“Hello! I am (???) and I am an urchin! Today I wanted to talk about one of my favourite things in the whole wide world. I really love sparkly things! They all look so cool! I really wanna make something really sparkly one day, then let everyone see it in all its glory! But I’m not that good at using my sabre, so my sparkly stuff doesn’t really shine at all…

But then I saw something awesome! There was this guy who had like this cool dark shadow behind him but then… He had the coolest sparks ever coming out of his hair! It was everywhere! His shoes! His back! His hands! It was sparkly everywhere! I wanna do that sparkly thing too! I wanna create sparks like that too! I WANNA BE SPARKLY!”

She saw those sparks twice now. Each time was more precious than the last to her. She loved everything about it, even down to the smallest details. If she wanted to be sparkly like that, she knew she had to talk to that guy in the green coat. However, before she could think straight again…

“Heyo.”

She looked to up in front of her. She was somehow sat down back on that same bench once again. But that voice belonged to someone she definitely recognised.

Stress looked down on her sitting down, her mouth open in awe at what she witnessed this guy do just a moment ago. She needed to lay out how she felt.

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT! I wanna know how to sparkle like that too!”

She couldn’t contain herself. Stress however, he was taken aback.

“Hold on. You remember me?”

“Whaaa? You don’t remember me? But you saved me from those creepy fire people! That was you!”

“I mean, yeah! That mascot and his two other cronies attacked you on stage and I didn’t stand for it so I helped you. Wait no, that’s not the point. How do you know what happened if time got reversed back to this point? You shouldn’t know that, it doesn’t make sense…”

“Huh? Time got reversed? What does that mean? Like time as in clocks?”

Stress started to pace back and forth, hand holding his chin in contemplation. That hand then rose to cover his mouth.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the hell. What in the actual hell.”

“Oh yeah what’s Time Bomb Theory? You shouted about it very loudly.”

“O-oh uuuhm well uh you see uhm… Nothing you should be worrying about!”

“Sounds like it’s bad. Are you bad?”

“NO! Or I’m trying not to be…”

“Are you mad?”

“N-! No. I am not mad in the slightest.”

“You seem like it.”

Stress was edging closer and closer to breaking point.

“My theory is not bad. It is simply my way of trying to rationalize the laws of this world. But now I have another wrench in the works, so I really don’t know anymore.”

“What does rationalize mean?”

“Understand.”

“I don’t understand.”

Stress couldn’t keep up a reasonable conversation with this child, so he just stopped trying.

“Ok. So what of what happened on that stage do you remember, even if it’s just small details.”

“Loads of sparkles! Oh, and those three guys calling me onto stage. And me hurting somewhere… where did I get hurt?”

“Do you remember seeing me when sat on this exact bench a while ago?”

“Uhhh. Maaaybe? Oh yeah, I did! You looked so plain- wait no you still do… But yeah, we did meet right here! Wait how did I get here again?”

“Well from my understanding, time got reversed again due to me activating that ability again somehow…”

“The one with the sparkles?”

“Yeah. I remember the first time I used that ability, I heard something along the lines of “RELEASE YOUR STRESS” or something like that so I guess I’ll just call it that.”

“Release Your Stress? Is that how you make those sparkles? I wanna do that!”

“Weeeeeell… Thing is… I don’t really know how it gets activated either.”

“But it’s your ability! What kinesis even is that!? What are you even using as a conduit?!”

She was practically looking directly up at Stress’s face while tugging his trouser leg. Her one pupil shone Stress’s own face back at him like her eye was a mirror. He was the one with all the questions, yet still this Urchin had a lot more to say than he did.

“Tell me! I wanna knooooooow!”

“OK OK OK OK!”

“Huh?”

“I’m trying to be as polite as possible here, but please stop talking for a second so I can think.”

She just gave him a weirdly scuffed salute that wasn’t even really a salute before shutting herself up and plopping her butt back on the bench, (it felt wrong that there wasn’t a poof noise when she sat) bearing an eager smile while waving her legs in anticipation. Therefore, Stress’s brain once again got set into motion.

“If Urchin over here remembers what happened on that stage this time around, then wouldn’t that mean… Oh no.”

Stress ran into the light again in a hurried panic. The Urchin quickly got up and shouted “WAIT PLEASE!” in his direction yet he barely heard it.

She stood there watching him slowly fade into the crowds.

“I wanted to know his name…”

…

“I swear if that mascot didn’t have his memories wiped after that, this could be bad. Did anyone else remember? I need to find that stage again, they should be there.”

He ran and ran through the crowds of people until he finally found where he was looking for once again.

“EVERYONE!”

He was indeed there, however this felt different. The air wasn’t as tense and worrisome as when he had observed this stage before. Not to mention that Leon and Son were both almost fidgeting and pacing while on stage in front of everyone, like they suddenly gained stage fright.”

“Sooooooooo… Before we start… Dumb question for you all!”

Even his voice was shaky. Everyone there was incredibly uneasy, so unnaturally that it felt almost ominous. The mascot then spoke.

“The question is…

Do you all sometime feel as if you’ve been brought back in time, or is that just a me thing?”

The crowd reacted heavily to this. Even Son and Leon were taken aback by him.

“So… do you all remember what happened to me on this stage? How this random guy appeared and moved at superb speeds just to presumably destroy every fibre of my being in one move.”

He could make this atmosphere any more horrific. Or…

“Do you all know about a thing called Time Bomb Theory?”

Silence… Followed by a collective agreement.

Stress’s worst outcome had become reality. The mascot spoke one final time.”

“NOW! I will speak with the utmost honesty due to our dire situation. We three called up that urchin humanoid onto stage due to a demand by my father. If you didn’t know, my father is one of The Great Pyrokinetics and one of the lead researchers in kinetic abilities working for the RKRF, Ruben Coalut Scarlet.”

The crowd was all ears as if that was just common knowledge to them, and even those who looked as if they were clueless were still wrought with admiration.

“I am Rudy Scarlet, his only son and his future successor. I was tasked with bringing that urchin to him due to her apparent “kinetic fault” that needed to be investigated by him personally. I know, I know that hitting a child is a bit much but we were out of ideas for how else to get her with us. I will apologise for that much at least.

HOWEVER! That man… Whoever that was who assumably blew me to bits… I have one request for all of you! Find him and turn him in to the authorities. He is wanted for unauthorised attempted murder plus delusional activity AND I WILL NOT BE SATISFIED UNTIL HE IS PROMPTLY DEALT WITH! ARE YOU WITH ME? SON. LEON. EVERYONE. LET US BRING THIS MAN THROUGH THE FLAMES OF JUSTICE!”

The crowd roared in agreement. He had a warrant for his arrest. Rudy already had pulled out a phone that seemed to be his and held it up to his fabric chin. The lack of mouth and the distance made his call illegible, however he knew already that he was calling the police. He had baseless evidence on his own for his wrongdoings, however knowing his proclaimed status and the entire crowd on his side he knew he stood no chance. Not only that, that policepostwoman was not even that far away if Time Bomb Theory was still mostly correct. He was quite literally doomed.

But… he never thought... that someone as weird and bland as him… could ever be worth standing up for.

“Don’t say that about him just yet!”

All eyes shot in place. Rudy’s head creaked as he continued his call despite the desperate exclamation. Stress couldn’t make out a visual, but from the looks of it…

A small glistening chunk of water flew into Rudy’s phone, now cracked on the grass beneath after hitting the stage’s metal frame.

“Urrrrrrchiiiiiin…”

Rudy’s voice sounding more and more like a faulty A.I, he stared condescendingly right at the cause of him needing a new screen protector.

The Urchin stood panting. Rudy just stood still, before letting his words all pour slowly out of his mouth.

“Are you gonna defend that man cause he tried to save you? Do you even know what type of BULL he pulled on me? You know that YOU are the reason me and my friends are even here tonight. If you pla-“

“I am gonna defend him! He sparkled so brightly to stop me from getting hurt! Those sparks… I… I-I’ve seen them before! Even before he appeared I knew vaguely what they looked like! I KNOW WE NEED TO-“

“Don’t you DARE interrupt me you URCHIN!”

Rudy leaped off the stage, his left hand engulfed in crimson flame, and he slogged the Urchin in the face, throwing her flying backwards. Flying at a moderate speed, she suddenly felt the embrace of something behind her, like she was a baseball being caught by after a strike.

“You ok?”

She, still bracing for an impact that had already happened, opened her bulging cyclops eye to the face above her. That sight alone was enough to make tears roll down her giant noggin. She was still a child at heart. A good enough time for Rudy to intersect with commentary.

“Turning yourself in? You really are quite the joker aren’t you? Mr. Sparky Disintegrator himself. Welcome to reality! Harsh isn’t it?”

“I could say so yeah.” was all Stress could say after that catch. He stared right at the mascot’s scarlet aesthetics, front and centre with the followers in tow behind him. Stress was basically defenceless here; he needed some form of advantage.

“Eeeeeeeh? Tryin’ to pull that thick ass banner out of the ground? Why don’t you just use your big ol’ spark tricks eh? I’d love to see you try it again…”

“I have my reasons trust me. This. Just. Seeeeeems… grrrr… more… fair!” he said while tugging on the banner with both of his hands to pull it out. Rudy didn’t seem like he wanted to do anything until…

“Think fast!”

He shot a fast ball of flame right at Stress. Rudy’s callout was a benefit for Stress who was able to swing his body to the right behind the banner, which also made him trip which also flung the banner right out of the ground, clanging against the dirt.

“And again!”

Another one. Faster this time. By the time Stress was dragging the banner, the ball attempted to loosen his grip onto it by hitting the banner itself. That backfired. The banner swung back around Stress clockwise after the hit, landing the banner, now ignited due to the flammable cloth, resting on his left shoulder, which was now aching due to the banner’s landing onto it.

“Come ON! I know what you’ve done, we ALL do. Even so does that Urchin, yet she still clings onto the murderous sparkly man. Yadda yadda yadda, JUST SHOW US THA-

“YOU THINK FAST INSTEAD COTTON HEAD!”

Despite the crowd’s attempted interference calling to Rudy, the large burning banner struck right through the right side of his face as his head caught ablaze, the rest of his body surely soon to follow. The panic grew out further and further as the crowd slowly started to disband, not wanting any danger to come towards them too. Stress just slowly turned away as he looked down at the Urchin with a smile before saying.

“My name is Mr. Stress. I really don’t want to call you just an urchin anymore, so what actually is your name if you don’t mind me asking?”

She looked at his determined dark brown eyes. She attempted to respond, however…

“Well… um… you see I do-“

“I can tell you’re uncomfortable. So I’ll just give you a nickname for now!

Lemme call you Urchiri. That rolls off the tongue well, so I hope you don’t mind!”

He gave a thumbs up, almost as if he was gratifying his own name choice. The Urchin, now nicknamed Urchiri, just looked at him with gleaming eyes and said, flames all in the background.

“Beanie Urchiri! That’s my name! I’m Beanie Urchiri! Beanie Urchiri!”

She loved it. It seems as if she had already come to trust him, despite not that much pushing on his end, just some friendly actions. It took Stress a little by surprise of how easy his befriending of Urchiri was. However, this was taking place amidst something way more sinister…

“Hehehehe…

I’M DONE WITH YOU…”