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.
Xavier's voice is heard again. Valerie and Alexis, take the arena."
Valerie, who had been too engrossed in her conversation with Shade to even notice the fight was dwindling to completion, was startled firstly by Storm’s thunderous announcement that the match had ended, and secondly by the Professor’s announcement of hers and Alexis’s names. ‘Oh. Oooh, my goodness. Okay,’ the blonde uttered quickly as she stood, alternately smoothing her hair then her filmy skirt with her hands. Either she didn’t notice Shade’s snarkiness, or she was ignoring it. It was most likely the former.
Val delicately sashayed between the railing of the stands and her schoolmates who remained seated before making it to the stairs down to the sandy arena. ‘I’m coming!’
Raising her hands to applude when needed for the first finished fight
Flame just blew out a lungful of smoke into the air above her before responding to Vlad. "It would be if it wasn't for the fact I can just cut out my lungs, or other parts, if the smoke effects them."
Just then, from the main door that happened to be on the side of the arena,
Jean Grey walked in with a new student. "Summer is here, Xavier, and I believe Light is also at the first hall. I'll go get her too." She said to the Professor. Turning to Summer, she said, "Go ahead and go up the stairs and sit next to her," she instructed, pointing Daniela. "Good luck!" She then turned and walked back to
X-Men Hall Complex.
Devin shook Shana's hand this time, a broad smile on his face. "I am not sure who won, but it was a good fight, no? Siete stati spettacolari." He whistled once for Ala, but she did not come... He turned to Korvka. "That was uscita, but I wish to not do it again."
Nicole smiled a bit at Daniela. "I hope that my fight doesn't go like that. With as much energy as it takes sometimes, I'll pass out." Nicole actually seemed...happy
? At least less withdrawn now that she had someone to talk to.
"Ehhrm... I know first hand what you mean..." sighed Daniela remembering the events of earlier that day. "But if it's any comfort, I kind of feel safe sparing here... even if we use powers, I know the professor would never let us get seriously hurt, you know?" she smiled at the other girl. "You should keep that in mind while you fight."
As the song in his mind ended so did the match. He wasn't surprised that Shana had won, more to the fact she had won on a miscalculation of Devin's. Alexis said nothing but was immediatly assaulted by tons of emotions that had sprung from the ending of the match. He managed to get a shaky shield into place right before he heard Xavier's voice. He rose shakily and instead of taking the time to walk all the way to a staircase, he simply hopped the wall. He landed in a crouch and rolled to absorb most of the impact and stood brushing dust off his coat. He walked to the middle of the arena with an unsure look on his face. He didn't know Valerie, so he had no idea what her powers were at all. And before any more emotions could distract him, he let Vivaldi's: Four Seasons start in his mind. He stood in the middle and nodded to Valerie.
Shana nodded to Devin in response and returned to take her seat between Nicole and Daniela. "More new students? We're popular this week." She looked over to Nicole. "Hey... Nicole? We didn't really talk much the other night. How are you?" She also gave Daniela a smile.
Just as Alexis was occupying his mind with music, Valerie was busy limbering-up in the arena, thinking-through some combinations and about her body’s movement. She rotated her shoulders, wrists, ankles and hips before bending over to touch her toes several times. Almost immediately upon standing, she squared her feet and shoulders before dropping into a backbend, her body a bridge, followed by a controlled kickover so that she could land in a split. While her flexibility might impress some, there was certainly no glimmer of her mutant ability. A sheen of sweat, more from nervousness than exertion, formed on her forehead and rosy cheeks. When Alexis came to the center of the coliseum, she stood up and stepped toward him. The blonde wiped the sand from her palms on the sides of her thighs then clasped her hands together, adopting a demure stance. 'Well. Good luck, Alexis,' she very sweetly said.
Nicole gave Shana a small smile. "That was some show," she said, referring to the match. "I was trying to figure out how to not get squished by Vlad, but I think you might have helped with that. Just stay out of arm's reach." She looked over again at Vlad, a small shiver running up her spine.
As Devin called for Ala, she did not come. Instead, the bird chirped from the railing on the far side of the arena, apparently unable to fly. Xavier's voice was heard in Devin's head afterwards, saying "It was very foolish of you to try and use your pet in this fight. She does not have your powers and is lucky to be alive after the amount of G force that would be expected. She will be safe on the railing. Best leave her be."
"Yeah, you look all right though," Korvka said as she dusted some dirt out of Devin's curly hair. "Looks like the fight is going to start! I CAN'T VAIT TO FIGHT YOU, FLAME!" she called loudly over to the other girl who was on the other side of Vlad, grinning. She was indeed excited, but she was beginning to see the strategy of Xavier's matches. Flame would be the only girl undaunted by her thorns thanks to her impressive scales. "Oooh...I've got to think about this," she said to herself though loud enough for Michael and Devin to hear.
Xavier said "Go ahead and begin when you both are ready!"
Alexis moved forward slightly, his eyes watching Valerie very carefully. He had watched her while she stretched and was impressed with her dancer's physique. He made eye contact with her and immediately let his mind try and connect with hers, though without physical contact he would have a harder time of it. As he tried to link their minds, he pushed out a cold feeling of numb fear, letting it radiate off his body in slow building waves.
Devin had stopped paying attention to what was going on. His eyes were focused on Ala. He went and retrieved her, sitting down with her nestled in his lap. And while that wasn't uncommon, the odd angle her left wing had taken was. Devin looked at the arena for a moment before he bent down to take a closer look. The updraft from her flight had caused her to stress one of the wing joints, which would take a few days to heal at least. He knew the signs already. He stood and edged around the students, walking on the edge of the arena, Ala in his hands. He made it to the door into the X-Men Hall Complex and didn't hesitate pushing it open and leaving.
Valerie had heard the Professor’s ‘go’ call, and at first seemed perplexed as Alexis just stood there and looked at her. She cocked her head slightly, her previous concentration wavering as the violet-eyed boy’s mind started to connect with hers. Her heart rate, which had already been slightly elevated, increased. She had no idea what his powers entailed. As Alexis’s attempt to push fear into Val’s mind progressed, it kicked her fight or flight instinct into gear. ‘I am… really, really sorry about this', she said before rearing slightly, then thrusting her mass at Alexis’s midsection, leading with her right shoulder. She had no idea what to do, really, but she knew she wanted to knock him down.
Valerie collided with Alexis, sending them both onto the ground. Alexis' link was beginning to establish but was ruined as Valerie's body collided with him. However, when Valerie hit, she managed to bend her arm, and the bone snapped the other way, revealing to everyone who was watching what her powers could do, and she was clearly fine!
"Go Valerie!" White yelled from her seat, watching the fight. She had seen the blonde twist her arm before and wasn't so shocked anymore to see how her bones seemed to dislocate. And although she had seen Alexis do something this morning on the third floor, she didn't know how his powers worked and was eager to see what he could do.
Summer walked in, smiling, as Devin pushed past her. She gave a quick stretch and turned to Jean, "Thanks. Catch ya again later. Sounds like you have to run." She said before turning to where Jean had directed her to sit. She climbed up the stairs and walked over to about where she was supposed to be sitting. She turned to look over everyone and waved, "Hello, Ya'll!" She called with a smile and a wave. She sat down next to Daniela and turned to her, beaming, "Hello, the name's Summer, what's your's?" She asked, closing her eyes and tilting her head with the wide smile still across her face.
Daniela smiled back at Shana and gave her a thumb's up as she came back from her fight, she had displayed her powers quite incredibly. She turned to continue her conversation with Nicole, but as the fight started she saw Valerie's bone snap and let out a worried yelp, bringing her hands to her face and covering her mouth. As summer came up and talked to her, she answered quickly. "Eh.. I'm Daniela.. nice to meet you." and added a swift smile, it was hard for her to turn her attention away from the fight considering it looked like Valerie had just snapped her arm.
Shana stared at the fight in front of her with wide eyes, blinking occasionally, mouth ajar. "What...." She couldn't even get the words out to ask what had happened. She looked on at Valerie in disbelief, wondering how she was perfectly fine with a broken arm.
Michael had watched the first fight, enrapt with the two's powers. Looks like I will have plenty of sparring partners, he thought. "You will see what I can do when I get out there Miss White. Just don't be afraid when you see it, I'm generally harmless and I don't bite," he said in answer to White's question as to what his powers were. The thought of Daniela producing some sort of shield worried him slightly, because he didn't know anything about it. Can it be broken? Can it be ripped away? He turned to Korvka upon hearing her questioning herself. "Use the spike thing with the rocks. She has scales, but I'm sure a good spike can pierce it with enough force," he said with a smile. He was completely ignorant of Flame's powers and the full extent of Korvka's, but he wanted to help. He locked his attention on the next two combatants as Valerie's arm seemed to break, although there was no blood and she didn't seem in pain. Strange.
Korvka was listening to Michael, though her eyes were glued to the fight as if she were cheering on her favorite sport's team. She watched Valerie tackle Alexis and gave out a resounding "WHOOOOO!" However, when Valerie's arm was seen to be broken, Korvka lept from her seat and gripped the railing in front of her with white knuckles. Leaning forward, she shouted, wide eyed, "VOT THE HELL?!" The girl didn't appear to be in any pain, but Korvka had never heard of powers like this so she was genuinely concerned.
"Oh SHIT!" Vlad said, having the same reaction as his sister as he looked on at Valerie's arm. Looking over to Flame, he remarked, "That can't be good..."
Sitting up a little at the sound of Valerie's bones so she could get a better view Flame made an 'eehhh' sound, and a matching face to go with it. She sat quiet for a moment then shrugged a shoulder, not looking sure of her words but saying so anyways. "Well... if she has broken it, Xavier will call off the match and call in Hank."
Light stepped into the Danger Room and stopped, glancing around at the large coliseum and the students filling up the seats. Most of the students looked too happy to be anyone she would care to speak to, if any. Looking at the fight in front of her, her expression remained the same, unaffected by the girl with the bent arm. She crossed her arms and waited for any further instructions.
Jean walked in after Light and, given the noise of the arena, decided to speak to the girl telepathically. "Your sister is up there," she spoke in the girl's mind, pointing to her. "But if you want to sit elsewhere, you can take a seat next to Aidan." Jean pointed to Aidan, on the nearest end and then walked over to the wall, where she stood next to Scott, smiling at him in a way she hadn't smiled at any of the students.
When Jean told Light where her sister was, she whirled around, yelping out, "What?!" But Jean had already moved across the stadium. She stood in shock for a moment, eyes wide, as she looked across the stadium where Jean had pointed. I have... a sister? Light then continued to stare across the arena at Shana as she moved to take her seat next to Aidan.
Shade had gotten distracted from the fights, since the previous one had turned into a mindless display of powers. When the others gasped at Valerie's power, instead of being repulsed, he leaned forward a bit. Ohu he snickered ...quite gruesome., he couldn't help but wonder how the weakling Alexis would stomach the display.
Slouching back into a more relaxed pose, Aidan turned to the new girl and gave her a smile, wink and thumbs up, "Welcome to the school. This 'ere's the second match of our spars for the day," He said, nonchalantly as he turned back to watching the match.
Alexis had been so distracted by trying to establish his link that he was caught off guard and sent sprawling to the ground. When he heard the loud snap he expected a large amount of pain to come crashing into his mind. But when it didn't he looked up and saw and felt that Valerie was perfectly fine. "That..is an interesting power Valerie...I want to apologize..I hope after this we can be friends?" He lifted his hand and touched it to Valerie's cheek, and in that instant he was able to make an instant connection to her mind. He attempted to push cold dread into her mind, the kind of dread that would make most people cry or scream. He also pushed in panic, the mind numbing panic.
As Valerie recovered from the tumble, she did not seem to initially notice the backwards angle in her arm. Perhaps her adrenaline-soaked system had her too keyed-in on Alexis and the fight to pay it much mind. When her opponent offered friendship, post-fight, of course, she smiled, 'Oh, that would be terrific!' She thought it odd when Alexis then reached out to touch her cheek, and she flinched, thinking her was going to slap her. Her smile faded as her face contorted, mouth open wide, to release a shrill scream.The girl's body went rigid and her arm snapped back into place. As the panic set in, Val's torso suddenly flung backwards. There was a less jarring sound as her spinal column took the brunt of this contortion, a bit like pop corn. She was literally folded-over backwards, but the momentum of this violent movement caused her to lose her footing, and she flipped over face-first in the sand. The residual feelings caused her to remain on the ground, struggling to straighten her body out.
Alexis had smiled when Valerie had seemed excited about a post-match friendship, but when she flinched as he reached to touch her he felt bad. As he released the dread and the panic into her mind, he didn't know how she would react the scream in his face was loud enough to make his ears pop, but her bodily reaction was something all together unexpected. He watched as she struggled on the ground in a frightened panic to right herself. He stood up and with the link still in place between them he took away the dread and panic, replacing it with peace and clarity, so she could concentrate on righting herself. His own emotions had surfaced and he felt horrible at what he had done to her, he hoped that she would be able to forgive him.
As Valerie's screams reverberate off the arena walls, Alexis' own panic begins to get out of control! He is able to connect with her mind to give her peaceful feelings, but her own feelings are focused on attempting to right her body. She struggles still but finds herself more able to focus on her power, identifying the bones that are bent oddly and isolating them so that she can attempt to right herself. After a few moments of her trying, her back finally rights itself and she lies on the ground, completely normal!
"Oh my God!" Shana cried out at the wrenching of Valerie's body and blood-curdling scream. Her eyes were open wide, and her hands were almost trembling. "That's.... WEIRD!... But cool!" Shana wasn't exactly wearing a smile; it was more like a horrified grin as se continued to look on.
Korvka's knuckles were still white as she gripped the railing, as if the skin would split at any moment. Her sense of logic took over her initial reaction but she was still concerned. Having no sense of what was really happening, all she could do was place her trust in Xavier and the other X-Men, who seemed to be standing by as if everything was normal. Korvka took her seat again but still leaned forward and let out a raucous shout of "YEAH VALERIE!" when she saw that the lithe girl had managed to right herself.
The positive murmurings from those watching permeated the periphery of Valerie’s hearing as her body again corrected itself. She still wasn’t exactly sure what Alexis was managing to do, but twice now she felt irrationally unwell, particularly so after he touched her. Taking advantage of the boy’s momentary lapse in attack, and the newfound confidence in her peers’ encouragement, she sprang forward from her prone position, to grasp at Alexis’s legs, hopefully to pull him down on the ground.
Michael gasped in shock when Valerie's arm popped back in place, and again when her spine bent in half. "That is the weirdest power I have even heard of," he said to no one in particular. "It would be disgusting if it were a bit more gruesome, but my God Almighty is that freaky." He leaned forward and placed his hand on the rail. No one is cheering on Alexis. I don't know anything about him, but he needs someone to be on his side, he thought. He stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth. "COME ON ALEXIS! SHOW HER WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!!!" he screamed.
Nicole had to physically keep herself from being ill when Valerie contorted, but after she got past the shock of it, she looked at Alexis, seeing that he seemed to be backing off. Nic heard Michael start to cheer on Alexis, and she smiled again.
Alexis couldn't get the blood curdling scream out of his mind. It seemed to revurbarate around and around inside his head. His panic at having caused Valerie some kind of mental horror had started to go beyond his ability to control. He grasped his head as it started to strangle him with it's intensity. He was too wrapped up in his own mind to notice Valerie throw herself at him again. He felt her wrap around his legs and he fell over again, hitting his head on the ground. He laid there stunned for a moment and he concentrated hard on setting the music back to playing in his mind. Instantly Bethoven's symphony Num.9 immediatly came into existence. He used it to try and drown out his own panic, it worked slightly and he was able to gain slight control over himself. He sat up and heard someone cheer for him, it gave him a slight boost in his confidence that at least someone was rooting for him, with the tiny boost in his confidence, he let the music in his mind play at full blast drowning out his fear panic entirely. He looked at Valerie who was wrapped around his legs. He pushed himself forward, his legs sliding around Valerie's waist and he locked them into place. He leaned forward placing all his weight into it. He pinned her to the ground and placed his hands against hers. He attempted to make another link this time, instead of fear, he tried to push in a large amount of confusion.
Alexis and Valerie are now grappling on the ground, their legs locked around each other in a somewhat awkward battle. This time Alexis was capable of filling Valerie's mind with confusion, but just as the connection with her mind was made, her leg snapped the other way at the knee! Given the way that the two bodies were wrapped around each other, this change of direction pushed Valerie's knee (albeit backwards) into Alexis' back, causing a very sharp pain followed by the insistent pressure of bones that weren't going to give! However, she was now confused enough to not know what was going on, so any hope of her knee snapping back into place is currently too outrageous to fathom!
"What in the world is going on with her bones?" Michael asked out loud. "That's just messed up! Come on Alexis!" he continued to cheer the young man on. He officially didn't understand either one's powers, but he was hoping to see some more hits landed than what had already happened. I hope my fight isn't like this.
The "fight" looked more like an odd wrestling match to Shana, but she was still enjoying the sight of it. "C'mon Aleixs! Go Valerie!" she shouted. She wasn't partial to either participant of the match, since she didn't really know either of them, so she rooted for both.
Light was distracted by Aidan speaking to her, but not enough to pull her attention away from Shana. She replied a simple and sarcastic, "Yippee," while keeping her gaze focused in between the fight and Shana.
Valerie, in a flustered haze thanks to Alexis, writhed underneath her opponent’s weight. As a result of falling hard into the gritty floor of the arena a couple of times, her chin and some areas on her arms and shoulders were already presenting the angry red marks of brush burns, and her eyes were shut tight for fear of getting more sand into them. Since she was unable to correct the position of her inconveniently angled leg, Val alternately tried to twist her body and tried to buck her hips, wanting to either throw some of his weight off, free her hands, or possibly both.
Alexis jerked forward his head banging against Valeries shoulder. There was an intense sharp pain in his back and it kept digging into his back. He gritted his teeth as he leaned forward pressing himself forward into Valerie. He tried to get away from the distraction of her knee in his back. He turned the music up in his mind louder, and it helped to block it out. He kept his hands on hers and tried to release the emotion of complete blaze, so that she wouldn't care one way or another about anything, not even the match. His violet eyes staring intently into hers.
Valerie's great jerk managed to free one arm from Alexis' grip! However, her knee was still digging insistently into Alexis' back, forming a painful bruise already and pressing urgently against the same spot. The pain causes Alexis' mind to have to work much harder at sending the signals to Valerie's brain, and soon she is able to think clearly again, perhaps even clearly enough to bend her body some more, or right herself!
With the shock of Valerie's powers gone from her system, Korvka plopped back on the bench. "This is the veirdest thing I haff ever seen," she remarked to Michael.
White had to agree with Korvka the fight was really strange, and was starting to wonder what would come next. She continued to cheer for Valerie while Michael besides her supported Alexis.
Michael sat back down between Korvka and White. "I am not sure what's going on anymore, but this fight doesn't seem to be as intense as the last one. What are Alexis' powers again?" he asked either of the two of them. "And if HE is the one doing the bone bending thing, then what are HER powers?"
'Get... OFF OF ME,' Valerie asserted, as if Alexis was a mugger, and this was not a just friendly little spar. She used her free right hand to try and gain some leverage on the ground, but she was obviously starting to tire exponentially. With one last great effort, she cocked her leg back to try and send the odd angle into the pressure point of his back again.
Relaxing back against her seat, and stubbing out the butt of her smoke against it, Flame half watched the fight, none of it really that interesting to her. However, the thought that these kids would be screwed if someone attacked again did enter her mind... it was not a pleasant thought... although, the idea of Wolvie or Scott trying to whip them into shape, now that was a funny thought, and it brought a smirk to her face.
Alexis growled as he felt Valerie digging her knee into his back. There was half a second where she found a nerve and it brought a grunt of pain from him. He had had enough of this fight. One; he had a knee in his back. Two; he was pretty sure he was losing the match. And three; he was tired of being weak. He grunted in an effort and tried to push himself up, but he didn't know that Valerie's bones did not snap back to their original place without her doing it herself. As he slipped back into the position he had been in a second before he finally registered she had spoken to him, "I wish I could but your knee is in my back!" He tried for a last ditch effort and placed both his hands against her cheeks and looked into her eyes. He attempted to make a last connection, because he could feel his energy starting to wear out. He gathered up the greatest emotions of sadness he had ever felt or touched in his life, and attempted to push them into Valerie's mind.
The push into Valerie's mind was beginning to work but Alexis soon found himself unable to maintain the link with the pain in his back. However, at that moment, Valerie's knee snapped back into place of her own accord and the two were able to scramble away from each other.
Just then, Xavier's voice was heard and Scott rushed forward to signify that "The match is over!"
Xavier's voice was then heard as he called "Daniela and Michael to the arena, please."
As soon as she was able to move freely, Valerie scooted on her behind back away from Alexis. It looked like the girl didn't know what had hit her. Val stared at him, unable to say anything at the moment as she shook off the residual feeling of sorrow from her mind. Finally, she stood up, and it looked as if she was going to say something to her opponent, her mouth opening and closing once, twice. Instead, she brushed herself off and quietly made her way back into the stands, to reclaim her seat between Vlad and Shade.
Alexis had managed to move away and had been in a crouched position. When the match had been declared over he had let the weak connection he had managed to keep on Valerie go. He rose from his crouched position and walked back towards the stands. He didn't really say anything, but just gave a nod to the people he passed as he made for his seat which was between Korvka and and Flame. As he passed Michael he gave him a sad smile, "Thank you.." before sitting between Devin and Flame. He winced slightly as he pressed his back against the wall behind him, but ignored it. Instead he closed his mind and allowed his body to heal itself, after a moment, a warm feeling spread across his back, and his body and he sagged into his seat knowing he would sleep well tonight. The composition in his mind had finished prematurely as the match had so he moved onto Edvin Marton: Dark Angel, and waited for the next fight to start.
Seating Arrangement
Stumble!