Thanks to all my reviewers, and SPECIAL thanks to Shadow-Kitty-Cat who managed to cheer me up when I thought last chapter sucked! This chapter is dedicated to you.
Thoughts
Telepathy
Chapter six: The labyrinth
"Okay, how to get out of this arena? Kurt?"
"Actually Scott, I'm not so sure, I vas quite lost in my own zoughts vhen zey brought me here", the blue mutant confessed and shrugged. Kitty gave his hand a comforting squeeze.
"Well, let's try that door." Rogue pointed to the door from which Kurt had come out.
Jean went to it and felt the door knob. "It's locked."
"Okay, I guess we'll use that monster's door then."
The X-Men walked up to the gates from which the monster had arrived and looked in. The weak, strange light from several purple torches showed some kind of a tunnel, which seemed to be very long – they couldn't see where it ended. None of them looked very eager to enter it first.
"Um, ladies first."
"Oh no Scott, you may go first."
"But it's not very polite to let women wait."
"No really, it's okay..."
"Oh heck, I'll go first", Logan growled and took a few steps into the tunnel. "Cowards."
The others followed him nervously. After about 30 meters, the tunnel parted in two.
"Which way, professor?"
"Let's split up. Logan, Jean and Kurt go left, and Scott, Rogue, Kitty and I go right."
"Oh no." Kitty took a step forward. "I'm going with fuzzy." Like I'm going to let him out of my sight now.
"Kitty..."
"Listen, I'll keep Kurt company, whether you like it or not. Like, deal with it." snorted Kitty. She put her hand at Kurt's shoulder. His heart made a jolt.
Maybe she does like me after all!
The professor sighed, but with a twinkle in his eye. "All right Kitty, you go left. Jean, you and I will keep contact by telepathy."
"Right, professor."
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AN: From now on, I'll call Logan's group 'L-group', and the professor's group 'P-group'.
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The L-group slowly walked through the tunnel. Though the tunnel wasn't exactly narrow, Kitty walked very close to Kurt. She still found it hard to believe that he actually was there. My very own fuzzy elf.
Does she like me? Or is she just vorried because I'm a team mate? Kurt thought nervously. Oh, if I only knew for sure!
Suddenly, Jean "heard" the professor inside her head. Have you seen anything yet, Jean?
No, professor. You?
Nothing. But, if something happens, just contact me, right?
Sure.
"The professor did just contact me", Jean said to the others. "Nothing new there."
"Okay", said Kitty. "By the way, does anyone, like, have an idea of how long we've been here?"
"No", said Kurt. "Vhy?"
"Well, Forge told us that we had three hours at most in this dimension", Jean told him. "And we must be back in the arena by that time, or we'll be stuck
here." Kurt shuddered.
"I think we've been here for, let's see, maybe 45 minutes", Logan said. "That leaves us two hours and 15 minutes. We better hurry... What's that noise?"
"What noi..." Kitty started, but Kurt put his three-fingered hand over her mouth. "Don't disturb him", he mimed.
Logan used his super hearing trying to figure out what was causing the noise. "There's something here", he said in a low voice. He sniffed in the air. "But I don't – "(sniff) "– know what – "(sniff) "– it is." (sniff sniff) "But I know for sure that it is around the corner." His claws came out. "Wait here."
"Logan", Jean started, but Logan had already disappeared. Suddenly, a shriek could be heard. Kurt, Jean and Kitty ran around the corner. There stood Logan, his claws a pretty scary shade of red. A strange animal with wings, like a purple giant bat, lay on the ground. It had a big cut on its stomach that was coloured dark red from blood.
"That creep tried to attack me", explained Logan. "So I killed it."
"Riiight", gulped Nightcrawler. The dead creature on the ground wasn't a very pretty sight. "Vhat is zat animal anyway?"
"Dunno. Never seen something like it ever before."
Kitty took a step forward and touched one of the creature's wings. "Kinda like leather", she said.
Jean took telepathic contact with Xavier. Professor Xavier!
Yes, Jean?
You wanted me to tell you if something happened.
Yes, I did. Why?
Logan just killed a strange animal.
What kind of animal?
It looks like a big bat. Purple. About the size of a badger.
Oh. Are you sure it's dead?
If you insist, I'll check. Wait a minute.Jean bent forward and poked the animal on its head with her finger. Well, it certainly looks dead...
Okay, I trust you. Keep going.
Bye, professor.
Bye, Jean.
The L-group started going again. Behind them, the bat-looking creature opened one eye.
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"I just got a message from Jean", said Xavier to the rest of the P-group. "They've seen a big bat. Logan killed it."
"A bat?" asked Rogue and raised an eyebrow.
"She said that it looked like a bat, the size of a badger."
"Do you think there could be more of them?" said Scott nervously.
"I have no clue, Scott. Let's keep our eyes open. We do not know what could be hidden in here."
The only thing Scott could manage to say was "Hm." He wanted to have a real fight out in the open rather than creeping around in a spooky labyrinth full of bats. And above all, he was just wearing his ordinary glasses and not his visor, which meant he couldn't control his optic beams at all, which made him feel very uncomfortable. He wasn't in a good mood at all.
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Back at the Institute, Storm, Evan and Forge waited impatiently. They had seen the fight against the Vodash in the BV, but since the mutants in Dimension 17 had left the arena, all they could see now was the monster's corpse and some Vrogor who were trying get it out of there.
"Come on!" said Evan, frustrated. "What's taking them so long? I wish that I had gone with them."
"Maybe it was a good thing you didn't, Evan", said Storm. "They managed to defeat the Flodash, remember? And I don't think being too many is a good thing."
"And, as I told you, only six could go", Forge said, studying the bubble. "If we sent seven persons, we'd have to leave Kurt there. Or someone else."
"Yeah", said Evan miserably. "I know. Still... I feel so useless just sitting here doing nothing!"
"Me too, Evan. But this is how it is."
"Yes, auntie O... Look!"
In the BV they could see some Vrogor who didn't look very happy. They had some kind of guns – at least, that's what it looked like – and were on their way into the tunnel that the X-Men had walked into.
"Um... is there someone else who thinks that those types are up to no good?"
That's all for now! Please, please review! (puppy eyes)
Idun
