Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah I don't own 'em...blah, blah, blah...I'm not making any money.

/lalala /- means the characters are thinking.

(~ lalala ~)- means I wanted to add something of my own.

Piccolo opened his eyes, and found himself surrounded by soldiers.  The soldiers were dressed in black, and moving in and out of the shadows created on the floor.  They carried guns, and six-inch knives.  It was hard to tell how many there were when they were constantly moving, weaving through each other.  Where one was, two replaced.

Piccolo smirked.  / This is all too easy./

In a flash he was on the attack.  Slicing through the haze to form a clear opening, just to have it filled again. 

/ It's like attacking a cloud.  Interesting./

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"Look at him.  It's like he did nothing." 

"Which program is this Logan?  We haven't had this one yet."

Scott turned to Logan with a questioning glance.  Logan looked over at him with his arms crossed and laughed.

"No way.  You guys aren't strong enough to handle this level."

"What are you talking about! We faced off against Magneto dozens of times, why do you think we couldn't handle this?"

"Because in this particular program, you must defeat all the ninjas, in order to complete the level."

"We could do that." Scott defended.

"You can hardly handle school work.  When one ninja is destroyed another one generates in its place within 60 seconds.  In other words, you would have to defeat all fifty ninjas, within one minute."

"You think he can do it?"  Jean asked as she studied the fast moving green blurb inside the huge metal holographic room.

"That boy has a gift.  I think we can all learn from him."  The Professor interjected and with an air of obedience, all conversation stopped. 

The children exchanged looks and gazed back into the danger room just as Piccolo began to get serious.

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Piccolo gave a right hook to an unsuspecting ninja, when he brutally kicked another.  He cut down a few with his eye beams, but in all too long another stepped right back.  He fired a quick Masenko bomb, dispersing those few around him.  Quickly using his time before the next swarm came in, he prepared for his trademark attack.

Time seemed to stand still as he gathered his energy.  Blue light seemed to seep into his body.  He could feel the power coursing through him, and he knew this was the time to strike.  He released the energy into two beams, one wrapped tightly around the other.  He started to grin as wave after wave of blackness was demolished. 

He realized he could not keep the attack going.  His energy was vanishing quickly and the enemy was not fading as fast as he thought it would.  He began to loose his concentration.

He faltered for a split second, overcome by exhaustion, and the attack collapsed.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

In the white of the danger room only seven of the once vast horde remained.  They advanced on him, buying their time- waiting for the others to be regenerated.

He could hardly stand.  All his energy went into that one blast, and it still wasn't enough. 

/ I can do this.  This is nothing…/

He struggled for breath and willed his eyes to stay open.

/Why am I so tired?  Snap out of it and finish this!/

Spurred on, he rushed the last few, and with several quick chi blasts and a few hard punches, they were defeated. He slumped onto the wall that had appeared once the program was terminated.  His muscles were sore, and aching. 

/What is happening to me?/

The danger room lights faded from a startling white, to a softer tone, and the X-Men watching from above made their way down.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

"Did you see that last attack?!" Kurt pointed.

"Yeah!  How did he do that?"  Kitty agreed as she looked at Kurt then down to the danger room floor.

"Now I KNOW he's a mutant."  Spike exclaimed.

"Well, I knew that!  He's green for heaven's sake."  replied Rogue sarcastically when she folded her arms over the chest. 

"That blast seemed to take a lot out of him." Said Scott when he happened to gaze down into the danger room.

"Why don't you children go on to your rooms, let Piccolo rest a while." 

The Professor cut through the line of teenagers and suggested they retire for the night to finish some studying.  "Aren't midterms coming up?"

"But you wanted us to learn a few of his techniques."  Scott complained, wanting to know what made this boy special.  He was their age, right?

Ororo walked next to Scott and with a raised eyebrow whispered, "If the Professor is giving you a night off from Logan's training simulations, I would not complain." 

Having taken the hint Spike started pushing Scott toward the stairs.

"You know Auntie, you're absolutely right!"

The kids piled into their respective rooms, shuffling their feet, and making disappointed sighs.  They had long faces, but small grins on their face.  They considered this a Love- Hate situation.  Love that they wouldn't be burned or chopped alive by one of Wolverine's lessons, but Hate because they wouldn't have an excuse to skip out on their homework.  

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"Logan, Beast went out to London for the next couple of weeks so if Piccolo needs anything be sure to accommodate him."

"I'm not his slave Charles, I came here to teach." An aggravated grunt followed.

 A Slight smirk and, "If you would rather me put him another room, all you have to do is ask."

A nervous gasp then, "No, I can manage."

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

When they walked into the room Piccolo was standing, and seemed to be fine.  However, there was a slight sheen of sweat on the Namekian, and he was gasping for breath.

"That looked like it took a lot out of you kid." Logan grinned as he walked over to the Namek who was currently trying to get his breathe back.

"I'm just fine.  I could have handled twice that much." Piccolo smirked and walked past Logan into the dimly lit hallway.

Logan just smiled and shook his head as he too went up to sleep.

Gomen, gomen!  I'm really sorry this took so long to get out. I've been in Arkansas and where I was staying didn't have internet- not even cable!  But I managed.  I've also had a ridiculous amount of summer school work assigned that's been keeping me pretty busy.  Again, I'm really sorry!  Please give feedback, I've been laughed at because I've only received 27 reviews.