Hello again to all my friends. I don't own X-men, but regardless the original characters that I'll be using in here do belong to me.

To firewhisperer: Be wary of the daddy... what shall he try?

To Kali3110: Oh, so you want me to do something like... :p

Chapter 35

Circuit was up in the control box monitoring all the movements of the players when there was a knock on the door, "Yeah, yeah, come in." He called. The door opened and in walked Wolverine. "Hey Logan, what's shakin'?" Techno music was playing loudly in the control box.

"Whose wise idea was a maze?"

"Naomi, she wanted it more challenging." He smiled while adjusting the program, "Don't worry, Aurora approved, as long as she's got that monitor thing on for if she goes to that 'in-between' thing or whatever it is." He looked over at Logan, "You can supervise if you want. Hart's at one of the starting points." He motioned out the window, "the players when they loose the hill are randomly placed at one of the entrances to the maze and have to do a run through an occasionally changing maze back to the center of the room. Where the hill is, first one to knock the king off the hill becomes the king until their dethroned." Circuit shrugged, "simple game really, uses both brains and brawn."

The walls became a contortion of shadows and electrical energy. Sparky and Naomi were battling for the hill.

"Couldn't that electric girl fry the monitor?" Logan asked watching the walls, and the forms of the two girls in the center of the maze below.

Circuit shook his head, "I fixed it to... well basically ignore outside electrical currents." He scratched his head, its a lot more technical than that. The system beeped. He pressed a button, "What's up Hart?"

"Rune's here, he wants to know if he can join the game." Hart replied.

"Hmm... invisible gravity field walls..." He started pressing buttons, Logan watched as the boy's eyes flew over the buttons and keys as fast as his fingers did, and shook his head, all this technology... "Alright, I think I got it down." He pressed another button. "Attention all players." His voice came on over the speakers, "We have someone joining the game, Rune, go when you're ready!"

Naomi lost her control of the hill, the walls turned to electrical energy while Rune started off into the high walled maze.

She sighed coming up at one of the entrances. She dusted herself off and stretched, the announcement had thrown her off. Naomi stood for a moment in the silence. "There needs to be some music..." she muttered. Though she was pretty sure it would distract them all. She watched the electricity dance and jump from one wall to the next.

Naomi smiled, getting through the maze was part of the fun. She ran into the fray, jumping a bolt of electrical power as she went. Shadows would move and shift with the light off the electricity but not enough to be erratic and disruptive to her. She was getting stronger, the very idea of it sent thrills through her body. She turned a corner from one of her previous runs and found a dead end forming. She headed for it, her shadow shot ahead of her and laid on the walls surface. She walked through it and out the other side. She paused after stepping out of the shadow and let her own dark companion join her again at her feet. Sure, she could of jumped to the hill if she wanted but where was the challenge in that? She wanted something to exhaust her both mentally and physically at the moment, too much was polluting her thoughts. Really, all she wanted to do was sleep.

Ivy passed an opening ahead of Naomi, her skin had a wooden quality to it, the electrical currents seemed to avoid her completely. She grinned and took a different direction. Yes, it was allowed for players to attack other players before they reached the hill, but she tried to avoid that as best she could manage. The walls changed into flames rather suddenly. Naomi laughed avoiding the jumping flames. Dragon must of gotten the drop on Sparky.

The monitor in her pocket ticked rather annoyingly every time she used her powers, the higher the concentration of use the faster it would tick. She ducked behind another wall to avoid being seen by Sparky, she was set on being the final king of the hill, or at least to hold the hill through at least two battles.

Sparky turned left then right and collided with Rune. She jumped back to her feet. Electricity jumped across her fingers. Rune laughed and levitated her off the ground with a quick movement of his hands. She yelped as the energy on her hands decreased, she needed to be grounded to attack with more power than static cling. She humphed and crossed her arms while Rune walked under her. After a moment Sparky glided gently back to the ground again. She took off toward the hill in a different direction than Rune.

He walked calmly though the maze, the crackling of flames was almost comforting. He had a general idea as to the center, but he'd run into four dead ends just since entering the maze. Rune paused when Naomi ran from one entrance in the maze, crossed his line of vision then vanished around the next corner up. He took up the same pace and followed her. "Follow someone who's been playing the game the longest. Sounds like a good plan."

Naomi felt him following her, she shook her head and took a turn she knew would lead to a dead end. Rune followed. She shadowed through the blocking wall and came out on the other side. Rune slid to a halt at the dead end. "Ha ha, Naomi! That's a great way to treat a new player."

"I believe in letting people learn from their own failures!" She called back over the wall. At that she took the last few turns to the central hub. The walls began a partial shift between fire and electricity again. Sparky was a glutton for punishment, Naomi shook her head, every time the younger girl had gone against Dragon she'd either barely manage to gain the hill or would loose; not that that stopped her. Naomi couldn't help but like her determination. She walked slowly waiting to see the determined winner of their little spat.

Electricity began to jump across the walls.