I flew backwards, slamming into the wall of the arena with an audible - and painful - crack. Hissing in irritation and wiping some blood off of my face, I glared at Kilth as if it would actually do something. I was all too conscious of the many eyes focused on me. If I lost here, everything was lost. I had to win, no matter what.

"You did well..." Kilth said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "But you're nothing on either of them. Even if you have inherited his spirit... you're nothing." I did not see Kilth move. One moment he was in front of me, the next moment, behind. A flash of pain ran up my body as a huge gash opened across my chest. My breathing was cut off, and I stumbled to the ground. Durable demonic body, huh? Some superhero I had turned out to be... I had lost the most important battle of my life.

I had failed everyone. I'd failed them. I'd failed her.

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Chapter One - Embrace the Darkness! A new Hero emerges!

Yawning, I sat up and stretched. Wincing at the sunlight, I turned to gaze at the bed across the room from mine. She was still snoozing peacefully. Biting back a chuckle, I pulled my clothes on under the covers and began heading towards the other bed. I'll tell you straight out that my school is a bit ridiculous. The founder was an eccentric old man who decided one day that he would start a co-ed school, going so far towards equality that males and females would actually share dorm rooms.

As one might imagine, there were protests by parents all over the place once news of his plans got out. The problem was, before any laws against what he was doing could be made, the old man had managed to buy a campus and open it for business. When the laws finally were passed, he immediately sued the state, claiming that the laws were specifically directed against him and unjust because they were discriminating against equality.

He won the case because nobody could actually prove him wrong, despite disagreemet with what he was doing at every level. The only concession made was that students were allowed to pick and choose their own rooms, and if at any time they wanted to change, they could. Couples immediately twisted this to their advantage, with boyfriends and girlfriends sharing rooms. Such was the case with myself and Arianna.

"Uhh... Michael?" the girl muttered sleepily as I shook her awake. "Morning already?" I nodded. The girl looked at me blearily for a moment before pulling her covers over her head. "Gimmmie 'nother ten minutes..."

"If you wait any longer, we'll miss breakfast." I replied. "And it's Saturday. Don't we have a date?" the girl pulled her covers back down, revealing perhaps a little more of her lacy pajamas than she intended to. Well, at least I'd gotten her attention.

"Why didn't you say so earlier!?" the girl asked. She threw her pillow at me, smacking me in the face. "We eat, then you're mine for the day!" I grinned ruefully and handed her pillow back as the girl hopped out of bed. Politely turning my back as she changed, it wasn't long at all before she was clinging to my arm as the two of us made our way onto the streets. I considered myself very lucky to be with her. As we passed down one of the streets, the girl tugged on my arm and hauled me over to a large clothing store. "Come on, I want to see what new outfits they've got!"

We were about to enter when the ground shook violently underneath us, sending both me and my girlfriend to the ground hard. We weren't the only ones. Whatever had just caused that was, quite obviously, something the local Superheroes would be needing to deal with. Screams ran up from several blocks away. Yeah, definitely something the Heroes would be taking care of. I helped Arianna to her feet, and after a moment, we went inside the building. Our Heroes were very good at responding quickly, so while there might be more shaking, we were likely quite safe.

"Hey." Arianna said. "You want to go watch, right? I know you're into the whole powers thing." I blinked at her. "Oh, don't worry. If you leave me all alone here now to go watch, I'm going to make sure you pay me back for it." I laughed. Well, she was right. I had a fascination with all things Superheroic... or whatever the word is. I quickly ran out the doors and began jogging through the streets. Wasting as little time as I could, I located a convinient alley and ducked in.

My skin darkened to black. Not that sort of earthy brown that's a normal skin color, but actual black; the absence of all other colors. My eyes, I knew, switched to gold, and a pattern of blood-red runes etched itself onto my right arm. My insides twisted up as they, too, were changed. I was interested in Superheroes, all right, because I was one of them. The day I'd figured out that I could change to a tough demonic body, I had figured I would be one of the good guys despite my villainous appearance. So, this was going to be a nice chance to test what I could do again. My second body was a lot stronger than my main one, and stunts that were impossible for a human were merely difficult now. Thus, it wasn't long at all before I was jumping roofs towards the city square, where I heard the screams coming from.

Several Superheroes were already there. Attempting to crush them into hamburgers was a robot stylized like one from an old movie series. You know, those big solid eyes, antennae on top of the head, and a really simply body design? However cheesy the appearance, though, it seemed remarkably durable. Various energy blasts were bouncing off of it. I hesitated.

The last time I had jumped in on a battle, the Heroes had pummeled me, too, and left me in jail. I managed to convince the police that I was not, in fact, a criminal (bolstered by the fact that I had only defended myself, as calls to subsequently embarassed Heroes proved), and I was set free in time for dinner. I didn't want to have to go through that again.

The robot below lunged at a girl with white hair. I knew not to judge by appearances, but hey. How was I supposed to know she could project fields to protect herself when I leaped off the roof? Of course, it's anti-energy hand would would have sliced through her shields anyways, but still. I thought I was saving an innocent bystander, like all good Superheroes did. The impact of my strike against its head sent the robot staggering backward, and its giant lens-eye-things swiveled along with its whole head to look at me as it was prevented from flattening the girl.

As Superheroes, some people shot energy blasts. Some people flew. Some people could work magic. I hadn't displayed any of those powers, though I kept in mind that it wasn't impossible to gain them later. Anything was possible for a Superhero. I had two good talents. The first was a tough, durable body that could withstand most mortal attacks. You know, steel, silver, bullets, the usual. Not so good against energy, especially holy, but still resilient. My other talent? Yeah, you probably saw it coming. Strength. I could hit very hard. Since the energy blasts fired by people before hadn't worked, I clenched my hands together brought them over my head, and leaped forward. Grinning, I slammed my clenched hands into the beast's head, sending a wave of raw force through its body. Screeching and belching smoke, the robot fell into the ground. I stayed on top of it, enjoying the ride. The landing didn't bother me. As the dust cleared, though, the other Heroes moved with this sort of mob mentality and surrounded me.

"Oh, I am so not going through that again." I muttered. "I just saved a Random Innocent Bystander, for crying out loud! You're not supposed to judge people by appearances!" The guy in front of me, one of the very-tight-underwear type of Superhero, merely blinked. From the insignia on his chest, I recognized that he was Duke Defender. Nobody was sure if 'Duke' was a name or a title, but most leaned more towards name.

For the record, I have never gone for the tight underwear look. Casual, comfortable black clothes are more my style.

"Well, you look very villainous..." one of the other Heroes said. "And I don't think anyone here knows who you are." Stupid non-famous status. Not that I had expected anything different, having gotten into one fight before. Just one; the same one where a group of Heroes beat me senseless on principle alone. "So why shouldn't we arrest you now just to be safe?"

"...The Random Innocent Bystander?" I asked, hoping they'd take it at that. Villains did not save girls who were in trouble. They were the ones who put them in danger in the first place. These guys had to know that. It was a rule of Supervillainy! I had broken it, so obviously, I couldn't be a Supervillain. Or something like that. Duke Defender strode forward, but the girl I had saved quietly stepped between him and me, arms outstretched. The man paused.

"Just look at him!" the tights-wearing man Duke said. "You don't get more evil than those tattoos!" I reflexively covered the markings on my arm. "Stand aside. If it's a misunderstanding, we'll clear it up at the station. If not, no problem." he stepped forward again, but was pushed back by a shimmering barrier that appeared in front of him. Obvious source: the Random Innocent Bystander girl who was clearly no longer Random, Innocent, or a Bystander. This just got better and better. I had the bad feeling that I was digging myself deeper into something I was not ready to handle.

"Enough." somebody else said, pushing through the group. "Melody, there's nothing to worry about. Duke, stand down. He's obviously new at this; we don't go after anyone until they've done something or are clearly about to." The Superheroes who looked like they wanted to side with Duke Defender reluctantly pulled back as they saw who was talking. The girl - Melody - let the force field vanish. I ran through the images of costumes that I could recognize and froze as I figured out who this was. I swallowed nervously.

Connor McSelar - also known as Sunflare - was one of the world's most powerful and most prominent heroes. He was one of those lucky folk who didn't need to hide who they were. He was A-Rank, an unstoppable juggernaut. The sort of Hero who mowed through Villains before breakfast as warm-up for the day.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it's not by much. I knew I was tough in this body, but this guy wouldn't have to even try if he wanted to take me down. I didn't have anywhere near the experience and power I'd need to defend myself, much less beat him. So I was very glad he was acting as peacemaker; in a roundabout way, he was even on my side.

"I see you managed to defeat my toy!" a voice called out. "So it was you, was it, Sunflare?" We all looked up to see a wizened old man in a long white lab coat. Definitely a Mad Scientist type of villain. I didn't get the impression he was above C-Rank, so he could have been a normal Villain at most. Not a Supervillain. "Then I shall take my leave... but here's a present for you!" Before the last three words had left his mouth, everybody except Melody and I had scattered. I felt the robot beneath the two of us hum and realized why everyone else was getting out of the way.

Stupid self-destruct systems. I didn't swear, but if I was the sort I would have right then. Hoping I was doing this right, I tackled the girl called Melody, lifting her off the robot and shooting across the rubble-strewn square as the robot detonated. The shockwave hit me in the back and flung us forward. I managed to flip my body around, so I was the one that slammed into a building and broke through it. As the dust slowly settled, the girl in my arms groaned. She was fine, though. I hurt, but it was nothing my darker form couldn't take. After a few more moments, I realized that both of us were enveloped in another force field. Some rubble was on top of it, pressing down. No, wait. A lot of rubble was on top of us, and would have crushed us if her field wasn't there.

The girl had done more to save us then I had. Feeling slightly depressed, I stood up with the girl in my arms and stepped forward. The field she was generating moved with her, and the chunks of destroyed building slid off. As we stepped outside, her field fizzled out again, and I set her on her feet. The other Superheroes were fine, though some of them were no longer in sight. I assumed they were chasing the crazy old man.

The Heroes who had been aligned against me were now averting their eyes. Well, it was their own fault for judging me based on appearance. I had saved the girl, again, and proved that I was interested to some degree in helping people. No Superhero with an ounce of self-respect could say I was evil right now, and in all honesty, it felt pretty good.

"Thank you." the white-haired girl said. She kissed me lightly on the cheek; a friendly kiss, not a romantic one. "Maybe we'll meet again sometime." Smiling cheerfully at me, she hurried off, walking away with Sunflare. I would not understand why a little while yet. I stayed where I was for a long moment, then realized something. I turned around and bolted, running as fast as I could back towards Arianna was. I'd wasted too much time. Morphing back to normal as I ran through an alley, I entered the store panting for breath.

"Oh, you just missed it." Arianna said, grinning widely at me as she held up two bags. "I was changing and everything." I smiled ruefully and took the bags from her before walking back outside. The girl clung to my arm as we moved, a pleased expression on her face. "Well, since you did go running off, leaving a lady like me stranded all alone in a big store... you're gonna make it up to me properly!"

As agreed, I spent the rest of the day with her. We hung out in the shopping sector of the city for awhile longer, headed to lunch, caught a movie, and spent the evening together watching the stars emerge. All in all, a very successful date. Arianna, though energetic, was far from superhuman in stamina. As soon as we got back to the dorm, she flopped onto her bed and fell asleep splayed out. I quietly tucked her in and pulled some blankets over her.

Closing the door, I hit my own bed hard. My mind was still on the fight. I had made my first Superhero(ine) friend... I hoped... and helped take down a threat to the city. There were probably already reports of me being put up on the important websites, most notably the enourmous database superheroes dot com. Maybe I'd look Melody up sometime. It couldn't be bad to have a girl my age as a friend and occasional partner. If she'd really want to be my friend.

I'm... well... among the first to admit that I'm not a popular person. I'm in the crowd of weirdoes. Not the extreme, with the kids that are barely worthy of being called intelligent life and do weird things like spray stolen cologne in the air saying that the air needs to "smell like them", but I was mostly a loner who the cool kids were not very interested in being around. Not that I did anything to encourage it.

Seventeen years, and I'd managed to avoid getting sucked into the mainstream obsess-over-yourself culture the whole time. Arianna was fairly similar. She could enter normal society more easily on account of her cute looks and friendly personality, but she didn't like normal guys. Maybe that was why we suited each other so well. I was luckier than her, though. The Superheroes of the world tended to accept people more or less as they were. I mean, nobody who wears tight, brightly colored clothing and spends their time hitting people who are dressed just as strangely can be completely normal. So they tend to be pretty forgiving for whatever faults you have. Slowly, I nodded off. It was late, and I wanted to get a lot of sleep so I would have time tomorrow to do what I wanted.

I probably should have seen it coming, but I didn't.

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