Kon'nichiwa! How are my lovely readers today? I am wonderful because I'm reposting another chapter! :)

Anyway, this chapter has the possibility to be a little confusing so I'll go ahead and explain something really quickly: Firegirl/Phoenix is my OC from my other story The Adventures of Firegirl who is my match for Brainy. I have also been a B5/SV and a Superman/Brainiac Five fan in my time, so bear with me. I love her and can't keep myself from writing her into the post-season two chapters.
This particular chapter also skips back and forth between post-season-two and pre-season-one. But you all have, what, seventh level intelligences? You can probably figure it out ;)

Read, Review, Request, Enjoy!


Swimming

The Legion of Superheroes was taking a much needed vacation to one of the best places on Earth: Oceanic City Florida. They had come to the most popular beach in the country, and they were having a blast. Live Wire, Starman, Blackbelt, Nemesis and Bouncing Man were on one side of a volleyball net, facing off with Saturn Woman, Triad, Phantom Girl, Phoenix and Dream Woman. So far, the girls were beating the snot out of the boys.

Timber Wolf had fallen asleep in the sun, and was in the process of being buried in the sand by Cham in the form of a dog and assisted by Ultimate on Superspeed. Brainy and Violet—who claimed they burned easily—were hiding out beneath an enormous beach umbrella, making sure no parts of their bodies were exposed to the killer sun. Invisible Kid was nowhere to be seen, and some of them had the sneaking suspicion that he had slipped away to watch the girls in bikinis. Tesla and Alchemist were out in the water, splashing and laughing while Polestar tried to look impressive for Quantum on a surfboard that kept flipping him over.

After the girls had sufficiently creamed the boys in seven straight rounds of volleyball, Phoenix came and flopped down on her towel in the shade between Brainy and Violet. Her face was red with sunburn, and her curly dirty-blonde hair was windblown and wild with sea-salt.

"Hey guys. You know, it's awfully hot out here. The water looks fun…we can dunk Polestar under…Live Wire might electrocute us…" She edged, but the two heroes looked like they didn't like these ideas. She sighed and blew a curl out of her face before turning back with a questioning look on her face.

"How do you sunburn anyway, Brainy? Do you turn darker green or what?" She asked, and Violet suddenly burst into a fit of giggles. He gave her a look of contempt, looking like he wasn't particularly thrilled to be at the beach in the first place. Phoenix scooted closer to him and grabbed the sunscreen.

"What's so funny?" She asked, in the process of smearing more sunscreen on her boyfriend's already creamed bare shoulders.

"I was just remembering the first time you went swimming, Brainy…" Violet said, smiling widely, and the boy blushed dark green. Phoenix immediately perked up, clamoring for Violet to tell the story.

"Well, it was a little while after he joined the Legion…"


"Brainy, I'm sure it's fine. Just come on out." Saturn Girl probed, standing by the entrance to the boy's locker room. All the Legionnaires were waiting impatiently for their last member to join them so they could get going.

"Come on, Brainy! It can't be worse than Cos' geek tan!" Lightning Lad called, earning himself a smack over the head courtesy of Cosmic Boy. A small green head poked out, and Saturn Girl motioned encouragingly.

Brainy emerged from the locker room, looking self-conscious. His swim trunks were black and purple, and his tiny green torso was smooth and metallic looking. He acted as if he had never been swimming before, and Saturn Girl had the suspicion that he hadn't. The others turned and started heading for the doors, itching to get out into the sun.

"What does one do while swimming?" He asked softly as they trooped through the doors to the warm tropical air that proved they were on a beach.

"It's for fun." She said, and he frowned slightly. He looked so young and nervous; she couldn't help but smile at him.

"Just follow my lead." A soft voice said, and Element Lad appeared at their side, a helping hand resting on the Coluan's shoulder. He steered Brainy towards the crashing waves of Coastal City, Florida, propelling him towards several beach umbrellas that Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet were setting up. However, he was soon called away to play Frisbee, and Brainy was left alone.

He stood by himself, small arms crossed over his slim chest and eyes focused on the horizon, the salty ocean air ruffling his blonde hair that hung loose to his chin. He looked down at the ocean; waves rippled and spread out toward the beach, leaving trails of foam in the sand. He slowly walked to the edge of the water, looking at it like it would bite him. He stretched a foot forward before jumping back—that water was cold!

He started as Lightning Lad suddenly grabbed his arm, towing him towards the water. "Come on, Shorty! Don't be such a stiff!" Brainy gave him a scalding look, but Lightning Lad ignored his protests and managed to drag him knee-deep in the water.

"I do not understand how contracting hypothermia is considered fun!" He said, and Lightning Lad grinned, picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. Brainy yelped and struggled, but the ginger Winathan held him there.

"You're going to have fun, and you're going all the way under if it's the last thing I do."

"That can be arranged!" Brainy snapped as Lightning Lad went chest deep in the frigid water. Suddenly a shadow floated over them, and they both looked up to see Bouncy using his flight ring to get to maximum altitude for an explosive dive. Lightning Lad backpedalled in a panic, but it was too late for them.

"CANNONBALL!" Bouncy hollered and inflated, landing with a monstrous wave of water in front of Lightning Lad and his captive, knocking them both off their feet. Lightning Lad came up laughing, and Brainy surfaced with a splutter as he pushed his wet hair out of his eyes.

"This is-ack!-not amusing!" He coughed, trying to stay afloat. Lighting Lad swam over and splashed him, making him splutter more.

"That does it!" His hands morphed into propellers, spinning faster to throw water directly into the red head's face, the resulting water pressure making Lightning Lad spin back farther. He resurfaced several feet away, a little red, to see Bouncing Boy on his back laughing and Brainy looking at him with a combination of surprise and...smug excitement. He lifted his propellers again and started swimming towards the red head.

"No! NO! YOU STAY BACK YOU LITTLE-AHHH!"

A little while later, Lightning Lad had gotten out of the water to hopefully let his ears recover and Brainy was floating on his back, grinning from the results of the water war. Lightning Lad-1. Brainy-2.

"Geez, you really are a fish in the water, aren't you?" Phantom Girl said lightly, having gotten back in the water after reapplying sunscreen yet again.

Brainy went vertical in the water and looked confused. "I am not a fish nor am I aquatic in nature."

"Brainy, it's an expression."

"Oh." He thought for a moment. "Humans have very unusual metaphors."

"You know what else they have?" Brainy slowly turned to see Bouncy floating there, all three Triplicates swimming nearer. Everyone had rather evil expressions on their faces as they surrounded the Coluan.

"DUNKING WARS!"

Bouncy paddled over and dunked Brainy's head underwater, the younger boy still smiling as he resurfaced. "I do not recommend initiating a water battle with me. It would be unwise."

"What can you do when you're outnumbered?" Bouncy said cockily as the orange Triplicate moved in on Brainy's left side and white on his right. Purple was coming up behind him, but he just smirked. "Let's find out."

It was the water war of the century.


Brainy laughed out loud at that memory, startling the two girls. "That was certainly an interesting—HEY!" He suddenly exclaimed as Lightning Lad grabbed his foot and started dragging him across the sand towards the water.

"We're having a rematch. You can't cheat this time!" They splashed into the water, Brainy rolling his eyes as Lightning Lad let go of his foot, leaving him sitting waist deep in the water.

"It was not cheating; I was making use of my resources."

Live Wire grinned, a sparkle in his eye. "But now since you can't—ack!" He choked on salt water as Phoenix dunked him under with a big grin.

"Yeah, but he has back-up now sparky!" He resurfaced, grinning.

"CANNONBALL!" Bouncy and all three Triads landed in the water near them. Soon all the others jumped in and they had what would be the biggest water war that beach had ever seen. The only one who ended up staying out of it was Polestar after everyone ganged up on him eventually anyway.

Brainy laughed as Phoenix spat a stream of water on Cham's face:

It really was a perfect day.

THE END


Oh geez, I just got the mental image of Cos in a swimsuit. I really hope it's not a speedo XD

Anyhow, thanks for reading! Request any misfortunes for the lovely Legionnaires you would like to see in the future in your reviews! And please do review!

~Phoenix~