ic Pitching In

[BlazingCoconut]

GM:

Shortly afterwards, Zhu had returned Jack back to the administrative offices for him to finish getting registered at the school and SFX and Rev had proceeded to go about their day, enjoying the Sunday afternoon.  However, as they discussed, that evening the trio met together to check out a local bowling alley aptly titled, 'Lucky Strike'.  It was a decent place, clean enough with a bar and large pool area and enough lanes to accommodate the regular leagues as well as the inevitable crowd from Claremont.  Inside it was dark, with a pulsing beat of classic rock powering a decent light display.  The 16 lanes were pristine wood and the food was far better than expected, touting several delectable methods of consuming dead animals and fat soaked potatoes!  

 

The only lane open when the trio arrived was lane 13, which they were able to rent without waiting too long.  The remnants of a league were just leaving, making room for families and people who were there for the food and a drink or so.  Renting the wonderful shoes, and finding rental balls took them some time as they finally made their way towards the lane where the evening's activities would begin.

[Supercape]

Rev

 

Whilst the thought of bowling was exciting, whilst the thought of hurling a ball at rocket speeds with mechanically powered cyborg arms was awesome. Well, it was cheating. 

 

Rev had been racing cars at sixteen. It was a competition. Whilst one might bend the rules, outright cheating - it rankled. You wouldn't race a V8 against a mobility scooter. 

 

"Look guys, I mean, this is cool and all. But, you know how hard I can throw a bowling ball, right? I mean, it don't quite seem like a fair game" she said, shrugging and looking away when she saw the balls. 

 

"I'd love to play, but hey, I'm not sure I can!"

[BlazingCoconut]

"I did some calculations," Alexa said to Rev, leaning up close to her friend to whisper in her ear, "I don't think you'll shatter the pins unless you really throw as hard as you can.  They don't have much in the way of friction on their base to do much other than have them fly around because the ball has a lot of surface area relative to where it hits the pin.  I mean, you might break one, but I'm sure you'll be fine.  Besides, this is something I have wanted to do ever since I saw the Big Lebowski.  It's so American!  I mean, I should be wearing a poodle skirt, right?"

 

She grabbed both of Rev's hands and gave her best puppy dog look, "pleaaaaaase play.  Please, please, please!  I don't mind if you win... although I bet Jack can throw a ball pretty hard too."

[Supercape]

Rev

 

Rev didn't really need encouragement, she just needed to get that off her chest. 

 

"Sure, sure. I bet Jack can handle his balls really well!" she said with a wink at Jack. In any case, the guy looked strong enough to lift and throw an Ox. 

 

She only understood half of what SFX said, but is sure sounded cool. "And you know, I think you are right about the friction analysis of the Rsquared Dsquared" she said, nodding in agreement without knowing what she was talking about (other than knowing that she did not know). "You got the brains! Hard core maths, man!" she completed with encouragament, giving SFX a high five. 

 

She took up a ball and hefted it. "I can sure give this a go!" she said, with a smile, and proceeded to hurl the ball down the bowling lane. She only sued a small part of her strength, but the ball still shot out like a cannonball, smashing into the pins with juddering first. 

 

"Bullseye!" said Rev, pumping her fist. 

[Jack]

Finding shoes in his size had always been an issue, and this place had been no exception. Fortunately the clerk behind the counter had managed to find a pair big enough for him. This part of the game, Jack did not like. His feet had never been comfortable in shoes. If his feet could have been claustrophopbic, they would have been. He slipped the shoes on and tested them, not feeling very comfortable as he walked around. "I do not know how you wear shoes all time..." Jack muttered to the ladies while he found a ball with sufficent hand holes for his large fingers. "These balls are all too light..." he commented, picking the heavyiest ball he could find, but still not being satisfied with it completely.

 

Jack watched as Rev went first after Alexa had inputted all of their names. He nodded with approval at her throw. "Da you seem to be natural at this game." he commented as she returned to her seat. He stood and grabbed the lightweight ball and rolled it down the lane as he had seen in movies. It shot down the lane, not wuite as fast as Rev's had, but with enough force that al lthe pins decided not to stay upright. He flashed Rev a grin on the way back to his seat. "It seem I can handle balls very well indeed..."

[BlazingCoconut]

"Seriously!" Alexa groaned as both Jack and Rev proceeded to smash pins, "you two need to get a room just so I don't have to hear the innuendo!"  She was smiling as she said it, even if her cheeks flared red on their own accord.  Thankfully, she was getting a little less embarrassed by the frequent comments, although she still wasn't anywhere near the point which she could contribute.  Getting out of the chair, she walked up to the carousel and picked up her 10 pound ball, which still seemed overly heavy to her.  The other two had certainly made things look easy and it had given her confidence that she could do something very similar.  

 

Stepping up to the lane, her hips swayed a bit as she took several steps towards the fault line.  Lifting the ball backwards she propelled her arm forwards, only to hear a very loud smack as she lost her grip and the ball fell behind her, rolling under the seats into the lane besides them.  She paused looking at the ball, covering her face as her embarrassment was far greater than it had been.  Walking over to the lane, she sheepishly looked at the four guys there, "sorry..."

Edited January 24, 2018 by BlazingCoconut

[BlazingCoconut]

GM:

Unfortunately for Alexa, her ball had distracted the guy bowling next to her.  He walked back to the scoring table with barely controlled anger plastered all over his face and his body posture rigid.  Muscles strained the tight tee shirt he wore as blood vessels on his forehead popped out as he ground his teeth.  The screen above him flashed 8 pins in the 10th frame.  While that might have been decent for the amateur Zhu, the preceding 9 strikes told a very different story about a very special game.  A perfect game ruined in the 10th frame.

 

As Zhu stepped up to the group and apologized, his anger crested, "what the hell was that?!  That was your ball?!  Do they let uncoordinated children in here now?  Damnit!  You just blew my perfect game you dumb b*#@$!"

 

"Dude," one of the other guys, "let it go, look at her, with those noodle arms and pointed eyes it's no wonder she dropped it.  Totally not worth the effort."

 

"No!" the angry guy shouted, spittle from his anger spraying all over the now shocked Zhu.  "This stupid piece of foreign trash needs to make it up to me!  You know there's a progressive pool on a perfect game and it's at 2500 bucks now.  I'm taking that out of her!"

[Jack]

Jack surpressed a smile. He had never seen someone drop the ball in such a way before, but he felt bad for Alexa all the same. "Fear not lil'one...you will do better next time." He said reassuringly as she made her way to the next lane and apologized.

 

Jack sensed the tension in the lane even before they spoke, his animal instincts picking up on the predetory nature of the men, or at least of the one man. His body went on high alert as the man spoke, and he felt an anger enter into him, which he could barely contain. These dogs were threating someone that belonged to him...they dared to challenge his territory...?!

 

Jack took a breath, knowing this was his beast's thinking. He calmly stood, towering over the men as he walked up behind Alexa, gently pushing her behind him. "Is there problem here, Gentleman?" He asked in his accented English. "My friend has already apologize for her accident..."

[Supercape]

Rev

 

For her part, Rev picked up a bowling ball and raised her eyebrows. 

 

What was this guys beef?

 

It was hopefully a flash in the pan. But it was not necessarily so. Things could get ugly. But for her part, she had no fear. Titanium steel subdermal armour tended to give one a sense of confidence. It was not the anger or threat or fear that made her boil, however, it was the implied racial slur. 

 

OK. Not perhaps strictly racist,  but that xenophobia, that "Foreign trash" vibe. 

 

She bit her lip. It was hard to call the man out. And she didn't want to get into trouble. She didn't need that. 

 

But hell, she couldn't back down. 

 

"Cool your jets, big man" she told him in a loud voice. "Its my friends first time bowling. This stuff happens. We all gotta roll with it..."

[BlazingCoconut]

GM:

 

As Jack stepped up, the very angry bowler grabbed Zhu, keeping her next to him as he vented his anger.  While he held the very surprised Zhu's arm, his angry shouts were directed at Jack and Rev with his other hand pointing directly at Jack's chest, "hey roid boy!  Take your chemical body and sit it down while I'm getting the money that's owed me out of this stupid slant eyed Ch*&^.  Not sure how they even let people like her in this country anyway, but that don't matter.  My $2500 does and this ain't your business.  As for you," he snarled at Rev, "take your stupid bowling puns and stuff it!"

 

The other three guys who were bowling with him stood up in a show of solidarity.  They were a motley group that looked like someone had rammed N'Sync together with Alice in Chains.  They were all in their late teens, sporting scraggly beards and weird hair along with their preppie grunge attire.  None of them were as built as the guy screaming at Zhu, Lexa and Jack, but they did look like they'd seen their way around a weight room before.  While they all backed up their partner, at least one of them didn't look quite so thrilled with what was going on.

 

He went so far as to say, "Mike, it's not worth it.  Let it go, I bowl here every Sunday and don't want to get kicked out.  If it's the money, I got a score coming in anyway."

 

Mike, the apparently angered bowler, turned his head slightly, "you whipped piece of chicken sh&#.  You know the code!"

 

The admonished youth sighed, "yeah... I do"  Although his heart didn't seem into it.

One of the other three, a tall lanky guy with the sides of his head shaved and a rather impressive pompadour paired with his designer torn jeans and concert tee shirt grinned wickedly, "bros before hos!  Come on Mike, get the cash or take the girl, she totally owes you and I can think of lots of ways to repay!"

 

[Supercape]

Rev

 

This was way out of line. It was getting physical, the slurs were getting hideous, and Zhu was getting frightened (by Rev's estimation). 

 

She took the bowling ball in both hands and gazed like stone at the gang of four. 

 

"You just stepped on to a road of pain, fellas" she said, voice low. It was not loud. When things got real scary, people didn't scream and shout. 

 

"You got one chance to step off it. And you gotta step off it now. I know what you are feeling, you don't want to lose face. You don't want to back down. That would sting, yeah? Sting bad"

 

She squeezed the bowling ball in her fingers. It cracked, splintered, and came apart like a soft boiled egg, full of shards and dust that fell to the ground. 

 

"But if you don't step off this road, and apologise, and suck up that feeling. Then you are going to lose your face in a whole different way. And its going to sting in a whole different way...."

[Jack]

Jack's eyes were becoming cold and ferral as the beast struggled to be let out and tear into those who would dare challenge it. His eyes flicked from the hand holding Alexa to the man's eyes. "Let. Her. Go. Now." Jack said in a angry growl, his voice menacing. His anger was beginning to boil inside of him and he clenched his fingers so tightly the cracking of his knuckles was audible. 

 

"Ty ne lyubish' menya, serdityy..." Jack said in Russian. Reverting to his native language was a habit he fell into when he was very angry, the phrase roughly translated to "You won't like me angry". He took a step in their direction.

[BlazingCoconut]

Zhu winced as the thug grabbed at her arm.  Of course, the goon just happened to grab her wrist and the crack from the sensitive electronics was a horrific sound to her ears.  Instantly, her interface to the botnet vanished and while she could communicate with any one of the nanobots, until she could repair the damage, she wouldn't be able to rely on their brand of magic.  Still, while her friends had gone totally and convincingly bad ass, she tried her best to placate the angry bowler.

 

"I'm sure I can get some money to replace..."

[BlazingCoconut]

GM:

 

Zhu never finished her statement.  As the remnants of the bowling ball dropped from Rev's hands and Jack's looming presence advanced on the wanna be boy band, the originally reluctant thug held up his hands saying, "hey, it's cool, we don't want any..."  Both his posture and partial comments were mirrored by a second of the thugs who practically tripped over his colorful shoes in his haste to back up from the heated situation.

 

Yet none of them got to finish what they might have intended as without warning, a powerful wave of force blasted from Scary Thug as he screamed, "freaks and immigrants all over the place, ruining things for hard working people everywhere!"  The force slammed into Zhu, Rev and Jack like a hammer.  The blast, cone shaped, seemed to emanate from his outstretched hand and was a wave of kinetic energy that thankfully dissipated fast enough to just knock people in the next several lanes over as bowlers and equipment scattered like a shotgun blast.

 

Unable to coordinate her botnet, Zhu crumpled under the powerful blast, going limp and tumbling along the floor as her size and natural toughness was not match for the attack without her technological innovations.

Edited January 24, 2018 by BlazingCoconut

[BlazingCoconut]

GM:

The reverberations of the concussive blast echoed through the bowling alley as Mike stood there muscles flexed and a stupid grin on his face, "oh yeah!" he snarled!  

 

Seeing the massive Jack stunned and reeling in front of him played right to his sadistic and egotistical nature, a true Napoleon complex at work.  "Now!  That's what I call a strike!  Knock them all down and they don't get up!"

 

For a second, he looked around, the original target of his ire was no longer in arms reach, having been blasted several lanes down.  Looking around he frowned, "where did the g^^& go?"

 

Pompadour, who had been so ready to egg his companion on, looked at the destruction, "oh man... you really did it.  I didn't think you were going to actually do it!"

[Supercape]

Rev

 

What the freaking freak?

 

Rev was quick, her arms up, her face turned. But this was a shocking move, and she felt duly shocked. She took one step back and felt the force rip through her body. Tracks of gel skin flew of her arms revealing the bright and chrome limbs underneath.

 

Her hair got ruffled. This was upsetting. 

 

"Zhu!" was her first response, seeing her friend tumble across the bowling alley. She felt a dual surge of worry and fury. 

 

"You'll be remembering this day for a long time!" she said through gritted teeth. 

 

The gel skin split on her arms as both elongated out to a couple of dozen feet. 

 

Whoa!

 

She forgot how tricky it was to use her limbs like this. She hadn't had much practice, really. But for what its worth, she tried to shove one steel shiny fist into the bullies jaw...

 

 

[BlazingCoconut]

GM:

Posh Thug, his pompadour wiggling made a decision.  If there was going to be a throw down, he was in.  Besides, his mate had already cleared the riff-raff, all that was needed was a little clean up action.  His wind up was longer than Daisuke Matsuzaka's and his punch telegraphed enough that even the slightly woozy man-bear could avoid it.  His fist smacked down, right into Scary Thug's back, causing the angry man to holler, "what the hell!  Get it together or I'm going to splatter you all over the walls too!"  Sadly for Posh, getting it together was going to be more than simple as he tried to regain his balance and mojo all at once!

[Jack]

Jack felt the blow like 20 sledgehammers hit him squarely in the chest. It made him take a couple steps back and fall to one knee. The force of the blow stunned him. This was the first time he had faced power of this magnitude, and the surprise of it had caught him off gaurd. He hadn't expected to find another superhuman. He had thought they were just average patrons of the bowling alley. He had expected them to back down and leave Alexa alone.

 

He shook his head, his ears ringing a lil from the concussion of force. His beast howled with anger and demanded to be let loose upon these men. And Jack was ready to let go of his control...

[BlazingCoconut]

GM:

As the blasts echoed through the hall, the two reluctant thugs hastily backed up, tripping over the benches behind them, and ironically breaking them.  

 

"Mike!  What the hell are you doing?" one called even as the other yelped as he went head over heels.  

 

"Whatever I want too.  I'm sick of hiding when immigrants and criminals can come and do what they want... and now I'm going to pound this metal armed freak!"  As he spoke he moved through the wreckage of chairs and the scoring table.  He went to punch Rev, his hands moving in blur as waves of force emanated off them cracking the concrete floor as his blow sailed by the feisty teen.  "Damnit!  Sit still you abomination, it'll all be over soon!"

 

As the battle started in earnest, the first screams of fear and pain from the other patrons began!

Edited February 6, 2018 by BlazingCoconut

[Supercape]

Rev

 

"Oh boy...this is going to hurt" said Rev. She hoped it would be the thugs. 

 

She whipped her arm around the nearest thug. "Ill show you some real bowling action. With your bones. I can't really use your skull. Too small. Too hollow" she japed as her arm coiled like a snake. 

 

"Now then, I know you are close to your friends..." she continued, hoisting him high like he was a stuffed animal. 

 

"And I'd like to get you real close..." she shouted as she threw him into another of the thugs that seemed - at least superficially - to be standing up with his friend. 

 

"After all, this is a bowling alley!"

[BlazingCoconut]

GM:

Posh thug had just held up his arms in a classic street brawler style when Rev got her coils around him.  For the second time in minutes, the pompadour wearing thug collided with his frothing companion.  Unlike the last time, the explosion of limbs and bodies was catastrophic.  The impact from the collision sent both of the hooligans flying backwards where they hit the varnished lanes with meaty thuds and skidded out of control down the wooden expanse.  Their trip was short lived as they collided violently with the pins at the end of the lane sending them all over with a crash that might have generated winces from anyone who observed it.

 

The video scoreboard above the wreckage of their table played a very sad face as an animated ball raced down the lane only to have the pins dodge out of the way at the last moment.  The cute music was followed by the number 8 and then a graphic showing the lane registered the dreaded 7-10 split. 

 

Scary and Posh lay in a heap at the end of the lane, wondering quite what had happened as the pins rained back down on them.  There was moaning as both boys attempted to get back to their feet and managed to barely do so as they wobbled uncertainly on the slick wooden floor.  Scary managed to grunt something which sounded like, "I hope you eat fish!"  However, historians from the future might question the accuracy of that statement and corrected it to, "You're going to eat my fist!" in Rev's biography "Live Fast." subtitled "There's nothing more, just Live Fast."

 

Of the four, Ginger was the only one still on his feet as he ran out of the alley, deciding that discretion was indeed the better part of valour.  Baby thug, looked up at Jack and kept slithering back, performing an admirable rendition of the popular grade school activity, crab walk.  In fact, had his primary school gym teacher been there, he would have complimented the young man both on his form and speed as he scuttled away from the combat.

Edited February 6, 2018 by BlazingCoconut

[Jack]

The ringing stopped so suddenly as he felt his body beginning to change. Normally he had always fought the urge...but as his eyes took in the crumbled, unconscious form of Alexa...a fire sprung into his eyes. He moved until the remaining thug's eyes were locked into his. He gave the thug a murderous glare as he let the bear spirit consume him.

 

The change was never pleasant, to watch or to experience. Jack felt the pain of every fiber of his being being torn apart and put back together. He let out a roar of anger and pain as he removed his hoodie. His muscles rippled and tore under his skin as they expanded rapidly. His skin split in places, showing the red muscle beneath before they covered over again. 

 

In the spare of mere seconds he skin and muscles tore and repaired themselves hundreds of times, adding well over half a ton of muscle and a good five feet in height. There was audible popping and cracking sounds as his bones twisted and contorted, breaking and reforming to accommodate his increasing mass.

 

His teeth sharperened into fangs and his skull twisted and stretched into the maw of a Polar Bear. His fingers and toes elongated and his nails turned into the razorblades that we're his claws. His skin darkened into a pitch black just before white fur sprouted from his skin, covering him head to toe in white. Standing erect, he still retained a humanoid appearance instead of resembling a bear on it's hind legs.

 

Through all this, Jack had kept his eyes locked on the thug scooting desperately away from him, reminding himself the reason for his pain and anger. With the transformation finished, the pain receded, but the animal rage remained. Jack stood towering over everyone, standing a full 11 feet. His chest heaved with the effort of changing and he stared down at the thug. His voice, when it came, was deep and gravelly. "If you want to survive this...you had better run." He punctuated his pronouncement to the thug with a hearty growl.

[BlazingCoconut]

GM

Baby thug's impeccable form could only hold for so long.  In the face of the towering bear he fell on his butt and just cowered, "holy cr%^$!  I didn't do nothing!"  Ginger, had be not already been motivated to run away, already was moving as fast as he could.  Still, prime athletes often talking about finding that other gear, Ginger found that gear as he streaked to the door with a determined burst of speed and the desire to not be lunch.

Edited January 27, 2018 by BlazingCoconut

[Supercape]

Rev

 

Rev, for her part, was not worried about the two runners. They may not have been pleasant and delightful individuals, but they hadn't actually attacked Zhu or the others. The real culprit looked pretty banged up. 

 

Her attention thus focused on "Posh", who was not, clearly, as antagonistic as the thug who had slammed them around, but on the other hand was still in her bad books. 

 

Not enough to punch in the face. But still in the her bad books. 

 

She did an elegant flip on one arm - sort of a roll, really, when it was extended out so far, and then whipped her other arm around at ground level, intending to wrap up the Posh thug good and tight. 

 

"I don't want to hurt you...much...but I'm not going to let you guys throw us around, huh? And I would really like to know where guys like you get super powers from...."

[BlazingCoconut]

GM

If Posh had any superpowers, they certainly were not related to grappling or apparently fighting in general, given how easily Rev wrapped him up.  He grunted in her arms as he struggled ineffectually, "I'm no meta!  I'm just protecting my friends!"

 

While his wild thrashing was impressive, in the end, he remained exactly where he started, wrapped up and unable to budge from the speedsters grasp.