My goal for this story: every day I'm on the computer long enough to, I'm going to upload a chapter. So far, it's 2/2.

Characters I wrote for: Gambit, Jean, Kurt, Warren, and Kitty

Characters LisaOak wrote for: (OC)Lisa, Raikou, Scott, and Ororo

At the time we were writing this, neither LisaOak or I had any clue as to the layout of the mansion, so we guessed. We guessed wrong. However, I kept it the same in here as we had it in the story, which is roughly as follows: Floor one - the school. Classrooms, Xavier's office, teacher's rooms, etc. Floor two - student rooms. Floor three - Medical lab, Danger Room, Cerebro, etc. Yes, we thought that the high-tech floor which is actually underground was on the top floor. I know, we failed. Please, no comments about this.

I do not own any characters in this chapter.


"I think I've heard of you," Gambit realized "You're de X-Men. I know where de institute is. If you like, I'll bring Raikou. Sure does seem fas' enough to make it to New York in good time." For a moment, he considered taking Raikou for himself, but decided against it.

Jean agreed that that would probably be the best option, as she herself couldn't think of anything else.

She nodded to the other X-Men to signal for them to get back to the Blackbird. Once again, Nightcrawler teleported into his seat. Warren, being up in the air at this point, landed gracefully on the ramp to the jet and waited for Jean. As Jean passed him, he took Lisa from her, but without complaint from Jean - let the mutant with some advanced strength carry the girl. Lisa was still unconscious and didn't seem to show any signs of waking any time soon.

Ororo took her seat as well and Scott helped Jean pilot the blackbird if she needed.

Raikou looked up at Gambit and he stood again. The cat was massive up-close and stood at 6 and a half feet at the shoulder. He then lowered down on his front legs looking at Gambit as if telling him to get on. He got the hint and climbed on the big cat, which was surprisingly easy for him.

The cat scratched at the ground and sniffed at the air before looking around and up towards Gambit to make sure he had a good grip. Not all that surprisingly, the large feline was wearing a harness hardly visible under the thunder cloud upon its back. Presumably that was what the rider was supposed to hold on to, to keep from flying off his back.

At first Gambit didn't see the harness, but as he was trying to find something to grab, his hand bumped it. He took a firm grip on the harness and leaned forward, as if he was on a horse getting ready to gallop.

"To start, head east," he told Raikou, looking in the sky for any signs of the sun. Luckily a bit of it was poking through the clouds, giving a good indication of where West, and by default East, is.

The tiger noted the sun and took off at a walk at first, but then he slowly increased his speed until he was running about 80 Mph. This usually was the girl's speed limit, judging by how the cat kept the pace fairly well.

Gambit was doing a good job with holding on, his only worries being if the cards or his staff go flying out of his coat at this speed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Xavier Institute ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

No sooner had the blackbird landed there was a thundering roar announcing the arrival of the legendary beast from before, as it leapt over the fence to the Xavier institute with little trouble before walking over to where the others had landed. He lowered down to allow Gambit off, though oddly enough the cat didn't seem to be the least bit tired.

Gambit slid from the cat, a bit tired from the quick journey.

Jean was the first one off the jet, followed by Warren carrying the girl.

"You go right ahead and take her to the medical office. Hank will take care of her until I get up there," Jean said to Warren. He nodded, following her instruction. "Now, what did you call it?"

"Raikou," Gambit offered.

"Raikou, the hallways and doors in the institute are probably wide enough for you to come with us, but unfortunately, the elevators aren't quite so large, and the medical room is on the third floor," she explained. "Unless you can get yourself up to that height, in which case I know someone who can get you into the building, you might just have to wait here."

Raikou tilted his head to the side and looked at the building though he growled sadly and sat down.

"I take it that's a no," Jean sighed. Despite the creature's recklessness, she wanted him to be able to come in and watch them. "Gambit, if you don't mind, I'd like you to keep Raikou company for right now, and if you try to steal something, keep in mind that an angry telepath is capable of doing some very evil things." She smiled a bit at what Xavier had threatened to do to Logan once. Being a telepath, she couldn't avoid hearing about that thought from Logan.

Raikou looked at Gambit questioningly for a moment before laying down and placing his head in his paws.

Scott however seemed confused. "Why is he acting so tame now?"

"At some point before the incident, Gambit had become friends with Lisa, and in turn, Raikou," Jean explained, repeating what she had found in Lisa's mind. "I have to get to Hank and the girl. See ya later!" With that, she ran into the institute.

Gambit took out his deck of cards and started shuffling them, as he always does when he isn't doing anything. "Wanna play?" he asked Scott, indicating the cards in his hand.

"No thanks; I've got a class in about five minutes," he said, taking his leave. Ororo had also taken her leave to go find the rest of her students

Raikou looked up towards Gambit and rolled on to his side, bored, laying almost like a dog would.

"Well, there goes dat idea," Gambit said, sitting down next to Raikou and leaning on the creature's stomach. For a second, he wondered if he could get Nightcrawler to play a couple hands with him, before he realized that he had dissappeared somewhere.

The pokemon didn't seem bothered in the slightest and it slowly began to purr and relax a little more before dozing off entirey.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Medical Office ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time Jean got to the medical office, Hank had already cleaned and bandaged the wound, and hooked the girl up to heart and breathing monitors. She dismissed Hank, telling him to attend to his students, and took over. She decided to try to get some water into the girl's system, so she propped her up and held a disposable cup up to her lips. She slowly let the water trickle out of the cup, trying to spill as little of it as possible

The girl didn't really swallow much though she managed to get most of it down.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Outside ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Raikou woke up and moved only just slightly growling uncomfortably presumably slightly depressed judging by his facial expression.

Gambit was startled out of his almost-nap at the sudden movement. "Somet'in' wrong?" he asked.

Raikou sighed heavily much like a Dog would when it was feeling sort of down in the dumps.

"Want me to check on Lisa for you?" Gambit asked, taking all his weight off of Raikou.

Raikou lifted his head and nodded to him a couple times.

Gambit got up and stretched, making his way to the door. Once inside, he had little trouble finding the elevator, along with a couple pretty trinkets that he took despite Jean's warning. When he was on the third floor, he was able to find the medical room by looking at the signs by each door.

"Why are you up here?" Jean asked, turning to face Gambit only after she finished the question.

"Raikou sent me to check on-" he didn't finish the sentence before Jean cut him off.

"Hand them over," Jean said, extending her hand. It was too obvious that Gambit had stolen something.

"Whatever do you mean?" Gambit tried to sound innocent.

"Now!" she practically yelled.

Lisa gave a slight groan at the noise stirring slowly as she started to finally regain consciousness.

Jean pulled the trinkets out of Gambit's pockets with her telekinetic powers. "Now, you can go tell Raikou that Lisa is starting to wake up," she suggested, finding the girl's name in her mind. She sent out a quick message for the other mutants to keep an eye on him while he turned to leave. Once Gambit was gone, she returned her attention to Lisa. "Lisa, can you hear me?" she asked softly.

"Ugh, My head hurts..." The girl replied placing an arm weakly over her eyes. "Where.... am I?" she asked seeming confused.

Jean telekinetically turned the lights off that were directly over Lisa. "You're at the Xavier Institute, in New York," she explained.

Lisa blinked a few times and she moved her arm out of her face. She looked around the room with a puzzled expression. "And... Raikou...? Is he okay?" she asked seeming concerned.

"He's fine," Jean said. "He's right outside. Gambit's keeping an eye on him for us."

Lisa smiled at this. "I... don't really know what happened... I.. guess I passed out..." she said with a frown still feeling very dizzy, ill and weakened by the amount of blood loss she suffered.

"You hungry? Want some more water?" Jean asked. She always thought that the best indicator of how someone is feeling is themself.

"No thank you... I... feel kind of sick... I guess... I lost more blood then I thought..." She said with a frown. She had been grazed by a gunshot wound and it had been decently deep; still enough to cause concern. Lisa rubbed at her eyes however and very carefully made to sit up.

"I think you should eat a little something, then," Jean told her. "It might help with the sick feeling."

Lisa seemed unsure but she gave a slow nod. "Al-alright... I suppose it couldn't hurt"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Outside ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gambit made it outside without trying to steal anything else. "Lisa's waking up," he told Raikou.

Raikou stood up at mention of this and he looked towards the building curiously . He began to make his way towards it, though he recoiled when some of the students freaked and started to panic.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Medical office ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I'll get you some toast. That always helps an upset stomach," Jean said, walking out of the room. However, before she could get far, she heard the panic.

She rushed to where the Raikou was, and sure enough, he was the cause. "Everyone, quiet!" she shouted, sending out the command telepathically as well.

When everyone was quiet, she laid an arm on the creature's shoulder. "Yes, I know this is an unusual creature," she started. "But there is no reason to freak out over him. He is a guest of ours, a friend. I want you to treat him as such. Go to your next class before you are all late." Jean decided to wait until passing period was over to get the toast.

Raikou frowned slightly and looked up to Jean curiously before brushing up against her with a soft purr, obviously his form of a 'Thank you'.

Jean patted Raikou's head as the bell rang, signaling the start of class. "I have to get Lisa some food, but I'll try to be back before this class is over. We don't want a repeat of that." She left for the kitchen once more. Luckily, it's on the first floor, along with the classes.

Raikou followed and pawed at the door to the kitchen until he got it open. He pushed the door open with his head and sat in the door way.

"You really want to come see Lisa, don't you?" Jean asked, putting the bread in the toaster. "Although, I still don't see how you can get up there, and I don't think she's ready to come down, yet."

Raikou tilted his head to the side and frowned slightly. He did want to come and if he needed he would figure out how to work the elevator on his own. The creature seemed determined to say the least.

He sighed slightly and looked behind him briefly as Scott walked up to get something from the kitchen and stopped suddenly.

"Um Jean?"

Jean gave a little laugh. "Yes, I know," she replied to Scott's unspoken question. "We were trying to figure out how we could get Raikou up to see Lisa."

Suddenly, an idea came to her. She adressed Raikou. "Maybe you don't need to be able to jump three stories, maybe one would be enough! Could you jump that high?"

Raikou nodded and stood up, leaning against the door, letting Scott into the room and holding the door open for him.

"Thanks" He said petting Raikou on the head as he passed by.

"As soon as I'm done making toast, I'll call Kitty out of class," Jean stated. "With her clinging to you, you'll be able to pass through the walls, and ceilings, like they aren't there."

Raikou tilted his head to the side and seemed curious about this. He wondered about the phasing abilities and mentally compared them to something with a slightly similar ability from his own world, which was a Ghost pokemon known as a haunter.

"And done," Jean said, finishing with putting the butter on the toast. She grabbed a variety of the individual jelly packages and a plastic knife. Figuring that Kitty would be in History class right now, she sent a telepathic message to Ororo to excuse her to the kitchen.

Deciding to wait for Kitty, she held the food and knife out to Scott. "Could you take this up to Lisa for me?" she asked, assuming that he had figured out who Lisa is.

Scott gave a nod. "Sure I'll be right back," he said, going to deliver the food up to the girl.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Ororo's classroom ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ororo at this point looked up from the Chalkboard. "Kitty? Jean wants to see you at the kitchen" She said nodding to the girl to show that she was dismissed.

"Thank you! Bye!" Kitty called, walking out of the class through the wall. Taking her little shortcuts, she was able to get to the kitchen in less than a minute. "I assume it has to do with that tiger-thing?" she asked Jean as soon as she got to the kitchen, once again by passing through a wall.

"Yep," Jean said, nodding. "His owner is in the medical office on the third floor, but he's too big to fit in any of the elevators. He is, however, able to jump high enough to go from floor to floor. I want you to phase him through the ceiling to each floor."

"Sounds easy enough," Kitty replied. "If I can get on him, that is."

Raikou at this point knelt down like he had done with Gambit and allowed her on to his back. He waited patiently for her to get on before making an attempt to move.

Kitty took the hint and was able to scramble on Raikou's back and quickly found the harness. She spread her power to him with minimal difficulty. "Ready when you are," she said.

Raikou nodded and walked out of the kitchen before leaping at the ceiling, easily reaching it in a single bound. He repeated that once more for the next floor.

Kitty was laughing, enjoying the ride. Once they got to the third floor, it took a little bit for her to realize where she was. "Uh, the medical room is that way," she stated, pointing down the hall. "Last room on the right."

Raikou nodded and walked down the hall, still letting her ride on her back if she wanted. He stopped at the medical room door, managing to get the door open enough to walk in.

Scott looked up at this point and raised an eyebrow. "Something tells me it's going to be impossible to keep you out of certain places now," he said, though he was obviously only teasing the pokemon in good nature and was impressed by the feline's intelligence.

"Maybe with my help it will be," Kitty said, sliding off of Raikou's back. "Without me, he's pretty much stranded on this floor." She leaned on the wall of the room, wondering how long she can stay out of class until Jean or Scott make her go back.

Lisa looked over to Kitty, nibbling the toast quietly before smiling over to Raikou. "You can come visit; you don't have to stay over there," she said with a smile. The pokemon walked over to her quickly and promptly laid his head in the girl's lap.

"I was wondering, what is he?" Kitty asked. "He looks kinda like a tiger, but still different. I've never heard of anything like that."

"He's a pokemon; a species is known as Raikou. That's also his name because both he and I agreed upon it," Lisa said with a slow nod as she nibbled at her food. "As for what a pokemon is, which I'm sure you're wondering about, I can't really explain..."

"Aww, why not?" Kitty asked.

Jean walked into the room about this point, however, she did hear the comment about Raikou being a pokemon, as well as what was said after that.

"It's just something I'd rather not explain right now... It's very difficult to understand," Lisa said, petting Raikou...

Gambit was starting to wonder where Raikou went, so he decided to explore the mansion a bit. Finally paying attention to Jean's threats, he resisted every urge to try to nab something. Eventually, he made it to the medical office.

"Dat's where you disappeared to," he commented.

Ignoring the Cajun, Jean asked Lisa, "Is the toast helping any?"

Lisa smiled and nodded. "Yes it is. Thank you for helping me; I really appreciate it," she said to Jean.

Scott smiled as well. "Any idea who did this to you?"

Lisa got slightly embarrassed. "Raikou and I were looking for a place to stop and rest for the night when these guys with motorcycles started to give me trouble. We had stopped near this bar to see if I could get some directions and I told Raikou to hide... That lasted all of 3 minutes... and then we had to make a run for it because Raikou half demolished the place before he was through."

"Was there anything unusual about the motorcyclists?" Jean asked. "Did any of them have unusual characteristics, or did anything weird happen while they were after you?"

"There was some unusual things now that I think about it... but you know, back home that kinda stuff is normal so I didn't really think anything of it 'til I got hurt... Then Raikou got really mad... But about that time Gambit intervened, which is a pretty good thing because Raikou tends to be hyper-aggressive sometimes"

"What happened that was unusual?" Jean continued her questioning. If they were humans, the X-Men won't be able to do anything about it. However, if the motorcyclists were mutants, she wanted to know about it.

"One of them was pretty vicious; he even, at one point, picked me up from my throat and held me against one of the walls. He had fangs and really sharp nails, almost like claws... and, um, the others I could see in the bar - one of them had this rather bizarre fascination with this lighter he kept around and I think one of them shot me," Lisa said pointing to her side. "They some how managed to hit me despite the fact that I was riding on Raikou and he was going about 80."

Upon hearing the comment about the lighter, Kitty glared into space. "Pyro," she said, hate evident in her voice.

"The one with claws sounds like Sabretooth, and Domino is the only one I can think of who is that good with a gun," Jean pointed out.

"So you know them? they're bad news from what I can tell by the aura they give off"

"They're members of the Brotherhood," Jean explained. "A group of mutants who also desire to give mutants a better life, but go about it in the wrong ways."

"I see, but what has that got to do with me? Why'd they come after me like that?" Lisa asked with a frown though wincing and holding her forehead and her side as her body began to rebel being awake again.

"I'm wondering that, too," Jean stated. "We'll talk more about it later. Right now, though, I think you need to get to sleep."

"Yeah... I'm not feeling well," Lisa said with a frown and she set her plate off to the side and moved to lie down. Raikou moved out of her way and seemed worried.

Jean was worried for Lisa, so instead of taking the plate down to the kitchen herself, she told Kitty to do so, then to get back to class. "Aww," Kitty whined before taking the plate and phasing down through the floor.

Raikou went and laid down somewhere out of the way.

Scott walked over. "What do you think is wrong?" he asked.

Lisa at this point lay down and seemed to have a bit of a fever. The girl already had a mildly weak immune system because of her Mutant powers and having nearly bled to death probably didn't help.

Jean laid a hand on Lisa's forehead, feeling the fever. "At this point, it's hard to say," Jean said, pulling out blankets to lay over her. She also got an ice pack out of the freezer and put it on her forehead. "When she wakes up again, I'll have to ask her a couple more questions."