You do know the Danger Room... don't you?
X-Men - Time
X-Men Danger Room History
Friday, October 1st
As you enter, the Danger Room looks as it has never looked before. The room has been transfigured into an enormous Colosseum. The center arena, where the fighting is to take place, is covered in sand and dirt, looking very natural and easy on the feet, while the seats rose up from it in progressively larger and larger circles until it reached the top, where it looked to be a rather nice day. There were a few stairs leading to the first row of seats, obviously intended for the students to sit there.
Korvka entered and she immediately looked up, viewing everything with wonder as she stepped onto the sand and dirt. "Holy shit," she said with an awed expression. She stepped out into the middle of the pit and looked around, impressed. "This is amazing, Professor X!" she called, knowing he could hear her.
Devin came in slightly after Korvka. He looked around for a moment before he let loose a low whistle. "Buona Madre di Dio," he muttered under his breath. A smile crept across his face at the Colosseum. "E 'come Roma, no?" he said to no one in particular.
Nicole entered a few minutes later. She froze at the sight of the room, standing near the door. Giving the shock a moment to wear off, she went over to one of the seats, sitting down as she hadn't had breakfast at all and had used a lot of energy that morning already. Nic gave Korvka a weak smile in greeting.
Shana waltzed into the Danger Room, greeting everyone with a "Hey, guys!" She stopped and looked up, down, and all around, eyes wide with amazement. "Holy shit, Prof., this looks absolutely phenomenal!" She grinned and walked up into the seats, to the very top, and looked around. "Wow... so is our mission to be gladiators? Because fighting to the death would be way cool."
Korvka watched Nicole and Shana enter, waving to them respectively as they took their places, Nicole closer to the action, and Shana way at the top. "He hasn't said anything yet," Korvka replied to Shana's mention of being gladiators. She knew they weren't about to fight until the death, but she was interested in what the spars were going to be like, since they were usually against holograms and in varied settings. Dropping to one knee, she picked up a handful of dirt and sand, letting it slip between her fingers. <"This should be good for trees,"> she said to herself. The then stood up and wiped her hand off on her suit. "Everyvone looks good in uniform," she said loudly so they all could hear her, still strolling around the center of the pit. Ironically, she was reminded of the stages she'd performed on for orchestra.
Michael rushed in through the doors, and froze where he stood. all of his excitement was replaced with utter awe at the sight of the Colosseum. He walked towards the center, rotating slowly to be able to see all of the stadium. "Wow," he whispered.
He hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to his fellow students, and nearly walked backwards into Korvka, before her scent alerted him to being too close to her. He turned to face her and smiled warmly. "Now if I had this much room yesterday, I would have faired better."
An unusually timid Valerie ambled in to the Danger Room. After taking stock of its current... decor, the girl looked a little confused and uttered, 'Uhm... I'm in the right place... right?' It was a rhetorical question, of course, since her fellow students were present, and she
knew this to be the location of the Danger Room. As if she weren't sure it was really there, she nudged a bit of the sand about with the toe of her boot while both hands simultaneously toyed with the edge of her otherwise snug uniform's diaphanous skirt.
Aidan walked into the room, adjusting his outfit slightly.
Since he had never really been in the danger room, he didn't know what to expect of it. He looked up and saw the large room, "Now, That's impressive," he said to no one in particular. He didn't really walk near anyone else, but just picked a space on the wall and leaned against it.
He bagan to become invisible, testing out the new outfit and the new area.
Flame raised a brow as she stepped into the Danger Room, but other than that, wasn't really effected by its transformation
. You lived at the mansion long enough, you got use to what the room could do. Glancing around at the other students in their new uniforms she took her time to adjust her own, smoothing down any scales which got stuck at weird angles, not that the uniform covered much of them anyways. Any less dressed as she may as well had just worn a bikini into the room.
Vlad walked in and when he saw the surroundings, his mouth dropped in awe. "Damn," he muttered, looking up and around. He saw Aidan trying to become invisible, saw Flame adjusting her scales, and he definitely noticed the way Michael was talking to his sister. However, his eyes then fell on Valerie who looked to be the most uncomfortable and he pushed the overprotective thoughts from his head as he went over to stand by her. "You know," he said gently, trying not to scare the girl away. "it's not going to be too bad. You von't get too hurt and no vone is going to make fun of you here," he said with a smile. "Ve're all here to learn how to use our powers better."
'Oh!' said Valerie, startled from her thoughts at the hulking presence of Vlad by her side. She hadn't even noticed his, Flame's or Aiden's subsequent entrances. 'Ohhh, I know... I know that, your sister said the same thing.' She smiled up at him. 'It's just really hard for me to do it... use it. Whatever I'm supposed to call it. I can't really control it yet. And can't just isn't a word in my normal vocabulary, I swear! And... and if we have to fight, well... ' She just shook her head, her honey-brown hair rippling in a sheet accordant with the movement. While Val had worked hard for her goals in life, it certainly didn't look like the girl ever had to fight a day in her life.
White entered the room and watched at the place just as surprised as everybody else. "Whoa", she said, feeling like she had been teleported somewhere else. It was hard to believe this Colosseum was actually inside of the same building where her dormitory was. After the initial shock passed, she observed the rest of the students in their new uniforms, noticing they were all black... except for hers. She didn't know how to feel about it, but tried just to remain quiet and wait for further instruction.
Strolling over to the stairs Flame stepped up them until she got to the seating. Dropping down rather ungracefully she pulled out her smokes packet, putting one to her lips and lighting it as she sprawled across the seating to wait for things to start.
Daniela came into the Danger Room from the X-Men Hall Complex, still tampering with the heart monitor. As soon as she lifted her eyes, her jaw dropped. "Ah..." she just managed to say before noticing all other students and going totally red once more, she was suddenly self conscious about her clothes once more. She nodded to everyone quietly while looking for a safe spot, all the while tugging down on her leather jacket, the beeping of the heart monitor increasing as her heart rate began to slowly rise. After a few seconds, she noticed Shana and rushed to her roommate's side. "Hey." she said simply, with a tiny voice, standing next to the other girl.
Korvka looked up to Michael and arched an eyebrow. "If there had been dirt here yesterday, you vood haff run into a tree," she replied challengingly, smirking. She noticed her brother talking to Valerie, and Flame smoking in the stands. Devin and Nicole were being quiet, Aidan was nowhere to be seen even though the Russian knew she'd seen him enter, and White was just kind of standing around. "Ve should get seated," she said and then walked up the stairs to take a seat near the very front, fairly close to Flame.
Aidan popped back into visibility as everyone else began to mull around. He walked up the stands, staying pretty quiet. He hadn't really gotten to know anyone very well yet, but he was planning on changing that soon. He grabbed a seat off to the side and looked around, surveying the other students. He saw Daniela and Shana, whom he had briefly ran into, quite literally, not too long ago and the rest that were around, but he stayed put for the time being.
Shana grinned at Daniela, looking quite proud to be in her own uniform. "I already told you, you look fine," she said, not needing the ability to read her mind to know why she was blushing. Suddenly, a sudden existence of another human somewhere in the stadium caught her eye. She looked over to where Aidan was, not noticing he had been there before, perhaps because he had so slowly disappeared and suddenly reappeared. "Whoa."
With one final look around, Devin sat down near Korvka. Ala chirped at the girl, and Devin grinned. "This is like home, but new," he said to her.
Nicole gave a half wave at Aidan, one of the few people she knew by name, and a weak smile at Daniela when she saw her enter. She really wanted to make friends with the girl, especially after the incident earlier, and Aidan was just friendly. But Nic, being the quite one, remained seated, wondering if they would come and sit near her or not.
Walking into the room was quite a shock as he looked around at the change that had taken place. Alexis walked around a bit, getting a feel for the room. He felt all sorts of emotions flowing like a mad river in the large chamber, but he had a musical composition flowing through his mind, so at the moment he was quite able to function without worrying about other people's emotions. He gave a nod to the few students he recognized and moved over to where the seats started. He was about to sit by himself but he saw Nicole off on her own, and her emotions were something he knew well. He walked towards her and sat down beside her, a small smile on his face. "Hey Nicole..."
Watching Alexis come in and sit by Nicole, Aidan got up. They were the only two that he had really gotten to know, even if it was just from earlier that morning. He walked over to where they were sitting and sat down next to Alexis, "'Ey Nicole, 'Ey 'Lexis, 'Ow are you two?" He asked smiling. He laid the mask that he had gotten down on his knee.
Nicole smiled at Alexis. "Hi." She was about to say more when Aidan sat down as well. She smiled at him too. "Hi, Aidan. I'm...better than this morning." She wiped at her forehead, which still had ash smeared on it. Nicole looked at Alexis. "What do you think this is about?"
Alexis nodded at Aidan who came and sat with him and Nicole, he was relieved to hear that Nicole was doing better. He turned to Aidan and gave his usual small smile, "I'm doing good I guess...there are a ton of emotions in the room, so...I have a bit of a headache." his eyes saw the mask on his knee but said nothing as he figured it was part of his outfit. Hearing Nicole's question he turned back to her, "Well...by the looks of it, we might be in for an interesting lesson for the day. We are either, going to battle each other, or some kind of hologram." Hoping that Nicole wouldn't panic he let a feeling of peace elude from him that was subtle, but still noticeable by Nicole, and Aidan.
White watched Korvka and the rest of the kids take a seat, so she too walked towards the seats and found a place near Alexis, Nicole and Aidan. She played with her hands nervously while she waited for whatever was going to happen, making little colorful sparks pop up from her fingertips.
"I'm here, I'm here, you can stop missing me." a voice came out from behind Shana and Daniela, emerging from the shadows cast by their backs. Shades emerged from behind them, already sitting on the second row. He edged forward and placed a hand on each of the girl's shoulders, giving them the sweetest of smiles. "Well hello there, two of my favorite people!" he said before looking up, a bit more serious. "Now, where is good old Charles?..."
Shana looked around at the sound of Shade's voice and jumped when his hand touched her shoulder. "Ah!" she cried out, nearly falling down the elevated seats. "What the hell?! Why does everyone keep popping out of nowhere?" She inadvertently shrugged Shade's hand off her shoulder and sat down, slouched over, holding her chin in her hands and resting her elbows on her knees. "I have no idea where the bald guy is. We've been here a few minutes, and he's still a no-show." Shana still wasn't aware that Shade was different than Anton, though she had noticed he was much more secluded. However, she brushed that off as shock from his kidnapping, and she felt comfortable as usual around him. Suddenly, she slumped over even more, whining, "Maaan, I forgot to eat!" She held her stomach and frowned.
Daniela was also surprised by Shade's sudden appearance, however, she stayed totally quiet, with her knees and hand all closely together, only interrupted by the increasingly fast beeping of her heart monitor.
"Eh.. this is the kind of thing I'm handy for..." said Shade as he extended a hand over the two girls, then, he pulled on his sleeve and angled it downwards. "Granola bar ok?" he said and suddenly, a Granola and chocolate chip bar shadowported from the nearest kitchen, falling out of his sleeve. "Catch" he said simply.
"Ah!" Shana shouted again. It was starting to become her 'surprised' catchphrase. She stuck her hand out and caught the granola bar. "Hey..." she said, looking up to Shade and smiling. "Thanks, Anton." She opened the package and began to nibble on its contents, looking over at Daniela. "Daniela, what's that beeping?" she asked after a few seconds of silence.
As soon as everyone was in the Colosseum-like arena, Xavier, Logan, Scott, and Storm entered the room from the same door the students had used. The students had all seen Xavier, but Logan was a new sight and looked feral almost with wild hair and a look in his eyes that indicated he meant business. Scott was cleaner cut and handsome, with a pair of interesting sunglasses on that seemed to have no purpose to the untrained eye. Storm was a beautiful black woman with white hair who looked regal somehow, like she was a descendant of royalty. All of them were dressed in similar type outfits, made of the same material with X-Men insignias on them.
Xavier's wheelchair appeared to be hovering over the dirt and sandy arena, but only enough for the wheels to clear the ground and not sink in. He looked around proudly at his students and said in a voice that carried well, despite the large arena. "Gather into the first two rows, students. Today is going to be especially interesting for all of us. The first order of business is to introduce you all to what may appear to be new faces. This is Logan, Scott, and Storm," Xavier said, and each teacher stepped forward or made some kind of recognition that it was their name being called. "They will be helping out, and sitting in the stands with you in case you have any questions or need help. As you can see, the Danger Room is set for sparring, and you will be matched against each other. In the light of the kidnapping and this new information I am about to tell you, we must all be careful.
I thank you all for going out on the missions I sent you on. We have gathered much information. Firstly, we know what the devices in the woods and in the Danger Room do. The large device in the woods, which has been brought back by Dr. McCoy, is a beacon that allows the person operating it to transmit their powers to anyone wearing the corresponding headpiece, which is what the Danger Room team assembled. I have reason to believe that this device could equip humans with mutant powers, which, with the help of an appropriate mutant power, could have allowed the kidnappers into the mansion without my detection. The group that went to town discovered a large area inhabited by the reservoir shores and a bit of fabric that I believe to be the insignia of the team of people against us. They obviously camped there overnight, undetected by us. And finally, the group sent to the lake discovered what is likely the effects of an explosive re-generator who was likely responsible for the explosion itself.
Knowing that such a team is against us, I thought it was high time we started to look like a team ourselves. We are the X-Men, students. We fight together, and we grow stronger through each other, which is what these spars are all about. The spars are thusly set, Shana and Devin, White and Shade, Valerie and Alexis, Nicole and Vlad, Aidan and Vlad, Flame and Korvka, Michael and Daniela. Shana and Devin, you will be first. Obviously, I will accept no attempts to actually seriously injure another student, and such behavior will be punished justly. Shana and Devin, take the arena, please. I will be monitoring everything from the Control Room." Xavier then hovered himself out of the room and into X-Men Danger Room Control Room.
Upon the announcement of the tutors Flame let out a loud wolf-whistle and a grin, holding her smoke between two fingers as she lay on her back, head angled towards Xavier as he talked. The information in regards to the attack sobered her a little, yet she tried to push it back. At least they had information, and that meant they could do something instead of sitting around on their backsides and waiting for something to happen. Hopefully this would lead them to whoever did it, and payback. Shaking off the negative thoughts she moved her arm to shoulder bump Korvka lightly with her fist, in a friendly manner and smiled at her. So she would be going up against the girl, she was going to have to watch her step.
Nicole glanced over at Vlad, nervously swallowing as she looked away again. He was so much bigger than she was, and she still couldn't control her powers completely enough. She was already certain in her mind who would win that fight.
Devin stood from where he was sitting and gave a short whistle to Ala, who hopped off his shoulder and to a higher stone tier. He walked down to the arena, taking a deep breath as he stood there. He really hadn't understood all that the professor had said, but he was sure it was serious. Devin waited for Shana to stand.
Since she had not yet taken her seat, Valerie offered Vlad a thankful smile over her shoulder as she scooted off to take her place among the arc of seats reserved for the students.
Xavier's speech on being an X-Men team gave Shana chills and she grinned wide. when she heard her call to the center, she stood after Devin and made her way to where he was standing. She held out her hand for a handshake, still grinning. "Don't hold back just because I'm a girl, newbie. I'll be fine."
"Good luck!" said Daniela to Shana as she headed towards the arena. Avoiding Shade's eyes, she stood up from where they had been sitting and headed towards the seat appointed for her, glad she wasn't sitting next to Shade anymore.
Shade stood up as Shana and Daniela both walked away from him, and then headed towards the seating for students, ending up between Nicole and Valeria. She didn't know Nicole much, but she looked and acted awfully predictable, the boy decided against teasing her and instead turned to Valerie. "Oi" he said as a simple greeting, turning towards the blonde girl and ignoring what was going on down in the arena.
Devin smiled at Shana. He took the her hand, kissing it rather than shaking it. "Come vuoi, mia signora colorati." He let go of her hand again and took a step back.
Nicole glanced over at Shade, then back at the arena. His almost complete dismissal of her irked her in a way. Her hands glowed silver, and she tamped the emotions down again. It would do her no good to be troubled by others. She focused on what was happening in the arena instead.
Aidan sat in quiet contemplation as Xavier spoke. He listened as his name was called out to spar with Vlad after the large Russian was just assigned another match. The scrawny Irishman raised an eyebrow, but said nothing of it. He stood up and nodded to Nicole and Alexis, "Good luck, you two." He said as he headed over to take his assigned seat.
A blush crept up Shana's cheeks when Devin kissed her hand. When he stepped back, she did the same. She pulled out a few shiny black stones from the pockets on her utility belt, placing one underneath each of her wristbands, one in each boot, and one underneath her tongue. Fastening the pockets, Shana placed her feet apart and waited for the signal to start. I don't even know this kid's powers she suddenly realized, but she kept her composure.
Devin smiled again at the blush he saw on her cheeks. The black stones confused him, but then, it may make her a bit more powerful. He concentrated, closing his eyes, letting himself truly feel the link he had to the energy in his body. He listened, waiting, for whatever was signaling them to start.
Valerie had closed her eyes in a vain attempt to go to her happy place in the brief interim between sitting down and Shade’s greeting. She opened her eyes to see that Shana and Devin had taken their places in the arena. Val then turned her head slowly to the left. ‘Hello again,’ she said politely, though with more of a grimace than a smile.
White looked over at Shade as the professor said she was to fight him, and felt suddenly anxious and nervous. She had never been in a real fight and had no idea what she was going to do. The pale girl decided to try not to worry too much though, and concentrate on the current fight. White moved to her seat between Aidan and Michael and observed Shana and Devin in the middle of the arena.
Shade had not anticipated Valerie's reaction, and though he noticed Nicole's he decided to play along with what was going on so far. "Something wrong?" he asked in his usual whisper-like tone while he leaned back on his seat and stretched out his legs, resting them on the railing which separated them from the arena. "No one's gonna get hurt here, not like good ol' Charles would allow it." he added with a hint of what could be assurance or regret. "In any case, its better that you all get used to yer powers."
Michael quickly took his seat in the stands beside Korvka. His excitement to spar was clear up until he thought about his match. "Which one of us is Daniela?" he asked Korvka. He didn't like the idea of fighting a female. He would have to try and get over that, eventually. He looked around at his fellow students and noticed that everyone was wearing black, except the other female on his right who was wearing all white. He smiled at her warmly and extended his hand, hoping that this girl understood what a handshake was.
Without Shana around, Daniela was pretty much alone, tucked in a corner, with an empty seat both to her right and her left. However, she was able to see Nicole's powers flashing with silver fire from two seats away. She feared another episode like yesterday's, but she figured it would be best to handle it carefully. "Uhm.. hey, are you feeling alright?" she asked Nicole while keeping her voice down, edging towards her. She didn't want to distract her roommate from her sparring match.
Nicole looked over at Daniela and gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just some frayed nerves, I suppose." She looked down at her gloved hands. Though she spoke quietly, Nicole's words were clear. "I'm supposed to have a match with Vlad, and I guess I'm nervous. Nervous energy is always silver. I can't really control it all the time, either." She grew quite, almost afraid that she had said too much.
"Oh wow... Vlad.. that's a tough one..." muttered Daniela, not really knowing who Michael was, but at least she wasn't an indestructible, super strong russian, then she remembered him mentioning he couldn't get on the elevator because of his weight. "To fight against the stone, you must be like the water!" she whispered to Nicole, closing her eyes and lifting up a finger as if she was some 17 year old girl Yoda. "He's really heavy and he can't be hurt... but he doesn't have limitless stamina, right? Heavier people have a harder time maintaining a stable center of gravity if they move fast, I can't imagine how hard it would be for Vlad... so.. just keep tripping him!" snickered the girl. She was not strong, coordinated or powerful, so she had always gotten around things using her head. In this case, she hoped she could help Nicole and possibly keep another outburst from happening.
"Uh, hi", said White to Michael, shaking his big hand trying not to feel intimidated by his massive size and the fact that he was half naked. Although he was sitting down, it appeared to her that it was taking him a big effort to keep still. After the whole jumping in front of the elevator earlier, she imagined he was actually excited to be here, instead of nervous like she was. "You're fighting Daniela?" she asked, having overheard what he told Korvka.
"Yes actually," Michael responded to White's question. "I assume since you used the name that you either aren't Daniela, or you are and you speak in third person." He beamed his smile down at her, trying to be as friendly as possible. "I was kind of hoping to spar Vlad to be honest. I don't like the idea of sparring a girl. Not that a girl can't fight," he said as he pointed to Korvka. "I just don't like the idea of hitting a woman." He turned his attention to Devin and Shana in the ring. This is going to be fun he thought.
"Oh, no, no. I'm White", the pale girl said and smiled at Michael's joke. "Daniela is over there, at the other side", she said, "the girl with the leather jacket". As he spoke about not liking the thought of hitting a woman, she smiled again. "That's good to know. But it doesn't look like we have much choice now", she shrugged. She remembered Daniela's bubble from this morning, and wondered how she would fight the big man sitting next to her. She had no idea what Michael's powers were, anyways.
"That one?" Michael asked, pointing, to make sure he was looking at the right girl. She was rather cute, but he wanted to try and not think of that. Korvka was cute too, but she could have killed him yesterday if she had tried harder. Next time she would try harder. "Nope, not too much choice I guess. What are her powers? Or would that be cheating?" he asked the pale girl beside him. "Half the battle is knowing your enemy, er partner."
Korvka looked at Flame and grinned. "Our match is going to take the cake," she said excitedly. She then looked around and saw Michael, and Alexis on the far side of her, leaving a spot where Devin could resume sitting. Hearing White and Michael's conversation, she chuckled a bit. "How boring vood it be to votch you and Vlad? Two big brutes against each other? You'd just slug until Vlad knocked you to the ground. Nicole's gonna char his ass, and I don't think he can catch Aidan," she said, her grin still intact. Leaning back with her arms on the row behind her, she reclined and waited for the spar to begin.
Vlad, next to Valerie and Flame, looked over to Nicole and instantly began to wonder. She was whispering hurriedly to Daniela and looking at him, which had never made him uncomfortable before but seeing the burnt chairs in the center hall made him wonder. "Guess I'm the only vone durable enough for her crazy powers," he said to Flame off-handedly. He looked at Valerie but he'd already tried helping her and figured it was best to just leave her alone. Besides, she got Alexis, who looked to be a perfectly civil sparring partner from everything Vlad had seen of the shy guy.
Flame returned Korvka's smile as she placed her smoke back to her lips, tilting her head towards Vlad. "Who's?" She really wasn't paying that much attention to the other names rather than herself and who she was teamed up with.
As Vlad sat down next to her, Valerie reflexively shrank away just a bit, as if she had to make room to accommodate him, though it was probably quite unnecessary. 'Well, okay, I'm not so concerned about getting hurt, dancing hurts, sometimes really hurts, and I'm used to that, ' she said before taking a look around the arena for Alexis, her partner. 'I guess I don't know what I'm supposed to do down there. It's not like I know how to fight.' The girl, in contrast to Shade's very relaxed posture, sat bolt-upright, shoulders back, ankles crossed, hands folded tidily in her lap. 'That, and I can't really do my... thing. Not when I want my body to do it, and certainly not to any useful end, yet.' Val sighed a bit. She felt uncomfortable even feeling so doubtful about herself.
"I don't know if that would be cheating. I don't think so" , White said to Michael, slowly starting to feel a little more comfortable with the situation. "And yeah, that's her", she said as he pointed towards Dani. "I don't exactly know what her power is, though I saw her make a super huge black bubble in the third floor hall. But I've no idea how that works. I guess we'll find out soon. What about you? What are your powers?" she asked. She wouldn't have to fight him, but it wouldn't hurt to know.
Alexis moved over to his assigned seating area. In his mind he was listing the many things to why he should fight. He by nature wasn't a fighter, he hated having to even argue with a person. The emotions involved were draining on him. Adding to the fact he still had trouble shielding himself properly made it a little tougher on him. He wanted to get better, be a better mutant than he was at the moment. He wanted to learn control, he wanted to be able to use his powers to their fullest potential. As he sat down watching the fight he thought of a musical composition in his mind so that residual emotions from the other students wouldn't distract him. Thinking hard he decided on Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. His mind instantly started playing a favorite piece and he settled in to watch the match. He hadn't looked at who he sat by, only that he was at an edge of a row.
Nicole glanced at Vlad again. "How do you trip a boulder?" She asked Daniela, a small smile on her face at the idea. "Typically you just drop them off of things. Maybe I can do that...but then I have to be sad, not scared..." She quickly calculated in her head what she would need to do. At least whatever it was would be interesting, as she had never tried it before.
Devin paced around Shana, watching her. "Are you ready?" he asked. This, of course, was not his ideal match, he hated the idea of fighting a girl, but he was certain that Xavier knew what he was doing when he put them together.
Shana continued to stand perfectly still. She shifted her foot in the sand, having a sudden realization. "Whenever you are," she said, smirking.
Devin was hesitant to strike first. He wasn't sure on her powers, and he didn't want to hurt her if he didn't have to. Devin dug his foot into the sand a little ways, finding the solid area, and pushed himself with his leg into Shana, attempting to wrap his arms around her waist to subdue her before this fight even really started.
"Tch." Shana smirked even more when Devin lunged at her. In one solid movement, she shifted her other foot and crumbled into the tiny pieces of sand. Why have I never tried this before? she thought to herself as she fell into the sand. I just hope I can regenerate myself.For a long time, she was nowhere to be seen.
Letting the music of the Waltz of the Snowflakes fill his mind, Alexis watched the beginning of the match in curiosity. He could feel Shana's emotion of pride at finding she could use the sand to her advantage. He shook his head and went back to monitoring their movements. He was curious to see how Devin would handle this.
Devin simply went through a shower of sand, getting particles in his hair as he went. He skidded to a halt, stopping himself before he ran into the stands. Turning, he saw the pile of sand on the ground and grimaced. Wonder how that works, he thought to himself (in Italian, of course). Devin sighed for a moment, then went down on one knee quickly, driving his fist straight into the sand with enough force to send a shockwave through the arena.
So that's what he does... Shana thought, still in her sandy state, but scattered in different directions all around the arena. After a few seconds of figuring out where her pieces were, she decided she would begin to reconfigure, but at a distance. the particles in Devin's hair and clothes made their way to the ground and sand from all edge of the arena began to center toward the opposite end away from Devin, almost like an inverted ripple. as it continued to move in, the form of Shana's head rose from the ground, and quickly her entire body was present. Sand then dropped from her body like a broken shell and she stood as her normal self once more. "Damn, Devin, you're gonna make this the next Roman Colissuem," she mused. "You might beat me though." It did take a lot of Shana's energy to recombine after Devin sent her in more directions than she could count.
Devin smiled once more at her. The sand had given him an idea. He kicked out suddenly, hitting the loose particles and sending them flying into the air right at Shana. The huge cloud, he hoped would obscure her vision somewhat. At the same time he pushed off with his other leg, once more throwing himself at Shana. He hoped to catch her off guard slightly and tackle her to the ground.
Shana yelped at the sudden frenzy of sand around her and she jumped back. She knew she couldn't fuse into the sand again, he probably had the idea of it now and would kick her around, thus depleting her energy when she tried to reassemble. Now she had to think fast. Quickly, she darted to her right, absorbing all the sand particles in her path. However, instead of crumbling, she did her best the hold the sand as solid as she could around her arms, just in case her concentration slipped and she crumbled.
Devin used his arms to change direction, speeding up his movements, as he aimed for Shana. He saw that she was gathering the sand again, but staying mostly solid. He smiled to himself as he arrowed for her, using his arms to wrap whatever part of her body he ran into. His goal was either to tackle her or make her crumble again. And Devin hoped that by hitting her hard enough, one of those would happen. He basically body tackled her at that point, ignoring the sand that was still in the air.
Shana finally emerged from the cloud of sand and slid to a halt. "Shit!" she hissed when she saw Devin heading straight forward. She slung the sand down from her arms and they were revealed to be iridescent black and shiny rather than skin-colored. The glossy color quickly and fluidly slid up her legs and across her face, and some emanated from her belt, covering her entire body in a short time, perhaps half a second. She locked her feet in place, crossed her arms, and braced for impact.
Devin saw the change, saw the sand fall, but it was too late to change now. With the increased force of his leap, he hit Shana full on, grabbing her around her crossed arms, the impact throwing them both to the ground. Devin quickly absorbed the impact, also absorbing the kinetic output of Shana's body, which would make her movements ineffectual. He landed on top of her, holding her down with minimal effort.
Being knocked to the ground so violently immediately knocked the breath out of Shana, and she was left, pinned to the ground coughing and gasping for air. "Dammit!" she sputtered out, struggling to move. With one last breath, she reluctantly dispersed herself into the sand again to get away from Devin, crumbling in his palms. This time, however, she swam around the arena in a gathered mass of particles, moving rapidly away from Devin.
Though she was beginning to tire, Shana found the strength to reform herself away from Devin. Devin looks around for a moment to see where Shana has gone and sees her on the far side of the arena.
Korvka watched, impressed by the fight and becoming totally immersed in it. She was leaning forward now, gripping the railing that lined the edge of the Colosseum and leaned forward, shouting, "C'MON SHANA!" She cheered, seeing that Devin seemed to have the upper hand and automatically rooting for the underdog in order to see a better fight. Though she'd spent the last 2 years around Shana, the Russian had never seen the girl's abilities and was terribly impressed. Seeing the pink haired girl reform, she let out a loud WHOOP! and watched eagerly.
Devin spotted Shana and smiled again. She doesn't quit, I respect that. Devin decided it was time to try something drastic. She was forming herself out of sand, so it was time to play. He whistled, and Ala took off from her perch, flying in front of him. He had to merely touch her to cause Ala's wings to form an air current that send winds all around the arena and sent Ala towards the sky, where she hovered for a moment. In the chaos of the sand, he knew that Shana would either stay sand and be dispersed again or become solid. He pushed off towards where she was in case it was the latter so he could tackled her again.
Despite the air current caused by Ala, Shana managed to reform just in time!
Alexis remained silent, though a smile worked its way onto his lips as he listened to Korvka cheer on Shana. He was very impressed with both Devin and Shana's abilities and strategies. He kept the music in his mind going, knowing it was keeping out emotions that would otherwise distract him. "Shana has her work cut out for her...but she should be able to pull it off..." he said this to no one in-particular.
Pieces of sand once again fell from Shana as she reemerged from the ground. She stood with her shoulder hunched forward and feet apart, panting. When she had fused into the sand, she let the black substance form back into the tiny balls it had began as. Her hair was whipping in the current of wind and she was beginning to sweat. "Okay..." she said, "It's my turn." Shana quickly reached into her belt pockets and pulled out two circular objects, about an inch wide each. She laughed at her corny use of bath soap beads as her body became an iridescent pinkish clear color just before Devin reached her.
It was too late for Devin to change direction. He didn't run into Shana, he went straight through Shana, running into the wall behind her. Devin put out his hand and transferred the energy to keep himself from being too injured, but the resulting collision was enough to send another shockwave through the arena.
Nicole watched Shana turned into a bubble and smiled, a gold spark coming from her eyes. She couldn't help it. The girl was using the most bizarre techniques, yet they seemed to keep her out of Devin's hands.
As Devin hit the wall, he managed to absorb most of the impact, but as he was not expecting the impact, he was not quick enough to absorb everything. As he pushed off the wall he discovered that his wrist was hurt enough to notice. It would not need medical care but it would cause him enough pain to notice, and he was covered in the front with the soap that was Shana. Shana was also on the ground and along the sides of the wall.
Vlad's eyes went wide when he saw Shana...pop? "HEY!" he cried out, somewhat confused as to what her powers were all about. He was certain that Shana wasn't terribly injured or else Xavier would have stepped in, but he couldn't deny being somewhat concerned.
Whenever Devin's shock waves reverberated throughout the arena, Valerie squeaked and braced herself against her chair, hands clenching the seat.
Shade yawned loudly from his seat, crossing his legs and winking at Valerie. "See? no one here knows how to fight... you don't win a fight using your powers, you win a fight doing whatever it takes." he added as he pointed at the arena. "Otherwise it turns boring and repetitive. Also, powers are like a muscle, gotta use it to make it stronger, otherwise you'll be stuck at zero forever."
Shana laughed to herself when Devin passed through her. It worked! she thought in relief. Slowly, she began to reassemble herself, gathering a few stray sand particles as she did so; she was still losing energy and could probably fuse one or two more times before her powers were exhausted. When she was complete, standing rather close to Devin, she put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Devin, I already told you, you're gonna make this place crumble." She was smiling, however, which showed she wasn't serious. She waved to Vlad in an attempt to calm him down and she spit out the sand she had accidentally gathered while reforming. This time, she covered her hand, feet, and face in the black substance and crouched, prepared to go on the offense and throw a few punches and/or kicks.
Devin stopped for a moment and flexed his hand. He could still use it but damn if it didn't hurt when he moved it. "È per questo che non combattono," he muttered, spitting grit out from between his teeth. He saw Shana become the stone substance again and go into a fighting stance. Devin had had enough of playing around and wanted nothing more than to go get the sand out his boots. He took off at a run, jumping into the wall and using the rebound to fly with much more force than his previous attempts at Shana. Keeping his injured hand behind him, he grabbed at Shana, using his powers to completely shut down all kinetic movement in her body except for that which was required to keep her alive.
Shana had to react quick, so she attempted to dodge his attack, quick as it was, and aimed to grab his leg and pull him to the ground.
‘You’re right. Thanks, ’ Valerie said. That was possibly the shortest sentence the normally effusive teenager had uttered in a long time. There was even a trace of a smile upon her lips. After a beat, she cocked her head slightly and changed the subject entirely. ‘Didn’t you get an outfit?’ Well, of course she used the word 'outfit' instead of 'uniform'.
White watched in complete concentration the fight between Devin and Shana, really surprised to see what both of them could do. She was impressed by Shana's ability to change her body, and sometimes muttered some "ooh"s and "aah"s as each of the young mutants tried to defeat the other.
Devin grabbed at Shana, and he managed to get a hold of her. Little did he know, however, that he grabbed her hand, which was still part liquid! His grasp turned into nothingness and he flew right through the attack, flying through the force of his attack and coming to a skidding halt on the ground, almost entirely spent of energy but otherwise unhurt. Shana too was beginning to lose energy and just then...
Storm stepped into the ring and a large thunderbolt shocked through the air, seeming to have come from clouds that were not there a moment before. They quickly dissipated, and anyone who was watching closely enough would have noticed the beautiful woman's eyes going completely white. "Fight is over!" she said loudly, her voice booming like thunder.
Scott walked over to Devin and knelt down next to him. "You're all right, good fight!" He congratulated as he held up a hand to help the boy stand.
Just then, Xavier's voice was heard as if speaking through a megaphone. "Valerie and Alexis, take the arena."
Daniela could not help but let out an excited yelp as the battle ended, her friend seemingly uninjured. She was concerned about Devin's well being, but the way he had been attacking at full speed made her more worried about Shana. She had been at the edge of her seat, frightened they might crash into each other and end up in the infirmary.
"Good luck." snickered Shade as he turned to Valerie one more. After taking a glance at Alexis, he added. "Seems you got lucky, too, just try to beat him before he somehow defeats himself."
Devin took Scott's hand and stood. "Thank you," he said with a smile. He glanced back to Shana to make sure she was alright. He went and sat down on the bench, finally allowing exhaustion to set in.
Aidan sat up a little more after the first fight was over. He had relaxed a bit during the fight, leaing back. He heard Xavier call Alexis out for the next fight and gave a bit of a call out, "Go 'Lexis. Good luck!" He smiled, waiting on the next fight to start. He was rather impressed with the skills of the first two, but was getting a little on edge knowing he was going up against Vlad.
Korvka looked over to Devin as he sat down. Her excitement from the fight had died down a bit and she grinned at Shana, seeing that the girl had won...sort of. "That vos badass," she said to Devin matter-of-factly and patted him on the back, not really knowing what else to do in the moment. He seemed exhausted so she didn't try to make him talk.
"WOO! GOOD JOB, GUYS!" Vlad's raucous voice was heard booming through the crowd as the fight was over. He was clapping and enjoying himself greatly, almost as if he was back in the stands watching baseball...though he'd rather be playing. He had no concerns about his fights, really. He could only do his best. Secretly, he was kind of concerned about whether or not he'd be able to catch his opponents because they both seemed much faster than him and it wasn't as if he was going to strike with all his force either, especially to someone as small as Nicole. Ignoring the anxious feelings, he simply grinned over at Flame as she smoked and waved his hand. "That's bad for you, you know?" he said with a mocking grin.
Shana rested her hands on her knees for a bit to catch her breath before making the walk back to the stands. After a few seconds, she followed behind Devin to the stands. She held out her hand again for a handshake, smiling wide. "Good Game, Devin. You were awesome, and you would've beaten me if we'd kept going. You can probably tell that stuff saps my energy." She continued to smile at everyone cheering, still panting heavily.
Stumble!