Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution, or any other Marvel or WB property. I also do not own the energy bar commonly referred to as a Power Bar.

Notes: Wow. Those were some great reviews! I'm not going to flat out tell you if anyone was right about who the villain is. If you're a fan of the comics, then you'll probably know by the end of this chapter. I kinda give it away, but in a covert, sneaky like style. I'm like that. Yup. And as for the romance aspect, I think that if I put any in, it won't be big. Everything else I've written in romance. Anyhow, back to the responses for the reviews. Let's see. . .

RedLion2: No, that's not the Wendigo coming. I'm afraid that the villain is someone so much more than that. Thanks for reading.

JDH3: Good point. Where would Kurt be without a little romance?

Raskolion Phoenix: You may figure it out this chapter, but only if you've read a lot of the comics.

The Scribe3: I promise that Bobby and Kitty will appear much more, probably in later chapters. They'll continue to make appearances until then, though.

Snitter in Rivendell: Wow. What a review. I don't think that I've ever received one that long before. Thank you, for everything you said. Yeah, the forest in my mind looks very Lovecraftian, but that's just my image of it. It's not lifted from Lovecraft. Um, I don't even know what else to say. Thanks for that wonderful review, and I hope that you continue to enjoy the story.

Electric Russian: I'm still not certain about the romance aspect of this story, but I'm sorry, I don't think it'll be a Kurt/Jubilee story. I'm just still not sure about that pairing. Anyhow, glad you liked it, and you are not a curse!

If I didn't mention you here, I apologize, but it's 4am here in Orlando, and I'm really tired. But thanks for reviewing.

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Scott turned around, trying to tell from what direction the shriek had come. The clapping was drowning out any hope of that ever happening. It seemed that the two wouldn't know what was coming towards them until it was almost upon them. Scott walked into the center of the clearing, Kurt hanging onto his shoulders. Scott turned to the direction from which he believed the shriek came from, and continued to watch for signs of movement in the forest.

Kurt cursed himself for not having eaten a larger breakfast. Not that it would have mattered. He actually had eaten a large breakfast. It was all of the teleporting that he had done when he arrived here that had made him burn through all of the calories he had eaten that morning. He wished that he had anything on him that would sustain him or even give him enough energy for one 'port, just in case Scott couldn't handle whatever was coming for them.

Scott turned around, and immediately, both he and Kurt fell to the ground.

"Vhat happened?" Kurt asked, the forest issuing another shriek behind him.

"I tripped over. . .this." Scott said, pointing to a box.

"Scott, I've been here for an hour. I haven't seen zat here." Kurt said, nervously picking up the box.

"Do you really think that we should open it?" Scott asked, looking as curious as Kurt, and then quickly back up at the forest.

"Vell, razzer ve should or not, I'm going to." Kurt said, tearing the box open.

"What is it?" Scott asked, standing up and turning in circles, hand ready at his visor.

"I can't believe it." Kurt said, looking wide-eyed at the contents.

"What is it, Kurt?" Scott asked impatiently.

"Powerbars." Kurt said, extremely happy all of a sudden.

"Powerbars? Energy food?" Scott asked.

"Jah!" Kurt said, ripping open one after another, shoving them into his mouth. "Zank Gott. Now I can get us out of here if zings get too bad."

"Well, then. That was handy." Scott said. "Are you sure you should be eating those? We have no idea how they got there, or who could have put them there."

Kurt's answer was lost when he shoved the fourth bar into his mouth.

"Great." Scott said.

A shriek came out of the forest at the edge of the clearing. Scott turned to his right and shot a beam in the general direction. It was so forceful that three trees were knocked off of their bases by it. Kurt immediately stood up behind Scott, putting his hand on his shoulder while shoving down as many energy bars as he could. Scott turned around, shooting in a couple of different directions. Each beam would knock at least one tree down, and the two teens could see how hollow they were, built on a frame of metal. Another shriek came out of the forest, even closer this time. Scott turned around and shot in every direction. The sound of clapping was almost deafening. Then came the sound of the footsteps, as if something was galloping towards them. With a leap, the shrieking thing landed in the clearing, about a hundred yards away from Scott and Kurt.

It was large, about the size of an elephant. It was lean, though, and looked as if it were built for speed. Its eyes were yellow, and three large horns were growing out of its head. Two large, tusk-like teeth were growing from its lower jaw, giving it a fierce appearance. It ran on all fours, and had powerful looking hindquarters. It could obviously jump very high, and run very fast. It had claws on all four feet, and when it shrieked at them there, its large tongue scraped across the ground. It pawed at them, making the ground shake, and metal whine when it dragged its claws against the ground.

"Holy shit." Scott said, and then shot it. The force of the beam knocked it onto its side.

"Good going, Scott." Kurt said, watching it stand back up. "But I zink you really pissed it off."

Kurt teleported them right before the thing's claws ripped apart the earth where they had been standing. Kurt and Scott reappeared on the other edge of the clearing, Scott shooting it again, with a higher force beam this time. The thing easily dodged it. It jumped, rolling over, and turned to face Kurt and Scott again. Roaring, it charged at them. The years of training kicked in, and the two teenagers stood to face their opponent.

"Get ready Kurt." Scott yelled above the roar.

"Ready!" Kurt yelled.

Scott ripped his visor off of his face. Kurt held onto one of Scott's shoulders with his left hand, and put his right hand on Scott's neck. Scott opened his eyes, and the full brunt of his mutant power was unleashed upon the thing. It rolled to the side, it's speed strange for a being so big. Kurt teleported to the thing's right, directing Scott's head with his right hand.

"Open!" Kurt screamed.

Shrieking, the thing scooted back with its four legs, the ground directly in front of it torn apart by Scott's beams.

"It's moving avay!" Kurt yelled. The applause was going wild. People were cheering.

The thing, the Shrieker, cast a sidelong glance at them, before jumping a safe distance away. Once it was about twenty yards away, it began to circle them, like a shark before rushing in to kill it's prey. Kurt guided Scott in a circle, staying directly opposite of the beast. It roared. Scott opened his eyes. The Shrieker jumped out of the way. Kurt couldn't believe how fast it was. It could almost give Pietro a run for his money. Literally.

"What's happening?" Scott asked. "Is it still here?"

"Oh, jah. It's circling us." Kurt said.

"Kurt, let it rush us. When it's too close to do anything but die, I'll open my eyes." Scott said.

Kurt gulped.

"Are you sure? Maybe it'll just give up." Kurt said A chorus of "boo's" could be heard.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure, Kurt. Let it rush us. I'll take care of it. In case I don't, just 'port us the hell out of here." Scott said.

"Okay."

And with that, Kurt stopped moving. So did the Shrieker. It turned to face them, moving its head into the air. It took a long, deep sniff, and then froze. Suddenly, it reared back on it's hind legs and lunged forward. Galloping at the teens, it opened its mouth. Kurt could see row upon row of sharp, vicious teeth rushing to meet them, and he closed his eyes before remembering that he had to signal Scott. Facing every fear he had ever seen in all of his nightmares, he forced his eyes open, and watched it run at them. When it was less than ten feet away, Kurt knew that the time had come.

"NOW!" He screamed.

Scott opened his eyes, and the force of the beam hitting the creature tore it apart. Flesh left bone, and bones broke. It was as if a rabbit had rushed head on into a moving semi-truck. Scott's power, which was akin to a concusive force, tore its flesh from its body, and broke every bone, sending the remains into the forest behind it. Kurt fell to the ground behind Scott, breathing as if he had just ran a marathon in one minute. Scott stood still, cocking his head to listen for what had happened.

"Is it gone? Kurt! Is it gone?" he screamed to be heard above the wild applause.

"Um. . .jah. I guess you could say zat." Kurt said.

"WHO'S CLAPPING? WHO IS THAT?!? SHOW YOURSELVES!" Scott screamed.

Kurt stood up, whipping his head back and forth, looking for any sign of life above the noise.

None could be found.

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Charles Xavier sat in his office, his head in his hands. How could this happen? Who were they facing? Who could completely wipe the existence of two of his charges clean off of the Earth without his knowing. Why hadn't Kurt and Scott called out to him? What was going to happen to the rest of the mutants in the Institute? Had someone marked them for death? All of these questions and more ran through his head, and he hated himself for not having the answers. What should he tell the families of those who were. . .dead?

But were Scott and Kurt truly dead? He had no way to know. All he knew was that Cerebro couldn't detect them on the planet? Could they be somewhere else?

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To Kitty, it seemed as if Kurt and Scott had been gone for years. She hadn't left her room since Xavier had told them that he couldn't find them on Cerebro. That had to mean that they were dead. Right? Cerebro could detect anyone on the planet. How could it not find Kurt and Scott. . .if they were alive? Kitty burst into tears at the thought of her best friend being dead. It couldn't happen! Kurt wouldn't let it. Would he?

There was a knock at her door, and she dried her eyes against her pillow, hoping for news of her friends.

"Come in." She said.

The door opened, revealing Bobby. Kitty felt the slight bit of hope within her go away, and she felt like bawling again.

"Hey, Kitty. How are you?" Bobby asked.

"Pretty bad, I guess." She said, sadly laughing at her own joke.

"Yeah. I figured. Listen, I don't think that Kurt and Scott are dead." Bobby said.

At the mention of her friends' mortality, Kitty began to cry silently again. She turned away from Bobby, who, like Kurt, could never stand the sight of a woman crying.

"Hey! Hey, it's gonna be okay. Seriously, Kit. It'll be fine. We'll find them." Bobby said, sitting next to her.

"Bobby, where could they be? Why do you think that they're still alive if the Professor can't find them?"

Bobby paused for a moment, not really knowing how to put into words his feelings, without sounding foolish.

"Well, I'm not sure really. I just think, well, I think of you guys like family. And I just don't. . .fell. . .like they're dead. I think that they're lost somewhere." Bobby said.

"How can we find them?" Kitty asked.

"I don't know." He said, shaking his head.

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Kurt sat down, looking at the box. There were fifteen energy bars left. Kurt was tired, but he still had the ability to teleport. He thought it would be better to leave the rest for now, just incase he needed the calories later. Yawning, he sat down on the ground. Scott had found his visor with the help of Kurt, and after cleaning off the disgusting remains of the creature that had splattered all over them, he had put them back on. Now he was walking around the circumference of the clearing, trying to get a feeling for where the two of them could be.

"I'll give you a hint, mein friend. Ve're not on Earz." Kurt said, watching Scott circle around.

"What makes you say that?" Scott asked absentmindedly.

"Vell, you see, I haff an A in biology. I haff a small interest in science. And in all of mein reading, in all of mein studying, I haff never, EVER, seen anyzing like zat in any book." Kurt said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. What in the hell was that thing?" Scott asked.

"Ugly. And mean." Kurt sighed, lying down on the ground.

"Okay, get up." Scott said.

"Vhy?" Kurt yawned.

"We're getting out of here." Scott said.

Kurt bolted upright.

"How?" he asked.

"Through this forest."

"Okay, number one, ve should stay here, because zis is vhere ve. . .I guess "showed up." If anyone is looking for us, ze best chances of us being found are not to leave."

"Is there a "number two" following that?" Scott asked, turning to face Kurt.

"Jah! News flash, Scott! Zat zing came out of ze forest! Did it ever occur to you zat vhere's zhere is one, zhere are probably more?" Kurt asked.

A round of laughter thundered from every direction.

"SHUT UP!" Kurt screamed, his hands fisting at his sides. "WHO ARE YOU? VHERE ARE YOU? VHY DON'T YOU HELP US?"

The laughter died down, leaving the two in silence again.

"I still think that we should try to find our way through this forest." Scott said.

Kurt sighed, and then nodded his head.

"I vant to get avay from whoever it is WHO IS LAUGHING AT US!" Kurt screamed the last part into the forest.

"Let's go." Scott said.

Scott stood at one side of the clearing, waiting for Kurt to catch up to him. Kurt was stuffing energy bars into his pockets. It was at this point that he realized that he was still wearing his imager and his jump suit. He thought back to the sky diving, and remembered something had caught his eye in the air, and then had promptly disappeared. He hadn't paid attention to it. He had thought it was just some type of strange, small mirage. Now he couldn't forget about it.

"Scott, how did you get here?" Kurt finally thought to ask.

Scott paused for a moment, looking down at his hands.

"It was weird. I was looking for you, and then there was this white light that just. . .surrounded me. It was almost like water." Scott said. "It surrounded me, I fell, and woke up to you hitting my face."

"I zought, vhen ve vere sky diving, zat I saw a vhite light, too." Kurt said. "Except, instead of it surrounding me, it looked like I fell into it."

Scott shook his head.

"Let's just try to find out where we are. We'll figure out how we got here later."

"Jah. Good plan. Are you ready?" Kurt asked.

"Let's go."

And together the two teens walked into the dead forest.

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"Oh my gosh, oh my golly! Oh my gosh, oh my golly! Oh my gosh, oh my golly!" Said the young woman.

She was dressed like a theatre usher, running down an interminably long hallway. In her hand was a clipboard, which she kept looking at. Every time she looked down, her eyes widened, and she continued to rant and rave. In a comical way, she almost resembled the White Rabbit, being late for the Queen's court. She continued on down the hallway, finally choosing a door on her right hand side. Opening it, she was greeted by a tall, thin older man, who reached for her clipboard.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Look at those ratings!" She yelled.

"Calm yourself, Minor. Let me read these before I have to make my report, would you?" the man asked.

"Oh my gosh, oh my golly." Minor continued to whisper to herself after sitting down.

"There's a good girl." The man said, flipping the pages on the clipboard over.

He could see what had her so excited. They had never, ever seen ratings like these before. The viewers must really be eating this up. And to think of how cheap it was. The Boss would be happy. Very happy. And for a man like Major Domo, and his young assistant Minor Domo, making the Boss happy was a good thing. A very, very good thing. Especially when you consider who his boss was. Smiling, he flipped the charts and readouts over and over, proud of himself.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my golly." He said softly, mocking his assistants tone.

"Seriously! I mean, this is wonderful! Spectacular! Can you imagine? And we have the rights! No one else does! I mean, the costs are for marketing alone! We have no overhead!" Minor yelled, jumping out of her chair.

"No. No we don't. And yes. This is spectacular. He will be very happy indeed." Major said.

"Do you think he'll give us credit?" Minor asked quietly, not wanting to be heard.

Major fixed Minor with a stare that told her what a foolish question that was.

"Well, ya know, being your idea and all, I just thought. . ." she began.

"Silence! You know that it was his idea!" Major yelled.

"But, but, I thought. . ."

"What did you think, Minor?" a high-pitched voice called out from the darkness.

Minor froze.

"Um, nothing, Sir!" she yelped before passing out.

Major Domo looked at Minor Domo on the floor, shaking his head.

"Forgive her, Sir. You know what young people are like these days." Major Domo said to the darkness on the side of the room.

"Yes, yes, yes. Listen, this is all good and boring, but tell me, why was she so excited about the ratings?" the voice asked.

"We have all the ratings, Sir. No other show is being watched right now. We have the only show that is." Major said proudly.

"Well, then. . .yes. Yes, it was my idea, wasn't it?" the voice said.

"Yes, Sir. And a brilliant one."

"That's why I like you, Major Domo. You're a "yes man." I need more of those. Now shut up and give me that ratings book!" The voice yelled.

Major Domo walked to the darkness on the side of the room and helf out the clipboard. A yellow hand with long, thin fingers reached out and snatched it from him. Metallic clicking could be heard in the darkness.

"Yes. Yes. YES! These ratings are fantastic! How do we get more of these. . .what do you call them?" the voice demanded.

"Heroes, Sir. They're called heroes." Major said.

"Get me more. Get me more. Get Me More. GET ME MORE!" the voice began to scream.

"Yes, Sir." Major Domo said, dragging Minor Domo out of the room with him.

Inside the room, the voice continued to scream until it was nothing but a high pitched laugh.

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So there's chapter two. Hm. I wonder if anyone can figure out who the villain is. I pretty much gave it away, but only if you've read the comics from years ago. That's what I like about fan fiction. I can screw with ALL of the universes. Tee-hee-hee. Anyhow, I'll have more up tomorrow.

Later.