Okay. Do I have to put a disclaimer? 'Cause I kinda forgot last time. If I do then here it is:

DISCLAIMER: I don't own X-Men Evolution. Blah blah blah. Danke.

So now, as Arcade (the coolest super-villain of all time) says: ON WITH THE SHOW!

2

Danger Room

"KATCHEN-VAKE-UP-NOW-OR-VE'RE-GOING-TO-BE-LATE-FOR-ZHE-DANGER-ROOM!"

"Aargh!" Kitty woke up suddenly and came face to face with an upside-down elf. "What're you doing?"

"Aah, vell, if ve're not in zhe danger room in about two minutes zhirty-seven seconds, ve vill bozh be ripped apart by mister Logan."

"I'm up, I'm up. Just don't expect me to eat any breakfast, I still feel full from last night."

"Ja ja, just hurry!"

Kitty suited up and ran in a strait line to the danger room, phasing through anything-or anyone- who got in her way.

When she got to the danger room she was surprised to find that Kurt was not there. He appeared about five seconds later with a burst of flame and the stench of brimstone, toast stuffed in his mouth.

"Gooheh morgeh eryohy!" There was some debate about what this could mean, whether it was some German word he hadn't used before or just stuffed face language. It was settled when Kurt swallowed and said again, "Guten morgen, everybody!"

"Mornin', Kurt," said Logan in a false-cheerful voice. "Glad you could make it!"

"Ja, ja, I know kitty vas only a few seconds before me, I saw her vhen she ran past zhe kitchen and zhrough Miss Munroe. So don't pretend zhat I vas zhe only late vone."

"Well, maybe you wouldn't be late if ya didn't mess the kitchen up last night!"

How bad was it? asked Jean telepathically. Kitty jumped, then stared hard at Jean.

Oh, general Kurtyness times two.

Times two? How depressed were you to eat the same amount as Kurt?

Pretty depressed. It was like a 'welcome to dumpsville' party.

So Lance…

Don't pretend you don't know.

I don't know!

Says the one who can read minds.

Jean sighed out loud. Alright, you want the truth? I had to scrap my homework when you started screaming.

I didn't scream!

You were in you're head. And you know what else?

Kitty shrugged, puzzled. No.

Jean smiled sweetly at Kitty, and mouthed from across the room, "You are totally in love with fuzzbutt."

"Shut up!" Kitty said out loud.

"What did ya say?" asked Logan suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. I swear."

"Yeah, right. Ladies, please continue your conversation after danger room."

"Sorry," squeaked both Kitty and Jean.

You are so totally smitten with him.

I am not! thought Kitty. He's… just a friend. A very good friend. Like a brother.

Yeah, kissing cousins.

Kitty chose to ignore that, instead tuning back in to the danger room instructions.

"So, basically, the session stops when you manage to reach the panic button."

Kitty looked around the room. Scott was nodding seriously. Kurt's tail was flicking gently at the end, and Evan was running a hand through his hair.

She glanced at Jean who returned the look, obviously just as confused as Kitty was. But then Jean turned back to Scott, and in a moment Kitty heard her voice in her head: Just hit the panic button. First person who hits it, wins. Random terrain. Powers alowed.

Kitty nodded. Roger.

And then the session started.

The floor rippled, throwing the teens back to the edge of the room. Then whole sections of floor dropped away, revealing tall hexagonal poles jutting out at different hights. Some poked out of the walls, and they all started rotating gently.

Right, thought Kitty. Time to go. She stepped out onto the first one, which started to rise, turning her round and round. As it finished making a full rotation, Kitty came face to face with another of the poles jutting out from the wall, slamming through the air wiith the force of a rhino.

She gasped, then phased through it and jumped onto the top of it. Then she jumped onto another, stationary, pole and stood there, staring around at how the others were doing.

Jean was flying through the air, using her powers to telekinetically levitate herself. Scott was jumping from pole to pole, occasionally overbalancing but soon balancing again. Evan was running along a pole sticking out from the wall, jumping as it turned so that he would stay on top, and Kurt was using a combination of jumping and porting. He was about five feet away from Kitty, and two feet down, and then before she knew it he was right next to her.

"Katzchen, look out!"

The pole she was on dropped away from her as Kurt's fuzzy, three-fingered hand closed around her arm. There was a squeezing sensation and a burst of red, and time seemed to slow down, and then she was on the roof of the danger room, holding on for dear life to Kurt's arm, trying hard not to hurl.

She stared down in facination as another pole rammed into where she would have been if Kurt hadn't bamfed her in time.

"See, Katzchen, you should always pay attention in the danger room!" He started to crawl down the wall, flicking Kitty onto his back.

"When?" Kitty retorted. "You've never said anything like that to me- oh!"

Kurt looked down to where Kitty was looking and saw the poles retracting, the floor rippeling once more and becoming smooth and solid.

A groove started to run through the floor, and as soon as it reached the other side, more grooves dug themselves into the floor, making intricate paterns in the floor of the danger room.

And then the dips burst into flames, surrounding the mutants.

Kitty felt Kurt tense up, then start breathing hard. He whispered something in German. "Nein…" Kurt breathed over and over again. "Oh mein Gott, nein…"

Jean looked up when she heard someone screaming. Scott and Evan didn't seem to hear it, and Kurt and Kitty were nowhere to be seen, so it must have been mental. Mental screams could be louder than real screams, she knew that from experience.

Whoever was screaming in their minds weren't thinking clearly. There were images flashing through Jean's head: a pile of wood, an angry mob of people, a wall of flame… and then she heard from high above somebody yelling out loud in German. In her head she understood them loud and clear.

"No!" Yelled Kurt in German. "I'm not a demon! Please don't kill me! Mother! No, don't hurt her! No! Oh, please God, no!"

Now that Jean knew who was screaming, she searched deeper into his mind. There were a lot of pictures of Kitty, a few of Rogue, Scott, and the professor. She searched right down to before he was taken to the mansion, before his fifth birthday, before his first… and she found it.

§

Flashback Starting

The newborn boy stared up at his mothers face, changing again and again, first to a young girl, then to a tall man, and then back to his mother. The blue skin they shared gleamed on his mothers forehead, and a backdrop of fire finished the scene.

He watched as she was pulled away from him and pushed onto the flames before he started screaming, crying as loudly as he could. Cold, hard hands grabbed him by his tail and were just about to swing him onto the fire aswell, but then his mother jumped back from the flames, teeth bared in a snarl, purple-red hair growing into a dirty blond, ripping the man's arms from his body.

She changed back to his mother, snatching him out of the air as he fell, and running faster and faster to the forest.

He looked adoringly up at Mistique's face, stained with tears, before he heard her whisper "Goodbye, Kurt."

Then there was whistling sound, and all that he could see was open air, a dark night sky, and then water.

Flashback ends

§

Jean gasped, and looked back at Kurt and Kitty on the wall, Kurt frozen in place by visions only he could see. Scott and Evan had noticed as well, and were now yelling back up at Kurt.

"Kurt! Calm down! Speak English, what's wrong?"

That was answered by another round of sobbing and Kurt yelling, "No! You won't get me on that fire! No!"

Scott glanced at Evan and then back up at Kurt. "We can't understand you, Kurt! Speak English!"

Jean rushed across to Scott and Evan, filling them in on what she had just learnt.

"So… the fire's triggered a memory, like hypnosis does, that what you're saying?"

"Yes, exactly. We need to somehow put out the fire, and that may stop the visions."

Evan swore. "It's times like these you could really use Bobby, isn't it."

"Or Pyro," added Scott dryly.

In the controll room, Wolverine couldn't see what was going on. they must be putting on a pretty darn good show, he thought, or the others wouldn't be watching.

He decided that he should change the terrain, maybe give them a bit of jungle.

He reached for the controlls, but the chair he was sitting in flew back against the wall.

"Damn!" he growled. "I hate wheely office chairs!"

Back up on the wall, Kitty was trying to talk sense into Kurt. "Kurt, it's not going to hurt you. Please… talk English, tell me what's wrong!"

"They won't get you… I won't let them get you!"

"Kurt… if you just teleport out of the danger room there won't be any more fire… please!"

"Get away from her!" Kurt screamed.

Kitty looked down at the others, who were desperately trying to do the same thing she was. "Jean! Can you try to stop me from falling?" she yelled down at the older girl.

"Maybe, I'm not sure!" she yelled back up. "I don't think my telekenisis is stronge enough to hold a person!"

"I'm going to try," yelled Kitty.

"What?"

"I'm going to phase through Kurt! Please, try!"

Jean nodded. I hope you know what you're doing, Kitten, she thought.

Evan stared up as Kitty screwed her eyes tight shut and phased through Kurt. "I'm sorry Kurt," she whispered as she fell through him towards the ground.

She was caught aboud halfway down by Jean's telekenesis. Jean then gently lowered her to the ground, where Kitty proceeded to run straight through the wall, messing up the danger room just as Logan was about to change the terrain again.

The fires went out. The floor went back to normal. But Kurt continued to cling to the wall for dear life.

Logan stared down at the danger room from the control room. "Why the hell isn't it working?" he said to himself.

Just then Kitty phased through the door. "Mister Logan," she gasped. "There's something wrong with Kurt."

In the danger room, Scott, Evan and Jean watched in dumb terror as Kurt let go of the wall and collapsed the 50-something feet onto the floor.

Yay, chapter 2 finito! Chapter 3 coming your way…