Riley Ross-Chapter 80: Random Encounters and Letters

This... is a Danger Zone?

Several hours later, the buses carrying the freshmen students of Mega Academy have officially landed on the so-called Danger Zone right next to the land area of Ohio. They have been on flat land now for half an hour, and it was only now that they were finally seeing just how haunting the entire state of Ohio looked like.

Seeing it in the pictures did it no justice at all. Seeing this horizon of flat land made them feel like they were about to be swallowed by it, drowned by its endlessness. The land was incredibly smooth, to the point that the afternoon sun was almost reflecting on its vastness.

Even after ten years, the government had not reclaimed nor built any buildings on the flatness of Ohio—that was because to do so would be astronomical due to the fact that digging through the ground was almost impossible. The ground was compressed to the point that it was as hard as steel.

"I thought... the buildings we drove past earlier was the Danger Zone?" One of the students asked, and Katherine immediately sighed in response as she stood up from her seat.

"The ruined buildings you saw earlier—they were... within radius of the shockwave. I don’t think any of you truly understand just how powerful Ms. Phoenix was. She was so strong to the point that it was scary. I was only seven or eight when it happened, but it was all over the news—she flattened most of Ohio in an instant. I’ll repeat that, in an instant."

Katherine then leaned on her seat and stared at the horizon outside,

"The heat that feat produced was felt throughout the entire country. The cities that weren’t in the Compression were melted and blown away. I remember my mother telling me that those in the Compression could be considered the lucky ones—their deaths were instant. The others... their skin melted off their bones, and I don’t know if you noticed, some of their remains are still there, sticking to the walls, the roads... anywhere, really. That kind of power... is what it means to be called one of the most powerful humans in history."

"Why... did she do this? I’ve read about her, and before this... she was beloved by all the people."

"She went insane," Katherine sighed, shrugging as she leaned away from the window and faced the girl who asked, "Imagine, all that power... and she couldn’t stop herself from turning crazy. And you’re right about her being loved by the people—she was everyone’s idol. Mine too."

Katherine’s voice turned weak, her eyes lowering to the floor as she seemed to reminisce the day it happened, "She was mine too. Her mastery and raw strength still have no equal, even today. But now all you could read about her is how she was the worst criminal in our century."

Huh. Like mother, like son. I suppose? You do not have to worry, Biological Mother—if I live a few more years, people might just forget about you... because all they would think about is me.

"Of course, just a few years ago, the country made the day she did all of this into Mental Health day."

Katherine dropped back down to her seat, sliding down on it before pursing her lips and shaking her head. She then slightly leaned out, pointing at Riley and the rest of the Baby Crew.

"That’s why you should always check up on your friends," she said while her finger traced at them, "You never know if one or two of you are feeling depressed. Because a depressed super is a dangerous super."

"Isn’t that... somewhat insensitive?" Hannah narrowed her eyes at her, "You’re saying depressed people are a danger?"

"I’m saying that if you can lift a car with your mind or a single hand, you can’t afford to be depressed," Katherine shrugged, "Because the truth is—especially with half the people in this class, all of you are practically weapons. Supers as strong as we are can’t afford to be depressed, because we are a danger to ourselves, and most importantly, to other people."

"It’s not their fault they’re depressed."

"Tell that to all the corpses buried beneath us."

"Jesus..." Gracey forced out a chuckle as she stood up from her seat, "...Now you made everyone on the bus depressed, Scarlet M."

"Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet," Katherine also chuckled while shaking her head, "You won’t have time to be depressed soon. Look out the window."

Everyone instantly turned their heads to where Katherine was pointing, only to see someone moving beside their bus.

"That’s the instructor! Mr. SMM! Look here! Here!"

The bus slightly tilted to the left and all the students rushed to one side of the bus as soon as they saw Spectacular Mustache Man hanging in the air—his mustache acting like spider legs, crawling faster than even the bus itself.

"Where’s... he going?"

"The other instructors are also there!"

They watched as Spectacular Mustache Man moved away from their bus moving ahead of them and hovering above the buses in front. But he soon left the path, with Chieftain Amerika flying past him in the air.

"Where are they—"

The students’ questions were answered faster than they thought as they saw a huge shadow suddenly cover the horizon. They all looked up, only to see some sort of red ball flying toward one of the buses ahead. And with the ball being larger by at least four times than the bus, it would surely do some damage if it hit.

And before any of them could even gasp, they saw Chieftain Amerika shooting toward the ball, her body spinning like a drill, and her wings acting as a shield as she slammed right onto the giant ball and caused it to fly away in the other direction.

But right when they thought the ball would roll away into the horizon, its momentum suddenly stopped like it had a life of its own.

Well, not like. It did. It did have a life of its own.

Now that it stopped rolling, everyone could see the large pair of eyes that was on the surface of the red ball.

"What... the hell is that?"

"That’s Orbmother!" One of the students bellowed.

"...But wasn’t Orbmother defeated by King Penguin and Leafman?"

"What’s... that then?"

"Orbdaughter...?"

Yes. The monster was just a giant red ball and nothing else. It wasn’t a creature curled into a ball like an armadillo, but just a solid red ball with eyes.

And before the students could even process what they were seeing, they heard several high-pitched popping noises on the other side—and there, they saw a large white gorilla with four arms and a red cape flapping on its back.

"It’s Riley and Hannah combined into one!" Gracey quickly pointed at the gorilla.

"The fuck?"

"That’s Gorlord! She was hiding here?!"

"Is that why the instructors aren’t with us?! They’re protecting the buses!"

Everyone was in awe as they watched the instructors of Mega Academy fight the random monsters that suddenly popped up out of nowhere. Even Tomoe left her seat to watch what was happening.

The only one who was still seated was Katherine, as she had seen all of this before.

No, she wasn’t the only one—Riley was also seated.

...Right beside her.

"What... are you doing here?" Katherine blinked a couple of times. She didn’t even hear or notice him sitting beside her at all.

"Do you know a lot of things about Ms. Phoenix, Ms. Katherine?" He casually asked while a war was going on outside.

"Uh... as much as anyone?"

"Then can I ask you questions about her, Ms. Katherine?"

"Uh... sure?"

And so, while the other students were watching their instructors battle it out against the monsters, Riley spent his time talking with Katherine about his biological mother. The battles did not really last long, with the monsters retreating as soon as they felt overwhelmed by all the heroes.

It was a very weird encounter, but not uncommon. Monsters always show up randomly, after all—they aren’t like villains, who plan everything first before showing themselves to the world.

And soon, they arrived at their destination.

It was a large monument, surrounded by vigils and all sorts of flowers, with some still fresh. There were also letters, all untouched and worn.

And this monument was the first and only thing the students had seen standing within the vast and endless horizon. The Phoenix’s Wrath.

"T-this... is larger than I thought it was." Pauline was the first Baby Crew to approach the monument, gently tracing her fingers across the giant gray slab.

"...That somewhat makes me feel sad," Bella sucked in a deep breath as she stared at all the names written on the monument, "To think... they had to build something this big just to fit all the names of the people who died. Shit."

"So... many people died that day," Victoria covered her mouth, her eyes slightly turning red upon reading the names.

Hannah didn’t say anything, but she closed her eyes and pressed her fist on the monument.

It wasn’t just them—all the students who were excited about their field trip all went silent as soon as they got off the bus and saw the Phoenix’s Wrath. Some even prayed, while most couldn’t fathom just how many truly died that day.

"Are these... letters?" Gracey crouched down and was about to pick up one of the letters scattered on the ground, but a finger suddenly pressed the letter down and stopped her from grabbing it.

"Riley...?" Gracey blinked, "What’s... up?"

"That letter is not for you, Gray," Riley shook his head, "It would be unethical, and even illegal in some other countries to read it."

"I... don’t really see the big deal about it?" Gracey shrugged, "At least if we read them, someone else could appreciate the words written on them. That’s... the point of letters, Riley. For someone to read them."

"Not necessarily, Gray," Riley shook his head again while standing up, "I believe the point of these letters is for no one to read them."

He then turned to look at the vast and endless horizon, "Let the letters rot under our feet like their recipients."

"Jesus..." Gracey blinked several times, gulping as she looked at Riley, "...That’s a bit morbid."

"No. It is beautiful," Riley said, slowly tilting his head to the side, "And I believe poetic. Let the letters be forever buried beneath our feet, that is truly the only way they would have a connection to their recipients. The words will forever be trapped inside their cages, much like their recipients. No one will know what they are saying, what they want—only that they are buried. And perhaps one day, hundreds of years from now, they would scatter and be swallowed by the ground, and that way...

...the hands that were meant to hold them finally could."

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