Eniola woke up and felt emotionally lethargic. Bola came into her room and did the regular wake-up routine. She got up out of bed and brushed her teeth and did the usual. But Eniola, like Bola, felt like a robot. She was here, but not mentally here. Her mind was still in Los Angeles with all her friends.

The moving androids came into her room, and picked her bed off the floor now that she was done, cleaning up her room again.

Eniola was moving to New York City today, but she didn’t feel a glimmer of excitement despite moving to the big city. She was supposed to be at the SCOPE finals and preparing with her team, but it was clear she wasn’t going anywhere. Her parents took away her bike orb.

Losing SCOPE was like having someone chop off your leg and leaving you to bounce around on the remaining one. She felt empty and incomplete.

Eniola had left the game and Rogue might have had to give up. She left the bathroom before removing her pyjamas. Her shirt slipped over her forearm and Eniola tingled. It was a tattoo.

It should’ve been gray by now before dissolving, but it was still bright indigo. Her parents never saw it, and Eniola was so glad because that would’ve added fuel to the fire.

But Eniola didn’t remember checking out or officially forfeiting. Her parents had taken her back to San Francisco, but that didn’t take her out of the game. As far as she was concerned, Rogue hadn’t given up. Which technically meant she was still in the game. The finals didn’t start until 9:00 pm, which gave her more than ten hours to get back to Los Angeles. And Los Angeles was four hours away. If she left, she’d have time to explain to Rogue and re-join and everything would be just peachy.

Eniola didn’t know she had a plan until she did. It was half-baked, and Eniola was already trying to eat it right out of the oven. It was dangerous, considering her parents were furious with her and she was on lockdown. But something came to her mind.

Eniola was going to escape.

Her gaze automatically went to the window, which had been boarded up with metal from lockdown. Eniola sighed in solitude. The only other escape was the front door. Of course, this would never work. It was New York from here. She didn’t want to admit the fact. She wanted to hold onto false hope, but she’d never make it to Los Angeles at this time.

She walked down the stairs with an extra gait, and when she got there her parents looked at her but didn’t acknowledge her. She hadn’t seen Kol since yesterday, and he looked average, as he always did. Eniola felt bad about having to have him on lockdown for his last night here.

“Good morning,” he mumbled.

“Good morning,” she mumbled back, and said the same thing to her parents and kneeled, but they let out faint hums and averted her gaze. She took her seat and chose cereal to eat, which Bola brought. Moving droids had already swept through her house and now it was just a table.

The air was thick with tension in her family. No one talked to each other and it was her fault.

“What did you see in Los Angeles?” Kol suddenly asked and both parents shot him death stares.

“Kol!” her mom snapped and flicked his head. “Do not speak of it!” She put her head down, but in the corner saw something. They trapped her bike orb in a LockBox, and the androids were taking it out.

Eniola knew she had to get that box easily, but she wouldn’t just run up and get it. Bola finished pouring her a box of cereal, and before Eniola could think, Eniola flipped her hand in the air and knocked the bowl out, drenching cereal all over herself.

“What is this?” her mom yelled, and Eniola pretended to look dazed. “Are you a baby?”

“It was an accident. I was just being clumsy,” Eniola convinced, and stuttered. “Bola can—”

“Is this what LA has done to you?” her dad yelled too. “Bola, you are dismissed. Eniola, clean yourself up.” She rose with the soggy cereal still drenched into her. She went to the bathroom near the front door, where a moving auto-truck was parked.

“Bola,” she whispered to the android.

“I was dismissed,” she told Eniola.

“Order overruled,” Eniola stated. “Cleaning mode. Target my clothes.” Bola noticed and her metal prongs shifted into a hose and then a blast of water came out at Eniola, taking the cereal off. She was now drenched but then her other arm shifted into a dryer spewing out warm air onto Eniola. Within seconds, she was clean.

“Thanks,” Eniola said with gratitude.

“My pleasure,” she responded.

“You are dismissed,” Eniola commanded, and Bola wheeled away. Eniola gazed around the place and no androids were in view. She dove into the truck and hit the metal floors. Quickly Eniola grabbed the orb sitting on the top and ran back out and down the hallway until she was back upstairs and inside of her room.

The LockBox had all her focus now, but it was true to its name. Eniola dropped it to the floor, but it stayed intact. She tried banging it and hitting it, but it stayed intact like it was a diamond.

“Eniola!” her mom called.

“I’m looking for a change of clothes,” she called down. “I’ll be there soon.”

The bike orb still needed to be opened, but Eniola didn’t know how to. She was rushing with excitement and intense bouts of fear.

“There has got to be a way,” she whispered.

LockBoxes could only be unlocked by whoever locked them. And currently, her parents were downstairs, angry. So she had to find another way.

She sat down and began wallowing and being coursed through with anxiety. She slumped down onto the walls and sat in semi-defeat. If she couldn’t unlock this, then she’d say goodbye to her dreams and face more of her parents’ wrath. At this rate, they’d threaten to send her back to Nigeria, even though she hadn’t come from there. She wished she had someone to talk to. Over the years she had had friends who would come and go and Bola acted like her friend but wasn’t an actual person, but Lucia and Rogue stuck with her for the first time.

Suddenly her hand glowed, and Eniola pushed it in front of her face, quietly screaming, as a faint electric glow began coursing through her hand. Her chest immediately swelled as she turned her hand and tried to see what was there. Then a tremendous burst of light rang exploded, and Eniola fell back with a scream before hitting the ground. Then for a moment, she felt something cool and metallic before something huge plopped on the ground.

Her gaze was erratic, floating all over the room before she saw something on the ground next to her.

It was a sword. But not just any sword.

Eniola recognized it from the Land of Illusion, a clear white blade with an obsidian black handle. How was this possible? How was it here? Her breath hitched in her throat and went shaky.

Eniola thought of Paradox and the atoms Zaira created. Her parents probably heard her and were rushing upstairs to find her in the act. Nervousness clenched her stomach. She could not let them see.

But before she could think, she got up and took the sword. It was heavy, and Eniola staggered as she tried to level it in her hands and balance. She slowly walked to her window with the sword, before stabbing it at the bottom of the window and pried it up slowly, revealing the window out into the skies.

“Eniola,” she turned back to see Kol standing by the doorway, eye wide and confused. Her heart immediately sank. Her plan was working so fine, but now it was not. He stepped back. “Where did you get a sword?”

“I’ll explain later, Kol,” Eniola began. “I need to do this, please, Kol.”

“I won’t tell,” Kol said, to her relief. “I’ve seen you play and you’re damn good at it. And you’ve done my homework, I can’t let that part of the deal slip. Go. I’ll cover for you.”

Eniola hopped from her window and threw a big hug over him. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Me too,” Kol said. “When you get famous, invite me to your games.”

Eniola remembered how Olu said she would become famous and she laughed. And maybe it might come true. Now she was on the cusp of winning.

“Okay,” she promised. Kol pulled away, and he walked out with a thumbs up.

“Eniola’s not here!” Kol said, before quickly turning back to her. “Go, go, go!”

Eniola jumped before she jabbed the sword in the window and put it on the foot of the window with the LockBox before jumping out with the sword. Her ankles shot with pain when she landed, but Eniola pulled herself up. The Lockbox was still locked. Then she took the sword and crushed it down onto a lockbox. It broke open easily, and she opened the orb.

“Nice to see you again!” she breathed, before throwing it onto the ground. Her bike popped up again, and she jumped onto it propelling her into her dreams.

Eniola was sure she was speeding, but that was another issue. Eniola had made it up Ventura Beach, driving across the highway with mountains next to it that looked over the bleak landscape. Los Angeles was still one hour away in her 3-hour journey.

Quickly as time went by, Eniola was going max speed to the arena. It was almost 9:30, and if she wasn’t there, they’d start and Rogue would be disqualified. She almost sped past the arena with just how fast she was going into the city, observing the crowds around billboards of the confusing SCOPE game and why Eniola wasn’t there. She stopped before turning into the alleyway, while the alleyway door opened.

8:59 pm, her bike clock read. She quickly sped in, just as the teams were laying out. Rogue looked borderline frantic.

“And if E.N.I is not here, Rogue is automatically disqualified,” Howie began saying, until Eniola sped down the arena road, sending a wave of shock through the audience which cheered.

“I’m here!” she yelled, as the shock turned into applause as she took their place in the arena.

“Eniola!” Jay exclaimed, as she sped and took her spot beside him. He and then Rogue attacked with hugs.

“You’re back!” Lucia exclaimed, almost like it wasn’t real.

“And she’s here at the last minute!” Howie exclaimed as a wave of relief sent a shock through her. Eniola had made it barely.

“Alright,” Howie excitedly began. “This round is going to be a little different. There will be no clever clues or puzzles. All you have to do is get to the top of Mount Fire in Planet Lumia and claim the disk. The team that gets there first will become the winners of the 10th Annual California SCOPE Championships. Teams, ready yourselves.”

They got ready on their slice, fueled by determination. Eniola put on her SCOPE lenses, and the landscape was even more dramatic. There was an enormous mountain that appeared to be on fire, with lava spilling out onto grey rocky floors with jagged mountains of stones spread across an otherwise flat landscape. Sounds of guns and the smell of smoke trailed in the air, and Eniola exhaled quickly. The disk was a tiny figure floating above it, balancing in the dark indigo skies. On the ground were the intergalactic beings called the Lumians, with guns at their side. They were all purple, and that’s where the similarities ended. Each one of them had such different physiques and shapes that it looked like someone had pasted everything together at the last minute. Maybe because someone did. There were those last-minute glitches. That’s why they were so confident about killing them.

The goal is to not go under. Good.

“In 3…,” Howie said as the audience began counting with her. “2….1!”