by Martial Arts Master
Flint and all related characters copyrighted by Saban, Fox Kids, and Fox Family. I made up Shadow Boy, though. Now, what you've all been waiting for, the ROMANCE! But it's going to be very subtle, though. I'm not very good at writing not-so-subtle romances. Now, on with the story!
***
Leafy woke up with a groan.
Leafy?
That's when he realized that he was no longer Leafy-Master.
He figured that while he was unconscious, he must have been unable to maintain the energy required to stay in Master form.
That's when he ALSO realized that he was lying in a bed with a blanket on him, and that someone was apparently sitting on him.
He looked up to find Getalong's worried face.
Getalong suddenly smiled, seeing that he was awake.
"All right, you're up!" she said.
She called behind her, "Hey Dr. Goodman, Leafy's up!"
Dr. Goodman walked into the room and saw that Leafy was awake.
"I knew that poison would wear off eventually!" he said.
"Poison?" Leafy asked groggily.
Then everything came back to him in a flash: being sent back to Earth by the Old Timer with Getalong, battling Shadow Boy, getting injected with something, and then hearing Shadow Boy say that the something wouldn't kill him.
"That wasn't a lethal form of poison," Dr. Goodman said. "I don't know why, but for some reason Shadow Boy must have decided not to kill you."
"He said I fought well," Leafy replied. "I guess he likes battling worthy opponents."
"You were out for days," Dr. Goodman said. "And the poison lowered your body temperature a bit, so Getalong had to come in and keep you warm periodically. If she hadn't, you wouldn't necessarily have died, but you might have gotten even more ill than you already were."
"Well then, thanks Getalong," Leafy said, smiling.
"You're welcome!" Getalong said.
"Now if Shadow Boy likes a worthy opponent, my idea will give him a doozy of an opponent!" Dr. Goodman said.
"What idea?" Leafy asked.
"You see, Shadow Boy is basically the living embodiment of darkness," Dr. Goodman said. "Darkness and light cancel each other out, so my idea is that if I create an identical boy but one that is the living embodiment of light, the two boys will be evenly matched."
"What do you mean 'cancel each other out?'" Leafy asked.
"When you flick on a light switch or light a candle, you are creating light that can drive away the darkness," Dr. Goodman explained. "But when you turn the light switch off or snuff out the candle, the darkness rushes in to fill the light's place. So light can drive away darkness and darkness can drive away light. It's a perfect balance."
"But what's the point of creating something that is evenly matched for Shadow Boy?" Leafy asked.
"You see," Dr. Goodman replied, "if something were to distract Shadow Boy while he was battling my creation, my creation would gain the upper hand and could then destroy Shadow Boy."
"That's wonderful!" Leafy said happily. "When will you start?"
"Dr. Goodman's nearly finished already," Getalong said proudly. "All he has left to complete is the brain."
"That's good," Leafy said.
"Dr. Goodman, could you leave us alone for a few minutes?" Getalong asked.
"Sure thing," Dr. Goodman said, walking out of the room.
"Leafy, why did you take such a huge risk battling that guy?" Getalong asked Leafy. "You could have been killed."
"Because he's completely evil, and I hate evil," Leafy said.
"Then why didn't you battle him right away?" Getalong asked. "Why did you only attack when he threatened me?"
To that, Leafy smiled sheepishly.
"Well, I didn't want him to hurt you," Leafy said.
Getalong blushed a little.
"Gee, Leafy, that's really nice of you," she said. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Leafy said.
Now Leafy was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable, although not necessarily in a bad way.
"Maybe you should check how Dr. Goodman's coming along with his experiment," Leafy suggested, in an attempt to avoid an awkward situation.
"Ok," Getalong said, and flew out of the room.
Leafy sighed, in what to his surprise, was not relief but rather a mixture of relief and disappointment.
To be continued...
***
Ok, the fourth chapter's done. The romance between Getalong and Leafy won't appear until later. E-mail all questions and comments to bleifer@msn.com.