[Ethan D Kraft - Some Guy]

It was a normal day for one Ethan D Kraft, filled with the usual- 

Bike rides. They’re fun, they’re-

Every story has a start-

Look, I’ve been writing and rewriting this damn origin story for four [redacted] years now. Howsabout I give you a rundown for the crap my few fans and fewer discord buddies already know, okay? 

Basically, some idiot named Ethan D Kraft was riding his bike one night. Going in “circles” around a square gymnasium building that- for some reason- was owned by the local church. I don’t know how that happened or why they own that, but considering the free meals I- ….er, he got in there as a member of the youth group, he’s not in any place to question it. 

Anyhow, this moron- who not only had his phone in his pocket, but was also not wearing any protective gear to speak of- crashed his bike over a tin can he coulda sworn wasn’t there for any of his previous trips around the same building. 

The good news was that he only had a few scrapes on his arms and his phone was alright. The bad news was that his bike was a bit busted up, and he was now a bit pissed at the can. 

Naturally, he threw the can in a dumpster, walked away, realized he just saw a strange glow in said dumpster, and finally proceeded to heed dumpster diving laws by walking home with a new pair of golden gauntlets. Or at least they looked golden, he wasn’t sure and he wouldn’t be for some time.

From there, he walked home with the bike and the gauntlets, washing the later in the sink and putting them on…

…and this is where it gets interesting… Or at least it starts to get interesting. 

Y’see, after putting the gauntlets on and getting a sense of power and pride, he quickly finds himself reaching for his phone once that feeling fades. Only to notice it’s low on battery. 

From there, he reaches for the charging cord for his phone. Said phone still in hand, and both hands still wearing the gauntlets…

Resulting in a notable *SHOCK…* Or I guess it’d be more of a *BZZZZTZ* instead? 

Eh, whatever, either way; the result was a fully charged phone, some static in his hair, and, once the confusion wore off…

…One hell of a business idea. 

~ ~ ~

[TimeSkip - A Few Days Later]

If you thought the previous part was mildly interesting, then you’ll find the next to be- 

What’s that? I have to go back to my normal narration? Why? I already ruined it for the above! And you signed off on it, me! Or is it “we signed off on it?”

OW! Alright, fine, I’ll- Er… The Narrator proceeded to do his normal, third-person narration. Complete with past-tense vocabulary, and a significantly formal tone. And he would proceed to do so from then on, as was requested of him. 

As for Ethan D Kraft, the protagonist of this story, he had proceeded to dig through his own trash for batteries he threw out… before finding the local dump and searching there, taking any discarded batteries he found, whether they be double or triple-A, and even took the occasional car battery! 

After rounding it all up and charging them with his newfound power, he proceeded to set up a stand during Hazel Days… which was basically the holiday or holiweek during which his town filled the streets with small shops and stands where people sold the odd trinket or baking attempt. 

Said stand, shared by his brother who baked cookies, brownies, or whatever it was that day, was being used by Ethan to sell the aforementioned batteries for cheap! So cheap, in fact, that they were only half of the retail price. 

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

To the uninformed, he was essentially running a charity. 

…And, as a direct result, they sold like hotcakes! Or at least they did once people actually verified they were charged and relatively high quality. 

But, of course, this raised some eyebrows, mainly with his aforementioned younger brother. And although it would take him a while to ask, he eventually did. 

“Ethan?” Elijah asked, “Where did you get these batteries?”

“At the dump.” Ethan answered with a grin. 

“With full charge?” 

“Not initially…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Well, it’s… Uh…” Ethan struggled to find an explanation, flexing his gauntlent-wearing hands, “...Tell me, what charge is your phone at?”

Elijah pulled out his phone to check, “...75%, why?”

“Simple,” Ethan put one hand on a car-battery, and another on Eli’s phone… charging it instantly with a notable *BZZZZTZ.*

Elijah looked at his phone in jaw-dropped awe. 

“H-How?”

“It’s these gauntlets… I don’t know much about ‘em, but I do know they’re what’s lettin’ me do this.” 

“Do… You think it’s a miracle from god?”

“Idunno, maybe. Not exactly his handiwork, and only god knows why he’d pick me, but he has done stranger things.” 

“So… what’s the plan? Just… keep doing this?” 

“Probably! Unless you wanna start making Kraft Family Mac and Cheese.” Ethan laughed…

“Ah, but seriously, I just hope t’ keep this spark alight. It’d be a shame to drop such a profatable gig just because I lost the motivation for it…” Ethan finished, before dropping his expression, “Again.” 

It was then that yet another customer approached the stand, albiet a large and imposing one; looking strangely metallic, possessing glowing eyes devoid of pupils, and possessing electrically charged pylons on their back… It was like they were wearing a robotic frankenstein costume.

But that didn’t matter to Ethan, all he saw was a cool-dressed customer.

“Hello there,” Ethan started with a grin, “How would you like to buy some freshly recharged batteries! They’re cheaper than ch-”

It was then that the ‘customer’ grabbed Ethan, the teen letting out a small “urp!” as they did so… and lifted them up through the sign above the stand, breaking it with a *CRACK,* followed by slamming them into the base of the stand with a *CRASH!*

Naturally, this sent the surrounding crowd into a panic, left Eli stepping back in horror, and had Ethan in pain on the ground. 

“Cease your resale of batteries in this area,” the figure spoke, a metallic drone throughout their voice, “Or else.”

It was at this moment that Eli, having grabbed one of the chairs by the stand; attempted to hit the figure, breaking the chair with a *CRACK…* and failing to make the figure so much as flinch. 

The figure, barely inconvenienced by this, simply wound back a backhanded slap; knocking Eli into another stand with a *CRASH…* 

“....YOU SONOFA-”

…and PISSING OFF his brother in the process. 

Eyeing the car-battery by him, he placed a hand on it and another on the figure. Electrifying them with the gauntlets, and making them stumble backwards in clear pain, falling to the ground. 

Naturally, Ethan grinned at this, “Yeah, don’t feel so good, does it?” 

This grin was soon extinguished when the figure raised a fist and pointed to him, sending a stream of electricity the second Ethan noticed it. Giving him only enough time to move his arms to block it, out of instinct rather than the belief that it’d work. 

…But instead of being fried to a crisp like he expected, Ethan found himself absorbing the energy with the gauntlets; feeling it flow throughout him, electrifying his hair and… oddly enough, changing his outfit. 

When the stream dissipated, and his arms moved away from his face… Ethan was left to observe the changes; finding his outfit a notable black and yellow, complete with a leather vest and a metallic mask… additions he was sure he didn’t have before. 

And speaking of before, he quickly found himself knocked into a stand with a notable *CRASH* from the figure, who got up and slugged him with a *THWACK* before the confusion wore off. 

Unwilling to die like this, Ethan scrambled to get up; raising his fists to block whatever came next. 

The figure, pulling both arms back, proceeded to unleash a full-force stream of lighting at Ethan… the beam pushing him back as if it had weight and mass, as nonsensical as that is for a beam of energy. 

He quickly found himself in a rough spot, slowly breaking down under the stream of energy… He needed to think of something quick, some way to deal with the raw stream of electricity pushing him b-

‘-That’s it!’ Ethan thought, knowing he’d harshly criticize himself once this was over. 

Moving quickly, he put a step forwards; starting to not just absorb the energy coming his way, but redirect it; having a clear impact by pushing the figure back- even if only by a little. No doubt struggling to push back and defeat him…

But, with one last push from Ethan, that was quickly thwarted, the stream having more than enough of it redirected by the gauntlets to overload the figure… causing them to explode!

Initially horrified by this, Ethan quickly noted the lack of blood or viscera coming from the explosion or residual corpse… He stepped closer to inspect it, and to his surprise, found what resembled a robotic husk rather than a human corpse. 

…Not only that, but there seemed to be an engraving on them… “A-01, Mannworth Industries.” 

That brought a lot of questions, possibly more than the gauntlets did… But it did provide at least one answer; if he kept on doing his battery-selling shtick, he’d more than likely have to face more of these creeps. 

*Groan*

And, once reminded of his brother, prompting him to rush over to check on him, Ethan knew that if he kept this battery shtick up… and realistically speaking, he would keep it up.

He could not involve his brother.