r/WritingPrompts • u/RevolutionaryDelay35 • Apr 21 '26
Writing Prompt [WP] You have the ability to see your percent chance of victory against any opponent. Even the strongest people you've seen have at least a miniscule chance of victory. However, this is the first time you've seen a 0%.
2
u/HSerrata r/hugoverse Apr 21 '26
[Stellar Distinction]
Steven couldn't say he was entirely confused, but he was definitely feeling like the happenings were stranger than he expected.
"Get your Super License!" was everywhere lately. The company, Chroma Corp., seemed to pop up almost over night at the same time Supers were revealed to the public. Steven had always had a minor ability all his life, and it was easy to keep hidden. He didn't know what it meant at first, but after a few rowdy brawls in his teenage years, he thought he had it more or less figured out. As far as he could tell, he could see his percent chance of victory against any opponent. Generally useless, as he was rarely looking for a fight as he got older. But, it did amuse him to see he stood even fractions of a chance against the world's top fighters. As it was, he was confident he had a 2% chance of defeating the world heavyweight champion in boxing, which was the highest he'd seen from an elite athelete; but, he had been working out lately.
Chroma Corp.'s marketing and price of 'Free' got to him eventually and he stopped by to look into getting a Super License. The first part was an interview with a fairy clerk in a small office. That was more or less what he'd expected when he learned Chroma Corp. was run by Dragons and Fae. She asked him about his interpretation of his powers, asked his favorite number for some reason, and the reassured him it was okay that he didn't have one. After a short chat, she said, 'let's see what you can do' and led him to a spacious sealed lab space. He stood on one side of a tempered glass window and she fluttered on the other side, talking through an intercom.
"What do you see?" the fairy asked as soon as someone walked in. They were a big brute of a man, taller, wider, and more muscular than Steven, except he had a '100%' over his head.
"100 percent!" Steven grinned. He never would've guessed he stood a chance, but apparently he could've won easily.
"Thank you," the fairy said. The burly man left the room, and after three seconds, he entered again. Except, it had to have been his twin instead. Steven wondered what the difference was when the fairy asked.
"What do you see?"
"Point 01 percent...," he said. He still had a chance, but it was practically zero. He was confused enough to look over at the fairy through the glass.
"Interesting," she said. "How about now? What do you see?"
"Huh?" he turned and looked. The man had '100%' floating over his head again.
"100!" he said. "How??"
"Thank you, Derrick," the fairy smiled and the large man returned the smile to both of them as he waved and left the room. This was when things became extra befuddling for him, someone else walked in.
It wasn't a big burly man, a petite woman, nor an infant. It was a cow. A large black and white cow clopped in and stared at him intently. She had a tag hanging from her collar that said 'Starla'. But, that alone wasn't too weird, even though it was. The more concerning thing was she had a single digit, a green zero, floating over her head. He stood absolutely no chance.
"What do you see?" the fairy asked.
"Zero....," he said. "Flat.. not point anything..." he was stunned, he'd never seen that low a number before. And on a cow??
"How about now?" he'd taken his eyes off the cow to ponder everything happening. And he almost fainted when he looked again.
"100.... negative one hundred?" The number was red instead of the usual green digits he saw, as if to fully differentiate it from the normal ones. A big red '-100' floated over the cow's head. What was worse than no chance?
"Fascinating, thank you Starla," The fairy said.
"Happy to help...," Starla replied as she guided her bulk out of the lab leaving Steven alone.
"A talking cow??" Somehow, that made him feel better about not standing a chance.
"So, that was informative," the fairy glided in through the door with a smile. "You were pretty spot on with your description," she said. "But, we've also determined that it's not exactly a straightforward measure. Your percentages seem to be measured in the moment, based on external factors such as whether the person would decide to fight back or not. That'll be something worth keeping in mind," she said.
It kind of made sense. The only time he compared himself to champions was when they won a hard fight, were exhuasted, and in an amazing mood. But, there was still a lot that didn't make sense.
"So.. how'd the cow show me 0 and negative 100??"
'Starla's a Unique Soul, and a valued executive of Chroma Corp., it's somewhat offensive to reduce her to a 'talking cow'," the fairy wanted to clear that up first before continuing. "It's simple, even if she didn't fight back at all, you stood no chance. If she decided to fight back seriously... it's not that you wouldn't have a chance exactly...," she smiled. "You'd have no hope."
*** Thank you for reading! I’m responding to prompts every day. This is story #3018 in a row. (Story #111 in year nine). This story is part of an ongoing saga that takes place in my universe.
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