Chapter 3

Growing Pains

Dean woke up the next morning in his room at the mansion, it took him a second to realize where he was since he hadn't slept there in months.

He woke at dawn as always, which is great for him because he discovered that unless you wake up early you ended up in a queue to use the bathroom, when they were working that was.

It seems a whole bunch of super powered teenagers living under one roof has a detrimental effect on things like bathrooms.

After a long gravity session and a hot shower Dean returned to his room and opened his shirt drawer to find it frozen.

Before he could come to terms with that there was a knock on his door, "Come in"

Kurt walked in, he'd been heading back to his room after breakfast, walking instead of teleporting, when he had seen Bobby sneaking out of Dean's room. So Kurt just had to check up on his friend and see what Bobby ad done.

"I see Bobby got you" Kurt remarked at the sight of the ice filled drawer. That is one of Bobby's classic pranks.

"He finds this funny I assume" Dean said not looking too happy.

"Ya" Kurt simply said.

Dean shook his head and muttered some profanities, he's thankful Bobby is only a child, or else he'd be crushed ice by noon.

"So, looking forward to your first day of school?" Kurt asked.

"Does anyone look forward to their first day of school?" Dean asked sarcastically.

"Kitty does" Kurt answered before he hurried to get ready for school too.

Dean rolled his eyes, 'Of course she does' He then wondered what he was going to do about his clothes situation, 'The princess!' Dean thought as he made his way over to Amara's room and knocked on the door.

Amara opens the door and is surprised to find a shirtless Dean standing in front of her.

Amara blushed and went to kneel but stopped herself, "Um.." she found herself speechless.

"I swear I'm not doing this on purpose, Bobby froze my drawer filled with my shirts so now I can't get to them, and I was hoping you could sort of melt them. You wouldn't want me walking around shirtless all day now would you?" Dean asked.

Amara felt a little hot at the thought of Dean walking around shirtless all day, "Oh um sure, I'd be glad to help" she said with a smile.

After Dean dealt with his shirt problem he went to find Bobby, and he just so happened to find him down the hallway.

Bobby noticed him wearing a shirt, "Hey how did you—"

"Get a shirt from my frozen drawer?" Dean asked, "Yeah about that" He picked up Bobby from his shirt and pinned him to the wall, "You see I didn't find that funny at all"

"Listen it was just a joke man" Bobby said getting a little scared.

"Oh a joke huh? Thats nice" Dean pretended to laugh before punching a hole through the wall right next to his head, "Would you find it funny if I did this to your face?" he asked in a calm manner.

Bobby shook his head in fear.

"Good, so don't play anymore of those jokes on me or one day you're going to wake up without a head" Dean let him go and walked away.

Bobby was frozen in place for a minute there.

At Bayville High

Everyone had gathered in the gym to meet their new principle. Since their last principle, Mystique, had taken a league of absence the school needed a replacement.

Scott was sitting with his friend Paul high on the bleachers reading a textbook.

Paul elbowed him to get his attention and points at Jean just walking in.

Jean looked around trying to spot any available seats.

Scott stood up and waved at his friend trying to get her to notice him.

Jean looked up and smiled as she noticed somebody.

Scott smiled thinking she noticed him but Jean actually noticed Dean waving at her and sat with him.

Scott sat back down in a grumpy mood as he spotted Dean and Jean converse.

The Brotherhood weren't sitting by the bleachers with the rest of the students but hanging out on the side standing up trying to stand out from everyone else. As they stood there Toad tried again and again to catch a fly with his tongue but couldn't seem to get it.

"Man this bums yo, even the flies here think they better than us" Toad said.

"Huh yeah" Blob said, "I don't even know what we're doing at school anyway" he said leaning on the wall.

"But we do know what Lance is doing here" Pietro pointed out, "He'd like to get a certain cat stuck in a tree" he made fun of Lance's feelings for Kitty.

Lance spat out the toothpick he had in his mouth in annoyance.

"K-i-s-s-i—"Pietro was saying but stopped as he sped away from a slap from Lance which ended up hitting Toad instead.

"Ow!" Toad said rubbing his shoulder.

Rogue walked in the gym trying to find a seat when she was suddenly stopped by a girl with purple hair, "Excuse me, how long do these assemblies usually last?" She asked with a British accent. She had a similar goth look to hers, mostly black apart from some purple here and there.

"Oh too long" Rogue said with a friendly smile as she took a seat next to the girl, "But at least it gets us out of class"

"Right, class" the purple haired girl said as she looked at her schedule, "My next one should be…" she seemed confused as she looked at the paper.

Rogue looked at her schedule, "Uh, geometry with Mr. Barton, you're new?"

"Yeah, I'm Risty Wilde from Manchester England" She said.

"I'm Rogue, hang out afterwards I'll show you where Barton's class is" Rogue said with a friendly expression.

Lance spotted where Kitty was sitting and decided to make his way over there.

He shoved the kid that was sitting behind her so he could sit there.

Lance leaned forward to speak to her, "Oh hey Kitty, didn't see you there" he acted like he stumbled upon her.

"Oh look it's the walking Richter scale" Kitty said not impressed. Ever since Asteroid M she's been distancing herself from him, "Shouldn't you be erupting somewhere?" she shooed him off.

The rest of the Brotherhood laughed at him.

One of the teachers went on stage with an unknown person following him, "And now everyone, let's give a warm Bayville high welcome to our new principal Mr. Robert Kelly" he shook Principal Kelly's hand and he sat down.

Lance saw the perfect opportunity to play a little prank on the new principle. He sent a light tremor through the ground, making everything and everyone shake.

Kitty looked back at Lance and he nonchalantly waved at her with a smile like nothing happened.

Kitty turned back around and giggled a little.

Lance decided to try and push his luck, "Hey Kitty, wanna see some real shakin?" he asked as he sent stronger tremors through the ground even harder than before making the whole building shake.

Right above Principal Kelly the big score board began to wobble and broke off.

Right as it was about to crush the new principal Jean used her telekinesis to move it out of the way making it look like a completely natural fall…somehow.

Dean noticed the strain on Jean's face, "You alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine" Jean said rubbing her temples.

Kitty turned around and faced him with an irritated look, "Lance get a clue ok?" She said before sitting back down.

Principal Kelly regained his composure and spoke into the mike, "Since when is Bayville on a fault line?" he joked trying to lighten up the mood and the students laughed.

"Anyway I want to welcome you all to a new semester. I know that filling the vacuum left by your previous principle Ms. Darkholme will not be an easy job but it's a challenge which I am looking forward to. And that brings me to what I hope will become the theme of the coming semester, meeting new challenges. You know most of us go through life thinking we're not so different from the people around us" he picked up the microphone and walked closer to the students, "And that's a mistake, because I'll wager that every one of us here has some unique talents. Some special gifts, some ability that makes us stand out from the crowd" all of the mutants in the room suddenly got very uncomfortable.

"However, that said I want your second priority to be….." he paused leaving everyone in suspense as to what he was going to say, "Supporting the girls' soccer team for the championship!" all the students started cheering and all the mutant teens suddenly felt calmer, "And that means I want every one of you to come down tonight for the big pre-game rally, can we count on you?!" Principal Kelly shouted and the students cheered.

Later on during lunchtime Dean decided to go outside instead of eating, it was a beautiful day after all and for some reason he had no appetite.

He never spoke to his father since his return, and he wasn't particularly looking forward to it. Once he does he'll most likely begin those trials that Zeus mentioned, which will almost certainly drive a bigger wedge between Dean and Jean.

The thought that that conversation cannot be avoided makes his stomach queasy.

In the midst of dealing with his dilemma he spotted some of the Brotherhood bothering Rogue and no-one else seemed to be around.

Rogue was getting seriously pissed off at the Brotherhood. To the point where she was thinking of pulling her gloves off and seeing how much they hassle her once she has dropped them to the ground like stones.

She guessed they had chosen today was her day for them to annoy.

Ever since Mystique vanished the Brotherhood had fallen into this little pointless routine of picking an X-man to annoy every day.

Lance was the only one who didn't participate because of his feelings for Kitty.

Currently the other five members were testing Rogue's patience.

"You X-men are so boring, you never do anything" Pyro said as he played with his lighter.

Rogue rolled her eyes, "Because it's not worth it" she went to walk past them but then Fred blocked her way, "Get outta the way Fred!" she demanded.

"And what are you going to do about it if he doesn't Roguey?" Pietro taunted her.

"Then I'll move him" a serious voice announced.

They all turned to see Dean standing behind Rogue, arms folded across his chest with a stern expression on his face.

Rogue walked next to Dean to stand with him.

Fred clenched his fists, "Well look who it is"

Eileen stepped forward and leaned on Pyro looking lustful as ever, "We thought you left town"

"I took a vacation, clearly you didn't" Dean pointed out.

Toad hopped over to them, "Cause messing with X-men is just too fun yo"

Pietro sped in front of them, "And we know that you'll get in big trouble if you tussle with us"

Lightning crackled around Dean as he bitch slapped Pietro with a burst of speed that caught him off guard and knocked him on his ass, "And makes you think I have a problem with that?"

Toad backed away in fear, "Hey let's take it easy we was just pla—"

Dean quickly grabbed Toad by the face and made sure to cover his mouth.

"Dean wait just let it go" Rogue pleaded.

Dean smirked, "We're just gonna play a little" the lightning faded before he tossed Toad at Fred who came running at him and followed up by sweeping his legs from under him.

"Yes!" Pyro made a fireball from the flame of his lighter and threw it at him.

Dean blocked it with one of his gauntlets and then tackled both Pyro and Eileen.

Rogue sighed and shook her head, "This boy, he's the embodiment of chaos"

Pietro and Toad jumped on top of Dean and started throwing punches who was already trading a few with Pyro but then Fred jumped onto the mix making it a huge dog pile.

All the commotion drew a crowd which in turn caused the new principal to come break up the fight.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Principal Kelly shouted angrily.

The pile separated and stood up.

"I will not allow this type of behavior in my school" Principal Kelly scolded them, "Who threw the first punch?"

All of the Brotherhood pointed at Dean.

Dean smirked, "Pussies" he muttered.

Principal Kelly walked over to Dean and glared at him, "You wanna tell me why you started this?"

"They were verbally abusing my friend, and they wouldn't let her go. So I slapped one, then the rest ganged up on me" Dean said truthfully.

"He's telling the truth Principal Kelly" Rogue said.

Principal Kelly's gaze went from person to person, trying to determine how best to handle this.

"Seeing as how this is my first day, I'll be lenient with you. Instead of detention, you'll show up before the game tonight to help prepare. Next time I catch any of you acting up you'll be suspended" Principal Kelly said before he made the crowd disperse.

"Let's leave the two geeks to themselves" Pyro said and the rest of them followed.

Pietro rubbed his bruised face and glared at him.

Eileen looked back for a second ad blew Dean a kiss that sent a purple shaped heart at him.

Dean ignored them and focused on Rogue, "You ok?"

"Yea, those losers can shove it for all I care" Rogue said with distaste towards the Brotherhood.

Dean put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a warm smile, "Hey don't let them bring you down"

Rogue couldn't help but smile back, "Thanks" she took a second to get a better look at him, "Hey did you get taller?"

Dean scratched his head, "I suppose I could have" he seemed unaware.

"Cause you look like you grew an inch or two" Rogue noticed.

"Haven't exactly measured myself lately" Dean said, it never crossed his mind.

Scott was waiting outside Bayville high for Jean to show up so he could drive her home but she wasn't showing up.

"Hey Sandy have you seen Jean?" Scott asked the girl as she passed by.

"No" she said as she walked away giggling.

Scott checked the time to see what time it is when he heard, "Lance just forget it" Kitty shouted.

"Hey I said I was sorry for the scoreboard thing, c'mon don't be mad" Lance said to her as his group waited for him in his jeep.

"Lance you can be such a jerk sometimes" Kitty went to walk away but her hand was grabbed by Lance's.

"Alvers, leave her alone" Scott said approaching them.

Kitty phased through his hand and stood next to Scott.

"Hey go recharge your batteries goggle boy! This is between me and her" Lance said shoving him.

"Yeah? Well now it's between you and me" Scott said holding his visor ready to blast him.

"Go ahead Summers" Lance pushed him, "Take your best shot" he provoked Scott, "Let's see those eyes blast me through the fence, right here right now!" he shouted gaining the attention of a bunch of students.

Kitty grabbed Scott's arm and pulled him away from Lance, "Scott don't let him bait you, he knows we can't do that stuff out in the open"

Scott looked around and saw the dozens of students watching them. He looked back at lance who was ready to fight and had the rest of the Brotherhood behind him to back him up.

"C'mon Kitty" Scott said as he walked away and Kitty followed.

The Brotherhood started laughing at the two X-men, "You know what guys, Summers may like keeping things under wraps, but I've had it with hiding our powers" Lance said with bitterness in his voice.

"But Mystique said—" Fred was cut off.

"Forget Mystique!" Lance said, "She ain't around no more. So I say let's take Principal Kelly's advice and go public with our unique talents he said with a devious smirk.

At the Institute

Scott was in the danger room with his younger brother Alex training him to use his powers. Scott had taken the responsibility of guiding Alex through learning his abilities personally.

"Alright let's run through it one more time" Scott told his younger brother.

"Again?" Alex asked sounding exhausted.

"Last time, then you can go" Scott promised, "Computer, start simulation target practice" He spoke out loud.

Havoc readied himself as the simulation was about to begin.

Suddenly targets started popping up randomly as Havoc ran through a course. Havoc hit every one of them, they weren't bullseyes but they were accurate enough to be considered dangerous.

Havoc finished the Course breathing heavily and sweating bullets.

"End simulation" Scott said as he approached his brother. He patted Alex on the back, "Good job bro"

Alex sat down on the floor from exhaustion, "Thanks"

"You know you've improved faster than any of the other new mutants" Scott mentioned, "Maybe we should start including you on missions" he joked.

Alex had indeed improved faster than the other recruits, and has showed signs of great leadership like his older brother.

"Well that's gonna have to wait. I don't know Scott, this whole thing about a mutant is" he shrugged, "Ya know?"

Scott nodded at his little brother, "Yeah it uh, takes a little getting used to" he said speaking from experience.

"But having all these powers is kinda cool, I'm starting to get the hang of it ya know? Although yesterday in the cafeteria I pointed to an enchilada and it…." Alex laughed, "It blew up"

Scott laughed, "I hate when that happens"

"Yeah, it's real tough trying to keep the old blasters a secret" Alex said.

"Yeah, tell me about it" Scott said thinking about his own situation.

Later at Bayville high

The whole school had gathered to watch the girls' soccer game and the X-men now sat waiting for the team to come out. The new mutants, not being as close with Jean or the least bit interested in soccer, weren't present.

"The place looks nice" Logan commented on the banners and decorations around the bleachers as he glanced at Dean.

Dean shrugged, "No biggie"

Logan looked around and couldn't spot the Brotherhood, "What happened to the troublemakers?"

"They never showed" Dean said, no surprise there.

"Welcome Bayville High!" The game announcer shouted and the crowd cheered.

The announcer began to call out the names of the players one by one.

"And playing midfield for the Bayville Hawks, Taryn Fujioka" the announcer said as Jean's friend ran out with the crowd cheering.

"Rounding up the team, Bayville's star forward, Jean Grey!" the announcer said. The crowd cheered louder for Jean as she came out waving to everyone.

A couple of TV channels had actually showed up to broadcast the game on live television.

Principal Kelly took the mike for a moment to speak, "In appreciation of the team spirit that brought us all the way to tonight's championship game, we'd like to present our school mascot. The Bayville Hawk!" he said pointing to the new metal Hawk above the scoreboard with flaming wings. "Now let the game begin!" the principal said as he gave the mike back to the announcer and the hawk started shooting fireworks.

All the players got into their positions and they kick off the ball, "The game is underway and it's Bayville taking the—" The announcer is interrupted as a long tongue grabs the mike and brings it out.

"Hey give that back!" he said.

"Excuse me folks, Hey can I have your attention up here" They all suddenly heard over the mike.

Jean stopped moving with the ball as she recognized that voice.

They all spotted Lance and the Brotherhood above the announcer room.

"Lance?" Kitty said wondering why he was there.

"What's he up to?" Scott asked fearing he might do something reckless.

Quicksilver sped over to the headlights and moved it to shine where the Brotherhood were standing.

"That's better" Lance said, "My name's Lance, I also call myself Avalanche, because I'm a mutant" he said out loud. "That's right me and the rest of my friends here, we're all mutants, born different, what you might call freaks"

"I can't believe he's doing this" Kitty said anxiously.

"Hey you get down from there!" the announcer said climbing up the ladder.

"Sorry yo, mutants only" Toad said as he spit sludge on his face.

"You see there's lots of mutants at Bayville high" Lance said, "Scott Summers over there" Lance pointed at him, "He's one, and so is Jean Grey your big soccer star, and most of their pals there at the Xavier institute. Which is kind of a school for weirdo mutant nerds"

Every one of the normal students started looking at them weirdly.

"Man, we're busted big time" Rogue said feeling everyone's gaze on her.

Dean stayed in his seat and looked around the field, no sign of him yet, but he's here without a doubt.

"Now being mutants means we got these special powers we can use to make little Improvements, for instance, we thought this game would be more fun if the goals were further apart" Lance said as he willed the ground to create a fissure in the middle of the soccer field making some people fall inside of it.

"And we figured the principal ought to have a little better perspective on his student body" Lance said as Quicksilver sped over to Principal Kelly and started running circles around him creating a typhoon making him rise up into the air.

Scott got up from his seat and grabbed his bag with his uniform, "Sorry Professor X, the cat's out of the bag" he said as the rest of the X-men went to change quickly.

Charles spoke telepathically, 'Storm, we need you'

"Another thing" Lance continued, "We think that mascot totally reeks!" he said as Blob climbed up the bleachers, breaking them as he stepped on them, he grabbed the metal flaming bird ready to throw it but was blasted out of his hands with a red optic blast.

The X-men stood in the open field ready to face the Brotherhood.

"Alright Lance, you want it all out in the open? Let's put it out there!" Scott shouted.

"I've been waiting for this!" Avalanche jumped down and willed the ground to soften so he landed safely.

The two of them went right at it and the rest of the X-men and Brotherhood followed their lead.

Before they did anything though Spyke and Shadowcat destroyed all the cameras to at least try and keep everything under wraps.

Quicksilver sped around them to keep them isolated.

Jean used her telekinesis to throw Quicksilver into Phantazia as hard as she could but she managed to put up an EM shield just knocking him out.

Jean then helped up Principal Kelly but he shoved her off in disgust and ran away.

Rogue spotted Blob trashing the bleachers and decided to handle it herself and give Fred some payback for earlier, "I'm bout to feel really big and stupid if ya know what I mean" Rogue said as she touched Blob with her hand rendering him unconscious.

Toad started stealing purses and money from peoples wallets when Nightcrawler knocked into him, "Stick to catching bugs Toad!" he drop kicked him right into the pile of broken bleachers.

Avalanche shook the ground as much as he could to keep Cyclops off balance and to keep him from firing accurately.

Cyclops managed to stay still for a second just long enough to fire a weak optic blast at Avalanche knocking him on his ass.

Spyke kept Pyro busy rapid firing his spikes, keeping him moving and not letting him focus on his flames.

Phantazia tried blasting Shadowcat as she approached but her blasts constantly phased through Shadowcat. Finally Shadowcat leapt to grab Phantazia but Phantazia rose to the air at the last second and stayed there showing off her new found control over her power.

"You won't get me up here" Phantazia said with a cocky attitude.

"I won't need to" Shadowcat said as Rogue leapt and tackled her from behind.

Dean took off his gravity belt and stepped onto the field, "Where are you hiding…" he wondered out loud as he searched for him.

His acute hearing heard something above him. Dean turned around just in time to catch a glimpse of Kratos who was about to land on him.

Dean crossed his arms to block with his gauntlets as he released his lightning.

Kratos landed on his arms with enough force to create a tiny crater under them.

Dean took the full brunt of it and didn't even budge.

"Hello brother" Kratos said with a smirk before decking his brother with a right hook.

Dean fell back before backflipping out of the way of an incoming fist that imbedded in the ground, "You look like you've been juicing"

Kratos wrenched his hand out of the ground with a pleased expression, "I took a stroll in Magneto's chamber and escaped before the effects could be reversed, I trained maliciously ever since that day, and I've even completed 3 of our father's trials. Throughout all that, do you know what occupied my mind and drove me to push past my limits?" He said as he stared him down, "You" he furiously charged.

Dean went on the defensive, carefully blocking as many blows as he could.

Kratos relentlessly attacked. His speed prevented Dean from dodging and his power kept breaking through Dean's blocks, forcing him to retreat.

Dean blocked a right overhand punch that sent him skidding back. He dug his feet into the ground to keep his balance.

Dean lowered his hands just in time to see Kratos' fist slam into his face.

He flew back but recovered mid air so he could leap out of the way of another powerful attack.

Kratos chased him around, every so often landing a blow or two, and keeping his brother on the defensive.

Dean hopped over a wide right hook and landed a side kick to Kratos' head.

Kratos took the hit and punched him in the gut with a left cross, knocking the wind out of him.

Kratos used his momentum to swing Dean around and launch him towards the bleachers.

Dean looked behind him and saw that the bleachers were still full of people. At the speed he was going they didn't have enough time to get out of the way and he had no way of stopping himself.

Logan ran to where he was heading and caught him before he could do any damage, "Can you handle this?" He asked with a concerned expression.

"Yeah, I got this" Dean said calmly with confidence.

"Good" Logan said with relief, because things were getting out of hand. He went back over to Charles.

"I believe we still have this under control" Charles said confidently, no one had displayed any power that couldn't be contained.

Dean hopped back onto the field.

Kratos had an amused expression, "You look a bit overwhelmed"

Dean kept his calm demeanor, "What can I say, you're a handful"

Kratos chuckled, "Well I hope you enjoyed my warm up" he widened his stance in preparation of something.

Dean stayed still and waited to see what his next move would be.

Kratos grit his teeth and tensed as he forced his inner power to emerge. It slowly seeped out of his chest, it wasn't nearly as thick or pronounced as the ones Dean had seen with the other monks. It more resembled what it looked like when Dean and Tim had first used it, sort of a gaseous form. It spread until it encompassed his entire body, Kratos then relaxed breathed heavily, energy like that took its toll on the body.

"Do you see your inevitable defeat brother?" Kratos asked with a smirk.

Dean closed his eyes and dropped his guard as the lightning around him faded.

Kratos laughed, to him it seemed like Dean was giving up, "Now you understand, how truly hopeless this is"

Dean slowed his breathing and focused his body. He hadn't perfected bringing it out fast or on command yet, but he could do it without wasting any of his energy.

He released his chi, letting it flow through his body like opening the floodgates, and his surroundings reacted to it. The wind suddenly kicked up and there was a small rumble in the ground.

"That no matter what you do I'll always be ahead of you" Kratos started monologging.

As Dean's chi completely filled his body the rumble became a little stronger and all the loose chunks of dirt on the field floated a few inches in the air.

Kratos' bravado made him oblivious to his surroundings, "I hope that father is watching so he can see how you wasted your time going away"

Dean felt his chi nearly reach its limit within his body so he comfortably let it out.

"And that I am the one who deserves to be his…" Kratos paused as he finally realized.

Dean's aura flared to life, it was far more pronounced than his brother's, it also completely covered his whole body, and it shone like a bright white light.

Tim laid on the couch and played with a marble sized energy sphere.

He tossed it up and caught it a few times. Tim then cupped his hands around the sphere and began to manipulate it.

He moved his hands around and the sphere changed into a pyramid, then into a cube, then into a cylinder.

Then a thought entered Tim's head. He flattened his palms and brought them closer together, slowly flattening the cylinder into a disk.

Tim stared at it as he held in afloat in his palm. He started to swirl his hand above it and the disk began to spin.

"Don't mess that up" Lily suddenly spoke up out of nowhere.

Tim was startled and the disk suddenly exploded.

Lily smiled triumphantly.

Tim rolled his eyes, "You could look like you're enjoying this less" he grumbled at her.

"I could...but that would just be dishonest" she argued, smiling more all the time.

"Oh no and you're never dishonest are you?" Tim mocked theatrically.

"Nope, never" Lily said looking as innocent as fallen snow.

The patently false act of Lily looking innocent made Tim actually laugh.

Lily could only half-stifle her own chuckle.

"You need to laugh more" Tim declared because she had a pretty laugh.

Lily gave no verbal answer but Tim could see all he needed to in her eyes.

Billy sped in the room with his arm around Lily, "Havin fun without me?"

Lily moved his hand away from her and frowned, "Definitely was"

Jon barged in right after, "Anyone wanna spar?"

Tim sighed, 'These guys are such killjoys'

Suddenly they sensed a couple of strong energy signatures.

Lily immediately felt them. Her head turned in their direction and her eyes narrowed, "That's a lot of power coming from there"

Tim focused his sense and after a few seconds could feel them as well, "Yeah no kidding, you think that's Dean?"

Lily looked concerned, "There's two different sources, one could be him, but the other I have no idea"

Billy looked at Jon, "The hell are they talking about?"

Jon shrugged cluelessly.

Charles was awestruck at the sight of the son of Zeus, "Logan"

Logan had the exact same expression, "Yeah?"

"I don't think we have this under control anymore" Charles panicked and took control of as many people as he could and willed them to evacuate the field area.

"Good idea" Logan stayed alert to keep all the people safe.

Charles then tried to invade Kratos' mind to stop him but found an impenetrable mental defense, of course it wouldn't be that easy.

He telepathically communicated with his students, 'X-men, hurry and subdue the Brotherhood before they cause any further damage'

The X-men heard his voice and doubled their efforts.

Dean opened his eyes and exhaled deeply, feeling the power flow through his body, "Now…you were saying something about me wasting my time?"

Kratos glared angrily and clenched his right fist before launching himself at his brother focusing his power into that same fist for an attack.

Dean grabbed Kratos' fist as he got close with all of his strength and managed to hold him back, but the shockwave of the attack traveled behind them which sent chunks of the ground flying about.

"We'll see who's the real champion" Dean said as he tried his best to hold him at bay.

Kratos simultaneously attempted to free himself by pulling back but neither person budged.

The two of them grit their teeth as they tried to overpower the other.

After a few seconds Dean threw a right but Kratos caught his fist mid swing, creating the shockwave that tore apart the empty bleachers behind them.

"You'll never be better than me!" Kratos shouted as he tried even harder.

Dean matched his strength, "I already am!"

Their auras expanded and collided, causing the ground around them to cave in from the pressure emanating from them.

They pushed themselves to their limits, to the point where it felt like all their muscles were burning.

Dean and Kratos yelled as they continued their struggle for power.

Their combined aura was so bright that it outshone the field lights, like a beacon drawing all eyes on them. The ground trembled from their mere presence alone.

The X-men, who just finished subduing the Brotherhood, focused their attention to the center of the field where the two demigods clashed.

The pressure between them built up so much that a shockwave erupted and sent them skidding back.

Kratos rushed forward and sent Dean flying back with a powerful right cross.

Rogue instinctively backed away as something from the corner of her eye came towards her at incredible speeds.

She caught a quick glimpse of Dean carving a trench through the ground as he flew past her in slow motion.

Dean dug his feet into the ground to slow himself before rushing back in.

Kratos faked to the left and swung wide with his right arm intending to catch his brother in the center of his torso.

Dean read his movements so he slid under his arm before pushing off the ground and kicking Kratos, sending him flying upwards.

Kratos was hit so hard that tumbled around in the air.

In a burst of speed, Dean appeared above Kratos with his fists interlocked to form a double axe handle and smashed it against his brother, sending him skyrocketing to the ground.

Kratos' impact created a sizable crater.

Dean then cupped his hands together before pointing them upward and firing a small energy beam. The force of the beam propelled him down at an incredible speed.

Kratos shook off his dizziness and spotted Dean coming at him with his fist extended. He leapt upwards and shouted as he faced his brother in the same manor.

Their fists collided creating a shockwave that sent them both tumbling in different directions.

Kratos bounced on the ground a few times before crashing into a pole that supported the stadium lights. The pole shifted back and forth before the lights fell and crashed on top of him.

Dean also bounced on the ground a few times before crashing right through some bleachers and onto a generator that exploded and covered the surrounding area in flames.

And that final tussle seemed to put an end to the fighting.

The bleachers were completely torn apart, fires had ignited all around, and the field was destroyed.

Storm then flew through the air and made it rain to put out all the fires created by the damage.

Charles had willed the people to leave the field but not completely evacuate, they were still present.

"Good work Storm" Charles said as she landed right next to him.

"Yes but no downpour can make people forget what they've seen here, the secret is out" Storm said fearing what that information might cause.

"Perhaps not, if I can alter their memory of what has happened" Charles suggested.

"No!" Storm pleaded, "They're too many, not even your mind can ever withstand such a strain"

"I really have no choice" Charles said as he put his hands to his temples and slowly altered the memories of everyone who saw what happened here.

One by one, he used his power to change their depiction of what happened. And after each one he could feel the strain of his power increasing.

On the field, the Brotherhood had made a swift escape in the midst of the battle.

Meanwhile the X-men were searching through the rubble for anyone who was caught in the crossfire.

Rogue ran over to the massive fire that was still burning despite the rain Storm had summoned.

"C'mon bolt boy, you better still be there!" Rogue went to toss some of the burning rubble away but burned her hands, "Ah!" Blob's power must have been wearing off.

Jean hurried over to her and tried to lift some of the burning ruble off, "He's been under there for too long!" But when it moved the flames flared and expanded.

"We have to be careful!" Rogue pleaded.

Not too far from them, a wrecked set of stadium lights was tossed away.

Rogue and Jean turned around with a fearful expression.

Kratos slowly got onto his feet, his entire body covered in cuts, some wounds even had glass in them, and he had one big piece of shrapnel in his right shoulder.

He took a couple steps forward before stopping and clutching his right arm, it was severely damaged from when he clashed with his brother..

Behind the two girls, a fist bursted out of the rubble.

They turned around once again and saw Dean who crawled his way out of the flames and walked past them.

All of his clothes burned off except the part of his pants by his hips. His skin was charred and burned all over and his right arm was broken in several places.

The two of them locked eyes, and they could see that neither was ready to stand down.

But then the X-men gathered around Dean, ready to help.

Kratos grit his teeth and tried to bring out his power but it could barely even be seen.

And to be fair Dean wasn't in a better position, in the state his body was in he couldn't focus enough to bring it out.

"We'll finish this another day" Kratos said with hate in his voice before he left the field.

After a few minutes Charles grunted in pain and began to lose consciousness from the strain of overusing his ability.

Principal Kelly came out of hiding from behind the bleachers. He had actually left the field all on his own.

Charles attempted to alter his memories as well but was unable to do so successfully.

"Charles!" Storm shouted right before he passed out.

Charles woke hours later in the infirmary with Ororo, Logan, and Scott waiting by his side.

"Easy Charles take it slow, you threw your brain into overload" Logan kept him from getting up.

"But it worked" Ororo said, "Eyewitnesses believe that the Hawk's exploding fireworks caused all the damage"

"What about the broadcast, how much got out?" Charles asked.

"None" Logan said surprising them, "Seems there was some kind of weird magnetic interference that knocked the station off the air seconds before"

"Magnetic?" Charles queried, "Could it be that he's still alive?"

"Magneto? I wouldn't doubt it" Logan never believed he was gone.

"Anyway, I guess were back under wraps were we should be" Scott said, "I'm real sorry Professor, it's like you said the world really isn't ready to learn about us"

"I'm afraid not Scott, hopefully Lance and the others will come to realize that as well" Charles said genuinely, "My only concern is Principal Kelly. I was inside his mind when I blacked out, and I'm not sure I finished the job"

Dean walked in to the room, all his injuries had completely healed, "How's the head?"

"The pain is subsiding" Charles admitted, "However the memory of you and your brother destroying the field isn't"

"I did my best to keep him contained, but he's grown just as much as I have" Dean simply stated, that's all there was to it.

"With power like that I could imagine" Ororo said having seen the sheer magnitude of it.

"It's dangerous, you caused more damage then the Brotherhood" Scott said disapprovingly.

Dean glared at him, this coming from the human blaster that betrayed the professor.

"What I think shades is trying to say" Logan cut in before those two started something, "Is that you need better control, just like most of the kids in this house"

"I concur with both of you, however I'd like to speak with Dean in private" Charles asked.

The others did as he asked and left the room.

Dean stared at the professor, waiting for something along the lines of a lecture.

Charles gave him a troubled look, he found it difficult to put his thoughts into words.

"Well?" Dean asked impatiently, "You gonna scold me for not doing a perfect job?"

Charles sighed, "I've known you close to 6 months, and in that time you've shown more dedication towards mastering your abilities than any of my mutant students. Much to my frustration" he said jokingly.

Dean found the direction of this conversation odd, where was this going?

"You've come so far, and yet probably just scratched the surface. Which brings me to my question, where do you plan on going with this?" Charles asked.

"My dad asked me the same question before I left for the summer" Dean said reminiscing, "I want to help people, because not everyone is as fortunate as I am. But at the same time, there is another reason…" He looked troubled, "My father, wants either me or my brother to be his champion, and in order to decide who it'll be he's making us compete"

Charles nods, that's probably what caused their violent nature towards each other.

"He mentioned something about an ancient foe rising and he needs one of us to step up" Dean said.

"So whoever is superior will be his champion…then what does that make the other one?" Charles asked, he fears the prophecy he heard from Strange might be taking shape already.

Dean looked clueless, "I don't know. Regardless of the outcome, I'm still going to help people however I can but I can't say the same for Kratos. He seems more interested in pleasing our father than helping"

Charles looked at the boy with concern, "Do you hate him?"

Dean felt strange answering that, "It's..umm…I don't think I'd put it like that. I never really had a chance to get to know him, he seemed to hate me from the moment he laid eyes on me. He frustrates me a lot, but I don't hate him, I just wish he didn't follow our father so blindly" he said speaking truthfully, there was no malice in his voice, "Deep down he probably wants to be accepted by him, I don't think he grew up with a dad like I did"

Charles nodded in agreement, "Yes, that may be true. I only hope his loathing of you doesn't fester whatever good part of his spirit there may be"

Author's Note : So you finally get to see a little of what this power is capable of. Very destructive but also hard to control, which gives our protagonist with plenty to do during his free time. Next chapter we'll see what things have changed at Camp! Until then, stay safe true believers ;)