Author's Note: I was watching Avatar and felt lie writing a spontaneous AU. Please flames me…the lack of flames make me doubt the truth in the flattery. Make fun of my spelling or something.
The kids stood in a line. Boys and girls, ranged from twelve to sixteen, all looking disheveled and cautious.
The man in front smiled at them coldly, reveling in the sense of authority that came with his job. He walked up and down the line looking every one of them up and down. This was a very morbid looking bunch, with eyes haunted of images they should not have seen. But they all had a sense of pride, nobility about them. That may be useful. He thought, a cold smile playing along his lips.
He walked doorway of the cold metal room. "I am Commander Ghizima." He said, turning his head ever so slightly to glare each of them down. "I will be your trainer, disciplinarian and your teacher. In some cases, I may even be your foster parent, but I don't do soft. You have a problem, tell your imaginary friends on your own time. We have better things to do than to listen to you complain."
He began pacing again. "Each of you has been endowed with different abilities. None of you are alike in anyway and you can only receive the proper training here. This may seem cruel and I may be tough but you have no where else to go to hone in on your 'talents'."
The Commander leaned forward. "I will make this clear from the start. If you want to get out, go. I'm not going to stop you. But I think it will be clear from your first lesson here that you will receive training here, as you would nowhere else. Do you have any questions?"
The kids had straightened a little during his speech. The younger ones even smiled a bit. "Good." Said the Commander. "I will leave you here to become acquainted with one another. In one hour dinner is being served." And with that the Commander turned and exited the room, leaving the door wide open.
The kids looked at the door, and then at each other apprehensively. Each and every one wanted out of there as quickly as possible, but the Commanders words had rung true. They were truly alone and this probably was the best option.
One girl brushed a hand through her hair and then turned and walked over to a dark corner to sit by herself, playing with the necklace around she was wearing and staring into space.
The other kids followed her with her eyes and then turned back to each other. They had formed a circle, staring each other down, daring each other to speak.
A boy with messy black hair and blue eyes spoke up first. "I'm Danny Fenton. I think I'm here because I have ghost powers." He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.
An African American boy with a red beret on smiled tiredly. "I'm Tucker Foley. I have a computer chip in my brain that doctors put in my head when I was born. I can hack into a computer so fast, it's hard drive will melt."
The circle relaxed and laughed. They figured, Hey, if I'm stuck here, I might as well make some friends. Introductions were made quickly.
Anna, who could breathe underwater and swim up to eighty miles per hour. Anna looked thirteen and was extremely tall and thin, to an almost unhealthy-looking point. She had waist length, white hair, as if it were bleached with salt. "I can't stand chlorine." She stated. "Put me in chlorine and I'll put you in toxic waste."
Lexish, who could effect other's emotions. She was sixteen years old and had extremely curly short black hair. She had big trusting brown eyes, which compelled you to say whatever was on your mind. Everyone started smiling when she was talking, her perpetual good mood rubbing off on him or her.
Gavin, who could hypnotize people. He was sixteen, too and had spiked brown hair. When asked to demonstrate his 'talent', he had Lexish say, "Gavin is a sexy beast." She slapped him promptly afterwards, causing everyone to laugh.
Hillary, who could mold stone and metal. She was fifteen with slightly frizzy, shoulder length brown hair. She was wearing about six bracelets, entirely composed of different types of quartz and wire twisted together. When she dragged a finger across the floor, the smooth metal of the floor rippled a little and flowed towards her fingertip. "I sculpt people from real life, so some people call me Medusa." She said.
Ethan who looked to be about fifteen, with light brown eyes that sparkled as if he was on the inside of a good joke, could read minds. Everyone looked rather uncomfortable when he said this and tried to think bland thoughts, but he laughed. "I can turn it on and off at will." He said. "But believe me, don't try to suppress thoughts. That's when the weird thoughts come up."
Mitchell, the morpher. He looked fifteen, but then again, no one was quite sure. His eyes didn't see to say one color, or shape for that matter. He would blink and his eyes would have slitted pupils like a cat's. The next moment he would have purple eyes and long lashes. He demonstrated by turning into Anna. Anna and Mitchell laughed at the same time, as if he were a mirror image.
Maria, who could see souls. At fourteen years old, she was pale and quiet. This statement was met with an astonished, "What!" She smiled slightly. "I can see what kind of person you are and read your emotions. Unfortunately, this is something I can't turn off."
The group was tightly knit from the start. They were all talking about normal, teenager things, as if they had all started at a new school. The girl in the corner had been forgotten by all but one.
Danny and Tuck were fast friends and immediately talking about school and their weird teachers. But the Danny caught sight of the girl in the corner. He nudged Tuck. "Who's she?" He said, gesturing towards her.
Tuck looked and shrugged. "No idea. But I wouldn't bother her. That Goth girl looks dangerous."
Danny got up. "I'm going to find out."
Danny walked over to the girl and stood in front of her. She didn't even look up to acknowledge his existence. She continued to play with her necklace. Danny introduced himself. "Hi. I'm Danny Fenton." This elicited no answer. Danny grew irritated. "That's where you introduce yourself." He said, curtly. "Let's try again. Hi, I'm Danny Fenton. And you are?"
She didn't raise her head. "Sam Manson, a girl who does not wish to be patronized."
Danny blinked. He didn't expect that kind of answer. But the girl was still sitting lonely in the corner, so he decided it was his duty to help her out. Jazz is right. I do have a hero complex. He thought, before sitting down next to the girl. "What's your power?" he said.
She finally raised her head and looked him in the eye. Her amethyst eyes shocked Danny. They were so rich in color they were almost glowing. "You know," she said. "It's impolite to stare."
Danny lowered his eyes quickly and blushed. "Sorry." He mumbled.
"It's okay." She gave the smallest smile he had ever seen. She continued to play with the necklace.
"What's that?" Danny said pointing at it.
"It's a family heirloom." Sam said, showing it to him. It was made out of hollow glass beads, filled with random objects. He could see one had a feather and then another had a pebble. "It was my grandmothers. She was teaching me." Sam looked down again.
"What happened to her?" Danny asked, already knowing the answer and dreading it.
"She died." Sam said. "And my parent sent me here to control my 'freakishness', as they call it." She ran a finger along the beads. The things inside the beads clacked.
Danny tried to lighten the mood. "Well, you know what? My parents are ghost hunters. I didn't tell them about my powers for the longest time because I was afraid they would run tests on me or something."
Sam looked at him curiously. "Did they?"
"Well, my mom caught sight of me changing into Danny Phantom and at first she thought I should be separated with my ghost half, but then she decided that I would be a great partner in ghost fighting. My dad freaked out when he saw me but my mom talked him around." Danny sighed and leaned against a wall. "They sent me here because Vlad told them I could be much stronger." He made a face at the mention of his archenemy.
They heard someone call, "DINNER!" down the corridor. They got up and started walking. The majority of the group walked ahead in a huge pack. Sam and Danny walked behind the group, talking.
"Who's Vlad?" Sam asked, quietly.
"He's my parent's friend." Danny said, a scowl appearing on his face. "He's actually an evil ghost but my dad won't believe me. And he has a thing for my mom."
Sam shuddered. "That is so creepy."
Danny laughed. "Tell me about it." Sam laughed too as they entered the dining hall.
The dining hall looked to be completely out of place with the rest of the building. While most of the building is constructed out of steel, the dining room was made of aged wood, polished to a shine. There was a large window along one wall, which was curtained at the moment. In the center of the room stood a huge table that looked to be a mile long, covered in white tablecloth. There were also candle on the table. Commander Ghizima stood at one end.
"Sit down, pupils." He said commandingly. They all rushed to sit next to their closest friends. Sam and Danny sat across from each other at the opposite end of the table as the Commander. "Now, you may be surprised by the dining hall. But let me tell you, this is the only room like this in the building. Every other room is straight training, got it?"
"Yes, sir." Echoed down the table. Sam pulled a face at Danny who suppressed laughter.
"We don't say any prayers here, so if you feel the need to, do it quickly and silently. Now eat up." They did, with enthusiasm.
"I didn't think a plate could hold that much food." Sam remarked as they saw Tucker piling it up. They were waiting for the plates of food to be passed down. "Do you think he shorts out if he drinks too much?" Danny laughed, imagining how weird that would look.
"You never told me. What is your power?" Danny said, cocking his head to the side.
"I'm Elemental." Sam mumbled.
"You're Mental?" Danny said, with his eyebrows raised.
"No, idiot!" Sam rolled her eyes. "I'm elemental. It means that I can control elements, like fire, water, wind and earth." Sam looked at the table, fiddling with the tablecloth.
Danny's eyebrows disappeared under his bangs. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah. I'm not that good, though." Sam looked up at him. She couldn't figure out if he was disgusted or curious.
"That's so cool! Can you show me anything?" Danny looked at her necklace again. Does that have anything to do with he powers? "All I can do is blast things, disappear and fly. That must be so cool to control things. What can you do?"
"It's really hard to control." She insisted, looking him in the eyes. He smiled at her encouragingly. Sam took a deep breath and tugged back her sleeves. She looked him in the eye. "Now, this might be a little shaky. I only found out about my powers a year ago and I haven't practiced for a month or so." Danny nodded and smiled again. Sam sighed. "You're not going to let me get away with not doing anything, are you?" Danny's grin spread and he nodded enthusiastically. Sam gave a dramatic sigh. "Fine."
Sam took the pitcher of water from the table. She poured some water on her plate so it had a decent sized puddle on it. Sam rolled back her sleeves, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Without opening her eyes, she beckoned with her finger.
Danny raised an eyebrow at her. She did look mental. He looked down at the plate and gasped as the water moved upwards. It raised itself, like an icicle forming upside down. Sam clenched her eyes in effort and poked the liquid icicle with her finger. Ripples flowed out from her fingertip. The water shuddered and flowed. It formed the shape of a person. Upon closer inspection, Danny realized it was a small model of him.
Danny was amazed. He lowered himself so he was at eye level with the small model of himself made of water. Sam had even gotten his movements down perfectly. As he watched, the water-doll scratched the back of his neck and hung his head so the bangs fell in his eyes.
Sam tapped the tabletop twice with her finger. The doll turned towards Danny and took a few halting steps. It then exploded into a thousand droplets, which soaked into the tablecloth.
Sam gasped and open her eyes. "I can never get them to walk properly!" she exclaimed. Danny sat there with an open mouth. "Are you okay?" she asked cautiously.
"That was one of the coolest things I think I've ever seen." Danny said slowly in an awestruck voice. Sam blushed and smiled. "Can you do that with other things or can you just make small figurines? I don't mean, just, they're awesome, but can you do other things?" Danny said hurriedly.
"Well, it depends." Sam said. "As I said, it's really hard to control. I can make pictures appear in fire and water and I can mold and move water but I haven't learned much with wind or earth yet."
Danny blinked when he realized Anna had been trying to pass him a plate. "Take it already." She said. "My arm's getting tired."
"Thanks." He said, taking it.
Some of his shock must have registered on his face. "Are you okay? What were you looking at?" Anna asked, looking concerned.
"Sam-" Danny stopped when he looked over at Sam. She gave him a pleading look and mouthed Please don't tell. He mouthed back Why?
"Sam what?" Anna said.
"Sam had shown me a trick she could do with her napkin." Danny said hastily.
Anna gave Danny and then Sam an odd look before turning back to her food. Danny ladled the chicken onto his plate before he passed it to Sam. "Why didn't you want me to tell?" he whispered to her.
"I don't want everyone looking at me and asking questions." She whispered back. Instead of taking any chicken, she passed it straight to Ethan. "My grandmother was kind of famous and I don't want everyone say 'Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss.' Or 'Is it true she could change the tide?'"
"She could change the tide?" Danny said excitedly. After receiving a look from Sam, he said, "Sorry."
They sat in silence for a little while, both eating and thinking. "So." Danny said. "You're a vegetarian?"
"Yep."
"Ah." Danny fiddled with his fork. "What does your necklace do?" he asked.
"It's just an heirloom." Sam said shortly, tucking it into her shirt. Danny raised an eyebrow at this secretive behavior.
"Now, pupils, you will see your bedrooms in the hallway down the hall to the right. The girls are on the left, boys on the right. Lights are turned off promptly at nine o'clock. Bathrooms are at the end of the hallway. The names are printed to the right of each door. Two people to a room and no trading room mates. This is the one rule I am adamant about. You will learn to like your roommate and live with them peacefully. You have a problem with your roommate, talk it out with them." The commander suppressed a smile at the horrified looks on their faces. Every job has its perks. "Your roommate will also be your helper. You have a question, ask them. Ask me, and I will introduce you to them. Your bags are on your beds. For those of you without bags or possessions, the school has provided a wardrobe. One weekend a month, we go into town, so you may go shopping for anything you need then. Breakfast is served at eight thirty. I expect to see you all there, or punishment will be issued. Now go off to your rooms."
The ids headed towards the doors. "Oh, and by the way, if I here of any members of the opposite sex are in each other's rooms after eight pm, results will be dire." Kids looked at each other, with slightly scared but amused looks on their faces. They all walked quickly to the hallway, which contained their rooms.
Danny and Tucker were put together, an arrangement, which pleased them both.
Lexish and Gavin both had rooms to themselves, which they bragged about, making everybody jealous, but were very friendly about it.
Sam was put with Hillary. They gave each other awkward smiles, but were clearly uncomfortable in each other's company. Hillary looked a little scared of Sam and Sam was to shy to prove any first impressions wrong.
Maria was paired with Anna. Maria looked uncomfortable, but Anna was immediately welcoming.
Ethan and Mitchell were already good friends. Everybody could tell that they would be the ones who would up everybody up all night.
Sam cast a desperate look around. It had always been her and her grandmother. She had never been super popular or anything. At school, she was always the outcast, the Goth girl, the one that no one would hang out with. She would terminate any chance they had with joining the in-crowd. Maybe this would be better. Maybe she could learn more about her strange powers she had found out about such a short time ago. But, then again, maybe this would fall through and she would be abandoned again.
Sam cast a desperate eye around. Danny caught her gaze and smiled at her. Sam smiled back. He seems all right though. Danny seems trust worthy. Oh god, I hope this works out.
Author's Note: That's it. I'm actually pretty proud of this. This is the longest thing I've written on fan fiction. Tell me if you like it or not. Remember, more reviews makes updating faster. If any of my friends are reading this, I hope I've made you laugh.