Chapter 6: Chapter 5: Fortunately for Pike, Mindie is always there

Mindie stretched her arms high over her head and heaved a satisfied sigh. “Ahhh, I’m feeling great after dinner! I bet I could take on an oak tree-sized Shade right now!”

Her dad’s burgers had really hit the spot after that minor upset she went through earlier in the art building. It was a fluke, of course. Never mind the small handful of times her lumi broke against other Shades she encountered in the past—or that her mom, sister, or another Star had to bail her out. She felt fully rejuvenated after a bit of downtime, as well as a hearty burger and a half.

She had wasted no time shooting Pike a message afterwards so that they could meet up downtown. She thought she heard Ciara starting to protest, but by then she was halfway out the door. The other half of her second burger needed another stomach to call home before it wasn’t as fresh off the grill.

As they walked along downtown’s section of the lakeshore, Pike took a bite into the half-eaten patty sandwiched between the brioche buns. The specialty burger sauce really made the meal. He flicked his tongue along the corner of his mouth to capture a small bit of the zesty condiment that tried to escape.

His stomach rumbled contentedly as the bite came down the pipe. “This burger is really good.”

“Yeah? As good as you remember?” Mindie flashed him a smug grin. “Like, from the last time you came over months ago?”

“Well, your dad isn’t exactly the I’ll be home early kind of employee.”

“That’s not my point, and you know it.” She leered playfully at him. Moving in closer, she snaked her arm around Pike’s and jostled him a bit, nearly causing him to drop his food. Only a pickle escaped to the ground unnoticed, which wasn’t a big loss. “Join us for dinner sometime! I promise it’ll be nice departure from eating in the cafeteria all the time.”

“The cafeteria food isn’t that bad.”

“Yeah, if you’re starving…” Which Mindie often was, after training sessions with her mom.

Pike took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. “What if I end up making a habit of it? I wouldn’t want to eat you out of house and home.”

“Psh. With your bird-like appetite? I think my fam would be willing to take their chances.”

She wasn’t wrong. Only a few bites into his half-burger, Pike was already starting to feel his stomach telling him to slow down. Though in his defense he already had one dinner earlier with his new friend Ryan.

It was then that he recalled the obvious: Ryan was also aspiring to be a Star.

While there were students who came to HRU for other reasons, those who deliberately enrolled almost always do so with the intent to grow their ability to use luminescence. Even Mindie was among that crowd, and she would undoubtedly, gradually find herself surrounded by fellow aspiring Stars.

On the other hand, he was in the minority—someone who came to HRU without that intent. He attended because, well…

His mind was suddenly a rolling fog. Why was he here, again? He had told himself the reason before. Reasons, plural. Why couldn’t he remember them? No, this was normal. A full mind remembers things in intervals, or when they’re triggered for a response. It wouldn’t be fair to always have those reasons ready when brainpower was better spent focusing on the now.

Ah, he remembered now. He came here to follow Mindie. Wasn’t that it? It’s a simpleton’s reason, but…

No wait. He came to HRU because it was close to home. Until his parents decided to move to the city…

Was it because he was luminescent too? Not many people knew that. He didn’t want to be a Star.

Ryan was going to be a Star.

Mindie was going to be a Star.

Wouldn’t that make him an outsider? Wouldn’t he be left behind?

Why was he here, again…?

“To be honest, partner, sometimes it kind of feels like you’re afraid of visiting my house,” Mindie remarked, idly watching a streetlamp approach and recede as they passed it by. Then she turned to face Pike. And then scowled, her brow furrowing in concern. “Pike?”

The dark eyes behind his glasses seemed darker, less focused. He didn’t seem to heed her even when she asked after him. He just continued to drift forward, clutching the half-eaten burger until its contents began to spill out of his hand. The outline of his body seemed fuzzy, as if a haze had settled in around him.

Mindie immediately knew what was happening.

Without a second thought, she let her emerald eyes flare yellow as she phased into her lumi state. With the protective, glowing energy of luminescence engulfing her, she whipped around and threw out a heavy fist. An extension of chaotic energy burst into harmless wisps and dissipated into the air. The tree-sized Shade it was attached to recoiled with a guttural Gwoooh.

The shroud of chaos that had enveloped Pike was gone, causing his knees to buckle beneath him as he flopped to the ground.

Mindie hurried over and crouched beside him, helping him to sit upright. “Pike! Are you okay?!”

“Ugh… Yeah, I’m good.”

Exhaustion was visible on his face, making it seem gloomier than it usually was. But the haze around him was gone, and the definition of his body had returned as if a camera lens had snapped back into focus. Mindie breathed a momentary sigh of relief. Luminescence may have been the way to deal with the agents of chaos, but it wasn’t much help without being in the lumi state. She had yet to see what happened to a luminescent who was claimed by chaotic energies.

But her bestie wasn’t going to be one of them.

Mindie looked up and scanned the Shade. It seemed disoriented; it lumbered away from them, focusing its attention elsewhere. But it was moving so slowly… That’s when she realized she had a difficult time ascertaining its own definition. She could vaguely discern that it was once tree-shaped to complement its tree size. Wisps of chaotic energy were billowing out from its canopy-like top—signs of instability brought on by being in contact with luminescence’s sharp edge.

“Looks like this big guy’s already gone through the wringer a bit.”

Pike phased into his own lumi state and fixed his focus on the Shade too. “Probably looking for more energy to keep itself going.”

A couple was taking a stroll in the area. They were oblivious to the Shade at large, rumbling towards them. With some of its remaining chaos, the Shade created another extension from its hazy body. It reached out towards them, the makeshift limb opening like a giant hand.

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Suddenly, a glowing yellow sheet streaked into existence, creating a barrier between the couple and the menacing hand. As the lovers flinched and clung to each other at the screen’s abrupt appearance, another glowing figure hurtled down from above. From their view, the figure must have landed heavily on the ground; it created a shockwave that caused the very air to groan.

Mindie phased out of her lumi state and stood in front of the couple. “You might wanna stay clear of this area. There’s some bad air blowing about.”

“You mean it’s that Shade thing again?”

“A couple of HRU students came around earlier and said they’d deal with it, so we thought it was safe already.”

That explained the distressed state of the Shade in their midst. Mindie beamed and started to usher them along. “Well, we’ll make sure of it this time.”

She watched a moment longer as the couple retreated from the scene. Once they were gone, she turned back to the fray to see how her partner was doing. Apparently, not very well. While Pike was able to distract the Shade away from her for a short while, she could see his lumi flickering with each shape he created to keep it at bay.

Mindie phased back into her lumi state and raced towards the tree-sized Shade. As she came into range, she barreled into it with a full-on tackle from the shoulder. It reeled and drifted away from her in temporary retreat as more of its energy was jettisoned away.

She skidded to a halt alongside her flickering companion. “I’ve got this.”

“But—”

“No buts. Save your lumi and keep your guard up.” She beamed back at him. “Leave this to me, partner.”

Pike only grimaced at her attempt to placate him. But his head pulsed painfully, and his luminescence was on the verge of breaking. Even he knew continuing to fight in his current state was a bad idea. With a reluctant nod, he retreated from the scene and left the rest of the confrontation to his partner.

Mindie turned back to the Shade and gave it a once-over as it started to lumber back towards her. “So, someone else already got to you and didn’t finish you off, huh. Talk about sloppy work.”

She smacked her fists together with a confident smirk, her aura flaring. “Welp. I won’t say no to easy Tour cred.”

And she launched herself at her foe. Fresh from a few hours of rest and reenergized from a delicious dinner, Mindie unloaded an assault of fists and feet on the Shade. Slow and lethargic as its movements were, each sting struck its mark from crooked trunk to hazy canopy. It created more extensions from itself, grabbing at her like clumsy hands. The shadowy branches didn’t last long, met with a flurry of martial blows that shattered them into nothingness. The Shade’s tree-like shape was barely visible now, the last of its chaotic energy clinging to itself in a desperate attempt to stay intact.

Sensing the end, Mindie landed at its base and planted her feet. She began to throw fist after fist at its trunk. Each blow caused more chaos to flee its vessel. And when its existence hung only by a thread, she leaped into the air and delivered one more wallop where the trunk met the canopy.

With an agonized Gwoooh, the Shade burst apart, a shockwave rippling out from the point of its demise. Fragments of chaotic energy drifted harmlessly into the night air, dissipating away without a host to keep it all contained.

- - - - -

Mindie felt a fair bit of fatigue after that bout. She leaned heavily on the railing of the lakeside pathway, her head in the cradle of her folded arms. She was drained of much of the energy she had just before the encounter, and feeling some sore muscles besides. The breeze wafting from the lake was a nice addition to the cooldown she needed.

Pike leaned against the railing beside her. “Thanks for the save.”

“Meh. You know I’ve always got your back.”

“Yeah.”

A silence passed over them, filled only by waves gently washing over the shore. Mindie was first to break it.

“So, you want to tell me what’s on that artist’s mind of yours?” She shot him a critical glance. “And don’t pull the it’s nothing crap on me. I know you, partner.”

Caught in the trap that called on him to be upfront, Pike jarred slightly, his mind shaken out of any excuses he might’ve used. He lifted his head and traced his attention along the pathway, idly observing how the streetlights lined themselves with intermittent illumination. One of them flickered slightly.

With his thoughts in order again, he mused, “We’re university students now. With you aiming to be a Star and all, I figured you’d want space to make friends with luminescents who’re, well… more your speed.” He slumped slightly, turning his gaze to the ground. “Or luminescents who don’t break so quickly, at least.”

“Was that all you’re worried about?”

“Well… kind of. I guess.”

Mindie raised a curious eyebrow towards him. Then she let out a small laugh. “My lumi breaks all the time and you know it! C’mon partner, you’re smarter than that.”

Pike felt himself flush with shame, only managing an uneasy grin and a slight shrug in an attempt to hide it.

“You’re my best friend. Isn’t it kind of natural to want to spend time with you?”

She pushed off the railing and righted herself into a stand. Taking a moment to stretch and test the mobility in her arms, she turned to Pike and gestured for him to come closer. Her constant companion knew what she was going to do next, and his uneasy smile smoothened out into something small and more genuine. As he moved in front of her, she reached up and took hold of the back of his head. Pike may not have been the tallest guy in the world, but he was still half a head taller than she was. She had to lift herself up on tiptoes to bring their foreheads together.

“I’m not going anywhere. So, I hope you’ll say yes when I ask you over to my house again, all right?”

“As long as I don’t feel your sister’s death-glare on me for doing so…”

Being a university student was a strange phase in life. As people shed their high school skin, they found new goals to pursue. The friends they made back then would shift their focus, sometimes drifting apart in favor of new friends with similar priorities. Mindie was aspiring to be a Star, and she would be relentless in her pursuit of that ambition. As for Pike…

He always had something on his mind that others would readily wave away in dismissal. Some part of him was always prepared to accept the outcome he wanted least, and he had trained himself to accept those concerns as they were, calming his mind with manufactured consolations. But every once in a while, it was nice to have someone else’s reassurance—especially that of his best friend.

Indeed, after they entered HRU, he often fretted over what would happen if Mindie decided he was no longer a priority in her life.

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