Hey, guys! Sorry for the long delay. I decided to pause on this series to figure out the details of the current story-arc I'm about to cover, which will focus on the X-Men. And since there are a lot of X-Men characters, I had my work cut out for me in terms of figuring out what their Marémon would look like as well as their abilities. Plus, I wanted to continue working on some of my other fanfics and finish others. But now that I've finished a fanfic and want to wait on finishing another just a little longer, I've decided I'm ready to tackle Marémon once again. So I hope you enjoy what I have to offer regarding my interpretation of the X-Men in the Marémon setting!
Episode 98: Proffix and the Hidden School!
As Kraven threw his spear at Peter, Peter's legs moved on their own as they allowed him to dodge the spear effortlessly. He then dashed forward and tackled Kraven to the ground. Immediately, Kraven's skin pealed off revealing the chameleon-shaped Kamelio lying on the ground in his place.
"You were right," MJ realized. "That was Kamelio, not Kraven."
"Told ya," Peter responded.
Kamelio then raised his tiny arm at Peter. From a small hole in his wrist shot a small dart that embedded itself in Peter's neck, which made him flinch. But as Peter pulled it out, his vision suddenly became blurry hearing MJ's concerned cry as he passed out. It felt like hours had passed by the time he woke up with Spidermin's spider eyes staring right down at him.
"Spidermin," Peter said, touching Spidermin's fuzzy sides. "You're all right."
Glad to see you're awake, young man. The poison in Kamelio's Knockout Dart is known to make victims pass out for several hours.
Peter suddenly noticed he was no longer in the woods but in an infirmary bed with the curtains partially drawn. A sliver of sunlight shone on an elderly man with a bald head sitting in a wheelchair. In his lap was a Marémon with a small gray body and a helmet-shaped head. Though its eyes were closed, the Marémon seemed to be concentrating on Peter as the voice he heard in his head spoke again.
If you're wondering where your friends are, they're to your left.
Confused, Peter turned over to his left side. MJ, Gwen, Quill, and Steve were resting in beds identical to his while Noirspi, Gwespin, Starlure, and Capmer lay beside them.
"How are you talking to me in my head?" Peter asked, looking back at the elderly man and his Marémon. "Are you a Mutant?"
The elderly man nodded. Yes, I am.
"So it's your voice I'm hearing," Peter realized. "I thought it was your Marémon."
Proffix is speaking telepathically to your Spidermin while I am telepathically speaking to you, Peter Parker.
Peter's eyes widened. "Then you must be…Professor Xavier!"
"Right you are," the elderly man spoke out loud.
With one hand, Professor Xavier pulled a string that drew back the curtains. The infirmary room was immediately lit by a late morning sun, making MJ, Steve, Gwen, and Quill stir from their beds but not fully wake up. What caught Peter's attention, though, was the other people who were now visible in the room.
One was a tall muscular man with mutton chops, another was a thin young man wearing a red visor, a third was a young woman with medium red hair, a fourth was a young African woman with short platinum hair, and the fifth was a blue-skinned man with blue hair, big hands, and feet.
"The X-Men!" Peter said, having seen pictures of them in The Daily Bugle years ago. "What are you doing here?"
"Should be asking you the same question, Bub," the muscular man said as he approached Peter. "You trespassed onto our turf without permission and brought a HYDRA mercenary with you! Are you guys working for HYDRA, or just stupid?"
From the muscular man's knuckles appeared metallic claws that he thrust in Peter's face, making him sit up in bed while Spidermin drew out his Pincers.
"Easy, Logan," the blue-skinned man said to the muscular man. "You'll scare the poor boy."
"And it's not polite to threaten one of our kind," said the red-haired young woman.
"What does she mean?" Peter looked at Xavier in disbelief.
"I had Jean Grey do a thorough examination both physically and mentally, and you have Mutant powers," Xavier explained.
"Mutant...powers?" Peter instinctively touched the back of his neck, where the spider-shaped mark was. "Is it because I got bit by Veneo?"
"Not exactly," the red-haired Jean said. "When Veneo bit you, his parasitic venom entered your bloodstream which tried to take over your mind and body to make you part of Veneo's collective consciousness. But Spidermin bit you soon after, and his venom counteracted Veneo's hence the mark on your neck. Though as a side-effect, your body mutated due to the radiation Spidermin's venom carries. It's why you've been able to crawl on walls and sense things before they happened as of late, based on the memories I saw in your mind."
Peter looked down at his hands without saying a word.
"I know it must be a shock, but we're here to show our support for you," Xavier said. "Right, Logan?"
"Right." Logan backed away from Peter as his claws retracted.
"What should we do with the others?" asked the young man with the red visor. "The two girls and the other boy aren't Mutants, but the older guy is — "
"Captain Steve Rogers," Jean interrupted. "I read his mind after examining Peter. He was looking for you, Professor, when that HYDRA mercenary Kraven ambushed the group hoping to collect their Marémon."
"And that's when we showed up," the young African woman with the platinum hair recalled. "If Steve wasn't badly injured, I would've just had Ewestrom remove all of them."
"Now, Ororo, I still would have had you bring them here minus Kraven," Xavier said to the young African woman. "After all, they were seeking me out. So to answer your question, Scott, we will let Peter Parker and his colleagues rest here at our school until Mister Rogers' spear-related injury heals up."
The young man with the red visor didn't like the sound of this. "It's not my right to question your decision, Professor, but — "
"Please, Scott," Jean insisted, holding the young man with the red visor's hand. "Xavier knows what he's doing."
Grumbling, Scott walked away.
"School?" Peter snapped out of his state of shock. "We're in a school?"
"Not just any school," Logan stated. "You're at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Bub."
To be continued…
