the bus doors opened as mr. kim smiled and said, "welcome to sky hi–" abruptly being cut off as a stretchy limb, presumably belonging to soonyoung, reached into the bus and stole his hat.

mr. kim ran off of the bus and tried to chase after the teenagers but was met with much difficulty when seungcheol and jihoon began to play with the hat as well, with seungcheol speeding around and jihoon mockingly standing in front of mr. kim with the hat and then disappearing just before mr. kim could grab it.

soonyoung stood in the middle of the crazy pattern seungcheol was running in and laughed loudly, his arms crossed over his chest as he said, "come on, big boy! where's your hat?"

mr. kim grimaced as he struggled to follow seungcheol and jihoon with his eyes. "come on, if you're not gonna respect me, at least respect the hat." he said, feeling embarrassment begin to sink in.

chan watched all of this go down with a frown, laughing awkwardly as he came up behind mr. kim and said, "guys. guys, come on. give mr. kim his hat back."

seungcheol halted next to soonyoung, jihoon materializing on soonyoung's other side, and the three boys just stared at chan in amusement. seungcheol took the hat off of his head. soonyoung grabbed the hat from seungcheol and said, "all right, you heard the sidekick. give him his hat back."

soonyoung held the hat out with a playful smile, tossing it into a muddy puddle in front of the bus driver. the three friends laughed obnoxiously as they walked away and headed up the steps to the school.

"we'll catch you later, stronghold!" seungcheol shouted as mr. kim picked up his hat from the puddle, a grimace on his face as he tried to dust it off.

"thanks, chan." mr. kim said as he put his hat back on, directing a glare to the obnoxious seniors who were racing up the steps.

chan smiled awkwardly as he gave the bus driver a pat on the shoulder. "sure, mr. kim."

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

and sure enough, the obnoxious trio did catch chan later.

chan was walking through the bustling cafeteria, looking around for his friends. he nodded in acknowledgment when vernon and mingyu loudly called him over to the table they were sitting at.

seokmin stood up with a bright smile on his face as he said, "hey, and i saved you a pudding!" but suddenly a gust of wind blew past him and the cup of pudding was gone.

against one of the cafeteria windows, the trio stood there as they watched over the large room. seungcheol opened the pudding cup as he greeted soonyoung and jihoon and asked them what was happening.

soonyoung smirked, taking a step forward as he nodded at his friends and said, "hey, buddy. check this out."

soonyoung stretched out an arm, maneuvering it through tables and people's feet as he reached across the cafeteria to grab chan's ankle. the young boy let out a shout in surprise as he tripped and tossed his tray of food to the side.

little did chan know, he tossed his food onto wonwoo.

wonwoo was sat there, hunched over the table as he read a book. the cafeteria stood in silence as they watched the boy sit up quickly and turn to chan, standing up from his seat and looming over the young boy.

chan chuckled nervously as he crawled away on his hands and knees, stuttering quietly as he slowly stood up and said a meager, "sorry." to the older boy.

"you will be." wonwoo said lowly as he glared down at chan, his nostrils flaring as he attempted to contain his anger.

chan looked around nervously, hearing his peers scurry away from them as he said, "l-look, let's not do this."

"you think you can do whatever you want just cause your name's stronghold?" wonwoo growled at the boy, feeling the fire swell up within him the longer he stared down at chan's stupid face.

chan felt the nervousness bubble up in his stomach as he said, "i'm sorry that my dad put your dad in jail, but–"

wonwoo didn't give chan the chance to finish his sentence as he lifted chan up by the collar of his shirt, the shorter boy freezing as he felt his feet lift up off of the ground. chan knew he messed up at this point.

"nobody talks about my father." wonwoo whispered, his hands lighting up and flames shooting out from his palms.

chan yelped as he jumped away. staring at wonwoo in surprise. more specifically, he was staring at wonwoo's hands. he didn't know what wonwoo's power was, but of course he had pyrokinesis. of fucking course.

the classroom gasped loudly as more students began to run away from the scene, leaving just the two of them in the cafeteria. as the student body rounded themselves up in the corner, soonyoung shouted, "it's so on!" in his excitement.

chan could only watch in horror as he took several steps back. wonwoo took this as a challenge, flexing his arms as he blew more flames out of his hands.

seungkwan turned to mr. boy who was watching the fight go down while sipping on his drink. the cafeteria began to chant fight! fight! fight! which terrified seungkwan even more.

"mr. boy, do something!" seungkwan pleaded, eyes wide as he watched chan with a deeply worried look on his face.

mr. boy nodded quickly, saying, "i'm on it!" as he tossed his drink to the floor and ran out of the cafeteria. he ran through the halls as he called out for the principal, trying his best not to bump into students or the walls. his efforts were in vain as he felt himself crash into a bench situated onto a wall. nonetheless, he persevered.

his display alerted the students in the hallway, including jeonghan, joshua, and junhui. jeonghan looked at the cheerleaders in question, both boys looking back in the general direction of the cafeteria as the shouting in the lunch room grew louder.

the shouts in the cafeteria increased as chan looked around in panic, grabbing an empty lunch tray on one of the tables and using it as a shield. when wonwoo threw a ball of fire at the tray, chan grimaced as the tray rapidly melted and fell apart in his hands. he quickly threw it down, looking up just in time to quickly duck down and dodge another ball of fire tossed his way.

joshua and junhui took advantage of their numbers as they made it into the cafeteria, roughly pushing people aside and shouting so they and jeonghan could walk in peacefully. jeonghan, with joshua and junhui flanking his side, watched in interest once they had a decent view of the fight going down.

chan tried his best to dodge more balls of fire, looking back and gasping at each thing that was lighting on fire from wonwoo's direct hits. chan looked to one of the walls and zeroed in on the fire alarm that was covered by a protective plastic covering. he ran towards it, the students running away as wonwoo tossed more fire after him.

soonyoung reached down and grabbed chan's ankle again, the young boy tripping and flying a bit in the air before he harshly landed on his stomach. he gasped softly as he turned around and saw wonwoo standing a bit behind him. wonwoo flexed his arms again, and the flames began to climb further up his arms, the fire blowing a breeze through his long hair.

chan gulped nervously, crawling away and underneath a table. wonwoo tossed a ball of fire at the table, groaning loudly as he missed chan again. the older boy then climbed onto the table, continuing to throw more balls of fire at the table the further chan crawled underneath. chan yelled at each hit he narrowly avoided, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation without being burned alive.

"where's your sidekicks, sidekick?" wonwoo spat once the two of them reached the end of the long table.

"right here!" mingyu shouted.

wonwoo slowly turned around and faced chan's group of friends with a grimace. the group looked determined to defend chan, but even they knew with their combined abilities that they couldn't take the angry boy down.

wonwoo just flexed his arms once more, the flames going all the way up to his shoulders as he held his arms above his head. the group looked terrified, though anyone could tell by the way seokmin instantly melted into a puddle.

chan huffed loudly, placing his arms on the table as he grunted, "leave them alone!" his arms shaking at the exertion he was using to try to shake the table.

wonwoo looked down in confusion once he felt the table begin to lift up from the ground. the cafeteria stood in awe as they watched chan lift up the long table with wonwoo still on top of it, the older boy feeling his flames die down as he tried to steady himself on the wobbly table.

chan's friends looked at chan in surprise, seungkwan breathing out a, "he's strong!" with a proud smile on his face.

"i'm strong?" chan mumbled to himself, a surprised smile on his face.

on the other side of the cafeteria, jeonghan looked impressed as he murmured, "he's super strong." to himself, eyeing the boy up and down with a smile.

chan jumped back into the moment, lifting the table up higher and tossing it to the side. the cafeteria watched as wonwoo flew away and collided with the ceiling, landing onto a table and breaking it with the force of his fall. the cafeteria cheered chan on at his victory.

chan looked to his left and saw the obnoxious trio standing there, wide-eyed and mouths agape as they watched wonwoo groan in pain.

"now," chan started, the three boys looking at him nervously, "who tripped me?" chan asked menacingly as he glared at the three of them.

seungcheol ran away just as soonyoung grabbed a pillar from the ceiling and lifted himself away. this left just jihoon, who shot an awkward finger gun at chan before he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

"stronghold!" wonwoo shouted from the other side of the cafeteria.

chan looked in the direction of the older boy's voice and grimaced as he watched wonwoo slowly climb out of the broken table. mad as ever, he flexed his arms and loudly grunted, the cafeteria backing away even further as the boy took a few steps towards chan.

though chan now had super strength, the boy did not have any actual combative skills, nor did he know how to control his power. so he clumsily stuck up his fists in a fighting position, hoping that would intimidate the older boy running his way.

a few rooms down from the cafeteria, coach boomer and mr. medulla were in the teacher's lounge discussing a double date they should go on. well, coach boomer wanted to go, but mr. medulla needed some more persuading.

just as mr. medulla graciously agreed to attend the double date, wonwoo crashed through the walls, colliding into a load-bearing pillar with a loud grunt. the boy slowly stood up from the now broken pillar and walked through the ruptured walls, casually stalking his way back into the cafeteria.

coach boomer and mr. medulla looked unphased as this was happening.

"think i can't take a hit?!" wonwoo shouted as he made his way through the rubble and into the cafeteria. he flexed his arms once more and let out a prolonged shout, the students screaming and running away once again.

chan, who was crowded around by his friends, turned around just as his group ran away in fear. the young boy looked around nervously, trying to find something to hopefully diffuse the situation and end the fight.

seungkwan's eyes landed on the fire extinguisher on one of the walls. he took it off of its holder and tossed it at chan with a shout of the boy's name, chan catching it quickly. the boy struggled to figure out how to use it as wonwoo began to run towards him, growling loudly with each step.

chan's friends desperately yelled at him to pull the pin, hoping the boy would hear, though the boy didn't. chan just decided to yank the top off, directing the mist at wonwoo just as he neared chan. the older boy fell back, holding his arms over his face to keep the spray out of his eyes.

just as the extinguisher stopped, a set of heels clicked against the floor and stopped next to wonwoo's head. both boys looked up and were met with the disapproving face of the principal, her arms crossed over her chest.

great. just in time.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

principal powers led the two boys through the hallway, standing in front of a white door that required a handprint for entry. she opened the door and gestured for the two boys to enter the stark white room. the desks were white, the chairs were white, even the walls were white.

chan complained as he pointed at wonwoo. "i didn't do anything though, he started it."

wonwoo turned to chan as they reached the center of the room. "your dad started it. and i'm gonna finish it." he said, flexing his arms and looking down in confusion when no flames came out of his palms. he continued to flex, looking up as chan continued to flinch.

"don't bother," principal powers said as she walked in, the door already shut behind her. she held up her hands to gesture around the room as she continued, "the detention room neutralizes all super powers." her smile fell as she pointed to the desks behind the boys, demanding the two to sit.

as the boys reluctantly sat down, the principal said, "here at sky high, we do everything we can to teach you how to use your powers. but what you do with them, now that's up to you."

she looked at the two boys with a hint of pity as she said, "living up to your father's reputation or trying to live it down is a sad waste of talent. your talent."

she smiled one last time before she said, "try to keep that in mind the next time you're about to do something stupid." and turned around, promptly leaving the two in the room.

chan slapped his arms onto his desk, sighing deeply as he turned to wonwoo and said, "all right. look. whatever happened with our dads, it has nothing to do with us. what do you say?" he held out a hand to wonwoo with his signature friendly grin.

wonwoo kept a straight face as he slowly turned to chan and said lowly, "i say if you ever cross me again, i'll roast you alive."

chan just sucked in a sharp breath and pressed his lips into a thin line. he retracted his hand as he sat back in his seat and stared ahead.

well, this is gonna take some time.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

as chan ran excitedly through the front door, ready to tell his parents the great news, he accidentally applied too much pressure when he pushed it open. he stared at the door in shock as it cracked away from its hinges, gasping quietly as he looked around. he laughed to himself as he carefully tried to put the door back in its frame, failing as he realized he put it in backwards.

"so, chan," jia said from behind chan. chan whipped around in surprise, facing his parents who were giving him stern looks. jia had her hands on her hips, a disapproving look on her face as she continued, "anything interesting happen in school today?"

"uh. well, as you may have noticed, "chan began, walking up to his parents and lifting his mother up from the ground with a cheeky grin on his face. "i got my powers today!"

"yes, we know. the principal called." jia said as she looked down at her son, her expression unwavering.

chan slowly put his mother down with a frown. he assumed they would be excited. he shook his head with an embarrassed smile as he said, "look, it's not... it's not as bad as it sounds. it's actually a really funny, great, story."

jia cut chan off as she said, "you nearly destroyed the cafeteria."

chan laughed, unable to hide his excitement as he looked between his parents and said, "yeah, but mom... i got my powers!"

jia raised an eyebrow as she asked, "and do you know how to use them wisely?"

chan looked to his father for support, finding the older man staring him down at him with his arms crossed. all juwon said was, "sanctum. now."

once the two of them were alone in the sanctum, chan expected the worst. he expected his father to punish him, to yell at him, to reprimand him for being irresponsible. but none of that happened. instead, juwon broke out into a grin and held his arms out for a hug.

"come here!" he said, a proud look on his face as he waited for chan to hug him.

chan was confused, glancing around the room before he asked, "you're not mad?"

juwon just laughed at this. "my boy has super strength! how can i be mad?"

juwon pulled chan into a bone crushing hug, the young boy groaning under the pressure. juwon quickly apologized, but took it back as chan squeezed him back just as hard.

the two laughed as juwon backed away and said, "you are strong!"

juwon looked up the shaft leading up to the house nervously as he said, "alright, if your mom asks, tell her that i yelled at you for half an hour... and that i took your xbox away."

"but i don't have an xbox?"

"then what's this?" juwon asked with a smirk, swiveling a chair around to reveal a wrapped up box that held the new gaming console juwon bought as soon as he heard the news. the boys laughed excitedly as chan reached over and began to open the box.

from across the room, the robot eye gleamed it's soft red light again, it's camera activating again as it displayed the live feed onto a large monitor in front of two cloaked individuals.

"the boy has stronghold's power. it's almost poetic." the figure on the chair said as it cooed mockingly at the father and son on their screen.

"we should crush him now, we know he has the weapon." said the other cloaked figure, flinching as the seated figure held up an arm.

"patience! we've waited this long. when the time is right, we'll have our revenge."