THE MOMENT
"Really?" Turbo asked. He met with some of his teammates in the school gym to get some practice with them. The gym floor glowed with a soft white light but it was empty except for the five students in the center. "But, your name's Riot?" he said. Vivi and Tama giggled; but, Petunia was quick to defend her best friend.
"That's just her name, not who she is," Petunia said. Turbo shrugged.
"It's different for Calaveras," he said. As he spoke, a quiet, dull hiss echoed around the gym and he levitated almost a foot off the ground. Then, dozens of tiny black holes appeared down his right arm. They expelled small flaming jets and gently pushed Turbo so he floated to his left as he made his point.
"I'm Turbo. Frost makes things cold," he named off Calaveras they would all know as he hovered a slow circle around the group. "Flutter can fly, and Ruin ruins things," he looked at Riot. "You get your powers from noise, right? How could you not like being the center of attention?" Riot shrugged.
"It's uncomfortable for me," she said. Then, she turned to the rest of the group to change the subject. "It doesn't matter to me, so I'll leave it up to everyone else," she shrugged. "Moose couldn't make it, so we can practice without him, or reschedule another time."
"Another time!" Petunia was the first one to respond. She glanced around at the others hoping they'd make a similar vote. It wasn't that Petunia didn't want to be there. She cleared her whole afternoon practicing with Riot and the others. But, she knew Riot would want to practice even if everyone else left.
"I'm okay with that," Turbo said. "I can practice in other games until then."
"Vivi..," Tama spoke up with a concerned tone. She nodded to a nearby corner of the gym. "...what are you doing?" she asked. Vivi was as puzzled as everyone else when she looked at the corner. A black mass of spiders swarmed in one spot.
"It's not me..," Vivi shook her head. As all five students watched, a figure rose out of the swarm. It was a girl with short dark hair and a solid black visor across her eyes. She seemed surprised to find someone there and even more surprised when one of them recognized her.
"Abby?" Vivi asked. Abby nodded.
"How did you know my-," Abby's question was interrupted by a loud voice echoing around the gym.
"Where have you been?!" Ballisea asked. The five students heard her voice and saw the tall, horned woman appear behind Abby at the same time. The voice startled Abby and she spun around. She breathed for a few moments to get over the surprise, then she smiled up at Ballisea.
"Couldn't tell you," she shook her head, but she held out her hand. "But, this'll make it easier to find." Ballisea touched her hand and a pulse of golden energy passed between them.
"You are unharmed?" Ballisea asked. Abby nodded.
"Better than that...," she said. As she spoke, a pitch-black swarm of spiders crawled out of her skin to cover her entirely, then, she and the spiders disappeared. She appeared again in a swarm of spiders behind Vivi and Tama. "...I got an upgrade."