St John the Divine: The Fight
- Chibi Lurrel

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The sun was shining outside the day of their fight. Dr McCoy had returned looking troubled, and he, Logan, and Storm had a staff conference in the Professor's old study. Pyro wasn't invited – he was still just a tutor, and a distrusted one at that. Pyro didn't like the staff being agitated while he was planning on fighting his best friend and big pain in the ass Bobby Drake. There had been something brewing under the surface for a while now, but he had no idea what.

Pyro felt nervous already– damn, did this event really need such a big fucking audience? Bobby looked uneasy, too, which made him feel a little better. They stood facing each other, a big balsa wood barrier in between them and the students. He figured maybe Wolverine built it. The old gang all stood clustered together, Rogue, Jubilee, Kitty and Piotr, and that new guy, Gambit, and they were all cheering, mostly for Bobby. Pyro didn't blame them.

Storm began the fight by introducing them to the student body. She flew down, hovering over the improvised battle field, or lawn, and addressed the kids.

'Alright, students, we've set this demonstration to show you how training can improve your control. These are two experienced combatants who have agreed to face off for the benefit of your education. You should all recognize Bobby Drake, alias Iceman, as a former student and now a full-time member of the X-Men. His opponent today is St. John Allerdyce, alias Pyro, who is also a former student of Xavier's Academy, and who is currently an independent tutor for several of you.' She smiled out at the crowd.

The two mutants started out predictably: Bobby made the first move, shooting a wave of ice right where Pyro's chest would have been if he hadn't side stepped. Pyro's wrists clicked and there were two spirals of flame headed straight for Bobby on either side and he was forced to throw up an ice wall. They began to trade attacks, gearing up for the expected conclusion. Pyro could feel himself getting more and more into the fight. The audience's shouts disappeared and were replaced with a startling clarity on his one goal: defeating Bobby, his sometimes lover and friend. He smiled and shot a straight line of fire at the same time Bobby threw his ice. The lines of attack hit with a metallic clang and the collision rocked Pyro's whole body, the cold inching its way to the pulse in his temples.

When John kicked his powers into high-gear, his whole body broke into goosebumps and his eyes watered up. The hair at the back of his neck prickled. It was like being hit with a sudden realization about life or listening to music rush into a grand crescendo, hearing a soaring high note. His body sang with it, burning hot. His bones burned white under his skin. Pyro blinked the tears out of his eyes as he leaned into the heat, felt the giddy flow of sheer power flow through his whole being.

Bobby was holding up well, considering John turned his wall of flame completely, blindingly blue. God, he felt like he could blow up the entire mansion, and his face hurt from grinning so widely. Bobby's face was carved into the same look of concentration he got while doing calculus. Suddenly, though, he looked through the tangle of powers in between them, caught John's eyes, and grinned. John watched as Bobby changed, shifting into his ice-form slowly and deliberately. He guessed it must be somewhat a shock to the system and throttled his flames up, but Bobby's attempts at building a total wall of ice doubled in intensity.

Pyro's head was suddenly throbbing, pulsing like he had a fever and he groaned, stepping backwards and losing his footing. It hurt his head and he felt his jaw tense as he gritted his teeth in response. His fire was dying and it pained him physically, so he launched himself out of the way as he cut off the fire.

'Getting a little chillier, Johnny?' Bobby asked smugly as he glanced around. Pyro had managed to roll out of his line of sight and he crept closer, but Bobby caught sight of him. Ice began curl around Pyro, but he just snorted. He figured he had left the school too early to get a real working knowledge of appropriate battle taunts and puns.

Pyro flicked his wrists and he had two fire snakes coiling around his feet. He sent them up the sides of Bobby's attempted ice prison, growing into long, thin curtains of fire. The wall melted quickly and then the two mutants stood facing each other again, Bobby encased in ice and Pyro poised for battle. All around them sat ruined patches of earth, blackened and warped like volcanic glass.

'Getting tired?'

Pyro grinned. 'I guess I'm supposed to say that I'm just getting fired up.'

Bobby went for the offence and John sidestepped it. Mystique had bested him in hundreds of no-powers fighting drills and Bobby looked like an amateur in comparison. Pyro could read his moves and body like a book, and they began to really fight.

Every hit that connected with Pyro hurt like getting hit with rocks hurt, and pretty soon he was bruised and his skin ached. His ears were filled with the dull roar of adrenaline. Bobby tried freezing his feet to the ground and Pyro rolled back, throwing small balls of fire to keep Bobby distracted. Once he relegated Bobby to simple defensive moves, he came in with an elbow to the shoulder. Bobby shouted something and his eyes grew brighter and his punches were colder, Pyro was getting chilly but his fingers were itching and then Bobby landed a particular savage blow to his stomach. He responded with a twitch of his wrist and an uppercut to the sternum with a hand covered in fire, then a blow to the face.

Bobby hit the ground screaming, grabbing his face and rolling to his side to curl into a ball. Pyro extinguished his own hands and stared down dumbly.

'I. Uh. Shit.'

Dr. McCoy leapt over the barriers and picked up Bobby like a doll in his huge blue arms as Wolverine yelled at all the students that the fight was over, and Pyro had won, but it was time to get the hell back to their rooms. Bobby was still clutching his face and screaming. Pyro ran after them as the entirety of the teaching staff bolted for the medical wing.

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Author's Note: So I discovered the other day that I had more of this story saved on my computer. Some of it needs a rewrite, but you know. I figured I'd upload it. Thanks for stickin' with me, dudes and dudettes, and please leave me a review if you like it! xoxo