"Ok, we'll start off nice and easy. We'll send you some robots and you will have to fight them off without your powers. I want to see how you manage in hand to hand combat."
Jean standing next to Rogue rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe how macho her husband could be at times. Rogue was eagerly looking down through the windows as Jean caught her grin, full of mischief.
"What?" She asked impatiently.
"Nuthin', ya'll see."
Down in the danger room, a robot was activated. It was big, tall and looked pretty scary because it was stuffed with gadgets but Natura smashed it to bits in less than a minute.
"Did Ah forget t'mention that she's good at martial arts?"
Rogue was grinning like hell and Jean burst out laughing. She was nervous about the "test" but now she knew that Sidney would do just fine. Wolverine snorted and sat in his chair, unimpressed. On the other hand, Gambit's eyes flashed devilishly, he ran out of the control centre, shouting behind to let him go in.
Natura looked up at the control room. "Maybe I should have told you about my skills!"
Storm looked extremely pleased by her performance against the other robots Beast had sent in but Cyclops was not totally convinced.
"Wolverine, prepare yourself to go in the danger room."
Wolverine looked up at the leader and growled. He had no intention of fighting against HER but he did as he was told. What harm can a pretty young thing like her do anyway?
Natura was still waiting. She looked back up to Cyclops. "What's next?"
"I am chere!" Natura turned around to meet the too familiar voice.
Oh it's that fake French guy.
"Who are you again?"
"Gambit, de best lover there is t'know!" In a split second, Gambit took out a handful of cards and charged them.
I can't believe this guy! She laughed in a fake manner but before she could think of a witty comment to say, Gambit attacked her with his cards, which blew up at her feet.
"What the - ? What kind of power is that?" Natura had never seen the X-Men in a fight and realised that she had no idea what their different powers were except for Cyclops and Wolverine's which were obvious. But Gambit's powers, she had no idea about them and they hurt!
She was already pretty tired from the robots. She hadn't trained for a while, since 'he' discovered about her powers and she decided to leave. She turned back to face Gambit and he smiled at her.
"You ain't seen nuthin' yet!"
The fight began as Gambit sent her flying explosive cards again, which Natura dodged skilfully. She approached him swiftly in surprise and knocked the Cajun away with a powerful sidekick before he sent more of his cards.
She sure got de kick! Getting up on his knees with his devilish grin, Gambit reached under his trench coat for his staff. He opened it and stood up ready to continue.
How macho can this get? Natura thought to herself when she saw Gambit. The guy's hot and he knows it. She smiled to herself as she remembered her past fights when she wasn't a mutant, bo staff in her hands.
Suddenly Gambit made his move and attacked her. He tried to hit her with his staff but Natura fought it off with her bare hands.
From the control centre, the moves were too fast for Cyclops to follow.
Shit they're quick! Bobby was also watching and had never seen Gambit in such good mood but also getting his ass kicked.
Back in the danger room, Natura managed to punch Gambit right in the face and sent him flying back. Gambit got up more slowly this time. She sure can handle a fight!
Natura looked up to Cyclops and he nodded back to her. "Let's see what she can do with her powers now."
Gambit was already up, charged cards in one hand and staff in the other. Natura could use her powers now. "Ok handsome! Show me what you've got!"
Gambit sent cards flying in her direction. They seemed to be coming from all directions though.
Damn he's fast! Natura avoided them swiftly except one, which exploded next to her arm. It started to bleed but she didn't notice and continued to dodge the cards.
Finally she got an opening and stretched her hand to send him a blast of water, which squirted Gambit, making him fall over. Natura had stopped to pause and stood in front of Gambit, breathing heavy but laughing at Gambit's surprised face. He didn't expect to be knocked over by some water. Sidney was out of breath though whereas the Cajun was just getting started.
I definitely need more training!
"Water's yo'power chere?" He turned around to face Cyclops, up in the control centre and opened his arms in disbelief. "Y've got t'be kidding! She ain't up t'battle Gambit!"
Rogue was gritting her teeth with anger. She didn't believe the nerve Gambit had to say that. She could kick his ass anytime and she was sure he was no match for Sidney either.
"Don't speak too fast!" As Natura saw Gambit looking disappointed, she attacked him with a blast of wind this time. It sent him flying across the danger room and his back hit the wall with full speed.
He fell to the ground, obviously hurt.
Dat's more like't!
As he got up yet again, he sent more cards flying towards Natura. She turned her whole body sidewise to avoid them but one of them cut her right knee and exploded.
Annoyed to see Gambit's smug face, Natura used her wind powers to lift Gambit off the ground and keep him levitating in the air.
Suddenly she sent him flying into the other wall and before he had time to get up, she blasted him with fire. She missed him only by a few inches but the Cajun's trench coat was burning.
"Chere, chere, chere y'did de wrong thing."
He avoided further water and fire springing out from her hands and managed to approach Natura enough to make her fall backwards with his staff. While falling over though, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him, flying over her, splat on his back.
Quickly Natura grabbed his staff, moved on top of him, used her weight and the staff to block Gambit's arms and stole his cards.
"So whatcha gonna do now without your cards?" She looked at him smugly.
"Gambit can find plenty o' other games, chere, in dis position!"
Natura got up quickly, blushing furiously.
In the control centre, Storm was even more pleased to see that the new member had defeated the cunning thief. "She knows how to manage herself Cyclops. She has proved to be an advantage on the battlefield. We should stop now."
Cyclops was still looking out through the windows. "No, I want to see what happens next."
Suddenly, back down in the danger room, someone grabbed Natura from behind and started to strangle her.
"Wolverine! Gambit thought de test was 'fini'." Gambit slowly got up facing his hairy team-mate.
"Not yet Gumbo, this lil' lady gotta get through me first."
"Cyclops that ain't fair, we can't all beat that big brute so why should Sidney!" Rogue was not happy with the turn of events. Her eyes though were still focused on Natura who was gasping for air, still under Wolverine's grasp.
Jean finally confronted her husband. "Scott cut it out, he's going to kill her!"
"X-Men don't kill Jean. I'm sure she will do just fine!"
Choking for breath, Natura freed her left hand in time and used it to burn the strangling hairy arm with her pyrokinetic powers.
As he cried out for pain, Natura fell to her knees, still suffocating. She was breathing heavily and Gambit was not happy about his team-mate's methods.
As Wolverine lunged out to grab the girl, he received an explosive card right in his face.
"Back off, Wolvie!" Gambit shouted to him as he helped Natura get up. "Ya coulda killed her!"
"It's ok, please - let me deal with him." Natura got up with difficulty because of her knee.
"But look, y'can't even walk! And y'are bleedin'!" He saw her shoulder cut open and trails of blood dripping along her arm.
"I'm ok, really! I've seen worse." She gave him a faint smile to reassure him but she felt terrible and Gambit picked up her pain with his empathy power.
Wolverine from his side was getting impatient. "You heard the lady Gumbo! Leave it to me now! Move it."
Reluctantly Gambit left the danger room, seeing Wolverine take out his adamantium claws. "So fire, water and wind - and a martial artist. Seems like you can take care of yourself."
"I have a fourth power but I can't really use it here." She was trying to stand up straight and not look too frightened of Wolverine's claws.
"Too bad." Once again Wolverine lunged to Natura, holding out his claws to strike. She backflipped in time to avoid them and blew him back with wind. I better end this quick, acrobatics just aren't my thing when I'm hurt!
The pain of her knee was unbearable but still she continued to sent Wolverine further blasts of fire to keep him away but he easily avoided them.
Back in the control room, Bobby was getting worried. She's really done for this time. If he gets any closer, he'll slice her like ham!
With a sidekick, Wolverine knocked Natura to the ground but before he could grab her, she blew him off in the air. Everyone could easily see the blood splurting out of her arm as she concentrated to use her powers.
"She's bleedin' herself to death! Tell 'em to stop!" Rogue was more than worried now for her friend but Gambit coming back in the control centre, told Cyclops to wait.
"Let de girl get a chance!"
"Are ya crazy, swamp rat?"
"Let her find m'present!" His smile once again spread out on his face as he turned to the windows to see the fight.
Finally, Natura managed to hit Wolverine with her water blast. It made him slip to the ground and fall hard on his back.
While recovering, Sidney was desperately trying to find a strategy to beat him once and for all.
What can I do? I can't seem to handle my powers good enough to hit him for good. I could fight him hand to hand, but those claws would rip my arms off! I need a weapon.
Searching around for one, Natura suddenly felt something heavy dangling from her belt. Looking at it, she saw Gambit's bo staff. That cunning devil! He must have put it there while he helped me up! This is exactly what I need!
She held the staff up and opened it. After running up to Wolverine, the two mutants battled using their adamantium arms, staff against claws.
"See, I told y'she'd find de way." Looking at Gambit while he spoke and then back at Natura, Rogue was relieved that she had found Gambit's "present".
Cyclops, seeing them at equal strength decided that she was up to be an X-Woman. He spoke through the microphone. "Ok, game's over! You proved your worthiness Natura and what your codename was all about as well."
"Finally!" Jean had had enough of this. "As if we ever had to pass these stupid tests!"
Back at the infirmary, Beast examined Natura's wounds. "You are lucky that the battle stopped short on Cyclops command. A few minutes longer and your wounds might have been infected. You must rest now, you have lost a lot of blood and it will take some time before your organism renews it."
Sidney lied back on the infirmary bed. "Thank you Hank for taking care of me but also for giving me a chance to become an X-Man. You have been very kind to me even though we don't know each other that well."
"It is my pleasure Sidney. It is the best psychological therapy to join us after your cousin's accident. It will take your mind off your interior pain."
"That's very true. I hadn't thought about Sophie all morning but -" She looked up and saw Beast preparing a needle to take a sample of blood. "What - what are you doing?"
"I need to run a blood sample in my laboratory to make sure all is well." He turned to face her and gave her a big smile.
Sidney on the other hand had turned plain white. "You need to - to stick that needle - in me?"
"To be more precise, I will have to prick one of your forearm's veins. One which is the easiest to attain so as -"
But before he had finished, he saw Sidney faint. The mere idea of a needle sticking in her skin was beyond her capacity, she had an incredible fear of doctor's needles and it was always hell when she had to get vaccinated.
Funny to think she would be scared of harmless needles after her exploits in the danger room against Logan's claws ! Beast thought to himself, while picking up the fragile girl around the waist. Oh well, I guess I will just do it now, while she's unconscious.
Chapter 4 up and running. Well hope u liked the training session in danger room, I had it all worked out already when I wrote it. U'll learn about her fourth power soon but its really easy to guess considering the other three.
I'll be updating soon, promise. Review on your way out please!