Chapter 9: Battle with the Brotherhood
Xavier Institute
Keiko was still trying to get a hang of her new powers, the invisibility and earthquake thing. Yusuke was there for her every step of the way, and so were Jean and Botan, her two best female friends. Keiko became part of the New Mutants since she was still trying to get a hold of her abilities.
Yusuke had started to get a reputation of being a tough guy in school, and he liked that rep. But, he was also starting to get bugged by the Brotherhood, who thought they still had a score to settle with him. He didn't mind though, he loved a good fight.
Botan had given him his new assignment; there has been an influx of demonic insects flying around one part of Bayville, and he was going off to investigate it. A small temporary gate to demon world might have opened and he would need to close it.
"Are you sure about this, Botan?" Yusuke asked after reading the report that Botan gave him from Spirit World.
"Yes Yusuke, I am," Botan replied as she got up, "Now, I am going with the girls to the mall."
"Wait a second! Aren't you going to help me? You're my assistant remember?" Yusuke asked, and Botan smiled and walked out of the room, "Damn it…the report doesn't say where these demonic insects are!"
On the other side of the mansion, Rogue was getting something to eat with Kitty. When Kurama walked by, it was like something clicked in Rogue's head, and she looked back to the door to see that Kurama was gone. Kitty noticed that, and went over to her friend.
"Do you have a thing for Kurama now? I thought Scott was your crush," Kitty joked, and then looked at the red forming on Rogue's face, "Well, he is cute. Not as cute as Lance but cute all the same."
"Y-y-you don't know what you're talking about! He is just a friend, a good friend," Rogue retorted, trying to get the blush off her face.
"Well, I think it is official that Scott is officially taken, so it is a good thing you that you got a new person to crush on," Kitty said playfully, but then she noticed Rogue starting to take off her glove, "Just joking with ya, girlfriend!"
Rogue smirked, then when she had put together her sandwich she left Kitty to get her lunch. Kitty then remembered she promised to take Botan to the mall, and there was the blue haired girl right behind her.
"I thought you were taking me to this mall of yours," Botan said very haughtily.
"Oh, yeah, right, just got to get Jean, she has her license you know," Kitty explained, and started walking out of the kitchen.
Kuwabara and Evan were playing on the PS2, again, and were evenly matched. Kurt was watching them play Soul Caliber, and then he noticed Yusuke walking down the stairs into the room, grumbling to himself.
"Hey man, vhat's wrong?" Kurt asked as Yusuke hopped onto the couch.
"My assignment from Spirit World that's what! It says there are demonic insects coming out in someplace in Bayville, but it doesn't even tell me where to look!" Yusuke replied, "Then Botan decides to go shopping of all times! Assistant my ass!"
"Probably you need a partner or something," Kurt suggested, "I mean, you're a detective right? Even Batman had Robin you know."
"You have a point…" Yusuke replied, and then he started thinking, 'Who would be a good partner…'
He turned to look at Kuwabara, who was so engrossed in the game he didn't even notice Yusuke was in the room, 'Not Kuwabara, with no spirit powers to use, he would go instantly to an arcade and leave me high and dry…'
Then he looked to Kurt, 'Teleportation might come in handy, but I doubt that Kurt would be able to see the demonic insects without any spirit awareness…'
Then it dawned on him, 'Yes, Kurama, he is the perfect choice. Plus, he is smart too, smarter than me and could get me out of some binds…I wonder what the Professor could say to that…'
'Sounds like a good idea, Yusuke,' the voice of Charles said in his head, spooking him a bit, 'One city might be too hard for you to cover alone, so taking in a partner would be a good idea.'
'How long have you been eavesdropping on my thoughts, Professor?' Yusuke asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
'Just caught the end of your thought process, Yusuke,' Charles replied, smiling in his office.
"God I hate telepaths…" Yusuke grumbled as he made his way out of the living room.
Across town, in the Brotherhood House, the 'rogue' mutants had just had a startling wakeup call. Mystique, who they thought had died in the Asteroid M incident, contacted them that in a few weeks they would be receiving new boarders. That sure freaked them out, not the new boarders' thing, what she said after. She wanted a win against the X-Men, so the new borders would be impressed.
"Are you nuts?" Toad asked, after hearing the message from Mystique, "We're really outnumbered here, more than usual!"
"We've came close to beating them before, Toad, remember?" Lance asked, and then sighed, "But we don't touch Kitty, alright?"
"Lance, get real," Fred scoffed, "Just because you like her doesn't mean I'm not going any easier on those X-Geeks."
"So we will hit them with everything we got," Pietro said in his super fast way, "I got a score to settle with that Urameshi kid."
"Tabitha, are you going to join us in fighting the X-Men this time? Cause we could really use the support!" Toad asked hopefully, because he didn't want to go into a hopelessly overmatched fight.
"Sorry, can't do," Tabitha replied, and starting walking up the stairs for her room, "I got things to do."
"Yeah sure, wake me up from the coma I'm going to be in when we get back from the fight," Toad told her, still nervous.
"Let's suit up," Lance ordered, and the others went into their rooms to change.
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
Kurama had started to get into a new book he bought a couple days ago with Rogue at that bookstore she told him about in the mall. He was really enjoying his time with the goth girl, she was smart (unlike most of the girls he had encountered here and back home), independent, and he thought she was pretty. This was weird since he never felt that way about a girl or even who were regarded as gorgeous female demons that he encountered.
He decided not to let it bother him, because he didn't think that Rogue felt the same way about him. Kurama quickly read through the first chapter of his book, A Tale of Two Cities, and decided it was time to get up and get something to eat.
When he was walking down the stairs, he had noticed that everyone had gone out of the house and was either resting in the sun, or playing with their powers in the yard. He saw Rogue sitting under the big tree in the back yard, away from the others. She seemed to be enjoying her time alone, and he smiled and walked off towards the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Yusuke and Kuwabara were having a little…sparring match…for old times sake. Even without his Spirit Energy, Kuwabara was putting up quite a fight, but none of his punches seemed to be able to hit Yusuke, who was grinning all the time. He kicked Kuwabara squarely in the chest, making the former gang leader crash into the wall, leaving a small dent.
"How…much are you holding back, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked, stuttering a bit, "Because I can take it all!"
"Sorry Kuwabara, can't do, don't want to kill ya you know," Yusuke replied, "Now let's get back to the others."
Kuwabara grumbled, and followed his friend back to the group.
In the yard, Bobby had transformed himself into ice, and was shooting out ice and forming it into ramps, while he and Evan skated on them. Jubilee and Amara were playing 'Catch' with their powers by throwing harmless bolts of fire and fireworks at each other. Roberto, Ray, Scott, Kurt, Rayne, and Jamie had started a baseball game. Jamie made extra copies of himself to give the teams a full roster.
On the balcony, Beast, Storm, and Tony were playing cards. Tony, however, was winning every match with each lucky hand he got. Even though he wasn't a mutant, Storm and Hank were starting to feel that the billionaire had psychic powers.
"How do you keep doing that Tony?" Ororo asked, putting down her hand.
"I guess I have some extraordinary luck," Tony replied, "Pay up."
Beast and Storm sighed, and pushed their chips towards the billionaire. Then, the next game started.
The Professor started having a strange feeling, and wheeled himself into the basement of the Institute. He was going over some notes in Hank's lab and was looking over some notes that the former teacher had jotted down. Cerebro was currently being upgraded, so he couldn't track any mutant activities easily for the next few weeks.
'This is going to be difficult trying to keep the Brotherhood in line without the ability to track them,' Xavier thought, "Even though I am the most powerful telepath on Earth, I find it difficult to just focus on certain mutants without using Cerebro…."
"Probably that is why you could use some help, Charles," the voice of Genkai interjected, and he turned around to see her in the door, "I thought I would find her here."
"Hello Genkai," Charles said, wheeling himself to face the master of Reidoha, "And I see you know my new dilemma."
"Yes, without Cerebro, you cannot track this Brotherhood of Mutants, right?" Genkai asked, and he nodded, "There is another way to track them without using Cerebro. Sense them with your spirit awareness."
"I'm a little rusty on that, Genkai," Charles confessed, and saw the smirk on Genkai's face, "Like you never lagged on your training."
"Here, I'll help you focus your mind," Genkai said as she walked over to him, and her body began to glow, "Now, focus."
The Professor closed his eyes, focusing his mind. Genkai put her arm on his shoulder, and began transferring Spiritual Energy into his body, and his mind began to be focused even more. He started picturing the Brotherhood suiting up, and then they were going into town, with a strange look on their faces.
"What do you see?" Genkai asked as the glow on her body disappeared.
"Yes, the Brotherhood is on the move," Charles replied, recalling everything that the Spirit powered enhanced psychic vision had sent to him, and then put his fingers to his temples, 'All X-Men, suit up. The Brotherhood is on the move.'
This caught all the X-Men's attention, and they began to run into the mansion. Scott called off the game, and ran into the mansion. All the X-Men, Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara included, went into the basement and suited up. Then ran to the garage, and got into the X-Van and drove off. Scott was driving and with the Professor guiding him telepathically.
The X-Man Leader drove to an abandoned construction site, the place where the Brotherhood had gathered. They all had a smug look on their face, and it looked like they were really ready for this fight. Scott and the other X-Men got out of the van.
"About time you showed up, Summers," Lance said cockily, and he looked to see Kitty standing over on the opposite team.
"What do you want this time Lance? What were you planning on doing?" Scott berated, and the cocky earthquake maker smirked.
"Mystique is coming back, and before she comes back she wants us to pull off a win against you guys," Lance replied, and he saw Yusuke cracking his knuckles.
"Too bad, you won't get a win against us," Yusuke told Lance, "Oh, I guess you didn't like that."
"That's it!" Lance yelled, and he slammed his foot down onto the ground, causing shockwaves to go up everywhere around him, and he looked back to his group, "Now, don't touch Kitty, right?"
The rest of the Brotherhood had begun the attack on the X-Men, and Scott looked back.
"Everyone split up!" Scott ordered, and the X-Men complied.
Yusuke started running towards Blob, with Jean and Scott behind him. Kurama went with Rogue and Spyke to fight Quicksilver. Nightcrawler, Kuwabara, and Kitty went running up against Toad and Lance.
"YAH!" Yusuke yelled, as he plunged his fist into the Fred's stomach, but he sank in, "What?"
"Nothing can move the Blob kid," Fred replied, then punched Yusuke off of him.
Cyclops slammed a button on his visor, releasing a steady stream of optic blast energy right at Fred, making the unmovable mutant step back a bit. Jean engaged her telekinesis, trying to lift the Blob up.
"Can't keep it up…" Jean told Scott and Yusuke.
"No problem!" Yusuke yelled, and Spirit Energy gathered into his fists, "While you're in the air Fred, you ain't unmovable!"
Leaping into the air, Yusuke a. k. a Gunner, slammed his fist into Fred's jaw, and in that exact moment, Jean released her telekinesis. Fred screamed as he flew into a pile of old, rusted beams. The force of that knocked Fred out.
Rogue's group was having trouble with Quicksilver, who was too fast to be hit. Spyke kept shooting out his spikes, missing every time. Kurama then flicked his wrist, getting his rose whip ready. They were inside the unfinished structure of the construction site, and Kurama was coming up with a plan.
"You think you're going to hit me with that thing?" Pietro taunted, and Kurama smirked.
"No, but my intention is not to hit you," Kurama replied, and he used his whip to slash down some metal beams that were behind Quicksilver.
Quicksilver jumped, and began running back towards Rogue. She took off her glove, and got ready to grab him. Pietro smirked, and dodged her tackle and continued to run. He noticed Kurama getting something ready, he had placed something into the ground.
"Fox, what are you doing?" Evan whispered, as he stepped back a bit.
"A little trap for Pietro," Kurama replied, patting the dirt, "Just get your spikes ready, okay?"
"Okay," Evan said as spikes jutted out of his back and arms.
"Get back here ya stinking…" Rogue grumbled as Pietro continued to toy with her, and then she noticed something underneath the ground, "What is that?"
"Hey Rogue, pay attention or you will eat my dust!" Pietro taunted, picking up his speed and kicking up more dirt and dust, blinding Rogue.
All of a sudden, vines sprouted up from the ground, tripping up Pietro. He stumbled, and Fox turned to Spyke.
"Launch them now!" Kurama ordered, and Spyke threw out his arms, launching four spikes at Quicksilver.
Pietro looked back and screamed, as the spike lodged in his clothing and threw him back to a completed brick wall. He struggled, trying to get out, and he saw Rogue walking towards him.
"N-Now Rogue…you…wouldn't want to do that…" Pietro stammered, seeing the look on Rogue's face.
"Why now sugar, why wouldn't ya want a southern belle like me to touch ya?" Rogue asked, a glint in her eye, "Now, will ya just stay still?"
Pietro screamed again as Rogue place her hand on his cheek, zapping him of his power. She cringed, as her body adapted to the new ability she received, and then she smirked.
"Well, he's out," Rogue said, "We better go help tha others."
"Right," Kurama said, and then he rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry you had to take all that from Pietro, just needed some time to come up with a plan."
"It's alright, Kurama, we needed that to take him down," Rogue replied, "Now, lets go help the others."
Kurama and Evan nodded, and they followed Rogue out of the super-structure to see that Blob had gotten back up.
"I have to admit little man, you hit pretty hard!" Fred yelled, and he began to charge Yusuke.
"Gunner, get down!" Scott ordered, and Yusuke complied by ducking the punch that Blob threw hat him, "Take this!"
Scott blasted the Blob's face with his optic blast, and Yusuke began to rise prematurely.
"How about a double?" Yusuke asked, charging up his fist again and slamming it into Blob's jaw, "Ya like that?"
Blob screamed as his body was accelerated by the blows of the optic blast and the spirit powered punch, and was thrown into a wall and was knocked out. The wall fell over, covering him.
"Nice move," Scott commented, and Yusuke gave thumbs up, "Rogue is coming back with her group."
Now, Kitty's group was having the toughest time since they were fighting three on two. Nightcrawler was fighting Toad and Kuwabara, aka Light Saber, with Lance, who was making shockwaves to throw them off.
"You think those tiny ripples can throw me off?" Kuwabara yelled as he jumped into the air, and slammed his fist into Avalanche's face.
Lance staggered back, and then wiped the blood off his lip, "That was a good hit, newbie."
"What did you call me? You're just asking for more of an ass whoopin'!" Kuwabara shouted again, and Avalanche smiled.
"You won't be catching me off guard again!" Lance's eyeballs turned up into the air and he extended out his hand, and sent a major earthquake towards Kuwabara.
Nightcrawler and Kitty were having an even tougher time with Toad. It seemed he had been practicing his moves now. Toad spitted some slime into Shadowcat's face, and kicked her to the curb. Lance looked back.
"Toad, what are you doing?" Lance asked, ceasing the shockwaves that he was producing.
"Hey, I never agreed not to hurt her, yo," Todd replied before Nightcrawler teleported behind him.
"I got you!" Kurt yelled, putting Toad into a full nelson.
"Like, gross! And that hurt!" Kitty complained, wiping the gunk off her face, and then she looked back to see the others coming for them.
"Crap! Let go of me fur ball!" Todd struggled, then through Nightcrawler off of him.
Lance quickly regained his composure to block an incoming punch from Light Saber. He flipped the former gang member to the ground and started shaking things up even more.
"Now…take this!" Lance yelled, and threw his arms high into the air, making a huge rock jut right out of the ground below Light Saber.
"Damn it!" Kuwabara yelled, and then he reached into his pocket, and took out the training sword, 'Please, work! I need my spirit power now!'
His wish was granted, a fiery blade appeared out of the training sword, and he rose it up high and slashed the boulder. Avalanche was surprised at this development, and looked back to see the other X-Men running towards him and Toad.
'Both Pietro and Blob were taken out this quickly?' Avalanche asked and he looked to see Toad beginning to struggle against Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, "Toad, we're getting the others and getting out of here!"
"Right!" Todd yelled, and notice Blob waking up, "Fred! We're getting out of here!"
"Ugh…yeah right…" Fred groaned, pushing the bricks off his body.
"Your friend is in the super structure, unconscious," Kurama told Lance, "He's okay, Rogue just zapped his power."
Rogue returned with the unconscious Quicksilver and dropped him unceremoniously onto the ground. Blob grabbed him, and all the Brotherhood started running off.
"Well, I guess that's that," Yusuke said, as he cracked his knuckles, "I guess it'll be a while before we get a decent fight, eh Kuwabara? Kurama?"
"At least I got my Spirit Energy back, watch," Kuwabara said, placing his training sword back in its holder, "HRMN…."
"Dude, nothing's happening," Evan said, and he looked at Kuwabara's face, "And you look constipated."
"I guess it only works with that training sword of yours, Kuwabara," Kurama told him.
"Crap, I thought I had my spirit energy back," Kuwabara shrugged, and then looked down to the ground, "And I was starting to feel so much better about myself."
"Don't worry man, remember how long it took you to do the Spirit Sword on your own after the first time you did it?" Yusuke tried to encourage his friend.
"Well, let's go home, I guess…" Kuwabara grumbled as he headed for the X-Van.
The other X-Men tried to get Kuwabara to cheer up on the way home, but it didn't seem to work. But, when they were leaving, someone was observing them from the shadows.
'So, those are the new student's powers…and that boy with the slick-back hair must be the spirit detective,' the person, Mystique, thought from the shadows, and then she looked up to the top of the unfinished super structure, 'And that must be the demon, Hiei, everything seems ready for the new boys' arrival.'
To be continued…