Where to start... Well this story begins the same as all the others. A girl was born. A beautiful baby girl with pitch black hair and dark green eyes. She was thin, even as a newborn, and never grew very tall. She was an out-going girl, who loved to talk, run track and play football with the boys. She lived in a small town outside of Dayton, Ohio, with her mother and older sister. The girl grew quickly, and to everyone else, seemed to have a wonderful life. About 6 months after she turned 15 though, her mother got into a relationship with a man who she seemed to be very attached to. Though Kishi and her older sister Dia had been through a lot of their mother's boyfriends, this one was different. The girls didn't like him, but for some reason, she wouldn't believe them. The pair shied away from the man whenever possible, but all too soon, Deborah had Dan moving in with the girls. Kishi, the usually outgoing one soon began hiding from everyone. She kept running track, but pulled further and further away from her family. The two sisters were soon fighting all the time, and Deborah couldn't figure out why.

One night, after Dan had been living with the girls for a little over a month, Kishi was awoken by a hand on her mouth. Dan was sitting on her bed, and after a moment of staring into her scared eyes, began to attempt to rape her. Kishi reacted as any girl would and panicked, but Dan was much larger than her and was soon in a position to have his way with her. The noise from the struggle however, awoke Dia, who in a fit of rage launched herself at the man, knocking him off of her sister. However, at this point, Kishi's latent mutant ability manifested itself. After only a moment, Kishi had transformed into a huge werewolf-like creature. She stood, and as she saw Dan, attempted to kill him. Fortunately for him, however, Dia's mutant ability manifested itself at the moment she saw the wolf-like creature. Dia had always been scared of dogs, and her terror at the sight of the huge wolf-like creature set her off. Dia transformed into a huge werecat-like creature, almost as large as her sister.

The pair, having a natural hatred towards one another, began to fight, destroying their room, half the rest of the house, and knocking Dan into a coma in the process. Luckily Deborah wasn't home at the time, but when she arrived home the next morning, to find her house destroyed, her girls in naked heaps in the living room and Dan almost bled to death on their bedroom floor, almost fainted. A few days and numerous phone calls later, the two girls were dropped off at the airport with a bag of luggage each and a plane ticket. The girls were being sent to the Xavier Institute in upstate New York. A taxi picked them up at the airport, and even though the two had been together in close quarters for the last 6 hours, they hadn't spoken a word to each other.

Arriving at the school, the girls were greeted first by the Headmistress, Emma Frost, who assured both that they would be well taken care of here, but gave them a warning that if they started trouble, it was going to be hell to pay for them. Kishi, the meeker of the pair, simply nodded, and gave a few "yes ma'am's" and "no ma'am's". However, Dia, the more outgoing one, was almost rude with the Headmistress, who seemed to be a miffed, but somehow brushed it off. The girls were then sent inside to meet their tour guides.

There was a raven haired girl with bright green eyes, much like Kishi's, and a tall boy with dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. Both stood expectantly as the two sisters entered.

"Hi!" the short dark haired girl chirped, seeming very perky and cheerful aside from her dark appearance and clothing.

Kishi watched the pair approach, her mind racing with what was to be expected from other mutants. As she'd never met another, at least not that she knew of, she therefore didn't know how to act around them. The young man, a tall, well built, dark haired teenager with a snotty look, simply winked at Dia and grinned at Kishi.

"Well, hello there ladies. Name's Hellion. And yours?" he said, with a very haughty tone.

Dia giggled and batted her long eyelashes at him. "I'm Dia, pleasure to-"

"No, your real name, not your... human name." he cut her off with a sharp tone.

"Oh," Dia said, unabashed. "Lynx." she smiled at him.

As he looked at Kishi for an answer, the girl next to him cut him off. "Bugger off Julian, I can do this myself. Besides, you're not supposed to be in the girl's dorm anymore after the last incident."

Hellion sighed and blew his bangs up and away from his eyes, to which they promptly fell back into. "Yeah, yeah, well I was told to help escort these ladies around the campus, so you bugger off, X."

The dark headed girl growled, a noise that clearly stated her high level of irritation with Hellion. But Dia stopped the fight with a simple grasp of his arm.

"C'mon," she said softly. "I'll let you show me around and leave these two to... whatever." She glared over her shoulder at her sister.

Kishi simply watched her leave, without emotion on her face. The other girl walked the rest of the way towards her, stopping only a few feet short. She seemed a bit awkward around a girl who looked so similar to her.

"My name is Laura. That was Hellion, and yes, he's a dick, and yes you can ignore him. Though sometimes it's hard to, he's such a piss off." She extended her hand towards Kishi. "What's your name?"

As Kishi took the offered hand and shook it, she could tell that Laura was sizing her up, as though she was trying to find out if she could beat her in a fight. "My name is Kishi."

Laura nodded and let go of Kishi's hand. "Do you have a mutant name?" she asked after a short pause.

Kishi just shrugged. "I don't know. I've been a mutant for all of a week. Haven't really had time to think about it."

Laura nodded again. "I hear ya, I don't really have a good one either." She waived her hand absently. "I'm sure we'll find you something. C'mon. Lemme show you around the campus, then we'll come back for your bags. No one will touch them, promise."

Kishi nodded and followed Laura as she showed her around. The mansion was huge, five stories, and Laura said there were several underground levels too. The girls wandered around the upper floors and Laura showed Kishi where most of her classes would be. The two girls talked about a lot of things, mostly the other students in the school and what some of their powers were. Laura shied away however when Kishi asked her what her power was.

"Why won't you tell me? It can't possibly be as bad as mine." Kishi said as they entered the cafeteria.

Laura shook her head. "It's... it's just lame."

A boy with short blonde hair and icy blue eyes was sitting at a table off to the left as the pair entered. Hearing the comment from Laura, he stood and wandered over quickly to the two girls. Smiling brightly at Kishi, he stuck out his hand to shake hers.

"Hi, I'm Bobby. Bobby Drake." he said brightly. "Or, you can call me the Iceman..." he murmured, making his hand very cold as he shook Kishi's.

"Hi, Bobby. I'm Kishi." she said, smiling shyly at him.

"I couldn't help but over hear-"

"Yes you could. Stop listening." Laura cut him off with a glare.

He chuckled. "Her power is regeneration, and she has these claws-"

He was cut off again as Laura shoved him back towards his table. "Knock it off, Drake." she growled.

"That's cool!" Kishi said. "I've got claws too, well when I'm in my... other form." she said the last with a blush.

Laura shook her head. "No. My claws come from my knuckles, and one on each foot. Here, see?" she extended her claws slowly, the silvery metal sliding from between her first and second and third and fourth knuckles. The one from each foot slipped without hesitation from her boot, the metal so sharp that it cut right through the leather of the boot.

"Does it hurt?" Kishi asked softly, reaching out to take Laura's hand and look at the places where the claws came out.

"Sometimes. But it heals so fast I don't notice it."

"That's really cool Laura!" Kishi said, smiling at the shorter girl.

"Like father like daughter," Bobby said.

"Oh, and what's yours, besides making things cold, Bobby?" Kishi said, chuckling at him.

"Heh, watch this." he said, as his entire body turned to ice.

Kishi oohed and ahhed, just like he wanted, giggling like a little kid. He chuckled back at her, showing off by making a flower out of ice and presenting it to her. She laughed out loud at his obvious flirting with her, but cleared her throat as she noticed Laura glaring at Bobby as he showed off. Bobby cleared his own throat and let his body fade back to normal, his clothes a little wet, but no other side effects other than that.

"So, what do you do, Kishi?" Bobby chuckled.

"Uh... I uh, can't show you." she blushed.

"Why not?" Laura asked.

"Cause I tend to loose my clothes." she murmured, a severe blush on her cheeks, as she looked down at the floor.

"Oh, I have got to see- Owww!" he rubbed his arm from where Laura had hit him.

"Well maybe after we get you a uniform." Laura said, putting her arm over Kishi's shoulders.

"A uniform?" Kishi asked, looking into the very similar green eyes of the girl next to her.

Bobby waived his hand. "Yeah, all the students get one. The professors teach us control of our powers as well as better ways to use them. So everyone suits up at learns how to properly use their powers. Course, we don't know what powers you have, so there's no way to tell what they'll have you do." Bobby shrugged. "But anyway, lunch is getting cold, why don't you guys go get some and come sit down with me?"

Kishi and Laura agreed, going to get some food and then going to sit down with Bobby, and a friend of his by the name of Forge.

"Forge?" Kishi asked.

"Yes."

"No... other name?"

"I do not like it." He said simply.

"Oh. Ok." she shrugged. She was sure she'd meet stranger creatures soon.

ONE WEEK LATER

Kishi had settled in quickly to the dorms, she was even rooming with Laura now, the two of them becoming fast friends. Laura had a pair of friends that she introduced to Kishi, by the names of Betsy Braddock and Clarice Ferguson, or better known as Psylocke and Blink. Everyone except Kishi mostly used their mutant names, but Kishi still hadn't settled on one yet. Laura had finally picked one that she liked, and she had settled on Talon. The four girls had become friends quickly, and Kishi was starting to enjoy living amongst so many mutants. Everyone here understood what she was going through, and everyone enjoyed her company.

Kishi didn't see Dia very often and when she did, the two girls hardly talked. If they did, it usually ended in typical sibling rivalry. Dia had stayed with Hellion and the older sister had become friends with his friends. The group was known for their hatefulness to everyone else except for a very limited number of mutants that they liked, but didn't hang out with their group. Kishi's group of friends was not included in this small number.

"So... The lesbos are hanging out at lunch again, what a shocker." Julian laughed as he walked past Kishi and her friends as they sat eating at a central table.

"Shut it, Keller." Laura, who hated Julian or Hellion the most, snapped.

"Ooooooh. The bird claw is getting pissed off. Watch it, X, I might get mad." He hissed back.

"And do what, scream at me?" she growled back.

X was a nickname that Laura hated, from the time when she very first came to the school. It was a shortening of the name X-23, the name she'd had from when she was used as a weapon to kill high priority targets, back when she was still under the control of Weapon X. It reminded her of how she didn't have the same upbringing as the rest of the kids in school, and how different she was. No one called her X unless they wanted to start a fight. And that was exactly what Hellion was getting at.

"Calm down, Talon. You know he's not worth it." Betsy said soothingly.

"Yes he is..." she growled, her claws starting to slip from her knuckles.

"Laura..." Kishi whispered, placing her hand on Laura's, fingertips in front of the dangerous claws that were slipping from the smaller girl's knuckles. This stopped Laura from extending her claws any further, and Laura's head turned slightly to look at her roommate.

"See? I told you they were lesbians!" Dia giggled, stepping from behind Hellion to scowl at her sister.

"Shut up, Dia."

"It's Lynx you dumb brat, and don't hide what you are." She snapped back at her sister.

"Whatever. Go away." Kishi growled.

Dia laughed and thankfully the group had had enough fun. They wandered off to their own table, and sat down, leaving the four girls in peace. A few seconds later, the two boys that Kishi had made friends with came to their table. Both Bobby and Forge looked pretty pleased with themselves.

"What have you two been up to?" Betsy said in her English accent.

"Oh, nothing. Its just a matter of what we know that you girls don't." Bobby said, grinning from ear to ear and taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Oh knock it off and just tell us. We're having a bad day and need some good news." Kishi sighed, taking a spoonful of her pudding.

Forge smiled and nodded. "They're setting up student teams." he chuckled.

"Wait, you mean like the X-men teams?" Laura pipped up.

Forge and Bobby nodded at the same time. "Yup," Bobby said through the bite of the sandwich he had in his mouth. "And everyone gets to pick their own teams. Then we all have to compete." he finished, after swallowing his bite.

"Compete for what?" Clarice asked in her cute small voice, her green eyes bright with wonder.

"To help the X-Men, duh!" Bobby snapped.

The four girls looked at each other. "Seriously?" was the next question, from all four at once.

Sure enough, the Headmaster, Scott Summers and Headmistress, Emma Frost announced the formation of student teams. The students started an uproar, but Emma used her mental powers to shout the large group down.

"Now, each team will be headed by a teacher, and each teacher will have full responsibility for training the team and also getting matches set up. Yes, you will be competing with each other for the possibility of working as a functional team with and without the X-Men. This will give us additional teams to help in both protecting the school as well as occasional sorties out in the field." Scott said, having to shout over the outbursts of the students.

Kishi looked at the group sitting at her table. "Us." she said after the teachers had made their announcements.

"What?" Laura looked at her. "You actually want to do this?"

Kishi nodded. "Yeah! Fighting is about all I'm good for, so let's do it! It would give us something to do when we're bored right?"

The rest of the table nodded and started to talk all at once. But it was set. They even came up with a name and a teacher they wanted.

"Wolverine won't go for it." Laura said after the rest of the group had decided on him.

"Dude. Evolution needs the best, and Wolverine's the best. He's got the most experience, and you know he'd train our butts off." Bobby perked up. "As much as I don't think he'll be easy on us, I think he's the best choice."

"You're damn right I'm the best choice. And no one else is training my little girl." Wolverine growled as he walked past the table.

And so it was set. The group name was to be Evolution, and Wolverine was the their teacher. The team lead would be decided after the first training, but it looked to be up between Bobby and Kishi. Betsy had some ideas for uniform colors, and Clarice was set to start sewing them together with the help of Professor Hank McCoy, who outfitted all of the students with their uniforms. The next day was to be their first training session, and Wolverine wanted them there at 4:30 am. The group whined, but knew that it was what they asked for.

Clarice and Betsy set off for Professor McCoy's office so that they could get the uniforms set up before the next day, while the rest of the group sat around debating Kishi's mutant name. Bobby thought she should be called Vicious, Forge thought she should be called Fang, and Laura thought she should be called Feral. Betsy and Clarice put in their two cents through Betsy's mental capabilities, of Primal and Wolven, respectively. Kishi wrestled with the idea of both Wolven and Feral, but finally decided on Feral as her mutant name. Laura seemed pretty pleased with herself, but didn't say anything about it.

The next morning, a haggard looking Evolution stood in front of Wolverine in the control room of the Danger Room. "Good morning." he growled, looking at the group with what was clearly disappointment. The uniforms looked sharp, but the kids in them looked as though they'd been put through the wringer already. "We're just going to run a single simulation, then you guys are going to run a mile."

Kishi sighed. "A mile, that's it?" she said in what seemed like relief.

The rest of the group glared at her as Wolverine smiled. "Ha, Ok, then two miles."

The rest of the group groaned, but Kishi looked around as though she hadn't done anything wrong. The group however moved into the elevator and went down to the danger room. It was a huge blank room with metal panels everywhere and nothing else. The simulation would begin as soon as Wolverine gave the go ahead. Which he did, giving the kids a nighttime simulation, with the only goal to be to survive against the sentinels that were appearing in the city scape.

"Everyone stay together, I don't think any of us are strong enough to take on a sentinel by ourselves." Kishi said out loud, just before she transformed into her giant wolf form.

Feral in her wolf form was well over 9 feet tall, with black fur with silver tips in it. Her head was that of a wolf, with a long thin muzzle and big, forward facing green eyes. Her large ears with their silver tips were set on the top of her head, and a large black nose sat at the tip of her muzzle. The wolf body continued until down to her hands, which were much like human hands, but with thick pads on the palm and finger tips, and the fingers were thicker and had long, thick claws where the fingernails should be. The legs differed slightly, with the joints being a little offset, so that the beast could stand on it's hind legs, but ended with normal looking wolf paws. The body ended with a long and bushy tail with a silver tip, creating the look of a less than horror movie werewolf.

~Psylocke, can you set up a mental link?~ She said, talking to the purple haired girl mentally.

Psylocke nodded, then closed her eyes as the purple butterfly shapes appeared next to her temples as she used her power. "This might feel a little weird, guys..." she murmured as the connection started.

At first it was a jumble of everyone's thoughts, but very quickly everyone learned to keep their thoughts to themselves and the group moved off, keeping Iceman and Kishi in the lead. They moved quickly to an alley off to their left, knowing that the buildings would shield them a small amount from the Sentinel's vision.

~Ok. Here's the deal. We have to make it from point A to point B right? So we stay together, stay low, and if we get into a corner, Bobby... er.. Iceman, I want you to blast the floor with your ice, make it slicker than anything else, and then concentrate fire on joints, knee, elbow, head to neck. Stuff like that. Talon, I want you to try and cut through the arms, joints are probably weakest, so target them. Forge, you follow Talon's lead. Your suit will keep you safe from most of the effects that the sentinels can dish out. Blink, I want you and Psylocke in the back, you two don't have many offensive powers, and Psy, your powers won't work on the sentinels anyway. I'm not sure how much damage I can take, but I'll do my best to keep them from getting you two, Ok?~ Feral's "voice" was much like her normal voice, but it sounded determined, like she could do this.

The entire group nodded, letting Feral lead them up the fire escape. The sentinels were tall, but they should be pre-programmed to look for the group on the ground, since none of the group could fly. They moved quietly across the roofs, Blink teleporting them from rooftop to rooftop, as quickly as they could. The short jumps however, were taking their toll on the pink girl, and soon she dropped to her knees halfway across a rooftop. Feral heard her hit the ground, and turned quickly. Rushing over, the giant wolf leaned down to touch Blink's face.

~You alright?~ she said mentally while whining softly out loud.

Blink shook her head. "I've never been pushed like this, I'm exhausted..." she murmured.

~It's alright, I'll carry you. C'mon.~ The giant wolf easily picked up the small girl, cradling her in one arm as she looked to the rest of the group. ~Iceman? Can you make a bridge?~ she said to the ice covered man at the front of the group.

He nodded and then started forming the ice bridge across the two rooftops. As he was about halfway across however, a sentinel's head slammed through the ice, knocking him back onto the rooftop and almost unconscious.

"Targets located." it said in it's computerized voice. "Capture all targets." it finished, reaching out a hand to grab Iceman.

~Talon! Grab Iceman!~ Kishi yelled, putting Blink down and preparing to leap for the huge metal robot.

Talon slid across the rooftop, grabbing Iceman and tossing him out of the way of the hand, then turning and slicing through the hand with her claws. The sentinels fingers dropped off, and it pulled back it's hand, giving Talon enough time to pull a stunned Psylocke back out of the reach of the sentinel. Feral raced across the rooftop, leaping the ten feet easily to the sentinel's head, using her powerful claws to rip gashes in the metal where the metal giant got its visual input from. The metal monster reached up to try and grab Feral off of its face, but the hand that it was using was quickly cut from its arm as Talon leapt up to help Feral. The two were on the metal man's shoulders as they both dug their respective claws into the neck of the metal creature, and lifting with all their strength attempted to rip it's head from it's neck. The giant wolf could lift more and so the head of the sentinel rolled towards Talon, who skittered around it to stand next to Feral. The pair smiled at each other before Feral scooped Talon up in her arms and leapt the twenty feet from the falling sentinel's shoulders to the roof top. Putting Talon down, the simulation dissolved around them, and Wolverine's voice came over the loud speakers.

"Evolution, get upstairs, run has been canceled." he sounded very angry.

The group took the elevator upstairs to the control room, and stood there as Wolverine finished shutting down the danger room. He sighed heavily and turned towards the group, who were panting. Feral had transformed back into her human form, but looked hardly winded.

"What the hell was that?" Wolverine growled. "The object of the mission was to get to the point I had set up, not to engage the sentinels."

Feral stepped forward at a look from the rest of the group and stood upright in front of Wolverine. "Sorry, but it was attacking us. Did you want us to just run from it?"

Wolverine scowled at her. "So you're the leader, huh? Fine, you'll take the heat. Yes, you were supposed to run from it. It was about evading, not offense. You were not to hunt down the sentinels, you were supposed to get from point A to point B without being seen."

"Excuse me, sir," Feral slurred the last word. "But we did a pretty damn good job. The rooftops were the easiest way to get there, and we didn't get seen until you had that one sentinel pop up and find us there. I heard them moving, you had them heading our way, there was no way we were getting to... point B without encountering one. If the mission was evasion, then you should have specified. We would have tried another tactic." Feral glared at the taller man, her green eyes flaring with anger. "You gave us a mission, to get from point A to point B. We didn't get there because you cut the simulation short. We would have made it. And the whole team I might add."

Wolverine was rendered speechless at this point. He finally cleared the shocked look off of his face and nodded. "But I didn't end the simulation. You guys had made it to point B."

Feral turned back to the group and grinned from ear to ear. The group had passed their first test.

But Wolverine had something else to say. "And that bit of team work between you and Talon there to take it out was outstanding. It takes me quite a bit to take down one sentinel, and I didn't think that six kids would be able to take one down. And your plan, Feral, was the best one that I would have been able to come up with, though you really need to learn how to put all members of your team into play. Blink could have easily teleported the sentinel away, and though Psylocke's capabilities only affect living things, she could have created a distraction for the sentinel." He chuckled softly and shook his head again. "But that's about all I've got. The run was canceled due to you achieving the goal. I didn't think you'd make it, so I figured I'd punish you before hand." He turned his back on them at that point, the discussion over.

The group surrounded Feral and all started talking at once, congratulating her. They walked out of the room, Laura the last one out, the only one not talking her head off. The conversation was cut short however, by the clearing of a throat at the elevator doors. Hellion and his gang were standing there, minus the typical Dia draped all over Hellion's arm.

"So, the lesbians found some dick... Nice." Hellion mouthed off.

Bobby and Forge both glared at Hellion. "Fuck off, Julian." Laura growled from behind the guys.

"Awww, now is that anyway to talk to the guy who's going to be your superior?" Hellion laughed as the rest of his gang stalked out of the elevator, all of them looking ready to fight. "Not that I'm not already."

Feral snarled and glared at Hellion. "Why don't we settle this with a match, us versus your team, see which one does better?"

Hellion looked at the small black haired girl in front of him and laughed. "Seriously? You think you can take us?" he shook his head. "I highly doubt it."

"And besides, they are late for their danger room session." Emma Frost's voice came from the elevator. "Get going, Julian." she snapped, causing the students to move down the hall towards where Evolution had just left.

Emma walked behind the group as Evolution split to let them pass, narrowing her eyes at Feral as she passed. "But don't worry..." she whispered, just loud enough for Feral to hear. "You'll get your match." she smiled with false sweetness at the much shorter girl.

Feral looked at her as though she was crazy, but let the Headmistress pass. The rest of Evolution went to stand behind her and watch the Hellions walk into the danger room where they could hear the surprised voice of Wolverine greet the Headmistress. Feral finally stopped staring at the door after a moment and turned to her group.

"Forget them. We'll beat the crap out of them when we face 'em." she said, heading to the elevator.