Magic Resilient

by Kayla Bashe

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  Your whimsical, steadfast, generous mother sweeps you into her arms as soon as she sees you.

  “Verdie, my dearest!”

  A famous actress, noble in both birth and being, she wears fine diamonds to go to the fish market and thinks nothing of it. She’ll write to you, send you random trinkets and gifts from admirers and strawberry thumbprint cookies with scalloped edges.

  “I shall miss you ever so much, my darling Verdie.”

  You’ve seen her cry in movies, but the tears that roll down her cheeks are real.

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  Your whimsical, steadfast, generous mother sweeps you into her arms as soon as she sees you.

  “Verdie, my dearest!”

  A famous actress, noble in both birth and being, she wears fine diamonds to go to the fish market and thinks nothing of it. She’ll write to you, send you random trinkets and gifts from admirers and strawberry thumbprint cookies with scalloped edges.

  “I shall miss you ever so much, my darling Verdie.”

  You’ve seen her cry in movies, but the tears that roll down her cheeks are real.

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  As the train leaves the ground, and then the station, you observe the people around you, awed and excited. Everyone’s clothes look so stylish and new!

  But there’s one person who especially catches your eye…

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  The hovercab is waiting right in town; from there, it’s a four-hour ride to the planet’s dimensional travel center.

  You’ve never really traveled off-planet before, so everything about your voyage to the Academy is truly exciting. Look at all the beautiful colors you can see while traveling through the dimensional tunnel! Look at all the neat packaged food in the travel center gift stores—you’ve never even seen that flavor before, let alone that brand! They’re selling little postcards—that’s adorable! Oh, and maybe you’ll just buy one souvenir cap for Henny…

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  * * *

  The hovercab is waiting right in town; from there, it’s a four-hour ride to the planet’s dimensional travel center.

  You’ve never really traveled off-planet before, so everything about your voyage to the Academy is truly exciting. Look at all the beautiful colors you can see while traveling through the dimensional tunnel! Look at all the neat packaged food in the travel center gift stores—you’ve never even seen that flavor before, let alone that brand! They’re selling little postcards—that’s adorable! Oh, and maybe you’ll just buy one souvenir cap for Henny…

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  Her eyes are large and very dark, and she has the expressive face of an ingenue—and a perfectly toned body. Dark hair drapes to her shoulders in tiny crimped ringlets—it looks textured, like unraveled yarn rolled beneath one’s fingers. Oh, you think. She’s beautiful. Could you look away from her, even if you wanted to?

  She smiles at you, a playful intelligence in her expression, then turns and walks away; the confidence in her every step mesmerizes you further.

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  Luckily, you make it to Magi Town, and then to the hovertrain on time.

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  Luckily, you make it to Magi Town, and then to the hovertrain on time.

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  Nearby, a child with mousy brown hair and large round glasses begins to wail loudly.

  “Shut up, you moronic child! Can’t you see you’re ruining everyone’s morning?” the mother whispers angrily, gripping the kid’s arm very hard. It only makes the young girl cry harder, big tears rolling down her cheeks.

  Chewing on the inside of your lip, you start thinking that you should intervene. But…maybe they’re only shooting a scene in a movie? Surely no parent would wish to treat their child with such cruelty…

  “If you don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about. Clearly, you’re just crying to get attention, you baby—well, it’s not going to work. Stop crying right now!” With that, the top of her head bursts open, revealing wriggling purple-and-red tentacles, each topped with eyes and a mouth. The child topples to the floor, too frightened to cry, the look in her eyes one of absolute terror.

  A monster? On the bus?

  Yeah, that’s more of a disruption to the morning commute than a crying child.

  You stand up on your seat—“V for Verdie, V for Victory!”—and twirl through a quick transformation sequence.

  Instantly, the monster draws in a great deep breath—and then puffs out a purple gas from the top of its tentacles.

  “I’m falling asleep…” a woman in a nearby seat chokes out.

  A man tries to get to his feet, but slumps back down. “Can’t…move…”

  Up front, the driver slumps over his controls. Quickly, you dash to the front of the bus and hit the emergency button. The autopilot kicks in, and the hoverbus slows down, but continues to move. There’s no danger of crashing, but you’ve got to stop this creature before the hoverbus reaches its destination. Who knows how much more havoc it could cause if allowed to roam free? The attack you’ll use t
o stop it is…

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  Aileron

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  Aerial Correction

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  Direct flight!

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  As the train leaves the ground, and then the station, you observe the people around you, awed and excited. Everyone’s clothes look so stylish and new!

  But there’s one person who especially catches your eye…

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  >>>

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

  * * *

  As the train leaves the ground, and then the station, you observe the people around you, awed and excited. Everyone’s clothes look so stylish and new!

  But there’s one person who especially catches your eye…

  * * *

  >>>

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  What this attack lacks in terms of subtlety or gracefulness, it more than makes up in sheer power. “Direct flight!” you call out. The space inside the bus expands, allowing you to swoop upwards. You set your sights on your target and dive-bomb. As you pick up speed, the wind surrounds you.

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  She’s a chubby girl, modestly dressed and wearing a hijab, with open, youthful features. Her face is pale and round, evoking moonlight’s glow, and there’s sweetness in the curve of her lips when she smiles absently, the curve of her full breasts under her blouse. Something catches her attention—a pleasantry, a half-heard joke—and she turns a little, smiles, covers her mouth with her hands as she laughs.

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  She’s pale and dark-haired; compact, but there’s a strength about her. Holding a battered old brown leather bag, she eyes her surroundings warily.

  There’s an unusual sort of beauty in the composition of her face, in her deep eyes and the length of her dark eyelashes. If you were an artist, you’d strive to capture the curve of her jawline, the proud lift of her chin, the way her sleekly layered black bob brushes her face; even the way she stands reminds you of a brave knight from a storybook.

  “There’s an empty seat here-”

  But her gaze is focused straight ahead of her, and she doesn’t even seem to hear you as she heads towards the other end of the train car. Oh, well…

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  Aileron, from the old earth French, refers to the flight control surfaces of an aircraft. The attack itself, which you’ve invented, focuses on confusing and deceiving one’s enemy. Repeating the word as a whispered chant, you conjure up twin whirlwinds. They swirl around and through each other, confusing the monster, then swoop against it with a powerful smack.

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  Aerial Correction, one of the first attacks you ever developed

  It’s a simple yet effective magical windblast.

  The high-speed, magic-charged air shoots from your hands and towards the monster, ripping a hole in its side. It roars in pain and lashes out ineffectively—

  -okay, not so ineffectively.

  Because two of its mouth-tentacles are wrapped around your ankles, and it’s dragging you toward its main mouth, a gaping maw like that of a toothy red-and-purple venus flytrap. You claw at the floor, at the seats, trying to get some purchase, something to hold onto, but to no avail.

  Your first battle, and you’re already going to be injured, or even—

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  Magic Resilient, by Kayla Bashe

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  Are all your attacks named after old-timey British air force jargon? Yes, because you do what you want. Calling upon the wind, you switch gravity about, barrel downwards and deliver a powerful kick to the monster’s head.

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