bad guy hideout. We can probably handle that ourselves." Zeke said with a look of trepidation.

"I don't owe them money. She is an old friend. But I kind of outwore my welcome in my hometown when I started dolling out vigilante justice against some gang members that just happened to be a part of her gang. I disrupted a bunch of her operations, and, well, I guess it did end up costing her money. But I think she was more pissed off that I refused to join her gang in the first place, and instead prevented her underlings from breaking old woman knee caps." Zeke replied

"I'll take a western omelet, and a banana creme milkshake", Zeke said he then turned back to the group. "I may know someone who could maybe help us... but..." Zeke paused for a moment and remembered how Raiya told Zeke to never go back to Vertlyn again. "It could be a problem if I show my face to her again."

Zeke sits down on the opposite side of the table from the girls. "Did I miss something?", Zeke asked, sitting down, "I thought all we knew was where it is. Was there more intel I was told about?" Zeke opened up the menu that was on the table. The idea of a milkshake actually sounded good to Zeke so he looked through the milkshake section. There was something called pie shakes. Apparrently it;s a milkshake made with a slice of any type of pie that they sell their. It sounded kind of weird but Zeke wanted to try it. I think I'll try the banana creme shake.

Zeke and Misha took the elevator down to the lobby and exited the building. They then walked down the street to the specified location that Hikari gave Zeke. They arrived at a diner with the name of Sherri's. Zeke and Misha headed into the diner and found the table that Hikari and Sayaa were at. "Fancy meeting you two here." Zeke joked, "Mind if we take these seats?" Zeke asked pointing at the two chairs on the opposite side of the table from the girls.

"I kind of just count on luck to get me through most of my battles. I don't really think a teacher is my style." Zeke said to Misha. Zeke put down the empty coffee mug on the den table after finishing the last few drops. He stood up, stretched is arms out, popping his arms, and neck. "Well, I think I am going to take a shower now." Zeke said. Zeke went to his room and opened his bag, pulling out a white band T-shirt with the words Coheed and Cambria in a gothic font written on the front. Zeke checked his phone and noticed it was going to be a hot day today, so he grabbed a pair of black shorts as well. Zeke took his wallet and articles of clothing to the bathroom and turned the water on, waiting for it to get a bit warm before taking off his boxers and stepping in. Washing his body with some generic bodywash, and his hair with Suave rainforest shampoo and conditioner. After rinsing off, and making sure he had washed all of the product from his hair, he stepped out and and grabbed a towel. After drying off he put on his T-shirt and black shorts. He then put his phone and wallet in his pockets and stepped back out into the den, still a bit damp from the shower. "So, I am heading out, anyone else want to come?" Zeke said. Zeke texted HIkari with a, 'Where are you, we are heading out' while waiting for an answer from the people in the den

At this point, Zeke was fully awake now. Even though his body still ached, as if he had fell down a large mountain and managed to hit every cliff and craggy rock on the way to the bottom. But his mind was awake, now, and that was the most important thing. MIsha, asked a question about swordplay, while talking about a katana-like weapon that Zeke thought looked awesome. "I am not really trained in anything. If I want to learn something, I kind of just do it. My fighting style is just common sense mixed with superhuman levels of agility and speed. And if my powers aren't activated during a fight then, again, I just use common sense. My fighting style is more along the lines of street-fighting than anything. So, no, I don't know how to use a sword, but I don't think it would take me long to learn it" Zeke replied "I need to take a shower and get dressed first, before I go out in public. I am hungry, though. So I could join you later, if you would like." Zeke replied to HIkari

Finally, after the longest 5 minutes of Zeke's life, the pot of coffee was brewed. Zeke found the biggest mug he could find, which was a large black porcelain coffee cup with the words, "I only need 1 cup" emblazoned on the side. He poured the full pot, gently into the mug, which received about 1/4 of the coffee from the pot before becoming too full to move without spilling. Misha asked some sort of question, and Hikari walked in answering it, but Zeke didn't hear it. He could only hear muffled mumbles of another language. Zeke picked up the mug, not even bothering to doctor the coffee up with any extra additives, and began making his long gruling journey to the Leather reclining chair that was unoccupied in the den area where everyone else was. Zeke plopped down in the chair, still only wearing his boxers, and began to sip the coffee. The bitter coffee was a bit hard to choke down, and Zeke was begginning to wonder if maybe two and a half scoops of coffee grounds was a bit too much for a pot. But, he stopped second guessing himself when he immediately started to feel reinvigorated. His cognitive functions began to return back to normal. And even though his eyes still looked as dead as ever, he was feeling the effects of the coffee only after two swills. As his cognitive functions began to restore, he started to feel more and more aware that he was mostly naked in front of a girl he hardly knew. Is it okay for me to be in my boxers here? She hasn't seemed to notice. I suppose as long as nobody is offended here I should be fine. Zeke thought as he took another sip of his coffee. "So... what's goin' on here" Zeke mustered. His body and mind still ached from the overusage of Limit Evolution.

@@turndown4whut, @@Chickey, Zeke looked down and then back up and then down again. He noticed that he was in his boxer briefs, but then thought about it for a second and shrugged with a, "meh." Zeke didn't really care if others saw him in his boxers. They were pretty much all living together now, so he figured something like this would happen at some point anyway. And, in all honesty, he was too tired and had too big of a headache to care. He then heard someone he hadn't met before talk about an elemental hero. The scent of the Folger's that began to fill the apartment brought forth some clarity to Zeke, and realized the guy was talking to him. Zeke hadn't seen Sayaa, which he assumed was who this mystery man was talking about, since yesterday. "Not sure, guy. Too tired. Need Folger's in a cup to have the best part of waking up." His nonsensical sentence was the best he could muster at this point.

When Zeke awoke, the first thing he noticed was that his head pounded with an ache that could only be compared to a massive whiskey hangover. Somehow, during his sleep, he managed to worm his way out of his shirt and pants, but Zeke really didn't notice it. His medium length red hair was matted up in a few separate places due to his tossing and turning during the night. Zeke sat upright, his body was awake but his mind was still mostly asleep. His eyes were a bit dead with bags under them, and his body ached all over. So this is what it is like to overuse limit evolution, huh? Zeke thought. He stood up and walked out of his room with only one thing in his mind, and that was a cup of hot coffee. He slumped out in a half-dead state in nothing but his blue boxer-briefs. Zeke's average, almost slightly above average medium physique laid bare for the whole world to see from his dime sized pink nipples, to his chest that showed only just a bit of his abs through his flesh. For the most part, Zeke was hairless, he never had chest hair or back hair, but he did have a small trail of orange hair that lead from his navel down to his nether regions. All of this was on display as he made his way through the T.V. room to the kitchen to fetch the glorious cup of golden brown coffee. He was a trifle bit disappointed when he noticed the coffee pot hadn't been used yet. Still slumped over he turned his head to Misha while pointing at the coffee pot. "N-no coffee?", was about all that he could mutter. What he meant to say was How in the fuck do any of you make it through the day without morning coffee. But that would have taken too much effort, as did the thought of making a pot of coffee. But he decided to make the coffee anyway, mainly because he know that if he didn't make it, his day would be much worse. Zeke reached into a pantry and grabbed some Folger's, and a filter. Opened up the filter compartment, tossed the filter in, slapped two and a half scoops of Folger's into the filter, filled the pot up with water, lazily poured the water into the water divider, spilling water all over the granite countertops, closed the compartments, forced the pot back into its heater holder under the coffee spout and pushed the start button. Zeke just gazed with his dead expression at the pot while the coffee dripped down into it, the golden brown liquid pooling into the pot ever so slowly.

So, I just recently began devoting most of my time and energy towards anime, and more weeaboo-esque things. Anyway, eventually I thought that it would be a cool idea to try my hand at making AMVs. I am not super savvy with Sony Vegas Pro, but I fully understand the basics. Anyway, if anyone is interested, here are my AMVs. Bakemonogatari/The Used Neon Genesis Evangelion/Coheed and Cambria

Sisters, imouto-chans are the best. What rhymes with orange?

My top ten favorite anime list is currently as follows: 1. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 2. Neon Genesis Evangelion (original series) 3. Bakemonogatari 4. Madoka Magicka 5. Katanagatari 6. Cowboy Bebop 7. S-CRY-ed 8. Panty and Stocking 9. Noucome 10. One Piece Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood gets an honorary mention, though. Because, that show is one of the few masterpieces.

I just came here to say that Arya Stark is best GoT

Zeke began to feel the effects of the adrenaline boost wear off, and almost all at once it felt as if his entire body weighed 200 times its original weight. Zeke dragged himself to the unoccupied room. It was a nice room, white walls, king sized bed, a desk with a rolling chair. The entire room was carpeted with a very plush fluffy light grey carpeting. The only place that wasn't carpeted was around the desk so the rolling chair could slide in and out easily. Zeke flopped his body on the bed and immediately passed out without even taking any clothes off or bothering to pull the blankets around him. The sleep was dreamless.

"Ah... well then. So I assume that this is the base of operations that you guys chose. Pretty nice. I don't know if there is a bed for me to crash in, but I do know that as soon as I come down from this adrenaline boost, I am going to be conked out for a few hours at the least." Zeke tried to speak slowly, but the adrenaline was overclockng his brain and thus making his speech significantly sped up, and a bit shaky as well.

Zeke, still on one knee and unable to stand, saw HIkari explode up 72 floors of the apartment building, as if in a panicked hurry. The building that they were on, which was only 2 stories tall, paled in comparison to the height that Hikari flew up to instantly. "Tch!" Zeke exclaimed as he attempted to stand once more. Fatigue threatened to drag Zeke into the black abyss of sleep, but Zeke fought it. "H-hey Niveus. There has to be some way we can get up there; like maybe some sort of anti-gravity ability, right?" Zeke asked "There are plenty of ways to translate an object on a xyz coordinate plane. However, the problem with associating new abilities with your body is that it takes time for me to attune your body to the new abilities. That is why the name Limit Evolution was actually a pretty apt description of the ability. There are thousands upon thousands of abilities that your body absolutely cannot handle. Up until now, I have been attuning abilities to your body that are most compatible with you, and that I know would not induce a complete quantum breakdown. This 'anti-gravity' ability you are looking for is definitely out of the question for now. I believe your body could handle it, but it would take to long to evolve your body to be attuned to that ability. But on top of that, I do not believe you possess the stamina for the amount of energy such an ability would need." Niveus explained in Zeke's mind. "Well what about the quantum shift ability, can you ready it again to take me up to the floor that Hikari landed on?" Zeke asked Niveus. "I can ready the ability but I strongly advise against it, with the energy level your current body possesses I predict a 70% probability of complete quantum breakdown, and a 99% probability that you will experience a loss of consciousness upon reatomization." Niveus replied. "I don't care, do it." Zeke replied "Very well. I am also going to allow your body to release a shot of adrenaline in your body so you will not pass out" Niveus replied. And with that Zeke felt a surge of fight or flight energy that comes with a shot of adrenaline. Also Zeke's tattoo glowed a brilliant blue as he felt the feeling of quantum shifting that he had only just felt recently, and was still not used to it. This time, though, the ability activated much more quickly. Within 10 seconds Zeke was on the balcony of the 72nd floor. It took him an extra 5 seconds to concentrate his conviction so that he wouldn't experience quantum breakdown. Apparently Zeke was still too slow because Misha had already cleaned up everything by the time Zeke stepped into the living room. "So, uh... What happened here?" Zeke asked.

After receiving the coordinates it didn't take long for Zeke to reach the building, and hearing some loud crashes and magical blasts from the top of the large apartment building Zeke panicked and tried to think of a way to get to the top of the building quickly. "Hey Niveus, do you have a way for us to get on top of this building quickly?" Zeke said aloud to his glowing tattoo. Niveus's voice could be heard in Zeke's mind. "Well there are various ways us Quantum Beasts can transfer information quickly from point a to point b, however, to do so without causing a Quantum Breakdown of your body again would be tricky" Niveus replied "Just do it, I can handle it" Zeke said with confidence. "Alright, readying quantum shift" Niveus affirmed. Almost immediately Zeke's tattoo began exuding a brighter different color of light. The normal light that shines from his tattoo is just white, but now his tattoo was shinning a brilliant blue. Only about 10 seconds after the light in the tattoo began glowing blue, did Zeke begin to feel something weird. All of the atoms in his body began to shift from one coordinate plain to another. And it left him with a feeling like his whole body was covered in an entire colony of ants. It felt akin to having his leg fall asleep when laying on it wrong, only all over his body. And the feeling only grew more intense as the quantum shift initialized. Zeke didn't know weather to scream from the uncertainty of what was going on to his body, or to laugh because it actually tickled a bit. After 20 seconds of initializing the quantum shift was ready, but Zeke was not. In an instant it felt as if every fiber of his being was ripped apart and put back together again. He only felt it for a brief nanosecond but the pain made him want to cry out. In a brilliant flash of blue light, Zeke materialized on the rooftop. At first he found his form difficult to hold as quantum breakdown wanted to pull him back into the ethereal abyss. To surrounding onlookers it would appear as if his body was being pixalized, like his entire body was a television channel with bad reception and white noise. After a few brief seconds, Zeke managed to focus his will power, and all of the atoms in his body realigned correctly. Zeke realized he was on one knee, and he tried to stand up, but immediately fell back down. That ability takes more energy to use than I thought... I have to be careful or I might end up fading from existence. Zeke thought Zeke couldn't stand all the way quite yet, but he managed to take some time to survey his surroundings, there was a guy with a burned hole in his head, no doubt from a Misha blast. There was some guy he didn't know with a large robot who looked more like a shish kabob at the moment. And there were hundreds of metal spikes piercing a large majority of the rooftop. Behind a few of the spikes, towards the farther end of the rooftop from Zeke, was Misha and HIkari. Misha was using healing magic on Hikari's leg, and Misha looked like he had been through hell. "What the hell happened here?" Zeke said out loud, still unable to stand.

The phone was ringing for so long that Zeke began to wonder if the answering machine would pick up. But eventually, after the 14th ring there was the familiar click of the answer from the other line. Hikari had answered, and Zeke noticed that her voiced sounded not just fatigued but exasperated. "I am not sure exactly where I am, but I believe I am still in the city. Some things happened and I ended up waking up under an overpass with a bunch of hobos. But that isn't important right now. Are you okay? You sound like you are in some sort of trouble. Where are you guys, what's going on?" Zeke asked.

Yellow empty space, a bright neon yellow void. Where am I? I feel like I have been here before but my memories aren't coming. Who am I? Has it always been like this? Floating through this empty space? Zeke extended his had outwards so as to put his arm into view. Even though the arm should be in full view, it wasn't there. Zeke tried to look down at his body but once again was met with only the same bright yellow ethereal void that he had been looking at for a while now. How long has it been? Well I guess that, since I don't remember anything, in a way it has always been like this. I know about the physical realm of existence. I know what it feels to have a body, but... Did I ever actually possess a physical form? Or maybe these memories come from someone else. A life that has been led. A tragic life, filled with both joy and sorrow. I suppose this isn't that bad. Compared to that existence that continues to elude me, this existence has no responsibilities. No sorrow or regret. No anger or loss. This existence is fine by me. I can just rest, and let myself slip away into this void. "It is happening much quicker than anticipated." Zeke could hear a faint voice, as if he was stranded on an island and someone on a boat a mile off shore was calling to him. The words were like a gentle gust of wind, not enough to fully appreciate but definitely present "Are you really okay with this? Succumbing to the quantum breakdown of your existence? Allowing yourself to fade away along with me?" The voice was much more present now. Zeke attempted to find his voice, but he couldn't project it. It was as if a massive weight was placed upon his chest, even though he no longer possessed such a physical thing. However, the feeling was still analogous to having no air in his lungs to speak. Eventually Zeke gave up trying to answer the question proposed to him. Of course it was okay to fade into oblivion. Why wouldn't it be? What was so important back in the physical realm that it was so mandatory for him to resume his physical form? This existence, or lack thereof felt a bit liberating. Is this what they call death? If so, then he supposed that death wasn't nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. Did everyone make death out to be a bad thing? Zeke was attempting to recall memories that were no longer present, like bobbing for apples. No matter how hard Zeke tried to bite the proverbial apple, it continued to elude him; always barely brushing past his teeth but never quite biting into the flesh. What even was death? I guess it really doesn't matter now? Such trivial things should be left behind. Which is what Zeke thought but not how he felt. Even though he wanted to stop thinking and just fade away, there was something nagging at him, pulling at the very back of his head, and he found it very annoying. This feeling was beginning to give him anxiety and bring him unease. This is supposed to be a peaceful experience, I am supposed to fade away, and yet I can't help but feel as though I am forgetting something fundamental. "If you allow yourself to fade from existence, no one will remember you. Your story will never be written. All memories of your meager existence will dissipate as your entire being experiences a quantum breakdown. Are you really content with leaving things the way they are? The quest that you were embarking upon, the family that you were trying to save, the dream you had, all of it will fade away as if you never existed at all. And not just you, but everything that made you will disappear as well. The family you held dear, your father, your mother, your precious sister, they will all fade as well." I had a family? But even if that were true, why would they fade from existence as well if I am making a decision only about my own existence? The voice responded as if being able to read the very thoughts that dwelled within whatever was left of Zeke. "Your mother and father knew the implications of quantum breakdown fully when they created you." CREATED ME? "Yes, even though you were born a natural birth, you were also an in utero experiment. Your parents were scientists and magicians, when your mother found she was pregnant they couldn't have been happier, not because they knew their marital sex had produced a child, but because the child that was being produced was a perfect test subject." NO! YOU ARE WRONG! MY PARENTS WERE MIDDLE CLASS WITH CAREERS IN PUBLIC SERVICE! MY MOM WAS A NURSE, MY DAD WAS A POLICE OFFICER! The thoughts just flowed from Zeke, even though the majority his memories were gone, for some reason he was still able to recall this much. "No, your parents were fringe scientists working on discovering the origin of magic and esper abilities. They discovered ancient manuscripts that described how God created Quantum Beasts. Beasts that existed outside of space and time. The Manuscripts stated that these beasts were the ones directly responsible for manipulating quantum physics. The beasts are the ones responsible for making photon waves become particles when observed. The beasts are the ones that allow conscious mind to change the way the world works when being observed. The beasts are the ones directly responsible for overseeing quantum physics and fine tuning it. Your mother was indeed a nurse and your father was indeed a police officer. However, that was the result of their remorse, their form of repentance. Your parents were attempting to combine a Quantum Beast and a human together in order to create a superhuman. When they performed the hybrid scientific-magic ritual on your mother, they caught a glimpse of the truth. The truth was that a Quantum Beast exists outside the confines of space and time, and for it to be contained inside a physical vessel should have been impossible, it should have immediately caused a quantum breakdown of all of your existences. But, because all of the quantum beasts pitied the child inside the mother's womb, they decided to alter the laws of physics to allow the body to house it. Because of this miracle, your parents vowed to seal their research and do their best to give you a good life. Because they were convinced that at any point, you could experience a quantum breakdown and wipe your family from existence." No, this can't be true. My parents were good people, they would never do human experiments on an unborn child. "Unfortunately, they did. And their deaths were a direct result of this. Because, if you did not possess the Quantum Beast who manipulated physics for you in order to keep you alive, (an ability that was called Limit Evolution by the humans) the level 5 esper would not have slew your parents and your sister in order to test your strength." That's right, my parents, my sister. They were killed. I was going to try and bring them back with God's Hand. I was going to alter reality to save my family. "In order to alter reality, you must first have a firm grasp on your own existence. Now that I have imparted the truth of your origin upon you, are you truly content with allowing your essence to fall through the cracks and drift forever in a sea of quantum foam?" Zeke cast his gaze upwards and set his eyes upon the massive white bird that had been talking to him, and he knew exactly what he had to do. His journey was not yet finished. The instant he locked down his conviction, his body began to materialize again. "No! I will make my dream a reality", This time, Zeke's voice worked. Zeke paused a moment after realizing that he somehow knew the bird's name. "Just remember, that as long as you have your conviction I will hold your form the best I can. I will make sure you do not experience another quantum breakdown in the future." "Thank you, Niveus", And with that, Zeke left the ethereal plane. Zeke opened his eyes and realized he was lying on his back under a small overpass with a couple of hobos. Some of the hobos were warming their hands over a barrel fire, others were leaning against the wall of the overpass drinking out of bottles wrapped in brown paper bags. One of the hobos was helping himself to whatever was in Zeke's pockets and backpack. I wonder where I am Zeke thought as he sat upwards, taking stock of what he had. He was still in his mountain outfit with the blue mountain jacket, the hiking boots and thick winter pants. It was then that he realized he was very hot. Taking the jacket off and tossing it to one of the hobos, he looked around for his phone and wallet. One of the hobos was sitting in a corner playing Plague Inc. on his iPhone. Zeke approached him "Um, hey bro, can I have my phone back?" Zeke asked. "I-in a minute," The old hobo said with a raspy voice, "I only need to infect one more continent and I will win!" "Damn it, hobo give me my phone!" Zeke exclaimed. Apparently the hobo and his friends didn't like being called hobos because he quickly put the phone on the ground as he stood up. The rest of the surrounding hobos decided to drop what they were doing as well as they formed a circle around Zeke. "What'd you call me?" The hobo asked in an angry condescending tone. "You know what, I don't have time for this, NIVEUS!" He yelled as his birthmark burst to life with a bright light blinding the hobos. He used his increased speed and agility to jump over the ring of hobos and grab his phone. He also quickly grabbed his backpack and then leaped onto the overpass and onto a freight truck that was heading into town. It took him into town a couple of blocks, and then Zeke jumped off. Zeke found a bench on the sidewalk and sat down for a bit, his birthmark deactivating. He looked through his backpack and to his delight found his wallet, which he tucked in his back pocket. Zeke then unlocked his phone and noticed that he had only been gone for a few hours, even though it felt to Zeke like an eternity. He sent a call out to Hikari hoping she would answer to tell him where they went. The phone began ringing-