Disclaimer: "Once again, this whole thing has been brought to you by SAND! It's everywhere... get used to it."

(An: Mooore X-band... fear me! TF: I think it took me about the same... I was reading the second chapter whilst on the phone with a friend; she said, "You know Dumbledore dies, right?" and I'm like, "No! No one dies! No one!" and her mom was in the background laughing her head off. ...you have them and you've never read them? HOW DARE YOU! That's that's that's like a mortal sin that! When you finish Dreamcatcher (which is like my third-favorite Stephen King book) you must slog your way through "The Gunslinger." It's... weird. Really weird. But the other books are normal King writing... only better! The ending of Dreamcatcher kind of sucks, though, now that I think of it. PB: Yep, poor Bobby... NOT! Hey, you use oy? Cool. I had to look back at the chapter for the Warren moment... Forge is gonna be Cronk... because Ororo is Yzma because Remy is Kuzco... I like casting people out of their element for gags. But it'll be AGES before I get to that one. Anyway, yeah, it's just a random cameo. Di told me to borrow her because she has OC buildup. The translation is "Nix the backstory!" It took me a while to figure that out. Probably because I wasn't really concentrating. Planet of the Apes usually makes me want to barf... I just don't like that movie anymore for some reason. Dark Tower. Kicks ass. Ok, so it SOUNDS confusing, but that's just because it's been ages since I read it; it's really quite good. They rereleased the first four books in softcover form because the last three books were coming out... I do so love my Dark Tower; I reference it a lot in XB. I took Spanish Junior year because it's easy. Otak: Aw, damn... I should move to France after Sophomore year; then I can get a job as a stupid person and drink. Yeah, a lot of people tend to think I'm older than I am... which is handy sometimes, but usually just weird. ...you read the Dark Tower. And you ship Kurtty... and you're Canadian... coming down to WI anytime soon? I like The Waste Lands because it has lots of Jake, and I like Jake. But Drawing of the Three makes me laugh a lot. I love Eddie... -big grin- By the by, you never mentioned your real name... so you're Mr. Otak, ok? SF: What, no suggestions of just WHAT could go wrong? Well, I've got an idea, anyway, but still. I love your suggestions... they're just so... random. It's a beautiful thing. CF: Wow, I have a lot of people who get an acronym with 'f'. Yeah, the pink was kind of a running joke in Waste Lands. Good. I need to have a John madness chapter after the big reunion chapter... i.e. chapter 22 will be the John madness one. Yep, HP6, seems like everyone's mentioning that... eh, I don't mind that much. It's just a book. The movie will be depressing, though. It took me a few minutes to write it... Wow. Damn that's a long response thingy.)

ON THE X-PLANE...

The landing was easy. Getting off the plane was easy. What wasn't easy was finding the damn place. "We're lost again, aren't we?" said Ororo, facepalming.

"We are NOT lost!" Logan cried.

"We are," Hank mouthed, inspecting the map with him.

"We're all doomed," Ororo muttered.

"I told you," Zee said, with a sage nod.

ON BLAINE THE MONO...

The lost people were slowly but surely insane... well, more insane. Blaine refused point-blank to switch out of his John Wayne voice, and damn was it getting annoying.

Shelley started banging her head against a window. Pyro's eye was twitching. Kurt and Remy were playing double solitaire. And Di was staring up at the ceiling, lying on the plush carpet (1). Morph was rocking back and forth, going "La la la la la la," a la the dog in Little Nicky. (2)

"TWENTY MILES TO D.C., LITTLE TRAILHANDS. WE'RE ALMOST OUTTA THE WOODS."

Pyro's whole face twitched, Morph started humming louder, and Shelley started banging harder.

If trains could smirk, Blaine would've been.

AT THE CONCERT PLACE... THING...

Mr. Otak, the Canadian running the whole mutant-rights-concert-benefit thing, was freaking out. It wasn't because of the current act onstage, no. It was because the act for later that day, the big one, the crowd attractor, was missing. The X-Men hadn't shown. If they didn't, they'd be doomed.

Alison Blaire (3) finished her set and came offstage to loud applause from the crowd. "You're up, wingboy," she said, nudging a blond boy with red wings.

"Ah told ya not ta call me that," Jay Guthrie muttered. (4)

Alison shrugged and flounced off to her dressing room.

"WHERE ARE THEY!" Mr. Otak shrieked in the background. He'd been doing that every time someone finished a set.

Alison stuck her head out of her room. "Oh, would you take a chill pill!"

"For once, I agree with disco over there," said Jay.

"Hey! Disco will NEVER die!"

Mr. Otak paused in his hair-pulling-out-type-spazzing to give Alison a "Yeah, right" look along with Jay.

Alison stuck her tongue out at them and ducked back into her room.

"Now get on there before we have a riot on our hands!" Mr. Otak cried, shoving him out the door. "...more than one we'll have anyway..."

"Dude, you seriously need some of your vodka," (5) Jay said, before hopping out on stage.

Mr. Otak shot him a death glare before going back to fevered rantings.

In the way of X-band-plot-device timing, that was exactly when the X-plane arrived in the back area of the concert place... thing.

"Hey, Mr. Otak, they're here," said a INRPJPD (6).

"I'm aware of that, you fluffy idiot!" Mr. Otak cried, pointing at the honking big plane out of which the X-men were streaming.

"Oh, right."

Mr. Otak was counting the X-men, and he was not liking the numbers. Flipping through his Omnipresent Clipboard (OC for shortness), he found that some people who were supposed to be with them... weren't. He walked up to a scowling girl in green. "WHERE IS EVERYBODY!" he demanded.

The girl blinked, and pulled what appeared to be a stuffed penguin out of her pocket. She squeaked it at him hopefully.

Mr. Otak fell over in a dead faint.

"If you've killed him, I may just have to sue you," Alison commented, peering out of her dressing room.

The girl facepalmed. "We're, like, doomed, right?" said her friend in pink. The girl nodded, rubbing her temples. It's gonna be a long day...

ON BLAINE THE MONO...

"WELL, LITTLE TRAILHANDS, WE'RE FIFTEEN MILES FROM D.C."

"Oh thank GOD!" John yelled.

"DON'T SOUND SO EXCITED OR I MAY JUST HAVE TO KILL YOU."

"Please, do!" Shelley piped up. John shot her a death glare and she just grinned at him.

"We're all gonna die," Kurt mumbled.

"Are you always this paranoid?" Morph asked.

"Why yes, yes I am."

"We are gonna die..." said Morph.

BACK ON THE X-PLANE...

"So, Mr. LeBeau, did you bring your guitar?" Hank asked.

Renee looked like he was ready to scream. "Pendant la dernière fois foutue, je ne suis pas ce LeBeau de type!" (For the last fucking time, I'm not this guy LeBeau... I only used that because freaking isn't a real word according to the French.)
"You're drunk again, aren't you."
"Peut-être..."
Hank facepalmed and dragged the protesting Renee off to God knew where... again.
"Aw, the blue dude stole the hot French dude," JP muttered.
"Kinky," Aurora agreed, inspecting her nails.

(Ok, I'm aware that this is short... really short... but my muse is being... bad... the next chapter will be long... I promise. After all, it IS the big reunion chapter.)

(1) Blaine is pretty well tricked out.

(2) I can't remember the dog's name, SO SUE ME.

(3) Dazzler, anyone?

(4) Yep, you heard right, Sam's little brother, codename: Icarus. He's cool, yo.

(5) Heheh... when I'm 21 I'm soooo gonna try that, Otak.

(6) Remember? I'm-Not-Really-a-Person-Just-a-Plot-Device?