Fantastic Four: Strange Appetites

Fantastic Four: Strange Appetites

Coming back from a trip...

Chapter 1 by gorel29 gorel29

In the large research complex of the Baxter building, a portal the size of a large doorway swirled open, its shape a raging torrent of a circle yet calm, while a group of people made their way out of the passageway.

“My goodness how disorientating, a world with five suns, I wonder how the life on that world deal with so much solar radiation.” Wondered Reed Richards out loud, typing notes onto a small digital notepad while the rest of the Fantastic Four stepped out with him. “Yeah, five suns means no night life… BUT at least there’d be plenty of beaches to sun bathe off, the ladies would LOVE that.” Smirked Johnny, wringing his gloved hands together with the mental image of dozens of bikini clad women getting a tan on the new alien world they just came back from.

“Yeah, if ya like skin cancer!”

“Yes, Ben’s got a point.” Pocketing his notepad, Reed closed the portal behind his wife Susan who carried a few rock samples from their trip. “We were only there for half an hour, any longer and the solar radiation would have made us blind, sick, burned, dead… Impotent.”

The mental image gone, the now squeamish Human Torch chuckled before checking himself over. “Right… Yeah, say what’s the first sign of skin cancer again? Moles, right? It’s moles.”

“Ah jeez Jonny, I see one now.” Pointed the Thing, drawing attention towards Johnny Storm.

“WHAT?! Where?” Darting his head back and forth, the Human torch ran to a mirror near a workbench to check his face.

“Ah kid its HUGE, how’d it fit in that costume of yers anyway? And it TALKS too!”

Igniting on the spot, Johnny frowned and turned to face the chuckling Ben Grimm when his sister cut through between the pair with the rock sample in her hand. “Vacations are certainly OUT of the question, but at least we brought THIS back.” Raising the stone up, the Invisible Woman smiled at its shimmering surface. Nearly the size of a football, the glowing stone was like a polished orange pearl, giving off a green glow like a night light. “This should give Reed something to go over for a few days.”

“Oh yes, the energies it gives off are quiet fascinating, TOTALLY harmless yet I can’t make out the source of it.”

“Uh… Isn’t it obvious? The rock.”

Giving Johnny an incredulous look, Reed eventually shrugged his shoulders and nodded. “Touché…”

Ben scratched his stone chin looking at the orange pearl, its wavy green glow almost hypnotic like a lava lamp. “Eh… It’d make a nice table ornament anyway, unless it’d be worth somthin.” While the four looked at the glowing stone, each of them found a strange tingling sensation wash over them, almost like a warm breeze making their hackles rise.

“Say… Is anyone else hungry?”

*

Making their way towards the kitchen, Susan smiled when her two kids Valaria and Franklin ran up to meet them, hugging their mother before running off with dozens of questions, particularly the glowing orange stone they brought with them and placed on the table. “Ooh, what’s that Dad?”

“A souvenir from an alternate dimension we just came back from our long travels.”

“You mean the one you spent half an hour in?

“Yes sweaty…”

Sitting up at the table, Franklin eyed the glowing stone with fascination, almost mesmerized by its glow. “Ooh, pretty.”

Reaching for the cupboards, Susan pulled out enough to make a large dinner. Already turning on stoves to start cooking and get the food ready. “I have no idea what’s come over me but its like I haven’t eaten all day.”

“You said it sis, when’s dinner ready anyway?”

“Not soon enough!”

After a painstaking long hour of cooking, the family dug in, all the while the orange pearl continued to glow at the center of the table. True to their word the Four and their kids found themselves eating like they had been running empty all day, quickly reaching for seconds and thirds once their plates were licked clean.

Reaching for her fourth plate, Susan leaned back and rubbed the back of her neck, rolling her shoulder from a strange itch. Had she or the others been able to see, they would have noticed green and orange scales forming and spreading down their necks and backs…

What's next?

Want to support CHYOA?
Disable your Ad Blocker! Thanks :)