Switched Again!
A week and several therapy sessions passed since the night of the dance. Things seemed to be quieting down. Of course that is when trouble usually starts for the X-Men and this was no exception.
"Scott," Jean caught up to her boyfriend in the halls one night. "I think we might have a problem on our hands."
"Really? And how is this different than every other day of the week?" Scott smirked. "Okay who did what this time?"
"Bobby, but it's not exactly what he did," Jean hesitated before showing him a booklet. "It's what he's going to do when he finds out about this."
"A TV guide?" Scott asked as he took it. "Bobby is going to have problems with a TV guide? Forge didn't do anything to this did he?"
"No, but for once maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea if he did. Read page 37. That describes the guide's pick for the movie of the week," Jean pointed.
"Frozen Hearts, the Madeline Drake Story?" Scott read. "Is this what I think it is?"
"If you're thinking Bobby's parents sold their life story of having a mutant for a son, yes," Jean sighed.
"This is unbelievable," Scott read the article. "Just when I think the media can't do any more damage to us…Do you think Bobby knows about this?"
"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS! I DON'T FREAKING BELIEVE THIS! HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO ME?"
"He knows," Jean and Scott sighed together.
They went downstairs and found Bobby, many of the X-Men and the Misfits crowded around the large television. Bobby had a shocked look on his face. Jean glared at Pietro who was happily eating popcorn. "You told him didn't you?"
"Of course I did," Pietro grinned. "I mean we couldn't let Iceman miss his big movie debut!"
"This is garbage! Pure and simple!" Bobby fumed.
"I know," Pietro said. "You never invited any of us to your place! Good thing I'm taping this. I'll only make half the copies I was planning on because this really is pretty shoddy acting."
"Was that really necessary?" Scott glared at Pietro.
"You're right it wasn't," Pietro sighed. Then he brightened. "It'll be on again tomorrow night at nine! And next Tuesday at seven and the week after that…"
"Oh my god!" Bobby shouted. "A Lifetime movie? My parents sold me out so they could make a Lifetime movie?"
"Bobby chill out," Sam told him.
"Don't tell me to chill out!" Bobby snapped. "I'm the one who tells people to chill out! I don't believe this!"
"Neither can I," Todd remarked. "That kid looks nothing like you."
"Yeah and that actor who's supposed to be Pyro or something blowing up the cop cars?" Fred scratched his head. "When did that happen?"
"Pyro and I are friends? What the hell kind of garbage is this?" Bobby shouted.
"Think how Pyro must feel," Todd told him. "He's not even Australian in this!"
"The writers are taking quite a few liberties with this story aren't they?" Arcade remarked.
"Well Duh, Arcade!" Bobby snapped.
"But they did get you being dumped by your folks right," Todd said. "And the fact you sometimes wear Spongebob Squarepants underwear."
"ONE TIME! JUST ONE TIME!" Bobby yelled.
"Gee Bobby I really feel sorry for you," Lance smirked. "Imagine, having your most private secrets blabbed in front of the whole world!"
"You are just loving this aren't you?" Scott glared at him.
"You bet I am!" Lance grinned as he ate more popcorn. Kitty hit him on the head. "OW! What? Like I'm supposed to feel sympathetic for him? Besides my secrets were way worse than his!"
"My parents can't handle my mutant powers but they have no problems making a quick buck off of them?" Bobby shouted. "Unbelievable!"
"Bobby it's Lifetime!" Sam told him. "Nobody is going to watch this unless they're over 30, female or gay and have no social life…I see your problem."
"I can't believe my life story is being shown on Lifetime…" Bobby looked shocked. "Lifetime!"
"Technically it's your mom's life story," Tabitha said. "I mean let's face it that network is a sucker for the story of any woman who's either a drunk, had a rotten husband or a troubled kid…I really should call my mother."
"Who knows?" Kitty said. "Maybe my family's private life will be next?"
"Nah yours is definitely E Channel material," Todd shook his head. "You know, because of Jesse D?"
"You're right," Kitty nodded. "That is better."
"Thanks a lot!" Bobby snapped. "My life is a Lifetime movie! I can't believe this!"
"I know," Fred shook his head. "If anything I thought it would be on the Sci Fi channel."
"Now that I think about it my life is perfect for a Lifetime movie," Tabitha thought aloud. "I definitely have to call my mother!"
Jean turned off the movie. "Hey!" Pietro protested. "I was watching that."
"What do you care? You're taping it anyway!" Jean snapped. "I think we all need a break from television. Maybe we should do something to get out of the house."
"Okay," Todd thought. "How about a movie?"
"Brilliant idea," Rogue rolled her eyes. "One problem, we're banned from the movie theaters."
"Only in Bayville and half the state of New York," Fred pointed out. "We could use our teleportation watches to go somewhere else."
"Yeah we went to this one movie theater in Massachusetts last week," Arcade said. "It was really nice. We saw a Dead Groom."
"I thought that Tim Burton Movie was called the Corpse Bride?" Kurt asked.
"No, we really saw a dead groom," Fred explained. "Well he wasn't really dead. You see it turned out he was hiding from one of his three fiancées he was supposed to marry on the same day and they all found out about it. You should have seen it when they tracked him down and…"
"We get the picture Blob," Scott interrupted him. "But maybe a movie is a good idea."
"What's a good idea?" Warren asked as he walked in.
"We're all going out to see a movie," Rogue got up with the others. "The Misfits are taking us out of state which tells you how desperate we are for a break."
"Bobby's movie is that bad?" Warren asked.
"You knew?" Bobby yelled.
"Come on Bobby," Jean put her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we can find a nice movie with plenty of explosions to take your mind off your problems?"
"I hope so," Bobby grumbled. "You wanna come, Angel?"
"Nah I think I'll just watch TV here," Warren turned on the television again.
"Next month on Lifetime…" The announcer said. "Fallen Angels: The unauthorized biography of the Worthington Family."
"Oh for crying out loud!" Warren groaned. "Great! My father is really gonna love this! Guys wait up! I'm coming with you! You coming Tabitha?"
"Nah I'm on the phone with my mom," Tabitha indeed was on a cell phone. "Hey Mom! It's Tabby. Remember when you once told me that you wanted to be a Children's Book writer? How do you feel about scriptwriting?"
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"Okay let's all remember the basic rules," Scott spoke to the assembled group in the lobby. It was composed of Jean, Bobby, Rogue, Remy, Rina, Kitty, Kurt (Image inducer on), Peter, Amara, Jubilee, Dead Girl (Who also had an image inducer on.), Warren (hiding his wings under his coat), Althea, Todd, Lance, Fred, Angelica, Lina (Also having an image inducer on), Arcade, Shane, Wanda, Pietro and Xi. Xi had decided to go invisible, that way he would not only be able to watch the movie without scaring anyone, but he could get in for free.
"No powers…Except for Xi…" Scott sighed a sigh of resignation. "No fighting, no making out in the back row, no stealing food or toilet paper…Just stick together and try not to draw attention to yourselves."
"A little late for that," Lance pointed over Scott's shoulder. "Freddy's just hit the concession stands."
"I WANT MY JUNIOR MINTS!" Fred bellowed at the cowering clerk. "WHERE ARE MY JUNIOR MINTS?"
"I told my Dad he was playing too much Jimmy Buffett music in the house," Althea sighed. She looked around. "Where's Xi?"
"GHOST!" A few spooked people ran out of one of the projection rooms. "There's a ghost in there!"
A popcorn bucket casually floated out of the room and went next to the mutants. "Why are they so upset?" The invisible Xi asked.
"Bad movie," Wanda quipped.
"Bad idea," Rogue rolled her eyes. "Us being here that is."
"Well this is going to be a short visit," Scott groaned. "It's 8:45. Thanks to the Misfits we should be kicked out of here by nine."
"I wouldn't talk if I were you," Lance pointed again.
"Oh no," Scott was afraid to turn around. "Who's doing what, now?"
Jubilee, Rina and Amara quickly scooted back to the group from the arcade room. One of the machines was smoldering. An usher rushed in with a fire extinguisher. "Yeah I think that machine is defective!" Jubilee called out and whistled innocently.
"OH MY GOD!" The usher screamed. "HOW DID THAT PINBALL MACHINE MELT? AND HOW DID THAT GAME GET SLICED IN HALF? AND WHY IS THAT MACHINE SPARKING LIKE THAT?"
"Two questions…" Scott sighed as he looked at the girls.
"No one saw us and it was an accident," Jubilee said quickly. "Mostly…"
"Those buzzers and bells annoyed me," Rina grumbled.
"And you two freaked out when you saw her…?" Rogue didn't have to finish her sentence.
"Yeah…" Jubilee admitted.
"AND HOW DID THAT GAME END UP SMASHED INTO A WALL?" The usher whined.
"Okay that one we didn't do," Amara told them. "Believe it or not a few games were already smashed up when we got here."
"I don't believe it," Scott groaned.
"Scott its going to be fine," Jean told him as she looked around. "There's hardly anyone else here tonight and most of the staff is either stoned or drunk anyway."
"For once the decline of movie theaters and the increase of sales of DVDs works in our favor," Lance quipped.
"So which flick are we going to see?" Bobby asked. "I will see anything besides what's on TV tonight. And I do mean anything."
"Why are you asking me?" Scott asked.
"Didn't you purchase the tickets?" Jean asked him.
"I was busy making sure Gambit wasn't pick pocketing the other patrons," Scott told her.
"That was not necessary," Remy folded his arms.
"I dunno…"Todd whistled as he looked at a shiny watch. "Worked for me." Everyone glared at him. "Hey I have issues! Besides this came off a guy with a huge overcoat going into a Mary Kate and Ashley movie. And he wasn't wearing any pants."
"Ewww…" Kitty winced. "Well maybe people like that deserve to get ripped off."
"He paid for a MK and A movie," Shane looked at her. "That's a rip off on it's own!"
"Yeah and people who pay for those kind of movies deserve what they get!" Arcade added.
"Fine…." Scott decided it was best to give in. "So who did get the tickets?"
"I did!" Pietro waved. "Behold, Frog Monsters 7! Attack of Frog Babes!"
"Of course…" Scott sighed. "Typical. A movie filled with senseless explosions, pointless action and fighting and girls in bikinis fighting monsters."
"And you're complaining about this why?" Remy asked.
"Sorry," Scott shrugged. "I just got into a habit of disagreeing with anything the Misfits do and…OW! Jean!" Jean had slugged him in the shoulder.
"Don't worry Jean it's not a total loss," Dead Girl told her. "Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp and about half dozen other male actors run around without their shirts in this. And in some cases without their pants."
"Oh well in that case," Jean shrugged and they went into the theater.
"Just what I wanted to see…" Bobby groaned. "What else can go wrong tonight?"
"Never say those words," Remy glared at him.
"Why?" Bobby asked.
"Because they have a habit of coming true," Remy remarked as they made their way to some seats. They settled down and were about to watch the movie when…
"You have got to be kidding me!" A familiar voice startled them. They looked up and saw Monet sneering at them. "It figures! The one night we have off and you morons have to show up!"
"Monet!" Rogue shouted. She saw Evan in his human form walk down with Yvonne on his arm. "Spike!"
"Rogue? What are you guys doing here?" Evan's jaw dropped.
"I could ask you the same question, Daniels!" Pietro got in his face.
"Gee Pietro, this is a movie theater," Evan looked at him. "What else would the Hellions be doing here? Getting Red Sox playoff tickets?"
"Slow isn't he?" Bevatron chuckled as he came down the aisle with Beef, Tarot, Catseye, Warpath, Roulette, and Jetstream.
"And I thought those dumb video games annoyed me," Warpath growled.
"I told you we didn't break all those machines," Amara gave Scott a look.
"You X-Men better get out of here while the getting's good," Evan warned.
"Hey! We have just as much right to be here as anyone!" Rogue stood up. "We got here first!"
"Hello! This is Massachusetts!" Roulette snapped. "Not New York, where you idiots live!"
"Yeah you punks are on our turf," Beef growled. "Go back to Baldy in Bayville!"
"If they wanna rumble I have no problems with it!" Warpath made a fist. "I still haven't paid you jokers back for what you did to my brother!"
"If you wish to fight…." Rina hissed extending her claws.
"Bring it on!" Bevatron charged up.
"Guys we can't fight here!" Jean told them.
"Yeah like we've never fought in a movie theater before," Bobby looked at her. "Besides I'm in the mood to bust some heads!"
"Why? Still mad at Mommy and Daddy for selling you out to Lifetime?" Warpath mocked.
"You know about that?" Bobby gasped.
"Hell, I'm Tivo-ing it," Evan grinned.
"I'm waiting for the DVD to come out," Bevatron grinned. "With all the bonus features."
"That's it!" Bobby growled. "We're having a throwdown! Right here! Right now!"
"That's the first good idea you've ever had!" Pietro agreed.
"Oh you are so going to regret ruining our night out…" Monet prepared to fight.
But before anything could happen, all of them were engulfed in a huge ball of pink light. "What the freaking hell was that?" Shane shouted. He looked down at himself. "MY GOD! I'VE TURNED WHITE?"
"No…" Arcade looked at him. "You're in my body…" He realized he was in Shane's body. "And I'm a brother! Cool!"
"What?" Shane yelled. "But…But…How?"
"Switch!" Evan growled. He was in Pietro's body. "You gotta be kidding me!"
"I'm not exactly thrilled about this either Evan!" Pietro snapped. He in turn was in Evan's body.
"I'm alive!" Dead Girl looked at her arms, which were really Warpath's arms. "I'm alive!"
"I am so going to kill you people," Warpath glared at her. He was in her body. "But not before I kill Switch!"
"Hahahahahahaaaa!" Above them was Switch laughing at them. "And to think I thought I was going to be so bored tonight!"
"Switch change us back!" Jean shouted. She then realized that she was in Fred's body. "OH GOD NO!"
"I'm so thin and pretty!" Fred giggled. He was in Jean's body and hugged himself. "And I have such pretty hair!"
"Keep your hands to yourself! Or myself!" Jean snapped at him.
"Oh my…" Fred was suddenly hit with a dozen emotions. "So many people…Thinking all at once…"
"Yeah that must really be an alien experience for you," Rogue grumbled. She was in Scott's body. "Do I wanna know where you are Swamp Rat?"
"Right here," Remy was in Lance's body. "Well at least we can…"
"Don't even think about it!" Both Scott and Lance shouted. Scott was in Rogue's body and Lance was in Remy's body.
"All those in favor of hunting Switch down…" Althea who was in Todd's body called out.
"GET HER!" Most of the teams ran out.
"Meanwhile…" Althea grinned. "I think I'll run off to the men's room!"
"Oh no you don't!" Todd grabbed 'his' arm. He was in Althea's body.
"Hey it's not like you don't have license to check me out!" Althea groaned.
"Oh well in that case…" Todd looked around. "Maybe a quick peek in the bathroom wouldn't hurt…" The two of them scampered off. The only remaining two were Bobby and Angelica.
"Of course we would be in these bodies…" Angelica hugged Bobby's body that she inhabited. "I hate the cold!"
"Oh no…" Bobby looked down and found himself in Angelica's body. "Not again! It's official, this is one of the top ten worst days of my life."
"Well what have we here?" He heard a familiar voice behind him. Bobby looked and saw Pyro grinning at him. "Hello Firestar baby!"
"Make that the top five…" Bobby groaned.