"Mystique and Magneto have appeared at a home in Tokyo, Japan."
Xavier looked at Ororo bewildered. "Did you say 'Tokyo, Japan'?"
"Is there a problem, Professor?" Jean asked surprised by the professor's reaction.
"I have an old friend who lives in Tokyo with his daughter. He's the mutant Cyberon." The Professor answered. "Is Logan checking into it?"
"No, Rogue and Kurt took him, Scott, Kitty, Warren and Alex in the chopper." Storm explained, shaking her head. "Kurt said something about his younger sister."
"Oh, no-Mystique's after Cyberon's daughter."
0-0-0
"Are you sure you now where you're going?"
"Yes, we're sure we know where we're going." Rogue shot back at Kitty. "Kurt an' I have been to her place loads of times."
"Wait until you taste her cooking! It's vünderbar!" Kurt grinned. "She is amazing in the kitchen!"
Rogue laughed a little. "Yeah, but she didn't start out that way. She's really improved."
"Uh, who are you talking about?" Scott asked, a tad on the clueless side.
"Her name's Hotaru but that's not who she really is." Rogue answered the co-pilot.
"If this is a wild goose chase-" Logan began but Warren cut him off.
"Are you talking about that girl you two have been writing to? The one who sends you care packages from Japan?" Angel asked the pair sitting ahead of him. "Hasn't she called you a couple times?"
"Jah!" NightCrawler smiled, turning around to face the winged man. "Wait until you meet her. She's the perfect lady! And she's a mutant. She's younger than us but she already has her Ph.D."
Kitty looked at him surprised. "And she's a freshman?"
"Japanese schools are different. She's a first year in high school." Logan told her. "But a Ph.D?"
"Yeah, a Ph.D. Hotaru's really smart." Rogue nodded to the pilot. "She reads none stop. It doesn't help that her father was Professor Tomoe."
"Professor Tomoe? Isn't he the authority on Super Human Genetics?" Warren asked.
"Yeah, that's the problem." Rogue answered. "Her body is unique. If Mystique gets her with the Brotherhood, Hotaru's father's secrets could end up on the black market."
That made everyone but Rogue and NightCrawler uneasy. Just thinking about the how-many ways Mystique could really mess the world with information like that made Scott feel sick to his stomach. Alex looked at his brother pale a little under his visor.
"Uh, hey, Kurt-Dude." Alex called up to the teleporter. "Is it really necessary to be in our suits? I mean, won't she be expecting normal kids?"
"Mystique's already there." Kurt growled with venom at the thought. "We'll need to be ready to save our sister. Hotaru's not going with her at any cost."
An alarm went off as a boulder barely missed the chopper. Logan jerked hard on the controls, dodging more flying rocks.
"Looks like Blob's having fun." Kitty groaned after hitting her head on the seat in front of her.
"Hang on, we're going down hard." Scott took over the landing, parking the chopper in the street in front of a Victorian style mansion. There was an uncomfortable bump of contact as an earth tremor shook the whirly-bird. "Everybody out!"
The X-Men half-tumbled out of the chopper and charged into battle. Winds, waves and garnet lights added to the chaos of battle as 3 well-known Sailor Scouts came out of the Mansion's gates, coming after Colossus and SaberTooth.
"Neptune! Where's our sister!" Rogue called out to the sea wielding Senshi.
"We have no idea!" Sailor Neptune called back. "NEPTUNE DEEP SURMERGE!"
"Hotaru! Hotaru!" Kurt teleported through out the battlefield, looking for the girl. A swirling mass of shadow in the middle of a fight between Toad and Alex made the two boys separate by jumping backwards. "Hotaru, where are you?"
"I'm right here, Kurt." Hotaru's ghostly voice told him as the shadows formed a female body with her long hair in a high ponytail. The form opened her eyes, revealing solid purple. The form had a curvy figure and a delicate grace as she floated in the air above the ground. "I seem to have another mutant power…"
"An' you're comin' with us!" Toad leapt forward, passing through the shadowy form of Hotaru's body. Alex dodged the now sprawled Toad and looked up at her curiously as long shadowy bangs floated idly in the air. Her body bobbed a little making her hair look like she was underwater. "Man, how'd she do that?"
Alex offered her a hand. "I don't think she knows how to reverse it yet. I know how bad that can be. I'm Alex Summers-Havoc. Scott's my big bro. Come with us. We're the X-Men."
Hotaru's eyes closed as she backed up a little in the air. "Nice try, Mystique. Havoc's over there by Cyclops. Your shadow gives you away."
Changing back to her real form, the shape shifter smirked. "You're really my little girl. Now come with Mother." She grabbed Hotaru's shadow wrist, only to get shocked by purple electricity. "How could you hurt your own mother?"
"I don't know how I did that…" Hotaru looked at her hands in amazement. "I'm not even sure how I got like this..." She looked over at Kurt who was perched in a near by tree. "Nii-san, what's happening to me?"
"I don't know, Hotaru." Kurt shook his head. He teleported and appeared beside her. "Come on, go to the chopper. We'll handle these guys."
She shook her head. "I'm the daughter of an X-Man. I'm going to fight as well."
SaberTooth and Wolverine came flying through her, scattering her body temporarily. The pair of mortal enemies wrestled around, trying to kill each other. As soon as Hotaru reformed, she shivered a little.
"That was creepy. I'm not used to being scattered like that." She mumbled to Kurt. The blue mutant flashed her a smile before he leapt into the fray. Hotaru took off in to the air, climbing slowly to give aid to Arc Angel. Warren stopped scanning the ground and looked at her with a shocked, kind of love struck look.
"You must be 'Shadow'. I'm Arc Angel." Warren greeted with a half smile. Hotaru blew him a cute shadowy kiss, creating a cute little shadow kiss mark in the air with a wink that created a small purple heart by her eye. She closed her eyes and lightly melted away in to a thin shadow that twisted down to earth to trap Pyro who was messing with Avalanche and Rogue. "Wow. She was cute."
Reforming in front of Pyro, Hotaru crossed her arms and hovered in front of him.
"Lay of my onee-san, match boy." She ordered. Pyro flamed her with a cackle, which died down as the fire kindled itself in to nothing. Hotaru cocked an invisible eyebrow at him, looking unimpressed. She leaded over, her eyes narrowing. Pyro gave her a nervous, scared smile then bolted with a girlish scream of terror. "Now I'm really unimpressed." She heard someone crumple behind her. She turned around fearful for Rogue. "Onee-san? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Rogue gave her a smile, pulling her glove back on. "I think you made Pyro wet his suit."
"Hm?" Hotaru looked down at the puddle. There was a sharp whistle getting the sisters' attention. Scott waved at them with a half smile. "I have a feeling that's the kerosene from his tanks, compliments of our one-eyed sharpshooter."
Rogue started laughed as Hotaru jerked her shadow thumb over at Scott.
"AH!" A bolt hit Hotaru from behind, crashing her into the ground. Rogue glared at Scarlet Witch who looked pleased with herself from a moment. Rogue's anger caused a massive tremor that knocked everyone on the ground over. When the shaking subsided, Rogue ran to Hotaru's side.
"Hey, lil' sis, wake up." Rogue half begged shaking her a tad. "Come on, Bug. Don't do this to us. Kurt an' I just found you last year. We can't lose you now." Hotaru let out a soft groan but other than that, she did nothing. "Cyclops! She needs medical attention!"
"X-Men, regroup!" Scott called out. The team of hero mutants ran for the chopper as Warren landed by Rogue and scooped up Hotaru's limp shadowy form. "Back to base!"
They all piled in to their seats with Hotaru on a sick bed, strapped down. Mystique got off the ground and glared at the fleeing aircraft. She clenched her hands in to fists.
"Mark my words, X-Men. I will not let my youngest child follow Xavier like her father did. She will be with me. I'll kill anyone who stands in my way of doing it."