I really wanted to update sooner, but my Internet broke down and I couldn't use it for several days. Since I'm addicted to the Internet, it was a real catastrophe…

On my profile, there's a picture of a bunny rabbit. Please copy him to your presentation to help him take over the world.

X-Men Evolution belongs to Marvel (doesn't it?), not to me. However, I do own Dimension 17 and everything that comes with it (practically everything that's purple and starts with a 'V').

Thoughts

Telepathy

Chapter 8: An ally and a plan

Xavier, Wolverine and the others stared at the panting Vrogor before them. Although all the Chewbacca-looking creatures looked almost the same, Kurt got a strange feeling that this Vrogor was a woman. She opened her mouth and talked.

"My name is Vingen. I've always hated these disgusting 'tests', and when I saw that you defeated the Vodash, I got really happy. I decided to do something to help you, since I guess you've been having some problems finding your way around."

"And why should we trust you?" growled Logan, still with his claws out. "Can you prove to us that you're trustworthy?"

Vingen frowned. "Eh, didn't think of that…"

"I'll take care of it", interrupted Xavier. "I'm a telepath, remember?" He stared into Vingen's eyes. She looked nervous, but stared back. What is he doing to me?

I'm reading your mind.

Vingen startled – she had heard a voice inside of her head! What was that?

You heard me. I'm investigating your brain, to see if we can trust you or not.

Vingen was quite scared now, but she was a brave Vrogor, and since she had been completely honest with these strange creatures from another world, she decided to 'talk back' to the weird person with the piercing gaze. So? Do you find anything worth the effort?

Professor Xavier raised an eyebrow. A very interesting mind indeed. But that's not important right now.

He looked at the others. "We can trust her. She won't betray us."

Logan still looked suspicious, but held his hand out for Vingen to shake. She stared at it, confused. When Logan understood that she wouldn't take it, he frowned, thinking of her as impolite. He opened his mouth (probably to call her something rude), but before he got time to say anything, Jean beat him to it.

"She's not used to handshakes", Jean explained.

Wolverine's eyes widened in understanding, then he raised an eyebrow. "Because no one likes her or because they just don't shake hands in this freaky place?"

Professor Xavier frowned at him. "Logan, that was – "

"No, it's alright", said Vingen. "We don't use handshakes here. Although I've never been very popular with my own people anyway."

"Why not?" asked Rogue, discreet as always.

"Well, mostly because I disagree with the 'tests', as I've already told you. Everyone else think that I've lost my mind, but they're all brainwashed by Varok."

"Why aren't you?" wondered Scott.

"Don't know, actually. Maybe I'm more able to keep to my own opinions than they are. Varok and his companions send those freaky images on the BV, and everyone goes all 'Oooohhh, we must stop that' and 'Thank the big purple Vodana above for the Vodash' and 'Varok is our hero', you get the picture." Vingen looked very embittered.

"Eh, what do you, like, mean with 'the big purple Vodana above'?" asked Kitty.

"Vodana is the goddess of Dimension 17", explained Vingen. "That's her, on the wall." She pointed to a huge picture frame on the wall. The mutants stared at it, confused.

After a while, Kurt cleared his throat. "H-hm, zere's no picture."

And he was right; the picture frame didn't hold any picture. All you could see was the purple wall behind it. Vingen's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, that's because no one knows what Vodana looks like. Once, someone tried painting a picture of their personal Vodana, but people took it as sacrilege and the poor artist got fed to the Vodash."

The X-Men paled. Vingen raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "Why so surprised? I thought you'd already understood that this isn't paradise exactly?"

"I so want to get home", said Rogue in a very small voice.

The room was quiet for a few minutes, then Scott made a little jump and gasped: "Gosh, what time is it?"

This made our heroes look at their wrist watches. "We've got one hour and 40 minutes left. We better do something, quickly!"

Xavier turned to Vingen. "You know this place. What's the best thing to do? You see, we've got a time limit…"

Vingen nodded. "Well, I think the wisest thing to do right now is to find Varok. If we can make him stop this madness, the others will follow as well. The Vrogor aren't that mean, actually – everything is Varok's fault. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for him."

"Eh, excuse me", interrupted Kurt. "I vas told zat you've been suspecting zat you'll be attacked for centuries? How can it all be Varok's fault?"

"We live long lives", said Vingen. "I am 432 years old. Varok's 767, if I remember correctly."

"Oh."

"So, where can we find Varok?" asked Jean.

"At the moment, he should be with his council, furious because of you." She smiled. "Down the hall and to the left."

"How do you know?"

"I have my ways. So, what do you want to do?"

The mutants turned to professor Xavier, which seemed lost in his own thoughts. After a while, he looked up. "I have an idea. Vingen, does Varok have a family?"

The Vrogor looked at him funny, but said: "Yeah, he's got three partners and 17 kids which he loves very much. Look around you!"

The X-Men suddenly discovered pictures of Vrogor everywhere around them – on the walls, on the table, even a few that were stuck to the ceiling. They gaped.

Why the hell didn't we notice those before? wondered Rogue. It's not exactly like they're hard to miss…

The pictures were of a Vrogor family, the kids were a lighter shade of purple and had maroon spots here and there. Kitty thought they looked like really cute stuffed animals. Logan, on the other hand, looked at the pictures with disgust. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Charles, what do these fur balls –" (Vingen frowned) "– have to do with our mission?"

"I was thinking… maybe we should give the Lord of the Vrogor a little lesson. So that he understands what he's doing to the people he kidnaps and their families and friends." He turned to their big, purple, hairy friend. "I need to use a Bubble Vision studio."

"Well, there is one in this very building", started Vingen, "but why…?"

"I'll explain later. Show us to the BV studio!"

While Vingen looked out to see if the coast was clear, Kitty whispered to Kurt: "Do you, like, have any idea of what Xavier's talking about?"

A wide smile was spreading over the mutant's blue face. "Actually, I zink I do. And if I'm right, Varok vill certainly deserve it."


So, is Kurt right about the plan? What do Varok's three partners and 17 kids have to do with Xavier's idea? And why don't those annoying little red lines (you know, those that mean that there's a spelling mistake) come up when I write 'Xavier'? The answers will show up in the next chapter of Dimension 17! Well, maybe not the answer of the last question, but what the hell…

Thank you, everyone that has reviewed! And everyone who reads this, please, PLEASE leave a review! You'd make my day!

Idun