Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution. Marvel owns them, so they're rich.

I groaned as I rolled over in bed, pulling the pillow over my head to block out the sounds of my alarm clock. When the noise didn't relent, I slammed my fist on the stupid clock, shutting it off. Maybe now I could get some sleep.

Suddenly, someone ripped the sheets off of me. They giggled. "Kurt! Wake up!" Sounded like Kitty. Wait, Kitty?!

I shot up in bed, my pillow falling to the floor. "Kitty!" I cried, slightly embarrassed that she had caught me in my sweats that I slept in.

Kitty laughed. "C'mon, Kurt!" she cried. "If you don't get up now, you'll be late for school!"

I groaned. "Fine," I muttered. "But you have to leave so I can change."

"Ew, Kurt!" she cried. "I don't want to see anything, so you don't have to worry about that!" With that, she phased through my door and out into the hallway. I groaned and pulled on some clothes, followed by my image inducer. I didn't want to be caught in my sweats in case my image inducer went out, now did I? When I was done, I ported out into the hallway, where Kitty was leaning against the wall waiting for me. She jumped when I appeared in front of her.

"Kurt! Don't scare me like that!" she cried.

I laughed. "Sorry. C'mon, let's go eat so we can get to school sooner," I suggested.

Kitty nodded her approval and we started walking down the stairs in silence. Suddenly, Kitty spoke up.

"I'm going to break up with Lance today," she stated softly, her blue eyes on the floor.

My heart soared. She was breaking up with him! Yes! I could have started singing out loud in a horrible voice and dancing terribly, but I could care less. Kitty was going to be single! Lance was out of the picture! I had my chance! But I would have to give Kitty a little time to get over him, as that was what a gentleman does.

I smiled comfortingly. "Do you need someone viz you vhen you do?" I asked.

Kitty laughed. "No, I'll be fine. But I wouldn't let you near Lance, anyway. He may try to attack again," she explained. "And the professor already warned you about getting into any more fights at school."

I nodded. "I still zink it's unfair, because I didn't do anyzing," I said.

Kitty nodded. "I know. But hey, this is the professor, right?" she asked. "He just wants his students to be safe."

I nodded. Breakfast passed in no time at all, and soon we were arriving at school. Lance was waiting for Kitty, leaning against a tree. He glared at me when I got out of the car beside Kitty.

Kitty turned to me. "I'll meet up with you in the school," she said softly.

I nodded and wished her good luck before going inside. She could handle Lance. At least, I hoped she could.

I waited in the front of the school, impatiently checking my watch every five seconds. I didn't trust Lance. Heck, no one did. But because Kitty was dealing with him, I was worried. I worried that Lance might get angry and hit her, or he might try to kidnap her. I clenched my fist and took a deep breath. I needed to calm down. Lance wouldn't do any of that. But if he tried, Kitty could get away. I mean, she can phase through things. How much easier would it be to get out of trouble? I glanced at my watch again, desperately wanting to go out and see if Kitty was alright.

Suddenly, Kitty came in with a triumphant smile on her face. "We're through," she stated with a grin.

I laughed. "Good," I replied with a genuine smile. "Now, let's go to class."

-------------------------------

That night, I sat in my room reading another comic book that Bobby had lent me. Everything was going good, and the only way that I could think to enjoy the evening was with a copy of a vintage comic. There were no competitions tonight, and there was nothing to do unless you wanted to do on a run-through with Logan in the Danger Room. That wasn't exactly something that sounded good at the moment.

All of a sudden, something crashed through my window. My eyes widened and I jumped off my bed. It was a rock with a slip of paper tied to it. My eyebrows furrowed together as I slipped the paper out from underneath the string. It read:

Kurt-
Nice going stealing Kitty from me. If you're a man, then meet me at the new construction site on Farnam. If you don't, seriously bad things will be happening to the ones you love.
-Lance

I clenched the note in my hand. Lance thought that I had stolen Kitty from him, did he? And I knew that he wanted to fight me; that was why he was inviting me to the construction site. No, ordering me to the site. And I knew that my friends could easily take care of themselves, but I couldn't help but want to protect them. As the alarms went of in my head, I flipped off my image inducer and threw it on the bed, already clothed in my uniform. I stepped onto my balcony and ported to the outside of the Institute. I cast back one last glance, thinking of how mad Kitty would be at me. The professor would be disappointed. Logan…well, I really don't know about him. I turned back around and headed to the construction site, porting from tree to tree or from rooftop to rooftop. I had to hurry.

The construction site was beginning to darken with the setting sun. I ported to a patch of ground just away from the metal frame of the structure, cautiously looking around, ready for Lance to appear out of anywhere. And it would be just like him to sneak up and try to take me out from behind. That was the kind of thing that Lance did. He wanted the easiest way with the least amount of effort. Well, this blue demon wasn't going to let it be that way.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake under my feet. I started to lose my balance, swinging my arms to keep myself upright. Down on the ground would have been a perfect shot for Lance, so I quickly ported to the lowest beam on the tower. From there, I spotted Lance behind a construction barrel, his eyes rolled back as he unleashed his mutant power. I grinned and ported down to the wooden fence behind him and pushed myself off with my hands, landing my feet square in his back and sending him flying through the air. I grinned my demonic grin and quickly vanished to the top of a crane.

Lance whirled around, preparing to strike me down. But I wasn't there. I stifled a laugh as I watched him whirl around like a loon, searching for me.

"Come out, you coward!" he yelled, his fist raised in a challenge.

"Ze only coward is you for challenging me to zis fight to vent your own anger at being dumped," I shot back, my voice echoing among all the metal equipment.

"Shut up!" Lance roared, letting loose his power. The ground rumbled and groaned as cracks appearing beneath the crane. When it began to shake, I quickly ported back to the building structure. The ground stopped shaking after a few moments, once Lance had determined that I hadn't been injured in the slightest.

"What, afraid to fight like a man? Oh, that's right. You're too weak!" Lance yelled.

That got me mad. My blood pounded in my ears as I teleported down to a cement truck and vaulted off of it, tackling Lance to the ground. He grabbed me and threw me aside like a rag doll. I landed in the dirt and quickly scrambled up, watching Lance with wary eyes. His own brown ones glared at me murderously as we circled each other, our gazes never leaving the other. The sun continued to sink below the horizon and the shadows grew longer. Suddenly, Lance straightened up.

"How about a truce?" he suggested uncharacteristically.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "I don't believe you," I replied cautiously.

Lance became angry again as he realized that his trick had failed. "Fine! You asked for it!" he screamed. With that, he lunged towards me, his fists raised. I quickly leapt over him and spun around, sending him flying into the fence with a swift kick to the back. Lance pushed himself off and came right back, ready to kill me with his bare fists. I leapt into the air and somersaulted over him, landing on his back and jumping back off, shoving him forward onto the ground. Lance stood up, his eyes blazing. He clenched his fists and stood up, walking towards me. "That's it," he said. "You're dead!" He leapt forward and grabbed my shoulder just as I was about to jump, throwing dirt in my eyes. I cried out in pain and began to frantically try and rub the dirt from my eyes, but was stopped by a fell punch to the stomach, followed by even more. I lost count after five, the pain slowly spreading through my torso. Lance suddenly struck my face and sent my flying, my cheekbone pounding with pain.

I landed on the ground and, realizing that without my sight I was as good as dead, quickly ported away. I rubbed the dirt from my eyes, tears welling up to help clean away the debris. I blinked, my vision blurry for a moment. I blinked again and everything came back. I was behind the orange construction barrels, Lance in front of me with his back to me. I grinned and slowly slipped forward, careful to be silent. I was a few feet behind Lance when I jumped into the air and kicked his head, sending him staggering to the side. But I didn't stop there. Before I hit the ground, I ported in front of Lance and kicked him in the stomach, then ported behind him and kicked him forward into the dirt. Lance growled and stood, looking murderous again. I grinned, showing my fangs and then ported away behind him, where I shoved him forward. Then I ported in front of him, still suspended in air and punched him. It felt good, just being able to finally hit him back for everything that he caused. Lance staggered backwards, and I pursued him, nailing more punches as I ported around, my feet never touching the ground.

Finally, Lance fell to the ground. I grinned, feeling good about the victory, but sad that I had fought him. I hadn't wanted to, but I knew that if I wanted to keep my friends safe and show that Kitty had made the right decision (in Lance's mind, the right decision meant choosing the stronger person), then I needed to fight.

"Kurt!" screamed a voice. I turned around, finding Kitty running towards me, followed by the rest of the X-Men. Her eyes were wide as she ran up to me, throwing her arms around me in a hug. "God, Kurt! Don't ever do that again!" she cried, burying her face in my shoulder. She then lifted her eyes to me, tears streaming down her face.

I gasped and raised a finger to wipe away her tears. "Kitty, vhy are you crying?" I asked. I didn't get it.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "You should know this by now!" she yelled angrily.

I winced at her reaction. Maybe I should, but it kind of escaped me, what with her weird mood swings. I mean, geez, why can't she choose a mood and stick with it? It scares me how quickly she can switch between them.

Kitty's eyes softened. "I don't want you to get hurt," she whispered. "I care too much about you to let anything happen."

My eyes softened. "Kitty…"

"Ahem," said Logan, breaking the touching moment. "Elf, you've got a lot of explaining to do."

I gave a weak grin. I knew that Logan cared, and that he was worried sick about me. Especially with the way I looked. And I knew that the professor wouldn't be happy. I could probably expect three weeks of Logan Sessions for my little stunt, but I didn't care. I had finally done what I needed to do. I just wanted to go home and rest. But even now, I knew that I shouldn't expect that. I would probably get a demand for a punch-by-punch recount from Bobby, a lecture from the professor, a lecture from Scott, something from Rogue, and maybe something from Kitty. But right now, all that mattered was resting. And that I had won. I, Kurt Wagner, had won a fight against Lance Alvers. And that was all that mattered.

Hey! I'm back! Well, here's the next chapter!

I AM BRACES FREE! WOOT!

Reviews:

Darkness1: Your training sounds a lot easier than what I had to go through this year at track. 400 meter repeats are one of the hardest things I've ever done.

Quill of Molliemon: Hearing about high school gym only makes me look forward to it more. But I don't have to go through it for a year, so I guess I'm lucky. I've started reading your stories, and they're really good. I'll read more as soon as I can, and I can't wait to.

crazysilverkitty: thanks! Just keep in mind that you'll get them off soon. That's what I tried to do. "Tried" being the key word there.

Nightcrawler03: I know how you feel. I hope you get your happy ending, too!

Thank you all for reviewing. I don't know what I would do without you!

R&R! Much Love,

-Jojo-