Growing
Part 3
By Ruby
"Here's the 410 plus 1," said Jubilee. "We fight ten battles against ten baddies that you decide on and we win at least half."
She, along with the rest of Generation X, Gambit and Marrow were at the Danger Room because of a bet between Marrow and Jubilee about Gen-X's fighting ability. For the last hour the teens had done some research on the X-Men's history and decided ten hard battles were better than fighting about a zillion small ones.
"Yeah. Ya lose a round when everyone 'dies.' If that happens, you're out 'til the next fight," Marrow answered with a poisonous smile.
"Pihh, we won't lose…but we want to know one thing: what do we get when we win the bet?"
"*When* you win? Try *if* you survive. What do ya want? Better not be something like cleaning the mansion."
"Nope. Just your respect and your apology." M and Angelo threw a quick glance to each other. Respect? Apology? That didn't sound like Jubilee.
"My apology? Maybe, but I don't just give away my respect to anybody that skips along the yellow brick road like an idiot."
"Oh, then eighty bucks."
"Eighty bucks? Do ya think I'm rich or something? Well, when I win I want ya to stay out of my way for the next two weeks you're here-do that anyway even if you actually *do* win."
"Deal. As they say on Celebrity Deathmatch: Let's get it on!"
Generation X got ready as Gambit and Marrow went to the control room that overlooked the Danger Room. The usually casual Gambit seemed agitated as they ascended.
"Chere, don' be too hard on dem, oui?" he asked.
Marrow glanced doubtfully at him; his mouth was set on a firm line. She continued walking and didn't say anything.
***
"Get ready," said Husk, "it should start-"
"Now," Marrow's voice growled over the speakers.
The whole room disappeared before Generation X's eyes and was replaced by a city area. The air held the stench of rotting garbage and smog. They were in an alley near a road that was filled with honking cars stuck in rush hour.
"Move it, you little son of a-" yelled one driver to the car in front of him.
"Just like the real thing." Skin commented as his eyes glanced at some suspicious looking figures across the street. A sudden loud roar that filled the air caused the team to look up.
"Sentinels!" shouted Everett. Three Sentinels descended from the sky like a great tidal wave of sound and metal about to crash. "Duck!"
"Quack!" Jubilee exclaimed as she narrowly missed being squashed like gum under a shoe.
A driver screamed in panic as he climbed out of his vehicle and leaped into a flat out run. Once the other people realized they wouldn't be able to drive away because of the gridlock, they poured out of their cars too. The terrified mob of humanity ran in every which direction other than towards the robots.
The streets were flooded with bodies trying to run around or over the teammates. Hoping to avoid being crushed by the oncoming wave Everett and Jubilee managed to climb onto a fire escape while the rest did their best to reach safer ground.
M flew behind one's head to try to disable it, but another Sentinel swatted her away into a brick wall. It left an imprint of her body once she freed herself.
"Come on, you guys! Remember your fighting techniques!" said Paige. She husked into steel and started punching the nearest Sentinel's foot. Skin and Chamber had also scaled the fire escapes to attack from the roof.
"Aim for the head!" ordered Everett as he synched with Jubilee and fired from a second story window.
*No problem,* said Chamber as he sent a blast of energy into it's chest. He stopped and stared at it for a second; its gaping 'wound' of sparking wires had created a kind of disturbing resemblance to Jono himself. But the Sentinel wasn't down yet and it aimed a ray towards him.
"Missed the eyes, amigo," Skin shouted as he wrapped its visual sensors with his skin. Blinded, the giant lump of metal did not know where to fire.
"Timber!" Paige declared as she finished mangling it's foot. As it fell down with a tremendous crash, Chamber sent a second blast to make sure it wouldn't get up.
Deciding that violence was the best possible solution, M had flown herself straight into its head and out its chest. It also fell down, and also did not get up.
Then there was only one left. Jubilee and Everett focused their powers on it and the resulting explosion blew off the Sentinel's head. The pieces of metal and debris fell like rain.
"Woo," Paige commented with wide eyes, "nice job."
"Not bad, but not good." Marrow said over the speakers. "You've one win."
"Yeah! We rock!" Jubilee cheered. The team grinned at their first victory and was pumped up on enough adrenaline to plow on to the next battle, confident that they would win. "So what's next?"
"Try and beat this…" she trailed off menacingly.
Their surroundings shifted again into a sort of valley filled with large rock formations and caves. A breeze whistled around them and they could smell the salty air of an ocean nearby.
"Whoa…" Husk whispered when she looked up. Generation X did so too, expecting a new threat, but they saw something else stunning.
The sky above them seemed to have exploded with millions of glowing stars, and two large greenish moons or planets hung above the horizon. Meteorite shot across space like flaming rain and the gravity seemed to have lessened a bit. The whole effect was very calming.
"This is nice," Jubilee murmured.
A screech sounded out from the darkness like a siren in a library. Suddenly dozens of insect-like *things* crawled out of the caves, leaving small trails of ooze or slobber.
"Madre de Dios! What is *that*?!" Skin shouted.
"The Brood," M responded. "Whom the X-Men called, appropriately, 'Sleazoids.'"
A Sleazoid leaped and landed on Skin. They fought for a moment. Skin fought the alien's teeth and claws, while the alien tried to get untangled from the mutant's, well, skin. But the winner was clearly going to be the Sleazoid.
It wrapped its jaws around his neck, and for a moment Angelo could feel the rows of razor sharp points pressing into his throat. He closed his eyes. Then the pressure lifted from his neck and the yards of skin that he had twisted around the Sleazoid suddenly felt empty air.
Upon opening his eyes Skin saw total darkness. Abruptly realizing that he was looking *in* down the alien's throat he quickly stepped back and saw that the thing went through him when it tried to touch him.
"Que?" He asked.
"Umm, I think you're dead," stated Everett as he glanced nervously at the advancing swarm. "I guess that means you won't be able to touch anything."
"Si."
The Sleazoid jumped at Skin again but went through him and landed on another Sleazoid. Surprised, the two beasts assaulted one another until they slashed each other to the ground. The Brood's attention momentarily shifted to the pair.
"Can I say 'Technicolor yawn?' Yup. Ugh…I *know* I'm gonna wake up hollerin' one night 'cause of that." Jubilee blanched. "Hey, they're distracted, none of us has the last name Weaver, I say we run. Anyone oppose?"
"Do we even need to waste time voting?" asked Everett.
"Good point. RUN!"
Realizing that the earthlings were getting away, the Brood launched its attack at Generation X with angered cries. With the team's combined powers they managed to destroy about a fourth of the Brood… but they lost regardless because of the monsters' ferocity.
***
Generation X fought seven more battles: Apocalypse (lost), Mojo (won), Phalanx (lost), Onslaught (lost), Dark Phoenix (lost), Juggernaut (won), and the old Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (won).
By this time, Generation X had built up a small audience in the control room. Emma and Sean were there, certainly, to watch their students, and also Wolverine, Kitty, Gambit and Kurt came to see them. The young team could hear the spectator's loud cheering through the thick glass after every win. Of course, Marrow's voice wasn't among those.
"So, Em," the headmaster of Massachusetts Academy said and beamed fondly at the students below. "How do ye think they're doing?"
"They could do better. After all that training they should have won five first." But despite the White Queen's criticism a slightly raised corner of her lips proved that she was proud at how Gen X was doing against the X-men's simulated old foes. Although when Marrow brought up the old Brotherhood for the teens to fight she had frowned as the simulated Emma was easily taken down by one punch from Chamber. Was the child mocking her by making Frost's Danger Room character weak? She would have to speak to the girl later.
"This is good practice for them, especially Everett and Jubilee since they seem to work very well together. I think the lass is going to win th' bet."
"Hmm, yes," she said lightly. Emma had never really approved of gambling or betting since she had once experienced first-hand the problems it could cause. "As well as our students are doing I don't approve of them making bets and arranging fights. Gambit, come over here."
Remy, who was watching from the corner, flashed an even smile and walked over. "Oui, cher-Mademoiselle?" he corrected himself when he remembered that it was Emma Frost he was addressing and not an ordinary casual acquaintance. Any disrespect on his part would surely be met with her ice-cold glare that could make a person worry about their livelihood.
He tried to be polite but he was met by *the stare* anyway. Sean shook his head and chuckled at the supposedly former thief's impending doom, he walked over to Marrow in hope that the girl would give the tired looking team a break.
"Gambit," Emma said his name again in a smooth voice that contrasted with her jagged look. "How well do you think Generation X is doing?"
"Dey are doing very good," he answered slowly, expecting a trap. "La petite is young, but she does well."
"I'm inferring that Jubilee is 'la petite,' and indeed she is young. And Marrow, given that she seems much older she is young too. Right?"
"Oui…"
"So don't you think that it is irresponsible that someone, namely you, who is much wiser and older allowed two teenagers to arrange a bet and fight without a thought on how their teachers would respond?" Her pleasant tone suddenly dropped a few degrees and hovered above absolute zero. "I want an answer."
"Gambit ain't old…" he tried to defend himself. "But chere, you are not stopping the fight."
"That's because someone--again, namely you--didn't notify Sean and I that it was based on a bet until the seventh battle." Actually, she had known about the bet beforehand but waited so she could drag a confession out of Gambit. "Since the children were so adamant on continuing we decided that they could finish it for the sake of their egos."
Frost lived up to her name as she gave the slightly less confident man the unmistakable look that Gen X had nicknamed 'Frostbite.' Her cold steel eyes pierced his own red and black ones with enough chill to make the North Pole seem like a tropical desert in comparison. And that was saying a lot. "Now tell me why you were being so irresponsible before I make you dance around like a chicken, *oui? *"
***
"Sean got us two minutes to rest before the last fight." announced Everett.
"Thank-you, Irish!" Jubilee said before flopping onto the floor. "Hey Marrow! You going soft? We got the last two and we're gonna win the next!"
"Sorry I hit you." Paige apologized to Skin, "I thought you were Mystique in morph."
"No damage," he responded.
*4-5,* Chamber said. *Game point. We're losing.*
"Gee, Sparky, aren't you just roaring with positive energy today," commented Jubilee.
*No, and don't call me Sparky.*
"Yer right, I should just stick to 'roaring with energy.'"
*Sigh.*
"Don't be a grouch, Jono," Paige said. "We have a chance at winning the next one."
"Yeah," Jubilee smirked. "Maybe she should kiss you in the middle of the battle, then we'd win fer sure!"
*Jubilee!* Chamber growled.
"What?" She grinned innocently at his glowering stare.
Paige blushed while M just sighed in annoyance.
Stepping in Everett asked, "What do you think is next?"
"Dunno, maybe Marauders or something."
*Something we can hopefully beat.*
"Duh, we will." Jubilee quickly stood up. "What's left that we haven't? Don't worry."
Marrow's voice came over the speakers; "Time's up ya lazy brats. Last round!"
"Who're you callin' lazy-!" she started, but was cut off as the room was plunged into sudden darkness.
There was a moonless sky above them, and the silence hung like a choking blanket. Only a slight breeze dared to disturb the air around the alert teammates.
Everett took a small step forward and found that the ground was rough and loose, like sand. He looked towards Jubilee as she inhaled sharply in a soft gasp. Even though the night was dark enough to blind a bat, Everett could see her face turn pale as frost.
"Jubilee, what is it?" he asked.
Jubilee turned to him with an unreadable expression on her face, saying one word, "Worry."
End of Part 3
Part 3
By Ruby
"Here's the 410 plus 1," said Jubilee. "We fight ten battles against ten baddies that you decide on and we win at least half."
She, along with the rest of Generation X, Gambit and Marrow were at the Danger Room because of a bet between Marrow and Jubilee about Gen-X's fighting ability. For the last hour the teens had done some research on the X-Men's history and decided ten hard battles were better than fighting about a zillion small ones.
"Yeah. Ya lose a round when everyone 'dies.' If that happens, you're out 'til the next fight," Marrow answered with a poisonous smile.
"Pihh, we won't lose…but we want to know one thing: what do we get when we win the bet?"
"*When* you win? Try *if* you survive. What do ya want? Better not be something like cleaning the mansion."
"Nope. Just your respect and your apology." M and Angelo threw a quick glance to each other. Respect? Apology? That didn't sound like Jubilee.
"My apology? Maybe, but I don't just give away my respect to anybody that skips along the yellow brick road like an idiot."
"Oh, then eighty bucks."
"Eighty bucks? Do ya think I'm rich or something? Well, when I win I want ya to stay out of my way for the next two weeks you're here-do that anyway even if you actually *do* win."
"Deal. As they say on Celebrity Deathmatch: Let's get it on!"
Generation X got ready as Gambit and Marrow went to the control room that overlooked the Danger Room. The usually casual Gambit seemed agitated as they ascended.
"Chere, don' be too hard on dem, oui?" he asked.
Marrow glanced doubtfully at him; his mouth was set on a firm line. She continued walking and didn't say anything.
***
"Get ready," said Husk, "it should start-"
"Now," Marrow's voice growled over the speakers.
The whole room disappeared before Generation X's eyes and was replaced by a city area. The air held the stench of rotting garbage and smog. They were in an alley near a road that was filled with honking cars stuck in rush hour.
"Move it, you little son of a-" yelled one driver to the car in front of him.
"Just like the real thing." Skin commented as his eyes glanced at some suspicious looking figures across the street. A sudden loud roar that filled the air caused the team to look up.
"Sentinels!" shouted Everett. Three Sentinels descended from the sky like a great tidal wave of sound and metal about to crash. "Duck!"
"Quack!" Jubilee exclaimed as she narrowly missed being squashed like gum under a shoe.
A driver screamed in panic as he climbed out of his vehicle and leaped into a flat out run. Once the other people realized they wouldn't be able to drive away because of the gridlock, they poured out of their cars too. The terrified mob of humanity ran in every which direction other than towards the robots.
The streets were flooded with bodies trying to run around or over the teammates. Hoping to avoid being crushed by the oncoming wave Everett and Jubilee managed to climb onto a fire escape while the rest did their best to reach safer ground.
M flew behind one's head to try to disable it, but another Sentinel swatted her away into a brick wall. It left an imprint of her body once she freed herself.
"Come on, you guys! Remember your fighting techniques!" said Paige. She husked into steel and started punching the nearest Sentinel's foot. Skin and Chamber had also scaled the fire escapes to attack from the roof.
"Aim for the head!" ordered Everett as he synched with Jubilee and fired from a second story window.
*No problem,* said Chamber as he sent a blast of energy into it's chest. He stopped and stared at it for a second; its gaping 'wound' of sparking wires had created a kind of disturbing resemblance to Jono himself. But the Sentinel wasn't down yet and it aimed a ray towards him.
"Missed the eyes, amigo," Skin shouted as he wrapped its visual sensors with his skin. Blinded, the giant lump of metal did not know where to fire.
"Timber!" Paige declared as she finished mangling it's foot. As it fell down with a tremendous crash, Chamber sent a second blast to make sure it wouldn't get up.
Deciding that violence was the best possible solution, M had flown herself straight into its head and out its chest. It also fell down, and also did not get up.
Then there was only one left. Jubilee and Everett focused their powers on it and the resulting explosion blew off the Sentinel's head. The pieces of metal and debris fell like rain.
"Woo," Paige commented with wide eyes, "nice job."
"Not bad, but not good." Marrow said over the speakers. "You've one win."
"Yeah! We rock!" Jubilee cheered. The team grinned at their first victory and was pumped up on enough adrenaline to plow on to the next battle, confident that they would win. "So what's next?"
"Try and beat this…" she trailed off menacingly.
Their surroundings shifted again into a sort of valley filled with large rock formations and caves. A breeze whistled around them and they could smell the salty air of an ocean nearby.
"Whoa…" Husk whispered when she looked up. Generation X did so too, expecting a new threat, but they saw something else stunning.
The sky above them seemed to have exploded with millions of glowing stars, and two large greenish moons or planets hung above the horizon. Meteorite shot across space like flaming rain and the gravity seemed to have lessened a bit. The whole effect was very calming.
"This is nice," Jubilee murmured.
A screech sounded out from the darkness like a siren in a library. Suddenly dozens of insect-like *things* crawled out of the caves, leaving small trails of ooze or slobber.
"Madre de Dios! What is *that*?!" Skin shouted.
"The Brood," M responded. "Whom the X-Men called, appropriately, 'Sleazoids.'"
A Sleazoid leaped and landed on Skin. They fought for a moment. Skin fought the alien's teeth and claws, while the alien tried to get untangled from the mutant's, well, skin. But the winner was clearly going to be the Sleazoid.
It wrapped its jaws around his neck, and for a moment Angelo could feel the rows of razor sharp points pressing into his throat. He closed his eyes. Then the pressure lifted from his neck and the yards of skin that he had twisted around the Sleazoid suddenly felt empty air.
Upon opening his eyes Skin saw total darkness. Abruptly realizing that he was looking *in* down the alien's throat he quickly stepped back and saw that the thing went through him when it tried to touch him.
"Que?" He asked.
"Umm, I think you're dead," stated Everett as he glanced nervously at the advancing swarm. "I guess that means you won't be able to touch anything."
"Si."
The Sleazoid jumped at Skin again but went through him and landed on another Sleazoid. Surprised, the two beasts assaulted one another until they slashed each other to the ground. The Brood's attention momentarily shifted to the pair.
"Can I say 'Technicolor yawn?' Yup. Ugh…I *know* I'm gonna wake up hollerin' one night 'cause of that." Jubilee blanched. "Hey, they're distracted, none of us has the last name Weaver, I say we run. Anyone oppose?"
"Do we even need to waste time voting?" asked Everett.
"Good point. RUN!"
Realizing that the earthlings were getting away, the Brood launched its attack at Generation X with angered cries. With the team's combined powers they managed to destroy about a fourth of the Brood… but they lost regardless because of the monsters' ferocity.
***
Generation X fought seven more battles: Apocalypse (lost), Mojo (won), Phalanx (lost), Onslaught (lost), Dark Phoenix (lost), Juggernaut (won), and the old Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (won).
By this time, Generation X had built up a small audience in the control room. Emma and Sean were there, certainly, to watch their students, and also Wolverine, Kitty, Gambit and Kurt came to see them. The young team could hear the spectator's loud cheering through the thick glass after every win. Of course, Marrow's voice wasn't among those.
"So, Em," the headmaster of Massachusetts Academy said and beamed fondly at the students below. "How do ye think they're doing?"
"They could do better. After all that training they should have won five first." But despite the White Queen's criticism a slightly raised corner of her lips proved that she was proud at how Gen X was doing against the X-men's simulated old foes. Although when Marrow brought up the old Brotherhood for the teens to fight she had frowned as the simulated Emma was easily taken down by one punch from Chamber. Was the child mocking her by making Frost's Danger Room character weak? She would have to speak to the girl later.
"This is good practice for them, especially Everett and Jubilee since they seem to work very well together. I think the lass is going to win th' bet."
"Hmm, yes," she said lightly. Emma had never really approved of gambling or betting since she had once experienced first-hand the problems it could cause. "As well as our students are doing I don't approve of them making bets and arranging fights. Gambit, come over here."
Remy, who was watching from the corner, flashed an even smile and walked over. "Oui, cher-Mademoiselle?" he corrected himself when he remembered that it was Emma Frost he was addressing and not an ordinary casual acquaintance. Any disrespect on his part would surely be met with her ice-cold glare that could make a person worry about their livelihood.
He tried to be polite but he was met by *the stare* anyway. Sean shook his head and chuckled at the supposedly former thief's impending doom, he walked over to Marrow in hope that the girl would give the tired looking team a break.
"Gambit," Emma said his name again in a smooth voice that contrasted with her jagged look. "How well do you think Generation X is doing?"
"Dey are doing very good," he answered slowly, expecting a trap. "La petite is young, but she does well."
"I'm inferring that Jubilee is 'la petite,' and indeed she is young. And Marrow, given that she seems much older she is young too. Right?"
"Oui…"
"So don't you think that it is irresponsible that someone, namely you, who is much wiser and older allowed two teenagers to arrange a bet and fight without a thought on how their teachers would respond?" Her pleasant tone suddenly dropped a few degrees and hovered above absolute zero. "I want an answer."
"Gambit ain't old…" he tried to defend himself. "But chere, you are not stopping the fight."
"That's because someone--again, namely you--didn't notify Sean and I that it was based on a bet until the seventh battle." Actually, she had known about the bet beforehand but waited so she could drag a confession out of Gambit. "Since the children were so adamant on continuing we decided that they could finish it for the sake of their egos."
Frost lived up to her name as she gave the slightly less confident man the unmistakable look that Gen X had nicknamed 'Frostbite.' Her cold steel eyes pierced his own red and black ones with enough chill to make the North Pole seem like a tropical desert in comparison. And that was saying a lot. "Now tell me why you were being so irresponsible before I make you dance around like a chicken, *oui? *"
***
"Sean got us two minutes to rest before the last fight." announced Everett.
"Thank-you, Irish!" Jubilee said before flopping onto the floor. "Hey Marrow! You going soft? We got the last two and we're gonna win the next!"
"Sorry I hit you." Paige apologized to Skin, "I thought you were Mystique in morph."
"No damage," he responded.
*4-5,* Chamber said. *Game point. We're losing.*
"Gee, Sparky, aren't you just roaring with positive energy today," commented Jubilee.
*No, and don't call me Sparky.*
"Yer right, I should just stick to 'roaring with energy.'"
*Sigh.*
"Don't be a grouch, Jono," Paige said. "We have a chance at winning the next one."
"Yeah," Jubilee smirked. "Maybe she should kiss you in the middle of the battle, then we'd win fer sure!"
*Jubilee!* Chamber growled.
"What?" She grinned innocently at his glowering stare.
Paige blushed while M just sighed in annoyance.
Stepping in Everett asked, "What do you think is next?"
"Dunno, maybe Marauders or something."
*Something we can hopefully beat.*
"Duh, we will." Jubilee quickly stood up. "What's left that we haven't? Don't worry."
Marrow's voice came over the speakers; "Time's up ya lazy brats. Last round!"
"Who're you callin' lazy-!" she started, but was cut off as the room was plunged into sudden darkness.
There was a moonless sky above them, and the silence hung like a choking blanket. Only a slight breeze dared to disturb the air around the alert teammates.
Everett took a small step forward and found that the ground was rough and loose, like sand. He looked towards Jubilee as she inhaled sharply in a soft gasp. Even though the night was dark enough to blind a bat, Everett could see her face turn pale as frost.
"Jubilee, what is it?" he asked.
Jubilee turned to him with an unreadable expression on her face, saying one word, "Worry."
End of Part 3