Middleverse:
Into the Gameverse

Grant and Xavier looked down at the finished product, both setting down their tools. The boy admired the device for a moment, before finally wrapping it around his wrist and pressing the button.

He looked down at himself excitedly, feeling the whirring as the hologram fell into place. He was no longer golden, just a regular version of himself before the change his mutantcy provided.

"It works!" he exclaimed, feeling as though he should run through the halls of his new home and shout to the world. "I can't believe that I designed it and it worked!"

Xavier grinned. "I am glad that the image inducer worked. But you must be careful with it, for something could easily happen to the watch. The prototype isn't exactly water-proof."

Grant nodded with excitement. "Of course I will. I was worried that I would always look like that!"

Xavier caught Grant's shoulder as he turned away. "You do realize that this doesn't change who you are, right? All it does is disguise you from those who might harm you."

The boy nodded. "Yes, I know. But I've got to get to school and celebrate, so I will see you later!" With that, he ran off, leaving Xavier alone to his thoughts.

School had been pretty hectic already, and it was only the first day back after a three day weekend. Biology was cramming work down Rivera's throat, while Chemistry and Anatomy were all nearly drowning the others in work. It seemed like Dean had it best, and she didn't even have to come.

"I picked the wrong day to come back to school," Grant muttered. "Normally, I'd welcome the challenge of schoolwork, but this is way harder to adjust to a new system in every class."

Alex took a bite of his sandwich, and said with his mouth full, "Well, it's the same way for everyone, especially if you are lacking in the brains department as bad as I am."

"Was that even a sentence?" Ava asked with an airy chuckle. "Lacking brains is right."

They laughed, and all Alex could do was shrug and chew.

"Hey, look on the bright side," Ava said, "your image inducer works great!"

"Yeah, dude, you look pretty normal," Alex said between mouthfuls.

"Thanks, I guess," the malleable mutant said. Alex waved it off as he took a bite of pizza.

"And you might even get invited to Duncan's party," Rivera said. "I'm pretty sure that he was sending around an invitation to all the juniors today."

Grant shrugged. "I'm not really one for parties anyways."

Kris clapped him on the back. "Good news for me then. Maybe you can use that super-brain of yours to help me try out this new video game I bought the other day. Are you up for it?"

"I'm not really into video games either. To be honest, my dad always said that they were a waste," the stretching boy said.

Kris huffed. "Oh, come on! It's obvious that he's never played as Master Chief kicking alien ass with a Spartan Laser."

"Sorry," Grant shrugged. "It's just the principle of the matter anyways."

"Anyone else want to play?" Kris asked the table, but both Ava and Alex curtly agreed they were going to the party as friends, and Rivera just turned him down completely. "Fine. But don't expect me to do anything later tonight."

Ava smirked. "Just don't skip the Danger Room session. We're all leaving from the party early to make it."

Kris rolled his eyes as he got up and walked away, assuring them that he wouldn't.

Tristan was just about to go to fifth period when he saw Ava sitting alone on a bench outside the gym. She looked like she was bored, probably waiting for the next class to begin.

"Hey," he greeted as he walked up and plopped down next to her. "Watcha doing?"

She shrugged. "Nothing much. Just waiting for the bell."

"I can't see an exciting girl like you ever doing something boring," he said with a grin. He shot up, an idea striking him. "Come on. Let's cut class. We can do whatever you want to do."

"I'm not going to cut class just because you want me to!"

"Oh, but Fuchsia, it'll be fun! What's the risk?"

Ava's eyebrow rose. "You mean other than the detention and the extra Danger Room sessions?"

Tristan's eyes widened, remembering it from the files that he had on the X-Men. Was this girl a mutant working for Xavier? "Danger Room? What's that?"

"It's nothing," she said automatically, her face blushing when she realized she had slipped up. It took another moment or two before she finally said, "Fine. Come on, we'll go to the mall. I need to get something for Duncan's party anyways."

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that party. Too bad I'm a sophomore. I'd need an upper-classman to ask me," Tristan said, not caring if she noticed how obvious it was.

She smirked. "I like your straight-forwardness, but I'm already going with my friend Alex."

He sighed. "Oh, all right. It was worth a shot though, right?"

She smiled. "I guess so."

Tristan dragged her away from the campus, opting to walk to the mall that wasn't too far from the school.

Neither one of them noticed the woman silently following them.

After finally finishing all his classes and heading back to the Institute on foot, Kris managed to hurry into his room very quickly. He was itching to start the game as soon as he possibly could, and all the hype that he had read about it over the past few weeks had him literally jumping out of his skin.

He locked the door so that he wouldn't be disturbed, which now that he thought about it, might seem odd for a teenage boy. He left it alone anyway.

He entered the game disc and turned on the game console. When the words, "The Dark Phoenix Saga" appeared on the screen, he nearly dropped his jaws at the picture of the flaming bird flying over the medieval castle. It was so majestic, so powerful. He locked eyes with the creature on the scene, seeing all of its depth and unending malice.

So threatening.

With that thought, before he even got to play, he suddenly felt the familiar rise of power within him. Orange sparks flew from his fingertips and locked onto the controller, energy slowly flowing into it. It only took a moment before he started to freak out, feeling his hands and arms slowly fade into energy, before finally, he was yanked from his seat and into the darkness below.

Kris awoke in the middle of a meadow of purple, flowing flowers. He was nestled firmly against the trunk of a very tall oak tree, one that was so spread across the sky that he could barely see how abnormal it was.

He stood up and surveyed his surroundings. The meadow seemed to go on for miles, but only certain sections of it seemed real, almost as though some of it was only phased in and didn't feel as though it was really there. The sky was bright red instead of blue, and there appeared to only be one source of light in the sky, but it wasn't the sun. A volcano stood far into the horizon, behind a stretch of mountains, with light streaming from it like an endless sunrise.

"Where the hell am I?" Kris looked down and was shocked to see that he was wearing tight black and yellow leather armor, not unlike his X-Men uniform, if it were orange. A thin knife was at his belt. "This couldn't get any weirder."

Why did he have to open his mouth?

There was a roar from something to the right, and before he could say anything at all, a panther of brown hair and what looked like pink eyes burst forth from the trees as though it had jumped from the shadows. It growled at him furiously, trying to study him while intimidating him at the same time.

He held up his arms in surrender. "Hey, kitty," Kris began nervously, trying to somehow shoot sparks to scare away the beast. "Kitty, you don't want to hurt me."

The panther screeched, immediately jarring him right down to the bone. He stood in fear and wondered if he could wake up from this dream already, because it was getting too strange, even for a mutant.

The cat reared back and got ready to pounce, while Kris just stood there, wondering why he couldn't charge up his sparks to scare it away. He thought about backing away, but where could he go? He was in the middle of a meadow with nowhere to hide at all.

Immediately, the creature leapt forward, and Kris silently prayed he would get the best mansion he could when he died.

He heard a quick flash followed by a guttural sound and a whimper. Nothing had happened to him, so when he opened his eyes carefully, he was surprised to see a rather large silver-haired man in a set of green armor, holding a very sharp looking lance. The panther was lying off to the side, a painful wound in its side, probably dead.

"You should have run from the Shadowcat, you know?" the man said, shouldering his lance on his very broad back. "They can be nasty, if you let them."

"Who are you?" Kris asked incredulously, still in shock from the ordeal.

"Well, I'm kind of famous around these parts, but they call me Brother. What's your name?" the silver-haired man with a thick neck asked as he plopped down on the ground.

"Um, Brother, my name is Kris Tanaka," he tried, but the man just looked at him.

"Never heard of that kind of name before," he said. "But seriously, what place could you have come from to have not known to run from a Shadowcat's territory?"

Kris didn't know what to say. He didn't know where he was, or if the man would even know what general area Bayville was in. "Well, I don't really know. It's all kind of fuzzy."

"Oh, you mean like those fuzzy blue demons who are paid to make the rich laugh?" Brother asked, almost laughing his own head off. It took him a moment to realize that wasn't what he was talking about, and the laughter slowly died down to an awkward moment. "So you mean the memory going blank kind of fuzzy?"

Kris nodded. "Yeah, I really don't remember where I'm from. I don't even know where I am now, or how I got here."

"Oh, I can help with one part, I think. You're in the Endless Meadow of Danger Forest!" He seemed to produce a map from nothing and then spread it out on the ground. Kris studied it for a few moments, memorizing locations of the land called Utopia, where things obviously weren't one. The map was vaguely familiar, almost like he had seen it before, but it was too hazy to recall where he had seen it. "And I think I can help you get your memories back!" He pointed to a spot on the map, in the middle of the Infinite Desert. An oasis that also served as a bustling city for everyone around, it was not too far from the base of the Cerebral Mountains, and the Phoenix Volcano.

Phoenix…

"No freaking way," the boy suddenly said, wondering if it could be true. It seemed impossible, but where was he otherwise? Was he crazy? Or…

Had he somehow ended up in the game?

Both Tristan and Ava walked around the mall, with Tristan as the pack mule. He was holding all the bags of shoes and clothes, and before long, it was starting to get tiring.

"Ava, is this enough yet?" Tristan said, pretending to breathe hard from exhaustion. "I mean, wasn't the whole point to get one thing for Duncan's party?"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you nuts? I have to have the right shoes, the right dress, the right make-up, and my hair has to look perfect, and-"

He cut her off with a sincere look. "You already look perfect. So you could buy anything in this store and still look good in it."

She was shocked by the sincerity; that much Tristan could tell based on her eyes. "So if I went and tried on a pair of bright yellow overalls, you'd still think I look good?"

He tried to imagine what she would look like, and then smiled. "Well, it might take some extra primping, but you could pull it off."

She laughed as they turned the corner. "Oh, you're just saying that." She looked over at the nearest shop and studied the dress in the window. "What do you think about this one?"

Tristan didn't answer, too busy looking at the reflection in the mirror. An average-looking woman wearing a trench-coat was staring at them from across the way, and he might not have thought anything of it if it wasn't the fourth time he had seen something like it.

Every time they came to a stop, Tristan had noticed some strange characters following them. He thought to ask Ava about it, but she would probably just say that they were in a mall. Plenty of people are around, and it could be something completely normal.

But the assassin side of him knew something was up. He couldn't help the unnerving feeling, and he decided to keep himself ready to fire at will, whether they were in the middle of the mall or not.

"Tristan, what do you think?" Ava asked again, this time sounding a little annoyed. He glanced over at the black dress that would probably come down to about mid-thigh on her.

"Yeah, I think it looks great," he said, mentally storing the fantasy of Ava wearing the dress for later. "It would look good on you."

"All right, I think I'm going to get it," she said, smiling. "It's just under my budget for things like this."

"Budget? Your parents give you a budget?" asked Tristan, keeping his eyes open for any changes. The woman who had been following them had long since disappeared, but he still felt uneasy about the whole thing.

"Sort of," she explained. "Xavier re-routes the money my parents send for necessities and miscellaneous stuff."

His eyes had grown wide at the mention of Xavier. This girl was a mutant! It was exciting, almost, but a little bit scary at the same time. Should he say something, or should he leave it alone? He opted for the latter, deciding to keep his mutantcy a secret for a bit longer.

"Oh, well, that's cool," was all he could say.

Hopping on the back of a giant toad is not the best way to travel.

Seriously, Kris felt like he was going to fall off every time the toad leapt and plummeted down. Brother, however, was holding on like a pro, which was probably good since he summoned the giant amphibians with a snap of his fingers.

"Can't you like, summon a horse or something? Wouldn't that be better than this?" he asked, bumping his head against the slimy skin every time they moved.

"Oh, horses are vastly overrated!" Brother exclaimed. "Toads are so much better in every way!"

"Whatever you say," Kris mumbled, slamming his head against the toad incessantly.

"Oh, hey, look!" Brother yelled, pointing directly ahead. "It's the city we're looking for!"

Sure enough, the toads were now hopping through the desert, and even though they could see the destination, it didn't seem to be getting any closer.

"Why can't it be right next to us?" he mumbled again, just as Brother's toad kicked up dirt and into Kris's face.

Why did he get himself into this mess?

Suddenly, there was a loud screech, and something-no, some things burst through the sand and landed in front of them. The toads lurched to a stop, throwing both Brother and Kris off of them and into a crumpled heap in the sand. Kris barely listened as he heard the toads run away in sheer terror.

Brother shot up, drawing his lance and putting himself between Kris and the nearest creature. He stabbed at it, trying to get it to back up, but it wouldn't go.

There were three bone-plated reptilian creatures with spikes covering almost every inch of the body, beginning at the spine. They were angry, almost temperamental creatures with coloring that blended into the sand.

"What are these things?" Kris asked, his hand on his knife.

"They're called Spykes, and they aren't happy. They must find us tasty!" With that remark, the center Spyke shot forward and nearly bit off the end of Brother's lance, and if he hadn't pulled it back, the weapon would be a goner.

"All right, if those spiky things touch you, they'll burn through your skin. You can't let them touch you, and if you get an opening, you run with all your might, okay?" Brother advised, and all Kris could do was nod and grip the knife.

The man rushed forward with agility that Kris wouldn't have though the man could have, flinging the lance through the air. He dodged and evaded, keeping his distance while glinting his weapon off the creatures' armor. Kris was so mesmerized by watching Brother's dance that he almost didn't notice the second Spyke rushing toward him.

He ran several feet to the right, making the monster charge past him. He nearly made a break for it, but the third Spyke stepped in the path. Kris decided that it was now or never, and leapt forward with all his might, brandishing the knife with the best of his ability. He managed to strike at the eyeball, making the creature shriek in pain before it finally sunk to the ground.

Kris grabbed up the knife and ran through the sand dunes, hoping that Brother would be following him shortly. Several minutes later, he turned around and saw the man fast approaching, hopping on the back of another toad.

"Hey, sorry bout that. I had to get rid of the last two," the man said as he approached, holding out an arm and letting Kris hop on. "Let's get going. We should be able to get to the oasis in an hour, maybe two."

Two more hours on the back of a toad.

What fun.

I hope this one was as fun to read as it was to write. I should have the second half of it within a couple days, so bare with me. Please, review and let me know what you think!

BTW: Brother embodies a combination of the original four members of the Brotherhood. Lance is the lance that he uses, the green armor and summoning of toads is pretty obvious, the silver hair is Pietro, and his somewhat fat body is Blob.

The other references were pretty obvious, but if you have any questions, let me know.