Hello again to all my friends. I don't own X-men, but regardless the original characters that I'll be using in here do belong to me.

Tada! Chapter Twenty, who would of thunk it huh?

Chapter 20

"Cat!" Naomi yelled as she ran, she could hear Rael yelling her name as well as someone else yelling for her to stop. She continued to run. The kitten turned to look at her and shifted into a girl, she gave her a curious look almost like she didn't understand what was going on.

Her shadow shot forward but the approaching flames kept it from going to far, it crossed other's shadows. She felt her skin crackling as the shadows were pulled into her own and it became darker, she felt stronger. The more shadows hers touched the darker her's became. She reached the edge of the bunkers, she heard several others starting to yell at Cat and herself. She felt a massive shadow approaching from behind, she dared a glance, it was a wave of snow and ice. Bobbie planned to douse the fire with snow, but that would bury Cat and it was possible it would fail.

She grabbed Cat's arm, she couldn't try and move the two of them the flames could follow them through in the moment she opened it. She didn't know how she'd had her shadow eat the flames before and it looked to be about to lick the two of them into ash. She wrapped herself around Cat and hoped with all that power she felt, something would happen.

Fire and ice collided over them. The field blossomed into steam.

Storm, who had been trying to reach the little girl as well, immediately forced the mist away. Others who had been on the field appeared, all of them unharmed. They were staring at the place where Naomi and Cat had been.

It looked like a black mound in the center of the half burned grass and half snow covered area. Something dark was circling this half bubble.

"Naomi?" Cat's muffled voice came from within the bubble, most breathed a sigh of relief, until the next words sounded filled with panic. "Naomi? Wake up Naomi!"

It was almost pitch black within the strange bubble, almost. There were pinpoints of light coming from somewhere. Cat looked around nervously and tugged on Naomi's arm again. "I don't like the dark."

The world was hazy, her eyes were open, she could see the little shapeshifter sitting next to her in perfect clarity. Behind her she knew was a shadow of some kind, one of the ones she taken she assumed. She tried to move but couldn't, every muscle seemed too exhausted to even act like they should respond. They didn't even offer the pain of over use, they just refused. She could only stare straight forward.

"Naomi, can we please get out of here?" Cat asked again, "Naomi? Naomi wake up!"

But she was awake, she didn't understand.

Cat's eyes had adjusted to the near complete darkness and saw the dots of light were coming from Naomi's skin. Like her eyes had the first day, the dark parts of Naomi's skin were glittering. She could see that it was continuously spreading though. "Naomi it's alright, there's nothing out there that will hurt me, you saved me we're safe... Right?"

"Cat what's going on in there?" She heard the voice softly, but outside the bubble Rael was yelling.

"Naomi's not moving, and she's all glittery."

Naomi tried to move again still her arms gave no sort of response. Was this how Nightmare felt? Stuck in a motionless form?

"Thinking about me?" Came the voice of said girl. "Wow its hard to talk to you through all that... what is that? Shadows?"

I can't move. Naomi though, I think I've trapped Cat and me...

"First you need to relax. You're not trapped." Emily replied.

"Cat can you see anything else?" Storm yelled.

"No! Storm I'm scared."

I'm scaring her. Naomi thought to herself. Her eyes moved very slightly to the shadow behind the child, she could see something, it was hazy in the shadow. It almost looked like... buildings formed completely in black and white.

"Relax, you've really pushed your limit on your powers, that's all, you tried too much too soon."

"Ow!" Someone from outside said, it came through like a whisper still, "What is going around that thing?"

"A weapon." Rael's voice was nearly unheard by Cat and Naomi.

Very slowly Naomi managed to close her eyes, she took a deep breath trying to calm her heart, she hadn't noticed how fast it was beating, she hadn't noticed how cold the snow had felt on her face or how sweet that cold felt on her skin. Slowly she curled her fingers then released.

The shadow bubble slowly began to fade, a shade at a time until it was a thin almost transparent shape over the two of them. It popped like a soap bubble, the weapon that rotated around them vanished as well. Cat ran to Storm and threw her arms around her neck and started crying. Naomi rolled her head slowly and lay on her back.

They were all staring at her. Her coat had fallen off when she was running for Cat, her arms were completely black her face was half black and the over half very pale. Naomi herself knew that most of her upper body had become that dark skin beneath her normal skin. She lay there breathing and staring into the sky. "Are we going to keep playing?" She asked after a moment more.

Naomi sat leaning against the main fort wall for the rest of the game. Though it no longer seemed to be the same game. No one made any further attempts to 'capture' Naomi. Everyone on her own team was looking at her like she may break if touched and there wasn't the same heart in the game as there had been before.

Cat had elected to stay out of the game for the rest.

When the opposing team's 'flag' arrived in their camp's main fort, it was Ivy, Naomi had fallen into unconsciousness in Rael's lap. "She has a fever." Rael stated. Archangel, Rune and Rael carried her into the house. "I have a perfect name for her," Rael said in the short journey. "Reckless."