Chapter 4
Right After Lightning
Storm stepped out of the gymnastics and acrobatics building after a hard workout. She had finally performed a quadruple flip off of the ground, a feat worth recognition, and was kicked out for being better than the owners.
She stormed out to the bus stop to wait, impatiently. When the bus doors finally opened, she looked up at the driver and smiled, "Hey Guido! How's business today?"
"Well, it's doing pretty good! Where are you getting off at, Storm?"
"Oh, just at the next stop. I have some things at home to deal with."
"Sit down and I'll get ya' right there!"
Thanks."
Storm sat down at a seat by herself and watched the buildings go by. She looked around and saw that many people were riding the bus today. Eventually, the bus stopped and Storm got out, "Thanks, Guido!"
"No problem! Anytime."
Storm had walked for a while when she started heating up. She looked back and saw a wall of fire threatening to catch her, so she jumped up to the fire escape on the building next to her and quickly ran up to the roof. As her feet hit the roof, the place where she had been was engulfed in flame.
Once the fire had passed, Storm slowly climbed down the fire escape, but halfway down, the earth began to rumble and the ladder came loose from the wall. She jumped to keep herself from getting stuck underneath it and rolled when she hit the ground.
"Today has gotten weirder and weirder." she thought as she ran to safety. She came upon a street with a few people trapped by a fallen power line, and she ran over to help.
Storm shifted the wooden pole so the people could walk through the gap in the electricity. "Hurry! Before something else happens!"
Soon, everyone was past the dangerous wire and Storm pulled out her phone to check the news and see what had happened. The app stated that esteemed scientist Shinya Zhao had made an error in his most recent experiment. This caused an explosion that caused the difficulties throughout the city.
Storm looked at the related news and saw that the dam of the Dark River had broken. She gasped, "What! No, no, no! That river is bad news for everyone!"
As she realized this, Storm looked back as she heard a rush of water. A wave of black water was rushing towards her, but there was nowhere to go. She dove into the water, hoping to keep up with it so she didn't get injured, but the water carried her into the broken power line, causing her to lose consciousness.
She was carried by the water for a long time, eventually passing by the Zhao hospital, where she was taken out of the water for treatment.
In a room with three other people, Storm awoke. The lights were dim, but a large flame was giving enough light to see. She studied the light until… "Guido? Is that you?"
The figure stirred, "Well, at least what's left of me. Who are you?"
"Guido, it's me! Storm!"
"Oh, well, with how you look, you should be called thunder!" he chuckled, "But seriously, what happened to you?
"What?" she ran to the mirror. "Why am I an avatar? And why am I flickering?"
The door opened, "It appears as if you've been affected strangely as well. I am Shinya Zhao."