DigiDestined: Mutants

by Lebeau-Ishida

Pg-13, cussing, attempt suicaide, sorry for spelling things wrong, I have someone undiscrbable loading this for me. Let's the gang's turning into "Monsters." By some peoples standerds. Get the idea? Ok.

A/N: Flames will be used as lights to write by during the night.

Disclaimer: I don't own either Digimon or the X-Men. Saban Entertainment and Toei Animation own Digimon, and Marvel Comics owns the X-Men. I wish I owned them, but I don't.

Roma: Of course you don't own us. We're people, too.

LeBeau-Ishida: I know dat. I only meant de shows an' de comics, dat's all.

Roma: Oh.

LeBeau-Ishida: And now, on wit' de show!

DigiDestined: Mutants

It was a year after they'd returned from the Digital World.

Matt and Roma had become friends. Not best friends, but friends.

At the moment, there was a general scramble at the Ishida house. All three boys were running late.

"Matt, have you seen my hat?" the youngest, TK, asked.

"No, T.K., I haven't seen your hat. Have you seen my skateboard?"

"No. Anthony, have you seen my hat?"

"Yeah. Here. I found it in my closet when I dug my skateboard out."

Matt ran down the stairs, taking the steps two and three at a time.

He hit the bottom, and the entire floor seemed to roll out from under him.

"Whoa!" Thump. "What the hell did I step on?"

"Try your skateboard, genius," Anthony said as he slid down the banister and jumped over his older brother.

"Very funny, Anthony." Matt got up and tucked his skateboard under his arm. "I'm goin' to the skate park, Mom," he said as he left.

As soon as he was on the sidewalk, he put his skateboard on the ground, hopped on, and pushed off.

As he passed the Yagamis', he nearly collided with a flame-haired figure on rollerblades.

"Watch where you're goin', bub!" It was Roma.

"Like I knew where you were gonna be when I went by?"

She momentarily ignored him as she turned back toward the house and yelled, "Tai, what's takin' ya so long? You're gonna be late for soccer practice!"

"Can I help it if I ain't a mornin' person like you?"

"It's the afternoon and you know it! 'Sides, didn't Mom tell you she was gonna get ya kicked off the team if ya missed another practice?"

"She did? Man! I gotta get goin'!"

"A little late for that, ain't it?"

Tai ran out of the house and past his twin sister, who said, "Sure lit a fire under you, didn't I?"

"Shut up," he replied as he ran off.

Roma turned back to Matt and said, "Guess we oughta head to the skate park, huh?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

But before either of them could move, Anthony and TK streaked past them on their skateboards, nearly running the two of them over.

"Watch it, guys! You nearly hit us!"

"Yeah! I already told your brother off about that!"

"Sorry Matt! Sorry Roma!" they yelled back in unison.

"It's all right. Hey, do me a favor: When ya see Tai, run 'im over, will ya?"

"Why?"

"So he can tell his coach he got ran over by a kid on a skateboard."

Anthony said, "I'll do it!"

"Then go run 'im over, already!"

"I'm gone!"

"Hey, wait for me!"

"Hurry up then, TK!"

Once they were out of sight, Matt and Roma continued on their way to the skate park.

When they were about half way there, Roma said, "Race ya to the skate park, bub!"

"Now you're talkin'!"

The race was on. Matt had let Roma have about a minute's head start, but he had soon caught up with her. A few seconds later, he passed her.

"Hey!"

"You snooze, you lose, remember?"

"Who said I was snoozin'?"

She streaked by him then. When she looked behind her to see how close he was, he was nowhere in sight.

Where'd he go?, she wondered. Then she turned her attention back to the sidewalk in front of her.

Suddenly, Matt appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, a good distance ahead of her. He looked back and said, "Fall behind, did we? I'm gonna beat ya to the skate park!"

No you're not, bub, she thought to herself.

Then she picked up speed. She had almost overtaken him when she realized that there wasn't enough room on either side of him to pass him.

"Yo, Ishida, heads up!"

He looked back and saw her coming up fast. "What're you doin', Roma?"

"Goin' too fast on a too-narrow, one-way sidewalk, that's what. What's it look like to you?"

"Well, slow down! Or stop! Or something!"

"Whatcha think I'm tryin' to do? Tap dance?"

She tried to slow down, and found that, for some reason or other, she couldn't. She knew that there was absolutely no way for her to stop in time without slowing down first.

Matt jumped into the air as she streaked up behind him. She jumped over his skateboard and continued on in front of him, then screeched to a stop a few feet away.

He came down, but didn't land heavily. In fact, it looked like he had floated down more than anything else.

The two forgot about their race as Roma quietly asked, "You didn't use your elemental power, did ya?"

"No! I'm not sure what I did. But I definitely didn't use my elemental power."

"Maybe we better forget about the skate park 'til later."

"No, the guys there'll just think that's suspicious. I mean, we're there practically every single day."

"All right. But anythin' else weird happens, I'm goin' home and I'm draggin' ya right along with me."

"Fair enough."

When they got to the skate park, one of the other kids called out, "Yo! You guys are late. What kept you?"

"We had a near-collision."

"I nearly crashed into him."

"Dang. You all right?"

"Yeah. We're just peachy-keen."

Roma snorted, then said, "All fine and dandy that ya care about our safety, but can we get this show on the road? I came here to rollerblade, not stand around and yak!"

The kid that had spoken before said, "Okay, show's over. Let's get rollin'!"

Matt and Roma split up, and he didn't even notice what was going on around him until he suddenly heard Roma yelling, "Get it through your thick skulls! I already told ya that I wouldn't go out with any of ya! What part a' that don't ya understand, ya thickwits?!"

Just as he began to steer his skateboard over in her direction, he caught a glimpse of something glowing out of the corner of his eye. Then he was momentarily flattened by the shockwave of a small explosion.

BOOM.

The whole skate park shook with the force.

When Matt picked himself up off the ground, he discovered that a part of the wall had been utterly destroyed.

Roma stared at what was left of the wall with eyes that were wide with fear and shock. She seemed frozen in place.

The other kids stared at the wall, then at her. When it dawned on them that she had been the one who had destroyed it, they ran toward her, yelling, "She's a mutant! We can't let her get away!"

Others were yelling, "Let's make an example of her, so other mutants will know they're not wanted here!"

Her face went from showing fear and shock to pure panic. As the kids closed in around her, she suddenly disappeared into thin air.

"Where'd she go?"

"Who cares? I say good riddance. We don't need no stinkin' mutie around here!"

Matt got on his board and left. He had to find Roma. Question was, where was she?

X X X

She couldn't believe it. She'd lost her memory, regained some of it, been reunited with her family, and now this?

Her parents would definitely freak as soon as they heard about what she had done. And what about her brother and sister? What would they do when they found out?

She didn't know. But just imagining their likely reactions, and the reactions of the other DigiDestined, made her wince involuntarily.

X X X

Professor Charles Xavier looked up at Cerebro in mild surprise. The machine was showing the current location of two young mutants, instead of just the usual one. What's more, Cerebro showed the pair as exhibiting at least three different powers between the two of them, each within minutes of the other two.

He pulled up the file on the first of the two. This one was a boy of about twelve years old, with medium blond hair and icy blue eyes. The information available on him said that he had apparently exhibited some flying, or at least floating, ability.

Xavier quickly scanned the boy's file, and then pulled up the second mutant's file.

This one was a girl, about the same age as the boy, with flame-red hair and brown eyes. She had shown two different powers, the second within a minute of the first. The first power had apparently been the same bio-kinetic energy that Gambit had. The second was teleportation.

Xavier scanned the information available on her, then called Logan and Remy LeBeau into his office.

"What's up, Chuck?"

"Since you and Remy are going to Japan anyway, I would like you to see if you can find these two for me." He handed them both printed copies of the two files.

"I t'ought dis was gon' be a vacation f'r Remy an' Logan," Remy said.

"No kiddin', Cajun. So whatta we do when we find 'em? Say, 'Congratulations, yer a mutant?'"

"No. When you find them, talk to their families and try to get their parents to let them go with you. Then you bring them back here, to the Institute."

"Sounds easy enough. Just one thing: How do we bring 'em back here if we take an airline?"

X X X

Roma found herself back in her house. She hunted down her shoes, then took off her rollerblades and put her shoes on. She went to the front door, and had almost put her hand on the doorknob when someone opened it from the outside. It was her little sister, Kari.

"Roma? Since when do you get home from the skate park in under two hours?"

Roma froze for a second, then said, "So? Sometimes I surprise ya. You should know that by now." She backed away from Kari and said, "Just… don't get too close."

"Why?"

"I…well, let's just say I found out I'm…not normal."

Kari came in, shut the door, and said, "You haven't been normal since last year, remember? That's when you discovered your elemental power."

"This is different, Kari. I blew up a wall at the skate park today."

"So that's why you're home early. I wondered."

Roma blinked.

"Please don't look so surprised. I'm not. Well, not really, anyway. I just want to know how you managed to blow up a wall."

"Well…"

"Tell me what happened. Please."

"I was talkin' to some a' the guys, and one of 'em gave me a ball for some reason or other. Then several of 'em all began to ask me if I'd go out with one of 'em. I got mad and started yellin' at 'em and the next thing I know, the stupid ball's glowin'. I threw it at the wall, and it exploded. The shockwave pretty much flattened everybody fer a few seconds. I was kinda surprised that I wasn't in a world a' hurt, seein' as how everyone hit the ground kinda hard. I'm pretty sure that I shoulda been black and blue after that, but I wasn't. Then a lot of 'em started yellin', "Mutant!" and such. I guess I panicked, and suddenly, poof, here I was at home."

X X X

"I'm serious, Coach, a kid on a skateboard ran me over! I think my sister told 'im to do it."

"Which sister? You've got two of them, and when you talk like that, it's hard to tell which one of them you're talking about."

"My twin. She's always talkin' people into runnin' me over or somethin'."

"Right." I know they don't seem to get along too well, but I don't think she'd really tell someone to run him over.

"Did ya say somethin', Coach?"

"No, I… didn't say anything."

"What? I coulda sworn I just heard ya say somethin' about me and my twin not gettin' along, and that you didn't really think she'd tell someone to run me over." Tai looked surprised. He knew he'd heard his coach say that. He'd heard it as plain as day. Then he realized that he could "hear" others all around him.

Tai's flipped his lid.

Guess Roma actually drove him crazy.

He's hearing things now. That can't be good.

"What are you talkin' about? I ain't crazy!"

Suddenly, the world seemed to close in around him as he began to hear voices coming from all over the place: His coach, his teammates, his friends, family…

What's happenin' t'me? Haven't I gone through enough already?

At first, he assumed that the thought was his own. Then it dawned on him that he hadn't thought that at all.

Roma had.

He tried to focus on her, to see what was wrong, but the other voices exploded in his head again.

"Aaaa! My head!"

"What's wrong, son?" he heard the coach ask, sounding as if he stood several feet away instead of right next to him.

"I don't know. I just got a splittin' headache all of a sudden. I don't think I'm gonna be finishin' practice today, Coach."

"You'd better go on home, then, son."

"Thanks."

He decided to walk home, instead of run, like he usually did.

He'd somehow managed to shove the voices to the back of his mind, but just as he came within sight of his house, they again exploded inside his head, this time with a vengeance.

"Aaaaaaa!" He collapsed on the ground, holding his head and trying to force the voices out of his mind.

X X X

Neither Logan nor Remy had left the Institute yet, because Logan had figured that if Cerebro had picked up on two mutants, who's to say it wouldn't pick up on more? And as if on cue, Xavier called the two X-Men into his office again.

"Don't tell us, I think we know the answer to this one already. Cerebro just picked up on another one, right?"

"Correct, Logan. According to Cerebro, this one is a telepath."

"So, what's he look like, just so we know?"

"Here's the file Cerebro put together on him."

Logan took the file from Xavier and flipped it open to the kid's picture. He had wild brown hair that looked as though someone had taken a bird's nest and glued it on his head. Either that or the kid had stuck his finger in a light socket.

"Who's this kid's hairstylist?"

"Dat's def'nitely one o' de wackiest hairdos Remy's ever seen, mon ami."

"I assume his hair has always been like that. However, that is the least of his worries at the moment."

X X X

Kari and Roma both heard their brother scream.

They ran to the door and nearly knocked it down in their haste to see what was going on outside.

"Tai? Tai, what's wrong?" Kari asked. He didn't answer. It was as if he couldn't hear her.

"We can't leave 'im out here. We gotta get 'im inside."

Roma leaned down to pick her brother up. Her concern for him overrode her fear of hurting him.

She surprised herself by picking him up easily, as if he weighed about as much as a feather, even though both girls knew their brother weighed probably a hundred and some pounds.

"Roma! Finally. What happened? Where'd you go after ya disappeared from the skate park?" Matt came to a screeching halt next to them on his skateboard. "I repeat: What happened?"

Roma snapped at him. "I'll tell ya later! I gotta get Tai inside, if that's all right with you!"

Matt blinked. She hadn't snapped at him like that since last year, when they'd been at each other's throats.

The look on Matt's face would be almost comical if this weren't so serious, Roma thought. Out loud, she said, "Look, I'm sorry for snappin' at ya, but I gotta get Tai inside. Somethin's wrong with him."

Matt picked up his skateboard and followed the two girls inside.

Roma put her brother down on the couch and turned to face Matt.

"Now will ya tell me what happened?"

"Sure. I just found out that I'm a mutant."

"What?!"

"Oh, I shouldn'ta told ya. Guess I shoulda known better. Kari, watch Tai for me wouldja?"

"Where are you goin'?"

"To call my parents. What's it look like?" She turned away from him and started to walk to the phone, but Matt grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't call your parents. I don't think that's a good idea."

"Fine," she said, "then what do you suggest we do? Pretend I'm normal, like we've been doin' since last year?"

"No. I don't know. I'm not the leader! Tai is! And he's unconscious!"

"Don't be yellin' at me, Yamato Ishida! I can yell right back at ya!"

He let go of her. "I wish I knew what to do!" he yelled as he whirled around and punched the wall.

To his surprise, and Kari's and Roma's, his fist went right through it.

He half-expected it to hurt like crazy, but it didn't. Not really. Instead, he saw the broken skin on his hand healing right before his eyes. He could feel the broken bones in his hand mending even as he turned back to face the others.

"Guess what?" he said. "I'm a mutant, too."

"Great. Just great. I'm a mutant, you're a mutant, Tai's unconscious… Kari's the only normal one left in this house!" Roma cried shrilly. Then she continued, somewhat more quietly, "This can't be happenin'. I have gone through too much in one year. I can't be a mutant. I'm already an elemental. How can I be a mutant, too?"

Kari looked up at them from where she sat next to Tai. She couldn't believe what was happening.

Her older brother was unconscious, her older sister looked to be on the edge of a complete breakdown, and Matt, whom she thought she could count on to stay calm, was losing it.

She looked calm on the outside, but inside, she was scared, worried, and very nervous.

She was scared because she didn't know what would happen to Matt and Roma if someone found out what they were, and because Tai was unconscious for no apparent reason. She was worried for the same reasons.

She was nervous because of what Matt had done. She had seen him put his fist through a wall. What if he used that strength on her, or Roma, or even Tai? She knew that normally Matt wouldn't even come near any of them if he thought that he himself was in any way dangerous to them.

But this wasn't normally. He had just discovered that he was a mutant, and both she and Roma were looking to him, asking him what they should do.

Kari looked out the window, and wished the sky would turn gray, to reflect how she felt inside. She wished it would rain.

Suddenly, it did begin to rain. Just a little. That itself wasn't odd. The odd part was that it was raining inside.

"Now what?" Matt demanded of no one in particular.

"I'm sorry! I was kinda wishing it would rain, and it just started raining inside! I didn't mean to! Honest!" Kari cried.

"Well, make it stop raining!"

"I-I'm trying! Really!"

X X X

"He fakes to the left! He fakes right! He shoots!… And it's good! Take that, TK!"

"Lucky shot, Anthony! That had rebound written all over it!"

"You wish, little bro. C'mon, I won. Let's go over to the skate park and see if we can get Matt and Roma to play."

"Sure."

When they arrived at the skate park, they couldn't help but notice that part of one wall had been completely destroyed.

"What happened to the wall?"

One of the older kids that was standing around said, "Some girl did about half an hour ago. Damn mutie nearly killed us!"

"Oh. Matt told us not to have anything to do with them," TK said.

"One of them did that to a wall? Man, now I'm starting to feel scared," Anthony said.

"Don't be. I'll protect you from them mutants." The kid put his arm around Anthony's neck, in a brotherly fashion. Their skin touched, and the kid fell.

"He's a mutant too!"

"Get him!"

Anthony took off at top speed. TK followed him.

Anthony didn't know what had happened. All he knew was that one second, the kid had had his arm draped around Anthony's neck, and the next the kid's lying on the ground and all the other kids were yelling, "Mutant!"

Neither stopped till they reached the Yagamis'.

"Maybe Matt's in there."

They ducked inside just as a bunch of kids from the skate park ran past.

"That was close," TK said.

"No kiddin'."

They both looked around. What they saw surprised them: Tai stretched out unconscious on the couch, Kari near tears, Roma having a quiet breakdown (the worst kind), and their brother was losing it.

TK's head began to hurt. "Can I have an aspirin?"

Then, just as he looked up, a red beam of powerful destructive force shot from his eyes. It went through the living room ceiling and continued on up through the roof of the house.

Matt whirled around, half-expecting to find someone breaking down the door. Instead, all he saw were his two little brothers.

Anthony just sat there, pretty much just hugging himself.

TK had curled up into a ball, with his eyes tightly shut.

He looked back at the other three, and realized that losing his temper like he had had not helped either him or them.

He forced himself to be calm, and took stock of the situation. There wasn't much he could do for Roma right now, and he couldn't do anything about Tai being unconscious, so he went to Kari first.

"Kari, listen, I'm sorry I yelled earlier. I need ya to help me."

"You're-you're not going to hurt me?"

"No. I'm sorry about that, too. Listen, can ya make sure your sister doesn't do anythin' drastic?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Then he went over to Anthony. He reached a hand toward him, and he said, "Don't touch me! S-stay away! Please!"

"Wha-Anthony what's wrong?"

"This guy touched me. All he did was put his arm around my neck, and- and when our skin touched, he… fell."

"What do you mean, he fell?"

"He did! It was like I'd hurt him, only I hadn't done anything."

Matt reached out with one hand again, and touched the tips of his fingers to his brother's face.

Anthony all but screeched "Don't!" but it was too late. The damage had been done.

Luckily, they hadn't been in contact for more than a few seconds before Anthony had pulled away.

Matt hadn't had too much energy drained from him, not enough to life threatening, but Anthony had taken enough that his brother was now off-balance.

Matt fell over backward. He could see where Roma had been sitting. She wasn't there now. It took a few seconds for that to sink in. When it did, he groaned. "Where'd she go this time?"

X X X

Logan and Remy decided to stay in Xavier's office, just in case Cerebro picked up on any more new mutants.

As it turned out, they didn't have to wait long.

Xavier handed both of them copies of three more new files.

The first one was a nine-year-old girl with brown eyes and straight brown hair.

She could apparently control the weather.

Next was a ten-year-old black-haired kid with blue eyes.

According to the information, he had the same power as Rogue: The ability to drain others of their energy, memories, abilities and/or powers.

The third kid was a blond, blue-eyed nine-year-old with optic force blasts that shot from his eyes.

"Well, this makes a total a six all together. Ya want us to go get 'em, Chuck?"

"Yes. And hire a private jet."

"Sure, mon ami."

"We got one on standby already. C'mon, Cajun. We gotta go pick up half a dozen kids."

Each of them was listed as currently being in the Odaiba district of Tokyo. And they were all still there.

Xavier watched them leave, and then leaned back in his wheelchair as he mentally checked on the condition of the six.

The telepath was unconscious.

His younger sister seemed calm enough.

His twin sister, on the other hand, was having a quiet breakdown.

Of the other three, the youngest of the total number of four boys seemed fine, except he was afraid to open his eyes lest he hit one of the others.

The blond twelve-year-old boy was forcing himself to be calm. It seemed the others were all looking to him.

The last one had gotten hold of a knife, and was thinking about killing himself.

He hoped that they got there in time.

X X X

Roma had somehow managed to pull apart a pair of scissors and was threatening to, at the very least, injure herself pretty badly with them. (A/N: Scissors are actually classified as weapons in some circles.)

"Roma, please put the scissors down," Kari pleaded.

That didn't get her anywhere. Roma absolutely refused to put them down.

This went on for a while, but in the end, Kari lost her patience with her and somehow called a lightning bolt down out of the sky that hit the ground at her sister's feet.

It surprised her enough that she dropped the scissors.

Meanwhile, Matt was trying to get Anthony to calm down and drop the knife that he held in his hand.

"Anthony, put the knife down. Now."

"Why? Why should I? Why should I live? I could've killed that guy with a touch. I could've killed you."

"You didn't, Anthony. Now put the knife down."

"So? I could have. Don't you see that? I don't deserve to live because of that!"

X X X

Roma picked up a medium-sized paperweight just as Anthony began yelling.

She and Kari peered at the wall.

"Not that I really blame Anthony or anythin', but couldn't he tone it down just a little?" Roma asked.

"This from someone who tried to do what he's trying to do," Kari remarked. Then she said, "Roma, that paperweight's glowing."

"What? Oh no!" She threw it without thinking. It hit the wall separating the den and the kitchen, which exploded outward, sending pieces flying everywhere.

The two girls poked their heads in.

"Which-Never mind…it was you, wasn't it, Roma?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"After I get Anthony to put the knife down, I think maybe I'm gonna start keepin' track a how many walls ya blow up."

That was when Roma noticed that Anthony had the knife dangerously close to his neck.

"Anthony, drop it now!" she cried. When that didn't work, she leapt at him, knocking the knife out of his hand and pinning him to the floor.

The knife whizzed through the air right by Matt's ear, just missing him and sticking in the wall behind him.

"Whoa. Now that's what I call a close shave," Matt said, looking behind him at where the knife still quivered in the wall.

X X X

Remy and Logan arrived at the airport in Tokyo. They went straight to a subway station and took the next train to Odaiba.

"Okay, we're here. Now what street're they on?"

"Dis one, I t'ink."

They walked down the street, then up to one of the houses, just in time to hear a crunch as something went through a wall, the unmistakable sound of metal tearing through metal, and someone cursing.

Then they heard a girl's voice. "And you complain about me blowing up walls?"

Inside the house, Matt had punched the wall yet again. This time, however, he felt something come out of his hand and go right through the rest of the wall. "Damn! Uh, Roma, did you know your house is metal-reinforced?"

"No. And you complain about me blowing up walls?"

Just then, they heard a voice come from the direction of the couch.

"What are you two doin'?"

"Tai!"

"Tai! You're awake!" Kari cried happily. She hugged her older brother tightly. Roma came over and hugged him, too.

"Kari I can understand, but why are you huggin' me?"

"Can't I be concerned for my overly annoyin', idiotic twin brother?"

Matt interrupted. "Guys, there's someone at the door."

"How can you tell? I don't hear anythin'."

"I can."

Kari went over and opened the door. She looked up at the two men standing on the porch.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Remy LeBeau. Dis is Logan."

Kari heard Matt say, "What? No last name?"

"It's the only name I know, kid, so shut up about it."

Tai could see that Matt wasn't about to shut up, so he asked, "Okay, so why are you here? Whaddya want?"

"We're lookin' fer a bunch a' kids."

"Who?"

"You."

"Why us?"

Tai had noticed that his best friend had hidden one of his hands behind his back earlier. Now he had both hands out in front of him.

"So whadda ya want with us? We're just a bunch a' kids."

Tai and the others were trying to act normal, like none of them had done anything unusual.

Unfortunately, it was obvious that something unusual had happened, because the kitchen was short one wall, there were a couple of fist-sized holes in the living room wall, and two sets of gaping holes in the roof and ceiling.

"We know what you are, and we wanna help ya."

"Help us how?" Tai demanded.

To Logan and Remy, it was obvious which of these kids was the leader. The way the one acted was the way a born leader acted, and the way that the other five seemed to defer to him only confirmed that. They also didn't blame him for asking that question. Any good leader in his right mind would ask that same question in this kid's place.

Remy pointed over at TK. "He can' open his eyes, can' he?"

"So what if he can't? Maybe he just doesn't want to."

"An' why wouldn' he wan' to open his eyes?"

"I'm afraid to open my eyes. Something came out of them and hit the ceiling and roof. I don't want to open my eyes 'cause I don't wanna hit any of the others," TK said.

That had an interesting effect on the other five kids. They all went very pale. For the one, that was saying something, since he was already pretty pale. It was interesting to watch the pair of twins go from being relatively dark to being nearly as pale as their friend.

"Don' worry. We ain' gon' hurt ya. Like he said, we wanna help. Dat's all."

"I repeat: How?"

"Good thing we borrowed Cyke's spare pair a' glasses," Logan remarked as he handed a pair of what looked like ordinary sunglasses to TK. "Here, kid. Ya might need these."

TK took the glasses from him and put them on. He opened his eyes and discovered that he could now see without blasting everything in sight with that optic force beam that had shot from his eyes earlier.

"How come I can see with these glasses?"

"De lenses are made from ruby-quartz. Wearin' dem glasses is de only way t'control dose eye beams."

"Ya mean my brother has to wear those things fer the rest of his life?"

"Yep. And that one over there had better get some gloves and long sleeves on."

"Anthony can borrow some a' my stuff." Tai disappeared upstairs. They could hear him rooting through things, and then he came back down carrying a long-sleeved blue shirt and a pair of white gloves. He tossed them to Anthony and said, "Here ya go. Gloves and a long-sleeved shirt, just as the doctor ordered."

"Thanks, Tai."

"No problem." Then, "Uh…Matt?"

"What, Tai?"

"Your parents are outside."

"What? How did you…never mind." Matt had suddenly realized that his senses of hearing and smell had become acute enough that he could hear and smell his parents, even though they were outside and hadn't said a word. Not to mention the fact that the only times before this that he had been able to smell either of his parents were the rare occasions on which his mother had worn perfume.

"Damn. There's no way I'm gettin' that door."

TK and Kari both started in with "Ummmm…", Anthony doubled over laughing (he thought that that was the funniest thing he'd ever heard), and the twins just smiled.

After Anthony calmed down enough to talk, he said, "I ain't gettin' it, either." Tai and Roma refused to get it, too.

In the end, only TK and Kari were willing to get it. Neither of them would do it by themselves, though, so they opened the door together.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad," TK said.

"TK? Why are you wearing those glasses?"

"It's kind of a long story, Mom."

David and Nancy Ishida walked in, and noticed the destruction around the house.

"What happened?"

"Well, we…I…They…" Matt faltered. How do you explain to your parents that you, your brothers, and three of your best friends are mutants?

Then David and Nancy noticed the two men standing off to one side.

"Remy? Logan? What are you doing here?" David asked.

"Chuck sent us to pick up a group a' young mutants. Considerin' what this house looks like, I'd say it's these kids here."

"Dey all yours?"

"No," Nancy said. "Just the two blondes and the one with black hair. The other three are Reiko's and Rekishi's."

"Funny. Those two don't look much like Rekishi, though I can see Reiko in 'em just fine."

Tai spoke up. "We took after our Mom."

Then Roma asked, "How do ya know them? And our parents?" Those questions were aimed at Logan and Remy.

"We're old friends."

"We jus' los' contact wit' dem, dat's all."

"Mom, Dad, exactly how do you know these guys?"

"We went to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning when we were younger. They went there, too."

"Now we're teachers ourselves."

"And dey gotta come wit' us."

"Wait a minute. Go where? Why?"

"The six of you are too young. You don't yet know how to control your powers. We do," Nancy said.

"What? Mom, what are you saying?"

"Your father and I are mutants, too, Matt."

The six kids all fall over, in classic anime fashion. Then, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"We didn't think you needed to know just yet."

"I guess that means that they can go with 'em," Tai said. "But what about us? Our parents aren't here!"

"We can speak for you three, too. We'll explain to them where you went when they get back."

The kids all knew that they had to leave, because Japan had an anti- mutant government. They had only just discovered their powers. If they stayed, they would be vulnerable because none of them knew how to fully control their powers yet. It would be as dangerous for them to stay as it would be for them to take on every single evil Digimon they had ever faced, at the same time, and the Controllers put together, which translated into a spectacularly bad situation.

Then it sank in that they would be leaving the only home most had ever known.

Tai spoke for all of them when he said, "We have to go… but we don't want to."

"The only true home I've ever known, pretty much the only home I can even remember, and now yer sayin' that I gotta go somewhere else?" Roma sighed. Guess I don't have a choice. I'll come. Mind ya, I'm doin' this under protest."

"We'll all come."

"Then c'mon. We got a private jet waitin' at the airport."

X X X

The van pulled up in front of a building that could be called nothing short of a mansion.

"Welcome to the Institute."

"This is the Institute? It's huge!"

The six of them piled out of the van and entered the mansion, where they saw a bunch of other kids, all ranging in age from 13 to 17 years old.

"Bobby!" a Chinese-American girl suddenly yelled.

"What? What'd I do?"

"You know perfectly well what you did, Drake," the girl said accusingly.

"Honest, Jubes, I don't know what you're talking about," the boy answered. He had sandy brown hair and blue eyes.

Another girl, this one with dark brown hair, joined them. "So, what did Bobby do this time, Jubilee?"

"Kitty, don't listen to her! I didn't do it this time! I swear!"

Then all three of them noticed the new arrivals, just as an African-American boy with blond hair walked into the room. "Hey, new kids! When'd ya get in? By the way, my name's Evan Daniels."

"We only arrived a few minutes ago."

"Cool. Oh, hey, these are my friends. Meet Bobby Drake, Kitty Pryde, and Jubilation Lee."

"Call me Jubilee."

"I'm Taichi Yagami. Call me Tai."

"I'm Roma, Tai's twin sister."

"My name's Hikari Yagami. I'm their little sister. You can call me Kari if you want."

"Yamato Ishida. Call me Matt."

"I'm Takeru. Just TK will do, though."

"I'm Anthony. And don't even think of calling me Tony. Okay?"

"Sure. Hey, where's Kurt?"

"How should I know? Last I saw him, he was talking to Dr. McCoy in the lab."

X X X

"I know you only just got back, but while you were gone, Cerebro picked up on six more young mutants, all in the same district the others you brought back with you had been in."

"We gotta go back dere already?"

"C'mon, Chuck, can't Scott go get 'em this time?"

When next Xavier spoke, he used a tone of voice that said, "Don't argue." "I'm afraid not. You two have already been there and know the general layout."

"We're goin'."

X X X

The ten kids noticed the two X-Men leave.

"Where are they going?"

"Who knows? Maybe the professor sent them on an errand or something."

"Sorry I'm late, but Dr. McCoy needed to talk with me, and then I ran into Ms. Munroe-"

"You don't need to apologize, Kurt," the girl named Kitty said. "I saw you talking with him. And Ms. Munroe's pretty nice."

The other girl, Jubilee, said, "Kurt, meet Tai, Roma, Kari, Matt, TK, and Anthony. They're all new students. So you can quit hiding behind Bobby and Evan."

When Kurt came into view, the six Japanese kids were kind of surprised. Their first thought was that he was actually a Digimon of some sort. Then they realized that he was just a mutant, like them.

The reason? He had blue, fuzzy skin, pointed ears, a pointed tail, three fingers, and two toes.

"I'm Kurt Wagner. It's nice to meet you."

"Same here." Each of them shook hands with him, then they started asking questions, namely, what kind of powers they had, what powers did the teachers have (A/N: Dey'd have to. De Institute is a school f'r mutants, after all), what they were like, and, last, but not least, who was the professor, what was he like, and what kind of power or powers did he have?

Evan was first. "I can grow spikes on my arms and back, and I can even shoot 'em at things. I try not to do that too much, though there was that one time I spiked my alarm clock…"

Then Bobby demonstrated his ability to turn the moisture in the air into ice.

Kitty walked right through a wall. A few seconds later, they heard, "Kitty, please don't do that without warning me first."

"Sorry, Dr. Grey," she said as she came back into the common room.

Jubilee shot off a few fireworks from her hands.

Then Kurt teleported, accompanied by a muffled bamf and a small cloud of sulphur-scented smoke. He then reappeared with the same accompaniments.

The five students then told them all about the teachers and the professor.

"They don't sound all that bad, especially the professor," Kari remarked.

Then Bobby asked, "So what powers do you guys have?"

"We're not entirely sure what all we can do yet, but I know I can do this," Roma said, as she disappeared right before their eyes.

"Where'd she go?" Evan asked.

They heard a tap-tap-tap on the window, and turned. There was Roma, standing next to the window and waving at them all inside. Then she disappeared again. She reappeared next to Kurt.

"Roma, tell 'em what ya did at the skate park."

"Matt, I don't think they really need to know about that."

"Yeah, they do. If you won't tell 'em, I will."

"Go ahead, then."

"Fine." He turned to Evan, Bobby, Jubilee, Kitty, and Kurt. "Roma can also make things glow, and they explode on impact."

"Hey, cool, she's got the same power as Mr. LeBeau!"

Matt went next. "My senses of hearin' and smell are sharper than most people's, and I think I'm stronger, too."

Tai took over. "I…can hear others' thoughts, like the professor."

TK: "I can't look at anything without these glasses or else I might accidentally blow something up."

Kari could control the weather, and Anthony had the same power as Rogue: He could drain a person of their energy, their memories, and their abilities and/or powers.

X X X

Most of the second group of six came without any real problems.

Two of them, however…

"Let go of me!" Samantha (better known as Sam) yelled as she turned and bit Logan on the arm.

"Bloody hell!" he growled. He was surprised. This was the first time he'd been bitten by a human, let alone a kid.

"You need any help, mon ami?"

Logan smiled evilly and said, "Yeah. You take this one and I'll get the one with the long purple hair."

Remy took hold of Sam and ended up having to literally wrestle her onto the private jet.

Sinthia Kido gave Logan as difficult a time as Sam had, if not worse. She said quite a few words that surprised even Sam, who was basically her best friend and had heard (or thought she'd heard) just about every word in Sinthia's vocabulary.

Once the two girls were on the plane, the two X-Men counted heads and came up with six.

When they arrived back at the airport in New York, they loaded the six into the van that they'd left in the airport parking lot.

At the Institute, the tall, blue-haired boy, Joe Kido (Sinthia's twin brother) asked, "Why are we here?"

"Because you're all mutants, and this is the best place to be while you and the others learn to fully control your powers."

They went inside, and found that there were a bunch of kids apparently already living there.

"They're all mutants, too?" Mimi Tachikawa asked.

"They have to be. It's only logical. Especially with what they said." Izzy Izumi replied, even though Mimi hadn't really been asking anyone in particular.

That was when Sora Takenouchi noticed some familiar faces: Tai, Roma, Kari, Matt, TK and Anthony.

They didn't look all that different, really, though by now Sora knew that they had to be mutants, to be here at the Institute. The only outward differences that she noticed were the fact that Anthony was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of gloves, both obviously Tai's, and TK was wearing a pair of red-lensed sunglasses that she knew he hadn't had yesterday.

"Hey!" she called. "Tai! Over here!"

He turned, looking to see who had called him, and when he saw Sora standing over by the door, with Izzy, Joe, Mimi, Sinthia and Sam, he smiled and said, "Sora! Come on over! We'd like ya to meet some new friends of ours!"

She and the others went over to them, and were promptly introduced to Bobby Drake, Evan Daniels, Kurt Wagner, Kitty Pryde, and Jubilation Lee (Call her Jubilee).

"Nice to meet you," Sora said as she shook hands with each of them.

"Same here," Evan replied.

Bobby suddenly got an evil look. He snuck up behind Matt and was about to scare him, when Matt suddenly grabbed him with one hand and threw him forward over his shoulder. Bobby landed hard. Matt had one hand balled into a fist, aimed straight at him. Just as he brought his fist down toward Bobby's face, three metal claws shot out of his hand. Matt froze, mid-punch, and stared at his hand.

"I don't suppose you could let me up, couldja?" Bobby asked.

Matt got up and backed away from him, still looking at his hand in shock.

Sora went over to him and asked, "Matt? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Because you're staring at your hand and those claws like you're in shock or something."

"Well, what would you do if your hand suddenly sprouted claws? Would you stay calm? Somehow I don't think so, Sora."

"Everyone's a little on edge, but arguing and fighting aren't going to get us anywhere. So please don't fight. We've been through too much to just fall apart now," Kari said.

Matt sighed. "She's right. I'm sorry I got mad. It's just, with everything that's happened…"

"I understand. It's been a rough day for all of us."

X X X

About an hour later, Professor Xavier sent for the twelve new arrivals.

Most of them seemed nervous, and all were just a little scared. When they entered his office, they lined up in a straight row in front of the desk.

"Please relax. You're among friends here."

"We know. It's just…We're still kids and everything's all happened so fast and this is still all so new…"

"I understand. Everyone here was once in your shoes. Even me, when I first discovered that I could look inside other people's minds."

One of the two youngest boys said, "You? No way!"

An older boy, the one with blond hair, said, "TK."

"Yes, even me. I was young once. There was no one to help me learn to control my power, no one to help me understand what I was. Now that I am an adult, I want to give young mutants the sort of help I never had then. That's why I built this school. As an environment where young mutants like yourselves can learn to control their powers and to grow up with the knowledge that they are not alone, that there are others like them."

"So you're saying that you built this place to help kids like us?"

"In short, yes."

"Back home, before we left, my parents said that they had gone here when they were younger. Is that true?"

"Who are your parents, if you don't mind me asking?"

"David and Nancy Ishida."

"Yes, I remember them. David was in trouble every other class period, it seemed. And Nancy was one of the best students in her class."

Matt looked a little surprised. "Mom was? Wow, I never knew that…"

Two of the other kids seemed to be trying to hide smiles, as well as snickers and giggles, half of which came out as small snorts. Then the girl said, "Now we know where you get it from, Matt."

He turned to her and said, "Get what?"

"Your tendency for getting into trouble!" the boy next to her said in a loud stage whisper.

"Like you two are any better? Most of the time that I get sent to the principal's office, you guys are right there beside me, Tai!"

Then the girl turned back to Professor Xavier and said, "I'm Roma Yagami. The boy that's now arguing with the blond is, as much as I hate to claim him, my brother, Tai. The others are: Matt Ishida, and TK and Anthony Ishida, Matt's two younger brothers, Kari Yagami, my and Tai's little sister, Izzy and Sam Izumi, the Izumi twins, Joe and Sinthia Kido, the Kido twins, Sora Takenouchi, who kind of watches over all of us, and Mimi Tachikawa, our resident ditz. Don't get me wrong, though. She's really a very nice and sincere person."

"Thank you for the introductions, Roma."

"You're welcome, Professor," she said, bowing slightly. (A/N: It's a custom over in Japan to bow slightly when eit'er t'ankin' someone for somet'in' or returnin' t'anks, especially if it is to an elder, in which case de bow becomes a little deeper because den you are showin' respect to dem.)

The professor talked with them a while, then called Ororo Munroe (Storm) in.

"Ororo, I'd like you to take these kids and give them a tour of the Institute. After all, this will be their home for the next few years."

"Of course, Professor. If you would please come with me?"

They filed out of the office in a straight line behind Ororo, who told them that they could spread out a little if they liked.

They promptly spread out 2-4 abreast. Three if them lingered behind the rest of them, talking and goofing around. Ororo, who had been quickly introduced to all of them, said, "Tai, Matt, Roma, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," they chorused, even though they had been doing just about everything but nothing.

Ororo turned back to face the front, and almost instantly heard an indignant, "Hey! Who threw that?" and a chorus of hastily stifled giggles from the back of the group.

She turned back to face the group, and found the Yagami twins and Matt making tracks around the corner. The three of them were headed straight for Hank's lab.

Ororo turned to the rest of the kids and said, "Please wait here. I have to go get your friends." With that, she turned back in the direction of Hank's lab and started after the three young mischief-makers.

X X X

Hank McCoy (The Beast) was in the middle of a small experiment (A/N: I t'ink, for him, small means 'easily redoable' when applied to experiments) when three twelve-year-olds, two boys and a girl, practically burst into the main lab.

"Whoa! Cool! What's this place?" one of the boys exclaimed.

"Who cares? Let's get out of here before Ms. Munroe finds us," the girl said. Hank thought she looked uncomfortable, as if she either didn't like labs or was afraid of them for some reason.

"It's a lab, Tai. And why? She'll never think of looking for us in here," the other boy said. He had messy blond hair, in place of the wild, out-of-control brown hair the other boy had. The girl had flame-red hair as red as any fire Hank had ever seen.

"You're not afraid, are ya, Roma?" the brown-haired boy asked.

"No. I just don't like it, is all. Can we go now?"

"I knew it! You are afraid! Afraid of some harmless old lab!"

"Cut it out, Tai! I am not afraid of this lab! I just don't like being in here, that's all! I don't know why I followed you two in here. I must have been out of my mind."

"You followed us because, let's face it, you've actually gotten used to being around other people. You also followed us because we led the group last year and you followed us then. You're used to it."

"I only followed you two idiots then because I had absolutely no idea where I was and there definitely had seemed to be safety in numbers. It was just my bad luck that Tai turned out to be my brother. There are times when I wonder why I agreed to go back to Tokyo with you. I could have gone back to my peaceful forest with the animals. I probably fit in with them a lot better than I have with other humans."

Hank walked out of his private lab in the back room into the main one, just as Ororo walked in.

"There you are. Do you know that you three are not supposed to be in here yet?"

"We aren't? Gee, it must have slipped our minds…" the brown-haired boy said with a faraway smile. The girl jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and said, " We must not have heard you, Ms. Munroe."

"Yeah…That happens sometimes," the blond agreed.

"If I may intrude, Ororo, who are these children?"

"New students, Hank. The girl is Roma Yagami. The brown-haired boy is her twin brother Tai, and the blond is their friend Matt Ishida."

"Roma, Tai, Matt, this is Dr. Hank McCoy, our science teacher."

They didn't flinch or do anything like that, so Hank assumed that they had already met Kurt.

Nine heads suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"And there are the rest of them."

Ororo quickly introduced him to the other nine, and told them what he did.

"Some, if not all, of you will undoubtedly have Dr. McCoy for science class."

"I hope you'll enjoy it."

Tai, Matt, and Roma looked at each other, then said, "Science is our best subject!"

That earned the three of them snickers, giggles, snorts, and outright laughs from every other member of their group, especially the Izumis.

"What? It is!!"

X X X

Later, after their tour of the school was completed without any further incident (Unless you count the scene that went on in the kitchen when one of the Yagami twins got their hands on a bottle of ketchup and pretended it was blood after the other one had pretended to cut them with a particularly large kitchen knife), they were shown their rooms. Each room had two beds, dressers, etc. Their room assignments went this way: Tai and Matt in the first room, TK and Anthony in the second, Roma and Sam in the third, Izzy and Joe in the fourth, Kari and Sinthia in the fifth, and Mimi and Sora in the last one.

Each found pajamas already laid out for them on their beds. They all changed into the pajamas, in their rooms, of course, then half of them almost literally jumped into their beds while the other half climbed more sedately into bed. Pretty much as soon as most of their heads hit their pillows, most of them were out like the proverbial light.

Some stayed up until about midnight or even later before they drifted off to sleep.

X X X

The next day, Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Dr. Jean Grey (Phoenix) took the twelve kids shopping for new clothes, as well as paper, notebooks, pens, pencils, and other things they would need when the American school year started.

It took them a while, but seeing as they were shopping with, and for, twelve kids, none of whom were older than 13, it wasn't all that surprising.

But finding clothes and school supplies for them all wasn't as big a problem as you might think. No, it was the scene that Tai, Matt, and Roma caused and created in the mall. Not to mention the small spectacle Anthony created.

"Hey, come back-" CRASH "Oh no…" Scott moaned. Tai had run away from him when he'd held up a suit for him to see, and had just knocked over a huge display of expensive jewelry.

Matt stuck his head around the corner of the shirt rack he was rooting through. "Way to go, Grace," he cracked, and then ducked as a large diamond ring went flying in his direction. "Whoa! Touchy, touchy…"

Across the store, Roma was doubled over laughing at her brother.

"You're afraid of a suit!" she howled between laughs.

Soon, Tai was chasing both Matt and Roma all over the store, dodging other shoppers and weaving in and around store assistants, racks, shelves, and displays.

"Get back here, you two!" he yelled.

"Not a chance, idiot!" Roma yelled back, as she dodged around an old woman pushing a cart along one of the tile pathways. "Whoa! Sorry!"

Matt hurdled over one of the seats used for trying on shoes and caught one foot on it as he passed over it. "Yaaaiii!!"

Roma ran past him, laughing. "If he's gonna catch me, you're sure as not gettin' away," Matt said as he grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her down with him.

"Hey! Leggo!!!" she cried.

"No way! I'm not lettin' go!"

She turned on him and tried to pry his fingers off her ankle. When that didn't work, she hit his arm. Well, actually, she got him in the head, though she had been aiming for his arm.

"All right, that's it!" He aimed a punch at her stomach, intending to knock the wind out of her, but she blocked it and then countered with a punch of her own. Soon they were rolling around on the floor, kicking and punching.

Tai spotted them, watched for a few seconds, then leaped into the tangle of arms and legs himself, kicking and punching right along with the other two. Sam joined in after they rolled right by where she had been standing.

Jean ran after them, trying to get them to stop.

X X X

Anthony was in a sporting goods store. He'd found one of those machines that shoot the ball for you instead of having someone pitch it to you, as well as a bat and a lot of baseballs, which he promptly dumped into the machine. He grabbed the bat, turned the machine on, stepped back a bit, and waited for the balls to start flying at him.

When they did, he hit just about every single one of them. One of the last balls came flying out faster than the rest, and Anthony almost didn't hit it. He did, though. In fact, that one flew right out of the store and smacked Scott upside the head, knocking him out instantly.

That was when Anthony decided that it would probably be a good idea for him to go somewhere else for a while.

He wandered out of the store, whistling as though he hadn't done anything, and entered a store that sold video games. He quickly found an N64, and settled in to play it. The game that was running on that particular console? MarioKart.

He soon was absorbed in the game, laughing every time one of the characters onscreen got hit by a red, green, or spiked shell, fell in the water (DK's Jungle Parkway, Banshee Boardwalk, Frappe Snowland, an' de Royal Raceway), ran over (The Koopahari Desert and Toad's Turnpike), fell in lava (Bowser's Castle), or flattened by a giant egg (Yoshi's racetrack. A/N: I don' remember de exact name, but if you've ever played dis game you'll know what I'm talkin' 'bout).

On Banshee Boardwalk, Anthony kept getting shrunk, ran over and flattened by the other characters on the screen. And after every time his character reinflated, he went off the course and into the water that was usually present on either side of the raceway.

After about the twentieth time this happened, he let out a short string of expletives, then changed course and started on the Rainbow Road track, which is supposed to be impossible to fall off of. (A/N: It's not impossible. I've done it before, believe me.)

He managed to fall off it twice. The first time, he built up too much speed coming up on a huge downward hill, drifted to one side, and shot off into space. (A/N: Dat's exactly what happened to me when I fell off Rainbow Road.) That caused another burst of curses and obscenities, a little longer than the one caused by Banshee Boardwalk, but not by much.

The second time, he somehow managed to break through the ever-present railing running along either side of Rainbow Road, and once again shot off into space. (A/N: Dat railing is why it's supposed t'be impossible t'fall off of Rainbow Road.)

That sparked off a long round of cussing where Anthony said (and called the game console) every curse, expletive, and obscenity that he had ever heard, and even made up a few new ones, that's how mad he was.

X X X

Jean had given up on trying to break up the four-way fight (which by now had rolled right out of the store and into the mall proper, where they rolled down an escalator and onto the main floor), and decided to go look for Scott, because he hadn't yet returned.

She found him lying unconscious outside a nearby sporting goods store, a baseball lying next to his head. She put that together with the dozens of other balls lying around, the bat, and the fact that Anthony had last been seen in the vicinity of this store, and came up with: Anthony had been hitting baseballs all over the place. One had hit Scott in the head, knocking him out instantly. Anthony had then left the store and gone somewhere else. The $64,000 question was: Where had he gone from here?

She stood, closed her eyes, and quickly scanned the minds around her, looking for Anthony's mental signature. Once she had located his mind, she zeroed in on him and gently probed it, looking for his current location.

She found it rather quickly, and set off after him, leaving the still-unconscious Scott with the remaining 7 children.

Jean found him quickly enough, now that she knew where to look. When she did find him, he was cussing out an N64 game console, the game itself, and the onscreen characters, apparently using every word he had ever heard, from the sound of it.

"Anthony!!!" she exclaimed, surprised that he knew as many curses as he did and shocked by the sight (and sound) of a ten-year-old hurling expletives at a game console, for crying out loud!

He turned, and as soon as he saw her, knew he was probably in big trouble as soon as they got back to the Institute.

"Um, hi, Dr. Grey. Uh, I was just…playing a game. That's all." Then he bowed deeply in apology and said, "I'm sorry for those words I said. I was mad and forgot to watch what I was saying. I'm really, really sorry."

Jean looked at him and said, "That's all right. Come on. We should rejoin the others, and Scott'll probably be awake by the time we get back."

"Okay."

X X X

The return trip to the Institute was mostly without incident, except that Sam, Roma, and Tai were complaining because the three of them were black and blue, practically from head to toe. Matt, however, was sitting pretty. He had a healing factor, which had immediately kicked in after Scott and Jean together managed to break apart the four-way fight, which meant that he wasn't complaining like the other three.

Speaking of whom, they were calling Matt just about every name under the sun they could think of (and even some that weren't), and muttering all kinds of curses under their breath, all of which were aimed solely at him.

Anthony was going on about how he kept getting shrunk and then ran over when he played MarioKart.

Joe and Sinthia listened to the four of them complain and tried to tell them that, for the ones that had been involved in that fight, at least, things actually could have been worse.

They ignored the Kido twins for the rest of the drive, though three of them were sending "if looks could kill"-type glares in Matt's direction.

X X X

Several weeks later, the twelve of them were doing so well at controlling their powers inside the Institute and on the grounds that the Professor thought that it was time for the kids to field-test that control, to see how well they could actually control their powers. To oversee them, and make sure that they didn't get in trouble (or at least not as much as they had at the mall, anyway), he sent Hank and Rogue along with them.

Hank and Rogue (who goes by the name "Marie" out in public. I think) decided to take them all out for ice cream. Bad idea. (A/N: You'll see why when I get dere. Dat part's comin' up real soon.)

When they arrived, each of the kids decided that they wanted a different flavor then the rest, and that they wanted their ice cream in a bowl, not a cone. Each got want they wanted, even though most of them, except for Anthony, surprisingly, got into a food fight with the ice cream after one of them was hit by accident by a wayward glob of cherry cheesecake-flavored ice cream and each of them ended up wearing approximately half of each of the eleven different flavors used. Matt had ended up with blue moon ice cream covering half his face, and it looked for all the world like an ice cream version of William Wallace's blue face-paint job from Braveheart. (A/N: You know, dat really long movie wit' Mel Gibson in it.)

Anthony, instead of joining in the food fight, actually ate his in record time. The sugar went straight to his head, and he immediately (and literally) started bouncing off the walls. (A/N: No, Ant'ony is not related t'Chuck Taine, a.k.a. Bouncing Boy, of L.S.H. fame.)

"Hit the deck!" Matt exclaimed, then followed his own advice as Anthony caromed off the far wall and shot overhead, just missing his older brother. (Later, Matt swore that if he hadn't ducked when he had, Anthony would have taken his head clean off.)

Everyone else followed suit, with most of them diving under tables and chairs, or hiding behind other people and using them as shields. Even Hank was underneath a table. Sam dove under the counter, while Sinthia grabbed the person behind the counter and propped him in front of her to use as a shield. Joe dashed inside the men's room, and Mimi ran into the girls' room.

Anthony somehow managed to get outside without any of them seeing him, and bounced merrily off down the street, with Rogue in hot pursuit. She ran after him until, finally, she took a flying (in her case that could be literal) leap and tackled him.

"Oof! Marie, get off!"

"Not a chance, Sugah. You still gotta come back with me an' Hank an' the others, remember?"

"Yeah, but you're gonna have to knock me out and tie me up first!" Anthony said. He broke free and again bounced off down the street.

"Hey! Get back here!" Rogue yelled after his bouncing, retreating figure. Then she sighed, and took off after him for the second time, vaguely wondering how Hank was doing with the other eleven.

Hank was doing fine, considering most of his charges were practically covered in ice cream and still in shock at how fast the sugar had gone right to Anthony's head, and the resultant sugar rush in which he had literally bounced off the walls and right out of the ice cream parlor onto the street.

He had to calm about half of them down, because most of them had taken cover under the various chairs and tables throughout the parlor. Those that hadn't had either used other people as shields, ducked under the counter, or dashed inside the ladies' room and men's room, respectively.

It actually didn't take him near as long as he thought it would to calm them down, because some of the ones who were already pretty calm helped him.

They left the ice cream parlor, and started walking down the sidewalk, when they saw Rogue coming toward them, looking none too happy and dragging a still-sugar crazed Anthony along by his arm.

"You found him, Marie?"

"Yeah. The little nut had almost made it to Park Avenue 'fore Ah caught him."

"It's probably a good thing that he didn't. Especially with the way he was bouncing around."

"No kiddin', Hank. There is one bright spot to all a' this, though. He remembered to keep his power under wraps."

"That is good news. All of them did very well in that respect. The professor should be quite happy about that. Although I'm not entirely sure how he will take the report of Anthony going crazy like this."

"I don't want to interrupt, but since we passed the test or whatever this was, can we go back to the Institute now?" Roma asked. She thought that it would probably be a good idea, since Anthony was so wound up from the sugar yet, to take him back and maybe, just maybe, stick him in the Danger Room, where he could go crazy without hurting anyone.

"Of course we can start back now, Roma. Does anyone else want to go back now?" Hank asked.

Most didn't, not yet, anyway. But there were some that sided with Roma. They were Matt (Not surprisingly; Anthony was his younger brother, after all), Tai (If anyone asked him why, he would have said he did it just so he could annoy his twin), and Sam (Probably to keep an eye on the other four).

"It's settled, then. Marie, you take those five back to the Institute and I and the rest of them will wander around a bit more."

"All right, Hank. Come on, now," she said to the five of them.

X X X

By the time they had gotten back to the Institute, Anthony had mostly calmed down. (At least, he wasn't bouncing off the walls anymore. Or climbing them, for that matter.)

They pretty much took over one of the rec rooms, and basically just plopped down in the chairs and the couch and just lounged around for a bit. Then Anthony got Matt mad at him and ended up running through the halls.

"Anthony, get back here!"

"Not on your life!"

"No, it'll be yours!"

"That's what I'm afraid of!"

Matt tackled his brother from behind. Their skin touched, but this time when Anthony pulled away, Matt didn't move, and he was almost not breathing. Anthony started yelling for help.

Sam and the Yagami twins were there within minutes.

"Anthony, what did you do?" Tai demanded.

"I-I didn't mean to! It was an accident! Really!"

Sam and Roma were over by Matt's side. Sam checked his pulse, and found it. It was very faint. "We'd better get him to the infirmary. Now," she said.

Roma picked Matt up, stood, and said, "I can get him there the quickest. I'll go." And with that, she disappeared.

X X X

Jean was startled by Roma's sudden appearance, but got over it as soon as she saw what she was carrying. She was carrying Matt, and he was unconscious.

"Put him down over on the table there," she said.

"He'll be okay, right?" Roma asked. She sounded hopeful.

Jean went into doctor mode and gave the unconscious boy a quick, cursory examination. She didn't find anything wrong, except for the fact that he was unconscious. She turned back to Roma and said, "I'm not entirely sure. What happened to him?"

"He was chasing Anthony because he'd got him mad. Apparently, Matt attacked him, and their skin touched. My guess is they weren't able to pull away in time, and…"

Jean understood. She looked back at Matt, where he lay on the medical table, and knew that there was a very good chance that he might not make it. His pulse was very faint, and that could only have been caused by a relatively long contact with either Rogue or Anthony, so Roma's story made sense.

"How long was the contact?" she asked.

"I don't know. A few seconds, maybe. Why? Is something wrong?"

"There could be a very real chance that he might not make it. It all depends on exactly how long he and Anthony were in contact. Now, please, do you know how long the contact was?"

"No. But Anthony should. I'll go get him, Dr. Grey."

X X X

When Roma reappeared, she was instantly assaulted with questions from Sam, Tai, and even Anthony, who was by far the most worried.

She ignored most of them as she turned to Anthony and said, "Dr. Grey wants to talk to ya, Anthony."

"Okay. Take me to her."

Roma took hold of his sleeve and teleported back to the infirmary, where Jean was waiting.

She asked him if he remembered exactly how long he had been in contact with Matt before he had pulled away.

"It was only 25 seconds. It seemed like it was longer, though. He'll be okay, won't he?"

"Most likely. But I will have to keep an almost constant watch on him, if for some reason or other he suddenly takes a turn for the worse, even though that isn't very likely to happen."

"Can we go back to the rec room now? I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but Tai and Sam are almost as worried as Anthony, and when I went to get him, they bombarded me with questions."

"Of course you may go. I can't keep you here against your will if you really don't want to stay."

"Thank you, Dr. Grey." Roma took Anthony's sleeve and again teleported back to the rec room, where they found that everyone else had gotten back already. From the look of it, Sam and Tai had already told them what had happened, because as soon as she and Anthony reappeared, they all turned to them, with expressions ranging from questioning looks to accusing glares.

Anthony looked away. He knew why so many of the others were giving him glares. He had used his power on Matt, his own brother. He knew that it was quite possible that he could have killed his brother. Never mind that it had been an accident, it was all his fault and he knew it.

Anthony now had all Matt's memories and thoughts. In essence, he was Matt now. Matt's personality began to surface as Roma fielded all the questions that came his way. Anthony, by now lost in his own mind, knew what Matt thought of her, and what he thought of the rest of the group.

Matt thought that Anthony was annoying, which didn't really surprise him.

TK was okay, because as far as little brothers went, Matt thought he could pass for a little prince.

Sam could be annoying, but she always came through for the others when they needed her.

Same for Izzy, especially when he worked together with his twin sister.

Joe was allergic to just about everything, it seemed. He also seemed to complain about everything.

Sinthia was more or less more down-to-earth than her twin brother.

Mimi was a complete ditz, but she meant well.

Sora was, in a way, a big sister to all of them because she kept an eye on them and tried to keep them safe.

Kari was a sweet kid, but sometimes she was too trusting for her own good.

Tai was something of an idiot, and he could be a real jerk, but he couldn't think of anyone better suited to lead the group.

Roma was still something of a mystery, because even though they knew that she was Tai's twin, they didn't really know anything else about her.

X X X

Jean told the professor what had happened to Matt telepathically.

I'm worried, Professor. Things aren't looking too good for him right now. I know I probably shouldn't be this worried, but I can't help it.

Please try to relax, Jean. I'm certain that everything will turn out all right in the end.

I'll try, Professor. Thank you for the advice.

You're welcome, Jean.

X X X

Matt was out for two months. During that time, he was well aware of what was going on around him.

He could hear his friends coming in to visit him, as well as his brothers. He could also hear either Dr. Grey or Dr. McCoy chase them out again if they stayed for too long, though that didn't seem to work too well, as at least one of them kept sneaking back in, usually accompanied by one of the others.

At first, he wasn't sure who it was that kept sneaking in. After a while, though, he realized that it was Roma who kept coming to see him. And the one that was almost always with her was Anthony.

But why? With Anthony it was obvious. He was Matt's little brother, and the one who had put him down in the first place. It was only natural that he would be worried about him.

Roma was a different story altogether. She wasn't related to him, and, up until a few months before they discovered what they were, she'd hated him. So why was she the one that visited him the most?

Then he remembered: She could teleport without leaving a clue behind to tip off others that she had been somewhere, unlike Kurt. That was why she was helping Anthony get past the teachers. It was so he could see that Matt was all right. But that still didn't explain why she came alone sometimes.

X X X

Roma was worried about Matt, but then, so was everyone else in the group. She just happened to be one of the few that thought Anthony was telling the truth when he said that it had been an accident.

She helped him get past Dr. Grey and Dr. McCoy, and asked nothing in return.

"It's about time, Anthony. You ready?" she asked him.

"Yeah."

She grabbed his arm, careful not to touch his skin, and then pictured the infirmary in her mind. She felt more than saw the familiar blackness as she passed between when she teleported, though it was disconcerting to those who weren't used to it. Then they were in the infirmary.

"No matter how many times I do this with you, I don't think I'll ever get used to that cold, black between."

"I don't blame you. The first time I ever teleported, I panicked and nearly lost the picture of home that was in my mind when I first found myself between."

They stayed for a while. Anthony talked to Matt, telling him what had happened that day and that he wished he hadn't been so stupid the other day, not knowing if Matt could even hear him. Then Roma gently interrupted.

"Anthony, someone's coming. I know you don't want to leave him, but if we get caught, we'll have had it."

"Okay." He went over to her and put his gloved hand in hers, in the way a small, worried child might. He trusted her.

She teleported both herself and Anthony to the hallway outside their rooms.

"See ya, Anthony."

"Bye, Roma. Thanks."

"No problem. I'm worried, too, remember?" She teleported out of Anthony's sight, and reappeared near the infirmary. She flattened herself against the wall and held perfectly still, listening. It wouldn't do for her to get herself caught, not after all the stunts she'd pulled and avoided getting blamed for.

She didn't hear anything, so she disappeared from her position against the wall, and reappeared inside the infirmary, next to where Matt lay.

"Listen, I've wanted to say this for weeks now, but I couldn't seem to say it before. Don't get any funny ideas, because I'm talkin' to you as one friend to another. I'm not even sure if ya can hear me, but if you're mad at Anthony, don't be. He didn't mean to hurt ya. Especially not like this. He's really sorry for what he did, but just about everyone else is making it even harder for him. I know he hasn't told ya that, and I wish he had. Then I wouldn't have to tell ya.

"The reason he hasn't is because, as far as I can tell, he thinks he actually deserves it. I don't, and I've already told him that like a million times, but he won't listen to me. Or anyone else, for that matter.

"Please, whatever you decide to do when you do wake up, don't take any anger you may feel out on him. He's taken this pretty hard and has already beaten himself up about it many times. The others haven't let him forget it, either.

"I guess I'm tellin' you this 'cause I feel sorry for him. I'm just about the only one who believes that he really didn't do it, except for Tai, the professor, Dr. Grey, and Ms. Braddock.

"If that had been me, and I'd done this to Tai, I would feel the same way Anthony does right now, believe it or not.

"Things aren't the same without ya, and everyone misses ya. Even me."

She had been sitting in a chair that she'd pulled over alongside his bed. Now she got up and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "You'll be okay. You have to be." Then she teleported out of the infirmary and straight to the room she shared with Sam.

No one was there, though Sam entered a few minutes after Roma had reappeared.

"Where have you been, Roma? You weren't here ten minutes ago."

"Where do ya think I've been, Sam? Why are you suddenly so suspicious of me?"

"Is that what you think? That I'm being suspicious of you?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, usually you wouldn't even think twice about the fact that I just pop in when I haven't been there a few minutes before. Now you're actin' like I'm aidin' a fugitive. All I'm doin' is tryin' to help Anthony through this. He seriously didn't mean to do what he did. You and the others aren't helpin' 'im at all with your accusations and glares and givin' him the cold shoulder like you are."

"He knew what would happen if he touched Matt. He set him up. It was obvious what he did, deliberately antagonizing him like that, then pretending that Matt touching him had been an 'accident'. What do you expect me to believe?"

"I don't believe this, Sam! You were Anthony's sister, for cryin' out loud! You should know when he does somethin' deliberately or accidentally better than the rest of us! And yet you're one of his loudest accusers!"

"So? You were never related to him in any way! You have no right to tell me what I should and should not know about him!" Sam yelled. "And how would you know how feels? You were the one that spent your pre-DigiDestined years in a forest and somewhere else that you don't even remember!" she hissed.

"Shut up! If I have no right to interfere between you and Anthony, then you have no right to remind me of a past that I can't even remember!"

"Then stay out of my business!"

"Fine!"

They turned away from each other, Sam facing the window while Roma stormed out of the room, right past Tai and Anthony.

"Whoa. What got into her?"

"I don't know. You're the telepath, Tai. You tell me."

Sam stuck her head out the door of the room. "What are you doing here, Anthony? Don't you have somewhere else you need to be?"

"Back off, Sam. He didn't mean to do it, and you know I checked his memories. He's tellin' the truth. Why you and just about everyone else thinks he's guilty for an accident that none of us could foresee is beyond me."

"You back off, Tai. You know I could drown you both where you stand with my elemental power."

"So why don't you?"

"I'm not crazy. Unlike some people I know."

"Whatever, Sam. Come on, Anthony. Let's go see if we can find Roma, before she hurts someone. As mad as she is, she won't care who or what she attacks."

X X X

Roma was steamed at Sam. She just couldn't believe how quick to accuse Anthony her friend was, even though Tai had checked Anthony's memories and found out that what had happened was a complete accident. The problem was, most of them still thought that Anthony had done it on purpose, that he had planned it and set Matt up.

Sam was just one of the more vehement and vocal members of that particular school of thought.

Roma herself wasn't exactly known for being protective of others, except for Kari and, on occasion, Tai, so when she had jumped to Anthony's defense alongside her brother it surprised many of them. Since then, she could be seen arguing and fighting with Sam more often than she did with Tai. Several times these fights threatened to become worse than the ones she had with her brother. On those occasions, Tai and Izzy had to pull them apart before they really got serious about fighting.

Roma had gone outside. She didn't particularly feel like taking her anger out on anyone, except for maybe Sam, so she headed for one the biggest trees in the Institute's orchard and climbed up as high as she could go, without worrying that the branches wouldn't hold her weight.

She felt Tai searching for her mentally. She pulled the mental shields she had learned to construct closed around her mind. She might not particularly feel like hurting anyone, but she didn't particularly feel like talking, either. Especially to her brother.

She felt his questing mental touch gently probing her shields, looking for a way to get past them. She sighed and gave in, knowing that he'd keep it up if she didn't.

What do you want, Tai? I don't really feel like talkin' right now.

Well, I do feel like talkin' and I'm not goin' away until I talk to you. Anthony told me what you've been doin' for him. I'm glad that I'm not the only one that believes in 'im.

Of course you're not. But we seem to be the only ones who do.

Among the students here, yes. But three of the adults believe the same thing we do: That Anthony is innocent, and that what happened was just an accident.

You said "three". What about the rest of them?

One thinks Anthony did it purposely.

Who?

I'm not sayin'. You should know this one already.

Logan. What does he have against 'em? If he's not chasin' Matt, he's goin' after Anthony. The only one of 'em that he actually leaves alone is TK.

I don't know what he has against 'em. But he's the only one who thinks Anthony did it on purpose. The others that don't think it was just an accident aren't really sure what to think.

X X X

Jean believed that Anthony was pretty much incapable of hurting his brother the way he had on purpose. From how things had looked, it had all just been an accident. That was how things looked to her after she, Betsy (Braddock, aka Psylocke), and the professor had done some memory checking to determine what had really happened. Tai had done the same thing. He'd confessed to doing it, but had sworn that he'd only meant to help Anthony by doing so.

Logan was another story. He didn't seem to like any of the Ishidas, and in fact seemed to hate both Matt and Anthony. He believed that Anthony had, in fact, done what he'd done to Matt on purpose, that he'd planned it.

X X X

Matt, for lack of nothing better to do, had listened to Anthony tell him what had happened that day. He'd actually kind of expected that. Anthony always came in and gave him the latest news. He just wished he could answer him; tell him that he could hear him.

Then he heard the not-quite-there sound of Roma teleporting. He heard it twice. The first time, his senses told him she had left, and taken Anthony with her.

The second time, she returned, but she didn't have Anthony.

What's she doing here this time? he wondered.

He found that he didn't have to wonder long, because she began talking.

"Listen, I've wanted to say this for a few weeks now, but I couldn't seem to say it before."

"Say what?" he wanted to ask.

"Don't get any funny ideas, because I'm talkin' to you as one friend to another. I'm not even sure you can hear me, but if you're mad at Anthony, don't be. He didn't mean to hurt you. Especially like this. He's really sorry for what he did, but just about everyone else is makin' it even harder for him. I know he hasn't told ya that, and I wish he had. Then I wouldn't have to tell ya."

In a way, I guess I don't blame them.

"The reason he hasn't is because, as far as I can tell, he thinks he actually deserves it. I don't, and I've already told him that like a million times, but he won't listen to me. Or anyone else, for that matter."

That sounds like Anthony, all right.

"Please, whatever you decide to do when you do wake up, don't take any anger you may feel out on him. He's taken this pretty hard and has already beaten himself up about it many times. The others haven't let him forget it, either."

Poor him. Man! I wish I were awake right now!

"I guess I'm tellin' ya this 'cause I feel sorry for him. I'm just about the only one who really believes that he didn't do it on purpose, except for Tai, the professor, Dr. Grey, and Ms. Braddock."

Small group.

"If that been me, and I'd done that to Tai, I would feel the same way Anthony does right now, believe it or not."

I don't believe it.

"Things aren't the same without ya, and everyone misses ya. Even me."

That bad, huh? Wonders never cease.

He heard her get up, but instead of just winking out, like she had a habit of doing, he felt something light and soft touch his cheek. He realized that she had just kissed him on the cheek. He could hardly believe it. Then she said, "You'll be okay. You have to be," and winked out.

Wonders never cease, indeed! She's NEVER kissed me before! I don't think she's ever kissed anyone before now. Why'd she pick ME of all people? I'm just her friend. I'm not even all that close to her! Sam's her best friend! Why not her? No, wait… That would be just wrong, it would, seein' as how they're both GIRLS!

Oh, THERE'S an image. I'll probably never get it out of my head, now.

X X X

Tai talked with Roma for a while, and eventually steered the conversation toward her visit to the infirmary.

So how did today's little covert operation go?

Officially, I have absolutely no idea what you're talkin' about. Unofficially, it went quite well, actually.

That's good. So what did Anthony say to 'im?

The usual. When he was done, I took him back to his room-

I know that. I found 'im there and I took 'im for a walk. What else?

Well, I went back to the infirmary and talked to Matt myself. I told 'im how most of the others are treatin' Anthony, and that everyone misses 'im.

Tai felt her mind close just a little more than it usually was, even when she talked to him, like she was now. She was hiding something from him, but what would she consciously want to hide from him? And why? He decided to ask her.

Roma, there's somethin' you're not tellin' me. What are ya hidin'?

What do you mean? I'm not hidin' anythin'.

Roma, I know you a lot better now that I have my telepathic power, and I felt your mind close just a little. That's a very good sign that someone's tryin' to hide somethin'. Now what aren't ya tellin' me?

All right, all right, I'll tell ya. But only 'cause ya won't leave me alone otherwise.

Okay, so…what's your big secret that ya didn't want to tell me?

Well…I kissed Matt, she said in a rush.

WHAT?!?!

Only on the cheek. I didn't mean to do it. I swear!

If you hadn't meant to do it, then why did you??

I was…Oh, I don't know. I'm the one without a past! How should I know why I do things in the present without a past to guide me???

How should I know that?

You're the telepath. You tell me.

You're jokin'.

Does it sound like I'm jokin'? Don't think so, bub.

Tai withdrew from his contact with her. He couldn't believe it. Roma had kissed Matt! Sure, it was only on the cheek, but still, that was big news. The most intimate thing either of those two had ever done with each other before now had been when they had held hands to make Draco Malfoy, who had been on vacation with his parents, think they were going out so he'd leave her alone. It had worked, but Matt and Roma had avoided all but the most casual contact with each other for weeks afterward.

Just wait till he told the others! They'd all keel over from shock and surprise when they heard!

He'd just been about to make a general announcement to the rest of the group when he remembered that he wasn't exactly numero uno with most of them now, and neither was Roma. Most of them already thought that she had been in league with Anthony when he'd drained Matt's energy. This would probably put her in even more hot water with them.

He wouldn't tell them. It was better all around if he didn't.

X X X

The two months passed without further incident (except Roma visited him again, this time without Anthony, and nearly got caught. He wasn't supposed to have visitors. Like she cared what the rules said, anyway).

When Matt woke, the first thing he said was, "I want to see Anthony, Tai and Roma."

Hank, who had been in the infirmary at the time, immediately sent for them.

Anthony had been watching Roma attempting to throttle her brother, who was fighting back in self-defense, when the summons came.

The twins broke apart and Roma asked, "Now what?"

Anthony and Tai both shrugged. They didn't know.

Roma sighed. "C'mon, then. We better go see why they want us in the infirmary."

She took hold of both of them and teleported.

"We're here. Why did you send for us?" Tai asked.

"Because he wanted to see you. It was the first thing he said when he woke up."

"Matt's awake? Where is he?" Anthony couldn't wait to see his brother and tell him he was sorry.

"I'm right here, guys. Why do you look so surprised?"

"Matt! You're awake!" Anthony cried. He ran to Matt and nearly knocked him off his feet when he hugged him. Then he remembered, and pulled away quicker than he'd hugged him.

Tai was next. First he just reached out and grabbed Matt's hand in his, like was going to shake hi hand, then he pulled Matt toward him and they hugged, just as two old friends or brothers would do. Then Tai let go of him, and Matt turned to Roma, who suddenly turned a light shade of pink.

There was no question in her mind that he had been aware of what had gone on around him, and that he remembered the kiss on the cheek that she'd given him. She'd turned light pink just thinking about it. Hopefully they wouldn't notice.

Matt came over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Then he steered her over to a spot where Tai and Anthony wouldn't hear them.

He, at least, had noticed that she'd gone slightly pink.

"Roma, I heard everythin' you told me, and I'm not mad at Anthony. I know it was an accident, and as soon as they let me out of here, I'll tell everyone else."

She didn't look up at him. She didn't quite trust herself to do that.

"Roma, look at me. Please."

She still didn't raise her eyes to meet his.

"Look, if you're worried about that kiss on the cheek, don't worry. I won't tell anyone about it."

She looked up at him then and said, "I…I already told someone."

"Who?"

"Tai. I had to. He wouldn't have left me alone otherwise. As far as I know, he hasn't told anyone. I certainly haven't told anyone but him."

"That's good. I like the idea of keepin' 'em guessin'."

She looked at him sharply. He winked at her.

What did he mean, he liked the idea of keeping everyone guessing? And guessing about what?

Then it hit her. He meant to keep everyone guessing about his relationship with her!

"No! Matt, I'd rather you didn't. Please. I'm not exactly Ms. Popularity as far as the rest of the group is concerned. If you do that, it'll make 'em think worse a' me than they probably already do."

"Why didn't ya tell me?"

"I didn't know you were gonna do this! I thought that it didn't matter. It probably won't, now that you're awake."

"You're probably right, it is a bad idea."

He winked again, and she didn't know if he was actually going to drop the subject, or go ahead with his guessing game, with her as one of the main participants.

X X X

Over the next few months, Matt had everyone guessing about him and Roma, even Roma herself.

After his 13^th birthday (February 14^th, which is not exactly what I'd call an inauspicious birthday), he began to wonder if some of the guessing games he played on her and everyone else really were just games. He had begun to see Roma in an entirely different light.

He sometimes found himself thinking that she was very pretty, what with her flame-colored hair and her brown eyes. When that happened, he told himself, Stop it! She's your friend, not just some girl ya happened to see on the street or on TV! Even so, he found it hard to keep his mind off her. Especially after her 13^th birthday on June 10^th.

What he didn't know was that she was having a similar problem.

Roma didn't know what was going on. At first, she thought it might have been the result of one of his guessing games. But she slowly realized that this new feeling was entirely hers, and she was feeling it about him!

Why him? Why couldn't it be someone else? Not that I really have anything against him, it's just…Two years ago I absolutely hated 'im! Okay, so last year we were friends. And now I've got a crush on 'im! This is completely, totally insane!

X X X

The others had finally forgiven Anthony, and apologized for how they had treated him.

After everyone had calmed down from that, they noticed that Matt and Roma seemed to acting a little nervous around each other. At first, they thought that she was in on the little guessing games Matt played on everybody. Then they realized that that wasn't the case at all.

Tai was the first one of the kids to figure it out. That wasn't surprising, since he was a telepath. But that wasn't the only reason he had figured it out first.

The other reason was that Matt was his best friend, and Roma was his twin. He knew them both very well because of that, and knew that they weren't the types to be nervous around each other for no apparent reason.

X X X

Roma had been sitting on the couch in one of the rec rooms, lost in thought, when she heard someone enter the room. She turned around, and saw Pietro Maximoff standing near the door.

"Ya don't have to stand, Pietro. There's no one in here but you 'n me. Take a seat," she said, indicating the couch and the chairs scattered around the room.

He walked in, sat down on the couch next to her, and said, "Thanks. Um, there's something I want to ask you."

"You're welcome. So, what do you want to ask me?"

"Well…I can't say it."

"Sure ya can. Just spit it out."

"No, I can't. I want to ask, but I'm afraid you'll reject me."

"Well, that actually all depends on what it is ya want to ask me, now doesn't it?"

"Okay…Will you go out with me?"

"What? Pietro, I can't. I'm sorry. It doesn't have anything to do with you. I don't mean to say that there's something wrong with ya, 'cause there isn't, but I…like someone else."

"You're just saying that, aren't you? I shouldn't have asked. I should have known you wouldn't want to go out with me." He got up and walked out of the room.

"Pietro…" She'd hated to do that, but she just wasn't interested in him that way. They were friends, that was all. She hoped that he understood.

What's up with Pietro? He just streaked past me and what I felt in his mind didn't make him sound like a happy camper.

"Aaa!" she cried. Then mentally, Don't ever do that again, Tai.

Sorry. So, do you know what's eatin' Pietro? He streaked by me without even sayin' a word. He usually at least says "hello".

He's takin' it worse than I hoped. Then, Well, he asked me if I wanted to go out with him, and I said no. I apologized, and told him that I liked someone else. He was none too happy about that, as you saw.

No kiddin'. So who's this "someone else" you told Pietro about, hmmm?

None of your business, so butt out, will ya?

No. I wanna know who it is you have a crush on.

And I said it was none of your business!

Roma, you can either tell me who it is or I'll get in your mind and find out for myself.

You wouldn't dare. The professor would-

Does it sound like I care? Tell me now or I will get in your mind.

Fine. I have a crush on Matt. Happy? Now go away and leave me alone. Oh, and by the way, if you tell 'im that I have a crush on 'im, you can consider yourself dead meat. Got it?

Okay, okay, I get the picture.

Good.

He broke off his mental contact with her and left. She assumed it was to go bother someone else. Better them than her.

X X X

Tai went searching for Matt. He didn't move from his perch on his bed in their room, though. He wasn't searching physically, he was searching mentally.

It didn't take him too long. Finding Matt's mind was easy, now that Tai had figured out how to do it. Actually, it was pretty easy for Tai to find just about anyone mentally.

Hey, Matt, how ya doin'?

Fine. What's up, Tai?

The sky. Listen, I know this is gonna sound weird, and don't take it the wrong way, but… do you have a crush on anyone?

Wha-? Tai, why did you just ask me that question?

Well, I'm just curious, that's all. So do you?

Yeah, I do.

So who is it? You can tell me.

Don't freak or anythin', okay?

Why?

Because the person I've got a crush is Roma.

What?! Why her? Last I knew, you two didn't exactly get along quite that well.

Things change, Tai.

Guess so. That's all I wanted to know. See ya.

X X X

Matt wondered why Tai had wanted to know who he had a crush on.

He'd told the truth when he said he had a crush on Roma. He'd half-expected Tai to blow up at him for falling for her, since she was Tai's twin sister. Instead, all Tai had done was yell once in disbelief, then ask him why.

Matt had been walking along one hallway when he found himself turning a corner and walking toward one of the rec rooms. He could smell a slight, familiar scent that got a little stronger as he came closer. He stopped outside the door of the room and stood there. He could see in, but he could not be seen.

That was when he recognized the scent. It was Roma's. Even after a year of living in the city with the rest of them, her scent still had a slight woodsy quality to it. That made it doubly easy for him to identify her.

He decided to join her, since she was alone.

She looked up as he entered. "Hey."

"Hey. You mind if I join you?"

"No. I don't mind. It's kinda boring, sittin' here alone in the rec room, anyway."

"If it's boring, why didn't you just get up and leave?"

"Well, I'm trying to give Pietro some time to cool off."

"Yeah? Why?" He didn't sound like it, but right then, but his heart had sunk just a little. Was she already going out with Maximoff?

"Well, he asked if I wanted to go out with him, and I told him I didn't want to."

His heart rose back up. "Really? So how'd he take it?"

"Not too good. He got mad, and left. I figured that maybe I should just stay put for a while and let him cool down before I try to talk to him and tell him that I only think of him as a friend."

"That would probably a good idea. I mean, to let him cool off before tryin' to talk to him."

"Yeah, I thought it was. Was there somethin' ya wanted to tell me, Matt?" she asked. She'd noticed that he seemed a little nervous, and looked like he wanted to say something.

Want he wanted to say was, "I love you", but he didn't. Instead, he said, "No. Not really. So, um, what's new?"

"Nothin' much. Except Tai has taken his nosiness to new heights. Or is it lows? I keep forgettin'. Anyway, he popped in my head and wouldn't leave till I told him what was up with Pietro, and then he bugged me about who I had crush on! Other than that, nothin' happened. What about you? Anythin' new?"

"No, except Tai did the same thing to me. He bugged me about whom my crush was, and wouldn't leave me alone until I did, and after I had told him, he disappeared from my mind, and haven't heard from him or seen him since! What's up with him lately? He seems to be pokin' his nose into just about everyone else's business."

"Except for Sora. He's left her alone."

"True…Hey, do you think he has a crush on her?"

"I bet he does! That's probably why he's left her alone, but has been drivin' everybody else absolutely crazy!"

They looked at each other, and shared evil grins. Then Matt said, "Wait, we've got to make sure he does first."

"You do it. You're his best friend. He'll just think it's suspicious if I do it. I'm his twin. I pick on him every chance I get."

"I will. And when I find out if he does have a crush on her or not, you'll be the first to know."

"Okay."

X X X

Hank, like everyone else, had noticed the shenanigans that the students were pulling. He had also noticed that there seemed to be similarities between some of the kids and two of the X-Men.

The ones that seemed to be similar: Logan, Tai, and Roma and Remy, Izzy, and Sam.

It was Hank's opinion that they were most likely related, but he couldn't be sure without a DNA test. So he went about collecting a DNA sample from each of the six of them. (Basically, he managed to get a single hair from each of them.)

He started with the hairs from Logan and the Yagami twins first. He did the most accurate DNA test he could think of.

"Oh, my stars and garters," he said softly. Logan was related to the Yagami twins, all right. The part that surprised Hank was that, according to the DNA, Logan was Tai and Roma's father.

As soon as he got over that particular shock, he did the same test with the hairs from Remy and the Izumi twins. He promptly had another, albeit milder than the last, shock: Remy was the Izumis' uncle.

"I'd better tell the others. I wonder how Remy and Logan will take this news. Not too badly, I hope."

X X X

When they heard, both Logan and Remy fell out of the chairs they had been sitting in, sputtering a question of how they could even be remotely related to those kids. And Logan began voicing his doubt that Hank had done the test correctly.

That was when Hank pulled out the results and let them look for themselves.

Professor Xavier and the rest of the X-Men were also there.

Xavier said, "Hank, I think that all the students should be told, as well."

"I agree, professor."

X X X

All of the students wondered what the adults wanted to tell them. They found out very quickly, as they were told almost as soon as they entered the main hall, which was pretty much the only room in the Institute that would hold all of them.

When the Yagamis and Izumis heard the news, all four of them nearly had fits. They couldn't believe it.

"What? He can't be our dad!"

"We're nothin' like 'im!"

"He's our uncle?"

"That's impossible. We don't look anything like him at all."

"Hard as it may be for you to believe, Logan is your father, Tai, Roma. And Izzy, Sam, Remy is your uncle."

Thud. All four of them keeled over and hit the floor. Each of them had fainted as the news sank in fully.

X X X

The first thing Logan did after that general announcement was call Reiko Yagami. (A/N: I know, she's in Japan. So? People make calls t'dere from here all de time. Maybe not f'r de same reasons he is, but hey, I'm only de aut'or.)

"Hello?"

"Reiko? It's Logan. Why didn't ya tell me that Tai and Roma were my kids?"

"Logan, at the time I didn't know where you were. And by the time I did, we had already lost Roma. I didn't want to say anything then because I wanted to find her first."

"You lost her? When was that?"

"When she was about three years old. We found her again only two years ago, when she and Tai were both eleven. Actually, Tai found her and brought her home."

"Do you know anythin' 'bout what happened to her between the time she was three years old and when she was eleven?"

"No. Nothing. We've asked if there was anything she remembered before Tai found her several times, and each time she told us that she didn't remember anything from before they found her, except for a few days before they found her."

To Logan, a nasty suspicion was forming in his mind. How Reiko had described Roma's memory loss sounded suspiciously like his own after he had escaped from Department H. Had they gotten her, too, when she was little? If they had, she would most likely have a set of dog tags around her neck similar to his. And it would certainly explain where she'd been prior to Tai finding her. He decided to ask Reiko if Roma did have a set of dog tags around her neck, because he hadn't noticed if she did or not.

"Reiko, do you know if she had a set of dog tags around her neck when Tai brought her home?"

"Why, yes. Why do you ask?"

"I have an idea about who took her when she was little, and about where she was for all that time."

"Where?"

"Department H. The same place I was taken. Those dog tags she was wearin' clinch it. Only alumni of their 'training facility' have 'em."

"But why would they do that? She was only three when they took her!"

"Probably 'cause they thought she'd be easier to handle. They weren't exactly havin' a smashin' success with me and the other three adult mutants they had there. Roma wasn't the only kid they took, either. I remember hearin' about three others, two of 'em younger'n her an' one older than her, that they'd brought in about the same time. Only met one of 'em, and that must a been her. She had brown hair at that time. Don't know what happened between then an' now to make her hair turn flame-red, though."

"Three others? There were three others that went missing along with her! Two girls and a boy. The boy was only a year old, and the older of the two was four. The youngest girl was two."

"You know who they are?"

"Of course. The boy was Anthony Ishida, and the two girls were Sinthia Kido and Samantha Izumi."

Logan thought back, and realized that they must have been the other three that his "bosses" back at Department H had talked about, the ones that they'd sent to J and L.

He told Reiko that, and everything he'd heard about them from those departments up until the day he escaped. Then he hung up.

He knew that they'd done something to his memory when he'd escaped. What had happened to Roma's, he didn't know, even though Hank had examined her once for injuries after a particularly rigorous training run in the Danger Room and checked everything to make sure that there was absolutely nothing wrong, and had found nothing in her head that could account for her apparent memory block. None of the telepaths, even the professor, had found anything wrong. The cause of her missing memory was a complete mystery.

X X X

Professor Charles Xavier watched the image on the monitor. It showed his X-Men, the people he thought of as his children, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation with the students, whom he also thought of as his children, laughing and joking, and just plain playing around.

No matter what problems each of them may face, or where they might go when they left the Institute, they would know that they could count on the bonds of friendship and family they had formed during their time here, and they would help others like themselves discover that they were not alone, just as he had done with them.

The current group of X-men, he knew, wasn't yet due for retirement, but when they were, the next generation would be ready to take their place. Tai and the others of his group had shown the most resiliency in their Danger Room battle simulations and the most promise as a working group holding together under pressure. They were able to make the hard decisions and tough choices that one must make in battle. They seemed to know each other well enough to guess the others' moves and modify their own strategies accordingly. That also gave them a level of teamwork that he had never seen in a group this young before. It was as if they had been in some type of battle situation previously.

He believed that, when the time came, Tai, his sisters, and their friends would be the next group of X-Men, fighting to protect their world and the people who lived there, fighting for the dream of peace that he still held and believed in.

A/N: So, how did y'people like it, huh? Good, bad, what? Send me reviews (or flames if'n y're so inclined) an' let me know what ya t'ink!