Nyte's Point of View
For what seemed like the millionth time, Spider Queen Nyte brought a hand with trembling fingers up to her mouth, checking the spot where it happened. Her lips still tingled, despite nearly a week passing since their movie date. Not in her wildest fantasies did she ever imagine the feelings unleashed inside her in that moment. Was this love? Was this what people talked about? For days afterward, she floated, like the blood in her veins was replaced with helium. Her existence became a warm bubble of delight and longing.
It was...it was..."perfect" didn't even begin to describe it. Rich had this way of taking the lead without taking the lead, making her comfortable, easing her fears, giving her permission just to enjoy the moment.
He kissed me. The memory made her whole body blush.
"Oho, did something good happen, Nyte?" a teasing voice interrupted her reminiscing.
"Hello, Kleia," she tried to sound polite without encouraging her. Tick Queen Kleia had long blue hair, a cheerful smile, and a ridiculous spandex outfit with little spikes and appendages that went along with her tick theme, nothing at all like her elegant spider dress.
"I like what they've done with the place," Kleia said in that annoyingly positive tone she always used. Of the Four Demonic Queens, Tick Queen Kleia had always been the most laid back.
Nyte looked around. The same dripping flesh walls, the same musty smell, Stinger headquarters had never been the most welcoming place, not that Kleia cared. She'd call a trash can snug and comfy. Ticks were gross, bloated, little disease-spreading pests, not graceful and deadly like spiders.
"That makes one of us," Nyte said unhappily, hoping this damn meeting would just start already. "Hurry up and wait" was practically Stinger's motto. What in the world did Jellyfish Hitler do in her spare time? She never looked busy.
If anything, Kleia's smile became even more infuriating. "Somebody sounds like they've got somewhere they'd rather be. You get a boyfriend or something?"
Nyte looked to the side, not daring to meet the Tick Queen's eyes and give herself away.
"Oh my goddess, you DID get a boyfriend!" Her blue hair swished about as Kleia forced herself into Nyte's personal space. "I can't believe I lost to Gloomy Gladys over here! To think Nyte would be the first Demonic Queen to get a boyfriend!"
Please go away, Nyte silently begged. Kleia, of course, just continued the interrogation. "What's he like? Is he cute? Is he nice? Where did you meet him? School? Sports? Stinger stuff? Come on, Nyte, don't leave me hanging here! I'm turning blue!"
"You're already blue," she pointed out.
Kleia flinched, and for a moment, Nyte hoped the pure logic of her statement would shut her up. "Touche," Kleia granted. No such luck, then. "So, have you kissed yet?"
The question made her full body blush, which had never completely gone away, flare back to life with interest.
"No way," Kleia said in awe. "I'm that far behind, huh? Well, it's summer now, so maybe I have a chance to catch up! I've been transferred to the Plano headquarters permanently! We'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on, Nyte, old pal!"
There could not possibly be worse news than this. To be Spider Queen Nyte was to suffer. Getting rid of a tick once it was stuck to you was practically impossible.
"Fufufu, I see you two are getting along well." Jellyfish Hitler chose the exact worst moment to make her entrance. With her personal factotum, Hamburger Satan, in tow, the leader of Stinger received their salutes with a careless rise of a hand. "Raise your heads, my invincible army! Stinger Sieg!"
"Stinger Sieg!" they all chanted the battle cry in unison.
"Ah, such enthusiasm, this old jellyfish heart can hardly take it. I see that we have two of our Four Demonic Queens in attendance! Spider Queen Nyte! Tick Queen Kleia! Come forth!"
They both answered her summons and kneeled at Jellyfish Hitler's feet.
Drat, I'm going to have to wash this dress again, Nyte thought. The floor of their headquarters was positively filthy.
"Tick Queen Kleia, is your first experiment ready for deployment?" their leader asked.
Experiment?
"You betcha, boss!" Kleia's blue mane flapped as she called behind her. "Come on in, Kusa! The water's warm!"
"Kukuku, ticks love to hide in the grass!"
A green woman with flowers in her hair and a dress of leaves walked in. Those flowers smelled like-
"Achoo!" Nyte sneezed.
"Gesundeit!" Kleia patted her on the back. "Sorry about that, Nyte. Those are special flowers in Kusa's hair."
Her nose was running, her eyes watered, and her purple eyeshadow was running down her cheeks in rivulets that looked like dried vampire blood. Metal.
"Indeed," Jellyfish Hitler praised them. "Grass Mutant Kusa is about to give the city of Plano a bad case of allergies!"
Wait, what?
Hamburger Satan laughed evilly. "It's a brilliant plan, your ladyship! The children won't be able to play outside anymore! That will charge the Apathy Engine for sure!"
Again with the Apathy Engine. Would nobody ever explain it to her?
"Grass is more dangerous than you think!" Kusa said, brandishing a set of clawed fingers that glinted menacingly in the dim light of their assembly.
"While my Grass Mutant gets to work, you can tell me more about your boyfriend, Nyte," Kleia whispered. "Does he have a brother? How about a double date?"
Just when things were starting to go well...
***
"Pick up the pace, Becca!" Rich called out. They were on a conditioning run, and she was starting to fall behind.
"But football is a fast-twitch sport, you said." His sister was huffing and puffing. "All sprints." She barely had enough spare oxygen to get the words out.
"Four quarters of football are more draining than you think! You need to be in shape to play hard for four quarters!"
After three, nearly four, months of training, Becca really looked like she worked out now. She had visible muscle definition and a lot of size and power, especially in her lower body. At this point, endurance was the only thing Rich still had on her, which was why they were running through the park.
Seeing her start to flag further, he switched from running in front to running behind, urging her with little pushes to her back. "You're gonna finish strong, Becca, whether you want to or not!"
A group of kids at the playground gathered by the sidewalk to cheer them on. There wasn't an adult in sight. It was still somewhat normal for kids to be out alone like this in 2005. Just a few years later, such a scene would probably result in a call to Child Protective Services.
"Six weeks, sis! Six weeks until you suit up and make the team! We're not letting up now!" Based on their running course, Rich estimated they had only a quarter mile left and planned to finish strong.
On the side of the path, a field of brightly-colored flowers caught his eye. Had they always been there? For some reason, he thought he would've noticed before. They smelled great, like warmth and sunshine and new life and-
Suddenly, they were sneezing and dripping. It hurt to look at the flowers directly. His eyes burned like he'd made a mistake cutting onions. Thinking the effect would fade the further away they got, Rich picked up the pace. Only, it didn't work. Whatever pollen the flowers were releasing spread across the whole park. Becca stopped running entirely, stumbling away in the general direction of the parking lot. No urging from Rich could get her to finish. He wrote the day off. They'd do better tomorrow.
***
The next day, they found the park empty. No children were playing. No joggers lined the paths. Just as soon as Rich and Becca stepped out of their truck, the same itchy, irritated, runny feeling assaulted their sinuses. Becca hopped right back in and closed the door. "The gym has treadmills," she said. "We can run inside."
Was this some kind of tropical invasive plant? Rich turned on the TV when they got home from their shift at Chili's and found the local newscaster mentioning some kind of "pollen warning" being in effect.
The next day was no better. Rich had always believed running outside in the fresh air and sunshine was just better training, but they physically couldn't do it. People weren't going out at all. The neighbors weren't mowing their lawns. He didn't hear kids playing in back yards like he used to. All of Plano was becoming shut-ins. Being bored, Rich invited Julie over to play video games.
"Hey," she said awkwardly when he led her into his room. For a moment, he wondered if she was disturbed by the mess, but no, after a quick glance around, he confirmed his room was completely clean.
Oh, reverse world, he realized. This was like going into a girl's room for the first time. "My Dad's at work, but we still need to keep the door open, Julie," he laid down the law. Dad trusted him completely, and the last thing Rich intended to do was break one of his few rules.
Julie nodded hard enough to shake her brain. "Of course, I wouldn't dream of it," she said seriously.
Rich wanted to laugh; she was so cute and awkward. "We can still kiss, you know, just nothing further than kissing till I'm eighteen. That was our agreement. In fact, you can kiss me as much as you want."
Julie choked on what she was about to say. "What, really?" Jesus, she almost fell off the edge of his bed in surprise.
"Yes," Rich said softly. He leaned over and gave his girlfriend a cute little peck on the lips. She reacted like she'd been shot, of course. Taking pity on the poor girl, Rich said, "We'll have to build up your resistance, Julie, but later. I really did ask you over to play Smash."
Once they'd been playing for a while, Julie had relaxed enough to show her competitive side. "Bowsette is peak!"
Rich's "Louisiana slang" had been spreading among their friend group little by little. He laughed to himself. "She's no match for Prince Zelda!" Honestly, he really liked the reverse world characters. Most of them made sense, with only a few word outliers like fem Donkey Kong looking pretty ridiculous.
"So, what's for dinner?" Julie asked in between rounds.
Rich sighed. "I was gonna fire up the grill and make burgers, but this pollen warning is still in effect. I'm starting to get annoyed."
Julie stiffened and looked like she wanted to say something, but swallowed her words. Did she know about invasive tropical flowers? It was probably nothing.
He thought for a minute. "We've got some steaks in the fridge, and I think our new cast-iron is seasoned enough. How about I show you what a reverse sear is? "
"Rich, if it's you, I know it'll be amazing," his girlfriend said with absolute certainty. She was a big eater and had been over for dinner a good bit these last few weeks. Dad was even starting to warm up to her. It was nice to have another person around. Maybe once Becca got a boyfriend, things would be even livelier.
"Okay then, steak and baked potatoes. I can start on it after this round."
***
On the fourth day, with no end to the "pollen warning" in sight, Rich decided it was anomalous enough to investigate as Stinger activity. He got up early and activated his ring inside Tony the truck:
"From a future dark
To a post not set,
Stinger hasn't won just yet,
With Pureheart Power, a noble mission,
Come forth! Future Hero! Henshin!"
With that, Richard Rice became Future Hero, and Tony, the silver Tacoma, became Future Roller! The sidewalks were empty and quiet as the purple truck cruised down to the park. He needed to inspect those brightly colored flowers.
Rich wasn't completely certain the helmet of the Endram Armor could keep the pollen out, but he didn't have a lot of options at this point. This summer would be a total waste if they couldn't even go outside. As he approached the flowers, Future Hero was pleased to note his eyes didn't water, and he didn't even feel the urge to sneeze.
Once the field next to the jogging path was in sight, Future Hero noticed a green woman with flowers in her hair taking them out and planting them one by one.
"There, kukuku, this park is so lively now! No nasty children to ruin nature's ambiance!"
"Stop right there," Future Hero said sternly. "Parks exist for children to play in!" This woman was one of Stinger's mutants; there would be no doubt. He sank into the fighting stance he learned at Alice-sensei's dojo. There was no point in prolonging the engagement. Gathering Pureheart Power in his fists, he surged forward. "Future Pun-"
UGH! He hit the ground with an embarrassing thud. One of those flowers was actually a vine that tripped him up.
"Not a nature lover, I see," the Grass Mutant mocked him.
"Just die, monster!" Future Hero attacked, more cautiously this time. He spun, sending a roundhouse kick right for her grassy head, but the mutant ducked!
"Don't mess with Father Nature!" The green woman lashed out with a clawed hand, trailing sparks as she struck the Endram Armor.
"Ah!" he stumbled backward into a rock quarry. Future Hero braced for pain, but no pain came. "Looks like your claws aren't as sharp as you think, Stinger stooge!"
"Kukuku, don't speak too soon, Future Hero," the green woman taunted.
Rich was about to attack, but he found his eyes suddenly watering. Blinking away tears, he found that it was painful to keep his eyes open at all. Free-flowing moisture all but blinded him. His nose itched; his throat burned.
"Wuh deed joo doo?" he stuttered out through dripping sinuses.
"Opened you up, of course. This quarry is now my flower garden!" Grass Mutant Kusa took the offensive, slashing Future Hero with her wicked, sharp fingernails. Sparks flew every time she struck, those claws biting into the Endram Armor like blades.
Rich couldn't see! Every blow sent burning pain radiating through his body!
The hits slowed down. Future Hero realized he was being toyed with.
"Poor boy, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. You'll be fertilizer before long!" Kusa continued her taunting in that rich, venomous voice. Her words echoed off the quarry's walls.
Echoed. That gave Rich an idea. He couldn't see, but he could hear. With an experimental stomp, Future Hero made his own echo and listened intently for how the sound propagated.
"Throwing a tantrum already? Bad boys get punished!"
Got you!
Future Hero leaped forward, Pureheart Power gathering in his foot. "Future Kick!" Guided purely by the acoustics of the quarry, he attacked with his strongest move, placing it exactly where the voice of the mutant originated.
WHACHAH! The kick struck home, nailing Grass Mutant Kusa right in the heart, if plant creatures had hearts.
She stumbled back. "Flowers...bloom...too...briefly..." There was the sound of an explosion, and gradually his vision cleared. Without Kusa to tend them, her flowers would wither and die. It was time to go back to the park and do a little aggressive gardening.
***
Kleia's Point of View
What an interesting boy, she thought. Good at improvising, at least. She didn't expect him to target Kusa by sound; that was for sure. Maybe it was time for her and Future Hero to get acquainted. Nyte wasn't the only one who could meet boys!
After all, it was the nature of ticks to hide in the grass.