This World

by Lee, TD

  In this world, we have heroes and villains. We even have those who don’t stand on either side of the coin and just do their own thing. Sometimes we get heroes who become villains and villains that become heroes. Heroes are usually saving the day so no one really has to worry. Even when the big baddies scheme their worst, the heroes usually prevail. It’s a wonderful world.

  So in this wonderful world, how is it that I’m standing in the middle of a massacre of dead bodies with a hero’s blade at my neck?

  Chapter 1

  I wonder what’s going to happen today. Usually some sort of event would happen. And by event I mean what are the heroes going to do today and which villain is going to be wreaking havoc? Yeah, in this world we have super people in all forms. You got your super people who gained their powers through enhancements. Or the ones that gain their powers later on in life which are for some reason hated in society because they were born with their powers. We even have alien heroes or villains that roam the Earth because Earth is such a resourceful place. We got angel spawn, demon spawn, sons or daughters of Gods or entities, specially selected people to pilot mechs or take part of some secret society, people who capture or own fearsome or cute monsters, oh and don’t forget people who get their powers through some weird supernatural shit and can do weird supernatural shit like travel into a person’s consciousness. Pretty much any kind of hero or villain you can think of, we’ve got it.

  And despite all of this wonderful and never mundane world to the average person, I’m so bored and tired of it all. Yeah, I know how cool that web-slinging bug guy is or even how old and amazing that patriot is or which psychotic villain that flying rodent man locked up in that high security, yet horribly secured, prison is. It’s all interesting, but living through that all the time and time again becomes boring.

  Hell, we had that one superhero Civil War–and that second one, apparently people don’t talk about that one. Don’t forget the other superhero war that happened because a world ending entity was going straight for us and find a host or some shit. We even had a dark deity almost consume the Earth, but the hero prevailed because he won a children’s card game. We’ve even been told that the world has ended a couple times only to be revived and renewed. Honestly, even knowing this I don’t feel any different. The world could have ended within my last sentence and I wouldn’t have known since it gets revived and redone so many times. Hell, I can’t even go outside without encountering some sort of fight where my life may be in danger.

  This Earth has seen a lot of shit in its time. From the scheming supervillain to world dominance. I remember one time be subjugated to work in a manual labor camp for a while because somehow a villain took over the world. Of course we’ve had giant monsters attack and destroy plenty of cities. I happened to be on the famous Silver Stockade Bridge while Kamizilla, the most dangerous giant monster of them all, destroyed it for the millionth time. Obviously, I was saved. And definitely we’ve had our fair share of alien invasions. I’ve even been abducted and had to run through weird technological corridors of a spaceship naked. Hell on Earth? Yeah, that’s been a thing too. I was chained up by some demons, and well let’s just say I hope I don’t have demon children. Really, what hasn’t been done at this point?

  There’s even superheroes in this classroom right now. Over there in the corner is Zola, I think her codename is Trembler because her power is being able to manipulate earth or earthen things like rocks or sand. In the back, next to the window with the wild looking orange hair is Shoji who apparently can see and talk to ghosts while fighting them with a giant ass sword that he has resting on the wall next to him. Monica, the girl in the front dressed extremely feminine with hot pink hair and cute shit in her hair, is what we call a magical girl. The seat next to me is empty, but the girl who normally sits there is also a superhero. She’s a pilot of a mech. I’m sure even the new transfer student, her name is Ainia I think, is a superhero somehow too.

  Don’t even get me started on the villains in this classroom. Behind me is Igor who is and works with a mad scientist in which they created a monster that terrorized the city for a while. All the way up in the front of the class is Daemon who actually started the Hell on Earth thing that we won’t speak of. Probably the most interesting one is Jack over there on the side being all quiet to himself. There have been cases of murders with no suspect, but come on! He just oozes bad guy and killer. But no we can’t do anything unless there’s actual vindictive evidence. Whatever, if I get murdered by him at least my best friend knows who my suspicions are on.

  You’re probably wondering, “Why are these villains here and not in a prison?” Well, some of them were and just came out. Some of them are allowed to go to school while having to report to some parole officer. And of course, there are those that are obviously bad, but just haven’t been caught so there’s all of that.

  “Earth to Ridley! Are you awake Ridley?” a loud, somewhat irritating voice snaps me back to reality.

  “Yeah, yeah, what is it Hiro?” I yawn a bit as a I just wait for something to just happen.

  “Aren’t you excited? We’re going to see the Mobile Knights of the Round Table! How awesome is that!?” he exclaims, shaking my shoulder due to that excitement.

  This guy right here, embarrassingly to say is my best friend. His name is Hiro, a little on the nose I know right? He’s a pretty big guy in terms of stature, not fatness, because he’s training to hopefully become a hero one day. He’s trying so hard, he even dyed his hair a sea green, he specified when I pointed it out, just to hopefully have that become his defining hero trait. Unlike me, this guy loves superheroes and just this world that is infested with heroes and villains. He’s always up to date about the latest news and gossip about the super world that is supposed to be Earth. He gets a little too excited when he sees a superhero and has even gotten autographs from some of his favorite ones. I think the most excited I’ve ever seen him though is when we were just out for a bite one weekend and a superhero saved the both of us from getting crushed by my car because a villain had the smart idea to throw it. Hiro is constantly talking about wanting to be a hero too, again a little too on the nose right?

  “And I care because?” I murmur, resting my face on my palm.

  “Because they’re revealing the newest mech! It’s gonna be called Arthur and it’s supposed to have self-healing properties too!” he says with a wide grin fixed on his face, “How are you not excited about this?”

  “I dunno, maybe being saved by those mechs a million times gets boring for me?” I answer with another yawn.

  “But how cool is a self-regenerating mech!? That’s never happened before, even with the smarts of the super intellect heroes we have! Come on, be a little excited,” he says with the highest regard of these mechs.

  “Nah, I’m good,” a sarcastic smile sneaks up on my face. “I just don’t get it man, we see that shit every day it’s not like we never do.”

  “Sure we see it all the time, but you have to learn to appreciate and understand it. Imagine how lost you would be if you didn’t understand anything going on in your world right now,” he says, attempting to explain the importance, but really I’m trying hard not to tune him out.

  I scratch the back of my head, giving him a dull look. A bored reply comes out of my mouth, “Well, I’m doing okay and I hardly pay attention to the big shit happening.”

  “You really need to be more informed about the world you’re living in,” he sighs in defeat, “but anyways-”

  Our conversation is cut short when our teacher, Mrs. Campbell, enters the room and takes center stage at the front. “Listen up class, we are going to see the Mobile Knights of the Round Table today. Remember to have proper etiquette and don’t touch anything you’re not supposed to. We don’t want
another self-destruct scare from last year,” Mrs. Campbell instructs us all. I laugh quietly under my breath as that self-destruct scare made everyone freak out. Luckily, there was a student who goes by the title of Super High School Prodigal Technician that was there so they were able to fix it. In fact, there’s a whole school that’s dedicated to the whole Super High School Prodigal thing, and each and every one of them is rather eccentric. However, all of them have a really bright and hopeful future because they excel in whatever special talent they have.

  Over the intercom we all hear the principal announce, “To all students and teachers in the appropriate grades going to the fieldtrip today, the buses have arrived. Please have your students go to the buses in an orderly and organized fashion. And to all students, please don’t cause another scene.”

  As instructed, we all stand and start moving out of the classroom to enter a large hallway filled with plenty of other students. Some of them I recognize because they’re actually quite the celebrity in terms of superheroes and even supervillains. You would think I go to some special school or something right? No, no, it’s all a normal high school with just some special people. With all of the coverage and actual people that are known to be superheroes, it’s hard to actually grasp at the fact that non-superpower people are actually the majority. It only seems like the minority since there aren’t many of us non-superheroes that do anything worthy enough unless it’s to actually become a superhero.

  Once I make it outside, I’m greeted by a nice cool breeze that definitely tells me I’m in the fall season. Trees have mostly lost their leaves, but the ones that still have leaves are a nice vibrant orange. The sun is blanketed by thick, gray clouds and it looks like it might even rain a little later. My school, Saint Bush High School, is smacked in the middle of the city where it’s almost always busy no matter where you look. There’s cars zooming left and right. Even hovercrafts fly in the air, because that’s safe. It’s also really common just to see people just fly to and from wherever they go. Must be nice to be able to avoid all sorts of traffic in the air.

  In front of me are a variety of buses. Someone had the bright idea to not have normal yellow school buses, so we have heavily themed buses for transport. There’s one that is basically a bus-shaped cat, one that looks as close to a yellow school bus as possible but has giant cartoony features and it can transform into different things, another one looks like it’s a ride to hell with how grim it looks, and a lot of other ones. My class happens to ride the cat looking one.

  As you would kind of expect, the cat bus I’m on moves like a cat because instead of wheels, they’re actually legs. My cheek automatically rests on my hand as I stare outside. Trotting throughout the city I do see some familiar things such as the tall building that recently got rebuilt because of a massive superhero fight against an alien invasion that happened last week. Next to the rebuilt buildings are the debris of the surrounding buildings that have yet to be rebuilt. Leading up to the bridge the bus is about to cross is a giant crater with some smoke and blood remaining in and around it. Some magicians think they’re being sneaky, but really the whole city knows that there’s some sort of magical war happening. Mysterious murders, missing kids, pentagrams made of blood, you know the usual magic stuff. If I can recall correctly, the last magical war that happened was about 10 years ago and all I remember was a whole city being engulfed in flames.

  A long sigh escapes my mouth, I seriously wonder what’s going to happen today. There’s no way a weekday is going to be normal. While I’m just waiting for this bus to hurry and get to its destination, Hiro is next to me staring outside in awe as he watches several people flying in the air whether it be through superpower or creature or even invisible aircraft. Hiro’s saying something pertaining to those flyers, but I’m just tuning him out. I remember one time Hiro saying that he even saw a flying green telephone box that would fade in and out of sight while making weird noises. Beneath the cloudy sky is the vast ocean that almost mirrors the exact image of the sky. Even in the ocean there’s some super stuff like the now not-so-forgotten kingdoms or lands and creatures. Digitally advertised all throughout the city are many things outside of food or car services, sports teams, and there’s even an advertisement for lawyers. There’s some super people that work in the government scene, but there’s apparently a defense attorney who’s so good at defending his clients that he became a legend. They actually broadcast quite a bit of court cases and I watched one of his trials, the guy is really good at turnabouts.

  During the ride, I overhear Hiro talking to some of the other classmates. One says nonchalantly, “Hiro, I just don’t understand how you could still like Meteor. I mean, the guy has done so much bad stuff.”

  Without even thinking, Hiro immediately argues to defend, “You’re wrong! Meteor was being mind controlled to do all of that stuff. He’s still a great hero who has done so much good. You guys just don’t understand.”

  “But he’s a freak also, one of those Deviants, ugh, how disgusting,” another classmate chimes in.

  “Yeah, and what kind of superhero gets mind controlled? Talk about weak,” a classmate scoffs.

  “What difference does that make? He helps people. It doesn’t matter if they’re human or a Deviant, if they’re doing good then they’re good people. Meteor is no different, he’s rescued so many people and asked for nothing in return. He’s everything about a superhero that I admire,” Hiro speaks passionately. He argues with these other students as if his life was on the line.

  And I’m zoning out of this conversation. Meteor, I hear about this Meteor guy a lot from Hiro. Meteor is Hiro’s favorite superhero after all. I remember a couple years back, Hiro dragged me to chase down Meteor as he was fighting a supervillain. We watched the whole battle and Meteor was victorious. While a lot of people were booing him, despite being the savior of the day, Hiro somehow managed to get Meteor’s signature on a poster. How weird.

  After a few more minutes we finally arrive to an extremely large facility fitted with the latest technology. There’s plenty of other buses here filled with other students. Everyone crowds before the large entrance doors. Above the doors is the logo for the Mobile Knights of the Round Table which is pretty much a large robot helmet with some digital details and the letters MKRT. Running about are several scientists and engineers that work at this facility, each of them looking pretty frantic and in a hurry. Understandable since it’s a pretty big day. From the corner of my eye I see brief glimpse of someone watching over the crowd from atop the facility. Must be somebody important.

  “Hello!” a tall, slender woman in black and red announces in front of all of the classes present, “Welcome to the Mobile Knights of the Round Table facility! You’re all here for a treat since we’ll be revealing our latest mech model, Knight Zero-Zero Arthur!” A wave of applause erupts from the crowd, my hands instinctively clap also. A line of scientists lineup next to the woman each of them sharing pretty stern faces in contrast to the woman speaking. “I’m Hisako and I’ll show you around the facility before our unveiling. So if you all will follow me, we will begin this tour.” Hisako turns her back and walks through the sliding doors with the scientists. Before I enter, I look up again to see if I can find that person that was looking at the crowd earlier, but it seems they disappeared.

  All of the classes follow, entering the nicely air conditioned lobby filled with the latest technology and plenty of worker running around. There’s nothing really of any importance in the lobby unless you can read the many monitors on the walls that display some sort of data and maps. We all follow Hisako into a large hallway that’s scarily clean. She stops and points to the side where there are large window panels that look into a large area with a couple of mechs, workers, and lots and lots of machinery. Compared to the hallway, that area looks extremely dirty, but it makes sense considering it’s the main working area for this place. “Over on this side you can look over one of our docking bays which is where the mechs would be in when
they’re not piloted. The big red one over there is Knight Zero-Seven Bors and the blue one next to that one is Knight Zero-Two Percival. We even have some of the smaller support mechs as well, but they’re out for a test run with some of the other knight mechs.” Each of the mechs have a specific color scheme and vary in size, but they all have a knight look to it. The heads look like a variety of knight helmets, the frames look like armor, and almost all of the mechs have some sort of close-combat weapon that would be what knight would have used such as swords, lances, axes, and the works. They do look cool, but I’ve seen them before.

  Hisako starts moving again and we follow. She shows us several other large docking bays as well as the scientific, programming, and engineering areas where they are constantly trying to improve current mechs as well as developing new ones. We get directed down several corridors as Hisako explains, “As some of you know, our pilots are young and they get recruited at a young and tender age. The oldest pilot we have is nearing the end of his career at the age of nineteen, meanwhile our youngest is twelve. Our scientists haven’t exactly found the reason as to why young candidates are best suited to be pilots, but anyone who has hit adulthood almost instantly lose their connection with their knight. It’s unexplained, but that’s why we have scientists to attempt to figure this phenomenon out.”

  As we dive further into the hall we encounter two pretty important looking people. One is a huge, muscly guy wearing a skin tight red jumpsuit that he only covering the bottom half of his body, leaving his torso exposed. Look at this guy flaunting his physique around while I’m barely satisfied with the fact that I hardly gain a pound when I eat a lot. He looks older than I am with some facial hair on his chin and especially his size. The other person is a woman who is extremely slim by comparison to the guy next to her. Unluckily for the guys and some ladies, only her midriff is showing, but she’s definitely a beautiful person. Luckily for the guys and some ladies, her bust is above the average. She’s wearing a light blue jumpsuit and has a towel around her neck.