Autumn walked along a long hallway lined with gray lockers and grayish-green tiles.
"Fatty, fatty, fatty, fatty…" Voices sang in her ears.
Autumn covered her ears and ran down the hall but it didn't stop the voices. As she ran, she saw figures pointing at her and whispering but she could still hear them.
"Man, with all that weight you'd think some of it would go to her chest."
"Watch out, it's a charging hippo."
In the middle of the hall stood Lin Chung with his arms around another girl, who also had red hair, but she had bigger breasts and hips than her but she couldn't make out her face.
"Lin?" Autumn said.
The gray-haired teen looked at her and sneered. "I don't date fat pigs."
Autumn felt tears rolled down her cheeks as the image of the two disappeared. Suddenly she found herself surrounded by different versions of herself. Some were skinny and flat; some had much bigger breasts and butts others were overweight. Autumn gripped to her head as they began to surround and yell at her.
"Fat bitch! He doesn't love you. He'll just leave you just like Dylan!" They shouted.
Autumn started bawling when another version of her stepped forward. She had a perfect hourglass figure, her hair styled perfectly with beautiful long wavy red locks and even her skin was perfect, not a zit or freckle to be seen. She was everything Autumn wasn't when it came to looks.
"He's going to leave you because you're not perfect." She whispered in her ear.
Autumn woke up with a start as she heard someone knock on her door. Looking outside she noticed that the sun wasn't even up.
"Autumn it's time for morning training." Lin Chung said.
Autumn groaned quietly. "I'll be out soon…"
"Alright, meet me in the courtyard when you're ready." He said before walking away.
Autumn got up and picked her gi up off the floor when she noticed a bloodstain on the side. She groaned and threw it in her hammock and pulled out another gi from her backpack and went to change in the adjacent bathroom.
As she changed, she glanced in the mirror and grimaced at her reflection. She looked… Puffy. Her stomach looked a little round and her hips, butt, and thighs looked a bit softer and wider, giving her a pear shape.
"You're not perfect…." A voice said in her head.
She threw her clothes on and ran down to the courtyard, slamming the door behind her. If she had stayed a bit longer, she would have noticed her refection staid after she left and was smirking.
Lin Chung smiled as he finished his latest painting: A portrait of Autumn with a crown of roses in her hair. She had a smile on her face that made the whole portrait radiate happiness and peace.
"I hope she likes it." He said to himself as he added some dark brown to her hair.
"I think you should darken her hair a bit," Tempest said as he walked over.
"Tempest, what are you doing up so early?"
"I never went to bed, spirits don't need sleep," Tempest explained. "But I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure, go ahead."
Tempest looked up at Lin Chung with a very serious look on his face that made the coyote look much older, ancient even. The young man felt a bit nervous, wondering how serious the question if Tempest was looking at him like that.
"You love Autumn right?"
"Yes."
"You will do anything for her right?"
"Yes? Where's this going?"
Tempest sighed. "Look, I don't like or trust you. Frankly, I don't like any guy that shows romantic interest in her because all they do is break her heart. But she trusts you… So that's something. The reason I'm asking this is that I want what's best for her. But so help me, if you hurt her I will tear you limb from limb." He growled. "If I see her crying because of you I will personally make sure you will never be able to reproduce, got it?"
Lin Chung was a bit taken back by Tempest's treat. He knew that the spirit was protective of Autumn, but this was a bit extreme.
"Look I would never hurt her so you don't need to worry." He assured.
"Yeah, that's what they all say," Tempest muttered before walking away.
"Hey! Sorry for the wait!" Autumn said as she ran into the courtyard.
The courtyard was roughly the size of a basketball court with large hedges surrounding it. The ground was covered by stones, similar to the hot spring, with a large fountain in the middle that squirted crystal clear water.
Lin Chung looked over at her and smiled.
"You ready?" He asked.
Autumn took her whip off her belt and held it in her hand. "Let's do this."
Lin took her to the farthest side of the yard where a bunch of bottles sat on a stone bench. Each one had a face painted on it, one looked like a very crude High Roller, two looked like the zebra brothers, another looked Bear Stomp and then there was one that Autumn guessed was supposed to be Coyote King but it looked more like Tempest.
"I want you to shatter these bottles with your whip, think you can handle it?" He asked.
Autumn nodded confidently and swung her whip at the High Roller Bottle, only for it to miss completely and hit the hedge instead.
"It's okay, try again." He said.
Autumn tried again and missed again, and again, and again….
"DAMN IT!" Autumn yelled and threw the whip on the ground.
"It's okay, keep trying," Lin Chung said patiently as he picked up the whip and handed it to her.
Autumn sighed. "Can we move on please?"
"No," He said and stood behind her. "Let's try this."
Lin Chung gripped her hand and gently pulled her arm back. "Just like this. You're still a beginner so you don't have to be perfect."
"You're not perfect… I'm going to leave you….." A voice said in Autumn's head imitating Lin Chung's voice.
Autumn grit her teeth and swung the whip back a bit too hard and hit Lin Chung square in the nose. When she thrust it forward, she managed to shatter the zebra bottles and the High roller bottle.
"Ow… Okay, that was good, but next time don't swing it back so far." Lin Chung said as he checked his nose for blood.
"Never say that word again!" Autumn yelled as tears rolled down her face.
Lin Chung stepped back in shock. "What word?"
"Perfect! Never say that word again!"
Lin Chung nodded and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, using a bit of his energy to calm her down but there was resistance, like some sort of external force was trying to keep the harmonic energy way from her. With a bit of a push, he managed to get past it and calm Autumn down.
"It's okay, I got you. I promise I won't say that word again, okay?" He said as he pulled her closer.
"You said this would take immediate effect!" Lady Green yelled at an older woman.
Lady Green and Wu Fan had traveled to Shīqùle Hěnjiǔ and found a witch named Heikin who was willing to help them for a price.
Heikin resembled the form that the Evil Queen took in Snow White, long crooked nose, long thin white hair, a hunched back and long wrinkly hands with overgrown yellow fingernails. The one thing that set her apart from the Evil Queen was the fact that Heikin was blind. Both her eyes were completely white, but somehow, she could see Lady Green and Wu Fan's glares.
"I know what I said and the spell is taking effect, it's just a very slow spell," She said, her voice sounding like she had been eating sandpaper for the past twenty years. "It will go much faster if you can get Lin Chung away from her. If you can get him away from her for at least an hour the spell will speed up, and I sure you that Lin Chung will be yours."
"And Autumn mine? I don't give a crap about what she looks like as long as she can perform her womanly duties." Wu Fan asked.
"All in good time."
The three looked into a large bowl of oil and saw an image Autumn and Lin Chung sparring. Lady Green growled and went over and grabbed her bag.
"I'll just have to speed things up." She said before heading out the door.
"Hey wait for me!" Wu Fan said.
Once the two left Heikin switched the image to one of a sleeping Mystique Sonia.
"Once we deal with your friend, I'm coming after you, Sonia."
"Okay that's enough for today," Lin Chung said as he wiped some sweat off his brow.
Autumn nodded and sat down on the edge of the fountain and took some deep breaths. It was nearly sun up and they needed to get on the road soon, but Autumn's stomach had other plans as it let out a loud growl.
"Someone's hungry," Lin Chung thought as he watched Autumn blush in embarrassment.
Lin Chung couldn't help but smile at Autumn. The young woman had changed and matured since she had first arrived at Big Green, both physically and mentally. When Autumn had first arrived, she was physically weaker than most of the fighters he had seen, but what she had lacked in bronze she made up in brains, using her wit to get her out of sticky situations. But since she had received the moon's blessing her magical skills began to rival that of his Harmonic abilities. And while she was still new to her whip, she was making progress.
But something that caught his attention was that Autumn looked different and he kind of liked it. Autumn had always been beautiful, but something had changed but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Hey, Lin?" Autumn said. "Can I ask you a question?
"Sure," He said and sat beside her.
"Do you like the way I look?" She mumbled.
"What?" Lin Chung asked, not sure if he heard her correctly. He also worried that she had caught him staring at her.
"I said 'do you like the way I look'?"
"I'm not sure what you're asking," He answered.
"What's this about?" He thought.
"Never mind." She said and walked off.
As First Squad got back on the road Autumn checked her reflection one last time, making sure what she saw in the mirror was real, and not just her mind playing tricks on her, but this time she decided to ask the most brutally honest person on the squad.
"Hey, Mighty Ray? Can I ask you a question?" She asked.
The short male was making a list of things that they were going to need to get in Shīqùle Hěnjiǔ. He looked up at the redhead.
"Sure, what's up?" he asked.
"Do you think I've put on weight?" Autumn asked.
"Uhhh….." Mighty Ray said as he looked the red-headed woman up and down.
Mighty Ray wasn't considered to be one of the most observant members of First Squad, but after living with Mystique Sonia for so long (the most emotional person he knew) he had learned to pick up subtle changes in the woman of Big Green. Whether it be Sonia cutting her hair a bit shorter, Rose Finch getting a new hat, or Alpha Girl's club getting cleaned, he always made sure to note these things, just in case they asked later. He had noticed Autumn's appearance had changed recently but he had assumed she was finally gaining back the weight she had lost from sleeping for two weeks after she had defeated Tiger Lilly and from the torture that High Roller and Coyote King had inflicted on her on Coconut Crab Island (seriously, Autumn had been getting to the point where Apetrully wanted to keep Autumn from going on missions because she looked like she would pass out at any second.).
"I mean you have, but to be completely honest you don't look bad." Mighty Ray said.
Autumn was surprised. "You think so?"
Mighty Ray nodded, making Autumn feel a bit better about herself.
As the group headed down the path towards Shīqùle Hěnjiǔ Autumn shifted uncomfortably in her clothes. Even though she had been told she didn't look bad she still had that little voice in her head telling her she looked like a hippo.
"Fatty... You're not perfect" It whispered.
"Shut up." She said to it in her mind.
"He'll leave you."
"I said shut up!"
"You're not perfect."
"You've said that repetitive ain't ya?"
"Pig King is skinnier than you."
Autumn squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears and tried to block out the voice, unfortunately, she didn't hear her friends yelling for her to duck. Next thing she was in the air with something slicing through her shirt.
"Autumn!" They yelled.
The redhead looked up and saw a harpy eagle solder flying away with her! The harpy eagle had dark gray feathers with blue feathers on its head with golden yellow eyes. Its legs were black with yellow talons
"Geeze, you stand to lose a few." It said.
Autumn growled and grabbed the bird's legs. "SHUT UP!"
The redhead ripped herself from the eagle talons and began to fall back down to the earth.
"Yaksha trampoline!" Sonia yelled.
Autumn landed on Yaksha after bouncing a few times.
"You okay?" Lin Chung asked.
Autumn looked at her shoulders and saw some cuts on her shoulder but nothing serious.
"I'm okay." She said.
"We've got company!" Mr. No-Hands yelled.
A convocation of twenty to fifty harpy eagles flew towards them lead by Harpy Eagle Queen. The queen, while smaller than her soldiers (four foot four to their five foot ten), was much faster than them. The queen had white and gold feathers that covered her chest and wings. Her beak, legs, and talons were the same shade of yellowish gold.
"There's too many! We need to run!" Autumn said.
"There's no way my soldiers can outrun them." Mustang King said.
"Maybe I can be of some assistance?" A voice said from the trees.
Lady Green jumped down from a nearby tree with her sword/spears in hand. The red-headed member of Big Green's navy wasn't wearing her usual green dress with the fish scale pattern, instead, she wore a knee-length green and blue kimono with slits cut into the sides to show off her leg. The top part of the kimono was a bit low cut, meant the show off some cleavage, tight around her thin waist, and even the sleeves were drawing attention to her arms. The redhead even had cut her hair into a textured bob, showing off her sharp facial features.
The members of the first squad all had mixed reactions to Lady Green.
Sonia got the feeling she was trying to get someone's attention, and by someone, she meant Lin Chung. All of Big Green knew the two had feelings for each other, that why it was such a shock to many members of Big Green when Lin Chung and Autumn got together, so it was only a matter of time before Lady Green pulled a stunt like this. What worried Sonia the most was that she was beginning to think that Autumn had some sort of body image issue, judging on how she had acted last night. Out of instinct, she stepped closer the Autumn in a sisterly protective way.
Mighty Ray felt both infatuated and disturbed at the same time. It was no secret that he had a crush on Lady Green, he openly flirted with her (even though she rejected him, every single time) but the way she was dressed wasn't like her. Sure, the outfit made her looked incredibly hot, no doubt, but it felt wrong. The Lady Green he knew and had a crush on was reserved and didn't need fancy clothes to look pretty, her natural beauty was enough.
Jumpy and Mr. No-Hands both felt relieved for the young woman's sudden arrival, but Lin Chung was the one who was having the strangest internal reaction of all.
On the outside, Lin Chung looked relieved for the sudden arrival of their comrade and tried to maintain his composure, but the inside he felt flustered as his heart began to pound in his chest and his face heated up with a bright red blush. He didn't realize that Lady Green was so… Pretty. He felt almost hypnotized by the way she walked up to them. He had never felt this way before, not even around Autumn. When she walked closer to him he could smell her perfume; a mixture of vanilla, cinnamon, lavender, and rose that made his mind feel hazy.
Autumn frowned at Lin Chung's reaction and held herself, but her moment of self-consciousness was cut short when she noticed Harpy Eagle Queen diving straight for them!
"Look out!" Autumn yelled and pulled her whip and swung it at the queen. She missed but it was enough to startle the eagle monarch and make her fly into a tree. While the harpy eagles went to check on their queen Mighty Ray shot the ground with his eyes and created a large dust cloud, allowing first squad and Lady Green to make their escape. Lady Green jumped on Mustang King with Lin Chung.
"That dust could won't keep them distracted for long, we need to find somewhere to hide!" Lady Green said.
Sonia looked up ahead and saw a fork in the road. The path to the left had was lined with flowering cherry blossom trees, making the path itself completely covered in pink petals. The path to the right was simpler, lined with pine trees and rocks and didn't look like something out of Ouran High School Host Club.
"Go left! I know somewhere we'll be safe!" The black-haired beauty said.
The group turned left and ran until they could no longer hear the curses of the harpy eagles. The mustangs slowed down to a trot as they continued down the path.
"We're almost there, just a little further," Sonia said.
"Where are we going?" Mr. No-Hands asked.
"You'll see," Sonia said.
Once they reached the end of the path, they came to a large golden gate that had a large white stone wall on either side of it. The gate itself had small golden and ivory birds molded into the bars that were shaped like trees.
The group dismounted when a voice yelled at them from above.
"Who goes there?"
A large white dove and a white and brown pigeon flew down and landed in front of them and pointed their golden spears at them. Both of the birds wore gold and red armor, similar to Spartan armor: a gold chest plate and helmet with red plumage, straps, and kilts. Engraved on the chest plate was what looked like a heart with wings.
"Ài? Amor?" Sonia asked. "It's me!"
The two guards' expression softened as lowered their spears.
"Little Sis?" The dove asked.
"Little sis?!" The others said in surprise."
"Haha!" The pigeon said and picked up Sonia in a tight hug and swung her around. "You've gotten so big, little sister! You even cut your hair!"
"Wait, Sonia, these are your brothers?" Mighty Ray asked.
"This explains Spirit Animal," Jumpy said to Lin Chung.
The leader of the First Squad nodded.
The two birds lead them inside as they asked drilled Sonia about her life at Big Green. As they walked Autumn noticed Lady Green trying to flirt with Lin Chung, the keyword 'trying'. Mighty Ray pulled Lin Chung away to look at some of the marble statues that lined the path. Autumn clenched her fist, wanting to very much to bash her face into one of the statues, but restrained herself for the time being and focus on the village.
The village was very beautiful, something out of a Greek myth. All the homes and businesses were made pure white marble, but the way they were built resembled more of the Chinese style buildings she had seen around Hidden Kingdom. Statues of various animals and humans lined the path, each with their gold plaque describing who they were such as "Sabrina the White: First Empress to rule without a husband', 'Sparks the Cunning: The First Zebra Queen' and 'Yugi the Playful: The Dog Queen of Games'.
But one drew Autumn's attention: A statue of a woman in white marble in long rob meditating with lotus on her necklace and a smile on her face and a man-made of black marble in samurai armor with a spear and shield standing behind her with a very solemn look on his face. The plaque read 'Let us remember those who came before us, both light and dark' in Chinese. Before Autumn could ask who, these people were Sonia ran up to a large dove and pigeon who were walking towards them.
The dove was all white, except for his golden tail feathers and black legs and beak. The pigeon was a mix of silver, blue and gray all over with a white beak and legs. Both of them wore white togas and laurel leaves on their heads.
"Dad! Papa!" She yelled embracing the two in a hug.
"Dad? Papa?" Mighty Ray asked. "Wait they're your-"
"Parents. Meet my father Eros the Dove King and Agape the Pigeon King."
Hey everyone, sorry for the wait, I'm getting ready for the holidays and a new job soon. I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings, A A Happy Hanuka, and many more. I plan on writting a retelling of a Disney movie with Hero 108 characters and Autumn and Lin Chung being the main couple and need your help to decide:
Aladin
Tangled
Cinderella
Frozen
Hercules
The Princess and the Frog
The Little Mermaid
Let me know what you think I should do in the comments.
