A Trip Between Two Worlds (IC)

[Electra]

It was obvious that both Erin and Aaron would've liked to settle things then and there, but they were also too well-trained to ignore the priority of finishing the fight. Luckily, with the Lucases in action, that only took a few more seconds. Within moments, the last of the staggered monsters were down and disappearing, and the Wanders were back in each other's faces. "I asked if you wanted to go high or low and you said high," Erin snapped at her counterpart, on tiptoes so as to bring them nose to nose.

"Yeah, and I went high, and finished the job, and then started going low," Aaron shot back. "You weren't going fast enough, so I figured you could use the help!"

"I was going faster than you!" Erin scoffed. "There were twice as many dogs, and they could smell in the dark. Way to manage to take out a bunch of blind one-eyed guys, that had to be really tough for you. You could've helped more by staying the hell out of my way and maybe getting a little more team training."

"I'm not the one who needs training in how to work on a team. Around here, I train more than anybody," Aaron replied, setting his feet in a ready stance. "Maybe you do things differently where you come from, cause it sure doesn't seem that way."

"Oh yeah?" Erin asked, raising her stick. "I can take you any day of the week, no matter how much you twirl your little sticks."

"Bold words," Aaron smirked. "But you're just standing there." As if that had been some kind of signal, they both rushed each other at the same time, exchanging a flurry of leaping, tumbling blows that was nearly too fast to follow.

[Gizmo]

The White's furious movement blew the last vestiges of the midnight mist cloud away, leaving Trevor to unfasten his mask and plant a hand over his face. "...why?" he asked with a sigh, giving Tricia a look with was only saved from being plaintive by his naturally impassive features.

Removing her own mask, she winced, obsidian and sanguine eyes darting back and forth to watch the fighting. "Should we... just let them work it out of their system?" she asked hesitantly. Trying to get between Aaron and Erin in full on battle mode wasn't a particularly attractive course of action.

Trevor moved the hand upward to run through his hair. "Normally I'd say Erin could take care of herself, but right now I'm more worried about her taking care of herself. Hrrn..."

[Avenger Assembled]

"You guys! Stop fighting!" Mark and Marcie exclaimed as one. They ran quickly to the affray, each one fearlessly putting themselves between the White they knew and their antagonist. "Don't you know you're supposed to fight before you team up, not while you team up?" Annoyingly, both Whites were much faster than Mark and Marcie, and they were also much less vulnerable to sweet reason than Mike and Michelle had been. "Hey!" Neither of them seemed to be paying much attention.

"Does she do this on your world a lot?" Marcie whispered to Mark as they stood in the middle of the battle.

"Not really," Mark whispered back, "she's usually good at hiding when she wants to beat someone up! I don't know...maybe there's a scale or something."

"Yeah!" said Marcie, "Trevor and Trixie are just friends, Aaron and Erin are real mad at each other, and you and I..." They exchanged a look, then went back to trying to break up the fight. "Can't we all just get along?"

[Electra]

Both combatants checked for a split second when Mark and Marcie entered the fight, but it didn't stop them long. With the skill of the exceptionally well-trained, Erin adjusted her strike so it whiffed past Mark's head, and Aaron's tonfa avoided Marcie's midsection by fractions of an inch. "Stay out of this, Mark," Erin commanded, executing a neat backflip that let her avoid the interloper, even as Aaron leapt to meet her.

"You too, Marcie," Aaron said flatly. "We're training." It was hard to tell, given that they were apparently sincere in their desire to beat each other unconscious, but the two Wanders almost seemed to be enjoying themselves.

[Gizmo]

Trevor let out a long breath, and placed his hands on his head. Clearly Erin and Aaron weren't going to be dissuaded, and by all appearances they weren't going to do any lasting harm to each other either. "Well, this might take a little while," he predicted in resignation.

Beside him, Tricia reached into a pocket of her jacket and produced a small rectangular box. "Cards?"

"That'll work," her counterpart agreed before turning to call over the Lucases. "Mark, Marcie, you two know euchre, right?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yeah," said Marcie, looking disappointed. She knew Aaron had a lot of issues, but it was always disappointing when she couldn't help her friends be happy, even alternate versions of her friends. I wonder if Mark has this much trouble with his Erin all the time."I guess they have to have a fight to settle their differences." With a sigh, she took Mark's hand again, wiping back a stray lock of blonde hair from her face. "That was still really nice," she told her double, a smile on her face as they joined Trevor and Trixie.

"It was," Mark agreed. "And it's okay. Some people need to solve their differences through fighting; it's just personalities being different. I was worried they were really mad at each other, but with Erin, I guess it's more like...this is how you say hello, or get to know somebody. And if it's the same for Aaron, it's only natural they'd do something like that." He watched as the Hunters dealt. "It's like when the Centurion had to fight the gold Centurion when he visited the dimension of gold! They were friends in the end, though."

"I think I know Centuria's adventures, Mark," said Marcie superliciously, breaking up into a fit of the giggles as Mark gave her a look. They both laughed, gazing as much at each other as at the game.

[Electra]

While the others did their best to ignore it, Aaron and Erin continued their fight on the opposite side of the room. It would've been almost impossible to follow even if anyone had been watching, with blows traded and blocked almost too quickly for the eye to see, interspersed among blinding flurries of feints and acrobatic feats that carried them around the room between blinks. Fighting Aaron, Erin recognized every bad habit, every weak point she'd been unable to excise from herself, every personality trait she hated, every neurosis that wouldn't respond to therapy. And she knew, even now, that he saw the same things in her. What else was there to do but try to physically fight the manifestation of all the things they couldn't fix in themselves? Dr. Marquez, both of them, would likely have a field day with the training footage.

Time lost meaning as the fight dragged on, till it seemed they had never done anything but fight, and would never be finished. They were so closely matched, so keenly aware of each others' strengths and weaknesses, that neither was able to move in for the finishing shot. Despite their immense superhuman stamina, both of them began to tire. The fight slowed down and moved apart, with the combatants circling more, looking for opportunities, saving their strength. Erin, who hadn't been in full uniform, was down to half her shirt, shredded pants, and no shoes or socks, and Aaron's morphic uniform really wasn't doing much better.

Finally, in one last massive rush, they leapt at each other, tumbling across the floor like a brawl in a cartoon, going after each other with punches, bare hands, even nails and teeth. They fetched up against the far wall, with Aaron using his superior size and weight to pin his counterpart to the floor, one arm under her chin. Disgusted, Erin reached out a hand and slapped it against the ground. "Godddamn it," she gasped. He rolled off, and both of them lay on the floor, just out of arms' reach of each other, both gasping.

[Gizmo]

"More like settling their similarities," Trevor murmured apprehensively, distracted from his card playing as he continued to glance over at the melee. On some level he knew this was something Erin needed to do, but it was still difficult to sit by and watch.

When the fight was finally over, he tossed his card down and sauntered over to where the Whites were lying, calmly waiting a few paces away while they caught their breath. Finally closing the distance and bending over, the dark haired youth, helped Erin to her feet with one hand while slipping his unbuckled jacket over her shoulders with the other. He offered her a small smile, tilting his head in a subtle gesture which asked if she was alright.

Nearby, Tricia stood, arms folded across her chest. Giving the visitors from Earth-Y a thoughtful look, she turned her attention to Aaron but made no move to take off her own jacket. "I'm good with the ripped costume," she declared nonchalantly.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Great," said Mark cordially, sitting up while he looked over at the affray. He was disappointed, in an absurd way, that his own Erin hadn't won the fight, but what mattered was that they weren't hitting each other anymore. "Good, uh, hustle, Wanders!" he called, trying to be reassuring now that the battle was over. "I guess there's no better opponent than yourself, right?" He knew how well Erin fought, and knew her body would heal well before her pride did. It had certainly been a very impressive fight to watch. Glad when Trevor moved in with the jacket, he glanced over at Tricia and said, "We usually all have our morphic molecules on, but I'm usually the only one who has his on all the time."

"I know, me too!" agreed Marcie. "I mean you never know when there might be an opportunity for adventure. Like the time we accidentally got shot to Erde! I was really glad I had my costume to fight those Nazis, that's for sure." She nodded at that. "That was quite a mission. I bet you were really good at it, though. Did you blow up a lot of robots?"

"Did I?! We showed those Nazis that Nazis suck and need to get blown up. It was sweet."

[Electra]

Erin had a bloody nose and two black eyes from her last set of impacts with the floor, but the bruises were already beginning to fade as she stood up and leaned on Trevor for a moment. "I'm fine," she told him, wiping the blood from her nose with a bit of her shirt. "These clothes are wrecked, though. Dammit," she said again, and started to look around for her lost footwear.

Aaron was limping as he got to his feet, and favoring the arm he hadn't used for the pin. He had a couple of fading bite marks, and was missing a small clump of hair on the side of his head. "You're okay with it," he muttered to Tricia, "but Ms. Archer's gonna ride my butt about it. I think we're done for today." He found one of Erin's shoes and tossed it to her.

[Gizmo]

"Like she wouldn't anyway?" Tricia pointed out, tugging absently on her cap before succumbing to vague embarrassment and pulling the brim down in front of her eyes as she turned away from Aaron's ruined uniform, clearing her throat lightly. "Beats simulated sparring, though, right?"

Trevor left his hand on Erin's shoulder, allowing her to put as much weight on him as she liked without assuming that she needed to. Given the speed of her regenerative healing, the lanky youth was considerably more concerned by how the fierce heroine was going to react to the outcome of the match. For the time being, he remained silent, simply offering his presence.

[Avenger Assembled]

It didn't take Marcie long to note the condition of Erin's clothes, and with a wince of sympathy she pointed a finger at her. "The last thing you need is to be stuck with a wardrobe malfunction, amirite? Here, let me help!" Before Erin could reply, a stream of black dots came streaming from her finger and embracing Erin's clothes. When she was done, Erin's clothes were back to normal, and better than new...though changed in subtle ways. Her green blouse now had pink flowers stitched on, while there was a line of sparkles up her jeans, and her newly replaced sneakers were a definite shade of pink that just happened to match what Marcie herself was wearing. "Okay," she said brightly, "That looks better! I've got to go to drills. You're all welcome to come with me and watch," she offered, something Tricia and Aaron were well used to by now.

"I'll go," offered Mark, glancing at the others to make sure no one objected. "But maybe after we check in with Ms. Harcourt." A quick call to League headquarters revealed that nothing had changed: the Earth-Y visitors were still due to drop back in 12 to 24 hours, and in the meantime there was nothing to do but sit tight and not get far off the Claremont grounds. "I don't, uh, know what all we can do for socializing, but it's probably best if we make sure to stick close to our double, if not each other. We don't want to start anything...you know, weird."

[Electra]

Erin looked down at herself, torn between relief and dismay. She didn't like the way the clothes looked, and she definitely didn't like the pink shoes, but it was better than losing a whole outfit. Of course, the shoes had been fine, and she didn't have any others... maybe she could paint them white again or something. "Thanks," she said, and tried to make it sound sincere. You generally didn't have to try too hard with Mark, and she figured Marcie was probably the same way. "I could go for something to eat," she suggested, dabbing the last of the blood from her now totally healed nose. She'd have preferred to ditch the doubles and just stuck close to Trevor until it was time to go, but that didn't look like an option right now.

[Gizmo]

While Trevor coughed lightly to suppress a chuckle, Tricia rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Marcie, we've talked about this..." she said reproachfully. "You have to ask before you do that." For a brief period the helpful cheerleader had hypothesized that the willowy girl's reserved attitude was due to her notably dark wardrobe; Tricia still had a pile of 'improved' clothes sitting in the back of her dresser.

"Could eat," Trevor agreed, the corner of his mouth twitching subtly. He had a feeling a cheer routine performed by distaff counterparts was going to be a little awkward, but all things considered it probably made sense to stick relatively close by the reality manipulator when stranded on a parallel Earth.

[Avenger Assembled]

As it happened, Marcie had a solution to the problem of food before cheering: the hot dog stand/convenience store across the street from campus was open elsewhere, selling the kind of good, if unhealthy food, that teenagers loved across dimensional boundaries. The Lucases turned out to both like the same kind of overloaded New Jersey hot dog, thick beef laden with condiments and sauce, luckily none of which dripped down onto their clothes as they ate. Marcie had paid for Mark, but the Lucases were not rich in this reality either. "Hey Trixie," the middle-class Marcie whispered, "You want to get the rest of this or should I? I don't think our friends have a lot of Susie bucks on them."

[Electra]

Erin laid her head momentarily on Trevor's shoulder just as they were leaving the doom room, the only sign that she was feeling any lingering distress or discomfort after the fight. Since he hadn't asked for his jacket back, she kept it on to cover up her healing bruises and newly decorated clothes. It smelled like him, in a good way, and she liked that. The hot dog stand was pretty much the way she remembered it except for a few design touches. She kept it simple and ordered a polish with mustard and onions, not even thinking till the other girls started whispering that she didn't have any way to pay for it.

Aaron looked a little uncomfortable as well, for the same reason if not from the same source. He stood with the others, hands clasped loosely behind his back, and didn't order anything. Like his counterpart, he didn't need to eat at every meal, or even every day, and it wouldn't hurt him to wait to eat till he got over to the cafeteria where his meals were free. It wasn't like he didn't earn money or anything, but after taking Olivia to the vet this month, he was pretty tapped out. Letting other people pay his way was a necessity occasionally, but it was still embarrassing.

[Gizmo]

"Got it," Tricia confirmed lightly, quickly moving to handle things so as to make it a non-issue. Although Claremont had more than a few students from affluent backgrounds, some even more so than the Hunter family, just as many of her classmates were there on scholarships or other special circumstances. While she tended to downplay her wealth, Tricia did wish her friends weren't quite so reluctant to let her take care of incidental costs.

"Jacket's a good look," Trevor opined with a faint smile, dropping his hand from her shoulder to her waist. Hanging back near the refrigerated units full of beverages, he lowered his voice. "Just so I know," the dark haired young man asked calmly, "are we pretending that fight never happened, or are we talking about it later?"

Walking back from the counter, Tricia handed out food, presenting Aaron with a hotdog identical to the one Erin had ordered. "After that workout," she told her, forestalling his objections, "you could use the empty calories. Take it." She'd put her sunglasses back on to go out in public and there was a note of nervousness in her expression, but the set of her slim shoulders made it clear she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark and Marcie were sitting on the cement steps out front, half-looking back at their friends inside, half-looking at each other. "You know, it's funny," said Marcie with a little smile, murmuring to Mark. "I write stories about just this sort of thing happening. Somehow I always knew it would happen to me for real!" She grinned. "Do you ever go on fanfiction.net? I'm MML4EVAH there, and I've got a whole bunch of crazy stories about my friends in Young Freedom. I don't use anyone's real story, of course, but there's so much fun you can have with AUs!" She grinned.

For his part, Mark coughed and said, "No, actually, that's one thing I don't do much of. I mean, I write too, but I usually write using characters I come up with. I think it's more fun to invent my own characters and stories rather than just take someone else's story for my own. I like reading herofic, sure, but I'd rather tell my own stories, even if sometimes they are inside someone else's universe. I guess we can't like all the same things."

"I guess not," said Marcie, taking a big bite of her dog. "But that's OK. Your loss," she said, "But yeah, I've done stories about people hooking up, having different genders or ages...it was pretty cool." She grinned. "You're still cute, though."

"Not as cute as you," said Mark automatically, grinning back as he ate. "I can't believe those flips you do! I mean I work out, but I can't get anywhere near that kind of action." The conversation turned from there to acrobatics, naturally enough, Mark and Marcie paying a great deal of attention to each other.

[Electra]

Aaron looked at Tricia, then around to see if anyone was looking at them. His pride was suffering, but he figured he would look like even more of a loser if he refused and it caused a scene. The sausage was already bought, anyway. He ran a hand over his hair, wincing a little at the new bald spot, then took the grease-spotted paper bag. "Thanks," he said, sincerely for all there was a hint of a sigh in the word. "We can probably grab an outside table, it's not that busy." He headed out of the restaurant, following Mark and Marcie, though not too closely.

Across the room, Erin played with the ends of her own hair and watched the room. "I don't know," she admitted to Trevor with a shrug. "Ask me later, maybe." The fight had alleviated some of the worst stress of interdimensional travel, but she still didn't feel especially good about it, especially about losing. And she definitely wasn't in the mood to hear any lecturing, even if it was a lecture condensed into four or five words or full of incomprehensible babbling. "Let's eat."

[Gizmo]

Tricia made a small smile as Aaron turned away to walk back outside that was, by her standards, practically beaming, before adjusting her cap unconsciously and following him outside. For his part, Trevor gave Erin a simple nod of acquiescence, accepting a condiment free hotdog from his counterpart on her way out. The Hunters typically stuck to healthier fare as part of their regimented training and apart from coffee took a the stance that food was fuel regardless of taste. Even so, the dark haired young man found he was sufficiently hungry to make the snack a welcome respite, chewing thoughtfully as they joined the rest of the group at the storefront.

[Avenger Assembled]

When everyone had eaten, Marcie led the teens back to the gym, where she gave Mark a quick squeeze. "We'll be out in the main floor doing our routines," she said, "if you want to catch our drill. The whole squad isn't back yet, but we'll have me, Michelle, Alex, Charlotte, and Terri for sure. It'll be great!" The rest of the squad was actually just arriving at that juncture; the brightly colored Alex Albright the only boy on the girl-heavy squad. Marcie made quick introductions, introducing the Earth-Y visitors to the gender-flipped counterparts of the friends they'd left behind. After a quick conversation, Marcie and the girls disappeared into the girls locker room, while Alex did the same in the boys.

Upstairs, the gym was relatively quiet, this being the week before the fall classes came back, giving the Earth-Y visitors time to find their seats before the peppy, confident-looking cheerleaders came out. Marcie looked at home in bright and sparkly Clairemont blue and gold as her costume colors, a sparkly C over her chest as she led her team out onto the practice floor. "All right, squad!" she called. "Let's show our visitors how they do it at Clairemont High! Not everybody gets to see full-powers rehearsal," she said with a grin, "so you guys are lucky!"

And with that, Alex cued up the music and the team went into action. The cheerleading squad really did have a great routine, obviously the result of fantastic practice, and the addition of superpowers only made it more spectacular: Charlotte used her stretching powers to bounce a cartwheeling Terri up over Marcie's head, while Michelle tossed Alex back and forth as he whooped out the Claremont cheer. Marcie wasn't the strongest, or the toughest, or fastest cheerleader, but she was the prettiest, and certainly the most enthusiastic, the lovely star of a very pretty group of young ladies. When the music died down, they went into their cheers.

2, 4, 6, 8

Who do we appreciate?

Not the king,

Not the queen,

Only Clairemont's super-team!

And it went on like that! For Mark's part, all he could do was stare raptly, his eyes wide as he took in the show.

[Electra]

Erin watched with wide eyes as well, though her expression varied between slightly pained and mostly disbelieving when she forgot to keep it schooled to polite blankness. "Where do they find the time to do all this stuff?" she murmured to Trevor. "And what do they cheer for, anyway?" Aaron had obviously seen the show before, he looked up and clapped occasionally when it seemed appropriate, but he was mostly focused on reading A Separate Peace and making notes for his book report. Erin glanced his way enviously from time to time, but without a Prime version of the book, she was stuck waiting and homeworkless.

[Gizmo]

Sitting next to Erin, Trevor looked vaguely stricken. "...never going to be able to look Mike in the eye again," he lamented. He hadn't really made a point of attending any school games in their own universe, so he wasn't entirely sure how Clairemont's cheer team matched up to their own, but impressive athleticism aside, the entire exercise made him a little uncomfortable. Eventually he looked away and indicated the jacket Erin was wearing. "PDA in the inside left pocket has a copy of the book on it." He'd already completed most of the reading for the coming semester, and had nearly forgotten about the collection of digital versions he stored there.

[Avenger Assembled]

The routine went on and on, growing in pyrotechnic power. Maybe the Clairemont teens didn't have the acrobatic grace of Claremont's acrobats, but they had power, enthusiasm, and a sheer infectious joy that had Mark on his feet applauding even as the team finished reciting the Claremont oath while high-stepping in mid-air while the fight song played. Marcie did a neat roll in the air and landed luckily right in front of Mark, sweating slightly and looking very pleased with herself. Looking back to the other girls, she called "Good hustle, team! Hit the showers with a job well done!" It was a little odd, since the Earth-Y kids had heard Mark say just that after a Young Freedom practice.

"That was...that was really great," said Mark. "I am totally taking that back and telling our cheerleaders how awesome you guys are. I can't believe how high Mi...er, Michelle threw you! We've done stuff like that in training, but never for something like this. And I had no idea we could make all those pyrotechnics!" Mark was a little out of breath himself.

"It's...it's no big," said Marcie, studying him again, her cheeks flushed. "So, uh, I need to shower off...but we can meet up and finish what we were working on earlier?" Mark met her eyes and nodded, then turned to the team,

"We'll probably go crazy if we live in each other's pockets. I won't leave Kord Hall."

[Electra]

Erin brightened visibly at Trevor's suggestion, digging into the coat pocket and pulling out his PDA. "That's awesome!" she told him. "I can get this stupid report finished up and not have to catch hell again for being sucked into an alternate dimension with my homework not finished." She ignored most of the cheerleading display in favor of the book, which she didn't enjoy, but was determined to finish up. Now that homework was back on track, being stranded in a friendly dimension with allies nearby and a way home visible wasn't so bad. "Sure," she told Mark when he suggested leaving, "just make sure not to miss our ride back. We've got team training scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and you don't want to miss it." She glanced over at Trevor, wondering if he was getting the same weird vibe from Mark and Marcie, then deciding she didn't really want to know.

Aaron put away his book and clapped at the end of the program, dutifully supporting his roommate and his other teammates in their extracurricular endeavors. He couldn't help thinking that cheerleading was a total waste of time, but Alex enjoyed doing it, and he didn't do a lot of things that were useless and just for fun, so maybe it was good for him. Standing up, Aaron looked towards the newcomers. He wasn't crazy about the idea of hanging around with them much longer, but it was important to be polite. "We've got a common room with games and books and television and stuff," he offered. "You can hang out there and relax while you wait to go home."