The Spotlight Part 1

"Alright and here is what is called gorilla position. When she introduces you, go out." A lady with a clipboard and a headset told Christan as he looked around feeling really overwhelmed. He just gave her a thumbs up and she walked off as he listened in on the interviewer to begin to hype him up. "Now enough with all the pleasantries. I know what everyone came to see. Well, I won't make you wait any longer, please give him a great T-City welcome. The Vigilante Hero!" When he heard that title he let out a sigh before he walked through the curtain and around the big display wall. Leading to him standing in front of a stage with two brown leather chairs. A big audience was clapping and cheering as they saw him and he looked a little anxious. Christian stood there for a moment trying to not look like he's about to pass out. His heart was raising and he was getting very light-headed. He hunches forward slightly and then when he goes to walk towards the chairs he miss steps like a man drunk on his feet and almost goes over but thankfully he was able to recover in time so no one noticed. He then makes his way over to the interviewer and shakes her hand before sitting down letting him try to take in oxygen.

Christan POV

"Welcome to the show and thanks for coming. It must feel pretty surreal to be here. How do you feel?" She asked me as I tried to not look at the crowd or the cameras. "It's just a little overwhelming." I said before I got a little chuckle out of the crowd before the interviewer spoke again. "That's pretty normal for first-timers. It comes with time and experience. But it must also be very overwhelming to be you right now. As the Vigilante Hero did you wear disguises?" She asked me as I felt it was the perfect time to tell them my name. "Before I answer, we haven't been properly introduced. My name is Christan." I said with a confident-sounding tone. "Oh, I thought you preferred being called the Vigilante Hero?" She curiously asked leaned in her chair. I chuckled a little at this. Getting a lot more comfortable in this situation. "That's the people and the press that coined that little title. I never encouraged or claimed that. No offense, but it's kinda lazy." I said, getting a laugh out of the audience and a light giggle from the interviewer. 'It felt good to finally tell everyone my name. Like a ton of weight was lifted off my shoulder.' I thought as everyone eventually settled down. 

"Well Christan, going off your name you're American right? A gaijin." She asked and I replied with a nod. "It's very rare we have a gaijin on the show. Let alone a hero. Speaking of that, you've been doing this for…." She started saying before I finished her sentence. "About 4 or 5 months." She then asked me about the hero association. "The question that's been in everyone's mind. Why aren't you a part of the hero association? Was it because of anything personal?" I've answered this question a few times so I wanted to make this one short and sweet. "No, it's nothing personal. It's pretty simple, I don't want to be limited by them. With all the ranks and stuff." I got a few claps from the audience before she continued. "So you being a hero yourself, you must have some hero friends that help you out. Like how Tornado of Terror showed up to assist you." When she said her name I actually started laughing a bit. "I do have a hero friend I guess but Tornado and I aren't friends yet. That day was the first time we ever met face to face." I told her getting a long "oooo" from the audience. "You speak as if you plan to befriend her later." She asked, looking at me very curiously. 

"Of course. I idolize them. I have their posters, figures, and hero catalogs. You could say I'm a super fan." I told her as I awkwardly rubbed the back of my head. "A super fan huh. Well, you really full of surprises. But speaking of heroes, I want to play a little game. I have this little slideshow and pictures of heroes will appear and all you have to do is give us a short thought on them. Sound fun?" She asked as she pulled out a little remote. "Let's do it." I said enthusiastically as our chairs suddenly turned towards a screen. The first person to appear on the screen was Silver Fang. "Easy, the greatest martial arts. I actually know a little of his Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist. I would love to be properly trained though." I said before the slide changed and it was C-Class hero, Mumen Rider. "Ooo, I actually have a little story to tell about him. I was actually saved by him when that big sea monster attacked J-City. I highly respect that guy." That got a hardy clap from the audience before the slide changed again. This time it was Bad. "Oh, he's a good friend of mine. I see him ever so often. He's my '''hero friend'''."  The interviewer gave me a "ohh" before we continued onto the next slide. It was Sweet Mask. "Hmmm...to be honest, I never really thought about it. But one of my friends really loves his music though." I said which seemed to get a little bit of a negative response from some of the girls in the audience. 

Then the interviewer told me that this is the last slide before she pushed the button on the remote revealing the last hero. It was Tornado of Terror. I chuckled a little at seeing her. "Tornado huh...well she's….powerful, fearless, and she's my hero. I actually wear all black because I wanted to look more intimidating. When we met I thought she'd think it was weird but she didn't seem to mind," I told them before everyone made the "Oooo" noise. "Sorry, I sometimes ramble." I said as I awkwardly smiled, making the audience give an "Awww" as if I was a cute puppy or something. Eventually, the host brought the show back on track with another question. "So as a self-made hero you choose to protect our little city. I believe I speak for everyone watching that we appreciate everything you've done for us but I'm quite curious as to why you never ventured to other cities?" She asked before I soon retorted. "Well I can easily get to close-by places but I can't get to faraway places fast enough on foot. I'm fast but not that fast." Then she said something that got me thinking. "Well, why don't you fly." That actually stumped me. The rest of the interview was pretty normal. She asked me for a quick display of my powers and a few other things before it was all over. As I left all I could think about was that question. "Flying huh…."

The Next Day….

"This is a bad idea! You're gonna hurt yourself!" Zenko yelled out as I stood on top of my place. "Come on. It'll be fine. What could go wrong?" I shouted out as I stepped back and prepared to get a running start. 'Let's get airborne.' I said as I sprinted to the edge of the roof and jumped into the air and attempted to shoot myself up into the air. I went up for a few seconds before I plummeted into an alley. Landing face-first into a dumpster. "Oh my god, Christan! Are you alright?" I heard Zenko yell out as I slowly got out of the dumpster and flopped onto the ground with a hard thud. She walked up to me with her arms crossed and a pouty look on her face. "Okay, maybe you were right about taking it slow." I said in a murmuring tone. She just kept looking at me and tapping her foot. "Fine! You ARE right." I said before she smiled and helped me up. "You're learning slowly." She said as we walked out of the alley with me holding my head. After my head was bandaged up we went back outside. A few people came up to me for pictures but we basically kept on track. Which wasn't all that successful. "You know that you don't have to keep trying. No one's forcing you. You've been at this for hours." Zenko told me as she taped up my arm. Pulling a little too hard makes me wince in pain. 

"It's not so bad. I've been through worse. This is nothing." I said with a light chuckle as I felt a slight pain in my ribs from laughing. Masking the pain I attempted to stand but Zenko grabbed me. "Stop trying to act tough around me. Don't hide your injuries from me. You promised." She told me as she let go and I went out into an open area. "I'll be fine. If this doesn't work then I'll take a break, alright. Let's do this. Thirty-seventh times the charm right?" That just got a sigh out of her. "Relax, I'm only gonna use ten percent of firepower to see if I can at least get off the ground. Ready…..three, two, one and…" I then immediately was flung back, hitting a wall before falling flat on the ground. While groaning in pain Zenko leans over me and speaks. "I'll meet you inside." She then walked inside as I just laid there looking up. 

Later…

"You lost. Now, pay up!" Zenko said holding her hand out. "Come on. Just one more game." I pleaded with her leaning over the pool table. "You have no more money to bet Christan," she said while sitting on the edge of the table kicking her legs back and forth. "But if you buy me candy for a month you got a deal." She said which I quickly retorted with "For a week". "Two months." She said in an aggressive tone which made me back down. "A month it is," I said as we shook hands on it. "You drive a hard bargain." After saying that we got a knock on the door. I went and opened it and it was the same people that wanted a picture earlier today. I assumed they wanted another but they stopped me. "We saw that you were trying to fly earlier so we wanted to help. We drew up some ideas for how you could do it." The girl in the front said as she handed me a piece of paper with a couple of drawings of how I could get airborne. I thanked them and before I headed outside reading the paper. "So you think I need to be at full power to do it," they looked like they were getting nervous as I said that. I simply smiled at this, knowing how they feel being star-struck. "Let me guess, you wanna see me at full power? Is that it?" They hesitated for a second before they all nodded in unison. 

Zenko was about to yell at them but I stopped her. "It's fine. I have no problem showing off and what they suggested might work." The girls were thankful as I handed them back the paper and instructed them to stand back. After they got to a safe distance steam began to come off me as I clenched my fists. I then let out a yell that resulted in me bursting into flames. As I stood there I looked at my hand and saw that it worked. I was completely covered in fire. "Woah, when did you figure out how to do that again?" Zenko asked me. "It was after that fight with the X-Monsters. 

The first time it happened spontaneously but after experiencing it two times I can control it." I said as I noticed the girls behind her and a few other people around beginning to stare at me. 'I really should think before I do things. Well too late now.' I thought as I got the girls to read out what I needed to do next. They instructed me to put keep my feet together and my hands to my sides. 

"So like a rocket. Well then, let's start attempt number thirty-eight. Alright….three, two, one." I then shot fire from my hands and feet causing me to lift off the ground and hover for a bit before I landing again. 

My mind was racing as it was working. Zenko and the girls were just as amazed as I was. I was grinning from ear to ear. Zenko face changed to a look of worry. "Christan, don't do anything stupi-" I cut her by doing it again and lifting off the ground with less control. I start hovering all over the streets. "Okay, this is where I don't want to be! Not the car, not the car! It could be worse! Could be worse! I'm fine! Okay." I say before going higher until I rolled onto the roof of my building dropping out of the fire form. I laid there breathing heavily with a great big smile on my face.  Then Zenko screamed my name from the ground. "I'm fine, just a little off-balance." I told her as I stood up and began looking off into the distance. 

"Christan! You said you'd take it slow." Zenko shouted before I retorted without looking at her. "Like they always say. Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk." I state before stepping back. "That is the opposite of the saying." She said before I sprinted and dived off the roof while transforming into the fire form. The moment I was fully engulfed, I shot off through the city at a blinding speed. "Wooooooo!!!!" I shouted as I blasted through the city. "This is awesome!!!" I then realized something while I was moving. 'I can't slow down.' I began to freak out as I was speeding down streets before I eventually crashed into something. Well someone, Bad. As we laid there I weakly spoke. "Hey Bad….good catch." I said while nervously laughing as I saw his face get more and more enraged. "Get the FUCK off me!!!" He shouted.

Bad POV

'This stupid motherfucker. He's lucky he saved my sis otherwise I'd bash his skull in.' I angrily thought as I carried him back to his place over my shoulder. He wasn't really talking much sense I picked him up but that's his best option. Anything he says will just piss me off even more. I eventually made it back to his place, kicking the door open and immediately seeing Zenko on the couch watching TV. "Brother Bad?! Christan?! Is he alright?" She asked as I tossed him onto the couch. "He's fine, he's just exhausted. Let him get some rest, you can come back after school tomorrow." I told her as she watched over him for a second before she walked over to the door with me. She waved goodbye before I closed the door and we went home. On the way though Zenko told me what he was trying to do and I was laughing my ass off. "He fell in the dumpster thirty-six times! That's hilarious, I wish you got some pictures." I said through laughs as we entered the house. I walked past my bat and Tama before jumping onto the couch and laying down with my hands behind my head. 

"Brother Bad he's really trying and thinks he'll hurt himself eventually. Can't you help him or ask someone at work for help?" She asked leaning over me as I laid there. I thought about it for a minute before thinking of someone that might be able to help….