Super Sentai: Magic Force [IC, NA]

[Draconus297]

It was a bright, unassuming spring day when it began. At least, it was that way down on Earth. Our origin point, like the beginning of many such stories, is high above Earth: the cold, desolate vacuum of space.

 

Hanging in low Earth orbit like a spider maliciously dangling above the protagonists in a horror film was a rather large spacecraft, its mere presence more than enough to be frightening if it weren't cloaked from mortal eyes. Still, as the ISS passed nearby, a simultaneous shiver that had nothing to do with the station's cold wracked the spines of the astronauts and cosmonauts working aboard.

 

But more on that later. It was a beautiful spring day, and life was progressing as well as it should. In fact, things were progressing so well that students at a certain high school could allow themselves to get distracted by the good weather. The Student Council had made their announcements, the Journalism Club had taken photos of each class, and teachers were making their introductions: ah, life in a simple high school.

 

************

 

Akasa Yui thumbed through her novel idly, as her homeroom teacher went off on a tangent about her own life at this school. Given that, with the dust jacket off, the relatively large piece of fiction is easily mistakeable for a textbook, she generally isn't bothered.

 

Of course, I finally make some friends and I have none of them in the same homeroom with me with how things were shuffled around, she internally gripes. A quick flick of her jade-green eyes about the room later, and it's confirmed: Yui knew absolutely no one in this class. Some had an interesting look to them, but the bookish girl made no attempt to speak with them- not yet. For all she knew, she was going to be moving along again tomorrow.

 

As she had that thought, she frowned and touched a hand to her chest, where (under her uniform, to avoid being considered a rule-breaker) she had her necklace- a glittering green hunk of stone tied in string and hung around her neck. The thing was a keepsake from the first time she'd had real fun in this city- she'd picked it up on her way back home from a friend's house last year.

 

"Well, it was only just the stone," she muttered to herself, having a hard time not speaking her thoughts aloud whilst reading a novel and listening to her teacher's frankly long-winded explanation of how things had changed in this school over the years.

 

Returning to the fantastic plot in her novel, Akasa Yui made a mental note to introduce herself to some of these girls later.

 

************

 

Our next stop isn't too far from there, and where things will truly get interesting. In an alley not twenty kilometers from the school was an eight-foot mechanical marvel by the name of Proto.

 

Proto hovered about, trying to discern how far away the Cores had gotten. "I need to find them soon," he related to a rat that was cleaning its whiskers before eating. "The Cores should have bonded to suitable beings by now, and if my calculations are correct . . . I am already out of time."

 

The massive, rust-covered sentient machine managed to look disturbed, despite its lack of a face. "I am only relating this as an attempt to prepare for revealing large amounts of information," the perpetually airborne Proto continued, tracing the locations of the Cores. "I shall need to brief the recipients of the Cores on how to use their gifts."

 

Proto hovered forward, cloaking itself in an invisibility spell and following the signal the Cores put off: it seemed many were in the same approximate location.

[Mr. Hyde]

"Come on...come on...alright 6-hit combo!"  

 

Matsumoto Utzuki tapped and tapped away at her portable video game console.  She had sneaked it in to play the latest "Sword Slayer: Portable" game that she bought the night before.  She tried to whisper, but her excitement built every time she learned a new combo.  Hopefully the same combos would translate into the home console versions, but those would be released later this year.  She was lucky she was assigned a seat towards the back of class, the spot of the underachievers!

 

"MATSUMOTO!  Are you even paying attention!?"  A shout from in front of the class shook her in her chair.  She jumped up, posthaste, and gave a salute, that was followed up with a yawn.  She held the other hand with her psvita behind her back.

 

"O-of course teach!"  

 

"Then answer the question...and don't call me teach!"

 

"R-right tea-...I mean Yamashiro sensei.  Uhmmmmm....Inertia is a property of matter?"  Utzuki knocked on her head and stuck out her tongue.  The whole class laughed, but she wasn't sure if they were laughing with her, or at her.

 

"Matsumoto...you're in Literature Class....the correct answer was H.G. Wells."  The exhaustion that the girl caused him on a daily basis sure did resonate in his tone.  The red-head gave off another salute and sat back down in her chair.  She placed her psvita back in her pocket, along with that strange rock she found on the arcade machine a while back.  She could feel the determination coursing through her veins.  Today would be the day she would pay attention in class for reals!

 

Fifteen minutes later, she could feel a rolled up magazine tap the top of her head.  She knew what it was, the sensation was familiar.  As her head rose, a stream of drool followed.

 

"Matsumoto...your snoring was disrupting class...one more disruption and I'm giving you detention."

 

"Yes teach..." she slumped back into her chair.  

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Today was a good day. Tabitha had managed to get to school, only being forty minutes late this time. She even took a shower and ate breakfast. Albeit it was just dry toast. She answered a few questions her teachers asked and made it home without going onto a random detour that made it take hours to return.
Having expended so much of her energy, Tabitha decided to lay in bed until dinner was ready, staring up at the ceiling. Not many thoughts crossed her mind, which she was thankful for, and the time slowly creeped along. She glanced at her alarm clock. 6 PM. Food should be ready soon. She gave thought to getting up, but her body wouldn’t cooperate.

She let out a deep sigh. It seemed that she was crashing. It was inevitable, there wasn’t any deep feelings she got over it. This was just how it was going to be. She curled up and stared at the closet for a while. Knocking came, and went, came again, and then nothing.
A slight flash caught her gaze and she focused on the source. She noticed her necklace, with the odd gem. The memento of her grandfather. Nothing should have made it flash like that, yet...Perhaps it was nothing. But the event did give her enough energy to shuffle out of bed.

Slipping on the necklace before leaving her room, Tabitha headed towards the dining room. “Hunny you shouldn’t bother waiting at the table, she’s not coming out.” Tabitha paused. That was her father’s voice.
“I know it’s just...I thought maybe this time...” Her mother’s sigh was similar to Tabitha’s earlier. Resigned, empty. When did that happen? Tabitha thought she had been so careful to get them not to notice a thing, was it all for naught?
“Maybe...” Her mother again. “Maybe we should get her...help.”
“No.” Came her father’s voice. Stern, somewhat angry. “She’s not failing school, despite her...problem. She’ll pull through, I know it. I know it just. Just give her time.”
“It’s been so long, don’t you think if time was what she ne-”
“Quiet, I don’t want to hear it, this is our little girl we’re talking about! Not some...nutjob that needs a doctor to look at her brain!”

Tabitha had heard enough. She walked slowly down the hall, away from the voices, and out the door. She couldn’t figure out how to process that information. She was a burden, she was making her parents fight, her broken excuse for a life was tearing her family apart. So why did she feel so...calm about it? She didn’t feel saddened by this. Just numb. Why? A tightness clenched her chest, and she began to feel an unusual panic. She started moving faster, not nearly a run, just a quick walk. She didn’t know where she was going she just knew she had to go somewhere. Tightly gripping her necklace, the young girl walked in an unknown direction, seeking nothing but unable to stop. Not even noticing the sun setting, or the strange tingle in the air...

[Hälō]

"Williams! I don't know what they allowed in America, but there will be no running in my hallway!" The voice of the principle echoed down the allow way as Ashely bolted past his office in a full sprint.

 

"Sorry, my Japanese still needs some work, sir!" The girl called back over her shoulder in a surprisingly well polished Japanese. If she hadn't been directing all of her energy towards her legs, she would very likely have had a smug grin plastered across her face- but now wasn't the time to marvel at the fact that she got away with a lot more than she should have because she had told the faculty that her family had only just recently moved to this country. Not when she was already thirty minutes late to her Literature class!

 

Rounding the corner at the end of the hallway, and bringing herself to a sliding halt in front of her classroom door, Ashely took a moment to gather herself before peering into the window to assess the likelihood her slipping into the room without being noticed. Luckily, it seemed that the professor was occupied scolding an all too familiar red-head, and had his back to the door.  

 

"Utzuki coming in clutch yet again..." Ash mumbled with a small hint amusement, before stealthily cracking open the door and slinking into the classroom. Darting between her fellow classmates, as the teacher made his way back up the front of the class, Ashely slid into the seat directly next to Utzuki, before letting loose a small sigh. "Sorry I couldn't catch the midnight release with ya... I ended up working a double again last night." Her voice shifted into a low whisper as she motioned for the other girl to hand her the attendance sheet so that she could sign her name. "How is it??"