Origin Story

(I would like to give credit for some of the ideas in here to the wonderful Trenton Lee Stewart. In The Mysterious Benedict Society, Stewart has a beautiful, brilliant naming scene not unlike this one.)

"So!" said Fred in a loud voice, taking off the top part of his fire-breathing kaiju suit as Heathcliff the butler laid a tray of fresh pastries on the coffee table and walked away.

"So...what?" Honey asked, running her fingers over the buttons on her new chemical arsenal of a purse. After a long training session with a very obliging Heathcliff, the soon-to-be heroes had decided to take a coffee break. 

"So, we're gonna be heroes, right?" Fred spread his arms theatrically, catching one of Wasabi's sleeves with his long claws. "Um, sorry."

When nobody else answered, Honey put the purse down and turned to face Fred. "...Right."

"And so," Fred continued enthusiastically, "we need a name. The Avengers have a name. The Fantastic Four have a name. The X-Men have a name. Logically, we should have a name. Right, Hiro?" He jabbed Hiro, who had been picking over the pastries, with one of his claws.

"Um...right!"

"Okay," said Fred, sitting down on a lounge chair and putting his hands on his knees and easily assuming the role as leader of the discussion. "Let's all go around in a circle and give a suggestion. Go Go?"

Go Go resisted the urge to groan and roll her eyes. She popped a bubble instead. "I don't think we need a name."

Honey paused, tapping her fingers thoughtfully against her chin. "Hmmm...something catchy, something cute...How about Super Nerds? Or, or, I know! Super Scientists!"

"Hiro?" Fred quickly called on him before Honey could say more, but the fourteen-year-old was engrossed in a chocolate croissant. "Whatever you guys decide is fine," he mumbled with his mouth full. "I'm sure it'll be cool."

Fred glanced over at Baymax. The big robot was chasing a butterfly.

"Well, lucky for you, I have a lot of ideas," said Fred. He took a breath. "How about: The Mighty Fredzilla and his Army of Major Science Nerds? Or Harbingers of Death and Glory? Or San Fransokyo's Saviours? Or..."

They got to him before he could go on.

~~~

The next twenty minutes were pretty disastrous. Honey volunteered a few more weak ideas, Fred came up with about thirty different options, all equally long and ridiculous, and Hiro, despite his earlier indifference, said no to every single one of them. To make matters worse, Go Go remarked that she didn't see why they needed a name a couple more times. "Seriously, guys, give me three good reasons why we need a name." And Baymax wandered over every once in a while to pat Hiro on the head. The discussion got louder and more chaotic until even Heathcliff came by just to see what on earth was going on.

Finally Go Go stood up. "Enough!" she yelled, shrill enough to make everyone snap out of it and take notice. "We have to practice. I'm not even close to being confident on these wheels yet. You want a name? Okay." Her eyes fell on Wasabi, who had been watching the debate anxiously, his head whipping back and forth between each speaker. "'Sabi, you haven't said anything this entire while. And we don't have time for this. Give us a name. End of story."

"What?" Taken aback, Wasabi gaped at Go Go. 

She started counting down. "10...9..."

Go Go was serious. Wasabi's mind started racing.

"There are six of us," Honey offered helpfully.

"And we're gonna be heroes. It's gotta be big," Fred added.

"6...5..."

Wasabi felt a bead of sweat make its way down his cheek. He stared at each member of the team as though searching for inspiration.

"4...3..."

He was out of time. Wasabi put his hands together to keep them from shaking.

"2...1!"

Everyone on the team turned to Wasabi. "Well?" Go Go prompted.

Wasabi was blank. He blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Um...Big Hero 6!"

~~~

Blank stares.

Then Honey broke the silence. "I like it!" she exclaimed.

Fred got up to pat Wasabi's shoulder. "Not bad at all."

"Guess that's settled then," said Hiro. "C'mon Baymax. We have a lot to work on."

Go Go just grunted.

As Go Go prepared for another run on her new wheels, one of Fred's claws (seriously, why did Hiro even agree to those?) tapped her on the shoulder. 

"Hey, we've got a name!" Fred pointed out rather unnecessarily. "We're all ready to beat Yokai now, right?"

Go Go raised an eyebrow. "Yokai?"

"Yeah, the masked guy. You know? Yokai? It means 'bad guy' or 'phantom' in Japanese. I came up with that. Pretty cool, huh?"

This time Go Go groaned. And rolled her eyes. She couldn't help it.

~The End~