Blue Nexus #4--Competition

         
          Mira and Kyle headed down to Ernie’s Ice Cream place. For college and older high school students, it was the place to be. When stressed, eat ice cream, they all figured. The place was packed in early spring and fall, where there was a surge in the small town’s numbers. The ice cream place itself wasn’t large, seating only a few people on the inside and granting the patrons not too great a variety of flavors. Most people sat outside so to accommodate for more space, plus it was often pretty nice outside. There were just as many tables outside as there were inside, and since all the inside ones were taken, the duo took a table on the outside, seated directly across from the buzzing “Open” sign.

            From their vantage point they could see straight across the street to the supermarket, where Gargador attacked not too long ago. There was still a huge crater in the ground and traffic cones and police tape blocking off that part of the road. Luckily, the town was easy enough to navigate where all one had to do was just turn two corners and be back on track. The ice cream place hadn’t taken too much damage outside of a cracked window and some scratches on the table. It seemed that Hood Nexus really was able to keep the battle away from the town.

            Kyle was in different clothes than just a few moments ago, thanks to a spare change of clothes needed for an emergency. He was in jeans and a black shirt, with his jacket back in Mira’s car, contrary to his look of blue shirt and black shorts he had all day. He wasn’t the biggest fan of wearing jeans, but didn’t really care in the moment. Mira was looking quite amazing in just her school clothing…then again to Kyle she always looked amazing.

            Mira had picked a chocolate mint ice cream flavor while Kyle just went with a strawberry flavor, something basic. And cheap. The two sat down and licked away at their frozen treats for a moment before Kyle wiped his face of the pick deliciousness and noticed that he was pretty much done with it already, while Mira was still going. He looked down to hide his rather ashamed face, he didn’t want her judging him.

            “Well jeez, Kyle, didn’t know it was going to be a race,” she said, then patted her stomach. “I would have creamed you.”

            Kyle smiled. Thank God she was amazing, he thought. “Is that so?” He opened his mouth wide and shoved the remaining part of the cone in his mouth. Mira’s eyes opened wide as Kyle realized the horrendous mistake he’d made.

            He threw up a hand to stop Mira from interfering. He took large and hefty bites into the cone, freezing his teeth. His brain was frozen over and begging for him to stop, but in order to keep himself alive he chewed on. He sucked down the ice cream before managing to swallow the little bits of cone that were left.

            “Okay, maybe not,” Mira said, leaning back and her eyes evening out. “Didn’t have to kill yourself, you know.”

            “I honestly did not think that would work,” Kyle said. “Probably just better off taking smaller bites.”

            “Well if you didn’t think it’d work then why’d you try it, are you trying to get yourself killed or something?” Mira asked, a hint of resentment within her question.

            Kyle felt like he just got stung, but carried on without wincing. “I don’t know, it didn’t look that big until I started chewing. At least we found out I don’t have a large mouth.”

            “I think that head injury is getting to you,” Mira said behind her cone.

            “I’m fine,” Kyle said. “Throw a pair of strobe lights up right in front of me and I swear I won’t pass out.”

            Mira raised an eyebrow. “I don’t buy that, but, I also don’t want to try it. Mostly because I would also have to look straight into it.”

            Kyle laughed and Mira chuckled. She was so cute, Kyle thought. A couple of older college guys walked past them, shutting Kyle up as he felt they were looking upon Mira.

            A thought halted him. She wasn’t his, but, it was their date…event…thing. Ice cream? Kyle still had no idea what to make of it. Nothing flirtatious went down in the car, the two just talked about lacrosse for a while, which Kyle was sick of talking about. Ever since he made the team that was all his grandparents would ask him about whenever he was home. And he had to relay those same answers now to Mira.  So if nothing flirtatious was going on, did that constitute it as just hanging out?

            Not that there was anything wrong with that. Date or not, he was going to enjoy himself as he was already. Mira was proving herself to be a wonderful companion to just be around.

            She spun him a tale about something that happened in school, and the entire time Kyle was engrossed in what she had to say. She talked rather poetically, very smart for kids their age. He had no idea what her plans for the future were but he figured that they would have something to do with a really high-up college. Kyle would probably end up going to another state college around them, a cheap one, but preferably not the community college.

            When she was finished Kyle put some input in the story, as he’d heard something about it, but mostly wanted to let Mira do the talking. That opportunity slipped away in a heartbeat, though, as Mira asked a dreaded question:

            “Hey, Kyle, you’ve heard of that blue guy, right?”

            Kyle’s stomach lurched up to his throat. “Blue guy? There are blue people?”

            “No, I mean, ah, what are they calling him? The Phoenix dude said something about…Blue Nexus, yeah, that’s his name! You’ve heard of him, right?”

            Kyle nodded. “Yeah, hard not to have heard of him with all these other big supers coming out of nowhere.”

            Kyle bit the inside of his lip so that Mira couldn’t see it. He hadn’t transformed too many times in public, and those times that he had he was sure nobody could see him. The only major player that had the Nexus power who had exposed himself to Adelita was Hood Nexus, who did look, relatively, like Blue Nexus, like Kyle. Perhaps that was who she as talking about. If it was, Kyle had little reason to worry. He knew as much about Hood Nexus as almost any other stranger. Still, though, Kyle had to keep his cool and not reveal anything about himself, or make himself suspect to the identity.

            “Seems pretty legit that he would show up here,” Mira said. “I’ve heard he’s been spotted more than that one time that just over there.”

            She flicked her head in the direction of the crater.

            Kyle nodded sheepishly. “Someone at school said they saw him flying up toward the Moon the other night.”

            “The Moon?” asked Mira.

            “Yup,” Kyle said, trying not to laugh. That was the same thing he’d said to Phoenix. Crazy how things in a small town worked. “Then again, could’ve just been saying it to get some attention.”

            Mira shook her head. “Doubt it, if we get a super-hero then it’s gonna be true. Nothing happens around here, so something like this is going to be checked out in a heartbeat.” She lowered her hands, looking down at her ice cream. Then she looked back up to Kyle with an inquisitive look. “What do you think of him?”

            Kyle shrugged. “Sounds cool to me. Wish I could fly.”

            “But, I mean, he’s just disappeared since he first showed up, what kind of super hero is that?” asked Mira.

            “Maybe he’s just waiting for something to happen. I mean, nobody really ever gets robbed or mugged here, maybe he’s off in a bigger city with the bigger heroes.”

            “I guess so, didn’t really think of that. Maybe he just fights a bunch of aliens wherever they land. But I heard that the alien seemed pretty set on coming here, like, he was looking for something.”

            “No idea, but, he messed up traffic for a while.”

            Mira smiled. “My mom had a tough time with that the other day…”

            Kyle zoned out as Mira told another story. Phew, he thought. He really managed to dodge a bullet there. Whether or not they were talking about Hood Nexus was irrelevant. So long as he wore the bracelet that was riddled with alien, or at least outer-wordly, technology, he was prime suspect to have his cover blown. Not that Gargador hadn’t already pieced together who he was, but there was the issue of the other huge super-villains finding out about him. They may have had their hands full with the experienced heroes, but with the young guy like Kyle, they probably saw him as easy pickings. He didn’t really appreciate the thought.

            The two continued their evening in casual conversation. Kyle could hardly keep his eyes off of her and Mira seemed to be the same way. He hoped his face wasn’t turning red or that he was blushing, but butterflies were fluttering wildly in his stomach as the night grew on.

            Mira brought him home after their hour and a half trip to Ernie’s, pulling into his driveway. He froze for a moment. Was he supposed to give her a hug or something, or just, you know, get out?

            “Thanks for the ride, and for taking me out,” he blurted. He reached down and grabbed his backpack, then pulled on the door lever. It wouldn’t open, and his face turned red.

            “Oh, shoot, sorry,” Mira said, and unlocked the door. “Always forget about that. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

            Kyle stepped out of the car, confused. “Tommorrow?” He caught the door before it could close.

            “Yeah, the boys and girls scrimmage?” she asked. “Tomorrow at noon! Did you forget, mister lacrosse?”

            “No, I just, well…” he trailed off. Saying, I’ve forgotten about everything thanks to talking to you didn’t seem very smooth. Instead, he said, “Okay yeah, I may have forgotten.”

            “Do you need a ride there?” Mira asked. “I don’t live too far from here, I can pick you up if you want.”

            “Oh, well, oh no, I’ll ride my b-bike, it’ll be a good warm-up,” Kyle stuttered.

            “You sure?” she asked.

            “Yeah I make the ride all the time,” he said. “Besides, after I get down the hill I barely have to pedal to get to the school.”
            Mira smiled. “True that, I might just throw the car in neutral when I go down and see how much speed I can pick up.”

            “That’s actually a lot of fun, just make sure nobody’s coming when you do it,” Kyle said, then laughed. Mira chuckled.

            Kyle let go of the door, allowing it to close. Mira waved and he waved back, shouldering his bag and lightly jogging inside. He pulled the key out of his front pocket of his backpack and opened the door quietly. His grandparents were, undoubtedly, asleep by now.

            Very quietly, he moved through the hallway to his room, dropping his backpack on his bed then sitting down next to it and running his hands through his hair. The butterflies were gone and now they were being replaced in his mind as many other things he could have said to her that could have hinted at his liking her. Maybe even asking things to test if she liked him.

            He ran through dozens of thoughts and theories regarding this, considering the question of her giving him a ride to be the biggest on. But she as a nice girl, she probably asked all of her friends that, even the ones that she didn’t talk with much.

            Kyle was far more excited, though, about getting to see her again than about the scrimmage. He wouldn’t be starting at the scrimmage, what was there to be hoping for anyway?

            “Raiden, get out there and play some forward,” Coach said the following day a half-hour past noon.

            “Wait what?” asked Kyle.

            Coach raised an eyebrow and pointed to the field, his face getting red. Coach didn’t necessarily have a disease or condition, more like a tendency to get a very red face whenever something very small happened to make him even a little mad.

            “I said get on the field!” he shouted in Kyle’s face. Kyle was glad he was wearing a helmet to keep some distance from their faces. “Johnson’s not here for some reason so I need you to fill in for him. Make sure you don’t kill any of the girls, they’re fragile.”

            Kyle looked over to the girls. As good as the boys lacrosse team was, the girls were even better. Under their coach they were five time state champions, three of those were in a row. They were the team that placed a very strict rule against hitting in girls lacrosse. As such, the boys would not be practicing in pads but instead just playing in their game jerseys against the girls who were also in jersey. The girls he was looking at were just as tall as Brian, the boy captain, and a few had the bulk of Kyle.

            Among the crowd of the team were several of Mira’s teammates. All of them had their position on the field already but were talking to Mira, who was sitting by a table with cups of water waiting for players to swing by and get a drink. Closest to Mira was Sandy, who seemed to be a little more pumped up at the announcement that Kyle was going to be playing.

            The teams were scrimmaging to a rather large crowd in the stadium. The entire student’s section was filled up, with parents, while there were still a good amount of students. Kyle’s grandparents, Luke, and Kip were in attendance. Even some of the other sports coaches were there to watch the game. It was a rather celebrated match in their high school’s early spring sports, and was often a close one.

            Kyle took to the field, sprinting onto it, feeling rather odd, even naked, without his pads. He rushed to be standing right next to Brian, who was just as much a behemoth out of his pads as he was with them.

            “Coach tell you not to kill any of them?” asked Brian.

            “Sure did,” he said. “Didn’t say anything about asking them out, though,” he joked.

            Brian laughed. “Trust me, these girls would eat you alive.”

            “Coach seems to think they’re better suited in the kitchen.”

            Brian looked over to the girls coach, who was indeed a girl and was looking much calmer than Coach was.

            “Even though the girls coach would kick his butt in a heartbeat,” he said, then looked away as she looked over to the two boys.

            Kyle looked up for a moment at the sun, then looked immediately back down. “At least it’s not that hot, should be a nice game.”

            “It’s also your first as a starter,” Brian reminded him, patting him on the back with the stick in his hand. “So don’t mess up.”

            The ref stepped onto the field and Brian walked to the middle of the field for the faceoff. Kyle stood a good amount of yardage away from Brian, falling into the formation Coach wanted to start the game.

            Sandy looked over and winked at Kyle, who looked instantly away then squatted down, waiting for the game to begin. Kip and Luke were calling his name, faint amongst the higher numbers of the crowd.

            He was still a little tired from the previous night, and sleeping in rather late didn’t help it either. He tried to focus but just couldn’t, since all he could think about was Mira. Now, though, was not the time for that. Even if her beautiful self was standing just yards from him. He really wanted to keep talking to her, was that too much to ask.

            Something tapped his feet, and to his surprise, it was the ball. Kyle went to scoop it up but was given a rude reminder not to day dream. His stick was swatted down, then his face got hip-thrusted away, knocking him to his butt as Sandy winked at him again and started running.

            Kyle gripped the lacrosse stick tightly. Darn it, he thought, and lunged to his feet. He dashed after Sandy, able to catch up to her quickly. He swung down with his stick, but quickly another girl ran across his field of vision, leaving her leg out. Kyle tumbled down, reaching out with his stick and just missing Sandy’s feet. She took the shot but it was caught by the goalie.

            Kyle jumped up, running past Brian who was coming after him. Brian got the ball and the attack began. Sandy turned around and started to run alongside Kyle.

            “So how’d the date go last night?” asked Sandy.

            “Wasn’t really a date,” Kyle said, speeding up.

            “I know,” Sandy said. “Mira said it wasn’t either, it was just a way to cheer you up.”

            Kyle ignored her and broke into the open. Two of Mira’s friends, a couple of defenders, were upon him nimbly. The ball was passed to him and he managed to catch it.

            Quickly, Kyle broke down his feet and stopped dead in his tracks, then used his momentum and carried himself right. Both girls nearly slipped, the one on the right able to keep her composure the most and broke after the speeding Kyle.

            He danced around another defender, then saw an open player behind the goal. He passed it, but his stick was swatted to the ground once more by Sandy as she bumped him yet again, only for him to get bumped by the right defender and this time trip over himself, tumbling to the ground.

            Kyle punched the ground and looked furiously up at the two of them. The boys managed to score, but Kyle was still angry. The hits were hardly enough to be considered illegal based on how small they were and how they were taking advantage of an off-balanced person. Why were they targeting him, though? Was it because they didn’t want him to start, was it because he went out with Mira last night?

            “Playing dirty, then?” asked Kyle as he jogged past Sandy.

            “That’s how I liked it,” Sandy said, her eyes glued to her desired lover.

            Kyle rolled his eyes and got back in formation. The ref was discussing something with the other coach, allowing Brian the opportunity to run over to Kyle.

            “Alright, so, not too bad an opening play,” Brian said. “But, try to stay on your feet. You look like a tumbler out there. They’re going after you because you’re the new guy, so, don’t act like it.”

            “I know,” Kyle said, clenching a fist in his left hand. “Just get me the ball, they won’t bother me when they have to stop me.”

            “That’s what I like to hear,” Brian said, and patted him on the helmet. “Also, wake up a little on the faceoff, I got it right to you.”

            Kyle smiled and nodded. It was good to know that at least Brian was trying to help him out here, get him in with Coach a little.

            His smiled faded as he turned his attention to Sandy and some of the other defenders, who had all, at one second, looked at him with a bit of an odd smile. Sandy didn’t take her eyes off of him as expected. He expected the most amount of conflict from her, considering the whole problem with him liking Mira and her liking Kyle way more than Kyle liked Mira. Which didn’t really play to Sandy’s advantage to beat him up. Maybe she was trying to punish him for going out with another woman?

            Brian won the face-off again, and this time, Kyle scooped the ball up and spun around his attacker. He charged straight for Sandy, who was at first confident then froze for just a second. In that moment, Kyle acted, breaking down his feet and dodging Sandy like one of the dummies in his backyard. As he did, he spotted an open player, tossing it straight to him as hard as he could so to avoid a defender.

            Out of nowhere, though, did a girl come in and completely level that player. Instantly, there was trouble.

            “Hey!” shouted Brian.           

            “Oh, crap,” Kyle muttered.

            The ref blew his whistle, coming straight to the aid of the fallen young man. The girl looked up confused, as if she had no idea what she’d done. It was their team captain, too. Really, Kyle figured, it was the only play she could make. He had an open shot at the goal.

            Kyle jogged over to his player’s side, stepping up next to the two of Mira’s friends, who were silent but looked over at him for just a second. Kyle smiled and nodded at them.

            “Sucks to be him,” muttered Sandy behind him.

            “Shut up,” Kyle said out loud on accident.

            “Hey don’t tell her to shut up,” one of Mira’s friends said.

            Kyle put his hands up in defense. “Okay, alright.”

            “Mira said this guy was nice, too,” the other friend said.

            “Guess she lied,” the first friend said. “Telling her best friend to shut up, what a jerk. Can’t believe she went out with him last night.”

            The boy managed to get up but was holding his head. The girl who leveled him looked around, then seemed to stop when she spotted Brian and Kyle, glaring at both of them. Did she want something from them, were they her next targets?

            “Coach you got a sub?” asked the ref.

            Coach looked back over to his bench. “No, I would if my other player had shown up. I’ll kill him Monday.”

            “Well you’ve gotta put someone in,” said the ref.

            “Come on coach, just throw another guy in,” the girls coach said. “Might get leveled again, but, hey, nobody’s made of iron.”

            Coach’s face turned red and Kyle knew exactly what was coming next. “Oh, yeah missy? Well guess what? My guys are still going to beat you with only ten men, got it?”

            The girls coach erupted in laughter. “Ha! Yes, okay, let’s do it, it’s fine with me, ref. After all, this is just a scrimmage.”

            The ref agreed and blew his whistle. Kyle briskly walked over to Brian, who was walking slowly and more contemplatively.

            “If it were just a scrimmage then why did she have one of her players completely take out one of our starters?” she asked.

            “Because she’s crazy, I don’t know,” Brian replied. “Listen, Kyle, I’m gonna need you to cover more ground now until Coach finally wakes up and realizes that us being down a man is a stupid idea.”

            And boy was it a stupid idea, Kyle thought as the game progressed. Mira’s friends managed to target less as he was at various parts of the field trying to cover two positions as Coach simply refused to back down from the challenge he set before himself. He wore himself out quickly, having to constantly play all three main positions and transition between them as quickly as he could.

            Sandy tried to remain on him like white on rice but it hardly worked, as Kyle tried to avoid her so to also avoid talking about Mira as well as to get tripped up. It still happened, sure, but not nearly to the extent it was at the beginning of the game.

            There were some moments, when the second half started, where the girls captain came after Brian and Kyle. However, this was after they took the lead, so it was almost like her trying to rub salt in the wound.

            As the final pseudo-quarter began, Coach began to point and scream, forcing the boys on the bench to look up and the ref to stop the game.

            “Him, I’ll take him!” Coach shouted. “Just…anyone big to get me the win!”

            The score was only 10 to 12, the girls leading. Kyle followed Coach’s finger and saw who he thought to be quite literally Goliath. The boy was huge. Taller and bigger than Brian, the kid looked like he could squeeze Kyle’s head between his arms like it were nothing. Not quite a giant, but larger than an ogre did this boy—apparently, walk toward the field.

            “There’s no way he’s in high school,” Kyle muttered to a nearby teammate.

            He doubted that for both the boy’s size and the fact that he’d never seem him around. The fact that he was in lacrosse gear already was what was strange. Coach ordered him to take off the pads and immediately he took over the position of the fallen player. He looked to the girls captain, who staggered away from him in fear. After Goliath had a look around the field, he jogged over to meet Brian and Kyle in the middle of the field.

            “Guess this is what I get for trying to see if it’s too late to walk-on,” he said. His voice was deep, but not yet adult like Kyle expected. “What’s the plan?”

            “Shoot and score,” Brian said. “I wouldn’t expect you to know all our formations.”

            “Then I’ll just have to get open,” Goliath said. “Can’t believe you’re losing to a bunch of girls.”

            “Can’t believe you’re still saying that in 2014,” Kyle said quietly, then backed up, away from Brian and Goliath as they prepared for the face off.

            The second the whistle blew, Goliath burst down the field, running in a straight line with the girls leaping out of his way as if he were a freight train. Even Sandy was marveling at him, as she was now running side-by-side with Kyle.

            Brian passed Kyle the ball who then tossed it to Goliath. Goliath, wide-open, flicked his wrist simply and the ball zoomed into the net. How strong was this guy, really?

            They reformed, then Goliath looked over to Sandy. Kyle followed his gaze, noticing that Goliath was smiling.

            Kyle got the ball again, quickly passing it behind him to get the formation going in a slower fashion. Sandy ran up to him. Goliath soared down the field, coming dangerously close to hitting a few of the girls. Behind Kyle, the play continued to develop. He managed to get around Sandy, but was nearly destroyed by Goliath who came flying by. Their shoulders collided, jarring Kyle’s right arm for a moment and sending him spinning out of control. Kyle managed to catch himself and then broke back into formation.

            He glared over to Goliath. What was he trying to do by showing off his power? Trying to intimidate everyone, even his fellow players.

            Goliath charged head on into the girls captain, who just managed to get out of the way with a yelp. Coach yelped with excitement but calmed down at the prospect of revenge while the girls coach looked worried.

            The boys managed to score, and upon the gathering Kyle walked up to Goliath, craning his neck up to talk to him.

            “Look, man, we’re not supposed to be hitting the girls,” he said. “We’re not wearing any pads, someone could get seriously hurt.”

            “They don’t seem too worried about hitting us, so, don’t worry about it,” Goliath said, lightly punching Kyle on the same shoulder that was somewhat hurt from their graze. Kyle winced at the punch that should have felt like nothing more than a tap but felt like a full-on punch. He didn’t bother rubbing his shoulders, instead just shook it off and waited for the play to get started.

            Brian got the ball again on the face-off, instantly passing it to Kyle. Instead of making a straight line down the field, Goliath took off at a much greater speed in Kyle’s direction. Kyle cradled the ball and tried to figure out where he was headed, who he was after. His eyes lit up when he realized who it was.

            Sandy charged for Kyle as Goliath charged for Sandy. Kyle, forgetting about lacrosse, instantly realized a girl’s life was in danger. He ran full speed straight for Sandy, hoping that the same thing that happened earlier would work.

            She froze for a  second, just what he wanted, but left himself unguarded for her to swat the lacrosse stick. The ball fell out of his pouch and landed on the ground. Sandy broke for the ball, giving Kyle the perfect opportunity. Goliath kept running right at them, so Kyle broke down his feet and then jutted out his shoulder toward Goliath. Goliath, instead of running head on, stopped, then lunged forward, pushing Kyle away.

            Kyle soared through the air, down the field, not quite feeling the full-blow. In a second, though, he crashed on the ground and landed straight into the water table, breaking it’s legs with the force of his impact. Water poured all over him, but it was hardly a relief as he felt he couldn’t even breathe.

            “Whoa!” exclaimed a voice.

            Sandy had fallen over as Kyle managed to barely nudge her to get her out of the way, but Goliath was standing perfectly straight.

            Kyle’s breathing hastened as he gripped his ribcage, knowing that several ribs had to be broken, and was praying that none had penetrated into his lungs.

            “What do you think you’re doing?” shouted Brian, charging up to Goliath.

            Goliath, calmly, said, “Sending a message. Get in my way and you’re going to feel it. I’m out here to win, because I’m a competitor. He was in my way, I don’t care if he’s on my team or not, I was going for the win.”

            “More like the kill,” Brian said.

            He reached up and grabbed hold of Goliath’s jersey, pulling him down rather easily despite the other’s size. “Hurt him or anyone on this team again and I promise you will never play lacrosse, or walk, ever again.”

            “You’re funny,” Goliath said, shoving Brian away, the captain falling to the ground.

            “Shut…up,” Kyle said through hard breathing. Still clutching his ribs he managed to stand up, cutting his arm ever so slowly as the metal of the table sliced through his skin. He was in enough pain, though, to hardly feel even that.

            “Hey, easy there,” a calming voice said.

            Mira was at his side, resting a hand on his shoulder. Kyle looked up weakly at her, his eyes begging for help. Yet, in his heart, he wanted nothing more than to transform into Blue Nexus and crush Goliath, who was walking off the field.

            “You’re all pathetic, anyway,” he said. “Can’t play with a bunch of losers.”

            He gave one look back at Kyle, smirked, and then headed off the field, Coach not even bothering to give him a second look.

            “I’m not even going to bother asking if you’re alright,” another lady said, running over to Kyle. “Definitely gonna have some damage after that hit. For Christ’s sakes, you broke through the table that was almost seven yards away!”

            “Who was that guy?” asked Mira.

            Sandy ran over to Kyle, as if forgetting that she was trying to be his sworn enemy mere moments ago. “Oh my God is he going to be okay?”

            “I’m…ugh…breathing,” Kyle said. “Barely…so yeah, I’ll be…ugh…fine.”

            “Fine is not the optimal word,” the trainer said, lifting up his jersey. Sandy looked with interest, though not medical interest. She placed a finger on the injured spot, erupting pain throughout Kyle and causing him to give a cry out.

            “Definitely broken, can’t tell to what extent,” the lead trainer said. “Mira, help me out here.”

            “Of course,” she said, carefully gripping Kyle’s right hand and slipping underneath his armpit, hoisting him up as the other trainer did the same. Sandy, behind a shut trap, obviously gritted her teeth and started to follow the injured convoy. Brian did the same, from a distance.

            “Guy didn’t seem to be human,” the trainer said.

            “Not too surprised about that,” Mira said, almost with a laugh. “All these super strong dudes running around. Didn’t expect one to show up here, and go after one of us.”

            “Well if he wasn’t human I don’t think he needs much of a reason,” the trainer said. She looked up to Kyle’s wrist. “Nice bracelet, kid, I like the way it glows in the Sun.”

            Confused and weary, Kyle looked up to the bracelet. Instead of the streaming line running across the bracelet like normal, this time the line was fragmented. Normally, he could feel some sparking of energy coming off of it into his wrist, but this time he felt nothing, almost as if the bracelet weren’t there.

            He thought back to the fall, realizing that Goliath managed to hit him head on in the arm and ribs. Had he hit him so hard that he damaged the Nexus bracelet?

            Kyle winced in pain again. Whoever it was, human or not, they had to have been targeting the Nexus bracelet, there was no way it was coincidence. Which meant whoever it was either worked with Gargador or, Kyle feared, it was the worst of worlds:

            Gargador had attacked, completely unknowingly, in human form. And there wasn’t a thing Kyle could do about it in public.


Next time: Gargador has made his move, but it hasn't gone unnoticed. Can Kyle find a way to take Gargador down, and will he get his power back? Find out in "Blue Nexus #5--Damaged Not Broken"