"Dove!"

"Dove! Get up!"

"I refuse." Dove muttered into his pillow. His father walked into the room, one hand on his morning newspaper and the other on his glasses.

"Don't make me get your mother on the phone. You know how she is when she gets pulled from work."

Dove sighed and pulled the blanket over his head, desperate to get more just a little bit more sleep. "Which work? Being a planet saving lawyer or planet saving super hero?"

His father, Will Stronghold, the only hero in the history of heroes to have more than one power, laughed. "Layla saves the world either way. Come on kid, get up. Xia will be here soon."

"Xia can shove it." Dove uttered.

His father grinned. "Don't let her hear you say that." Dove sighed as his father walked out of the room. He stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom and gave a moment to glance in the mirror at his tired brown eyes and messy bleached hair, tumbled during the night. Xia convinced him to bleach his shoulder length hair blond when she was doing hers pink, much to his dad's dismay and his mother's joy at his "expressed creativity". It was his mother who picked his name, as well. She was nice person, but was always busy fighting crime or fighting the big oil companies and protecting rainforests and stuff like that. Honestly he was glad he had inherited his mother's gifts with plants instead of any of his father's powers. He disliked the idea of trying to pay attention all the time to prevent from snapping a door in half or floating while walking to school.

He quickly changed into his standard outfit, a blue shirt and jeans with a black hoodie and his old beat up red sneakers. He quickly showered and brushed his teeth before heading down the stairs to the kitchen where his father was, eating a bowl of cereal and reading the paper.

"About time, kiddo."

Dove rolled his eyes and looked in the fridge for the soy milk. His mother's vast love of nature meant that everyone in the family was vegan, although his dad sometimes had eggs. Dove didn't like the idea of eating an animal's flesh, so he was quite content with being vegan. He placed the milk down and pulled out a bowl, but it suddenly slipped from his hands. Dove winced, expecting impact, but just before it hit the floor, it hovered slightly, suspended in the air. Dove looked up. His best friend, Xia, was standing in the back doorway.

"Morning Xia" His father said, not even glancing over his paper.

The bowl floated to the counter.

"Morning Mr. Stronghold." Xia said as she sat down at the table in her spot, right across from Dove's seat. Her long black hair had highlights of bright neon pink in them in the right spots, held back by a hairband with a large black bow in the center of it. She was wearing a pink, yellow, and orange neon tutu and a black and white top with stripes, and massive black creeper platform boots. She had dramatically colored eyeshadow and some star stickers on the corners of her eyes. Dove had never gotten her style, but then again it changed almost every single day, so he doubted even Xia knew her style.

Dove picked up another bowl and made and extra bowl of cereal for Xia, as he did most mornings. He set a bowl in front of her and sat down with his own.

"Thank you." Xia said, picking up a spoon.

"No problem. Nice outfit."

"I was going for punk/rave. You like?"

Dove regarded her. "You kind of look like a walking traffic cone."

Xia grinned. "That's what I'm going for."

Mr. Stronghold looked over his paper. "How's the family?"

Xia rolled her eyes. "My dad left early cause some monster was attacking the West Shore, but my mom's doing much better today." She said, nodding. Her mother, a five year cancer survivor, was going through the final round of chemo to get rid of her breast cancer, hopefully this time for good.

Is she really doing okay? Dove thought, making eye contact with Xia. She cracked a small hole in his mental barrier she had set up for him.

What?

Is she really okay?

Well, define okay.

Not vomiting or dying

Yeah, she's fine then.

Xia carefully repaired the crack and Dove's mind settled back into comfort. Xia not only hold move things with her mind, but could also read other people's thoughts. That was a dangerous power, and most mind readers went bonkers from the pressure. Xia had a special talent for blocking everything out with mental barriers, which she gave both herself and Dove. Of course, no one knew about this, since she'd probably face some super crazy paperwork and missions as a superhero.

"First day of Sky High. You guys excited?"

Xia shrugged. "Probably more excited than Dove."

Dove made a face at Xia.

"Everyone's just gonna be obsessed with the idea I'm a Stronghold."

His father nodded knowingly. "Had the same problem with your grandfather. You know, when I first started-."

"Dad we don't really have time for the high school story. We gotta go or we'll miss the bus." Dove said, standing up. Xia looked around surprised and downed the last of her cereal in one gulp, drinking form the bowl and joining Dove.

"Yeah, don't want to be late on our first day." She said, nodding. Dove grabbed his backpack and Xia's side bag she used as a book bag from the floor and handed it to her.

"Oh, okay. Well, have a great day at school, you two. `I want to hear about it all when I get back."

Dove and Xia stared at him blankly.

"The League convention? I'll be in Germany for the next two weeks."

Dove and Xia frowned at him.

"I've mentioned it more than once." Mr. Stronghold said, but then sighed.

"Now, your mother is in Brazil right now, so you'll have the house to yourself. No parties, not people over."

"Hey!" Xia protested.

"Okay, Xia can come over. But nothing to radical, okay?"

Dove rolled his eyes. "Okay, yes dad."

Mr. Stronghold gave Dove and Xia hugs.

"I love you kids. Have fun, alright?"

Dove and Xia nodded. "Bye dad!" Xia called out, with Dove echoing behind "bye."

Xia called the Strongholds her parents, since she spent more time at their house then her own.

Dove and Xia walked out the door into the sidewalk. Xia slipped her bag over her shoulder and adjusted her tutu.

"Bus or express?" Dove asked her. Xia considered this for a moment. 'We'll we're pretty late for the bus. I can't run in these babies." She clicked her heals.

"Express it is." Dove said. He closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating hard. Xia grabbed his waist and the earth shook beneath them. Suddenly, the large vine stalk, about the size of a small car, big enough for both of them to sit crisscrossed facing each other, rose up from the ground quickly, lifting both of them into the air. As they got above Dove's house, the stalk got a little thinner and faster as it extended to the sky.

Xia snapped her fingers. "No one sees a thing." She confirmed. It was a trick they had both learned when they were kids. Apparently people tended to freak out when they saw a giant plant stalk in the sky. Xia blocked it from view and Dove controlled it.

Xia popped a squat and sat down on the plants, crossing her legs. Dove joined her, putting back his hair in the small ponytail to keep it out of his face.

"So, did you tell him?"

"Tell him what?" Dove asked, distracted by trying to get a few strands of hair out of his face. Xia's hair was flying around, but she didn't to care.

"You know." She paused for dramatic affect. "The gay thing."

Dove sighed. "No. I haven't. What dad wants to hear his son is a raging homosexual?"

"Well I wouldn't call you raging. What about your mom?" Xia implored.

"I was planning on telling her when she got back from Brazil." Dove said, picking at his nails. Xia slapped his hand away from his other one. "No picking." Dove looked down. "I didn't even realize I was. Thanks." Xia winked. "If I'm biting my lip be sure to tell me."

"I'll slap your lip."

Xia's eye's sparkled. "You can't even get close."

Dove laughed. Xia was extremely beautiful. She was smart and loyal and funny. He would be into her if he liked girls. Sometimes he felt pangs of guilt when they were together, like his biological wiring was preventing something between them from happening. Xia understood him well, though. When he told her he was gay, she told him that they would still be friends forever unless he killed or cat or something. Then she would have a problem with him. It was really nice to act just himself around Xia.

Dove looked up and saw the outline of the floating school in between the clouds and stood up before carefully helping Xia up. Mind freak or not, she couldn't levitate herself. Falling from the height would not be pretty.

"Just don't draw attention to yourself." Xia said, patting Dove's shoulder compassionately. "Kind of hard to do that when you look like a neon queen." Dove retorted. Xia smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, slipping her hand into his. "That's why I love you, Dove."

The stalk got thinner and thinner until it was just vines wrapped around their ankles. They soon reached the edge of the school. Dove felt his heart pound as he stepped off onto the grassy platform before turning around to help Xia off the vine, offering his hand to help her guide her way in his platform boots. Once they were safely at the school, Dove sent the vine back down to the ground, slowly this time to make sure no one got hurt. Last time a dog went flying. That wasn't good.

Dove took his hair down and ran his hand through it to keep it tamed. Xia did the same, smoothing her hair and crazy outfit. They looked around in awe. Kids were all over the place, in all colors and shapes. Dove drew a breath in as a girl with short brown hair froze her coffee in front of everyone, but after he felt incredibly foolish. In middle school they had to hide their powers, but this school was tailored for kids with powers. He didn't have to hide who he really was.

Well, part of him anyways.

Hey guys! I'm back again and feeling super inspired! Let's DO THIS THING!

This is an SYOC, character form on my profile! Fill it out, PM it to me, and keep an open eye for an acceptance message or denial or questions. This takes place in th emodern day but quite a bit from the movie. The charcaters are in their 30's to 40's, depending on their age at the movie.

As always dear readers, question every thing! I'll be looking forwards to submissions! Much love!

Peace and Mist,

rlb190