Here's the next chapter. By the way, soon I will be leaving for two years. I will finish the Mutant Games by then, and hopefully another couple of one shot chapters, but after that this story will be marked as complete and won't be touched for two years. When I get back, I might change this story back to "in progress" and continue it, but I also may not. A lot can change in two years. Just thought I'd let you guys know.
Oh, and sorry in advance for all the sneeze stuff that'll be in the first bit of the chapter. I find it amusing when people accidentally use their powers, and I have found that sneezing is often one of the better ways to do that. I made that little discussion as a pre-explanation in case I ever do something about the mutants losing control of their powers for some reason. Some reason other than Wanda.
I should probably do another disclaimer. Don't want the feds getting any ideas, now, do I? I do not own X-Men Evolution or Twinkies (you'll figure it out). I have been a very good boy this year and have sent a letter to Santa, so we'll see what happens from there. I am moderately certain that I own Will and Manuel.
Chapter 12: The Mutant Games – Part 3
The group of four made its way over to the basketball court. They were still a bit wet, and a cool breeze had picked up. Kurt was covered in fur, so he didn't really feel the full effects of the breeze. The others, however, were not so lucky. Will could handle the cold just fine, though, so even though he felt it, it didn't bother him. Laura and Rahne didn't have that luxury. They were shivering. "Rahne, aren't you from Scotland?" Will asked.
"Y-yes," Rahne said, teeth chattering.
"So, shouldn't you be used to the cold?" Will asked.
"I haven't been t-to Scotland in a f-few years," Rahne said. "I'm not used to it anymore."
Will shrugged. Rahne sneezed. "Hey," Kurt said. "You didn't turn into a wolf this time."
Rahne nodded. "I've gotten better. I only change now when I sneeze really hard." She sneezed again.
"Wait, you actually change when you sneeze?" Will asked.
"Yeah," Rahne said. "All kinds of weird stuff can happen to mutants when they sneeze."
"Kitty phases when she sneezes hard enough," Kurt said.
"Amara's made lava spurt from the ground before," Rahne said. "And Jubilee lets off all kinds of fireworks when she sneezes."
"I've seen Jean send things flying before," Kurt said.
"I sneezed so hard once that my claws all shot out," Laura said.
"Wow," Will said. "Note to self: hide during cold and flu season."
Rahne sneezed again.
"You're supposed to cover your mouth when you sneeze," Laura said. Rahne apologized. Will had an idea and borrowed Amara's power. He used her power to heat up the air around them, warming Rahne and Laura.
"Thanks," Laura said.
"Thank you," Rahne said.
Will shrugged. "Don't want you two getting sick."
"I don't think I can get sick," Laura said. "I think I heal too fast."
"Remind me to borrow your power next time I get sick," Will said. He looked over at Rahne. "Don't you have enhanced healing, too?"
Rahne nodded. "But mine isn't nearly as good as Mr. Logan's or Laura's. I still get sick, just not as badly as the others or for as long."
By then the group had made it to the basketball court. The professor was in charge of that event. "Hello," the professor said.
"Hi, professor," everyone replied.
"This is mutant basketball," the professor said. "The rules are simple; get the ball in the hoop by any means necessary other than hurting each other or leaving the court. The game is two on two, and Bobby was quite specific about there being a lack of fouls."
This time Will was partnered up with Rahne with Kurt and Laura on the other team. The professor blew his whistle and the game began. Will was expecting Kurt to start teleporting immediately, and he wasn't disappointed. Kurt teleported with the ball and dropped it into the hoop. In that form of basketball the team who scored forfeited the ball, so Will grabbed it and shot it towards the opposite basket. Kurt teleported to it, but Will used Jean's power to move the ball out of the way. The ball was soaring towards the hoop when Laura jumped up and grabbed it. She ran towards the other hoop and threw it in, scoring again.
Rahne took the ball that time. She ran towards the other end of the court and shot it in the hoop. Kurt teleported right in front of the ball, caught it, and teleported to the other hoop. Will borrowed his power and teleported after him. Will grabbed the ball from Kurt's hands right as he was about to drop it and teleported to the other hoop. Will dropped it in and scored. Laura grabbed the ball and ran towards the other hoop. She threw it in, only to be blocked by Rahne in wolf form. The ball bounced off of Rahne, who quickly turned into a human and ran towards the other end of the court. Kurt teleported next to her and stole the ball, teleporting away as soon as he had it. He dropped it in the hoop and scored again. Will grabbed the ball and copied.
This continued for the next twenty minutes, with Will and Kurt chasing each other around by teleporting. Kurt scored ten more points in that amount of time, while Will only scored three. After the twenty minutes of teleport chasing the professor told them that time was up. He sent them to the wrestling ring.
As the group was walking to the ring, Rahne and Laura loudly voiced their complaints about barely getting to play. "How are we supposed to play if you two teleport with the ball everywhere?" Rahne asked.
"Uh," Will said.
"We can't!" Laura said.
"Well,"Kurt said.
"And it's not like we're bad players," Rahne added. "We're not that bad! We can play, but not if we never get the ball from you two teleporting jerks!"
Kurt and Will looked at each other. Neither really had any idea what to do. The girls kept bashing them, while Will and Kurt at least had the decency to look ashamed. The group made it to the wrestling ring, where Mr. McCoy was in charge. He noticed the fighting, or rather the bashing, and said "What seems to be the problem?"
"Those two hogged the ball all to themselves and teleported everywhere!" Rahne shouted, pointing at Will and Kurt.
"Now, now, it was just a game. And I'm sure they feel really bad about it, right?" Mr. McCoy said, looking pointedly at Kurt and Will.
Kurt quickly caught on. "Yeah, we're really sorry," he said. When Will didn't say anything he elbowed him in the gut.
"Ow!" Will said. Then he caught on. "Uh, yeah, we're really sorry."
The girls still looked a bit miffed, but they accepted their apologies. Probably because Mr. McCoy was watching them. "Good," Mr. McCoy said. "Now, I need you to split into two teams-"
"Laura and me against those two!" Rahne called out, pointing at Kurt and Will. Will and Kurt exchanged a glance. This was wrestling. This may not be so much fun.
Mr. McCoy sighed. He seemed to be thinking the same thing Will and Kurt were thinking, but he didn't say anything. "The rules are simple. Pin your opponent without causing any kind of serious injury." Upon looking at Laura's raised hand, Mr. McCoy added "Yes, Laura, gutting them is a serious injury." She put her hand down.
Will and Laura were both put into the ring. Will turned around and looked at Kurt. "Why am I going first?"
"Because if she guts you, you can just borrow her healing," Kurt replied. "The Fuzzy Man can't heal, man."
Will sighed and turned around. Laura was ready. "Now, I'd rather not have to clean up any blood, so please try to avoid bloodshed," Mr. McCoy said. He rang a bell and the match began.
Almost immediately Laura launched herself at Will. Luckily, she launched herself hard enough to knock Will back, keeping him from being pinned. Considerably less luckily, the force of the impact knocked Will into one of those metal bar things that surrounded the ring. "Mr. McCoy!" Kurt called. "Aren't those bars supposed to be made of rubber?"
Mr. McCoy nodded. "Yes, but we didn't have any rubber, so we had to use metal. Logan though it would add incentive."
Will groaned and rubbed the spot on his back where he had hit the bar. Laura tackled him again, catching him completely by surprise. She had him pinned, but only just. In order for her to win, she had to hold him down for three seconds. Will managed to free himself in about two and a half seconds, by using his legs to gain enough momentum to knock Laura off of him. Both he and Laura stood up, watching each other.
Will thought quickly. He was reasonably certain that his street fighter tricks would only last him so long, and he was almost positive that they wouldn't be enough for him to win. He tried to think of some kind of way he could beat her. She was small, agile, fast, and light. She was also really strong. And she was trained as an assassin, so odds were she knew a thing or two about fighting. She also had heightened senses. Maybe Will could use those against her?
Will didn't have much time to think of how. Laura ran towards him and, at the last second, slid underneath him. She knocked Will's legs out from underneath him, and if Will hadn't mastered the art of recovery from a fall (tripping over things happened a lot when you were being chased) he probably would have been pinned again. As it was, he managed to push himself off the ground and regain his footing. Laura looked at him, and Will got an idea. Laura ran towards him again, but Will slid under her legs.
Will quickly borrowed Jamie's and Manuel's powers. He used Manuel's to create several illusions, some of him, others not of him, and a couple of dupes. Laura turned around and saw a bunch of Wills and a couple of Jeans, some Jamies, and a Kurt. The really confused her. One of the Wills ran towards her, and she jumped over him. As soon as she landed, another one tripped her. Laura seemed to have mastered the art of fall recovery, too, because she got up quickly. She closed her eyes, probably trying to smell Will. The dupes smelled like him, too. It was just the illusions that didn't. Will borrowed Rahne's power and turned into a wolf. He figured the wolf would smell differently than a human Will. Since Laura had her eyes closed, Will got rid of the illusions and let go of Manuel's power.
Laura sniffed a few times and lunged towards one of the dupes. She pinned him, and after two seconds Will absorbed him, causing Laura to hit the ground. Will, wolf Will, jumped on her and held her down. She began to struggle, and Will had to change to a human and borrow Mr. McCoy's strength to hold her down, but he succeeded. He had pinned Laura.
"Alright!" Mr. McCoy called. "The match is over, Will wins!"
Will got off Laura. Laura stood up and said "How was that fair?"
"He pined you," Kurt said.
"Yeah, but he tricked me!" Laura argued.
"Actually, that was a completely legal move," Mr. McCoy said. "Jamie did something similar when he was in the ring, as did Manuel."
"I still don't think it's fair. He can have any power he wants," Laura said, though she had cooled off a bit.
"You're a trained assassin and nearly beat me on multiple occasions. In fact, I only barely won, and that was partially due to luck," Will said. "If you had pinned the real me, I would have lost."
Laura perked up a bit. "Besides, the only reason I had all those powers was because of all the mutants around here," Will added. "If it were just you and me in the ring with no mutants around for miles, you would have won."
"Yeah, I guess you have a point," Laura said. "Your power is only useful with a bunch of other mutants around."
Will nodded. "Pretty much. A one on one fight between me and another mutant puts me at a disadvantage. And no mutants, no powers," he said.
Will had no issue sacrificing his pride. He figured that it was better to lose some pride than to be gutted by Laura.
"Kurt and Rahne, please step into the ring," Mr. McCoy said. Kurt and Rahne both stepped into the ring, Kurt looking nervous and Rahne looking eager. "Again, no serious injuries. Begin!"
The first thing Kurt did was teleport. He teleported a lot. Will wasn't really sure what his strategy was, until he saw Rahne coughing. Right. Rahne had heightened senses, too, and the sulfur cloud Kurt left behind when he teleported stunk. It was bad enough that Laura had to cover her nose to keep from retching. Even Will could smell it. He was very glad he didn't have super smell at the moment.
Eventually Kurt stopped teleporting and was ready to confront a dazed Rahne. Kurt jumped on her, pinning her to the ground, but she kicked him off. She stood up, still coughing, and tackled Kurt. She landed on top of him, but in her human form she was tiny and weighed very little. Kurt easily kicked her off, but Rahne just tackled him again. She turned into a wolf and pinned him, successfully keeping him down for the necessary three seconds.
"Alright, I think that's enough," Mr. McCoy said.
"But it's a tie right now!" Rahne said. "We need one more to see who wins!"
Mr. McCoy shook his head. "No, I think you're all tired and could use a break. Rest and enjoy yourselves. I have some of Ms. Monroe's cookies, and some Twinkies."
That was enough. Between Ms. Monroe's amazing cookies and the delicious delicacy that Will had come to know as the majestic Twinkie, everyone was willing to call it a draw, even Laura. The group sat and relaxed, enjoying the deliciousness that was the Twinkie and Ms. Monroe's cookies, waiting for the next event.
"After this is lunch, then everyone is supposed to report out front, where Bobby will explain the last two activities," Mr. McCoy said. The group of four nodded and waited until lunch.
Author's Note:
Writer's laziness sucks. It makes me lazy. As promised, I will finish the mutant games and try to write at least one more one shot before I leave. Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter. More reviews means more motivation, which means more one shots before I leave. It's in everyone's best interest for you to review, really.