Laser Tag

It's morning, and Elijah is in The Zero. He decided to stop by before school started. We see him sitting down opposite Wendy, who has a bored look on her face as she barely listens to the curly-haired boy; her head is on her phone while Elijah tells his story.

"No, Wendy, hear me out; you should've been there; I swung the brick and knocked the daylights out of him." Elijah exclaimed as he walked around the room in deep thought.

"Yeah, from what I heard from your mom, you got the shit beat out of you in the process." Wendy snickered as she typed on her phone.

"I won the fight, though." Elijah smirked, proud of himself.

"By pure luck, the guy was a medium grade, and you nearly died; it was barely a win, mate." She muttered as she continued typing.

"A win is a win." Elijah was happy, so it was hard to bring his mood down. He paused as he stared at Wendy, who was still typing away on her phone. "Are you even listening? Who are you texting anyway?"

"Sadie, her dad works with my aunt, so we've been talking. I heard she punched Miss Jilani in the face; I'm surprised she wasn't expelled." Wendy laughed, only receiving a shocked look from Elijah. Elijah would bolt over to Wendy, almost tackling her to the floor.

"You have Sadie McCarthy's number?" Elijah exclaimed towards the black-haired girl.

"Jeez, why do you care so much?" Wendy paused for a second as her eyes widened and a grin appeared on her face. "You like Sadie, ooooooh."

"Sadie and Eli sitting in a tree, mwah mwah mwah." Wendy mocked him as she laughed, falling back in her chair.

"You act like a child; you're older than me, Wendy." The curly-haired boy scoffed as he plopped himself into the couch as he entered a thought. "I could become a hero."

"What?" Wendy muttered.

"I could become a hero; think about it; I'm potent, and I could be helping people." As soon as the sentence left his mouth, he received a look from Wendy.

"Are you stupid? You're a minor-grade potent you would die instantly; remember the Froggert case?" Wendy scoffed.

"Yeah, it was tragic; eaten alive by The Buffet, but he wasn't that strong; if I trained my ability, it could be way better." Elijah leaned back as he replied to the girl.

"Would you be a solo hero or in a group?" Wendy questioned.

Elijah paused. "I'm not sure yet; maybe a group." The boy replied confidently as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, that makes s- wait why the hell am I condoning this? It would be stupid. You almost died to a medium grade. If you encountered another medium or even a major grade, you would be fucked." The black-haired girl lectured as an annoyed look appeared on her face.

"Jeez, have a little faith in me." Elijah muttered under his breath.

"Elijah, use your fucking brain; you're a minor and you can't fight; you had to use a brick to beat that guy, and you only did it through sheer luck." Wendy continued angrily.

"Ok, I get it. I should leave. I'm gonna be late." Elijah replied, slightly saddened.

"Bye." Wendy sighed as she put on her headphones and started her music.

Silently, Elijah left without returning the bye. He unlocked his new bike, he bought it after the tragic passing of his old one, and began riding towards school. Wendy's words stuck with him as he thought and thought about them. Was this a good idea?

After a while, he arrived at school, locking up his bike as the bell rang. Classes passed as the final one arrived, Potent Studies with Mr. Bird. They went over the theories and possible origins of potents and debated whether they'd done more harm than good. It was Elijah's favourite lesson and one of Wendy's before she stopped going, as Mr. Bird was a cool guy.

"Sir, has there ever been a good minor-grade hero?" Elijah raised his hand as he questioned, receiving laughs and scoffs from the rest of the class.

"Not that I know of Mr. Jones; they've mostly been petty villains or vigilantes. If they do go down the hero route, they die quickly; for example, Froggert, rest in peace." Mr. Bird paused to think before answering.

Elijah sighed as he sank into his seat. Maybe he should just forget it.

Time passed, and class finally ended. Elijah left the classroom and began unlocking his bike from the rack. He was about to leave when he was approached by a boy with black hair. He was slightly shorter than Elijah, with pale white skin, and had a smile plastered on his face. Elijah recognised him from a couple classes, but they never talked.

"Hey, Elijah, right? I'm Scout; I heard you talk about heroes in class; do you like them? My favourite is Professor Peculiar, most because he has a potent similar to mine; I wish mine was as strong as his; I'm surprised he's not part of the Protectors." The boy went on and on as Elijah stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. "Sorry, I'm going off topic; what I'm asking is, are you trying to be a hero?"

Elijah was taken aback. How did this guy know? Only Wendy knew. Was he a spy?

"Yes? How'd you know?" Elijah was just there, confused; he hadn't told anyone except Wendy.

"Oh, I'm in your Potent Studies class, and I heard you ask Mr. Bird about minor-grade heroes, and you seemed pretty sad about his answer." The black-haired boy replied. Elijah was shocked; the boy could get that so fast just by him asking a question.

"Damn, I dunno what to say; yeah, I was trying to become one." He was cut off by Scout.

"Great, I'd like to join your group." Scout replied excitedly as he stood tall.

"Wait what?" Elijah was confused by the boy's sudden words.

"I've always wanted to be a hero; I'd like to join your group."

"No, I wasn't going t- actually, sure, you can join; what's your potent?" Eli questioned.

"Follow me." Scout smiled, waving him over.

The two walked for a bit as Elijah dragged his bike behind him. They arrived at an underpass near the school; it was messy and had trash everywhere, and a broken or dysfunctional Scout walked up to some cans and stacked them up.

"Check this out." He pointed his finger, making what looked like a finger gun, and out of it came a small black orb as it blasted towards the can with a small laser, making a whole through them.

"Woah, that's sick, so you can make lasers and stuff."

"Yeah, but that's the biggest one I can make right now, but if I train it, I think it could be better. So what's yours?"

Elijah grinned as he did a hero pose and explained his ability.

"Oh, I can amplify certain characteristics like strength, speed, and durability, but only one at a time."

"Hm." Scout rubbed his chin and thought. "Could you like . . . amplify your potent?"

Elijah thought for a second before explaining. "I've never thought of that, but it wouldn't really do anything; my potent only amplifies strength, not versatility, so if I amplify my potent, since I could only amplify one thing at a time, I wouldn't be able to amplify a stat, so it wouldn't really do anything."

"I guess that makes sense." Scout nodded his head before asking. "So have you got a base yet?"

"Uhhh, yes, go to a place called The Zero; I can send you the address if you send me your number." Elijah knew Wendy would be pissed, but he couldn't miss this opportunity.

"Oh ok." Scout handed the curly-haired boy his phone, and he put his number into it.

"Anyways, I've got to go; meet me there tomorrow." Elijah waved as he grabbed his bike and began walking. He wasn't sure of the route home from this underpass, so he just wandered around, forgetting the way he came from. Walking up some stairs, he finally made it to a street. No one was there; it was completely empty for some reason.

'Weird,' Elijah thought.

The situation finally dawned on him as the ground began to shake. Slowly, he turned around in fear, seeing a building collapse and a giant, monster-looking person wreck havoc on the city around him. He stood there in shock, frozen.

'Shit.' Elijah tried to run until he saw something fly past him and into the giant's eyes, blinding it.

"Good job, Sunflame, Critter Kid. Find a way to take this thing down, and Golem blast it with everything you've got." A boy who looked around teenage age jumped from a plane landing on top of a building. He was dressed in a black suit with a wing-like mask and white tied-back hair, with a belt around his waist with all kinds of weapons inside. "Blackbird, go help Sunflame, and I'll try to find this thing's weakness."

'Golem, Blackbird, Sunflame. Elijah has heard those names before; it was the Teenage Troupe.'

A tall guy with a massive building and steel skin who Elijah recognised as the Golem rushed towards the giant as he powered up a powerful blast, raising up his arm.

"Timber, motherfucka." He blasted it as the giant roared in pain and swatted Golem into a building, causing it to collapse.

"Shit Golem, Critter Kid, fly me to that building." A short boy with dark blue skin and animal-like teeth smirked as he transformed into a dark blue falcon as it dashed over to the white-haired boy and carried him to a building behind the giant.

The giant noticed this and roared back; it was protecting something.

"Amplify vision." Elijah noticed a spot that looked like a human back in the middle of the giant's back; it was probably where its human form was hidden.

"GO FOR THE MIDDLE OF ITS BACK; THATS ITS WEAKNESS!" Elijah yelled at the top of his lungs as he was finally noticed by the heroes as Sparrow glared at him.

"Sunflame, blind it; I have a plan." The Sparrow would shout as a girl with long yellow hair and glowing gold eyes, in a bright amber-coloured suit.

She rocketed up, flying over to the giant and shooting out a massive flash of light, causing the giant to recoil in pain. Seeing his opportunity, Sparrow leaped from the building with his katana, diving it into the giants back, causing it to fall back in pain.

"ITS GOING TO HIT THOSE BUILDINGS, BLACKBIRD MAKE A SHIELD."

A girl with long black hair and shining purple eyes in a black costume raised her hands and moved them around, creating a massive shield and protecting the buildings below.

As the giant fell, multiple helicopters began flying over it and picking it up, taking it far away.

"Hey." Sparrow stormed up to Elijah angrily, "Don't get in the way of the heroes next time; you could've died."

"I saved your asses with that tip." Elijah scoffed as he looked down on the shorter boy.

"Alright, pal, don't hurt yourself." Sparrow patted him on the shoulder, smirking cockily. The heroes walked away as the Sparrow chuckled to himself. Sunflame emitted light as she began flying; Critter Kid jumped in the sky and transformed into what looked like a falcon; and Blackbird created some kind of energy from her hands. They flew away as a plane picked up Sparrow and Golem.

Elijah gritted his teeth as he began biking home.

'What an idiot.' Elijah thought to himself as he biked home. He entered the house as he heard a voice from the living room.

"Eli, mom and dad aren't home, so I'm ordering a pizza." Aaliyah yelled out from the living room.

"Cool, I'll be in my room." Elijah yelled back as he sprinted up the stairs and towards his bedroom. He pulled out some art supplies and began working with his ideas. He would draw them and then rip them up; nothing satisfied him; he couldn't find something he liked. Finally, something struck him as he began drawing. He raised it up to the light and smiled.

"The Ragtags." He nodded as he slammed it on the table.

"Oi, Eli, what pizza do you want?" Aaliyah shouted.