It was an average day in the city of Zaun. Ekko was walking down the street towards the workshop where he and his friends made their latest inventions. This time, they were working on a fluctuating overboard that tried to revert gravity, albeit with little success.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" a woman yelled as she bumped into him.

"Sorry ma'am! " Ekko yelled back, running his hand through his smooth white mohawk.

Ever since his community had grown bigger, the streets had become increasingly crowded. Now that his suburb was almost filled to capacity, Ekko and the other citizens had begun to work on an expansion, building a wall around the place they had made their home. The building of the wall would help keep them safe . From what? You'll soon know.

Suddenly, Ekko's cell phone rang.

"What now?" Ekko thought as he answered the phone. "What do you want? I'm trying to walk here."

"We have news." It was Zeri 's voice, Ekko's best friend since he had been a child. They had grown up together and even worked on some projects. Ekko was always a little more careful about the ethics of the inventions he made, whereas Zeri always loved to see them blow up.

"What is it?" he asked her, slowing down as he saw some children running across the street in front of him.

"A group of Silco's thugs is on a killing rampage and it seems like they're headed towards your direction." said Zeri over the phone.

" Don't worry, I got this. " Ekko said, and readied his Z-drive.

Silco was what, or better, who, they were trying to keep out of the community. He was a criminal druglord who was slowly trying to gain more and more territory and influence in Zaun.

The latest target for Silco had been Ekko's territory, as it had become a sort of community, with its own rules and own economy, basically independent from the rest of the city. But that wasn't what made it special; it was also an intellectual utopia where inventions and ideas were made every day. And Silco didn't like that.

In fact, he didn't like that so much, that he decided to send spies to the suburb s to learn more about whoever was running it and how. That's also why Zeri and Ekko had teamed up with some of the residents to form a group of vigilantes and protect the community from Silco and his army .

The group of vigilantes was known as the Firelights. The group's goal was simple: keep the community safe, while at the same time fighting Silco's thugs, saving as many innocent victims as they could. Ekko loved each of them as much as his own life and he'd die to protect them.

Ekko headed towards the group of Silco's thugs.

"Are you also coming, Zeri?" he said over the phone.

"I don't know... I was finishing this vanilla latte, do you need to see me so bad? It's just another Silco-thug battle. Nothing big."

"Yes, I need to see you, I need backup!" said Ekko. "Also, stop wasting money on latte's!"

"Well, you better get me another later then , baby. " Zeri hung up the call.

Ekko chuckled at his Zeri' s comment and looked around him, noticing that the streets were a lot less crowded than they had been. Most of the residents must have gone home after hearing about the thugs and were probably locking the doors behind them, in an attempt to stay safe.

Just a couple of streets later, Ekko reached a dead end and started to run down an alley, in an attempt to get ahead of the enemy. He started climbing the tall buildings of Zaun, which were built using whatever material was available at the moment, so they weren't exactly "safe" to climb. But the city was never truly safe to begin with anyway.

Ekko kept jumping across buildings, getting a view of the community . It was truly a beautiful sight , which reminded him of the time before Silco, when there had still been freedom, happiness, and a sense of peace among the city. But all that had been replaced with fear and hate after Silco came to power.

Ekko ran faster, reaching the coordinates that Zeri had sent him. She was already there to meet with him, as well as three other members of the Firelights.

"Took you long enough !" shouted Zeri.

"Sorry, I was stuck in the crowd," said Ekko, walking closer to her and the other members, a little out of breath from all the running he had been doing.

Then, the thugs appeared in front of them in the wide street.

They had all the characteristics that people in Silco's territory had: the white eyes, the skin tone that had turned greenish because of all the drugs, the drool. The thugs looked at the four vigilantes with empty eyes.

"Where should we start?" asked one of the vigilantes, pointing his finger towards the thugs.

"Wait. I know how to stop them." said Ekko, getting ready to use his Z-drive. "Zeri, cover me."

"Sure thing."

Zeri s tarted shooting lightning shocks out of her fingers and aimed them towards the enemy. It didn't do much damage, but it distracted the thugs from Ekko.

"3,2,1" he said to himself, as he activated his Z-drive and appeared behind the thugs, starting to hit them as hard as possible with his bat. Every time an enemy tried to reciprocate, Ekko would activate his Z-drive and rewind time, dodging the attacks.

Even with Ekko's strength and his friends' help, the fight lasted for at least two hours. Finally, after taking care of the enemies , Ekko was laying on the ground, breathing heavily, completely exhausted from the fight. He stood up slowly and looked around the place. It looked as if a war had taken place there, with several cars being turned into piles of trash.

"Nice job, Ekko . Seems like they're getting stronger. " Zeri said as she came towards him.

Ekko smiled at her, wiping away the sweat on his forehead. "We can't let this happen anymore," he said. " Not this close to the community."

"You know I'm right there with you," said Zeri, putting her arm around his shoulders and walking next to him. "We've got each other's backs. Let's do this."

"I know." said Ekko with a smile. "Where are we going tonight?" he asked as they started walking home, leaving the mess that they had made in their wake.

" I wanna go dance! " she said. "The night is young! And so are we!"

"Sounds good to me," Ekko replied, starting to get a little tired after the fight, but he was excited at the same time.

Ekko loved dancing. Nowadays, it was getting harder and harder for him to go out at night without worrying about the community getting attacked by Silco's forces, which was why Ekko made sure he was always ready to fight at any moment, just in case.

"Okay, let's go ! " Zeri said.

They arrived at a club a few blocks away. It was a dark, dingy place, but Ekko enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by the loud music.

"So... what did you do today? Did anything new happen?" Zeri asked him, dancing with her arms up, the music pounding through their bodies.

Ekko chuckled. "Do I ever do anything new?" he replied, starting to move along to the music too.

Zeri smiled. "Yeah, I guess you don't," she said, putting her arm around his waist.

A group of people saw them in the club and started raising glasses in their honor, cheering them. It always made Ekko happy to see the people of his community enjoy themselves.

But for now, Ekko decided to focus on his dance and enjoy himself .

A few hours later, he and Zeri were lying on their backs, on top of one of the rooftops they used to climb when they wanted to be alone and away from the bustle of the city. The two were stargazing and watching the night sky, their thoughts and dreams running free.

Ekko glanced over at Zeri and smiled.

She caught him staring. "What's so funny, Ekko?" she asked.

"Nothing." he answered.

She smiled back and sat up.

"Do you want to get back home?" asked Zeri.

"Not really. Do you?" he said.

"Me neither." she replied.

"Have I ever told you look cute with those green side bangs?" said Ekko, a bit drunk.

Zeri's face blushed and she smiled shyly.

"You really think so?" she asked. "You know I always have the green dye mixed in with my pink ones, so it looks more natural."

"Yes. I mean, you should have seen the guy s who would come after you if they saw you with your pink hair like that. But I like your hair color like that better," Ekko answered.

Ekko was deciding whether to kiss her or not. He leaned in, but then lacked the courage to do so, ending up in an awkward hug. Their embrace felt nice though ; comforting even . The two hugged while looking at the community under the night sky. The following day, the people inhabiting those homes would go on with their normal lives, and it was all thanks to their hard work.

"So, I guess it's time for you to get back home, Zeri? I should go to sleep soon too." said Ekko, standing up from their stargazing position , embarassed .

"Yeah, me too," replied Zeri, standing up too and heading down the roof with him. "Let's do this again, okay? " while he held his hand.

"You got it." said Ekko as the two walked home , still blushing .

That night, as Ekko fell asleep, he could not get Zeri's face out of his mind.

She was so beautiful. And kind. And brave.

Ekko's mind started to wander. He wondered what would have happened if he had met her years ago. They could have fallen in love and have been together for much longer . Even though, years ago, his mind was busy thinking about that other girl... What was her name? The one with blue hair! Ekko couldn't recall his first crush's name. Something like Powder maybe?

But what mattered now was that those memories were in the past and he had Zeri now.

And so he went to sleep, thinking about what happened that day.

Ekko was busy in his workshop, as usual, fixing his hoverboard. It was always breaking and it was hard to fix because it had too many components to be repaired , and not many of his friends could help him with it.

He was working hard, his hands busy with wires and gears, trying to get his hoverboard up and running again.

He had just finished soldering a piece, when the phone rang. Ekko sighed. The call had interrupted his concentration.

He walked over to his desk and answered.

"You should join our unlimited data mobile plan..." said a robotic voice through the phone.

"Oh fuck off" said Ekko. Then, seeing as he couldn't regain his concentration, decided to walk a bit around the community's streets. He put away the tools and took his hoverboard and the Z-Drive.

It was a hot day, and the sun was blazing down on him. Sweat dripped down his forehead, as he walked along the sidewalks.

There was a woman on a bike next to him, riding very slowly. "Come on, move faster!" Ekko said. He was about to turn into the street with his house. He just had to pass through that block.

There were a few people milling around on the streets, and it seemed as if they had all stopped whatever they had been doing in order to stare at Ekko. Normally he'd enjoy the attention, but he was feeling bad after losing his concentration and just wanted to relax.

Suddenly, he felt someone push him and he lost his balance.

He stumbled a little bit but then managed to stand up again, feeling angry. Ekko was just about to yell at the person who pushed him, when he heard laughter and the person started walking away from him.

He looked around, noticing the others on the street. He looked up at the rooftops and saw Zeri. She had a grin on her face and she looked at him.

"You're an asshole!" Ekko yelled after her, laughing. "Why'd you push me?"

Zeri laughed harder, her eyes sparkling. "I didn't push you," she said.

Ekko started running after her and tackled her into the street.

The two of them fell to the ground and laughed as they lay in each other's arms.

Ekko looked at Zeri's beautiful green eyes, as she looked at him, with a huge smile on her face. "I think I might fall in love with you." said Ekko, his cheeks flushed and his breath shaky.

"Oh, you already have. I can tell by the way you look at me," replied Zeri.

Zeri leaned closer, until their lips touched and she kissed him softly, her green eyes looking into his. It was like his day had taken a perfect 180° turn.

Everything was going well in the community, and with the Firelights there to protect them, nobody would expect what happened next.