03x17: CV Recollection

Austin recruits the members for the team (still unnamed). They also go to their recollection in which they learn a few things but this doesn't come without a few annoying moments.

CV RECOLLECTION

 

     He woke up in the classroom. It was empty. There was very violent rumbling. He went outside to see what was going on. He looked to the ground in front of the bridge and the ground was cracking. Green light surged from within.

    The cracking continued until their building. They tried to escape but the green light surged upwards, through the stairs, finally hitting them. Everything started to fade to black…

     He woke up in his bed. He was still in his old house. He reluctantly teleported to the lobby of the hotel.

    When he arrived there, Kyle and Janella immediately rushed to him.

     “Oh thank goodness you’re okay!” Kyle said.

     “What’s wrong?”

     “We thought you got attacked in your meeting,” Janella said.

     “The Identifier was unable to find you and we were looking all over the place.”

     “We couldn’t access you by our link, it really got us worried. Where were you?!” she said.

     “I was at the old house. Accel crashed the meeting.”

     “How?”
     “She pulled Erika away before she could give me all the info I needed. Then she told me something that got me thinking.”

     “Wanna discuss this over breakfast? I’m starving,” Kyle said.

     They sat down for breakfast and Austin continued.

     “She told me that it was my fault.”

     “What was?”

     “Everything. If I hadn’t created the Dome, I wouldn’t have been a target, I wouldn’t have been pushed in, I wouldn’t have gone crazy last year, he wouldn’t have gotten the blueprints, and Decel would have never been killed.”

     Kyle and Janella were speechless by this.

     “I know I shouldn’t let it affect me… or something but doesn’t it bug you how true most of that is?”

     “S**t, Austin, I don’t know what to say,” Kyle said.

     “But if it wasn’t for the dome, you wouldn’t have gotten more allies,” Janella said.

     “Janella, if we had lay low in the city and continued life as normal, it would have been normal.”

     “But you were 12 back then. You only did what you thought was going to be the best for everyone.”

     “I’m starting to think otherwise, Kyle. Maybe I only did it so I can play with all the powers.”

     They remained silent.

     “Dude, remember after the big battle, Sr. Armand made this big speech. He mentioned that you may have screwed up a lot of things, but you chose to fix them. You didn’t have to fix them but you took the responsibility. This is another one of those times. If you really believe that you screwed everything up, I think it’s time to make a choice.”

     Austin thought about it and Kyle was right.

     “I choose to fix it.”

     “I’m with you, through and through,” Kyle said.

     “If you guys are in, I’m in,” Janella said.

     “Don’t count me out,” Ernst said, entering from another table.

     “Why do you always pop out of nowhere?” Janella asked.

     “I don’t know. Anyway, I can’t help but overhear Kyle’s pseudo-patriotic banter from the other table.”

     Ernst pointed to his table with Bianca and Johan.

     “I remember last year, Austin was in a really tough spot and I was there. I’m willing to be there once again.”

     “Welcome to the club, Ernst!” Austin said.

     “Don’t count us out!” Bianca said. “We want in too, don’t we Johan?”

     Johan simply nodded.

     “Counting the Patola people, we have around eleven members. We need twenty-one more members.”

     “What the hell?! You’re planning to fly thirty-one of us retards to wherever Mastermind’s base is?” Bianca said.

     “Retards?” Kyle asked.

     “You gotta be way retarded to be putting your life on the line, right? But if it isn’t going to be fun, this year is just another boring year and no one wants to be bored.”

     “To answer your question, Bianca, yes, we are flying. Since the Anonymous worked like a charm, I’ll be working on a slightly larger similar project. It’s like the Anonymous but it’s a jet.”

     “If you wanted to rip off X-Men a bit more, you might need me to build your s**t,” John said.

     “John, you’re in?”

     “Of course, I’m in! I’ll get started on your jet ASAP. You round up the members. Oh, and you might want to ask the ASG members to sign up as well.”

     “Sure, why not?”

    

They set up a table for “try-outs”. Austin, Kyle, Ernst, and Janella manned the tables; it was like American Idol only they’d be showing off their powers.

     First to sign up was Micherenz Guioguio.

     “So, Renz, nice to finally see you taking control of your life,” Austin said.

     “Show us what you got!” Ernst said.

     Renz waved his hand and the entire place shook. He waved it again after a while and the shaking stopped.

     “It’s impressive that you were able to do that after only three months. You do need to be able to deal more damage than just shaking the place up,” Austin said.

     “I gotta agree. Most terrakinetics couldn’t do that after a year. I would love it if you cause a few fissures on the side but that’s just me,” Kyle said.

     “Honestly, it was great. It would be better if you can up the magnitude a bit but so far so good, am I right?” Janella said.

     “Thanks,” Renz said.

     “Okay, Renz, you were great… at being boring. You seriously think that an earthquake would scare the crap out of the enemy?” Ernst said.

     Ernst looked to his right and saw the other three staring at him.

     Renz pointed his hand outside and clenched his fist. A giant sinkhole formed and the front of the hotel was a wreck.

     “A*****E! YOU BETTER FIX THAT!” Ernst yelled.

    Renz waved his hand over the sinkhole and it went back to normal.

     “Ernst, are you on anything?” Janella asked.

     “I don’t know. I think pancakes.”

     “Renz, we’ll keep you posted,” Austin said.

     Among the ASG members, they welcomed Lanz, Cedric, Ivan, Patrick, Bam, Michael, Roey, and Jericho back in.

     The others who tried out so far were Lui, Marella, Bianca, Sean, and Owen, who got positive reviews, and Karl, Jianne, Ymara, and Jasvir, who got negative reviews.

     “Seriously, what were you planning to do? Forge the Mastermind’s signature on his subscription to a Women’s magazine? Get out of here!” Ernst said.

     “Jasvir, we’ll keep you posted!” Austin said.

     “Dude, chill out alright? The next one’s Clutch,” Kyle said.

     “Clutch, show me what you’ve got,” Austin said.

     Clutch multiplied into seven copies and did separate things. They went back together in the end.

     “In one word? Impressive. A few months ago you had a hard time controlling two and now you controlled five with flying colors,” Austin said.

     “I don’t know much about your power but I can’t imagine how hard controlling more than one you can be. Great job.”

     “I also liked the variety of stuff your clones were doing. One was juggling two rubber balls while another was eating pancakes. That’s gotta be difficult. Great job,” Janella said.

     “Clutch, you honestly expect me to believe that you were controlling all that?!” Ernst said.

     “DUDE?!” Kyle said.

     “What? I’m just telling him my opinion.”

     “Which doesn’t matter…” Nica said, randomly passing by.

     “It does! Anyway, Clutch, great job but I didn’t like one of your clone’s break dancing. That seemed cheap and you could’ve done better with that one clone.”

     “Next one is… Joel Turla,” Kyle said.

     “Oh, crap,” Ernst said.

     Austin’s blood began boil but he used cryokinesis to cool him down, literally.

     “Joel, show us what you got,” Austin said.

     “You guys know what I can do!” Joel said. He can knock people out just by touching them.

     “You expect to get in this team without tryouts?” Austin said.

     “Now who’s high on pancakes?” Ernst whispered to Janella.

     “You want me to knock someone out?” Joel asked.

     “Please do. It’s your choice.”

     Joel went to the judge’s table and tapped Ernst on the shoulder, knocking him out instantly.

     “That is a violation!” Austin shouted.

     “That is impressive!” Kyle said.

     “That is… going to be very useful,” Janella said.

     “That… is the single worst fricking thing that I have seen today. Knocking me out, what the hell were you thinking?” Ernst yelled angrily.

     “We’ll keep you posted,” Kyle said.

     “Alright, who’s next?” Austin asked.

     “Mary Louise Madlangbayan, from your section.”

     “Oh, this’ll be good.”

     Marise went in front of the judges.

     “Alright, you’ve impressed me before. Let’s see if you can top those,” Austin said.

     Marise formed a psychic orb in her hand and ignited it with fire. She fired it at the floor and fire engulfed the entire lobby but oddly, nobody was screaming in pain. Austin, Kyle, Janella, and Ernst saw the fire but didn’t feel the heat. Marise waved her hand and the fire went back in her body.

     “Congratulations, you have topped yourself. Truly impressive!” Austin said.

     “I have not the slightest clue how you did that. That was the single greatest thing I have seen today,” Kyle said.

     “I cannot imagine how useful that would be in countless situations. Good job,” Janella said.

     The three of them then glared at Ernst.

     “Honestly? I’m pissed off. First and foremost, you almost singed my chin. Secondly…”

     The three of them facepalmed as Ernst continued.

     “…if that went even a little bit out of line, deaths would be had. Finally, I’m pretty sure you burned someone’s pancakes in the dining hall.”

     “Marise, please don’t mind him. He is meticulously in love with pancakes right now. Good job, we’ll keep you posted,” Austin said.

     More people went the tryouts. After all of them, they finally decided on the final list.

     “For my team, Group A,” Austin said. “We have me, Janella�"“

     “Of course…” Nica said teasingly.

     “Ernst, Ivan, Patrick, Mo-on, Bianca, and Marise.”

     “For my group, Group B,” Kyle said. “We have Berna�"“

     “I’m sensing a pattern here,” Nica said.

     “Rica, Nica, Lui, Alyssa, Dorothy, and Marella.”

     “John’s team,” Janella said. “Group C: Lanz, Cedric, Johan, Bam, Rod, Renz, and Clutch.”

     “Final team, Michael Chua’s, Group D,” Ernst said. “Roey, Ibarra, Jericho, Paul, Joel, Sean, and Owen.”

     “Congratulations everybody. Briefing will take place next Saturday at the Base. Be there,” Austin said.

 

Skipping forward to Monday, CV assembled in front of the Chapel. They only allowed one teacher to go with them, much to their dismay. For the Recollection, it was Sr. Jojo.

     They were introduced to their sister, who was also the chairman of the board during the Seton Got Talent contest.

     “Good morning, CV,” she said.

     “Good Morning, Sister.”

     “My name is Sister Irma.”

     For some reason, she looked familiar.

     Everyone went on board. Since it wasn’t a leisurely field trip, they had to sit in predetermined seats. This was sad for Austin, Mo-on, and Rica since they planned to sit together.

     They were instead seated by class number. Austin was seated beside Marise and they were near the back of the bus.

     Renz had never been so thankful to have been B13 since Bettina was G14.

     Sister Irma got a bit worse, showcasing her Blue and Orange code of conduct that was barely comprehensible.

     “You are no longer children so I don’t expect you to follow the same rules. I am not going to ask you to give me your gadgets, that is up to you.”

     After a while, she started talking about religious stuff.

     “I will not ask you t pray the rosary. We always pray the rosary, but do we ever truly understand it?” she said. She approached Ibarra and took a peek at his ID: Carlos Ibarra B. Libosada. “How about you, Carlos? Do you understand it?”

     She continued on and on about how our ignorance involving the rosary, Ibarra being her sole audience.

     “This talk is meaningless,” Austin whispered to Marise.

     “I know right? I’m not getting anything from this.”

     “All she’s doing is humiliating Ibarra. If she keeps this up until St. Scholastica, the only thing we would have accomplished is the loss of a classmate.”

     Austin looked behind them and saw Renz listening closely.

     “Feeling enlightened, Renz?” Austin asked as Marise and Mey (Renz's seatmate) silently chuckled.

     After Sister Irma’s one-sided discussion, she allowed them to eat. While they were eating, she gave some “guidelines” and NOT “rules”.

     “When we get there, leave your bags here and just bring your student planner and pen.”

     A while later, her twisted cryptic messages got worse.

     “If you need to tell me anything, just approach me.”

     So they did get there and Austin brought his bag with him for security purposes. After all, “guidelines” are very different from “rules”.

     They went to the lecture hall and met their lecturer’s. Ate Maricar and her assistant.

     It was free arrangement here so Austin sat beside Mo-on who sat beside Rica. Renz sat beside Rica, much to Mo-on’s dismay.

     They started the Recollection by teaching them a dance to the song “Nobody” by the Wonder Girls. Sister Irma then noticed the breach of her “guidelines”.

     “Excuse me, why do you have your bag with you?”

     “Well, Sister, I�"“

     “I explicitly stated in my guidelines to leave your bag at the bus.”

     “Well, they were gui�"“

     “Give me that.”

     And just like that, Sister Irma took his bag from him.

     He remembered in Pirates of the Caribbean how the Pirate Code was treated as Guidelines rather than rules. Obviously, Sister Irma didn’t like the idea of piracy being advertised to children. Unfortunately, this meant that she also didn’t know the difference between”guidelines” and “rules”.

     Austin held in his powers, especially since it was prohibited for the Recollection.

     Ate Maricar began talking about the topic which was friendship and free will/freedom. Mo-on got another thing from this lecture and that was humor.

     He listed down all of her grammatical errors. It was the rise of the Grammar Nazis once again.

     For starters, she called Owen, “Gwen”; says “Right?” like “Rrrrrright?!”, and when ask to spell “heart”, she goes “H-E-A-R-TE!” in a tone that made it very difficult to determine if she did that on purpose.

     At this point, Austin feared that he was missing the point of the Recollection since he already got screwed by the “guidelines” and was being distracted by his Grammar Nazi nature.

     Finally, they went to the mess hall for some “Pood” as Ate Maricar put it (that went straight into Mo-on’s notes). They had the classic delicious spaghetti of St. Scholastica’s (they had been there in 5^th grade and last year).

     They went back to the lecture hall where they saw Mo-on sitting beside a statue of a saint reading a book. Mo-on sat very still, pretending to be a statue of a guy reading along with him. Clutch and a few other people took pictures of this hilarious sight.

     In the lecture hall, they made them name their closest friends in CV. Austin named Rica, Mo-on, Ibarra, and Sean, for starters.

     Mo-on also noticed that when they got a bit out of hand, Ate Maricar would go “blblblblbl” or as Mo-on put it, “Make the sound that the minions made in ‘Despicable Me’.”

     Mo-on continued to take notes, “It is not depend on us.” “You might hurt the very close to you.”

     Finally, they went for lunch. Sister Irma made a small (cryptic) announcement beforehand.

     “Some of you who need to talk to me still haven’t approached me yet.”

     It was either they were all too retarded to understand just what she meant, she was being way to cryptic for a 13 year old to understand, or it simply meant that she needed attention. Frankly, Austin was blinded by his being screwed by the “guidelines”.

     On his way back to the lecture hall, Austin went in the bathroom where he witnessed Owen washing his hands and someone in the cubicle grunting.

     “Hurry up, Jasvir!” Owen said.

     “It’s almost there.”

     PFFT!

     “Did he just?” Austin asked.

     “Who was that?” Jasvir asked.

     “Just Austin.”

     “Tell him if he tells anybody, I’ll make forge his signature to a subscription to a Women’s magazine.”

     “He wants me to tell you that if you�"“

     “Don’t worry, I will.”

     Austin went back in and Sister Irma spoke some comprehensible words for a change.

     “Something made me very happy. One of your classmates was waiting outside the restroom. I told him to go inside and he said, ‘I’ll follow, sister. I’m waiting for my friend.’ That is just a simple display of friendship and yet such a big thing already.”

     Ate Maricar continued with the lecture, pointing out the relationships in L.I.F.E.

     First was Love, she told a story about a woman who had problems with her uterus and she and her husband had to choose between the baby and her. The husband chose her but she chose the baby. By a miracle, they both survived. She explained that they both exhibited love, just in different ways.

     Second was Infatuation. And she said one thing that particularly struck Austin. Not just because there were not grammatical errors but because, it terrified him.

     “This applies to most of you. If you think that what you’re feeling right now is true love, I have one thing to say about that. No, no, no, no, no! That is just infatuation.”

     Austin knew that he loved Janella. He knew that he didn’t have any malicious desires. He wanted make her feel like the best person in the world. He wanted to love her and make her happy. That was their description of love earlier. He would have given anything for her.

     But on the other hand, Austin feared that it was only infatuation. But why did he feel that way?

     The class got a bit rowdy during this so Ate Maricar dished out her “BLBLBL!” Mo-on tried to copy it quietly but it came out a bit louder than he expected.

     Maan, Yara, and Alecz tried hard to hold back their laughter and Mo-on had this half-humiliated, half-clueless look on his face because he didn’t know if they were laughing because Ate Maricar sounded so ridiculous, he made a perfect (and loud) impression of Ate Maricar, or if he made a perfect impression of the minions from Despicable Me.

     The third was Friendship and the fourth was Exploitative. (Which made a nifty acronym by the way).

     They had confession after this and a mass after. They still had time so they went back the lecture hall.

     Finally, it came when they had to say a few words to Sr. Jojo but not before he said a few words first.

     “I don’t really have much to say. I just want to say that Ms. Mac and I believe in you and one day, you will all be up on that stage and we’ll be looking up to you. That and I love you all.”

     CV began to shed tears here.

     “Anything you wish to say to your adviser?” Sister Irma said.

    “I love you too!” Joven said.

     “CV isn’t the same without you,” Justine said.

     “You’re the best advisers I’ve ever had,” Jasvir said.

     “Sir, you’re the best,” Austin said.

     At this point, Austin felt like he wasted his word since he wanted to say something more meaningful.

     “Even though we’re sometimes hard to deal with, you try your best. Thank you for that. You are the most memorable advisers I’ve ever had,” Renz said.

     “Out of all my advisers, you’re the only one that really felt like a second parent,” Owen said.

     “Thank you for all the help,” Migz said.

     “Out of all the teachers I’ve ever had, you’re the most memorable,” Karla said.

     Also note that most of these testimonies were said whilst mildly or outright sobbing. It was the most heartfelt moment so far and the only downside was that Ms. Mac wasn’t there.

     “Thanks for all the patience,” Mo-on said.

     “Thank you for everything,” Pat said.

     “You’re not just our teachers or our advisers but you’re also friends to us. Thank you for that,” Marise said.

     Austin finally built up the guts to speak again.

     “Austin, again?” Sr. Jojo said.

     “May I, sir?”

     “Sure.”

     “I don’t know but I’m pretty sure I can speak for everyone when I say that we are the luckiest people on this planet to have you as an adviser.”

     “Don’t forget about Ms. Mac!”

     “Of course she’s included in that!”

     “Sir,” Sang Woo said.

     “Yes?”

     “I am thankful for both of you and I will never forget you, even if I go back to Korea.”

     “Aww…” the class said.

     “Why don’t you just take me and Ms. Mac with you?” Sr. Jojo said jokingly.

     “Sure, sir.”

     “Okay, we’ll wait for you announcement, haha!”

     “Any more?” Sister Irma said.

     “What about you, Carlos? You haven’t spoken yet.”

     Ibarra thought for a while but finally, he thought of something to say.

     “Thank you for always managing put a smile on our faces.”

    

They went back in the bus. This time, it was free arrangement due to Sister Irma wanting them to “Celebrate friendship”

     Austin sat on the right side at the back with Mo-on. Behind him were Froilan and Joven.

     Austin got his bag back and he enjoyed the trip home. They started calling Sr. Jojo, Daddy and Ms. Mac, Mommy.

     “And next week, we’ll be with Tita Joan,” Joven said, referring to the exposure trip for TLE next week.

     “It’s way better than last year with Lola Ruby,” Froilan said.

     Froilan was obviously a more offensive joker but if he hits, he hits hard and this one was just a refuge in audacity. The back part of the bus roared with laughter as Sister Irma decided to say something again.

     “I gave you the freedom; it is up to you to use it responsibly.”

     After a while, when they were almost back to the school, Froilan answered his phone.

     “Hello?... Yes… We’re on our way… That’s okay… Oh you are?... Here…”

     He gave the phone to Joven.

     “My cousin wants to talk to you.”

     Froilan gave him the phone.

     “Hello?”
     “Hello there! What’s your name?” she asked.

    “Joven.”
     “That’s it?”

     “Joven Paul Pagal.”

     “Wow, what a sexy name.”

      Mo-on did a spit take with his free juice when he heard this.

     “Hello?”

     “Yes, I’m here,” Joven said.

     “You’re breaking up.”

     “Froilan, weak signal,” Joven said.

     “Okay lang yan!”

     Froilan took the phone.

    “Hello, can you tell that guy that he’s a ****ing a*****e! Leaving me like that, what a dick!”

     “Gago ka! Recording yan eh!”

     It was the best prank Austin had witnessed in a while. He got the timing just right.

     Froilan played it again, this time trying it on Jasvir. Everyone near the vicinity did a spit take when they claimed that he had a “sexy name”.

     Froilan did it again to Basti. Almost everyone else who didn’t know about it yet did a spit take when she claimed that Basti had a sexy name.

     They got a bit noisy and Tasha started hyperventilating. Basti was taking care of her, being the eldest in the class, but the bus continued to create noise. Sister Irma took a stand.

     “Do you want to stop here?” Sister Irma asked. They expected a stopover; Basti expected a chance for Tasha to get some fresh air.

     “Yes!” Basti said.

     ‘You do?”

     “Yes.”

     She made the bus stop and got all emotional and cryptic as usual.

     “I want to apologize. I gave you the module of freedom, thinking that you would be ready.”

     “Oh every time I close my eyes…” Froilan said, singing Billionaire while wearing headphones.

     “But looks like I went wrong. Now I have to change the modules for the other sections as well. I’m very sorry CV. I overestimated you.”

     “A different city every night!”

     “You do not deserve such a kind hearted teacher like him,” Sister Irma said, pointing at Sr. Jojo.

    “The world better prepare. For when I’m a billionaire!”

     “I went wrong… I went wrong…”

     “Woa-oh! Woa-oh!”

     The bus went on and Sr. Jojo passed a note around for them to apologize to Sister Irma when they got there.

     They finally arrived at the school. They teleported to the Island and they timed their apology to be synchronized.

     “Sorry, Sister Irma.”

     She smiled and spoke into the mic.

     “You decide your own actions. You do not need to apologize to me. After this, everything will go back normal. You will see me around and I will see you around. I won’t die tonight…”

     She stepped off the bus and everyone was dead silent. Sr. Jojo went the front and reassured everyone that they are in good terms. He then told everyone to pick up the trash and step out.

     Austin was honestly pissed off. This was the best recollection so far because of CV but also the worst because of Sister Irma. She managed to end the day relatively cryptic as well…