To Choose A Side

Chapter 3

6 A.M Training

Many in the Brotherhood weren't actually morning people, but those who had been there longer had gotten used to waking up for 6 A.M training; or at least, they were supposed to.

Jules, or now known as Cosmos, came down into the training room with a scowl on her face and still wearing comfy clothing. In London with her family, she was used to sleeping in for the most part. While certain events made her more accustomed to the morning, she still considered six o'clock to be more nighttime than morning.

To almost everyone's surprise, Alchemist was already wide-awake and ready to go. The thrill of training was one of the only things he's willing to wake up early for. Upriser was awake as well, though not as chirpy as his buddy. Sitting on the cold, rock floor of the training room, he struggled to stay awake.

Angellore was the eighteen year old young lady found by Magneto's own daughter, the Scarlet Witch. The Scarlet Witch normally didn't talk to others, but seeing her make fantasy beings struck her interest. She brought her here, where instead of her birth name: Angela Moore, she was given the codename Angellore. The reasoning was unclear, for it could either be a simple combination of first and last name or her first name combined with the word 'lore', and which one was the initial reason I guess we'll never know. Awake like Alchemist, a light was apparent in her eyes, though she looked almost unresponsive at a glance.

To join them, Magneto's twin children would train alongside them: Quicksilver and (of course) the Scarlet Witch). The two were complete opposites: him a teenage boy who wanted to cause trouble, her a teenage girl who would rather be left alone. They stood together and talked quietly, until Avalanche (who had been there before them all) walked toward the boy and informed of his father's summons. With a sigh of annoyance, the teen used his quick speed to rush to his father's chamber, leaving his sister by herself. Angellore hadn't really spoken to the Scarlet Witch after her admission to the Brotherhood—so when she was finally detached from her counterpart, she took the chance to inch over and start hesitant conversation.

Finally, the Polish eighteen year old Ripple, ran down the stairs in a hurry. Unused to waking at such an early time, she had accidently slept in longer than she intended. Though the girls she shared the room with did try to wake her, the girl's exhausting day left her unable to wake. Luckily, her foot stepped through the door frame just before the clock hit 6:01 A.M. Avalanche looked at the clock and then back to Ripple.

"You're lucky. Tomorrow you may not be as lucky." He spoke with a growl. She mumbled her apologies, which he simply nodded his acknowledgment before speaking to the rest of the group.

"This morning will be simple, since we are expecting a couple more newcomers. I just need to catalogue abilities and push the limits of what you have control of. Line up, and I'll go one by one." They lined up easily, Upriser and Ripple bickering slightly about who would go first. Grunting, Alchemist stepped pass both of them, and stood at the front of the line. Once they stopped rustling around, the assessment began.

Striding forward until his feet landed on a blue mat that was placed for today, Alchemist smirked at Avalanche with a cocky smile on his face. Avalanche stood at the edge of the blue mat, giving him room to show them what he could do.

Alchemist focused his powers into his hands, facing his palms at the center of the blue mat. Concentrating with little beads of sweat forming on his forehead, he moved his calloused hands, as if spinning clay on a pottery wheel. He stepped down from the mat as it began to slip from underneath him, and Avalanche nearly tripped as his feet slid. The blue mat twisted at the middle—normally an impossibility from the material it's made of but his power made it seem almost elastic. As it twisted, it rose and even sprouted at the top to create a flower-looking shape. Proud of his work, Alchemist lowered his hands and grinned at Avalanche. With narrowed eyes, Avalanche looked from the now mutilated mat to the grinning 19-year-old.

"Impressive. Now, put it back the way it was originally." He ordered. Alchemist frowned. He's never had to revert what he had done before. Regardless, he liked a challenge, and raised his palms back to the mat. Sweat began to pour a little more profusely now, as he struggled to reverse the new elasticity he had to give the mat to create the shape. Unfortunately, he wasn't really sure how to remove those elements to return its regular stiff shape, and in the process of trying to make it happen ended up collapsing in a huddled blue mess. Growling with irritation and anger, Alchemist walked back to the wall and leaned against it with his arms crossed.

Avalanche walked toward the now deformed beyond repaired mat and made a tsking noise. "It's fine Alchemist; we have multiple of these things for this reason."

The mat took about five minutes to move and another five minutes to put its replacement down. Up next was Upriser.

Like Alchemist, he faced his hand toward the now mangled mat on the other side of the room, and it began to sprout legs and grow eyes. Nodding with approval, Avalanche walked over to the new made-animate object. The eyes were shaky and looked up at the man with fear, and tried to work it's feet to stand up, but the awkward shape wouldn't let it move.

"Eyes and legs. A good start. Now give it a mouth."

"A mouth?" Upriser clarified nervously. Avalanche nodded; following his commands, he focused his power to create a mouth on the already hideous looking creature. A mouth began to grow, though it took place above the eyes. When fully grown, it seemed to procure vocal cords as well—a definite downside to the experiment. The recently created monster began to scream in agony, the high pitch scream causing everyone in the room to clasp their hands over their ears. Avalanche yelled for him to remove the mouth again. Panicking, he tried, though only the legs and eyes vanished. Tell me, if you were the creature though, and you lost sense of sight and ability to move—what would you do? I would probably scream louder. Which is just what the object did. Desperately, Avalanche threw his fist into the mouth to muffle the screams, only to have it sink its formed teeth into his skin. Shouting profanities, Avalanche picked the object up and threw it to the other side of the room. Refusing to die, the screaming continued, until Avalanche clutched his hands together and smacked the floor with his fists. An immense crack ran through the room, splitting it in two, but circled the creature until the Earth beneath it fell apart. In the depths of Hell is probably where it fell: or for those more scientific, the core of the Earth. Wherever, its screams could no longer be heard. Panting, Avalanche glared at the boy. He cowered, mumbling his apologies and walking back to the line.

Rubbing his temples, nursing a forming headache, Avalanche called Cosmos to the stage.

She placed two fingers to each temple to help her focus, standing straight and limbs tucked to balance her center. Concentrating on the space around her, she began removing the gravity around her. With gravity removed, her body began to be lifted slowly off the ground. Upriser whistled his amusement.

"You can fly?" he asked excitedly.

"No, I can just remove the gravity around me." She explained, her fingers coming away from her temples as she enjoyed the blissful sensation of airlessness.

"Interesting. Can you do two people at the same time?" Avalanche questioned.

"I don't see why not." She located two fingers to her temples again, now focusing on the surrounding area around Avalanche. Consequently, in trying to shift the gravity around him, she became momentarily negligent to the gravity around her. The gravity surrounding her returned at full blast, causing her to fall back to the ground. With an "oof!" she landed on her ass, causing the cold Alchemist to burst out laughing. Cosmos glared at him, but was helped up by Ripple. Avalanche chuckled.

"Yes, you always have to keep tabs with every place your power is projected. Next." he called. Next up was Ripple, who was shaking nervously as the grumbling Cosmos passed her.

"I uh…need water for mine to work…" she explained. His eyebrow raised and he nodded, thinking to himself on how to solve the issue. An idea sparking, he walked over to the gym fridge that held many water bottles, and picked one. He threw it to her, where she barely caught it in both hands.

"Keep a water bottle with you. When danger comes around, it won't seem suspicious and you'll be a surprise attack." Ripple nodded and opened the water bottle. She moved her hand to the tip of the bottle and the water rushed out, flowing around the room as it would in the ocean or river. Avalanche walked under the stream. When she wasn't looking, he reached his hand up to touch the water. As soon as he did, the entire stream fell apart and splashed down on all under it: which just happened to be everyone. Everyone but Ripple sputtered and tried wiping their drenched clothes. Confused, she also started murmuring her apologies, and walked back to the line.

The last was Angellore, reassured by Scarlet Witch. Gulping loudly, she walked onto the slippery mat and waited for Avalanche. He had already seen her ability, so he cut to the chase.

"You can only create things for a short amount of time, and they aren't fully solid. Let's test both of these. I want you to try and hold it for seven minutes, and focus on making the image solid." He told her.

After being told what to do, she closes her eyes and lifts her arms slowly. In front of them, the beauty was astonishing, even for those who are stone-hearted. Sparkles of every color imaginable seemed to float down as a form began to take place in front of them. The colorful mist shaped into a small dragon. Angellore's eyes were still shut tightly to the point where tears formed at the corners.

"You can do it, Angellore!" Scarlet Witch shouted out the encouragement. Her head fell back slightly as her entire body began to tense from trying to keep the dragon there. The dragon's wings molded and even flapped twice.

"Almost there, try making it form completely." Avalanche urged. She began to whine as pain started to creep up her limbs to her core, where her ability was originating. The dragon began to recede against her wishes, until the last particles glittered and fell to the floor, vanishing before hitting the ground. Angellore collapsed with lack of energy—Scarlet Witch and Alchemist moved quickly forward to grab her.

"That's enough for now. With the assessment I'll be able to create a more formidable plan. Until then, you are free to do whatever you like. Keep in mind, until your abilities have strengthened, it is not at all wise to leave the Sanctuary." Their teacher told them, and with that they were dismissed.

….

"You wanted to see me, father?" Quicksilver asked, barely cracking the door enough for him to see into Magneto's study.

"Yes, come in." Magneto called. Opening the door all the way, Quicksilver shut the door behind him and in a flash appeared in front of his desk. "We have two recruits I wish for you to show Avalanche for assessment."

He waved his hand to show off two young women.

The first had straight, caramel-colored hair that ran just to her shoulders. Her eyes were a dark, forest-green that darkened her face in contrast to the pale skin, with only the slightest sign of freckles under her eyes giving away some kindness. Wearing jeans with a simple, white blouse, what Quicksilver fount to be peculiar was her studded earrings and thick combat boots.

"This is Ghost," Magneto introduced her. She nodded her greeting.

The second had a darker shade of brown hair than the other woman, her blue eyes lighting up her face. She too wore jeans, and her shirt read "I make geek look good". Both women were both taller than the average eighteen-year-old woman.

"—and this is Elemental Tiger." He continued. She also nodded in greeting. Quicksilver grinned handsomely.

"Well it would be my pleasure to uh, show these beautiful ladies around!" he said, making Elemental Tiger giggle as Ghost rolled her eyes.

"Just get on and show them where they will be staying—make sure that they see Avalanche before settling in as well."

"I'm on it!" Quicksilver saluted, then offered his arm to both ladies. Elemental Tiger gladly took it, but Ghost gave him a cold look and walked in front of them.

At the Xavier Institute just before six a.m., those who would be training with 'The Wolverine' was already awake and getting ready to go downstairs. In Mar, Becca, and Sarah's room, they bustled around while trying not to brush elbows with their fellow roommates. The friendship between the three of them still new, they preferred to keep their distance and not make accidental issues.

Mik had a room to himself. Which also meant that no one were to wake him up. Ivy and EarthShaker were already good friends by now, their common love for nature bonding them. They were just about to join the other three girls in the hallway when EarthShaker stopped and realized someone was missing. She knocked on Mik's door to no answer. Walking in, she squealed as the half-naked Mik was on top of his sheets. The noise interrupted his sleep, and he sat up quickly to see the sixteen-year-old. Both blushed furiously as Mik fell out of his bed, trying to cover himself. EarthShaker watched purely out of confounded embarrassment, and had to be dragged away by a giggling Ivy.

In the danger room, Mik had arrived a little late and was still blushing, only to be greeted by a still-giggling group of girls.

"Glad you decided to join us, Mik." Wolverine chuckled, already aware of the situation in the bedroom. He nodded and took his place in the line of girls. "We're going to have a test of everyone's abilities today, just so I know what everyone needs to work on."

Mik was made to go first. No one knew about his abilities, and watched eagerly. He walked forward and at first faced Wolverine, then surprisingly turned to face the girls. With a comforting smile, his eyes fixed on Sarah. Their eyes met, though Mik's became unfocused and blurred. Then he frowned.

"Sarah, why are you sad?" he asked with a sympathetic look on his face. Wolverine huffed.

"Right, you're the empath. I always seem to forget. Let's see if you can change her emotion."

"Do you mind?" Mik asked worriedly, and Sarah shrugged.

"So long as you don't make me kill anyone." She told him. Nodding with a slight smile, Mik focused on the aura around her. He tried to make the aura a bright green, but couldn't change it from the dull blue. Sighing, a look of disappointment crossed his face. Wolverine but a comforting hand on his shoulder, assuring him they would work on it. Nodding, Mik walked back to the line.

Sarah walked forward next and before even reaching the imaginary 'judgment' circle, she had turned completely invisible. Wolverine grinned.

"I can remember a few times I wished I had that ability." He joked, though his gruff voice made it almost seem like he was serious—which he very well could have been. "This ability is pretty self-explanatory, and while it doesn't seem like you can do much to improve it, you actually can. What we will try to work on is making other items invisible as well, and maybe even other people."

She nodded, though none of them could see it. Revealing herself once more, she walked to the rest of the group.

Becca trudged forward, her entire demeanor not the happiest of them all. She closed her eyes momentarily and began to float up into the air.

"Flying—also self-explanatory. I understand that's not all though?" he asked, and she shook her head. When she started flying forward and picking up speed, to everyone's shock, Wolverine ran after her and jumped into the air and slashed at her. Again, to their astonishment, he slammed into her and fell straight to the ground; no damage was done to her and she landed safely, unlike Wolverine. He laughed a little as he stood back up, his healing factor kicking in.

"Mobile invulnerability. Useful. This only works when in the air though?" he questioned her. She nods. "Then we will try to apply that power on the ground as well."

Becca walked away to let Ivy and EarthShaker forward. The two decided that with the similar abilities, they could combine their powers to create strong powers. Wolverine waited as the girls focused. EarthShaker's tattoos began to glow a bright green, and Ivy's electric blue eyes shined brighter. Ten feet below the danger room was the soil, where the girls mentally planted an energy sprout. Growing quickly, the sprout pushed the soil away like any tree would, roots whipping out wildly. Before long, the sprout grew a trunk that pierced the pure steel flooring, ivy leaves wrapping around the trunk and forming branches. Made of energy, the tree was very solid, and glowed a pure green.

Wolverine grinned at the tree, but shook his head. "Beast is gonna hate you girls for messing up his danger room again."

"You two can combine your powers, that's obvious. The process though, is still long. In battle it would be about a minute too long. We'll have to work on speeding it up and making more than trees." He told them, sending them back to the line. Finally, the youngest walked over.

Mar was a little nervous, thinking to herself that everyone's powers were so much better than hers. Wolverine encouraged her to show them. Taking a breath, she looked up at the ceiling, where the LED lights were. Squinting almost, she focused on them. At first unnoticeable, they waited patiently; soon, it became apparent that the room was getting brighter. In fact, the room became so bright that they had to shield their eyes. Seconds after, the lights burst, sending them into darkness. Apologizing, Mar then turned on lights to a surveillance room just above them, giving them some light.

"Light manipulation is nifty, especially when you get to the different wave-spectrums." He watched her worriedly as she pinched her nose, a headache developing. "We will first have to work on decreasing the effects it has on you to use it."

She shuffled back, and the group was complete. Wolverine walked in front of them, carefully in the dim light, to give them the final results.

"We have quite a few things to work on. They may not seem major, but it is important to be able to handle your abilities. We will all also be working on removing the emotional bond to your powers. When you have a hissy fit, the last thing we want is someone to die because of it. You all did good, and still have the rest of the day ahead of you. Go have fun, and we will meet back to begin the training process."

With murmured good byes and thanks, the group dispersed.

A/N: Made it in time! Barely, but made it all the same! Okay, so I have ONE MORE CHARACTER SLOT! And that's it for a long long time! Please though, consider making a male! If you haven't noticed, almost all OC's except for three are male…that makes for a lot of girl trouble! So this was actually supposed to be what happened the entire day, but the assessments ran really, really long so I decided to break it down into two chapters instead. Thanks for reading! Reviews appreciated!