Chapter 88

Lab techs and clones rushed about the high-tech infirmary while Ashley stood still in the middle of the room, holding a wooden baseball bat. After she came to, in the restaurant at the top of The Spire, a bunch of production medics descended to rush her to a confidential, undisclosed location within The Show’s Tower. Her moms had resisted at first, but Bailey convinced them that she would be better off in this state-of-the-art meta facility rather than a hospital for the general public.

The lead doctor, one of the Show’s clones, sat in a chair, checking off items from a list on her clipboard. “Okay, now try to turn the bat into a tree branch.”

Ashley tried to focus on the bat and let power flow through her like she used to when she controlled a vine or grew a tree from seed. Nothing happened. “I can’t.” She could hear the hopeless desperation in her own voice.

“That’s okay.” Without the head doctor even signaling, another one of The Show’s clones walked over and swapped out the wooden bat with an aluminum one. The instant the metal touched Ashley’s fingertips it transformed into a palm tree trunk and sprouted a bunch of bird of paradise flowers. Her shoulders sagged. She couldn’t control her new ability. How could she compete now? Sure, she was high enough in the rankings that she likely had some time to figure this out, but it just seemed so damned daunting. Not for the first time this afternoon, Ashley began to cry.

“Don’t cry, darling. Your power readings are off the chart,” Dr. Show Clone attempted to comfort her distraught patient. She had one of her assistants hand Ashley another aluminum bat. “This time, try to turn it into a bamboo chute.”

So, she tried to do as requested. Before reaching out to grab the metal club, Ashley closed her eyes and thought back to all the times she had manipulated bamboo to grow, grab, or weaponize it. Once she had a clear vision of its feel and properties, she closed her fingers around the handle. Instantly, the bat exploded into a jumble of vines and thorns, sprouting blackberries and little white flowers. Ashley screamed. Tears ran down her face, and she took the wide stem of the bush and chucked the entire thing across the room. Luckily, the one lab tech that was in the line of fire dodged nimbly out of the way, allowing the blackberry bramble to crash against a row of computers. Ashley fell to the ground in a puddle of angry weeping.

Dr. Show Clone got up from her seated position and walked calmly over to the distraught young woman. She sat cross-legged beside Ashley, reaching out and gently placing a hand on the crying girl’s shoulder. “I know this sucks.”

“Really!?” Ashley snapped back. “And how could you possibly-”

“Not many people know how The Show creates us clones,” the clone soothingly continued. “But many of us have our own powers. Sometimes, when he creates one of us clones that have a mental power that may cause issues with our shared consciousness, that power is destroyed in the link-up process.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Ashley sniffled, “I didn’t-”

“Not many do, dear. But, I imagine you can see where this is going.”

“You had a power that was canceled out?”

“Indeed,” Dr. Show Clone continued. “I actually think that’s why I pursued a career in medicine. I wanted something that would make me valuable to the collective.”

“I see.” Ash exhaled. “Do you mind if we talk if I’m having problems processing all of this? I know you are busy, but-”

“Of course. I’m here anytime you need me. What I would advise, though, is not making any big decisions in the short term. I think you should try to fight through this. Not many people I know could put up with all of these tests mere hours after such trauma.”

“Yeah, about that. Think we are done for the day?” Ashley pleaded with the doctor.

“I think we have everything we need for now. Your new status seems to have stabilized. We can run some more detailed tests after the live show this week. You should stay focused on that for now.”

“Thanks,” Ash smiled for the first time since collapsing at dinner.

“Your friend has been waiting outside. You may want to contain the information of your change for now.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Ashley stood up and wiped the remnants of tears from her face. She reached out and shook the doctor’s hand. “Thanks. For real.”

“It’s quite literally my job.” Dr. Show Clone said goodbye and walked Ashley to the door. As they slowly moved toward the exit, she handed Ashley a pair of latex gloves. “I believe these will work until you get a better pair. Keep your skin covered at all times until we figure out how you can better control your new abilities’ effects. And my door is always open. Well, not literally. But, you know what I mean.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“I’m familiar with the expression.” Ashley was shocked at how light she felt. This version of The Show had an uncanny ability to make her feel calm and looked after as if everything was going to end up just fine. She waved goodbye with a forced smile and headed out to the waiting room, where Bailey was pacing nervously.

As Ashley made her way through the facility’s corridors to the waiting room, Bailey rushed over and threw her arms around her friend. Unfortunately, one of her earrings grazed Ashley’s skin and burst into a golden poppy. “Ooops,” she laughed, not letting go. “Well, I never liked those anyway.” Without waiting for Ashley to respond or react, Bailey pulled out of the embrace, still holding Ashley’s shoulders tight, and continued, “So… What happened? Are you gonna be okay? Do you think this was an accident or on purpose? Are you gonna be able to cont-”

“Shhhhhh,” Ashley cut in. “It’s all a little complicated, and If you don’t mind, I’d really rather not talk about it right now. And I really, really don’t want any of our competition to know about this. Even Joel, okay?” Ashley’s tone was as serious as she could muster through her exhaustion. It had been a long day.

“Of course. I would never…” Bailey trailed off. “I’m just glad you are okay. When you hit the floor… Ashley, I was so, so scared.”

In the silence following Bailey’s admission, Ashley realized her moms weren’t there. She had been so focused on herself that she hadn’t really thought about how her loved ones were feeling. “Have you seen my moms?”

“Oh, yeah. Once they knew you were okay, Christina went to check in with her council contact, which I think we should talk about later in private. Tammy snapped into investigation mode. They both want you to call them when you get home.”

Many daughters would be bummed out that their parents didn’t wait for them if something of this nature happened. But Ashley was weirdly comforted that her moms were different. Knowing that they were looking into things put her mind at ease. Well, that applied mostly to Tammy. Ashley was a little more worried about Christina’s mental state. But, she would tackle that issue when she got home after a long hot shower.

“Ready to head home?” Bailey asked.

“Yep, let’s go. I can’t wait for this day to be over.”

“I get it.” Bailey led the way to the Show Tower elevator bay, where they grabbed a ride to the Spire walkway. They walked in silence through the tunnel, high in the sky. Ashley looked out the windows to the park below and began to cry again as she saw her reflection. The breakdown was multilayered. Would her veins and eyes ever return to normal? Would she ever feel the presence of those trees in her life again… feel their life flowing through her?

Bailey had a feeling she knew what her distraught friend was thinking as she saw her gazing down at the greenery below, so she put her arm around Ashley and urged her along the path to their dorm.

By the time they arrived at the doorway to their abode, Ashley had gathered herself, and Bailey had helped her apply fresh mascara. t. There was nothing to be done about the red eyes and puffy cheeks, but it was getting late, and hopefully, they could avoid running into any of their roommates. That hope was dashed when they entered the apartment to a full-on video game tournament in full swing.

“Next match, you have to choose someone other than Pikachu. You playing that character is basically a cheat code,” someone shouted.

It was Bobby who responded. “Maybe you should just up your game. Besides, I believe with that loss, you have forfeited the controller to another unworthy opponent. Who’s next to challenge the Pokemon Master?”

Bailey couldn’t help herself, “A new challenger has appeared!” she giddily yelled as she sprinted to the couch and dove, superman style, across the laps of Bobby, June, and Jax. She rolled over and pushed Bobby and June apart to squeeze into a spot that wasn’t supposed to exist. “Okay, Pokemon Master, time for a real battle.

Eyebrows rose around the room, and a couple of people even “ooh-ed and ah-ed.” Bobby passed his secret sister the oddly shaped Gamecube-style controller that was linked to the Onyx Switch console.

“You talk a big game. Shall we make this one v. one?” Bobby confidently asked.

“If that’s okay with everyone else. I don’t want to butt in on someone’s turn.” Bailey answered.

The rest of the room was, indeed, okay with it. They had all spent the better part of the last three hours getting their asses handed to them by the goth savant. It was Cecilia who gave Bailey the ultimate go-ahead, “It’s all yours. Please destroy him. We are all getting sick of his gloating.”

Bailey just nodded and said, “I’ll do my best,” and then scrolled through the characters to choose Ike, the swordsman.

As tired as Ashley was, she decided to hang out with this motley crew of reality show competitors for a while. Part of her just wanted to put off the imminent phone calls with her worried parents, and part of her was enjoying feeling normal and hanging out with a group of friends—or friendly rivals, at the very least. But before she could further enter the room, she dimmed the lights so no one would be able to see the creepy changes. She would have to get some contacts before Connor’s party. After the room was darkened, she carefully pulled up a wooden chair to watch from the back of the crowded common room as Bobby and Bailey battled throughout the night. By the time the room emptied out and everyone had headed off to their own private rooms Bobby was up by two wins and four K.O.s. For his part, he seemed very impressed that someone was able to hang with him that well and even defeat him a bunch of times.

Before showering and climbing into bed, Ashley texted her moms that she was okay and would check in with each of them the following day. For all that had happened and all that had changed, she was taking comfort in all that stayed the same. Starting tomorrow, she was going to get to know her competitors better. Now that she was much less likely to come out on top, she vowed to enjoy the experience more. In short, Ashley was committing to turning over a new leaf.