Alkuperäni - The Origins of that darn Blue Mage!

The Core Media Forum
1

Part I.

[i]“You know, I used to be pretty much ordinary as any normal guy going to seventh grade, not exactly liking the whole school thing, getting into fights, falling in love with that cutie in the second row, first from the right… But then one day it all kinda zoomed away… people grew up from their old silly personas.”

“But not me. No sirree. I grew up in a fantasy world of mine, where anything was possible. Now check this out - I one day imagined up a cool looking persona, and then I notice I’m watching myself from a mirror: I’m almost an adult, yet my old self won’t let go of the past. It was like one of those artist’s blocks I used to get when I ran out of synch with the flow. That’s when I got hit by a surge of chaos. Literal or just another mockup of reality by me, I guess that’s just another figment created by my mind. I realized I had the ability to do things only my heroes from my comic worlds could do, and as I consumed more literacy, I could actually imitate those abilities. It was too perfect…”[/i]

Land of the Midnight Sun, City of Helsinki:

Kaivopuisto Docks, 01:44.

(“Oh shoot. I wish I had a sidekick during days like this.”), though the young hero as he dodged a few bullets in a quick backflip behind a tower of crates. He could just conjure another one of his “Force Fields” and not worry about those bullets, or the batons his foes carried for a while, but his headache was taking the best of him.

“Get the Blue-haired freak before he sings the cops!”, a leather-suited character bellowed to a half-dozen thugs carrying assault rifles. Their fire was well-placed, but the lightning reflexes of their attacker was more than enough to stump their attempts at landing a hit.

“You know, we could just settle with stealing weapons from the government, but you guys looks like you want some time behind bars for distrubing the peace, not to mention attempted murder!”, an omnipresent voice commented. The thugs had no idea where the voice was coming, so primal insticts took over, and within moments, everyone had emptied their clips, leaving them without ammunition.

(“Six of 'em… RK 7.62’s… Guess I’ll try out that new trick I saw in Last Phantasm VII…”) The young man cracked his knuckles and started spinning his finger in the space surrounding him, as if attempting to paint something. Within moments, a series of small smoking pellets surrounded his rear side, and he mentally motioned them to follow his lead. He then cartwheeled from his hiding, revealing himself to the thugs who were dumbfounded as their weapons went ‘click!’

The heroic figure started spinning his hands around his both sides in a circular motion, causing the smoking spheres to spin along. “Mabatsekker, Blue Mage extraordinaire, now presenting! MATRA MAGIC!”, boomed the same surround voice. The smoking spheres then launched themselves towards the thugs formation, hitting a few of them pretty bad as they exploded with multiple bangs. It was like taking multiple haymakers, but it wasn’t deadly. The blue-haired one made sure of it. As the mage was impressed with his own work, the leather-clad figure had slipped away…

The Christian Pad, following day 08:24…

“It went good, it went better, it went EXCELLENT!”, celebrated a young man in his apartment. A small TV had a news story on a group of weapons dealers caught stealing weapons from the military, and the very same thugs who he had fought during the night were all babbling about an electric-blue hero throwing missiles at them.

“By the time I moved away to my own place, I had a reasonable grasp of my newfound gifts. I could alter my looks so people wouldn’t have any idea who really was behind all these tricks, so it worked just perfect. I’m a bit too known around, so it wouldn’t work if I went catching bad guys as myself. A bit of alterations here and there and I had a brand new look. I remember practicing creating winds once in a small forest behind my school, and a bunch of old people who were collecting mushrooms though I was some kind of a spirit teasing humans. I kinda wanted to create an image for myself as a Finnish superhero, so I went for a simple White and Blue design. Wish I could keep the hairstyle for my civilian looks.”

A coffeemaker by the corner of a table finished rattling and not a second later, the youngster had a cup filled with the poison of his choice: Mocca. “Whew! Not a second too soon, I’ll be late work!” Glancing where he was about to leave his hastily emptied cup, the young man smiled once again as he glanced the morning paper;

“Superheroes in Finland? Who is the mysterious benefactor? Read the latest Facts about Mabatsekker!”

2

That a good origin story Mabatsekker, way better then the old one from the original TRT storyline about you being a brainwashed hero working for Homestead and turning into a giant man when exposed to chemcials. I will probably use this origin as character background in the new storyline.

3

That was great, Mab! Especially the writing. Hey, are you going to set up any continuity with our stories, or have any of us RPGCers guest star? Even if you don’t, keep up the good work!
:cool:

4

[i]You know, for a long time I had been wondering if there were any other super-powered individuals around in this forsaken land. I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if my next-door neighbor could throw cars around, since we tend to be pretty stoic people. Not when it comes to chugging alcohol. Man, I remember when I almost whipped up a storm when I made the mistake of wanting to make a dynamic entry into my own apartment using winds…

Anyway, going into this business alone was a mistake for me since I’m more used to being a team player than a loner. I mean, I had to fake a sports injury for two weeks when my powers failed and I got shot in the elbow. That’s when I started experiementing with my imagination… And yeah, I like catgirls. You got a problem with that?[/i]

===
Chapter 2.

13:30. An office block with a strong musk of coffee wafting mid-air. Two men, are discussing something over a desk filled with sketches and drawings of comely women with cat-like features.

“Dream on, Maximo. I know you draw hot women, but cats just are out for this year, and this cow-eyed style just ain’t got what it needs to make to the press, yo.”

“Aw, come on Vale, you know it’s a cornerstone of my style to draw catgirls!”

Maxim Christian was a graphic designer/artist in a low-profile magazine which handled city happenings and stories. He was a genius when it came to layouts and small illustrations, but suffered from a serious comic book complex, and a strange affinity to feline anthromorphs. Vale Pulkkinen was a no-nonsense editor and while Christian’s drawings had that much-needed flair and credibility, even he had his limits.

“Next time, leave the ears and the tails off. We wouldn’t want the readers to get freaked just because someone has a weird fetish.”, the senior worker came to a conclusion.

“Sure. Need anything else besides soap ads today?”, the artist queried in a relieved manner.

“Hmm… You’ve heard of this superhero business that’s taking over the city, right?”
“Who wouldn’t have heard?” grins smugly
“Well, we could use another illustration of yours since no-one’s been lucky enough to catch a photo of this mystery Bat Seeker or whatever he’s called. If it even is a he.”
“That’s Mabatsekker, sir.”
“Whatever. Remember, even though it’s another fantasy illustration, no mixing hobby and work here, or I’ll put a stop on you working overtime all the time.”
“Alright, alright, relax…”

“Just make sure it gets on next Wednesday’s edition.”, the editor reminded the artist and left the small booth. Maxim stretched all the way back on his chair, almost flipping over.

(“Urgh. Either I sketch the other ‘me’ now and take the rest of the day off, or leave now and pick one of those costume schemes I left home… Choices… choices…”)

14:15. In the front of a bus stop.

(“Hmmmhh… how long is it going to take this time? I’d be home already if I just ‘zinged’ there like usual… Ah, there it comes!”)

Yeah, I took a bus and I’m still taking buses. Got a problem with that? Even though I could easily just hop on the rooftops to my apartment, I still wanted to support the local public traffic. They’ve had a bunch of trouble with their funding, so why the heck not? It’s not wrong for a superhero in disguise to use a bus or a tram, right? It’s also a good way to relax a bit, sitting down and taking a breather. I mean, the alternative way I could’ve also checked out if there was any trouble to take care of…

The bus comes to a sudden stop as a minivan smashes into a traffic light post, making the whole contraption fall down on a police car, which in turn crashes into a motorcyclist and a coupé. The van continues on, shunting and bumping into cars, occasionally taking the wrong lane.

… I had to say it, didn’t I?

Maxim smashed the “Stop” button, and almost instantly the doors opened. “Someone call 112, I’ll go get some help!”, the young man shouted to the other passengers, who all instantly whipped out their cellphones. (“Ah, the miracles of modern technology!”), he smirked.

Maxim surveyed the results of the crash. The cyclist was under the squad car, struggling to get off and the coupe was turned sideways. The cops were desperately trying to lift the car, with no results, as the traffic light post kept the car pinned. ("… No phonebooths. Damn you, Nokia!"), Maxim cursed silently. He then rushed behind a 7/11, checked his sides and then enveloped himself in a blue glow.

14:20

“Somebody help that cyclist! He’ll be crushed!”, cried a woman who also got out of the bus.
“What about the people in the car? They’re not moving at all, and there’s smoke coming from under the engine!”, yelled an old man next to the coupé.

(“This is gonna be so corny if I go spouting one-liners when there are people in distress… Guess I’ll go with the silent treatment for now…”), Mabatsekker thought as he leapt on the bus from the roof of the 7/11. He knew he had to act fast or he wouldn’t be able to catch the van, which was heading for the pier.

You know, I was kinda anxious about doing this whole hero thing in broad daylight. Good thing my illusions are foolproof. I mean, I’d probably have caused a million different debates on the friend or foe topic if I wore a mask. If I tried to hide my face, that’d probably mean people’d think I’d have a hidden agenda beyond helping out the good guys. Good thing electric blue isn’t a natural hair color, eh?

The White-and-blue figure leapt for the squad car and lifted it up with ease, leaning to the side of the car with care. The policemen were dumbfounded. “Wha… what the…” (“There goes that silence…”), thought the hero and signalled them to get the biker from under the car. “Get the man outta there, he’s probably got a few broken bones.” The policemen did so and he then lowered the car down gently and then sped towards the coupe, which was a few small flames bursting from the engine compartment. Mabatsekker hopped on the backseat door and tried to open the front door. “Guh”, grunted the hero. (“The door’s locked. Hope these guys have an insurance for accidents caused by superpowered individuals…”)

Those small bursts of conscience took over a lot of my gigs when I first started. Now, when I met ‘that’ group of lunatics, collateral damage became more of a norm, really…

(“Whatever”)

Mabatsekker tore the door off clean and with two quick snaps, both the driver and the passenger’s seatbelts released, he picked them up and hopped down from the car’s side. He then passed the crash victims to the crowd that was quickly gathering to the site.

“Anyone call for the fire department yet?”, the hero asked the crowd. Uneasy answers of 'No’s and 'Uh’s were heard among the crowd. ("…Guess not. Time to improvise again.")

The hero turned to face the car, seeing that the brass nearby was about to catch fire aswell. He then clapped his hands together on his chest and took a very long breath. Although no-one witnessed him speaking a word before exhaling, a yell of “AQUA BREATH!” was heard echoing in everyone’s minds. The hero then lowered his hands to his sides and his cheeks seemed… bloated. Before anyone could react to it, Mabatsekker began to blow a powerful stream of water from his mouth. The crowd watched in awe as the car was dripping wet in seconds. The hero wiped his mouth clean and turned to face the silent crowd.

“Uh, hi?”

The crowd cheered and as the emergency vehicles came over to clean the mess, Maba thought it was time to leave. One of the cops from the squad car came tapping his shoulder.

“Excuse me, sir, but who… what are you?”

“Just a Blue Stranger from pretty much nowhere. Now, would you excuse me in turn and tell me the license of that van that just crashed here?”

The other cop, radioing for help, informed both of them that the van had mysteriously “disappeared” while heading for the pier. As the cop turned to further question the Blue-streaked hero, he had gone, as suddenly as he had appeared.

“Where’d he…?”, asked the cop, dumb-founded.

Roof of the 7/11

Mabatsekker was lying down on the roof of the 7/11. His expression was that of a very nervous one.

“I definitely need help for this job.”, said Mabatsekker in a very stressed tone.

He then stood up and leaped towards the next building, heading home. The rescue workers handled their own tasks cleaning up the crash site, doing their own part of heroics.

Helsinki Pier, Cargo Ship Zoliphian

“You know, you were really lucky those cops didn’t follow us here. More importantly, that blue freak from few nights back didn’t trail you either. From now on, no more daylight jobs, or it’s the treatment for you.”, a leather-clad figure scolded two men, the other dressed in black overalls and the other in a pair of jeans and a tank top.

“Now, let’s see if the loot was even worth the whole hassle, shall we?”

“Allright, Eugen”, said the overall-clad man.

The leather-clad man quickly turned towards the speaker. “I told you not to call me that, idiot! It’s Count Nordendorf, if you need to adress me!”

“Sorry boss…”

Next morning, The Christian pad. 08:00

(“Thank god for evening shifts.”), thought Maxim as he opened his eyes as the alarm went off. (“Still three hours… maybe I should just sleep some more… Shouldn’t spend all the night watching cartoons and fantasizing… What a dream it was…”) He then felt something wasn’t right. His matress leant strongly to the right. He turned his head right and wouldn’t believe his eyes.

“Good morning!”, went a figure next to him. Well, he wouldn’t believe it, since it JUST happened to have female form, blue hair, the ears and tail of a cat… But he just had to, since SHE WAS RIGHT THERE!

“Oh shazbot. I reallyreallyreally should cut down on Pepsi Max. And those late night lattes. And those pizzas. Definately no more pizza.”, went Maxim with a VERY surprised look on his face.

“You know, I’m not a Shazbot. I’m a bio-engineered anthromorphic feline type newman. And I still lack a name, y’know. Seeing you freed my conscience from those test tubes and all… Oh, and mind shutting your mouth? I think drooling isn’t a particularly heroic feat…”

[i]Well, the night before the whole incident, I was really bent towards the fact that I needed to have someone to trust my secret to, someone to take care of, and someone to work with for our common goal. Idiotic determination, caffeine-induced late wake hours and a whole lot of catgirl-themed anime tend to do some serious damage to your powers that alter reality. Well, it was a dream and it was a dream. A person called Wilfredo Martinez once explained to me, that if two people share the same dream, they’ll meet in a quasi-real plane. Well, I happened to stumble upon the dream of a conscience kept in a glass tube in an illegal “anthromorph” lab in another plane of existense. Then, some overnight hours and some very funky thoughts later, I sprung a catgirl into being with a few thoughts.

Since she had the very looks of a few sketches of mine, I took the liberty of naming her Kat-Chi Sareas. YEah, very non-dramatic for a newborn to be named, but hey, I’d make one poor real parent, alright?

At the very least I’ll have a VERY good explanation for my parents why I haven’t called them for a few months… eh?[/i]

And that’s the end of chapter two. “That” group indeed, just might be seen in a future episode near you :> Hopefully, my fetish doesn’t scare away any of the few ones that actually read this… >_>;

Edit “Who is this masked man? A victim of an attempted mugging managed to catch this photo on her cellphone’s camera!”

5

Very good…I the comedy works well, the cynical narrator is cool too.

6

Good job so far Mabatsekker.

7

Good fic, Mabat.

8

The first team-ups… and incidentally, pretty much all of my team-ups… have been with the RPGC Do-Gooder Forces. No kidding. Now, fighting with a catgirl who’s made out of your very own imagination is easy, since she’s pretty same as you, thinks like you and acts accordingly, but when you get a completely independent lunatic magical half-dragon half-equine on your territory hunting for rogue magic users, something’s bound to go wrong. Not to mention a few horseshoe prints on your face. Yeah, I’m talking about the time I encountered Tenchimaru Draconis. Some of you might recognize him as Agent RPG - Dragon, but that name’s another story.

===
Chapter 3.

A peaceful Saturday morning. 8:30. The Christian Pad. The living room’s TV is blasting cartoons as two figures are mooning over the coffee maker.

“This is all your fault.”, said the female figure antagonizingly.

“Hey, seeing you’re just an overly real figment of my imagination and sick preferences, I find it pretty NORMAL for you to have intense cravings for coffee in the morning.”, said the male figure, turning over to the cupboard to pick up two mugs. “But what I don’t find so normal is the fact you don’t need … you know, anything else when it comes to nutrition.”, the man shrugged.

“Seeing the fact your mind is taking care of MY matter business, it’s fine.”, replied the female.

The man poured two cups of coffee, then added milk to both, serving the other cup to the female on the other side of the table.

“Well, it’s completely healthy to be talking with the voice in my head, materialized in front of me, instead of causing me to talk to myself during the time you decide to have a ‘downtime’.”, the male said, taking a long, gulp, savoring the contents of the mug.

“Kind of makes me thankful you didn’t have a lolita nurse complex, mr. Christian.”, the female stung in a sarcastic tone.

“Oh hush, Kat. Now, since I have the weekend off, we could go out a bit, take a walk in the park and stuff, although we’ll probably be stopped by those pesky Otakus again.”, Maxim suggested.

“Don’t remind me of those people… ‘Hey nee-san, your tail and ears look so real, did you make them yourself?’”, Kat-Chi imitated in a squeaky fangirl voice, and then stopped to take a swig.

“Well, not to be rude, but they kinda go nicely as ‘accessorizing’, eh?”, Maxim smiled.

“Whatever floats your boat, hero.”, the catgirl replied and lied down on the sofa, slowly falling into a trance over the cartoon broadcast.

“I know you know. Be right back, showertime.”

“Be your own guest, dude.”, the catgirl waved him away and continued watching some more cartoons.

Meanwhile, in Tähtitornimäki Park…

“ICE THE BEAST QUICKLY, OR IT’LL RUIN EVERYTHING!”, a loud voice shouted. Two other voices chanted with hearts of cold and ice, bringing a stop to the beautiful morning, blotting the sun with grey clouds, and raising a chilling wind.

Massive glacial spikes punctured the green lawn, as an equine figure engulfed in light galloped forth, towards the three figures with eyes of fire…

TO be continued in a jiffy!

“Knowing is half the battle! Yeah!”

And we now return to our previously scheduled program…

“So, what should I wear, shorts and a t-shirt? It’s pretty blazing hot out there…”, Maxim mumbled as he shifted through the wardrobe.

“Oh shoot, you might wanna grab a sweater, along with the other outfit…”, Kat suddenly blurted.

“Huh?”

“A freezing hailstorm, in the middle of July. Centered around Tähtitorninmäki. They’ve got some serious TV coverage - all the channels!”

“Aww… there goes my peaceful Saturday morning…”, commented Mabatsekker.

“Give me my source back!”, demanded the purple-haired man as he launched a series of flaming spheres towards his attackers.

“You didn’t say please…”, sneered one of the three assailants, as he raised a wall of ice to block said spheres.

The purple-haired one’s eyes widened a bit and then he kneeled down a bit - it seemed like the fight was tiring him out quite a bit. The snowstorm didn’t help either, for his inner flame seemed to grow weaker by the moment.

“Now! Finish him off!”, another attacker shouted, and began collecting a sphere of his own along with his two compatriots.

“Verdammt!”, Spasmed the purple-haired one, raising his arms in front of him and preparing for the worst…

“What a lousy summerweather…”, Kat-Chi commented on the heavy winds. She then proceeded to leap off a building’s edge to a small flight as her build was light - and her coat’s aerodynamics allowed her to glide a bit along the wind streams.

“You shoulda seen the time some old hag from Pohjola summoned a giant frog to pester some dudes who were after the Sampo.”, Mabatsekker remembered as he kept on leaping and bounding on the same route as Kat-Chi.

“It rained gold that night, right?”

“Uh-huh, but not literally. Just… figuratively.”

“Speaking of which, how should I approach this fight? We seem to have ice magic and pyrotechnics, and no real idea who the bad guys are.”, Kat-Chi wondered.

“You have a good grasp on elemental basics, so you should focus on preventing any unnecessary collateral damage if the need arises. Also, let’s try that photo trick again, we could catch them off-guard again like last time.”, Maba suggested.

As the two approached the park, the streets were getting whiter and whiter as the storm’s eye was ever closer…

**

“There are several ways a Blue Mage can learn his arts. There’s one I particularly dislike - Get hit in the face with said spell. Tends to happen almost TOO frequently, but hey, the art demands it… I do so prefer to see how the spell works before it’s lights out…”

(“Damn, those moeders sure know how to exploit my weakness…”), thought the purple-haired man. The shoulders of his cape were frozen and he was starting to shiver from pure exhaustion.

“Halt!”, went a voice behind him, landing in a blast of snow.

“Nani!?”, went the purple-haired man and in a flash, had positioned his arms down on the ground and then jettisoned his feet towards his attacker…

“THRUST KICK!”

Mabatsekker got hit at full force of the donkey kick, and was sent flying at a high angle into a mound of snow. (“This feeling…”), he spasmed, and laid down a bit, trying to recover from the sudden strike.

“Hey, that wasn’t too nice!”, went a female voice right next to the purple-haired one.

“Whoa, whoa, I thought you were the Hile Mages! Don’t you kids freak me out like that!”, went the purple-haired mage.

“Well, we certainly don’t like people turning our parks into popsicles or kicking our boyfriends in the face, so start explaining, buster.”, went Kat-Chi, as he helped Maba off the mound of soft snow.

“I am very sorry. I’m here on an official mission from spasms YOUR MOM! … Er, excuse me, the ArPeeGeeCee faction of magic control. These … stormbringers stole a valuable trinket from me which fuels my mystical powers. One might say I’m not whole without it.”, the purple-haired man explained.

Mabatsekker stood up, wiping some snow off his wrists. He then pointed himself with his thumb. “Well, I’m Mabatsekker, and this is Kat-Chi, we’re your local super-powered duo of goodwill and deeds. Who are you?”

“I am Rhaka of the Vermillion Flame, Dragon-level RPG Agent… Tenchimaru Draconis is what you can call me…”, TD the introduced himself with a bow and a twist of his bright red cape.

“So, Tee-Dee, could we lend you a hand in dispatching these frostbringers? The ice is not a nice sight in the middle of the summer…”, Mabatsekker asked, and was soon knocked aside by Kat-Chi. “HEADS UP!”, went the catgirl as a huge ball of snow flew a few centimeters above their heads.

“Oh Rhaka, I knew you pick your company wrong, seeing we got your source and all, but these kids?”, went a cold voice from the direction of the snowball. Three cloaked figures stood in line, each handling a vortex of snow spinning around in the palms. Mabatsekker and Kat-Chi nodded to eachother as they stood up, watching their offenders close in.

“Oi. That’s the punk who frequents the news quite often these days.”, went the tall cloaked figure to the left. “He could provide to be quite a meddlesome pest if he were to join Rhaka.”, went the short figure to the right. “Alright then, I’ve always wanted an iced pony statue!”, the cloaked figure in the middle proclaimed and begain to move his arms around as if trying to cast a spell.

Mabatsekker pushed Tenchimaru aside from his way, then nodded to Kat-Chi. The catgirl reacted instanteniously and unleashed a massive wave of light from her bracelets, followed by Mabatsekker opening his eyes, emitting a searing light. LIGHTNING FLASH!, went the chanting.

Stunned by the full force of the bright light emitted by the spell cast, the three rubbed their eyes as they were blinded by the sudden attack. Tenchimaru realized what had happened and proceeded to suckerpunching the short mage with a flaming uppercut.

“What the… I can’t see!”, went the middle figure, fizzling the vortexes on his hands as his focus was lost.

“Man, you’re bright! And now, lights out!”, went Mabatsekker, socking the tall ice mage and then remembering the fuzzy feeling he had a minute ago, placed himself in a kneeling handstand, launching his feet towards the middle figure…

“THRUST KICK!”, went the subconcious shout as the ice mage was launched high in the air, landing headfirst, going limp on a smaller mound of snow.

“Ouch… That’s two snowmen today.”, commented Kat-Chi.

The purple-haired Tenchimaru wasted no time, and landed knee-first on the ice mage’s stomach, grabbing a pin off his neck.

“No, not that…”, went the mage.

“It’s mine, and you know it.”, went TD.

“But it was supposed to bind usss… here… foreverrr…”, the mage began to hiss. His friends had already been reduced to snowman-like statues of their likeness.

“Whoa, that’s four…”, commented the catgirl, albeit a bit silently.

“Go back to spasm JE MOEDER! argh Nordendorf, and tell him not to try pulling stunts again, or I’ll redecorate his behind with horseshoe prints!”, threatened TD and then proceeded to drawing a few seals in the air. “DISPEL!”, the spell was cast and the last of the mages faded back into a snowman. The storm was quietly dying away, and the sun shone again.

“I hope we can meet again someday, Mr. Vermillion.”, Mabatsekker thanked the purple-haired hero.

“Oh, I believe you’ll be perfect. WE’LL call you very soon, mr. Mabatsekker.”, the man replied. “You seem to have what it takes to be a hero. To make fast, precisive Spasms COCKTHIRSTY! ahem …decisions… If you have what it takes to make the ultimate one, you’re sure to be one of us. Us of the Righteous league…”

Mabatsekker and Kat-Chi watched as the purple hair turned into a purple mane, and the rest of his body into pony-like form. The two were flabbergasted and left standing there with their mouths open, as the flaming equine figure rode towards the south, leading the way for a new day…

“It was revealed later that the Världätare organization had connections to smaller occult groups that handled their magical needs, from curses to summonings and to artifacts, such as TD’s pin, that kept his powers balanced. That very same power balancer would have made those three ice magicians, summoned from Pohjola, into very real permanent apparitions.”

“Tenchimaru was the first of many other personas from the Righteous League… He was but an appetizer of greater things to come… As I later noticed, I would find my abilities that of a team player’s… but those stories are better left to be told later.”

9

(Chapter three complete, Chap 4 teaser time.)

Chapter 4:

Sparks flew as the dark-haired man stepped forward. The sphere behind him closed, and the man was left scoping the surroundings. (“Where am I? Where are you?”), thought the man to himself. (“I should have known it’s night over here already, but what is she doing here all by herself? It’s dangerous to be in a foreign place alone!”)

The full moon reflected nicely on the sea bay. “This is a cat’s life!”, thought the girl as she laid on sand, nibbling on a tuna sandwich. Little did she know about the shady man about to give her the surprise of her life…

DUNN DUNN DUNN…*

10

More of these RPGCers started popping up like mushrooms. Although there’s quite something I really can’t put my finger on with them appearing OVER HERE when they live somewhere considerably warmer. Must’ve been my natural charm. Or bad luck. Hmmph.

===
Chapter 4:

“Excuse me, miss…”, asked a tall, dark, slightly older-looking man as he knocked the catgirl’s shoulder.

“AAAAHH! RAPE!”, went the catgirl and proceeded to keel over onto the small sand castle she had constructed, and then pounced backwards into a defensive position.

“Um, hi?”

“HABEEB!”

“You don’t speak english?”

“Um, actually, I do. You just scared the tonsils out of me. This beach is usually filled with youths partying their livers out, but now that the super-powered villains are slowly grasping the city into their claws, no-one really dares to go outside… but I’m a weirdo anyway…”, the catgirl explained. She looked at the man’s features a bit and deduced: “Spanish?”

“No, no. Puerto Rico. Oh! Almost forgot. The name’s Wilfredo Martinez, travelling mage extraordinaire at your service.”, introduced the man with a flourish of his cape.

“Um, I’m Kat-Chi, … um, I’m a cosplayer, nice to meet you?”, went the catgirl while trying to make it seem like her ears weren’t real.

“Now like I was about to ask, you wouldn’t happen to have seen a girl this tall, around 14, wears a cape like this and casts elementary magic? She’s my niece, and we got separated on our way travelling here.”

===

“Ah. Freedom. Not a single soul in the house. Just me, three liters of pepsi max and 26 episodes of Hyper Police.”

Sound of fireworks from nearby interrupt the uncorking of the first bottle

“It’s friggin’ August, people. You can’t be serious.”

Fireworks seem to intensify, along with police sirens slowly starting to howl

“Ugh,” went the youngster and got up from his sofa. “And I’m not even getting paid for this.”

===

“Alright girl, just drop the roman candle and come down… SLOWLY! SLOWLY!”, went a police officer next to a lamp post.

A girl wearing a black cape was standing at the edge of the post, seemingly floating in the air.

“… Levitation”, she muttered and raised herself higher in the air, grabbing a ladder on the way and hoisting herself up on a nearby roof. She then stopped to close her eyes and snapped her fingers. The seemingly magical winds around her ceased and she was standing there by her own power.

She then looked down upon the squad cars, smiled and then started looking over the landscape. “Uncle, where are you?”, she asked herself, and started collecting energy in her hands. She then aimed upwards and let loose a ball of bright light that exploded in a “DAZZLE!”

“Kiva temppu.”, commented a raspy voice behind her accompanied by a few claps.

The girl yelped and looked at the direction of the voice. “Speak English?”

The voice came closer, revealing a dark-clad man with black glasses and his face covered by a black rag. “Yeah. You’re a loud party animal, foreigner. You gonna quit disturbing the neighbourhood, or do I have to put you down?”, the man replied, cracking his seemingly metallic knuckles.

The girl’s eyes suddenly widened and she backed a few steps, while the dark-clad man approached, his feet suddenly emitting fog. Within a second, the man was RIGHT in front of the girl. She yelped and stumbled backwards, right off the building…

===

(“Who the…?”), Mabatsekker wondered from a nearby kiosk, and upon noticing the falling figure, (“That’s not high, but!”) he gave the ground the hardest dynamite jump he could muster from his feet, heading straight for the falling figure.

Just a few inches away, the falling girl seemingly slowed down, with an incantation of “Levitation!”, leaving the blue-haired hero to fall down and smash his head on the concrete. (“Ow.”), went the hero while on the ground. The slowly falling girl suddenly yelped and seemed to be affected by gravity again, falling at full speed.

Mabatsekker somersaulted back to a standing position - Only to get the girl fall on himself. (“Double Ow.”)

The girl stumbled back on her feet, but seemed to have hurt her leg on the falling process, thus limping a bit and lowering herself to a sitting position.

“You okay?”, asked the Blue-haired hero, while dusting himself off.

“I think I hurt my kn…whoa!”, started the girl, but was grabbed by Mabatsekker, who boost-jumped to another building’s roof in a single bound.

===
Damn, was I good at making fantastic leaps. It sorta became my second nature to deliver massive damage flying kicks while making dynamic entries, but the prospects of travelling…"

===

Kat-Chi yawned and kept staring at the caped man whose arms were bristling with a quiet glow. He seemed to look for something… as if it were in the air.

Wilfredo’s eyebrows twitched as he scanned the area with the palms of his hands. ((“The only information spell I know is a newbie’s detect magic spell…”)), he cursed himself and almost gave up, when a signal flared up his spine. Kat seemed to notice, and her ears perked up.

“Got it! There are… three? No, two magical patterns somewhere in the north!”, Wilfredo pointed.

“Great, that’s where I li… er, we’re likely to find some help over there, we could ask Mabatsekker to aid us, he’s a superhero!”, Kat-Chi almost blurted. “He’ll definately help us to find your niece!”

“Mabatsekker eh? So that’s the second pattern! I’ll have a chance to meet up with him too!”, Wilfredo deduced and started sprinting towards the direction of the signs with the catgirl. (“But the patterns were of similar strenght… is he as weak as Nelimar, yet saved Tenchimaru’s life? Nevermind that, we can always train him too…”), thought Wildredo to himself. And this … cosplayer wasn’t exactly normal for someone with ears, tail and claws…

===

“So you’re Mabatsekker, right? I heard Uncle telling about this Finnish superhero fighting enemies of the Righteous Protectors alongside the legendary TD…”, the girl asked.

“Yeah, and you were… Nelimar, right? Your knee just has a small scrape, nothing a short time of healing couldn’t handle.”, replied the hero.

Nelimar gave the scrape a little tap and picked herself up. “Thanks.”

Mabatsekker scratched her “Say, mind telling me why the big show? You kinda scared the superstitious cops a bit.”

Nelimar looked down to her hands and started explaining.

“I was practicing magic with my Uncle Wilfredo back in home when my parents weren’t looking. I have a good grasp on the small stuff like levitation, telekinesis and magical lights. Uncle decided to show me some exotic location since I was getting better. Something went wrong and we got separated when the spell finished.”

“How’d you know he isn’t in another dimension or something?”, Mabat interrupted.

“Oh, I can detect magic too, and your signal must be what I caught. I figured out Uncle Wil would know what kinds of light shows I could do, so I tried to catch his attention.”

“Guess you got the local authorities after you, then. Good thing I did show up when I did. Say, can you tell me anything about the dude on the roof?”, Mabatsekker asked.

“He has the same aura as you, but he’s reeeeally fast! His feet smell like a cigarette. My magical strenght, or mana, ran out when you came for my rescue!”

“So that’s why you suddenly fell down. My powers usually kick in to absorb, imitate a power whenever I’m in contact or witness it being used. Guess ‘real’ magic isn’t for me.”, Mabatsekker sighed and looked at his hands.

“Aw, don’t look so blue.”, Nelimar cheered.

Mabatsekker smiled smugly. “Har har, blue. Can’t do away with that, see?”, he pointed at his hair and his costume. “Aaanyway, we should probably go looking for your uncle. It may not seem like so, but it’s actually 03:00am over here.”

Nelimar couldn’t believe her eyes. “WHAT? It’s too bright!”

“It doesn’t get dark in here during the summer, y’know. Land of the midnight sun and all that.”, the blue-haired hero explained.

“Wow, I didn’t know that myself,” a raspy voice was heard from behind the two…

Mabatsekker sniffed the air. (“Cigarettes, huh?”), and turned around.

He was looking at a red-haired copy of himself with smoking legs. “Who the hel… ((“Doh, minors.”)) heck are you?”

“Why, I’m you. And you’re me. But you have an inferiority complex. So I have a superiority complex. And I want to be you, so you can’t be me.”

The red-haired man’s legs were literally billowing smoke, soon covering the whole rooftop…

WHO IS THIS RED-HAIRED FREAK? DOES HE HAVE POOR FOOT HYGIENE OR ARE HIS LEGS ON FIRE? WILL WILFREDO FIND HER NIECE? WILL NELIMAR FIND HER UNCLE? WILL MABATSEKKER FINALLY GET TO WATCH SOME HYPER POLICE? STAY TUNED FOR THE SHOCKING CONCLUSION TOMORROW! SAME MABA TIME, SAME MABA CHANNEL?

**THIS IS JUST IN, SECURITY CAMERAS CAUGHT THE RED-HAIRED MAN ON TAPE…

11

Loved the two intro paragraphs. Good job.

Nitpicking:1st post, 3rd paragraph after the intro: “The thugs had no idea where the voice was coming from”

12

===
[i]“I think I’m beginning to see similarities in between me and him: His feet smoke from anticipation and excitement. Mine don’t smoke because I let all the power burst out in a single leap.”

“He needs to unleash his pent up power in … a flash. You guys know the surprise and damage potential of a sucker punch? Well, imagine a constant stream of them just pounding into your face.”[/i]

The red-haired punk raised his hands in the air and before either Mabatsekker or Nelimar could blink, he suddenly disappeared from plain sight.
The smoke from his feet had dissipated and was constantly zig-zagging on the floor.

Mabatsekker couldn’t even yelp when he was punched in the stomach. But he wasn’t even given a chance to reel, when a pair of uppercuts slammed him in the jaw.

The blurring outline then unloaded a series of punches which left Mabatsekker very, very much covered in bruises. Mabatsekker, for the first real time on his career, went down for the count.

Before Nelimar could even go to the hero, the red-haired assailant was already grasping her by the throat, not even giving her a chance to gasp.

“THIS TIME, I’LL MAKE SURE YOUR GUTS WILL DECORATE THE PHONELINES IN TWO SECONDS!”, he screamed out in an insane fashion that would’ve made even Lordi cringe.

If the red-haired Mabatsekker didn’t have that cowl over his face, you almost could see him in an insane, mind-breaking smile…

“HOLD IT! SLOW!”

“Huuuuuuu~hhhh?” Went the red-haired punk, and slowly, but surely, dropped the girl down. She coughed up a bit and scurried towards the voice.

“Who are you and what do you want with my niece, you villain?”, asked Wilfredo Martinez, emerging from the shadows. Kat-Chi quickly went to check upon Mabat, who, quite literally, was seeing stars from his prone state. “Did someone catch the license plates on those 984 trucks?”

“Oh, you… Righteous… people always …want it like this. pause …Explanations. …Questions. All… right… I won’t even need your niece, now that you’re here.”, the villain suddenly upped the tempo on his voice and zipped towards Wilfredo, who was quite shocked.

“SLOWONLYHALVESMYSPEEDYOUMORONNOWI’VEGOTYOU!”, was heard just before he was about to strike Wil down. To the surprise of all, Mabatsekker was there to catch the punch.

===
[i]I was forced to do a bluff and something I never did before at the same time. I could borrow real powers too, but those gave me almost untolerable strain right away. My talents are made to “cook” magical and metaphysical streams of energy into reality as I look into their “recipes” as they are performed. Imitating powers based directly on the physiology of a being are not meant for the Blue Mage.

I could imitate a stream of bursts that emerged from my hands easily, like Matra Magic or Ki Blasts like that Zankuu Tenma Hado, just because I can cast those repeatedly but not a skill that would rely on being naturally super-fast.[/i]

“You know, if you’re me, you should know my talent is to ‘borrow’ certain elements of other ‘talents’.”, Mabatsekker calmly stated, as he caught blow after blow his enemy was raining on him. Block after block, duck after jump and turn after defensive pose.

Wilfredo suddenly “STOP!”'d the melee, grinding the red corner’s assault to a complete stop. (“WHEW! I could only do that for a few seconds longer!”), thought Mabatsekker as his hands were getting red hot from the constant stream of blocking.

Wilfredo gave the man his most stern look and asked: “WHO ARE YOU, AND WHO DO YOU WORK FOR!?” Mabatsekker and Kat-Chi froze at this, even Nelimar hadn’t seen his uncle be this serious.

Apparently, even a stop spell didn’t fully hold him, as he still had a little life in his movements. “Hah. I am… a World Eaters Code #2 Replicant Forces Agent Xi. Or Embarstekka. My official business here is to eliminate a major threat to our organization, namely, Wilfredo Martinez, and this location here was the perfect spot to perform the deed, as the UN or the Righteous protectors have no real influence nor motives to actively survey the area- Even the newbie hero is alone in his task in this secluded location,” finished the villain.

Everyone was dumbfounded at the amount of information extorted with so little if no force. Mabatsekker could feel slight familiarity with the honesty his red clone had shown.

“But, time’s a-wasting. And so, is your time in this world, MARTINEZ!”, the red clone suddenly bursted out of the spell, ready for the four kills.

A quick chop to his sides were all Mabatsekker needed to stun him, and …

“Thank you for teaching me yet another piece of my own mind. But I’ll show you what I REALLY learned today!”, said Mabatsekker and lifted his foot about 180 degrees straight in the air, and bringing it down in a frenzy of kicking. Vicious kicks to the torso and the sides were followed by a massive roundhouse version of the Thrust Kick, (Now named Torpedo Kick after a lawsuit by a Capsule Computers company and a mysterious pig-tailed girl in a green leotard.) sending the red-haired assailant flying in the air. He then fell to the ground, slamming down in a puff of smoke.

Mabatsekker then collapsed from the strain. “Whoa, easy there!”, he heard before drifting to unconsciousness.

*** Somewhere over the baltic seas, a stealth helicopter was heading towards an undisclosed location.

“BUT SIR! We spent several months of our precious time to train him to the extent of skills he showed us in today’s mission! Putting him in a capsule only resets the whole learning process!”

“I do not care. Martinez is not dead. The Blue one is growing in strenght. The proof is shown clearly, even if we traded the bursting power he has in his feet into a continuous stream in the form of superspeed, he still failed! He even blurted out the name of our organization. I want him out of here.”

“Sir, we spent massive amounts of resources to get him to even this point! And we pretty much pioneered the first major steps to teleportation magic distruption and redirection! Are you willing to throw away all that!?”

“Not entirely. I propose that we take the subject, re-program him and send him to a recon mission, perhaps even for a recruitment mission to Rogue Isles…”

“Rogue Isles, sir? You mean…?”

“Yes. The City of Villains. A perfect opportunity to perhaps even seize ourselves a side business alongside the Arachnos. Now, send him to Canada. Make him do a moderate meta-human crime. Nothing major. I hear the Arachnos are planning a prison riot to occur in this one Albertan penitentiary…”

Kat-Chi finished surveying the area where Embarstekka fell. Nothing was left except a small man-shaped soot mark, apparently from the smoke. Making sure the coast was clear, she unleashed her feline claws and began to climb back to the balcony where everyone else was standing on. Mabatsekker had his body clear up from the strain his new-found ability gave him.

“Something went gravely wrong with my Teleport spell. We were supposed to go on a small afternoon tourist trip to some exotic location with Nelimar here, who finally mastered the basic magics any student of the art should know!”, Wilfredo proudly announced while patting Nelimar’s head. “But we did find an exotic location, look!”, Nelimar excitedly pointed at the sky. “Look, it’s 03:00am, and it’s still bright!”

“The land of the midnight sun, yep.”, Mabatsekker reminded. “Speaking of teleportation, something did go wrong? I mean, I found her pestering the local police force with her fireworks shortly before encountering Red.”

“Nelimar. Dazzle is meant for blinding the enemy and not an independence day firecracker!”, Wilfredo suddenly took a turn for the serious.

“But…!”

“No buts! You got yourself in trouble with the local law enforcement. I’m afraid I’m going to have to… come back here some other time, when the commotion has quieted down a bit!”, Wilfredo eased up. Nelimar jumped up in joy. “Besides, it’s about time our “bicycling trip” we told your parents about it going to end…”, Wilfredo ended with a yawn.

(“Oh yeah, it’s night over here… no wonder he’s a bit tired.”), Maba noticed.

“But, to answer your question: Yes, something did go wrong with my teleportation field. And I happen to be quite a wizard, if you’ll pardon the pun, in teleportation.”

“I see.”

“You’ve been a real help, young man.”

(“I’m 21, gramps!!”), Mabatsekker frowned.

We’ll be sure to inform you if we find out anything about these… World Eaters. Oh, and you can drop the cosplayer or whatever illusion she is, she isn’t real, isn’t she?", Martinez commented.

“You knew?”, Kat-Chi asked.

“I know an illusion conjuration of a lonely guy when I see one, Mabatsekker.”

“…”, both went.

poof, went the catgirl.

poof, went the hero, now in his civvies.

“Maxim Christian. Art department of the local newspaper. Not a reporter. That’d be too cheesy,” the young man joked, and offered his right hand.

“Wilfredo Martinez, dimensional traveller and a Righteous Protector of Gallant Causes,” the Puerto Rican man replied, and took on the offer to shake hands.

“We’ll give you a formal invitation later on. Be sure to keep your eyes open for those World Eaters, Maxim.”

“And you watch that little firecracker apprentice of yours”, Maxim pointed at Nelimar, who blushed.

Both men laughed while Nel was left to explain herself.

“Seeya!”, the three shouted in unison and waved, as the teleportation portal shut down.

Maxim smiled and flashed white and blue, revealing the form of the spikey-haired blue mage superhero, Mabatsekker, once more.

Mabatsekker took a running start and began traversing the low-level roof-topped cityscape towards his apartment, leaping in joy as he had met yet another one of the famous do-gooders in the RPGC…

(“This is the life!”), he thought as he sat down to watch some more Hyper Police, but quickly drifted away to unconsciousness, his fatigue taking the best of him.

===
[i]“They say sleep cures all ills. Well, in my imagination anyway, since I rarely had to worry about looking beat-up on work, since my alter ego took the beating.”

“Although this would prove to be a whole different problem when I next bumped into a member of the RPGC…”[/i]