Tanning Booth, Then

I was lying stretched out on my front on a padded bench, feeling warm light on my bare back. Weekly visits to soak up some artificial sun were yet one more strange part of mage life I'd had to adjust to. Long ago, mages had found that there were health complications for those who avoided all contact with the sun, and this was the solution thall had found, likely with the help of the Over Seer. The process had been refined by seers over the generations, so now it was as safe and comfortable as was practically possible. A team of carers oversaw use of the booths, helping users find the correct intensity and duration to meet thall's needs, as well as suggesting oils to promote healthy skin.

By the third month underground, tanning sessions had become a natural and expected part of my routine. I now found the time highly relaxing, and valued the chance to sort out the week's worries and consider problems without pressure. Some of my best hex design work had been done in my head while soaking up my weekly rays. Today, my biggest issue wasn't related to Project Hexplexer. While that was no less massive, my worries were around rebuilding trust with Skids. While sa had let me begin attending practice sessions with the prospective chroma team, I didn't have much of an idea what was going on in my friend's head. I knew that my revelation of sa's Titan birth had to have shaken up sa's entire existence, but sa had been entirely closed to me on that topic.

Twice I had caught Skids wearing a look of contemplative confusion, mixed with the sort of pain that wasn't from running laps of the training field. Both times sa had looked away quickly and pretended I didn't exist for the next few minutes. I knew sa had a lot of heavy issues to deal with. So did I. We were both searching for our proper place in a world we didn't truly understand, and that did not understand us in return. I hoped we would be able to struggle forward together, helping one another where we could, but that wasn't happening. Even as we were trying to form a team, we were growing apart.

The training experience had also left me aching in places I hadn't fully known I had. While I'd sometimes run at my old home when I was sure no one could see me, now I was learning to truly run with every scrap of energy I could summon, and then some more beyond that. One benefit was that I'd slept better than I had in months. My concentration was sharpened, apart from the distracting muscle soreness. Lying here with oiled skin and pleasant heat felt even more soothing than normal. I could almost drift away and let my problems solve themselves...

The Chroma Dome, Now

"Drift! What do you think you're doing?" Swipe snapped. "We needed that point!"

I shrank back. "No, I didn't... When I said 'might have', I was... I mean, it wasn't intentional!"

"You accidentally sent a magical command that reconfigured the hexing of Skids' armour?"

"Well... I was thinking about it, but I didn't mean to do anything!" I protested. "It just... happened!"

Swipe shook she's yellow-helmeted head, making a blue fringe of hair bounce off she's sweaty forehead. "That's a serious design flaw, Drift. We're going to have to talk about this. Put it back to goalstopping mode and don't let it happen again. And try to pay more attention to your immediate surroundings than to the commentators." She looked away from me and gestured at the rest of the team, speaking with a raised voice. "Alright everyone, listen up! The game isn't over yet and we're not out. Timeout ends in two minutes. You know what we need to focus on. You know what's at stake. And you know what Plan C Eight is. Let's make this happen, yeah?"

"Yeah!" we all agreed, but Skids and Broth looked at me with palpable doubt.

Swipe noticed and took decisive action. "No blame during the game. Do your best and support your team. Does everyone understand me?"

"Yeah!"

"For Cheesy Goodness!"

"For Cheesy Goodness!"

I grabbed an energy drink from Broth and swallowed it as fast as I dared. It was refreshing but tasted not unlike sweat. Skids walked up beside me and opened sa's mouth.

"Later," I spat out before recriminations could start. "Winning first."

"Winning first," Skids agreed. "Is it ready?"

I glanced up to the top of the dome, where Liberty was waiting upside down. "It's ready," I said with conviction.

"Great." Skids slapped me on the shoulder and walked off to take sa's prescribed position.

It was time for me to get into place too. I wandered to the left of our goal, far enough to not be away but not so far as to seem like a threat to the adjacent Mighty Honks.

"And the five balls are back in play! There's already strong pressure from the Honks against the Runners, and BT are trying to draw CG into conflict," Junok said.

I checked the bird's eye view of the field on my scryer, or rather the fuzzy-bat-demon's eye view. It gave me a more complete picture of what was happening than anyone else in the game had. "Scaff, Dalan is circling behind you and Loafr's winding up to pass. Punnt, looks like Peeps and Meeps'll have Runner defence wrapped up momentarily."

"Mendy and Patch are looking to run down Peeps and Meeps. Oh! Thall are lost in a cloud of feathers! Can anyone see what—"

"Punnt scores!" Chain yelled. "Cheesy Goodness have earned back that penalty point and retained control of their ball!"

I smiled privately. The entire team was no doubt pleased by the goal, but now was not the time for celebration. Only focus and precision and our utmost effort.

"Feint just made a move on BT but Crimp and Leafi put a stop to that and now Uturn is limping. Let's see how long before Blood sets that right. I suspect not long," Hornn said.

I spotted another incoming attack. "Ibolt's passing to Shove and I think Uturn is faking!"

My hunch turned out to be correct, and Scaff pulled off a fine intercept, passing Glorious Feint's ball across to Baking Time, who would keep it out of its team's hands and away from our goal. In the ensuing mayhem, the Shadow Runners tried sneaking their ball in to score against Baking Time. Oscar and the octoling put a stop to that attempt, but lost control of Glorious Feint's ball in the process and before anyone could mount a defence it was kicked squarely into the Shadow Runners' goal.

"That puts the top two teams back into a tied position with ten points apiece. The Honks are still at seven with the others at six, despite Cheesy Goodness spending a little time back down to five," Junok said. "The right point could still bring this game to a sudden conclusion, but who will be representing Wonambi at the Rainbow Rage championship game?"

"I wouldn't be putting my money on Baking time or the Mighty Honks, but you never know. Oh, this could be it!" Chain exclaimed.

That was most certainly not 'it'. For the next several minutes, no one made any appreciable progress. Boundaries were tested, sneak attacks were thwarted, feints were made and honks were heard. The five teams kept one another in balance, but the balance was unstable. Muscles were tiring and aether levels in gear were dropping. Soon, someone would pull out a surprise attack or a secret weapon. But no one wanted to be the first, as then the surprise would be over, and if the game was not over it would be someone else's chance at pulling their own trick. And yet someone had to go first.

That someone would be Cheesy Goodness. We had to hope our move would be gamechanging enough to negate everyone else's.

"No one's letting the Runners or Feint get their balls anywhere near anyone else's goals," Junok reported. "It looks like both teams are retreating to their own... Wait, is that... Point to the Shadow Runner and point to Glorious Feint! What a move!"

Chain asked a question with an obvious answer. "Did thall really just switch balls without anyone noticing?"

"That's exactly what thall did! That puts them at eleven each. What a game!"

We were running out of chances. If that happened again, our play wouldn't give us a definitive win. It would only work once, so I had to make it count, and I couldn't wait any longer.

"Putting the cheese in the hole," I said softly.

No one showed any reaction. We'd trained extensively to ensure no one could read our moves.

Liberty began gliding in a wide spiral. The view through my scryer diminished, but I kept watch on the flowing patterns of coloured uniforms and powered armour as well as I could.

At just the right moment Liberty struck, and I began a highly complex dance.

"I'm in."

"Oh no!" Junok yelled to my audience. "Punnt tried for a sneaky kick behind Leafi, but Byter's octoling has taken posession. At this point there's little chance of the Cheesy ball returning to its owners. Anyway, the Runners seem to to have Glorious Feint out of position and the hoverer is out of ammunition. Mendy just popped out of nowhere to catch a long kick from Ruins! Wow, Matrik is wrestling Mendy for the ball!"

"What is Loopy up to with the Cheesy ball?" Hornn cut in frantically. "The octoling is flailing all over the field!"

"Looks like Loopy is in a panic! Something's not right," Chain said, quite accurately.

No one had noticed me yet.

"Mendy's subdued Matrik before anyone could intervene! She's going for the goal and Ibolt Jur is all that stands between the Shadow Runners and victory!" Junok yelled.

It was time to finish this.

"Ibolt isn't known for block—" Hornn began.

Junok had no time for player statistics. "The octoling is dashing madly for the Runners' goal! Why? Six players just tackled it but it still has two legs free!"

"Someone just hit Mendy with a glue gun! She's stuck in place!" Chain cut in.

That was probably Skids, who'd switched weapons after fully exhausting the aetherrailer, but my attention was all elsewhere. I made a precise waving motion and opened my hand at a precise moment. The octoling's free legs copied me almost exactly. A hex of my own design provided minor corrections.

"There goes the Cheesy Ball! What's going on? Scaff makes the catch! Why did it pass to— Jur tossed it back?" Junok sounded as perplexed as I hoped all my opponents felt. But I had no time to think about this. The ball was arcing directly towards the octoling on which Liberty was riding as an unseen parasite.

I swung with all my might. So did the octoling under my control. Our ball made a sudden diversion, directly at Patch Ra's helmet. Patch dropped and the ball went high.

"Patch is down, the goal is empty, and the ball is in the air!"

"Point Cheesy and point Honks!" Hornn cried. "But no, that's game and the Honks' point was a moment too late! What happened there?" Even the final wild yell was mostly lost in the roars of the crowd.

I switched seamlessly from dancing precisely into wild leaps. "We did it!"

All over the field, yellow-armoured players were throwing up their arms in jubilation and others were looking crestfallen and confused.

Skids blew across the top of a cannon sa had liberated from one of the Mighty Honks. "How do you like that?"

Junok tried giving an explanation of the final moments of the game, but no one was listening.

We'd done it. Now it was time for the real cheesy goodness.