Sérgio's 1st Adventure
Chapter 8 - The Hero's New Ability!
Written by: CS-Masyet
Uploaded on: July 22, 2015
A few days later...

"Taste this, Serge!" I cried, forming a ball of fire in my gloved hands with no trouble. "Fire Ball!"

Serge rolled around the training ground randomly to avoid it, but as I've gotten used to it, I still managed to hit him.

"Yes!" I held up my fist in the air triumphantly. "I hit you this time!"

Serge un-rolled himself and ran up to me.

"Don't get so excited, it was just a lucky shot. Besides, it's not like Fire Ball's hard to use or anything..."

"Alright, fine... How about I use one of my new techniques, then!"

"A-a new technique?! This is the first I've heard o-..."

Before he could finish, I ran up to Serge, charging up my foot with fire, able to do it now without using my hands this time. "Fire Kick!" I kicked towards him, but he rolled away and dodged it.

"Oh, so you figured out how to use it without using your hands? Neat. But that doesn't really count as new techni-..."

"Psyche! Dual Fire Kick!" I immediately turned around, and sent a second, faster flaming kick at him with my other foot. It hit him and sent him tumbling over.

"... That's smarts." He grumbled, his body now upside-down.

"How'd you like my new combination technique? I've been practicing it a whole lot!"

"Mnrgh..."

"So, how many techniques does that make now?" Sprit asked me, flying towards us.

"Let's see... There's Spin Kick, Dual Kick, and Fire Ball. Along with my two combination techniques, Fire Kick and Dual Fire Kick, that's five total!"

"Weird, I could've sworn there was at least one more..." Serge cut in.

"Nope, I'm pretty sure that's all of them!"

"Ah, whatever. By the way, where have you been all this time, Sprit?" Serge inquired.

"Probably the bathroom." I answered for him. "Right?"

"What are you, stupid? Sprit can't even eat, stupid!"

I get it, you don't need to call me stupid twice...

"Actually, I was helping your mother prepare dinner." Sprit answered. "I came here to tell you that the food is ready."

"Really? Yay!" I said happily, already preparing to head home. "Time to grab some grub!"

"Wait Sérgio, I've got something to show you..." Serge uttered.

I turned around and faced him, wondering what he wanted.

"What's up?"

He said nothing, sending his arms into his body, like when he turns into a ball. Only this time, his face and legs remained.

"Arm Jab!" He swiftly released one of his arms towards me, long enough that it hit me in the stomach. It made me fall over and hit the ground.

"Owch..." I said, lying on my back.

"Hahah! That's my new technique! Pretty cool, huh?"

"Are you okay, Sérgio?" Sprit asked me, helping me up.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I told him reassuringly, then turning my attention to Serge. "But that's weird. I didn't know you could do that, Serge..."

"Me neither. It's one of the things I learned while training with your mom. I didn't really like her at first, but she's actually a pretty good teache-... What are you doing?!"

"My back is itchy." I had started scratching my back while he was talking.

"Why? Don't tell me it was because of what I just did..."

"No, it was itchy this morning too... Really itchy..." I said, struggling to get to some parts of my back. "Jeez, I wish I could stretch out my arms like you right now!"

"I can help you, Sérgio." Sprit said to me, floating behind me. "Where do you want me to scratch?"

"Over there." I pointed somewhere in the center of my back. "Thanks, Sprit."

"Seriously? You finally use those claws of yours for something, and it's to be Sérgio's personal backscratcher?!"

"E-er, should I be using them for something else?" Sprit asked, seeming concerned by Serge's comment.

"Yeah, you know, like for instan-..."

"AAAHHHHH!!!" I cut in. "That feels so much better!"

"... Like for instance..." Serge continued, clearly upset that I interrupted him. "You could use them to fight bad guys!"

"T-to fight!?" Sprit exclaimed in shock, but without stopping to relieve me of my itch. "B-but I can't! Even if they're bad, I don't want to hurt anyo-..."

"YEEOOOWWCH!!!" I yelped in pain.

"O-oh no! I'm so sorry!" Sprit apologized, hiding his face in his hands in shame.

"T-that really hurt... It felt like you touched something weird." I lifted the back of my shirt slightly. "Serge, can you check for me?"

"Ugh, fine." Serge went behind me to check. "I'm guessing that small, reddish bump is what is hurting right now?"

"Reddish bump? What're you talking about?"

"How should I know? Do I look like a back expert?!" Serge crossed his arms with a huff. "If it helps, there's another bump sort of next to it that isn't red..."

"Now that you mention it, I can kinda feel them there now. I wonder what they are? It doesn't feel like I had them before..."

"Maybe we should ask your mom about it..." Sprit suggested.

"It's okay. It doesn't really hurt anymore, anyways." I put my shirt back down. "All I care about is getting some food!"

"And then he's over it like nothing happened..." Serge uttered with a sigh.

--

Later that night...

"Good night, you two." I said to Serge and Sprit, getting ready for bed.

"Wow, it's night time already? Time sure flew by today!" Sprit stated.

Serge hopped onto my bed, curling into a ball like usual, while Sprit remained floating near us.

I can't believe I've gotten used to how they sleep...

I got into bed, back-first like usual. I expected to start sleeping soundly, but...

"Owch..." My back started to hurt again. "Jeez..."

I then decided to lay on my side instead, but I had a hard time falling asleep because I wasn't used to it...

--

"Morning, sweetie." My mom greeted me cheerfully the next morning, once I had gotten up and went downstairs.

"Mornin'..." I said, lazily rubbing my eyes. "Yaawwwnn..."

"You're usually more peppy after you wake up. Did you not sleep well?"

"Yeah, something like that..."

I felt fine after breakfast though, and was able to get ready for and head to school without any trouble. Well, no sleep related trouble at least.

While I walked to school, my schoolbag kept annoyingly bumping against my back. I normally wouldn't care, but...

"ITCHYYY!!!" I yelled, upset that I wasn't able to scratch my itch because my bag was in the way.

I began walking faster so I could get to school quicker, but that just made it worse, as now the bag was bumping against me even more now.

"Argh, I can't take this anymore!" I exclaimed, deciding to find somewhere to set my bag down so I could scratch my back.

"... What's that, some kind of weird dance?" Someone uttered behind me, clearly watching what I was doing.

"K-Kylade!" I said to him. "Please help me; I can't reeeach!"

"Sheesh..." He put his bag down too, and started scratching for me. "There, better?"

"Yeah, thanks..."

"So, what's up? Did you get cooties from spending so much time with my sister? Jemily seems to be going over your house a lot lately..." He smirked.

Jemily keeps coming over because she wants to get used to Serge, Sprit, and my powers. But there's no way I can tell you that...

"There, that's all I'm doing for you." He stopped itching my back, grabbing his bag. "Anymore and we'll be late. Don't want to hear another one of Jemily's lectures!"

"Yeah..." Hopefully it doesn't itch anymore today...

--

... so much for that.

I thought that would be the end of it, but it happened again in class. As soon as I sat down at my desk, I accidentally rubbed my back against the chair I was sitting in.

IITTTCCCHHHYYYYY!!! I thought, covering my mouth so I wouldn't draw attention to myself, even though the itchiness was even worse now.

"Greetings, class. For today's exciting History lesson..." My History teacher said in a dull, unexcited voice. Apparently he didn't notice me, and neither did most of my other classmates, fortunately. "Blah blah blah..."

Jemily seemed to have noticed though, looking at me with a concerned expression on her face. "Are you okay, Sérgio? You're acting kind of strange..."

"I-I... uh..."

Oh wait, Jemily might be able to help me!

"Um, excuse me...!" I called out to the teacher, raising and waving my hand vigorously.

"...blah blah blah... whuh?"

"Can I go see the nurse? I'm not feeling well right now..."

"Sure, I guess. Jemily, can you accompany the lad?"

"Alright." She said, before leaving class and taking me to see the nurse.

Thankfully, the nurse's office wasn't that far away from the History room, and even more thankfully, no one was in there right now.

"She's not here, Sérgio. Do you want me to go look for her?"

"No, it's better this way." I told Jemily, who just looked at me in confusion. "There's something I need to ask you about."

"What is it?"

I turned around and lifted up the back of my shirt.

"W-what are you doi-... Hm?"

"Do you see them? Those bumps?"

"Yeah... What are those?"

"Not even you know what they are?" I said in disappointment, putting my shirt back down. "They've been making my back itchy, and they hurt sometimes..."

"How strange..." Jemily started to think about what to do. "Hm..."

"Do I actually have some unknown, bizarre disease?" I asked worriedly. "Will I... turn into some mutant creature with strange powers?!"

"Well, you're already halfway there, so..."

"What should I do?"

"Don't worry so much. We can ask my dad about it later if you want."

"Oh right, your dad's a doctor!"

"Yeah. After school, I can bring you to our family clinic, okay?"

"Alright! Thanks, Jem-... wait, after school!?"

"What, you didn't honestly think we would skip, did you?"

"Um, kinda..."

She glared at me.

"B-but I'm gonna be itchy all day..." I whined.

"Then I find you some itch relief cream and put it on your back for now. That should probably help until then."

I sighed. "Okay..."

--

The cream helped a little bit, but I was still feeling kind of itchy. Which made it even more annoying because I wasn't supposed to scratch my back at all, because then the cream would rub off onto my shirt. Somehow, I had managed to survive until school was over.

"Ugh... Jemilyyy..." I told her, leaning on her desk. "Let's go already..."

"Don't whine. I'll take you there soon, just wait until I'm done getting ready."

"What's your rush to leave, shrimp?" Kylade asked, walking up to us. "You two goin' on a date or something?"

"D-don't say stupid things, bro!" Jemily yelled at him, her face turning red for some reason. "L-let's go, Sérgio!" She picked up her bag and dragged me out of the classroom.

... She finally gave up dragging me when we made it to the sidewalks.

"You know, it's been a while since you've come over my house, hasn't it?" She said, becoming calm again.

"Yeah. I always think it's kind of neat that your house is also a clinic. You'd never have to worry about anything if you got sick!"

"I guess so, but it get pretty noisy sometimes. Especially because of my mom's job."

"Ah right, because of all of the animals people bring in? Your mom's a... uh... 'veteran', right?"

"Veterinarian, Sérgio. She's a doctor for pets."

"Jeez Jemily, I know what a 'vegetarian' is! I'm not stupid!"

She shook her head and sighed. "Then could you at least call it by the right name...?"

"... Oh, we're here!" I stated, once we had reached our destination.

The building we were now in front of had a sign on it that read "Ricardo Clinic". It definitely doesn't look like a house, even though they live there, so even now it's hard to get used to whenever I come over to see Jemily.

"Welcome home, Jemily!" Her mother greeted her, while behind a counter. "Oh, and hello to you too, Sérgio! It's been a while since you've visited!"

"Uh, yeah..." It's mostly because I don't like how this place smells...

"Mom, is dad busy right now? Sérgio seems to have some sort of, uh, problem, so I was wondering if he could help."

"Oh no, is he sick? Don't worry sweetie, I don't think he's seeing anyone right now, but I'll go ask him just in case." Jemily's mom turned her attention to me. "We'll make sure to take care of whatever is ailing you, Sérgio. Anything for our future son-in-law!"

"M-mom!" Jemily yelled at her mom, her face turning red again.

"Wait in those chairs over there. I promise to be back shortly."

We did as she said and waited. Her mother came back a little while later.

"He's ready to see you. Follow me, sweetie."

I followed her into a hallway which led to a bunch of other rooms. Other people that come here might think they're for checking on patients (both people and animals). But since I've been here plenty of times, I know what they're actually for. While they can be used for such things, Jemily's family actually use some of them for other stuff, since only family members work here. If I remember right, one was made into a kitchen, another into a laundry room, and I think one is a dining room. Their bedrooms are upstairs, by the way.

Of course, the one I ended up going into was definitely one for patients, though.

"Honey, they're here." Jemily's mom called out to her husband, who was facing away from us and looking at some paperwork.

He noticed her voice immediately, and turned out to look at us. "... Welcome."

"Honey, it's been a while since you've seen Sérgio. Don't you have anything else to say to him besides 'welcome'?"

"... It's been a while since I've seen you, Sérgio. Welcome." He said, in a seeming emotionless voice.

"Honestly..." Mrs. Ricardo put her hands on her hips and shook her head, sighing in disappointment. "See what I have to put up with, Jemily? I hope you have no hardships when you're married to Sérgi-..."

"M-MOM!!!"

"Heehee, only kidding!" She giggled, then turned her attention to me. "I'm going to head back to the counter in case some more patients show up. I hope you feel better, sweetie!" She said, then left the room.

"So, what seems to be the issue?" Jemily's dad asked me, cutting to the chase.

"Well, for some reason, I've got these weird bumps on my back now. They've been making my back itchy and they hurt sometimes."

"Let me see." He walked up closer to me. "Turn around, please."

"Okay..." I did as I was told, and he immediately lifted up my shirt.

"Hm, I see... They're a bit reddened, but it doesn't appear to be a rash."

"Reddened?" Jemily cut in. "Sérgio!"

"Sorry! I know you told me not to, but I couldn't help scratching them a bit more even with the cream on..."

"Was there anything poking out of the bumps before?" Mr. Ricardo inquired.

"Poking out?" I questioned. "No, I don't think so... I haven't actually seen them myself, but Jemily never said anything about that."

Jemily confirmed this by shaking her head.

"She's the only one you had previously asked about this?"

"Uh, yeah..." Well, Serge's seen them too, but...

"... You haven't shown your mother?"

"My mom? No, why?"

"Heheh... I see, so you asked me before her, did you? Heheh..."

"I know I've told you this a bunch of times already, Sérgio, but I'm sorry my dad is so awkward..."

"Ahem..." He cleared his throat. "You're in luck. I have just the thing to solve this predicament."

He opened up a cabinet, taking out some syringes.

"I believe six of these should do the trick." He said, still calm, while holding them all in between his fingers.

"S-shots? Six of them?!" It's really that bad!?

He then immediately put them back. "I was only joshing you."

"O-oh, good..." Because of how serious he is all the time, I can never tell when he's joking or not...

"Jeez dad, don't do things like that! You even scared me a bit!"

"I apologize. In all seriousness, despite all of my medical knowledge, I can't do anything about your current condition."

"W-wha?! You can't?" I said in surprise.

"You don't know what's wrong with him?" Jemily added.

"I do. But Sérgio's mother can explain it far better than I can."

Why would mom know about this? I don't get it...

... Wait, does it have to do with my powers?! But wait, then why would Mr. Ricardo know about it, then?

"You should head home and go see her, Sérgio." He told me. "I'll contact your mother and tell her about your situation."

"Um, okay..."

"I'll go with you, Sérgio." Jemily said.

"... Wait, Jemily."

"What is it, dad? Do you not want me to go with him?"

"... No, never mind. Go ahead." He turned his attention to me. "I have something to give you before you go."

He went through the cabinet again, this time taking out a small container with a few capsules in them. He handed it to me.

"... Good luck."

Good luck? What's that supposed to mean?!

--

After that, we went home (well, my home this time). Once I went in, I saw Serge and Sprit waiting for me.

"It's about time you showed up, Sérgio! I've got something to tell you!"

"Huh? What is it, Serge?"

"I figured it out! The cause of those bumps!" He said confidently. "You got them from cooties! From being around cootie girl all the time! Yeah, that's defini-..."

"What was it I did, ball thing?!" Jemily cut in, following me inside.

"Ack! Cootie girl!?" Serge curled up in a ball and started rolling away. "No, don't infect meeeee..."

"... Well, that was random..." I uttered.

"Sérgio, your mom is waiting for you outside at the training grounds." Sprit informed me.

"Alright. Thanks, Sprit."

I went outside to the training area with Jemily and Sprit. Mom was standing there waiting, and so was Serge for some reason.

"... So, this day has actually come." My mom stated suddenly. "When Rodger told me about it over the phone, I almost couldn't believe my ears!"

"Uh, sorry mom, but I have no idea what you're talking about..."

"But still..." Mom looked at me angrily. "Why did tell him about this before me?"

"W-well, I didn't know you would know about it..."

"See? Like I said before, you should've asked her first!" Serge crossed his arms with a huff... again.

"Sprit said that, not you!"

"Hmph... Whatever, you get the point..."

"Sérgio, this is something I actually told you about before. You don't remember?" Mom asked.

"Wait, does it have to do with my powers after all?"

"It does?!" Jemily, Sprit, and Serge said in unison.

"... I guess it'd be easier to show you, instead of just explaining it. Watch this..."

She put her arms together, and unleashed something from her back. They were... wings! Large, bluish-white wings, which released some feathers when she unfolded them.

"Wooow..." We all said in awe, even Serge.

"You have wings, mom?!"

"Yep, that's right. You used to always ask me why I had holes in all of my clothes, and now you finally know why!" She explained. "But soon enough, I won't be the only one here with wings."

"You mean... me?"

"You and I are what's called an 'avian'. All avians have wings, and a power of some sort."

"Ah, that's right, you told me this before! On the day I found out about my fire powers..."

"Sérgio's going to get wings, too? For real?!" Jemily said in surprise. "When I told him he'd grow feathers, I didn't mean that literally!"

"To be honest, I wasn't sure if you'd even get them." My mom said to me. "I was only 5 when I got my wings, and you're already double that. But it's actually going to happen, after all! So exciting~!"

"Yeah, it is! I can't wait unti-..." All of a sudden, a sharp pain erupted from my back. "UURRKKK!!!"

"Sérgio, are you okay?!" Jemily asked me worriedly.

"I-it hurts..."

"It looks like it's starting." My mom said in a more serious tone. "You should take your shirt off, otherwise they'll tear a huge hole through it when they burst out."

"B-but it really hurts! Is this supposed to hurt so much?!"

"Yep, it hurt a lot for me, too!" She said cheerfully, not seeming bothered by it at all. "Don't worry, it's perfectly normal~!"

I took my shirt off, Sprit helping me. My back erupted in pain again, which made me clutch the container I was still holding really hard.

"Hm? What's that you've been holding this whole time?"

"I dunno. Jemily's dad gave it to me..." I told her, while she took it from me.

"Pain killers? Pfft, oh that Rodger! So silly!" She chuckled, then tossed the container into a bush. "You won't be needing those~❤!"

Aaagh!

The pain came back again, much worse this time. Without thinking, I grabbed the closest thing to me and held onto it tightly.

"Hey! What're you doing?!" Serge, who was what I grabbed, wiggled his arms frantically. "Lemme go!"

The pain got so bad that I started to cry. The tears hit Serge's face.

"U-uh..." Serge wasn't mad anymore, and instead looked worried. "Y-you okay, buddy?"

Eeegh...

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

My wings came out. Just saying it like that doesn't sound so bad, but it felt more like they dug themselves out of my back. And it really, really hurt!

I dropped Serge, and Jemily and Sprit came and held my hands comfortingly.

"Now, see? That wasn't so bad, was it?" My mom asked, still as cheerful as before.

"What is wrong with you!?" Serge exclaimed furiously, madder than I'd ever seen him before. "Your own son is in immense pain right now, and you don't even care?!"

"... Actually, she's right. I feel completely fine right now." I stated, no longer feeling any pain at all.

"EEEHHHHH?!" Serge shouted in shock. "Then what was with all the drama!?"

"Yep, once they're out, you feel perfectly fine! That's why I wasn't worried." My mom explained us.

"So, they are out, right? Well, how do they look?"

"Um, well, we can't really see them..." Jemily uttered.

"Hm? That's weird... Then, what if I turned around?"

I did so, and looked back to see their expressions. All of them just stared at me in shock. Except for mom, although she looked a bit surprised as well.

"T-they're... so..." Sprit started.

"... small." Jemily finished bluntly.

S-small?

"Ahahahahahah!" Serge burst into laughter, rolling on the floor and giggling. "They're so tiny!"

"T-tiny?!" I said, offended by that comment.

"I-I'll get you something so you can see!" Sprit rushed to the house, and flew back with a mirror.

They really are small!

"H-hey, Sérgio...?" Jemily asked. "Can you flap them, by any chance?"

"I can try..." I put pressure onto my back, and felt them move a bit. "Phew... There, how was that?"

"S-so... So cuuute~!" She yelped in joy.

"Don't call them cute!"

"Well, you did get them a lot later than normal, so... yeah." My mom scratched her head. "Don't worry, they'll grow bigger when you get older... probably."

... So, I ended up with a new ability: the power to fly! But my wings are so small; will I be able to use them well? I hope so, because then I'll definitely be an even better superhero then!

Can I even fly with these...?

End of Chapter 8

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Writer's Comments:

Hooray! I actually got this done today! Well, it's already the next day, but whatever (it's past midnight). I actually want to do two chapters this month, so I wanted to get this done fast. Thankfully, even though I went about this one kind of lazily, it only took me two days to finish! That sure bodes well for the other one, and I even have 8 more days left!

I was worried that I would end up messing this one up because I'm kind of rushing, but I think it turned out okay. I think I used too many cutaways in the beginning part, but I also don't think there was any better way for me to handle it. The ending part on the other hand I think went pretty well, and even ended up being more emotional than I originally thought it would be (but I think it's better this way).

Well... yeah. That's all I wanted to say. If I want to say more, I'll write it in a "P.S." thing or something. But now I'm tired, so I'll end it of here. Until next time! ... Which is hopefully very soon...

- CS-Masyet