lava2

(Curls up)

C-Coward! We need to keep her under watch, and protect our village!

Wait! She's brought something new out! Some kind of mechanical device, it looks like a... a projector? No, that can't be right! It must be a witchcraft casting device!

No sooner has she said it than the apparatus turns on, and upon the white 'witchcraft material' appears a roaring, skyscraper-dwarfing Feranmut.

Eeeek—!

Boom! Bang!

In the scene projected on the 'material', a mutant Feranmut tramples high-rises into dust in an instant. The people wail and flee in despair, awaiting a hero to take the scene.

Lava, Rhodes Island elite operator, master caster, and Catastrophe expert. In this hour, any hope of the city surviving rests in her hands.

Look! Someone's here to save the day!

She's fighting that giant thing head on! Hold on, doesn't she look kind of like that devil...? No, she looks... exactly alike!

With a great swagger, Lava sits down on the children's so-called 'offerings altar' and kicks back, visibly enjoying the movie—

It wasn't any accident she brought this not-yet-released film along for the trip. She was meant to put a smile or two on her parents' faces with it.

For as much as she griped about the overdramatic plot being shoehorned in, it looks like the whole thing came together pretty damn well after all.

The children sneak glances at her, comparing her against the hero in the movie.

They can't understand any Yanese, but the special effects draw them in, and before they know it, they're inching closer, closer, until they're almost next to Lava herself.

(Heh. Now I know you kids have taste, I can show you what real showtime looks like—)

Oh no, the monster's going to flatten the building! Run, hero, run!

Heroes don't run! Look! She's about to shoot fire at it!

Hey... you two, where'd she go?

Aaahhh, the monster's catching up!

Hey! Hey! Sh—she's gone! That—whoever she was, that neighbor of ours...

What?! She was just sitting here! Where'd she go?

The spot where Lava was sat is, to everyone's surprise, now vacant. Suddenly, a ribbon of fire rolls forth, leaping out from behind them, running toward the bedsheet screen. The children shriek.

Listen, this... this might be a real altar, I think! We got lured into it!

Run... come on... Ah!

But the children stop running, as the spectacle before them stuns them into silence.

In front of their very eyes stands a woman in freshly garbed combat gear, the image of a hero in the billowing wind. With an elegant yet ruthless swish of the hand, flames catch hungrily upon the 'witchcraft material', a simple repurposed sheet.

The Feranmut on the screen howls in agony, and is burned to cinders. Thereupon the flames extinguish, not having touched a blade of the greenery about them.

Whoaaa—

That was cool! Miss Hero, have you actually fought giant monsters like that?

Just now when you did that, right? Could you teach me that too?

Your battle clothes are so nice-looking! Like, they're so handsome!

Miss Herooo, I asked first, so I get priority—argh! ...Mum?

The movie winds to a fiery close, and the children realize only then that their guardians have been watching all of them from close by with tense gazes. Now they approach, and each drags their respective child back home without even hearing an excuse.

Ilsa, I told you not to sneak off by yourself. You're grounded tonight. Think about what you've done.

Stop pulling, Mum! Listen, I got to see this really cool...

Not a word more.

You don't have to run away, you know? It's not like I've got an extra pair of teeth or wings or anything compared to...

Whatever, leave me alone with my peace and quiet. No kids to entertain. They're just noisy little brats.

What's this...?

Where Ilsa sat, there quietly remains a bottle of chili powder. Lava stares blankly, then lifts her head and is about to shout a thank you after her, but they've all long vanished out of sight.

So, with nothing else to do, she picks it up and walks on home, a small and easy spring in her step.