"How's it going buddy?" one of them said as he pushed Vince down.
"Wanna buy a skill?" another said jokingly.
"I don't want any trouble guys. I am just walking home from dinner and I don't have any money on me." Vince responded
"You do have something on you that is worth a lot of cash, your POWER watch." the third guy said.
Vince recognized the fourth and final guy as his old friend Josh but there is no way Josh would be giving him another pass. He might be able to keep him alive but that is about it. The guys started to punch and kick Vince while he was on the ground. All he could do was curl up and protect his face and stomach from getting hit but he started to wonder how long he would last. He didn't understand why people would even do something like this. What happened that would make Josh want to associate himself with them? Maybe it was the sense of power or maybe the feeling of finally being in control of something in his life. It was hard growing up in this generation where technology was constantly changing, the cost of living was continuously rising, and a livable wage was nearly impossible to find. It's hard to blame Josh for doing something that gave his life a purpose other than the ever-failing attempt at assimilating into society to live up to the "American dream"
"Let's give the guy a break, we already took everything he had, let him keep the watch. It's not like he is strong enough to fight back or join the cause, the guy is a nobody." Josh said as he urged the guys to leave.
As the gang of four guys began to walk off, one of them turned around to deliver one final kick while Vince was on the ground. Vince managed to catch the thug's ankle right before impact and it finally happened. His hand started to light up as the attacker began to scream in pain.
"Stop! Stop! Guys, help!" He pleaded.
The skill Flame was so powerful with direct hand-to-ankle contact that it felt as though the bone in his leg was on fire. The pain was excruciating. Vince was still unsure as to what exactly was happening so he quickly let go and got up. At this point, Josh wanted to save his fellow resistance member and ensure Vince was able to escape so he used his skill Blinding Light to create a flash-bang and instructed the other resistance members to grab their injured guy and get out. Light filled Vincent's field of view as he made his way to standing. As the blinding flash began to settle Vincent became oriented and slowly trudged his way home.
Vince rushed into his front door immediately locking it and pressing his back against it. He knew he was in pain but the adrenaline rushing through his veins was deafening to say the least. Yes, he had his usual hot sake and yes, things were a little blurry from being knocked around but outside of being attacked, Vince was pretty sure he finally activated his skill. He exhaled, held his hand out palm up, and deep in his mind said "Flame". He watched as a small flame appeared to dance around in his hand. It wasn't much larger than a candle flame but he had already seen the damaging effect it had. Of course! He thought to himself as he looked at his watch:
Name: Vincent Sullivan
Age: 26
Power: Fire, ???
Stamina: 1
Skills: Flame lvl 1 - Create a flame on the palm of your hands that can generate heat of up to 451F, about as warm as a paper catching fire.
The description of the skill was new. The POWER watch had to analyze the skill in action. Even if the flame is about as weak as a flame can be, Vince knew that there would be a huge amount of possibility in the future for a fire-based power skill. With this skill being only level one and already being 451F, it is only a matter of time before Vince will be able to level it up into something larger or hotter.