“Phila! There you are! We were just going to visit you!” said Ella, embracing her in a hug. Phila’s hair turned red to stimulate a blush.

“Great news, apparently I can turn into anything!” said Phila as she crouched down onto the ground. The crowd watched in awe as she morphed into a small sparrow. Dian picked her up and put her on her shoulder.

“Now, fly over there,” said Dian, pointing to a ledge. Phila hopped down from Dian’s shoulder and took her normal form.

“I don’t know how to fly,” said Phila, her hair becoming a deeper shade of red. “But I can learn!”

“Another thing you need to learn is not to drink suspicious potions,” said Amethyst, handing Phila a test tube with a green liquid. “I made the antidote, but there was no way for you to consume it. Such a waste.”

“Guys, I need to go to the library. Bye,” said Oma, making eye contact with Garnet and Dian.

“Hey, why don’t you guys catch up with us for dinner… later?” said Amethyst, as her Garnet, and Dian followed Oma. “We won’t be long.”

“I wonder why they’re going?” asked Sahara, confused. “Should we follow them?”

“Who cares? Anyways, this will give us extra time to work on our training so we can beat Frida either in two days, or 4 days,” said Nadia. “Let’s go to the training room.”

“Aren’t those closed unless a teacher is there?” asked Ella.

“As a former Diva, I know where all the extra training rooms are,” said Nadia. “Follow me.”

Nadia led them down to the airlocks. After they passed the sixth one, Nadia opened a metal door.

“Due to the opening of a 2nd school in Europe, we don’t have as many students as we used to. So we had no use for the extra airlocks. They converted them into private training rooms, but couldn’t find the time to actually have a teacher to supervise them. The Divas used to use them for training, or a place to hang. But they only come here in the mornings,” said Nadia opening the door to airlock 7.

Sahara couldn’t believe her eyes. There were test dummies, targets, and ladder ropes all throughout the room. It was mostly an obstacle course, with a road of spikes, rock wall, and a couple mud pits scattered throughout the room. Nadia handed them jumpsuits.

“Suit up guys, I don’t want anyone getting hurt on my watch, but if Garnet was supervising, maybe you could skip the suits,” said Nadia, her voice trailing off.

“If the suits make you invincible, then why doesn’t every empowered individual wear one around the school, or even around the world?” asked Sahara.

“They only work in designated areas, such as the training rooms and the airlock. But if you cross a certain boundary, they’re just regular jumpsuits,” said Nadia. “But let’s get training! Ella, see if you can hold Sahara and still fly.” Ella grabbed Sahara and flapped her wings.

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“She’s really heavy,” complained Ella as she dropped Sahara. Sahara blasted a force field out of her hands right before she hit the ground.

“Ella, you need to work on your upper arm strength,” said Sahara, teasing Ella.

“I was able to use you as a hang glider, why can’t you lift Sahara?” asked Phila.

“Remember how that worked? We crashed, silly. I couldn’t support you either,” complained Ella.

“Hmmm. Ella, you could be really powerful if you were able to carry foes away, or carry allies to safety,” said Nadia. “Why don’t you practice carrying around the dummies, which are only 40 pounds?” Ella swooped down and picked up a dummy, but soon dropped it.

“Keep practicing,” called out Nadia. She looked at Phila and Sahara.

“Just wondering, Phila, did you know you could revert?” asked Nadia.

“Of course, that’s what I do at night when I don’t feel like holding a form. Which is also why I always get the bottom bunk,” said Phila, her hair turning dark red with embarrassment.

“Ok, so have you ever tried to mimic any liquids?” asked Nadia.

“What good would that do me?” asked Phila.

“Just wondering. But can you do inanimate objects, like perhaps a sword?” asked Nadia.

“Never tried,” said Phila. “But wouldn’t you hurt me, using me like a sword?”

“What about a suitcase, or a peace offering,” said Nadia, grinning evilly.

“Oh, I see where we’re going here,” said Phila. “For any of the games, you want me to pose as an inanimate object, and then, when they least suspect it, assassinate them.”

“You hit the nail on the head,” said Nadia. “Now practice your shapes. Sahara.”

“What?” asked Sahara.

“Can you form an entire force field bubble around yourself? Like a hamster ball?” asked Nadia.

“I could try,” said Sahara, quickly becoming surrounded by a clear staticky purplish force field. It quickly disintegrated. “Oh, I get it, you want me to be able to hold it, and run in it. That way I can knock people out of the way.”

“Exactly,” said Nadia. “Now you guys get practicing while I make water sculptures.” Nadia had a tripod set up in the back and was making elegant sculptures in front of it.

Ella started with little dummies weighing 10 pounds, but couldn't carry any other dummies. Phila was morphing into objects but shuddering out of them after every few minutes. Sahara’s bubbles were getting weaker as her energy drained.

“Stop, Nadia, we can’t practice anymore. I’m exhausted,” said Sahara as she collapsed onto the floor.

“Same,” said Ella dropping her dummy and returning to the ground.

“You guys are weak,” said Nadia, taking a snapshot of the last sculpture she made. “But I suppose it’s dinner time anyways.”

Relieved, the four girls walked to the dining hall where Garnet, Oma, Amethyst and Dian were waiting at a table for them.

“They need more help than I thought,” said Nadia. Garnet looked over at the three weary girls and raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you guys have been practicing for four hours now,” said Garnet looking at her watch. “Being beginners, I’m surprised they haven't fainted yet.”

“Actually, Ella gave me two concussions from dropping stuff on my head,” said Phila. “Can you maybe-” Garnet placed her hands on Phila’s head.

“Ah, much better. Now my headaches are gone too!” said Phila, her hair turning a sea foam color for relaxation.

As they ate, little did they know something terrible was happening in the school. They wouldn’t hear about the disappearance until the next day.