Thirty days before the sonic boom incident

I could taste the early morning dew in the air. My behind is parked on a wooden park bench. All around me are flowers and roses of many colours. Beneath my feet? An interlocking stone pathway surrounded by green grass. This was my little oasis… my little fleeting sanctuary before rush hour started.

“Tetsu… I’m going to confess to him!” Mia said sitting beside me, her hand on her chest. Dressed in our green school uniform, I saw a girl with conviction. In her eyes I saw a fire of a girl who could make her own future. “Thanks for listening to me! You’re the only one I can talk to about this.”

“I’m very flattered Mia.” I spoke gently. “But don’t you have someone you shared a womb with that you can talk to about this?” Mia frowned.

“You would think so Tetsu… but I just don’t feel comfortable talking to sis about this.” That’s not surprising when every conversation becomes ‘You must not date him because he’s bad!’ While I do agree with Lia… that’s not my choice to make.

Mia and Lia. Both my childhood friends and identical twins with different personalities. Lia would ace tests and not say much in a conversation. Mia is athletic and driven but always a romantic. How both were passionate if you brought up something they cared about.

“Well… while I do have my misgivings about him… I ultimately can’t stop you.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “Don’t let anyone… not even me… tell you what to do. Got it?” I grinned.

“Hey Tetsu! Isn’t that kind of a paradox or something?” Mia giggled. “You’re the best guy friend a girl could have.” She jumped towards me with a hug. “Thank you so much Tetsu! I promise to support you with your crush.” Mia jumped back with a wink. “You wish you were holding Sapphire in your arms weren’t you?” A picture of a girl with shoulder length wavy hair popped into my head. Dressed in a school uniform she extended a hand to me. “You’re blushing! I gotcha, I gotcha!” Mia’s voice snapped me out of my vision.

“So this is what I get for being your shoulder to cry on?” I retorted.

“You’re smiling way too much to be actually bothered by my words.” I touched my mouth. Darn it! Mia was right.

“Heh… I guess you got enough of that pep in you.” I playfully shot back. “Go give it your all Mia!”

“Thanks Tetsu! I have to take care of something. See you at school!” She waved as she walked away. I waved back lamenting her future teasing about my crush. Oh well. I’m happy that she is finding love. I suppose I should try to reach for love myself.

I stand up and take in the plant life of the coloured flowers, swaying trees, and the glowing magical circle that was growing beneath my feet…

“Shit!” I leaped away from the magical circle. “I choose life! No demon lord fighting for me!” The magic circle faded away. Was I really being summoned to another world? I may have doomed that fantasy world but, I am not fit for that kind of thing.

*ZUUMUUUM!* Another magical circle formed underneath my feet. But this time it rapidly grew something like 15 meters and was really loud. I can’t dodge this… it’s too big. The magical circle glowed even brighter and the next thing I knew I was surrounded by multi-coloured light streaks. I felt weightless as I drifted through the space.

Suddenly the intertwining lights disappeared. I found myself standing on an illuminated circle along with 4 other teenagers like myself, two girls and two other guys. There were… control panels, and computers with holographic displays? In the middle of the room of white walls there was a large dimily glowing glass sphere. There is also another teenager dressed in what looks like a military officer’s uniform standing in front of us. She looks at us with a smile on her face.

“Welcome!” She spoke with pride. “Do not be alarmed. I am Arc Team Commander Cecilia. You have been chosen by the Oracle to protect this city from the forces of darkness.Heroes of the Arc, you must help us!”

“Do you mean the demon lord?” I asked.

“No… well...” The girl in the uniform paused for a second as she brought her hand to her chin. “We haven’t even confirmed if there is a Demon Lord. What you’ll be fighting are shadows.“

“Okay… so where is the King?” I questioned. “And what is this land called anyways?” Cecilia looked at me confused.

“Uh… I still have cellphone reception so I think we are still on earth.” One of the girls spoke up. She was dressed up in a senior’s uniform of my school. She had long black hair and brown eyes looking downward. I saw a small book being held in her hand. “So it’s not likely an alternate dimension either.” At that point all of the ‘Arc Heroes’ checked their phones.

“Hey! She’s right!” One of the guys said.

“Well... “ Cecilia spoke as she put here hand on her hip. “Now that we confirmed that we’re not in some kind of fantasy land with elves and dwarfs, can we continue?” All of us breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “Good! Now then… I’ll let the oracle speak with you directly.” She waved her hand towards the large glowing orb.

“Thank you Cecilia.” The large orb started to light up as a female echoing voice spoke. “Arcs! You have been chosen because I foresaw that you all with save us for the forces of darkness. And so I shall unlock and enhance your latent magical talent.” One of the guys started to glow with sparkling red energies. “The power to strike through the darkness, you shall be known as Arc Red!” A pillar of red light shot up from ground. “Your have the power to inspire the magical strength and endurance of everyone around you.” The pillar of light faded. He was dressed in new clothes, a red tinted visor and a red scarf.

“Whoa!” Arc Red shouted. “This is cool!”

One of the girls started to be surrounded with a yellow energy. “You have the power to strike down your foes with the strongest of magic. You are Arc Yellow!” She became surround by a yellow pillar of light. After she appeared in a yellow version of Red’s clothing.

“Is this really happening? I feel so powerful!” She had this big smile on her face. “I feel like I could do anything!” She started to throw some air punches followed by a roundhouse kick. “This is amazing!” She looked at her own fists.

“Wait wait wait…” I interjected. “She said strongest of magic. What are you doing throwing punches?” Arc Yellow looked at her own hands.

“Oh! So I can gather my energy and launch it in a beam attack!” Yellow exclaimed. Well… she’s not wrong. I just had an image of elemental spells like ice bolt or a fire explosion. As long as her speed isn’t moving so fast that she appears to be teleporting… at least things won’t be crazy.

“The wielder of strike and healing magic!” The orb voice continued with the sparkes of magical energy surrounding the other guy. I’m guessing the orb wanted to cut short the antics. “Awaken… Arc Blue!” Another pillar of light appeared… now blue! So surprising I must say! Then green particles of magical energy started to surround me. “The master of support magic and wielder of attack magic!” A pillar of green pillar of light engulfed me. “Awaken… Purple Arc! And… uh… Green Arc as well!” Wait what? The pillar of light disappeared from around me. I look over to Arc Violet. We both looked at each other.

“Violet and… Green?” Arc Violet thought out loud. “Hmm?” She put her hand to her chin. No cheers of celebration from her. I’m actually surprised myself. Doing two at once. Was Miss Orb that impatient? I don’t know how I feel about being mentioned as an afterthought. Commander Cecilia stepped forward in front of us.

“And now The Arcs have been born!” Cecilia declared. “Now with your newfound powers we can fight to bring peace back to the land!”

★★★

“What part of causing a minor natural disaster is bringing back peace to the land?!” Commander Cecilia fumed as she paced around the Arc base war room. “A minor earthquake, a small crater from using too much magic on jumping, and now people are making reports about how a meteor fell upwards towards the sky!”

“My apologies Cecilia.” I answered. “Made a choice on the spot because that was the only answer I could think off.” Cecilia’s heavy breathing slowed down a bit.

“Arc Green did what he thought was best at the time Commander.” Arc Red spoke up as he put his hand on my shoulder. “In the heat of battle you don’t have time to think.” While sometimes I did have crazy plans, Arc Red really was the one who covered for me.

“Yeah yeah! There was no telling what Spade would do with that much energy to attack us.” Arc Yellow stood tall with her hands on her hips. Ceilia gave me a sigh.

“Very well… just try not to do something that would disturb the peace like that again.” Ceilia turned away from me shaking her head. “There are going to be so many news reports of this incident.” Arc Violet poked my arm from the side. I turned to her wondering what was on her mind. She brought her mouth near my ear.

“That was a very brave thing you did there. You caused a natural disaster to help someone close to you.” Wha? Did she know? “It was really reckless. But I’m a little jealous.” Arc Purple nodded to me with a smile. “I think maybe… I am starting to learn what it takes to be a hero.” I felt my face heat up.

“Don’t say embarrassing things like that!” I said under my breath. “Besides… Spade is somewhere on the loose. Who knows what they are planning!”

★★★

Spade slowly walked towards a dimly lit throne in the darkness. A silhouette of a figure sat upon the throne. “My master.” Spade kneeled. “I retrieved some energy from the fissure. However some mages interrupted me.”

“Oh?” The shadow figure grinned. “Did they come in various colours?”

“Why yes!” Spade spoke up in surprise. “How do you know?”

“I have my methods. Did they come in red, blue, yellow, pink, and black?”

“Master there was no Pink nor Black mage!” The figure dark grinned again. She sat up and walked toward a window. Her long flowing royal purple dress dragged across the floor for a meter. The moonlight bathed her bare shoulders in a soft light.

“Most interesting… Spade, you shall continue to gather energy for me. Try to make plans to counter those mages.”

“Yes my master!” Spade stood up and gave a gentleman's bow. Then he turned to walk out. The dark figure continued to gaze outside the window.

“One day we shall meet… and I will be the one that shows you the true cruelty of this world.”