Sky High: Next Generation.

Chapter 4: Hero or Sidekick?

"Now listen here", the man started," I am Coach Boomer and we will be doing Power Placement, if you don't know what that is: I will call you, you will show me what you got and I'll decide if you are Hero material or Sidekick material. And this", Coach Boomer gestured off the stage, "is Assistant Coach Porter, she will be assisting me for the year".

No one had noticed the woman until she stepped forward, dress similarly to Coach Boomer she simply nodded to the group wordlessly.

"First up is Fiona Alberts!"

A petite blonde girl stepped from the group and made her way on stage.

"Alright, Girlie, show me what you got!", Coach Boomer exclaimed.

Fiona bit her lip and raised her hand towards the Coach and he started to lift off the ground.

"Wow there!" Fiona slowly moved her hand and the Coach to the opposite end of the stage.

When Coach Boomer landed he looked over at Coach Porter and loudly asked, "What do you say, Newbie?"

Coach Porter stepped forward with her hands folded behind her back and spoke in a near clinical tone, "Ms. Alberts displays at least level 2 telekinesis, able to move something with her mind, or in this case someone over twice her mass. The movement was slow indicating intense concentration but with enough practice that can be over come. I say: Hero!"

Coach Boomer digested this quickly and nodded, "Agreed: Hero! Now next up is . . ."

The teens kept stepping forth as they were called until eventually it was Jared's turn, he stepped up with a little confidence in his stride. His stomach was still filled with butterflies but he tried to calm them with thoughts of his research, of knowing that invisibility was definitely a Hero power. When he finally made his way onstage Coach Boomer wasted no time.

"Alright, Kid, what you got?"

"Invisibility", Jared replied proudly.

"Really? Haven't seen one of those in ages." The Coach said with a chuckle at his own joke, when no one joined in his face slipped back to business, "Alright then power up".

Jared closed his eyes in concentration and felt his power begin to work. The best words he could ever use to describe how it felt to disappear were: itchy and ticklish, like a wave of itchiness and ticklishness went across his whole body. When he was sure he was gone he opened his eyes.

Coach Boomer was staring at the spot where Jared was with a confused look, then his eyes narrowed, "Hey, Kid, could you take a step to the left and raise your arms?"

Now Jared was the one looking confused, though no one could see, but he did as he was told.
After another moment of both Coaches' scrutinizing stares Coach Boomer speaks.

"Now, Kid, that's just false advertisement. Sidekick."

Jared felt his power switch off as he felt his jaw drop and his stomach felt empty.

"What!?"

All three people onstage turned to the voice, Emerson stood in the middle of the group, though they moved a step or two away.

"You got something you want to say, Wiseguy?" Coach Boomer said as Coach Porter quickly and quietly slipped on some earplugs.

"No, I mean, I thought that invisibility was a very . . . Hero-type power?" Emerson quickly blurted before anything could stop him.

"Not that I have to answer to some whiner baby like you but this might be a good teaching moment. PORTER!", the last word came out in a boom of a voice, rattling the windows and nearly bursting everyone's eardrum.

"Yes, Sir?" Coach Porter quickly answered loosening her earplugs.

"Please tell this whiner baby just why his friend here isn't a hero".

Coach Porter stepped forward once again, folded her arms behind her back and began speaking in the same clinical voice.

"Invisibility is being able to bend light around yourself making you unseen, the bent light clings to you for some time as you run, fight or hide. However the power Jared Brooks displayed was camouflage, which is turning your skin into a likeness of your surroundings effectively become unseen but with one major difference. Any movement from the person would cause them to be seen because your skin would take up to a full minute to change into its new surroundings".

There was a dumbfounded silence in the gym from everyone until Coach Boomer answered the unspoken question. "What she means is invisible heroes can fight and win while camouflaged sidekicks have to stay still and hide", Coach Boomer turned to Jared and with a softer voice said, "Heroes don't hide. Sidekick".

Jared wore a shocked and disappointed expression as he made his way off stage, but Coach Boomer simply kept calling out names and placing like nothing happened, like he didn't just hammered the first nail in the coffin of Jared's high school career.