"Does anyone want to explain to Molly?" Gert asked everyone when she saw her adopted sister sleeping on the couch. "We haven't even done anything yet."
You chuckled as you combed Molly's hair and she smiled in her sleep. Chase, on the other hand, sat on the stairwell steps, putting his arms on top of his knees and laying his head down, dozing off. "Maybe she, like the rest of us, didn't get enough sleep."
"Could just be puberty." Nico walked down the stairs and pinched Chase's ear up to wake him up and forced him to stand. "You said it yourself, adolescents need more sleep. Anyways, Molly can skip this one. She's further along than the rest of us."
Karolina entered the main hall, passing by Nico. "Speak for yourself." She stated and stood in front confidently. "I've been practicing." Karolina closed her eyes, her skin glowed, and she soared slowly into the air, flying in complete control. Nico stared in awe and disbelief.
Karolina carefully maneuvered herself backward in the air and landed gracefully on the stairs. Nico chuckled. "Uh... um, how much practice?" She asked. Karolina smirked down at her girlfriend. "Enough that you're suddenly nervous you're not the best anymore." She bragged playfully.
Chase frowned as he watched Karolina walk down the stairs. "Wait, I thought I was the best—"
Nico immediately shook her head. "No. Not even close." She told Chase until she gasped in realization. "Oh, you want to make this a competition?"
Chase turned to face Nico. "I think I already did." He turned around and charged up his Fistigons before blasting the dummy you made earlier for the team. Gert swerved to the side and watched the lifeless dummy fall to the ground. "Yeah, that's right!" Chase cheered to himself. "That is how you do it."
You and the others stared at Chase as he triumphantly nodded to himself until the blown doll began a fire behind him. As he turned to see the flaming doll, Chase's smile faded. While the others were terrified, you ended up laughing.
"Shit!" Chase exclaimed.
"Think I saw a fire extinguisher," Karolina informed and was ready to dash to get the fire extinguisher when Nico intervened. "I got it." She said.
Nico leaned the Staff of One forward and used it to remove the fire. "Extinguish!" Nico blew her staff in victory after the flames were put out, earning a proud grin from herself. Chase bobbed his head slowly. "Okay. You're definitely better."
Gert glanced at you as you stood next to the stairs. "What about (Y/n)? She has been using her illusion powers for, like, her entire life. Why can't she skip this one like Molly?"
You raised your arm, demonstrating your newly acquired powers as a result of rescuing Alex from captors before. "Need I remind you about these new powers that I'm quite unfamiliar with?"
"You use them like a pro," Gert commented.
You thought for a moment before looking down at your hands. "Maybe I learned from watching Wanda. The three of us used to train with our powers."
"Your first adoptive siblings have powers too?" Karolina gasped. "How did you get them exactly?"
Except for Molly, who was sleeping comfortably, you glanced at Karolina before gazing at your friends, who were all staring at you. "Well," You cleared your throat as you began explaining. "We touched this yellow glowy stone and I think that's how we got our powers?"
You shifted your gaze to a dummy you'd constructed next to Chase. As you utilized your powers to raise the dummy up, Chase stepped back. Nico smiled as he watched your bluish psionic energy wrap around the lifeless constructed dummy and lift it higher. Your eyes flickered once again from blue to red, and you unintentionally ripped the dummy apart earning a few shocked gasps from Nico, Karolina, and Gert.
Chase's eyes widened as he looked down at the dummy that had fallen and been torn into two. "Okay, (Y/n)'s powers are crazy and scary." He commented.
You groaned in annoyance as you sat down on the stairs, sighing. Nico and Karolina walked up to you and sat down next to you. "You okay?" Nico asked.
"I don't know." You mumbled. "I've always been bothered about why my powers keep changing color. From the moment I got my powers, it was always blue. And now when I got these powers... it's turning red for some reason."
"I'm sure they're fine," Karolina reassured. "Whatever color they are, your powers will always be defined by how you use them." Karolina nudged you slightly as she glanced at the ripped dummy on the ground. "I saw how you float that thing. Maybe you can use your powers to fly yourself in the air too. I can teach you sometime?"
Nico grinned at Karolina when she saw the interaction between you and her. "I like the sound of that." Karolina smiled after Nico responded.
Gert and Old Lace stepped forward. "Guess that makes it our turn." As Old Lace snarled softly, Gert faced a blanket with a tiger print. Gert focused intently on the blanket to demonstrate her abilities, but she yelled in pain, and Old Lace squealed in response.
Chase quickly went to Gert to check on her worriedly. "Hey, you okay?"
Gert panted as she placed her palms on her forehead. "Yeah, yeah. Just a little—" Gert's words were cut short by her own groaning as she experienced yet another excruciating headache. "Ow! No, no, no! I'm not."
You, Karolina, and Nico went to Gert to examine her. "What happened?" Karolina asked worriedly. Gert scratched the side of her head as she looked down. "It's—it's, um... it's called 'brain lightning'. It jus—it happens when I go off my Sertraline too quickly."
Chase shook his head. "English, Gert. This is new to some of us."
"It's kind of like getting a hot poker shoved in your brain, coupled with dizziness and blindness, and ringing in the ears." You quickly explained to avoid Gert from stressing herself.
Gert nodded, giving you a small thank you. "Yeah, yeah, the list goes on."
Chase nodded in understanding. "No, (Y/n) had me at 'hot poker'."
In the background, Old Lace roared in agony. Gert shifted her position to face her dinosaur companion. "Old Lace can feel it too." She detected.
"How do we fix it?" Karolina asked.
"Uh... just breathe," Chase told Gert as she turned around to face him with her arms wrapped around each other. "Four-seven-eight."
Gert furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What—what—what are you talking about?"
"Four-seven-eight. It's a technique Coach taught us."
"Seriously?" Gert snapped. "You really think that Coach Alphona's pseudoscientific game tip is gonna help cure my actual debilitating illness?"
Chase shrugged as he stared at Gert. "We won State three times." He replied. Gert shuddered a breath and her eye twitched, causing Chase to sigh. "It was just a suggestion."
Karolina held Gert's shoulder, causing the purple-haired girl to face her. "Here, why don't you and Old Lace go watch from up here?" Karolina suggested and led Gert up the stairs, followed by Old Lace behind..
You followed Karolina as Nico took a step back from Chase and prepared her magical staff alongside her. "Chase, punch me." She ordered.
Your eyes widened as you snapped your head to face Nico while Karolina walked towards your adoptive sister to stop her. "Nico, no!" She scolded. Karolina knew Nico was not going to back down when Chase confronted her. She crossed her arms and looked worriedly at Nico as she moved back towards you.
Chase raised his arms and sent two blasts from his Fistigons towards Nico. Nico took rapid action and shoved the staff in front of her. "Block!" The blasts were deflected by a small protective shield that developed in front of her. You let out a sigh of relief.
Nico smiled while Chase smirked. "Damn." He whispered.
"Again," Nico ordered.
Karolina shook her head. "Nico!"
Chase charged his Fistigons and fired another blast toward Nico, who cast the same spell right away. "Block!" Unfortunately for her, she was blown into the next room behind her. Karolina's arms lowered in surprise as your jaw dropped. Chase widened his eyes. "Double shit."
Chase dashed towards Nico to assist her, but Nico sprung to her feet and lunged furiously at Chase. "What the hell, man?!"
"Nico!" You yelled, extending your arm to form a protective barrier around Chase so Nico couldn't injure him. Karolina ran towards Nico and stole the Staff of One away from her grasp, and the Staff instantly turned off. "I did what you said!" Chase told Nico and tried to calm her down. "The staff didn't work..."
With Gert and Old Lace, you switched off the protective wall and headed towards Nico, Karolina, and Chase. Nico wiped her forehead as tears welled up in her eyes. As she looked at you and the others, she seized the Staff of One from Karolina. "Not the only thing that doesn't work."
You watched Nico limply walked away while Gert hugged herself. "I assume you mean us." She mumbled. You watched Nico sit down on a chair, lifting her legs up as she groaned in pain. "Oh, God."
Karolina brought Nico an ice pack as you and the others decided to take a break. You stood next to Nico as she pressed the ice pack to the side of her head whereas Chase sat in the opposite chair. While Gert donned her jacket, Molly woke up and assisted in the lifting of the destroyed dummies to the ground. "Do you know why Atlas won the D1 lacrosse championship three years in a row?" Chase questioned everyone.
"I actually pride myself on not knowing," Gert replied.
"Or caring," Nico added.
Nonetheless, Chase continued. "It wasn't just about talent. Or speed or natural physical ability." Chase thought for a moment as he stifled a chuckle. "Although... it didn't hurt. But Coach Alphona always made sure that we had a game plan. That's what we need."
"Making a plan has always been Alex's job," Molly stated.
Nico rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, Alex isn't here."
"Maybe that's why we suck," Gert said.
Nico shook her head. "No, there's zero correlation between Alex and us sucking, actually. So, there."
"I thought (Y/n) was supposed to be the substitute leader?" Molly asked as she walked towards you. Karolina aided her girlfriend while you shook your head at Molly. "I'm not leader material, Molly. Besides, Alex might not have had any superpowers, but he brought something to the table."
"A nerd brain?" Nico questioned.
"A nerd brain could help you figure out the Staff," Chase spoke.
Nico huffed. "I don't need his help, I—or anything else from him. He chose to be off the team." You could still feel Nico's hatred towards Alex was still palpable, knowing how furious she was that he had kept the last few moments of Amy's life from her.
Karolina decided to speak. "Maybe we're more than a team." She stated. "We're a family, and without one of us, we're not whole."
Gert shook her head. "Okay, let's dial it down with the Gibb-jib, a.k.a. bullshit." She told Karolina, earning a glance from Chase. Chase stood up and walked towards Gert. "Hey. Hey, hey." He called out softly to her. "Come on, you don't need to bring her religion into this."
Gert faced Chase in annoyance. "You don't need to take her side and gang up on me." She hissed.
"No, I-I wasn't."
"Oh, okay, so then, I'm just crazy?"
You, Nico, and Karolina all cocked your heads to hear Gert and Chase arguing.
"No, I didn't say that, either."
"You know what? I just must have not understood you. Maybe if you could restate it in the form of a lacrosse metaphor." Gert argued.
Old Lace, who was on the stairs behind, growled as if feeling Gert's annoyance. Gert turned around after everyone had gone silent and looked at her dinosaur. "I'm gonna—I'm gonna go check on Old Lace." She excused herself and walked away.
Chase watched Gert leave before sighing heavily. "I'm gonna go do something." He informed the group. Before he could walk away, Chase turned around to look at Molly. "Hey, um, Molly, maybe you can do it with me?"
Molly looked at him unsurely. "Why would I do that? I want to talk to (Y/n)."
You gave her a signal to go with Chase. "We can talk later." You reassured your younger friend. "Go." You smiled.
"He needs you," Nico added.
Molly nodded slowly as she followed Chase into the garage. Karolina massaged Nico's shoulders and put the ice pack against her back. "I don't know what's going on right now, but we all need each other." She stated to you and Nico. "(Y/n), look after your sister. I'm gonna finish cleaning up."
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Two updates since I didn't update for two days hehe