| abstract | - At breakfast, Ayla tells Jade that Shroud is a trademarked, copyrighted character which is almost identical to her Shroud character. James has a fairly normal day - for him. Tansy manages to recover, barely, and has a good breakfast with the Alphas. They arrange a picnic for the next day. The powers testing wonks manage to get Ayla's utility belt for testing; they think that the fact it works while she's doing her thing is really interesting. Toni has a tennis match with Sakti (Silver). Silver wins by manifesting two tennis rackets. They discover that Toni's friendship ring that Rip gave her is stuck to Silver's skin. After a bit of chatter, Silver makes a bracelet for Toni to replace the ring. At lunch, Toni and Silver continue their conversation when Lancer comes up towing Scott Emerson (T-Bird). Scott explains he's a faux-avatar, with the spirit of the Thunderbird, who he calls Sparky. After some conversation, Scott says he doesn't have a girlfriend, so Toni decides to claim him. When they take a break to the powder room, Sakti chides Toni for throwing herself at a boy. Toni is explaining that Scott won't take the initiative when three other girls who think they're his girlfriends walk in. Widget, Sizzle and Tesla aren't really happy about it. A fourth "girlfriend", Aztecka, joins the ruckus. Toni and Silver escape just as Security pulls up. In Introduction to Basic Mystic Concepts , Fey is fascinated with the bracelet. Mrs. Chulkris (Earth Mother) takes a look at it and declares that it's Mithril . She tells Toni to get Silver there right away. Silver turns out to be in the Workshop, with a group of kids Dynamaxx, Rack and She-Bot, who are working on one foot of Tiny Tim, the Giant Robot. Toni takes Silver to Intro to Mystic Concepts, and Earth Mother goes all gaga over the fact that Silver produces Mithril. So do several other people in the class, including Sara. Eventually it's after classes, and Toni zips back to Poe to get dressed for her date with Scott. She runs into her girlfriend, Rip, who is understandably pissed. Rip lets loose with a tidal wave of water, most of which exits through the window and drenches two girls (Widget and Tesla) who are in a tree with a big gun. Then Belle shows up. Toni gets to the quad where she's agreed to meet Thunderbird when she's accosted by someone. Scotty turns up so she escapes without learning Lothario's name. Then Aztecka (the fourth girl) shows up dragging Bronco. That ploy doesn't work. Then the black dude from earlier shows up and tries to claim that Toni is betraying... etc. Toni clocks him before he manages to get the "o" word out. Turns out he's Mace, one of the Tigers. Something comes up, and Scott has to zip off somewhere. Then a tiger sits down next to Toni. A toy tiger, about three feet tall. Widget shows up with a couple more gadgets to try to ruin Toni's day. None of them work. The tiger shows up a few times as well, ending by throwing a bowl of soggy milk and cereal in Toni's face. After everything breaks up, Toni finally figures out the culprit. In Philadelphia: Chad Wilson spends his nights reading or on the internet. His parents Don't Approve of what goes on in modern society. He's also heavily medicated for a large number of problems. Like migraines. His medical file, carelessly left where he could read it, said he was perfectly normal - if he was part girl. Tonight, after his parents go to bed, he's indulging in his hobby: hacking. He's trying to track The Palm. While he does that, he has a bit of a breakthrough. He's finding himself actually in the net - sort of. Kind of a cross between Tron and a bad trip, except that things seem to work. He swats several hands he finds. Then his sister comes in and tells him to go to bed - he's making too much noise and he's glowing blue. Somewhere Unknown: The Palm noticed the intrusion, and decided it wasn't Amelia Hartford. He decides he has to take steps. Possibly fatal ones.
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