short fiction
5 min
The Ultimate Adventure of Just Bob
Doyun Kim
Regular life and stuff
Bob is just a normal, everyday human that gets sent to the moon every three months in a coke 'n' mentos rocket to test the boosters.
Well, he used to be. Then his life changed when a big chunk of popcorn nebula struck his rocket. It combusted and Bob was sent flying through the cosmos. He was hit by at least thirty asteroids, skidded across the surface of two moons until he got hit again and was blasted down to Earth.
Somehow, that piece of popcorn contained some weird stuff that electrocuted Bob's DNA, replacing his everyday human powers with new otherworldly ones. And Bob hated it.
You might think he was crazy. Well, he wasn't. Ever since he got his powers, people started to pester him to do a bunch of errands. He had three powers he had inherited from the popcorn:
Telekinesis, flight, and humor. Yeah, that last one is true. Every time he cracks a joke, anyone who hears him bursts into laughter. It didn't help with his running for president. He cracked a small joke, and everyone laughed so hard they didn't hear his speech at all.
In his non-powered times, he is Bob. But in other cases, he is...Just Bob!
Reasoning
All the people in his neighborhood think he's a worker hero and shout for 'help' so he can do the grunt work. Last year, the grocery store man literally blew out his vocal cords screaming for Bob to rearrange his cans.
But this time, there is a new danger threatening the place. And the residents of his town wouldn't stop talking about it.
This new threat is the same piece of popcorn. Turns out his name is Dave. And Dave wants revenge for Bob's powers. When Bob inherited the powers, Dave lost them. Now he's left with the lamest ones, and Bob's and Dave's are polar opposites.
Dave was stuck with three powers: making things stay in their places, staying on the ground, and making people cry. Dave recently just trashed San Fransisco. After looking up some information on the computer library with his card (It was library card day.), he figured out where Bob lived: Belltown.
What a dumb name! He thought. Then he nicked a phone from a Banana store and forced the workers to set his account up, and after downloading some destruction songs from Banana Tunes and buying a couple games, he tracked down Bob's location.
Bob didn't care. A piece of popcorn? The residents couldn't get stupider than that. All he had to do was eat Dave.
So Bob jacked his charging cable into his phone and clicked on the TV. This is what he saw.
(Fancy news type music playing.)
BREAKING NEWS:
NINETY METER TALL POPCORN CHUNK OBLITERATES SAN FRANCISCO AND IS CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR A SUPER-BEING NAMED JUST BOB.
Bob's eyes grew wide. Frantically, he changed the channel to a Jom and Terry show. The stress was too much to handle. So he simply wouldn't handle it.
Bob watched as Jom chased Terry around with a double-headed axe, and decided to get a Coke. He sat down onto the couch, and sipped his drink.
Suddenly, the floor rumbled so hard his Coke levitated and splashed onto his face. "My eyes!" Bob wailed as he rubbed them furiously.
A mean laugh echoed throughout the neighborhood. Bob's ceiling groaned as the roof disappeared. The next thing Bob saw was hideous.
A chunk of popcorn wearing bright green overalls and a saturated yellow top. He had a blindingly neon pink fanny pack, with purple earplugs to go with it (Do popcorn even have ears?)
His outfit was completed with a propeller hat.
Bob burst into laughter.
The popcorn glared at him with pure and total hatred. "You think this is funny?" He growled. "Yeah." chuckled Bob. "You look like a disco ball!"
So the popcorn channeled his innermost anger and snarled, "I'ma pummel you first, ball you up, stuff you into that blasted Coke rocket of yours and send you into the nearest black hole!" Bob ceased his laughter and started to bawl.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The popcorn sneered and made his move.
Seriously?
"I am Dave!" He roared.
Dave pulled out his phone and pressed a few buttons. The soundtrack of The Battle of the Pellennor Fields from Lord of the Things played, and Dave brandished a rather large and sharp banana. He flung it at the hero.
Instinctively, Bob stopped crying, and activated his telekinesis. The bananarang flew back towards the oversized snack. It made its journey halfway to Dave and paused. Dave had used his reverse-telekinesis to freeze the thing in time. Now it had nowhere to go. Bob dropped the fruit weapon reluctantly and flew to the nearest weaponry. Dave dug through his fanny pack and looked for something lethal. Bob grabbed a flamethrower. "Hey!" protested the man running the stand. "You have to pay for that!" Bob ignored him.
Meanwhile, Dave came up with an energy drink and took a sip.
Bob flew towards Dave and showed him the business end of it. "I will smoke you to a crisp if you don't give up on destroying stuff!" In response, Dave spritzed his drink at Bob. The flamethrower promptly exploded and sent Bob about two hundred feet backwards.
Research
Now what? Bob was out of tricks, and out of ideas. So he did what anyone reasonable would do. He went to the library and Goggled it.
"How to destroy a popped mutant popcorn"
Staling: Once popcorn is mutant, its texture is susceptible to moisture from the air...to become soft and stale over time...
Humidity: High humidity can speed up the staling process, causing mutant popped popcorn to become soft and mushy, losing its crispness completely...
......
Bob didn't have the time to stall and stale Dave. So he went with the second option.
He zinged to the nearest fire station and hijacked their truck ("Give it back you super-powered nitwit!" They cried). He spooled out some hose and stuck it into the back pocket of Dave's overalls. Then Bob located a fire hydrant, ripped it out of its base, and plugged in the hose.
Now all he had to do was distract the enemy. It should have been easy.
Well, you guessed wrong
Dave noticed something was off immediately.
First, there was water gushing from a hole in the ground.
Second, some men in red suits were screaming, "Give it back!"
Finally, Bob had a large, fake smile pasted on his face.
He had set up some humongous biscuits, tea, and a small package. Dave flicked Bob away and suspiciously drank a bit of tea. He put the package in his hand. Then he devoured the biscuits, found that they were rather stale, and greedily opened the package. Inside was a box. He opened that box.
Bob was inside, wielding a bazooka.
The one that Dave hit was a mannequin. Bob had simply made it fly with his mind.
"Surprise!" He yelled as he fired the missile.
Ouch
Dave promptly swatted the missile, directing it back towards Bob. Bob flew out of the way at the last second and the projectile shot Dave's thumb instead.
The next few sentences he said were not too pretty.
Dave sprinted at Bob, fury and anger bubbling in his eyes. Then he stopped. Something else was bubbling too.
Dave's underwear was starting to cinch closer and closer together, creating the ultimate wedgie.
His popcorn skin was melting as water flooded his shirt, and as his arm fell off, Dave managed a lot of words.
"I really, really hate you, Bob. You took my powers, you took my morals, and you took my happiness." Bob looked at him with no sympathy. "Well, you were the one who crashed into our rocket." He paused. "Actually, how about I lend you a hand? Let's shake on it." Dave reached out with his last arm. "Psych!" Bob taunted.
Dave glared at Bob with resentment. "You will never forget the day the mighty Dave confronted yoooo..." Then Dave sank into the ground, leaving behind the most repulsive trophies ever seen in humanity. Bob picked them up, and dumped them into a trash can.
Home sweet home
Bob went home and turned on the news.
BOB DEFEATS ALL! HE IS UNBEATABLE! NOBODY CAN EXCEL HIS INTELLIGENCE!
Bob liked the news now.
He turned on Jom and Terry. He got some snacks, just a can of Coke and some chips.
Bob avoided the popcorn.
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