Trade: The Candy Cane Kid

Summary: Satoshi, a young stretchy superhero in training, gets himself involved in a crime-fighting versus the nefarious Slimey Cream. My half of a trade with Animewave-Neo

[Story Listing]

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Satoshi was a superhero in training; he was the youngest in a family of superheroes. Incredible elastic and shapeshifting abilities were practically a family heirloom at this point. But his inexperience tended to get him in over his head, despite his prodigal potential in his abilities.

Usually he patrolled the city under the tutelage of his older sister, Patty. But she was resting from a nasty head cold, and she was in no condition to "play babysitter", as she frequently griped. Satoshi thought it was funny, in a way; he really looked up to her, not only as a sister, but as a mentor and partner in fighting crime, and making the city a safer place. She was so strong, so clever, so flexible in any situation... and yet a simple cold was enough to keep her in bed for the better part of two days.

So this particular day, Satoshi was instructed to just head over to the nearest pharmacy and pick up some cold meds, to help her clear her head. Satoshi didn't have enough experience out on the field to act alone, so she insisted that he not get into any patrolling. It's not like superheroes were needed in every situation; the police existed to keep small-time criminals under control, after all.

...Satoshi was feeling a little restless after two whole days of sitting around, so while he agreed he wouldn't go looking for trouble, he didn't have any problems with getting a few good stretches in on his way to the pharmacy.

"Hup!" He sprang up in a single bound, clutching overhanging streetlights and swinging around them like monkey bars. His torso stretched as he kicked his legs. increasing his momentum as he sprang forward to get to the next one. His wrists would coil around the next light until he could grab it, convert his momentum into another, and surge forward again.

"Woo!" He whooped, lashing his arm upwards to catch a rooftop, swerving around a street corner and sticking the landing in front of the pharmacy. His outstretched arm retracted effortlessly so he could push the door open.

Dingaling! A chime indicated his arrival, and he strolled in, inviting a gawking look from the teenage cashier running the booth; if Satoshi's form-fitting spandex superhero costume wasn't strange enough, the display of boneless stretching he just performed to arrive was something else entirely.

"Excuse me, sir?" Satoshi waved cheerily. "Y'know where the cold medicine is?"

The cashier sheepishly gestured to aisle three. Satoshi thanked him, and headed over. He spent a little too much time just comparing brands. He didn't know which one was the best one... so he settled on the one with the nicest packaging...

Satoshi pulled out some paper bills he kept in his collar (supersuits really should come with pockets, he lamented), made the payment, and headed out with a little paper bag. Mission accomplished, so it was time to head back...

...At least, that's what he thought, but something strange caught his attention. Off in the distance, on the other side of town, strange, vibrantly pink clouds were spiralling up into the sky. Considering it was the middle of the day, Satoshi thought this was rather strange. But it was hard to tell what was going on, or what the source was. The other buildings nearby were rather tall, and he was too short to look over them...

Vwip. His legs began to stretch on their own as his torso zipped towards the sky; he extended his arm to wrap around a nearby streetlight, squinting off towards the pink clouds.

"The candy factory?" Satoshi blinked. "Are they making a new sort of candy? Those things on top never made clouds like those before..."

His curiosity was piqued and, deciding that the meds for his sister could wait (rest was important, after all!) he began to make his way over towards the factory. Thankfully, with his legs fifteen feet long, it only took a few great strides to get where he was going.

Spotting that one of the windows along the side was open just a crack, he flattened himself to the width of a piece of gum and slipped right in. He landed lightly on a rafter up above, overlooking the open factory floor below. Despite the puffs of pink smoke puffing up through the stovepipes above, the line didn't seem to be moving.

Though Satoshi's attention was drawn elsewhere. Along the walls were splotches of white, pink and purple cream, their colours blending in delicious swirls.

"...Huh??"

Satoshi gawked at the mess left within the factory from these massive splotches of ooze. They were moving on their own... wait, at the center of these splotches were people! Factory workers struggling to escape, plastered to the walls like they were trapped in plaster, or spiderwebs!

"Ihihihi!~"

Satoshi's eyes narrowed towards the center of the room, where a strange woman sauntered across the factory. Her body jiggled with every step, made of the same oozy stuff that ensnared the workers. She cradled a large sack in her arms, labeled SUGAR; her two tentacle-like twintails each coiled around a sugar sack as well.

With every step, the slime woman left a trail of multi-hued ooze in her wake, and the way her body warbled and writhed with every cackle didn't help matters. She really was making a mess of the place; Satoshi cringed internally, as his first instinct was a memory of his mother's insistence on keeping his room orderly...

...But that didn't seem all that important at the moment, these people were in TROUBLE! And Satoshi would have to do something about it. Slipping through the rafters, he lowered an extending leg to discreetly and softly land on one of the unmoving conveyor belts, softening his steps to keep pace with the bad lady, and get within earshot of her. Just like his sister taught him.

"Hehehe! The eggheads at this factory really have no idea what they cooked up, huh?" She beamed, a tendril emerging from her side coiled around a pink vial. "This Stay Puffed chemical compound, mixed with my sugary-sweetened slime, will cause a chain reaction! I'll swell to the size of a skyscraper and rule this rinkadink town!"

It seems the lady didn't realize she had superhero company, because she kept monologuing to herself. She seemed to be approaching an industrial-scale oven of sorts... better to get that chemical compound out of her hands, while she was playing with her food. Satoshi reached forward with a rope-like arm, sticking out his tongue as he focused on his fine grip. His index finger and thumb doubled in length, lashing out to wrap around the vial and bring it into his palm.

"Yoink."  Satoshi grinned, his arm zipping back to his side. It didn't take long for the slime woman to notice and react, spinning to face him.

"EH!? Patty!?" She snarled.

"W-what?" Satoshi blinked. "That's not- she's my s- I'm not a girl! C'mon..."

Satoshi pouted his cheeks as he folded his arms.

"Eh sorry, reflex; Patty's kind of a regular." The woman quickly apologized. "You seem young, you new on the block?"

"I-I guess..." Satoshi stirred. "I'm Satoshi."

"Real name? Gotta workshop a superhero name... pfft, with that getup, you look like a candy cane..." She muttered

"...Huh?" Satoshi looked over himself, somewhat bashfully.

"Hehe, Candycane Kid, try that on for size!" She smirked. "Gotta ring to it, huh?"

"I-I'm not a Candycane Kid!" Satoshi balled his hands into fists, standing on his heels as his cheeks puffed up... quite exaggeratedly, like little balloons.

"...H-hey, wait a sec, why am I being so cordial with you!? You're RUINING MY PLANS! And NOBODY messes with Slimey Cream and gets away with it!"

She remembered herself and picked up the tempo, hurling one of her sugar sacks at Satoshi. He ducked under the first one and watched the arc of the second one; slithering underneath the conveyor belt, he flipped out, lashing an arm out to wrap around the sugar and bring it down hard on Slimey Cream.

Her vision obscured by a cloud of confectioners sugar, she coughed and hacked, her face contorting into a vicious, crazed snarl, her lower body curling into a spiral as she lunged at him, arms merging together into the shape of a massive mallet. Satoshi gasped, his lower body already shifting to escape her swing, coiling around the conveyor belt; as his upper body zipped to catch up, she collided with the ground, rattling the entire factory in a quake.

"Quick little rat aintcha!?" Her eyes bugged out, her head swivelling 180 degrees to keep an eye on him. "You're a fun lil twerp to play with! Been a while since I got to go all out like this! I tend to break my toys!~"

One of her slime twin tails grabbed the conveyor belt and lashed it up and down, producing a wave of destruction, the rubber threads warping as they were bent out of shape. Satoshi staggers as the tidal wave of warped rubber and steel caused him to stagger and stumble, and topple to the factory floor, down the main aisle.

He grimaced, looked at Slimey Cream's crazed expression. She gnashed her teeth as she surged forward, arms fashioned into swords. Satoshi never had to deal with swords before! Would his outfit be able to take it? He didn't want to explain to his mom how his superhero getup got cut up.

Vrrrrr... The industrial furnace whirred to life, its systems seemingly resetting. He glanced over his shoulder, then back to Slimey Cream. He was getting an idea, but he'd have to be quick.

His hand grabbed for the handle and wrested the door open, his body tumbling to the side in a stretched out loop. Slimey Cream tensed up her slug-like lower body, digging her sword-like arms against the ground as she skidded to a halt, kicking up sparks in the process. Dollops of creamy sweet trickled down her heat, looking into the open maw of the oven, feeling the heat emanating from it.

"Hhhh... HAH!" Slimey Cream bellowed. "You think I woulda fallen for a cartoon trick like that, you lil-"

"HIIIYAH!" His own body curling like a roller coaster loop de loop, Satoshi allowed the soles and heels of his feet to swell to gargantuan proportions, like rubber boots big enough for the Statue of Liberty; with an emphatic KICK! Slimey Cream was sent into the red hot oven, the door slamming shut behind her.

"HEYY! Let me out of here you twerpy little RUNT!" The entire contraption rattled as she struggled to escape. Satoshi was already rushing for the sugar sacks on hand, dumping as much as he could... but being careful not to include the secret compound she had nabbed.

There was an ominous crackling, the oven creaking at the seams as it swelled, shuddering under the pressure (as well as Slimey Cream's muffled shouting), before it burst open!

Slimey Cream snarled, her entire body seemingly hardened into crystals of hard rock candy! She struggled to escape, but her fluid body was solid, spiky, unmoving. The best she managed was rocking back and forth.

"UGH, MY PERFECT GOOPY BODY! UGHHHH, MY HAAAAAAAAAIR..." Her twin tails slumped over her chest, clinging as she rocked back and forth.

"Your hair's crummy anyway!" Satoshi taunted her, waving the pink vial in front of her. "Now you can't hurt anyone anymore!~"

Shlruuuk... some of the lab workers were managing to pull themselves free from the wall, Slimey's grip weakening.

"Hey, he did it!" One hollered. "Candycane Kid saved us!"

"Huh?" Satoshi blinked. "That's not my-"

"Three cheers for Candy Cane Kid!" Another whooped, unpeeling from the wall.

"That name was her idea, not mine!" Satoshi waved his arms.

"CANDY CANE KID! CANDY CANE KID! CANDY CANE KID!"

"UGHHHH..." Satoshi facepalmed, massaging his brow. "Nuts to this, I'm going home..."

As police sirens wailed outside, ready to pick up the latest criminal supervillainess, Satoshi discreetly let himself out past yet another open window. He knew he wasn't supposed to go superheroing without supervision, but sometimes stuff just came up...