The Crimson Phoenix

I'm not that injured. I can still play.

Sitting on his bed meditating, with legs crossed, hands on his legs and closed eyes, Leo recited a mantra that came to his mind as he thought of mantras to use. His breathing was slow and even. He had been sitting like that for almost an hour.

Instead of trying to control his emotions and keeping his calm, he wanted to re-establish the connection he had with his flame powers.

“I am fire. The fire is within me. I am one with the flames, born from the ashes of war and strife, to rise as a true born god. The god of fire. The Crimson phoenix. I am…” he kept on repeating those words. At some point, it felt like he wasn’t the only one saying those words. He could hear a female voice reciting those words with him, but anytime he tried to focus on the voice, he didn't seem to hear it anymore.

His body felt warmer and it was refreshing and felt nice. He felt energized and high. He also had a feeling that he was finally establishing a connection to something bigger than him. He couldn’t pin-point it though. He stayed focused at I thought of some other things. His dead parents, the accident, the powers, he suddenly felt overwhelmed.

He clenched his fist and gnashed his teeth. Anger began brewing up inside him. He felt anger mixed with sadness, making smoke to rise from his body. His clothes started to burn slowly. Noticing this, Leo quickly opened his flaming eyes, got up from the bed and went straight to the bathroom. He turned on the shower on his hot body but it felt cold, very cold. It felt like ice touching his body. He started to shiver and quickly turned off the shower.

After steaming for a while, he went back to bed and slept. He wrapped himself with his blanket and went to sleep. It felt weird, suddenly getting cold after taking a shower.

*************

He woke up around eight in the morning. He yawned and realized that he had a sound sleep… maybe a bit too sound. It was like sleeping after tons of sleepless nights. He brushed his teeth, took his bath and got ready for school.

“Good morning aunt Molly.” He greeted as he rushed downstairs. Molly, who was preparing some sandwich gave him a glance.

“Good morning Leo. How are feeling?” She asked. He grabbed a few sandwiches and put them in his paper bag before going out.

“Never been better.” He answered as he left the house. Molly suddenly remembered something and came outside to tell him.

“Um Leo, when you get back, we’ll go see a doctor to check on your skin. You can’t be wearing bandages and you should’ve probably healed a little right?” He suddenly froze the moment he heard what she said. This was too shocking for him to hear. He didn’t want aunt Molly to know that he had already healed completely.

“Why don’t we postpone it to a later date?” He suggested with a nervous tone. Molly shot him a surprised glance.

“Why would you wanna postpone a checkup? It’s only to see if it’s time to do a surgery.” She explained.

He sighed, ‘I knew this day would come.’

She looked shocked and suspicious.

“What’s wrong Leo?” she asked.

He wasn’t ready to give her an explanation so he decided to buy himself some time.

“We’ll talk about it when I get back from school.” He said, then dropped his skateboard and skated away.

*************

Leo got to school and briefed Logan about it. He didn’t look surprised, things like this were bound to be exposed, sooner or later. It would be better if he told her on his own rather than making a scene at the hospital.

“So how are you gonna do it?” Logan asked with an impassive expression as they walked down the hallway. He shook his head and closed his eyes.

“I have no idea. I guess I’ll just have to go with the situation.” He replied and gave Logan a glance. They were walking and a girl walked towards them. She was petite and she wore a short skirt with a T-shirt. It was the uniform of the school’s basketball team. She was blonde and made her hair to a ponytail.

“Hi, Leo. Hey, Logan. The Sky-city inter-school basketball tournament is coming soon and the school’s basketball club is going to participate. We are recruiting fresh, talented players. Hoping you can join us.” She explained as she handed Logan a pamphlet. It was well designed and put in more information.

“We’ll think about it.” Leo said. She was surprised with what he said. Even Logan looked at him with a slight frown on his face.

“What do mean we?” He asked, still confused. Leo laughed. He hadn’t had the chance to do any sporting competition since he got to sky-hills and this was a chance.

He faced the girl in front of them, “Joan, I’m joining. Where do I sign up?” He asked. Joan was taken aback.

“This isn’t a joke. You’re injured!” She exclaimed. Logan didn’t understand what he was trying to do but he decided to ask for him.

“It’s in coach’s office. She’ll give you a paper to sign in.” She explained to Logan still surprised. Logan thanked her and they headed for the coach’s office.

“What are you thinking dude….” Logan complained.

“Calm down bro. I just wanna play a little basketball.” He smirked. Logan frowned and felt like hitting him on the face.

“Did that accident damage your brain too? Yo, you are injured…” he countered. Leo raised his brow slightly and gave him a piercing glance, “Well you’re not injured anymore but you’re supposed to be.” He corrected.

“I was just burned, my bones aren’t fractured. As long as I can prove to the coach that I can play, they’ll let me in.” He smiled and headed to the coach’s office. She wasn’t inside so they figured that she might be in the basketball court. Logan stood in stood of him, still arguing about his decision to play.

“Dude, coach will never let you play. I mean, look at you. You are wearing a mask, a hood, and black gloves. You look like an assassin, if you play basketball, you’ll kill all the players on the field. And I mean literally this time.” He argued.

“You forgot I also have super speed. I can avoid getting any foul.” He said.

“That’s even more of a reason you shouldn’t play. People will freak out when they see a blur playing basketball.” Logan was a bit paranoid this time.

“Relax man, I’ve got this under control.” Leo calmed him down. Logan shot him an angry look.

“Tell me how you’re gonna take care of your face.” He said with his arms folded. Leo curled his lips up slightly.

“I think I know a particular doctor that can handle that.” He said with a pondering tone. Logan was a bit confused at first but when he realized who he was talking about, he looked at him unamusingly.

“Let me guess, you want to ask Dr. Cartel for help, right?” He asked.

“If he agrees.” Leo patted him on the shoulder and walked past him. Logan rolled his eyes and gave a frustrated grunt before following him into the basketball court. The place was very spacious with a seating capacity of seven thousand and fifty at least. A few people were playing basketball and in the sidelines, some people were lining up to sign up for the game. Logan and Leo joined them.

“You wanna play basketball too?” He asked Logan.

“Yeah. Someone’s gotta watch your back.” He replied. Leo just smiled and began to observe those playing on the field.

Leo was good at three ball games; Soccer, Football and Basketball. His football skills were not too great but his basketball skills were good. His soccer skills were the best though. He watched as a talk guy dribbled another guy and passed the ball forward to another guy who dunked it. The guy who passed happened to be the ‘known’ best player in school. His name was Quincy Hale. Leo studied his playing methods and he could already set up a pattern.

It was his turn to sign up and the coach wanted to present him with the paper but when she looked at him, she had a complicated look on her face.

“Leo!? What are you doing here?” She asked. She had a well built body and wore a blue shirt and a pair of black yoga pants, together with a pair of pink and white sneakers. She looked beautiful and she was actually in her early forties. She was Quincy’s mother.

He smiled but he doubted she could see his lips. “I want to sign up for the competition!” He said plainly. She gave him a surprised look before bursting into laughter.

“Hahaha. You seriously want to sign up to play basketball…” she kept laughing but seeing that his expression didn’t change, she stopped laughing. “You’re serious aren’t you?” She asked. He just nodded.

“Even if you’re good at playing, you’re injured. It’s impossible for you to play.” She refuted.

“How can I prove it to you that I can play?” He demanded. She shook her head and made a firm face.

“Leo, I will not allow you to harm yourself just for a basketball competition…” She said, then she put on her glasses, “So if you would excuse me, I have papers to process and you’re holding up the line.” He left the place helplessly and tried to think of how he could convince her to make him join the team.

“What are you gonna do now?” Logan asked. Leo pondered and looked around. His eyes suddenly caught Quincy and an idea suddenly struck him. He smiled wholeheartedly. ‘This is going to be fun.’ He thought to himself and approached Quincy.

“Hey Quin…” he called as he walked towards him. He was sitting down on a bench and resting, after doing a one on one with his friend.

“Hi… Um, you must be Leo, right? Sorry about the accident.” He said shyly. They were both senior year students but they didn’t relate to each other much. He was also a shy and gentle type.

“It’s okay. I was hoping I could play a one on one basketball game with you.” Leo said. He was surprised at first.

“Do you mean a basketball video game? Sure, no problem. I’ll be at your…” Leo interrupted him mid-way.

“I wasn’t talking about video games.” He grunted. ‘If it was video games, you'd stand no chance against me.’ He bragged to himself. Quincy was surprised.

“But you’re not in a good condition to play. You should even be resting.” He advised. Leo couldn’t convince him otherwise but he knew what gets to guys like him.

“Humph, are you scared that you stand no chance against me?” He said. He could notice his eyes twitch with excitement and anger as he smiled. He was most likely suppressing the urge to brag and teach him a lesson. He may be shy on the outside, but when it comes to the things he’s good at, you’ll start to see his true colors.

“I cannot battle an injured opponent. When you're fully recovered, we’ll play a game together.” He said calmly as he walked out. Leo held his shoulder and stopped him.

“Come on. Don’t walk out on me. You’re scared that I’ll get injured. I promise that if I get injured, I’ll take full responsibility for my actions. Besides, I don’t have any broken bones. It’s just burns.” Leo explained, trying to fuel Quincy's ego. He removed his hand from his shoulder and Quincy sighed.

“Fine. Let's get started.” He said. Leo was delighted deep down.

Quincy put on his jersey and Leo just took off my hoodie. He wore a shirt inside and his bandaged arms were exposed. Quincy still looked reluctant to play and seeing his arm, increased his reluctance. He tried to convince Leo not to play and even asked Logan to join him in convincing him which Logan refused. Quincy, unlike Logan, didn’t know that he had made up his mind and also that he wasn’t wounded anymore.

Quincy had the ball with him and he bounced it multiple times. “I’ll go easy on you.” He said. Leo scoffed and prepared to get the ball off his hands.

“Let me give you a piece of advice…” Leo said with a smile which was covered with bandage and mask, “Don’t hold back when facing me.” He advised as he suddenly got the ball off his hands and took it to the other side of the court. Quincy smiled and ran after him. He wanted to dunk the ball but Quincy wasn’t going to let him.

He jumped high to dunk but Quincy jumped higher and he stopped the ball. Leo wasn’t surprised. Quincy was taller than him. Leo landed and went over to get the ball. He was faster than him and he hadn’t used his super powers yet. He caught the ball and went ahead to score but Quincy was in front of him, blocking him from advancing. They had their eyes on each other. Leo was annoyed that he didn’t have a partner to pass to.

He kept bouncing the ball, looking for ways to advance. He suddenly faked going to the left which he followed. He went to the right and he followed him again but that was a fake too. He went back to the left and used his speed to take control but was surprised how fast Quincy was when he caught up. He faked a jump and Quincy fell for it and went ahead to dunk the ball.

Quincy was getting excited. “You’re good, even for a wounded person…” he said as he held the ball, “but you’re no match for me.”

“We’ll see about that.” Leo said and rushed forward to meet him. He didn’t block him this time and used his super speed. He didn’t move too much when using his powers to avoid becoming a blur but he used his eyes to see things in slow motion and calculate his moves.

PA!

Leo hit the ball off his hands and got to the ball fast before he could take it. He jumped and scored from the middle of the field. This was a normal endeavor for him since he could score from far and near distances. The distance at which he could score was limited though.

Quincy was still surprised with how he was able to get the ball away from him, but this just made him super excited. He was holding back before, but seeing how good he was, decided to go full power with him.

From the sidelines, Joan was sitting down chatting with some friends when she suddenly took a glance at the field. She was bewildered by what she saw.

“Um guys…” she called the attention of her friends, “isn’t that Leo playing with Quincy!?” She exclaimed. The others didn’t think much about it but when they remembered his accident a few months ago, they were surprised too.

“Shouldn’t he be avoiding strenuous work? Why’s he playing basketball? And why’s he playing it so well and pressuring the school’s best player?” A guy among them asked. Nobody knew the answer to those questions and they were all shocked to see how well he was trashing Quincy. Joan then remembered him saying that he wanted to sign up for the basketball competition. She frowned and wondered what he was thinking.

A few people started to murmur and watched how he played. This attracted the coach’s attention. She looked at him and Quincy with eyes that looked like they were about to fall off. ‘What the hell…’ she thought to herself, ‘how’s he doing that? He’s meant to be injured! Did he fake the accident? But That’s impossible. Many people went to visit him in the hospital to confirm it. I even saw it on the news.’ Different thoughts ran through her mind as she was bewildered. Even if he could play, he shouldn’t have been as good as Quincy given that he should still have still been injured. But he was playing like someone who never even had an accident.

In the first place, the coach was startled. She decided to standby and watch Quincy and Leo brawl.