Alexander
Alexander knew one thing, he hated buses. His middle school was so close to his house that he could simply walk there, but Morning Star Academy was much further. This meant he was stuck on a crowded bus with a bunch of loud, sweaty kids. Not that he wasn't a people person, however even being in this closed off space made him anxious.
He looked around, wondering how many of these kids would still be here after the Initiation today. Sure, they all possessed something special for the academy to consider them, but that didn't mean they were a shoe in. Today was the day to weed out the future heroes, from the wannabees.
He looked over to see a pretty African American girl sitting by herself, a worn-out paperback in her hands. She had umber colored skin, which matched nicely with her dark brown eyes. She had long black dreadlocks that dangled just below her waist. Judging by her clothing he could gather she came from a family with money.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
Alexander blushed. He must've been staring. "Sorry I was just going to say hi."
Without even looking up from her book the girl rolled her eyes. "Instead of flirting with me, I suggest you come up with a strategy for today. Unless you're planning to use this whole boy next door act to fake your way to the top."
Alexander frowned. "I wasn't flirting, I was trying to be polite."
"Whatever you are trying to do, I'm not interested." She said coldly without looking up at him.
She flipped to the next page in her book and continued reading as if he didn't exist.
"Hey man, ignore the ice queen, that's just Victoria being Victoria, she tends to act like a stuck up bitch." A boy sitting behind him said.
"Hunter, can you do the world a favor and go die?" She asked.
Alexander looked behind him to see a semi-muscular Asian boy with messy black hair. His irises were bright silver, almost the color of moonlight.
Alexander smiled at the boy. "I'm sure we are all on edge."
"Giving people the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure you're going to make a great hero." Hunter chuckled.
He eyed Alexander with a look he could only describe as a cat with a new toy. Something interesting he could play with.
"Two questions, what's your name and what's your quirk?" Hunter smirked.
Victoria looked up and glared at them. "I suggest you don't tell him your quirk, he could easily be your opponent in the Initiation, as of now your only advantage is the element of surprise."
Hunter groaned and turned to Victoria. "If we're all opponents, why are you helping him?"
"Because even I show my rivals some respect, something you could learn Hunter." She said.
Alexander paused. These two had history, it was incredibly obvious to everyone on the bus. They probably went to the same school. Alexander's mind began to run into circles drawing connections and theories.
"My name's Alexander." Alexander said.
Hunter looked to Alexander and smiled. "Like Alexander the Great?"
Hunter held out his hand for Alexander. "My name is Hunter Akira Sato, nice to meet ya."
Alexander cautiously shook his hand. He was surprised by the texture of skin. It felt so soft, then the realization hit him. It wasn't skin.
Sarah
"I fucking hate lines." Sarah groaned.
She twirled a strand of blond hair around her finger as she waited in front of the entrance to get into the entrance of the auditorium of Morning Star Academy.
"Right? Like the lines are like totally way to long." A high pitch voice squealed from next to her.
Sarah looked at the curvy fair skinned girl with brown hair in a ponytail. "Who are you again?"
"I'm Maryanne." She smiled.
Sarah rolled her eyes. She was hoping she would be waiting with some cute boys. Instead, she was stuck with the ultimate loser. Sarah scanned the crowd, searching for a cute boy to pursue. She stopped when she caught a handsome boy towards the front of the line. He had broad shoulders and sun kissed skin. His hair was dark brown and was worn kind of shaggy.
"Stay here Beth, I'm going to talk to the cutie over there." She smiled.
Maryanne crossed her arms. "My name is-"
Sarah cut her off. "I don't care if your name is Mother Theresa."
Sarah marched over to the boy, ignoring from the protests from the other kids. The boy looked over at Sarah and smiled.
"Hello there." He smirked.
"Hi, I saw you over there and just thought maybe you wanted some company, surely you aren't content talking to these losers all day." Sarah said.
He chuckled. "You're bold."
"Oh, honey I'm a lot of things, flexible being one of them." She smiled.
He raised an eyebrow. "You're also very forward."
"I'm Sarah, don't worry you're going to be seeing a lot of me at Morning Star." She smiled.
"Oh really?" He smirked.
A loud bell rung, causing the teens to jump. The doors swung open causing everyone to turn in attention. Some kids grinned with excitement, happy for a chance to be heroes. Others held their breath, scared of what was to come. Sarah could care less about the Initiation right now. Her sights were set on this cute boy.
He turned back to her and chuckled. "Looks like that's my cue."
He turned and walked off into the entrance.
"Wait I never got your name." She called.
He stopped and looked back at her with a coy grin. "No, you didn't did you?"
With that he continued walking leaving the girl frustrated. A challenge. She was going to have some fun with him.
"This year is going to be great." She chuckled.
Kaleb
Kaleb awkwardly adjusted to fit in the tiny seat. One of the disadvantages of being big. Given his tall muscular frame, and six arms, the decently sized chair fit like a kids seat.
He looked around at the other kids filling down next to him. They all were like him, eager and restless. They were so close to getting into the one of the top hero schools in America. Even though he made sure that there was room, most of the kids walked past him or turned back to find another seat.
"Is this seat taken?" A voice asked.
Kaleb turned to see a tanned skinned boy with close cropped blue hair. It was a unique shade making Kaleb wonder if it was a mutation or if he dyed it.
"Not at all, please sit." Kaleb smiled.
The boy laughed weakly. "Sorry, I just had to get away from the kids I was sitting with on the bus."
"Well for your sake I hope they don't end up in your class." Kaleb laughed.
The boy held out his hand. "I'm Alexander."
Kaleb smiled, but looked down at his six hands. He outstretched all of them towards the boy.
"Names Kaleb! You can pick which hand you want to shake." He said.
Alexander laughed and shook one at random. "Nice, is this a part of your quirk?"
"Something like that." Kaleb smirked.
Alexander eyed him curiously. "Your accent is unique, where are you from?"
"I was actually born in the states. My mom is from Ethiopia though, growing up I guess my voice just mimicked hers." Kaleb said.
The moment he said that, Kaleb winced at the thought of his mother. If he got into Morning Star he wouldn't be able to see his family. Not until break at least. He sighed; he always considered his family to be an emotional support system. Now he was alone.
"Attention children!" A voice called out.
They looked up to see two people standing on the podium. One of them was a woman with a peach skin tone and red hair tied in a bun. Kaleb recognized the other immediately.
"That's American Eagle!" Kaleb said enthusiastically. He was a hardcore hero fan
It was the number five hero, American Eagle. He wore a golden suit, similar to what a European knight would wear. To cover his face was a bronze cowl like that of an eagle. That wasn't even the most impressing part. Two large metal wings shot out of his back, slowly fanning the room.
"Wow thank you Captain Obvious." A voice behind them said sarcastically.
The two turned to look at a blond haired girl giving them a judgmental look.
"Out of all the cute boys in this auditorium I have to sit next to the dorks, ugh." She scoffed.
Kaleb smiled. "And your name is?"
"Way out of your league, four eyes." She snapped.
Kaleb's smile didn't waver even after she said that. When she mentioned four eyes, she meant that quite literally. In addition to the two eyes on his face he was had two eyes on his temple.
"Our teachers are talking; I suggest you all pay attention." A girl with dreadlocks hissed from the row in front of them.
Alexander groaned when he saw who it was. Kaleb figured that was the girl from the bus.
"Sorry for causing a disruption." Alexander said through gritted teeth.
They all turned their eyes back to the presentation. It was a fifteen minute little movie that promoted Morning Star Academy and showed all the perks and benefits. It ended with a group of heroes standing in a crowd with the American flag in the background. After it ended, there was a big round of applause.
The woman cleared her throat. "Hello children, my name is Amanda Morningstar and I am the headmistress of this academy. It was left to me by my father, who you all know as the former number one hero, Captain Morningstar. He wanted to create a safe place where the next generation of heroes could harness their quirks and become the protectors that America…no that the world needs." Amanda said.
Amanda walked around the stage slowly, her heels making loud taps.
"All of you are here today because we see potential in you." She said.
She turned sharply to face the audience. "But make no mistake, you aren't officially in the academy. After today we will see who the best fit for our school will be. Not all of you will make it, and don't be ashamed of that. This academy was made for the future elites, so we expect nothing more than the absolute best of the best."
"She's a little high strung." The blond haired girl muttered. "In other words, if they reject you, you're destined to be a loser for life." She turned to Kaleb and Alexander and scoffed. "Sure, sucks to be you two."
The two of them didn't respond to her statement and remained focus on the headmistress.
American Eagle stepped forward. "Under your seats are testing booklets, before we can test you physically, we need to know if you have the makings of a good hero."
Every kid present reached under their seats and placed the booklets.
"This test is Hero Ethics 101, two hundred multiple choice questions. There is technically no wrong answer, but that doesn't mean all of them are right." He said.
The blond-haired girl scoffed again. "That makes zero fucking sense."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine." Kaleb said.
"I'm not worried, I know I'm a shoe in." She smirked.
The monitor then displayed a ninety-minute timer.
"You'll have an hour and a half. When I say start, you may begin." Amanda said. "Anyone caught cheating will automatically fail."
Everyone clicked their pens anxiously. This was it, the beginning.
"Go!" Amanda yelled.
Faith
You're confronted with a villain that has multiple hostages. Do you:
A) Try to find a way to deescalate the situation
B) Try to stealthily rescue the hostage
C) Use your quirk to take on the villain using brute force
Faith knew what option she wanted to choose. She would kick that villain's ass of course. But she knew that wasn't necessarily the best solution. She circled A and flipped the page. That was it, she was done with the test.
The monitor's timer soon reached zero.
"Stop!" Amanda yelled. "Pens down."
She smirked. Just in time too. She looked over at her best friend Lex and smiled.
"How do you think you did?" She asked.
Lex shrugged. "I probably failed, but it's whatever."
"Are you kidding me, this is one of the best schools in America! It's not a whatever situation." She said.
How could he shrug it off like being a hero wasn't a big deal! And how could he look so cute as he did it? Faith shook her head. She told herself she would stop thinking of Lex like that. So what if his long blond hair looked really soft? That didn't mean anything. They were just friends, nothing more, nothing less.
"The next portion will be a physical exam, you have randomly been assigned teams. Once I call your name, you will head into the door on the left. I wish you all luck." She said.
Once she called the first set of names, a group of students made their way to the podium. Not less than a minute since walking in, screams were heard instantly. Faith gulped. That didn't sound good.
"What the hell?" Lex asked.
Amanda looked at her clipboard and read the next list of names. "Matthew Freeman, Sarah Smith, Kaleb Rexavi, and-"
Amanda paused to read her clipboard carefully. "Faith Ritter."
Faith gulped. Her memory was still haunted by the screams of the kids before her.
"I got this." She told herself.
"Damn right you do." Lex said.
She got up and made her way to the stage. Standing there was a pretty girl with blond hair and a really tall muscular boy with light brown skin and six arms. She immediately noticed the eye on the side of his head that stared right at her. He turned to face her showing his three other eyes, all trained on her. Faith felt a bit unnerved and cautious. At that moment, he held out one of his hands and gave a small smile. "You must be Faith right? My names Kaleb, let's all do our best."
Faith was thrown off. He was really nice and polite. She took his hand and shook it.
The blonde haired girl perked up when she saw something behind Faith.
"I thought I would see you again." She smirked.
Faith looked to see a brown haired boy behind her. She was thrown back by how good looking he was, almost like an Abercrombie and Fitch model.
"So you're Matthew, huh?" She said pleased.
"My friends call me Matt." He chuckled.
Kaleb placed a hand on his shoulder and patted it. "Nice to meet ya Matt, I guess that makes us friends now."
Faith chuckled; she noticed that Matt looked at the hand on his shoulder with a puzzled look.
Matt looked up at the tall boy and chuckled. "I guess that does."
"Leave him alone you freakshow!" Sarah screamed.
Amanda cleared her throat to get the group's attention.
"You guys can get started." She instructed.
Faith nodded and looked to the others. "Are you guys ready?"
"Let's all do our best!" Kaleb said. Sarah gagged at his child like demeanor.
"Let's go." Matt said.
He lead the three through the door. Faith liked to consider herself brave, but she wasn't stupid. She knew something bad was on the other side of that door. And that concerned her. As soon as they entered the room the door behind them closed. The four were now in a forest like terrain.
"A forest?" She observed.
"From what I heard, Morning Star Academy has all kinds of tricks up their sleeves." Matt sighed. "Let's go."
The four made their way through the terrain. It was hot and humid. Sarah was the only one who seemed to make that clear through her constant complaining.
"Can we take a break? My feet are killing me." She whined. It was her own fault for wearing pumps to an entrance exam.
"We're almost there," Kaleb told her. "Just endure it a little longer."
"What is even the point of this?" She groaned.
Matt turned to the others. "They obviously want us to make our way through the forest, however there is probably an obstacle in here with us."
"What do you think it is?" Kaleb asked.
"I don't know, my father wouldn't tell me about it." He frowned.
"Who's your father?" Faith asked curiously.
Matt rolled his eyes. "That's irrelevant right now. We need a plan. What are your guy's quirks?"
"Hold on, who made you leader?" Faith asked.
Something about Matt seemed fishy. Sure, he was boy band cute, but there was something underneath his smile. Something that told her not to let her guard down around him. Whatever she was feeling Sarah must not have, because she placed her hand on Matt's shoulder and laughed. She was in much higher spirit than thirty seconds ago.
"I'll follow you anywhere." She chuckled.
Faith rolled her eyes. Some girls were so just so pathetic. Honestly falling over themselves just for a guy? Of course, she chose not to think of Lex as she made thought of this. She looked at Kaleb and noticed he was very quiet, looking around the scenery.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Something's not right." Kaleb said.
"Have you ever looked in a mirror?" Sarah asked.
Faith scowled at her. That was really uncalled for.
"I mean, we've been walking for fifteen minutes and I haven't seen a single animal around here. I haven't heard any birds either."
Faith didn't think about it at the time and it occurred to her he was right. Hell, she was thinking that she hadn't even seen or felt a single insect.
He suddenly turned towards the path and narrowed his eyes. "Something's coming."
Faith gave a puzzled look. Was that his quirk?
As soon as he said that a loud crash was heard. The four looked up to see a large leopard like monster crashing through the trees. It was the size of a small school bus and had shiny silver fur. It's eyes trained on them and it bared it's dagger sized teeth.
"What the fuck is that?" Sarah gulped.
They all took a step back cautiously.
"Everyone get behind me!" Faith yelled.
Matt frowned. "What the hell are you going to do?"
Faith held out her arm and a large blade emerged from her skin, emitting a familiar pop. The feeling both stung and tickled a little but she was used to it by now.
"Ew gross! That's your quirk?" Sarah asked.
FAITH RITTER
QUIRK: BONE BLADE- She can create blade like bones from any part of her body. Due to the constant damaging of her tissues, she developed an accelerated healing factor.
Ignoring her question Faith charged at the beast her blade outstretched. She rolled underneath it's paw to be directly underneath him. With one quick motion she jabbed the blade into the monster's stomach. However instead of penetrating its skin it was stuck in a thick coat of fur. She growled and tried thrusting the blade in again, however the fur was so thick, almost acting like a shield.
"Ventus!" A voice yelled.
After that a large gust slammed into Faith and the beast. The girl gasped as she felt the pressure and cold wind hit her. She grunted and dug her blade into the ground to stop herself from flying. The leopard however went soaring through the air.
Faith groaned and looked up to see Matt watching her angrily.
"Why would you charge in like that? You didn't have a plan!" He yelled.
"My plan was to kill it, and I was close until you got in the way." She snapped.
"I had to save you!" He yelled.
Sarah smiled. "Don't worry Matt, you did a good job."
"Jesus, can you stop stroking his ego for two seconds?" Faith yelled.
Kaleb stepped in between the trio as they glared at one another. "Come on guys, we aren't going to get anywhere by fighting."
"The freak is right; we need to get out of here." Sarah said
Faith sighed; she knew they were right. That monster might come back, and who knew what else lied in this forest.
"Prthvee!" Matt yelled.
The ground began to crack and twist like it was made of play doh. It slowly began to rise and reshape itself until it formed a giant wall.
"That's amazing." Kaleb said in awe.
Matt smirked. "I know."
Matthew Freeman
Quirk: Elemental Whisperer- He can control the basic four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. However, Matthew needs to voice activate his powers by announcing the elements name. He can also only use one element at a time.
"Let's get out of here." Sarah said.
The four took off in a sprint desperate to reach the end of the forest.
"Come on guys we got this!" Kaleb cheered.
They ran for a couple of kilometers, which earned several more complaints from Sarah. Kaleb stopped and frowned.
"It doesn't make sense. Surely, they have more things to hit us with in here. I mean just one monster. That's too easy." Kaleb said.
A loud screech was heard causing all four of them to look up. Swooping above the four of them was the American Eagle. Sarah sighed in relief.
"This is great, he must be here to come get us." Sarah said.
Faith paused. Something didn't feel right.
"Guys, I don't think he's on our side." Kaleb said.
As if on cue, the American Eagle soared down towards the kids, talons aimed at them.