On the other side of the bar, Mrs. Garcia crossed her arms. “You’re going to become a Fighter?” she said, her eyebrows raised quizzically.

Daniel nodded. He poked at the plate of scrambled eggs, taking another bite. “It’s my only way to get back to my world, if I can reach number one. Might take a while, but…” he shrugged.

“I see. Well, I can’t stop you, but as the adult, I think you’re a little too young to do that.” Mrs. Garcia shook her head.

“Why?”

“Because—” She paused and gestured at the air as if trying to find the right words. “Fighters get hurt a lot, Daniel.”

“I think I could handle it. The ref heals people after the fight, right?”

“The referee heals the loser back to however they entered the fight. But, if you break every bone in your body and just barely manage to win, you’re not getting those wounds healed quickly. You live with having to use a wheelchair for the rest of your life. My grandfather had to.”

Daniel’s jaw fell. “What?”

Mrs. Garcia nodded. “He barely got into the Ultimate Versus as the 50th ranked Fighter. In his first match, Maximum Sax crippled both of his legs. He still won only using his arms, but afterward? The doctors said the muscles and tendons were beyond repair.”

“Ah, shoot. I’m so sorry to hear about that,” Daniel said.

“It’s fine. He lived his days happily anyway, but I learned the lesson, too.” She sighed, quieting her tone. “Every time Carmen speaks about wanting to become a Fighter, I remember my grandfather being carried half-dead out of the arena.”

Behind them, Mr. Garcia and Carmen ate breakfast at one of the tables, watching TV. As Daniel looked over his shoulder, Carmen met his eyes, returning a heavy, dejected glare.

“But!” Mrs. Garcia clapped. “I’m hopeful things will go better for you, Daniel.”

“Me too,” Mr. Garcia said from the table. “As long as you’re fine with our nighttime rule, we won’t mind letting you keep the guest bedroom. When are you going, kid?”

Daniel finished the last of his scrambled eggs and pushed the plate forward. “Now, actually! Can Carmen come with me? I might need some help while I’m there.”

He caught the disapproving glance between Mr. and Mrs. Garcia — Carmen told him it would come. They brainstormed a plan once she came to unlock his door that morning. The first step of her plan was for him to ask them if she could come along as a guide, to test the waters.

They both knew the answer that would follow. Mr. Garcia shook his head slowly first, and Mrs. Garcia followed. “Sorry, Daniel,” she said. “Carmen’s staying here.”

“Ah, alright. I understand. I’ll be back soon, then!” Daniel made his way to the door, a spring in his step.

“Be safe!” Mrs. Garcia called out, waving.

“I will!”

The door shut behind him with a ring. High above, the morning sun beamed down at him, peeking out from just above a towering skyscraper. Daniel took a deep whiff of the city air, still scented with a hint of Mrs. Garcia’s breakfast tamales.

He turned in the same direction they went to the Fighting Center, but detoured through an alleyway, circling around to the back door of the bar. Farther around the corner, high above his head, was the window to Carmen’s bedroom.

Daniel leaned against the wall and opened his phone, scrolling through old saved memes in his camera roll. A few minutes later, Carmen quietly crawled through the window and let go, landing beside him. “There,” she said, dusting herself off and adjusting the purse at her side. “As far as my parents know, I’m in my room having a movie marathon.”

“You sure they won’t come in?”

“A hundred percent. They’ll probably be busy with the lunch rush.”

“Nice! After you, Miss Garcia.” Daniel put on a fake butler accent and gestured back down the alleyway.

Carmen put on the same act. “Mister Chase, I believe it would be better for you to go first. I insist.”

Daniel bowed. “Thank you, Alfred. You guys have Alfred in this world, right?”

“Alfred?”

“Yeah. Batman’s butler.”

“Batman?”

“Rich guy. Parents died when he was younger. Fights crime dressed as a bat?”

“Oh! Do you mean Dogman and his butler, Johnny?”

Daniel facepalmed. “At least tell me you have Iron Man.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“Do you mean the Tungsten Gentleman?”

The game of naming his favorite superheroes and hearing this world’s alternative continued all the way to the Fighting Center. With every named hero, his faith in this world and its comics deteriorated, until there was almost none left.

“I don’t understand,” Carmen said as they strolled into the Fighting Center’s parking lot. “Your world’s heroes sound weird, too. Do you guys not have the Enigmatic Eight?”

“Are you kidding?” Daniel cackled, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes. “We have the Fantastic Four.”

“What about Khaki Brown?”

“You mean Jean Gray?” He shook his head. “I don’t know how I’m gonna last in this world when the heroes have such dumb names.”

“Dumb? Alright, Mr. ‘Justice League’. That’s a corny name.”

“Yeah, I guess you win on that one. The Liberty Legion sounds way cooler.”

The double doors into the Fighting Center opened as they walked through. Last time, they went to the left and followed the spectators to the audience seats. This time, they went to the right side, following a man in a suit with a flowing red cape behind him. They walked until the hallway branched into two different directions — one for Fighters, and one for people coming to become Fighters.

The woman at the door greeted them with a smile. “Hi! Are you two here to become Fighters?”

“Yes,” Carmen answered.

“Great, but you’ll need your parents' permission.” The woman looked at the man waiting behind them in line. “Is he your father?”

“No, but I have written permission from mine. They were too busy to come with me.” Carmen took a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to the woman.

A forged signature. Daniel could never.

The woman studied it for a moment and nodded. “Checks out! What about you?”

“Oh, my parents are dead,” Daniel replied flatly. Carmen jabbed Daniel with her elbow. As the woman gasped, Daniel chuckled. “Kidding! No, I’m with her. Her parents have custody over me. Mine are dead.”

The woman knit her eyebrows. “Okay…well, all of our slots are taken right now, but I’m sure someone will be done in a moment. If you’ll just wait here.” The woman gestured to a set of chairs against the wall, beside the door.

“Thanks. How long will we be here?”

The woman glanced into the room and waved a hand. “A few minutes. It doesn’t take long for us. Time dilation and all that.”

Time dilation? Daniel winced. It sounded crazy, but he kept silent and followed Carmen to the gestured seats. “Looks like we got some time to kill. You got games on your phone?”

Carmen brought her phone out quickly. “I knew you’d ask! Do you guys not have mobile games in your world?”

“Of course! We aren’t that weird. No, the only game I have is multiplayer. I don’t have a cross-dimensional signal here.”

Carmen exhaled heavily from her nose. “Well, there’s this one game I’ve started playing…”

As the waiting area filled up with other soon-to-be Fighters, Daniel easily beat Carmen three to one. Just when he won their fourth match, the woman from the help desk returned to usher him in first. The room itself was a decent-sized gym, like two large classrooms combined with rows of empty fold-out tables scattered throughout. At the head of the room, a man in a white suit typed information into the menu screen he had open.

As she walked him to a table in the back corner, Daniel scanned the room, confused. Why were they waiting so long if the tables were empty? But, he got his answer quickly. A young woman in athletic wear flashed into existence at a table across the room, panting, sweat rolling down her brow.

“The proctor will be over to help you out in a second,” the helper said.

“Uh…thank you,” Daniel said before she returned to the door.

The fancily-dressed proctor at the head of the room paced over to the athletic woman that had just returned. “Did it go well?” he asked.

The athletic woman stared at her hands. “I can do so much now. Oh my God…”

“I’ll take that as a yes! The gym is across the hall. Please be careful not to fire off any of your abilities until you enter a training sim. Have a good day.”

With a nod, he gestured her out of the room, and the helper returned to guide Carmen to the same seat. Daniel waved at her from across the room before returning to twiddling his thumbs, curbing his nervousness. Every moment here was another second of unfamiliarity. It had the same atmosphere as taking tests back home, but it felt somehow different — tests back home didn’t have time dilation, nor did they pull you to God knows where.

What was about to happen here?

“Hello,” the proctor greeted, speaking with a slight British accent. “May I have your name?”

“Daniel Chase.”

The proctor nodded and swiped his wrist menu open. A few white circles appeared in the air, and when he pressed one, it expanded into a large white holographic rectangle. “May I have your ID?” he said.

“Uh…”

Daniel swiped open his wrist menu, hoping he didn’t look as lost as he felt. Settings, Friends, Messages, Map…he tapped the Self button. The menu expanded to a screen that showed a standing avatar of himself, with small boxes next to his pockets that showed everything he carried and stat numbers on the other side. Right now, all he had there was a health bar, a hunger bar, and a stamina bar — all full, luckily.

Below that, he spotted the button labeled ID. When he tried to press it, his finger sunk through the button. Chills shivered through Daniel’s spine as the menu swallowed his hand up to the wrist, but he plucked out a thin plastic card with an unintelligible string of letters and numbers on it.

“This?” he asked.

“Yes, Daniel, that ID,” the proctor chuckled, inserting it into the menu he had open, pressing a few more buttons afterward. “Alright. The test is open. You should see a new option in your menu.”

Above the Friends icon, a button with an urgent exclamation mark pulsed yellow instead of the normal white. Omce Daniel pressed it, his Self menu closed, and a new dialogue box opened.

“Begin Fighter Initiation Exam?” it read, with buttons to either confirm or deny below.

The proctor raised his hand. “Before you begin, it’s my job to give you a bit of information. You’re about to begin a test that's run and administered by the system itself. Just answer the questions honestly, and act in whatever way feels natural. We won’t know your answers, and you’ll only be gone for two minutes. Do you understand?”

“Sounds simple enough,” Daniel said. “I’m ready.”

“Good. Press confirm, and you may begin your test.”

Daniel took a deep breath, and pressed the checkmark button, ready to see what the system was about to put him through.

The world plunged into black.