Felicie was ecstatic. This was her best day! After years and years of dreaming of going to the Academy, finally, she was here! Her family had been so proud! Felicie took a sideways glance at her new friend; she was a red-headed girl her age with dazzling eyes. She still didn’t know her name, but what she did know was that she liked to sleep a lot and roll her eyes!

When she first laid eyes on her, Felicie'd been worried she would have to look after her. Her new friend reminded her of the cute dolls she’d adored playing with back home but her worries were not needed. Her friend was cool and confident and amazing! The moment her friend took a step onto the grass, she gasped and shuddered. Felicie looked at her, worried.

What if there was a toxic gas in the air that she had breathed into? Or maybe she was allergic to islands! Felicie started to help her but she opened her eyes and Felicie halted. Her friend’s eyes, where before had been slightly dulled and moody, were now gleaming. Felicie took a step back. Was that fire in her eyes?

Her friend smiled and stuck out her hand. “Let’s try this again, shall we? My name is Reina. Just Reina.”

Felicie was baffled, to say the least. Her personality had just done a 180-degree spin! She grinned. She liked this personality though. “Sure! I’m Felicie, but you probably already know that!” Felicie giggled nervously as they shook hands. Felicie felt like squealing. Their friendship had become official!

She could have stayed like that the entire night but a voice broke through her trance.

“Hey, weirdos! Over here!”

Reina grabbed Felicie and started dragging her toward the voice. Felicie whimpered and Reina smiled at her. “Don’t worry, it’s not that scary. You just need to watch out for the bear that eats people!”

Was she kidding? She didn’t seem so. Reina was still beaming without a care in the world, and Felicie decided to follow her example.

“Okay!”

They traveled with the group in the back, listening to people complain about their sour feet or talk animatedly. Felicie looked at Reina and noticed her fiddling around with something on her foot. Felicie widened her eyes when she realized it was a pair of bigger than normal metal boots.

“What are those?!” she shrieked, painting. “That’s amazing!”

Reina grinned. “You wanna try them on?” Felicie nodded so fast that her head became a blur.

Unbuckling the boot, which took more time than it should have, Reina handed it over, smiling brightly. Because of this, Felicie simply took it, not understanding its true weight. The instant Felicie grasped it, the boot plummeted. She gasped, trying to pick it back up but it hit the ground. A shock jolted through the metal and into her fingers.

“Ow!” she whimpered, pulling back and waving her hands. What was that?! It had been so heavy!

Reina chuckled, looking sheepish. “Sorry. I forget sometimes how heavy it really is.”

Felicie narrowed her eyes. How strong was she? Maybe she had enhanced strength? She realized Reina was looking at her expectantly, still waiting for an answer.

Felicie laughed and shook it off. “No biggie! Guess I need to practice my muscle strength!”

Reina grinned good-naturedly. “Yeah, maybe!”

Felicie observed with interest as Reina tapped her heels together and a pair of wheels popped out from the soles.

“Woah!” Her eyes bulged out. “Lucky!”

Reina shot her a crooked grin and Felicie gave a smile in return. She was so happy she had found a friend! And so quickly as well! They chatted happily until they reached an enormous clearing. A huge mansion was protruding from the ground, standing proudly. Felicie drank it all in. She was finally here! Before the hallow grounds of the Academy itself! She couldn’t have been happier.

Reina leaned in. “Wait for it.” Felicie looked at her new friend inquiringly but she didn’t let anything else loose. Her curiosity now piqued, she looked back toward the clearing to find Greggus making his way over to the middle.

“Should we follow him?” a nearby kid asked.

Felicie shrugged. “No,” Reina answered. The same kid who had asked snorted.

“And how would you know?”

Felicie opened her mouth to defend her friend but Reina held her back. She simply raised her hand and pointed.

“Now, stand back y’all!” Greggus instructed. Felicie stuck her tongue out at the boy, who crossed his arms and turned around. The entire group jostled backward until Greggus deemed it safe.

“What is he going to do?” Felicie asked Reina. She didn’t say anything, but the corner of her lip twitched upward.

Greggus took a deep breath and swung his arms out. The overgrown grass ripples as they were flung away along with the dirt. It was amazing to see the cascade of green flying through the air.

Once it was over, they could see the entire ground was covered with metal. There were pentagon entrances, all varying sizes but very close to each other.

“What’s happening?” Felicie heard everybody ask.

There were gasps when the earth opened up and spat out a man wearing a long, dark green robe. Greggus hastily made his way back.

“Stand back, Maximus doesn’t know how to hold back,” he ordered.

Felicie blinked, as did many others.

“Maximus? As in the top tier hero, Maximum?!” she cried. Greggus nodded and Felicie felt faint. She wanted to shriek out with joy!

Maximum groaned as he turned his hands around. Answering his commands, the metal shifted and creaked as they slowly started to open. Sparks started to fly out.

Felicie couldn’t comprehend the amount of power it would take. The smallest of these were more than 100 of her across, and that wasn’t even a quarter of one of the larger ones! One particular one looked big enough to house a town!

The metal slid open, and everybody had bated breath, wondering what was next. Well, except for Reina. She remained calm and collected, even now. Felicie shot her a sideways, slightly incredulous look. How could she not be so happy?!

The sound of earth moving drew her attention back and Felicie, along with almost everybody else, fell back.

An entire village arose from the ground; shops, libraries, igloos, mountain things with holes all over them and falcons in them. Wait, was that a statue?

OMG! It was a statue! Of the most respected and looked up to person in the world: the Precept Prime!

She was holding up one of her arms onto the sky and the other folded across her back. She looked damaged though, with scorch marks marring her face. Felicie felt a brief burst of anger. How could anybody damage that!?

It was bad enough some people thought she was a male. Okay, most people. But that was so sexist! Could girls not achieve power? Were they lesser? Just because some blurry picture was posted does not mean anything! The Precept Prime is an example to all females! (and males) She was Felicie’s role model and she would make sure she got the recognition as a female she deserved!

Calming down, she turned her gaze away. More and more buildings were popping up from the ground. But the biggest spectacle was yet to come.

With a grunt of effort, something came out from the middle and largest hole; it looked at first glance like a squarish castle, with towers at each of the four corners. One of the towers had smaller tall structures extending out of it. One had a large cabin at the top. Another had a building sticking out from the front of the tower. Walls connected each of the four towers.

In the front was a large gateway with an open space, which led inside. There were cabins onto the right and left sides of the castle, against the wall. There was also an extremely large podium inside, with two winding staircases leading up to the top.

At the top, a large domed structure was located. The dome must have had a huge hole in it though because a ginormous tree protruded out. Felicie tried not to worry that the tree was going to fall over on them.

Further back, behind the dome, in the middle was a village. An actual village.

There was a long staircase leading up to a circular town lifted by four curved structures. Felicie noticed that these stairs moved on their own, with small dots on them which were most likely people. The town was crammed full, and let to a point at the top with a tower. Felicie noticed multiple things that popped out, from the large stairways, a silver floating thing which looked like it was powering something, a tall structure with an even taller step pyramid-shaped structure on top, the colorful rooftops. It was quite vibrant, and the background was green thanks to all the grass.

Even further back behind the floating village was a mansion on top of stills, which looked like it housed something important. Felicie also thought there was another rounded structure attached to the left wall.

“There’s also an arena and pavilion in the back,” Reina told her. Felicie looked at her weirdly.

“How do you know?” Reina grinned wildly. “A friend told me.”

Lucky. Anyway, all of this gorgeous building was disconnected. Felicie was wondering how they would get around when Maximum answered that.

Lifting his arms, thick walls came rushing out of the ground, and the different parts of the castle came together to avoid the walls.

The walls ran around in a large circle until it finally connected right in front of them into an open circle.

Panting, Maximum lowered his hands with sweat all over his head. That was Maximum; the hero who always goes to his max!

Now that the true truth of the Academy was revealed, everybody was flabbergasted. This was what had been underneath their feet the entire time? Then what about the mansion frequently seen on TV?

She frantically searched for it but it was nowhere to be found. Perhaps Reina realized she was hyperventilating.

“Calm down. The mansion is just a font for the news. They don’t want people to see what it’s really like, in case a villain watches the news which is super likely. Maximus actually disassembled and moved the mansion away before opening the doorways. Guess you weren’t looking.”

Felicie blinked. How did Reina know so much? Who was her friend? And the fact Reina had called Maximum Maximus hadn’t slipped past her.

Felicie shrugged. Who cares? This was just amazing! Her eyes sparkled as she jumped up and down.

“Okay, everybody get into a straight line! There’s too many of you so we need to be organized!” Greggus demanded, not sparing the spectacle a second glance. After all, he had most likely seen this multiple times before. Felicie bit her tongue. If this was what she was going to see and experience for the next few years, she was more than pumped up!

Felicie made her way to the front but a rude boy knocked her out of the way and took her place instead.

“Hey!” she cried as her hand scraped against the rock. She hissed. “That hurt!”

The boy turned around and stuck out his tongue. “Sucks to be yo-ah!” He was cut off as a hand grasped his shoulder.

Both Felicie and he turned around to find Reina smiling sweetly. They shivered. It looked innocent but emanated downright murderous intent!

“Hi, there!” she chirped. She cocked her head in shock. “Are you being mean to my friend?”

The boy’s knees shook but one glance at the crowd of people who came to watch this made him confident again. He adopted a smug grin.

“Ha! What are you going to do about it, eh? You want a fight? I’ll give you a fight! What element are y-argh!” For the second time he was interrupted, but this time it was for a different reason. He stumbled backward, clutching his nose.

“Yo-you little witch! I’ll get you for this! I’ll get you, or else my name isn’t Williams Bronce, the third!” He tried to look regal as murmuring broke out but it was quite hard when you had a broken nose.

Felicie blinked several times in shock before a huge grin threatened to rip apart her face. Her new bestie was amazing!

“Williams, huh? Guess I have a name to go with your ugly face.” Reina said nonchalantly. There was sniggering and Felicie snorted.

William’s face flushed an unappetizing red. “Why you-!”

“What’s going on here?” a voice asked.

Felicie immediately snapped to attention along with everybody else when this newcomer arrived. This was, after all, one of the top heroes. Code name, Athena, rumored to be the smartest person alive.

Athena was wearing a pair of glasses and had her graying hair tied up in a bun. She was very curious, and still looked young despite her hair.

Her gray eyes scrutinized everybody until they landed on someone. “You!” she barked. “Up here!”

Felicie shivered. She prayed for the poor soul that was called up. It didn’t look like Athena was in a good mood.

There was a bit of rustling before somebody stepped out. Felicie did a double-take when she realized it was Reina! Where did she get that cloak though?

“Were you fighting?” Athena asked. Felicie tried to tell her friend silently to go with it and be smart.

Reina lifted her head and smirked. “Yep! And what a glorious fight it was! Did you enjoy it?”

Felicie swore she saw her life flash before her eyes. Everybody gaped. Was she insane?! Everybody knew Athena wasn’t one for jokes.

Athena narrowed her eyes. “Do I know you?”

Reina shrugged. “Dunno. I’ve met a lot of people. Some good. Some bad. Some a dog.”

There was some quiet snickering from that as everybody appreciated her trying to relieve the tension.

“Thank you, person, who enjoyed my witty banter!” Reina pointed generally at the crowd.

Athena narrowed her eyes. “I’m pretty sure I know you. . . .”

“Oh, lay off the poor girl.” A young man wearing vibrant yellow and orange with slicked-back hair approached her. “You’re always too strict, Athens.”

“Sonic!” Athena snapped. Felicie’s eyes widened. This was Sonic? The famous hero who controlled sound waves?

A small noise caught Felice’s attention and she turned around to find a girl with black hair in a blob murmuring to herself. Felicie’s eyes widened once she saw the milky whiteness inside her eyes. She was blind?

Sonic clapped Athena on the shoulder. “Sorry, Athens. But relax. Doesn’t she remind you of-?”

Athena yanked her shoulder of Sonic’s grasp and snarled. “Don’t mention her.”

Sonic raised an eyebrow. “Still not letting it go? It was your fault, you know.” Athena merely glared at him in response.

Felicie was shocked beyond belief. What were they talking about? Did they know the students were still here?

There was small coughing of the throat and everybody looked towards Reina who had a slightly amused look on her face. “Look, I’m pretty sure I can talk for most of us here that we have no idea what's going on and don't want to know. So can you guys continue this absolutely riveting conversation a later time?”

How many more times could Reina blow Felicie’s mind? These were the greatest heroes of this era, and she was treating them like old friends!

Athena didn’t look too pleased with how she was talked to but knew Reina was correct. Sonic merely grinned and gave Reina a completely unspeakable thumbs up which she gladly returned.

“The young lad is right,” a western accent said and more heroes came. Felicie watched Reina wrinkle her nose. “Lad?” she repeated.

Felicie giggled but was also hyperventilating. So many heroes! So much awesomeness in one place!

A huge black man wearing leopard skin clamped his hands down on both Athena and Sonic, pushing them downward. “Now, thank you, young lad, and-“

“My name isn’t young lad,” Reina interrupted, flicking her hair backward. Felicie was too shocked to get any more shocked.

The man grinned. “You have spirit, kid! What’s your name?”

Reina tapped her chin like she was deep in thought. Everybody was on their edge, anticipating what she was going to say next. “Well, it's been a way so bear with me, but I think it’s nunya. As in nunya your business!” she retorted. The sound of a hand slapping face echoed around the campus.

The man recoiled, shock written all over his face. It looked like Reina rolled her eyes, but Felicie couldn’t be too sure with the cloak obscuring her vision partially.

“So, are we moving on? You know, time’s ticking away, right? I mean, come on! If this was a hostage situation, would you stand there with a dumb look on your face?”

The man burst out roaring with laughter. “Of course not! You are once again very correct! I am ShatterStrike, and I will be one of your physical education teachers!”

ShatterStrike?! The number 2 hero in the world himself! Felicie was lost in her thoughts and it was only after the blind girl shook her that she managed to get

“Now, please get into two separate lines of similar length! We will come by and you will tell us your names and powers!”

Everybody scrambled to get into lines, pushing and shoving. Felicie hopped over several people on the ground, helped them up, and then went on her way again. She managed to nab a place next to Reina, who patted her on the back.

“That was so cool, Reina!” Felicie insisted.

Reina tilted her head. “Huh?” She actually sounded like she didn’t know want was so cool.

Felicie carried on. “You talked to those guys so casually! That’s epic!”

Reina sniggered. “It’s nothing. After all, they are still human, am I right? With needs and desires just like the rest of us?”

Felicie gazed in wonder. “I guess so. . . . I’ve just never heard something like that!”

Reina shrugged. “Well, now you have.”

It was their turn now. A female hero wearing armor, Magnusium, the hero who could control any metal.

“Name and power?”

Felicie beamed. “My name is Felicie Akernon, and I can slow down time!”

“Really?” Magnusium sounded interested and that spurred her on.

“Yep! When I move, sometimes time slows down. But when I stop moving completely, so does time!”

“Hm.” Magnesium wrote something on her clipboard. “So it’s a matter of control, am I right?” Felicie’s head bobbed up and down, blushing a bit. That had always been an embarrassment to her. “Then we’ll work on that! In the meantime, be careful, okay? Time powers are quite rare.”

“Got it!”

Magnesium chuckled and patted Felicie on the head; she wanted to squeal. When she turned, she found Reina weirdly looking at her. Almost as if she was assessing her anew.

“You have a Time Art?” she finally asked. Felicie nodded. She was a tad bit worried this would affect her relationship with her first friend.

Reina smiled. “Cool!” Felicie let out the breath she had been holding in. What a relief.

“Name and power?” Magnesium asked. Reina blinked her big innocent eyes.

“Are you new here?”

Magnesium looked taken half. “Um, yes, I am actually! How did you know?”

Reina shrugged. “The news.”

Magnesium slowly nodded. “Ah. Anyway, name and power please?”

Reina smiled. “Are you sure?”

Felicie was sure Magnesium was frowning right now, but she couldn’t make sure because of the helmet.

“Am I sure about what?” A note of caution had entered her voice.

Reina gazed deep into her eyes. “Do you really want to know my name? I’m not sure you want to.”

“It’s part of my job, don’t worry. If you don’t want to say your last name, that’s fine!”

Felicie bit her lip. Please, Reina! That’s a good enough deal, right? You told me your name! Oh, wait!

“I know her name!” she blurted out. Both of them turned to face her and sweat started sliding down. She gulped but forced herself to continue.

“Yeah, her name is R-!”

“You again!” Felicie wanted to groan. What now?

Athena stormed up toward them, raging. “Why do you keep on causing commotions?! What is it this time?” she asked Magnesium.

“She, um, doesn’t want to tell us her name and powers.” Magnesium said somewhat reluctantly.

Athena let out a long-suffering sigh. “Why must this keep happening to me?” she whispered. Unfortunately, Reina heard and murmured, “You and me both, sister.”

Felicie giggled. Reina was just so funny! Still, did she have a death wish?

Athena glared at Reina. “Don’t call me sister. Just tell me your name.”

Reina crossed her arm and leaned against Felicie. She stiffened, not expecting this, but slowly relaxed. “Why? I mean, I don’t want to.”

Athena rubbed her eyes. “All right then, just show us your face.”

Felicie gasped as Reina’s body shook. “No,” she said defiantly.

Athena went up for her hood and Reina instinctively moved backward. As she went, Reina tumbled over Felicie’s foot and started to fall.

It was like in slow motion; crying out, Felicie reached out but ended up grabbing her hood instead. What happened next was something she couldn’t completely fathom until much, much later.

It was like Reina blitzed. One second, she was there, falling; the next, she blurred and vanished for a split second.

At that time, Felicie could have sworn something touched her hand but it was so quick, she wasn’t sure. She didn’t have much time to think about it though because the next thing she knew, they were on the ground.

“Ooph,” Felicie muttered as she rubbed her bruised head. Her eyes widened as she took in Reina lying on the ground and immediately bounced off.

“I’m so sorry! It’s all my fault! Please don’t be mad! Can’t we still be friends? I-“

Reina chuckled. “Calm down, it’s fine.” Once Felicie calmed down, she realized she could see Reina’s eyes again. They captivated her. The overall color was orange, yet tiny shards of red, and yellow were there as well. They kept on mixing, constantly moving and drawing Felicie in. The pupil was black like usual, but also had flecks of dark purple in them that swirled around and reminded her of a black hole. A thin white outline around the colorful orbs completed the picture.

Felicie had never seen eyes as pretty and unique as Reina’s. She could have stared into her eyes for the entire day and never gotten bored. Alas, that was not to be seen.

“Hey, you all right? Up you go.” Athena picked them back up and Felicie wanted to yell out in joy. A hero had touched her! Felicie was still inwardly fangirling when she realized everything was silent. Well, minus the rest of the class and heroes writing down information.

Felicie looked at Athena and saw her mouth slack and eyes bugging out. It was as if she had seen a ghost. Felicie turned to Reina, expecting a witty comeback but found her best friend frozen as well.

Felicie was feeling a bit uncomfortable now and it seems Magnesium was as well. “Athena? You all right there?”

Athena let out a shrill sound that made everybody snap their head toward them. Felicie giggled and waved them off. “Nothing to see here!” She waved adamantly until everybody had turned around and only then did she face Athena again.

To say she was startled to find her on the ground, but there she was. The regal, strict Athena.

Felicie crouched down. “Are you-?”

“FIRESTORM UNSTOPPABLE!!” she let out. Once again, everybody snapped their head towards them, but this time, Felicie didn’t stop them. She couldn’t. She was too shocked at what she had just heard.

Firestorm Unstoppable.

The biggest fire in recorded history; it was also rumored to be the largest Art disaster ever as well. There was no way a naturally occurring fire would be like that.

It had been about 6 years back. Felicie remembered oh too well. After all, she had almost been a part of it.

It was a hot August day. Still, Felicie was in a great mood. She was going to see her Granny! And she was going alone, because her parents had to work and finally thought she was responsible enough! After all, it was only a few blocks away.

Once she reached her Granny’s house though, the fire broke out. White-hot flames, spreading too fast for anybody to run away. She had to watch as people got consumed by it. It had overrun her Granny’s house, and unfortunately, she didn’t make it.

Felicie forced back tears. Millions of people were died, leaving their families and friend to grief. The heroes could barely do anything to help. Full Force had eventually come but by the time she managed to travel the distance, the entire city and more were ashes.

Felicie shuddered. Why was Athena bringing this up now? It was an incredibly sensitive topic and she could bet a few people here had lost family to that threat.

Reina raised an eyebrow. “You seem shocked.”

Athena spluttered but no words came out of her mouth. Out of the corner of her eyes, Felicie could spot more heroes coming their way. Oh shoot; was that the headmistress?

Apparently, it was. Headmistress Wynn grabbed Reina by the sleeve and started dragging her away. This shook Felicie out of her daze, finally.

“Hey!” she protested. The headmistress paused and turned around.

“Apologies, Ms. Akernon. However, I must take Reina here somewhere else at the moment. I do hope you understand?” Her tone made it clear this wasn’t a suggestion.

“Reina. . . . .” Felicie muttered hopelessly. Reina grinned and shot her a victory sign.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find you later! Stay happy!” she hollered as she got dragged away again. Felicie grinned despite herself.

Almost everybody was staring at this scene in shock. The headmistress herself had come to retrieve a student! That either meant the student was trouble or extremely powerful. All of the earlier commotion Reina caused made this an even more interesting scoop, and almost everybody was still watching. It might have been a good or bad thing too, as another teacher broke out of the group and grabbed Reina by the arm. Felicie strained to hear what was going on.

“What is your name?” he demanded. Reina smirked.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

Felicie could tell that wasn’t the right thing to say. The teacher shook her and Felicie clenched her fists. She generally didn’t approve of violence, but this was her friend and a student! Teachers shouldn’t be like this!

“Stop giving me that! WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!?” Everybody jumped back from his voice. It was somehow both angry and guilty.

Reina lifted her head. “That hurts.” The teacher only tightened his grip and Felicie swore her teeth were cracking. Reina rolled her eyes. “Fine. My name is R-“

“Oliver!” the headmistress butted in. “Don’t you have work to do? I’ll take care of this.”

“Bu-but-“ Felicie kind of felt bad for the mean teacher. He sounded so desperate.

The headmistress leveled a stern gaze at him before continuing to drag Reina away. As she disappeared from view, Reina waved at Felicie.

Biting back more laughter at how ridiculous the scene looked like, Felicie waved back.

“Okay, okay! I know that was interesting but please get back into line! We’re going to be exploring the school!”

Everybody cheered and forgot about Reina except for Felicie. She still stared at where she had last seen her.

Somebody bumped her shoulder lightly. Felicie blinked and looked down to see the blind girl.

“Come on, we’re falling behind. You’ll see your friend later.”

Felicie nodded. She was right. Felicie worked hard for this opportunity and would use this to its fullest. “All right!”

As they walked side by side, Felicie asked, “What’s your name?”

“Angel,” was the simple reply.

“Angel. That’s a cool name. Hey, Angel. Do you want to be my friend?”

“Sure.”

Felicie beamed. Another new friend! This was definitely her best day ever!