Prologue:
Well, it looks I've finally gotten a chance to explain how I got to be a dimension jumper like my buddy Jake Sky you all seem to know. I figured considering since most of you might not even know who I am, that I'd write this book for those of you who may have been wondering. By the way, if you're brain can't handle the concept of sarcasm, you may want to stop reading now. Or am I just joking, who really knows?
Your sarcastic entertainer,
Keiro Hayase.
Chapter One:
Alright, well to start off, I live in the year 2869 with my roommate Joey, who lives in the room down the hall. Now the house we live in is what I guess you guys would call The Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. For those of you that don't know, it's probably the biggest privately owned home in the United States. Well, it wasn't until after we added onto it so we could have more room to actually do things, but it is now. Though we still keep a few parts of the house open for tourists who decide to stop by. And just so you know, I'm really not that rich. My parents just bought this place to get rid of us after we nearly destroyed their house while making experiments in the kitchen. We're actually still 200,000 dollars away from paying off the mortgage on this place, which explains the whole tourist thing.
Nonetheless, it's been about a week since school got out, and lately, things had been pretty crazy with the war going on outside the city walls. Speaking of which, before I forget, just so you know, the majority of the county is a bunch of gigantic cities now. Well, most people think of them as huge states, but I like cities better, since they don't actually have different cities inside them. I actually live on the east coast or Legaia as we call it now. Now what's crazy is how big this place actually is. Legaia actually takes up the distance of everything from West Virginia, to Georgia. Of course I still haven't told you about my room. Well, being the guy I am, my room is basically the size of a master bedroom, if you add half of a living room that is. The whole room is pretty much filled with piles of video games and clothes covering the floor. My bed is perpendicular to the window of my room, which faces the front of the house, with my computer desk in the corner between the bed and the window.
Now the actual important part is what was going on in my dream at the time. To see the same nightmare for weeks at a time can make some people not even want to dream. Especially when all you ever see are streets filled with a war going on between so many people you know, and an army of enraged spirits that have invaded your hometown. Then, to know that if it ever ends, you might not even survive yourself. And suddenly you think it's over as everything gets dark, but you remember that there's still one thing that hasn't happened yet. Her death. A girl stands in front of you, and all you know is that you want to find some way to save her, but you're stuck standing exactly where you are. And out of nowhere, she's attacked by countless spirits, who continue to pull her body and soul apart from the inside, until there's nearly nothing left as her lifeless body falls to the ground.
"Nooo!" I yelled sitting up in my bed, covered in sweat. "Son of a... not again." I sighed, rubbing my forehead, hoping to get my mind back together. My heart was racing inside my body and going a hundred miles an hour. I'd been having this same dream for at least a month now, but every time I'd think, Who was she anyway? I mean, it's almost as if that whole dream was real... But what does it even mean?
I looked over at my alarm that just seemed to stare back at me with the same expression it had every night I'd woken up like this, 5:30
Chapter Two:
I swung my feet over the side of my bed, and rested my head in my hands. "Jeez, I'll never get a full night of sleep like this." I complained, still rubbing my forehead. "Guess I might as well get up now, cuz there's no way I'm gonna be able to go back to sleep." I sighed getting out of bed. Of course still in my sleep clothes, I made my way downstairs into the kitchen, and flicked on the light. I got blinded at first, but let my eyes focus before I turned on the T.V. in the other room. "Great, still too early for anything good." I groaned flipping through all the channels till I came to one of the movie channels that actually had something good on. "Now, I just have to find something to eat." I smirked, hearing my stomach growl. Of course I saw the fridge wasn't exactly stocked, so I decided to have a bowl of cereal and headed to the living room, where I plopped down on the couch.
At least an hour later after the movie ended, I had already finished my cereal, and went to get another one while I still tried to make sense of my recurring nightmare. Though it seemed the more I thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. Every thought I had kept turning into something irrational. It was as if the dream wasn't supposed to have any real meaning now, but later on. I decided to go ahead and just leave it alone for the time being when I heard Joey come down the stairs.
"Are you always up this early now?" Joey asked, yawning loudly. "Cuz you do know school isn't till like another hour and a half."
I knew he was absolutely right, but even if going back to sleep had worked, it would only make things worse. "Eh, I guess, but at least this way I never have to worry about being late." I said trying to make the best of things, even if I was basically lying at the moment.
"Oh come on, don't give me that censored." Joey scoffed, heading straight for the fridge. "You never had problems being late even when you woke up and only had four minutes to get dressed." He smirked pulling a wrapped plate of pizza out of the fridge.
"Where the heck did you?" I started before Joey cut me off.
"I hid it, just like I do everything else I don't finish." He responded as if it were normal, which it was, for Joey.
Now to explain Joey in a nutshell, he's basically been my non-related brother since we were in First grade. And people would actually think we were, if it weren't for the fact that Joey's white and I'm not. Not like it's ever stopped people from calling us the wackiest brothers of our high school, but you get the point. Anyway, he's got your basic skaters' haircut, though his just happens to be silver. It kinda just looks like grey at first, until you actually get to see it when the sun's shining down on it. Then, you actually see the shine in it. And of course his wardrobe is basically pretty...well, pretty simple. He's usually wearing his plain red-orange T-shirt, with a green zip up hoodie over it. It may sound kind of weird to think about, but for some odd reason, Joey can pull off things most people can't when it come to clothes and skateboarding. But that's basically my best friend in a nutshell.
"So, where the heck do you hide all that food in there anyway?" I asked him curiously. Of course, he gave me the same grin he always did and shook his head.
"Well, if I told you that, I'd have no reason to hide it, because you would know." Joey replied proudly. "So, you'll just have to figure it out." He said plopping down on the couch next to me.
But as usual I still took a slice of the pizza, even though Joey hadn't offered me one. Like every other time, he just opened his mouth before closing it again, figuring I'd just use whatever he said against him, which was entirely true.
So, for the moment we just sat there eating pizza while we both wondered how today would end up being a good day or a bad day. Though the first conclusion that we both came to at the same time was that everything would probably depend on the girls...just like every other day. The two of us shuddered at the thought of a bad day with them, as we continued to eat our morning pizza. Which was surprisingly even better cold.
Chapter Three:
About an hour later, Joey and I headed back up to our rooms, and decided to actually get ready for school. Joey had to grab all his schoolwork and his skateboard, while I was still trying to change. I almost failed at my planned wardrobe if I hadn't found my "The Fifth" band over shirt. It was probably one of the only good bands from the early 21st century that people still listened to now. So, going for a new record, I threw on as many of my clothes as fast as possible. Starting with my Japanese 'Spirit' T-shirt, followed by my over shirt. Then, came the pair of cargo pants I'd found with flames sliding up from the bottom of the pant legs in a store a few days before. Yeah, seems kind of weird, but surprisingly enough it all goes together pretty well to me. And last but not least, my finger-cut bike gloves, as well as my vintage 2008 Nike Air Force Ones.
But of course, the only thing left seemed to be my grand exit. As always, I grabbed my specially made roller blades from my closet, and slid them over my shoes letting them automatically lock in. "Guess, I'm all set." I said standing in the middle of my room. Next thing I know, Joey's outside my window as usual just hovering in the air on his hover board as usual. "Come on Keiro, let's go!" He called outside the window. So, I headed back to the edge of my room as far from the window as possible, before charging at the now open window at full speed. I jumped right into the sky, going into a flip, before straightening myself in the air to land on a hover rail right below the window. "Whoo! I always love that move!" I exclaimed, as I grinded down the hover rails above the road, Joey flying on his board right next to me pulling off a back flip or something here and there.
As we headed down the road, we watched all the cars go by below us, even waving to a few of our friends from school. It almost seemed like the majority of the people we knew from school either had cars or went to school with some form of transportation kind of like ours. But most times everyone else just used speed bikes or something like that. Of course, I think it's more or less that Joey and are the only ones stupid enough to use the hover rails since it seems that everyone besides us always falls off or something stupid like crashing into each other at the breaks in the rails. But just as we were about to pull off another dual trick, we spotted Sola and Audrey walking to school down below us. So, with a nod we decided to head down and meet them, hoping neither was in a bad mood, or else we'd be dead..
Chapter Four:
Like the usual idiot he was, Joey decided to yell crazily down at the girls as we descended behind them. "Hey Audrey, Sola! Incoming!" Joey warned as he tried to balance himself on the air currents around his board on the way down, but hit a dead spot, and flew off of his board into the top of a tree. Looking at him hanging in the branches, I tried not to laugh, but ended up laughing anyway, and tried grinding on a branch I almost ran into on the same tree, and got a small branch stuck in the wheels, nearly sending me to the ground till I caught myself with my leg, and hung upside down in the tree. "Hey girls. Nice day to be walking isn't it? Especially when it keeps you from getting stuck in trees." I smirked sarcastically, hooking an arm over the branch, as I tried getting my skate wheels free of the tree branch. "Stupid, idiotic, tree branch...keeping me from the most simple grind ever...GAH!!" I yelled getting my skates free, before falling into a bush right below the tree. "Owww. Ok, that one hurt." I groaned, climbing out brushing off the leaves all over my clothes.
Joey laughed from the top of the tree before suddenly being pummeled by a bunch of acorn carrying squirrels, causing him to flail around in the branches. "AHH! Stupid acorn lovin...SQUIRRELS!!" Joey yelled falling out of the tree, just as his board was caught on two branches that were close enough to hold it up on the sides, but left Joey upside down. "Well this is just great." Joey sighed. "Can someone help me down?" He asked politely, with an obvious hint of annoyance. "I would, but it seems you've already got someone to volunteer." Sola said with amusement in her voice as one of the squirrels was standing on Joey's board, and was apparently messing around with the bottom of it. Then the squirrel hit a switch, sending Joey head first, straight into the bush below him. "Great, I get thrashed by squirrels..AGAIN!" Joey complained trying to get out of the bush. Audrey walked over and grabbed his arm and started to pull. "You know, I don't think I'll ever understand how you two keep getting yourselves into this stuff." She sighed with a sense of amusement in her voice as Joey climbed out of the bush. "Well, it's not may fault." He replied. Audrey gave him a look, and smiled. "Well MAYBE if you stopped trying to use the hover rails so often, you wouldn't have such a problem." I glanced at Audrey with a look of my own, wondering if she'd forgotten us. "Yeah, but if we did that, then we'd have to walk. Besides, using the hover rails, looks cooler." I said, slightly proud.
But of course, as usual, Sola was there to burst my bubble, giving a roll of her eyes before a small smirk showed on her face. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean it makes you two look cool. Especially when you jump into the air and land right into a tree like a couple of idiots." She said sarcastically as usual. "And of course, the party pooper strikes again." Joey sighed, as he stood next to Audrey, their usual closeness apparent to just about everyone BUT them. "Eh, I hate to say it, but there are actually times where Sola's more fun than you bro." I said in disagreement. Sola gave me a questioning look before accepting the compliment with a shrug. "Well, it's nice to see someone besides Audrey was smart enough to notice it." She said with a hint of a smile. "Yeah, well I have to admit, seeing you actually fall into the local pool because you weren't paying enough attention to know you were walking straight toward it, was pretty funny. I mean that one had me going for a least an hour." I said trying to hide a small laugh at the thought of it. Though I couldn't hold it when Joey and decided to join in. "Yeah, that was the funniest thing ever!" He laughed. "I mean, she even knocked like two 10 yr olds in with her." "Sola just glared at the both of us, causing Joey and I to immediately shut our mouths, while Audrey giggled at our reactions as well as the story. "Watch yourself boys. You know how Sola gets in the morning when she hasn't even had coffee." Audrey warned the two of us, giving Jake the routine smile she seemed to always give him. Joey and I looked at each other and sighed, knowing she was right. Which meant to day already wasn't off to a great start.
Chapter Five:
Around 15 minutes later, after 5 minutes of laughing, Joey, the girls, and myself were about halfway to school. As usual we seemed to walk in a bit of a pattern or "The Couples Foursome" as kids at school called it. Yeah, I know, stupid name right? Anyway, it was usually set up with Me and Sola walking together, me on the right with her on the left, and Joey and Audrey following right behind us in the same way. Basically boys on the left girls on the right. Why I can't say things in simple ways confuses even me people, so no questions, please. But truthfully, I guess the whole reason for our group's nickname is kind of obvious. Since everyone knows Joey and Audrey were basically made for each other, even though neither of them will admit it to some one of the opposite sex in or outside the group. Although Sola and me, well, things are just a bit more complicated I guess. I'm not sure why, but a lot of times, I wonder if she and I could ever be together. I mean, sure, I really like her and all. Well technically, I've had a crush on her since we were 13, and yet I don't think she's ever even noticed. I'm sure that Audrey has, since she's pretty much like my younger sister even if we are the same age. And she's asked me before, so that's a big clue too.
But after all this time, even now, as I look at her face, she seems completely oblivious to the fact I flirt with her almost every day. Even if it is in my own way. I started to daydream while still looking at Sola, before she turned to look at me with a brow raised, like I had just done something to confuse her. "Uh, what are you doing Keiro?" She asked sounding suspicious of me. I shook of the remains of my daydream and blinked. "Huh, oh nothing why?" I replied, trying to play it off. "Well, you were staring at me. For like the tenth time this week. Is something wrong with your brain?" She said knocking on my head with her hand as if intrigued, though I knew she was using at as more of an insult between friends as usual. Pushing her hand away I smirked. "NO, there's noting wrong with my brain Sola. But if you're eager for a brain inspection, you should check Joey. I think he's due, after that fall he had earlier." I said turning so that I was walking backwards and gave Joey the usual just joking smile.
"Oh, ha ha, very funny Keiro." Joey said in a slight growl. "Well the girls seem to think so." I grinned, looking at the small smile Sola was showing and the usual larger smile Audrey gave as she looked to the ground to keep from laughing. "Aw man, not you two Audrey.." Joey sighed, sounding slightly betrayed by his friends. "Aw, I'm sorry Joey." Audrey said in her usual, brightening tone, as he comfortingly rubbed Joey's back. Of course, right after, she smacked his back hard and ran off ahead. "You're it!" She yelled back. Surprisingly enough Joey automatically cheered up and sped after her doing his best to tag her back. Sola and I stayed behind of course, not really up to running so early in the morning. "You know, they almost act like they were racing like we do. Only without the consequences." I chuckled looking over at Sola. "What, you mean like whoever's last has to buy my morning coffee? No, that's more like this." She smirked pushing me into a bush before running off ahead. "Gotta learn sooner or later!" She called back confident in her lead. "Gah! I'm gonna get you for that!" I exclaimed, climbing from the bush before racing after the others.
Chapter Six:
As usual, after our little game of tag, the four of us finally made it to school. Although, considering it all somehow turned into a mini wrestling match, our clothes were covered in grass stains. Not like we really cared though. Since technically Joey and I were busy singing old pirate songs from movies in the early 2000's, like Hoist the Colours from Pirates of The Carribbean. Though as soon as we were about to go into the second verse, Joey stopped right next to me with Sola and Audrey behind us. "Yo, what's up man?" I asked him, waving a hand in front of his face. Though right after, I saw exactly what was wrong. Apparently we seemed to have gotten in the path of one of the school bullies, Daniel (Skins) Skinner. Now of course the first thing you would think about Daniel's nickname is that it's pretty much because of his last name right? Well, you'd only be half right. It's actually because Daniel actually has the ability to pretty much morph himself into almost anyone around him except for people who aren't his height. Yeah, shrinking his bones to be smaller, not really his thing. Too much brawn, not enough brains. Oh, by the way, did I mention our school is actually made up of a bunch of kids who actually grow up developing these weird powers that somehow appear out of nowhere? Yeah, kinda cool, yet it reminds you of the X-Men movies that came out in your time right? Well, that's not really how it works either. Actually no one's really sure how it even happens, but it does. We've just been able to rule out the mutant gene thing.
Another thing I may have forgotten is that I actually happen to be one of the only kids in this school who actually doesn't have powers. So you could say I'm kinda at a disadvantage, although growing up with three friends like Sola, who's got telekinesis, Joey who can pretty much control sand any way he wants, and Audrey who basically controls lightning, I've had more than enough chances to train at not being just target practice. So standing there in front of one of the top bullies in school out of nowhere may have caught Joey off guard at first, though right after, I was already in front of him with Joey and Sola right behind best tough gang member/mobster look. Stepping closer to be nearly right in Daniel's face, I stared at him with my hands in my pockets, and gave the easiest blank look I could. "So Daniel, what's up? Something wrong?" I asked in an innocently curious sort of way. Daniel gave his usual angry look as his arm automatically tensed and grabbed the collar of my shirt nearly ripping it at some of the loose seams. "You know exactly what's wrong you thickheaded retard. You and your stupid idiot friends are in my way." Skinner nearly snarled and even spitting all over my face. "And I take it you want us to move right?" I asked still playing dumb, while wiping off my face trying to keep myself from grinning. Daniel got even angrier, grabbing my shirt with his other hand, before lifting me off of my feet. "You keep playing dumb with me, and I'm gonna smash your face in."
That's when Sola felt the need to pipe up. See, while we boys may be more prone to fighting, she's the one that manages to get us into trouble the most. Trouble with kids, that is. All the teachers love her. Anyway, she spoke up from behind me, saying, "At least he's playing dumb, Danny. We all know you're not." At that point, frankly, I just wanted her to shut up. You see, Daniel has these three friends too, Joe, Ryan, and Jack. They're pretty strong even without their powers, and when you add pyroknesis, super strength, and the ability to turn into a tiger, they're not exactly guys that are fun to mess with. But no. Sola's never been able to resist a sarcastic retort, and this time was no exception. "What'd you just call him?" Ryan, the super strong one asked. Man, were these four angry now. Sola really knows how to get under your skin when she feels like it. "You heard me. He's stupid. Dumb. Not so bright. Basically, an idiot." Sola said, while Joey was gesturing madly for her to stop, and Audrey, who usually stayed out of it, rolled her eyes.
That did it. Jack transformed, Daniel morphed so he was bigger, and a ball of fire appeared in Joe's hand. Ryan hauled off and threw a punch at Sola's face, though she dodged it easily. See, Sola has done karate since she was seven or so, so she's pretty hard to hit. I learned that part early. She turned right around and threw a kick at his stomach, and that started everything. I started grappling with Daniel and Ryan as Sola fought off Jack and helped me and Joey went for Joe, who was the most obviously dangerous. Thankfully, sand basically cancels fire out as they seemed to do nothing but make a bunch of glass crystals over and over again. Eventually it all came down to a fist fight that only Audrey was smart enough to stay out of. I came out with a black eye and a bunch of bruises, Joey split his lip and acquired a few minor burns, and Sola broke her arm and got bruised as well. Thankfully, the school nurse is a healer. Sadly, she knows the three of us by name. Kinda tells you how often we do this, huh? But technically, the four of them looked just as bad and probably hurt worse, so it was all okay by us.
Then the principal came by. Boy, were we in trouble.