Hey peoples, I just thought I'd take this time to explain a thing or two about Hydro's powers just so that I don't have to do any unnecessary explaining later.
As you've probably figured out by now Hydro's powers are water-based. First off he can control small bodies of water, by using this power he can do all sorts of things like say… increasing the water pressure under a hydrant to send it flying off the hinges. (Remember how he used that little trick on Freddy?)
Hydro can also turn his body into a water-like substance. While in "water-mode" (I still haven't thought of a better name for it yet) Hydro's body takes on all the basic physical properties of water. Solid objects can pass straight through him. He becomes malleable, meaning he can change the shape and size of his body. This allows him to do all kinds of crazy stuff like traveling through water pipes or simply expanding his body to huge proportions. Hydro can even fire streams of water from his arms no matter what "mode" he's in.
But with all of these fantastic abilities come a few setbacks as well.
For instance, Hydro's body has a different metabolism than most people. He requires much less food but much more water. Hydro only requires one meal every three days, yet he needs about
1 1/2 to 2 gallons of water a day to stay properly hydrated. And as anyone who's ever been dehydrated will tell you it reeeeeaaaaly sucks. Hydro, unlike the other mutants who "transform", can't just stay like that all day. It apparently takes a lot out of him and it can be difficult at time to change from one "mode" to the other.
When Hydro's normal though he has all the same weaknesses all of us have. He can be shot, stabbed, beat up, etc.
Hydro's uniform has a few special abilities as well.
(Remember I'm not talking about Hydro's X-men uniform) Basically it mimics Hydro's physical form. So when he's water his uniform is water and when he's flesh his uniform will solidify with him. This should prove pretty useful at times. But I'll explain more about that later.
Time for some fun with some of the new recruits, this is kinda long but it's got plenty of action. Hope you enjoy it.
"Training Day"
Inside of her room a mutant, her roommate, and two of her instructors, also mutants sit and wonder about something that's been troubling them. Or rather someone. All of them are in uniform as if they are getting ready for something.
"Is that all you can remember Rouge?" the Professor asked
"A-Ahm sorry but that's all. That's all I can remember." She said dejectedly
This young girl had just described memories…that didn't belong to her. They belonged to a stranger named Hydro.
This was her gift.
She could take something very precious from others. Something more precious than anything of monetary value. She could steal memories, thoughts, powers and abilities. She could take whatever made someone special and make it her own. Whatever anyone else could do she could do as well simply by touching them.
But with this gift came a price. She couldn't control this great power she'd been given. By coming in contact with others she could put their lives in jeopardy. Simply brushing up against someone could render them unconscious; coming into contact longer than a moment or two could put someone in a coma. Because of this her life was a secluded one. Even when around others she would always be isolated. She would always feel alone.
This was her curse.
At the moment her mind wasn't on her own problems it was on this stranger Hydro. He was the most recent people she had absorbed. Something was different about him, in more ways than one. Unlike those who she had absorbed before his memories were extremely difficult to remember. Normally the memories would come in very quick and unexpected flashes. As brief as they were the memories were always so vivid the images seemed like her own recalled experiences.
Not this time though. She had only one flash and it was very difficult to describe, but she tried her best. Everything was black; she couldn't see anything. She could hear though. She could hear the low murmur of voices. The sound of the voices soon changed to the sounds of what were probably power-tools whirring and buzzing, getting louder and louder. Then nothing. She was lucky to remember even that much though. A part of everyone else she had ever absorbed always stayed inside of her but not this time. Almost all of Hydro was out of her system.
"It's like the harder Ah try to remember the more Ah forget." Rouge explained
"So we're still completely in the dark about our new friend." Said the Beast
"It would appear so. I'm afraid that my mind probe was unable to find anything as well." said the Professor
"We couldn't find anything on Cerebro's computer either. No birth records, school records or addresses. Nothing. It's like he was born yesterday." Said Kitty
"It's as if he just fell out of the sky." Said Beast
Perhaps this was a mistake. Perhaps accepting this young man into this school was a mistake the Professor thought. Before he had the chance to ponder it further there was a knock at the door.
It was Logan and Scott also in uniform.
"It's time." Logan said
The Danger-Room 8:00 a.m. sharp
This had never happened before. Never before had all the instructors as well as all the students shown up to observe a Danger-Room session. The instructors were there on official business, not only to observe the new student but also to ensure the safety of all the students partaking in the exercises. The students however were mainly there out of curiosity, there were already so many rumors circulating about the new guy and now they could see for themselves what was really going on.
Down below four students known as Cannonball, Sunspot, Iceman and Berzerker waited patiently for things to kick off.
"Wow looks like the whole dang house showed up for this one." Sam said
"Cool. I work better in front of a crowd any way." Bobby shrugged
"Yeah… right." Ray said trading a look with Roberto
"What's taking so long anyway?" Roberto asked impatiently
"We're waiting for the new student remember?" Sam answered
"Oh yeah, psycho." Ray
"I thought his name was Hydro." Sam said confusedly
Ray rolled his eyes. "You now what I mean."
"Do ya really think he's crazy?"
"Come on man, you saw him the other day." Bobby said
"Why do you think everyone's here."
"Just in case he flips out again." Roberto said
His friend's comments weren't exactly putting Sam at ease. Needless to say his students also shared the Professors uneasiness about the newest recruit. Hydro hadn't exactly made the best first impression on everyone and the four weren't looking forward to living with him let alone training with him. The Professor had explained however that this training session would help to prove if Hydro was trustworthy or not as well help establish bonds. In the Danger-Room there was no such thing as "every man for himself". They would have to rely on each other and this was easier said than done.
The boys weren't the only ones getting impatient; high up above them in the observation deck someone else was wondering about Hydro's being fashionably late.
"He was supposed to be here on time." Logan growled, "What's up with this kid Charles? He get cold feet?"
"I seriously doubt that." The Professor answered, "He seemed to be looking very forward to this training session. Also he's been very enthusiastic about learning to control his powers."
"Well he wasn't looking forward to the dress code." Cyclops said
"Really? Why?"
"Dunno. He seemed really attached to that other suit of his though."
Back down below the doors to the Danger-Room were opening. The boys quickly turned their attention and stopped all conversations. The tense moment was soon followed by a shared feeling of relief. It wasn't Hydro it was Amara.
"Amara, I didn't know you were training with us." Sam said
"Yeah I thought you were sitting this one out." Ray said
"Well I'm not. I decided that I want to train instead. Okay?!"
The boys just looked at each other. Hanging out with Tabitha and Jean had definitely made Amara a lot more assertive; not that she needed to be.
"Does anyone have a problem with that?" She said putting her hands on her hips.
"No your majesty." The all answered unenthusiastically.
"Good." She chirped
Once again the door was opening. And a shadowed figure emerged.
This time it was Hydro n an X-men new recruit uniform. All eyes were on him. Icy glares or not he had made it this far and there was no stopping now. This was the only first of many tests he would face. He had come too far. It was time to get down to business.
1st Exercise
"This exercise will test your speed and agility" the Professor began, "as well it will prepare you for some scenarios you might find yourself in…"
Hydro stared intently up into the tower where his instructor was briefing him. Paying close intention to every single word. Behind him his fellow trainees were whispering and snickering amongst themselves. They really didn't need to listen to the Professors instructions anyway, they had been in this simulation before; besides the Professor was speaking more to Hydro than he was to them.
"…avoid the paintballs until time is up." The Prof. continued "Now is everyone ready?"
"Ready." The six except for Hydro answered. Hydro gave a simple nod.
"Alright the exercise will begin…"
The guns lowered from the ceiling and took aim.
"Now!"
Immediately the five students that participated in this exercise before scrambled around the room in different directions, as Hydro tried his best to keep up. The five guns turrets began to fire, trying to keep up with the youthfully quick students as they ran, dodged and rolled about the room. They weren't quite fast enough to keep up with the agile teens as long as they kept moving until the sixty-second time limit was up. If the paint cannons locked on to them however then running wouldn't help.
Half of the time had passed and so far things were going good. No one had been tagged by the canary-yellow spheres yet. From the observation deck the students looked like roaches running with the lights on as the paint zoomed in every direction. The room soon became polka dotted with the missed attempt of the guns. Even the new student was doing a fairly impressive job, until Magma zipped across his path. The gun that fired at her barely missed her heels, but left a small puddle that Hydro didn't see in time to stop himself from slipping on it. Once down the cannons almost immediately noticed the lack of movement from one of the targets, and proceeded to focus their attention on Hydro.
Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
"Time!"
The exercise was over. And all but one student didn't have one drop of paint on their person.
Hydro slowly picked himself of the floor. He was drenched in paint to the point where he was dripping on the floor. As he swiped away two globs of paint from his eyes, his teammates did their best to stifle their snickering. Even the Professor himself had to fight back a smile.
2nd Exercise
"This next exercise focuses on teamwork and coordination as a group." Said the Professor
Hydro used his powers to wash the last of the paint off of his brand-new uniform and then walked towards the observation deck to receive his instructions on the next training sequence.
"It's important to work together during this sequence if you hope to complete it successfully."
Iceman, Cannonball and Berzerker traded sly glances; they knew what was coming.
Sunspot and Magma looked at them confusedly.
"Alright, what are you three smiling about?" Roberto asked
"We've been in this exercise before." Sam whispered
"And we totally aced it." Bobby added
"Really?" Amara asked
"Yeah, us and Jubilee." Ray answered
Ray turned and gave wink to Jubilee up on the deck; she returned the wink and gave a quick thumbs-up for luck, making sure no one saw her. What happened that day was still their little secret as long as Jamie didn't say anything. He wouldn't though; he tried not to bring it up so that the others wouldn't remember they still owed him one.
"Just follow our lead and this'll go real smooth." Bobby said
Ray nudged Bobby to stop talking. It was about this time that the others noticed Hydro was looking at them. He was a little too far to hear what they were saying, but still. Amara felt that same uncomfortable feeling that she felt the last time she had looked at those eyes. Her friends could feel it too. It wasn't so bad this time though. The first time his eyes were so cold, there was no feeling, no life in them. This time it was different, his eyes had a little emotion to them now. In fact he even seemed a little sad about something. Whether he was upset about the first exercise or if he always looked that way they didn't now, or particularly care.
"Is everyone ready?" the Prof. asked
"Oh yeah." Iceman answered for everyone
"Good. This exercise will begin…now!"
With that Beast activated the sequence and the center of the floor began to open. From it emerged a wide flat metal base. Four large metallic tentacles shot forth from the base and whizzed upwards until they reached their full length, which nearly touched the ceiling of the vast room. After about a second the tentacles sped at the students. Once again the young mutants scrambled about the room.
The tentacles were much faster than the paintball-guns and definitely more dangerous. But the students would be hard to catch, especially since the first exercise had given them a good warm-up. Two of the tentacles had managed to herd Cannonball into a corner. With him cornered they moved in for the attack. Sam had been in this situation before and they weren't gonna get him this time.
He crouched down and at waited for just…the right…moment.
SHOOOOM! CLANG!
Sam shot straight up causing the two tentacles to slam into each other.
He then ricocheted of the ceiling and into another one of the tentacles.
"Go Sam!" Kitty cheered
"Alright Sam." Bobby encouraged
Not everyone was doing quite so well; Roberto was fighting off one of the tentacles all by himself.
As usual Roberto had managed to let his confidence in his powers cloud his judgement. He had went away from the game plan and found himself isolated. This wouldn't have been that bad if they were out in open daylight but Roberto had managed to soak up only so much sunlight before coming into the Danger-Room. Wrestling with the very powerful tentacles would exhaust his energy and fast.
"Get offa me you stinking…" He threatened
Out of the corner of his eye Sunspot saw another tentacle charging at him. "Great." He thought to himself, there was no time to push the first one off.
BZZZZAAPT!
A well-placed electric blast made the charging tentacle recoil.
"Thanks Ray." Sunspot grunted as he finally tossed the attacking tentacle off of him.
"No prob." He shrugged, "Just stick to the plan."
Unfortunately one person didn't know the game plan. Using the same herding technique they used on Cannonball one of the tentacles snatched up Hydro. No one was in a big hurry to help either.
That was okay, Hydro wasn't going quietly. After pulling off his gloves he began firing streams at each of the tentacles. This was successful in temporarily stunning the tentacles, which made them back off from the other students but not quite strong enough to do any real damage.
Suddenly the tentacles started going into their "spin cycle" and started rotating around the room faster and faster. This made it impossible to aim. Hydro in frustration started punching and kicking at the tentacle that had him caught in it's grip. The tentacle then responded by freeing its grip and flung Hydro into the observation deck's front window with a loud SMACK!
Everyone in the deck flinched a bit when Hydro made contact. He stuck to the window for a moment like fly on a windshield; his face pressed up against the glass, before slowly sliding down which made a slight screeching sound. He then fell on the Danger-Room floor with a thump.
"Now let me get this straight." Wolverine said turning to Scott, Jean and the others.
"It took all five of you to take this guy down?"
Kitty, Rouge, Jean and Scott all looked a bit embarrassed. His poor performance was making them look bad.
"Well…" Jean began
"Um…" Kitty said
Rouge just looked down at the floor, rubbing her arm and shoulder.
"He wasn't exactly in a good frame of mind when it happened, you know?" Scott explained
"He seemed kind of out of it at the time."
"Huh, well he oughta be out of it more often" Wolverine said, "This is getting hard to watch."
"Professor are you really serious about letting him be a part of the team." Kurt asked
"This guy's hopeless Professor, you might as well face it." Spyke added
"Perhaps", the Professor said turning to his students "But the least we can do is give him a chance. After all not all of us did so well when we first came here. Everyone needs a chance sometimes. Correct?"
Kurt and Evan were reminded of the fiascoes they were in the middle of when they first came to the institute. When they were feeling like things weren't going to work out, when they felt like giving up on themselves, it took the faith others put in him to keep from quitting. I they didn't have someone to believe in them who knows were they'd be now.
"Yes." They both answered
Back down below the others were wrapping thing up, literally.
The students had managed to tangle the tentacles by crisscrossing paths. Now it was time to move in for the kill. A powerful blast of ice froze the squirming tentacles solid. With that Magma and Berzerker used their own abilities to topple two of the towering appendages.
"Ready Sam?" Roberto said
"Ready!" Sam said
Roberto and Sam had been practicing for days now and had finally perfected their special move, "the Fastball Special"! Using his incredible strength Sunspot lifted up Cannonball in to the air by his feet. He then hurled Cannonball at the desired tentacles, Cannonballs powers kicked in and thanks to the added momentum his speed was so great that the tentacles shattered upon impact.
The explosion was followed by many high fives and pats on the back. Everything was going great for… almost everyone.
Final Exercise
"This will be your final exercise for today. You've all done very well. You should be proud." The Professor said
All the students had smiles full of pride on their faces, all but one.
Hydro who only earlier that day seemed so enthusiastic about taking part in the Danger-Room and only a few minutes ago was paying such close attention now had his eyes pointed downward. Perhaps he was giving up; perhaps the institute wasn't the answer he was looking for.
"This is a new exercise and none of you have ever partaken in it. So be prepared."
"No problem." Iceman shrugged
"We can handle whatever you throw at us." The equally cocky Sunspot said
"Okay…" Beast said activating the sequence
The ground beneath the students began to shake violently as if Avalanche had decided to pay them a visit. This wasn't Avalanche though; Avalanche was a walk in the park compared to this. From underneath them rose a 15-foot tall robot, equipped with a heavy arsenal of anti-super power weaponry including to large cannons mounted on its arms as well as two smaller cannons at it's sides.
This creation somewhat resembled the same destructive monster they had encountered once before, only smaller and not nearly as deadly. All of the students backed away slowly.
"No problem, yeah sure." Berzerker muttered
"Ready?" Beast asked the students
"Uh…" Iceman stuttered
"Y-yeah, were ready." Sunspot said finally speaking up
The others just nodded slowly.
"Good." Beast smiled
The now activated automaton eyes lit up as it jumped to life. Wasting no time it immediately opened fire on the students with low energy laser blasts. The students separated to opposite corners of the room and surrounded the Bot. Now it was their turn to return fire. Magma, Hydro, Iceman and Berzerker hit the Bot from all sides but were having little effect. Like the tentacles this creature had a weak point somewhere, the only problem was no one knew what it was.
One of the Bot's side cannons aimed out at Berzerker and fired a bolo that quickly wrapped around him, knocking him of balance and flat on his back. Seeing his helpless teammate Cannonball leaped out at the Robot and sped towards it like a missile. He hadn't prepared on the robot being able to bend over backwards though. The automaton easily evaded Cannonball's attack. Cannonball was unable to stop himself and slammed into the Danger-Room wall. The impact shook the entire room.
This momentarily disoriented the students long enough for the huge Robot to grasp Iceman in its clutches. With his arms being held down all Iceman could do is struggle in vain to free himself.
Magma who was getting steadily more angry decided it was time to turn up the heat. Her body became engulfed in flames, now she could really let loose.
The robot was not concerned with her at the moment it was concerned with Hydro who was standing directly in front of the mechanical beast firing full-blast with both arms. This kind of force could punch a hole through a wall, but it was barely slowing the robot down. Even Sunspot who had jumped on the robot's back and was trying desperately to pull its head down was unable to stop it.
"Get out of the way." Iceman yelled at Hydro
Hydro didn't budge. He wasn't backing down and he wasn't running.
ZZZZZaaaap!!!
Hydro took a blast dead center to his chest and at close range too. Hydro flew across the room and into a wall.
"Oh man." Sunspot groaned
At this time things really seemed hopeless. They were going to fail this test for sure. Berzerker was writhing on the floor still trying to get untangled, Sam was half out of it, and Hydro was completely out of it. Bobby had managed to freeze the robots fist, Magma had melted one of its feet to the floor, and Sunspot had damaged the head a bit. Still it was only a matter of time before they would be taken out too.
Hydro was still on the floor and in complete disbelief. He failed. Every single test.
He failed…
Suddenly something in him snapped. Like a switch inside of him was flipped. Maybe it was the pain, or maybe just frustration. He let loose.
Hydro used all his strength to lift himself up and on his feet. Something had taken control of him. Something powerful. Something he couldn't control.
Slpooosh!
Hydro morphed into his water form and literally exploded out of his suit and at the robot. He slowly grew and grew until he was eye to eye with the machine. The description that those who had seen this side of Hydro had given didn't give the real thing justice. His body only retained it most basic form in its watery enlarged state, but it had no definition or texture, it was just water. Arms, legs, a torso, the only thing that still resembled Hydro were his braids, which were water as well.
Hydro reached an arm back and took a mighty swing that staggered the machine. Another blow sent the machine reeling backwards. It was at this time that the hand that still had Iceman in its grip shattered from the force of Hydro's punches. Finally free Iceman proceeded to freeze one of the Bot's legs. Now there was no escape. Reaching deep down into his own strength Roberto ripped the head of the monster which used up the last of his strength. Now the monster just needed to be finished off. Hydro used a two-handed swing that sent the robot's torso flying from its melted and frozen legs.
The exercise was over. They had passed. Needless to say everyone was a bit surprised, and a bit impressed.
"Well done." The Prof. said, "Well done."
Bobby helped out Ray to free himself as Roberto and Sam gathered their bearings. Just as everyone was on their way out for a well deserved rest Hydro powered down. Everything stopped.
"BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!"
The Danger-Room erupted in laughter at the sight of Hydro. Hydro just stared confusedly.
"Jeez…" Logan groaned
Everyone wasn't laughing, mainly it was just the young males. (Except for Rhane) The young ladies looked a bit shocked. Beast just shook his head; Evan and Kurt were rolling on the floor and Storm just put a hand over her face in disbelief. What was so funny?
Then Hydro remembered something. He wasn't wearing his normal uniform. So when he expanded his body he completely destroyed his clothes…and he was totally naked. You couldn't tell when he was in water mode. Realizing this he did his best to cover up his bare skin, which was blushing under his dark skin.
"I… believe that's enough for today… could someone please get Hydro his uniform… please?" the Prof. said
Maybe… Hydro thought, maybe… this wasn't such a good idea.
Next Time: It's just and ordinary day in Bayville. The X-girls take Hydro shopping.
The B.O.M. goes to a football game. And more fun with the new mutants.
Plus: Quality time with Magneto! Yay!!!