Chapter Text
Being a psychic doesn’t really impact Sunny all that much.
Sunny’s still Sunny, even if he can bend metal like it’s jelly or explode literally any ghost that comes after him.
Like always, today would just be another average Saturday.
Stepping onto the sidewalk in front of his house, Sunny lets the warm, early-spring wind hit his face as he walks—
“Sunny!!!” a loud, wide-grinned boy yells out (even though their houses are literally right next to each other and the whole neighborhood probably heard him scream his name out loud).
Using his telepathy, Sunny does his best to silence Kel.
Kel, shh, it’s 7 in the morning. Sunny brings a finger to his face, reminding Kel to quiet himself. Having telepathy had its advantages—like not having to use his voice. That way, he and his friends could communicate with each other easily.
Sunny sighs, waving at Kel who’s running toward his house. Like most of his friends, Kel wasn’t exactly like Sunny. He can’t make objects float or talk with his mind, but does make great company.
“C’mon Sunny! Let’s go see Basil and Aubrey!”
Kel has been one of his best friends since 1st grade, alongside Basil and Aubrey whom Sunny met in later years. It’s easy to befriend each other when they’re all the same age. Now, the four of them go to the same high school as 9th graders.
“Say, Sunny, why don’t you ever just teleport us to their houses or something? Wouldn’t that be much cooler and faster?” Kel exclaims as the two cross the street.
Along with his family, Kel, Hero, Aubrey, and Basil also know about his powers.
Kel isn’t a psychic, but does pretty well at sensing psychics. He cracked Sunny’s case after only a month of their friendships. He must have a sense for those things somehow. Weird people probably sense other weird people.
Aubrey isn’t a psychic either, but Sunny figured that if Kel knew, it would only be fair that she knew too. She’s always been reliable. From the moment Sunny met her, he knew she wouldn’t spill his secret. Aubrey's always been a great friend.
And lastly, Basil… he is a medium-type psychic. Meeting him was the first time Sunny knew someone who was also a psychic. Up until then, Sunny assumed that he just happened to be the only one born this way.
While Sunny has telekinesis and telepathy, Basil can see and communicate with ghosts as a medium.
As Kel and Sunny turned the corner to Basil’s street, a small green house came into view.
“Hey Sunny, hey Kel,” Basil greets. Aubrey’s face lights up when she notices their arrival.
“Oh! Hi Sunny and Kel!”
Kel waves at them as he approaches. “So, are you guys ready for today’s mission?!”
Sunny immediately remembered; today was yet another entity hunt.
Since the day Kel found out about the esper thing, he’s been dragging Sunny on missions for years. It’s always been fun, and after Aubrey and Basil came along, it also got a lot easier.
“This better not end up like last time. I came home covered in mud because of that stupid forest ghost!” Aubrey adds, visibly angry from their last haphazard adventure.
“Wha?! You’re not blaming me are you?”
“Yes I am, Kel, because going there was your idea!”
“Well—you were the one that was the most excited to go!”
Sunny tunes out their bickering, remembering the next place they would explore. Over the past century, a lot of people have gone missing around an abandoned building deep in the middle of the woods. It’s unusual that so many have disappeared in the same area. Basil often says that he senses a strange presence looming whenever he passes by.
Sounds like the perfect spot for a haunting, Sunny thinks to himself, curious.
If the entity is going around causing people to go missing, it’s worth the investigation.
“—so we’re gonna meet up at, like, 4PM and walk through the woods to get there.” Kel holds up a badly drawn map of the forest by the town. Red dotted lines mark the path they’d supposedly take. “I spent all night making this map!”
What's that supposed to say?? Sunny points at the chicken-scratched labels on the so-called map.
“If we follow this map we’d end up lost,” Aubrey jeers, “let me show you my map.”
She digs through her own backpack, pulling out an equally badly drawn map. The only difference is that it’s decorated in glitter, with bunny stickers on the corners.
With an exaggerated face of repulsion, Kel protests. “We’re here to kick ghost butt! Not do arts and crafts! I can’t see any directions under all that glitter.”
Sunny sighs for what feels like the 3rd time this morning. They’re arguing again.
Basil tries to break them up. “Guys! Uhm, my grandma can lend me her GPS. How does that sound?”
“That’s a great idea Basil, you’re the best! Unlike Kel…”
“That would be helpful, since Aubrey isn’t…"
It would be great for Hero to be here so he could break them up, but then he'd find out all out about their "hangout plans." Despite their arguing, Sunny's surprised how coordinated they could actually be in battle.
March 3rd, 4:03PM
You guys ready? Sunny asks the other 3, all lined up at the entrance of the forest.
The trees are tall and thick, casting a large shadow over the ground.
“Let’s go,” Kel whispers, leading the group into the forest. Basil trudges behind him, ready to detect potential spirits. Sunny is all the way in the back, with Aubrey in front of him. She is carrying a backpack of supplies—and a bat.
The four of them walk gingerly, as if trying not to disturb any creatures. It’s pretty pointless though, since they know that Sunny could blast anything away.
(But he’s still an average kid… just with a crazy amount of power. Still completely normal.)
“There it is,” Kel gestures to a broken down building. 4 stories tall, dark, cracked concrete.
Sunny glances over to Basil. Do you feel anything?
He nods, “there’s definitely something there…”
Despite having psychic abilities, Sunny isn’t actually that great at tracking or communicating with ghosts. It’s Basil’s thing; his keen sense of detecting presences has saved them lots of time. It’s also why it’s basically impossible to sneak up on Basil—Sunny’s tried.
“It’ll be fine!” Kel beamed, “Sunny’s really strong, so he could just punch it away.”
Basil smiles, “I know, I trust Sunny.”
“Then let’s go!”
The four kids made their way to the abandoned ruins, careful not to get caught on stray wires or rusted nails.
On the last trip, Sunny cut himself on broken glass and Mari almost found out what they’ve been doing for the past—4? 5 years? Kel and Sunny started going together when they were 9.
Drip… drip… drip…
Some dirty water is leaking through exposed pipes, droplets glowing under the afternoon sunlight peeking in through broken windows.
Insects crawl across the ground and walls. Sunny’s never seen so many bugs in one place.
…And this place stinks.
On the other side of the hall, Kel and Aubrey are discussing where to look.
Sunny glances at Basil.
Do you feel anything now?
The sudden communication makes Basil jump.
Sorry for scaring you.
Basil still isn’t quite used to telepathy yet.
“No—No, it’s fine. And yeah… something’s still off, but it doesn’t feel like a spirit.”
Rattle, rattle—
Everyone in the room whips around at the sudden noise, coming from a dark doorway. None of the window’s light shone in there, making whoever was standing there unknown.
Something emerges.
“MIKHAEL?!” They’re all staring, bewildered.
The tanned, dark haired boy wearing a ridiculous anime-like costume stares at them back.
“What the heck are you doing here, Mikhael?” Kel asks for all four of them, still dumbfounded.
“First of all, don’t call me that! I’ve gained a new name… THE MAVERICK!”—(yeah, Mikhael definitely came up with that name last night)—”And second… I, The Maverick, have come to banish the evil spirits that have terrorized citizens from all over town the past few months!”
What.
“Now, you shall answer my question, what are you guys doing here?!”
Aubrey starts, “none of your business, just get out of here Mikhael.”
“Could it be… that you heard of my exorcism plans and came to my aid?”
“Nope.”
“I thank you for the help but I don’t need it!”
“We’re not here to help you.”
“But if you guys really wanna come along, I don’t mind! I-it’s not like I want you to stick with me anyways! The Maverick can work alone too!”
They’re seriously not going to have him here, are they?
After nearly five more minutes, they haven’t gotten anywhere with him. Somehow, he’s still insistent on coming along.
Are we sure it’s a good idea to bring him? Sunny asks, watching Kel and Aubrey’s already tired-looking faces.
“I mean, I don’t think he’s leaving anytime soon, so we might as well let him come,” Aubrey whispers.
Kel nods. “Sigh, we’ll just have to be careful.”
March 3rd, 5:21PM
They’ve already scanned half of the building, and had no luck, despite Basil still saying there’s a faint but present entity in the building.
As the group progressed into the basement floor, the atmosphere slowly began to darken. A sign over the entrance of the basement says, Parking Lot.
Aubrey digs into her bag for flashlights, tossing 4 towards Kel, Basil, Sunny, and a spare flashlight to Mikhael.
“Guys—don’t you think we-we’re going pretty far down?” Mikhael asks. From the way his flashlight beam is moving, Sunny can tell his hands are shaking. “I’m totally not scared! But… ”
“Well you’re already too far down so we’re not gonna let you run off and get lost,” Aubrey said, “and besides, you’re the one that wanted to come.”
For a while, they go silent, carefully scanning over the entire site in 2 groups.
A high-pitched scream echoes throughout the parking lot.
Sunny turns to the source of the noise.
Kel, Basil, and Mikhael were in the other sector, leaving Sunny and Aubrey in a separate area.
Aubrey glances at Sunny with a look of concern before dashing away. “C’mon Sunny! They must be in danger”
Grabbing his wrist, she runs with him to the source of the noise.
Another scream. They sprint even faster—Sunny can probably make the school track team with how fast he’s going.
As the two of them approach, the distinct voices of their friends become audible.
The voice of Kel is the loudest. “Mikhael shush! Those are just beetles! Stop screaming!”
“Seriously?! We ran over here thinking you guys were in danger just for Mikhael to be crying about bugs?!”
A nest of beetles are crawling about in a corner.
“No, no! It’s not that, I swear!” Mikhael points, still wide-eyed in fear. “It’s—It’s that hole! I saw an eye there!”
They all turned towards a small, gaping hole in the wall, pitch black. Basil gives Sunny a look, and from his face, he knows that his friend senses something there.
Bringing an arm up toward the wall, Sunny blasts at the gap, creating an even larger hole.
Bam!
Mikhael flinched at the sudden explosion, eyes ogling at the mess Sunny just caused. He won’t even bother hiding his powers anymore. They can deal with Mikhael later, anyway.
From the gaping pit in the concrete, a spirit emerges. It was…
A giant transparent blob?
It was colored pink, with some small stubbly horns on its face and head.
A small fry? They spent all this time searching just for it to be some random ghost lurking around?
Well—this should be easy.
Sunny lifts his hand once more, ready to grab the ghost and mangle it into oblivion.
It dodges, instead ramming itself straight to Kel.
“Kel!” Sunny shouted, blowing past the smoke.
From the dust, a tanned hand shoots a thumbs up.
Sunny’s shoulders stopped tensing in relief—he hadn’t even noticed how tense he was.
Kel can take care of himself, Sunny knows. All his friends are strong, but it doesn’t stop him from worrying. They don’t have the same telekinesis that he does. Sometimes, he’s afraid he can’t protect them.
“I’m fine, Sunny! Just hurry and kick its butt!”
Sunny’s eyes dart around, looking for where the ugly blob ran off to next.
“He-Help!!!” Mikhael's voice rings from behind.
The pink blob, now smiling with wide teeth, is standing on the other side of the room with Mikhael in his grasp. While Sunny was distracted, he must have snatched Mikhael as nobody was watching.
“HWEHWEHEHEWHE…” it cackles, “do you really think you can defeat me, Boss?! I won’t let that happen!”
Sunny turns to his friends, I can’t exorcize it, it’s using Mikhael as a meat shield.
“Dangit! That idiot—” Aubrey grumbles, “does this mean we’ll just have to resort to… ”
“Seriously? It’s so tiring! We can’t use it over that weakling!” Kel glances at their bag in the middle of their battle, still trying to make sure Mikhael doesn’t get hurt in the attacks.
What Aubrey and Kel are referring to is their trump card to defeating ghosts; Release Energy.
Thinking this mission would be quick and easy, they made the mistake of bringing absolutely nothing to the site, which means they don’t have anything to kill ghosts precisely.
A month back, during a really difficult battle, the four of them discovered that they could share and combine their spiritual energy, refocusing it into a huge strike to wipe out a specific target.
The downside? All of them are totally exhausted after using it, considering it uses a lot of energy and Sunny himself is the one channeling all of it out.
—But they need to do something before Mikhael gets hurt without getting him into the battle either.
Sighing, Sunny gathers all his friends together, looking at all of them.
“It’s okay Sunny, we got this! I’m all charged up!” Kel says.
“You can do this!” Aubrey smiles next to him.
“I believe in you.” Basil reassures Sunny once more.
Slowly, Sunny closes his eyes.
He imagines all of their energies next to him, inside their bodies: yellow, orange, pink, green for each of them. And slowly, it starts to merge.
The next few moments are a complete blur, as they all were surged with a new surge of life, prompting all of them to attack at once.
Before the ghost could deliver his next body slam, the four of them struck at the same time, their speed outmatching it.
Aubrey beats the crap out of the ghost with her bat—enchanted by a blessing to kill spirits, of course. It completely fazes through Mikhael, only hitting the soul of their target.
Kel is throwing crazy fast kicks and punches, on its face, arm, back, with Sunny death gripping it in place.
Basil stabs the ghost over and over with his gardening shears, the hit areas dissolving after each slash.
Their attacks hit right in the heart!
Once all the initial energy died down, the four kids stared down at the mess now before them.
The same pink ghost, now reduced to a small blob lying helplessly on the cracked ground. Mikhael is sitting nearby, fazed by what just happened.
“That wasn’t fair! Fine, I give up!!” the ghost cries.
“C’mon Sunny, let’s finish this guy off.” Aubrey scoffs, resting her hand on her waist.
“Yeah, a bunch of people went missing ‘cause of him.” Kel says.
“Wait, I’m not the one that did that! Actually, the thing that did that was the one that killed me too!”
Huh? It wasn’t the ghost they were looking for?
Sunny turns to his friends. Do you think he’s telling the truth?
“It would be plausible. This spirit was weak. If he really had taken lives, he would’ve been way stronger.”
Basil was always the one that knew best on ghosts. After all, he can see them before anyone else does. Sunny’ll take his word for it.
Aubrey nods, asking, “If you aren’t the one that did this, where is the actual ghost?”
“This building has an even lower basement… It’s been hiding in there, coming out and eating people that’re near,”—the ghost blob looks terrified—“I know because it ate me too!”
It gestured one translucent finger to a door painted to be the same color as the walls. Whoever recolored that door must have wanted to hide it.
Something felt off, though. Sunny swore that the door hadn’t been there the first time. Basil’s gaze lingered on it for much too long, a sign Sunny picked up after knowing him for long enough; the boy does indeed feel a presence there.
“Welp,” Kel interrupts the silence, “guess we gotta get to it!”
“Are you stupid?! What can you lot do!? You defeated me, but that thing hiding here is even more insane!”
Sunny’s already heading toward the door.
“Don’t stand there, go after him!”
Step… step… step… step… His footsteps echo as he enters the dark stairwell.
Darkness. Darkness in all angles, until something—no, many things become visible.
They’re ghost orbs, glowing subtly in the dark.
But Sunny can tell something is keeping them from passing on, just from the way their light flickers. It’s as if something is keeping them here to drain what remains of their spirit.
The main attraction shows itself.
A phantom. It looks like a huge black mass, layers of teeth in each of the many mouths it has. This creature has been consumed by gluttony. It’s been feeding off of other souls for decades. Maybe even centuries.
Somewhere at the top of the staircase, Sunny’s friends are shouting at him, telling him to go for it.
“Go, Sunny!”
“Finish this once and for all!”
“We’ll wait for you, okay?”
“What are you guys doing?! Go get your friend!”
The phantom growls at him, four eyes and about 13 mouths facing his direction.
It runs at him, ready to consume its next prey—
—Sunny lifts both his arms:
Bang!The cold air swirling around his face, hair flying all over his face, Sunny ignores it, keeping focus on the creature that’s wildly swinging around. Sunny can feel its wriggling underneath his grasp.
The tighter Sunny grasped, the more deformed it grew, all the way until he completely disfigured the phantom out of existence.
When Sunny opened his eyes, the basement had grown silent.
The ghost orbs become more translucent, it seems they’ll finally be able to pass on now that there’s nothing holding them back.
Smiling as he watches them float upwards, Sunny turns backwards to face the stairwell. His friends are waiting for him up there.
March 3rd, 6:45PM
Kel groans, stretching his arms while walking on the sidewalk to home. They have been walking in silence the entire way, drained from all the unexpected fighting.
“So, is nobody gonna talk about back there?” Mikhael finally says. “Seriously, what the hell was that??”
“Well, Sunny’s a psychic. That’s about it.” Kel explains casually.
“And we’re not gonna—”
“Shush Mikhael, we’re all tired.” Aubrey shuts him up. “And don’t you dare say a word about today.”
“Fine… and my name is The Maverick!”
…
After Sunny and Kel drop the others off to their houses before turning to their street, they finally start heading home after a really, really long day.
Kel turns the knob to Sunny’s house, feeling the warm air hit their faces—
“There you two are!”
Sunny’s sister and Kel’s brother, Mari and Hero run up to them.
“We’ve been waiting ages. Seriously, what took you so long?” Mari asks with both hands on her hips. She looks upset, but it’s clear she’s just playing.
Hero pats both of them on the back, but furrows his eyebrows, “And… Why do you smell like dust?”
Kel laughs nervously before coming up with the dumbest excuse Sunny’s ever heard, “sooo—would you believe us if we said we got stuck in Basil’s cellar for an hour until he heard our yelling?”
He turns to Sunny, who nodded rapidly to agree to his totally sensible answer. It was really dusty down there.
Mari raised an eyebrow at them, tilting her head, before smiling. “Well, you two do look worn out and dirty, so I’ll have to take your word for it!”
Approaching the two boys, Hero sticks a hand out to Kel. “C’mon bro, let's get you home now. You really need a bath.”
“Okay!” Kel waves at Sunny and Mari. “Bye Sunny, bye Mari! See you tomorrow!”
The door slams shut.
Once they’re alone, Sunny lets himself fall into Mari's arms, worn out. She ruffles his hair.
“Go get yourself a bath, you really do smell,” she snickered.
In a minute, Sunny mumbles, taking in the warmth of her hugs. He could basically sink into her after what happened today.
“Did that cellar really tire you out this much?”
Sunny nods sleepily, drifting off to sleep.
He isn’t out fighting ghosts, he’s not bending spoons with his mind, he’s a kid that’s wrapped in his sister’s arms, sleeping.
Having psychic abilities is cool and all, but being protected feels nice too. Infinitely much better.