Versus (Parts I and II)

Chapter 10- D.C.

"Good morning, Miss Calista Medley. It is now 9:15 in the morning of September 26th, 2349 in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. Your pressure exam for Fistborn Academy is scheduled at 3:00 PM today at the Fistborn Academy campus in Washington D.C. What would you like for breakfast?"

===

Thankfully, the entire family was able to come on the trip. Since it was a one-day trip, they didn't bother forwarding any packages; they were going to D.C. for the test alone.

They crossed over to the Travel District, which was nothing more than a large field with various small buildings with teleporters inside. Calista raised her brows when she saw the TelePorts 3 and 4 packed with people. There were regularly a lot of people travelling back and forth, but these were a lot.

"Holy Trojans," Catalina whispered.

They left their Air-Car, which was packed safely into the storage, and went through the security scans before entering the teleportation room. The queue was fast, sending out five families at a time; it seemed that the energy levels were incremented to accommodate more people.

Calista glanced up at the hovering letters over the teleporter, swallowing. It changed intermittently from 'TELEPORT 3: FISTBORN ACADEMY, WASHINGTON D.C.' to 'VERSUS PRESSURE EXAM TAKERS ONLY'.

She looked around at all the people waiting. Some were travelling alone, others were with their families. They varied in terms of age, height, and size, some looking stronger and bulkier, others weaker and leaner.

How did she get there? They'd sent her the grades; they were not impressive. Did they really let her in just because it was a passing grade? It was no wonder Earth's schools were rumored to be lackluster compared to the other planets'.

"This trip is free, right?" her father asked.

Her mother sighed, extremely irritated. "Yes. Will you stop?"

"I'm just making sure."

"You 'made sure' hundreds of times."

When it came time for the family to teleport to Washington D.C., the AIDA scanned them and counted them. Five pairs of foot indicators positioned themselves in their slot.

"Please proceed to your respective indicator. Do not step outside the boundary, nor insert any object within the teleportation laser line. Failure to comply may result in malfunction, injury, loss of limbs, or death."

The indicators had their names hovering over them, accommodating their heights and sizes. Calista was in the middle, behind Carter, who yawned tiredly. He wasn't used to an early wake-up.

"Preparing to teleport." The machine whirred as a blue protective barrier separated them from the rest of the waiting crowd. "We ask again for you to keep limbs and objects inside your circle to prevent malfunction, injury, loss of limbs, and/or death. Other waiting travelers must keep a safe distance from the teleporter behind the yellow indicator line. Do not move away from your foot indicators during teleportation, do not speak, and stand with proper posture to avoid intense nausea, dizziness, or other discomfort and/or side effects."

The machine whirred loudly to the point that Calista's ears pinched. Protective spheres were activated to shield everyone's eardrums and eyes. "Teleporting to: TelePort 16, #16 West, Travel District, Washington D.C."

A bright light flashed around them, swirling around them like a blue flame. Calista closed her eyes, waiting for them to reach the other teleporter.

After a few seconds, they arrived, the blue flames disappearing. The protectors deactivated and they stepped out into the empty room. "Teleportation complete. Welcome to Washington D.C. Please proceed to the security scanners before meeting your transportation outside of the TelePort building."