Hello again! I feel on a roll at the moment. The rules are getting cranked out pretty well I think. This is a special two-for-one chapter – it has two house rules! I was pretty bummed with the lack of reviews for last chapter, but I still want to thank everyone for their continued support! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Some exciting news regarding future chapters is at the bottom.

-Ris

Disclaimer: I do not own X-men: Evolution.

Twice the rules for twice the fun

As with all rules they don't start out as a rule. There has to have been a reason, some story, for it to become a rule. The group wasn't used to relying on others, at first, and thus their supplies for nourishment and hygienic needs were always lacking. They couldn't rely on Mystique for she was never around to help them in that respect. For the most part she stayed away, but when she decided to show up it was mainly to yell at them. They grew tired of that very quick. Although she was the adult that was in charge of them and their needs they would rather go without than to have to deal with her on a good day. So they got used to be lacking in the most basic needs. Finally they came to the agreement that since they had to live together they had to contribute to living together. So a house meeting was held and a rotation chart was set up. Chores. The teens despised the word, but they knew that if they wanted to continue with living in the house they had to do something before it became too disgusting and uninhabitable.

This decision actually birthed the need for two different rules. Rules number four and seven were both important to their continued survival. Rule number seven stating that the house must remain in a semi respectable state. They all knew that the only way it was going to pass as a rule was the use of "semi". There was no way that they were going to maintain an actual clean house constantly, if at all. This means that they take care to actively try to keep the place cleaned up. Dishes need to be washed and put away. Rooms cleaned, and trash taken out. Air fresheners dotted the house to help with the natural fragrance of teen male. Laundry was the duty of the person it belonged to. Things got broken often. The teens tended to rough house inside the house rather than outside. Many times were due to the after training arguments that cascaded into the boarding house from their training spot. They knew that they didn't have the facilities and fancy training regime that the X-men did. However, they also knew that practice made perfect. With the way that they knew the world they knew that they had to survive, and that required the use of their abilities. If they wanted to be able to fight and defend themselves from others that they had to perfect their powers and fighting abilities. In the long run the rules were there for them to be able to function normally. Rule seven existed so that they would be somewhat normal, and cling to the fact that they did in fact have somewhere comfortable to live. However, rule four was a different ball game.

Rule four: Do not allow Todd to go grocery shopping alone ever. It is without a doubt that hijinks will ensue. They should have known this, but hindsight is always twenty-twenty. In fact anything really involving Todd would always lead to some whacky adventure. If their lives were a television show he would more likely than not be the comedic relief.

As part of their normal chores they all had to make grocery trips. Sometimes they all went together, but other times one of the teens went alone with a list and their budget. Not a huge problem, but no one took into an account of what exactly could go wrong. Should have listened to Murphy. Todd remains amendment that it could have happened to anyone of them. However, the rest tend to disagree that it wouldn't have happened to them at all. The moment that he came in covered in trash, weird gunk, broken eggs, and other mysterious substances after his trip to the store they knew something had happened. The grocery bags that he held in his hands were no worse for wear. One was ripped and barely containing what looked like the container for broken eggs. The other bag had nothing of which was on the list, but looked like a disgusting cacophony of disgusting food that Fred said he wouldn't even touch.

Todd preceded to tell them the tale of what happened, all the while making over exaggerated gestures, of his trip to the store. How there was a sale for mystery meat, a pretty girl, and a notoriously giant bug floating around the store. At no point in the story did it explain why he had managed to knock over three features of cans and a section of produce. As the story continued it also did not explain how exactly he wound up with eggs covering him. The story was so over exaggerated that they were not even sure what could have been the real event. To sum up the story he casually mentioned that he was no longer allowed back to that particular store again. That particular store just so happened to be the one closest to their home. To solve the problem from happening again they implemented rule four.

Rules were always more of a guideline

There we go! Please let me know what you thought! I have some pretty long chapters, compared to what I normally write, coming your way soon! I'm really excited about them, and hope you will be too. Some of the events in this chapter will come into play more in the future, and I look forward to begin exploring that avenue of where this story is going. So, thanks once again for reading. If you have any questions/comments/suggestions/etc. I am always more than happy to hear from you!

-Ris