A/N: Yes. I finally came back to this fandom and am trying something different--I don't own any of the 'Sky High' characters, I just am allowed to play with them ;)

He was actually more excited than terrified. All of his young life he had been told by his mother how rad it was, how she made so many life-long friends during her time there. He checked out his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He had tried to beef up some over the summer but his metabolism was too fast, and all his body did was tone, and ever so slightly. No, he was still a gangly stick with blue eyes and freckles.

At least maybe it would be the day he would get to talk to her.

"Jonny, please don't be late. I would hate for you to miss anything!" his mother called up the staircase.

"I'm coming" he said and tugged a t-shirt over his bony torso.

He grabbed a piece of toast and kissed his mother on the cheek. His father was already at work, a normal hard-working man, with a real job. His mother covered as a flower boutique owner. It was convenient for her—she could close shop whenever Vault needed her as back-up.

He was busy munching down slightly burnt toast; little crumblies fell off as he arranged his backpack over his shoulders and made his way to the bus stop. This bus stop was different though, it would take him to high school—to the Sky High.

It used to be named Superhero High but was recently changed and his mother didn't explain that part.

Del Marco. Josephine Del Marco was standing at the bus stop, too. He quickly finished his toast and let his heart stop its wild pace. He knew she would be there, after all, she lived right across the street. Yet he felt kind of dizzy as he approached her.

"Hi, Jon," she said cheerfully when she noticed him, which he could have considered a miracle.

"Hey, Josie."

She was beautiful. That was like saying 'people breath oxygen.' Josie Del Marco was the most beautiful girl Jonathan Boy had ever seen. Seen because he never got up enough courage to actually have a conversation with her, which was pathetic because they had lived in the same neighborhood for 10 years.

"So, I hear your dad's still recuperating from his trip to Britain. What happened again? There was a boating accident?"

Josie nodded, "Yeah, he's on some heavy R&R. There were actually a lot of boating accidents. He was flying for two days, scouting for and rescuing sailors out of the ocean."

Josie seemed to be done with the conversation, but Jon really didn't want it to be. "So how is he doing then?"

She looked at him, and smiled uncertainly, "I said he was resting."

Jon felt his cheeks go a slight red. He was being a doofus and he knew it. He just wanted to impress Josie by taking an interest in her family.

"Heya, Jonnyboy!" he felt a hard slap on his back.

"Hi, Tom."

"What's wrong? Got first day jeebies?"

"No…"

"JOSIE!" he boomed, and it sent the loose autumn leaves swirling wildly in the opposite direction. Josie's hair, which had been shiny and straight, was now a tangled mess.

"WHAT BOOMER!?" she cried, furious her hair was now awful on the first day of high school.

"Lookin' good!" he winked and pointed at her.

"WHAT ever," she huffed, clawing through her hair, trying to get it to the pristine condition it had been in before Thomas Boomowski ruined it.

Jon was out with a spare comb before she could even ask for one. That was what Jon did best: unnaturally fast reactions and swift reflexes.

"Thanks, Jon," Josie managed to smile, even though she looked like she was about to cry because of her hair.

"Man, that wasn't nice," Jon chided.

"So what? Girls are too particular about their hair anyway. Hey, by the way, what would you think if I let my hair grow into a mullet?" Boomer mused, sliding his hands through his hair.

Jon didn't have time to answer, for the bus finally arrived. A skinny old man opened the door and smiled, but didn't say a word. They stepped on, and found a whole bus full of kids just like them—new, powerful, and nervous. Jon took a deep breath, feeling awkward and not knowing where to sit.

He knew Josie would probably sit with a girl named Lynda—the girl in the middle of the bus waving her hand at Josie. He did NOT want to sit by Boomer and listen to him speak of his new planned hair do, or be put in 'playful' headlocks. He scanned the seats and saw an empty one next to a girl. He sat down next to her. She was looking out the window and didn't seem to notice him.

"This spot wasn't being saved for anyone was it?" he asked, just to be sure.

She looked at him, scrutinized him through her thick framed glasses, and then finally said, "No, it's all yours."

"I'm Jon."

She didn't acknowledge him, but turned to look back out the window again.

He felt the bus lift off the ground. There was some frightful shaking and there was a unanimous gasp from all on board . Are we flying?

He tried looking out the window but the girl was blocking it, staring through it intently. He saw a duck fly by and was amazed. He knew Josie could fly, and she wasn't fazed at all when he looked back to her. She was laughing and chatting with Lynda. There was some more turbulence, sending the students jerking to the side, and Jon accidentally grasped the arm of the girl next to him for stability. She pulled back startled, almost shyly, but still didn't say anything.

They reached the high school, it was floating. Imagine that! His mother never said anything about it being in the air. Well, maybe she thought he would understand since it was called SKY HIGH now. He wondered how it stayed aloft though, a floating structure like that. It must have been the newest in super technology.

The first thing that happened after they shuffled off the bus was the student body president greeted them.

"Hey, future heroes! I'm Shaun Wilson, student body president. Now I know you're excited about your first day here at Sky High but first I should go over a few basics now that the school is in the air." Shaun Wilson was a senior, and a great public speaker. He told them not to go past the guard rails for safety reasons and gave them a tour around the school. Jon hoped he wouldn't get lost on his way to classes. It took a good twenty minutes until the tour ended, but they ended up in front of the gymnasium.

"Before you get your class schedules I have to take you into the gym where you get to go through power placement."

"What's that?" the girl who Jon had sat by on the bus leaned over and whispered. She looked nervous, and he was too. His mother had never mentioned anything about 'power placement'.

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

Shaun Wilson, student body president, led the group of freshman to the gymnasium. There was a man with an afro standing in shorts with a whistle and a stop watch around his neck.

"Hey kids, I'm Coach Split." He smiled, and then divided himself so that there was an exact doppelganger standing next to him.

"I'll call your name," the first coach said.

"And you'll come up here and show me your power," the doppelganger finished.

They stepped into each other and became one man again, "And I don't want any complaints. If you're a hero, you're a hero. A sidekick is a sidekick. Now let's get a move on."

"Sidekicks can sit on it," Boomer leaned over between Jon and the girl and whispered. Boomer was mean, and apparently thought it was awesome to quote 'Happy Days.'

"Josephine Del Marco!"

Josie approached all smiles, she looked up, stretched her arms and hovered for a second, then flew around the room gracefully and then landed where she had started.

"A flyer? Hero."

She smiled even bigger and she rejoined the group.

"Thomas Boomowski."

Boomer smiled too, but cockily and he stood in front of Coach Split for a few minutes without doing anything.

"Don't waste my time boy, do 'yo thing!"

"WHAT WAS THAT? COACH?" he sonic screamed over the entire gym, causing students to loose footing.

"Damn, boy you is loud!" Split said, "Hero."

Boomer waved his hands in the air like it was all just natural to him.

Josie silently sneered as he brushed past her. Jon knew Josie and Boomer had never gotten along. They fought at recess all the time for most of their elementary lives.

"Susanna Tenny."

The quiet girl in the glasses was the owner of that name. She had a round, pale face, and long dark hair.

"What is your talent, young lady?"

She bit her lip, "Do you have any kind of machine that needs fixed?"

The Coach really didn't know how to respond.

Susanna continued before Split could say something belittling, "I mean, I can repair and create machines. If your car engine is broken, I can fix it…with my head."

Some of the group of students chuckled at her wording. Susanna glared at them.

Split, handed over his wristwatch, and told her to fix the minute hand as it wasn't working. She squinted hard at the watch and after mere seconds, a small grin reached her lips. She handed it back to Split who said, "I'll be damned. Never seen anything like that before."

Susanna smiled even brighter but it dropped to nothing after the Coach said, "But that trick can't save the world, science geek. Sidekick."

Susanna pushed her way back to where she had been standing, and Jon could have sworn he saw tears brushing Susanna's dark lashes—they were magnified by her glasses—but he didn't have time to stare for too long because Split called "Jonathan Boy."

Here I go, he thought, wondering why his mother hadn't mentioned that they were assigned to be heroes or sidekicks. He always assumed that his mother chose to be a sidekick so she could have a family—not having to fight as often as a hero would. Maybe she didn't want him to fret.

Jon could feel the sweat start to bead on his forehead; he sensed Coach Split's pen start to roll off of the clipboard he was holding. Before it fell even a few centimeters, Jon caught it and handed it back.

"Thanks, boy, now show me what you can do."

"I…I just demonstrated it."

"Giving me back my pen?"

The kids laughed at Jon's awkwardness and fast reddening cheeks. Boomer of course, laughed the loudest.

"No…I have unusually fast reflexes and reactions."

The coach nodded his head, rubbed his 'stash and marked him on the clipboard.

"Sidekick."

Jon's heart sank. He knew he could never be in the hero class with those abilities, but just didn't want to admit it.

He stood next to Susanna again, with a dejected sigh. So far they were the only two sidekicks.

They watched as Lynda transformed into a glowing ball of energy and zipped around the gym, she was classified as 'hero.'

A strange, strange, strange kid with no first name and a huge head that went by 'Medulla' walked up to Coach Split.

"What's wrong 'wit 'yo head boy?"

"It's not wrong. Its right," he stated with an odd stare and an unnerving grin. He took a colorful puzzle cube from his pocket, and after 3 moves, it was fully done—each side a full color. It was impressive as it looked hard to solve.

"So you're a super genius huh?" Split commented and chuckled. "You can do defense but I need a good offense player as well. Sidekick."

Medulla shrugged, keeping his grin. He stuffed his cube back in his pocket and joined the students.

"Steven Stronghold."

They saw a handsome, built young man stand next to the Coach. Jon had never heard of him before. He took a look to see if any one else was registering who the 'Stronghold' lad was.

"Hi. I moved here from California, Iron Fist is my dad…"

There was a unanimous gasp, for they all had heard of the Fist before. This kid was related to the Iron Fist?

"That don't mean nothin' to me boy. Now show me whatcha got."

Steven shrugged as if to say 'you asked for it' and with a smile punched the floor of the gym. The wooden panels busted apart and they all could feel the school physically jerk. I hope the school doesn't fall out of the sky!! His mind frantically screamed. Susanna, who was standing next to Jon, lost her footing and fell into him, but with his super knack for fast reactions, he caught her in a heartbeat. She stared at him—she had pretty, wide brown eyes—wide and sad. When the floor stopped rumbling, he let her go and she took an extra step away from him.

He looked around to see if everyone was all right, it was just a natural reaction. He stopped though, when he saw the look on Josie's face. She was absolutely drooling at Steve Stronghold. Stronghold didn't seem to notice, he was just smiling a cocky grin that reminded Jon all the world of Boomer. Boomer was brushing off Steve's power like it was no big deal to another kid standing next to him. Looked like Shaun Wilson, student body president, and the school's most indestructible student was in for some competition.

Split unintentionally had divided into two of himself after Stronghold bashed the floor in. He coughed a couple times, formed into one again and said, "Hero."

The other students showed their powers, and after most were finished Jon counted that the number of heroes in his class was one short to the number of the sidekicks.

The gym doors opened, and in walked a guy who was basically brooding so much he casted a gloom over the whole group.

"You're late!" Split shouted, irritated.

"Yeah, I know." The guy shrugged.

"Well get your white-ass up here and show me your power. I don't get paid 'nough for your punk-ass sass. What's your name boy?"

"Baron Battle."

Baron then launched a stream of fire out of his arm and at the tournament plaques that lined the wall. The bronze plates melted a bit and dripped to the broken floor.

Split had seen enough, "Hero."

"For now," was all Baron said, and quite ominously as he left the spotlight.