Chapter eight:
Leo Valdez
Class: Demigod, Greek
Godly Parent: Hephaestus
Powers: Pyrokinesis
I was falling.
My shirt, burnt. Cargo jacket ripped.
Still falling. I wonder what it'd be like hitting the ground. Would it hurt? Probably.
My life flashed before my eyes, and I remembered how I got here. If you could count falling from the sky as here. I really needed to make better life choices.
_____________________________flashback starts________________________
Yes, I was dating Amara. The mutant with the ability to control lava, or fire, which was perfect for me!
But, the key word is was.
I was eating breakfast, teasing Sean about breaking our window (again) when she stormed up to me, magma powers and all.
"LEONARDO VALDEZ!!" Amara screamed. I jumped. Naturally, the other Leo (and the rest of the school) looked towards me. It was basically a High School, they were suckers for drama.
"Uh...its Leo." I corrected. Never had it been Leonardo, but I guess she's been hanging out with Mr. D or something. Or maybe she just assumed.
Amara growled, her flame hair growing brighter.
"Oooooo...someone's in trouble..." I glared at Sokka and looked back at her, chuckling nervously.
"Hey babe...what's up?" I asked, trying to play it cool. She growled again. She was really not happy with me, ever so clearly.
"Do you know what yesterday was?" I thought for a second. Today was Friday...which meant yesterday was Thursday...but that probably wasn't the correct answer.
"Thorsday?" I asked. She snarled, and the table next to us, snickered at my comment. I think they were SHIELD Agents.
"No!! It was our 9 month anniversary!!" She snapped. Was it really nine months that we had been dating?!
Oh Styx....I briefly remember starting a project for Amara in Tech Lab, but I got distracted when little Festus stopped working. I nearly had a breakdown and I spent the rest of the class trying to fix him; completely forgetting about the project I originally started that same class.
"Um...happy anniversary?" Amara smacked me. Even through I was fire proof, it still hurt—mostly, because I'm not smack proof.
"OW!!"
"I can't believe you. Valdez!! I thought you loved me!!" I jumped up, tripping slightly.
"I am!! I mean, I do!! I love you!! You're my everything princess, let me make it up to you!!" Amara huffed.
"Fine. Three days where you're on your own. If you make me a gift and show it to me on the last day, I'll forgive you." She said walking away.
Sokka frowned.
"Sooo...does this mean your single? Or..." I shrugged.
"I have no idea."
~~~~~~
Luckily, I had Tech Lab first that day. Unfortunately, Pepper was taking over.
"Now, Tony is off in a business meeting in New York, so I came up with a lesson plan, because Tony had nothing." I resisted the urge to groan.
"Something wrong?" Zane asked. The "Nindroid" was still a pretty weird kid...robot...thing, but I got along with him pretty well. And all the Hephaestus kids learned pretty quick that we couldn't take him apart because of some weird thing Dumbledore did to him last year.*
"Weren't you at breakfast?" I asked glumly. While I sprinted to Tech Lab, kids were telling me not to screw this up. Random kids too, ones I had never spoken too before, along with a few of the X-Men and some demigods too. I'm not sure if that meant the school was rooting for me, or completely expecting me to fail. Probably the latter.
"No, I was busy with the school newspaper." I frowned. School Newspaper? Eh. I'll look at it later.
"Well I have three days to make--."
"Mr. Valdez, please refrain from talking." Pepper said. I sighed.
"Yes Mrs. Stark."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See, my day went downhill from there. In Potions, Amara was in class, and I got yelled by Professor Snape for not paying attention. I now have a detention. Then, I ignored Professor Misako because I was trying to remember what I started to make for Amara. Another detention. During Study Hall, I received a wedgie from three wizards, and a swirly from some jerky mutant from Villain High.
And that was all before lunch time.
I was approached by four girls (I know, four). One sorta looked like a ninja, with silver armor, and black hair. Well....some of it was black. Other parts were blonde. Weird. One looked like she had way too much coffee, and another looked like a gloomy samurai chick.
The last one was Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. Everyone got introduced to her and her brother named like, Zach or something.
"Why hello there." She purred. I backed up.
"Uhh....hey there. I'm just gonna--." I turned and ran, right before losing all feeling in my legs.
"Not so fast!!" The perky one piped up. The Ninja girl glanced at Azula.
"Are you sure this is really necessary?" She asked. Azula smirked and pushed me over so I was looking up.
"Of course I'm sure. He's the only one dumb enough to fall for this." I frowned.
"Hey!!" The perky one started jabbing my legs and the feeling returned. Very weird, very strange, do not recommend at all.
"There. Tai-Lee returned the feeling in your legs. Now stand up." I frowned but obeyed.
Then I noticed there was a witch behind them, smirking slightly. I frowned.
"What's she--." Azula turned me around.
"What's your name boy?"
"Leo."
"That's a lovely name. I know a couple boys by the name of Lee." Lee? Did o's not exist where she was from?
"Well lady, my name is--." I paused, my brain going blank. I felt peaceful, and relaxed. All calm and junk. What was I even mad about?
'Walk over to the table with Prince Zuko.' Somehow, I knew who Zuko was, and I obeyed. Walking over and smiling, enjoying the pleasant feelings inside. Being a Demigod was hard. It was nice to just...relax.
'Flirt with Azula.' Wasn't Azula in the hallway?
'Flirt with Azula.' The wave of calmness washed over me again and I grinned at the Azula, who wasn't Azula.
"Hey. What's up?" I said, grinning. The girl frowned.
'Keep flirting.' And so I did, not really questioning the emptiness I felt. It was all good, all calm, everything was great.
At least until, I was challenge to an Agni Kai.
All the thoughts, worries, and concerns came flooding back and I looked around. Wasn't I in the hallway like just a few seconds ago?
"Do you accept my challenge?" The guy in front of me asked. I frowned.
"Aren't you...Prince Zach or something?" I asked, still trying to get my bearings. He growled.
"It's...Zuko."
"Oh...right, Zuko. I mean, Zach was close enough, right?" Zuko clenched his fist, clearly not happy with me. Nico, next to him, looked at me.
"Do you accept his challenge?" He asked. I shrugged. Maybe it was a food eating contest, or a building contest. I didn't speak...whatever language Angi Kai was.
"Sure. Why not."
I should've said no.
Isn't that a Taylor Swift song?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Once the challenge was made, everyone was sent to the Quidditch stadium after dinner. Dumbledore got the place all lit and ready for this challenge thing.
Za--Zuko, and I were lifted into the air on a platform of Earth. Literally, as Aang and this girl named Toph lifted us up. So we were in the middle of the Quidditch field, surrounded by flying lights, lifted up on earth for all to see. What a great way to live my life.
"This is an Agni Kai match. For those of you who don't know, and Agni Kai is a fire duel. It is a fight for one's honor, and is only won by one opponent being burned by the other." Dumbledore said. Wooho, unfair advantage!! I mean...clearly Zuko wasn't fireproof, but I was!!
"However, for the safety of both of our students, the rules are being altered."
"This is an outrage!!" I looked up. The Villain Headmasters weren't allowed anywhere near the school unless invited in, and I guess they were invited for this. An odd thing to invite supervillains to, but to each their own I suppose.
Lord...FireLord...whatever his title was, Ozi made his way over to Professor Dumbledore.
"Safety?! This is about honor!!" Dumbledore nodded.
"Yes, and I understand that. However we need to keep our students--."
"Do not lecture me about safety old man!! Agni Kai is something that should not be tampered with!! It is an eons old tradition!!"
"This is not the Fire Nation Ozi. We must keep our students--." Ozi (what a weird name) shot a large fireball at the sky, which looked kind of terrifying by the way.
"BEGAN!!" Zuko jumped up and started shooting fire at me. I dodged them, before remembering one simple fact.
He can't buuuurrrrn me!!
I let the next one hit me, smirking proudly. Zuko's eyes widened in amazement.
"Impossible." He muttered. I remember what Iroh taught me (well, some of what he taught me) and got my hands ready.
"Dude, nothing's impossible." I said, sending a fireball his way. Zuko deflected it with his own, since he wasn't fireproof. Tragic.
"Oh yeah?! I will keep my honor by defeating you in battle!!" He cried (very dramatically in my opinion) sending multiple fireballs my way.
The battle went on for a while. The sun was down, and I was beginning to tire. My shoes were starting to burn, and it took more concentration to keep my jacket from burning.
"Had enough yet?" Zuko asked, flipping over me and sending another fire blast my way. I quickly deflected with my own fire wall.
"Nope. How about you, scar boy?" I sent a blast towards his feet and his arms. Zuko moved out of the way for arm one, but the one that I sent towards his feet knocked him down.
"It seems we have a winner!!" Dumbledore announced, before Ozi could scream anything all villain like. The heroes cheered and I grinned. This wasn't so hard.
"No! No!!" Zuko quickly stood up. But he wasn't looking at me.
He was looking at Ozi.
Son of this Firelord dude just lost to a Son of Hephaestus who had no idea what he was doing.
I actually felt a little sorry for the guy.
The hairs on the back of my head stood up and lighting began to crackle. Naturally, I looked for Thalia or Jason or even Storm to see if one of them was doing it. But, it was none of my favorite heroes and storm chasers.
Remember Princess Azula?
Yep.
A blast of lighting came hurling towards me, hitting the ground in front of me and sending me flying off the very high mound of earth Aang put us on.
___________________flashback ends________________________________
I was falling.
My shirt, burnt. Cargo jacket ripped.
Still falling. I wondered what it'd be like hitting the ground.
I dimly heard several people yelling my name. One even sounded like Zuko.
I felt peaceful when I fell. I probably wasn't going to have that same feeling through when I--
"FLAME ON!!" Thats it.
Before Johnny Storm could even lay his hands on me, I willed myself to catch on fire, praying to the Fates that this would work. I mean, it hasn't worked before but I really wanted it to work this time.
And it did.
"WHOOHO!!" I cried, flying around, so glad I wasn't going to hit the ground and well, you know. Johnny joined me and gave me a high five.
"Nice going kid!!" He said. I grinned.
Apparently near-death experiences were good for learning how to fly.
Hm. I maybe I should mention it to Thalia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Third Person POV
The Headmasters of Villain High were not welcome. However, that does not mean they had nothing planned. Not being welcomed simply meant there was less eyes around to see your scheming.
"Are we sure this is a good idea?" White Witch...the "true" Queen of Narnia.
"My dear Jadis. If we allow Charles and his little rag-tag team of heroes prevent us from destroying humanity, then what do we have left?" Erik said simply. He was Magneto, the master of magnetism and leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Needless to say, he didn't like humans all that much.
"Magneto is right. The Golden Ninja needs to be in my grasp." Overlord....no longer a blob of energy, but now...more of a person.
"I am merely suggesting we wait. Until the tournament is over. Let them think everything has gone back to normal." Jadis countered. Lord Voldemort thought for a moment.
"Sozin's Comet. That is when I will be the strongest." Firelord Ozi interjected. He was obsessed with power, with control. Knowing the Avatar was within his reach was almost too much to bear. But, all good things come to those who wait.
"However, this is not your world. There is no...comet that can magically enhance your abilities." A newcomer to the group, but a familiar face nevertheless. The Red Skull, head of HYDRA and the bane of Captain America's existence.
"We shall follow Jadis plan. It will clearly insure our victory." Lord Voldemort said. The Headmasters exchanged looks. It would require some work, and careful planning...but they could make it work. All good things come to those who are patient.
Besides, all they need was some inside help.
_________________________________________________________
Yay!! I updated!!
Next chapter will be a SHS and then the first event. It has something to do with horses...
Leo finally learned how to fly!! If you remember from the first book, Johnny Storm and Leo Valdez wee trying to teach him how to fly. Didn't end well (it was a short if you want to go back and read it).
The heroes better watch their back!! The villains definitely have something up their sleeve, and your not going to find out until later in the book!!
Please remain seated until the chapter has ended. Please comment your thoughts and feelings bellow.
Have a good day!