• (This is the logbook of Skye Slyfaen, found in the library at Xavier’s School for the Gifted.)
    October 27, __18, 2:17 A.M.
    I guess I should start at the beginning. I am Skye Slyfaen, and I go to Xavier’s School for the Gifted. I don’t have a lot of friends, but when you’re purple, it doesn’t seem too amazing. I guess the truth was that even back home, I was a loner. My only friend back home was Riley Dristina. That was a gift from God. Without her, I doubt I could have survived the Hell known as high school. It’s no surprise that we became best friends. I grew up in a suburb of New York, Zwingli, and my parents were at the head of a Pro-Purity group in town. I lived in an anti-mutant community, but somehow never acquired a hatred for them, (neither did Riley) but everyone else hated them. Here at Xavier’s, I’ve made friends with Sage, Helix Dysanthium, Rouge, Kitty Pryde, Andrea Winters, Sara, Bobby Drake, my cousin, and Nikki Straus. Two days ago (October. 25, __18 ) I was washing my hands at my house, and looked in the mirror. It was an instantaneous thing, but it was burned into my memory forever. I looked in the mirror, my hair turned silver, my eyes turned pure green without whites or pupils, and my skin turned purple. It reverted to its original pale tone, and I thanked God that I was visiting my cousins that afternoon. See, what my parents don’t know won’t hurt them. My cousin Wallace’s brother is Bobby Drake, Iceman of the X-men. My parents have no idea. I got a ride to my cousins from my older sister, who lives in Bobby’s neighborhood. She’s over protective of everyone, specifically because she used to be a mutant with the power to feel others pain. It was her decision to take a gene suppressant. After that, she and my parents had, let’s say a dysfunctional relationship. That was before Kavita Rao stopped creating more of the suppressant, and the Brotherhood raided and destroyed Benetech. I really enjoyed visiting my cousins, and I was light-headed with anticipation. I suddenly felt myself compressed into darkness. I found myself in front of my cousin’s house. I walked up to the door and rang the bell. Kelsey, Wallace’s older sister, answered the door. “Skye?” she asked skeptically.”Yeah Kelsey?” “Have you looked in a mirror lately?” A dark sense of foreboding dropped over me like a blanket. “Why?” “The mutant-gene has struck again.” She murmured with deceptive calm.”Oh, crap. Oh, no. My parents are gonna FREAK!” “Chill,” Kelsey said.”We’ll find a solution.” After I was through lugging my stuff inside, Wallace sprang down the stairs, took a look at me, and said “Your parents are gonna freak.” My aunt and uncle came in.”Well, my sister-in-law might just have heart attack. Course, I’m not quite that lucky.” said my uncle. My aunt thought for a moment, & then said, “You can’t go home, and your parents will be suspicious if you don’t. Where are you going?” It hit me as my cell rang. 879-5893. Riley’s number. “One sec, guys.” “Hello?” “Skye? Come over quick!””Why?””Just come over!” I closed my cell as darkness constricted me. I scanned my surroundings. I was apparently at Riley’s house. She stumbled down the stairs and tripped. I caught her by the arm, and a tingling sensation flowed through my body from my hand. She steadied herself and looked at me.”Skye?”She murmured doubtfully. “What happened? Thank God you’re all right!” I said, giving her an affectionate squeeze.”Look,” she said, unfurling a pair of black feathered wings from her shoulders. “We’re two of a kind “I said as I grasped her hand, welcoming the shadowy dark gloom .Whatever you believe teleportation is a very disconcerting process. “Wallace, Kelsey, meet Riley.” “So,” broke in my aunt, “Where are you going?” I explained my plan. “Xavier’s is an hour north of here” said my uncle as my aunt disappeared. She rematerialized with a sheaf of photos, sketches, and letters. I examined the pictures as Riley and Kelsey exclaimed over the detailed sketches, and Wally pored over the letters. “Thanks.” I said as I got up “for everything.” “No trouble at all, really.” My aunt replied. ”I always thought my sister was a bit too busy hating mutants to raise a child properly. Make sure to write, and feel free to visit anytime you’re on break.” “We will” I promised dutifully.”Mutant’s honor.””If my sister heard that, she’d say ’I can take that to the bank’” I grabbed Riley’s hand, feeling that weird tingle, and accepted the darkness.

    “1407 Greymalkin Lane” I read aloud. “We made it!” exclaimed Riley, enthusiastic about our initial success. I seized her forearm and rematerialized on the other side of the gate.”Okay, from here on out, I won’t be able to teleport.””Why?””Let’s see how much energy you have after multiple teleports in rapid succession.”I walked forward then led Riley around the ‘school’ to a window. We were peering in on a blue-furred man with a chemistry set. I beckoned Riley over as I walked to a different window. Thankfully this room was empty. I eased the glass pane out of its frame, and then let it slip out of my grasp and softly shatter on the beige carpet. I backed away from the glass-less window as Riley slid through the frame, careful to avoid the shards of glass. I followed, and then pointed towards a tower-like room I had seen from the outside. I took a single step and felt the chill of a knife at the side of my throat. ”Turn around with your hands behind your head or I kill.””So do it.” I shot back calmly.”Okay. Do as I say or your girlfriend gets it.””She’s not my girlfriend.” I said a trifle miffed, but I complied. As I twisted I teleported forward a few feet and a foot up, then kicked, knocking my captor’s claws away from Riley, then spun, grabbing her hand and whirling into darkness. We touched down at the end of the corridor as a black haired-lady dressed in a purple outfit flew out of the spherical room and Bobby burst out of a room near the center of the corridor.”Logan! Stand down!””Skye!? Are you all right?””He should be,” said Logan gruffly.”Kid teleported and kicked me in the chest. ’Crawler woulda’ been proud of a move like that.””This is my cousin Skye Slyfaen,” explained Bobby.”Who’s his girlfriend?”“Riley’s not my girlfriend. We’ve been best friends for 10 years, ever since I was five.” “I’m Sage. Sorry about Logan. He’s a bit too rough sometimes.” “So,” cut in Logan, “why are you two here?” “We live in Wade River, the biggest mutant hating community in history, and in case you hadn’t noticed, Skye is purple and I have wings.””We decided to ‘visit’ my cousin.” I finished.”Welcome to Xavier’s School for the Gifted!” ”Hey Logan?””Huh?””Where’s that knife?”Three blades popped out of each of his hands. ”They call me Wolverine.” The blue furred man rushed out of a room. ”What happened?” “Long story Beast” said Logan.”Basically a pair of new recruits. Teleporter and a kid with wings.” “Interesting. Very much so. They arrived together? That’s unusual for new mutants.””They did break in.” pointed out Sage.”So I was right. They are unique. After all, most students are asked to join. Welcome to Xavier’s. I’m sure you’ll enjoy an interesting term at our school. If you can think of Xavier’s as your average school. Bobby, I trust you can help your cousin and his friend get accustomed to life here.”“Sure, Professor McCoy. You guys coming?” he said as he turned down an intersecting hall. “So, what does Professor McCoy teach?”Asked Riley, intrigued.”Chemistry.” said Bobby as we clambered up a staircase.”There’s a place I want to show you before your rooms. I just want to give you guys an idea of some of our more…unique classes.” he continued, leading us into what appeared to be a control room. The glass walls offered a view into a metal room, and the war being waged inside that arena.”Storm” he indicated an athletic African-American woman with silver hair who seemed to be controlling the weather in the room and floating on the wind ,” and Nightcrawler” he pointed to the blue-skinned, black-haired man with a devilish tail, ”already have this session, so we’ll have to wait a bit.” As if on cue, Storm let loose with an electrical shock wave that destroyed the oncoming robot swarm. The wall-mounted panels crackled, different images and gauges flashing across the screens. Bobby rushed to a desk and tapped on multiple display monitors with a stylus. He checked gauges, graphs, and pressure and power surge readings. He let out a relieved sigh. He put on a Bluetooth-like item, saying,” Storm, Nightcrawler, no issues with that last shockwave. Want to continue?” He listened for half a minute, then said,” Alright then. Goodnight guys.”He turned to us, giving us a pair of the Bluetooth items. ”Put these on, and then go through that door on the left and down the stairs. You’ll end up inside the Danger Room, and we can start our session.” He said as he tapped trough a list, shaping our session to our abilities and limits.”Your objective is to defeat all the Sentinels.” He finished.”Any questions?” I pushed through the door, clipping on the Bluetooth as I went. The set of doors at the end of the staircase opened with a pneumatic hiss. We stepped into the room, a perfect cube. About 1000 meters away at the opposite end of the room, were 20 of the pink, purple, and yellow color-schemed Sentinels. Two were pretty large, say 10 meters tall. The rest of them came in about one and a half meters tall, half of which had wings. The rest had tentacles.

    Riley had noticed our opponents color scheme and quipped, “Whoever invented these things must have been color-blind.” She smirked at her own joke as she spread her wings and pushed into the air. I preferred a more direct approach, teleporting next to one, and punching it in the robotic jaw, sending it spiraling into the others of its kind, morphing 16 Sentinels into a firestorm that engulfed the last four. The smaller ones came out charred and scorched, their metal armor, and their wings and tentacles, melted and warped beyond recognition. Riley dived, gingerly picking up the unfortunate pair, using the heated metal to fuse them together, and dropping it onto one of the last two, set the metallic beast on fire, stiffening its joints. Riley dived towards the Sentinel she had set alight and tore off some metal plating, beckoning me over. I twisted, appearing by her side and ripping out all of the circuitry I could reach, praying it was enough to out do the Sentinel’s complex, morbidly fascinating, single-minded will to obliterate all mutants in its sight. In one way, it worked. The Sentinel twisted, punching its comrade as it imploded, crumpling upon itself. I grabbed Riley by the waist, teleporting away from the robotic shell, which gave a final shudder and collapsed, leaving nothing more than scrap metal remaining where the mechazoid had stood. At the top of the room, I teleported with Riley, rematerializing at a chasm in the Sentinel’s armor. We ripped through the metallic element, tearing through circuitry, using the metal shards to create electrical currents that were never meant to be created. I gave Riley a thumbs-up to go ahead. With a melodramatic flourish she was about to connect a circuit when a gargantuan hand knocked her off of her perch. I teleported, trying desperately to save her. I barely made it, catching her an inch from the ground. I thought she was unconscious until her eyes fluttered and she murmured “It’s about time you caught up.” “You do know, considering, that is kind of morbid” I said casually. “Focus!” said Bobby, a bit irked that he wasn’t included in our conversation. ”You’re not the one trying to defeat a giant robot,” said Riley as she got on solid ground.”Or catching people,” said Bobby smugly.”Break it up.” I said, always the compromise seeker. I teleported again, landing Riley and I on her earlier perch, connecting the teal, silvery-blue, and copper wires. The green sparks were indicators of our success. I teleported across the room, allowing myself a triumphant smirk as Riley punched the air ecstatically and we(Bobby included) watched the Sentinel rip out its own circuitry and a core processing unit.”We replaced its self-preservation unit with a suicidal desire,” I explained as Riley burst out in laughter at Bobby’s comical expression. Even now the adrenaline hadn’t worn off, my pulse still rushing, my heart in overdrive.”Nice job guys,” said Bobby.”Come up here, I recorded your session.””I’ll get popcorn” I offered.”Thanks Skye. Down the hall, turn left twice, and first door on the left.” I took Bobby’s instructions, and ransacked a cabinet for a bag of popcorn. Not finding one, I closed the door.”Looking for something?” I whirled, teleporting up and landing lightly on the cold linoleum floor, realizing I was bare foot. It felt good.”Who are you?” She brushed shoulder-length auburn hair off of her face. She had green eyes and looked like she was my age.”Nikki Straus. And you are?””Skye Slyfaen. What’s your power?” ”Speed. And lots of it. Back to my first question.” ”I was looking for popcorn.” ” A Danger Room session this late? Interesting.” She blurred around the room, reappearing with a popped bag of popcorn.”I can’t resist showing off for newbies.”
    After watching our session, we saw our rooms, which were right next to each other. Both had a bed, desk, swivel chairs, a dresser, and a closet. ”Decorate how you like. There’s a storage room next to the Danger Room with all sorts of stuff.” After filling the closet, and the dresser, I plugged my laptop in for charging, and tried to fall asleep. Unfortunately, I was more awake then ever. After 2 minutes, I figured it was hopeless and decided to explore the mansion complex. Slipping out of the door silently, I walked down the hall turning left into the kitchen for a Pop-tart, then traveling along the corridors to the storage room, and putting my power to use, teleporting a couch into my room. Then I teleported back for a Wi-Fi unit. I sent an E-mail to my parents saying I had been accepted to the same private school as Bobby. I started to explore the mansion, ending up at what appeared to be a medical wing of the mansion complex.
    Suddenly Nightcrawler, Storm, Sage, Logan, and Beast rushed into the room, carrying a man wearing a red visor. Beast pulled on a white coat as the others put the man on the table. The man was cut all over, most gruesomely by a gash across his chest.”What could have done this to Cyke? He would have blasted it outta his way!””Whatever did that also wiped out our entire group” groaned Cyclops weakly. “Scott, relax. We got all of you out of Braddock Manor.” “Rouge, Bishop, Cannonball, and Shadowcat?” “Yes” “What about Rachel?” Beast froze.”You don’t mean…?””Yes,” whispered Scott hoarsely.”You guys go, I’ll help Beast with Scott,” commanded Sage. As Storm and Wolverine grabbed onto Nightcrawler, he teleported away, leaving a haze of pink smoke.
    “I got Monika,” said Nikki, running in with a girl about 13.”Icarus?” A guy with brown wings who looked 17 flew in. Icarus grasped Monika’s shoulder, Monika touched Cyclops’s hand, and then Cyclops started to heal before my eyes. ”Oh, hey Skye, could you do me a favor? I would appreciate it if you cold ask the rest of the team,” Beast indicated a frosted-glass door “about what happened at Braddock Manor, because I have no clue what could have done this.” Cyclops seemed to notice me for the first time.”Hey, I’m Scott Summers, co-headmaster here at Xavier’s Academy.””I’m Skye Slyfaen, um, high school sophomore attending Xavier’s Academy.” He smiled. “Weird, I don’t remember looking at you in Sage’s potential new ‘tants.””I broke in with my friend. She’s another mutant.” He closed his eyes, smiling, and laid down slowly.
    I teleported past the frosted-glass door into a room full of total strangers. But they were fellow mutants, so they were my species… No, they were my generation of humankind. I surveyed the four. They were all in beds. The girl closest to me looked about 17, had brown hair with a white streak, piercing green eyes, and was listening to music on an iPod. She noticed me and said “hey, how’s it going?” pulling out her ear buds. “Pretty good, you?” ”Great. Hey, you’re Skye, Bobby’s cousin, aren’t you?” ”you know Bobby?” “I am his girlfriend, so I’d assume that I knew him.””You’re Rouge, right?”I said, remembering seeing a photo of her and Bobby at my Aunt Shelby’s place. ”oh, so Bobby told you about me?””Yeah, in his last letter, I barely heard anything about his friends or classes, it was Rouge this and Rouge that. But he didn’t mention your power.” She gave a dark chuckle. “That’s Bobby. Protect everyone from the truth. But we’ve all got to grow up sometime…Listen, Skye; I’d prefer not to talk about this right now.””Sure, whenever you’re ready,””Thanks. Anyways, we’ve been bouncing around traits of our previous enemies, to see if we could trigger any residual memories of the battle, because we couldn’t remember anything about the fight. And we all agree that the thing seemed to anticipate our every move, and counter-act them. But that was only after it saw those same moves.””So it’s like a computer.””Huh?””I mean, when it saw you do those moves, it was like a chess match, and it remembered the move when you used it again, and used the appropriate counter measures.””Yeah, it was freaky. It was like a giant figure made of clay. Cyke would blast it, and it would just regenerate and attack like it wasn’t hurt. It could use any power used to physically strike it. Kitty,” She indicated a brown-haired girl of about fourteen with bright, alert blue eyes who was typing on her laptop. ”can walk through walls, and when she goes through anything electrical, short-circuits it. But when she went through this one, there were electric currents that nearly shocked her into solidity. But that did slow it down for a little while, long enough for Cyke to launch an all out assault right before we all blacked out.””So it short-circuited like a piece of electronic equipment, but was certainly living?””Yeah, my power seemed to affect it…”she trailed off thoughtfully. After a minute, I realized the conversation was over, and teleported into the chair next to the blond kid who appeared to be 17, and was writing in a small green notebook. “Hey, who are you? I’ve never seen you around Xavier’s before.”He spoke with a southern accent like Rouge.”I’m Skye Slyfaen, the 15-year old sophomore who, with the help of another 15-year old, beat Xavier’s security system.” “Oh, that’s why Logan’s ticked off, right? I’m Cannonball, but call me Sam. So aren’t you gonna question me like Beast asked?””I think I got most of it from Rouge””So this is just a friendly chat?”Yep” I said settling into the comfy armchair next to his bedside.”Let’s start with how the heck you got here. I’m certain that you’re a new mutant, otherwise you would have been picked up by Sage.””Okay, here’s a guess; you’re psychic,” Sam laughed.”You’re hilarious. If I was psychic, do you think I’d be failing in trig? Out of experience, I can tell you, most psychic are freakishly smart. Nope. My power is flight. I can also create an impenetrable force field.””Then why are you here?””You’re perceptive Skye. Yeah, Godzilla shattered my force field, which ain’t supposed to happen. Nearly broke my leg. I’ve gotta settle that score soon. It’s a pride thing” he explained with a slight smirk. I smiled. “What grade are you in Sam?””I’m a senior,” he said. ”Well…See you around.” I said teleporting right out of my seat. I landed next to Kitty.”Hey Skye, How’s it going?” “Pretty good Kitty, you?” “I’m doing alright. I think that I’m gonna go see that new movie on Friday, the remake of I am Legend, you know, Vampire Cure. It’s gonna be this musical directed by Kenny Ortega.” I had met Kitty Pryde on my last visit to my aunt’s. She was Kelsey’s best friend, and I remembered her as one of the coolest people I’d ever met. She was nice, and apparently an ace student. At the time, I hadn’t known she was a mutant. Maybe she hadn’t been a mutant back then. Maybe she had been a human. But mutants are people like humans, but some people can’t accept that… I suddenly snapped back to the present.”So I’m going with Bobby, Rouge, Kelsey, Zeke, Sara, Tynt & Flurry. Wanna come?” “I’m not sure. I’ve seen I am Legend before, so a musical form would be pretty cool. But really weird. Anyways, who are all those people that you mentioned?””Zeke can control gravity, Flurry’s power lets her control plants and photosynthesize, and Tynt can create fireballs by snapping. Sara’s power is to absorb moonlight. Then she can manifest the energy as a random power. The power is based off of her surroundings, which I think is really cool. “”It is,” I agreed. “Well, I’ll see you around. And if you have a last minute change of mind, just drop by the movie-plex. Its mutant-friendly.” she said, signaling that we could talk tomorrow .I teleported out of the room, and told Beast what I’d heard.
    I walked out, crashing into a Chinese girl who looked like she was my age.”Jubilee, how many times have I told you not to skate in the academy?” Said Sage exasperatedly, her voice drifting from an open door. Jubilee got up unsteadily. “Oh, hey. I’m Jubilee. Sorry about that…” ”I’m Skye.” I said.”I haven’t seen you around before. Where are you from?”” I live in a suburb of New York. I’m a new student.””Well, see you later.” I twisted and teleported onto the roof. I slowly examined the darkening skyline surrounding the Academy.”Beautiful, isn’t it?” “Yeah,” I said, looking around. The skyline was a medley of trees, glass buildings, and a couple of radio towers, illuminated by the first rays of the rising sun. I glanced at my companion. She was dressed in a pale blue sweater with a snowflake motif, and a pair of jeans. Her platform sneakers were a bright orange, and she had a pair of pink fingerless gloves on her hands. Her skin was jet black, Place market is amazing and her eyes were a bright, glowing blue. Her eyes literally glowed, illuminating her face.”I’m Sara.”” I’m Skye. Where are you from Sara?””Seattle.” “Cool,”” yeah, it is. The Pike’s Place market is amazing.””Hey Sara. Who’s this?” asked a girl about Kitty’s age.”This is Skye. Skye, meet Flurry.” Flurry looked pretty normal. She was dressed in a red sweater, and a pair of khakis. Her skin had a green tone, and she had pointed ears. I assumed that if she could photosynthesize, the chlorophyll in her skin was the main pigment. I suddenly got a crazy idea. It was crazy, but when you’re surrounded by super-powered people, you get the feeling you’re all immortal. “Sorry to rush out, but I’ll see you around,” I said, and then I leapt off the roof, instantly willing myself into nothingness, and rematerializing inside the academy. The high I had achieved due to adrenalin was still there, and I quickly changed into a green polo t-shirt and a pair of khakis. I pulled on a blue sweater, and then I headed to the kitchen with a craving to have some fruit for breakfast. “Hey Nikki, how’s it going?””I’m energized, and ready for whatever the heck Frost has planned for us.””Huh?””Emma Frost. She’s the head-mistress. Total psycho tyrant lady.” ”Hey Nikki?” ”Yeah Tynt?”” If the Headhunter hears that, your face is gonna be worth at least an extra Danger Room session. Can’t say that I wouldn’t accept.” “This coming from my boyfriend… let’s just say I’ll enjoy this.” Three seconds later, somehow, Tynt’s pants were down, and he also had a mixing bowl on his head.”I would normally call that Karma, but I think that a freeze frame camera might say differently.” said a voice from my right.” Oh Skye, meet Tynt. This is Andrea.” A tall girl with chestnut brown hair, and pale purple eyes, who was dressed in a yellow t-shirt, pair of teal shorts and wearing a long lilac fingerless glove on one arm took a single look at me and said, “The purple newbie kinda just made my day. It’s like no one else appreciates the color purple anymore.” “Well, I would assume that if you’re purple, you can appreciate the color a heck of a lot more.” “You know, most people would assume that, Tynt” said Jubilee.” Hey Skye, while you’re at the fridge, could you toss me a pear?” “Sure Tynt.” I tossed a pear at Tynt, and it suddenly froze in mid-air, surrounded by a purplish glow. “Andrea!” complained Tynt. Andrea’s eyes were glowing neon purple. The pear floated over to her mouth, and she took a bite out of it. Beast, Sam, Kitty, Cyclops, Bobby and Rouge came in, and Rouge, Bobby, Kitty, and Sam sat down. “Hey Cyke, What’s the actually cool headmaster up to?””Breakfast, Tynt, ‘cause I’m starved” Beast Walked over, saying,” Hey Skye, here’s your schedule. It comes into effect tomorrow. Today you take some tests of your mutant power, and physical changes. Pretty standard stuff. Pass me the eggs and cheese, could you?” I passed Beast the eggs and a packet of shredded cheddar cheese. I grabbed a pomegranate, and found a ceramic bowl. I took it over to the sink as the smell of fresh-off-the-pan eggs coated with cheese wafted over me. I picked up a knife, and sliced the scarlet fruit into quarters, popping some of the juice-filled seeds. “Want some help?”Asked Andrea from over my shoulder. ”Thanks for asking, but I think I’ve got it.”Suddenly the seeds in the fruit popped out and into another bowl.”Zeke, that was officially awesome.” said Andrea, giving a tall, gangly kid with dark skin and bright blue hair a high-five.”Seen Helix?” She asked.”Why not ask Tynt?””Because you’re his roommate,”” Yeah, he’s right there.” “Hey Andrea,” said a tall, African- American dressed in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt with a skull on the front. “Hey Helix,” she said, her lips brushing against his.”Meet Skye.” ” Nice to meet you, Skye” he said, crushing my hand in a handshake. I teleported into the empty seat next to Bobby at one of the multiple circular tables in the enormous dining room adjacent to the kitchen, and started to eat the seeds, finding that I was facing Zeke.”Hey, I’m Zeke, Who are you?””I’m Skye. Great to see you out of the hospital Rouge.” She was still wearing gloves, and looked a lot better than last night.”Yeah, I’m glad. The hospital is the worst place to be at the end of the semester.” “Yeah, and that means tonight we can get to the premiere of Vampire Cure.” said Bobby.” “So, Skye, are you planning on going?””I might. Maybe I’ll go with Riley and meet you there.” I said thoughtfully. As if on cue, Riley walked in with a plate laden with eggs, bacon, half a bagel with cream cheese, and a piece of toast. She sat down next to me saying, “Hey Skye, Got your new schedule yet?”” Yeah, I did.” I said, pulling it out of my pocket. “Lucky for you the new school year starts now.” commented Bobby.”In October?” said Riley with more than a trace of skepticism. “Our school is almost year-round, but we get a lot more breaks and off-days, and in the summer there are some really cool exploratory courses.” said Sara who had sat down on Riley’s left with a bowl of Cocoa Rice Krispies that were drowning in milk. “Sounds amazing.””Yeah, you guys will love the academy.” Said Helix as he and Andrea sat down between Sara and Zeke, and introductions were made in the space of the next two minutes, along with who had what kind of power. Helix was able to morph at will into a six foot tall lizard, an ability that he demonstrated for us, which was apparently part f the normal course of events, as nobody started to freak out or anything. “Hey guys?” said Bobby. “What is it?” asked Andrea uneasily.”Have you guys seen Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler or Rachel around?” ”Storm, Wolverine and Nightcrawler went to Braddock Manor to rescue Rachel from whatever decimated Cyclops’s team last night.” I said, recalling the events of last night. “Yeah, but if it was just a rescue…””They should be back by now.” Finished Rouge with a grim look on her face.”So then even they couldn’t beat Godzilla,” said Sam sitting down next to Helix.” Means about everyone’s gonna be needed to help.” Said Andrea. ”Nope. Definitely not. It broke my force field and almost killed Scott. The team will most likely be made up of Emma, Sage, Beast, Icarus, and possibly Avalanche, Quicksilver, Toad, and anyone else that thinks that this is worth trying to defeat. I doubt that the Brotherhood is likely to help. Maybe some of the Avengers, or maybe even Sunfire and Banshee and Warpath will get a piece of the action... X-23 and Mercury will probably go too. So they won’t need you guys. The problem is, they don’t really have the best chance at beating it. It can regenerate and use some powers. So they might want some of those cluster munitions we used against The Fury. Those were pretty useful.” He said, chewing a spoonful of Cheerios thoughtfully.”What about Elixir? He’s practically one of the X-men.””That’s a good idea.”” Hey Riley, are you planning on going to the premiere of Vampire Cure tonight? Skye said that he might.” asked Andrea curiously. “Yeah, the rest of us are going along with Kitty, Tynt, Nikki, and Flurry.”” Sure, sounds fun.” said Riley, finishing her bagel.” Okay, we’re all meeting in the entrance hall at six and walking to the theater.” said Kitty as she, Tynt, Nikki, and Flurry pulled up chairs. Another round of introductions followed, and then I took a look at my schedule.”I’ve got first period with you Skye.” said Riley, looking over my shoulder.”Hey let us see too.” said Helix.”I’ve got second and third period with you,” said Sara. “Me and Tynt have fourth and sixth with you.” said Nikki. “Kitty and I have eighth with you “said Flurry. “ And I think Jubilee has seventh with you.””Someone mention me?” said Jubilee, pulling up another chair and starting to eat a large blueberry muffin.” Oh yeah, we were wondering if you have seventh period with Skye.”” She pulled the schedule over to take a look.” Yeah, I’ve got history seventh. And history is basically studying past enemies of the X-men.” “Skye, Riley, meet me in the medical wing when you’re done, we need to run some tests.” said Beast. Once Riley had finished her breakfast, I grabbed her hand and whirled into darkness, reappearing in front of a startled Beast.”I am never gonna get used to that,” said Riley disconcertedly. “Neither am I “said Beast with a laugh. In the next half an hour, Beast had checked mine and Riley’s heart rates, mine one-sixty-nine, hers two-forty-four (per minute). According to Beast’s reference chart of normal human statistics, our rates were pretty out there compared to a human normal rate of seventy-two. I also found out that my core temperature had dropped down to zero degrees Fahrenheit. Riley’s had been upped to around one-thirty-two Fahrenheit. “The interesting thing is that both of you mutated almost simultaneously according to the readings I’ve collected from Cerebro. That explains why Sage didn’t pick you up in her scan last night. Two activations within three minutes in the vicinity of one mile white each other out of the scan that Sage’s power uses. The chances are so low that none of us including Charles believed it possible.” “Okay, but what does that mean for us?” asked Riley, doing her best to look at least slightly interested and failing miserably. “I don’t know. It could even result in a telepathic connection, or any other number of things, like Skye growing wings or you turning purple.””Suddenly this got a lot more freaky.” said Riley decisively, and then Beast led us into the Danger Room, and set up a course for me. He said he could get a better idea of our combat potential if we tested separately. Then I noticed that Cyclops had walked in. ” O.K. Skye, you can’t use teleportation on this course. It’s just to get an idea of your physical adaptations,” he said, tossing me an earpiece with a built in microphone. “All you have to do is defeat anything in your way, and retrieve the item that looks like this.” He said showing me a sphere about half a foot in diameter that was a cheery yellow with a set of vertical pale blue stripes. “Go through the blue door and pick one hand weapon, then head on in.” I walked into the room beyond the blue door. The walls were painted white, and illuminated by strips of neon. Hanging on the eight walls of the room were all sorts of firearms and hand weapons, from small pistols to enormous guns that wouldn’t have looked out of place in The Matrix. There were also knives, daggers and swords of all shapes and sizes. The room was divided by the differently colored neon. The hand weapons were on three walls, lit by pink neon, the firearms were on another three walls, illuminated by yellow neon. The door out was illuminated with blue, and the door into the Danger Room was jet black, illuminated by a black-light. I slowly took a straight, sharp sword with a simple handle that was easy to grip. It felt light-weight and easy to handle. I swung it around experimentally a couple of times. I abruptly realized that a shelf had slid out of the wall, and it had inside a black sweater with a sheath sown into the back. I took off my sweater and put it in the drawer, then pulled on the black sweater. I sheathed the sword and walked into the Danger Room. As I stepped into the spherical room, I realized that walls rose twenty feet into the air above me on my left and right, creating a roofless tunnel. I heard Beast in my ear say “This is a speed run Skye, so you’re kinda being timed.” “Anything else you want to tell me?”” Yeah, Skye?” said Riley’s voice in my ear.”Right here.” I said, breaking into a sprint.” The floor’s falling away behind you.”” Wonderful.” I noticed a pole sticking out of the wall ahead of me.” Why is that there?” I pondered to myself. “It’s because there’s an enormous space of nothingness in front of you.” I broke into a full tilt sprint, and then I leaped for the pole, then with cold, chilling realness, I knew that my footing had been off. I heard Scott swear, then say” Skye, we’re shutting down.” Slowly the entire landscape started to fade away, dematerializing like a 3-D hologram. I grabbed blindly, the transparent pole solid in my grasp. I swung forward, grabbing another pole as the Danger Room whirred into life. More popped into existence at the will of the Danger Room. I hit the ledge in front of me running… and then I tripped. I could hear groaning, winces, and laughter as I got up and set off. I noticed an android in front of me, carrying a sword that resembled mine. Mid-run, I unsheathed my sword, holding it loosely in my left hand. I rushed forward, and then I jumped, my footing perfect, and I soared at the android. I swung my hand around, the two swords making a grating sound as they scraped against each other, denting the robot’s. I flew past it, and as I hit the ground, I lowered my body and swung around. I ran at it, and then I realized that there was a small panel on the robot’s torso, counting down from ninety. “Is that a time bomb?” I asked Beast.” A baby nuke with a focused radius,” said Scott with a slight strain of pride in his voice. I realized that I was on a dead end path. I ran for the wall, asking,” What’s the radius?” “5 yards.” I leaped at the wall and rebounded at the android. I hit the android with the handle of the sword, knocking it pretty far. It was still only five feet from the chasm, ten from me. I threw the sword by the blade, the handle making a solid hit on the automaton’s counter which was down to thirteen. It slid four feet, perched precariously on the edge of the yawning crevasse. Then the robot was swallowed up by the dark ravine, and then I heard a loud explosion. A glob of bright pink paint spurted up from within the abyss, spattering my sword.” A baby nuke, huh?” I picked it up and scaled the wall, coming to a vast plateau. At the other end of the plateau was a wall with thirteen hemisphere openings, all containing a yellow orb, all with the same blue stripes. “This is the final part. You see the green panel? You tag that and you start a separate timer. Because of the code on that panel, there’s a way to determine which the real orb is. You pull the right orb out, you win. Pull the wrong one, and you’ll trigger a wave of robots.” I ran for the wall and noticed that the orbs were in a line going vertically until the top of the wall. I read the panel.
    The three spaced evenly throughout are fakes; the two between these are also.
    The real is an even number, not lower than seven, above eleven, and out of reach for you.
    I hit the panel and thought for a couple of moments. “Twelve!” I realized, and I started to climb towards it, using other orbs as footholds. As I reached for my prize, all of the eleven orbs beneath it fell, and the predicted robot horde surged in from the other three edges of the plateau, streaming towards me. I took a few steps back, then darted at the wall, performing a mid-run leap, after that running vertically straight up the wall, grabbing the orb and slowing in the process. After that… I fell off of the wall. More winces, groans and laughter. “Hey, I thought the session was over,” I said, and then Scott said” Technically, you have. You just have to make it all the way to the lime colored pillar and put the orb in the right slot.””Is that all? That’s like saying he just has to polish a tiger’s teeth… from the inside.” I heard Bobby’s voice in the background. I ran around the corner, and entered the dome, and then the lights went out. It was touch and go from then on, and I was not going to lose this fight. I slashed and dodged, evading getting hurt, dealing more crippling strikes to the oncoming robotic horde. But they kept coming, and soon they would win through sheer numbers. I was on a dead end path that could very well end with me dead. I swirled into darkness, slotting the orb into the column, and watching with a look of grim satisfaction as the Danger Room de-virtualized into the chrome prism.”So how did I do?” I asked as I strode into the control room, pulling on my sweater. Bobby and Rouge were looking over Beast’s shoulders at a screen, and then Scott said,” You pulled it off perfectly.”” But I teleported, after you said it wasn’t a test of my power.””I know. However, if you want to make it as an X-Man, you’ve got to know when to break the rules. Why else do you think the X-Men are one of the few super-teams that still aren’t trusted by the government? Sure we’ve got support in Germany, Taiwan, Japan and Canada, but the country we’re based in doesn’t really approve of us. And that is why you have passed with flying colors. “As if on cue, Riley came in from a separate door, saying”I heard that.””Come on guys, me and Bobby are gonna give you the tour of the academy.” said Rouge, pulling open the door. Rouge walked- well, almost ran ahead, while the rest of us (Bobby, Riley, Me) struggled to keep up.” Is she always like this?” I asked Bobby nonchalantly. “Yeah, her power is a real… Burden, I guess you could say. She can’t control it, and it keeps her from letting people get too close, both physically and mentally. It’s hard on her. Sometimes I really wonder what life would have been like for her... if she hadn’t been…a freak like the rest of us, y’know? Whatever it might have become, I always know that it would have to be, should have been better. If I could do one thing to change the world that would be it.” “You really love her, don’t you.” “More than you can imagine Skye. And more than she’ll ever know. “We had slowed down, or at least, Bobby and I had. Riley, not so much. “Come on, I think Rouge is halfway to Canada.” She said smiling. “Or at least in Vermont.” Bobby sped up, and I whirled into darkness, re-emerging at the end of the hall. I walked at a measured pace after Riley, and then noticed that bobby had turned into an entity entirely constructed out of what looked like glass, but was really ice. “Okay, now that is awesome.”I said, watching as he created an ice bridge to slide along, looking like an abomnible snowman in an ice skating race. I broke into a sprint, at first easily keeping pace with him, then dropping behind until I could run no further, finally catching up to him in a room that could have easily housed three Olympic-sized swimming pools, and possibly a commercial airliner. “This is the Rec room.” said Bobby. It’s got everything. In your free time, this is one of the best places to hang out with friends, chill, or just have fun on the weekends. There’s a coffee slash juice bar, videogames, foosball, table tennis, air hockey. You name it, it’s either here or on its way. The Rec room was a recent addition, but the Stuff that was either in the planning, or a majority request by the students, has been arriving within a week after we ordered.” Bobby had pointed things out as he said the name, and the room was amazing. The maroon carpet, the golden-brown walls, the comfortable blue armchairs and orange and yellow bean-bags, made the Rec room one of the friendliest- looking rooms I had seen in my life. “Wow.” said Riley, looking slightly shocked by the room.” I think you took what I was going to say,” I murmured, feeling the same way that she sounded. Along one wall were a multitude of large flat-screen T.V.s mounted on the wall, some on, some off. I could see Zeke and Helix playing Halo: Covenant Reformed on one, while Andrea and Jubilee were playing Guitar Hero on another. I noticed Kitty sitting in an armchair with her laptop, and Sam in another, holding the same dark green notebook as before. I saw Flurry and Tynt engrossed in a game of foosball; I saw all this and more, but if I tried to write it all I’d get writer’s cramp, and so I cannot explain all of the things I saw, only some. Rouge led us over to a girl with mahogany hair that fell just past her shoulders. There was a guitar on the carpet next to her, and several leaflets of sheet music in front of her. She had a pair of glasses in one hand, and was massaging the bridge of her nose with the other. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she had a cup of steaming coffee next to her guitar. “Kelly?” said Rouge gently.”Are you alright? You look like you haven’t had any sleep all week.””That’s because I haven’t.” said Kelly, her eyes still pinched shut, her voice drained, almost devoid of energy. ”We thought that you might like to meet Riley and Skye.” Rouge quietly pushed on. Kelly’s eyes opened, and she caught sight of us. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there. I’m Kelly. Nice to meet you.” She said, her voice regaining some lie. “I’m just stressed, so I’m still somewhat snappish. I’ve got to get back to finishing up my music, so I’ll see you two around,” she said, drinking some coffee and picking up her guitar. “I wish you guys had met Kelly under different circumstances. She’s gonna be the opening act for Absolute Zero, and she practically idolizes them. She’s been fine-tuning her performance all month. Nikki’s helping her, bringing her coffee, organizing her wardrobe for the concert. I’m almost certain that she could play that song in her sleep.” Said Rouge as Kelly began to play a familiar tune on her guitar. “Where have I heard that before?” I said out loud. “It’s the song ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ by U2. They were one of the best bands in the world around 2010. The whole world lost something when they split. And she’s also doing a song created by Sting, which she says is going to be a surprise. But I think Kelly’s gonna need some sleep if she wants to get through the concert tomorrow. It starts at eight, and goes until midnight, so she’ll be catching some Z’s tonight.” Predicted Bobby. Over the course of the rest of the day, we ate lunch and then we went through the entire mansion. We saw the pool, tennis and basketball courts, and the soccer and football fields in the backyard, all edged by intimidating yet inviting woods. We went through the gardens, meeting Aquila, a thirteen year old kid who was a hydrokinetic. It meant he could move water with his mind, he explained, after I looked momentarily confused. Bobby showed us the huge library slash archives slash movie rental area. We saw the classroom wing, and where the dormitories were. Then Bobby took us back to our rooms after I realized that I had forgotten where our rooms were. Coincidentally, Riley had forgotten as well, so we walked across the freshly mowed lawn and into the dormitories as our three shadows lengthened. I stopped walking, realizing that I didn’t have a shadow. “Come on Skye! Just because you’re not cold doesn’t mean we aren’t.” complained Riley. She looked at where I was staring, my mouth gaping. “Wow” she said, about as shocked as I was. “What’s up with both of you? Let’s g-“said Bobby, trailing into silence. Rouge noticed, and was the first to recover the ability to speak coherently. “You don’t have a shadow? Sure didn’t expect that to happen.” I shook my head and said “Let’s keep going. Riley’s right, it’s getting colder.” I strode towards the door into the dormitory. As the last rays of the setting sun sank out of view, and the moon illuminated the world in the eerie half-light of a waning crescent. I followed Bobby to a door marked with a number that I remembered; 169. I reached for the door knob, and walked into… the wrong room. “No, you didn’t” said a voice. The weird bit was that the voice was inside of my head.”SURPRISE!” yelled several voices, and I instinctively whirled into darkness, landing in the same spot as where I’d been standing. I realized that there were a whole lot of familiar faces among the group. Helix, Andrea, Flurry, Sara, And Zeke were all smiling at me, along with a Guy who looked about fourteen, like Kitty. “I’m Max Ahmenad.”He said.”Nice to meet you Skye. His skin was olive hued, and he didn’t appear to have eyes, just skin where his eyes should have been. There was a rust colored bird of prey, a falcon I guessed, perched on his shoulder.”I’m a telepath, and the falcon is Imohotep. I can telepathically ‘see’ through his eyes, so we have grown close. No, I haven’t tripped over anything. Yes, I was born this way. Yes, we did redecorate your room.” I looked around. The desk was now a pitch black, and I noticed a bookshelf, also black, with this black log book and some other assorted novels on its ancient shelving. I looked up and realized that there were multiple speakers on the walls and ceiling. There was also a T.V. with a DVD player. Next to that was a CD rack and DVD shelf, both stocked with multicolored cases. I also noticed a CD player mounted into the wall, with a volume dial next to it. “Wow. Thanks guys, this is awesome. I love it. But how did you…” I mentally smacked myself in the face.”The tour was a diversion. That was a good plan, and because Max is here you could communicate…nicely done, nicely done.” “I thought that Max was the telepath. He figured that out in less than a minute.” “He’s just perceptive.” said Max. After that we all grabbed some dinner, cheese pizza, and I teleported with Riley to the lobby, then walked with the others to the movies. About an hour and a half later, we emerged, all with varying levels of disgust on our faces. “Worst movie ever,” said Sara, and no one disagreed. It was about two in the morning when we got back, and after I fired off an e-mail explaining what had happened to Eden (My sister), and then started to work on this after it became apparent I wasn’t going to get to sleep.
    All for now,
    Skye