Chapter 2: Welcome to Maxville

I don't own anything. All rights to their rightful owners. All I own is the idea. This chapter starts out present tense, and then goes back to past tense.

"Exactly what we want to hear. Thank you." A man says, hanging up his cell phone and facing the woman in the room.

"Well, that was Bert Timmerman, and he is buying the colonial on Pine Terrace." He finishes.

"Honey," the man starts again, "I know that selling real estate is just our cover, but I think we're in line to win that sales trip to Hawaii."

"We haven't been to Hawaii since King Kamehamayhem set off that volcano." The woman states

"Think of it, Josie," the man starts, pulling the woman, his wife, in for a hug. "You, me, on the beach," he chuckles. "No exploding volcanoes." He finishes.

"Mmm, I can feel the sand in my toes already!" the woman says, kissing the man. "Will is going to be down any minute."

"Hey it's his first day of school. Where is he?" the man asks, walking towards the stairs.

"Will? Will?" he calls.

A teenage boy with a mop of brown hair, a t-shirt and jeans on is shown sitting on his bed upstairs. Upon hearing his father call for him, he quickly picks up assorted weights and puts them on the bench press in his room with grunts of effort.

"Come on, buddy. Let's get moving!" his dad says as he enters the room.

"Two hundred!" Will says with a grunt, making it seem as if he just finished two hundred reps.

"Oh, hey, Dad. Just trying to get a few sets in before school." He lies, sitting up on the seat of the bench press' seat and facing his dad.

"Low weights, high rep, huh?" The father states. "Good thinking. Don't want to bulk up."

"Nah, going more for definition." Will continued lying, successfully fooling his father.

"Big day, huh?" his dad said as he sat down next to Will on his bed.

"Will-" he started. "I just want you to know how proud I am that you'll be attending my alma mater (whatever that means) and someday following me into the family business.

"Real estate?" Will guessed, obviously joking.

"Right. Real estate." His dad replied with a smile.

"On a more serious note, son," he continued, "I know that every kid thinks his dad's invincible, and I nearly am, but who knows? Maybe the next time I punch a meteor hurtling toward Earth, I'll be the one who shatters into a million pieces."

"I- I guess all I'm trying to say here, Will, is it's nice to know that whatever happens to me, you'll still be around to save the world!" he said.

"Looking forward to it." The boy said half-heartedly.

"We all are." His dad said, ruffling his hair and heading downstairs.

"Great. Just great." Will exhaled in defeat.

You see, Will's parents, Steve and Josie Stronghold, aka The Commander (super strength) and Jetstream (flying), were the greatest superheroes in the world. They, along with all the other superheroes and sidekicks, were undercover, and performed heroic deeds as their superhero egos. The thing is… Will doesn't have any superpowers. And his parents don't have a clue. The only one besides Will who knows of his lack of powers is his childhood best friend, Layla that he has known since kindergarten. Layla did have powers- she had power over any form of plants, and she was very green, in the perspective that she cared for the planet in any way she could. Her mother could talk to animals. Now, back to the story…

Layla had arrived while Will and Mr. Stronghold had been talking, and she was now sitting at a table in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Mrs. Stronghold." She greeted Will's mother with a smile.

"Morning, Layla." Mrs. Stronghold responded in a cheerful tone.

"I noticed you had recyclables in the trash, so I took the liberty of moving them for you." Layla stated.

"Thank you, Layla! You hungry?" she asked. "I've got plenty of eggs, bacon-" she offered.

"No thanks. You know how my mom can communicate with animals? Apparently, they don't like being eaten." Layla pointed out.

"Hm. Well, how about some juice?"

"Great."

"He's on his way." Mr. Stronghold finished as he entered the room, hanging up his cell phone. "Oh, hi, Layla." He greeted his son's friend with a smile.

"Good morning, Commander." Layla said.

"Commander?" Mr. Stronghold wondered as Layla pointed to her eyes, signaling that the man had forgotten to replace his glasses.

"Oh! Thanks, Layla!" he said as he put on his glasses. Will came down as he said that, sitting across from Layla.

"I can't believe you and Will are starting high school already! Seems like yesterday you two were swimming naked in the kiddie pool." Mrs. Stronghold mused to herself.

"Mom!" Will complained. "Hi, Layla."

"Thank you." Layla thanked Mrs. Stronghold as she handed her a cup of juice.

"BRRRIIINGG! BRRRIIINGG!" The sound of a phone going off echoed in the room. As Mrs. Stronghold reached for her cell phone, Mr. Stronghold stopped her.

"Josie, it's… the other one." He said as he pulled out a red cell phone from his pocket.

"Go."

"I see. Thank you, mayor." He finished, hanging up and facing his wife.

"There's trouble downtown. Big trouble. Downtown." He said in a serious tone.

"Oh, shoot, and I really wanted to see Will off to the bus!" Mrs. Stronghold moaned as Will picked up his backpack and he and Layla stood up.

"I remember his first day of preschool. He wouldn't let go of my leg!" she said to Layla as they both smiled.

"Mom!" Will complained again, staring at his mother.

"Oh alright!"

"Josie." Mr. Stronghold said as he headed into the other room (to the Secret Sanctum for those of you who know about it). His wife went ahead as Mr. Stronghold turned around facing Will.

"Oh, Will, a reminder. Most kids at Sky High will only have one superhero parent, not two, so take it easy on them, huh? No showing off." He said.

"Aw, dad. Not to worry. I'll keep it low-key." Will said sarcastically, though only Layla picked it up.

"Mrs. Rivera? Josie Stronghold." Mrs. Stronghold began, talking on her normal cell phone. "I'm going to need to reschedule that open house. Great." She said, hanging up.

"Steve!" she called.

"Gotta go!" he said, following his wife.

After they left, Will grabbed the remote and turned the TV on to the news, where they were reporting the giant robot attack in the city. The newsman was in the middle of his report.

"… Reports of a situation downtown. Let's check with a picture from News Chopper Five. (A video of the robot attacking the city begins streaming in the corner of the screen)."

"Evil has struck our morning commute. Here's a hint- if you're traveling eastbound you might want to consider alternate routes. Hang on. This just in. The Commander and Jetstream are on their way."

Jetstream is shown flying high speed toward the location of the robot, holding the Commander at his shoulders and worrying about Will.

"Are you sure he'll be okay? What if he forgets his lunch?" she worries.

"Josie, Josie, you've got to stop babying the boy!" the Commander reassured her.

"You're right, you're right." She said, dropping the subject.

"Left, left! Circle back around!" the Commander yelled, Jetstream doing as asked.

"I'm on it!"

"Release!" he yelled, Jetstream launching him forward towards the robot from above. The Commander's fist connects with the center of the robot, and, using teamwork, the pair quickly finishes the job.

"Oh! And the robot goes down! He's plucking out a souvenir from another successful battle." The newsman reports as the Commander pulls out the electronic eye/head of the robot.

"What a team! The Commander and Jetstream- What would we do without them?"

"They are good." Will admits, switching off the television.

"Uuughh… Where am I..?"

Sora got up, rubbing the back of his head. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. There was a forest to his left, a pond in front of him, and a small neighborhood to his right. The stream running from the pond went around him to his left then behind him. He honestly didn't know where he was, or where Donald and Goofy were, or even what he should be doing or where he should be going.

"Wait a second. What's that noise..?"

A faint golden-silver glow was coming from his left pocket. Digging his hand in, he pulled out a strange, small glowing cube. It was making a soft humming noise that got a little louder when he touched it. Suddenly, an image of Cid's face appeared on one face of the cube, causing him to jump back a bit in surprise. He quickly recovered; only to be surprised again as Cid's face began talking to him with a fuzzy edge to his voice.

"Sora… Sora, can ya hear me, boy?" Cid said a bit loudly.

"Uh… Yeah. I hear you loud and clear… Is that really you, Cid?" Sora asked, still a bit hesitant.

"Yes. Now, remember when I warned ya 'bout how them worlds' atmospheres could have side-effects when ya entered 'em?"

"Yes…"

"Well, seems as if that's what's happened. This world's atmosphere has caused some major changes to you and yer buddies, Donald and Goofy. I've lost all contact with'em, and I can't pick them up on any sort of radar we've got here, so I don't have the foggiest clue of what's happenin' with them. As for you… we might have some problems. There appears to be no Heartless here, and no potential Heartless threat, but there seems to be a big Nobody problem, and Organization 13 might be there as well." Cid said.

"No problem! I can take care of them easily!" Sora said proudly, always an optimist.

"Not so fast, boy! That's not the only catch this world has! There seems to be some sort of strange power coming from some of this world's inhabitants, and it looks like they're trying- and succeeding- in hiding these special powers from most people, and that's the only info I've got on this world. And one last thing… Looks like something about this world has canceled your ability to use magic or the Keyblade. At all." Cid finished.

"WHAT!" Sora yelled, jumping to his feet in surprise.

"So what am I supposed to do when I run into Nobodies or Organization 13?" he complained worriedly.

"I know, I know. But I'm sure there's something this world hasn't left you completely unarmed. Whatever strange powers some people on this world have, I'm sure you'll figure out something. And as for what you should do next, you should- and go- ething- that can help- take care of yourse-." Cid said. As he got near the middle of his message, his voice began to garble and fizzle, making some parts of his message illegible to Sora.

"Cid? I can hardly understand you. What's going on?" Sora said, beginning to get worried. Cid was the only one who he knew right now- losing connection with him would mean being all alone and clueless again; not to mention defenseless.

"Kid- listen to me-. Find someone to help you- don't - - look out- can't keep the connection-. FIND HELP AND BE CAREFUL, KID!" Cid yelled, using their last bit of connection to scream the last sentence before they broke up and the cube stopped glowing, Cid's face disappearing, leaving Sora alone once again.

"Great…" Sora began, "Donald and Goofy are nowhere to be found, I can't talk to Cid anymore, no Keyblade, no magic, no direction… Guess all I can do now is look around." Sora concluded, putting the cube back into his pocket and heading towards the neighborhood nearby.

As he walked, he noticed two teens about his age walking down the street.

"Hey! Maybe they can tell me something useful!" Sora thought, starting towards the pair. One was a girl with red-orange hair, wearing mostly green clothing. The other was a boy, a bit shorter than the girl, with brown hair, a blue and red shirt and jeans.

As Sora approached, he overheard their conversation;

"-I know it's just our first day, but I already can't wait to graduate and start saving mankind! And womankind. And animalkind." The girl was saying.

"And the rainforest." The boy commented.

"Of course!" The girl agreed.

"Huh? 'Saving mankind'? What are they talking about?" Sora wondered. As he pondered with that idea, the girl took notice to him.

"Shh! Look over there!" the girl whispered to the boy, now noticing Sora, and they both began to talk about more… normal… sounding stuff, and pretending they never noticed him.

Sora, deciding to come back to that later, walked over to them.

"Hi." Sora greeted them, gaining their attention. Although, Sora knew that they had already been keeping an eye on him.

"Hey, there." The girl replied in a cheerful tone.

"Hey." The boy said.

"I don't mean to pry," Sora began, "but were you just talking about 'saving mankind'?" he asked. The two of them flashed each other a look of worry, but went back to normal so quick that Sora knew they had to be hiding something. The girl then quickly changed the subject.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but that aside. My name's Layla." The girl said, holding her hand out.

"I'm Will." The boy said, clearly not as open as the girl, but Sora didn't notice.

"I'm Sora." Sora said cheerfully, taking Layla's hand to shake. But, as soon as he touched her, the cube in his pocket made a quick, bright glow, causing Sora to fall into a trance. He heard a strange, somewhat enchanting voice trying to tell him something.

"This girl gives off a radiation that suggests she may have some of the strange power that this world possesses. The boy may also have some connection to the power."

"Hello? Are you okay?" Layla was asking. Sora, blinking a few times, came to his senses quickly.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." He said swiftly. The vision had told him that these two have something to do with this world's power, so he decided to stick with them, even if it meant going to school.

A school bus pulled up then. Sora decided to just follow these two to wherever they were going. As the doors opened, Will boards, followed by Layla, Sora tailing them. Neither of them seemed very happy he had decided to come along.

Suddenly, as Will and Layla took their seats, the bus driver put his hand out to block Sora. He looked at the boy suspiciously.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Um, Sora, sir." He replied hesitantly. It didn't seem to put the driver at rest in the least, but he allowed him on anyway.

"Take your seat." He said. Sora made his way to the back of the bus, sitting in a seat alone.

As another boy boarded the bus and took his seat, the bus driver closed the doors.

"That's everyone." He said, ripping covers off of his hat and his sleeves, revealing logos that said "Sky High School". The labels on the side of the bus changed to say "Sky High School Bus". This alarmed Sora, but he pretended like he knew what was going on.

"Next stop- Sky High!" the bus driver exclaimed, pushing the gas pedal down as far as it would go. He steered the bus forward headed straight for an unfinished bridge. This alarmed Sora.

"What is he doing? He's gonna kill us!" Sora exclaimed. A few of the older teens looked at him and laughed, saying things like "Freshman." and "He'll get used to it".

Just as the bus was about to fall off of the bridge, two yellow airplane-looking wings erupted from the sides of the bus and they began to soar upwards at an extremely high speed. This caused many of the teens on board, including Will, Layla, and Sora, to begin screaming as if they were on an extreme roller coaster.

"Pff! Freshmen." The bus driver said, rolling his eyes and looking ahead.

What they saw amazed Sora to the furthest extent. Hidden in the clouds, far above the ground, was a huge, floating piece of land with a big yard, with sidewalks and grass surrounding a big high school building. As Sora stared in awe, the bus began to land, and the bus driver began to introduce the land.

"There she is. Sky High. Kept aloft by the latest in anti-gravitational propulsion. She is in constant motion as a precaution against those who otherwise might have nefarious plans, her location supplied only to a few highly qualified individuals, such as myself. Ron Wilson, bus driver." The driver, apparently named Ron, explained.

"Smooth and easy." Ron thought aloud. Only, the bus didn't land smooth and easy. Instead, the bus landed jerkily, bouncing a bit.

"Whoa!" yelled a few students.

"Sorry!" said Ron as he steadied the bus and opened the door to let the teens out.

"Word of advice," Ron began, "Don't miss the bus, 'cause the bus waits for no one. Except for you, Stronghold." He said, as Will was about to get off of the bus. "You ever running late, running early, or you just want to talk…" he handed Will a card with his name and number on it. "… give me a call"

"Thanks Ron." Will said, taking the card and getting off of the bus.

"Seriously."

As Will caught up to Layla and the two began to approach the school, Sora was busy trying to take in his surroundings. A cheerleader was doing a cheer, strangely alone, welcoming the new students.

"I hate that cheer. Speed, round 'em up, ok?" A tall teen with black hair ordered his buddy, a slightly shorter boy with similar hair. The shorter boy then began to circle around the group of teenagers at a high speed, causing them to gather together in a circle shape. Sora had now made his way to the front of the group, but only saw a blur of the boy running, thinking it was only a very strong wind. Once the freshmen were gathered, the shorter boy took his place by the taller boy.

"Hey, freshmen! Your attention, please." The taller teen began. "I'm Lash, and this is Speed." He pointed to each of them in turn. "As representatives of the Sky High welcoming committee…"

Lash stretched his arm forward in front of a boy in the front of the group who was wearing glasses, a striped shirt, and an orange jacket, causing Sora's eyes to widen, but, seeing that it didn't bother the others, he quickly calmed down.

"… We'd be happy to collect that $15 new student fee."

"Um, there was nothing about a new student fee in the handbook." The boy with glasses said. Then a girl with long brown hair and a pink shirt who seemed to be about eighteen or so approached from behind the two teen boys.

"OK, guys. Very funny. I'll take over from here." She said, causing the pair to shrug and walk away.

"Hey, everybody. I'm Gwen Grayson, your student body president. I know you're all going to love it here at Sky High. I know I have. I've just had the greatest experience, but there are a few rules that I just want to let you guys know. First of all…" Sora stopped paying attention as he looked around again, chuckling as he noticed Will looking at Gwen dreamily. When he resumed listening to Gwen, he realized he had missed everything she had said.

"…If you can remember those few simple rules, I promise you will not fall off the edge of the school." She finished, chuckling.

"Fall off the edge of the school!... I'm sure I'll be fine." Sora thought, following Gwen inside the school along with the rest of the freshmen.

As they entered the school, a woman approached them.

"Good morning. I am Principal Powers. On behalf of all the faculty and staff, welcome to Sky High." She said.

"In a few moments, you will go through Power Placement and your own heroic journey will begin." She finished.

"Power placement?" Sora asked, not really understanding the situation.

"Sounds fascist." Layla commented. Then the boy with glasses spoke up.

"Power Placement; it's how they decide where you go." He said.

"The hero track, or the loser track." A boy with blonde hair added.

"Th-th-there's a loser track?" Will asked worriedly.

"I believe the preferred term is 'Hero Support'." The boy with glasses said.

"Power placement? Hero support?" Sora wondered.

"For now, good deeds and good luck. Let the adventure begin." Principal Powers said.

"Comets away!" she concluded, disappearing into a bright orb of light, then zooming away down the hall.

"No way!"

Whoa… long chapter! Sorry 'bout that! I'll start with Power Placement next chapter. Sora hasn't figured out that this world's "strange power" is actually superpowers, and he hasn't gained any of his own. But he might… Meh he he… And I'm trying to keep the story as close as possible to the movie, while still being centered around Sora in third person. Please R&R!