Kayday

40 - Partners and Promises

Elvira was wearing the same sort of clothes that she’d worn when she visited Lexie’s school–a long skirt made of some wool material, a formal blouse with long split sleeves, and a high turtle neck. And of course, her winged glasses were perched on her nose, which somehow made her eyes look even paler.

She blinked at Lexie when she said her name, her head going to the side so she could see past Terry. “Do I know you, little one?”

“Lexie,” Lexie said. “You came to my...

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Hi all! Thank you so much for being here and being patrons of Ace of Capes. Your presence encourages me to keep writing and pushing this story to be the best it can be!

So this is just to announce that the Villain tier is now completely populated! We are now officially 15 chapters ahead (about 60,000 words) in that tier and 7 chapters ahead (28,000 words) in the Hero tier. I will increase both Villain tier (to 20 chapter...

39 - Nail Painting Discovery and Shocking Rescues

When she got to the kitchen, Lexie found Aiden busy baking something. The TV was on in the background and he was intensely watching the cooking queen again, so he’d likely not even heard Lexie’s call.

He finally turned when she patted him on the shoulder, glancing at her. “Hey, honey bee. What’s up?”

“I need your help." She then glanced at his hands which were sticky with dough. “What are you making?

“Cinnamon raisin cookies,” he said. “I’m tweaking the...

38 - Dungeon Disaster Drills and Library Trolls

It seemed elementary schools weren’t the only ones interested in disaster preparation drills.

Aiden and Luke also prepared a similar seminar for the Hovelton inhabitants, but this one was on dungeon emergencies and what to do when an unstable dungeon spawned near you.

The seminar was held in the Green Fox Village retirement home because it was the only place that had a conference hall big enough to hold over two hundred people. It wasn’t always that big, according to Luke. It ...

37 - The Association Of Dead Mothers

Sounds of yelling echoed above Dewie. 

The shrill female voice rose higher than the male's, dominating it until the male one retreated into angry, protesting silence. Dewie knew that pretty soon, the male voice would start up again when she landed a deeply emotional blow. The argument would then continue into the night, leading to a very unpleasant breakfast the following morning.

But all that wasn’t Dewie’s concern right now. 

Instead, he was wondering what to...

36 - The Azure Dinner

So much changed in the next few days. 

The day after the bombing, Lexie and her father received a system mail from Everstone Elementary detailing the catastrophe that happened the day before. It was mostly a reiteration of what the news was already saying, and also some follow-up from the disaster response unit.

There was a terrorist attack in Arcadia with bombs planted all over the city. One of those had been planted close to the school and wasn’t disabled in time, hence i...

35 - The Disappearing Dungeon

“What do you mean the dungeon disappeared?” Aiden inquired as the furious-looking Max paced. “You mean, you got rid of it?”

“No. If I meant I got rid of it I would have said that.” The terse response was punctuated with a glare. He then rubbed his forehead. “It  disappeared by the time I got there.”

“It resolved?” Aiden’s eyes widened in shock. “Did someone get trapped there?”

“I don’t know. But I got the alert and within minu...

34 - Flame Eater

Aiden jumped out of the way and shielded Lexie with his body as the alleyway behind them burst into flames.

Lexie’s mouth dropped in horror. The entire alleyway entrance was engulfed in fire, licking at the brick rising higher and higher. Luckily, the street was empty and Aiden had jumped out in time, but there was no way anyone in that alley escaped unscathed.

Did the [Hero] just die?

Before she could ask or worry for too long, Theo emerged from the flames of the alleyway...

33 - A Battle of Flames and Steel

Mouse didn't seem to know what to do about the newcomer. 

He clearly didn't like the fact that Theo was there, but he didn’t attack him outright, his weapons still swirling around the kneeling Aiden. 

“This has nothing to do with you [Hero],” Mouse finally said. “This is just two [Villains] settling a score.”

“Hmm.” Theo stepped off his cloud of fire and the flame extinguished instantly. Despite the heart-pounding tension of the moment, Lexie distantl...

32 - The Archmage Vs The Mouse

Max drummed his fingers on the shiny hardwood table, over and over again. As his fingers left behind marks on the sleek brown surface, he wondered briefly what the cleaners used on it to get that sheen. Wax, or Loretta’s oil polish? Max used the latter recently to pretty up his Beretta-Junior and he had to say it was starting to look quite nice. It was still nowhere compared to the beauty that was Beretta-Senior though. He’d painstakingly crafted that gun from just a hunk of metal into a ...

31 - Rescued?

Lexie liked to think that she had a quick reaction time. 

She wanted to say that, when faced with an imminent bomb, she jumped out of her seat and flew to the ground, or shielded her head or did anything but blink dazedly at the fireball that exploded in her face.

But the latter was exactly what she did. 

However, she doubted there was anything else she could have done that would have landed her in a better position.

The explosion hit the walls with a loud 2025-02-17 11:09:38 +0000 UTC View Post

30 - Five Minutes Before Disaster

5 Minutes Before Disaster

Aiden sighed and wiped the beads of sweat off his brow. His back ached from bending over nearly the entire day, scraping grime out of the pavement in front of a hair salon. People had been walking in and out as he worked, throwing him odd looks, likely because no one liked having an ex-[Villain] outside their property. But it was a necessary evil to have perfectly clean curbs.

Sure, the rest of the streets were machine-cleaned each morning, but h...

29 - A Blast From The Past

Lexie emitted a loud yelp and hopped up in her excitement.

The <Hustle and Shuffle> card also gave her a boost that made her jump nearly nine feet in the air before she landed.

“I did it!” She couldn’t believe it. She jumped up again and again, the buoyancy only adding to her joy. Elation coursed through her.  The notification blinked in her vision.

She really did it!

She managed to prove one of her theories. Not only that, she also got academic valida...

28 - Osmosis

AN: This chapter is...a lot. It's also fairly technical and I've adjusted it three times today just to make sure that it would be more easily understood, but I feel some parts may be still confusing. So please don't hesitate to let me know if there's anything that needs clarification.

Thank you

***

When she got home, Lexie helped Aiden make dinner and they ate while watching TV.  After it was done, she helped clean up and then told Aiden she was tired ...

27 - Elvira Ernest

Lexie's breakthrough came sooner than she had expected. And it began with one special visitor who came to their History and Politics class the next morning.

Elvira Ernest didn't look like she wanted to be there, talking to a bunch of middle schoolers on a Thursday. 

In Lexie's opinion, Elvira would rather be getting her eyeballs picked with tweezers. 

Not that she looked mad or unpleasant, but she was…fidgety. While Mrs. P. gave her a welcome speech, the tall sle...

26 - Class Tests and Deadrooms

Author's Note: A few name changes occur in this chapter which I will retroactively also change in prior chapters.

Mrs. Webber (History and Politics teacher) is now Mrs. Partridge

Trixie (girl who sits in front of Lexie and argued with Dewie about gnomes) is now Mya.

Sorry for any confusion. I'm terrible at coming up with names and sometimes two characters have names that are too close for comfort. Thanks for reading. 

***

...

25 - Meet Your Heroes

The call tab on her system interface rang incessantly.  

The president of the PR agency, her publicist, her assistant, her grandmother, the head of the hero's association, the headmaster of Victoire, her brother... it seemed like everyone in the world wanted to talk to her.

And Stella Firebringer was determined to talk to none of them.

Against all odds, she was determined to have a relaxing afternoon, as her therapist often reminded her was good for her mental heal...

24 - Hero Points

Lexie didn't remember the notification for almost another week. 

In her defense, she was pretty busy. Apart from her endless black hole exercises, her first few class tests were inching closer and closer and there was quite a bit for her to study. World history. Interplanetary relations. Math. Science and Magic. Politics. Maths.

Even though maths was the easiest out of all them, because there was less new stuff for her to memorize, it was her least favorite to study.

N...

23 - + 1 Charisma

Lexie went to school the next school day in good spirits despite what happened the last time she was here. Aiden didn’t walk her to the gates because he had to head to his cleaning gig early that morning but Lexie was okay walking to the gate by herself.

"Hi, Mitch." She waved at the security guard–who simply nodded her in–and made her way across the school field.

But the closer she got to the classroom, the more her apprehension grew. Truthfully, she was dreading seeing Ver...

22 - Black Hole Excercise

Lexie shot up in bed, excitement making her heart beat faster. She immediately materialized the cards but Aiden halted her by shaking his head. 

“Leave that alone for now,” he said. “We’re not using that.”

“Oh?”

“No. That’s only going to make it harder and it’s going to be hard enough as is."

Lexie cocked her head to the side. “I thought using cards made shaping easier."

Aiden sighed and seemed reluctant but he eventually admitted. "The...

21 - Getting Tripped Up

Lexie’s first breakthrough came after two weeks. 

Ironically, that was also the day of her first major hiccup in school. 

Things had actually calmed down by that point. After the first few days of questions about her memory loss and the pre-awakening, most of her classmates lost interest and no longer stared at her for abnormally long times while whispering behind hands. Well, most except Veronica. The girl was still weirdly nice to her, even though Lexie got the impre...

20 - The Faustian Offer

Lexie blinked at Veronica stunned and a little embarrassed. How did Veronica know she was pre-awakened? She wasn't planning on broadcasting it, simply wanting to keep a low profile in middle school. And the only one she told was…

She instantly turned to Xena, who like most people in the class was staring at her.

“You told her?” Lexie asked incredulously, and a tad accusingly.

Xena’s expression was first shocked then turned stormy. “Why on earth would I tell her?”...

19 - The First Day Of School

Monty drummed his fingers on the table, but the sound was drowned out by the general din of the busy bar that sat at the corner of 5th and 6th Avenue Crest City, Arcadia.

A hard, loud tune was playing on the radio, from some musician he’d never heard of and it clamored over the wooden lodge decor. Monty was tempted to suggest that someone reduce the volume. It wouldn’t take much to get them to oblige. He didn’t even have to do it himself. A half-drunk crowd of mostly mundanes had ...

18 - A Conversation With the Saintess

Aiden kept to two-hour practice time for the next week.

But in the morning, Lexie would wake up early to do the meditation exercises she found on the net, trying to move her mana without the use of a card. One person advised her to pretend like she was pulling a string from her body with her finger, and the mana would follow. She thought maybe it worked a little and she felt the mana cloud moving towards her hands. But she couldn't be sure. It was a lot easier to be aware of the movemen...

17 - Mana Shaping and Meditation

The  next morning, after breakfast, Aiden taught Lexie about cloud awareness and mana shaping. 

He did this by first having her hold onto one of the cards. Then, he instructed her to push mana into the card without actually activating the card. It was a funny thing to do, directing her mana to her hands and watching the pathway appear, without filling it up. It felt like a waste of time at first to Lexie, but Aiden assured her that it had a purpose. It was supposed to help her...

16 - Card Lessons

Much later that evening, after said nap, the card lessons officially began. 

Even though Lexie had pestered Aiden right after he woke up from his nap in the early evening, he'd insisted they have dinner first, and told Lexie that she had to eat all her asparagus before he taught her anything.

It wasn’t a chore. The asparagus he made was buttered to perfection, but according to Aiden, Lexie had a habit of hiding her vegetables underneath the table napkins when she was younge...

15 - Healing and Purification

Lexie stared at the tall golden-haired woman, wondering why she felt the urge to weep for joy in her presence.

Not just weep. She felt like getting on her knees and thanking her for being alive. And then confessing every bad thought she’d ever had, every naughty thing she’d ever done. She wanted to ask the woman for forgiveness and a hug to make all her guilt go away.

Which was an odd way to perceive a stranger, but to be fair it wasn’t even the top three oddest things that ...

14 - An Unexpected Visitor

“Crazy Kids Crash Hero Party. Monty Ward saves the day.”

Lexie took a deep breath, the euphoria from the match win fading. She'd indulged in that for long enough. It was time to face her problems once again.

She clicked on the video.

It was a clip from the party. It began with Xena stomping in to yell “Listen up everyone!”

But then the sound glitched right after that, and the video was scrubbed forward to where Lexie grabbed Xena's hand and ran...

13 - A Gruelling Battle

Aiden didn’t come home all night.

He didn’t leave the hospital at all and volunteered another nurse called Rowena to take Lexie home and babysit her for the night. Rowena was a little old and a little bent, and had a stern croaky voice. She also expected Lexie to go right up to her room, shower, and sleep the second they got there. Lexie obeyed without question. Rowena intimidated her, the same way her Sunday school teacher had. She just had that elderly no-nonsense air about her th...

12 - Party Pooper

Monty Ward was the only telepathic spell-caster in all of Orinia and maybe the entire ninth district. As such he typically got a lot of questions at parties like these.

Questions like:

What's a telepathic spell caster? Does it mean you can recite spells with your mind? Can you see the future?

Can you control what I’m thinking?

Can you read my mind?

The answers to those questions were typically no, 'no', 'hell no', and 'i...