*riiiiiiiing*

 

The clock was sounding its mighty alarm, it was six in the morning on a Monday so it was a School day.

 

"Wake me up, when September ends ♪"

 

The weird alarm that her mother had added to said clock also started sounding, it was a song or something that she liked to listen on her younger days.

 

*brrrrrrr*

 

And now her smartwatch was starting to vibrate on her hand, signaling the third and final defense to wake the girl from her deep slumber.

 

She was fifteen years old, she was supposed to be able to wake herself without so much trouble, she strived for her mother to not awake her every morning after all.

 

"Uuughhh...who made mornings..." but she didn't want to be awake, not really.

 

The world of the people that were awake was tiring after all, and she really liked the comfort brought by the sheets of her bed.

 

Of course, life wasn't easy, and the last line of defense would activate soon enough if she didn't make an effort to stand up by herself...

 

...And she would do it!

 

...Surely! ...

 

..She would stand any minute now...

 

...The story couldn't progress with our heroine in her bed after all...

 

.......................

 

"INITIATING WAKING PROTOCOL!" Yeah, should awake by herself.

 

"NO WAIT I'M AWAKE!" Or not...?

 

Either way, the young protagonist of this story soon found her just reckoning for not helping and doing her part to advance this story. How do you ask?

 

Simple, she was thrown out of her bed by a comically big spring from beneath her bed. Of course, she wouldn't be thrown without a care either. Her father had installed this and pointed it so it would throw her into a big teddy bear...

 

It was her gift on her twelfth birthday and it was always sitting in the corner of her room.

 

At least it had been, but our dear protagonist thought herself too big to have said teddy bear in that spot and had moved it to her closet the day before.

 

And forgot to tell her father so he could change the aim of said spring.

 

"HEEEEEEELP!!!!" and so, she struck true to the aim of the spring.

Hitting the wall and almost losing consciousness, she managed to cling to her wits by sheer willpower...And by remembering that if she failed to stay awake then she would be thrown back into the bed and then again against this same wall...

 

So failing to stay awake would mean several more hits against a wall.

 

"At least the wall isn't that hard...." was the only thing our dear protagonist would mumble to herself while nursing her face, a quick look into the mirror would solve the doubts of how bad the hit was.

 

"Hmm...nothing looks out of place..." and the blonde visage of a girl would look back at her. She was pretty even by her own standards, with blonde hair a little curly on the ends, and azure sky eyes that didn't look natural no matter how she thought of them. Even half asleep she had that youthful and vibrant appearance with smooth, clear skin and bright, expressive eyes.

 

Her features were well-defined, with high cheekbones, a straight nose, and full lips. She had a slender and toned physique, with long legs and a graceful posture. After her morning shower, her hair would be styled in a trendy and comfortable way.

 

Overall she exuded confidence and poise, with a natural talent for posing, what posing you ask?

 

Obviously, she posed as a model student in school, a model daughter during family dinners, and more importantly, in the comfort of her own home...She posed as a lazy ass that wanted nothing with the world at large!

 

To the heathens overall, she presented an alluring and captivating image that drews people's attention. To her family and close friends though...She revealed the true and dark secret...

 

She only wanted to live a normal life without complications!

 

And if her family was normal that would be easy.

 

Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

 

If only her mother wasn't Magical Girl Stardust Explorer...

 

If only her father wasn't The American Crusader...

 

"Time to prepare for school I guess..." but that didn't matter to her!

 

She wasn't planning on following in either footstep anyway, from one side she would need to use frilly clothes all day long even after way above her forties like mother...

 

On the other side, she would then need to either don a full-body leotard (Or bodysuit like her father insisted they were called) or a bikini armor...

 

Neither inspired her confidence to use...They really didn't leave much to the imagination...

 

"First stop the bathroom for a shower ♪~" she, of course, liked to imagine herself using those kinds of clothes in her free time, to fight against evil using either magick or special powers.

 

Who didn't want the fame and glory?

 

If she didn't know how that life was because of her parents then maybe she would try to enlist in one of those schools for the special awakeners in hopes of awakening herself too.

 

But the magic got out of the window after her twelve birthday when they came in clean about her heritage.

 

She still remembered to this day both of their speeches.

 

"I was summoned as a hero into another world on my twelfth birthday," said her mother. "It was a world of magic and swords, we fought for ten years without aging a single day thanks to the summoning magick" and she could still remember that the first thing she thought of was that her mother was ten years older than she said.

 

She, of course, didn't say that out loud.

 

"After defeating the demon lord the kings and queens didn't keep their end of the bargain...They said that it wasn't possible to send us back and that we would need to settle, the magicks that stopped our aging would stop too so that we could settle" and the expression of disgust on the face of her mother when talking of those people still haunts her nightmares.

 

"My friends didn't mind it that much, but I wanted to return. So I spent forty years honing my magicks, managed to tear open the dimensional rifts and travel the worlds" And the face turned into one of glee at that point.

 

Somehow she doubted that the world from where the dimensional rifts got ripped open would be safe.

 

"And that was how Magical Girl Stardust Explorer was born. I explored the infinite worlds before settling here with your father, " said her mother. Of course even in that serious conversation our dear protagonist was thinking about how her mother wasn't ten years older than she pretended but fifty.

 

"So remember Elizabeth Starbright, if someone kidnaps you to another world, learn dimensional magic first or you will have a hard time. Also, transfiguration magick is good to faking age till you learn how to rejuvenate yourself" important life lessons indeed.

 

For her part, her father was also just nodding along like this was totally normal behavior.

 

"For my part, my story isn't that amazing like your mother" of course it wouldn't be that amazing was the thing our protagonist was thinking.

 

"I was born about 18 years before the first world war," said her father.

 

And the gears in her head stopped working...

 

The first world war was almost two centuries ago.

 

"Born in a farmhouse to the farmhand and the daughter of the lord. Or the farmer nowadays" said her father with a chuckle.

 

So mother was at least fifty years older than she pretended and father was almost two centuries older...

 

"When the first world war started I enlisted like everyone else, but since my scores were above average I got redirected to a dark site," said her father while looking into the infinity like remembering the good old times.

 

Now it all made sense, why this dammed father of hers act so old-fashioned!

 

"They made us into super soldiers for the war engine, most didn't last long enough, and the ones that did develop special abilities. That was how the original superheroes were formed too." And at this point, he brought an old picture.

 

There were twelve men and women in the middle of the picture, all with old-style hero uniforms.

 

The original Dozen Defenders. The first superhero group to exist.

 

"Of course, most of them only got a simple variation of powers and we didn't test our limits like the young heroes do nowadays, so we didn't know our true talent..." Right...the training.

 

The awakeners nowadays go into special education to know the limit of their powers. Both for their safety of them and the world.

 

"Some say that it was our creation that brought forth the awakening wave that made superpowers so commonplace, like how your mother and her friends coming into our world brought magick along" right...the superpower inheritance theory...

 

Some nutcase in Harvard theorized that since someone got superpowers is easier for everyone else in their vicinity to gain powers, be that superpowers or magic.

 

"Either way, our powers work differently from everyone else, ours don't stop growing" and that made her brain stop

 

"What?" was the only thing she could say

 

Her father for her part just chuckled at her.

 

"Yep. I wasn't even in the original twelve you know," he said while pointing at one of the people in the background." I was one of the logistical support members, had powers so I could do more than the normals, but not enough to be on the front lines"

 

At least he wasn't one of the original twelve thought Elizabeth.

 

"Thanks to that I managed to survive the first world war and noticed that my powers never stopped growing, originally my only skill was endurance," said her father while flexing his left arm and showcasing his muscles.

 

"So I trained my strength, at some point my strength got across an invisible threshold and before I knew it...I had super strength" and he proceeded to close his fist over a metal cup...so that's why he was drinking Tea from a metal cup?

 

"After that, I thought to myself...Maybe if I work on my speed I will get super speed," he proceeded to add without a care in the world

 

"As if it was that easy," said our protagonist while laughing...And then noticed that neither her father nor mother was laughing.

 

"Getting over the strength threshold took me a year, the speed threshold took me six months" super strength and super speed...?

 

Wait...

 

"I kept experimenting and found out there wasn't a hard limit on what I could get, so when the second world war started..." and at this point, her father brought another photo.

 

The second iteration of the defenders...The mighty arm of America.

 

"I was appointed as The American Crusader." Of course he had to be the crusader...

 

"So remember Elizabeth, if you get a superpower, never stop training it, you might find yourself with a nice surprise." And on that note, her private birthday post-dinner talk ended.

 

She was happy that they didn't spring that reveal in the middle of the party.

 

But it made her wonder...

 

"Who else among her parent's friends was a super?" Was the nice lady next door a super? A magical girl? A villain?

 

Were her parents friends with villains?

 

"Uuughhh.........why couldn't they be normal?" was the daily complaint of this girl.

 

With her heritage, her parents were sure she would awaken in the ceremony tomorrow.

 

But she... she really hoped that thing that reincarnated her here would keep his end of the deal...