▩ ▩ CHAPTER 3 ▩ ▩
CHANGING LANES

Tommy and Maria pulled up a couple of chairs as the others spun around in theirs.

“As you know, our season starts in two weeks and we were still looking for a fifth player to take the Jungle.” Tommy said. “Well, I found our fifth player. However, Maria isn’t used to the Jungle. It would help if she didn’t have to learn a new role while learning to play with us at the same time.”

“What role do you play, Maria?” Paul asked. Mobius Bridge had five general roles. The top lane had an Offensive hero and a Defensive hero. Both were usually great at close-quarters combat. The bottom lane had an Attacker and a Supporter. The Attacker was a powerful hero but needed balance from the Supporter to last long in battle.

Then there was the middle lane, also known as the Jungle, which had a unique role called the Jungler. These heroes moved quickly and had deadly attacks. But they lacked strength and defenses. Because of their location in the middle of the map, they could join fights in the other lanes and tip the battle.

“Umm,” Maria paused, “I’m usually in the top lane, playing Offense.”

Offense was Antonia’s role. But Tommy spoke before she could say anything.

“I don’t want to push anyone off their role. But we need someone to play the Jungler.”

“I’ll do it,” Antonia said before thinking. Just like Luminary, Antonia enjoyed coming to the rescue. But would she really want to switch roles?

“I can switch to support and join Amanda on the bottom lane,” Paul said to Tommy. “That way, you and Maria can play the top lane together.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Tommy said. “Take some time and look over your hero choices. I want to catch Maria up on some of our strategies.”

Mobius Bridge added a few new heroes each year. The game had been out for several years, so there were a lot of heroes to pick from in each role.

Junglers all had low hit points but made up for it in two ways. First, they were very mobile. They could move around the map quickly, weaving in and out of obstacles and enemies. Second, they had some of the most powerful moves in the game.

Antonia stared at the character select screen. There were dozens of Junglers to choose from. Antonia went one by one, looking over and comparing their different profiles. She didn’t care much about the heroes’ biographies and backgrounds.

Instead, she skipped straight to their various powers and abilities.

After skimming through a few screens, one of the heroes caught Antonia’s eye. It was a woman with white and black wings.

The hero’s super suit was black with yellow and blue trim. Every few seconds, a bolt of blue electricity would travel across her body, and her eyes would glow white.

Now this is my kind of hero. Antonia smiled as she selected Thunder Owl.