Dabble 31: Small Time Heroes

“Is that all? No problem!” Zenny smiled reassuringly while the goat dressed in formal attire raised an eyebrow.

Within a small village, outside a freshly burnt down building, Zenith and his younger brother Zenny stood outside with the mayor. “I’m sorry but do you really think you can restore this building by yourself?”

“Will you provide a detailed map of the area and what you know about the other cities nearby?” Zenith questioned back, hands in his pocket.

“Yes, of course,” replied the mayor. “It’d certainly save me a lot of time and money. It’s just… this building is rather big and I-”

“Trust us! We got this!” Zenny winked. “We’ll have it done in an hour… less depending on my brother’s mood.”

“I… Um… Very well then…” The mayor slowly grew more speechless at their resolve. The fox brothers turned around to face the building, just in time to see the roof collapse on itself. Residents in the area either spied on them through their windows or leaned their heads out from around the corner.

Zenny pulled out a piece of paper and quill. “Visit a village… Check,” he recited. “Speak to a high-ranking authority about info… check. Get that info… in progress” after Zenny checked marked their checklist, he tossed it into the air and opened his left pocket. It fell in with ease and he snapped it shut. “It’s showtime, bro!”

Zenith walked towards the building and placed a hand on the weakly and badly singed door. As he took a slow exhale, the building’s entirety glowed a mix of cyan and silver. All the broken wood, stones, junk, and dust inside, levitated. Spectators marveled at the sight of the roof floating in the air. Zenny span around quickly in a blur before his attire changed from a blue short-sleeve over a white long sleeve shirt to white overalls over a short-sleeve blue shirt. He carried a paintbrush and a paint can, black as night, inside while whistling a worker’s tune.

It was hard for some people outside to see as the first floor was stable enough for him to work in. The ones watching from the ground subconsciously gathered closer and tried to watch inside the window. Zenny dunked his brush into the paint can and grabbed different bricks floating around with his tail and hand. He placed them where they needed to be, dusted his paintbrush over them, and after the wet black pant settled, it oozed off and vanished. In its place, the brick was restored and cemented in place like it was brand new.

The crowd, impressed, made light cheering noises and clapped at the display. Fueled by this, Zenny continued grabbing, panting, and restoring the foundation of the building. His speed grew faster as he did each brick at a time until his movements were hard to make up. It was like watching one domino topple the other. Brick by brick on all four sides the inside was restored.

Zenith took a step back as he played with the roof like a jigsaw puzzle. Everyone saw him put piece by piece together by levitating the items together. The crowd gasped but Zenith remained focused on his work. Slowly, more kids within the town arrived as they watched in admiration of the two. Once all the broken pieces were in place, Zenith opened a portal directly under it and lowered it inside. The roof, burnt, ugly, and still in pieces, went through the portal and came out the other side looking clean, brand new, and perfectly intact.

Zenny came out the front door covered in dirt. A quick shake and he was right as rain. “Switch!” He announced.

Zenith walked into the building while Zenny put on a gray hat he summoned out of nowhere.
Inside, Zenith phased through the walls like a phantom, making sure the foundation was secure. Any pipes or screw looses were covered in his glowing magic and secured properly. Any fried wires were put through a smaller portal and restored. While Zenith tended to the interior, Zenny was free to show off in front of the crowd.

He rolled up his blue sleeves, rubbed his hands together, dunked his brush deeply into the black paint, and turned to the audience. “Don’t blink.”

The kids were even more curious than the adults as they seemed to trickle their way to the front of the crowd. Before Zenny took out the brush, he paused, and his ears flicked up with an idea.

“Can I have two volunteers from the audience?” He questioned.

Some people immediately raised their hands while others backed up, not feeling comfortable. Zenny glanced around and chose two kids, a lion, and a tiger. The lion stepped forward hesitantly while the tiger came quickly and excitedly.

Zenny the paintbrush into a mid-size towel. “Now I want each of you to take a corner and hold it for me. When I say go, you back up slowly while holding it, okay?” The two of them nodded and took a corner of the towel. “Now stand right there.”

Zenny took a few steps back while holding his end of the cloth. With each step, the cloth stretched without breaking, getting longer by the second which drew everyone’s attention. Zenny placed his back to the front door of the building then winked to his audience. He took a step back, put his foot to the wall behind him, and back walked up the building. “Okay, now!”

The kids couldn’t hold back and cheered while the adults clapped, impressed. The lion and tiger slowly backed up as instructed, causing the cloth to extend even more. As Zenny made it past the first floor of the 5-story building, his body vibrated and emerged a second clone to his left. The crowd gasped in amazement then the cheers grew louder when a third clone appeared after passing the second floor. The clones on either side of the real Zenny walked to the corners of the building, still backwards.
The cloth grew big enough to encompass the entire building when the Zenny’s made it to the roof. The crowd was thrilled, and the kids cheered even louder.

Meanwhile, inside, Zenith paused as he took a look at some of the destroyed furniture, objects, and picture frames. He squatted down to pick up a burnt photo of a large group of kids piled together. The rest was burnt. Zenith walked around slowly to see more burnt or destroyed pictures until he had about three in hand. As he walked around, he found a safe in what was once the main office of the building. Fortunately, it survived the fire. Zenith’s eyes glowed as he intensely saw through the thick safe. He reached his hand in and phrased it through, avoiding the cash to get an envelope. He took the files out and skimmed through the images specifically. Afterward, he placed it back inside. When Zenny covered the entire building up in the cloth, the original came in through the back door and up to Zenith.

The crowd and kids waited outside in suspense. After not hearing anything, they looked around and gossiped among themselves. The kids looked at each other confused and the tiger tried to take a peek under the large cloth.

“No spoilers,” hissed Zenny as their noses met. The tiger and lion yelped and jumped back from the surprise. Zenny came out and dusted himself off. A portal appeared on the ground and Zenith ascended from inside. Everyone focused on those two as Zenny cleared his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen, furs of all ages. My brother and I present to you, your brand new, renovated, refurbished, re-established, repainted, reawakened, restore…”

“Zenny,” Zenith interrupted with a frown as Zenny smiled innocently.

“Orphanage!” Zenny announced loudly.

Zenny and Zenith grabbed the edges of the cloth and jumped at the same time over the building.
Another gasp filled the town as they saw the walls painted, the windows restored, the front door remodeled, two new stone fox statues at the entrance and the roof completely cleaned and restored.
Zenny jumped down from the roof and opened the doors to let everyone in while Zenith finished rolling up the cloth to pocket that.

The first to enter was the tiger and lion, followed by a few more kids and adults alike. Now only was the outside beautiful but the inside was brand new and matched the pictures Zenith studied from the safe. The kids cheered as they ran around filled with excitement. The owner of the orphanage, an elderly female bear, nearly went into tears and bear-hugged Zenny tightly. The staff and other onlookers cheered but the lion raced up to the top of the building. Trying to get there before the other kids thought to find the silver fox.
Zenny got bombarded by the kids with their praise, especially the tiger as they invited him to stay a while longer to show their appreciation.

The lion made it up to the roof but just poked his head out of the hatch. He watched Zenith continue rolling up the cloth and when he finished, he dropped it in a portal and closed it. Zenith glanced down at the crowd waving and cheering at him. Zenith raised a hand to acknowledge their praise but walked out of sight. The lion watched him jump effortlessly from one rooftop to the other, heading for the Mayor’s place.

“He’s so cool!” The lion let out just before the other kids came upstairs and tried to find the silver fox. The lion continued watching Zenith jump away then got an idea and hurried back down towards Zenny, who was happily being dragged around by the kids and adults, happy to have their home back.