Tri-Force

Tri-Force (plus two) - Imagining Things

Chapter 3 - Imagining Things

‘No… Freaking… Way.’

Dani was standing in the middle of the training arena, mouth hanging open. Nicole was smiling from ear to ear as she went to stand next to Dani. ‘So, this is where you guys train and stuff?’ she asked, kneeling down to put her hand on the floor, presumably to find out what it was made of. Kim nodded. ‘It’s fire and water proof, and it’s also soft-ish for when you land on your ass,’ She tapped the floor with her foot. ‘Plus, the whole room has holographic technology built in. I’ll show you.’ She walked toward the centre of the room, and stamped her foot down onto the floor. A small white circle appeared underneath her shoe, and Tobi’s voice rang through the room. ‘Yes?’ he said slowly, appearing at the window of the observing room. With her foot still on the circle, Kim spoke. ‘Location Charlie, Indiana 58.’

Nicole and Dani exchanged confused looks. ‘I’m sorry, what?’ said Tobi teasingly. Kim rolled her eyes, ‘Don’t make me come up there, Tobi.’ Tobi pretended to be scared, then laughed and typed something into his computer. Kim took her foot off the circle, and it became invisible once again. She walked everyone to the left side of the room, holding onto Nicole and Dani’s wrists. ‘Close your eyes. Open them on three. 1… 2… 3.’ Kim let go of their arms and walked forward, leaving the girls rooted to the spot. She kicked off her shoes and ran forward towards Maddi and Emma. With all her clothes still on, Kim dove into the bright blue water. She had only been to the real Caribbean Islands once, but she had been here plenty of times. Emma eyed the two shell-shocked girls still standing in the sand and grinned mischievously, turning to face the open sea.

Kim was busy having a splash fight with Maddi when they were both engulfed by a shadow. ‘Day-um!’ cried Maddi, looking up. They had only a second to duck under the water before the 5 metre-high wave crashed over them and onto the shore. When they resurfaced, Maddi was covered in seaweed, and she chased a squealing Kim out of the water. A game of cat and mouse ensued, and within a minute, both were out of breath from laughing so hard. When Kim finally calmed down, she looked up to see Nicole and Dani – still in shock… and drenched from Emma’s tidal wave. Kim doubled over with laughter once again.

Maddi high-fived Emma, and then went over to Nicole and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Is it too much?’ she giggled and walked over to a small palm tree. She got a stick and carved the Roman numeral for ‘3’ into the trunk. Within seconds, the tropical scene began to melt away, and they were all back in the training room. Kim walked into the middle of the room again, turning back to face the others, who remained leaning against the left wall. ‘So? What do you think? Neat, huh?’ Her clothes were completely dry, and seaweed-free. It took a few seconds, but Dani recovered first. ‘Man, I wasn’t expecting that. I mean, it was so realistic! Just like Nic’s mind-tricks,’ she was smiling, evidently used to being thrown out of reality - being friends with Nicole meant not knowing the meaning of a comfort-zone.

Kim cocked her head in interest, ‘So that’s what it’s like, then?’ she asked Nicole, who nodded. ‘I’ll show you, if you’d like?’ she looked at Maddi and Emma nervously. The pair didn’t know what she was talking about, but Kim nodded, and so they shrugged and agreed aswell. Nicole closed her eyes, and when she opened them, her irises were replaced by slow-spinning red and yellow pinwheels. Emma and Maddi flinched, but they had no time to back out of the demonstration. In a split second, they were transported from the training room, and into a small rowing boat. ‘What the hell? What’s happening! We didn’t request any holograms!’ squealed Maddi, gripping the side of the boat as it began to rock violently. Emma was calm as she spoke, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll fix this,’ she placed her hands out in front of her torso, palms facing down. Her look of serenity was replaced by confusion, then extreme worry. ‘What?’ said Maddi, leaning over to put a hand on Emma’s leg, ‘What’s wrong?’ As she spoke, the boat began to rock even faster, and she clung to it once again. ‘My powers… they…they’re not working,’ Emma looked genuinely scared as she tried in vain to calm the vicious waters. Even though Kim knew what was going on, she was still panicking. This had never happened to her, she had only heard of such illusions from Dani.