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Chapter 8: Bro-Bonding

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The Morning After Nix/Annika And Chayse/Lia Had Their First Dates
The warmth of the rising sun first stirred Chayse awake. It kept him a moment to realize he was still on top of the picnic blanket he had laid out on the school's roof for his date with Lia. Oh crap, Lia! Chayse would have bolted upright, except his left arm was pinned. He turned to see Lia still cuddled up against him, her head on his shoulder. Her hair had fallen in her face as she tossed a little in her sleep. She looked so adorable, it was hard for Chayse to consider waking her.

Maybe I can find a way to scoop her up and just phase her into her bed, he thought. Unfortunately, she had managed to find a pressure point in the night, and his left arm was just dead weight. He couldn't move it, let alone use it to carry her, and he was pretty sure throwing her over his shoulder would definitely wake her up anyway.

Sighing, Chayse brushed the hair out of Lia's face and used his thumb to play with her temple. It tickled her enough for her to softly grumble and swat him away. "Lia," he chuckled, "Lia, come on, wake up."

She grumbled a little more, sighed, and then nuzzled closer to him. His heart raced and he desperately wanted to just leave her be. Unfortunately, they'd be in huge trouble if anyone found out they stayed out past curfew; let alone stayed out all night together.

"Lia, we fell asleep on the roof. You gotta wake up before anyone notices that we've been out here all night."

"We fell asleep?" she groggily gargled back. As soon as the words left her mouth her brain figured out what they meant. Jumping on to her knees, she stared wide eyed at Chayse. "We fell asleep?" she yelled.

"Shhh, you're gonna wake everyone!" Chayse grabbed her arm to steady her as he covered her mouth.
She batted his hand away and continued to freak out. Thankfully, it was in a much softer tone this time. "Oh, my god, we fell asleep? We've been out here all night?"

Chayse slowly nodded his head; giving her a moment to finish waking up and comprehend what was going on.

"Crap! My dad is gonna kill me!" Her eyes widened father – something Chayse didn't realize was possible – and stared him down. "He's gonna kill us. Oh, shit! We gotta get back to our dorms! Quick! Before he finds out. Oh, god! First the thing with the dress and now this? Shit. I'm gonna be in so much trouble. And he's gonna hate you. Geez. He's gonna think you're a bad influence on me or something, and then he won't let us see each other anymore, and since we both live here that means he'll be on patrol twenty-four-seven. And he can do that, ya know!"

"Lia," Chayse tried to hide his chuckling, but it was adorable listening to her ramble whenever she was nervous.

"I thought him watching me was bad before. He'll be like my shadow now. And what if he thinks all guys are bad influences because of this? What if you've ruined my chances with any guy? I'm never gonna get married. I'll grow old and alone, but instead of a crazy lady with forty cats, I'm gonna have forty copies of my father."

"Lia!" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her briefly. "Calm down. They're not going to know, alright? You just need to relax."

She punched him in the shoulder. "How could you let us fall asleep?"

He made a mental note to not make this girl legitimately angry. Even that playful punch kind of hurt. He guessed she had more strength than she realized; having to walk around with obsidian skin can add some real muscle strain otherwise. He rubbed where she connected and shrugged. "I know, I know. My bad."

"My bad? You bayou brain!"

"Wait, you're mad at me? You were the one that was talking about dating and marrying other guys just a moment ago! Didn't realize our date meant so little to you, especially considering the dead arm you gave me." He looked at his poor left arm, "I mean the one you gave me while sleeping on it, not the one you just re-gave me with that punch."

Her entire body softened as she reached out to rub his arm. "Did I really hit you that hard?"

Oh, man! Those eyes. Those puppy dog eyes looking up at me. Chayse couldn't resist. He patted the top of her head to let her know everything was fine. "Don't worry about it. I'm getting feeling back already." Once more he had to choke down a laugh. She just looked so wounded knowing that she hurt him. The large, watery eyes, the furrowed brow, the quivering lip, and a strand of hair that fell back into her face. The whole thing was just so cute Chayse almost couldn't stand it. He had to find a way to stop looking at it; break the spell so his mind could work again.

So he leaned in and kissed her.

It instantly brought them both to center. When he pulled away he kept strong eye contact with her and kept her chin in his hand. "Listen. Based on the sun, it's probably just before seven. We have to be quick because we have a lot of early risers here, but I think I can still sneak us in before anyone notices. Perks to being able to phase." He winked and helped her to her feet. "So, you ready?"

Even with her cinnamon skin, Lia was starting to look a little green. She swallowed hard and nodded. "I don't think I'll ever get used to phasing, but sure. Best option we got, right?"

He popped her a crooked grin and squeezed her hand. Ignoring the picnic still spread across the rooftop, Chayse quickly lead her to the section right above her room; thanking God that both his and Lia's dorms were on the top floor. "Alright, I'm going to phase you and lower you through the ceiling. You should be above your bed, but you might have a couple feet to drop when I let go. Ready?"

She again nodded, but every muscle in her looked tight. Chayse was beginning to regret giving his still functional right hand to her terrified death grip.

He closed his eyes to concentrate on phasing himself, but not letting himself drop through the ceiling. He then focused on making Lia intangible too. He smiled at her to try to calm her down as he lowered her through the ceiling. Just before her head sunk beneath the rooftop, he stole one last kiss. "Thanks for the great night," he said before extending his arm as far as he could. He felt her let go of his hand, but with the thick rooftop he couldn't hear if it was a soft landing.
He hoped so, but knew he'd find out later if it wasn't. He again rubbed his left shoulder as he raced across the roof to get above his own dorm.

He made a mental note to come back up later to clean up their picnic, but his priority was to get into his bed before anyone noticed. He knew Mrs. Drake was strict on having Nix wake up at the crack of dawn so he could meditate on his telepathic powers before classes.

He dropped through the ceiling and softly landed on his bed, only to be greeted by a fully awake Nix grinning so hard Chayse feared the kid's teeth would pop out.

"So," Nix dragged out the word like a slide-whistle, "how did your date with Lia go?"

Ignoring the warmth coming off of his cheeks, Chayse casually sat down on his bad and grinned back. "Oh, I'd say about as good as yours was with Annika."

Nix defensively threw up his hands and shook his head. "Hey. At least I managed to make it home last night and sleep in my own bed, you smooth bastard. Care to share?" Nix's dusty blonde hair, angled features, pale blue eyes, and pointy grin all made him resemble a wolf staring down a hen house.

More heat flowed off Chayse's face, and he wondered if he matched a well-boiled lobster quite yet. He cleared his throat and sprawled out across his bed. "Hate to break it to ya, buddy, but there's nothing to share. I've actually been going up on the roof for a while now. Helps me clear my mind. Guess we just fell- I mean I! I fell asleep this time. That's all."

Nix jumped forward and pointed at Chayse with both hands. "We!" He flailed his fingers like he was playing a drum solo with them. "I distinctly heard 'we'!" He batted Chayse's legs to the side and plopped down on the bed next to him. "Hey, man, just don't get yourself in trouble, 'kay? She's still fourteen. I'm not saying she's immature, and I'm not saying you shouldn't have some fun. Hell, you know me, I love having a good time and whatnot, but make sure you guys are smart about what you're doing. Her damn father is named Multiple Man. The guy can literally be everywhere. So, just watch your back."

"Woah! Let's just stop ya there." Chayse smacked Nix in the shoulder with his pillow. "Calm down, 'Mom', we didn't do anything! We just talked and must have passed out. That's it, I swear! But, uh, thanks for the whole Birds and the Bees talk, or whatever."

"Yeah, yeah." Nix smacked Chayse back and walked over to his own bed. "Thing is, she is only fourteen. I know that's not that much younger than us, but at this age it does make a world of difference."

"Can you at least pretend you're still a teenager? I'm pretty sure my actual parents can give me these speeches themselves, 'kay?"

"You want teenager? How about this then? Any clue on whether or not she has the same intentions you do for this whole thing? Like, are you some fling until the next hot guy? Or is she gonna be clingy? Or-"

"Oh, hell, even I don't really know what I want out of this thing!" Chayse rolled out of bed and started gathering up a change of clothes. "Look, I know she's younger. Right now that's perfectly fine since I swear I only have pure intentions." He could practically hear the word "bullshit" form on Nix's tongue. "Alright, some impure ones sneak in now and again, but I ignore those. You'd think with all of our powers one of us would have the ability to keep teenage hormones in check."

"We sure William doesn't have that power?"

Chayse snorted a laugh. "Anyway, there's something more than just physical attraction with Lia." He sat back on the foot of his bed and cradled his clothes close to his chest. "Something about her; I told her things I haven't even felt comfortable telling you. There's just this feeling between us that I can't really explain, but I do think we both feel it. We just zen each other out, and we enjoy just talking. Which is precisely what we did last night. Chatted until we passed out."

Nix threw his hands up in defeat and walked over to pat Chayse on the shoulder. "If that's the story you're sticking to."

"Your trust in me is overwhelming at times."

"It's a gift. One of many I possess." Nix dramatically posed with his mock humility. "In all seriousness, though, man, there's stuff that you don't feel comfortable telling me?"

"Nothing personal, but, I dunno, I guess there's some things that are harder to talk about the longer you know someone. Plus, she seems so non-judgmental, ya know? Well, aside from calling me 'swamp brain' after the whole Capture the Flag Maze Blow-up thing. Anyway, it just feels like she'd just accept me regardless of what I tell her."

Jaw dropped in mock hurt, Nix squeaked out, "And I am judgmental?"

Chayse smiled and shook his head, "Nope. Not in the least. You totally didn't just accuse me of taking advantage of a poor, innocent girl." After a good, air-clearing laugh, Chayse gently smacked Nix on the arm. "Hey, man, I do appreciate the concern. Really. It's always good to know that you got my back. But this girl's different, just like Anni is for you."

"Alright, you got me there. This time, we take it one day at a time with these ladies that can turn us Don Juans into monogamous gentleman." Nix held up his hand, and Chayse accepted as they pulled each other into a shoulder bump.

"Now, in regards to that faithful tendency you have for backing me up, I need you to promise me that you're not gonna tell anyone about me and Lia not making it in by curfew last night. I think I got her back to her room before anyone noticed, and if her dad found out-"

"Yeah, yeah, my lips are sealed." Nix sat on his bed and situated himself to get more of his daily meditation done before the morning got away from him. "However, you do realize that if Anni noticed Lia out all night and asks me about it, I am putty in that girl's hands."

"Yeah, I know." Chayse quickly got changed. When he finished, he smirked at Nix. "Hey, ya know that trick I told ya about? The one I learned in the D.R.?"

Nix opened one eye. "You mean the one you told me about while you were still in the infirmary for being a moron? Yeah, I remember."

Chayse scrunched up his face, but continued with just as much excitement and anticipation. "Well, ya wanna see it? I mean, once you're done pretending you're actually doing anything there. I know you're just fantasizing about Annika; you're not fooling anyone."

Nix threw his pillow at Chayse, but the boy phased so it passed harmlessly through him. "And who's to say thinking about Anni isn't meditative? You were the one going on and on about how 'zen' Lia makes you feel."

"Alright, smart ass, ya wanna see it or not?"

"Sure. Just so happens that I learned a new trick myself, but I'll be sure to let you show me what you've got before I show off." Nix slid off the bed and headed for the door. "Where to? D.R.? Outside?"

"Pond works. The water should allow you to really help me out with my little demo. Ya know, if you're up to it." Chayse shuffled through a small bin on top of his dresser, and pulled out a hair tie. He quickly pulled his hair back into a ponytail.

"If I'm up for it? You're the one who needs my help when showing me something." Nix held the door open and gestured towards the hall. "So, you coming, or not?"

"Go on ahead and I'll meet you there. First, I need to go get something from storage."

They nodded quick goodbyes and went their separate ways. Nix lightly jogged down the main stairwell and headed for the pond behind the school. Meanwhile, Chayse took the express elevator down to the X-Men armory.

Students weren't allowed down there. Any time they needed a weapon for training the faculty would provide it for them. If a student wanted something for personal training, they were supposed to officially request it. Chayse never really followed protocols. Sure, he'd follow most of the school's rules – mostly because it showed a good example, and kept him out of trouble – but he knew he was responsible enough to not screw around with most of the weaponry the X-Men kept in stock. Besides, the time it took to request a weapon and then wait for it to be delivered; he preferred spontaneous training like he was doing now.

"Maybe I can suggest to Mom that Mr. Madrox keep a dupe down here as 'security', and a way for students to check weapons out faster; like at a police station's evidence lock-up." As Chayse grabbed the weapon he was looking for and phased back out of the armory, he was glad he didn't give that suggestion to his mother before. After spending the night with Lia on the roof, the last person he wanted to see was her dad. At least, not until he knew that the man either didn't know or didn't care about Lia being out all night.

As Chayse made his way over to the pond he saw Nix waving him down. The blonde finished eating a granola bar he had grabbed from the kitchen on the way out, and tossed a second one over to Chayse.
"Probably best if we had some sort of breakfast before doing some training, right?" Nix pocketed the wrapper from his bar and brushed his hands off on his pants. Cocking his head, Nix pointed to the weapon in Chayse's other hand. "Nunchucks? I didn't realize you were grabbing a weapon. Should I have gotten one too?"

Chayse ripped the granola bar packaging open with his teeth and took a quick bite. "Nah. You should be fine. Honestly, I could have just gone and found a fallen branch for the same effect, but using nunchaku just looks cooler." He smirked and took another bite. "Alright, so now for your part. Can you can make me a block of ice as thick and hard as you can? Preferably at least a cubic foot? Probably larger if you don't want to chance holding it."

"Got it." Nix cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders dramatically before gesturing in front of him with both hands. A small snowstorm manifested about four feet away; winds angrily swirling snowflakes inside an invisible force field. The flakes collided and clumped together until they were sleet, and then hail. The snow kept condensing and growing as Nix slowly pulled his hands further apart from each other. In about fifteen seconds, a solid block about five feet tall rested in the grass.

Chayse swallowed the last of his granola and charged the wrapper as he walked over to the ice. He tossed the wrapper, and it instantly disintegrated.

"You could really solve the world's garbage problem, ya know?" Nix joked as he watched the dust particles that used to be a granola bar wrapper.

Chayse smirked and then went back to inspecting the work Nix had done. He knocked on different parts of the cube, and phased his hand through other sections. "A bit challenging to phase through it. Good, that's nice and solid. This will be fun!" He rested a hand on the block in order to gauge the distance as he stepped back. "First up, a reference swing." He twirled the nunchaku to build up some momentum, and then swung at the ice as hard as he could. Some ice flakes sprayed with the follow-through, but aside from a small scratch, there was no damage to the ice.

"Alright, so, that's about as good as I can do with just my strength alone. Kinda lame, right?"
Nix playfully whistled as if he wasn't paying attention, "I really wasn't gonna say anything about you being a weakling, but since you did."

"Yeah, yeah, alright. Now for the fun part." An excited, crooked smile crept across Chayse's lips as he brought his arm behind him. He concentrated as he twirled the nunchaku; feeling the weight shift in his hand as the second bar swirled around the handle. Slowly, the nunchaku started to turn the same neon lime green as Chayse's eyes. However, the weapon didn't glow green like all the other items Chayse charged to explode in the past. It was different somehow, almost like it was absorbing the light instead of emitting it.

When Chayse swung at the block of ice this time, it slid right through it like it was papier-mache, leaving a large gash behind. As the nunchaku left the other side of the ice, chunks shattered all over the ground in an explosion of shrapnel.

"Woah! That was awesome!" Nix ran up to the block and ran his hand through the gap. "How'd a little wuss like you manage that?"

Chayse chuckled and swung the nunchaku around himself. "Simple. I figured out how to accelerate the existing kinetic energy I was building up by swinging the weapon. The effects are then exponential since the energy had to find somewhere to go. Basically, I can build up enough energy for it to be like a champion body builder swung it, or even The Hulk. Or maybe even stronger if I can add enough energy. Neat, right?"

"Kick ass, you mean. That's pretty sweet!" Nix pressed on the block of ice, and it instantly splashed into a giant puddle. "I think I may still have you beat, though. My trick can be both offensive and defensive."

"Oh, I have no doubt whatever you do will be offensive." Chayse winked and reclined on the grass.

"Anyway," Nix glared, "I figured this out on my date with Anni last night. The one you were so curious about."

Chayse gestured for Nix to continue, "Well, now you have my attention, although I'm not entirely sure I want to see a technique you created while with Annika."

"Lewd." Nix smiled. "So, in order to help set the mood for our date I used the mist coming off of the fountain to create a fog, but when I saw the fog catch the light coming off the school and the moon, I decided to try making it into a cloud of ice crystals. At first, Anni and I parted ways because we both needed to hit the hay before getting up early this morning, but I was too excited to try something out that I couldn't sleep. I actually came back out here; at the pond."

"Riveting. Is this the whole demonstration?" Chayse leaned back against his left elbow as he absentmindedly started twirling the nunchaku in his right hand.

"Alright, smart ass. How's this for a demonstration?" Nix raised his hands like a conductor preparing an orchestra for the overture. In full, graceful movements, Nix rotated his hands in a large circle. As he quickened the pace with his arms, his eyes became lighter and lighter shades of blue until they started to glow the same blinding white as sun reflecting off fresh snow.

Fog started to lift off the pond and drift over towards Nix. Keeping the quickened pace, Nix started waving his arms in large circles above his head. As the fog formed a thin cloud above him, Nix slowly lowered his arms, creating large figure-eights as he directed the cloud to surround him. Just before he vanished in the haze of the fog, he jerked his hands to each side and abruptly stopped. Instantaneously, the fog solidified into thousands of ice needles forming a force field around him.

"Whoa!" Chayse jumped to his feet to get a better look. "I stand corrected. This is awesome!"

"Aww, you think I'm done," Nix cooed like he was placating a child. "That's so cute." He flicked his wrists towards him and the needles whipped around him as if they were caught inside a tornado's vortex.

Chayse smirked and held up a finger, "Hold on, keep that up for a minute, I wanna try something." He jogged over to the pond's coastline and scooped up a few pebbles. "Here's hoping you're as good as you think, man." Chayse started tossing the pebbles at Nix.

Without flinching, Nix allowed the pebbles to collide with his ice needles. The needles shattered on impact, but the pebbles also dropped harmlessly at Nix's feet. Better yet, more ice needles quickly filled the gap; keeping the window of force field vulnerability to less than a second.

"Alright," Chayse shrugged and gave a light golf clap, "I'm impressed, but I thought you said it was useful for offensive as well."

"Then watch this." Nix turned slightly so he was facing a young maple tree that was growing near the pond. "Oh, and you might want to stand kind of behind me for this one."

Chayse complied, and Nix focused on the tree. The needles abruptly stopped swirling around him and pointed at the tree; parting at his back. Chayse noted that it left Nix open to flanking attacks, but he figured he'd bring that up to his friend's attention after they were done showing off.

Nix shot his hands in front of him and the needles all exploded forward. They sliced through the leaves on the young tree, tore through the bark, and then crashed into the pond water with the force of a shotgun fire; spraying water everywhere.

Nix's eyes reverted to their normal pale blue, and he fluttered them; straining to keep them open. His legs quaked, and he nearly didn't catch himself before falling on to his knees. Chayse raced up and helped his friend to his feet. "You okay, man?"

"Yeah, sorry," Nix cradled his head and rubbed his temple with his thumb. "I just haven't gotten used to how much that drains me quite yet. And, to be honest, I pushed myself a little more right now. I can't have some punk-ass little kid showing me up, can I?"

Chayse guffawed. "Seriously? You're eleven months older than me, you old fart!"

"My point exactly." Nix steadied himself against Chayse and then walked over to the tree. The one side had large gashes in the bark and the branches were completely stripped. "So, how's that for an offensive attack?"

Chayse whistled at the damage. "Well, the attack is definitely fierce. That new kid Hedge from Colossus' school is gonna hate you for this. He's got this whole love affair with plants thing going on."

"So, I'll apologize to the Lorax when I see him."

Chayse walked over to the shredded tree and ran his fingers over the scratches. "I wonder what would happen if we teamed up."

"Team up?"

"Yeah. Wonder if there's a way for me to charge the ice needles before you toss them."

A shimmer flashed in Nix's eyes, and he straightened up with new found strength. "Oh my god, we have to try that! But, how could you touch all of the needles. You can't 'remotely' energize them, right? You'd have to touch them?"

"If you're willing to experiment, I'm willing to try something. Are you strong enough to make the cloud of needles again right now? Or should we try later? I mean, we just need a small one for this test."

"Strong enough? Screw that! I got this." Nix rubbed his hands together and then gestured towards the pond's shore. His eyes again glowed white as a fog drifted off the water. In a raking motion, he drew his hands towards his chest and then cupped them together. A three-foot sphere of ice needles formed and hovered another three feet above the ground.

"Alright. Now, just hold, and try to keep the needles from touching so they don't prematurely detonate." Chayse took a deep breath, and then phased as he ran through the orb of ice. He held his arms straight out and did a quick pivot on his toes when he reached the center. Slowly, like city lights flicking on at dusk, the orb's needles started glowing green one at a time. A couple heartbeats later the entire mass was pulsating neon lime green. Chayse sprinted out of the orb and solidified. "I think I got them all."

He turned to see sweat rolling down Nix's forehead as he struggled to keep the orb in place. "Caj! Where am I tossing this thing?"

"Shit! Right!" Chayse pointed at the water, "In there! Throw it in the lake!"

Nix jerked his arms to the right, and the ball of charged ice needles plunged into the water. The extra kinetic energy coupled with the shape of the needles caused the ball to dive through the surface with barely a disturbance. "Wow, Caj, that was-"

Chayse held his one hand up to quiet Nix, and then held the other one up with three fingers. As he counted each second, he lowered a finger and took another step away from the pond. After his count hit "one", he pointed towards the pond. The needles exploded and erupted a pillar of water. As the water rained back down to Earth, Chayse phased through the water, and Nix shifted the rest into snowflakes. The two of them stared at each other, both dry even though the ground around their feet was drenched, and they started laughing.

"That was awesome!" Chayse rested his hands on his knees and let out an excited roar.

"How'd you get them all to charge?" Nix walked over and held up his hand for Chayse to smack.

He complied. "I just had the tips of my fingers still solid as I phased through the orb, and I charged everything they touched. Now whose powers are the best?"

"Still mine." Nix brushed off his chest before smacking Chayse in the shoulder, "but yours are a close second."

After another good laugh, Chayse tapped Nix in the chest with the back of his hand, "Dude, we have to try that sometime when we're in the Danger Room! The teachers will freak, but it would be worth it."

"Yeah it would!" Nix plopped on to the ground and slumped forward. "But I need to really build up my resistance first. That still takes a lot out of me."

"Well, maybe you can have Annika help ya with that stamina problem." Chayse nudged Nix with his foot and started chuckling.

Nix tucked his arms under his head and laid back. "I would love to build up my stamina with her."

"Dude, she'd break you."

Nix untucked one arm and flicked his hand at Chayse's face. A small dusting of snow, like someone throwing a handful of it, splashed in the Cajun's face. "In all seriousness, though. I'm so happy she's even giving me the time of day now. Let alone kissed me! I'm still dumbfounded by that."

"Glad things are finally working out between you two."

Nix's voice became distant and wistful, "She has the prettiest eyes. Have you ever noticed that?"

Chayse chuckled, "No. I can't say I ever really paid attention to her eyes."

"What are you two boys doing?" A playful female voice chided.

Both Nix and Chayse jumped to their feet and stared at Annika, her hand resting on a popped hip. In unison, the boys responded. "We weren't talking about you," Nix squeaked as Chayse simultaneously blurted out "We're not causing massive explosions."

She smiled back and shook her head. "Good to know. So, what were you two doing; officially?"

"Experimenting with our powers. Namely conducting experiments on the process of power control and combination between two people." Chayse giddily explained as he walked over to his abandoned nunchaku and picked it up. "Wanna see?"

Annika held up her hand, "Nah, thanks. I'm not into guy-on-guy."

Eyes wide, Chayse pointed at Annika and turned to a pouting Nix, "See? I'm not the only lewd one!"

"You're both pathetic. Can't anything be thought of as wholesome and pure anymore?" Nix crossed his arms and made a display of pouting.

"Not with you involved, no," Chayse replied.

"Come on! I'm as pure as untrodden snow!" Nix huffed.

Chayse burst out in laughter and muttered "bullshit." Meanwhile, Annika grinned and stroked Nix's jaw. "Is that so? Well, I always did enjoy being the first one out on fresh powder."

Nix flushed and cleared his throat as he stepped out of Annika's reach. "I, uh, I mean-"

Chayse was nearly on the ground from laughing so hard. "Nice one there, Romeo!"

"You're cute when you get flustered." Annika winked and held her hand open in front of her. With a quick curl of her fingers, Nix slid the few inches across the ground until he was next to her again. She tapped him on the nose with her index finger. "But what about these experiments? You learn something about control and focus?"

"No fair using telekinesis." Nix brushed the tip of his nose where she tapped him. Stubbornly taking a large step back to where he was, he grinned and gestured at the maple tree behind him. "We actually came up with something really awesome. A new tactic that I can use alone or one I can combine with Caj here to make a nearly unstoppable force."

He quickly relayed over the new advancements that he and Chayse had demonstrated, as well as the ice needle explosion they had just attempted. The more he relayed over, the more confident he grew; no longer acting like a teased little brother. He was Annika's equal, and he was proving it.

"Chayse LeBeau," a voice boomed over the school's loud speakers. It was hard to hear as far out as the pond, but Chayse could pick up his mother's voice anywhere. "Please report to the Headmasters' office."

"Shit!" Chayse flinched and looked down at the nunchaku in his hand. "Wonder what I got caught for this time."

Annika and Nix chuckled. "Better get your ass moving, son," Nix teased.

Sighing, Chayse slumped his shoulders and started shuffling back towards the mansion. He waved past his shoulder at the couple. "Alright. If I'm not grounded for the rest of time, I'll catch you two later."

"Have fun," Annika called back and wiggled her fingers goodbye.

"So." Nix tapped his fingers against his thigh. "Sup?"

Annika stretched her arms above her, exposing her stomach. Nix cleared his throat and stared at the pond. "I'm just bored around here. Figured I'd try to find some trouble to get into." She dropped her arms and started to roll her shoulders.

"Trouble?" Nix looked back at her and gave a half-smile. Putting on a ridiculous Southern Gentleman's accent reminiscent of Col. Sanders, he bowed deep, "Why, my dear, you have come to the right place. I just so happen to be an expert in both the finding and the getting into of trouble."

Annika thumbed towards Chayse, still in view as he climbed the steps to the back porch of the mansion. "Must be because of the fantastic influences you keep around you."

Nix huffed, "I'll have you know, I taught that boy everything that I know."

"Must have been a short lesson." Annika elbowed Nix in the ribs and winked.

"You want to get out of here, or what?" Nix crossed his arms and cocked and eyebrow.

Annika held out a hand, "Just lead the way, oh great expert."

Smirking, Nix grabbed Annika's hand, "Oh, this is going to be fun." He pulled abruptly, catching her off guard. He caught her in his arms. "Hold on tight."

"Huh? Why?" She leaned away from him, but his grip around her back tightened.

"Trust me, alright?" He gave her a comforting smile as his eyes softened. All mischief left his expression. "You're gonna love this."

"Alright. I'll trust ya."

Nix shifted Annika so she was behind him, and she hugged his back tight. Nix took a deep breath before aiming his open palm at the ground. The grass beneath their feet frosted over before a layer of ice raised them slightly off the ground. Nix draped his left arm over Annika's crossing his chest, and aimed his right palm forward. "Let's blow this popcicle stand."

A frosted beam of snow shot from Nix's palm and lengthened the patch of ice they were standing on. Once it went a yard or two in front of them, he turned his hand so it was beside Annika's hip. With a quick blast of chilled winter wind, they shot forward. Nix held Annika tight to make sure she didn't slip as they slid across the section of ice he created.

As soon as they propelled forward, Nix brought his palm back to the front, and kept extending the sheet of ice in front of them. Just like his father did millions of times before, Nix and Annika went Ice Surfing as Nix built their track in front of them. He created some hills to get them higher off the ground, and then swing around and down at full speed to give them momentum.

The closer they got to the estate's walled fence, the higher and faster Nix moved them. In a blink they were outside the estate and headed down the road. Off to find adventure, and some trouble.
Chaos never ceases at the Xavier Institute, as the next generation of students can easily demonstrate. The fact that most of their parents - X-Men themselves - are the faculty just makes life even more interesting. Set 30yrs after the conclusion of the X-Men: Evolution cartoon. A "high school teen drama" with powers. 

T rating just to be on the safe side. 

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This whole series will be recaps of what goes on in the X-Men role play my husband runs: entitled X-Future.

The most basic plot of X-Future is "What becomes of the children of the X-Men thirty years after X-Men: Evolution ended?" and so our canon is mostly based on the show. However, elements of the main comic book canon were also bound to seep in, with some exclusions and manipulations. We even threw in some of our own major events. Because of this, we took the Marvel encoding of X-Men: Evolution (Earth-11052) and Mainstream Comic (Earth-616) and created our own for X-Future (Earth-11616).

So, to ease everyone in to the world of 11616, I presented our canon's history here: 
History Prologue

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Quote from the last chapter's A/N: "I'll try to be more active in 2014." And then I wasn't working on this at ALL in 2014. Go me... 

Sorry for the very, VERY long hiatus, folks. I didn't even notice two years passing! I've been working diligently on converting the X-Future story into an original comic series. Still in the world-building stages, but there's been a lot of progress. For those curious, you can read more about it in my blog:
The Rogue's Scribe

Honestly, this story also took a back-seat because it's so tedious trying to filter through hundreds of role-play posts to find the ones I need for the next section of the story. Hopefully taking the whole month of August to write this chapter also helped me organize the posts enough to not have so much distance between updates anymore. We'll see.

I'm not a fan of the story shifting focus to Nix and Annika at the end there; bit of head-hopping, I think. But it's a nice segue into their date's chapter, and there wasn't really much of a natural stopping point before this one.

I think I did a lot more creative altering in this chapter than with previous ones. I'm getting more and more into converting the game into prose. It's definitely interesting to go back and reread the story from the beginning and seeing how my writing for this evolved.

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Legal Stuff: X-Men, Jamie Madrox, Emma Frost (Mrs. Drake), Kitty Pryde (LeBeau), Colossus, The Xavier Institute, the Danger Room, and The Hulk all remain the property of Marvel Comics. Chayse, Nix, William, Hedge, and Annika all remain the intellectual property of the players who created them for our X-Future Play-by-post game

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Below are the links to the first chapter (in case you want to start from the beginning and haven't yet) and the last previous chapter. You can get the ones in between via my gallery.

First Official Chapter - Chapter 1: Back-To-School student mixer
Last Previous Chapter - Chapter 7: Something I've Never Seen Before
© 2015 - 2024 LycoRogue
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