BlazeBlack: The Beginning

Chapter 1: Rising From the Ashes​

I was just sixteen when the accident occurred, I was just a normal guy. I had good grades and I was going to go to university, my future was bright, little did I know that my future was much, much more brighter than I had bargained for. It was my birthday, I had finished school and I went to the bus-stop, unfortunately I was late, the bus wooshed off just as I got there, I sat on the footpath and waited for the next bus. Then I found out that the next bus came in two hours! I could not wait that long, my phone was out of charge and I had no other way of getting home! I got up and walked, I had no idea where to go, I walked round some neighbourhood for a while and then out of nowhere I heard a scream, other people did as well and hordes of people went running to the house. The house was on fire, even in the big crowd I could smell the gasoline and realised what had caused the fire. Everyone was worried, I was too and I don't know why I did it but I went inside the house, the lady gasped, she obviously had wondered why such a young boy would come in here and risk his life. I ran to her and took her by the arm, we got to the door but as soon as I was about to evacuate the house an explosion occurred, I was propelled onto the ground, a fiery coloured cut on my back. Most people thought I was dead but I was nowhere near dead, I felt a surge of power in me, a spark came out of me and I stood up. They saw something horrible, my face, it had been damaged badly, it looked like a piece of stone that was about to crack. They all gasped, I was taken aback, I didn't understand why they were in fear at the moment in time, then I saw myself in a piece of glass and saw their fear, I began to cry and that's when I was feared the most, as the tears dropped onto the ground, a sizzling sound was made, the people were confused but then their confusion turned into pure fright, a blast of fire emerged from both of my hands, I looked at my hands, petrified.
"What, what's happening to me? Arghhh!"
I made it clear that I was just as frightened as them, then my hold body was set ablaze, I stood up, gazing at myself in horror. I remembered the explosion, there was something in it that changed me, I ran away from the neighbourhood and stood outside the bus-stop again. There was still an one hour wait, I looked at my hands and wondered, I pushed my hands down and fire burst out, I jumped and began to fly, it was an amazing feeling, fire bursting out of my hands but I knew I couldn't live with this power. I went to my friend's house, his father was a renowned scientist so I told him everything, he took me to his lab and ran some tests. He went away for a while and then came back with worry in his face.
"I have some bad news..."

 

Chapter 2: Windmill​

Professor Primrose came back to the lab, the Professor was my best friend's dad. My friend, whose name was Clyde Primrose, had been watching us, he left as soon as his dad came back in. The Professor had a worrying look on his face, I was alarmed and I set myself ablaze again.
"Professor, what's happening to me?"
"Mr Wright, you can't be changed, as far as I know anyway, you're stuck like this. Forever."
He bit his lip and turned around, he left the lab and I began to panic, I fell to the ground sobbing, then Clyde came back, to reassure me. We began to talk and then a certain topic grabbed my ears with full attention.
"Jack, why not be a Superhero? Like the ones in the comics, you can do more than just fly, you can save people, think about it you'll be a hero!"
"Clyde, I don't want to be like this, my parents are worried where I am, what am I supposed to do, I can't even control my powers. The worst situation is that I go home, then we sit down for dinner and then flames burst out my hands. They'll probably call the Fire Department!"
"Jack, this is an amazing opportunity and you're letting it go, just like that? That's bizarre!"
"No, what's bizarre is why and how I got these powers!"
"Believe me, if I could I would trade with you in a heartbeat, seriously."
"Yeah, that makes me feel better, haha!"
We both laughed and continued talking, after a while, I left and went home. My parents had been worried and I decided to lie, saying that I had just been held up with work. Later that night, I had been able to hide my powers but an urge to test out my powers kept overwhelming me. I couldn't take it any longer, something came up on the news, saying that a strange man had been seen at every recent tornado in America, this didn't worry me much, it was in America then something strange happened. A large gust of air blew into my face, I went outside to see what was going on. The door was already open, which was strange, then I saw a man, running, air beating off him, he looked at me, with a menacing grin, I felt uneasy, even more so when I realised the man was the same one on the news, I shouted to him.
"I thought you only created them in America. Why London?"
"When you get powers, you use them to the full extent, kid!"
"Why are you doing it?"
"I got a family, need the money!"
"I'll stop you!"
"Yeah right, my tornados will take you down. Don't try, or I'll take your house!"
"Who are you?"
"Me, I'm Windmill!"
He conjured a tornado and threw it at my house, it ripped my house to shreds, just like that. I got angry, my mother and father came running to me, we sobbed and then I told them, told them about everything, the explosion, the tests, the idea.
"Son, go, save us!"
"Thank you!"
I suddenly had control, I flew into the air, I was wearing my hoodie so I covered my face to keep my identity concealed. I conjured a ball of fire and threw it at Windmill, before I threw it a voice in my head started to speak. Surprisingly, it was Professor Primrose and Clyde.
"Mr. Wright, I put a mic in your ear, we knew you'd see your value, to defeat Windmill you'll need to create large barriers of fire to drain his wind-power, you got that?"
"Yea- Wait you put a mic in my ear? You could've told me, never mind! Barriers, right!"
I created large barriers of fire, Professor was right, he was getting weaker by the minute. In the end I flew towards him and punched with a fiery fist, he fell backwards and I stood above him, he blew a gust of wind at me. I may have had a fist covered in fire but he had one covered in air. We fighted for an hour, it was an even match. The police came and watched, I covered my face.
"Who are you? You're just a kid!"
"I'm more than that. Arghhhh!"
I used as much power as I could and aimed a beam of fire at him, he dodged and ran to the police.
"Please, take me, take me, anywhere just away from him!"
The police looked at me, with fright. I flew away into the air, away from the crowd the crowd that had gathered. I had hoped that being a hero would have come with cheers but instead people looked at me like a freak, as if I was the man I had just defeated. I looked at my hands and began to sob.
"What's happened to me, why me?"
"Jack, Jack! It's Clyde, we know you don't like being who you are now but you'll have to take it. London needs you, superheros are fabled but you can make them real. THe ones in comics, they're nothing like you, you need to do this, if not for yourself or me, do it for the city!"
"Yeah, yeah, okay. I'm gonna stop by the lab, see you in a minute."
"See you."
I floated in midair for a minute, I went back to my parents and told them that I'd be home much later from now on, they supported me. I flew away, to the lab. Clyde and his dad began to talk to me saying this will be a long-term thing. I didn't care, my life would never be the same.

The next day, the newspaper came and my parents showed me, the headline was shocking and disappointing.
"Freakish Fire Human Wrecks Neighbourhood!"
It continued to say that some weird creature destroyed a neighbourhood along with the tornado-making man, Windmill. Clyde called me a few minutes later.
"Have you seen it. It's completely untrue!"
"Clyde, get your dad and meet me at Big Ben. This is going long-term, really long term."

 

Chapter 3: Enemies in the Shade​

"A blade is cast, water falling from the tip, the tip rises and strikes down, freezing the man as well as killing him. The man lies on the ground, ice engulfs round his rotting body and destroys him down to the bone. But a single skeleton is all that remains of... BlazeBlack the Knight. Killed by the everlasting tip of frost... Although the body lied in a valley most forgotten, the blade has never been found, it is believed to be burning with hot fire, taken from the blood of BlazeBlack, now the frost has melted and the fire has taken over..."

I remember this passage, it was from a story my parents read to me when I was young, they obviously skipped out this bit but I was smart and looked at the passage in secret. The words confused me, just as much as it had frightened me but after that I'd get a toy sword and play with Clyde, what was funny was that I liked dying as BlazeBlack, Clyde loved his ice warriors and I loved being "BlazeBlack the Knight", a fearless knight with a burning passion for justice. I was reminded of this when Professor Primrose, his wife, Clyde met me at Big Ben. We had talked about how the Professor would make me gadgets as such and I specifically asked for a metal sword with fire patterns etched into the scabbard, I also asked for fire to come out the sword, he said it would be a piece of cake. I'd given Clyde the best job, thinking of a name for me, when I had asked for the sword, he suggested BlazeBlack, I had thought of this too and I took it. Clyde's mother had made me a pretty neat suit, a red, orange and black shirt, sleeves were made from thermal material, a hood that covered my whole face but with two firework shaped holes cut out so I could see, there were trousers, red and black and lastly, there was a cape, painted orange and red, giving off a bright, fiery colour. All that was left was an opponent and one came, the following day.

The Professor was working on the sword I had asked for, I was waiting, nothing was happening this particular day until Clyde called me up saying a robbery at London Bank was underway, apparently the criminal had powers.
"My dad says the explosion that took place was made of something that should've been quarantined, it affected all of London, neighbouring towns and maybe more! He's not too far, go, Jack, go!"
I quickly wore my suit and flew out an open window, the suit had trackers built into it, I could also have a face to face chat with the Professor from it. I flew down into London Bank and saw the destruction, corpses lay on the ground, knives were pushed inside them. Then I saw Shade, he looked at me and smiled.
"I was wondering, when you'd come round to watch the show... Sorry what's your name, they call me Shade, you're about to find out why, hehe!"
He suddenly dissolved into thick, black dust and disappeared in a matter of seconds, he was like shade itself which is obviously why he chose the name, then something came behind my back, it a shadow and it looked like my shadow but it was odd, I soon realised that it was Shade, Clyde then rung in my ear and I answered, he told me words that I really did not want to hear.
"I know I'm late but don't let Shade behind you! If he gets behind you, he can mimic your shadow and then control your own body! WHat happens is, he'll mimic your body and then move the way he wants you to move and you have to follow your shadow so you can't stop him from driving a knife into your heart!"
"You could've told me earlier, how do I stop him?"
"By my dad's calculations, a blast of ice will freeze him in his tracks, too bad you don't have ice powers!"
"Well, I'm sorry, hey, how about we go to the North Pole, meet Santa and maybe he'll give me magical ice powers!"
"Yeah, okay."
"Is there any other way?"
"I'm serious, there's not, you'll need the amount of ice your fire blasts have! Watch out!"
I quickly dodged an attack, I had no idea what to do. I wished that someone that had been affected had ice powers and would rush in to help me out! It was actually quite funny, I'd wished for something and it had almost come true, a girl my age walked in, her hand was a pale blue, she pushed her hand forward and a blast of ice was charged and thrown at me. I fell back and thought of a plan while she spoke. I slowly stopped thinking as she was pretty and my mind went blank.
"Are you happy now, I just destroyed pretty boy over there."
"I had it all covered, Grace Neige!"
"Hey, it's Snowstorm to you!"
I got up, my plan had been made, I sneaked behind Shade, Grace saw me, I could tell she had realised what I was doing and, for some reason, went along with it. Grace shot her ice beam at Shade, pretending she was trying to get me. Shade froze, he was now a pale blue statue, I punched the statue, suddenly it broke and Shade was gone. I looked at Grace, she smiled at me, I put out my hand and spoke.
"BlazeBlack, Jack Wright."
"Snowstorm, Grace Neige. I hope you know this was a one time thing, Blazey."
"I wouldn't count on it since your face is one I won't ever forget."
"Cut the crap, no need to be cheesy. I'm gonna go, don't get in my way next time, BlazeBlack!"
"See ya, Snowstorm."
She created an icy snowboard and flew off, then Clyde rung me.
"You done with your flirting, Romeo?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!"
I went back to Clyde and met up, the sword was still in the making, I changed and went home, the day had gone well and the next day, I was classed as a "hero" in the newspaper!

Grace walked into the room, it was dark as I remember it, a large throne sat on a stone pedestal and footsteps shook it as a body approached, the man sat down, his voice was slurred but only because of a disability. Grace reported as Snowstorm.
"I've gained his trust, master. BlazeBlack will be no more, very soon."
"Good, you have been granted rest, leave now."
She left, happy, I had no idea what had happened until Grace told me a few weeks later, when it all came down to me. When my sword couldn't save and my fire was nothing but fire...