Chapter 3: First Steps of Prestige
You are about to embark on a long and toilsome journey. But before you undertake it, you must be prepared completely.
-Unknown
Kevin was led into the school gymnasium with the rest of the freshmen, all in a group. Inside it was empty except for a podium, and no one there. Kevin and Chris were standing next to each other, with Richard not far behind. It seemed very few people on the bus were freshmen, as the faces were all different. Kevin looked around, and was ready to start meeting new people when a bright flash came from behind him, and a comet flew above them towards the podium. A comet? Suddenly the comet changed shape, and a woman with dark hair and brown eyes bowed and went to the microphone at the podium.
"Ah, I love doing that. Good Morning, I am Principal Powers, and on behalf of all the faculty and staff, welcome to Sky High. Soon you will go through power placement and your own heroic journey will begin. Whether you are placed in Hero or Hero Support, I'm sure you all will be able to enjoy your learning and be ready to help the world someday. And remember, just because your labeled doesn't mean you're restricted to it. There is always the super team, as well. So, good luck and good deeds."
Chris leaned in. "Like I said, changes are occurring."
Powers had just walked back to the side the podium. "Now, COMETS, AWAY!" And with that, she spun once more into comets, and shot back to the door, causing everyone to turn, and see a big man of a coach, clipboard intact, wearing a letterman jacket for Sky High, and a baseball cap, and a raised platform. He, too, was smiling, only to Kevin; it was an evil smile, the kind used by someone who is ready to laugh at the ridiculousness of their powers.
"Good morning, I am Coach Boomer. Some of you may know me as Sonic Boom; some of you may not. When I call your name, you will come up here, and stand on this podium. You will then show me your power. I will either place you in Hero, or Sidekick. I will also note if you can make Super team potential. So far, we have had only one team, but how they did it I don't know. But, whatever I put you in, there will be no whiner-babies, understood?"
"Yeah"
"I. Can't. HEAR YOU" he boomed, making the whole gym shake.
As a group, the whole of the class were like well-trained soldiers. "Sir, yes, sir!"
"Good, now, first up…Alandeen, Stephanie."
A tall girl with beautiful brown hair and brown eyes stepped up. She was very thin, and looked like a gymnast.
"Ok, show me your power"
"Uh, ok, I'm a… eww, you're too old!"
The whole class was stunned with laughter. Coach Boomer looked up, eyes wide with shock. "You're a… you're a telepathic?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, sidekick, now please, uh, step down."
The girl walked off, before turning back to Boomer. "And I bet this Medulla felt the same way I do, too."
Chris leaned in. "And so the fun begins."
"Alandeen, Tricia?"
Her twin began to come up. Boomer was squinting his eyes, and it didn't take a telepathic to know he was trying to prevent any thoughts, in case she was like her sister.
"Uh, Coach Boomer, I don't have her power."
The coach relaxed. "Ok, then show me yours."
"I can move object with my mind."
"A telekinetic? Ok, then. CAR!"
From above the stage a Nascar-looking vehicle came down from a trapdoor. It looked as though she would be crushed when she looked up. The car froze in midair, and started moving up, its cord gathering slack at the top. Coach Boomer was impressed. He wrote something down before addressing the girl, after the car was taken out of her power and was pulled up by the cord.
"Hero."
As the girl walked down, her sister looked at Boomer. "Yeah there are problems with slitting us apart!"
"Stop that, please!"
The class was laughing hard again.
"Canis, Richard!"
Kevin and Chris looked behind them, as Richard stepped forward, and started up the steps. He seemed to have a lot on his mind, or at least was thinking very deeply. He got up on stage.
"Show me your power."
"I'm a shapshifter."
"Into what?"
"Uh…" He stood there for a minute, confused.
"Richard!"
"A wolf! But I'm a lot stronger, uh, and stuff."
Boomer looked unconvinced. "Oh really, then shift." He did, into a gray wolf. "CAR!" The car dropped, and with out thinking he reached up and caught it, did a back flip, and kicked it back up, where the doors closed before it could drop again. Richard landed on his feet, and an almost hideous image of a werewolf mixed of images of werewolves from every known source available stood there, teeth slightly bared, and breathing hard. He looked around at the shrieks from the class and people backing away, before returning to his normal self, a hurt look on his face. The coach was silent, and almost fearful, before returning to his upright tone. "Definitely hero." Richard was not convinced, and walked back down, almost in tears. Kevin looked at Chris, who also had his look of amazement. As Richard passed, Kevin held his hand and stopped him. "What do you want?"
"Wow, that was amazing! I didn't know a shapshifter can change his shift to a stronger version." Chris exclaimed.
"Yeah, that was cool." Kevin agreed, holding his hand out for a high-five.
Richard's mood changed, and he accepted the hand gesture. "Thanks."
"Mercer, Haven!"
A young guy about 5'10, with dark blue, almost black short hair with side bangs, grey eyes, and pale skin, wearing a fitting lime greenT-shirt with a black long sleevehooded shirtunderneath, fitting dark blue jeans and green chucks, and to top it off, a set of military dog tags, walked up on stage. He turned to Boomer, who looked up at him for a second.
"Well what are you wating for? Show me your power."
"Excuse me, but's whats the point of this? I mean, why have all the hero/sidekick crap? I thought that was abolished two years ago."
"Oh, great, another pacifist, what the hell did that girl start? Power or no?"
With a sigh, he spit on the ground, but caught it as a long icicle before it hit the ground. He manipulated it around before dissolving it in air.
"See, was that so hard? Hero. Now quit staring at me and go!"
He raised both his middle fingers to flip the coach, and encased them with ice to make his gesture a little bigger, before walking back, smiling.
Slowly, Coach Boomer started going down the list. D's, and then P's, and finally B's again, before his next name got Kevin's attention.
"Gutiarra, Christopher."
Chris went up on stage, guitar in hand, and stood there. Boomer wasn't impressed. "What's your power, playing music?"
"No."
"Then put it down and show me your power!"
Reluctantly, Chris did, and now stood with nothing. "Uh, I can manipulate sound waves?"
"Right, what can you do with those?"
"Destroy stuff."
Boomer stood in front of him. "Yeah, right."
"It's kinda hard to explain, and I don't know how to show it-"
"Sidekick."
Chris stopped, and then smiled. "What?"
"Sidekick." He said, a little louder.
"What?"
"What are you deaf? I said SIDEKICK!" Boomer unleashed his sound power at force, but it didn't do what he expected. With a movement of his hands and arms, Chris seemed to move the sound wave into a concentrated force, and into a pillar, causing a nice sized hole to appear on it. Smiling, he listened while Boomer took notes. "Nice, now I see why you wanted that damn guitar. Hero." Chris walked down and slapped Kevin's waiting hand. That is, until Boomer called his next name. "Oh woops, I forgot a name. Cane, Kevin."
Kevin never realized that his name should have already been called, but went up the steps anyway. He stood there, nervous look on his and Chris face. They knew what happens when Kevin tried to use his full capacity. It lost control. Kevin turned to Boomer. Boomer looked up, his face a cold wall. "Show me your power."
I'll start off small; make sure I wont lose control. He closed his eyes, and felt every drop, every vapor, every molecule of water in the entire gym, as they started to converge together in front of him. People started noticing an absence of sweat on them, and Boomer, who had been sweating profusely the entire time. Slowly but surely, a cloud formed in front of him, and grew to the size of his chest. Boomer cocked an eyebrow and obviously wasn't impressed.
"Cane, huh? You're the middle school weather guy, aren't you? Is that all you can do?"
Kevin looked up, his hands manipulating the cloud. "N-no, sir."
"I wanna see more."
"Y-yes sir." He replied, the look on his face turning nervous. Kevin sent the cloud up to the ceiling, and made it grow. Soon, it got darker at the bottom, and it started to rain. Kevin looked at Boomer.
"Is that supposed to help you? Impress me!"
Kevin's nervous look got deeper, as he close his eyes, and felt the cloud polarize. There was a continuous supply of water was the drop fell down, and then went back into the cloud. Slowly it got darker, and it rained harder, with lightening striking down at the podium. Boomer wasn't gonna lighten up.
"Impress me!"
More strikes, louder thunder, and harder rain.
"Impress me!"
Hail now.
"Impress Me!"
The cloud grew to the size of the whole auditorium, and started to rotate; an eye in the center. The winds picked up, and a miniature hurricane was in the gym.
"IMPRESS ME!"
Kevin started to panic, and Chris started backing away, knowing what was gonna happen. Sure enough, a tornado came out of the eye, and touched the podium between Kevin and Boomer. The whole place shook, as the twister began to move around the gym.
"Ok, Kevin, you can stop."
"I'm trying, I don't know how!"
"Kevin-"
"BOOMER, STOP THIS IMMIEDIATELY!" screamed Principal Powers. She ran in and went to Kevin. "Kevin, relax, and let it go, you can do it, it's your power." Slowly, Kevin relaxed, and the twister shrank, till it went up into the cloud, and the cloud blew away. He was in a daze, and felt everything fading, hearing Powers voice from far away. "Kevin? You ok? I'm taking you to the nurse. You two, help me…"