Chapter 38
Chimwemwe Pov
"Okay… this is either a dream or I'm tripping on that good Nyasaland tobacco." I muttered to myself as I looked at my surroundings.
I was in a Savannah area with the sky above kept changing colors reflecting the ever shifting sun which went from red and yellow like the sun couldn't decide what time of day it wanted to be. The grass was tall and golden, blowing a little with the wind, and finally there were three paths from were I was standing.
Next thing a big mirror with wings pulled up in front of me showing me my reflection and I was on all fours in that soul cat form I had when I entered ROB John Cena's realm when I passed.
The paths began to distort a little bit and I saw them. The first one was me, well the me in my past life giving me a somber look with his forehead bleeding badly . This was so weird , as it's been been so long I almost forgot what I used to look like and the reason why was he or I even here in the first place
The second path was coated in electricity and the current me was there but he was like four instead of twelve, eyes glowing light blue, what looked like a halo on his head and he was surrounded with electricity just floating. Just what the hell was that supposed to represent?
The final path was a large leopard-lion thing, it was just as big as my grandma's beast form. It let out a huge roar causing the whole place to shake violently and I covered my ears from the extreme volume that the place broke.
My eyes shot open and my body jolted up with my hands crackling with electricity but quickly dismissed it after seeing I was in my room and some of my stuff was magnetically floating in the air so I brought them back down gently.
But then the sound hit me. Hard.
Everything felt too loud, like someone shoved cheap speakers into my skull and cranked them to max volume. I clutched my ears, and wait…
They felt off.
Longer. Fluffer
Fur?
The door creaked open and Aunt Minerva came in with a semi-annoyed expression on her face but quickly changed to a worry when she saw me.
She rushed over to my side. "Chimwemwe please be honest with me, how bad is it?"
I winced. Her voice was so loud.
"I-" Before finishing the sentence she sped out and came back instantly with a cotton box.
"Hold still." She gently placed two small devices in my ears and the noise dropped instantly and I slumped in relief.
"Thank Christ I couldn't handle it for much longer." I sighed in relief as the pain faded away. "So how long have you had these on standby?"
She shook her head. "Your grandmother actually left them with me after your feline features started appearing. She got them specially made for you from a doctor in Lilongwe just in case your ears finally appear."
Oh yeah grandma told me about him, she said that he was one who operated on me when I had problems after birth.
I tapped on the hearing aid a bit and used my quirk to do a quick scan of its circuitry ."So guess I can do my quirk without warning about short-circuiting it right?"
"Yes but she said that you shouldn't use too many volts otherwise you'll break it. It's also water proof so you don't have to worry about going swimming with them."
"Why would I-?" Then it clicked. "Oh. Right. The trip to Zanzibar."
"Exactly. Normally I'd keep you home with new features like that till you get used to them, but just be careful alright?" She checked her watch and her ears and tail shot up. "Oh now we'll be late at this rate. We're running a bit late. Go freshen up. Your grandma made breakfast." She left the room.
After taking a shower and brushing my teeth, I threw on the clothes picked from last night. Did one last check list of everything I needed to pack for the trip in my traveling bag.
Downstairs, Grandma was plating up some mandazi (fried dough) and tea. Her expression went from her usual stern one to lighting up when she saw my ears. She walked over and began inspecting them. Then… she rubbed them. Slowly. Carefully.
A weird shiver ran down my spine.
"W-What a-are you doing!?"
"Testing sensitivity." She said like she was some doctor. "You'll get used to them."
"How tough? How did you all get used to it?"
"Me, your mom and aunt were born with our features so we never had this problem. But you can ask your aunt if she's the one who had the best hearing out of all of us."
Aunt Minerva finally came and joined us for breakfast. I asked her how she controlled her hearing but she said she does it more instinctively and had no real method for it. She advised that she sometimes focuses on what she wants to hear and I should try that.
After eating, Aunt Minerva quickly began to tie my hair in the living room. After they were done we made our way out the house.
"Bye Grandma I'll see you son." I said my goodbyes while hopping on my aunt's back.
"Bye cub have fun on your trip make sure to properly behave yourself while you're there and Minerva come back as soon there's something important I need to tell you."
"Alright I'll be back soon." Aunt waved goodbye and we zoomed off.
Three minutes later
After a couple of minutes of zooming we reached the gates of the facility and after showing the guard her ID then letting us in she dropped me off by the steps to the entrance.
"Alright Chicky have fun on your trip and please don't take in any substances, don't get high, don't get comfortable with strangers there, and be careful especially with your new features."
"Don't worry, Aunt Minerva, I'll be careful. I'll see you in two days."
After saying our goodbyes she zoomed off and I entered the building, passing the reception to which I greeted the receptionist who returned with a smile and two people came out of the elevator.
The first was Mrs. Dutch looking at something on a tablet wearing a white shirt and black skirt with her hair in a bun.
Next to her was a man of I don't know in his 40s, he was about 5'5 in height, buzz-cut, lean but strong looking, irregular shaped ears but it's not like I should be the one talking on that but I think they wear owl ears, dark feathers ruffled slightly around his neck. He wore a muted gray hero uniform reinforced with plated feathers across the collar and arms. His eyes were hidden behind tinted glasses.
"Hello Ms. Dutch." I greeted her and she looked relieved to see me.
"Oh hello Chimwemwe. I'm glad you're finally made it." She smiled. "This is Apex Owl. He teaches the others hero ethics."
Oh yeah the others told me about him. I also did a little digging online and found that even though he wasn't a popular hero he was still efficient and mostly operated at night along with having an owl-like quirk which made things easier. Guess the man is Nyasa's version of Eraserhead.
"Good to finally meet you." He extended his hand which I shook. His grip was tight but I matched it easily. "Strong handshake. I can see you could rival Lusungu in physical strength"
"Thanks I've been working out a lot."
"Working out you say. From what they told me you don't want to be a hero so why would you need any form of training?"
"A mix of self protection and family tradition." I shrugged as it really wasn't that deep.
"Hm. I've witnessed footage of your quirk in use and I have to say it's quite impressive but it's a shame that such a powerful quirk is going to waste." He shook his head in disappointment.
"Excuse me?"
"There was an electric quirk user I knew. Wasted his gifts those would likely kill to have yet he used them to make money as a black-market information broker. You've got the same potential… and you're just like him, burning it away."
I let out a sigh and rolled my eyes at this lecture. "You're not the first person to tell me that.?"
" 'cough' Anyway Chimwemwe the others are already on the bus so you can go to them. We'll be with you soon." said Mrs. Dutch.
I left the building and stretched a little bit thinking about what Apex Owl had just said while going to the bus. The description of the electric user was similar to what Uncle J told me about my dad. I wonder just how deep he was in that stuff.
Deciding not to think about too much for now I stepped into the bus.
Daniella and Suiw were sat in the left front sits. Both of them had their hair braided in different styles I didn't know as I wasn't a fashion guy but they looked pretty good, thought Suiw's looked a little bit more expensive.
Vincent was in the front with headsets in his ear listening to music I guess while leaning on the window looking a bit pissed like usual but at least he had a new fresh fade haircut.
Lusungu sat behind him with a fresh fade cut as well and was just messing with a new invention of his.
(I'm not that good with proper fashion so just imagine whatever hairstyles and clothes they have on).
Suiw expressions light up."Finally Chicky I thought you balled. Wait what happened to your ears!?"
"Puberty." I shrugged and she got up and began examining them.
"Wow you like your aunt and grandma, they look good on you." She sat next to me reaching out to touch them but I smacked her hand away causing her to pout. "Oh come just a little bit." She puffed out her cheeks and gave me some puppy dog eyes.
" 'Sigh' Fine but only for a little bit." I gave her the go head so she began rubbing my ears trying to hold back the tingly feeling I was getting. "Keep your hands to yourself Danielle."
Danielle giggled sheepishly at being caught. "I couldn't resist Suiw is right though they look good on you. So is this like a family thing?" She leaned in a bit.
"A-Alright that's enough with the ears." I made a spark of electricity and quickly sat next to Lusungu. "What are you working on there?"
"Just finished up a self-piloting drone to take pictures and videos for the trip. " He put in the final screw. It was circular about the size of a small plate, shaped like a beetle- sleek but slightly round, teal colored, and with a small LED "eye' in the center "I call it Zinga." He grinned while showing it off.
"Cute."
He handed it over to me and I did a quick scan of it and gave him a thumbs up that it was alright and he could activate it. He activated the drone, it let out its wing and it began flying around the bus getting the others attention and it stopped in front of the girls.
"Mind if we take some test pics Lus?" asked Danielle and he nodded, so she and Suiw began posing while they took pictures.
As that was going on I noticed Vincent was giving me a weird look.
"What is this about the ears? If you have something to say about them just bring it out man."
"I'm just surprised your actually showed up for this trip and your not the first person whose quirk changed so get the fuck over yourself." He snarled sucked his teeth leaning on the window.
My ears twitched. "Wow man who the hell do you think you're talking to like that?"
Danielle intervened "Ignore him. He's been moody all morning. Hopefully, Zanzibar helps since he was excited to visit the beach."
"Maybe he got dumped. Or maybe he's just practicing his brooding hero brand ~." Suiw fired some shots at him.
"Oh you got jokes now-"
"Eh guys stop, come on!" Daniella cut. "Lets not fight the trip just started and besides I'm really excited and in a good mood to see Mwana wa Maji and I would like to stay that way!"
Vincent raised an eyebrow "The giant sea monster?"
Danielle looked a little offended by the statement. "It's not a monster. It helped save a lot of people during the flood disaster so if anything it's more of a hero than most people."
"Okay I get and respect that but aren't they afraid to keep something like that. I heard a lot of stories of wild animals going crazy on people dumb enough to keep them. I mean look at Chimwemwe." He pointed at me and my ears rose a bit.
"My guy, what the hell did you say?" I asked him but he didn't answer.
Danielle spoke again. "Anyway It's not like they chain it up and make it do tricks like some show animals. It just makes an appearance during the festival and helps the final lantern lighting during the Mwisho wa Maji memorial."
"Are you planning to light one of the lanterns?" asked Suiw
Daniella's expression turned somber. "Yeah I want to pay respects to my aunt. But what about you? You seemed pretty evicted when you were packing last night?" She quickly changed the topic.
"Yeah there's some stuff I made for the trip that I can't wait to try out! " Lusungu in particular bounced the gears in his eyes turning and he sped up in the bouncing on his seat like he was on a sugar rush.
"Well that explains why you bought a bigger suitcase than Suiw. What about you two?"
Suiw flashed a gleeful smile with some small diamonds around "Oh you know, relax on the beach, visit some of the beach bars, take part in the festival and take pictures while looking good doing it~. What about you Chicky got any plans?"
I opened my eyes and answered the question. "My friends Nova and William are also going to be there so we agreed to meet up and hung out."
Vincent chuckled for some reason. "I'm surprised you have friends besides Suiw." I quickly sent out some electricity his way giving him a strong zap. "W-What the man!" He stood up.
"Keep testing me today and sit your dumb wannabe druid ass down, you're not impressing anyone. " I threatened as electricity crackled carefully to keep it from contacting Lusungu who leaned away a bit.
As if right on cue, Mrs. Dutch along with Apex Owl stepped onto the bus and Vincent sat down, sucked his teeth and sat down.
"Alright everyone now that you'll all be here and settled , we will be going to the airport to meet Mr. Rafiq." She announced.
"Before we leave we know you're all excited about going to Zanzibar but remember this is not a vacation and there are schedules we have to keep and we expect you all to be on your best behaviour unlike what I heard was going on in here." Apex Owl gave us a stern look.
After the adults sat down, the bus driver arrived and started the engine and we were off.