New Job for American-Man
by: Paul G Jutras
Since American-man appearance the crime rate in Federation city had dropped way down. Too bad the number band gigs the rock band had were also way down. Needing the extra pay, it was in his American-
Man form that he became a bag man at a Federation City super market.
The job was easy and American-man changed his costume with the bluish green shirt, black slacks and sneakers of the market. When he eyed a shoplifter trying to head out with a 24 case of beer, American-man moved at super speed to grab him and held him until the police showed up.
At the end of one shift, American-man was getting some bags to fill the bag racks when Jamie from the office stared at him through the window between the office and storeroom. "Hi American-man."
"Hi." He replied.
"You’ve been here awhile." Jamie went on. "How would you like a job as one of the office girls?"
"Office girls?" he asked stared with a puzzled look on his face.
"Of course you’d have to wear a skirt," Jamie continued. "That wouldn’t be a problem would it?"
"No." American-man said, thinking of the time he spent in a skirt or dress as Christina Jackmarr. He also knew she was kidding. Even the women working at the market had to wear pants as part of the work uniform.
American-man left after his shift and tried to fly up above the trees, only to find he couldn’t. He could see a castle that wasn’t in the city before, and wondered if its appearance had anything to do with preventing his ability to fly.
Starshine; who had finished her shopping, used her cat reflexes to climb up one of the trees. She felt good that she is helping a friend in a time of need. Especially as she watched American-man changed back to Christina.
Kneeling on a branch, Starshine could see the towers of the castle sticking up from behind the distant tree tops. Landing on her feet as she jumped to the ground, Starshine tells Christina and Soto what she saw that they couldn’t.
Christina, not feeling so powerless since making the best of friends, led the three of them forward. Though Christina felt like her muscles would give out before they reached the castle.
Unable to react at super speed, a giant squid appeared from a river and grabbed hold of Soto’s ankle, pulling him underwater. As Starshine waited on shore, Christina dove into the water and transformed back into American-man. He began wrestling with the squid and freeing his friend as Soto’s water logged body swam to the surface.
Starshine could only stare in concern, worried that American-man would loose his powers and drown before escaping himself.
Soto putting his hand on her shoulder tried to make her feel better as she watched the last of the air bubbles break the water’s surface.
As Starshine turned to face Soto, a tear ran down her cheek while the thought of loosing Christina forever entered her mind.
Just then, American-man broke the water’s surface and taking to the sky. He loved the feeling of flight once more as the greatest of flight was something he wished he could share with everyone. Even if his enjoyment would be short lived.
The demon in the castle used his powers to cause American-man to vanish from the skies above the city.
Within seconds, Christina found herself grounded on the path that went up to the drawbridge with his friends. Her muscles were more sore than ever.
Instantly Starshine ran over and hugged Christina, wanting to her friend to know everything will turn out right. Her own doubts made her not so sure.
"You cut that out and remember you’re my girl," Soto said with a smart remark over the situation. Starshine walked over and gave her man a kiss on the face.
As Starshine backed away from the path, the sand pit she stepped on began to glow with demon magic. In no time she was waist deep in quicksand and calling to her friends for help. Soto took a tree vein and roped his girl so he could attempt to pull her out. Only the magic was strong enough to pull him and Christina into the quicksand too.
The three soon found themselves sliding down a tunnel of earth. A tunnel that looked a lot like the tunnels of Dreamworld, where they fought Demonoid.
The next thing they knew, the three of them were exiting the trunk of a tree into a desert with the castle in front of them. "What was that?" Soto muttered.
"Almost like the type of secret short cuts one found in 20th century video games." Christina replied.
As the three moved across the hot sands, Soto was worried the demon heat might cause their bodies to catch fire. Starshine felt like her bare feet was at the beach on a hot day. Once at the castle, Christina knocked to hear an echoing thud hit the door.
Just then the door itself vanished in a puff of smoke and the three stepped inside. A bucket of water appeared above the door and dumped down on the three of them. The three of them were soaked to the bone and was glad their bodies weren’t metal. They’d of become rusted statues.
Starshine found herself speechless as they both saw a cloven hoof, fork tail and horn headed demon sitting on the throne of the castle. "Okay demon," Soto said angry. "We made it to your castle and now you’ve had it."
With a snap of the demon’s fingers, Christina turned into a white mare. "Did I forget to mention that I like to horse around with those of your world?" The demon giggled as Christina’s friends were not amused at the little joke.
"Change her back now!" Soto ordered.
Instead of changing Christina back, the demon change Starshine into a centaur quicker than she could blink. That was only step one of the transformation as the demon wanted the changes to be slow due to her rudeness. The demon knew she had a kind heart and cared about her friends. She watched as her face grew longer and heavier. She became a matching mare herself.
With her new horse strength she went after the demon with her hind legs only to smash the throne instead. The demon’s magic protected him from the outburst.
Soto starred in horror as he saw the cracked throne and Starshine’s blood ran down it. It was then that he realized the same thing could happen to everyone in Federation City. They could all become creatures and objects of the creature’s twisted world.
Soto realized it was time for him to live up to his rep about being a loose cannon, which the time police had given him when he was wanted by the law. Nervously he challenged the creature who accepted the fight.
In an instant, Starshine was human again and a monitor screen appeared on the wall. The deal was that the monitor would show part of a puzzle and he would get three guesses at what the object was. To up the anty a bit, every time he got it wrong, Starshine would get younger. To give him an idea what the demon was talking about, he already turned the adult into a teenage again.
Soto takes his first guess and getting it wrong, saw his girl reduced to the age of 12. He tried again and getting it wrong again saw her once again reduced. This time she was at the age of six.
Concentrating and taking a deep breath, Soto made his third guess and got it right on the third try. As if nothing had happened, Soto, Starshine, and Christina appeared in the parking lot of the super market with the city back to normal.
The demon who was on the throne didn’t like to loose at riddles, pranks and the like and planned to return someday for a rematch. But that of course is another story for another time.
THE END
© 2001
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