Team Arcane shuffled out of the virtualization room and into the locker room after their tough loss to Team Stomp. Nate was swallowed up in his grief as he took a seat on a bench in the locker room as he watched Team Stomp walk past him celebrating as their hooves clicked along the hard floor. It was times like this when he would quit back home; times when it got even a little hard and he didn’t see how he could overcome the obstacle in his way. If this were a video game, he would just use a cheat code to get him past the seemingly unbeatable boss in his way. This wasn’t a video game though. This was real life. And in real life, it was time to quit.

  But things were different now. He had come so far already, and he hadn’t even seen what else his powers could do if he just kept pushing. He could teleport for God’s sake. Albeit 10 feet, but still. Yoli could heal people and calm them down from trauma or high-anxiety situations. They had superpowers. He was like an underpowered sidekick or a street-level hero in his favorite books and shows. Those heroes never gave up, those heroes couldn’t give up, or people would get hurt, or worse. He wasn’t leaping tall buildings in a single bound and saving lives yet, but he might soon. He didn’t know what he would be doing after school, but if he quit now, he would never know.

  His thoughts turned to Jarris, Kalazan, Hal, and Peggy. People who believed in him, who were rooting for him, these people had opened their lives to him in such a profound way. For now, if he couldn’t muster the resolve to do it for himself, he would do it for them. He would keep pushing forward, keep fighting, and win.

  Dee sat down next to Nate, she was silent at first, but then opened up.

  “I’m sorry I froze. I’ve always gotten by, by being the toughest person around, willing to jump to kicking someone’s ass if they needed it. But I was the weakest person out there today, and so I froze because I didn’t know what to do. Even though I got my ass beat, you still tried to stop that first charge. No one has ever stepped in for me like that before. No one has ever tried to… protect me before.”

  Nate looked and met Dee’s eyes, she was crying. Then it clicked for Nate. He had saved someone. He was someone’s hero today. He may have lost the fight, this time, but he stepped up when someone needed him. He pulled Dee in for a hug as she started sobbing. Lindy crouched down and embraced the pair in a group hug.

  “I’m so sorry I’ve been difficult and not putting in as much effort as you guys. I’ll do better, I promise. Please don’t get rid of me. Please…” Dee said between deep sobs and crying eyes.

  Nate shushed her softly while rubbing her back. “We will not abandon you. I promise.”

  After the team had finally dressed and left the locker room, they decided to relax the rest of the day. At Lindy’s insistent request, the team went and got ice cream from the dining hall. Sitting around the sturdy budget furniture only students get in a university dining hall, the team’s mood was lightening with each lick of their cones..

  “You know we are going to have to train even harder now, right?” Nate said.

  Dee let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “Yea, whatever.”

  In an unusual exasperation, Lindy blurted out, “Ugh Nate, can I just, like, eat my ice cream and not think about running right now?”

  Nate and Dee looked at each other, realizing how out of character that was for Lindy, and blurted out laughing. Lindy, confused, was looking at both Nate and Dee rapidly back and forth.

  The laughter died down when a small Raccoonan came up to their table. He was barely taller than the table itself, much smaller than Raccoonans Nate had seen in his lessons with Jarris and at school.

  “Uhm, excuse me?” Said the bushy tailed furry alien.

  “Oh, hi, can we help you?” Lindy said with a kind welcoming tone.

  “Uhm, yea, I saw your guys’ fight and even though you lost, I think your powers are pretty cool and I’d like to be your quartermaster.”

  “Quartermaster?” Nate asked.

  “Yea, lots of teams have them already, and starting in week 25 you get to start using minimal equipment. I don’t know the rules yet, but I like to build things, and I already have some ideas based on what I saw you guys can do.”

  “That sounds pretty cool to me." Nate said. “What do you guys think?”

  Lindy nodded with a polite smile. “I think we need all the help we can get after today unfortunately.”

  Dee gave a single nod in approval.

  “Great! Looks like you’re in! Welcome to Team Arcane!” Nate said excitedly.

  “Can I ask just one question?” Dee chimed in. “Why are you so…”

  “Small?” The Raccoonan finished her sentence for her. “I come from a family of litter runts. I’m a runt, my parents were runts, their parents, and so on. It’s kind of our thing.”

  “What was your name again?” Lindy asked.

  “Oh yea, it’s Jax.”

  “Welcome to the team, Jax!” Lindy said with a big smile.

  Nate got up and got Jax a chair for him to sit at the table with the rest of the team.

  “Should we do introductions?” Nate said. “I’m Nate Foster, I’m 32, from Earth, I’m attuned to Void, and right now I’m just loving this ice cream.”

  “Is that what that was? In the Arena? Those moves? I’d never seen anything like that and my Dad and I watch fights from almost every fighting league. I mean, I've seen people move with lightning speed before, but never just instant teleportation like that.”

  “Yup!” Nate replied. “Dee, you wanna go next?”

  “Hard pass.”

  Nate and Lindy erupted with boos and a big thumbs-down motion.

  “Alright, fine. Darindra Voss, 25, Reaction, and I like dancing to rock music.”

  “DANCING?!” Both Nate and Lindy blurted out.

  “We are so going to a concert ASAP.” Lindy ecstatic after learning the first thing she and Dee seemed to have in common.

  “Ugh, I’m going to regret that.”

  “Oh my gods, there is a concert tomorrow after Nate’s fight. We are having a girls’ night out." Lindy said, speaking very fast now.

  “I don’t—”

  “We are having a girls’ night out!” Lindy interrupted Dee while looking at her with a menacing glare.

  Dee didn’t know Lindy could conjure up such a mean look, and going to a rock concert sounded fine, even if it was with bubbly, girly, Lindy.

  “Ok, ok.” Dee said in agreement.

  Lindy squealed and furiously started tapping on her link to buy tickets.

  “Jax, why don’t you go?” Nate said.

  “Oh I’m Jax Stock, and I, uh, am 22, I am attuned to Connection, and uh, I like making gadgets.”

  “Neat.” Nate replied.

  Lindy had put her link away and was now squirming in her seat with excitement as it was her turn to introduce herself. Without anyone calling on her, she dove into her introduction.

  “I’m Lindy Marane, I’m 29, attuned to Life, and I love the beach, and art, and music, and hanging out with friends, and ice cream, and—”

  Nate put a hand on Lindy’s shoulder and she stopped.

  “Sorry, I can get carried away sometimes.”

  “Lindy is the team’s personality.” Nate chuckled, speaking to Jax.

  “Jax, why are you in contractor school if you like building things?”

  “Well, I was thinking of going to engineering school like my Dad and well, the rest of my family, but I thought maybe I wanted to do something different. I don’t know, maybe break the cycle up? My family owns a gadget company and…”

  “Wait a second. Your last name is Stock, and your family owns a company… Are you from the Stock family, as in Stock Industries?” Dee asked.

  “Yea, that’s the one! Do you know it?” Jax replied.

  “Dude, come on… Your family is like one of the richest families in the galaxy!” Dee shouted.

  “Oh, uh, yea, I guess… probably not as rich as Lindy’s though.”

  Everyone turned to Lindy.

  Lindy had adopted a shy look and blush filled cheeks from being put on the spot.

  “Lindy Marane? I’m assuming you are part of the Royal Family, no?” Jax asked.

  “The what?!” Dee slapped her hand down on the table.

  “Oh, uh…” Lindy started saying.

  Nate’s eyes went wide. “Are you some sort of princess, Lindy?”

  “Uh, yea… I don’t talk about it much 'cause people get kind of weird. I’m kind of removed from the line too since I’m not in the Queen’s direct family. My Father is the younger brother to the Queen, who has a few heirs, so the probability of me being in any kind of authority is very small. I get an allowance from our businesses and holdings and get to do pretty much whatever except for the occasional public engagement.”

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  “Looks like you and I both wanted to get away from what our family was expecting of us, huh?” Lindy said to Jax.

  “Yea, I don’t think I’ll work in the field. And I’ll probably end up back at the company someday. But I figured I’d try something new in the meantime. My Dad was kind of pissed when he found out, but kind of excited too. He expects me to come back with a new product line for contractors.” Jax said as he rolled his eyes.

  “I love it. I’m pushing my own boundaries too.” Nate chimed in. “We are a regular old group of runaways, it seems.”

  Lindy and Jax beamed at the thought of that. Dee gave an unusual smirk herself.

  As the team got a second round of ice cream cones, Nate went over their training schedule with Jax. Jax committed to the training schedule and went on about how he had access to the alchemy labs and engineering workshop and would get to work on getting the rules regarding equipment and start making prototypes for gadgets that would amplify their abilities. The team committed to doing everything together. They would go to classes together, eat together, practice together, everything.

  The next morning, the team went to the administration building and got their classes moved around so they would be in every class together. While the team ran practice drills, Jax would tinker away in the workshop and alchemy lab. Jax had already concocted the same blue juice that Jarris had Nate drink during his training leading up to the academy. Jax also committed that he would be able to recreate the supplements that Jarris had Nate taking for him and the rest of the team.

  The loss to Team Stomp was already proving to be an important pivot point for the team, and it hadn’t even been 24 hours since the fight. Nate’s self-doubt was washing away as he was buoyed up by the newfound commitment and hope that the rest of his team had. Dee showed up to conditioning on time that morning and gave significant effort. She participated in the afternoon drills as hard as Nate and Lindy did. The last day of the weekend was filled with hard work and laughter until it came time for Nate to face his first solo fight.

  Lindy, Dee, and Jax found front row seats at midfield to watch and cheer Nate on. Nate was down in the locker room getting ready when Biff walked in.

  “Hey shit stain, saw your loss yesterday.” said the Yorgan.

  The large yellow man was getting ready for his first solo fight that was going to take place just before Nate’s.

  “My team won yesterday, and I’m about to win my first solo fight too. I’ll show you how it’s done. I can’t wait for week five when I get to wipe the floor with that pretty little girl from Mara. Hey, do you know if she’s single?”

  Nate shot up from his seat fists raised ready to knock Biff into the lockers, but a faculty referee just happened to walk out from a changing stall to go into the virtualization room.

  “You boys good?”

  “Yea.” Nate said through gritted teeth, lowering his fists.

  Biff smiled, moving closer to Nate’s face.

  “Yea, we’re good." He said.

  Biff put his stuff away and headed to the VR room with the ref. Nate sat back down trembling with anger. He heard the air horn go off and the shocked response from the crowd as the fight got started. He was distracted and found it hard to get his rage under control so he went to a sink and splashed some water on his face and looked in the mirror. His rage started to fade as he looked at his face. He had changed so much, he’d lost a ton of weight in such a short amount of time. He looked at his arms that were showing slight muscle definition instead of fatty flab. He had put in the work and it was paying off.

  The rage had washed away and was now focusing on confidence for his upcoming fight. He locked in those feelings and got his blue arena uniform on. Biff had won his fight and left the locker room while Nate was changing so he didn’t have to interact with him again. Just knowing he was there though let the rage start to creep back in. Nate left the locker room, walked into the virtualization room, placed the cathode on his temple and was transported to the arena.

  The AV club had overcome their glitches from yesterday, and everything seemed to operate as it should. The announcer called his name, followed by some cheers and boos from the crowd. He could see his team and the feral screaming coming from Lindy. Even Dee had her hands up, cheering for him.

  The announcer said the name of his opponent, Harper Glen, a Quallen female. He felt a little weird about fighting a girl, but they both signed up knowing the risks, and them both having attuned abilities neutralized any feelings of chivalry.

  The countdown started, and the air horn blew. The green-skinned alien with longer limbs than a normal humanoid launched a lightning bolt that streamed across the field in an instant and struck Nate in the shoulder. Nate’s body quickly got over the electrical shock, but the searing pain from the burn brought him down to one knee. Nate looked up at Harper’s long arm and from a distance it looked like the lightning came from a rifle.

  Harper sprang into action after seeing her first attack land. She started launching bolts wildly but with decreased accuracy. Nate warped away knowing if he stood still he would be a sitting duck. He warped again and again and again, bouncing around the whole arena. Harper was failing to land a hit so she revealed her second ability which covered her in electrical current.

  Nate saw this as he continued to warp, his plan was working. By using his ability upfront instead of hiding it he forced his opponent to activate hers as a defensive response. Now that he knew she had some kind of shock shield, he moved in to strike. He warped in a serpentine pattern, mixing it up with two warps forward instead of side to side to keep Harper guessing. He made it to her in a matter of seconds and landed an empowered dropkick, sending her rocketing backwards, rolling along the ground. Unexpectedly though the electrical current of her second ability pierced his shield and he dropped to the ground convulsing for a few seconds before gaining composure.

  Nate got up and looked over to his opponent, making a mental note that his shield might not block intangible attacks like electrical current. Her electrical field was down so Nate took the opportunity to warp right to her backside and waited to see if she would give up before kicking her in the side, launching her another ten feet away from him. Harper finished rolling clearly struggling to get up before she went limp and raised a hand in surrender. Nate warped to her side to help her up.

  "That was a great fight, you really got me there." Nate said.

  Harper was confused by Nate switching from kicking her ass to being kind and complimenting her.

  "Uh, yea, you really kicked my ass." she said, gasping and coughing with the air Nate knocked out of her.

  "Winner! Nathan Foster!" the announcer yelled.

  The crowd mostly cheered, but Nate could still make out a few boos. Nate waved to his team, who had their arms around each other cheering wildly and bouncing up and down. Nate got changed and met his team outside the arena locker room entrance. His team all rushed him and picked him up, cheering his name over and over again.

  "That was so awesome!" Dee said with an unnatural excitement that was starting to become a new norm for her.

  "Nate the Great!" Jax cheered.

  Nate groaned at that a little.

  "Are you ok? Let me look at your shoulder." Lindy started obsessing, pulling at his shirt.

  "I'm fine, that was an avatar remember? And thank you guys." Nate said with a big smile. "Should we go get some ice cream?"

  "Oh, we would, but we have to run to that concert. Next time though!" Lindy said.

  "Yea, you rest up, Champ. We got training in the morning." Dee said smugly as the girls started walking away and waving.

  "Looks like it's you and me, Jax. Ice cream?"

  "Of course!"

  ***

  Lindy and Dee entered the club where the concert was and were met with an immediate onslaught of overwhelming perfumes, colognes, sweaty bodies, and loud music. Dee saw the bar and pointed to it but Lindy shook her head and pointed at a bouncer standing next to a roped off staircase. When they got there, Lindy held up her link to the bouncer who took a second to examine it before nodding and removing the rope barrier to the upper level. At the top of the stairs was a much calmer sight with far fewer people. Dee looked around and could immediately smell the affluence, or maybe it was because there wasn’t wall to wall sweaty bodies.

  Lindy led Dee to the bar on this level, took a seat, and ordered a couple of drinks for them. Dee watched as Lindy adjusted her shimmering cocktail dress and flipped her hair before reaching into her clutch for her link again to open a tab.

  “Oh, uhm thank you.” Dee said.

  “Yea of course. I'm so glad we get to have a little girl time, I like Nate and Jax but it's not the same as getting to really unwind my brain, you know?”

  “Yea, totally.” Dee said. She was trying hard to not let her nerves get the better of her and put on her hard exterior but she was failing. She looked around and could only see dollar signs as people walked around in clothes that cost more than multiple months worth of work for her, ordering drinks and food that cost more than a whole day's worth of work. They were laughing, singing, dancing, having a good time spending money without a care.

  “Something wrong?” Lindy asked.

  “Uhm, no, nope I’m good," Dee still trying to hide how out of place she felt.

  “Look, we spend all day with two boys and they will never know how our minds work, so you might as well spill it.”

  Dee squirmed in her seat, struggling with the idea of staying closed off or opening up to the literal princess in front of her. “I’ve just never been to a place like this."

  “A bar?”

  “Yea, I mean I’ve seen them.”

  “Have you never had alcohol before? What about a club like this? I thought you liked music and dancing and stuff.”

  “I do, I just…”

  Lindy paused and rolled back her mind to be more present for a second. She looked at Dee, her clothes she changed into had small holes that were stitched up expertly, her boots were old and worn. Lindy shook her head and thought about how stupid she had been. Her privilege got the better of her and she had assumed so much. She placed a hand on Dee’s leg.

  “Hey. I'm sorry. Sometimes I don't realize. Tell me about home.”

  Dee looked at Lindy for a minute. She was the first rich person to actually treat her with kindness.

  “This drink costs more than I make in three hours back home.”

  Lindy frowned, but didn't say anything. She held Dee’s hand and continued to look at her expecting her to keep talking.

  Dee looked at Lindy and saw something in her eyes that softened her hard heart. Years of abuse she carried on her shoulders started to fall. Someone cared. And she wasn't just faking, she wasn't performing, she could feel the sincerity. Tears started forming in her eyes. For someone who had spent her life building a tough exterior, she cried way too much, just never in front of anyone, until now that is.

  Lindy hopped off her stool and hugged Dee and let the tears fall on her shoulder. “I got you girl. You’re safe here.” She whispered into her ear.

  Dee wiped her tears away and took a sip of her drink. The fruity taste and warm feeling of the alcohol hooked her immediately and she downed the other half of her glass in an instant. Lindy started giggling and then Dee broke into a roaring belly laugh, Lindy then did the same.

  Back at the dining hall Nate and Jax had their feet up on the chairs where the girls usually sat, slurping up their quickly melting ice cream.

  “So Jax, what's it like being filthy rich, is it as cool as it seems?”

  “Would it be weird to say it's like breathing? I grew up with it, never knew anything different, so I don't ever really think about it?”

  Nate laughed. “Yea Jax, that's kinda weird.”

  Jax shrugged. “Guess I'm weird then. And rich."

  The boys shared a laugh and kept eating their ice cream.

  “Tell me about Earth, what's it like, what do you do for fun?”

  “Well, compared to here we are relatively low tech, we aren't as smart, we fight a lot. A lot.” Nate stressed. “But we do good too. We try hard, work hard for us and our families. I like to go to the lake, play with my dog Charlie, play video games, lots of video games.”

  “What’s a dog?”

  “You’ll meet him one day, he's an animal, my pet, do you have those here?"

  “Of course. I used to have a snake before it got out of its case and my Mom made my dad get rid of it.”

  Nate chuckled. “Charlie is a lot bigger than a snake, honestly he’s probably bigger than you.”

  “What the hell? You just have a giant beast for a pet?”

  “Sure do. He’s the best. I wonder how he’ll do when he meets you guys.”

  “We should take a trip to Earth when school is over.” Jax said.

  “Yea, that’d be nice. What about you?”

  “Oh, uhm, I was born on High Tree, where the family has always lived. I love climbing trees. As you can imagine, High Tree has tall trees, it's actually where the tree in the Hub comes from. Anyway, climbing trees by the coast is my favorite.”

  “Sounds awesome. We should go one day.” Nate said.

  “Yea, we will… Hey Nate? I just wanted to say, thanks for letting me on the team.”

  “No problem. I think we are going to be more than a team though man.” Nate replied, holding his hand out in a fist.

  “What’re you doing?” Jax asked.

  “Oh, a fist bump! You don't have that here?!”

  “No? We have handshakes, is it like that?” Jax said as he grabbed Nate’s fist and shook it up and down.

  Nate let out a bellowing laugh. “No, no, no, you make a fist and then we kind of lightly bump them.” Nate realized that he’d never have to explain this before. “It’s like a handshake, but for close friends.”

  Jax smiled, then made a fist and eagerly bumped it against Nate’s. The boys turned back into their seats and kept eating their ice cream.