The Drummer's Point of View
Nobody had ever called Bryce Wilcox hot, not even cute, actually. Slut, though? Yes, people definitely had called Bryce a slut. It wasn't his fault! One time, at band camp, he let a girl, not even a particularly attractive girl, feel him up a little. The attention had been exciting. After a life of invisibility, he dared to dream that somebody might actually want him.
Big mistake.
That girl bragged to everyone about all the things Bryce let her do, most of it lies, and now he was the weird slutty boy in marching band. Random girls, who clearly saw him as nothing but a piece of convenient meat, approached him from time to time, assuming he was easy.
Did he give in? Sometimes. Attention, even transparently fake attention from horny girls who just wanted to use him, was better than no attention at all. It wasn't like he enjoyed it or anything.
Every year, he told himself the same thing. This would be the year he lost weight, became popular, and got a girlfriend. Only it never happened. You can only lie to yourself for so long before it catches up to you. His senior year was about to start. There was no "next year"!
Now or never, he thought bitterly. Yeah, Bryce was bitter. He looked up at the stands and saw two sides of the same coin, popular boys in different flavors.
The first, Beni Reyes, was easy enough to take. Skinny, hot, bold, and vivacious, Beni might be the most popular boy in school, or he was.
The other one, oh, the other one was especially hard to take. An ogre pretending to be a boy, Richard Rice, had waltzed right into their school and instantly seduced Julie Cohen, their star quarterback. How was it even possible? Richard was taller than most girls! Bryce didn't even want to contemplate what he weighed. Since when do girls like big, bulky muscles like that?
They were even sitting together! Could it be they were friends? There were rumors Beni was interested in Julie, but nothing ever came of it. Julie was focused on football; that's what they all said. Didn't take long for her to change her tune once Richard Rice came on the scene. They pranced around the hallways at PLUH, hanging off each other like they owned the place, which, of course, they did.
Bryce wasn't blind to how high school social status worked. The football team was at the top, with the cheerleaders right alongside them, then your crowd of faceless average Jills, and finally nerdy girls and ugly boys like him at the very bottom. Richard, that asshole, had totally skipped the line, effortlessly sliding into the throne next to the queen of the school. Hell, other football players were afraid to talk to him. Did he have any idea how much Bryce hated him?
No. Richard Rice didn't think about him at all, didn't know he existed, and that's what pissed him off the most.
Quietly seething, Bryce beat out a rhythmic cadence on his drum while their marching carried him away from where the sight of Richard Rice could antagonize him.
Practicing like this was supposed to bring the school together, the teachers said. You had the football team, the marching band, and the cheer squad all out on the practice fields at the same time, sharing space, but everybody knew who was most important. The football players needed more space to run deep passing plays, so they were being sent away.
Bryce spared one last longing glance and noticed the tall, dreamy Julie Cohen was happily chatting with another girl who was nearly as tall as she was. The girl turned her back, and Bryce could clearly read "Rice" on the back of her jersey.
Oh, she almost forgot! Richard Rice had a twin sister, a girl famous for losing weight, putting on a bunch of muscle, and instantly rocketing to the top of the school's eligible bachelorette list. Bryce liked to think he might've had a chance with Rebecca Rice at one point. They were in the same loser category. Hell, misery loves company. Now she was just a reminder of how unfair everything was. Richard was so popular that it rubbed off on his family members. Bryce just couldn't win.
Well, not without help.
When Azure Abrams approached him, Bryce thought it must've been a prank or a dare. Even considering the stereotype that blueheads were husband beaters, Azure was so attractive that he was willing to take the risk.
Not his proudest moment. And it turned out Azure had an agenda. It wasn't using his body, at least, not in the same way. He could remember the conversation clearly.
"Oh yeah, my mom owns a dietary supplement company. Our stuff is sold at GNC and Walmart, and tons of places. We want to use you in one of our advertisements."
It sounded too good to be true. "Like a before and after kind of thing?"
Azure's smile almost blinded him. "Exactly! Now, you need to understand, the treatment I'm offering you is weight gain, not weight loss."
His heart sank. "How does that help me?" Bryce inquired. This probably was a prank after all.
"Muscle, not fat. You need to understand, Bryce, some boys have big bones. You're never going to be tiny like a Beni Reyes or Ross Hollister." She looked deeply into his eyes. Bryce's breath caught despite his misgivings. "You could be a big, muscular mollygirl just like Rich Rice! Girls would notice you then. I think Rich is the start of a trend. Mollygirls will be in very soon."
So he accepted what Azure gave him. It looked like gross, blue bug juice, and it tasted as bad as it looked. Bryce had been drinking it for a week, and so far, nothing.
***
Rich didn't watch football practice every day. He was a busy boy, things to do, you know. Waiting tables at Chili's, karate at Alice-sensei's dojo, Future Force meetings with Reka, and of course, cooking and cleaning for Dad and Becca, and Julie a lot of the time.
"How's she doing, really?" he asked his girlfriend over a game of Smash one Thursday night.
"Awesome," Julie replied instantly, like she didn't have to think about it. "No need to pull the QB card or anything. Becca is unambiguously the best candidate for the position. Don't tell her I told you, but your twin is our new starting left guard."
Fuck yes! His good mood had him thinking reckless thoughts. "I think somebody deserves a reward, anyway," Rich said suggestively.
Julie's pale, almost goth-looking face rapidly heated up. "What do you have in mind?" she asked thickly.
"We can make out on my bed, just remember, the door stays open and clothes stay on, okay?"
She agreed instantly, as he knew she would. Every day, it seemed like they got a little closer, more comfortable with each other.
After a fun time, they took a little break, and Rich rested his head on Julie's chest while she stroked his hair. He'd been growing it out a little to try to match the reverse world boys.
"I love it when you initiate," she told Rich, pulling him closer with her surprisingly strong arm. "Makes me feel like less of a creep, you know? Like I'm not just using you for your body."
"I know you're not, Julie. You don't have to worry about that. Besides," he said shyly, "I like it too."
"I love you, Rich," Julie said with all the sincerity an eighteen-year-old could muster.
"I love you, too," he said back, realizing he actually meant it. They'd been together for nearly half a year now. Strange how so much could change in so little time, huh?
They didn't talk for a while. They didn't need to. There was nothing but Julie's gentle breathing and warm, powerful body. If he weren't Future Hero, it would be so easy to just lose himself like this, let this tall, strong woman protect him.
"Two-a-days start tomorrow," she said after a while. Her long fingers traced gentle circles on his back. "That means morning and afternoon practice, practically all day football. We won't see much of each other for a little while. It's time to 'lock in.' I love that phrase, by the way, already got half the girls on the team saying it. Louisiana is a wild place."
He laughed a little. 2020s slang from the mouth of a 2005 reverse world girl would never not be hilarious. "I think I can come and watch in the morning," Rich said. "But then I've got to do lunch at Chili's after."
"I'll show off for you," Julie promised.
***
There was lightning in his girlfriend's arm as she repeatedly threw long, accurate passes downfield. Once she dropped back, it seemed like she only needed a split second to scan the situation before picking a receiver and putting the ball right in her hands. Fired-up Julie was a completely different beast. No way could a high school tier defense stop her.
The longer the practice went on, the harder the coaches pushed them, but Julie never faltered. Neither did Becca. His sister wasn't just big and strong and fast, but conditioned to play four hard quarters of football. Other girls were flagging, looking lethargic, which only made Becca look better by comparison. During a water break, they both waved at him. Rich returned their wave cheerfully. They'd been on the field since eight o'clock in the morning, and it was almost eleven. Rich needed to be at Chili's, in uniform and ready to go by noon. He was about to head back to his truck when the ground started shaking.
RUM! PUM! PUM! PUM!
It wasn't one big rumble, more like hundreds of little ones rippling through the Earth like machine gun fire.
Rich wanted to scream curse words. He already knew Stinger was behind this. They just loved picking the exact most inconvenient moment to disrupt his life. Reka couldn't make that tracker soon enough. Once Stinger's home base was found, he'd put a stop to these shenanigans once and for all.
He didn't have to wait long to see who was behind the cascading earthquakes. A drummer mutant was beating out a soul-shaking tempo as it ran across the field. RIGHT AT JULIE!
"Stay away from her!" Rich cried. Without a moment's hesitation, he raised his ring:
"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!"
Future Hero rushed through the rhyme as fast as he could, even mumbled a little bit, but the Pureheart Ring understood intention above all. He was already on an intercept course to protect Julie from the monster after vaulting down from the spectator stands.
Remembering his last encounter with a musician mutant, Rich picked up a football and started charging it with Pureheart Power. Football was on his brain after watching so many of his girlfriend's perfect throws. Why not one of his own?
"Future Spiral!"
He nailed the drummer mutant in the back. Sparks flew everywhere as it stumbled, and the rumbling ceased for a moment. Future Hero made his way to Julie. She was not happy to see him.
"Future Hero? What the fuck! Don't touch me, you asshole, I have a boyfriend!"
She struggled in his arms as he picked her up and ran her to the parking lot. Becca, always quick to catch on, followed right behind.
"Go home," he told her once they got to the parking lot. "It's not safe."
He didn't stick around to hear her reply, but he didn't need to. She was screaming it at his retreating form.
"DON'T YOU EVER FUCKING TOUCH ME AGAIN! ONLY RICH IS ALLOWED TO TOUCH ME! IF YOU EVER LAY YOUR FILTHY PURPLE PAWS ON ME AGAIN I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
Julie's loyalty, while charming, was somewhat unsettling. Just a little rescue, and she was completely crashing out. At least he didn't have to worry about his "Lois" falling in love with Superman. She clearly hated Future Hero's guts.
Guess I can't ever tell her about this, he thought ruefully.
The drummer mutant was a big, brawny monster, looking sort of like an armored orc on steroids with long white hair and a tremendous snare drum strapped to its front. Sex was not obvious, but Rich guessed male.
In its hands, his hands, probably, were two colossal drumsticks, dark brown and heavy looking, making a sound like a demon scream with every strike of the drum.
The ground was shaking so badly that it was hard to get close.
"Where is she? Where is she?" he growled, beating the drum even faster.
Rich could barely stay on his feet! This earthquake might bring the whole city down! Maybe if Future Hero could get the mutant to talk, he might be able to exploit a distraction. "Who is she?" Rich called out over the awful din.
"Julieeeeeeeeeee!" It screamed in primal hunger. "Julie, where are you? Julie, where did you go?"
Wait. Stinger was sending mutants after his girlfriend? Oh, they done fucked up now. In pure rage, Future Hero grabbed one of the first down markers and slammed it into the ground, injecting the very Earth with Pureheart Power.
Pure energy met corrupt energy, and an explosion that tore a crater in the practice field sent both Future Hero and the drummer mutant flying. Once he found his feet again, Rich noticed they were in a quarry.
"My drum..."
The mutant was...crying? That just pissed him off more!
"You just solved the lament configuration, buddy." Future Hero's words dripped with menace. Unconcerned with his own safety, Rich walked the monster down with bad intentions.
Drummer Orc held up his hands in surrender. "No, no, please! I didn't mean for this to happen!"
"Too late, shitstain."
BOOM. A purple fist connected with a green jaw. No special moves this time. Future Hero fully intended to beat this mutant and make it slow.
THUD! THUD! THUD! He punched and kicked the drummer mutant again and again as it curled into a fetal position like the big green coward it was. With every blow, it whimpered like a child.
Rich didn't care! Rich liked hurting him!
"OW! OW! Please! It hurts!"
Disgusted beyond measure, Future Hero decided to put the drummer mutant out of its misery. Seizing him by his white hair, he forced the monster to his feet and exposed the thick green throat.
"Future Chop!"
WACHA!
The whipcrack as the blade of his hand snapped the drummer mutant's neck echoed through the quarry. Future Hero dropped the beast to the dusty ground, limp, boneless, dead.
Then the green started to fade. Muscles on the corpse shrank as whatever magic that had mutated it in the first place lost its grip on the dead.
"It's..."
Rich couldn't finish the sentence.
A teenage boy.
Stinger's mutants were real people!
Richard Rice screamed in anguish. No one was there to hear. There was only the quarry.