Chapter 1

Orientation

----------------------------------------

"Alright, midgets, listen up!"

The large group of confused teenagers turned around to find that a middle-aged man clad in a matching Sky High athletic shorts set had appeared on a platform that had emerged from the gym floor. He also wore matching blue and white socks, red-tinted sunglasses, and a blue baseball cap with his little outfit. The man seemed like he took his job just alittle too seriously. It wasn't like he was principle of Sky High; that would be Principal Powers, who had just sped out of the gym in comet form, leaving behind said confused teenagers at the mercy of said middle-aged man.

A blonde girl towards the front of the group leaned over to a friend and loudly whispered, "Somebody sure knows how to color coordinate."

A few of the group snickered under their breath, suppressing laughter, while others simply rolled their eyes. Most were too busy shaking with nervous apprehension of what was to come.

The man sharply turned his gaze to the two giggling girls. "Excuse me, young misses, but I believe I was talking."

Someone in the back of the group snorted loudly, causing a wave of giggles to erupt towards the platform.

Looking extremely annoyed, the man grabbed the whistle around his neck and blew a continuous screeching note at the group for solid minute. Afterwards, he rearranged his baseball cap, cleared his throat, and continued. "As I was saying, my name is Coach Boomer, also known as Sonic Boom."

He paused for a moment, as if to see if his name would get any kind of reaction. He was only met with silence though, so he went on.

"I take extreme pride in this school, and I would advise you all to do the same, seeing as you will be here for the next four, very long, years." This remark was directed to the smug blonde at the front of the crowd. "Welcome to Sky High Power Placement. Listen up, because I'm NOT gonna remind you again."

Coach Boomer then proceeded to go into a groan-inducing speech which he so clearly loved delivering and probably spent hours practicing in front of a mirror. It came complete with pacing and melodramatic hand gestures.

"You will step up here and show me your power. Yes, you will do so in front of the ENTIRE class. I will then determine where you will be assigned, hero or side kick. Now, every year there are a few students, or as I like to call them 'whiner-babies,' who see fit to question and to complain about their placement. So, let's get one thing straight. My word is law. My judgment is final. So, there will be no whiner-babies. Are we clear?"

The group gave mumble response, evoking an annoyed expression from the Coach. "I said are we CLEAR?"

The last word rumbled out from his throat, echoing and reverberating around the gymnasium. Everyone was blown backwards slightly, and a few of the smaller kids were completely knocked over. It was now perfectly clear why he was known as "Sonic Boom."

He received the unison reply of, "YES, COACH BOOMER!"

He blew the whistle again and dramatically declared, "Go time."

A metal staircase sprung out from the platform as Coach Boomer scanned the crowd before him. He pointed at the girl who had remarked on his attire and called out, "You're up first."

She quickly glanced over at her friend, who gave her an encouraging smile, and ascended to the platform. She was a tall, leggy girl with medium length Barbie-blonde hair. Her eyes were an icy, light blue and she had a suntanned complexion.

Coach Boomer whipped off his sunglasses and pulled up his clipboard. "Name."

"A-Alyson Sh-Sheerwood."

Her stuttering was met with laughter from a couple of boys near the stairs. She turned a fierce glare in their direction before facing the coach again.

"Alright Princess, show me your power."

Alyson smirked and turned to face the boys who had laughed at her, all confidence now. She raised her hands and concentrated for a moment until her arms began to glow with a bright, white light. She opened her eyes and sent a stream of ice at them. Within seconds, one boy was completely frozen and the other looked like he'd just come out of a meat locker.

"Freeze girl huh?" Coach Boomer checked something on his clipboard and yelled out, "Hero!"

With a smile, Alyson ran back down to her friend's side.

"Alright people, we've got a big group today, so let's make this snappy. Let me have Marissa Ruiz up here!"

This time Alyson's friend, a dark-haired and equally tanned girl, hopped up the stairs to Coach Boomer. She smiled widely and raised her hands above her head. A moment later she began to hover above the platform, light smoke surrounding her feet. She kept rising until she was a few feet above Coach Boomer and then floated back down.

"Flyer, hero!"

Marissa's sister, Madison, turned out to be a flyer as well. Henry Brockington was a shape shifter, Kyle Dennison could change size, and Jessica Stamp could create force fields. The first sidekick was Geoffrey Rush. He didn't have any powers at all, unless you counted turning beat red when he tried to tell Coach Boomer. He was joined shortly by Brandey Yves, Michelle Rodron, and Abraham Chavez, who could change the color of things, laugh like a hyena, and summon a ham from thin air respectively.

The placement continued, producing alternating groupings of smug heroes and disappointed sidekicks.

"Alright, you, Ozzy, get up here." Boomer pointed to a dark, brooding boy who had been leaning against the wall.

Coach Boomer continued calling out, "Come on; hurry up," as the boy slowly trudged up the steps. When he reached the top, he crossed his arms across his chest and glared at the man and his little clipboard. He was tall and had long dark hair, which fell into his face.

"Sonic Boom" did a slight double take when he met the teenager's dark eyes.

"Name."

"Warren Peace."

There was an audible gasp from one of the girls in the crowd below. Instantly whispers buzzed throughout the crowd. If anyone didn't know before, they had to know now that Warren Peace was the son of a superhero mother and a villain father, Baron Battle, who had recently been put in jail by the Commander.

After momentarily sizing Warren up, Coach Boomer cleared his throat loudly and said, "Go on then!"

Warren didn't move for a moment and continued glaring at the man until someone below loudly suggested that perhaps he didn't have any powers. His frown deepened and he took a step back. Suddenly he reeled his arm back like he was throwing a football. Only instead of a football, Coach Boomer had a ball of fire thrown just over his head, leaving a scorch mark on his base ball cap. Marissa and Alyson both screamed loudly, while the rest of the group avoided eye-contact with the boy on the platform. The coach who was examining his hat proceeded to mutter softly.

Still mourning the loss of his hat, "Pyrokinetic, haven't had one of those in a few years. Hero."

Warren descended the stairs as slowly as he'd come up, and a few students jumped away from him as he passed through the crowd, gloved hands still smoking.

"You best watch where you're aiming hot head," Coach Boomer called out once there was a good twenty feet separating the two. "Alright, alright three left. Lemme get Lily and then Adam Bevan up here."

Lily Bevan was tall and had shoulder-length, wavy blonde hair. Her light green eyes popped out dramatically against her sun-kissed complexion. She turned out to be a siren, like her hero mother. When asked to demonstrate she let out one, screechingly high note, which ended up shattering the windows and one poor sidekick's glasses.

Adam was a tall, thin kid with spiky, dirty blonde hair and the same light green eyes. After demonstrating his ability control water, he joined his sister and the rest of the heroes.

"And last we have Miss. Barillo. Get up and power up missy," Coach Boomer yelled out as Adam descended the metal stairs.

"Barillo," Coach Boomer looked out at the crowd of students. "Celine Barillo. BARILLO!"

Celine Barillo winced every time he called out her name as she wove timidly through the crowd. Just as she reached the stairs, Adam Bevan, apparently accidentally, elbowed her in the stomach as he "tripped." Though Adam miraculously kept his footing, Celine spun around and fell backwards onto the cool metal.

A faint blush graced her face as laughter surrounded her.

Coach Boomer looked down at the fallen girl and called out, "Having balance problems before we even get started, Miss. Barillo?"

Celine kept her eyes on her feet after she rose and continued looking down when she reached Coach Boomer. She could clearly feel the judgmental eyes on her. She knew she gave off the impression of someone so tentative that she could simply cease to exist if the wind blew the right way. She inwardly smirked at the irony, but no one caught that as her long, dull black hair fell into her face, blocking the crowd from her downcast eyes. She was rather short and not particularly thin, though not necessarily fat either.

Coach Boomer had a slightly bemused expression on his face as he used his clipboard to push away a bit of the black curtain covering the girl's voice. "Barillo?"

Celine looked up sharply and, with a slight lilt in her voice, said, "Duck."

"Wh-?"

Coach Boomer had just barely thrown himself down as several razor-like shards of glass flew through the air where he had just been standing. He looked at her quizzically and someone in the crowd said something like, "..Is making glass a power?"

Celine rolled her eyes and shoved her hands in her pockets. Soon enough, the gym was filled with a dull whooshing sound. The shards of glass from the shattered windows were flying through the air, kind of orbiting around the gym, slowly picking up pace.

Coach Boomer stood, slightly shaken. "Oh, you're telekinetic. Could've just said that. He-"

"No."

The man was clearly becoming further annoyed by the odd girl. "What do you mean no? I sa-"

"I'm not telekinetic." Celine's voice was very quiet and Boomer was leaning down slightly to catch her low tone.

"You move things with your mind, girl. That would be telekinesis."

This evoked another giggle from the crowd.

Celine ignored them and raised a hand towards one of the high windows. A moment later a powerful gust of wind burst in, bringing with it leaves, branches, and a teeth chattering cold. When she lowered he hand, the wind simply dissipated.

"Wind control. Gotcha. Hero."

Celine once again lowered her eyes and quickly hopped down the stairs.

"And that would be it kiddos!" Coach Boomer grinned from the top of the platform. "After lunch, you'll all need to swing by the front office and grab your schedules. No, they won't be ready until after lunch. Yes, you will have to play nice and wait your turns in line."

Coach Boomer jumped of the platform as it descended back into the gym floor. With one last smirk, he replaced his sunglasses and walked out of the gym. From down the hall his loud voice rang out, "Oh, and DON'T FALL!"

The teenagers looked around at each other, about a million times as confused as when they had been led into the gym. None of them had the vaguest idea of where the cafeteria was. Or the office. Or really even the bathroom.

Eventually the group walked to the exit, and everyone just looked up and down the halls for a moment.

Suddenly the ridiculously loud ringing of the lunch bell erupted all through the school. A few of the students managed to throw themselves up against the lockers, but most of them, still deaf and confused, were shocked to find themselves in the middle of a stampede of older students, who had just emerged from every which direction.

All of them were suddenly captured by a unanimous thought.

Even when you're a superhero, or sidekick or whatever, it still really sucks to be a freshman.