X – Men Mansion
Tikal leaned against the edge of the doorway of Shadow's room and watched, smiling as he took down one of the pictures on the walls and put them in drawers. The two of them had talked off and on, through his medical examination and then though the entire dinner. She had then offered to show him is room, which he accepted, rather reluctantly, however she didn't need to use her telepathy to tell that he would be lost in the mansion without someone guiding him.
"So why do so many mutants end up coming though here?" Shadow asked as he slammed a drawer shut.
"Most mutants lever pretty ugly situations behind them" Tikal said "People find out what you are, so a lot of mutants have to start out with a new identity. We not only help them with their control of their powers, we help them with the new identities and starting new lives, as well. Take those two runaways you found for example"
"What about them?" Shadow asked in a monotone, but cold voice.
"Well, the pink one, Amy" Tikal said, unsure on how to express her point "…can make fireworks come out of her hands, and even though this sounds ridiculous at first, she had burnt her house down when her powers first shown up. The blue one, Sonic has superspeed and he nearly killed a boy when he ran straight through his leg…"
Shadow nodded, sorting through the clothes someone had put on his bed. They all looked as if they can fit, as if the person who chose them had a good eye for size, but half of them he wouldn't be caught dead in.
"So" Shadow said unsure on how to respond to Tikal's statement "I heard that you can move stuff with your mind"
"It is called telekinesis" she said
"Right" Shadow said "You can move stuff with your mind. What else?"
"I have some telepathic abilities" she said
Shadow stared at her suspiciously "Like the professor?"
Tikal shook her head "My telepathy is nowhere near as powerful as the Professor's he is one of the most powerful telepaths in the world. The only telepath that I know that comes even close to his level is woman called Zeena Frost, but that is not important."
"So" Shadow said, looking around the plain room rather than at Tikal "Why are you just plain old Tikal Grey?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"You couldn't think of some cute nickname? Seems that just about everyone here has one. Cyclops, Professor X, Storm, Rouge, so do the students with Shadowcat, Wolfsbane, Colossus and so on."
Tikal laughed "Honestly I haven't chosen one yet."
"How about Mrs Cyclops after your boyfriend?" Shadow said matter-of-factly
"No, I don't think so." Tikal said coldly "and to let you know, when the Professor found Knuckles he hadn't opened his eyes in weeks. Awake and asleep. Even with his visor it is very hard for him to control the energy that is coming out of his eyes. Without it if he opened his eyes, he could easily punch though a mountain as simply as you could crush a beer can. He has to be in control every minute of the day. This can make anybody tense after a while."
Shadow stood there in silence unsure whether on not to say anything. Then he said, in an undertone "When you found me, or when you moved me to the Professor's office, did you see anything in my mind?"
Tikal took a deep breath and let it out slowly. What she had seen had shocked her in some fashion or another. He waited until she gathered herself.
Finally, she said "just images. And pain. Lots of pain. What happened to you?"
"Bad things. Lots of bad things" Shadow said
"Don't you think it is past your bed time Shadow?" The red echidna was leaning on the door frame as if he was watching an interesting movie, he visor glowed red as if he wanted to blow Shadow's head off. "Or do you want Tikal to tuck you in bead with a glass of warm milk, cookies and a bed time story?"
Shadow snorted "I bet she had got a few you haven't heard"
Tikal signed and shot Cyclops a look of frustration "Let me know when you two start butting antlers. I'll get my camera"
She turned and left, clearly flustered by what she had seen in Shadow's mind. And, Shadow guessed, because Cyclops had stuck his nose in where it didn't belong. Shadow stared at Cyclops and, despite the visor, it was plain he was staring back.
"You gonna tell me to stay away form your girl or what?" Shadow asked, sneering at the red echidna "Or are you gonna give me detention because my shirt is not tucked in?"
The red echidna gave a look that made it clear that he didn't want to talk about his girl friend but muttered under his breath "If I had to do that, she wouldn't be my girl"
"So." The red echidna said as if attempting to make small talk with someone who clearly was the polar opposite to him in every way "Jubilee and Quicksonic…"
"Who the £$%& are they?" Shadow said in a tone of puzzlement and disgust
"The two hedgehogs that you found" Cyclops said trying to pull himself together to not to yell at him for using bad language "They said that you were like an animal in that bar. And as an FYI, the blue one doesn't like his nickname, but I think its cute, he is still insisting on Sonic. Anyway, I think they, especially Jubiliee meant it as a compliment. She was very impressed they way that you fought, however I must make this clear, they way that you fight is not taught nor tolerated in here. Fighting humans is very different from taking on mutants. Especially Magneto"
"You have fought him, have you?" Shadow asked
"We haven't resorted to that, yet"
Shadow sat in disbelief "So let me get this straight. You are preparing for a war and I am not convinced that you could handle yourself in a heated discussion. I am guessing I am the only one here who has seen any true combat"
"and what is that?"
Shadow just stared. He wasn't about to go over what little he remembered with this wet nosed kid "previously"
"Don't like to talk about your past huh?"
"Got it in one" Shadow said "especially to you"
"It just must kill you that I saved your life" Cyclops said.
Shadow only snorted. He actually hadn't given it much thought, but he wasn't going to bait the kid with that.
"Don't worry. It won't happen again"
Shadow only shrugged.
Cyclops turned and headed for the door. Then he stopped and looked back "and Shadow." He said his face hard and very intense "Stay away from my girl"
With that he moved down the hall leaving Shadow to sit on his bed and smile.
Sonic was quite simply running for his life, or rather that was the instructions that the Professor had given to him. He was in the basement of the mansion and moments ago he had managed to explore the entire basement before the professor can leave the lift foyer.
"Superb place!" He said ecstatically "I felt like I have gone 100 years into the future, and I have seen all the cool labs and all the cool tech! and…"
"I know Sonic" Professor Miles Tails Xavier said. "I built this underground place over 30 years ago and there are things here to use for people with any mutant power. For instance in that room" He said pointing at a room down the corridor. "Is for the use of shapeshifter like that rabbit girl who can turn into a non Mobian wolf, or that room" he said wheeling his wheelchair down the long silver corridor "is for people with flight. I myself used to use that room"
"You can fly?" Sonic said amazed, the professor chuckled "In my prime I can fly for miles and miles. It came in use several times. But now the best I can do it to get myself in and out of bed, and the toilet. Occasionally I can fly myself to reach a book I want in a bookshelf. But I no longer do that"
"What happened?" The blue speedster asked
"The last time I did that was over a mounth ago and I made the mistake of choosing to reading the complete collection of 'Devta' a book consisting of over 8,000 pages and 'The Complete Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus' a book over 13,000 pages long." The fox said
"Oh…" Sonic said figuring out what had happened.
"Anyway we are here at the speedster section" The Professor said pointing at a large silver door with the X door design.
The door slid open and Sonic looked inside to see what they were doing here. Sonic had just been told that they were about to test his new powers and he was estactic. Amy had been told that her powers were a bit of a problem but is currently getting fixed by a friend of the professor by someone either called 'Ray', 'Beast' or 'Hank' whatever the name that Amy had overheard from snooping into the discussing by that Rouge teacher and that green hawk that calls himself 'Gambit'.
Sonic's face upon seeing his own training room looked as it he was expecting more, but tried to make the best of it. The room was divided into two parts. The first part is what looked to be the mix of a lounge in an airport, with large sofa's a table that had all the food imaginable, a wide screen TV and in an alcove was a bookshelf that had every book on the planet. On the far side of the room was a giant desk fit for a god, that was full of computers, from computers that looked to be used in the second world war to computers that seemed to been stolen from the future and brought back into the present.
In front of the desk was a 2 – way mirror which looked into a strange room that was a cross between a gym, a hospital, and a laboratory. There was a strange assortment of machinery all of which were hooked up to random gym equipment, but at the centre of the room was what looked to be a giant silver hamster wheel.
"This was developed by a friend of mine, Dr Hank Ray MacCoy" The fox professor said "It can test how fast your speed is. I used to know another speedster, but he left us."
"Did he die?" Sonic asked, unsure about how to respond to this
"No."
Sonic can tell that the two tailed fox didn't want to discuss the matter so he turned his attention onto the wheel. It wasn't ugly, nor was it beautiful, but it was just plain and simple. But there was something slightly off about it and Sonic had no idea what.
"The motor in this wheel can make this wheel spin towards the speed of sound" The professor said "I also decided to hook it up to a generator so while you run you are also producing electricity. Anyway, would you like to begin?"
"Of course!" Sonic said enthusiastically, he wanted to try the limits of his powers but he found it risky. Here though he knew that he can trust the professor, but he still went through the door to the testing room cautiously as if he was on a minefield. He stood on the wheel, gripping the large handle bar for support.
'Now I want you to start going at a casual pace' A voice in Sonic's head said. Sonic nearly jumped out of his skin. He had taken a while to get used to the telepathy of the professor.
Sonic obliged going at a casual walk. As he did so he noticed a few beeps from the computers around him and he noticed a large electrical sign displaying '1 kmph' and '5 watts'.
'good' The voice in Sonic's head said 'now every time you hear a beep I want you to go a little bit faster, and if you think you need a break just think it and I will know. Okay?'
'Okay' Sonic thought
'and if you want I can play some music or an audiobook or whatever to keep you entertained while you run.'
'That would be perfect' Sonic thought smiling
'Good. Also, soon you will reach a stage where it appears that time seems to have slowed down. If that is the case do not be afraid. That happens to almost every speedster. If that happens press the blue button on your handlebar.'
'Errr…thanks' Sonic thought
'No problem. Also the seeing things in slow – mo will stop after a while when you stop running'
There was a soft beep sound and Sonic slightly increased his speed obliging with the professor. He was going to enjoy this.
Amy Jubilee Rose sat under the tree in the school grounds observing the outdoor sports ground. The outdoor sports grounds included a small basketball court, a football/soccer field, a running track, and a swimming pool. The sports and history and art teacher who was also the school head boy, a giant armadillo called Mighty Rasputin who came from Russia. Amy knew very little about him, except for the fact that he was 'Hard on the outside but soft in the inside' according to her friend Kitty.
Amy wasn't sure what to make about Mighty, but all she did know that if he was seeing what she was seeing he wouldn't be pleased at all.
What appeared to be a duel was underway in the empty swimming pool. On one side was a green hawk called Jet, who goes by the nickname 'Gambit'.
Amy had a hard time finding out everything that she could about him, but after talking to Rouge, who seemed to find every moment she could to talk to her she found out about him. Jet Etienne LeBeau came from New Orleans and was brought up by the thieves' guild. Jet had the ability to change an items potential energy into kinetic, which in simpletons' terms means that he can make anything he throws into a hand grenade. 'Which kinda explains why he carries around playing cards' Amy thought as he watched Jet throw a card at an unseen figure, where a soft boof can be heard. But after a series of events that was described to her as 'something that seems to have come straight out of a Shakespeare play' (Amy was desperate to find out what', Jet was unofficially banished from New Orleans. This was when the professor found him, and he joined the X men.
On the other side of the pool was a cat called John Allerdyce, who was wearing what appeared to be wearing a flamethrower with many tubes cris crossing all over his costume.
John was born in a shack with 4 siblings near Sidney, Australia and he couldn't have had the worst luck in the world. Before he was even out of his mother, his father was murdered, pushing John's mother into poverty and to fall into a 'bad crowd' where she remarried a man called 'Cool Brian' who provided the drug flow in the dark areas of western Australia and a member of anti – mutant cult known as the 'friends of humanity' who was under watch by over 30 nations around the world.
John had 4 siblings but they are all dead. His older sister committed suicide, his older brother was mugged and died of his injuries, and John found out his mutant power the day the twins died.
'Cool Brian' looked as if his parents were brother and sister (which they were) making him have a highly distorted posture. He seemed to have eaten all the food in an entire superstore giving him the appearance of a beach ball with legs, his right arm looked overlong and fragile as glass, and his left arm looked too short for a child, but looked as if it spent too much time in a gym. His legs looked as if they had been fractured, giving him a strong limp and worst of all was the face. 'Cool Brain' looked as if he had been in a fist fight everyday. His left eye is so swollen that it is practically blind, and in it's place was a giant wart. His skin looked both like if it had been incinerated and frozen in ice at the same time, he only had 4 rotten teeth left that would give a dentist a heart attack just by looking at it and his lip was so blown up that it is a mystery why a speak of dust hadn't popped it yet or why the cigarette that practically lived in his mouth hadn't made it blow up yet. Worst of all he had no nose and no ears whatsoever and in its place were stubby holes in it's place.
It is impossible to find 'Cool Brian' without one of his 3 'poker buddies'. There was a woman called Charlotte, who was 'an angel on the outside but the devil in the inside' who seems to think that people are 'too old to date her' when they reach the age of 20 and had spent a lot of time with John and the twins. Then there was Damian who's form of greeting is to beat someone up to a pulp, friend or foe and seems to be wanting to drown himself in liquor. Finally, Alvin, who couldn't tell the difference between a glass of water and attempted murder.
Amy had asked John about his life but after hearing the descriptions of each one of them Amy felt as if she had heard enough and tried to steer the subject to somewhere else.
It was only through Sonic's findings that they found out how John moved from that hostile situation to the X Mansion.
'Cool Brian' highly belived that the twins, who were only 12 at the time were mutants, and that meant that they must immediately be stripped naked and caged like a wild animal and put on display in the next meeting of the 'friends of humanity'.
John was only 9 at the time and he remembered seeing everyone carrying flaming torches as if they had travelled back in time to the middle ages and were about to burn a witch at the stake. He saw the twins, Victor and William, he wanted to do something anything. He wanted to help them get out of there. He felt white hot anger as he saw 'Cool Brain' and his poker buddies present them like if they were hunters and they had just caught a giant animal. He felt enraged, so much anger and rage that he can feel it burning him up, he can feel nothing but fire, he was fire, he can see nothing but the blinding light of fire. He saw and heard all the cheers and jeers and all the insults in the swear book. By the time John wiped his eyes to get the image of the fire in his eyes out he heard screams, yells and then. Ashes. He was surrounded by nothing but bones, smoke, debris, ashes and a white hot cage with two corpses in it.
Amy was quick to console John about his past, but John seemed to have recovered from his experience, but Amy wasn't convinced about that. But after shearing her experience about how her mutant gift emerged, John seemed to calm down, and gave her the nickname 'Jubiliee' Amy's middle name which stuck. John had told her that his planned nickname would be 'Pyro'.
"Hey Jubiliee!" Pyro said seeming to notice the spying girl
"What?" Amy asked.
"I heard from Sonic that you can do some nifty tricks. Mind showing me and Jet here?"
Amy paused for a bit and smiled like someone who was bad at poker.
"alright!" She said and removed her gloves as if she was handling a nuclear bomb.
For the months that Amy and Sonic were on the road, there came several spots of bother when they ran out of money and had to find a way to raise it. One of the ways was Amy preforming as a 'street magician' letting out several fireworks out of her hand. This got her a lot of attention and rose a considerable profit, until an incident on a boardwalk in a town near San Francisco had deterred that trick.
Amy lifted up her hands and almost immediately several fireworks erupted out of thin air, the mini fireworks had completely surrounding her like a cheap ghost costume. The fireworks was a colour melting pot. Blue, yellow, red, pink, peach, black, gold, silver, what appears to be lilac, orange, green, purple and colours that didn't exist flashed and snapped all around her.
"Nice light show." A calm voice behind Amy said.
Amy nearly jumped out of her skin. Behind her was Rouge the bat looking both amused and slightly disapproved at the same time.
"I am going to pretend that nothing had happened here, with you doing pyrotechnics' near the professor's favourite tree, and I see nobody in the pool." She said emphasising the last part eyeing the boys sheepishly getting out. "Jet if I so much as see you step a toe out of line again I am afraid I will have to tell the Prof, and John you could have got in hot water when I caught you and Bobby in the changing rooms all alone." She said in a serious tone, but her face showed the opposite. "Now please run along, and please behave yourself or else!"
"or else what?" John retorted under his breath.
"or else I will touch you for so long that you will be nothing but a shell!" Rouge said in a much more fierce tone, her face showing that she meant every word of it.
That did it, before Amy had time to even blink the two had vanished as if from thin air.
"Typical" Rouge muttered under her breath. "I would give anything to have another 'gift' than what I have"
The professor looked on stone-faced at the wreak that used to be the speedster testing wheel. It was now reduced to a giant soldering wreak of nothing but smoke, debris and sparks. Nothing of it was left except for the computer that was connected to it that looked as if it had been struck by lightning and had a grenade thrown at it at the same time.
Not to mention the entire room was covered in foam, and a thick cloud of CO2, which obviously came from the tiny pile of fire extinguishers.
Sonic was standing in front of him looking extremely distraught and panicked. He was still holding a fire extinguished and talking so fast that the professor had little time to take in what he was saying
"Iamsosososososososorryproffessor!Iwasrunningandthentherewasasparkandaflashandthenboom!Ididn'tknowwhattodoItriedtogouptoyoubutyouweremovingtooslowandIwasmovingtoofastsoIhadtodosomethingsoIgotafireextinquisherand…"
The professor held up a hand for silence. "I am sorry. Can you please repeat that. You said that you were moving so fast that you saw me moving slowly?"
"yes!" Sonic said then he blinked "wait a moment everything is moving back to normal now. What is going on?"
The professor paused for a moment thinking about his answer then he looked up at the blue hedgehog and said "when you reach a certain speed you will start to see things going in slow motion, giving you enough time to react to things in your way."
"Cool!" Sonic said doing a backflip for no reason whatsoever
"Do be careful though" The professor said grimly "If you move too fast you could vaporize yourself."
Sonic paused as if trying to figure out what to say. H had known that could happen to him but he tried to surpress the thought. This thought didn't escape the professor as he nodded at the blue speedster as if acknowledging what he was thinking.
'Which is why you must learn how to control your gift' the professor thought sending this message to Sonic's mind.
He glanced at a computer monitor "and I see that you generated almost a gigawatt of power! Very impressive."