The Crazy Adventures of Aqua Girl

Chapter 54 - Spark Into A Flame Pt. 2

EVAN'S POV

"Evan, welcome to the agency for the protection and preservation of superpowers and supernatural abilities." The man, who had introduced himself as Mr Crane, explained to me. "That's a mouthful, so we'd recommend you stick to APPSSA. Anyway, let me show you around the place you'll be staying at until you're old enough to understand all this. We're gonna fan your spark into a flame, kid"

"Happy 12th birthday, Ev!" Julia exclaimed, sitting on my chest as I slowly woke up.

"Jeez, thanks, Jules. I didn't need to be woken up this early though." I grumbled sleepily, trying to adjust my eyes to the harsh lights of my dorm.

"But it's training day today!" She bellowed, hopping off my bed and doing cartwheels in the middle of the room. I chuckled, sitting up and watching her. I wish I had the flexibility of a 6-year-old.

"I guess it is." I murmured, smiling at her before running my hand through my hair and sliding out of bed. I noticed all of the other beds in my dorm were empty. "Hey, where is everyone?"

"Silly billy! Today is the yearly adoption day!" Julia explained, obviously not knowing what that meant as she carried on flipping in the middle of the room.

"Oh, damn..." I mumbled, suddenly feeling the need to rush. This was my 4th adoption day. I could feel it in my bones, this would be the life-changing day for me. "C'mon Jules, let's go get our training gear on."

Half an hour later, I found myself padding through the training corridor, grinning at any of the visitors strolling past.

Possible parents.

Adoption day fell on the 4th of March every year. My birthday. Any background-checked adults that wanted to adopt a freak..sorry, a specialised child, as Mr Cane put it, could visit the APPSSA facility and watch us train. If they liked us, and we liked them, we'd be free from the daily grind of this hellhole and be set free into the world, with a new-found knowledge of our strengths and abilities. Believe me, I knew all there was to know about my abilities, from hacking into the APPSSA database multiple times on my friend's laptop, but people just didn't like me.

Maybe it was the roar and heat of the flames I conjured.

Or the fact there used to be two of me, and the other one's powers weren't half as dangerous.

Aidan Smith, brother of yours gracefully, was adopted the first adoption day after he was ready to be freed into the world.

Lucky boy.

I bet it was because he was the quieter one out of both of us, and the fact he was raised with our parents, instead of sent away to the middle of Alaska with a mildly-deranged Aunt and Uncle like me.

Yeah, probably that.

Anyway, now was my time to shine.

"Woah." I heard a woman murmur, as she and a man beside her gawked into one of the training rooms from the glass window outside. As I walked past, I noted the training room number. 94. That was Julia's favourite training room. I backtracked and peered into the room, next to the two visitors. Sure enough, Julia was in there, a wall of flames engulfing her as she sprang around the room, doing cartwheels.

Seriously, that girl was always doing cartwheels.

"Evan Smith, shouldn't you be training?" Mr Cane bellowed from behind me, causing the two visitors to turn their attention to me. I turned around to face the director of APPSSA, the man who'd welcomed me here all those years ago.

"I guess so." I muttered, taking one glance at Julia before continuing my journey to my own training room.

"Die Bowser, die!" One of the boys in my dorm, Caleb, was shouting at his 3DS, with a packed suitcase next to his bed. I rolled my eyes, and continued staring at the ceiling of the dorm. Sure enough, another Adoption Day was over and I was due to spend another year here. Wow.

As my mind began drifting back to the weekly sports news we were supplied every Monday, I heard voices the other side of the dormitory door.

"He's in here!" Julia?

I stood up as the door opened, revealing Julia clutching the hand of a woman, and a man trailing behind them.

"Evan!" she exclaimed, rushing over to me and hugging my torso. I ruffled her hair and glanced up awkwardly at the adults standing behind her.

"Uhh...hi...?"

"You're Evan, heh?" The man asked, grinning broadly at me whilst holding his hand out. I shook it before looking back down at Julia in confusion.

"I said they can't adopt me without you, Ev!" she explained, bouncing up and down a little, causing the woman to laugh.

Maybe this was a different adoption day, then.

Maybe this was a chance.

A chance I needed.

"Evan! You haven't finished your dinner!"

"I've gotta go, Mom!" I called back, scrambling into my suit whilst gazing out of my window at the occasional crack of lightning downtown.

"Evan, I forbid you from leaving this house until you've finished this food!" Mom yelled back, as I closed my bedroom door and unlatched my window.

"I'll eat it when I get back. But for now, I've gotta save the city..." I muttered to myself, before slipping out of the window into the night. "It's time to fan this spark into a flame..."

(A/N: hey guys! so this is another segment of the bonus chapter of Evan's backstory. Cue the tears...)