This one came out a lot longer than the other two...

It's kind of boring, just a transition into the next chapter.

Even though it's boring, that doesn't mean you can skip it! It's still important!

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or any of its characters.

Claimer: I own Mneme because I made her up.

Chapter Three

It was lunchtime during school on Monday. Kitty stood in line next to Kurt, who was so tired from so much training that he had nodded off while waiting for the school slop. Kitty elbowed him hard in the ribs, making him immediately wake...and fall backwards. His tray flew through the air as Kitty reached out a hand to help him up. Kurt gratefully accepted, but only when he was pulled halfway up did the tray land straight on Kitty, mash potatoes slapped throughout her hair. Squeezing her eyes shut in anger, she crushed Kurt's hand as tightly as she could before dropping him to the ground again. Then she stormed off in a rage, yelling about how boys were so ignorant. Evan, who had been watching the whole thing from a nearby table, chuckled to himself and put down his sub sandwich to help his friend. Kurt was just watching dumbfounded on the floor as Kitty stomped away. Other students simply stepped over him to get their food.

"Man, you have to work on your skills." Evan said, pulling him up. Kurt shook his head and smiled at his pal.

"No way! The girls totally dig me," he said, swishing his hair and putting his hands on his hips. Evan raised an eyebrow and shook his head, returning to his table, followed by Kurt. They sat down and Evan ripped the sub in half, giving the unbitten half to Kurt. He thankfully took it and started scarfing it down.

"Smooth move with the mashed potatoes." Todd snickered as he walked by. Kurt put his sandwich down, furrowed his brow, and gritted his teeth. His glaring eyes followed Todd, until he sat down next to his Brotherhood friends. They all gave him challenging stares or laughed at him before he took his eyes off of them.

"Someone really needs to teach them a lesson!" he yelled angrily, pounding the table furiously with his fists. He took a vengeful bite of his sandwich and downed the rest in about three seconds. Evan looked at him in disgusted awe.

"What makes you so hungry?"

He didn't answer until he had finally swallowed the very last bit. "All this training lately has tired me out, so I slept in and didn't have enough time to eat breakfast." Kurt licked his fingers and leaned his elbow on the table.

"Yeah, that extra training is pretty tiring," Evan agreed.

"You going to eat that?" Kurt asked, indicating towards the sandwich. Rolling his eyes, Evan gave the rest of it to him.

Back in class, Rogue was quietly sleeping on her desk. She had also fallen asleep at lunch, drooling on the table happily. She too was tired from the training, though she was being more trained for her fighting abilities and not her powers. She didn't care. In her dream, she was sleeping on the biggest bed imaginable, soft and cushy with tons of pillows to rest her tired head on. She pulled the gray blanket over her head to stop whatever nuisance was trying to wake her up, muttering to herself as she did so. But no matter what she did, the nudging wouldn't stop. Tightening her fists, she woke up, ready to pound whoever was irritating her. "Listen, you stupid idiot!" she screamed out, bolting upright in her chair, only to come face to face with the teacher. Rogue wasn't expecting the teacher, but she didn't let down. Knowing she was going to get punished, she kept silent and stared her in the eye.

"Detention for a month!" the teacher announced, making Rogue sick to her stomach. She'd gotten weeks of detention before, but never a month.

"A month?!" Her surprised look seemed to please the woman, so she immediately went back to her death glare. "Fine." And with that she walked out of the room, holding her head up high.

Things for Scott weren't going as bad, but they weren't going good either. Although he was able to stay awake, everything anyone said didn't make sense. All the words stumbled over the other, confusing him more and more. He couldn't see the writing on the board clearly either, so he finally decided just to copy Jean's notes later. It seemed that she and Kitty were the only ones having luck in school at all. When the bell rang, Scott stumbled out into the parking lot and tried to stick the key into the ignition while Jean watched him concernedly.

"Maybe you shouldn't drive today. I could drive us." she offered, touching his shoulder gently.

"What? No, you can't drive my car." he protested.

Jean was still worried. "I know that the extra training is driving us all insane, but you're putting yourself over the edge. Just let me drive this once, I'll never ask again." Her voice was soft and assuring, and she removed her hand, waiting for his answer. "Scott?" His head leaned forward and rested on the steering wheel, pressing the horn. Jean raised an eyebrow, waiting a few seconds before pulling him back. She lifted him up with her telekinetic powers and sat in the driver's seat, then drove back to the institute.

Meanwhile, Mneme sat patiently, waiting for Beast and Xavier to enter the room. Looking into the future, she knew they were coming around the same time that the students got back. She didn't know what time it was exactly, but she could sense their presence coming nearer by the second. Beast was going to come in, so she was going to have to try not to get overwhelmed by someone else's attendance in the room--she didn't want to attack Beast like she did Nightcrawler. Xavier and Mr. McCoy arrived at her door. He raised a hand to knock, but she called out, "Come in," before his hand had even touched the surface. Xavier entered the room and Mneme braced herself, but the second was having trouble fitting through the door. "Two days. Just as I had expected. Mr. McCoy, I can see you're having trouble." Mneme looked at the doorway and it bent, wide enough to where he could easily fit through. "I've been practicing on focusing my simpler powers." she said, turning back to Xavier. As usual, she was sitting on the floor with her legs pulled up to her chest. Xavier opened his mouth to speak, but she said, "I'm glad you think I've perfected that one." Beast looked at Xavier with a hint of surprise on his face. A smile flickered across Xavier's expression.

"Indeed I am. I'm also glad to say that the device is finished and perfected." he announced. Mr. McCoy handed him two collars. Mneme wasn't expecting this, so she quickly read Xavier's mind to figure out what was going on. It seemed that the original one was repaired, but the second was the one with the dial. It wasn't quite finished yet.

Mneme looked from Beast to Xavier. "You want me to wear the first one. But you made a key for it. Only unlock it in times of emergency." She furrowed her brow. "Not what I was expecting, but I suppose I should use it until the other is ready."

Beast started explaining, "That's what--"

"--we intended. I know." Mneme wasn't happy with this. She didn't want to be deprived of her powers completely, but it didn't seem like she had a choice. Xavier moved forward and held it out to her. The urge to grab his arm and rip it off surged throughout her whole body, but she stretched out her arm to take it anyway. She fought with her instincts and controlled herself. Her sleeve fell back to reveal her hand, which had veins pulsing under see-through skin. It looked almost as if it were made out of tissue paper. Then it started turning smooth and scaly, until the texture spread to her hand. She sensed Beast's nervousness, but Xavier seemed unaffected by it. Then from the wrist up, it was a snakehead. Jaws clutched around the collar, it changed into a metal hand, consisting of only two wide fingers and a many-jointed thumb. With her other hand, which was identical, she took the key attached string from Xavier and unlocked it. Then, clipping it around her neck, her hands changed to what seemed like a normal Human's. She felt her hard boosts of energy leave her; her high-powered mind slow down, and even her mind reading ability was inoperative. "I feel...weak," Mneme told them, a hint of helplessness in her voice. She put the key around her wrist and sighed. "It's worse than I ever could have imagined..." Her usual cold voice had less of "I'm not even changing shape now."

But then something struck her: She would actually look normal. Mneme would finally find out what she looked like, and she couldn't wait. Her heart beat faster and faster with excitement, a feeling she couldn't remember experiencing. In fact, she couldn't remember anything about being a little girl. Her mind wasn't fully wiped clean from her past; only what she was too young to remember. Another thing was that she didn't have to struggle to keep herself from attacking. A smile spread widely across her face. She stood up, a little wobbly at first, and started walking around the dim room. Laughing with joy, she jumped up and down, and then ran over to Beast.

"Thank you so much, Mr. McCoy," she said ecstatically (or as ecstatic as Mneme could be), shaking his hand with both of hers. "And you also, Professor Xavier." Mneme said to him. Then she ran out of the door and down the hall.

"Kitty, please talk to me!" Kurt pleaded as they both walked through the front doors of the Xavier institute.

"Just give it up, man," Evan recommended. "She won't forgive you until--what the heck?!" he shouted, pointing at a hooded figure running around crazily, tripping, and laughing almost maniacally. Kitty gasped and took a step back, not sure what or who the person was.

"Oh no! It's the crazy girl! She escaped from her room!" Kurt panicked. "Don't worry, Kitty, I'll save you!"

"Get away from me!" she commanded him, but he grabbed her hand and teleported away.

Evan rolled his eyes. "Looks like I'll have to take this one on myself." He grew a few spikes out of his arm and flung them at her, pinning her cloak to the ground. "Yes!"

She tugged at her cloak, but it wouldn't budge. "Is this a game you play?" she asked confusedly.

"Yeah, the game where I knock you out and you get sent back to your room!" Evan told her, producing more spikes from his arms. The girl screamed and cowered, fiddling with her wrist. While she wasn't paying attention, he threw six more spikes at her. One hit her in the side, one pierced her arm, two pinned her sleeves together, and one caught her hood, pulling her to the ground.

"Evan! That's enough!" a voice yelled angrily at him. It was the Professor. "Is that any way to treat our new student?"

"New? New student? What? The crazy girl?!"

"She's not crazy, just misguided and uncontrollable." he corrected gently. "It wasn't a game, Mneme. You can get up."

"I can't. I'm not strong enough without my powers." she reminded. Xavier put his fingertips to his temple and lifted the spikes as easily as Evan threw them. The girl--who Evan now knew was Mneme--stood and brushed herself off. She walked over to him and held out her hand. "Hello, Evan. I'm Mneme." She shook his hand with a firm grip. "Your accuracy is good." she said to him, indicating to the holes in her cloak.

Evan didn't know what to say. He was just attacking her, and then she was acting like they were friends. "I'm...sorry about that."

"That's okay. You were just doing what you were trained to do." Evan didn't like the coldness in her voice. It hardly had any emotion. It made him feel anxious inside, and when he looked into the shadowed hood, he could feel her eyes boring into him. He felt as if she was looking straight through him.

"But I stabbed you! Aren't you even hurt...?"

Mneme pulled up her sleeve. Her pale skin showed no sign of a wound--not even a scratch. "It's the nanobots."

"Right..."

There was an awkward moment between them before Xavier said, "Evan, why don't you go round everyone up and bring them to an early supper." Evan nodded and ran off. The Professor looked at Mneme's shadowed face. "I believe you have a lot of explaining to do."