"We have reached the final item," EARL says. "Please provide the hero name you'll be using at Evos Academy and beyond."
This is far from your first time considering a superhero name for yourself. Scout was great for the forward surveillance missions you were sent on as a sidekick in Morgana City, but you have powers now. Scout is a name attached to your past, and you're the hero now, not a sidekick. Yes, a new name is exactly what you need.
What hero name calls to you?
"Thank you for your assistance in updating your file. Please proceed to the exit. You have been assigned to Room 319 in Dawn Hall. Orientation is this evening." EARL sounds genuinely appreciative.
The room goes silent. A door on the other side of the room under the Exit sign slides upward quickly.
Next
You take another deep breath and walk across yet another world-changing threshold. This time…to the new world of Evos Academy.
Next
Emerging from the white room, your eyes take time to adjust to being outside. You can feel the wind blowing lightly, and the temperature outside is quite warm, as the hot sun shines proudly in a cloud-free sky. When you can see again, a sea of other students of all shapes, sizes, and powers come into focus. They're celebrating wildly on the Green, the beautiful lawn in front of the school's main hall.
A couple of students fly overhead, one using a flight power and the other on majestic bird wings. A canine-like student runs by you on all fours, chased by another evo who looks to have a pair of rocket boots. There are teams playing Frisbee on the grass, one expertly throwing the disc without even looking to another evo who catches it with an elongated tongue from one of their many mouths. Other students are pigging out on pizza and dancing to music blaring from a portable speaker someone brought. There is a beautiful light show going on from one of the students, Muse, a performing magic user.
Next
When the mass of students notices you've come out of the door, they fall silent with anticipation. A Black girl approaches you with a white-and-blue uniform, a giant smile, cute, round glasses, and her hair in space buns. "Hey, do I know you? You look familiar."
Something tells you she may know you as your old name, Scout.
You shake your head and correct her, "I don't think so, but I'm Prodigy."
"Oh, cool name! Anyway, I'm Rainbow," she says, as her mouth releases a different light color with each syllable while she speaks. An extremely on-the-nose alias. "Did you make it?" she asks quietly, getting closer so you don't have to speak too loudly in your response. You decide to just nod, and Rainbow squeals. She grabs your hand and raises it in the air to present you to the group. "We got another one! We're at fifty-seven!"
The crowd erupts in hoots, hollers, and celebration. "Fifty-seven!" They cheer in a way that tells you they've done this fifty-six times already. And Rainbow quickly returns to partying.
A familiar face sits under a nearby tree, away from the others.
Enter Conjurer
Growing up, you almost always saw evos from afar, unless you were helping to "bring them to justice." Your family's roots are in Morgana City, but even you have to admit it's a cesspool of crime and violence that's also filled to the brim with villains. People don't go there unless they have to.
But Conjurer…
He's an evo around your age, also the child of an established, legacy hero, and made the effort to visit you frequently after you developed powers. He has tried to get close to you by becoming instrumental in you learning to control your powers to the degree you can. But, oddly, he's a recent addition to your life.
Conjurer is meditating in the shade of a large willow tree on the Green. This is a pose you've found him in many times before, his dyed-green hair hanging over his eyes. Conjurer is an evo of Chinese descent wearing a silver-and-black uniform. The tree's shade is keeping him from exposure to too much sun, which is how he keeps his light complexion.
Though his eyes are closed and Conjurer appears deep in thought, he speaks when you get within a few feet. "Good. You passed."
"Of course, I passed. I'm not going to let some robot stand in my way."
Conjurer opens his eyes and raises his hands. "Whoa, calm down. I was kidding. No one seriously doubted you."
"Sure," you respond, moving under the shade, leaning against the tree, and crossing your arms. The sun is especially hot today, so you're following Conjurer's lead and avoiding its rays.
Next
You and Conjurer look out over the campus. "Wild, huh? This is our home for the next six months."
He is right. Evos Academy means half a year away from Morgana City. Six months finally on your own. There are many possibilities, and Conjurer looks to you as a potential partner to navigate this new world. After all, it's his first time at Evos Academy, too.
Of course, most students know who he is…the son of the World Warlock, the most powerful magic wielder in all of reality and defender of existence itself on a multiversal level, or that's what he says. You kind of have to take Conjurer's word for it since you've never met the World Warlock in person.
His father pushed him to train harder and harder, and only this year permitted Conjurer to attend the academy. Most evos enroll around the age of sixteen or seventeen, but others (like you and Conjurer) are late bloomers, attending after their eighteenth birthday. In theory, Conjurer possesses more raw power than any other student here, which is a scary thought. You're happy to be on his good side, at least. You've seen his magic turn the tide of more than one battle with your own eyes.
Next
Looking back, your story isn't too different from Conjurer's.
Even without powers, you were the sidekick of a prominent hero in Morgana City for about seven years using the name Scout. From the time you could walk, you were trained for greatness and found yourself fighting stronger and stronger evos beside her, making up for your lack of superpowers with an intense training regimen. Your retention of weapons training versus debate training versus traditional education varies. Still, your time serving as a sidekick helped you acclimate to becoming an evo six months ago, when your powers erupted without warning and everything changed.
It was unexpected and out of the ordinary since evos usually develop powers from birth or during puberty. There are exceptions to the rule based on the power's origin, but your abilities popped up right before your eighteenth birthday. You first met Conjurer about a month later.
In addition to the strange timing, most children of evos gain the same powers as their parents, but you didn't. Your abilities are completely divorced from what your mother can do with hers. She insisted you immediately enroll at Evos Academy to learn how to control your powers after Conjurer's guidance was only so helpful. The White Room Trial was the first real measure of the extent of your powers and your ability to wield them purposefully, but your mind still isn't entirely made up about your future.
After further thought…why are you here at Evos Academy?