75-76 - Our Final(s) Fight and Book One Epilogue

Welcome to the end of Book One, Little Leaguers!

75 Our Final(s) Fight

“I’ve got more than just one mech! Panic Pal Platoon, get her,” Professor Panic’s voice boomed from the loudspeakers. A hatch opened on the TERROR Mech’s chest. Four Panic Pals surged out, flying straight for me.

I relaxed just a touch; I’d dealt with dozens of these flying wastes of metal. The first one zoomed at me, jaw opening and closing, and I ducked. Before I could recover and stand, something slammed into me, knocking me back to the ground. I couldn’t hear any rap music. None of the bots held back or unfurled speakers. Instead, they were all on the attack!

[HP 3/7]

I rolled, curled into a ball to cover my head and goggles, and started [Speed-Hacking] a Panic Pal. The lights flickered pink, and the newly-christened Pinkie Pal grabbed one of its friends, dragging both toward the ground in a flurry of punches, chomps, and beeping.

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

With only two Panic Pals left, I felt more confident, but, every punch and chomp still hurt. I reached out, grabbing the closest one by the arm and swinging it into the other. The explosion knocked me off my feet, but both Panic Pals were gone. They left behind only crushed, half-scorched wreckage.

[Badass Takedown! +1 Badass Point Pending]

[Badass Takedown! +1 Badass Point Pending]

WHUM-BANG!

The TERROR Mech’s [Hypercompression Cannon] ripped the air apart over my head. The backdraft tore at my lab coat, and I laughed hysterically. “Ah, Professor! A worthy challenge!” I [Checked the Script], which highlighted the two destroyed Panic Pals’ wreckage. Lunging out before the TERROR Mech recharged, I grabbed the scrap and returned to the statue’s cover.

A quick glance showed the Pinkie Pal winning its fight, but not by much, and TA-1LZ lurking at my feet. I had an idea—a terrible, villainous idea. “TA-1LZ, get over here! Want to find out if [Science has Rules?]

I’d gotten this power after Part One, and I’d had no idea what it did. But the [Check the Script] had given me an idea; where Professor Panic was a plotting, scheming Genius, Lab Assistant didn’t have time for that! I was a mad scientist; I’d have to build something on the fly!

Pinkie Pal won its fight, and I sent it on a suicide mission against the TERROR Mech. Then, I grabbed TA-1LZ. “Sorry about this, robo-cat!”

The mecha-cat yowled as I popped open a panel on her back. “Put me down! Me-ouch!”

I didn’t. Instead, I grabbed a handful of wires and ripped them out of TA-1LZ’s back. She shut down with a pitful meow. But I didn’t care. I needed her to beat Professor Panic and claim my rightful place as the most powerful Panic.

As Pinkie Pal buzzed around the gigantic mech, holding on surprisingly well, I grabbed the wreckage and built an armored turret atop TA-1LZ’s back. Then I fed the wires through it. I needed one more part, though. And, unfortunately, I’d need to leave the safety of the Mister Felsic statue to get it.

Pinkie was still running. Peter had stopped using the [Hypercompression Cannon] to shoot it down. Instead, he swatted at my tiny bot, which buzzed around, fly-like. I had time. I started running, counting the seconds. One. Two. Three. Four. My hand wrapped around the mostly-broken Gatling taser on five—the exact moment Professor Panic swatted the pink-tinted robot out of the air.

WHUM-BANG!

“Ahahaha! Too slow, Professor!” I jammed the Gatling taster onto my mecha-familiar’s brand-new turret. Then I stepped out from behind the Mister Felsic statue. “It’s time for a [Maniacal Reveal]!”

“God dammit!”

“That’s right!” I held the jury-rigged cat mecha up in the air. My [Science has Rules?] power said I had to explain how my invention worked, so I cleared my throat, thought, and got started. It was just improv, right? “This is the C1-AW5 Fast-Attack Robot. It uses a Gatling taser salvaged from one of my battles—“

“This battle! That’s mine”

“—as its primary weapon, and runs steel battle armor and a, uh, neo-nuclear micropoint reactor with enhanced, um, wobbly-flop processing. I wired it into the original frame to create an agile combat assistant, and with its power, I can take you down!”

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

[Sinister Speech! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

[Pseudoscientific Mumbo-Jumbo! +1 Drama Point Pending]

As I finished, TA-1LZ—er, C1-AW5—powered up and leaped into battle. The cat’s new form was fast! It wasn’t as fast as the unarmed mecha-cat, but it fired off tasers in a rippling barrage as it weaved between the TERROR Mech’s legs. I laughed, on the edge of losing control. Peter couldn’t keep up, or the mech couldn’t turn fast enough, and even though the tiny cat wasn’t doing much damage, its cannon kept rattling, and more and more wires hung from the mech’s undercarriage by the second.

The TERROR Mech jerked away from C1-AW5’s attack, handling shakily as it pulled away from the tasers. My evil plan was working!

[Speed-Hacker] activated, and I had control of the [Hypercompression Cannon] for just a moment. Then an anti-virus kicked in—Peter had learned from our fight on Flat Top Hill, just like I had. I backed out of the hack before I could get hurt like I had against Dark Girl Anima; I didn’t have the superhero damage to give.

CRASH!

Peter had given up on the cat. The TERROR Mech slammed into a granite pillar. There was no way it’d move it, I thought, just before the pillar tipped slightly. As the massive mech pushed into the heavy pillar, it started to fall on its own—right toward me! I turned and dashed down the ramp toward the tunnel door.

I made it in a moment before the stone pillar smashed into Mister Felsic, raining granite, concrete, and rebar down onto the courtyard. The rubble filled the ramp, blocking the doors. I was cut off, which meant I had a moment to breathe.

Lab Assistant Panic had done her best. I shifted back to Magical Girl Understudy and jogged down the tunnel toward a different exit. Behind me, I heard the [Hypercompression Cannon] fire; whether he’d shot Tails or the rubble, I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t do anything about Tails either way. She’d have to find me—or safety—on her own.

[Rejuvenation Activated! HP 6/7]

I’d seen weaknesses, though. Just before I’d disappeared into the tunnel, C1-AW5 had activated the dozens of tasers, sending a jolt of electricity through the TERROR Mech. Its non-cannon arm had flopped to the ground, unusable. I had no idea if that was permanent or if Professor Panic could fix it, but if it was broken, I could finally press the attack. It wasn’t all according to plan, but when had one of my plans ever worked out so far, right?

Yeah. Basically never.

I ran up some stairs, through a dorm common area, and out the front door. “[Starwave Sail]!” Good things happened when I improvised—like Bianca, my internship, and Tottergarten. I wasn’t a good playwright, but I could improv like a champ. So that’s what I’d do.

Peter—and the TERROR Mech—were both still at the Mister Felsic Statue’s wreckage. The bot shoved rubble aside, trying to dig its way to me, but I flew high above it. A tiny figure darted between the mech’s legs, trying to get its attention. Tails was alive, in spite of me ripping her back open. I had an incredibly dumb but cinematically awesome idea—something Professor Panic would never see coming.

I deactivated [Starwave Sail].

[Leap of Faith! +1 Drama Point Pending]

I fell. The wind whipped my hair and skirts as I rocketed toward the ground, and I squinted my eyes inside the domino mask. Behind me, a camera drone whistled and hummed, filming my descent. I started counting down.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Nope, not enough time. Now!

I stopped with a sudden jerk, twenty feet over the TERROR Mech’s domed plexiglass cockpit. Even through my superhero damage, I felt muscles tearing, and I screamed. I’d never, ever taken so much superhero damage at once.

[HP 2/7]

Peter looked up, and the [Hypercompression Cannon] started ponderously aiming at me. His face screamed disbelief and, for the first time I could remember, fear.

My spotlight stopped, centered on him, and [Bit-Part Barrage]went off.

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point Pending]

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point Pending]

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point Pending]

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point Pending]

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point Pending]

Plexiglass snapped. Electricity sparked. The mech’s controls took hit after hit. It wobbled on its legs but stayed upright, even as its lights flickered and shut down.

And I plunged toward the earth again. I landed on top of Professor Panic with a bone-crunching smack.

[HP 1/7]

[Stunt Woman! +1 Drama Point]

“Oooow!” Peter bellowed.

“Ugh,” I muttered, shaking off the damage and getting to my feet shakily. I got my bearings.

Professor Panic squirmed backward, pressing up against the ruined control panel. He reached for a tiny [Hypercompression Cannon]. “Time to die, Und—“

I used [Spotlight Strike] and punched him in the face before he could lift it.

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

Something crunched under my punch, and he slumped to the cockpit’s floor. I sank down beside him, breathing long, deep breaths as sirens filled the air.

◄▼►

A campus police officer grabbed Professor Panic by the cuffs and shoved him into a waiting patrol car’s back seat. “I almost had you! I almost had my revenge!” He shouted from the window.

I ignored him. It seemed like the right thing to do. Instead, I focused on giving the campus police—and a furious-looking Doctor Jackson—a run-down of the Episode, which hadn’t ended yet. Usually, they were over when the police showed up, but not this time. The camera drones hung around, recording my interview, and Tails weaved back and forth around my legs. Her seams had torn and stuffing leaked from the hole, but she was fine. Mostly.

Fursona hopped up, dragging a kicking and screaming Flare with her. “Here’s another one,” she said, dropping him off at a different car.

Seeing Professor Panic cuffed in a patrol car filled me with relief. Sure, the Episode wasn’t over yet, but Monologue was the only loose end I knew about, and as soon as I’d mentioned his part in things, Doctor Mays had promised he’d hunt him down and get to the bottom of his—and the SSS’s—involvement.

Still, the camera drone wouldn’t stop hovering overhead. It was looking for a resolution.

I walked to the patrol car and leaned down to stick my head in. “Hello, Peter,” I said, keeping my voice low and quiet so no one but the drone and Peter could hear.

“I was so close! God dammit!”

“We both played our part in this whole mess, but it’s over now. It’s time to let go and move on. Maybe, in time, we can be friends again, but I can’t deal with this right now. Small Town Super is over; I’m done fighting with you.” I turned my back and started walking away.

[Episode Finished!]

[Episode: Series Finale: Absent-Hearted Professor: Pt 2 - PG-13]

[Penalties: No Warnings - Episode Rating Shift - No Penalty]

[Series Finished! +10 of each Style Point]

[Winner Winner! +3 of each Style Point]

[Role Focus: Drama > Cunning - Goal Partially Met +10 Drama Points]

[Alias - Understudy] [Archetype - Magical Girl] [Community Rank - 352/523]

[HP 1/7]

[Styles and Skills]

►Archetype Skill - Transformation Sequence

►Badass (lvl 0; 40)

►Cunning (lvl 2; 41)

►Drama (lvl 4; 72) (Skill Roll Available)

►  Hometown Heroine 1

► Bit-Part Barrage 1

►Flamboyance (lvl 3; 51) (Skill Roll Available)

►Signature Skill - Adaptive Armoire

►Stored Costumes: (Rainy Day, Lab Assistant Panic)

►Spotlight Strike 1

►Starwave Sail 1

► Flickerform 1

►Grit (lvl 2; 55) (Skill Roll Available)

[50 Drama Credits Used. Rolling Skill!]

[50 Flamboyance Credits Used. Rolling Skill!]

[50 Grit Credits Used. Rolling Skill!]

[New Skill! Thunderhead 0: Charge up power for a stronger elementalist finishing move. Earns drama points and adds damage]

[Upgrade! Flickerform -> Quick-Time Change:Nail the dance moves to quickly switch costumes! Activates triggered powers]

[New Skill! TA-1LZ Size Boost 0: A combat robot? Science can make that happen! TA-1LZ is tougher in combat with this power]

“Understudy,” Professor Panic—Peter—said from behind me. His voice dripped with desperation and pleading, and the maniacal edge had disappeared. “Understudy, before you go, I did this for us. I just wanted us one more time. One final battle.”

“Well, you got it. But there won’t be more.” I walked back to the patrol car and leaned in again. “I talked it over with the campus police and Doctor Jackson. There’s no way they can get you home. They’re going to ask your lawyers to okay moving you to Almhurst until the end of Man vs. Nature Seven.”

“No. No way.” Peter went pale. I didn’t blame him. Almhurst was where incorrigible villains—villains like Mister Twister and Haze-Matt—went, and we both knew it. But what Peter didn’t know, and I did after Doctor Jackson’s explanation, was that there was another wing—one for holding lesser villains who just needed a place to be where they wouldn’t be in trouble.

“They’ve got a special place for you. A nice, safe wing, away from the real monsters.” I said. Peter relaxed, and I sank in the final dagger. “Maybe they’ll even work on rehabilitating you. You have a spark of good; someday, you might make a good hero. Maybe even a sidekick for someone. But not me.”

I turned and looked for Fursona. Peter spluttered, trying to think of a snappy retort. I’d won. Once and for all, I’d won.

Still, something he said bothered me. As Fursona came in for a super-hero hug, I played it over and over in my mind. One final battle, he’d said. One final… Blood rushed from my face, and I felt a chill. “What time is it?” I asked my sidekick-girlfriend.

“About 2:55.”

“Fuck!” I cringed, waiting for the rating warning, then tore myself from her embrace and started sprinting across Tokyexico University. I had five minutes to get to my Ilneat Studies final!

◄▼►

Epilogue

I wasn’t going home for winter break.

It sucked, and I’d held out hope even through my last final—the Code of Ethics presentation. But deep down inside, I’d known. The turbo-buffalo were leaving, but the herd and the D-wolvers were still too dangerous for convoys. If Peter couldn’t go home—if his lawyers had agreed to house him in Almhurst until the passes cleared—there definitely wasn’t a bus or a ride-share across.

Instead, I’d spend Christmas at Tottergarten—a couple of the kids’ parents had to work holidays—and eat dinner with Su-Bin’s family. Everything about it sucked. But I couldn’t be too pissy about it. The Cloud would probably bethrilled.

Speaking of the Code of Ethics presentation, though…honestly, I owed Theseus my life if we passed this. I hadn’t practiced my lines—that was fine, though. It fit with my new “Understudy is an improviser” mentality. But Theseus? He’d showed up ready to present. He’d borrowed Monologue’s suit, or at least the jacket’s arms. Would that give him Monologue’s speech-making powers? I didn’t know, and honestly, I didn’t want to find out.

“Alright, next up is Theseus’s Ship,” Doctor Jackson called from the back of the lecture hall. All four Superpower Studies professors were back there, and so was another man I didn’t recognize. He wore a business suit, and he and Doctor Mays stood in the back, arguing quietly as we filed to the podium and started our slide show.

“Here we go, everyone. My name is Theseus, and you’ll find our Code of Ethics is head and shoulders better than it was a week ago,” the villain started. “We broke our Code into four sections, then made subsections for heroes and villains. With help from our Extras, Jennifer and Robert, we were able to take into account some serious issues our first draft didn’t. So, without further ado, here’s Magical Girl Understudy to take it from here.”

I swallowed and took a deep breath. It was just like being on the stage or in an Episode. “The first category we focused on was how heroes and villains interact with Extras. As you can see on the screen, heroes have many, many more rules than villains.”

◄▼►

Doctor Catherine Jackson had taught Superpower Ethics for five years. Before that, she’d been the lowest-earning but most successful superhero in the major leagues. And if she’d learned one thing from all that time, it was this. There was always that group.

Whether it was 3V1L, The In-You-Endos, or just another day of teaching, one team never clicked. There were always two members making out or batting eyelashes at each other, another slacking and goofing off, and a ‘leader’ who, despite all their efforts, couldn’t make anyone do any actual work at all. And, unlike the In-You-Endos, who made that brand of chaos their thing, most teams couldn’t handle it. On Day One, she’d bet twenty bucks on The Crumb’s team being that group. She’d already paid Doctor Mays for her mistake.

She poured herself another glass of wine and sat on her couch. She’d graded every essay on ‘League of X Logistics and Problem-Solving,’ every self-recorded Episode for the ‘Studio/Super Dynamics’ class she’d created over the summer, and every Code of Ethics. Except for that group.

It was time to grade that group.

Her wine smelled nutty, with a hint of cherry—something from the Pacific Coast. She sighed. The Code of Ethics was right there. It’d take ten minutes to grade—maybe less. But that group, and that girl, gave her a migraine. After the ‘Study in Black and Scarlet’ Fanfic Episode in the Poudre Districts, she’d hurried back to campus to find the Student Union Building’s ballroom windows destroyed, the Mister Felsic statue toppled, and, worst, her classroom’s electronics damaged. The one to blame? Magical Girl Understudy.

The wine was half-gone already? How had that happened? Catherine topped off the glass and rubbed her temples. Then she opened the folder, helpfully labeled ‘Theseus’s Ship - Theseus, Gourmet, Fursona, Magical Girl Understudy.’ Where did kids these days find team names like this?

Code of Conduct: Final Draft

Extras

• Heroes will make every realistic effort to avoid harming or involving Extras in combat.

◦ Pragmatism is fine. If one Extra getting involved saves lives, it’s acceptable to enlist Extra help temporarily.

◦ Volunteer Extras, the press, and emergency services will involve themselves.

◦ When Extras are combative, removing them as threats is acceptable but should be done nonlethally.

◦ Minions are not Extras. They are hostiles until they surrender.

• Villains will not kill or injure Extras without Episode-based justification.

◦ Extras’ involvement must directly relate to the villain’s goals for the Episode.

Property

• Property damage must be directly related to the Episode’s goals.

◦ Heroes will make efforts to avoid damaging residences and small businesses except where not doing so would put Extras in harm’s way.

▪ Corporate-controlled and government buildings should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

◦ Villains will not target residences unless the Episode’s goals relate directly to the resident.

▪ For example, see the Episode where Danger Close kidnaps the mayor to force his team’s release from Almhurst.

◦ Other properties must be evaluated on a similar case-by-case basis as heroes.

Neutral Fields

• The spirit of Neutral Fields is a pause in the fighting. Therefore, neither heroes nor villains will use neutral fields as cover for a teammate or henchmen to carry out a plan.

◦ Action happening during a Neutral Field meeting is cause for the meeting to end immediately.

▪ McHammer’s Gambit, where his henchmen took a school hostage to shift the balance of power during Neutral Fields, is an example of poor-spirited Neutal Fields.

Finales

• The following changes are in effect for Series Finales

◦ Heroes:

▪ Extras will be involved more frequently. Make good decisions and keep them as safe as possible.

▪ Nonresidential structures are fair game if their destruction relates to the Finale.

▪ Neutrality can be used strategically in Finales.

◦ Villains

▪ Collateral damage happens. Avoid hurting and killing Extras when possible.

▪ Accidents happen. Don’t target civilians.

▪ Neutral Fields can be used strategically.

“Fine. Fine.” The wine was gone again. Why was the wine always gone when she needed it most?

That group’s Code was a pleasant surprise compared to where it’d been a week before. Of course, they’d missed the key messages, and it wouldn’t hold up in the major leagues or the upper minors. They’d omitted details Catherine hadn’t explicitly pointed out, like the rivalries between Lord Destructo and Magical Girl Stella-Lunar or the ethics of heel-turns in the Tapdance vs. Outrider fight.

Still, Doctor Catherine Jackson thought, it might not be an A, but it’d pass—barely. And Superpower Ethics was pass/fail.

◄▼►

Rocko shivered in their studio’s oppressive heat. The Ilneat finished the final cuts and edits to ‘Absent-Hearted Professor: Part Two’ and pressed play from the beginning. Pataki sat next to them, staring at the screen as Fursona and Magical Girl Understudy charged across the snow toward the Student Union Building.

“This could have ruined us, you know?” Pataki asked.

“Yep. We got the Episode done, though. It ships to Ilneat Three tomorrow.”

“To quote a Pre-Launch Day film, what did it cost?”

The Ilneat producer took a long drag from their cigar. The Tele-Portal portal opened, and Rocko and Pataki both grinned momentarily; free cameos were the best for ratings. But Rocko’s glum mood returned soon enough. “Everything.”

Pataki laughed, then hacked out a couple of coughs. “Not everything. Just the rights to Collidus’s spin-off, Professor Panic’s contract, and favors to be named for Phil and Lil, Zim, and Otto.”

“Yep. I’m still ruined unless I can find a primo villain for DuPont, and thanks to the networks, I can’t negotiate for a new villain until next summer. Until then, our heroes are gonna have to share Episodes with other studios, and that means splitting royalties! And the merch. The beautiful, beautiful merch sales all but dry up unless they guest star in big-time shows, and, of course, they’re scheduled for Tottergarten.” Rocko grabbed a new cigar as their old one sputtered out. They chewed on it. “If we’re lucky, Part Two pushes the same ratings as Part One, and we can recover financially. But there’s no way around the networks. It might still cost us everything.”

Rocko’s phone rang. “Pause that,” they snapped at Pataki.

The TV flipped off.

“Rocko Productions, producer of Small Town Super and Heroics 101. Rocko speaking, how can I help you?… An opening, you say? I see, I see…yes, we can be ready by the first…Mid-May? That’s doable. Low-budget? Yeah, look, I’m running on fumes here, Dexter, you gotta give me something! Who’s the rival? …Who’s the girl? A boy, huh?...Oh, that’ll be dramatic. Yeah…Yeah. Thanks, Dexter, you’re a real pal, you know that? You ever need anything…anything…let me know, okay?…You too. Buh-bye”

The ilneat steepled their four hands, chewing on their cigar. Rocko Productions was saved! Well, not yet. It wasn’t up to them. They stared into a mirror on their desk, running a grasping hand through their otter-like fur.

Pataki said something, but Rocko didn’t hear it. All they could hear were gears turning and cash registers ka-chinging.

Pataki held up the remote. “Hey, we watching here? Proof-watch is prudent, you know?”

“No, watch it yourself. I’m busy.”

The news they’d gotten changed everything. They just had to tell Magical Girl Understudy, and she’d do the rest herself. They and Pataki would be rich, and she’d be a minor-league hero. And with the human Christmas holiday coming up, they had the perfect chance to tell her the good news.

◄▼►

Hello! That's the wrap for Book One. I'll be starting to post Book Two on Thursday, so be ready for that!