Alistair High

witch's cat dragged in

Everyone settled down with shocking composure when a woman, who looked a year or two over twenty, entered the hall.

"Good morning Mama Binta"

She nodded with a small smile "Good morning students, how are you? I hope we have not shirked training during our breaks?"

Some students grinned and there were inaudible mumbles of 'yes' and 'no'

Mal stared at the young woman in surprise "That's your Mama Binta?"

"Yes," Pink bounced in her seat.

"Why do you call her Mama, made me think she was some old hag"

Pink tried to explain "well, she is old...but most definitely not a hag"

"Can you f**king stop with the half-sentences?" Mal frowned.

"Pipe down she will explain everything soon, for the benefit of new and ignorant students...like you"

Mal frowned. Okay, I deserved that.

Mama Binta tapped the mic in her hand causing the static to go off. The students cringed at the sound. But some straight-up fell off their seats clutching their ears as if in pain.

"Silence, sit" she ordered "now a new year has begun. While many of you are yet unable to control your abilities. A few star students have passed the preliminary stage for this term's Tournament. To our newcomers, I say welcome to Alistair High, an academy for the gifted. It's no coincidence that you're here. Our school only accepts students with special abilities. And here are our top three students "

She turned and returned to her seat at the head of the table. And three students, two girls and a boy climbed up to the podium. There was a small table in front of them filled with odd items.

The taller girl first spoke

"Hello everyone I'm Astra, today I will be displaying...speed" She stepped away from the mic and walked towards the table. A camera hanging from a beam displayed the contents and activities around the table.

There where, from Mal's point of view, at least two hundred puzzle pieces on the girl's side of the table. The girl, Astra, stretched her hands.

Whoosh, her fingers flew like a hummingbird and in less than ten seconds the pile of puzzle pieces had turned into a cute picture of a cat and dog playing in a garden.

There were several gasps of surprise in the hall. Mal was not excluded, she stared unblinking at Astra, then the completed puzzle game.

"Close your mouth or you might catch a fly" Pink had remained calm during the demonstration "you look like a dead fish"

"What the butt, how did..." Mal gasped

Many old students looked at the new one's surprised faces and smirked.

Next, the boy took the mic

"Good day everyone, I will be displaying strength"

He stepped towards the table and raised an iron rod

"Woah is he gonna..."

"yup"

Right in front of the crowd, Tyler bent the iron rod double, without even breaking a sweat. There was a round of applause and Tyler returned to his spot with a poker face.

The last girl came up "I'm Lyra and I'm displaying psychic"

Many students who knew her hooted.

She smiled at the crowd's acknowledgement in satisfaction before putting several blindfolds over her eyes. The other two students picked up darts and threw them at her but she dodged and sidestepped them all. Despite being blindfolded.

"It's like she can see the future"

"She can't but even through the layers of blindfold she can still see the darts coming"

"What!?"

There was another round of applause.

"This is boring" Pink complained

Mal retorted "to you maybe...wait what is your superpower?"

Pink rolled her eyes "okay first of all it is not a superpower, so do not expect anyone to fly, stop time or poop gold. It is simply put: an increase in ability."

Mal blinked "err..."

"seriously what is so...urgh in baby language it is when you can perform better than the average person in a given task. For example, all humans can run, right, but a gifted can move a hundred times faster. Normally all of a gifted's senses are heightened but like those three doofuses up there a gifted can specialize and improve one of them

"wow...still what's yours"

Pink sighed "While some struggle to make their powers stronger people like me struggle to control ours"

"err what do you mean?"

"Urgh dummy, it means my power often goes berserk. And it causes huge damages"

"That's cool...I'd rather have uncontrollable power than no power at all. I mean look at me I got nothing"

"Nope, it is not cool at all...you know in the last Tournament I hit a dead end, when I tried to break down the wall with a sonic scream I accidentally blasted myself out of the arena, it was so embarrassing"

Mal shrugged "Practice makes perfect"

"I guess" Pink remembered something "oh and only people with powers get admitted here, yours may not have manifested yet" she sighed "just be patient"

But Mal suspected it was because of her identity. Afterall she wasn't the real person. So there was a possibility that only Robin will exhibit any powers.

Half an hour later of boring introductions, Mama Binta gave a short speech and everyone was dismissed.

Pink linked her arm to Mal's "come on let me introduce you to our classmates...oh you're so gonna hate them all"

*****

Mal walked into the spacey classroom with Pink hanging off her hand like an accessory.

"Do you have to cling to me?" She hissed in annoyance

"Nope," Pink popped the 'p' but still held on.

"You know once upon a time I was the most popular kid in school and everyone clung to me

Mal drily said, " oh really?"

Pink bobbed her head "it's true, then one day...you know during my first tournament when I completely embarrassed myself, I became a joke. I thought it couldn't get worse then I was accused of taking Hero"

"Hero?"

"Mhm, it's a blend of powdered crystals that messes with our energy and makes our powers go out of control...I don't even remember taking...I'm pretty sure I was framed" She sighed, "They think that's the reason my sonic scream was so strong and out of control, I was suspended for weeks, the worst part is everyone now sees me as a weakling who relies on Hero to survive"

"Where can I find it?"

"Errr find what?"

"Hero of course!"

"What...seriously I just told you how it nearly ruined me, now you want it? Besides, I don't know where to find it"

"You're lying"

"Ah, so what?"

Pink turned and stormed into class still murmuring angrily to herself

Mal rolled her eyes at the dramatics. She was not worried, she knew that she would still be able to get the information out of her regardless of her protests. Then she remembered the deal she had with Robin.

It seems that finding Hero will have to postponed. She turned and was about to walk in when a vaguely familiar voice said "Well well look what the witch's cat dragged in"