The other side of the portal contained a large area of empty grass surrounded by trees, a concrete building built in a squat square, and two annoyed groups of people. Apparently we weren't the only ones to pick this Tutorial track and the two groups styles did not mesh well. Our group was a bunch of nerds with cool abilities that might help out in a fight. The other group looked like paramilitary mobsters setting up for a war. They were also in the middle of an argument.

"But we can help!" called forth our own, personal caped crusader. "There is no reason to brush us off like this. Our group is larger than yours anyway!"

"And I'm telling you that there is nothing to talk about until the rest of everybody gets here! Just hold your horses and sit tight. It won't be that long." If his group looked paramilitary, the leader looked current military. A crew cut, square jaw, no-nonsense demeanor, and an "at ease" stance gave that clear impression. At the same time he wore a heavy trench coat and a heavy beret that covered most of his head. On second look, everyone in their group wore something similar. Again, "paramilitary mobsters" was the first description that came to mind.

"There was nobody left! Everybody was either already in a portal or rushing into one! We left with less than five minutes on the clock, and it took us at least four to get ourselves though the portal!" The leader of our geek group was getting more and more upset as time was passing. It seemed he didn't take well to being ignored. I could see the power games, though: Military guy was cementing himself as the true leader by presenting himself as the one in control and our guy as lacking even self control.

I watched their back and forth silently. Even if I wanted to, which I didn't quite yet, there was nothing I could do to change the situation. All my interference would do was make it look like I wanted to be in charge, and why would anyone follow me? Furthermore I didn't know either of them well enough to say who would do the job better. Sure, one of them was kind of acting like a jerk, but the other was falling for it way too easily. At least the jerk looked like he had actual fighting experience to fall back on.

Suddenly an entire group of people appeared with a strange "whooshing" sound. They were all huddled together in a group and looked somewhat tribal, with some of them carrying actual spears and metal shields. Something about them ticked something in my brain; their features were all similar enough that they could be an extended family but something was off about them that I couldn't quite put to words. I could insert a joke here about my lack of experience with "human anatomy", but that would be hitting a bit low considering my current group. Also, please don't judge me for my lack of experience, I had a full time job to focus on.

Others seemed to be making observations of their own, and proved to be better at identifying what seemed unusual about the people. "They look like a big family group, how did they all get in the game at once?" "There are children with them, and even some really old people." "Their hair isn't all black, there is a blue tinge to it. Also their limbs are too short for their body." "Not just their hair, their body is a little bit blue too. Is that some sort of makeup or skin care treatment?" "One of them said something to the others. It sounded weird but I could understand it. He said to 'wait'." "What's going on here? How did so many people show up at once?"

Everyone was surprised but generally cautious until somebody said the magic words that changed everything: "Guys, I think they might be aliens! Like, real life aliens!"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Immediately the entire air of caution was gone. It was replaced by a level of excitement that visibly intimidated the newcomers. People started running toward the tribe and trying to make "first contact" or some such. There were more than a few people yelling out "We come in peace!" and someone actually yelled out "Welcome from the Earthlings, hailing from the third planet of Sol!" The only thing that kept the advancing nerds back was the number of spears currently pointing in their direction.

Superhero guy came to the rescue, redeeming his position as a leader by herding back the gaggle of geeks and keeping the situation from getting out of control. He then greeted and then went over to talk with the alien leader some distance away where they could have some privacy. Military guy headed over as well, following the other two, and there was something of a three-way conference that started between them.

Donnie, with his robot arm, stepped up next to me. "What do you think will come of that?" He nodded toward the leaders of the various groups as their reactions became more animated. Military guy had said something that had put the others on the backfoot. Superhero seemed to be the more upset of the two others, but the tribal guy responded by lifting his spear rather than leaning on it as he had been before. There was a certain tension building between the three of them. Thankfully none of them seemed to want to escalate to violence, though their individual reactions were quite telling.

I answered immediately, not really needing time to think about it. "The gangster is going to be in charge. The aliens might mix with us nerds, assuming that we don't scare them off, but both our groups will keep some distance from the trench coat mafia."

"That's..." he began, looking more closely at the group of leaders. "Is that a good thing?"

I shrugged. "It really depends on how good a leader he ends up being. He seems to have some experience but the way he uses it makes it hard to trust him."

"Why him though? Wouldn't Mack be a pretty good option?" It took me a moment to realize he was talking about superhero dude. It's good to finally have a name to go with the muscles.

I shook my head in consideration. "Our guy lacks experience but at least he isn't completely out of his depth like the tribal leader." I explained. "Look how he isn't really interacting with the two except to stand his ground. At least he is hiding it well."

"So who would make the better leader, you think?" he asked back.

I shrugged again. "I guess it depends on what you are looking for in a leader. Mack seems to react fairly quickly and easily but lacks experience and advanced social skills. Alien dude has the charisma and poise but is timid and obviously lacks experience in this sort of situation. Meanwhile our soon-to-be leader wields his power like a club and makes enemies but seems to understand and be ready for the situation better than any of us." I waived toward the small group in the distance, "Who do you think is best?"

"That's..." he started, but trailed off and never finished. We remained like that, silent, until after the deliberations had ended.

The military guy headed over toward our group, followed by an unhappy superhero, looked us over harshly and spoke. "My name is General Julius D. Kendrick. I'll be leading this operation against the enemy forces. Anyone who has combat skills, experience, or abilities; come see me. I'll figure out where to fit you into the defenses." Then he turned and walked off without another word.

Our group's leader stepped up next with some obvious discomfort. "We'll make sure to get through this together. Let me know if you are worried about anything and we'll work through it. I also talked with the Umezil leader and he is fine with you all meeting with his people, just try to be chill about it. They know less about outsiders or even aliens than we do, so try not to spook them. Are there any questions?"

Apparently there were more questions, but he quickly got pulled away to deal with some emergency or another and was gone.

In the distance the tribal leader looked out over all three groups, his face deepened with a scowl.