X-Men: Evolution

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Prologue

China: Over fifty years ago…

"Hello, ma'am. Can your son come out to play?"

A young boy stood outside the doorway. He spoke in Chinese, and the woman answered in the same. "Of course."

She called him, and he reported to the door.

"Go along and play, son," said the woman, pushing him towards the other boy.

They ran off and joined some more boys in a village-wide game of tag. There were only about fifteen boys who were too young to be sent off to school in the town, and they played games like this frequently.

The one designated "it" chased three by the river, over the bridge, and into the tall grass of the fields. They could no longer see each other, and the only evidence that they weren't alone was the laughter ringing everywhere.

One was wandering through, watching as carefully as he could through the wheat. Out of nowhere, "it" burst through the grass and on top of him. They both toppled to the ground.

"Got you!" he said giddily, and he then ran off.

But the new "it" could not chase after him. When he had fallen, he had bumped his head on a stone. As he stood, the pain of a migraine seared through his skull. He yelled in agony as he fell back to his knees. He opened his eyes to see that everything was bathed in a hazy blue light.

The boy's head exploded.

A few of his playmates had heard his screams and had rushed to investigate, but they were pushed back by the force of the bomb that had gone off in their friend. His head was no more, replaced by a ball of light.

They tore off, screaming "Monster!" at the top of their lungs.

Don't go... Please, don't leave me... the boy thought, as the Chinese army officers surrounded him, guns pointed at the star that had become the boy's skull.

Today...

Mutants: more are emerging every day.

There is a gene inside human DNA, an "X"-gene. Only one in a hundred or so are born with it. For most, it is recessive, only to be carried on to the next generation. But for a handful of unlucky children, it emerges around puberty, as a strange and amazing power. Some are harmful, others cannot be controlled.

Most mutants are persecuted for their differences, much like blacks were persecuted a century or so ago. One man had a dream for equality for mutants. He believed that if mutants could be taught to control their powers and use them for good, then the rest of mankind would accept them.

I am Professor Charles Xavier, and I was that man. But now, my dream is dead. I cannot continue on with this anymore. I cannot have any more blood on my hands.

New York, two weeks ago...

It was an extremely hot summer day in early June. All of the students were outside by the pool. I could sense them as they happily enjoyed each other's company.

I, however, was inside, in the cool air-conditioned room that stored my mutant-detecting computer, Cerebro. The chamber was very large and spherical, as to amplify my psychic powers to detect new mutants.

I had been in that room for the past six hours, since I had awoken that morning. As per my normal routine, I went to Cerebro. As soon as I put on the helmet and began to scan, the strangest readings appeared on the screen.

Practically overnight, fifteen or so signatures had appeared. Even more bizarrely, there was one that could not be identified. Cerebro could usually take manifestations and display information on their type of power. It simply read UNKNOWN.

Of course, I would need to split up the team to send them to each mutant's location. But, this unidentifiable mutant could be dangerous. I would need to send all of them to find it.

Cerebro said that it was located on an island named Krakoa in the middle of the Atlantic. I logged up the coordinates to the Blackbird and then left the room.

I called to my students: To me, my X-Men.

When they arrived, I addressed them on the situation and its dangers. "You must be careful. I do not know what can happen here. This mutant's power could be deadly, but it could be completely harmless. Nonetheless, we must be prepared for anything. Caution is key."

"Professor," began the X-Men's field leader, codenamed Cyclops. "We just got back from fighting Magneto on Asteroid M. I think we can handle this new mutant."

"Scott, we knew what we were going up against when we faced Magneto. I have known Magnus for years. This mutant, for all we know, could be even more powerful," I replied.

This seemed to shake them a little. Magneto was extremely strong, and I could barely imagine anything more dangerous. In the future I would meet tougher opponents, but I knew nothing of it then.

So they reported to the hangar ten minutes later, suited up and ready to leave. I bid them farewell and the jet took off. I wheeled myself up to Cerebro's chamber to monitor them.

On the X-Jet, the students were silent, mentally preparing themselves for whatever they would soon face. I could sense their anxiety, their apprehension. While after the recent fight with Magneto they felt ready for anything, each one had a dread looming over them.

If only I had felt it beforehand...

The jet slowed over the middle of the ocean, slowly descending towards the water. Presently their destination appeared: a tiny island Cerebro had identified only as "Krakoa".

I watched through fellow telepath Jean Grey's eyes as the Blackbird landed and everyone stood and moved towards the lowering door. For a small piece of land, it was fairly large. I had expected from its latitude that it would be tropical, with plants, but it was completely barren. I saw Jean bend down to examine the landscape. It was made of a patterned stone, nothing I had ever seen before.

"The ground may be a result of this thing's power," said one student.

"Look!" cried another.

Jean turned and I saw a lone figure standing against the sunset. It moved towards us, but it did not walk, it glided. Its feet were attached to the ground, as if it was a part of the island itself. This was our mutant.

As it approached us, I saw that it was formed from the same material that the ground was. It had no apparent mouth, but I could hear thoughts. They were garbled, confused. I could barely sift through them. There was a feeling of drifting as I entered its head, on the astral plane.

I was suddenly surrounded by images and sounds, swirling around an inner area, like a galaxy. I was pulled deeper inside, towards the black center, and the other thoughts became no more than background noise. I felt something stir within its calm, dark nexus. Then, as it awoke, I perceived what my mind could only translate as two yellowish, narrow eyes, opening from the void.

I no longer felt the other thoughts. I only heard one thing:

"Hungry..."

My eyes flew open as I silently screamed to my X-Men.

The figure disappeared and something else took its place. Something large. It was patterned the same as the island, but this one had a mouth. A huge mass of checkered stone moved towards the students, its maw gaping. The X-Men reacted, but slowly. Too slowly.

The orifice closed around them.

Blackness. No thoughts.

Emptiness.

No mutants.

And they were gone.

Somewhere, a boy and his girlfriend walk down a sidewalk. They are attacked by a gang, who grab the girl and throw him to the ground.

Somewhere, a boy's anger builds, and he shoots a beam of pure ice from his hands, freezing their leader to the ground. He drops the girl, and the rest scatter. He continues the frost all the way up his torso, around his arms, and up to his neck. There he stops, taunting the other young man, then finishing him off, completely encasing him in ice.

Somewhere, a girlfriend runs away, and a boy is left with his anger. He is left with pain. The boy, of course, is a mutant. But I cannot take him. If I train him, I might have to send him off, to die. I cannot take any more children. They will die.

My name is Professor Charles Xavier, and my dream is dead.

AN: A new beginning. This takes place between the first two seasons, but an alternate timeline branching from several weeks after the "Cauldron" encounter. So far, this has been my most popular fic, and I plan to keep it that way in this new start. Of course, a lot will be adapted from old X-Men storylines, such as the Krakoa capture, except that this one leads to the New Mutants instead of the second team. I do not own any characters except otherwise noted, because if I did then I would be very rich and I wouldn't have to use ff.net to get my work published.