Not All My Powers Are Awesome[the fill-in and Myself]

Most people go through life as a normal person, some become famous or rich, but they're still just a human being. As a kid you believe there might be more to life, but the lesson comes fast and hard to tell you there's nothing more or strange to being on this Earth. All of those stories of superheroes, people being able to do great, powerful things, are just that: stories. You grow up and get real dreams, but lots of us have that itch in the back of our minds, the desire to be more than just a regular person. Leaping buildings in a single bound, dodging bullets, firing lasers out of your eyes, any of those powers you see in the cartoons or read about would be awesome to have. They aren't real though, everyone knows that. Origin stories of someone finding some kind of source of power that grants them abilities to fight off bad guys brings in the ratings, but then you get back to reality.

Coast City is a huge metropolitan area, with lots of diverse areas. Clustered urban areas, forest and wildlands in the north, suburbs surrounding it, and a huge coastline on the ocean in the west side. Lots of young people live here, going to the couple of universities that are in the city, checking out the nightlife and getting by with whatever job they can find. Just like anywhere else, some parts of the city are...not so good, and word is that crime is starting to spread to the nicer parts of the cities. Weird stuff too, some disappearances, strange sightings, but it's Coast City, there's crazy people everywhere claiming aliens are trying to take over. It's just talk.

"You here, Silva?" a feminine voice called out, following the sound of a door opening. Carly stepped into the apartment and shut the door, keeping her shoes on as she walked further in. The eighteen year old was a freshman at Warren University, one of the colleges in the town. She'd been dating the boy for a while now, meeting in high school. She had fun with him, but it was hard to find time now that life was starting to get in the way.

If you were silent, you would be able to hear sounds of humming as well as water turned on coming from a certain area of the room. Lee Rainer, also known as Silva by his friends and relatives, was taking a shower. Soon enough, he had finished and turned the water off and dried himself, leaving the showers and heading to his room. That is, until he noticed Carly. The sudden appearance of his girlfriend since high school made him stumble and fall, undoing his towel and showing all of him and his well-endowed thing. Flustered and embarrassed, the white haired boy quickly covered himself and tried to stand up, avoiding eye contact with the girl. "Wh-what are you doing here, Carly? I thought you said we should see each other less since we have our own things to fulfill?" Silva stuttered a little at the beginning, obviously embarrassed about the whole thing. They may have been a couple, but they've limited themselves to hugs and kisses until they both graduate from their degrees, even when they both have different years of study to do.

Carly looked around, the door was unlocked, so he must be here. Quiet, she heard the water running in the other room. Giving a smile, she leaned against the wall to wait for him. Finally it turned off, and she saw his bright, white hair leaving the room. About to say something, he saw her first and stumbled from surprise. She couldn't help but giggle, looking away as the towel fell to the floor, not before catching a glimpse of his endowment. "Jeeze, I didn't know you'd be so ready for me to be here," she said as a tease, giving a chuckle. It was mutual to wait, that didn't mean she hadn't wanted to do more, though. "Yeah, well, I didn't really think I'd be able to keep that up when we decided that anyways, so here I am," she said with a shrug, walking close to give him a kiss on the cheek. "If you're not busy, I thought we could hang out today."

Silva tittered from Carly's ready remark, still feeling embarrassed that he was seen naked, even if it was his girlfriend. Though that embarrassment changed a little when the black-haired girl approached him and gave his cheek a kiss. Smiling from the kiss and the proposal, he gave a nod and replied, "I'll get changed quickly. Be right back, okay?" and gave a kiss on the cheek back before going to his room to change. He quickly picked his clothes and wore them. He came back to Carly with a dark grey camp shirt to contrast his white hair, a green undershirt that compliments the dark grey along with it and his black pants that was his high school's, but chose to wear it since it was comfortable. "I'm ready to go now." He informed his girlfriend with anticipation.

"Great," she said, a bright grin on the girl's face. Carly really liked spending time with him, breaking their little embargo was an easy choice. She'd make the time so they could see each other. The girl wore a green sweater, black tank-top underneath, with a brown skirt and some boots. She moved back and leaned against the wall by the door, waiting for him to finish up. Giving a smile as he came out, she reached her hand for him to take and led the way out the door.

"Close to lunch time, maybe we coul-" she started, interrupted by her phone going off. "Sorry, just a sec," she said, grabbing the device out of her purse. With a curse, she looked to Silva with a frown. "I forgot, my anthropology class has a thing at a museum today," she said, brightening up. "Want to come along? It won't be too long, and we could hang out all day after."

Silva was a bit upset when they were interrupted by the phone call, and felt disappointed when his girlfriend said she needed to go. But if it's for her, he can wait a while. Crossing his arms, he swished his hair with one of his hands and using it to point at Carly like he's the girl in their relationship. "Fine, but you better pay for our meal or else." He completed his sassy girlfriend impression with that sentence before smiling and laughing at his own self. "So, lead the way, Carly."

The girl giggled, glad he was taking it well. It was like they'd never taken a break, him joking around and everything reminded her why she wanted to make it work and shuffle things around to spend time together. "You got a deal," she said, taking his hand again and leading the way. They ended up on a bus, Carly taking care of the toll as they headed to another part of the city. She made small talk with her boyfriend as they rode through the streets, catching up on what they'd missed about the other.

Soon enough they were off the bus and standing in front of the William Guyner Memorial Museum, a large, old building that was one of the oldest museums around. Columns lined the outside leading to the big main doors, stairs coming down for them to use to enter. Plenty of historical items, artifacts, valuables, the reason her class was here today was the featured exhibit. Scientists had discovered remains of an old civilization, the Gortuba. It was a real revelation as it was the first ever site of this people. Items from the site were traveling to show the world about this new point in their history, and this month it was here in Coast City.

"Let's head in," Carly said as she led him to the steps to go into the building. "Shouldn't be too long, my professor left a sheet to fill out with the door people and I just have to find some answers in the Gortuba exhibit."

Silva enjoyed the small talks they had on the way to the museum. While their temporary separation was slightly painful for him, their time now made him think it was worth it. He wouldn't give this away for anything in the world, be it gold, fancy technology or other valuable items. It had also made him glad that he asked her out during high school, or he wouldn't know what he would do today.

As the bus stopped and they both got off, the white haired boy gave a short whistle from seeing the museum. He had a liking for huge buildings, and this museum was pretty decent, along with the design of the building. "Alright, I'll just take a look around then. It kills time instead of just waiting for you." Silva bid farewell with a hug and a peck to the forehead. He was about as tall as where his girlfriend's eyes are, so he had to lower her head to do it. After gaining a bit of distance, he waved at Carly before heading to another section where they hold the ancient items.

Carly smiled and nodded. "Won't be long!" she said as she turned, hurrying towards the front desk to get her sheet to fill out. Pretty much a typical college field trip assignment, just check out the fancy new exhibit and answer a few questions, then bring the sheet to class. Getting the paper she followed the signs to the featured hall, artifacts and history of the Gortuba people.

The museum had a chronological layout, there was a sort of flow through the big building that went from prehistory, dinosaurs and evolution, all through to the late 20th century that looped you back to the entrance, of course after a gift shop. That was a sort of circle around, with the featured exhibit in the center, and plenty of signs and ads pointing you to it. It was truly fascinating though, this was the first time this civilization had been discovered, historians and anthropologists were still figuring them out. One of the signs made a big deal out of their occult dealings, mentioning strange "magical" artifacts, though a rational person knew that was just to get people in, magic and stuff like that wasn't real.

Silva looked around the museum in awe. Even if he had gone to a museum before, he was still a kid, so he didn't pay too much attention to the details of lots of things recorded in history. In fact, he was one of those kids that ran around just to see the dinosaurs and be amazed at how big was the Tyrannosaurus Rex compared to himself. Satisfied with the normal tour of the museum, the white-haired boy decided to look around the featured exhibits as well as check on his girlfriend if she had finished yet. He then looked around to find anything interesting. "Come, those who deem themselves worthy..." Someone said as Silva heard a voice coming from the occult artifacts area. What was strange was that there didn't seem to be anybody gathering, like they didn't hear anything at all. Curious, the 18-year old boy approached the area.

The room was darker, made up to make a sort of spookier atmosphere than the rest of the exhibit because of the subject matter. Relics and trinkets from the tribe's witch doctors are a good amount of what is in here, cauldrons and random assortment of little things for the supposed spells they would cast to protect and enrich the Gortuba. There were a couple people in here, mostly looking at the random items that dotted the displays. Down at the end of the wide hallway, the last display was a bit larger than the rest because of what it held. It was an orb, a bit smaller than a basketball. It wasn't obvious at first what this was made of, being a sort of dark grey color. The small sign next to the display read that this was in what had appeared to be a temple for the Gortuba, they believed it to be some kind of item of power for their people's religion or their witch doctors.

A bit boring, no one seems to be looking at the orb. Silva would find himself drawn to it though as he entered the occult area, as this is where the mysterious voice seemed to be coming from. He would feel a sort of pulse as he got closer to it, as if something was happening inside, waiting for him to arrive.

Silva's heart beat faster as he gets closer to what looks like an orb of some sort. He couldn't move away from it, like he couldn't control his own body. "It looks like we have a competitor here." The voice said as the white haired boy's presence was noticed by the orb. If said boy were to analyse the situation, it would mean that the orb was trying to send a signal to the others around it as well, but to no avail. Silva stood in front of the orb and spoke, but it was in an unknown language. "Ilkhani, Gortuba. Kil veste enlamin vorlum gyen'at.{Greetings, Gortuba. I am one of the many descendants who can be deemed worthy of your blessings.}" He placed his hand on his chest as he spoke before he regained his senses. "W-woah, I didn't know I could do that. What was that voice, anyway?"

It was probably a good thing the other people had left the small room, because it would be rather strange to hear a young man speak such strange words to some display in a museum. Almost like it recognized the voice or at least the words like a passcode, the orb's strange sensations ceased. Immediately it started to vibrate, the gray color starting to fall off, revealing that it was a coating of something, perhaps dust, or ash. As it cleared, the true appearance of the orb was revealed, perfectly clear, almost like a bubble, and within it had some kind of substance. A gas, a liquid, something else, it wasn't clear what it was exactly, but it was beautiful. Colors were mixing and forming within it, all the slight hues of the rainbow, ones that weren't, and some that didn't even have names he knew, they changed rapidly as the substance started to churn and flow within the orb, a light beam extended from the orb and reached out to Silva's chest at his heart. In that same strange tongue, the voice spoke again. "Descendant of the people, open your essence and be judged."

The light slowly moved and once it touched him, Silva would feel a shock surge through his body. Random flashes came through his vision, people and things he'd never seen before, that he wouldn't recognize. Suddenly it was done, the light pulled back into the orb. "You have been judged, and deemed worthy. Prepare for empowerment."

"W-what? Empowerment?" Silva asked, panicking at the situation. He was trying to move away, but it feels like his legs are stuck to that position so he could only move his upper body. He looked around and saw no one around to ask for help. "What's going on!?" He shouted, but it didn't feel like the voice echoed through the room for others to hear. "It is time." said the orb. It had felt like a surge of lightning had struck the white-haired boy's forehead. It felt like life was being filled throughout his body as his eyes lit up and the power spread throughout his body. His hair started changing colours like the rainbow that was from the orb before going back to white. The ritual had almost finished. But then- CRASH! A loud sound came from the area where Silva was. It turns out that there was a woman chasing a naughty kid who decided to run around the museum to grab attention, but he suddenly turned, the woman unable to stop and pushed the being empowered man whom fell on the orb giving the power, also on display, cracking the object.

Energy was flowing from the orb to Silva, the colors constantly surging and changing as the orb pushed its power into the boy. The shocking surge he felt along his nerves was his body changing, adapting to the power that the orb was pumping into him. It would have gone perfectly, if the chase of the little kid hadn't forced Silva to knock into the display, cracking the orb. The strange substance oozed out of the crack, starting to float and rush at Silva, covering his body and then floating into the air, dissipating. "Power sur-sur-sur-surge, complication wi-wi-wiiiiiiith rituuuuuuaa" the voice spoke, like a skipping CD, it sputtered and faded out, the orb just empty and cracked. Silva would feel strange, alive yet tired.

Lightly humming, Carly walked into the occult exhibit, looking at her sheet. "Just one more, some orb?" she murmured, looking up as she walked to look for the final answer. A smile crossed her face as she saw Silva standing in front of an exhibit. "Hey, you," she said, walking up and hugging him from behind. "Just one more and I'm done, and we can head out."

It was a hard moment for Silva. Because of what had happened, he now felt awake, but also tired and groggy at the same time. He felt a bit better when hearing his girlfriend's voice as she hugged him. "R-really? I'll wait a little longer then." he replied in a happy tone, holding back from yawning. When he turned and look around, he saw no sign of a woman chasing a kid. She said something earlier about making up for it, so she must've reported to the guards or staff about it. He blinked lots of times because his eyes were starting to get heavier by the minute. "s-sorry if I look tired. Something happened earlier and I don't feel all that great. I can still cheer up from the date though! So please, don't cancel it."

Carly smiled, but could see if as he looked around and she saw his face. He looked a lot more tired than before, even just from the short time she'd been around the museum. Weird, but if he said he was all right..."If you're sure, I'm totally up for continuing. It's not much to wait for, just need to get the name of this orb thingy you're standing in front of," she said, moving from him to look at the display. "Huh, it's cracked. Wonder why they brought a cracked ball," she said, looking from it to the small sign. "Hm, looks like this was in their temple, supposed to be some powerful item that granted people powers or something. Called an Imunasto, wonder what that means," she said, writing the name on her sheet. "And done!"

Technically, Silva was at fault for cracking the orb. After all, he did push the thing down, even if it was by accident and the woman who was chasing the kid had gone to do something about it. But he was too tired to explain that right now, so he'll probably tell her after the date when he recovers more. "That's... great... I'll wait outside for... you..." He said to her as he almost fell before taking a step, but managed to wake himself up in time and balance himself. Laughing it off, he walked to the front doors of the old museum, albeit like a zombie. 'What a day this has been... I got into some weird thing and now that orb did something to me... What was it anyway? Carly said some kind of power? No, that can't be... This isn't a Marvel comic or a Manga...'

"No need to leave," she said, looking up with a slight frown, watching him walk away. "Okay then," Carly muttered with a shrug, finding a space to write down the name of the orb on her paper. With that she was done, folding the paper and putting it into her purse. Now all she had to do was remember to bring that to class next time. Pretty easy. "Time to find that weirdo," she said to herself, moving from the exhibit and out to the doors, looking around for him as she left. She wanted to see what happened in the time she'd looked around to do her homework, why he was acting weird and seemed so tired. "Hey, want to get some lunch now?" she said after spotting him and walking over to him.

Silva was barely even awake now. it was only because he promised to wait for his girl that he managed to stay up long. When he saw her, he felt like that was all done. "Yeah, I'm ready... to... go..." That was the last sentence he said before his body gave out and he fell on the floor unconsciously, facing Carly's direction. When he awoke, he noticed he was in a place where it was all red. And the floor below him was something similar to a molten rock island with lava instead of water, but there was no change in temperature. "You sure have balls to destroy the orb when I was trying to give you power, descendant of the people." Said the voice from the museum, this time in an irritated tone. "I-It was an accident! Some lady pushed me and I just happened to fall on you!"

"Good, I, Silva?" Carly said, frowning and looking worried as she looked him over. He looked worse, even since walking out of the exhibit. "Hey, are you oka-Silva!" she said, crying out as her boyfriend just fell down before her. She crouched down to turn him over, reaching to get her cell phone to call 911.

This strange place Silva seemed to be in looked very real, yet didn't feel hot. Lava seemed to be around him in all directions, all except for the small chunk of solid rock he was standing on. "Oh, I see, our new champion likes to make excuses. I shouldn't even be here, you absorbed my essence after breaking the Imunasto," the voice said, clearly frustrated. A sigh followed before the voice continued. "I apologize, champion. I'm sure you're confused. Your body must feel strange, it's getting used to the changes the light made. When you wake up, you will have immense power granted from the power of the Gortuba. At least, you should. Usually the orb isn't destroyed halfway during the ritual."

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean for anything like that to happen." Silva conceded, still feeling guilty that he broke it, even if unintentional. Wait, Imunasto? The thing Carly said that grants powers? So things did happen like a manga/comic... Except for the item breaking part. That's seen more on manga than comic. Silva also noticed something while he was thinking about the Imunasto. "Wait, what kind of changes are we talking about here? Like, me a superman body? Some kind of Wolverine enhancement? OR! OR! A KAMEN RIDER TRANSFORMATION!?" He asked, obviously getting excited at the last one. He had been a fan of Kamen Rider as a kid, and that passion hasn't dissipated much. "Wait, it might've been changed when the orb cracked... Ugh, I know I shouldn't get my hopes up, but that would be so cool...!" He murmured to himself, showing alot of emotion through his body language. "Actually, you've changed to a girl." "...What?"

"I'm afraid that's what happens when the ritual is interrupted and altered, when it doesn't go the way it is supposed to. The former champions were transformed into powerful warriors, but yes, it seems because of the unorthodox ritual, your body has been affected in a strange way. The Imunasto performs a scan of your body to improve it with the powers, so I believe the scan didn't perform properly because of the break. It believes you are a woman, so whenever you use your powers, you will change into this form. The powers vary depending on the person, so you may have to experiment to see what you get, they may also evolve as you train and learn how to use them. Normally with the Imunasto you could seek guidance later on, but because it was broken, part of this essence will exist within you. I hope to help however I can, you were granted these powers because something is happening in your world, the evil that existed during the time of the Gortuba is returning, and a defender is needed to protect the people. That hero is you. You shall be waking up soon, your body is close to adjusting." the deep, powerful voice explained as much as it could while it had the chance.

The white haired boy listened to the whole explanation, but he still couldn't believe what he had heard. No, he didn't want to believe what he had heard. The saving the town part was fine. The turning to girl part was the thing that struck him the most. How will he be convincing as a girl!? moreover, how will he ever get used to the body!? He started panicking even more when the voice said that he was getting close to waking up. "Nooo!" He shouted as he got out of sleeping and sat up, panting and sweating as he looked around. "A... hospital ward?" Silva blurted out as he started to notice the change in his voice. It was a cute and girly voice compared to his man voice where it was about mid-range, but may convince otherwise if he tried to sound like a girl. He looked down and saw two large melons attached to his chest. He didn't need any more confirmation. He really turned into a she!


*Note: Picture link has been approved by darkangel76.

"Come on," Carly muttered, giving the vending machine a good shake. Her drink slid out of where it was stuck, coming down into the area where she could grab it. "Thank you," she said to the inanimate object, grabbing the drink and turning to walk back. She came out of the small vending machine space, walking back down the hospital hallway. Silva had randomly collapsed outside the museum, and now they were here in the hospital where he was still unconscious. What was frustrating was that the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong, there was nothing physically that told them why Silva had randomly fainted and now wouldn't wake up. Put a pretty big damper on the whole date thing. Finding the room, Carly opened the door and walked inside. "If you're awake, I got us stuff to drink," she said, eyes widening as she saw the woman laying in the bed.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! Must have had a brain fart and walked in the wrong room!" she said, backing up to leave.