Chapter 6
"So...um...how do they....um...you know....go back wherever they came from?" Hermie asked awkwardly as the group of intrepid adventurers passed under the sign and officially entered the Island of Misfit Boys (Girls Welcome).
Jamie IV shrugged. "They just sort of disappear after a while. Don't ask me to explain it, because I really can't."
"So," Yukon asked, looking around at the veritable horde of Jamies, all with pointed blue and pink elf hats. "Which of you is the real one?"
"I am!" Eleven hands instantly shot into the air. Cornelius raised his bushy eyebrows. "I see," he said. Rudolph still hadn't stopped laughing.
"It's not funny, OK!" Jamie III pouted, crossing his arms in annoyance.
"Yeah!" Jamie IX added. "You don't like people laughing at your nose, so quit laughing at my duplicates."
Rudolph had the good grace to look contrite. "Sorry, Jamie," he said.
"Are you certain that this island is inhabited?" Hermie spoke up. "We've been here for at least twenty minutes now and I haven't seen hide nor hair of a--"
"Look!" Jamie VII exclaimed, pointing at the sky. "That lady! She's flying!"
The party turned its collective gaze in the direction the Jamie was indicating. Schwarzwald Kurt's breath caught in his throat at the striking vision that met his golden eyes. A young woman with skin the color of rich milk chocolate and hair as white as the shining snow was twirling gracefully through the crystal blue sky. Kurt was unable to take his eyes from her lithe, powerful form until she vanished behind a beautifully intricate ice palace at the top of a high, rounded hill.
Yukon caught Kurt's expression and slapped him on the back, jarring him from his pleasant daze.
"Was?" he demanded, rubbing his stinging back with his tail.
"Roll your tongue back in, boy," the hefty prospector laughed gustily. "It's in danger of freezing to your boots."
Kurt bristled. "I am not a boy," he said, trying to keep his voice from showing his annoyance. "My name is--"
"Halt!" a young voice interrupted harshly. The party stopped in its tracks, turning to face the newcomer as he spoke again. "State your names and reason for coming to the Island of the Misfits."
The newcomer was a tall boy of about seventeen with short, brown hair and a chiseled jaw. Over his eyes, he wore strange glasses with reddish, multi-faceted lenses. He was dressed in what seemed to be some sort of uniform made of a blue, leather-like material.
Kurt stepped forward with a polite bow. "Guten Tag, mein Herr. I am Schwarzwald Kurt." Gesturing to his companions, he said, "This young reindeer is Rudolph, and the small group of boys you see just here are called Jamie. We, along with this noble prospector and this brave elf, have come to your shores in peace. We seek only safe lodgings for the night, and perhaps a warm meal."
"My name's Hermie," the elf spoke up with a small wave.
"And I'm Yukon Cornelius," the prospector added. Then he chuckled. "We've been having so much fun these last few hours I guess we forgot to introduce ourselves," he said to Kurt.
Kurt smiled, his sharp teeth shining strangely through the darkness of his hood. "Thank you for your help, Yukon Cornelius," he said. "I do not believe we would have escaped the avalanche were it not for you."
"Ah," the hefty prospector shook off the compliment with a wave of his beefy hand. "'Twern't nuthin'"
"Are you quite finished?" the spectacled boy asked, his face pinched with annoyance. They looked at each other, shrugging and muttering among themselves.
"Yeah."
"I guess so."
"I suppose."
"Yeah, sure."
"Good," the boy snapped. "I will announce your presence to our leader. In the meantime, you are all to stay here. Remember, we Misfits have ways of defending ourselves that outsiders like you can only dream of."
With that parting threat, the tall boy turned on his heel with military precision and marched off in the direction of the glittering ice palace the flying woman had vanished into mere moments before.
"What a jerk!" Jamie I exclaimed, staring incredulously at the boy's departing back. "'We "Misfits" have ways of defending ourselves that outsiders like you can only dream of'" he mocked in a falsely deep singsong voice. "What the heck kind of way to talk is that?"
"That's just Scott," a small, female voice piped up from behind them. "He's not really like that. He just likes to play Mr. Military in front of strangers. Not that we get many visitors here."
The group turned once again. While they had been talking to "Mr. Military," several other island inhabitants had crept up behind them, as silently as falling snow. They were all wearing uniforms identical to the one Scott had been wearing.
Kurt looked down at the girl who had spoken with gently glowing eyes. "What is your name, Mädchen?" he asked.
"I'm Kitty," the girl smiled. She motioned for her companions to step forward. "And these are my friends: Jean, Amara, Jubilee, Bobby, Spyke, Rogue, and Rahne."
"We're all Misfits," the uniformed teenagers chorused.
"What does that mean, exactly?" Jamie II inquired curiously.
"Oh, wow!" Jubilee exclaimed, ignoring the question and boggling at the eleven Jamies. "Are you all, like, super-twins or something?"
Rogue made a face. "'Super-twins?'" she repeated in a deep, Southern accent. "Where did you come up with that?" Jubilee stuck her tongue out at her.
"No, we're not brothers," Jamie X explained. "These are my duplicates."
"You see," Jamie V broke in, "whenever I hit something or something hits me, I somehow create duplicates of myself. It's weird."
"Yeah," Rudolph added, "but it's cool."
"And who might you be?" Rahne asked with a thick, Scottish accent. "Do you have a power as well?"
Rudolph lowered his head. "Not really. My nose glows red. That's about all."
"Oh," Rahne shrugged. "Well, I suppose it's useful in the dark."
Rudolph shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose."
"Who's Tall, Dark, and Creepy over there?" Bobby asked, gesturing with his thumb at Kurt.
"Oh," Jamie XI said with a bright grin. "This is Schwarzwald Kurt! He can teleport, and he has swords, and he strangled the Abominable Snowman with his tail!"
Spyke gasped. "You mean, he killed the Abominable Snowman?!"
Jamie VIII shook his head. "Nah. He just knocked him out for a while. When the Abominable fell over, it caused an avalanche. Kurt and Cornelius cut us an iceberg and we escaped just before the snow hit us. That's how we came here."
The Misfits looked up at Kurt in wide-eyed admiration. Bobby crept up behind him, searching for his tail. Kurt looked back at him and, with an amused smile, favored him with a small wave of the spaded tip. Bobby's eyes bugged, then his face broke out into a delighted grin. The Jamies snickered as the tail shivered slightly in the cold and vanished quickly back into the folds of Kurt's fur-lined coat.
"Schwarzwald? That's a funny-sounding name," Amara observed with a haughty smirk.
"The Schwarzwald is a place, it is not technically my name," Kurt corrected her. My name is Kurt. As an infant, I was found by the woman who raised me at the outskirts of the Black Forest--the Schwarzwald--in Germany. I thought Schwarzwald Kurt had rather a dashing ring to it, one suitable to my chosen occupation as protector of the innocent."
"Is this guy for real?" Spyke asked with an incredulous laugh. Then his eyes widened as he caught sight of the double scabbard strapped to Kurt's back. "Woah, wait a minute," he said. "Are those real swords?"
Kurt shot him a wicked grin from the depths of his hood. "Of course!"
"That is so cool!" Spyke exclaimed.
Jubilee looked up from the small huddle she'd made with Jean and Kitty.
"If you have swords, why didn't you just skewer the Abominable?" she asked, flicking a few stray sparks from her fingertips.
Schwarzwald Kurt turned to her. "Because that is not my way," he explained patiently. "The Abominable is a lumbering, stupid creature. He is dangerous, but it is not because he is cruel. When he attacked us, he acted out of innocent hunger rather than overt malice. It would have been a sin to kill him just for that."
"There's no way this guy's for real." Spyke said with a disbelieving shake of his blonde head.
"Why do you call yourselves Misfits?" Jamie VIII broke in. The other teenagers looked suddenly uncomfortable.
After a long, awkward pause, Jean said, "Outside this island, no one seems to want us."
Kurt tilted his head, his startled golden eyes filled with concern. "Why would that be?" he asked.
"Well, who would want a boy who can shoot ugly bone spikes through his skin?" Spyke asked as he provided a brief demonstration.
"Or worse, a kid who sucks out the life-force of others through her skin," Rogue sulked, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
"Or a girl who can turn into a wolf!" Rahne growled, affecting the startling transformation with little more than a thought.
"Or a girl who can walk through walls?" Kitty added, hanging her head.
"Or one who can make sparks fly from her fingertips?" Jubilee scowled.
"Or a boy who can make ice?" Bobby asked. Then he smiled. "A little redundant now, perhaps, but it sure would make me popular if this island was tropical." Jubilee shoved him. Bobby just laughed.
"You want tropical, Iceman?" Amara asked with a toss of her head. Kurt, Cornelius, Rudolph, Hermie, and the Jamies all gasped in shock as she suddenly burst into flames. "I'll show you tropical!"
"That's enough!" Jean announced, holding out her hand, a look of total concentration on her face. Amara's flames vanished as she rose several feet into the air, a deep frown marring her dark features.
"Hey!" Jamie III exclaimed excitedly as Jean released the outraged girl. "You've all got powers too?"
"Maybe that means we're Misfits as well!" Jamie VII grinned at Rudolph and Kurt.
"This could be the place we were looking for, Rudolph!" Jamie I beamed, looking hopefully at the gathered Misfits.
Rogue regarded them through heavily made-up, green eyes. "Is the world outside really as bad as we've heard?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" Rudolph asked.
"Well, said Spyke, "we've always been told that if the people in the outside world were to learn of our powers they would be scared of us."
"They'd ridicule and tease us, or even try to hurt us," Rahne added.
"No one knows about this island," Jean explained. "Not even Santa."
"The secrecy keeps us safe, but it would be nice to get a real Christmas present for once," Rahne said, shifting back into her human form.
"Have none of you ever left this island?" Schwarzwald Kurt queried.
"No," Jean answered him. "Not since we came. The morning after we discovered our powers, we woke up to find ourselves here. It happened the same way for all of us."
The Misfits nodded.
"Here we can learn to use our powers while we wait for the day we can safely enter the world outside," Rahne said.
"And when will that be?" Hermie asked.
The Misfits fidgeted uncomfortably. "We don't know," Bobby said.
"It is human nature for people to fear what they do not understand. We may not like it, but it is a fact nonetheless. If you never confront the world, if you never show by your actions that you are brave and trustworthy and that you mean them no harm, how can you expect the people who know nothing of your abilities to accept you without fear?" Kurt questioned.
Before the Misfits could come up with an answer, their thoughts were interrupted by Yukon Cornelius.
"Don't look now," Yukon said, "but I think young Mr. Military's headed this way."
Everyone watched with varying expressions of bemusement as Scott marched his way towards them. Spyke whispered, "Huht, two, three, four," as Scott came to a sudden stop, then turned to the newcomers. Bobby smirked. A muscle in Scott's jaw twitched, but his focused expression did not waver.
"Our leader would like to speak with you," the tall boy announced formally, his posture perfect. "If you would follow me."
Jean whispered something to Kitty, who promptly burst into giggles. Scott shot them a dark glare that was mostly obscured by his glasses. Jean and Kitty only giggled harder.
Schwarzwald Kurt honored Scott with an equally formal bow. "Lead on, mein Herr," he said. Scott's expression pacified as he turned sharply on his heel and re-traced his tracks back to the glittering ice palace on the hill. "This way," he said.