Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ The Ultimate Antidote ❯ New Country, New Home, New Language... and school, what a drag. ( Chapter 10 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The Ultimate Antidote
Written By: Matdeception

Ranma 1/2 Notes: Takes place after the Manga

X-Men: Evolution Notes: Time line all screwed up. Rogue has yet to meet Risty, takes place after 'Adrift', but before 'Angel's Wings'.

Disclaimer: I do not write using the aforementioned series in an attempt to steal, discredit, or defame said series or their characters. I write to pay homage to the original creators, as well as improve upon my own dim writing ability. Not now, nor ever will this fan fiction be used to gain monetary value at the expense of said creators intellectual properties.

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Chapter 7: New Country, New Home, New Language... and school, what a drag.

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"Die... die... You're all going to DIE!" Ranma screamed, lunging forward into a roll as a red beam of light slammed right where he had been standing. Unphased, the boy rolled to his feet, just barely managing to jump up and out of the way of a follow up beam.

As he reached his zenith, he curled up into a ball, a shimmering aura of blue flame snapping into existence around his form, just as he began to descend. Fifteen feet off the ground, he opened up and screamed, "KIJIN DAI RAN BU!", tiny slivers of darkness blasting from his blazing aura, painting the ground red in the blood of his enemies, who were ripped apart mercilessly by the tiny blades of death.

Landing, the boy surveyed his handiwork. No survivors.

"Good job, boy." the figure of a man, dressed in bloody red, with a curiously designed helmet, floated from the air, chuckling at the broken bodies littered everywhere.

"Shut up!" Ranma snapped, "I didn't do this for you!" scowling, the boy turned, vanishing from sight as he moved away, but not before hearing Magneto's final quip.

Magneto chuckled, waving the boy's concern off, "Yes, I'm sure you've avenged dear Nabiki." he gave the barren battle field a long look, "Rest in peace, Charles."


---

Xavier snapped awake, taking quick, shuddering breaths as he tried to make sense of it all. Another dream... another vision. Pulling his blankets off, he grabbed his chair from the side of the bed, easing ever so slightly in before rolling to his desk. Opening the side drawer, he produced a large leather bound note book.

"Another dream, a different outcome." he frowned, flipping through the pages until he found what he was looking for, mumbling to himself as he read the passage. "The first dream encompassed nothing to bring evidence the mutant had turned against us. In fact it was quite homely, a average ordinary day at the mansion, nothing seemed wrong. That is, until Ranma came walking from upstairs. I was perplexed by his presence, but the feelings I felt in the dream denoted familiarity, respect, and a deep sense of caring. When Scott and Jean appeared, the two seemed to get along well with the boy. Going so far as even casually joke about their days.

It was here, at this point, everything changed. Rogue appeared, and immediately I could feel the tension in the air harden. Scott and Jean had faded away, I wondered if they were ever really there? The two just stood there, staring at each other for an eternal moment, until Ranma abruptly turned around and walked away. Rogue then collapsed to her knees, crying about how sorry she was. When I asked what she did, she turned to me and told me. I still can not remember the words she used, but I can remember the feeling I felt as those words left her lips. Pity. Extreme, unending pity, perhaps even some anger, though I don't understand why."

The second dream happened a week later. I remember seeing a girl with brown hair, with obvious Japanese ethnicity. She was talking to him in what appeared as a wide, abandoned park. I could feel joviality in the air, the two seemed to enjoy each other's company."

Turning the page, he continued reading.

"The two hugged, and that was when everything had changed. Appearing on one side was Magneto, the Brotherhood, Sabretooth, and three young men I had never seen before. My confusion at their appearance only escalated as Scott, Jean, Kitty, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Logan showed up on the other side. Even as the two sides began to scream bloody murder, neither broke their embrace. It was as if nothing in the world mattered, just knowing the other with them was safe. When both sides charged, that was when the dream ended.

It would be two weeks before I had another dream. The boy appeared in the middle of a deserted street, on his hands and knees, crying about something I couldn't identify. He stayed there for an eternal moment, time seeming to have frozen, until a blond hair girl I had never seen before appeared. She stood over the boy, her eyes reflecting nothing but sympathy. She dropped to her knees, and enveloped the boy in a hug, which he returned desperately. I could sense a pliable touch of loss in the air, but for the life of me, I could not discern just why I did. This has been... aggravating."

Grabbing a pen, he set the book down to write. "Another vision, and still no closer to the truth.."

---

The silence was galling, an oppressive aspect of a trip made in haste, of a home they didn't know. She wanted to ask, to question what the world had given her. A Gift? What gift costs you the lives of your whole family. What gift brings down the scorn and hatred of your own people? No, it wasn't a gift, it was a curse, a curse brought on by the blood running through her veins. Cain's mark, as the church would say. The unholy symbol of a murderous beast, of a man capable of killing his brother over envy and jealously. She was a damned person, damned in the eyes of her people, damned in the eyes of the world.

...

"I hate Kuno." Nabiki suddenly, from seemingly nowhere stated.

Ranma gave the girl a long, confused look, scowling as he picked up a book and began flipping through the pages. God he hated studying.

Nabiki sighed. Four weeks had passed since they escaped from Japan to the America's, three weeks since Nodoka had disappeared after sticking them in this small, cramped apartment. She had always wanted to visit the Big Apple, but not like this! It was an aggravating time spent wallowing in hate, despair, and no small dose of loathing for the woman who had left them here. She was torn between the grateful feelings she had, the woman had saved their lives, after all, and the near overwhelming urge to throttle her for choosing of all places America to escape to, a place where she and Ranma barely had the basics of the language down.

Ranma blinked, chuckling tiredly as he finally manage to translate Nabiki's words, "I hate Kuno." his accent was horrible, but at least he was learning. Still.. she appreciated Nodoka's intention with having them learn English, it got their minds off.. off home, and the loved ones left behind.

"Right." Nabiki grumped, dropping her book, "Let's go over basics."

Ranma blinked, scratching his head while slowly answering in English. "Uh..yes."

"What name?"

"Saotome, Ranma."

"Nonononono!" Nabiki slapped him on the side of the head, "This not Japan. Given name first."

"Oh... Ranma Saotome my name." God, why did the Americans have to speak such a screwed up language? Not for the first time he wished to god he had paid attention in Hinako's class. But he didn't, so the point was moot.

"What say for use bathroom?"

"Where bathroom, uh, is?" Ranma frowned, picking up his note pad. "Uh. Where is bathroom, please."

Nabiki giggled, "We is suck."

"Hah! Shampoo, uh, feel sorry for.." Ranma sighed, "We got long way travel."

"True." Nabiki smirked, climbing to her feet. "Me is go walk. You come?"

Ranma blanched. While he didn't really mind big cities, New York was something else entirely. So cramped, so freaking dirty, filled with people he'd sooner beat the crap of then help, "No. Me is, uh.." he scowled, "Me is no go."

Nabiki shrugged, stepping for the door. As she opened it, a slim envelope fell to the ground. Curious, she picked it up, turning it over to see who it was from. "For Ranma, Nabiki, From Mom." she rolled her eyes, "Ranma, Nodoka send letter."

"Oh?" he blinked, practically flying from the ground and snatching the letter from Nabiki's hand. Ripping it over, he stared at a pair of train tickets weirdly, before dropping them to the ground and fishing out a letter. Opening it, he scanned it's contents slowly, and carefully.

"What it say?"

Ranma chuckled nervously, "It in English. Me no can read well."

Snatching the letter from the jock, she bit off snidely, "Give letter, bad English boy!"

"Ranma, Nabiki.

COME!!!

Nodoka."

Ranma rolled his eyes, "She otaku, love Shinji."

"There more." she rolled her eyes.

"PS: I'm sure you two have been concerned about me these last few weeks, I'm sorry I haven't been able to contact you directly. Since the Japanese government disavowed your existence, I've been busy working up some false identities, and arranging for a permanent place to stay while we figure out what to do.

I've included some train tickets to Bayville. It's this nice little town a few miles from the city that will fit us perfectly. There's occasional weirdness, but nothing bad. Say you'll come?"

"We go?" Ranma shrugged. He really didn't care where the hell they stayed.

"Let finish!' Nabiki snapped.

"Of course you'll come! The lease on your apartment ends Friday!"

"What le.. uh.. lea.. lease?"

"Lease means we go."

---

The next day.

"You guys ready?" Wolverines voice spoke up from the comm. system.

Cyclops grunted, "We're ready."

"Good luck kids."

The room quickly vanished into a dark void, leaving the teenagers senses temporarily skewed. Slowly, the room began to form, expanding in all directions upwards of a hundred meters, terrain forming into completely flat concrete plain. The sky itself remaining as dark as the void they had exited, yet still some how enough light was being generated to allow everyone clear vision up to fifty yards.

"All right team." he spared the group a serious glance, "Let's show Logan what we've learned. Kitty, Kurt, you two remember what to do?"

"Yeah. We'll keep him confused and guessing." Kurt waved Scott's concern off, "I'm ready."

"Right! Like, we'll show that bad boy who's boss!" Kitty grinned.

"Don't forget, we're counting on you." he turned to Evan, "You good to go?"

"As I'll ever be." he shrugged, "Don't worry about me."

"Jean? Rogue? You remember the plan?"

Jean nodded, "We'll take him down this time, for sure."

"Just get me close, I'll handle tha rest." the southern belle nodded.

"All right." Scott tapped the communicator on his wrist, "We're ready Professor, Logan."

"Program's starting up. Be on you're toes."

A ring of white light snapped into existence twenty yards away from the group, swirling upwards as the figure of a man garbed like Scorpion from those Mortal Combat games began to form. Once done, the things eyes glowed yellow for a brief instance, before dropping into an all too familiar stance for the X-men. It was the same stance they had seen the last hundred attempts to take the creep down, so far they hadn't succeeded, but this time they were feeling confident.

"Let's go!" Scott scowled, immediately firing off a blast of energy from his visor.

The creature attempted to dodge by rolling to the right, but with a sudden displacement of air and a kick to the side, he found himself right back in the beams path.

Kurt teleported again as the beam struck their enemy, blasting him back ten yards before he was dropped to the ground.

Flipping to his feet, the creature didn't seem all that phased as he charged towards the group.

Rogue flanked left, followed by Jean flanking right. Once the creature passed the two of them in his charge for Scott, a tactic they had noticed the thing preferred, Jean summoned her power, freezing the creature in place, "NOW ROGUE! DO IT NOW!"

As the creature had done many times in the past, his hand started glowing, a blob of energy forming in his hands Extending his arm towards Jean, he was about to fire when a cool slender hand grabbed his extended wrist, "You ain't very nice."

"Yes!" Evan grinned. True he didn't have to do much of anything, but he was still proud as all heck they finally beat the thing.

"Good work, team." Scott grinned, giving them a thumbs up.

---

"Well, wouldja look at that? They finally worked as a team and took him down." Logan couldn't help but smile at that. He was damn proud of the kids.

"Logan." Xavier began, seriously, "Engage second level."

"Eh.. Chuck.." Logan sighed, "Don't yah think we should give em a break? It's taken them weeks to finally beat it on level one."

"I know how you feel, Logan. Trust me, the faster they learn, the safer they will be."

"Eh.. if you say so Chuck." Logan shrugged, hands gliding over the computer console and engaging level two.

---

Rogue smirked. The ball of energy in the creatures hand was nearly out. There was no way for the simulators to actually copy her power in full, no memories or any such nonsense being transferred, but at least they got her drain touch down. "It's game over man. Game. Over."

Suddenly, and with out warning, the creatures form shimmered, changing into the boy they had all seen systematically execute the soldiers of Japan. The ball of energy erupted to full size, before exploding violently. Surprised, Rogue was blasted back and away from the creature. Kurt acting on instinct, teleported and grabbed her before she could hit the ground, though she was unconscious.

"What the?" Kitty blanched.

"Oh man! What's with the new look? Can't we ever win?!?" Kurt whined, carefully setting the girl down.

"Heh." Evan cracked his knuckles, "Just hold him there, Jean. I'll finish this."

The boy was not finished, not by a long shot. Extending his arm again towards Jean, the redhead's eyes widened in shock as a black blade formed, shooting from the creature before it's sick mechanical voice finished it's quote "Kijin Raishu Dan."

"Holy! JEAN LOOK OUT!" Kurt screamed, teleporting next to her. He had just managed to grab her when the blade reached them, blasting right through them. Both Jean and Kurt vanished, a sign to all the X-men they had been killed.

With Jean gone, the boy dropped to the ground, free of her Telekinesis.

"Not this time! WE WON'T LOSE!" Scott had had enough of this joker. He motioned to Evan, before firing three quick consecutive blasts, hopefully forcing the boy to back step.

"AHHH! YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" Evan's exo-skeleton snapped into existence, like a figurative tank with long protruding spikes, he charged towards the bastard, who was distracted by Cyclops blasts to do anything. At least, that was the plan.

Seemingly unconcerned by Scott's blasts, the boy took all three with out even budging. Evan, committed to his charge, blanched when the guy brought his arms to his chest, fingers shaped like knives. Now where had he seen this before? And why did he get the feeling he wasn't going to enjoy this?

As he charged in, the boys fists slammed forward into the Evan's chest, it's sickly voice stating "Dokuja tanketsu-shou!". Evan's exo-skeleton didn't stand a chance against the attack, and he too disappeared. Another casualty for the X-men.

"Shit." Scott cursed. In the past, it had never actually resorted to killing moves, but obviously something had change. Heck, it hadn't ever changed it's form, either! They were four down, Kurt, Jean, and Evan dead, with Rogue unconscious. This couldn't get any worse.

Whoops, spoke too soon. Blue glittering claws of energy popped out of the boys fists, similar to Logan's claws, and, Scott realized bitterly, probably just as deadly. "This is going to hurt, I just know it."

Turning towards Cyclops, the boy charged, practically disappearing from sight as he moved. Unprepared for the boys increase in speed, he wanted to cry when the thing appeared in front of him, crouched down before leaping straight up, his claws flashing out as it screamed, "SEI!"

Kitty winced, Scott vanishing as the thing finished it's jump. "Okay.. uh.. guys, I like, give up?"

Eyeing Kitty, the boy seemed to ignore her. Approaching the unconscious Rogue, Kitty had to wonder what the heck was going on. It never attacked unconscious people, not in all the simulations they had gone through. What could cause it to change it's tactics now?

"Die." he said simply in it's gravely voice, raising it's claws and slashing downward, piercing Rogue through the back of the head. She soon disappeared.

Kitty shuddered as he turned towards her. Screw this, she wasn't going to get killed, even if it was only in a simulator! Turning to run, she completely ignored the boys sadistic cry of "THERE'S NO ESCAPE!" before noticing a slim black blade pass through her chest, and everything went dark.

---

"Okay, that's total crap!" Rogue scowled, slamming her hand against the wall, irritated. "We had that thing! What the heck happened?"

"I don't know." Kitty sighed, "I tried to run at the end, but it got me anyway."

"That weird blade thing moved way to fast." Kurt scowled, "I just didn't have time."

Jean gave the boy a comforting pat on the back, "It's okay, Kurt. Thanks for trying to save me." she sighed, "I'm more curious as to why it suddenly changed it's shape."

"I don't care what happened in there." Scott growled, "I know we had that thing beat. What could have changed it?"

Evan rubbed his chest self consciously, "Man, that thing went killer on us all of a sudden."

"Correct." Xavier's voice grabbed the kids attention. "You managed to defeat him while it was set to incapacitate. Once it was set to kill.." he left it hanging. No need to throw it in their face.

"That's crap!" Rogue shouted in return, "I got my hands on it! We shoulda won!"

Logans voice came on over the comm. system, "Who you kiddin? Your trick takes a few seconds to pull off, more then enough time for it to blast ya."

"Hey! I woulda drained his memories! Then we woulda won for sure!" she countered cooly.

"It's possible." Xavier allowed. They weren't sure if Rogue's touch would even effect the boy, and they wouldn't know until she actually touched him. "From now on, this is the version you will be fighting."

"How many versions of this guy do you have, Professor." Scott needed to know their goal. If they could beat this thing on the highest level, then that should prove to both Xavier and Logan they had what it took to take this guy down.

"As many as needed." Logan answered cryptically.

"Like, why do we have to keep training against him?" Kitty blinked, "If he was joining those jerks, wouldn't we have already seen him?"

"Yeah!" Evan nodded, "We probably won't even see him again."

"It's the possibility Mystiques gone rogue, that's the reason we keep training." Xavier answered truthfully, "Ever sense the fiasco with Magneto and the Sentinels the woman disappeared from the map, abandoned the Brotherhood, and Magneto himself. It stands to conclude she's gone rogue, and is building her own group of mutants for whatever reasons she see's fit."

Jean sighed, shaking her head at the angry teens. They really needed to calm down and understand the situation. "Professor?"

"Yes Jean?"

"We need to get ready for school. Can we go?"

"Ah, yes. My apologies for keeping you."

"Gee, nothin says lovin like school with our corpse buzzin." Rogue snorted.

"Hah." Kitty chuckled, "That was, like, pretty clever."

Scott sighed, "Don't worry about it, Rogue. We'll get another chance."

"Sure will. Another chance to get out asses handed to us." she waved them off, "I'm outta here."

They watched her go, before sighing. They knew how she felt. They all felt that way. It was tiring to lose every time against the digital representation of some one they might never actually have to face. It was aggravating, and kinda depressing.

---

Ranma blanched. "NO! NO! NO WAY!" he shouted. Even with his horrible accent, she completely understood what he meant.

Nabiki scowled. The two had done as Nodoka asked. Boarded the train early this morning, arrived in Bayville, and followed the map to the apartment complex she had been ever so kind to include in her letter. They had expected to meet the woman here, get settled in and comfortable before trying anything different. Oh no, that blasted woman wouldn't have anything of it. Getting to the apartment, they were relieved to find it furnished. Nearly a month of sitting, eating, and sleeping on carpet had made them realize the true gifts furniture were. However, it was the note they found that upset the two.

"Hi! Welcome to your new home! Here's a map to the high school, I've already enrolled you both. We'll talk tonight, have fun! And remember Ranma dear, you're education is important!" complete with attached school documents and the aforementioned map to the new school, and a cute, if you were a pathological serial killer, little drawing of the both of them committing seppuku, with a little sign next to their bodies proclaiming "DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL!"

"She make me upset." She really didn't want to go to a school talking like a retarded idiot.

Ranma shuddered, then blinked, snapping his fingers, "We say we no see note?"

Nabiki eyed the boy. That was actually pretty clever. "No work."

"Why no?" he blinked. Why wouldn't it? If they didn't see the note, there was no way in hell she could blame them for not going, right?

She rolled her eyes, pointing to the hundreds of personnel yellow notes taped over every piece of food, and their beds. She even wrote it in Japanese so they couldn't say they didn't understand. "Go To School. Nodoka think clever plan."

Ranma scowled, "I hate Kuno!"

"School, Ranma, School!"

"Oh.. I hate school!

Nabiki sighed. They really sucked with English, really really sucked. She just knew this was going to be a long day.

---

"Remember class. Ain't is not a word. Using it in any context is considered improper, so you should avoid using it in either written, or verbal sentences."

Speech class. The bane of her existence. So what if she talked with a southern accent? Why did those know it alls always stick her in this class. It wasn't like she would change, she happened to like the way she talked just fine. Rogue sighed, pulling a black notebook from her bag.

"Alright girl." She thought, scribbling down the question "How do you beat the unbeatable?"

She quickly jotted down the impossibility of beating him with fists or funky red laser beams. The guy rarely got hit by them in the past, and with this new upgraded jerk she doubted Scott would even get the chance.

No, best to stick with something that worked. The trick was, they needed to get him to hold still long enough to drain the fight out of em. How though? Jean's little TK trick couldn't hold him long, and with him set on killing mode wonder girl wouldn't be enough. Maybe if they dog piled him?

...

She snorted. "This ain't than matrix. It could work." she jotted that down. Hmm, maybe if they tied him with rope? .. Nah, they'd need steel chains at least. If they could convince the Prof. to let Jaime in, he could be enough to hold the guy down. Hmm.. She quickly wrote that down, lest she forget.

A spit wad came flying through the air, nailing her in the chick. Disgusted, she wiped her cheek and glared, whispering, "Damn it Risty! I'm thinking!"

Risty rolled her eyes, "You're missing all the fun!" she pointed to the front of the class.

Sighing, Rogue looked up with a blank gaze. The teacher was at the door talking to some foreign looking chick with brown hair. She guessed the girl was pretty, but what was the big deal?

Jonathan whistled, "Oh wow, she's hot!"

"I hear that." Matthew grinned, "Oriental chicks are the best man, I hear they can go on and on.."

"You perverts!" Risty hissed, poking Matthew in the back harshly.

"Hey babe, it's the truth. My Uncle told me." he defended himself, lamely.

"Ain't you're Uncle the trash man?" Rogue smirked.

"Hey!" Matthew chuckled, "You'd be surprised the types of women you meet workin the trash beat." They quieted down when the teacher backed up and motioned for the girl to come in.

The girl did as she was told, but when the teacher kept staring at the door expectantly, Rogue realized there musta been another kid out there.

"You coming?"

The oriental girl turned around, speaking Gibberish no one could understand. She blinked, after hearing his answer, before chuckling, "He say We late. Where is bucket."

"Bucket?" Their teacher blinked

"What's the deal with the bucket?" Risty didn't understand it at all.

"Guy's prolly shy." Rogue shrugged, going back to her notebook. She really needed to figure out a way to take that jerk down, once and for all.

The girl shrugged, "Idiot. Is America. No make hold bucket being late."

"Oh." the teacher grinned, finally getting it, "No, none of that. Especially not for new students."

"Oh. Is Sorry." the guy sighed, walking into the room, nervously scratching the back of his neck. He was about 5'6, at the most 5'7 with a mane of raven black hair done up in the cutest little pigtail. He was wearing the most snazzy outfit any of the girls had ever seen on a guy. Blood red top that buttoned down the middle, with a gold embroider dragon trailing a spiral up across his broad chest to his neck line. He was slender, but with the way that shirt was hugging him no one could doubt the guy didn't have at least some muscle tone. Not buff, but not flabby by any means of the word. His black draw pants with adorning slippers was just so out of place it gave him an entirely foreign atmosphere, which was really really cute.

Risty whistled, and whistled loud, "He's hot!" she casually leaned over and poked Rogue, "Tell me girl, is that not the cutest guy you've ever seen?"

"Eh.. he's kinda girly looking.." Matthew scowled, only to receive a slap to the back of the head and a 'Are you stupid?' look from Risty.

Rogue rolled her eyes. Better to just amuse the girl. Looking up, she gave the boy a once over. It wasn't long before panic crept into her belly. Startled by the realization of just who was in her classroom, the southern belle jumped from her seat, pointing and shouting, "YOU!"

Risty looked at Rogue as if she had grown a second head, while Matthew lowered his head, mumbling, "I so don't know that girl."

The class blinked in tandem at that out burst, the teacher's eyebrow rising curiously, "Ms. Rogue? Do you know our new students?"

"I.." she colored red in embarrassment. "Uh.. no, thought he was some one else." slumping back in her seat, stunned.

"Ah." the teacher sighed, "Would you two like to introduce yourselves?"

The girl shrugged, "Me is Nabiki Tendo. From Japan. Me learning English, forgive if sound weird."

"Heh.." if it were possible, the boy looked even more shy after that outburst by Rogue then he did when coming in, which only tact on to his cuteness, "Me Ranma Saotome. From Japan. I is learning English. Please forgive.. uh.. bad word.. choice." he sighed, "Happy to be here."

"Class, lets give a happy Bayville welcome to our new students. I hope you'll do your best to make them feel welcome." the class grunted a 'Yes Ms. Thornstad.', "Very well. I'm afraid this late into the semester, the only chair's I have available are in the very back."

"Is no problem." Nabiki waved the woman off, heading towards the desks with Ranma in tow.

Rogue watched them go like a hawk. Looks like the Professor was right, he did show up! He doesn't look so tough.. wonder what the others are gonna say about this.

"Ahem." Thornstad scowled, "Ms. Rogue. If you are quite done ogling our new students..."

Rogue blanched, swirling back around to face the front, "So.. sorry Ms. T."

Risty smirked, which only earned her a glare from the southern belle.

Ranma raised his hand, "Uh. What is ogling?" he blinked as the class went up in a roar of laughter, completely missing Rogue cover her face in mortal embarrassment.

---

Ranma shuddered.

Nabiki sighed. Switching to Japanese, "Ranma? What's wrong?"

Carefully, as not to disrupt the teacher lest she prove related to a certain Ki vampire in Japan, he whispered back, "I dunno Nabs."

"You've been jittery all period." she rolled her eyes, exasperated, "Don't give me that crap."

He sighed, "Look. Just do me a favor, can yah check to see if anyone's, eh.. hidin something?"

Nabiki stopped, shaking her head, "Nodoka told us not to use our powers, Ranma. I'd like to think theirs a reason for it."

"Please?" he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It almost felt like some one with a Jusenkyo curse was around, but that was silly. Maybe his mother in a new shape? That would just beg the question of why. He didn't think she'd go this far just to make sure they went too school today.

Sighing, she nodded, "Fine. Just don't tell Nodoka about this. You know how she'll be if she founds out." Taking a deep, controlled breath, she closed her eyes, accessing the mutation that had damned her family to death.

---

Xavier froze for an instant, before laying his pawn in place. "Check."

Hank McCoy, a teacher at the Institute, was a bright man in his thirties. During his teenage years, he had been approached by Xavier in regards to his mutant abilities. Offering assistance, Hank turned him down, eventually going on to become a Chemistry and Gym teacher. He had been able to control his mutation through a special serum he had developed, however like all good things, that didn't last. After arriving in Bayville, the serum at last began to fail, forcing Hank's transformation that turned him into the media named "Beast of Bayville.". He was able to regain control after changing, but his life as Hank McCoy was effectively over when he discovered he could no longer change back. Despite that, he had become a valuable asset of the team, one of which Xavier was glad to have.

"Hmmm." the beast rubbed his chin, thoughtfully.

Xavier sighed, "I'm sorry Hank, we'll need to pause this game. Something's come up."

"Oh?" Hank blinked. Truthfully he was rather thankful for the pause, he really needed to think of a way out of the current mess he was in. Xavier was just too damn good at chess. "Something I can help with?"

"Possibly." Xavier rolled to a book case, reaching out and pulling a book, which caused the entire book case to raise up into the roof, revealing a rather large computer console, a helmet with large wires running to it sitting in the middle, unused. The monitor was flashing a red warning symbol. "MUTANTATION DETECTED!"

"Ah, I see." Hank gave the screen a knowing look, "How far is it?"

Xavier shrugged, lifting up the helmet and putting it on. "We'll find out in a moment."

---

Emotions ran high, as they always did with teenagers. The room saturated with feelings of boredom, anxiety for the time to pass quicker, thoughts of boys and girls alike. She didn't feel anything out of place from the majority, however she did feel something odd coming from two girls in particular.

From the girl who made such a scene when they first arrived, she could feel nervousness, almost panic gripping her. She was scared of something, terribly. Yet she was also confused, and curious at the same time. Receiving a few flashes from the girls mind, she was shocked to discover Ranma of all people was at the center of her emotions. Not the Ranma she knew, the loyal loveable oaf who he done so much for her since escaping Japan, but of a killer with Ranma's face. She was comparing the two, as if trying to affirm they were indeed one in the same.

The girl to her right was nervous about something. It didn't have anything to do with the class, but Nabiki could swear she had something on her mind dealing with her, and with Ranma. Trying to peer in yielded no results, but that wasn't surprising. She was untrained, only able to really peer into some ones thoughts if they were distracted by something. Still, it was probably something that didn't concern them. The loose morals of America when it came to dating was likely to blame, and she had to admit Ranma could unintentionally draw a girls attention, in fact he had done so on more then one occasion since their arrival.

Nabiki had mutated early in her life, at the tender age of Ten. She was confused at first, and when she asked her dad he just assumed the shock from losing their mother was to blame. It was, in a way, acting as the catalyst for her dormant mutation; Telepathy. Confusion at her gift quickly gave way to fear, listening to peoples inner thoughts, to Kasumi's inner self forgoing her future to care for her family, to Akane's rage when she blamed herself in the way only a naive child could for her mothers death.

She had no teacher in the gift, and for the most part it laid useless within her. She eventually was able to build it up, books on the subject providing little useful information, but enough to give her a decent start. Now she could even gain glimpses of peoples thoughts, but that tired her out quickly, and was dangerous at first. The first time she had used it she had scanned Kuno, a little bit of him spilling into her due to her loss of control. It was frightening, seeing things from his perspective until the effect faded, which was why she did it seldomly. It wasn't until her fourteenth year she realized what she truly was, as the rising mutant sentiment shown public light on an otherwise ignored aspect of Japanese society.

---

Hank blinked, "The high school?"

Xavier nodded slowly, "She's using telepathy, though rather crudely. Obviously she's untrained."

"Interesting." he allowed, "What should we do?" he asked concerned. He hadn't been present during Rogue's initial recruitment, but he had heard how difficult the task had been, and in fact they had nearly lost her to the Brotherhood for good.

Xavier waved the mans concern off, "We'll let the kids deal with this. I have faith things will go better then the last time."

---

"The basic object of study in calculus is a function. We will start with the definition of a function and examine the representation in four modes: symbolic, numerical, graphical and verbal. The domain and range of a function are also defined; exercises on finding the domain of a function are provided.

Working through these materials, you should be able to do the following." The teacher picked up a stick, slapping it against the black board. "To understand the four representations of a function; to recognize a function in each of these representations; to use function notation; to calculate the domain of a function; and to determine whether a given number is the range of a function."

Jean sighed, tuning the man out at that point. Reviewing for the mid-terms was tiring, and her mind was still far to occupied to really care. No one would say anything to her. She was Jean Grey, all around star pupil and she was dating the high school's star quarterback. Besides, most teachers couldn't even imagine her ignoring them, that's how popular she was.

As with all the X-men of late, her mind was amidst a sea of questions and doubts, all concerning a boy she had never met, and the urgency the Professor and Logan stressed in him. Where they really scared of him? After seeing the tape, and just what the boy could do when driven to destroy, she could understand why. The appearance, or rather disappearance of Mystique did raise concerns. No longer leading the Brotherhood, had she really gone rogue to create her own mutant fighting force? And if so, what was she planning to do with it? And just what were they hiding from them? She wasn't blind, both Logan and Xavier had been hedging around something, something uncertain in the boy they had them train so hard to fight.

"Jean."

Jean startled, "Yes?"

The teacher blinked, looking askance at the girl, "Yes, Ms. Grey? Did you want to add something to the lecture?"

"Jean, it's me, Xavier." he sounded thoroughly amused.

Coloring red, Jean waved the teacher off hurriedly, "Oh. No, no I was just thinking out loud."

"I see.." the teacher shrugged, turning back to the board and continuing the lecture.

"Not paying attention Jean? You know how important your schooling is."

"I'm sorry, Professor. It won't happen again."

"Very well. The reason I'm contacting you like this is Cerebro has picked up new mutant activity in your school."

Jean blinked. New mutant activity? "What is it?"

"Cerebro believes it's telepathy, though vastly unrefined. I've managed to deduce her general appearance." he flashed said mental image over their link. "If you see her, cautiously approach her about joining the X-men."

"I understand sir. I'll do my best."

"I know you will, Jean. I know you will. Good luck." with that, he cut the connection.

---

Nabiki sighed, pulling her senses back. "Well that was weird."

"Anything?" Ranma looked between the kids, alittle paranoid.

"Are you sure you've never met that goth girl?"

"Eh? Yeah, why?" He gave the girl a brief look over. She seemed the drawn in type, some one trying to hide their insecurities behind a veil of false courage. Or the type to try and scare other people away by her depressive goth appearance. Whatever.

"She seems to know you, or at least some one that looks like you."

Ranma blinked, pointing to himself stupidly, "Uh, me?"

"Idiot." Nabiki scowled, "Some one that looks like you." she hmmed, staring at the girl curiously, "You sure there isn't a spring of drowned Ranma somewhere?"

"Pfeh." he snorted, "Hell no."

"Whatever. Just be careful, who knows what she'll do."

---

There was one particular trait this high school had that made Ranma want to weep in gratitude. The long cherished, and often times long awaited lunch break. Where he could finally do what he was put on this earth to do, and that was consume large quantities of food, whether they be healthy or not. There was only one obstacle standing in-between his stomach, and the total domination of the school's food budget.

They had no clue where the cafeteria was.

"Maybe it down this hall?" Ranma whimpered. The two had been searching for their elusive target since leaving class. After fifteen minutes, they were no closer to finding it then they were when they first started.

"Idiot. We pass hall three time." Nabiki groaned, rubbing her forehead in irritation, "Why not ask direction?"

"No!" Ranma scowled, "I find it. I swear!"

"Swear standing here like idiot. Me ask." Nabiki snorted. The hallways were pretty sparse, so late into the lunch hour. Spying a rather tall guy in a sports jacket with light blonde hair, she walked over and pulled on the sleeve of his jacket. "Excuse. Can you help me?"

Duncan blinked, turning a curious look at the girl. Whoa! What a babe! He knew he had Jean, but it didn't hurt to just look, did it? "Sure babe." he smiled confidently. "What's up?"

Nabiki bowed, "Me is new student. Not understand English very well. Forgive if sound strange."

Ah. The dots started to connect in his one track head. Hot Girl, scratch that, Hot oriental girl, lost in a strange new land, obviously just crying to be helped by a strong, buff guy like himself. "No problem, cutey."

Ranma rolled his eyes, "Nabiki."

Duncan scowled, noticing the guy standing behind the girl for the first time. Who the heck was this? Chicks boyfriend? "Eh, what was that?"

Nabiki sighed, "He mean name is Nabiki. I no understand what cu.. cut.. cutty mean." she frowned. Did that come out right?

"Oh." the football star shrugged, "What do you need?"

"We is lost looking for food place. Can you show?" Nabiki put on the cutest smile she could, the same smile that had made hundreds of guys back home empty their wallets in terror of.

"Eh, sure." he shrugged. He needed to meet up with Jean anyway. "Come on newbie's."

Nabiki smirked, sticking her tongue out to Ranma in triumph.

Ranma rolled his eyes. When were they going to eat damn it!?

---

Heaven, move over. He had found the motherland! The cafeteria was HUGE! Three times the size of the one in Nerima, the room was littered with kids upon kids, all talking excitedly. He couldn't understand any of it, their words mixing together with other kids talking just as excitedly, drowning out all chance of that while forming a rather dull roar.

He didn't really care about that, his eyes instantly focusing on the rather short line of kids that obstructed his stomach from it's true goal. "We will eat!" he cackled, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

Nabiki rolled her eyes. That boy had a one track mind if she ever saw one. Turning to Duncan, she bowed respectfully, "Thank you very much. We grateful."

Duncan smirked. There was something to this whole bowing thing he found pleasing. "No problem, sweet cakes. Though.. maybe you shouldn't eat, wouldn't want to ruin that sexy body of yours."

Ranma blinked. "No eat?" he sounded shocked anyone could ever suggest something so basely retarded, "You is nuts! We die if no eat!"

Nabiki scowled, switching back to Japanese, "Idiot. He's not saying we shouldn't eat. He's hitting on me!"

Ranma blinked, replying in kind with a shrug, "Oh.. so?" What did food have to do with hitting on some one?

"Whatever." switching back to English. "Thank for concern. We be fine."

"Heh, see you around." he gave her the sweetest smile he could manage. As she turned and walked towards the line, he shot the boy the nastiest glare he could manage.

Ranma raised an eyebrow curiously. Whoa, these Americans could be pissy. He smirked, "You is out of league, baka." before simply walking away, catching up to Nabiki.

Torn between the desire to smash the twerps face in, and retaining a good face in front of the chick, he eventually settled on a scowl. That kid needed a lesson in manners.

---

Scott pushed his tray away, appetite lost in light of new information, "A new mutant?"

Jean nodded, "Professor picked it up this morning."

"Any idea what she looks like?" Evan asked, stuffing a hotdog in his mouth.

"She's about 5'4, with short brown hair that comes down to just above her shoulders. Umm, she's a foreigner I think."

Kitty hmmed, "Well, it like, won't be hard to find some one like that. I don't think this school has that many foreign kids."

Rogue walked up to their table, sliding into her usual seat, "Hey."

Scott waved in return, "Hey Rogue." he turned back to Jean, "So this new mutants a new student, some type of foreigner?"

"Uh, guys." Rogue didn't have a clue what they were talking about. She didn't care, either. Sitting in that class with her worst nightmare staring at her back (not that he was exclusively, she was just being paranoid) had left her nerves on the edge. "There's somethin I gotta tell ya!"

"What is it?" Kitty hmmed.

"Well, well well. Look at what we have here." Duncan approached the table, Rogue slapping her mouth shut. Ah damn. Why did he have to show up now of all times?

Slipping up behind Jean, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, face snuggled up comfortably on her shoulder, "Hey babe. How's my fav red head?"

"Duncan.." Jean sighed. He knew she didn't like all the public displays of affection, nor the lengths he often took them. Besides, she had far more important things on her mind then her social life.

Duncan chuckled, quickly pecking the girl on the cheek, "I know I know." he sighed, pulling back, "Just wanted to catch you before practice. Coach is going to run us like dogs, I'll probably be stuck here the rest of the day."

"Have fun." Evan rolled his eyes.

---

Ranma shuddered, scowling as he pushed his plate away, it largely being untouched.

"What now, Saotome?" Lunch time was perhaps the only time the two actively spoke Japanese now. They're little reward for studying so hard, and it helped to be able to speak on a level above a moron.

"I swear, something's not right in this place." the boy threw the people around them nervous glances. While they had the end of their table pretty much to themselves, he couldn't help but feel as if something was out of place. That same feeling he got whenever he was around a Jusenkyo cursed victim was screaming at him, but he couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

"You're just being paranoid." she took a tentative bite of her food, quickly spitting it out and reaching for her drink, "Never mind. You're right, there is something wrong here. The food." It tasted awful, even worse then the food Furikan served.

"Yeah.." he chuckled, "That too, but I'm tellin you. Somethin's wrong." he sighed, "Screw it." before exhaling a deep breath, closing his eyes as he concentrated inward.

"Ranma.." she hissed warningly, "Don't make a scene."

"I won't." he snapped.

---

Rogue caught something out of the corner of her eye, a scowl coming to her lips as she saw just who had caught her attention. There, about three tables away was those two new students. The guy was sitting across from that new girl, his back turned towards them. "Hey guys, check this out." she pointed.

Everyone blinked, following Rogue's finger to the table with the new kids.

Jean grinned, "It's her. I'm sure of it." she idly noticed the boy, but with him turned around she couldn't make any distinguishing features out.

Evan chuckled, "That was easy."

Scott nodded, "Yeah. Now we just got to get her alone to talk."

Kitty smiled, "Like, good work Rogue."

Rogue blinked. Why the hell were they focusing on the girl? We're they blind? "I didn't mean it like that.."

---

Ranma's eyes snapped open, a brief if entirely noticeable golden shine glowing from his eyes. Luckily no one was paying him much attention. Gazing back and forth, he frowned, "I know something's wrong here, Nabs. Just gotta find it."

Nabiki rolled her eyes. That boy was way too paranoid for his own good.

A boy passed by their table, about five foot three, with long black hair and dark eyes. He was dressed like anyone else, pants, shoes, with a button down shirt left open to display a grey shirt underneath. Nabiki didn't pay him any mind, but Ranma did.

As the kid passed by, Ranma glanced in his direction, at first passing him by as if nothing was wrong, but he did a double take. A fuzzy blue image surrounded the boys true body, which was something he could only describe as straight out of a horror flick. Blue furry skin, elongated legs with a weird tail appendage practically wrapped around his waist. Startled as he was, he literally snapped to his feet, his gaze following the boy's progress through the cafeteria.

The kid didn't seem to notice, continuing on his way towards a table of students, one of which, he realized annoyingly, was that strange goth chick from his speech class. His mother said this place would be perfect, only a little weirdness huh? Bull shit.

---

Evan blinked, "Hey.. isn't that..

Kitty shook her head fiercely, "No! It couldn't be!"

"Scott.."

"I know Jean." the leader of the X-men didn't even question it. He looked just like the program Xavier and Logan had run them through this morning. So he was finally here. "It's him."

Rogue rolled her eyes, "That's what I've been trying to tell ya."

"Did you see how he reacted to Kurt?" Jean frowned. Expanding her senses, she sighed, "He's freaked out about something. Even a little angry."

"Yo!" Kurt grinned, coming up on the table. "Sorry I'm late, Amanda needed some help with.. " Whoa, they looked freaked out! He looked over himself. Hmm, the inducer was still working, his tail wasn't showing. What gives? "Uh.. I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"Turn around." Scott grimaced.

Blinking, he did as told. He didn't see what the big deal was at first, but once he found the boy staring directly at him, he sweated nervously, "Uh.. this.."

---

"Ranma?" Nabiki blinked. The guy had gotten tense real fast. Following his gaze to the table of kids, she frowned upon seeing the girl from their speech class staring back, along with everyone else at the table. "What's happening?"

"That guy isn't human." Ranma scowled. A demon? What was it doing here? Taking a step forward, his frown only increased when the black blond hair kid jumped up from his seat, glaring at him menacingly. "He's a demon, and it looks like he's got those kids under his thumb."

Nabiki frowned. The 'demon' in question had just turned around, and if she was any judge of Character, he seemed more scared and freaked out then any demons they had met along the way. "Maybe we should just ignore it? Making a scene right now with everyone around isn't the best thing to.." she blinked as an unfamiliar tingle settled over her mind. Almost as if by tracking, Nabiki's gaze snapped directly to the red head. "... mutants.."

"What?"

"That girl just tried to get in my head." Yes, she was sure of it. It felt different, being on the receiving end, but she knew enough from experience to know when some one was doing it to her.

Ranma scowled, gaze traveling from the demon in disguise to the red head, who flinched the moment their eyes met. From her he locked gazes with another girl. She was short, almost smaller then his own girl form, with long brown hair done up in a pony tail. When their eyes met, she too flinched, going so far as to openly whimper. It was then he realized something, something he hadn't been expecting in a million years from anyone, much less total strangers.

They were afraid of him.

---

"Hey, check this out." Peitro Maximoff, otherwise known as the Quicksilver, or Speed demon to his enemies, said cooly. He was a rather loud mouth punk, and the self proclaimed leader of the Brotherhood. His mutation enabled him to perform near super-sonic feats, often times destroying their enemies before they even knew he was moving. It wasn't until he met and did battle with the X-men that he found his abilities truly tested.

He thumbed towards the X-men, "Don't the X-freaks look scared of somethin, or what?"

Fred J. Dukes, or "Freddy" to his friends, also know as the Blob, was a huge guy with the mutant ability to absorb anything physical into his layers of fat. Even Wolverine's claws were proven ineffective against him. A natural bully, Blob had always gotten his way by virtue of his brutish personality.

"Their shakin in their boots!" Blob chuckled, before taking a huge bite out of a two foot long sub.

Lance Alvers, also known as Avalanche, a mutant capable of generating seismic waves, capable of causing wide spread destruction with just a slam of his fists. If his mutant abilities didn't drain so much out of him with each use, he could be considered one of the most dangerous mutants on the planet.

Lance frowned darkly. Looking over the X-men, he could see the fear Peitro had mentioned. Evan, that hot shot punk was standing up, fist clenched dangerously as he stared at something across the cafeteria, but even still he could see the nervous sheen of sweat on the kids forehead. Scott didn't look out of place, but with him being the most experienced out of all of them, he didn't expect anything less. Seeing Kitty trembling frightfully earned an angry scowl from him. Following her gaze, he quickly spotted the new kid staring right back at them.

"It's that punk their scared of."

Peitro hmmed, looking over towards Ranma, "Why the hell would they be scared of that wimp lookin gook?"

Wanda slurped her milk, grabbing everyone's attention. Gazing contemptuously at her 'bro', she sighed, "He's Japanese, 'bro'." Eyeing the boy in question curiously, she had to admit she had never seen anything quite like him. To her eyes, he was like a huge amoeba of chaotic energies, it's tendrils reaching out all around him and subtlety altering probabilities of everyone and everything around. She had seen a few like him in the past, but never to such a grandiose scale. "And who wouldn't be scare of him?"

Toad blinked, "Uh.." he chuckled nervously, "What's that suppose to mean, cuddlebumbs?"

"Just look at him." Wanda waved them off, "If you can't see it, you'll never figure it out."

Peitro rolled his eyes, "Whatever." chuckling, he grinned sinister like, "Anyone who makes the X-freaks sweat like that s'okay in my book."

Lance scowled, "I don't like him."

Fred chuckled, "You're just pissed he's making Kitty wet her pants."

"Shut up!"

"I smell chicken, I smell France, I smell Kitty's underpants." Peitro roared, unable to stop from laughing when Lance practically lunged from his chair at Toad.

---

"Let's get out of here, Ranma." Nabiki hissed, rising from her seat, but never letting her glare fall from the redheads eyes.

"But.."

"Let's just go. We'll figure out what to do later." she reached out, grabbing his arm and pulling him away.

Glancing at Nabiki, he sighed. Giving the kids a scathing glare in parting, he turned and followed Nabiki out of the Cafeteria.

---

With his parting, a large group sigh commenced.

Evan fell back into his seat, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "Damn, talk about tense."

Jean shuddered, pressing one hand against her chest while trying to catch her breath.

Scott leaned over, grabbing her shoulder in concern, "Jean? What's wrong?"

"They caught me.. trying to scan them.. they know what I am." she looked to Kurt sadly, "And he's.. seen through you're disguise."

Kurt winced, "Mein Gott.. how?"

"I don't know." she said, truthfully. "I could see it. He thinks your a demon."

Kitty shivered, "Man, that was scary! I thought he was going to go nuts on us!"

"What next?" Rogue broke in, frowning seriously.

Jean frowned, mind coming into focus as she concentrated her telepathy. "Professor?"

A few moments passed, until Xavier answered her summons. "Jean? How did the things with the new mutant go?"

"It didn't." she sighed mentally, "We ran into the boy from Japan. He's here."

Silence followed for a time. "I.. see. Try not to make a scene, and observe him with out drawing attention to yourselves."

"Eh.. heh. Little late for that. He's some how seen through Kurt's inducer, and the new mutant caught me trying to scan their minds. They know."

"Ah.. I see. Try not to bring further attention to yourselves. In the meantime, I'll send Logan to the school. He has.. experience with the child."

"I see."

"Be on you're guard till then, Jean."

"Yes Professor." she sighed, feeling his presence fade as their link was cut.

"The Professor said to be careful, and try not to draw attention to ourselves." she chuckled that last part out nervously, "Logan will be coming by the school later."

"Little late, dontcha think?" Rogue bit off sarcastically.

---

As the final bell rang, he couldn't help but stretch his tired muscles. Finally, he could get the heck out of here. His classmates seemed to have the right idea, practically running each other over in their attempt to escape the confines of the school.

Nabiki slapped him in the back of the head, "I do not believe you fall asleep first day!"

"Anything worth doin worth doin right." he retorted with a smirk. "Beside. I hate English."

"Idiot. It can only help us learn!" Why couldn't the jock see that? Arrrgh! It was infuriating!

Slowly making their way through the throng of students, all seeking to leave, Ranma shrugged, "You teach better. I no need idiot American learn."

Nabiki sighed, grumbling, "No point. You no listen."

"That right!" he chuckled.

---

"You guys want to beat the new kids head in?" Lance asked, seriously. He idly took a sip from his Coke, before gulping the last of it's contents down and crushing it with one hand.

Blob shrugged. He had been expecting something like that to come up since lunch. Lance was always a pushover when it came to Kitty. "I get what you're saying. Let's do it." he didn't have that many friends, which was why he was willing to do whatever he could for the ones he did have.

Toad blanched, "Uh, guys, maybe we should just forget about it?" he too knew Lance's obsession with Kitty, which could only mean one thing. He wanted to beat the new guy into the ground. "Why piss off a guy we don't even know? He's probably dangerous! Just look how freaked out those X-men were!"

"Who cares?" Lance snorted, "There he is. Let's just do it." he motioned down the hall, where both new foreign kids were. "You coming Wanda? Peitro?"

Peitro snorted, "The hell not?" He figured if they roughed up the kid who freaked the X-men out, then in turn once they crushed him the X-dorks would be scared of them for a change.

Wanda shut her locker, giving the boys a blank gaze. "No."

"Pfeh." Lance hadn't really been expecting her to help anyway. She may be a part of the Brotherhood, but he could tell she preferred being a loner.

---

Ranma stopped suddenly, gaze snapping to the side. A group of kids he had never seen before were staring at him, and boy did they looked pissed. "Nabiki?" he switched to Japanese.

"What?"

"Think you can get home with out me?" he frowned, cracking his knuckles. He could tell what they wanted, just by the look in their eyes. He had seen those same eyes a hundred times, on Ryoga, Mousse, Kuno, and all the other idiots he had to fight back in Nerima. They wanted to rumble.

Nabiki frowned, following his gaze. Oh, it figured. First day, and the jock was already making enemies. Looking up at the roof, she gave a 'Why me' look, then sighed, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't hurt them too bad, okay?"

"Whatever." Ranma snorted, pointing to the outside school yard were kids were allowed to take their lunch breaks. The brown headed pissed off one blinked in surprise, before scowling and nodding. "I'll see you at home, later."

A brief desire to form a betting ring floated up within her, before she squashed it down. She was new to the school, and didn't know if some one like her had already set up shop. Best not to step on anyone's toes until she got a feel for the place. When the thought of money hit her head, she blanched. Her purse! She left it in last period! Arrgh!

Turning around, she quickly ran back down the hall, unaware of a certain redhead following after her, or the black haired girl following after her.

---

The boy stopped in the middle of the outside lunch area, before turning around to face them.

Throwing Peitro a glance, who only shrugged in response, Lance took the lead. "Heh, what's your name?"

"Ranma Saotome is name." the boy responded, his accent heavy. "You want fight me? I give fight."

"Oh Christ." Peitro scowled, "You need my help to pick on a retard?"

"Eh.. heh." Toad chortled, "Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought."

"Pfeh." Blob snorted, "Let's end this quick."

---

"Man, Mr. Ybarra gives WAY too much homework!" Risty whined, "There's no way I can get all this done in one night!" she practically pounced on Rogue, "Pwease say you'll help me?!?

Rogue couldn't help but smile, "Sure." She really liked Risty. They had only known each other for a few weeks, but even then she didn't think she'd ever find a better girlfriend. "Want to come over to the Institute? We can work there."

"That sounds fine." Risty smiled.

A small commotion began to break out ahead of them, frantic yells of, "Maximoff and his goons are picking a fight with the new kid!" and "Oh cool! I gotta see this! Maybe that kid knows kung fu?" "Peitro is such a jerk!" and many other colorful variants.

"Oooooh!" Risty preened, "A fight! With the new kid too! This we gotta see!"

Rogue hesitated for a second. Well, why not? She'd get to see if all these crap with the Prof and Logan was even worth the time they put into it. "Sure."

---

Scott grimaced. "I can't believe their doing this."

"Hey, don't worry about it man." Evan shrugged, getting a prime seat for the fight, sitting on top a branch in a tree. From here he could see the whole fight. "'Sides, let's see if this ass is as good as the Prof says he is."

Kitty sighed miserably, "What if some one gets hurt?"

Kurt grumbled, scratching his head tiredly, "I'm tired of all this. Why don't we just talk to the guy? Maybe we could be friends?"

Scott grunted, "Maybe. We should talk to Xavier first."

"Shhh!" Evan hissed, "Looks like it's starting!"

---

Nabiki grumbled, stepping back into class. The room as empty, not even the teacher was present. Not like she expected anyone to be there. School was out, who wanted to stay any longer then they absolutely had too? Quickly finding her purse right where she left it, she turned to leave.

"Hello, Nabiki."

Nabiki startled. The girl she had caught trying to scan her mind earlier was there, looking at her friendly like. "Uh. Who is you?"

"I'm Jean." she gave a polite wave, "I'm sorry about earlier. It was a misunderstanding."

Nabiki waved her concern off, "Is okay. I surprised we find mind mutant, is all."

"Yes." Jean winced, looking back to make sure no one had heard her. "There's something I want to talk to you about, about our.. 'gifts'" she stressed that last part, hoping the girl caught the clue. Who knew what type of trouble they'd get into if some one overheard them admitting to be mutants?

Nabiki frowned. Nodoka had warned her some one would eventually come up to her about her ability, she never imagined it would be a highschooler! "Me no want talk about 'gift'."

"Please." Jean sighed, though didn't stop smiling, "I just want to help teach you how to control you're power. You must be confused with everything going on, with your gift just activating."

Nabiki chuckled, "Gift activate long time. Me no confused. Me just want leave." then she frowned, "Me no like you. Me no want teach from you." her frown upgraded to a glare, "Me say no."

"You're scared." Jean accused, "I can help you get over you're fear. Just, give the X-men a chance. We want nothing more then to help.."

"Little deaf Princess, didn't you hear? She said no."

Jean froze up, twirling around, "Wanda.." she scowled, "What do you want?"

Wanda gazed blankly at the red head, before turning to Nabiki, "You said no to her question, didn't you?"

Nabiki could feel the tension building between both girls. Almost a tangible thing, she wondered what would happen if it snapped? "I say no."

"There you have it, little princess." Wanda returned her unnerving gaze back to Jean. "You can take 'No' for an answer, right?"

Jean didn't know what to do, torn between her fear of the Scarlet witch, and the desire to help the young mutant, she eventually sighed, "Just.. think about it." before walking past Wanda and out of the room.

Nabiki sighed in relief, thanking her lucky stars that was over. Bowing to Wanda, she smiled, "Thank you. Was worried she be mad."

"Heh." Wanda shrugged, "She's just a goody two shoes. Always trying to help everyone out. Don't pay her any mind." she turned around and began walking away. Before leaving entirely, she threw the girl a glance, "Oh. My brother and his goons decided to pick a fight with you're friend. He may need you're help."

Nabiki blinked, then chuckled, "Ranma good fighter. He best in generation. He no need help, me think they need help."

Wanda smirked, "I thought so. What's you're name?"

"Nabiki Tendo is name."

"Wanda. Maybe I'll see you around."

Nabiki smirked. She didn't know why, but something about the girl just rubbed her the right way, "Me would like that, very much."

Chuckling, Wanda waved the girl off, "You're accent sucks. Work on it."

---

Ranma smirked, raising his chin, "Go head. First shot free."

Blob smirked, "Let's get em, boys!" stepping up to the pitchers mound, he reared back and threw a mighty punch, which slammed into the boy, before the boy was blasted back and slammed against the wall, a clear indenture of his body pressed into the brick wall.

Slumping to the ground, Ranma winced. Okay, that hurt. Looking up, he almost didn't see the punch coming from his left, but he was still too surprised by the speed of the attack to do anything but take it straight to the face. Kinetic energy transferred in the attack rocketed him off the ground, where he spun in mid air twice, before Toad launched himself forward and slammed both feet against his back, hard, blasting him once again into the wall.

Dizzy, he was unprepared for Lance to bring his fist down into the ground. When nothing happened, he slowly rose to his feet. God, his head was ringing, he doubted he would be hearing anything for awhile yet. And.. hey, why was it growing dark all of a sudden? Looking up, he blanched at the sight of a brick wall coming down on him fast. Unprepared, he quickly found himself slammed to the ground, pelted by bricks, before his world went dark.

Lance snorted, rising from the ground. This guy wasn't anything special, why the heck were the X-freaks scared of him. "Man, what a let down."

"You're telling me?" Peitro sighed, "I don't like picking on retards man. Just isn't any fun."

Toad preened, the boos from the crowd assuaging his rather limited ego, "Man, that was awesome! Did you see that? Guy didn't have a chance!"

"Moron." Blob snorted, "He sucks more then that black kid with the freaks!"

---

Risty winced, "Oh man, that had to hurt!"

Rogue nodded grimly. She didn't care who the guy was, or wasn't, no one deserved that ruthless beating, "Hope he's all right."

---

Evan smirked, "Man, that kid's a wimp."

Scott said nothing, watching the motionless pile of bricks the kid was buried under. Why did he suddenly get a bad feeling about the whole thing?

Jean came walking up, looking rather annoyed.

"What's up?" Kurt blinked. Did that idiot Duncan do something stupid again?

"I'll tell you later." she grimaced. "What happened?"

"Peitro and his buddies attacked the guy from the simulators." Kurt sighed, "They buried him."

"Really?" Jean blinked. Had the Prof and Logan been fretting over nothing?

Kitty grumbled, "It wasn't even a fight. They, like, massacred him."

---

With the fight looking to be over, some of the kids began to depart, while others started for the Pile of bricks to dig the guy out, while one of the other students ran to call 9-1-1. Getting crushed under a pile of bricks wasn't a good thing, not in anyone's books. But, before they could reach it, the bricks started shifting, before out right exploding upwards.

Ranma roared, pushing the bricks off him through sheer strength and determination alone. That. had. HURT! Now he was pissed off. That could of killed him, if he weren't so tough. Free of his moral obligation to protect the week, he sneered, stepping out of the pile. "We not finish!"

Peitro looked at the guy as if he was crazy, "Man, just stay down." Didn't this guy know when to give up?

Blob chuckled, "Cool! We get to kick his ass again!"

Toad, feeling confident with their earlier victory, chuckled, "I get dibs on the first hit! DIBS I SAY!"

Lance scowled, "Whatever. You're going down, ya dick."

Ranma smirked, "No. It my turn now!" before charging forward at a normal pace.

Peitro rolled his eyes. The guy was moving so SLOW. Heck, by the time he'd reach them, he'd of died of old age! Impatience getting the better of him, he vanished, lunging into action by delivering a quick powerful punch to Ranma's face.

Or that was the plan, anyway. Ranma slid to a stop instantly, grabbing the fist before it could hit him. Shock waged on Peitro's face, no one had ever caught his fist before! He was left with little time to marvel at the feat, before being pulled forward. Ducking low, Ranma slammed his fist into Peitro guts, knocking the wind out of the speed demon. Not finished with him yet, he stepped up behind him, fore and middle finger extending like a gun, and slammed him numerous times in the back before kicking him away, hard. Peitro slammed into the wall, where he crashed to the ground screaming in pain while trying seemingly tear something that wasn't there off his back.

Ranma turned back towards the others, once again beginning his slow forward charge.

Toad winced. "Ouch.. that had to hurt."

Lance scowled, "What are you waiting for? GET HIM!"

Blob didn't need anymore encouragement. Stepping in front of the charging boy, he attacked with a wicked haymaker. Ranma smirked, almost casually leaping over the lumbering oaf. As if some how defying the very laws of physics, his forward motion stopped as he slammed both feet into the back of Blobs head. Unprepared for the attack, or the strength of said attack, Blob found himself off balance, and quickly heading for the floor.

Ignoring the oaf as he fell to the ground roughly, Ranma landed to the ground lightly, continuing his forward stroll towards Lance.

Toad leapt at the boy, but quickly found himself flying back towards the wall as Ranma casually grabbed him out of the air, twirled him around twice, and let loose. Slamming against the wall, Toad let out a pain filled whimper that was totally drowned out by Peitro's screams for mercy.

Lance could honestly say he was impressed, and maybe even a little freaked, but the gauntlet had been thrown. He'd be damned to lose to this bastard. Raising his hand up as the boy neared, he smirked, "Let's shake things up!" Slamming his fist into the ground, he let loose with a seismic tremor that began to shake everything around.

Ranma smirked, and as if mocking him he extended his fist, raising one finger for everyone to see, "You good. My finger better." before slamming the single finger into the ground, "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" The earth beneath their feet began to rumble, and for the first time since he had gained control of his power, he felt his control torn away from him as the earth beneath their feet exploded violently.

Blasted back from the force of the blast, Lance slammed into the adjacent wall, before falling to the ground hard. Too stubborn to quit, he slowly, painfully began to push himself up.

Almost casually, Ranma walked up to the boy, smirking, "Its good. Works on lots of things. Will it work on you?" he pressed his finger to the boys neck, knocking him out instantly.

---

Rogue winced, absently rubbing the back of her neck. Well, she had always wondered if they guy could actually do something like that. Looked like he could. "Ouch."

Risty preened, "Oh! My! God! He's so strong!"

---

Evan stared.

Jean winced.

Kurt blanched.

Kitty whimpered, "Oh, I hope he's okay!"

Scott curiously scratched his chin, "That's new."

---

Toad struggled to his feet, just in time to see Lance go down, and go down hard. Blob was struggling to get up, but his massive frame made the process a long one. "So, Toad, it's all up to you. Can you beat him? Yes! You can! You can!" he wasn't fooling anyone with his doomed tone. Still, it was better to get his ass handed to him, then run away and deal with the guys later. Getting a running start, Toad launched himself into the air.

Ranma gazed up just as Toad jumped, a condescending smirk present for everyone to see. Think he owned the skies, did he? Heh. Following Toad up into the air, he had to restrain himself from roaring in laughter at the sad pathetic face the guy gave him. He knew he was screwed, why did he keep fighting?

Shelving that thought for later, Ranma slammed his knee into Toads gut, before slamming him in the back of the head with a fast elbow jab. Pulling the Kid up, he laid into him with a series of lightning fast punches, constantly pulling him up and down to prolong the fight in mid air. After fifteen seconds of remaining airborne, Toad had passed out from the pain thirteen seconds previous, Ranma slammed him with an overhead kick, which pushed him back up in the air a little. Landing lightly, he watched the boy as he began his descent head first.

As Toad was about to land, no doubt breaking his neck from the fall, Ranma reached out and grabbed him, redirecting the boy's fall so he'd land on his back instead.

Blob had gotten to his feet a good ten seconds ago, but he was forced to watch Toad take the worst pounding he ever had, since he was pretty much anchored to the ground due to his size and weight. "All right, punk! I'm taking you down!"

Ranma blinked. Oh yeah, he had forgotten about fatty. Turning to face the overweight mutant, he shrugged, lifting his hand while making the 'Come get some' gesture. "Bigger they are, fall hard? Uh.. Harder.."

"Die punk!" Blob scowled, rushing in as fast as his oversized body could manage. He threw punch and punch after punch, but Ranma dodged them all, almost casually even, while remarking, "Slow. To slow." he sighed, "You need work on speed. No can touch me."

Jumping up, Ranma used one of his extended punches as a spring board to back flip away. Landing lightly, he sighed, "You no chance beat me. You to weak. To slow."

Blob wouldn't have any of that. He had always gotten by on the fact he was the biggest and the strongest! No one could possibly beat him! NO ONE! "I AM THE BLOB! I'M THE STRONGEST! I DON'T NEED SPEED WITH MY STRENGTH! SPEED IS FOR THE WEAK!"

Ranma's eyebrows rose curiously, "You say speed weak? Speed no beat you?" he frowned thoughtfully, as if considering something, before he shrugged, "Okay. I show you speed beat strength." and almost with out warning, he lunged forward.

Blob grinned. The idiot had decided to attack him! Him of all people! He'd show that punk who the big dog around here was! Simply standing there, he waited for the pitiful attack to come, knowing there was no way he'd be taken down by the half-pint.

Ranma smirked. Overconfident. Getting up right in front of him, he screamed his attack, "KATCHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!", seemingly to strike the Blob five, pathetically slow times, all in the same area of his gut. It wasn't until Blob blinked, his face taking on a horrifyingly painful expression that people realized their had to be more to the move. This theory was supported by the fact Blob, at the end of the attack, literally shot back like a rocket, where he slammed into and then through the wall, unconscious.

"Heh. Baka." he sighed, looking over the battle field. Lance and Toad were out, Peitro himself out also from the pain, and he knew the fat guy wouldn't be getting up any time soon. Picking up his discarded book bag, Ranma turned around and began walking away, the crowd parting like a wave before him.

---

Rogue had seen many things in her short life. Mutants with incredible powers capable of laying waste to anything they set their mind too if they weren't stopped. She had just gotten a first hand account of the boy's power, that same power she and the others had been training to fight against for the last month, month and a half. If anything, the words Logan and the Prof spoke that first time was an understatement. That illusion in the Danger Room wasn't just a pale copy.. it was just pale.

"Wow." Risty grinned, "That was the best fight I've ever seen!"

Rogue grunted, "Let's get out of here."

Shrugging, Risty shouldered her pack and followed after the girl.

---

Evan grumbled, sliding down from his perch. The student body had already begun to depart, no one staying around to help the Brotherhood recover. They had tormented the student body too much for anyone to be more then apathetic. Besides, they had brought that on themselves as far as he could figure. "That was some harsh ass kicking."

Kitty nodded sadly, eyes locked on the prone and unmoving form of Lance, "You think there going to be fine?"

Kurt waved off her concern, "They've taken harsher beatings from us, no? They'll be fine."

Scott nodded, "All right. Let's get out of here, we need to talk to the Prof.." he trailed off when Rogue and Risty joined the group. Couldn't very well reveal their secrets to a non-mutant.

---

Ranma watched the group from afar. If Nabiki wasn't lying, and he knew her well enough to know she wouldn't lie about something like this, then that redhead was a mutant, and the blue demon he saw was probably one as well. It made sense, mutants sticking together. Which just begged the revelation that they were all mutants.

As they began to move away, he sighed. Well, he could figure it out later. He needed to get home before his mom showed up, else he was going to be in big trouble. Turning around, he managed to get a few steps before freezing.

A man, about 5'5 in height with hair as black as his own and a well muscled body was standing there. His physical appearance meant very little to Ranma, what really mattered was the fact he knew him. It was the guy he had nearly killed in Japan, before everything went to shit.

Logan eyed the kid warily. Last time they met the boy had tried to bury him. He realized, after Chuck explained what the boy was thinking, that it had been one big accident. "Hey kid." he began in Japanese, not even minding the group of kids literally stumbling on them. That was great, they'd probably ask him a billion questions after this was over.

Ranma smiled a little, "Hey." he took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly as he bowed respectfully, an act which caused the kids to blink in shock. "I never got a chance to say I was sorry for that thing in Japan. My mother explained everything to me."

---

"What the?" Rogue blinked.

"Don't ask." Jean sighed, "I don't know either."

---

Logan nodded, crossing his arms akimbo, "Good to hear. How's you're mom?"

Ranma shrugged at that question, "Can't say. Haven't seen her in weeks. She keeps to herself mostly."

"Really?" Logan hmmed, "You know, we never got a chance to talk to you in Japan. We weren't there to hurt you, or your mother."

"I know." he shrugged, "So what's up? Why'd you come to visit?" he knew the reason already, and he already knew the answer he'd give them. Yet, after nearly killing the guy, he figured he owed it to him to at least listen. His own way of compensating for what happened.

---

"That's it!" Scott sighed, poking Kitty in the side, "You have GOT to learn Japanese."

Kitty blanched, "Hey!?! Why me?"

Kurt grinned, "You are the smart one."

"Oh that's so unfair!" she whined in return.

Risty didn't say anything, watching the interplay between Logan and Ranma intensely.

---

"I'm a teacher at a school where we take mutants in. Give em a home where they can learn, and hang out with kids like themselves. We came to Japan to see if you needed, or even wanted help." Logan explained.

"We?"

"Heh. Me and Chuck, the guy who knocked you out."

"I see. Why me though? It ain't like my mutation is anything big." he chuckled, thumbing back to Kurt, "Not like that guy."

---

Kurt blinked, "Eh?"

Evan rolled his eyes, "Dude, none of us know Japanese. Get it through your head!"

"Oh.."

---

"It's Chuck's way. He's the type to help no matter what." Logan shrugged, "He's the one who sent me here to talk to you."

"Heh." he shrugged, "Came all this way to visit little ole me, huh? Why?"

"Can't say." Logan shrugged, "He just wants to talk to you."

Just talk, huh? What could it hurt. If what he suspected was true, if talking to this guy got those others off his back, he was all the more for it. "Eh.. sure I'll talk to him. If you answer me one question."

"Shoot."

He turned around, waving his arm and motioning to the entire group of kids, "These guys seemed freaked out when they saw me. Kinda like they were scared I'd bite their head off or something."

"Eh.." Logan sighed, "Kid. They are scared of you."

"Why?"

Hmm. The whole truth? Nah, take too long. "They saw the tape of what happened to you in Japan. They saw you murder those soldiers."

Ranma froze, turning his gaze from the kids to Logan, a cold, almost nasty glare directed at the man. For a long time he just stood there, but in the end her snorted, responding in English as he walked around him. "They kill fiancée I love. They kill father. I kill them. Avenge murders."

---

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Le harsh." Kurt winced. They knew they had killed his father, but his fiancée too?

Everyone nodded dumbly at that. They couldn't describe it any better then that.

---

"Kid." Logan sighed, "I'm sorry that happened. You still willing to meet Chuck?"

Ranma hmmed, "On condition."

Another one? Damn it all. "Shoot."

"I have friend, is like sister. She need help, training I no know how give."

Logan nodded, "We'll help as much as we can."

"Is good. Meet tomorrow, after school."

"Why not now?" Logan asked, impatiently.

Ranma smirked, "Mom said she be home today! No want upset mother! She scary!"

Logan blinked, then laughed loudly, "I hear ya, kid. I hear ya. Ask her how's she doin, for me."

---

To be Continued: (In all probability, yeah.)

AN: Long chapter, huh? At least compared to the others I've written. Anyway, I'm writing this time to answer some question I have no doubt will be raised.

1. If you think Ranma's joining the X-men, you're nuts. With Mystique around, it's about as likely as Kitty suddenly turning into a drug whore. Not likely.

2. Emma Frost is evoluntionized, she just hasn't appeared yet. I've always seen the Hellfire club as rather enigmatic, and slow to make it's moves. Their control freaks, so it works.

3. I realized I made a mistake, timeline wise, when I included Wanda into an earlier chapter. So basically, the whole 'The heX Factor' episode takes place earlier then listed in the episode guides.

4. I've already received numerous emails about possible matchups, for both Nabiki and Ranma. I really don't care about that aspect, well, not much anyway. I'm going to keep a poll on it, and in the end I'll arrange it for whoever to hook up with whoever, so send your votes to my email. I will not count them if they are listed in the reviews.

5. Wanda and Nabiki's interaction earlier is going to lead to some interesting twists. I doubt Mystique would let any of the two kids join Xavier, but she'd probably love it if they joined the Brotherhood, and by extension her side. Sure Magneto isn't sure if Mystique is still on his side, but he certainly won't turn her away if she does decide to come back.

6. I love fight scenes.

7. I hate having no cigarettes. It really pisses me off.

8. There is no 8.

9. Uh.. I'm done.

Any C&C to the reviews, or my email at narkanarka@hotmail.com

Toodles.