Here comes the second chapter. I will try to update as often as possible. I'm only updating so early becuasr I already had gone over both the first and second chapters. I will try to update as often as possible.
Disclaimer: I don't own any rights or materials to the original manga or anime. I own only the characters and arcs written in this story.
The next few weeks went by fast as I prepared for my trip to Defender High. We had bought new clothes and had received a map and dorm number. All that was left to do was head to Grand Mesa, Colorado, were Defender High's campus was. Which is what today was about.
It was mid July and I was packed up and ready to go. As a family we had enjoyed the month we had off. We drove down to California and spent a week traveling around LA and San Francisco, then farther inland for backpacking in the Rockies for four days. Then it was back to relaxing at home for two weeks before we set out.
My parents had bought me a plane ticket to Denver where a bus would pick me up and take us to the campus.
I had maintained contact with Ayden after the assessment and along with James we were catching the noon flight from Seattle to Denver.
At the moment I was being dropped off at the airport by my parents who had offered to drive all three of us to the airport.
"Be safe you guys." My mom calls to us before we head through security, almost crying.
"We'll see you at Thanksgiving." My dad called.
After we had made it through security we were sitting down and waiting for the boarding process to start.
"So you guys ready?" Asks James, flashing his toothy smile.
"Oh you bet I'm ready." Said Ayden, her long dark hair pulled back in a messy bun. I had learned over the last few weeks that she was very much a casual and easy going person who loved to build things. I tried to reverse her quirk once as a joke and it didn't work out too well for me. Her quirk is a unique fire that can freeze or burn at Aydens control, and her quirk couldn't truly be reversed. But it was funny to watch her struggle freezing her projects when she tried to weld metal together. And I almost received a serious freezer burn to my face.
"I'm so pumped." I say. "Staying in a dorm and being in one of the best backpacking places in the country and not to mention it's Defender High."
"Yeah, but I sucks that none of us are in the same building." Ayden says with a slight pout on her face.
"At least they aren't too far apart, and we can always meet up after class in the park." I say, looking over a map of the school on my phone.
Defender High was separated into five different sections. To the north were the girls dorms where Ayden would be staying. To the south were the boys dorms. Each dorm area had five buildings, James was in building two closest to the main school in the center of the campus. I was in building five on the closer to the park that took up most of the east side. On the west side of the campus was a simulated city and combat training zones separated by a large concrete wall from the rest of the school.
"Hey, let's look at the upside." Says James. "Since we're all staying in different dorms we'll meet new people from around the country. Maybe make some new friends too."
"Maybe. I mean you guys aren't really affected by my quirk, which is part of the reason you guys hang around me. Ask James, all throughout school he was my only friend because everyone else thought of me as a good villain, and bullied me and stayed away because of that." I say mumbling half of it.
"Hey, talking that like you're definitely not going to make any friends." Says Ayden punching me in the arm.
"Now boarding flight three one nine from Seattle to Denver."
"This is us." I say.
We walk up to the ticket counter and scan our tickets, all sitting in the same row. We loaded the plane and got ready for take off. I put my suitcase in one of the overhead bins and took my seat. We were on a row towards the front of coach. I watched people board the plane, some even looked like they were headed to Defender High, and judging by the DH logo on a girls bag, some of them were going back.
I put in my headphones and look out the window as the tarmac begins to move beneath us. In a few minutes we were in the air, Ayden reading a large book with a green dragon on the cover next to me. James was already passed out across the aisle and thankfully not snoring or leaning on his seatmates shoulder.
Two hours and thirty minutes later, we touched down in Denver airport and wandered the massive building till we found the transportation platform. The bus was easy to spot, it was a custom painted charter bus with a large DH logo on the side. We approached the bus and were asked to show our letter that we had passed the basic entrance exams.
We were loaded on the bus, which was already mostly full with students from other flights. Thankfully there were four open seats, but I was unlucky enough to get stuck with someone else while Ayden sat with James. But for the moment the seat was empty.
"It's only fair." She said when I complained about it. "James sat in a seat with a total stranger on the flight. So it's only fair that you share a seat with someone else too."
"But what about you?" I say. "And he was asleep most of the time too."
"As you can see," She said pointing at the half asleep James. "James is taking up the aisle seat an I cannot move him." she snapped back. "So I guess you're stuck."
A few minutes later the bus started up and began to leave the airport. Someone did eventually come and fill up my seat. He was a nice guy name Ryan with a cool quirk called Markup so he could write on any surface, including air.
"What's your quirk?" He asked after he finished showing off his.
"Watch your head." I say as I slowly flip up and reverse my gravity so I'm sitting on the ceiling panel above us.
I see Ayden giggle from across the aisle as she watched me perform my little trick.
"That's so cool." Says Ryan as I descend back down into my seat. "What is called?"
"Reversal." I say as I touch Ryan's arm, taking off a small invisible cover from my pinky finger. "Now try to use your quirk."
He points his finger and tried to draw on the air in front of him, and nothing happened. He then tried the seat and again nothing happened. He looked at his finger and saw that instead of leaving color on the seat, the seats purple cloth color was on his finger.
"That is an amazing quirk." He said while still looking at his finger.
Almost no one had ever said that my quirk was amazing, only James and Ayden. And no one I had ever just met had said that only that I would make a good villain. Maybe my time at Defender wouldn't be so bad after all.
A two hour drive later and we were pulling up at the gate of Defender High. A large concrete wall surrounded the entire complex. The modern buildings of the school towered over the rest of the landscape on the high mesa.
Then we pulled through the gate and entered the campus of the best high school in the nation. The streets were wide and trees were everywhere. Birds were flying through the trees and some students were wandering the campus.
"Welcome to Defender High." Said a voice over the bus' speaker system. "I am the director of Defender High, Vendetta. You have been accepted into one of the best high schools in the world. For returning students you know the drill. For you first years, once you get off the bus. Take your stuff to the admissions office and show them your dorm number and you will receive your room key and student ID. Good luck, and welcome."
Then the bus stops. And the door opens. We were really here I couldn't believe it.
I stepped of the bus and into the pavement and the warm Colorado sun. I waited on my friends and together we walked up to the building where we would find out were we would live for the next year.
I was still speechless. I was actually about to get my dorm room.
"This is insane." I say as I step through the doorway. Sunlight glinted off the glass fixtures hanging from the ceiling. Patterns of purple stone wove through the floor of the building. A row of monitors was set up. And people were typing in information into them.
"Yeah, no kidding. And this is just the admissions building. Makes you wonder what the rest of the campus is like." Says James in awe.
We walk up to one of the many monitors and see a keypad and a bar. With the instruction to type in the dorm room number.
I tap in my dorm room number, 5514 building five, fifth floor, room fourteen.
It the prompted me to select which student I was. There were two others in my room. Ryan Caddell, That was a pleasant surprise. And Johnny Chicas-Jiménez.
"It's three people to a room guys." I say.
"Three?" Asks Ayden. "That's strange. I guess it's just the number of students here."
"I guess." I say hitting my name. The monitor spits out my ID card with student number on it and a magnetic key card for my dorm. "I'm going to see my room. I'll call you guys later so we can eat dinner in the cafeteria."
I walk across the campus to the tall, rounded glass spire of dorm building five, or Red Tail Tower. I learned by looking around that each dorm building had a different design. Some were like skyscrapers like five, while other were oblong and strangely shaped like they would fall over, while one randomly looked like a medieval castle spire.
I walked into though the entryway. A lounge area was set up. Couches everywhere and a small arcade with classic games like Galaga and newer ones like Smash Bros. A statue of a red tailed hawk in the center. Two elevators went up to the twelfth floor atrium, according to a directory underneath the hawk. I walk over the the elevator and open it. Pressing the button for the sixth floor. This building had twelve floors, a ground floor, and then ten floors or dorms, meaning the first floor of dorms is on the second and so on and so forth.
The elevator ascended and soon the lounge disappeared and then the doors were opening to the fifth floor. I walked to my dorm and stood in front of my door. I pass the key card over the lock and a click opens the door. I push it open and step into the room.
The first part of the room had a couch with a new TV mounted on a wall. A shower to the left of that and a small kitchen with a fridge and microwave to the right. The room had three beds that are lifted and three desks underneath them, a closet next each, all along a central hallway led to the window with a small balcony that overlooked the park. Someone already claimed one of the beds closest to the window. I threw my stuff on the bed across from it and began to set up my desk.
I had finished setting up and plugging in my desktop and getting connected to the WiFi of the building. The desk already had paper, a lamp and a chair. I was thinking about starting a match of League. I had the room to myself because Ryan had yet to arrive. Johnny was nowhere to be seen and dinner didn't start for another hour.
I was about to click the start button when a high pitched whine started outside my window. I turned around and saw a short Hispanic kid hovering in midair and coming in to land on the balcony.
I stood up and opened the door, the hot air from a jet engine exhaust hit my face.
The kid landed on the balcony and smiled. He was shorter than I was was wearing a light t-shirt and shorts, and a pair of shoes were tied to his waist, he was barefoot. On his wrists and ankles the skin stuck out and jet turbines were visible. "Hey. I'm Johnny, nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand for me to shake. Allowing me to see that he had a hole in his palm, the end of a jet engine embedded in his body.
"Rei. Rei Koizumi." I say as I shake his hand, a little bit of heat coming from the exhaust port.
"Nice to meet you. Now I you will excuse me I need to eat something before I pass out. Running four jet engines takes a lot of food." He steps past me and into the room almost running to the fridge and pulls out a metal bottle, and a kiwi. Then to the cabinets and pulls down a protein bar as I walked back inside and shut the door. He also appeared to have a multitude of snacks and large bottles of whey protein underneath his desk.
"Did you eat lunch?" I ask. "And why do you have so much food with you. The school has a cafeteria."
"My quirk." Says Johnny in between bites of kiwi. "It's called jet engine and as you can tell I have four jet engines naturally embedded in my arms and legs. They require fuel constantly. So I'm usually always eating." He takes a large gulp of whatever was in his metal bottle. "What's your quirk?"
I jump into the air and lie back on the ceiling. "It's called reversal." I say sitting up. My hair dangling down. "I can reverse my gravity and the gravity of anything I'm touching with relative ease. I can also emit a field that reverses a quirks affect and how it functions once I stop, their quirk goes back to normal." Isay as a flip back down onto the floor. "But if I touch you with all five fingers, your quirk is reversed for about ten minutes."
"So does that mean my quirk is reversed right now because we shook hands?" A nervous look on his face.
"Nah. I have a special cover on my pinky finger that prevents me from fully touching anyone. "Its thin so you can't see it or feel it but strong enough that it won't break."
"That's smart. If only you had it on during the bus ride." I turn to see Ryan wheeling in his stuff.
"Hey Ryan." I say. "I'd say this is a pleasant surprise."
"You two know each other?" Asks Johnny, his mouthful of protein bar.
"Yeah we met on the bus ride here." Says Ryan as he throws his stuff onto the last empty bed. "His quirk is pretty cool don't you think?"
"Yeah. I'd have to say being able to sit on the ceiling sounds fun."
"You wanna try it?" I ask
"Wait, you can switch my gravity?" Johnny asks skeptically.
"Yeah, just come here. If I keep the cover on I can still alter your gravity and won't reverse your quirk. Once we're on the ceiling, don't let go of my hand unless you want to fall back down."
He grabs onto my hand and then we were standing on the ceiling.
"This just isn't right." Says Johnny. "I'm not supposed to be on the ceiling like this." I could tell that he wasn't having too much fun so I drifted us back to our normal gravity.
"That is just plain wrong." He says shaking his head.
"Hey, you know what a good idea is?" Asks Ryan. "Let's figure out a little bit more about each other, the basics like state and if we have any siblings, that kinda stuff. I mean, we are about to spend the next year together. Might as well exchange information."
For the next thirty minutes we shared information, what state we were from out quirk, and phone numbers. Ryan was from Illinois and Johnny was from Texas. I told them I was adopted. Their reactions were the usual. "What's it like living people who aren't you parents?" Thing like that. I told them that I was adored at a young age so I no clue who my real parents were. Living with my adoptive parents was like any other as they were the only ones I'd ever known
Afterwards we worked on unpacking the rest of my and Ryan's stuff. The TV had four HDMI port and two were already taken by the receiver and Johnny's PS4. The other two would soon be taken by Ryan's Xbox and my Switch console.
Ryan was also a pc gamer and had is own set up that took about fifteen minutes to put together with all his equipment, some custom made. His pc was different than most other designs and had no logo on the case cover. He had two controllers that were specially made for motion tracking with adapters depending on what game he was playing.
"Did you build most of this yourself?" I ask examining the strange sword like controller.
"Yeah." He says proudly. "I did. That one you're holding there is what I use when playing Albion Online. It's all motion tracking from a special camera and code system I designed. It took forever to get all the bugs worked out." He was now plugging in his dual monitor to the outlet behind him.
"Hey, guys." Called Johnny from the door. "Dinner starts soon and I'm hungry."
"From what you've told me your always hungry." I say walking over to the door. Ryan close behind.
We walked to the elevator and rode it down to the lounge, which was already mostly empty from people going to the cafeteria.
"Were gonna be so late now." I say pulling out my phone and texting Ayden and James that I would be a little late.
"No we won't." Johnny said untying his shoes.
"What are you planning?" I ask as he takes of his socks and ties his shoes around his shoulder bandolier style.
"Grab on." He grabs mine and Ryan's wrists. I found our quickly that his grip strength was like that of a vice. "Hold on. This could get a little windy."
Then the sound of warming up engines filled the air as heat blasted our shins. He pulled us forward and before we knew it we were flying over the campus and the now visible crowds of students that had arrived walking to the expansive cafeteria. The wind was cold against my face and my lips were starting to get chapped.
Then we banked to the right and started to come in for a landing in a clearing not to far from the cafeteria building. I was thankful when we my feet touched the green grass. "Never do that again." I saw in between pants.
"Oh come on." Says Johnny. "That was awesome."
"I'd have to agree with Rei on this one." Said Ryan, looking a little green.
"Well now I'm starving again let's get something to eat."
We walk up the hill back to the main entrance and walk inside and my phone goes off. I look and it was from Ayden. "Was that you up there flying?"
"Possibly." I text back.
"With who?" She quickly responds.
"My roomates. They're pretty cool."
"Were you guy want to meet up." Says James as he pops in.
"I say on the roof. See the scenery and escape some of the noise."
"I agree with Ayden." I say.
"The roof it is. I'll see you up there." Texts James.
By this time we were in line and close to getting our food. "Hey, you guys want to eat on the roof? I'm meeting some friends of mine up there. That is if you weren't gonna eat with your friends?" I say as I scan my card through the reader and grab a tray. It was steak with mashed potatoes and salad with options on soda, water or sweet tea.
"I'll eat with you. My friend won't get here till two days before the term starts so I'm cool with it." Says Ryan as he picks up his tray.
"I've been eating with my friends for the past few days so I'll eat with you. A nice change of pace." He grabbed an extra full tray from a special line. His quirk meant he got more food. Lucky.
"Then let's go to the roof." I say placing a sweet tea glass on my tray.
We walk up the stairs to the roof and the view was absolutely stunning. Elegant roses and orchids grew in boxes along the roof, purple of course. The mountains of the Grand Mesa area rose up around the school and the air was fresh and crisp with a slight breeze blowing through the trees on campus.
"Let's sit over here." I say. A table with several seats was pulled into a corner of the roof. Right when we had sat down Ayden's familiar black messy bun poked out from the stairs. She was followed by two girls, both taller than her. The girl to her left was tall with long light brown hair and fair skin with gloves covering her hands and long sleeves even in the summer heat. The girl on her left couldn't be anymore different. She was scorpion like with four arms and a scorpions tail. Her eyes were black with a darker green iris and her skin was a darker brown color that complemented her short cut black hair and also seemed to have a shiny tint to it.
I got Ayden's attention and they walked over to us. "Hey Rei." She said setting down her tray. "Did you enjoy your flight over?" She asked mischievously.
"The man to talk to would be the hispanic currently stuffing his face." I threw a plastic spoon at his head just for the fun of it.
"Hey." He said with a full mouth. "We got here didn't we?"
"A warning would've been nice." Said Ryan casting a sidelong glance over to Johnny as he sipped his coke.
"So Ayden, who are your friends." I say guestering to the to girls on either side of Ayden.
"I'm Valerie." Said the taller fair skinned girl. "Nice to meet you." She was very polite and her voice was melodic and graceful, but still rigid and formal.
"I'm Izabela." Said the scorpion girl. Her voice quiet and a little shy.
"No need to be so bashful." Says Ryan. "With a quirk like yours you shouldn't have to be afraid of anyone."
Izabela smiled at that last comment.
"I'm Ryan, ones of Rei's roommates."
"I'm Johnny, the other roommate." Said Johnny in between bites. Barely getting the words out.
"Is he okay?" Asks Valerie, a concerned look on her face like she was watching a starving animal carve into a carcass, which wasn't too far off truth be told. She came across as very polite and almost uptight, like she never learned how to relax.
"He's fine." I say waving a hand. "From what he told us when he uses his quirk he gets really hungry and is usually eating all day long. Before dinner he ate two protein bars and a whey shake."
"And he's still hungry?" Asks Ayden in disbelief.
"Yep.' said Johnny, actually piping in the conversation. He lifts up his hands to show them the holes and turbines in his arms. "I have jet engines in my arms and legs that constantly require fuel so I'm usually always eating."
"Interesting." Says Ayden.
"What about you Valerie?" Asks Ryan as he motions with a fork, a roasted carrot hanging off the spiked. "What's your quirk?"
She picks up a plastic knife and takes off one of her gloves. She picks up the knife and firmly grips it. A second latter the knife just breaks into a million pieces and blows away in the wind.
"Impressive. But how does your glove not dissolve like the knife did?" I ask a she slips her glove back on.
"The fingers are separate pieces from the hand of the glove, if I were to touch the outside of the glove with all five fingers it would shatter but since each piece is separate it won't shatter."
"That's pretty cool." Says Johnny, somehow done with that mountain of food that was on his tray.
"You look pretty special Izabela." I say. "I'm guessing your quirk is scorpion?"
She nods and says quietly. "Yeah, scorpion. I have a really strong grip strength and can climb walls, basically everything a real scorpion can do." She then looks up for the first real time and moves one of her arms, which were longer than I thought, and pulled my head down. "You're like me." She said.
"You must mean the horns. Though I don't know how you missed them earlier. But how am I like you?"
"Your quirk changes your body. Like mine." Her voice was actually happy and I didn't know if I should tell her my actual quirk. I decided to tell her.
"I actually got these from my birth parents." I say as she lets go of my head. What was it with people with iron grips grabbing me suddenly. "I'm adopted so I don't know my real parents, but either my mom or dad gave me these." I say pointing to the now beautiful looking cream colored horns that curved backwards gently and where now probably a little longer than eight inches long.
"This is my actual quirk." I look around at the table thinking who I should reverse. "Valerie, can you shatter something, but make sure the pieces don't fly away."
"Okay sure." A skeptical look on her face. She picks up a plastic spoon and fractures into small pieces.
"I wouldn't recommend anyone use their quirk for about three minutes." I say as I turn on my quirk. "Now Valerie, try to break apart the smaller pieces." She places the pieces randomly on the table and touches them. The white plastic shoots back together and a spoon sits on the table.
"What the heck." Says Valerie. "What did you do?" She asks amazed.
"I reversed your quirk."
"Reversed it?" She asks.
"I whenever I touch someone with all five fingers their quirk is reverse for about ten minutes. But I can also emit a reversal field that reverse any quirk as long as it's up. It's down now who you should be back to normal."
"Your quirk is pretty cool." Says Izabela. "But does it not affect mine?"
"I won't change the appearance of any quirks if they affected the body," I say. "but it would reverse their abilities. Like for example if you tried to crush something when my field was up you wouldn't do anything, in fact your strength would lessen temporarily."
"Oh hey guys." Says James behind us flashing his shark tooth smile out of nowhere.
Izabela turns around and smile back at the new arrival while Valerie just freaks out. "What is up with your teeth?"
"I don't really know, they've always been this way." He says sitting down.
"No roommates to introduce us to?" I ask.
"Actually yeah, none. They haven't arrived yet. I'm the only one in my room at the moment."
"Well, welcome to the table." I say.
He sits down and before we know it was almost eight at night and we were asked to leave the roof by one of the school staff. We continued to talk and joke till we had to part ways near the park. The girls waved bye and walked to their dorms. James just disappeared and we went into the lounge, some people still milling around. We went up the elevator and Ryan and Johnny got off on our floor, but I stayed.
"You coming?" Asks Ryan.
"I'll be down in a second. I'm going go to the top floor atrium."
Then after passing the other floors the lift stopped at the twelfth floor.
The doors opened to reveal a lush sanctuary of trees and flowers, they weren't all purple up here. They were a myriad of all different colors, vibrant reds and royal blues. The light was dim but what I assumed was enough to allow the plants to grow. I walked over to the edge of the atrium and looked out over the campus. The cold night wind blowing through my hair. The lights began to fade over campus. A quiet announcement sounded over the large campus: "Curfew begins now, the campus street lights will be turned off until four a.m."
The lights on the street then shut off. Leaving only the dim lights of the dorms around campus. In the next few minutes the stars began to appear in the night sky, some framing the sliver of the moon hanging in the sky. The Milky Way shining brightly, even though we were in the middle of what was basically a small city. All unfolding as I sat and watched.
I allowed my thoughts to drift, and they wandered to where they usually do. I began to think if my parents enjoyed things like this. My real parents, the ones that I never met. I wondered if they ever looked up at the night sky like this. Of course that only led to wondering who they were: where they heroes, or just ordinary civilians, where did they live, do I have any siblings, what am I to them? I run my hair through my hair, straightening it after the wind blew it too the side. My hand hit my horns, who did they come from?
I left the atrium that night with my head full of questions I couldn't answer, and it wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last. I slipped into the room, Johnny sprawled out on his bed, one leg dangling over the side, that might not end well before morning. Ryan was snoring quietly, with no covers. I climb up onto the bed and fall asleep staring at the ceiling. I should really get something to cover that with.
