Love Battle

by Katrina Kahler

  Mission First

  That night we got together in Jason’s room. We played games, talked, and ate. I figured it would be a good team bonding experience. Even though I’d managed to drive the squirrels out of our heads, they had still exposed some team issues. And I had to admit that I had issues too. But the contest today had shown me that Jason knew me very well. As much as I liked Adam, I’d realized I was definitely a better match with Jason.

  As the boys and Luna played some sort of smash fighting game, Tanya came over to me. “Let’s talk,” she said.

  “Okay,” I replied.

  Tanya pointed at the others. They froze. “In private.”

  “I can see that!” I said. Crossing my arms, I asked. “What do you want to talk about?”

  We both sat down on the floor. We munched on pizza. “Adam…” she nodded in his direction. “I need to know what you really think of him,” Tanya said, not beating around the bush.

  “I’ve told you already,” I replied. “Adam is a good friend. I like him. He has a nice smile. He has cool powers. He’s sweet and thoughtful.”

  “Which means?” Tanya prodded. “I need more.”

  “Why?” I demanded. I had a suspicion, but I wanted to hear it from her. I needed to hear it from her.

  Tanya turned away from me and mumbled. “I think I might like him.”

  “What was that?” I asked, smiling.

  Tanya squinted at me. “I thought you had a super-duper sense of hearing? I said… I think that for some strange reason, I might possibly, maybe, like Adam!”

  I grinned. “That’s amazing! Adam’s a great guy!”

  She raised her eyebrows and stared at me. “So you don’t mind?”

  I shook my head. “No, not at all.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “Because I wouldn’t make a move on Adam unless it’s okay with you. I mean, I’ve already dated Jason. I wouldn’t date another one of your friends unless you’re okay with it. But if you like Adam, then…”

  “Tanya!” I interrupted her. “It’s okay. I’m happy for you.”

  She huffed out a relieved breath. “Thank you, Lia. But, seriously… I don’t know what’s got into me. I used to like the bad boy types. Now that my powers have started to develop, I’ve found myself more attracted to good guys. Nice guys.” She groaned. “I’m so boring!”

  “Tanya, you are anything but boring,” I insisted adamantly. “And… they do say that opposites attract. What about Luna and Zeke! Even Jason said they’re a perfect example!”

  She grinned at me. “Yes, that’s so true!”

  “Plus, I think that with your time control powers, you need a nice stable guy. That way, you won’t be tempted to misuse your powers,” I offered.

  She snickered. “Oh, I am always tempted; so tempted to stop everybody for a while.” She tilted her head at me. “Ever wonder why you can fight through my powers and my sister’s, but nobody else can?”

  “I’ve never really paid much attention to that,” I replied.

  “I’ve talked to Jason and Hana about it. They think it’s because your body is so charged with power, it moves on a different level to the rest of the people in the universe. Therefore, when I stop or slow time for them, you just keep going. Jason joked that you are the universe’s defense against me trying to take over.” She paused for a moment. “Not that I would ever do that. I don’t think I’d do that. I don’t even think my sister would do that. But in a way, it’s good to know you’re around. Just in case Kayla and I get out of hand, you can talk us down.”

  “Tanya, you are one of the few people ever to KO me. That time you hit me with about ten years’ worth of your shoe odor…” I noted.

  Tanya laughed. “Yeah, but now you’re smart enough not to get close enough so I can put my shoe over your nose.”

  “See, you taught me something,” I told her. “We both make the other better.”

  “I guess.”

  “And Adam will be a great guy for you!” I added.

  She looked at me. She thought for a second then asked, “Why not you?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Are you definitely sure you don’t have any feelings for Adam?”

  I thought about it. I shrugged. I hesitated. “I do. But they’re more like feelings of friendship. Adam gets what it’s like to be super. But I don’t think that’s what I want to build a relationship on.”

  “As long as you’re sure.” She grinned. “It’s not like I can’t get some other guy if I wanted.”

  I gave her a friendly shove. “I think you and Adam are perfect for each other.”

  “Well, I think you and Jason are the ones who really should be together. You’re supposed to be together.”

  I sat there silently.

  “Right, Lia?”

  I sighed. My breath knocked her over. “Sorry.”

  She stood up. “I’m used to it.”

  I nodded. I smiled. “I think we should be together too, but I’m a little scared.”

  “Of?”

  “What if it doesn’t work out? What if I lose Jason’s friendship?”

  “Look, girl; I can’t guarantee it will work out. The heart is fickle, and we are all still changing. But I can pretty much guarantee that you two will always be friends. No matter what!”

  I hoped she was right. I wanted to believe she was right. Pointing at the frozen four, I said. “You’d better unfreeze them. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  “Lia, we’re superheroes. Every day is a big day for us.”

  “When are you going to tell Adam how you feel?” I asked.

  “I’m going to give him hints and more hints. He’s cute, but a little slow. I want him to think that us being together is his idea. I figure, by the time we get back to Earth, we should be an item.”

  “Good timing,” I told her.

  “Yeah, mission first, heart second!” Tanya said.

  Dear Diary: I’m so happy for Tanya and Adam. I’m sure he’ll be just as happy with her as she will be with him. I hope their relationship will even improve our team dynamic. As for Jason and I, I’m going to tell him how I feel. But I want to wait until we get back to Earth. We both have enough pressure on us already. We don’t need to complicate matters any further. As Tanya said, mission first, heart second.

  Teamwork

  When we woke up the next day, we found ourselves on the cool steel floor of a large empty metal room.

  “What the heck?” Zeke exclaimed.

  “I’m guessing this is our next challenge,” Jason replied.

  “Correct!” Val declared, appearing in the room. “This is what is commonly known as an escape room. Your team must work together to open the door of the room.” Val pointed to a door. “That is the way out. Good luck!”

  Val disappeared.

  Zeke stood up and walked over to the door. He grabbed the door handle and pulled. It didn’t budge. He turned to us and shouted. “That didn’t work!”

  The rest of us rose to our feet.

  “Yeah, Zeke, honey, that might have been too simple,” Luna said.

  “But sometimes simple works best!” Zeke replied.

  Jason frowned. “We need to find clues! I know we can think our way out of here.”

  “Lia, can you use your x-ray vision to see through the walls?” Adam asked.

  I didn’t like using my x-ray vision. It freaked me out, especially if I looked at people with it. I didn’t need to see people’s insides. Concentrating on the wall, I focused on piercing my vision through the wall.

  Instead, however, I accidentally turned on my heat vision. My eyes burned off a coating of the wall above the door, revealing the phrase… Finding the lock is key!!

  “I bet that’s a clue!” Zeke said, jumping up and down. “I’ve never wanted to escape from an escape room, but now that I’m forced to, I think it’s quite fun.” Zeke sniggered as he scratched his butt.

  “Honey, I know that scratching helps you think, but pleas
e don’t do that,” Luna coached.

  “Right!” Zeke said, moving his hand to his head. “Thinking is hard…”

  Zeke leaned on the wall next to the door. The room made a beeping sound. Bright lights flashed. A keypad appeared on the wall. The keypad had the numbers one through to one thousand on it.

  Zeke pointed to the keypad. “I bet this is important.”

  We all walked over to Zeke. “Yeah, buddy, it is,” Adam said. “We probably have to figure out what numbers to press to get that door open.”

  “Do you want me to use my heat power to burn the walls? Then we can see if there are more clues,” Adam suggested.

  “That might not be a bad idea!” Jason said.

  “I have a suggestion that’s not quite so hot!” Luna said. “Let’s try some magic.” She snapped her fingers. The walls suddenly filled with clues:

  Number of electrons in carbon….

  Number of innings in a baseball game…

  The 1000th prime number.

  The number of seconds in ten decades on your planet.

  Number of grains of sand in a gallon bucket.

  Number of beetles in your dimension.

  Number of sphinx riddles.

  How many flavors of ice cream are there in the world?

  Unscramble this word: dorw

  Unscramble this word: rpgoammmgin

  Witch word hear is spelled worng?

  How long can you hold your breath for?

  Are farts really good for your health?

  What’s the longest running TV show in history?

  Does history repeat itself?

  What color reflects all light?

  Is it okay to wear white in the winter?

  What came first, the chicken o the egg?

  Number of sonnets written by Shakespeare?

  Number of molecules in a strand of hair?

  Number of humans to have played golf on the moon?

  Are humans good or evil?

  Number of days until bubble gum loses its flavor on a bedpost?

  “HOW DO YOU ANSWER AN IMPOSSIBLE TO ANSWER QUESTION THAT CAN’T BE ANSWERED?”

  We looked at all the questions.

  “Wow, I don’t know any of these,” Zeke said.

  “I might be able to use magic to answer some of them,” Luna said.

  Zeke took her hand. “You’re so cool!”

  Jason looked at the phrases on the walls. “But some of these questions aren’t really answerable…”

  I pointed to the question written in all capital letters. “That one even seems to suggest that this is an impossible task.”

  “I can slow down time to give us more time,” Tanya suggested.

  “We could have all the time in the world and not solve some of these!” Jason said.

  “Maybe we only need to solve the ones that can be solved,” Adam commented.

  Jason nodded. “Now that could make sense. The others might simply be a distraction.”

  I considered all the possibilities here. Reading over the questions again, I understood that several of these were downright impossible. I thought that even the brains would have problems with some of the questions as there were no good answers. I thought about Val’s words… Your team must work together to open the door of the room.

  “You know,” I said slowly. “I think Zeke is right.”

  “Wait? What? Huh?” Zeke said. His eyes popped open. “Ah, really?”

  I moved closer to the door. I grabbed the handle. I turned it. Yeah, the door was locked; no question there. I punched the door, denting it.

  “Interesting door opening technique there, Lia!” Zeke said.

  The dent popped back out.

  “But I don’t think it worked…” Zeke added.

  I took a deep breath. Placing both my hands on the door, I pushed it, trying to make the door crumble open. Once again, the door bent. Sweat started forming on my forehead. The door frame twisted in a little more but I never got the feeling the door was about to give in. Pressing harder and harder, I was able to make the door bend, but it didn’t break.

  I stopped pushing. I took a breath.

  “Wow, this door is strong and flexible,” I said. “No way I can do this alone.”

  “That means, no way any of us can do it alone,” Jason said. “Which means, we work together.” He walked up to the door, looking it up and down. “This is a big door. We can all push on it at once from different angles.”

  “If we each use our powers we can do this!” I said.

  “I can use my magic to make myself stronger,” Luna suggested.

  “I bet I can create a time vortex to help push out the door,” Tanya offered.

  “I can cheer really loud!” Zeke added, trying to be helpful.

  “Should we all concentrate on one spot or attack multiple spots?” I asked Jason.

  Jason crossed his arms and analyzed the door’s structure. “There are six of us, and we should hit at six different places.”

  Adam bent towards the door, eyeing it carefully. “Do you think that will work?”

  “I think it’s our best chance,” Jason said. “Better than trying to work out and solve some impossible questions.”

  “So we smash it?” I asked.

  Jason thought for a moment. He shook his head. “Nope, we use different types of energy and different styles of force on it.”

  “Say what now?” Zeke said. “That sounds like something Ms. Nancy would say in one of her classes that I usually sleep through with my eyes open.”

  “Here’s the plan,” Jason said. “Lia hits the door with cold breath at the same time Adam hits the door with heat energy. Tanya hits it with a time vortex. Luna uses a magical smash. I’ll blast it with missiles.”

  “I like that plan!” Zeke said. He paused. “Wait, how do I fit into this plan?”

  Jason shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”

  Luna wrapped her arms around Zeke and hugged him. “But I bet you will!” “Why do you think that?” he asked.

  “Because you are totally awesome!” Luna said, grinning widely.

  Man, I felt a little jealous of their relationship. I took a deep breath — no need to be jealous. I just had to focus on being happy for them. I wanted that kind of relationship for myself. Especially now that I’d figured I wanted it with Jason. For the moment though, I needed to concentrate on the situation at hand. We needed to get out of this room.

  “Okay, Jason, where should we concentrate our powers?” I asked.

  Jason touched the door with his index finger. “For now, we’ll treat the door as if it has five zones of attack. The upper left,” he pointed there. He moved his hand over. “The upper right.” He slid his hand down. “The lower right.” He glided his hand left. “The lower left.” He pointed to the middle. “The middle.”

  “I knew you were going to say the middle!” Zeke said.

  “Lia, you blast the middle with super cold breath,” Jason instructed.

  “Right!” I said.

  “Adam, you hit the left upper with heat!”

  “Sure!” Adam said.

  “Tanya, you attack the right upper with a time vortex wave.”

  “Sounds good!” Tanya said.

  “Luna, a magic attack in the lower right!”

  “Right!” Luna said.

  Zeke smiled. “I love what you did there!”

  “I’ll bombard the lower left with a repulsive ray that I’ve worked on!” Jason said.

  “Is it based on Zeke’s breath?” Tanya asked.

  “Hey!” Luna frowned.

  “Just a joke,” Tanya reassured her.

  Zeke smiled. “My breath can be pretty bad sometimes. It’s from having a slow digestive system.”

  “On the count of three, we let it rip!” Jason said.

  “Does that mean we fart?” Zeke asked.

  “No!” we all said at once.

  Zeke hunched over. “I figured that, but I wanted to make sure…”

&nb
sp; “One, two, three, fire!” Jason shouted.

  Thinking my coldest thoughts, I inhaled then focused a stream of cold air onto the middle of the door. Adam turned his arms into fire and started blasting away. I could feel the heat on the door. Jason held out his arms, bombarding his zone with a pulsating beam. Tanya pointed her index finger at the door. Time warped and bent around the upper right of the door. Luna spun and waved her hands. The lower right of the door started to glow.

  We continued hitting the door with everything we had. The door cracked and bent, but didn’t seem to want to quite give in to us.

  Zeke walked up to the door. He was short enough so he could fit under my cold breath blast. He tapped on the door. He burped. The door fell forward.

  We cheered!

  “No time to cheer! Let’s get out of here!” Jason shouted.

  We all sprinted through the opening.

  Val met us. She clapped. “Very good, Team Earth. You finished second, right behind the gas clouds… they just slipped under the door. And now you should rest, as tomorrow is the amazing battle royal!”

  Dear Diary: Man, that felt great. We worked together as a team and knocked the door down. Even Zeke played an important role. I gotta’ admit, I kind of like the way Jason figured out that we needed to use our combined powers instead of our brains.

  I know this may not be the best time, but at dinner tonight I plan to tell him that I want to be more than friends! Yeah, it’s a risk, but one with a high reward if it works out. If he says no, then at least I’ll know where I stand. If that’s the case, then Jason and I are destined to just be BFFs. Hey, if I need to, I can deal with that. I want more, but I’m old enough now to know that you don’t always get what you want. Even if you’re a superhero!

  Decisions

  After escaping from the escape room, we went back to our rooms to rest before meeting for dinner. Our area of the building had a team dining area, and we figured that would be the best place to gather.

  When I opened the door to my room, I found a couple of squirrels making my bed. I was hoping the Cinderella treatment was a good thing. But with the squirrels’ mischievous nature, I couldn’t be sure.