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 was then heard, calling for "Shade and White" to "take the arena."
Between Vlad on one side, who was shouting and destroying school property, and Shade, who seemed to be moonlighting as a milkman with miraculously floating glasses of dairy product,
Valerie felt a little overwhelmed. She watched after Korvka as she left, and only briefly looked to Flame, who was alternately cursing and heaving on the arena floor. When she heard Xavier announce the next round, Val looked down the row of seats for White.
Grabbing the milk carton as soon as it got near
Flame ripped the top of it open, guzzling the first few mouthfuls down as fast as she could. It took a minor edge off the burning, enough for her to at least slow her drinking and try and use the milk to wash away what was left in her mouth. With a muttered 'Thanks' to Jean she made her way back to the seating, swished the milk around in her mouth as if it was mouth wash, spitting it out onto the dirt before taking her seat again. "Holy fucking christ that hurts! Be easier just to cut my tongue and insides of my mouth out."
Aidan sat back in his seat, placing his right hadn behind his head, "Well, that was one 'eck of a nasty fight, eh?" He said, not really speaking to anyone. He slowly began to rub the base of his neck as he watched over the bit of clean up going on in the arena.
I really hope my fight doesn't end up like that. He looked over to Vlad, whose blood was clearly boiling at this point. The scrawny Irishman was far from wanting to fight the much larger and much angrier Russian at this point, but he was hoping that things would settle down quickly.
Summer had sat back in the chair, tilting her head back towards the ceiling of the danger room, "I've seen rodeos that we're bloodier than this." She said with a nervous laugh. She tried to cover up her slightly obvious disgustedness over the blood and vomit, but she wasn't about to let it show really easily.
Michael heard Vlad's cry, and was rather confused. Then it clicked for him. He was overprotective of his own tribe, so it only made sense for Vlad to be overprotective of his sister. He would have to have a chat with the man later on and explain how his own mind worked.
He looked at Vlad and still determinedly followed Korvka out into X-Men Hall Complex.
If she could have turned any paler,
White would have when she heard her name was being called. She pulled herself together though and gathered courage to stand up and go to the middle of the arena, trying not to look as scared as she really was and ignore the blood on the floor.
Xavier searched for Shade's mind and reiterated what he had said at the start of the spars.
"You may not seriously harm her. These spars are for learning, not showmanship. That said, I do want you to help her learn, but do not take it too far, Shade."
Alexis had done his best to ignore the growing pains on his forehead and hand as he fight had ended. His hand felt itchy and his forehead was pounding. There was a slight burning sensation on his tongue but that didn't bother him all that much. He had been truly startled by the end of the fight. He hadn't expected Korvka to do that. It was a risky tactic, but it had worked in the end. He looked around for Korvka so he could offer to heal her, but Flame had just returned to her seat, and he remembered he she had gotten stabbed in the back a little, he could heal it and her scorched tongue if she wanted it, he just had to ask first. "Flame?"
"Yeah yeah..." said
Shade with a bored expression on his face as he stood up and put his hands into the pockets of his jacket. Then he melded into the shadows on the floor quickly and emerged in the arena. He couldn't teleport right in the middle, it was too well illuminated, but the edges were dark enough. Walking to the middle, he stood across from White. "Top of the morning to you, Miss." he said politely with a slight bow. "Lesee... albino girl, white uniform... knowing good old Charles he must have picked someone with a power designed almost specifically to mess with mine, so I'm guessing light or maybe lasers? right?" he chuckled as he walked a long circle around White, while keeping his distance. It was reminiscent of a wolf walking around a deer.
Korvka slipped back in through the door just in time to see Shade prowling around White.
There was a white gauze bandage around her forehead and her left hand was completely wrapped, snug around each finger with gauze that looked like it was soaking up a bit of blood. She made her way to her seat again and sat down, casting a look to Flame as Alexis approached her. She also saw the carton of milk in Flame's claws and was glad to know that someone had taken her advice.
Michael came back in not long after Korvka and looked directly at Vlad. The man was a very, very big brother. Not that Michael was afraid, but it would be unnecessary for the two of them to fight. He made his way back to his seat, beside Korvka and White's now empty seat. He watched the pair in the middle of the arena. "Now then, let's see how this match turns out."
Vlad looked over at Flame as she took her seat, seemingly in a foul mood (not that he blamed her). Figuring that no words were the best words right now, he opened her pack of smokes and extended one to her, along with her lighter. At this rate, he thought
he might need a cigarette. Watching Michael return after Korvka, and seeing his sister's bandaged, Vlad returned the Native American's gaze and held it for a long moment.
"You will see it soon enough", was all that
White said, cautiously, in answer to Shade, standing where she was as Shade observed her. It was uncomfortable that he walked around her like that, and only contributed to make her nervous. She tried to concentrate on what she knew about this boy. Aside from the fact that he just teleported into the arena, she remembered him cleaning Valerie's jacket in the kitchen, and playing with Luna using a dark spot, that
disappeared in the sunlight. So his guess was right, and their powers were indeed opposed. She still had no clue about what to do, though.
Scott stepped forward, his shaded eyes looking from Shade to White for a moment to see if they were prepared. "When you are ready, you may begin!" he called and then backed against the arena wall, standing close to Jean. Logan was watching with what appeared to be little interest, though he had worn a smirk the entire time that Flame and Korvka had been fighting.
Shade suddenly stopped in front of White, five or six meters away from her and smiled without taking his hands out of the pockets of his jacket, he wanted to see if he could wrap this up without using his hands at all. "White, is it? You know why we're given codenames like White, Shield or Axis?" he asked innocently, trying to get the girl's attention. "It's rather simple, actually, it comes from a deeply rooted feeling that tells us we're not human anymore. We become our powers, and as such we adopt names that relate to them." Snickered Shade, explaining everything in a very polite and non-threatening manner. "Some are more extreme about this dehumanization than others." he said, taking a glimpse of Flame, who refused to be called by her human name. "I propose, since we ARE our powers, we simply introduce ourselves as such." Only then, Shade extended three shadow tendrils at White, not from where he was standing, but from different points along the edges of the arena. Shade, during his little speech, had strategically blocked White's view of his own shadow, which he elongated to come into contact with the normal shadow cast by the wall around the arena itself. Disguised amongst the regular shadows, the tendrils crept around to strategic positions from which White would not expect an attack, and then shot forward like arrows towards her. Shade was obviously not expecting to hurt the girl, it was more like a shark biting something to probe it, he wanted to see what she was made of.
Between chugging at the last of the milk, and with her black tongue stuck out of her mouth the rest of the time as if trying to cool it like a dog would
Flame raised a brow at Alexis, as if to say 'what?'. Yet her attention switched as Korvka came back in, glaring at the girl as she just snatched the smoke from Vlad and put it between her lips.
Devin slipped into the danger room and slid along the wall until he reached his seat next to Korvka. Sitting down quickly, he looked at Shade and White momentarily before looking down at Ala.
White watched Shade, listening to his speech, but it made little sense in her head. She had always been called White but that was because she was so pale, not because of her powers. "People call each other names all the time. That doesn't mean they think the other is not human", she said. While she was talking, though, she thought that discussion was rather futile, and it struck her that he was trying to distract her from something - why hadn't he attacked yet? Unaware of the shadows around her or his plans, though, there was little she could do to avoid his attack, other that instinctivey glow when she noticed the arrows coming at her.
The tendrils of shadow came hurtling towards White as Shade kept her busy running his trap, distracting her with his speech. As they got closer though, White's instinctive glow saved her just in time. The shadow tendrils dissipated as they neared her, though her light only destroyed the shadows within about 5 feet of her. The tendrils were still seen to stretch towards her from the sides.
"Come on White!"
Michael shouted. Clearly, she was the underdog as Shade appeared to have complete and total control of his powers. He sat on the edge of his seat, watching the shadowy tendrils.
So he controls shadows, no wonder he calls himself Shade he thought.
White blinked surprised. Shadows were supposed to be just shadows, yet what Shade threw at her seemed perfectly able to hurt. If she kept shining though, he wouldn't be able to touch her. But she would get tired eventually, and that would make a really boring fight. She frowned, and concentrated to reduce the glow of her skin to a smaler radius around her, in a sort of light shield to protect herself for the moment. When she managed that, she would walk closer to him
Alexis felt Flame's irritation at Korvka but ignored it as he tried to focus on what he was trying to say. "Your back...and...y
our mouth...if you want..I can heal them right now so..you don't have to worry about them later on?" he asked nervously.
"Huh?" Flame had forgotten about the damage done to her back, distracted rather from the BURNING in her mouth instead. Reaching a hand back she dug a finger between her scales into the wound Korvka had created, bringing it back around to see blood on her fingertips. Staring down at it for a moment she gave a nod to Alexis. "Yeah, that would be great, but first the mouth, I can live with the other."
Shade snickered as his suspicions about White proved true. "Oh, don't be coy, there is a notable difference. Your eyes are blue and your hair is white.... Your "nickname", even if it precedes you coming to the mansion, comes from your appearance, and given the fact that white hair AND blue eyes together do not match any type of albinism, I assume your appearance comes from your power." he continued, pacing around, still hands in his pockets. "Your nickname comes from your appearance, and your appearance comes from your power. Or did you think your skin and hair were like that because of some cosmic theme convention?" He added. He had discovered White's power, Xavier was as predictable as ever, the next step was to measure the magnitude of it. This time the shadows from around the ring all grew towards White, like a mass of ink rushing and closing in on her. Shadowporting was easy for Shade, but drawing objects from shadows took quite a bit more energy, he did not care, though, since this would probably be the last test he had for the girl.
"You talk too much", was all White said to Shade's speech. She wasn't sure about what was it he was trying to achieve with sharing his philosophy right now, but she didn't care, while her mind worked in trying (not very succesfully) to come up with some sort of plan to confront him. She tried not to panic as the shadows grew around them coming from every corner, trying to feel certain in the knowledge that as long as she kept her 'shield' around her, he could not touch her with whatever gooei matter he made out of the shadows. She saw where Shade was standing and ran towards him, getting as close as possible before lightning up brightly, attempting to blind him and erase any shadow around both of them.
White's glowing was indeed saving her from the incoming inky tendrils of deadly shadow, that could not get close enough to touch her! As White approached Shade at a run and then grew brighter, she indeed managed to blind his eyes. The shadows around him were sent into nonexistence by the intensity of White's light.
Korvka watched with her mouth wide open, leaning forward to see the fight better. She had been one of the first to see what Shade could do when he shadowported Kaider and herself and also the way he cut her vine by some means that still didn't make sense to her. To put it plainly, she was slightly anxious for White's well being, though she didn't know exactly what the wrenching in her gut was for. Shade was certainly using his powers well and she just hoped Xavier knew what he was doing.
Shade was a bit surprised when White suddenly lit up like the fourth of july in a catsuit, but he still snickered, now he had a pretty good idea of her relative range. Nevertheless, the light still burned his skin and eyes, given his slight photophobia. Seeing his shadows disappear, he realized he needed to cast a shadow to use, and fast, immediately he took off his jacket and tossed it towards white, who was closing in fast, serving a double purpose. On one hand, he wanted to obstruct her view, and use the jacket to project a shadow to use. Then, he quickly jumped towards the jacket and disappeared into the shadows on the side not exposed to the light, which had been intensified by White's glow. Ideally, he'd emerge on the other side of the arena, safely out of White's range while the jacket fell harmlessly at her feet.
Valerie squinted at White’s brightness, but continued to watch the spar, especially since this one wasn’t half so painful to watch as the last one was. She clapped for her friend and for her acquaintance, though more politely than boisterously, as her classmates had done for the others.
White startled as Shade threw his jacked at her, momentarily stopping the intense light coming out of her. "Huh?", she said and threw the piece of clothing away, trying to see where Shade had gone. She tried to catch her breath after using this much energy. Since she was sure he would attempt something now, she moved to the center of the arena, trying to stand on the more illuminated spot of the place while she tried to spot Shade.
The light calmed for a moment as White tried to figure out what was going on as the jacket fell a little ways from her feet. Shade popped out of the shadow cast from the high arena walls, facing White's back as she spent a moment looking for him. Finally, when she'd made a full circle, she spotted Shade where he stood near the wall.
Alexis nodded, "Alright, just don't move.." He placed his hand on Flame's cheek, and his eyes turned into a solid purple. He opened his mind to the burned pallet of Flame's tongue and allowed the pain to transfer from her to him, Flame's mouth would start itch a little, and feel slightly warm, before a cooling sensation would spread through it, her mouth would be healed of anything that had been wrong with it, wearing of enamel, bluntness of teeth, decaying gum's, all would have healed instantaneously. Alexis pulled his hand away and instantly started to cough as his mouth started to burn intensely. It only burned for a moment before his mouth healed itself. "Hows that feel? Any better?" He asked with a small amount of hesitation.
White had no idea how to harm Shade. She would have to train in some sort of martial art in the future or get a weapon if she was going to be forced to fight, she thought. She was hoping the boy was blinded now, and couldn't see where she was. She ran towards him intending to grab him in a hug and not allow him to teleport again, keeping the light around her up.
"This girl just doesn't seem to get it." thought Shade with a sigh, his eyes and skin stung from the glow, but bleaching *(process by which one becomes blinded by a sudden bright light) lasted a few seconds at most. Shade had teleported all the way across the arena and he was confident that without any sort of superspeed, White could not make it across the arena in the time it took Shade to take a single step back into the shadows, which was all he needed to teleport to the other end of the colosseum. The girl had a sort of impassable shield which protected her from Shade's abilities, and rather than using the fact he could not harm her at a distance, she was running around like a crazed ferret, unaware that there was no way in hell she could catch a teleporter by running. "Seriously, its going to be really boring if I just tire you out." sighed the boy, totally dismayed. Knowing the range of White's peripheral glow because of his earlier tests, he waited till she was about halfway there to step back and try to teleport once more to the opposite end.
Shade's shadowporting had him at the other end of the arena by the time White was halfway to him, the two seemingly playing a very mutant game of ping-pong.
White slumped to the floor and groaned, sitting on the ground as she realized the futility of running around. She wasn't going to catch him, and he wasn't doing anything other than teleporting around. She feared it would come to his mind to teleport stuff to throw at her, but apparently he hadn't thought about that yet. Or maybe he was waiting for something. She sighed and thought about trying to concentrate light on her hands to illuminate him like using maybe a powerful flashlight. She couldn't erase shadows with that though. There would always be his own shadow, unless she could fly on top of him, which was rather impossible. Still, for the sake of the exercise, she stood up and concentrated a broad beam of light on the palm of her hands and shot it straight to where he was standing. By doing that, she forgot about keeping up her newly invented "shield", but with some luck, he would get dizzy when his face was in the light again.
Running her tongue around her mouth Flame nodded her head to Alexis' question, trying to be careful not to cut her tongue open on her own teeth as they felt sharper than the last time she had filed them. "Thanks, handy little power you got there." She then lit the smoke and gave a smile to the boy.
Noticing White raising her hand towards him, Shade surmised she was about to project light towards him somehow, and quickly ducked, raising a solid wall of shadow in front of him. He knew the wall would dissipate when it came in contact with the beam of light, but it would at least mitigate. Furthermore, the wall's objective was not to stop the light, but to obstruct White's view if for a second. He still had an ace under his sleeve. Luckily enough, White had stopped moving when he teleported away, and was still standing next to his jacket. The jacket, which had been harmlessly lying on the floor all along, was part of Shade's plan from the start, giving him a permanent shadow under it, right past White's defenses. As he ducked jammed his hand into his shadow in the floor, making it come out from under the jacket and grab White by the ankle. White's glow might hurt his skin, but no matter how much she glowed, she could not dispel his hand, or the portal it was coming out from, given the fact a connection had already been established with the other side. If he managed to grab onto her ankle, he would quickly pull White with all his strength down into the shadowportal under the jacket. Expecting to get hit in the face by the beam anytime, he closed his eyes as he did all this and hoped for the best.
Michael watched the fight in awe of both of their powers. It was a perfect match between the two of them. Was that the reason he had been paired up with Daniela? Her shields were something for him to overcome or get around as his powers were for her? That was certainly something he would have to think about. Who else would he have to fight later on? He smiled at the thought of fighting Shade as it seemed he was a highly skilled tactician. Maybe the boy could teach him a thing or two, but he also seemed to eager to hurt a woman. He growled to himself as he saw Shade's hand reach for White's ankle.
Alexis nodded a small smile spreading over his face, "It is...your welcome Flame." He gave her a nod and another small smile before walking back to his seat and then over to Korvka, "Korvka? Would..you like me to heal your hand? And your forehead?" he asked, again he was hesitant because he didn't know her very well. He was hoping she would accept, because it did look like it hurt.
Zane entered the Danger Room and walked to the side of the wall, keeping clear of the fight in the middle. He walked to the stairs hopped up them and looked around. He didn't know anyone around and none of them looked familiar. He sat down beside Summer and gave her a polite smile before looking around again nervously. He was awed for a moment when he realized he was sitting in an arena outside. "I...thought we were underground...?" he said aloud.
Summer smiled and looked over to the newcomer from the corner of he eye. She metioned towards the top of the arena casually with her right hand, "You'd think we were, huh? Well, trust me, things are just going to get weirder."
Nicole spared a glance away from the fight to see the new student arrive. She watched him sit down, say something to another student she didn't know. Nicole looked back to the fight without another thought, watching as White glowed. It was interesting to her. And she wasn't blinded by it, which also intrigued her. Nicole knew she was basically immune to heat, but the light should have affected her. She put this back in her mind for later contemplation. This was something she had to record, along with the effect she had seen with Korvka when her powers went off and her reaction to Daniela's shield.
Zane smiled at Summer, "Really? I'll keep that in mind. My name is Zane, but my friends call me Dartz. Its a pleasure to meet you miss..." He left the rest of the sentence hanging there as he ventured to learn the girl's name. She was quite pretty to him, and he liked her accent.
Korvka was still watching the fight with complete awe as Alexis approached her. In fact, she couldn't tear her eyes away long enough to give him the time of day until he mentioned healing her. "VOT?!" she asked incredulously, looking up at him. She thought it was kind of weird that he'd offer to heal a total stranger, but then she remembered that they were a team now...She looked down at her torn uniform and the ribcage and tummy that were visible because of it and nodded her head. "If you can heal me, then please do, this shit hurts," she said, holding up her hand and then looking back eagerly to the fight like some crazed sports fanatic. Shade was certainly doing an impressive job, a realization that made her lip curl.
The wall Shade erected was well timed, but not quite fast enough to beat the speed of White's light and he was hit in the face with a force of light that burned him slightly. However, his trick had worked! As White focused her light beam at him, she was altogether unaware of the seemingly harmless jacket. Shade's hand gripped her ankle, despite the burning sensation all around the exposed part of his arm that was not protected by the shadow portal or his coat!
"Just a minute," Vlad said to Flame as he stood up and walked along the empty benches behind the rest of the students until he reached Korvka and Alexis. The boy seemed harmless so Vlad didn't try to intimidate him, but he still kept a wary eye on him before he placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. "You all right?" he asked, concerned.
Alexis was slightly hurt by the emotions he got off of Korvka, am I that unapproachable that it is weird if I offer to heal someone..., he left those thoughts alone as she raised her hand and agreed to be healed. He was about to place his hand over hers when Vlad walked over and gave him a strange look before asking if Korvka was alright. Alexis shook off the weird feeling in his head and placed his hand on top of Korvka's. Alexis opened his mind to the wounds on her body and bit his lip to keep from gasping, the initial pain was immense but after it passed, it was manageable. After concentrating a moment, the wounds on Korvka's hands started to close up and heal, it felt itchy to her, then pleasantly warm. The same happened to her forehead, the scratches closed up and then disappeared completely. Alexis hissed this time as the wounds he had taken from Korvka appeared on him, his hand slashed open and his forehead scratched. Blood dripped down his hand an onto the ground before it sealed itself, the same happened to his forehead. He let go of her hand and gave her a weak smile, "Is...that any better?" Any wound that would have been on her, was now healed, from the smallest scratch, bruise, blood clot, cut, or laceration was now healed and good as new.
"The name's Summer, or you can call me heatwave. Nice to meet ya, Zane. Nice name you got there." The girl said, still staring off a bit into space, but with a smile growing across her face.
The concentration that Korvka had given the fight was torn from her as Vlad came up and put a hand on her. "Yeah, I'm fine, just took a few risks is all," she said as Alexis put his hand over hers and began to heal her. Her mouth dropped as she witnessed the wounds transfer to Alexis' body, realizing the pain of what he was doing and found herself very grateful. When he was finished, she thrust the roll of gauze to him but then noticed that his wounds were healing themselves as well. Stunned, she looked up to the skinny kid and only managed to choke out, "Wow...thank you." She hastily unwrapped her head and hand and discarded the bloody gauze on the floor, remembering to pick it up later, in her eagerness to look at her newly healed hand. Though she didn't realize it, her markings were glowing a bit, visible through the slash in her uniform.
Waving a hand at Vlad's comment absent-mindedly Flame turned to the fight instead, but wasn't really watching it as she slipped her knife out of its sheath. Her mind was elsewhere, mainly on how she was going to get Korvka back, her anger over the situation distracted enough by Alexis' deed to make her think past it. As she did she reached both hands back behind her, feeling out the damange she had taken back there with one, and digging her knife tip into her skin with the other hand. Her jaw tightened up as she did so, but other than that did not react as she went by feel to cut a section of scale and skin out.
Shade cringed as the light burned his eyes and skin. "Argh!" he cried out, his hiss-like voice reverberating in the shadows would have made most people get a chill running down their backs. Still, he tried his best to bear the pain and shadowport White, now in his grip, to the ceiling. From there, he intended to dangle the girl from her ankle, giving her two options. Either she stopped glowing and gave up, or she dissipated his shadows further and plummeted to the ground.
Michael looked up as Vlad came over and smiled. He stood up from his seat and faced the large Russian. "I believe there may be a misunderstanding somewhere between us, and it was out of friendship I went to your sister's side, nothing more. If there were anything else, I promise you would be consulted first," he said with a slight bow of his head. They won't understand my honor exactly, he thought. But I have to show them somehow. While waiting for Vlad's response Alexis' abilities grabbed his attention and he stared with his mouth open. "Now THAT is an excellent power," he exclaimed.>
Vlad was consciously avoiding a confrontation with Michael by avoiding his eyes altogether. Better not to make a big deal about something here, let alone in front of his sister. However, when the large man stood up, Vlad did the same, pulling himself up to his full height as an act of instinct as he, for the first time since he got to the mansion, looked almost eye to eye with someone. His grey eyes narrowed, his fist clenching at his side until he heard what Michael had to say. Suddenly then, it appeared as if a weight was lifted from Vlad's shoulders, and he relaxed his posture. "I'm still keeping an eye on you. But you get to live today," he joked. Or was he joking? His tone wasn't very specific. "See ya, Korvka," he said as he tousled her hair and then walked back and sat next to Flame.
"Aaaah!" screamed White in surprise as she felt Shade's hand grabbing her ankle. She tried to kick his hand away, and attempted to step on his arm with her other foot so he would let go. While she did so, she moved her hands trying not to loose her balance, sending light beams in every direction.
White's light was seriously injuring Shade's hand, which was burning painfully and beginning to blister, as if he'd been scorched. Still, his grip held on, despite the stomp that had burst a few of the blisters. She lost balance then as her arms flailed, her stomp having thrown her off since Shade's grip did not falter. She was then dragged, horrifyingly, into his shadows...
Korvka winced as the light began to fly everywhere, squinting so she could still see the battle as goosebumps spread over her body at the sound of Shade's voice. When she was able to look up again, White was slowly disappearing and Korvka stood up and shouted, "HEY! SOMEONE CALL THIS FIGHT OVER! VERE IS HE TAKING HER?!"
Valerie had been reassured several times by different people that no one was going to really get hurt; these fights were being closely monitored by the faculty, after all. Shade had even done so, and she, of course, did not question the validity or sincerity of what he'd told her. However, as White struggled against the enveloping shadows, and as Korvka started a clamor several seats away, Val couldn't help but feel very nervous for her fair friend. Perhaps it was this, plus the lack of gore involved in this fight, but her eyes remained glued on the arena. The girl wrung her hands together so hard that, after a fluttering series of pops, her fingers had become enmeshed at very unnatural angles. 'Ohhh! Come on, White!' she said, seemingly oblivious to the mess her hands were in.
Michael returned his attention to the fight in time to see White being sucked into one of Shade's shadows. His eyes grew wide as his anger was kindled. He looked at Korvka's expression and then to the faculty. "Please tell me things are still under control," he said aloud, hoping for an answer from one or more of the telepaths close by.
Having pulled White into the shadow, it should be easy for Shade to attempt shadowporting her to the ceiling and letting her hand down from her ankle. His hand still aching from the burns, he called out to her. "You've got two choices, give up or plunge down, it's up to you."
"Jesus Christ!" yelled White as she saw herself hanging from the ceiling of the building, her head feeling dizzy from the weird teleporting and disoriented about where she was now. She tried to bend and grab him or hold on to anything that might be hanging there. She didn't weight a lot but she feared he would drop her, since he was using only one hand to hold her. "Bring me down! I'll stop", she said, attempting to calm down from her panic - which was quite hard to do considering her position - and stop shining.
The sensation of being pulled through Shade's shadowportal was akin to falling infinitely through a black well, so when White experienced falling, and then found herself upside down, her stomach lurched as she got accustomed to her surroundings. Her initial cry was heard by Shade down below. The glow of her skin was constant however, despite her attempts to cease, and continued to burn Shade's ironically white flesh.
Jean stepped forward and waved her hands at Shade as she watched the spectacle. "FIGHT OVER! Bright her down safely!"
Focusing on what was in front of her finally as she continued to work her knife against her skin Flame gave a bit of a smirk. "Should of brought some sunglasses with me." From what she could see White hadn't been hurt, just maybe tramadized a little. With a cringe she pulled off the chunk of scales and flesh she had cut off and dropped it by her feet. She brushed her knife blade off on the shorts of her uniform, trying to get as much blood as she could off it before sheathing it again. Meanwhile the blood on her back slowed from the slow flow caused by the stab wound, stopping as it clotted thanks to her powers.
"Ok ok." smirked Shade, unfortunately the panicked girl would no stop glowing, so he couldn't exactly shadowport her back. Still with his hand stuck in the shadows beneath him and with White safely away on the ceiling, Shade cause the shadow under him to grow, pushing him up. The Shadow rose like a drop of water falling upwards, Shade safely standing on top, his hand still holding onto White. Finally, when White was a few feet away from him, he dropped her and pulled his hand out. He immediately extended his arms to catch her ala newlyweds, apparently ignoring the hypocrisy of the whole thing and hoping the girl didn't start glowing so hard that she would dissipate the shadow on which Shade was standing, thus making them both fall.
Although White was scared of Shade after he hung her from the ceiling, she clinged to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as soon as he caught her. "Get me down!" she repeated, hugging him tight until they reached the floor. Luckily for both of them, she was tired and her glow was almost extinguished as she finally managed to get herself a little more under control.
"It's ok, I gotcha." chuckled Shade as he caught White and the shadow began to sink back into the ground, slowly lowering them. "You know, you're the first girl to ever cling to me after I've dangled her from the ceiling." he added, leaving White to ponder on the plausibility of such sentence, before stepping down of the shadow, onto solid ground. "See? told ya if you stopped glowing I'd get you to the ground."
"What? You've done that to other girls?" asked White puzzled, loosening her hold on Shade after he called her clingy. She realised then she had been holding on to him a bit too close. As they reached the ground, she quickly let go of him trying not to blush too much because of the embarrassment and put her feet safely on the ground, her legs feeling all wobbly. She thought she had to be angry at Shade, but she wasn't. She was actually relieved that this was over. "Thanks for not dropping me" she said.
Vlad watched in somewhat of a daze as he saw White being dragged somewhere...and then pop out from the ceiling? "That kid has got an amazing grip on his powers," he said to Flame as he watched Shade then bring her down. "Hahaha, and a pretty good game too!"
Looking up to see White dangling, Korvka looked angrily at the teachers, who finally seemed to have taken the match seriously. She remembered what it was like to go through his shadow portals, and that was on friendly circumstances. She'd hate to think what it would have been like to fight him, moreover, she realized she wouldn't have stood a chance. Watching as he safely carried her to the ground, her lip curled and she rolled her eyes. "I guess even assholes have pricks," she muttered to herself.
Xavier's voice was then heard coming from the control room, obviously, but seemingly magnified as if it were booming through an megaphone. "You're all doing great so far, students! In light of the recent new student additions, I am making some changes to the sparring lineups. New students, please stand when I call your name so that we may all become somewhat better acquainted. Light will be sparring Zane, Summer will be sparring Nicole, and Vlad and Aidan are still set." He then paused for a moment so that the students standing would be recognized by the other mutants. "Summer and Nicole, take the arena please."
Nicole stood slowly as her name was called. She had been trying to figure out how to somehow hold her own against Vlad, but now she had to spar this Summer girl, who Nicole didn't know at all. Not only that, she was still hesitant about her own abilities, and facing some unknown power, she became nervous. Nervous energy wasn't good for Nic. She walked into the arena, stepping lightly around the dents in the sand, avoiding the blood stained areas, and stopped so she was slightly facing the other students.
Light sighed softly when her name was called and stood slowly, her arms still crossed, eyes closed and head down, without seeing her opponent. She lightly returned to her sitting position and after a few seconds, looked up to the arena for the next fight. She had lost interest in the earlier fight, since it was just a game of light and shadow; it seemed rather boring to her. She continued to wait for the fight to begin with an expressionless face.
"It's a manner of speak, little one." chuckled Shade as he let down White gently on the ground, the girl's reactions were unexpected and interesting, to say the lest, so Shade offered her what seemed like a genuine and honest smile. "Well, pleasure to meet you." he said before he picked up his jacket from the floor, dusted it and swung it over his shoulder. "I'm going to go get some burn ointment or something along those lines." he added and waved at her with his blistered hand before he headed back to his seat.
White looked at the blisters, noticing them for the first time. "God! I didn't know I could do that", she said surprised. "Sorry" she added, still rather confused with the whole situation, and made her way back to her seat next to Michael, glad to feel the earth under her feet.
As the fight concluded, Valerie smiled brightly and tried to clap, but quickly realized that her hands were bound by her entangled fingers. ‘Wow, good job, guys,’ she said instead, not specifying anyone, as she was a little distracted with the Rubik’s cube that was her hands. It wasn’t until Xavier mentioned the new students that she realized their presence and then took a pause to locate them in the arena.
Seating Arrangement
Stumble!