Author's Note: So if I were to post the completed chapters I have done now would all of you agree to not expect chapters to be produced at this rate ever again? Somebody brought up a good point about waiting to post chapters, which was something I'd been debating for a while. My main reason for waiting was to not dig myself into a production rate that I wouldn't be able to live up to and that I'd been taking my sweet time with this story lately and I really haven't looked back at previous completed chapters. I thought they were a lot worse off than they were. They weren't all that bad. Long story short, I thought there were some serious issues between chapters 4 and 5, turns out it wasn't even chapters 4 and 5, but 5 and 6. And even then it wasn't that bad. If you don't like it, I can add something to smooth it out but basically, my memory of all of the chapters I had written was flawed and because of that, I refrained from posting them because I thought they needed help. They weren't that bad at all. Ch.9, though, I will admit, has some issues. So you're going to have to wait for that one.

"I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier."-Howard Nemerov

"It's simple, if it jiggles, it's fat."-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Today was the first day of school, and X was terrified. He spent twenty minutes in his room fussing over his appearance which for him was a record long time.

Eventually though, he settled on his normal: a blue tee shirt covered up by a blue sweatshirt, jeans and gym shoes. He came down the stairs to find Doctor Cain and Fredrick reading the newspaper at the dinner table. X snorted in laughter at the title.

DOCTOR CAIN IS INSANE

Well they weren't wrong. It just wasn't for the same reasons they were probably listing.

"Doctor Cain is insane?" X asked. "They finally figured it out eh?"

"Oh hush up you big hunk of metal," Doctor Cain snapped. X pretended to be hurt, but he had long since learned that Doctor Cain wasn't serious with his insults ninety nine percent of the time and therefore truly wasn't affected.

X laughed and sat down next to the two. "But really. What's up with the insanity bit?" he asked. Doctor Cain sighed.

"Apparently I'm being too forceful in trying to get the government to allow reploids on the assembly line. According to this article, I screamed at a government agent that reploids are not anything like the robots of the previous era and should be treated just like human beings. I remember the incident, but I do not remember my voice rising to a shout."

"Crazy people usually don't," Fredrick commented. Doctor Cain glared at him.

"Fredrick, I will melt you down for scrap metal if you continue,"

Fredrick just grinned. X looked confused.

"How does shouting make it look like your insane? My understanding was that shouting was just a way of showing emotion," X asked. Cain shrugged.

"In some cases it may reveal insanity," Cain explained. "So, are you ready for school?"

X's calm demeanor shattered and a wave of nervousness hit him like a hammer to ice. "No," he responded. "I'm not sure if . . ."

Doctor Cain cut him off. "It'll be fine. I've known you were an android ever since you were reactivated and even I forget that you're robotic most of the time."

"But you are like a hundred years old, Cain," Fredrick piped in.

"SCRAP METAL FREDRICK!" Doctor Cain yelled. "I'm not that old yet!"

"You sure you didn't shout when talking to that government agent?" X asked with a grin. "Cause it sure does sound like you're shouting now." Fredrick laughed.

Doctor Cain glared at the two of them. "I am so glad I didn't adopt a child like I almost did. At least with you two, I can turn you off."

X and Fredrick both gasped in mock terror. "You wouldn't dare," X threatened.

"Oh but I just might," Cain said, a teasing grin on his face. Then his watch beeped and he looked down at it. His eyes widened in terror as he saw the time.

"HOLY POPTARTS! Is that the time?! X, we have to go!" Doctor Cain shouted. X stood up and looked at Doctor Cain in amusement as they shuffled out of the house, grabbing a blue backpack on the way out.

"Poptarts? I wasn't aware that you had such an affinity for sweets," X commented.

"How did you think I got this belly?" Doctor Cain asked him, as he patted his stomach. X raised an eyebrow. Doctor Cain was actually relatively thin for a man of his age.

"Trust me when I say this, Doctor Cain, but you have nowhere near the belly size of Doctor Light."

"X, did you just call your father fat?!"

"Inadvertently."


On account of Doctor Cain being late for one of his many meetings he was using to promote the idea of reploid manufacturing, X
was left alone for the entirety of his principal seemed nice enough. She looked a bit exhausted, but tried to be cheerful when X walked into her office. At first she thought X was a troublemaker that had come in for punishment, but halfway through their brief conversation, X realized this and explained that he was her new student and had just come in to get his schedule. The woman looked suddenly relieved and smiled warmly at X, apologizing and then asking him what his name was.

Why she didn't ask X his name to begin with was beyond him. She handed the android his schedules and congratulated him for getting such advanced classes. She made the comment that no transfer student had made that high of a score in math and science before and she was impressed with his scores on the entrance exams. She didn't mention the English portion.

In all reality, X had thought he had been holding back a whole bunch. It appeared that he might have needed to hold back some more. Well, he held back on everything but English. He really struggled on the grammatical and writing portion of the test. He could remember information from the reading portion just fine and his reading was fast on account of him being a robot, but the pod really didn't school him on that much and he was literally a computer. He could solve high complex problems in the blink of an eye, but his systems refused to get a solid grasp around the concept of writing sentences in an artful matter. He had tried so hard not to put down more than three four word sentences in each paragraph. He failed on one of them and had given up.

X stared down at the schedule the principle had handed him.

1sthour: GYM

2ndhour: PRECALC

3rdhour: Computer Programming

4thhour: AP World Government

5thhour: AP Biology

6thhour: English 10

In other words, X was a genius when it came to science and mathematics. As for English? He failed. He had tested out of a language on account of him being fluent in over a thousand different languages and AP chemistry. Doctor Cain made sure to put him in AP biology. He knew that X would have enjoyed the class even though he could have passed it with ease.

The chemistry test was rather easy for X. He made a point of studying all of his biology books and Doctor Cain had insisted that in order for X to truly understand what was going on, he had to study chemistry as well.

As for the math and programming? Well, he had been working with Doctor Cain on programing for a while. The class would probably be really easy. Math came naturally as an android. He had held back some because he was enrolling into tenth grade and the fact that a tenth grader was in calculus or beyond was a little bit much. His schedule was pushing it as it was.

The principle congratulated him and sent him on his way, first hour was just about over, so he headed straight for second hour.

However, as the hallways filled with students, X realized that he had no idea where he was going. He frowned at his schedule and looked at a nearby door. Nope, he was nowhere near that location.

"HEY BLUE MAN!" a familiar voice yelled. X looked up from his paper and into the crowd, spotting Tony and Mark walking towards him. He waited until they were standing right next to him.

"It's official. That's your nickname from now on. A blue backpack? Seriously? If you were orange, you'd be blinding, but I guess since you're blue it's okay. You wouldn't happen to be a secretly skilled drummer or instrumentalist would you?" Tony asked. X shrugged.

"I've never played one so I wouldn't know," he responded.

"What's your schedule?" Tony asked. X handed him the sheet. Tony stared at it for a moment. "Wow. Lucky. It looks like you have me and Mark with you in Gym. You're stuck with me in Precalc and Computer Programming. You have AP World government with Sam and Mark. Help her out would you? She complains a whole bunch about that class. You also have English 10 with her and then Nicole in AP Bio. Looks like you're really good in math and science, but you appear to fail in English. You didn't even make honors."

X huffed. In his defense, he had never actually taken an English class before.

"Don't get your pannies in a wad! It's fine. You can follow me and Mark. We know where we're going and Mark's class is just right next to ours."

X nodded. "Thanks, Tony."

"No problemo. It'll be nice to have somebody I know in Precalc. None of the others made the cut. However, you are starting like a couple weeks into class, but hey you can probably catch up really easy."

X nodded again as they began walking through the hallways. "So how have you guys been doing? I haven't really seen anybody since the second time we went to that anime shop. I've been pretty busy." Doctor Cain had X working on various programs for different robots while he was off doing management work for Cain Labs which he had neglected while he was trying to convince the world to manufacture reploids. As for the anime shop, X went the next Saturday like he promised, but he wasn't able to make the Saturday after that on account of Doctor Cain needing X for a presentation. Basically, X had to show the viewers how human he was while he had his armor on.

"Nothing much," Tony responded. "Though the couch wasn't as crammed without you."

"Nicole didn't take her spot back?"

"Nah, she insisted she would stay on the floor. It would be a lot less cramped in general if MARK HERE WEREN'T SO BIG!" Tony shouted with a smirk. Mark frowned at him and pounded a fist into his palm. He then lifted Tony and threw the much smaller boy over his shoulder. X laughed.

"My apologies, Tony. But I'm afraid you're in no condition to complain about my size. Besides, if I were to shrink, then you'd go back to being shoved in lockers," Mark reasoned.

"This is a fact," Tony agreed. "NOW PUT ME DOWN!"

"Nah, I kind of like being Santa Claus. Shall I drop you off at Victoria's desk?" Mark asked. Tony paled while X just looked confused. Seeing X's confusion, Mark explained. "Victoria is a rather largely built girl who has a serious crush on Tony. You can hear her sighing behind him all the time."

"She's not largely built! She's FAT! There's a difference," Tony stated bluntly. X hoped that this Victoria person wasn't nearby.

"ANTHONY FIZZLE! YOU BETTER NOT BE CALLING PEOPLE NAMES AGAIN!" a nearby teacher yelled. X gulped. This wasn't going to go down well. However, X wasn't aware that Tony's last name was Fizzle. It was an interesting last name that was for sure.

"NO SIR! BUT I WILL BE THE NEXT TONY STARK!" Tony screamed back.

"THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT I JUST SAID!" the teacher responded. X looked thoroughly confused as Tony laughed.

"That's Mr. Hatchbury. He's our Computer Programming teacher. He's the best. is his wife. She teaches English and I think you have her too. I hear she's really cool too," Tony explained from behind Mark. " is our Precalc teacher. He's a bit of a bore, but he explains things well enough. I've never met , your bio teacher, but Nicole seems to like him. She's the only one that's ever had him. is awesome, I've had her before, but Sam just struggles in government in general so that's why she complains. And then there's . The biggest jerk of a gym teacher this school has ever seen. I swear he hates me. He loves Mark here, but he hates me. Guess what Xavier? You have him too."

X nodded. It sounded like he got mostly good teachers. He really didn't get a good feeling from . It probably didn't help that he didn't make it to his class today.

"We're here Mark! Now put me down!" Tony yelled. Mark complied and then went into his classroom with a wave to X. Tony turned to the undercover android. "Are you ready for this?"

X shook his head. He had no idea what school was like so he had no idea if he was ready for it or not. "No," he stated bluntly. Tony laughed.

"Relax. is pretty chill. I've gotten him to scream at me once and that was because I kept on making screeching noises with a bird caller beneath my desk. I don't know what happened to that thing after he took it."

X stared at Tony. Did he do stuff like that all the time? It seemed like he did. He followed the teen inside the classroom.

was a rather pudgy older man who sat as his desk, furiously typing something on his laptop. X told Tony he wanted to go talk to the teacher real quick and walked up to the precalc teacher. The man noticed X immediately.

"Are you Xavier?" he asked.

"Yes sir."

"Well, your book is right here along with a list of things we've already done. Tell me if there's anything you don't recognize or know how to do and I'll get you something to explain it to you," said, shoving a text book with a paper on top of it towards the android. X picked it up.

"Thank you."

Mr. Strider merely lifted up a hand in acknowledgement. X turned to the classroom to see that Tony was lying down across two desks, ignoring the protests around him. X walked over to him and placed his text book on a desk that Tony wasn't occupying.

"I saved you a seat," Tony said. X raised an eyebrow.

"I can see that," X stated.

Tony grinned and rolled off the desks with a thud. He then sat in the one with his backpack next to it and patted the desk next to him. X shook his head and picked up his book. He plopped down into the desk next to Tony just as the bell rang.


Tony was right. The class was a bore. But perhaps it was because he already knew all of the information and a good portion of it he was unlikely to forget due to the simple fact that his systems used some of those equations every day.

After looking at the list and concluding that he didn't need to bug about anything, he began to draw in boredom all over a lined sheet of paper he had found on the desk prior to him sitting at it, only paying enough attention to know that what the rest of the class was doing was something he already knew and to write down the homework at the end of it.

By the time the bell rang, he was praying that the rest of the day wasn't as boring.

He followed Tony to the next class. Dodging kids and eventually walking beside the teen as he ranted about the homework assigned in Strider's class. X shrugged. It really didn't seem like much to him. Granted, as a machine, he could probably get it done in around five minutes.

Then his motion sensors kicked in from behind him. His hand snapped up and he grabbed Tony's shirt faster than humanly possible and then pulled Tony down as he ducked. A large fist flew harmlessly above their heads.

Tony's first reaction was annoyance as he hadn't sensed the fist and thought X was pulling him down for no reason.

"Xavier, what-?!" He looked at the brunette to see him standing and turning around to face somebody behind them. Tony took a quick look behind as well to see a large boy growling at X.

"Who do you think you are!?" the boy roared in X's face.

"Xavier Light," X deadpanned, though his mind whispered a single letter. The boy blinked then grew red faced.

"Oh? You think you're tough? How will you feel when I blow your face in?!"

"How will I feel? Just fine. You?" X asked, calmly not at all feeling threatened by the large form in front of him. Tony blinked up at him in amazement.

"ARGH!" The boy swung a fist, which X dodged. The boy had predicted this and had reached out for X's sweatshirt at the same time. He grunted and picked the android up, shoving him against a wall. X blinked. He hadn't expected the boy to think that far ahead. The kid might be a fair fighter if he stopped picking on 'weaker' classmates. This wasn't as terrifying as Sam's threat if you called her Samantha, but it was definitely a level of aggression he hadn't seen in a human before.

The boy glared down at the newcomer, but inside he was freaking out. The boy hadn't budged when he picked him up, there was no sign of fear when he roared in his face or threatened to punch him. He hadn't seen a newcomer so calm before.

The newcomer was also lighter than he appeared. He had expected just about a hundred and twenty pounds judging from his build, but the boy only felt like a hundred. Which meant that he was weaker than he looked.

"H-hey Tom, just let him go alright. We're not looking for any trouble," Tony stated, trying to calm the aggressive teen down.

"CAN'T I JUST WELCOME A NEW STUDENT?!" Tom roared. X blinked again. If he had been human, Tom's volume would have sent his ears ringing for a while.

"That's not what it looks like," a familiar voice stated from behind Tom. Tom's eyes widened and he dropped X, whose movement sensors and controls kicked in and landed him gracefully on the ground. Tom turned around.

"Mr. Hatchbury, can I help you?" Tom asked.

"Yes, you can go wait in the office. I make sure to call to inform them what happened and to make sure that you actually went. Now get going," ordered. Tom shuffled away and X stood up. turned to him concerned. "Are you alright?'

"I'm fine," X responded. Tony came over to punch him in the shoulder.

"Thanks for the save man. I would've had a concussion if it wasn't for you. Though how did you see that one coming?" Tony asked. X's mind scrambled for an adequate answer. He couldn't tell him his motion sensors kicked in and he sensed the fist coming.

"Out of the corner of my eye," X lied. Tony grinned at him.

"You have some insane reflexes."

X just grinned nervously as they followed to class. Once again, he sat down at a computer next to Tony and waited for the bell to ring.

came up to X and handed him a sheet of paper. "Here's everything we've covered so far. Have you taken a computer programming class before?" asked. X shrugged. He never really took a class before.

"Sorta. My guardian taught me a bit," X responded. nodded.

"Well, we'll see how much you know. Right now, we're working on programming a short game. Tony can help you if you need it. He's quite skilled at this sort of thing."

Tony grinned as he seemed to swell with pride. gave X a smile and then went to his desk, to work on something on his laptop. A few more students trickled in through the door and the bell rang.

"Welcome. I'd like to let you know that Xavier here has joined this class for the rest of the year. Please welcome him," said, gesturing to X. X gave a small wave to the stares he received from the rest of the class.

"Ain't that the new kid that nearly got pummeled by Tom?" X heard a voice behind him mutter. He sighed. It seemed he was already earning himself a reputation.

"Alright, so today you guys will be continuing to work on your projects. If you have any questions raise your hand and I'll come. Tony, you help Xavier."

Tony nodded. Then, as the class began filling with noise, he turned to X. "So we're using Eclipse. It's a program you use to make other programs."

X nodded. He had heard of it. Had he used it? No, he found Cain's program to be much more effective.

He let Tony guide him through the basics, but when Tony let him begin and actually start his own project, he took one glance at X's screen and then glared at the undercover android.

"You already know how to do this don't you," he asked. X gave him a sympathetic look.

"Yeah."

Tony then glanced at X's screen again and frowned. "I've never seen a movement sequence done that way before. It's interesting."

"It'll work won't it?" X asked. It had worked for him before. Tony nodded.

"Yeah, it'll work, but it almost seems like you're arming the program with an antivirus at the same time," Tony muttered. "See this here?" He pointed to a sequence on the screen. "That has nothing to do with the sprite's movement. In fact, it seems to be like a protection against viruses. So why is it there? And what's with the rest of this? I don't quite understand it. I think it'll work, but I'm not sure. You have a weird way of programming."

X frowned. He had always programmed like that. Doctor Cain had never said anything about it when he looked at X's programming skills before. He resolved to ask Doctor Cain about it later.

Government passed by without any bumps. was eccentric to say the least. She was very passionate about her job and didn't seem to mind making a public embarrassment of herself. The class loved her and respected her at the same time. X had the feeling he would enjoy the class.

or N2 as he preferred to be called (his first name was Nick), was also very passionate about his job. Nicole seemed to like him. had no problem talking about subjects that would make normal teenagers squirm in discomfort. By the end of the hour, X was slightly concerned about the man's mental health. However, the man knew what he was doing and seemed to have a particularly strong passion with plants. X could relate.

And then came the hour that X had been dreading all day. English. While Mark had told him that was a great teacher, he couldn't help but be afraid that she would dislike him for being so much better in all of the other classes. He took a seat next to Sam just as the bell rang.

, who had been sitting out in the hall on a rolling chair, rolled across the room and nearly ran into her desk. The chair had been raised up all the way and finding discomfort in the height, lowered the chair with the lever, bouncing up and down as she did. A few of the students in the room laughed at her antics.

then addressed the class. "Good afternoon! As some of you may know, we had a new student. Xavier Light. I think that's him over there. Give a wave for us will you?"

X waved and smiled. "You joined the class at the perfect time, we're not in the middle of anything. I can get you caught up later. Can you read?"

X looked at her funny and nodded.

"Then I don't think you need to read anything for me. Just don't tell the others," said with a grin.

"Mrs.H. You just about announced that to the entire class!" Sam exclaimed. frowned, but didn't seem to be very serious about as there was a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

"Did I? My apologies. Why should the rest of you be concerned though? Are you all trying to guilt me into less work to make up for it?"

There was a chorus of yesses coming from just about every student in the room. pouted.

"This is all because I made fun of you yesterday isn't it Sam?" Hatchbury said. Sam grinned and shrugged. "Well then, we might as well get started then." There were a few groans, but X could tell that none of them meant it.

"Xavier! Would you mind helping me pass out books?" Hatchbury asked as she stood up from her chair and patted a large box on her desk. X blinked, but then shrugged as he stood up. Sam snickered from beside him and he heard a soft 'goodluck'. X was thoroughly confused.

He went to take a few books out but slapped his hand and pushed him into her chair. X's confusion rose as she handed him the box.

"Alright, your job is to pass out as many books as you can to people as I push you, deal?" X blinked as he nodded. Wait, what?! X grabbed a few books in his hand as started pushing him and the chair rolled forward, far too fast for X to be able to pass out the books. As he was pushed down the first column of desks, he managed to give books successfully to all of four people, the other seven in the column he completely missed. X grinned as the people around him laughed. His systems had already determined the event as an attempt to get him integrated in the class. rolled him around the room once and then stopped. She gestured for X to stand up, who was still highly confused.

"Not bad for the first time," congratulated. "You may sit down now. Somebody else will have to give you one later. Who's next?"

Just about the entire class had their hand in the air. picked a rather eccentric boy who screamed 'I got this!' while sitting down. The boy fared no better than X and leaned forward the chair too far. The chair tipped and sent the kid and box of books sprawling. It nearly sent the teacher to the ground as well. The class burst into laughter for a while as picked up the last few books.

"Alright, who doesn't have a book yet?" she asked. Just about half of the class raised their hands. She handed the required book out by hand. X stared at the cover as the book was pressed into his hand. Of Mice and Men stared up back at him. His systems immediately identified it as a fiction novel.

"Please turn to chapter one and we'll start reading out loud. As usual, I'll read first, but if any of you want to take over, just raise your hand."

The rest of the class was entertaining. Kids spoke in different voices when they were called on, sometimes causing the entire class to break down laughing.

When the bell rang and the class ended, X concluded that he liked school. Sam dragged him out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang. They joined Mark, Tony, and Nicole outside of the school and began making their way to the buses.

"So Xavier, what do you think of school so far?" Tony asked.

"It's different that's for sure, but in a good way. I think I like it," X stated. Tony shook his head.

"That's 'cause you're a genius," Tony commented. "School work is no problem for you." He grinned at X's questioning glance. "I hacked the school. You did amazing in everything but English."

X winced. "Yeaahhhhhh."

"Relax dude. You've still got us beat in all the other subjects."

"How good did he do?" Mark asked.

"He could basically ace precalc with a little bit of touch up. Not to mention he's an Albert Einstein when it comes to science," Tony said. Mark whistled.

"Is it really that surprising that he's smart? He works at Cain labs remember?" Sam commented.

"Good point," Mark said. They stopped once they reached the bus.

"Xavier, are you taking the bus?" Tony asked. X shook his head.

"Nah, my guardian will probably pick me up soon," X said. Tony, Mark, and Nicole climbed onto a bus.

"Are you going to tell us who your guardian is?" Sam asked as she walked backwards up to the bus still facing X. X shrugged.

"He's old, but he prefers to keep on the low profile," X answered. Sam sighed as she climbed onboard.

"See you tomorrow then Xavier!" Sam yelled. X waved and began walking away as the bus began moving in the opposite direction.