Worm 101 (Taylor Alt! Wizard 101)

[Stravickan Ovmahn]

*You do not need extensive knowledge of Wizard101 to read this fic*
Taylor gets the ability to create/ summon things from the Wizard101 world. She has made friends with Aisha, Charlotte, and surprisingly Madison, who she trusts enough to give the ability to preform magic. From there, it is just a matter of taking over all of Brockton Bay. Easy right?

Just a fair warning, I will be making some 'creative interpretation' of Wizard101 game mechanics to make it fit smoothly into the Worm world.

Finally, don't forget to Read, Comment, Criticize, Philosophize.

 

[Stravickan Ovmahn]

I closed the door to my locker to see Aisha standing just behind it. A smile crept on to my face against my will. She had made school tolerable. Most of the time. And sometimes she was the one intolerable. But a net gain regardless.

"So," she began with a sly smile. "Is today the day?"

"We'll see," I told her, turning around and walking towards class.

"Oh come on," Aisha whined, moving to follow after me. "I've been with you longer than any of the others. And shouldn't I have it before the big night?"

"Shh," I snapped, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention. They probably couldn't tell what we were talking about, but better safe than sorry.

Aisha rolled her eyes at me. "Fine, whatever. I guess I'll just go without. Not like I need to be as best equipped as possible or anything."

I let out an exasperated sigh. I glanced around again, then grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the nearest bathroom, surprising her enough to elicit a yelp. I pushed the door shut and locked it. When I turned back, Aisha was already checking the stalls to make sure they're empty. I was beginning to think maybe this was becoming too common.

Eh, people probably just think we're doing drugs or something.

I set my book back down and started ruffling through the backpack. After a moment, I found what I wanted. A thin silver box about a little more than twelve inches in length. I took the lock off the side of it and reveal the object inside. Aisha looked confused.

"Taylor, isn't this your wand?"

"It was," I explained. "I've created something better recently. We practise in the same Schools, so it shouldn't be an issue."

"I guess not." Aisha grabbed the wand out of the case and held it up. It was made of a long dark stick with a deformed skull on the casting end. I didn't think it was a real skull, just because it was cartoonish shaped and seemed more like metal. In the bright bathroom lights, it was possible to see it look strangely dark. As if it was inside a constant shadow.

"Does it have any spells?" She asked.

"Seven Death Trap cards."

Aisha groaned. "Death Traps are crap spells."

"That's the point," I said archly. "It kind of hard to have a terrible accident with them. And they don't cost any pips to cast. In fact," I said, reaching into my bag again. "I'm going to give you three more for the thing tonight. In case we decide to do the thing."

I held up a small pack of paper, carrying the three cards. Aisha groaned again, but took them anyway before reaching into her own bag and producing her previous wand. A long white and grey spike made to look like a unicorn's horn. The handle was carved from the same material as the wand itself, making a smooth transition from one to the other. I took it from her and put it in the box I had carried my previous one in.

At that moment, the bell rang. We were late for first period.

Ashia stowed her new items in her bag and threw it over her shoulder. I winced inwardly at the thought of the cards getting jostled around inside.

"We're still meeting in the same place tonight?" Aisha asked as we stepped back into the school hallway.

"Yep. We'll finish giving Char her initiation, then we'll get ready for the big night."

"Sweet. We're going to kick ass." The hallways split and Aisha gave a little wave before darting towards her class. I nodded and turned toward mine. It was just two rooms down, so I didn't bother running like her.

I slipped through the door while Mrs Knott was still calling the roll. She gave me a look for a moment, then went back to calling roll, deciding not to make an issue of it.

I sank into my seat silently and immediately opened an internet browser. I waited until Knott began teaching the other students before opening my email. As usual, the very first one caught my eye. I opened it and scanned through it quickly, committing the information to memory.

"Taylor, got the pinewood box you left under the thing. I'll put it to good use. Lent a few of my extras to Char for tonight. She's excited.

Julia's got a water balloon filled with ranch dressing. Which for it next period. She won't throw it, but if she can't get it in your bag she might slip it under you before you sit down. The Two are planning on doing something at lunch, but aren't sure what yet. They'll have to find you first. They stuck some raw meat inside your locker, hidden under your books and paper. They're hoping it'll start to rot before you notice. Don't worry about it, I got you covered on that front.

-Madison"


I deleted the email as soon as I was sure there wasn't anything else. Madison had proved to be an incredibly useful friend to have. Even if she still participated in the bullying, it was all to keep an eye on the Two. It's been helpful getting through the day, if nothing else.

School hasn't been nearly as bad as it used to be. That's not to say it was good by any measure. It was still Winslow, after all.

I quickly pumped out another assignment for the class before I had some free time again. I checked the clock. Twenty minutes before the class was over. I nodded to myself and pulled out a couple dozen sheets of paper and started stretching a rough design of a new card.

Designing a card was one of the more difficult things. The designs required a sort of three-dimensional circuitry. I would design anywhere between twenty the thirty layers to encapsulate the spell, then collapse it all down into a single card before placing the final seal. Most times I failed. Different kinds of cards had different rules I was only beginning to learn about through trial and error. And it's not like I had anyone else's experience to work of.

I drew out the layers for a simple Life spell. Just the bare bones, stuff I could fill in afterwards. A few ideas popped into mind on how to fill it out. I put some stuff down, only to erase it again. I thought I might have been on to something but I was interrupted by the bell ringing.

I shook my head and shuffled the papers away. Time for next period and for the real day to begin.

***

I wiped the last of the ranch dressing out of my hair and left the building angrily. I had managed to avoid it during second period, but that only made Julia save it for later.

So I was walking out of the last class of the day when suddenly something heavy collided with the back of my head. And the rest… was messy history.

I triple checked that no more specks of ranch could be seen in my hair before walking out of the bathroom. In the time it took me to get clean, the hallways had mostly cleared out. Emma and Sophia had stayed behind though, snickering as I left.

"Sure you don't want me to kick their asses?" Aisha asked, moving away from the wall she had been leaning against. I shot a glare in Sophia's direction. She fixed me with this unreadable look. I shook my head and turned away.

"No, they're keeping their distance with you nearby by anyway. It's not worth the effort dealing with the teachers and bull if you hit her."

"Eh, fair enough," Aisha said with a shrug. "I could totally take her though."

"Sure," I drawled. "Can't take the teacher that would expel you."

"Well, I technically could."

I rolled my eyes. "Let's just get going. I want to test out this new card."

"Ooo, I like cards."

"It's a Life card."

"Damn it."

We walked down to the bus stop and managed to barely catch the next one headed out. It was headed the wrong direction, meaning we would only get by my house when it was making the return trip. In the meantime, Aisha enlightened me on all her ideas for cards.

Most of them were just really big guns. I was not shocked.

By the time the two of us had made it to our house, my father was already home. He wasn't in the living room or kitchen. I left my backpack on the table to let him know I was home and immediately duck into the basement, Aisha right behind me.

I laid out all the papers across the ground for Aisha to see. These moments were the only times I saw her giving her full attention. I smiled as I pointed at the first piece of paper.

"Going from left to right, these all stack to make the framework of a spell. Something like sixty to seventy percent of the spell is the framework."

"It's different from the last one you showed me." Aisha pointed out. I nodded, a little surprised she remembered from the brief moment she saw it.

"Yeah, this is for a Life spell. See these runes along the edge? They mean things like growth, sunlight, heart, food, and other things. And the framework itself is really round."

"Yeah, the last one had a lot of jagged edges. Which one was that?"

"Death spell," I said with a nod. "Death doesn't really do circles. Hard edges and disconnect is its theme. But I wanted to show you the Life framework because of how it contrasts with Death. One is organic and flows, the others is abrupt and confusing."

"Alright, I think I get it." Aisha picked up one of the papers and held it closer. "But why are there so many of them? What happens if you only use, like, five?"

"That's… actually a good question." I said, looking at her oddly. She shot me an impish grin. I shook my head. "It'll either fizzle, pip, or pop."

"Fizzle, pip, pop," Aisha repeated with a blank expression.

"Things fizzle if you lose control of the spell and the energy dissipates before you can activate it," I explained. "A pip is when loose magic, either magic you fizzled or was floating for some other reason, collects together into a small ball of energy." I turned three papers over and quickly sketched out the layers. "Pips are stored in things like this, with just three layers."

"And pops?" Aisha asked curiously.

"A middle ground between the fizzle and the pip. Where the energy is trying to dissipate, but you're trying to contain it. If you contain it, it's a pip. If the containment fails, it pops. Explodes, essentially. You don't want things to pop."

"Makes sense," Aisha said with a nod. "Just one question, where did you come up with these names? Like seriously, what about a potentially explosive ball of energy makes you think 'pip'?"

"I, er, don't know?" I admitted. "It just sort of-" Suddenly the doorbell rang. Aisha and I were on our feet immediately and started running up the stairs.

Dad was answering the door just as we arrived, revealing Madison and Charlotte on the other side.

"Maddy, Char," Dad greeted with a happy nod. "Nice to see you again. I think Taylor and Aisha just got here."

"We did," I answered ducking under his arm to greet them. Maddy grinned when she saw me, but looked a little troubled underneath that. Probably about the dressing. Charlotte was beaming through. She was ready.

"Well then," My dad said with a chuckle, taking a step back. "I guess you girls are off to do what you always do?"

"Yep," Aisha answered for me, shooting a grin at Charlotte.

"One day you're going to tell me what you get up to down there," Dad stated. "And I don't believe for a second you're playing Risk every other day."

I did my best to shrug nonchalantly. "What can I say, it's a hobby?"

He snorted. "Yeah, right." He turned and started walking away. I look back at the other two and smiled lightly.

"You ready?"

"Yes," Charlotte answered immediately, stepping into the house.

"Been waiting all day," Madison stated as she followed just behind Charlotte. She hesitated a moment as she passed me. "Uh, Taylor about the-"

"Don't worry about it," I said hastily. "Let's just get downstairs."

Madison perked up at that and followed Aisha as she led the way. I brought up the rear as we disappeared into the basement. Boxes were being moved before I even got there. In five minutes, a space on the floor had been cleared.

"We're ready," Madison as Aisha pushed the last box out of the way. I looked around at them and smiled. It was nice to have friends again, not to mention a power I could share with them.

"Charlotte, stand in the middle of the floor," I ordered. Immediately she got in place. I didn't even need to tell Maddison and Aisha what to do. They got in place immediately, letting me take my normal spot.

We were arranged in a triangle pattern with Charlotte in the middle. Ashia drew her wand, prompting Madison to do the same. Hers was made of a blue wood with a lighter blue crystal on the end.

I raised my hands and took a deep breath. I put my thumbs together, stretching my palms straight and keeping my fingertips about an inch apart.

"Alright," I stated, letting a cold calm wash over me. "Let's make you a mage."

 

[Stravickan Ovmahn]

Slowly, I felt a cold energy wash over my body and collect into my hands.

It took a minute for the others to see it, as the white ball of energy began to grow from a small speck to be large enough to fit within the space created by my thumbs and fingers. I took a minute to adjust the structure of the pip, visualizing it within my mind even as I felt it in my hand. Then I summoned The Platform.

The Platform was a large circle taking up the whole portion of the cleared floor. Around it were eight circles positioned with four on one side and four on the other. A white triangle of light connected the spaces Madison and Aisha were standing on to me. The circles we stood on were placed on a brown ring that surrounded the centre part, a light grey swirl that gave the impression you were looking through glass. A swirl which Charlotte stood in the middle of, and not accidentally in the middle of the triangle of light connecting me to Aisha and Madison.

I sent the pip of energy floating forward, letting it touch Charlotte in the chest.

"Char," I stated. "You've chosen the magic School of Life. Is this correct?"

"Yes." She answered. I nodded and let the pip sink into her body and let it take root. I lifted my own wand, a black stick with a white tipped end and drew the sigil of for the School of Death, my given School. Ashia did the same. Madison, however, drew the sigil of Balance.

Slowly, more energy began to be drawn away from the three of us and into Charlotte. It took her long than Madison to reach her limit, but not as long as Ashia. Putting Charlotte's base level somewhere in between the two.

When she had all the magic she could handle, I redirected what was left into The Platform. It glowed brightly as I began to demand what I wanted from it. After a moment, it responded. The surface of The Platform distorted as two items came out. A long wand tipped with an oddly placed crescent moon on the end, and a light blue box filled with some cards.

Interesting. Aisha had gotten a wand for the School of Life. The opposite of the School she subscribed too. Madison had gotten a wand for the School of Ice. Closer to what she wanted, but then again Balance was close to everything. And Charlotte just received a Balanced wand. It seemed like I was the only one to get the wand I asked for.

It was probably my fault more than anything. Creating the correct wand as I pulled through The Platform was tricky and prone to change several times before I actually managed to pull it through.

The Platform faded away, leaving just the four of us. I lowered my hands, the magic fading from the room. Charlotte looked down at the wand and box of cards, not knowing what to do with it.

"Welcome to dork club," Aisha said jokingly as she and Madison start replacing the boxes in the basement the way they were to supposed to be, just as we did everytime I was done with The Platform.

"I guess," Charlotte said, turning the wand over to look at the base of it. "How do I use it?"

"Here," I said, stepping forward. I plucked the wand out of her hand and pointed it at a wall. "You can't cast a spell without energy, and you have the ability to activate your energy core and start releasing energy. However," I twirled the wand once and suddenly a small circle appeared underneath me, identical to the ones around The Platform I summoned.

"These Disks contain the magic you release, creating pips." I glanced down to see that the little balls of white light were already on glowing on the ground in front of me. A result of my excess in power. I looked at Charlotte to make sure she was getting it. "If a spell needs a lot of energy, it'll take pips. Smaller spells won't need pips.

"Now, when it comes to cards, most cards bring out a creature stored in the card to attack for you." I took her box from her and looked through the cards. I managed to get her the right deck at least. Madison had gotten a Fire deck, making her the most mismatched of us.

I selected a card that depicted a pixie and showed it to her. "The cards are storage containers, and the sigil you draw in the air is the key to open them for a short time. And you've got to be careful when you do, each small defect with how you draw the sigil will increase the chance of a fizzle."

"The fizzle is that hissing, crackling sound thing you showed me right?"

"Right," I said with a nod. "You lose almost half of the magic that would have gone into the spell, especially if you don't try to catch it as quickly as possible. Fizzles are not good."

"Failing to magic bad, got it," Charlotte said sarcastically. I gave her a sour look and slipped the card back into her deck. She held her hand out to take it, but I hesitated a moment.

"One more thing, I want you to take this wand. It was the wand Aisha got when I gave her the ability."

I took the spare wand out of my back pocket and handed it over to her. Having removed it from the case before hand so I could put my own wand in it.

"What's the difference?" She asked, taking it and beginning to examine it like she did the first wand.

"Just a few things," I responded, quietly passing her original wand to Madison where it would be better suited. She pressed the ice wand into my palm in return. "First is that it has Life spells programmed into it, much like the wand you got had Balance spells. Secondly, it's better attuned to do Life spells. Your Disk will be better at collecting magic from them, the energy cost will be less, the fizzle rate will go down, stuff like that."

"Ah, got it. Now what?" She looked up at me and found myself at a bit of a loss of what to say. Fortunately, Madison and Aisha came to my rescue. At the same time, as it were, causing them to speak over each other.

"We need costumes."

"We need to get our own place."

The two look at each other and bristled.

"We can't going around doing magic without costumes," Madison started, crossing her arms and popping a hip.

"We can't do magic without an out of the way place to do in," Aisha countered, raising an eyebrow at Madison's stance.

"And if someone looks in on the strange place with lights coming out of it."

"Won't matter if we're in the poor parts of town. People have pretty much realized if you see strange shit, don't go near it."

"Guys," I interrupted. "They aren't mutually exclusive, we can do both." The two of them pressed their mouths shut and looked away. I looked at Madison. "We've practised what I can do with clothing before, so you have an idea of what works right?"

"Anything made of pure linen or cotton. Or a mix of those two specifically." She answered.

"You think you can get us some stuff like that to work with?"

"If I could buy the raw materials and afford Parian to work them into something, I probably could get us costumes like that. But most likely I going to have to buy normal clothing, and people may pay attention to stuff like that."

"Just do your best with what you can and let me know." I turned to look at Aisha next. "You think you can find us a place. Open space so we can practise together, but good at hiding the light?"

"I know a few places," Aisha said with a nod. "Gonna have to check 'em out though. Might need to chase off a few squatters. But we should be fine. But what are you going to tell your Dad when we start going there?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," I assured. I glanced at Charlotte. "We can spend the rest of the night going over her cards and seeing what I can learn from them. You all okay with that?"

"I'm game," Aisha answered. Madison nodded.

"Sounds good to me," Charlotte answer, opening her card box.

I smiled and moved to sit down on the floor. "Oh and Char, I forgot. Welcome to the Mages Guild."

"Someone else really should start naming these things for you," Aisha grumbled.

 

[Stravickan Ovmahn]

"Hey Madison?" I asked as I finished writing the runes around the ring I had drawn on the piece of paper. Madison blinked and looked up from where she was lying on my bed to do her homework. We were hanging out in my room for today while we waited for Aisha to show up. Charlotte was busy with something.

"Yeah?" She asked, shooting me an odd look.

"How long do you plan to keep hanging out with Sophia and Emma?" The question caught her off guard, so I took the opportunity to keep speaking. "Being able to avoid most of their stuff is great an all, but I'd rather you just stopped talking with them. For obvious reasons."

Madison sighed and sat up. "I thought we talked about this. If I just cut ties with them and start hanging out with you I just look guilty."

"And you aren't?" I asked archly. Madison suddenly averted her gaze.

"That's not what I meant. But if it's abrupt they might also start to bully me as well."

"And? We've got each other, and Aisha and Char. They rarely go after me when Aisha is there with me. If you and Char came over, then they would leave us alone. Instead, both you and Char are keeping your distance."

"Taylor, it's not that simple." I waited for her to continue, but she didn't. I frown and shook my head.

"Fine, have it your way." I glanced down at what I was doing beforehand, looking the new runes over before turning it around to slide in front of Madison. "Check this out."

Madison grabbed the paper and looked at it closely. She squinted her eyes at it as if that would make the runes make sense to her.

"It's a Death spell," she observed. "But you haven't taught me any of these runes."

"I only just figured them out myself," I said with a wave of my hand. "I was thinking what if instead of trapping a creature inside a card I create something new? Something that could help focus specific kinds of energy like the wands do the School they're attuned to."

"And that's what this is?"

"I think. If it works out it should make the next attack stronger than the last. Probably."

Madison looked at me. "You want to try it?"

I glanced at the time. Twenty minutes until my father was due home. It was pushing it, but if we were fast…

Madison seemed to get my answer before I even said because she grinned and got off the bed.

We ran down the steps, into the basement, and immediately began clearing the area. Before Madison even managed to grab the last box I was pulling up The Platform. Very quickly, she grabbed it and ran to the edge of the room, eager to see me work.

I grabbed the stack of papers with the spell I had drawn and looked them over one more time. Carefully, I set them down in the centre of The Platform and took a stance in one of the surrounding Disks on the edge. I clapped my hands and the design came to life.

All twenty-one pieces of paper I had used to draw the design disappeared in a flash of light. Replacing them were bright glowing white lines hovering in the air, taking of the full space of the centre of The Platform, the glowing grey swirl where I would pull wands out of.

I walked up to the floating lights that mimicked my drawn designs and began to adjust them. This was the difficult part, turning a number of two-dimensional layers into one three dimensional maze of circuitry. In the new 3D model created within The Platform I was able to grab ends of the light and adjust them, bending them upward or downward to connect with the other layers. Making minor adjustments as I went along until I thought I had it the way I needed. But if there were too many things wrong with it all that would be wasted as the design fizzled and failed to form. Destroying all of the design in the process.

Luckily, I wasn't trying to do anything nearly as complex as containing or summoning creatures. I was, at best, creating a lense that could be used to focus a specific kind of magic through.

I had it all done in ten minutes. Leaving me staring at my masterpiece blankly. Madison shot me a wide grin. I knew she liked watching a spell come together, and this was something I haven't quite done before. I took a deep breath and held up my hands.

"Alright, here it goes."

I shot the design with concentrated magic from me, the kind only I can create and summon. The design compressed, flatting and shrinking until it was as small as a playing card. It glowed brightly for a few seconds, just working itself into the desired shape. The moment of time it could have fizzled passed and I let out a relieved sigh. The glowing light cut out and all that was left was a small grey playing card hovering in the centre of The Platform. I willed it towards me, as if was hovering within my field of magic.

The card showed a picture of a white and black disk with a black sword depicted on the front of it. Underneath it, there was a short bit a text describing what it did, just like all my spell cards.

40% to the next Death attack.

"How do you think it works?" Madison asked, looking over my shoulder to look at it.

"What you mean?"

"I mean, your other cards release or summon something. What does this do if you activate it? Float there and wait for you to use it?"

"I don't know, but we can't test it right now."

"Hey, you guys better not be making new stuff without me."

We turned to see Aisha rounding the steps as The Platform faded from view. Before she could say anything, I showed her the card. It immediately distracted her from what she wanted to say. She looked it over in her hand for a moment, then shrugged and handed it back.

"Cool, I guess." She said.

"What? You don't like it?" I asked.

Aisha shrugged again. "Eh. It's not my style. I like the cards that hold the cool creatures and stuff."

I looked back at the card and considered it. Aisha and I were in the same School, so I could cast this spell just as much as she did. Maybe I could play a supporting role off her? I'll create a few more of these and cast them myself, leaving Aisha to be free to attack with whatever she had.

Something to look into when we-

"Hey, I found us a place," Aisha stated, interrupting my thoughts.

"What?" Madison asked, looking a little stunned.

"Yeah, a big old factory the Merchants wrecked in a scuffle a few months back. Nobody has touched it since. Too much of a pain to fight over and really out of the way."

"How out of the way?" I asked critically.

She quirked her mouth to the side as she thought about it. "Eh, like… a twenty-minute jog from the nearest bus stop. On the other side of the city."

"I don't know if we can make that trip as often as we would need to," I stated, frowning.

"It's not like we got a lot of options. The best places are going to be pretty far out."

"Hey Taylor," Madison cut in. I looked at her. "Isn't your Dad always working on fixing up the ferry that would go across the bay?"

"Yeah?"

"What about those buildings? They're empty, far away from people, and pretty well kept all things considered."

"Hey," Aisha said darkly. "Finding the place was suppose to be my job."

"Then why don't you check them out?" I asked, looking at her blankly. "There are three or four of them circling the bay. Think you can find the best one?"

Aisha crossed her arms and made a face. "Sure, I guess."

I smiled. "As soon as you've got it figured out, we can start training with the cards."

She brightened. "Fuck ya." I turned and looked at Madison and found her smiling.

"Hey," she said. "Bet Char and I could beat you two easy."

"Two Death mages versus a Balance and Life mage?" I asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"You're on," Aisha said instantly. I rolled my eyes, but smiled.

"Alright, I guess," I said, raising my hands a moment before dropping them loosely. "I have more cards to make then."

 

[Player15712]

Well halfway through this, Taylor will have to pay $7 a month to continue.

 

[Walpurgusnacht]

I am salivating at this unexpected turn of events.

 

[Junk Warrior]

Magic! A power to impart magic to others. The Adept will be jealous for that alone. And that is the kind of power that Cauldron would scout over for.

 

[Walpurgusnacht]

Please tell me the OP has a plan?!

 

[Walpurgusnacht]

I need more!!

 

[Dokrian]

Taylor obviously knows which is the best school. I love that this exists. More!

 

[Mellodi]

my first multiplayer online game, and my favourite web serial in one? i clicked so fast i broke the sound barrier

 

[Stravickan Ovmahn]

I slipped out of class and immediately scanned around. Instead of seeing any of Sophia's goons I was surprised to see Aisha leaning against the wall. She grinned at me and waved a folded piece of paper in front of me.

"Madison found some places to get the clothes. And they're about as bad as you think they are."

"Alright," I said with a nod, taking the paper from her. "I'll give it a look while I'm eating." I shifted my backpack higher on my shoulder and turned away.

"Taylor, cafeteria is this way." Suddenly, I found myself being steered in the opposite direction it was going.

"Aisha, I-"

"Nope," she stated. No explanation, just a statement. I sighed as I accepted she wasn't going to let me go.

When we walked through the doors to the cafeteria I noticed a few people looking up at us. Lunch had already been going on for a good ten minutes, enough time for everyone to settle in. Out of the few people I had noticed bothering to look up at us, Madison and Charlotte were two of them.

They were sitting at neighbouring tables. Madison was with the Two as she always was. Her eyes widened a fraction before she pointedly looked away. I didn't see Emma and Sophia looking up, so I figured she probably didn't rat me out. Charlotte, on the other hand, was sitting at the nearest table to her chatting with a closer knit group of friends.

That was a strange contrast I saw between them. Emma's group was made up of girls looking to get a piece of that approval from Emma. Like a cult of personality, where Emma had the final say on who was approved. It wasn't strange to see girls cycled out of the group regularly. I doubted that if I would see any of the amalgam of girls here today see there tomorrow.

Charlotte's group, on the other hand, was constant. It was still a group of girls closely tied back to Emma, but they were actually friends which each other in a more genuine way. The kind that hung out regularly and always ate together. Just as hungry for popularity, but more substantive.

Charlotte gave me a small smile and a nod before turning back to her friend group. I almost had enough time to smile back.

Aisha steered me towards a table on the far corner of the room and plopped down in a seat. Hesitantly, I sat down beside her. Glancing briefly back Madison's way, I saw word had finally gotten around. Sophia's glare was drilling into us with a passion. Aisha smacked the back of my head lightly.

"Hey, forget about those asshats. They won't do anything while there is two of us."

"I doubt that," I stated. Aisha rolled her eyes at me.

"Ever notice they only go after you when you're alone? They're cowards, waiting for people to get alone before going after them as a group. But when there is two of us, the best they ever do is spitballs."

"There is still, like, twenty of them," I pointed out as I pulled the lunch out of my bag. "If they really wanted to, they could still do what they did before the incident."

Aisha made a face at the mention of it. "They could, but just like last time, I would be taking a few of them out just on principle. But it still takes twenty of them for just the two of us. Think about that, it's never just one of them. When you're alone it might be three or four at least, but probably more. With the two of us you said it yourself, it takes twenty of them. The must be terrified of us on some level because that's some cowardly shit right there. If we got Madison and Charlotte here with us? They'd never touch you."

I sighed. She was probably right on some level, but that didn't protect in the hallways in between classes. Or the classes where I was by myself. And if they can't get there kicks in as much as before, they might try compensating in the places they could.

At least at that point, I would be justified in test how well I could trap people inside spell cards.

"When do you think that is going to happen?" I asked Aisha, glancing between her and Charlotte. "Like I get Madison, I guess. But what about Charlotte? It's not like she gets inside information she passes onto me, so why stay with them?"

"They're selfish a-holes," Aisha responded dryly. I shot her a look, not sure how I should respond. On some level, it sort of felt right. But Madison and Charlotte were still good friends, despite it all and I was hesitant to think of them like that after the trouble it took to get them in the first place.

"Think of it Taylor," Aisha said, glaring in their direction. "You're a social pariah by design. It's like I just said, they can only do their thing so long as you're alone. And they've made associating with you such a bad thing, even Char and Madison are scared of going against it. The Two Bitches made you social suicide."

"What about you?" I asked with a frown. What she was telling me wasn't anything I hadn't already known. Yet still, was it self-centred to think Charlotte should abandon her whole group of friends for just me? I'm not sure I liked the answer either way.

"Me? Oh, I already dealt with Sophia on that." Aisha leaned back and grinned.

"What does that mean?"

"I already had no friends. Nobody in this school is worth my time beside you. So I tried that line about being cowards with Sophia, right? So she comes at me a few weeks ago one on one and we kicked the shit out of each other."

"Wait, didn't you tell me someone ran you over full speed on a bike?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at her. She shrugged.

"A bike may or may not have been involved. But we reached an understanding."

"And she didn't report you to the principle?" I asked skeptically. Hitting Emma had crossed my mind more than a few times before. But I never did it for various reasons. "Didn't get back up with the other girls and make a sob story or something?"

"Pssh." She leaned further back in her chair. "Nah. That some white chick stuff Emma or Madison would do. Sophia and I handled it like civilized folk. I punched her in the face, she kneed me in the gut, now we both know neither of us are coming out without bruises. Problem solved."

I stared at her for a long time after that. She continued to shoot me this silly grin before I shook my head at her.

"Your unbelievable, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know." She said it like a compliment. "But hey, if I ever rub off on you, just make sure I'm there when you clock Emma."

I shook my head again. "Can we move on to the clothing things? Talking about Emma and Sophia is definitely not how I want to spend my lunch."

"Oh yeah," Aisha stated, leaning forward suddenly and unfolding the paper for me to see. It was actually three pieces of paper, each with four different cheap-ish Halloween costume time things. It was clear what kind of style Madison had been shooting for. Grim reaper style stuff meant for me and Aisha. Elf and Druid themed stuff for Charlotte. And curiously, she seemed to be in between some sort of long dress and a woman's suit for herself.

All of it was the sort of cliche things I saw in every single Halloween store. But we were working on a budget. Madison's budget, rather, so this would have to do.

"They suck, don't they?" Aisha said, looking over my shoulder.

"Yeah," I admitted. "But we can make them work, right?"

"I dunno, maybe?" Aisha quirked her mouth and took a closer look at what was laid out. Suddenly, I saw the spark of an idea flash across her face as she broke out into another grin.

"You got a pen? I just had an amazing idea."

Shooting her an odd look, I rummaged through my bag really quick and found one. Aisha snatched it out of my hand before grabbing one of the pieces of paper. Interestingly, she was drawing over the female model for the woman's suit.

"See, add this skull mask," Aisha explain as she rushed to scribble it down. "Throw on a tophat, put some feathers in it, a playing card, this skull thingy, and then boom." She turned it around and showed me the crude drawing she had. "Witchdoctor."

"A witchdoctor?" I ask. Not exactly what I had in mind.

"Yeah, you know, all the voodoo magic stuff? We could pull it off together. Be like Yin Yang or Up and Down."

"You know," I said slowly, letting the idea roll over in my mind for a couple seconds. "I've been thinking something along those lines. You and I could pair off while Madison and Charlotte did the same. And going with your idea, we could make names play off that."

"Do we still get to be witchdoctors?"

"Uh, sure."

"Sold."

 

[Walpurgusnacht]

UUUUUUUUUUUuuhhhhhhhhh,,,,...... I nnnneeeeeddd this sshshshhiiitttt.

Also; trap capes in CARD'S?!?! OP as FFFFUUUUCCCKKKK!!!

 

[Mellodi]

Yesssss, I actually re-downloaded this game because of this story

 

[Dragonblade001]

Man we need to advertise this story. It got an intestine promise so far.

 

[Stravickan Ovmahn]

Man we need to advertise this story. It got an intestine promise so far.

Click to shrink...

I sure hope it doesn't have an intestine promise, that sounds uncomfortable.

 

[Dragonblade001]

I sure hope it doesn't have an intestine promise, that sounds uncomfortable.

Click to shrink...

Wow did not noticed the auto correct. I hate replying on the phone.

Also, love this work and hoping everything come out well in the next chapter.

 

[Stravickan Ovmahn]

Aisha snapped a few of the wooden planks nailed across the entrance, sending up a few plumes of dust. Charlotte coughed and waved it out of her face before saying,

"I thought you had been here before."

"I was," Aisha said defensively. "I just went in through the roof. I don't think you or Mads is up for that climb."

"Climbing is going to get us noticed anyway," I stated, sliding myself between them. I turned and looked into the building. The whole place was completely dark despite it being pretty early in the evening. A side effect of all the windows inside being boarded up.

I looked back at the others and smiled. "Come on, let's check it out." Charlotte and Madison shared a look before shrugging. I slipped inside, not waiting for them much longer after that.

There were about four or five old ferry stations if I remembered correctly, placed in different locations around The Bay. This one was on the very tip of the coast, sitting on the edge of the actual dock part of The Docks. Too far away from The Boardwalk for tourists to accidentally come this far, like the other ferry station I knew, but still one of the better-maintained buildings in this part of the bay. Running water and electricity was a major plus too.

"Christ alive," Charlotte stated breathlessly as I clicked the lights on. "Look at the size of this place."

I had to agree with her. This ferry dock had moved a lot of worker men place to place from all across the city before things went down the drain. Rows upon rows of metal benches with peeling white paint stood back to back, providing cramped seating for possibly hundreds of people at any given time. And that wasn't even counting the second floor meant for the slightly better off people. And on top of it all, there were eight separate rooms meant for restaurants to serve people out of, the kind you would see at an airport or mall.

"Yep, I picked the perfect one too," Aisha said, beaming around everywhere. "To well maintained for squatters, too far away from the busy areas for us to attract attention. Only thing we're going to have to deal with is any traffic around The Boat Graveyard on the other side of those docks outside."

"It is pretty fantastic," Madison admitted, running her hand across the rows of benches. "Think, give it a little bit of time and we could make this into a proper place to stay. Make those side business spaces into rooms, get a couch, a television."

"Rooms? A television?" Charlotte walked towards Madison as she asked, shooting her a strange look. "I don't think you guys realize what we have here." I looked at Aisha, wondering if she understood where Charlotte was going with this. She shook her head. I don't know what I was expecting.

"Guys, we could totally buy this place with the drug money we're going to steal."

"Wait, what?" Aisha immediately asked, shooting her a strange look.

"Think about it! No one wants this place even though it clearly still works. I bet we hit the Empire three times at the most and we would have enough cash to buy this whole place. Then we could fix it up, then we could buy the other ferry stations. Get the whole operation up and running."

"Char, I think you've forgotten something." I stated, unable to keep the smile off my face. "We're a group of teenagers soon to be running around in cheap masks and waving magic wands. I don't remember building a business being part of that."

"We could do both!" Charlotte protested. She spun around and grinned at the station. "The Empire has their pharmacy, and ABB makes money with their protection racket and their casinos. Why can't we rebuild the ferry and make a profit off that?"

"Well, for one thing, we haven't even tried on the costumes yet," Aisha replied dryly. Charlotte shot her a look. Madison tried to hide a smirk.

"Tell you what Char," I began with a grin. "If somehow, we manage to pull in enough money and you can figure out a way to purchase this place, go ahead." I won't lie and say it wouldn't be great to see someone fix up the ferry the way my Dad had always wanted. I doubted we would get and keep that kind of money, but if we did I didn't see the harm in letting Charlotte try.

"Well, lofty goals aside for a moment," Madison cut in, "I think it's time we put these on." She shrugged her backpack off her shoulder. The zipper practically exploded under the strain of bundles of clothing contained inside. Charlotte opened her own back and produced the masks and hats we had chosen and handed them out to us.

I looked at the suit I was given and felt my heart rate increase a small fraction. We were doing this. Actually doing this. We had talked about for months now, the three of us and then later Charlotte. Getting a building, giving each of them power, costumes. The whole deal. I smiled widely.

"Come on," Aisha said, pulling on my arm and leading me away from the others. "There's a bathroom around here somewhere. We'll go first."

I looked on more time at costume in my hands and fought to suppress a grin.

***

It came with makeup. I had no intention on using it, but Aisha clearly did. The masks covered the top half of our faces with skulls and left the bottom portion of our faces uncovered. Aisha went the extra mile though and used white paint to complete the skull design around her mouth. But past that, we essentially matched.

Black top hats with a few feathers in the band and skull pictures printed on the side. After that, we had what were essentially just normal suits, except for how far down the tails of the coats reached. When holding our wands, we looked like we might have been street performers.

Aisha couldn't stop grinning.

I was more stunned when Madison and Charlotte came out. Madison went to complete opposite style she did in normal life. Instead of trying for some cute or playful style I hadn't realized I had gotten used to, she went full regal uniform. A red and yellow decorative military-style uniform complete with a high collar and a matching cape pinned around her neck. Her mask was much the same way, red and yellow plastic covering her whole face with a cheap plastic tiara placed on top.

Charlotte opted for a light green dress that ended two inches above her ankles. It was a little too form fitting for comfort, making it pretty far away from anything I would even begin to consider wearing myself. She had on a pair of black gloves that progressively turned into a matching shade of light green as the came to an end halfway up her bicep. The gloves gave her a strange Roaring Twenties feel when nothing else of her costume seemed to reflect it. For a mask, she had a butterfly-shaped masquerade mask, also in the light green of her dress and gloves.

"You guys look stylish," Aisha stated, still grinning as she looked them up and down.

"And you two look like your about to take my money to read my palm." Madison countered. I couldn't see her face behind the mask, but I could definitely hear the smile in her tone.

"That's us," Aisha answered. "Read your future then kick your ass. Not necessarily in that order."

"Like I told you two the other day, Aisha and I are going to work as a pair. Right Hand and Left Hand."

"Yeah, I remember. It's a cool idea. Charlotte and I got something for the two of us." Madison looked at Charlotte, who nodded to her. She turned back to me and stated, "I'm going by Hammer, she's Shield."

"Hammer and Shield, Right Hand and Left Hand," I repeated. "Sounds great."

"No," Aisha said, holding up a hand. "What sounds great is finally get to that fight we've been talking about. Death Mages against these two."

"I don't know if we should," I said, looking around the building. It was still open for anyone to walk inside, not that I expected anyone to. But with the sound we would be making it might attract someone. Not to mention I knew if we opened a window the Protectorate base of The Bay would be all too visible from where we were.

"Why a not?" Madison asked. "We got a couple hours before your dad and my dad expects us back. The windows here are sealed shut. And there is plenty of open space upstairs."

I looked at everyone. The three of them were all eager and waiting. And I guess I was too a little, if a little apprehensive about using the duelling aspect of my power. Haven't used it since I accidentally caught Aisha in it, putting us into an impromptu magic duel in my basement. We had been a lot more careful after that night.

"You guys want me to enchant the costumes first?" I asked.

"Nah," Aisha said with a hand wave. "That takes forever, let's just get into it."

I sighed. "Alright, but at least put these on." I walked over to where I had set my backpack down and drew out four cheap necklaces with 'gems' set in them. They weren't really gemstones, but cheap rock meant to look like more expensive jewellery. Different sets of runes were scrawled across the side of them.

Each of us slipped them over our heads quickly and moved into place. Aisha was still grinning widely. I took a deep breath and looked over at Madison and Charlotte.

"Hammer, Shield, we challenge you to a duel."

The Platform appeared on the ground and we found ourself compulsively lead to the Disks lining the sides. The cards in my pocket grew warm as the magic began to resonate with them. I looked down to see two pips already at my feet. Everyone else started with one.

I held up my wand and watched the triangle of light in the centre of The Platform spin around before landing on me. I guess I was going first.

I closed my eyes and focused on the feel of the cards in my pocket before finding the one I needed. I could have pulled them out and looked for the one I wanted, but that came with a lot of disadvantages. Doing it this way left the chance I might not get the card I want, but it was faster and I had less of a chance of losing cards.

I raised my wand and pulled on the spell, drawing the Death sigil in that air to unlock it. I grinned when it didn't fizzle. Around Aisha, a white disk shield I remember from the card appeared above her head and started floating in a circle.

Another pip appeared at my feet and the triangle shifted to Aisha. She didn't even hesitate before drawing the Death sigil. I found myself watching in anticipation as a small creature appeared in the centre of The Platform. The Dark Sprite was pale and wearing dark purple clothing, fluttering on its tiny purple wings. The Deathblade, my name for the power boosting shield I put on Aisha, broke as The Dark Sprite drew power through it.

I could feel the magic moving across The Platform because of my connection to it. Each of us were like lightbulbs that produced a kind of wind instead of light. For the most part, that wind swirled contained inside each our Disks. But when Aisha cast a spell she drew in a pip before shooting through my Deathblade power boost, creating a Dark Sprite laden with the power of both combined. The power of the Sprite now swirled around The Platform as she shot forward and started to drain Madison of physical energy.

Aisha was right, this was going to be great.

 

[Stravickan Ovmahn]

"This is boring," Left Hand complained. I didn't say anything, but I had to agree with her. We had spent the last hour sneaking around the Docks, trying to find something or someone to stop. Only to be met with what was otherwise a completely silent night.

This was the second night we went out on patrol since getting our costumes together. The first night was about as eventful as this one had been some far. Which was to say it hasn't been.

"I heard patrols like this are pretty common for heroes," Hammer said. We crossed an alley, following Left Hand as she took us further into the poor neighbourhoods of The Docks.

"But we're not heroes," Shield said, giving her a look. "We're actually going to help the city. And to do that we're actually going to have to get into some fights."

"I'm telling you guys," Left Hand said, turning around and walking backwards so she could face us. "If you want to get into an easy fight, let's bust a Merchant drug den or meth lab or something. Lots of money, drugs, only a small amount of guns, and rarely any capes."

"You sure seem to know a lot about these places," Hammer said carefully. Left Hand shrugged.

"Groups of druggies are easy to blend into if you're trying to hide from someone." She suddenly stopped walking and glanced upward. She grinned at us, took five steps to the left, then ran towards the wall of the nearest building. She jumped up and kicked off the wall, grabbing on to something above her head.

With a horrendous screech, a rusted fire escape ladder came down as Left Hand put her full weight into it. Instinctively, I looked around frantically as the deafening sound echoed off the alley wall to see if anyone had noticed us. I forgot we were the only ones down this alley.

"Come on," Left Hand said, moving to climb up the ladder. "The rooftops around here are close enough together we can jump across them."

"Um, Ai- Left Hand?" Shield asked, gesturing down at herself. "Dresses don't do well for jumping. Or climbing ladders, for that matter."

"Not my problem," she responded before starting up the ladder. I glanced back at Hammer and Shield and offer a shrug before moving to follow her. Going across the rooftops would be much easier than trying to sneak through the streets. And would give us a vantage point to attack from. We wouldn't have a way to get down, but hopefully that meant they wouldn't have a way to get up to us either.

Shield muttered something under her breath and waited for Hammer to get started up the ladder before climbing after us.

Once on the roof travel was much faster. Thankfully, neither Hammer nor Shield thought heels would be a good idea as part of their costume. Something I might made them go barefoot for trying.

Once again, Left Hand took the lead, taking us across the clustered housing section of the Docks at a light. We only travelled for about five minutes before Left Hand brought it up again.

"I'm telling you guys, it's like a block away from here. Its this place were a bunch of drug dealers met up and sell to people. The people just hang around, drugged out like some kind of dirty smoke lounge."

"Left Hand, no," I stated. "We don't know how the enchantments I put on the clothing plays with bullets."

"Something we can only find out by being shot," she muttered under her breath.

"And I want to get more practice attacking muggers on the street before we do anything else," I finished. A lot of the spells were… actually, I wasn't even sure they were dangerous. A lot of the spells like the Death Charges and Dark Sprites drained a person's energy. Made them feel weak, cold, and often times sick. But Madison had a few others that were a little more… physical. That was fine when fighting each other because of the enchantments, but I needed more time to experiment.

"So we aren't going to hit any places with cash?" Shield complained.

"Not tonight, but soon," I promised. "We can't use The Platform to challenge non-magic users to duels, which means we have to fight more or less like any other cape would. We need more practise doing those kinds of street fights before we try and hit a place."

"Right Hand?" Hammer suddenly asked, interrupting Shield's rebuttal. "Sorry to say, but I don't think we're going to have much of a choice." She pointed behind me. I turned and felt my eyes widen when I saw what she was pointing at.

"Left Hand," I asked. "Is it normal for there to be fire coming from over there?" Four buildings away from where we had stopped to talk at, a light orange glow was emanating from the streets below. She opened her mouth to answer when suddenly a burst of flames shot through the air and dispersed above the rooftops. Left Hand closed her mouth and drew her wand. I followed suit, shortly joined by Shield and Hammer before we broke out into a sprint.

We had our Disks summoned before we even came on the scene, pips glowing at our feet. Stopping at the edge of the roof, we got a clear view below. What I saw confused me.

Lung, standing eight foot tall and wreathed in fire, was struggling with two massive four-legged creatures attempting to bite him. Each creature was partially covered in an oily mist that had completely filled the alley except in a fifteen-foot radius around Lung and the dog-like creatures attack him.

On the rooftops across from us, there were two people standing back to back. One in a white costume and the other in a purple skin-tight suit. I was confused at what they were doing at first, until the blonde haired one raised a gun just before a figure in a red demon mask appeared in front of her.

"Right hand," Hammer said. "We aren't ready for this fight. We should go before they notice us."

"That's a load of bull," Left Hand retorted. "Lung's already struggling to get the upper hand against these guys, we can push them back."

"If these other guys don't attack us too," Shield cut in. "I think I recognize these guys, they're villains too."

I frowned. Oni Lee and Lung. I had really wanted to get more practice before we got into a cape fight. But if we fought and won… that would be a lot of reputation from just the second night. And if Madison's attacks didn't work like they worked on us, Lung would be able to take it. We got practise, reputation, and information. It was too tempting.

"Shield, Hammer, you two stay here and charge your pips. Get ready to hit Lung with your strong spells," I ordered. I looked at Left Hand and smiled. "Follow me and get ready."

"Yes!" Left Hand pumped a fist in the air. Hammer and Shield shared a look, the nodded to me. I nodded back and started running across the rooftops down the street.

The road narrowed out into an alley, letting us cross over so the other two wouldn't get noticed when we got started.

I stopped when we several buildings from the two villains fighting Oni Lee, with Lung right below us. No one had noticed us yet. Good.

In the brief practice I had with Aisha before giving her the ability to use magic, I had figured out normal people couldn't see all of the magic. They couldn't see the Disks, they couldn't see the pips or the sigil we would draw in the air. But they could see the effects, the things created. I was hoping that would play to our advantage in making us less noticeable.

I waved my wand through the air, drawing the Death Sigil in the air. I gained a pip as a shield started circling above Left Hand's head. I saw her grin before drawing her own sigil just as I was going again.

The nice thing about not being able to force non-magic users into a duel on The Platform was that neither of us had to wait our turn.

Three Dark Sprites appeared in rapid succession from Left Hand's wand, each one shattering one of my Deathblade shields as they did. Out of pips, she paused and sent the Sprites towards Lung. All the while, I kept casting power shields over her. Every other spell fizzled, but I didn't let it throw me off my rhythm. It just meant I would run out of cards slower.

Lung had ripped one of his arms from the jaw of the beasts assaulting him, taking a few teeth in the process. Flames leapt up higher, but the dog beasts seem only annoyed by it. He started beating the other beast with his now free hand when three Spirits suddenly circled once around his head.

Either confused or just caught him off guard, Lung didn't immediately react to them. Giving them the moment the needed to attack. They raised their palms up, surrounding Lung's massive body in blue and black light for a moment. I watched intently to see the result.

Lung reel back and let out a loud grunt. If I wasn't seeing things, his flames died down a bit. I smiled widely. I had an idea, but I would need to test it.

"Left Hand," I said loudly. "Hit him with Death Charges."

Before she could answer, Lung's head shot around and looked at us with bright orange eyes. I paled slightly before suddenly one of the dogs tackled him to the ground.

"Now!" I shouted, seeing an opportunity. Briefly taking a break from casting power-ups around Left Hand, I switched to start pulling on my own collection of Dark Sprites while she started firing off Death Charges in rapid succession. Using my fine-tuned control of magic, I shifted some of my collected pips over to her to sustain the attack.

One after another, blue orbs of light shot out of Left Hand's wand, slamming into Lung with a concussive blast as he struggled to get unpinned from the dog. Each blast sucking away some of his energy. Where a minute ago, you could see his growth now he had all but stopped progressing. Then I ran out of pips and I sent the eight Dark Sprites I had been collecting while Left Hand spammed Death Charges.

All eight swirled around Lung and the dog creatures, attacking all at the same time. The dog creature was caught in the effect, seeming to grow smaller and stumble a bit. Lung, on the other hand, visibly shrunk was shouting angrily in a language I couldn't understand.

Before anything else could happen, the sight of Hammer casting a spell caught my eye. A moment later, three red Scorpions larger in size than a person shot out of her wand and landed on the ground below. They shook themselves running forward, headed straight for Lung.

I took a brief count of my cards. I had used all of my Dark Sprites, the used cards now needing time to recharge from use. I had two more Deathblade cards, with the others nearly charged again as they required less energy. I looked back up to see how the Scorpions were doing.

And then my vision was blocked by a red demon mask appearing in front of me. I was raising my wand when the explosion went off.

 

[Walpurgusnacht]

Intense, well comverted, and with only a few errors

 

[shade argost]

Forgot to threadmark chapter 5.