Super Natropolis was massive. It was in the shape of a snowflake. A central citadel was surrounded by six divisions, each stranger looking than the next. One had tall buildings with a large base. Another’s buildings were circular.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNytOx6M8u
“We better give you the grand tour,” Rim suggested, fishing something out of the many pockets of her belt. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvCCiQMU6k
She picked out something the size of a microchip and tossed it in the air. It folded out and expanded until it became a small motor scooter. I stared at it for a long time, completely stunned. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNygmSAd1c
“Awesome….” She simply boarded the vehicle like it was the most normal thing. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVR4zbKyXAZ
“Sit behind me,” she ordered, starting up the engine. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMN2oSoVRQV
I did as I was told, swinging my legs to sit behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. It felt awkward, as I didn’t know her well, but I had a feeling this thing might leave me in the dust if I so much as let go. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRiab9gCeV
“What about you, Lena?” I asked the wizard girl. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2R9tPRXT2U
She chewed on her stick. “I need to go.” 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBt8f0Sv8EY
Her face was clouded. I thought it would be best if I didn’t ask where she was going. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfspB6Bbs1
“Okay then, we’ll see you later?” She gave a slight nod. Maybe a nervous half-smile. Rim passed me a helmet. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBGclGrQn6
“You might need this.” I barely had time to put on my new headgear before we were off. Rim looked around as she drove, making me wonder how safe the bike was. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1wUQZEuZi
“Welcome to Super Natroplis, home of the Super Naturals. You see, every once in awhile, babies, or people in general, are born with advanced abilities in certain areas of the body. There’s a legend that says it started a long time ago when some mad scientist tried to enhance his DNA to make himself ultra-powerful. Apparently, it didn’t go as planned, but it was passed on through his genealogy, and thus the term Super Naturals was born.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1ZAwudntE
“Supernatural abilities,” I summed up. My eyes probed wildly to get a look at everything. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZEwmYhXVD
Rim nodded and continued. “Sometimes it’s really common, like when some people are better in class than in the gym or vice versa. Here, we divide it up into six sections.” 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6kE4bi9Ph
She pointed to the first sector. “Head is the largest, as it has the most abilities linked to it. The brain-naturals are sometimes linked to things such as intelligence, telepathic commutation, physic visioning, healing, telekinesis, magic, and so on. Then you have the other head things, such as the nose. I’m not kidding. My friend is a nose-natural, and his sonic sneezes are explosive. You also have ears-naturals, who can hear from far distances and eye-naturals with X-ray and laser vision.” 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkTUmq7Kdw
She looked back at me. “You getting all this?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUiErHeBAU
“Oh sure,” I responded. “Please, go on Professor Rim.” 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1v7fOUopcS
She scoffed before continuing, pointing to Sector 2. “Chest-naturals have two powers: strength and heart.” 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ungsMnxzh
She thought for a moment. “Your friend, Allen. He’s a chest-natural for strength.” 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0k2vl3a87
I would never look at Allen the same way again. No wonder that guy could play. I reeled my mind back in. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsX6y7RzpM
“What about hearts?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJH4sWFnH24
“Don’t mess with them. They’re obsessed with beauty and romance and they’re good at it too. They love gossip.” Rim snickered like she remembered a related comic moment. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaMAAa6Sm4
She pointed to the next sector with tall buildings with a wide base. “Next is leg-naturals, like yours truly. We specialize in speed and flexibility.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJM3jdyo8WF
“Elastic Rim,” I said, remembering the name the computed had given her. That had to be her super name. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAv7op5J5g1
A thought occurred to me. “No way, are you really….” 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfW025Sx7k
She grinned and without breaking a sweat, kicked out her leg, which wrapped around a lamppost. It stretched like rubber as it circled around the lamppost before retracting. I stared as her leg went back to normal.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlnshPZIKK
“That’s how you switched with Lena in the car. You’re ultra-flexible?” She nodded. I asked her how long she’s known about it.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwCwqWPKq9
“Since before I can remember.” She said evenly.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweBQO7BgHG
“You live here?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZufOKlt0Z6
“Yep. Here, you have two names. My name is Rim, but Elastic-Rim is my hero name. ” She waved to someone on the street.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeowQ0tX00r
“That’s Travis,” she explained. “He’s a stomach-natural.” I busted a laugh. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapCrCpks95
“I’m serious! They’re resistant to natural hunger and thirst! Don’t judge! You’d dream of having that if you were on a deserted island. Think about it.” 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVbuvbfsKY
I did. “Throwing up is probably not a problem either, right?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56K934gd6A
“EW! I’m going to toss you off this thing,” she threatened, turning a street corner. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjTD350W7Y
We began to drive through an old rickety town. The paint job was messy and some of the weird-shaped buildings looked almost rusty as if no one wanted to fix it. I wrinkled my nose.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIbPHyMIeX
“Who lives here?” Rim turned, surprised as if she drove through here a lot and forgot to look at the mess. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLCG1PD0z2
“This is the Ultra-natural part of town.” She said the name as some type of virus. “Ultra-naturals are extremely powerful. They often have one or more extreme powers. Exceedingly dangerous.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXxCLwuHK57
“So….why don’t they use their quote “extreme powers” to clean up the place? It looks almost…deserted.” I pointed to the nearest street, which looked like the residence of a hurricane victim. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG6n0nzOSUW
Rim was silent for a moment. “Ultra-naturals are really rare. They only pop up when the world really needs them.” 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwBYoQRwvp
I got a crazy image of a really muscular guy in a jumpsuit popping out of the ground, shaking my head. I tried to think of something educated to say. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58K4BcV99Y
“What kind of powers are they born with?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7UNHBkXdR
“Powers? You never know with ultra-naturals. Time, Natural Forces, Invisibility…..” She caught herself, rushing on. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSohqeY5YVW
“Basically anything. There hasn’t been an ultra-natural in…a long time. Let’s be happy.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPqmqy2t93f
“What do you mean? It sounds cool. Anyone would want to be one,” I mused.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLrWRqzyIE
With that, she slammed the brakes. I raised an eyebrow. She turns to me and grabs me by the shoulders. “You don’t mean that.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WaUvEResG
“Huh?” She stared me down. The electric blue eyes made it intense. “You don’t want to be one.”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8q2IUpxvi2
“I never said to me!” I defended, half lying because I thought it was cool. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8sXS1xMWo
“You said ‘anyone’ as in ‘you.’” She sighed painfully. “Look, it’s dangerous. You get hunted, you get caught, and the thing about ultras….they don’t last long. Put in horrible danger by our enemies.” Her expression was sad. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iJo8raDlV
I was confused. “Enemies? Like the ones that tried to get me in the gym?”550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlk13YOwuIe
“It’s not safe to talk about them here. Come on. This place scares me.” She bit her lip and turned her key, the engine of her scooter humming to life. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsp7etAQYz
She wouldn’t talk to me for the rest of the trip. Was it something I said? I still didn’t understand how I belonged here. It was all so bizarre, like something out of a fairytale. I looked at my own hands. They didn’t look like something….not human. In fact, they looked weak and less powerful than I expected. I wasn’t a superhero. I was just a regular kid. A kid named Blake, who had a mother and a father. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQmr9y0SVH
Well, he never knew his father, but that was another story. He went to school and played volleyball and skateboarded with his buddy Allen. I could never be one of these. I realized fully for the first time that Allen was a super natural. I mean, it made sense and all. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjEK20iwPp
He was strong and undefeated in volleyball. That kid I met in the gym with the sports goggles…..he was something else. This? This wasn’t something I was expecting. I pinched myself in the arm, hard. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjv4WPSjZQS
I was dreaming. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKvaoKpzPe
I had to be. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6GSFj41fS
This wasn’t real. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1s0nPQ6lg
I looked at some kids hanging out by a café. Two boys were trying to grab their sodas out of the air, while a girl laughed, a weird glow settling around her, her fingers touching the sides of her head as if she was levitating them. The weird just gets weirder. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqppGKBXHJA
Along with the residential buildings, Super Natropolis also had some awesome places to have fun, like rock climbing walls the size of skyscrapers, and big fields and parks. I glanced at Rim in the rearview mirror. She looked angry and hurt, but she wouldn’t let me ask what was bothering her. She shut me out and kept driving. Something pops up on her dashboard, but I can’t see what it is. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJQvj6qndV
“You ready for a surprise?” She asked rhetorically. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlPoM07N7f
I asked her what it is. She told me it was time for me to take a pop quiz. Judging by the powers in the town, I wasn’t particularly excited. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopAynONJnw
I knew this “quiz” could possibly be code for “your doom”.
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