Trope Twister: The Damsel in Distress

[Jorick]

Some people look at tropes as if they're things to avoid, like horribly overused ideas that only a hack would stoop to use. In truth, tropes are the building blocks of any good story. The difference between a terrible hack and a fantastic storyteller is knowing how to tweak those tropes and make them feel fresh again, no matter how many times the audience might have seen something similar before. That is your task in the Trope Twister challenge: take the trope and tweak it or use it in an unexpected way to make it your own.

Today your challenge is a classic trope: the damsel in distress. The normal version of this trope is pretty basic: a woman is in some kind of bad or dangerous situation (kidnapped by the bad guy, trapped in a tower cell, hanging over a volcano from a fraying piece of rope, dying from a very slow-acting poison, etc.), the usually male hero swoops in and saves her, and most of the time the hero is rewarded with a kiss or possibly more for the daring rescue. This has been a mainstay of storytelling for thousands of years and it has been used in thousands of ways. Your challenge is to use it in a way that breaks the mold of the usual, to subvert one or more of the components of this trope to make it stand out from the hordes of stories that use it in the simplest fashion.

Write something as short or long as you like, use whatever genre and plot you want, but be sure to put any libertine type material into an appropriately labeled spoiler.

 

[Fallen Child]

Brady Jenson was the hero of the town of Stonescove, saving people from left to right from any kind of danger he faced, he was soon tasked with his biggest quest yet, saving a Princess named Natasha from an evil wizard named Tiz. The wizard requests the towns most valuable object, the Earth Emerald, an emerald that holds great power if it goes into the wrong hands like Tiz, then the user can use it for world domination. Brady took the emerald with him however he is not intending to give this emerald to Tiz, no, no he is going to trick him so he can easily kill the wizard before he use any of his magic on Brady.


As Brady rode his stallion towards Tiz's lair he thought about Princess Natasha and the kingdom she came from..Which is oddly called Htaed. "What a confusing name, don't you think Mallicorn?" He said to his stallion..He then thought on what the princess will do after he rescues her..Maybe she will be his Wife, or better yet give him tons of richest that even the people who own castles will be jealous of him. "Wait Mallicorn!" Brady said as he stopped Mallicorn in his tracks.


"Were here..The lair of Tiz..."


Meanwhile Tiz himself was busy dusting objects around a tall door that might possibly have Princess Natasha from within, he hummed to himself on how evil he was as he heard another door bursting open. "I say..Who could be disturbing me at this hour..Unless of course, it is a hero?" Tiz said as he dropped the feather duster he was holding and headed towards the entrance of his lair..Soon enough he was right as Brady the hero stepped in front of the evil wizard with the emerald on his right hand and his trust sword on the left.

"Ahh a hero..And what's that, is that the legendary Earth Emerald..Why would a foolish hero like you bring such a powerful object here?" Tiz said bitterly to Brady. "I'm here for Natasha Tiz, so i like to make a trade, the Emerald for Natasha." Brady said as he held out the Emerald in front of Tiz, after a moment of silence Tiz finally decided on what to do for the deal. "Wise offer..I shall take it..BY FORCE!" Tiz said as he summoned a powerful wind that sent Brady into the nearby wall, Brady yelped as he crashed into the wall and dropped the emerald, which was soon picked up by Tiz.

"You really are foolish..Now with this emerald i can use it to get what i want most in this world.." Tiz said as he inspected the emerald, not paying attention to Brady slowly getting up from the attack and preparing to charge into Tiz's stomach. "There's just one thing that will stop you Tiz." Brady said..Before Tiz could even look back at Brady, his eyes widened as Brady sword reached his stomach.

Tiz dropped the Emerald which soon landed in Brady's hands before making an armour piercing scream as his flesh quickly melted off his skin, something that made Brady almost vomit as he exploded into magical pink dust. Brady looked around before cheering himself from defeating such a powerful wizard, even if the battle was anti climatic..


And now for what he wanted in this lair..Natasha.

Brady entered through the tall door to find Princess Natasha..She was beautiful, how Beautiful? A regular beautiful person, she was sleeping soundly on a large bed with curtains hanging around to close out the sun coming from the window just near the bed, Brady walked towards the bed and looked at the princess, smiling. "Princess Natasha?" Brady said..As Natasha awoke from her sleep, she looked at her hero. "Are you..Here to rescue me?" She said as she yawned and sat up on the bed. "Why yes my love..I killed Tiz and i'm here to take you back to my village where we can be married...Do you want that?" Brady said to the princess, she smiled at him.

"Why of course..I shall be yours!" Natasha said as she hugged Brady.

"There's just one thing you need to know.."

"Why yes..What is it my love?"

"I want payback." Natasha said..Before Brady could said anything he felt a sharp pain coming from his chest, as he looked down he noticed blood coming out from it, when he looked at Natasha he noticed that she had a sadistic grin on her face, when he looked at her hand, he was shocked when he saw she was holding a bloody dagger..Before he could do anything else, Natasha stabbed Brady again...And again, and again, he soon fell to the floor and looked up at Natasha.

"Bu-t..Wh..y..W-e..Were meant to be together.." Brady said trying to get his words out while trying fight back the pain as best as he could. "You should of known i couldn't be trusted when my so called kingdom is death backwards, me..And my husband Tiz planned to kill you when we found out you were coming to our lair with the Earth Emerald, i pretended to be a princess from a kingdom that never existed..However the plan was aborted when you managed to kill my husband..But don't worry." Natasha said as she took the Earth Emerald from Brady's pockets.

"I have plans for this emerald now..Also don't worry about your horse..He will soon be mine now.." Natasha said as she placed the Emerald in her pocket. "N-no.." Brady said as his vision started to darken..The last thing he heard was Natasha saying this..

"Silly hero..You should of learnt not to trust strangers...Especially Damsels.."



Alternate Ending 1: Karma


"Silly hero..You should of learned not to trust strangers..Especially Damsels.." Natasha said as Brady finally died from the wounds she inflicted at him, Natasha laughed as the hero died and looked out through the window. "Now that stupid Brady Jensen is dead..I can begin plans for world domination..Soon people will bow down to me, Natasha, Queen of darkness!" Natasha said as she laughed evilly of her plans..Just what her husband wanted..

However she soon heard footsteps and quickly turned around to notice Mallicorn appear at the doorway. "Hey..Why are you here..Go back horsey,..Unless you belong to that stupid hero i just killed." Natasha said as she looked at Bradys corpse, Mallicorn looked sadly at his fallen friend before charging towards Natasha. "Hey what are you..Get away!" Natasha said as she tried to get the Earth Emerald out from her pocket..However it was too late, Mallicorn charged into Natashas stomach, pushing her out the window of the lair and causing her to fall to her death.

"Noooo! How could this be..I finally gain the chance to take over the world and its taken away along with my life in a few seconds! Hmm it almost feels li--Before Natasha could finish she reached the ground of the outside..Ending her life in one quick flash.


Alternate Ending 2: Clumsiness.

Brady looked at the corpse of Tiz, finally happy that he managed to kill him..Even if it was anti climatic..However before he could reach Natasha, the princess opened the door to her chambers up and ran towards Brady..Her hero happily. "My hero..You saved me from my hus--I mean Tiz the Evil wizard!" Natasha said as she hugged Brady, however the hug is causing Brady slowly loose his grip on the Earth Emerald. "Uhh yeah..Milady can you please ju--Before Brady could get a good grip on the emerald again..It fell and broke in half.

Brady and Natasha gasped..However nothing happened...Yet, soon the lair started to shake. "Goodness, what is happening!?" Brady said, he soon got his answer as a man appeared in a green coloured cloud above the two. "Who are you?" Natasha said to the man. "I AM JEBA THE MASTER OF THE EARTH EMERALD AS PUNISHMENT FOR DESTROYING THE MOST POWERFUL OBJECT IN THE WORLD..

I SHALL DESTROY YOURS!" Jeba said as he started to charge a giant ball above Brady and Natasha, the damsel looked at Brady angrily. "Well way to go hero..You just doomed us all..By the way since were going to die i should let you know that i was planning to kill you..I'm kind of an evil crazy lady." Natasha said bitterly. "Wait wha--Was the last word Brady said as Jeba shot his ball at two, exploding them and the lair and causing the wave to spread across the globe, turning every person or animal it comes across into skeletons and the lands into waste.


Alternate Ending 3: Shocking Twist


Brady entered Natasha's room and proceeded to wake the damsel up. "Who are you?" Natasha said as she yawned, Brady happily spoke to the lady he rescued. "Why i am your hero milady..I have defeated your captor..Tiz the wizard and here to claim you as your bride..Will you accept my proposal milady?" Brady said as he took his hand out to Natasha, she smiled. "Yes..But how about a kiss first?" Natasha said sweetly to Brady, he smiled and leaned in towards Natasha....Who bit his neck instead.

"ARGH!" Brady said as he grabbed his neck before proceeding to fall on the floor..He felt dizzy as Natasha got up and laughed evilly. "Wha?" Brady said to as he noticed pale and creepy looking people enter the room and surround him. "This is punishment for killing my husband..Now to finish you off." Natasha said as she and the people that have just entered the room lean down towards Brady, before Brady could do anything else darkness surrounded him as the group bit into every part of his body that he could see.


When Brady woke up, he felt sick and his was skin was deathly pale like the people he saw, he stood up and saw Natasha and the group looking at him. "What..What did you do to me!?" Brady said scared at what had happened to him.


"Simple..I have turned you into a vampire..As punishment for killing my husband Tiz, now you will be forced to hunt innocent humans for blood or else face a painful death of starvation..And you must treat me..Natasha Lilith Peastein, as your new leader..MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lilith said as she laughed evilly at what she has done..


Now that's what i call a shocking twist!

 

[Firewombat]

The look on Sir Dashing's face was priceless in that point in time. What knight could resist the opportunity to pluck the delicate flower of a damsel's purity after having carved his way through the citadel of the vicious tyrant whom had kept her imprisoned since birth? Certainly that knight was not Sir Dashing and he couldn't let the deaths of hundreds of his underpaid, overworked men at arms go to waste! That gate wasn't going to knock itself down after all.

He'd felt his pride swell and his codpiece seem tighter than ever when he saw the boorish and plain handmaidens of this radiant being prostrate themselves before him - showering him in thanks with tears down their unremarkable features. He hadn't even stopped to hear them sing his praises, there was a maidenhood to claim.

Sadly, some vile witch that he'd seduced years before, in a fit of jealousy, must have placed the dreaded Testosterone Curse upon our noble knight's brow - as his vision had been obscured by the lady's radiant features and buxom, shapely frame. He'd failed to notice that the signet ring she wore bore the crest of lord Farnsworth, whose citadel was being torched at the time. He'd also failed to note that the lady fair had an uncanny resemblance to the late lord. You'd think that'd be the first thing that stuck out - after all Sir Dashing made sure to instruct his grunts to throw themselves at the citadel's defenders so he could smite the detestable despot. He had a fairly good look at it when it rolled on the ground.

But lastly - Sir Dashing had failed to notice perhaps the most crucial detail of all - indeed he barely even thought to take out his indignation on the lady fair (who had rather suddenly turned into a revolting hag, to hear Sir Dashing's scribe tell it). That is to say, all had been going so well until Sir Dashing found that the dagger the fair lady had brandished to defend herself from Lord Farnsworth was rather suddenly and completely unexpectedly jabbed between his ribs. On the left side, no less! Surely, 'twas none other than the same vile witch, having taken on the appearance of the lady fair to undo him.

For sooth, we may never know the truth. Sir Dashing didn't even have the time to loosen his codpiece. His legend, however, will live on and inspire the youth of the future.

 

[Greenie]

"Greg! I... I think someone else's in the house... Please... you gotta come back!"

Gregory had arrived back at his own apartment after a rather terrible break-up with his girlfriend Annie when he received the frantic, whispered cellphone call. He had no other thoughts in his mind in that instance, immediately turning away from the door he had been about to unlock. He raced down the hallway and exited the building as quickly as he could. Thankfully he hadn't parked his car too far away, so he was able to get it started and on the road in little over a minute.

And then came his biggest bane, traffic lights. The intersection just outside his block had the most ridiculous waiting time, and even though there was no one coming from the other side, he would had to wait a good five minutes before the light turned green.

That was if he had waited. Deciding saving his girlfriend was much more important than following silly traffic rules, he ran the red light after just a few seconds of waiting. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't long before red and blue lights began following him. Cursing he pulled his car to the side of the road.

Goddamit... wait this might be a good thing! He could just tell the police and they'd be able to do something about it!

The police did not take his concerned plea seriously, at least not in Greg's opinion. He was also gifted a rather pricy ticket and given a warning about the points remaining on his license. Cussing as he started his car once more, he very carefully drove the rest of the way to Annie's house...

It seemed there were already police there, a couple of cars in fact. "Oh god... Annie?"

Hastily parking his car he raced toward the front door, though he paused when he heard his name called. "Over here!"

That was Annie's voice! He looked over at the police car and saw her sitting in one. He ran over, almost crashing into the car's door. "Annie are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?"

"Are you rehearsing for an MJ song?" She raised he eyebrow before nodding. "I'm fine. I just decided it made more sense to actually call the police, so I did that once our call ended. Thanks for coming though."

"Oh..." Greg seemed to visibly deflate like a flat soccer ball. There went all his hopes of playing the hero and taking her back. Well, there was always the next time...

 

[PoetLore]

Jenna stared at the lock on the cage that she was being held in and frowned. Of all the days to not wear a messy bun with hair pins, she had to pick this one. Muttering to herself about her won laziness that morning she looked around the area, now that she was awake and alert enough to do so. She was hanging from the ceiling in this iron cage over endless rows of garbage dumpsters full of who knew what. The dumpsters were lined up neatly and took up the whole room except for a walking path along each wall. What an odd thing, and how did she get up where she was? There didn't appear to be a crane anywhere.

Suddenly she remembered her phone, if they didn't check her body, maybe they missed it. She'd started hiding it in her bra for some reason, and at the moment she was glad of it. She didn't see anyone watching her so she pulled out the phone and texted Jacob. She figured actually talking might be heard, so she turned off the phone's sounds and texted. Jacob texted back almost immediately, just like always. He really was a great guy, too bad he was in the permanent friend zone. She told him her predicament and he started texting questions. Sadly though, she had no answers. Then Jacob had a brainstorm idea to just follow her phone using GPS. He instructed her to keep the phone on and he'd find her. Great, no problem. What else was she supposed to do?

Jacob did actually find her about four hours later. Her backside was aching from sitting on the bars of the cage bottom. "Oh FINALLY!" she said seeing him below.

Jacob blinked, "How the hell did you get up there?"

"It's not like this was MY idea, Jake.."

"Yeah right, sorry." he looked around for whatever machine could have possibly put her up there like that. He didn't see anything so he started walking around the outer walkway of the room, hoping to find it. Unfortunately what he found instead was the man who had taken her in the first place.

"Professor Harris?"

"Why are you so surprised Jenna dear?" he asked as a heavy bat came down over jacob's head and he fell to the floor in a heap.

"Hey now...he's my friend.."

"Is he? Pity for him. He shouldn't have gotten in my way."

Jenna was seething mad now. Jacob wasn't the one for her but he was a good guy, and he was her friend. She started swinging the cage back and forth until the loop at the top of her cage came off the hook. She held on as it dropped the twenty or so feet down to the dumpsters and split open. She climbed out and crawled over the tops of the dumpsters and walked toward the professor in long angry strides. "NO ONE messes with Jacob.." she said as she approached him.

"That was really quite amazing..I didn't think you had that in you obviously. What do you plan to do about it little girl?" He held the bat as if preparing to use it on her next.

Jenna's eyes narrowed and she swung in a circle and landed a perfect roundhouse kick to his jaw and as she swung around she grabbed the bat with both hands and yanked it from his grasp. She kept moving in the circle and brought the bat down on his shoulder and neck with enough force to topple him to the ground next to Jacob. "THAT'S what I am going to do you jerk."