Side Effect

"Jason I have news!" Athena spoke through the earpiece.

"What's up? You've been silent most of the time." Jason replied. Jason went to the treeline avoiding the crowd. He checked if there were people near him three times before telling Athena to proceed in reporting.

"What do you want to know? The good news, bad news, or the super really really bad news." Athena asked. Usually Athena would never say anything as a super bad news unless it is so which alarmed Jason. A serious aura surrounded him prompting people to avoid approaching him.

"Super Bad News, then the bad news. Give me the good news last to ease things up." Jason said.

"Well, according to my scan of your body, I found your side effect." Athena remained silent for a moment. Your neural patterns may look normal at first sight by some irregularities appear every so often. Also your body-mind coordination is off by 5%. Quite fatal. Luckily these are temporary side effects so they'll slowly be gone."

"How long until I'm back to normal?" Jason asked. This is what Jason feared the most, a side effect. Most time travels include a side effect particularly one's that bend space time. Some effect would be as simple as a change in sleeping or feeding pattern to a drastic change in time perception or worse, spatial perception.

"A year or two." Athena replied.

"What! How am I gonna fight those beasts. I can't wait for a year or two. We must do something."

"Well you can dedicate your time to training again. It will quicken the recovery. You'll be in good shape in 6 months if you train continually." Athena provided a set of actions Jason can do to return to peak shape. Jason now had an even better reason to join the school team. This would allow him to do physical training at school while at the same time doing mental training at home.

"What's the bad news?" Jason sighed. This is something he had to deal with eventually. Luckily Athena found it early on. Sometimes Jason thinks that Athena even knows how many cell he had in his body.

"The bad news, They're not beast-form in this era. They took human forms. It actually proves something too. These Zarkians managed to infiltrate human societies, that's why it took a long time before they were detected. This ultimate proved fatal to humans that reduced the population by 70% within 10 years."

"What! I thought it was a bad news but it's even worse that the first one." Jason exclaimed. By this time people were whispering far from him.

"It's not as bad as you think. My scanners still work, in fact it became more accurate when I tried it on humanoid forms. After all we can track them down now more efficiently compared back then. Currently there are 2500 in the immediate 1000 kilometers . I can extend the search further if need it. " Athena explained.

"That many! How am I gonna deal with all of them? No. 500 kilometers is the limit for now. Let me finish it before expanding outwards."Jason started thinking of ideas.

"Don't worry. Most of them are Lower Peasant-Class in strength, I'll show you the diagram later. You can deal with most of them right now even with your side effect. " Athena added.

"Hmmm fine, So what's the good news?" Jason was curious. What good news could upset all the bad that he has heard right now?

"I found Farrah and that bastard Heimdall. They're in the same timeline as you apparently but they are in another country called Korea. I think they might be on the move too, the 30 kilometer vicinity around them is clear."

"What! You found Farrah! Wait how did you..?"

"Satellites, this era makes connecting and surveillance easier." Athena answered.

"I hope she's fine. For now let's focus on this area then maybe we can meet up with them soon. Send them a message too just so they know that we're at the same timeline."

Jason looked into the sky in anticipation. "You made it huh."