Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High.
Layla raised herself off the ground, the wood beneath her trembling and shaking with her power. A natural wind swept up her hair, and the students gasped at the goddess before them. Dara raised her cyclones from nothing, bending their shapes at her will, circling them around Ivy and Magenta. Ivy slowly started to fold her skin upon itself, her ocean eyes finding their way back to the black, gray and white she'd known for so long. Her clothes tore from her body as her hands and feet grew into enormous paws. Her canines elongated and her tail sprouted as she hissed through her panthers mouth. She smiled at Dara, challenging her.
"Come get me." She growled towards the freshman, who instantly erupted into her own African dog, the grace of Ivy's transformation lost within the dog's adrenaline. Magenta took a step back as the dog turned it's huge head to her. The wood beneath Ivy's paws trembled as Layla shattered the floor boards, raising them from the ground, twisting their rigid edges into shapes that resembled people. The shock on her face hidden as her eyes glazed over a deep green, lost within her power and she made three wood soldiers, and sent them for Ivy.
Dara's dog lunged at Magenta who yelped and dogged to the side, kicking the dog in it's back leg mid-leap. The dog whimpered and limped momentarily before it shook out its leg and stalked towards Magenta again. Magenta knew Dara was not controlling the dog, she knew it was instinct for the dog, and she also knew she had no way of protecting herself. She back up and tried to shift into her smaller guinea pig, in hopes of hiding from Dara until the match was over. She stared into the dogs eyes and focused her energy on shifting.
Magenta's eyes widened and she heard the crowds gasps and whispers and screams as the dog faded back into Dara's cold, shivering body. She tried to look away as the young girl lay naked on the floor screaming at her, but she couldn't. She couldn't tear her eyes away, and she couldn't hear Dara's screams. Magenta's line of sight was jolted back and forth and faded to black and white and she started to scream, trying to raise her arms to bang against whatever was controlling her. She grew dizzy and panicked.
Layla screamed Magenta's name as Dara curled in upon herself on the cold wood floor. Layla's wood army fell to broken pieces of wood as she flew through the air to her best friend, who now took the shape of Dara's African Wild Dog. The dog tossed and turned it's head, obviously disoriented.
Lash, Zach and the rest banged on the walls to the arena, running to find the nearest entrance. Ivy bounded over to Magenta's twisted dog. It's black, brown, white and purple fur changing colors, flowing and melting within each other with every turn of its body.
Logan jumped inside the arena, quickly covering Dara with one of the blankets Ivy had provided him, leaving the liter of Sprite with her as well. He dropped the rest of the bag and went towards Ivy.
"The other side." The panther hissed her order at Logan who obeyed immediately. Layla had already circled around to the dogs back, and began twisting a cage out of her vines, calling the wood planks from the floor again to join her efforts. She effectively trapped Magenta's stolen identity and held her cage as tightly as she could, as the dog thrashed about inside.
They heard a snarl from Dara's side of the gym and everyone turned to see her fold back into her Wild Dog, heads whipping back to Layla's cage seeing Magenta standing on her two feet fully clothed and pulling at the vines that circled her.
Ivy lunged towards Dara and stopped between her and the rest of the group. "Cane." She was clear and praying that the dog would back down at the familiarity of the name. The dog snarled again and took a step back surrendering and letting Dara take control of the transformation.
"School is over for the day. Go home." Principal Powers stood stone still at the entrance of the gym as Dara lay once more, naked and shivering on the cold hard floor. The students stayed where the were, no one outside the arena moved.
"Now!" Boomer's voice blew multiple students from their places on the bleachers and the rest ran out faster than the speed of light. Principal Powers entered the Arena as the rest of their group filed in, helped Dara to wrap herself in her blanket, Layla slowly releasing her vines and weaving the floor boards back together beneath everyone.
Magenta didn't move, and ignored Lash and Zach's prodding at her, questioning if she was OK. She stared at Principal Powers. "You knew."
"I suspected. The rest of the group had all undergone changes, the ones that weren't as strong. I suspected that yours was waiting just beneath the surface. As Logan said, mutations take place under emotional or physical stress. You needed to be in a safe place, unaware of the possibility of a mutation happening." Principal Powers was monotonous and emotionless.
"Am I an Absolute?" Magenta didn't even blink.
Principal Powers opened her mouth to speak when Ivy cut in. "No, you aren't."
Magenta turned her head to look at her white-haired friend who stood wrapped in the same gray blanket Warren had given her months ago. "How do you know?"
Ivy shook her head. "I just do. You wouldn't take on someone else's Absolute, and when you turned the force and electric waves of the change would shred the material around you. Your clothes, essentially. I'm not sure what you are. Where you trying to change back from the dog?"
"I didn't know I had changed to begin with. I didn't know what was going on."
Ivy nodded. "It's possible there's a limit to how long you can stay in form, or maybe your body was rejecting it. I'm not sure why you took Dara's absolute, though. I wonder if it would work on a regular dog." Ivy looked at her aunt, who said nothing.
"I want to try. I want to know what it means and what I can do." Magenta was forceful and everyone knew it was not a discussion. They backed up against the plexi-glass walls.
Ivy looked at Dara and motioned for her to back up, too. "I am the panther now, it will be safer for me than it will be for you." Dara nodded and practically ran to Trent who held himself up by the wall.
Logan and Gambit stepped in closer. "We ain't leavin." Logan crossed his arms, and Gambit reached inside his trench coat, pulling a small silver wand-looking object out. He flexed his arm down towards the ground and it extended itself into his staff. Ivy nodded and tried not to be too embarrassed by the fact that she was still naked beneath her gray blanket. She dropped it off her shoulders and body as much as she could without showing her body to the entire group.
She forced her change to flow from her feet, gathering the blanket together careful not to tear it.
Ivy tossed the blanket to the ground as the she stalked Magenta. "Concentrate." Magenta stared at the panther, looking into it's black, gray and white eyes. Ivy felt Magenta's power tugging at her eyes. She felt them being stripped of their own power. Her sight faded in and out of color, eventually staying as such. Ivy watched as Magenta's eyes flushed black, gray and white taking the panther's form. "More. Pull more." The panthers voice was calming and silky. It echoed when it shouldn't have, and it sent shivers down even Logan's spine.
Magenta clenched her fists, and watched Ivy's panther. Watched the way it walked and swayed from side to side. Watched its stalk, watched it watch her. She was almost mesmerized by its movements. She felt a tingle run through her hands and upon looking down, she saw them shimmer in and out of their human form. Looking back at Ivy, she saw her paws shimmer in and out of their cat form. Magenta concentrated harder, focusing all her attention and energy on how paws felt, claws, pads and all. She looked down at her hands again and they had stopped shimmering between each other and remained the panthers white paws. Slowly she gathered all of the panthers body into her being, and Ivy stood before her exposed for all.
Ivy grabbed at her body, covering herself as best she could before Gambit stepped in front of her looking away, holding the blanket to her body. Ivy took the blanket from him uncomfortably. "Who ever knew this would be the first time you saw me naked." She whispered in his ear so only he could hear, and she watched the burning blush creep up his neck. He licked his bottom lip lightly as she walked around him. She caught Warren's eye and kept her smirk to herself.
Gambit turned to watch her walk towards Magenta and felt Warren's eyes on him. He looked towards the smoking pyrokinetic, and merely smiled.
Ivy cautiously approached Magenta, crouching low, to show the panther it was dominant and she was not a threat. "Focus, Magenta. Try to focus."
Magenta screamed inside the panthers head, trying furiously to change back. She saw Ivy speaking and couldn't hear her words. She screamed louder, knowing only she could hear herself.
"Magenta." Ivy spoke gently to the panther, outstretching her hand low to the ground. The panther sniffed at her hand then growled and snapped at her, drawing the slightest bit of blood. Ivy ignored it, drawing her hand back in. "Magenta." She looked over the purple tint in the panthers coat, knowing her friend was lost inside the panthers head, remembering how it felt.
Magenta stopped screaming and strained her ears to hear Ivy. A faint whisper crept into her head, and she strained harder.
"Magenta."
She heard it. She screamed Ivy's name, and knew Ivy could not hear her back.
"Magenta. Focus on controlling the cat." Ivy outstretched her hand again. "Turn your head left."
Magenta gave all her concentration and energy, and she saw the panthers line of sight shift to the left. A wave of relief passed over her intangible body and she forced the panther to take a step forward. She drew the panthers head down, and nuzzled Ivy's hand to lay on top the cat's forehead.
Ivy smiled and scratched the cats head. She stood up and walked backwards. Magenta followed. "You can hear me." She watched the massive head nod, purple tints glistening under the awful florescent lights. "I want you to walk around and feel the way the cat moves. If you can take any Absolute form, you need to be as flexible as they are."
Magenta steered the cat from side to side, steadily walking as she learned to use the cats legs. Feeling more confident, she urged the cat into a steady gallop, and soon to a flashing run, bounding back and forth, using the dumpster and props from Save the Citizen as an obstacle course. She leapt over the mulcher in the center grabbing the citizen in her mouth as she did so. She landed and felt her grip on the panther tear from her control. She hit the ground hard, the dummy citizen landing on top of her.
Ivy's body erupted into the panther. She felt her bones crack and her skull shook, and she roared as a lion would, a panthers hiss trailing after it. "What happened?" She looked fiercely at Magenta who stood ungracefully.
"I lost control, I couldn't keep it in anymore." She shook her head, tossing the doll aside.
Ivy hissed again before standing on her hind legs, hooking her claws into the gray blanket that lay at her feet. She began to change back into her human form, and was just able to cover herself as she finished. She went to Magenta and instantly hugged her. "You did great. You're not at full Absolute strength and you can only hold it for so long. But it might be just enough to temporarily jar or weaken whatever Absolute you borrow from."
"How do you know?" Magenta's eyes were scared and hopeful, questioning everything she had just experienced, uncertain why it was happening to her.
"The panther told me." Ivy smiled and put her hand on Magenta's cheeks. "She says it's just Absolutes. Your body is like a replicator, scanning their DNA and borrowing it. If you did it to an animal... Well, I'm not sure what would happen, but I don't think it'd be good to find out."
Warren watched from the stands, none could hear the two girls conversation. He glanced over at Logan and Gambit, who stood completely un-alarmed, watching from a distance. Warren looked at Gambit and saw the smug look on his face, and how it had been there since he gave Ivy the blanket. His temperature rose as he thought about what she could have possibly said to him to make him blush. He remembered how sexual insinuation had been one of her favorite ways to make him blush, and his temperature grew hotter.
Evelyn walked towards the girls, steady and confident as always. There was a new coldness to her, one that hadn't been there before. She felt responsible. She wasn't sure why or how, but she did. These were her students, and they were being attacked under her watch.
Ivy retold her aunt what she had explained to Magenta, and shrugged confused when asked how the panther told her. "She just did. It was like my own subconscious was telling me what I needed to know."
Evelyn nodded. "How do you feel, Magenta?"
Magenta shrugged nonchalantly. "It was... Different. It was everything Ivy said it was. How you're there, but you don't control it. You're just watching."
"But you did control it." Ivy was quick to remind her.
"Eventually. It seemed like hours had gone by. It felt claustrophobic."
They both nodded. "I want you to practice with Dara and Ivy until you feel entirely comfortable. It's a strong gift, Magenta. Not one to be taken with a grain of salt." Magenta nodded obediently. "Layla." Principal Powers turned her back to Ivy and Magenta, almost missing Magenta's nod.
Layla stood up immediately, ears burning red. "Um, yes, Principal Powers?"
"Your wood – Men." She was unsure of what to call them. Everyone was unsure of what to call them.
Layla looked at her feet sheepishly. "I- I- Um-" She stammered, trying to find an explanation.
"Practice." Principal Powers turned and left the gym, heels clicking on the wood floor, echoing in the silence the teenagers dwelled in.
The group sat and looked around at each other, no one knowing what to say or what to do. Dara was the first to move, gathering her blanket around her closer and walking to the locker rooms to change. The rest followed in suit, save Speed, Trent, and Taylor, and Ivy who lingered back to gather the torn remnants of Dara and her gym clothes.
Gambit met her at the shreds, and bent down to be at her level. "So, Cher. About seeing you naked..." His voice was soft and his eyes seemed to glow more than usual, his sickly charming smile creeping onto his stubbled face.
Ivy smiled coyly and stood up, leaving Gambit at her feet. He gently stroked her leg before standing up, as well. Ivy dropped the shreds in his hands, and walked away, the blanket dropped off her perfect shoulders.
Gambit turned around and landed squarely in Logan's face. "Like I said. Rogue will be here in a few days." Logan looked at Gambit, and he knew the joke was over. Gambit nodded quickly as Logan pushed passed him.
Hours later, everyone was settled with their partners in their homes. Dara, too, had gone to Layla's. More so to be with Trent than anything. She sat in the spare bedroom with him, and they ate dinner in silence. Layla was helping Gambit set up the pull-out downstairs, and Dara and Trent had hardly been alone together, let alone seen each other in the last few weeks. The silence was uncomfortable, Dara did not know what to say or how to act, knowing her brothers comrade had attacked her boyfriend. She glanced up every few minutes to watch Trent or just to look at him and see if there was any hint of anger towards her.
As if reading her mind, he stopped eating and looked at her. "I'm not angry with you. You didn't know what was going on, Dara. It isn't your fault, and it wasn't Dylan who attacked me." She dropped her fork and launched herself across the few feet between them, hugging him tightly and forgetting his still healing injuries. "Ok, not mad but still in pain." He choked out, trying not to wince with every word.
Dara flung herself off as quickly as she had on. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She scrunched her face, wrinkling her nose at him as he adjusted himself on the bed. She gathered both their plates and put them on the bedside table. "Can I do anything? Tea? Ice?"
Trent smiled at her wrinkled nose and pulled her closer to him. "Just sleep with me." Dara looked up at him, smiling softly more to herself than to him. She knew at first she was just trying to get Warren's attention, but after seeing him this morning beaten and bruised... It was more than that. She curled up besides her electro-kinetic boyfriend and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Sorry it took so long for me to update, I recently moved so I've been kinda frantic about life and junk. Here's another chapter just for you, FlyingSolo365. =)