Aftereffects of Fame

Max's scream interrupted Xana giving the huge man a chance to knock her out.

Lucas raised his eyebrows up. 'So you think I'm invisible?'

The huge man rushed to grab Xana's head but he did not expect to trip and fall heavily.

"F**k!!" the man was exasperated.

Xana turned around to see the stout man grovelling at her feet. Lucas walked behind him and stepped on his butt.

The man: "..."

Xana: "..."

Sam and Max: '... Boy you've got a weird fetish.'

Lucas looked at them and shrugged. Xana dusted her hands, the sound bringing the siblings back from their reverie.

Sam stared closely at the man who had been knocked out.

"I knew it! Something fishy was going on. This man is Tina's father."

Xana raised her head in surprise. "Oh, I did think she had something to do with this, but I did not think this Godzilla [1] would be her dad." Then she clicked her tongue. "Like father, like daughter."

"We should deliver him to the village chief, right? He has terrorized so many and now, it's time for him to face his retribution." said Lucas.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll call the guards here." Max said and ran off.

"While we're waiting for him, Deanna, you seem quite different. I never knew you knew martial arts. Where did you learn it from?" Sam asked.

Xana's eyes darted around. "Martial arts? Hehe, it isn't.

Trust me, those are just some skills I saw on TV in the village chief's house."

Sam narrowed her eyes. "I see." It was obvious she didn't believe her completely. But she did not pursue the answer either.

.....

It wasn't even up to a week after the three miracles were released, Xana was famous. The whole village saw her as an angel; she was famous in school, the neighbors gave her snacks and sweets when she passed their houses and the village chief invited her for dinner almost everyday.

She was so busy that she didn't have time to meet with Bill and Old Tim to plan the next 'miracle'. By the way, she had stayed in the village for too long and wanted to leave. Acorn village wasn't her stop.

As she was thinking about visiting Bill and Old Tim, surprising, one of them showed up.

"Deanna, Deanna!" a deep male voice called.

She got up and left her room to the living room. A tall man with bulging muscles was standing excitedly with his arms in his hips.

"Hey, Old Tim. Was thinking about visiting you."

Old Tim's face lit up when he saw her. "No, don't bother yourself anymore about visiting this one. I'll do the visiting." he said enthusiastically. Xana's eyebrows shot up.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

Old Tim breathed in and out to calm down.

"There has been very positive feedback from neighboring villages and towns about the Three Miracles. All the recorders have been sold including the heart rate monitors. We need more stock.

Most importantly, the news of you beating up the leader of Serpentines has been spread. Your fame has spread to the nearby communities."

Xana was momentarily confused. 'Serpentines? Oh! the hefty guy from a few nights ago.' She wasn't ecstatic about the positive feedback because that was to be expected. Who wouldn't bow to a genius like her?

"The village chief is going to hold another banquet in your honor as the Three Miracles have brought more foreign exchange for the village. The fact you defeated the Serpentines leader is another reason for the banquet." Old Tim paused to catch his breath. Xana quietly watched him.

He hadn't been this excited for a very long time in his life. This girl had found him a reason to live with joy.

She had never seen him this excited. Maybe doing something for the people made him very satisfied. She smiled.

"It is a good result. I'm proud of you." she said and Old Tim looked at her startled.

"You are the one the whole village including me is proud of." he said with a wide smile then waved goodbye.

He knew she was going to start working on more materials. Those materials needed perfect, stable, metal cases.

.....

She stood in front of her mirror examining herself. In her past life, she was a very beautiful lady, thanks to advanced plastic surgery. She transmigrated to this era in an ugly body.

How exactly was she ugly?

She observed her beautiful doe eyes with blue rings in them. Those eyes should be the most beautiful in the world. She touched her cherry red full lips. Though thin lips are pretty, hers was very kissable. She smiled as she admired her high cheekbones and freckles. Her ears were a bit pointy and her nose was small and round. Her hair was strawberry red and it had brown streaks.

Everything on her was beautiful. The problem was that when each of her facial characteristics were put together, it was a bit hideous.

Her high cheekbones made her full lips seem artificially filled. Her doe eyes did not go well with her eyebrows. Her scalp was weak making her hair fall of here and there.

Xana sighed heavily. She needed a makeover.

Back in the future, she had dabbled a bit into potion making and apothecary. So, little potions to strengthen her scalp and for hair growth were elementary for her.

She could make medicinal creams to apply on her cheekbones and lower it.

Her eyebrows could be regularly sculpted.

She smiled at herself and then it hit her. She had no pill or potion cauldron.

She then remembered seeing a pressure cooker at the village chief's house. She had thought about were he had gotten such a fancy cooker when the villagers used aluminum cooking pots.

'The pressure cooker would be enough.

.....

Year: 3120

Location: Thidas

Area: E

Time: 3:00 AM

Boys and girls ran down the street. Monitoring drones flew by now and then. The electronic vendors flashed their silver teeth as they called at those who passed by. Armour plated soldiers walked past now and then.

The sky was cloudy.

A black haired boy ran down the street in a hurry. Hot on his tracks were sturdy tall boys who opened space portals in front of him over and over. The boy tried hard to dodge the portals and tricked them once in a while.

"Damn!" one of the boys cursed as he got stuck in a ground opening array. "He's also good with arrays!"

"Don't worry, I'm very good with them too." a blonde boy said as they pursued the black haired boy.

"Of course. Master Hart must be skilled at it. Way better than the bumpkin there." the other boys praised him and his chest puffed up in pride.

The black haired boy smiled in mockery.

"Eat this, sucker!" the blonde opened a ground sinking array in front of him but the boy easily dodged it.

"Is that all you got!" he taunted making the blonde's face turn red.

He immediately adjusted his qi and his speed rose immediately. The black haired boy was startled but then he increased his own speed by ten times.

The blonde cursed.

"Hey! You've got to pay for that!" a vendor shouted and dragged the blonde back who had accidentally stepped on his imported advanced engineered oranges.

"Let go of me. Do you know who I am?" he seethed but the vendor scoffed.

"Who cares! Pay me. It's a hundred deni."

The blonde's eyes widened. A hundred deni! That was his whole monthly allowance.

His mouth twitched as he reluctantly pulled out the money from his pocket.

He did not argue as no one knew who was who. An ordinary street vendor could end up being a regent in disguise.

His eyes darted towards the black haired boy seemingly waiting for him. He frowned in disgust and called his boys back.

'We'll get him some other time.' they thought.

The black haired boy watched to see that they were not following him before he changed his direction.

He passed secret alleys and manholes to finally reach an abandoned alleyway.

He reached out to an inconspicuous tile and moved it, pulling a lever from underneath it.

A space portal opened and after making sure that there was no one monitoring him, he jumped into the portal.

In a different space, Venus sat lazily on a chair while munching on potato chips. He was watching a sitcom and would laugh from time to time. A robotic arm was nearby delivering snacks unto his lap as he finished a packet. It just grabbed the potato chip and gave a chocolate cake to him.

Venus grabbed it and munched on happily. The horrifying thing of it all was that after he moved to the bathroom, his abs were still there absolutely chiseled and perfect.

As he left the bathroom with a robe, he was immediately startled as a space portal opened above him and from it came a black haired boy.

"Virgil?!"