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  Diary of a Super Clone

  John Zakour and Katrina Kahler

  Copyright © KC Global Enterprises Pty Ltd

  All rights reserved

  Book One

  The Battle

  Chapter 1

  My New Life

  Yo, my name is Adam. I never had a last name because well, I was “born” about five years ago, in a government lab. So I’m a clone. I may look like a normal young teenage human male, but there is nothing normal about me! Just to be super clear, I’m not even a regular clone. They put nano-chips inside me that allow me to do all sorts of super cool things. I can become super strong. I can generate energy from my eyes, hands, feet, and butt. I can do even more than that! It’s neat but it’s also confusing because, well, I am unique in this world.

  After being on my own for a while, I found a home here in Center City. I now live with my foster parents, Doctor Don and Jeanie Opal. I also have a foster sister, little Ellie Mae Opal. Ellie Mae is special too. She can teleport and grow and shrink. She’s a pretty cool little sis.

  Don and Jeanie both work for this company called Future Now. They create all sorts of cool things to eventually make the world a better place. I also work for Future Now. I use my superpowers for good, helping to defend Future Now and Center City. I call myself Quazar. I think it’s a way cool name. (Yeah, I do use the word cool a lot.)

  I’ve flown over the city a couple of times to introduce myself. Plus, the marketing people at Future Now released a YouTube video of me so the townspeople could get to know me. I even put in an appearance at a local school; a school I don’t go to since I go to Future Now’s special school for special kids, which is pretty awesome. Even so, I still put on an exhibition for the kids at the regular local school.

  I also broke up an armored car robbery. The police and bank employees and everybody else was so happy. But when you’re Super Clone, breaking up a robbery is pretty routine. Especially since the good people at Future Now began training me. Heck, I could have just farted the bad guys into submission. While that might have been kind of fun to do, it probably wouldn’t have left the best first impression.

  I remember when my friend, Lia Strong, aka Super Teen, told me how she accidentally knocked out the mall with super foot odor. It took her reputation a while to recover from that. I would’ve thought the townspeople would be thankful that she’d saved them from a berserk android. But I’m still not great at figuring out how regular people think.

  That’s just a brief introduction to me. Truthfully, I’m still trying to figure myself out. You’ll get to learn more about me as I learn more about me. That’s why I’m sharing my adventures with you. Remember, it’s a secret that Adam is Quazar. So, don’t tell anybody! I keep my secret identity to myself, to keep my foster family safe. Plus, I admit spinning and morphing into a costume is cool. I think I look pretty good in my red uniform with my gold boots and cape. The cape makes me more aerodynamic. It just took me a while to avoid getting it stuck in automatic closing doors. (Yeah, that IS embarrassing. And people don’t believe me when I say I did that on purpose.)

  The part I really like best is my mask. That keeps my identity safe and makes me feel extra powerful.

  Now onto my current adventure…

  As Quazar, I turned my legs into pure energy to propel me through the sky. Though my legs were as hot as the sun (well almost), it felt so cool to fly. I headed towards downtown. I raced to check out the report that there was a 40-foot-tall purple tyrannosaurus rex stomping around and doing an assortment of bad things. This would be my first real super challenge.

  Sure enough, stomping on cars below me was a giant purple T-rex. Zooming in with my Quazar vision, I noticed this giant creature had an antenna sticking out of its head and some sort of speaker wrapped around its thick neck. Yes, sir! Not your average T-Rex at all.

  I cooled my leg jets which brought me in lower to the T-Rex. I had to admit feeling a little nervous. This would be my first big test as Quazar. Tests can make me nervous. And I felt nervous sweat pool up inside my boots.

  The T-Rex looked up at me. “So, what do we have here?” The words sounded through the speaker at the back of its neck.

  I hovered above the T-Rex. Pointing dramatically, I shouted. “I am Quazar! I am protector of this city! I do not wish to hurt you. Therefore, I suggest you give up and calmly head back to wherever you came from. Nobody gets hurt. It’s win-win.” I put my hands on my hips, “So, do we have a deal?”

  The T-Rex inhaled.

  I thought, hmmm, maybe he (or she) needs to breathe in to talk.

  The T-Rex exhaled flames of red-hot fire.

  The T-Rex then directed the flame at me. If I had been a normal human, I would have been burnt like a marshmallow toasted over an open fire. Instead, my uniform began to smolder.

  I shook my head. Waving my finger at the beast, I shouted, “I assume that means…I’ve considered your very fair offer, Quazar….and I have decided to pass…”

  “You’re smarter than you look!” the T-Rex told me.

  “Thanks!” I said with a grin.

  “It wasn’t meant to be taken as a compliment,” the T-Rex said.

  I crossed my arms. “Look, ya big Barney wanna be… you’ve already hit me with your best shot and all you did was singe my uniform a little. Just give up. I would hate to be forced to hurt you. This, being my first day and all. I am guessing dinosaur blood will be harder to get out of my uniform than fire-breath stains. BTW, despite the heat, your breath is quite pleasant…”

  “Thanks! I ate a field of mint before I came here,” the T-Rex told me. The T-Rex looked me in the eyes. “Look, kid, I kind of like you, and to tell the truth, I don’t have anything against you. So, let me wreck the town and then I will be on my merry way.”

  “Look, Mr. T-Rex…”

  “Please call me Timmy.”

  I smiled. Timmy T-Rex that name would be so darn cute if he wasn’t trying to destroy my new home. “Look, Timmy, I can’t have you terrorizing my town and maybe eating people. It’s not good for my superhero image. Plus, it’s just plain wrong.”

  “How about I only eat people’s pets?” Timmy offered.

  I lowered my head and shook it. “Nope, sorry, Tim. People love their pets.”

  “I don’t get that,” Timmy said. “Especially having birds as pets! Why would people keep birds in cages and think that’s being nice to them? Birds need to fly. You know, a lot of scientists think dinosaurs are closer to birds than reptiles!” Timmy scratched his head with his tail. “Plus, I don’t get cats. They’re so bossy! Are humans their pets?”

  “I think cats can be kind of nice!” I said. “I mean…they certainly aren’t as loyal as dogs, but still…” I stopped myself in midsentence. I shook my head. “Look, it’s almost dinner time. I really want to get home to my dinner. I’m not here to discuss human pet dynamics with you!”

  The T-Rex shook his head. “I hope not; cause you’re doing a pretty lousy job of it.”

  I held up my arms. “I don’t want to fight you. You seem fairly reasonable for a rampaging monster type of creature.”

  “Thank you,” he said with a nod. He indicated his arms. “Think I want to fight you? Look at these tiny bent arms! Why in the world do I even have em? What good are they?”


  I shrugged. “No idea!”

  The T-Rex motioned to me with its huge head. “Come closer. I wanna tell ya something.”

  Part of my brain said this beast seems fairly reasonable. Another part said, are you nuts? This thing was destroying the city just moments ago. But I figured if he was talking to me at least he was distracted and not destroying buildings. I also guessed that the antenna on his head meant he was being controlled. I wanted to give him a chance.

  I flew within a few yards of him. I hovered above. I noticed the police and innocent bystanders watching from below. I spun towards them. “Good people of Center City. I am Quazar. I am here to help!” I thought it a good idea to let them know that, in case they hadn’t heard of me.

  “Yeah, we’ve seen the videos!” A police captain yelled back to me. “We’re so glad you’re on the scene. We could use some help against this monster!”

  “I don’t believe he’s a monster. I believe he’s just a poor out of control beast!” I said.

  “Well, if you can bring him under control, then so be it!” the captain said. “But you probably shouldn’t turn your back on the beast!” she added.

  I smiled. “First, I trust him. We are talking in good faith. Second, I am nigh-invulnerable. So I don’t….”

  I never got to finish my statement because the crazed T-Rex grabbed me with his tail. O-kay, maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to trust a monster dino that had just been ripping through the city.

  “Ha! My arms may be next to useless, but my tail is extra strong!” the T-Rex taunted. Using his tail, he pushed my head and half my body into his mouth.

  “That is so not cool!” I echoed from inside his mouth.

  “See, I did warn you!” the captain said through a megaphone.

  “Look, Mr. T-Rex…ah, Timmy,” I said slowly. “I think you should let me go. I don’t want to hurt you. But if you chomp down on me… I won’t like what might happen….”

  “Of course you won’t like it! You will be eaten,” T-Rex Timmy mumbled.

  I figured it had to be hard for him to talk with me in his mouth. “Actually, I’m more worried about you. See if you hit one of my nano charged areas you run the risk of cooking yourself!” I warned him.

  “Ha! You’re bluffing!” Timmy, T-Rex said.

  He chomped down on me. I felt energy charging through me. The power ripped out of my body into poor Timmy T-Rex. He shuddered, shook, smoked then exploded. Gross (but kind of cool dinosaur guts) rained down on Main Street (and the people on Main Street.).

  I hovered in mid-air covered in some sort of green goo that I could only figure was dinosaur spit. I looked down at the people below. “Sorry, about that….” I said. “But see, I am pretty invulnerable,” I added with a grin.

  The police captain wiped some cooked T-Rex off her head. “Yep, I see that now,” she said. “Well, you did warn him. And you did stop him…” she added.

  I looked down at the mess. “Sorry about the mess.” I felt pretty bad about that so I felt the need to repeat my apology.

  “You did your best Quazar!” the captain said. We’d all rather be covered in dino guts than be dino-treats. Glad you are a part of our town!”

  The people started to clap for me. It felt kind of good, yet kind of weird. I had won my first battle as a superhero defending my town. Yet, the fight didn’t go anywhere near the way I’d been expecting. In fact, I’d let my guard down and could have been eaten if I wasn’t super. Dang, I tried to give Timmy T-Rex a chance and he blew it. Literally. I don’t know what I felt worse about…the fact that I was so gullible or the fact that he would try to take advantage of me being a good guy. Man, my foster parents were always saying that bad beasts shouldn’t be trusted. I guess I should listen when they tell me not to trust bad guys. But still, I always like to give others a chance, because you never know.

  I flew home figuring that when you’re super, you can afford a little extra gullibility. Funny, I had won my first super fight without even throwing a punch.

  I was hoping that was a good sign!

  Chapter 2

  My New Home

  Let me start by saying, I love living in my nice average home with my amazing foster family. After being born in a lab, escaping and then living in a tree house in a park for three years (that’s another story), it feels amazo to be surrounded by people who love me. Having a roof over my head is also great.

  Getting rained on in a tree house is a bummer, even when you are super.

  I sat at the table with my foster mom, Jeanie, my foster dad, Don, and my cute little foster sister, Ellie Mae. We were sharing a meal of pork chops (yum), salad and broccoli while sharing the events of our day. This was my favorite time of any day.

  Ellie Mae looked at me, eyes wide open. “Dude, I luv ya, bro, but even I know enough not to turn my back on a talking T-Rex! And I’m just a little kid!”

  “I wanted to give him a chance to surrender peacefully,” I said. “I thought that’s what good guys should do.” I turned to Don and Jeanie for their input. I tended to rely on them for teaching me the proper interactions and reactions when dealing with real-world problems. Yes, in my world, a giant, talking, T-Rex was a real problem.

  “First off,” Don said slowly. “That dino sounds like the work of one of our ex-employees at Future Now…Doctor E. Vile. He’s the only person I’ve ever had to fire. I felt bad about it cause he’s way brilliant. But he insisted on creating and controlling giant beasts from the past. He thought they could be the soldiers of the future. We told him it was wrong on so many levels. We tried to guide him towards robotics; which didn’t work either.”

  “Yes, I remember Eddie, well,” Jeanie said. “He had terrible table manners. He ate everything with his hands, even corn that wasn’t on the cobb. And soup! The man ate soup with his hands!” She smiled. “He did always compliment me on my cooking though.”

  Ellie Mae looked at her parents. Her eyes popped open. “Wait…Doctor E. Vile is the one I used to call Uncle Eddie?”

  “Yep, fraid so,” Don said. “I knew he had potential for good as well as for bad, so I tried to bring him into our home as much as I could; channel his destructive energies.” Don lowered his eyes and sighed. “It didn’t work. He kept looking at your stuffed animals and going, ya know I bet I could turn these into amazing killing machines… Nobody ever expects the teddy bear to jump em….” Don shook his head. “And then when he stole one of your stuffed animals and weaponized it, that was the last straw. I had to fire him….”

  “So, is that what happened to Mr. Snuggles the Bear?” Ellie Mae asked. “You told me you gave him to charity….”

  “Yes, honey, we did give him away, but we gave your bear to the government to study. I think the navy seals use him today,” Jeanie said. “We didn’t have the heart to destroy him. It took an entire team of security people to stop him though.”

  Don nodded. “Yep, Eddie was really good at what he did. It’s just that he did didn’t fit in at Future Now. We want to help the world not control it.”

  “I take it Dr. E. Vile didn’t like being let go,” I said.

  “Nope. He vowed to get revenge on the city and the company,” Don told me.

  Ellie Mae patted me on the arm. “Looks like you have your first arch-super-villain rival!” she said.

  “Oh yeah!” I said.

  Part of me was happy to face the challenge. Another part of me felt weird that this man was an old family friend… one I had never met, but it was still a bit weird. If I’ve learned anything about life so far it’s that things are always changing and can be confusing. But you can’t let the confusion stop you, even if it slows you down a bit. You just have to figure out the best way to deal with it. Like my best buddy, Zeke (the zombie) says, we learn many things from our mistakes.

  Those were important words: WE LEARN MANY THINGS FROM OUR MISTAKES

  “Back to your battle techniques,” Jeanie said. “We think it’s wonderful that you always accept the best in peo
ple or beasts or killer machines, but sometimes even when expecting the best you shouldn’t turn your back on them.”

  “Right!” I said.

  More important words to live by: DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON BAD GUYS AND MACHINES

  I thought about those words of wisdom for a moment. “But what if I turn my back and keep my guard up? I give them a chance to do the right thing, but I am ready for them to do the wrong thing.”

  “Was that what you were doing with the T-Rex?” Ellie Mae asked.

  “No, I wasn’t,” I thought about their words and my words. “But I will try to do that in the future.”

  “Good!” Don said.

  “Excellent,” Jeanie said with a smile.

  “Let’s hope, so…” Ellie Mae said. “I love ya, dude, but sometimes you expect everybody and everything in the world to be as nice and fair as you. Even I know that’s not going to happen.”

  “I’d like to think it can,” I said. “But don’t worry, I will be ready. Next time.” I chomped down a juicy pork chop.

  The watches that Don and Jeanie were wearing on their wrists started to chime. “Alert! Alert!!”

  They both looked at their watches and frowned.

  “Bad news?” I asked.

  “Well, duh,” Ellie Mae said.

  QUAZAR NOTE:ALERT! ALERT! ...NEVER LEADS TO A GOOD THING!

  Don and Jeanie exchanged a glance. Even I could tell it was a worried glance. Don looked up at me. “Looks like you are going to get your chance. That alert was from the government base we gave Mr. Snuggles to.” Don stopped talking.

  “He’s escaped…” Jeanie said. “And they fear he’s heading here. Future Now is sending a security team. They are ten minutes out.”

  I stood up. I spun at super speed, changing into my Quazar uniform. “Why is the security team coming? It’s my job to keep you and Future Now safe!” I said boldly.