A/N: Hello everyone, this is something I hope is entertaining and good to read. Or I'm right and I just sound crazy for writing this. Anyways this takes place between season one and season two. Also I do not own X-men Evolution, or any other version of X-men.
"I told you that we needed that money to buy important things like milk and bread. And what do you buy, friggin pixy-stix! Pietro I'm going to kill you." The entire house, and possibly the nearby neighbors, could hear Lance yell. Toad felt the whole house shake. Something all the boarders have come to expected; living with a walking Richter scale and all. "Hey man, chill I'll get the things we need." Pietro stated arrogantly. "I mean it's just simple groceries right? I'll just get more money."
"There isn't any more money, remember? We're living off of whatever we have now that Mystique is gone." Lance said, growing more furious by the minute.
"Yo Lance, chill out your rockin the whole place man. We'll get the money to buy food don't worry ok." Toad said hurriedly, hopping into the room. Toad saw that Lance was holding onto Pietro by his collar. He sighed when Lance finally calmed down a bit. "I bet Mystique has some cash lying around in her room." Toad said, a grin spreading across his face.
"No way, we can't go in Mystique's room. She'd kill us." Pietro said, quickly getting out of Lance's way. The three of them headed up the stairs of the boarding house to the locked door that was never to be open, Mystique's room. When Lance and Pietro made it up the steps they stopped to watch as Toad bounced off of the door and rolled down the hall to hit another door in the house. But the boy got back up and charged at the door again, and again he bounced off of it. The Brotherhood continued to watch as he tried a couple more times, till Blob (the fourth and final member of their group) showed up and caught Toad from jumping into the door again.
"You're not going to break down the door buddy, so let's leave it alone." Blob states simply, Toad nodded his agreement. But Lance caught him eyeing the door before going back downstairs.
"Well, let's watch some sports before we run out of money to watch TV, yo." Toad said as he hopped into the living room, Blob followed right behind him.
"You better not forget to earn the money to pay for food Pietro." Lance stated, shooting him a glare before following the other two. Pietro sighed and rolled his eyes. He never got why Lance was so worried about paying for stuff, when all they really needed to do was steal it, problem solved. Pietro was about to join the rest of the group when he heard a faint knock on the door. He opened it to find a trenched figure wearing a big brimmed hat.
"Excuse me; is this the brotherhood boarding house?" She, judging by the voice, asked quietly. Pietro gave her a charming smile.
"Yes and why have you come to this dump that we call home?" Pietro asked with a smirk. He started to picture what she looked like under the coat and hat. In his mind he saw a hot blonde.
"Well, I'm um, looking for someone. I learned that he lived here and was wondering if he was still here." She said shyly, while leaning forward to peer into the house. Now Pietro was really wondering who she was and who she was looking for. He deducted she was probably looking for Lance since he'd never seen her in his life, and in what universe would any girl want to see Toad or Blob. He was so deep in thought that he didn't hear her ask a question.
"I'm sorry what'd you say?" Pietro asked, giving her an apologetic smile.
"I said does Todd Tolansky live here?" She murmured. Pietro nearly did a double take; luckily he didn't have a drink with him.
"Um, just a second k," Pietro said as he sped walked into the living room. He stopped right in front of the TV. The three other guys started to yell at him for his intrusion. "Guys chill out I have just witnessed a pig flying. There's a girl standing outside asking for Toad." He hurriedly stated. The other two gasped and gave Toad a look of question. Toad looked just as puzzled as he walked over towards the door. He looked the girl over without a sign of recognition. The girl looked him over as well.
"Hi Todd, I know it's been a while since we saw each other but um I need a favor." The girl said quietly handing the green teen a piece of paper. Toad looked down at it and slightly gasped. He looked from the paper to the girl standing in front of him in disbelief. He couldn't believe who was standing in front of him.
"C-c'mon in Cali." Toad said as he got out of the doorway to let the girl in. She walked in and sat down on the stairwell, since Lance and everyone else were blocking her way to the living room and kitchen. The rest of the Brotherhood was giving both of them questioning looks. But none of them wanted to speak up. The silence held for a few more moments before Lance finally spoke up.
"So, Toad who is this?" He asked, while gesturing towards the trenched girl.
"Oh yeah, guys this is Cali. Cali this is Lance, Pietro, and Fred." Toad made the introductions. He kept glancing at Cali with a questioning look. He kept wondering why she was wearing the hat and coat.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you." Cali said, quietly ducking her head into the collar of her coat. All three of the boys were intrigued by their mysterious guest, but she seemed to be beyond tired. She looked to have been traveling for a while.
"Hey guys, how about we let Cali go sleep in the extra bedroom upstairs and I'll explain everything." Toad suggested. The others nodded in agreement to this suggestion. Toad looked over at Cali. "C'mon Cali let's get you a bed to sleep in for today. We'll talk after you had a good rest." Toad leads her up the rest of the stairs. As soon as he showed her the room she fell, literally, onto the bed and was asleep in a matter of seconds. When she fell her hat came off and Toad could see why she wanted to hide her face. Her skin was a green shade and looked as if she had scales. Her hair was long and looked greasy. Toad was used to seeing disgusting; in fact he loved gross things. But he never thought he'd see Cali like that. He looked at the piece of paper, a photo that she gave him. In it was two little kids one was a boy with brown hair ripped up jeans and a t-shirt and there was a little girl in pigtails and a jean jumper standing next to him. The two of them looked happy, the kids were holding hands. He never thought he'd see that little girl again. He closed the door quietly and walked back down to the living room. The guys were all waiting expectantly, dying to know who Cali was.
"Ok Toad spill," Pietro stated quickly. Blob and Lance nodded in agreement. "Who is she, and why are you allowing her to stay here?"
"Chill yo, her name is Cali. She needs a place to crash for a bit. It's cool." Toad said calmly, thinking about how he's going to get her to tell him what exactly happened.
"Yeah, but why are we letting her stay here, we aren't exactly a hotel here Toad." Lance said. The brotherhood was no place for girls.
"I have to help her guys," Toad said.
"Why? Why would she come to you for help?" Blob asked.
"Because yo, she's my sister." Toad said. The guys all gasped, but nodded in understanding.
"Why didn't you tell us you had a sister?" Blob asked, slightly confused.
"I haven't seen her since my parents split when we were kids. I guess our old man kicked her out, so she came to me." Toad said simply. The guys all looked past him and up the staircase, where they knew Cali was. All three wondering what she did and why she went to Toad for help. "I'm gonna go get something to eat. I think I remember what Cali likes; she looked like she needed it. If she wakes Pietro, don't bother her." Toad said, as he hopped out the door. He couldn't believe he was actually trying to look out for someone besides himself. But it didn't matter to him; all he could think of was what he could do to make sure his little sister wasn't in danger. As soon as Toad had left the guys all started thinking about the girl sleeping in their boarding house.
"So...what do you think she's like?" Lance asked.
"I don't think anyone related to Toad is like anything we've seen." Pietro said, he was now re-thinking what he pictured Cali looked like. He was still dying to see what she looked like.
"Hopefully she'll be different than her brother. I mean she was raised away from him." Lance said simply, he didn't think he could handle another person like Toad in the house. "Do you think she's a mutant like us?" The thought had just occurred to him. The other looked up in surprise, like the thought never occurred to them before.
"Maybe," Blob said. The guys went back to watching TV for a while when they heard a thunk coming from upstairs. Pietro rushed upstairs to check it out. He looked into the room Cali was in and saw someone standing in front of a broken mirror. The girl, he guessed was Cali, was standing in front of the mirror. She looked scared out of her mind, he wouldn't have blamed her. She looked like a mess; her long hair was greasy and flipped out like a hood of a cobra, her skin had a scale like quality and was dark green. Pietro was sort of freaked out by this, but was oddly intrigued. He obviously was staring for too long since he heard Cali gasp. She had turned and saw him staring.
"Please don't tell anyone about this. It's just a skin blemish from not sleeping or taking a shower due to traveling." Cali said, trying hard not to freak out.
"No, no it's ok Cali." Pietro said, trying to sound calming, he wasn't sure if he was sounding right. "I'm different too."
"I'm not different. This will all clear up in a week or two. I'll look back to my normal self soon. I mean it always gets worse before it gets better right? That's how the saying goes." Cali said quietly as she sat down on the bed. "Yesterday it was just a bit of scales on my neck and hands, now it's my entire skin. What's next?" She looked up at Pietro with a scared look in her eyes, which were yellow and snake-like. She seemed to be in denial.
"Cali, it'll be ok. Trust me with this it means you're mutant. Like me and the guys. Something that's the greatest gift ever." Pietro said simply, speeding over towards her. She looked at him in disbelief.
"Yeah right, this isn't a gift this is a cursssse." Cali said, and gasped after hearing her new lisp. "Thisss isss not good." She started to hyperventilate. Pietro quickly started to calm her down, until he heard the door slam shut. Cali quickly got up and ran to get her coat.
"Ok guys I'm going to cook dinner. So no complaints ya hear me?" Toad's voice called throughout the whole house. Pietro looked back and saw that Cali was busy tying her coat.
"Wait Cali, why don't you leave the hat up here when you go downstairs? There's nothing to hide here, we're all different." Pietro said, stealing her hat away to just be sure.
"Hey, give that back." Cali called after Pietro, who ran out of the room and down to the kitchen. Toad was standing by the table with three boxes of Ramen noodles. Pietro quickly tossed the hat at him.
"Hey yo, what's this?" Toad asked, looking at Pietro in disbelief.
"Cali's hat, whatever you do don't give it to her." Pietro said as they heard someone run down the stairs. "In here Cali." He called out, he figured that Toad needed to know about his sister's new look. He walked out right when she walked in. She had her collar popped up, trying to hide most of her skin.
"Hey Todd, could you give me my hat." Cali said shyly. Toad looked from the retreating Pietro to his sister.
"Why?" Toad asked. "You're indoors and there's no reason to wearing a hat." He was trying hard to get his sister to look him in the eyes. "C'mon Cal why won't you look me in the eyes?"
"Because I don't want to Todd, it issn't ssmart to push me." Cali said, quietly cursing herself for letting the lisp loose. Toad tried to move close enough to see her without her looking him in the eyes. But as he got closer Cali backed away farther, until finally he jumped so close he might have jumped on her. Cali grabbed ahold of him.
"I sssaid not to push me." Cali said venomously. Toad tried to back off but he couldn't break her grip. Toad finally looked his sister in the eye; he saw yellow slits looking at him. He screamed, which caused the guys to rush in. Pietro being first as always.
"Wow, what'd you do Toad?" Pietro asked. He never expected this. Cali looked completely different from the girl who was crying upstairs. This side of her was threatening, scary, and completely animal.
"I pushed her apparently. I was just trying to see why she was hiding her face from me." Toad said, trying hard not to freak out.
"Ok, Cali...Cali can you put him down now. You have to put down your brother." Pietro said, trying to calm her down. Cali looked over at him then back at Toad, and did something no one thought she would be able to do. She threw Toad out of the kitchen and into Blob. She looked up over at the guys, all looking at her with fear and awe. They could see what she really looked like now and they weren't that phased about it.
"I think Cali is a mutant. Don't you think Blob?" Lance asked, laughing at his own joke. Cali smiled at that.
"That wasn't very funny Lance." She said, able to get the lid on her temper. Her eyes softened up and she look over at her brother. "I'm sorry Todd; I don't know what came over me." Toad looked at his sister and nodded. "Ok, so what are we having for dinner?" Cali asked hungry as a horse.
"Ramen, you still like that right?" Toad asked as he pulled out dirty pot. Everyone looked it over skeptically.
"Do you have any clean pans?" Cali asked. The pot itself was disgusting and had left over food in it from, by the looks of it, weeks ago. Cali surveyed the kitchen and saw that it was all like that. "Why haven't you cleaned anything?" She was questioning how these guys survived.
"We haven't been able to. Been focusing on just getting by, we used to have sort of a benefactor but she's not here anymore." Lance explained. Cali nodded in understanding.
"Ok then, how about I cook and get some help cleaning. Sound fair?" Cali asked, starting to move things around. The guys paused and exchanged looks.
"Sure sis," Toad said, hopping out of the room.
"Ok, it sounds fair to us." Lance said simply, he and Blob walked out of there, leaving Pietro and Cali in the kitchen making dinner.
"So, how are we going to do this? I mean I don't really know what you guys like." Cali said awkwardly.
"Um, we'll eat anything really. I mean as long as there's extra for Blob." Pietro said with a small laugh. Cali looked slightly confused. "Fred is Blob; we all have code names since we're mutants. Lance is Avalanche; we call your brother Toad."
"What about you then? What's your codename?" Cali asked smiling at him.
"I'm," Pietro sped out of the room and returned in seconds wearing a blue and white suit that looked like any superhero, it went well with his white hair. "Quicksilver," Pietro looked proud of himself. Cali looked at him, impressed with his powers.
"Now why couldn't I have gotten that mutation, instead I look like this." Cali said, deciding to toss the coat over one of the chairs. Pietro saw that she actually wasn't that bad looking. Her skin was reptile like, but she was also medium sized and very lean.
"I think your mutation is pretty cool. I mean Toad is pretty slippery to keep ahold of. Also throwing a teen boy across a room isn't something minor." Pietro said Cali smiled at the idea of having strength. Pietro was truly impressed with her abilities he wondered what her limits were.
"But the downer of this was reptilian look." Cali said, gesturing to all of her.
"Don't be so down about it. You're regular Reptilia." Pietro said with a smile. Cali laughed at the name. She went back to cleaning out the pot and making the guys their dinner. After it was made they all came in and Cali went to go take a shower. Something she hadn't done since she left her father's apartment in Brooklyn. She spied herself in the mirror afterward. The scales had spread all over her body apparently. She was slightly freaked by it, but it wasn't as much of a surprise as it was earlier. But the eyes were still the freakiest thing she had ever seen. She walked back to the room she was in to get the clothes she had on earlier. A black long-sleeved shirt and cargo pants. She decided to walk around barefoot and leave her hair down. After that she went downstairs, the guys were all in the living room.
"So, guys what are we going to do?" Cali asked, dying to know where she'll have to go next. The guys looked between each other.
"I think she should stay. With that strength who knows what she can do." Lance said.
"She can cook, it'll be better with her here." Blob said, going back to watching TV.
"You're always welcome when I'm around." Toad said, giving his sister a reassuring hug. Cali shifted her gaze over at Pietro, the only one who hadn't voiced his opinion.
"I personally don't care. We can use you on the team, and you can cook. As long as you don't plan on going to school because I don't think anyone is ready for your fashion choice." He said with a laugh. The others hadn't even thought of that, school was starting in a few days and they weren't even sure if they were going back.
"Ok, but I'm going to need you guys to help me out." Cali said, earning a groan from the guys.
~ Elsewhere in the Xavier Institute, the next day~
Charles placed the helmet down and rolled to his study.
'Kurt can I speak with you for a moment.' He broadcasted his thoughts to the blue furred teleporter. In seconds the boy appeared, landing right in the chair across from the Professor.
"Vhat is it Professor?" He asked, his tail flicking back and forth. He wasn't using his image inducer until school, just enjoying his time on the Institute grounds.
"I want you to go to the Brotherhood house and see someone." Xavier paused at Kurt's expression of shock and disgust. "Kurt there is someone there who I'd like you to meet. I believe both you and she have something in common."
"Vait she? There aren't any girls in the Brotherhood." Kurt said, confused by the idea of a girl being a part of their gang.
"She just joined, her name is Cali. I think it might be best if you see for yourself what she is like." Professor said, with a nod Kurt clicked his watch and blasted out of there. He was at the house within seconds. He hid behind a tree in time to see the Brotherhood leave in Lance's jeep. Kurt sighed in relief that he wouldn't have to deal with them. He quickly got inside. He walked through the door and up the stairs, looking for anything. He paused at an open door that leads into a basic bedroom he looked over a couple of things. Nothing in there showed that anyone really lived there. He sat down on the bed and decided to relax for a bit. He was just getting comfortable when he heard a small scream.
"W-what are you doing here?" A girl asked. Kurt looked at her and jumped back. She looked to be part reptile with her skin and eyes.
"Uh... hi are you Cali?" Kurt asked.
"Yess and who are you?" Cali asked, slightly upset now that her lisp was noticeable.
"I'm Kurt, don't worry I'm not a thief or anything." Kurt said, marveling how her eyes and skin looked.
"If you're not a thief then what are you?" Cali asked, getting a little scared by the random guy in her room.
"I'm a friend. I'm in this group called the x-men we're mutants like you." Kurt said, trying to explain without messing any of it up. He didn't want to scare her. He knew what she must have been thinking, that because of her looks she'd never fit in anywhere. He understood how that felt. An idea struck him; he tapped his watch and turned off the inducer, showing his natural blue look. "See, I'm no different from you." Cali looked at Kurt in awe his mutation changed his looks making him blue and have a tail.
"You look kind of like a mix between an elf and a smurf, you know that right?" Cali said, earning a laugh from Kurt. "How come you looked different two seconds ago?"
"It's because of this image inducer; the Professor gave it to me when I got here. So I could go outside and be a normal looking teenager." Kurt said, happy to have made a connection with her. He took it off and handed it to her. Cali looked it over; the thing looked like a watch. She put it on and hit a button. Kurt saw her image change into a pale ebony haired girl. She looked down at herself in amazement, she looked normal.
"I-i can't believe this. I look like a normal person." Cali said.
"Pretty cool right? I wouldn't be able to go to school without it." Kurt said with a goofy grin. "If you let me hang vith you I'll let you vear it till I leave." He saw her contemplate the idea.
"Do you want something to eat?" Cali said with a small smile. They went downstairs to find that the only thing they had that was food were a few eggs and an old cake mix.
"I guess its cake for lunch."
~so this is the first chapter, I'd really appreciate some input from anyone who reads this. Review please. Hope you enjoyed!~
