-The next day-

I sat back at my desk and stared intently at the clock. Mrs. Drenz was going on about something with fractions, but my attention was focused on the window. Man, I wonder how fun it would be to climb up the roof from the window. Yeah, but I'd totally get caught…

Suddenly the click of the door sounded off from the other side of the room. I glanced over and choked on air as I saw Zack walk in. Mrs. Drenz glared at him as he strolled inside. He looked at me and winked, then approached Mrs. Drenz.

“Hey, hot stuff,.” Zack said and held out a sheet for her. “Principal wants to see Stryder about the toilet incident.”

The class slowly started to snicker.

“Toilet boy strikes again…” A classmate snickered.

“Bet he needs his daily conditioner of piss water.” Another kid laughed, which caused the class to erupt into laughter.

My heart raced and I slowly sank in my seat. And they're all looking at me now…

Zack tilted his head. “Damien! I know you not talking. This the same guy who got dumped last week because he stank? Same guy who wears Walmart-brand shoes? Same guy rocking the Vegeta hairline at seventeen? The-”

“Mr. Grendel!” Mrs. Drenz snapped, however, the class still erupted into laughter. “Please be on your way with Mr. Beowulf, and stop disrupting my class.”

“You're gonna get it Rapunzel!” Damien wailed.

“Yeah, just call me when your ex isn't over,.” Zack said and went out the door.

I sighed and glanced at Damian, who was practically foaming at the moment. Yup, gonna have to stop Zack from burning a man alive now.

I got up and walked out behind him. As the door shut he immediately pulled out his cracked cell phone.

“Dude, I found this app mysteriously-”

“Did you have to roast Damien like that?” I huffed.

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“Huh? Yeah, duh. Guy thinks he can talk looking as ugly as he does.”

“He's been taking that break up hard ya know. I think he's been humiliated enough, after all his ex called him out in the middle of the cafeteria.”

He groaned. “Cuck energy detected.” He said in a robotic voice. “I'm Stryder and I'm a Cuck.”

I grumbled. “Just get on with it! Tell me why you got me out of class.”

“Before you rudely interrupted me with your cuckery. I was saying a mysterious app appeared on my phone.” He said and started walking again.

I walked beside him and looked over at his phone. He had an app that looked like a glittering star, he clicked it and it opened up to a white forum page. Where Zack clicked a bunch of stuff I didn't understand and got to a small page, where it read: Territory Leaders.

“What's that?” I asked.

“So, apparently we got gang wars in this game!” Zack cheered.

“Gang wars?”

“So, this app shows me who owns every city in the United States. Each person is gifted.” He explained.

“Oh, seriously?”

“Yeah, and I can even go international!”

“Wow, so this game…is worldwide?”

“Yeah, if only you weren't poor and had a phone.”

I grumbled. “Not like, I know how to work one anyways…”

“So! We also get these cool nicknames. If you type your name in, you'll get a cool info card on you with your nickname. But they call your nickname a Cognomen or something.”

“Ah, it's Latin,.” I said.

“Don't care.” Zack Said. “What's important, is our Cognomon-”

“Cognomen.”

“Our COGS! Are, Knight of the Alley and the Wizard of the Alley.”

“Wait, we have info cards!?”

“Yeah, but like. It's just our Cogs and our theme on our cards. Your knight title and my wizard one.” He explained. “However, yours has something else.”

He held out his phone and showed me a screen that looked like a blank license. Just my Cognomen and seven Swordsman, then the letter D.

“Seven swordsmen?” I asked.

“Yeah, but you don't matter.” He said and clicked off. “What I called you out for is this!”

He changed to a more alphabetic form of list. He scrolled down to D and I found our Cognomens there.

“Oh, we're D rank?”

“Yeah!” He cried. “Can you believe it!? And check out who owns our city.”

He scrolled out and went to the territories again, finding our city. Where an image showed up, an actual picture of the person. It was some guy in what looked like a bloody blue ranger suit, taking a picture in a bathroom mirror. His Cognomen only confirmed the sight: Riot Blue Ranger.

“Riot blue ranger…” I mumbled.

“Yeah! Can you believe it!? Some soft blue ranger owns our spot? Losers not even good enough to be a red ranger. So I say, we find this reject, jump him, and-”

I stopped walking. “Wait, did you break me out of class to convince me to jump a guy?”

He stopped and looked back at me. “Duh! We own this block.” He said and patted his chest. “Like I'd like some ranger dork to take it.”

The image came back to mind, all that blood on his suit. For all I know that's just another Red Steel gang member. After all, anyone could've gotten powers…

I sighed. “Look, I'll investigate it with you. But if the dude happens to be a decent guy, I don't care about territories.”

“Cuck detected! Cuck detected!” Zack called out.

I just rolled my eyes. “Bloodstains really don't scream ‘Good guy’. But then again I have no idea what circumstance he's in.”

As I spoke a screen popped up in front of me. It was a bright blue and was see-through, it reminded me of stuff you'd see in a video game. The words:

TERRITORY MEETING

YES OR NO

“The hell…?” I mumbled.

“Aye! Those Witches must've been listening to me!” Zack snickered.

“Right now!?” I squeaked.

“Yeah, here.” He reached under his vest and pulled out our masks.

“Why did you bring those?” I asked.

“Just shut up and press yes!” He huffed and tossed me my mask, then pressed yes.

As he did he disappeared. I jumped and caught my mask, then looked around. Finding nothing but the screen. I sighed.

“Welp, no choice…” I readied my mask then clicked yes.

“Do not fear my knight.” The Goddesses voice whispered behind me. “I'll make sure the cameras don't see you. Besides, I think you're needed much more, with the Rangers family.”

“Wha-”

Before I could finish, my whole body felt light, then, everything went white.