Locke took Ella’s arm and let her guide him to a very nice looking car. He wasn’t sure what kind of car it was, maybe a Bentley? But it looked like it’d been driven right off the lot.

"I’m surprised that Chaos would choose such mundane transport. I’d half expected she’d sent a pair of pegasi to take us," Ella said. "But then, I should know better than to try and predict her at this point. Still… a luxury vehicle like this seems gaudy for a date between students"

“Pegasi,” Locke imagined what that might have looked like and wondered again just what this date was going to entail.

There was a silence between them then for a few seconds, arms linked, standing in front of the car, before Ella politely cleared her throat. “Get the door for me, sir?”

“Oh! Right, right. Of course.” Locke unlinked their arms and moved to open up the shotgun seat, only to be surprised to see someone was already in the driver’s seat.

“Evening, Mr. Caulfield,” The young, attractive driver said with a tip of her hat. Her chauffeur uniform was modest by the goddess’s standards but still showed off nearly all of her legs with the tiny pencil skirt, and the shape of her large bust was straining the button keeping her breasts from spilling out, the tan sleeveless blazer she wore over it far too small to ever hide a chest like hers. But there was something about her angular nose and grey eyes that took Locke a second to recognize.

“Mrs. Mirren!?”

Locke’s English teacher, a self-described battleaxe of a woman. Late thirties, attractive, and the biggest supporter of the sports teams among the faculty, something that had always bugged Locke when that support led to hypocrisy in everything from how they were treated in class to the grades they received on essays.

“Please, call me Judy tonight, Sir,” Mrs. Judy Mirren answered demurely, almost too quiet to hear. “I do hope you’ll enjoy your ride tonight.”

“… thanks.” Locke closed the shotgun door, opening the backseat instead, Ella gracefully letting herself inside while he circled around to enter from the other backseat door. There was a window separating the cabin from the passenger’s area,

“Transforming your teacher into a chauffeur is exactly what I’d expect though,” Ella said, a hint of amusement in her voice. “She just can’t help herself. For all her talk about loving to give mortals freedom and choice, the girl absolutely loves to pamper those she’s attracted to. Even if it always makes her champions into tyrants in the end.” Ella shook her head. “But that’s neither here nor there. Rather than ramble about the others, I’m much more interested in getting to know you tonight, Locke.”

Ella leaned forward, affording him an excellent view of the wardrobe malfunction as her pale nipples peaked out of hiding.
"I'm not even sure where we're going, honestly," she said. "But if I know Chaos, she’ll be throwing distraction after distraction at you so you'll pay less attention to me. So rather than listen to me tell you my thoughts on her, I’d love to gather your insight. She won against me in the first round by making minor cosmetic changes to your external appearance, so I’d be interested in knowing what that was so effective for you.”

Minor cosmetic changes? He’d gained a foot in height, a hundred pounds of muscle, enough pheromones to seduce a lesbian—probably—and the ability to outright control the minds of women!

But then, Ella wasn’t human. She was omnipotent. Infinite. What did one foot in height mean to someone who could be as vast as a galaxy? So what if he could bench press more weight when she could destroy the world with a thought? He thought of how to explain it.

“It’s not just the way I look. It’s the way other people are looking at me now. Before, no one was looking at me. But now… everyone’s looking at me. Especially girls, but guys too. It’s like… I was just watching things happen for all my life, but now, I’m the one everyone else is watching.”

“Interesting. So even though you have the full attention of me and my colleagues, you still desire more?” Ella pressed him.

“Kind of, maybe? No, it’s not… not exactly. It’s not about wanting attention, it’s…” Locke floundered. “Sorry, I don't even know how to explain it.”

“No need to apologize. This isn’t our first contest with a human judge, and they are notoriously poor at understanding why they do the things they do.” While Locke was reaching for his seatbelt, Ella ignored hers, sliding over to go shoulder to shoulder with him, turning slightly so that her chest was pressing slightly towards him as well. “So tell me about yourself, Locke.”

She placed her hand on his thigh, lowered her voice. “What kind of future do you want for your world?”

"Huh? I don't know. I've never really thought about it."

It was such an arresting question, he almost didn't notice the soft breasts that were touching him. So big yet somehow still perky, defying gravity, flattening against his body, and...

He almost didn't notice it, but he still had a pulse, after all.

It took him a bit to focus and consider her question before he answered. "I guess... I want the world to be a better place? Like, I think there's a lot of low hanging fruit. Like... mosquitos. I hate mosquitos. Plus I read somewhere that they kill more people than any other animal—are bugs an animal?—whatever, they kill a lot, they make that annoying buzz, the stings are super itchy... so something like, either get rid of them. Or make them not bite people… so yeah. Fixing the mosquito problem. Is that an okay place to start?"

"I think it sounds like something I could get behind." she said. "We might have created this and the other worlds, but not even the gods know what manner of life will emerge from the primordial soup. Most end in failure, the life either flickering out for any number of reasons or completely stagnating, halted in its development into a higher species. You and your people are the very privileged few that have been deemed worthy of our guidance. It looked like this planet would be written off like so many others, but then you humans came along, and in the blink of an eye you’re walking on the moon and have developed coffee-flavored ice cream.”

If Locke remembered correctly, ‘humans’ had been around for at least 200,000 years. He supposed that for a goddess like her, that time really was the blink of an eye.

“Wait… does that mean that the three of you are some kind of aliens?”

“What? No, of course not! We are…” Mrs. Ella Hymn paused. “...well, our true nature is beyond your understanding. Suffice it to say that all-powerful creator goddess is how you might best describe me. Now then.” She cleared her throat. “About your nemesis the mosquito. Should you choose me, you can consider it gone.”

“But that’s only an incremental change,” Ella continued. "I'm asking more about the texture of the world. Do you want equality between the sexes or for yours to be in charge? Do you want the world to be sexualized or do you prefer normalcy? Do you wish to be the master of the world at the end of it, or do you prefer to live in comfort and obscurity? That's the sort of thing I'm really asking about."

She didn't compel honesty out of him this time, though she clearly expected it.

"I don't know!" Locke answered, scooting away from her in his seat. "I don't. I mean... you're asking a kid what the world should be like? That's... not a good idea. I can't even figure out how to talk to girls, so no way in hell do I know what's best for everyone."

"I mean... I want all of that. Equality is good, but part of me thinks the idea of women being submissive to men sounds amazing too. But it's definitely wrong too. Same as all that other stuff. How could I decide?"

"And... and why ask me that? Are you going to promise that you'll warp the world to my preferences, that you're more interested in being the winner than you are in taking care of the planet?"
Ella giggled, and even if she’d regressed herself back down to a teenager, it still caught Locke off guard.

"Of course I'm interested in being the winner. While I can’t speak for my colleagues, I am interested because I want to take care of the planet," she said. "This world is special. It's got problems. Every world does. But things are going well. I want to clean things up. Fix some of the climate damage you've done, for instance. But the world itself is in fabulous shape. You developed music! This is only the third planet that’s managed it so far without any help, and you should be commended for it."
Ella dropped her voice.

"As we said before, the two losers of the competition will be bound to serve you for the rest of your mortal life. But as for the winner, each of us would be very predisposed to whatever changes you'd like to see in the world, at least for the time you have left in it," she added. "We always do it as a favor for victory. I prefer to offer it in threes, so keep that in mind as we go along. In any case, it's good to hear that you're just a regular teenager. I was a little worried after what happened with your friend."

“So when this is all over, I’ll have two of you as slaves and the winner will do what I want too? Isn’t that kind of way too much?”

“Nonsense. Don’t underestimate the importance of your role, Locke. Without a judge, the three of us could never come to a decision we’d honor. And besides, you’re young, so you can look forward to maybe another one hundred years after this contest to enjoy things… but for us, it will all pass by in the blink of an eye.” Ella waved it off as though it were nothing. “And getting back on track, I still would like to hear your thoughts on my potential as this planet’s supreme ruler.”

Locke paused for a few seconds before answering.

"Well… you want to keep things going as they are, but fix up the little things. Take the car in for a tune up instead of buying a new one off the lot. That sounds... good." Safe. Not likely to end in disaster. Though he did wonder if the world really was as fabulous as she said, with the divide between the rich and the poor, the wars, and all that other heavy stuff.

“You sound skeptical but open to the idea. I’ll consider that progress made. And don’t be fooled, the other two will all make a similar pitch. Chaos will tell you that she wants the world to go on with everyone determining what they want. Lucifer will tell you she believes in a world where everyone is free to pursue their passions. They're all just words," Ella said. "Not that mine are any different."

The car drove down the street, their destination unclear.

"What do you think of the three of us so far? Are you angry we roped you into this, or excited?"

"Angry? No, definitely not. I mean... I was a loser before this," the words came out easy for him. Locke didn't see any need to hold back in front of Ella or the others. The disconnect between them and his 'real life' was still wide enough that he felt at ease.

"Being hot is awesome. Yuna is cute, Alice is... wow. So no, not angry, more like... stressed." Locke leaned down, his forearms resting on his thighs. "I'm afraid I'll fuck it up. It's like, only one in three odds I'll pick the right one for this. And I don't even know if there is a right one among you three."

"And you're all nice to me right now, but don't seem to care about messing with everyone else."

Ella had transformed Sun into Yuna over a misunderstanding. Lucy had made Alice into his sex slave because she knew his darkest desires. And Chaos had outright warped human female biology and altered history to give women a “slut phase” just to get some nudes onto his phone.

He looked over to Ella. "So yeah, it's a lot of pressure. Not that it's all bad." Looking at Ella meant looking at those tits again. "I would hate to have someone else in my shoes, to have missed this chance. It’s just…” Thinking on it, Locke judged himself just as culpable as the goddesses were for their mistakes. But then he thought back to lunch earlier that day, Yuna storming off, furious at him. That was 100% on him. “I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but I don’t think I’m qualified."

Ella reached up and brushed his hair, then planted a gentle kiss on the corner of his mouth. The gesture seemed almost tender; such a contrast to the more demanding woman he'd seen in the past.

"No mortal is qualified for what we're asking," she said. "But you are more qualified than most. Had we picked a lawyer, he’d have taken my side immediately. A criminal would be in Lucifer’s palm in no time at all, and an asylum patient would be thrilled with Chaos.”

“You though, you’re still young enough to have the mental elasticity to consider all sides. You don’t have an agenda. You're coming in with an open mind, and you didn't start out with your own plan for the world. That's what's important here. You're supposed to be normal."

"...thanks." Locke did feel less stressed hearing it from Ella, even if the kiss was making his heart beat even faster.

The car pulled to a stop, and Judy came to let them out. Standing, Locke saw that she wore a towering pair of heels.

"You've arrived. Have a good evening. It was a pleasure to serve, Sir." Judy said with a slight bow, enough to put her cleavage on display.

"Sir... if I may?" Judy said hesitantly, her voice barely above a whisper. She glanced at Ella, who gave an almost imperceptible nod. "I... I heard what you said. About not being qualified?"

She was still being deferential and submissive, but the way she was looking him in the eye, he could tell she was fighting it, her tone becoming anxious as she continued.

"You're wrong about that," she continued, gaining a bit more confidence. "I've taught hundreds of students over the years. You’re far from being among the most clever. Or the most hard-working. Honestly, I really wish you would put more effort because you’re squandering what potential you do have—”

“Mrs… Judy?” Locke interrupted.

“Right! Sorry, Sir. Distracted. What I meant to say is… whatever other areas that you’re lacking in, the one positive trait you have is a complete lack of self-confidence.”

“A what now?”

“Most people assume that what they know is correct, and that they know more than they actually do. But you lack that assumption. You are always questioning yourself. To the point of paralysis at times, yes, and mostly to your detriment, yes. But when the fate of the world is riding on your judgement, that’s the proper attitude to take. Better that than someone convinced they already have the answer to an impossible question.”

She’d called him stupid, lazy, and a coward, yet somehow framed it as though it were a compliment. No wonder she taught English.

Judy blushed deeply, suddenly aware she'd been speaking out of turn. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't... I mean... will there be anything else, Sir?"

“Flash your tits?” Locke phrased it as a question, but the teacher-turned-chauffeur hastily obliged.

“Of course, Sir.” Judy Mirren pinched the front of her top and pulled, releasing the tension and letting her breasts bounce out into the cold night air. Her cheeks flushed pink. “Enjoy your date, Sir.”

He nodded, staring for a few seconds before remembering just who his date was with. When he looked back to Ella, she had an amused smirk on her face.

“Ready, Locke?” she asked with infinite patience.

“As I’ll ever be.”

They had driven out of the small town Locke lived in, and he was sure there was nothing but trees, grass, and the occasional farm on this stretch of road. But now there was a new, unfamiliar building. Unmarked, made of concrete, and no windows, with only a metal door in the very middle.

“Her idea of being subtle, I’m sure,” Ella remarked as they both stood in front of the door.

Looking at the door, Locke was slightly nervous. The date had been suspiciously normal for the incarnation of chaos itself. He had a feeling that whatever was behind that door was going to change that. He reached forward and grabbed it with one sweaty palm, took a deep breath, then pulled it out.

It wasn’t locked and opened easily, and inside he could see a small, dimly lit room. A disco ball in the shape of a D20 hung above the room, casting flickering lights across as a retro 8-bit chiptune played in the background.

Four doors stood in front of them, each a different style with a different symbol displayed on it. One was a thick, oaken door with a sword and magic staff carved into it. Another was a sliding metal door with a spaceship logo emblazoned on it. A third was a tinted glass door surrounded by neon pink lights, festooned with stickers of futuristic guns, motorcycles and androids in pinup poses. Finally, the last door showed a pointed witch’s hat, owls, broomsticks, and wands.

“Which one do I pick?” Locke asked.

“While I might know what I would consider correct,” Ella began. “I also know Chaos well enough to tell you that she’ll be very disappointed if you don’t choose for yourself.”

Locke carefully studied each of these new four doors, then looked over to Ella.

"Hey, just curious. But on any of these other worlds you've done this... did the judge you picked ever die during the contest?"

"Many times," Ella said. "We always bring them back."

She placed a hand on his back.

"Don't be afraid. Nothing lasting can happen."

"That's... reassuring." Temporary or not, he wasn't thrilled about the idea of dying on his first ever date. Goblins, space aliens, cyberpunk biker gangs… he didn’t like his odds against any of those.  Still, he couldn't just run away. He grabbed the fourth door and turned the knob, and opened the door.

"This shouldn't be too bad…” Locke said to himself as much as Ella. “No one ever dies in those magic school books, right?"

As soon as the door opened there was a bright flash of white light, and when it cleared, Locke and Ella found themselves in a brand new world.