Chapter 19
Bobby liked his new roommate, even if that dude was sketchy as fuck. He clearly had a propensity to hide things. First, with that whole weird sushi performance, and then that covert interaction with the redhead. Bobby was curious by nature. He was definitely going to have to figure out who she was. She seemed to be associated with The Show somehow. Why else would she be talking to that Ritchie guy? Bobby would also need to keep a closer eye on his roommate. He didn’t take Joel as particularly dangerous, so it was probably just some secret love affair or something like that. But Bobby had been burned enough in his life that he recognized the signs of lying and obfuscation. If something was going to spring up to derail his own goals, he wanted to be prepared.
“Wow, this place is nuts!” Bailey said excitedly as she listed all the things they had discovered in the lower levels of the All-Star residence. Bobby really wasn’t paying attention. Something about a Moondollar Coffee stand, a piano bar, and an indoor pool.
Bobby was too busy replaying the interaction he had just witnessed between Joel and that mystery woman, locking in every detail to analyze later. He looked over and noticed that Joel was also deep in thought. After a moment, he stared his roommate dead in the eye and said, “Spy games?”
Joel looked genuinely freaked and blurted out, “What?!”
“Spy Games. It's a fun arcade game.” Bobby said with a grin, having elicited the expected reaction in his fellow challenger, roommate, and potential friend. “I think we just passed an arcade in the room off of the bowling alley. Or if you’re more in the mood, maybe Dance Dance Revolution? Let’s go see what they have!”
Joel’s whole disposition relaxed noticeably as a basketball rolled through the door in front of the group and came to rest at Bobby’s feet. He bent over to collect it as a tall, disheveled man with wild dark brown hair jogged up to their group.
“Oi! Help us out, bruv?” Hanzel said. “Shite,” he drew out the “i”s as he took in the group of challengers. “If it isn’t our own little crew of wannabes. Too good for the party we threw for yah? It’s not like any of you wankers deserve any of this, but any reason for a shindig, no?”
The hostility was evident, but Bobby expected a little shit-talk from the All-Stars anyhow. That said, he wasn’t gonna just let it slide. “Hey. Look, everyone! We have a celebrity in our midst.” He paused for effect. “Wait, what’s your name again?” He looked at his friends “Anyone? No?” He turned back to Hanzel, “Well, I’m sure you are a big deal somewhere.”
Hanzel raised an eyebrow. “Big talker, eh? Care to back up your tough talk with some action? The name’s Hanzel. Me and my buddy Artie were in the middle of a little game of one-on-one. We could team up for a little two-v-two. Heralds vers’ wannabes. Unless, of course, you’re all chicken?”
Bobby turned to the group, but before he could say anything, Bailey stepped to his side, grabbed the ball from his hands, and said, “Let’s beat this prick.”
Hanzel smiled and led the group to the indoor basketball court, where Artie stood impatiently. “Who let these kids wander down here? I thought this level was for All-Stars only.”
“Mate! Show some respect. Haven’t you heard? One of these fine people is going to be the next Seed!” Hanzel laughed.
Artie laughed way too hard for a joke that was low-hanging fruit, at best. Everyone else stood there awkwardly for a moment before Bobby decided to dictate terms. “First to 10 wins, all baskets count as one point. All and any powers are allowed in play, but if you foul an opponent physically or with your meta ability, the opposing team gets a free-throw from the line. Sound good?”
“Works for us,” Artie said. “Right, Hanzel?”
“Care to up the stakes?” Bobby asked before Hanzel could back his little friend up. “Losers have to praise the winners in a live interview at the next challenge.”
“You’ve got a wager,” Hanzel quickly agreed.
“When you are praising our greatness in front of millions of viewers, remember, I’m Kidd Grimm, and my friend here is…Shit! What’s your Herald alias?” Bobby asked Bailey, realizing he didn’t know anything about her.
“Hieroglyph,” Bailey whispered back.
“Kidd Grimm and Hieroglyph,” Bobby added as a button to the whole failed barb. “After we kick your ass, you won’t be forgetting our names.”
“Uh-huh.” Hanzel clearly wasn’t taking them seriously. He pulled a quarter out of his pocket and said, “Heads or tails, call it in the air,” and then flipped the coin into the air.
“Heads,” Bailey shouted at the same time Bobby said, “Tails.”
Hanzel took his eyes off the falling coin to look up at the two challengers and burst into laughter. “If that was an indication of your teamwork, this is gonna be fun for me. We’ll let you start on offense.”
“Let me huddle with my teammate for a sec before we start,” Bobby said, and pulled Bailey over to the sideline where Ken, Joel, and Jax stood, looking on. “Ok, that wasn’t, like, an amazing start, but I think we can take these dufuses. So, what can you do?”
Bailey had to decide at that moment just how much she wanted to give away about her meta gifts for a silly basketball game. “I can use words and simple symbols to create magical effects.”
Bobby sighed. “Fuck. Couldn’t you just like fly or teleport or something? Ugh, nevermind.” He took a beat before starting to think out loud. “Ok, well, we both have versatile powers. They’re shockingly similar, actually. But it's going to be hard to coordinate in a game like this. See, my special ability is that I can sorta bring fairytales and old stories to life, but to do so, I need to pull the words into existence, which doesn’t allow for a ton of multitasking.”
“Huh, do we know what these douche nozzles can do?” Bailey asked.
Bobby, Jax, and Joel were all silent, so Ken decided to interject. “If I remember correctly, I believe the smaller man is able to create an impenetrable ball around himself and possibly around other objects or people. The tall British man is known as Nihilism. I believe he is able to cause fear in people. Although little is known about the details of his capabilities. Precepts are always difficult to pin down.”
“Interesting.” Bobby had a plan coming together in his brain, but in practice, it was going to take some trial and error. “Here’s what I think we should do. Since we don’t want to step on each other’s toes or duplicate efforts, I think one of us should focus on offense and the other on defense. I have an idea of how I can be effective at scoring, so maybe you can focus on defense. Get the ball away from them and get it to me. I’ll handle the rest.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“I think I can handle that,” Bailey reassured her teammate.
They had been huddling for a little while before Hanzel kindly urged Bobby and Bailey to get the ball rolling. “Get over here, you dickheads! Or have you wisely decided to forfeit?”
“You wish!” Bailey spat as they made their way to center court. “I assume we are playing half-court rules?”
“Uh, sure..” Artie said as he stepped up to cover her.
Bailey checked the ball to Artie, and he bounced it right back to her as she shouted, “Game on!”
Bobby watched his teammate deftly dribble forward, nimbly moving past Artie before he could steal the ball from her. “Jack, be nimble, Jack be quick…” Bobby started chanting. The words formed in the air around him, and he blazed past Hanzel to receive the pass that arrived dead center in his hands. He was moving so quickly that there was nothing either All-Star could do to stop the easy layup.
“One, zip,” Bobby taunted as he tossed the ball to Artie. He could hear Joel and Jax cheering from the sidelines, so he looked over and saw Ken golf clapping as Jax’s sister wandered into the gym with her blond roommate. “Guess she finished up her interview,” he thought. “I wonder how she found us down here.” His musings distracted him, and he totally missed the fact that Artie had already started play, and passed the ball to Hanzel. “Jack, be nimble, Jack, be quick,” the words materialized out of thin air and spun around his feet as he restarted the chant. He was able to close the distance to Hanzel, but before he could steal the ball, Bobby slammed into a glowing orb of energy that materialized right in front of him. He watched helplessly as Hanzel went up for his own seemingly easy layup. But, just as the basketball left his hand, a gust of wind blew it hard against the backboard. The rebound came out to the free-throw line where Bailey stood, wand out, with the glow of the word “gustr” fading from the air in front of her. She grabbed the bouncing ball with her free hand and tossed it to Bobby, who was able to score easily.
“Two, nil,” Bailey smiled as she collected the ball and tossed it to Artie once again. “You guys ready to admit you’re in over your head?” She knew they had a long way to go to win this silly game, but it was fun to rub it in a little that these “All-Stars” hadn’t even been able to score yet.
“I admit, I underestimated you a bit,” Hanzel answered. “But it’s not how you start a match, it's about how you finish.”
“Interesting you say that because from what I hear, you tend to finish prematurely,” Bobby laughed back.
“So you have heard of me,” Hanzel said. “You’re probably part of my fan club. Want me to sign the basketball for you after we win tonight?”
“Quit stalling,” Bobby didn’t want to lose momentum.
“No problem, mate.” As play began again, Hanzel sprinted toward the basket, paused, and turned back to face Bobby. Artie forced a quick pass to Hanzel, right past both their defenders. Hanzel snagged the ball out of the air, still facing Bobby, and narrowed his eyes. All of a sudden, Bobby felt the weight of the world crash down on his shoulders. He had dark thoughts about his own mortality. Images flashed through his mind of everyone important in his life, leaving him alone forever, abandoning him. The feelings were so intense he dropped to one knee, watching Hanzel walk to the basket and toss the ball in, unguarded. Just as quickly as the intense dread had hit, it subsided.
Bobby shook his head. “What. The. Fuck.”
“We were going easy on you. Letting you show us what you could do. The game has barely begun, kid.” Hanzel said. “Your ball.” He bounce-passed the basketball to Bailey and reset.
After the effects of the terror wave wore off, Bobby was actually glad he now knew his opponents' capabilities, and for the next few plays, each team traded off scoring until the game was tied at seven points a piece. Bailey and Bobby were panting, seemingly much more tired than Artie and Hanzel. He guessed their Heralds training was providing an endurance edge. The play started as before, with Bailey bounce-passing the ball in bounds to her teammate down near the end line, just outside the key. But Artie was too quick. He intercepted the ball with one of his floating orbs and controlled it over the basket. Poof! The orb disappeared, and the basketball dropped directly into the hoop.
“Hey! That’s traveling!” Bobby yelled.
“How so, mate? As far as I could tell, the ball was shot directly into the basket. Eight to Seven, our lead.”
“Hell no!” Bobby was getting irritated. He never thought of himself as particularly competitive in nature, but maybe it was time to reevaluate that aspect of his personality. “The Orb was carrying the ball, acting at that time as a player, and never dribbled once!”
Ken, Joel, and Jax wandered onto the court to try to de-escalate what they saw as having the potential to become a full-on meta brawl. Ken picked up the neglected basketball.
As he calmed down, Bobby realized he had the ability to swing the match in their favor. “Look, if you agree not to do that again and to work within the spirit of the traveling rule, you can keep the point. But..” He paused and looked over at Jax, “only if you let my friend here sub in for me. I think I may have rolled my ankle on that last play,” he lied.
Jax looked surprised but stepped forward, took off his blazer, and handed it to his sister. He rolled up his sleeves and took the ball from Ken. “Eight - Seven, your lead. I hope you enjoyed it because it’ll be the last one you hold.”
Hanzel looked at Artie, nodded his head, and got set up for the next play. Bobby, along with the rest of the challengers, made his way off the court to the sidelines. He didn’t love taking himself out of play, but they were wise to his “Jack be nimble” trick, and he really didn’t want to reveal more of his power. Leaving the game turned out to be a wise decision, and allowing him to do so was the biggest mistake Hanzel and Artie could have made.
Just as the game resumed, the air snapped cold, to the point where Bobby could see his breath hanging as mist in front of his face. The entire ceiling started to glow with blues and purples as Jax wrapped his whole body in glowing blue-purple energy that he pulled from the ceiling of the gym. He projected the energy he had wrapped around his right hand and arm forward, stretching it out and expanding it at the same time. It looked like he had turned himself into Gumby and was stretching his whole arm outward. He made sure to dribble the ball with his giant glowing hand, all the while zig-zagging the glowing appendage around defenders before dunking the ball into the hoop. The whole time, his physical body remained back at the top of the three-point line. He hadn’t moved an inch.
Bobby let out a cheer that was completely out of character for the goth bartender. Luckily, no one noticed, as they were also cheering the magnificent display. No one on the sidelines wanted the egotistical All-Stars to win.
Over the next few minutes Bailey and Jax made short work of their opponents. The score was nine to eight, with The Challengers ahead. Artie, too tired to speak, passed the ball inbound to his partner. Hanzel grabbed the ball, but before he could do anything with it, a wisp of energy snaked it from his hands, knocking it toward Bailey. All of a sudden, everyone in the gym, aside from Hanzel, felt their insides go cold. To a person, they felt the intense surety that we only have so long on this planet. One day, they would go to sleep and never wake up. Questions like, “Am I doing enough with my life?” and “What will it be like to not have a thought or a feeling ever again?” lodged deep into their souls.
Hanzel walked over to take the ball from Bailey. She couldn’t look Hanzel in the eyes, but she managed to hold the ball out as though she were handing it over to him. But as he reached out to grab it, she covertly used her pinky to spell the word “catapulta” in the air and, using every bit of energy she could muster, pushed her meta power through it. The ball was flung out of her hands toward the basket. Time seemed to stand still, Bobby waiting on tenterhooks, until finally the ball flew through the air, finding its target for the win.
It didn’t even touch the rim. Swish! It was a perfect shot. The onlookers were about to erupt into joyous, victorious cheers and storm the court to congratulate the winning challengers, but before they could make a sound or move at all, the ball glowed as bright as the sun and exploded in midair.
Everyone’s gaze followed the remnants of the light back to their source. Standing at the entrance to the gym was the famed Michigan Herald Summerset, next to her husband, arms crossed and clearly angry beyond words.
“I need to speak to my children. Privately.” Summerset Commanded through gritted teeth. “Right. Now.”