“Jocks?” Elfie says with a raised eyebrow.  “You calling Owan and me a couple of muscle heads?”

    “Hm,” Faye shrugs, “I’m just saying that as long as the range stays within 5iu, you’re not out of the woods of the underdog beating your backside, Mr. CFA.”

    Elfer laughs, but then uses this as a chance to discuss his nickname.  “Guys, I’m not seven anymore.  As I was standing in front of the whole lot of System Guard legends, I had Ally Horn and Fiona Sakuro introducing me as Elfie.  Come on; I need something more fitting of a future System Guard.”

    “Faye’s!” is the first suggestion.

    “Second best!” is Owan’s choice.

    “That guy who owes his sister money…for no reason…just because.”  For some reason, Elfie doesn’t even consider this option.  It must have been the sales pitch.

    Laughing at his clowns, Ent explains, “Pals, everybody’s upgrading their superheroness.  Kammy’s, well, Kammy—” this gets a frustrated sound of Faye clearing her throat as Entoni continues, “Owan has started branching out his attacks to beyond only using James Scott’s skill set.  Paul isn’t relying on just his speed anymore.  I’m also trying to add more surprises to my arsenal, so I think a new nickname is worth asking for.”

    As the group ponders this, Faye lifts her head as if she’s been hit with the ultimate nickname for Elfier.  Instead, she dramatically submits, “Guys, let’s…pray.”  This gets a mixed look of humorous annoyance and admiration from her buddy boy as he admits that’s the best idea.  So, the friends say a quick prayer for a good new title for the young man.  I’ll remind you that while the PACs aren’t souls themselves, their prayers and so forth are often an extension of me already praying for God to help with my writing.  So, if Elf chooses to pray, I can pray in real life.  The answer God gives is real, and thus, indirectly, the PACs can have their petitions heard all the same.  I mean, as a writer, the PACs live in my heart and mind.  If I’ve put my full trust in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and His resurrection from the dead, the Holy Spirit dwells in me, as promised in 1 Cor. 6:19-20 and Gal. 2:20.  So, if the PACs are in my mind and I give that mind completely to the bidding of God Himself, guess who is right there guiding my PACs.  I think it’s neat.

    Well, the thirty minutes isn’t quite over yet.  Either that or Cat can’t tell time.  Let’s not investigate this.  Either way, the subject now changes from measuring strengths and naming names to hypothetical situations.  Owan asks Gigi the first question, setting the scene of her and Kammy stuck in a vat of Quick Mastick with ten seconds to get out because razor sharp donut blades fall from the sky to end their high school careers.  Gigi is disappointed that Owan gives her so long, saying he should do nanoseconds, but he insists there’s a reason he chose so long.  Turns out the extra length was to bolster her confidence enough to make her overlook side panels holding the valuable keys she will need to progress to the next room.  “You see, if you’re so sure that this trap is easy, you will bust through the stages, assuming everything else is super easy.  One of the greatest strategies of villains is to make things too easy for their enemies.  You set everything up and let the foe think they’ve won.  Then…you steal everything from them.”

    “Wow.” Gigi is shaken to the core because she knows which villain is most known for this strategy, having literally molded a young boy over the course of a lifetime to believe he had defeated that beast, only for the fiend to return after several attempts to push the hero into defecting to the side of evil.  “I would’ve totally died if it were me.”  Gigi tries to shake this eerie thought off by asking Elfie for the next scenario.

    Elf turns to Faye and says, “Okay, let’s see.  You and me are walking to class when a small army of shadow monsters attack us.  We can’t use light attacks to dispel them because of the technology they have.  It gets worse as they, being shadow monsters, can shapeshift.  We’ve got to figure out how to destroy them while not hurting any of our friends.  What do we do, Faye?  What do we do?”  The suspense in Elfer’s voice is quite comical but Faye adores it.

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