Alternate Color

Chapter 3

"Step through. Let's start already." I gulped before I took a step through the orange wall into another landscape. The transition was seamless.

"Not so hard, was it?" Olivia asked. By the time I turned to see her, she was holding out what looked like a white elastic suit. The kind that would fit every curve tightly. A bit too tightly.

"Whatever we're doing, I'm fine in this." Olivia tossed it into an orange portal and gave up.

"James said the same thing. Now he likes to go around in that breezy trench coat, naked under." Reflexively, I checked under my hoodie. Had a shirt under. Not naked.

"When do we start?" I asked. James said she would be inattentive, but I hoped she would have at least had a plan of some sort. I was not disappointed.

"Rachel said she wanted to take you on next. I'm going to show you how to counter her basic attacks. First is her fireball. Keep in mind that her fire is hot, but it has no substance. If it doesn't hit you, it doesn't hurt. I'm going to throw one of her fireballs at you. Block it." Before I could ask how she was going to throw a fireball, a portal appeared above her head and shot flames comparable to a boulder in size. I split it in half and pushed the remnants away.

"Good, next lesson." I started to open my mouth to say something about the speed of that lesson, but decided against it. It was best to move on to another subject.

"This time, I'll be flying. And trying to punch you. I'll also throw a fireball if you dodge. Knock me out of the sky and you win." I nodded to signify comprehension.

Olivia rose up above the ground, perfectly still, as if the floor had dropped down instead. I squinted to try and see what her trick was. She was standing on two small portals, directly beneath her feet. The other end was probably connected to the floor somewhere. What surprise me further was the bar that appeared above her head. She grabbed it, turned to a superman position and flew, propelled by some unknown force.

Olivia's first target, me. She tried to ram her fist into my face, which I immediately dodged by jumping to her left in an awkward, leaning motion. She did not disappoint. A fireball appeared from almost nowhere. It was too close to dodge.

As soon as that fireball had appeared, it disappeared, escaping into an orange portal. Olivia took it's place, scolding me.

"You failed. Rachel won't let you stay that close without burning you first. You have to get farther when you dodge. You can move things, can't you? Slide your feet back."

I hadn't thought about my abilities in that way before. As a test, I slid my feet around the floor. With a few adjustments and extra supports around my body, I was able to slide around as I liked. Extending that idea further, I made a platform under my feet. I could fly.

"This is awesome!" From the view I had, I could see the entire landscape. Surrounding the battle field were six clearly defined areas. Four were dry and rocky, the other two, adjacent to each other, a lake and a lush forest. Surrounding the entire landscape was a purple mist.

"Hey, Oli-" I bit my tongue as something hit the back of my head. My balance was lost and I tumbled to the floor.

"Never stop in the middle of a fight. You would die in an instant." I shuddered at the thought of dying. It may be normal for them, but I didn't want to experience it. Especially if it looked like the death I dealt Cindy.

"Owibia." My tongue was swollen. She almost burst out laughing at my attempts to speak.

"Yeah, I know what you want. I'll take you on a tour. Hop on." An orange disk expanded to almost ten feet.