My name's David Lopez, and I've never been very good at doing what I should. Literally never, even from Day 1. But then again, that day was supposed to be the end of the world.
Yeah, that's right. I was born on April 14, 2001. Comet Day, and in Michael's Landing to boot, less than 30 miles from NT ground zero. Mom says all the chaos, the tension and panic caused her to go into labor a month early. (See what I mean? I couldn't even be born when I was supposed to!)
People say the world didn't used to be like this, that there was no magic, no monsters or Solar Defenders, before the comets came, but it's been like this for literally my entire life. I really never knew anything different.
Isn't it funny how completely different the whole world can become due to the events of a single, unexpected day?
My life was normal enough, most of the way. Yeah, yeah, I know. I live in Michael's Landing. How can anything possibly be normal? Well, because when you grow up there, you're used to it. It's what you know. Ain't that what "normal" means? You wake up, you shower, you get dressed, you have breakfast, you go to school, come home after, and if it's Thursday you stay away from places like downtown, the park, and the outskirts on the east side, (everyone but the MH's of course,) because there's probably going to be a monster attack and a fight with the Solar Defenders. The guys on the news sites talk about Michael's Landing like it's some kind of war zone, but it doesn't feel like that to those of us who stuck around. It's all just part of the routine. Normal.
Right up until yesterday, at least. I can't really tell anyone about it, so I'm writing it down. Probably shouldn't even do this much. Someone might find it and read it. But I've never been very good at doing what I should.
Sure, yesterday started like any other day. Wake up, shower, get dressed, eat, go to school. Geometry, Karate, World History, then lunchtime. I guess lunch is where things started going off the rails, when I failed to stay out of the Underwoods' way.
Scott Underwood is a senior, a linebacker on the football team, and the biggest thug in school in both senses of the word, both the worst and the largest. He's gotta be 220 pounds of solid muscle that everyone knows he didn't grow on his own, but who's gonna bust Stephen Underwood's kid for juicing? Blake, Scott's little brother, is a junior, the star of the karate team. They don't look anything alike--Blake's tall, lean and wiry where Scott is compact and musclebound--but they're always hanging out together and backing each other up. They didn't used to be all that bad, really, up until a couple years ago. Back when their dad started becoming famous as the most successful of the MH's, it totally went to their heads, and they started turning from ordinary, decent kids into a couple of bullies, and no one does a thing about them because of who their father is.
So anyway, there I was, walking from Ms. Feist's class to lunch, when I passed Kawena Kapule in the hallway. And because I'm a hormonal idiot, I couldn't help but stare. She didn't even notice me; she's so far out of my league it's not even funny. But that meant I wasn't watching where I was going, when I ran straight into Scott. To be fair, he wasn't watching where he was going either; he was busy chatting with Blake about something or other. He probably should have been paying attention, especially while carrying a smoothie. But then again, so should I.
But I've never been very good at doing what I should, and the next thing I know, I'm bouncing off of a wall of muscle and landing on my butt, and he's spilling his drink all over himself. And then I look up and the Underwoods are both glaring down at me.
Aww crap!
That's really all I had time to think before Scott growled at me, bending down and grabbing me by the front of my shirt, hauling me up to a standing position and then a few inches higher, my feet just barely dangling off the ground. "Watch where you're going, moron!" he snarled in my face. Then he balled his free hand up into a fist and drove it into my gut. If I'd been standing, I could have doubled over, or sidestepped, or... anything, really, but here, I was totally helpless and at his nonexistent mercy. He dropped me in a heap, right in time for Blake to kick me in the side, knocking me into the wall. My head bounced off of it, and I groaned, dazed and in agony.
I saw the two of them take half a step back, getting ready to kick me while I was down, but then all of a sudden, a pair of legs stepped in between them and me. Beautiful, long, brown, shapely legs, bare from her calf-length socks all the way up to a neon orange skirt. As I looked up, realized they were attached to the gorgeous figure of Kawena, who took half a step back and fell into stance, letting her pack slip off her shoulders and drop to the floor beside me. What in the world was she doing?
"Back off, you two," the gorgeous Hawaiian babe said. "He's had enough." Woah. Was the hottest girl in school actually defending me? She was ranked second in the school in karate, but Blake was first, and there's no way she stood a chance against both of them!
"Step aside, Kawena," Scott said in a warning tone. "You see this? You have any idea how much this shirt cost?"
She gave a little snort of disgust. "Yes, actually. I also know you could buy six more just like it with this week's allowance."
"No, only five!" Blake said, rolling his eyes at her.
Scott just sort of growled at him for that. "Shut up!" But for some reason, he backed down. Maybe he just didn't want to hit a girl?
Kawena stepped back, out of stance, and reached down to offer me her hand. I took it and slowly staggered to my feet, still feeling a bit dazed. By now, though, people were starting to gather around, and of course that's bound to attract the attention of the teachers.
"What's going on here?" The stern voice of Mr. Billingsley cut through the crowd. Scott and Blake turned around, looking startled.
"Sensei!" Scott said. "Oh, it's nothing, really. This dork wasn't watching where he was going. Crashed into me and bounced off, then he tripped and fell into the wall, that's all. Kawena was walking by and she helped him up."
Mr. Billingsley is a 6th-dan black belt. He really doesn't look like much--medium height, middle-aged, and his hair's starting to go--but all the students know better than to mess with him. We've all taken classes from him at one point or another. He regarded the two with a dubious look. "Is that so? Miss Kapule?"
Kawena stepped away from me and gave him a brief bow and a nod. "Yeah, that's what happened," she said softly.
Sensei Billingsley sighed. "All right. Underwood, get to the locker room and get cleaned up. And you, Lopez... be more careful. I need you fit for next week's meet."
Like he really cares? I'm ranked 12th at Abe Lincoln High. Now being 12th out of the entire school isn't bad, especially seeing how it's a mandatory part of the curriculum here, but it's not like my being there or not was going to make any real difference at the meet. But you don't say things like that to Sensei Billingsley. "Sure. I'll be there."
"Good. Now head to the nurse's office and get'cherself checked out." He lowered his voice and gave me a knowing look as the Underwoods walked off. "Those, errm, walls can pack a nasty punch sometimes." He gave me and Kawena brief nods, then turned and walked away down the hallway.
"You OK, Dave?" Kawena asked. Wow! She was actually talking to me! And helping me up... that kind of counted as holding my hand, right?
So why was I feeling anger towards her, of all things?
"Why'd you tell him that?" I asked.
"You gotta pick your battles," she said, shrugging like it didn't mean a thing to her either way. "That one wasn't really worth fighting. And you heard Sensei; he knows anyway, so why ask for trouble?"
Yeah. That's Kawena. Hottest girl in school, but she's got a bad reputation. Most of the time, you say that about a girl, you mean she's easy. But not Kawena; she's got an even worse bad reputation, at least worse for Michael's Landing: Ranked second in karate, but she's a coward. Completely loses it, freaks out, runs off and hides at even the slightest hint of a monster attack. And now it looks like she gets a smaller version of the same thing when it comes to monsters of the human variety!
Though, can I really blame her for not finding me a battle worth fighting? I'm nobody. One of the better second-string karate students, but hardly comparable to her, way up at the top of the rankings. So I sighed and nodded. "I guess. Uhh... thanks."
She just nodded back, then retrieved her bag and walked off. Probably figured she'd just done me some sort of big favor or something. Whatever. I started to limp off towards the office to go see Nurse Grant.
"Hey Dave." Josh Hunter intercepted me halfway to the office. He's one of my few friends. They say you can judge a man by the company he keeps. What's it say about me that my closest friend is the biggest nerd in school?
Now in movies and stuff, nerds and geeks are people obsessed with video games, comic books, computer programming, chess... stuff like that. And sure, we've got a few "classic" nerds here. Eden Christiansen comes to mind. But here in Michael's Landing, we have the Defenders to obsess over. And yeah... that's Josh, probably the world's biggest Solar Defenders fanboy. He wants to go into the Army when he graduates, so he can take Special Forces training and end up joining the Defenders. At least he's managed to channel his obsession into something positive: he's ranked 13th in karate, my on-again, off-again rival for the #12 spot.
"Not right now, Josh," I groaned, holding my side. "I need to go see Nurse Grant."
"What happened?"
"Me, Scott, Blake, and a wall." I didn't feel like mentioning Kawena.
He looked disgusted. "That's why I gotta keep training," he said. "Someone needs to kick the crap out of those two, and who else is going to?"
I felt a shudder go down my spine. "Dude," I hissed at him under my breath, "Keep your voice down! Don't say that, don't even think stuff like that! You wanna end up like--" He gave me a surprisingly hard look, and I suddenly shut my mouth, realizing how close I'd come to a line I really shouldn't cross. "...yeah. Just, stay out of their way, OK?"
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"Then who's going to? There's nobody else to do it right now. Believe me, if there were somebody else to do it, I'd let them do it, but there's not, so..."
I rolled my eyes at him. "You seriously quoting Bruce Willis at me?"
"Just saying. Someone's gotta do something about them."
"Sure, but not us. All we have to do is keep our heads down, survive the next year and a half, and we graduate and go off to anywhere but here!"
"If you say so, man. We still on for this afternoon?"
I nodded. "Yeah, it's not that bad. Me and Jenny will meet up at your place to study."
"All right. See ya then." He smiled and headed off.
I made my way to the office, telling them that Sensei Billingsley had sent me to see Nurse Grant, and they waved me in.
"David," she said when I entered. "What's the matter today?" She's this sweet older lady, getting on towards retirement age, with graying hair, wrinkles, and a soft, gentle voice. She's also the only person I think I've ever seen Scott Underwood actually show fear towards. I dunno how a little old lady like her manages it, but when she needs it, she's can pull out this cold stare that can cow even the worst of kids and stop them in their tracks. But right now she was in full-on "kindly granny" mode.
"Hit my head," I said. "I was clumsy and tripped, ran into a wall."
She nodded at that. "And the way you're holding your side?" She may be old, but her mind's sharp; she doesn't miss a thing. "Clumsiness? Really, David?"
Well, what am I gonna do? "Sorry, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Clumsiness is safe to blame stuff on. It doesn't have a dad who owns half the town."
She scowled at me. "Oh, David... again? When are you going to stand up to them?"
I shrugged. Am I seriously the only one who realizes what a phenomenally stupid idea that would be? "I dunno, maybe when I own half of an even bigger town, so I can get away with it?"
Well, come to think of it, I guess Kawena realizes. That whole thing about battles not worth fighting and all. But she's a coward!
So what does that make me, if she's just like me in this?
Nurse Grant did some poking and prodding and nurse-stuff-ing, then said I'd probably be fine, and it didn't look like a concussion or any serious injury, but to come back to her office right away if I started feeling dizzy. So she sent me on my way, but by that time lunch was almost over. I grabbed a few cookies from the vending machine--not much of a lunch, but it was all I had time for--and scarfed them down before heading off to English class.
So, yeah. English, Civics, Magic Theory, Chem, then back home. It was really starting to feel like a normal day again. Shoulda known it wouldn't last.
I grabbed a quick snack, then headed over to Josh's place. Jenny Morris was already there when I arrived. The three of us are all the same age and live about a block away from each other, so it makes for a natural study group. She's half white, half Native American, medium height and kinda dark-complected, but she likes to dye her hair blonde. She jokes that it's to go with me (black hair) and Josh (redhead). Ranked 20th in karate, not bad, but not great.
I found her sitting at the table with Josh, arguing about something. When I got closer I heard what it was. "Seriously? It's for kids! Like... middle-school kids!"
Oh boy. That could really only mean one thing, and she really should have known better than to insult his favorite TV show in front of him. Now we're never going to get any studying done, are we?
"So what?" Josh argued. "It's about us."
"It's not about us, it's about the Defenders, and the story they use is totally made up. You know the actual Masters aren't a bunch of bumbling clowns who are always cackling about how they're going to rule the world and then throwing tantrums when their latest scheme fails, right?" She's in the Theatre Guild, and the terrible acting on the show most likely offended her at some fundamental level.
Josh rolled his eyes. "Well they can't be all that competent, seeing as how they always lose. Oh, hey Dave."
I sat down. "Don't even bother arguing with him about Valiant Invincible Solar Defenders," I told Jenny. "Even if you win, you won't win."
That earned a scowl from Josh. "Et tu, brute?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's get down to business." I got out my Geometry book and my binder. "Congruent and similar triangle theorems. Any of this stuff make any sense to you two?"
Jenny was right about to say something, when suddenly the ground shook and the sky darkened. There was a bright flash of lightning nearby, and an intense, explosive boom of thunder that rolled over us, rattling the windows and just seeming to go on and on and on. That was the sign of a monster attack. But it's Wednesday! They usually only happen on Thursdays, for some reason no one really understands.
Josh's face lit up, and he grabbed his phone.
"What are you doing?" Jenny demanded as Josh started to get up from the table.
"You see how close that bolt was? There's about to be a monster fight. Here! If I can get close enough, Valiant Invincible Solar Defenders will pay good money for the footage!" He got up and ran for the door.
I tried to grab his arm, but my side still hurt and I wasn't as quick as I normally would have been, and he slipped away with his phone. Jenny and I looked at each other. "He's totally gonna get himself killed, isn't he?" she asked. Then she sighed and we both got up to chase him down.
Josh was half a block away by the time we got out the door. We chased after him, frantically trying to catch up. "We're totally going to get ourselves killed, aren't we?" I asked her.
"Speak for yourself!" She leaned forward a little, running faster. I pushed myself to match. We were gaining on Josh, but slowly.
Suddenly a pair of golems jumped out from behind a parked car at the side of the road. They tried to grab Josh, but Sensei had trained him well. He quickly dodged to the side, slowing from his headlong sprint and falling into stance, his foot lashing out to catch one of them in its knee.
They may be made from animated clay, but they move a lot like people, and they have weak spots on their joints just like we do. The golem stumbled, and Josh backed off a step or two to get some space, throwing a few punches at the second one.
Jenny and I caught up pretty quickly. I jumped into the air, calling out a loud kiai as I kicked the recovering golem in the back, bearing it to the ground. Jenny went in low, sweeping the feet out from under the one Josh was fighting. Both of them went down in a heap, but that was just a few lucky shots. We all knew exactly what to do if we came across golems: counter their attacks, stagger them, then run away before they could recover.
I grabbed Josh's shoulder. "Run!"
There was a sudden crackling sound, like what you hear in a movie when a mad scientist has one of those electric-arc rail thingies in his lab, and Josh's eyes went wide. "Woah!"
I turned and looked, and saw Defender Venus stepping out of a rift in space, tall and covered in shiny green body armor. "Get to safety!" she yelled at us as the void closed behind her. (At least, everyone assumes Venus is a she. The helmet blocks out her face entirely, and something about the armor distorts her voice into a mechanical buzzing tone, but her armor wouldn't be curved in the chest like that if it wasn't accomodating a feminine figure.)
We stumbled back as Venus took up a combat stance, then began to pummel the two recovering golems with a rapid flurry of kicks, punches, and knife-hand strikes. We probably should have run for safety like she said, but I've never been very good at doing what I should... and I have to admit, it was a bit awe-inspiring, actually being in the presence of a Defender. Even with all the danger, I just couldn't look away... and neither could Jenny. (Or Josh of course!)
Almost a dozen more golems rose from the ground, about 20 yards off, and Venus's voice cried out, "I need backup here! 6th and Walnut!" After a few moments, more rifts opened, and Jupiter, Mars and Neptune stepped out. They had their backs to us, facing the oncoming golems. Josh moved to take cover behind a car, finally getting a bit of sense as things got more serious--and then he pulled out his phone and turned on the camera app, trying to catch a video of the fight.
"Where's Mercury?" Venus asked as she shattered the leg of one of the golems into a shower of dirt and pebbles with a powerful front kick. It fell hard to the ground, its body dissolving and sinking back into the earth, and she started in on the other one.
"She's finishing off the last of our batch," one of the others called. I couldn't tell which. "And then trying to hunt down the monster."
The four Defenders made short work of the golems, but apparently Defender Mercury had been looking in the wrong place; a few moments later, some sort of horrifying lizard-bird swooped down from the trees. Eight feet tall, its body covered in bright scales as blue as Neptune's armor, with four huge, black-feathered wings, a long, tapered lizard tail, and a face with a vicious looking beak protruding from it. It let out a loud scream, like a hawk being tortured in front of a microphone, and raised its clawed hands, scaly digits wiggling as it conjured up energy bolts to blast at the defenders.
They dove for cover behind a parked car, the bolts just barely missing them, tearing smoking, hissing gouges into the asphalt.
Venus was still a bit back, but Mars, Jupiter and Neptune looked at each other and mumbled something between them that I wasn't quite close enough to catch. They nodded, then the three of them reached down and picked up the car they were crouching behind, working together to lift it over their heads. Bright orange, red and blue auras shone about them as they hurled it at the monster, propelling it with magic. They jumped back and conjured energy shields as the car hit the lizard-bird monster and suddenly exploded in a brilliant fireball!
Then something went very wrong. The lizard-bird cawed out a grating, horrifying sound that might have been some sort of monstrous laugh, and it redirected the flames, blasting the three Defenders. They clearly weren't expecting this; they stumbled, then fell, then their armor shattered into massive eruptions of brightly-colored smoke.
"NOOOOO!" Venus screamed and drew her sword, charging at the monster. I couldn't really see all that well for a few seconds, until the smoke started to clear. The Defenders were gone. Just... vanished entirely, and there on the far side was Venus, screaming like some sort of berserker as she slashed and swiped at the monster over and over. It stumbled back under her onslaught, its talons catching and deflecting her blade again and again, until finally it managed to disengage, turn, take a few running steps and fly off.
Venus conjured up a few energy bolts, but the monster dodged, and it wasn't long before it was safely away.
"Woah, look at that!" Josh got up and walked out around the car, towards the still-smoky area where the three Defenders had fallen.
"Josh..." Jenny asked, looking nervous as she got up to follow him. "What are you doing?"
"Look!" He pointed down, and I saw something shining on the ground. I walked over to see what was going on. As we got close, we could see three crystals sitting there. "Woah!" Josh said again. He bent down to grab the closest one, which swirled with crimson light.
I probably shouldn't have picked up the next one--bright orange--but, well, you know by now. It just seemed to draw me in somehow. And Jenny stared at the blue one almost hypnotically, reaching for it.
"HEY! Don't touch those!" Venus yelled at us when she turned and saw what was going on. But it was too late. Our fingers closed around the crystals, and then I felt a shock run through my body. I heard a crackling sound, and my skin began to harden, swelling outward, bright orange armor growing from it! To either side of me, Josh and Jenny were experiencing similar transformations!
"Awww crap! No! NO!" Venus sprinted over, then she waved her hands, conjuring up a rift behind us. Three sharp palm-strikes and we stumbled back through it, and she jumped in after.
We fell through a void, then landed hard on the ground, inside some sort of room. I looked around, and it looked like... I don't even know what. Something out of some sort of castle, maybe? The room was made of stone, with weapons--swords, spears, bows, stuff like that--hung along the walls.
An old man sat at a table nearby, writing something in the biggest book I've ever seen, a massive tome that must have weighed thirty pounds. He looked up, and his face was subtly wrong, like not human. His features were gaunt, elongated, his head just a little too large for his body, his eyes a bright golden color, his skin pale white with a subtle orange tinge, and he seemed to have some clear, cut stone, sparkling like a diamond as big as an eyeball, embedded in his throat.
"This is not good," he said. He didn't sound as old as he looked; his voice was deep and rich, practically booming even though he spoke quietly. "I felt something. What has happened, Venus?"
She shook her head. "Mars, Jupiter and Neptune have fallen, and these three picked up their Fundaments, and bonded them!" As she was speaking, she reached up with both hands, tapping her helmet on both sides at once. It dissolved away into nothingness, long, black hair spilled out, and her voice abruptly transitioned from distorted to familiar.
"Wha?" Jenny gaped as Venus turned to look at the three of us accusingly. I think I did too.
The Defenders were supposed to be Special Forces, an elite government program that studied the power of magic to fight against the Masters and the creatures they summoned against us. The best of the best that the United States Armed Forces had to offer.
So what in the world was Kawena Kapule doing glowering at the three of us from within that green armor?!?