Zap! (M. Clifford/5SOS)

Chapter 12: Try Hard

Monica's P.O.V.

It's the first day of new training and I'm scared shitless. I'm not even sure what to expect and I'm hoping I don't embarrass myself because I do not need a repeat of the Execution Spell fiasco. The good news is that it lasts the same amount of time as regular training, so I still get to walk to and from training with Michael.

After we part ways, it's weird being without him because usually I'm with him until everything's over, but now I'm walking by myself to one of the classrooms, where I'm starting today. As I enter in, I see two guys up in the front of the room with lab coats on, a floating piece of grey foam trapped inside a box resting next to them on a table. A few other people are sitting quietly in the comfy chairs, no one daring to speak. I step over and place myself in a seat towards the back, noticing three other people in the room who seem like bodyguards, although that's probably not what they're here for. I move my attention back to the front and now the lab coat guys are busy drawing up designs and creating displays that I can't seem to understand. They look intense and difficult and I'm not ready to hear their explanations.

A few more people trail in and I glance around the room to count out six guys and four girls who are sitting in the desks, including me, and I believe these are my fellow Galaxies also taking on this mission. Finally one of the bodyguard guys strolls to the front, preparing to speak.

"I'm glad to see all of you here because you are the superheroes that are going to save our world!" he speaks with such enthusiasm. Woo hoo. "My name is Kingsley and I will be one of your trainers for this mission. In the back we have Crispin and Audrey, your other trainers. Up here we have the two scientists who have been studying, predicting, creating, practicing, and everything else about the Acerbus Procella, and now we will all get to know you."

He takes a seat and one by one, we all state our name, age, and trainer, if we have one. There are two twenty year olds, a guy and a girl; two nineteen year olds, both guys; three eighteen year olds, two of them guys and one a girl; one seventeen year old, a girl; and one other sixteen year old besides me, a guy. Instantly, intimidation strikes through me as I realize I'm probably the youngest. Great.

"Alright, now that we have introduced ourselves, I will let our scientists take it over," Kingsley announces.

"Thank you, Kingsley," the younger scientist says. "I am Dr. Burnett and this is Dr. Jones, and as Kingsley explained earlier, we have been learning and doing everything we possibly can about the Acerbus Procella. Now, you may have noticed this box on your way in and indeed, it is a cloud. We figured out how the original scientist created it and we duplicated it, but with a different method since we don't want to create a second Acerbus Procella. This cloud, and many others we have made, are what you will be using to practice on. We have tested each one of them so they are safe."

He stops speaking and while he is involved in his laptop, Dr. Jones begins informing us of other important material.

"Just to be clear, you will be learning a new, but very powerful, spell. We have discovered a new spell that does the trick of shrinking precipitation, but so far, we have only successfully shrunk one of these small clouds. That's when we realized it will work, but one person isn't going to be enough to end the Acerbus Procella. We called for ten of you and we're hoping that will be enough. If it isn't, we can step in and assist you, although we have a lot of other stuff we will be doing while you are on this mission."

Dr. Burnett directs our attention to the many diagrams spread across the board and explains them. "The Acerbus Procella is basically a hurricane with magic inside of it. As you all know, hurricanes have an eye in the middle of their storm, which is a quiet part that doesn't have any wind, rain, or any other weather pattern going on. The eye can stretch for kilometers long, but so far our calculations have read that it is less than one kilometer, but between now and when it will hit the coast, it can grow. Our plan is for each of you to be placed equally around the edge of the eye and the storm. When it's time, all of you must execute the spell directly at the edge and with all of your spells and strengths combined, the Acerbus Procella should shrink down to nothing."