Blue Nexus #15--"Bleacher Report"

            Kyle’s lower body clenched up in fear as he tried his damndest not to visibly show how off-putting Sandy’s revelation was. His eyes were unwavering as their gaze remained locked. Her smirk widened and her eyebrows raised. Kyle didn’t want to move at all, and felt the water cooling all around him. A shiver was inevitable, which would be a sign that he was set off by it.

            “The Blue Nexus?” he repeated. “You mean the guy with blue laser beams, you think I’m him?”

            Sandy nodded, then squatted down. Brenda had a hand behind her, glowing red. Kyle flicked a quick gaze her way, trying to tell her to keep calm.

            “The Blue Nexus,” Sandy said. “You get your powers from that blue bracelet there and you can fly and do all that. I have no idea when and where you got it, but it was probably back around that scrimmage where you broke your ribs.”

            Kyle laughed. “That doesn’t make any sense. Even if I were the Blue Nexus, you’re right, I broke my ribs. How would I be able to keep on flying around if I had busted up ribs?”

            “You seemed to be healing quick during school.” Sandy shook her head. “Kyle, there’s no denying it. I know your secret.”

            Kyle sighed, and turned to look at Kip and Luke, who were both trying to hide scared expressions. Kyle swashed his hands through the water, then pulled himself out of the water. Brenda moved back, allowing him some space. Sandy rose as he did.  

            “Yeah, you’re right,” Kyle said. He sensed Brenda tense up behind him and saw both Kip and Luke widen their eyes. “I’m the Blue Nexus. I’ve been him for about seven months now.”

            Sandy kept her smile momentarily before bursting out laughing, catching the attention of her friends before they shrugged it off and continued gossiping. Kip and Luke uncomfortably laughed while Brenda continued her glare at Sandy.

            “Let me guess, you’re the red woman, right?” Sandy asked, trying to keep up her cocky attitude.

            “Brenda’s not Shindari,” Kyle said. “Shindari’s on leave from the Zanderia right now, trust me.”

            “Oh, well, the red hair would be a giveaway,” Sandy said, slightly defeated.

            “How’d you figure it out?” asked Brenda.

            “So you’re not Shindari but you know that he’s the Blue Nexus?” asked Sandy.

            “Not the point,” Kyle said.

            “Whatever. I saw him transform before the whole big black ball thing happened six months ago. It was right after he tripped up the stairs.”

            Shut up, Kyle thought. “Nobody saw that.”

            “I totally did. Then you went over, met up with who I originally thought was Blue Nexus and then I saw you go off with him.”

            “Probably wasn’t the brightest move on my part,” Kyle muttered.

            A breeze blew through the pool, chilling Kyle’s legs that were still wet. Sandy was still unwavering in her confidence, and it was killing Kyle. The fact that she knew his secret was enough, but the fact that she clearly was going to ask for something in return was something much bigger.

            So, the secret is out, Blue Nexus? a voice asked. It was Eclipse.

            Yeah, the beans were pretty much spilled, Brenda replied.

            Wait, Brenda, how’d you get on this line? asked Kyle.

            Proximity breach, she said.

            Kyle looked over his shoulder. She maintained her glare, as if the mental conversation going on wasn’t at all happening. He couldn’t keep the look up, nor would he be able to distinguish his thoughts from his words. Great, Eclipse was going to listen in on everything. At the next big Zanderia meeting they would probably roast him for this.

            I say we mind-wipe her. You can do that, right? asked Brenda.

            “Whoa, what the hell?” Kyle burst, then shut his mouth.     

            “What the hell what?”  asked Sandy, as well as Brenda in his mind.

            “Oh, I mean, what the hell do you want out of this? Like, are you gonna make me do anything because you know about this?”

            Sandy eyeballed Kyle in a weird way. Great, now Kyle was the weird one.

            “Nothing. You don’t have to do anything. I never said I wanted anything out of your secret,” Sandy said.

            We can’t mind-wipe her, Kyle said as Sandy talked. It’s wrong.

            So is everyone finding out about your secret, Brenda put in.

            Doesn’t matter. I trust Sandy.

            Because she’s in love with you?

            Someone’s in love with the Blue Nexus? asked Eclipse.

            “Oh, then, good. Just updating me, then?” Kyle asked, struggling to keep both conversations from converging like his litte hiccup.

            “Well, that, and I have a request to make,” Sandy said, folding her arms behind her back, pressing her arms together. Kyle gulped. Great, seduction. Why did he have to be a teenager?

            Gonna fall for that? Brenda asked.

            No, of course not, Kyle said.

            “Well what is it?” Kyle asked, trying to sound chipper.

            Sandy blushed, loosening up a little as she tried, and failed, to keep eye contact with Kyle. She pulled her arms out from behind her, and twiddled her thumbs. Kyle looked over to Kip and Luke, who both shrugged at him.

            “See, um, over the last six months, since you stopped the big black ball—or so I heard, I don’t want to assume anything!—I’ve been sort of training, to um, well, you see…it’s going to sound weird, but I know this group of people that have been helping me. They’ve noticed the sudden outburst of super-heroes and feel that they have a responsibility to join the fight, but didn’t really have a way in. Once I found out you were part of this community, though, I figured I could join in and I found a way and basically…”

            Blue Nexus, don’t even.

            “I want to help you. Not join the Zanderia. But like that one time where you were looking for that guy who broke your ribs. I assume he wasn’t really human, and, I wanna help you with that kind of stuff. Shindari’s an alien, so she can deal with the outer-space stuff. You and I need to stay here on Earth, and that’s part of what my power comes from.”

            Brenda, stay silent, I got this, Kyle said. Mentally, he sensed Brenda flare in anger. Hopefully Eclipse could use his telepathic abilities to help soothe her, too.

            Kyle reached out and placed his hand on Sandy’s shoulder. She blushed, and clenched her fists. Kyle’s face, though, was not that of warmth.

            “Sandy, you’re right. There are a lot of super-heroes, and it does seem like more and more are popping up, some more conventional than others. And while Shindari and Riko may deal with a lot of intergalactic threats, there are still big threats on Earth that have nearly killed me while I was out. Look.”

            Kyle showed her his leg, where the lance drove through it several months ago. “I was reckless back then when I first started. I had a lot of power, more power than you can probably imagine, and this still happened to me. I was lucky that Shindari was there to heal me. But, Sandy, I can’t let you join me.”

            “Why not?” Sandy asked. “I’m telling you these people really helped—!”

            “You would be a liability to me,” Kyle said. “With Shindari I can work with her because I already knew she was strong, she showed that to me. But Sandy, to me, I mean…”

            He trailed off, trying desperately not to sound harsh or anything. She was just so sweet and innocent to him that he couldn’t possibly see her stacking up alongside him while they fought against Aberrants, or worse, something like Black Nexus. He couldn’t imagine seeing her in school one minute, and the next the two of them flying off to do God knows what.

            “I just wouldn’t be able to focus,” Kyle said, knowing Sandy would take it the wrong way. “Having you there, it wouldn’t help me. And hey, maybe your power really is strong and you really can help, I don’t know. But, for now, I’d keep that on the down-low.”

            “Why?” Sandy barked, stepping away from Kyle. “You didn’t have any training!”

            Her friends looked over at them, Kyle noticed. He reached out for her, and touched her shoulder again. Rolling his eyes, he pulled her in for a hug, softly patting her on the head.

            “It’s dangerous and I can’t risk having you get hurt,” he said.

            Stop flirting, Brenda hissed.

            “I won’t,” Sandy said.

            “Like I said, I can’t risk that. You can help me in another way. Don’t tell anyone my secret, and…I’ll let you in on my missions and where I’m going. That way you can help keep people off my scent.”

            Sandy stepped back, beaming. “Really, you mean it?”

            “Yeah, just keep your mouth shut about it and stuff.”

            “Oh, yes! It’s just as good! Thank you so much, Kyle.”

            She hugged him fiercely again before bouncing off to her friends. Kyle sighed, and Brenda slapped him on the back of the head, then pushed him back into the pool.

            He swam up, looking up at the silhouette of Brenda towering over him.

            “You pretty much told her she couldn’t help you, then let her help you. What did you accomplish? Nothing. Now some other human knows about your identity, and knowing how much she apparently talks about you, I wouldn’t be surprised if other people figure it out by tomorrow.”

            “She won’t tell anyone,” Kyle said.

            “We can still mind-wipe her. It wouldn’t be too difficult.”

            Kyle noticed the insult, and figured there was some bit of jealousy behind it. Brenda looked over at him, glaring.

            “It’s not that, idiot,” she said, and pushed him back into the pool.

That night, Kyle hovered over Adelita, looking out over the small town. It was around eleven, so most of the town was asleep except for those coming in and out of East City. Brenda was asleep, Kyle knew, so he would have a quiet night to himself. Nothing was really going on, but, he just wanted to have the day so he could hang out and relax. He had lacrosse conditioning the next day, which was both arduous and annoying. At least he would get the chance to hang out with Brian, who had apparently come back at the behest of the coach to serve as an assistant coach. Kyle wondered if the true intention was to be able to sneak Brian into a game or two if things got hairy. Then again, why that would be the case was implausible, as they were conditioning several months prior to the real season.

            Kyle sighed. Paranoid coaches, what’re you gonna do?

            He crossed his arms as a cloud ran through him, dampening his outfit. With a flare of his aura he dried off, and turned his attention to the more rural part of town, near his house. Nothing had changed about it, really, which was the way he liked it.

            With so much going on around with the world, with brand new heroes constantly rising and falling, it was tough for things to stay the same, to stay quiet. Kyle, it seemed, was always busy, too. Nights like these weren’t necessarily far and few between, but he never seized the opportunity to just fly.

            Kyle smirked. Flying. It was such an abstract dream of many people yet here he was, doing it as if he were just standing around. It was funny how his powers granted him so many more chances to live out humanity’s dreams, but at the same time face their greatest fears. In seven months, he’d witnessed an entire planet vanish, broken several bones, stopped many mutated freaks, and completed standardized testing. He nodded. Yup, all their fears.

            Yet here he was, still flying. A morbid part of him wondered how long that would last. How long could he stay flying in the air like this? When was it going to be his time to be one of the heroes on the news? The ones who took an unlucky shot to the head after defeating the villain. The one killed by a knife in the shadows. Would that fate befall him? It would be certainly an ironic tragedy.

            Young Blue Nexus stops the big black ball from absorbing all energy on Earth and is suddenly put to the grave from an accidental snake bite. He wanted to laugh, but knew how plausible it was. Where he had to go, anything was possible.

            Overhead, a plane roared by, moving extremely quickly. He wanted to chase it, to test his speed against it, but knew that he would easily have it beat. He didn’t know too many people who could practically manipulate time and space to get them Earth to Jupiter in mere minutes. Then again, he also didn’t know many people who knew what it meant to even bend time and space. It was sort of a weird thing.

            But who could blame them? Adelita was so small that Kyle, from where he was, could gaze over all of it without having to strain his eyes too much to see the outskirts of it. That was yet another reason as to why he wondered what brought Gargador to his town. Maybe his parents were just trying to hide out from him, or worse, his real War God, Cata? Maybe Adelita had some secret, ancient history. He didn’t know. To him it was just a small town where everyone knew each other, and he was very thankful that his secret hadn’t leaked.

            Well, hadn’t leaked too far. Now the total residency count that knew about his powers was four, a large enough number to warrant worry. Under normal circumstances, at least. Brenda wouldn’t talk, as that would not only jeopardize her status on Earth—as an alien—but it would also lead to some possible, serious exposure for the Zanderia. Kyle wasn’t even eighteen yet, how would that go over with the public?

            Sandy was the only concern. The fact that she was a bit of a blabber mouth and talked about Kyle a lot was an issue. He didn’t worry so much if Sandy were to tell Mira, because Mira was cool, but if she blurted it to her friends and it got out to the rest of the school?

            Basically, Kyle feared for the end of his education.

            That fear was nearly realized, too. The next day at lacrosse conditioning, things were running rather smoothly. Literally. Conditioning had been going on for a while now and Kyle knew he was getting back into lacrosse shape. He was already physically fit and probably the most conditioned player on the team, but he wasn’t the strongest like Brian had been.

            Before Brian graduated and during his final practice, the two worked together on honing Kyle’s techniques. Brian was relentless in trying to make Kyle better, going full-force in their workout. It was all the beginning of Brian’s plan for Kyle to make a strong impact on the team next year as a leader. Coach, of course didn’t see Kyle was a leader, but instead one of the long-haired jocks who could run really fast and score a few goals, but not so much in a sharing manner.

            While the boy was quicker than Kyle, Kyle was faster over all, and more durable. Conditioning only ran for three hours, two hours of which were spent outside in the heat and the rest was in the gym to lift weights to do whatever. It was a good cool down, sort of, but Kyle wasn’t a big fan of lifting weights in front of others. He wasn’t necessarily embarrassed, but more untrusting of some jerks on the team—or those who were trying to get on the team—screwing with his routine and injuring him, or making him look bad in front of coach.

            They’d just wrapped up their main workout and were heading into the gym, everyone wiping sweat from their brow. Some were mumbling about their successes or failures in the workout. Coach was way ahead of all of them, speed-walking to the gym to ensure everything was still in order. Kyle was in the front of the pack, walking by himself, trying to brush some dirt off of his shoulders—he’d taken an accidental tumble earlier on that marred his arm.

            Brian suddenly appeared from the side, walking right up to him. He didn’t look too much older, in fact, he looked a little younger. His beard was gone, and he didn’t look nearly as stressed as he had while on the team. The only difference was that he was slightly bulkier, as if he’d eaten a lot of protein. He barely fit into his shirt, Kyle noticed.

            “Looked pretty nimble out there,” Brian said, patting Kyle on the back. It stung a little, as Brian didn’t really take small shots at anyone. “The running didn’t seem to be bothering you.”

            “Yeah, well, the sun was,” Kyle said. The two of them entered the main campus, walking under a metal canopy.

            “Didn’t seem to bright out,” Brian said.

            “You’re wearing a visor and sunglasses. Of course it doesn’t seem sunny.”

            Brian laughed. “Yeah, you got me there. I’m just trying to look as coach-y as I can. I think it pretty much fits, right?”

            Kyle nodded. “All you need is a whistle. And you don’t put your hands on your hips and give us enough stupid looks.”

            A door suddenly flung open as two girls squealed and ran across the courtyard, both of them in cheerleading uniforms. The sudden appearance of a girl momentarily surprised Kyle before setting him back in reality.

            “Whoa,” he muttered.

            “Trust me, they get better with age,” Brian said. “Well, I mean, some age.”

            “I was gonna say, hitting up the old ladies, Brian?”

            “No way, kid. Not a chance.”

            They walked in silence momentarily. No one else had any sudden outbursts running toward them. The campus wasn’t as quiet as it normally would be. It was Friday afternoon and there was a football game to be played. Part of Kyle wanted to go because he had yet to go to a game—plus it was his senior year—but he knew that after this part of the workout he would be a bit too tired to go out and do anything. He would probably go home, scour a little bit as Blue Nexus, and then take a shower, eat, and sleep.

            It was only four, so the football players weren’t all decked out yet. Most of them were hanging out at the lunch-tables outside awaiting their dinner. A few cheerleaders, who were in uniform, were there also waiting for their dinner. Some of the football players called out to the boys who were conditioning. Kyle got no such praises—Brian did a few—and didn’t mind. He actually preferred nobody call him out, given what he knew.

            “Man I do not miss the football team,” Brian said quietly.

            Kyle chuckled. “Why?”

            “Well, they were always trying to get me to go out. And that was the problem. All of them were, but most of the time, none of them were in the same place. So, I mean, what the hell. Where am I supposed to go? If I go to this guy’s place, that guy gets mad. There’s no winning with those guys.”

            “No, seriously, there isn’t. Do you even know our record?”

            “Kyle, I barely cared to know while I was here.”

            Kyle laughed again, and Brian did the same. Brian was called for momentarily and left Kyle alone. A couple of parents and players walked out of the cafeteria, nearly bumping into Kyle. He grazed by them, hearing a few “no way”s come behind him from the parents and players. He looked over to where they went, hoping to learn what the no way was about. He recognized that one of the girls they were walking toward was one of Sandy’s friends.

            “Hey, Kyle, did you hear about that?” asked Brian.

            Kyle kept his gaze on the girl, trying to read her lips. She was smiling and nodding, then shrugged her shoulders.

            “Hear about what?” asked Kyle.

            “The Blue Nexus, apparently he’s a student here or something like that.”

            Kyle, surprised, went to turn his head but smacked right into a pole. Everyone burst out laughing around him except for Brian, who caught Kyle as he fell back. A welt started to form on his head instantly. He worried about passing out not from the pain, but from the shock.

            “Well I’ll be damned,” he muttered. Brian helped him stay up, then helped Kyle support himself against the pole. A few giggled as they walked by. Nobody came to his aid, of course.

            “Yeah, that’s what those people were just talking about,” Brian said, flicking his head over their way.

            “How’d they find out?” Kyle asked, rubbing his head with his right hand, purposefully trying to keep the left out of suspicion.

            “I don’t know, that’s what I heard. Some people here and there were talking about it, like how they were when that detective showed up and you got your ribs broke, but I didn’t think parents would get involved. Think someone found about him?”

            “Well if he’s a student, it wouldn’t be a hard secret to keep,” Kyle said, then pushed himself off the pole. “Whoever found out must have gotten pretty damn excited.”

            Brian agreed and the two pressed on toward the gym, Kyle’s confusion being replaced by growing rage for Sandy. At the workout, Coach (after asking how he suddenly got the welt and then laughing at the response) noted quite favorably about how much Kyle was pushing himself. Kyle didn’t even notice. He was constantly thinking about what he was going to say to her, as well as what empty threats he could make, that he didn’t even notice what weights he was lifting. He began to notice that he was going it the hardest out of everyone. Brian came over to help him out, worried that he may push himself too hard.

            When they were dismissed, Kyle rushed back to the locker room to get his things, but most specifically, he wanted his phone. He needed to have a little chat.

            While everyone waited for their rides, Kyle hung out against the wall and called up Sandy. She didn’t answer the first time but answered almost instantly the second time.

            “What the hell are you thinking?” Kyle asked.

            “Well, not much at the moment, just what to wear to the game tonight,” Sandy said.

            “No, I mean about…the thing!” Kyle exclaimed. He was careful not to say the words “Blue Nexus” at all.

            “Oh, you mean your thing?”

            “Yes. My thing.” He blushed when he realized how silly it sounded out of context. “That thing.”

            “Well, I’m not thinking about your thing your right now.”

            Kyle face-palmed. This conversation was growing to be one of the strangest he’d ever had. Right up there with the many talks he’d had about aliens with Phoenix and Riko, and even the telepathic ones. Those were freaky, but this was uncomfortable.

            “Well you kinda told everyone at school about it.”

            “No I didn’t.”

            “Then how come at conditioning people were assuming he was a student here.”

            “Wait, he?”

            “Yes, he. You know who he is. The one you found out about and you talked to yesterday at the pool. Him. Everyone knows that he is a student here.”

            “Oh. I didn’t tell the whole school. I just mentioned that I met him and that he lives around here.”

            “Sandy! That’s pretty much spelling it out for everyone! As if it weren’t obvious enough. Now,” Kyle began to lower his voice, “now that stupid detective is going to come around, and the blue, glowing bracelet might just be a dead giveaway.”

            “So take it off.”

            “Oh, great idea, and let someone else find it? You don’t get what this thing really is, do you?”

            “I know what your thing is.”

            Sandy laughed as Kyle gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on the phone. “Look, buddy, I’d really rather you don’t mention him at all again, okay? Avoid the conversation if you can. It’d be really nice for me.”

            “Oh, and it’d be really nice if I could see you at the game tonight too. Which, I have to get ready for. See ya!”

            Sandy hung up the phone. Kyle leaned his head back against the brick wall, then sunk down and wrapped his arms around his knees, pulling them in close to his chest. He bit down on his knee in frustration.

            Damn it, he thought. Damn it, damn it.

            He felt like the walls were about to all close in around him. If parents knew, they would have the logic to call up the cops and let them know what was happening at the school, and that detective was going to return full-force to reopen the investigation.

            It wasn’t as simple as taking off the bracelet, either. Gargador, wherever he was, knew where Kyle lived. He could find and destroy the bracelet. Giving it to Brenda could help but what if a situation were to become dire and he needed the bracelet right then and there?

            It was all Sandy’s fault, he knew, but it was also his fault for being careless when he transformed publically. Thankfully only she had seen, and she was merciful enough to only slightly spill the beans. She implied that it was Kyle but hadn’t fully blown his cover. It was something to work with.

            Mind-wiping was still off the table. Now, the problem had spread. If it was morally wrong for them to do it on one person, it was morally damning for them to do it on the whole school. Eclipse could pull it off, but Kyle knew there wasn’t a chance he was going to let that fly. His powers were the most dangerous of all, and he was aware of that.

            The way Sandy made it sound, though, was that she was going to implicitly force Kyle to her whim. Her implication that she wanted him at the game was enough to make him wonder if she would talk more if she didn’t see him more. It was an unfair trade off but it would have to do until Kyle figured out a way to make her shut up for good, without doing anything questionable. Dating was off the table, he knew that. That would be torture for him, because it wouldn’t really even be dating. It would be simply keeping a secret.

            He managed to sneak away and fly on home, where he showered, changed and had to scrounge up a few spare dollars to even go to the game. Brenda was waiting for him in his backyard.

            “I thought you were going to take another night off?” she asked.

            “And I thought you were on a mission?” Kyle asked. “Is it done?”

            “It’s on hold for the moment. I was on my way south when I figured I’d stop by.” She sniffed the air. “Is that cologne? Where are you going?”

            “The football game,” he said, patting his head.

            “Getting sentimental about school now?”

            “No, God no. I just wanted to be social on my night off, you know? See what everything’s all about.”

            “Are Kip and Luke going?”

            “Kip’s out of town for the weekend and Luke wouldn’t go even if I paid him. Probably watching something on Netflix or something.”

            Brenda shrugged. “A lot of new, good additions this month. Well, have fun then. And don’t flirt with Sandy like you probably mean to!”

            She looked both ways then rocketed into the sky, out of sight.       

            “It’s secret-keeping not flirting!” Kyle shouted after her. “Whatever.”

            He grabbed his skateboard from out back and hopped over his fence, practically jumping on the skateboard and riding it down the hill. The wind rushed by him, and he didn’t have to stop for anything, either, as there was nobody else on the sidewalk.

            Despite him being forced to go and therefore not being in a good mood, Kyle found himself smiling as the wind whipped his face and gliding sensation filled him up. It was strange, seeing as how used to flying he was, but yet, it was different now. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t the Blue Nexus and his human body wasn’t as used to gliding as it once had been before he found the bracelet.

            Kyle took another sharp turn, then took a big step to propel himself forward, swerving on the sidewalk as if it were his own. The lights from the stadium grew larger and larger as he approached, and headlights of cars grew brighter and brighter.

            He took the back way into the school, sort of like sneaking in. He walked alone out back, approaching the stadium from the away-team side. He tossed his skateboard over the fence, stowing it behind the stands to get it later, and then emerged into the bright lights and cow-bells around him. He groaned at the annoying ting-ting-ting, and was even more annoyed that they were from the away team’s section.

            “Grow up,” he muttered.

            He made his way past some middle schoolers flirting and elementary school children playing some pretty rough—and unconventional—football until he arrived at a massive clump of hormones. Most of the people were simply freshmen and sophomores while the juniors and seniors were actually near the stands. Kyle brushed through everyone, scanning the stands for a familiar face until he could find Sandy. He had no idea where she was. He could call her just as easy, but with so much noise and talking it would be tough to discern what she was saying.

Pretty much the whole town came out for football games, and the stadium was always packed, even in a down season such as this one.

Eventually, Kyle reached the bleachers and ran up the handicap ramp. He continued to look up, as well as looking like a fool, into the stands for any signs of Sandy.

“Kyle, hey!” someone exclaimed. He whirled around, and saw Mira standing there. She wasn’t with Sandy, but at least it was someone.

He waved back and was going to walk toward her when someone ran up behind him and wrapped him up in what he assumed was meant to be a hug, but was more like a headlock.

            “I’m so glad you could show up!” exclaimed Sandy, right in his ear.

            “Yeah, I’ve been wanting to come to a game,” Kyle said.

            She let him go and spun him around as he tried to get his breathing back. He coughed once, away from her. Thunder rumbled at the same time, and lightning cracked overhead. What timing, he thought.

            “We’re up there,” Sandy said. “Wanna join us?”

            Without much of a choice, he said, “May as well. Long as you guys aren’t gossiping the whole game and actually watch.”

            “I’ll watch it, definitely,” Sandy said, her smile not at all fading.

            They sat towards the top of the bleachers, with the big practice field behind them. A three-foot fence was all that separated them from falling backward, and it was pretty well bent. Kyle sat next to Sandy, the two of them sitting behind four of Sandy’s friends—the same girls who were at the pool with them.

            Thunder rumbled again. Kyle looked up, not seeing too many clouds. Something seemed off about it, and a little voice was trying to remind him of something, but he wasn’t sure what.

            “Didn’t think there was going to be too much rain tonight,” Sandy said.

            “There’s no clouds,” Kyle said, thoughtfully.

            “Ooh, is it a villain?” asked Sandy.

            Kyle’s head snapped her way, scorning her. Without having to say anything, Sandy got the message to be quiet about that.

            The game began and Kyle found himself rarely talking to Sandy. She was mostly invested in conversation with the girls. He drummed his fingers on his thigh, listening in conspicuously to what they were saying. Sandy kept looking back at him, apparently getting a kick out of watching him suffer. Is this why she asked him to come?

            The third quarter got underway with Kyle feeling little tension for the game, which was actually pretty close, but more tension about the girls talking. They hadn’t stopped since the game started, which was insane. He was amazed at the speed with which they talked and laughed, too. Never was he invited into the conversation, though.

            Throughout the night, too, thunder continued to boom, but it grew louder and louder as the night progressed. That voice in the back of his mind stayed the same, though, trying to tell him something with all his might but memory was not at all serving him.

            Sandy stood up in exclamation as their school’s team scored a touchdown, and her friends followed but poorly imitated excitement. Kyle waved his hands around as if he cared, but was more worried for the lightning that appeared not too far off. The stadium was metal, after all.

            As the field goal unit was brought out, lightning arced across the sky and crashed into the four main lights, knocking them out instantly. Another bolt of lightning appeared in the middle of the field, and a thunderclap sent a sonic boom around the stadium, knocking everyone back. Everyone screamed but they all froze as a commanding voice spoke.

            “Good evening, citizens of Adelita,” the voice said. “We come to you seeking entertainment. For a while now, my brother and I have been rather bored as we scour the coast looking for some fun. Police are beginning to bore us, so we thought we would come after a fellow duo of heroes that reside here. Where are Shindari and the Blue Nexus?”

            Sandy squeezed Kyle’s hand but he slapped it away. He looked up. A cloud was hovering near the moon, moving quickly, too. He was still visible in the moonlight, though, and couldn’t make a move. Quietly, he began to stand and take hold of the fence behind him. His move would have to be quick and precise.

            “They are children, are they not? That’s the long standing rumor. Bring them before us so that we may have a show to put on for all of you, much better than this sport!”

            A nasally, high-pitched laugh erupted from wherever the voice was speaking. All was quiet for a moment before they spoke up again.

            “Ah, yes, where are my manners?”

            “Move, move, move!” exclaimed another voice, and Kyle saw people filtering out of the stadium and away from it in rapid fashion.

            Another thunderclap erupted and suddenly, the whole wall that allowed entry into the stadium fell apart, and an arc of lightning came to ignite it and the metal fence surrounding the stadium.

            “Thank you, Lightning Tiger,” he said. “And thus, as you may know, my name is Thunder Tiger.”

            Perfect! Kyle thought as the cloud appeared over the Moon. Everyone’s attention was still directed toward the destruction and the stands were chaos.

            Kyle gripped the fence tightly, thankfully Lightning Tiger hadn’t ignited it, and then threw himself over, plummeting toward the ground. With trained accuracy he swiped his finger over the bracelet, transformed, and managed to catch himself before hitting the ground.

            “There, the blue light, he is here!” Thunder Tiger shouted. “Come forth, Blue Nexus and Shindari, and face the greatest duo on Earth!”

            A blue beam of energy forced the two to separate. From the sky descended a being in a black cloak with a blue aura, fists and eyes glowing along with it.

            “It’ll only take one of me to beat both of you,” the Blue Nexus said, and punched down at the ground again, launching another powerful blue energy beam at Thunder Tiger and Lightning Tiger.


Next time: Blue Nexus takes on the duo, showing off how far he's come since his battle against Black Nexus, but is interrupted by an unexpected fighter! Check it out in "Blue Nexus #16--Thunder and Lightning"