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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaQ0Pbjjbr
“We better give you the grand tour,” Rim suggested, fishing something out of the many pockets of her belt. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvoPg3H4nz
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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcnTJbvh9k
“Awesome….” She simply boarded the vehicle like it was the most normal thing. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPVGqdgpJ7
“Sit behind me,” she ordered, starting up the engine. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuJvePjtEN
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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqf1vAwGbln
“What about you, Lena?” I asked the wizard girl. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnJGjASGcL
She chewed on her stick. “I need to go.” 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAiY1PDYBU
Her face was clouded. I thought it would be best if I didn’t ask where she was going. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOdyfemkeh
“Okay then, we’ll see you later?” She gave a slight nod. Maybe a nervous half-smile. Rim passed me a helmet. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQlurGVKSR
“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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXMNALqy7H
“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.”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpjJFtBpgr
“Supernatural abilities,” I summed up. My eyes probed wildly to get a look at everything. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9oPFf8W5N
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.” 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRUAuyqRDu
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.” 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvo3eQiPWVV
She looked back at me. “You getting all this?”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhPZmzKbxx
“Oh sure,” I responded. “Please, go on Professor Rim.” 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIiUl9Lc76t
She scoffed before continuing, pointing to Sector 2. “Chest-naturals have two powers: strength and heart.” 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpL1o0O33Mp
She thought for a moment. “Your friend, Allen. He’s a chest-natural for strength.” 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoIAdnc448
I would never look at Allen the same way again. No wonder that guy could play. I reeled my mind back in. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9xF1ybklk
“What about hearts?”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE3YtGGM7ZI
“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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfL4IaclJ5
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.”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClQVvv2PtA
“Elastic Rim,” I said, remembering the name the computed had given her. That had to be her super name. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2noUItKuug
A thought occurred to me. “No way, are you really….” 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4A10mitQnA
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4byXUpG29
“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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUOWT96AYF
“Since before I can remember.” She said evenly.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHgZLgVBmb
“You live here?”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwm5D09zEx
“Yep. Here, you have two names. My name is Rim, but Elastic-Rim is my hero name. ” She waved to someone on the street.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8IrKkAqkC
“That’s Travis,” she explained. “He’s a stomach-natural.” I busted a laugh. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBnhajrPJd
“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.” 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPWFqE6vqa
I did. “Throwing up is probably not a problem either, right?”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWvugBX2Nb
“EW! I’m going to toss you off this thing,” she threatened, turning a street corner. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMfrRgq8Bta
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejRXhPyLR3
“Who lives here?” Rim turned, surprised as if she drove through here a lot and forgot to look at the mess. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2StmqyrXAv
“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.”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiyVTY4GZIE
“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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Y5fLXJn9u
Rim was silent for a moment. “Ultra-naturals are really rare. They only pop up when the world really needs them.” 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpILomcs1wB
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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6eT5id1ul
“What kind of powers are they born with?”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRKXEgznv8D
“Powers? You never know with ultra-naturals. Time, Natural Forces, Invisibility…..” She caught herself, rushing on. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpU6H0smQOS
“Basically anything. There hasn’t been an ultra-natural in…a long time. Let’s be happy.”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkG3MHFcjgL
“What do you mean? It sounds cool. Anyone would want to be one,” I mused.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtL3vpc2PQ
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.”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkDvZnuUPc
“Huh?” She stared me down. The electric blue eyes made it intense. “You don’t want to be one.”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLq72lHWKVu
“I never said to me!” I defended, half lying because I thought it was cool. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4J7fxo9rld
“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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7w2fNwy3a
I was confused. “Enemies? Like the ones that tried to get me in the gym?”509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6lJIXLzWE9
“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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfLcLeyoZ0
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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tFeuiibJp
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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5PHSgiCIB
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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoirRndULqC
I was dreaming. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QyFlJvaJl
I had to be. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDPdwomFN03
This wasn’t real. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwaaktYDl0g
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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAC3z97D6p
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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBluLe6U7VE
“You ready for a surprise?” She asked rhetorically. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9jCeLEcdQ
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. 509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fqsFIza9p
I knew this “quiz” could possibly be code for “your doom”.
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