"Yer aff napper, Amara. Away an bile yer heid."
- Rahne Sinclair
Turn, Smile, Shift, Repeat
A/N: Congratulations to animeluvr1, who was first to correctly guess where the death scene from Chapter 5 was taken from! It was Rurouni Kenshin. I won't specify, because really, it could be a number of death scenes, because there're so many in RK. That whole anime's about death, blood, and gore, and comedy. It's awesome. In any case, animeluvr1 has won the one-shot-of-her-choice prize, and for those curious, here was her prompt: [Magneto tries to hire a babysitter for the twins, pre- Wanda goes to the looney bin. And the two are little DEVILS. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]
I love her zest, don't you?
Reviewer Responses
Risty – Bah! Lance in a shirt? I take Lance with no shirt any day. Come on, Evo! There's plenty of ripped Scott shirts; where are Lance's??? Tabby/Amara are the fun cartoon lesbians that brighten everyone's day! Ta. Thanks for the review!
Showstopper – Really, it is grungy and dirty, but I decided to bring a new twist to it. Because… well, I was bored, and the chapter needed some humor to balance out the general creepiness of Sabretooth, so voila! Fabio! Thanks for another kind review. (Thank YOU, Fabio, for existing so people can make fun of you and compare you to a cartoon cat-man mutant!)
The Uncanny R-Man – Eh. Technically, yes, but I've always seen Jubilee as the tomboyish version of Tabitha, but with a fascination for the color yellow. So, really, they're allowed to steal each other's personalities once in a while, right? Heh… a dogpile on a cat! Dare I pun-ify this? No, no, I won't. There'll be plenty of that to come in this chapter. Thanks!
Asylin (or is it Aslyin now? :D) – Whew, I was spelling it right? The relief is consuming me. Every Evo site I went, it was spelt 'Sabertooth'. It confused me so. I've said this so many times in this fic, but Jamie rocks, man. It has to be said again. Mountain Dew? PUH! Once, I was reading this serious angst fic, and at the very last line of the chapter, it said this really stupid, funny thing, and I was drinking yummy hot chocolate at the time. I snorted. HOT. Chocolate. Up my nose. My nose hairs feel singed just remembering the incident. PAIN. Eeep; you must've not had very good boyfriend experiences. Michigan, Canadian? I feel for you. And now I have a sudden image of Chaotic Boredom terrorizing the Great Lakes. shudders
Snitter In Rivendell – Sabretooth makes me laugh, because there are simply too many Acolytes stories I've read with him running around on all fours with toilet paper trailing on his boot, or twitching in his own pool of pee and drool from an overdose on catnip, or playing with a ball of yarn. I can't take the guy seriously any more, which is why I made him as dramatic as possible. Thanks for comments and review!
animeluvr1 – A stab in the dark…? Could that possibly be a pun? heart swells Don't worry – I WILL get your prize done! It's just tough, 'cuz I haven't written a real humor fic for a long time. It's been all about the angst for me for a while… but then, I suppose me writing humor is angst itself, right? (No, really. It's the summer now, so I am REALLY trying to update all of my fics and get your request done. So sorry for the wait!)
Possessor of the X Gene – Wow. A whole slew of reviews! (I tend to do these a lot, but I love it when people do them to my stories. Woot!) Now, now. There's no shame in loving and writing Romy. Well… unless you kill Scott in your stories, or some horrible thing like that. Then you should be ASHAMED!! (Honestly. Why would anyone want to kill Scott?) Gee, thanks! My writing style isn't really a writing style at all, but just a way to get in-depth characterization for every new recruit who never got their share of airtime on the show, and a different way to look at the new recruits who did. …you've never had pixie stix?? Then you haven't LIVED!!!
Andivari – Indeed, you do. shakes fist threateningly …Hm. I seem to be doing that much too often.
Chaotic Boredom – MR SKETCH was awesome! I think I sniffed them too much though, because once I got really dizzy and started seeing spots in my vision. No, seriously. And it wasn't even because I was in a staring contest with my friend at the sun. (A cousin of mine used to do that, though. She's practically blind. It's sort of sad, how stupidity runs in the family.) It wasn't any old guy's car… You're misspelling 'genius', dearie. …Unless you're doing that on purpose… heh, heh, heh… ?
MorriganFearn – Mmmm, long review.
Flamingo1 – Ah, well, Rahne, Sam, and Jubilee come out okay. This chapter actually takes place a month or two after the last chapter, so you'll see. Thanks for reviewing!
The thunder struck, the clouds appeared
Our fearless crew was not prepared
and pretty soon the boats came for us
half a million strong
We gathered arms, we fired shells
We build a wall around ourselves
and pretty soon the spirit was a lot like
what it used to be back home
So far away from everyone
and everything starts today
Keep it together
Can we keep it together
We're singing a new song now
and everything starts today
- Guster (Keep It Together) … "Keep It Together"
Chapter 7: Keep It Together
Charles Xavier sat at his desk, looking distracted. His sharply dark eyebrows were furrowed in intense concentration and effort, but his eyes were obviously somewhere else; far, far away. The large study he was inside was quiet and empty, except for the distant sound of shrieks of laughter that is common on primary school grounds, and a slightly less familiar sound of blasts and crashes and general mayhem. His handsome, matching dark wood furniture shook when an abrupt BOOM resounded somewhere outside upon the building. An angry yelling commenced and Charles had still not moved an inch, except for a slight twitch upon his lips that spread upwards.
The door to the study swiftly opened and slammed shut, followed by a nervous shuffling.
"Sorry," the intruder mumbled. Even then, the telepath only very slowly opened his eyes in a calm, relaxed manner.
"Hello, Ray." Charles said kindly. "Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable."
Ray Crisp brushed a hand quickly through his carefully styled hair and hastily dropped himself down onto a plush seat, as if there had been a bomb under his feet where he had stood. His expression gave him the look of someone who was bored and annoyed, but his tense frame betrayed his composure. Charles laced his fingers together in that steeple thing he enjoyed oh-so-much, and benignly gazed upon Ray with a grey smile.
"I was just trying to contact an old friend of mine through my telepathy. He was lost recently, due to some events, and I was hoping to reach him." Charles sighed deeply. "We've been through much together, and I wonder of his whereabouts." Ray sat there, uncertain of what to say. But he needn't have, because the man's expression quickly cleared up.
"Speaking of friends, Ray, there is a reason I called you up here," said Charles. "There seems to be an issue that I feel needs to be dealt with before any more time can delay us."
Ray faked an easy, leisure smile. "Look, if this is about the smoking, Scott already confiscated my cigs."
"No, no, it's not about that. Although… well, I suppose we'll talk about that too at a later time. What I wanted to talk to you about is your situation with Roberto."
Ray's jaw tightened up at the very mention of the name. He coughed a bit to disguise it.
"You see," Charles continued, "you and the rest of the younger students have been here for some months now. It's taken all those months for the lot of you to actually start to get along. Each and every one of you are from very different backgrounds, which is why I believe it was so difficult for everyone to relate to one another and understand. I imagine the bonds will grow tighter and more close-knit as more time passes by, but… I am a bit concerned about you, Ray. You are from probably the most dramatically different and unusual background out of everyone and that is what is restricting you from connecting with anybody very much. And it has been noted that that applies to, more than anybody, your own roommate."
Ray looked away, towards the window. "Roberto's okay. We just don't have much in common, is all."
Charles chuckled. "Mr. Crisp, I'm a telepath, and a very old, experienced one at that. It's not very tricky for me to decipher what is a truth and what is a lie, and especially when you're thinking so very loud."
Ray's face turned into a shade of a slight crimson, but he determinedly refused to face the professor directly. Charles followed the direction of his eyes, which were currently resting upon a certain blonde girl. The said girl was sprawled across the edge of the fountain, propping her head up with her arm so she'd be able to talk to the dark-haired princess next to her. Charles coughed discreetly.
"Please, listen. I understand that both you and Mr. Da Costa have rather short fuses, if I may say so. He is also rather introverted, which, for some reason, irritates you…?"
Ray shrugged nonchalantly. "He's just … quiet. It makes me uncomfortable. Like he's just ignoring me. And he doesn't answer my questions or nothin'."
"Perhaps they are personal questions, Ray. Ones that he'd rather not have floating around the Institute as gossip." Charles said gravely. "We all have secrets. I know that I have some I'd rather not share with anybody. And I have a feeling you haven't been so eager to tell people about yours, either."
Ray had nothing to say to that.
"Have you contacted your friends lately?"
"I don't have any friends that I can contact." Ray said stiffly.
Charles' face took on a somber expression. "Surely, Ray, you miss them to a degree. After all, they-"
"They never wanted me with them. They hated me, but they let me hang out with them. And like I told you, I don't have any friends I can contact."
"But-"
"They don't want me back. Which is fine with me." Ray stood up, his hands balled into fists. His face held no secrets now, with his mouth set in a thin line that made him look ten years older.
"Can I go now?"
Charles looked a bit lost, but accepted his request with a nod. "Just… try to understand Roberto a bit more. I have already told him to do the same thing. He really is much more outgoing to people since he first came. It would be easier to make a conversation with him now. You two might realize you may have more in common than you think."
"Right." Ray said dryly, and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Head bowed, he stomped away from the door and headed down the stairs, until he collided with someone. That someone made an 'oof' noise, and the sound of knives piercing a surface very quickly was heard. Ray looked up to see a sorrowful-looking Evan moan, feeling the back of his torn shirt ruefully. Three spikes were imbedded into the carpet of three consecutive steps on the stairs behind them.
"Aw, man," Evan bemoaned. "That's the third shirt this week! Auntie O's not going to be happy."
"Sorry," Ray said without much remorse. He was still angry. "I was kind of distracted."
Evan peered at him. "You look like it. Something eating you up, dude?"
Ray snorted, and quickly looked away for a moment. "I… well, yeah. It's nothing, though. Just some issues with where I used to live."
"Your hometown?" Evan slung his skateboard over his shoulder, looking genuinely curious. Ray grinned.
"You could call it that, yeah."
"Man, I hear ya. After I showed up on the local news with Pietro as some sort of possible felon, I never wanted to show my face in New York again. I'm glad I switched high schools, but I still kind of wish the Institute was located in Alaska or something. Did you know I saw my old ex-girlfriend Erin a week after I left home? It was at this gas station, and I left Scott's car to buy a soda, and she was all 'Yo Evan! What are you doing out of juvy?' I had to pretend I had to go to the bathroom really bad, and hid out in a stall for like 15 minutes, when Scott and Kurt finally found where I was hiding. It was so embarrassing…"
All of that had flown over Ray's head, except for one thing that had caught his attention. He looked at Evan with the same curiosity Evan had displayed. "You lived in New York too?"
"Yup. Greatest place on Earth, huh?" Evan smiled widely. "Hey, you might've gone to the same high school I went! You do look familiar, you know. I could check out the yearbook and…"
"Eh… doubtful. I didn't really go to school for all of sophomore year, and a little of freshman year." I was seen a couple times on the local news, though. But then, he doesn't look like the type who watches the news out of his own free will…
"Oh." Evan scratched his Dennis Rodman hair sheepishly. "Well, you have that whole New York punk look down, then. Of course I'd think you look familiar."
"Right…" Ray paused, and hesitantly asked, "Well, I'm just wondering, but… you wouldn't have happened to have known an Erica back there, would you? An Erica Williams? She was a junior, I think."[1]
Evan drummed his fingers on his skateboard with a thoughtful look. "Well, I knew some Erica's, dunno about juniors… I can go look her up in the yearbook. Uh – once I find it."
"Naw, it's okay. I was just wondering." Ray said hurriedly, and began walking down the stairs. "I better go see what Logan has all us new mutants outside for. And didn't Scott say something about catching a soccer game?"
Evan wrinkled his nose. "I'm not the soccer type, man. I was actually thinking about staying in my room all day and listening to music. Hey, if you see Scott, tell him to tell Jean I said good luck, 'kay? So she doesn't bite my head off for not supporting the team and not having school spirit and her usual blurb."
Ray laughed half-heartedly, as Evan rode his skateboard down the hallway.
"Yeah… sure."
-----
Logan bit back a feral snarl that would have been sure to have knocked the boots off of Sabretooth as Sam rubbed his head – not out of pain, but humiliation. Logan mentally wished that shame would be as painful as physical hurt, but all the Southern boy had suffered was a small bump to the noggin. The source of that bump was clearly shown in the large hole on the side of the large X-Mansion. It was not so much a literal hole as a dent, because there was no actual opening; just an incredibly large elliptical shape full of cracks and tiny nooks where flies could probably get through located at the spot on the wall just above the bushes that Ororo had watered that morning.
"Really, Misteh Logan, ah am really sorrah." Sam repeated for the fiftieth time. Jubilee bit her lip and attempted to counteract her usual cynicism by making an optimistic outlook. Logan had that look that usually meant something was going to become carnage very, very soon.
"At least he didn't hit the window, right Logi? I mean, then our Sam here would be laying with a piece of glass sticking out of his eye." Jubilee said cheerfully, smacking her gum.
"Actualleh, ah'm invulnerable tah things like that with mah power." Sam added casually. That didn't really make Logan feel any better, other than the fact that any pain Sam would suffer would be caused by him. And… did Jubilee just call him Logi? How could that girl be so fearless of his wrath?
"And it's not like he hit your motorcycle or anything!" Bobby said helpfully. Jubilee and Jamie vigorously nodded. "Maybe because you won't let any of us come near it with a 50-feet pole…" Bobby added a bit sullenly, under his breath.
"I heard that, Ice Cube." Logan growled. "I happen to have a very valid excuse. It's because I don't trust yer drivin', not after that handling of your own principal's car." Bobby reddened, while the others snickered. Logan turned his head quickly and gave them looks of death. "And I wouldn't want to be the person to have hijacked that car in the first place, because the moment I find out…" Tabitha innocently whistled. "…they'll have an even worse punishment than what Firecracker got over there. And all she stole was a scooter, so you'd be surprised what I would have in store for them." The new recruits flinched at the dangerous tone in his voice, while Jubilee rolled her eyes. Logan gritted his teeth and stalked off. He desperately needed coffee. Or better yet, beer. Too bad Charles didn't believe in keeping alcoholic substances inside a house full of adolescents. Painkillers would do. Yes, five painkillers would do very nicely. He nearly walked into Ray, who opened the door the instant he had reached for it. Logan snarled at him, and shoved past. Ray, wide-eyed, walked down the steps cautiously.
"What's eating him?"
"Eh." Bobby shrugged, and tossed his old, beaten up baseball up and down with adept movement. "Feel like a game of catch?" Ray thought for a moment, and then spotted Tabitha walking up the steps and settling down against a corner to read some sort of magazine. "Er…"
"Hey, Ray, what'd the doctor call for?" Jubilee appeared in front of him, followed by an equally inquisitive Amara. Bobby frowned at the interruption, but turned around and walked off to find Roberto.
"Yeah; I haven't had a one-on-one with the Professor ever!" Amara said. Jubilee snorted.
"Are you kidding? Remember your attitude when you came here, Miss Thang?" Amara looked aghast, and dramatically put a delicate, manicured hand to her heart.
"What are you talking about?" Amara said appallingly. Ray snorted, causing Amara to give him the evil eye, daring him to laugh again. Amara's leg had just healed only a couple weeks ago, and Jubilee's arm still held the semblance of a scar, but Ray didn't want to be the object of maiming. He stepped back a little, feigning innocence. Jubilee was about to reply heatedly to that semi-rhetorical question when something delayed her. That something came in the form of a small, glowing orange ball with volatile black bubbly flames inside that did not look unlike how Roberto looked when he 'transformed' in the sun. Ray looked up to see Tabitha cackling just as the tiny ball rolled forward and hit his foot… and exploded.
Jubilee and Amara abruptly stopped their screaming at each other and stood, wide-eyed, with their faces slightly ashen. Amara's sleek, shiny hair was askew, there were burn marks on Jubilee's prized yellow raincoat, and Ray's sandals were completely ruined, with bits of the straps blown off. Tabitha fell backwards on her bum laughing, her arms clutching her sides.
"You guys are so completely oblivious!" Tabitha cried, wiping her eye. "You should see the… look on…" She paused, seeing the homicidal grins that had appeared on the three teenagers' faces. Amara raised her hands, cradling two flaming molten balls in each palm, while Jubilee's and Ray's arms each crackled with energy in a dangerous combination of sparks and bloodthirsty excitement.
"Gah! Run away!" Tabitha yelled as she sprinted past Jamie, who had been walking towards them. He blinked in a clueless sort of way, and stepped back as Ray, Amara, and Jubilee ran past him as well, all screaming and yelling like some sort of savage tribe.
"Um… I guess I'll just go hang out with Roberto and Rahne then!" Jamie called after. No one replied. Jamie slumped down his shoulders and moodily walked off the stone steps towards the large grassy field area, where Roberto was looking very impressive and showoff-y by juggling a soccer ball around on his head, his knees, the sole of his feet, and any other body part he could bounce it on without falling to the ground in pain. Jamie watched in awe as he took a large bite out of the apple he had received from Ororo earlier that afternoon. Meanwhile, wolf-Rahne pranced by and jumped up into the air to catch a Frisbee in her mouth. Roberto obviously took notice of her, because the next thing Jamie knew, Roberto had transformed into a flaming black-and-orange incarnation with a wicked grin on the impalpable face. He hovered above the ground about two feet, and streaked towards the soccer ball lying away from him.
The ball flew into the air high into the sky – Jamie squinted, but could not see it due to the blinding rays of the bright sun. Roberto and Rahne were not watching the ball at all anymore, now being absorbed in a heated debate over last year's FIFA tournament. Jamie shrugged, and took another bite of the red apple while walking closer towards the two in hopes of companionship. He hadn't taken two steps when the soccer ball crashed down upon his head with the help of gravity and inertia. Rahne and Roberto looked at each other, startled and amused, at the sight of twenty Jamies rubbing their sore heads confusedly on the ground, accompanied by twenty half-eaten apples.
"Ah, shoot! Jamie, buddeh – DUCK!"
Jamie groaned, but instinctively flattened his body to the grass, as well as his twenty clones; a baseball flew overhead, and a moment later, so did Sam. There was a big THUD as Sam collided into a hard surface for the second time that day. But…
"Woo! Ah got it!" Sam waved his amazingly intact arm, the one with the catcher mitt, excitedly, holding a dusty baseball. He got up and brushed himself off from the miniature rubble and dirt that had collected on his clothes from the brick wall and leisurely threw it back towards Bobby.
Bobby grinned and ran to get the ball. He might be the goofiest dork in Bayville, but he's one hell of a baseball player.
-----
A burnt and ashen Amara stalked into the cool kitchen, muttering foul words under her breath. A sudden movement made her look up in surprise, only to see the refrigerator door close, revealing Rahne carrying an orange juice carton.
"Oh…hey." The petite redhead said in greeting stiffly.
"Hello." Amara replied uncomfortably. Rahne looked around a bit in an unsure manner, and then outstretched the carton. "Um…thirsty?"
"Actually -" The dark-haired princess stopped herself before she made another demanding order, and grit her teeth, keeping in mind the professor's words. "Yes, thank you."
Rahne had already began moving about for two cups, eventually coming across a cupboard with a handful of ceramic mugs. She handed one back to Amara, who weakly covered her grimace at it. It was decorated with a rather large orange cat and a yellow dog. Not quite fine china, but…
"Here." Rahne poured some of the juice into Amara's mug, and then looked closely at her. "Are ye alright? Yer moosh looks kind of…burnt." The usually pristine Amara scoffed and flipped her hair.
"I'm not sure what a moosh is, but it was that insufferable Tabitha. She had the nerve to throw some of those heinous bombs of hers at me! Although," she added as an afterthought, "she DID also get Jubilee and Ray, both of whom undoubtedly deserved it and for which it was long overdue."
Rahne giggled at this. "Yeah, Tabby's kind of wild. But she dae seem to be a very caring, thrawn type of person. She knew exactly what tae do tae save ye back then…" She broke off and drained her cup. Amara shuffled her feet and cleared her throat.
"Er, about that… I … heard about how you fought for my life from that hideous beast man."
"And mine." Rahne said jokingly, and Amara smiled a bit.
"Well, everyone's, then. And I realized…" Amara coughed. "I never quite thanked you, I think."
Rahne smiled back. "Yer welcome then, lass."
Amara settled herself against the counter. "Now that's out of the way," she said in a business-like tone, "Do you fancy someone?"
Rahne spit out what liquid there had been in her mouth back into her mug. "Bugger mae arse, ye don't tally, dae ye? Wot kind of blether is that?"
"I only understood about 30% of what you just said, but really," Amara pressed. "There are two boys in this house who are practically drooling all over you. I'm not exactly sure why-"
"Oi, thanks."
"-but it must have to do something with your personality or the like." Amara paused when she saw Rahne's saucer-sized eyes. "Is something wrong? You did know, didn't you? It was so blatantly obvious!"
Rahne was growing more stressed by the moment. And thus, her accent grew thicker by the double. "Yer aff napper, Amara." Rahne said. "Away an bile yer heid."
"Stop talking in that practically foreign language of yours! I order it! Honestly!"
She merely grinned.
-----
By the time evening had fallen ("OW!" It said, and picked itself up again), the entirety of the new recruits had already marched inside for a special training session that Logan had prepared just for them. They weren't exactly flattered by the attention, however. It was obvious that they'd much rather join the older X-Men to the high school to root on Jean for the opening night of the varsity girls' soccer season.
"Come on, Logan!" Bobby groaned. "What's with the extra session? We had our usual early morning thing, and we're tired out."
"Consider this a special thanks for creating an extra window to the mansion this afternoon." Logan said silkily from his position at the control room, his voice echoing from the microphone. Sam's face burned with embarrassment, while some tossed some dirty looks at the boy.
"The purpose of this particular simulation," Logan spoke, "is for strategy. Now, I know you all can work together. You proved that in the little fiasco that took place a while ago." He tightened his mouth and smiled a bit. "It impressed Charles, I admit. He and I both didn't think you could pull together and out of your rebellious teenage angst attitudes and be a team in such a short time. I'll tell you this – I wasn't impressed. You can do the working together thing all you want, but it'll never work if you don't think things through. Your team strategy was lacking. If it had been planned out more, Firecracker and Lassie here wouldn't have landed up in the infirmary, and Nova Roma wouldn't have wobbled around on crutches for the first time."
Logan fiddled with some controls of some kind, they could tell, because a small pedestal rose up from the floor in the center of the Danger Room. A tiny football was on top in place.
"Now, because you're all such a 'working-together' team, I haven't had to put you through my blindfolded partner obstacle course that I put Scooter and that lot through when they first came. So I decided to modify this more to my liking." Logan continued.
"Meaning, it's ten times as dangerous and difficult than before." Tabitha said dully.
"Now you're thinking. The objective of this simulation is to get the football. You will be divided into two teams, just to up the competitiveness. Oh, and to up the motivation, the losing team will take on chore duty for the rest of the week."
Logan snarled into the microphone to stop the cries of outrage. "Bobby, Sam, Amara, and Roberto, you're Team A. Jubilee, Rahne, Tabitha, and Ray, you're Team B."
Amara scrunched her shoulders together. "Gods, I'm surrounded by testosterone!"
Tabitha rested an arm on Ray's shoulder. "I don't know Amara, you might just be lucky. Isn't that right, Ray?" She purred. Ray rolled his eyes.
"Whatever you say, Tabby." He said in a cool voice. Mentally, Sam was imprinting this scene into his WWCHGLRD truism. Tabitha grinned and hit Ray playfully before grabbing him by his collar and dragging him towards where Jubilee and Rahne stood behind the marked line. Bobby, Sam, Roberto, and Amara were trooping towards the other side of the room, where another marked line was. Jamie looked lost.
"But…where am I supposed to be?" Jamie asked. Logan turned his head from his position above to down below where Jamie was staring at him with large puppy eyes.
"Oh. Sorry about that, Munchkin. You'll have to sit this out, as this simulation is a little more dangerous than the others. The professor swore to your parents we wouldn't put you through anything that was above your skill level."
Jamie looked upset. "But…"
"Take a break, kiddo. You can go hang out or something." Logan prompted. Jamie walked towards the elevator mournfully, while the others eyed him jealously. They couldn't understand why he looked so disappointed.
Logan had resumed pushing and pulling and pressing the controls. The laser guns that Amara and Rahne had met that first day on unfriendly terms were pulled out from behind the wall panels. The metal floor paneling itself was moving around and changing…and rising from the ground. Just before the walls grew high enough to obscure their vision of the football prize, the recruits caught a glimpse of some spikes that had adorned themselves around the pedestal. Sam audibly gulped.
"What is this? Fucking Indiana Jones?" Ray muttered. He had a sudden craving for a cigarette, or ten.
"I heard that, Crisp." Logan called out. "You must forget that there are mikes planted everywhere in this room for me to hear. That, and I have enhanced hearing."
Screw you. Ray thought to himself sullenly, and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"I dinnae think tha's a good idea, Ray. Ye should prolly have yer hands oot fur this." Rahne told him warningly.
"Piss off." Ray retorted automatically. Rahne flicked him in the ear. "OW! Okay, okay, sorry."
"Have fun, kids," Logan called out, safely protected from any air projectiles of anger high above the lot. "You can start…now."
Team B scrambled out into what they now realized was a maze the moment Logan had given his word. Team A was a bit more held up, most likely because Amara was busy thwacking Bobby because she firmly believed he had just groped her, but eventually they got a move on too. The two teams raced through the maze, hitting dead ends everywhere. This wasn't quite true, because this was only Team B's problem. On the other side of the maze, Bobby had already hastily created some makeshift ice steps for him to oversee the maze from an aerial view. By doing so, he could give his team directions. This would mean he would fall behind, because no one was allowed to use powers to jump over the walls, but it did quicken Team A's progress by a remarkable amount. Roberto was currently fuming because there was no real sunlight for him to absorb, rendering him useless to fly. Sam's powers would only have him crash into the walls, which had counted him out, not to mention the team was slightly bitter towards him. In their minds, it was entirely Sam's fault that they were doing this in the first place.
Team A was fumbling madly for the right directions. They had realized a while back that they were a bit more handicapped than the other time, because their powers hardly varied, aside from Rahne's. Ray's could've been an exception, because electricity turns out to have a wide variety of advantages, but Ray had no idea how to get a hold of them. Luckily…
Wolf-Rahne sniffed around, trying to gain on a football scent. The team was getting impatient, however. Even if they were being more accurate, it was taking a tedious amount of time.
"This is so BORING." Tabitha bounced a tiny bomb up and down. "Whoops!" She slipped hold, and it collided with the wall. Poor wall. The bomb exploded and left a multitude of scorch marks on the metal surface.
"Wait a minute…do that again, Tabitha." Ray said.
"What, this?" Tabitha threw 5 cherry bombs at the same spot. A second later, they were left with smoke that made them all cough and a gaping hole. Rahne sniffed gingerly at it and yipped happily.
"I'm pretty sure that means 'football!' in wolf-speak. Let's go." Jubilee hopped through first, followed by Rahne, then Ray, then Tabitha. This new method, Team B found, was much more effective and to their liking. They emerged from the maze some seconds after Team A. They were shocked by the sight that greeted them.
The lone pedestal with the football stood between Team A and Team B…along with a large chasm.
"Do you expect us to grow wings and fly?!!" Jubilee yelled up at Logan.
"No need to yell, darlin'. And don't be ridiculous. I expect no such thing." Logan said gruffly, restraining from laughing.
"Oooohh." Jubilee fumed. "So what do we do now?"
Team A was facing the same dilemma, but more calmly. They actually had quite a few options available. Amara looked around at her team.
"So we have a few choices. We could all grab onto Sam and he could catapult us to the football."
"But not before he catapults us all to our death." Bobby said. "Did you happen to notice those spikes surrounding it? No offense," He added to Sam.
"None taken. Ah know Ah don't have very good control over mah powers. And Ah'm sorry about all this anyways. It's mah fault for making Mr. Logan put this on us." Sam said glumly.
"Oh, don't be stupid. We don't think it's your fault." Bobby replied.
"We don't?" Amara said in surprise.
"Not to break this up this touching moment," Roberto said dryly, "But the other team's gotten an idea while we're still chatting."
"What? But how? They don't have…oh." Bobby trailed off when he saw what their gameplan had become. Ray had managed to take some paneling of the metal wall of the maze behind them and turn them into a sort of makeshift escalator/hovercraft…thing, like that guy on that one Kids' WB! show. Electric Man or something? Whatever. Anyways, the group of them were now clutching to each other for dear life on the flimsy little metal while Ray had his eyes closed in deep concentration to getting them across.
"Say, we're not in any real danger, right?" Jubilee laughed nervously. "I mean, if we fell off this gorge thing, we wouldn't fall to our deaths?"
"Shut up, Jubes. I'm concentrating." replied Ray. Jubilee glowered at the reply, but quieted down. Until she saw that Bobby had started making some sort of slide… an ice arch bridge.
"Oh snap! Ray, you better hurry up.
"I can't! This is hard, in case you didn't notice. Anyways, what for?"
"Because Bobby got a bright idea, crazy as that sentence sounded."
Bobby wasn't doing as well as it seemed, actually. The bridge was very slippery, and it was painstaking to make everything just the right angle for them all to walk on without slipping and falling to their inevitable doom.
"Here's a good suggestion," Amara hissed. "Why don't you leave what we're standing not on alone, and ice what's beneath our feet so we move along without having to walk?"
"Hey, that is a good suggestion!" Sam said.
"Oh, fine! Everyone take the royal's advice!" Bobby said, but obliged anyways. And to their utmost shock, it worked. They were moving along at a moderate speed.
"It worked?" Amara asked dubiously..
"It worked!"
They reached the platform where the pedestal stood a moment after the others had. And now, strategy had to take place again, before the four-feet high spikes.
In the control room, Logan held a palm to his head and groaned. "This is precisely what I ordered them to do. Make a strategy ahead of time. It was the entire point of this simulation!"
Team A were in a panic. Rahne couldn't accomplish anything about the spikes, wolf or human, and Tabitha's bombs nor Jubilee's sparks couldn't melt down the spikes, as they had already experimented with. Ray was to the point of blacking out from exhaustion, as Jubilee relayed to them while struggling to help prop up Ray's tall body with Tabitha.
"I have an idea." Jubilee said meekly.
"Jubilee, you can't do anything." Tabitha said. You're the only one who hasn't done anything in this entire simulation, so you're on a roll anyways. Why stop now?
Rahne stared curiously at her. "We're out of options anyways, Tabby. We might as well. Go ahead, Jubilee."
Jubilee grinned. "Great. Just give me a minute to warm up." She shook her arms and stretched her legs. Rahne and Tabitha exchanged a look, completely bewildered, while Ray's head slumped to his chest with his arms around Rahne and Tabitha's necks. He gave a little snore. He was sleeping.
"Maybe Bobby can ice the spikes over so they break?" Roberto said quietly. Bobby shook his head.
"No go. I just tried it. Whoa, Amara, what are you doing?"
Amara's brows were furrowed in concentration. Her body had lit up and taken on her molten lava form. She was crouched over and working at the base of the spikes. They were slowly, but surely, melting.
Jubilee stepped back as close to the edge before the canyon as she dared. Tabitha and Rahne were kneeled facing each other before the spikes with each of their palms overlapped and outstretched. Ray laid on the ground a few feet away, oblivious and content. Jubilee took a deep breath. Let's hope I haven't gone rusty. She took on the position of a track runner and dug into her heel, putting the pressure there. The invisible alarm in her mind went off. She sprinted down her imaginary lane and closed the space between her and Rahne and Tabitha, forcing herself not to close her eyes in fear. She paused for a millisecond before them before her right foot stepped onto their hands. Just as she had directed them to, the girls lifted their hands in synchronization to the force of Jubilee's jump. The small girl flew into the air above the spikes and did one complete somersault, tucked into a tiny ball, before she landed with a 'thud' onto the other side on two feet.
Tabitha whooped. "That was awesome!"
"That was so, so freaky." Jubilee breathed, a slight valley girl accent creeping in to her voice. "But so, so COOL!" She squealed to her team. Rahne and Tabitha were giggling, until Rahne pointed. "Quick, Jubilee! Run!" Amara had melted down the spikes low enough for her to merely hop a bit over them, and began running towards the pedestal. Jubilee took off as well, being able to run faster. They grabbed at the football at the same time.
"Let GO!"
"I got here first!"
"You did NOT! I did!"
"Alright, alright, game over." Logan said through the intercom. "Nobody gets the loser reward. Actually, that wasn't too horrible."
"Gee, thanks." Tabitha said sarcastically.
"Don't push it. Somebody spray water at Crisp or something to wake him up. You're all free to go for the rest of the night." Logan turned away from the microphone and began walking towards the door when his cellphone rang. He flipped it open. "Eh?" He grunted.
"Logan, it's Ororo. I need you to prepare a space in the infirmary for Charles."
He widened his eyes. "What?"
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The new mutants walked unenthusiastically out of the Danger Room, which was now restored to its normal form and looking completely undamaged. The elevator lifted them a floor, and opened to take them to the dormitory hallway. They resembled a troupe of astronauts walking out of their spaceship onto Earth surface after a tiring exploration. Ray looked particularly disgruntled; perhaps because of the terms by which he was awoken from his slumber. Bobby had slid some ice cubes down his pants, and it hadn't been the most pleasant awakening. Jubilee was walking with a slight limp with a grimace on her face, which was increased when she saw that Amara had skipped up to join her pace. "What do you want?"
Amara pulled her hair to her front and brushed it with her fingers while matching Jubilee's steps. "I just wanted to say…your performance. It was very impressive."
"Oh." Jubilee said in astonishment. "Uh…thanks."
"You're quite welcome." Amara fingered her hair more feverishly. "Er… I was wondering. If you could teach me…how to do that."
"I could give you some pointers." Jubilee tilted her head. "It's hard work, though. And it takes a while to get the movement right and everything. Are you sure you wanna?"
"Quite sure." Amara retorted impassively.
Jubilee eyed her nails coolly. "I guess. If you can handle it, I mean."
They glared at eachother, until the glares eventually melted away into strangely competitive smiles…slash smirks. Rahne, who was walking a few feet behind, shook her head at the odd rivalry/friendship that had sprung between them. Each of the new mutants retired to their rooms, looking forward to good night's rest until the sound of Logan pounding on their doors for the early morning session would awaken them in the wee hours 'til the morn.
Bliss.
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A/N: So by now, of course, you realize this chapter was basically 'Growing Pains', retold in a more new recruit-friendly perspective. And that I took a whole bunch of artistic liberties with the fine details. Well, I haven't seen this episode in a long time, and apparently Cartoon Network is being LAMELAMELAME by not showing X-Men: Evolution, so I used a bunch of screen caps (thank you, Haruka, wherever you are!) and twisted the storyline to my own benefit. Mwahah. And before you all hiss at me for kicking Jamie out of the chapter, don't worry. He gets his comeuppance in the chapters to come.
[1] – 'Erica Williams' is Scaleface. Name is taken from a friend who loves Ray and his crazy marijuana hair. However, she obviously doesn't love him as much as me. Who's the person who screams "LET'S FRY THIS TURKEY!!" every time she sees a computer? It sure isn't her, man.