Chapter 4- The Upgrade

I woke up feeling woozy, seeing everything in doubles.

I tried to remember what happened and why I was at the nurse's office. My memory came back little by little.

I was going to my next class, science, at the equipment lab, and then just blank. I don't know what happened next.

"Don't get up yet sweetie, I still need to check up on you", the nurse said. I saw her name on her shirt, Constantine.

"Hey, you talk in your sleep, you kept saying something about your brother."

"What?", I replied, not hearing her.

"Never mind, just sit down, and let me check your eyes."

She flashed a light in my eyes. After, she told me to stick out my tongue and she put a stick in my mouth.

"Did you know you had a PDI?", Constantine asked.

"What's that?"

"It's an abbreviation for Power Dampening Injection", she replied, "it has a substance that has a negative effect on abilities, therefore decreasing its effectiveness."

"No, I didn't know I had that", I said, "my father did inject something in me when I was a kid. I never questioned him about it."

I showed her the scar where my father injected me.

"Do you want me to remove it?", she asked.

"And if you remove it, my powers will become stronger?"

She nodded.

I thought of why my father even injected me in the first place. Maybe my ability was really powerful.

"Yes, I want to remove it."

"This might hurt a little", she responded. She gave me anesthesia and proceeded with removing the injection.

She successfully removed it and started to stitch up the scar on my neck.

She told me that the effect will last for another few hours and told me to continue my class.

I smiled because in the next class, I was about to get an upgrade.

I walked inside the equipment lab holding some notebooks in case I needed to do some research.

"Sorry I was late, I needed to go to the nurse's office", I said to the teacher.

"Yes, your friends told me about your situation", he said, "sit down and join the rest of the class."

I sat beside my friends.

"Hey, is there something wrong with you?", Jon whispered.

"Nah, I'm okay."

I decided to not tell them about my father injecting something in me without my consent.

"Okay class, today, you will get an upgrade", The teacher said, "and since Mr. Reyes over here missed my introduction, my name is Mark Balwinder. Could someone please define an upgrade."

Immediately, a girl raised her hand to answer the question. She seemed familiar. She was the speedy woman from my gym class.

"Yes, Polly Ryan, what is the definition of an upgrade."

She looked like a know it all. Her glasses and ponytail made her look like a librarian. So I guess I wasn't surprised when she answered like she was a Wikipedia site.

"An improvement of something by adding or replacing components within the thing", she answered.

She looked at me. She gave me a stare like she was still holding a grudge from beating her in dodgeball. I realized that she was not someone i would want to mess with.

"Perfect answer Mrs. Ryan." Mr. Balwinder said, "and that's exactly what we will be doing today, but don't worry, we won't be replacing anything, just adding."

I noticed that everyone had a smile on their faces, obviously excited to get an upgrade.

"We will enhance your powers by adding pieces of technology to your weapons or by creating something that will boost your powers effectiveness."

My jaw dropped from processing all of that awesome information.

"Use your imagination on this assignment and remember, you will be graded on how functional your gadgets are. You may begin."

We begun making our gadgets and equipment. My friends and I helped each other.

First I made something for my daggers. I measured the bottom of my hilt and did it again, just to be sure.

I experimented with my shadows and daggers, thinking of how they can cooperate.

Then I had an idea, I didn't know if it was possible, but I still tried.

Our time was limited and it was almost over. We had 15 minutes left. Everyone was almost done with their projects.

I was having difficulties with mine. Trying to attach my shadows to my daggers was easier in my head.

I built something that attracts shadows and attached it to my daggers. Now, I know that shadows aren't attracted to anything, but mine are different. I can control them and manipulate them.

"YES!" I didn't mean to say that out loud, "sorry everybody", I said, embarrassed.

I finally perfected it! Everything was working. The gadget attracted shadows.

I attached it with my daggers hilt and I tested it. I willed the shadows to do my bidding, manipulating them to enter my gadget where they will stay.

I stood up and walked to the teachers desk.

"May I go outside to test my equipment?", I asked.

He granted my permission and I walked outside. I held onto the shadows that was attached to my daggers. The shadows were like chains.

I started testing it. I threw my daggers really far, but I still held onto the shadows. With full of hope, I told the shadows to come back.

I was surprised. Coming at me at a very fast speed, were my daggers. It was like Mjölnir had a baby with the the blades of chaos (Kratos' weapons).

I threw it again and again. Each time it came whirling back to me with such ferocious speed.

I could do this all day, i thought. But then I remembered that we still needed to demonstrate our gadgets to the class.

I went back to the equipment lab.

"Who would like to go first", Mark asked.

I raised up my hand. I noticed that the only ones who raised their hands up were me and the speedy girl named Polly Ryan.

I could tell the she didn't like me. Probably from the beating she got in dodgeball, I owned them.

"Mr. Reyes, the late one is finally first, you may go", he said.

We went outside and I showed them my daggers. I explained to them how I created a device that attracted shadows that I controlled.

I begun demonstrating it. I imagined the shadows crawling up from the floor onto my arms and into my blades. I threw one dagger and after a few seconds, it came back.

I started imitating some moves from the god of war, hoping to impress everyone.

When I finished, everyone's jaw was dropped on the floor. They immediately started becoming more unconfident in their gadgets.

"Good job Mr. Reyes, an A+ for you", Mark said, "I see great potential in you. Alright we will do a couple more presentations and you may go to your next class."

The next person who went was Polly. She made light weight shoes the improved her speed greatly. I could barely register her movements with my eyes now.

A few other people went, including my friends. Gabbie made something that strengthened her power. Now, she can carry a tree with using telekinesis easily.

Jon went next. He made something that doubled the endurance of his barriers and deflected back any strikes. So basically, if you hit his barriers, it will come back with twice the force.

Adrian was last. His power didn't really need enhancement, so he just made a sword that can also go through things by hitting a button.

Finally, we were off to our next class. This one, I was an expert in. The next class was power training.

Fortunately, no sudden faints or black outs when I entered.