[Training Tower]

Pyxis felt like she was soaring on the wind. She sat cross-legged on top of the dining car enjoying the view. There wasn't much to see other than the canyon walls speeding by but it was a new experience for her she'd never even seen a train before. Her friend and teammate, Emily, stood next to her with a large glass pane hovering in front of her. She spent the last minute of the journey laying out various cards onto the Slate. Then, Pyxis heard gunfire from behind them.

"DRAGONS!" the shout came shortly after gunshots. Pyxis looked up at Emily; her silver-haired friend nodded.

"Here we go," she said. Pyxis hopped to her feet and turned to look back. Emily turned too, and the Slate turned with her staying in front. A pair of blue dragons glided low close behind the train. A squad of guards fired at the approaching threat; but, the bullets did nothing to deter the beasts.

Pyxis took several eager steps forward as one of the dragons unleashed a blast of icy breath at the guards. They were frozen to the top of the caboose in an instant and the pair of dragons noticed the two girls and began gliding forward. She looked back at Emily.

"Should I thaw them out?" she asked.

"At the end...," Emily shook her head. "...they're safer frozen. Take out the one on the left," she nodded at the dragons, then moved a card on the Slate to a different position.

[Clown Launcher] a deep voice filled the air and a bright red, oversized cannon materialized in front of them.

"Got it," Pyxis giggled then focused on her target. She raised both hands and aimed a pair of finger guns at the dragon. She began shooting compact fireballs as the cannon fired next to her. A short clown with wild red hair poking out from under his helmet shot from the cannon at the other dragon. He laughed wildly as he flew in an arc and struck the target; they both exploded into colorful confetti as the dragon on the left ignited and burned to ash. Then, Pyxis heard rumbling hoofbeats over the rhythmic clacking of the train and the wind. She glanced to the side where a flank of armored knights prepared to assault the train. Emily moved another card on the Slate.

[Safety Net] the voice announced. A large rope net appeared in front of the knights and caught them all as the train left them behind.

"Wow...," Pyxis grinned. "This is so different from roller derby. Why don't more people play this mode?" The two girls waited almost five minutes before they found a game. In Pyxis' brief experience, joining roller derby almost never had a wait time.

"Only Card Mages can start a Towers & Assaults game," Emily shrugged. "Usually it's one on one, so it's harder to find a match with teammates." As she explained, she activated another card on her Slate.

[Ringmaster] A man in a red blazer and black tophat appeared ahead of the girls. Pyxis spotted a black dragon gaining on them. It was much larger than the previous two; and, she noticed there was an armored knight on its back. Then, the voice spoke again.

[Knife Thrower] five men appeared behind the Ringmaster. Pyxis suddenly had a question.

"Wait, they win if they destroy our Tower... how do we win?" she asked.

"The Assaulter has limited resources; we just have to survive," Emily explained.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BOYS AND GIRLS!" The Ringmaster called. "Please direct your attention to the center ring!" There was no center ring; but, he pointed at the black dragon. It caught up to the train and flew over the frozen guards.

"I need some fire," Emily said. Pyxis nodded with a broad smile.

"Where do you want it?" she asked.

"The Ringmaster," she said. Pyxis raised her hand and aimed at the man with her finger; but, she hesitated.

"Your own unit, are you sure?" she asked. Emily nodded.

"Towers has some neat tricks that don't work in roller derby," she said.

"Okay," that was enough explanation for Pyxis and she shot a small burst of fire at the Ringmaster. He casually burst into flames and did not seem the least bit concerned.

At this point, the black dragon was close enough to engage the knife throwers. They began flinging daggers at the dragon. Then, Pyxis noticed the projectiles ignited in the air as soon as the Ringmaster was on fire. All subsequent knives ignited as soon as they were launched.

[Drumroll] the system voice announced. A young boy with white face paint appeared next to Pyxis and began tapping the snare with both sticks. Pyxis felt confident energy surge through her, and a small icon appeared in the top left corner of her view. She recognized the damage buff and grinned.

"Shoot the dragon?" she asked as she raised her hands, and pointed her fingers at it.

"The rider," Emily corrected her.

"Oh," Pyxis dropped her hands and surveyed the situation. The dragon hovered above the car behind him with the Ringmaster and a line of knife throwers between them. The dragon breathed black acid at the Ringmaster; but, the fire enveloping him burned most of it before it did much damage. The dragon floated up and down while the rider simply sat. Unfortunately, the dragon's beating wings obscured him every other second. "Okay," she nodded.

Pyxis raised her hands again; but, this time she held an invisible rifle instead of pointing her finger guns at it. She held her left hand in front to support a non-existent barrel. Then, she closed one eye for effect as she focused on target. She counted the wing beats to find the timing, then she squeezed the trigger with her right finger. A dime-sized fireball shot forward fast enough to leave a faint trail of orange light behind it.

The rider was struck in the head and the entire dragon burst into flames. It no longer kept up with the train as it struggled to stay in the air; but, finally, it fell to the tracks behind the train. It disintegrated into ash while the train continued.

Thundering hooves drew Pyxis' attention again. She looked to the side where another squad of knights ran alongside; this time, they were riding unicorns.

"This is so fun!" Pyxis giggled. Then, a sharp screech filled the air and she felt the train begin to slow.

"What's going on??" she asked. She focused on the unicorn-mounted knights to see if they were the cause; but, they disintegrated into white dust and disappeared. Emily sighed as the train screeched to a halt in the middle of nowhere. The canyon walls around the train also began to disintegrate.

"They quit the game," she said.

***

Thank you for reading! I’m responding to prompts every day. This is story #1748 in a row. (Story #302 in year five.). This story is part of an ongoing saga that takes place at a high school in my universe. It began on August 22nd and I will be adding to it with prompts every day until May 26th. They are all collected in order at this link.