Struggle#12

Objective: Save the city

Sub-objective: Use the Power of Love - Destroy the Relic - Become a Super Heroine

It’s with a heavy heart and sad eyes that Naomi started her 12th struggle.

It was actually a first for her. Not to argue with someone, she does that all the time, but never with Xavier. He is a rational guy, and they always have the same point of view on everything. Of course, a lot of the time it was him being nice to her, but he is genuinely one of the nicest and wisest guy she knows.

Part of her was truly ashamed, first because of what she said, and second because of the way she said it, but is done is done. Also, it was also his own fault, he crossed a sensitive line, he should have realized how Naomi is overprotective with Sam.

Nonetheless, the… ouch.

Hum?

“Oh, sorry miss, I didn’t saw you.”

A tall man took his hat off, quickly apologizing to her, and resume his way immediately after.

Naomi suddenly realized she wasn't alone, from the deepest part of a torched lighten labyrinth, she had landed in the middle of a busy paved street. There were stores everywhere, with big shiny and bright billboard with portraying naked woman and men here and there. There was a lot of people too, but they were all busy looking at some sort of device in their hand, moving forward, barely looking up.

Naomi wasn’t good with people, so much that you could say she has a slight case of agoraphobia. Quickly, she felt oppressed by the situation, and looked for a way out. Fortunately, she found shelter nearby, in a small stores selling clothes named M&H.

‘What an odd name…’

As she finally managed to get some space from the crowd, in one of the corners of the store, she opened her book. Once again, the objectives were completely vague.

“’Save the city’…? From what? ‘Use the power of love’? I hope this is a joke…”

Suddenly, a noise diverted her attention.

Back in the street she was a minute ago, the mass of people was now moving in the same direction. Screams and panic started to invade the atmosphere, as if everyone was running away.

No, they were running away.

With a small eyebrow raises and a slight smile, Naomi stayed on the edge of the exit.

‘This is surely what I am supposed to save the city from. Fine… first step: identifying the threat.’

After a dozen of struggles, Naomi was already accustomed to such turn of event, and it’s without a hint of hesitation that she started to take action. She closed her eyes and focus her flux in her hearing.

As a Conjureress, her ability to enhance her senses and physical capabilities are miles under the ones of a Seer or a Wrecker, nonetheless, her flux capacity was worlds above any others. In fact, without realizing it, Naomi was expanding her ‘flux tank' at an incredible rate, and it was now comparable to the weaker guide's. In this situation, a normal Conjurer would use way too much energy for it to be worth, but as she had so much to spare, she never realized this kind of problem.

So, she listened.

People were screaming.

Children were crying.

An explosion!

That’s it!

And in the middle of the chaos, she caught a name.

“Bombo?”

Some screens have been changed to host some sort of emergency report, about a bad guy blowing stuff up.

His name was lame, but the threat seemed to be real, as a second explosion, further away, disturbed her concentration.

It didn’t matter anyway, she had everything she needed. It was actually a pretty simple situation, there was a bad guy and she had to kick his ass. Although…

It’s not the first time she had to save a city from a villain, and, truth to be told, she felt a bit shallow after her first heroic act, as she was -and still is- too strong for the early struggles. Of course, she had no plan of letting the bad guy wrecking havoc and harming innocent people, but there are ways of spicing things a bit, and her Quest Book seemed to be on the same page than her - pun not intended.

She turned around, and rushed back into the store.

Rucropolis was a big city with a young and fresh atmosphere. Akin to Lucropolis, it had many parks and plenty of skyscrapers and renovated buildings, with little to no cars, only huge buses on a suspended monorail, several meters above anyone’s head. However, it was way smaller in scale, and wasn’t divided in ‘circles’.

Despite a few bad places, it was mostly a peaceful city, but everything changed two months before Naomi arrived. The first supervillain appeared, destroyed the city hall and killed many peoples, including the mayor, and disappeared as he came. Without telling his name or his purpose, he plunged the city in fear.

Following his trace, other criminal tried to bring their own share of chaos, and many other supervillains, using powers from ancient artefacts given by a mysterious man. In this troubled time, one person stood against them. A Super Hero. In this desperate time, he called for a miracle, and threw himself into a never-ending fight against the darkness, saving the innocent and the oppressed.

Rapidly, he gained the trust of the population, and was nicknamed the Miracle Man. Wearing his signature white suit and a simple mask covering his upper face, he became the hope and saviour the city needed.

However, no one has managed to understand his power, not even himself, as they are… unreliable.

As of now, in the middle of a zoo, on the edge of the city, he was being overwhelmed by a weird tall and muscular man with an elephant head, and loads of dynamites around his naked torso.

In the middle of the biggest enclosure, our hero had one knee on the ground, and was trying to catch his breath in front of his laughing foe.

“Mouhahaha! This is the end for you, Miracle! Look how pitiful you look, you’re about to ele-faint! Mouahahah!”

He raised his head from the ground, still unable to stand up for himself, and glared at his opponent… Already celebrating his victory, this last one uses his tromp to inhale some air, swelling it in cartoonish proportion.

‘Is this it… is this the end… I’m sorry, I wasn’t strong enough after all…’

The villain directed is ‘nose’ toward him, and with an evil smile pronounced his death wish.

“I’ll see you in hell-ephant!”

…and fired. He expelled a bright bolt at a tremendous speed, so fast that Miracle Man had barely the time to close and divert his eyes, and then it exploded. Upon contact, the bolt burst in a great explosion, swallowing everything in a mix of chaos and destruction.

“Mouhaha! I am best! I am the Bombest! Mouhahah!”

“I can’t believe you actually made that pun…”

The cloud of dust raised by the previous explosion suddenly dissipated, swiped away by a magical ascending wind, revealing a totally not destroyed area, with Miracle Man in the same place as before, untouched, and a mysterious woman standing in front of him, wearing a red leather suit, mask, and a huge cap, gently floating behind her.

With her hair changed to a colour matching her outfit - coincidently she chose the same as Alice - Naomi was harbouring a cunning smile. She started walking toward the Super Villain, filling the atmosphere with her overwhelming confidence, and let out the catchphrase she dreamed to say when she was a little girl.

"The Scarlet Princess has arrived to save the day scene!"

Struggle#12

Objective: Save the city

Sub-objective: Use the power of love - Destroy the relic - Become a Super Heroine