Part II: Westchester Mall, later that afternoon…

"We really should've held out for the Mercedes," Kitty complained as the girls wandered through the Juniors section of one of the stores.

"Better not push our luck," Rogue said. "And did you have to tell Mr. Summers I needed pajamas?"

"It's impossible to explain to a guy that girls just go to the mall to shop without buying anything! And you do need pajamas!" Jubilee added.

"I have—"

"—You have a worn-out nightgown with several slash-marks through it, and you're gonna need better than that tonight!" Nadine Sanderson pointed out.

Kitty giggled, "You make it sound like she needs lingerie!"

"You know what I meant! She needs to cover up a little better in case any of the guys get friendly!" Nadine winked and all the girls took the cue to make raunchy noises.

"Won't Mr. Summers wonder why we spent all day at the mall for one person's pajamas?" Charlotte Larson asked.

"I saw Ms. Grey laughing at us; she'll explain it all to him," Jubilee replied. "Hey, here we go: pajama sets. Ooh, Rogue, how about hot pink!"

"I don't think so!"

"Rogue looks good in pale pink," Kitty pointed out. "But that color could blind Cyclops!"

"Helloo! Check out these green silk ones!"

"You plannin' on loanin' me eighty dollars to pay for 'em, Jube?"

"Okay, moving on, what about flannel? You always complain that our room's too cold, ooh, and these are fuzzy!"

The girls clustered around the fuzzy blue pajamas that Jubilee was holding up. Rogue held them up to her arm and everyone eyed them critically. "The color's good on you," "They're nice and soft!" "Those are a definite 'maybe,'" "Try 'em on!" "Yeah, model 'em first!"

Rogue slipped into the fitting room and came out a few minutes later to twirl around under her friends' inspection. "Definitely yes." "How much?" "Who cares, I say get 'em!" "Ooh, look at these fuzzy slippers!"

"No fuzzy slippers!" Rogue exclaimed, but everyone pounced on the blue bunny rabbit slippers that Jubilee had found.

"Aw, come on, Rogue, they're so cute!" "They match the pajamas!" "They cover your ankles really well, too!" "Did I mention boys love fuzzy slippers?" "You've got to, Rogue, they're perfect!"

Rogue gave in, and her classmates pronounced her fully-outfitted for sleeping. "Now what?" Kitty asked as they left the sleepwear section.

"How about some fuzzy gloves?" Nadine teased.

"How 'bout we outfit someone else!" Rogue exclaimed, bored with being the other girls' Barbie Doll.

"We're all outfitted now," Kitty announced, "Let's go pick up some supplies for tonight's…festivities." With shrieks and giggles, the girls headed off into the mall.

***

The O-Dome Arena, same time…

"MAX-IE!! MAX-IE!!" Amid the crowd's roar of excitement, Maxie the Bonecrusher threw his opponent out of the ring for the last time. The buzzer sounded and all the boys leaped to their feet, screaming at the top of their lungs. Maxie threw a chair on top of Al the Sledgehammer's motionless body, then stomped out of the ring.

"Man, that was awesome!" John Allerdyce screamed into Remy LeBeau's ear.

"Ya know, I'll bet even Wolverine would have a hard time beating Maxie!" Allen Corde screamed back.

"Nah, Logan could beat anybody!" Bobby Drake shouted as they made their way through the frenzied throng out of the Arena.

"I could take Logan!" Andy Harner said. "I could take Maxie and Al too!"

"With your power, you mean? Aw hell, if we were gonna use powers, then I could take Logan!" Bobby replied, "Shoot, most of us could, as long as your power let's ya hit 'im from a distance."

"No way would I let him get him get within arms reach of me! Snikt!" Allen released imaginary claws from his hands with a rather realistic sound effect.

"Rogue said Logan was fighting for a living when she met him in Canada," John said. "She swore you could hear the metal clang when he hit people!"

"Dang, what I wouldn't give to see him in a real brawl!" Andy exclaimed, rubbing his hands together, "He could head-butt the Sledgehammer without even getting a bruise!"

"Hell, he could knock the Bonecrusher unconscious with a head-butt!" Remy agreed.

"Yeah, but I could still take 'im!"

"Shaddup, Bobby!"

***

The boys stopped by the grocery store on their way home. "Hey, it's a new cashier!" John hissed. The other boys dove behind a display as Remy carried two sixpacks of beer towards the checkout.

"Hope she's as delinquent as the other guy was," whispered Bobby.

"Shh! I can't hear what they're saying!"

"He's putting the beer down, playin' it cool…"

"Oh crap! She's looking at him weird!"

"Please don't check his ID, please don't check his ID..."

"She's asking him something. Damn! She wants an ID."

"Talk fast, Remy!"

"Come on, you can do it, Remy—why's he leaning on the register like that?"

"He's trying to sweet-talk her. It's not working."

"Maybe he should try speaking French!" (Snicker) "Shh!"

"She's…oh boy…she's picking up the phone and giving Remy a dirty look!"

"What do we do now?"

"Uh…run!" The boys bolted from the store, Remy in tow, and fled back to the mansion. "Man, the girls would've been so surprised if we'd managed to get beer to the party tonight!" Bobby groaned, punching the back of Remy's chair.

"Not my fault she was a fine upstanding citizen!" Gambit complained.

"We'll just have to Implement Plan B," John replied, leaning back casually.

"What's Plan B?" Andy asked.

Bobby exchanged a sly grin with John before saying, "You'll see."

*****

To Be Continued…

*****

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