The Solar-Powered Man

Chapter 1

The sun was up high after an early morning drizzle. The farmers started to harvest their crops, the fishermen reeled a school of salmon, and the women did their knitting. It was another ordinary day in the town of Sterling.         

But not for this fourteen-year-old boy named Chase. He was sitting on the soft, green grass, letting the sun scorch his fair skinned arm.

It all started when one day, after a rough morning with his mother, who yelled at him for playing with fire (even though he was trying to tell her about his theory) and ran away from his home and sat down on a cushion of grass. He raised his arm to the heat of the sun, and inhaled.         

I absolutely have no idea on what I’m trying to do here, he thought. But maybe… if I could get this right…         

The sun was so hot that a small flame was lit on Chase's arm.         

He was amazed at the sight of it, the fire touching his skin, yet he felt no pain. The boy wondered what caused it, but then the fire on his skin had spread onto the whole arm.         

He got up in surprise as he tried to shake the fire off. He then patted his burning arm on the soft grass, but stopped and cursed as they too caught fire. He caught sight of a lake nearby, and he dashed to it.         

After the fire went out as he soaked his arm into the water, he went back to put out the burning grass. He stepped on the fire in an attempt to put it out, but failed miserably. He then tried to slowly grasp the flame with his hands, putting his scorching arm theory to the test.         

The fire on the grass was gone, as it was dancing on his hand. He didn’t understand it, but he thought of it as a pretty cool discovery. He let the flame roll between his fingers, and then he tossed it up and down like a ball. He couldn’t believe he was literally playing with fire.         

He raised it to the sun, and the flame grew bigger. He slowly closed his palm, and the flame died. Chase shook both of his hands, and smoke came out of them. He couldn’t wait to tell his mother about his discovery.         

But then he heard a gunshot. Chase turned around at the direction of the lake. There was nobody there, yet he was certain that the gun was fired yonder the lake. He started to quicken his pace. Then another gunshot was fired. Chase stopped at once. The sound was near him, and so was the gunman. He turned around to see a man swimming in the lake. He was holding a gun.         

“Hey!” The man called to him. Chase made a run for it, as fast as his legs could carry him. And then he tripped. Something grabbed his ankle, and it was wet. He turned to see a spout of water, flowing out of the soil, like the drinking fountains in his school. And before he could say anything else, the spout of water lunged at him, wrapping Chase’s hands like handcuffs.         

Chase tried to remove the water handcuffs, but the water bounded him surprisingly tight. It pulled him up and dragged him to the lake, where the man was slowly moving his hand towards him, as if he was controlling the spout of water. “That’s it,” he said as if he was a parent teaching his son how to walk.          

“What do you want?” Chase muttered. His spiky caramel hair gleamed like gold under the heat of the sun. His amber eyes were staring at the man with a gun, and noticing some features that he hadn’t noticed before. The man had scales on his cheeks. He also had tiny fins on his ears.         

The Amphibian seemed to notice Chase’s realization, as he smiled and said, “I’m one of you, Chase.” His green shirt was soaked, as well as his white board shorts and sandals.         

“What?” Chase said. He was still looking at the scales and fins.         

“Bah, you’re still too young to understand,” the Amphibian said. “By the way, the name’s Pryce. And this gun over here fires blanks, and I just used this to get your attention.” Pryce raised the gun in the air, and to his surprise, Chase kicked it from his hand.         

“Sterling hates the military. It reminds them of the Sterling war.”         

The Sterling war was a surprised civil war that started when a soldier threw a grenade at the town’s market. Then the army flowed across the town, shooting innocent people and sparing the children. Former General Havoc commanded the attack, but that was until he was shot by Chase’s grandfather, who was also in the army. The war ended there, and it took the town ten years to rebuild what they have lost.          

Then, Pryce winced and sunk in the lake. Chase pulled him up and saw a shuriken, a sharp five edged-steel weapon, pierced into his back. He yanked it out and the Amphibian took a deep breath. “What the hell was that?” Chase asked.         

Pryce’s eyes widened with fear. “He’s here.”         

“Who’s here?”         

Suddenly, another shuriken was thrown, nearly missing Chase’s nose. He cursed as the shuriken sunk into the water. He picked it up and touched the tip of the star with his finger. It bled, making him toss the weapon back to the water. He washed his wound, and then let his finger dry under the sun. The bleeding stopped, and the wound disappeared.         

Pryce must’ve sensed the follow-up shuriken, because he turned and a wall of water was made. Chase couldn’t believe it and he rubbed his eyes. “How’d you do that?”         

The Amphibian grinned. “I told ya, I’m one of you,” he raised his left leg, revealing a “XXXVI” tattoo – one like Chase’s on his right leg. Chase was awestruck, and before he could say anything, the throwing star got caught in the water wall. If it weren’t for the wall, Pryce’s forehead would have been pierced.         

“Stay behind the wall, Chase.” The Amphibian said. Chase followed him, soaking his black jeans and black Vans. When he crouched behind Pryce, his white shirt was also soaked, but he kept his arms up, careful not to touch the water.         

The next attack wasn’t a shuriken; it was a kick. The masked man kicked the wall, and the water wall broke. It narrowly missed the Amphibian’s head, and the man landed in front of Chase.         

“Now who is this guy?” The masked man asked. “Your friend?”         

Chase threw his fist at the man, but he was slow. Too slow. The next thing he knew, the man was behind him, patting his hand on Chase’s right shoulder. He whispered, “Too… slow.”         

He grabbed Chase’s arm, and no matter how hard Chase struggled, he couldn’t let go of his grip. Then he concentrated on his theory earlier, and his arm was on fire, making the masked man let go of his arm. His white gloves caught fire, but he simply yanked them off and tossed them to the water. The masked man cursed.         

Apparently, he was too distracted to see Pryce’s fist flying towards him. The punch connected, and the masked man staggered to maintain his balance. Pryce smiled and attempted a follow-up left hook, but the man saw it coming and countered it with an elbow, which missed as Pryce ducked. He tried an uppercut, but the man took a step back.         

While they were fighting, Chase picked up a blood-stained shuriken – the one that pierced Pryce’s back. He inhaled, and then threw it, hoping his throwing skills were accurate enough. The shuriken was only able to scratch the masked man’s nose. He drew his attention to Chase, and after one swift kick that knocked the lights out of Pryce, he lunged at the boy.         

Chase concentrated again, both hands at the direction of the masked man. Then, two fire balls shot out like cannons, and they hit the man’s chest. He was thrown back, and then his unconscious body sunk. Chase looked at his hands, wondering how the heck he was able to do that.         

He ran towards Pryce, whose body was being pushed by the waves. He shook the Amphibian, and he woke up. He rose and scratched his head, and the twosome went to the masked man’s body.         

The masked man slowly rose and took a step back as he saw the two boys. He winced, clutching his stomach. The fire balls tore through his jacket, and his stomach was the color of charcoal. He cursed and kicked the water, splashing them to their faces. Then, he fled.