The Adventures of King Tiger and Metalwing

Chapter Two

In a parking garage several meters underground, a tall Chinese man and the old Chinese woman from earlier met together.

“Has your plan worked, mother?” The man asked, speaking in Mandarin.

“Yes, my son. You have played your part perfectly.” The old lady said, also in Mandarin. “The boy and girl have proven themselves worthy of the Mechulous. They are in good hands.”

“The rising threat of Doctor Demon here is concerning. If these kids don't master the Mechulous, then there will be a massacre.” The man said. “However, the boy can sure tackle like a professional. He twisted my ankle when he slide-tackled me.”

“You will be fine.” The old woman said dismissively. “We can only hope Brussels will be.”

“Yes, Mother.”

-o0o-

“Hello Mattieu and Katia. We are the Spirits of the Mechulous.” The entities said. “The Great Tailor has chosen you to be the next holders of the Land and Air Mechulous.”

Mattieu and Katia were shocked beyond belief.

“What are the Mechulous?” Mattieu asked. The Spirits explained about the Mechulous in a brief paragraph.

“So we can transform into any vehicle as long as it coincides with our area focus?” Katia asked.

“Exactly. You can change into anything ranging from small drones to the largest jet. Though, your choices are limited to real life, so you can't change into say a starship from a sci-fi movie.” The Air Spirit said.

“What are your names?” Mattieu asked. The Spirits looked embarrassed at the question.

“Oh, how forgetful of us. I am Haroo.” The Land Spirit said.

“And I'm Kimm.” The Air Spirit said. Mattieu and Katia looked at each other in awe.

“We're superheroes now, Katia.” Mattieu said. “We protect Brussels now, though from who or what I don't know.”

“So cool. But how to we switch to our superhero persona?” Katia asked. The Spirits grinned.

“Just like the Miraculous superheroes of Paris, we have a special phrase that you must say exactly. This is a failsafe against slip ups that might compromise your true identities.” Kimm said. “My phrase is 'Kimm, wings out!' while Haroo's is 'Haroo, ignition on!'”

“To change out, you say 'wings in' or 'ignition off.'” Haroo continued. “Of course, we have a time limit regarding our transformations. It depends on your hunger. If you are hungry, expect a detransformation soon. In contrast, fighting while your stomach is full can last you a while.”

“So it's like the saying 'an army marches on its stomach?'” Mattieu said.

“That is a relevant phrase.” Kimm answered. Katia looked thoughtful for a moment.

“I was wondering… what did the previous users call themselves? They did have superhero identities, right?” She asked. Haroo and Kimm's faces fell.

“We were last used during the Second World War against the Japanese. These men had no time or the need to use alternate names.” Haroo said. The Belgian teenagers went silent.
“Oh.” Mattieu managed to utter.

“That's okay. It was a long time ago.” Haroo replied, putting his hand (paw?) on Mattieu's shoulder.

“Does this mean we can make the names?” Katia asked. “This is after all the first time you aren't being used for war.”

“Yeah, I guess you can name your alter egos, as long as the name isn't stupid.” Kimm said.

“King Tiger.” Mattieu said. “I'll be King Tiger, after the German tank in the war.”

“An excellent choice.” Haroo stated. Katia thought for a few minutes before thinking up her superhero name.

“I'll be Metalwing.” She said. “It fits, no?”

“King Tiger and Metalwing.” Kimm said. “It has a nice ring to it.”

Just then, an explosion caused everyone to look outside.

“Is that a giant robot?” Mattieu asked.

“This can't be a coincidence.” Katia said with a frown.

“Well, now that we are superheroes, let's destroy it.” Mattieu said. “It is threatening Brussels.”

“I agree. Kimm, wings out!” Katia said. The transformation began immediately. Her clothes began change from her tank top and shorts to a flak jacket and long padded pants. Her tennis shoes morphed into large black boots and a pilot’s cap and goggles appeared on her head, obscuring her face. Katia’s transformation concluded with a large red scarf billowing behind her.

“You look amazing Katia.” Mattieu said.

“Thanks.” Katia replied. “Until we revert to our normal forms, we go by our alter egos.”

“Right. Haroo, ignition on!”

Mattieu’s transformation went differently. Plates of metal began to fold upwards from his feet, up his torso, all the way to his shoulders, covering the boy’s body with armor. An army helmet with a tinted visor completed the transformation.

Metalwing jumped out of her window and turned into an Il-2, an antique warplane from World War II. King Tiger also jumped out and turned into an ambulance, racing off to the commotion. Metalwing flew in circles over the area, waiting for King Tiger to arrive.

“I’ll be at the scene in 30 seconds.” King Tiger said to Metalwing. “Huh. I guess our suits have a feature that lets us talk to each other.”

“That’s helpful. Hold on, take the next left.” Metalwing replied.

“Thanks. Begin your attack run.” King Tiger replied.

“Alright.”

Metalwing banked harder to the left until she was flying directly at the robot. Once she felt she was in range, Metalwing launched her unguided rockets. Unfortunately, the inaccuracy of the rockets led to only a few of the eight actually hitting the robot. The robot stopped in its tracks and began attempting to knock Metalwing out of the sky. The police, which had been shooting at the robot without success, backed away when the rockets hit. They realized that their bullets can’t help and saw (with astonishment) the old Soviet warplane flying above them giving the robot hell.

“Looks like you need a bigger gun.” King Tiger said as he arrived, shifting out of his ambulance form. He then turned into a Leopard tank and pointed its main gun at the immobilized robot. The police were bewildered. How did he do that?

“Eat high explosive!” King Tiger shouted, firing the tank’s main gun. The shell flew right at the robot’s head and exploded, bringing the metal beast down.

“Right on target.” He said as he transformed back to himself. Metalwing also transformed out of her Il-2 and landed right next to her partner, cracking the concrete where she landed.

“That was fun.” She said.

“Blowing stuff up is always fun.” King Tiger replied.

“Excuse me, whoever you are.” One of the policemen said. “Your fight isn’t over yet.”

The policeman pointed at the remains of the giant robot. A swarm of tiny robots emerged from its body, armed with buzz saws in each hand.

“Oh.” King Tiger said, taking a step back. The police fired their guns at the small robots. But their sheer numbers made up for the losses, causing everyone to begin retreating. King Tiger looked around quickly, trying to formulate a plan. He spotted a dead end alley and got an idea.

“Everyone! Into the dead end alley. I got an idea.” King Tiger shouted. Metal and the police officers ran into the alley, luring the robots to them. There was a ladder at the end of the alley, which the police and Metalwing began climbing. King Tiger slipped out of sight and waited for the robots to fill the alley. Once King Tiger knew that his partner and the policemen were safe, he transformed into a steamroller and began to flatten all the tiny robots, who were trapped in the alley.

“Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.” King Tiger stated as Metalwing watched him do his work, listening to all of the satisfying crunches the robots made when they get flattened. Finally, all of the robots were destroyed and King Tiger detransformed.

“Certainly an interesting day, don’t you think, Metalwing?” He said.

“The police would sure thank you for saving them, King Tiger.” Metalwing replied. “I think it’s time to clean up this mess.”

One of Metalwing’s special abilities was to fix collateral damage, so she transformed into a fire-fighting helicopter. But instead of it dropping water, the helicopter drops a magical elixir that fixes collateral damage. Metalwing dropped her payload, causing damaged and destroyed cars to be restored, damaged buildings to be fixed, and the remains of the robots to disappear. The police were amazed at the sight.

“That’ll save the city lots of money.” Metalwing said. The policemen sighed in relief.

“Thank you, Metalwing and King Tiger. You have saved our lives and the lives of innocents.” The lead policeman said.

“You are welcome. Anything for dear Brussels.” King Tiger said respectfully.

“Unfortunately, we have to go. We’d stay longer, but we don’t have time.” Metalwing said.

“Have a good day.” King Tiger said before transforming into an ordinary car. Metalwing got in and King Tiger started to drive her home.

“That was fun.” King Tiger said.

“At the risk of getting killed, I’m surprised we won.” Metalwing replied.

“Does this mean we are like the Ladybug and Chat Noir of Brussels?”

“I suppose so.”

“feather.”

“Why?”

“Alya.”

“Oh.”

TBC…