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Chapter 17 - A New Adversary (And A Kid Who Controls Farts)

I enjoyed the fame, and I could tell my team did, too. Whether they would admit it or not, the three other members of the Cardinal Guard really loved being in the spotlight for once. And then, one day, our team was put to the max when we received sightings of a rogue super. We arrived at the scene where they were last seen and couldn't believe what we saw.

There was a girl with brown hair running around and throwing fire at whatever moved or got in her way. I recognized her as one of Winter's idols: Amanda Bardin, or Gleam. I had looked her up once and she had wicked cool fire powers. Wicked cool fire powers that were sending fireballs up at me and my team.

"Whoa!" Ruby exclaimed, barely dodging one of the balls. "She has some serious temper problems."

I looked closer and saw that her eyes didn't look normal. I scaled down our building and hid from her sight, but close enough to get a better look at her face. Amanda was a good guy. She wasn't supposed to be going on a rampage through downtown Cardinal City.

I caught a glimpse of one of her irises and saw that they were swirling with black and red; exactly how Vine's eyes looked in the Penna kingdom. I gasped and Amanda saw me, throwing a blast of fire my way. I ran out of my hiding place behind the overturned car and kept running until I was out of her sight again.

"Guys," I whispered through the comms. "She's possessed by something. There's no way that she could be doing this voluntarily."

Tristan's voice rang through. "How do you know someone didn't piss her off? Maybe she's not as good as we originally thought."

"No, she's definitely got something in her. Her eyes are black and red, they look the same as Vine's eyes did. They're both good guys but something is taking them over and making them do these things."

There was silence and another explosion boomed on the other end of Main Street. I saw Aer fly out of her hiding place and flap her wings hard to create miniature tornadoes to roll at Amanda.

"You're right, Zoe," Aer called through her speaker. "Her eyes seem to be out of the ordinary." Then, Tristan and Ruby came out to get a better look. They agreed with my statement.

Amanda threw a ball of fire at the two and they scattered, but a nearby store window wasn't so lucky. It shattered into a million pieces and much of the inside was melted. Fortunately, there were no civilians to get hurt.

Tristan distracted Amanda and led her down a street. They were in a goose chase for a couple minutes until Amanda eventually cornered him. She grew fire in her hand and Ruby whistled, catching her attention well enough for Tristan to disappear.

Ruby engaged Amanda in confusing bout of combat until Aer came around and sent more wind her way. At this point, I kind of felt bad for Amanda because she had two powerhouses coming at her at once. I was next in the lineup.

I came out and threw a few warning shots at Gleam. She rounded on me and flung a fireball with a yell. I dodged it and ran in the opposite direction of everyone. Gleam ran after me and kept throwing fire. Dodging fire while running and having the flames be coming at you from behind is incredibly difficult.

Gleam threw a curveball that would have hit me if I didn't crash into the nearest shop window. I did a rolling tuck and somersaulted into a standing position, surrounded by shattered glass and in the middle of a small convenience store.

There was shifting behind me and I spun around with lightning at the ready. I saw a spiky-haired kid peek up from behind the counter. I lowered my hands as he pushed himself up from his crouching position. He was a scrawny thing, probably not any older than sixteen. He was wide eyed and looked like a deer in headlights, but I think that was because he recognized me.

"Y-y-you're-"

"Obsidian Spark, yeah. Congrats on meeting me. Now get to safety before Gleam blows this place out of the ground." I felt a little bad for cutting him off, but I needed to get back to my job. The kid jumped over the counter and stood next to me, hands in a ready position to punch someone.

"Alright, I'm ready," he said confidently. I just stared at him.

"I'm sorry, and you are...?" I raised an eyebrow and the kid turned to me and excitedly shook my hand.

"I thought you'd never ask! I'm Trace and I have superpowers," he kept on shaking my hand and I had to tear my hand from his before he pulled my whole arm off.

"What kind of superpowers you got?" I asked. Gleam sent a fireball into the building across from us, clearly looking for me. This question made Trace freeze up and cough awkwardly.

"Well, uh, it's kinda hard to explain-"

Gleam erupted in flames with a yell and came straight for us. Trace shoved me behind him and he sent out a green gas through his hands. Gleam stopped and gagged, and I almost did too if Trace didn't drag me out of there.

We stumbled out of the store and I looked Trace straight in the eye. "You have the ability to throw farts out of your body?"

Trace went red and looked away. "If you put it that way, it sounds really stupid."

I chuckled and patted him on the back. "Not when you just saved my electric ass. Thanks bud, now let's get going before Gleam comes back."

We both ran back to where the rest of my team was and I introduced Trace. I had to smack Tristan on the arm to keep him from laughing at his power, but otherwise they welcomed him pretty well. It turned out that he was a massive fan of our group.

We sent Trace off with directions of where to find the agency, and then we went back to our battle. It was just in time, too, because Amanda came barreling out of an alleyway with fire blazing.

We ducked and Aer went out to fight her again. I shot a few bolts and Ruby did her best at confusing her. Tristan helped out too with appearing and disappearing to make her fling her fire in different directions and away from us. I hid behind a piece of rubble to catch my breath, and looked up when Amanda growled out of frustration.

I saw Amanda charge up a ball of fire around her and I knew if I didn't do something, my team would be fried like blackened burgers. I leapt out of my spot and sent a few strings of lightning at her. She jolted with electricity and fell to the ground, presumably unconscious.

I started forward but ended up backtracking it. A grey and black smoke erupted from Amanda's fallen body. There was a deep, bellowing chuckle and a form appeared in the sky.

It seemed to be shifting from human to smoke, but I couldn't see a definite appearance. It was mainly a shroud of black smoke with a defined face. He could have been a thousand years old.

"You've gotta be shitting me right now," Ruby muttered. The smoke guy loomed over us, his feet turned into smoky tendrils like a genie.

"You may have won this one, Cardinal Guard," the smoke growled at us, eyes a piercing red. "But next time, you may not be so lucky."

No one said anything as the smoke shot off into the sky with a roaring laugh. And then it was gone. I still stared at where he had been floating, in some kind of a trance, until Ruby spoke up.

"Did anyone else just see that?" She asked, looking around. I nodded and the other two still looked a bit scared.

"W-well," Tristan started off, his voice shaky but then he cleared his throat, starting again. "Well, we should probably get Amanda to Merlin. And then we can talk about this little encounter we just had."