Day 1

  Excitement filled Sunshine’s heart as she realized that today was the day she was gonna grow stronger. The many years of the protecting and coddling she faced at the hands of her father were finally gonna come to an end. Jerome wouldn’t have put himself in harm’s way for her sake anymore. Sunshine swore she was gonna be his equal, and she hoped Jesus could help her with that.

  Although, considering the two of them were just sitting in a booth at a random diner in Lexington, the basics were probably gonna come first before anything physical.

  “You know, luz solar, I really hate these pants your father gave me,” said Jesus, digging into his pockets. “They keep me from feeling free.”

  Luz solar? Must be Spanish.

  “Well, wearing those pants keeps me from seeing you in your underwear, so please keep them on.” Sunshine poked the moldy cheeseburger Jesus had tossed onto the table from the counter behind them. “You know this is like ten years old, right? This probably has leftover… radioactive energy inside it.”

  To Sunshine’s disgust, Jesus picked up his burger and took a bite from it under his horse head. The crunching in his mouth didn’t help the situation. “Mmm… That hits the spot. Haven’t had one of these in a while.” He finally stopped eating. “You know, I’m eating it because it has leftover radioactive energy within it. Eating this actually strengthens the power of Radius Ability users like us.”

  Sunshine’s eyes widened in excitement. “Seriously? You should’ve led with that then.”

  She picked up her stale burger and chomped down on it. However, it was too much for her to handle. The stale bun crumpled in her mouth like dust while the meat itself was like damp cardboard soaked in rot. She had no choice but to spit it onto the floor.

  Jesus’ laughter confused her a bit as she went back to her seat. “I can’t believe you fell for that, little lady! God, that was hilarious. I thought you were smarter than that.”

  Sunshine wiped the food off her mouth. “Hey, that’s mean… I only assumed you weren’t joking since you said you were gonna train me. Speaking of training, where are we gonna start?”

  “We already started that. Using your Energy Sense to see if I was telling the truth or not was the first part, and you failed miserably.”

  “Huh? I can’t even sense any energy in here, which I need to use that skill in the first place.”

  “Exactly,” he laughed. “That’s why you need to immediately assume that I’m lying and don’t put it in your goddamn mouth. I mean, do you want to give yourself diarrhea? That’s a serious question by the way. I don’t think there’s any toilet paper around these parts.”

  Sunshine’s annoyance was growing by the second. “I don’t want diarrhea. I want you to train me.” She thought raising her voice would snap Jesus out of his jolly mood, though that only seemed to amuse him more.

  “Alright, alright! Calm down, Luz solar,” he exclaimed, holding her fist. “There’s more to surviving in a world like this than just combat or special powers.” He grabbed his burger again. “I mean, those are still important, but you're not getting anywhere by just hitting something… unless you're one of the strongest. What a kid like you should focus on right now is basic stuff like-”

  “I don't have time for that!” shouted Sunshine, jumping out of the booth. “Jerome is out there trying to fight someone who tried to kill me twice already, and you have me here eating these stupid moldy burgers when I could be learning how to use my power better or gaining some muscle maybe. Do I need to remind you that there's a whole group of people who want to kill me? Oh yeah! I still have a tracker in my back, by the way.”

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  “Alright, I get it,” said Jesus, gesturing for her to calm down.

  “No, you don't get it. I need to get stronger so my dad doesn't have to risk his life for a weakling like me again. He lost an arm ‘cause of me. He turned into a zombie ‘cause of me. He broke into an entire city all to save me. I want to be strong to protect Jer-”

  “Why are you thinking about your father right now?”

  The question snapped her out of her frustration, confusion taking its place. Why wouldn’t she be thinking about Jerome? Obviously she wanted to protect him the same way he protects her.

  “Luz solar, you said it yourself. The Underground Radius wants to capture and kill you. You’re the one who still has a tracker inside of you, not your father. You should be your priority right now.” He slid down his seat and placed a finger on her forehead. “You know for a fact that you’re not strong enough to worry about anyone other than yourself. You’re not strong enough to protect anyone right now, so don’t talk to me like you can.”

  Sunshine pursed her lips and pondered that statement. “I already know I’m not strong enough. That’s why I want to stop wasting time with this nonsense and-”

  “I’m not saying you shouldn’t try or want to protect your father. What I’m saying is that you need to put wanting to protect your life over his at this moment in time. Because guess what? Jerome’s a Type Two Radion who’s already dead while you’re just a mortal.”

  “Hmm…” Sunshine sat back down. “So you want me to have an ego?”

  “Exactly. Being egotistical is the best way you’re gonna survive in this world. That’s why I’m still alive. I didn’t waste the time I could’ve been using worrying about someone who’s stronger than me. I used it for myself.”

  I really can’t take him seriously when he’s wearing that…

  “Ok, I understand,” she said softly, folding her arms. “So… what do we do now?”

  “Now,” he said, shooting the burger into a trash can. “You need to do the rock test.” He pulled out two hand-sized rocks out of his pockets and dropped them on the table. “Any idea on what we’re doing with these?”

  “I’m gonna assume you wanna test how strong I am? Spoiler alert. I’m not crushing those to dust.”

  “No, you little silly. We’re gonna test what type of Radius Ability user you are. You see, there’s four categories a RA can fall under. Nuclear Energy, Radioactive Energy, Molecular Energy, and Atomic Energy. I’m gonna guess you either fall under Molecular or Atomic. Here.” He handed the rocks to her. “See what it is.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “How am I supposed to find out? There’s no energy in the air for me to use.”

  “Don’t worry about that. You don’t need outside energy to use the aura you already have inside of you. Just close your eyes, squeeze your body, and infuse that aura into those rocks.”

  “Alright.”

  She closed her eyes, her muscles tightening as she scavenged for wherever this aura was inside her body. Then, a feeling of strength erupted out of her system and surrounded every part of her. While the Energy Sense from before looked like a forcefield, this aura appeared to be a green flame. It felt… really good. Her focus turned to the stones, and the aura followed along with it, embracing the rocks.

  At that moment, her hands began to move clover to each other. The rocks were too. Sunshine wasn’t controlling them, and yet they were somehow moving. This must’ve been her aura’s doing. The moments the rocks touched, shock filled her mind at the sight of them fusing, becoming a single, heavier rock.

  “Woah,” she muttered, letting the stone fall off her hand. “That’s gotta be Atomic, right? I mean, I literally fused two rocks into one.”

  “Nope, you’re a Mole, which is another way of calling you a Molecular Energy user.”

  “Hmm. That could also be fun to play with. What are you, horse man? I wanna guess… Nuclear?”

  Jesus picked the rock up and surrounded it with his aura. “Atomic, actually.”

  Sunshine blinked. What was once a rock was now a… juice box? “What!? That is so cool! What else can Atomic energy users do?”

  Jesus laughed confidently. “We can also heal ourselves and other people. Pretty cool, right?”

  Her eyes brightened, fingers twitching in excitement. “Really, really, cool! You gotta show how you do that, man. C’mon, please?”

  A loud “neigh” escaped from his mouth while he shook his horse head. “Of course. Just give me your arm.” She did what he said and Jesus held it. He then rolled down her sleeve. “This might hurt a little, but I’ll be able to heal you in seconds. You won't even notice I did anything to you. Is that fine?”

  “Yeah, just show me already!”

  Crack!

  That was a statement she would slowly regret as her widened eyes turned to her skinny arm, blood squirting out and a piece of her bone lifted upwards. The arm swung limply, like a dead branch in the wind, twisting at a sickening angle. A second didn’t pass upon Jesus letting go before a scream ripped its way out of Sunshine’s mouth. She collapsed to the ground, a mountain of agony crashing onto her.

  “W-W-Wha!?”

  Jesus calmly left his seat and crouched down next to her. “What’s wrong, Luz Solar? Tienes que hablar bien. You have to speak properly.”

  She gripped her injured arm. “You-You… my arm!”

  “Ah, yes, I did do that. What? You expect me to heal it right now? No, that’s not gonna happen.”

  “Please… it hurts.” A tear nearly ran down her face, but Jesus clenched her face and wiped the tear off with one finger.

  “Don’t cry. Don’t you dare cry. Cry and you show people that you’re weak. You think what I did to you is painful? That’s only a fraction of what every other person who wants you dead, what every other person who despises you would do once they come across you. They’ll cut out your eyes, rip you apart, and all other kinds of nasty shit. What I showed you was kindness.”

  “If Jerome found out about this-”

  “What? He’ll destroy me? Kill me? Don’t forget that this is what he wanted me to do for you. Brutal training. An eye opener. You’re not allowed to be a stupid kid in this world, Luz Solar. You have to be ruthless. Powerful. Be able to tolerate the pain.”

  Sunshine didn’t respond, the pain still exploding in her arm.

  “Don’t let what I wear on my face fool you. This isn’t gonna be cool or fun for you. It’s time for the real training to begin.”