3.03

Hunter, Gauzelle stood and watched as Smileys continued to talk to his phone. Hunter had lost count how many times the hero had changed poses for his phone.

“Are we gonna stop that monster or what?” Gauzelle asked.

“I dunno. He thinks we can’t do anything, maybe we wait and see what happens?” Hunter looked at the rock monster. It was throwing cars into buildings and roared with glee each time the glass exploded.

“Do…do you think that’s right?” Gauzelle asked.

“Probably not. Ready?” They stood side by side and looked at the monster.

“Oh look, now they think they’re gonna help. What are your names? Tell my fans.” His laud tone grated on Hunter’s nerves. Smileys had circled in front of them and was now pointing his phone at the two of them.

“Gauzelle.”

“That’s a funny play on being bandages. And yours?”

“Mite.”

“Ew, that’s not a nice name at all, no matter how you look at it.” Smileys scrunched up his face and turned the phone back to himself and continued to prattle on.

“Hunter?”

“We still help.”

“Right.” Before the two of them could act, Smileys was off and running toward the rock monster. Hunter and Gauzelle took off after him.

Smileys reached the monster in no time. He repositioned himself for a selfie with the rampaging rock monster behind him.

“So, here we are. Your boy Smileys is about to go toe to toe with this angry looking thing. It looks pretty dangerous, but with my fans by my side, this’ll be too easy.” Smileys pointed the phone at the rock monster and gave a flourish with his hand. He made sure that his hand could be seen on the camera. “Wave of Blissful Friendship,” Smileys called out.

The rock monster suddenly stopped what it was doing. It put the car down and stood there, motionless.

Gauzelle and Hunter caught up to Smileys and were bewildered with what they saw.

“That was too easy. Another crime stopped by Smileys, the star of Power Teens. Follow me on Chatter to be sure you can catch everything I do.” He pointed his phone at Gauzelle and Mite. “I told these two they didn’t have to help. They were worried over nothing.”

“Is that it then?” Gauzelle asked.

“I guess so.” Hunter eyed the rock monster. It stood there, its face blank except for a stretched smile that looked too cartoony to be natural.

“So what team are you two from?” Smiley asked. He still had his phone out.

“Justice Punch,” said Gauzelle.

“Never heard of ya. I doubt you’re even sanctioned.” Smileys gave a sarcastic laugh.

“No, not yet, but we’re working on it,” said Hunter.

“Why were you even sent to help? If you haven’t even had Academy training, you’re just no good.”

“Shut your mouth,” snapped Gauzelle.

“Oh, threatening, are we? That’s not very professional. Academy graduates wouldn’t use such behaviour. You’re nothing but amateurs.” Smileys pointed his phone at himself again, holding it up high. He straightened his hair and poked his tongue out.

“Gauzelle…he’s filming everything.”

“I know. But he should watch what he says. I’ll kick his ass one day.” There was a low growl, deep from within the rock monster.

“That’s not a good sound,” said Hunter. The smile on the monster released and the creature reached for the car again.

“Look out,” Hunter shouted. Smileys turned and looked to see the car was hurtling toward him. Gauzelle had unravelled herself and reach out and pulled at his ankles. She dragged Smileys out of the way just in time.

“Well this just got exciting. But you got mud all over my clothes.” Mud spread up his silk white shirt.

“Sorry about that.”

“Just stay out of the way, I’ve got this.”

“Coz your trick worked so well last time.”

“I’ve just gotta do a stronger attack.” Smileys flourished his hand, but the monster just roared in response. Smileys did it again, this time with a panicked look on his face.

“Need our help now?” Hunter asked.

“No. I’ve got this.” Smileys clicked his phone to his chest. He had a phone holder that Hunter had failed to notice before.

“This’ll work. Your boy Smileys hasn’t had to go all out in a long time. But alas, some beasts are too wild to be tamed easily.” Smileys held out both hands and a faint light shot out and bathed the beast “Smiling Friendship Wave Cannon.” He then did a pirouette on the spot and held his phone back out, holding it low.

The rock monster’s face contorted back into that unnatural smile, but this time it looked painful.

“And I’ve done it again. I love you all, my fans.” Just as he finished the sentence, the rock monster stirred again. Its smile was still there, but it was moving again.

“What, impossible. Nothing has ever resisted my special attack.”

“Well it did. And it ain’t happy. Do we have your permission to fight it now?” Gauzelle was already twirling her staff.

“Yes, if you must. It looks like things are about to get complicated. I’m gonna stop streaming now so I can really concentrate on the fight. Buh-bye my loyal fans, I love you all.” Smileys tucked his phone away and ran away in the opposite direction.

“Is this guy for real?” Gauzelle asked.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Hunter opened his flasks of dust and formed his three lances.

“Its about time.” Gauzelle leapt toward the rock monster. It roared and rushed toward her. Hunter circled wide and came in from the side.

The rock monster stabbed at Gauzelle with its spike-arm. The unravelled slightly to bob her top half out of the way. She reformed a few inches to the right and brought her staff down on the monster’s forehead.

The beast snarled and grabbed Gauzelle’s staff. It shook her around and launched both the hero and the weapon through a, surprisingly, unbroken window.

Hunter closed the gap and brought his lances into the creature. He directed one into the side of the head and was about to bring in the other two when the monster swatted the lances away and came after Mite.

The creature swung its spike-arm at Mite, who managed two bring up two lances just in time to rebound the spike. Without missing a beat, the monster swung its tail at Mite. The tail swept him off his feet and he landed flat on his back.

The creature was ready to stab its spike at Mite when Gauzelle wrapped herself around the creature’s head. It roared again and took a few steps back. Hunter pulled himself up and reformed his three lances.

“I don’t think my dust will help against rock,” Hunter called to Gauzelle.

“You’ll figure something out.” Gauzelle flowed away from the head and reformed.

Hunter brought his three lances in from the side again. This time the monster didn’t act and all three stabbed into the monster. Nothing happened and Hunter dismissed the weapons, bringing them back as a cloud to his side.

“Gauzelle, can you make it hit itself?” Hunter asked.

“Yeah, probably.” Gauzelle unravelled and wrapped herself around the tail.

With an almighty wallop, Gauzelle brought the tail down on the monster’s head. It fell to its knees. Gauzelle did it again and the monster fell face forward onto the street.

Gauzelle came over to Hunter and the two watched as the rock monster started to shrink in size and the rock skin started to disappear. Within moments, the rock monster was now an unconscious human laying on the ground.

“That’s unexpected,” said Gauzelle.

Hunter went to approach the body when a giant, spectral purple hand encased the body and lifted it up into the air. Hunter looked along the rooftops and saw the pair of suits he had encountered that night with the runaway kid.

“The Clandestine,” Hunter nudged Gauzelle and pointed at the rooftop. The hand joined the pair at the rooftop, and they disappeared from sight.

“Well the fight’s over. It was hard but I did it, with a little help from these two. Catch your boy Smileys later today when I do my daily recap.” Smileys stood over their shoulders, posing with his camera.