Kevin. He said under his breath in relief. My boy.

Reynolds looked at Kevin, trying to figure out what happened as to why his powers were not being detected. He then looked at Ben and decided to try and get his answers through him.

"I don’t get it, I saw with my own eyes the kid using his reiki powers, and yet the doctor couldn’t find any traces on him. How is this possible?" Reynolds softly asks so as not to wake up Kevin.

"Only one way to find out,” Ben replied as he got a nearby chair from across the room and sat next to Kevin.

He rolled back the blanket and flat sheet over Kevin’s body down to his chest revealing they removed the uniform leaving Kevin in his race undershirt. Ben then digs into his left pocket and takes out a box the size of his hand. Reynolds watches Ben as he opens it to reveal a normal-looking tuning fork.

"Is that a tuning fork?!" Reynolds asked, surprised and confused about what Ben was about to do.

"I handcrafted this tuning fork to the resonating pitch from a gemstone I found years ago. Ben explained. It’s a pitch beyond human hearing and helps me check on something as I’ve learned sound is a type of energy.”

Before Reynolds could ask, Ben tapped the tuning fork against the wooden counter; the tuning fork then began to vibrate, resonating at a pitch that neither Ben nor Reynolds could hear. As Ben brings the tuning fork closer to Kevin’s body, the resonating vibrations from the fork cause the marking that was on Kevin’s body to appear all over his body with a rune celtic like circle near his heart representing the source where the markings came from . The light of the markings were so bright that they glow through the nylon fabric undershirt Reynolds watches in awe at what Ben is doing.

"What is this?" Reynolds asked.

"It’s a seal I had placed on him when he was little," Ben answered. "It’s to prevent the reiki powers within from coming out and exposing him for being a half breed."

Ben looked up and down at the markings on Kevin’s body to see if there were signs of wear and tear, but the seal looked fine and was intact, which puzzled Ben even more.

"I don’t get it." Said Ben. "Everything looks normal. I don’t understand how he was able to use reiki in the first place."

"Why don’t you break the seal and create a stronger one?" Reynolds asked

"I wish I could; the stone I was studying went missing from my office years ago. Without it, I can’t break or strengthen the seal." Ben replied.

 Ben stops the tuning fork from vibrating, and the seal on Kevin disappears. Reynolds wasn’t pleased with his answer, as now he needed to figure out how to break the seal. Ben calmly puts his tuning fork back in the box and back in his left pocket. He was relieved that his son was okay and the seal was still there, but Ben thought about Agent Reynolds's sudden appearance at the Stadium. When they spoke earlier, it seemed as though he was here to warn Ben and then leave, yet there he was at the Stadium. Ben wanted answers.

"Did you know this was going to happen Peter?" Ben asked Sternly.

Reynolds paused for a moment as Ben cornered him with a question he may not be able to answer. Ben stood from his chair and approached Reynolds.

"Its strange, you warned me they were coming after him, and what did I find? Ben asked, raising his voice.

Reynolds was thinking of various answers he could come up with that would steer Ben from finding out more about his plans.

"Why were you with the Advent Elite?"

Reynolds then remembered the chaos of the crowd and how they were recording at the stadium.

"Who just saved your son, Ben?" Reynolds asked. "If I didn’t beg for them to take your son to the hospital and request for the rewind protocol, you would’ve never seen him again."

Ben realized he was right, but he couldn’t shake the feeling like there was more to all this then what his friend is telling him.

"Look, I get it. I’m just looking out for your family, but I also have to keep my bosses running around in circles; you just have to trust me." Reynolds answered back.

The thick metal door opened, and a nurse poked her head into the room.

"Agent Reynolds, you have a phone call." Replied the nurse.

Reynolds steps out of the room and follows the nurse back to the nurse’s station.He looks at the time as sees its already midnight which means the protocol was complete; she gave him the phone,

"Hello." Reynolds stated.

"Reynolds, sir, we took the liberty of looking at the surveillance videos from the stadium. Replied one of his henchmen. Check your phone."

His henchman hung up, and Reynolds immediately turned his phone back on. He received a video message on his phone and played the video with hesitation. In the video, he watched a surveillance tape of when Kevin released an energy blast in the locker room, and Johnny was there as he dodged the attack, before the camera shut off. Seeing Johnny in the footage gave Reynolds an idea; he calmly walked over to Kevin’s doctor.

"Say Doc, I need you to discharge the kid and tell the higher-ups what you discovered," ordered Reynolds.

"But I found nothing." Dr. Geyser said.

"Which is fine; just tell them that I will deliver the kid to them tonight," Reynolds stated.

The Doctor agreed and went to a nearby computer to start putting together the discharge paperwork. Reynolds returned to Kevin’s room to find Kevin waking up. His father reaches out helping Kevin as he was sitting up a little light headed at first but the feeling was starting to fade.

"Kevin, how do you feel?" His Father asked.

"I’ll be ok, I -"

Kevin glanced over to see Reynolds walk into the room, and his face dropped, surprised to see him. Reynolds smiled back at him.

"It’s you,” Kevin sternly.

"How are ya feeling, kid?" Reynolds asked.

"Uh, Dad, what is he doing here?” Kevin asked as he looked over at his father, worried."

“Nice to see you too, kid,” Reynolds says sarcastically.

"Have you two met before?" Ben asked curiously as to how Reynolds had met his son earlier when he had never introduced them.

"I saw him as he and his friends escaped when that half-breed was in the school. Isn’t that right, kid?" Reynolds asked Kevin with a quick wink at him, hoping he would understand what he was doing.

Kevin thought for a second, then remembered he had never told his father the truth about what happened at the school. Playing along, he softly nodded.

"Uh, yeah, at the school."

"Kevin, this is my friend Mr. Reynolds." Ben answered.

Kevin looked at his father with wide eyes as he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

"Wait, you know this psycho?!" Kevin exclaims. "He’s with the Advant guard."

"And the Advant Guard paid for your hospital bill, thanks to me." Reynolds added.

Kevin was going to snap back but then remained silent and honestly surprised to hear Reynolds’ good deed even though he captured a Seirei Jin half-breed like himself the other day.

"I also happened to find out that your Doc will be discharging you, so you get to go home." Replied Reynolds.

"I can?" Kevin looked at Reynolds, puzzled.

Before Reynolds could answer, a nurse came into the room with Kevin’s discharge paperwork.

"Hello, young man. I’m here to give you your discharge papers." She stated with a cheerful tone.

Agent Reynolds heads for the door.

I’ll wait at the nurse’s station. He replied as he left the room and closed the door behind him for their privacy.

As Agent Reynolds patiently waited by the nurse’s station, it didn’t take long till the door to Kevin’s room opened. One by one, Kevin, his father, and the nurse left the room as she escorted them to the nurse’s station, where Reynolds was waiting for them. As they walked, Kevin looked around the area, unsure of where he was as he had never seen a hospital that looked so much like prison, with its heavy metal doors and guards at every door.

"Is this really a hospital?" Kevin whispered to his Father.

"Don’t worry about it, son," Ben whispered back. "Let’s just go home."

Reynolds presses the button for the elevator to arrive and opens its doors. They stepped in, and Reynolds pressed the Lobby button to head to the main floor. When the doors opened, the three stepped out; what they saw was normal activity as people were back to normal. Nurses and doctors were walking up and down the halls seeing their patients and gathering items and supplies. As they were heading to the exit, some noticed Kevin and started whispering among themselves with smiles as though they were seeing someone famous. Both Kevin and his father were puzzled as they were unsure as to what was going on. They arrived at the exit; a security guard was passing by and noticed Kevin.

"Hey, you’re that kid that won that motor cross race this evening. Make sure to get your breaks checked more often. You’re lucky to be alive. Glad you’re ok, and congrats." He said as he tipped his hat to him and patrolled the rest of the hospital.

Both Kevin and his father were shocked to hear what the security guard said, as they knew what really happened.

"Wait, that didn’t-"

Kevin was going to explain to the security guard, but his father stopped him and encouraged him to step outside.

"Come now, Kevin, your mother, and brother, are worried sick; let’s go." His Father replied.

Ben himself couldn’t believe what he witnessed, too, as earlier everyone was mindless zombies staring at their screens, and now, they are acting normal, or as normal as they can be.

“I get it now.” Ben thought to himself. “The Advant Guard planted the idea that Kevin was in a bike accident after he won. They have no memory of him using his reiki; amazing.”

They left the hospital and got into Reynolds’ car, who then drove them home.

***

The Knights, along with General De Grandis and his troops, arrived at what was left of the Taisen tribe village. Smoke rose from the fire-damaged homes; there was no one in sight as the village was destroyed and abandoned. They all came out of their ships and looked around, accessing the area. There was no sign of monsters, no floating fortress in the sky, and there was nothing but the smoldering black ashes from the homes. Vinnie goes down on one knee to look closely at the ground. Despite the excessive amount of ash from the remains of a nearby home, Vinnie saw what looked like large human-like footprints, but where the toes would be indicated, something sharp scrapped the ground like talons or claws. Vinnie put his gloved right hand over the footprint; the palm faced down part of Vinnie’s hand glowed and sent out a small beam of light which then scanned the footprint. Once it was complete, the light vanished, and Vinnie stood back up. He put his gloved hands in front of himself, and small round green glowing lights appeared on the tip of his thumb, first, and middle finger of his hands. He quickly put the fingers together to imitate a frame in his hands. He then pulled them apart, and a holographic computer appeared in front of him.

He placed his right hand on the screen of the holographic computer transferring the scanned image of the footprint. The computer began to analyze the footprint, looking for what creature could match these almost human-like footprints. But the computer came up with “unknown.” With his hands, he shut off the holographic computer and turned to his comrades, who waited for him patiently with an answer.

"I’m unable to detect what type of creature this is." Vinnie reported. "There is no known creature that matches these prints."

"Then where did it come from?" Rika questioned.

The princess quickly surveyed the area and saw how large it was to cover it all.

"Alright, let’s explore the village and look for any more survivors." The Princess ordered. She looks to General De Grandis and his men. "General, I believe we’ll cover more ground if our teams split up. Contact us if you find anything."

"Yes, my Princess." The general replied as he bowed. He turns to his troops and signals them to turn around as they are to head in the opposite direction from the Knights. His troops obeyed, and they set out to explore one side of the village.

The Princess and the other Knights set out to explore the other side. What they were not aware of was that they were being watched by the Alpha Lurker, who was still in possession of Toby. He hid behind some large rubble so as not to be seen; as it heard their conversation, he contacted his master.

"Master, more humans have arrived in the village." The alpha Lurker reported. "Shall I capture them, master?"

"No, we must send an example to those who try to interfere with my plans." The master replied. "Now go and have fun."

"Yes, my master." The Alpha replied.

The Alpha Lurker sinks into its own shadow, waiting for the right time to strike.

***

Kevin steps out of the shower, wrapping one towel around his waist and drying his hair with another. Once his hair wasn’t dripping wet, he rests the towel on his neck and wipes the condensation from the mirror. He looked at himself; he looked at his body expecting burnt scars from the burning of the markings that appeared on his body earlier, but there was nothing. He was still exhausted from using his newfound powers; wanted to lay down and sleep it off, but he couldn’t sleep. His mind was spinning with questions like why the Advant guard didn’t take him. Why the town was acting weird like nothing happened, and especially the voice he heard earlier, a girl was wishing for help. He needed answers, but he knew his parents wouldn’t tell him anything as he tried, and they seemed to either ignore it or change the subject. He needed to leave the house, but he remembered his bike exploded during the race. He could take the car, but his parents would find out. He needed a ride; he needed Johnny. He tapped on his phone to see it was 1am but he still called his friend, hoping he would answer. Johnny was sitting on his living room couch and saw his phone ringing. Seeing that it was Kevin, he answered.

"Hey Johnny."

"Duude!" Johnny exclaims. "I thought I would be paying a visit to your headstone, man, you alright?"

"Yea." Kevin quickly replied. "Hey, can you do me a solid and pick me up? I need some air."

"Sure thing bro, I’ll come to get you." Johnny replied.

"Thanks, I’ll see you in fifteen." Kevin said and hung up.

Johnny hangs up and puts his phone on the couch. He leaned forward, looking down at the ground and feeling guilty for what was happening. Across from him was Agent Reynolds, calmly sitting in an armchair with Johnny’s parents standing behind him wearing night robes. They all looked at their son nervously.

Johnny sighed as he sat up and looked at Agent Reynolds.

"He wants me to pick him up in fifteen minutes." Johnny reluctantly replied.

"Thank you Johnny. I'm sure this must be very hard for you. Said Agent Reynolds sitting across from him in his living room with his parents standing behind.