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It wasn’t really an accident, not really. It’s not like any of them purposefully intended to get magical powers and become vigilantes, but when the opportunity presented itself, none of them said no.
It started on an exciting day, which is unusual for a magical adventure. Typically the day is mundane and grey and then something magical happens. But the foxes lives never followed what was considered typical and they were surely never mundane. It was the girl’s final season, a thought that weighed down most of the team as they crawled their way through second semester. They had decided that it was a good bonding exercise to travel together over spring break like they did last year. And by they i mean Allison who then got Dan to round up the troops.
The foxes, sans all the freshman, made their way to the cabin they stayed at last time via several vehicles. When they arrived, they took the same room arrangement as they had last year since no one wanted to argue with anyone about better rooms, better placement, different roommates, etc. Their activities were much the same as last time, expect that Neil wasn’t sporting a mummy look and Aaron wasn’t being a dick to Neil about his and Andrew’s relationship (he was being a dick about the fact that katelyn couldn’t come, though).
One morning, Dan had decided that it would be a good idea to go hiking and climbing as a whole group. Kevin, while upset it wasn’t exy, was happy to be exercising and pestered everyone until they said yes just to shut him up. In order to fully take in the sights around them, Dan had made sure everyone left their phones back at the cabin.
The incessant chatter began almost as soon as they hit the trail, mostly consisting of Nicky complaining and trying to get a rise out of Kevin and Aaron. Renee was walking with Andrew and Neil, discussing the merits of wilderness survival in different habitats. Dan, Allison, and Matt were leading the troops, playing an intense game of would you rather. They were following a map they had snagged at the dining hall, but for some reason none of the landmarks they were seeing were matching up with the map.
“Okay gang,” started Dan, “we’re going to take a quick break while we get ourselves readjusted on the map.”
“Are we lost? We’re lost! Are fucking kidding me? I’m forced to do physical activity on spring break and then we get lost? This is the worst thing that’s-”
“Nicky, for once in your life, shut up,” said Aaron as he pulled out his phone, searching for service.
Allison almost laughed before explaining to Aaron, “It’s no use, there’s no signal out here. We are in the middle of nowhere, there’s a reason Dan made us leave them at the cabin”
The group was quiet for a minute, sitting around the small clearing they had stopped in, taking in the nature around them. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew through the clearing and it began to pour.
“What the fuck?!”
“Why me?”
“Did anyone check the radar before we left?”
“Did anyone bring an umbrella?” Renee asked, breaking through the swears and exclamations at the sudden twist of the weather.
“No.”
“Nope.”
“Didn’t think we’d need one!”
“There’s an overhang that way we can go hide under,” suggested Neil, pointing to a place deeper into the woods, “at least we can try and wait the rain out.”
Before he had finished speaking, Nicky had begun sprinting to the overhang and sat himself as close to the wall as possible. The rest of the foxes made their way over as well and squished together under the overhang.
The chatting from the trail resumed as they huddled together and waited out the rain. After about 10 minutes, water started to pile up near their feet and seep through their butts.
“Well this is just great! We could be back at the cabin in front of the fire right now but instead we’re stuck here under a mossy rock, lost in the god forsaken woods.”
“Nicky-” Neil began but was cut off before he could finish.
“I would shut up if I were you,” stated Andrew, peering over the rest of the group to stare him down. The group went silent again for a couple minutes. Everytime the wind blew, they shifted closer to the wall and too each other.
“You know what, I’m just going to say it: FUCK EXY!” yelled Nicky while standing up and running out from under the rock.
Kevin drew a small gasp at Nicky and his dramatics before taking his place by the wall. The group just barely fit underneath here but with Nicky gone they could spread out a tiny bit. Thoroughly soaked and done with his dramatics, Nicky dove at the rest of the group while yelling “group hug!”
Suddenly, a flash of lightning struck Nicky’s leg and coursed through the rest of the foxes. The collective screams that went out were enough to scare off a tree of birds not to far away. As soon as the electricity began, it stopped. The group slumped to the ground with a groan and were too busy recovering to notice the slight colorful tinge each of them gave off.
The rain let up moments later and the group clambered back to the clearing they had originally stopped in.
“What the fuck?! What the fuck!” muttered Kevin as he stared down at his glowing fingers.
“Ahh hah,” laughed Nicky, awkwardly filling the silence, “my bad, you guys.”
“Aparently the Exy gods saw it fit to strike you down for your earlier comments,” interjected Matt, “and you decided to try to take out the whole team with you.”
“Uhh guys?” Neil began, “are anyone else’s fingers uh.... emitting light?”
The rest of the group looked down at their hands to see that they also had different colors cast across their fingers. Each fox had a color of the rainbow softly glowing from their hands, but Andrew and Neil were different. While Neil’s hands were we’re a bright, blinding white, Andrew’s were the opposite. The inkiness around Andrew’s hands seemed to bleed into the air around him and suck out all particles out light.
“Uhh okay guys, what the actual fuck is going on?” said Allison said as she inspected her yellow hands. As she brought her hands up to her face she spoke again, “Mine actually seem to be giving off warmth, anyone else?”
“I can’t even look at mine,” said Neil, instead inspecting Andrew’s hands while Andrew stared off in the distance trying not to get caught being interested.
“Let me see if mine are warm too!” Nicky shouted as he slapped his hand on his face, “Ow! Nope! Mine just shocked the everloving fuck out of me.”
“Of course this had to happen,” said Aaron as he stomped towards a log to sit down, “nothing normal can happen with any of you!” He swung his arms in anger as he sat down when suddenly a fireball shot from the ends of his finger, landing on a nearby rock and extinguishing with a his.
“I think I’m hallucinating,” said Matt shaking his head vigorously, “there’s no way Aaron just shot fire out of his fingers.”
While everyone was staring at Aaron and the smouldering rock, a small noise was made as Kevin fell sprawled on the ground.
“Kevin!” Dan yelped as she rushed over to his side, “Are you okay?”
“Don’ loo ah my hans-” Kevins slurred as he attempted to sit up again.
“What, why?”
“Dizzy,” Kevin said as he finally pushed himself up. He quickly shoved his hands under his butt so he wouldn’t get caught up in looking at them again.
“Aaron,” Renee began, “do you still have your phone?”
Aaron gave a nod before reaching into his pocket and tossing his cell at Renee. Renee caught it easily, her position is goalie after all, and opened it up. As soon as she pressed a button on the keypad, the phone sent out a burst of energy and fell to the ground. The foxes crowded around the phone that looked like it had met the same fate as the rock Aaron’s flame had hit.
“Fuck,” uttered Matt as he began pacing, “I mean, just fuck! What are we supposed to do? No cell phone, no helpful map. We’re stuck in this godforsaken forest while everyone appears to have magical powers from some weird fucking lightning that hit us on our hiking trip! Just, what sort of alternate reality did we crawl into? Who’s sick joke was-”
“Matthew,” said Dan, voice cutting through the fog of words Matt had caught himself up in, “I know it seems bad, but take a deep breath.”
Matt took a deep breath. “Thanks babe,” he began, reaching for Dan’s hand as he spoke, “you always know just how to-” When his handed found Dan’s, they were suddenly thrust apart. Matt’s sleeve seemed to be smoldering while Dan’s arm hair was standing on end.
“I feel like I just got struck by lightning again,” said Dan, shaking her head Renee’s extended hand as she pushed herself off the ground.
“And I feel like I just stuck my hand in a superheated oven,” said Matt, as stayed spread eagle in the dirt.
The group stood around, each looking at their own hands as they contemplated the reality of the situation. Everyone seemed to be getting restless as the sky started to darken, the soft glow of their hands intensifying with the decrease of the sun’s light.
Andrew and Neil had been having one of their weird almost psychic facial expression conversations. It looked like an intense battle but it appeared Neil won when finally, Andrew spoke, “I know the way back.”
“What?!” Exclaimed Nicky, shooting up from where he was leaning against a tree trunk.
“He has an eidetic memory,” said Neil, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Well then why didn’t you say anything earlier?” asked Kevin as he pouted, still sitting on his hands.
“I like seeing you all squirm,” Andrew said, before taking off down a path.
Eventually, the group made it back to the cabin and all slumped in the main room. Dan went off and grabbed her phone, careful to use her elbows and legs instead of her hands in case something happened like it did with Renee earlier. When she made it back to the main room, she set her phone down and hit Wymack’s speed dial and put it on speaker.
Wymack answered with a quick, “This better be good.”
The foxes looked around at each other, trying to figure out who should speak and what to say when Dan finally bit the bullet.
“Uh so Coach, we were in the woods on a hike we’re hiding out under a rock while it was raining and ended up getting struck by lightening and I think we all have magical powers now.”
“Wilds, you should lay off the drinking and should stop trying to make jokes.”
“Wait, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true!”
“I know you think it’s true-” began Wymack but was cut off by Kevin.
“Father,” Kevin began, “Wilds is right. You need to get here immediately.”
“Are you serious?” Wymack asked. The resounding silence was all the answer he needed.
“You assholes couldn’t just go on a normal vacation could you?”
“Apparently not,” Dan laughed as she breathed out a sigh.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t get into anymore trouble.”
With that, Wymack hung up and left the room in silence. Little did they know that being struck by lightning was only just the beginning.