Showdown! The Best of the Best

Chapter Two

How long had it really been since he had fought this hard?

He couldn't really remember precisely, age had done that to him. Certainly more than fifteen years. Granted, he had exerted himself when fighting Syndrome and the Omnidroid, or the Underminer, or during the Screenslaver crisis, but this was on another level. His red outfit was in tatters, the blood oozing dark red splotches into the costume. The bright yellow "i" in the center of his chest had been split right down the middle by an errant shard of stone. A third of his mask on the left side had been torn off.

And Bob Parr, aka Mister Incredible, had no idea where his family was.

Hell, he had barely been in this odd jungle fifteen minutes before he'd been attacked. Mr. Incredible had barely even gotten a good look at the attacker before the earth itself began to swallow him. But, as far as he could tell, it was a child that was causing this. A little girl. Probably no older than thirteen. 

He'd been running through the forest at superhuman speeds when a tendril of rock had grabbed him and hurled him toward the canopy. From there, he had come hurtling back to the earth, landing with a titanic boom that shook the entire jungle around him. Mr. Incredible had barely had time to look at the tiny barefoot girl in the green tunic before she stomped on the ground in challenge.

And then another wave of earth had smacked him fifty feet backward.

As it stood, now, Mister Incredible sat behind a tree trunk, hiding, trying to catch his breath. Never in his career as a world-renowned superhero had he ever once thought that he would be hiding from a tiny, preteen child. His heart was pounding, feeling like it would burrow out of his chest at any moment. The trees around the sight of the impromptu battle were buckled and crushed, creating a large clearing of decimated earth.

"Come on out and fight me!" The tiny girl dared him. "What are you, scared of a little girl?"

"I think I have a right to be scared of a little girl with your powers!" He called back.

She stomped on the ground again, and the earth that seemed to be at her beck and call once again obeyed. Without warning, the dirt beneath Mister Incredible seized, launching him into the air. This time, however, he'd been anticipating it. On his way up, he grabbed onto a tree branch, hoping it would stop his fall. He cursed in frustration as the branch was ripped free of the trunk, failing to stop his flight. He rose another thirty to forty feet before his plummet back to the forest floor began.

Once again, he landed with a thunderclap that leveled the stand of trees in his immediate vicinity and left a crater in the earth. He rose almost immediately, groaning in pain. His suit was in tatters. The tiny earthbending girl was advancing rapidly yet again. Panicked, Mister Incredible searched for something, anything that would give him an edge in this fight.

The branch he had ripped free from the tree on his ascent lay a few yards to his right. Grabbing it, he lifted the massive limb like it was cardboard. His opponent wasn't going to stop. He knew she would probably anticipate his attack, but he had to do something. Otherwise, there was a good chance he wouldn't be walking away from this fight.

"Fighting isn't a good outlet, kid!" Mister Incredible quipped. "Try branching out!"

Sure enough, as he swung, the kid countered. Waving her hands and stomping her feet, a wall of earth appeared to intercept his swing...but it wasn't enough. The branch obliterated the stone shield and careened toward the girl. She tried to recover and create another shield, but it was too late for that. The mighty branch swatted her aside like a fly, sending her spinning into the trees nearby. 

"YES!!" Mister Incredible shouted, dropping the limb.

Realizing he was celebrating smacking a child with a massive tree branch, he dropped the limb and cleared his throat.