My Super-powered Diary Chapter 25 Bright Spot By Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero?

The day had started out so well. My nightmares had been relatively tame, or at least not bad enough to leave me in a shaking quivering mess when I awoke. Fawn had managed to calm me down fairly easily and even though I had exploded nothing was damaged thanks to my new magically protected underwear and nightshirt. We even had a really good morning workout and training session after wishing the twins a happy birthday, though their presents would wait until the next day at the party. Following that morning training session, and a nice relaxing shower to prepare for the day, Mom and Andy took us out for a hearty breakfast at Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House. So overall it was looking like the start to a great day, I should have known it couldn’t last.

It all began innocently enough as we were eating breakfast. Paul was taking a break and letting one of the other servers take over hosting duties for the moment while he and Andy talked about going to look for a new grill together that evening for the next day’s birthday party and maybe grabbing a few beers together. I thought that it was nice to see Andy making a good guy friend, what with him being so outnumbered by girls at home. He had introduced us all to his wife Kasumi as well. She seemed very nice and from the graceful and confident way she moved I would have had to have been blind to not see that she was an experienced fighter. She had also joined us for breakfast and was packing away as much food as I was.

I knew from when we had chosen our classes a few days ago that she would be teaching seven classes this semester. First she would be teaching Beginner Martial Arts classes for grades seven to eight, nine to ten, and also eleven to twelve. She would also be teaching Advanced Martial Arts for the same age groups and Archery. “It’s very nice to meet you all,” she offered conversationally as we ate with her seated beside me. “So you’re the Ainsley girls and their Fairy friends, Alana mentioned you all to me. I’ll have all but one of you in my beginner martial arts classes and I believe I heard that Merida was interested in Archery as well.”

“Aye,” I replied with a nod as I tapped my school ID bracelet to have a look at my class schedule. “I ‘ave ya fer Archery eighth period an’ it looks like… tha’s weird, I cannae find Beginner Martial Arts ‘ere. The closes’ thing I kin find is Advanced Combat durin’ third period, bu’ I dinnae remember choosin’ tha’ or even seein’ it afore now.”

Kasumi smiled and shrugged as she leaned toward me to say quietly, “That’s because it didn’t exist before you registered. Alana briefed me on your situation, asked me to take you under my wing, and put me in charge of your training. Since you have long term real life combat experience, we didn’t want you drawing too much attention to yourself in the beginner classes, but we also wanted you to get the training you need to adjust to fighting in your new form, help you learn what you need to, and to provide a challenge for you. With that in mind, that class will just be you and me, one on one. We’ll have one class like that every semester until you graduate. You’ll get credited for Beginner Martial Arts this semester, and we’ll credit you for other courses as we progress. I will be teaching you a mix of Kendo, Kung Fu, Akido, Judo and Karate to compliment the skills you already possess. I will also teach you how to use those constructs of yours in close combat and perhaps help you to gain better control over that dangerous energy of yours.”

“Good luck wi’ that’,” I grumbled once she had said the last part. “I thought tha’ was why I was takin’ Energy Manipulation as a class though.” Then I busied myself trying to finish the food on my platter.

“You’ll learn to control it Merida, I just know you will,” Fawn said encouragingly.

“That class will help,” Kasumi agreed, “but as I understand it your strong emotions are the problem. We can work on that through meditation. I do know a thing or two about controlling energy myself though.” A smile crept across her face as a near-blinding sparkling golden light appeared in her hand, fashioning itself into the shape of an intricate looking sword.

Iridessa let out an awed gasp from atop Tasha’s shoulder and said in almost a whisper, “That might be the sparkliest thing I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of sparkly things!”

Everyone else at the table was staring quietly though, except for Paul who was grinning. Mom squinted at her for a moment before her eyes went wide. “Holy shit, yer Bright!” Even I knew who Bright was, I had watched her exploits eagerly as a teenager hoping to Activate. Before Liberty or Paragon ever showed up Bright was the biggest superhero name in the world. At her home in Japan they had called her Amaterasu, but she worked all over the world and once the tabloids had come up with that name for her it had stuck. She was supposed to be a brilliant martial artist, Category three Enhanced, and Category five Energy Manipulator, one of the first Cat fives ever officially recorded. She dropped out of sight over fifteen years ago though.

“I haven’t used that name since I retired to have Hana… err Hiro,” she said with a distant expression. “Mind you it was better than Amaterasu, It always felt so pretentious when people called me that. So Merida, do you think I can manage to teach you a thing or two?”

I couldn’t speak for a long moment. My childhood hero was going to be teaching me to fight and control my powers. Luckily I was saved as Hiro emerged from the over-sized door at the side of the restaurant near our table that was marked, Employees Only. As soon as he saw us the half Japanese Hyper grinned and approached our table. “Hey, if it isn’t the Ainsley girls. I was going to call you to see if you felt like a tour of the town today. Michelle and Garret are busy, but Lindsey said that she should be able to join us.” Then he seemed to realize that we were all gaping at his mother and saw the sword in her hand. “Oh, I see you told them about the Bright thing. Did you tell Merida that she’s going to be your padawan yet?”

We had all gotten over the shock as Hiro’s Mom and I finished our breakfasts and Hiro started on his own and we had actually managed a somewhat normal conversation as our families got to know one another a bit better. Then Mom and Andy needed to leave for the school so Kasumi took a ride with them and we had headed with Hiro to meet with Lindsey at Forsythe Park a few blocks away from the restaurant. She was dressed for the warm weather in denim cutoffs, sandals, a bikini top, and a pair of sunglasses.

She waved and stood up from the swing she was sitting in as we approached. “Hey girls! Hey, Hiro, are you all ready to see the sights?” Then she caught sight of the Fairies and gasped out, “OMG you all match! that is so cute!”

The Fairies were all currently dressed in outfits that perfectly matched those of their human companions. Silvermist and Vanessa both wore an outfit similar to Lindsey’s; dark blue bikinis and sandals with a shimmering blue wrap around their waists. Iridessa and Tasha both wore yellow sundresses with floral prints and sandals on their feet. The twins both wore tan capris, t-shirts, and sneakers, though Mei’s shirt was green and Shu’s was blue and Tink matched Mei while Shu was matched by Periwinkle. Fawn wore the same black Paramore t-shirt tied in front to expose the midriff, Ainsley tartan skirt, ripped nylons, high top sneakers, and sunglasses that I was. The only difference between our outfits was that I was wearing my dog tags.

We all felt a little awkward about the matching thing in public, well except for the twins who loved the idea. When we had gotten dressed we were just expecting to hang around the house all day while Mom and Andy were at the school so we had thought that it might be a fun time for us all to try the matching looks with our Fairy friends. We hadn’t been expecting to go out for breakfast, meet Hiro’s mother the super-famous retired hero, or go out to tour the town. “Uh yeah, we thought we’d try it out and give the Fairies a taste of human clothes,” Tasha said awkwardly.

“That’s awesome,” Lindsey replied with a grin. “You should totally do a day where all of you wear copies of your Fairies’ usual outfits.”

Fawn jumped all over that, exclaiming, “I like that idea!”

“That would be flitteriffic,” Tink quickly agreed.

Periwinkle quickly chipped in, “We should do that tomorrow!”

“Yeah,” Silvermist agreed, “It will be fun and I bet you’d all look beautiful.”

“This isn’t too much different than my usual dress, “Iridessa put in. “You would look great in it Tasha.”

“Thanks Dessa, maybe we’ll give it a try tomorrow then, if everyone is okay with it,” Tasha said with a smile to her Fairy before casting a cautious glance in my direction.

“I’m kinda having trouble picturing Mer in Fawn’s dress, though maybe the other outfit with the tunic would be okay for her, though to be honest she kinda surprised me when she started wearing those short skirts like the one she has on now,” Vanessa said with a thoughtful expression on her face.

“I’m developin’ a style ‘ere. Sacrifices ‘ad tae be made,” I replied with a shrug. “Though I s’pose spendin’ part o’ the day in a dress would be okay if it makes Fawn ‘appy. She did dae it fer me after all.” It probably wouldn’t be so bad and I knew that Fawn really wanted it, besides the skirts were helping me to adjust to the idea of wearing girls’ clothes so it wasn’t quite as intimidating as it would have been in the first week or so after we had escaped Omega’s base.

“Is this the part where as the token guy I’m supposed to complain about the girliness and clothes talk?” Hiro asked with a chuckle. “I don’t think I’ve been a guy quite long enough yet, because I don’t see anything wrong with this conversation. We probably should get going though, so we can do everything I have planned.”

“Do you mind if we swing by the train station first?” Lindsey asked, wringing her hands a bit nervously. “It’s not far from here and my cousin’s train should be coming in soon. He’s supposed to be visiting us until school starts and I thought that we could meet him there and maybe give him the tour as well. Don’t worry, he’s our age and he’s pretty cool with weird stuff since his mom is a Hyper. He knows about my… umm change, but he hasn’t seen it firsthand yet so some moral support might be nice, y’know in case…”

“We’ve gotcha covered!” Mei and Shu exclaimed simultaneously with determined looks on their faces.

“You only needed to ask,” Hiro agreed. “I know how intimidating it is seeing family for the first time after a gender swap. We’re there for you and it doesn’t make much difference whether we’re giving the tour to ten or eleven people. Now let’s go so we don’t keep your cousin waiting.”

As Lindsey led the way Fawn and I held back and I placed a hand uncertainly on Hiro’s shoulder. Since breakfast I had been wanting to talk with him alone for a minute, but since it looked like that wasn’t going to happen naturally with another person being added to the group I decided to get it over with now. “Hiro, I jus’ wanted ya tae ken tha’ it was no’ my idea, this whole thing aboot yuir Mom trainin’ me privately. I didnae e’en hear aboot it ‘til breakfast.” I was kind of worried that he might take the whole thing the wrong way or be jealous that I was getting special treatment from his mom.

Hiro actually laughed as he looked me over with an amused look on his face. “I’m not jealous or anything Merida. Mom has been training me privately in martial arts since before I Activated and since then she’s been training me to control my Enhanced abilities. I don’t have your issues or EM powers though and I was happy to hear that she’s training you, if anyone can help you it’s her. She’s been looking forward to this since she told me last night. She said that since she’s not in the hero biz anymore that she wants you and me to be her legacy.”

“Why on Earth would she say somethin’ silly like tha’ she didnae e’en meet me ‘til this mornin’?”

“Well, both Dr. Edwards and I told her about you and she watched the video of your testing in the PDE room yesterday when Dr. Edwards asked her about it. You’re actually really well matched and have a lot in common, which is why she’s willing to teach you one on one. She said that you had prior combat training, and since you’re both Cat five EMs and your force field allows you to increase your speed and strength to roughly Cat three, she can go full out during training without worrying about hurting you. I think you remind her a lot of herself at our age with the power issues too. You’ll be the only one besides me she’s ever trained in their powers, she prefers one on one teaching to classrooms except with mundane things like archery or martial arts,” Hiro explained patiently.

“I used tae ‘ave posters o’ her in ma room,” I admitted a bit self-consciously.

“Yeah when she told me who she was after I Activated I couldn’t believe it at first. As superheroes go she was the real goods, and she’s my mom. Just think Merida, we’re her legacy. We’re going to be the only two Hypers ever trained by Bright, one of the biggest superheroes ever. Now tell me, isn’t that the most awesome thing ever? Now let’s catch up with the others,” he was grinning like a maniac as he took me by the hand and half dragged me to where the others were walking a good distance ahead of us.

I flushed slightly and I could feel my pulse quicken as he took me by the hand. His hand was so warm and he was gripping mine firmly, but carefully so that he wouldn’t hurt me with his enhanced strength. He was being cautious with his speed too so I could keep up. I tried to look away as I sorted out those sensations, but I only saw Fawn flitting along beside me giggling just loud enough for me to hear. That only made my blush even worse.

We were about to enter the train station when I nearly walked right into Tasha, who had stopped short and was looking around nervously. “Wait, something feels off. I have a very bad feeling about this place, there’s something here, something… evil.”

That was when the stampede of screaming people rushing out the front doors nearly trampled us. Tasha teleported and the rest of us scattered, and as soon as the torrent of people had flowed past we ran through the doors and into the train station to see what was going on. Inside there were close to a dozen people on the floor in pools of blood and a large man in a black hoodie, a skull mask, and jeans carrying a large scythe. He was holding a mutant girl by the throat with his free hand. She looked to be around our age with pale skin, bright pink hair, and she had four arms.

“I’m not going back,” the girl choked out as we rushed toward them.

“You act as if you have a choice Gordon Masterson,” the large man said in a deep voice. “The Hive wants you and they have contracted me to bring you to them, dead or alive.”

“Gordon?!” Lindsey sputtered behind me.

“Lincoln?!” the girl choked out.

I had more important matters on my mind though as Tasha’s voice slipped into my thoughts.*Those people are still alive Mer, but they really need medical attention. Whoever this guy is he’s powerful and he enjoys hurting people.*

*Get the girl away from him and then teleport those people out of here. Shu, open the portal you store water in so Vanessa has something to work with. Everyone be ready to hit him hard and fast, but be careful, we don’t know what his powers are yet.* I sent back over the link. Then I raised my force field and, as Tasha teleported the girl out of his grip and beside Lindsey I flew at him and wound up to hit him as hard as I could, but he was gone.

I heard a scream behind me and turned to see him standing behind Lindsey who was staring in shock as she fell to the floor, blood pooling around her. The man in black smiled at me and licked his lips as he said, “This is going to be fun.”

‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Shifters. Shifters are mutants who are able tae shift their own form or alter the molecular structure o’ other things tae varyin’ degrees. There are five categories o’ Shifters: True Metamorphs, Adaptive Shifters, Focused Shifters, Projective Shifters, an’ Alchemists.

True Metamorphs are extremely versatile shape shifters, able tae change the shape an’ appearance o’ their bodies intae tha’ o’ any livin’ creature they kin think o’, an’ change their human form tae any gender, size, mass or appearance. They kin be anyone’ or any livin’ thing an’ their form is only limited by their imagination.

Adaptive Shifters are shifters who ‘ave two or more specific base forms tha’ they kin shift intae, bu’ who are able tae create variants o’ those forms. ‘Nessa is an adaptive Shifter since she ‘as ‘er two specific forms (Mermaid an’ Human), bu’ she kin alter her features, colorin’, body shape, an’ such in both o’ those forms tae give ‘erself a wide variety o’ looks created from those base forms.

Focused Shifters are sorta one trick ponies, if’n ya catch ma meanin’. They are able tae change one or two specific things aboot themselves, such as size, mass, coloring, gender, or growin’ spikes or claws or stuff like tha’. Take Shell fer instance, when she gets attacked ‘er molecular composition changes tae suit ‘er needs, an’ her physical capabilities kin change base on the new form, bu’ tha’s ‘er only ability.

Projective Shifters are fairly rare. They ‘ave the ability tae change the appearances o’ people other than themselves the same way tha’ True Metamorphs kin change themselves. A person like tha’ would be right ‘elpful if’n someone needed tae send a team undercover an’ make sure they wouldnae be recoginized, bu’ it could be scary as well if’n they were tae misuse tha’ power. Take it from me, bein’ changed intae someone tha’ ya cannae recognize in the mirror agains’ yer will kin be ‘ard on a person.

The final class o’ Shifters are Alchemists. They are jus’ as rare as Projective Shifters an’ ‘ave the potential tae be jus’ as dangerous. They usually cannae change themselves or other people, bu’ they kin change the appearance or molecular composition o’ inanimate objects. They could potentially create convincin’ forgeries, or turn lead intae gold. I ken tha’ sounds cool an’ all bu’ someone like tha’ could seriously destabilize an economy without e’en tryin’.

Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Shifters today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Psychics. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.