Meet Your Neighbors

"Wow!" Jamie gasped. "A real sea serpent. Well a lake serpent anyway."

The creature gave out a happy squeal as Jamie petted his head. "Sure is friendly," Bazooka grinned.

"So there really is a Lake Howicha monster," Jamie said. "Hi there Howie!"

"Howie?"

"Well he needs a name," Jamie said. "Short for the lake name."

"You have a point," Bazooka nodded. "Wonder where he came from?"

"He could be a sea serpent that got lost or something," Jamie suggested. "Then decided to hang around here." Howie gave a squeal of affirmation. "Hey I was right!"

"But why would he show himself to us?" Bazooka asked.

"Maybe he sensed I was a mutant or something," Jamie shrugged. "Hey Howie, wanna play?"

Howie snorted with excitement as Jamie picked up a stick and threw it. Howie swam after it and fetched it back. "Cool!" Bazooka said.

"Yeah this is gonna be a great trip!" Jamie said as he threw the stick again. "I wonder if the others are having as much fun as we are?"

************************************************************************

"Wanda let go of me!" Pietro squealed as he tried to escape the headlock he was in.

"Not until you apologize for eating my candy bar!" Wanda snapped.

"Wanda will you give it a rest already?" Lance groaned. "You can always kill him later when we get home. There's more tools to do it with."

"Yeah but here there are more places to hide the body," Wanda told him. "APOLOGIZE!"

"NO! OWWWWWWWW!" Pietro whined. He managed to escape. "I'm telling!"

"Then tell 'em about this!" Tabitha made a tiny time bomb and stuck it down Pietro's pants. Of course the bomb went off exposing his underwear. "TABBY!"

"Ha!" Ray laughed.

"What's that in your pocket Ray?" Xi asked as he took out a candy bar wrapper.

"I don't know how that got in there I swear!" Ray shouted in horror as Wanda and Pietro glared at him. Both chased him around wildly.

"Well people it's a beautiful day at the Mutant Destruction Derby," Lance quipped. "And I see the Maximoff twins are off to a fine start. With me is Fred 'The Blob' Dukes. Blob old buddy, tell us more about this dynamic duo."

"Well Lance," Fred grinned getting into the spirit of things. "The Maximoffs took the gold last year in the Mutant Olympics with their synchronized explosions technique. Oh look at that! That's gotta hurt!"

"I do not belong with these people," Scott moaned. "I do not belong with these people."

"Knock it off! Will you guys at least try to keep a low profile?" Jean groaned. "Or at least not burn down the camp?"

"I just realized something," Scott said. "They might take one look at Xi and figure out that the rest of us are mutants."

"So?" Pietro asked. "The people who run this camp know that anyway. What's the difference if everyone here knows?"

"Yeah but…" Jean started.

"If you are referring to the way people would treat me because of the way I look I am beyond it," Xi told them. "After all, Cobra considered me nothing more than a weapon. Believe me an experience like that will desensitize you quickly to any fears of how people will treat you."

"Yeah guys the point of this camp is to explore your inner self and to grow," Fred told them. "And the first step is to accept your mutantcy."

"Oh no…" Lance rolled his eyes. "Here we go again."

"You must become one with your inner freak," Fred spoke in an eerily calm tone. "Listen to your inner weirdo. Have nice conversations with him or her. Take your inner maniac out to a nice lunch…"

"You people are out to lunch if you ask me," An unfamiliar voice said.

They saw that they were not alone. There was another group of teens watching them. They were all dressed in either preppy Armani or other well made brand name clothes. "Well if it isn't our fellow campers," A tall black haired young woman of 18 said haughtily. "And people say we're high strung."

"Oh good I see you're here as well," Harvey nodded as he walked up to them. "Everyone these are students from the Massachusetts Academy, a very well known and respected prep school."

"Gee I never would have guessed," Lance drawled.

"Why don't you all get acquainted?" Harvey asked. He then looked over their shoulders. "Mr. Pendleton! You know there's no alcohol allowed on the premises! And put your pants back on!" He ran after the inebriated counselor.

"Hello there," Jean took the initiative. "I'm Jean Grey. This is Scott Summers, Ray Crisp and Tabitha Smith from the Xavier Institute. Over there is Lance Alvers, Xi, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff and Fred Dukes."

"Nice to meet you," Scott held out his hand but no one took it.

"Charmed I'm sure," A tall teenage 16 year old boy with brownish blond short hair remarked. He was wearing an Armani tennis outfit.

"Now Jack let's be polite," A seventeen year old boy with brown hair and a cultured accent reprimanded. "My friends tend to be a bit on the stuffy side. Permit me to do the introductions. I am Manuel Alfonso Roderigo de la Rocha. This over here is Jack Sinclair. This lovely lady is Monet St. Croix. And this fellow here," He indicated a very tall and very muscular 17 year old boy. "Is Percival DeHammond."

"Percival?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Call me Beef and no one gets hurt!" The burly teenager growled.

"I take it that the other rag tags over here belong to the army?" Jack indicated the Misfits with a sneer.

"You got a problem with mutants pal?" Lance growled.

"Actually mutants don't really bother us," Jack grinned. "In general. I'm more offended by your horrendous taste in wardrobe. Jeans with holes in them?" He indicated Lance's attire. "How lower class can you get?"

"Not that the rest of them dress that much better," Beef snorted.

"Well normally we do dress better but since we're slumming today…" Pietro began.

"Uh Pietro that's enough," Jean interrupted. "Look the point of this camp is to work on building our inner selves."

"Well if your outer selves are any indication…" Jack began.

"That's enough gentlemen," Manuel reprimanded. "The lady is right. And very perceptive."

"You know you don't seem so bad for a person who is consorting with mutants of a lesser standard," Monet remarked.

"What do you mean by that?" Jean asked.

"Face it, the way I see it there are two types of mutations," Monet casually glanced over her fingernails. "Those that are advanced and have true potential and then there are those…" She looked over at the Misfits. "Genetic throwbacks and mistakes."

"Oh really?" Lance folded his arms.

"I'd be careful of the mutants I'd consort with," Monet sneered. "You might end up poisoning your own DNA."

"It doesn't work like that," Jean started to fume.

"It does if you breed with them," She tilted her head at Scott. "If a mutant can't control his own powers then he might pass on that same defect to his offspring. Just a word of warning."

"Oh yeah?" Jean growled. "Well here's a word of warning for you sister…"

"Um I think we must be going now," Manuel quickly put a warning hand on Monet. "See you later," He ushered his friends away.

"Why that…that…" Jean snapped.

"I believe the word you are searching for begins with a b and rhymes with witch," Tabitha said.

"Well isn't she a lovely person?" Pietro quipped. "I can tell we're all going to be such good friends!"

"Yeah I thought Jean was a snob queen," Lance remarked.

"Hey!" Jean snapped.

"The Snob Queen is dead," Fred grinned. "Long live the Snob Queen!"

"I am not a snob queen!" Jean snapped.

"Not compared to Miss Moneybags over there," Tabitha indicated.

"Yeah and those other males were not exactly polite," Xi nodded.

"I thought people like that only existed in frat house movies," Ray said.

"Well I am willing to go 'Animal House' on them if you know what I mean," Fred made a fist.

"Not really," Xi remarked.

"Nobody is going to fight anybody," Scott said.

"Don't bet on it," Jean snapped.

"Why was I sent here?" Scott moaned as he looked upwards. "Will somebody please answer that?"

"So we can drive you crazy duh," Pietro said.

"Correction," Xi remarked. "Make him crazier. He would not be here if he didn't already have problems."

"I DO NOT HAVE PROBLEMS!" Scott shouted.

"Now Summers," Lance grinned. "Don't be so modest. For starters there's those denial issues you need to work on."

"I am not in denial!" Scott snapped.

"Yes you are," Lance grinned.

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not! Not! Not!"

"Are too, too, too!"

"Okay I don't feel like watching this anymore," Pietro waved as Scott and Lance went at it. "I'm not really in the mood for such sophisticated verbal banter anyway."

"Well then take a look at this," Wanda pointed with her thumb. "Jean's going into meltdown."

"Oh that's always fun," Pietro grinned.

Jean was fuming. "Why that stuck up…Who does she think she is? I swear if she sticks her obviously plastic surgeoned nose into my business…"

"There, there Jean," Fred patted her on the back. "Let all that rage out. Let's take deep cleansing breaths now shall we?"

"DON'T PATRONIZE ME YOU NUT!" Jean snapped.

"You really have serious anger issues you know that?" Fred told her.

Xi watched them. "And to think out of all of you I'm the one considered the most psychotic," He mentioned to Ray.

************************************************************************

"What do you think you idiots were doing?" Manuel snapped. "Were you purposely goading them into a fight? We're supposed to keep a low profile! You have to learn to control yourselves!"

"You're right Empath," Monet sighed. "I just can't believe we're stuck with those idiots for the entire weekend! And at this dump as well. They don't even have room service!"

"Forget the room service," Jack told her. "It's hanging around with inferior mutants I can't stand!"

"Yeah did you see that ugly little green throwback?" Beef snorted. "Can't believe a freak like that has the guts to show his face in the open!"

"Yeah but that one's a genetically engineered mutant," Jack told him. "True it's not in the same class as us, but at least it has a purpose. Or at least it had a purpose until those Misfits warped what little there was of its mind. Most of those others well…I just thank god that that Toad creature and his ill-bred mermaid girlfriend didn't show up. Not to mention that blue demon that hangs around them."

"I agree," Manuel sniffed. He looked in the direction of Beef and Jack. "There is already a pair of low class fools on the premises."

"Listen you Spanish omelet…" Beef snarled.

"For the last time I'm Portuguese you oversized oaf!" Manuel snapped. "I know it's hard to keep facts like that in your tiny little mind but do try will you?"

"Oh yeah?" Beef growled and made a fist. "Well let's see if you'll be able to remember your own name once I'm through with you!"

"Any time you muscular moron!" Manuel snapped.

"Now who needs to learn to control himself?" Jack laughed.

"All right listen up you idiots!" Monet snapped. "Don't forget we have work to do! Roulette and Tarot are with Jetstream scouting for that possible mutant."

"If it is a mutant," Jack snickered. "Could be just a myth. That lake monster sighting was probably invented by the locals in order to attract tourists."

"Possibly," Monet sighed. "Wouldn't surprise me. However we can't take any chances. That's probably the real reason why the X-Men and Misfits are here too."

"Those losers?" Beef sneered. "Even if the full team was here we can take them."

"Of course we can," Monet nodded. "We're Hellions. We are the ultimate team of mutants. For now just watch them. If they get in our way."

"We eliminate them," Jack grinned as he made a fist and it started to spark.

Obviously Jack and Percival are made up names for Bevatron and Beef. Nobody knows what their real names were anyway. And I liked the idea of sticking Monet with the Hellions. She fits in with them anyway.

Up next, while Bazooka and Jamie play with their new friend, the gang goes off to therapy for the day! But with this combination will any of them survive?