Lemony Fresh

The End (For Real)

2010-03-20T14:20:00.002+08:00

...It feels weird coming back here after so long.

I feel a little bit like an alien; probing around a piece of technology so human and decayed it astounds me.

...Of course, there are a few perks to Blogger that I'll indeed miss, but hey. Change is hard, and more often than not a pain in the ass, but it more often than not brings you to a road of better things. Fresh takes, so to speak.

It hit me when I read Nick's old blog, that this thing right here contains most of my adolescent/teenage years. All the days and weeks and months spent crouched over a keyboard, thinking hard about a way to flame someone, or praise someone. And more recently, in the case of Genesis, kill characters off.

...More than 500 posts of teenage rants. More than 500 posts of me thinking I was right. More than 500 posts of fingerprints touching keys, spelling out my thoughts the best way I saw fit.

Wow.

If by chance, you stopped by here for your own reasons, and you've read this, even when I spelt out the end for everyone one post ago, thanks.

You're more awesome than you know.

And for the really final time on this blog:

Stick strong, people.

Abrupt

2010-02-04T19:33:00.002+08:00

This blog will be now be abandoned.

On short notice.

Effective, as soon as your eyes hit this next full-stop.

Spots

2010-02-04T16:48:00.002+08:00

Loyalty's the biggest, meanest thorn in your life.

But it works both ways.

Cut me, and I can damn well make sure that I cut you right back.

Genesis Origins: Battery

2010-01-31T14:43:00.002+08:00

One comfort the power users had, and one that was always readily accessible, was fire.

Nick could make fire by forcing two of his plants to grind together, Jay could make fire - if he wore the right shoes and ran at precisely the right speed, Liesl could of course make fire, and Kenneth himself made fire with no problems at all with the snap of his fingers.

Ken could make a lot of things happen at the snap of his fingers in fact.

Besides Shaun and Jian, Kenneth was potentially the most powerful user of all. His first power that was Energy Absorption had been potent enough, but he had more or less evolved it into a totally new branch. And it was through this evolution that enabled Ken to do more than he had ever dreamed of doing.

Energy Expulsion.

"...Well, that was...that was- um...help me up."

Ken extended a hand to Jian, who was lying with his back on the ground. What had just happened had took him by surprise. Instead of shooting a lightning bolt for Ken to absorb, somehow; the bolt had bounced back. Dusting himself off, Jian raised his hand with his thumb and first two fingers reflexively extended; he was confused, and struggled to find the right words to picture his surprise. Surely, such a sudden show of power from Ken would require elegant words of extreme choice.

"Creeping shits, man," he said. "When the hell did you learn to do that?"

Ken shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. "No idea. Maybe I got tired of being the punching bag."

"Really?" Jian raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you don't feel any pain from it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't get tired of it."

Jian stared, then nodded. Picking up his bag, he gestured towards the path that would take them out of the park. "Walk and talk."

"Um...what about your shoulder?"

"What? Oh. OH. I was wondering why the strap hurt so much." Shifting the weight of the bag to his left shoulder, Jian then peeled back the layer of burnt shirt to reveal an ugly black burn; the mark of the bounced bolt. The flesh still steamed from the heat.

"Hmm," muttered Jian, rubbing his knuckles on his cheeks. "Not bad at all, Ken. It didn't lose any heat in the bounce."

Then, ignoring Ken's very obvious wince, he pressed a finger to the raw flesh and closed his eyes. Fresh skin that started to grow; spiraling from the blackened edges of the wound. When Jian had removed his finger, his shoulder was whole.

"You seem to get a lot of shoulder injuries," Ken pointed out. "Take care of yourself man. What if one day you lose your powers or something?"

Jian chuckled. "Nah, that'll never happen. But let's discuss this new power of yours; do you think you can do it again? And if so, to what extent and limit? We need to know if it's just energy you can bounce, something more, or (hopefully not) something less. Data, data, data-"

"- we cannot make bricks without clay," finished Ken, smiling. "I know, I watched that movie too, Jian."

"Um, right. So yeah; first things first, can you do that again?"

Ken chewed on the inside of his cheeks, thinking. "I warrant so. Let's take a shot."

"Definitely. Something less dangerous though; I'll just use some wind." With that, the two stepped back a little way from each other, while Jian did some exaggerated motions with his hands. He brought his palms to side and then thrust them forward in one controlled motion. Ken sniggered.

"Dragon Ball?"

Jian smirked. "Wait..."

Then a white ball of thickened air burst into life from the joint of his palms. The sphere of air pierced itself into Ken, briefly knocking the wind out of him before his powers kicked in, neutralizing the energies and the pain.

Then something unexpected happened.

Another sphere of air, the exact twin of the previous one exploded from Ken's chest followed by a second bolt of electricity. Taken by surprise, Jian had only managed to stop the sphere, but not the second bolt which blasted him off his feet, and into the branches of a low-hanging tree. Guilt stricken, Ken hurried to his side.

Jian was spitting bits of dried leaf when he arrived. Another ugly black burn similar to the one before was visible, this time having ripped the skin of his abdomen. But Jian didn't look at all unfazed; he was smiling.

"Well, fuck me," he mused, extremely casually for a person who had just been struck by lightning. "You're a god-damn battery.

Liar, Liar, Liar, Liar

2010-01-29T22:17:00.002+08:00

I've found the statement "be yourself" hypocritical in every possible way.

Because quite honestly, who wants to "be yourself" when you know no one likes who you really are? Or at least; the people you want to surround yourself with don't like who you really are?

'Cos quite honestly, at the end of the day, no one wants to be left out, or get hit with the ugly-stick.

So I guess it makes it almost laughable that some people like someone else's fake persona better than another's.

We're all hypocritical bastards.

Maturity

2010-01-28T15:23:00.003+08:00

Can you just grow the hell up?

You're far past the age where people could overlook that u type lik dis. You're past the age where people (corporate fucking people, mind) will forgive you for dotting a document with smiley's and bad spelling.

The world is big, bloody, and will fuck you upside down if you screw up just one little thing. One weakness in any section of the link and you're screwed. Screwed. Literally, mentally, physically, technically, and whatever other word that makes sense to that.

...Yes. God in Heaven, yes; this is a rant.

Soiled It

2010-01-25T15:39:00.002+08:00

Sometimes, I think people are too easily offended by words. I mean really; you've never used a "bad" word in your entire life?

Take today for instance. The Headmistress made it a bloody point to tell us not to use four-lettered words. Uh..."word" is a four-lettered word, shit-for-brains. And coincidentally, so is "four". The Moral teacher tried to drill it into us as well, but...eh. It's Moral.

Do you listen to your Moral teacher?...

...Granted, I've taken a vow to stop saying them, but I can still type 'em. Call it freedom of speech, if you will.

...And to drill my point home:

Freedom of fucking speech.

If you will.

Ultimate Frisbee Fun

2010-01-22T18:46:00.002+08:00

Played frisbee this afternoon with everyone!

Man, let me tell you; after 4 months of not exercising at all, it felt great to be back on the field. It felt even better that everyone who was there was a friend. But the best feeling?

I felt good about myself for the longest time this week. Frisbee's pretty much the only sport I can actually do, which is nice, especially if you're like me and spent your primary years being a social outcast....

...Ye-ah. Anyways!

I officially play midfield now! Or as Liesl calls it, "wing". I know, right? :D Kinda snazzy, and I like it. First team I had was with Sue Mun, Sue Teng, Bonnie, and Paul! It was kind of a warm-up match (which we lost), but it was still heaps of freaking fun. Second match we had put me with Yuva, Shauna, Brandon, and this new guy, Jia Jun. And guess what?

We won! 3-0. Which was freaking awesome to me, because I had a humble hand in all the scores. Credits to Yuva though, for teaching me about "overlapping".

Apparently, the Power Ranger watch does give you amazing new powers...

Today was just a great day.

...I look forward to Friday's again now.

Chinchilla Villa

2010-01-21T15:46:00.002+08:00

Chillin' like ice-cream filling.

I have to admit, I'm really starting to enjoy Form 5. And not a moment too soon; now I can officially start falling in love with every new day of every new month.

Life is just great.

If you take quick peeks around, anything can be fun. Everything should be fun.

As always, I'll just try to keep this up.

And oh! Guess what?

Genesis: Secrets the (sorta) book version is ready! :D

Stick strong, fellas.

Genesis Origins: Thorns

2010-01-18T17:37:00.004+08:00

"Again."

A howl of inhuman rage, the light thumping of quick steps; the stick struck the wall with a dry crack, having missed its true target by millimeters.

It didn't help though, that the target possessed super speed.

"Stop moving, dammit," snarled Jian. He whirled around, stick gripped tight, aiming a blow at Jay's head. This training session was not going according to plan at all. "I'm only human."

The stick fell, but hit nothing but empty air. Jay snorted. "That's your problem. You keep dumbing yourself down by being only human. You need to believe you're more than human, Jian."

"You taught us all that."

“So make your move.”

Closer, the sound of steady foot falls came. Closer, the chilling burn of eternal flame. Closer, the taste of sulphur in the air. Closer, the smell of brimstone and ash. Closer, the flagrant demon walked.

Closer, its breath came.

“Make your move,” it repeated.

Closer. The sound of plastic heels scraping against the floor. The rhythmic tapping of steps being taken quicker and quicker. The cheap dress and jewellery jingled slightly as her breath forced her chest to heave in and out uncontrollably. Her eyes wide open, her will was no match for the demon’s overpowering draw.

Closer…

The demon smiled, revealing two rows of coffee-stained teeth. Always, always too simple. He breathed out again, forcing more of his intoxicating pheromones into the air. So quickly now; she was almost within reach…

She stopped, and reached out a hand.

Closer than ever now. Almost within reach…

And then she stopped. Or rather, was stopped. By a wall of inflexible air.

Scowling, the demon stopped his breath at once. He hissed at the girl and the wall of air before him, turned and fled down the street. But above the street-level, another demon stalked him; more cunning and far more lethal a threat than the first ever posed.

Turning quickly into a building entrance, the fire demon sped up the stairs. His destination was his apartment; a place where he could hold off any attacker or pursuer. But even as the aged wood creaked and groaned under the quick and heavy steps of his feet, as he turned past the second flight, a shadow dropped in front of him.

The fire demon gave no pause. He opened his mouth and breathed once more.

A blast of flame, though one that lingered far longer than natural. The second demon seemed surprised, and susceptible. It staggered a bit on the step it was standing on. But then, as the flames dies away, the second demon stood up straight once more; shrugging off the brief kiss of weakness.

“So…you’ve got two powers,” mused the second demon, his face obscured by unnatural shadow. He seemed to be thoughtful and calm, but what really unsettled the fire demon was when the second demon suddenly looked up and smiled; darkness suddenly detaching itself from his face.

“It’s too bad for you,” he responded. “I’ve got more.”

The fire demon turned then, and leapt down the steps; caring not for immediate pain, but death. It was of no use. The air around him seemed to solidify, encasing him in a shell of nothingness. He was forced to turn, and look down into his pursuer’s eyes.

If it had been a man whom the eyes belonged to, the fire demon would not have been surprised. But the deep, serious look that seemed to veil a melancholic stir within, belonged to a young Asian man.

“Y-You’re a boy!” spat the fire demon in a mix of surprise and disgust.

The young man chuckled. “Always the tone of surprise…”

Then the eyes changed.

“Always the last tone.” And the young man flicked open a lighter.

Close, the sound of a man’s screams.

The broadcast-memory complete, Jian nodded first at Emily, then at the others.

"And that," he announced casually. "Is what you call good theatrics. That's all for now; thanks guys."

Soggy Swords

2010-01-18T16:31:00.002+08:00

Right behind my computer chair now, are two half-paper-mache'd swords. They are white, kinda cool looking, and as immeasurably soggy as a suet pudding.

Isn't life wonderful?

Had some of the assistant's and Shaun come over for a while just now. Kaelan, John, Su Fun, Jolene and Daryl, to be precise. And they were wonderful help. So yeah; we're finally making proper props for the sketch this year which makes me really happy.

...Which I need to feel, because in ten minutes I'm about to down another cupful of the most horrible tasting liquid on Earth.

Why?

So you all know I've had this skin disease on my arms and legs since I was 9 right? And gosh, if you say "no" I'm flattered. Really. Either way, I'm trying out this cure to well, cure the whole damn thing off me for good. To do that, I have to do, well, whatever it takes.

Which brings us around full circle, to the horrible tasting mud-like liquid which funnily enough, tastes like someones cremated remains stirred into water.

It's bad.

But hey. If it works.

Wish me luck, guys. I'm really hoping this works.

The Story So Far

2010-01-17T20:06:00.002+08:00

So, I think some of you are a bit lost about the Genesis story-line; what with the new Memories and Origins arc coming out simultaneously. That being said, I'm gonna bring you all up to speed, so you can actually enjoy what the story is about again. :)

Okay, so we start back in the original Genesis. You all know that story; The Users first starting out, the original four getting their superpowers, the climactic fight in school, Shaun's resurrection and Jian's apparent death, right? Also, Justin's evil. So far so good.

Season 2; Revelations, is I think where I lost some of you. Jian has been taken in by the facility, tortured and having his powers suppressed, Liesl moving to Australia, and Jay and Shaun trying to scrape through life. Season 2 is also where I introduced the other characters, Julia, Kelly, and such. What I didn't do was the ending, if you realised, which I will tell you now. Basically, it was a huge fight between the hordes of facilitator's, Jian, and his future-self.

It ended with his future-self being killed, and their first minor glimpse of the Reaper. Comprende?

Season 3; Secrets, is I think the most popular, complete season. I think you all know what happened; the threat of the facility bearing down on the Users, the first proper introduction of facilitators, the Users finally deciding to hell with the facility, the escape from the Reaper, and finally, the defeat of the Reaper at Jian's hands.

Season 4; Memories. As this is the latest season, this is gonna be a little more detailed, but still the bare-bones. Jian has lost his powers. The Users have collaborated with the Resistance. They are planning an attack on the facility, in Australia. Jian, Emily, Jay and Shaun have left the Users, and are now Runaways. Nick has proclaimed himself as the leader in Jian's place.

And now, Origins.

...And this I think, is where you're all confused.

If you've noticed, all episodes of Origins are button-holed with little asterisk marks. If you don't know what an asterisk is, it's this thing (*). Therefore, the first part of each Origins, is the present day. Every other part after that is the past.

Does that make sense now? Origins is not a separate arc. It's a supplementary arc to Memories.

...If you guys have any questions, just lemme know; this is the best I can do.

Stick strong!

Not Mine

2010-01-14T14:51:00.002+08:00

You have to make sacrifices.

That's life. And it always gets in the way of what you want to do, and what you have to do.

Sometimes I think I screw myself over. Yeah; me and my big mouth. I dare you to say I'm good with words now; even suggest it and I'll pull your fucking tongue out.

But yeah. I had to do what I had to do.

I don't like it. Not one bit.

...But the people who never read this will never know. And that, fellas, is what it's all about. :)

Theft

2010-01-12T21:59:00.003+08:00

Guess what?

Today, I checked my file again. And I kept it in my bag the whole day, and I had a half-finished drawing of the "Toruk" from Avatar.

I check for it, and it's gone.

And you know what? The asshole who did put back some of my not so nice drawings.

...Seriously. My patience is wearing thin.

Interact-tion For Dummies

2010-01-12T19:02:00.003+08:00

So I'm not the best public speaker. That's pretty much a given. God gave me many things, but the ability to stand with strong knees in front of a crowd was overlooked, I think. I'm not complaining of course.

Somehow though, today; during the general meeting for Interact, I found my voice.

...Well, most of it at any rate. A lot of it was kinda worn thin with all the shouting and stuff, but ye-ah; you get the point.

Maybe it was because I was surrounded by people whom I knew would help me out if I faltered. Maybe it was because I could see Shing Yin gesturing wildly whenever she felt my speech was going too fast, or mumbling. Maybe it was because I just upped my voice level a lot.

...Or maybe, it was because I was speaking for a purpose.

I had a clear goal in my head today, for the new members. Which is odd, if you really know me through and through. Most of the time I'm just randomly talking every which way and you have no bloody idea what the hell this Chinese boy is saying.

But I really wanted to get certain messages across to the members today. And I think I might have achieved it. I think.

...I hope.

I pray.

My goal was to let the members (especially those in the Brainstorming, Editorial, and Hospitality Departments) know that we do care about them. I mean, I look over my shoulder to the past and I realize how disgustingly photo-copied everything was. It was the same thing; year in year out. I wanted to make a change.

I wanted our members to feel like they were truly part of something; not just accessories to a club that needed money. And I want to inspire them. I want all of them; not just the ones under me, to come out of their shells. I want them to dream, imagine, and create, and not be shy about it.

I believe I can do it. It'll take heaps of work and determination. It'll take everything I know and have.

But I believe it will be worth it.

Genesis Origins: Evolve or Die

2010-01-10T16:59:00.006+08:00

It was a hot day, as usual. And for Shaun, it was hard not to curse repeatedly as he walked, for he was dressed formally. And warmly. With every passing minute, he grew more regretful (and uncomfortable) at having chosen to wear black.

He clicked his tongue in mild exasperation. Black. Why did the group of them always have to wear black in this bloody country? One of their worst ideas.

But then again, he thought. I guess it does give a sort of theatrical effect...?

And theatrics, was something they were good at. Whenever the group of them prepared for a fight, or rescue mission, they dressed up. And of course, it was alright for people like Jian, and Kelly, who could control their own body temperatures so they didn't perspire as much (if any at all), but for the rest? Usually, they returned from fights and missions drenched in sweat. In every effect, it was form against function.

...They still got the job done at least.

It had not been an easy decision to just abandon the group as he did, but Shaun still felt it was wrong to proclaim Nick as their new leader just yet. Right now...Right now, he needed the company of old friends.

If only he could find it, and not from the solace of his own mind.

Tonight was the night.

Tonight was the pioneer mission. The battle to start all battles to come. Time for everyone to say good-bye to the lives they were used to leading...

...And say hello, to the war.

Shaun felt himself being stressfully tugged in every direction by each centimeter of his skin. Everyday brought new challenges; that was certainly a given, but it did not bring them enough solutions. When he stepped back to look at what they had done, they were truly not a very big force to be reckoned with. Even with powers.

And now, faced with the prospect of hitting the road for an indefinite length of time, the hardy armor that Shaun had built over himself was beginning to show some cracks. Things used to be so simple and fun; and they used to be able to grow with their powers as they liked.

Now, with Nick playing leader, it was all evolve-or-die.

Disgruntled, Shaun zipped his backpack up, took one last look at his room, and then headed out the door, down the stairs, and out into the world.

When he had walked a little way away, he then decided it was safe and quiet enough tonight to assume a more efficient means of travel. He inhaled, just once; and let the air around him mingle a little more freely with his cells, the clothes he was wearing, and the backpack.

He learned the clothes trick after a very embarrassing air-phase to school.

...And speaking of air-phasing, by the time the next soft breeze blew, Shaun had disappeared.

"Look out!"

A sudden sharp whizz in the air; like a firework rocketing overhead. Next thing Shaun knew, the building next to them had lost the majority of it's wall, and it was crashing down upon them. He worked quickly, this facilitator, but so did Shaun. Without a single command from Nick, Shaun morphed his right arm into a steel jack and jammed it in between himself and the wall; the wall still fell, but did not crush the power users.

"Good job!" shouted Nick. He had adorned himself with protective vines and sharp thorns for this battle; thick layers of sharp foliage twisted around his fingers and knuckles like an alien growth. With another yell, he slammed a fist into the wall Shaun had stopped and turned his palms in counter directions. "I'll take it from here!"

Shaun did not stop to see what Nick planned to do, and instead, started armoring up as well. Sure, black jackets and clothes were nice...but they wouldn't stop a facilitator's shot. And not a moment too soon; another loud whizz, and a ball of hot acid streaked underneath Shaun's outstretched arm.

Jay ran past...then suddenly returned; the facilitator who had fired the acid shot having suddenly been tackled to the floor. "Keep your eyes up, man!"

Shaun grinned despite himself. "Gimme a second..."

Being blessed with a steely determination, Shaun had grown very familiar with the many uses of his powers. He did not want to feel as weak as he did before ever again. And with that, in the same moment he slammed his fist into the wall, the stone particles did not creep slowly across his skin as before. It enveloped him instantly, like a wave of liquid rock.

"Okay," muttered Shaun, fine-tuning his armored appearances with a couple of horns, claws and a rocky tail. "I'm good."

"Then watch the hell out!" cried Kelly. She had been blasted off her feet, and now she forced herself up. "I could use a hand."

"Hmm," mused Shaun thoughtfully, leaning on the wall with his arm outstretched. "You could."

"Put your hands up!" yelled the facilitator across them, his silver gun emitting a sort of high-pitched whine. "You're coming with us."

"Yeah," said Shaun confidently. A crack, then a muffled impact; like that of a brick landing on pudding. A giant cement hand had exploded from the wall next to the facilitator and crushed the facilitator. "That'll happen."

He removed his contact from the wall and helped Kelly up. Today's fight was brutal; it caught them off guard for once. They had been surrounded on almost all sides by silver men with silver guns. But now...It took almost the whole night, but they were almost done.

"Come on," he said to Kelly. "Gotta keep at it, right?"

Kelly looked at him, dusting her clothes off. "Uh-huh...Evolve or die, right?"

"Oh yes," grinned Shaun, glancing at Nick. "Evolve or die."

Genesis Origins: Cold Shoulder

2010-01-09T18:37:00.004+08:00

Privately, in a very remote part of her brain, Kelly was bored.

She grew steadily more weary of the war every day. She was tired of running, tired of fighting, tired of the same company, tired of the alleyway in which they slept, and most definitely, tired of her ruined sneakers.

She sighed, wishing half-heartedly for the third time that day, for leather boots. But no, she knew she wouldn't be able to run in those. And not being able to run when chased by hot molten death, was not a good thing.

...But it would've been a great deal better than having her toes dipped in muck every morning. And again, she only thought this privately.

School would've been a blessing.

As had become her custom in recent times, Kelly grew immeasurably fond of ice-cream. The first was a public reason; Malaysia was just one hot place to be. The second was a personal, closely guarded secret.

For if anyone bothered to check, they would find that no matter how hot the day got (and it did, even at 10 in the morning) Kelly's ice-cream would not melt. At all. Not a single liquid drop of frozen milk dripped from it.

It was as if the ice-cream itself was wholeheartedly trying it's best to simply not melt. But Kelly of course, knew the real reason.

And honestly, if you could make ice-cream not melt, then...why wouldn't you?

Amongst the power users, Kelly was one of the more casual ones. Although some (like Shaun and Liesl) would keep their powers under check at all times, Kelly would pull little tricks all over school all day, and every day. She did not of course, use her powers on people, but on things.

Once, it was a friend's surprise birthday party, and the group of them had bought a cake to celebrate. But the heat of the damn country struck again, and all her (normal) friends were panicking over a steadily more liquid ice-cream cake. It was 5 minutes before the surprise, and without thinking, Kelly stuck her finger into the side of the cake while the others had turned away.

During the surprise party, the group enjoyed a mysteriously, but perfectly chilled birthday cake.

To this effect, Kelly frequently did minor favors for the others; one touch and any drink they wanted would be ice-cold. But all was not as harmless as it seemed.

"You just need practice."

Kelly snorted. Practice. Well, she had big news for Jian; there was a difference between practice, and aim. And right now, the three empty cans that stood across the field remained standing.

"Seriously, Kel," said Jian. "Don't think of it as shooting a gun or something. If you want it to hit the cans, it will hit the cans."

"That's easy for you to say," she grumbled. "How long have you had your powers, huh?"

Jian scratched his head. "Longer than you. But still; I've got to keep track of a few more than you do. So, I don't mean to sound prissy, but you should be able to do this. Just give it another shot."

Kelly exhaled, then seemed to walk away from Jian. Then all of sudden, she turned; arms thrown out as if to receive something. There was a burst of white fog, and three compact balls of snow shot from her palms, and hit the ground just a little bit further off from the cans.

She shot Jian an exasperated glance.

"I can hit a facilitator, no problem you know," she said, bargaining.

"I know. But this is what training's for; can you still hit him in a certain spot and when you have to do a turn-shot?"

Jian gazed at the tins, then his head did a slight, automatic tilt. He was thinking.

"Maybe you should try a different tactic."

"Like?"

"I've told you I practiced, and it worked for me with snowballs," he explained. "But if I didn't tell you that, how would you have hit those cans?"

Kelly seemed taken aback. It seemed surprising that this idea hadn't come to them sooner. "I'll give it a shot," she muttered.

She returned to her previous position, then walked a little way away from Jian. Although the distance she now put between her and the cans was greater, she no longer felt that pinch or nervousness. She knew she had the freedom to do what she liked, and that gave her greater confidence.

"Now."

She turned on the dime and swept her right hand across her sight of the cans. What happened next made even Jian's mouth hang open.

There were no snowballs, or icicles, or frost being emitted by Kelly's palms this time. But two of the cans across the field had exploded in a banana-peel fashion. The liquid within them had frozen, then expanded, sending jagged spikes of ice ripping through the top lid of the can.

Kelly blinked, then turned to Jian, a sheepish grin on her face. "I missed one though."

"Nah," mused Jian. He raised his hand and the can flew across the field and right into it. He popped the drink lid open and took a quick sip. "I was thirsty."

"But really, Kel. Excellent job."

Genesis Origins: Echoes Of The Past

2010-01-09T15:34:00.001+08:00

"You're kidding."

Jay smiled a small smile as he placed the documents on the table for all of them to read. Average looking as they were, the three of them could instantly recognize the five letters printed in bold, on the top left of the document.

"FACLT."

"I wish I was. But it's true," he said gruffly. "The Reaper pulled one hell of a fast one on us."

Jian swore. "Explain."

"He never had 415 powers. I know, right? I mean, of course it was a good idea to let us think that; we were scared and freaked out as hell. But these documents? What they say is pretty convincing. Apparently, the human body can't take that many powers."

Emily frowned. "So...did he even have any powers at all to begin with? Was it really sound manipulation?"

"Yes. I said the human body can't take 415 powers, but it can take more than one. Jian's living proof, or was; this thing says multi-powers are possible. Just not anything more than...say-"

"-what I could do?" interjected Jian.

"I was actually gonna guess a 20, but yes."

Jian sat up straight then. "So, do we actually know what the Reaper had? Does anyone know?"

"I doubt it," said Jay. "And I doubt anyone can really say what was going on that day."

"I want everything."

The man did not smile. It was clear he was making a serious proposition. The man directly opposite him; seated comfortably in a white chair, seemed obviously disinclined. The desk that separated the two was futuristic and heavily adorned with old middle-eastern war trinkets. It was an impressive collection, and an intimidating one. Hiding the doctor's paper work from view was a carved human skull.

"You know that's not possible," he said flatly. "You'll die."

"It is possible," countered Farhan. "I've seen it happen with my own eyes. A boy of 16; he could do many things, perhaps many more if he was tested."

Dr. Rosd rose from his chair and his brows puckered into a frown. "My dear Farhan; the boy's powers are of natural occurrence. What we intend to give you are several artificial powers. Now my question to you is this: Can you grasp that concept or not?"

Farhan did not argue. His head bowed meekly. "Yes."

"Good," concurred the doctor. "But now, we can still give you several powers of your choice. I don't doubt that this will be very useful to you..."

And then the doctor passed a hand over a panel in the wall. With fluid smoothness, all the panels that layered the wall started retreating backwards into a groove. Behind the panels, were thousands upon thousands of sleek, black, metal wall clips. The clips line the entire room.

Each clip, held a syringe. One of simple construction, and labelled plainly. But it was the contents that would be amazing. The doctor smiled at Farhan's incredulity.

"Pick your favorites."

Farhan stood, and briefly glanced at his choices. Then he looked back at the doctor.

"I want everything he has."

"Hmm. Not being very original then, are we? And everything he has...? Do you really need heat and cold?"

Farhan seemed to be thinking. "No. Those two aren't necessary; my sound can deal with the temperature."

The doctor smiled. "You've certainly been taught well. So, what would you like to replace those two?"

"I'll have to think about that. But perhaps...teleportation? Gravity manipulation would be welcome as well; though I know that's still in the early stages of development."

"Consider them yours." The doctor looked pleased. "Anything else you would require, Farhan?"

"Don't call me Farhan," he growled. "That's what I want; a new name."

With that, Farhan reached across the desk and held up one of the doctor's prized relics; the carved half-skull procured from a tomb in Egypt. Not waiting or asking for consent, he fitted the carved bone over his face, letting the doctor's paperwork flutter to the floor. It stayed put, fitting his facial features perfectly like a mask.

"From now on, amongst your ranks; and especially to those power users, I'll be the Reaper."

A Good Day

2010-01-08T15:54:00.002+08:00

Membership drive today was a blast! :D

Thank you Rayvin, Diane, Jolene, and Kaelan for being very willing models. Thank you Shaun, Nick, Justin, and Choong Hao for performing and providing awesome entertainmen. Thank you Shing Yin for making the huge sign I had in mind. Thank you Rushan for making and printing out the forms we needed.

And of course, thank you to everyone who helped out, and everyone who signed up to join Interact this year!

I really believe we did well today. Of course, we started a little bit slow, but things picked up once the guitars and models showed up. We had a relatively steady flow of eager future-Interactor's coming and going from our booth. And it was all awesome fun.

So, you guys did your bit in signing up. Now it's time for me to do my bit.

And I start, by making a promise.

Club Service this year will be the best it has ever been. So keep your eyes wide open. :)

Genesis Origins: Baptism Of Fire

2010-01-07T21:41:00.004+08:00

...Our Father who art in heaven

Liesl Tan didn't like violence.

For one thing, besides getting your hands bloody (and blood was so very difficult to clean off ones sleeves) you had to get physical. Occasionally, far more physical than was necessary, or accounted for. The boys didn't seem to mind.

Liesl did. But then again, in the thick of battle; and when you've got 100 armed soldiers pointing hot, liquid death at you, you stop minding so much about what goes on your sleeves.

You stop minding about whether the people you fight live after all that as well.

Religion was grafted to the spine of Liesl's family. Attendance to the church on Sunday morning was as important as waking up in the morning of every given day. Religion was more than a practice. It was a lifeblood; a connecting bond of hope, humanity, and downright good.

On this Sunday morning, Liesl Tan prayed with blood on her hands.

...Hallowed be thy name...

"God, help me...I'm so lost."

Alone on the putrid, rain-drenched streets of Kuala Lumpur. Before her, a shiny human figure; its once proud glow marks stained with deep red.

"...I'm so lost..."

How many lives had been taken in this war? How many senseless killings in the split-end of the days?

Thy kingdom come

How many sins?

Thy will be done

...The scale of right and wrong tipped ever more with each passing sun.

On Earth as it is in Heaven

Liesl found herself with less and less to hold onto with each passing day. And it did not help that Jian, Shaun, Jay and Emily had left the group. Jian's departure in particular had struck her cold; the mere infliction of her power caused him great grief.

What was a girl to do?

Picking herself up after composing herself (relatively), Liesl quickly whispered a prayer, then passed her hands once over the silver corpse. The steel ignited in seconds. She bit her lip. Within a minute, her fire would melt the steel, and form a caving tomb for the body within. In another minute, the molten metal and flesh would decompose, and carbonize. The facilitator would just be another unrecognizable stain on the pavement.

And this, this; Liesl found to be unbearable.

Her conscience weighed heavy with the mounting death toll. And worse; as a Christian, a child of God, she had had a hand in it all. Above everything else that was happening, or was going to happen, she wished more than anything to make contact with the four who dropped out...

Give us this day our daily bread...

A crack. Liesl started. It didn't come from the burning corpse; Liesl had absolute control over her flames, she could make them hit a rap beat if she wanted. Instead, the sound came from behind her. She turned, hands raise; ignited with a green flame.

To her surprise, she was not faced with another silver gun. Instead, a thin metal pipe held in shaky, familiarly skinny arms.

Jian's arms.

And forgive us our trespasses...

Immediately, Liesl lowered her hands. But Jian did no such thing. He raised the pipe higher, as if guarding against a terrible enemy.

"What? Jian..." Liesl started forward, but Jian gave the pipe a little swing.

"You never saw me."

As we forgive those who trespass against us...

"You're being ridiculous! I'm your friend," reasoned Liesl. "It's not like I could control what powers I got..."

At that, Jian brought the pipe down so suddenly that Liesl jumped despite herself. She knew she had infinitely more power than Jian had at the moment, but she was aware of how temperamental he was lately. The pipe rebounded off the floor with a sharp clang; Jian threw himself back with a violent spasm of movement.

"You don't understand," he said; breathless as if he had recently run a mile. "My powers were everything I had."

And lead us not into temptation...

"But it's not my fault! You can't pin this on me," cried Liesl. "You didn't have to leave! Now Shaun's left too, and everything the four of us used to have is gone."

Jian stepped back. He scowled at her, but his head was tilted to a side; a dead giveaway that he was considering what she had just said.

But deliver us from the evil one...

"Fine," he said after a minute. "You're right. But that doesn't mean you saw me today."

"Jian..."

He shook his head. "We're planning something, Liesl. And you can't be involved. We'll meet again though."

Before she could react, Jian had retreated quickly across the street. Liesl made a move to follow him, but at that very moment, a bus passed by; horns blaring into her ears. When that random obstruction had gone, so had Jian. A subway tunnel on the other side of the road seemed to mock her.

Furious with herself, Liesl let off a tempestuous blast of heat. Why hadn't she just grabbed him and dragged him back to base?

But then a feeling of sudden calm started to settle within her. And it was then when Liesl realized that meeting Jian today gave her what she needed to move on. To at least live with purpose.

For Jian had said "We" instead of "I" when he let slip that a plan was being formed. And that meant the others; wherever they were gathered, were safe as well.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen.

One Bad Day

2010-01-07T19:38:00.004+08:00

So I would like to apologize to Kelly, for I won't be able to give you that drawing you wanted for your birthday.

Granted, after the events of today, I'm kinda less than eager to start drawing again for some time.

You see, I accidentally left my file under my desk yesterday.

So someone came along, and I guess they decided it would be a good idea to take all of my drawing's out of it and do God know's what with them

That's right folks.

Everything I've ever scanned into this computer; the real, physical thing, is gone. Stolen, and lost for probably ever.

...Why do there have to be so many bad people in the world?

Genesis Origins: Jump

2010-01-04T14:53:00.003+08:00

Time and space.

For everyone who knew about it, the two were curiously, and irrevocably interlinked; never to be parted for even the slightest moment, lest chaos unfold upon the universe.

For Jay, he ripped the two apart at the seams. Daily.

These days, getting up to walk seemed like a joke.

After the events of the previous year, where Shaun had been (somewhat) brought back to life, Jay had been toying with his newfound powers. With his ability to travel back and forth into the past and future, he was in every aspect, free.

But of course, being the insistent go-getter, freedom of this sort soon wore thin. Jay discovered that although he could travel back forth through the fabrics of time, he could not as easily travel where he wanted. Super-speed was one thing; super-stamina was another. It was a private fact that Jay kept only to himself, but he knew that if he had not trained all his life at running, he himself would not have been able to survive the sheer extremes of his power.

He kept it quiet, but running Shaun and Liesl to Australia and back took a lot out of him.

And he wanted more. He wished not to be limited by this very human factor.

He made his decision. Rising from the couch he had been laying on for the past half hour, he ascended the stairs to his room. Rummaging through a mess of books for a second, he then pulled out a rather battered looking volume. A borrowed library book from his sister's college.

Quantum Physics.

And thus, day by day, secretly, Jay read. Much unlike Physics lessons at school, his passion to access a deeper part of his powers which he just knew was there drove him to keep reading. In a week, he had finally understood completely Einstein's theory. In a month, the fabric of time. In two months...

"The Wormhole Theory," read Jay softly. He kept his eyes in line with his finger, which traced itself across the words of the book. He found it easier to focus this way.

"Time-travel...transversability...no, no..." Jay's eyes darted across the page, almost desparate to find some crucial bit of information which he knew he needed. "Superluminal...?"

He bit his lip, then scanned the foot-note.

"Faster-than-light travel..."

He sighed in exasperation. He had already tried faster-than-light travel; without it, Shaun would not stand amongst their ranks now. But then, as he calmed down, he realized something.

He had wasted his time. For all this time, he had been travelling slower or faster than the speed of light.

He had yet to try travelling at the speed of light itself. As it said on Page. 68, weird things could happen...

Jay slapped himself on the forehead, dropped the book, and marched himself down stairs. In the space of his living room, he set his gaze upon the yard outside. It was time to try something new. Shaun had his new powers, Jian had his new powers; now he, Jay, would have his own new power as well.

He focused on the space of the yard. But he did not take any steps. Instead, he tried a different approach; accessing his powers of speed and movement without the catalyst of his movement. He squinted, the tiled driveway before him was very, very inviting...

A bird called, and distracted, Jay looked up.

...And saw the top of the USJ 6 condominium's. And almost instantly, he felt his whole body being squeezed together hard, as if the air around him decided he wasn't eligible to their space. He felt choked; his lungs felt like they were compacting. Then...

Bamft!

The Year Ahead

2010-01-03T20:53:00.002+08:00

Tomorrow will be my last first day of school.

...Quite honestly, I don't know what to make of it. I don't know how I should make of it. I don't know what I'll choose to do when I know how to make of it.

...Does that make sense to you at all?

I don't know a lot of things. But I can say at the very least, that I know what I don't know.

So 5E? 2010? Meh. Bring it on.

I have better luck on even numbered years at any rate. :)

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T16:04:00.002+08:00

It's 2010.

That certainly has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Take care, God bless, and may all of you who read this (and even the ones that don't) have a very good year; maybe even make it the new best one of your life.

Stick strong.

So I Drew An "Ikran"

2009-12-31T12:29:00.003+08:00

Y'know, from Avatar. The first flying thing Jake Sully rides.

So ye-ah. It was my first real shot at trying to cram in some amount of texture without referring to an actual picture, unlike the Spider-Man one. Tell me what you think? Am I getting better at this, or have I stunted potential growth permanently?

...Aiks.

Stick strong, and Happy New Year's Eve!

My Prettiest Friend

2009-12-29T11:51:00.004+08:00

To be completely honest, I've only ever been good at words. And even then, I'm not the best. But I walk the path of poets and lovers now, by giving you all I can, in words.

I've discovered love is real. I do. I used to think it was just a dream; an unending cycle of hormonal spasms and lust. There was a time, which now seems so long ago, that I turned myself into the closest picture of misery that I could. I wanted to be alone, to be friendless, to be the emotionally troubled soul. It went on for days and weeks and months. But now, I realize; I had been wasting my time.

By some miracle; by some divine intervention in my fate, I met you.

Not everything changed. But the parts of me; the darkest, vilest, blackest bits of my self were shown light. All indecision and doubt seemed to be washed away. I felt steadily more whole; more human. I had hope, and faith, and I looked forward to every tomorrow that God would bless me with. It's like I was growing up again, but this time, like a separate entity altogether.

It's like you kept me apart from all the negativity in my life. You washed my eyes clean and clear. And I could see like never before, for the only thing that registered to my eyes was a positive light.

You changed me in every good way I didn't think was possible for me anymore.

...And I could write about you for as long as this little web-page could stretch. But really; three words do some it up.

I love you. :)

Fibre

2009-12-27T19:00:00.003+08:00

I want booze.

Why?

For the sole notion of drinking booze when you're underage. Do I like drinking booze? Not really.

Kinda like a lotta things I used to do for the sake of its title. Only now, do I realize, that the perception of what's "cool" is heavily subjective.

And thus, I no longer want booze.

Any questions?

Tribute To The Best, 2009

2009-12-24T11:44:00.000+08:00

Hi.

So, yes, this is the annual corn-harvest. This is the time of the year where I get all sappy and mushy and start parading around the town with banners, dancers, a marching band, and booze aplenty. :)

In no particular order:

Straight Forward

Our band. At last. After toiling for years, and jamming for...hours, we made our debut performance this year for Leo I.U. 2009. And...I think it was awesome. We don't get to decide at any rate, the crowd does. But yeah. For that performance, Justin, Shaun, Jun Wei, Leon, Keith, and Joseph. Thank you! The performance would've been nothing without you.

...To the two in the band that I can say with confidence that I'm closest to, Justin and Shaun. You guys are like the brothers I never had, but brothers I can say with conviction, that I can appreciate for a lifetime. Primary and high school; the two of you represented life-lines, and solid anchor points for me. I thank the hell out of both of you. :)

And of course, next year, we're gonna come back just as strong, if not stronger. And yes, some people might say it's not wise to say what you're gonna do online, but we will, and always will be, Straight Forward. :D

Kenneth

I owe you thanks and an apology. You know what for. You've always been a wonderful friend, at times when I haven't. And just so you know, I do look up to you. So stop burning down schools. :)

Jay

For always being able to lend an understanding ear when I needed it, and being able to provide good advice. Especially concerning chicks. Thanks, dude.

Farhan, Nufail, and Zarif

Thank-freaking-God we ended up in the same class. Seriously! I can't imagine getting through this year without the three of you in class. We always had something to talk about, and on Farhan's part, something to sing about. :) Oh, and the guitars too. Every day, the guitars...haha. But damn, it was fun. You guys made it fun. And of course, awesome. Haley Williams, ftw.

Julia, Joanne, and Liesl

...Well, why do you think I keep coming to 4B? Cuz the three of you are always there! xD Honestly? You gu-...um, girls, make excellent conversation. On Jo's part, none whole-heartedly intelligent or scientific conversation (think, flying hippo's and purging whales), but conversation nonetheless, which is entertaining as hell. Julia, you're my ponteng-partner. And Liesl, well...SUP!

Azhar, John, and Razlan

I never would've survived Interact intact without you guys. I kid you not. You guys were like, sanity pills, man. And of course, I learnt and experienced many cool things. Trips to KL, a certain rooftop, and just plain old breakfast at a mamak. Thank you, seniors. :D

Nick

I think we got a whole lot closer this year. Compared to...more tense times. But hey, I think we both did a pretty good job of putting that all behind us. I thank you, for taking a fresh look at Genesis, and being able to entertain people with a variation of it. More coming up next year, right? :P

...Last but not least, Tiger. Thank you, for making the twilight months of 2009 so very memorable for me. And even better, we'll get to make new memories next year. I always wondered how a life like this would feel like, you know. Now I do. And boy, is it awesome. :)

So yes. This is the list. And of course, it's a summary. I can't say everything I really want to say to you guys here. Maybe I will, when I get to see you all face to face. But for now, this is my testimonial, as your humbled but honored friend.

Thank You All.

Merry Christmas! :)

Elementary

2009-12-23T09:38:00.002+08:00

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

-Sherlock Holmes

Watched the Sherlock Holmes Premiere last night. Yeah, I know, right? First ever premiere I've ever been to. And yes, I do find this daily event very much worth blogging about.

Went with Audrey, Chia Sing and Shaun. With, in all manner of positive effect, made the movie that much better. The thing is, we kinda got there late. So we kinda only ended up with half-an-hour to eat. And our food kinda only arrived in the last 15 minutes.

And the cinema was kinda on the other side. Of 1 Utama.

...Ye-ah. We were ten minutes late.

But still! It was a good show for me. It wasn't horribly cliche or anything. And it's cool, when you can actually see in live-action, a childhood hero. Y'know what I'm talking about...."The greatest detective in the world". Seriously. I was crushed when I read that he was a fictional character. xD

Stupid Encyclopedia of the world...

Not one to usually give ratings of movies on this thing, but if you were curious, I give it a 8/10. Maybe, 8.5.

...Can you tell I liked it? xD

Stick strong, fellas.

F**k That Coldplay Song

2009-12-21T12:19:00.002+08:00

Ah...youth.

Clicking around Facebook these days, popping over at some of my younger friends profiles, I can finally look back and laugh. Laugh, like how my seniors would have if they documented what I wrote down online what I was doing 4 years ago.

Not stories, mind. But the fact that all of them are currently trying to make themselves sound like complicated, messed up, loners. When in all actuality, they have; in their own way, the perfect lives.

Ah...youth.

Plunk

2009-12-19T14:21:00.002+08:00

I've got bad news.

Considering a lot of people can't make it on the 22nd for the photo-shoot, and also because something came up in my life which I think is a margin more important than dressing up and snapping pictures...

The photo-shoot on the 22nd will be postponed. Indefinitely. Sorry to dissapoint you guys.

...Maybe I might try to make it happen sometime after Christmas and before New Year's Eve. If, you guys are still available, of course.

Thank you for your patience and I hope, understanding.

Oishi

2009-12-18T20:36:00.002+08:00

I can personally say, with much conviction, that this is the best picture of my family in a long time. Good thing we went to Japan, huh?

So yeah. Whoa. A picture. I know, right?

...Sorry if I got your hopes up though. This is the first, and last one of Japan on my blog. Cuz' ye-ah; it took 3 freaking minutes just to upload this one. So, I'm stopping here. At the first one. But I like it. This is one of the only pictures of my family that I really like, and I feel that it deserves a special place here.

We were at the Mitsui building, and if this computer had 3D, you would be able to see the Imperial Palace just behind us. Amazing view, absolutely beautiful. Coincidentally, it was casual Friday that day, a fact that I will remember for a lifetime. So naturally, they didn't make a big fuss about us not being completely black-tie.

Good memories.

Touchdown

2009-12-13T20:12:00.002+08:00

So I guess I didn't exactly manage to update my blog everyday, for every single event of every day I spent in Japan. But, I've got good reason; we moved hotels like, 5 times. So yes, it's a little bit hard to get Internet connection in places like Hakone where the nearest port is 20 miles away. Capishe?

...Not trying to be hostile or anything. Just wanna bluntly explain the situation.

Oh. In case you don't read titles and you haven't noticed, I'm back! Now back in Malaysia. Gosh, I need some curry. Like, real mamak-style curry, not that weird Japanese kind where it's kinda sweet and stuff.

So yes. This is just the meet-and-greet-ish post. I'll try to post some pictures, along with a proper post of Japan. If you're interested, of course. :)

...Doesn't matter either way, actually. Stick strong, peeps.

Nippon, Go Pt. 1: Can You Say So-Ba?

2009-12-05T23:20:00.002+08:00

Hello, world.

So turns out, Japan has Internet after all.

Oh, f***ing yeah!

Right now, it's about 11.30 pm in Ikebuko now; we're just a a few train stops away from Tokyo! Ikebuko means "Pond Bag" if you translate it! Which, to a certain someone I know, kinda fits that we're staying here for the night.

Yes, for once, I'm going to blog about a holiday. Cuz' I wanna remember everything about this one.

Plane ride was terrible though. Not because of the plane itself; by all means, it was a good

un'. But I got sick during the flight. And lemme tell you, when you've got the flu, and the whole H1N1 thing is still being taken seriously by the Japanese government, and you've gotta spend a whopping 3 minutes in front of the immigration officer, the thought of sneezing then is exactly equivalent to a death sentence. Freaky dudes.

Took a lot of train rides today. And yeah! Thanks to genetic information, and that I've inherited my dad's navigation skills, I can actually find my way from the hotel, to the train station in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and Akihabara. Woot. Me and my sister took a train back from Shinjuku earlier on too; solo. :D

Ooh, one thing about Japan; we've had no fixed meal times. Seriously; meal times are like, non-existant here. You eat as much as you can, whenever you can, and you do it all usually standing up. Not a lot of trash bins here either; you gotta dump it, you gotta keep it with you.

But damn. Just one day here and I can lead a choir into singing long praises about the food here. First meal was on the train; some sandwiches from a lunch cart (ding; Harry Potter). Second "meal" was a bunch of pastries from this bakery. It was good. Last meal for today was at a sort of streetside vendor; hot soba noodles with chicken katsu don. Ye-ah; oishi indeed.

So ye-ah; I'm not really good at all this jakun-ing stuff. But hey, these are my honest opinions, and I really, really enjoyed today, even though we were just settling in. Eh, screw settling in. if there's another thing about Japan, is that if you're not Japanese, and you come here, you will feel fat, ugly, and shabby. I'm not trying to insult anyone; that's just the way things are here. Everyone who's anyone who tries to be no one, is freaking beautiful. Screw your Robert Pattinson's and Taylor Lautner's and Swift's: Everyone on the freaking street could be a model.

...And yes. I miss you more than I thought I would. It's only been a day! I actually really regretted not bringing my phone with me; turns out the flight last night left at 11. We said good-bye too early... and even worse, I had no Pokemon Yellow to turn to when I was bored. Gasp.

Thank you to Kenneth by the way, for wishing me a safe flight. Forgot to mention that to you before I left :)

See you guys real soon; we're gonna hit Osaka tomorrow with everything we've got. :D

Leaving Your Town, Again

2009-12-04T14:55:00.002+08:00

I just realized how good Air Supply songs are. Seriously; if you're a teenager, and you think you know what love is, go take a couple doses of their music. Long-ass, (I quote Shing Yin) 'poetic' lyrics; it's just pretty nice.

...So I'll be going to Japan in 3 hours! :D

Yeah. Finally. A holiday I can be pretty happy about sinking my teeth in to. So far, I've promised like...I think 10 people I know, gifts/souvenirs/bread in cans. So yes! I shall not dissapoint. Or at least, I'll try hard not to.

My sister wants to go there and hang out with Japanese B-Boys. Which is cool. My mission?

...I'm gonna find a Pokeball that actually works in Japan. Who knows? Of all the random technology they've come up with over the years, why not a Pokeball? xD So yes; that's my ridiculous resolution for my trip there.

Disneyland oughta be fun too...woot.

I think I'll miss you guys. Ahahaha...ye-ah, I know it's only ten days, but eh. We don't hang out each and everyday of the holidays, so if you do the math, it's been a while. And hey; I'll especially miss you. But like I said, I'll be back in 240 hours. Clock's ticking...

Thank you for reading this. If you have, I consider it just as equally as if you've come to the airport with me and bid me adieu with much flamboyant waves of goodbye and tearful(?) hugs.

Genesis Special Pt. 1

2009-12-03T10:57:00.004+08:00

Jakob Thorn was the assistant book keeper to the oldest and biggest library in Kuala Lumpur. Which wasn't saying much, all things considered. All things, being his original aspiring dream to be a pilot. Trips abroad and different kinds of exposure; things got lost in transit. Now, Jakob waited on his latest submission to the academy. With luck, he would be a full-fledged pilot by the end of the year.

But for now; to make ends meet, he had to go see his mentor. A lecture on the Greek decimal system would be his most interesting event today.

Mr. Faris' office door was chilly to touch; Jakob braced himself for a blast of super cold air. That was the thing in Malaysia; air-conditioning was a necessity, and they always seemed to crank it up to the maximum. Jakob paused for a moment to draw his jacket closer around his neck, then stepped through.

The office was small in size, and unusual in shape. Circular, whitewashed walls spanned across both sides; both adorned heavily with bookshelves and some makeshift ones; Jakob spotted at least three planks of wood laden with books, supported by some mismatched metal braces. The room was well lit though, despite the clutter. Overhead, bright fluorescent bulbs cast clear illumination on the room. Smiling at the overall stature of his mentor's office, Jakob approached Mr. Faris' desk.

As always, Mr. Faris had his head buried in a book. He had hardly noticed Jakob's presence. Gingerly pulling up a chair to avoid the stack of books next to the desk, Jakob sat down, and cleared his throat.

Mr. Faris looked up. "Ah, Jakob! You're here. Good, good. Give me a minute, would you?"

Jakob nodded, waiting. Mr. Faris was unlike all the other senior book keepers. He had studied abroad; England, to be exact. Years of exposure to television and westerners, he had an accent not unlike that of Jakob's own; different than Asians, but not quite like that of the West. Mismatched.

Mr. Faris finished the page he was reading, sighed, dog-eared it, and then put it aside. Then from beneath the desk, he pulled two books; heavy volumes covered in blue leather. He handed one to Jakob, and cleared his throat.

"If you will, open page 56."

Propping the book on his side of the desk, Jakob flipped it open and started running through it. Along the way, he caught glimpses of the first few chapters. He was surprised to see that the book wasn't in English; in fact, almost every page was heavy with what Jakob could only guess as Ancient greek. Every few pages there would be symbols and runes along with their respective descriptions. Finally, on page 56, a chart.

It was the emptiest page on the book. A chart, with the description of just three symbols. He glanced up at Mr. Faris, who smiled.

"Yes, Jakob. I want to affirmate your basis in Greek symbols. Starting with these three: I'm sure you know what they are?"

Jakob nodded. Of course he knew. The first, the one that looked like slightly like a mushroom, was the Omega. The second, looking like a simple loop, was Alpha. The last had Jakob slightly confused. A circle. Mr. Faris observed Jakob's study of the symbols, and nodded.

"Alpha, Omega, and Zero, is the last one, Jakob. And yes, I understand your perplexity; the number zero was not invented by the Greek. But it still holds great meaning."

Mr. Faris lowered his spectacles. "The question is, are you aware of those meanings?"

Jakob shook his head. Sitting up straight, he readied himself for the information. Mr. Faris tended to be very detailed.

"Alpha, or the first. The leading alphabet for the Greek," began Mr. Faris. "From it, we obtained the 'A' in Latin and Cyrillic. Lamprias described it as the first sound that children make; science has described it as a particle! But no...they are wrong."

Jakob raised an eyebrow. "How so, sir?"

"I'm sure you are aware of the religion of Christianity, Jakob?" inquired Mr. Faris. "Good. Then you are also aware, of the Fish? A symbol of Christ, most people say! They are right...but what they say is only a half-truth."

"Christianity was heavily despised by the Romans back in the day. To meet another and to confirm his religion as a Christian, a man would draw an arc in the ground. To reveal himself as a Christian, would have the other man draw a second arc; completing the Fish. So you see, it was not so much of a symbol, as a password. Another interesting concept were the Apostles themselves, if you had paid close attention to Bible Week. They were referred to as 'fishers of men'."

"But again, that is not the significance, Jakob," said Mr. Faris, smiling. "There is another secret, one not readily accepted by the light of the masses. What I tell you now, you tell no one else, you understand?"

Jakob nodded. "Of course, sir."

Nodding, Mr. Faris leaned in closer. "I've told you how the Latin 'A' was derived from the Greek Alpha. But do you know where the Alpha itself was derived from?"

Jakob shook his head.

"The Fish."

Tangy

2009-12-01T10:39:00.003+08:00

It's a beautiful Monday morning. It really is.

Something made my morning. A blogger and close friend of mine recently rejoined the sphere, and though I didn't realize it till' just now, I'm pretty happy all the same.

I'm pretty sure I've said quite a bit of "stuff" about blogging in general before. In her comeback post of my blogger friend, she gave a list of reasons explaining her temporary disappearance. I'd have to say, their pretty damn true.

Which brings me to this. Replace every word "gamer" with "blogger", and you'll get my drift.

All About Genesis

2009-11-30T14:41:00.003+08:00

Genesis Season 4 will be restarted on the 16th of December, along with the first two episodes to provide as catch-up.

Photo-shoot shall take place on the 22nd. Contact me if you wanna take part in it, or if you can't make it. Address of the photo-shoot will be given upon request, and not here. Avoid party-crashers, people.

So yeah. I know it's been quite a long break, and it will be a further two weeks before everything comes together, but hey. I'm in an awesome mood these days, and with such moods comes the willpower and the belief in myself to be able to do everything. And yeah, I promised you guys a photo-shoot, so a photo-shoot there will be. :D

Stick strong.

What A World, What A Life

2009-11-28T18:07:00.003+08:00

I can honestly say, with all the conviction in the world, that I'm the happiest I have ever been in all my life.

I may have very well come upon my own personalized meaning for it, as well as my very own set of guidelines. Huh, imagine that; a guide to life.

But yes. Better than a reset button, or a retry, or an all out character deletion. Better than anything material, or mental, or digital. In the words of the song, for once in my life, this is mine, and no one can take it away from me.

...Unless they happen to have unusually loud mouth's and keen eyes. But yes! Even so...

I don't worry anymore. I don't hate. I don't get jealous. And I've cut back on profanities, penny-pinching, and general Mentos consumption.

So don't you go worrying, and cast aside any doubts.

We have all the time in the world.

So Much For That

2009-11-25T12:23:00.002+08:00

I think this thing is becoming more of an online diary each and every day. Cuz' I doubt anyone really reads this thing except myself, and the occasional stalker.

...Okay, I flatter myself. I have no stalkers.

So here I am, lost in transition between my old house and the new, an add math textbook in front of me (it's the holidays!) and my mind full of song lyrics and quotes and notion of absolute insanity that no one really appreciates if I type down because as stated before, this is now my online diary. Which, if you haven't already pieced together, is retarded.

Honestly? I can't wait for college. I feel sometimes that the relationships I've generated (so to speak) with everyone I know is liable to crumble at any given moment, day, or simple slip of the tongue. Seriously. High school's not my...thing.

...I think this sorta phase has happened before. It seems to strike me down whenever the holidays are here, and I haven't been out for a while. And a while is being counted in hours, not days or weeks. C'mon; it's the freaking last good holiday of our collective lives before Form 5. Why aren't we going out?

Back to Neopets...

Thorns

2009-11-24T17:09:00.003+08:00

Some people think the character I use in some of the very short stories I post up here, Jakob, is somehow, in some ungodly way, related to the Jacob from Twilight.

Wha-?

And no, I didn't spell Jacob wrong. That's how it's spelt where I first got this name from. He was a character from a book trilogy a million times better than Twilight.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy. Which I know, right now, sounds a lot like white noise to a lot of you who are reading this right now, and I don't blame you. It's not a particularly popular trilogy. Hell, I wouldn't even have known about it myself if I hadn't randomly picked it up when I was 11. And that was because I thought the cover of the first book was cool.

But yeah. It's a good book. But now, the final book of the series has been shrunk down and deposited far into the corners of book stores nationally. Why? Simple. There was no vampire in it. There was no helpless damsel in it. There were no Edward Cullens, or Jacob Blacks, but if there were, they would be eternally scorned by the light of the main characters. Because they were persona's with characters infinitely better than that of Stephanie Meyer could have come up with.

Fan-girls don't appreciate depth. They don't appreciate good character development. They don't appreciate creativity. The only margins of fantasy they will ever know, is one comprised of a whiny 17 year old girl who complains because her boyfriend doesn't sink her teeth into her neck.

...Imagine if the Renaissance period had fan-girls. Leonardo would've done a Van Gogh.

Can You Say, Cha-Ching?

2009-11-20T15:17:00.004+08:00

I am my family's own personal gardener.

Just finished mowing the lawn, trimming the hedge, rooting up the lalang and weeding out the -well, weeds. I work for as many hours as required and am payed with tonight's dinner. Jubilations.

I don't get an allowance. Nor do I get money for doing chores. My parents go by the principle of "We raised you, we fed you, we threw out your diapers; your turn." They stick by it like the law. Everything I do is counted as what I'm supposed to do, and should not require royalties. Which actually, if you lived your whole life like this, is pretty damn okay.

...I suppose my 10 bucks a week during school weeks does count as allowance though, right?

I don't bother turning on the radio anymore when I get in the car. All they play is trash.

...And that's your random post and ending for the day, folks. Stick strong.

Happy Dagger

2009-11-18T16:50:00.003+08:00

Can you tell I was in a romantic mood?

...Cuz' I'm not, really. I drew all this stuff quite a while back, but never got the chance to scan it into the main house computer. So now, while I've got the chance, hey, I'll upload all the crap I drew.

I'm thoroughly bored.

I should ditch drawing all these curly, hearty, love things.

I Thought It Was Candy

2009-11-17T14:53:00.005+08:00

Well, I did.

Isn't that what they all say is in that Box? Because love is sweet, intoxicating, beautiful, mesmerizing, enticing, addictive, lasting forever...the whole nine yards.

But from personal life experience, it's also really, really hard. Like, trying to cut a brick with paper, hard. Or...or...eating um...raw eggs. Without cracking them open.

But hey, let's open the Box anyway. That's how Pandora did it, that's how Romeo did it, and I quote Tony Stark when I say: It's worked pretty damn well so far.

...And I suddenly totally understand the term "bittersweet".

Oh, I Get It

2009-11-15T18:25:00.002+08:00

So apparently, you suck at doing that "hint-hint" thing.

However, it is confirmed that I'm slow on the uptake.

Meh. Win or lose; ain't it all just a game?

Donkeys

2009-11-13T18:10:00.004+08:00

So why are guys always pictured as the bad...well, for want of a better word- guys?

Be it in a relationship, or a movie, or those ever cliche chick lit books, somehow, the girlfriend/director/author (whom I highly suspect to be female) tend to make the guys character look like a jackass.

...Why?

I sometimes think the world focuses too much on women's rights. Not that I'm against it mind; I am very much pro-um...women. But yeah. It tends to overlook the fact that it's only every other loser that hits girls, or makes them feel bad.

And even those rare media where the girl plays the jackass, at the end of the movie, she somehow has the male protagonist fall for her, and forgive her, and all is well. Wha-?

I do understand that there is a certain amount of cliche-ness necessary for the production of such media, but come on. Girls, why do you think we hate going to watch chick-flicks with you? Why do you think guys all around the world cringe at the sight of and chick lit you hold in your hand? I'm sure this isn't the only reason, but I can guarantee, it's at least one of them.

Something the world tends to overlook: Girls are sensitive, and they are to be treated with care, and are human.

So are guys. But somehow, for some reason, we're expected to be able to handle being our girlfriend's personal cat-toys. And some idiots actually acclimatise to that role. From my point of view, the only reason why we put ourselves through any amount of difficulty is to either impress the girls, or protect the girls.

To put it in layman's terms, if you were carrying a baby girl and accidentally dropped her, you would pick her right back up, yes? See if she was hurt, see if she's okay...

Would you not do the same if it was a baby boy? Or would you just leave him there? Of course, you would do the same, no?

But now? When both the baby boy and girl are 15 years older?

The girls are tripping the guys.

It Doesn't Fit

2009-11-09T18:35:00.002+08:00

I wrote this for my prettiest friend

But while trying not to prove that I care

Trying not to make all my moves in one motion and scare her away

Well she can't see she's making me crazy now

I don't believe she knows she's amazing how

She's got me holding my breath, so I'd never guess

That I'm a none such unsuitable, suited for her

-Prettiest Friend, Jason Mraz

...I like thinking I'm in love, when I actually don't really know what it's supposed to really feel like, or what's really supposed to happen. From what I've heard, it takes years; I've only been around for...16 of them. I'd like a hopeful maybe to be an option.

But then again, throughout the bloody, gory, heart-ripping history of this blog, I've been down that path...about...4 or 5 times. At least.

So what now?

...Do I have to care about what other people think? Cuz' honestly, that's a real chore.

There's a girl. There's always a girl. And thought there may be other girls, and your friends tell you it's not worth it, and that she'll break your heart into a million little hypothetical pieces, you won't really care. Partly because everyone's a hypocrite, but mostly because she's that girl.

The invariably perfect person for this brief kiss of life that you get. The stage of euphoric high of living well, and large. The person that can match your every whim, your every out-take, your every action, reaction, do, don't, low, high, distance, and close-relation. And somehow, when you pay closer attention, she starts popping up everywhere you both want and don't want her to be.

Gotta love that cosmic balance...

But then I tend to push people away. Really, really hard. So hard, that it hurts them and makes me wonder everyday how I still have friends in the first place, let alone someone to even try to love.

...If life were like a video game, I'd have deleted this character a loooong time ago.

Some Place

2009-11-08T23:20:00.006+08:00

So I went to an orphanage today in Puchong. The home was called Rumah Shalom.

On the car ride there, I didn't know what to expect. Would it be some fortunate, well-funded building? Or would it be a rundown dump? I had no idea.

But when we got there, it was a regular Joe house; a little dirty, and messy, but still not so bad. So again, not expecting anything, we stepped inside. Our only thoughts, was to do the survey, see what they absolutely needed, and then get out of there.

It's hard not to get caught up in things.

When we went around the house, checking the place out, I think all of us came to realize how much these kids were lacking. Books kept in broken shelves, bed stands rusted and bent, a single beam of wood holding up the stairs so it wouldn't collapse and injure someone. But what really broke my heart was a bunch of trophies the kids earned stashed to a side, because they didn't have the space or extra cash to get a cabinet to really show them off. Even more so when I had to interview the pastor that ran the place. You find out that these kids don't only lack parents, or Astro, or air-conditioning.

They lack opportunities. Opportunities you don't get when you have to share the same house with 30 other people that don't share your blood. Even when they want to have those opportunities, they feel the pinch, because tuition bites into the funds that pay for food, and bills.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt this way about the place. But the thing is, I'm one of a few who even had the chance to witness and have just a glimpse of what it's like.

And it's hell. Now I know why our Rotarian doesn't find it funny that he buys them fish every week. It's not, not at all. We can have it whenever we like, but I doubt most of us ever think about the cost of it.

We're gonna do something about this. Maybe as a club, maybe as a people, or maybe just as a bunch of friends who want to help out. Either way, we'll do something.

#3 Ascending The Ranks

2009-11-06T22:30:00.003+08:00

The fall of night came quickly and suddenly as it always did in such lands nearest to the Equator. The evening was no different than those preceding it, but tonight was special in more ways than one.

Deciding that personal hygiene and comfort was to be placed as the highest priority, the Users had waited by the nearest shopping mall. They waited patiently until late night became early morning, and then proceeded to break into the mall. A plan was discussed, the group split up, going their separate ways within the mall. An hour later, they regrouped.

Reasonably cleaner and better dressed, the small group of teenagers huddled in a circle by the floor; all talking quickly in hushed whispers.

The unlikely military strategists of the future. Who would've thought?

Nick laid out a wide sheet of blue paper across the floor. On it, a detailed drawing of a sail-shaped building. Various amounts of text and numbers were scribbled on different sections of the paper. Smaller diagrams of what seemed to be different rooms and chambers within the building were also marked and highlighted. The whole thing was done in silver ink, so the plan shone in the torchlight.

"Alright," he announced, clearing his throat. "First things first; currently, we are without a leader, since Jian left. So, I would like to start a vote on who should take his place."

No one moved or said anything. Then Shaun spoke.

"I suppose you would like a hand at it, eh, Nick?" he said. His tone was casual, but his eyes were hard.

Nick breathed. "Well, yeah. I suppose I would like to throw my hat in the ring, if that's okay with everyone."

Shaun smiled. "And do you think you can even do half the things Jian did while he was still here? And mind you; he never called himself our leader."

A few of them shifted nervously, awaiting Nick's response. One way or another, this would get blown out of proportion. It was just a matter of time.

"I believe at least," began Nick softly, straightening himself. "That I would be able to keep a cool head in situations were Jian had not."

The group held it's breath. Shaun nodded slowly, then rose to his feet.

"And I believe in turn, that you're not ready. I'll take my leave now."

"Shaun..." muttered Ken. "Don't do this, man. We already lost three of us."

Shaun turned then, in a sudden quickness. His expression was still relatively calm, but now his eyes seemed to spew fire.

"No. No, Ken. Nick lost three of us. And I don't know why you're putting yourself with him with all this 'we' business."

He turned once more, pulling the jacket he had just acquired a little higher around his neck. "I'm outta here. And if any of you follow me; any of you, I'll kill you."

His footsteps trailed off into the darkness. After a short while, Nick spoke again.

"That was...unfortunate. But if you will, let's take a look at this plan, shall we?"

A murmur of agreement. The group moved closer together, so that the reflected ink could catch all their eyes. There was silence then, for they each studied the map in their own way; each thinking of how they would deal with their own challenges within the facility, and how their powers could help them, and each other. Quiet deliberation...

"Hey hold on a minute," exclaimed Liesl suddenly. "What's that?"

The group seemed to rouse themselves from their own thoughts, to look at the spot on the plan where Liesl's finger was pointing. A tiny symbol, just by the sketch of the bowels of the facility.

"...It looks like the Omega sign."

#2 Border Crossings

2009-11-06T15:05:00.005+08:00

Another day, another fight.

Jian grew steadily more weary of the violence that was waged around him. Weeks of building lethargy at not doing anything was taking it's toll. His once lean figure grew skinnier and more haggard by the day. His hair was long and unkempt; product of complete neglect. But it wasn't that much different from the others; the party of them didn't look like a group that anyone would be threatened by at the moment. Wide-eyed wandering youths with dirty hair and soiled clothes; and the clothes on their backs was all that was it.

Not very heroic at all.

There was a time, long ago, where Jian had experienced his first breath of using his powers. The first fleeting touch of near supernatural ability.

Now, not so much; if any at all.

Wooden crates splintered and cracked as a green plasm charged into it. The alleyway was far from an advantageous position for the Users; cramped spaces and only one way out was like having their wings clipped off their fighting style. They had been ambushed in the early hours of mid-morning; the morning mist had barely lifted from the streets. But what could they do, but fight?

Vines suddenly erupted like green snakes from a crack in the wall, engulfing the nearest facilitators. Smiling, Nick yanked his fists away from the ground and rolled back and away, Liesl substituting his position. With a flourish of her hands, twin jets of black fire shot at the enemy. The others had not been idle either. There went Jay, knocking out a neat row of facilitators as he dash-jumped through them; above, Kelly and Shaun worked fast; raining deathly projectiles upon the enemies. On the ground was Isaac, Ken and Yuva; operating quickly and of a single mind, reading each others moves and complementing them.

And there was Jian. Hiding by the fire escape.

He ducked. A stray bolt of orange plasma hit the metal rails above him. With a yelp, he scrambled back, away from the molten iron. Gritting his teeth, he then readjusted his position, and sat still once more.

It was all he could do.

But even without his powers, he could see that the tide of the battle below was slowly, but steadily turning around. For a moment, it looked like the Users had the complete upper hand; deadly teamwork and efficiency working well in their favour. But from the corner of his eye, Jian spied one lone facilitator twist the barrel of his gun around, pop it open, and then attach a bigger, more sinister looking shot. Jian leaned over the rails and screamed a warning.

A ball of coiled silver exploded from the mouth of the barrel. The ball then pulsed once in mid-air; showering the Users on the ground with a volley of metal needles, each attached to the other by lengths of silver wire. The facilitator quickly flipped open a console by the handle of the gun, punching in quick commands. Jerking and sputtering, the needles forced a suppressant drug into the Users bloodstream.

A cold feeling hit the pit of Jian's stomach seeing his friends like this. He couldn't help them...There was no quick way down...

Unless...

Before he could act though, there was a sudden movement amidst the mass of silver. Liesl was still active. Getting unsteadily to her feet, she bit her lip before ripping out a dense bunch of needles from her arm. She breathed out once, then snapped her fingers confidently.

The facilitator was knocked back; hit by a morphing sphere of wind, water, rock and flame. He crashed into a filthy metal dumpster behind him and his head slumped back; his neck snapped in three places.

From his hiding place above, Jian swallowed hard.

Damn this city.

Jian was not at all thrilled by the fact that Liesl had finally accessed her second level powers. Or perhaps he would have, if he still had his. But right now, Liesl's new found power that Nick had so dubbed "Elemental Manipulation", was like a kick in the face. Wind, water, fire...Jian could have done those things...

He hated his weakness. He hated that he couldn't do anything. He hated the fact that he was a useless leader, and now day by day, that damn Nick was closing that gap. He despised the war. He despised the pointless plan of taking down the facility.

And now...Now, this was the last straw.

Footsteps approaching. Jian turned his head a fraction. Oh great.

"Hey, what's up?"

Jian gritted his teeth. If he had his powers he would reached up and ripped off this damn guy's head. And...and eat it. But no. Jian's brows furrowed into an intense look of malice. He swore to God, if the next thing he said was anything close to what Jian thought he would say -

"You seem kinda...out of it."

Something snapped in Jian's head. Might have been a vein.

"I seem out of it?" breathed Jian, turning to face Nick. Pent up frustration and anger within him threatened to break out. "Well, why the hell do you think I seem out of it?"

Nick stepped back. Everyone around stopped what they were doing. Jian stood up. Even while powerless, he still stood tall enough to look Nick straight in the eye. The old hardened personality that Jian acquired through the years was enough to hold Nick where he was.

"You tell me right now, Resistance Leader; what makes you think we even have a hope; a damn prayer of beating the facility," he said, his voice muted of emotion.

Silence. It took Nick a moment to find his voice.

"I-I...believe."

Jian raised an eyebrow, his mouth twitch slightly; the only evidence of his emotion. "That's it?"

"Well, yeah," said Nick defensively. "That's it. Why the heck do you care?"

A penny seemed to drop. Nick bit his tongue, instantly regretting his choice of words.

"Why do I care?" mused Jian, his facial features returning to his detached, melancholic look. "I ask you in return; why did you never?"

"You're going to kill us. And I want no part in that."

And Jian turned and walked out of the alley, and into the busy KL street beyond. The group was silent.

And then there were 10.

Can It

2009-11-05T21:09:00.002+08:00

Yeah, I know I tend to lose steam when I'm not entirely focusing on Genesis and all that, but I'm really trying to psych myself up. Because I want it to be the best.

Or at least, I'm only trying.

So, I've decided I'm tired of being single. Again. Ye-ah. That was fast.

As it turns out, the pact I made earlier this year turned out to bite me back in the butt like a bee-otch. And man, it hurt. So much for "not caring" and just "winging life"...right now fellas, we're back to square one.

And I dunno why, but I sense the weird cosmic appropriateness of it all.

Do our actions really affect our fate? Because if it's fate, won't it end the same way no matter what we do? Like in Kung Fu Panda. "One who encounters his fate is one who tries to avoid it." It's easier said than done, but we still do it. Why?

Speaking of fate and faith and all...I've got a bone to pick with all those blog-posted Christian stories. But hold it. I'm not going against the whole religion or anything, nor am I on my way to burn down the Vatican or anything. I just got something to settle with all these so-called "inspiring" stories.

Honestly, ask yourself. Are those arguments where they pit the atheist against the Christian really fair? Like one where I read that the kid countered his lecturer or something, saying that since he can't see or feel his lecturer's brain at the moment, it didn't exist? And the lecturer suddenly abandon's his atheist views and says "Oh, let's leave it up to faith."

Hello? Can we see your brain either, kid? What kinda argument is that?

The fact that it was a very religious sorta Christian wrote it sticks out like a naked man at a funeral.

Not very good story-writing in my opinion. Seriously. I have nothing against Christians, but I have everything against hypocrites. You claim that as a Christian you uphold fairness and good? Then why are you being bias by not providing a good argument from the other side?

...Hah. Sorry. This post didn't turn out PG-13 at all.

Across The Universe

2009-11-04T16:00:00.002+08:00

Nothing's gonna change my world.

-Across the Universe, The Beatles

Really. Really? Cuz' do you know how awesome that would be if it were true?

Well, the finals are over. But I can't say that I'm exactly jubilantly ecstatic or anything. When it ended today, it seemed to underline even more the fact that life, in all it's freaking entirety, is moving on. Things happened in a blurry monotone; I was so besotted by the whole thing that my mouth was sealed shut for the entire journey home.

I actually feel like life is passing me by faster and faster every single year, and that I'm actually losing memory of what's been happening; I can't keep pace with what's going on. Already it's November, soon it'll be December, but on my phone, twelve clicks back and I can almost feel like I'm just welcoming 2009 all over again.

What was I doing? Form 4...being sixteen...When did that all happen, actually? When I've been pressure-cooked into fearing SPM, and college, and friends who turn enemies, and enemies who turn friends. But when I've been looking so forward to the golden age of being able to drive, and drink, and work. This year was more-or-less the filler year; like the first day on Earth where God might've said to Adam: "So hey, I've created Birth and Death for you; now can you just fill in this little part called 'Life'?"

So...with this final exam, my current take on Form 4 is this:

It's not a honeymoon year. It's not an SPM prep year either. Though, so many people seem to thread themselves in with either one of the two. I did something different; it could've been a mistake, or it could've been the best thing I've ever done with my life, but I just lived Form 4 as best as I could; enjoying what I could while I could. So is it good or bad? I can't say; you have to tell me.

That is, if you lived, and not just existed.

#01 The Genesis Convention

2009-11-04T15:30:00.001+08:00

Peace. At least, for a time. In the afterlight of the Reaper's death, there had been a short moment of the very thing -peace. And it was a time for the Users to fulfill their deepest wishes; to unconditionally, and unselfishly, help people. They did; with much gusto and enthusiasm. But peace never lasted long, it never did on this planet. Like the fleeting moments of bloom on a cherry blossom tree, the small period of peace was sweet and short.

Times change.

Absolute war. But not one with fists, nor sword, nor blazing gun. One with artificially granted powers that were harnessed to strict control, against hundreds of men; armed to the teeth with super-futuristic weapons, and all outfitted in the same silver armor. The war was far from public, but it was just as brutal as any given one in history. Random encounters between the two parties in the dead of the night, little to no words exchanged, and in the end, one party leaving with their lives; the other having lost theirs. It was messy. It was cruel.

It was necessary.

It's a hard thing to adapt to any given change; writing with your left hand, or crossing your arms the other way over for instance. But this was a war, where the side that barely had the upper-hand, was actually a group of teenagers; almost, but not quite nearing adulthood. Now going to school was out of the question, going home even more so. They moved everyday, and everyday was a different place that brought equally different challenges. Some emotional; it was a hard thing to leave so many things behind, but most were physical. There was hardly a day where any one of Users had wrought through unscathed.

They were by no means alone however. Sometime during the end year holidays, the Users had stumbled upon another group of power users. The Resistance. The first meeting hadn't gone well at all; each regarded the other with dislike and distrust. But soon after, they had found common ground, and a common goal. Hands were shaken, names exchanged. Then they traveled together.

Experiencing death was one thing. Watching it happen day by day was another. Often times, be it during times of rest or battle, the Users and members of the Resistance alike would stop and think of the past. Better times. Simpler times.

But there was no point in reminiscing. Fight on.

***

Jian hated the war, but no for the reasons one might expect. If he had his powers, he would've been the first one on the field on the first day, and then every day after that. He loved a good fight; he practically hungered for more as soon as he realized he possessed powers even greater than he had ever dreamed possible.

But that was a very big if.

Because Jian, for all his power, for all his might, for all his unerring determination and strength, was now forced into the backseat. He could only watch while the others fought.

He did this, because he didn't have any of his powers anymore.

He sat himself down huffily in the alleyway that they were camping in today. It was cleaner than most they had been it, but that didn't particularly raise his mood. In fact, hardly anything raised his mood lately. Thinking about it for the twelfth time this morning, he angrily jab at the floor with a stick, scratching it as best as he could.

If he had his powers, he could have made both stick and floor vaporize. But no.

Alone in the alley, there was nothing to stop Jian from thinking about the whole ordeal a thirteenth time.

He had just uncovered the best secret yet to his power; he could create and destroy energy at will. Up until then, it was deemed impossible; every science book in the world said that energy could only change from one form to another. In doing what he did, Jian practically upset the balance of the Universe; having it to contend with a couple milliamps more of energized charges.

He did. And that was when he made another discovery; the Cosmic Balance did exist.

In his last ditch attempt to kill the Reaper once and for all, Jian had let his newfound powers a loose leash; dishing out as much of the energy-sucking vortex that he could. True, the Reaper had 415 powers, but to the power that knocked the Milky Way off it's hinges, 415 wasn't enough. It wanted -needed- more. Cue the Cosmic Balance.

The new power was so strong, that even Jian's own power couldn't take it. It was like a bad blood donation; all of a sudden, the power was being rejected, faster than Jian could react to it happening. There was speculation between the Users as to why this happened, but even to Jian's best guess, his power simply didn't want to accept this new branch of itself. And the new powers didn't seem to mind.

Jian had felt the most excruciating pain of his life when the separation happened. As the power collapsed in on itself; almost like some weird energized feedback, it ripped the rest of Jian's power out along with it. Jian had felt like he had been hit in the chest with a cinderblock; his body unable to cope with the sudden feeling of rejection and loss. And then of course he had blacked out. Not for the first time...

But there was no time for sympathies or tender feelings. The loss of Jian's power had been a great loss for their side, but in the midst of the war, his loss become nothing more than a statistic. It seemed that the Users took the brunt of the toll of war; halfway through their so-called campaign, Emily dropped out, claiming that she could not take anymore of the fighting. A week later, Jay left as well, under the excuse that he wanted to pursue a real career, and not get caught up in something bigger than himself.

About a month back though, what had seemed like a godsend happened to the Users. They had come across another equally strange group of teenage power users; the Resistance. A bunch of oddities they all were; with power's Jian had never even heard of. Plant manipulation? Puh-lease.

Jian spat. He didn't like this new bunch of power users at all. They were so inexperienced with their powers, too eager...Thinking that victory would be easy over the hundred headed hydra that was the facility...

Or maybe it's because they have powers at all that you hate them, said a little voice in his head.

Shaking his head, Jian suppressed the unwanted thought. No, he told himself firmly. I'm perfectly fine without my powers.

Perfectly fine...

He stabbed the stick as hard as he could into the ground. The weakened wood gave way and splintered. Jian's fist hit the crud filled alleyway floor. He winced; he was bleeding.

Damn this city.

So...What?

2009-10-30T15:14:00.003+08:00

Here's a question.

What do you want us to blog about?

Us, as in blogger's in general.

You don't want self-pitying, whiny, hate posts. You don't want to hear about how sad and pathetic life is.

Yet, you don't want us to masquerade behind a veil of perfection. You don't want to hear about the good things that happened to us because humans are shallow, vindictive, and petty that way.

And yet, you complain that we're too standoffish.

You hate reading posts more than 1000 words, but you equally hate a montage of pictures from the latest outing to so and so.

You don't like music, but then you complain in the CBox that it's too quiet.

Look in the mirror, brother.

It Takes 5

2009-10-29T20:18:00.002+08:00

5 seconds.

The orange Lamborghini ducked and weaved through the highway traffic almost effortlessly. Within, all Jakob could hear was the seemingly distant rumble of the engine and the continuous whoosh of air parting around the car. What a ride, what a thrill.

4 seconds.

There was a corner up ahead; the Lamborghini would have handled it just fine. But the alcohol that flowed in Jakob's blood was starting to get to his head, affecting his crucial judgement. He wanted something more adventurous.

3 seconds.

His foot lifted off the accelerator, and switched to the brake pedal. He stepped down as he turned, then almost immediately slammed back on the accelerator once more. The car shuddered for an instant, then proceeded round the corner with a steady, but speed-fed drift.

2 seconds.

The sudden, explosively loud crunch of metal scraping against metal. Jakob hardly knew what had just happened. The hood of the car had been ripped right through the middle; the passenger's seat had been thrown far off the highway. Then the car flattened; melding itself directly underneath the car-carrier it had just hit.

1second.

Blood mixed with metal; different substances but that which contained the same overpowering smell of rust. The Lamborghini now a million dollar paperweight, Jakob Thorn was no more.

If you think this is even the slightest bit creepy, this is what I dreamt about last night.

Bosh...

2009-10-26T15:16:00.002+08:00

To answer the question that I know is in your head: I can't study now because I'm stuck in the old house now, and all my books are in the new house. Quiche?

So yes, EST was a waste of time; an easy waste of time, not a complete and utter loss, mind you. History today was okay. I did better than I thought I would; but the results will speak for themselves. But that's not what I wanted to talk about.

...In fact, I'm not really sure what I do want to talk about. Maybe about Genesis? But that's already coming out next week...You guys don't need to hear me be a fan of my own story, right? I dunno. Blogging has become somewhat of an online therapist. I just type down whatever crap I want onto here, and hopefully feel better afterwards.

Very much the same as real therapy, only free.

But...maybe not today. Aiks. Sorry I wasted your time. Um...In exchange for the minute (or more, if you're slow) that it took for you to read this, I offer you this chocolate platypus as a token of friendship/gratitude!

...And something I learned from the EST test today. Energy that is given off in set amounts is called quanta! :D

Ye-ah.

If I Were Smart

2009-10-21T20:24:00.004+08:00

Sometimes, but not often, I wish I was living the life of someone else. And I'm pretty sure you guys have read enough of my style of writing to know by now that this is not a joke. And I'm also pretty sure that I'm not the only one.

...But let's skip the whiny, self-pitying parts of this would-be whiny, self-pitying post.

Ye-ah. Okay, so...Wouldn't it be great if you could just take on someone else's life at will? Be it a boy or a girl or a hobo or the President of the big UN. That would be so gratifyingly refreshing; if I could do that, when I die, I can safely say that I had lived my life to the fullest. But no. No one can really say that. And it's kinda sad when you think about it, that no one on Earth can ever experience everything. Not even the President of the UN, cuz he doesn't know what it's like to be me just as much as I have no idea how it's like to steer a country the size of...well- America, away from war.

...And suddenly, can you really, well and truly honestly admit that your life has been rich and fulfilling then? When you've missed out on the hundreds and thousands of opportunities in your life? Some, that might even have occurred now had you chosen not to read this post.

Think, think, think.

Across The Stream

2009-10-18T15:43:00.004+08:00

Okay, so I think I don't actually care enough about the finals because all I can think about now is how to get to know the girl next door.

...Fine. If you want it in relative terms, the girl across the river-themed park thing that stretches down the length of the housing area.

Seriously. I kid you not. This is like, my New Year's Resolution or something.

...Okay, I'm actually not THAT serious about it, but hey. It would be nice to know someone around here that's actually my age, and not some random little kid or aunty or uncle. A teenager.

So yes. Besides the obvious idea of going over and ringing the doorbell asking my neighbour if I could date his daughter, how do you get to know someone that you have no relation with other than that being neighbours? I guess that's actually the main point of this post, rather than it being completely about the girl next door.

Even though it started being about her.

...Even though she's hot.

Rightey-o...

#00 The Setting

2009-10-16T15:54:00.006+08:00

It had been a mutual decision within the the small group of teenagers - now dubbing themselves the Users - that they all put in their hearts and souls to do this. With the threat of the Reaper gone, they could get on with what they had originally intended to do with their powers; help people. This new identity, and the new persona they had so given themselves was not just for show; it was a sign of their unity, and their changes of heart. They would be heroes.

But there was an even smaller group of power users; carbon copies of the same fraternity, but that which acted out on completely different reasons. They called themselves the Resistance. And they had no time for such flippancies as helping people; their one true goal was to get rid of the facility for good, even if they had to sneak in and disembowel it from within. Their hearts were set like steel in a cast. Revenge was what motivated them, and they did not take their task, nor their foe, lightly. Every step, every action, every employment the facility made, was being monitored at a distance.

And then there was the facility in itself; now slightly lacking, but not completely exhausted of troops, or experiments. Even now, replacements for the ones lost were being sought; something much darker than what had happened to the Reaper was taking places within the underbellies of those concrete floors. Darker, and infinitely more lethal... And now, with the veil of false security deluding their greatest foes, when they struck, it would be the coup de grace.

Alliances may form, but betrayal will happen even faster. The power within will now only be a shadow of the power once had. One leader falls; another rises to claim the seat of power. Relationships once deep, can be cut as easily as a sword would through air.

Memories, once held fast, can slip away.

But the Users are ready.

The Resistance is ready.

The facility, even more so.

...Are you?

...The Resistance moves in on the 5th of November. So should you.

#00 A Sign Of Things To Come

2009-10-15T21:05:00.000+08:00

No one ever paid much attention to the old warehouses that were cramped together at the USJ 1 district. True, there were more abandoned ones than the ones that still fully-functioned, but they still held certain services. Services of a darker kinda perhaps, but services nonetheless.

Services, like that of holding a teenage girl for ransom, so to speak.

It was no secret that gangs and petty thieves ruled the neighbourhood around the USJ housing areas, but usually; held back by certain conditions of 'honor' or respect, crime levels did not usually rise above the occasional theft. Kidnapping...this usually occurred due by-products of strangers desperate for cash, drugs, or sex. There was no way to tie in any niceties to what they did; it was what it was.

On this particularly silent evening, Candy Choo sat on a chair smack in the middle of the warehouse. She was tied to it; thick ropes bound her around her stomach, her hands stuck at her sides. But she did not struggle, for the point of doing so vanished a long time ago. She had been sitting in that same chair for two days now. Having only gotten up once or twice during the entire ordeal, she could feel her legs start to go numb again; the stinging feeling creeping up from her ankles to her knees. She was barely conscious.

Faded orange light dimly illuminated the space around her. For now, with the sky lightened by the setting sun, she could still see what was happening around her. But once the sun set, it would be pitch black. And then they would come.

So far, so good though. Nothing had happened to her, yet.

A creak of metal hinges, to Candy's right. Slowly, she turned her head a fraction; hoping against hope it was the police, or at least some other people besides her kidnappers. No such luck. The same three men who's faces Candy had now burned into her brain entered the warehouse. And something unusual was happening; the men were smiling. Not good.

The largest of the three men approached her. Unshowered, unshaven, and breath stinking of cheap cigarettes and liquor, Candy cringed when the man suddenly reached out and grabbed her chin, bringing his face closer to hers.

"Guess what?" crooned the man. "Your parents don't even have 50k to spare for their only daughter...Retirement fund, they said."

The man chuckled. Candy's eyes widened. So the ransom was not paid...but they were still smiling? Her brain seemed to fizz, jumping to the one likely conclusion.

She blinked, jumping at a sudden sound. The man's belt had clattered to the floor.

"It's a good thing you're pretty," said the man, smirking. He leaned in front of her, reaching for the buttons to her shirt. "I won't need to waste a paper bag."

Candy said nothing. She didn't move. She was trying to think of a way out of this, but her brain was stiff with fear; every thought moved with the creaking sluggishness of ice. Inside, her stomach churned; nausea mixed with the terror that seemed to pierce frozen daggers into her skin.

Her shirt suddenly felt looser; two of the six buttons that held it together had come undone. The man seemed to be in a hurry, feeling the grim weight of his companion's impatience coming down on him. He had five minutes to do this; they all did, then it was his turn to guard -

"Hey! Who said you all could come here?" yelled one of his companions. Someone was at the door.

The man turned at the sound. Candy, thought almost completely digesting herself in her own fear, caught the sudden shout. In her heart there suddenly leaked a tiny drop of hope. She looked towards the door.

Three teenagers stood there, their faces hidden by the overcasting shade of the setting sun. Almost immediately, Candy's little drop of hop evaporated. Not the police, not good-Samaritan adults, but teenagers. She was doomed.

But the young man that stood ahead of the others spoke. His voice was calm and commanding; there was no trace of fear in it, even though the two men by the door were big and burly.

"I have reason to believe you have a girl here," he said. "What is her name?"

A jostling sound. The young man had been pushed back roughly.

"That's none of your business, punk," growled the man by the door. "Get lost."

The young man sighed, running his hands through his hair. When he spoke, his voice then sounded almost regretful. "Please tell me her name."

The metal warehouse door slammed in front of the teenagers face. Howling with laughter, the two men by the door yelled profanities at him, assuming safety behind closed doors.

The metal door then burst open, spinning dangerously into the warehouse. The tallest of the man's companions who stood by the door suddenly skidded past him and Candy with speed. The force that pushed him did not expend; he hit the wall opposite with a sickening crunch. Then a weird rustling sound; very much like the noise of someone mowing down a hedge, his other companion gave a gurgled scream and then fell silent.

Fear mounted within the man now, and not in Candy. He left her side, and faced the door. The three shadowed shaped of the teenagers still stood there, waiting. Then their leader stepped into the warehouse. He did not seem at all surprised to see Candy there.

"I am not accustomed," the young man said; his voice was weary, "to explaining myself, nor to asking more than once."

The man mumbled something incoherent. When the young man approached, he retreated.

"If you don't mind, we'll be taking her with us," said the young man quietly. The ropes around Candy fell away at the snap of his fingers. "Not that you have any say in that though."

Dazed by the sudden turn of events, Candy hurriedly made herself decent and ran towards the exit; towards freedom. The man muttered something angrily, as if he had been cheated, but did not move under the careful watch of the young man. Only when Candy reached the other two teenagers outside did he finally turn on his heel and proceed towards the door.

The man then reached for the small knife he kept in his back pocket, but to his surprise, he saw the young man raise his hand.

"Don't bother," he sighed. "You can't move. I made sure of it."

And sure enough, for some odd reason, he couldn't. It felt as if his legs were made out of lead.

The young man stood by the doorway, looking at the three men within without pity.

"You'll be free in two days. So you'll know how she feels."

Then something rose up in front of the doorway, blocking the young man from their view. The single point of light had vanished, and the three men were left within, in the darkness.

Let's Not Get Too Carried Away...

2009-10-14T21:15:00.002+08:00

...Not. When have we ever been partial to anything?

This is about the Genesis "Book" that might come out after our finals, aite? I was thinking...if it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing, right? And when you over-do it, you've gotta do it well.

...Of course, the above philosophy only applies to non-academic pursuits of my life. Just checking.

So yeah. Instead of stapling the bunches of A4 paper together, I'll try to send it to a shop to get it sorta binded. Hopefully, this'll make it look like more of a real book rather than a cheap, dime-store manuscript.

But then, I was thinking. Books need covers, right? And yes, I know my first idea was to have a drawn cover, but then my mind went wild.

What if...one day after the finals, we have a Genesis cover photoshoot in school? Everybody brings their coolest outfits or whatever, and we bajet superheroes for maybe an hour.

What'dya think?

Going Cuckoo

2009-10-12T10:56:00.003+08:00

So I should be studying. Should be. Would be. Could be.

But I'm not. I won't. And I can't.

It's too damn full of stupid useless things to do here. I can't seem to focus on subjecting myself to one solid hour of trying to figure out what the log of 167 is to 24. I know I know I can do it, but I just don't seem to want to.

Usually, considering this is the annual final exam, I can sorta focus a bit. Usually. Maybe it's the move. Moving really messes with what you used to do, and be able to do.

I need to go for a swim. I've been trying out some simple free-diving recently. In the swimming pool only of course, but hey, it's still pretty damn ornery. It's nice to be able to stay under water as long as you like.

...As long as "as long as you like" is under 3 minutes. Ye-ah; work in progress.

But now they're fixing the pool. So swimming is a no go. And get this; the pool re-opens on the 20th. Which is essentially when the exams start. Which means I can't go swimming even more.

Crap-a-doodle.

I've also tried to cut down on swearing, and instead went on a new search for new words to substitute the bad ones, and the good ones. Like sway. It's like awesome, but awesome-r.

Ye-ah.

I Can Hear It Now

2009-10-09T22:42:00.000+08:00

Well, that was short-lived. But still, technically one of the longer relationships I've had. Well...ye-ah.

Relationships tend to impact me in ever-different and weird ways. Like...kinda like leaving a cold cup on your table. Take it a way after a while, there's gonna be ring still left. The post break-up days are kinda like that. That cold ring; a shadow of what was once there.

Shadows...I use that word a lot.

Somehow, everything feels new again. Like stumbling through a crowd in a fever; everything's right in front of my face. It's hard to react normally without wincing. You feel naked, and that everything's alien to you.

...It's loud, but damn. It's awesome.

Cuz' that which does not destroy me, can only make me stronger.

Dreams

2009-10-09T10:16:00.002+08:00

So she asked me what was up. Y'know, in that casual, greeting sort of way.

But in my head; and only in my head, I was thinking of so many things I wanted to say that was "up" in my life. Like how I learned how to play half a song the night before, or about the angel with one ornamental wing that I drew; and how I was imagining what it would be like to get good at guitar and strum out some songs for her to hear, and that the ornamental wing of the angel was inspired by her. And that when I went to sleep it was deep, and peaceful, like sleeping in the car after a long day out because I had good thoughts in my head. Most of them, stemming off the thought of you.

But no. I said "Not much. Just wanted to talk."

And then she types down a lowly "lol" and says "brb". But I know she's not gonna.

It's been half an hour.

Yep.

...I Just Got Pwned

2009-10-08T21:28:00.004+08:00

So here's the deal. I met this certain girl at this certain place, at this certain point in my life. And we kinda got interested in each other, and we talked a little bit during the course of the event happening at that certain place. On the last day at this certain place, at a very certain time, she called me over and we exchanged contacts.

Which was cool, but let me fill in the blanks a little more.

So we talked over MSN, cuz' rules and regulations had stated that we couldn't trade phone contacts. Again; perfectly fine. Even MSN was a pretty good deal. But then, complications...this...that, la-dee-da: We didn't talk so much, and when we did, it wasn't a lot of words being swapped around.

But I did check around to get posted on what she was doing. And note; this was one of the coolest chicks I had ever got to know. For one thing, she liked screamo bands. And, she didn't like mainstream music. So...y'know, being a band-junkie and all, this was awesome, awesome material.

But then for a long time, she didn't come online. Like...a really, really, long-ass time. So I kinda wondered; she was still active on Facebook. Maybe we were just missing each other in transmission...?

Tonight though, as I was clicking around my available tabs, I caught sight of something on the status update of Windows Live Messenger. It was that girl and her latest status: delete you. Curious, I clicked on her name, going to the link of her messenger profile, wondering what the PM was about.

Lo and behold, one sentence hit me like a slap in the face.

"X is not available on your contact list. Add X now?"

...Damn.

I got owned by a girl.

#14 Deus Ex Machina

2009-10-08T20:25:00.001+08:00

A teenage boy walked quickly along the narrow corridors of the facility; his true face and age masked by the black hoodie he wore. His hard-soled boots made a steady tapping sound; the the rhythmic foot steps of a killer. But thought his steps were quick, he was not in a hurry. In fact, this was the most relaxed and happiest he had been in years.

Farhan, or Hans or even better; his self-proclaimed title as the Reaper, was dead. And Justin could not wait to tell the people up above.

He stopped in front of a misted glass door. He frowned; the door was supposed to be automatic. This was a very unfortunate malfunction. And Justin, being impatient as he was, hated hindrances.

Justin lifted a finger, slipping a tiny wave of energy in between the split of the doors. Then, he expanded it, forcing the glass panes to slide back out of the way. Looking thoughtful, he then clenched his fist once, breaking both doors instead. He then casually stepped into the room.

The head facilitators office was simple and clean. Painted with a solid white on it's walls, and having all the furniture in it being white as well as being spotlessly clean, the room had a very antiseptic feel. And so did the man who sat behind the desk in front of Justin. Coolly, Justin approached him, confident.

"I've got news," he smiled. "And you might not like it."

The man looked up; his eyes were emotionless. "The Reaper is dead."

Justin tilted his head. "That's right. How did you know?"

"Oh, I flatter myself to say that I know much more than you ever will, Justin," said the man. And then, to Justin's surprise, he laughed.

"Do you know how he died, Justin?" he asked softly; it was more of a request to know what he knew than a question.

Justin nodded. "Jian killed him; which is actually bad news, sir, because Jian can-"

"Destroy energy? Oh, I know that as well," remarked the man, smiling. "But au contra ire; that is far, far away from being bad news."

Justin frowned. "Why is that? Won't it put a high risk on our newest...experiment?" He swallowed hard.

"Fret not." The man rose from his desk, then looked Justin right in the eye. "You don't need to worry about Jian or anyone else for the time being. And it is actually quite appropriate for you to have come here to bring me news of Farhan's death."

"Why?"

The man smiled again, wider than ever.

"How would you like a promotion?"

#13 ...So Will It End

2009-10-07T08:22:00.004+08:00

Not gonna die. Not gonna die. Not gonna die.

The rain still fell, heavier than ever. Normally, Jian welcomed the rain; it was a fresh feeling compared to the normally blistering heat of the midday sun. But now, crushed beneath the weight of ten solid tonnes of metal, barely able to hold it up over his head, he cursed the rain. Twice already his grip had slipped; with every inch of movement, he brought the sign closer down on his friend's heads.

He was pumping adrenaline into himself like crazy. So much so that he had trouble recycling the lactic acid build up. And it was taking its toll. Slowly, he lost feeling in his legs, then his arms, then finally, the tips of his fingers. Never mind even thinking about fighting the Reaper now; he could barely keep them alive.

He cursed. With another sharp groan of twisting steel, the sign slipped further. Pushing hard, Jian felt a tendon pop. Numbness started to spread over him; that damn rain! Jian gritted his teeth, and pumped yet more adrenaline into him.

Not giving up. Not giving up. Not giving up...

Jian then decided to try something. Moving cautiously, he gingerly shifted the weight of the sign from his arms to his back. Ah. That felt better. But he had to move fast; any sudden movements or additions to the already barely manageable weight would snap his back in two.

With his numbed fingers, he started to collect a pocket of air in front of him. With the cold air and rain around him, it would certainly strengthen the blast of air he was about release. But would it be enough?

Well...we're gonna die either way, he thought bluntly. What the heck.

He then shifted his weight away from under the sign. For a brief moment, it hung in mid-air. Then, all at once, the steel sign fell. Biting his lip and hoping against hope, Jian released the charged air particles form under the sign; knocking it back up.

Can't let up...have to keep at it...

Jian fired several more compact spheres of air at the sign, knocking it further and further back on it's beams. But the wind and gravity were going against him. The sign swayed in it's place, then proceeded to fall back in Jian's direction. He had no strength left to hold it up a second time.

But then just before it hit, something bright and big was blasted right at the sign; punching a wide hole right through it and sending it flying off the edge of the building. Jian watched as the steel sign plummeted down all 21 floors. He turned around, hoping to see perhaps a revived Shaun, or Liesl.

Instead, he saw the Reaper. Again. And he was approaching Jian and his friends; both hands alight with fire.

"I can't even leave you alone for two seconds before you start saving yourself again," growled the Reaper. "That's fine though; I'll kill all of you myself now, personally."

He then reached down and grabbed Liesl by her hair. She was still unconscious; the Reaper had no obstructions to his kill. He smiled at Jian; that same creepy smile that chilled him to the bone.

"I'll start with the girls."

Staggering to his feet, Jian made a gesture towards the Reaper with his hands. "Oh, no...you...won't!"

But what was supposed to be a chain of lightning charging out from Jian's hand, was a tiny, disconnected bolt; shooting past the Reaper and hitting the ground behind him. The Reaper turned to look; there wasn't even a mark on the ground. He sneered.

"That's all you can do now? And you were supposed to be-"

However, what Jian was supposed to be, no one ever found out, for as the Reaper turned back to look at Jian, Jian had put all his energies into charging straight at the Reaper. He made a wild grab at the Reapers torso; feeling it connect, he sent his powers into overdrive.

Startled, the Reaper dropped Liesl, trying to get Jian off.

"Wha- What are you doing?!"

Jian grimaced; the Reaper was burning holes right through his shirt into his skin.

"I'm takin' you outta here," he growled.

Wind charged around them, sending a spray of rain away from them in a perfect circle. Then Jian jumped and twisted; blasting off the rooftop with the speed of a Mach 3 Jet.

***

Thunder broke over the Kuala Lumpur sky, although the weather forecast for the day was supposed to be sunny. Even stranger was the fact that it wasn't like a mass of dark rainclouds; rather, a streak of black. Every now and then, a spear of lightning would split the sky in two. But this lightning was unusually loud, and the length of which it was visibly suspended in the air was long.

But to those who checked, they would find that where the lightning had struck, there wasn't just a burn mark on the ground, but a small crater.

And the streak of rain cloud sped on; in the direction of the Twin Towers.

***

Jian had no idea how long they had been flying; just as he had no idea before on how long they had been fighting. Occasionally, as the clouds and ozone whipped past them, Jian forgot to breathe. For in his mind, was only one fixed thought; one perfect idea.

I have to get this guy away from my friends.

But there was no getting away from the fact that he was cold, sore, and wet. And he was in extremely close-quarters with the one person he hated more than anyone he had ever hated before in his life.

And worse; this certain person he was in close-quarters with, was killing him; in every damned sense of the word. For as Jian flew, he felt a weird tingling sensation creeping up his shoulder. When he had looked (and simultaneously wished he hadn't) he saw something moving under his skin.

The Reaper had dug a hole into Jian's flesh with his bare hands. They almost fell out of the sky as Jian retched. But even as they kept flying, Jian suddenly felt the Reaper's hands withdraw from within his skin and push himself away from Jian.

"Wha-?" Dumbly, even though he had no idea why the Reaper wanted to suddenly get away from him, he held on tighter; pushing even more speed into their flying.

"No! You idiot!" cried the Reaper. This was the first time Jian had heard him panic. "We're too close to the-"

WHAM. Jian and the Reaper collided into something extremely solid. That was strange. Jian wasn't aware that there was anything this tall in the Subang Area. And he was right. There wasn't.

What the two of them had just rammed into was the spire of the Petronas Twin Towers. But in Jian's mind this was a good thing. One, they at least had some solid ground to have a scuffle with on now. Two, was that the collision with the spire hadn't just weakened Jian more, but also the Reaper. Up till now, he had escaped all their attacks unscathed. And three...

Well, three was a bad thing. They were now in freefall.

But even as Jian tried to get back his flow of life-saving wind, the Reaper swung his arms in Jian's direction. He was still interested in this fight. Biting his tongue, Jian retaliated. With the rain still catching up, and warmer air surrounding him now, he could use his powers properly. A huge charge of electricity was discharge from his palms. If it wasn't for that damn gravity pulling the Reaper out of range, it would've hit him.

Speaking of gravity...

WHAM! A second collision; this time with the connecting bridged that spanned the width of the Twin Towers. Jian felt his lungs collapse during impact; immediately he sent his powers into repair mode, allowing him to breathe. As he slowly got to his feet, the Reaper has just landed; the tips of his shoes lightly touching the surface of the bridge. Shit. That meant that he, Jian, now had one more injury to add to his belt; and another one which the Reaper had avoided.

Worse still, as Jian took a quick glance upwards to gauge how far they had fallen, he felt a drop of moisture touch his lips. The rain.

"That was one very interesting ride, 415," said the Reaper gruffly. There was no quiet confidence about him now; that collision with the spire seemed to have shaken him a little. "But you made a mistake in choosing this to be our battleground."

Smiling bitterly, Jian spat. "Yeah? Why is that?"

The Reaper smiled back, making Jian experience an involuntary shudder. "These Towers...are about 45% glass."

And he snapped his fingers.

Jian clutched at his ears as the wave of supersonic energy reverberated through him. But all around him, and even louder, more terrifying sound reached his ears.

Floor by floor, all the glass windows on the Twin Towers shattered; exploding outwards with the force of a bomb. Ear splintering shrieks of noise was the only thing that could be heard as the broken panes started to fall to the earth. But the explosion wasn't the worst part. The worst part, was when Jian suddenly caught sight of sheaves of documented paper blowing in the wind, as well as the glass. In that moment, he realized that people were still working here at this hour. Even on the top floor, where the wind would blow the strongest.

This fueled his hatred for the Reaper even more. Never mind how tired he was. Never mind the rain of broken glass that now cascaded upon him; scarring him and hindering his every step. Just one, new, perfect idea.

"I'll kill you."

***

What did I do to deserve to die like this...?

The time to reminiscence was over. It was all tough talk to say he would kill the Reaper; now here he lay, broken and battered like a flawed factory production (in all of its irony). There was nothing he could do. He didn't even have the strength to heal himself, or get up.

This was it. And unwilling as he was to do it, an involuntary tear leaked from Jian's eyes. He didn't want to die. Who did?

He didn't need to look to know that the Reaper's palm was an inch away from his face. He could practically feel that vibe of evil energy emanating from him...

Jian's wandering mind suddenly caught hold of that thought like a lifeline. Wait...wait...wait...energy?

Someone had mentioned something; just today, about energy. About his powers. Something...someone...For some reason, all Jian could think of now was Sport's Day in his school. That was dumb. He wondered why they even had sport's day anymore. They always gave first place to...

Jian stopped breathing. Jay. Jay had said something about this powers. What?

Above him, the Reaper was monologuing, but Jian paid no attention to that. He was on a roll here; he didn't know where to, but in his gut, he knew it would help him. Energy...

A lightbulb appropriately switched itself on in Jian's head. Jay had said...had hazarded a guess, that Jian could create energy. He had brushed the thought aside before; science had told him it was impossible. But now, on the brink of death, Jian thought he would try anything.

Then again -Jian's mind was firing off ideas in panic- what could creating energy do for him now? So far, the Reaper could throw everything they could do back at them. If he was 415, then the Reaper had to have at least 415 different powers. He closed his eyes. What he really needed, wasn't more firepower. What he needed, was a shield.

He opened his eyes. What if he could destroy energy?

"...now it's time to end this, 415. I regret prolonging it, but you made it a necessary obstruction," muttered the Reaper. "But I hope you'll find some small comfort in knowing that I don't actually need to kill your friends. Chances are, I'll leave them alone once I'm done with you."

Sighing, the Reaper charged his powers. Really, it had been a good fight; the best challenge he had had in ages. But all good things came to an end.

"Arrive decci, 415," he whispered. Holding his breath, he released the charge sonic wave; aiming to pulse it directly to Jian's brain, snuffing the spark out permanently.

But to his surprise, nothing happened. No sudden explosion of blood and brain. No blood-curdling scream that would rip through the rain. Instead, unharmed, Jian started to laugh. A very unnatural; almost maniacal, giggle.

"What?" The Reaper stepped back, uncertain of what to do.

Jian looked up at the Reaper, a crazy grin plastered across his face; the kind of look only worn by people who've cheated death again and again.

"I can," he whispered. "I can destroy energy."

"What?!" The Reaper's face now contorted. His expression was a mix of surprise, and anger.

"I don't believe you!" Lightning quick, the Reaper grabbed Jian by the scruff of his neck and hurled him away; skidding down the length of the bridge. "You can't destroy energy!"

But Jian's simple smile remained; like a child in wonder. "I can," he repeated.

"No!"

Then the Reaper's hands flashed. Abandoning his favourite power of sound manipulation, he did a randomised cycle through his arsenal of powers. His first wave was a charge of mental powers; possession, astral projection, psionic beams; all bounced off. Jian winked out the electrical charges in the brain necessary for those to work. Darkness manipulation, density control, gravity, and elemental transmutation all bounced off as well. It seemed Jian was surrounded by a 1 foot wall of protection; all the powers seemed to be diverted around him.

The Reaper growled, losing patience.

"You will succumb!"

But light, magnetism, mass shifting, reality, radiation, and even probability manipulation did not work. Jian destroyed every single one of their energies without even a twitch of his finger. And the bubble of protection around him grew stronger still; as if feeding off the the different varieties of powers. Wind, ice, heat, and moisture from the air around them seemed to swirl and get sucked into the vortex that was Jian's new found power.

"You can't...There's no way you can be doing this!" screamed the Reaper, exhausted of powers. Now he was the suffering one; using all those artificial powers in rapid succession had taken a toll on his physical condition. The effects had been immediate. Veins popped all over his face; his eyes turned a pure, beetle black. Just a moment ago, he was the invincible foe; nature had a such a way of changing sides.

But for the fourth time, Jian repeated, almost trance-like.

"I can."

Then, something strange seemed to happen. A sphere of light suddenly expanded from within the vortex, enveloping Jian and the Reaper. The sphere grew bigger; first surrounding the bridge, then expanding over the space of the Twin Towers as well. Then, as suddenly as it had exploded into existance, it winked out; collapsing in on itself.

The Twin Towers remained; bridge and all. But only one figure was still left standing on it.

A teenage boy, lying on his back; his clothes drenched, but with a small smile still on his face.

#12 Defiance

2009-10-06T21:04:00.000+08:00

The world seemed to hold its breath, as if waiting in anticipation as to what would come next. Light drained from the field as up in the stratosphere, rain-clouds were casting their shady spell. Even the wind stopped, leaving the air dense and unmoved. Eerie.

Only when the first drops of rain hit his face was Jian fully aware of what was going to happen.

The first thing he thought of was to stop the school block from crashing into the primary school.

The second thing he thought of, was how?

He turned, scanning the field. He could see his friends, all now in the process of getting back up, but dammit! The Reaper was no longer here. Thinking fast, Jian abandoned the thought of distracting the Reaper from using his powers, and focused his attention entirely on stopping the still moving school block.

It was a lucky thing the block was moving slowly through the air, and that the Reaper had not rocketed it right into the primary school. This gave Jian time to position himself right under the frontal foundations of the building. He could not wait for the others to join him; they would have to think of their own ways to help him stop the building.

Momentarily debating on which branch of his power would be suitable, he then thrust his hands forward, concentrating hard. The air around him suddenly picked up, turning into a strong gale of wind; blowing against the building. The gale grew stronger; Jian added random bursts of heat and cold to it, turning the single-strength gust into a mini-hurricane. Jian bit his lip, then pushed in more energy.

But somehow, the more energy Jian pushed in, the harder the block pushed back. He was struggling now; he didn't take into account that the block would get this extra boost. He needed help.

As if he shared some telepathic connection with his friends, they raced forward, putting their powers to their intended use; helping people. There was Kelly, forcing thick, sharpened pillars of ice shooting up into the building, making crude new foundations for it. Behind her, Liesl was doing her best to destroy chunks of the school block; reducing the mass of it as well as it's massive inertia. Ken helped her, and already the block was losing a quarter of it's original size.

But it wasn't enough. Jian could not hold the block in it's place any longer. Drenched with rain, his arms were drained of strength. He had to let go...

He fell back, but not hitting the ground as he thought he would. A pair of strong arms caught him. He looked up; it was Jay. And now, replacing his position below the frontal foundations was Shaun.

"C'mon, time to get you out of here," he said. "I've already moved Julia and Emily."

Jian shook his head. "No, I can still fight. I just need...a break."

Jay frowned, but let him have his way. They did move further away though, as Shaun reached up to grab hold of a bit of the building. Something big was going to happen.

Jian watched as Shaun's face contorted into a look of intense focus. He saw him plant his feet firmly into the now muddy ground and pulse his powers; once, twice, then; with the biggest effort ever required, a final great push.

At first, nothing happened to the block. Then, all it's movements were halted. Sensing something, Liesl, Ken and Kelly rushed out from under it. Under the frontal foundations, Shaun smiled weakly. He knew that what he was doing was working.

The block started collapsing in on itself. Brick turned into stone, which in turn crumbled to pieces of rubble. But Jian noticed something strange. Even the smaller pieces of rubble were collapsing in on themselves. It was only when they flashed colors to a bright white did he realize what was going on.

Shaun had not destroyed the building, but he performed a mass molecular shift on it.

Right in the middle of the field, was a 2-storey high hill of snow.

Shaun flashed Jian a grin, then collapsed. The mass shift had taken a lot out of him; in both his arms he tore a muscle. Jay looked at him and bit his lip.

"And then there were 5..."

The hill of snow exploded outwards. Shocked, Jian and Jay backed away, scrambling to their feet; slipping on the grass. Caught unawares, Ken, Kelly and Liesl were hit with the full brunt of the sonic shock wave. Jian watched in horror as he saw them get flung in the air like ragdolls. But even worse; in the now misting pile of snow, stood a dark shape. The Reaper was back.

"Jay! Catch them! I'll distract him," he cried urgently.

Jay nodded and dissapeared. Wasting no time in thinking, Jian then snapped his arm forward like a baseball pitcher, sending forth a bolt of invisible flame. The Reaper retaliated; Jian's fireball was extinguished by a sudden gust of dense fog. Then he counter-attacked. Drawing a line in the mud with his foot, a crack in the earth suddenly expanded and headed towards Jian.

"Are you kidding?" taunted Jian. "You think I can't just fly out of range?"

Jian leaped in the air, riding a strong upward draft. He headed straight for the Reaper; a bolt of lightning held casually between his fingers. But the Reaper had anticipated this; Jian had fallen right into his trap. For in the air, Jian was vulnerable to the air. Like a plane with a broken wing, just as Jian was about to launch his attack, the Reaper sent a blast of freezing air at him.

And cold air descends. Simple, deadly science.

Jian plummeted. He was right on top of the Reaper, who wasted no time in taking advantage to the situation. He pointed one finger at Jian's head. Particles of heated energy were gathering at the tip, forming a beam ready to fire.

"Woi! Bitch!"

The beam missed Jian by a mile. On the ground, Jay now stood where the Reaper just was. From his awkward position on the floor, Jian guessed he had just tackled the Reaper. Quickly forming an air cushion beneath him, Jian stopped inches away from hitting solid earth. But the danger was far from over.

"We should go, now," warned Jay. He looked at the Reaper; he was still on the ground, but they knew he would get up soon. "We've got 3 seconds; 5 if we're lucky. No 'buts'."

Jian nodded and grabbed Jay's shoulder. They were to jump straight to Summit rooftop, regroup and recuperate. They had to give this fight a rest for now.

"One...two..."

"Three."

Jian squeezed his eyes shut, letting Jay do the work for them. But instead of the smooth, disembodied feeling he usually experienced, he felt as if they were being squeezed through a glass bottle. Something was out of place...

Bamft!

"Argh!!!"

Jian turned. "Jay, wha-?"

Then Jian crumpled to the floor as well; pain shot up his right leg, as if it were being burned. Before he could look up, he was attacked again; he felt something sharp puncture his left shin. Eyes hazy from the rain and pain, Jian could only guess that it was a badly cut pipe.

In his head though, it wasn't so much a question of who, as it was how. Again.

"Nice place you've all got here," said the Reaper, amused. "Very scenic. It's lucky that I managed to grab hold of your friend's shoulder in time, wasn't it? Although...now there's not much left to it."

Jian's eyes widened. Forcing himself to look up through the rain pouring into his eyes, he spotted Jay lying face down on the ground next to him. Where his once well-toned left shoulder once was, was now a gaping hole, bleeding and free to infection from this place.

The Reaper moved closer to Jian, careful to step on his hands when he stopped in front of him.

"I actually think you're the only conscious one here left," he said. Smiling, he suddenly twisted his boot; underneath, the skin on Jian's hands broke. "But don't worry, that won't be for long."

The Reaper turned his back to him, stomping his heel one more time on Jian's hand as he walked away a little. Then, barely conscious, Jian noticed a sudden creaking of metal.

"You all fought valiantly, no doubt," sneered the Reaper. He made his voice audible to Jian with his powers. "But you were all fighting the irresistible force...and for nothing."

Jian looked up. He blinked, his mind blank. Hovering above all of them, and threatening to drop at any moment, was the Summit Sign. Gasping, he did a desperate charging of his powers; injecting toxic amounts of adrenaline into his bloodstream. He had to get up. There was no freaking way they were dying today. Not here. Not to him.

With the most painstaking effort he had ever put into his own arm, he forced himself off the ground with his right hand; but only barely. All around him, rain still fell in it's torrents. The sky was dark; foreboding.

Not gonna die. Not gonna die. Not gonna die.

"Goodbye," whispered the Reaper, letting his hands fall; eliminating his control over the sign.

10 tonnes of metal collapsed upon Jian and his friends.

How To Blog

2009-10-06T13:45:00.002+08:00

So here I am-

Wait, I need music.

...

Cool. So here I am, typing out some blog post that will end so very randomly to the words of The Break Up Song by The All American Rejects.

Of course, I need to greet you all. Then I'll move on to saying something about a past post, or about Genesis, or about the way I stubbed my toe just by moving my leg to the left of the computer table just now. Sometimes, I'll emo, or rant, or hurt someone. Sometimes I'll say I'm in love, and make an ultra-happy blog post. Very occasionally, I'll post something unintentionally deep, but I'll say it's intentional because I want you to think I'm just that good.

...Is anyone else sensing a pattern here?

It's kinda a stupid pattern at any rate. It's like admiring the people who ignore you, but ignoring the people who admire you. Wha-?

...If you're a bit slow, and this were a normal conversation, I'd tell you to wait for the subtitles. But since this is technically in subtitle form, if you don't get it, then never mind. I'll explain it to you someday.

So yeah. I just needed to get that out of my system. And the Break Up song ended 5 minutes ago, if you cared. I'm kinda getting jiggy to Love Game right now.

Ye-ah.

#11 Scream

2009-10-05T15:09:00.002+08:00

Seven different powers from seven equally different people. An invincible, a pyro, a time-traveler, a chameleon, a cryokinetic, a gravitas, and a wildcard.

All against a man who could throw everything they could do back at them.

The Reaper had neatly avoided their first charge; mainly by back flipping gracefully off the second floor balcony. Spurred on by this show of easy-confidence, Shaun closely followed; morphing his skin into a diamond shell as he hurled himself off the landing. Behind him, Jian and Ken propelled themselves downwards with bursts of wind. Jay was already down, having teleported.

Liesl exchanged a glance with the other two girls; eyebrows raised.

"Stairs," they nodded.

At ground level, Shaun wasted no time in charging right at the Reaper; a sharp spike of acid-coated diamond protruding dangerously from his elbows. The two collided heavily, crashing into a classroom. Seeing this, Jian and the others rushed forward to assist Shaun.

The Reaper saw them approach. Smiling, he dodged as Shaun took a swipe at him with his spikes and then forth a burst of white light; brighter than burning magnesium. Instinctively, the four guys shut their eyes; Jian working hard to drain the light away to a safe amount with his own light manipulation powers. When he felt he had done enough, he opened his eyes; face serious and ready to get on with the real fight...

..And got sucker punched in the face. 5 times.

Staggering back and clutching at a now bloody nose, Jian's thoughts were going wild.

He's fast...And he's not wasting any time on us...

Jian was right. With his opponent stunned and at his feet, it was easy for the Reaper to pick Ken up in a choke hold right against the wall. Holding him there with his left hand, with his right, he charged a small ball of nuclear plasma. He smiled, bringing his hands closer to Ken's face.

"Open wide..." cooed the Reaper, as if talking to a small child. Struggling against the Reaper's surprising strength, Ken did his best to keep his mouth closed. Still, he could not; air from within his mouth was forcing his lips apart. The ball of plasma got closer; Ken could feel his skin crack.

"No!"

Suddenly, Ken was free, and Reaper was on the ground, choking. There, by the doorway to the class stood Julia; holding the Reaper down. He did not know it, but gravity had just increased itself on him by a factor of 10. He now weighed what he would have on Jupiter.

Ticked off at being surprised, the Reaper forced his strength all into his own finger, which he tapped once on the ground. He sent his signature shockwave hurtling right at her. Jian watched horrified as the shockwave hit her and sent her flying straight into the classroom opposite. A crash of tables and chairs being knocked about and Julia did not return.

"Why you..." growled Jian. He made a wild grab at the Reaper's leg, but the Reaper sent him flying just by stretching his right hand. Jian hit the notice board on the back of the class hard. He then stepped over Jay; his palm hovering right over his head.

"One more," he smiled.

Jay narrowed his eyes, defiantly swatting the Reaper's hand away. "Go to hell. Now, Shaun!"

Eyes wide, the Reaper whirled around, expecting to see Shaun sneaking up behind him. There was no one there, and Shaun was still in the process of getting up. Realizing he had just been tricked, he turn back to face Jay, annoyed.

And was speared in the shoulder by a 4 foot long icicle. Kelly had now rejoined the fray.

But instead of collapsing to the ground and bleeding to death, the Reaper's smile returned, wider than before. Without a single wince of pain, he wrenched the icicle out of his shoulder before crushing it with his bare hands.

"Cryokinesis?" he said thoughtfully. Then he flashed Kelly a grin. "I can do that too."

He waved his hands in front of him; instantly, a thick spear of clear ice materialised and shot itself straight at Kelly. There was no time for her to protect herself; the range was too close. Jay tried to get up and help her, but the Reaper was too close. Kelly squeezed her eyes shut, readying herself for the impact.

But it never came. And as she opened here eyes, there was a hand right in front of her face. Liesl's hand. And at their feet was a puddle of water.

"Sup?" she breathed. Kelly's eyes were wide; shaken by that very close call.

But she had barely taken a breath when the next attack came. "Look out!" she screamed.

The two girls pushed themselves away from each other, each now backed by a classroom door. At the place where they had just stood was a smouldering ball of fire. The power users looked at it, then at the Reaper.

In his left palm, another ball of fire; made and ready to be thrown. But surrounding his right, was a dense cloud of white mist; cold air, super-condensed. The sickest thing was that he still smiled. Then he closed his hands, extinguishing both powers, before opening them again; this time, both held a crackling ball of pure energy.

"Uh-oh."

The classroom exploded outwards sending a mess of tables, chairs, and rubble strewn into the courtyard. Coughing and hacking with his whole back sore, Jian rolled over onto his hands and knees, doing his best to keep himself upright and working his powers quickly over his body; checking for major injuries and repairing the minor ones. He took a quick look around at his friends; they were doing the same.

At least, those who could.

But through the now dust-filled classroom from which they had just been ejected from, Jian could still make out a shadowy figure, stepping slowly out into the light. Jian spat. Already, he was coming.

But now it was dead serious. If this Reaper guy wasn't going to play around, neither were they. He turned to look at his friends.

"Time to up ante."

***

There was no telling how long they had been fighting. The physical feel of the whole battle was that of days, where mere minutes would have passed. With all the commotion, Jian only barely registered the fact that they were now fighting in the field. They had the upper-hand now somewhat, but how long could they keep this up?

"Take care!" Jay shouted a warning. Great, another one of those stupid shock waves. Jian dived and rolled; two more pulses of sound energy tailed right behind him.

He retaliated best as he could, a jagged bolt of lightning detached from his fingers into the Reaper's body. Then he moved on, letting someone else take a shot, working into their strategy.

The way they fought was not unlike clockwork. They surrounded the Reaper, and they used their most powerful attacks, but carefully. It was a first, but they found they could not beat the Reaper with an all out offensive. They had to be smart about this.

But they were tired. Running around and constantly putting effort into every one of their attacks was now taking it's toll; even Jay stumbled along his way every now and again. And Jian noticed, that though the Reaper took most of their hits; under his bone mask, he still smiled. Something about this was smelling like a trap.

"He's getting weak!" cried Jay. "All together, let's finish him!"

The others nodded, but Jian hesitated. That damn smile really unnerved him. And now he looked like he was concentrating hard on something.

Something was wrong.

"One!" Jay yelled the count.

The others charged. Jian ran forward a few steps; still keeping his eyes locked on the Reaper. Ah! He was looking at something, but what?

"Two!"

The others readied their powers, but Jian had stopped running forward. He frowned. At first he thought the Reaper was looking at Jay; aiming to take him down. But then he noticed the Reaper's gaze fell a bit further than that.

To a space behind them, which would've been empty if not for certain renovations during the school year. Jian hesitated, then heard a rumble of loosening foundations; confirming his fear.

"Wait!" he shouted, as loud as he could. "The school block! Guys-"

"Three!" The four of them came down on the Reaper, expecting little to no resistance as they brought their hands down. Jian rushed forward, firing off a hopeless ball of electricity the Reaper's way.

Too late. The air around the Reaper expanded outwards with force; knocking his friends away. At the same time, Jian heard the earth behind him split in two.

The electrical wiring was the first to go. Sparks cascaded dangerously all the way from the second floor to ground level. Then came the piping. Water sprayed in a fine mist from random places on the block before the main plumbing system broke, and a torrent of recycled water gushed out into the field. Where wiring touched water, steam broke the surface of it, as it was being boiled. Then the roof shingles; already torn down once before by bad weather, was now being knocked off by the force of the shaking. Then finally, with one final mighty groan of wood, brick, and metal, the new school block that had just finished construction a few months back, was torn from it's roots.

But as the Reaper manipulated his energies into steering the block, Jian noticed he was no longer smiling. In fact, his face looked regretful, as if this was a last ditch resort.

For he propelled the school block directly at the primary school. Just across the field.

"No!"

To be continued..

#10 Sting Like A Bee-Otch

2009-10-04T08:48:00.004+08:00

Jian, Kelly and Emily raced through the school compound. They had no real destination, but they were keeping their ears and eyes peeled, listening for any manner of sound that would indicate where the others were (good thing) or the facilitators (bad, messed up thing). They knew they could use their powers for now, but they were still extra careful as they moved. Perhaps the group of facilitators could not jam their powers, but some others could.

They just needed to know who.

As they passed by the corridor leading to the teacher's rooms, they heard a voice.

"Jian! Yo!"

The threee of them whirled around, almost knocking into two very, very familiar looking guys.

"Jay! Ken!" exclaimed Kelly happily. "You're alive."

"Yeah...we got lucky," said Jay, turning to Jian. "Good thing that you didn't confine your supernova back there just now, or we would've died."

Jian looked taken aback. "What? Where were you guys?"

"The office."

"It hit the office?" Jian seemed surprised at himself.

"Yep," replied Ken casually.

There was a short silence, broken only by Emily.

"So, have you guys seen Shaun or Liesl?" she asked.

Ken shook his head. "No sign whatsoever. I did see Julia going upstairs though."

Jian was about to suggest they go check out the library, when there came a sudden sound; very much like hearing something splash into water when you're under it. That muffled sort of explosion came from above them. The others rushed to the balcony, and looked up.

The library balcony was no longer there; in fact, it looked to Jian as if a giant (if they existed) had just walked by and taken a chomp of it. Acid ate away at the solid brick and paint, reducing the wall to a bad case of architectural gas. But acid meant one thing.

"Shaun!" he called. "We're down here!"

***

"If I had known we could've just used our powers against them..." muttered Shaun. The group was gathered in the library. Even though they were all seated down, their sense of alertness did not waver. They had several escape routes planned (and made; one whole section of wall was missing in the back thanks to them), and they could evacuate the place at a moments notice.

"I think they must have known they would be playing on our fear," said Jian. "And luck too; they didn't expect us to test our powers like Emily did when they hunted for us."

"Uh-huh," agreed Emily. "By the way, are there any more of them left? Is it really okay for us to sit here and talk like this?"

"There were 18 of them," remarked Shaun. "Not counting the doctor and the Reaper though. We had eight to deal with here just now."

"Same with us," said Kelly nodding. "We had eight too."

"How about you guys?" said Liesl, eyeing the Ken and Jay furtively.

Jay smiled, expecting this. "Just two. But mind you, we never found out we could use our powers before Jian blasted them."

Ken quickly counted them off his fingers. "So that all just leaves the doctor and the Reaper. Either one of them could stop our powers."

"Yeah, but which one? We have to be sure; 50-50 odds for us still ain't that great."

Kelly frowned. "Is it possible for us to just attack from a distance? I mean, what's the range of their power anyway?"

Jian shook his head. "As far as I know, as long as we're all in the same school block, he can affect us. And...I dunno about you guys, but I really think it's that Dr. Rosd guy."

The others seemed to agree. "Mandatory health checks...I swear if that guy got us, the first thing we'd be injected with would be that power-dampening thing from the facility," said Shaun darkly.

Just then, Jay seemed to remember something. He tapped Jian on the shoulder.

"Just now...the two facilitators that cornered me and Ken...they said something about your power. Apparently, they say you can create energy, and not just manipulate it," said Jay questioningly.

Jian frowned. "That's crazy. Nothing can create energy. You can just change it from one form to another. We're all actually recycling energy that's already available."

Jay looked thoughtful, but said no more. The others seemed to put their money on the little science fact that they had just learned and did not further the thought either. Shaun then sat up straight, as if he had figured something out, but at that exact moment, Emily suddenly slumped back against her chair, unconscious.

"Emily!"

Shaun rushed to her side, intending to wake her up with a push of glucose, but suddenly found that he could not. His hands were stopped inches away from her by a wall of inflexible air.

That was weird.

"She won't wake, but she's not dead."

Jian and Shaun exchanged a glance. The voice had barely the strength of an audible whisper, but it sounded close. Very close, as if the person had spoken directly into their ears. And from the looks of it, the others heard it too.

"Where are you?" Jian asked the air. It was strange to do this, but Jian had had his own experience in manipulating sound. His guess was that the person doing this would be amplifying their own voices, so he could hear them.

He was right; the voice sniggered.

"Look over your shoulder, ignorant fool."

Everyone froze. Slowly; with the hair on his neck prickling up like crazy, Jian turned. There, leaning casually by the front entrance to the library, was a familiar looking man with a familiar looking mask.

He smiled, making the jaw of his mask pull back eerily. Then he raised his hands and snapped his fingers.

The sound wave expanded quickly through the library, sending books, tables and chairs flying. The power users could not avoid it; they couldn't just Emily here while they escaped. Bracing themselves, Jian saw Kelly suddenly step forward and sweep her hands across the ground.

"Wha-?"

The ice wall shattered into a million pieces of microscopic crystal. It had absorbed all the shock, and the group was left unharmed. Kelly had done her work well. The Reaper clapped his hands in mock applause, but he did look somewhat appreciative of this. That was strange.

"We need to take this fight away from here. We can't move Emily, but the least we can do is keep her away from danger," whispered Ken quickly to Jian.

"Right," breathed Jian. He looked at the others. Shaun, Liesl, Jay, Ken, Kelly and Julia. They were ready for a fight too. And so was he. And strangely enough, he found himself looking forward to it.

When he looked up, he flashed the Reaper a smile of his own. He clenched his fists once, then relaxed them; in the middle of both his palms was a ball of super-concentrated darkness.

"Let's throw this down!"

#9 We're Being Followed

2009-10-03T19:21:00.002+08:00

Jay was not pleased. Never in his entire life until now did he have to back down from any sort of challenge. So now, as he was being forced to duck and shy away from the fight of a lifetime, his expression was the farthest thing away from a smile. One up side to the situation though, was that he had found himself running into Kenneth as he ascended the school blocks. The two took a moment to catch their breaths before heading to the office to hide out.

After all, it wouldn't have been much of a fight without their powers.

"Quick," panted Jay. "They won't be far behind, but they might overlook this place."

As quietly as they could, they pushed past the office door and hurried over to the grey coloured desks nearby. Nudging the chair away slightly as to not make it obvious, they then hid underneath the desk.

"Jeez...Jay, of all the hiding places..." complained Ken.

"Shh...quiet for a bit." Jay's jaw flexed; he seemed to be listening out for something. "I hear them."

Ken listened too, and though he had not ever trained his ears the way Jay had, he could hear a distant scraping sound, like that of metal against stone. Jay nodded and motioned for him to huddle closer under the table.

Someone whistled. Holding their breaths, Jay and Ken peeked through the gap between the tables and saw two pairs of metal boots just a foot away from where they were hiding.

"See anything?" asked a voice. Jay shuddered slightly at the sound. The facilitators helmets were designed in such a way that it made all their voices sound strangely synthetic; like it came from a radio-station a mile away. There was static in it too, and that creeped him out.

"Nothing obvious here," said a second voice. "Let's check the rooms."

The metal boots scraped the floor as the two facilitators slowly walked to inspect both the office rooms. Jay looked at Ken, thinking.

"Okay... when I say so, you follow me out, and we'll run straight to the library," he whispered, biting his lip.

Ken was about to nod, then frowned. "What'dya mean follow you out? No! We can't risk it," he hissed.

"We'll have to try anything! You've gotta risk it to get the biscuit, right?" argued Jay.

Then he fell silent eyes suddenly wide. Ken was just about to say something else, when he heard what Jay had just a moment ago.

The dull scraping sound of metal boots, right next to them.

"Uh-oh."

Two different sets of metal hands reached down under the table and pulled Ken and Jay up. Jay had seen facilitators before, and knew they were usually Caucasian, so they were tall. But the two that carried him and Ken now were at least 6 feet. They lifted them off the ground; their feet dangled as they struggled to break free.

"Personally," mused the facilitator holding Jay. "I disagree with you."

***

Shaun, Liesl, and Julia had the fortune of having their bearings straight, and did not separate far from each other. Even better, Shaun still had the facility gun he stole so they had some manner of protection.

Unfortunately, that was all to their upsides. Because they were the largest group, they were the first to be found. They had barricaded the library door, but somehow, it didn't turn out to be quite as strong as they thought it would be.

"We know you're in there!" yelled a facilitator on the outside. "This door is going down in 1 minute, so you might as well save us our ammo!"

Inside, Shaun gritted his teeth. There were two options available; fighting (less favourable) and running (more favourable). But then again, if they fought their way out, it would ensure a route of escape out of the library. Running around in here could only get them so far. Unless...

"The MPB room door," he said suddenly. He turned to Liesl. "There's a door here that connects to the MPB room, right?"

Liesl nodded. "It's right over by the counter, why?"

Liesl and Julia looked quizzical as well, but Shaun had no time to elaborate on his plan.

"Do you guys trust me?"

Liesl raised an eyebrow, eyeing him carefully. "That depends...why?"

Shaun stood up from the hiding place and readied the gun in his arms. "Don't ask why...just stay here...and trust me."

The other two looked at each other and shrugged. "If we die, you'll live in guilt though, right?" piped up Julia.

"Uh...yeah."

***

"Seriously. I freaking dare you to kill us."

"Don't tempt me," growled the facilitator. "You're lucky you're not your friend; the one that can create energy. We have orders to capture you all, but we're supposed to kill him."

"What?" Jay frowned. "You guys are crazy; no one we know can create energy."

"Shut your lying mouth," snapped the second facilitator. "There's no point lying to us. He's your leader!"

Jay and Ken looked blank. And for people who were being held a foot in the air by people who could easily kill them, they were surprisingly casual with their emotions.

"Jian?" Ken raised an eyebrow. "He can't create energy; he only manipulates it."

The facilitators looked at each other, then laughed.

"Teenagers are idiots," mused one. "Our biggest threat isn't even aware of his own power."

Ken and Jay quietly looked at each other, both simultaneously realizing what they could get out of these guys.

"Well, prove to us he creates energy," said Jay, trying his luck. He put on his best look of confusion and innocence, which actually wasn't that hard. The facilitators were surprisingly obliging.

"Simple," said one. "Use your tiny brain for once and tell me; when your friend uses lightning, has he ever used it when it's raining?"

"No."

"How about when it's cloudy? Or have you ever seen him holding a battery of some sort when he's using that certain power?"

"No," repeated Jay. These were pretty stupid questions.

"Then where does the lightning come from?" finished the facilitator triumphantly.

Jay would've scratched his head, if it wasn't for the fact that his hands were tied together. "I...I dunno."

Then came the sound of a sudden explosion; very close to where the office was situated. Startled, the facilitators dropped Jay and Ken, who landed on the floor hard. They then rushed to the window to check what had just happened.

BOOM. The shockwave hit the window with the force of hand grenade, blowing out the glass and the facilitators away. Protected by the wall below the window, Jay and Ken were left unscathed. Slowly, they got up, slightly shaken, but very much well used to this sort of thing now. They looked out the window.

The Leo Club funded fish pond was steaming. The water in it must have had evaporated within seconds. From where they stood, the could catch sight of some movement by the Biology lab.

Jian, Kelly, and Emily, surrounded by 8 black spots on the floor. The two guys looked at each other.

"Too close."

In Black & White

2009-10-03T13:26:00.003+08:00

So...I was thinking, since I'm gonna wrap up 'Season' 3 of Genesis in about three more posts, I was thinking to myself: Besides doing the next 'season' in collaboration with Nick during the holidays, what else can I do to make Genesis more exciting for you guys?

...Well, as exciting as my stories get at any rate, but you get the picture.

So, I decided I'm gonna try to make a sort of book version of Genesis. I might start with Secrets, or the original; depends which one I feel more like doing. But yeah! What do you guys think? Of course, I'm gonna add stuff to it since I'll be sorta transcribing everything onto Microsoft Word, so it'll actually be like a 'full' version of Genesis; the Genesis that I originally had in my brain. On Blogger, I tend to shorten it a bit as to save space.

So...ye-ah. What think you all?

By the way; to Joanne, if you're reading this...if the 'book' happens, I'll need a cover artist... :)

Sticky strong.

C'est La Vie

2009-09-30T15:52:00.002+08:00

That's life

That's what all the people say

You're riding high in April

You're shot down in May

I know I'm gonna change that tune

When I'm back on top in June

-That's Life, Frank Sinatra

I'm not sure if I'm the only blogger that has this kinda pet peeve, but sometimes -because I do my titles before my posts- I feel obligated to make my post as good, as happy, or as emo as the title implies.

But then again, who really reads the titles?

C'est La Vie is a nice little string of words to say at any given point of any given day (pronounce Seh-la-vee). It means "That's Life." And boy, if I were to talk about life, this post could go on to fill up a supercomputer.

Or maybe just half of it. I might get tired.

But hey. Life. You know how you can go to school either happy or sad and have that emotion turn a full 360 or any which way? You know how you can be bugged about your mom in the morning and then be cheerful when she comes to pick you up from school? You know how the canteen lady is racist but Koperasi bread is still there and waiting for you? You know how sometimes you feel you're ready for your aural but you get that feeling of wanting to pee?

Well, guess what fellas? C'est La Vie.

I'm doing my best to remind myself to enjoy every minute of it. Partly because appreciating every second would be kind of impractical, and partly because of the fact that life keeps turning around. You might not have eternally sunshine-spotless-mind days, but you won't keep having bad ones either.

Stick strong.

#8 Don't Look Back

2009-09-29T15:39:00.010+08:00

It was a cloudy day. It was one of those cloudy days where you know it's going to start pissing rain sooner or later. But for now, the world seemed to be at a standstill. Even the heavens seemed to hold its breath.

For Jian and the others were staring death in the face.

"Time's up," repeated the man in the bone mask. "Any last words?"

Jian swallowed, forcing down a sickening desire to laugh. Last words? Who did this guy think they were; actors? He would not think of his last words. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on the spot where the man's eyes should have been while his mind raced to formulate a plan.

"18 facilitators...18 guns...9 of us...2 shots each" he thought wildly. He felt a bead of sweat drip past his brow. He made to brush it away, but as he did so, his hand bumped against something squarish and hard in his right pocket.

The Zippo.

And that gave him an idea.

"I do have some last words, actually," he spoke up casually. Behind him, he felt rather than saw his friends move slightly closer and back; exactly where he thought he would need them. Apparently, they too could sense he was planning something. And with the space between the two groups the plan would work.

But then the man in the skull mask walk towards him; a silver gun drawn from the folds of his cloak. He pressed the edge of the barrel to Jian's heart, which at that point, almost stopped beating.

"Go on," whispered the man, smirking.

"Okay..." murmured Jian, silently putting one hand in his pocket. Change of plans, but what the hell. He looked up at the man's face.

"I just wanted to say...you can go screw yourselves if you think we'd just let you kill us," he said calmly.

The man smiled. "And why is that?"

"Because I've still got my powers!." Then, heart pounding, Jian swatted the gun away as boldly as he could. Flicking the Zippo's gas meter to maximum, he gripped the metal case in between his knuckles and made a slashing motion at the man.

Shocked, the man stumbled back; his weapon fumbled and dropped, only to be caught by Shaun. Before the facilitators realized it was a trick, Shaun had fired the weapon 3 times; one missed, the other two hit the two foremost facilitators in the chest, knocking them back into their allies.

Then the power users ran.

Snarling as he picked himself off the floor, the man in the skull mask yelled a command.

"Get them!"

***

One moment, Jian was staring death in the face. The next, he found himself running for his life. Again. His thoughts were going wild with the irony of how many times this had happened to him so far. It was all just bad luck.

Then when he turned around and realized that the group had split up, and he was alone did he think: This is really bad luck.

He stopped by the Leo Club funded fish pond, hidden behind a flight of stairs. So far, he could neither hear or see any facilitators coming, but he knew it would be just a matter of time. Jian closed his eyes and breathed out hard. How were they going to deal with these people without their powers?

"Psst!" beckoned a voice. "Over here!"

Jian turned around. Behind him, he saw Kelly's face behind a window. Emily was right next to her.

"In here! Quick; the science lab's open."

Jian nodded and was just about to take a step forward when his ears pricked up. He heard a crunch of gravel, just a bit to his right. His heart stopped. Kelly and Emily's eyes widened and they ducked down. Slowly, Jian shuffled to his left, keeping his body close to the wall.

"Search the area, classroom's as well," commanded a voice. "They're here. And fire on sight!"

Jian breathed. That voice didn't sound like the unknown cloaked man at least, but really...that didn't make the situation any better. Swallowing hard as he heard the sound of a metal grieve scrap against the floor, he withdrew his Zippo. If he was going to die, he was going to go out with a fight.

Scrk! From within the lab, came the sound of a plastic chair being moved. Jian groaned.

"What was that?" asked a facilitator; Jian could hear the others -he didn't know how many there were- turn their attention towards the lab as well. "Search it!"

No way out...Kelly and Emily had no way out of there. Jian shook his head.

"Time to take one for the team..." he breathed. Then, heart pounding, he forced himself away from the wall; away from safety, and into the open.

The facilitators saw him instantly.

"There he is! Get 'im, get'im, get 'im!"

Jian could feel himself slowly get hyped up on adrenaline, but it wasn't the turbo-charged boost he was so used to giving himself. Nevertheless, he ran straight on; dodging several shots out of luck, and aimed a punch right at the facilitator in front of him.

But in that rush, he seemed to forget that the facilitator in front of him had a gun too.

Blam!

"Argh!"

Jian felt his left shoulder explode. The gun had fired a super-heated bolt of plasma that vaporized flesh. Jian's collarbone was crushed to powder upon contact. Crumpled on the floor with his left arm useless, Jian bit his tongue to stop himself from screaming. It bled.

He could faintly see the metal grieves of the facilitators start gathering around him. He swore he knew what they were going to do now, but he couldn't think straight. Dumbly, he noticed a steady stream of his own blood flow silently into the drain nearby. His vision blurred, then re-focused, super sharp, before blurring again. Then his knees lost strength; he lay almost flat on the floor; supported only by his right elbow.

Suddenly he smelt tabacco. The facilitator that shot him was smoking.

"Again, kid," he said gruffly. "Any last words?"

Jian retched; saliva came up, mixed with blood. Nausea took over while lactic acid built up in his legs. He couldn't fight it; not this time. He closed his eyes, reluctantly willing.

"Guess not." The facilitator took a deep puff of his cigarette, then pressed the barrel of his gun to the top of Jian's head. "Goodbye."

"Wait!" screamed a voice suddenly. Jian's eyelids flickered. He knew that voice. It was Kelly's.

"Jian! Emily could read his mind!" she cried, standing up and abandoning her hiding place.

Jian's eyes snapped open. He had heard, he had tested the feeling, and he had acknowledged. He would turn this fight around now. Charging his body full of adrenaline and fresh blood, Jian gasped as the gaping hole in his shoulder healed almost instantaneously. New flesh twisted itself across newly formed bone before a fresh patch of skin grew over it.

Then he looked up at the facilitator, who now stepped back in shock. And fear. A sick smiled curled itself across Jian's face.

"Rot in hell, you son's of bitches."

And the cigarette exploded with the force of an atomic bomb; but reflected away from the science lab. The explosion ripped right through the facilitators plated armor. Jian's control over fire made his flames hotter than a supernova sun. The men were being burned alive; the skin turned a violent streak of red before charring black, the hair ignited for brief moments before turning to raw carbon while the nails and teeth melted. It took less than a minute. Jian watched it all, unblinking. Satisfied.

When it was all over; when the men were reduced to 8 black stains on the floor, Jian slowly got up.

"Let's find the others."

#7 This Is It

2009-09-28T17:04:00.002+08:00

Seafield High was in an uproar. One simple announcement had been made, a few words spoken, and the entire school came to a mass evacuation. The noise was deafening. Almost all the stairways were jammed packed with teenagers trying to get the hell out of there. Amidst all the chaos, Jian and the others decided against splitting up and stuck together instead.

"If one of us gets separated in this crowd and gets found by Dr. Rosd, that would suck," Shaun had said. "We won't need to worry about Jay and Emily at least; he'd have gotten them out of here by now."

The 8 of them carefully made their way towards the main gate. A better plan would've been to break themselves out of school through the back way, but they had not for several reasons. One was because they immediately found themselves being pushed away from the back of the school by the tide of students rushing down the stairs.

Two, was because since they were already being pushed, they might have as well went with the flow.

Three was because the also had to keep a low profile.

"We're almost there!" cried Liesl over the noise. "Once we get out everyone heads straight to Summit, and we'll work out what to do, right?"

Jian nodded. They were almost past the school book shop, when suddenly two familiar faces bounded down the stairs in front of them.

"Jay! Emily!" cried Kelly in surprise. "Why are you still here?"

The two of them turned, equally puzzled. "Jay couldn't teleport...somehow," Emily explained. "Why didn't you guys take the back way?"

"Uh...hello?" Julia indicated the crowd of people; now slightly thinned out, rushing past them. "Going the other way in this crowd? Not an option."

"Wait," interrupted Jian. "You couldn't teleport again? How come?"

Jay shook his head. "No idea. Do any of your powers work?"

"Uh..." Jian withdrew his Zippo and snapped his fingers. No trace of fire was being spouted by his thumb. "Nope."

"I thought you didn't need the Zippo anymore," remarked Jay, frowning.

"Yeah, well...sentiments."

The crowd around them was now almost completely non-existent, save for a few groups of people still straggling behind. The power users noticed this, and hurried after them. They didn't have time to dwell on the fact that their powers couldn't work right now. For now, they had to get out of here, before-

Shaun stopped so suddenly that Jian ran into him. "Hey, what gives?"

Shaun didn't move. Neither did anyone else. Then Jian stepped forward and saw for himself; a sight so eerily familiar that he felt a wave of nausea hit him.

At least 20 people stood before him, all similarly dressed in the same shiny silver armor that had different colored glow-marks; save for two at least. One, was Dr. Rosd, wearing the same lab coat and standing casually next to another figure, dressed in plain black.

He was about Jian's height; maybe one or two inches taller. In fact, even with the cloak and the tight fitting black clothes, the unknown man would not have made much of an impression next to the faciliators, save for one thing. The mask he wore.

Jian had never seen a real human skull before, but what he saw now was pretty damn close to the real thing. Only the skull had been cut and shaped to fit the contours of the man's face; by the inch it seemed. The lower jaw that once moved for the person it belonged to now formed a sort of cain around the man's mouth; further completing the look of a reanimated skull.

That was talking to them.

"Don't take this the wrong way," began the man. "But all of you, aren't supposed to be alive anymore."

"Yeah? Tch." shot back Jian. He turned away for a moment, as if in disgust, but took that time to whisper to Shaun: Nuke him.

"Indeed," smirked the man. "So, I'm sorry to have interrupted your school day like this to kill all of you, but please; it's nothing personal."

"Nothing personal?" repeated Jian, disgustedly. "You're gonna kill all of us, and you say it's nothing personal?" He raised his hands; the facilitators raised their guns. At that point, a worry crossed Jian's mind; what if our powers stop working again?

"You know, we've fought a lot of jackasses before you," began Jian, buying some time as the others readied themselves for the fight ahead. "We've fought friends, people we hated...heck; I almost fought my future self."

Jian licked his lips.

"But so far, you're the only one who's really ticked me off. Nothing personal? Tch...Go to hell." He turned around.

"NOW!"

On the instant, Jian ducked and punched the ground while Shaun fired a projectile of green plasm at the facilitators. Overhead came a torrent of purple flames, a volley of sharp icicles, and several quick bursts of ultra-violet light; all aimed towards the people in front of them.

The fissure that Jian had newly cracked into the earth slowly moved towards the facilitators, waiting to burst into a gaping maw of rock and stone. Jian watched in anticipation as a hairline crack reached the shoe of the unknown man.

And as soon as that happened, everything stopped. Just before their attacks hit, the flames dissipated, the icicles melted and the beams of light bounced right off the team of facilitators. Right away, understanding broke over in Jian's mind like a crashing wave.

"They can stop our powers," he breathed. Behind him, not one of his friends moved. They were just as shocked. Smiling, the facilitators took aim.

"We're done for..."

Honey

2009-09-26T20:17:00.002+08:00

So I got an acoustic guitar today. It's pretty decent, and it was mostly in budget (at RM 250...) and it just really suited what I wanted in a guitar.

So yes. I'm gonna start to learn another instrument. :D I'll still 'major' in drums, but...yeah. Guitar'll be useful, if not just for serenading some chicks in the future. And actually, thinking about learning guitar got me thinking on something...

...People tend to sound mean when they say "You're a jack of all trades, but a master of none." But hey, I know a lot of 'jacks', and we're all pretty damn happy with our lives, and we live it pretty damn well. So to anyone who thinks that way, here's my response:

We don't do 1 thing 100% better, but we do 100 things 1% better.

Than you.

Eat that.

Gotta Catch 'Em All

2009-09-25T13:43:00.005+08:00

So I kinda got back on board one of my childhood fanatics, that is, if you remember the tagline that I used as this post title; Pokemon. Woot.

...Yes, I'll thank you not to remind me that I'm 16.

But hey, it's pretty damn fun. The Special manga is a fun read, and when I've got free time I play the game on the com using the GBA emulator. It's awesome stuff.

...And what starter pokemon did I choose when I played it again after so long?

Oh yeah. Now, this guy brought back a lot of memories. Cuz' you know when you're 8, and you just got a Game Boy Color, and you first play pokemon, you have no idea what to expect. So me, as a kid, when I saw an option to pick a dinosaur looking thing that could breathe fire out of a turtle that spits and a lizard that poops seeds, you know which one I chose.

And then you play for a while, beating your rival (I named him Gary back then) for the first time, getting your pokedex and then getting your first badge. You feel pretty damn proud of yourself. And if you're like me when I was young, and only trained your starter, by this time, Charmander would've evolved into a great, big, red:

Charmeleon. Which...to be honest, I never really liked back then. I mean, it looks decent now, after they revamped all the pokemon sprites and stuff, but back then? Not my favourite, and I started to have some doubts about my choice. And when you see Gary's spitting turtle turn into a fanged, foam tailed beast with Bubblebeam; when you're 8, you shiver at the knees.

Even worse is when you try to get your second badge. At that point, you almost feel like quitting the game. With your fire dinosaur, and the second gym comprising solely of water pokemon, it's one helluva struggle. Somehow, with sheer dumb luck and no strategy, I got through that gym too, though.

The high point of the entire game for me though, was by the third gym. Because I was so stuck on training just my starter (I had a Pidgey and a Butterfree stuck in the lows), right before the third gym, my Charmeleon evolved again...

...And locked my loyalty as a Pokemon fan forever. :P

Cheers to everyone who's had this same experience.

#6 Steps

2009-09-24T21:41:00.004+08:00

Haze. From the point where the power users realized who Dr. Rosd was to now, Jian felt everything around him just float by. There was hardly time to react to what they had just discovered. There was no conducive, fool-proof plan.

They would have to wing it. But how?

Jian turned around, his mind on fire. "Ken, take my power," he said, quickly grabbing Ken's hand. A pulse of energy surged through their arms.

"What? Why?"

Jian glanced at Liesl and nodded. She understood what he was planning eventhough he had not said anything.

"I can manipulate light. So can Liesl; her power evolved, remember? So, we're gonna sneak out of here."

Ken narrowed his eyes. "What, you want us to black out the class or something?"

"No," said Jian quickly. "We're gonna make ourselves invisible. Hurry now; grab your partner and go. Jay, take Kelly and jump yourself downstairs. We'll meet you there."

Jay nodded, grabbed Kelly's hand and disappeared instantly. Breathing deep, Jian put his hand on Shaun's shoulder, Ken took hold of Emily's and Liesl shifted herself next to Julia.

"Alright," muttered Jian warily, waiting for the opportune moment. "One...two..."

"Now."

***

Eight teenagers were gathered rather unscrupulously by the end-block stair well. It wasn't the furthest place that they could have gone, but problems had arisen.

"We almost died," breathed Jay. "I was actually thinking of jumping us all the way back to USJ 6, but...I dunno. I felt something like a hiccup with my powers. Didn't wanna risk it, especially with jumping."

Liesl nodded. "We had a bit of trouble too. Halfway down the corridor, Julia, Shaun and Emily lost their invisibility. We were almost spotted."

"Yeah, what gives?" Ken pursed his lips. "And we shouldn't stick around here too long either; the school's crawling with teachers."

"Mm. Mandatory health check, remember?" reminded Julia.

Jian bit his lip, thinking of another plan. Then Kelly suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, the school's all hyped up about the health check and H1N1 now, right? So...why not we do a little sabotage?"

'What'dya mean?"

Kelly looked him straight in the eye, confident. "The PA system. Emily can like broadcast her powers; make the whole school think that Dr. Rosd declared a quarantine. Everyone'll rush out of school, more cover and less things to dodge for us."

There was silence.

"That...is an awesome idea."

Jay stepped forward. "I'll take her there; I'm pretty sure that I won't glitch just jumping from here to the office." Seconds later, Jay touched Emily's hand and they both dissapeared again.

"Right," breathed Jian. "We should split up and get out of here a.s.a.p. As soon as Emily does the bogus announcement, we're outta here."

"Where to?" asked Liesl.

Jian thought for a moment. "Summit. The rooftop. It's super isolated there."

The group of six split into partners again. They waited nervously by the stairs; Liesl, Jian and Ken emanated a subtle cold even.

"Sorry," muttered Jian to the other three. "Subconscious power usage. It happens."

A hum of static. Then, a speaker above them sounded. A voice, very much like Emily's but with a slightly nasal tone in it spoke.

"Uh...good morning! Um...it has been uh...officially declared that the school health levels are too low for there to be er...a conducive studying environment."

Jian flinched. There had been a screech of feedback on that last note.

"Therefore, we declare the school to be in a state of quarantine. Thank you."

The school remained silent. Then the speaker sounded again, as if forgetting something.

"Umm...effective immediately."

Uproar. From every direction there came the sound of groaning tables and chairs being pushed around or upset. Bangs, crashes, screams; every imaginable sound was being made by the collective classes. Then, after a mintue or so, came the thundering of many, many footsteps.

"Go."

#5 They're Coming

2009-09-24T12:54:00.003+08:00

It was a typical school day at Seafield High. The morning announcement that told everyone to haul their asses onto the assembly lot sounded, the students all more or less gathered in their respective classes, and the teachers were all seated on stage. Nothing special.

Jian lazily scanned the space before him. Usually, he would be talking a mile a minute to the others, but today, all of them were tired out. Just last night, he and Shaun had gathered the others to tell them of their plan, and they had all trained. Now, with the lack of sleep and various types of injuries they got from each other, it was hardly surprising that they weren't paying much attention.

That was of course, until Jian saw something that made him jump. A man, seated behind the principal, wearing a white coat. Immediately, Jian turned around.

"Who's that?" he whispered, nudging Ken.

"Huh? Oh...the guy with the coat?" Ken frowned. "Beats me; maybe a new lab assistant?"

It didn't take long for the other two to catch on.

"He looks...kinda familiar somehow," started Shaun. "Like I've seen him, or those kinda lab coats before."

A light bulb suddenly switched on in Jian's head. Lab coats? Could it be...?

The teacher MC suddenly spoke up, her voice shrill over the mic.

"And now, due to the recent outbreak of the H1N1 influenza, the government has decided upon a mandatory health inspection upon every school to curb the spread. Thankfully enough, through the useful contacts of one of our former students, today, we have one of Malaysia's leading health scientists with us here today."

The teacher took a moment to start an applause for the guest, and resumed her speech.

"Today, Dr. Rosd will be personally going to each class to do a quick check-up on everyone. So, may I stress that no one vacate the class for any reason during those times. I repeat; exit the class and you will be dealt with."

Jian raised an eyebrow. That sounded more like a threat than anything. But never mind her; what about that Dr. Rosd?

"Something's wrong here..."

***

Jian laid back on his chair, hitching up the two front legs and letting the chair back rest against Emily's table behind him. It was supposed to be 2 hard periods of Moral studies now, but somehow, Jian just wasn't in the mood.

"When are you ever in the mood, eh?" said Emily slyly.

Jian turned around. "Someone's using their power a lot today...when they should be studying..." he mused.

She shrugged. "I'm not in the mood," she said, smirking.

The school had decided to stick to the plan of letting the students be in whatever class they wished. From Jian's point of view at least, this was the smartest thing they had ever done. Now, Jian and company sat together. Shaun sat to his left, Isaac on his right, Ken behind Isaac, Emily behind him, and Liesl behind Shaun. Jay, Julia, and Kelly sat in front of them. All in all, it was a pretty damn good seating arrangement.

Jian suddenly jerked forward.

"What was that for?" he cried, turning around to look at Emily. Then he frowned.

Emily looked like she was in a daze. She was rubbing the sides of her head and muttering a string of silent curses.

"Hey...you okay?" Now the other realised what was happening to her. "What happened? Was it someone's mind?"

Emily nodded. Her face was flushed. "Someone...not in this class. But...he's coming."

"Who?"

Then there was a sudden tap at the door. Emily cringed at the sound. "That's him!"

The others all turned to look, their faces serious. Emily wasn't one to mess around with her powers, and when she had a warning they always took it seriously.

"Ah, Dr. Rosd!" greeted the teacher warmly. "Welcome to our class! Are you here to issue the check-up?"

"As a matter of fact," began Dr. Rosd, turning his head to look at the group of young power users gathered together and smirking. "I am."

Then Jian felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Shaun.

"Hey guys...does that name tag look familiar to you?" he muttered.

Jian tilted his head, then forced a counter-reagent chemical to his eyes, adjusting his short-sightedness to being long-sighted.

He heard Liesl gasp. And what he saw unnerved him as well. His name tag had four letters printed in bold before his name.

"FCLT"

But there was only one thing they could do now, in a school full of people.

"Run," he whispered to the others. "Go, go, go!"

#4 Be Aggresive

2009-09-23T10:33:00.005+08:00

A whistling sound resounded in the air. Jian stopped and tilted his head a fraction. Something glowing and green zipped past the spot where his head would've been a second ago. It hit the wall behind him and sizzled; melting it. Too close.

"Dude..." said Jian dissaprovingly. "It's just a suggestion; no need to get so worked up over it."

A few feet ahead of him, Shaun was pacing nervously.

"Do you remember what happened the last time we tried to be 'heroes'? Yeah? Well then, why do you think I'm so worked up over this?"

Jian swallowed. He could remember all too well what happened last year; especially all those bits about the facility. But...

"It's been almost a year of us not doing anything! What's the point of having what we have if we don't help people?"

Shaun stopped pacing. "Those may be your views, but not everyone; including me, see's it that way."

'Why not? What happened to being heroes?"

"Well for starters, Jian, are you familiar with the phrase 'help yourself before you help others'?"

Jian looked blank. "No. Who coined that one?"

"Never mind that," said Shaun, grimacing. "Do you know what it means?"

"Uh...it's pretty self-explanatory, chief."

"I meant for our situation."

Jian shook his head. Shaun sighed. "You want us to be heroes, you gotta get rid of that one thing that's constantly been on our backs."

"Oh. You mean the facility?"

Shaun nodded. "We gotta get rid of them. Any sightings of us using our powers and we're dead, but that's only because they still exist."

Jian ran his fingers through his hair. He was the nervous one now. He did not expect one simple suggestion to get blown up this big.

"But dude, the facility has tons of facilitators. And those freak punk-ass experiment guys...There's only..what, ten of us?"

"That's true," said Shaun quietly. "Not to mention we've been a bit sloppy lately."

There was silence as the two contemplated the situation. Jian blew through his cheeks. There had been a lot of silence lately, and he definitely wasn't a fan of it. Nothing ever seemed to happen anymore because of their fear over the facility. But so what if they were sloppy now? The could train again. They could get their asses of their chairs again...

"...Let's start now."

Shaun lifted his head. "What was that?"

"Let's start now!"

A whistling sound, very much like the one heard just minutes ago whipped through the air. Shaun's ears pricked at the sound, sending urgent signals to his brain to move. He did, albeit a little clumsily.

"Holy!"

The purple fireball hit the pillar behind him, punching a hole right through it. Across the room Jian stood, smirking.

"See? We still got it."

Shaun's mouth hung open. Then he picked himself off the floor, and dusted his clothes.

"Why you little..."

#3 Passive Aggressive

2009-09-17T19:26:00.003+08:00

"I don't get you."

Jian sighed. This was the third time today. He was beginning to regret ever knowing this girl.

"I don't get you," she repeated.

"What?" said Jian finally, exasperated. His fork and spoon clattered to the floor. "What's not to get?"

The girl moved closer to him. Her expression remained unchanged, but her voice dropped to a whisper.

"You know!" she seethed. "You have all these amazing powers! Why don't you help people?"

He frowned at her. "What, like Spider-Man? Dressing up in tights and having upside-down snogs? Sure..."

"You know what I mean," she said, her voice serious. She then flopped back against her chair and pushed away the plate in front of her. "I'm not hungry anymore."

Jian cocked an eyebrow. "Fine by me. I'm not paying for you anyway."

The girl looked scandalised. "Ugh! You suck."

"No, you suck," replied Jian without missing a beat, coolly taking a sip of his drink. "I didn't ask you to order Chicken Parma and Truffles."

"I know! And I don't even like truffles."

"Ta-da?"

There was a long period of silence after that. Jian thought he had finally got her to quiet down. When he looked up at her again though, she was staring right at him.

"Why won't you help people?"

Jian was amazed. "Are you still with this? Give it a rest, Bells."

She pouted and folded her arms. Jian sighed.

"Look, the only reason why you even know this now is cuz you were bored, and you didn't wanna play on the swings. So, I took you to Maine. So, little lady, don't patronise me. I could very well just leave you here."

"Ye-ah, some hero you'd be," she said, sticking out her tongue. Jian started.

"Ugh, did you just use my 'ye-ah'?" He frowned, leaning back against his chair. "You hang around with me too much."

"Uh-huh..." she mused. "But yeah, you still haven't answered my question."

"What question?"

"Why won't you help people?" she asked again patiently.

"Well, cuz I...I umm..." Jian stuttered. "Well...I...I don't..."

"You don't know, do ya?" she guessed, one eyebrow raised. Really, she did hang around with him too much.

"I...don't."

Jian sat there, not saying anything. This was a pickle. All this while, he thought he had a good reason on why he'd kept his powers a secret along with his other friends. All this while, he thought he didn't have that whole 'great power, great responsibility' bull hanging around him. But now? Faced with a question thrown at him by this girl; he did not know how to answer her.

He swallowed. "How...?" was all he asked.

The girl smiled. "That's easy. Start now."

#2 The War At Home

2009-09-16T21:07:00.002+08:00

[Kuala Lumpur, 1 Month Ago]

Four fleet shadows cast momentary shade from the streetlights. The first was solid black, the other three glowed with streaks of blue, red and green. One headed the others; the others pursued the one, the distance between the two was marginal. On occasion, one of the three pursuers would draw a weapon and fire it, but to no avail. Three times the bullet met it's mark; three times their target was left unharmed.

"Ret-Co to Eagle 5, we have an Invincible on our hands! Requesting back-up; code Scythe," panted one of the pursuers into his helmet.

From within the canal of his ear, a cool female voice replied.

"Request permitted. The Reaper will join you shortly."

Nodding, the soldier stopped his tracks and signalled to his fellows. Ahead of them, the man they were chasing had come to a stop too; this was the end of the road. A 50 foot wall rose up on all sides; the only way out was back.

"We've got him now, boys," grunted the soldier in green armor, raising his gun. "Looks like we won't need the Reaper after all."

The first soldier stepped forward, but he did not raise his gun. He muttered a short command and the visor to his helmet opened up, allowing him true sight. His eyes were in a fixed squint on the man in front of them.

"...What's he doing?"

The man before them was smiling. He did not seem at all troubled at the fact that he was trapped, and that the focused firepower of the three guns pointed at him would render even his invulnerability useless.

He wasn't troubled, because he wasn't invulnerable.

"Sir...?" inquired the soldier in red armor tentatively.

"Wait..."

The man took a step back. The soldiers immediately started forward; wary, but still unsure of what the man was going to do.

Then the man raised his hand and put it behind him, touching the wall. And in the same instant the man activated his powers, the lead soldier understood.

"He's a phaser!" he roared. Startled, the other two hurriedly shouted commands to their guns, switching the types of ammo it would fire. But by then, the man had laughed, flipped them the finger, and fell back into the wall, dissapearing from sight.

"Dammit!" The lead soldier who had run towards the man collided with solid wall. Furious, he beat and kicked at it. Never, since the start of his career in the facility had he lost his man. Never had any platoon he commanded lost their man. But now...

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned, expecting to see one of his men doing what he had God-forbidden them to do; comfort him. Instead, he found himself face to face not with someone in armor, but a man in a cloak. He also wore a mask.

And as he was called the Reaper, he had so taken the liberty to have his mask made out of an actual human skull.

Geez, thought the soldier. Way to play on stereotypes.

"Sergeant Tripp."

"Reaper." The sergeant inclined his head a little to acknowledge him. "You're a little late today."

The Reaper laughed. "Nonsense." He pointed at the wall behind the Sergeant.

"That wall is 4 feet thick."

The sergeant raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"I was here when you realized he was a phaser."

The sergeant stared into the Reaper's face for a moment, then nodded. "Well, that takes care of everything. Thank you for coming."

The Reaper nodded, and turned on the spot. The sergeant blinked and he was gone.

"Sir?" asked the soldier in red again. "Uh...what just happened?"

"Yeah. What'dya mean 'that takes care of everything'? We lost the guy!" cried the one in green.

The sergeant grimaced but said nothing. Holstering his gun, he flipped his visor back down and gestured to the others to just walk with him.

After a moment more of silence, he spoke.

"Listen, do know what the Reaper can do?"

There was silence over the comm-links. The sergeant sighed, and continued.

"What I'm about to tell you; you'll never doubt 'back-up' again, boys."

There was another silence. Then, "How so, sir?" piped the soldier in red.

"The Reaper's also a power user. But there's a reason why we've never hunted him. One, he's on our side, and two, he has a connection with the head facilitator. In fact, I've heard it was the facility itself that gave the Reaper his powers. Some experiment of something."

"But how does that affect tonight's hunt?" asked the soldier in green.

"That's my point," said the sergeant grimly. "The Reaper's power? He isn't a Reaper to us, no...he's a Reaper to the power users."

"His power stops theirs from working."

About

2009-09-16T13:27:00.001+08:00

Hey guys.

So, I've kinda-sorta-in a way moved house. To the one in Puchong. Trouble is, my com is still based here in Subang. Which also brings up the problem of updating Genesis...

Ye-ah...

So, here's the deal. Since I'm short on time in this house, and I can't really concentrate anyway with the neigbours freaking renovation blasting into my ears, Genesis Secrets #2 will come out this weekend! Capiche?

See you when the dust clears!

#1 As It Began...

2009-09-10T22:41:00.004+08:00

Boom. A rush of wind, a crack, and a flash of bright green light; Jian was flung violently backwards and away from his opponent. On all fours and exhausted, it was difficult for him to find the strength to get back up. The rain blurred his vision and made his grip slip and catch his hands on the shattered glass; he healed himself, he bled again.

...Not to mention, they were 42 floors up.

Boom. Jian felt the bones in his fingers snap. Instantly, he started sliding backward again, his shoes being the only contact points to a solid surface. In his sudden wild movements to stay put, he felt a shard of glass get pushed into his abdomen. He was losing a lot of blood; the rain that dripped of him was stained red.

Great, he thought. Fucking great.

Boom. Jian cursed swiftly in three different languages in his head. He had turned just in time to avoid a deathblow to his brain, but now the side of his face bore an ugly open gash, inch-deep. He tried licking his lips; they weren't there. It took a while for it to sink in, but he was pretty much sure now that his opponent wasn't gonna let him get up anytime soon.

That ticked him off.

Slamming his broken first to the ground, he forced adrenaline into his circulatory system, making himself stand up before the next blast came. He raised his arms.

"Will you give me a fucking break?!"

A shaft of seemingly solid white light burst straight from Jian's palm and into the chest of his opponent. In that time, Jian sent his powers into overdrive, sending plasma, platelets, and various other chemicals into all the broken parts of him, effectively healing him. He then looked up, expecting to see a black mark where his opponent once stood.

To his surprise and disgust, he was still there. And he was smiling.

...And for the bloody nerve of him, he had raised his hand and did a "come get me" motion all Bruce Lee style.

Jian stood where he was, eyeing him down; putting on a show of strength. Inside though, his will was faltering.

Not many powers left...

The man he was fighting took a step forward.

...Not much time left...

Jian swallowed, and took a step forward as well.

...How do I beat this guy?

The man tapped his foot; Jian knew what was coming. He braced himself.

...Am I going to die?

The sonicboom hit Jian as would a 50 tonne truck. He fell backwards, feeling each individual fragment of glass embed themselves into him as he did so. He didn't need to check to know that every bone in his body had just been broken. And it wasn't a burning feeling, no; it was so much more different from how they described it in books. He felt like all the broken parts of him could never be used again. It was a sinking, cold, ache.

And though his ears were dripping blood, he could still here the steady footsteps of the approcahing man. This was it. This was the end. He would die here, unable even to turn his head so he would be facing the sky when he died. Unable to do anything. And at this point, he had to ask:

What did I do to deserve to die like this?

Re?

2009-09-08T20:51:00.002+08:00

So yeah. This is a real quicky. Just take a look at the poll on the right over there and hit an answer.

...Right is that way (>).

Seriously though! I found my old notebook where I drafted the third 'season' of Genesis, and without sounding conceited, it was pretty damn good, and I wanna write it. Trouble is, I don't know if you guys still wanna read it.

Yes, I know I kinda flunked out on restarting it the last time, but this time, there will be consistency. Of the positive kind.

And yes, I know I did promise a lot of you that I would fit your names into the story and the general plot, but there really hasn't been a lot of time before this, and I couldn't really think that deeply into the plot. So ye-ah. When I do restart, everyone who was already in stays in, and those whom I left out, SORRY.

But for now, vote! VOTE.

Just Try To Draw

2009-09-03T21:51:00.002+08:00

So I did. And hey, I think this one turned out pretty darn well. Angel Medina's drawing style is wicked cool. With this, I pay homage to him. :D

Wake Up

2009-09-02T20:03:00.003+08:00

Where trouble melts like lemon drops

Away above the chimney tops

That's where you'll find me

-Somewhere Over The Rainbow

The secret to having the best days of your life is to set your mindset to not giving a flipping damn about what the "other guy" is doing. Whether he's got a million bucks and you're flate broke doesn't matter.

It shouldn't matter.

I am a snail. I ooze a trail of confidence leaving people to stare at it in awe.

That's A Kicker

2009-09-01T15:00:00.002+08:00

Salutations!

Projects are funny things sometimes. Namely, the kinds you get from school. You do them for no extensive reason or purpose beyond that of getting a few extra marks. Which...actually isn't so bad. Incentive is incentive, after all.

So, today, when good ol' Pn. Doris said that we were to do another one of her projects, and the time now being past when homework gives you any more marks...her words didn't carry a lot of weight. At all.

I mean...seriously? Sometimes the projects they ask us to do don't even make sense. "I want you all to start a blog and then print it out"? Wha-? What's the point of even making it a blog then? The whole purpose of a blog is to have it online. Writing it down on paper is just dragging us back way back where to when blogs were called diaries.

But...ye-ah. Teachers.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, permit me to divert your attention to somewhat more pressing matters...

Love, is in the air.

The Sequel

2009-08-30T12:22:00.003+08:00

It is hereby decided that we are starting over.

...Well, not really. It's really more of me realizing that keeping my blog up with secret 2nd posts would be kind of a pain in the long run. To those who don't know what I'm talking about, look at the post under "The End". You'll see.

Eh-heh.

But yeah. I know now that all the stories that I thought I didn't have to tell anymore are still there, still waiting for that little nudge of my mind to make my fingers move across the keyboard, and type them out to you guys.

I've lived for 16 years, and hopefully, I got a lot more coming. So, how can I sum up 16 years of stories in just...say...456 posts?

...Yes, this blog has come that far. And now, it shall go even further.

I went for a camp for the past 3 days. And boy, did it turn my life around. I realised what kinda of life I've been leading, and all the bad choices I've been making. But now? No more, no longer. In the words of the song, I'm getting the man in the mirror to change his ways.

First thing first? I gotta stop swearing. :)

The End

2009-08-23T12:56:00.000+08:00

If you, the reader, ever pays a call back here ever again for God knows whatever reason you may have, you may pleasantly assume that LJ is moving on well with life, is happy with his family, his band, his friends and life. He still dreams, he still hopes, and he still draws the stress out of his life with the simple strokes of a pencil. If you read this, and if you still blog and carry on where he has stopped, he wishes you the best, of the best, of luck.

Because really, it's been a good run. Almost two whole years in fact. Would've been nice if I'd found a way to keep going till Form 5, but I guess as they say; the train stops here.

There's no point to this anymore. Because suddenly being a blogger isn't about being a blogger anymore. Suddenly we're all trapped in the same stereotypes of whiny, hate-filled, lifeless people. And as I've said so many times before, that's no good.

I liked this thing a lot. It's got a lot of experiences, a lot of memories, a lot of stories. 2 years of personal experiences are on here; but only now I can fully understand the significance of it all. From the simple posts to the complicated; from third-person to story-telling, all the million little pieces of my soul. Stories. Phases of a section of life I can never re-tell again.

So I'm not deleting this. It's too much to just throw away by the simple whim of an ending. What I will do is just stop writing. Because that's all for now.

So...for the last time, ye-ah. Stories end; this one at least, ends too.

...Bye Blog.

Swing Swing

2009-08-22T21:39:00.001+08:00

First of all, congratulations if you found this post. I hereby deem you a friend of mine for life, and a pretty smart partner to boot.

How could I stop blogging? Okay, honestly, I did intend to stop, but then after...what, seven days? The intention's faded, and I started to regret it.

But of course, I couldn't just re-start again, now, could I? Would kinda ruin the effect of the whole quitting thing.

So this idea popped into my head. Just edit the posts a bit. Make "The End, happen a little sooner everytime I wanna post something. So, I can still update my blog, without having unwated readers prying in. Nifty, huh?

So watch out for more updates. :D

Hey Baby

2009-08-15T10:50:00.002+08:00

Hey baby,

How're you doing

After all this time?

- Hey Baby, Straight Forward

Finally, after some 7 months of incativity, Straight Forward just had one of it's longest jamming sessions ever. Needless to say, everyone turned up! And on time!

That's like, the miracle band right there, dude.

So yeah. We jammed, and we made fun of songs, and we just had fun. It'd been a while sicne we actually got everyone to be there, so that was nice. And even better, we now have our full arsenal of songs ready to rock out on stage. A few sessions at the studio and we're gold. :D

Pictures Of You

2009-08-13T19:54:00.002+08:00

Irony is a funny thing.

Take for example, today. I was elected to be the Chairman for this EST Eco Project thing with everyone else in class being my minions. Okay, fair enough.

Except I'm like the person who spends the least amount of time being in class. And also, for the life of me, I can't even remember what the project is about. So, one begs to ask, "How the bloody fuck did they elect you in the first place?"

No idea. But whatever; I'll find a way I guess, as usual.

Another ironic, fucked up thing in my life which also almost doubles as a curse is that whenever I have a crush on a girl things always go on so well until I tell someone I can "trust" and then suddenly everyone around me knows and then I go fuck things up because of peer pressure, and because I'm one helluva paranoid bastard and also because I am so, so, so afraid of what she thinks and I can't concentrate and I start annoying her and then I mope and emo and write long ranty, bitch-esque posts about my stupid, stupid, hate life and then the freaking romance is over.

So, moral of the story? Don't trust a ho, never trust a ho...

Altitude

2009-08-11T19:07:00.002+08:00

You know what would be a real waste? That if I end my blog without saying all the words I've ever wanted to say. I mean, look at this thing. You see a lot of the same hoo-ha being repeated; just maybe the sequence or the arrangements are changed.

It is therefore decided that in this post, I will fill up my share of words.

Words like sunflower, or daisies, or butter mellow, but that doesn't do magic and turn fat rats yellow. Which if you're cool like that, you'll also find that that rhymes. Or I could also just do words I've never said like posting, or settings, or template, or monetize. Or document, or tart, or almond, hazelnut, strawberry. Melting warm words like honey and milk, treacle and jam, toast and cheese. Now we're going into consumables (and I don't think I've ever said that before either). Bubblegum, wrapper, trash, bin, booger, snot, Slurpee, and fire hydrant. Moderation, exclamation, intonation and augmentation. Crystalline, ravishing, fiery, and foxy.

Or just a string of words that rhyme. Pick, stick, dick, click, chick, wick, tick, tic, sick, ick and frick'ing hell...

Am I wasting your time? I do apologize. But I just thought of a few more. Cutlass, sheath, rapier, hilt, groove, sash, naval, and galleon to be precise. Then there's mast, stern, leeway, portside, starboard, anchor, crow's-nest, revolver, and map.

That's a good 50 or so brand new blog words right there. And whoa, we're not even past the chatbox yet.

Life is freaking cool, ain't it fellas?

Toy Fest

2009-08-08T22:34:00.002+08:00

"Maaaan, that was some funky colored blinking lights show. What'd you call that again?"

"...Traffic lights?"

"Traffic lights. Solid."

-Jazz to Bumblebee, Transformers Animated

...God, as soon as I get that 200 bucks from MPH, I'm gonna hit the toy store again. Been watching a lot of YouTube toy reviews on the Animated line, and I have to say it's pretty cool stuff! :B

...So yes, I found this to be relatively okay-ish blogging material.

The End?

2009-08-06T19:34:00.003+08:00

So you've read Lord of the Rings. So you've read the Chronicles of 4 donkey kids who made friends with a Lion in a Wardrobe. So you've read Harry Potter, and had a giggle when Dumbledore died.

Now, don't say "read" as in "reed". Say "read" here as more of a "red" kinda "read". As in...past tense. As in, you've already read those books and finished them because that was all there is to the story. They destroyed the ring, they all went to heaven in the end, and the boy with a snazzy scar killed the big, bad wizard. The end.

Stories end. That's the deal.

So, what if all those stories that I used to think I had to share with you guys has ended too? Because seriously, for the life of me, I can't think of anything else I can say here anymore. Suddenly, blogging became more complicated. You offend people whether you mean it or not. Or sometimes, your emotions get the best of you in real life. So what do you do? Blog it out. Smear your oppresors name online.

...That's no good.

I guess then, it's almost about the end of the road here. Nothing else I can say. Nothing else I wanna say that's gonna make someone feel impressed, or happy at any rate.

It's stupid; blogging's become so commercial now that it's not even freedom of typing anymore.

Manic

2009-07-31T17:29:00.005+08:00

I'm curious. When you guys around my age were kids, how many of you out there watched this Sonic spin-off cartoon show called Sonic Underground? A show of hands please?

...Oh, ouch. Wow, not many at all.

But anyway, in that spin-off, Sonic had a brother and sister; Manic and Sonia. And Manic played the drums. And the show aired on the tv when I was about...7? 8 maybe?

...Can you see where I'm getting at here?

One cartoon completely influenced what kind of musical instrument I would try to learn, love to learn, and then completely rock it out on a stage. I wanted to be just like Manic, and now, I kind am; except that when he played his drumset morphed from his crystal music medallion and energy was always shooting off it...

But yeah. Seriously. There you have it. My sole reason on why I took up drums: To be like a green, cartoon hedgehog.

Resume

2009-07-30T19:55:00.002+08:00

So I was watching True Life on MTV just now; they were showing something about soldiers who came back from the war in Iraq and how their trying to find a different job. This kinda sparked my interest: How do you get a job if your only work experience was in the army?

Imagine what they would put down in their resume...

Interviewer: So, do you have any credible work experience in your past line?

Soldier: Uh...I killed 3 men with my bare hands.

Interviewer: Uh-huh...and uh, what post are you running for again?

Soldier: Guidance counselor, ma'am.

Woot. Go Uncle Sam.

Details

2009-07-29T17:56:00.002+08:00

Just an edit of the previous Devastator drawing. As you can see, I've shaded him in, and sorta refined his face and right leg a bit. Ad you might not see though, is my signature, and a little stick-figure Sam that Devastator's chasing. :D I think the drawing looks much better now, don't you?

***

Details. Things usually hard to see, or sometimes just popping right up into your face so damn closely that it's just a blur. To Jakob, details, especially the super-fine ones, usually went unnoticed. So he kept his head down, keeping to himself, absent-mindedly minding his own business.

But sometimes, by chance, he would look up from his doodles, or drawings, or -in the rarest of cases- work, and spot the most elating of details.

It had been a bad day; the kind of day that left you feeling a little bit useless or angry. A decision here, a decision there; somehow, Jakob found himself at the end of the day with one secret less to himself, a somewhat sour opinion of a friend and a sick wave of deja vu. Another decision later, and he found himself; somewhat dazedly, at tuition.

But the details, people. The details. The thing that would matter the most had not shown it's face yet.

And when Jakob looked up from a random doodle on his homework, he found that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel:

She wrote in the same way he did.

And this, cheered him greatly.