Nikki Powergloves- A Hero is Born

by David Estes

  Chapter Fifteen: Spencer pees his pants, nearly

  With a loud roar, the lion pounced on Spencer and proceeded to hold him down with one powerful paw. Spencer let out a high-pitched scream, just like you would expect from a girl. As quickly as she had changed into a lion, Nikki changed back into a girl.

  Spencer’s face was as white as a ghost and he looked so terrified that for a second Nikki was afraid he might have peed himself. Nikki started to apologize, expecting her friend to be angry with her. “Spence, I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

  She was surprised when he cut her off and said, “Awesome! I think you can change into any animal you want to! That’s even cooler than Dr. Dolittle being able to talk to animals!”

  “Uhh, yeah, I think you’re right. Look, I’m sorry, Spence, I really didn’t know it would work. I expected to just turn into the dog again.”

  “That’s okay. Of course it was really scary at the time, but I guess I should have known that you wouldn’t hurt me. How come your paws didn’t tear me to shreds anyway?”

  “My claws were retractable,” Nikki explained. “I remember having the instinct to keep the claws tucked inside my paws since I knew I was just playing, not attacking.”

  Spencer laughed. “It felt like an attack to me! Yikes!” They both laughed together and then Spencer said, “You should try turning into other animals so you know what you can and cannot do.”

  Nikki liked this idea and so, for the next hour, Spencer used the back of the paper to list animals and she tried to transform into them. By the end of the hour, the list looked something like this:

  Nikki’s Animal Powers

  Dog---tiger---cheetah---lion---koala---antelope---bird---bear---dinosaur---chipmunk---shark---pig---fish---elephant---cow---horse---raccoon---panther---cat---turtle---giraffe---monkey---snake---fox

  “Do you see any common themes?” Spencer asked.

  “They all have four legs, although monkeys front legs are more like arms,” Nikki replied.

  “What about warm-blooded? None of the cold-blooded animals like snakes or reptiles worked.”

  “Yeah, I think you’re right. Also, the animal has to have something that resembles a paw; the animals that have hooves like the horses and giraffes didn’t work either.”

  Spencer summarized their findings: “So, it seems like you can basically change into any animal with warm-blood, four legs, and paws. Although I’m not sure it is necessarily defined that specifically, as the monkey seems a bit different.”

  “Great,” Nikki said. “Can we take a break? It’s lunch time and I’m starving.”

  “Sure, Yogi-Bear,” Spencer said, opening his bag. “I thought this might take a while so I had my mom pack us a picnic.”

  A huge smile formed on Nikki’s face. “Thanks! I really didn’t feel like going all the way home.”

  They enjoyed delicious peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, cut diagonally, just the way Nikki liked them. They washed them down with a can of Coke each and chatted as they relaxed in the shade.

  Always thinking ahead, Spencer said, “After we’re done testing the gloves we have to work on a costume for you.”

  “Yes, and it needs to hide my true identity. I don’t want my mom and dad finding out about any of this.”

  “At least we have your name figured out. Nikki Powergloves to the rescue!” he shouted.

  Nikki giggled. “I hope I’m a good superhero.”

  “I know you will be. Especially with all the powers you have. I’ve never heard of a superhero with this many powers before.”

  “What about a super-villain? Jimmy seems to have lots of powers, too. I mean, you saw the way he was able to fly and drop the statue on us. Plus, with his disappearing and smashing the steps, he seems invincible.”

  “Don’t underestimate yourself, Wonder-Woman. Remember, we know that you have invisibility now, too, so you can sneak up on him. And we still have more gloves to test.”

  “And I’ve got the best genius sidekick ever!” Nikki added.

  “You mean, you really want me as your sidekick?” Spencer asked uncertainly.

  “Of course! You’re my best friend and are smarter than anyone I know, even adults.”

  “Thanks, Nikki.”

  After finishing their sodas they got back to business. Next on the list were the pink gloves with the tarot card symbol that Nikki had been dying to try out. From her experience, a tarot card meant seeing the future. She pressed her thumb to the symbol and closed her eyes.

  She wasn’t sure how to imagine herself seeing the future, so she just pictured herself in a dark room with a crystal ball. In her mind, she looked deeply into the glass orb. Visions flashed through her head. She saw she and Spencer starting fifth grade. There was a gang of bullies that were picking on a skinny, nerdy-looking kid. He was new at school. The movie continued and she saw herself spring into action, using her super-strength gloves to fight him.

  Everything went dark as the scene changed, and then she saw the bully in the hospital with bandages on his head; she had hurt him pretty badly. The scene changed again and she was in the car with her parents. They pulled into a different school, the sign said: “St. Bernard’s Juvenile Academy.” Oh no, she thought, I was forced to go to a juvenile delinquent school because I beat up the bully! “No!” she yelled. “Don’t leave me here, I was only trying to help!” Her parents left her at the school and drove away.

  Nikki opened her eyes. Spencer was staring at her. He looked alarmed. “What did you see?” he asked. “You were yelling.”

  “I saw me defending a kid that was getting picked on at school. I used my powergloves. I beat up the bully and they kicked me out of school and sent me to juvie.” Nikki said all of this without emotion, in a monotone voice.

  “But that can’t be true, can it?”

  “It has to be, Spence, the gloves have worked so far, so why wouldn’t these ones be able to show me the future?”

  “Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean the future can’t be changed. You probably just saw what can happen if you are not careful with the way you use the gloves. Like with what happened with the storm.”

  Nikki’s face brightened. “Do you really think that the future can be changed? I don’t want to go to that school, Spence.”

  “I don’t know, but I think there is a way we can test it. I bet you can see any future that you choose. Almost like seeing the trailer for a movie before you go to watch the whole thing. If I plan to do something in the next few minutes, I think you might be able to predict what I will do before I do it.”

  “Okay, let’s try it. Plan to do something and I will try to stop you.”

  Spencer thought for a minute and then said, “Okay, ready.”

  Nikki closed her eyes and saw the crystal ball again, but this time, she focused on Spencer and what he might do in the next few minutes. Sure enough, she saw her and Spencer in The Clubhouse. He was standing across from her and they were looking at each other. Suddenly, he ran toward the magic chest and tried to stick his hand inside. Like before, there was an explosion of sparks and he was jolted backwards into the air, like a circus acrobat shot out of a cannon.

  She opened her eyes and Spencer was staring at her, just like in her vision. She stared right back at him. As she expected, he tried to make a dash for the chest, but knowing what he would do, Nikki was able to run in front of him and block his way with her arms.

  “Awesome! Hallelujah!” Spencer yelled. “That’s even cooler than the first time Anakin Skywalker went pod-racing in the new Star Wars! You can definitely change the future, Nikki. There’s no need to worry about what you saw. When the time comes, you just need to handle the situation differently. Maybe use your ability to change into a bear so you can scare the bully away. No one will even know it was you.”

  Nikki was relieved to find out that she didn’t have to go to juvie. She had heard that only the toughest kids went to school there.

  They moved on to the next pair of
gloves—the gold ones with a clock on them. Spencer said, “You can probably stop or slow down time, or maybe both.”

  He had guessed correctly and when Nikki put on the gloves she was able to bring time to a crawl, like she was watching a slow motion replay on TV. The coolest thing though, was that she could still move at her normal speed. They had agreed before the test that Spencer would run laps around the chest so that Nikki could see what it would look like if a bad guy was trying to run from her when she used her gold gloves.

  Spencer’s running was so slow that she could walk next to him and easily keep up. Nikki could even run circles around him while he was running around in a circle. It was like he was the planet earth circling the sun and she was the moon circling the earth. She could probably circle him 365 times before he could make 1 revolution around the chest.

  Eventually she tired of watching him move in slow-mo, so Nikki stopped time altogether. His body was stuck in place, with one foot out in front of the other, in mid-stride. Deciding now was the time to play another joke on her friend, Nikki bent down and tied his shoelaces together. This is gonna be good, she thought.

  Allowing time to start again and go back to its normal speed, Nikki watched eagerly as Spencer took his next step. His legs locked together as his front foot tried to pull his back foot forward because of the shoelace. He went sprawling head-first onto the ground and rolled a couple of times before coming to a stop in the grass.

  “Geez, Spence, what happened?” Nikki asked. “You must have tripped on something.”

  Spencer looked down at his shoes to find they were shackled together. “Very funny, Geek-Squad. They certainly didn’t tie themselves together did they?”

  Nikki feigned innocence and said, “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Spencer stood up and brushed himself off. Turning serious, he said, “It was weird, I was moving at normal speed, but I could barely see you. It was like you were moving at the speed of light, flashing in and out of my vision.”

  “That power will definitely come in handy,” Nikki noted.

  She swapped the gold ones for the last pair of gloves. They were peach colored, almost exactly the color of her skin, and had pictures of two stick figures drawn on them. The stick figures were identical. “What do you think these gloves do?” she asked Spencer.

  “My first guess is that you could clone yourself or something,” he said.

  Nikki rubbed her hands together. “Oooh, I hope you’re right. The only thing better than one Nikki Powergloves, is two Nikki Powergloves.”

  She imagined that there were two of her, and that she and Nikki number two were standing next to each other. When she opened her eyes, she looked around excitedly, but it was still just she and Spence. “I don’t think the power is cloning,” she said.

  Spencer laughed. “I’m glad, I can barely survive one Nikki’s pranks, two would be more than I could handle. Hmmm, what else could it be?”

  “What about the power to clone other people?” Nikki suggested.

  A look of understanding crossed Spencer’s face. “I don’t think that’s quite right, but you’re on the right track. It’s not that you can clone yourself or others, but that you can make yourself look like someone else! Yip yip yip!”

  “I think you’re right, Spence. Unfortunately the only one here is you, and not in a million years would I ever want to look like you,” she said with a sly grin.

  “Ha…Ha,” Spencer said dully. “Just try it, would you?”

  Chuckling to herself, Nikki concentrated on transforming into a Spencer look-a-like. She heard Spencer exclaim, “Oh my gosh, Nikki, it’s like I have a twin brother!”

  She opened her eyes. She was wearing Spencer’s clothes and her legs looked funny with tiny little hairs growing on them. “Do I really look like you, Spence?”

  “Yep, you’re my spitting image. I bet you could even fool my mother. Hey, you know how you’re much better in history class than I am? Maybe next year you could take a few of my tests for me, whaddya think?”

  “I think that would be considered misuse of my powers and would be inappropriate conduct for a superhero,” she replied. “You can take your own tests just like every other kid.”

  Spencer groaned. “Okay fine, but you can’t fault me for trying!”

  Nikki ran her tongue along her front teeth; she even had Spencer’s braces! “Ewww, having metal in your mouth feels weird!” she said.

  “Tell me about it. You’re lucky your teeth are straight.”

  Nikki pulled off the gloves and changed back to her normal self. Returning the last pair of gloves to the chest, she said, “Well, that’s it. We’ve tested them all! That was fun, wasn’t it?”

  Spencer groaned. “Maybe for you! I’ve been electrocuted, picked up, nearly smashed by a giant statue, tripped, attacked by a lion, and had my pants pulled down. Not one of my best days!”

  “True, but you’ve also been hired as the genius sidekick for a brand new superhero.”

  “Good point,” Spencer replied.

  Spencer made a few more scribbles on the paper and showed the finished product to her. It looked like this:

  Powergloves Inventory

  Glove Color---Symbol---Power!

  White---Snowflake---Ability to create ice

  Red---Flame---Ability to create fire

  Light blue---Bird---Ability to fly

  Black & yellow---Lightning bolt---Ability to control the weather

  Green---Leaf---Ability to grow plants quickly

  Purple---Muscly arm making a fist---Super-strength

  Orange---Shoes---Super-speed

  Gray---No drawing---Invisibility

  Brown---Paw print---Ability to transform into animals

  Pink---Tarot card---Ability to see the future (and change it)

  Gold---Clock---Ability to stop or slow down time

  Skin-colored---Two identical stick figures---Ability to look like someone else

  Satisfied that Spencer had listed the powers correctly, Nikki said, “Looks good, can we go back to my house and work on the costume now?”

  Spencer agreed and Nikki took one last look into the chest. Something unusual caught her eye.