Katelyn Lakynn Medley

  Stats Unavailable

  HP: 100/100

  EP: 40/100

  “Good morning, my beautiful and bold babies. What an eventful month we’ve had this year! We’ve had great gains, but sadly, even greater losses. These losses, however, will give way to our victory soon enough. As you know, I have been advocating for a peaceful and united Utopia for many years, and that is what I promise to provide after the Planetary Leader election. But if we want unity, we have to start addressing serious issues that arise in our own community. We underestimate how powerful the Versus Games’ influence truly is. They hijack and infect the young minds with a desire to hurt, kill, and destroy.

  “With that in mind, I want to show support and compassion to one of the most beautiful queens of our age, someone that has carried a legacy over generations, only to have her streak ruined by rebellious children and effective marketing. I present, with great pleasure, two-time Miss Milky Way winner, former leader of the Red Shoes channel, and current head of the Medley family channel: Mrs. Jennifer Zyben-Medley!”

  Well, that was a load of cache. Katelyn watched as her mother appeared in the HARP hologram, sitting on the comfortable, white sofa across from Whitley Geanna. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that her mother was talking to who was pretty much the most famous and powerful Socializer on the planet. Her mother had been vague about how she got such an invite— even with her status, this was an impressive feat. She’d teleported to Sweden just a couple of days ago.

  If this didn’t restore Jennifer’s reputation, Katelyn didn’t know what would. Still, she had a very bad feeling about this meeting. She settled into her seat on the sofa, Quinlan sitting next to her. For the first time, he wasn’t working on his Pet screen while only paying half his attention to the broadcast— his gray eyes were fixed with focus.

  Whitley hugged Katelyn’s mother as if she were an old friend. “Oh, Jennika, it is so wonderful to have you here!” she said. “I hope you have been doing well lately, and that your Mental Battery is up to par?”

  “Oh, it’s as well as it can be during these difficult times.”

  “Ah, of course. Everyone has struggles with such things, no? You look radiant as ever, despite everything.” Whitley motioned to her guest’s dress— a sparkly black dress that hugged Jennifer’s body and had a slit in the skirt. It contrasted against Whitley’s dress; a warm white one with long sleeves, fuzzy cuffs, and a thick stole that looked like sparkling snow around Whitley’s neck. Her silver hair was tied into a glistening crown braid.

  “Thank you, Whitley. That means so much coming from you.” Katelyn’s mother modestly combed back her nylon black hair, which was in a braided ponytail.

  “You know, if we didn’t know she was our mom, she’d pretty much be Calista,” Quinlan pointed out. “Just a little older— not that you can tell much.”

  Katelyn nodded softly. Most Socializers’ firstborn were exact copies of their mothers. Danica Lavini was one, though her hair differed her from her mother’s. Rebecca Silverman was her mother’s spitting image, down to the annoying way they spoke. Elizabeth… didn’t come from any Socializer family, so Katelyn didn’t know her parents.

  Even after the confrontation that occurred when Calista returned from her test, Elizabeth was still part of that cursed channel. Katelyn didn’t understand how or why she did any of this. She envied her freedom to choose between this life and having her own with no consequences. Why did she even decide to be involved in all this cache? She was too kind for any of them.

  “Now, we should get down to the main business,” said Whitley. “What has happened to our beloved Calista Medley? So many of our community are mourning her. It is as if she has died.”

  “It feels that way to me, too, Whitley,” Katelyn’s mother said, her green eyes turning down in sadness. “As you just said, we underestimate the Versus Games’ power. It has been such a staple in the Utopia. It’s inevitable that young, impressionable minds like Calista’s and even Katelyn’s are easily brainwashed through their propaganda. It’s appealing, you know? They are supposed to bring peace, they add new planets to our Utopia, and the fighters all have fun in their big games and suits, and have hundreds of thousands of fans across the galaxy cheering them on. Who wouldn’t want that rush of narcissism?”

  Katelyn scoffed. She was one to talk about narcissism.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “I believe that if we took the rager community more seriously, we’d realize how much they’ve hurt our newer generations. You see it through your opponent, Thiki Burna, every day. She’s well-spoken enough that all her unreasonable demands sound like fair points.”

  ‘Unreasonable’? Thiki wanted to remove body-modding and birth capsule customization, deeming it ‘harmful’ and ‘disrespectful to a human’s true form’. She simply said that Earthians were perfect just the way they were, and that was ‘unreasonable’? Katelyn shook her head in outrage.

  “I agree, Jennifer,” said Whitley. “These are the things I am trying to fight for. I want us to have the artistic freedom and creativity we deserve. Otherwise, how ridiculous would we look right now in our default modes?” The two laughed. “But now that Calista has departed, will you allow her to continue in that rager school? Can you imagine how much more propaganda and normalized violence she is being exposed to?”

  “I want to get her out of there more than anything. Sadly, these schools have a legally binding contract that prevents her from leaving. Once you sign up to one of these schools and enter, there’s no getting out. You can’t simply quit. I can’t imagine the threats that would come out of that.”

  Katelyn took a breath. That was a lie— Versus schools had strict Quitting Requirements, but they would let students leave. They just needed a valid reason other than ‘not feeling like it anymore’. Her mother could easily show them that Calista had been body-modded all her life and that her medical condition rendered her unable to fight.

  She wasn’t complaining, though; Calista couldn’t leave that school. Fistborn Academy was where she belonged.

  “I’m sure that, by now, Calista is regretting her impulsive decision,” her mother continued. “Unfortunately, she has to reap the consequences of her actions. I don’t think she can redeem herself in the public eye after something like this, so… as much as it pains me…” Her voice shook with tears, but she didn’t let any leave her eyes. “I can’t leave my legacy with her as heir anymore.”

  “Of course. Even at her young age, one has to learn to take accountability,” said Whitley.

  Quinlan chuckled. “Like she knows anything about that.”

  “Right?” Katelyn agreed. Whenever Whitley was accused of anything, she easily deflected it by making excuses or blaming her problems on someone else. The worst part was that everyone always believed her and defended her.

  “So, will Katelyn carry on your legacy as heir? She has been quite influenced by these ragers, as well,” Whitley continued.

  “Well, yes, but she’s not the one running off to a fighting school,” said Katelyn’s mother. “I believe that having her spend more time around her community rather than isolate herself, and giving her an outlet to use her talents for good will help bring her back to reason. Some good, wholesome time with true and loyal friends will hopefully wash out the warmonger propaganda that filled her head. I take some responsibility for that— being so focused on Calista, I guess Katelyn was too much of a middle child. Maybe she did all this as a cry for attention and wound up taking it further than she intended.”

  Katelyn laughed at that statement. She wanted anything but attention.

  “What are you going to do if she makes you heir now?” Quinlan asked her.

  “I have my ways. We’ll figure it out,” she said flippantly, but she was growing nervous. The whole reason Calista had endured so much for so long was to protect Katelyn and Quinlan from the legacy. If she heard about her mother installing Katelyn as heir, she’d be too distracted from her new career.

  But if she succeeded in any capacity through the Games, it would give the two siblings a way out. For now, though, Katelyn needed to get herself and her brother out of this house. Maybe Scaaskal could help… she’d just have to be very careful.

  “Will she join the SociaLights?” Whitley was asking.

  “Oh, I think her starting her own channel and getting connected with girls closer to her age will be better for her.”

  That was a relief, at least. She’d rather mod her body into oblivion than spend the rest of her teenage years around those two hags. They hated her, anyway, and she hated them. Elizabeth would do nothing but cower into a corner rather than back her up.

  “I have to ask, Jennifer, do you think an intervention is necessary? Many fans have lost trust in your daughter, which is fundamental to her success as heir. A relapse is highly probable with how she has behaved and influenced herself.”

  “Intervention? What does that mean?” Quinlan asked.

  Katelyn shrugged, pretending to be clueless, but her heart rate skyrocketed. Socializer interventions only meant one thing— reprogramming.

  When a Socializer experienced a fall from grace like Calista’s, the family usually confronted her with an intervention, seemingly meant to offer genuine advice and support, but really meant to lure her to Doll handlers. They were criminals who would brainwash and reprogram the Socializer into obeying their family’s bidding.

  After reprogramming, one would be conscious and aware of their surroundings, but unable to fully control themselves. They would follow commands like a robot. There was a slight chance of it wearing off, requiring another process, but the more it was done, the more it damaged the Socializer’s sanity, memory, and identity.

  Most fans didn’t know what an intervention truly meant— they thought it was a sort of severe punishment like removing a child’s favorite body mods, or threatening to pull their child’s channel, which would coerce the child to behave. Only the high circles knew what it really meant, and Jennifer had kept her knowledge completely hidden from her children. Katelyn knew one thing: as awful a parent as she was, she wouldn’t stoop to consorting with Doll handlers. She drew the line at such methods.

  Katelyn only knew because of her work at Cosmos; she’d see Doll handlers and Masked Socializers meeting there. She’d used her AIDA band to eavesdrop once and gotten a chilling conversation she wished she’d remained ignorant to.

  “Everyone stumbles in life, especially at Katelyn’s age,” her mother was telling Whitley. “I’m sure that with adequate support and guidance, she’ll be back to normal, and there won’t be a need to take any extreme measures. She’s excited to continue our legacy and finally get the attention she deserves. I mean, take a look at Payleigh Dalton. She faked her body mods through Masks for years, and she’s still going strong with an extensive follower base, even after all the controversy against her.”