1 The Brawl

Looking back now everything seems so unbelievable that it was almost laughable. It felt like this was just a dream and I could wake up at any moment. But I knew it wasn't. It's been so long now that I know there's no return.

But why... How... When did it all start?

. . .

Ah... It was on that fateful day. The day everything changed for me.

The day... of my death.

I had been a normal high schooler once, just like any other kid my age. It's been so long that I don't even remember my name. Well, the past me is already gone anyway. I was smart, mischievous, full of energy, and was just starting to discover life.

Sure, my luck was worse than average, but what could possibly go wrong? I had a small group of friends, made a few enemies, fit in nicely, and lived a happy life overall.

That was all until he appeared and everything went wrong. Everything. Even the laws of physics.

* * *

"-you should've seen it, dude! He jumped out and then the building exploded behind him and-"

"C'mon man, don't spoil it for him!"

It was around 6 in the evening already. A group of 5 young teenagers made their way down the road chatting with each other enthusiastically. It was the weekend and the mid-terms were finally over. They had literally hung out the whole day, watching movies, surfing, going sightseeing, splurging all their pocket cash on the latest video games, and eating up almost the entire stock of an all-you-can-eat buffet.

As well as some of the wilder stuff, like spray painting obscene words on a public advertisement, playing pranks on the local police department, and throwing fake puke on random parked cars.

"Darn... Wish I didn't miss that part." One of them said with a half-glum, half-grimace expression. "That sounds like it must've been epic."

"That's why I told you to go easy on the ketchup, mate!" Another guy chimed in with a grin. "Plus, you did eat something like 4 dishes of extra-spicy crab meat and tacos."

"5 dishes. And a pizza." He corrected with a sigh, waiting for the barrage of jeering remarks. He definitely did overeat a bit. As usual, his friends gave him no mercy with their teasing.

"Ahaha, for real?! That must be a new record."

"God damn, bro! What did you have for breakfast? A vacuum cleaner?"

"Yo, imagine if the restaurant went bankrupt from you gobbling their entire stock!"

"Dude probably destroyed every toilet plumbing line in the city after eating that much."

The boy tried to give his friends an annoyed glance but it came off more as an amused expression before he burst into laughter along with all his friends. He gave one of them a friendly poke on the shoulder and said, "Tell me about the movie later."

"Nah, mate." His friend replied. "Better yet, you should rewatch it. I'll bring the DVD on Friday's sleepover."

"Might have to set up another TV screen in the toilet, just in case." Another one said and made all of them laugh loudly again.

They chatted about other topics a while more, teasing each other and laughing a lot. They were extremely close friends and were able to trade back and forth even the rudest jokes, which they took as the usual teasing. Each of them knew the other didn't really mean it and this made them quite close and able to talk freely with each other.

But their cheerfulness suddenly faded away as they turned the corner of an intersection in the road.

Another group of teenagers was strolling down the road, also 5 in total. They were bigger, meaner, and tougher, and were the ones that bullied everyone else at school including the group of close friends. They were large and tall and looked a lot angrier on this particular day.

They strode up to the first group, stopping only a few feet away from them. Both sides glared at the other, radiating visible hostility. Some of the wimpier kids in the first group shuffled their feet nervously, feeling the tensions rising.

Passerbys saw the standoff and avoided them entirely, crossing to the other side of the road or turning 180 degrees back the way they came. Most watched from a distance, pulling out their phones and hoping to catch something interesting like a street brawl on video.

"Hey," The biggest and meanest-looking guy snapped at the first group. His four other friends from the second group blocked the path beside him with folded arms. The message was clear: 'run and we'll clobber your head in'.

"The hell you want, Vick?" One of the kids in the first group spoke up.

"Shut up." Vick spat aggressively. "You little twits are the ones who scratched up my car yesterday, innit?"

There was a scared silence and no one answered for a few seconds until a brave kid retorted. "So what if we did? You literally thrashed my friend Matt's bike a week ago." His friends beside him nodded in support, trying to take a defensive position on his sides.

"That piece of junk wasn't worth shit." Vick snarled. "Unlike what you did to my car. Mustang. 300 horsepower."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." A kid in the back of the first group piped up. "We don't need to hear you bragging." And another boy yelled, "Get to the point, jerk!"

Vick's eye twitched threateningly as he narrowed his eyes. "My point. Is that there's gonna be hell to pay."

"It was a fair trade, Vick." The brave kid at the front spoke again. "You destroyed Matt's bike, we get back at your car. You brought it on yourself."

"Man, screw Matt!" Vick yelled in anger, "He's just a damn sad piece of shit! Why you're even friends with that trash, I don't und-"

He never got to finish his sentence.

Everything happened so fast and at the same time, it was almost like a blur to remember. No one knew who threw the first punch but all of a sudden, Vick was reeling backward with a black eye, everyone charged, both sides clashed, shouts of anger and pain rang out, and all hell broke loose.

Everyone was fighting. Fists swung around wildly at both friend and foe, shoes kicked out at other's shins and both sides used whatever they could to inflict the most amount of pain. In a few seconds, it had descended into a no holds barred free for all brawl.

Both sides were evenly matched in numbers, but the 2nd group was starting to recover from their initial surprise and fighting back hard and brutally.

Two were locked in a struggle to strangle each other while a guy from the first group tackled a larger guy to the ground. Another person was kicking anything that came in kicking range of him and managed to successfully repel some enemies and teammates alike. Someone had gotten hold of a large metal trash bin lid and was using it as a shield and a weapon against someone else who came with a prepared baseball bat. Vick was fighting with another kid from the first group, who was surprisingly managing to trade blows despite being immensely smaller than the giant jock-bodied Vick.

Suddenly, Vick lunged forward and pushed the smaller boy in the chest. As the boy stumbled backward, everything seemed to slow down. Everyone on both sides stopped fighting and stared at him in horror. He saw the fear in every one of his friends' eyes, he saw the distress of someone not knowing what to do in them.

He saw his whole life flash past his eyes...

...In the blinding headlights of the large semi-truck.

There was the sound of the repeated blaring horn and screeching brakes, but it was too late. There was the abrupt impact that broke his bones, and the loud crash that deafened his eardrums.

And the darkness that enveloped him and swallowed him whole as truck-kun ran him over.

The boy was only 14 when he lost his life. He would never be able to enjoy life with his friends anymore. His friends would be heartbroken. His parents would be devastated. He had such a bright future ahead of him... but now it would never come.

* * *

That boy was me.

As I lay in the darkness, I wondered if my friends rewatched the movie they had told me about. It was a shame I couldn't watch it with them. If I was still alive, I would be laughing, joking with them about having a TV in the toilet. I wondered if they actually did set up a TV in the toilet for me. I wondered what was going to happen to me next.

But I didn't need to wonder for long. I was reincarnated into another world.

A world of swords and magic, just like in the RPGs and Anime I used to watch with friends.

And thus begins my new life where I gain incredible abilities and become a hero that saves the world.

Or so I hoped.

I kind of wish I hadn't hoped.