So, this is awkward…
Okay, so this story will now be four chapters instead of three, only cause I felt that the story needed more characterisation, considering that I am writing for a character that's not as fully-fleshed out as Enid, Rad, or K.O. or such (not to say I hate writing for Drupe, but it does prove to be somewhat of a challenge for me), hence why I slightly delayed this chapter.
Additionally, while writing this, I had also formed an idea on my Overwatch fic "Skirmish" and wound up writing that on top of this one. Plus, I was busy yesterday b/c it was my grandmother's birthday, so I got sidetracked for most of the day, so basically, if this chapter seems to rushed or forced to you guys, I'm very sorry and I'll make sure the next chapter are better!
Still, I hope ya'll enjoyed your Labor Day weekend! So let's see if what entails for Drupe during Rad's training session...
OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes is owned by Ian Jones-Quartey and Cartoon Network. (I do not own of its characters nor its properties. This is purely a non-profit fanfic made for fun).
FRAGARIA FIGHTER
CHAPTER TWO: DRUPE'S DEXTERITY
The stage was all set for Rad to begin training Drupe and to find out what powers she may have. Rad had used his levitation powers to set up some wooden planks and cinder blocks together in a row. Drupe, who stood aside as Rad was working his magic, tried boosting up her confidence by giving herself a little pep talk.
'Okay, Drupe, this is just a little practice session. Just to see what you can do to be a real hero. Besides...what's the worst that could happ-?'
"So, are ya ready, Drupe?"
Rad's remark broke Drupe from her thoughts with a startled "EEP!" before the strawberry girl managed to regain her composure.
"Y-Yeah, sure thing, Rad…" she mumbled softly. Rad nodded and began his lesson.
"Now, the first thing into finding about your true power is through concentration. Try and keep your mind centered and focused when attempting to hone your skills…" encouraged Rad.
He lifted up his index finger. "Like so…" he stated, closing his eyes tightly.
Pointing towards the old dumpster located next to the store, Rad gave out a calm sigh and breathed softly, his mind clear and focused. Drupe watched on in curiosity as Rad's focused energy began to resonate from his mind, his atenneas perking up and glowing a bright white color.
Soon enough, a purple stream of light exploded from Rad's pointer finger, and as the dumpster was now engulfed in a cocoon of purple energy, the alien stock boy slowly levitated the dumpster, a few feet into the sky. Rad opened his eyes, looked up at the hovering dumpster, and chuckled smugly at his awesomeness. Drupe gaped at the spectacle in awe.
"How're you able to do that?" she asked curiously.
"Through deep concentration and brain waves...", explained Rad nonchalantly as he twirled the dumpster in the air, "Many natives from Planet X have this ability and can handle it with ease…"
After a minute of levitation, Rad dropped the dumpster back in its spot with an unceremonious thud, sending bits of trash inside flying out from impact. He dusted off his hands and flashed a smile towards Drupe.
"Now, let's see if you can do exactly what I did. Just remember to balance your stance and your mind..." offered Rad. Drupe gripped her fists and gave him a determined nod.
She took a few steps forward and stared at the dumpster in silent concentration. Closing her eyes, she tried to keep her breathing steady and her stance tight and tense, attempting to clear her mind and to focus on using her potential powers.
Unfortunately, no matter what she did, whether it was reaching out her hand or saying some sort of magic word, the dumpster stayed where it was.
After two minutes of serious contemplation, Drupe opened his eyes and loosened up with an annoyed sigh.
"Ugh, well...that didn't work…" grumbled Drupe. Despite her situation, Rad gave Drupe an encouraging smile.
"No worries, Drupe. Maybe telekinesis isn't your main power." he assured, "We just gotta keep trying to find out what you can do…"
Drupe shrugged half-heartedly. "I suppose…but I don't see what good it'll come from it..."
Rad scoffed good-heartedly. "Now, that's quitter talk, Drupe. Everyone's gotta have some sort of special power!" Drupe rolled her eyes.
"I'm not a quitter, Rad! But seriously, I come from a family of fruit beings, I doubt I can conjure up ice or fire powers or use levitation powers like you do…" scoffed Drupe, kicking her feet in annoyance. Rad understood her dilemma and hummed thoughtfully.
"I guess you're right…" he murmured softly, scratching his chin. Rad pondered for a second before settling on a new idea.
"Well, maybe if you can't do conjuring abilities, maybe physical combat is your speciality."
Drupe went wide-eyed and jolted back in horror. "Physical combat!?" she parroted back.
Rad, undeterred from her apparent disgust, simply smiled. "Yep, which is why I set up these wooden boards to practice karate chopping." he clarified, moving back to reveal three boards held up with some cinder blocks.
Drupe looked at the boards and couldn't help but to cringe. 'Karate chopping?' she thought incredulously.
It only took a few seconds before Drupe made her decision.
"Yeaaahhh, no, I ain't busting up my manicure to do karate, thank you very much." she stated, crossing her arms and looking away in a huff.
Rad gave her a funny look. "Seriously, Drupe? I thought you were serious about doing training?"
"I am," she replied curtly, "but I am not risking busting my nails while doing karate! My manicurist would flip her lid if I came to the salon with busted nails and scratched fingers…"
It was Rad's turn to roll his eyes this time as he suppressed the urge to groan, but he still kept his composure.
"Okay...maybe we can try karate kicks instead of chops?" he offered tiredly, gesturing towards another plank again.
Drupe broke away from her self-righteousness and looked back at the board, a thoughtful look on her face. Deciding that maybe that could work, she walked up to one of the planks and readied her stance.
She took a deep breath, lifted her left leg high in the air for a full second, exhaled, swooped it straight down on the board...
*THUNK!*
"YE-OUCH!"
And after one hard smack against the board, Drupe found herself gripping her throbbing, sore heel and was now hobbling back and forth in pain, wincing and mentally cursing to herself. Rad helped Drupe keep her balance and could only give out a sigh once he saw that the board was still in one piece.
"This may be a little harder than I thought…" he murmured worriedly. Suddenly...
"RADICLES!"
The thunderous, agitated roar of Rad's boss from inside the bodega practically sent both Rad and Drupe tumbling down on their backsides, as both teens trembled fightfully on the ground with Rad's Level 11 behemoth of a boss walked towards them, looming over the two like an angry building. Rad gulped bravely.
"Y-Y-Yeah, boss?" he asked, sweating dripping from his brow.
"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO CHANGE THE LIGHT BULBS, YOUNG MAN!" he boomed authoritatively, his face as red as an apple. Rad grew defensive.
"B-But I did change the light bulbs, sir! Really!" he replied honestly. Mr. Gar, unconvinced, pointed towards the bodega with a veiny, bulky arm.
"Then, explain this…" he growled furiously. Rad and Drupe looked towards his direction.
*BING-BONG!*
The bodega doors slid open to reveal the shattered light bulb and dented light cover shown clearly on the floor. Realizing that he was found out, Rad cringed softly.
"And I also don't remember issuing you to go on break so you can go and make a mess in the parking lot, NOW GET ALL THIS CLEANED UP THIS INSTANT!" roared Mr. Gar, before stomping back inside and back to his office.
Rad picked himself and Drupe back on their feet, before letting out an unhappy groan.
"Sorry, Drupe. Looks like practice is over for the day…" he murmured upsettingly, dusting himself off.
Drupe seemed to be upset at this news as well. After an afternoon of fretting and self-doubt, she was finally getting serious about this whole "being a true hero" ordeal and wanting to prove her worth to Red Action. But naturally, it was over before it started. Feeling quite dejected, Drupe decided it was best to just give up and go home.
"If you say so, Rad…" she sighed, before turning her heel and getting ready to head back home. However, Rad's voice caused her ears to perk up a bit.
"But, hey. If ya want, we can pick this up tomorrow if ya want. The bodega's closed on Sunday, so we can meet back here and continue our trainin' if ya like!" offered Rad kindly, as he quickly cleaned away the trash and planks with his telekinesis.
Drupe's eyes went wide, and aside from the anxious feeling about actually fighting still lingering in her heart, she managed to flash a happy, albeit nervous grin towards Rad.
"Y-Yeah, sure thing!" she replied back. Rad returned the smile and gave her a thumbs up..
"Let's meet back here at 12 noon and we'll continue training…" he said, to which Drupe agreed and they both departed with a friendly goodbye.
As Rad stepped back into the bodega to clean up his mess, Drupe breathed in a fresh gasp of air and continued on with her inner pep talk.
'Okay, so today may have not been productive, but we got all day tomorrow to figure myself out…' Drupe thought to herself as positively as she could, 'Maybe tomorrow might be more enlightening…'
However, I'm sorry to say that the next day proved to be more or less the same as yesterday. Both Drupe and Rad were milling around the empty bodega parking lot, trying many methods for Drupe to explore what powers she may possess. They tried other forms of power conjuring like tai chi, shadow boxing, breathing exercises, meditation, summoning, elaborate hand movements and gestures...
They even tried out a bunch of foods and drinks that helps someone get a special power-up move, but sadly, nothing seemed to be working!
As patient and encouraging as Rad was being while training Drupe, even he began to feel slightly tired trying to find out what Drupe's special power was.
It wasn't until 2:00PM until they were both were now out of ideas to try and find Drupe's power moves. Drupe, feeling more down than ever, made sure her indignations were heard.
"Ugh, this is absolutely hopeless, Rad! At this rate, I'll never find out my true power!" she whined helplessly.
Rad frowned upsettingly at her friend's negativity. Despite the fact that he was tired and running out of ideas on how to find her powers, he still wanted to help out Drupe with her problem. Unfortunately, Drupe's insecurity was still very much high and her patience was wearing thin.
"Don't be like that, Drupe!" said Rad worriedly, "There's gotta be something we haven't tried yet!"
"Rad, we went through every method and technique in the book to help harness my power! Yoga, breathing, push-ups, even trying those special power-up foods didn't work!" she griped.
Rad stroked his chin thought. "Yeah, maybe trying out that candy bar that gives you fire breath wasn't that great an idea to begin with…" he commented, looking down at his burnt crop top with an awkward frown. Drupe groaned frustratingly.
"L-Let's face it, Rad…" she said finally, "Maybe I'm not cut out for this hero thing after all."
She leaned against the dumpster in a pathetic slump. Rad walked up to her in hopes to cheer her up.
"Drupe, please! I know you have the potential to be a hero, really! We just need to work harder to find out-"
"Find out what, Rad!?" snapped Drupe in a more hostile tone, "That I'm a pathetic sadsack of a hero with no chance to ever meet Red Action's standards!? That she'll probably break ties with my friendship knowing I'll never be as good as her!?
Rad grew nervous and scared upon seeing Drupe so angry. He backed away carefully, his eyes fixed on Drupe's nasty glare.
"Drupe, that's crazy talk! You know Red wouldn't end your friendship because of something like that!" he tried to reason, but Drupe still wasn't having it.
"Yes, she would! Here she is galavanting off with those Hue Troop fighters and here I am standing in the background, forgotten and worthless. Just admit it, Rad! I was never destined to be as perfect and strong like you and your friends!" she grumbled disdainfully.
"Drupe, that's not what I thought at al-"
*BANG!*
"OH, GEEZ!"
Rad knew Drupe was incredibly upset about her situation, but he didn't think she would actually begin punching the dumpster behind her, regardless if she messed up her manicure or not.
"There's a good reason why I'm still and will always be a Level 0, Rad, and do you know why?" she accused, looking towards the stunned blue alien as she kept continuing her punches. Rad only gawked nervously at his upset friend.
"Drupe, please, I-"
"The reason is it's because I am a lousy excuse of a hero with no real talents, because I straight up suck at everything that I do!"
With that said, Drupe immediately threw back her right arm to land one more hard punch against the trash bin, and just as the punch swiftly and harshly connected...
*WHIP!* *SMASH!*
...all that was left in silence, the only thing being said was Rad letting out a surprised and prolonged gasp.
Drupe breathed heavily, her face reddened with frustration, and looked back up to Rad's shell-shocked expression. She raised an annoyance eyebrow.
"What?" was all she asked. Rad simply pointing a finger to his left, in the direction towards the dumpster.
She managed to break away from her self-loathing to look to her right and let out a startled squeak upon the sight of what just happened.
There, in place of her right arm, was a long, thorn-covered, whip-like vine, extending out from her shoulder. It had the same density as a regular old rope, but felt stronger than a metal chain. The other end of the vine whip would up piercing right through the dumpster, now giving it a decent-sized hole on the front side.
Both teens were too gobsmacked to even utter a single word before Rad finally attempted to break the tension.
"Drupe...how...why...when did…" stammered Rad, clearly dumbfounded by this new discovery. Drupe blushed heavily and shambled away from Rad in embarrassment.
"N-N-Now, Rad. I-It's not what you think! I-I didn't mean to lose my temper, I'm sorr-"
"Drupe, that was AWESOME!"
Drupe blinked. "Excuse me?" she asked.
Rad smiled broadly as he walked over to his friend. "Drupe, that was an awesome attack! I-I never knew you can do something like that!"
Drupe, stunned by Rad's praise, could only stammer helplessly. While she was doing that, the vine managed to break loose from the dumpster and swiftly unfurl and morph back into Drupe's normal arm.
"Well, I mean...I-I just didn't think to use it, I-I guess…" she murmured, shying away once again. Rad looked over to her with confused eyes.
"You didn't think? You mean you knew about these powers all along?" he beckoned. Drupe looked back towards Rad and rubbed her right arm in shame.
"Y-Yeah, but it usually happens when I'm provoked. Surprisingly, it doesn't happen very often, so I sometimes forget about it...I-I'm really sorry for being so angry, Rad…"
Rad gently grabbed hold of Drupe's shoulders before she wound up going into hysterics and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Drupe, Drupe, it's okay, really! Besides, I think this can be the answer to your dilemma…" he assured.
Drupe wiped away an upset tear. "W-What does that mean?" she asked softly.
"It's means that we may have found your special power…" confirmed Rad with a proud smile.
Sobered up from her depression, hearing those words fly out of Rad's mouth finally succeeded in making Drupe a genuinely happy grin.
"Y-You really think so, Rad?" she asked in a soft, awestruck voice. Rad nodded, his smile never leaving his face.
"I don't think, I know..." he stated officially. Suddenly, another idea formed in Rad's head. He snapped his fingers and eyed towards his purple van parked close by from the store.
"Hang on for a sec, Drupe! There's somethin' I wanna test!" he called out. Soon enough, he bolted towards his vehicle and began rummaging through the back seat for something. Drupe stood by, confused and curious as to what Rad was planning.
Rad soon arrived back, levitating a small box with his telekinesis. Dropping the box next to Drupe, he quickly opened the box for her to look inside.
Drupe tilted her head and gave Rad a funny look upon seeing what the box contained.
"Old soda cans?" she asked confusedly.
"Yep, but we will be using them as target practice to test the reflexes on your vine whips!" clarified Rad, now using his telekinesis to line up eleven empty cans alongside the top of the dumpster.
"Now, see if you can use your vines to snare one of the cans and reel it back towards you…" instructed Rad. Drupe inhaled bravely and walked in front of the dumpster again, keeping her posture poised and straight.
Keeping her mind clear, she raised her right arm again and began to concentrate on summoning her power. To her surprise, it actually worked as her arm turned into a vine again and shot forwards its target...
*WHIP!* *SMASH!*
Or, at least, close to its target as the vine wound up puncturing another hole in the dumpster.
Drupe grunted softly and reeled back her vine. She tried shooting another one again, in which it was aimed for one of the cans this time, but the whip only managed to knock away the can instead of grabbing.
Rad decided to step in before Drupe could get frustrated again.
"Just relax, Drupe! Just loosen your muscles and focus your energy on grabbing a can…" he instructed calmly. Drupe took in another breath of fresh air and was ready to try again.
For the first nine tries, all Drupe has managed to do was only flick away the cans with her whips in all directions, but even with her attempted to grab a single can proved fruitless, she still kept her composure and didn't plan on giving up just yet.
With only one empty can left standing on the dumpster's end, Drupe narrowed her eyes and kept her breathing steady and her focus aligned on the can and the can alone. Throwing back her hand once again, she tossed another whip towards the can...
*WHIP!* *CRUNCH!*
And to Drupe and Rad's delight, the vine had successfully lassoed around the can, gripping firmly against the metal container. Drupe reeled the can back with her regular arm and giggled joyously.
"Rad! I did it! I actually did it!" she cheered, bouncing on her feet and lifted up the can for him to see. Rad chortled happily and ran up to Drupe, engulfing her with a big bear hug.
"Way to go, Drupe! I knew you could do it!" he congratulated sincerely, swinging Drupe around without a care in the world.
The laughter and hugging lasted for a full half-minute before Rad and Drupe released their hug.
"You see, Drupe! I told ya that you have potential to be a hero!" reminded Rad. Drupe tittered in return.
"I guess I do!" she giggled, feeling as if a giant weight has been lifted off from her shoulders.
Suddenly, it was Drupe's turn to form an idea as she ambly looked towards a row of wooden boards and cinder blocks set up nearby.
"Hey, Rad?" she asked hopefully, "D-Do you think I can practice some karate with those boards again?"
Rad perked up and gave Drupe the go-ahead. "Sure! Let's see what ya got!" he rallied.
Soon, Drupe bounded over to one of the boards and closed her eyes, taking in another gulp of air. She raised one of her vines straight to the sky and flung it straight back down on the plank...
*WHIP!* *CLATTER!*
...resulting in the board to be sliced perfectly in two!
Drupe opened her eyes and squealed giddly at the sight of her progress, with Rad cheering alongside her.
"Hee-hee-hee! This is so fun!" exclaimed Drupe, bouncing up and down like a little schoolgirl. She turned towards Rad with big, excited eyes. "Can we practice some more, Rad?" she asked her friend rapturously.
"Why not?!" cheered Rad, his smile big and proud, "We got the whole day ahead of us!"
So, for the rest of the day, Drupe spent her time training and controlling her vine powers with Rad happily helping out by her side. She practiced such methods like grabbing objects, throwing objects, using her vines to lift heavier objects. She even used her powers to perform some stunts, such as using her vines like a jump rope and using them to propel her body in the air, like a giant spring.
The day was met with both teens happily laughing and lasted long in the day, even as evening hour had finally struck. With their practice finished for the day, Rad and Drupe ended their session with a new proposition, involving them to still continue their training for the rest of the week together. Their newly-set plan involved an hour of practice during Rad's break at work, with the rest of the time being whatever Drupe can practice at home.
Both teens agreed to this idea and they both decided to pack it up for the day, with Rad offering to drive Drupe back home. Drupe happily agreed as the two heroes left the dimly-lit Lakewood Plaza parking lot.
On the car ride to her house, Drupe's smile never left her face. With the thought about using her newly-found powers in potential combat, she felt something that she has hardly ever felt: confidence.
Maybe, she thought hopefully to herself, she could be on the same level as her friends.
And for the first time since hearing about her friend's role as a Hue Trooper, Drupe finally began to feel pretty great about herself….
TO BE CONTINUED…
Remember that one scene in "You're Everybody's Sidekick" when Drupe used those vines to mess around with K.O.? That's what I'm using as her main power! Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon with Chapter Three: Drupe's Determination!
~Thunderbyrd