"Ah, you're finally awake."
A person, more specifically a teenager, opened his eyes almost too quickly to find himself in the same spot that he's been sitting in, which was inside a moving van and in the passenger seat next to the driver. He had settled down for a quick nap after a good enough long trip only to snap himself back awake to the small realization that he had slept more than what he had intended. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it did teach him a lesson about planning short naps.
"Don't worry kid, we're almost there." The driver told the boy as he eyed him for a bit, then went back to the road. "Just be ready to help move your stuff. We're actually closer than you think, you woke up just in time."
The boy nodded before joining the driver in watching the road. Though he was only a teenager, he would be moving to a new city and living there on his own. His exact motive for such a decision was quite unknown, but whatever the reason was, it was enough to make or convince him to seek independence. As for his belongings, it wasn't a lot as the moving van was kind of small, but it still needed more than one person to help carry the boxes into the home he would be digging into.
"There it is." Snapping out of his thoughts, the boy looked at the driver and then at what he was looking at, it was a two story house that bore dark boysenberry coloured walls and an eggplant coloured roof and it had a garage on the right. "You're new home."
The kid looked at his new house while the moving van driver pulled up to the sidewalk, taking in the fact that this house is now his new home that he will be residing in before the driver gets out and the kid does the same. Before he knew it, he was helping the old man carry his boxes into his new home. Though it took some time, they managed to move all his belongings and essentials into the house. The old man had done his job, so the unpacking was on the kid.
"There you go, enjoy your new home." said the old man. The boy nodded, and thanked him, while giving him a hand shake. While he went back to the van, the new kid stayed outside on the sidewalk to look at his new home.
He didn't necessarily care what kind of house, or place, he chose, but his caretakers insisted on choosing this specific house. At first glance, he thought that they were only paying attention to looks, but further patience proved that they were actually focusing on benefits and details rather than design.
Ok, maybe they were also focusing on design, a little.
"Hey there…" A female voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he turned towards the source. The girl who had called him out had light amber skin, red hair with a few yellow stripes, cyan eyes, and she was wearing a dark pink shirt that displayed what looks like a burning sun, a black leather jacket, an orange skirt with dark pink and bright yellow lines, and black boots with dark pink markings on the front.
"... Are you new here?" The teenage boy nodded as this girl walked up to him.
"Well then, welcome to canterlot city, what's your name?" She asked as she observed him.
She wasn't the one to judge a book's cover, but he seemed a little sketchy as he was wearing a dark gray hoodie jacket that had a black coloured heart enwrapped with two strands of barbed wire on his left side of his chest, dark blue jeans, and black boots. She couldn't really see his face as it was covered by the hoodies shadow, but she can see his left dark gray colored eye, and part of his bottom face, which was white. Her observation ended just before he told her his name
"I'm Sunset Shimmer, what school do you go to?"
… And then his new school
"Really! Guess we'll be going to the same school." Sunset then looked at his new home. While it was a good choice, she grew concerned with its drawbacks. "This is a nice house, but it's pretty far from the school. Are you gonna make it?"
He nodded.
Sunset nodded in return, then looked back at the house. Needless to say the conversation was going nowhere and was getting more awkward than it already was. This new kid was responding to her nicely but it was also a little weird.
Maybe it was the atmosphere of moving into a new house and he was busy unpacking, maybe she had picked the wrong time to try and welcome someone new. One thing was for certain though, the mission wasn't a failure, but it needed to be aborted. "Well I'll see you at school, I'll give you a tour when you get there ok?"
The boy nodded. And with that, Sunset walked off leaving him to look at his new house before deciding to go in and start unpacking.
The teenage boy laid on his bed, doing nothing in particular, but mostly just thinking. Though he has the latest game console in his living room, he opted to just lay and think. He had changed into sleepwear as he was about to call it a day and go sleep right there like that, nevermind the blanket cover.
Changing his clothes for something comfortable to sleep in also meant revealing the rest of his head. He was normal with blue hair, and the removal of the hoodie revealed his other dark gray coloured eye.
He thought about his new house, new home, and new school. As mentioned before, he wasn't really picky with the house he would move into and his ex-caretakers were the ones who insisted on this house to live in. He certainly couldn't complain though,not that he was going to, the place practically had everything he needed. Bathroom, kitchen, garage, everything. His caretakers really did go the extra mile in making sure he had a comfortable house. Not only was he grateful for it, but he promised he would repay them soon.
As for his new home, he read about it before. While he didn't want to judge a book by its cover, he would need to see the city itself to confirm whether or not it's all that it's cracked up to be.
Then there's school. Obviously there's gonna be talk, rumors, and gossip about him before he even sets foot in the school. He couldn't really care less what others thought about him, but if it resorts to bullying or something then he'll have to defend himself as best as he can.
He looked at the clock on his phone, it was nine thirty. If he sleeps now he'll have at least 10 hours of sleep, he needs to be at least half conscious in class after all, but with these hours he'll be good and ready. Without further delay, he turned off his phone, closed his eyes and let his mind rest.
It was a rainy Wednesday morning and students that were unfortunate enough to not have an umbrella were forced to wear a hoodie, use their backpacks or something to cover their heads, or just book it as fast as they could. Fortunately for two girls they brought their umbrellas so getting soaked wasn't a concern.
"UGH I hate it when it rains, and I got up early today… for once." complained a light blue girl with rainbow hair wearing a white t-shirt with a cloud striking a red, yellow, and blue lightning bolt, an open blue t-shirt, a pink and white skirt, and blue calf-high boots. She put her umbrella and books in her locker not caring in which particular order they were in.
"Oh come on Rainbow, sometimes the rain can be beautiful." Her friend Fluttershy said, who was wearing a white tank top, a green skirt with three butterflies, and green calf high boots. She tried to enlighten her rainbow haired friend as she put her books in her and got out the ones she needed. They had both walked to school together in the rain, and while Rainbow Dash did have an umbrella her boots got soaked when she mistook a deep puddle for shallow, forcing her to go through the whole day with wet cold feet.
"Speaking of which…" Fluttershy said, quickly changing the subject to something or someone she was reminded of. "Sunset told me that we're getting a new student today and she's showing him the school today." Her expression changed to that of concern. "She told me he was wearing a hoodie when she saw him. Oh he must be awfully shy, I hope he'll be ok, being a new student must be very scary."
"I'm sure he'll be fine." Rainbow Dash said "And besides, in case you forgot, we're superheroes. I'm pretty sure no one will bother him once they see me."
"O-Ok." Fluttershy said as she hid behind her books a bit. "J-Just don't hurt them or anything, just tell them to stop, please?"
Rainbow Dash simply rolled her eyes while smiling and replied "Yeah, sure." Then her face took a serious turn. "I just hope he's smart enough to know how to stay alive outside of school… with everything that's been going on and all. He sure picked the wrong time to move here"
Rainbow dash's change in tone is justifiable. Ever since those videos of them turning into superhero-like people, or using magic in general, crime within Canterlot city skyrocketed at a horrifying rate. At first, everyone assumed it was just really good editing and doctoring, until people started visiting the city itself and saw the magic in action with their own eyes. Word spread quickly online with mixed results with both skepticism and conjecture, the news became so big that soon it became the number one trend on the internet for a little while and even the media began to make covers but had little to no information. However where the magic was the corruption went, gangs and common criminals flocked from the next town to Canterlot to try and obtain this magic for themselves and their own gain, whether it was true or not. To say that the police needed help would be a gross understatement. The only saving grace was that it wasn't all of the crime in the state that came to this city, but then again who would think that.
Fluttershy seemed to share the expression while also looking a little frightened. "Canterlot city has never been this scary, the rumors only seem to make it worse. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that's what brought the criminals here" she hugged her books more tightly for comfort. The mere thought of running into a thug was enough to feel a hole in her gut. Rainbow Dash threw her arm around her best friend.
"Tell you what, assuming he makes friends by the end of the day, how about we walk home with him?" Her raspy voice was full of confidence and reassurance which was much needed comfort that encouraged a small smile on Fluttershy's face. She gave a slight nod which Rainbow returned before they started making track for the prison cell teachers like to call class.
Ugh…
The soon to be new student walked along the sidewalk with an umbrella in one hand and the other in his pants pocket. He moved the umbrella a little bit to look up at the rain falling where he stood for a little bit, until an unfamiliar sound reached his ears and he quickly turned around to see something blue going into a nearby bush. Curiosity overtook his judgment and he decided to investigate.
He walks towards the aforementioned bush, kneels down, and digs through the branches to find what had gotten his attention, only to find nothing but the ground and stem where the bush grew from. He picks himself up and tries to brush it off as his imagination as he corrects his course for school.
Sunset Shimmer waited for the new student at the front of the main hallway and made use of the given time to check her phone for any news updates, so far it was the same thing…
"Another armed robbery, this time where Pinkie Pie works. I'm just glad she wasn't there for that… Ah who am I kidding, she probably would've covered those guys in dust and confetti, then probably tried to cheer up everyone after that, I can really see her doing that after school."
She snapped herself back to the now when she heard the sound of the current weather for a few seconds before she looked to see the new student closing his umbrella and putting both of his hands inside his pockets as his umbrella stuck out, he could put it away later.
"Hey…" Sunset called out as she walked towards the new guy. "Welcome to canterlot High school, I hope you'll like it. Come on, I'll show you around."
She walks into the school as the new student follows and as they do they fail to notice two girls catching their eyes. One had red hair and eyes and white skin, wearing a light turquoise long sleeve button shirt, red skirt with an orange belt and a single dancing flame, a white bow on the back of her head, and black shoes with socks. The other one was with dark green hair in a ponytail, blue eyes, and light green skin while wearing a purple double button coat, dark blue skirt, and black boots with leggings. The former was the first to speak.
"Oh is that him? The new transfer student?" She spoke while keeping her eyes on the new boy, then turned to her friend when he walked away and she spoke.
"I think so, he'll look lonely soon though, we should probably say to him or something…" her answer was brief and she sounded rather distracted by something. It didn't go unnoticed by her friend.
"What's wrong, Leafy?"
"Oh nothing, just distracted a bit today by something…"
"You wanna talk about it? You can tell me and I'll help as much as I can."
"Oh thank you, Scarlet but I'll be alright."
This Scarlet girl didn't really seem too satisfied with not being able to help friend, but accepted and nodded nonetheless. "Ok, but if there is anything I can do to help, please don't be afraid to ask for me. Ok?"
Her friend, Leafy, smiled and gave a nod. "Ok… I definitely will." She took out phone to check the time. "We better get to class if we don't want to be late." Scarlet agreed and they both made tracks for class.
Sunset Shimmer shows the new kid everything, the hallways, the gym, the cafeteria, the library, and then finally the office where she then gives him instructions. "Alright, now that I've shown you everything, head into the office and get your schedule, I'll wait out here so we can walk to your first class."
The new boy gave a single nod before venturing into the principal's office to find out his classes. He walked in to find the principal doing paperwork who then looked up as soon as she heard the door open and watched as it closed and the student in front of her looked at her with a blank stare, so she stopped what she was doing, smiled, and broke the ice before it formed.
"Good morning, I'm principal Celestia and, as Sunset probably told you, this is Canterlot High School, I hope you will have a wonderful time here." She then reached into desk and brought out a folder. "You must be him, correct?" She showed him the contents of the folder and it contained all his information, he looked at it thoroughly then confirmed by nodding his head. "Well then, here is your schedule, Sunset will show you to your first class ok? Have a great day." The boy retrieved what he was sent for and wished principal Celestia the same, before coming out of the office and looking at a waiting Sunset.
"Hey, you get your schedule?" He held out the piece of information given to him by the principal, and when Sunset walked over to him, he shared it with her. "Let's see… You're in… Oh! I know that class, I'll take you there." The boy nodded and he let his chaperone guide him to his first class.
Once they got there, he laid eyes upon what appeared to be the homeroom teacher. She seemed to have Dark pink skin, dark purple hair, and green eyes while wearing a white shirt, a brown vest above the shirt, a green skirt adorned with flowers, and brown boots. She was leaning against the wall looking at who cares, but when her eyes made contact with the incoming students she stood up and put on a smile for the new student her class was given.
"Good morning, Are you a new student?" Sunset answered the question.
"Yup, he's the guy alright. I just came to drop him off at his first class."
"Thank you Sunset, you have a nice day." Sunset wished her the same as she then bid the new student farewell and made track for her own class.
The new kid watched his chaperone leave then turned back to the teacher. "Oh don't worry I'm sure you'll love it here. Now let's get to class, shall we?"
The boy just gave a single nod.
The rain outside the window was the perfect background for the somewhat active classroom as students were mostly talking amongst others just before class started.
"Rain huh? Why does it have to rain when I DON'T have an umbrella…"
"Don't ask me man, that kinda sounds like a 'you' problem."
"Hey at least I try to get here dry, your shoes are so wet they might as well be fake ."
"Don't call me out when you don't fare any better."
"You boys can be so stupid sometimes. By the way, did you hear we're getting a new student?"
"Huh really? Is it a guy or a girl?"
"A guy, I think. I saw him moving into his new house the other day, he looked a little sketchy."
"Sketchy huh? How so?"
"Well there's this is a strange rumor."
"Really!? What is it?"
The conversation in particular was just loud enough for two students from behind to hear them. One of them was a boy with yellow skin and brown hair and eyes, wearing a blue shirt, an open white jacket with the image of water running through rocks on the back, black pants, black beanie, and white sneakers. The other was a girl with pink skin, purple hair and blue eyes, wearing a red sweater, a white skirt, a white choker with a little bow on it, white boots, and a red hair band.
"A new student? Wonder who it could be." The girl said as she turned to her good friend.
"Who knows, but maybe we should get to know them before the gossip starts spreading."
She giggled. "Now that's a good idea coming from you."
He chuckled, "What's that supposed to mean?"
They both shared a good laugh before the starting bell rang and everyone took their seats as Mrs. Cheerilee and new kid walked in with both at the front of the classroom for presentation, a big pet peeve for anyone who isn't an extrovert but the new guy didn't really seem too bothered, in fact it was hard to see any signs of discomfort with how much the hood was completely hiding his face without trying.
"Good morning class, today we have a new student that will be joining us from here forward. Introduce yourself please." The new student only had to give his name before…
"That's him? He looks kind of sketchy…"
"I know but he… looks… kind of cute"
"He got a shady vibe, Don't tell me we've got another power hungry asshole."
"I don't know… on one hand we could be judging a book by its cover, but on the other…"
"Do you think he's planning to drug someone, or shoot up the school, or put us under a spell?"
"Alright, settle down." The judgemental gossip did not go unnoticed by Mrs. Cheerilee, in fact they were obviously loud despite trying to hide it. "You can sit right at…"
"Excuse me, can the new student sit here?" A voice called out from the back of the classroom, it was the aforementioned girl with hand raised and with a smile on her face. At first, she was just being nice and was gonna make sure no one bothered him, but now that she sees him in person she genuinely wanted to know him better. The reaction from classmates was mixed with surprise, and those who didn't really 'care'. Regardless, Mrs. Cheerilee smiled…
"Of course, that will be your spot for the remainder of class, now please take your seat." The boy nodded as he did as he was instructed and sat next to the girl who was kind enough to let him sit next to him while the teacher started the lecture.
"Hi…" A few seconds after sitting down the girl who let him sit next to her started talking to him in a cheery voice. He looked at her and prepared himself to answer her. "You're new here aren't you?" He nodded as she continued. "Welcome to canterlot, I'm-"
"Quiet in during class please."
Her attention was brought to the teacher who had indirectly called her out. "Oh, sorry ma'am." Cherry then whispered to the new student "We'll talk later, ok?" He nodded before they redirected their attention to the teacher.
The bell rang, signaling the end of the class period as students started packing up for their next class. The new kid got up from his seat and was about to leave for his next class when he was stopped by the same girl who let him sit next to her.
"Hey, You're not leaving without us, right?" He was approached by said girl and also a boy that he didn't pay no mind to at first until now. "You're heading to your next class? Why don't we walk together." She then had a look of realization. "Oh sorry, I haven't told you my name yet. I'm Cherry Fuschia, and this piece of work is Rapid Rush." This "Rapid Rush" chuckles to her.
"Speak for yourself, but hey man nice to meet ya." The new kid returns the gesture as they start walking out of class. "So you're the new guy huh? It was the same thing for me in elementary school, new faces, new territory…" He then had a look of confidence as he gave him a wink "Don't worry though, hang in there and you'll be alright. In fact, tell me your next class." The new student did as he was told, much to Rapids surprise. "Hey, we have the same class together. Oh right but we won't be having Cherry with us."
"Eh no worries." She said joyfully. "We can catch up after school, if that's alright with you."
The boy nodded and Cherry bid them farewell until after school as both boys went to their next class.
Unbeknownst to them, two certain girls were actually watching the three have their talk with each other, specifically watching the new boy, as one of the aforementioned girls put her arm around her shy friend.
"See? What did I tell ya?"
It was lunchtime and the new student was walking down the hallway by himself. The students that had hung out with him couldn't be seen again until after school or the next day so he was on his own, right now he was heading towards the cafeteria to do what any normal student would. When he got to the cafeteria entrance he was about to open the door, but his hand stopped halfway to the door when his ears picked what was on the other side.
Singing…
On second thought, he can starve it out today. He walks the other way to his next class, hoping to kill time with his phone.
Halfway there though, he is stopped by a sound that comes from behind him. He turns around to see something that makes him question himself about this morning, a magical flow that disappears under the door of the janitor's closet. Having witnessed something similar this morning, he starts to wonder whether he's hallucinating or in a lucid dream, whatever the case he follows the disturbance and opens the closet to investigate.
What he finds surprises him.
A magical ball floating near the back of the room with a light glow, he heads deeper into the closet while unconsciously closing the door behind him. Curiosity gets the better him as he slowly but carefully kneels down and reaches for the anomaly, but before he touch it this ball starts moving on it own and startles him as he gets up while this thing travels up around him while being concerningly close him, eventually though it flies up disappears through the vent.
Having no clue what he had just encountered, he looked around to see if there were any more remnants of whatever that was. The mirror in particular catches his attention as his heart stops for a bit and he blinks to see an ordinary mirror.
Immediately he rushes out of the closet, closes the door and stares at it as he tries to figure out what he just saw.
The mirror was just doing its job but the smile, the look in his eyes, he swore he did not feel or make that face on his own, nor any facial command for that matter, but the worst part was what came out of his eyes.
He calms himself as he checks his face with his hand, nothing, he pulls out his phone's camera app, still nothing, whatever that was must've made him hallucinate for a brief second because when he checked his surroundings there were no abnormalities.
He starts to decide his next move carefully, he could tell a staff or the Principal about what he seen, but then again, seeing as how he IS new, they'll probably look at him as if he's doing a weird circus act, but on the other hand this was still something way too abnormal to ignore and whatever it was was now loose in the school…
"Excuse me…" His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone, particularly an unfamiliar girl, call his attention. "Are you the new transfer student?"
The new boy nodded, mentally questioning whether she, and the other girl next to her, saw what he saw but letting them confront him first.
"Would you mind walking with us? Just the hallways itself is kind of scary." One the girls, particularly one with red hair and white skin, spoke to him, clearly more braver than she let on. Even so he agreed and they approached him. "Thanks, my name is Scarlet Red, and this is Leafy."
"It's nice to meet you." The new boy returned the good gesture and soon they began walking to nowhere in particular and started chatting amongst one another.
"So, how are you liking the school so far?" The new boy gave her his quick opinion before she continued. "Well, you are new here so that's understandable. But I guess that puts you in the same boat as Leafy was."
The new boy gave a look of slight perplexion. "She transferred here three years ago. It was awkward at first but she's really easy to get along with and she's really fun to boot." Scarlet said as her green friend's skin grew red on her cheeks and giggled.
"Scarlet stop it, you came to me first you know?"
"Mhmm, but you opened up when we started to know each other more." Both girls began to giggle as they continued to walk as the new kid gave a slight smile but was still waiting for them to question him about the closet.
"Oh but don't worry though, it's actually really nice here. The air's fresh and there are plenty of things to do here. You can play sports, visit the mall, go swimming… Though, I don't think the weather right now gets in the way of most of those things" The group shared a small laugh as they continued to walk. "But beside that, there's still so much to do than meets the eye, even in school."
Her expression then changed to that of a concerning one. "By the way… How are you feeling?" Her friend shared the same expression as the new kid shared his feeling and then questioned her reason for asking, That's when Leafy answered.
"We heard some people saying some awful things about you during class and in the hallway. We don't like gossip and rumors or anything like that" Scarlet nodded her head in agreement but Leafy's expression softened and her tone changed a bit. "But to be honest You don't look that bad of a person when getting to know you more."
"On top of that, everything they said was not exactly believable material. I mean, I don't think it's possible to commit almost everything in one day." This piece of news that Scarlet gave him didn't really surprise the new boy.
He didn't really care, but his expectations came to light and now he just needed to wait and see if anyone would make a move or not, but he highly expected the latter.
Scarlet continued. "Don't listen to them, they're just a bit scared, is all. Why don't you stick with us from now on, ok?" The boy nodded as Scarlet gave a bright smile and Leafy spoke.
"I hope we get along well." Scarlet gave a nod in agreement as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch period.
"Looks like recess is over, we better get to class." Leafy turned to the new kid and spoke. "We'll see you soon."
Scarlet gave another agreement nod as she and Leafy left, waving their hands as the boy mimicked the motion and promptly made tracks for class.
While a bit relieved that they didn't question him about the closet, he was worried about what he had seen. It was too real for it to be a dream hallucination, but ultimately decided to let it be unless he sees it again then he'll report it for sure but with documented evidence. For now, he went on about his day.
The final bell rang, signaling the end of the school day as students began pouring out of the classroom free to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the day. The new student walked out of class, ready to go home, when he was suddenly called out by a familiar voice behind.
"Hey man." He turned around to come face to face with Rapid Rush, who had spoken, and Cherry Fuchsia. "You headin home, right? Mind if we tag along with you?"
The new boy nodded as they made their way outside the school and to the sidewalk and began making tracks for home while chatting along the way.
"So, how was it on your first day? No one gave you trouble, did they?" The new kid just shook his head. "Good, I would've given them something to think about if anyone HAD messed with you. Then again, I highly doubt they'd have the guts to do that face on, or would they? I don't know, man. I know we just met, but I can't figure you out."
"He's right." Cherry Fuschia spoke. "There's like some sort of weird vibe around you. I guess that's what really attracted us to you."
"Either that or you're casting some weird spell to lure us to you." Rapid jokingly said which in turn made Cherry groan.
"Ugh, don't remind me. I can't even remember why or how we got in so many fights." That raised questions and concern for the new kid for multiple reasons. "Next thing you know there was the Friendship Games."
"Oh yeah, something about opening portals I think? I'm mostly going off of rumors, I wasn't there for that." This didn't really faze the new kid as rumors did tend to exaggerate, he should know, almost instantly he began to internally settle down. "What I do know though is that the principal of the other school was fired from her job for blackmailing, encouraging cheating, etcetera, etcetera. I know this 'cause someone posted an official report. Then there was Camp Everfree, honestly it wouldn't surprise me if the rumors were true."
"Right, about how some monster wound up being real. Well the Dazzlings were one thing, but this just sounds far fetched, plus we weren't there so we can't really say anything. But what we can say is that that incident with that girl was really bizarre."
"Oh right, How turned into some big evil lady but didn't really do anything, right? Man, that was really something, people even got proof of it this time." This caught the new boy off guard as he looked at friend and they looked at him with realization.
"Oh right, you weren't there for any of that." Rapid Rush then took out his phone, then after a minute or two found what he was looking for then showed his phone to his newly found friend.
The video itself showed a ridiculously tall olive girl with cerulean hair clad in black, purple, and green as she just walked around, showing off like she was on a fashion show and even blew a kiss to a few people.
After the video ended, Rapid Rush continued to speak. "Hard to believe, I know, we weren't there for most of them, but we sure as hell were there for the first one. And I'm glad that she turned a new leaf, but that's still some scary shit. You better be careful of what you find or see ok?"
He didn't show it, but this left the new boy dumbfounded. Not only did he already experience something bizarre near and inside the school, but the people he just met today and many more have experienced or heard about multiple incidents like this happening, only leaving the inexperienced with rumor and speculation, despite the video, and the witnesses to spread the word and, surprisingly enough, almost go about their daily lives as the people around didn't seem too unnerved. Then again he didn't really bother to check the expressions of those around him. On top of that, he wasn't there for any of them so his dumbfoundedness died down a little and he took everything with a somewhat grain of salt but he had to confirm and tell them what he experienced in and outside the school. He was about to say something when…
"Hey, lookout!" Cherry Fuchsia yelled as she, Rapid, and the new kid quickly stepped off the sidewalk as a speeding car ,that was trailing money, went by them followed by two police with blaring sirens. After that, Cherry annoyingly spoke. "Jeez, must they always think about themselves and not others?"
"Yeah that's been happening a lot." Rapid Rush spoke in an almost serious voice as the new boy looked at him. "Ever since the video I showed you went up, we've been getting a lot of criminals coming here lately. Well, they mostly come from the next town over but it's just a stone throw away and, as I said, they came here after that video, probably for the magic power or that vid just painted a big whopping target on us. Thanks Cameraman…"
"Speaking of targets… Do we even know where we are?" The moment Cherry said that, they looked around them to find themselves in an unfamiliar part of town that put them on edge. "We must've not been paying attention to where we were going and wound up here." Cherry said, sounding a bit unsettled.
"Yeah I-... Oh, I know where we are." Rapid Rush spoke as he got a better understanding of their location. "Yeah, I know this place. Let's cut through here to get back home." He said as he referred to an alleyway and they reluctantly followed. They were only barely in when a voice made them stop.
"Well well, what do we have here?" The voice was scummy but enough to make their blood run cold. They turned around to see a hunched over man wearing black pants, jacket, shoes, white shirt, and a shit eating grin.
"Hey man, we don't want any trouble ok?" Rapid Rush said, putting both of his hands up. "We just want to walk through, go about our day, and get to where we need to be."
"Yeah? Where might that be?" The man asked. Rapid's words died in his mouth and began sweating profusely as he realized he's an idiot for talking too much and the look Cherry gave him supported this unspoken claim.
He didn't really want to say they were going home because he risked the obvious 100% chance that he might follow them there and that was the last thing any of them wanted, but he didn't want this situation to drag on any longer than it needed to.
Eventually though, his brain failed and when Cherry saw this she muttered the very claim under her breath.
"We got a triple whammy today boys." The thug called out as Rapid Rush and the new kid were grabbed from behind by four thugs, two for each boy, as Cherry turned around to face them but was stopped by the sound of a click. "Stay there, honey girl." Cherry turned to face the thug leader as he pointed a switch knife at her. "You don't want this to get ugly, Trust me." He said as he walked past her at knife point, eventually, turning to the two detained boys who had been 'relieved' of their backpacks and held against separate walls facing each other.
"Hey man, let us go!" Rapid said, starting to panic a little bit while the new kid looked more like he was desperately thinking.
"Alright, now listen up." The leader spoke.
"Here's what's gonna happen. I must've got outta the wrong side of the bed this morning cause when I woke up I found out my favorite go-to dealer was just nailed by the cops last night." He continued to speak as he was pacing back and forth. "Then I lost five good men to a drive-by last night. On top of that I find my stash all over the floor because of some stray cat. And finally, some asswipe decided it would be funny to key my car. So to tell y'all the truth, I ain't feeling nice today… at all."
"Dude, all of that sounds like your problem, not ours." Rapid Rush spoke clearly not having learnt his lesson with Cherry supporting this by pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Oh, so you want to bleed first?" the leader said as he readied his knife and approached Rapid.
"No Wait I'm sorry, p-please don't kill me I-I'll do anything!" Rapid pleaded, begging to be spared from the mercy from this thug, but to no avail as the said thug was still approaching him with his blade thirsty for blood.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM." Cherry yelled as she jumped on the thug from behind, making lose his footing a bit and struggled to break free.
"Ngh, get off you bitch!" The thug said before he elbowed her straight in the forehead and she went down.
"CHERRY!" Rapid yelled as he could do nothing but only watch as one of his friends got knocked out by this crook while he recovered from the sudden attack.
"Ugh, thank you… Nearly crammed my style. Now, where were we?" He said with a devilish grin as he got closer to Rapid, who struggled desperately to get free from these thugs' grip.
The new kid thought of any way he could combat this, but he could only watch, which did not sit well with him at all. He absolutely refuses to accept this as their demise and wished to do something, anything that he can do to stop this and fight back, but it was for naught as he was stuck in place in front a brick wall and any effort to free himself would be in vain due to the sheer strength of his restrainers.
But damn it he couldn't just stand by as someone was about to be murdered right in front of him, he just needed a chance, an opportunity, to stop this from happening right now.
That's when it happened…
What felt like a continuous split that came out of nowhere caused him to violently move in place, trying viciously to free his hands in some hope to comfort himself as he suddenly prioritized himself to try and combat this sudden attack.
"Hey boss, this one's putting up a fight!" one of the thugs said, clearly caught by surprise from the sudden thrashing as the thug leader's attention was now diverted to the new kid who was indeed thrashing in place and making it hard for his retainers to keep him still. What really surprised him though was that those were his strongest men.
The struggle continued as the leader then walked away from Rapid and approached the troublesome teen. "Eh, guess you're just beggin' to die first huh?"
He then got a disgusting smile on his face. "Fine…"
The new kids thrashing then came to a slow halt as he then just stared at the ground while the thug approached him. "Good boy, now stay absolutely still. Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit." he said with a taunt in his voice as he inched closer to the new kid.
But before he could take another step forward, he stopped as everyone, even Rapid Rush who had a horrified expression on his face, stood still trying to determine a bad trip from reality as the thirst for blood was suddenly met in a very unexpected way that no one thought would be possible.
The new kid stood there, unmoving, his human restraints now gone as they were too shocked at what just happened in front of them as he himself had the luxury of two seconds to wonder how he was still alive before trying to move his right hand. Just one problem…
It's stuck…
After realizing this, he touched his arm with his free left arm to try to determine if this was a dream, but it was for naught as he then used it to free his other arm. After a small struggle, he finally pulled his now wet red hand free as a large but quick splash of blood came out of his chest while the new kid once again stared at the ground.
Though the shadow from his hood hid his face he slowly lifted his head to reveal an evil expression under the shadow before the wound on his chest started glowing blue, giving lighting and revealing his head before the glow started rapidly consume him leaving only his eyes and smile visible, and although his expression didn't change, his eyes widened even as they and his mouth were being covered in the growing aura.
His bloody hand made a fist as it was taken over and pretty soon his entire body was enveloped in this raging glowing aura, and although he was covered head to toe in this magical aura, his appearance seemed to have changed.
After a while, what looked like a heart surrounded by two floating pieces of barbed wire manifested from the raging blue show. It began to rise above the new kid as he himself emerged from the aura as it formed what looked to be blue magical wings on his back while his appearance in clothing changed.
He was now wearing black pointy boots with black belts in the middle and top, black pants and shirt with blue accent patterns on the shirt, a black half lower leg length double tail hooded long coat with a popped collar that didn't go beyond the shoulders and five pairs of blue belt fasteners at the torso, and blue gloves. All while still keeping that evil expression with bloody tears and auras around his hands to boot.
Though he was slouching, he stood taller than the ruffians in front of him before he threw his hands up and outward and caused the barbed wire to unwrap and dissipate before the heart and wings disappeared while a wave of magical energy threw the bastards in every direction with one landing inside a trash can and another getting launched so far that he got hit by passing truck that had good timing.
Rapid Rush and the thug leader sat adjacent to each other and across from the violent freak show. The leader only sat for a little bit before instincts kicked in and he crawled away like a little bitch. Rapid on the other hand was too shocked and scared to even move a finger as the only thing he could do was mutter… "Wha-What the!?"
He continued to stare at the black clad teenager who still had auras around his hands with one practically covering his eye, and never once did he change that evil, bloody eyed expression.