Welcome to Gaia! ::

Billy felt a hand grip his shoulder soothingly.

"C'mon kiddo."

Billy turned around and found a smiling Jennifer and some of the others in the Magic Club and she directed him into the stadium with the others.

"It's all totally safe. I rode Virgil's disc earlier, and I was fine." Wallace said happily, heading into the arena after Teddy.

It took him longer to realize that he was holding Hartley's hand, and he froze, looking at it for a moment, then at Hartley.

"sorry..." he whispered meekly, then let it go.

"Do you see Billy?" Teddy asked, not even noticing the little moment he'd just missed. He pushed through people, finally finding four seats together...conveniently located near Virgil. Wallace's little pal.

*Chris had a fun night with Cassie and, surprisingly, Hartley. Hartley barely touched any games but it was still a good time. He knew the magic competition was tonight but so many girls were making nasty comments to him now that he really didn't want to attend. The comments rolled off his back mostly because he knew it was all BS. Lisa BS. Ugh...why did he involved with that girl.

So, Chris decided to patrol Midvale to look for the trail of this Kraven character. Unfortunately, he had found nada. He had found something else tho...the Pannie Girl. And she was heading towards Hero High. Chris followed at a distance to see what was up...was she going to rob the school?*

Into the air above the spectator's heads, a large flash of light sailed up into the air and exploded into a dazzling display of golden fireworks, and as the sparks descended, they transformed into flickering fae that buzzed down and about everyone in attendance.

At the forefront of the stadium, upon a large grand stand, stood the acting Headmaster of Hero High, Bruce Wayne, and on his arm, a blue and orange falcon was perched. The bird flapped its wings and vaulted off and instantly transformed into the principal of the Masters of the University, the Sorceress Teela'Na.

At the front of the stand is a long, cherry oak table adorned in a gold and white draping. Seated behind it are the judges of this competition, Hero High teachers Agatha Harkness and Daimon Hellstrom, and MU's Castaspella and Kore, and the impartial fifth party of Minerva McGonnigal from Hogwarts.

Wayne stepped up to the speaker with Teela'Na and spoke up;

"Welcome everyone, to this year's first Magical Competition between our sister schools!"

The crowd clapped and cheered.

Teela'Na said, "We are proud to continue the tradition set down over forty years ago where our most able and skilled of mage students display their gifts for all of us to see and appreciate."

Wayne said, "This will be done in round robin style, where each student will be paired with another from the opposing school. points will be awarded after each round and the student with the highest points will be deemed the winner."

Teela'Na said, "And at the end of the competition, the team with the highest alloted total will be crowned the night's champions, advancing to the next round against Toonami Tech."

Wayne said, "And the school who does not win this night will not be eliminated from the tournament. They will have a second chance to make it into the tournament to receive the Golden Chalice."

Teela'Na said, "Now let's begin!"

She raised her hands into the air and an arc of violet light illuminated the stands and the crowd in the stands could see both school's teams walking out onto the field.

And his friends were able to see Billy among them, standing right between Jennifer and Klarion.

"Ohp. There he is. Life is good." Teddy leaned back in his seat, and he looked to his right. Shoot. Wallace was seated next to Hartley. How had he let that happen? Hopefully it would stop.

He was sitting next to Hartley. He was sitting next to Hartley. He was sitting next to Hartley. Omg omg omg. He was sitting next to Hartley. And they had just been holding hands. He could feel non-stop butterflies in his stomach.

Wallace shifted a little in his seat, just enough so that their knees could touch. He was pretty sure he was going to explode.

So far, this was incredibly lame, almost as bad as watching a football ga-

Was that Wallace's knee?