Blake laid down on the boat and closed his eyes. “Ug---h,” he groaned. “How long have we been out here?”

Tokar looked around him, but he could barely see anything in the thick layers of fog around him. He could just barely see Mia’s boat ahead of him, with a few others to his side. “Probably an hour by now, at least. It’s getting pretty late.”

“Damn, I swear to god, if we’re stuck out here for another hour I’m drowning myself.”

Knox butted in, saying, “There’s no need. Look.” He pointed in front of him, noticing that the fog was getting less thick. Mia’s boat was getting more clear, as well as he could see the water sparkling from the sun.

As the examinees escaped from the fog, everyone was in shock at what they saw. No one said a word, as they were too amazed to speak. “H-h-h-h-holy guacamole,” mumbled Blake, with his eyes set in the sky. “This can’t be freaking real.”

“I’ve heard of it in books,” said Tokar,” but I never knew it actually existed. It’s very hard to locate because of the fog, despite it’s grand size…”

On an island, a tree, much bigger than any other tree in the forest, stood, occupying almost all of the island’s land. The tree was at least 40x as fat, and 4x as tall. The top of the tree was completely out of sight. The contestants could just barely see the first branch.

Saga’s eyes were widened as he focused on the first branch. “The first branch is all the way up there? That’s easily 2000 feet.”

Silver nodded. “Indeed. This tree is called The Universal Plant, and for good reason. It stands as the tallest and fattest tree in the world.”

“I can tell…”



Blake stretched his arms all the way out. “Dude, the trees back in that forest were freaking gigantic, but this…I mean…all I can say is that this is a big ass tree.”

“Amazing….” muttered Knox. “This tree is incredible…”

“Incredible? Man, the word incredible just got more incredible because of this tree. I mean…just…holy jeans!”

The examinees docked at a small beach, right at the edge of the tree, that completely shadowed over them. They stood in front of Mia, waiting until all of the examinees and soldiers docked their boats. They spent their time chatting in their groups about what might be ahead of them.

“Alright, let’s get started,” yelled out Mia, in a military like tone. “This will be the testing zone of phase 4. This tree is called The Universal Plant, obviously because it’s the largest tree in the world. The point of this phase is to truly test your all-around skills, from use of strength, powers, intelligence, dealing with other psychics, will power, and much more.”

“The objective of this phase is to climb to the top of the tree and achieve a universal plant, which you can use like a parasail to fly down to the bottom. We predict that the climb will take at least 4 days, and that’s if you continue without any breaks.”

Blake’s jaw dropped as he felt his heart drop with it. “Four days with no breaks?” he asked, astonished. “Are you shitting me?”

Keira chuckled. “Four days isn’t that bad. One time when I was 22 I was forced to survive on only water for 20 days. Don’t be such a rich kid about it.”

“Well, yeah, but you’re a psycho b****…”

Tokar shrugged. “That’s not too bad. I once had to stand completely still for 12 days during boot camp when I graduated from high school. If I moved even once, I would be beaten.”

“W-w-what the hell…” Blake rubbed his head. “Man, these people are crazy, right Knox?”

“That’s all baby stuff,” claimed Knox, with his arms crossed. “If I ever screwed up during my training with father, he’d beat the s*** out of me, wouldn’t let me eat for 15 days straight, with the exception of a little water just to survive, and made me stand outside for all day from sunrise to sunset…without my clothes.”

“What? I thought you said that your dad was a good parent.”

“He is a good parent.”

Blake turned a deep breath and felt a harsh shiver run down his spine.

“Unfortunately,” continued Mia, “phase 5 has special requirements.”

“Requirements?” mumbled Silver.

“In other words, out of the 40 of you left…only 10 of you will be legible for phase 5.”

The examinees stood silent and stiff. The new rule made this phase a lot more stressful. “Feel free to take your rests,” she added, “but don’t fool around for too long. A few more things I would like to quickly point out…” The examinees all listened carefully. “I will inform you now that this tree is not just a monument, but a living area for a forest tribe known as the Siiragondi, known for their distinctive, green, leaf-like hair. They carved out the inside of the tree and built houses on the inside, including on the walls. It would be pretty neat to see, but…the Siiragondi don’t really like tourists and will attack anyone if they even touch the tree, so be careful.”

“Lastly, I’m glad to inform you that if you see any forest creature here that you saw back at the forest, their size is back to normal. See it as a ratio thing. The tree got bigger, and so did the animals.”

Silver looked back to when he saw the oversized caterpillar. I pray we don’t come across any of those guys, he thought.

“So, any more questions?” Everyone stayed silent, eager to begin the climb.

Blake gulped. “Man, this is really freaking high. How the hell are we supposed to do this anyways?”

“It’s easy,” claimed Tokar. “Blake, this tree is the same species as the trees back in the forest. That means the bark is the same type, so you can climb this bark like you did with the other ones.”

“Well, s***, that’s good to know…” Blake looked over to Saga, who was leaning impatiently with his teammates against the tree, and smiled eagerly. “I’m totally gonna get him this round.”

Keira shrugged and looked up at the top of the tree, reaching her hand out. “I’m so close,” she whispered. “So close to destroying him…”

Tokar reached down, scooping up some sand. Four days, huh? Four days closer to what we need, right?

Knox, standing in back of them, smiled. They all have something that they need to achieve, he thought. Just like I need to get Celia back… He looked up at the sun, tinted with a beautiful orange outline, which was setting fast. Nothing is going to stop them, as long as I’m around.

Knox walked past them and placed his hand on the tree, gripping the iron-like bark. “Let’s go.”

Mia whistled, signaling the start. “Begin!” she yelled.


Kaden scooped some dirt into his hands out of boredom. He scouted out the damp cave, examining Magi, and his leader, Rain. Rain sat completely still against the wall, like he had been for several hours.

Rain’s phone buzzed. He opened it up, reading a quick text from Snow. “Let him in,” commanded Rain. Kaden raised his hand a summoned his purple door, allowing Snow into the enclosed cave.

“What’s up?” asked Rain, curiously.

“Oh, nothing,” responded Snow. “Just thought I’d stop by for a visit.”

Rain opened his left eye, with a fierce look to it. “Don’t play dumb with me, especially in times like these.”

Snow chuckled to himself, and said, “Well, I figured I’d tell you that I saw a little something-something down in East MC today.”

“Which is?”

“A psychic revolt. A group of 50 civilians or so were going on about how psychics are the demons of the world and that they should just go off somewhere to die.” Suddenly, Rain stood up, clenching both of his fists. His eyes were twitching in anger as he gritted his teeth back and forth and started to groan. “S***…F*ing aholes!”

“Excuse me…” said Snow, sarcastically.

“Not you, those freaking protesters. God…ah s***!” Rain turned around and punched a hole into the rock. His fist started to bleed from the incredible impact. His breathing got lighter after a second. “How long ago did you see them?”

“No more than 5 minutes ago.”

“Good. Kaden, get up. We’re having a little talk with them.”

Kaden didn’t think twice about it, though the look on his face gave a different impression. “Yes, sir.” He opened up a blue portal, inside showing off Mercury City. Rain slowly walked through it, going from the cave to the city in a second.

“Well, go on,” said Snow.

Kaden clenched his stomach, with his face starting to turn pale. “Why does he do this?” asked Kaden. “Why does he have the ambition to hurt innocent people?”

Snow winked, ignoring Magi’s obnoxious laugh in the back ground. “Why don’t you ask him? Oh, I know why. Your selfish side doesn’t want to lose hope of getting your family back like the boss promised, right?”

Kaden said nothing. He stared at the ground with a depressed look, taking a deep breath a second later. He walked through the door closing it as soon as he appeared in the city.



Rain examined the empty streets, noting the low population. He looked up to the sun. “It’s about 4 o’clock right now…let’s get things done here before anymore people show up. There’s probably a high amount of soldiers on guard since the assassination.”

The two walked around the streets, surprisingly getting no attraction from anyone. Kaden claimed, “They must not have made your face too social yet. A real surprise, too, since you were seen by plenty of people that day…”

“Yeah, and I want it to stay that way…” Just a block ahead, around the corner, Rain and Kaden could hear a faint sound of yells and footsteps from around the corner. They both sped up, turning the corner. Rain smiled angrily at the sight of a mob of people, led by a middle aged man with a thick, brown beard, wearing a blue shirt that said, Rid This Town Of Demons. Support us at www.stoppsychics.org.

The mob was yelling different chants, similar to the signs that they were holding, saying phrases such as, A Psychic Took My Son. Is Yours Next? As well as, End The Supernatural, Start The Peace!

Rain walked up to the mob, saying, “Look what we got here…this should be fun…”

No one recognized Rain at first, up until a young woman dropped her sign and clasped her mouth.

“What’s wrong?” asked the man next to her.

She pointed towards Rain. “It…it’s him! The assassin of Momo!”

The mob all looked simultaneously, and they all reacted the same. They all dropped whatever was in their hands and screamed out in horror. Some instantly ran away looking for help.

“Halt, followers!” The crowd all stopped, looking at their leader.

“Mr. Klemons…” said a man.

Mr. Klemons walked up to Rain, looking him directly in the eye with a confident stare. “Is it true?” asked Klemons.

Rain arched an eyebrow. “Is what true?”

“Are you truly the assassin? The most hated of the demons?”

Rain raised his arms up. “Yes, I am, and I’m back to do some more killing.”

Klemons said nothing. He sighed and looked back at his followers, all of whom were frozen in fear, but wanted to stay loyal to their views. “I understand. You truly want to kill us.”

“Of course.” Kaden, standing around the corner, pushed his hands together. “Please, Rain,” said Kaden. “Please don’t do it…”

“I see,” said Klemons. “I suppose…may we ask you if there is any way of you letting us go.”

“Sure,” said Rain. “Keep your retarded opinions to yourself. You have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“I understand. You see, we hate psychics because we’ve all lost something precious to them, so…it’s just…”

Rain grabbed his shoulder. “Just get out of here, all of you. Go complain somewhere else, please.”

Klemons, with a depressed expression, nodded. “I…suppose we’re off.” As he turned around he smiled deviously. With agility, he slyly took an army knife out of his pocket, spinning it in his hands several times. He lunged with the knife aiming for Rain’s heart.

Rain chuckled. “Grave mistake,” he whispered. Rain stuck out his right hand. The blade connected with his right hand, and to Klemons’ surprise, the blade snapped with ease. Klemons stared at the broken blade in horror and disbelief. “N-n-n-n-no,” he muttered. “It’s not possible.”

Rain shrugged, saying, “You wanna hear a funny joke? It’s called the fat guy trying to fight back for his views.” He pulled Klemons towards him, pushing his palm into Klemons’ stomach. “It just doesn’t work that way. Trust me, I know.”

Suddenly, a blue aura lit up around Rain’s hand. Klemons could feel a painful heat forming in his belly. The heat got more intense with each passing second, until it was so unbearable that he was forced to scream from the pain. Klemons started to cough up blood in front of his followers. They all watched, horrified, but they couldn’t move. The fear was too overwhelming.

In a second, a hole busted through Klemons’ body. He puked a large amount of blood and fell to his knees, trying to get up. Rain, smiling with glee, stepped on Klemons’ and pushed him to the ground, up until he dead seconds later. “It feels so good,” said Rain. “Knowing that some more of you scum are gone.”

Rain hid his hand behind his back, beginning to charge up an energy blast. What started from a small ball slowly grew in size, from covering his hand up until the light was clearly visible to the mob in front of him.

Kaden rushed around the corner, charging towards Rain. “Don’t do it, please!” As Kaden approached Rain, Rain kicked him back, knocking the breath out of him. “Shut up, Kaden. You just don’t realize how dirty these people are…”

Rain stuck out his palm, instantly firing his attack. The energy blast rushed towards the mob with blazing speed, and the heat of the blast could be felt from several feet away. The mob ran away, screaming for help, but it was no use. The blast ran right through the middle of them, completely disintegrating anyone who was directly hit. The people towards the side were knocked into the buildings with incredible force. The ones who weren’t killed instantly were either without at least one limb or bleeding out. As soon as every last person was damaged, Rain stopped the blast. “Holy s***…that feels so much better.”

Kaden tried to get up, but he was too horrified by the damage that Rain had done. The middle of the road had a long crater in it, and all around it, people were moaning and crying for help. Kaden watched some people die as they struggled to escape. He blocked his ears from the sounds of despair and pain. He couldn’t take it much longer. “What’s…” he mumbled. “What’s wrong with you?”

Kaden looked to his side, his eyes widened. He clenched his stomach and started to feel as if he were going to puke. He almost passed out as he watched a little boy, no more than ten years old, struggle to walk away. His crying was pitiful, and he was in unbearable pain from a huge gash on his back.

Kaden didn’t hesitate for a second. He sprinted around the corner, looking for the boy. As soon as he turned the corner, the boy collapsed. Kaden got to his knees and with shaky hands, he touched the boys neck. Nothing.

Kaden dug his nails so deep into his palm that blood spurted out. “That bastard,” he whispered. “Why am I so selfish? If I could just think about other people for once, I’d actually fight against him…” Kaden wiped off the forming tears in his eyes and walked away, trying his hardest to forget about the little boy. He looked towards Rain, who stood silently in the middle of the massacre. Rain glanced over to him, not looking as pleased as he did before. “We’re leaving.”


Flora was humming to herself up until she could see the glistening lake. “Oh, look, Rem! Yay, we’re here!”

Rem squinted his eyes, noticing a wooden boat in the water. He also saw the stationary blimp, just barely being able to see the words MCG inscribed on it. “Yep, this is it. Hopefully they’ll give us a boat.”

“Yeah…I wish sis was still alive, then she could move all the water for us!”

Rem shrugged. “It’s not like we were old enough to even know her… Anyways, let’s not focus on that for right now. We need to get moving before another one of us dies.”


Two MCG soldiers picked up the spare boat out of the water. “That’s the last spare one,” said the soldier on the left. “General Mia told us to get the blimp running and meet her on the first branch of that big tree.”

The other soldier laughed. “Yeah, if we don’t get shot down before that. Those green haired people living in the tree are total maniacs. You know that they used to have a tourist business up here, but some foreign family simply touched the tree and were killed on the spot by some of their soldiers…”

“Yeah, I heard…those guys are so screwed. Very few people are even able to get to the top, let alone being chased down by some crazy ass-” The soldier fell the ground from bumping into something. He noticed the tall shadow overcoming him. He looked up, staring Rem down curiously. “What the hell?” asked the soldier.

Flora popped up from behind Rem. “Sorry, Mr. Soldier, but we need that boat, like, right now.”

“What? Sorry, but phase 3 ended at least an hour ago. You guys must not have been alerted.”

Rem looked towards Flora, confused. “Right…so can you give it to us?”

The soldier shook his head. “Weren’t you 2 just listening? The phase is over, you guys failed! Now get-”

“What’s going on out here?” Both soldiers simultaneously dropped the boat and stood still with perfect posture. Flora and Rem turned around, watching Vauhan exit the blimp. “Do we have a problem here, soldiers?”

“Yes, sir!” yelled the first man. “These 2 have failed the exam but insist on going onto the next phase!”

“Oh, really?” Vauhan stared at the two, trying to intimidate them. It clearly didn’t work on either of them. He circled the two curiously, noting their hair and eyes. “Ah, I see.”

Vauhan smiled and shook Rem’s hand. “Yes, you two! Of course, I was expecting you to show up later. Why, just take that boat over there and head on off. It shouldn’t take more than an few hours to get to the island! Just tell Mia when you arrive that I’ve sent you, alright?”

Rem smiled back. “Thanks, we appreciate it.” Rem and Flora snatched the boats from the two astonished soldiers and plopped it into the water. “Let’s go,” said Rem. “We can’t afford to waste anymore time.”