Sunday, September 6
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Bee went to sleep fast, but she woke up way too early, and even though she tried to be quiet, I still heard the TV flick on and the far-too-familiar Heroics 101 theme song playing. I dragged myself out of bed, pulled on a robe, and dragged a second into the living room, where Bianca perched on the back of the couch, looking like a goblin person as she stared at the TV, enraptured.
“Put this on, feral girl,” I said, tossing the robe at her hard enough to knock her onto the cushions with a surprised squeal. “You’re not decent. I don’t mind too much, but if you’re going to perch, get dressed first.”
She untangled herself from the robe and pulled it on. Her excitement was contagious, and I sat down next to her to watch as she kicked Sister Sly’s butt. “You know, you got a quick win there because she’s a planning Genius, not an improvising one.”
“So? I still got the win, didn’t I? Fursona the headliner!” Bee said, smirking. Then she caught my look, and her face fell. “What?”
“About her? Or about me?
‘You,” Bee said. “This was a big break for me, and you should be excited!”
I sighed and sat down next to her. “Babe, I am. I’m really happy for you. But that whole Episode, I kept feeling off. And I realized I don’t want to be the sidekick.”
“Oh—“
I kept going before I could lose momentum and backtrack. “When I got the Casting Call for the sidekick role, that bugged me. I’ve only ever been a sidekick on Episodes with people who outrank me, and it really threw me for a loop that this one was all about you. And then the cameras kept following you, and you did so many cool things, like fighting the Third V while I mopped up henches or saving me from Sister Sly’s trap. I bet it felt cool for you, but it felt like a downgrade for me, and that’s not what I thought the minor leagues would be.”
To my surprise, Bianca didn’t get upset. Instead, she took a deep breath. “What did you think the minor leagues would be?” Somehow, the question didn’t sound condescending like it would have from Rocko, Mindstorm, or anyone but Bianca—and maybe Dr. Ayers.
“Okay, I know I said I wanted to save people and play the support role, and I know I said I wanted to take it easy in the minor leagues, but I don’t think we’ve got that option. The reality is that we’ll get into bigger and bigger fights with 3V1L and the rest of the rogue’s gallery.”
“And?” Bee asked.
“And my [Signature Skill] makes me the obvious go-to as headliner. I can do it all, and I’m not that far behind the more focused heroes.” I’d been thinking about this over the summer and again in our Team Composition class. At some point, I wouldn’t need Fursona. If I could keep the Style Points coming, I’d be able to outcompete everyone, just like Rocko had said before I went to college. Magical Girl Understudy would only be more and more of a headliner as time went on until, eventually, I was the best—if I chose to be.
Or if Rocko pushed me into it.
“And?” Bianca asked again, brow wrinkling.
I paused. “And what?”
“And what do you want?” Bee sighed and shook her head. “Look, if there’s anything you should learn from Madame Shockwave, it’s that you don’t have to be what the studios want. You can choose to walk away, and if you can choose that, you can choose anything. So what do you want?”
What did I want? If I could do anything, what would make me feel the most like a hero? I paused, jaw dropping. “You’re psychologying me!”
“Guilty! Look, I don’t get what you’re upset about, Annie.” Bee grinned sheepishly. “We’re partners, right? I think that sometimes, the Style System’s going to decide an Episode’s all about me, and that’s okay, because a lot of the time, it’s about you. Besides, remember how you handed control over last semester, when Vigilant Vow took Tails? You did that without feeling weird about it.”
“I don’t feel weird about it. I just—“
“Liar,” Bee said. “I could tell something was off last night. You seemed grumpy, and you were way too happy to get an early night’s sleep. That’s not like you, Annie. So you’re upset because what? You don’t want to be a sidekick?”
“Kind of? Maybe? Babe, I’m not sure. Being at full power and playing second fiddle just felt funny. And then you kept making choices that put you in front of the drones.”
“Okay. Let’s step back, because we need to answer an important question. If you can’t answer it, none of the rest of this matters, Annie,” Bee said. “What kind of superhero do you want to be? You could be Golden Goose or Stella-Lunar, sure. Or you could be Magical Girl Res-Cute or Tele-Portal. Honestly, I’m jealous. I wish I had half that many choices.”
“You do? Do you not like Fursona?”
Bee laughed. “I love Fursona. But Annie, I’ve got ambitions too.”
Shit. I’d built this amazing fantasy around just hanging out in the minor leagues, but Fursona would want more. She’d always been competitive, and she wouldn’t be content to sit still—even if she’d said she would be last semester when the Vigilant Vow situation had gotten bad. “You want to be number one, huh?”
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“What? No. I want to be as high as possible without losing sight of what matters. I want to keep my friends outside of superhero work, be able to see my family when I want to, and be happy, but I also want to win, and that means moving up the Community Ranks. It means I won’t be a sidekick forever, Annie,” Bee said. “Shit, I’ll say it again. It means I don’t want to be a sidekick now. I want to be partners. What do you want?”
“I want to do everything,” I said.
“Great. That includes sidekick work, support hero, and being focused on saving people, not fighting villains. That means I get to headline sometimes,” Bee said.
“Just like that, huh?” I said, grinning. It really was that easy, wasn’t it? I could still be the headliner sometimes—with my power, maybe even most of the time—but sometimes, the Episode would be about Fursona, and that was fine. Why hadn’t I been comfortable with that? The more I thought about it, the more I realized why.
It wasn’t that I wanted to dominate our team’s Episodes. It wasn’t even that I didn’t trust Fursona to nail the role. It was just that I’d never thought about any of this before. “I’m sorry, Bee. I was being stupid.”
“I forgive you, and you kind of were, but not really. Right now, in Rocko’s eyes, you’re the headliner, and I’m the sidekick. That was fine for the first year when I was learning, but let’s talk about how things can change. We could run a duo with the same dynamics as The Triad.”
“What do you mean? Tele-Portal’s clearly the sidekick in The Triad.”
“No, she’s not. She’s really not. If anything, she’s the leader. She’s playing to her strengths, but The Triad doesn’t run a sidekick dynamic, and you know it. Bud Lightbeam covers the team’s ranged, flight, and face roles. Underdelver acts as a heavy melee fighter and problem-solver. And Tele-Portal’s entire moveset is built around supporting other heroes, but that doesn’t make her a sidekick. That makes her oil for the team’s gears. She can operate independently, but when they’re on the battlefield, she’s not fighting henches while the others go after the villain. She’s right there with them. In fact, Lightbeam usually goes for the henches.”
Bianca had once again done her homework. “Alright. She’s not a sidekick by the definition you’re setting up. How does that fit in with us?”
“Well, I fill a melee role as Roo-sona. That costume’s tanky and hits hard. And I can do melee and scouting/flight as Eagle-sona. What do you bring?”
“Everything.”
“Yeah, maybe you should work toward a full support costume?” Bee asked, standing and stretching. Her shoulders popped loudly. “You do everything, but if you run that, it’d let you excel at the role and let me shine as a headliner sometimes. It’d also give us some seriously needed flexibility on Investigative Episodes and when we had Extras in play.”
I nodded. “I’ll work on it, partner.”
“Thank you.” Bee turned the TV on, and the on-screen Eagle Slam finally happened. The impact was somehow even more bone-jarring on the screen than in person. Had Rocko added a little extra pop to it?
Either way, Bianca was thrilled. “Did you see that?!”
“Yes. Once when it happened and again just now. You hit her pretty hard.” I pulled her back onto the couch, where she bounced up and down on the cushions.
Okay. Bianca was serious about this. I didn’t necessarily like change, but this one was happening whether I wanted it or not, so I pushed down my jealousy as she signed off with, “The Talons of Justice have a long reach!” on the screen. Then I took the remote from her.
“Hey! I wasn’t done with that!”
“Yes, you were. Rocko’s got the master recordings, so if you want to watch them over and over, feel free, but it’s breakfast time—and time to check our messages from yesterday.”
“Fine.” Bee pouted, and I quickly poked in the side, making her squeal again.
Then I kissed her forehead. “Go take a shower. I’ll have Ramsey Fieri whip up something nice.”
She nodded and stood up, then walked to the bathroom, shedding the robe as she went.
“And put some clothes on!” I shouted at her retreating but cute butt as I transformed into the magical girl chef.
◄▼►
A much-more-decent, apple-smelling Bianca finished her ham-and-cheese omelet and leaned back in her chair as I took my last bite. I was still wearing my robe, but it was a Sunday morning, and I deserved to relax after cooking breakfast. So I sat in my chair, sipping coffee, checking my emails, and trying to figure out how to manage Bianca’s newfound desire to lead Episodes.
Subject: TUSSA Elections
Magical Girl Understudy,
I’m 93% sure this email finds you well.
I know you’re a Springlock loyalist, and I respect your right to vote how you’d like to, but I want to mention the reality of our powers and how they work. Springlock is a bruiser/speedster hybrid. She’s a fighter, not a thinker or planner. That worked well when Ikenga was president because he could see possible futures and maneuver the team into winning.
All probability points to his prediction of Power Wars coming true soon, and we’ll need a strong leader—like Springlock. But even more important, we’ll need a leader who can guide TUSSA through the coming storm. I believe I can be that leader in a way that Springlock can’t. In fact, my powers are uniquely suited to the job.
Please consider changing your vote. We’re meeting in a couple of weeks to figure out our roles, and it’d mean a lot to me if you chose correctly. That being said, I’m not using my powers to manipulate the election—but I could.
But I won’t.
Thanks,
Sara-N-Dipity
“Did you get an email from Sara?” I asked Bianca.
“No.” She looked over my shoulder. “She must think I’m a swing vote already, but not enough to get the win. She needs you, Annie. What are you going to do?”
I thought it over for a moment. “I’m going to do nothing. Springlock’s my friend, and Sara didn’t pick me when I needed her support. I’m not sure I can forgive that, but I’ll keep an open mind until it’s time to vote. She really might be the stronger candidate, but Springlock’s so cool!” I returned to my emails.
Subject: Tottergarten and Babysitting Fees
Magical Girl Understudy,
This is a courtesy reminder that your repayment for watching your baby, [Cash], on the night of [April 22, 2042] is due this month. Please have your payment of [One Episode] in by [September 31, 2042] to avoid late fees.
Mrs. N
Tottergarten Day Care
“We Do A Super Job with Your Kids!”
“Time’s up, Fursona. We’ve gotta do the Tottergarten job.” I rubbed my eyes. Those kids gave me a headache, but at least it wouldn’t be hard work. In fact, it’d mostly be interacting with the villains, giving moral lessons, and letting the Playpen Patrol use their powers in a safe, forgiving environment—which The Narrator was an expert at providing.
“Yep. It’ll be…something…to see Kaiju Kid again. I wonder if she’s grown out of her sugar problems.”
“Probably not.” I started typing up a response. “How about the twenty-fifth?” That’d give us all week to find an Episode that’ll make Rocko happy.”
“Sure,” Bianca said. She stood up and shuttled our plates to the sink while I sent the email. The timing couldn’t have been better.