“So, what word should we use?” Jack asked.

“Something that isn’t directly related to heroes, for one,” Sweet Dream said. “Something like protector or defender would be too easy.”

“Oh, dudes. We should ban stuff like punch and kick too,” Riptide said.

“And stuff like weapons,” Oro said. “Since it would be too easy to make a gun character.”

Dylan leaned back in his chair, glancing at the comics on his shelf. The thing about superpowers was that they came in all shapes and sizes. For every strongman there was a magician, for every magician a mutant.

“How about mutant?” Dylan suggested.

“Nah, the last character I made was mutant-based,” Oro said.

“Dude, we should base our characters on the ocean,” Riptide said.

“Riptide, you already do that,” Jack said.

“Hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” Riptide said.

“As fun as that sounds, a ocean-themed superhero team sounds too cheesy,” Sweet Dream said.

“How generic should we go?” Dylan asked. “Is like magician fine?”

“Well, we can’t get too specific,” Jack said. “Something like wizard would just make all of us the same character.”

“Let’s make it a verb,” Oro said. “An action is better than a noun in this case.”

“I could open up a random word generator?” Sweet Dream offered.

“Maybe something with double meaning?” Jack asked. “Like how spring can be an action and the season.”

“Ooh, I like that,” Riptide said. “Homonyms are fun.”

“What word then?” Dylan asked.

“Fire is easy,” Oro said. “Lots of meanings for that.”

“Yeah but that’s so generic,” Jack said. “Everyone and their mother has fire.”

“I looked some up,” Sweet Dream said. “If fire’s too generic, what about match? Or pound?”

“I like the match more than pound,” Dylan said.

“I dunno, dude,” Riptide said. “Pound could be a lot of fun.”

“I’m going to go with match as well, if those are the options,” Oro said. “My current hero is already someone who pounds so I think a change is in order.”

“I’m choosing match too,” Jack said. “Unless there’s another that you see, Dream.”

“No,” Dream answered. “At least nothing else that seemed interesting.”

“Cool,” Dylan said. “Time to make a hero related to the word match.”

“Dibs on firestarter,” Riptide said.

“Gonna unleash your inner pyro?” Sweet Dream asked.

“Dude, you know it!” Riptide said.

“Doesn’t sound all that heroic,” Oro said.

“Pshh, you’re just jealous you didn’t pick it first,” Riptide teased.

“I call dibs on the copy power,” Sweet Dream interjected.

“Nooo,” Oro said. “You’re taking all the cool powers.”

“Better stop arguing and start picking then,” Sweet Dream said.

“I’m going to make mine related to contests or something,” Jack said.

“Fine fine, I’ll take a power that using matching sets or something,” Oro said.

“What does that leave me with?” Dylan asked.

“Let’s see…” Jack said. “Riptide’s going to be a matchstick, Sweet Dream is going to equally match, I’m going to hold a match, and Oro has a matching set. Dang, what is left?”

“Shapeshifting,” Dylan said. “To match a person’s look.”

“Oh I forgot about that one!” Riptide exclaimed. “Trade with me dude.”

“No way,” Dylan said. “Why would I want to be the boring hero with fire powers?”

“What, no it’s totally not boring,” Riptide said with a laugh.

“Sure it isn’t,” Dylan answered.

“So, who’s got time tonight to get this thing started?” Jack asked.

“I think we’re all free,” Dylan said. “At least, I know Menagerie didn’t have anything planned.”

“Yeah, I got nothing going on,” Oro said.

“Us neither,” Sweet Dream said.

“Cool. Let’s make our characters after dinner tonight and start this thing,” Jack said.

“Dudes, we should totally do Vert’s Dr. Zlo quest,” Riptide said.

Dylan made a face. “Are you sure? We just spent a whole month plus planning an event that ignored the thing.”

“I mean, it could be fun to rib Vert’s storytelling,” Sweet Dream said. “Plus, don’t you want to see what they did with your character?”

“I guess,” Dylan said.

“Then let’s meet up later in game after we’ve made our characters,” Jack said. “We’ll all start in tutorial city yeah?”

“We should,” Dylan said.

“Cool, I’ll see you all later then,” Oro said. “Gonna get a few things done before I get back online.”

“Yeah, I should too,” Sweet Dream said.

“Yeah, I should get some chores done before this. See you guys,” Dylan said.

“See ya.”

“Later.”

Dylan exited the voice chat and pushed his chair back. He grabbed his laundry hamper next to his bed and brought it over to his washer. Better to run a load now than later and forget. Dylan was not about to have his clothes smelling like mildew.

Once the load was in, Dylan went around doing various other chores before relaxing with a new comic he’d ordered from his local store. It was a re-imagining of an old hero by a new writer, and so far it had been pretty interesting. Nothing too exciting but a solid foundation for a new character.

Eventually Dylan’s stomach rumbled, and the man decided it was time to get some dinner. He felt like being lazy and took out a frozen pizza to cook.

Once dinner was finished, Dylan placed his dishes in the sink and made his way back to his room. A few moments later and the VIS was on his head and booting up. Instead of selecting Dr. Zlo, Dylan reached over toward the new character option.

Welcome to World of Supers! Are you a Hero or a Villain?

Dylan selected hero. The screen moved on.

What do you look like?

The character creator appeared, the game scanning Dylan’s features and placing them in front of him. Dylan stopped to wonder what a shapeshifting hero might look like. The power was often something that came secondary for heroes. Mr. Sensational might have shapeshifting powers, but that came from his plasticity. The Martian was similar. His powers included shapeshifting but it wasn’t the focus.

Dylan chalked it up to shapeshifting being a power that leaned toward abuse. In the sense that it was easier to write a shapeshifter stealing from the bank than from a corrupt company or something.

So shapeshifting as a power was either one of many powers or on a villain. The heroes who had the power were often aliens or mutants, but varied enough that Dylan almost had free reign.

“I wonder, can I make him faceless?” he asked himself.

Dylan played with the sliders, but quickly squashed the attempt. The character had ended up looking like something out of a cubism painting.

“You know what, let’s go with alien,” Dylan said.

The man changed some more sliders, turning his skin color a pale green, changing the eyes to dark grey, and removing the hair. He also changed the skull a bit, just enough to make the character off-putting.

“A perfect reason to shapeshift,” Dylan said.

Satisfied, the man continued through character creation.

Please enter the superpower you would like.

Dylan paused before he entered the power. He needed to make sure his power couldn’t copy the powers of others so it didn’t overlap with Sweet Dream. Luckily, there were plenty of ways to interpret shapeshifting. Dylan typed what he wanted into the prompt.

Shapeshifting. Change shape to look like another person or object, but unable to copy powers. Can make body more or less dense to increase durability and/or strength.

That would be good enough, Dylan decided. It would make sure he didn’t overlap with Sweet Dream but still had his own spin on things. The character creator finished with the usual name request. Since they were being goofy, Dylan decided to go with a name that resembled something from older comics.

Welcome to World of Supers Approximo. Your powers will be granted to you once you enter the game. New characters start on tutorial island, where they can learn how to move and how their powers work. Have fun!

Dylan’s vision shrank to a point of white light, re-opening after a moment to reveal a vast swath of land and ocean. Dylan’s point of view flew past grand forests and towering mountains, past sprawling cities and artificial towers, until it stopped to hover over a sectioned city in the middle of a vast sea. Dylan felt himself fall toward the town, the gridlike city growing into uniform sections of town inhabited by all manner of players.

Finally, Dylan’s vision once again shrunk to a point before expanding to reveal him inside his character. A box immediately appeared in front of him.

Hello new super powered individual! Welcome to tutorial city, your destination for all things that need explaining in World of Supers! If this isn’t your first time, or just want to learn for yourself, feel free to close this box! Otherwise, press continue to learn more about the world around you!

Dylan closed the box and opened his menu. He selected the power tab, opening it to get a description of his ability.

You have been granted the powers of shapeshifting! As a shapeshifter, you can change your body to resemble the natural world around you. While your power tab is open, a scanner will appear. Reach out or swipe at what you wish to shapeshift into and your power will do the rest! Reset your look at any time by selecting the reset button in your power tab!

Because of your unique powers, you are able to transform into objects much larger or smaller than your original body, but are unable to gain the strength or durability of the object in question. However, your ability will allow you to partially transform an appendage if needed. Just select the appendage you wish to use at the bottom left of the screen before swiping. You may also change the power to use eye movements instead, but be warned the choice could lead to rampant shifting.

It seemed like a straightforward enough power. Dylan activated the power tab, watching as a series of boxes appeared to highlight the world around him. It looked like it was possible to transform into almost anything. He swiped at the image of the car in front of him.

Immediately, Dylan felt his body contort. Green skin became shiny metal, arms and legs turned into tires, and Dylan’s vision expanded to encompass an entire windshield.

“Woah, trippy,” Dylan said.