Hey~

Hey~

I'm getting closer and closer to the 30 review mark ::squeal:: and couldn't be more thrilled! =) In celebration and thanking, this chapter…extra long (not really, only by a little bit, but still =) You don't know how happy I am! I literally sit in front of my computer for hours, just staring at the reviews! J/k, lol, but I do check quite often and am thrilled to the max with every new review! Please keep it up, you can bet that I will (writing and squealing that is lol)! Oh and soon, very soon, I will reveal to you, dun dun dun, the description of the mutant I affectionately called "the animal" (He has a real name, code name, whatever, and it will be reavealed!) Patience… lol! By the way, Is anyone else having like the toughest time uploading things? Like I have Microsoft word and I save it in web page form, but I get the message that it doesn't end in html or whatever (btw it does =)) You don't have to respond, I'm just voicing what happens because this is the like 300th time I've tried to load this chapter, sooooo I'm a bit uh…perterved.

Disclaimer: I do not now, have never, but will (for that is my life goal =P lol), own X-Men Evolution. Do you think that it'll happen? =)

The trip back into the real world was a long and arduous one. After many stops and detours, Kitty finally arrived. Her eyes fluttered open and she tried to clear her vision…actually turn it from double back into single. Her head was throbbing and her mind cloudy. She had to fight constantly to stay afloat in the sea of darkness, which threatened to take her under once again. She, fortunately, won the battle and, slowly, turned her head around to try to make sense of what had happened and where she was.

The first thing she noticed was that she was enclosed in a glass cubical, along with the others that were captured. Outside the cubical, Kitty noticed that the apparently large, warehouse like room contained many machines, all foreign to her. It was sparsely furnished, with two metal chairs positioned about ten feet from the cubical. The roof was about fifty feet off the floor and was supported by metal columns. There was no one in the room, for what Kitty could see (which wasn't much for her head was throbbing), though there was what appeared to be a door about 15 feet to the right of Kitty, on the wall that the cubical was sitting up against.

Kitty tried to phase through the glass.

"Oww!" Her attempt was unsuccessful. Either she was to drained to use her powers or the glass wasn't just glass.

She decided that, rather than trying to take care of the things on the outside of the clear prison, she should check on those inside. She hurried over to the X-Man that was closest to her. Cyclops. He was pale and a little cold, but alive. His suit had been slashed to ribbons and he had a large gash in his arm. It had been crudely sewn up, without much care, and was not cleaned, for there was visible dirt in the wound. There was also a small cut on the back of his hand. This one was also sewn up, with the same amount of care as the other, but the cut was very straight and precise. Almost like an…incision. Kitty touched Scott's arm. She quickly checked the vitals of the other X-Men, assessing their injuries. She noted that all were alive, yet unconscious, but none suffered as extensive an injury as Scott, so she hurried back to him.

"Scott," Kitty muttered. She touched his cut on his arm trying to pick some of the rocks out of it. As she started this process, she noticed something on her own hand. A cut, identical to Scott's. She stood up and walked over to Ororo, who was next to Scott and still unconscious, and looked at her hands. Same thing. She checked the rest, who were all still unconscious, and all had the same mark on their hands. There was no way that they could have identical marks by coincidence. She proceeded to try to wake the others up. Deciding that she would have the best shot at arousing Spike first, for he looked to have the least abrasions.

"Spike…Spike…Evan!" The words were whispered, but the volume and urgency of Kitty's voice escalated with each word. She shook him, but received no response.

"Come on! You, like, have to get up!" She shook him again. This time, she got a response. It was a groan, but at least he was waking up.

"Uhhhh…" Evan stirred.

"Evan?" Kitty said anxiously as she shook him gently, trying to coax him back into consciousness.

"Yo…What happened?" Spike's eyes slowly opened. He looked with surprise at Kitty as she helped prop him up on the wall of the cubical.

"Oh my God! I am, like, so happy that your alright!" she hugged him kinda hard.

"Hey Kit, watch it. I'm not quite at hugging capacity yet." He groaned, "Now, where are we?"

"I don't really know…I was sorta out of it too." She made a motion to the others, "I don't think they will be of much help on that topic either, even if they wake up within the next century."

"You wanna try to wake them? Scott's hurt pretty bad though." Kitty helped Evan to his feet. They each took a different person, Kitty took Jean and Evan took Ororo.

"Come on Auntie O, you gotta get up now," he shook his aunt, very gently at first, but gradually escalated. Storm got a wake up call, but it wasn't pleasant.

"Evan?…What are you doing?" Storm rubbed the back of her head where she had hit it on the tree as she, with Evan's aid, sat herself up.

"Just being your friendly little wake up boy, but I don't really want to pursue the career." Evan tried to joke to lighten the mood. Ororo wasn't affected.

"How are the others?" she looked around and, at the sight of the other, forced herself to her feet. She hurried over to Rogue, who was unattended at the moment, for Kitty was still fussing over Jean, who was fighting to return to reality.

"Rogue…Rogue…You've got to wake up," Ororo spoke gently, but her voice commanded Rogue to return. She brushed the hair out of Rogue's fluttering eyes and tried again.

"Rogue, it's time to come back, time to get up." Storm's gentle voice was all that was needed to wake the sleeping girl.

"Ahhh, my head…Storm? Wha' happened? I, I can't remember." Rogue tried to push herself up, but forced down by a wave of dizziness. She groaned in discomfort.

"It's alright, you will be fine. Just rest." Rogue nodded in consent, and laid her head down and closed her eyes.

Ororo gently stroked Rogue's cheek in a motherly fashion before moving on to question Kitty, who had Jean sitting up, but Jean's eyes were still closed.

"Kitty" Ororo touched the shoulder of the girl who was crouching by Jean to notify Kitty of Storm's presence behind her. "How is everything?" Storm's eyes quickly ran Kitty up and down. She had a nasty bruise forming on her forehead, she had multiple, though most superficial, cuts all over her, some penetrating her suit.

"Well," Kitty started languidly, "As you, like, probably know, Evan (who was at the time tending to Scott, trying, in vain, to arouse him.) seems to be fine, Scott is still unconscious, looks like he's lost a lot of blood. He has a deep cut that has been sewn up but, like, not very correctly. He's got a lot of stuff in it, and that can't be good. He's still out cold, like, what are we going to do? And look!" She showed Storm the incision on her hand. "Everyone has them, you too!" Storm glanced at her hand, "What are they? I don't understand, and I…I don't like that!" Kitty was on the verge of tears, though she tried valently to keep her composiour.

"Shhhh child, we will find figure something out. Now go. Rest." Storm pointed to where the others, as well as Spike, were huddled, sleeping/being unconscious. Kitty reluctantly obey, gently sitting herself down so as not to further aggravate her already aggravating injuries.

Ororo walked over to the glass wall that was facing the majority of the warehouse. She stared out, making the same observations that Kitty had, but nothing had quite set in yet. She turned around and looked at the other X-Men who were now sleeping somewhat peacefully. Ororo hated that they had been put through this. She didn't even know what this was. Her head was throbbing, she couldn't think. She put her hands to her face and, leaning against the clear wall, sank to the floor. She joined the others in dream land shortly.

Ororo awoke to the sound of something being thrown into the cubical. She searched with her eyes for the cause of the noise, mentally checking that all the children were alright. Her eyes passed from one to the other, assuring herself, until she came upon one that was not present when she had fallen asleep. She got up quickly and made her way over to the figure, lying face down on the floor, fear escalating as she reached him. She gasped.

"Professor,"

So, what you guys think about it? Yay, Nay? Pullllleeeeaaassseee R/R I'll be forever grateful and worship you all (well…have to reconsider that one lol) but do review pullleaaaasse all comments welcome, but please be kind (as all of you have which makes my life a hell of a lot easier thanx =) )