"Today's the day!" Dylan said enthusiastically to Amara, referring to the test they had to take before they officially became X-Men and no longer just trainees. "Are you excited?"
"Not exactly," Amara said, "but I'm definitely afraid! We're going through a full-scale mission!"
"Yeah, that too," Dylan replied, "but at least we get good partners. Me, you, Ray and Wanda!"
Laughing, Amara pulled Dylan along as she ran, "just come to the Danger Room with me so we won't be late, or we won't take the test at all, Dylan!"
A few minutes later, all four of the test candidates were waiting in the Danger Room, decked out in their X-Men uniforms. Later on, Storm and Wolverine walked into the control room and said, "Now, today you will be doing a simulation of an attempt to get a device Y from a room in the building that you will be transported to. You have one hour to find the device and escape to the roof. Throughout the simulation there will be people who will attack you, all of which will be either mutants or security guards. Good luck!"
The control room, the door, everything faded out into the lobby of a building in which our four candidates are standing. Watches materialised on their wrists, and the timing showed a "00:59:59" which was slowly counting downwards to zero. "Okay, what do we do now?" Magma asked. "Let's see..." Berzerker thought for a while, and then said, "Psyche, you go with Wanda and take the first ten floors. Me and Magma will cover everything else. Okay?" Everyone nodded, and then Wanda said, "Okay, guys, good luck! Come on, Dylan!" Everyone ran off in different directions.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Portal walked off tailing Psyche and the Scarlet Witch...
A few minutes later, Psyche and the Scarlet Witch were running along the sixth floor corridor, away from a mutant who was throwing red energy balls at the both of them. Sick and tired of running away, Wanda turned around and fired a sapphire blue projectile at one of the red energy balls, causing the energy ball to rebound back at the mutant who was throwing them, who then hurled another energy ball at the one which was flying at him, both exploding in fireworks of blue and red, throwing all three mutants backwards onto the floor.
"Psyche! Project yourself behind him and then OOF!" The Scarlet Witch flew a few metres backwards as an energy ball had hit her in the chest, causing the impact which threw her backwards. Standing up, Dylan noticed that everytime the mutant threw an energy ball, he would feel anger emanating from him, which meant that anger powered the energy balls. Coming up with his own plan to take the mutant down, Dylan raised a hand at three energy balls flying at him and concentrated on the anger that the mutant was feeling, sensing it, feeling it, becoming one with it... for if Dylan could tap into the anger that powered these energy balls he could establish a psychic link with the person from which they originated and rebound the energy balls... something Professor X had taught him. and BOOM! The energy balls flew backwards at the mutant and knocked him all the way into the opposite wall.
"Thank you, Professor," Dylan muttered to himself and ran back to help the Scarlet Witch up.
Behind the clerk's desk, the Shadow King thought, "So this boy has mental powers? Splendid! I'll abandon this body and go for him, for I can exploit his already strong mental powers for myself." Realising a loophole in his otherwise splendid plan, the shadow cursed and said, "Alas! A being of mental energy cannot exist by itself in this world without a host!"
Standing up and looking at the couple standing in the corridor and planning their next move, Portal decided to do the unthinkable and suddenly ran towards Psyche, attempting to jump hosts.
"Psyche! Watch out!" Wanda shouted, pointing at Portal, who was running at Psyche, his hands outstretched to grab hold of Dylan's head. As if on instinct, Dylan stretched his hands out as well, and grabbed onto the shadow's temples, and as he began building up contrasting emotions for a psychic attack, Portal made full use of the psychic link and projected his persona into Psyche's body, taking over it completely just as Psyche launched the psychic attack into Portal, escaping all harm.
Pretending to be Psyche, the mysterious persona that had possessed him said to the Scarlet Witch, "Go! Search the other rooms while I handle this guy!" Nodding in reply, the Scarlet Witch, obviously tricked, ran into the nearest room in search of the device Y.
Looking back at the boy lying on the floor, Psyche knelt down beside him and communicated to the Portal, ""Go back to the Astral Plane, look for my abode, the Shadow Room, go inside, join the others, and wait for me." Portal nodded and vanished in a glow of pearly orange and pink.
Being extremely powerful, and extremely evil as well, Psyche could bend the illusion that they were all in to suit his preferences. Realising that, Psyche carelessly waved a hand at a nearby wall, and a door materialised, through which Psyche walked, into an empty room which upon another wave of Psyche's hand became a room with a computer in the centre. Sending out a telepathic message to his partners, Psyche echoed through their minds, "Friends! This is Psyche! Come to the laboratory on the sixth floor immediately!" Upon saying "laboratory", the door glowed black for a while before revealing the words "laboratory" on its front.
Sensing the arrival of the Scarlet Witch, Psyche created the illusion of a man hurling a purple energy bolt at him, and when the Scarlet Witch opened the door to enter, he rebounded the energy bolt towards the man, who then screamed in pain and fainted as he hit the wall. After everyone was in the room, Psyche walked over to the door and made to lock the door, and then turned to face everyone else again.
"What gives, Psyche? We only have thirty-four minutes left," Berzerker asked with a hint of irritation in his voice.
"This is important," Psyche said as he walked over to the computer in the middle of the room and pressed some keys. "When I walked into this room, I saw this guy guarding this computer. I was wondering what was so important that he should guard it, and a few minutes before you guys came in, I found this." Clicking on a file, the computer projected forth a hologram that showed two red-headed girls, one wearing a black costume with a green stripe through the middle, the other donning a black cloak and a black dress, flying in the sky hurling fireballs and pink energy bolts at each other.
"Isn't that Jean and Dark Phoenix fighting?" Magma asked. A few months back, a clone of Jean Grey, named Madelyne Pryor, emerged, and as Jean was the physical avatar of the Phoenix Force, and Madelyne was essentially a less powerful Jean Grey #2, she too had access to the Phoenix Force, but she abused the power that she wielded and eventually became corrupted by it and became Dark Phoenix, who fought Jean Grey in a great battle.
"Yes, it is," Psyche replied, nodding his head, and then said, "but that isn't what is important. What is important is this." He grabbed the mouse and scrolled downwards, and the hologram responded by revealing Professor X in the cockpit of the X-Jet, his fingers on his temples, the picture of utmost concentration. "He's channeling Jean's powers into Dark Phoenix here," Psyche explained. However, all three of the trainees-going-on-X-Men did not but the story.
"How can that be? The professor can't possibly have done that!" Magma shouted. "Yeah!" Berzerker joined in. "Besides, how would you know he's channeling Jean's powers?"
"I've channelled power before," Psyche said, "ask her," he pointed at the Scarlet Witch as he continued, "I saved the both of us by channeling three energy balls back at the sender. I should know what someone looks like when he channels energy."
"But why would the professor do something like that?" The Scarlet Witch asked, still not believing Psyche's far-fetched story. "Simple," Psyche replied. "If Jean died, the professor could channel her powers to himself, and since Jean is generally more powerful than Dark Phoenix, he chose to steal her powers instead of Dark Phoenix's."
"That's rubbish!" Berzerker shouted angrily. "the professor won't do that!"
"How would you know?" Psyche retorted. "Power corrupts. Power corrupts, Berzerker," leaving Berzerker dumbfounded.
"I'm still not convinced," said the Scarlet Witch, crossing her hands across her chest.
"Well, what about Cerebro?" Psyche asked. "Cerebro amplifies his powers, don't they? Why would he have created something that amplifies power if he did not crave power?"
"He needed the extra power to find mutants, Psyche," Magma answered, "to find us."
"Which brings us to another point," Psyche said. "Why would he want to look for mutants? To keep a lookout for mutants with strong powers that he
could take for himself?" Looking into their minds, Psyche saw that he was halfway to making them believe that the professor was evil and power-
hungry. "I'll just use my powers to do the other half," Psyche thought, and concentrated as he removed all the thoughts from their heads that suggested
that he was lying.
After a few moments, the three faces which were once so angry at the thought that Psyche was accusing the Professor of such deeds softened, and looked as if they were enlightened, as if they were shown the truth.
"Yeah," the Scarlet Witch said, "I guess he really is corrupted." "I'm sorry I doubted you before, Psyche," Magma said apologetically. Psyche could sense that Magma was truly sorry, and he was happy, or, to be more specific, the thing inside Psyche was happy.
"Never mind," Psyche said, "he is such a powerful telepath, after all. He could have tricked you for all you know." iAnd so can I/i, he thought. "I never thought he was such a person," Berzerker said. "No-one would have," Magma replied.
"Anyway," Psyche said, "do you guys want to help me stop him?" The three of them looked at each other, and then nodded, and the Scarlet Witch said, "It's time someone told him what he's doing is wrong."
Smiling at the prospect of being able to take down Charles Xavier with the students that he had produced, biting the hand that fed them, the thing in Psyche was happy. Twisted, in fact. Looking at her watch, Magma exclaimed in shock, "We only have eleven minutes!" "Calm yourself, Magma," Psyche said, as he stared out into space as his eyes glowed pink for a few seconds, and then became normal again. "Looking at everyone, he smiled and said, "Device Y is in the office on floor eight."
Holding on to a steel canister labelled "Device Y", Magma ran up the stairs, together with everyone else, all the way to the roof where they were told
they had to meet. "Congratulations, trainees," Storm's voice boomed from what seemed to be the sky. "All of you are now officially members of the X-Men"
As the newest members of the X-Men smiled and beamed at each other and gave each other high-fives and congratulated each other on their successful
test, Storm and Wolverine, up in the control room, pressed the button that would cancel out the holograms in the Danger Room, and as she did, the building
faded away to reveal the familiar sight of a circular silver room... or at least to Storm.
"You can go now," Storm said into the microphone. To Storm's astonishment, as she looked out of the glass panel, Magma was firing fireballs at a wall.
"Magma! Stop this immediately!" Storm said into the microphone. "How can I when you haven't turned off the holograms?" Magma shouted and continued firing fireballs at a target that only she, Berzerker, the Scarlet Witch and Psyche could see. Alarmed, Storm looked at Wolverine and said, "Logan! Did you touch anything?" Looking up at the woman who looked positively alarmed, Wolverine replied, "Nah, I haven't." Looking out of the glass panel, both of them realised that the new X-Men were in danger. Or, at least, mad. Both of them ran out of the control room, in search of the professor, whom they hoped could solve their problem.
Through the eyes of the four new X-Men, they were still on the rooftop, and the person whom Magma was firing at was now slumped on the floor, unconscious. "Storm!" Berzerker shouted at nowhere in particular, for he could not see the control room, "Turn off the holograms!" "I don't think she can hear you, Ray," the Scarlet Witch said. "If she could, she would have done something by now."
The person who had possessed Psyche knew that by speeding up neural signals in a mutant's brain, he could greatly amplify their powers. After looking into Psyche's memories, he had another trick up his sleeve. Putting his fingers on his temples and broadcasting his thoughts (Come, Jean! We need you here!) to Jean, he walked over to the people who were also trapped, together with him, in a self-imposed prison; the holograms were already turned off, but Psyche is now influencing his friend's minds to see illusions that they have not been turned off yet.
Psyche said, "I have an idea on how to take down the professor." Pausing and turning his head to face the Scarlet Witch, he continued, "and I will need your help, Wanda. When Storm and Wolverine arrive with the Professor and Jean-" "How do you know Jean will be here?" Magma inquired. "Who else will the Professor call?" Psyche asked. "Everyone knows the Professor's favourite is Jean. Besides, both of them share the same power. They could combine forces to get us out of here." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Anyway, when she comes, I will channel her power, the Phoenix Force, and will direct it into Wanda, who will focus on travelling back in time, so that we can go and get the blueprints for Cerebro." "Cerebro? Why would you need Cerebro blueprints?" Berzerker asked. "How am I... we supposed to fight the world's greatest telepath without backup to amplify our own powers?" Psyche replied. Truth is, all Psyche wanted was to use the blueprints to build another Cerebro in the Astral Plane and use it against the professor.
"You have a point there," the Scarlet Witch said in agreement.
"I'm going to project out and see if everything is all right, is that fine with you guys?" Looking at his friends nodding back at him, Psyche's eyes glowed pink for a few seconds before collapsing unconscious to the ground, but Magma and the Scarlet Witch caught him, and laid him down on the floor gently.
Instead of projecting himself out of the Danger Room to see what was going on, the person in Psyche's mind tapped into Psyche's powers and projected himself out of his host's body. Utterly impressed with himself for choosing a host that could almost give him a body of his own, the cloaked figure, materialising from a ball of pink light in the control room, shapeshifted into the spitting image of Professor X, the person whom he hated so. He could do this, because any projection done by Psyche is merely a projection of thoughts, and the Shadow King, being able to manipulate thoughts, could therefore manipulate himself to change shape at will.
Suddenly, the door to the control room opened to reveal Jean Grey with a concerned look on her face, who shut the door after she came in, and then asked what the thought was Professor X, "What's wrong, Professor?" Turning to face the glass panel, the Shadow King, disguised as the Professor, said, "Dylan, Ray, Wanda and Amara are trapped in the holograms, even though they are already turned off. Use your telepathy to see through their eyes, and see what is causing these illusions."
Nodding, Jean turned to face the glass panel, and placed her fingers on her temples and concentrated on seeing through their eyes. "That's it, Jean," the Shadow King said, "close your eyes and concentrate." Obeying, Jean closed her eyes for a few seconds, but then opened them again and said, "sorry, professor, I can't see a thing!" "Then channel the Phoenix Force, Jean," the Shadow King said. "Concentrate on drawing the power of the Phoenix!" Closing her eyes, Jean began to manifest a fiery orange aura. Seizing the opportunity, the Shadow King dissolved into pink light and the eyes of Psyche's body opened yet again, signalling that he had come back from his projection.
Standing up, he said to Wanda, "do it! Concentrate on us going back in time!" Everyone hald hands; Psyche's eyes glowed pink, showing that he was using his powers, but suddenly turned black, signalling that the Shadow King was using his powers, and then finally turned orange, and so did everyone else's, signalling that he was successfully channelling the Phoenix Force. In a split second, all four of them disappeared in a flash of blue. Back in the control room, Jean opened her eyes and said, "sorry, professor, I just can't see anything," and then realised that she was the only one in the room. "Professor?"