Interesting.
Riley couldn’t react to it at all. While it was true that his focus was completely elsewhere, he knew that even if it wasn’t—that even if he was watching Spectacular Mustache Man, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything when his mustache started clutching and wrapping his entire body.
There was also the fact that it came from the ground, and his telekinetic dome was completely useless in blocking it.
Thank you, Mr. Spectacular Mustache Man—for showing me what I lacked.
"Riley!"
"Oh?" Riley felt his vision shift, waking up from his stupor as the sounds of the street finally returned to him and he realized where he was again. He forgot for a moment, as his consciousness was actually fleeting in and out of him.
He had truly wanted to lift the entire street and hurl it at Silvie—but it seemed he wasn’t quite at that level. Not yet, anyway.
"You okay? Are you sure you don’t need to go to the clinic?"
Riley blinked and looked forward. Hannah was crouched in front of him, her brows slightly furrowed in concern as he sat slouched on the hood of a car, positioned on the quieter side of the street, away from the ongoing commotion.
The mock battles between the other students were still happening, but none came close to matching the intensity of what had unfolded between him and Silvie.
"I am fine, Sister," Riley said. He wanted to shake his head to emphasize it, but he knew that would make the dizziness worse. Everything sounded muffled, as if there were a thick cloud between him and the world.
Even Hannah’s voice struggled to reach him through it.
"I am just a bit disoriented," he admitted.
"Well, fuck. Duh?" Hannah scoffed at him, "What the fuck were you even thinking trying to lift up the entire street?!"
"I was testing the current limits of my ability, Sister," Riley shrugged, "I did not even realize I could lift an entire car until today."
"You barely had your powers for like a week or two! At this point, you should really only be moving coins or some other shit that’s smaller than a dog!" Hannah wanted to strangle Riley, but stopped herself, "Agh! And why are you smiling?!"
"I am?" Riley tilted his head, blinking as he touched his face—and indeed, he truly was smiling.
Hannah still had a hundred things to say to Riley, but before she could even start with the first one, one of the members of the Baby Crew was finally called.
"Pauline Cain."
"Oh, shit!" Hannah glanced back at the matches before turning her focus back to Riley again, not knowing what to do.
But fortunately for her, Riley stood up from the car and nodded.
"Let us go and watch, Sister," Riley said. He stepped forward, but overestimated his body’s capabilities—still, he did not show any expression that he was hurt at all to Hannah. He waited for her to turn around before taking another step, but as he did so, his ankles violently shook and his legs lost their strength.
He stumbled forward, and when he was about to use his powers again to lift himself up, he quickly found that he didn’t need to as someone caught him.
No, it wasn’t Hannah, she was still walking back to the others—it was Silvie who caught him.
Riley blinked a couple of times as he stared at Silvie’s shoulder. Silvie didn’t really say anything; she just gently let go of his arm before staring back at him.
Back after a few more seconds, she let out a sigh and shook her head.
"I’m sorry for losing control," she said, "It’s just... it’s actually the first time someone’s really ever given me a challenge. How... old are you again?"
"I am twelve, Megagirl."
"...Ugh," Silvie covered her face in shame, "I can’t believe I—A-anyway, how are you feeling?"
"Nauseous, Megagirl."
"You... don’t need to call me Megagirl," Silvie once again covered her face in shame, "But... we’re okay, right? No hard feelings?"
"I do not have feelings at all, Ms. Silvie—hard or soft. I—"
"Argh!"
And before Riley and Silvie could continue their conversation, a loud scream suddenly cracked in the air. The both of them quickly looked at the source of the noise, only to see one of Silvie’s classmates groveling on the ground while clutching his head in pain.
"H...help me! Get it... get it off. Get if off!" The boy continued to scream, his tears and snot mixing together inside his mouth from how utterly distraught he was.
And in front of him, was Pauline.
"I-I’m sorry!" Pauline panicked, crouching beside the boy, unsure of what to do, "I... I already stopped, it... you’re okay now! It... you’re not really being eaten by a giant snake!"
"N-no! N—"
"I’m sorry!" Pauline almost bit her lip, screaming over her opponent before holding his head, "Sleep!"
And with that single word, any nose coming from the boy went silent, his arms turning limp at his side as he instantly lost consciousness. Pauline was very careful, gently setting the boy’s head down on the ground before her eyes darted to Spectacular Mustache Man.
But before she could call for him, Chieftain Amerika appeared behind her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I got him, Mindbaby," she whispered, motioning Pauline to return to her friends. Pauline stared at her for a moment before thanking her and rushing back to Bella and the others.
Before they could even start talking about what she did, however, it was Gary’s turn to fight.
"Step aside, children!" And even though no one was blocking his path at all, he stretched his hands to the side before doing some random gestures with them that ultimately led to him covering half his face for no reason.
"I, the Baby Monarch, hath arrived!" He declared, "Get ready to face the dragon!"
"Why... are all their names ’baby’?"
"Is... everyone in their class weird?"
"Maybe it’s a Special Ed class?"
Yes. In truth, when Riley decided his name and said it confidently in front of everyone without blinking, the Baby Crew made a collective decision to all change their names.
Yes. All of them had ’baby’ in their names now.