Next Stop More Insanity
"Okay we really gotta learn how to work this machine better," Kurt moaned as he shoved Todd's feet from his face. "Toad get your smelly feet out of my face!" The mutants were once again in a pile on the floor.
"If somebody gets their hand off my butt!" Todd snapped.
"Sorry," Althea whistled. "Accident."
"Way to go Summers," Lance growled as he got up.
"You try steering this thing!" Scott snapped.
"Please don't encourage him," Kitty groaned. "Aren't things bad enough?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lance turned on her.
"Not now Lance," Jean sighed. "First we need to find out where we are."
"I recognize this place," Kurt looked around. "It's Bayville High. This is Mr. Sherman's class! I recognize his bad handwriting." He pointed to the chalkboard in the empty classroom.
"He's right," Kurt agreed. "But I don't remember the school looking so…" He struggled to find the right words. "Run down."
"Run down?" Lance peeked into the corridors. "You gotta see this! Half the lockers look like they've been blown open! The place is a mess!"
"Lance get back in here before someone sees you!" Kitty pulled him back. "We don't know anything about this dimension!"
"What's there to know?" Todd asked.
"For starters why are we at Bayville High?" Wanda asked. "Shouldn't have we shown up at the Institute?"
"Well there are different variances in every dimension," Hank scratched his head. "And these variances would include different degrees of displacement and…"
"In English Beast?" Wanda folded her arms.
"We could show up anywhere and at any time period," Hank explained.
"Oh is that all?" Kitty groaned. "Still I guess it's better than showing up in a volcano or in the middle of the Antarctic!"
"You are never going to let me forget that aren't you?" Lance snapped at her.
"That's The Trouble With Teleportation," Todd chuckled as he shook his head.
"Here's a really stupid question," Scott asked. "Why can't we just teleport home with this thing?"
"Uh, we would except for the fact that I don't know what frequency our universe is," Hank puzzled over the device. "But I suspect that Forge would know."
"You mean if one of us had grabbed him before we teleported we'd be home by now?" Althea gave him a look.
"Pretty much yes," Hank sighed.
"So in other words we're pretty much trapped in a demented version of Sliders on acid?" Wanda folded her arms.
"That would seem so," Hank nodded.
"Wonderful," Pietro groaned. "So now what do we do?"
"I believe the wisest course of action is to meet and observe our counterparts in order to ascertain how the particular dynamics of this dimension work," Hank asked.
"Again in English please?" Todd asked.
"I am speaking English," Hank glared at him.
"No, you're speaking Highbrow Fancy Talk-ese!" Todd challenged. "Nobody normal knows that!"
"What Beast means is that we need to find our other selves and see how things are in this world," Jean explained.
"I rest my case," Todd nodded triumphantly.
Jean put her face in her hand. "I will not kill him. I will not kill him…"
"Hold on," Althea said looking out the window. "I think I see something. Is that you guys?"
"I think you're right," Scott remarked. On the lawn of the school were the X-Men. Scott, Jean, Evan, Rogue, Kurt (Image inducer on) and Tabitha walking to school along with the other students of Bayville High. "That's us right there."
"Where am I?" Kitty asked. "I don't see me."
"Hey I remember this day," Todd piped up. "It was near the end of the first school year we all showed up at Bayville High! We spent all morning in the auditorium listening to some motivational speaker talk about careers. Telly Hakweed! See the poster!"
"Oh yeah," Scott nodded. "Wait, you remember that? You actually paid attention?"
"No," Todd told him. "I spent the whole time writing phony notes and picking pockets. I made over a hundred bucks that day."
"Yeah, now I remember this too," Lance remarked. "Didn't you make that suggestive note to that cheerleader Mindy Green and wrote it in Duncan's handwriting?"
"Yup and she smacked him silly," Todd snickered. Down on the ground they saw Duncan get hit repeatedly by a very angry cheerleader. "Like that."
"Now I remember that assembly," Scott said. "I especially liked it when she kicked him in the shin."
"Hold on to your horses," Todd pointed. "It's coming up."
"YEWOOOWWWW! MINDY!"
"Boy does that bring back a lot of memories," Scott chuckled.
"Good times," Todd patted him on the shoulder. "Good times."
Scott chuckled then stopped himself. "I can't believe I just enjoyed that with Toad!"
"Don't be so ashamed," Jean said. "I liked that too."
"Who wouldn't enjoy some good old Duncan bashing?" Kitty snickered.
"You know what this means?" Hank said. "It means that in this dimension for some reason the events that happened to us haven't happened yet."
"And the fact that Kitty's not here in this dimension," Pietro pointed out.
"No, I think she just wasn't recruited yet," Hank corrected.
"Wait, in this dimension Tabitha was recruited before I was?" Kitty was in shock.
"Well that explains all the holes in the walls," Scott remarked as a piece of plaster fell from the ceiling. "And why Bayville High is falling down."
"It also probably means that mutants haven't been outed yet," Lance thought aloud.
"He's right," Jean said. "We'd better be careful. We might end up altering the future in this world."
"And that's a bad thing?" Pietro asked her. "If you're so worried we'll just get out of this dimension."
"Can't," Kurt told him. "The device needs at least thirty minutes between jumps remember?"
"No, I don't really," Pietro scratched his head. "How did you know that?"
"That's how Forge's last invention worked! Besides there's a gauge right here that shows…" Kurt pointed. He was interrupted by the sound of the bell and students ambling into the classrooms. "Uh oh…"
"Uh oh is right," Lance said. "We'd better get out of here. Come on we'll use the watches…" He pressed the button. "Hey! They're not working!"
"Of course they won't work!" Althea remembered. "The watches are connected to the Mass Device back at the Pit in our dimension. And since the Mass Device hasn't been fixed up in this dimension…"
"The watches won't work either!" Hank caught on. "Or in any other dimension besides ours!"
"This could be a problem," Wanda blinked.
"Well not for all of us," Pietro grinned. "I'm gonna have some fun! See ya!" He sped off.
"Quicksilver!" Althea snapped. "Great! Now what do we do?"
"Kurt teleport Beast and Toad to the roof," Jean said quickly. "I can use my powers to temporary cover our identities as we look for our Quicksilver in the halls. Althea, Wanda…Since no one knows who the two of you are you guys can pretend you're new students."
"Good plan," Althea said.
"I just realized something," Scott looked at the blackboard. "According to the schedule on the board here, there's no class after this period. And if I remember Mr. Sherman correctly he always ran out of class like a bat out of hell to drink in the teacher's lounge. Althea, Wanda…You two stay here and we'll all meet back here in 45 minutes!"
"Wait a minute…" Wanda said. Too late Kurt teleported with Todd and Hank while the others left. As soon as they left the other students and Mr. Sherman walked in. "Great! We're stuck in class while the others get out of it!"
"What class does he teach?" Althea asked.
"History but he's really boring," Wanda told him.
"Who are you two?" Mr. Sherman snapped.
"Uh new transfer students," Althea said quickly. "Our paperwork got lost in the office after the last earthquake."
"Again?" Mr. Sherman groaned. "Fine! Just take a seat."
"How did you know there would have been a…?" Wanda whispered to Althea as they found two desks together.
"Avalanche?" Althea gave her a look.
"Oh right."
"And what are your names?" Mr. Sherman called out.
"Althea Delgado," Althea said quickly. "And this is…" Suddenly they both realized that Wanda giving out her real name wouldn't be a good idea.
"Uh, ever hear of a girl named Kitty Pryde?" Wanda thought fast.
"No," Mr. Sherman shook his head.
"That's me," Wanda grinned.
"Great two more weird chicks," Duncan Matthews slunk into class with a black eye. He sat right in front of Althea. Mindy Green walked in and sat right in front of Wanda.
"We're going to have some fun in this class aren't we?" Althea whispered to Wanda.
"This is too good to pass up," Wanda agreed as they prepared for class.
Meanwhile…
"I can't believe Mr. McCoy of all people would take off like that!" Kurt grumbled as he and Todd walked the hallways. Kurt had his image inducer turned on.
"Hey when you gotta go, you gotta go," Todd pointed out. A fly flitted by. "Ooh! A snack!" He shot his tongue out and grabbed it.
"Toad! Be careful! Someone could…" Kurt backed up and accidentally bumped into someone. His arm had hit the person just right so that his image inducer turned off. "See you…"
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The two adults screamed and ran down the hallway.
"That looked like a teacher and the Superintendent," Todd blinked.
"It was a teacher and the Superintendent!" Kurt moaned as he turned his image inducer back on. "We'd better get out of here!" He grabbed Todd and they teleported to somewhere else.
Little did they know that another teacher and a student saw them leave. "Okay Tayrn, I'm not drunk this time am I?" Mrs. Hawkins gulped. "Please tell me you saw that too!"
"Ohhhhh!" Tayrn passed out onto the floor.
"Okay I'm not drunk," Mrs. Hawkins said as she took out a flask. "Only one way to remedy that!" Suddenly the ground shook. "Boy this thing really packs a kick!"
Meanwhile Jean and Kitty managed to sneak outside. Jean was carrying the IM NUTS machine. "I knew splitting up was a bad idea…" Jean grumbled. She made a mockery of Scott's voice. "We should split up Jean! We could cover more ground Jean! Alvers and I can keep a low profile outside! What a crock! Why did I listen to them?"
"Yeah something tells me that wasn't one of the smartest ideas we've ever…" Kitty began when suddenly several jocks ran past them screaming. Then she saw why they were screaming. "SCOTT! LANCE!"
"Oops," Lance gulped.
"Uh oh…" Scott gulped. "Jean we can explain…"
"EXPLAIN? EXPLAIN THIS?" Jean pointed to a huge hole in the wall of the auditorium. "AND WHY WAS THERE AN EARTHQUAKE?"
"Technically this is Quicksilver's fault," Lance pointed out. "Apparently he filled the basketball court with chocolate pudding."
"I wonder where he got the chocolate pudding so fast?" Scott asked. "I mean even for his super speed…"
"WHO CARES?" Jean stomped her foot. "WHAT HAPPENED?"
"Well they were a bit upset and wanted to take out their frustrations on us," Scott admitted. "Which makes no sense at all why they attacked me. Just because I happened to be standing next to Alvers…"
"Who used his powers to fight them off," Kitty finished and glared at Lance.
"Hey I didn't shake things up until after Summers blasted the wall," Lance pointed out.
"I didn't do it on purpose!" Scott snapped. "My glasses got a little loose during the fight and…Is that smoke I smell?"
"Don't change the subject you…" Kitty began then took a sniff. "He's right. I do smell smoke."
"Hey guys!" Pietro ran up to them. "Whoa. Nice hole."
"What did you do?" Scott snapped. "Besides the chocolate pudding."
"That one wasn't me," Pietro shrugged. "Must have been my counterpart. All I did was…Uh nothing."
"Why is there smoke coming out of the second floor window over there?" Lance pointed.
"Okay so I had a little mishap in science class," Pietro remarked. "But no one saw me start the fire. I think…"
"FIRE?" Jean shouted. "YOU SET THE SCHOOL ON FIRE?"
"Don't worry I think that water's putting it out," Lance pointed. Suddenly a huge rush of water cascaded out several of the second floor windows. "WATER?"
"WAVEDANCER!" They all shouted. Jean was able to concentrate to levitate them up to the room where they had left Althea and Wanda. Both were standing there slightly wet when the others got in through the window.
"Okay maybe that wasn't the best plan," Althea wrung out her clothes.
"You think?" Wanda coughed.
"Man look at all the water in here!" Todd hopped in with Hank and Kurt following.
"Aren't you guys supposed to be on the roof?" Scott asked.
"Forget the roof! What happened here? What did you two do?" Jean asked.
"Well…" Althea coughed.
"Althea got carried away!" Wanda glared at her.
"Me? Look who's talking Miss Kitty Pryde!" Althea snapped.
"What?" Kitty snapped. "What did you mean by that?"
"Well I decided it was safer if I used an alias," Wanda shrugged. "By the way you have detention tomorrow. Well your counterpart has detention actually…"
"If she ever shows up at this school," Althea added. "If she's smart she won't."
"What did you do?" Kitty shouted.
"Well it just so happens that Duncan and Mindy were in front of us in class," Althea shrugged.
"So naturally you couldn't pass up an opportunity when you saw it," Hank folded his arms.
"If it will make you feel any better Kitty both Mindy and Duncan got detention too for getting in a couple fights in class too," Althea said.
"Why?" Kitty was afraid of the answer.
"Well Mindy was kind of mad when I told her that Duncan was cheating on her with Jean," Wanda whistled. "And Duncan wasn't too pleased when I told him that Jean was kind of dating other people behind his back."
"And by other people you mean…?" Jean's voice was icy.
"Scott," Wanda began. "Lance, Pietro…The Linebacker in front row…"
"Hence the fistfight," Althea said. "Hey we had to get out of that pop quiz somehow!"
"Something else happened didn't it?" Jean asked.
"Uh yeah…" Wanda fidgeted.
"What?" Lance asked. "What happened?"
"Well things were said in the heat of the moment by Miss Mindy," Althea explained. "And Wanda kind of lost her temper. And you know what happens when she does that!"
"I'm not the one who used the water from the sprinkler system to flood the room!" Wanda snapped.
"No, but you are the one who turned it on in the first place!" Althea reminded her.
"But why did you…?" Scott began to ask Althea.
"Mindy said a few things to Althea as well," Wanda told him.
"She's just jealous because my breasts were bigger than hers," Althea folded. "And natural!"
"Okay way too much information!" Jean raised her hands. "Although at least you didn't blow up the auditorium in front of witnesses!" She glared at Lance and Scott.
"Or have your image inducer fail in front of the Superintendent," Todd glared at Kurt.
"Or eat a fly in front of a teacher," Kurt glared at Todd.
"Or have a very embarrassing encounter in the boy's lavatory," Hank coughed as he wandered in. "You know more people should check under the stall to see if feet are there. I even made the territorial cough. You think that would have been a clue…"
"Hey what's going on…?" A very harried looking security guard walked in and saw them. "AAAHHH! MONSTERS!"
"Where?" Kurt looked around. "Oh…That's us."
The guard pulled out his pistol. Instinctively Jean used her telekinesis to fling the gun away. The guard screamed and ran.
"We'd better get out of here!" Wanda said. "How much longer before we can leave?"
"Five minutes!" Jean said. "There's more people coming!"
"This way! Everyone grab on!" Kitty told them. She phased them through to the floor.
Right into a hallway full of people. "Ooops," She gulped.
"I don't suppose you could wipe their memories of this?" Althea asked Jean.
"No, too many people," Jean gulped as people screamed.
"Okay we gotta run now!" Althea suggested. They did so. Somehow they managed to get up to the roof without anyone following. "That was close!"
"I wonder why they didn't follow us?" Kitty asked.
"Because they're too busy cornering our other selves," Lance pointed. "That's why?" Out on the quad were the X-Men and Brotherhood surrounded by an angry mob.
"They set the school on fire! That one's a demon! They have a blue monster with them! I saw it!" Several students shouted.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Kitty asked.
"Like what?" Lance asked. "Hey maybe their Professor X can wipe out all those memories like he did with the soccer game?"
"Unless…" Jean winced.
"Unless what?" Lance asked.
"Unless he was out of town," Jean gulped. "Like he was the week the seminar happened in our dimension."
"Well that's pretty inconvenient," Todd remarked.
BOOM!
"Boy does Tabby have a temper," Kurt blinked. "She didn't have to use her powers to make them try and back off!"
"Crazed mobs don't exactly bring out the best in anyone!" Lance told him.
"Well blowing up Duncan's car didn't help!" Jean groaned.
"THEY ARE FREAKS!" Duncan shouted. "GET THEM!"
The mutants cringed as they saw their counterparts run from the crazed mob. "Oh boy…" Kurt moaned. "That's not good is it?"
"I think we have just outed ourselves to the inhabitants of this dimension," Hank gulped.
"I think I just remembered why we got expelled from Bayville High," Pietro remarked.
"I think we'd better go now," Todd gulped as he started to play with the device.
"I think I'd better take charge of this thing!" Jean grabbed it and turned on the device. They disappeared in a flash.
I once read that Tabitha was considered to be one of the original six X-Men in the Evolution series. Thought I'd have fun with it. What fun shall we have next? You'll see!