Today was a big day in Cloudstorm City as The Jade General was about to have a statue unveiled at City Hall. The General has kept our fair city safe from evildoers for nearly 20 years. And I was lucky enough to be covering the event for my school's newspaper. Mayor Marlee pulled off the large sheet covering the statue as the press immediately began taking pictures. The large crowd in attendance cheered wildly. This was all so exciting.

After a few words from the Mayor and a brief speech by The Jade General, the event was starting to wind down. I have been a life-long fan of The Jade General as my bedroom was practically a shrine to my favorite superhero. "Mr.General!" I called out. "What is it kid?" he gruffly replied. "My name is Jay Peak, reporter for The Great Oak Tribune. I was wondering if I could interview you for my school paper?" The Jade General looked a little bothered by my question. I'm pretty sure he would've said no if not for the group of reporters still milling about. "Yeah, alright" he mumbled.

I wasn't sure how things were going to go but taking an Uber to The Jade Generalr's home was not on my list. I thought our leaving City Hall would've been a little more exciting. He lived in a rather modest house in a regular neighborhood. I was expecting him to have a big, fancy mansion or a secret lair underground. "I gotta shower and get out of this outfit. Grab a soda in the fridge if you want." When I opened the fridge door I was shocked to see all the beer and junk food that was in there. I thought superheroes were supposed to be health fanatics. So far, meeting my idol had not turned out as well as I hoped. Maybe things would improve once he's more relaxed.

"Okay kid, so what do you want to know?" "All superheroes have amazing origin stories. You know, the story about how they got their powers. How did you become The Jade General?" "One day I was speeding down the highway on my motorcycle when I wiped out and rolled down a hill." "This is gonna be awesome!" I thought to myself. "And then?" I prodded. "And then I found this rad pair of sunglasses. I put them on and all of a sudden I had all these sweet superpowers. I was between jobs at the time so I decided, what the heck, why not become a superhero?"

"I can see by your face that you're not too impressed with my story. Alright, I'll jazz it up a bit for you. I was rescued by a big green alien named Zundu. I ended up covered in a green, gooey slime that gave me all the powers of the people from his planet. Sound good?" "I guess that'll do." "Listen kid, I don't want to burst your bubble but I'm just an ordinary dude with extraordinary powers. I'm going to be 47 next year and I can only do this hero thing for so long." "But what about the people of Cloudstorm City and your statue?" "It's always nice to have someone to look up to but like they say, never meet your heroes. You'll only be disappointed."

"You just caught me on a bad day kid. I've had a great run as The Jade General. But I'm getting older. This isn't a comic book. Nobody stays the same age forever. It takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice. You don't get to lead a normal life. I have to be available 24 hours a day and it's affected my personal life. I'm divorced and rarely get to see my daughter." "You have a point there" I said dejectedly. "Sorry to bum you out kid. I hope you have enough for a story. Oh, and here's a extra pair of super-shades for you. They don't work anymore.......I think."

Following my disappointing interview with The General, I slowly began to walk home. It was a cool, quiet night in Cloudstorm City. But that would soon change as police sirens began to blare as a mass were wildly charging past me. They seemed to be fleeing from something pretty scary. The reporter in me was curious to see what was going on. Maybe I'd get to see The Jade General in action after all. After waiting for an almost an hour, there was no sign of him so I decided to check things out for myself.

When I got there I was shocked to see Piranhorka in the flesh. The Piranhorka was a deadly creature that had would rise from the sea every 500 years. The monster was destroying Cloudstorm City as he tossed around police vehicles as if they were toys. The creature fed on cars, houses, and anything it could sink it's teeth into. Where was The General? We really needed a hero. Then I remembered that I was wearing an old pair of his glasses. Maybe there was still a little firepower left in these spectacles. "Here goes nothing" I blurted out before unleashing a supersonic laser blast.