SC: So, hello again. I couldn't help it, I can't stay away from this fandom. So, I'm doing a sequel. I'm not sure if its going to go over well, but… hey, might as well try. So, here's Catching Fire's sequel,
Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High or any of its characters, just the ones I made up.
Chapter 1
Plans
"I can't believe he managed to get detention on the last day of school." Will muttered as he floated above his friends heads, anxious.
"Will, quit hovering." Magenta sighed. "It was Lash and Speed- did you really think they would just graduate and leave us alone?"
"Well, I'd kinda hoped…"
The doors slammed open behind them- making Will drop a few feet in surprise- and a very annoyed Warren Peace walked out.
"You know, I really do hope they turn into villains. That way I have a viable excuse for pounding them."
"What'd they do, anyways?" Ethan asked. Warren's face turned red, and he didn't answer.
The doors opened again, this time without so much slamming, and the person who came out of the moved next to Warren and slipped her hand into his. "Something about me and certain body parts of mine that I'd rather not repeat." Alexa sighed, tucking a piece of blonde hair behind her ear.
"Must've been something really bad if it's got Warren blushing." Zach muttered. Warren's fist rose threateningly, and Zach's mouth closed.
"So why'd Warren get detention and they didn't?"
"Well, they would've…" Alexa started. "Except…" She looked up at Warren.
"They needed immediate medical attention." He smirked.
Will shook his head, floating down to the ground, then glanced over at his girlfriend, who was sitting on the bottom step, reading. "Hey, Layla, how come Warren isn't getting his usual lecture?"
"Because she heard what Lash and Speed said too." Warren chuckled. "I just have a quicker means of attack." He called back as he descended the steps toward their landing bus.
"So, anybody got summer plans?" Layla questioned as they claimed their usual seats in the back.
"My parents are taking a second honeymoon. I politely declined the offer to go along." Warren said, making a face as though he would rather be anywhere else.
"Smart choice." Zach commented. "My family's not doing anything this summer."
"Mine either." Ethan sighed.
"We've got my grandparents coming up from good ol' Texas." Magenta lamented. "I get to spend all summer listening to my grandma complain about my clothes and that I'm not eating enough."
"Better than my summer plans." Will scoffed. "Same as every year- my parents will be busy saving the world and I'll be at home."
Warren glanced back over his seat. "What happened to the 'Stronghold three'?"
"I'm not official yet, remember? They've got to wait until I graduate before that." He turned to the redhead next to him. "What about you?"
"My mom's going to be in the Amazon most of the summer doing research and stuff."
Alexa smirked. "I've got you all beat with two words: Family. Reunion."
"Ooh, fun." Warren said. "Which side?"
"Dad's. Which means I get to go to Arizona."
"Arizona?" Ethan questioned. "That's a little far."
"Which is why we don't usually go." She explained. "My grandparents have a ranch out there, so it fits everybody."
"Everybody?" Magenta questioned. "Just how big is your dad's side?"
Alexa paused. "Uh, well… there's my grandma and grandpa, three uncles, their wives, two aunts, both single, and," Here she paused again, mumbling something under her breath, "Seven cousins, including me and Carson. So, seventeen. Oh, sorry- nineteen. Forgot my parents. My mom's side is even worse- she was raised in the freaking Brady Bunch, and has nine nieces and three nephews."
"Big family." Will said.
"Yeah, well, they haven't quite forgiven mom for the whole… you know, going crazy and turning evil thing, so we aren't speaking to them." The bus's brakes screeched as it pulled to a halt. "My stop." She said, standing up and scooting by Warren (not without giving him a quick kiss, mind you) and climbing down the steps of the bus.
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The smell of brownies drifted into my nose as I opened the door. "I smell something chocolate and brownie like." I called, heading toward the kitchen.
My mom smiled at me. "Great timing, I just pulled these out of the oven." I grinned and reached for the one she offered me. "So, how was school?"
"Good and bad." I said after a moment of contemplation, grabbing a plate and setting the brownie down, licking the melted chocolate off my fingers. "Warren had detention for most of the day, but he got to pound Lash and Speed one last time."
My mother giggled. "Ah, I see. Speaking of your friends, are they busy this summer?"
I paused, thinking back to the conversation on the bus. "Uh, not really. Why?"
She smiled. "Think they'd want to come to the ranch with us?"
"Seriously?!"
"Uh-huh. I already cleared it with your grandparents."
I grinned, taking a bite of my brownie. I paused, swallowed, and set it back down on my plate. Wait a second…
"What kind of brownies are these?" I questioned suspiciously.
My mother shrugged. "Just brownies." I broke it in half. Still warm chocolate chips oozed in the middle of the brownie.
"These are your double chocolate brownies. You only make these when something's wrong or you have bad news for me." I accused. "These are bribe brownies!"
"What? Are not!"
I leant across the table at her. "Point: the last time you made these for me, it was when we though Blue ran away. What's going on?"
My mom sighed and sat down across from me. "You may want to eat the brownie first." I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, okay. Amanda's coming to the reunion."
There was a crash as I leapt out of my chair and knocked it backward. "WHAT?!"
"Told you."
I shook my head, waving my arms in front of me. "No. No, no, no, no, no. I only agreed to come this year because SHE was supposed to be busy with college work."
She sighed again. "Alexa, sweetie, your grandparents haven't seen you since your fourteenth birthday."
"Which the she-devil ruined." I interrupted.
My mom ignored the comment. "Don't you think it would be nice to go see them again?"
"Them, yes. Her, NO."
"Your father and I know how you feel about Amanda, which is why we're letting you bring your friends along. All of them. Even Warren."
I paused, considering this. "Daddy is THAT desperate to get me to go?"
"Yes."
I growled. "Fine. I'll ask. But if less than three of them can come, I'm not going." I threatened as I walked out of the room.
"Deal."
-The Next Day…-
Carson looked up from teasing Blue with his stuffed mouse as the door opened. "Hey Warren." She greeted cheerily.
"Hey squirt. Your sister all right? She's not answering her cell, and we were going to head downtown to see if there were any good movies playing."
The cryokinetic grimaced. "Yeah… Alexa's kind of in a bad mood. She hasn't come out of her room since yesterday night."
"What? Why?"
"She got some bad news about the reunion. Feel free to go try and talk to her, though I can't guarantee anything."
Warren shrugged and went upstairs. He attempted to turn the doorknob to Alexa's room, frowning when he found it locked. "Ray? Could you unlock this?" There was a click in reply. This time when Warren turned the knob, the door swung open.
"Ray, I thought I told you to not let anyone in." Alexa's muffled voice came. She had her face buried in her pillow and was lying stomach-down on her bed.
"Gee, love you too."
Alexa's head rose, the look on her face surprised. "Warren? What're you-" Realization dawned in her expression, and she smacked her palm to her forehead. "The movies. That was today, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. I'm thinking that this is a little more important, though." He sat down on the edge of her bed. "What's up? Carson said something about your family reunion…"
Alexa sighed and sat up, scooting next to her boyfriend. "My cousin Amanda is coming."
"Okay…"
She sighed again. "No, see, Amanda and I… we don't along. At all." Warren raised an eyebrow. "Let me put it this way: Amanda is the reason I didn't go to Sky High my freshman year." She shook her head. "If she hadn't graduated a year early, I still wouldn't be."
"Wow. That bad."
"Yeah. It's been a mutual hate-hate thing since I was five."
Warren frowned. "Why? What happened?"
"It was at the family reunion that year- we were tree climbing, and Amanda shoved me off of the branch I was standing on- about twenty feet up. I didn't have room to open up my wings, so I hit the ground. Broke my collarbone and a couple ribs." She was glaring at the floor. "It just got progressively worse from then on- it took a snake in my bed to figure out she was doing it on purpose."
"What? How do you know it was her?"
"It was her snake." She muttered. "It bit me, and I fried it."
"It bit you?" Alexa rolled up her pant leg and turned her calf toward him. There were two circular scars spaced evenly apart halfway down.
"That's about when I started fighting back." Alexa pushed her jeans back down. "Amanda's goal in life is to ruin mine. She's in college now, and she wasn't supposed to come to the reunion- that's why I said I'd go. I just found out that she's coming."
"Guess it's a pretty good reason to be pissed." Warren conceded. "Why don't you just not go?"
"Can't. I haven't seen my grandparents since my fourteenth birthday- besides, dad's desperate for me to come." She smiled suddenly. "Speaking of which… you haven't changed your summer plans yet, have you?"
It took Warren a second to figure out what she was asking. "He is desperate."
"Incredibly. He's letting me bring everyone else, too."
"Oh great."
"Please, War?" Alexa begged.
"I'll ask my parents." Warren finally conceded. "And I doubt they'll say no." He couldn't hold back a smile as Alexa hugged him, and wrapped an arm around her waist.
When she sat back, she looked up at him. "So, you think we still have time to catch that movie?"
--
Aria didn't look up from her magazine as the front door opened and closed. "Have a fun time at the movies?"
"Yes."
"And…?"
"Everyone's coming." She finally relented.
Snowsong couldn't help smiling. "Guess you'd better start packing."
"Yeah, yeah."
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"You know how to reach us if there's any trouble." Jetstream said helpfully.
Aria laughed. "Will? Trouble? Josie, stop worrying. He'll be fine. You and Steve go save the world and relax a little. You always did like Italy."
She smiled. "Alright. Bye Will!"
"Bye mom." He called, climbing into the red van with his friends and shutting the door behind him.
"Nice of you to join the party." Warren chuckled as Will climbed in back with Zach and Ethan.
"My mom was worrying about stuff." He explained. "I miss anything fun?"
"Alexa was about to give us a rundown of her family tree." Magenta said, turning around in the front seat. "You came just in time."
"Yeah, you might want to get Warren to pop some of that popcorn back there." Alexa said dryly. "Okay, let's see… there's my grandma, retired, but if you guys have heard of Pyranite that's her. My blood grandfather- The Eagle- died when my dad was three, he's where the wings came from. They had three kids; my dad, obviously, his older brother Peter- better known as Prometheus. They're fraternal twins, by the way. My aunt Julie- a.k.a Flare- is the youngest and does. Peter's married to Kendra, who goes by Komodo.
"Grandma got remarried to Troy Cariot, also retired, used to go by Ark. He had two kids from his first marriage, my uncle Brad and aunt Katie, Richter and Hydra respectively. He and grandma had a son together, my uncle Robbie, the youngest of the bunch. He goes by Surgeon. Brad's married to Eileen, she's a civilian, and my Robbie is married to Alison, the infamous Glycerin. Neither of my aunts are married.
"As for kids, there's the she-devil herself, Amanda. Her parents are Brad and Eileen. Then there's me, Carson, Julie's son Daniel, Peter and Kendra's twins Louis and Lily, and then Robbie and Alison have nine month old Aubrey." Alexa let out a deep breath. "And I think that's it."
"Holy crap." Zach laughed.
"I think we deserve popcorn after that." Will teased.
Alexa punched at him. "Oh, shut up."
Layla looked over at her. "I recognized all your aunts' and uncles' codenames, but what are your cousins' powers?"
"Amanda has energy projection, it makes her a real bitch to try and fight with."
"Speaking from experience, I assume."
"Shut up Warren. Daniel can solidify light into just about anything he wants, Louis is a teleporter- we have no idea where he got that from-, Lily's a shapeshifter, but her powers aren't fully developed yet, so she can only do partial shifts. And Aubrey's so little that we're not sure what his power is yet."
They all looked up as Aria slid into the driver's seat. "We all ready to go?"
"Yep." Alexa said. "All our stuff's in the car with dad and Carson, Warren's keeping Blue happy, and the birds are with Carson and dad."
"Great. Let's go."
--
A few hours into the trip, everyone got bored enough to start asking questions again. "So what kind of animals do your grandparents have, Alexa?"
"Well, there's about two dozen horses, maybe more if the mares had their babies already, three dogs, five or six itty-bitty puppies, two cats, several birds, god knows how many cows and chickens… am I forgetting anything?" I asked my mom.
"Rupert."
"Ah, yes. And the duck."
"Your grandparents have a duck?" Ethan asked incredulously.
"He's house broken." My mom laughed, turning off the exit after my dad. "Looks like we're going to get lunch. You guys hungry yet?"
My stomach, Warren's, Will's and Zach's rumbled in reply- Layla, Magenta, and Ethan had been smart and brought snacks for themselves. "Lunch it is, then."
--
Another hour or so after we got lunch, and we arrived at the ranch. "I missed this place." Carson said with a grin as we looked up at the huge house in front of us.
"Holy shit." I heard Will behind me. "I was wondering where they had room for all the animals and crap but… jeez. Are there three floors?"
"Yeah." I answered a little awkwardly. I didn't like flaunting how rich my family was in front of my friends.
But, I didn't have to think about it for long as the door opened and a rush of blue cotton and grey hair hugged me. "Lexi, darling, how long has it been? You've gotten so tall!"
I smiled and hugged the woman back. "Hi grandma." She stepped back to look at me, smiling. "It's good to see you too."
Amelia Cariot was in pretty good shape for someone who was almost seventy. Few of time's worst effects had touched her- she barely had any wrinkles, still had a pretty good body- the only sign of her age were her grandkids and her hair.
"And my little care-bear!" Carson turned crimson.
"Nana!" She protested.
"Oops, sorry. Old habits." My grandmother laughed, obviously not sorry at all, hugging my sister. She turned back to me. "Aren't you going to introduce your old grandmother to your friends?"
"Huh? Oh, right." I quickly ran through the list. "And this is Warren."
My grandmother quirked an eyebrow. "Ah, so this is the infamous Warren Peace I've heard so much about."
I could feel Warren stiffen slightly at my side- he was so used to being judged by his name… and his father. "I remember your father when he was your age," My grandma continued, "He used to come home with Elliot all the time and could scarf down a plate of my chocolate chip cookies all by himself. Usually did, too."
Warren relaxed, smiling. "Yeah, that sounds like my dad."
"Well, come on in." She invited. "No point standing around outside like idiots."
"I like your grandma." Warren said in a low voice.
I laughed and hugged his arm. "I thought you might."
The woman in question didn't even notice our conversation, she was so caught up talking to my parents. "Aria, its so good to see you again- it was such a relief when that mess with you and Barron got cleared up."
"You have no idea, Amelia." My mom laughed.
"You were slow this year, Elliot. Robbie and Peter both beat you here."
"We got kinda lost." Mom explained. "Someone wouldn't ask me for directions."
"Aria…"
"He gets it from his father- they both have an impeccable sense of direction, but put them in a car… and it vanishes into thin air!"
"Mom…"
Carson butted in before my dad could further complain. "Wait, if uncle Peter's here, does that mean Lucifer and Lilith are here too?"
"Louis and Lily are both here, yes." My mom emphasized their names.
I 'hmph'ed. "At least Amanda's not here yet."
My grandmother pretended not to hear me, distracting herself with my grandpa's entrance. "Hello Alexa."
"Hey gramps." I replied teasingly, giving him a warm hug. Like my grandma, Troy Cariot did not look his age. His muscles were clearly visible underneath the sleeves of his sweater, and the only signs of grey in his hair were very Mr. Fantastic-ish stripes at his temples. I did another quick run through of my friends for him as well.
"Well, now that we're all acquainted, why don't we get you kids to your rooms? Then Alexa and Carson can give you the grand tour."
It didn't take too long for everyone to haul their stuff upstairs to the third floor (dubbed the unofficial kids floor since before I was born) - mostly thanks to Will- and we quickly showed them around the house. That's about as far as we got, because the pool distracted us and we were all quickly busy running back upstairs for our swimsuits.
--
SC: Okay, well,
hopefully this wasn't too bad of a first chapter. I'm also
thinking of starting a holiday story in this genre- but it would
probably give away some spoilers for the later stories I'm going to
do. Anyway, I'd really like to know if you guys like this or not.
If not, I'll just take it down and try again with a different plot.
Ja ne
SC
PS: While Alexa's family members' codenames may be common knowledge in the Sky High-verse, you guys aren't psychic, so here's a helpful list (in order of introductions in Alexa's speech):
Official Heroes:
Name, age: Codename; powers
Amelia Loaw-Cariot, 67: Pyranite; pyrokinesis, limited invulnerability
Devlin Hale, deceased: Avian flight (wings), limited super-strength
Peter Hale, 42: Prometheus; super-strength, pyrokinesis, limited invulnerability
Julie Hale, 40: Flare; light bursts- levels, stun/temporary blindness to super-nova
Kendra Thames-Hale, 42: Komodo; reptilian shapeshifter
Troy Cariot, 69: Ark; Electrokinetic
Bradley Cariot, 43: Richter; earthquakes
Katelyn Cariot, 45: Hydra; hydrokinetic
Robert Cariot, 39: Surgeon; healer
Eileen Adams-Cariot, 44: civilian
Alison Remington-Cariot, 37: Glycerin; energy manipulation to create explosions, by touch or thought
Heroes in Training:
Name, age: codename (if graduate of Sky High); powers
Amanda Cariot, 19: Undecided; energy projections
Daniel Hale, 12; solidifies light
Louis Hale, 11; teleporter
Lily Hate, 11; shapeshifter- not fully developed
Aubrey Cariot, 9 months; unknown.