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 11: Evil Has Many Forms
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John stood there watching the bushes, starting to remember bits and parts of his dream. (Don't you hate when that happens?) He didn't remember the ending, but he did remember this part. The rabbit sprung out full force, and he tried to move out of the way before it could trip him. Too late. For the third time he hit the ground. 'Damnit, don't I ever learn from my mistakes?' He stood up, brushing himself off. "Hurt yourself?" It was Amanda, he had almost forgotten she was there. "Not really, it just shocked me a little." She smiled, "I hope you're rested up, because all this darkness is giving me the creeps. I don't know if you noticed or not, but the moon is completely covered up." He nodded noticing that it was really dark. "Good, then lets go catch up to the others." She walked over and looped his arm, giving him the queer sensation of deja vu all over again. As they silently walked towards the path an eerie feeling swept over him. He still couldn't remember how the dream ended, but he knew it had to do something with this path.
"Are you sure you want to catch up to them at all? I mean, we could chill back under the tree. Or even go back to the campsite and just be alone." John tried his hardest to sound like he was being romantic, and not just freaking out. Amanda saw right through it. "Are you all right? Come on, loosen up. Why are you so tense all the sudden? I just heard Marie's voice a few minutes ago, they can't be too far ahead." He gave her his best reassuring smile and once again they headed down the dark path.
He was about to say something to her about his dream, when he realized she wasn't walking anymore. Glancing at her face he saw she was staring at the sky with widened eyes and her mouth partly open. Once again feeling this had happened before; he followed her gaze to find the creature once again. Just like that his dream came back to him. He pulled out his lighter and flicked it. Nothing happened. 'WHAT THE HELL!? WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?' He looked up just in time to see the cat-like creature swoop down and grasp his girlfriend. John threw his arms around her waste, not wanting to let go. Something shot into his arm and he was forced to let her go. That's when he noticed there was a rider on the creature, a big fellow, and bald too. Panicking, John looked up into Amanda's face. A silent tear was streaming down her delicate cheek as she attempted to bring forth her power, but this was to no avail, nothing could save her. "JOHN! IT'S NOT WORKING!" This time she hadn't asked for his help, having seen that his lighter didn't work.
Out of nowhere the cat-creature let out a piercing roar and swished it's tail around. Or rather, it tried to swish it's tail, but the tail was frozen. John snapped his head to the right and saw Bobby running up the path. The creature took off in panic, faster than the boys could stop it. It had Amanda in its talons still. Bobby looked at John, breathing hard from running. "My dream came back to me after I heard that thing fly over us. I'm sorry man, I couldn't save her." John bowed his head and put his hand over his eyes, struggling not to shed the tears that he had been fighting off since the thing first arrived. "I couldn't either..."
"What the hell is that?" Marie had, at some point, run up to them. They noticed she was watching something in the shadows. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the red eyes. Immediately he grabbed both their arms and started running the direction the flying-cat had gone off to (forward, where they were headed to begin with). "Run! I don't know what that is, but I'm betting it isn't nice. In my dream it was about to attack."
"What dream?" Bobby looked at his girlfriend as they ran, she was confused. Really confused. "We'll explain when there's time. For now just run! John, where are we going?"
"To find Amanda! That thing has her, and I'm not about to let it keep her!"
After a few minutes of running they ran into Jubilee, Jake, Kitty, and Allen, all seeming to be waiting for them. Without explaining anything they grabbed them and got them to run as well.
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Mystique transformed back into herself. Smiling the whole time. 'So he thinks he's going to save her eh? Well, we'll just have to tell Leon about that.' She reached into a bag at her feet and pulled out a communicator. She pushed a red button on the side and spoke into it, "Erik. Tell Leon the girl's little friends are on their way to 'rescue' her." Adding sarcasm to the word 'rescue' she waited for the return.
A few moments of static went by before, "Done." She smiled again, but it faded after a few moments. "You don't think Raptor expects what's sure to happen do you?" The voice laughed on the other end, "Of course not, he's like Sabortooth was, all muscles, no brains. He wouldn't be smart enough to think that far ahead." Her smug smile returned as she headed towards their next destination.
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'Where are they?' Kaylin was still sitting at the picnic table, beginning to worry about her new friends. Something inside told her that everything was not fine. They had left her a note telling her which path they took, and she was thinking about going after them. 'What if something happened? That's it, I've got to go. I'll leave a note too, that way if they come back through some other path, they'll know where to find me.' She quickly scribbled something down below Marie's handwriting and set out after the others.
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John leaned up against the building, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat off his face with his shirt. The others were going through similar actions. He looked down at the piece of cloth in his hands; it was from Amanda's sleeve. They must have ran for at least two miles, stopping for a few minutes here and there. When they came to this building--which seemed to be located in the dead center of the whole forest--they found this on the ground. He wasn't sure if she cut it off to let them know where she was, or if the talons had torn it off. But either way, it told them what they needed to know.
"Are we gonna do this or what?" Allen was looking around, ready to go in, get her out, and get away from this place. John and Bobby looked at each other. They had explained everything, even the dreams, to the others. To their surprise everyone believed them, and was pretty much willing to do this. They all put their heads together and decided that they would find a way to get her out of there and back where she belongs. Marie sighed; she wanted very much to have Wolverine, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Storm here to help them. But she knew there was no time to go back to the school. She could only hope Professor X could sense something was wrong, and send them. "Let's go." Was all she could get out before John began looking for a way in. "Over there!" They all looked at Jake and saw that he was pointing to an open window not too far from where they were standing. John gathered up his courage, walked over to it, and was about to climb in before someone grabbed his arm. "Don't!" Everyone looked at Kitty, "It might be a trap."
"Yes, or it might be a way in. We'll never know if we don't go, will we?" He shook her off and made his way into the darkness. Just after he got in he tried to look around, but it was pitch black. Not a hint of light at all, besides the window behind him. He turned around to give them the ok, but they were already being taken in by some sort of guards. Instantly he knew he wasn't alone. "Well, well, John. So glad you could finally join me." He would recognize that voice anywhere. 'It can't be... she wouldn't!' A light clicked on and his fears were proved true. 'She is...' "How could you do this to me!" The familiar teenage woman before him smirked and crossed her arms. "What, and you never saw me as the type of girl who was bad? Well, let me tell you something 'sweet-heart'. Evil has many forms."
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