Phila woke up and saw it was 5am. It was Saturday morning and she was surprised it was the weekend already. She didn’t have anything to do, so she decided to go to the training room to practice.

When Phila got to the private room, she changed her appearance into a skinnier, slightly longer haired version of herself. It was enough to not be recognized, but could be identified by her friends. She sat down on the leather couch, next to where a boy with flippy dark brown hair was sitting and playing Mario Kart.

“Hey, are you new?” the boy asked her.

Phila’s eyes got wide and she stuttered, “Oh um, yes, I am.”

“Cool. Hi, I’m Chad,” said Chad with a grin,holding out his hand.

“I’m Phila,” said Phila, finally realizing Chad was talking to her, and shook his hand.

“So what power do you have?” asked Chad, sizing her up.

’You tell me,” said Phila with a grin as she morphed into a him.

“Whoa! Ok, shapeshifter. I get it,” said Chad inching away with a nervous grin.

“What powers do you have?” she asked.

He frowned. “I can read minds. Most people’s anyway. But not yours, for some reason.”

“Well, that’s good,” said Phila laughing.

“Why can’t I read your mind? Either your mind is silent, or your powers protect you.” said Chad as he raised his eyebrows at Phila.

Phila’s hair turned red as she laughed. She heard the door open and saw her friends walk in.

“Hey Phila, there you are, we’ve been looking for you,” said Sahara glancing at Chad.

“Yeah, we want to continue training,” said Ella who directed her attention at Chad and her mouth was agape.

Chad snorted and burst out laughing. “Why, thank you Ella,” he said between laughs. Ella looked taken aback.

“Stop it, Chad,” said Phila. “This is Chad, he can read minds, but not mine for some reason. Probably the same reason Father couldn’t…. Nevermind.”

“Well that explains it,” said Ella turning red.

“Oh ok, nice to meet you, Chad,” said Sahara cooly, her face unusually flat.

“Phila, training time,” she said turning around.

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“Hey, nice to see you too, Sahara,” said Chad.

“Shoot!” said Sahara, returning to her normal self.

“You’ll need to work on your force fields if you want that to stop me,” Chad smiled.

“Ok, this is getting freaky, Phila. Let’s go,” said Sahara. Phila looked at Chad.

“Where are you guys going?” he asked. “I see you haven’t decided yet.”

Dian sighed. “No point of hiding from you. We’re helping Phila, Ella and Sahara practice for the next games in P.E.”

“Really? I see you want to beat Frida,” said Chad. “She can be a real pain sometimes. Along with the rest of her group.”

“Yup. I dont think you’re going to leave us alone, so I’ll just ask. Do you want to come and practice with us?” asked Amethyst.

“Really? I would love that,” Chad smiled.

Phila and Ella turned red and Sahara huffed.

Phila suddenly had a realization. “Wait, how can you use your mind-reading if you have a bracelet?”

“I don't know,” said Chad. “I guess my powers are really strong. I’ve gotten better with practice, but I bet I would be stronger without this. I can’t see the past.” said Chad getting up and leading the girls to the door.

Once at the training center, the girls got back to what they were doing. Chad raised his eyebrow and looked around.

“I didn’t know these were here,” he said.

“Not many do except for the Ice Divas, us, and now you,” said Nadia.

“Cool,” said Chad and walked around. “Ella, try flying straighter rather than hunched over, your wings will be stronger,” called out Chad. Ella blushed and straightened her body.

“Whoa!” said Ella as she dropped the 10 pound dummy and picked up the 30 pound dummy.

“Sahara, try focusing your energy and power into your hands and try to form the bubble instead of trying to make a bubble materialize itself around you.” said Chad as he walked past Sahara, who nodded at him.

The last of Sahara’s force field sputtered as she stopped and closed her eyes. Suddenly purple streams came out of her palms and Sahara started to wave them around herself. She opened her eyes and saw a force field bubble around her. She laughed. “Wow! Its working!” she said as she started walking with it.

“Phila, here let me help you,” said Chad, coming over to Phila who was having trouble shifting into a smaller form.

“Here, try clearing your mind and focus on one thing. Take a deep breath and visualize the object completely.”

Phila took a deep breath and her form shrunk; she had turned into a rose.

Chad blushed and picked the rose up. All the girls came over and surrounded Chad.

“Is that Phila? Aww, it’s so cute,” said Ella.

Sahara grinned. “Chad, I hope you know Victorian Flower language,” said Sahara. Chad looked at her and his blush deepened. “Now I do.” he said with a nervous grin.

All the girls laughed as the rose started to shudder. Chad put it down and Phila returned. “I came back by choice. I can control my morphing now!” said Phila with a grin.

Chad hugged Phila and all the girls ‘awed’ and started clapping.

“So, Chad,” said Sahara, giving Chad a disapproving glance. “Why were you sent here anyways?”

“Oh, that. You guys don’t want me to bore you with those useless details,” said Chad, looking away.

“Please tell us,” said Ella, getting excited.

“Okay fine. I got sent here because I was getting headaches from all the talking inside my head,” said Chad. “My parents thought I was insane because I kept talking to them about ‘the voices’. But there was a lady at the asylum that recognized I was special, so she sent me here when I was six.”

“I see,” Sahara said dubiously. “Well, we really need to be going now. See you later! Maybe.” Sahara left while grabbing Ella and Phila and running away. Chad waved to Phila.