Crystal Ch. 09

Thankfully, someone got the bright idea to hose him down and the fire was put out. The damage: third degree burns all over his body, so sensitive that even the air hurt. An ambulance showed up fifteen minutes later and they gently loaded him up and took him to the hospital, where he immediately fell asleep. When he woke, his parents were there as well as most of the individuals at the party.

His crush wasn't there.

However, Jasper still wanted to see her and soon she met him again. From her own mouth, she admitted that when they bumped each other, her cigarette touched him, inadvertently setting him on fire. Jasper automatically forgave and still wanted to get to know her when he got out the hospital.

By things were starting to get strange for Jasper. Upon various checkups, the doctors found that the burns were turning to scabs which, when peeled (by Jasper himself, which also hurt like hell), revealed new smooth skin. By the third week, he was completely healed, with a few benefits: a more handsome face and a stronger body. And after two months, he found out he could produce and manipulate fire as well as fly. At first he wanted to keep it a secret, but after fighting his first battle (against a villainess named Stratus), he found that he couldn't live a double life and chose to become a hero full time.

"What are you guys talking about?" Shelby asked.

"How Jasper got his powers," Max shrugged. "It actually caught me off guard."

"Me too," Crystal agreed, "I mean, who would have thought that back in the day, Jasper was probably more of a gentleman."

"Hello, the subject of your conversation is right in front of your face," Jasper groaned. "Yes, I was a nicer person back then. Welcome to the present. Can we move onto something else now? I know, since he never heard of it, tell Max about your origin."

She gave him a hard glare before relenting. "I was, uh, born in Anchorage, Alaska, but I lived most of my life on Mount Spurr, a volcano across a lake from Anchorage. Obviously, there was no mistake that I was different. I liked the rain so much that I walked in it without a jacket, the cold rarely bothered me, and I never got sick from it. I swam in the ocean whenever I wanted and wandered the northern land of Alaska. The one thing I didn't do was school. When someone would chase me to take me to school, I would either go to the mountains or the ocean, deep enough where I knew they couldn't get me. Also, since I was literally on my own, I fished and hunted for myself. People had started calling me the Arctic Amazon and most people didn't believe I existed. I didn't care. The only time I interacted with people was when they came up the volcano. I really didn't like to be around people, so if I saw them, I'd force them to leave. At one incident, I saw a group of people coming up the volcano and, since I was upset since that morning, I caused an avalanche which killed most of the members of the group. That caught a lot of attention, since the group was apparently made of highly esteemed individuals. Both the heroes and villains came to investigate to see what had happened. Of course they crossed paths and started a fight, which I interrupted by causing another avalanche. Most of the heroes and villains were buried deeply within the snow, but they weren't so much as shaken up as regular people were when they came up my mountain. So, I launched ice spikes and sent down large snowballs at them. They defended themselves well and so I anted up the attack by causing a hailstorm during a fog and they finally left. At least, everyone but Ghost. I found out his power first hand when he anesthetized me before I realized he was there. The next day, I was in the Heroes Tower, where I met my mother, Icicle, after her absence for over decade. Being stubborn, it took a few threats to make me change my ways. For three years, I was training and learning how to harness my powers while also learning the academics enough to go to college. I actually went for a year just to learn how to integrate with people again, where I also met my first boyfriend. He was kind and being new to love, I did whatever he wanted to make him happy. However, I soon realized he was using me for his own gains and forcefully parted ways with him. My second boyfriend was an agent in the Heroes Tower who wouldn't take anything serious. As a result, he was fired after he let a scientist of Dr. Genie's that we were going to interrogate take a cyanide pill. But that was all a couple of years ago. Both of them are nothing compared to you, Max."

"Stroking my ego gets you a kiss," Max grinned, surprising her with a quick kiss.

"Get a room," Shelby crossed her arms.

"We could use the bathroom," Max suggested. "I've always wanted to try that."

"How about we leave?" Jasper asked, irritably. "As much as I'd like to be bored to death by watching you two make out, I'd like to get going before something bad happens. I'd also like some sleep. "

No sooner had he finished that a thump reverberated throughout the restaurant as something landed on the roof.

"You've got to be kidding me," Jasper grumbled.

"Don't tell me that's what I think it is," Crystal said.

A scream pierced through the walls as the crowd of people outside rushed through the door. Moving quickly, the heroes and heroine pushed through the wave of frightened civilians to see who, or what, was attacking. For them, it was no surprise that they saw Pollen riding on the back of a giant wasp as hundreds of various giant insects was crawling on the buildings.

"Why are you doing this, Pollen?" Max demanded.

"This is none of your concern," Pollen spat.

"The safety of these civilians is my concern," Max replied. To Chef Foulkes, he said, "Take everyone to the basement. Protect the females, so Pollen can't get them." With that said, he made a platform and flew right at her as Chef Foulkes followed the orders given.

Jasper and Crystal moved into action as well. With pinpoint accuracy, Jasper was hitting any insect in his range while Crystal froze any bug that was able to get too close. Seeing that they needed more time, Jasper immediately made a wall of fire so hot that no bug could walk through. Up above, Max was flying after Pollen, throwing spheres of dark energy balls at her.

Quickly, she made the wasp dodge the projectiles then flew right back at him, intending to crash the bug into him. Her plan worked . . . though not the way she wanted it to. As Max saw the collision about to happen, he made the platform bigger than the wasp so that the wasp crashed into him and fell onto a nearby building. Landing, he used the platform to pick up then toss the unconscious wasp off the roof.

"Call off your bugs, Pollen," Max ordered, pointing his hand threateningly at her.

"Just my bugs?" she smirked.

A scream let Max know something wasn't right. He found out a few seconds later as a tree from the street below rose up above the roof they were on. However, it didn't stop and Max soon found himself face to face with man-like tree (or a man-tree), complete with a face, arms, and legs. Taking Max's surprise to her advantage, Pollen jumped on the man-tree's shoulder and ordered it to attack. Contrary to its slow growth, its attack was much faster, so fast that Max didn't have enough time to dodge. His shield was automatically engaged to block the man-tree's limbs, but he was still smashed through the building's roof.

"Max!" Crystal yelled.

She and Jasper were faring better than Max was, but only because the bugs couldn't get through the Global Gourmet's exterior. Add to the fact that Jasper was keeping the bugs from coming through the entrance and that she was preventing the bugs from getting to him from above was proving to be a tough but achievable task. However, what they really needed was the military to come in and provide some support.

But whatever support they were hoping to get was going to be too late as Pollen turned her sights on the Global Gourmet. Controlling the man-tree, she had it walk to the restaurant, no doubt intimidating Jasper. Taking a chance, he made the wall of fire morph into a ball and launched it at the man-tree, aiming for the shoulder Pollen was on.

It was literally swatted away.

Now with no fire, the insects around Jasper surged forward, knowing he could release fire if given the chance. But at that moment, Crystal landed in front of him, making her own defensive wall of ice, and covered with spikes. The insects that were too close were impaled immediately as the rest moved back to avoid being killed. Not waiting a second, Crystal also made the wall of ice cover them from above so that no insects could attack from that direction.

"Really, Jasper, you just had to get rid of your wall of fire," Crystal groaned as she dragged him inside. Automatically, they heard the man-tree smash its limbs against the ice wall.

"Uh, if you going to get on anyone's case, start with Max," Jasper replied. "I'm the one that usually handles Pollen. Besides, fire is not a defensive power, so I'm outside my expertise here."

"Well, you better learn how because I can't keep watching your back," Crystal frowned. Another smash against the ice wall let them the know Pollen was going to get in, like real soon.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Shelby asked as she and Chef Foulkes ran up to them.

"You're supposed to be with everyone else," Jasper growled. This time, instead of a smash, there was a crash as the man-tree busted its limb through the ice wall.

"Yeah, there is," Crystal replied to Shelby. As she raced for the door, she said, "Think of something!"

"How about let me fight Pollen?" Jasper yelled, but the door closed as he finished. Angry, he looked at his date and the chef, wondering what was the best course of action. However, there was only one course of action that he knew that could stop bugs. Turning to the Chef, he asked, "Do you have gasoline or any flammable liquids?"

"Yeah, why?" Chef Foulkes answered.

"Because I'm going to burn this place down," Jasper responded. "Make sure you're in the basement before I start."

Outside, Crystal was fixing the ice wall whenever the tree busted a hole inside it. Every time she fixed the previous hole, a new one was instantly created. She felt heat against back and saw Jasper set the restaurant on fire. Realizing what was about to happen, Crystal jumped through the hole and ran off.

"Get the other females," Pollen ordered the insects as she made the man-tree follow Crystal.

The moment she moved away, an explosion went off from inside the restaurant, expanding and burning her insects on the ground faster than they could move. She wanted to retreat now that her small army of insects was mostly defeated, but the prospect of missing the chance to nab Crystal sealed her decision to keep chasing her. Pollen went to the Anacostia River, the closest body of water, knowing Crystal would want as much water as possible to fight her. She wasn't wrong either. Crystal was waiting for her on the bridge and, upon seeing the villainess, made the river water rise, sending an unspoken, yet obvious threat.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Pollen scoffed.

Closing her eyes, she made the surrounding trees grow to be like the man-tree she was on and had them climb onto the bridge. Quickly, Crystal made the water surround her, making sure water cut as much man-trees as possible along the way. However, there were still more coming up, not to mention the man-trees could absorb the water.

A shredding sound cut through the air just then and Pollen could smell something burning behind her. Both heroine and villainess saw Jasper setting man-trees aflame and Max controlling a spiked ball to shred the man-trees' legs and causing them to fall down.

"Looks like you're going to have to retreat," Crystal grinned.

"Not without you," Pollen said, coming down from the man-tree she was on. "I'll handle you myself."

"Bring it," Crystal smirked. "Show me what you got."

Crystal quickly made an ice bat and raced towards the villainess while Pollen ran at her empty-handed. Her hands, though, took on a greenish tinge as poisonous liquids were starting to seep out of her palms. When she was in range, Crystal swung for Pollen's head, though Pollen ducked, rolled, and slapped Crystal's right thigh. The poison quickly ate through the fabric where Pollen touched, and Crystal quickly felt a rash form on her thigh.

"What the hell?!" Crystal exclaimed, moving away quickly. "What is this?!"

"A very acidic, digestive liquid that covers my poison," Pollen grinned. "Dr. Genie came up with it."

"So you're in cohorts with Dr. Genie and Dictator Jones? What are they doing?" Crystal grimaced, gingerly stepping on her right leg.

"I'm the one leading the show this time," Pollen announced.

She took off in a sprint towards Crystal as the heroine sprayed frost at her. She dodged again and reached out to touch Crystal again, but Crystal caught her by the wrist, anticipating when the attack was coming. She picked Pollen up and slammed her down on the concrete. However, she didn't let go of Pollen until she froze the villainess' hand in a block of ice so that she wouldn't be able to touch her. But it was futile as Pollen used her other hand to grab onto Crystal's shoulders. The poison immediately ate through the fabric again and Crystal's shoulder began to burn as another rash developed where Pollen touched.

While that was news for Crystal, the good news was that she could still use her right arm. With a solid fist, she smashed it into Pollen's face once, twice, thrice, and more until Pollen released her. Stepping back, she covered the rashes in ice to lessen the pain. Turning her attention back to Pollen, she made ice cuffs and put them on the villainess.

"Your show just ended," Crystal said, triumphantly.

A buzzing noise rose in volume and Crystal turned to the wasp Pollen was riding on earlier flying straight for them. Crystal immediately made the water rise, but the wasp flew around and landed too close to her. Sensing danger, Crystal made a shield and crouched. It was a good thing she did too cause the wasp struck with blinding speed, sending a claw right at Crystal's shield and knocking it, and Crystal, into the river. With the threat out of the way, the wasp cut the cuffs off Pollen and let her mount it.

"I have a couple of presents that I want to give you," Pollen announced. "I hope you enjoy them."

Even as she said that, Crystal saw two large silhouettes of insects coming for her . . . on the water. They were unlike any other bug Crystal had seen before. Unlike like most bugs that had the usual six legs, these two were walking on four legs, like a praying mantis. They even had the front two legs bent like a praying mantis. The only thing that separated them was the fact that a praying mantis was definitely taller and larger eyes. And they couldn't walk on water.

"They're water striders," Pollen informed as the wasp flew overhead. "They have hairs on their body that resist water so much that they can walk on water."

"I can see that," Crystal growled.

Seeing no other option, Crystal made an ice platform and rode it around the water striders to get to the bridge. Unfortunately, the water striders moved and cut her off, reaching out with their arms to snag her in their clutches. Quickly, she ducked under water and came up on the other side of the bugs. An idea sprung up as they chased her and she made a ramp to launch herself through the air. As Crystal was going up though, the bugs cut the ramp before she could jump off and she fell back in the water. With the water striders closing in on her, she made an ice sphere with her inside beneath the water for protection.

"Now we can't have that," Pollen shook her head.

The water striders stood over Crystal menacingly, stabbing at her sphere, keeping her attention occupied. However, the real threat was no longer the bugs. A tree, being influenced by Pollen, had stretched and spread its roots, thickening them to where it was strong enough to pick up Crystal's sphere. With no escape, Crystal was helpless as the tree smashed the sphere to smithereens against the ground and Crystal was knocked unconscious.

The smash caught the attention of Max and Jasper, were still dealing with Pollen's man-trees. Upon seeing Crystal being taken by Pollen, Max and Jasper flew off in an attempt to rescue their beloved. But as they were getting closer to Pollen, they were blindsided by rocks being thrown by the man-trees, and Pollen effectively got away with Crystal.

*****So Crystal, Dr. Genie, and Cherry have been captured by the villainess, Pollen. Despite me wanting to get on with the story, it still makes me sad that I have to make the heroes lose at various points just to drive the plot going. But a story uses everything it can to get better and that is what I'm aiming for. Just to let you know, during the weeks of me not posting stories, I've come up with an entirely new idea and I'm wondering if I should enter it after this plot is finished or make it wait until the third plot I already had has taken place. However, whichever one I choose, I hope you'll enjoy it. I'm still adamant about what my readers are thinking, so post whatever questions, comments, and/or concerns and I'll answer them in the stories! DM23*****