Snow littered the outside of Xavier's Institute. The halls were mostly quiet, with half the students hanging out at the local ice skating rink. Inside the Professor's office, a group of five figures stood inside one of the many rooms. Darkness surrounded them and the shorter figure in front of them.
"You called us, Professor?" one of the figures spoke.
"Ah," Professor X, sighed, "yes, I did, Scott. You, Kurt, Ray, Logan and Rogue all need to head over to the train station. There are a few girls that I need you all to escort here; five, to be exact." Professor X wheeled himself into a lighter part of the room. "Be cautious. Though these girls are not enemies, not all of them can fully control their powers. Do you understand?" The old man smiled lightly as he handed a folder with each girl's picture and name in them to each person in the room.
"Got it, Professor." Scott Summers turned around and headed towards the door with Kurt Wagner behind him, starting up a conversation about Jean Grey, and her and Scott's relationship. The two, followed by Logan, headed outside. Ray, a bit miffed that he had to go out in the winter cold, stalked out of the room unhappily after his teammates. Rogue stayed behind and took a step towards the professor.
"Uh, Professah, ah had a question."
"Yes, what can I do for you, Rogue?" The young woman inhaled and placed her hand on her hip.
"Is there any specific reason why ah have ta go? No disrespect meant, just curiosity. Ah mea, you did say to use precaution. Is this really that dangerous?" Her mind drifted off to think of what these girls might be capable of. "Well, just in case anything gets a little out of hand, you can be there to help resolve the problem peacefully." Rogue nodded and thanked the professor before exiting the room to follow her fellow X-Men.
"I only hope the situation does not get to that point." The Professor silently wheeled back into the shadows of his office.
--
"Baaay! Are they here yet?"
"No, Dani. Just be patient. And would you stop clinging to me?"
"Hey, look! The new Harry Potter book!"
"Where?"
"Right there, in that shop!"
"Cheerios! Jess! Don't wander off!"
"But it's too cold to just stand here!"
"Are they here yet?"
"Yes!"
The whole group turned to the short girl with jet black hair and asked 'really?!' in unison, and began to look around.
"No!" she shouted back, a playful smirk on her face. The group 'aww'ed by the disappointment and went back to their sight-seeing, not noticing the young man walking towards them.
"Uh... Are you guys the Elements?" A tall figure loomed over them, holding a folder which, by the looks of it, probably had all their information in it. He corrected the position of his sunglasses and looked back and forth from the group of girls to the folder in his hands.
"That depends. Are you one of the X-men?"
"Yea, I'm Scott Summers. Hold on, lemme tell the rest of the team I found you guys. This place is bigger than it looks!" The young man smiled and closed his folder and pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number. "Hey, it's me. Tell everyone I found them. By Platform B. What? No, I do not have any spare change! Listen, Kur- but-no- ugh- Kurt! Just tell Logan and the others-! Ugh... Okay, bye..." He hung up the phone and put his hand over his face for a second, mumbling about a stupid blue fur-ball and tacos. He recovered a few moments later, and directed the group in front of him once again.
"Okay, then! Well, Introductions. As I said, I'm Scott, and I'm part of the group that was sent to get you guys. Would you mind introducing yourselves?"
"Hi, Scott. I'm Bailey, but please call me Bay. And this little leech," she pointed to the brown haired girl attached to her shoulder, "is Danielle." Danielle stuck her tongue out at bay. "I could've said it. And I am not a leech!"
"I'm Katie." the second shortest of the group introduced herself.
"I'm Jessica." She waved to Scott.
"And I'm Jessica, but most people call me Cheerios." By the time introductions were done, the rest of the X-group had gathered to where they were in the station. The boy with the blue hair was carrying a bag full of tacos, which was probably from one of the food shops in the station.
"Vell, shall ve?" the boy with blue hair asked with a huge grin on his face, dangling ta pair of car keys. "Oh, no you don't! I'm driving." Scott snatched the keys away from Kurt and directed them to the car.
The group walked out of the station and to the parking garage just outside of the main doors. The oldest of them all, Logan, led them all over to a silver van that could seat all of them comfortably. The man climbed in the driver's seat and stuck his keys in the engine, which came roaring to life. Scott had the shotgun, and the others all piled into the back row, allowing their guests the courtesy of the five-seat row in the front.
"Alright, kiddies. I have a few rules when I'm drivin'. No talking and no complaining about the radio. Ya got that?" Logan wrinkled his nose and buckled his seatbelt. The teens nodded, and proceeded to pull out game systems, mp3s, crosswords, reading material, pillows, etc. Logan reached for the radio volume and turned it on full blast, making the song almost incoherent. Cheerios grabbed a pair of ear plugs, stuffing them in her ears before turning on her video game.
"Oh, hey. Look out the window." Scott whispered to the new girls behind him after about twenty-five minutes. "That's Bayville High, where we all go to school. That's where you guys will be going, too."
The girls all looked out the window, ignoring the annoyed grunt from the driver. The school was similar to their old school, only with more stairs and a brighter coloring, and much more geometrical. Instead of the school looking oddly like a certain male body part, the school was a big square, most likely easily maneuvered in. Logan slowed down a bit as they passed, allowing the girls to glance at their new school. He then sped off, leaving the high school in the dust. The girls looked to one another, each having different questions about the school in their minds.
"Ah, Logan, Scott. It is good to see your group got here safely." Logan nodded and walked off in the direction of the training area. "And hello, Group Elemental. I am Professor Xavier, owner of this institute. Would you care to introduce yourselves?"
The group looked at one another and lined up in a specific order.
"My name's Katie. I'm the oldest out of all of us, and control the earth." Her blonde hair bounced slightly when she shifted her weight and glanced at the shorter girl beside her.
""Hi! I'm Anjelique, but I normally use my middle name Danielle, instead of Anjelique. I'm second oldest, and I have control of fire." She ran her hand though her hair, getting a few strands out of her face.
Hello, I'm Jessica. I'm third oldest and control the spirit."
"I'm Bailey, fourth oldest. I go by Bay, so try to not call me Bailey. I control the air." the short black-haired girl flicked her wrist, random bracelets and rings jingling, causing a mini-tornado in her hands. "I also have the most experience in our group."
"Hi, I'm Jessica, but please call me Cheerios. I'm the youngest, and control water."
"Well, it's very nice to meet all of you. Ah, before we address your living arrangements, would you all mind if we saw a quick demonstration of your powers?" The girls looked from one to another and conversed, then to Bay. "Yea, I guess that'd be alright."
The professor led the group, including Kurt, Rogue, and Ray, to the outdoor part of the institute. There was a pool and a large yard full of what was once green grass. "Will these conditions do?"
The group looked around them and examined the surrounding terrain and climate. "Yea, this should be fine." The professor put his hands together. "Well then," he started, "Start when you like, one at a time." The group of girls once again conversed, finally agreeing on an order to go in. Bay took a few steps back from everyone, making sure they were out of the way, and began to remove her hand jewelry. Danielle ran up and grabbed them, waiting for her to remove the final ring. Once said ring was off, an even colder breeze started up, propelling around Bay. She slowly brought her hands up, the wind gathering speed the closer her hands got. Finally, her fingers touched and her body was lifted off the ground as she floated criss-cross inside her own mini wind tunnel. She steered it around the perimeter of the pool, hopped across it, and landed safely on the ground, wind slowing until it was at a complete halt. She walked back over to her friends and began re-applying her accessories. Danielle was the next to go. She stood back just as Bay had done, and smiled. Her lips moved, forming whispered words as her entire figure burst into flames, all sources of snow melting around her and a few feet away. She brought her hands together and threw them up into the air, successfully emitting a fireball easily the size of a twin-sized bed. She then powered down, staggering for a moment before regaining her composure and walking back to her group.
The next to go was Jess. She walked up to the professor and asked for one of his students to help her demonstrate her powers. Kitty, who had come out of the mansion to watch as the new recruits demonstrated their powers along with Jean and Bobby, volunteered after the reassuring comment of 'this won't hurt at all.'
"Professor, if you would kindly read Kitty's thoughts as I do to prove I am reading her thoughts?" Jess positioned Kitty a few paces away from herself. "But of course, Jessica." The kind professor responded with, concentrating on Kitty's thoughts.
"Oh my gosh, it's cold out here." Jess's voice came out sounding just like Kitty's. "What's she gonna do? Is that, like my voice?! How's she doing that?! Everyone can hear my thoughts! Oh, crap -- I better not think of anything bad while they can all hear me. Ok, nice thoughts, nice thoughts..." Silence for a few seconds. "I wonder what would happen if-NO!" Jess's voice snapped back to her own, Kitty's face flushed a bright red as she realized where her mind was headed. "Ew." Jess waved her hand as she tried to remove a very disturbing mental image from her head. After a few calming moments, she stood back up."Anyway, back to the demo," she reached for her side, revealing a well hidden red, purple, green, and blue holster with a whitish-grey sheathed sword inside of it, "Shinzui no Ha'nei." She swung it around a few times for show, and then motioned for Danielle to come over. "No one can touch this sword without my permission. Danielle?" Danielle reached out for it, but her hand did not make contact with the sword. "Also," she turned away from the group, "whichever other member of Elements I'm closest to, it allows me to better focus my ability to copy others powers. My abilities involving spirit allow me to mimic others' powers, since such abilities are tied to the spirit." Facing the other direction completely, she brought the sword above her head and slashed downward. On the way down, the once pearl white sword turned shades of red, yellow, and orange, the sharpened end catching on fire. She made a stabbing motion with the now enflamed sword and shot a smaller version of Danielle's fireball. She then held it parallel to her body and deactivated it and re-sheathed the sword. ""That's that. Oh, there are a few other things I can do, but those drain my energy." She and Danielle walked back to the group, allowing the next to go.
Katie stepped away from her friends and waved to the group of X-Men.
"Hi, guys! I'm Katie, and I'm going to be demonstrating the power of Earth!" Rolling up her jacket sleeves, she struck a pose, extending her right hand into the air, clenched into a fist. She then extended her fingers to show her palm, and shoved her hand down at least a foot into the ground and through the snow. She stayed there for a moment, and then began to pull her arm out. With little trouble, she pulled up a compacted heap of soil, now rock, twice the size of her and held it over her head as if it were weightless. Inside of the rock, she re-clenched her fingers, sending bits and pieces of both rock and snow everywhere in a controlled explosion. She made the rocks make a floating stairway and walked up it and, standing on the top rock, smiled as the top rock slowly cascaded downward. As each rock followed suit, the ground absorbed it and neatly filled in the small crater. When she finally reached the ground, she flicked her wrist at the spot that the crater once was and pulled upward, creating a garden where the hole used to be. She bowed gracefully and bounced back toward the group.
The last of the group to go was Cheerios, who hastily made her way over to the pool on the other side of the yard. "Hi, I'm Cheerios, and I'm going to be demonstrating my control of w-water." She said hurriedly, unused to being in front of so many people. She wrapper her arms around her, hands on her shoulders, and slowly started to bring them down in a fluid motion, stopping when her hands were pointed straight at the water, which was rapidly melting. She concentrated for a moment until all the water had melted and inhaled slowly. She then brought her arms back up, two streams of water following her hands out of the pool as she brought her hands above her head. She then brought her hands back down fast, palms facing the pool, as the two streams froze in place. She dragged her hands forward, the rest of the water in the pool flowing towards her, picking her up and allowing her to float on its' surface, holding onto the ice structures for balance. She then broke off the ice structures and lowered herself closer to the water, steering the water back into the pool and around her, creating a barrier of water. She broke the ice into her hands and threw her hand out, shards of solid sharp ice flying up into the sky. They all landed back in the water, melting on contact. Cheerios stood back up and broke the water barrier. Her hands dropped to the side and teetered back and forth, steering the water back to the shore for her.
Professor X and his students all clapped, impressed by their control of their powers. The professor told the other students to go back inside so he could have a chat with the five new students.
"Now, I would like to discuss with the five of you why you are truly here. Each of you has a problem with controlling your power, correct?" Bay nodded.
"We all have some setbacks in our powers that we are trying to overcome. I, for one, can't make very much wind unless there is a slight breeze."
"I can't use any earth techniques unless I'm in contact with soil."
"I can't use my fire in weather that is too cold, and sometimes loose control when it's too hot and catch things on fire when I'm angry."
"I mess up with my sword-handling and sometimes have a hard time calling upon my powers."
"My water-control comes at random, and takes a lot of concentration to definitely work, which is a problem, and I sometimes boil or freeze water on accident." The professor nodded as each girl spoke, absorbing their information and trying to pick a suitable teacher for each of them.
After the girls were done, the professor turned his chair towards the building. "Well then, why don't we head in and discuss your living arrangements as well as your schedules. Shall we?" The girls nodded and followed the professor back inside.
"Now then, tomorrow, I will have picked out a select group to help you all gain full control of your powers. But, before that, you will all have to attend school. I have enrolled all of you at Bayville High, which is where all of my students attend. The wakeup call is six o'clock sharp, and you will all leave for school before seven thirty; if you leave after seven thirty, you will be late. Also, refrain from using your powers outside of the institute as much as possible. The humans are not yet ready for us to reveal our powers to them, and it will be catastrophic to reveal them too early. Also, please be aware that we are not the only mutants here in Bayville. The Brotherhood and the X-men both go to the same school. If they try to force you into revealing your powers by using theirs, please refrain if possible. Some of my students find it easier to just roll with the punches, as they say, and let the anger build for our next off-campus meeting." By this point, the group had travelled up to the third floor, where the girls' rooms were. "Now, this is the half of the floor that the girls stay in. The other half is for the boys. Since most of the girls here double-bun, you five will have to pick roommates, or room with another amongst your group." Cheerios ran over to Katie and asked her if she'd room with her. Katie smiled and nodded, gaining a smile from the brunette. Bay and Dani, who was again clinging to Bay's arm, also decided to room together. Jess was about to say she'd room alone when Kitty popped up from the other side of the wall.
"Hey, Jess, right? Sorry for popping in randomly but you guys have an odd number right? You could like, totally room with me!" She stepped out of the wall fully, smiling brightly. "Oh, you're the one who let me use my powers on you, right?" Kitty nodded. "Sure, I guess."
"Uh, is there any rule about sleepovers?" Cheerios asked Professor X. "I'm sorry, but unless it is for studying purposes, they are only allowed on days off. I know what happens at sleepovers, and that is anything but sleep. I would like to actually see my students up before twelve noon on a school day." The girls giggled at this, knowing full-well they'd still be asleep at twelve and well-past two. "Well, now that Kitty is here, she can show you to your rooms. Someone will bring up your X-uniforms by tomorrow morning." 'Goodnight, students' throughout the whole third floor, you could hear echoes of goodnight, turn that music down I need to sleep, and see you later. The professor smiled and headed back toward the elevator.
"Okay, so here are your rooms and here's mine. If you have any questions, ask either me or Jean, 'kay?" Kitty turned to Jess. "You wanna come in and get settled?" Kitty opened the door for her. "Alright. Thanks again for letting me room with you." Jess walked in, Kitty following soon after. "Aw, it's no problem!"
"This is so exciting! A whole new city, a new school, new rooms, AWESOME!" Dani, who was on a sugar high from the candy she'd eaten on the drive over, exclaimed. "I'll miss everyone, but STILL! AWESOME!" She pulled Bay into their new room, where their luggage was waiting for them. "H-Hey, Dani! Slow down!" Danielle raced around the room and started to unpack. Bay flipped on the fan switch and started unpacking at a normal speed, using her powers to put most of her things away.
"I don' see what's so great…" Cheerios started. "We won't know anyone! And we'll probably be in totally different classes and our lunches will most likely be total opposites and-"Katie cut Cheerios off from her rant. "Oh, stop being so negative! The school probably has a band, you know. We can both join their band as tubas again and be in the same class, okay? Who knows, maybe we'll make even more band-nerd friends!" The other two girls laughed together and walked into their room, starting to unpack their things, too.
After the girls finished unpacking, they settled in for the night. Katie and Danielle were fast asleep. Cheerios, Jess, and Bay were still up. Jess was meditating in her room, Kitty fast asleep in the bed across from hers. Bay was messing around on her phone, checking Facebook and such. Cheerios lied awake in her bed, staring at the new ceiling as her mind raced through every possible outcome of the day to come.