Banchovt

Episode 1: A hero breaks out!
I know, I know; using “The Beginning” at the start of any story is cliché and over used. However, it's the only start. It’s the only correct way to begin my tale as the Masked Hero of Justice, the Imagine Driver Bancho!
My family are lucha and soccer enthusiasts that immigrated from Mexico. I was the first born in... the United States and had various expectations set on me, one of them being learning the art of lucha. However, I did not really care for either. If anything, they stood in the way of my Saturday routine of watching masked hero shows such as Power Rangers, Big Bad BeetleBorgs, Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, and Mystic Knights of Tir na Nog. Even with being forced into lucha, I still found every chance to catch up to my shows.
When I was a teen, I heard that Japan had live Masked Hero shows and thought how awesome that sounded. Upon hearing this, I swore I would do what I could to get there. My family didn’t understand my fascination with Masked Heros and Anime. I couldn’t blame them. I could not understand their fascination with lucha, soccer, and drinking at every party,
I worked and worked and saved the best I could, but I didn’t have enough. Then, one day after graduating college, my Da asked me what I would like as a graduation gift . He made a joke giving me two options: one, a big truck like the one he has, or option two, a ticket to Japan. I jokingly said,
“Ya, I’d love a big Mexican truck ''. My dad snorted.
“Really?!” I laughed, retorting with a huge smile on my face. “No, the ticket to Japan, please!”
I flew to Japan in August. I had learned of a big event taking place that month, Comiket. I did a lot of fun things during that event and saw a lot of interesting literature some would have killed to have read.
My visit to Japan wasn’t just for the doujin convention, however, but for my grand desire to watch a live action hero stage show! I read online that there was going to be a live show in Saitama Prefecture, which was a 90 min trip by train from my hotel.
The next day I woke up early to head to Saitama. The train ride wasn’t long before I knew I was already there. The walk to the location of the show, though, was further than I thought. As I walked under the hot sunny day, I felt the sweat drip down my brow and neck. I pushed onward to my destination. It was then I noticed that there was a pink haired girl wearing a black hoodie given out what looks like tissues. I stopped to see what tissues were for since no one else stopped to notice her. I took the package of tissue with a black label, and I noticed that the bottom right hand corner of the label had English writing with cat ears over them. The label read as “NEKO MODOKI”.
When I read the word neko, the meaning behind it popped into my head, and it took several long seconds before I finally noticed pink ears atop her head to match her pink hair. I stood staring vacantly at her ears. I felt her grab my hands and say something in Japanese. I couldn’t understand what she said; I could only reply with,
“Watashi wa sukoshi Nihongo, Wakarimasu. (I only know a little Japanese).”
She coughed into her hand before she began to speak,
“I said, finally! Someone noticed me!” I was taken back; I wouldn't have believed she knew any English until I heard her speak. She continued on.
“Now then” She said, pulling out a watch with a silver trim from her pocket. She spoke eagerly. “This watch is yours now.” I was taken aback. I could only respond with a “What?”
She shrugged, responding in kind with “Why not?”
“You’re the first person to notice me all day. And that deserves a reward” She took my left hand and placed the watch on my wrist. “And anyway,” she added, “You shouldn’t kiss a gift horse in the mouth, as you Americans say.” Before I knew it the watch was attached to my wrist, and the girl had disappeared before I could ask any more questions.
I was left in a daze wondering where she had disappeared too. I looked at the watch she had placed on my wrist. It was a nicely designed smart watch. The only difference was that 12, 3, 6, and 9 had small indents as if they could have something placed in them. At the center of the watch was a red jewel. It was shining brilliantly under the bright summer sun. As I stared at the jewel, I felt like it was sucking me in. I was engrossed in its luster. It felt like it was alive, but I noticed the time and I was running late for the event I so longed to see. I started running towards the venue as fast as I could. The show was about to begin.
I finally made it to the venue of the Hero Show, but a thought lingered in the back of my head, ‘Should a grown man go to watch a show meant for kids?’. As a small sense of shame came over me. I noticed that someone was selling masks and immediately went up to buy one from them. I placed the mask on to hide my face, the shame and embarrassment from being an adult man in a crowd of children and their parents. I arrived on time for the MC to introduce the heroic squad to join the fight against the monster that plagued the stage. My blood was boiling with excitement from arriving at the right time with the team coming out, one by one.
I felt the blood rush through me. I shouted with a loud cheer! “You got this, Mountain Five!”
As I shouted, the heroes leapt and fought against the invading force from another world. It was fantastic. I knew it was all pretend and showmanship, but seeing the children around me, excited and cheering for their favorite heroes, brought me so much joy that I began to cheer as loudly as the children were.
As the show went on and it was reaching its climax, the watch that I received began to go off. I took a look at the alarms flashing, screaming danger, danger! Out of thin air, a large dark figure dropped on the stage releasing a cloud of smoke. As the smoke was cleared, something flew by where I stood, crashing by the wall behind me.
I checked behind me to see what the loud crash was, and I saw the large monster that was fighting the heroes. The body laid by the now cracked wall from it being flung into it. More bodies began to fly from the stage. As the bodies dropped from the sky, I couldn’t help but think of the old school song, ‘It's Raining Men’, or maybe more like ‘Let The Bodies Hit The Floor’.
However, it wasn’t the time or place to daydream and escape from the current reality I was facing. A creature shrouded in darkness stood at the top of the stage. Its face looked like a beast from an old fairytale. Its body was covered in thick, wild fur, and it had hundreds of hands covering its upper body. As It stood on top of the stage, it took a deep breath and began to speak.
“You miserable peons of this backwater world, I, the great Hands, have come at the behest of the Nightmare Emperor to conquer your world!” The crowd stood in shock at what the monster had said. This shock then turned into claps, as if they believed that current situations were still part of the show.
The monster's face did not look amused. It knew instinctively that the crowd didn’t fear it, that they believed it was part of some show. To show its strength, it launched multiple hands out, grabbing the bodies of the already fallen heroes and villains like they were rag dolls. It spoke with an irritated voice.
“You peons! You believe that I’m part of your paltry show!” He threw them all beyond the show grounds. He roared at the crowd. “For your insolence, you will all die!” The Hands began to shoot a volley of fists at random, destroying benches, concrete, and sending adults flying. The crowd's faces changed to despair and fell into a panic, the crowd of people began fleeing from the stage area.
I stood there locked in place. I couldn’t move. The terror of being crushed like an ant by this monster’s fist rooted me in place. I was stuck there, but out of the corner of my left eye, I saw two kids huddled together trying to keep each other safe. The monster noticed and threw one of its fists at them. I couldn't believe it, and my body lept into action! Even with how terrified I was, I couldn’t let kids become victims to that monster onslaught!
I ran as fast I could and barely made it in time to block it with my arms crossed in front of me. The fist felt like a cannonball being shot out at insane speed. It threw me back, lifting me off my feet. I hit the stage arena wall hard. I wanted to faint from the pain. I wanted to cry from how broken my body felt. I tried to stand back up, but I fell down on my right knee. As I struggled to keep my body upward, I heard a voice come from the watch.
“I was right to give you the watch.” The voice continued on. “Now’s not the time to be kneeling, Giovanni Ramos!” Before I could ask how the voice knew my name, she shouted “Jump to your right!” My body reacted to the command, and I jumped while clutching my chest. Another volley of strikes landed where I had stood, turning the area into rubble.
“You filthy mongrel!” shouted The Hands.“How dare you dodge my volley! Your pain would have ended with it, but now you will suffer!”
As another volley with all its hundred hands began to fly directly at me. I knew it was the end.
“Don’t give up; if you die, those kids die next!” The voice was right, but what could someone like me do to win the day? “Just shout it at the top of your lungs, Imagine DRIVER!”
With the volley coming closer, I shouted through the pain in my breast- ”IMAGINE DRIVER!!”
As soon as I shouted that phrase, the red gem on my watch began to glow bright red. It released a bright forcefield, shielding me from the volley. The watch began to transform into a wheel. The display grew and looked like a digital button. The top of it alerted “Danger, Danger, Imagine Driver Breaking Through!”
I mumbled the notice under my breath-“Breakthrough?” -but with how things were going, I didn’t have the time to process.
The voice shouted. “Oi! You idiot! Now Show more