Caged.

4

After the tests and several minutes of awkward silence, Gallic dragged Crimson and I back into her office. Once there, she sat us down and said softly, "It's been a long time since I've seen your kind, Lila. Last time was about 6,000 years ago. Yes, I am that old." I gave Gallic a puzzled look and she sighed, continuing, "Lila, you're something called a Bipower. To put it simply, you have two powers instead of just one like the rest of us. Your kind didn't survive because many of them had conflicting powers, such as ice and fire powers. Or dream and reality powers. Or one that I met had life and death powers. Those conflicting powers eventually tore them apart and many of them actually killed themselves. And the others, the ones that didn't have conflicting powers, often got killed by Unipowers for being different and being more powerful." Crimson sneezed loudly, like a banshee screaming, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. She looked at us and muttered, "Sorry. I didn't mean to do that." We all looked at each other and Gallic finished, "Lila, what I'm trying to say is that you're extremely lucky. I have raised almost every one of the girls since they were little, teaching them to be accepting to those who are different. And your powers aren't conflicting. They won't drive you to the brink of insanity. But you still need to train a lot harder than you think. The other girls have enough work controlling one power. You'll have to do twice the work." It was silent for a few minutes, then Gallic stood, saying, "Crimson, you and Lila will be sharing a dorm. Please go get her set up and ready for tomorrow's training. She'll need to meet up with Volcano at six o'clock." Crimson and I walked out and went through another door, into a hallway that was filled with doors. Each door had two to three names on it. We walked to the very end of the hall, where a beaten red door had "Crimson Curse" stenciled on it in permanent marker. Crimson dug around in her jacket pockets and pulled out a scraped up key, which she inserted into the lock and turned. Then she opened the door and said softly, "Welcome to your new room. Sorry if it's not really that great." I stepped in and looked around, taking in the room. It wasn't much, just mattresses on the floor and a kitchenette, along with two closets. But it was better than a large steel cage, so it was good with me. I turned, looked at Crimson, and grinned, stating, "This is awesome." Crimson grinned back and then said, "We need to get you ready for training. Which means we need to go shopping." She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room, down to a small store. We went in and Crimson said, "Whatever you do, don't listen to Blondie. Though she probably won't be able to affect you, still don't listen." We wandered around until something caught my eye. It was back in the corner, looking kind of sad and pathetic. It was a pair of black skinny jeans and a green tank top. Crimson smiled and said, "That suits you well." Then she tossed me a pair of shoes and continued, "These would look cute with it. Go try it on." To my surprise, the clothes and shoes fit perfectly. We bought them and went back to the room. After we ate dinner and talked for a while, we went to bed.