Sky High: Next Generation.

Chapter 15: On your Mark!

The walk down the stairway was longer than Jared and Lily had thought it would be. For a few minutes the Coach and her class descended silently until a student finally spoke.

"So, Coach Porter, what exactly is Sky Racing?" Someone asked, "It sort of sounds like it has something to do with flying and that isn't my thing...".

The Coach didn't turn back or stop to answer their question, "I suppose the name is a bit of a misnomer, but Sky Racing is all about training a hero without flight or super speed. It's about learning how someone with no movement powers can still make it in time for a super fight or rescue or any other type of situation".

"But Miss Porter?" Started a short hair blonde girl.

"Coach Porter", she corrected.

"Oh um but, Coach, my power is sonic flight, does that mean I get to sit out this Gym class?" The blonde asked visibly excited to not have to work up a sweat.

Coach Porter chuckled lightly as she continued walking, "Nice try, Allison, but you and all the others with movement powers are stuck in the same boat as the rest of the class. I know you must think this lesson is useless due to your abilities but it's quite the opposite".

This time the Coach stopped in a dark and wide area, it was impossible to see anything passed the darkness behind here. Coach Porter turned around, her face somehow still illuminated by some low lights, with a stern and serious expression.

"In the real world, in a hero's career you all will face many threats. Threats that might overpower you and maybe even remove your abilities. What will you do if you suddenly find you can't fly or teleport or run at sonic speeds? I'm here to show you how to survive, with and without your powers".

After a moment of silence the Coach spoke again. "Well. Now that that's had time to sink in: Welcome to Sky City!"

Suddenly dim lights snapped on behind Coach Porter revealing what looked like the top part of a city. Both Hero and Sidekick marveled at Sky City, the dim lighting simulated a city night and platforms from the ground were raised various feet off the ground, some 10 feet and others 5, and looked exactly like the tops of buildings complete with a rooftop area.

"You all are probably wondering how Sky Races work", Started Coach Porter, "essentially you will be grouped into teams of three. From there you will all be racing against other teams for the best time in getting to a light on a random rooftop".

Suddenly Coach Porter disappeared in a flash of green light, the student's mouths collectively dropped. Then within an instant another flash of green light brought the Coach back.

"Sorry about that, I forgot these upstairs", in the Coach's hands was a large box containing several bracelets. "Each of you take one of these, clip them on and pick two partners. If you can't decide in five minutes than I'll be assigning teams".

Hurriedly the class lined up and started putting on the bracelets, Jared stood behind Lily so when he got his bracelet he could just choose her to be on his team. When he received his bracelet Jared quickly stepped out of line to snap it on, as soon as it was secured the normal looking bracelet lit up as if powering on and the name "Jared Brooks" appeared.

How does this thing know my name, thought Jared, maybe it read my DNA or something. I wonder what else it can do? Puzzled, Jared began really looking the bracelet over.

"Hey"

Jared's attention snapped from his arm to the blonde girl in front of him.

"Hey", he answered back then recognized the blonde as the girl who asked the Coach a few questions before, Allison.

"You look pretty fast, wanna be on my team?" She asked with a wide smile.

"Oh well...umm", Jared struggled to formulate an answer.

"Sorry!" Interrupted Lily who had somehow snuck right beside Jared, "But Jared and I are already partnered up".

"Oh, well that's fine. He can have can more than one", she replied to Lily.

"Yeah", Started Lily, "but we are also partnered to...." She quickly looked for a single person and randomly pointed to someone vaguely familiar to her. "That guy".

Lily had unintentionally picked the boy who'd accidentally gotten her thrown in Detention on the first day of class.

"Oh really?" Challenged Allison.

Jared quickly leaned close to Lily and whispered, "That guy is Len Murdock, the guy from the fight".

Realization dawned on Lily then a plan came to her.

"Yeah really", she said to Allison then turned in Len's direction, "Hey! Lenny Boy, come on. Dude, we are waiting for ya".

At the sound of his name Len turned to the trio and with a confused look on his face steadily walked to them.

"Um yeah?" He asked.

Lily quickly came close and put her arm around him in a friendly manner.

"Oh Len, you kidder!" Lily exclaimed, then leaned in and whispered to Len, "you owe us, so play along".

Another confused look emerged on Len. "Oh...yeah, that's me. Always messing around...".

"Like I said, Allison, the group is all set. Sorry".

Allison's smile dropped for just a second before raising again. "Fine. Whatever". And walked away in a huff.

"What was that about?" Asked Jared, still not sure what had happened.

"Come on, Jared", answered Lily, "the last thing you need is a blonde deadweight you'll have to carry in the race. The position of deadweight is already filled, by me". Lily laughed with a wink.

"Alright, Teams, last minute rules: no powers for this run, no intentional sabataging and, lastly, only one member of a team needs to get to the light for it to count but the bracelets track individual times as well. In other words, do your best and don't let your team do all the work".

"Alright! On your mark!".