After her excruciatingly slow bus ride Ridley swore to get herself some transportation soon, even if it meant buying a moped. As she finally arrived at her school she looked up to see the clouds. They were beginning to look menacing, hanging on the horizon. Ridley saw the softball team practicing thinking they would likely end early. As she saw the girls getting ready to pickup from practice, she had an idea.

  Strolling up to the baseball field bullpens, Ridley spotted a few familiar faces. Amanda was chatting with some teammates when she caught Ridley approaching from the corner of her eye. She flinched when she locked eyes with Ridley though she quickly masked it, continuing her conversation as if Ridley wasn’t there.

  Ridley approached the diamond-shaped fence around the pen and called out, “Hey, Amanda. Come here.” in her best Jersey thug accent, relishing the moment. Amanda adjusted her shirt nervously.

  “What do you want midget?”

  “I need to borrow your bat.”

  The girls chuckled. Amanda, still trying to appear tough, pulled out her bat and strode toward Ridley as if she might swing through the fence, saying, “What? This bat?”

  As Amanda neared, Ridley gripped one of the diamond shapes in the woven metal fence, squeezed, and twisted. Amanda’s eyes widened as the metal wiring warped around Ridley’s hand. Amanda glanced back at her oblivious friends to see if they noticed.

  “Well if you want to practice and try out for the team I’m not going to stop you,” Amanda said, her confidence not matching her expression. She tossed the bat over the fence, and Ridley caught it, swinging it to test its weight.

  Amanda turned to walk away, “If that will be all.”

  “On second thought…” Ridley chimed, “…I want two bats.”

  As easy as it was to get some new shiny bludgeoning weapons, Ridley was struggling to persuade her new party member to accompany her to work. Louis had been ignoring her calls all day. So Ridley, upon finding Louis, began chasing him down the hallway.

  “WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE TO SAVE THE FREAKING WORLD!” she bellowed.

  It made for a comedic sight as the tall lanky boy was terrified of the vertically challenged Ridley. She managed to catch up without to much difficulty. Grabbing his shirt, she hoisted him over her head and threatened to snap him in half.

  “Alright! Alright. Just put me down! Don’t hurt me,” Funk Master cried out as Ridley shook him. She set him on the ground and glanced around, noticing only a couple of kids staring. She fixed them with a stern look, and they quickly scurried away.

  Louis caught his breath before saying, “Just, I need to get my saxophone from the band room first. Otherwise I’ll be useless.”

  “I suppose that makes sense.” Ridley mused. “Meet me in the parking lot in fifteen minutes. If you are not there, I will find you and break your favorite hand.”

  “Favorite hand?”

  Ridley simply lifted her eyebrow at him. After that, Louis scampered off. She shook her head at the audacity of some people. Ignoring the call to save the city… or perhaps just her workplace. The quest’s details were vague on this point, but it was crystal clear that they had less than an hour to reach Congo’s Mekland distribution center and save the world.

  Ridley grabbed her new bag of gear and headed to the student parking lot to wait for Louis. As she started thinking of strategies, she felt a hand grab her shoulder.

  “Whoa, what the!” She shouted as she grabbed the offending hand and twisted it.

  “Wait! Ow, ow, OW!” The deep voice of Jared cried.

  “Do not SNEAK UP ON ME!” Ridley reprimanded.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Don’t break my other arm!” He said as Ridley loosened her grip.

  Jared pulled his hand back shaking it in pain.

  “What do you want Jared?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Good. Goodbye.” Ridley said turning to leave.

  “Wait… It’s your Mom.”

  “What about her Jared? Are you asking my permission to marry her?”

  “Wait!? No, thats weird! And gross!”

  Ridley snapped and rushed forward with speed that defied logic. She slammed him up against the wall, then lifted him one handed. He slid upwards and gasped when he saw red eyes glaring at him.

  “Do you forget young man, what hath led you to the injuries you now carry?” A crackled older voice spoke with Ridley’s mouth.

  “What… is… going… on? I’m tripping.”

  “I wouldst say you are quite sober minded boy.” It seethed.

  “Look… I’m sorry. Ok? I’m sorry. This…” Jared said holding up his arm, “…is all my fault and despite your Mom wanting you to apologize to me, I know you don’t owe me one. I deserve what I got. Ok?”

  Ridley was shocked, “An apology? An admission of guilt? Who are you?”

  “Who am I? Who the hell are you! It’s like your straight out of The Exorcist! Just call your Mom ok? She’s freaking out.”

  Ridley dropped Jared and slung her bag over shoulder. Irritated at everyone around her she simply walked to the parking lot.

  Fifteen minutes later, Louis jogged to the parking lot, where Ridley stood with bats raised banging them over her head, producing a metallic ringing sound.

  “What do you need those for?” Louis asked nervously.

  “Uh, for the horde we are about to slay in the mighty name of The Planeteers! I assume there will be some kind of combat,” Ridley replied.

  “Oh,” Louis squeaked, nearly choking on the word.

  “Well?”

  “Well what?”

  “Where is your car?” Ridley asked.

  “Oh… you don’t think my car will get damaged do you?”

  “I don’t know. Army of gnomes, army of dragons, army of glittery vampires… just park it toward the back of the parking lot. Should be fine.”

  Louis adjusted his collar nervously looking for someplace he could run and hide from Ridley, but just sighed with resignation instead.

  Ridley followed Louis to a Chevy Impala with extensive custom modifications. Louis opened his door, which twisted up and forward like a Lamborghini’s, accompanied by glowing colored lights underneath.

  “What the heck is with the doors?” Ridley asked as she settled into the comfy leather bucket seats, strapping herself in with gear too fancy to be called a mere seatbelt.

  “My dad didn’t want to buy me a Lambo, so I got myself an Impala and modified it as close as I could to one,” Louis explained, his confidence growing behind the wheel.

  “Very nice! Maybe this can be the Planet Mobile!” she said slapping the side of the car.

  “Please don’t hurt my car with your gorilla strength.” Louis chastised.

  “That’s more like it! Keep that energy. To the airport!” Ridley declared pointing forward.

  Louis might have been shy in person, but his driving was a tad more flamboyant. He reversed the car sharply and spun out of the parking lot sideways. Ridley felt a mix of nervousness and thrill as her stomach produced butterflies.

  Louis plowed through the streets well above the speed limit, a fancy radar detector mounted to his dashboard. Giving Ridley the feeling he had a speeding ticket budget.

  Fifteen minutes later, they pulled into the Congo parking lot as lighting cracked in the air and rain started pouring. Ridley donned a Congo uniform jacket she’d picked up previously but caught Louis looking at her as she put it on.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I don’t want my saxophone to get wet.”

  “It’s made of brass, it won’t get hurt by a bit of water,” Ridley countered.

  “The springs will get rusty!”

  Ridley shot him a dirty look and said, “I guess chivalry really is dead,” as she shrugged off the jacket and handed it to him.

  “All hail the feminist movement,” Louis quipped, taking the saxophone out of its case he covered it with the jacket.

  “The hell? Why not just leave it in its case?” Ridley asked.

  “I don’t want the leather to get wet,” Louis said with a straight face.

  “Argh! I swear I’m going to smash your saxophone if I don’t find something else to hit soon!” Ridley exclaimed, shoving the car door open. A squeak from the hinge made her realize she was pushing out, not up.

  “Um…” Louis started.

  Ridley whipped her head back to look at Louis and pointed. “Not a word!” before jumping out and marching through the rain.

  Louis chased after her, cradling his saxophone in the jacket. “We better find a dry place for me to play,” he said.

  Ridley checked the quest prompt. With ten minutes until the world event, she cursed at herself for leaving Alexander hanging. She jogged through the rain and rounded the building, spotting a massive green glowing circle on the airfield, swirling with tendrils of magical energy.

  In the distance, she made out half-dozen people who stood under a loading ramp. They were a mere fifty yards from what was clearly a portal to some other dimension. This, Ridley thought, was going to be the new best day of her life.

  They had to hop a six foot fence, which Ridley cleared easily, but she turned to see Louis struggling. She was forced to climb back up to take his saxophone while keeping it covered with her jacket. He slipped and fell near the top grunting with pain when he hit the ground, much to Ridley’s amusement.

  “I would have caught you, but I wouldn’t want your saxophone getting injured,” Ridley teased.

  “Fair enough,” Louis grunted, catching his breath.

  As they neared the loading ramp, Ridley saw a small, eclectic group gathering. She was elated until she realized Alexander was nowhere to be seen.