Early the next morning, Ying was tossing and turning restlessly in his sleep. He was dreaming. He was dreaming of his time in the science building. He was performing a chemistry experiment to try to create a large sheet of aerogel without the need for supercritical drying. It was going to be difficult, but he was prepared. Some coworkers tried to talk to him, but he waved them away. This was more important than trivial conversations. As time went by, he began to get that dreaming sensation of being uneasy. Something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. All of a sudden, his aerogel began to crumble and dry up. That's odd, drying out like this usually takes a while. Then he heard a voice from behind him…
"Miss me, pint-size?" Said a booming voice from behind him.
"Pint-size?…" Thought Ying, now filled with worry, "No… that would mean…"
Pint-size was Adrian's favorite nickname for Ying. Ying spun around with an empty flask at the ready. Adrian shouldn't be here. They weren't friends anymore. Adrian made that very clear the last time they met. As Ying turned around, he saw that the entire building was now engulfed in flames. That certainly wasnt there before. What was going on? Ying's panic was on the rise as he met Adrian's eyes. Adrian was covered head to toe in fire, and was laughing maniacally. Ying looked for a way out, but the flames kept getting closer and closer. He heard screams from all around him, but he couldn't see anyone but Adrian. Adrian began walking towards Ying slowly.
"This is what you get, nerd. Not only did you kill our friendship, you killed the whole world right along with it. E N J O Y Y O U R S T A Y I N H E L L!"
The flames surrounded Ying as Adrian's malicious laughter surrounded him. Ying began to sweat, his heart began to race. There was no way out, the flames began crawling up his legs. He needed to escape. He had to get away from Adrian. The flames began to consume him, and then…
Chirp. Tweet. Chirp chirp.
Ying woke up in a cold sweat to the sound of birds all around him. He sat straight up and looked around. He was in the garden. How did he get here? Did someone take him here? He looked around for anyone. Nope, just him. So then what happened? He must've teleported in his sleep due to all the stress. He didn't much care for these new dreams of his. They were definitely better than the old ones, but they were rather concerning to think about. He went to get up, when he realized he was trapped underneath something. A small chickadee had claimed Ying's lap for its own. The small bird looked up at Ying and cocked its head, staring at him.
"Haha, hey little guy, what're you doing down there?" Ying said in the high voice people use for animals.
The chickadee responded by giving an enthusiastic tweet before flying to a large bush in the top right corner of the garden. The bird had made itself a little nest and eggs were clearly visible through the little cracks. Ying smiled, heartened by the fact that the world wasn't completely destroyed. He went inside and got a bag of sunflower seeds for the birds. He didn't know if they were any good to the bird but he figured he should try. As he reached his hand up to give the bird some seeds, the bird promptly placed itself on Ying's hand, took the seeds with confidence directly from his palm, and hopped back into its nest.
"What a clever little bird you are…" muttered Ying, "How could such a small bird be so fond of humans? I guess some birds are friendlier than others. Good to have you here, uh…"
Ying tried to think of a good name for the bird. They would be neighbors, afterall.
"Sunflower. Yeah, that's a good name."
Ying went out and gave the bird a careful scratch on its head. The bird responded by closing its eyes and pushing into Ying's finger while making a strange cooing noise.
"Good morning to you, Ms. Sunflower." Ying chuckled.
Ying felt good about today. Waking up with a bird in your lap has to be a good sign. He needed to get started on the day though. He first went back to the director's room and went to use the bathroom. He looked in the mirror for the first time since he'd been back to this world. He looked awful. His hair was scraggy and full of dust, his face was tattered and he had bags under his eyes. The half of his hair that had turned white looked like it had been stained. His eyes still shone with incredible brilliance though. He couldn't explain it, but something was off with his eyes. His clothes were ragged and disgusting. His turtleneck was ripped, and his sweatpants were covered in holes. He needed some new clothes, and a good source of water to bathe in. More than that, he needed a list of goals to keep track of. Luckily for him, the director always kept a stack of papers in his desk. Ying grabbed a pencil from a jar next to the paper and quickly began writing. 1. Get new clothes. 2. Get water. 3. Get electricity. 4. Get weapons. 5. Renovate the base.
Now that Ying had a list of short term goals, he first needed to train a little bit with these abilities. Being the OCD filled neatfreak he was, he made a list for that too. 1. Test range. 2. Test stamina limits. 3. Discover new uses for power (optional). He first started by testing his range. He looked out to a far off building in the city. He would teleport there, and back again. He began focusing hard. More, more… and… bam! He was there.
"Range… at least… 5 miles…" He muttered as he jotted it down.
He would test stamina on his way back. He wouldn't waste a perfectly good trip to the city. He looked around and spotted a clothing store not far away. He lined up his blink. Maybe he could get down there and inside the store all in one go. He looked through the glass, clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, and… voila! He was in the store. As he looked around, he was dazzled by everything he saw. He had never really explored fashion before. He had always just worn what he was used to. He had no need to 'express himself' like those idiots at his school. But being here now, he wanted to try everything. He was so excited, he could wear anything he wanted! He started by getting rid of his old clothes and putting on a pair of boxers and a white undershirt, the base of any good outfit. He began to try on jerseys, sweaters, weird vampire cloaks, everything. He felt like he was in a montage. He was having the time of his life. After a while of playing dress up, he stumbled across a gray leather button up jacket. This was perfect.
"Jackpot." He said with a smile.
He threw it on along with some standard jeans. He was all set. He didn't grab anything else, he could always just come back here if he ever needed more anyway. As he was leaving, something caught his eye… a wall of earrings. Ying had always wanted earrings, but never thought it of any value. He added a new item to his list of goals. 6. Pierce ears (mandatory).
Ying took his new clothes and popped himself back out of the store enthusiastically. He checked his reflection in a pane of glass. He couldn't believe it. He looked phenomenal. Normally he looked boring and sad, but he really pulled this look off. He did a few poses before embarrassment took over and he moved along. Next stop, short term water. He blinked his way around town until he came to a grocery store.
"6… blinks…" he scribbled.
He noticed the glass of the store had already been shattered. Not good. There could be gremlins inside. Ying scanned around as best he could before hopping through the broken glass. The store had been ransacked. Items scattered the floor, entire shelves had collapsed. Ying slowly moved about the store, careful not to step on any broken glass. The hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up. He was at full alert. His heart began to beat faster as he peaked around each corner in search of water. He also grabbed a few extra cartons of mac n cheese. He was gonna cook some good ol' mac when he found some water to boil it in. Aisle after aisle he went, but there was no water. Then, he finally came to the last aisle. He slowly peaked his head around, expecting danger. But there was nothing. He breathed a large sigh of relief. He was safe. The store was secure. And even better, he spotted a large pack of water not far off.
Just as he was about to grab the water, something shrieked from behind him and he felt an excruciating pain in his left shoulder. Hundreds of long tiny needles dug their way into his arm, causing an astonishing amount of agony. Ying gave a scream of pure terror as he tried to pry himself free, but every movement just dug the spikes deeper and deeper into his skin. The gremlin was firmly locked into his arm. The creature used its long, thin arms to grab Ying and easily restrain him. Ying began to hyperventilate. What should he do? What could he do? He was caught, and he knew what these creatures were capable of. Just then the creature began twisting the barbs lodged in Ying's body and began trying to wrench Ying's shoulder clean off. Ying cried out as loud as he could, desperately trying to find something, anything to unlatch this creature from him. He needed to get away. He didn't want to die here. All he wanted was water, how did this happen? Suddenly, Ying felt like a fool. He could teleport.
"I should've done that from the beginning!" Ying thought to himself as he clenched his teeth.
Ying felt calmer as he focused his brain on the area directly behind him. He needed to be behind the beast. "Focus, focus…" he told himself as he tried harder and harder still. It was hard to focus with the intense pain. He focused more and more until he had his destination clearly pictured. And then… poof. Ying found himself behind the creature. The sudden sensation of all the needles being removed caused a wave of sharp pain to shoot down Ying's arm. He bit his lip as hard as he could to prevent himself from screaming. He had the element of surprise and didnt wanna waste it. He carefully grabbed a nearby glass bottle of sparkling water. The creature whipped its head around 180 degrees to look at where the bottle had just been. These creatures had truly impressive hearing. Ying took the bottle and swung as hard as he could, shattering it against the creature's gross bald head. The creature gave a howl of pain as it staggered backward. Shards of glass lodged themselves into the creature's skin, causing the creature to writhe in agony and clutch at its head. There was a large gash where Ying had struck the creature, and purple blood began spilling from the wound.
Thinking on his feet, Ying teleported directly behind the creature once again. The creature swung its arms wildly at where Ying had just been. Ying took the broken bottle in his hand, clutched it tight, and teleported above the creature. He pounced on the creature like an owl swooping down on its prey. Ying landed directly on the creature's shoulders and drove the bottle into the creature's skull. The monster wailed, desperately reaching at Ying, trying to pluck Ying off its back before it was too late. The alien struggled some more, then, slowly, it gave up and fell to the floor. It was dead, Ying was sure of it. Ying felt a rush of adrenaline and pride. He had done it. He conquered the beast. He was stronger than them, he could do this. He could win against these creatures. As soon as he went to give a victory cry, he suddenly noticed that the floor was getting closer.
"Huh, that's weird…" He thought to himself, before… BAM!
Ying's face met the tile, and his vision faded to black.
Ying woke up some time later in a daze. He opened his eyes, and blinked a few times. He was on the floor, and there was a weird smell in the air. Ying went to push himself to his feet, when his left arm gave way and he felt an excruciating pain rush through him. He winced, as he began to remember what happened.
"Fuck…" he said as he dragged himself to his feet.
He was starving, and he was incredibly thirsty. How long had he been out? And how was he alive? He checked his shoulder. It was covered in dried blood, but it didn't appear to be bleeding anymore. How curious that it had stopped bleeding and oozing so soon. What could be causing this? He checked the tumor, perhaps it had something to do with this. Surprisingly, the tumor had receded. Instead of being a large lump on his chest, it was now only a small outline around his heart.
"Wait… my heart? Did it take root in my cardiovascular system?" Ying pondered to himself. "If it did, that's incredibly dangerous. Its far more risky to remove now, and it could very easily kill me from that position. Hopefully it's using its new home for mutual benefit, maybe that's the reason my shoulder is fixed?"
At least he wasn't being mind controlled, that was a plus. Ying found some goss and some rubbing alcohol, and began disinfecting his wound. The alcohol stung, but not half as badly as the original injury. Ying winced as he finished cleaning the area. He wrapped it as best he could and tied it off. Hopefully that would hold for a while. He went back to the scene of the crime and grabbed the water he so bravely risked his life for. He could finally leave. He stepped on the creature's corpse one last time for good measure.
"Bastard… you really fucked up my shoulder. Serves you right." Ying said through gritted teeth.
He was starting to gain a real hate for these things.
Ying grabbed a box of energy bars as he was leaving. These would come in handy. He hopped his way back over the broken glass, and blinked onto a nearby building to get a good view. He was pretty worn out after all these blinks, but he needed to make it back. He still had work to do after all. He locked his eyes on the science center, clenched his jaw, closed his eyes, and there he was. Right outside of the garden. Totts gave a friendly chirp as she flew out to greet Ying.
"Heyyy Ms. Sunflower," Ying smiled, "How's your day going?"
Ying broke up a granola bar in his hand for the bird. Sunflower proceeded to land on Ying's outstretched palm and began pecking at the treats that were so kindly offered. Ying stroked her back as she ate. All the stress and fear and pain that he was feeling melted away. This was nice. He sat down on a bench inside the garden and waited for Sunflower to finish her meal. She suddenly flew off his hand and landed on his head. She curled her head forward to look Ying in the eye.
"What're you doin up there, you goofy bird?" Ying said as he tried to stay still.
Sunflower cooed and flapped back to her nest. Ying was slightly sad to see her go, but she wasn't going anywhere. It was nice to have a neighbor. He got back up and prepared himself for the rest of the day. He had a new primary goal: weapons. Ying needed a reliable way to kill those gremlins. There was definitely a firearm store somewhere in town, but Ying needed to rest a while before heading out again. His arm was still injured, and he was drained from all the warping. There was one thing he could do while exhausted though: experiment. Ying was going to invent something to aid him in his journey. He didn't know what it was yet, but he'd figure it out when he was in the lab. Ying went inside and made his way to the robotics lab. He was gonna need some good tech if he was gonna get the upper hand on these creatures. He grabbed a seat and sat at one of the many desks. The room was spacious, and one of the walls was a large window. There were giant cabinets all over the place for various mechanical parts. Ying began thinking.
"What do these creatures do? What are their weaknesses? What are their strengths? How can I beat them? How can I throw them off? How can I distract- THAT'S IT!" He thought to himself.
He would create a device that would distract the creatures with sound. He began making blueprints immediately. With the cutting-edge technology at his disposal, he could create an incredibly compact speaker that created a powerful blast of noise. This would distract the small ones, and maybe even the bigger ones if he was lucky. That raised another question. What should he call these things?
"Gremlins? No… goblins?… no… demons? Nah… ooooh! gremlins! Perfect. The small ones will be gremlins because of their skinny, sickly physique. Now for the bigger ones… titans? Nah thats been done before… kaijus? No thats cheesy… giants?… maybe, we'll save that as a placeholder… hmmmmm… behemoths! Perfect. And it's unique." Ying gave himself a pat on the back, he was great at naming things.
Ying got back to the problem at hand. He spent the rest of the day designing and building a prototype of his gremlin distractor. He had invented a small disk, probably twice the size of a casino chip. Despite its small size, it was capable of a whopping 180 decibel range. He had the chassis ready, now all he needed was to program it. But what should it play? It didnt take Ying long to land on the best sound for these little disks.
"Perfect… heheheheh…" Ying gave an evil laugh as he programmed the little disks.
Ying ended up working late into the night. He gave one of the disks a quick kiss before going to bed.
"Goodnight, my beautiful." He yawed. "I'll give you a test run tomorrow."
Ying blinked himself into the director's office and got comfortable on the couch. It was really awkward with his new war wound. Ying grumbled as he tossed and turned, trying to find a good position. Eventually he found a spot that felt somewhat ok, and closed his eyes for the night.