09/21/3122 YDB – September 21st, 3122
Ran Almer woke up at dawn and proceeded to complete his morning routine, after quickly brushing his teeth, he ran out for a run. Strapping as many weights as he could onto himself beforehand, he ran around his small neighbourhood.
Sundays were days where he would go visit the academy after breakfast and pick up a few commissions. They were simple jobs: collect a few specific items, go after specific creatures. But they both paid well and were excellent practice for Ran. With the fight coming up he needed all the help he could get.
As he ran around the streets and turned back to his home, he was surprised to see Selena Schenn waiting for him. With a wide smile he greeted her, "Selena! What are you doing here?"
"I came to visit you, just finished your run huh?" Selena said with a smile.
"Yeah, I was going to drop this stuff off and get breakfast."
"Microwaved breakfast again?"
"Uh… well." Ran said awkwardly.
"Come on, I'll make you some breakfast." Selena said.
"But wait, my place is a mess!"
"It's fine." She assured as she headed straight to Ran's apartment without need of any help for directions.
"Hold on, you don't even have the key!"
"Did you remember to lock the door?" She teased.
"Selena wait!" Ran said struggling to run after her up the stairs.
At the same time watching this through her viewing device, Gadreel tapped on her chin thoughtfully. This had never happened before. Ran usually was too busy to spend moments like this with Selena and his other friends. But with his lightened schedule, he's had more time for training and more time to bond with his friends.
The past records showed that the closer Ran's bonds were the stronger they all became. Gadreel couldn't help but hope that this time it would be different. All thanks to a Griffen, again. Gadreel was tempted to watch what Archer was doing, but the twins had him covered and she had to respect their boundaries. Even though she really wanted to, but she failed to pick him, so she would have to wait.
Still she did worry if this would be enough. It was just one person that came here, would that be enough to change anything? But it was a Griffen, granted he was related via adoption. But if he took the name, then there was something to that boy.
Feeling a bit melancholy, Gadreel really hoped to see this Archer cross paths with Ran more often. Maybe she could fully see what this boy was about. Maybe she could be reminded of the past with him. Then she quickly shook those thoughts from her head. She was a goddess, and yet she was daydreaming about some boy she never met just because he had the same last name of a crush- no, a person she knew of.
Besides, there were more important matters to worry about right now. Like whether or not Ran could actually even get past this first duel with the D-rank student. Normally he'd fail, but this time around with all this extra training, it looked to be different.
The words of Talia also rumbled within her mind. Talia was right, others would be aware of the resets. It would also explain why there had been inconsistencies with each reset. Certain things occurring that might have been chalked up to weird luck might not be so innocent. Perhaps she and the others should go and investigate this.
***
Zach Moore flew towards the nearest hospital with another teen in his arms suffering from a broken leg. After landing and gently putting him down onto an awaiting stretcher he quickly informed the doctors of the situation.
After making sure everything was going to be alright with the boy, Zach flew back into the air and headed back to base. As he did so he heard a call from his commlink.
"What's wrong?" Zach asked.
"Did you hear the news?" A voice said urgently, he recognized it as his friend Nathanial Sparks, a fellow WDO member who older than him by nearly a decade. A senior of sorts for the newest generation. He was very friendly to the younger members of generation three despite his usual stoic demeanor.
"What news?"
"About Archer."
"Uh, he's across the world isn't he?"
"He just debuted."
"What? Wait, you mean like with the helmet and everything?" Zach said stopping midair to talk, now fully invested.
"No he doesn't have the helmet yet, still using the mask."
"How do you know this?" Zach asked as another call came forth, then another, and then a couple more.
"Okay, let me make this a group call." Nathan said fiddling with his device before a multi-call channel was made.
"Hey have you heard about Archer?" Several voices asked Zach.
"Yeah he does, I just told him." Nathan said.
"Hold on, how am I the last one to know this?"
"We just found out." Pepper, the woman who dressed like a witch said, "You just never received the message yet."
"Okay, why are we so excited about this?" Zach asked.
"Because Archer debuted." Anderson said.
"He had his costume design ready for months, he was always going to debut."
"Was he though?" Anderson asked.
"Yeah, there was a good chance that Archer would never don a cowl. He would just play behind the scenes." Pepper said.
"That's fair." Zach said nodding his head, "Okay, what did he do that made it so official?"
"Zoe said that he declared war with the crime gangs of Astron."
"Astron, you mean the city where Archer is in?" Zach asked, "Well, that's not surprising. But isn't he supposed to be busy with the whole Trinity scouting mission?"
"Apparently not that busy." Another voice, Tucker, said.
"It's pretty stupid, he might cause an international incident." Nathan said.
"Against criminals?" Pepper asked.
"Oh like you don't know big gangs have influence with politicians. The WDO isn't officially recognized by the country."
"It's not like they would know who Archer is, besides he'll be able to avoid it." Zach argued.
"Even so, it's risky and I don't know if this will end well."
"Come on, it's Archer, he'll be fine."
"Hmm." Nathan said with a begrudging grunt of approval.
"You guys really think highly of him, don't you?" A new voice, one that had been silent since the beginning, Mable Bishop, the one that was passed for the trip to Trinity Academy.
"Oh, don't tell me you're jealous?" Pepper teased.
"Shut up! He's a lazy, pathetic edgelord! I don't understand why everyone likes him so much!" Mable snapped.
"Oh of course." Pepper said sounding like she came to an epiphany, "You've never worked with him yet."
"I don't ever want to." Mable said before hanging up.
"You scared her off." Tucker said.
"Shame, though back to Archer, I can't wait to see him fully in action."
"Isn't he going to work in the shadows?" Anderson asked, "Cause that's his gimmick?"
"You know what I mean."
Zach as listened to the others discuss his friend's emergence onto the world stage, he couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. There was the reaction Talia had before, now Archer made his presence known to the criminal underworld while still lacking all his gear. Something was happening, correction, a lot of things were happening.
He trusted Archer and knew that he was capable, but it felt as though Archer was going to have to deal with a lot more issues than everyone originally thought. If it was something that he would have to deal with, then it's more than likely to leak out to the rest of the world. Zach took a deep breath as he realized that there was likely a lot of work to be done by all of them very soon.
***
Talia made her way towards an old abandoned cottage in the middle of a forest. She had remembered the location even after all these years. It was an old-looking thing that wasn't well maintained. The wood was rotting and overgrowth had taken over the roof, while spiders and other insects took the windows.
The place looked like it didn't run on electricity. It was as rustic as an old cottage could be. Everything from the furniture inside matched. No plastic, no complex devices inside. The bedframes were made of old steel while the mattress and pillows were stuffed with old cotton and covered in dust.
Flying down onto the porch, she pulled out a keycard and a small wooden owl acting as decoration turned itself towards Talia and scanned the keycard and a whirling noise could be heard. The door then opened itself up as a hidden passage opened up from within the cottage.
Talia quickly entered the building and down the passage and entered a small hidden room. Inside the room were several boxes in pristine condition. Talia slowly approached and opened one of the boxes that was at chest level to her to check the contents. A small smile appeared on her face as she saw what was inside: books.
Closing the box she then looked through the labeled boxes to find what she needed. Finding the box she needed she took it and reclosed the room. Resealed the hidden entrance and flew back into the air, ready to hand Archer some useful items. He was going to need them.
***
Konis stared at his screen intently, his hand closed into a tight fist as he stared at everything that was happening. Things were a mess, this Archer kid had already changed the timeline. Konis just couldn't understand, what was wrong with the other gods? Why were they so damn stubborn?
The world was doomed to be conquered by the armies of darkness. Why doesn't everyone just accept this as a fact? They tried to stop it the last nine times and failed. What good was this tenth try going to accomplish? So some brat named Archer is here, he's just going to cause more unseen consequences.
That's what happens whenever they try to add someone in to help. Griffen, there was just something about the boy that annoyed him. That air of assured confidence he had, the fact that he acted like he was all smiles and kindness to people, yet he visually enjoyed crushing people's wills. No good person would be so sadistic as to strike such fear into people. The boy was a mistake. He wasn't even supposed to live past the age of four. Yet here he was.
This whole society was backwards. So much pretentiousness and so much vileness in the world. It should be erased. Let the dark ones destroy as much as possible and then it could be cleaned up afterwards. With the mortals properly worshipping them again, not just superficial worship, but proper gifts and sacrifices. Yes
If Archer continues to get too troublesome, Konis could deal with him. He had someone in mind that could deal with Archer. Angry, mean, and thinking he was more, exactly what was wrong with this planet. He'll send him at Archer. If he wants to deal with this world's problems then I'll let him do just that. Konis thought as he turned his screen off.
***
Cassia sat on her couch as she stared at her fully recovered hand as she thought of how she got her injury. She had nearly caused her fellow schoolmates to be kidnapped by a criminal gang. It wasn't personal, just a paycheck. But she couldn't help but feel guilty for doing so.
She had never complained about a job before, they were simple, rough up and scare other criminals or lowlifes. She understood that she was working for a criminal organization, but they paid well, and it wasn't too hard to do with her talents. But this was the first time she had dealt with innocent people who had done nothing.
Not people she needed to collect debt from, not someone who stole something. No, just her fellow students that thought they were taking on a commission. Granted the situation of entering the restricted area was illegal, they only did so because someone they trusted tricked them.
Speaking of which, the second-year student was arrested that day. She was worried that there would be more questions and investigations. But the school board very quickly swept everything under the rug. She couldn't help but sneer at the thought.
A school for heroes was easily as dirty and corrupt as the criminals she worked for, if not worse with all the fake authenticity of righteousness. Still, that didn't mean that those students deserved to be kidnapped. She was almost glad that the intruder had butted in and fired upon them.
She said almost, as while it was nice that the students got to escape, she did not appreciate this person firing at her. She also didn't like how they also blew her up. In fact, the next time they were to meet she would make sure to get them back for it. Though she worried if she could, whoever that person was was clearly skilled and clever enough to outfox her the first time. She had to make sure that it wouldn't happen again.
***
Evan Case sat in his camp waiting for his stew to finish boiling. He simply couldn't fathom the strange happenings that had occurred. He had lived this life once before and died in a dirty alley after having dropped out of Trinity Academy. He was not going to let it happen a second time.
Evan honestly didn't know he was brought back in time but he was not going to let a second chance slip by him. He was going to live this life as a winner. Though clearly he wasn't the only one that changed.
Archer Griffen, he had recently fallen under Evan's suspicion. He was just so damned friendly with Mercy Cowen that it raised his suspicion. Though he wasn't the only strange one, why would that A-rank Kaiden help Ran? Who was that man who saved Esme? More annoyingly of all, why did so many people like Ran? He was a nobody.
Evan could remember Ran trying to fight against the higher ranks only to wind up failing. What a joke. Trying to act like some leader only to fall on his face. Evan remembered that even after that embarrassment against the D-rank he kept trying afterwards. He should've known that it was hopeless. Evan did.
But now with hindsight and some research things were different for Evan now. He only ever made it to D-rank before being kicked out for poor choices. Here he was in the school woods with access to as much magical goodness that he could fill his stomach with.
He already felt himself getting stronger, by the end of the month he will definitely be ranked up to D. Perhaps by the end of the first semester he would make it to B. He was going to do it, he was not going to die like a loser this time. Even if it meant that he would have to deal with all the extra unknowns if they got in his way.
Now enough worrying about those losers. Evan needed to take care of himself first and that meant tucking into his stew that was done cooking. As he enjoyed his magically enchanted meal, he never bothered to wonder why exactly he was given his memories of a previous life.
***
09/22/3122 YDB – September 22nd, 3122
Archer woke up early in the morning and heard a knock on his door. Curiously opening the door he saw a package at the foot of his door. Reading it he saw that it was for him and sent by Professor Phil Doyle.
Picking up the package he headed back into his apartment and opened it on the dining table. Once the contents were unpackaged he read a note explaining to him that if he wanted to play vigilante, then maybe he would need what's inside the box. The last piece, the helmet, will arrive shortly.
A large smile flashed across Archer's face as he picked up his items: a nice, sleek black trench coat, fedora, black pants, and what looked to be snow boots. He had just gotten his full set of first gear. Still wishing he could get all of his second set, but he was still more than happy with what he got. With this, he was going to be able to roam throughout the night now. This next week was going to be a lot of fun.