Chapter 7

The door quickly opened, revealing Scott, grinning when he saw her.

"You're right on time, come on in." Scot pulled the door wide open, and Matilda walked in. They were in an empty room, well lit, with metallic walls, and soft gym mats spread out on the floor. Scott had changed clothes from breakfast, wearing black track pants, and a loose fitting black t-shirt. He walked to the center of the room, and Matilda hesitantly followed him.

"This is one of the sparring rooms," Scott explained, "We use it to assess student's skills with their individual mutation, especially their skill as a fighter. Once they are past a level of competency, the Professor assesses them on their compatibility for X-men training, and, if they want to, they may start training. The professor has already given you approval, and you have agreed, have you not?"

"I want to be an X-man" Matilda told him, and Scott grinned.

"Good, so I just have to test out your skill as a fighter, and then we can talk about when you'd be ready to join the rest of the X-men in training, and then, eventually, you can join the main group."

"Sounds good," Matilda told him. Scott nodded, seeming to be satisfied

"Alright. First off, we won't be using powers, just hand to hand combat, and then we'll move onto using powers. When you're ready, we'll move into the Danger room."

"What's that?"

"It's a room where we use set scenarios to keep in practice between missions. We can program it so we can be fighting holographic mutants on the other side, and its all wired up so we can watch each other and pick up on mistakes each other are making so we can help each other. It can be used for groups, or just individually."

"Sounds like that would be a good place to keep in practice, really."

"Yeah it is, anyway, enough of this idle chit chat. Let's see what you're made of." Knowing that she would never be able to take the first move, Scott swung his arm towards Matilda, going much slower than he usually did. Matilda ducked the blow, stepping back as Scott followed up with a kick. Scott had her almost backed up to the wall before she took a half hearted swing at him, which he dodged. Matilda felt her confidence rise, secure in the knowledge that she probably wouldn't hurt Scott. She took a couple of wide swings, feinted left, and then swung her right fist at Scott, who dodged just in time. Grinning, he notched up the speed a little, and the intensity with which he struck out. Matilda registered the increase, and matched it, but was required to try and block the blows, rather than dodging. They continued on like this for several minutes, and Matilda was beginning to feel tired when Scott threw up his hands.

"Okay, not bad. Try not to use your arms so much when you block though." Scott advised

"Yeah, I'm feeling that now" Matilda grumbled, rubbing her sore arms.

"Do you need a break?" Scott asked.

"No, I'm fine. What's next?"

"I'll test your fighting ability using your mutant skills, which for now will involve you showing me what you range is, okay?"

"Yes, fine"

"Just try to keep the poisonous reptiles to a minimum, okay?"

Matilda laughed, "Sounds fine with me"

"Okay, go."

Matilda concentrated, and felt her body begin to flow, like it had become liquid. She felt herself shrink, before becoming solid once more. She took off, flapping her tiny wings quickly. Scott looked around blindly.

"Where are you?"

Matilda flew as close as she dared to Scott's ear, before letting out a loud buzz and he jumped in surprise, before relaxing.

"A fly, huh. Well, that would be convenient if you didn't want to be seen. I just wouldn't do that anywhere near Toad." Scott advised. Matilda flew to the floor, changing form once more. This time Scott could easily watch the transformation taking place. Once it was over he reached out, gently stroking the orange and black fur that covered Matilda in her tiger form. Matilda rubbed her head against Scott's leg, growling lowly, before moving away, and transforming once more, this time into an owl. She took of, flying gracefully around the room, before landing once more, and transforming once more, returning to her wolf form. She threw her head back and howled, before bearing her teeth at Scott, and returning to her human form.

"Was that the sort of display you wanted?"

"Yeah, that was what I had in mind."

"I can do lots of other animals, but that gave you an overall outlook of what I can do."

"I'm impressed. You can use your mutation to hide, fight, flee and go undercover. Actually, that's quite useful, both to you as an individual, and to the X-men as a group."

"Really, that's good, that it's useful, I mean. I think I've had to use my powers to do all of those things, except to go undercover; I've never done that before."

"There's a first for everything. We might need you to do that at some stage."

"Yeah, I guess so. What are we going to do now?"

"We'll have a short go in the Danger room before dinner if you want."

"Sounds fine." Scott led her out of the room, and along the corridor, until they reached another door, which Scott opened. Matilda followed him into the room. It was a small, control room, with a computer set up, and controls everywhere, except for a window that looked onto another, darkened room. Scott flicked a switch, and the other room lit up. Scott sat a stool, flicking another switch. The computer lit up. A small logo at the bottom of the screen was flashing, and Scott clicked it. A message popped up

Scott, the Professor has cleared Matilda for x-men training. Her code for the Danger room is HUNTER. From Jean.

Scott exited the message after letting Matilda read it. He clicked on another logo and a screen popped up, asking the user to type in their username. Scott typed in Matilda's username, and hit enter. The screen went black for a moment, before bursting into life.

"Okay, now that you're logged in, you can go into the Danger room. Scott got up and opened a door that lead into the other room. Matilda followed him, curiously glancing at the surroundings.

"This is the Danger room. It's holographic, most of the time, but sometimes we use it for sparring. To start off, you'll be by yourself, so you can't get hurt."

"That's a relief." Matilda muttered, suddenly nervous.

"Don't worry; we'll start you off on the lowest level of difficulty. You'll do fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes, don't worry, I'll be watching from the control room."

Scott walked back to the control room, closing the door behind him, and leaving Matilda alone in the danger room. Matilda gulped, glancing around nervously.

"Are you ready?' Scott's voce came over the speakers, and Matilda swallowed.

"I guess"

"Okay, I'm starting the stimulation now." Scott told her, and the room momentarily went dark, before turning light once again. Matilda found herself in a large room, with several armed police officers with their guns pointed at her. Her breath caught in her throat, before she remembered.

'It holographic, I can't get hurt'

Matilda jumped sideways, and the policeman re aimed the guns at her. She nodded. This thing was really sensitive. Matilda let her body loosen, and transform into the shape of a mosquito. She flew towards the cops, landing on one of their shoulders. They were looking around wildly, trying to see her. In her mind, Matilda laughed, before taking off again, landing behind the police. She transformed into a wolf and growled. The police spun around, and started shooting. Matilda dodged the bullets, jumping up onto one police man's chest, and knocking him over, before turning onto the other three, growling menacingly. One threw his gun into the air and ran away, while the other two backed away fearfully. Matilda smiled, before transforming once again into a mosquito, so they could no longer see her. She flew across, so she landed beside the cop's feet, and transformed into a snake. She slowly coiled herself around both policeman's feet, before pulling tight, causing both policeman to fall flat onto their faces, and lie, motionless on the ground. Matilda resumed her normal form, breathing more heavily that she had earlier. She heard a noise from behind her, and saw the policeman from earlier running towards her, she ran forwards to meet him, punching him in the face. The policeman fell to the floor, and the room went dark, before returning to normal.

"Well done," commented Scott as he emerged from the control room. Matilda grinned.

"You guys have a good set up here. For a bit there, those holographs were a tad too realistic."

"It keeps us on our toes."

"I can imagine."

"Now, you can go and do your own thing until dinner, which should be in about," Scott checked his watch, "an hour. Do you know how to find your way back to your own room?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Scott and Matilda walked back through the control room, and out into the corridor. Once they reached the main school Scott went one way, and Matilda went the other. Once she got to her own room, without getting lost, Matilda flopped down on her bed, groaning as her muscles ached. She got up off the bed, quickly showering and changing into a clean set of clothes, before sitting down at her desk. She sat there her mind a million miles away, back in Australia. It would be towards the end of spring, and the temperature would be rising. There would be just a hint of summer in the air, with all that it entailed. Long school holidays, Christmas, lazy days at the beach, swimming. Matilda sighed, leaning back in her chair. She glanced at her watch. She still had plenty of time before dinner. Picking up the photo album, she began flicking through the pages. After lingering on the memories the photo alum brought into her mind for far too long, in Matilda's opinion anyway, she got up, leaving her room and closing the door behind her, and making her own way to the dining room, once again without getting lost once. Matilda dropped into her seat, and Rogue arrived a few minutes later.

"Hi, how did your afternoon classes go?"

"Good. I am so tired now but," Matilda grinned at her friend.

"Don't worry, I was like that when I first got started. You'll get used to it."

"I hope so. I have to see the professor after breakfast tomorrow, to go over my results from today. It'll be good to get an actual result."

"Yeah. You'll have done fine. You'll catch up In no time," Rogue reassured her, helping herself to some dinner. Matilda got some as well, eating her fill, receiving a approving glance from Jean, who had instructed her to keep her strength up, when she arrived in the Dining room. After dinner, Rogue and Matilda went back to Rogue's room, and Rogue flicked on the TV, and the two girls spent the rest of the evening watching Futurama repeats, which Matilda remembered from when she was in Australia.