Disclaimer: I own all of the original characters. The rest belong to Marvel.

A/N: NYFlame, since I never received any word from you, I've removed Xavier Roberts from my story. I've decided to use my own character that was originally meant for Jean's team.

A/N 2: Thanks for all of the reviews so far, guys! Please keep them coming – I love suggestions and comments!! The idea for this chapter came from NYFlame – thanks for the suggestion! I hope you enjoy what I've done with it…

A/N 3: This is just an updated version of the chapter, where I've replaced Xavier Roberts with my own character, James Cohen. Nothing else has been altered.

PART 10: Rivalries

Stephanie Jones, a telekinetic in Jean's group, watched Team Omega from across the food court. There was something about the way they walked she just didn't like. Or maybe it was that freaky Mr. Logan who taught them. She couldn't decide, but she continued to watch as they strolled by.

"Hey, Jones, what're you looking at?" Jason Carter asked. He was also in Jean's group, Team Sigma. He generated electrical plasma globules, somewhat like those of Jubilee's.

"The high and mighty." She replied with a sneer.

Jubilee sauntered over with a tray of fries and a soda just as Stephanie replied. "Who's high and mighty?" She asked, joining her team.

"Them." Steph answered, pointing towards Team Omega.

"Logan's group?" Jubes asked, munching on a cheese fry.

"Don't you mean Mr. Logan?" Alexandria asked with a raised eyebrow. She was the fourth member of Team Sigma and she was an animal morph. Instead of a feline, she morphed into a wolf-like creature but otherwise she passed for normal.

"No." Came Jubilee's flat reply. Alexandria and Jason shared a look, but neither said anything. Stephanie didn't seem to notice as she scanned the rest of the food court.

The fifth member of their group had disappeared with some of the other boys from the mansion, no doubt in search of the arcade. James Cohen was trying to learn about video games since he had been denied them as a child. Now, at twenty, he was eager to catch up on everything he hadn't experienced. From a small town in England, America was shockingly different and his family had been all too happy to send him away after his odd morphing powers manifested last year.

"Well I don't like them." Stephanie finally said smugly.

"You don't like anyone." Jubilee replied, sipping her ginger ale. Jason and Alexandria exchanged another surprised look, waiting for Stephanie's reply.

"Oh please, Lee." Steph groaned. "You just have some weird ass obsession or crush or some shit for that creepy Mr. Logan guy."

Jubilee locked eyes with Stephanie and she forced herself to smile.

"At least I'm not obsessed with Justin Timberlake." She replied quickly. "Besides, I'm not obsessed with Logan. He's just a good friend."

"Right." Steph spat back. "I'll believe that when hell freezes over."

"I know someone who could probably make that happen." Jubilee said with a smirk. Her thoughts drifted to her boyfriend, Bobby, who was somewhere with Hank at the moment.

"Whatever." Stephanie grumbled. "I still don't like those kids."

"Yeah, they do seem to think they're hot shit." Jason agreed, stealing a fry from Jubilee's plate.

"I guess." Alexandria shrugged. "Liz is a nice girl, though."

"No, she's a brown noser." Stephanie replied, pointing a fry at Alexandria. "All she does is suck up to that creep of a teacher. They all do."

"I'm gonna go scope out the new shoes." Jubilee announced with a bit of a snap, feeling her anger rising from the conversation. "Later."

She gracefully slid her arm through her purse and grabbed her tray with the other hand in one motion. Without another word, Jubilee walked away from the table and her team.

"She's so weird." Stephanie said. The others nodded in agreement.

"Wasn't she here a few years ago?" Jason asked.

"I think so." Alexandria replied. "Why hasn't she come up in history class?"

"We're still on how the school was founded." Stephanie said with a shrug. "We just haven't reached her yet."

"Here they come." Jason said, looking up. Logan's team walked past their table, on their way to the pizza place.

Stephanie smiled and winked at her teammates.

"Watch this."

Alexandria and Jason turned to watch the group as Stephanie squinted in concentration.

"What're you doing?" Jason asked, eyes locked on Team Omega.

"I've been practicing." She said just as Liz's image inducer floated gently out of her pocket. With a clenched fist, Stephanie crushed the image inducer.

Suddenly, a woman screamed and people began to run away.

"What the hell?!" Liz exclaimed, whipping around. She looked down at herself and cringed. Her fur was clearly visible now and her teammates looked at her shocked.

"We need to get out of here." Shawn said, looking around the food court for a fast escape.

"I don't think you need to go anywhere." Stephanie said. Jason and Alexandria flanked her as they approached the group.

"You did this!" Justin said, picking up the destroyed image inducer.

"So what if I did." Steph shot back. "You guys need to be taken down a notch."

Kyoko stepped forward, anger clearly in her eyes. "There are three of you and five of us. Do you really think you can intimidate us?"

Stephanie's eyes squinted again and suddenly Kyoko was thrown back about ten feet.

"What do you think now?"

"Kyoko!" Justin called out, rushing towards her. She shook her head and looked up, blinking several times.

"I'm fine." She said shakily.

Alexandria looked panicked but Jason's eyes began to glow. She glanced at him and realized she was in this, too. Her canine teeth grew a little longer and a low growl came from her throat.

Liz quickly followed suit and her fur ruffled up on her back. Alexandria clicked off her image inducer and her nails began to thicken into claws. Her body began to grow fur and she quickly transformed into her lupine form. Elizabeth charged her and they toppled to the ground, clawing and snapping at each other like animals.

Galiana rushed towards Stephanie and shoved her back. Thanks to her strength, Galiana succeeded in throwing Stephanie half way across the food court. She slammed into a pole and cried out in pain. She quickly focused on the nearest table and sent it flying at Galiana. It slammed into her face and she was thrown back, crashing through another table in the process.

Seeing Galiana fall, Shawn quickly ran towards Stephanie but was stopped as he hit an invisible wall of telekinetic energy. Concentrating, he morphed his body and was two times larger. Pushing against the field, he could see Stephanie straining. While she could throw things around, she was still new to telekinesis and didn't have the stamina to keep the field up for long. Within seconds, she screamed out as her concentration failed and Shawn broke through the field. His body returned to normal as he ran towards her. He punched her nose and felt a satisfying crack.

"You brok'th my nose!" She screamed, holding her nose as it bled heavily.

Justin looked at Jason and knew he was in trouble. They had similar powers, but Jason could control his much better. Justin saw the electrical energy crackling in Jason's eyes and stepped back. Grabbing Justin's arm as she stood, Kyoko's hand began to glow bright purple and she threw a globule of purple energy towards a chair. It was engulfed and disappeared. It reappeared overhead and came down on Jason just as his eyes crackled intensely with power. He fell to the ground in a heap and didn't move.

"Enough!" Jean yelled from the entrance to the food court. She was hovering in a fiery halo and was seething with anger. Logan and Rogue showed up seconds later, both with scowls on their faces.

Rogue quickly took off and separated Liz and Alexandria. Both girls were covered in claw and teeth marks. Blood stained their fur and they continued to glare at each other. Meanwhile, Jean focused and hid the scene from the mall cops just as they turned the corner. She froze them in place and quickly made her way towards her students.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Logan demanded as the students separated into their teams. Jason was still unconscious on the floor and Rogue checked his pulse. She nodded up to Logan and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"It's nothing, sir." Liz replied, rubbing her side.

"It sure doesn't look like 'nothing'." He nearly spat. His team all looked down at the floor and didn't meet his eyes again.

Galiana's nose was bleeding heavily and her cheekbone was broken. Elizabeth was covered in gashes and Kyoko rubbed the back of her head. Shawn and Justin were the only ones who weren't hurt. Stephanie held her broken nose as blood streamed down her face. Alexandria morphed back to her normal form and the cuts were much deeper than they first appeared.

"Rogue, get the van ready." Jean ordered, joining Logan. She tossed Rogue the keys and the Southern Belle flew off towards the exit. Jean's eyes were glowing reddish orange with power and her hair was burning. It was a sign that she was concentrating more so than usual. Without asking, Logan knew she had telepathically frozen the other occupants of the mall.

They both looked at their students and couldn't think of a single thing to say. Just as Jean was about to admonish them, Hank and Bobby showed up but Scott was nowhere to be seen. Sending a quick thought to her husband, Jean relaxed slightly. As soon as she had alerted him to the trouble, he had ordered the rest of the student body to go outside and he was still with them. She gave him a quick update and then turned back to her battered students.

Hank quickly checked on Jason just as he was waking up and then he looked over the girls. He didn't say a word to any of them as he checked on their injuries. He knew they would be in enough trouble tonight without him making comments.

"Where's Jubilee and James?" Jean asked the girls through gritted teeth.

"We don't know." Alexandria replied, wincing as Hank checked a particularly nasty cut on her arm. "They weren't with us."

Jean nodded, knowing she was telling the truth.

"I need to stitch some of them up." Hank said to Jean and Logan. He was using simple words, knowing they didn't have the patience for his normal vocabulary. "It would be much easier to do that in the med lab than here." Jean nodded and wanted to smile at his sarcasm, but she was too angry. Logan read her body language easily and took over so she wouldn't set them all on fire.

"Let's go." Logan ordered with a deep growl, pointing towards the entrance of the mall. "We'll deal with all of you back at the school."

So, what did you guys think?? Please R&R! Any other suggestions would be great, too!

PAF
Jubes