Bliss And Inversion

“Tell me again why I need to do this.” A small Morey complained.

“Because you’re my little brother, and you love me.” A slightly smaller Axel said, as he pushed his brother forward.

“But I don't even go here!” Morey sighed.

They stood on the school grounds of Postella Academy. Axel was eyeing a small group of girls, talking amongst each other.

“That doesn't matter, just go and get her attention!” Axel hurried him.

“It’s just a girl, I don't see why you can't do it yourself.” Morey said irritably.

“Come on, little bro, they're leaving!” Axel pleaded, when the group of girls started to disperse.

“Fine!” Morey said heavily as he slammed his hand to his face and dragged it down.

Morey walked forward, then yelled at the top of his lungs.

“Hey you! Black-haired girl! My brother has a huge crush on you, please talk to him, so he can stop annoying me about it!”

Morey turned to Axel and winked while making a finger gun in his direction, before walking off. Axel stared at Morey with open mouth, frozen. His face was almost completely red.

When Morey passed Axel, he patted him on the shoulder and said,

“I gotchu, bro.”

The now dispersed group of girls started giggling at each other. Axel hid his face in his hands.

“I'll destroy you, Morey.” He mumbled.

“What was that?” A sweet voice asked softly.

Axel lifted his head and saw a tall, pretty looking girl, with long black hair, and crystal blue eyes. Rowena Hikaraki.

“Well– I– Uh…” Axel stammered.

“You're a Ryoman, right?” Rowena asked kindly.

Axel cleared his throat, and slightly raised his chest to appear taller.

“Y-you can call me Axel.” He said, trying to sound cool.

“Alright then, nice to meet you, Axel.” Rowena greeted him.

Axel hesitated momentarily, seemingly flustered, then blurted out,

“Would you go out with me?”

Rowena stared at him, as dumbfounded as Axel himself.

“Uhm… no…?” She then said slowly.

Axel became even redder than before.

“Ah, I didn’t mean– I’m sorry.” He stammered.

Rowena giggled.

“This is the first time we’ve ever talked,” she told him, “I barely know you!”

“But I’m the top student! Everyone knows my name!” Axel proclaimed proudly. “I’m the one who will be the number one–”

“That does not mean I owe you a date!” Rowena said sternly.

Then she turned on her heel and walked away.

“Wait, no, that’s not what I meant!” Axel called after her, but it was too late.

He sighed in defeat.

After that, Axel proceeded to ask again, and again. Attempting to talk to her whenever he could, though all he usually managed to say was hi, before she left. Yet, Rowena always rejected him. This went on, until the day of their graduation, when Axel finally gave up after being rejected again.

“Oof, how many times is that now?” Morey asked jokingly.

Axel shot him a death glare.

“Sorry, sorry.” Morey said quickly, still chuckling. “You might not have gotten the girl, but at least you can leave this crummy place now!”

“It’s not a 'crummy place'!” Axel corrected him. “This is the school where future heroes are forged, the place where–”

“Yeah, yeah…” Morey interrupted him, “I've heard dad's speeches before.”

“Well maybe you should listen to them sometimes!” Axel said irritably, as he grabbed his stuff. “You might actually become a decent hero if you do!”

“Nah~” Morey ignored Axel’s statement and followed behind him as he walked off.

“And she's not just some girl!” Axel said, turning around to face his little brother.

“No? What do you actually know about her?” Morey asked smugly.

Axel opened his mouth, but angrily turned around again and started walking.

Later that day, both Axel and Morey applied to be heroes. Although Morey had to reapply several times before he was accepted, much to the disappointment of his father.

Axel quickly rose up in ranks, under the hero name Inversion. Morey, though still rising quickly compared to a lot of other heroes, compared to his brother, moved significantly slower. He went by as the Reflection Hero, Mirror Boy.

There was only one hero that rivalled Inversion, and that was Bliss. She rose at almost the exact same speed as him, much to his annoyance.

“Watch your beeper, boy!” A grumpy-looking, grey-haired man told Axel when his watch started beeping. “You are now a hero! You must stay vigilant, and be ready for any situation!”

“Yes father!” Axel said loudly, saluting him before running to his room to get his hero suit.

Morey also sat in the room, looking at his own watch, which remained silent.

Axel came down in a white and dark blue suit. Other than the colours, it looked similar to his current suit. He proudly stood in front of his father with it.

“Don’t show it off to me, get out there!” His father said grumpily.

“Yes father!” Axel said again, with slightly less enthusiasm this time.

Axel ran towards the door, and looked back towards his father. His father did not look at him. Wordlessly, Axel left the house, towards his mission.

As he ran, he read the contents of his watch again, which conveyed the location, as usual, but also, to his surprise, a partner. Bliss.

Axel groaned when he read the name.

“Of course it would be you.” He sighed.

Regardless of his irritation, he headed towards his destination. Once there, however, he didn’t see anyone. No partner, or villain. He decided to take the time to look around, but spotted nothing out of the ordinary. Eventually, he got tired of it and planted himself on a lone rock.

“What are you doing?” A stern voice said from behind him.

Axel sharply turned his head, excited that something was happening, but quickly turned sour when he saw who it was.

“I asked you a question.” Bliss pressed him.

Axel sighed.

“The watch might be faulty, there’s absolutely nothing here.” Axel said grumpily, tapping on his watch.

Bliss slowly put her hand to her face.

“Honestly, did you even read what it said?” She said irritably. “It’s an investigative mission.”

Axel blankly stared at her, and she pierced back with her crystal blue eyes.

“I just thought I would get, you know, a real mission.” Axel responded bluntly.

“Just because you can’t punch anything, doesn’t mean it’s not a real mission.” Bliss said as she pulled out a device, and scanned the surrounding area.

Axel looked at her more closely. This was the first time he had actually seen her in real life.

“Do I know you?” He suddenly said.

Bliss walked over to a nearby building to inspect it, and Axel followed, not wanting to be outdone by her.

“You might have heard of my name.” She responded calmly

Axel scoffed.

“That’s not what I meant,” he remembered, “you look familiar.”

Bliss turned to him questioningly. She stared at him with the same suspicious stare she would go on to give Kaden many times in the future.

“Ryoman?” She said after a while.

“Rowe–” Axel started, but Rowena quickly covered his mouth and pushed him back behind a wall.

“I could’ve sworn I heard someone.” Said a squeaky voice.

“It does not matter,” said a deep, intimidating voice, that somehow emanated across the whole area, “we are done here.”

Bliss peeked around the corner slowly. In front of the building stood a small hamster-like person, shaking intensely. Next to him stood a figure that was almost giant in comparison. His skin was pale white, and scale-like. His bald head, pointed nose and big, black, beady eyes, made him look almost shark-like.

Bliss quickly retreated her head, and pushed Inversion back, who had also leaned forward to take a peek.

They waited until the footsteps of the two men had faded.

“Who were they?” Axel whispered.

“I don’t know about the small one, but the big one was definitely…” Rowena whispered and gulped. “Sharkhead…”

Axel was silent for a moment, then said smugly.

“I thought you said it was just an investigative mission.”

“It was supposed to be.” Rowena responded irritably. “I’ll contact the board, you go in and check that building.”

She sighed as she grabbed her watch.

“You can contact with that thing?” Axel said surprised.

Rowena gave Axel another piercing look. He took the hint and walked over to the building’s entrance.

The inside was largely empty. The building seemed to be an old warehouse, but whatever wares were in here, no longer were.

“What could they have possibly wanted here?” Axel thought to himself.

A little later, Rowena also came inside.

“Did you find anything?” She asked, not even looking at Axel.

Axel gestured to the empty building.

“You didn’t bother to look for any secret compartments?” Rowena asked.

“I didn’t think of it.” Axel responded grumpily.

Rowena quickly scoured the building, but ended up finding nothing. Axel felt the urge to gloat about it, but now knowing who Bliss was made her less annoying to him.

“Well, we're done here for today, then.” She said disappointedly, after her second look-through.

Rowena started to head out again, but was stopped by Axel, much to his own surprise.

“Wait, Rowena!” He said.

“Please call me Bliss!” She said angrily, her face turning slightly red.

“Right, sorry!” Axel said quickly.

Axel wasn't sure what to say, or why he stopped her in the first place.

“If you're gonna ask me to go out with you, the answer is the same as it always has been.” She told him sternly, after seeing the confused look on Axel’s face.

“N-No, that wasn’t it!” Axel exclaimed, mostly to himself. “You've made that abundantly clear… multiple times.”

“If that was all, then.” She said sharply, walking over to the doors.

Before she exited, she turned to face Axel.

“It was nice seeing you again, I suppose.” She mumbled shortly, before leaving.

Axel felt a weird feeling in his chest upon hearing those words.

After that, they saw each other quite often, getting paired up for missions relating to Sharkhead. At first, the both of them found this rather annoying, Rowena especially acting coldly towards Axel. However, with every mission they did together, they warmed up a bit more. Axel could defeat pretty much any villain in their way, and Rowena was tactical and observant. They found they actually worked well together. Soon, Axel actually enjoyed going on missions with her.

“Your missions have been much more frequent lately.” Axel’s father said, while shovelling down his dinner. “You better be giving it your all out there. I tolerate nothing less.”

“Always, father.” Axel said quietly.

Morey let out a soft chuckle.

“What’s so funny about that?” His father snapped. “You should learn something from your brother, you might end up not being a disappointment for once.”

Axel proudly puffed up his chest, and Morey rolled his eyes at him.

Then, out of the blue, both their beepers started ringing. Axel immediately jumped up, while Morey just looked at his watch in surprise.

“Urgent Mission.” He read out nervously.

“A team battle…” Axel filled in, having learned to read the full message.

“Well, what are you standing around for? Go, get out!” Their father yelled.

Both siblings rushed to their rooms to get into their suits.

“Finally, something big.” Axel thought. “Something to prove myself!”

The both of them stepped out of their rooms simultaneously.

“You ready, little bro?” Axel asked Morey excitedly.

“As ready as I'll ever be, I guess.” Gulped Morey nervously.

Then they both headed out towards their mission.

They walked silently to their destination. When they arrived in the plaza of the big city, they were greeted by five other heroes, Milisec, Bullet-Point, Snake Eyes, Aer, and Bliss. None of them looked like they had any idea why they were summoned there.

“Bliss, what’s going on?” Inversion asked.

She shook her head, wordlessly telling him that she didn’t know either.

Then suddenly, metal walls rose from all the exit points. Milisec tried to run over there, but even she was too late.

Then, there was an ear-piercing static noise, followed by a scraping of someone’s throat. Everyone looked around to find the source of the noise.

“I am glad all of you could make it.” A deep, dark voice said.

Bliss looked towards Inversion, who clenched his fists.

“I am sure all of you know who I am, but for those ignorant among you, I will introduce myself.”

The pale, pointy-nosed, and beady-eyed man descended from a building. He looked to be held up by some sort of invisible force.

Without warning, Bullet-Point shot forward and tried to punch the man, but was promptly whacked away by him.

“How rude.” He said, wiping off the hand he hit Bullet-Point with.

“As I was saying. They call me Sharkhead.”

He made a deep bow. Milisec took the opportunity to also run forward, but before anyone realised it, Sharkhead had grabbed her by the head, and lifted her off her feet.

“You heroes really need to learn some manners.” He said calmly, shaking his head.

He threw Milisec away, and Aer managed to catch her in a mist pillow.

“Well then, if you want to play like that, so will I.” Sharkhead said sinisterly. “Any other villain would send in their minions, but not I. I relish in knowing my enemy, and seeing the hope leave their eyes as I beat them down.”

The heroes looked at each other.

“Are you ready, Inversion?” Bliss asked.

“Always.” Inversion answered.

Both of them shot forward with fists held high. Bliss fired one of her bubbles at Sharkhead, who got a full blast. Inversion jumped up, and punched him across the face, barely a second after.

Sharkhead merely shook his head, and the cloudlike vapour, resonating from Bliss’ bubble, dissipated. Sharkhead chuckled.

“What the–” Bliss gasped.

“Big brother!” Mirror Boy shouted.

Inversion nodded. Suddenly, a mirror image of Inversion stood in front of him. He started pummelling Sharkhead with his mirror clone, but Sharkhead didn’t even bother to avoid the punches. He just stood there, taking all of them, without flinching.

Then it was time for Sharkhead to throw a punch of his own. The first punch shattered the mirror Inversion, like it was nothing. Then a second punch at Inversion himself. He managed to invert the impact, right before it could launch him.

“That almost tickled.” Grunted Inversion.

“Mirror Guy, can you do that trick multiple times?” Shouted Aer.

“It’s Mirror Boy, actually!” Mirror Boy yelled back, while creating mirror clones of everyone, then creating mirror clones of those clones, again and again. The mirror clones got more blurry, and grey with every layer of mirroring.

Aer let out a mist, that covered the entire battlefield. The two speedsters stood up and started racing around Sharkhead. After that, all the other clones rushed him, alongside Inversion and Snake Eyes.

“Your tricks won’t deceive me.” Laughed Sharkhead.

He punched one clone after the other, through the thick mist. Even Inversion couldn’t tell the difference between them, but it seems Sharkhead had no problem.

“Keep creating your clones!” Inversion told Mirror Boy.

“I’m doing my best here!” He panted back.

In the small moment he looked away, Inversion lost track of Sharkhead. When he looked back, he had lost track of his fellow heroes, too.

“Fools…” Echoed through the mist.

“Aer, stop your mist!” Inversion heard Bliss yell.

Quickly, he ran toward her voice. Then there was a sudden yell.

“No…” He thought, and began to run more quickly.

Out of nowhere, he bumped into her.

“You’re here.” He sighed in relief, sounding colder than he intended to.

Bliss nodded.

“I’m glad you’re okay, too.” She correctly interpreted.

“I thought–” Inversion started, but was stopped by Bliss.

“We need to find the others.” She told him.

He nodded.

Bliss grabbed his hand, and led the way. It was dead silent, only the sound of their footsteps could be heard. A side effect of Aer’s mist, which dampens sound too.

Suddenly, Bliss stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Inversion asked, but his question was already answered when he looked to the ground.

There was a motionless Aer, spewing mist from his arms. His eyes were still open, but the life in them was gone.

“He can’t be dead, right?” Inversion asked. “His powers should have stopped if he was, right?

“I don’t know…” Bliss said with a trembling voice.

She kneeled down and checked for his pulse, then let out a quivering sigh and closed his eyes. Inversion composed himself.

“We need to stop the mist somehow.” He said.

Bliss nodded feebly.

Then, out of the blue, something big flew towards Inversion. He managed to catch it, and to his horror noticed that it was Snake Eyes, covered in blood.

“Run…” He mumbled, before something hard hit Inversion on the back of the head and everything faded to black.

When Inversion opened his eyes, he saw something that surprised him. The mist had faded. Bliss was kneeled down on the ground. Milisec was bent down over the body of Bullet-Point, who was crying out in pain. Both Snake Eyes and Aer remained motionless. Mirror Boy was nowhere to be seen. In the middle of everything, two Sharkheads were fighting each other, one noticeably having the upper hand. When one of the Sharkheads noticed that Inversion was awake, he nodded at him. The other Sharkhead snapped around and looked at him. Like it was instinct, Inversion inverted the air in front of them, right as the mirror Sharkhead held out his hand. Sharkhead got sucked forward, and a loud bang shot him backwards, into one of the buildings.

“Implosion…” Inversion mumbled.

The mirror Sharkhead and inversion created another implosion at one of the metal walls, to create an opening. A bunch of people rushed in, towards the spot where one of the Sharkheads flew. Everything was happening so fast that Axel didn’t know what was going on.

Without thinking, he rushed towards Rowena.

“Are you okay?” He asked hurriedly.

Tears burst into Rowena’s eyes.

“I thought you were gone too!” She cried, “I didn’t know what to do without you, I–”

Suddenly, she threw her arms around Axel.

“It’s okay,” he told her, as realisation dawned on him, “we did it. We won.”