Episode Two
The X-Impulse
There was a lass by the name of Kitty Pryde who had something special about her. For some reason, one night while she was sleeping, she woke up to find herself in the room below her bedroom with her bed sheets half way falling through the ceiling.
She lived on the island, Northbrook, which was a very peaceful one where pirates usually didn't dock, especially not mutant pirates.
Hand Kurt was late for report AGAIN. He hurried along, stuffing one remained of his breakfast in his mouth. He accidentally almost crashed into their female overseer, Madam Darkholme.
"Late again!" she scolded. It was her job to catch all the hands in bad acts that the captain shouldn't have to trouble himself with. Little did everyone know that she was actually the pirate, Mystique, Captain of The Brotherhood. "Do I have to tell the Captain about this?"
Just then, Scott came around the corner. "There you are!" he said, grabbing Kurt's arm. "The Captain's been wondering where you were!"
Captain Mystique glared at the two as they left.
Northbrook was experiencing good weather except things were out of the ordinary for Kitty. Her parents didn't want to talk about it and she certainly didn't either so she silently tried to head off to school without their knowledge.
Captain Xavier and Lass Jean were riding speedily on the X-Jet coming closer to the small island of Northbrook. "Why just me?" asked Jean. "Why not everyone?"
"Because you're the one who can connect with this lass." Captain Xavier answered.
"Blimey, I hope so." Said Jean. "But what about that other lad?"
"Aye, Lance Alvers." Said Captain Xavier, scratching his chin. "Allow me to handle that landlubber. I want you to concentrate on the lass's parents since we are requesting to take her on our voyage for mutant pirates."
The docking process was quick and painless since any ships seldom came into Northbrook. The lass and Captain had no trouble finding Kitty's residence and getting some time to speak with her parents.
"What are you talking about?" asked Kitty's mother. "How do you know Kitty?"
"Please, may we come in for a minute?" Jean asked. "We can answer all your questions and anything--"
"Excuse me, Lass, you can talk to us out here." Kitty's father interrupted.
"Very well." Said Captain Xavier. "I think you know that Kitty is going through a very unique transition. We simply want to help her through it. Why don't you tell us about last night?"
"Last night is none of your business!" said Kitty's father. "Please, just leave us alone! We don't want our daughter to become a mutant pirate!" Kitty's parents then entered their house and slammed the door behind them.
"Aye." Said Jean. "Next time, let's just call and get hung up on."
"You'll need to make contact with the lass directly…at her school." Captain Xavier said.
Meanwhile, on X-Men, Captain Logan was swabbing the decks simply because they were dirty and he needed something to fill his time with. Suddenly, he heard the sound of an approaching vessel. He stood up and looked over the edge of the water.
"Blimey…Sabretooth." Logan said as he watched the ship Sabretooth come into view.
Captain Logan knew that it was his duty as a guest on the ship X-Men to lead Sabretooth away from it. He donned his pirate garb and boarded a smaller ship without a name, going off to meet up with the captain of the opposing vessel.
Kurt observed all this from the crow's nest and teleported down to Scott. "What's up with Captain Logan?" he asked.
"He was hanging the jib, that's for sure." Scott answered.
"You want to follow him?" Kurt said.
"Let's go." Said Scott with a grin as he led Kurt to wear the small vessels were kept.
"Should we take X-Van?" Kurt asked, pointing to an ugly vessel that didn't look like it would move very fast.
"Uh…I was thinking more along the lines of Cyclops." Said Scott as he leapt over to a brightly colored sleek little ship. Kurt didn't argue and eagerly hopped in as well.
Kitty didn't feel right at all that entire day.
"Look at pity Kitty." Said one girl to another.
"She's such a messdeck lawyer." Commented the other.
"Let's give her some time off." Giggled the first as the two sneaked up behind Kitty and shoved her in her locker.
"Let me outta here!" screamed Kitty as she pounded on the door while the girls ran away giggling. "Let me outta here you swabbies! Open this door!! Somebody open this door!"
The halls were empty, though, so no one really heard her.
It was just by chance that a swab might just so happen to wander by. His name was Lance Alvers and he had once sailed the seas but not anymore. Now he stayed on Northbrook wreaking havoc wherever he could. Today, he was cutting up the hallways of the school with a cutlass, just because he could.
Kitty heard the slashes and began knocking her locker again. "Ahoy, who's out there?" she called. "Can you hear me? Let me out!"
Just as the swab passed by her locker, Kitty suddenly fell right through it and landed on Lance who tumbled to the floor. Kitty was amazed as she recovered from her fall, but then she remembered that Lance had seen everything.
"Sink me!" said Lance. "You see what you just did?"
"What?" Kitty said. "I just fell out…"
"Yeah, lass!" said Lance. "Right through the wall!"
"You're crazy!" said Kitty, backing away.
Lance grabbed her arm and stopped her from running away. "No, no!" he said, trying to calm her down. "Avast! I'm the one corsair around here who gets the beauty of it! Cause you're just like me! Really!" Kitty looked at Lance skeptically. "Aye, then! Gangway!"
Lance clenched both his fists and concentrated hard. The entire school began to shake and the lockers opened, spilling their contents on the floor. Kitty gasped in surprise just as Lance stopped. He had shaken the world. "Getting the picture?" he said to Kitty.
"No!" said Kitty. "You're just like some…Jack Tar! Leave me alone!" Kitty ran off.
"You can run, but you can't hide." Said Lance as he simply watched Kitty leave. "Cause I'm gonna rock your world."
Kitty arrived to gym late while Amy and Riley laughed at her expense. The gym instructor blew her whistle. "Pryde, you're late." She said.
"Sorry, I had locker trouble." Kitty said, glaring at Amy and Riley.
"All right, you three." Said the gym teacher. "Pryde, you're tardy so you're first." Kitty regrettably made her way to the long jump area.
Lance and his two mateys scaled the school to the roof.
"Avast!" said the first matey.
"Shut up ya scurvy dog!" said the other as he punched the first in the shoulder.
"What now, Alvers?" asked the first to Lance who was watching the gym class take place.
"Can't you just…you know, make a door?" asked the second matey.
"Aye, and have them know we were in?" Lance said sarcastically. "They'll change the test! I got a better idea." He pointed at Kitty. "That lass."
"Blimey, she gonna long jump through the wall?" asked the matey.
"You two scallywags just line up the customers…I'll snatch the answers." Lance said.
Kitty was never very good at long jump. In fact, she wasn't good at all. And, in short, she fell on her face.
"Take notes, Pryde, this is how athletes do it." Said Riley as she got ready to jump herself.
Lance wasn't about to allow Riley to put down a considerable lass so as soon as she began to run and jump, Lance began to shake the world and which threw the sand up into the air and knocked Riley onto her rump. Kitty gasped and looked at Lance who only waved at her from the roof of the school. She ran away as fast as she could but crashed into Jean on the way. Instead of stopping, she just kept running.
She wandered aimlessly around by herself and threw a temper tantrum. However, when she reached out to catch something she had dropped off a shelf, it passed right through her hands. When she bent down and touched it again, however, it was solid. So, she decided to test out her new found abilities by concentrating on making her hand go through the bowl. And it did.
"Kitty?" came the voice of Jean the Lass. "Kitty, are you all right?"
Kitty stood up in surprise. She looked Jean up and down. "That rah rah Riley a friend of yours? Cause I had nothing to do with what happened out there in the sandpit."
"I know, and I'm not Riley's heartie." Said Jean.
"You like you'd be." Kitty said.
"I know what's going on here." Said Jean.
"You don't know anything!" Kitty yelled angrily. "And neither does that creepy guy out there!"
"Who, Swab Lance?" said Jean. "This is about you. You and your wonderful new gift."
"Look, I don't want any of this! It's just hard enough being normal, you know?"
"Kitty, I want you to watch me for a second." Said Jean as she began to use her telekinetic powers to pick up the things that Kitty had thrown around the room. Kitty watched in awe but then she realized something.
"You're a mutant pirate!" she yelled. "Stay out of my head!!" Then she ran off, leaving Jean alone.
"Kitty, avast!" Lass Jean called. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Lance standing there.
"Piece of advice, Red!" said Lance. "I'm the only matey that lass is gonna need! I'll be teaching her what's what so you just back off!" He pushed past the lass and walked by her.
Kitty opened her locker and pulled her books out, still attempting to go about her normal life and keep her mind off the mutant pirates. She turned around when she was being loomed over by the shadow of Swab Lance.
"Avast!" said Lance. "I won't shake things up! I promise! I'm uh… my name's Lance. We should really talk."
"Why can't everyone just leave me alone?!" Kitty demanded.
"I've learned how to control it." Lance said. "Meet me outside the office in an hour. I'll show YOU how."
"Sounds like the swab could be trouble…" Captain Xavier communicated telepathically with Jean. "If he bonds with the lass, we may not be able to reach her."
"Aye, Captain, I agree, and he IS reaching her." Jean told the captain.
"You'll have to stay with her, Jean." Said Captain Xavier. "I don't want to loose this lass. Remember, any obstacles that get in the way, you can overcome them. Captain out."
Back in the waters around the X-Men Hand Kurt and First Mate Scott scouted the area for any sign of Captain Logan in the nameless ship.
"Sink me!" said Kurt, dropping the rigging. "We've lost him."
"Hey, watch the rigging!" Scott said, grabbing the rigging the Kurt had dropped ever so carelessly.
"There!" Kurt said, pointing at a small island off in the distance. "There's two ships docked there!" He pulled out his binoculars. "One is Sabretooth and the other…a nameless one!"
"All right!" said Scott as the two sailed to shore.
Captain Logan looked around for the captain of Sabretooth. It didn't take long because the captain jumped out and presented himself, immediately attacking Captain Logan with a long cutlass.
"Unfinished business, scallywag." Uttered the captain.
"Bring it on, lubber, bring it on." Said Captain Logan.
The captain lunged toward Captain Logan, sword drawn but Captain Logan sliced the sword in two, making it utterly useless. The nameless captain threw the broken sword aside. Then the two began to fight with fists and whatever they could pick off the small island whether it be rocks or uprooted trees.
"One shall fall by the other's hand!" said the captain. "It is our destiny! We cannot change it!"
"I didn't know you went for that philosophy bilge!" said Captain Logan.
"Hey landlubber, I got your destiny right here!" came the voice of First Mate Scott as he zapped the nameless captain with his laser eye vision. The captain recovered and then began to attack Hand Kurt who had also arrived but Captain Logan pushed the nameless captain out of the way before he could inflict any damage.
The nameless captain jumped off a nearby cliff and dove into the water. Captain Logan watched him fall with an angry expression.
"Arr!" said Kurt. "We showed him! We're the X-Men!"
"I don't fight your battles so don't fight mine." Said Captain Logan to Hand Kurt and First Mate Scott. Captain Logan then stormed off.
"Sink me, he loves us." Said Kurt with a shrug.
"Aye." Said Scott sarcastically.
Back at pleasant island of Northbrook, Swab Lance was waiting outside the office for Kitty, just like he said he would. It wasn't long before Kitty actually did show up.
"…How do you take control?" she asked nervously.
"By admitting something that no one wants to cope to." Said Lance. "That we are mutant pirates. That there is something wrong with us." Kitty lowered her head in shame. "Avast, don't fret it. Embrace it!"
"Nothing is making any sense…" whined Kitty.
"That's why I be here!" said Lance. "To light your path! And the first step leads us right into the office."
Kitty closed her eyes and concentrated, not knowing exactly why she was trusting Lance, a mere swab, but she phased through the wall and then unlocked the door so Lance could enter freely. "Did you see me?" Kitty said happily. "Did you?"
"Aye!" said Lance. "Shiver me timbers, Lass! How did it feel?"
"Oh it was…unbelievable!" said Kitty as she hugged Lance happily.
Outside the office, Captain Xavier and Lass Jean were waiting for Kitty's parents to arrive. They arrived in moments.
"Where's Kitty?" her father said anxiously.
"She broke into the office." Jean answered.
"She's never done anything like this before!" said Kitty's mother.
"You go with Lass Jean." Said Captain Xavier. "I'll catch up."
Lance searched the files for the test answers. "Ha!" he said. "Test answers present and accounted for!"
"That's what this is about?" Kitty said, looking betrayed. "Hornswaggling?"
"Avast, this scurvy school uses tests like these to keep us down, lass!" said Lance angrily. "No more! We take control!"
"This doesn't feel right!" said Kitty. "I changed my mind! I wanna go!"
"Avast, avast!" said Lance, grabbing Kitty's arm. "What are you doing? Come on, Lass."
"Let go of my daughter!!" came the angry voice of Kitty's father.
"Far enough, ya squiffy!" said Lance as he commenced in his famous shaking the world abilities. One of the bookshelves in the room came tumbling down on top of Kitty's father. Lass Jean and Kitty's mother gasped.
"Daddy!" Kitty called.
"Forget them!" said Lance. "Blimey, I'm bringing this place down!" He continued to shake the world and the building began to crumble. Lass Jean used everything within her power to keep the building up but in the end, it didn't do them any good. The building ended up tumbling down anyway because Kitty had escaped from Lance, and he was one unhappy swab.
Using her mutant abilities, Lass Kitty told everyone to grab onto her and they all phased through the rubble until they were safe back outside.
Captain Xavier watched on in silence, anticipating what was going to happen next. He was very relieved when everyone came though unharmed. "Aye, Lass, it IS a gift." He commented. "And you've used it well."
"Daddy, mutant pirates…they…want to help me." Kitty said. "I trust them."
"I know, beautie, and so do I." Said her father as he turned back to Captain Xavier. "Captain, I think we have some things to talk about."
"Aye." Said Captain Xavier. "We do."
Lance looked on to the rubble and he knew that he wouldn't be able to go back to that school. He knew that he would probably have to leave Northbrook all together. But how? And where would he go?
"I'd say you've blown your chances at this school, haven't you?" said the voice of Captain Mystique.
"And you are…?" Swab Lance said.
"You're new Captain." Captain Mystique replied. "I've made an opening for you in my crew on The Brotherhood. I have much to teach you my young sprog."