“Dread, how accurate is your roar?” Bailey, the team captain, asked.
“Any leaf on a tree,” Dread smiled at Bailey and hope she would demand proof.
“Show me,” she said. A green, hovering octahedron appeared behind Bailey. “Log in.” Dread held her node up and said her password.
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” she screamed at the flat, clear rectangle in her hand until it glowed with purple light. She inserted it into a dock on her belt buckle, then a bright flash of light enveloped her body. After the light faded, Dread stood tall in her AlterNet outfit.
Black leather pants, and a black leather jacket with a purple and gold yin-yang sparkling on her back. A tiger in the gold section stalked the shark that was sneaking up behind it in the purple section. A golden skull decorated the front of her pitch black motorcycle helmet. Bailey nodded, and the octahedron exploded in a shower of green sparks.
“Zone: Fairy Forest,” a floating scoreboard announced from the center of the track. The smooth white track transformed into a grey cobblestone path. Grass and Trees sprouted out and upward along the sides of the track, but still within the boundaries. Bailey pointed at a tall, thick oak tree oak tree that grew next to the starting line.
“Torque, pick a leaf,” she said over her shoulder.
Torque skated forward and aimed at the tree with her hand using a ‘finger-gun’ gesture.
“Star Shot,” the scoreboard announced Torque’s move when she squeezed the ‘trigger’ of her finger. A tiny orange spark flew from Torque’s finger into the tree. Dread looked up and saw a single leaf with a star burned through the center of it; the edges of the design smoldered.
[Going to. -Dread] She replied. Dread turned to face the tree
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The leaves jumped off their branches and scattered through the air. The force of her scream caused a mini-whirlwind against the track boundaries. The leaves that went out of bounds disappeared, while a large portion of the rest landed on Bailey. She stared at Dread while brushing leaves off her shoulders.
“Accurate must mean something different in your universe,” Bailey said. Dread pointed at the, now crooked, tree. Bailey looked up. The marked leaf was the only one left on the barren tree. “Huh. Nevermind, you’re great.”
“Okay. New plan. Let’s work on basics. Jenny, teach Dread how to use macros, all that yelling is gonna get old really fast. Dirge, you can do black portals, right?” Dirge mimicked Dread and replied to Bailey with a thumbs up gesture.
“Great, pair off with Torque and teach her how. So far she can only do nano-assisted portals,” Bailey said. She held up the three nodes she grabbed from Jenny earlier, “I’m going to go look at these. That’s all you’re working on for practice today; you have the field until sundown. We’ll keep in touch during the week to discuss strategy. I expect all of you to practice between now and next week’s game.” Bailey nodded at the four girls then turned to walk away.
“That’s it? That’s your idea of practice?” Dirge asked. Bailey stopped and turned to face her.
“You guys missed a solid chunk by going to see Ms. Sharp. I stayed behind and worked with Torque. Now I have to leave, and
“What’re macros?” Dread asked Jenny when Bailey was far enough away. Jenny turned to look at the derby track. Once Bailey left it reverted back to a smooth white surface.
“We’ll take this end, and you and Torque take that end,” Jenny said to Dirge. “It’ll be kind of crowded, but we can make it work.”
“Too crowded. Dirge, take Torque to our track,” Dread said. Dirge nodded, then made a gesture with her hand in the air. A black portal opened next to Dirge and she invited Torque to step through. Once they both went through the portal disappeared.
“You guys have your own track?” Jenny asked. Dread nodded.
“Pretty much,” Dread replied.
“Awesome, okay. Now we have a ton more room.” Jenny reached into her pocket and pulled out several nodes. She sorted through them while talking to Dread. “Macros are system shortcuts that let you use your abilities faster and easier,” she chuckled. “I guess Bailey doesn’t want you screaming all the time.” Jenny found the node she was looking for and shoved the rest back into her pocket. “Once you’ve got macros set up you can use your scream just by speaking certain words.”
“What words?” Dread asked. Jenny shrugged.
“Any you want. Personally, I like to use the ability name. It’s easier that way. For your roar, it’d be Tiger’s Roar.” Dread nodded and smiled at the shorter girl.
“I like it.”
“Great,” I’ve got just the thing to practice with. She threw the node onto the track, then a swarm of golden nanos appeared and began flying around it. The cyclone of nanos coalesced into a tall, imposing, pale woman with bright red hair. The woman looked at Dread and smiled.
“Flutter!” Dread jumped in front of Jenny and yelled over her shoulder. “RUN!”
