Summer watched with bated breath as their enemy walked past them and headed straight for Ashton. As he did, she saw the course around him begin to change in a sinister way. The formerly friendly obstacle course grew spikes and the ground became tainted with some sort of purple toxin that bubbled and sizzled ominously.

  This was how the Purple Tortoise set the stage to stop his prey from escaping. No one had ever gotten hurt before, and this was training, but that didn't make it any less threatening. It was as if he was trying to separate them to pick them off one by one.

  For a moment, Summer was about to flee deeper into the course, but she suddenly came to a stop. If this was real, not some training would she abandon Ashton like this? She had fought through the harsh winds of a potential tornado to reach him before. She couldn't be scared off by an obstacle course during training.

  Though she didn't know exactly where Ashton was, Summer figured the new dangers would become worse and more frequent the closer she got. With this in mind, she carefully climbed along the rope wall to bypass her first challenge, the poisonous puddle.

  After that was a tunnel with a spike lined ceiling she had to crawl through. She was definitely glad she was crawling because the tunnel sloped steadily upward as she climbed through it, only to open up to a sheer drop. Rather than a ladder, one of those poles with pegs either spiraling around it was provided.

  Definitely not something she could descend facing forward. Summer looked around so she could get a good idea of what was up ahead before she went down to it. More puddles and spikes, a swinging ax, and several pitfalls. None of that looked fun, but now she could see exactly where Ashton was.

  Holding in a nervous breath, Summer made her way past each obstacle until she came to a bottleneck with seemingly no way forward. The walls and ceiling were lined with spikes. The floor with the poison puddle. She couldn't even approach with caution because of the swinging ax right in front of the tunnel. Was there some way to go over it? Unless she could suddenly fly, it looked like that was out too. If it wasn't for the ax she might have tried to climb along the spikes.

  Ashton was so close, but there was no way to get to him. Perhaps she could turn back and find another path, but who knew how long that would take. Maybe she could disrupt the swinging of the ax? Summer looked around her for something to throw. There wasn't really anything big enough to matter. Frustrated, Summer slid off one of her shoes. She was going to get through, one way or another!

  The shoe flew through the air, hitting the ax straight on as it swung past. At least, that was what should have happened. Summer gaped in shock as her shoe went right through the ax as if it wasn't even there and landed with a thump right in the puddle of poison. A thump, not a splash or even a splat. Did that mean that everything was fake? She mustered up her courage and reached out to touch the ax as it swung past.

  It went right through her hand, but it didn't even touch her. Now that she thought of it, the swinging was eerily quiet. Shouldn't there be some sort of swoosh? She tested the spikes next. Nothing. Her hand met a bare wall. She carefully retrieved her shoe from the puddle only to find it wasn't wet at all. Absolutely everything was fake. It was...

  "An illusion," Summer muttered as the realization hit her. All of the doors began to connect, but before she could voice any more the Purple Tortoise appeared before her, straight through a wall that wasn't really there.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "You must be Summer Aster," he greeted. He seemed so much less menacing now that Summer knew everything was fake.

  "You must be Harper's dad," she replied, awkwardly stuffing her foot back into her shoe. She was going to need it if she had to run.

  For a moment the Purple Tortoise hesitated, then he seemed to decide it didn't matter. "That's right. I read my daughter's report on you, and I must say she can be a big naive."

  "Naive?" Summer repeated, trying to connect the word to the super soldier of a woman they were training under. The word didn't seem to match at all.

  "Yes. She saw potential for you to create your own illusion ability," he explained, "I think she is wrong. Even if you go through all the effort to get the images just right, the moment someone realizes it is an illusion, all of that effort will be for nothing. Following that path will be a waste of time and effort. You should focus on what you already have before trying to force it to become something else."

  "Were you supposed to give advice during this training?" Summer asked, confused.

  "So long as you learn something, I can do whatever I want," he replied with a shrug, "Besides, a fight between the two of us would be quite sad. Neither of us can do much on our own once the pretenses drop, right Golden Reign?"

  That stung, but Summer couldn’t deny it. “Then I just need to avoid being on my own,” she argued, “Support roles are needed in every occupation. Kayla is the same way.”

  The Purple Tortoise grinned. “That’s exactly right. You need to focus on your role as support and partnership with Kayla. I saw how well you picked up your new power today. Even my own daughter took more time to understand.”

  Was that a compliment? It almost sounded like she was being put in her place, and Summer was a bit conflicted about becoming Kayla’s partner. Their first meeting hadn’t been the best, and she still considered the woman a rival and a threat. Even though she had uncovered the ex-villain’s illusion scheme she still felt she was the one at the disadvantage.

  “Ashton’s smarter than you people anyway,” Summer told him, “He is the one who showed me the true nature of my power, and how to grow. Maybe I can never make illusions like you, but I can still play tricks with the light.”

  “At least he seems to have gained the respect of his team,” the Purple Tortoise mused.

  Summer was about to ask what that meant when she caught sight of Ashton slipping through the same wall he had earlier. When their eyes met, Ashton held a finger to his lips and walked carefully up behind their foe. Distraction! He needed a distraction! Summer scrambled to think of something quick that could work.

  “What was Harper’s power?’ she blurted, “The one she got from Kayla.”

  “Now you are just being nosey,” the old man scolded, “A temporary power granted based on desire. Doesn’t that sound incredibly personal?”

  “You both got to see mine,” Summer pointed out, trying her best not to watch Ashton’s approach and focus on the man before her instead.

  The Purple Tortoise watched her for a few moments. Maybe he was being theatrical, or maybe he had noticed something was up. Whatever the answer, Summer would never get to find out. Ashton reached out and grabbed the man’s shoulder, setting off a spark. It gave him a jolt, but he was still fully conscious.

  “Old man, I’ve learned something,” Ashton announced, “Now end this farce or I will treat you like a real enemy, just like you wanted.”

  Just what had happened between them before Summer arrived?