Joe

(The Aurora)

Va'al had smirked and then walked away, leaving Joe slack-jawed, but resolute. He turned to his laptop, and for most of last night, had begun postulating. His task was, 'Ascertain the Origin of magic.' At first, Joe felt as though it were an utterly absurd question. It was like asking 'Find the origin of the Universe'.

"How am I supposed to do that?!" he said to no one in particular. There were around three Livari scientists around the room at any given time, though Joe had yet to introduce himself, so he did. Walking up to each of the scientists, he was surprised to find a six-fingered hand gripping his each time. They were far from stuffy and aloof as he had feared. Instead, he found them each to be rather congenial, helpful, and quite charming!

"Especially Ta'rel, man, those red eyes, the tinted green skin, that perfect face… wait, focus Joe! Damnit!" he mentally reprimanded himself. The first time they'd shaken hands he swore he gaped, and she giggled at their meeting.

"Yeah, what was that about?... No, come on Joe, focus!!! It's not like you'd ever have a chance anyway! They're long-lived, wise beyond their years, and there's no way she's not taken! Hah, imagine me meeting the family! They'd just laugh at me, the weird pink monkey without magic. 'Hey there Mr. Ta'rel's dad, your daughter is gorgeous, and I'd like to get to know you better so that you maybe end up liking me enough to let me date her! So where are you from?'" he thought mockingly.

That was when a thought struck Joe.

"Wait…'Where are you from' and 'What is your origin'... Might they be the same thing?

Joe's mind began spinning furiously.

"If every phenomenon has an 'origin', and Va'al asked me to ascertain a phenomenon's origin, it stands to reason that what he's asking me is to 'prove' it exists!" he thought excitedly. It was then that he realized that Va'al's question was not so absurd after all! It was actually rather simple. Immediately after, however, he totally deflated.

"I don't have any magic. How on…Earth?...am I supposed to prove something I have no reference for?"

He stared at his notes. In the few hours he'd been there, the multitudinous questions he'd grilled his 'fellow' scientists on, and the answers they were allowed to give, he'd posited a few points.

First: The phenomenon known as 'magic' exists, and therefore can be proven.

Second: Magic can be used by almost every species in the Milky Way Galaxy, and they could use it before they met each other, thus it stands to reason that it is a 'naturally occurring' phenomenon.

Third: Instruments that are used to detect magic are off-limits. The only instruments I may use are those that do not intrinsically have the capability to sense the 'essence' of magic, such as it is known and experienced by species in which it occurs naturally. I must prove the origins of magic using the technological capabilities of present-day humanity, which is totally devoid of magic. Joe sighed at that last part.

"Okay Joe, think. Of the five questions, what’s applicable here? When, where, why, who, and how. The only important one here is 'how' right now. So how do I 'discover' magic?"

It felt insurmountable, however, Joe was no ordinary kid. He was Joe. And he never gave up.

"Alright, what's invisible and technically can’t be seen but is observable and has been proven?..." he thought, tapping the table thoughtfully. "Air? Nah, you can see air with clouds or smoke. That leaves...space? We know it's there, but what is it? No. Wait, what about Gravity? Yeah, that'll do! Now, how was gravity proven?" he thought quickly, grabbing his phone. It was then that he realized he was in outer space…probably quite far from a mobile network.

"Well, any excuse to talk to Ta'rel is a good excuse right?..." he thought sheepishly as he looked around and found her near the entrance to the lab, working with what looked like an Earth fern. He went up to her and felt like he swallowed so loudly the whole room heard it. This thought was not helped by the fact that before he even got to her, she turned around and faced him with a lopsided grin, and as he reached her, he promptly forgot how to speak.

"Hello, Joe. I trust your experiment is yielding fruit?" she asked pleasantly.

"Yeah! Totally! Fruits. Lots of them. Yielding plenty of fruit. Uh, sooo…" he tried and failed to remember why he was there in the first place as Ta'rel continued to smirk with a cocked eyebrow and allow him to simmer in his apparent paralysis.

"Was there something you needed my assistance with?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes!" he nearly shouted as the words escaped his mouth, unbidden. "Help me!" he grasped at the words before slapping a hand over his brow in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, uh, please could you help me? I need Wifi so I can search some stuff on the web, do you know if I can connect to it from here?" he practically blurted out.

Ta'rel inclined her head ever so slightly to the side. "Joe, I'm not certain we have any webbing that you might be looking for, but I'm afraid you won't find any in the lab at present. Also, my presence is clearly making you uncomfortable, have I offended you in some way? I apologize if that is the case, though please understand it was never my intention." she began looking slightly concerned as she spoke.

"Joe, you dumbass! Now she thinks you have some problem with her! Get it together before you make an even worse trainwreck out of this than you already have!" he continued berating himself.

"No! It's not you, it's me. Err, that is to say, you're wrong, I mean, not wrong. Oh my gosh, I'm hopeless…" Joe was approaching shades of crimson he wouldn't have believed lest he hadn’t spied himself in the reflection of a container. It didn't help that Ta'rel was clearly concerned.

"I apologize, Joe, I never knew my presence would be such an affront to you. I have been known to be somewhat 'socially awkward' as you like to say. Please, if you wouldn't mind, tell me what it is I have done to cause this reaction from you, and I will attempt to remedy it. I don't wish to be a hindrance to your research."

"Joe, you don't deserve to ever smile or be happy again. You made an Angel worry over you because you're too gobsmacked to string two words together with coherence! AAAAAHHHH, I want to disappear!!!" he thought, steeping his fingers to his temples. He closed his eyes and spoke as calmly as he could.

"Ta'rel, please understand, you have done nothing wrong. I am just…having a hard time adjusting to this uh… environment! Yeah! So please don't worry. You're perfec… I mean, you're great. Fine. Uh... Yeah. Nothing's wrong. Sorry, I'm babbling." he winced.

Ta'rel's scarlet red eyes lit up at his words. "That's good to hear, I must have misunderstood you then. Our translators work rather well, but your body language is still somewhat of a mystery to the uninitiated. In any event, how can I help?" she offered with a light smile.

"Phew, thank goodness!" he breathed an internal sigh of relief.

"I'm glad that's settled. So, uh… Oh! Yes, do you have access to Earth's internet from here by any chance? I have some things I need to look up."

"Yes! You did it you dumbass! Look at you now! Spoke to her without dying, check! He mentally fist-bumped himself.

Ta'rel placed two fingers on her temple. Somehow, it looked like a thoughtful gesture. "Hmmm, I don't believe it would be a problem, though we would need to configure a few protocols so that your devices could interface with ours. I'll speak to Va'al and put in the request." she beamed.

"Oh man, I think I can die happy now. That smile…Mike, sorry bro, wish I could have stuck around longer, but I have been skewered by the gaze of…"

"Was there anything else, Joe?" she interrupted his thoughts with a smirk playing across her face.

"Nope! I'm good, great actually! You're the best, thank you!" he pronounced before walking back to his desk, where he promptly sat down and banged his head on the table.

"Dumbass!" he muttered to himself. "Back to work."

It stood to reason that in order to prove a phenomenon, you had to detect it in some way. To do that, he would need to witness the magic taking place. There were already a couple of bays within the lab that he witnessed were clearly used for magic testing and measurement.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Except I don't get to use the fancy gadgets, just Earth's stuff." he thought, much to his chagrin.

A plan was forming in his head. The scientists could each do magic of varying sorts. Ta'rel could manipulate water, and would often summon and use masses of water to fire off blasts into the testing chamber. As far as Joe could tell, the scrawny-looking Livari that didn't talk much, E'rel, could move air around at incredible speed and force. The last scientist, Ye'ray, looked to be a different sort of Livari. He seemed somewhat venerable, almost old, but with a body that didn't betray a hint of frailty. Joe had no idea what he could do.

"If I can request to analyze them using their powers, I might be able to 'prove' the existence of magic, or at least learn about its origins. Observable phenomena and their measurement are the basis for proving a theory correct. My task is to find the origins of magic, but there are a few other questions that need answering first. One of them is figuring out what makes magic...well, magic! It has to come from somewhere, and since it's observable, it shouldn't be impossible to find some sort of 'source' for it."

It was then that Ta'rel returned to the lab and went up to him. "Joe, Va'al says that the interface ought to be ready in a few minutes, you ought to be able to connect to your world's 'internet' then." she said sweetly.

"Tha..thanks! I appreciate it so much!" Joe nearly shouted. She nodded and walked away, a small grin plastered on her face. Joe sighed as he watched her leave.

"How am I gonna get anything done with her here? Gonna need to get creative Joe. Don't disappoint! Actually, while I wait..."

He stood up from his desk and approached E'rel. "Hi Earl, could I ask you something?"

E'rel looked up from whatever experiment he was running and nodded towards Joe in an 'affirmative'.

"Great! So here's my idea..."

* * * * *

Mike

(Colosseum, Academy Grounds)

Breakfast in the Cafeteria that morning had been delicious, though Mike was careful not to gorge himself. 'You never know what you might be doing' was the phrase bouncing around his head after he'd seen a couple of other students discuss the very same notion. The girls had chosen the typical 'jogging girl' look, with tights, running shoes, and loose tops so they could exercise without worry if needed. That was when Dan had met up with them a little after they'd all gotten there, his hair gelled and spiked to perfection, and smelling like he'd emptied a can of deodorant all over himself. So pungent was the smell, it earned him a number of strained looks from the tables he happened to walk past. He grabbed a plate, had it loaded up and promptly sat down next to Mike.

"Dude, it feels like all eyes are on me today! Totally feeling like a million bucks!" he'd commented to the newly christened 'A-Team' as he sat with them.

"Wow Dan, I'm so sorry, guess you're gonna have to find a new spray huh?" Sam commented, forking down another strip of bacon. Dan looked confused.

"Huh, why'd you say that?"

"Cause your can must have exploded, that's the only explanation I can think of for why on earth you'd smell like you walked under a waterfall of scent this early in the morning." she said with a cocked eyebrow and a skeptical glare, standing up and using her gift to go put her plate down. Mike and Emma both stood too, having just finished their plates rather quickly as well.

"Wait, are you serious? Guys!? I just got here! Come on Mike, is it really that bad?" Dan pleaded as Mike and Emma walked away. Mike simply turned his head back to him and with a strained grin gave him a thumbs up before putting his plate down and moving to evacuate before he began sneezing. Dan sighed in defeat, having inadvertently isolated himself from the rest of the House for the time being.

Mike and Emma met up with the constantly speeding Sam and hopped on a golf cart. They were the first group to do so.

"So, does anyone know how to drive this thing?" Mike asked, getting in the driver's seat and putting his hands on the wheel. A notification popped up in his vision.

First-years are not permitted manual control of the carts. Please input your destination.

"Wow, we aren't allowed to drive the carts ourselves guys, gotta let it do the driving for us." he said in surprise.

"Boring! I could have driven this thing so fast, I bet Dan's perfect hair would've been messed up when we got there!" Sam grinned.

"Don't be mean Sam, that's probably one of the reasons why we aren't allowed." Emma chimed in.

"Maybe we'll be allowed to drive them if we level up our 'status' like La'ar mentioned yesterday? Anyway, I'll just select the Colosseum." Mike commented as a slot with multiple destinations popped up in his vision. He used his hand to select the Colosseum.

The cart ride was strange, especially since they were watching the steering wheel turn itself and the brake pads move on their own, it was like a ghost had taken over the cart, yet they made good time and before long arrived at the colossal stadium.

They arrived just as a group of teachers stepped off their own cart. Class was at 7, and with 15 minutes to spare the trio headed inside. The Colosseum was as massive as they remembered, Mike's attention however flitted immediately to the target area. He activated his Gift and looked over to Emma and Sam, who had clearly done the same. Mike felt like gifting some advice to his new teammates but didn't know how it would come across. He decided that instead of worrying about it, he'd just go for it.

"Not to tell you guys what to do, but if you want to get the best out of your bodies, you should try to warm up before class. I did ballet before I came here, so I know a thing or two about the body, and I'd love for us all to do our best." he cringed inwardly at how he sounded. "Just a suggestion. Sorry if it came out weird." he added lamely.

"Don't worry Mike, I think we'd know if you were trying to be bossy, we know that's not your style. Though, what makes you so sure we'll be doing physical stuff today and not just Gift training?" Sam asked as Emma nodded along.

"I...don't actually have a good answer for you, but I was thinking that since your Gift is running, it would maybe do you good. Emma and I, well, guess I'm just used to doing it always, so yeah." Mike finished, wondering if maybe he should have just shut up and gone it alone. Emma looked at Sam and they both nodded to each other.

"It's honestly not a bad idea, and it would help with my nerves right now, so why not? Got any warm-ups you could suggest?" Emma asked hopefully.

"Uhhh, well, you wouldn't wanna do mine, unless you've done ballet before, though Sam, I suppose, would benefit from a slow jog around the field to warm up her muscles. You could join her for today, and if you want I could make a routine for us to do all together sometime?"

"I love that! Okay girl, let's get running while we have time. Enjoy your ballet warm-up, Mike!" Sam said enthusiastically as she and Emma jogged off to the running track. Mike chose to warm up along a railing next to the stands, going through the trained and honed motions of a ballet dancer. It was strange though.

"My body, it doesn't feel...normal! Usually, I'd feel sluggish and my muscles would ache and my joints would crack, but right now, it feels like it's in peak condition!" he looked down at his body and noticed that a couple more veins were sprouting along his biceps and forearms, his legs were looking extra toned, as though he'd just completed an intense class, and his flexibility...

He heard a gasp as a guy he recognized from yesterday approached him just as he sat in the middle splits.

"Dude, are you okay!?" he almost shouted running over to check on Mike. Mike smiled despite himself.

"Weird, my flexibility...I've never been able to do the full splits so effortlessly before, what the hell is going on?" his mind roiled.

"Hey, Stanley right? Don't worry, I'm just stretching. I was a ballet dancer before I came here, sorry if it freaked you out." he finished with a chuckle as he transitioned into the front splits.

"Yup, this is weird. I'm gonna have to ask a certain someone about this."

"Dude, is that even natural!?" Stanley asked, more worried than anything. "It looks like you tore off your nu..."

"I'm totally good my dude, don't worry, it's natural if you know what you're doing. I'm fine." Mike interrupted before anyone overheard them. Most of the house had arrived by now, including a somewhat crestfallen Dan. Everyone was trying a quick warmup upon witnessing the few that had arrived early. He stood up and held out his hand to shake Stanley's. "I'm Mike, by the way. Didn't really get a chance to say hi properly, what with yesterday being so crazy."

Stanley took his hand after eyeing him a little suspiciously. "Right...nice to meet you, Mike. Are you sure you're okay? I'm feeling a little tender just looking at you like that."

"Yup, totally good. You ready for today?" Mike deflected to another topic.

"Yeah man, just hope this time someone can explain to me what I'm supposed to do! Yesterday was kind of frustrating."

"You, and nearly all the rest of us dude. I'm sure they know what they're doing though, teachers aren't teachers for nothing right?"

"Right, here's hoping. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you'd mind myself and Priscilla eating with you guys later today. We've kinda been looking out for each other after yesterday with flaming asshole Aden, but we'd like to join with people who don't look like assholes, and you guys don't seem to be. Dan was really helpful yesterday too, even though he was pretty upset. Would you mind?" Stanley asked sheepishly.

"Sure dude, though honestly, we don't bite, so you don't need to be so formal. We'd love to have a few more people around. We'll see you then." Mike said with a smile.

"Thanks, man, I'm sure Priscilla will be glad too, we've both been kinda down since yesterday. I'll go tell her. See ya later!" he said as he trotted off.

Attention Students

Please line up at the Colosseum entrance for class

"Wow, a Link notification! For class? Damn, hope they're nice to us." Mike spoke to no one in particular. It was time to see if he could finally get some help with his Gift.