Defender of Corlake City

"BLAZE! BLAZE!"

The crowd cheers like maniacs as Blaze steps out onto the platform, her fiery red hair billowing all around. "Citizens of Corlake," she says, and everybody claps. I smile from the shadows, even though I'm pretty sure no one has ever noticed me. How would they, with Blaze around? "I'm so delighted to be your superheroine." Blaze's voice is sharp and strong, like an aromatic spice.

"Woohoo!" a few people yell, and Blaze holds up a calloused palm.

"I know I might not be good as Waterworks," she admits, and the older people nod slowly. "That's not true!" A teenage boy yells. He blushes. "You're amazing. Blaze."

Blaze winks as she poses. "Well, you know what they say. Amazing and Blazing - that's me." The crowd hollers praise like, "You're my god, Blaze!", "I love your magic!", "Can we take a selfie?", "You're the best!" Blaze just laughs. "Okay, that's enough," she says. "Let me finish my speech, please."

The crowd goes silent as mice - no, dead mice.

"I know I'm young, but age isn't a judge of anything. I hope you all know that. I've saved your city in the past - and now that I've been elected the official superheroine, I'm determined to do better. Thank you." Claps again. I roll my eyes. I wonder who wrote that speech. Maybe...I don't know, me? Why not give the sidekick some credit too?

The sun is starting to set on Corlake City. The orange curtains that fall around Corlake Stadium are beginning to turn brown...

"Blaze!" I yell. Blaze turns around and glares at me. "Betzila, be quiet," she hisses, her voice sharper than ever. Her voice is now like the edges of glass pieces, pointy and uneven. Then she realizes she's still on the mic, and quickly turns it off, her face going red as her hair. "Blaze, it's almost sunset," I whisper. Time to get away from your fans, Ms. Celibrity.Blaze's brilliant green eyes go wide as she realizes what that means. "Goodness," she laughs, switching the mic on. Her voice is like flowing lava now. "It's getting late. I don't want to keep you up when you should be sleeping." The crowd goes aww, happy that their superheroine cares about them so much.

Then - "Firework," a little boy calls out. "Look!" I turn around, my eyes finding a round gray disk floating in the air. "Oh, no," I say.

Even though Blaze and I have a rocky friendship, it is my duty to protect her as her assistant. "Blaze, we should be going," I say. "If they attack you, you're done. It's past sunset."

Blaze gets her powers from the sun. Without it, she's useless.

"Nonsense," Blaze mutters. "I'm a superheroine!"

She snaps her fingers, and a burst of flame erupts from her thumb.

The crowd cheers as the disks get closer. The people rush into their houses just as giant, stomping robots jump from the air. Blaze looks at me, worried. She snaps her fingers again. Nothing happens. Blaze closes her hands into fists and then lets them out again. Again, nothing. I look around, panicked. If Blaze didn't do something quick, the whole city would be in ruins. Blaze groans. "I think I'm melting," she says. I whip my head around, almost breaking my neck to see a pile of lava where Blaze should be. I grab a bottle out of my cloak and fill it with the lava. I can probably repair Blaze in the lab.

I sigh. Corlake City is being attacked, and the superheroine has been turned to liquid. The bots are all over now, crushing houses and snapping towers into two.

There's only one thing I can do.

Defend.

I have aqua in my blood. My mother is related to Waterworks, the previous superhero. Mom is his niece, and she could have become the superheroine of Corlake. But then she married Dad, who was a mofle - an ordinary person. So of course, she was denied the job, and so was I. The enemy, Firework made sure his daughter, Blaze was accepted, and then just for the humiliation, made me serve as her assistant. But now, it was time to unleash my power.

I start running in the direction of Lake Cor. I take a deep breath, jumping into the icy blue water, the cool waves soaking my white and gray uniform. When I emerged, I was in a long black robe and beret. Lake Cor's water was glistening on the clothes, making them shine in the sunset sky. Invisibility Objects. I have water power in my bones, and now that magical water of Lake Cor had touched me, I was unstoppable.

I took off on a run, my black boots treading the ground under me. I jump - into the air - and let myself be carried away by the wind.

I am not pretty like my mother - I have basic brown hair, a squarish nose, a blocky build and am quite short and squat. But right now, I was feeling more powerful than ever.

I took off my beret and threw it at the robots marching through the city, making a trash dump out of the houses. Shadows swirl around them until they are covered by a blackish fog. Unable to see, they spun around and toppled to the floor. I did this to every robot that walks over to me. The rest flee. I look up at the disks. Now element warriors are flying down.

I take off my black cloak, and I immediately fall to the ground. There's Aella, Air Warrior. I put my black cloak on, and fly towards her. She's wearing a breezy light purple dress under her silver armor plate with the wind symbols on it. I noticed her left arm holding a silver hammer. "How's Thor?" I asked. "Blaze sends her regards." Aella pursued her lips. "You mean the coward? Has she sent her minion because she's so scared?"

"I'm not Blaze," I say. "Just her assistant."

Aella grins. "I think we'll have fun, girlie." She swings her hammer to hit me on the head, but I fly past her just as she brings it down. I take off my beret and throw it on her. Aella struggles. She's made of wind, so I can see that the shadow fog is spinning her intestines.

I grab my beret just as it falls off, and push her into Lake Cor. She'll recover, but not for a few days.

Nadia, the water warrior gazes at me warily. She's a relative of Waterworks, too. "You're Delta's daughter, aren't you?" she asks.

I nod. "I can't turn on my own squad," she says, gesturing to the other warriors. "But I won't attack you." She walks over to the lake and takes a seat. Moss, who is the son of an earth elf and nature nymph, uproots a tree with his powers and throws it at me. I duck and narrowly miss it. He does this with a few trees, but I manage to roll them back into Lake Cor. He grunts and whistles. A squirrel with rather sharp buck teeth and a deer with pointy horns come up behind him. I call up a few horses with my magic powers and they quickly chase them away. (Poseidon created horses, remember?) Moss is not ready to accept defeat. Hot fire hits my toes. I jumped away and glance at my feet. Aed, who is Blaze's half-brother, walks up next to Moss. "It is good Blaze didn't come," he said. It's against the rules to use your powers against the family.

I glance at Nadia. She shakes her head. Sorry, she mouths. They're my squad. I sigh. "Fine, I'll do it." I fly into the air with the help of my cloak and throw down the beret on them. I can see them covered in black fog. Nothing happens to Aed - after all, fire is connected to smoke. But Moss's green hair and light brown skin start to go white. His bronze armor plate erupts in fires. Nadia rushes forward, but I shake my head at her. I can feel her glaring at me. I muster all my energy left and push him into Lake Cor. I can see him turning back into his original color before he drowns. Nadia jumps into the lake.

Aed grins at me. He shoots a bit of fire from his fingers at me. I open the bottle containing Blaze and pour it on the spurt of fire. For a minute, there's a hot white light. When I open my eyes, Blaze's body and Aed's body are sprawled across the floor, unconscious. I smile. When two family members duel each other, they pass out. And by pouring a little bit of Blaze on the end of Aed's spell, I got this effect. I hear somebody clapping, and when I turn around, I find a boy looking up at me. He looks college age.

I float to the ground, ripping off my black cloak.

"I'm not Blaze," I say. "Just her assistant."

The boy smiles. "That's good," he says. "I wanted to meet you."

Me? I'm flabbergasted. "I'm not great, or anything," I stammer. "You've never heard of me, probably."

"Now I am," he says. "What's your name?"

"Betzilla Irwin Douglas," I say in one breath. "My mother's related to Waterworks and my father's a clerk. But most people call me Assistant Betty. Well, the people who know me do."

I begin to take off my beret, but he stops me.

He laughs. "I like your beret," he says.

"Really?" I feel my black hat. "It's an Invisibility Object."

"We saw," he smiles. "Defender Beret, of Shadows."

I laugh. "Nice joke," I say. "What's your name?"

"Nicholas Neverby," he says.

"Well, you're very funny, Nick."

"No, really," Nick says. "You saved our city, Beret. I think you deserve to be our superheroine. The official stuff is going on."

"What about Blaze?" I asked.

He smiles. "We're moving her to Sahastra. It's always sunny there."

I laugh too. "But - I'm not good as Blaze, and I'm too young."

"How old are you, anyway?" Nick asks.

"Turning eighteen in two weeks," I say.

Nick shrugs. "We can wait."

"No," I say. "It's okay. I think I know somebody better than me and much more capable."

"Who?" Nick asked.

"Defender Delta, of Rivers and Daughter of Wallworks*. My mother."

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

*Wallworks is about stone. He has stone power and can transform into a statue and make others into stone, break and make walls.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Ivy Sage Penget