Short Story [Caped Style]

[Feather]

This is a short story contest--our first one did not go so well. This is due to a lack of a proper explanation. That will be given here.

Our Definition of Short story , and Valid Entries :

• Less then 2000 words.
  
• COMPLETE. No cliffhangers, we want fully done.
  

Specifics for this contest:

Caped editions? Dracula tales? NO! Superheros.

That's right kiddies, this is about Remoor turned into a fake Gotham, and you must portray a (set of) character(s) (not necessarily your own) as a hero(es}--and another as a villain. Their powers, and abilities can be as dangerous, or laughable as you wish.

The plots will all be the same: Villain commits some atrocious act, and the hero(es) tries to stop them; which is why yours must be specifically entertaining and creative.
-----One can have Hero +sidekick or two, versus villainous side...
------ No you cannot just set the Pravus Organization as the bad guy--be creative.

Note: This is NOT in the pokemon world . . .it is in a sprawling Metropolis.

You have two weeks starting tomorrow) to complete this.


Prizes:
1st- 10,000 in character dollars, a free character slot--and a place in our fanfiction archives (if they are ever created)

[Randy]

Sprout turned to Char and sighed. They were on their way to the city's capital building, hopefully to prevent disaster, but would they? Sprout had his doubts. Zip was way ahead, and behind, all at the same time again.

Meanwhile, at the capital building...Lux was getting impatient. He knew where the heroes were, and that they were on their way, but he wasn't sure about that Sprout character. This made him uneasy. "You'll never get away with this!" Shouted the Mayor, breaking Lux out of his brief revelry.

"But, Mister Reid, I already have!" Lux cried, and pulled out his feather and began to tickle the Mayor."

Somewhere nearby, a few hours before..."Halt! Thief!" Cried a voice from the alley as a Large blue and black Luxray raced away, his paws pelting the pavement, the handbag latched in his jaws. Skye raced around the corner, hot on the heels of the Luxray, that was HER candy bag he had snatched there after all! Skye had paused to give some candy to the baby Magby from her bag, as his ice cream cone had melted, to cheer him up, when the Luxray had grabbed her snack bag by the strap.

Suddenly, the Luxray was almost hit by a truck, and as it swerved to miss him it overturned in the road. The large canisters came loose and fell, splattering their contents all over the road and the Luxray and one innocent passerby--a rather small Turtwig. The rainbow colored goo then spread across the road and touched the toes of two nearby police officers, a Charmander and an Aron. Skye managed to stay free of the ooze, but only just as she nearly fell in headfirst, arms flapping in the wind as she regained her balance. "Uh oh..." she said worriedly, looking at the mess which covered most of the street. She hoped that the Chief wouldn't be able to blame this one on her, this time.

Sprout was very surprised to be suddenly covered in the rainbow ooze, but he adjusted quickly. Being a rather calm and sedate grass-type he did what he did best, and merely absorbed the ooze off of his face. He found himself looking into the eyes of an enraged, and likewise drenched, Luxray! "Hi." He said simply.

"Don't 'hi' me!" Barked the Luxray in a rage. He was feeling rather embarrassed about the whole incident. Especially about being caught.

What transpired over the following few hours is history. Lux, the Luxray, had gained the power to read minds. This, because of his evil bent, was turned to enhance his life of crime in the city. While on the other hand there was Sprout, Char, and Zip. The little Turtwig, Sprout, gained the ability to heal others. Just as his Absorb had once been used the other way, it now healed its target. Also, perhaps because he received the same dosage as Lux, his was the only mind that could not be read by the larger Luxray.

Char and Zip were the two police officer Pokemon who were affected by the ooze afterwords and so only received partial powers from the goo. Char, a Charmander, received unusually great strength. Zip, an Aron, became in truth his nickname's sake as he became faster than the speed of sound. Together this trio became the only force strong, and smart, enough to tackle the new mastermind of evil in the city, Lux. It wasn't long before they had to foil many of the Luxray's plots, until partially out of frustration he seemed to snap. He managed to sneak into city hall and hold Mayor Reid captive. His plan, to keep the Mayor as ransom from the city's citizenry. Sprout, who was not used to this kind of work, was the reluctant hero of several bouts with the awesome criminal mental might of his adversary. And, now the whole city held its collective breath to see if the little trio could outwit and defeat the wiles of Lux before disaster struck!

Sprout's plan of attack was simple, while the other two created a diversion at the front entrance, he would sneak in through the air vents and free the Mayor from the rear. They would have pulled it off without a hitch, except that Lux already knew of the plan. The only thing that led to the famed victory of the trio was the fact that Lux couldn't tell where the little Sprout was or what he was thinking! While the other two kept Lux's evil minions at bay in the front, as they'd planned, Sprout snuck in by the roof instead when he found that the air vents had been closed off by large metal gates.

Sprout took a leap of faith from the beams by the celing, hoping he'd aimed right and landed on Lux's back. Lux was very surprised when the Turtwig landed between himself and the Mayor. Meanwhile, outside, Char and Zip had broken through the barricade and minions and were pounding on the door to the Mayor's spacious office. Sprout, seeing that his jump had gone awry, ran to Mayor Reid and chewed through his ropes.

Thus he was able to free Mayor Reid, and together they were able to subdue the powerful, and infuriated, Luxray! Sprout received a medal of commendation for his bravery and quick thinking. So also did his companions, Char and Zip, for their steadfastness in their duty to protect the city from evil. And, as for Lux, well he got the jail sentence he so richly deserved. After that, our heroes lived happily, if not always peacefully, thereafter in the city of lights, Remooropolis.

Fin.

[Schwimm]

Dastardly Deeds Indeed

[/u]

Note: Extended version of this story can be found here There was just too much Devin to fit properly in 2000 words.

Owwww First thought that goes through my mind. Of course. Every single morning. Ouch.

Shit! Don’t move like that. Why does my shoulder hurt so much? Oh yeah, probably has something to do with how that freak threw me into the wall last night. Shit, shouldn’t have touched it. Of course it’s tender as fuck. Not broken though, that’s a relief.

“I take it you forgot to duck again”

Great, just what I needed. How in the world had that stupid fish gotten into my bedroom. Oh. My bed isn’t leather. I passed out on the couch. Again. No wonder I’m so sore.

“I didn’t see it coming” I shot back, finally rising to my feet with a muffled groan. Ok, so maybe not so muffled. But it hurt.

“Not an excuse”

“Fuck you Giggles” I shot back. I knew the fish hated that name. The neighbor’s girl had given it to him, and somehow, it had stuck. Giggles. Hah. Before his current predicament, he was called Supreme Overlord by hundreds, if not thousands of minions. True, most of them were fish and didn’t have opposable thumbs, but it was the thought that counted. Now Supreme Overlord No. 74 in my book of defeated criminals was languishing in a fishbowl in my living room. Oh how the mighty have fallen. “I didn’t see it coming is a perfect excuse when you’re blind.”

Yep, that’s me. Blind crime-fighting superhero. Not like Daredevil. Never like Daredevil. That guy had it easy. All that echo-location shit? Must have missed that when they were giving out the superpowers. Nope, I got some nifty ones though. Like shooting lightning bolts. Lightning is notoriously inaccurate. In the hands of a blind guy…let’s just say that the electric company CEO personally asked me to stop using that power. I’m trying to limit collateral damage, not blackout half the city. Flying, sounds cool, doesn’t it? Ok, go jump on your bed. You know you want to. You jumping? Now close your eyes. Yeah, you either fell right off or puked. Sounds like what I do when I fly. So flying is out. It was fun when I could do it without spraying my dinner all over the streets. That’s right, I wasn’t always blind. You see, I wasn’t always a superhero either. I used to work for a criminal organization. They dumped me when I got hurt, so I decided to hunt them all down. That’s where the superhero me came into being. I’d finish beating up a member of Pravus (the organization that dumped me) and be walking home when some couple would be getting mugged in an alley, or a store would be getting robbed, or I’d accidentally happen upon an attempted rape. So I guess I’m a magnet for trouble. Now Pravus and I have an ‘understanding’ yet I’m still out there every night fighting crime. Never meant to be such a goody-goody. Not my style. Too much effort. As seen by my condition this morning.

Yes, the start of another day in the life of Devin Maknama, otherwise known as local superhero The Harbringer. What a cheesy name. Again, not my choice.

Where had I gone wrong? I pondered this question through my long walk to work, all the way across the street. That’s right, I’m so lame I work at the bar across the street. Don’t laugh at me. I obviously can’t drive and taxis are annoying. I’m not afraid of getting robbed, so I just rent an apartment by the bar, even though it’s not the best part of town. Nice place, doesn’t leak, hot water is pretty good, all that jazz.

Ok, I’m at work. Didn’t take much time, did it?

“You’re late”

Dammnit! I felt the numbers on my watch. Hitomi, the waitress/hostess/doctor, was right. “Rough night” I replied, trying to act nonchalant, like I had totally meant to be late.

“Some dumb shit stirring up trouble again Dev?” That was one of the Pits regulars. See, the Pits (the bar) customers don’t give a flying fuck that I’m a superhero. They might be the lowest of the low, and probably done quite a few things I could get them in trouble for, but they only care that the beer is cold and has a kick to it. They don’t get caught, I don’t care. I only waste my time on the big fish anyways. The Pits people used to dream of the day they gained a rank that would put them under the Harbringer’s Watch List. But now they are fine with being pond scum, the dregs at the bottom of the barrel, beneath everyone’s notice.

“Yep” I grunted the affirmative as I assumed my station behind the bar. “Same shit as always. Some Ivy League drop out gets tired of living in his mother’s basement and tries to take over the world with a freakin’ huge gadget. Same old story, same old ending, same old mistakes. Why do they make all the doomsday devices come with shut down buttons big enough that even I can see it from a mile away?” Sigh. The stupidity of criminals was really getting to me.

“Still no excuse for being late” Hitomi quipped as she exited from behind the bar. She clapped me on the shoulder as she passed. “I had to cover for you. The third time this week.”

“Sorry about that ‘tomi” I ground out around gritted teeth. “Evil never sleeps, and neither shall I!” I struck a heroic pose, much to the amusement of the customers and the annoyance of Hitomi.

I got to work, refilling drinks, taking orders, flirting with a girl or three, annoying Hitomi, listening to gossip, the usual. Pretty soon the evening rush was over, leaving just me, Hitomi, and the really hard-core regulars.

“Hey D!” I turned my head to the sound of Anvil, one of the Pits most frequent customers-named after the shape of his head, not any nifty super powers of course. Anvil continued “All those bad guys keep makin’ the same mistakes, don’t they?”

I shook my head sadly “Yes, it seems like the quality of villainy has fallen faster than the stock market ever since Pravus left. Hell, I was a better villain back in the day” I said mockingly.

“Then why not just show them how it’s done?” Hitomi grumbled as she bustled by with a tray full of drinks. “You keep griping about poor super-villains, why not just do it yourself?”

…

“Hitomi you’re a genius!” I cried out, sweeping the startled waitress into a low ballroom dance dip and laying a kiss on her startled cheek. “That’s exactly what I’ll do!”

“I’ll take over this city, keep all those nasties too scared to peek out of their little bolt holes” I mused, ignoring the shouts of agreement and ideas from the Pits patrons. The Pits patrons were obviously behind me all the way. They’d make a lovely group of loyal minions. As for Hitomi…I was suddenly reminded that I was still holding Hitomi perilously close to the floor in a dip. She was smacking me-but lightly, she obviously didn’t want me to drop her.

I set Hitomi back on her feet and gave an impish grin “Would you be my Evil Over-lady Secretary Miss Hitomi?”

She seemed to think for a second, then answered “Someone has to keep you out of trouble. And patch you up when mean nasty coffee table bites your leg.”

“It was only that once and it wasn’t my fault that you moved my furniture around without telling me!” I protested. Yes, typical Hitomi, making a joke out of everything-Holy shit! She was actually seriously considering it? Damn, he might actually succeed at this take over the world idea.

I grinned and grabbed a pen and paper. “Here Hitomi, you can start now. We got some planning to do.”

Hitomi grumbled but took the pen and paper. “Ready” she said unnecessarily as she settled on a bar stool.

“Boys, you’re on your own, don’t burn the place down” I said to the remaining Pits patrons. I turned back to Hitomi “Ok, so first, contacts. I’ll need to get in touch with a few of the old baddies…Enigma for one, Giggles is still in my apartment, Alexander, he’s got a good head on his shoulders, Jake and Elien, they do some great work as enforcers,” The list went on, old enemies I put in jail, contacts from my time with Pravus, people I knew were up to no good but could never prove, etc. “Oh-and we should see if the Kreacher is out of the loony bin yet. He might be kind of screwy, but that guy definitely knows more than he lets on. You just gotta read between the lines.”

“You just say that because he’s the only person whose thoughts are more convoluted than yours” Hitomi muttered as she jotted down names.

I just grinned and continued. This was gonna be good.

-----------------------------------------------

“…and that is how it all began. Taking over the city was surprisingly easy. Really, just dress some of those ‘super villains’ in suits and give them a clipboard. The more socially adept ones make great lawyers. The ones who shouldn’t be allowed out in public…well, most of them are happy to just count nuts and bolts until the cows come home. All the paperwork…a very good way to keep people out of trouble. Just to get the materials to design a Doomsday device would take forms from 3 separate departments. Yes, bureaucracy-the modern anti-crime. There were a couple of upstarts in the beginning. I just took them down-just like the old days. Only this time instead of putting them in jail, I put them to work. Capitalism at it's best. Everyone wants the latest biggest TV, the fastest car, the brand-new game system. One of the perks of being blind is that none of that really means anything to me anymore. A bigger TV makes no difference in the quality of the dialogue, I can’t drive a car, video games are pretty tough as well, so that leaves me with a lot of time to figure out how to keep others busy and out of trouble. And I don’t make mistakes. I’ve taken down too many criminals by exploiting a badly hidden weakness, shut down a crime network with a few key eliminations; doomsday devices are only as strong as a single essential gear. Anything I haven’t experienced, Giggles has. He seems to like having me in charge. He gets to order people around and laugh at the little underlings. His new tank has a much better view than that fishbowl in my living room. Although Maiya still makes it past the security guards to draw happy faces on his tank or bring him a pretty bow or glitter…I wonder how she does that? It can’t be because I pay the security guards to take a bathroom break right when Maiya is passing by on her way home from school. Of course not. Giggles secretly likes it after all. He loves that little girl, even if he won’t say it. Hitomi loves her job. She can keep me out of trouble and get that hospital with all the equipment she needs. That’s my kind of girl. Give her a nice big ward full of patients and she’s happier than a cat left home alone with the new family bird. Anyways I digress, you wanted to know the main reason for my success?”

I, Devin Maknama, the Harbringer, supreme leader of this magnificent, cluttered, dirty, corrupt city-the largest consumer of trees and largest producer of paperwork in the world-kneeled down and patted one corpse on the head. “I kill my enemies before I monologue.”

-----------------------------------------------

And so continues the dastardly deeds of the Harbringer, the city's most beloved hero and somewhat despised villain. We'll tell you how despised he is after we finish all the paperwork.

Word Count: 2000 words exactly!

Disclaimer: Maiya, Enigma, Giggles, Alexander, Hitomi and Jake/Elien don't belong to me. They are Phie's, Feather's, Nommy's, Vio's, and Kristie's. I'm just borrowing them to play with =3

[Violet]

Characters Used: Devin (Courtesy of Schwimm), Winston, Hitomi

“I have you now, Hades!”

There was a child-like excitement in his voice as he said the words. Finally, he, Captain Confetti, was going to capture his long-time foe, Hades the Underlord, and, in all hopes, the rest of his cabal, including his pesky Queen, Persephone. He would at last have revenge for his partner!

The man he had thrust his overly brightly colored finger at was sitting atop a dark, worn barstool. As the Underlord, it was rather difficult for him to find something a little more professional, or at least something visually appealing. Not that he cared about either of these aspects in the slightest; it would have just made him feel so much better if they were.

Then again, no one would notice the difference down in these underground pits. The only people they attracted down here were complete scum.

So, today, like many other days, the multi-colored masked man in front of him stood out like a rather large sore thumb in the dark setting.

The man atop the barstool said nothing, as he gave his tiny Doberman puppy a pat on the head to stop the dog from the growling that was beginning to generate from the bottom of its throat.

“What do you have to say for yourself!?” the caped hero demanded, “You’ve harmed many innocent civilians with your nefarious deeds!”

“Such large words for such a small brain, hmm Corporal Cruddy Colors?”

“That’s Captain Confetti!”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. It’s all the same to me. Save the world from the bad guys. When will you learn that I’m just better?”

“I’ve learned plenty… and you are not!”

Hades let out a sigh, and shook his head.

“Then why, pray tell, did you come traipsing down here, where you’re surely going to die?”

There was a small pause as the colorful hero scratched his masked head, and thought about the answer to that. Hades never asked questions with apparent answers, did he?

But that answer was rather apparent.

“Don’t play this game with me, Hades! Many innocent lives have suffered!”

“Those were necessary casualties…”

“Brigands and murders escaped because of you!”

“Everyone needs a witless army. They’re just idiotic enough to be that army…”

“They’re littering the city with their filth!”

“And you’re littering the city with your colorful pieces of paper.”

“My confetti helps the world!”

He would have gone on in what would have been considered quite a large monologue, when he found himself shoved to one side. His eyes shot towards that direction, and found a dark haired woman painstakingly picked up each piece of confetti that she had laid her eyes upon, separating them out into little bags that she held in her free hand.

The colorful captain beamed.

“Organizer Gal! You’re alive!”

The female stopped, her brow furrowing and her eyes giving Captain Confetti the worst glare she could possibly muster.

“The Organization of Avengers thought you for dead by that hag, Persephone!” the masked avenger continued. He had yet to notice that the woman was far from in her usual neatly colored spandex, and had instead opted for a much darker, revealing approach to her attire.

It was obvious that there was leather there, but he was too dense to notice.

“Don’t call me a hag,” was the snapped reply. Captain Confetti gasped.

“I would never!”

Hades chuckled at this, and shook his head. At this, the woman gave him a nasty glare, but he kept right on going. The woman returned her gaze to the colorful offender.

“Don’t call me that. My name’s Persephone now.”

Another gasp came from the colorful captain’s mouth, and he found himself shocked at the knowledge. What!? His own partner… betrayed him!? Why!?

“But… but Organ-“

“Persephone!” she snapped angrily, smacking him straight across the face.

Hades just chuckled some more, and would be gladly watching Captain Confetti if he was not preoccupied with something a little more pressing.

“I am not your stupid little sidekick anymore!” the woman went on, “I am the Queen of the Underworld, Lady of Terror and Bringer of Death!... So on and so forth. I go too much into the monologue and you’ll snap out of idiocy on me…”

She shook her head and snorted angrily, giving the colored man in front of her a kick in the shin. The taller went down, using some rather colorful words to go with his rather colorful outfit, causing Persephone to give a slight cackle of her own, her head whipping back and everything.

“I can’t believe you!” she cried out, as if she had just kicked someone’s puppy, “You preach truth and purity, but you can’t even hold your own temper!”

The man was taken aback, for what seemed like the third or fourth time tonight. He had honestly lost count. What was his dear sidekick speaking of? Peace, truth, and purity were what she dreamed of when he had found her in the alleyway all those years ago! She had truly changed.

His gaze was about to snap towards Hades, but he found that his former companion was standing right in the line of sight.

“Organiz-“

“PERSEPHONE!”

The thundering voice caused him to fly backwards, as he had expected it to. She had done it on so many villains in the past, but he never thought she would use it on him. It hurt more than his head. It hurt deep down, in his heart.

Not that Persephone cared. She could have probably enjoyed watching him writhe in agony as his former companion decided to turn against him. Well, she had decided it quite a long time ago, but it seemed appropriate to come out and tell him now…

Nevermind that he was already down in the Pits, facing off with Hades himself.

“WOMAN!”

It was then that Hades decided to speak, leaping up from his barstool and making his way over. Well, he would make his way over if his sense of hearing was not disoriented and he could actually see.

Instead, he managed to slam into the nearby bar counter, and a string of swears followed shortly after.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?!” he demanded angrily, rubbing his side and glaring in her general direction, or, at least what he thought was her general direction. She snorted grumpily and folded her hands against her chest.

“Not my fault you’ve got super hearing, O’ Blind One,” she responded, acid filling every pore and crack of her words. The slightly taller man seemed to sweep his glare from one end of the room to the other, knowing that at one point or another his gaze would hit the offender.

Persephone’s gaze, however, was, yet again, on the caped offender, who was now stumbling to get up again. A hero, after all, could never give up until their soul was fleeing their body.

The woman snorted angrily, and, out of her back pocket, she pulled a small, dark metal object out and pointed it in her former friend’s direction. He did not have much of a chance to respond before he found himself frozen solid, staring at the other end.

“… Why, Persephone, why?” he asked, the tears flowing down his beet red cheeks. Captain Confetti was unsure whether to be sad or angry at this turn of events. The woman shook her head.

“None of your goddamn business,” she replied with a snap, and she pulled the trigger, the one that had her index finger nestled on top.

Bang.

As the caped avenger fell to the ground, a stream of red fell from his forehead, down with the flow of gravity, until it pooled on the ground below. Persephone just snorted in raw emotion, something she could not describe, and would have it rather left alone.

“I’m not done with you yet!” Hades called out, as if she was not there. Rolling her eyes, the woman turned to face him.

“I hope your cleaning up the mess you just made!” he continued. Of course, he did not need vision to know that she just shot someone.

“I just killed your arch nemesis,” she droned, knowing exactly where this was going.

“My arch nemesis needs intelligence to spoil all those plots I made! None of that was him!”

Persephone let out a groan. Not this conversation again. She shook her head.

“No, no he didn’t. He didn’t have to when he had his little Organizer Gal watching his back. Moment I left, he was toast…”

Hades thought about this a moment. He never even remembered Organizer Gal until she brought herself to him, without any help from her caped friend, and, in a last moment of desperation on her part, screamed at him until he gave her an offer. Well, she was going to scream at him until his ears bled out so much that he just had to die, but Hades did not particularly like death, despite his name. He would have much rather had her by his side, using her powers for evil.

Not that he liked it when she screamed, but she did her job, and she did it well.

“So? You still have to clean that up,” he persisted, gesturing towards where he thought Captain Confetti was standing. The man’s corpse was not that far off, with its crimson red pool of blood making an even bigger mess than any of his confetti escapades.

“Get one of your lackeys to do it.”

And she walked off, not even bothering to take a second glance at the mess she had made. Hades began to swear once more, much more colorful than he had been beforehand.

“Stupid shrieking Harpy making a mess of my bar…”

Moral of the story kiddies? You should shoot the sheriff AND the deputy if you want to get anywhere in the evil overlord business.^^

[Feather]

Welll..this contest has ended.


Vioting will be up shortly.