1 The Last Time For Ordinary

Ethan Blackwood prepared for battle.

In the months to come, Ethan would look back and that there could be a fight in which someone didn't get hurt... Or his life or the entire human race wasn't constantly at risk.

At the time, though, he did not think of it as a battle. No one ever thought of it as a game not when you strapped on 600 pounds of a nuclear-powered exoskeleton athletic suit.

Inside his suit, he crouched on the sidelines of the Northside elementary athletic field. Ethan and his teammates huddled around Coach, listening to his plan. Each of them wore an external frame of that with stainless steel in hydraulics in the orange gecko grip soled feet ... Except, of course, coach. He wasn't in a suit. For now, he was half their size, a dwarf among the Giants.

It was all "defensive action" this end "special team maneuver" that.

Really, all the fancy terms came down to set up one last play.

This was a special repair timeout before the last 7 seconds of the state semifinal soccer championship: The Grizzlies vs. The Westside Warriors. The score was tied. 12-year-old Ethan was captain Grizzlies. It was a crushing responsibility for the 7th-grader shirt surrounded by the 8th graders on his team. But even thrive under pressure. The tougher the mid-term, the more he crammed. The title the spot in the match, the more Ethan moved like a cat in his suit twisting around defenders even making those near half build 500-foot kicks!

Inside the formatting cockpit, sweat dripped off the end of Ethan's nose.

There were a few more moments in Ethan blackwood's life that had burnt themselves into his memory: a splinter that gone through his hand when he was four (his mom had pulled it out); when two blue ribbons at school science fairs one for the biology of the nerve, another for a robotic arm; last week at the Sadie Hawkins dance, when he fumbled for Mary Vincent's hand (although technically she had taken his hand) and this moment.

Like when he had that splintered, one the science fairs come and help Mary's hand Ethan felt burning, churning flutters deep in his stomach.

But this was different. It wasn't just about Ethan. His whole team had a stake in this, and that made it vital that Ethan get it right. "Blackwood!" coach Norman said." You're heading the match?"

Ethan Blackwood looked at his teammates. The Sterling bear emblems on their chest plates stared back at him; the pressure start gets in their arms and legs twitched and as if the suits were somehow nervous too. Ethan met the dark grey eyes coach. "Yes, Sir." Coach went on then... something about the importance of focus... as Ethan's gaze drifted past him, along the sidelines of the field and the bleachers.

Cheers were completely distracting. Ethan at just at the filters on his targeting camera to shape the huge lights over here that turn night today on the field. Father his mom in the stands, with her Golden Filipino features smiling, and dad and his strong Cherokee jaw search clinched (even had inherited the same quick smile, and the same quick to frown jawline). they are proud of him win or lose. Even his brother and sisters had come tonight: little Dana and Danny, still in diapers, and his older sister, Emma, who gave Ethan a thumbs up. Something without a face, though.

Sitting A roll up from his family were two strangers. Ethan knew everyone at school and most of the losing Westside warrior fans, but these two students, a guy, and a girl, he had never seen before. They weren't in the North side's red and Brown colors or the Westside green. Even though it was prohibited by the school's dress code, they wore jeans and black T-shirts, the dark color set off their super pale skin. The boy took up space for two people in the stands not "fat" big, but more like a weight lifter. His T-shirt look two sizes too small and about to rip.

His head was shade, showing only a faint shadow of stubble. The girl was then, as she seemed to drown in her oversized T-shirt. Her blonde hair stuck up in a spiky ponytail. Something else set them apart. The look in their eyes with a strange thing period pure tension like this was a life-or-death situation. Well, how could anyone not be fascinated by soccer? Especially this match! But these two scrutinized everyone on the field data dot as if they weren't interested in the game, exactly, but we're looking for someone.

Coach Norman finished his final instructions (which Ethan realized he had completely blanked on) and shouted," break" Ethan instantly forgot the two strangers snapped his head back into the match his team is placed their hands into this in the center of the huddle with a machine-like precision, raised them and salute, and shut up, Grizzlies Ethan and his team then turned to face the Westside Warriors. Ethan should have asked about the coach's instructions, but his parents had always told him to go with his gut when in doubt. But that was what he didn't do now. He whispered to his fellow strikers, Bobby, give me 3 Mississippi's and then pass me the ball.

Bobby looked back at Coach, whose word was law but Bobby also knew Ethan Blackwood was in his own... end when Ethan couldn't fail to make a shot. He nodded. The referee let loose a blasphemous whistle a steam-powered thrill that gave Ethan a jolt every time he heard it. Bobby tossed the soccer ball at Ethan from sidelines. 2 green-clad warriors bounded toward Ethan, 1200 pounds total of metal positioning at him like freight trains. He then starts hammered.

He kicked the ball back to back to Bobby and counted. One Mississippi. Ethan sprinted at 45 mph to the midfield line. 2 defenders covered Bobby. Two Mississippi. Ethan Dodged.

The single defender on him overshot his precision, lost balance (even with his gyros on max), and landed in a heap with a tremendous clatter. Three Mississippi. Among the squeaks of the soles on the green painted metal field, there was the unmistakable Roush of an incoming, solid rubber, high-velocity ball. Ethan stomped and spun. For a fraction of a heartbeat, he saw the ball he knew Bobby would pass a blurry rocketing at 200 miles an hour right to him. Ethan head-butted the ball downfield and sprinted after it.

The crowd screamed but the sound faded da di John by Ethan's thundering post in the thumping of his suit's hydraulics. There were defenders raced after him. Ethan Tuesday, gears and gyros screaming in Overdrive as he caught up with the ball end dribbled it between his feet. Warriors closed on all sides to block it paid there was no more time period, he had to take the shot now still 300 feet from the goal. He snapped on his suits targeting system.

Arrows and gridlines popped onto his view screen. The goalkeeper faced him, and suddenly Ethan's screen buzzed with static.