Psychic Showdown Part I
"Okay, okay let me see if I get this straight…" Doug was starting to panic. "We're trapped in another dimension at the mercy of this all powerful evil dead guy who wants revenge on the Professor, Storm and everyone else just for the heck of it?"
"That pretty much sums it up, yeah," Logan nodded.
"We're gonna die aren't we?" Doug moaned.
"Well I'm already dead so…" Dead Girl shrugged.
"Yeah well I'm not! And I'd like to stay that way for at least sixty or so years thank you very much!" Doug snapped.
"Calm down Doug it's going to be okay," Scott told him.
"Yeah this kind of thing happens to us all the time," Kitty shrugged.
"Well not to me it doesn't!" Doug yelled. "In case you haven't noticed, some of us don't have the ability to shoot energy blasts or are able to walk through walls so they don't get killed!"
"Doug chill," Evan said. "I've never seen you freak out like this before."
"That's because I've never been stuck in another dimension before!" Doug told him. "People shooting at me, yeah I got it. Crazy mutants fighting all around me, duck and cover! But this! This is not what I signed up for!"
"Douglas control yourself," Emma snapped. "None of us are exactly thrilled about this situation but we cannot afford to panic. It's just what the Shadow King wants."
"She's right," Ororo said. "We have to rescue my sister and Jamie."
"One question: who's gonna rescue us?" Doug moaned.
"Things are not as hopeless as they seem," Xavier concentrated. His wheelchair vanished and to everyone's amazement he stood there among them. "There, that's much better."
"How the…?" Bobby's jaw dropped.
"Form and thought are one here," Xavier smirked. "The mind is the most powerful weapon."
"In other words in the Astral Plane, Xavier is unfettered by a wheelchair and can walk," Emma told them.
"Okay now things are getting really weird," Kitty gulped.
"Now things are getting really weird?" Doug screamed. "We're all gonna die aren't we?"
"Actually our chances of survival are not as slim as they appear," Betsy said. "With four telepaths we have a good chance of taking down the Shadow King."
"Five telepaths," Everett reminded them. "Thanks to my powers."
"We need to stay together and keep focused," Xavier concentrated. "The Shadow King isn't even bothering to hide his psychic signature. He wants us to find him."
"Which means he has a few lovely traps set for us," Emma nodded. "Be prepared for anything. Spyke…"
"Gotcha…" Evan took of his shirt and jacket and transformed into his armored form. He pulled out a spike and readied it like a weapon. He pulled out another one and gave it to Doug. "Here. You can use this."
"Great, a spear," Doug sighed. "That'll really work against the Shadow King."
"Will you stop whining and let's get on with it," Betsy told him.
"This way," Xavier motioned. Soon the mutants were travelling down a long ghostly set of stairs.
"And I thought Apocalypse's temple was creepy," Kitty shuddered.
"Look at all these weird vases," Bobby shattered one. "And look what happens when I break 'em." He picked up some odd shaped colorful disks with an X on them. "I wonder what these are for?"
"Souvenirs?" Remy shrugged. "Maybe they worth something?"
"You would think about something like that at a time like this," Rogue rolled her eyes.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and if we break more of them we'll find some armor or something?" Doug asked.
A loud inhuman scream was heard. "What was that?" Kurt asked.
"My guess here is those big ugly things up there," Betsy pointed to the sky. Huge black winged creatures with large talons and glowing eyes were flying towards them.
"They are called Astral Shades," Xavier explained. "Creatures born of nightmares, fear and hate."
"They remind me of my last date I had back in New York," Tim fired up his powers. His skull shone through his pale face. "Bring it on!"
The mutants fought against the monsters in a wild battle. "It's not hard knocking one down," Scott shouted as his eye beams disintegrated one monster. With a shriek it reformed into two more monsters. "It's the fact that after that one two or three more take it's place that might be a problem!"
Penny was tearing into the monsters with savage glee. "Doesn't seem to bother the Penster!" Tabitha shouted.
"Physical attacks do nothing," Emma made a psychic blast that destroyed two monsters. "You need a psychic attack to truly damage them."
"Is that all?" Betsy tore her psychic knife into one of them. "Not a problem!"
"Easy for you to say!" Doug shouted. "Ow! Those claws are sharp!"
Xavier dispelled a large amount of them with a psychic blast. "We need to keep moving!" He told them as more Astral Shades approached.
"We need to split up," Emma said.
"No, we have to stay together!" Scott told her as he blasted more Astral Shades.
"That's just what the Shadow King is expecting," Emma told him. "He sent these things to slow us down. And face it, only us psychics can really hurt him. The rest of you would only get him annoyed and get yourselves hurt."
"She's right," Xavier blasted a few more away. "Psylocke! You and Synch remain behind and help the others. Emma, Jean and I will take on the Shadow King ourselves."
"I'm coming too," Ororo told them as she used her lighting on some Astral Shades. It seemed to hurt them. "I won't abandon my sister or Multiple!"
"The same here," Evan said.
"Fine! The two of you can come," Emma huffed. "Just don't get killed."
"Cyclops! Cut a path for us!" Xavier ordered. "Now!"
Scott did so and the five mutants escaped. "Don't worry about us!" Logan shouted as he sliced some more creatures. "We can handle these freaks ourselves!"
"Oh that's such a relief," Doug gulped as he tried to whack one Astral Shade away with a stick. "Bad Astral Shade! Bad! Bad!"
The five mutants raced down the corridors and the stairs, going even deeper into the Astral Plane. "How big is this place anyway?" Evan grumbled.
"As deep and as wide as human thought," Emma told him.
"Too bad it wasn't Shipwreck's thoughts," Ororo grumbled. "Then we'd have a lot less area to cover."
"Not a good time to be thinking about your boyfriend, my dear," Emma smirked. "Try to stay focused shall we?"
"Shipwreck is not…" Ororo hissed. "I hate that insane sailor!"
"Oh please," Emma waved. "You know denial isn't just a river in Egypt. Don't bother trying to cover up your feelings. I am a telepath, remember? Although I can't say I blame you. If I was attracted to that sailor I would seriously consider checking myself into the nearest loony bin."
"LISTEN YOU SLUT, I AM NOT…" Ororo's shouted as the sky crackled with lightning.
"Very subtle," Emma interrupted. "If the Shadow King didn't know we were coming before he certainly does now. All because you can't admit your true feelings for a certain sailor. It's amusing if you think about it."
"Ms. Frost, even I don't find that funny right now," Evan's tone indicated that he was very upset.
"Sorry Spyke. I suppose that was in bad taste," Emma sighed. She looked at Ororo. "Speaking of which…"
"You say one more word…" Ororo growled and made a fist. "Just one…"
"Storm! Stop it!" Jean put her hand on her shoulder. "Just ignore her. We have to think of your sister and Multiple." She glared at Emma. "You really have a sick sense of humor, you know that?"
"One tries to find what levity one can in this world," Emma told her as they came into a clearing. "Or in any world for that matter. Ah well, it seems the Shadow King isn't much for subtlety either."
Before them was a huge coliseum with giant statues. "I believe this is where the Shadow King is waiting for us," Xavier frowned.
"Really? You think?" Emma asked sarcastically. "Come on, let's get this show on the road."
They entered the coliseum and saw Vi slumped on a throne in the middle of the ring. "Mom!" Evan ran up to her.
"Spyke wait!" Xavier called after him. "The Shadow King…"
"Isn't inside her…" Emma frowned as she used her telepathy to scan Vi's mind.
"Is she going to be all right?" Ororo looked over her sister.
"She will be once we get her out of here," Xavier said.
"That's if we get out of here," Jean grumbled.
"Try to look on the positive side, Darling," Emma said. "Now where is that shadowy tub of lard?"
"And where's Jamie?" Jean looked around. "Oh no…"
"Oh yes. I thought I'd change into something more comfortable before our battle," The Shadow King grinned inside Jamie's body. He concentrated and split himself into several more clones, surrounding them. "And so versatile too. Talk about multi tasking…I think I might just keep this one."
"This could be a problem," Emma made a fighting stance.
"Spyke, guard your mother," Ororo told him.
"But who will protect you my little Ororo?" The Shadow King laughed. "It's so good to see you again. You were my best pupil. The greatest thief in all of Cairo. I always thought you had potential…"
"I will never serve you again!" Ororo started to create hurricane like winds.
The Shadow King laughed. "What will you do my dear? Harm the child? If you can find the original that is…"
"She may have a problem with that, but I don't," Emma had used her powers to find the original Jamie and sent a powerful psy-bolt at the original.
"YEARRRRGGHHHHH!" The Shadow King screamed.
"NO!" Jean protested and was about to stop her.
"Jean wait!" Xavier grabbed her shoulder. "She's driving the Shadow King out of Multiple's body!"
"Trying to is the operative expression…" Emma gritted her teeth. "I could use some help here!"
"It's the only way to save him," Xavier told Jean. She nodded. The two of them assisted Emma with a psychic bolt.
The Shadow King emerged with a scream. Jamie slumped to the ground and his clones disappeared. "You haven't won yet Xavier!" He roared as he morphed into a huge gladiator figure complete with a trident and shield. He stood fifty feet above them.
"This is definitely not good…" Evan gulped.
"You want to fight me, Shadow King?" Xavier concentrated. He started to grow. He morphed into the same size as his opponent, complete with armor and a sword. "I defeated you once before and I shall again!"
"Now this is something you don't see every day," Emma remarked as the two engaged in combat. Then she noticed dozens of Astral Shades and strange shadow beasts headed towards them. "We've got company people!"
"Then let's welcome them shall we?" Ororo focused her powers creating lightning. She shot out as much as she could but the sheer numbers were threatening to overwhelm her. She tried to create a blizzard, but since the moisture in the atmosphere was barely non-existent she couldn't quite do it. One of the creatures knocked her down and managed to graze her shoulder.
"Storm!" Evan leapt to her defense and used his spikes to dispatch the creature. He helped her up. "You okay?"
"Yes…Evan…"Ororo hesitated for a moment.
"We may have our differences," Evan told her. "But you're still my aunt."
Before Ororo could respond another huge Astral Shade attacked. It was hit in the back by an optic blast. "Sorry we're late!" Scott called out as the other X-Men finally arrived. Many of them had torn clothes and looked worse for wear.
"I can barely get my frost up!" Bobby told them. "Not enough moisture for me to use!"
"Considering there's no real atmosphere in the Astral Plane that's not surprising," Emma told him.
"But if there's no atmosphere, how can we breathe and stuff?" Roberto shouted. He barely ducked an Astral Shade's talons. "Whoa!"
"Don't think about it too hard!" Evan told him. "Just fight!"
Above them the giant figures of Xavier and the Shadow King flew, bobbing and weaving as they fought fiercely. Xavier finally managed to knock the Shadow King down to the ground. But not before the Shadow King gave a hit of his own, knocking Xavier down and reducing him to normal size.
"Impressive Xavier," The Shadow King hissed. "Obviously your skills have been sharpened since we last battled. But mine have increased tenfold!"
With a shriek the Shadow King waved his arm and a huge hole opened wide behind Xavier. The whirling force of the hole dragged Xavier towards it.
"Professor!" Jean raced over to help him. She grabbed his arms and tried to drag him out of the hole. "Hang on!"
The Shadow King gave a chilling laugh as he sent out a strong wind like psychic blast directly at Jean and Xavier. "We gotta help them!" Scott tried to blast his way through the many enemies but more seemed to appear. They piled on the majority of the mutants like linebackers at a football game.
"We can't get them off us!" Amara screamed in pain.
"Hands off!" Betsy used her knife to cut through the creatures as much as possible. But even her and Everett's borrowed powers couldn't throw off all the monsters. Jean and the Professor were on their own and at the mercy of the Shadow King.
"Soon you will know the emptiness of the void!" The Shadow King roared.
"Oh shut up!" Emma snarled. "I've had it with your constant yammering!"
"So have I," Jean's eyes glowed and pushed her psychic powers to the limit as she sent a psy-bolt at the Shadow King. He roared in agony.
Jean we must combine our powers…Xavier told her. They merged psychically, forming into one glowing red and blue being. The being grew larger and larger, dwarfing the size of the hole.
"No…It's impossible! My power is supreme here!" The Shadow King roared as the combined psychics reached out and grabbed his shadowy body.
"NOT ANYMORE!" Xavier and Jean's voices chanted as they managed to shrink the Shadow King so he fit into the palm of their giant hand. With a mighty toss they threw the Shadow King into his own prison.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Shadow King screamed as he was swallowed up by the hole and disappeared inside it. It closed and with a violent bang the world around them was jostled. Everything spun with wild colors.
And just as suddenly as they had been drawn into the Astral Plane, the mutants once again found themselves in the Institute. Although they were battered and worn down, the room looked pristine, as if nothing had happened. "I don't believe it," Logan looked around. "For once we had a major brawl and the Institute didn't get wrecked. It's gotta be a record."
"Well," Rogue panted. "That's definitely something that you don't see every day."
"Lucky us," Betsy groaned. "What just happened here?"
"Jean and I were able to combine our psychic powers to trap the Shadow King in the dimensional prison he intended for us," Xavier explained. "It will be a long time before he will roam free in the Astral Plane again. Once he was trapped, the damage done between the barriers of the two dimensions was healed. There is balance again."
"Okay, just one question: Are we still alive?" Doug asked. His body was covered in scratches. "Goody…" He passed out on the floor.
Twenty minutes later Hank returned upstairs to the living room from the Infirmary. Logan, Scott, Jean, Betsy, Emma, Evan, Ray, Ororo and Xavier were in there awaiting the results. "So what's the news Beast?" Logan asked."Both Vi and Jamie are unconscious but they'll be all right," Hank told them. He had a bandage on his arm. "A lot of our students are exhausted and have minor injuries. They should be up and about in a few days."
"Who's on the injured list?" Logan sighed as he sat down.
"Cypher, Bedlam, Nightcrawler, Jubilee, Sunspot, Synch, Cannonball, Iceman, Boom Boom and Magma," Hank told them. "Nothing major. Mostly scratches and sore muscles. But no Danger Room for them for the next few days."
"Put me on that list too. I'm so tired…" Betsy groaned. "That battle took nearly everything I had."
"Everyone that isn't injured is exhausted," Beast sighed as he sat down on a chair.
"Well psychic battles do tend to take a lot out of people," Emma told him. "If I were you Charles I'd start training them in how to handle psychic attacks. Why do you think Evan was able to stand against the Astral Shadows so well?"
"Trust me its no picnic but it helps," Evan groaned.
"Your X-Men did an admirable job but they still need to hone their skills," Emma gave a cool eye to Jean.
"Do you always have to act so damn superior to everyone?" Jean snapped.
"Only to those that I actually am superior too," Emma replied. "Admittedly it's a long list…"
"Let's get one thing straight," Jean glared at her. "I don't like you and what you represent. The way you use your powers goes against everything we've been taught here at the Institute."
"Oh, what a surprise," Evan rolled his eyes. "Miss Perfect has a problem with how we do things."
"If you mean using your powers to kill and murder innocent people…" Scott glared at him.
"Innocent? Don't make me laugh!" Evan shot up. "Since when did Spears and the FOH become innocent people? I never killed anyone who didn't deserve it."
"Maybe someone might think that way about you?" Scott snapped.
"Like you, Summers? If it's a fight you want…" Evan growled.
"Just go ahead…" Scott snapped putting his hand to his visor.
"Oh I will…" Evan armored up again.
"No you won't!" Ororo shouted.
"Yeah give it a rest you guys," Ray grumbled. "My muscles are still sore from the big battle we just finished about ten minutes ago!"
"Another fight would be pointless," Xavier admonished.
"Agreed. I don't care if you like me or not Jean," Emma gave her a look. "Just respect me. And my power. Unlike you I don't need everyone to love me in order to feel good about myself."
"And do you?" Jean looked at her.
"Very much so," Emma looked back.
"Well not for long…" Someone said.
"Who said...?" Emma began as she turned around.
BOOM!
Some kind of force burst through the room, flinging the mutants everywhere. "What the hell was that?" Ray groaned as he sat up. "And why does my brain hurt?"
"A psychic grenade…" Xavier groaned as he tried to sit up. He had been blown from his wheelchair. "A combination of psychic and telekinetic energy…"
"Oh you're still alive?" A voice floated into the room. "It seems the Shadow King didn't finish you off after all. What a shame."
"Now what?" Scott groaned.
"It's just as well…" Astrid Bloom strode into the room with a modified Cerebro like device on her head. "I get the pleasure of finishing you off myself. Like my little toy?" She pointed to her headgear. "The latest for psychic battles. It even makes psychic thought waves solid. And in any form I wish to take. Like this…"
From out of nowhere a blast of energy in the shape of a whip appeared and snapped at the mutants, forcing them to scatter for cover. "Such a fun little toy isn't it?" Astrid laughed as the whip disappeared.
"Astrid…" Emma's eyes narrowed. "You're awake."
"And ready to resume our battle, Darling…" Astrid hissed as she began her mental assault.
Uh oh, Astrid's on the attack and half the X-Team is out of commission! What will happen next? Why's she so ticked off at Emma? Find out next chapter!