The Dragon Tamer
(*Rating may change in later chapters* PG-13 for swearing and suggestive actions and words. P/OC (a little R/B) Comes into play after X:2. What are these dreams John's been having? And who is this new girl at the old mansion? (( ' Indicates thoughts))
Disclaimer: I do NOT own the original X-Men or the topic.
Chapter 9: Fun and Games
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Two more weeks went by without much happening. One afternoon the gang (minus Jubilee) was sitting in the living area talking. Suddenly Jubes entered the room and practically leaped with excitement. They all stopped and looked at her. "I have great news! The Professor says that we can go camping, just the eight of us! Tonight!" Everyone laughed and hugged happily then went up to pack. They had been talking about doing this for a while now. And finally they had consent.
Arriving to her room Amanda threw some clothes in a bag and looked what she was wearing at the moment. 'No, no, we are going to have to change this.' She rummaged through the clean clothes she had still in her drawer and pulled out a black pair of jeans and her new tan shirt. It looked like something a hippie would wear, with long and flowing sleeves. She loved it. Putting them on she checked herself out in the mirror, "Excellent."
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With one last look around to make sure he didn't forget anything, John closed his dorm door. Amanda, Marie, Jake, Jubes, Allen, Kaylin and Kitty were all waiting for he and Bobby outside. Bobby was at the top of the staircase waiting for him. "Ready?"
"Yeah." They headed outside and off.
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Getting there was fairly easy, despite all the baggage. The guys were given one tent and the girls were given one tent. With those, the food, the sleeping equipment (sleeping bags, sheets, and pillows) there was quite a bit to carry. They had driven for an hour to a rather secluded little forest and hiked until the reached a suitable camping type area. Storm had told them about it. It wasn't too big, but it was surrounded by trees and there were about five paths all around, so they could have a little fun.
After setting everything up and taking a long break, they ate lunch. While they ate Amanda was looking at a zoomed in map of the immediate area. There was a whole lot of green (trees, duh!), but there were also three medium sized blue splotches. 'Lakes' she thought, 'so that's why Ms. Munroe told us to pack swimming gear.' "Hey guys, I have an idea." Everyone stopped eating and listened. "According to this, there are a couple of lakes around here. Anyone up for a swim later?"
"That would be so much fun!" Jubilee exclaimed, she loved swimming. Kitty said she was wondering why they were told to pack that stuff, and that she was in. Everyone else pretty much agreed that it would be fun, except for Kaylin--"Actually, I think I would like to explore a little, you guys go without me."--After about five more minutes everyone was almost done, Kaylin had already headed off on a path. John grinned, 'she always loved a good adventure.' He sighed, pushed a chip around on his paper plate and observed the grounds. There were a couple of trees in the middle area, oak trees. But for the most part all of the trees were on the outside in a circle around them.
"John! Johnny?" He was forced to reality by his girlfriend's worried voice. "Huh?" She looked at for a couple more seconds. "Are you all right?" He laughed, "I'm fine Mandy." Amanda frowned, "You know I hate being called that.... anyway, go get your swimming shorts on, the others are already in the tents getting ready." He nodded with a smile and ran off towards the boys' tent, she did the same to the girls'. About ten minutes later everyone emerged fully clothed with a towel on one arm. Marie was paying attention to something under her towel when Kitty nudged her. She looked over at her and Kitty nodded her head towards the guys with a questioning look on her face. She looked over at them and raised an eyebrow. They all four had a rather malicious grin on their faces. 'What are they up to?' The other three girls had noticed as well, but they all shrugged and let it go. They would probably find out later anyway.
"Come on." Amanda started moving towards one of the paths on the right. They continued following the same path until they reached a small lake. She checked the map again, which had some information on it. "This is the Chellona Lake. It's the smallest of the three around here. It's about fifteen feet deep all around, twenty in some spots." That seemed to suit everyone because they almost immediately began stripping.
Bobby's swimming trunks were pale blue, and made of a silk-feeling material. John's were black with flames. Jake had on a pair that looked blue if you saw them in one direction, and black in another. Allen's were just plain red. She had never seen John with just shorts before, 'Damn' was all she could make out of it. He was even hotter than usual. She looked around at the girls. Marie's seemed to be a black bikini, but there was a see through, small-holed, net like material that formed long sleeves and leg coverings. 'To keep her from accidentally touching people or things in the water. It must really suck to be a fish that touches her.' Kitty's was a different story. It was a hot pink bikini and the top was mermaid-style (shells). Jubilee and she had one-pieces. Hers was black with a scrunchy style chest covering. The covering was scrunched at the center with a blue jewel and purple flames coming from it onto the fabric. Jubes' was orange with zippers running from the top of where each armpit was down to her belly button. If unzipped it seemed like her whole front torso would show. 'What the hell...?'
"Hey, Jubilee, um, why does your suit have zippers?" Her friend laughed and reached up, unzipping one of them. There was more fabric underneath. "It's just for design." The males in the group, who had been watching intently, all groaned at the news. Receiving multiple glares from their girlfriends. Marie reached underneath her towel and pulled out a pair of 'swimming' gloves. She barely had enough time to put them on before she felt a pair of strong hands on her hips and she went flying into the lake. When she surfaced she saw Allen, Jake, John, and her lovely boyfriend all laughing their asses off on the shore. She was about to yell some choice rants at them when a head popped out of the water next to her, then another and another a little closer to shore. 'So, they thought they'd just throw us all in huh?' She had to laugh, because it was funny, and because she could imagine what it must have looked like seeing all of them flail into the water. After a few moments and some yelling and shrieking from the other girls, the guys stopped laughing and joined them in the water, still smiling.
They all 'horsed' around for what must have been a half-hour, when something happened. Jake and John were racing to the shore and back when Jake began struggling with something. He was slowly going under. John looked at the others and yelled frantically, "He's being taken under water by something! I can't see it!" Jake was now completely under the water, and despite John's efforts, he couldn't save him. John swam as fast as he could over to the others and they waited.
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