The crowd roared in excitement as a monster truck crushed several cars under its massive wheels at the Texas State Fair.
"Alright." An announcer said. "Let's hear a big cheer for the lady of monster trucks, Charlie Ray!" The truck stopped as the window went down and a feminine hand popped out to wave at the crowd before taking off. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the main attraction of the evening. Let's give it up for the strongest teenager, Fred "The Blob" Dukes!"
Standing in between two monster trucks was a very obese teenage boy with a blonde mohawk. The boy, Fred, took off his cape and tossed it aside before grabbing a chain in each hand that was connected to the monster truck.
"Alright, Fred. Let's show them what you got." The announcer encouraged as the trucks began to start up.
In the crowd was Mystique, in her Darkholme form, watching Fred through a pair of binoculars.
The people in the audience watched in interest as the trucks began moving, but they soon stopped as Fred held his grip on them. The trucks couldn't move an inch as they kept trying to pry free, before Fred pulled both vehicles towards him as he jumped in the air, preventing himself from being crushed as they collided with each other. Blob then landed on the two, causing his weight to make their tires deflate as the crowd cheered.
Fred was basking in the praise before he stumbled and fell to the ground. This mishap turned the cheers into laughs as they pointed at the boy, who glared at them.
The laughter. He hated it. It had been with him all his life. From the children who picked on him in elementary school and to the people in the crowds today. To Fred, it was a reminder that he was different. And in life, different was met with scorn, hatred, and ridicule.
The only people not laughing were Mystique, who was observing him with interest, Logan, and Danny, who were in the crowd.
"I don't know why they're laughing so hard." Danny said to Logan about the audience's amusement. "He fell down. It's not that funny."
"It doesn't. People just want an excuse to laugh at someone who's different." Logan said. "Make them feel better about themselves."
Danny looked down before looking to his left, where a person was still howling with laughter.
Angered by this, Danny took the guy's soda and poured it over his head.
Danny then started laughing, causing the guy to tackle him as the two started to fight.
Logan couldn't help but smirk as the fight soon drew in other members of the crowd. Despite this, Danny managed to hold his own against them all.
He was glad that he brought Danny along. It's never a dull moment with him.
Once it was all over, Fred was in his room, tearing it apart. A locker was thrown to the side as Fred was currently punching holes in the walls, imagining that he was punching the laughing faces of those people.
As his rage was starting to subside, the door opened, letting light into the dark room as Fred turned around to see Mystique standing in the doorway.
"Something wrong?" She asked with a predatory smile.
"Yeah. These small-town hicks." Fred grunted. "They've laughed at me for the last time. I'm getting out of here for good."
"That could be arranged." Mystique said as she stepped closer to him. "In fact, I know somewhere where your talents would truly be appreciated." She placed a finger on his chest.
"Listen, lady." Fred smacked her hand away. "If you're from the circus, you can forget it."
"Oh, no, no, no, no." Mystique replied. "I have something far more interesting in mind. Care to hear more?"
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Fred went to the door to close it as Danny and Logan were walking down the halls to talk to him. Logan got up to the door as it closed, allowing him a glance at Mystique, who smirked at him, before being cut off.
Logan grunted in annoyance. Looks like she beat them to this one. "Let's go." He said to Danny as he started to walk away.
"What? We came all this way here just to be stopped by a door?" Danny asked.
"They got to him first." Logan simply replied. "We'll only make it worse if we try to intervene."
Danny merely rolled his eyes. "Fine."
"This will be your schedule for the semester." Mystique said as they sat in her office at Bayville High. "Any questions, Mr. Dukes?"
"I don't know if I can do school again." Fred said hesitantly, thinking back to his childhood and all the bullying that came with it. "I didn't fit in the other ones."
"You won't have that trouble here." Mystique assured him. "As the principal, I can make sure of it."
Fred then left the office as he looked over the paper, trying to make sense of it. He didn't know why there had to be so many classrooms and teachers. Why couldn't they simply reduce it all to just one?
"First period." He mumbled. "Man, this is complicated." He noticed a student walk past him, and he grabbed him. "Hey! Hey, you!" He shoved the paper in front of the guy's face. "Where am I supposed to be?"
The student he grabbed happened to be Duncan Matthews, who couldn't resist making a crack at Fred's size. "I don't know. How about a sideshow?" He started laughing, which made Fred's face go red with rage.
He threw Duncan to the floor and ripped some lockers off the wall as he lifted them over his head. "Don't you make fun of me!"
Danny was walking down the hall, minding his own business, when he saw Fred about to smash Duncan with the lockers.
The hybrid went up to Fred and placed a hand on his arm. "Dude, you're putting in too much effort."
Fred looked at the guy in confusion as Danny made his way over to Duncan. "Think simply like this." Danny grabbed the jock's arm and placed it behind his back, making Duncan grunt in pain.
"Hey! Let go!" Duncan protested.
"What, so you can bully him some more?" Danny asked. "I don't think so." He increased the pressure, making Duncan let out a cry of pain.
"You gonna leave him alone?" Danny said to the bully.
"Yes!" Duncan yelled, wanting the pain to stop.
Danny let him go. "Good. Now beat it, loser." Duncan didn't argue as he got to his feet and made a mad dash for his next class.
The X-Man shook his head at the blonde's behavior. "Still have no clue what Jean sees in him." He then turned his attention to Fred. "Oh, hey, man." He held out his hand. "I'm Danny. Nice to meet you."
Fred placed the lockers down and took the offered hand. "Fred. Fred Dukes. I'm new here."
"I've figured, since you're the first person here to ever rip off those lockers." Danny replied, pointing with his thumb at the lockers. "Sorry about Duncan. He's the school's dipshit. If he tries to give you any more trouble, let me know and I'll sort it out."
"Thanks." Fred said gratefully, happy to have met someone who didn't laugh at him. He looked down at his schedule and remembered his original question. He held it out to Danny. "Uh, can you help me? I don't know where I'm supposed to be."
"Oh, your first class is over there." Danny pointed to the right.
"Thanks." Fred replied.
"Don't mention it." Danny told him as he started to walk away. "The first day's always the roughest. It'll get better. See you around."
"Yeah." Fred said as he walked to class.
Class was nearly over as Danny was doodling in his notebook. He was in drama, which he had with Scott and Rogue.
"Alright, for this drama exercise, you'll each be doing a scene with a partner." The teacher said as he started to pass out scripts to the students. "Since a few of you haven't chosen partners, I'll be pairing you up myself." He passed a script to a dark-haired girl. "Taryn, you and Danny will do Laura and Jim from The Glass Menagerie."
Danny nodded as he took the script.
The teacher then gave the last two to Scott and Rogue. "And that leaves you and you."
"Ok." Scott said as he looked at the script.
"You two will be doing Shakespeare's Henry V." The teacher told them. "I've marked it. Henry and Katherine, daughter of the French King."
"Lots of luck, Scott." Scott's friend, Paul, said. "I don't think Miss Small, Dark, and Sullen has ever said two words. You'll have to play both parts yourself."
"Fuck off, Paul." Danny said, making the class laugh.
"Alright, class." The teacher calmed them down. "Mr. Fenton, watch your language." He chided Danny before turning to the rest of the class. "I want you to get together with your scene partner and rehearse. You perform on Tuesday."
Scott turned around to talk to Rogue. "You okay with this?"
"Yeah, sure." Rogue mumbled. Although she had been with the X-Men for some time, she was still getting used to them. The only person she felt comfortable with was Danny. She would sit next to him during meals and would be seen hanging out with him.
Knowing that Rogue's shyness with him would cause problems, he came up with an idea.
"Mr. Arad. Is it okay that Danny and I switch scenes?" Scott asked.
Mr. Arad shrugged. "Sure."
Danny and Scott switched scripts before the class left.
Scott was talking to Danny as the boy was going through his locker.
"She seems more comfortable around you than the rest of us." Scott said to him. "I don't know why."
Danny looked over at Rogue, who was at her locker. "Her life has changed so fast. I'm sure she's just trying to process it all." Danny placed a hand on his shoulder. "She'll come around, Scott. She just needs some time."
The two then made their way to the cafeteria as they sat at a table with the other X-Men. The group was talking when Kitty spotted Fred walking into the cafeteria with a smile on his face.
"Is that humongous guy the one you and Logan, like, went to see Saturday night?" Kitty asked Danny.
"Yeah, Fred." Danny answered. "He's pretty cool. He tried to smash Duncan with some lockers earlier today, so he's okay in my book."
"He's the one who did that?" Kitty asked in a shocked voice. "Freaky."
"Wait, what?" Jean said when she heard Danny mention Duncan.
"Yeah, your boyfriend was being a dick like usual, and this time someone decided to fight back." Danny replied. "Honestly, Jean, why do you even date that fuck?"
"Danny!" Jean exclaimed at his language.
"Everyone knows he's an asshole except you." Danny continued. He turned to Scott. "Back me up here, Scott."
"Uh." Scott didn't know what to say, as he agreed with Danny, but he didn't want to upset Jean.
As Scott was trying to form a response, Fred was at the line for lunch when he pushed the student in front of him out of the way. The lunch lady's eyes widened as she looked at Fred, who held out his tray.
"Fill her up." Fred said.
The lunch lady was about to get a plate when Fred stopped her. "Hey, hey. Who said anything about a plate?" He pointed at his tray. "Now load it up. Heavy."
The lady did just that as she placed an enormous amount of food, consisting of burgers, sandwiches, fries, grapes, and even a donut.
Once it was over, Fred waved in thanks as he left, and the lady let out a sigh of relief.
Back with the X-Men, Scott couldn't form an answer, making Danny roll his eyes. "Well, since you don't want to rip on Duncan for some reason, how about you talk about the fact that you're in a scene with Taryn?"
"Oh, you're rehearsing with Taryn?" Jean asked Scott.
Scott nodded. "Yeah, she seems excited."
Danny snorted. He saw the way Taryn's eyes lit up when she realized she would be rehearsing with Scott. "More like excited to be with you."
"Shut up, Danny." Scott murmured.
This didn't deter Danny, who smirked at his friend. "Sorry, I forgot she's not your type. You're into redheads."
Scott blushed heavily at the implication and tried to elbow Danny, but it only went through him.
"So who are you rehearsing with, Danny?" Jean asked.
"Me." Rogue said, making the others look at her.
"We're doing a romantic scene." Danny elaborated.
"Oh." Kurt gave a mischievous look at Rogue. "That sounds like fun. Eh, Rogue?" He saw the way that the goth girl would glance at Danny.
Rogue blushed before glaring at Kurt. "Don't make me drain you, Fuzzy."
As the X-Men continued to talk, Fred walked past them and found an empty table with some dirty dishes on it. As he sat down, the chair broke, causing him to drop the tray on the table, which made the table launch the dirty dishes and the uneaten food at another table where Duncan and his friends were sitting.
Duncan snarled as he looked at Fred, realizing he was the one who humiliated him. "Bad move, Blob Boy." He went over to teach him a lesson.
Knowing that Fred needed his help, Danny got up from his seat. "If you excuse me, Jean, I have to save your boyfriend from his own stupidity."
Fred was about to move when he slipped on some spilled juice, making the entire cafeteria (except for the X-Men) laugh.
"Don't laugh at me!" Fred yelled, his face red again. He grabbed some food and threw it at Duncan and his two friends. Duncan threw some food back at Fred, making him retaliate.
"Food fight!" One student cried as everyone started to throw their lunch.
Scott, Kurt, and Rogue dived under the table as Jean formed a telekinetic shield to protect her, while Kitty was hit in the face by a burger.
"Excuse me, I'm skipping dessert." She phased through the ground.
Fred was currently enraged as he was swinging a table around. He spotted Duncan and was about to beat the jock with it when Danny got in front of him.
"Fred!" Danny cried. "Fred, calm down. As much as it pains me to say this, you can't hurt Duncan."
"You little..." Duncan was about to insult Fred again when Jean grabbed him by the ear.
"Duncan!" Jean scolded.
"Uh, hey, Jean." Duncan greeted fearfully, knowing he was in trouble.
"You're coming with me, mister." She dragged him out of the cafeteria. "We're gonna have a chat about your behavior."
"It's okay, Fred." Danny reassured him. "Jean's gonna rip him a new one. It's over."
Fred threw the table to the ground. "They shouldn't have laughed at me!"
"You're right." Danny agreed. "They shouldn't. But you need to calm down. No one's gonna laugh at you. I promise."
The rest of the X-Men were watching from a distance.
"Wow, he really looks out for others." Rogue said.
"Yeah, Danny is a good guy." Scott said. "When he's not constantly getting under my skin, that is. Besides, it's not just him who does it. We all look out for each other. That's what the X-Men do."
Rogue smiled at Scott's words before Principal Darkholme burst through the doors.
"What the hell happened?" She yelled at seeing the cafeteria in a mess.
Danny pointed to one of Duncan's friends. "It was this guy, I swear."
The other X-Men and Fred nodded their heads, making Mystique sigh that she couldn't get Danny in trouble. She decided to take her anger out on the student Danny pointed to. "My office, now!"
The student nodded fearfully as he made his way to the office, but not before giving Danny a glare.
"Sorry about that." Fred apologized. "It's just when they laugh at me, I kind of explode inside, you know?"
"I understand, Fred." Danny said understandingly. "It's a perfect, normal human reaction to get angry when in the presence of Duncan Matthews. But you gotta learn to control yourself. You can't let your anger make every decision for you. But we can help you with training."
"Yeah, right." Fred scoffed. "Where?"
"The school I got to, the Xavier Institute, is where I learned to control my gifts."
"Gifts?" Fred asked curiously. "You mean, you have powers too."
"Yep." Danny smirked. "Watch." He aimed his hand at a chair, and an ecto-blast destroyed it.
Fred was impressed. "Wow! You can really pound people with that."
"You bet! But it's not just about pounding people." Danny replied. "It's about taking control of your powers and using them for the right reasons. I can take you to the institute some time. The professor would like to meet you."
Fred considered it. "I'll think about it."
"Cool. Well, I got to get to class; see ya." Danny bid him goodbye as he left the cafeteria, where Rogue was waiting.
"That was really cool what you did." Rogue said to him. "Helping that guy."
Danny blushed. "Well, I know what it's like to be bullied. I can't stand by and let someone else suffer."
"What's going on here?" Principal Darkholme appeared behind the two as she glared at Danny.
"We were just talking, Principal Darkholme." Danny said flatly, not intimidated by the principal at all. Usually Danny would feel nervous around authority figures, but after his experience with the monster with the head made of flames, he realized that these teachers were just full of shit and not worth being afraid of. Darkholme could yell all she wanted, but she was nothing compared to the thing that haunted Danny's nightmares. "It's this thing people use to communicate by moving their lips and tongue to form syllables that make words."
"I mean, why aren't you in class?" Darkholme yelled, gritting her teeth in anger at Danny's attitude.
"We were just heading there when you stopped us." Danny said smartly. "As a principal, you should know better than to impede a student's education."
"Just get out of here!" Darkholme cried.
"Gladly." Danny said as he walked down the hall, with a giggling Rogue next to him.
"I hate that boy so much." Darkholme said to herself.
"The principal seems to hate you." Rogue said as they were walking to class.
Danny snorted. "Nothing new. School faculty seems to just have it out for me. I've never come across a teacher who hasn't seen me as some punk with no future."
"I don't think you're a punk." Rogue told him. "I think you're really sweet."
The ghost rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks, Rogue."
It was after school, and Fred was walking out when Duncan appeared in his path. "You, Fat Boy! I'm in the doghouse now because of you!" He held up his fists. "We're settling this. I'll send you back to the circus in a body bag."
Fred tried to throw a punch, but tripped and fell down the stairs in front of the entrance to the school, causing everyone, including Duncan, to laugh at Fred.
Having had enough with Duncan and all the laughter, Fred grabbed him by the arm and threw him over at least four feet.
Duncan groaned in pain as he tried to pick himself off the ground when he saw Fred making his way to him. Getting frightened, Duncan held out his hands in surrender. "No, wait, man, it's cool. I didn't mean it!"
Fred didn't care, as he was done with this boy. He threw a punch at the jock, who managed to roll out of the way as he started running away. Pulling out his phone, Duncan dialed the number for Jean, hoping that she could help him out of this.
Jean was in her room when her phone rang.
She answered it. "Hello."
"Jean!" Duncan's voice cried over the phone. "That blob boy is gonna kill me! I need your help!"
Outside, Scott, Xavier, and Logan were watching as Kitty and Kurt were doing an exercise. It consisted of a game of keep-away, with the two using their powers to keep a ball away from the other. Currently, Kitty had the ball as she was trying to avoid Kurt.
"That's it, half-pint." Logan encouraged. "Keep the ball away from the elf. You gotta concentrate or..."
Kitty ended up running into a tree, making her let go of the ball and allowing Kurt to catch it.
"Ha! It's mine now, Kitty."
"Give me that!" Kitty tried to take it back when Kurt teleported on top of a tree branch.
"Watch where you're porting." Logan warned as the branch fell, with Kitty jumping up as she phased through Kurt, snatched the ball, and gave his tail a squeeze as he fell to the ground.
Logan put a hand over his head. "What kind of move is that?"
"Innovation. Adaptation." Xavier said. "It's what they're here to learn."
"Professor!" Jean came up to him.
"Jean, what is it?" Xavier asked.
"It's Fred, professor!" Jean told him. "He's attacking Duncan; we gotta stop him before he goes too far."
Logan pointed at Kurt. "You, elf, get Phantom and Rogue. I gotta ride."
He went to change into his uniform before getting on his motorcycle and riding out in search of Fred and Duncan.
"Do you like me, Kate?" Danny asked as he and Rogue were in the park rehearsing their scene.
"Pardonnez-moi?" Rogue said in a French accent. "I cannot tell what is like me."
"An angel is like you, Kate." Danny replied, making Rogue smile.
"You're a real charmer, you know that?"
Danny chuckled. "You settling in all right, Rogue?"
"Yeah, everyone's been really nice." Rogue said as she looked at her gloved hands. "It's just sometimes I wish..."
"Yeah." Danny prompted. "Wish what?"
"I wish I could get close to somebody." Rogue admitted. "But you know what happens when I do."
Danny took off one of her gloves and squeezed her bare hand. "Well, if you need someone to talk to or just vent, I'm here. I'll always be here. You don't have to be alone."
Rogue couldn't help but let out a genuine smile as she and Danny locked eyes. She leaned closer to him and closed her eyes when Kurt teleported on top of the table.
"Tender moment here?" Kurt asked awkwardly. "Sorry to interrupt."
Rogue crossed her arms in irritation. "I swear he's like an annoying little brother."
"What's the problem, Kurt?" Danny asked.
"Fred is fighting Duncan." Kurt informed him. "We gotta stop him before he kills the poor guy."
"Oh, no, Fred." Danny said in worry. He and Rogue then grabbed Kurt's arms. "Beam us up, Kurt."
"Wrong Star Trek reference." Kurt said.
"Just shut up and take us there." Danny ordered as they teleported away.
"Please don't hurt me!" Duncan pleaded as he ran into the abandoned ironworks before tripping on his feet.
Fred picked up a cabinet and lifted it over his head. "You'll never laugh at me again."
Wolverine burst through the door and tackled Fred, making him drop the cabinet. Duncan backed up in a corner as he watched the two fight.
The orange X-Man wrestled with the Blob before he was thrown aside, as Fred picked up a piece of machinery and threw it at Wolverine, who jumped out of the way, only for Fred to dive at him.
"Can't breath." Wolverine said as he was being crushed by Fred's girth.
"You can't stop me!" Fred boasted before the rest of the X-Men came in, with Scott blasting Fred off with his optic blast.
Duncan's eyes widened as he saw the display as Jean and Scott went to his side. "Jean, what the hell is going on?"
Before Jean could come up with a response, Scott threw a punch at the jock, knocking him out.
"Scott!" Jean scolded.
"What? He can't see us use our powers." Scott reasoned as they went to help the others.
Fred growled as the X-Men stood in front of him when Danny came in with Kurt and Rogue behind him.
"Fred, stop!" Danny cried as he got in front of the large boy. "You can't hurt him!"
"Why not?" Fred asked. "I have the power too."
"Just because you can doesn't mean you should." Danny told him.
"Get out of my way!" Fred ordered, but Danny stood his ground.
"No!" Danny refused. "Fred, you got to stop this. You can't maim people. It's not right. Please, let me help you."
He held out his hand to the mutant, whom he thought he had befriended, when Fred threw him aside, knocking the guy out. "Nobody respects me!" Fred got closer to the unconscious Danny. "And you're the worst! You pretended to be my friend!"
Rogue got in between Fred and Danny as she glared at the big mutant. "Leave him alone, you yahoo!"
"What are you gonna do to me?" Fred taunted. "Make me wear bad makeup?"
Rogue smirked. "You wanna know what my power is?"
"No." Fred said. "I don't care."
Her smirk widened as her eyes glowed red. She had snagged Scott's powers when she came in. "My power is your power. And I can take more than one." She blasted him across the room with her optic blast.
Fred got up as he glared at the goth. "I got too much power, even for you! You can't hurt me! I'm the Blob!"
"No, you're just garbage who tried to hurt the only person who had your back." Rogue insulted. "Now, tell you what. I'm taking you out!"
Fred made a dive at Rogue, who fired her optic blast, sending him through the ceiling, where he fell into a junkyard.
The Blob grunted as he got up and heard the seagulls making their chirping noises, which sounded like laughter. "Stop laughing at me!" He threw a tire at them, but tripped in the process as he gained a defeated look on his face.
Back at the ironworks, Rogue was lifting Danny to his feet. "You all right?"
Danny smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm all right. Thanks to you. You really are an angel, Kate."
Rogue blushed as she looked away. "Well, we X-Men stick together."
Xavier rolled up to Duncan as he entered the jock's mind. "I modified Duncan's memories. He shouldn't remember anything that occurred in the last few hours."
"Great." Danny said. "Now there's one thing left to do." He threw the jock over his shoulder and marched out of the building. The X-Men followed him and saw him put the jock in a dumpster.
"Danny!" Jean said at how he treated her boyfriend.
"What?" Danny responded angrily. "Trash like him belongs in the dumpster. Besides, he's the one who started this." He walked off as he sat down to look at the sunset.
Rogue went up to him and sat down next to him. "You okay?"
"I just feel bad about Fred." Danny said, feeling guilty that he couldn't help him. "I promised that I would help him."
"You tried your best, Danny." Rogue said. "But his choices were his own; you shouldn't blame yourself."
Danny sighed as he walked away. "I just can't seem to keep my promises."
Rogue could only watch as Danny walked into the sunset with a conflicted expression on his face.