An older brother and his little sister find themselves being adopted by Principal Celestia after meeting a strange man promising them a parent. Turns out there was way more included in the deal than the two siblings had actually expected...
James and his little sister Maiya currently live in their town's orphanage, fortunately, their town's policy towards sibling adoption requires the adopter to take in all of them. That way, the children are not forced to part.
On their way back to the orphanage from a bookstore, they end up stuck in an infinite loop and are unable to get out. A mysterious man appears before them, the cause, and offers a deal, he will find them a good person who wants to adopt them.
He left out the part about a new, dangerous world full of monsters and other evils, and the siblings turning into Metal Bat and his little sister Zenko.
In the manga section of a bookstore stood a fourteen, nearly fifteen, year old blonde haired boy reading a volume of One Punch Man.
James flipped over a page, taking in the panels as he read them from right to left. He licked his lips as he read the text bubbles next to the epic showdown between Garou and Metal Bat. Garou had just finished defending himself from Metal Bat’s Savage Tornado. Although James had already read this part of the story, he just couldn’t get enough of it.
“Big bro!” James jumped in surprise, the voice of his little sister was the last thing he expected at the moment.
Closing the manga with a soft thump, James turned around and looked at his sister Maiya. She was short, her hair was as blonde as James’s, and she was still in her early middle school years. James himself was about to enter high school once school started back up again next week. Her white blouse and jeans gave her an adorably innocent look.
James was all smiles the instant he saw her, “Ready ta go, Maiya?”
She nodded, “Yup!”
James put the manga back where he found it and reached his hand out to his sister. She happily grabbed the offered appendage and the two siblings walked out of the store and into the town hand in hand. James readily ignored the occasional “Awws” from some of the passing people. The two children turned into a nearby park, taking a small side path through it.
Benches and trees passed them by in a seemingly endless cycle. All of a sudden James stopped. Maiya looked up at him confused, not noticing anything that required them to stop.
“What’s wrong big brother?”
James looked around them, eyes narrowed. He bit his lip, “Something ain’t right Maiya, we’ve been passin’ this same part of the park for a while. Stay close.”
Maiya gripped her brother’s arm tighter, James bit his lip as he continued to scan their surroundings.
“How the hell have we been walkin’ forward for so long and not see any change in our surroundings? Magic?” James bit his lip a little harder. “But magic doesn’t exist, right?” James felt some kind of presence in the shadows of the trees and bushes off the path and he stared in its general direction.
“Oh my, you are quite the perceptive one,” echoed a voice, seemingly from all around them. “I knew I chose right.”
James couldn’t pinpoint the source, but he was sure it came from the forest now. “Yeah, I guess yer right. Now how about you show yerself buddy?”
“Very well,” the voice replied. Sure enough, a man in a large black trench coat seemingly melted out of the shadows of the park’s trees, his hands in his coat’s pocket. “You could find the general direction of my presence, not bad young man.” The man’s beady eyes seemed to drill themselves through James.
James put a foot forward and placed himself between the man and Maiya, “Yeah, yeah. Now how about you tell me what ya want, then I’ll decide if I’ll kick yer ass or not.”
Maiya slapped his chest, fear of the situation briefly dissipating as she chastised her brother, “Language!”
The strange man chuckled, putting a hand out to his lips, “Oh dear boy, you are a hundred years too young to challenge me. But I agree, I really should get to my point.” The man cleared his throat, “As you might be aware of young man, you are trapped in an infinite loop of my own design. There is no escape, you lack the means to even try.”
The man pulled his other hand out and lifted the other in the air with his finger raised, “But do not fear, I am not here to hold you hostage. I merely want to offer you a deal.”
James narrowed his eyes, “And what kind o’ deal would that be, stranger?”
The man grinned, “I am here to offer you a parent, a good and kind soul who would love to take you in. And let’s not forget one other gift, but that one is a surprise. A good one mind you, you’ll love it I’m sure.”
James’s mouth dropped a small bit as he took in this strange man’s offer. He wouldn’t believe someone would willingly adopt a nearly high school age boy who kept getting into fights. A fact that he constantly regrets, not for him, but for the fact that Maiya wouldn’t be able to have any sort of parents because of him. The town had a strict no sibling separation policy when it came to adoption.
“There has to be a catch here. Sounds too good to be true.” James thought.
“How do we know you ain't lyin’?” James asked the man.
The man simply shrugged, “You don’t, but what would I honestly gain from holding two random orphans up? I’m doing this from the bottom of my heart, I assure you.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” muttered James. He didn’t trust the man.
“Big brother,” Maiya tugged on his arm, making James look down at her. She gave him a watery eyed look, “I want to at least try. Nobody will adopt us, so why not take a chance?”
James almost started to cry, but he kept himself in check. He didn’t want that smug looking guy to have any extra ammo on him. James nodded ever so slightly at Maiya and turned to face the man once more, “We aint sellin’ our souls or nothin’ are we?”
“Of course not, souls are so last week anyway.” The man waved his hand like he was ridding the air of the thought.
James grunted, “Fine then. We accept yer deal. What do we gotta do?”
The man grinned, obviously pleased, “Nothing, my dear boy! Just stay there and let me do my thing!”
The man quickly started unfastening the buckles on his coat, James immediately covered Maiya’s eyes and pointed at the man. “Oi! You’re actually a pervert aren’t ya?!”
The man stopped halfway and looked back at James with a perplexed look, “I beg your pardon?”
"The trench coat! A park! Yer a flasher!” James accused.
Realization finally dawned on the man. He immediately backpedaled a few steps away from the children, his face tinged slightly green, “N-No! By the Void no! I’m fully dressed under here just so that you’re aware!”
James nodded at the man and took his hand off of Maiya’s eyes. James kept a close eye on the man, despite not really wanting to now. The man unclasped the last of the buttons and unzipped his coat revealing the fact that he was actually dressed under it. He reached a hand into the inside, digging around in a pocket until he pulled out a remote, holding up it in the air.
“Have fun with your new parent kids, the first woman you see will be the one, she is not hard to miss,” The man said before pushing a big red button on the remote. Shadows shot out from the inside of the man’s coat, forming a black hole in the ground under James and Maiya, sending them tumbling to their destination through a tunnel in the void.
James finally came to, blearily opening his eyes to see the sight of grey clouds. Thunder rolled in the distance as he pushed himself into a sitting position. He blinked rapidly and rubbed his eye with a hand. He idly noticed he was still surrounded by trees and was laying on a path, so he was probably still in a park.
“Gah, what the hell did that guy do ta us?” James stopped moving when his voice finally registered in his ears, it was not his own voice. He put a hand to his throat, “What the- my voice! What the hell happened?!”
“It even sounds familiar,” James thought.
James looked down at his hand hoping for an answer, but it too was different. James had a small scar on the bottom half of his palm when he had accidentally cut himself with the orphanage’s kitchen steak knife. The scar was gone, and the rest of his arm looked more muscular. He was no fat weakling before, but he didn’t have all that much muscle either. Now it looked like he had exercised a lot more.
A thought crossed his mind and he yelled out, “Maiya!”
James turned himself around as fast as possible, his head turning back and forth. “Maiya!” he screamed.
“I’m over here big brother,” a new voice he hadn’t heard before rang out behind him.
James turned around to see a small girl and a woman carrying an umbrella walk around a corner path in the park. “Maiya?” James tentatively asked as he took in the new sight of his sister before him. She looked like an exact copy of Metal Bat’s sister in the One Punch Man manga, minus the clothes. Her hair was now black instead of blonde and was parted to either side of her face. It was even shorter, just like Metal Bat’s sister.
“Does... this mean I look like Metal Bat?” James asked himself in his head. He looked down at himself, seeing that his clothes were not what they were before, they were the clothes of Metal Bat.
“Yeah, it’s me big brother. And this is our new mom!” Maiya pointed next to her.
James looked at the other person there and finally took in the appearance of the woman for the first time. Her hair was strange, it was multihued and wavy, reaching down to just above her knees. Her skin was fair and she had a golden formal suit jacket on, purple pants, and a pair of golden shoes that matched her jacket. To many, she could be considered beautiful.
The woman smiled at James, “Hello James. My name is Celestia, I’m the principal over at Canterlot High. I understand you and your sister are new to the Canterlot district in this city?”
“How did ya-”
“Your sister told me, she also said that you two don’t have anywhere to go.”
James nodded, she seemed friendly enough to him. Plus she didn’t give off a weird vibe like the man they met before coming here. “Yeah, we don’t.”
“That guy did say the first woman we see is our new parent,” James thought to himself.
Celestia smiled serenely at James, “Then how about you come live with me? I’ve always wanted children, but I never found the time. And don’t worry, I can handle all the paperwork.”
“Y-Yeah, that’d be great,” Jame replied. “Thanks.”
Celestia unfurled the umbrella and held it over the heads of the siblings, “Then how about we get under a roof? It’s going to rain soon and I wouldn’t want you two sick. We can get supplies tomorrow, school does start next week and you’ll need clothes amongst other things.”
She kept her smile up, even as it started raining.
A couple of weeks passed by with James and his sister settling into their new routines. It was odd at first, having someone to call as a mother, but the two of them enjoyed it nonetheless. Maiya had gotten used to it much quicker than James did, but he was simply happy for her. The days seemed like they were normal as usual, as school didn’t exactly change despite coming to this place.
Although James did find the odd names and many different colored people a tad weird at first, he didn’t know what that was about, but after seeing it for long enough he got mostly used to it. Now it was lunch time on a Friday, just a month past the start of school, and James found himself standing in front of Canterlot High’s horse statue. He stared at it like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
James glared at the statue, as if trying to uncover its secrets. He just couldn’t get what happened during last class out of his head.
It was English class, James was staring out the window in complete boredom as the teacher delivered a lesson. He wasn’t the only one not giving it their all, a rainbow haired girl in the back was obviously asleep. Shakespeare was not an interesting topic for him, it couldn’t be helped that he didn’t want to pay attention. James noticed that the side of the statue that faced the school glowed and shimmered, perplexed, he gave it his utmost attention.
For a few seconds it did nothing, then an orange girl with fiery hair popped out of the statue’s base. James jumped in surprise, not expecting that, which caused him to bump his desk loud enough to draw attention.
“Mr. James, is something the matter?” Mr. Cranky Doodle asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Nah, I’m fine,” James replied.
Nodding, the teacher went back to the lesson. James looked back out the window, hoping to see if the girl was still there. She was gone, and the weird light and shimmering of the statue was gone as well.
James bit his lip, “Was I imagining it?”
If he wasn’t already not paying attention to the lesson, his thoughts about the weird girl coming out of the statue would’ve kept him from it anyway. The class ended and everyone filed out of the classroom, heading to lunch. James decided to check the statue out first before getting food.
The statue itself didn’t look all that interesting. James approached the stone decoration slowly, eyeing it in case it decided to spit out someone else. Nothing happened and he ended up just a foot and a half away from it. James poked the base, seeing that nothing once again happened he pressed his palm against it and gave it an experimental push.
Nothing, it was solid rock.
“Weird,” James mumbled. “Guess it’s nothin’?”
James shrugged and went to get lunch. The rest of the day passed by without anything interesting happening, it was now the last class of the day, physical education. It was by far James’s favorite, he loved sports and he was already fit and strong so he did not get as tired as most of the others. He did suppose being granted the body of an S-class hero was kind of cheating, but he didn’t care.
Today was baseball, and James snorted when he picked up one of the bats.
“Fitting it is, holdin’ this bat.” James thought to himself. He turned his attention back to the to the game, staring at the pitcher.
The pitcher glared at James, knowing what he could do with that bat. James just smirked at him and readied himself, just as the pitcher was reeling in his hand the field house next to the baseball field exploded. James grunted in surprise. Screams immediately echoed around the field as some sort of monstrous giant strode through the rubble, dust obscuring its features as it was ignoring the running and panicking students. James could hear the few faculty outside yelling to call for help.
Once the dust settled James got a good look at it. It was massive, a good fourteen feet tall and built like it lifted houses like dumbbells and way too bulky to belong to any normal human. On its head was a football helmet, its face covered in shadows and only two glowing white eyes could be seen, its neck had bulging veins. The rest of its outfit was also football gear, massive in size to fit its massive body, but no visible markings to determine which team it was suppose to represent.
It slammed a foot down, spiderweb cracks forming.
“I turned into this because of my constant football practice! I always yearned to be the very best, to smash through the opposing team’s line with nothing but my charge and score every winning touchdown!” He slammed his foot down again and screamed to the heavens, “You may call me, Demon Quarterback!”
The monster turned its head towards James, “I was told there is a worthy challenge here at this school. You are the only one not running, so you must be it.”
James let out a “Tsk!” of annoyance, he didn’t know if he could actually fight like Metal Bat could, even if he had his body. The only reason he wasn’t running away like the others was because of some sort of odd fascination with the situation. He had seen small news reports about various "monster attacks" around the city and other areas, but didn't really believe it until now. And, for some reason, he also could not find it in himself to fear the monster in front of him. He only felt steely determination.
James swung the bat to the side and rested it on his shoulder, “Bring it on, ya don’t look so tough ta me.” James made his choice. He figured that if he didn’t even try, the monster would kill everyone here. He just started making friends here, that wouldn’t do.
Demon Quarterback tensed, preparing to charge, “We’ll see about that!,” he launched himself forward at James. “Hyaaah!”
Principal Celestia was having a pleasant day until a random monster attacked the school. There were no major incidents amongst the students throughout most of the day, and a new student was even going to start classes next Monday. Now she was busy trying to organize the students and staff into a coherent escape and not a mob of stomping feet while her sister, who was the vice principal, phoned for the newly formed Hero Association’s help.
Luckily the monster seemed confined to the school baseball field for whatever reason and therefore none of the students seemed to be harmed. After a good couple of minutes all of the students clustered out in their separate classes in the front of the school, crowding around the stone statue, murmuring to each other.
“Alright students!” Celestia called out to the assembled students with a megaphone. “Thanks to the monster attack the remainder of the school day is canceled! Return home to your families, and I’m sure the teachers will understand if you are not able to turn in any homework you may have been assigned for the weekend on the account of not being able to grab any belongings you may have left. Please return to your homes in a calm and orderly fashion!”
The students slowly dispersed themselves, Celestia looked down and sighed in relief knowing that the children were safe. When she looked back up she saw a pink girl with puffy pink hair leaning face first against the fence leading to the sports fields.
Celestia walked up to the young girl, “Young lady, it’s not safe here anymore. You should really get back home.”
The pink haired girl looked up at Celestia and cheerfully grinned, “Yup yup!” Then she pointed out to the fields, “But what about him?”
“Him?” Celestia questioned and gazed in the direction the pink girl was pointing. She choked on her spit when she saw who was still out there. “James!” she screamed out, catching the surprised attention of the students that still remained. None of the students have ever heard her raise her voice like that before. She slammed her hands on the fence, horrified her recently adopted son was out in the fields with the monster.
Then the monster rushed him.
In a dark room filled with glowing computer screens and an even larger screen on the far wall with a blue holographic map of the world on it, people hurriedly rushed through the rows of desks. Some delivered papers, some coffee to help keep the ones working the computers awake, and others barked orders or talked on the phone.
A tall man dressed in a snappy suit was the lead director of the organized chaos, busy ordering deployments of heros to various cities outlined with many red dots on the large screen from his spot on a high rise platform above the room.
“Sir!” A frazzled woman with a clipboard interrupted him mid sentence, coming in from the doorway behind the platform. Several people ran up and down the stairs on the sides of the room from the bottom section, running in and out of the doors.
The man turned to the woman, a questioning look on his face, “Yes? What is it, we’re busy, a group of monsters appeared in City-H.”
“I've just received a call from the Canterlot district of City D, one of their schools has been attacked.”
The man tsked in annoyance and ground his teeth, “Damn, attacking a school is bad. We could get a lot of heat and lose face if we don't do something quick. We need all the influence we can get in these beginning times.” He looked back at the woman, “Any idea what kind of monster is attacking?”
The woman looked down at her clipboard, “A rogue monster, goes by the name of ‘Demon Quarterback’, sir. Wanted for massive destruction of private property, and the murders of several hundred people in a sports stadium before fleeing from the responding heros.”
“That thing surfaced again? It's been months, I had assumed he was offed by some other monster.” The man replied, gnawing on his lip. He crossed his arms and tapped his bicep with a finger, “Have a team of A-class take an air transport vehicle, that thing is dangerous and they need to get there as fast as possible.”
The woman gave the man a nod, “On it sir!” She turned around and hurried out of the room, her heels clicking loudly against the ground until they slowly vanished from ear shot.
“Damn,” muttered the man. “There have been ever increasing monster activities ever since the association was formed,” He glared at the glowing map of the world and rested his hands on the platforms railing in front of him. “Just what is going on?”
Demon Quarterback didn’t simply telegraph his attack, he phoned it in advance along with a week’s notice. James simply hopped to the side, avoiding the charge and letting the monster barrel clumsily past him. James snorted, “You ain’t gonna get me with somethin’ that lame.”
Demon Quarterback had stopped himself and turned to face James, “Perhaps I simply have to try harder then.”
Demon Quarterback got into a three point stance, his eyes seeming like they were glowing brighter. James could almost swear he could see some type of energy surround him, bleeding off his body. He ignored what was likely his imagination and got into a ready stance himself, getting a feeling that something was going to happen soon. Demon Quarterback tensed his muscles, James blinked, and when his eyes opened Demon Quarterback was nearly upon him.
“Shit!” James swore in his head, cursing himself for even briefly taking his eyes off his opponent right before his attack.
“Offensive Tackle!” Demon Quarterback roared.
The monster’s padded shoulder slammed into James’s gut, making him grunt as explosive pain wracked his body. Blood flew out of his mouth as the force of the blow sent him flying into the ruined field house. His back made contact with a still slightly intact wall, easily smashing through it and burying James in brick. Demon Quarterback straightened up, eyeing the mound of rubble as a small chunk bounced down the pile while dust settled.
He grunted in disappointment, “Done already? And you talked so mightily too.” He turned away and began walking to the school, “I guess I’ll amuse myself for a while longer, maybe that ‘Hero Association’ will send someone worthy to me. I need to make up for lost time so long ago.”
Demon Quarterback stopped as the sound of bricks hitting each other came out from behind him. He looked back to see James back on his feet as he walked out of the ruined building. His gym shirt was roughed up and badly torn, his shorts mildly scuffed, and blood slowly dripped from a bruised wound on his chest. He still had a grip on his bat.
“I ain’t done, until yer six feet under,” James replied. He pointed his bat at the monster, “Plus I still haven’t kicked yer ass yet. Gotta make ya pay for ruinin’ my gym clothes, I just got these a month ago ya know?”
James gripped his bat with both hands and leapt into the air, bringing the weapon up over his head. As his rising arc came to its apex, gravity retook hold of him once more. As he came close to his opponent he swung his bat down at Demon Quarterback’s head. The monster didn’t dodge, instead he braced himself and took the brunt of the damage on his helmet.
A mighty boom rang out across the field as the helmet and bat met each other. Demon Quarterback’s feet dragged across the ground, digging grooves into the earth as it attempted to resist the force that was trying to make him move. James landed back on the ground feet first, retracting his bat and jumping back a few feet.
“Damn, that’s one hell of a tough helmet ya got there,” James grunted.
The monster chuckled and simply attacked James back, slamming a fist down where he was standing. Cracks appeared in the ground as James hopped over his arm and slammed his bat into the front of the monster’s helmet this time.
“That won’t work brat!” Demon Quarterback roared, swiping blindly in front of him.
His attack missed, James having ducked under it. James retaliated with rapid hard smacks of his bat on various parts of the monster’s body, but thanks to its armour and paddings it didn’t do as much damage as he would have liked. But the more body shots James slammed home, the more it became clear Demon Quarterback was indeed feeling them. James was in the middle of another swing when the monster had had enough and slammed a fist into the side of his head, sending him skipping across the field.
James managed to flip himself mid air and land on his feet, slamming the end of the bat into the ground to slow his sliding stop, once he finally stopped he spat out blood off to the side. “Damn,” he thought. “I need to hit harder. But that armour of his is a pain in the ass. And...” James briefly looked down at his bat, it already had heavy dents from his merciless attacking. “This thing won’t hold out fer much longer. I’d give it a few more smacks, or one really good one, until it breaks completely.”
James looked back up at Demon Quarterback, “I’ll have to go with one really good one then.”
The monster pointed at James’s bat, “Hmph, that weapon of yours doesn’t look to be in such good shape. You won’t last much longer at this rate, so how about you let me kill you so I can finish off the rest of this school.” Demon Quarterback seemed to be glowering at James, “Because I’m starting to get bored here.”
“I also think I have an idea on how Metal Bat works now,” James thought to himself, his eyebrows twitching at the insult the monster threw at him. “It’s not just tanking damage with his insane endurance that increases his strength and speed, its will and rage too.”
James spat once more to the side before pointing his damaged bat at the monster, “Fine then, how about I make a proposal? I promise yer gonna like it.”
James felt his body ache from his recent damage, he wasn’t used to this kind of fighting, “I’ve got the tanking down.”
This seemed to spark Demon Quarterback’s attention, “Oh? Do continue.”
James smirked at him, “We settle this in one attack. Yer best move verses mine. What do ya say punk?”
Demon Quarterback chuckled, “Very well little fool, you don’t know what you’re getting into. I was going to keep you alive so you can watch me kill all of your school friends one by one, but this seems like fun too.”
James narrowed his eyes at the monster and he sneered, “And I’ve got the rage.”
The monster went into a four point stance this time, its muscles starting to bulge and expand into ever bigger proportions and its veins throbbing even harder from all the strain it was likely putting on its body. “All Star…” the monster grumbled out.
James got into a batter’s stance himself, “Yeah, I think you don’t know what yer getting into either too asshole, time to finish this. Killing Move: Fightin’ Spirit,” James glared harshly at the monster, fierce determination written on his face as blood dribbled down his chin from his mouth.
“Touchdown!” “Grand Slam!”
Both of the fighters roared out their attack names at the same time.
“I just need the will ta use it all together!” James yelled in his head before slamming his bat down in one single, massively heavy swing.
Demon Quarterback was even faster than before, his charge was near instant, but James was faster this time. The second his heavy bat down-swing struck the helmet, the force of his attack completely negated his opponent’s. Demon Quarterback slammed into the ground, sinking a good foot before sliding back the way he came, leaving a trail of displaced earth in his wake.
James huffed in exertion and a little bit of thrilling excitement. He looked down at his bat, it was bent nearly all the way around, almost touching his hands. He stood up straight, ignoring his hurting body in favor of walking over to the down monster, tossing his broken bat to the side. He felt a foot step onto a piece of something, looking down he saw a shard of what could only be the helmet of Demon Quarterback.
“Huh,” James said before continuing his journey to the body of the monster. Once he got to its side he looked down at the head of the beast and was greeted with the sight of the most round and puffy faced individual he had ever seen, ignoring the top part of the skull that was caved in from James’s bat. James blanched, his opponent’s face was something that looked absolutely ridiculous compared to the rest of its body.
“Seriously? This is the guy I’ve been fightin’? What the hell?! He looks so fuckin’ ridiculous!” James cracked his neck before muttering, “Maybe that’s why he was wearing that helmet…”
“James!”
James picked his head up as he heard the unmistakable voice of his new mother. He looked to the side and saw Celestia running over to him, another girl with puffy pink hair happily skipping along.
“Oh, hey mo-!” James’s greeting was cut off, Celestia immediately grabbing him into the mother of all hugs.
“What were you thinking fighting a monster?! You could’ve been killed!” Celestia didn’t let go of James, keeping him trapped in death’s embrace.
James tried tapping out to no avail.
“Uh, principal? I think he’s trying to tap out,” the pink girl helpfully said.
Celestia released James, much to his gasping relief. He muttered a quick thank you to the pink girl before turning to his adoptive mother, “Look, I know it was dangerous, but if I didn’t try ta stop him he would’ve attacked the rest of the school. Besides, I’m fine!” He raised his arms to his sides, as if to prove his point.
The pink girl rushed around him, scrutinizing his body as she rubbed her chin with a finger. “You don’t look so fine to me,” she said. As if to prove her point she poked him in the side, making him yelp in surprise and pain.
“Pinkie,” Celestia chastised. “Don’t poke the wounded! You could do more damage that way.”
The newly dubbed Pinkie straightened back up and skipped away from James, “Sorry principal!”
Celestia sighed, “I’m just happy you’re alive.” She glanced down at the monster and grimaced when she saw its head, “I’m just wanting to know how you can do that.”
James shrugged, “I’m tough?”
His mother rolled her eyes before continuing in a sterner voice, glaring sharply at James, “In any case, we need to get you to a hospital.” When James looked about to interrupt she cut him off before he could begin, “I saw what went down here, no arguing mister.”
James sighed, defeated.
Celestia turned to Pinkie, “Ms. Pie, you should probably head home now.”
“Okie doki!” She skipped off, briefly waving goodbye at the two of them. “See you in class James!”
James waved goodbye and watched as she disappeared off the field, leaving Celestia to drag him off the field and lead him into her car.
"Sir," a well dressed attendant said as she walked through the automatic doors connecting the control room to the hallway, catching the attention of the man directing the flow of heroes. The woman held a tablet in her hand, fiddling with the screen as she pulled up information.
The director turned his head from the large screens showing different areas of the world and looked over at the woman, "Yes?"
He could afford to take this new distraction slowly, the recent string of monster attacks has slowed down considerably. Normally he would have been grateful at the decrease, but the sudden influx and its swift stop had him more than a little concerned. He was no fool, something was up and he needed to figure out what it was before it was too late.
The attendant held out the tablet for him to take a look at, "The attack on the school in the Canterlot district has been resolved. No casualties reported, and the only destroyed property was one of the school's field houses and a small part of their baseball field."
"Ah, so the heroes we sent there managed to defeat Demon Quarterback?" the director asked as he took the tablet from the woman, his eyes widening when he saw everything being presented to him.
"Not quite, sir," she replied. "When they arrived at the scene the monster in question was already dead. Its head was caved in and its helmet was completely destroyed, we found what we believe to be the weapon used to do that off to the side of the monster's corpse. A regular baseball bat used by the school in question, even if it is bent beyond repair."
"Impossible," the director breathed, yet he could not dismiss the facts laid before him. "To do something like this with such a simple weapon... Do we know who did it?"
The attendant pushed up her glasses, "I believe so. If you look at the video files you'll see what the security cameras have managed to catch. Admittedly it is of poor quality, but you can get the gist of what had transpired."
The director pulled up one the video files and watched the fight as best he could. When the video finished he eventually said, "It seems to me that whoever took out Demon Quarterback was a student there. Do we have anyone to search for?"
"Yes, out of every student at that school, only one of them has been sent to the hospital after sustaining injuries. Four fractured ribs, a minor scratch on the chest, and a bruised cheek, I believe."
The director opened up a file that had the face of a tough looking student scowling mildly at the camera. "James huh?" the director mused as he scrolled through the information presented to him. An interesting fact struck him, "He's the adopted son of the principal there? No other records suggest he was even alive before a few weeks ago, his apparent sister too. How peculiar."
"Should we send a delegate over to the hospital he is staying at? I can have one sent within the hour," the attendant offered.
Her superior shook his head, "No, I'll go. I wish to meet this young man myself, make him an offer."
The woman nodded her head, "Very well, I'll ready a chopper to take you there now."
"Please do," the director said. He continued to read through James' file as the door behind him hissed shut, signaling the leave of his assistant.
Late evenings in hospitals were extremely boring.
That was just one of the many conclusions James came to as he sighed and laid back down on his hospital bed. Nothing good was on the television and there weren't any good books to read, even if he fancy himself a reader at least it would have been something. The only thing he could do right now was think about the tongue thrashing he was given by both his sister and his new mother before they were forced by the hospital staff to go home as visiting hours were over. Admittedly he felt bad about making them worry, but someone needed to stop that monster.
Thinking about the monster from earlier had made James realize that he and his sister might not be completely safe here. A sobering thought to be honest, and one he appreciated. Better to have it early than too late in his opinion, easier to deal with. If his family was going to be in danger then he would do his damnedest to see that no harm comes to them. No sense laying around with his thumb up his ass, he needed to do something about it.
If there were monsters out there then he just needs to bash their skulls in, simple as that.
James turned his phone on and opened up the web app to check out a website he had found during the ample free time he now had. Turns out that this new body and life he was given was only the beginning, this world had its own Heroes Association that started up a few months ago. He was planning to join it, after all what better way to prepare against future monsters than to join the Heroes Association? He'd even get paid doing it.
His web surfing was interrupted by a knock at his door. Confused at the interruption, as he was not expecting company, James called out, "Come in!"
The door opened to reveal a sharply dressed man who looked to be in his early thirties, he smiled at James as he closed the door behind him and took a seat next to his bed. He didn't say a word throughout all of this.
"So..." James began after a few awkward moments of the two just staring at each other. "Who the hell are you?"
The man chuckled at James' blunt question and replied, "My name is Fine Thrust, I'm the man who sends out heroes when we receive calls to action over at the Heroes Association. Its a pleasure to meet you James."
James clicked his tongue, "Heroes Association? Guessin' ya caught my fight with that Baby-Faced Quarterback then?"
Fine nodded, "Indeed, and a most impressive fight it was. Sadly I couldn't see a good portion of it since the school's cameras can only catch so much from so far away from the building. Not many people can say they bested such a strong Demon level threat on their own, much less someone as young as you."
"So what yer basically implying is that ya want me ta join the Association then is it?"
Fine Thrust looked at James, face masked completely in seriousness, "Yes, that is exactly it. We need more people like you, strong people, to deal with the ever growing threat of monsters. If what today had shown me is anything to go by, we need to gather as many as we can to combat evil. Else we are all doomed."
James grunted, "Don't gotta ask me twice, or be so damn cryptic about it, I'm in. I got my own reasons ta kill monsters."
"Your sister and adoptive mother am I correct?"
"Ya done yer homework," James blandly replied.
Fine smiled at James, "Indeed I have, it comes with my job you see." The older man got up from his seat and smoothed his suit, "I need to get back to the Association now, and don't worry, I'll deal with all of the paperwork for you. We also paid for your hospital bill as a gesture of good will, expect a call from us sometime soon James." With that Fine Thrust started to leave the room.
"Wait," the older man stopped in the doorway. James grunted as Fine Thrust looked back at him, "Almost forgot, that monster said somethin' interesting before we fought."
"Hmm?" the older man looked at James confused.
James nodded, "Yeah, he said somethin' about bein' told there was someone tough ta fight him at my school. As if someone else already knew about me, thought it was weird an' all."
Fine Thrust looked down at the floor, face scrunched up as he thought about what James said. He nodded, seemingly to himself, and then looked back at James, "Thank you for the information James, we'll figure something out. This helps confirm there is someone else pulling the strings."
With that the man left, the door clicking shut behind him.
The weekend went by torturously slow for James, the hospital didn't want to let him leave the next day and the two most controlling women in his life wholeheartedly agreed with them. Fortunately he didn't have to spend any more time there. Others could say whatever they want about being turned into someone else you're not, James was only thankful that Metal Bat seemed to have accelerated healing. He was back and moving around by the time school started on Monday, only a little bit of tenderness remained of his previous injuries.
Now he stood in front of the school, simply observing the other students as they went inside. Many of them waved his way, he didn't really know why, but he waved back to be polite. He still had enough time to kill before his first class so James decided to sit on top of the statue's base and watch the clouds. Not a few minutes later his daydreaming was broken by angry grumbling, James looked down to see the crimson and yellow haired girl from Friday stalk down the sidewalk and stop at the base of the statue. She didn't seem to see him, busy as she was with complaining.
"Gah! I hate this world, so similar and yet so confusing!" the girl complained as she tried to get her backpack to secure properly.
James raised an eyebrow at that sentence, "This world? She an alien or somethin'?" James watched the girl clumsily fight with the backpack as if she never used her hands before. Eventually she just gave up and gripped the bag by its top handle. "Probably just crazy."
"Ya havin' trouble with that girlie?" James asked as he watched the girl start.
"Gah!" she cried, clutching her heart in shock. "How long have you been there?!"
James shrugged, "For a while now, it was funny watchin' you fail with that thing." The girl's cheeks lit up in embarrassment and fury, before she could retort James spoke up again, "So what's with that 'this world' stuff you were spouting out earlier? You crazy or somethin'?"
Immediately her fire died out and she seemed to choke on her words. Glaring at James for the briefest moments she gritted her teeth and lied, "Yes, I'm crazy. Just got out of the mental hospital, trying to come back into society."
James didn't buy it. "So what was up with this thing glowing and spittin' ya out then?" He tapped his knuckles on the statue's base as emphasis.
"Your imagination. Stuff like that doesn't happen," was her immediate reply.
James hummed but didn't push, he knew what he saw and would get her to spill everything eventually. He watched as she turned around and quickly marched into the school building. Not knowing what else to do James sat back up and stretched himself, preparing for the rest of the day. Then the bell rang.
He scrambled off the statue, "Shit! Gonna be late!"
James had mixed feelings about the new student that arrived at Canterlot High. On one hand she seemed like the picturesque student that pays attention in class, she has even already integrated herself with the student body. On the other hand James knew there was something off about her, she could play off what he saw as his imagination but he was not convinced. He didn’t have all that great of one anyway.
So James did what he thought was the most logical course of action, he decided to follow the new girl around and see what she did and said. It did not seem to be hard in the slightest as almost everyone stood out in some way, and her hair was also rather bright and noticeable.
The morning proved to be the easiest since the new girl, Sunset Shimmer as James would learn to be her name, had the same classes as he did.
First period went by slowly after his teacher gave him a slight reprimand about being late to class. James took the only open seat left, one of the front ones. Normally he would be annoyed, but the seat just so happened to be right next to the new girl. He placed his bag down and took his seat as he and Sunset glared at each other from the corners of their eyes.
“I will find out what yer hidin’, girly,” James thought to himself.
“I’d like to see you try,” was his imagined answer back.
The rest of the morning went by with the two glaring at each other, daring one of them to act. Lunch fast approached, and James bit into his sandwich as he searched the cafeteria for any sign of the new girl from his seat on top of the cafeteria table.
“Here you go!” a voice from his left chirped, a flyer being handed to him.
“Eh? The hell is this?” James asked the other student as he took the flyer from the girl, taking another bit of his lunch.
The grey girl next to him didn’t seem bothered by his word choice and smiled at him. “A flyer for the upcoming Fall Formal next month!” the bubbly girl replied before skipping off to pass out more of the paper.
James scanned the paper before him, not finding anything that really interested him. He looked up from the paper and spied the new girl eating her lunch, she too had a flyer and was looking at it with great interest.
“What does she want with this? It’s just some stupid dance,” James thought to himself. He looked back down and reread the flyer, most of the information could be discarded but if he was a guessing guy then he could only assume that Sunset was looking at the big event of the dance. Being crowned the princess of the year’s Fall Formal.
James rolled his eyes, “Ugh, who even cares about that junk?”
He set the flyer down on the table and finished the rest of his sandwich, putting the straw of his drink to his lips and continued his vigilance on the new girl.
“You know,” a familiar voice said. “It would be better to go and talk to the girl than sit and stare if you want to get to know her better.”
James jumped in his seat and looked over at his new mother as she took a seat at the table he was sitting on. Principal Celestia smirked knowingly at James as she rested her head on the palm of her hand.
James snorted, “It ain’t like that. Somethin’ about her just seems off is all.” His mother looked at him oddly as he sucked the rest of his drink through the straw and crushed the can in his hand. James chucked the crushed can into a nearby trash can, “Don’t worry about it.”
James saw that Sunset seemed to notice that their principal was here, her eyes narrowed slightly as if she was remembering something unpleasant before she glanced away when she saw that James was looking at her. James frowned, unsure of what to make of this.
“If you say so James,” Celestia shrugged. “But that isn’t what I came here to talk to you about. Do you remember when you first got to the hospital?”
“Yeah?” James looked at his mother strangely.
“Well, I already made arrangements to pay for your visit.” James started to sweat, already knowing where this was going to go. “But, as it turns out, the hospital gave me a full refund because your visit was already paid for.”
She glared at James, “Do you know who paid for it?”
James gulped, “Eh… the Hero Association?”
Celestia smiled, “Indeed. Do you mind explaining yourself mister?”
James was about to answer when his phone went off, “Eh? Could ya give me a sec?”
Principal Celestia’s smiled never wavered as James pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered it, “Hello?”
“Ah, mister James, how are you? This is Fine Thrust from the Hero Association, I believe we met?”
“Ah, yeah. What’s up?”
“Nothing, I just wished to inform you that you have been fully entered into our systems. You may engage in hero work as you see fit, I have already sent you an email containing your current rank.”
“Ah, yeah, thanks. That’s fine. Later.” James put away his phone.
“So, who was that?”
James licked his lips, he almost forgot about her, “Ahaha, the Hero Association?”
“Damn guys have the worst timing,” James thought to himself.
“Do you have something to tell me, young man?” Celestia asked her adoptive son.
Sweat trailed down his brow as James tried to come up with anything that could appease the woman before him, he found nothing. “Ah… I joined the Hero Association?”
Celestia frowned as her eye twitched in frustration, “Why? You are only fourteen right now.”
James looked down as he thought about what to say, “I… have the ability ta fight monsters, so shouldn’t I? If it keeps you and Maiya safe from ‘em, then I’ll gladly fight every single monster in this city.”
Celestia blinked at his reply then sighed, “You don’t have to burden yourself you know. But… if it truely means that much to you then all I ask is that you be as safe as possible. I saw what you can do, so even if I don’t like it I can accept it as your choice.”
James smiled at his mother.
“Though I can’t say the same for Maiya.”
And just like that his smile was replaced by a grimace.
The rest of the school day went by faster, James didn’t have any classes with Sunset after lunch so he couldn’t observe her like he had wanted to. He decided to forgo following her to see where she lived, that was delving into territory he did not want to venture into. Instead James decided to go for a walk around town.
“Man, this place looks like it could belong in an anime or manga,” James said to himself as he took in the appearance of the town, dodging around people going for late afternoon shopping. He noticed a sports store selling an expensive looking metal bat, James winced, “Tsk, I don’t have the cash fer that. I could use a bat fer all the hero work I need ta do.”
James turned away from the store’s window and went back to walking around the town. He was so caught up with the sights of the town that he did not see the person walking in front of him suddenly stop. James grunted as he bumped into the tattooed, wild blonde haired man in front of him, making that person drop his drink.
“Oi jackass! Don’t just stop in the middle of the sidewalk, ya stupid or somethin’?” James yelled at the taller male.
The older man, a scar running across his chin, looked at James annoyed, a vein throbbing on his forehead, “Wanna run that by me again punk? Or do I gotta beat it outta ya?!”
James got up into the man’s face as best as his shorter stature would allow, “I said don’t stop in the middle of the sidewalk jackass, people are walkin’ here.”
Said people noticed the commotion the two of them were causing and slowly started to back away from them. “You wanna take this in there, you little shit?” the man pointed to an alley with a thumb, vein throbbing more violently on his forehead.
James grinned, his own forehead sporting a throbbing vein, “Yeah, I’d like that.”
James strutted out of the alley, leaving the body of the punk annoying him unconscious and twitching and sporting a brand new black eye. He casually flicked a few bills in his hands as he counted out his new earnings. James grinned, “Yeah, this should be enough fer that bat.”
James strutted back into the sports shop he passed by earlier, heading straight for the new baseball bats.
James held one of them up and inspected it, “Hmm… much better than the ones at school. Should hold out fer longer.” James walked up to the cashier, “Oi, I wanna buy this.”
The old man that ran the cashier looked up from his magazine and boredly nodded. James waited patiently for the man, sticking his hands in his pockets. A rumble slightly shook the building, causing dust and plaster to fall from the ceiling. The old man looked up in surprise and worry.
“The hell?” James asked as another much stronger rumble made the building shake violently. The old man fell backwards onto the ground, James managed to keep his balance. Screams could be heard outside the window of the store, people were running down the street.
James slapped the money he got onto the counter, not bothering to count it out. “Oi, old man, I’m takin’ the bat. Keep the change.”
James grabbed the bat and ripped it out of its casing as he sprinted out of the store. He came to a sliding stop in the middle of the street to appraise the cause of the panic. Ignoring the few people still hurriedly running past him, James gripped his new weapon in his right hand and glared at the monsters in front of him.
Dozens of large, six foot tall, hellish looking rabbits stood in front of him. Almost all of them had matted fur and a scar somewhere on their body. The largest of the group stood almost twice as tall as the smaller ones, keen red eyes betrayed the intelligence hidden inside of its head as it looked over the human standing against it.
“What, a bunch of wimpy rabbits lookin’ for a fight?” James asked, ignoring the hissing of the monsters in front of him. He grinned triumphantly and gripped the handle of his bat tighter as he stared hard into the glowing red eyes of the largest rabbit in the pack, “I was lookin’ ta break this new bat of mine in. Now come on fuzzballs! I’ll make a stew outta ya!”
With that said James gripped his bat in both hands and leapt into the air, already starting to swing down at the leader’s head.
Typing and beeping was most of the sound in the dark planning room of the Hero Association. Conversation and muttering between members of the workforce was the only thing breaking up the unexciting atmosphere. Without warning a loud alert echoed around the room, the room turning red from the lights above. A large red dot appeared on the massive technological map in the front of the room.
“Sir!” yelled one of the Hero Association workers working at the computers of the dark room.
Fine Thrust hurriedly looked down at the young man, “What is it? Another monster attack?”
The man nodded, “Yes sir, Canterlot district has just received another attack.”
“What?! So soon after the last?” Fine Thrust gripped the railing in front of him and leaned forward over it to better see the man’s computer screen. “What’s happening?”
The man quickly looked back at his screen, “Another demon class! Hell’s Rabbits! One of the more potentially devastating monsters out there thanks to their ability to breed quickly. If we don’t contain it soon, they may become too numerous to fight against.”
“How do we know so much about them?” Fine’s assistant asked.
Fine bit his lip and explained, “A few years ago a biology lab was experimenting with various chemicals and steroids. They used rabbits as their test subjects because of their relative ease of obtaining. One day they finally succeeded in their testing, only…”
“Only?”
“It worked too well. The leader, who was one of the few to survive and escape from the military retaliation that day, single handedly slew most of the scientists working there. It spilt the chemicals onto other rabbits in order to make more of them and fled with its new army. On its own I’d classify it as low demon level, but it is one of the few monsters in the world that has the potential to quickly go up disaster levels from sheer numbers alone,” Fine looked worried. “Do we have anybody close enough to respond?”
“Yes!” the man shouted. “Although I don’t know how much help he’d be.”
Fine looked down at the man, “Who is it?”
“The new C-class rank three hundred and twenty two, James, hero name not yet given. A single C-class against such a monster...” the man trailed off.
“James huh,” Fine muttered.
“Well, with the rankings as they are it’s not like, C-class, B-class, or A-class mean much right now…” Fine Thrust thought to himself.
“I have faith in James, I hand picked him myself, but send help anyway from any available heros. He might need it,” Fine commanded.
High above the Canterlot district of City D on the roof of a skyscraper, stood a man in a black trenchcoat silently watching the streets below. He observed as the civilians fled from the small horde of monster rabbits that had just finished plowing through a building. He grinned excitedly as the small form of James burst out of the nearby sports store and position himself in the middle of the street.
“Wonderful,” the man said to himself, the actions of the young hero below pleasing him greatly.
“Enjoying your chosen hero, Terrance?” a voice spoke up behind the man.
Terrance rolled his eyes and turned his head to look at the lab coat wearing, blonde haired man behind him, “As much as I’m sure you are, Phillip.”
Phillip walked up next to Terrance and stood at the edge of the building to stare down at the fight about to brew. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his coat, “Neither of them are ready yet. We need to give it three more years before we can proceed.”
Terrance returned his gaze to James just in time to see his first attack strike at the crossed arms of the rabbit leader, a shockwave of power erupting from the hit. “I agree. James is not old enough and your chosen one needs to actually get strong first,” he chuckled to himself, “Though I fear yours might be a bit overkill.”
Phillip smiled as he pulled a hand out of a coat pocket and scratched his chest, “Perhaps… on a different note, how do you think James here will handle the multiverse and all of the others like him out there?”
Terrance rubbed his chin in thought, “Who knows?” He grinned playfully, “Let’s find out. I’ll give the other…. What do they call themselves again? Displaced?” At Phillip’s nod, he continued, “I’ll give the other Displaced a means to summon him. The first time will be quite a surprise for James here, I’m sure.”
With that said Terrance lifted an arm up in front of him, palm up, and the air over his hand shimmered and bent until a metal bat was formed. Quickly catching the piece of sporting equipment he experimentally spun it around in his hand. “Just like Metal Bat’s bat, nice and indestructible,” he said to himself.
Terrance waved a hand over the bat and a dark glow of spellwork emanated from it as Terrance began the process of making a token. Once the initial spellwork was finished he placed a fist over his mouth, clearing his throat, and imitated James’ voice, “Name’s James, I’mma hero. Call me if ya need some skulls bashed in.”
With that finished Terrance simply flung the bat into a small portal that opened up in front of him, the dark energies of the void staring back as it swallowed the bat. Once finished he looked over to his partner, “You going to do one for yours when he’s ready?”
Phillip shrugged, “Probably. I don’t know what I’ll use, but I suppose I have three years to come up with something. Ready to go?” At his friend’s nod, Phillip pulled out a small remote in his pocket, pressed a button, and in a flash of light the two men disappeared from the rooftop.
James’ bat slammed into the crossed guard of the monster rabbit leader, a shockwave of power erupting from the point of impact. The large rabbit slid back with its arms still in guarding position, gouging two deep trails of concrete with its large feet in the process. James landed where the leader used to be and swung his bat at the nearest smaller rabbit, smashing its ribs to pieces and sending it flying into a building.
In that instant, the rest of the horde of monster mammals descended on the young hero, who was forced to dodge around swiping claws, bites, and bodies. He occasionally managed to get his own counter strikes in during the frenzy of the battle, while using any brief reprieve time to smash any rabbit that got close. Batting away a claw that tried to get too close for comfort, James jumped out of the furry crowd and landed a good couple of yards away.
“There sure are a lot of these fuckers, but the small fry ain't all that. It’s the big one that seems kinda tough,” James thought to himself as he idly bounced his bat on his shoulder while he took his time to scan the assembled monsters before him. He glanced at the two dozen fallen bodies of the smaller rabbits, “Got a good couple of ‘em though. Only got a dozen an’ a half left. Plus that big one. Now… what ta do?”
The rabbits themselves looked at the hero warily, other than a torn shirt from a few close calls with their claws, he did not have a scratch on him. The large leader made a few growling noises at his smaller companions and signaled with its head at James.
James slipped into a ready stance, “Ya plannin’ somethin’ thumper?”
At an unspoken command, the smaller monsters sprung forward, but not at James like he was expecting. Using their leg strength alone the smaller rabbits sprung around the street, kicking off the ground and buildings like furry pinballs, becoming blurs in the air.
“So this is yer game then, huh?” James said before taking a swing at the nearest rabbit as it drifted too close. Before his bat got close enough to do damage he felt padded feet slam home into his back. Grunting in discomfort, James pitched forward before reversing his strike onto the surprise attacker.
His bat swung through the air, doing nothing but shave a few hairs from the rabbit behind him. James tsked in annoyance as he realized the rabbit had already dodged as soon as it finished attacking his back. He might have been faster, but he was still caught off guard.
“Damn bastard, that smarts and my ribs are still sore.”
James spat off to the side, ignoring the increasingly loud sound of a helicopter in the distance. “Well now, maybe you guys ain’t so bad after all,” he growled when he returned his gaze to the leader of the pack. James gripped his bat harder, “Still not gonna win this, though, but I’ll be sure not ta take this easy on ya now.”
Keeping his eyes on the leader as it slowly marched forward, James made sure to note the blurs bouncing around the street. Suddenly movement flashed in his peripheral, James swiftly leaned back as a furry foot sailed past his nose. Not wasting a chance, James grabbed the leg and spun around dragging an unwilling monster with him, the rabbit attacking his back instead struck its friend. James let go of the rabbit and the two attackers fell to the ground, all momentum killed in their surprise.
Without thinking about it James smashed his bat down on the prone monsters, sending up dust and debris as the ground broke. A blur shot at him from his side after his attack, James reacted by putting his weapon between them and diverting the force of the rabbit’s kick with his bat, sending the monster into a building. That act was met with retaliation, the monster’s friends leaping at the hero in irregular patterns. James repeated his defensive technique, spinning in place as he redirected or outright blocked the attacks. The attacks ceased and James came to a halt as he stopped his spinning, grinning triumphantly at his opponents.
“Heh, ya assholes ain’t gettin’ m-.”
He was cut off and his victory short lived as larger and far more powerful legs slammed home into the side of his head. James flew from his spot, bouncing hard off a parked car and tumbled head over heels down the street until he came to a stop flat on his back. The large monster landed feet first and regarded James’ prone body carefully.
Not seeing any movement the leader of the monsters turned and growled at its underlings. The smaller monster rabbits stopped their bouncing and landed next to their leader, surrounding it in a protective circle. Turning away from James’ body the monsters began walking down the street to find other people to kill.
A feeling of dread made the leader stop in its tracks.
“Did ya think I’d be so easily killed?” a dark voice growled behind the monsters.
The large monster widened its eyes, slowly turning back around to face the human it thought it defeated. Just as its eyes faced the direction James was its vision was filled with metal in an instant. The bat of the hero slammed into the face of the monstrous rabbit, caving its face in and sending it flying down the street.
The lesser rabbits stood stunned when James suddenly appeared in their midst, James glaring up at them through a few misplaced bangs that separated themselves from his pompadour.
James’ grip on his bat tightened, “Killin’ Move: Fightin’ Spirit…”
The monsters took a step back in preparation.
“Herd Smashin’!”
The circle of monsters was crushed under his swift and punishing onslaught. Every time James appeared above a rabbit he slammed his bat down over the head of the monster. A few were able to react quick enough to throw their arms up in a quick guarding position over their head, but they were simply overcome by the raw strength of the hero.
James finally slammed his bat down on the last monster, sending it to oblivion like the rest of its kin. He pulled his bat out of the remains of the fallen monster and examined it for damage. The bat itself had scratches along its length thanks to the claws of the rabbits, but only had a tiny dent on its tip.
James grinned to himself as he held the bat up in front of him, “Heh, this thing ain’t so bad.”
A trashcan was suddenly upturned from a figure swiftly shooting out of the nearby alleyway. A hero emerged, clad head to toe with what looked like bandages, hands held in front of him in a battle ready stance. A pharaoh’s headdress on his head and a large black and gold scepter holstered on his back.
“Monsters prepare yourself! B-Class, rank twenty, Mysterious Mummy has come to send you to hell...” the new arrival drawled the end of his sentence as he slowly took in the state of the street before him.
James rested his bat on his shoulder, “Yer a bit late buddy. Already took care of it myself.”
Mysterious Mummy lowered his hands, “Eh? But wasn’t it Demon level?”
“No clue,” James replied. He gestured to the bodies of the monsters, “Mind takin’ care of this for me? Gotta hurry home, promised my sis I’d be home before dinner ta help her set the table.”
“Eh? But-” Mysterious Mummy started to say before he was interrupted.
James clapped a hand on his shoulder as he walked past him, “Thanks.”
“Big brother!” a girlish voice shouted as soon as James closed the door to his home. James grinned as he saw his little sister walk around the entrance to the living room.
“Maiya! I’m ho-!” James stopped short as he quickly realized that his sister was not happily walking to her favorite big brother, she was stomping her way over with a glare.
“What were you thinking! You joined the Heroes Association?! Are you trying to get killed?!” Maiya grabbed James by his ear and yanked him down to more her level.
“Ow! Maiya! That hurts!” James complained.
“Well?!” She yanked harder before letting go, sending James careening back before he caught himself.
“No, no! I’m doing this ta protect you and mom!” James started rubbing his tender ear as soon as his sister let go of it. “I’m strong now and this place has monsters in it so I gotta do my part right?”
Maiya glared at him as she silently scrutinized his state of being. James noticed her gaze lingered on his torn shirt, “Ah, don’t worry ‘bout this. One of them monster rabbits tried ta claw me and missed, but got caught on my shirt. I ain’t really hurt.”
She glared at him harder before she turned around in a huff and marched back into the living room. “You better not die on me or I’ll never forgive you! Now help me set the table, mom is coming home soon with dinner!” was her only reply. James propped his bat on the wall near the door and quickly dashed into the house to help his sister.
Several of the top men and women of the Hero Association Board sat around a futuristic circular table, holograms of files, data, and pictures of different heros floated above the table. Other than the table and chairs nothing else decorated the room as it was meant strictly for important business and meetings. Director Fine Thrust calmly took his seat nearest the door after finally managing to make time away from his usual duties.
“I’m glad that you were able to make this meeting Fine Thrust, you’ve been busy these last few weeks,” Dapper Meadow, one of the board members noted as he tapped a rhythmic pattern on the table with his cybernetic hand.
“I sure hope that I’d be able to make this meeting since it was I that called it,” Fine Thrust stated while placing a tablet down in front of him.
Dapper chuckled, “Then I’m sure you’d want to get right down to business.”
Fine Thrust nodded to Dapper in acknowledgment, “From these past few months, and even when the association began, our hero ranking system is inherently flawed.”
“What do you mean?” A woman asked.
“Our ranking system is based primarily on popularity instead of capability to handle higher ranking threats,” Fine Thrust answered. “A large portion of our A and B ranked heros are the ones that appeal highest to the population, especially amongst children. Some are able to handle monsters but when it comes to strong foes they get beaten. It is only a matter of time until one is killed, I don’t need to explain how this would affect how we look to the world.”
“Then how do we assign heroes to the appropriate rankings?” Dapper Meadow asked.
“A test, one better than what we have. To include a physical portion and a paper portion,” Fine Thrust answered. “All current heroes, excluding a select few, will undergo this test so we can evaluate the rankings and assign heroes to a class more fitting for their skills. This way we can send out A-class heroes and know that they are able to handle what comes their way.”
“A select few excluded?” Inquired another board member, he and the others muttering to themselves as they tried to figure out what he meant by that.
“I’ve been monitoring several heroes that have shown extraordinary abilities and skills while I’ve been working on our ranking redesign,” Fine stated, connecting his tablet to the table, tapping on the device and finally placing several pictures and details on the holographic screens floating in the air in front of each board member. “These are the people who I feel do not need to be tested.”
The board members talked amongst themselves in hushed whispers.
“So, these thirteen individuals are to receive immediate A-rank listings?” Dapper asked, wishing to clarify.
Fine Thrust shook his head, “No, I want to create a seperate rank above A-class. These heroes are superhuman compared to the others so I feel it’s fitting to call their class S-class. They will be the public face of the heroes in our organization, the strong heroes that stand between the strongest monsters and the people.” Dapper nodded his head in understanding of what Fine Thrust was saying.
“Two of these heroes seem rather young for such an important role…” one of the other members stated with some concern. “They have some impressive feats but do you think they are ready for such large responsibilities?”
Fine Thrust nodded, “I do, but if you are still doubtful then we need to simply wait and they will prove themselves. It will take some time to get everything ready so just be patient and let their results speak for themselves. If that is all then I’d like to bring this meeting to a close, we still have a lot of work to do.”
Nobody had anything else to say. As the board members began to leave Dapper stopped by Fine’s chair as the man began to gather up his tablet, “How’s the investigation?”
“Going nowhere so far, none of the few monsters we’ve managed to capture know anything.” Fine Thrust sighed, “I feel like we’re being led by the nose on a wild goose chase.”
Dapper patted his shoulder in reassurance, “Don’t stress out too much on us, we need you in one piece.”
Fine Thrust chuckled, “Yeah, I won’t burn out anytime soon.”
“Then I’ll leave you to your work, stay well,” Dapper smiled and left the room through the automatic door, leaving Fine Thrust to plan and prepare.
With a heavy slam a bat crushed the large bulbous brown head of a short mushroom monster, its cushioning surface doing nothing to stop the lethal blow from compressing its body flat and sending monster innards across the ground. James pulled the bat from the head of the monster and tsked in annoyance, monster gunk stained its surface. He flicked the bat, causing most of the gunk to fly into the ground and walls of the spacious alley.
James looked down the gunk-covered alleyway, he could see multiple corpses of the random wolf level mushroom monsters he recently killed littering the ground. He had been coming across these monsters all day and he was getting rather sick of running into them. The young hero rested the least gore covered side of his bat on his shoulder and huffed in annoyance, “Finally, that's the last of ‘em.”
“Good work, Metal Bat,” a voice rang from the entrance of the alley.
James looked back in the direction of the newcomer, ignoring the people in white uniforms as they ran around him towards the bodies of the monsters. It didn’t surprise him that he would be given the same hero name as the guy he looked like now, but it did prove that the people in charge don’t have any imagination.
“Thanks, I guess,” James replied to the black-suited man, not recognizing the man from any parts of the Association that he knew of. Of course, James didn’t actually know about most of the people working at the Heroes Association anyway. But, judging from the Hero Association armband on him and all of the white-uniformed workers he guessed that they were a cleanup crew of some sort.
Ignoring the working men as they loaded up their large van with the bodies, James shoved a hand in a pocket and walked out of the alley. As the small fire of his fighting spirit from the very brief battle wore down, it wasn’t much as the monsters were extremely weak, he could start to feel the crisp cold air of the early November weather settling down in City D once more. Now that he was no longer distracted by a random monster attack he was free to do what he came to this part of the city for in the first place. Present shopping.
Normally this was not his kind of thing, and for anyone else, he would have given them money and that would have been the end of it. But ever since he decided to be antisocial and blew off the Fall Formal a month back, whilst wondering how that new girl managed to get everyone to vote for her so quickly, he could not get the cold glaring of his sister and disappointed look of his new mother out of his head. To James, it was maddening just thinking that he managed to disappoint them so much and he decided he needed to make it up to them. He would use the money he saved from working as a hero to get his sister and mother the greatest present he could find, as well as making sure he would go to every other Fall Formal during his time at Canterlot High. Even if he really didn’t want to go to a school dance of all things.
“But what ta get them…” James muttered to himself as he looked around in hopes to randomly spot a store that had that special item. A single glance down the street gave him his answer. The store itself was not overly grand, but it did look like a place for the more well-off and there were several stuffed animals on display behind the window. A sign above the store announced that you could build your own stuffed toy, it reminded James of those Build-A-Bear places back in his old world. He never went into one, but he imagined they weren’t so different.
Destination in mind, James promptly walked down the street to the store. If he were anybody else he might have felt embarrassed being caught in a place like this, but he had a little sister and a mother to appease, taking time to create a personal stuffed toy for the both of them is worth it. The bell chimed as James entered the store, it only took a few moments for him to spot the beginning of the building process.
The store itself held aisles of already built stuffed toys and other kinds of toys. It was a typical toy store, albeit busier than usual. Two shifty looking red-haired older men that had to be twins worked the register.
A few people in the store, mostly parents, unsurprisingly gave James a strange look. He looked like a typical delinquent and the baseball bat held under his armpit still covered in monster gook did not paint a good or safe picture. None of the other customers dared to approach him however, deciding to simply avoid him. James didn’t notice any of this and simply worked on his presents.
When he was halfway finished with his presents and reached the area where he could stuff them an obnoxiously bratty voiced announced its displeasure behind him.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?!”
James paused his worked to look behind his back, confused. Two little girls around the age of his sister were standing behind him, only one was openly glaring at him with her hands in her hips, the other looked nervous and eyed his bat apprehensively.
The defiant and angry one was pink skinned and had purple and white hair. She was wearing an obviously expensive yellow dress and had a tiara shaped hair pin in her hair. The nervous one was light grey skinned and her hair was a mixture of dark and light grey. She was wearing a set of light blue glasses, a necklace with a spoon of all things hanging off of it, and was wearing a purple expensive looking dress.
James didn’t think much of them and just said, “Buildin’ some stuffed toys, the hell does it look like I’m doin’?”
The pink girl growled at James’s disrespectful tone and the grey girl bit her lip and pulled on her friend’s sleeve, “Hey Diamond, I don’t think we should mess with this guy, he looks kind of scary.”
The now named Diamond just harrumphed and said, “I don’t care Silver! He’s obviously too poor to be here and he’s dirty! Look at that weird stuff he dragged in here on his bat!” She pointed at the now mostly dried monster gunk on his bat. “This ruffian should not be ruining my favorite toy store!”
A vein throbbed on James’s head, “Oi ya brat, ya shouldn’t be talkin’ to people like that. How ‘bout ya go play somewhere else and quit botherin’ me. I’ll shop where I want.”
“Fucking brat, just piss off!” His thoughts were not as civil.
“I’ll talk to a commoner like you how I want!”
“Diamond, come on!” As annoyed as he was getting James could appreciate this Silver girl wanting to get the damn brat away from him. Fortunately for James and Silver a well dressed older gentleman came running up to them before things could escalate.
“Miss Tiara! Please, let’s quickly pick out a toy! You don’t wish to keep your father waiting, right?” The older man who was clearly her butler or caretaker nearly begged the younger girl to come with him.
For a few tense moments things were silent as Diamond Tiara and James glared each other down. Finally, Diamond Tiara harrumphed and turned around on her heels in the haughtiest way a little girl like her could do. Her friend following timidly behind her, as if to get away as fast as possible. The older man gave James an apologetic look as he ushered the two children away.
“Fine! But I want two toys!”
James just tsked in annoyance and continued to stuff the toys he made. This day had been unusually stressful and he could do with another monster fight to blow off some steam. He’d even take those weak mushroom monsters if it meant he could hit something. After finally finishing the toys and paying for them, only vaguely noticing the two girls and the butler leaving the shop as he was paying for them, James walked out of the store with a bag in hand.
James turned down the street and began his walk home but didn’t get far when a loud shout rang in the air and the screams of young children echoed across the street. Quick as he could James abruptly turned around on his heels and shot down the street, going around the street corner he caught the sight of an unmarked van and four men hauling two struggling bags into the back. The butler handling the brat laid on the sidewalk holding his head, a bleeding gash on the side.
“Shit!” James swore as he tore down the street to stop the kidnappers before they left. The vans back doors swung shut and the tires screeched as the van shot down the street to get away as fast as possible. James sprinted as fast as he could but the van had the lead. “Gonna have to take shortcuts then,” he muttered before running through an alleyway and jumping to the roof of a building, barely spying the fleeing van making a turn down another street.
From the direction he could see the van going James figured they were going to some secret hideout near the warehouses by the river that cut through City-D. Not taking any longer to form a general direction James leaped from the building to another one across the street, he was just glad this area was not downtown and more suburban. The van always stayed just out of sight as it made turns into other streets and James almost swore, he wasn’t far from the vehicle but he didn’t want to chase it all the way across the city.
The van suddenly made a beeline for the highway ramp. “Shit, so they weren’t going to the warehouses then,” James said to himself. “Better hurry, don’t want to miss my only chance.”
He poured all his leg strength into running and jumping, barely making it to the ramp entrance before the van. With a grunt James used all his strength to jump off the building and land on top of an eighteen wheeler. The wind blew his hair around and ruffled his clothes in an annoying way, one of the only times he disliked wearing his baggy clothing.
The man driving the van was shocked to see somebody land on the roof of the eighteen wheeler’s container. James didn’t waste time and jumped from his spot, barely grabbing onto the edges of the front window with his hands, the grip of his bat firmly between his teeth and the handles of the small bag containing the presents around his wrist.
James was rather annoyed at the whole situation and unconsciously gripped the sides of the van hard enough to crack the window and dent the metal of the window frame. From the inside of the van the driver shouted something James couldn’t hear and another kidnapper pulled out a handgun and pointed the barrel at James. With a determined glare the young hero gripped his hand harder on the drivers side and swung out of the way. The bullet flew through the window as James dangled on the side of the van while keeping his feet from dragging across the concrete. With a muffled grunt he climbed up to get level with the side window.
He had to quickly duck as another bullet flew over his head, “Motherfucker!”
He held on tighter, broke the side mirror for the driver with a punch and flung himself down the side of the van to get to the back. It was obvious to James that he wasn’t going to be able to stop them now, the van was too annoying to fight on and he couldn’t just destroy it with the two little girls inside. He needed to wait until the van stopped.
James made his way around the back of the van, the two doors that opened in the back had convenient handles on the edges. All James needed to do was stay out of sight until the van slowed down or was out of the highway, he also made sure to burn the license plate of the van into his memory just in case. The other door on the back of the van opened, momentarily confusing James. Screams were heard from inside of the van and a small grey form was flung out of the back.
For a moment time slowed and all James could do was stare with wide eyes as the small form of the girl he barely knew as Silver screamed in panic as she was deliberately tossed out the back of a moving van going at least sixty miles an hour.
It didn’t take long for James to make his decision.
With not a care for his own safety he jumped from his position and caught the younger girl in his arms, turning them mid air and letting his back take the brunt of the hit from the car behind them and flinging them to the side of the freeway. James bit down on his bat harder as he kept from shouting his pain. He moved Silver into a princess hold while they were still in the air, landed feet first on the ground, and immediately started running in order to slow the two of them down. They weren’t going so fast that he couldn’t keep up while running and so he kept his balance.
The car he hit came to a screeching stop not far behind the two of them and was nearly hit by the other cars driving. More tires screeching and obnoxious honking and yelling started as the other drivers on the road tried to avoid crashing. James looked down at the sobbing girl in his arms, her glasses were gone, she was shaking, and tears and snot ran down her face in rivers. He looked down the road where the van managed to escape.
