Super Nova Genesis - Evolution of the Phoenix

Phoenix could not figure out a way to respond, this is the girl everyone raved about. She had the urge to reverse her decision to partner with her but it’s too late.

“Now that everyone has a partner,” continued Mark. “Let’s move on to the exercise.”

He walked off and another girl with a South Asian appearance stood by the mic.

“Hello everyone, I’m Monica Sharma,” she said. “There’s only one thing you need to know and that’s trust. You and your partner, who you’re likely only meeting for the first time will attempt to show the utmost faith in each other. There may be many hero team ups in the future and what will the result be if neither show confidence in the other’s abilities. So, one person from each pair, whisper what your Enigmas are in your partners ear.”

Diana did not wait, she quickly leaned forward and whispered. “Solar Flame, a pyrokinetic ability, it reaches extremely hot temperatures.”

Phoenix’s eyes widened, she definitely wouldn’t want to be on Diana's bad side.

“Now, with the information you’ve received,” Monica resumed. “The one who was told please head over to the tables of items you’ll see on the sides of hall. There, you’ll find random equipment. The choice is yours, pick something that'll counteract your partner's abilities or something that could possibly enhance it, you must pick both of each.”

Phoenix along with several others went over to the tables. There were random things like bug repellent, fertilizer, cement bags, many buckets of water, lighters, reflector shields and more. Phoenix looked around at what she could choose, she noticed Logan had already picked out wood glue and varnish, what a strange combination. Phoenix eventually went for the fire retardant blanket and the hand-held flame thrower.

Once everyone had returned to their partners a new person took the mic, a boy with a Hispanic appearance.

“Good Afternoon everyone,” Phoenix make out he was Puerto Rican. “My name is Arnold J. Santísima. So, listen carefully, the one with the two objects, you’ll have to decide whether to use the resister or the enhancer. What I’m about to say now is crucial, your partner has permission at this moment to use their powers against you.”

There was a stir in the crowd, some spoke up while others were too dumfounded, like Phoenix, to say anything.

“It’s up to the one using their powers whether they want to cause harm or not,” Arnold continued. “Do you trust your partner won’t hurt you, should your partner trust you that you won’t try to counteract their powers.”

There were protesting, some dropped what they were holding while others returned to the tables to put what they had back. Only a very few decided to stay, Phoenix never moved.

“If that’s all of your decisions, then we'll continue with whoever decided to keep what they have. Now then, you may begin!”

Abilities began activating, Phoenix looked around. She noticed Eden's had also dropped their things but Andy had decided to use the pot plant their partner got. The flower actually moved and proceeded to give him a handshake with it’s leaves. Vivy was floating in the air, it seems her partner was telekinetic, she didn't have to bring anything, she floated merrily in the air as she spun and rotated. Logan proceeded to wipe varnish over her partner whose skin turned to wood, he then turned his arm into a backscratcher and gave her a massage.

On the other hand there were just two groups where the one partner decided to go all out. A boy who turned to steel punched their partner in the gut while having a vicious smile despite their partner using the Rust-Away cream on them while a girl with acid seemed more upset that their partner used the corrosive proof shield to guard themselves so she proceeded to punch at him with her acidic hands. Hmm, she looks a bit like Diana.

“You ready,” said Diana.

Phoenix tensed, she had to think quick, what kind of person is Diana? Is she a bully, does she look down on the weak or is she genuinely concerned for other's wellbeing. But Phoenix being the trustworthy person she is decided to use the flamethrower. She wasn’t sure if Diana was immune to external sources of fire so she kept a reachable distance where the flame would not touch her.

Phoenix let out the flames and in a swift motion, Diana took control of it like a fire bender from the cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender. Everyone stared in their direction, some said her name while others gawked in amazement, she looked so elegant. Suddenly, the fire formed in to the shape of a dragon above and flew straight towards Phoenix. She panicked and ducked in cover, she could feel the heat, a bit of the flames singed her back.

“I didn't intend to let the flames hit you, I would have extinguished it at the last second. If you’d faced my attack head on I would have considered you strong, but it seems I was mistaken.”

Phoenix looked up, her face full of tears. A bit of her clothing burnt off, they are meant to be extremely fire resistant, but it seems Diana really does have flames that strong. Then, all of a sudden, Phoenix’s tentacles went wild, they proceeded to attack Diana as if they had a mind of their own. Diana however dodged each attack perfectly without even using her powers. She then grabbed one and turned up the heat on her palm, the pain on the tentacle caused the others to stop as well.

“Octopus?” said Diana.

Phoenix began waving her hands frantically as she stood up.

“S-s-s-s-sorry, I didn't do that, they often act on their own!”

“Yo Lilywhite, I think you need to take care of that,” said Andy, she pointed a thumb at her back.

Phoenix moved her head to look behind, a bit of her bra and underwear was exposed. Her whole body turned red.

“Kya!! Don’t look!”

Some of the boys got bleeding noses, Andy, Vivy and Eden covered her.

“Tch,” Diana then walked out the hall.

“Take the flames head on?” said Andy. “Was she trying to turn you into to charred calamari?”

"I doubt any person would have," said Eden.

“Umm, due to unfortunate circumstances, we will call that a day,” said Blake. "Let's leave a full description of the camp's scheduling, be sure to check that out, dismiss.”

The three girls walked Phoenix out of the Hall, Logan was still being pampered and stayed for a while. Eden checked on her roommate's back and noticed something.

“They’re gone.”

“What?” said Andy and Phoenix

“You're burn marks, they’ve healed,” Vivy noticed as well. "That's so cool!"

Andy checked too. “Yeah, she’s right, even the tentacle that got scorched is fine now.”

It was at that moment Phoenix realized she did not feel the pain anymore.

“So you really do have regeneration,” said Andy. “Hey, you said it was a possibility, are you telling me you haven’t been wounded up until now.”

“Well, it’s a bit complicated,” Phoenix responded. “My powers never appeared all at once. It started with tentacles then year after a year a new one arrived.”

“I see, so I guess you wouldn’t have known what your new ability was until you got hurt,” said Eden.

"Damn, so lucky, I wish I had an ability like that,"said Vivy.

“Also, how is your underwear not burnt?” said Andy.

“W-w-why would you ask that!?”

“Hmm yes, the fire resistant top and pants shows signs of damage by flames,” observed Eden. “But not your regular panties.”

“You too!?”

Vivy just laughed uncontrollably that whole time. They continued back to the dorms, Logan didn’t return until evening.

$$$

It was dinner time, Andy, Eden, Phoenix, Vivy and Logan sat at the same table, though Logan was engrossed in a another comic. Their meals for tonight consisted of sirloin steak with mushroom sauce, baked potato, boiled vegetables and garlic bread. There were a variety of drinks, Eden had orange juice, Andy took the coke, Phoenix had strawberry milkshake, Vivy with with a powerade, as if she didn't already have a ton of energy, while Logan just drank water.

Between the five of them, Andy was the biggest eater. She went for seconds before any of them were half way done. Out of nowhere a paper hit the back of Phoenix, it was a note. There were insults written in and a vulgar illustration on. Snickering could be heard by another table. Before Phoenix started crying like she usually would, there was a commotion from where the paper had been thrown.

Suddenly, Logan sat down by her seat, when did she even leave. In fact, Vivy was already prepard to pounce on him herslef but was beaten to the chase, seems she's got competition.

“Forget about them.”

Logan never even looked at their faces but just continued reading. The other girls looked in that direction and saw a guy lying on the ground, food on his face and his pants pulled off to expose his boxers.

“Whoa, what happened there?”

Andy came back with another tray of food. Nobody answered, Logan never even looked up again. Eden patted Phoenix on the back, then let her pat her head, that did make her feel better.

“Do any of you have an idea which sport you’ll play?” asked Andy. “Because I’ll be doing Baseball and so is Logan and I presume you as well, Vivy, since you both play already.”

"Righty oh!" Vivy responded.

“I guess I’ll join you three,” said Eden.

“Well if everyone’s going for Baseball then I’ll play too,” said Phoenix.

“That's cool, but I also think join the Basketball team too, you’re literally the tallest girl here,” said Andy.

Phoenix didn’t protest.

“However, what I really want to know is what’s on that girls mind,” Andy pointed to a table where a single person sat. “The famous Diana Archer being a Lone Wolf like always.”

“I-I want to ask, but is she the same everywhere?” said Phoenix.”

“Yeah, what you saw earlier today is what she’s always like.”

“Oh.”

“But you don’t have to worry about that, she may be a cold-hearted wench but she’s good at what she does.”

Phoenix was not eager to get close to Diana. If the latter wants to be by herself then it’s best as it is. Maybe shés better off making friends with the white-haired girl from the bus, she seemed polite.

“Excuse me, ladies, but is this seat taken,” a girl had come over to their table looking for a place to sit, she had a English accent. “I’m afraid the only other bench unoccupied is by Miss Sunshine over there.”

She pointed at Diana’s place; she probably didn’t call her Sunshine because of her personality.

“Hey, it’s all yours,” Andy offered.

“Why I thank you.”

She sat down, she was quite the beauty, the embodiment of the British Rose. She had golden blonde hair and piercing royal blue eyes, her lips were redder than ripened tomato, her skin white as a porcelain doll.

“As you’d guess by the way I speak that I’m new to the country,” she said. “My name is Cordelia Ridley and I’m from London, though I was born and raised in Reading, Berkshire.”

"Those are some funny names," said Vivy. "Red ding Berk sheer."

Everyone looked at her as if she'd commited an intenational war crime.

"Don't mind her, she's just hyper," said Andy. “So, what’s it like in the States for you?”

“Well, not too bad so far, I’ve only been here for a month though.”

“Which dorm are you staying at?” asked Phoenix.

“Building 5, which is where the Artemis and Athena classes are.”

"Oh, we're in the same one!" said Vivy.

"You didn't notice her?" said Eden.

"Must have slipped my mind."

She's moving at such a pace that her brain can't catch up.

"Well, I have seen you around," said Cordelia. "I'd have introduced myself earlier but I couldn't keep up."

"You and us both," said Andy.

“And which class are you?” asked Eden.

“An Athena type,” replied Cordelia. “My ability is Transfiguration, I can alter the shape, appearance and size of things.”

"That is awesome!" cried Vivy

“Care to demonstrate,” said Andy.

“Oh, well, let's see,” Cordelia looked around the picked up her bottle of cider. She closed her eyes and seemed like she’s in focus. Then, the bottle began to re-shape before turning into a Sprite.

"Holy cow!" said Vivy.

“Hmm, it doesn’t seem much different,” said Eden.

“I know,” Cordelia sighed. “It takes a lot of focus to alter the atomic structure of objects, as you can see I could only go as far changing the bottle shape which is easy but the actual contents only changed as far as a flavour concerned.”

“So basically, any two things with a vastly different configuration can be complicated to transform.”

“In simple terms, yes.”

“I also notice that you could change an Apple Cider into a drink most well known for its lemon flavor,” noted Eden.

“Yes, that’s actually something that developed from my powers. When I was a child I could only change foods that were closely related like lemons and limes or Oranges and Grape Fruits. Now I can change any fruit, vegetable and grain. However, more complex foods like dairy products and proteins are something I can’t do.”

“Then I guess you can’t turn this steak into lamb,” said Andy.

“No, but I can change the sirloin to mignon.”

Andy's eyes looked as if she was up to something.

“If that’s the case, how about another demonstration,” she said as she gestured towards her platter.

“Sure.”

Cordelia picked up a fork then pressed it onto Andy's steak and it morphed into a different cut.

“Wow, so you don’t have to make full contact!” said Vivy.

“That's right, any conductor can form as a link.”

“Here's a question,” Logan decided to join the party. “Is it possible to change this issue of The Amazing Spider-man into another comic?”

“It is possible, but I can’t at this moment. I guess, it’s time to explain my other limitations,” explained Cordelia. “To turn one thing into another I must know what the other thing is. To change one work of mediam I must have watched or read it first. As for this, I must have consumed it before, like this Sprite for instance.”

“Right, so I presume you haven’t read any Batman in your life?”

“Not a single volume.”

“Hmm,” Logan went back to her silent space.

“I guess that’s everything we could ask,” said Eden.

Ooh! Ooh!" Vivy excitedly raised her hand. "Can you change my appearance!?"

"Umm, I'm afraid my ability is not that potent."

"Aww."

Phoenix wondered who or what Vivy would want to look like.

“But regardles, feel free to enquire about my powers as much as you like.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” said Andy. “I'm Andromeda Williams, but call me Andy.”

“O-oh, I-I'm Phoenix Lilywhite.”

"Nice to meet ya, the name's Vivien O'Hara, but everyone calls me Vivy!"

"You're the one who calls yourself Vivy," said Andy.

“I’m Eden Green,” Eden Answers nonchalantly.

“Logan Mackenzie,” Logan waved a hand but did not look up.

“It's a pleasure to be acquainted,” said Cordelia.

"Soo, aren't you gonna tell us yor name," said Vivy.

Everyone, besides Logan and Eden, collapsed on the ground, dumbstruck.

"She already did, you caffeine-fuelled dragonfly!" said Andy.

"Ooooh, teehee," she bopped her head while sticking out her tongue. "What was it again?"

"Cordelia Ridley," answered Cordelia with a smile. "You said my birthplace had a funny name."

"Oh right, what was it a again, Dead ring...Shirk beer?"

Cordelia stiffled a laugh, Eden facepalmed.

After finish eating everyone went back to their rooms. Eden got too tired to walk back so fell asleep at the table. Phoenix couldn’t get over how cute she is. Phoenix then carried her all the way back.

“Its funny how you’re carrying someone older than you like a baby,” said Andy.

“Yeah.”

“Anyway, I can’t wait to see what’s installed for us tomorrow!” said Vivy.

“I on the other hand am not too ecstatic,” Phoenix made a face like she’d sucked on a lemon.

Vivy and Cordelia seperated from the group to head to their dorm, the rest of them got to their rooms, Andy waves goodbye from her door, Logan holds up a peace sign, once again, without looking. Phoenix lays Eden on her bed, takes off her shoes and covers her in a blanket. She looked so adorable the way she curls up.

Phoenix sat on her bed, she then took out her laptop. She began calling someone on video chat, there was an answer.

“Oh hi, Fawkes!” the girl on view responded while calling her by a nickname.

“Hi Dorothy,” Phoenix greeted.

Dorothy Garland is Phoenix’s friend since kindergarten. They've been going to the same schools ever since and never parted ways.

“How'd your first day go?”

“It’s a mixed baggage.”

“That so, huh? Anyway, did you meet any new friends.”

“I sure did, take a look.”

Phoenix faced her webcam at Eden.

“Awwww! Who’s the cutie?”

“That’s my roommate, Eden Green.”

“Why do I have to be stuck with a doing Summer homework while you’re out having fun?”

“Because you’re D average student with no powers.”

“Boooo,” Dorothy puffed her lips like a fish.

“By the way, did you watch that show I recommended?”

“Hmm, what was it called again, oh, Haikyu! Nah, not yet.”

“Whaaa, but it’s so good.”

“Easy for you to say, you’ve played Volleyball.”

“Come on, you’ll still love it,” Phoenix made a puppy dog face.

Dorothy sighed. “You’re so lovable, even for a giant.”

“Soo….”

“Yeah, I’ll watch it right away," said Dorothy. "Oh, did you get to see Diana Archer?’

Phoenix almost dropped her laptop.

“How does everyone know her but me?”

“Wait, you didn’t? But she’s been on the news for the last couple of years.”

“Maybe I just don’t follow the news.”

“Well, she’s made multiple rescues all the way back from when she was 12 years old.”

“If she’s so good, why even come to this camp?”

“Beats me, but some say it’s a rebellion thing, something to spite her famous hero of a father.”

“Do I know her father?”

“You sure do, it’s Steel of Fortune.”

Phoenix almost slipped from her bed.

“The master of projectiles himself?”

“The very one.”

“But he’s ability is to manifest weapons.”

“Yeah, her fire powers come from her mom, something you both have in common.”

“Oh, then I guess that makes sense, well, I mean the part where she has a fire user parent.”

“So, what was she like?”

“Exactly how people describe her.”

“I see.”

“And we were partnered up together.”

“Ooh, tough break.”

“Tell me about it.”

“But anyway, I’m glad you called, but I’m afraid these worksheets won’t fill in themselves, though I wish they would, see ya, bye.”

Dorothy hung up. Phoenix put her Laptop away and layed down on her bed. She took a moment to ponder the first day's events and wondered how she could better improve tomorrow. She looked over at Eden, she was actually sucking her thumb, Phoenix is about to melt, she can’t deal. After some time, she dozed off.

$$$

The next morning, there was loud voice.

"Goooood morning!"

Phoenix sat up quickly. She rubbed her eyes, Vivy had broke into their dorm and had dog piled her.

"Oh, good morning," Phoenix yawned.

She noticed her shoes were removed and was covered in a sheet, she saw Eden was still fast asleep but assumed she may have woken up in the middle of the night at some point.

"Day one of hero training!" cheered Vivy. “I’m so looking forward to it!"

Phoenix checked and it was still 6.30 a.m, she wonders how long Vivy had been waiting here. She didn’t go back to sleep though, not that she could, and proceeded to wash her face off and brush her teeth.

Due to all the racket, Eden eventually sat up, she stretched out her arms and yawned. She got out of bed but didn’t put on her slippers, her tiny bare feet making the faintest of footsteps.

“Ohayo…I-I mean, good morning,” said Phoenix.

“Columbus, Ohio,” responded the half-awake Eden as if that’s actually a form of greeting. “Seattle, Washington.”

"Orlando, Florida!" yelled Vivy.

"..."

"..."

"What, weren't we playing a game?"

Eden went into the bathroom.

“Be careful not to slip!” Phoenix tells her.

After some time they both got changed into their camp t-shirts along with the pants but since it’s still hot left the jackets. Vivy seems to already be dressed, she wore the shorts and had her gloves and goggles. They first go next door, but Andy and Logan had already left, likely to catch the early bird special.

They went down to the lobby, it was empty.

“I guess everyone is more punctual in their early rising,” said Eden.

“Well then, shall we?” said Vivy as she put her arms over their shoulders.

"Y-yes, let's do our best."

They exited the building. What beheld them was the sight of chaos. There were wild fires, destroyed facilities, screams of anguish and people engaged in battle.

"The hell is this?!" yelled Vivy.

“W-w-w- what is happening!?” shrieked Phoenix.

“It's an attack from villains,” said Eden.

“H-h-how are you sure?”

“Those men who the other campers are fighting are wearing the insignia of criminal syndicate.”

“W-w-what should we do?”

“We have no choice, we have to fight.”

"F-f-f-ight? But we never trained."

“Phoenix, you’re still lacking in any combat training, but for now you can really help those who are in danger. I on the other hand had formal training before. I guess you as well.”

"Correcto!" Vivy saluted.

Phoenix only then realized she never asked what Eden's powers are. Does it have anything related to agriculture like all the other Demeter class Enigmas.

Eden started taking off her clothes all of a sudden.

“W-w-what are you doing?”

"This isn't the time for a strip show!" said Vivy.

When Vivien O'Hara starts spouting common sense then you know something is wrong.

“Unfortunately, my camp outfit would be destroyed if I use my powers,” Eden revealed a spandex suit underneath her outfit It covered her from neck to toe. “These however were custom made specifically for me beforehand.”

Eden stuck out her hands as if indicating that Phoenix and Vivy should stand clear. Phoenix didn’t notice anything at first but then realized something…is she taller than her now? Now she's double her size, triple she kept growing and growing until she was about a hundred feet.

"Holy crap!" cried Vivy.