THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA COMMENCES UNDER THIS NEW ACT OF THIEVERY (ver 1)

CHAPTER 1:

THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA COMMENCES UNDER THIS NEW ACT OF THIEVERY

Hi, my name is Geb. It was lunchtime at my new high school. The cafeteria was packed with students going about their business. I saw one group playing with Freeze-2s, the latest model of freeze ray. The place was grimy and filthy. The walls were covered in vomit. While leaning against the wall, I ate my gummy bears in peace.

That lasted about a second. When suddenly this boy started to approach me, he was a complete short stack, probably around 5 feet tall. His eyes were like shiny pink pearls, and his hair was messy like mine. But it was a nice whitish pink. He moved confidently like an actor. Wearing designer everything, his underwear was probably made of gold. Then, he marched up to me, grinned, giggled, grinned again, and snatched MY gummy bears! Oh, this is WAR!

He bolted away; people looked at us confused. I ran after him at Mach 10. Tackled him to the ground like a lion. Grabbed my gummies back. But, he pulled out a Freeze-8?! The gun channeled his energy into a small, precise blast, freezing my foot in place with a loud PSHHHHHH. Then he snatched the candy and ran! Finally, he started flying on a jetpack high into the skies.

After staring there for a few seconds, I got back to work. I quick drew my pen and shoved it into the ice and yanked my foot up, but it wasn’t enough. Not MY GUMMY BEARS! Then I pulled out 16 more pens, pulling them with the might of a mother saving her son under a burning car. Peace, freedom, and liberty! (Huge shoutout to my goat Marcus Brutus. They did you dirty in that play.)

However, the rich kid was 3 continents away by this point. I needed to catch up. So I pulled out a jetpack from my pocket and took off. It felt like I was flying in the Darkstar! Passing the same city over and over again. I flew lower and lower, and then... I almost crashed into a tree. But that whole situation is too embarrassing to talk about (maybe another time).

Soon I caught up with that slimy bastard. He had just landed. But the second he saw me, he started flying away. I chased after him, following him as he dove into the city below. We weaved through the jungle of skyscrapers. Every turn I got closer. The blast of his jetpack was burning my face off.

I couldn’t feel any magic from him. So we should be at around the same strength. Neither of us can do much without tools like the freeze ray. I pulled out my mini laser pistol and shot his jetpack, forcing him to eject. He landed on top of a skyscraper. Then I ejected too, the jetpack falling off my back. This is a classic teenager chaos fight: we both have no clue what to do so we just throw conventional stuff at each other.

Then, unfortunately, my cute Hello Kitty parachute deployed. Ugh, why didn’t I swap that out? As I tried to hide the theme with some cans of spray paint (accidentally drew Kuromi.) I looked down to see his Hello Kitty parachute that he was trying to burn with a neon green multi-tool lighter with a mini 3D printer inside. Maybe we aren’t too different after all? Perhaps we could be friends... What am I thinking? That’s impossible! I'm going to get this kid and beat him to pie… Pie? YEAH, I’LL BEAT HIM TO PI!

I landed gently on the top of the building. Staring at him from across the rooftop. The floor was plain concrete with a single lonely red room tucked away in the corner. We slowly walked towards each other.

“Well, well, poor one. Mad about your tiny snack, are you?”

“Yeah, I'm mad. Well, more like BLOODTHIRSTY PISSED!”

“Calm down, how about we introduce ourselves?” He said smugly. I want to shove a ruler between his teeth! But I'm sleepy. Also, I forgot my ruler.

“Fine.”

“Well, thank you, Mademoiselle.” He grinned.

“I am NOT a child, you are!” I yelled, pissed off.

“Uh huh.” He stood up tall, all 5 feet trying to look majestic. Despite his messy hair and dirty clothes from our chase. “I am Prince Louis XXXXX, the Gracious One of the Kingdom of Antolpia.” Something felt off with that. I yanked out my 11-inch totally real iPhone Pro Max Ultra OLED and searched for that name.

Did you mean: Princess Louis, XXXXX the Ungrateful Bastard of Wastisari?

“Sure, princess.” I said, grinning, he flinched like he just smelled a dead skunk. Then recoiled a second time and pulled out a rapier. The fine shiny tip was like he had never trained in his life. This should be an easy fight! “Well, madam, I am Geb.”

“Geb who?”

“Geb your teddy bear!” I said, randomly on the spot. It seemed to backfire because Louis pulled out a pink teddy bear and instantly changed into pink pajamas. “No, not literally, stupid!”

“Oh... I thought we were going to have snuggles... Well then!” He redrew his rapier. The wind suddenly picked up rapidly. We were both about to be blown away. “You’ll never get the gummies; the company shut down because of the war! And oh, they are so good!”

I drew my rapier. Taking a poor stance. My footwork was... mediocre. He took a cut to my left, testing the waters. I parried swiftly. He bounced off and doubled his attack. I blocked him again and smirked, snickering to myself. I'm destroying him! Now all I have to do is my favorite move, the Passata Sottomano. Wait, no, that’s a bad idea. Ah ha, how about a simple feint to the right followed by one to the le- oh… I slipped... FU-

“Uh oh, the newbie tripped!” Louis smiled, mocking me before cutting my cheek with a hideous swish of defeat. I yelped from shock and embarrassment as he giggled and ran away.

“Wait!” I pleaded desperately. “W-why don’t we just split it?”

“Share? With you?” He asked, turning back to me.

“Yes, share!” I looked up at Louis, hopeful. My eyes were like a sad puppy. But it was to no avail. He giggled to himself yet again and skipped away like the little bastard princess he is. The soft patting of his skipping faded out as he jumped down the building.

I sat there on my knees in silence. What the hell just happened? Who is he? I’ve never heard of him as a member of royalty before. Yet he does resemble the king to an extent. He has the same slightly puffy cheeks. The naturally curly hair. I’m so lost. I just want to understand. I was fighting perfectly in my book. It’s not like Louis was much better. His movement was far too aggressive, but it was confident. The grin never broke in combat.

There had to be something else. So I paused for a while, taking in the air. The ground beneath had a small icy patch. There was a small frequency tilting my head slightly. One that I could never notice in the heat of battle. It sent a calm tremor through me. Louis can use magic.

The wind settled; I could no longer hear the cars below. I went to pick up my rapier, my hand tensing. But it let it go. I looked up at the sky and stood up. My head throbbed. Finally, I started to shamefully walk away.

***

“AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” I screamed into my pillow like a depressed banshee. My messy brown hair made me look like a ball of fur up against it. “ALL OF THIS IS SO STUPID!” I’m not sure what I was thinking. “FUUUUUUUUU-” Okay, okay, let’s just cut this out.

After screaming into my pillow for only a few* minutes* I got up from my galaxy blanket that I’ve had since I was six (it has served me well). Then I started to circle my room thinking about Louis for the 80th time today. Continuing to circle, I breathed out with a loud shudder. I’m a little curious now.

Y’know I’ve heard about this whole ‘criminal underworld.’ Maybe I can go there and get some cool info broker lady to give me information about Louis. Yeah, I’ve watched that before in the movies. I’m sure it’s real! Wait a minute, should I really go there? My Mom will probably be pissed. I usually feel pretty bad whenever I upset her, but then again… I am a 15-year-old, kids in the movies sneak out like this all the time!

I slowly tiptoed downstairs, each step creating an embarrassing CREAAAAAK from our godawful floorboards. Then I saw something horrifying: my Dad was on the couch watching LYNX news. God, I hate that channel, it's literally just a bunch of pro-monarchy propaganda for old people.

“This is just in: King Leonard XI has announced a new genius plan to protect Antolpia from civil war. But he asks for our help!” The lead anchor said in a joyful tone. I hate how they always sound so happy, like we aren’t screwed either way. With how much they talk about the family, I wonder if they know about Louis? Wait, is dad getti-

“Huh? Geb?” He said slowly getting up from the couch while still half asleep. Fuck, fuck, fuck, I ran out of the living room at only Mach 2 this time (I was sleepy, okay). I hid in my room and locked the door. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow, just maybe. Now, I’m gonna read this weird manga someone recommended called “Berserk.” I’m sure this is super wholesome. (Sry I had to make a Berserk joke).