SKY HIGH 2:

SIDEKICKS

PART 2

The campus of sky high unfolded before Quincy Knight, the 14 year old freshman, arriving to the floating school just moments ago, for the very first time in his life. Quincy took a deep breath as his eyes widened at the incredible sight. Several students floated onto the school grounds out of the clouds, apparently, having flown there under their own power as opposed to the rocketing school buses. To Quincy's right a student had used their ice powers to create a makeshift rink which several kids slid on playfully in their shoes and on their backs.

To the left as Quincy was walking he noticed a strange competition… two older boys seemed to be comparing super-strength, picking up rocks and squeezing them into dust, perhaps seeing who could crush the harder stone the quickest, and several students gathered around to cheer them on as they crushed rocks with their bare hands.

Gawking at this Quincy slammed right into another student, collapsing onto his butt before catching himself with his hands. Picking up his iPod and backpack, he came face to face with a girl in an orange Sky High basketball jersey. She narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brow at Quincy as she picked herself up, dusting off her blue jeans. "What the heck is your problem, man?"

"Oh, my bad, I…" Quincy was a bit shocked and still trying to get used to the strange environment.

"Do you think just cuz I'm a freshman you can push me around?" The girl in orange stood face to face with Quincy, arms tense, daring him to even flinch.

"But… I'm a freshman too…" Quincy held up his hands, innocently, attempting to back away, his eyebrows arched in almost disbelief.

"Watch your step, next time, half-pint…" The girl stepped forwards, shoulder-checking Quincy hard, causing him to take a few steps back. Quincy shook his head, mumbling to himself.

"Ha. Dude… looks like you just ran afoul of Amanda Miller."

Quincy, doesn't even look up at first. "A-who?"

There is a pause as Quincy looks up, the young Hispanic boy standing there in his red cap and black t-shirt with a bright red star on it is confused. "C'mon… Amanda "The Killer" Miller? You mean you haven't heard of her?"

Quincy stares and blinks. "Do I look like someone who knows what is going on up here? At all?"

The red-capped kid laughs. "Biggest tomboy here, she can do ANYthing…"

"Anything?" Quincy eyes the girl as she continues on her way, shoving other students aside. A larger kid pushes someone else out of the way and they go flying. They attempt to follow through with their momentum to shove Amanda to the ground, and she sidesteps and shoves them into the ground, shoulders deep.

"My cousin was making fun of her one time and flew away…" Quincy's new friend taps him on the shoulder. "She chased him halfway across town… in the AIR. And don't get me started on the fireball story."

Quincy raises an eyebrow as the girl disappears inside the school building. "And she holds grudges, I'll bet?"

"Like Superman holds sunlight."

"Great." Quincy sighed shaking his head, rubbing his temple. "I have a worthy nemesis…" he turns and extends his hand. "Quincy Knight… son of Paragon and Isis."

"For real? Cool! Oscar Reyes. I'm a power booster." Oscar nods slowly. "Your parents were pretty big heroes! My dad works at the Hero Registration Office. He told me about them one time." The two boys begin walking towards the school. "So… what do you know about Sky High?"

"Um… it trains future superheroes and children of superheroes how to use their powers."

"Well, duh… that's it?" Oscar looks over at Quincy expectantly.

Quincy, still walking just kind of shrugs. "You're mocking me now?"

Oscar laughs and pats Quincy on the back joyfully. "Yeah, I have a feeling we're gonna be real cool…" The guys look up to see a few students gathering around a young lady holding up a sign reading 'Incoming Freshmen' for all to see. "I think that's us…"

There, beneath the sign stood a redheaded girl in a green blouse and some khaki Capri shorts. "Hey, guys, welcome to Sky High!" She was a bit on the excited side, but perhaps that was normal. "I'm Layla Green, your Student Body President this year, and I want to be the first to welcome you. Right now we're going to take a short tour of the school, meet the Principal and then do a little exercise called power placement. I promise it won't be as bad as it sounds, kay?" Her wide grin made her a bit hard to turn down, but Quincy and Oscar looked at each other, questioning her sincerity.

Next to Quincy a young girl raised her hand. She had dazzling olive skin with dark brown tresses flowing down below her shoulder over a pink tank top and a white skirt with white tennis shoes that had pink trim on them. Her slim glasses fit firmly over her nose and she had an expression of calm interest.

"Oh, hey! Go ahead…" President Green nodded to her. "Oh, and share your name, please!"

A slightly embarrassed grin escaped the girl in pink. "Hi… I'm Selina… Selina Banner, I heard things about this 'Power Placement,' that there was a lot of talk about totally getting rid of the whole 'Hero-Sidekick' dichotomy to empower solo heroes and teams..."

Quincy mouthed the name again to himself, staring, a bit awkwardly at Selina as she spoke to the student leader. His eyes sparkled a bit and he found it extremely hard to hold his mouth closed. It seemed as though sweet music played in the background.

Layla nodded slowly with warm smile. "Well…" there was a pause. "That's more Coach Boomer's job. You'll meet him in a little while. It's not as bad as when I was a freshman, I'll say that." There was a beat as Layla's warm smile slowly returned. "And there's no problem with students moving between training programs…" she looked around. "Well, we'd better get going…"

Inside the building, a long hallway with students shuffling back and forth before the school day glimmered with rays of sun from the high windows over the bays of blue and orange lockers. Layla was point out things left and right. "And this is Science Room 3, or the Mad Science Lab… Mr. Oblangata will be teaching here…" Layla turned and almost in a whisper… "Whatever you do, do NOT let the genetically engineered super-skunk bite you." Stepping towards a statue she raised her hands, pointing out the 20 foot hallway adornment's arm-mounted jetpacks, old air force style jacket and goggles.

"And here we have the statue of Captain Michael Quincy Sky, for whom our school is named."

In sepia we have clips of Michael Sky soaring through the sky in clouds amid machine gun-equipped biplanes and mid-air explosions.

"Captain Sky was one of the first superheroes, using his quick reflexes and sharp eyes to fly through the air against the Axis Powers of World War II. These gauntlets are actually fully functioning replicas of the jet gauntlets he used to defeat the German air reserves coming to assist the Axis forces at Normandy. If it wasn't for Captain Sky…" Layla looks up at the statue… "World War II would've been lost…"

As Layla was finishing her reflection, a tall woman in all white came around the corner. Layla's smile grew. "And, I'd like to introduce you all to Principal Powers, our Headmistress…"

A gentle smile came from the poised woman in the white pantsuit. She nodded to Layla lightly. "Thank you Miss Green. You may prepare for class."

Layla waved to the freshmen and hurried off, about her business. The principal watched her depart and then turned back to the students extends her hands. "Welcome, once again, to Captain Michael Q Sky High School. Or, as we call it, Sky High."

There was a hand sticking up out of the crowd. The Principal turned and her smile became wry for a moment. "Ah, Miss Selina Banner. Your school records actually have recommendations. Impressive. What is your question?"

Selina took a deep breath. "Principal Powers, is it true that students have lost their lives while attending Sky High?"

The Principal nodded slowly. "We've had some close calls, but those rumors are untrue." She took a deep breath as she looked over the group. "But I do want to take some time to warn you." Her face drew out to become very serious as she looked over the students, seemingly one by one. "This is not middle school. This is not child's play. You will have to work hard, you will learn a great deal and you will forge memories here you will have for a lifetime. Do not… I repeat… do not squander it. Do not get on my bad side… and do not use your powers outside of the gym. Am I clear?"

Mumbles and nods came from the assembled group.

"Am I clear, class?"

"Yes Ma'am." The ground called in unison, with some trailing "Principal Powers" reverbing in the hallway.

"Wonderful then." The warm, gentle, slight smile returned. "The Gym is to your right. Comets away."

In a flash, Principal Powers was enveloped in bright white light, it seemed to encompass and become her as it rolled into a ball, perhaps three feet in diameter of pure light, floating calmly for just a moment before rocketing down the hallway with a whoosh of air, gone before another question could possibly be asked.

"Whew!" Oscar whistled. "This is the coolest school on Earth."

Quincy laughed a bit nervously, looking at the door to the gym they all seemed strangely propelled towards. "Yeah… except we're not actually ON the Earth at all." He whispered. Quincy caught a glimpse of Selina through the crowd and began to work his way over towards her.

Oscar hissed "Whoa, where are you going?"

Quincy simply held his hand up as he caught up with the girl in pink tapping her on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm Quincy… Selina, right?"

Selina looked over Quincy for a moment, a bit skeptical. "Yes. I'm Selina, Quincy, you said?"

"Yeah, yeah… listen, that was pretty brave to ask the Principal that question… people actually died while going here?"

Selina smiled sheepishly for a moment. "They are just rumors. I heard them from a friend that used to go here…"

"How long ago?" Quincy seemed a bit concerned. "They didn't have powers or something?"

Selina shrugged. "I don't know… he went here a long time ago. Who's that guy?"

From the floorboards, a trap door opened and from it rose a man in a blue swishy warm-up jacket and blue running shorts. His white tube socks almost reaching his knees. He had large sunglasses on, a big blue baseball cap and a clipboard.

Oscar sidled up behind Quincy and Selina. "That's the one and only Coach "Sonic Boom" Boomer. They say he's the hardest teacher here…"

"Alright, kiddies. Step up." He looked over the hesitant crowd. "C'mon, we haven't got all day, and there's quite a few of you. This is, for the slower "heroes" among you, Power Placement." He took a deep breath as he pulled out his clip board and began reading.

His deadpan uninterested voice droned as he read quickly. "My name is Coach Boomer, I will be teaching you the basics of superheroic action this year. First I will need to assign you to a hero program using power placement. While all superheroes are equal, we will place you in a group that will best suit you abilities…" Huffing, Coach Boomer, speedily skimmed through the rest. "Power Hero, Stunt Hero, Support Hero, yadda yadda yadda…" Finally, Coach Boomer just crumpled up the piece of paper he was reading from and threw it behind him.

"This is how it's going to work freshmen… step up on the platform, show your power, get placed. Get me? Good. You, in the back, talking."

Oscar, one arm on Quincy's shoulder, the other on Selina's looked shocked. "Oh… I wasn't talking, Sir I…"

"Up!" Boomer thumbed towards the stage and Oscar slowly peeled through the crowd and walked up the short stairs.

"Name?" Bommer flicked out his pen. There was silence. "NAME!" an echo resounded throughout the gym as Oscar was even pushed back a bit by the force of Coach Boomer's voice.

"Oscar Reyes…" Oscar looked at Quincy, who simply shrugged.

"Show us your mojo." Boomer looked

"Well… you can't SEE it."

"Support Hero." Boomer sighed nonchalantly. "Next."

"No wait, I have a power!"

Impatient, the teacher just looked at him tapping his foot.

"I… I can boost powers. Yell something.."

Coach Boomer laughed. "Alright, you're not the first kid to come up here and try to fake a power. Next!" Boomer's power caused his voice to echo and the force of the soundwaves was visible, distorting the air in front of his face.

Oscar Reyes closed his eyes and reached out his hand again. "Okay… again. The same force…"

"Next!" A sonic boom erupted through the gym, knocking most kids onto the ground and shocking the Coach.

"Alright enough, kid!" Coach Boomer pushed Oscar away by the head before sighing and smoothing his jacket visibly disturbed. "No offensive or defensive capability, SUPPORT HERO!" The sound echoed through the gym. Oscar's shoulders sunk a bit as he slumped off. "You there… Pretty in Pink… stop preening and get up here."

Selina a bit taken aback slowly walked up the platform. The Coach looked her over for a moment. "Wait… have I seen you before?" His eyes narrowed.

Selina shrugged a bit looking up into the air as if trying to recall. "No, sir, I don't think so…"

Coach nodded slowly. "Alright show me, your mojo."

Selina however looked up and saw a large old car hanging from the ceiling. She sheepishly raised her hand. "Um… is it true that you drop cars on people?"

Coach Boomer took off his hat and produced a small device with two big buttons on it. "Do you WANT me to drop a car on you?" He demanded.

Selina quickly shook her head. "No, sir!"

Boomer grunted. "Then show me your power. Go."

Oscar stood next to Quincy, leaning over and whispering discreetly, his backhand over his mouth. "Hey, that car thing is broken."

Quincy's head spun towards Oscar. "What do you mean?"

"I was eyeing it while I was up there and the wire's splayed." Oscar nodded slowly, squinting and leaning forward a bit.

"You're sure, like, life and death sure?" Quincy's voice was a bit tense, his whole demeanor was a bit edgy, his hands had actually started sweating.

Up on stage, Selina managed to turn her hands, slowly into animal claws. Selina seemed to be concentrating very hard to make this happen, before she simply stopped to take some deep breaths and recover. "I'm… I'm a shapeshifter… I just need some more practice."

Boomer rubbed his chin as he looked over the girl. "Shapeshifter, eh? High Misdirection, low Damage Power, STUNT HERO!" Boomer said proudly as he eschewed Selina offstage. "You, with the man-braids. Step up."

Quincy's heart stopped. His feet seemed to move on their own, propelling him to the front of the line. He stepped up onto the platform. He looked over Boomer, then smiled after taking a deep breath.

Boomer nodded curtly, "Name and Power."

"Quincy Knight. Probability manipulation."

Boomer raised his glasses. "You're the Knights' kid? Damn. Time flies. Didn't your parents have telekinesis and God powers, I figured you'd inherit them, right?"

Quincy tilted his head with a cocky smile at his teacher. "What is probability if not the telekinesis of the gods?"

Boomer stood still for a moment before lowering his glasses. "Your funeral kid. Show me."

Quincy pulls out a quarter and deftly flicks it into the air. While it's there, he softly speaks. "Heads." He extends his hand, sinking with the coin as he catches it. Sure enough, it says heads. He flicks it again, his tongue slightly sticking out the side of his mouth as he concentrates. "Tails."

It lands in his hand Tails and he tosses the coin again. "Hea-"

Coach Boomer lashes out, snatching the coin from the air and slamming it onto his forearm. He seems almost angry. "You trying to get over on me?"

Quincy's hands tighten, his breath almost gets short as he forces himself to act normal. "Heads…"

The coach slowly removes his hand, Quincy not taking an eye off of him. "Heh… look at that. Heads." Coach Boomer nods with a smile. Too bad it's not useful. Sup-"

"What? I've got plenty of offensive uses for my powers!"

Coach Boomer laughs. "Yes your powers are already offending me…"

"What are the chances that your little falling car won't work on me."

Boomer looks at Quincy in slight disbelief for a long moment. "You're… serious?"

Quincy folds his arms in challenge. Boomer flicks through his papers on his clips. "Alright, liability waiver, Quincy Knight. Good bye. Car." Boomer slams on the green button his palm. Nothing happens. The old rusty car at the top of the gym remains there, swaying ever so slightly. "I said Car!" He slams the button again. And again. After a few times he looks at Quincy with a chuckle. "A fine stunt for a stunt hero…"

"Oh really?" Quincy steps forwards, invading Coach Boomer's personal space. "What are the chances that you can make me a Power Hero?"

Boomer laughed. "Pretty slim kid."

"Really? So how come you're going to anyway?" Quincy smiled, almost arrogantly.

Boomer looked over Quincy one more time, shaking his head. "You think you can cut it as a Power Hero? Fine. You'll be begging me to make you Support within the week. Get off my stage."

Beaming Quincy cartwheeled off of the stage, landing in a crouch he hopped up giving Oscar a high five. "That was awesome, Quincy!"

Quincy laughed. "I tried to tell him!"

Oscar laughed along and then he stopped. Quincy stopped as well turning and looking over his shoulder at who had taken the podium.

"Name and Powers, kid."

"Amanda Miller." The girl in the orange jersey with the number '23' on it smiled. "Amanda Miller, Power Sponge." A wicked smile flew across her face. Boomer's brows raised. "Power copying eh? Finally, a REAL power… do her!" Boomer pointed to a random student.

Amanda, with a spin began to create a tornado, it lifted her into the air before she stopped spinning and dropped back to the ground. "Wind Manipulation." Amanda gave the girl an 'ok' sign with her hand and a wicked smirk. "Not too bad… glad I'm not stuck with it."

Boomer was doubly pleased. "Alright! Do hers!" Boomer pointed to Selina.

Amanda smiled again. "Shapeshifting can be challengeing…" Amanda's features and body changed until she resembled Principal Powers. "But if you master it…" Again the features changed until they matched President Bush. "There's nowhere you won't be able to get into…" Amanda's features turned her into a strange leopard monster before shifting back to normal.

Boomer beamed with joy as he pointed to Quincy. "Do the Knight kid!"

"No!" Quincy yelled. "I've made it very improbable that you can copy my powers."

Amanda narrowed his eyes at him. "Hey, you're that kid from the yard earlier!"

"Lets get this show on the road no more sidekick sideshows." Boomer grabs Amanda's wrist and hoists it up in the air. And Miller is a "POWER HEROOO!!" The sound echoed throughout the building.

Oscar and Quincy left the gym in a bit of a rush. Quincy grimaced… Oscar just shook his head. "That girl is trouble…" Oscar quipped said.

"Missing curfew is trouble… that girl's a train wreck…" Quincy pursed his lips and took a deep breath.

"Next!" Boomer called. "Get a move on! We need this done before

Shortly thereafter, the guys walked in through the double doors of the school cafeteria. It's wide array of colors and events. Paper airplanes flew around, seemingly suspended in midair. A group of cross legged students sat, in dark colors, along with their food, suspended above a table, concentrating more than talking. Elsewhere, a group of kids in orange and blue letter man jackets high fived and bumped chests, standing, almost posing, on the eating benches. Near them a group of diminuitive guys and girls let robots run around on their lunch table, electric sparks flying here and there.

"Wow… okay, lemme see here…" Oscar's mouth dropped as he walked through the cafeteria towards the lunch line, turning and looking around as he did. Quincy just glanced side to side. Oscar nodded slowly. "Okay, there, we've got the Psionics. Real reclusive… moody, they do all that Mental power stuff. Mostly Stunt Heroes."

"You'd think people who knew next week's lottery numbers would have something to smile about." Quincy smirked.

Oscar laughed. "And the Jocks. All Power Heroes. They're the biggest and baddest and they love it." A couple looked over in their direction and just shrugged before returning to the raucous laughter at their own table, several girls huddled around.

"Aaaaand, the Geeks." Oscar gestured as he and Quincy arrived in the lunch line.

"OWNAGE!" One stood up and yelled, his small robot dog chewing on the leg of a more limber, now damaged robot, his friends hanging their heads in shame and disgrace.

"Those are the big ones… let's see… Outcasts…" Oscar nodded towards a group misfits in the corner, grungy with spikes of purple and green. "They claim to be mutants hated by society… we've got the Patriots…" young Mr. Reyes points towards a group of clean cut all-American styled red, white and blue clad students in polo shirts towards the middle of the cafeteria. "They REALLY love the American Way. And there's that one magic kid…" Oscar thumbs absent mindedly towards a young man who looks remarkably like Harry Potter. "He transferred from some magic school in England… poor guy, keeps muttering something about mischief managed or whatever…" Oscar shrugs. "So which group are you joining?"

Quincy turned at Oscar, looking at him like he had lost his mind. "Do I look like any of the other nutcases in here?"

Oscar smiled as he picked up his tray and held up his plate for food. "Glad you said other nutcases."

"Don't test me, Oscar, I'm not a… a grungy outcast." Quincy held up his plate likewise and mashed potatoes was heaved onto both plates. "Or, some clean cut white boy…"

"Wasn't your grandfather some old-school patriot-type?" Oscar looked up into the air trying to recall. "You are third gen, right?"

Quincy was quiet for a moment as he deadpan stared at Oscar. "How?? Nevermind." Quincy shook his head clear. "You're going to join the psychos? You're smart? Maybe you could build a little robot and…"

"See that?" Oscar commented as they walked out of the line. "I'm going our for the jocks. For the team." Oscar nodded with a smile.

Quincy narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "You're kidding. Those guys couldn't guess numbers between 1 and 10 with 11 tries."

Oscar grinned. "But they get the ladies, man… speaking of which, there goes your homegirl Selina…"

Quincy shook his head. "You and… say wha?" He turned to see Oscar jerking his head to the left, where Selina Banner, in her khaki shorts and pink top, sat, alone. Quincy froze for a bit.

Oscar was quiet for a moment as he backed up, then leaning forwards. "Our hero sees his beloved maiden from afar. His mind races… what will he do?"

"Shut up." Quincy deadpanned, watching Selina absent mindedly pike her chicken.

"This just in, ladies and gentlemen. He will shut up." Oscar couldn't help but smirk, even as Quincy pushed him aside.

Selina forked at her food, sighing a bit, she looked around, hoping to make friends. She looked up and saw Quincy standing there. "Hey… mind if I…"

"We…" Oscar came sliding up… and Quincy's smile faded.

"… sit here?" Quincy looked over at Oscar, who was all grins as he sat down.

"Sure… I don't mind. What's your names again?"

"Oscar Reyes. Power Booster."

"Quincy…" Quincy sat down slowly. "Quincy Knight. Nice to meet you, Selina"

Selina smiled softly, almost laughing. "Nice to meet you again too. Hey… what classes do you have?"

Quincy blinked and nodded slowly. Selina smiled a bit and giggled as she pulled her schedule out of her backpack.

Oscar looked back and forth between them. He nodded and then began speaking loudly leaning towards Quincy. "Oh, you mean the class schedule we got with our student handbook. Oh!" Oscar dug through his over the shoulder bag as Quincy shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Oh, yeah…" Quincy pulled his paper out of his pocket. "Let's see… Gym first period… Ugh…"

"Me too." Oscar kinda sunk in his seat. "What a way to start the day…"

"Hey," Selina asked leaning over the table and touching Quincy on the arm. "What do you have right after lunch?"

Quincy looked up. "… Superhero Ethics? With a Professor Iken?"

Selina's eyes lit up. "Me too! Awesome! We could trade notes, and stuff…"

Oscar nodded and sighed. "Well, my work here is done." He stood up to leave.

"Hey." Quincy's hand shot out as he grabbed Oscar's.

Selina looked up. "Oh, don't leave, Oscar, I was just getting to know you."

"Why can't we start our own clique?" Quincy looked up at Oscar with a rare smile. "Be our own people."

The thought slowly sat Oscar down.

"What do you mean?" Selina asked quizzically.

"Have you looked around? This place is more segregated than a 40's bus station." Quincy deadpanned and Selina chuckled. "What if…" he looked at Oscar for emphasis. "What if we just were 'us.'"

"We need a name." Selina grinned.

"Sidekicks." Oscar chimed in with a snap of his fingers.

"Whoa… sidekicks??" Quincy's head spun towards Oscar.

Selina's eyes lit up, she couldn't even resist clapping her hands. "Sidekicks! Yes! That's awesome!"

Quincy shook his head, scrunching his face in a mix of disbelief and rejection. "What? We're not going to be called 'sidekicks.' That's demeaning…" Quincy looked at a grinning Selina and a smirking Oscar. "You're not serious…"

A bell rung. The cafeteria began to bustle.

Selina got up with an easy grace and a smile. "See you later Oscar." She turned around and giggled at Quincy. "See you in class sidekick." She winked and walked off, sliding her tray on the conveyor belt as she exited.

Quincy slowly turned towards Oscar. Quincy's eyes were narrowed and he breathed shallow and hard. Oscar chuckled to himself, focused entirely on his jell-o pudding cup. Quincy grumbled. "Sidekicks."

At this, Oscar busted out laughing. Quincy just shook his head, holding back a smile as he got up and left the area, apparently headed off to class.

CONTINUED IN PART 3

Find out how Will Stronghold has been doing--and how Quincy will do in Save the Citizen! Sky High 2!