The Chosen by Lee Borromeo

Chapter Two

Monday came in; Daniel was now in school, just sitting around having a laugh with Vik, his friend, the one who had invited him to the party.

"Dude! You missed a great party! I was smashed until Sunday," Vik gamely said, as he still seemed to be reliving some of the party's better moments. "Ikaw kasi eh, you always get these mood swings of yours -- teka, did you hear about what happened at the mall? Some PSS kids had a fight daw."

"I was there, Vik."

"Talaga? Good thing you got out okay. The Bayani agents were all over the place daw. The kids are still in the hospital daw; some renegade Chosen or the other put them in really bad shape."

"Oh?" Daniel turned to Vik, his eyes now curious.

"You saw it, 'di ba?"

"Well, ya." He kept quiet for a while after that. "What happened to the kids?"

"They're in ICU, dude. They got hit by some sort of telepathic attack. Even the Bayani units don't know what it was."

"Yeah, that figures."

The bell rang, and both of them went into the classroom.

Their class teacher, Mrs. Villa wasn't there, which was unusual, since she was always punctual. This resulted in about five minutes of general horseplay for the whole class, until they heard a throat clearing itself from the direction of the door.

Mrs. Villa strode in, armored in her usual gray executive-style clothes; behind her followed a teen whom they hadn't seen before.

"Class, normally the school doesn't allow late enrollees, but in this case... you have a new classmate; his name is Patrick, and if I hear anything about anyone being nasty to him, you will have to answer to me. Is that clear class?"

The usual murmurs and yapping answered her, and class started. Daniel looked over at the new guy; lean, average height, black hair, black eyes, Spanish in looks but skin color was very much Filipino; brown. He was wearing dark brown pants, and had a simple gray polo shirt on. Sneakers. Watch. The usual. But the hair, that was different; it was long, and ponytailed. Although the rules allowed for long hair, it was usually not observed, since a lot of the teachers disapproved. But this person didn't seem to care.

When the bell rang for lunch, everyone made a dash for the cafeteria. Being seniors, they could pretty much push around the younger batches, so it was usually a race against other seniors. Danny usually didn't eat lunch, or if he did, it was usually just a snack. Vik, on the other hand, ran for his life so that he could be first in line.

The new guy, Patrick, just sat on the bench which was next to the classroom door, in a carefree manner, one leg up to have his foot on the benchseat, his arm on the top of the back, the other on his lap. He was looking out into the distance.
It was then that the big guys started on him.

"Hey, Mr. Cool ka pala. You're sitting on our bench," Ranjee swaggered in front of Patrick. Ranjee was a quintessential bully; he wasn't in any varsity, but no one would deny the fact that he could be in any if he wanted to, being literally a bull in human form. He had his usual entourage of jocks and losers. Daniel normally avoided them, and they usually ignored him.

Patrick just looked at him. And kept quiet. He stood up and started to walk away.

"Siga ka pala ha!" Ranjee then used the other thing that made him such an effective bully: he had low-level telekinetic powers, but Ranjee had refined them to such a degree that he could "shove" a person with his mind. Ranjee used this ability in fights as some sort of third fist, and he knew exactly how to use it. Sure, there were pyrokinetics, telepaths, and other sorts in the school, but Ranjee was unusual in the sense that he had developed his skill to bully, and he had no qualms about using it. It also helped that his father was a congressman; the school could not afford to lose such an influential parent.

Patrick flew a few feet. He hit the ground on his knees. He slowly picked himself up, and just looked at Ranjee. He then shrugged, and started to walk away again.

Daniel knew what was going to happen next, so he stepped in between Ranjee and Patrick. "Hey Ranjee, tama na yan. He's new, he'll learn." When he ended the sentence, he felt something hit him in the gut, and he fell to the floor.

"Don't mess with me, Danny."

It was at this point that Patrick turned around. He looked at Ranjee, eyeing him from head to foot. Before Ranjee could react, he was down on the ground, clutching his stomach, right next to Daniel. In a split second, Patrick had been able to run and kick Ranjee in the stomach.

Daniel hated being in the disciplinary office. But, since he had been involved in the fight, they wanted to know his side of the story. As usual, the dean absolved Ranjee of everything. Patrick was in the office now, but it was strangely silent. When he went out, the dean followed after him.

"Daniel, we don't need your testimony anymore."

The dean looked unusually pale.

Patrick spoke up. "You okay?" His eyes looked straight at Daniel. The left eye was somehow lighter in shade than the right, not as black.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"No problem." With that, he walked out of the room to go back to class. Daniel was left in the office; he wanted to savor the aircon a few more minutes.

Daniel decided to go home alone that day; he called up the house, telling Mang Roger not to pick him up. He wanted to be alone again; Vik offered to go with him, play some billiards in the nearby pool hall, but he politely said no. That was Vik: a faithful, if not quite comprehending, friend.

He was on his way to the bus stop. To do this, he had to walk through a dark area full of trees. There was no breeze. It was getting dark. He suddenly got hit on the head. He fell, feeling dizzy, and his skull felt like it had been hammered.

He heard Ranjee's voice. "You don't get in my way, Danny."

It was just Ranjee, no crowd of people around him, and he looked very angry, and very much deadly. "I'm gonna make sure you remember, p're."

Daniel tried to run, but suddenly in front of him was a flash of heat and light. It was another one of Ranjee's friends. Fire? I didn't know Lance could do that, he thought to himself. It dawned on him that he might not be able to go home tonight.

It was then that he got punched by Ranjee, his fist hitting squarely at Danny's back, right in the kidneys. He went down gasping for air. Ranjee started kicking him and punching him telekinetically. He tasted blood in his mouth, and then he felt a crack of pain as he felt the cartilage on his nose break as Ranjee's shoe hit his face. He wanted it to end, but he knew fighting back would only get him more injured. He felt heat scorch his side, and he tried to roll, but Ranjee didn't allow it, he kept on kicking and kicking until all that Daniel could think about was to lie there and grin defiantly.

Then he heard it.

The trees started to rustle. He felt the wind pick up, and the cold passed over him, making him hurt even more. He opened his eyes, and he saw Patrick standing at the edge of the clearing, looking at Ranjee and Lance.

"You like picking on people, don't you?"

Patrick just stood there.

Ranjee smiled, his teeth looking like daggers. "Two for one, p're," he said to Lance. Lance grinned too, and he put his cap on backwards, getting ready for a fight.

Suddenly, Patrick's clothes changed; he was no longer wearing slacks and a polo shirt; he was now covered with a black cloak, his head covered by a wide-brimmed hat. He had black leather gloves, and a riding coat, under which were more layers of dark clothes.

Salamangka, Daniel thought.

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