Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Legion Worlds - Tales from the Academy (Completed 6 August)

Hi all,

This will be a side project to the main Legion Worlds fan-fics.

Back story - the Academy at Montauk Point has been destroyed (in Legion World Two, by the Daughters of Black Adam) and the students have moved all their kit and caboodle up to Legion World, a small planetoid the main team took from the Dark Circle and made their own headquarters (in Legion World One).

With the main team away to move to Legion World Two - the Forge Chosen Tyrrazians former battle world - the Academy now has full run of Legion World One.

Luornu Durgo-Taine is leaving three of herselves behind to run the Academy as its headmistress/es. Joining her are Cosmic Boy, Colossal Boy, Wildfire, Chameleon Girl and Night Girl as tutors.

The Academy has just welcomed thirty new students who have been split into teams of six and given a former Legionnaire as their mentor.

The teams are as follows:

Team Cosmic have Cosmic Boy, the Colossal Crew have Colossal Boy, the Trailblazers are being mentored by Wildfire, Chameleon Girl runs the Changelings and the Night Guard are being tutored by Night Girl.

I'll add to these vignettes on an as-and-when basis.

The Colossal Crew -


Ballistix:

Crishtrakrek 714 of the Amegtranian Conglomerate on Zuun couldn't sleep.

Literally, she had been created to not to require sleep. Instead she could selectively close down either of the positronic hemispheres of her brain at any time if needed independently of the other and right now she didn't see the need to. As part of the team assigned with Colossal Boy as a mentor she was feeling miffed that he was currently helping out with another group of students while her team had been given an eight hour break and been told to get some sleep as at 2200 standard they would be tested on their endurance.

Her endurance would not suffer for missing a single nights sleep. Her body was composed of far denser carbon than human stock and her silicon blood ensured her stamina and strength were far, far above those of the rest of her team. Her creators had built her to be physically strong enough to stand toe to toe against almost any opponent. Her fellow students would certainly all fail whatever the next day's test was before she even broke into a sweat, Crishtrakrek was certain of it...

Perhaps, she considered, the tutors would be creating individual tests for each student based on the students application data, in which case she would need to reconsider choosing not to rest. An hours rest for each side of her synthetic brain. One hour each would be more than enough...



Dragon Lass

Mari Baertling looked at herself in the mirror. She pretended to everyone that she was okay with the transformation as, she always replied when anyone asked, she had been rather plain before and she was anything but plain now. But now... with her tough gray skin and bat-like wings she was definitely unlikely to ever have any boy she liked pay her attention, not in the way she had always dreamed of. At least as she was before the accident she had a slight chance of being noticed. Now she would definitely be noticed but for all the wrong reasons.

Rimbor was full of freaks so she wasn't the only one that looked so different but on her home world she would probably end up tethered by a Guild Debtman so at least here her strength and looks wouldn't be out of place or misused. The Gray Sisterhood had raised her in one of their many street homes to try to be better... Try to get past her rough upbringing and become a productive member of society. And what could be more productive that being a Legionnaire?

Her application had initially been refused and she had almost signed up to a Guild for work. Her friend Sheesa had reapplied for her and perhaps it was because of Mari's poor writing skills or something on the initial application but almost immediately the Academy had contacted Mari and told her if she could pass the gene-scanner's assessment she would have a place on their next semester in Sol, and the Academy had even offered to pay for her transport as well... Mari had cried when the holo was read to her - Sheesa had explained a few of the longer words to her and she laughed and cheered with her friend. They had enjoyed one final night out where Mari carried Sheesa around the tower blocks as she flew ecstatically through the low lying clouds and they named the distant stars and constellations that happily shared the sky with them for a night.

Mari had been quiet for the first few days on Legion World One, too shy to speak to all the exotic students that shared the satellite.

Yesterday Gim Allon had introduced an exercise that involved the students role playing taking charge of a situation without resorting to a physical intervention. Mari had been so nervous initially that she had almost refused to take part, until she remembered Sheesa's final words to her as they parted at the Spaceport. Her best friend had hugged her tightly and said straight into her ear:

"Never doubt you are worthwhile Mari, you deserve this chance and you are good enough. Throw yourself into it Mari and make me proud."

Mari hadn't exactly had the best results, the Naltorian had won that round, but she at least had spoken loud enough and even shouted at one point just to be heard and Colossal Boy and her teammates had praised her afterwards. Maybe things would work out after all.

Mari tried to sleep, the tests this evening would be another chance to prove herself worthy of being here, her opportunity to show she was more than a street beggar's unwanted child, given away without a thought. She had to swallow her doubts and try... for Sheesa. For herself

Night Girl had smashed the attack-bot into pieces with three well aimed blows.

"That," She turned to her audience as she spoke, "...is how someone with a physical ability like myself would deal with this situation. How would you deal with it?" She smiled warmly while her eyes twinkled with mischief.

At the back of the group of stunned Academy students Gim Allon suppressed a smile. Lydda had chosen to take this particular group to mentor because none of them had any real destructive physical or energy manipulating abilities. The last few days she had been surprisingly gentle with them and allowed them to settle into their new home and asked them to come up with a team name. Lydda had felt rather proud of the name they had chosen for themselves - 'the Night Guard'. Lydda looked at the six students with a patient smile, she could feel that they were all going to be fine and do well for themselves even though right now they all looked aghast. Eventually one of the students picked up the courage to speak.

"Ma'am... please excuse me, but with your most gracious permission... if I may be allowed... " The tall young man with long silver hair said, bowing his head as he spoke.

"First off, my name is Lydda Jath. Or Night Girl... Not ma'am. I appreciate you come from a polite culture Shardwurd but here on Legion World we need to be pragmatic and there's no time to be polite when you're on a mission and face an attack-bot unexpectedly. So... please, call me either Lydda or Night Girl from now on. So, you were saying?"

<That was a bit harsh Lydda> Gim sent along their personal telepathic comm bandwidth.

<So are the Fatal Five> She replied without looking up at him.

<Ah... yeah, fair comment but this is their first full week here... perhaps we need to sugar coat that a little bit?>

<Nope. Disagree with you there Gim. We'll talk later about it, okay?>

<...sure> Gim Allon was certain that Lydda knew what she was doing but he didn't like seeing the kids before him looking so disappointed and dejected.

The overly polite student had been explaining, stuttering as he struggled after his tutor's rebut, that his abilities only affected living organic material so he would leave the attack-bot for one of his more physically empowered colleagues. Lydda bluntly failed his answer and looked around his fellow students.

"C'mon you lot, you need to develop a sense of personal responsibility. The Legion isn't a crèche, the team will need you to be as self-reliant as possible so your colleagues can focus on their jobs in hand. Come on then, who's next?" Lydda's smile never left her face but her tone was becoming more serious.

"Lydda... I would try to establish a robust plan with my colleagues to defeat the robot attacker." A thin bald girl with dusty mauve skin and golden crescent tattoos on both sides of her face spoke. Several of her fellow students nodded their agreement.

"I can understand that but I have a question in return for you Lavender. Do you not worry that by the time you had come to a consensus the chances are half of you would be smeary streaks on the floor? Sorry, that's another fail. No time to huddle and mull it over when you have an attacker in your face. Next idea?" This time the smile fell from her face and she looked at the group with a vaguely bored expression.

"Umm... Lydda...." A plump boy with unusually bright eyes said, "I would suggest we run and regroup." He looked nervous as he spoke, clearly expecting a put down as a reply.

"It's a possible scenario but what about any potential civilians you leave behind? Not a fail, but not a pass. Most realistic answer so far though..." Lydda gave him a brief smile for his effort.

<Lydda, let's call a break, they're not going to get it> Gim sent through. She gave a small nod towards him as acknowledgement.

Night Girl smiled again and her students all looked relieved to see it. "Right, tell you what... you guys have a thirty minute break before we pick this up again, okay? Though I expect you to have come up with a solution by the time you get back. We have a senior team visit later on today so if you want me to report good things about you to Element Lad and the rest of them then you need to have a good idea whern you return, okay?"

The students rushed from the dojo, talking conspiratorially amongst themselves as they left.

"That was fun! I love them when they're all new and shiny like this. All keen and interested before they get cliquey and arrogant..." Lydda grinned widely as she watched them leave.

"So, what is their solution? None of them can affect the material world in a meaningful way to battle a robot."

"Yeah, I know. To be honest I've absolutely no idea what the proper solution could be but wanted to know what they could come up with." Lydda gave Gim a big grin, "Being a Legionnaire is fifty per cent thinking on your feet so I throw a quick test at them on which would push their ingenuity. A big part of their learning will be getting things wrong and stretching themselves way beyond whatever barriers they think they have so if and when they do get out there on the firing line they'll be less likely to fail."

"Y'know what Lydda..." Gim mused, "I reckon Yera and I both have a load to learn here as well."

"Well you'd better keep up Gim... we have Jan and the senior team coming over later to speak with the students and they'll want to check us out one final time before they take Two out of Sol System. You don't want to let the side down now do you?"

She grinned as she spoke and Gim joined in as she started to laugh.

The Colossal Crew (continued)


Prescience:

In the next room Gord Eno of Naltor was finding it hard to fall asleep.

He'd already foreseen how poorly he'd do at the tests later on that day; he would fail all but one of them. He was going to be the lowest scoring member of the Colossal Crew.

He hadn't foreseen far enough ahead to know if he'd be a Legionnaire yet, his precognition usually only ran to a maximum of two weeks ahead, nowhere near as long term as Nura Nal's visions, but going by tomorrows scores it would be a while before he got a Flight Ring for himself.

He knew he had the potential, after all he was a highly proficient martial artist with the added benefit of being second to none for short term precognition making him a deadly hand to hand combatant. He was one of Naltor's elite - a fully licenced Pre-Commando. He was also by far the oldest human stock student here at 23 standard years old and felt the strong need to prove himself, some of his fellow students had started to call him 'Old Father Time' already. He needed to prove himself and get into the big team!

He already knew he would not be fast enough to pass the first test, nor strong enough to pass the second, his flying skills were not sufficient to pass the third, he had no idea what the fourth or fifth were going to be but he'd foreseen his relief and happiness at passing the last... It would be the only one he'd beat the android girl from Zuun with the impossibly statuesque physique in and the only one he would pass at all.

Meditation was not settling his mind, he'd not yet found anyone yet that caught his eye to spend the night with so that sort of distraction and relaxation was out of the question, and he didn't think there were any bars on Legion World One for him to have a drink in to settle his nerves. At least not where a student in there first week who had a test the next day would be welcome...

Ah well, thought Gord as he got out of his bed and padded over to the dark leather couch on the other side of his room, perhaps there would be something on a Holo-Stream to watch that would help take his mind off how poorly the test would go tonight.

So long as, he thought, it wasn't that Hot Zone trash.



Bouncing Boy ii

Stoor Chamble was not an overly confident speaker usually and when faced with the widow of the dead Legionnaire he had hoped to take on the name of he had stuttered and choked, nervously rubbed a hand through his thick red hair and blushed like a beacon. He could see her expression, usually so severe and haughty on all the holo-news casts he'd ever seen, start to soften until she had broken into a grin. Luornu Durgo-Taine said in a soft voice that Chuck would be so proud that anyone would want to emulate him, let alone take his code-name, that she fully gave her blessing and wished him every success.

That had been four days before, after arriving on Earth from Pasnic. He had been to Earth once before, six years ago, but it appeared even more amazing that he remembered - the building bigger and the people and many alien races were even more exotic! At Metropolis space port, after having spent five days relaxing in the mega-city, Stoor had gulped as he got onto the shuttle to Legion World One - he hoped he would fit in okay!

The first day had been easy enough but the amount of studying that the tutors expected was giving him trouble. He wasn't used to having to use his mind so much. Ever since he had received his abilities he had worked as a one-boy human demolition team so his days were usually full of activating his personal Sphere-shield and bouncing around and smashing buildings, followed by banter with the other construction servicer guys. At 16 he was fully capable of being self-employed and taking charge of his own destiny, and after multiple people had suggested it he had finally applied for the Legion Academy, almost as a joke - he certainly never thought he'd ever get an invite to join.

Seriously! All he could do was cover himself in a spherical force field, bounce and break things...

He was a bit disappointed when he heard that DUplicate Girl... Triplicate Girl as she had only left three of her selves on the Academy planetoid he had to remind himself... would be taking the senior student team so he would have one of the other mentors guiding his time here, but having Gim Allon, Colossal Boy, instead was pretty cool so Stoor hadn't grumbled.

And the Colossal Crew were going to have their first endurance test in under eight hours... he'd spent a few days with his teammates so knew they were tough cookies so he doubted he'd get a great result, still Luorno had said she had faith in him so Stoor planned on doing his best. He could alter the tensile strength of his Sphere-shield from rubbery - hence the Bouncing Boy name - to hard as diamond. HE could be a tough cookie too so he would try his best so Lu would be justified in her pride.

Stoor breathed deeply as he pulled the blanket around his head. He didn't need too much sleep usually but the test sounded tough so the young man closed his eyes and tried not to think of anything other than the lapis skies of home filled with soft pink clouds... it was so strange having day and night cycles here, not like his own tidally locked home world but at least these odd cycles of light and dark helped him sleep better when he needed it.

Within minutes the young man from the distant world was gently snoring and dreaming of floating amongst gentle breezes that kissed his distant world's sky.

Yera Allon and Rokk Krinn had agreed to each pick three of the six students from Yera's group - the Changelings - to be on their teams for this exercise then allow the Dojo AI to randomly decide on their challenge.

The exercise started like something that had taken place in every school yard since time began. The six students were lined up against a wall and Rokk and Year, the two team's captains for this match, strolled back and forth in front of them apparently mulling over each choice. After a little bit of discussion and the tossing of a credit coin Rokk picked first - the bulky young man with the pronounced lispfrom the heavy-G world. The Legion founder whooped as the student joined him. Yera then chose her first team mate - the Gil'Dishpan in the protective methane bubble that had only joined the academy two days before. She tooted her joy as the new student floated across to her side of the dojo. Rokk chose next - the tall girl from Dryad with hawkish features and dark metallic skin. Both he and his first choice cheered her as she bounded over towards them. Yera acted unimpressed with his choice by miming a wide yawn, before smiling broadly and pointing towards the small girl with pointed ears, short pigtails and a prehensile tail. Both Yera and her Gil'Dishpan first choice whooped as the girl effortlessly cartwheeled and back flipped across the dojo floor towards them. There were two student's left... the Winathian twins. Rokk and Yera had planned this as, amongst other things, they wanted to test how the twins could cope being separated. The boys shook hands with each other briefly before walking over to their respective teams. Both had smiles on their faces and accepted the pats on their back from their new teammates but it was clear neither were especially happy about this arrangement.

"Right... Dojo... what have you got for us?" Cosmic Boy said to the gymnasium's AI.

"Who-o-o-o-ah!" The students all cried as the lights went out!

In the command suite Luornu Durgo-Taine watched the dojo on a monitor board with a wide grin on her face. This was the sort of exercise that Chuck used to love to arrange. He'd plan meticulously what student would be on which team to face the supposedly random tests that would arise, all the while making it seem organic and fun to the participants. Chuck Taine had always told Lu that teaching should be fun as people learned more when they were happy. The Cargggite absolutely agreed but had never quite shared her husband's easy positivity and love of taking charge in the moment to achieve it, no matter how hard she had tried. Yera Allon had something similar in her spirit, an honesty and optimism alongside a desire to share them. Lu wondered if that was what had made the Durlan such a successful actress.

It was also a pleasure to see Rokk Krinn being prepared to join in with the games. The Braalian had suffered greatly while seven of their teammates had been stranded in the 21st century but ever since their return and the subsequent increase in membership of the main team Rokk had finally begun to relax. She was not the only one on the team that had worried about him either; he was one of her oldest friends and yet she had had no idea what to do to help him get through that dark patch - she was only happy that it had finally passed. Rokk was going to e a great tutor here, she could feel it.

Lu smiled again and turned around to watch another training exercise on a third monitor: Wildfire had taken a group into space just outside the southern docking bay for the first test of their skills while in a trans-suit.

The Colossal Crew (continued)


Yeti Boy:

Shik Al Sarju was annoyed. The young man from the Boismarshi Colony of the Aldanankrian Oort Cloud mining settlements was fed up with the Academy already.

When he'd arrived he was expecting a bit more than they'd seen so far. For one thing they had yet to get flight rings, then there had been that one hour talk by the Science Police and then they were told they could research laws themselves in their study time. Like, hello, didn't they know he was there already! The team he'd been placed in had met a couple of the tutors but so far no actual serving Legionnaire had come to visit. He had expected they would be swooping in and out and they'd get to know him and... Well, in no time Shik had expected that they would take him to their new base and he'd be one of them. If his plan went ahead he'd be leader within six months and fifteen days, beating Polar Boy's record of time from gaining full membership to becoming leader.

Seriously, he had been here six whole days so what were they waiting for?

His quarters were sparse, with a fold down bed, holo pit and study area. He had asked for no further furnishings as he hadn't expected to be here for any great length of time. Shik got up from his bed and strolled across to the holo pit. As he did he activated his alter-form, at twice his height and almost eight times his usual mass, covered in long white hair, with slightly elongated arms and an extended muzzle he looked very fierce.

Well, he thought, the tests tomorrow might well be his doorway into the full team. He knew that really he should sleep but instead he ordered the holo pit to stream music - Ludwig Minkus - the striking music from La Bayadere. Before he had been mutated into the were-yeti Shik had been obsessed with ballet. It was the highest art form available to the Colonists back home and youngsters were encouraged to participate. Of course many of the youths had refused saying it was just the Colony Management getting them fit enough to work in the radium mines, but Shik had loved it. He could have had a career in it if he hadn't have been... If the change hadn't have happened.

Shik had mentioned the love of dancing to his fellow students in the Colossal Crew but they had teased him, obviously unaware of the joyous freedom of movement. The team he was on really weren't his kind of people at all so he had decided to not mention it again, they'd not see him again once he became a full Legionnaire anyway.

Unselfconsciously, Shik in his altered form started to dance the routine he had learned for the Kingdom of the Shade scene... It was difficult in this form as hie alter form was not as limber as his human form, stretching his yeti-form's limits to their very maximum, but he knew after this his mind would be clear and he would get to sleep.

Tomorrow at the test he knew he would succeed and then the Legion would invite him to join them. He just knew it.

He had been here for six days now after all so it was surely overdue.



Kid Dynamo:

Ja Vlo of Dryad had been a brainwashed pawn in an attempted coup on Rimbor before coming here.

With his brother, one of their cousins and three friends who could each afford the treatments they had all chosen one of the League of Assassins to mimic the abilities of. He'd picked Titania. At the time it had made sense, that somehow by mimicking that bunch of losers they could make the natives of Dryad appear less mental... not that there was anyone on Dryad anymore, not since it was blown up by their sun going nova and all, still the scattered pockets of survivors all suffered from racial guilt that the Assassins used their home worlds death to attack Legion - the team that had rescued them.

Before that he had been a successful athlete, being top of his field in his age group for gymnastics. Until his bloody brother had suggested they use their inheritance to get bootleg gene-mods. Ja's had been okay really, better than some of the others anyway. He'd had his strength, durability and stamina all greatly increased and he now stood at 6 feet 5 inches tall and had the broadest shoulders he'd ever seen on someone his age. The girls loved him and in return Ja continually tried to share his love with them, given the chance.

One other positive side effect of the change was he now only needed two hours sleep a night, so he quickly crammed in some more computo-tutoring on interplanetary legal variances before he'd climb into his bed to get some rest before the endurance tests began. The studying part of being at the Academy was a shocker he had to admit, and he'd heard several students say the same so he was grateful not to be the only one that wasn't naturally academically brilliant here. He knew his cousin Mi, currently part of Cosmic Boy's training group, would love this as she could happily spend her days with her nose pressed up to a hard light screen. She also had an ability that was unique, able to temporarily neutralise meta-abilities so she's gloated that she would be much more likely to be offered Legion membership... they had plenty of strong men already. Yeah, maybe so, but Ja would do his best while he was here and you never know, he could well become the first human-stock from Dryad to make the Legion.

Now, if only that new-boy telepath hadn't used the code-name Ja had dreamed of since he was 9 years old it would all be good... Kid Dynamo was alright, but Titan would have been so much better! And with that thought Ja Vlo started to concentrate on the tutorial before him as it described the similarities and differences between Thanagarian Caste Laws and Venturan Casino rules.

The anti-energy Legionnaire Wildfire, for all his infamous bluster and hot-headedness, had been one of the keenest tutors at the old Academy.

For years now he had visited them whenever he had time even if he had not arranged to take a training session and had exhibited a natural gift at bringing out the best in those on his classes; his challenging approach often seemed to target the students that needed that extra motivation, while supporting those that were genuinely trying their best. Drake Burroughs had been both greatly admired and loathed in equal measure amongst the former students which was something, Lu thought, he should be proud of.

Of the twelve students that had joined Wildfire for this exercise six of them where his team, the Trailblazers, while the others were Rokk's group, the Team Cosmic.

Drake was happy to see that only one had vomited as they stepped through the force field screen into the hard vacuum of space. It was their first trans-suit experience, not that the members of his team needed one. In particular Drake was impressed by the ease shown by the gorilla that had just joined the Academy to replace her older brother who had died at Montauk Point.

Wildfire quickly shooshed the other students before they could ridicule the young man that now had sick stuck down his face and chest and sent him back into the docking bay to get cleaned up. As that student had originated from a planet where the populace lived exclusively underground, Drake had been pretty sure of that this would be the student's reaction on being faced with the endless vista of deep space, even before it happened. Wildfire sternly reminded the students that they each had strengths and weaknesses so before they judged their colleague too harshly they should consider their own flaws.

<So, you each have flight rings and've had basic anti-grav training so let's play a simple game. I want you to catch me, that's all! I won't go any further than two hundred metres from the surface of Legion World and you have thirty whole minutes to do it. The first one of you to keep hold of me for three straight seconds will win. Now..... go!>

And with that Wildfire blasted into the group of students and barrelled them aside like ten-pins. Drake Burroughs was enjoying himself thoroughly as he played the impromptu game with the students. He swung through a clumsy attempt to catch him and lightly blasted another student just enough to send them spinning out towards space. Drake realised that even though he had only been fulltime at the Academy on Legion World One for nine days now in that time he found he thought of Dawnstar and their recently ended relationship less and less, and already somehow didn't it seem quite as important to him.

If ever Drake Burroughs needed confirmation that he had made the right choice recently to leave the main team and take on a full time tutor's role at the Academy then he knew this was it.

Night Guard:


Silver Shaman:

It was his fifth day on this small planetoid and Shardwurd Gandussen of the Ten Peaks of the southernmost continent of Underside on Avalon was away to meet someone that would change his life in the most magnificent of ways only he didn't know it yet.

In the last ten years his home world had become aware that there were other peoples and races out amongst the sparkling skies above, yet as far as he was aware, he was the first to leave.

When his abilities had manifest themselves Eld Garunshea, the tribal elder that had adopted him after his parents had succumbed to the Illbog Fever many years before, had ensured that rumours of witch craft were quickly quashed. He was a healer, she had said to the scared villagers, someone they should approach with open arms and embrace. That had been almost two years ago and for a time he was pretty much left alone unless the villagers wanted his glowing touch to cure them of some malady. In which case they would usually approach his home under the anonymity of night with their requests. He had gladly assisted all that had come to his door until the Lord of the Deep Red Seas was brought there, severely wounded and hanging onto life by only the most tenuous of threads. Shardwurd had heard about how ruthless this man could be but despite his feelings of fear towards the lord his teenage daughter, with her big eyes so full of tears, had persuaded him to help. It had take a little under a day to fix the Lord's damaged organdie and sort his fractured bones, not enough that he would be joining the mid-summer chorus but more than enough that he could walk and talk and continue breathing with some ease for some time to come.

After that the requests for his assistance had become daily, hourly, non-stop and he found he started to hate his gifts, hate the attention he received as well hating the desperation and need that they brought out in those around him.

Then three months ago a visitor from a distant kingdom had arrived at his home urgently needing help after a nasty fall from a horse. This woman, in her initial delirium, said she was of a far away city that was the size of the Ten Peaks themselves and more. A city on the home world of his people... the original home world, not this distant reflection of its past... Metropolis... it sounded like a place to escape, a place where he could finally be free of the prying eyes and urgent requests, lost amongst the crowds and buildings that, she said, were taller than the Central Keep that backed upon to the Ice Fields. Shardwurd listened eagerly and after healing her had offered to join his guest back to her vessel, requesting transport to this strange and magical place. The woman, a planetary inspector for a mining corporation from the United Planets that had been sent to Avalon to try to make contact with the ruling classes, refused and apologised for filling his head with her tall tales. She told him she was leaving and he must forget her as he would not see her again. By midnight she would be on her ship to return to her distant fabulous city.

Shardwurd followed her after she left. She was not used to riding horseback so left an easy trail to follow and when he found her strange and glorious metal vessel hidden in a gulley the young healer had stowed away. They were twelve light years from his home world when he was discovered. Sharwurd had managed to lock himself in a storage unit and as the hours turned he had dozed off to sleep. His snoring had alerted one of the three man crew and he was brought up to the command deck in cuffs. The woman he had saved, Level Nine Facilitator Ergani Schwarz, had recognised him and cursed in a most unladylike manner. They could not turn around, they had been travelling for almost a day and had a strict deadline. Shardwurd begged to join them, his home was no longer a place he could stay. One of the two crew to this strange craft suggested leaving him in some rough port called Rimbor, but despite his agreement - anywhere would be better than Avalon surely - Ergani refused. She could only think of one place where one with his upbringing and strange gift would be both welcome and safe, she had said. During the six day long voyage back to Sol space she would not discuss it any further with the young healer. Instead he had a non-stop itinerary of dirty jobs to complete and a small bunk that he was allocated for eight in every twenty four hours.

The paperwork to have him allowed onto Earth took nearly eighteen days to complete. Ergani had to formally adopt Shardwurd for the process to finally be agreed. As soon as that was done the planetary inspector had applied for him to be introduced to the Legion Academy. His application took a further fifty five days from registration through to acceptance. In that time he had tried his hardest to learn the very basics of the wonderous technology around him, his sleep-tutor and computo-learning courses gave him an understanding of the wide and dangerous new universe that was now his home. Luornu Durgo-Taine had personally arrived to take Shardwurd away to the new Academy... Legion World One. She explained that his bio-kinetic abilities were unique and would make an amazing addition to their ranks. Ergani had tried to hide that she was crying when he left but told him he would be safe and respected amongst the Legion... though if he had any problems her door would always open for him.

Since arriving the tall young man with long silver hair had tried to join in at every turn, tried to make friends while studying in this most strange of places. He was proud that he had not fled the first time he met Tellus two days prior as the yellow monster had proven to have a most gentle nature. His politeness had been mocked by his fellow students but at least none had taken offence at his uncouth origin. His fellow Academy students had initially rallied protectively around him as they discovered he was from an Outer Rim Lo-Tec World yet as the days progressed several had found their own supporting groups so he began to feel isolated again. This strange floating island in the ocean of space did not share the same sense of community that his home town had and for the first time since leaving Avalon Shardwurd was beginning to have doubts about coming here...

And today, his fifth full day here and Element Lad alongside a team of Legionnaires were said to be planning on visiting. Several long hours later he finally got to meet these heroes that had the other students so excited. The Legion leader appeared arrogant to Shardwurd, there was something about him that reminded the healer of the Deep Red Sea Lord. The young man from Avalon was so distracted by the brightly clad Legionnaires that he almost missed the tall muscular man with glass over his eyes that stood a little behind the team of heroes.It was this man that was to alter the young healers life and it started with a simple question:

"Hi, I'm Doctor Shakespeare, I run the medical facilities over on Two. I've heard you're a bit of a healer yourself. If you're free would you like to come over to Two to visit our medical bays? Henry'll warp us there and back so you'll only be gone for an hour or so..."

Shardwurd Gandussen would be encouraged so greatly by the Legion's doctor, Nurse Sehpt and Counsellor Kabbo over the next hour and by seeing such miraculous things on that visit that it would inspire him for the rest of his long life to become a healer of legendary skill.

These are awesome, Harbinger! Silver Shaman and Bouncing Boy are my faves so far, and I feel like Yeti Boy is gonna be trouble...Looking forward to more!

This is amazing, Harbi! You have such a gift for creating original characters, and I love how you are letting us get to know them through vignettes and points of view. You really capture the feel of a diverse student program - I am in one now and I think you have it down pat, people have different skills, strengths, weaknesses, backgrounds, cultures and personalities and it comes gloriously together in your writing! And you also don't forget the six trainers, you have really pushed and enhanced their personalities so well. Lydda's tough love, Gim's niceness (he really is a nice guy!), Wildfire's sheer love for training, Cos' deep sense of personal responsibility, Yera's optimism (which is not something we saw in the canon, so a welcome addition), Lu's reluctance at taking charge coupled with her sheer competence when she does take charge.

As always, more, more, more!

Wow, an android from Zuun (Timber Wolf will freak!), someone from the purple/orange world of Pasnic, a 'dragon-girl' from Rimbor, some Dryad-refugees who used illegal gene-grafts to give themselves the powers of Neutrax and Titania, a Gil-Dishpan, some Winathians, a Naltorian, someone from Avalon, there's a ton of neat characters here, from all over the Legion-verse!

Very cool.

The Trailblazers and the Night Guard are my favorite squad names.

Thanks guys, a fair few of the students are based on previous students of mine - I won't say which though.

Raz - Yeti Boy is certainly precious, not sure about trouble really though lets see how he copes as the various chips are knocked off his shoulder. I like the new Bouncing Boy too.

IB - thank you! The students all have a view or understanding of why they are there and it's fun to put myself in their place and write it. I've written out vignettes for 14 of them and have the rest drafted roughly, though I'll be coming back to this in between arcs on LW proper so there is definitely more to come.

Set - good call regarding Ballistrix relationship with Brin, there are definite plans with that one, for instance why exactly did Bin's father think it was a good idea to irradiate him? Bloody bonkers behaviour if you ask me, but I'm going to be delving into Zuun's history after the first major arc in LW5 so it'll all make a bit more sense when I get to it. As my current plans stand now Zunn is a very, very strange place!

Thanks again, greatly appreciate your kind words.

C

Harbinger I love this idea and seeing the academy! i had hoped we would see more of the academy i just hadn't realized it would its own story! so great job there.

The six cadets per instructor reminds me of how New X-Men: Academy X did it a few years back and i always thought that was an interesting. Get a good mix of students and how they have to work together and with their respective mentors.

Everyone has said so many great things and i agree with all of them and i'm excited to see the cadets perform and get along or not.

the Night Guard is a pretty cool name and i like Lydda's teaching style and her answer about there not really being an answer. She just wants to push them to their limit and see what they can come up with and she makes a great point that the Legion will need them to be as resilient and self sufficient as can be.
Wildfire makes a really good teacher it seems and i like that he's moving on from Dawnstar.

I like the use of the first person perspective for some of the cadets vignettes.

Cadet:
Its interesting to see how many cadets there are who don't require a lot of sleep.
Ballistix and her brain hemisphere's only needing two hours each was a neat wrinkle. I wonder what her reasons for coming to the Legion are though. She supper head strong right off the bat and i can see her rubbing people wrong.

Dragon Lass is cute and had a really cute story. She's gonna be the cheerleader i can just feel it. Her and her friend Sheesa seem like really good friends. i hope they don't lose touch. Her advice was great.

Gord Eno and his self fulfilling prophesy is interesting. I hope he doesn't psych himself out too much though. what made him try out though?
Hi being the oldest and called old father time is funny.

I like Bouncing Boy II. I like that you used a different way for that power to work and that it wasn't just a retread of Chuck's power. I also really liked your moments with him and Lu and how he made her smile. I can't wait to learn what his sphere can really do.

I'm looking forward to the Gil'Dishpan and seeing how it does on the team. I've only seen them as villains so this will definitely be a different take.

Yeti Boy is supper eager and i can see him clashing with people because of his ego. His journey could spell a lot of trouble. I like that he has goals i just think the attitude may be a problem for him. love his look though and a giant Yeti doing ballet was really an entertaining thought.

Kid Dynamo has some good potential and i wonder if his gene mod brings with it anything else besides the power of Titania. Another who doesn't need sleep. he might watch out as that could mean all night monitor duty. lol

Silver Shawman's story is very tragic and it was sad to see him leave his world like that simply because he couldn't just be. But i wonder how he'll deal with life in the Legion as it has the same aspect. Also a healer is great and i think him and Infectious lass could be a really interesting team up. Keep up the good work and can'twait for LW5 and the next installment of your academy kids.

Team Cosmic:


Kid Crush:

Gooshi Dreffergoff had never felt so excited!

Since leaving the Science Asteroid settlements she had visited Mars Mons Olympos Central Shopping Mall, Metropolis' Arcade Alpha on Earth and most impressive of all - and surprising herself it was nothing to do with shopping - She had met real live Legionnaires! Real ones, like real... Breathing... In The Flesh... Legionnaires! Her old class at the Science Asteroid Polytechnic College for Further Education for All Sentients would be so jealous.

Gooshi had been so excited when she had been introduced to the tutors at the Academy she had grinned like an idiot the whole time. And several had smiled back at her. Gooshi knew she would cherish these memories for the whole of her life!

She didn't care if her teammates thought she was an idiot. She. Had. Met. REAL. Legionnaires.

She had been assigned to Rokk Krinn's training team. They were calling themselves Team Cosmic and she had initially liked the rest of the team. Of course she wasn't sure if any of the team - herself excluded of course - were real Legionnaire material, but they seemed pleasant enough. Maybe one or two were a bit smug... Though none seemed to appreciate how simply amazing it was to be here. Perhaps, she mused, they had been slightly confused by her looks, people often were. Despite being 16 standard she looked to be about ten: Still short, without a woman's figure and she had her hair in three pony tails. She thought she looked great so didn't care if the rest of them were not so excited by appearance. Her red and gold costume with high collar would be all the rage back home.

Gooshi thought about the team she had been placed into and decided that really they were an odd bunch who seemed to take these early training exercises so seriously... the fighting class had involved real fighting... sorry, she had been told to call it 'combat'... anyway, today that combat training had hurt her knuckles but she had still smiled even when they had really ached! Which was more than the mopey Nemesis Girl ever did.

Well, tomorrow Team Cosmic were going to get another day with the dreamy Rokk Krinn. She'd show the team when she used her abilities, her high-gravity field generating abilities gave her all the power she would need to get into the Legion.

It was going to be so much fun that Gooshi that could hardly wait.

She was just so excited!


Nemesis Girl

Mi Pra of Dryad was tired and irritated.

Her teammates irritated her for the most part and she was not really renowned for her patience.

Her cousins, Ja and Ke had only asked her to join in their misadventure as she had more money than the rest of them. She was well aware they didn't really like her, that's why when the gene-mods were introduced she had chosen Neutrax to base hers on. No-one wanted to be Neutrax, what a boring villain he had been. still, the group had been less that as grateful than she had expected when she's taken that one for the team. They never were...

She had spent yesterday happily esconced in a library nook learning about variances in interplanetary law - it had been fascinating! But then today they had a day of learning how to fight with their fists and elbows and knees and feet. she had joked that if she lifted her visor that would be all that the rest of them would be able to do, she had been joking as she wouldn't really want to neutralise their abilities, even temporarily but none of the group had laughed. They were such a sappy bunch. Training today had not been as enjoyable as yesterday. She wonderd if there was a way she could get out of the physical exercises that Cosmic Boy had insisted they do at least every other day...

Still, she may have had the worst score today but the day before she was top of the class... focus on the good... she repeated this mantra to herself... focus on the good... but her thoughts kept going back to the fat bore from Banamil that had laughed after he had thrown her three times on the trot. Of course he was going to beat her, she wasn't going to dirty her hands touching someone who sweated as much as that!

Well, tomorrow would be another day and she could get back on top of the leader board again. And if not there would be plenty of opportunities after that to get there. Mi was patient as she knew they would all see her truth worth eventually, she just hoped she wouldn't have to put up with the rest of her team for too long.

Yera looked at the scores from the tests her class had held over the last two days and she wasn't surprised to read that not one of them had a perfect score.

At this stage, Lydda had assured her, they weren't polished enough to see the bigger picture. Lydda had told her that not many students ever did get the perfect score... They were being scored on their interactions as much as their individual actions but would not be informed of this. The Academy had to show that potential members would slot right into the fast moving lives of the Legionnaires, the team would offer new members a three month mentorship if they made it in but after that it would be expected that the former student would be fully intergrated.

Still, Yera liked her kids. She had the odd-ball bunch Gim said. He had been given the physical students, Rokk had the energy projecters, Drake had the ones that could endure space unaided, Lydda had the students that they expected to take up support roles or be placed in the Science Police, Luornu took charge of the five remaining senior students, and Yera had been given the ones that didn't quite fit into any of those categories but had been assessed as needing support to be more valuable members of society.

And she loved them!

Gim came back to their quarters at night with bruises from never-ending combat training sessions and tales of stepping in between arguing students and clashing egos meanwhile Yera had spent that same day teaching her team how to follow people in a crowd without being seen and they had laughed as they role played each scenario. When Wendl and Josha of Winath had asked why they were learning to act, not fight, she had given them a history lesson of the Espionage Squad and told them that 50% of the Legionnaire's actual job was being a role-model so they had to learn to fake it to make it... the kids had all laughed along with her and thrown themselves into the next exercise.

Tomorrow the training rota said Gim had her team for day of mandatory martial arts and crowd control classes and Yera would have his bunch to train in espionage techniques.

Gim's team were all so serious, she would have to think of a game to loosen them up first... they would need to learn to fail and not take it too seriously, laugh at their failures as they picked themselves up, before they would ever succeed in any of her classes. That was a life lesson she hoped they could take with them whether or not they made the main team.

...She had it!

Tomorrow she would get them each to show a physical skill to the others from their lives before the Academy and ask their teammates to copy it. She knew from the apartment surveillance holos Gim had shared that Yeti Boy was a decent ballet dancer so she'd save that for last. It would be funny to see the oh-so-serious Colossal Crew try to copy some of the moves that boy could pull off.

Well, she thought with a mischievous grin, if the students didn't enjoy it at least she knew she would...

Solar Gorilla

D'Nadka Endarooga knew the other students hated her code name and if truth were ever to be told so did she but just couldn't think of another name that would serve her as well. She could generate immense heat and light, much like Sun Boy. She had never wanted to be a hero. After the accident that gave her and her sisters their abilities she had wanted to hide away, throw herself into research on some distant asteroid somewhere and figure out how to get rid of her powers. Her older sister, k'Lami had immediately applied to the old Legion Academy at Montauk Point where she had by all accounts been a prize student. The Daughters of Black Adam had murdered her when they had destroyed the Academy.

The High Council had voted and decided that a meta-descendant of their Gorilla Knights should represent Gorilla City from their new homeworld of Dmansca, the humans were not the only race from Terra that had reached the stars and they wanted the United Planets to remember this. As D'Nadka's younger sister was too young to leave there was only one choice.

And here she was.

The Legionnaires, in particular Duplicate Girl and Night Girl, had expressed their condolences over her sisters death. Luornu had shared several stories of K'Lami's time as a student. Lydda had simply hugged D'Nadka. Both were appreciated. Both the Legionnaires had shown a genuine warmth she had not expected, the solitary gorilla in the Academy had thought that they would be more battle weary and jaded.

She didn't think the Legion would ever really accept her, she could do what Sun boy did but without his experience. But still... If after everything they had been through they could take the time to recognise her grief, show her that compassion when they didn't need to... Well, maybe she wouldn't be a full fledged Legionnaire but she could still take the chance to learn from them. Maybe she could join up with the other students whose abilities duplicated the Legionnaires and they could form their own team and in time inspire others like she had been. Now, if only she could think of a better code name!

Now that was something she could aspire to!


Tectonik:

Hardal of Granite Falls on Mondriak iv was used to being encased in rock.

His people were subterranean by nature, created by genetic tampering several hundred years ago when they settled on their distant world. They were generally shorter than standard human stock, though broader, stronger too... They also hated bright lights but had a much sharper sense of smell. None of which were reason enough to get him a place here at the Academy, though his geo-kinesis was the best of his kind and that definitely earned him a place. At his best Tectonik could moves hundred of tons of natural earth and rocks in minutes.

His apartment had been modified to his specifications: four small compact rooms hewn from the natural rock of the planetoid that the Academy was housed in. He hadn't invited any of his classmates back as he imagined they would all prefer space and light and all those things he thought of as unnatural and unnecessary and often unpleasant. One of the Trailblazers was said to even had an apartment with its own air lock supposedly so they could fly out into space when they needed to. Now that was just weird to Hardal.

He'd tried to cope with space... That big empty lack of anything remotely solid that made up the majority of the universe, but his mind balked. He'd thrown up the other day when Wildfire had taken him outside the asteroid for a training exercise. It was just so wrong! All that nothingness and emptiness was just wrong...

Actually, Wildfire had been really decent about it and come to speak to Hadral after the exercise was over, the former Legionnaire had even apologised for taking him out there without checking first. That was cool of him. Creepy Krinn hadn't mentioned it in any of the classes since but he must have known, the tutors must be talking about their classes to each other. Did Krinn think he was a loser? Was that why he hadn't mentioned it?

Hardal didn't like Rokk Krinn.

The girls fawned over him and the former Legionnaire didn't stop them, he pretended not to notice but secretly the student knew the Braalian loved it... even though his fiancé was here too. The Braalian was an ego-tripper, he probably wasn't even very good as a legionnaire... Hot zone was saying the Legion were always producing phony news to hype their funding, he could see someone like Krinn being involved with that. Hardal wished he was on Wildfires team, or Luornu Durgos senior student class, though knew he'd have to suck it up for now.

If he studied hard perhaps they promote him quickly and he could get away from bloody Rokk Krinn. The arrogant tosser.

M'Rissey had a lecture to give to the whole student body in four days time on business management.

It was a one off tutorial that they were mandated to attend and he was super nervous as from what he'd seen of the students so far they were a mixed bunch. Still he had started his Holo-Point presentation and had written out 61 slides so far. It was really exciting as it included the different tax bindings Meta- beings could claim from their expenses on seven UP worlds so far. He knew that the students would be grateful he'd taken the time to explain that as everyone loved knowing the tax laws, it made life so much easier! And, while he thought about it, he must write something about insurance liability and how there were ways around paying top-credit premiums if one were on different planets. Oh, that was such a good idea... Oh, oh, and while he remembered it he must include the nugget he'd put into place when he joined the staff here about claiming back expenses of costume cleaning after helping with any incident involving Terran residents...

The ding-dong of his door chime made the business manager jump!

His heart raced as he checked the holo screen by the door and sawit was Luornu. He asked the door to iris open and smiled as she strode in.

"How are you M'Rissey? Settling in well with the students?"

"Hey Lu... Yeah, they're a good bunch. I'm just preparing a presentation on good business management for them, they'll love it." his smile shone with his eagerness of the subject matter. Lu smiled back in return.

"I'm just checking in with you as Gim said you'd missed your last two personal training sessions. Is everything alright?"

"Ah... Yes.... You see, I meant to apologise to Gim for that but... Ah... Well, it's just..." he blushed furiously and desperately looked around his apartment for some reasonable excuse to present itself to him. He had attended one class, been thrown around and embarrassed by the former Legionnaire so never returned for any further physical humiliation. He did have reports to write, audits to investigate and tax returns to complete after all. He was just as important as all of Gim Allon's muscles to the running of this place, didn't they know?

"It's okay... Gim is a former Science Police officer so he can be a bit rough. Your skills are far more cerebral so how about, if it makes it easier for you I take on your training and you can build up to tackling Gim sometime in the future?" Triplicate Girl smiled warmly as she made her offer.

M'Rissey, still blushing like a beacon, nodded and muttered his thanks.

"I'll tell Gim that you had reports to run for me so that's why you missed his classes and that your rota clashes for the next few weeks so I'll be taking over your basic self defence training, okay? Just do me a favour and apologise to him, okay?"

He muttered that he would and Luornu thanked him and said she'd leave him in peace now, though would see him at 0700 in the gym on level 16.

After the door closed behind her she walked ten feet along the corridor before looking back to make sure he hadn't followed her out. Once she had checked she held her flight ring up and a holo of Gim Allon popped into the air.

"Was I right Lu?"

"Yup, poor kid's terrified of you. I'm taking over his training for the foreseeable."

"Okay, thanks... And sorry about that, I honestly thought he'd at least know some basics before coming to class."

"Was he that bad Gim?"

"You have no idea Lu, Antennae Lad could beat him up with one hand tied behind his back..."

Magno Lass:

Rokk Krinn was her tutor!

That was the thought that went through Josi Rista's mind at least 1,000 times a day. Her home planets one good claim to fame, Rokk Krinn's the Legion founder and hero of the galaxy was her tutor! She knew her magnokinetic abilities put her in the top 0.25% of Braalians, even placing her above Cosmic Boy, but she needed to learn how to use them better... Just yesterday she had dropped the ball when on a skill test, she hadn't thought quickly enough how to move the wooden handle of the antique Mardru Tech that she had been tasked to strip and reassemble. It was more of a challenge than she had expected as everything on Braalians had at least one bit of iron in it, apart from toilet paper and food... And given the taste of some of her mothers cooking she wasn't sure about the latter. It was an old joke but it made her smile.

She had been brought up watching footage of her tutor as a member of the Legion, as had her entire generation, so she had memorised all the feats he had accomplished and moves he'd used to get around the problems he'd encountered. She had learned and applied each one and when she had thought there couldn't be anything else to learn the Academy threw tests at her that totally flummoxed her but in hindsight she could have dealt with.

Like... Nemesis Girl was such a drain! She was the most dreary member of the team who seemed to enjoy sucking the happiness out of every situation. How were the students supposed to learn when they had a walking talking cloud of doom in the class with them every day? And Tectonik could have surgery to sort out his nose, Josi thought he looked like he had been running for a bus and it stopped! If the earth mover wanted to be a Legionnaire then he'd have to look at the image he portrayed, seriously what a ghastly sight!

Her daddy had always told her that her prettiness would make others jealous but she wanted to use it as an example to others, what they could look like if they only put in some effort. She got up thirty minutes before the rest of her team every single day so she could prepare for the day. Why didn't they put in the extra effort? And when she thought about it, as a top flight celebrity hero sports champion why was Rokk with that wooden head Lydda Jath? Night Girl looked like she'd never heard of a derma-primer! Josi knew Rokk Krinn could do better if only he'd allow himself to. Even her team mates had commented that he looked at her differently, fonder than he did to the others. Rokk Krinn would see the error of his ways soon if she just kept on going... He must know there were other options available...

And every day she would get up early to put in the effort to make sure he knew that the better option was sat right in front of him.



Polar Girl:

Mel Lassar of Tharr loved being here at the Legion Academy.

Ever since Brek Bannin had went back to their homeworld, and according to local gossip had thrown himself around every dive bar and brothel on the planet since returning, she had known that it was her time to take to the spotlight and go out into the wider universe to be famous. She was top of her class back home for her cyrokinesis and smart enough to pass the academy entrance questionnaire. Her teammates might tease her for being short but she was going to make sure that when the history of the Legion was writ she would be front and centre of it!

She thought about her classmates. The only one that may be a challenge if it came to a spot on her team would be Mago Lass. The rest either had abilities that already matched Legionnaires or their attitudes stunk. Mel knew she had a shot and so she had quietly mentioned to her main competition on the team that she thought their tutor appeared keen on her. Such a simple little lie that made Magno Lasses eyes widen. After that the Braalian student had appeared at classes with that little bit more make-up, her hair freshly brushed, and all the while she looked like a stupid girl in front of her classmates and tutor it meant Mel had a better chance of getting membership.

Mel Lassar had wanted to be a Legionnaire for so long that she wasn't going to let a simple thing like her classmates stand in the way of her getting her dream. She would have her time in the spotlight, one way or another...

Hey Omni, sorry for not replying earlier to your kind post above.

You are right that I kind of stole the idea of teams of six for the training squads from the X-books, it's a good number so I can build up the cliques and social groups bit by bit rather than working out all thirty students immediately.

Also, the training style of each of the tutors will be different so I'm happy you liked Lydda's approach - she fun to write so I'm enjoying thinking of scenarios for her.

Thank you for your individual thoughts on each of the students, they will be a very varied bunch so hopefully you'll keep on digging them. I hadn't thought of putting Silver Shaman with Drura, that would be interesting! I'll see what I can come up with to do them justice.

Thanks again, always appreciate your feedback.

C

I love all these students! Solar Gorilla is a nice callback to the destruction of the original Academy, and I like her realisation that the Legionnaires were more compassionate than she'd have expected. I like Tectonik and Magno Lass seeing Rokk in completely different ways (and I have to admit, I kind of like the irony of Lydda having to deal with someone who has a crush on Rokk that borders on the creepy)...Polar Girl seems to have Brek's ambition without the humility he had when he started; I kind of feel like she will end up being a good hero but she'll need to learn something along the way about how to be a good person. Everyone thus far has a sense of being really three-dimensional individuals with different personalities and motivations

On another note, it's also really cool seeing the Legionnaires in mentor roles; Lu being a natural at it, Yera's enjoyment of it all...this series reminds me of the Adventure series that spotlighted the last Academy class with Chemical Kid, Dragonwing et al...it's a really good way of exploring the Legion's universe from a different perspective!

Wow! Amazing work, Harbi. You really write these characters so well, they are so much like real students! All that potential for interpersonal conflict, I love how they all have such different motivations... and some sneaky tricks (Polar Girl, eek!). And M'Rissey, even, what a treat. And I got a laugh out of Tectonik's dislike for Cos, and Magno Lass' attempts to oust Lydda!

And again, the six trainer Legionnaires. You really characterize them so well.

Harbinger another great batch of installments. I'm liking all of the cadets. But a couple are in the i love to hate them vain. lol. I have to say i find it interesting that Team Cosmic has some very self assured members.
Also it seems none of the energy casters want to get physical. So i like that your putting them through the rings.

this was my favorite explanation of how the academy works!"

"At this stage, Lydda had assured her, they weren't polished enough to see the bigger picture. Lydda had told her that not many students ever did get the perfect score... They were being scored on their interactions as much as their individual actions but would not be informed of this. The Academy had to show that potential members would slot right into the fast moving lives of the Legionnaires, the team would offer new members a three month mentor-ship if they made it in but after that it would be expected that the former student would be fully intergrated."

and i like how you broke the students down to each of the instructors. It makes sense to break them up that way.
I do have a question about the security cameras in the student's rooms. is that common practice or something new? i honestly don't know how i feel about it. is there sound to the videos? It just feels like a big invasion of privacy.

I love Yera a mentor. Her game was really inventive and i like that her first thought with such a serious squad was to make them be silly. I also love that she got the good ball squad. She's going to make such a great mentor. You've really given her a voice that is so strong. I liked that she made it clear that part of being a Legionnaire is about being a role model. its really interesting especially with whats going on with the main team and how their perception isn't always the greatest. (ie the backlash) i like the fake it till you make it advice but for some of these cadets i could see that being a big problem down the road weather its for their own mental health and the team's image. i could see some of them going out of control if they had to pretend who they were for too long.

She really is playing to her strengths and love it. her life lesson is so true. Laugh it off to pick yourself up. i wish it was something i found easy to do. So great parable!

i love that Gim is getting the tossed around. its a funny image when ever it happens.


Kid Crush: Gooshi Dreffergoff is cute i like that she smiles no matter what even though her bruised and bleeding knuckles. Is her look the standard for planet? do they have extended life making them reach maturity later?
she seems super cute and i enjoy her energy. I think her and Nemesis Girl are either going to find some weird common ground or be bitter enemies.

Nemesis Girl: Mi Pra of Dryad - i don't know how i feel with her. she seems like she wants to try but has no interest in people...so it makes me wonder why she came to the academy. if you have no patience for people i could see her disregard some key elements to this life style particularly the teamwork aspect. But i wonder if its just because of her treatment by her cousins or if its because she's wealthy?

Solar Gorilla: D'Nadka Endarooga. i really like when you introduce these societies from DC cannon. It makes sense that so may of these cultures would leave Earth. Lexion's one of my faves and i can see Solar gorilla being a new favorite. i agree its a horrible name and i also like how you brought it back to the academy and her sister. it was so sa. i'm glad she's stepping forward to honor her sister and i hop in the process she really learns to shine(pun intended :P) and accept her abilities as a gift and have confidence.
I'm glad that she was so warmed by the Legion mentor's compassion and it helped start her change for the better and i like the idea about another team of hears who duplicate the Legion's powers would be cool.

Tectonik:Hardal of Granite Falls on Mondriak iv. a subterranean species is really good. i haven't seen too many of those represented anywhere. his getting sick was amusing and i liked that Wildfire came to apologize. Geo-kinetics i love it. and it makes total sense. its interesting that he doesn't like Rokk at all. the what is it about him that he hates? usually when someone hates some like that off the bat its because of either jealousy or they see something in that person that they relate to themselves and hate about themselves.

M'Rissey: i'm really glad that you have included him. he honestly made me smile with how into his presentations he was getting and how much he just wanted to share his information with the team. his not wanting to do combat training makes sense and wanted to share his information with his fellow students. it was sad to see that he was terrified of Gim and i hope they can work it out.

Magno Lass: Josi Rista i honestly don't like her. her attitude was something that i just the entire time i was reading i wanted to smack sense into her. thinking Tectonik needed a nose job was rude. i hope Lydda knocks her on her nass.

Polar Girl: Mel Lassar of Tharr i love hate her. like her tactics to a point but i think she may have to be humbled a bit. and it makes her seem less like the best and insecure.,but still like her her. i want her to prove she's the best because she is the best. ( i have a soft spot for cryo casters.)

can't wait for more harbinger!

Omni just reminded me - I was a bit taken aback by the quarters being monitored as well, but I think it could also be a clever way of showing the change in social mores that can happen over a thousand years....We are more monitored now in society than we were 100 years ago, it makes sense that might continue to be the case as time goes by and technology becomes less visibly obtrusive. And like finding out in the reboot Legion about vegetarianism being the norm, maybe by this point in time nobody even bats an eyelid about big brother knowing their every move because for them it's always been that way...

The Night Guard:

Kid Nimbus was tired.

Kendall Mekensy-Wolff the Fifth was unique amongst the team who had enhancements to mimic the League of Assassins abilities. His family had not been settlers on the dead world, they had been merchants that had been caught up in the exodus when their sun went nova. His fathers were suppliers of grain and seed, bringing new crops to the rim worlds settlements. When the arc ships had fled that star system his fathers had followed the refugees flotilla and joined them on their new planet in the nearby system of Kafferty Minor. As the shocked refugees got to grips with their new situation his fathers had established a trading point where they took charge of the influx of merchants and hawkers that decided the desperate folks that had survived Dryads death were an easy mark. Within three years his fathers had went from outsider merchants to pillars of the community and he had become one of the most popular kids on their settlement.

Those had been the happiest days, when he had people who looked up to him and his family.

He had chosen Mist Master to emulate only because Kendall liked the colour green. His dreadlocks were dyed that colour so it had seemed like an easy choice. He had never expected them to go through with it and chase down a bio-sculptor and gene-surgeon that could give them these abilities, not really. It was just a fun adventure for six kids with bulging bank balances on an epic quest that would involve lots of stories to tell to their grandchildren, that was all, he thought.

It had taken a huge amount of credits and eight months of prodding and poking and experimenting but eventually they had all gotten what the asked for, kind of.

And now with a thought he could assume a gaseous form...

He didn't really like his ability, it was sneaky and couldn't really help that much... Not really. Still, they had their quest, they would make up for the bloody League of Assassin's mistakes and the survivors from Dryad could hold their heads up high with pride. Which was all fine and dandy until they arrived in the Inner Systems and found no-one cared about the League or their poor actions. The six kids had blown their inheritance on abilities that half of them didn't really want to prove a point no-one else cared about. Kendall actually found the irony hilarious, though his friends hadn't shared his opinion. Now it seemed they were even more driven to prove themselves as heroes, prove that their stupidity was worth the expense...

Kendall Mekensy- Wolff the fifth would not let his friends down, he had made it this far after all, but he knew in his heart that out there in the wider galaxy there was a kid who deserved this opportunity more than he did. So, for their sake, whoever that unknown untrained meta was, he threw himself into the training and tried his best to achieve everything he could. If his fathers had taught him one thing in his life it was to do his best for others, and from those actions one would reap the best results.

Kendall would do his best even though he thought he had a silly super power, even though he felt a bit like a phony saying he wanted this to make up for the Assassin's, even though it wouldn't necessarily achieve anything. He would do this as it was the right thing to do for those around him.

But boy, was it ever tiring!

Yera laughed!

Rokk was recounting a tale of the Legion from not long after the team had first taken recruits that had involved Gim crashing through a building while chasing some thief or another, only to realise that the thief had actually hid and doubled back so the team had needed to spend the three days trying to fix the damaged building and Brande had used a sack-full of mega credits to get their public relations disaster sorted out. Lyle had caught the robber two roads along at least, while Gim brushed ferro-concrete dust from his hair and apologised to the family whose apartment he'd just trashed unnecessarily.

"I don't think any of us would pass the Academy training had it existed and we were to have tried out for it back then. Our only criteria back then was they needed to have a decent ability and Irma not being freaked out by whatever she saw in an applicants mind. We didn't even get the Science Police to check potential members out, can you believe it?"

They both laughed.

"Gim's struggling, isn't he?" Rokk had a soft smile on his face but his eyes were hard as he asked.

"Yeah... yeah the poor man doesn't have their respect yet. They are a tough bunch, the Colossal Crew. All trying so hard to be better than their team mates. A couple are fine but... phah! I'm glad I've got my team rather than his."

"Yeah, me too. Mine are okay, though a couple of the girls are trying my patience... I'm tempted to set Lydda on them to tell the truth."

They laughed again.

"You're a cruel man Rokk Krinn." Yera said with a huge smile. "Do you miss being a Legionnaire? I mean, you've done that your whole life, being a teacher is something entirely different surely?"

"Yup, it is, and I'm really enjoying it Yera, it's good to try something new. You're loving being here, aren't you?"

"Oh Sacred Egg, yes! It's a relief to be honest. I enjoyed acting, it was fun, though this seems to be another level up from that... like, it's fun and it's useful."

They both smiled.

"You've given your class a basic espionage training session, haven't you?" The Braalian asked.

"Of course, they were great, I was really impressed by their grasp of basics." The Durlan smiled proudly.

"Do you want to do something for my team? I mean, I'll take yours for the day if you take mine?"

"Sounds like a laugh... I have a great idea to test them too, watcha think?" As Rokk looked at his Durlan friend her skin spun and changed until his mirror image sat before him.

"Let's see if they even notice the difference, eh?" She said in his baritone voice.

"Yera, you are a constant surprise..." Rokk said with genuine pleaure.

"That's what Gim keeps telling me too." She said with a giggle.

"Yeah... though... you being me doesn't have to be one you share with him." Rokk said, suddenly serious.

"Oh don't worry, we got that out of our systems years ago."

This time when Yera laughed louder and Rokk Krinn wasn't sure whether or not to join in.