Chapter 3: Willpower, Greed, and Love

Tristan makes it into his apartment without incident. He did see the Sinestro Corps arriving at the scene, but they headed straight for the alley and paid little mind to the people on the streets. He took off his jacket and used it to cover the lantern, the ring he pocketed. Now safely within the confines of his home, and his mother no where in sight, he heads directly to his room, where he removes his jacket and uncovers the lantern, which he puts on a table, then he backs up and looks at it.

"Okay, Tristan, let's look at the facts here..." he says to himself, "Short guy, completely in blue shows up, lights all over the place, and he ain't shining yellow, not Sinestro, not a superhero or villain I've ever seen or heard of. Green light, but…wasn't that Hal Jordan guy the last one? Wait…not just green…blue as well. Sheesh, what is that? The Turquoise Lanterns?"

He frowns, pacing back and forth, stroking his chin as he tried to think things through, constantly casting nervous glances at the lantern. Then he remembers the ring that the blue dwarf handed directly to him, and he slowly pulls it out of his pocket. Gazing at it wonderingly, he cannot help but realize the significance of what may have been given to him. What in the flaming hamsters have I been thrust into? He slips the ring on, after all, it is supposed to be worn.

Nothing happens.

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Tristan snaps his fingers. What was I expecting? Sometimes I believe my own cartoons too much. Which is a funny thought in its own way. After all, he lives in a reality where beings exist that can push Earth in the wrong direction if they wished it, and rings can do things other accessories can't. He cannot vividly remember the exact detail, but he is certain that the symbol on the ring and the shape of the lantern were similar to the one on Green Lantern. And the Sinestro Corps weren't friends with Green Lanterns. That short blue guy had it with him, and he certainly had powers, wish he stuck around to tell me more. On the other hand, with this many Sinestros around, that probably would have turned out badly.

Whatever it is, he'll have to figure it out on his own. What was Green Lantern all about? Make solid objects out of green light? Fly around? Look really cool while flying about in fancy style? Tristan recalls how the late Hal Jordan always struck a particular pose when about to attack with his ring, and he mimics the posture, ring hand pointed forward. He flexes.

Nothing happens.

"Great…guess I got a fancy accessory, a weird lantern, from an extraterrestrial being, and I really need to get a social life..." So that I don't take empty alleyways where blue skinned old men can find me, speak ominously, give me something that doesn't work, and then disappear.

He leaves his room and heads to the rooftop, he felt like he needed to clear his head. Maybe events today were nothing, or maybe they're everything. But either way, he isn't getting answers with the ring or lantern. He forgets to remove the ring, but puts the ring hand in his pocket. At the rooftop, he closes his eyes and basks in the evening wind. There's more to the ring, he thinks. I just need to figure it out…slowly. When he reopens his eyes, he watches the orange sun rise.

Rising?

And in the wrong direction too. He squints his eyes, realizing that the light is growing brighter, and getting closer. Not yellow, he realizes, not a Sinestro…so what is it? As the light drew nearer, and very quickly, he could make out the appearance. Humanoid, but not human, for certain. He soon reached Tristan and halted just before him, floating overhead.

"You!" He says, pointing with an orange colored ring on his right hand. "You're the new Green Lantern. The green light, I want it!"

"Geez! Satan in a really bad neon orange!" Tristan doesn't deal well with sudden stress.

"What? I'm Larfleeze! Now give me your ring and lantern!"

How on earth does he know about that? Starting to wish I never got out of bed...he starts stepping back, not certain if just handing the green ring over, even if it doesn't seem to work, is a good idea. If anything, he is certain he just hadn't figured the properties of the ring correctly, so he says, "Eh…no."

"Fine, I'll just take it off your corpse! Welcome to the Orange Lantern Corps!" Larfleeze points his ring fist forward and suddenly, solid orange light constructs resembling strange alien beings came to life all around Tristan, and all he could notice is how sharp their teeth is and how big their mouths are, and they're all descending upon him, jaws agape.

"Son of a hamster!" Tristan drops to his knees and raises his hands up protectively. All he wished for fervently right then is to be able to shield himself from those monstrous sharp teeth, and he immediately felt a burning sensation, emanating from within his own body, and he felt an strong urging to willfully wish that shield around himself. The green ring on his right hand lit up and just as a large creature that looked like a cross between a complete head and a beach ball is about to sink his gigantic teeth into Tristan, it bit instead into a green bubble shield that formed around him. The young man felt like he was burning from the inside out, and like almost all his energy was sapping out of him to hold that shield up, but it was the only thing right now that separates him from staying in one piece, or getting eaten alive.

"Break that shield and get me the ring!" Larfleeze shouted and the constructs growled, and started eating up the shield!

Tristan could feel his will and energy breaking as the shield was being consumed by the monsters. "God, not like this!" In his desperation, he only wanted to explode out in fury and push them all away from him. Throwing his hands outwards and crying out, he does just exactly that. It started like the same burning sensation that he felt when he made the shield, but only now, it hurt even more, and felt ten times more exerting. Green light that burned and carried shockwaves burst out from around him and threw everything away.

"HEY!" Larfleeze seemed surprised. But not as much as Tristan, when he looked down at himself and found he isn't wearing his civvies anymore, but rather a strange suit of armor that is black and green in primary colors…and he wasn't standing on solid ground anymore.

"Holy Flying Proverbial Chicken With Its Head Cut Off, Space Hamster!" He wasn't sure how he was doing it, but it didn't hurt as much to fly, and it certainly felt exciting right now. The orange constructs were gone, and Larfleeze had been blown away, kind of. He stopped himself just before he hit a building.

"Gimme the ring!" The constructs came back and charged towards him once more.

I get it now, Tristan thinks, It's will, and imagination. I've got plenty of imagination! He pulls his hand back, gritting his teeth as he feels his body burn inside out to form a gigantic technohammer and throws it at them.

Evidently, they eat green light constructs.

"Kentucky Fried Chicken!"

"It doesn't affect me, boy! Just give it now and maybe I'll let you live." Larfleeze gloated.

Tristan tries to launch another attack, only the constructs struck first with weapons of orange light coming at him very fast. He barely manages to raise a shield in time, but still gets knocked through the wall, into his own room. The armor on him turns out – thankfully – to be functional, and he barely feels the shock of being smashed through a wall, though it still rattled him enough that he'd lost hold on his shield. Then the ring starts beeping urgently, flashing in conjunction with the beeps.

:: Warning, :: it speaks :: ring power below sixty-percent. ::

"Flagpoles! This thing's limited?"

Tristan looks up from where he is lying and sees the lantern. A quick glance tells him all he needs to know. This Larfleeze is after both the lantern and the ring. And he's not going to get either. He reaches out and grabs the lantern with his right hand, the ring touches the lantern and it flashes brightly. :: Ring recharged to full power ::

"Now we're in business!"

Transfering the lantern over to his left hand, he thrusts his right hand forward and fires a wall-sized shield, shoving everything back out, and destroying a better part of what's left of his room wall. Come on, Tristan, think! Larfleeze' constructs are already eating through the green wall, there is only so much recharging and futile fighting that Tristan could keep up with an enemy he barely knows anything about. Then the unlikeliest salvation comes his way.

Just as the Orange constructs broke through the green wall, a violet colored feathery wall erects itself in front of Tristan almost immediately, and he looks up in surprise to see his unexpected savior, a young woman, human from her appearance, and pretty.

"Normally, visitors are supposed to give gifts, Larfleeze." She says, "I would love to show you my gifts!"

The orange lanterns seemed to be unable to consume the girl's violet as they did Tristan's. Interesting, he thought. Larfleeze cries out in frustration and yells as he turns and flees. "I'll have the last green ring! I will!"

When he's out of sight, the girl turns around and floats down a little, until she's in front of Tristan, a look of wonder in her eyes. "I can't believe it!" She exclaims, "Here stands before me, a true Green Lantern."

Tristan blinks his eyes, "Whoa there…slow down. I kind of just figured the whole ring thing out, I'm not ready to be called a Green Lantern…"

"Well you didn't do too bad then, even more impressive. Since you just went up against the likes of Larfleeze." She extends a hand forward to Tristan, "I'm Aricca Jenguun Mariskl Rania Malachi of the Star Sapphires."

Tristan blinks, "Uh, you got a nickname or something?"

The girl laughs, "How's Rica?"

"Yeah, I think I can remember that…I'm Tristan Kendrick…and thanks by the way, for saving my hide back there. The way they kept eating whatever I threw at them…"

"Larfleeze, or Agent Orange, holds the light of Avarice. He eats pretty much anything, 'cept Love, which is my color." Rica explains. "Love is kind of too much for him to swallow, heh."

Tristan smiled in spite of himself. He still hurt from using the ring. Who knew that channelling your will into reality would burn so much? And then this girl, Rica, she's another ring-slinger, with a different color. Green, Yellow, Orange, Violet…what other colors are there? So she's powered by love, and Larfleeze is driven by greed. Kind of makes sense, he just wants and wants. And if he understands the Sinestros, they feed on and give fear. So all of the rings therefore, are powered it would seem, by select emotions. He looks at the ring on his hand. What is mine? Would Rica know? Wait…he thinks back to his battle with Larfleeze.

Willpower. He had to will what he wanted into reality. There is obviously so much he wanted to know, but he knew he can't figure it out all on his own. So he looks up at Rica thoughtfully.

"So," she says, "What's your plan now? Join with the Star Sapphires and drive the Sinestros out of here?"

"Well…" Tristan grins sheepishly, "…I was actually wondering if I can ask your help and advice, since you seem to know more about these rings and their colors and all that. I'm kind of going around blindly here."

Before Rica can respond, Philomena returns home, and having seen signs of damage from outside, she'd come in and headed straight for Tristan's room, where she finds her son, in black and green armor, talking to a girl floating a good two feet off the ground, clad in a pinkish-violet costume.

"Tristan?" She says, "What happened to your wall?"

Mother isn't the kind to get hot-and-bothered, or overexcited, though she is obviously concerned.

Tristan isn't about to start lying to his mother now about anything. Regardless of what it is, he always tells her the truth, what more now, when he realizes that his life is never going to be the same again. He raises his right hand and shows her the green ring attached to it. "Well mum, it started when I decided to take the alleyway home…"