I bounced on the balls of my feet and failed to keep my breathing at a steady rate. I had powers. Of course, I'd known for the last couple of hours that I had powers, but that was just the knowledge that I had them, now I was actually going to use them. That was a different feeling altogether, and I had to say that I was more than a little bit nervous.

"For the record, we are about to begin basic power testing for the cape codename Tile, to be changed at a later date," The voice of Armsmaster echoed through the room. "Tile, to the best of your ability, please demonstrate your power. The walls of this room are rated for Brute and Blaster 6 and are not load-bearing, so if your powers have some kind of physical or ranged attack component please feel free to unleash them on the surroundings."

I glanced over to the pair of capes and gave them a nod to show I understood what he had said. I wasn't sure if my changed form would have a brute rating, in fact, I wasn't sure of anything the form could do and I probably wouldn't until I changed. It was time to get things over and done with.

I let out a long, slow breath, and slipped the starter card out of the deck box and held it at arm's length face down. My actions were guided by instinct like some guiding hand had started to tug on my puppet strings, everything was automatic. As if I had gone through these motions a thousand times before and simply forgotten before this exact moment. Words were whispered to me as if carried by a breeze, but this far underground that would have been impossible. It was time.

"Stand up, the Vanguard!" I called out, with all my might, and flipped the card face up.

The surge of power was immediate, and it was obvious that I wasn't the only one feeling it. A wind had whipped up around me, and I was immediately thankful I was wearing a simple tracksuit instead of something like Glory Girl's skirt. A bright light bloomed from the centre of the card and split into a series of glowing strings. They thwipped toward me in an instant, covering my body in a steadily growing lattice of energy lines until in just a few moments I was covered entirely.

The energy dragged me up off the ground so I was floating around a foot above the floor, and then the physical changes began. This had been the part I was most anxious about. I remember growing up as a kid, I was lanky and tall so growing pains had been a constant of my childhood, I didn't know if I was ready for every bone in my body to start shifting and changing. It was the sort of thing that sounded immensely painful. Luckily, it seemed like my power didn't have to worry about things like that, the change didn't feel biological at all.

In one moment my body was normal, human and Taylor. The same sort of body that I had come to know and, well, love would have definitely been pushing it. In the next, it seemed like I had no body at all, I just felt like me in my purest form. My arms and legs had been eaten away by the light, and I floated there, an orb of pure glowing consciousness. In the back of my mind, I figured that I should probably be worried about this process, but the rest of me was just enjoying how light I felt, floating in the centre of the room. It was exhilarating.

And then, with a pulse of power…

xXx

…I was somewhere else entirely. The view before me felt familiar somehow as if I'd seen it somewhere in a dream. The sky stretched on forever, bright and blue, speckled with streaks of pure white cloud. My breath caught on the frigid fresh morning air, floating above the atmosphere of whatever world I was on were numerous moons, and dominating the visage, a large ringed planet.

I was stood in a valley of some kind, but my body was hazy and immaterial as if it wasn't really there. In the distance, two men in similar armour were fighting with swords that would have put anything Armsmaster built to shame. One armoured figure was dressed in blue and white, while the other was dressed in purple and black. Their armours looked near-identical, large spikes came off the shoulders and flared around their waists like some kind of battle skirt. Out of their helmets were glowing red gems, that flickered ominously as they circled one another. The white armoured figure wielded a sword that was thin and elegant, while the one in black armour used something much chunkier that tapered off into two distinct points. One looked geared toward elegant combat, the other to kill without mercy

The two burst toward each other in a flurry of movement. They moved too fast for my eye to track, swords crashing into one another in magnificent bursts of sparks. Each time the two figures intersected parts of the landscape were brutally cut away in explosions generated purely by the force of the wind that their strikes produced.

Then, with a lurch in my heart, the figure in white armour tumbled. He skid across the landscape until he came to a stop just shy of where I was standing. The figure in black armour stalked toward his prey, now that he was down it was as if he no longer felt the need to rush with all his power. The smirk on his face, he was going to enjoy what came next.

For the first time, it seemed as if the figure in white had noticed me. Our eyes met, and his widened in what looked like shocked recognition. I felt that if I could just reach out to grasp his now outstretched hand I could somehow change the outcome of this battle.

His lips moved, mouthing words I could neither hear nor understand.

If I…

CoUlD JusT….

xXx

Four paws landed on the ground where there used to be two human feet. My legs were covered in silver and blue armour, and while I couldn't see it there also seemed to be some kind of headband keeping my hair in check. Between my canine teeth, I held a perfectly balanced knife. A red scarf billowed out behind me like a cape, and while I hadn't felt particularly courageous in my base human form, there was something about becoming Wingal Brave that made me want to puff out my chest and stand tall.

"Cape codename Tile has exhibited a Breaker form of a small armoured dog with large bat-wing ears and what appears to be a power-generated bladed weapon. The previously present deck of cards has now disappeared," Armsmaster said, and while I imagined he was saying it quietly my new ears were able to pick it up no problem.

He was right, too, my deck of cards did seem to have disappeared, but that didn't mean that they were actually gone. No matter where I looked in the corner of my vision there was a full deck of face-down cards, as well as a set of five cards that were face up. In what I supposed would be dubbed my "hand", I had access to a copy of Stardust Trumpeter, Barcgal, High Dog Breeder Akane, Knight of Silence Gallatin and finally what looked to be a giant dragon named Soul Saver Dragon. Each was separated by different grades, in my hand, I had two grade 0's, two grade 2's and then a single grade 3. I remembered from looking at Wingal Brave's card that it too was a Grade 0. Once again the instincts took over, and I knew that if I'd had a grade 1 in my hand I would have been able to ride up through the ranks. I would have been able to become the Soul Saver Dragon in exactly the same way I had become Barcgal. Eat your heart out, Lung. Miss Militia and Armsmaster didn't need to know that specific element of my power just yet.

"Tile, are you still able to understand us?" Miss Militia called out.

I turned on the spot, creating a small gust of wind with the speed of the movement, and gave them a nod. I was uncertain if I could speak while I was in this form, either way, it likely would have meant dropping the weapon to do so, which was a bit of a downside to the form.

"Good, we'd like to get some baseline brute and mover measurements for your Breaker form. Are you okay with us activating a basic training scenario?" She asked. I nodded again.

"Dragon, engage Brute-Mover Test Sequence please," Armsmaster said after tapping the side of his helmet. I hadn't known that Dragon was also watching this training session, though it made sense considering she was world-renowned as one of the best tinkers on the planet. Who better to create some toys for newly recruited capes to wreck?

"Brute-Mover Test Sequence will be coming online now, Armsmaster!" The chirpy voice of Dragon came through a PA system. "Tile, we will be bringing in some adaptive flying drones, they will be designed to fight back lightly, but they will not injure you. When you are ready please give some indication!"

I smiled, as well as a dog with a knife in its mouth could smile, and gave another nod. Almost instantly the room began to change. Panelling in the walls slipped away, and ten hovering drones drifted out from the holes. They looked small and agile as if they would be perfect for evading attacks from fast-moving targets. Cleary they thought my new form would be more fast than powerful, and I was willing to bet they were right.

"Okay Tile," The voice of Dragon rang out again, "Begin when ready!"

I clenched my teeth and let a slight growl ripple out from the depths of my chest. A spark of energy lanced out from the blade held between my teeth and nestled itself into my core, before spreading out and filling every nook and cranny of my body. Crackles of static electricity lanced off of my fur and carved shallow grooves into the ground. Time seemed to slow… and then I was off.

The drones didn't stand a chance. I was on the first one before its sensors could even register what was happening, my knife plunged deep into its floating body and came clean out the other side in a shower of sparks. I kicked off the drone and spun through the air in a corkscrew, taking out another three. These drones were rated for movers, and Dragon had said that they were adaptable, so I wasn't surprised the surviving bots started to match my speed.

I bounced out of the way of a series of rubber bullets as they erupted out of one of the drones turrets, my push off of the ground leaving a spiderweb of cracks in my wake. I ricocheted off the wall, narrowly avoiding another blast of rubber bullets, before managing to rake my blade across a fifth drone. There were only five left, but it was clear the drones still had a few tricks up their sleeves.

Two of the remaining drones had revealed sword-like appendages, and moved toward me, while the other three switched out their rubber bullet cannons for something that looked a little more high tech. The melee drones sprung forward, but I deftly dodged backward before one could land an attack. With one of the drones wide open I darted forward again, looking to take out my sixth drone, but they had sped up once again. The second drone was able to meet my attack, and while it was pushed back by my assault it managed to hold strong in its defence.

There had to be more. This couldn't be all I had. Bested by a series of simple drones? I wouldn't have it. I needed power. My eyes flashed a dazzling blue, and I drew a card from the deck.

"Drive check!" I managed to growl out around my sword, my voice gruff and strained but still identifiable as my own even in this new form.

A card erupted into being above me for all to see, though it was obviously just a projection of the real thing.

"Critical Trigger, online!" Id declared, "Bringer of Good Luck, Epona!"

The card surged downward into my body, and while nothing physically changed, I felt the power in my body surge, as if my strength had been doubled. My knife cut through the sword appendage of the drone as if it were paper and then carried on to carve through the drone it had been trying to protect just as easily. I hit the ground with a thud, cracking it even more, and was off again.

Time seemed to slow even further this time, and it felt as if the drones were flying through molasses. It was child's play to rip through the final four, they didn't even put up a fight.

"Well," Miss Militia said, "I think we can definitely put Tile down as a brute and a mover."

"Indeed," Armsmaster weighed in, "Toward the end there my targeting systems were almost having trouble keeping up with the sharper movements, those bursts of speed were… impressive."

The test wasn't over yet. A slot in the ground opened up, and out of it clambered a hulking Dragon suit. This wasn't any standard drone, this was the sort of thing that she would actually use to go out and fight the bad guys with. Logic dictated that this was one of the older models, and had been repurposed specifically for power testing and training scenarios like this one. Either way, I doubted this thing would go down quite as easily as the drones did, and my power was telling me I didn't have another easy save coming my way in the form of a drive check.

I pounced forward anyway, but the machine was ready and waiting for my assault. Its arm struck out and thwacked me away with what felt like an almost lazy gesture. The hit didn't hurt, and I was able to flip over in the air and land back on all four of my paws with a skid. My eyes flashed blue again, more muted this time.

"I call, Stardust Trumpeter and Barcgal to the Rear Guard!" I growled out, readying myself for the coming fight.

Twin fountains of light erupted from the spaces to my left and right, and two new creatures bled into reality. On my left was another dog, though this one had white fur and was covered in a much more utilitarian set of armour. It too held a sword in its mouth, though unlike my small and dainty weapon this one was long and unwieldy. To my right a much more human figure took form. It looked like a young girl and could have easily been mistaken for one if not for the angelic wings sprouted from its back or the halo hovering over its head. The trumpet in its hands looked simple enough but radiated a power that screamed danger.

We moved as one as if the three of us had done this a thousand times before. Stardust Trumpeter engaged from a ranged position, blowing its trumpet and dispelling a colossal blast of energy that left a small dent in the suit's front and left the machine off its balance. I saw my opening and pounced, dashing between the suit's legs. My blade lashed out and sheared clear through the ankle space of the suits left leg, causing it to stumble down onto one knee. But, before the suit had any chance to get itself back on its feet, Barcgal was there, shoving its unwieldy sword crashing into the visor of the helmet. That was all the suit could take, and with a metallic groan, it collapsed onto the ground.

"Well," Dragon's voice came from overhead once again, "Director Piggot is gonna have a field day with this one."