The Power of Painting in Year 3,000 Part 13

“Okay, my Godson. We’ve fought against the Cona Vights and won, trained relentlessly for a whole year and refortified our defenses in our village. Your spiritual practices will keep you protected but it’s time to face the next evil,” Ako said with heartfelt resolution.

“Alright God-daddy, I understand… I’ll turn up on this next one. So who’s trying to hurt human civilization now? It’s been a whole year of peace with a heaping pile of rigorous training. I haven’t seen anything violent coming our way in a hot minute,” I said while brushing my shoulder off.

Doesn’t matter how far off in the future we are, I was born and raised in Miami. Nothing will turn this flex off. That last perilous fight we were in pushed me through the limit. After experiencing that, nothing scares me now although I’m a bit curious as to where that last Cona Vight ran off to.

“Like I said before my Godson there is more than one evil out there trying to destroy humanity. We must open up our perspectives, in order to get a broad scope of the horizons outside of our immediate reach. It’s way too late in this game of life to be enclosed in our bubbles. The ancestors see all, and they are the superpower that shows me where our strength is needed. We are not the only piece of mankind left, there are others that need our help and more beasts for us to slay. This next opponent of ours is ‘The One That Knows All’. You may be surprised at what this being used to be and how it’s desires have molded it with evil purpose. This foe of ours might be more powerful than one of the Cona Vights,” Ako said in a rather grim tone.

I asked in response, “What could make this guy so strong that he’s more threatening than those breath-suckers?”

“Our opponent is well endowed with black magic and uses it with malice,” Ako replied.

“Oh great,” I said.

One nightmare after another in this reality, huh.

Ako chuckled and said, “Don’t worry my Godson: we’ll be moving out as a team, all of us are more prepared for battle than we ever were and the ancestors will gladly protect us.”

Nina was flying over Honeybun Waters battling the God of the Sea, with lightning-fast movements. Big booming shots from her tree-infused cogbit guns shot at the biggest predator in the Sea and multiple splashes/retaliations were made.

CJ’s voice boomed from Nina’s antenna, “HOW’S THAT FEELING TODAY BUDDY? HAHAHA, BET YOU NEVER THOUGHT I’D COME AT YOU GUNS-ABLAZING LIKE THIS!”

The God of the Sea roared and the entire beachside shook as if ocean-splitting tremors.

As many nightmares that I’ve experienced in this discombobulated future I have to say, this is such a dream to behold.

Light infused sprouts start getting sucked into the air where the Cogbit anomaly was hovering, and together Nina/CJ form a giant pear-Cogbit laser cannon. The weapon shoots out a laser of great magnitude, and the ocean rumbled in a way that matched the roar of their battling partner. The laser blasts the God of the Sea, making a new scar.

The God of the Sea roars as loud as possible and starts to hi-tail it, as it was leaving it waved its tail as if it was saying “Goodbye” and then splashes Honeybun Waters with all of its might. A giant tidal wave formed, almost escalating into a tsunami.

“Uh-oh, we better hi-tail it too,” I stated, with a gulp of worry.

Nina moves as fast as a ninja in an anime show and slashes at different parts of the wave with mecha-pear laser swords. Her light speed reaction minimizes the side of the wave but all of us watching on the beach still got soaked. At the very least the island was okay, though.

CJ shouts gloriously, “WOW! I THINK THAT COUNTS AS A WIN! WHO KNEW THAT THE ONLY WAY I WAS EVER GOING TO BEAT BUDDY OF THE SEA OVER THERE WAS WHEN YOU STOPPED WATCHING FROM THE SIDELINES AND JOIN IN THE FRAY, NINA?”

Nina blushes and flustered heart-shaped clouds form over her head as she states, “This was never in my calculations...”

“That was such a marvelous bout to witness! Now our battling champions, I know that you just finished a battle, but we’re going to need your help for this next one! Ako just received a vision from the Ancestor’s of another evil we must face for the sake of humanity’s survival! We also need your abilities for transportation,” Augusto shouted with valor.

CJ shouts back, “NO PROBLEM, BOBLEM! IT’S ALRIGHT WITH ME IF IT’S OKAY WITH YOU NINA, WHAT DO YOU SAY BABE?”

Nina’s body started elongating itself as she replied, “You don’t need to ask me twice. Besides, together we’re invincible. Let’s go take this monster down.”

Nina transformed into a jet with luxurious bushy seats for all of us to sit in, thanks to the fusion with CJ. Oh that’s right! When they morphed, they stay together like this forever now. It seems that we never made too many losses from our last escapade, except for our beloved Charlie. I do feel that Nina has gained a whole new level of strength but I have to say the arguments between her and her tree lover seem to never end. Oh sorry, I forgot the best way to refer to them is “they/them”. Nina is always talking about the power of the androgen and how they prefer not to be labeled by a singular gender. It makes sense, it just takes some getting used to closing old paradigms and opening up wider perspectives.

CJ’s voice boomed over the Jet’s intercom “HEY POPS! BUCKLE UP EVERYBODY, I’M GOING TO MAKE SURE THIS IS THE ROWDIEST RIDE POSSIBLE. I DO BELIEVE WE WILL LAND SAFELY, BUT WHAT’S LIFE WITHOUT A LITTLE BIT OF RISK, HUH?”

Nina argued with CJ on the intercom, “Okay dimwit, there’s no reason to scare everyone off before we even head to battle. Dear battling passengers of ours, there won’t be much turbulence to worry about, since it will be both of us managing this plane. I will make sure to put CJ in his place, like I always do.”

Italia stepped on the plane with some freshly baked vegan pie.

“No flight is right without some sweet bites,” Italia stated.

Ako stepped in right after I did and as I was about to sit down, Holli the water-nymph flew in. She sat on top of my hair and spoke to me, “You guys have such an interesting group that I don’t want to feel left out. I’m joining you for battle, but for now I’ll sleep in this comfy mane of yours.”

Holli nestled herself into my curly golden locks and fell asleep within an instant.

Maxx hopped into the plane and blurted out a strong right-wing statement, “I should be focusing on finding remnants of Trump but I can’t let you guys take all the action for yourselves!”

Ranger barked and followed Maxx in as if he was keeping a close watch on the Trumpett.

Augusto calmly walked in and sat next to his abuela (grandma) Italia.

Mrs. Hardware joined us as well, and stated, “No matter how hard you train for battle if you’re disorganized, then nothing you do is going to pan out the way you would like. I will help in every way that I possibly can.”

The door to the flora-infused jet closed and it started rumbling.

Off in the distance, I saw Jo running up to us.

Jo yelled out, “WAIT CAP, I GOT COFFEE!!”

Oh jeez, this guy and his diarrhea bomb coffee. What makes him think we’re ready for that now.

CJ opened up a window for me and I took a hint.

I shouted, “JO! WE’RE ALREADY LEAVING, BE CAREFUL BECAUSE THE ENGINES ALREADY STARTED AND WE’RE ABOUT TO LIFT OFF!”

“WAIT CAPTAIN, I’M SUPPOSED TO HELP! I’M GOING TO JOIN YOU,” Jo hollers out.

He wants to join…? But it’s too late, the jet is already moving.

“JO, IT'S DANGEROUS! JUST STAY BACK AND PROTECT THE VILLAGE, WE’LL BE BACK SOONER THAN LATER,” I yelled out the window.

Jo sprints even faster, closing the distance between the jet and his body.

“PAT, YOU KNOW ME. THANK YOU JESUS, YOU KNOW I AM DIFFICULT! I’M COMING WITH YOU,” Jo yells out as he arrives just a couple feet away from the jet.

“JO, THE DOOR IS ALREADY CLOSED. THERE’S NO WAY YOU’D BE ABLE TO MAKE IT IN, WITHOUT GETTING HURT. JUST STAY BACK WITH THE VILLAGE PLEASE,” I roared with a heartfelt shout.

“THANK YOU GOD, I LIKE FRONT ROW SEATS,” Jo yells out defiantly as he leaps on top of the Nina/CJ Jet.

Jo sits down criss-cross style on top of the jet and starts interlocking his vines with some of CJ’s branches that surround the flying vehicle. He then creates a layered vine and aloe Vera face shield. CJ sprouts a tree trunk behind him with soft bushy padding to create a backing for his body to sit against. The jet really starts taking off now and the engine roars. The opening that CJ created closes up and the jet sonic booms into the sky.

Jeez, why does he never listen to anybody? Oh well, I guess there’s just no stopping Jo once he makes his mind up. The more, the merrier.

“OKAY BATTLING PASSENGERS! WE’RE OFF TO A COUNTRY FAR IN THE DISTANCE BUT IT SHOULDN’T TAKE TOO LONG TO GET THERE WITH OUR POWERS COMBINED. WE’RE OFF TO PAY A VISIT TO OUR GOOD FRIEND, ‘THE ONE WHO KNOWS ALL’,” CJ shouts excitedly through the PA.

“Okay, calm down you loser we aren’t there yet and we don’t necessarily need to yell right now,” Nina directs to CJ on the PA.

CJ says in a normal inside-voice tone, “Hey Nina, guess what?”

Nina replied, “What is it now…”

“All of our friends are here, they look quite comfy and this makes me really happy. It seems like I’m not the only one inside you now,” CJ said with a giggle.

The whole interior of the jet turns pink and the vehicle starts rumbling.

“WHY YOU! WHY I OUGHTTA— JUST WAIT TILL WE LAND I’M GOING TO PUSH YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS SO FAR BACK INTO THE NUMBERS, THAT YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY FOR AT LEAST A WEEK,” Nina angrily shouts.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry honey it was just a joke. Please don’t do that, I promise to be good. The last time you did that, I was surrounded by 0’s and 1’s and all they ever talk about is digits. Especially how 6 is scared of 7, because 7, 8, 9. It drove me a little crazy! But also be cautious with your emotions, the passengers are experiencing a little bit of turbulence because of your fit,” CJ reassuringly replied.

“OH! Sorry everyone, I can’t just let this nuisance say whatever they want. Accountability takes many different forms. You’re still getting the cold digit treatment when we get back,” Nina calmly states.

The whole group laughs heartily after letting out a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile… Far off in the distance a cackling figure in the darkness of an old barn. Large gusty winds flapped through the barn as if giant wings were making them. A violet like color was emanating from the center of the room and in the miasma that oozed from the violet, a perfect moving picture of a couple of heroes in a jet could be seen.

“HOO, HOO, HOO, HOO, HOO! SO THE GREAT OKUUTUU IMOLA SQUAD IS FINALLY NEARING IN ON ME. I’VE WAITED LONG ENOUGH AND PREPARED MORE THAN ENOUGH PARTY SURPRISES FOR THEM. LET’S SEE WHAT YOU GOT HEROES, YOUR LIGHT MIGHT NOT BE ENOUGH FOR WHAT I HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU,” a large, cackling figure said while lurking in wait.

Ad interim…

Italia cut a slice of pie for everyone sitting inside the jet and set aside a piece for Jo. Ako, Maxx and Holli were taking a nap while Augusto was chatting it up with granny Italia. I started chomping down the pie and reviewed my time here in the future, which is really starting to become the present.

With every luscious bite of the piece I reviewed the past year and a half of my life. I used to think things like magic, time travel, and talking trees were just figments of my imagination but they really are the world that I live in now. The amount of training I’ve had to do is ridiculous. We all nearly lost our lives in battle against the Cona Vights and if that wasn’t enough; Ako made sure that I would be able to endure hell itself. I’ve pushed myself past the limit both in battle and training and one thing’s for sure… I don’t ever want to hold a squat with bags of sand on my legs ever again. Ako had me on some Kung-fu movie type of training. I mean seriously… what the heck? Anyways, that’s besides the point and it’s not the only kind of training that I’ve done. I’ve become more imaginative with my mark-making and now I can literally go into the marks in the same way that I metaphorically did in the past with my paintings. It’s like entering another dimension that reflects this world, but it's timeless. I can move with the mark and venture through it, both with my mind’s eye and physically. It’s like they say; “to go into the painting”. Whoever this new bad guy is, they’re in for a surprise. This is Pat 2.0 and I’ve got nothing holding me back now. I’m about to lay these marks down with experience.

*RUMBLE SQWOOOOOSHHHHH*

“ATTENTION ALL BATTLING PASSENGERS, WE’VE REACHED OUR DESTINATION! LOOK OUT FOR WICKED ENTITIES AND MAKE SURE TO NOT PASS GAS WHILE DEPARTING THE VEHICLE! NOT ONLY WILL IT LEAVE A STENCH FOR THE PERSON BEHIND YOU, IT WILL STINK UP NINA FROM THE CORE,” CJ gladly shouted on the PA.

“Okay, mister keep pushing it and see what happens,” Nina directed towards CJ on the PA.

We all started walking down the steps and before us was a barren waste-land with dead trees and a rotting old barn with a lavender hue. A gentle breeze in the air wafted through the post-apocalyptic scenery and a malodorous hint of sulfur could be detected. I grabbed a handful of the nearest broken bits of soil beneath me and it slipped through my fingers like sand. It felt as if life itself had been sucked away from the land. Even the color of the sky was gray and lifeless, but not a cloud was in sight. A fog filled the sky where rays of sunshine should be… Something feels quite ominous about this place.

“The Cona Vights must have hit this place hard. Where are we exactly? And why does everything feel like it’s dead,” I asked.

Italia replied gravely, “Oh dear… this is not just the work of the Cona Vights. Sure. they might’ve dealt some blows into the world, but when you see land and skies that look empty as if they’re missing the soul of life itself; it’s because the energy is being drained and it’s being used for the worst of intentions. No, when you see something as sad as this, it’s the result of malice and black magic.”

I responded, “Jeez, and there’s not a soul in sight besides us here…”

“To answer your previous question, this used to be Canada,” Augusto stated.

Canada?!? Wow, how things have changed. Man, there is a lot of work to be done in the future.

Jo jumped off the jet and said, “THANK YOU GOD, WE’RE SUPPOSED TO HELP.”

I had nearly forgotten that he rode on the top of the jet. Thank the lands that I didn’t have to drink his coffee though, there’s no way I could’ve gone into battle with an upset-cup-of-jo stomach.

The Jet transformed back into the Nina-CJ androgen, and then all of a sudden we felt a pressure in the atmosphere coming from the old barn.

Gusts of wind blasted towards us as a wicked voice projected, “WHO GOES THERE?!?”

“A party of heroes is here to slay a beast that’s been draining the energy from the land. My name is-“ I stated, but was cut off by a rude voice from the barn.

“HOO HOO HOO!! DON’T WORRY, I ALREADY KNOW WHO YOU ARE. IN FACT, I’VE BEEN WATCHING YOU-HOO ALL THIS TIME. I’VE BEEN KEEPING AN EXTRA WATCHFUL EYE ON YOU-HOO, PATRICK! IN FACT I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOUR LIFE BEFORE TIME TRAVEL AS WELL! HOO HOO HOO,” the malicious voice hidden in the darkness of the old barn stated.

“Oh great another weirdo,” I said out loud, forgetting that sometimes my thoughts just don’t stay inside my head.

Huge gusts of wind blasted towards us again and nearly blew us away. Violet spell-incantation circles started filling the air as if someone drew them on there. Dark violet spell blasts started to shoot out of the circles and Augusto put up a button barrier to defend against the attack.

“HOO HOO HOO! VERY NICE! I’M GLAD THAT THIS ISN’T GOING TO PIECE OF CAKE, YOU KNOW I’VE GOTTEN QUITE BORED BEING ALL BY MY LONESOME,” a cackling voice shouted from the mysterious old barn.

“Who-who-who are you exactly, ‘Mr. I like to hide in the darkness’? And jerk-wad, how come you’re sucking the life out of Canada,” I questioned.

“HOO HOO HOO! WHO AM I EXACTLY? WHY I AM ‘THE ONE THAT KNOWS ALL’! I HAVE NO NEED FOR A SIMPLE NAME AND WHEN I CAME INTO THE KNOWING OF BLACK MAGIC, WELL I JUST COULDN’T HELP MYSELF. WHATS THE POINT OF KNOWING EVERYTHING AND NOT DOING SOMETHING FUN WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE? TO USE IT FOR GOOD WOULD BE QUITE ARBITRARY, BECAUSE NOTHING GOOD IS REALLY QUITE GOOD AND WHAT WE DEEM TO BE BAD IS JUST ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE,” the cackling figure replied while finally stepping outside of its home.

The One That Knows All flapped great wings towards us, blasting more destructive gusts while also throwing sharp feathers at us like darts. More chaotic violet blasts shot towards us, breaking Augusto’s barrier. We all started running in separate directions in order to dodge the onslaught.

“IS THAT A BARN OWL? WHAT THE HECK, I DIDN’T THINK ANIMALS COULD BE EVIL,” I said in exasperation.

Ako chuckled and replied, “I told you that you would be surprised, my godson. Owls do tend to be predators on a food chain as well. Even though what he’s doing is unnatural, the tendency to go after what he thinks is weaker than him is a natural instinct.

“Unnatural? More like supernatural. This guy’s huge too,” I replied while dodging feathers and spell blasts.

The One That Knows All is a massive 16 foot Owl, with piercing eyes that look like they have no pupils. Its feathers are a luminous violet gradient that goes into lavenders and the bottom half of it’s torso is stained in black. Its belly looked like there was skulls protruding from underneath its skin and they seemed to be moving.

The owl-monstrosity hollered, “HOO HOO HOO! I’VE WATCHED YOUR FIGHT WITH THE CONA VIGHTS, BUT IF YOU THINK THEY ARE THE ONLY FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH THEN YOU WILL HAVE A RUN FOR YOUR MONEY!”

The massive barn owl spread it’s wings like a vulture and shot a plethora of sharp, miniature feathers like a bunch of kunai knives from a ninja movie. It summoned two more incantation circles that blasted long-lasting violet beams. I did a barrel roll and barely dodged the beams at the last minute.

To be continued…