City of Flowers, Chapter 3: Inglorious Rampage

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"Damn it", roared Best Girl as she punched a wall. The impact shattered the brick and left a fist size imprint into the wall. Flames erupted out of her back and scorched the wall on the opposite side. Piles of garbage began to catch a flame, and a homeless man hopped up from the refuge and began a desperate attempt to save his home.

"That little shit"!" Best Girl punched the wall again repeating the process. "Who the fuck does he think he is?! How the fuck did I lose! I am Best Girl! The strongest member of Xifas! The terror, the legend, my name was on the lips of every delinquent in the Tokyo region, and some how I lost to this ... Nobody! Fuck him!" The maiden began to punch the wall again over and over again as a sea of curse words began to swirl from her mouth. After a minute of this process her stress relief came to a abrupt end.

"Enough!" Suddenly Best Girl felt a great jerk on her arm. A great force pulled her from the wall and tossed her to the ground. The fall was hard! Both surprised and astonished Best Girl looked up to see a burly man standing above her. The first thing that stood out to her was his horns. Giant, magnificent things they where. They jutted out the side of his head and curved upward into sharp points, similar to that of a bull. The man's expression was no less intimidating. The stern scowl that washed over his face was reminiscent to that of a bull as well. If he did not have that strong jaw and large nose she would have swore he was a Minotaur. So far though he seemed like a half. It was clear that their was a mutation in his bloodline, but not all the way cow. Either way a cold chill rand down her spine as she looked up at the seven foot figure. Daunting was the least descriptive word that came to mind when describing him.

"What the hell do you think you are doing", boomed the burly man as he stared down at the maiden. "Are you trying to set the entire building on fire?! Look", commanded the man as he pointed behind Best Girl. The maiden's eyes naturally turned in the direction he was pointing. Flames raged nearly out of control behind her as a homeless man attempted combat the flames. A women, in what was once a nice suit, was pulling water from the air and shooting it at the rampaging flames. A young boy clearly no older than ten, and by the horns on his head clearly related to the burly man, was attempting to kick the flames out. His effort's minuscule when compared to the others but his determination to help was admirable.

"Holy shit", whispered Best Girl. She had no idea she was causing this kind of mayhem.

"Listen little girl", spoke the burly man again. His voice grinded into Best Girl's brain setting off buried emotions. Images of her own father popped into her head and with him came a flood of negative emotions. Instantly her mood shifted from surprised to disdain. Those negative emotions that wrapped around her father's image transferred seamlessly over to the burly man who now reminded her so much of that detestable turd.

"Shut the fuck up", she spat! It was the wrong choice of words.

"What did you say", came a roar as a hard jerk lifted her off the ground. The burly man held her by the collar of her jacket. With one arm he lifted her off the ground and into the air. Pulling the would be maiden up to his eye level the burly brute began to speak.

"Listen here little girl!" He made sure to emphasize the little part. "You nearly killed a man, and you threaten to burn down my shop! I am not going to take any of your shi... crap! Show some respect to your elders little girl, and clean up your own mess!"

"First off", started Best Girl as she summoned up her flames. The fire erupted form her face and enveloped the burly man's face. Screams of horror filled the air as the burly man dropped Best Girl to the ground. His hands naturally moved to his burned eyes and scorched face.

"My eyes!", he roared as his hands covered his burns.

"Honey!" The cry came from Best Girl's side.

"I don't take orders from you, Little Boy! I don't know who the fuck you thin..., Best Girl started to go onto a rant when the burly man swung his massive hands. With speed that was impossibly fast his hand slammed into the side of Best Girl's face. The blow was strong enough to send her flying backwards and straight into the brick wall. The impact was too great for the stone to handle and with a sickening crack the wall gave way into a thunderous crash.

"Honey, are you all right", cried the women, ignoring the fact that he just smacked a little girl though a wall. No, that was not right. She noted it and for that reason she came up behind him. She was not going to share the same fate as the villain.

"My God, I think he killed her", spoke the homeless man as he turned his attention from the flames.

"Papa", cried the boy, as he rushed over to his mother and father. Confusion and desperation filled his face as he rushed to his father's aid.

"Damn it! She burnt my eyes", roared the burly man.

"Calm down honey", stared the maiden as she began to draw water from the air. "Let me see if I can sooth the burns with some cold water. Atsuma", she cried as the little boy approached. "Stay back! Don't come over here right now."

"What! What is going on mother! Is father hurt! Did ...", as the boy began to panic steam began to rise off from his body."

"Calm down Atsuma", roared the burly man though the pain. "Control the storm raging inside of you! If you don't ..."

The boy instantly stopped and began his attempt to clam himself. "I know father", he shouted as he began to focus on himself. "It ..."

"Don't worry Atsuma", cried the mother. "We are going to be ..."

"Dead", came a cry as Best Girl appeared inside of the hole in the wall. There was not a single mark on her skin from the burly man's blow, but the flame on her devil tail was now raging out of control.

"Atsuma get back", shouted the Burly man as he attempted to stand. He could not still see, but the heat from her flames and her voice told him enough.

"Mother, father", shouted the boy as he rushed toward them.

"Time to return the favor", shouted Best Girl as she threw her hand forward. A torrent of flames erupted from her palm and expanded into a cone. Flames enveloped the entire family and seared the building behind them. The heat was so great that the stone itself began to melt. Screams of horror filled the air, but were soon silenced by the sound of the flames consuming the nearby building.

"That is what you get", laughed Best Girl as she released the flames. A sudden surge of pleasure ripped though her body as she released the mass of stored kinetic energy.

"Murder", cried the homeless man as he fell onto his butt. Best Girl was too focus on her target to notice him. Not wanting to join the dead the hobo scurried around the corner and began to run for his life.

"Take that you unfaithful prick", spat Best Girl. The maiden caught herself halfway and stopped. Why did she say that? Well it did not matter, she was running out of juice anyway. Pushing out the last of the flames Best Girl stared in awe of her work. The flames had melted though the nearby building and set fire to everything withing a thirty feet. She would be surprised if ...

"What the hell", she spoke as a young boy crying voice filled the air. Though the glare of the flames Best Girl could see the horned child holding onto two skeletons. The ground around him was pitch black and partially melted. His clothing was completely gone, burned to cinders, but his flesh was untouched.

"How?"

"Mother! Father!", Atsuma's wails filled the air as he held onto his parents bones.

"Is this a miracle?" The maiden began to bite her lip. She had just killed someone. It was not her first time, but it was the first time she had been the aggressor. If the police found out ..., no the boy had to be eliminated. Still her ..."

"Momma", cried Atsuma as his skin suddenly began to heat up. Steam began to flow from his body as the water in the air began to boil.

"What is going ...", before Best Girl could finish Atsuma erupted into flames. The flames jumped thirty feet into the air and chard the nearby buildings. Best Girl took the blast of heat head on. Her clothing caught a flame and began to burn.

"Shit", she cried as she attempted to pat out the flames. Her own quirk gave her a resistance to fire, but that was it, a resistance. She was not completely immune to the heat, and from that one blast alone she felt herself reaching her limit.

"You ... you, you stupid dodo head", roared Atsuma as another torrent of flames erupted from his body. These flames however seemed to cling to him and burn eternal. Fire erupted from all points of his body. His hair, his legs, his arms, almost every part of his flesh was covered in deep red flames. His crimson eyes gleamed in the center of the blaze. As the young boy began to step forward the heat from his flames melted the ground. Molten foot prints stained the side walk as Atsuma began to walk forward toward Best Girl.

"Demon", she whispered as the horror of the scene began to fill her eyes. Despite her great pride as a fighter, Best Girl fled.

Walking from the opposite direction, was Bubbi, who was an onlooker from the very start of the altercation. He glanced around, noticing all the families with children. His heart began to pound against his chest, he nodded to himself, then sprinted to action, he was weaving his way through the crowds, who were attempting frantically to get away from this demon-child. He made his way to an open area, seeing Yashi, and Atsuma. he held out his hand, as a gestureg to stop Yashi. "HOLD IT!" he screeched, his ears steaming.

Best Girl was not a coward! Sure she was running, but she was not a coward. The situation called for a tactical retreat. She could only take so much heat, and her clothing was starting to burn away. The last thing she wanted to be known for was dieing in a alleyway from heat exhaustion while naked with a already naked child. She would go down as a crazy pervert. That could not stand. Still that did not mean she liked the idea of retreating. Normally she would simply beat the kid to a pulp, but the heat. He was kicking out some pretty hot flames. Her own fires had already raised her body temperature pretty high, and adding his to the mix was not acceptable. Once she cooled off she would return and teach the little brat a lesson. As she retreated some dude moved to block her path. Who was this guy? He screamed for her to stop, as if she would. The maiden lowered her body and jumped into the air. Her body sailed over him and landed on the side of a building. Releasing a torrent of flames from her feet she melted the side of the building allowing her feet to gain a foot hold and leaped off again. Landing in the middle of a crowd she looked back toward the fool and the rampaging child. "Get out the way you idiot", she shouted as she continued her sprint.

"Die", screamed Atsuma as he charged forward like a raging bull. The flames flowing from his body started to catch everything around him on fire. Buildings, cars, newspaper stands, and the works. His crimson eyes focused on one thing, Best Girl. Even as she jumped on the wall and landed in the crowd he kept a eye on her, or at least where he thought she was. "You won't escape", he roared as he extended his hand and a wave of fire leaped out and rushed toward the group of people.

Bubbi cursed under his breath, when Yashi leapt onto the building adjacent to his back. He glanced behind his shoulder to see her land amoungst the crowd. Seeing the torrent of flames dancing towards the screaming crowd, he got scared, a primal fear, not for himself, but for the children amoungst the forest of humans. He bowed his head, releasing a short screech, causing him to launch himself forwards towards the flames, he grabbed his hoodie, hauled it off, and used it as a piece of material to 'catch' the oncoming flames. He was successful; albeit barely, in catching the flames, discarding the hoodie he just used to accomplish the feat. The crowd cheered him on, he turned, his ears now steaming like a locomotive. "Get. The. FUDGE. OUT OF HERE!!!!" he screamed, a loud pop reverberating amoungst the buildings. The crowd screamed in terror, as they dispersed throughout the streets. Only five minutes until the street would become empty, that would be his prime chance to either stop the kid, or to escape. He had to think of his options quickly.

**Taking a opportunity in the confus**ion Best Girl escaped into the subway, or at least she tried. As the maiden moved to follow the crowd her arm was suddenly snatched up. "Hey yashi", came a familiar voice as Ryu came into view.

"Let go Dumpsterfire", shouted the maiden as she jerked her arm away from him."

"Hey, what is going ...", before he could finish a fleeing man bumped into Ryu, nearly knocking him over. "Hey you piece of shit!" It was only then that Ryu truly noticed the panicking mob. "What the hell ..., hold on a second is that a fire! Yashi ...", the maiden was gone. "Damn it women! Don't tell me you started a fire and then ran off! I get it you want to use your powers the way you want, but leaving flames around is taking it too far! I better go do something about this."

"Out of my way turd breath", shouted Atsuma toward Dubbi. Some how, someway the man had stopped his attack. Now however the girl was getting away. In a desperate move to press forward Atsuma wrapped himself in flames and rushed forward at full speed. Lowering his head, as it felt natural, he charged like a bull toward the man. He would break free and get into the crowd. He was sure he could easily find her.

"Red Charge", shouted Atsuma as the flames leaped toward the man.

"My, my, what a dangerous child." Suddenly a wall of what seemed like ice appeared between Atsuma and Bubbi. Not looking up the boy charged straight into it. The moment the flames hit the wall however the unthinkable happened, the wall exploded. With a loud roar the wall exploded into a sea of flames. The force from the explosion blew the young lad back five feet and had him scrubbing across the ground.

Where a normal kid would cry or complain about the pain, the young Atsuma jumped up without skipping a beat. His knee was now skinned, and he had a bunch of small scratches, but the boy's flames were not even hotter than ever. Looking forward he watched as a young man, no older 16 walked up with a odachi leaning across his shoulder. Stabbing the blade into the ground he looked at the young boy. "Here I thought that Best Girl had caused these flames. Looks like I am going to owe her an apology."

*Great, first a fire bull boy, now a weirdo who can make walls of ice.* Bubbi face palmed, without trying, getting irritated. There was a loud pop. He looked at this new character, Fire Dumpster, he scowled. "Who the heck are you?!" he shouted, trying to keep his impatience from leaking out from him. He managed a cracked smile, it looked... Twisted. Clearly, Bubbi thought of the Fire licking bull boy as nothing, as he would attempt to make casual conversation with Fire Dumpster. "Well!? I'm waiting for my answer!" he demanded, another pop, this time sounding like a gunshot.

**"Are you popping",** questioned Dumpsterfire as he looked at his annoyed friend. Clearly there was a story going on here. He was for sure the guy was going to thank him for stopping the bull child from attacking him, but from what he could see the guy was more annoyed than gratified. There was a misunderstanding going on here, a disconnection in communication.

"Sorry, let me introduce myself. My name is Dumpsterfire. I saw ..."

"Burn in hell", shouted Atsuma as he released a gout of flames toward Dumpsterfire. The Villian stopped his conversation mid sentence and leaped for his blade. Grabbing the hilt of the sword he rolled out of the way of the flames and moved to the side. "Almost forgot we were dealing with a brat." As Dumpster fire prepared to move he looked at his sword. He did not want to use it, but he did not want it to be burnt as well. Giving it a toss he threw the blade into a nearby wall. The fine edge pierced it as if it was cutting though wood. "Remind me to thank uncle later", he spoke aloud.

Bubbi scrambled towards the gout of flames, he flung himself into it, taking the force of the attack. He flopped to the ground, slapping himself wildly; in a desperate fight against the flames. "HOT HOT HOT HOT!" Bubbi was rolling wildly, after a couple seconds, the flames doubted. His clothes were scorched, but in all, there. He got up, dusting himself off.

Bubbi shot a look towards Atsuma, a little upset. "Little warm, but I'll manage, I suppose." he chuckled to himself, for the pun. He nodded in satisfaction. He stretched, reminding himself to calm down, think things through, and gather information (which rarely worked in his case). "I'm Screecher... well, known as Screecher; I have anger problems." He looked around the streets, a few dozen people still around. *Good, the people are gone, I'm good to go.* he thought to himself. "Alright, Dumpy, I'll be taking my exit. Bye!" he turned on his heel, then simply began to walk away.

**"Your leaving", spoke the boy. It was surprising,** but not the worst thing that can happen. Then I can chase that women", he shouted as his eyes turned toward the crow. Frantically they searched for Best Girl, but she was no where to be found. "No, no, no, no, no." Atsuma began to repeat to himself over and over again as the flames on his body began to grow hotter.

"Oh no", spoke Dumpsterfire as he watched the boy. There was a sudden tension in the air. Every muscle in his body told him that it was time to run. Why was he picking up warning signals from this boy? Then again, considering the flames.

"You dirt bag", roared Atsuma as he punched his fist forward. A cloud of blue flames erupted from his palm and raced toward Bubbi at a elevated speed.

"Look out", shouted Dumpsterfire as he stretch his hand out forward. His quirk activated and the wall of burning blue flames suddenly turned into a solid hunk of what looked like ice. Even with it's cool look the ball was still burning hot. As it slammed into the ground the earth bellow it screamed out in agony from the heat.

"You low belly shoe sweepers!"

Was that suppose to be cursing, thought Dumpsterfire. It was clear that this kid came from a good family. He was quite sheltered.

"You let her escape! You let her! You let her!" The flames that swirled from his body turned a nasty looking purple. Dumpsterfire was not sure that this was a sign of great heart or some kind of influence of his quirk power. Either way he was sure he was not going to be hit by that fire.

With a wave of his hand Atsuma sent a steam of purple flames toward Dumpsterfire. The young delinquent called upon his quirk once more creating a wall of ice before him. The flames hit the ice and exploded into a furry. The force of the explosion battled away the heat long enough for Dumpsterfire to get out of it's way.

"This kid is a monster", spoke Dumpsterfire with a evil smile on his face.

Bubbi felt the heat from the blue sphere of fire, he was steaming, the smoke from his ears pouring out from both sides. He sighed, a audible pop came from within him. "Allow me, to introduce myself as well. I'm Screecher, maybe you've heard of me. I'm just a plain ol' villian, trying to slaughter heroes, just for.... Well. You guessed it! Fun!" he had this twisted smile, yet his soft features took all the menace out of it. He nodded in satisfaction. *Nailed it!* he congratulated himself. He gave a smile to Dumpsterfire, and nodded. "Pleasure~" he turned his attention to Atsuma, glaring at him, his features, still having a horrible affect on the way he looked when he tried to be intimidating. "Are you still going to fight me, now that I gave you a formal bad-guy introduction?" the steam grew less furious, he clearly felt empathy for Atsuma.

"Screecher", spoke Dumpsterfire with surprise. He had heard that name before. He was some kind of villian that hunted heroes. What in the world did he drag himself into?

"You a villian! It all makes sense now! Your protecting her! Tell me! Tell me where she is!? She killed ..., she killed my mother! I will burn her! Burn!"

"She killed his mother", spoke Dumpsterfire in shock. Before he could fully recover the boy fired off two more blast of flames. The purple fire soared toward dumpster fire and toward Screecher. Dumpsterfire used his ability to turn the flames into a block of ice again and side stepped out of the way. The smuldering block slammed into a nearby building and smashed though the door. The heat from the block began to set some of the stuff inside of it on fire, and a flame began to rage inside of the shop.

"This kid is getting dangerous", spoke Dumpsterfire as he called upon his powers once again. With a wave of his hand he turned the flames erupting from the boy's body into ice.

"What the", shouted Atsuma as he fell to the ground. The weight and size of his new attachments threw off his balance.

Screecher ran forwards, ducking under the intense fire, setting his shirt into a blaze, he raced towards Atsuma. *I hope this knocks this kid out...* Screecher thought, chuckling to himself, as he aimed for a drop kick to the poor boy's face.

**Unable to move due to the new attachments and caught off guard by Screecher's sudden charge Atsuma stood no chance. The kick hit him square in the** face and shattered the fragile heat crystals. With a thump he hit the ground unconscious. The torrent of flames that erupted from his body stopped.

"Looks like he is down", stated Dumpsterfire as he looked at Screecher. "Good hit, it sucks having to hit a kid, but ..." As Dumpsterfire was speaking he noticed a change in the air. The heat, it was gone. Quickly he turned around to see gold, brilliant gold, lining all the buildings that were once on fire.

"What the ...", he started when a golden light took his attention.

"My, my", spoke a voice as a figure walked out of what seem to be a ray of golden sunlight. The man was clad from head to toe in golden armor. Walking up to the ten year old boy the man picked him up in his arms and carried him to another man dressed in a less familiar costume.

"You have to be kidding me", spoke Dumpsterfire as a cold sweet began to slide down his face.

"So, which one of you villains, started the fire", questioned the golden clad man as he crossed his arms and stared at the two individuals.

"You have to be kidding me", shouted Dumpsterfire! "King of fucking heroes! Of all the bad luck!"

"King of Heroes?" Screecher asked, clearly puzzled, a loud pop rang out from within him, his ears began to steam, like a runaway locomotive, that was on the verge of derailment. He clenched his teeth, and balled his hand up into a fist, squeezing hard. "I did. Twinkles. I started the fire, since I am the henious villian; Screecher!" he gave a rather twisted smile, contorted into a strange happiness, due to him seeing his next target in front of him. "Do you wish to remain here, even though I have given you my formal introduction?" he asked, his voice higher pitched, in light of the fun events unfolding.