We waited for a couple of moments and then Stacey walked up to the mystery boy and grabbed his hand. She made her way into the café with him and we all scrambled to look as if we just hadn't seen all that scalding-hot tea spill.

"Hey, you guys. This is Logan," she introduced him to us, "Can he join us in a battle?"

I gave my signature incredulous smile, "Of course, but..."

"But?" she narrowed her eyes.

"What about Marco? What just happened down there?"

Dania kicked me from the other side of the table.

"What about Marco?" she retorted.

"Nothing," Grady smiled, "Let's have a battle."

"You, me, Logan, and Carlos," Stacey said with an overly sweet voice.

"Any particular reason why you're excluding me from this?" Dania glared.

"Somebody has to stay behind with Mr. Hayfields," she was a slick one. I wonder what her problem was, "I don't think he want to be alone."

"I can stay with him, then. You go, Dania," Grady interjected.

"I want to see you fight," Noah nudged her gently in the arm, "I bet you're really good at it."

"Fine," she responded.

Grady and I went to a Prep Room together and so did Logan and Stacey.

This probably was not going to be as good as the other battles.

-----

Grady and I appeared in a rolling hills biome. There was nothing remarkable about this. We were atop a hill. I could see Grady and Logan on the horizon atop their own hill.

Grady and I stood next to each other prepared to fight.

"Death to our opponents!" she shouted.

"What the fuck!" I yelled.

We hadn't even begun running towards them when they began fighting one another. There was a lake, I think, behind them and Stacey had formed ice limbs from the water. Logan did the same and now they were slashing at each other and attempting viciously to land blows on one another.

A Statusin in the sky marked them both in negative points for attacking their own teammate.

Stacey drew in more water, melted her ice, and manipulated it into an octopod formation with her at the center. She floated at the top of her water a couple of meters in the air and jabbed tentacles at Logan. He continued to aim long slashes at her but he couldn't keep evading her attacks.

In a display of effort, Logan froze the tentacles in place, leaving Stacey momentarily confused, giving him a moment to strike with his right ice limb.

Without hesitation, I shot an arc of electricity at the sword, melting it.

I hoped to bring that up on her later.

He turned to see me, giving Stacey enough time to land a blow to his back, sending him flying all the way to the bottom of our hill.

Stacey ran to the lake and plunged herself in.

Without noticing what she did, Logan— who was still on the ground—dug his hand into the grass.

Before I could even think to do anything about it, the peaceful grass became vicious and enveloped me completely. I was wrapped up like a cocoon.

"Grady! Make a fire with your aura! Do it!" I shouted through the vines. It was probably all muffled.

"How?" she asked.

"I don't know! Fire is energy! Aura is too! Just figure it out!" After that I couldn't talk anymore since the vines were too tight.

And then I felt warm.

More like burning.

The vines were charred and I was still on fire, so I stood up and ran in circles.

"Stop, drop, and roll!" she exclaimed. I threw myself on the ground and rolled. I saw how Grady had been evading being hit by Logan's icicle limbs.

Once I was okay, I shot lightning bursts at Logan, who blocked them with an ever-healing ice shield.

Then the hailstorm started.

I saw that an entire portion of the field was dried out as well as the lake. Stacey had made a cloud out of the water from the environment.

We were buffeted by the hail for a while before Grady could form a dome of aura that evaporated the ice before it touched us. She was spinning slowly and I could feel heat radiating from her body. The aura was just a distortion in the air, like light going through water.

Through the barrier I could see that Logan had encased himself in a giant ice golem suit. He was charging towards us.

"Stop that! We can't take that hit!" Grady exclaimed.

I charged up a strong telekinetic blast and released it in his direction. The golem suit was sent flying back into the side of their hill.

Stacey ended the hailstorm and floated slowly from the sky on a frozen platform.

Without hesitation, Grady ran up to her and then an epic fight began.

They both used the tentacle technique: Stacey used water and Grady used her aura. They lashed out at each other.

And that's when I had an epiphany. Grady and Uma said I was a magician. Not an electrokinetic, not a telekinetic. A magician. I can do anything! A child's dream come true; I had the world at my fingertips. I already made an earthquake and teleported myself to some fantastic world, so I could do anything.

I joined in on Grady's energy manipulation, but I didn't use my own like she did. I tapped into the planet's energy and began launching blasts of pure energy at Logan's downed ice suit.

I could see Stacey's water evaporating faster and faster, and Logan's golem was melting as well. Grady and I landed our coup de grâce in unison. Grady spiked a tentacle directly into Stacey's chest and I sent an orb of transparent damage magic into Logan's abdomen.

-----

In the lobby the first thing we saw was Stacey and Logan making out.

Like, a torrid, passionate making out. I'd never seen Stacey like this before. what the fuck was going on?

What about all of this encouraged her to act like this?

Where were the gays? Is my aversion to her behavior purely selfish and envious?

Stick around for the next episode of What the Fuck is Going On: Gay Magician Edition, I thought to myself.