Hi! I'm Felicia Rivers-aka: Starika. It's pretty cool being a hero, I guess. Just ignore the pains of past battles and it's pretty cool. The Smokers have had a big impact on where I live. They are a very serious gang. They hate bangers, anyone who goes against them, people who say bad things about them and me. Well, they hate Starika, at least.
Not too long ago, they beat up Matt Davids and left him for dead in an alley. I'm friends with his girlfriend K.J. . She's a wild person. She never makes a threat without following up on it. I should've remembered that.
We were at Marco's house that day. His bestfriend Matt Davids had been released from the hospital the day before. Marco, Eliza, Rose, Chris, Kenny, K.J., and I were throwing a welcome back party for him at Marco's house. It was his idea, afterall.
"Thanks everyone. I'm...just...so touched!" Matt said, pretending to cry. We laughed. Matt smiled. It's hard to believe Matt of all people would get jumped. He's pretty tall, so that intimidates people. He has the longest hair of the guys in our school; it goes to his waist! His bangs always hang past his eyebrows and almost stick him in the eyes. His eyes are dark blue. He's one of the very few people who stood up to the Smokers and didn't stop being a banger. One major reason why he'd ended up in the hospital in the first place.
"I missed you more than anyone else, honey," Matt said, kissing K.J. . The boys cheered, and the girls gushed about how sweet that was.
K.J. blushed. "I missed you too."
"Enough talk! Let's party!" Kenny said.
The music started to play and Matt went over to talk to the other guys.
"I'm so glad Matt is back," Eliza said.
"Yeah. Not even the Smokers could keep him down!" Rose said.
K.J.'s eyes darkened. "I hate them......." She said. She squeezed her glass of soda tightly. "They will pay!" She hissed, and the glass busted in her hand at that moment, due to the pressure she'd put on it.
"K.J.!" Rose, Eliza, and I cried. Blood slid down her wrist. K.J. opened her fist and bloody pieces of glass fell and littered Marco's floor.
"Oh jesus! She's bleeding all over! Someone get bandages or something!" Kenny said.
Marco ran to the kitchen and grabbed a towel, since it was the first thing he saw that he could use.
K.J. looked oddly calm the whole time. It was almost as though if she were under a spell.
Marco picked pieces of glass out of K.J.'s palm then patted the towel on her hand, wiping away most of the blood.
"Keep pressure on the wound while I look for some band-aids," Marco instructed K.J. and she did so.
We all looked at her, our eyes wide with shock.
"Honey......Are you alright?" Matt asked.
K.J. grew an odd smile on her face as she turned to him. "Yes sweetie. Why wouldn't I be?" She asked.
The next day at school, I noticed K.J. was acting really strange. She seemed really distant and not her usual hyper self. When she saw Mike, Kenny and Chris had to practically chain her to the lunch table. She would have fought him right then and there if they hadn't held her back.
By the end of the day, I had to speak with K.J. . I had to find out why she was being so strange. I confronted her at her locker when no one else was around.
"K.J.!" I said.
She turned to me. Felicia, I don't have much time to talk......" K.J. said.
"You'll make time. Come on K.J.! Tell me! Why are you acting so strange?" I asked.
She sighed. "Fine. Fine.....," She said. She closed her locker. "I guess I'll tell you."
"Well, why are you so upset?"
"It's the Smokers. I keep thinking of what they did to Matt. I don't know if you know this, but I was there when Chris found him in the alley. He was.......so still......" K.J. said. She put he hand to her lips for a moment and looked away. "I was so sure he was dead!"
My expression softened. I knew what it was like to find someone you love injured.
"I know you know how that feels. I was lucky though, Matt is strong. He lived. But just the thought that I almost lost him scared me. Then I thought about it. You lost your brother to them. I almost lost the man I love to them. I felt so angry. Then I realized that they are just as human as us. So," K.J. said, smiling,"I'm going to kill them."
"What?! No! K.J., don't risk it!" I cried.
"Oh come on Felicia! I know you'd do it too, if you could. They hurt us. Why? Because we're different. In some cases, they hurt people just for the hell of it! I won't let them continue this any longer! They have to pay!" K.J. said.
"So what is your plan, if you even have one," I asked.
"Easy. Tomorrow at seven, when they have their little gathering, I get them to take me on. When I beat a few and when they think they are winning, I put a bullet through the one who nearly killed my Matt," K.J. said.
"That's crazy! You'll be killed!" I protested.
K.J. smiled. "I won't die. Even if I do, it will be from honor."
Then she walked away
I have to stop her! I thought.
"I don't know what to do to stop her," I said.
"K.J. always has been an unstoppable force. I don't know what to tell you," Rose said.
"Man......Just wait until Matt finds out about this!" Marco said.
My eyes widened. "No! Don't tell Matt! Don't tell him, no matter what! The last time he fought them he ended up in the hospital," I said.
"I guess you're right. I won't," Marco said.
"I know I'm the last person in the world who should suggest this, considering how I am, but perhaps Starika could get K.J. to change her mind," Rose said.
We stared at her in shock.
"That was unexpected," Marco said.
"Yeah, tell me about it," I said.
Rose smiled.
"But," I said, picking up my mask, "I'm afraid it's the only thing we can do."
I ran down the alley and slowly peeked around the corner. I saw K.J. walk into the Smokers' hideout. "She's more determined than ever," I said to myself. I heard a scream. I ran up to a window to listen in.
"That crazy wiccan freak hurt me!" I heard Kali cry.
"I'll keep hurting you too, until you tell me who was the one who hurt Matt!" K.J. cried.
"You little bitch!" Kali cried.
I could hear sounds of battle from within. There was a female scream and I heard Kali cry, "Vannessa!"
"Get her!" I heard Vanessa cry.
K.J. screamed. I peeked in and gasped as I saw about 7 members of the Smokers gang grabbing K.J. and tying her to the wall. I'd heard of that wall. It was nicknamed 'The Wall of Demise'. This was due to the fact that the Smokers would chain or tie their enemies from rival gangs and such to the wall and beat them, sometimes to the point of death. There was no doubt in my mind that would be K.J.'s fate if I didn't intervene.
I burst in through the door.
"What the hell?" Vanessa said.
"It's that freak with the mask!" Kali said.
"No way.....It's Starika! She is real!" K.J. said.
"Let the girl go Kali!" I ordered.
"Why do you think I would do such a stupid request?" Kali asked.
"Cause I said so!" I shouted, unsheathing my sword.
"Attack!" Vanessa cried.
Smokers ran at me. I kicked one in the head then spun around and punched him in the back. Another hit me. He went to punch me again and I blocked it. I punched him in the stomach five times, then threw him down.
"No!" K.J. cried. She punched one of the guys that was coming for me. She jumped infront of me saying,"Don't interfere Starika! This is my business and my business alone!"
"I don't want anyone to get hurt! If you do this K.J., you'll be killed!" I cried.
"I won't be killed! This is my business anyway. I must find the asshole that nearly killed my Matt!"
A female gang member jumped at K.J. with a rapier. I jumped forward and blocked her swing. She started to fight with me.
"Why won't you stay out of this, Starika?!" K.J. shouted.
I knocked the rapier out of the girl's hand and kicked her in the stomach. When she dropped to her knees, I hit her in the head with the handle of my sword, knocking her out.
I turned to K.J. and answered her question. "I won't stay out of this because I cannot allow any foolish revenge attempts to occur."
"Silence, bitch!" Vanessa said, pulling out a hunting knife and running at me.
I turned and cut Vanessa's arm with my sword. She dropped the knife. I punched her in the nose. She staggered back and her nose started to bleed.
"Tell the girl what she wants to know," I ordered, pointing my sword at Kali and Vanessa.
"Who hurt Matt! Tell me!" K.J. ordered.
"That dear child, would be us," A voice said.
We turned to see Mike and another woman by his side. She was black, and had shoulder length black hair. Her eyes were violet and her nose had a small diamond stud in it. She wore Fubu gear.
"I know who you are, but who's the bitch?!" K.J. said.
"I am Morganna. Your little head banger boy Matt caused some trouble with me, so we took him out. Unfortunately, he survived. Oh well, perhaps he's learned his lesson," The girl said.
K.J. angrily lunged at Morganna. Morganna stepped out of the way and swung her foot around, kicking K.J. in the head. K.J. fell to the ground.
"K.J.!" I shouted.
"Ow.....my head......." K.J. moaned, rubbing her head and not attempting to get up.
"Time after time, you come here Starika, in some pathetic attempt to uphold justice. So now, I think you'll regret it. You'll find an equal in Morganna," Mike said.
Morganna grinned wickedly and pulled out katana. I readied my sword.
"I'll take you on......" She said.
"Maybe so, but that doesn't gaurantee you'll win," I said.
Morganna struck. I blocked it. She kept striking. I forced her back and slashed at her. She dodged. She swung at my legs. I jumped back. She attempted it again and I blocked it with my sword. I took that oppourtunity to punch her in her face.
She angrily swung at me repeatedly with her sword. I either dodged or blocked her swings at me. Just then, when I didn't expect it, she kicked my sword out of my hands. It flew into the air, landing near K.J. .
"Surrender," Morganna said, pointing the tip of her katana to my throat.
I said nothing.
Suddenly, a figure dressed in black came up behind Morganna and hit her in the ribs, with what looked like the handle of a spear.
Morganna fell and the person turned to me. It was a girl with wavy blond hair. She wore a black midrift top with a silver moon on it and black shorts with a silver stripe going up the side on each hip. She wore knee high black lace up boots, black fingerless gloves with silver trim at the tops, a black mask like mine, and a black cape that went to her thighs.
I got a good look at her spear too. It was very impressive. It was almost as big as the girl herself. The handle was black and the blade looked like three crescent moons joined together and was silver in color.
"Who are you?!" Mike asked. I was curious as well.
"I am Lunaria.....I will not let you harm Starika or any other innocents," She said. She put the blade of her spear to Mike's neck. "So I suggest you let them walk out of here without a problem."
Mike nervously nodded. I helped K.J. up.
Kali stepped forward and pulled out her switch blade.
"I would stop right there if I were you. You don't want Mike here to be 'cut' from the team do you?" Lunaria asked.
Kali stopped. She then backed away.
I picked my sword up and put it back in its sheath.
"You okay?" I asked K.J. . She nodded.
"Starika! K.J.! Go now!" Lunaria ordered. We ran. She followed a few minutes after.
We eventually stopped a few blocks away.
"K.J. listen to me. I know it hurts that you couldn't do anything for Matt. I know how it feels, believe me. Leave the fighting up to me. The last thing your guy would want is to lose you too," I said.
"Starika's right. Control yourself. You did what you could," Lunaria said.
"Okay. I will. Thank you," K.J. said. She walked away.
I decided to thank Lunaria. Whoever she was, she really helped. I turned around to talk to her, but she was gone.
"Lunaria!" I called.
No answer.
I looked at the ground.
"Who is she?" I thought aloud.