A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I last updated! Hope I haven't lost any readers. Please R and R!

'Crystal! Crystal honey it's time to get up! The bus is leaving in half an hour!'

Groggily, Crystal heaved herself out of bed. She hadn't seen this side of 10 o'clock for some time.

Just three blocks away Warren's alarm sounded in an almost empty house. He groaned, slammed it off and rolled off the bed. The house was dark and quiet, pretty much as it had been for the past week. It was unusual but not unheard of for his mom to be away this long without word. Surprisingly, as time went on he got less worried about the problems caused by his parents. He was, after all, the victim in all of this. He shrugged on his black jacket and made his way downstairs. The bus would be arriving in twenty minutes.

'Now have you got everything?' her mother worried, 'Money, cell, schedule -,'

'Yes Mom, I've got all that and more. I have done this before you know!' Crystal joked.

'I know Crystal, don't be glib,' her mother snapped. 'The circumstances have changed since last time though if you recall – what with your father and all that.'

'Sky High is probably one of the safest places to be right now you know! I don't know why you didn't take Principal Powers up on her offer, I doubt anyone would say anything.'

Crystal, we have been over and over this. I am fine at home. I do not need your teachers baby-sitting me!' her mother answered tersely, her face colouring. 'Anyway, your bus comes in ten minutes – you need to get going!'

Warren sloped out of the house remembering to lock the front door and down the road to his bus stop. To tell the truth he was pretty nervous about starting at Sky High – everyone in his class would be much more advanced than he was. But he shrugged it off. He couldn't show weakness. If he did, no doubt he'd be pitied for having an evil father.

'Warren Peace? You'll be riding with the freshmen today – just to speed everything along. Tomorrow you can get the bus with your classmates.'

Ron, the bus driver, seemed overly perky for this time of a morning Warren thought sourly as he boarded the bus. His hair hung about his face as he found an empty double and slumped down in it. All around him the whispers started. Inwardly he groaned and tried to block them out.

Crystal's bus touched down at 8.20 with forty minutes to go until homeroom. With her friends she descended from the bus and watched the freshmen stagger dizzily from their first trip on a rocket powered school vehicle.

Warren stared around. So this is the famous Sky High. Berated by my father, glamorised by my mother. Let's see what it makes of me.

He followed the freshmen according to the letter he'd received a few days earlier. Apparently he was going to something called Power Placement.

'Wow, look at the freshmen,' commented Dara, Crystal's closest friend.

'Yeah, I know, it's weird thinking we were once of them only last year,' came the reply.

'God, do you remember Power Placement?' laughed Dara.

'Yeah, you were trembling so hard you could barely crush that car!'

'Your aim was pretty dodgy too as I remember!'

'But the damage I did was obviously impressive enough. Oooh, shall we see if the Coach will let us watch for a bit? I want to see what this year is like!'

The two girls made their way towards the gym, Dara's dark hair contrasting with the blonde of Crystal's. To look at them, you'd never know they were two of the most powerful girls in their year, especially Dara whose petite frame hid the fact that she could crush almost everything.

They slipped in through the large double doors at the back of the gym just as Coach Boomer had finished his opening speech.

'Girls! What are you two doing in here?' the Coach enquired loudly.

Warren turned around to look at the two girls just entering the gym. He wanted to get Power Placement over and done with. It wasn't looking as fun as he'd thought.

'We were hoping we could watch Coach,' she flashed him a pleading smile, 'just for a little bit?'

'Fine but before you sit down, come and show these guys what they should be able to do in a year's time. Dara, you first.'

Dara got up onto the podium and waited for the car to drop. I crashed down next to her and she simply grabbed hold of the bonnet and squeezed. The resulting damage got her a round of applause.

'Crystal, now you.'

Warren looked up; it couldn't be the same one, could it? But a second glance told him otherwise; the blonde hair was definitely the same.

Crystal smiled, brought her hands together and from them came a stream of extraordinarily bright light, which also emitted great heat. She believed hot light was always better than just regular light.

The car twisted and buckled under the beam of intensely hot light. Warren stared, open mouthed at the scrap of metal before him. His boss could do that? He made a mental note to never be late for work.

'Very nice girls. I'll see you after lunch for Advanced Level Save the Citizen. It's a lot more fun than last year's version. You'd better get to homeroom now.'

Crystal and Dara waved to the freshmen that looked at them with some degree of awe as they left the gym. Crystal hadn't seen Warren in the crowd.

The two made their way from homeroom to their first class with Medulla, 'Advanced Science', and settled themselves at the back of the class waiting for the follicly challenged genius to arrive.

'I bet you've got some questions for the new kid then.' Charelle, class gossip and class bitch leaned over to Crystal's workbench.

'New kid, where? And what questions?' she asked, confused.

'Haven't you heard? Baron Battle's son is arriving today. I heard he's coming in a specially prepared helicopter with like ten staff to watch him! Oh my God, I can't believe you didn't know!' she squealed excitedly.

'Baron Battle's kid, here? Shouldn't it be illegal for villains' kids to come here or something?' Dara interjected.

'Well, apparently it isn't. So, are you going to do anything about it?'

'I'll certainly –,' Crystal started.

'Girls, I hate to break up this little gossip in the corner but you need to pay attention if you're going to learn how to recalibrate this phase cannon.'

Warren was sat next to a very nervous kid who was trembling so hard that Warren was just waiting for him to fall off. It had been almost an hour since Crystal and her friend had left. He still hadn't got over the fact that she was here too! Private school my ass! He was going to have words with her.

'Jaime Nuttall,' the Coach called, 'Come on sonny, we don't have all day.'

The boy sitting next to Warren finally made it to the stage.

'Off you go then,' the Coach sighed resignedly. The boy didn't look like he'd amount to much, trembling like a leaf.

Suddenly there was a rumbling and the whole building shook. Crystal and Dara, on their way to the History of Superheroes, looked around as the lockers on either side flew open, spilling their contents everywhere.

'That is one strong freshman,' Dara remarked as she dodged a falling light fixture.

'So I see. God I hope he learns to control his powers fast though!' Crystal joked as she side-stepped Mr. Boy hurtling down the corridor.

Back in the gym Warren stood on the platform, impressed by the kid but strangely nervous about leaving himself open to the scrutiny of a bunch of freshmen. He'd had no problems displaying his powers before. A smoking pile of science lab at his previous school paid testament to that.

'CAR!' demanded the Coach.

As it fell from the ceiling, Warren powered up and appreciated the small awed gasps as he threw a series of fireballs in quick succession. The car exploded, sending small shards of metal flying everywhere.

'Alright then,' the Coach said, making a note on his clipboard. 'HERO! You can join your classmates in here after lunch. Right now you need to get your schedule. NEXT!'

After a tedious hour spent learning about the heroes of the early twentieth century, Crystal and her friends finally made it into lunch where an interesting sight met their eyes.