I was in an exchange student program, studying in America, the last Superpower of the world now that the Soviet Union had fallen. On the whole, it wasn't a *bad* place to stay, I suppose, in Bayville, NY.
It was just the patriotic crap that Americans seemed to thrive on. Like the American Football game I was at. (The only reason I was there at all was that, as an exchange student, it had been hinted to me that I should show school spirit... or else!)
I amused myself by imagining what one of my favourite characters from the King of Fighters tournament would do. Yamazaki Ryuji, the Yakuza, would leave after taking anything overly valuable or useful for ransom -- like the trophy, or the coach, say.
The jocks, of course, would try to stop the tall, heavily built bleached blonde from his reign of crime. Which would mean *fun* -- I pictured in my mind how Yamazaki would step through the wouldbe tough guys, kicking the snot out of them and ripping the odd uppity one up with a knife. I'd scare the girls out of their wits afterwards, with Yamazaki's creepy, high pitched, edgy laughter.
A brilliant beam of scintillating ruby light shot forth underneath my feet. I distantly heard an explosion as it crumpled a shed, but that took a back seat to the more important things.
A flower unfolded in my mind. A harsh, iron cold machine started. A beautiful symphony reached it's peak.
As I rose to my feet, my body grew a foot in height. I lost most of my bodyfat, gaining a few hundred pounds of muscle in return. My clothes liquidified, changing to a black shirt with an open vest over top, and black jeans. My hair remained the same colour, but bleached to a yellow on top of my head.
My mind changed.... I was no longer the exchange student Alan, the worm. I was Yamazaki Ryuji, invincible, in search of Geese to get my PAY! However I would have to do it.
Yamazaki jumped, crashing through the thin footrest of the seating and falling to the muck below. The scene below was madness, pure madness. The rest of the seating above his head burned merrily. He laughed as he saw the spectators run like the sheep they were.
Where to find Geese? To start with, where was he? The last he remembered was winning a fight against the Lone Wolf, for once. Out past the wreckage, there were only firefighters, and a scrawny little badsmelling creature, with pasty white skin.
Ryuji grabbed the small thing by the front of his... clothes.
"Where am I?," the Yakuza growled.
"Hey man, you're at Bayville High School, near New York," Toad Tolansky said nervously. The tall, powerful Japanese man exuded an aura of hate and barely controlled lust for violence.
"America? I need to find Geese Howard...," Ryuji mused out loud, some of Alan's habits affecting the fighter.
"Uh, can I go now?"
"Sure. Leave the money, or I'll SKIN you!," Yamazaki laughed, dropping the greenish Toad to start getting all the money that had not burnt.
As Toad started to run, he felt a powerful punch to his head send him into blackness.
* * *
A day had passed since then. Yamazaki, not really sure where Geese was, had been looking all around town for the criminal element. All he had found were smalltime car thieves, chopshops, and purse snatchers. Pathetic scum.
The only thing he had been able to find out was that everyone in town thought that Charles Xavier, at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, would be able to help him find 'that man who owes you all that money.' He'd decided to wait until dusk -- security was a bitch at these Institution things, and he was feeling weak for some reason. No amount of food or alcohol had alleviated his faintness.
He trailed behind his new friend Toad, who was acting superbly as the decoy for the security at this place. He had seen recessments for laser cannons, and sensors, that strangely had not been activated.
He restrained the urge to laugh.
* * *
Toad was happily oblivious to his tail, and had gotten into the Institute, picked a fight with some freak, and then found that the psycho from yesterday had followed him there and had nailed Toad to the wall with more knives than he was really comfortable with.
"Can't I get a break?," Toad asked.
"No," Yamazaki grinned. "Hey, Nightcrawler or whatever you said your name was. Where is Charles Xavier?"
Kurt had taken Xavier as a mentor figure by now, and was not about to let some knifewielding madman anywhere near him.
"As those Americans say, neener neener neener!"
Yamazaki growled as the demon vanished in a puff of smoke, only to reappear on the chandelier. He threw a heavy knife at the blue furred thing, making it move to the ground near the back of the foyer.
"Hahaha! Sloooow!," Kurt taunted, trying to infuriate the tall Japanese man.
The knives holding Toad up to the wall had dissipated for some reason by now, and the mad student shot his tongue at the freak who did it to him.
"Get back here you psycho!"
Yamazaki, his danger sense pinging, turned and threw another knife at Toad, who ably dodged it this time.
"I'm outta here!," Tolansky announced. And so he was.
Ryuji turned to chase down the demon who had pissed him off!
"Todd Tolansky does indeed have the X-gene," Xavier said from his wheelchair in a doorway. "If he so wants, there is a place for him here. I tried to restrain that knife-wielding madman, but for some reason my probe slid off his shields. I've only come across shields like that with... him, and then only with his helmet. We'll have to help him."
Storm sighed. "Your good heart blinds even you."
Kurt had run back to the foyer by now, Yamazaki in hot pursuit. Nightcrawler leaped to the chandelier again as Yamazaki stopped for a pause. That damned weakness again... what was causing it?
"Sir, if you want help with any mental problems, we can help you here," Xavier said while the man was stationary.
"The only thing I want is to find Geese... and rip the head off that stupid demon there!," Ryuji roared.
He leaped at the chandelier, and put the demon in a hold that he had seen one of the Ikari Mercenaries use once. As they fell, the demon teleported once again, into a large room of grey steel with weapons unfolding!
* * *
Yamazaki felt the weakness return as he hit the floor, and the metal tentacles and guns started attacking.
\\What a time for *this* to happen!,\\ he thought to himself. Shades of Alan were returning.
He started running, having learnt long ago the value of not hanging around to be killed. There was no door, though, and he was blindsided by one of those damn tentacles. He gasped, knowing he was running on empty after two nights and a day with no sleep, and food not working for some reason.
The wall started to crush him against a block, and he resigned himself to the fate he had dealt out to so many others as it moved... before an explosion destroyed the block. Regardless, black claimed him as he went unconscious.
* * *
I woke to a strange ceiling. For one, it was a couple meters higher up than I was used to. The room was immense. Tan walls surrounded me, boring in their blandness. And... my stuff! My gear was all set up on a desk on the other side of the room!
I immediately went over and set a music video playing on my computer. 'Ich Will', I thought to myself. Some loud, rebellious music. I powered up the Kenwood amplifier, checking the connection between the computer and the powerful piece of circuitry.
As the music started, with a rhythmic repetition of 'Ich Will. Ich Will.', a bald man in a wheelchair entered. A group of teenagers were waiting at the door, presumably for the man to finish speaking with me.
"Hello. I am Charlies Xavier, of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. I have reason to believe that you have mutant capabilities, and I want to help you gain control," he said, arching his fingers in his lap.
Behind him on the screen, the well dressed bank robbers marched in with style, followed by their cane wielding leader. I saw one of the teenagers looking excited at this... perhaps he was into real music too? I put the thought away for later.
"Excuse me?," the man said, interrupting my daydream.
"Sorry," I apologised. "Why on earth do you think I could be a mutant? It'd be cool if I was, but..." I trailed off.
"May I?," Xavier asked, raising his hand to my forehead.
I gave permission, and he pulled memories of Yamazaki to the front of my mind. I gasped, pulling away.
"Wow! You mean..."
"Yes. You seem to be able to take the form and abilities of characters from video games and TV, perhaps more. Do you want to stay here?"
I thought about it for all of two seconds. Hosting an exchange student meant that the host family got some money, but I knew that my host family weren't really dealing too well with me. I was too strange for their straitlaced patriotic American lives. Better now, then later, when they found out what I was.
"Sure!," I answered, provoking a smile from the older man. I lifted my eyes from him to the people at the door. "Come in, y'all!"
The boy with the blue-black hair was the first to get to me, strangely. He smelt of fireworks, for some reason, sulphur and smoke.
"Can I get a copy of that music video?," he asked. It seemed I had found someone with musical taste! I said so aloud.
"Nothing wrong with the music I like," the guy with the sunglasses said. Sunglasses inside? Someone needed to get over himself.
"I like music where I can understand the words," the boy retorted.
"Sorry, and you are... besides being German, I assume?," I asked.
The boy blushed, looking embarrassed. "I'm Kurt Wagner and yeah, I'm German! He's Scott Summers, she's Jean Grey, he's Logan. Um, did I forget anyone Professor?"
Xavier nodded. "There is Storm. She's outside at the moment."
By now I was sitting on my bed, in this strange room. I looked at my right hand. Had it really happened? Perhaps... I tried to think of a character to change into.
Looking around, Logan reminded me of someone... the Lone Wolf! I decided to try and change into Terry Bogard, legend of Fatal Fury. First, I tried fixing Terry in my mind. That didn't change me. Was the Professor wrong? Maybe--
"Try your powers later, Alan," Xavier interrupted. I must have been broadcasting, or something.
"You were," he affirmed. "I'll leave you to settle in for now.
'Ich Will' had finished by now. The music stopped. The group of teenagers dragged me out of the room to see the rest of the Institute.
* * *
Big. That was my first impressions of the mansion.
After Kurt had shown me his power, which I thought was pretty neat (even if the trade-off was somewhat suckful), he took me through the huge place like prunes through a duck. At the Danger Room, we met up with the Professor.
"Alan, I want to see what you are capable of. You seem to be able to transform into characters from fictional series or games. I'll work the controls from the control room, where Kurt will join me," the Professor asked.
"Sure," I said, thinking over what character to use. "What do you you want me to do -- beat the tentacles and lasers?"
The door on the far side of the large room opened, revealing Wolverine, who appeared to be annoyed with something.
"Hey, Chuck, you usin' this at the moment?," he asked Xavier.
"Yes, we were about to test Alan's skills," Xavier replied. "Do you want to watch?"
"Sure."
"Hold on," I interrupted, thinking of someone to change to. "Wolverine, could I try something with you?"
"Sure, I guess," he answered, unsure of what I was going to do.
I nodded, then closed my eyes. I fixed in my mind Yagami Iori, the tall Orochi warrior. I deliberately forgot everything of myself, cleansing my mind.
And it happened.
Kurt sucked in his breath as he saw Alan's height rise, and his hair lengthen slightly, turning red. A black jacket appeared around the figure's wide shoulders, a white crescent moon on the back. The dress shirt the figure was wearing was untucked, falling down over the figures red pants. A belt was tied around the figure's knees, connecting them.
"Iori Yagami," Kurt whispered. "Wow..."
"Do you know who that is, Kurt?," Xavier asked. He had never seen the character.
"Yah, Professor. He's almost unstoppable, when someone with skill is playing," Kurt replied.
Xavier spoke into the microphone. "Wolverine, be careful. This character, Kurt tells me, is very powerful."
* * *
Wolverine was slightly unsettled by the sight of the youth changing like that into a completely different person, like Mystique. He unsheathed his claws as the figure slumped into a crouch.
"Sugu raku ni shiteyaru," Iori said, raising his hands like claws.
Wolverine tensed as Iori leaped forward, grabbing him and ripping a gash across his chest with his hand. If it wasn't for his mutant healing factor, Logan knew that that would've done some damage.
"Not bad, bub," he acknowledged.
Iori grinned. "Ore ga kowaii no ka?"
Logan shook his head, darting forward and slashing at Iori with his extended claws. Iori danced around his slashes surprisingly quickly for a man of his mass, then crouched.
Kurt sucked in a breath as he recognised what was about to happen. "Look out!," he yelled.
Iori leapt up, purple flames following his arm as he unwound a vicious uppercut to Wolverine's chin, The flames engulfed Wolverine, doing some serious damage. He punched Logan a few times while he was recovering from the fire.
Then the Professor called a halt.
Iori looked up. "Nani?"
Xavier, knowing little Japanese, used telepathy to communicate the fact that the fight was over. Iori nodded, then his form melted back into the shape that Alan owned.
* * *
I was abruptly short of breath as I changed back. A great tiredness swept over me as my mutant power let it be known that that last move had taken a lot out of me.
"You pack a hell of a punch, kid," Wolverine said, recovered by now.
"Thanks," I said, "but it wasn't really me, was it? It was Iori doing all the work."
"Regardless, was anything different this time, Alan?," Xavier asked as he took the lift down to the floor of the Danger Room. Kurt teleported instead.
"That was way cool!," Kurt yelled.
"Yeah... I was aware of everything this time," I replied. "It was more like a melding of me and Iori, unlike the first time where it was all Yamazaki and I was pushed under."
"I... see. Well, we will have to experiment further later," the Professor mused out loud. He looked at the time on a monitor.
"Hey guys, time for school!," Summers shouted, running into the Danger Room. He had my schoolbag as well.
I blinked. Time already? Oh well. "Can I get a ride from someone?"
"Sure!," Jean said. "Scott won't mind giving us all a ride.
"C'mon, man! I'll take you via the shortcut," Kurt said, before grabbing me and 'porting to the garage.
There were five vehicles in the garage. A butt-ugly Armoured Personnel Carrier of some sort, a very nice looking Harley, an antique car of some sort, a Soccer-Mum-Mobile, and a low slung convertible sports car. I snorted as Summers and Jean Grey got to the garage.
"I don't know if that car will take all of us before collapsing," I acidly commented. It was a failing of mine; I couldn't stand beautiful things at the cost of functionality. It was of a model that wasn't particularly powerful.
"Look, do you want a ride or not?," Summers said, his fur ruffled.
"Cool it, man. He didn't mean it," Kurt said, giving me a bit of a glare before his natural joyousness tided him over.
I nodded to keep the peace, getting in the back seat with Kurt as the other two got in the front.
And that seemed to have fulfilled my dose of excitement for the day.
* * *
I looked at Summers with disgust.
"So she asked real nicely, probably wiggled a bit, and you just handed her your car keys?," I said, putting as much bite in my statement as I could.
"Ease off on him," Kurt said. "After all, the blue fuzzy dude wasn't there to provide release for her!"
I ignored the German boy for the moment.
"Pretty much," Scott said, ignoring my antipathy nicely.
The walk wasn't that bad, and probably did me a world of good. To be honest, it also wasn't that long. The only good part of it, though, was when Logan burned past us on the Harley, telling us who it belonged to.
"What's up with Logan?," Kurt asked.
"Yeah, that man is packing some serious attitude. Even more than you, Alan," Summers said.
I ignored that snipe. Mostly. The twitch under my left eye gave me away.
"Wanna follow him?," Kurt asked.
"You mean besides the fact that it's none of our god damned business?," I asked, getting no response.
"Sure!," Summers said. "Let's take my car."
* * *
Suicidal Tendencies blared from the car stereo as we looked around.
"I feel like a VIC 20 interfacing with a Sinclair," I muttered. "I'm changing."
I concentrated on Hibiki Ryouga, trying to retain as much of myself as possible in an experiment. (The fact I didn't want to get lost had nothing to do with it. Honest.)
Kurt grinned, throwing a companiable arm around the back of my seat. "Cool, man! Where is he?"
"Incoming!," Ryouga yelled, diving out of the car. A custom Harley (or part of one, at least) was falling with increasing velocity towards the convertible.
Kurt and Scott hugged each other like girly-men as they shrieked in terror before Kurt 'ported the two of them out. We ran over to the entrance of the parking complex the 'bike had descended from, seeing some psycho in a coat ramming Wolverine with a car.
Summers, or Cyclops, raised a hand to his visor in a practiced motion. Ryouga stopped him.
"Don't butt in on a man to man fight!," the Japanese youth yelled (in English, strangely.)
"But Wolverine's getting hurt!," Kurt said, shooting Ryouga an evil look.
"Would you want him to butt in on a fight of yours?," Ryouga asked, thinking back to numerous fights with his rival.
The two shook heads.
"Then return him the courtesy," Ryouga said harshly.
While we had wasted time argueing, Wolverine had gotten out from between the car and the concrete and was ripping the stranger a new asshole. Ryouga cheered him on while Cyclops and Nightcrawler fumed.
"We should be helping!," Cyclops said, Nightcrawler nodding. Ryouga shot them another 'Look'.
"What did I say just before? Look, Wolverine has now scared off the psycho in the coat."
Logan came over to us. "Thanks for not letting those two interfere, bub."
Ryouga shook his head. "No problem. They have no concept of honour, and man-to-man fights."
Ryouga then de-changed back to Alan, features flowing like putty.
I shook my head. "That still feels weird every time I change back. Ummmm... Cyclops?"
Summers, staunchly looking away from me, said, "Yes?"
"Can I have that bike that fell on your car?"
Summer's eye started twitching. "The bike?"
"Sure. The guy who Wolverine was beating won't come back for it," I reasoned. "Right, man?"
"Yeah," Logan affirmed. "That was Sabertooth, by the way. Me and him go way back."
* * *
Once we got back, it was to find that there was a new addition to the X-Men. A shapely, curvy in all the right places type X-Men addition.
"Score!," Kurt said. "She's gonna love the blue fuzzy dude."
I half-smirked. That is, half my mouth smiled sarcastically, while the other half of my face remained normal. "That remains to be seen. I give it thirty percent likely."
"Ohhhh! Come on, man!," Kurt whined.
"Leave him alone, Alan," Scott said, evidently having pegged me as trouble.
"Hi... I'm Kitty Pryde," the new addition said, stepping forwards cautiously from the Professor and her parents.
* * *
'Bloody Kisses' rang out from the garage, as I swore at the motorbike. Most of it was fine, after some heavy welding. (Scott was still too pissed at me to help with his mutant power to fuse the two parts together.) I had repainted it using the age old philosophy. 'Any colour you like, so long as it's black.' And it goes with everything, too.
The only problem was the small problem of... say, a license.
My expression read 'you have got to be shitting me.'
"You have got to be shitting me, Professor!," I moaned. "I can't ride this?"
Xavier nodded, from the safety of his wheelchair a room away through the door.
I shifted my form to that of Gourry Gabriev, being very careful to keep my mind and clothes. "They won't question me now, will they?"
"You bet," Logan said, leaning against the garage wall. "The pigs love dumb looking blondes."
Shifting back to my normal form, I scowled. "Hey... you said that most of them love fantasy books, right?"
Xavier nodded. He'd mentioned their literary habits when we had all been talking late at night and I was trying to argue that most Americans were no more literary than reading the prescribed books for high school.
"That includes Forgotten Realms?," I asked. Xavier nodded.
I promptly shifted forms to Zaknafein Do'Urden. Drow; white hair, skin blacker than pitch, long elven ears, extremely obviously non-human. I kept my mind as best I could; the temptation to allow enough to use Zaknafein's sword fighting skills was bad.
I let Xavier read my mind.
Logan started laughing once I had explained who I was, and what my new race was famous for. "Those geeks in the Highway Patrol will be too busy pissing themselves to arrest ya."
I grinned, taking off on the powerful hog to testdrive it. Xavier was sitting openmouthed watching.
* * *
Later that day, I got back just in time to hear the news. Right when it'd gotten dark. I shifted from Zaknafein back to my normal self.
"Hey, Alan, we're after a rogue now. You're coming," Logan said, throwing me a X-Men uniform.
"Thanks for telling me. You were right, by the way."
I dumped the uniform on the nearest available surface, changing myself and my clothes to that of Alucard, operative of the Hellsing Institution. Vampiric No Life King, with blood red trenchcoat, wide brimmed red hat and grey suit underneath. A pair of red tinted John Lennon style glasses hid his eyes, black hair falling untidily from under the hat, which was easily wide enough to reach the end of his shoulders.
"What, man?," Kurt asked, grabbing and 'porting the two of us to the hangar.
"Oh, well, I couldn't get away with riding that hog I got in my natural form, so I took black elven form. Logan said that the cops would piss themselves," Alucard explained. "There are now a few highway policemen explaining soiled uniforms to their cohorts."
The whole plane started laughing. Well, except for Professor Xavier. Once everyone had settled down, Kitty (or Shadowcat, on mission) looked at Alucard.
"Who on earth are you?," she asked. Alucard (Alan as well, mostly) looked at her, grinning and showing his long fangs.
"No Life King," he said, putting exactly the wrong spin on it. Kitty shrieked, before Xavier calmed her down.
"You're, like, a vampire?! What happened to Alan?"
One explanation (and one considerably calmer Kitty) later...
Alucard sat patiently as Xavier, via Jean Grey, found out where the Rogue had gotten to.
* * *
As the group composed of Wolverine, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler and Alucard ran towards the Rogue, she ran away from them.
"After her! She has to be the one!," Wolverine shouted.
"Wait! She's frightened as hell of you for some reason, Wolverine," Alucard said. "Let me go after her -- I have some power over the minds of lesser beings."
"Okay, but don't screw up, ki--uh, man," Logan said.
Once he had caught up to the comely girl, Alucard began talking to her, exerting a calming force. Normally, he'd use this to restrain his prey so that they wouldn't struggle during feeding.
"We aren't a pack of mutant hunters," Alucard explained. "Who told you that? The Xavier Institute is more like... a school for mutants. Xavier. Hellsing. This power is screwing up our head," Alucard/Alan said, clutching his head momentarily.
"Who... who are you?," Rogue said hesitantly.
Alucard shifted back to Alan.
"I've got the power of shifting into characters I really like," I explained. I saw Shadowcat about to spring from the corner of my eyes.
"NO, KITTY!," I yelled, jumping towards her. I shifted slightly back to Alucard, enough to keep his phasing abilities to keep Kitty in check. The outwards signs were elongated canine teeth and red eyes.
"Who... who are you people?," Rogue said, as I tried to restrain Kitty.
"You'll have to excuse her," I said. "She's new, trying to prove herself."
"I am not!," Kitty said.
"Don't tempt me, Kitty. Alucard is... well, you know what he is," I said, leaving her imagination to come up with worse.
"O... okay," the rogue said. "I'll come with you for now."
Suddenly, Wolverine, or what appeared to be Wolverine jumped over the fence and started making noise. The crudeness tipped me off, and I switched back to full Alucard, trusting the vampire to protect Rogue and Kitty.
"Aaah!," Rogue aaah'ed.
"Stay away, shapechanger," Alucard said in a voice deeper than the nineth circle of hell. "Keep your games to yourself. Rogue, this is not Wolverine."
Alucard pulled out the Jackal and held it balanced on his other arm, lining it up with the shapechanger's forehead.
"It.. it isn't?," Rogue said. "Then who is it?"
By now, the other members of the X-men had arrived. Kitty, realising her error, was standing quietly now. Wolverine looked at his double, then visibly sniffed at the air...
"Mystique!," he accused. Alucard looked up at this.
"Old flame of yours?," he asked teasingly.
"Quiet, leech," Wolverine growled. "Leave, Mystique."
The double shimmered back in form to a women who had red hair and blue fur all over, like Kurt. Her form was shapely, and clad in a flowing dress that had long slits up the side.
"The bullets in this gun were made from the melted down silver cross of Lancaster cathedral, and contain holy water," Alucard said. "They've killed many ghouls and vampires. Don't think that they won't hurt you."
The shapechanger, Mystique, faced with dual threats, left quickly. But not before leaving a threat of her own -- "Don't think I won't get *you* back for this!"
* * *
Back in the Principle's office at Bayville High, Mystique received a visit from Magneto.
"Why did you fail to sway Rogue? She is powerful, and essential to the victory of mutants!," he asked. A pile of paperclips on her table straightened themselves out to pins menacingly.
"I was faced with Wolverine and a high level vampire!," she protested. "You made no mention of any of the vampires going against us! Especially high level ones!"
Magneto could see that the idea of fighting an undead as powerful as himself, possibly even more powerful, had shaken Mystique badly. He decided to try a different tack.
"Well, I suppose it wasn't entirely your fault then," he said. "But you must try and convince Rogue to come with us!"
"What about the vampire? I'm not going to try and kill something that's already dead."
"Leave him to me."
* * *
Once back at the Institute, I settled in to catch up on some anime watching, in between classes at school. I rewatched Trigun, what I had of Bastard!! and Ah! My Goddess for fun. (When questioned by Xavier, I called it 'research' for my mutant powers. He smiled at me, as if he knew my real reasons, but let me be.)
Breakfast... oh boy. During breakfast the others let me in on a new arrival at Bayville -- a mutant built like Obelix and with about the same amount of strength, but sorely lacking Obelix's easygoing personality. It figured.
"Probably just as well I didn't turn up," I thought out loud. "The only character I could think of would be Obelix, and this Blob would probably take that as an insult."
"Most likely," the Professor agreed.
"So, where's the new guy?," Kitty asked. I assumed she meant this relative of Storm's that I had not met.
"Still sleeping," Xavier answered. "He had a rough night."
Kurt 'ported to the table with a slight whiff of brimstone. "Mmmm, I love the smell of bacon in ze morning!"
I couldn't resist an acid comment. "Not napalm?"
"Eww, that would taste totally gross!," Kitty said.
"Professor, I think he knows something about those trashed lockers," Scott said to Xavier. "Could you... find out?"
"No," Xavier answered. Silently, I applauded his restraint. "And I'm not going to pry. He'll tell us when he's ready."
"You ask me, he's going to settle that score personally," Logan shared. "Pass the sausages, Red."
"After you, Wolverine," I added.
"That stuff like totally clogs your arteries you know," Kitty offered as Jean moved the plate of sausages with her mind to Logan and I.
"I appreciate your concern," Logan deadpanned.
"I'll die happy then," I retorted.
"I think you may be right about Evan's intentions, Logan," the Professor thought out loud.
"Yeah, Chuck. I may not be able to read minds, but I know what a boy's thinking about when he's been wronged. ELF! How many times I gotta tell ya? ASK, and it'll get passed to ya."
"Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you," Kurt replied, 'porting back to his seat from the chandelier, where he had been trying to get... something.
"That's better. Now mind your manners," Logan said, passing him the covered plate.
"It might be better if Evan had something to occupy his mind," the Professor said.
I immediately put in my two cents. "I've got a few anime series he might like!"
Scott groaned. "No! One anime freak is enough!"
"Scott, could you introduce him to the basketball coach?," Xavier asked.
I tuned out after that. I had about zero interest in sports of any sort. Well, except for games like King of Fighters.
* * *
After school, training was in session. My attendance was mandatory, unfortunately.
The Danger Room had a long, ribbon like strip that curved around the Room. Evan had to skate along it, while dodging the various obstacles that were thrown at him.
I was currently shifted to Vash the Stampede's form, legendary gunman worth $$60,000,000,000 dead or alive.
"You heard the man, let's roll," Wolverine said.
Evan dodged the cannon balls that Jean threw at him easily, and destroyed with his spikes the ones that he could not.
Vash started firing. He had proven to Wolverine that he wouldn't hurt Evan in any way by loading his gun with rubber bullets.
"YEOWCH! Hey! Stop shooting me!," Evan yelled.
Vash rubbed the back of his head nervously as the rest of the X-men looked at him. "Whaaaat? They're only rubber bullets! Xavier asked me to for a whole baaaag of donuts!"
Scott snorted as he started shooting at Evan with his laser eyesight thing. He managed to send Evan flying. (Vash knew that he could have, if he hadn't been interrupted.)
"Not too shabby, porcupine," Wolverine said as he helped Evan up. Vash shifted back to Alan as he wandered over to the pair.
"What was up with that, man? You were shooting me!," Evan said to me, obviously displeased.
"They wouldn't have hurt you," I said, changing slightly back to Vash. Vash opened his gun and handed Evan a bullet.
"Well, okay, maybe that wasn't so bad," Evan admitted as he squeezed the bullet, which was of no danger to anyone.
"Hey, Evan, coached just called. You've got to come to the gym -- you've got a game tonight. Alan, you've got to come too. Principal Darkholme said that you have to show more school spirit and all."
"There wasn't one on the schedule," Evan puzzled.
"Well, there is now," Kitty explained. "Coach said that the Principal set it up at the last minute."
* * *
I kicked a rock as the school bus for the other school turned up. It was still amazing to me, how the schools in America had their own buses. Back in New Zealand, the bus companies just had special runs and rates for school kids.
I watched as some whitehaired guy started pushing Evan around. I hated bullies.
"Hey, leave him be," I said, trying to put a hand on the new guy's shoulder. What had Evan called him? Oh yes, Maximov. Sounded like that guy from Darkstalkers.
"What? You gonna stop me?," Maximov retorted. He moved like greased lightning as he ran behind me to push me over too.
"Damned Roadrunner," I groused, feeling much like the Coyote.
"What's going on here?," Scott asked.
"Nothing I can't handle," Evan bit out.
I watched as the situation escalated rapidly, Maximov admitting to some crime and pissing off Evan. Oh boy.
I snorted as Scott spouted some rubbish about never being alone, then shifted to Wile E. Coyote. Who better to catch a Roadrunner?
* * *
By the time Wiley had caught up, Maximov had started to trash the small town. Somehow, the little bastard was running so fast he was making sonic booms. Great.
Scott blinked as he looked at Wiley. "Hey, are you...?"
Wiley nodded. He was instantly recognisable to *anyone* in America. He started running after the speed demon with legs trained very well by the bird.
"Hey, loser! You couldn't catch the Roadrunner, what makes you think you'll catch me?," Maximov said as he saw the cartoon character start gaining on him.
This greatly annoyed Wiley. Which was bad -- Wiley got... inventive... when he got frustrated.
He noticed three of those X-men people from the corner of his eye as he started putting together a suitable trap for Maximov. He knew the type -- arrogant, not terribly smart.
The thin, rangy coyote grinned as he saw the lean figure running towards them, leaving afterimages.
*TWANG!*
A wall of four inch thick steel popped up from the slot in the pavement that Wiley had created. An imprint of Maximov's features was clearly visible from the other side, and groaning could be heard.
"Owww... I think I broke my collarbone," Maximov muttered into the thick metal.
Jean blinked. "How... how did you do that?"
The coyote just grinned, thinking to himself that it was about time that something worked as it should.
The X-men left a tape recorder hanging from the steel screen as they left Maximov for the cops.
* * *
I took a deep breath as I lounged by the pool, reading a manga volume.
"C'mon man, the water's great!," Kurt said, trying to get me into the pool."
I looked up at him. "Nope. I only have one swim per year. And I had this year's one at new years."
Wolverine gave Kurt an evil grin, then the two of them got out of the pool, and moved towards me. I threw my manga to one side, then got to my feet. I quickly switched to the first character I could think of.
Oh crap, I thought as I shifted. Ranma's got that curse going.
"Hey! Hey! Stay away!," Ranma yelled. "I ain't going for no swim!"
Logan tried first to get the Japanese youth into the water, but was driven back by a thousand punches in less than a few seconds. "Elf, 'port him!"
Ranma didn't have time to blink before Kurt grabbed him and teleported the two of them about ten meters above the surface of the water.
"CANNON BALL!," he yelled.
"CHIKUSHO!," Ranma yelled.
Once the waves had settled down, Ranma-chan gave Kurt an evil look as she pulled her wet silk shirt away from her chest. "Pervert! Who are you, a relative of Kuno?"
Kurt smiled nervously, as he saw the look of vengeance that he'd seen on some of Alan's tapes. No male had ever managed to escape from female wrath on those.
*POW!*
* * *
According to the Law of Averages, you'd think that things would settle down over the next week.
Noooo.
I saw the Toad jumping around with some vapo-ray device, destroying the Principal's car. While I didn't really care about the Principal, vaporizing a nice machine like that was going too far.
I shifted to Ryuji Yamazaki, to give the slimeball the shock of his life. Yamazaki moved behind the Toad without a sound.
* * *
Tolansky looked at the device in his hands. Let's see the X-freaks try anything now! Zap! To da--
"What are you doing?," a threatening voice asked from behind. The voice was deep, and promised pain.
Toad turned around. He didn't remember the black clad person that looked like a mountain made of muscles with bleached hair, but some deepseated memory told him that the man wouldn't hesitate to skin him alive.
"AAAAA!," Toad shrieked, his thumb involuntarily jerking down and hitting the button to vaporize the man.
As the threatening Orochi warrior disappeared, Toad looked at the thing. Sure, he wanted to beat those freaks, but to kill them like that?
"Hey man, whacha got there?," the Blob asked Toad.
"Some death-ray thing. It just made that weirdo knife freak disappear," Toad said. "I dunno, man... I mean, to use this thing on living people?"
The Blob's eyes narrowed in anger. "Hey, these're the same people who keep humiliating us. They deserve it."
"Yeah, you're right."
* * *
I was shocked back into my normal form as I found myself in some kind of half-world. Parts of the world kept misting out at the edge of my vision. I wandered through the school -- for some reason it was strangely empty.
I shifted into Bugs Bunny for a moment.
"Come out, come out, where eeever you areeee-n't!"
As I shifted back, I listened out for a reply. None. Bummer.
Wandering around, I finally found a pair of people -- Kurt, and some strange guy.
"Morning, Kurt. Where on earth are we, and who's your friend?," I said.
The stranger blinked at me. I had my denim duster on, and with my longish hair was probably unusual to the clean-cut guy.
"Hi, man. You're in middleverse, and we're stuck here unless someone resets my machine," the new guy greeted me. "I'm Forge. I've been stuck here since the seventies."
I blinked. "You don't look it. Kurt, what's the story?"
He rubbed his head bashfully. "Yah, well... I found this neat machine, except that the lab blew up... and Rogue, she found me and didn't really trust me with the machine, we got unto a fight and yah, here I am..."
I groaned. "I don't blame her. Who set the alarm clocks in the Institute an hour early?"
Nightcrawler laughed nervously.
"Okay, no more Rammstein music videos for you. Unless you get us out somehow."
* * *
In the Real World...
Scott and Rogue ran towards the two Brotherhood mutants.
"See, Scott? Kurt found this weird machine, I blasted him by accident with it, and now that lot have it!"
"Give it here!," Scott yelled at Toad.
"No way! We could use something like this," Avalanche said, arriving just as Rogue was talking.
"Give it BACK!," Evan yelled, forming some spikes to throw at the enemy.
Toad blew a raspberry at them.
"That does it!"
Evan threw some of his spikes at Toad. Fortunately, some hit the green tinged mutant. Unfortunately, some hit the machine.
It let out copious amounts of thick black smoke and died a horrible death.
* * *
"NOOOOO!," Kurt moaned as the three mutants saw their hope die.
"Now we're stuck here forever," Forge pronounced. He didn't look particularly happy at this, but was taking it better than Kurt.
I, on the other hand, still had some options open. I emptied my mind, thinking of the anime character who could be useful. I fixed the form in my mind, and the personality.
Kurt got a baaad nosebleed when he turned around to look at me.
Urd smirked as the strange looking boy fainted.
"What can I do for you?," she asked. "You boys must need help pretty badly for this body to open himself to a form of possession so much."
"Po... possession?," Kurt asked.
"Sure. If the character he forms is based on someone who really exists, and he really likes, then the real person possesses him. Back to the issue, loverboy. Do you guys want out of here?"
The two nodded as Kurt regained consciousness. He just about lost it again when Urd raised her arms, emphasizing her chest and shapely figure as she chanted.
"Winds of space and time
Come to my hands
Form according to my needs
Portal!"
A blue-fire outlined circle formed in mid-air. The two boys scrambled through it hurriedly, appearing behind the gym in the real world.
Urd materialised behind them, closing the portal. She turned back to Forge.
"Since you seem to be able to talk to me while looking at my face, give this to Alan once he appears. This will stop possession, forcing his abilities to synthesize all the personalities."
She handed an earring to Forge. It was a simple ring, about a centimeter in width.
"Errr... sure," the over thirty teenager agreed.
"It's fortunate for him he didn't try a demon first."