Chapter Four: Snatch
"Okay, you've all been allocated your groups," Scott stood in front of the three small groups as he gave them their instructions, "Each group will take turns to capture that flag," he pointed towards a large hill at the side of the mansion, on top of which stood a flag pole with a piece of red fabric attached to it.
Jean stood beside Scott, "The winner from each team will then compete."
"Let's do this!" Logan barked as he walked to an empty spot on the lawn. His group – Rogue, Jamie and Jubilee – followed him.
"My team will go first," Scott ushered his team – Kurt, Ray, Bobby and Amara – to another spot on the lawn.
Kurt and the rest of Scott's group sat on the grass as Scott allocated them partners,
"Bobby and Amara, you two will race first. Then Kurt and Ray."
"Awesome," Bobby was practically beaming.
The first pair stood up and prepared to race.
"On your marks," Scott leant forward, "Get set. GO!"
The two youngsters darted off in the direction of the flag; Amara quickly morphed into her stronger form and began to tear up the earth where Bobby was running. He took his icy appearance and created a walkway for himself above the rupturing ground,
"Ha!" Bobby grinned, "It'll take more than that to stop me!"
Magma ignored him and sprinted towards the flag; she was in touching distance when suddenly an ice wall erupted in front of her. Bobby rushed past. The fiery teen smiled and, just as Iceman was about to snatch the prize, she pummelled him with a blast of scorching lava. Bobby was knocked back at least twenty feet and he landed with OOF! on the grass near his other team mates. Unaware, Amara plucked the red fabric from the pole and waved it above her head triumphantly.
Amara sauntered back down the hill towards the rest of her group, who were gathered around something on the ground. She turned back to her human self and handed the fabric to Scott.
She smiled, "Easy."
Scott took the fabric but didn't say a word to Amara. Instead he turned to Kurt, who was kneeling beside someone on the ground,
"Is he alright?" Scott asked.
The Fuzzy Dude looked up, "Ja, he'll be fine. He's just a bit shaken."
Amara leaned over Kurt's shoulder and gasped. Bobby was lying on the grass with his eyes closed; he'd 'thawed out' and looked pale and a little dazed.
"Oh my gosh!" She slapped her hands to her mouth, "Bobby, are you okay?"
"Unnn…" he groaned and slowly opened his eyes.
"I'm so sorry!" Amara knelt down next to her wounded comrade.
Bobby smiled weakly, "Hey, no problem. You won fair and square," Ray and Kurt helped him to his feet. He looked at Amara and smiled, "Man you are hot!"
Scott rolled his eyes behind his glasses, "Okay. Kurt, Ray, your turn."
Scott took Bobby to one of the benches and they sat, along with Amara, as Kurt and Ray took their positions.
"Go!" Scott shouted.
Ray sprinted as fast as he could as Nightcrawler bounded on all fours towards the flag. The blue demon raced past Ray and so, like a disobedient child at the zoo, Ray yanked on Kurt's tail, pulling him back. Kurt yelped and tears pricked his yellow eyes as Berserker gained the lead. Kurt said something under his breath in German and 'ported to the flag. He gripped the metal pole with a three-fingered hand and smiled, showing his sharp teeth. Suddenly Kurt froze; his entire body seemed to be vibrating and his tail twitched manically. Ray smiled as the electricity passed through his competitor's body and skipped to Kurt's side, easily plucking the material from the pole,
"Thank you!"
Once Kurt had finally stopped twitching he made his way back to Scott, who was congratulating Ray. Amara and Ray competed to see who would go into the final round. Amara won.
Next was Jean's team. Rahne and Roberto were first up. They took their positions, each in their mutant forms, and then they were off. Roberto took the lead first as he whooshed through the air past Rahne in her wolf form. However, the weather was changing and it soon began to rain; the clouds moved across the dark sky and, as the sun completely disappeared, Sunspot ground to a halt. He changed back to his more human (and more handsome, if he did say so himself) form and watched helplessly as Wolfsbane darted past him. She leapt up and snatched the material from the pole with her teeth and shook it in a very canine way until it was well and truly 'dead'.
"Alright! Well done Rahne!" Jean flicked her auburn hair and turned to Kitty and Sam, "Your turn."
Sam looked sick. Like well-and-truly-out-of-it sick. Kitty held her hand out tentatively, not wanting to touch him in fear of catching whatever it was he had,
"Are you sure you're feeling well enough to do this?" Kitty asked.
Sam nodded, "I'm fine," he sniffed, "You scared I'll beat ya?"
"Oh please," Kitty raised her chin proudly, "I was just worried I'd hurt you."
"On your marks. Get set. Go!" Jean gave them both a little psychic push and they sped off.
Sam gained some speed and then 'cannoned' towards the flag. He wasn't feeling too good at all and his aim wasn't awesome at the best of times so he ended up pummelling into a tree, knocking it over in the process. It groaned and walloped to the ground just ahead of Kitty. It was no bother though; she simply ran through it without breaking her stride and trotted to the flag. She took the piece of fabric and looked up just in time to see Sam get to his feet. He wobbled a little and then his face scrunched up,
"Ah…Ah… ACHOO!" Sam careened towards Kitty. She managed to phase just in time for Cannonball to zoom right through her before he landed head-first in the grass next to Jean and the others.
"Scott!" Jean called over to him, "Could you take Sam to his room please? He's not well."
With a sigh Scott helped Sam to his feet. He looked up through drooping eyes,
"Did I win?"
"Sorry man," Scott replied as he helped the human destruction-magnet up the steps to the mansion, "You were beaten by a girl."
"Oh man…"
Jean couldn't help but smile as she watched Scott helping Sam; he was handling the youngster like he was a live bomb which, she supposed, wasn't too far from the truth.
Logan's team was next and, as they moved to the starting point, he heard something BOOM inside the mansion. He just hoped that Sam was nowhere near his beer.
"Er Logan?" Rogue looked confused, "There're only three of us in our group. Someone isn't going to have a partner."
"Don't worry about it kid," Logan smiled and put a heavy arm around a worried-looking Jamie, "Multiple here is racing me."
Jamie's eyes widened and his face paled, "Gulp…"
Thanks for reading!
Please review!
More chapters soon :)
