CHAPTER 2: NOT YOUR AVERAGE STUDENT

The 2:00 bell rang at Sayashi High School in Emerald Sector A. Class had ended for the day, and Takeshi Shinzo strolled down the hall prepared to leave the confines of the school. The nearby girls swooned before him as Takeshi smiled in their general direction. He was just shy of six feet tall, and his black hair that hung in front of his face along with his blue eyes was the envy of every guy in the school, along with the desire of every girl. Naturally, his popularity with the girls got him in conflicts with the other boys in school. Today was no exception.

“Shinzo!” a voice boomed from behind Takeshi, halting him. Slowly, he wheeled around and smirked.

“Ah, Shimazu. Good to see you. What’s up?”

Shimazu was your stereotypical jock. Six feet, four inches tall, biceps you could hardly wrap both hands around, a real monster. He was the starting quarterback for the football team, the usual target of female attention. He had a bone to pick with Takeshi.

“Don’t ‘what’s up’ me, Shinzo! I saw you with my girlfriend yesterday; now what the hell is that all about?”

“Who, you mean Fujima? She missed physics yesterday, so I gave her the homework she missed. That all right with you?”

“Maybe it isn’t! What else did you do?”

“Hm, I think I also gave her the notes I took from the lecture so she could catch up...”

“And?”

“That’s it. Can I go now, Mr. Prosecutor?”

“Bullshit! What else did you do, dammit?”

As Shimazu’s face turned beet-red, a crowd started to form as Takeshi’s eyes dulled while his voice began to drip with sarcasm, “Oh wait. There were a few more things. First, she flirted with me. That was pretty cool for a babe such as herself. Then we made out. Talk about hot. And then we gossiped about how much of an ass you are...”

The beet-red face shifted to crimson while Shimazu’s clenched fists shook with anger, making Takeshi smirk even more.

“Wanna hear more? Cuz then, we...”

“You’re dead, Shinzo! Dead!” Shimazu raced in to pulverize Takeshi, thrusting his meaty right fist forward. To Takeshi, however, the move was easily predictable. Stepping aside with grace, he dodged the assault. Grasping the right wrist, he twisted the arm and bent it downward so that it popped at least four times. A flick of the wrist later, a howling Shimazu was thrown into the lockers. He was knocked out cold. Students rushed over to see if what they just saw had really happened as they stared upon the battered Shimazu.

“Shinzo!” a slightly annoyed voice called out to Takeshi. It was Mr. Imoto, the principal. His stern eyes looked over his spectacles as he said in a calmer tone, “Come with me, Takeshi.”

“Tch,” Takeshi muttered, “I suppose that does deserve a slight reprimand...”

Meanwhile, Akane Shinzo was relaxing with her two best friends after a long day of school. The five-foot, five-inch tall girl had raven-black hair tied in two pigtails accompanied by blue eyes. She was Takeshi’s twin; the family resemblance was quite striking.

As usual, the girls covered the latest gossip circling the school. However, for Akane’s friends, this usually involved Takeshi.

“So,” one of the friends prattled on, “prom’s coming up. I wonder who Takeshi’s going to go with?”

The other replied, “He certainly does have his options open...”

“Gosh, but he’s such a dreamboat! Not only is he hot, but he always seems to act so cool!”

“I know! I wish he could be my prom date! That’d be a dream come true...What do you think, Akane?”

Akane looked quizzically at her friend, “Are you seriously asking me if I think my brother is hot?”

With that question, a student ran towards the girls and exclaimed, “Hey, Takeshi just beat the crap out of Shimazu! It was awesome!”

While the two girls went into a mode of hysteria, Akane sighed and head towards the principal’s office.

“This ought to be good,” she thought, “he probably didn’t get away with it clean, though. Imoto probably has him.”

Back at Imoto’s office, the principal simply asked, “Why, Takeshi?”

“Self-defense, sir,” Takeshi answered, “Ask anyone who saw it; Shimazu came at me, not the other way around.”

“Fine, Shinzo. I won’t punish you. Prom is coming up, and you’ll probably be this school’s King...if I punish you, I’ll most likely lose control of the student body...”

Takeshi slightly bowed, “Thank you, sir. I need to leave. I will be more careful next time.”

“Please do, Shinzo. You are dismissed.”

Takeshi and Akane met right outside the office. The female twin paused and asked, “All right, let’s hear it.”

“Didn’t everyone tell you, Akane? Shimazu was talking shit about me, I pushed it a little too far, he got pissed, tried to attack, and paid the price.”

“Oh, Takeshi...”

By this time, the twins were outside the school. Out of nowhere, they both rocketed off the ground. They were flying under their own free will.

Akane continued, “You and I both know that since we are Gem Guardians, we are much stronger fighters than normal people are. But you can’t let it slip that we have special fighting abilities. This fiasco was a little too close.”

“Oh, come on! It’s not like I used a ki attack on him!”

“True, but no common student can take out Shimazu as quickly as you apparently did.”

“Akane...”

“What?”

“You gotta admit, though, it is pretty cool that I actually beat the crap out of Shimazu.”

“That I will. He is a jerk, and I suppose it did work wonders for your image in the eyes of all the girls around school.”

“Damn, that’s probably the only downside to me doing that...now they’re all nuts over me, and I probably couldn’t give a crap about any one of them...”

Takeshi and Akane’s home was on the top of a mountain roughly twenty miles from school. The domed building was enormous, as it was home to the Gem Guardians; the duty of Takeshi and Akane was to monitor the four Gemspheres that unleash incredible power when put together.

As they closed in on their home, Akane quickly became worried, “Something’s gone wrong. Let’s move!”

Sirens were echoing throughout the building as the Gem Guardians entered. Takeshi raced to the central computer of the base to analyze what was wrong.

“Shit!”

“What is it, Takeshi?”

“We’ve got two drifters on our radar. Unidentified spacecraft. They’re closing in on Earth and fast!”

“Details?”

“ETA of 45 minutes; approximately landing, Ruby Sector B!”

“That’s halfway across the world!”

“Right...get ready, Akane, we’ve gotta step on it. I’ve got a bad feeling about this one...”

After deactivating the alarm, the Gem Guardians raced off to Ruby Sector B, specifically in the area formally known as Japan. School wasn’t a concern anymore; their duty was required.

NEXT: THE ZURONS LAND