For a moment, Deon couldn’t think. It felt like the room was melting.

  Wait–I’m assuming the worst WAY too easily.

  He hurried over to the nightstand and snatched his TeamTrack, initiating a group call.

  The Team Hiroko chat was slow to respond, leaving Deon pacing around the room for several laps. Most likely, they were all busy getting ready for their day, unaware just how drastically it was shaping up to change.

  “Yes?”

  Deon jolted his TeamTrack closer to his face. At last, a projection of Phillip’s head hovered above the screen. His default frown immediately deepened.

  “Deon? What happened?”

  It must have been all over his face. Phillip recognized a panic he’d felt only weeks ago when Pang vanished from that alleyway.

  “I don’t know…have you guys seen Skrili? Or heard from her?”

  By now, Otogi–or Alan, as he currently presented–had hopped into the call. They both shook their heads.

  Their holograms shifted to the sides as Kotono’s finally joined in the center. Deon prepared to ask her as well–but in a shock, he stopped himself.

  He didn’t need to ask. By her sober sigh, he could tell:

  She already knew everything.

  Her rosy eyes evaded contact with her team at first. Then, they focused hard.

  “Guys,” she uttered, “Let’s all meet up. We need to talk.”

  Phillip and Otogi nodded after stiff hesitation.

  But Deon could do nothing more than stare with prying eyes. And while Kotono noticed, all she did was stare back. Clearly, she refused to elaborate until they were all together–and that only made Deon’s chest tighter.

  “Get here as fast as you can,” he urged them all.

  Phillip and Otogi signed off. But Kotono lingered for one more moment.

  “I’ll be right there, Deon,” she promised.

  Her image hued pale-blue before she ended the call, leaving him in silence.

  ‘The heck was that? What’s going on…?

  He stood frozen for a moment, but managed to at least lower the TeamTrack to his side. That bag Skrili had left behind–the only evidence of her besides her own TeamTrack–fell into his vision on the kitchen counter.

  It sat perfectly upright, less like a personal item and more like a presentation.

  Like a gift meant for him.

  Deon dared step closer. He didn’t need to open the bag any further to behold its contents: a small box, and underneath, a letter.

  Despite fitting comfortably in his palm, the box was surprisingly weighty. It was simple and pristine, most likely from a jewelry store Skrili and Kotono must have visited yesterday.

  He lifted the cap. Inside rested a glossy orange gem. It was smooth, in the form of a rounded triangle.

  As far as he could think back, this was the first physical gift Skrili had given him. But cherishing would have to wait: right now it provided no answers.

  Deon retrieved the letter. It had no envelope; just a neatly folded, single page of paper. Straight and to-the-point–exactly Skrili’s style.

  While he’d never seen his counterpart’s handwriting, he was able to comprehend the text just fine. It matched the letters and symbols used in their TeamTracks and in many League-based signs, which he’d found he could read just as easily as Tailpiece text.

  There were only a few words:

  “Deon - Thank you for turning my life around.

  I love you. And I’m sorry.”

  The world came to a graceless halt.

  Skrili…?

  He’d rushed to solve this sudden disappearance. Now, it felt like the answer was coming too quickly.

  A beep sang from the door, and he whirled around to look. Maybe this was somehow an elaborate prank after all.

  But it was Lammy, the only other person who knew the room’s code.

  “Uh…Deon…”

  In one hand, he held an orange gem just like Deon’s, and in the other, a piece of paper.

  Upon witnessing each other’s gifts, Lammy knew he didn’t need to elaborate. He quietly unfolded the page.

  “Lammy,” he read, “you became family to me before we even met. I’m sorry I can’t be better family to you right now. I guess I never really learned how. Please stay safe.”

  He sighed.

  “This was at my door when I got up,” Lammy said thinly. “She’s really gone?”

  Deon could hardly muster a reply. Before he managed to, Phillip and Otogi (still dressed as Alan) let themselves in through the open entrance. They carried the same gifts: Phillip’s triangle gem was black, and Otogi’s pink. Both held a letter.

  Otogi must have overheard the unfolding conversation. He simply opened up his letter. “Otogi, thank you for taking up our fight.”

  Phillip read his own: “I’ll do everything in my power to save Pang. I promise. I trust you to do the same.”

  “She must not have slept all night.”

  Everyone turned to find Kotono in the doorway. As she stepped further inside, the team gathered with her in a circle.

  “What…did yours say?” Lammy asked.

  Kotono calmly shook her head. “She didn’t need to write to me. We…we talked plenty.”

  “Alright,” Deon pressed, “Kotono–what the heck is going on?”

  She fidgeted with her night gown. “We ended up hanging out all day. It started simple–I showed her around, we got smoothies…but I could tell she h–had a lot on her mind. She was having a hard time bringing it up…but when I asked, she opened up. She really wanted my advice…”

  “About leaving?” Deon interjected. “Didn’t you try talking her out of it?”

  He bit his tongue. His usual gentleness towards Kotono, given her circumstances, had faded for a split moment.

  Kotono shifted, as if to defend an invisible Skrili beside her. Instead of simply answering, she continued. “It was getting crowded, and I think people were starting to recognize us, so I took her to a quiet island where Hiroko and I used to sneak away. We ended up t–talking for hours…”

  Deon hardly noticed before, but there was a subtle white glow outlining Kotono’s form, and it brightened a bit.

  “She–she said she feels like this whole thing–this Special Team plan–isn’t getting us any closer to finding Pang. Ever since Boston, she couldn’t stop seeing it that way. To go back to business as usual, after we almost caught that Proscious guy …Skrili couldn’t play along after that. She understands Credo’s strategy…but to her, it’s moving too slow. She’s…scared for Pang.”

  Phillip crossed his arms. “This is a slow-burning strategy. That I certainly understand.”

  “Sure,” shrugged Otogi, “but to throw it all away and try to tackle these guys alone is…quite a choice.”

  This blunt criticism would normally twist Deon’s patience. But Otogi’s connection to Skrili hadn’t yet grown nearly as tight as the others’. He hadn’t faced death with her like the rest of the team.

  And besides, Deon knew he was right.

  What does she think she can pull off without us?

  …Without ME, her teammate?

  Kotono shrugged slowly. “It seemed like she had some ideas. But she knew we wouldn’t join her,” she expressed. Her eyes focused again on Deon. “A—any of us.”

  A flame stirred in Deon. “Well, she didn’t even ask me!”

  “Would you have gone, though?”

  Though tender and patient, Kotono’s question froze him instantly. It was painfully familiar.

  “Hey…if you were in Alex’s shoes…what would you do?”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  It seemed, in a way, Skrili had already asked him. And he’d already given his answer:

  No.

  He couldn’t have gone.

  He was thriving here. What better way to beat Proscious than by doing what came most naturally?

  ‘Naturally…’ Deon reflected.

  For who?

  Right…guess I should’ve seen this coming a long time ago.

  He could practically feel the overgrown vines in his hands again, with those big orange pedals, from the team flower they picked at the end of Skip’s training.

  At his side, Skrili had stood propping up the other half. The pedals on her end were totally different. Purple. Sharp.

  That stark contrast, that unusual blend–that was why they picked it. The dissimilarity made it better–just like them.

  At least, that was what they believed.

  Deon’s mouth curled in a bitter smile.

  “Man. Those were just two different flowers stuck together, weren’t they?” he realized.

  “Hm?”

  Deon snapped back to his now confused team. “Nothing…just, I get it now.”

  Lammy’s hands clutched his gem tighter. “I was getting worried something could happen. But I didn’t think she’d…” He shook his head. “I–I should’ve tried to warn you–”

  “Nah, it’s not your fault, bud,” Deon assured. “It’s just…what she knows, I think. I could’ve seen it coming.”

  She couldn’t save her brother because she didn’t get there soon enough, he remembered.

  Plus, her parents…her exes…even Pang, for a while…they all did the same thing she’s doing now.

  Maybe she thought it would hurt less leaving this way.

  He grit his teeth to ward off the fullness building in eyes.

  Man…this sucks.

  “Is it too late to track her down?” Otogi proposed. “Talk her down from it?”

  “By the time she came to my room in the middle of the night, her mind was made,” Kotono ruled out. “She asked me to cut her hair for a tradition. We hugged for a while. I could tell when she left my room, she’d be gone from here before m–morning.”

  So she had Kotono do it…Deon learned.

  Silently, he turned from his teammates and made his way over to the bed. Deon lifted Skrili’s TeamTrack into his hand. Without this, there was no way to find her anytime soon. And that was clearly her intention.

  “I really am an idiot.”

  “I–I know everyone probably wishes I changed her mind,” stammered Kotono. “I just wanted to help her understand her feelings…so she could know what she was choosing. Th–that’s what Hiroko would do for me…”

  “You were being a good friend,” Phillip assured. “This is Skrili’s choice.”

  Though it took everything, Deon nodded in agreement.

  What remained of Team Hiroko fell silent.

  “Then…now what?” Lammy dared to wonder.

  Phillip read over his letter once more. “I will always respect Skrili as a fighter and a person. Just the same, I understand her decision,” he said. “But with this team, we still have the strongest possible fighters for the mission. We have endless resources through Credo. I still believe right now, our best chance at finding Pang is to stick to the plan. Perhaps we can push for faster progress.”

  “That would be g–good,” Kotono agreed. “Honestly…I wanted to go with Skrili. She knew I couldn’t, though. The agency would dissolve Team Hiroko without me. You’d all be s–starting over.”

  Her modesty continued to astonish Deon. Not to mention, you’re kind of the strongest one. We can’t lose both of you…

  Lammy brought a pensive hand to his chin. “In a way…it’s possible that having Skrili working on one front while we keep up this strategy, might even increase our chances of success,” he theorized.

  “We’ll see,” Otogi said. “Well, you guys know I’m still on board. Credo and the agency are gonna have a conniption, though.”

  There was no doubt about that amongst the team. As for the agency, the next Special League fight was tomorrow.

  And much more direly, Credo’s Proscious task force was now one person weaker.

  “This doesn’t change anything,” Deon declared.

  Everyone turned to him. Deon placed Skrili’s TeamTrack down and rejoined them.

  “We keep going, just us. That’s all.”

  “I like your spirit, but the Special League does require five fighters,” Otogi emphasized. “I’m sure we’ll just get a penalty for tomorrow’s fight, but the agency is gonna recruit a fifth person.”

  “Fine! Then we make sure it’s someone insanely strong, and we clue them in. Just like we did with you,” Deon pushed. “If Skrili’s doing this without us, then…we’ll just have to be stronger without her.”

  He bit his tongue. ‘Strong’ was the word he meant.

  Though stiff, the team nodded.

  “Sounds like we all agree, then,” Otogi summed up. “Let’s make sure they pick someone good.”

  As the meeting naturally concluded, Phillip and Otogi dispersed to prepare for the day. Offering Deon coffee, Kotono drifted over to the kitchen and worked in silence.

  And as he’d hoped, Lammy lingered beside him. The cousins said nothing more while they stood together, contemplating the unknowns of this new, unwanted phase.

  ~

  “If you’re just getting here, welcome again to HONEST STADIUM! Alright, all you early birds, I hope you’re ready for lots more fighting and fun this evening!”

  The applause was tamer than all other stadium events thus far, just like the announcer herself.

  Accepting a chilled beverage from a server, Deon peered around from the team’s padded VIP seating. In the dead center of their section, he had a perfect view of the arena. Its capacity was likely the same as Gloat and Hynes Stadiums, but the pearly seating rose steeper to form a near-complete egg shape. Fans used a sleek elevator system on the outside to reach the more elevated rows.

  On a normal night, like tomorrow, Deon figured a design like this probably channeled deafening energy. But tonight, over half of the seats were vacant.

  “The exclusive Certified Exhibition Rounds will begin shortly! But first: a brief presentation from our sponsor…”

  Deon sipped his drink, grateful for all the activity around him. They’d finished their obligations for the day, and thankfully, they’d wrapped up just in time to catch this portion of the exhibition event for higher-paying fans. Sitting around in his room would’ve been torture tonight.

  So it was a no-brainer: what better distraction was there than his favorite thing?

  “It sure was easier to get here than Hynes Stadium,” Lammy commented in the seat beside him. “Actually, I was expecting something more like Normal Country before we landed here. Last time I was in Realistic Fiction Country, we had to keep consciousness powers and the Multiverse a secret.”

  On Deon’s other side, Otogi placed a cherry-topped dessert in his cup holder. “Let me guess: you were far east of here?”

  “I…think so? The Northern Mountains?”

  “Yep, that’s northeast,” Otogi verified. “The rules in Realistic Fiction are kinda split down the middle. In the east, there are tons of natives. They don’t know about the Multiverse, and we’re supposed to keep it that way. But where we are–the RF Sea–consciousness culture is huge. You’re allowed to use powers all up and down the west. Just the way it was colonized, I guess.”

  “Interesting…”

  Phillip joined them in the fourth seat, leaving just one vacancy in their closed-off section. Kotono had preferred to stay behind, essentially serving as a shield between them and the currently-flailing agency.

  They’d already held their emergency meeting with the team after Kotono broke the news. An emergency nearly all-day practice followed. But even after postponing all their press obligations for the day, there was still plenty to do.

  Uninterested in the fights as always, Kotono offered to stay behind and act on the team’s behalf.

  Guess I owe her one again, Deon thought.

  He knew she probably had no preference either way–to her, it was all League stuff at the end of the day–but still, this allowed him to finally slow his mind. At least now, all that remained of this disaster of a day was to sit back and enjoy the competition.

  “You know guys, last time I got dumped, I had nothing cool like this to keep me busy,” Deon opened up. “My village is a drag. This is way more like it.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Otogi laughed, offering his glass for a toast. “Though…some tea about me: I broke up twice at League events. Keep your guard up!”

  He earned a chuckle. “I do wonder sometimes…” Deon started, turning to his cousin. “What do you think Savannah got up to when we left? It’s gotta be a drag stuck there with no powers, especially without us.”

  “Great question,” Lammy shrugged.

  “Whoa, careful now,” Otogi cautioned, nudging Deon’s shoulder. “You’ve gotta know rule number one: don’t start thinking about your exes.”

  “Yeah, fair…” Deon sighed.

  His chest twisted.

  Does the same go for Skrili now, too? Is that really where we’re at?

  In that letter…she said she loves me.

  “You’re doing it again, aren’t you?” Phillip’s low voice rumbled.

  “Enough out of you!” Deon teased in deflection. “I don’t wanna hear it from a dude with a girlfriend.”

  “Well, she’s currently abducted by our enemies,” Phillip reminded him.

  Deon caught himself. “Not for long,” he said. “That’s a promise.”

  “Hate to break it to you, Deon…” started Otogi. “Keep this between the team, but…I’ve got someone I’m sorta seeing, too.”

  “Okay, wait–I’M THE ONLY SINGLE GUY HERE NOW?!” Deon boomed.

  His teammates attempted to hush him. Thankfully, there weren’t too many occupied seats in their vicinity.

  “Eh, whatever,” Deon grumbled. “Fine, I won’t think about my exes.” He took a hearty gulp from his drink.

  “Let’s hear it again for our uncertified participants today! And thanks again to our sponsors! Next, it’s time for the Certified Exhibition fights!

  These certified teams applied, and were hand-picked by a board of local agencies to fight on our legendary platform. Now, let’s give a warm welcome to our first team: Melanie Vlahos and Savannah…!”

  Deon spat his sip into the air.

  “HUH?!” Lammy shouted.

  “...Pineapple!” the announcer finished. “Savannah Pineapple! Sorry, I had to flip the page. First day, heh…”

  Together, the cousins let out a sigh.

  Their Savannah’s last name was Angelcroft. She and her father were the only two in Tailpiece with a last name; Deon would know it better than any other.

  “Jeez…” he breathed. “Talk about wild coincidences.”

  “Seriously,” laughed Lammy.

  The specially-selected team entered the arena under a downpour of colorful, flashing lights. One young woman sported a fighting dress from Kotono’s fashion line, while the other dressed in a metallic getup of black and gold, complete with big golden goggles on the top of her head.

  Her hair, tied in a long ponytail with loose bangs, danced around her face as she jogged towards the platform. With skin-tight, fingerless black gloves that covered her forearms, she waved to the crowd.

  Deon watched as she stepped up with her teammate. The chrome from her boots glistened against the lights. Under her unbuttoned vest, her top and short shorts hugged her form.

  “Really…?” Phillip groaned.

  “Dude, like, Skrili just left,” nudged Otogi.

  Deon blinked. In spite of himself, it felt natural to gaze at this girl. He didn’t even realize he’d been doing it.

  The lights lifted, brightening to their clearer state. Whoever this eccentrically-dressed girl was, they’d never met before.

  Their competitors, whose entrance Deon must have missed, met her and her teammate in the middle of the platform.

  “Wait…” Lammy uttered. “WAIT.”

  “Hey, let’s have a good fight,” the girl said.

  Deon and Lammy shot out of their seats.

  “SAVANNAH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”

  Her clothes were so drastically opposite to Tailpiece fashion. But Deon could see it now: the same cinnamon hair, the same way her heels twisted out a bit as she turned to see them…

  It made no sense. She had no powers. She had no fighting experience.

  But she faced their way, her chocolate eyes locking directly onto Deon and Lammy, and no doubt remained.

  “Hey. What’s up, guys?” Savannah Angelcroft waved.