Okay. School's over. I'm still looking for a job, but our computer has finally revived after its crashing episode, which means that, yay, I can start to write my fanfiction again! It has been so long, and by now I'm pretty sure that anyone who was reading this previously no longer cares. After my last post of two chapters I only gained 2 reviews, and if that wasn't a sign that very few people are actually happy with me, I don't know what is.

"You ready for this?" Rogue asked Callie as they stood face to face in the lounge room, with Jean now watching as she sat on the couch.

"Shouldn't I be asking if you're ready?" Callie asked her.

"No." Jean answered for Rogue. "You should definitely be prepared for this. Having your feelings invaded like that will leave you paralysed if you're not ready for it." Callie nodded.

"Okay." She said, holding out her hands. "I'm ready."
It was the weirdest feeling for Rogue to find Callie's power. She had only ever looked inside Jean's mind before and the difference between a teenage and an adult mind was huge, not to mention the fact that Callie didn't know how to use her power as Jean did. Callie's mind was different, more innocent, less scared of what would eventually happen and more scared about what was happening in the present. It was nice for Rogue to know that someone else felt the same as her, and she was happy. When Rogue finally got Callie's power working, she was less happy. All she got from Callie was small flashes, but they were not happy scenes, they were filled with violence. Rogue let go and stumbled backwards.

"What?" Callie asked. "What did you see?" Rogue couldn't see the look upon her own face, but saw Callie's concerned expression and took a couple of deep breaths.

"I don't know." She answered. "But if you always see things like that I can see why you don't like to use your power." She looked pointedly over at Jean, who looked thoughtful.

"Did you find it easier to use someone else's power?" She asked, completely ignoring whatever vision Rogue had just had of the future. Rogue gave a confused look, but nodded. "And it was easier for you when it wasn't my mind you had to go into?" Rogue nodded again.

"It didn't bother me that much." Callie chimed in. If I wouldn't have already known that Rogue was using my power, I wouldn't have guessed it."

"That's good." Jean said approvingly. "That means that we can go straight on to the next part."

"Which is?" Rogue prompted. Jean smiled.

"Using another mutant's power with as little time and obvious contact as possible."

"And how are we going to do that?"

"Bring in some new test subjects."

Callie and Rogue walked apprehensively into the training hall together, but nobody paid them any unwanted attention.

"Who has a power that wouldn't be too noticeable if I used it?" Rogue whispered as Callie scanned the room.

"I don't know." Callie answered softly. "I suppose that maybe… maybe you should practice more on me before you risk exposing your freaky power to everyone else."

"But if we do that, how do we know it works?"

"We could just ask James to help us." Callie suggested. The comment had the desired effect as Rogue shivered.

"I get your point, Callie, but I have to do this. Now, tell me. What's Sarah's power?"

"Uh uh." Callie shook her head. "She can charge up energy balls and throw them at people."

"Steve?"

"His body becomes covered with metal."

"Tom?"

"He just moves really fast."

"Melinda?"

"I think we can just conclude that everyone here just has powers that are too open."

"Jean wouldn't have sent me out here if she had thought I couldn't do this."

"Maybe she didn't want you to keep it secret." Callie suggested.

"No. She didn't want everyone to panic."

"It's scary that you have a power that can actually cause panic."

"Nobody likes to have their mind invaded." Rogue told her. "Living with Professor Xavier will definitely teach you that."

"All right." Callie sighed. "Let me think for a while, okay? A power that wouldn't be too noticeable when you use it… Maybe… maybe if you just go for strength, huh? When you knock someone to the ground with ease, you'll know that you're using it."

"Sounds easy." Rogue agreed. "Who's got the extra strength?"

Callie led Rogue over to an old man hitting a punching bag.

"Rob?" She asked. "Do you think you could help Rogue?" The old man turned to face the girls and his wrinkly face creased into a smile.

"This is the little one who Jean's training, right?" He asked. Callie nodded.

"She needs some strength training, but I'm too weak."

"Yeah, in your case, the mind's stronger than the body, right? How's your training coming along, anyway?" He asked.

"Don't ask. Just controlling it is enough for me."
The man faced Rogue and held out his hand.

"I'm Rob." He said to her. As Rogue took his hand and shook it, she was very aware of the fact that she no longer needed her gloves, but the only skin contact she'd had since she gained her powers was with Jean and Callie. Rob's hand was rough and wrinkly. She stared down at their hands as she shook his.

"Rogue." She replied, looking away from her hands and up at Rob's face.

"I see you gave up the gloves." He said to her. "It must be hard."

"Just strange." Rogue commented, pulling her hand away from Robs. "Are you going to help me?" She asked.

"I hope you don't want to be able to beat me by the end of this fight, I am very strong, you know."

"No, she just wants to stand up to you." Callie told him.

"What's the sparring game?" Rob asked Callie, obviously noting that she was doing all the talking for Rogue.

"We need a circle."

"Is this such a good idea?" Rogue asked Callie.

"Come on, he's not going to hurt you." Callie told her.

"I was actually more worried that I'd hurt him. He's not exactly young." Callie smiled.

"Looks can be deceiving." She told her. "You just try to knock him out of the circle first."

Rogue moved into the circle and looked Rob in the eye. He didn't seem worried.

"Don't worry; I'll go easy on you to start with." He told her. Somebody blew a whistle and Rogue realised that there was a crowd watching before she was knocked out of the circle when the old man tackled her. She stared at him from the mat.

"I thought you were going to go easy on me." She said. Rob laughed as he held out his hand to help her up.

"That doesn't mean I want to lose. We have an audience, in case you didn't notice."

"See?" Callie whispered in her ear. "Now are you going to try?"

"Round two!" Somebody yelled as Rogue got back into the circle. The whistle blew and Rogue dodged to the side as Rob lunged at her again. He smiled at her as they faced off. Rob moved closer and Rogue tried to ram him, but found herself on the mat at Rob's feet. She was winded, and cringed as the crowd counted down from three.

"You up for round three?" Rob asked her as he helped her up again. Breathing heavily, Rogue ignored Rob's hand and stood up by herself. As the whistle blew again, she circled him and rammed, but pulled back quickly when she realised it didn't do anything. She glanced at Callie, who was standing behind Rob at a safe distance away from the circle. Callie smiled encouragingly and Rogue had to dodge as Rob took a shot at her. Rob was faster than Rogue thought, and once again she lay outside the circle.

"Come on." She heard Callie say. "Concentrate. You're not even trying." She pulled Rogue to a sitting position.

"You're right." She agreed. "I've just been trying to beat him. I'm just… not used to using my powers like that."

"So get used to it. That's what this practice is for."
Rob came and stood above Rogue again.

"Are you sure you're up for another round?" He asked, smiling. "I don't think you should have even started. You've never even strength trained before, have you?"
Rogue stood up quickly.

"I'm going to beat you." She told him confidently. "Believe me; I'll push you right out of that circle." She jumped into the circle again and stood ready for another round as Rob looked at Callie and sighed.

"I'm only doing this because you're Callie's friend." He said. He seemed hesitant for another round because of how quickly he had beaten her previously. Rogue finally ignored all of the distractions around her and concentrated on her ability to use another mutant's power. As Rob lunged for her again, she sidestepped and rammed him with her shoulder. He recovered before she could reach his power, so Rogue jumped backwards.

"You've tried that before." Rob told her. "There is no way that you're strong enough to knock me out of the circle."

"Believe me, I'm just warming up." Rogue replied, watching his movements closely so that he wouldn't catch her off guard again.

Callie watched Rogue move around the circle, dodging Rob and trying to ram him. She couldn't use his power in the short time it took to ram him, and so was not getting anywhere. She sighed, wondering if Rogue was ever going to just push him

Whatever word limit I've had in previous chapters, I just threw right outta the window. Plenty of times I thought I should just wrap it up, but first I didn't have enough words, then I couldn't bear to stop at that part, then I just thought stuff it, I'm gonna keep going. Starting a new chapter would take too long. Hope you're happy. If you liked the chapter, please review. If you're still reading this fanfic after my… long absence from updating, please tell me. I'd like to know if I didn't annoy anyone too much by taking a break because of school stress.