Heroes are often faced with overwhelming numbers. Sometimes it’s overwhelming might. Even just outsmarted sometimes. They can even face all of that at once. At times like these they need to show their skill and rely on their luck. Many see me as someone who relies too heavily on luck. They don’t know my true power makes my luck.
Charging towards a series of gunmen as they open fire, avoiding every shot; they may be untrained, but they are shooting every round in their pistols. Each shot narrowly avoided as an amateur level hero. Well it sure isn’t graceful, it’s what’s happening. Once I get close in, the real fun begins. The pair closest to me try to cling to me as the other 3 pull out batons to fight with. The unexpected part is the taser.
As I get in range, I roll past the pair that try and cling to me as the other 3 pull out batons. One of the pair pulls out his taser while the other tries to reload his gun. Charging in might have been a terrible idea if I was alone, and with the fact that 2 of the 3 on the sides are gone, my buddy in the shadows is doing a great job. I can take a bullet or 2 so I rush the thug with the taser.
The thug places all his strength on meeting my charge with the taser, idea. I grab his arms and throw him past me into the one with the gun. As they are scrambled on each other and some how managed to both be tased, I take a strong ‘whack’ to the back of my head. I turn around to see my partner taking out the last thug, a moment too late if I might add.
My tech loving teammate Robin had given the final thug a good whack of his own with her trusty oversized wrench. She also has a stun gun with some unbelievable abilities built in, but we can get to that later, for now we high five at a job well done. As we are celebrating our victory, we hear clapping as our instructor walks through the holograms and the setting we were in fades. “Well done Robin! Textbook takedown! You’ll be making us proud!” he proclaims with a hearty smile, it quickly shifts to a frown as he turns to me, “as for you ‘Luckstar’, that was terrible. Had you stayed and gotten grabbed by the thug with a taser, you would have become a hostage and placed Robin in danger!”
Now it may be obvious, but I tend to act in a way that seems a bit reckless, but it’s not like I don’t get to have a do-over. That is my other power by the way, and why I repeated charging at the thugs, I literally repeated the charge. It’s almost like a quick save in a video game. Why rely on luck when I can just pick which outcome to stick with. There are certainly ways to abuse this power, but I’d rather not begin to lose my place in reality, which means I limit myself to short bursts with my power, not extending past an hour or 2 in the worst case.
“Now now Instructor Gram, Luckstar may have a reckless streak, but I can see clear potential in him. He may also be a great representative of our town in East Apple City.” Spoke the principle of our school, Principle Dan. The hero program at our school was mainly to raise heroes to help protect the town, but we could also enter a scholarship to attend a hero collage in EAC. Normally, I’d be sticking to our home town of Acorn, but Robin has greater aspirations. I’m here due to her playing the best friend card to drag me along and keep her from being lonely. I’ll admit I’ve never faced much challenge here from the weak criminal activity in the area, but that is good in and of itself no?
Regardless of my personal thoughts, I decided to go along with Robin’s wishes since I could always come home if the big city wasn’t my kind of place. There’s no reason I can’t return home and visit Robin or vise versa after the fact. And with the evaluation from our last test, we qualify for the scholar ship. It’ll be a long ways away from home, but maybe the people there will appreciate a lucky guy like myself there. After all, plenty of people are jealous of how lucky I always tend to be, and that I’m so close to Robin, so it can be a bit hard making new friends.
Principle Dan dismissed us and we headed home. We’ve always been neighbors so we take the same route home. Although she rarely speaks, the energy around Robin shows that she’s unbelievably excited about our scholarships. Anytime we stop for a streetlight she’s just bouncing in place with a grin wider than I’ve seen in a long time. We’re on our way to becoming bigtime heroes, though she’ll never tell me why she wants to do this? I’ve always been fond of the idea of helping others and saving the day, but I know she hasn’t. With all that’s happened with her though, it’s kind of hard to find the right way to ask her though. I just hope this isn’t a path she’ll regret one day.
We split up when we get home, an energetic wave goodbye from Robin is my farewell as she heads to her and her brother’s house. I head to my own home where I’m greeted by a surprise party from my parents! “Ha ha ha, Welcome home Leo! Or should I say the soon to be top hero Luckstar! Ha ha ha!” My dad’s cheering boomed through the house. My mom however, was patently waiting at the dinning room table for us to make our way for the celebratory dinner, “so how did it go?” She asked with a mood that seemed to match my father without the shouting.
Unable to hold back a grin, “I passed!” is shouted as I take a victorious pose after entering the house. “Ha ha ha! That’s right! My son will soon be one of the greatest heroes ever!” My dad can’t hold back his pride in the slightest. It’s hard to find any fault with it considering how amazing it is to get this scholarship. Most people fail to get the 95% test score requirement for the written exam as well as the 90% score for the physical, the test I took with Robin earlier today. Naturally the written part was a test to see if we could gleam enough clues to properly pass the physical portion properly. Our plan of attack would change if there was a hostage or a bomb threat after all.
“You have to be careful when you get to East Apple City Leo, just because you’re a hero doesn’t mean people won’t try and take advantage of you.” My mom said worriedly. I would be living in a dorm hosted by the school, so I wouldn’t be around here anymore. “Don’t worry mom, I’m not someone so easily taken advantage of.” I say smugly, although that seems to make her more worried. “Besides, Robin will also be there, so I won’t be alone.” That one seems to have eased her worries a bit.
After a night full of celebration, I was in my room. This may be the last time I’m here in Acorn for a long time. Heading to the big city with Robin, that’s something I never expected. To be going to EAC and being a hero there. There’s already so many, will I really be able to shine? Who knows, but one thing is for sure. I can’t stop being so excited for what the future will bring!
thanks for the chapter