Creedog VanDrey Productions: CoKE: Chapter 2: Homeworld

Rating: K+
3000 words

Stars and galaxies flew by. None of the so-called “Champions of Kal-El” could really tell how they were traveling; they felt disembodied yet still able to watch the passing space debris. Before long, it became apparent that a certain spiral galaxy was their destination. Flying through the layers of dust, they came in on a solar system with a yellow sun and three planets. The first planet was small and mostly brown with a few tiny patches of green and blue. The second was a rust-colored gas giant with a thin band of rings. The outmost was a deep blue planet much larger than the first but still smaller than the second. They headed toward the brown planet.

After coming in headfirst, or what seemed like it, Clark and the rest were all very surprised—but grateful nonetheless—to find themselves standing on the ground on their feet, rather than on their heads. Despite the arid, desert-like surroundings underneath a shining sun, the temperature was moderate.

The purple-clad Lois surveyed their surroundings. “So, this is Dracula-Aguilera. Charming place.”

“A bit underdeveloped,” Lex added earnestly, “too few motels.” He folded his arms. In his golden yellow Native American costume, this looked very fitting.

The pink-dressed Lana spied the oasis. “You know, the Wizard of Oz didn’t exactly give us a map. Maybe we’re supposed to go to that oasis-looking place?”

“You’d think if that’s where we’re supposed to go, Jor-El woulda put us there,” Pete thought aloud, fingering the weapons on the belt of his dark green costume.

Chloe added knowingly, “Maybe there’s a test involved. We all are about to be attacked by sand ninjas with superspeed.”

A perplexed Lois turned her head to her cousin and asked incredulously, “What?”

Chloe swung her staff, knocking down a humanoid creature that appeared out of nowhere. Since it was covered in heavy tan robes, very little detail could be discerned about the creature except for his clawed hands, which were scaly and an unusual gray-green color. “That was the sentry. Can we get back to the part where I’m kinda psychic?!”

No one had a chance to reply as Chloe swung her staff again, knocking over another attacker. Her victory was short lived, as another creature knocked her down before she had a chance to react. The rest of the group soon found themselves on the ground under similar circumstances, except for Clark, who became an invisible blur as he fought their attackers at their speed, which gave the others time to recuperate. Clark’s salvation, however, was short lived, as approximately forty creatures appeared, far too many for Clark to face alone. In between exchanging attacks with the “sand ninjas,” he used his supersped vision to check up on the condition of his companions. Chloe was by far the most graceful, swinging her staff to knock over one to three monsters at a time, her powers instinctively instructing her how to move. But she was also outnumbered and was often powerless to prevent the attackers from knocking her over. Pete found his attacking skills futile against an enemy moving many times faster than he could. However, after switching to an all-around defensive style, he was able to limit his attackers’ strikes, shielded from the creatures’ sharp claws by his conveniently invincible garments. Lex pulled out his large saber and attacked at will. His attacks were more focused than Pete’s because of his ability to watch in fast-motion. However, he too could not match the physical speed of the warriors, and took a great many hits, though he fought relentlessly with the help of his enhanced stamina and endurance. Lana was in the most peril. While she attempted to make good use of her ropes, even knocking down one or two assailants who inadvertently got caught her lariat, her powers had not given her any aid in this scuffle. Clark, faced with such an onslaught, was unable to aid his friends outside a few well-time shoves. He noted the lack of Lois, until he saw sand creatures being mysteriously drug into the air and allowed to drop from highs of at least a hundred feet, many of them never recovering from the fall.

Lana at this point was being held down by no less than three of the creatures. In desperation, she screamed, “Why don’t you guys just slow down?!”

Instantly, the scene changed. All the creatures, which were mostly invisible to the eyes of everyone but Clark and Lex, started attacking in what could only be described as “normal” speed, though with no less fury. Pete quickly noticed the change and immediately took out four of the creatures in as many seconds with his expertly-wielded weapons. Lex’s success in battle also improved, now with lightning-fast reflexes aiding his natural fencing talent. Lana, too, found herself able to use her martial arts skills. Sand creatures began to rain down from above in greater numbers as the invisible Lois was easily able to grab her fill. Clark wished he could admire his friends’ newly-learned talents, but he too joined the battle, taking the superspeed advantage that their adversaries had lost, or chose to lose, thanks to Lana’s gift of persuasiveness. Within minutes, the forty-something creatures lay motionless on the ground. Lois, who had forgone her invisibility, was making use of her black belt skills to hold an aerial battle with a less-than-conscious opponent. She quickly ended the battle with a vicious side-kick with knocked the final enemy into a rock face.

Pete, witnessing this, commented to Lois, “Whoa, letting out a little aggression?”

Lois smiled as she drifted to the ground. “Trust me, if you’d dated some of the guys I have…”

* * *

After a quick inventory of injuries, all of them minor thanks to the sand beings’ lack of traditional weapons, the fellowship of six set out toward the oasis a few miles in the distance. For the first ten minutes of their arduous journey, there was silence as they regained their energy. Pete, looking pensive, broke the silence. “If we were the Power Rangers, do you think I’d be the Black Ranger?”

Many eyes were rolled, and Clark was the first to berate him. “Well, if we’re talking first season, the Black Ranger was the ‘non-leader, non-geek, non-chick’ one. Racial undertones aside.”

“None taken,” Pete assured his friend.

Lana tried to steer the conversation in a more serious direction. “Who do you see me as?” There were a chorus of “Pink Ranger” replies, and Lana’s response was to meekly comment about how she’d diversified her wardrobe since her time in Paris, which of course, given her hot-pink attire, was a moot issue.

Chloe, knowing the implications of their journey on a foreign and obviously hostile planet, commented, “Dare I open the can of worms, but who’s the Red Ranger of this posse?”

Lex was quick to answer, “Clark was given the role of Naman, who I take it was the hero of sorts of the Kawatche myths. However, stop me if you think my pride’s getting in the way, but I don’t see Sageeth as an unimportant character.”

Pete mulled over it and replied, “No, and I’d be the first to cut you down, Baldy. Perhaps Clark’s the Red Ranger, and you’re the Green Ranger.”

“Who was evil,” Lex brought up.

Chloe was quick to rebut, “As was Sageeth.”

Lex, not to be outdone, parried, “Yet I was still given his role in a rescue mission. I believe we’re inclined to assume this is the pre-betrayal Sageeth. And that’s not even taking into account my alternate interpretation of the Naman-Sageeth myth.”

Clark sighed heavily. “Lex, it was valid theory, but I think it’s really going to pull us off-topic.”

Chloe paused, “Where does that leave Lois and I?”

Pete seemed to have anticipated this question. “Well, as you can see, we have a different ratio of males to females. Chloe, I’m tempted, given your proficiency with computers—understatement—to place you under the Blue Ranger subheading. Take it with a grain of salt, though. You are a little less geeky than Billy.”

“A little less?!” Chloe moved to raise her staff in the air.

Reaching for his dagger to block, Pete replied, “C’mon, he got cooler later on.”

This seemed to sate Chloe, who wondered, “Whatever did happen to him?”

Clark smiled to himself. “If I’m remembering correctly, he became the behind-the-scenes research-inventor guy. He eventually got sick somehow and had to be taken to this other planet to get healed. He ended up falling in love with an alien.” As he finished his statement, his eyes locked with Chloe. There was an awkward silence as Clark, Chloe, and Pete exchanged uncomfortable glances. Lois, Lana, and Lex noticed their nervousness, but none could decipher the reason.

Chloe quickly added, “When I was four, I had a crush on E.T.” This only succeeded in producing another awkward silence, shared by all. Chloe laughed nervously adding, “It wasn’t really a crush. I just felt bad for him when he got sick. You know, at that age…”

Lois took note of her cousin’s uncharacteristic verbal ineptness.

* * *

During a sort of halfway break, Chloe moved to stand near the edge of the cliff. She watched as the sky moved from a light blue to a warm reddish color.

Clark walked over to her, playfully flicking one of her braids. Chloe had tried to undo the dreaded things, but found that the band holding them together was made from an inelastic, super-durable material. “You seem distracted.”

“This empathy thing’s really taxing emotionally. Being a girl, I always thought I could read people’s expressions well. Maybe I wasn’t as good as other girls, but better than, you know… guys.” Clark laughed. Chloe went on, “But this… this is like a sixth sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know that Pete’s got himself a girlfriend that he’s not telling us about, and he’s crazy about her. Head over heels.” Clark was silent, allowing her to go on. “Lois’s emotions are more turbulent than she lets on. For example, I think she’s starting to wonder if she’s cut out to be your mom’s chief of staff, since her only other job experience is being a waitress.” They shared a chuckle. Chloe added softly, “You and Lana… you’re growing apart, aren’t you? You still love her, but…”

“It’s… it’s…” He sighed. “…we’re getting to be so distant. Our friendship is strained. It’s like something’s coming between us.”

“It’s Lex and me.”

“What?”

“Lana feels like I’m coming between you two.” Clark started to protest. “Not romantically, Clark. She’s caught onto the fact we were sharing something, something big, and that we’re keeping it from her.”

“My secret,” Clark offered as the obvious answer. He added a question, “What about Lex?”

“Lana’s seeing something in Lex that she’s never seen before. I don’t know what though.”

“The empathy has its limits?”

“I knew that before I got these powers.”

Clark couldn’t find any words.

“There’s someone else, too, isn’t there, Clark? Someone in your life?”

Clark paused to think. “Uh, well, there was this girl that I did a Bio project with last semester. She’s beautiful and I might have asked her out if I wasn’t with Lana at the time. Maybe I will when I go back to school. It’s not that major. Haven’t actually thought about her in a while.” Chloe nodded her head in agreement. Clark quickly added, “And it’s not like you’re not a big part of my life… and beautiful and…”

Chloe smiled and held up her hand. “It’s okay, Clark; don’t worry about it. If anything, these powers have told me I’ve been underestimating my looks for a long time. I can feel something going on in yours and Pete’s and even Lex’s heads when you look at me. It’s not the same… heated… feeling I get when I note that, for example,” she stated critically, “Pete’s staring at Lois’s ass. It’s, uh…” She looked up at Clark, who was watching her. “…it’s like you’re appreciating some incredible work of art.”

Clark looked away. “Well, you really are beautiful, Chloe. It’s just… not something I can comment on lightly, given… given everything. Plus, I guess some of us are distracted by other people most of the time.” He said this last part with added weight.

Chloe smirked, “You can’t see the moon when the sun is out, right?”

Clark paused thoughtfully. “You know, I read somewhere that that wasn’t a good analogy.” He seemed to debate the point for a moment before continuing, “Now, bear with me, ‘cause this might not go where I intend. While you could equate beauty with light, that doesn’t take in to account that it’s easier to look at the moon than the sun. People usually say the moon’s pretty more often than the sun. But in reality, it’s just a rock. The sun’s the source of life for the universe. And for me, it’s the source of my powers. That last part wasn’t in the book obviously, but it works, right?” Clark clearly had no idea if his monologue was well-placed

His answer came as Chloe laid a quick kiss on his cheek. “I get it. Thank you for making my day, Clark. By the way, I was totally bluffing about that girl in your life thing.” Then she asked, with her typical curiosity, “But, really, what have you been preoccupied with all day?”

Clark’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“All day, this same feeling’s been coming back to you and it makes you really nervous and anxious and embarrassed sometimes. Not to pry, but… are you worried about the danger or…?”

Clark paused for a moment and laughed. “You’re really addicted to the truth, aren’t you?” Chloe just gave him an affirmative shrug with an “isn’t-it-obvious?” grin. “If you must know,” Clark said as his cheeks reddened, “…well, would I be wrong to assume you’re not wearing anything under that dress?”

Chloe tilted her head in surprise. “I’m really not sure if I like where this is going, Clark Kent. Couldn’t you use your super-duper alien eyes to check?”

Clark cleared his throat before continuing, quickly, “I did. I looked from behind. Completely bare back, from your shoulders to as far down as I dared to check.”

Chloe, without noticing what she was doing, smoothed her costume, “So, you are a nineteen-year-old male.”

Hoping to distract her, he added, “Yeah. The reason I bring it up is… I’m not either… wearing anything underneath, that is.” Chloe cat-called playfully. Clark sheepishly grinned, before confessing, “And it feels really good. And it’s kind of mix of… ‘Should I be liking this much as I am?’ And, ‘I dearly hope this loincloth thing is loose enough.’”

Chloe by this point was in a fit of giggles. “You can take the boy off of the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the man.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards the group, who showed signs of being prepared to continue the journey.

* * *

The six champions reached the alien palace as the sun started to disappear on the horizon. The palace was castle-like: square-based with high walls. However, instead of rock, the structure was made of a shiny gray metal, organically molded with several pointed pinnacles looking more like stalagmites than towers. What seemed to be the door was a twenty-five-foot brass circle on the front wall. Before the champions had time to consider a way to alert the castle’s inhabitants of their presence, the “door” started to make a low groaning noise as it slowly emerged from its position. Held up by unseen forces, it floated in the air, and then started to rotate forward, like a hovering drawbridge, until it came to rest on the sandy ground. Two figures walked out to the edge of the ten-foot platform to peer down on their six visitors. The creatures were somewhat humanoid, though less so than the strange assailants in the desert. They were tall, almost eight feet tall, and sinewy, with salmon-colored skin and thick, gray hair which flowed straight back across their oval heads. Their eyes were almond-shaped, completely white with small black pupils; their noses small; their mouths wide and lipless. They began to speak in a foreign language which was devoid of strange clicks or noises, making it sound Earthly. There were two of them, dressed in light blue robes with high collars.