Animeluvr1: Change in plans. Our RT will start soon, but I want to slip this in first.
Caliente: Here's the age list for all of the characterss, with the characters I've added put in as well, this will settle all age disputes in my fics.
Remy, Piotr, St. John –19, 19, 20, respectively
Scott, Jean, Lance–18
Rogue, Freddy, Maximoff twins, Evan, Sarah (She ends up as the oldest New Mutant) -17
Alex, Lorna, Kurt, Amanda -16
Tabby, Kitty, Todd -15
Betsy, Bobby, Roberto, Amara, Rahne, Sam, Kyle, Ray, - 14
Jubilee, Jonothan, Paige –13
Jamie, Illyana –12
Anyone not mentioned among the students, tell me, anyone who isn't a student is older than 20.
Chapter 48: Baptism of Fire
Soon after her return from Magneto, Betsy's parents had decided that she would be staying at the institute. Brian had initially objected, but when he saw that her telekinesis, which had always been weak, had expanded enough to throw people across rooms, he saw their reasoning. Soon after, he had returned to the Braddock estate, reminding his sister to 'come home soon.'
As Paige, Lorna, Alex, and Jonothan woke up one day, almost a month later, they found that they had each been left a note on their dressers.
"Report to the Danger Room at 0830," was all it said.
The four walked into the room, more than a little apprehensive.
"Ah… welcome." Said the Professor. Looking around the room, they saw that there were several other students around the room in their combat gear.
Scott was leaning against the table, his face seemingly cut from stone.
Nightcrawler was hanging from the roof, his tail the only support he had.
Rahne was sitting on the table in her new combat uniform, the Professor having decided to finally getting around to distinguishing the Blue Team's uniforms from both each other and Gold Team's. Her uniform was still the solid black under base, but it was now accentuated by a scarlet coloration on her chest and stomach. Her collar was now scarlet as well, as were her elbows and knees. On the X-Men symbols on her waist and shoulders, the golden circle had been exchanged for a brilliant royal blue.
Kyle sat in a full lotus against the wall, meditating. His uniform hadn't changed much, just gaining the blue circles on the X's in the place of the gold circles
Bobby sat in a chair, legs propped up on the table, forming various small ice sculptures. His uniform, too, had undergone an overhaul. His gloves and boots were now a dark, icy blue. His uniform now also bore a dark-ice blue colored streak running up each arm and leg, meeting at the sternum in an X.
Logan stood against the far wall ominously, his uniform's hood in place.
Remy also stood in front of them, his X-Men uniform in place. His particular variation bore a multitude of pockets for various projectiles, and his Bo staff sat in it's waist holster. His uniform held to the normal black under color, with a dark green over the top in the form of an X whose center was off center, placing the crossing of the X at his lower left side. Over his uniform her wore a dark brown duster, which contained even more pockets for ammunition.
The four mutants had a bad feeling about this danger room session.
"Today's mission is quite simple. The four of you must last ten minutes against the others. You may use any methods you deem necessary, as long as you do not injure anyone. If you succeed, you will be promoted to full X-Men."
The four younger mutants traded looks, this was not going to be pretty.
They walked into the Danger Room, as the room's holographic simulator activated, spreading out the image of a massive, multi-leveled stone barrens. The four mutants didn't waste time talking, as they bolted. The older mutants weren't going in for several minutes, so they had some time to get away, and discuss how they were going to do this.
Paige, much to the others surprise, proved to be a far better tactician than her older brother. "Our best bet is gonna beh hit-'n-run. Polaris, ya'll think ya can put Mr. Logan down?"
She nodded. The magnetic field in his body was very distinct. She had no doubts she could do it, although she wouldn't like it.
"Awlraight, he's the first target then. We need to get rid of him 'nd Crawler first, thay're the biggest problems. Havok, ya and Chamber take him out."
He nodded, as the British mutant did the same. The four mutants began to set up their ambush.
The team of older mutants entered the DR, and Logan immediately picked up on their scent.
Following it, they quickly found that it lead into a chasm.
"Too easy." Said Logan.
"Yeah, Remy guess they non bein' ready." Said Remy.
"No, not that. This whole thing seems too easy. This is a trap. Here's what we do." Said Cyclops
The older mutants nodded as they heard the plan, and Nightcrawler, Logan, Cyclops, and Bobby headed up the walls of the chasm, as Remy, Rahne, and Kyle headed down the middle.
Chamber and Husk knew something was wrong the second that only three of the older X-Men passed them. Husk grabbed her comm.
"Abort," she whispered quietly, "We've been found out, abort."
The two on the other end sent acknowledgements, and began to withdraw from their places.
Lorna was more than a little shocked when Logan jumped at her as she retreated. In reflex, she grabbed onto the nearest metal, his bones. Flinging it hard, she slammed him across the chasm. He was out cold. Moving quickly, and Alex bolted, heading for their rally point.
The remaining older X-men tried to follow, but soon found that the two of them had seemingly vanished.
Rahne's lupine nose, however, detected the truth. They had jumped across the chasm via several stone pillars Alex had knocked out behind him.
The younger team gathered at their RP, and planned their next move.
"Alright, we need ta figure out somethin' else. Our big problem is still Crawler… Here's what we do."
The four mutants quickly constructed their plan, and moved out.
The older team found the group's rally point soon after, Rahne's wolf nose having lead them to it. Transforming to her human state with a teasing stretch to Sam, who was watching with the others in the Planning room, she spoke.
"This 'as bein' thaeir rally point." Said Rahne, "Husk and Chamber caime from tha' way." Motioning her hand to the west. "Havok and Polaris, tha' direction" she motioned behind them. "They seem ta 'ave gon' 'nd scattered down these 'ere faour paths." She motioned down the four paths.
"That was a mistake." Said Cyclops, as the group began to follow the trail four trails. At this point, they still had 5 minutes in the game.
Cyclops and Crawler headed down the path Chamber had taken, as Kyle and Rahne headed down Alex's trail. Husk was pursued by Remy and Bobby was tracking Lorna.
After about two minutes, the older mutants came upon a large, bowl-like clearing, but there was no sign of their quarry.
"Vere did zey go?" Asked Kurt. A blast of red energy answered the question, catching Kurt in the back, and knocking him out cold.
"Right here!" Said Alex, before he bolted. By the time the others had ascended the stone walls of the bowl, Alex had already reached the other four at it's base, and they were already well on their ways, dodging behind stone towers to cut down Cyclops's accuracy.
Rahne smirked, as she jumped up on the pillars, and began to jump from one to another in her half wolf state. She finally reached the other mutants, and leapt down at them. Chamber had picked up on her quite a while ago, however, and was more than ready for her. As she jumped down at them, he had half-unzipped the jacket that served as the top to his uniform. Stopping suddenly and turning, he let rip with a beam of psionic energy.
Rahne fell to the ground, a good twenty-foot drop. Husk grinned, as she stepped away from the wall, her old skin lying on the ground back where Chamber had picked up on Rahne's presence. Grabbing Rahne, she set her to the ground, and the four of them continued their run.
The older mutants made a group decision, and took a short cut.
The younger group ran underneath a stone bridge with about a minute left to go, only to find a card floating down towards them. The card was the One-eyed Jack.
Looking up, they saw the remainder of the older team, half shadowed. Cyclops was on one knee, his face turned to look at them. Kyle was standing just to his right, and behind him, his left side turned towards them, Bo staff in his right hand. Remy stood with his back to Kyle, a mirror image in their stances. Bobby was to their right slightly, crouched, his form iced up. Suddenly, they attacked.
Bobby struck first, attacking Lorna with a pillar of ice. The female magnetic mutant rolled away from the attack, as Bobby used the pillar as a slide, bringing himself down to face off with her.
Cyclops jumped down, squaring off with Alex, he unleashed a burst of energy at his younger brother, only to see that it had no effect at all.
Chamber was attacked by Remy, who launched a barrage of explosive cards. It was all the male gothic mutant could do to stop them before they reached him.
Paige found herself against possibly the most dangerous mutant of all of those present, yet the one she had most greatly underestimated, having never actually seen him in action.
Kyle.
At this point, the older mutants knew they had to hustle. They had 45 seconds to win this thing, and they intended to do so.
Kyle rushed at Paige, his staff held behind him. The young Guthrie lass dodged to the side, only to be surprised when Kyle's staff caught her in the side. She staggered for a second, and then recovered.
Chamber wasn't doing much better. Remy's cards were starting to wear him down, and Remy had maneuvered him to where he wanted him. Throwing a card above him, he watched as Chamber disregarded it.
Alex and Cyclops were both trying to maneuver the other to a place where they could cut them out, having figured out that their powers, for whatever reason, didn't work on each other.
Lorna was trying desperately to find something to use against Bobby, but wasn't having much success.
At five seconds, the card that Remy threw detonated, collapsing a pile of rocks on Chamber.
At four seconds, Bobby began to freeze Lorna. At three, he had reached her knees.
At two, Cyclops had gotten Alex right where he wanted him, and knocked the piece of cliff he was on out from under him.
At one, Kyle's staff came down at Paige's head to knock her out.
"TIME" Came the voice of Cerebro, as the holographic simulation cut out.
"Very good, Lorna, Paige, Jono, and Alex… Very good indeed. Welcome to the X-Men."
