Empty Home, Worrisome Future

[Calorie]

Kelly rolled his eyes and was about to talk back to Rogue until she lifted the branch and he saw his fifth favorite thing in the world (after girls, boobs, his hair and beer). "DOGS! OH MY GOD!" he yelled and ran past Rogue and slid into the snow next to the dogs. "Hey guys! Ahahah awesome you're all so furry and snowy!" he yelled and began wrestling with the dogs in the cold wet snow. He loved dogs and at home, Kelly would play with all the dogs in the neighborhood and wrestle with them like he was doing here. They all usually liked him too.

"Wahoo! Look at you guys, aw you guys are the best. Come here you," Kelly said as the dogs barked and jumped on him, climbing all over him and jumping on him as he played with them. "Can we bring them back to the schooooOOOOL...." he trailed off momentarily distracted by Ariel. Chicks putting on lipstick is just hot! he thought as a big grin came on his face. "I remember you wore that color lipstick the time we were in the back of my van and I-ooof!" Kelly was cut off from finishing a rather vulgar and explicit sentence when one of the dogs jumped on top of him and licked his hair. "Oh you guys!" Kelly said and went back to wrestling with them and rolling around in the snow.

"Rogue! We gotta bring them with us just look at them!" he cried as he flipped the bulldog on its belly and tickled it. Then the collie nipped his ear and Kelly grabbed his neck playfully and rolled around with them. "Totally the best dogs ever! Can we take them?" Kelly managed to ask between the tussles.

[Hemlock]

Looking around the wooded area as they walked through the path, Kirs felt an overwhelming joy come over him in a way which only ever came when he was in the middle of greenery. His natural adoration for nature, his mutation too caused his growing and almost magnetic drawing toward nature. Glancing around he was able to grin at the sparkling light streaming through the sides of the trees and hitting the snowey path. Everything -despite the snow- was beautiful. Snow took away the magic, it made everything dead. Nothing really lived unless it was made for such weather, evergreens where made especially for such events in the middle of christmas season and to survive the harsh biter cold of winter.

Pulling his mind forcivly back toward the group and mission he noticed his step having fallen and he was almost walking backward into 'Kelly' and that would have meant such embarassment. Soon enough he saw the greeting between miss Rouge and a rather handsom looking guy with a mighty fine outfit with a seriously sexy looking leather jacket. Now ... had Kris been just a little smarter, and perhaps a little more subtle he would have not stared for so long at the new male and probably would not have blurted out rather tastelessly to him "Bloody hell mate, i mean your so pretty! Jesus wept thats such an amazing outfit! i cannot believe i havn't tried red hair and leather jacket yet. Wow, i mean, seriously!"

His mouth was slightly open in awe as he walked forward to the guy, ignoring the playful screams and cries from the occupied pretty older boy and going beside his pretty teacher lady with a pleasent smirk. his accent making him sound very high class and posh for a kid his age, but in truth he just ran in 'those' circles back home, here he had an allowance no more than many normal students. His parents didn't want him to seem 'above' anyone at all, clever people. "Hey, im Kris." He greeted warmly looking up slightly at the taler male.

[StormHawk]

Gavin stood up when he heard his dogs barking at the intruders, watching suspiciously as the woman and the others came closer to him. The woman looked extremely familiar and it wasn't until she said her name did it click in his mind. He smiled crookedly at her and at the others holding up his hand. "Hi. I seen you on the news, I know who you are. Nice to meet you. Wow I didn't think I'd ever meet an X-Men," Gavin said with wide eyes. This is totally awesome. I wonder if the other X-Men are around too. Man none of my friends are gonna believe me when I tell them this, he thought and shook Rogue's hand. Gavin gave the guy named Kris a slight smile, a bit weirded out by the bluntness. "Nice to meet you all," he said with a grin at them all, giving the two girls an easygoing charming smile.

He looked over at his dogs playing with the guy and laughed. "Wow uh they never take to people so well. That's pretty awesome," he said still in disbelief about the whole thing. "Uh my parents should be getting back from work for lunch soon. My dad just works down by the marina and my mom usually meets him here for lunch. Seriously though? I get to go to the school? I thought that those schools were one of those made up things to freak people out about mutants and stuff. This is awesome," he said in disbelief, his smile becoming wider. "So I can go to your school? Not that weird ass boarding school in Canada?" To Gavin this was like an answer to his problems. He'd get to go to a mutant school and meet the X-Men. That was almost too good to be true.

[Coffee]

Back in the Mojoverse


Forward, forward...left fake, then right...keep the footwork up boy...don't let it get sloppy. Coffee thought as he kept practicing against an imaginary opponent. Pull your right foot up...don't let it drag. As he circled around he saw an opening in his mind and went in toward the punching bag, giving it a few quick jabs. Now, if only I had a moving opponent to practice with...we used to have those mechanical practice bots until some idiot tried to open it up and use the parts to make weapons...the fool had tried to break out and had only wind up making some interesting TV. He sighed and sat down in the sand. All the practice in the world won't make it better now. Should rest instead. They're going to call me out soon. Can't wait. It's better to just get this over with. But Coffee wasn't allowed to leave the practice room. It was locked from the outside to prevent unauthorized exits. He also couldn't call anybody, not just because there was no phone but because Coffee, like all the Rabbit warriors, was unable to talk, only squeak and yelp like a regular rabbit. It was aggravating. Now come on, he thought, call me out already.

[~ N.P.C. ~]

U.S.A., Maine..Gavin's place.....

Minutes later Gavin's parents pulled into the driveway and slamming their car doors came walking up to the group. Long moments passed before the silence was finally broken and the group was invited into the house. Gavin's parents knew what he was and knew of the school and the X-Men as well. It was several hours later before Gavin's father finally called him and the rest of the kids back in to the living room.

"So," he said to Rogue as the kids found spots to sit or stand around the room "you are always getting into troubles, as far as I can see." he picked up his coffee cup and realizing it was empty stood to get himself a refill. "More coffee?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen.

Calling back into the living room where everyone was he said "What kind of guarantee do we have that you will keep my boy safe? I know it's a rough world, especially for a boy with wings, but I need to know he's not going to wind up hurt or dead. I need more from you, Ro-Rogue is it? I feel ridiculous calling you that, what is with the names?"


In The Mojoverse....


The door to the warm up warren was unlocked and pushed in and Coffee was beckoned out. He knew from countless matches before this one, countless because he chose not to count them, that it was time. Out in the arena the crowd roared as the supposed 'Live Feed' which was hardly that and highly edited, was displaying scenes of Rogue and the X-Men from battles Mojo's editors had compiled.

As the fighters entered the arena the big screen was showing the arrival of Rogue and her team of child mutants, Kelly burns face was huge and filling the screen as the camera implanted in one of the dog's eyes was showing his fun from a very close distance. As Kelly turned to look at Hotwire the camera followed his glance instinctively. The crowd roared with delight at the striking image of the young woman and her glossy lips, compact in hand and flirting. It was a mixed reaction as some were appalled and others in the stands were delighted at the scenes flashing above them on the huge screen.

A collective groan emanated from the throng of spectators as the images on the big screen were switched to show close ups of the small rabbit fighters making their way into the ring. The looks of determination mixed with fear on their faces were enough to garner massive cheers from the crowd and soon the short display of *Gavin~Bird of Rock* was forgotten.... but not by all.

[Rogue]

Once the kids found their place and settled in, Rogue smiled warmly as she watched them and then turned her attention back to Gavin's father. He seemed to be a smart man and clearly worrisome about his son's safety. It briefly made Rogue think about her parent-less youth (excluding Mystique) however only briefly. Taking a sip of her coffee, she nodded at the good points the man made. She didn't blame him for testing her knowledge of the harsh times and safety of his son. In fact it made her glad he cared so much for him even if he was still a mutant. There were many parents who just didn't see their children as their offspring anymore once the X-gene was activated.

"Ah'm fine thank you," she responded. She waited for him to sit down for her to continue answering his questions. Even though he seemed to be listening, it was good to read the expressions of a person and speak to them face to face when dealing with an in depth conversation. It was common courtesy and just plain rude to yell back and forth from two different rooms.

"Well," she began calmly. "Ah understand your concern for your son. And yes you have every right to worry about how safe we, as the X-Men, can keep Gavin. But their are people out there Mr. Croft who would definitely find your son's ability to be helpful for a more, negative cause. The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning provides a haven for all children dealing with the mutant gene. We help them control their abilities and teach them that although they are capable of amazing things, they are still human. We help to keep that humanity within the youth of the world Mr. Croft." She said the last few words firmly so he knew she was being serious.

"And when it comes to our names," she continued on a lighter note. "We like to have our fun." She smiled and winked to Mr. and Mrs. Croft showing that there was more to being an X-Men than some justice keeping superhero. They were still human and capable of emotions and feelings. "Going back to Gavin however," she said. "Mr. Croft it is in our best interest to permit Gavin the ability to be amongst other student like himself who will be safe in an environment where no prejudice or hatred towards mutants are made. Our headmistress Emma Frost would be more than welcome to discuss further matters and/or arrangement with you. But all we ask is for you to let Gavin see what the future could possibly be like with a little hard work, tolerance and acceptance." She sighed to herself when saying the last three key wishes. She wished for the world to accept mutants, then none of these problems would be occurring. However she knew it would take years for any signs of this possible future to happen.

Still it was nice to dream....

[Coffee]

Back in the Mojoverse

Holding his head high, his ears alert and rotating to scan the arena and the crowd, Coffee stepped into the ring and sized up his opponent. Young...real young, he thought. Practically a kit. The kid's either some sort of wonder or he got likely and picked up a suicide. It happened every once in a while a champion, and Coffee was far enough along in this game that he generally only fought champions, would get sick of the game and throw a match...some young kid would get what seemed like a lucky break and get elevated to the championship rungs. However, he'd find another champion and usually not another suicide and would wind up dying having gotten a gift of a few days, maybe a few weeks from the earlier suicide. Now don't get cocky, he warned himself. Sure, it looks like a suicide but this kid could also just be damn good.

"Good luck, kit.," he said to the boy, "but only a little." It was a cheesy line. The line that was first given to him when he started out. He'd, of course, killed the rabbit who said it to him but it had meant a lot, a sign of comradery even in this deadly game. That said Coffee started to walk over to his corner. As he walked he got a glimpse at the giant screens over head. There was just a little delay between what happened in the arena and what the screens showed. Not quite live feed. Apparently they had wanted to linger on some other program. Coffee caught a glimpse of a girl, a human girl, holding a small compact mirror up and kissing it. Never understood the attraction of human women. They're so bald. It's disgusting. he thought. Still he envied her the fresh air and the sunlight she seemed to be enjoying.

Looking down from the screen he focused back on his corner. Once he was there he stood on his tiptoes and tried to see all around the ring. He needed to commit the mirror set up to memory. As he knew to expect there was a top mirror about 12 or 13 feet up in the middle. There were then two side mirrors, the long thin types, on far left and right of the ring. About half a dozen small mirrors, one octagonal, another pentagonal, and the rest round scattered across the center of the ring with a couple of hurdles and a wooden wall sprinkled in between them to make for some hard jumps.

Now, we're going to meet in the center. That puts me far away from any mirrors and him just in front of one. He can backflip into the mirror behind him and come out of the high mirror and fall on me. I suppose I could try to fight him off as he pops out. Not likely to work though. My choice is then to hit the high mirror. Damn...this will be harder than I thought. It was a bad break, but then again Coffee had been in worse rings. Hell, he'd been in mirrorless fights.

Not many rabbits were put in the regular gladiatorial matches. But he'd been in them. Left with nothing but his boxing gloves against humans, wolves, and assorted monstrous creatures with sharp teeth, swords, axes, etc, and not a mirror in site. Considering that he didn't have opposable thumbs those had been really hard battles as even if somebody lost a sword he couldn't pick it up to defend himself. Yet he'd lived...and his opponents had gone to the pot.

Ok, map it out in your mind. No time to look once we start. No sooner had he thought that then the whistle sounded and it was time to start the fight. Coffee came out to the center for the traditional paw shake. Drowning out the roar of the blood hungry crowd the only thought on his mind was, High jump...got to start with the high jump.

[~ N.P.C. ~]

Gavin's house....

"Alright so the tuition seems agreeable and the fact that he's going to be helped to become as productive a member of society as you people can be is also a plus. Even the co-ed environment with the gender segregated dorms. Fine I will let him go but I don't know about you people and your kind, my son is a mutant and I love him, BUT I don't agree with it. I don't understand it and maybe it's not for discussion now but he can go." Mr.Croft said exasperated.

His wife took over as her husband folded his hands together and sat staring at all the people, the muties, in his home. "Well Gavin's bags are all packed for the school we were going to send him to in Canada so I'll talk with father here when you go." she stood up and hugged her son kissing him on both cheeks and looking into his eyes as she held his face. She was committing his features to memory, she feared for him in this place he was going to, in the future he would be facing.

It was a short time later aboard the Quinjet, Gavin's bags and all the children loaded aboard as it lifted off from the woods by the lake, that Rogue received the telepathic message from Emma.

[Rogue]

Standing up after the long negotiation with The Crofts, Rogue ended her visit with a firm handshake with both parents. "Ah thank ya for allowing Gavin to take this opportunity," she said warmly. "Ms. Frost will contact you as soon as she returns to the school. She is currently on a rather important trip." Rogue knew that she didn't need to go into details. Thinking about Emma, Logan and Kurt in danger was too much to bare; having the rest of the teachers and kids there didn't make it any better.

Once everyone was on the Quinjet, Rogue walked in last to make sure everyone was on, ready and strapped. She took off and looked back to the students. "All right everyone, the time heading back should be the same as we came. Gavin Ah'm so glad you were able to join us. You will love the scho-" Emma's voice entered her head and all Rogue could do was listen. They were all OK, accept for two students. Rogue was both extremely happy yet quite upset about the losses they had suffered. Breathing in heavily, Rogue contained her emotions. They would be able to hold off for now.

"Good news guys, Ms. Frost and everyone are alright," she said in a slight upbeat tone. She didn't want to speak about the deaths right in front of Gavin. He had just joined and it wasn't a great thing to hear once he just decided to attend the very school that was attacked. Hope the boy is able to handle this, she worried. He seems to have a very strong and useful power. Emma could clarify it for me since Cerebra was too hard to interpret.

[Tempest]

Tia followed Rogue down the path, and Kelly's voice continued to pound in her head, she hugged her stomach, and breathed heavily trying to keep her temper under control. The incident with the snowball was scaring her a little bit. Rogue soon spotted the house, and within a couple of minutes they were inside, and Rogue and the boy were speaking. She'd introduced the students to him, and Tia'd attempted a small smile as a gesture of greeting. She bit her lip, and brushed her hands through her hair.

Kelly caught a facination to the dogs. Oh great. Was there anything that the guy didn't like? And did he ever get tired? Where the hell did he get all his energy from? Tia gritted her teeth, trying to stop herself from screaming at him or something of sorts, she was fairly capeable of doing that at the moment, she couldn't care the slightesst about people around her. She bit her lip as Gavins parents came in, and bid him goodbye. All the Students and Rogue began to move towards the Quinjet, before they all got in and got strapped up.

It was all a lot easier than Tia'd expected. Honestly speaking, she was expecting some stubborn dude, who'd refuse to come, and they'd have to chace him all around the place and try to catch him or something, and force him into the Quinjet and strap him down. She went and sat down in the same seat she was in before. After a couple of minutes Rogue informed them that Emma and the others were safely back. Tia felt an odd sort of relief fill her in, though she couldn't make out the reason for it. Maybe she was just happy for those who were back. She blew out into the air, before crossing her arms across he chest. The Quinjet was slightly warmer compared to the outside. But it was still cold enough to make Tia shiver.

[Calorie]

Kelly had spent the two hours playing with the dogs and eating out of the family's fridge and got yelled at and zapped at by Rogue and Ariel and throwing bits of food at Hemlock so the dogs would tackle him for the food. It was one of the proudest moments of Kelly Burns' life. After being yelled at by Rogue that they couldn't bring the dogs with them (Kelly tried to sneak Scooby on board), he sat in the corner scowling. "Why couldn't we bring just one dog? JUST ONE? I mean come on, the closest we have to a dog at the school is Wolverine. And he's like a mean one. The kind that doesn't play with you and kills squirrels and baby bunnies," Kelly whined and crossed his arms with a pout.

"Sweet that means Mason and all them are back. Here that Ariel... Its MMMaaaSSOon. You're LOVER!" Kelly teased with a smirk. "Now he is a man-whore. I'm not really one cause come on with looks like this its my duty to share myself with all chicks. Well all the hot ones. No Uggos for me, now or ever," he commented out loud and then looked at the new guy Gavin. "Dude, chicks must dig those wings man. I mean, you can fly and do it at the same time! It's like genius!" Kelly babbled, his pouting forgotten. "Hey are there any new chicks around? Jugs-a-Poppin' here is new, and usually more new kids come over the break. Hey Rogue are there any hot chicks? I gotta know, it's my like duty to share myself with them," he said, taking a pen from the floor and turning it into cheese. He liked cheese.

[StormHawk]

Gavin was ecstatic, to put it simply. He didn't have to go to that boarding school in the middle of nowhere. Instead, he got to go to the home of the X-Men and train with them and in a school of mutants just like him. It was probably the most stellar thing that ever happened to him. He grabbed his guitar case, packed his bags quickly with all the stuff he needed, said bye to his parents and dogs, and was out the door and walking with Rogue, as famous as the rest of the X-Men. "Thanks so much, um Rogue. They were gonna ship me off to the middle of nowhere. You guys are lifesavers," Gavin said with a smile.

The Quinjet was like nothing he had ever seen, and Gavin sat back to take it all in when he was in the jet, remaining quiet for a little while since everything happened so fast and he was in awe. He opened his mouth to ask questions, but the guy Kelly that everyone had been yelling at since he got here beat him to it. "Uhhhh yea I guess so? I don't know man I mean we each got out own tastes, some dig it others don't," Gavin said plainly, drumming his fingers slightly on the guitar case. He smirked at the question about girls that seemed so... well almost right coming from someone as conceited as him.

"Well since we're on the topic what are the people like at the school? Is there like a crazy amount of people there and all are on teams? When are the teams like?" He asked curiously, glancing at the annoyed looking girl and giving her a crooked smile. Gavin felt bad the way Kelly was sort of picking on her but he knew he wasn't in a place to really say anything, since he was still new and didn't have a place to say anything.

[Hotwire]

Ariel was glad to be going back to the school, but she was unable to just think what with Kelly rambling on and on like before. She rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh at him, leaning over and giving him another little zap. "Will you shut up Kelly, for god's sake? Mason is into Tracy, you'd know that if you had women's intuition," she said, leaning back and shaking her head. "And leave the poor girl alone," she said, moving a hand to indicate the younger girl who looked annoyed to say the least.

She looked to Gavin and smiled a little. "Yeah, everyone's on teams. There are two college level teams and three junior level teams, and everyone is on the team with the leader they would best work with," she explained, reaching into her pocket to shine her compact mirror in the light so it reflected on Kelly's face. "Kelly and I are on the Corsairs, one of the college level teams. Oh, and there's a lot of kids in the school, just not yet. Wait until you see everyone come back from break, there really is a lot of us," she said to him. Ariel figured she might explain a little since the two younger kids seemed to speak so little if not at all.

[Coffee]

"Gentleman," the referee said in his gruff, tired voice, "we want an exciting fight today. Ratings were down last week. Don't go easy on each other. Be rough but make it last. Now shake."

Coffee extended his paw to his small gray opponent with a disarming smile on his lips. As his opponent leaned in to shake back, Coffee took the opportunity and head butted the smaller rabbit, sending him sprawling to the ground. No sooner had the young rabbit fallen then Coffee pounced on top of him and started to whale on him with all his might, favoring his left paw which was gloved over his right, which was still bare for the shake. When the gray rabbit got over his initial surprise at this sudden, vicious, and unsportsmanlike attack and punched back, Coffee bounded away back towards his corner.

Come on. Follow me. Follow the black bunny. Coffee thought. As the gray rabbit did just that Coffee pivoted around and got a running start and then leaped into the air with all his might, somehow making it into the high mirror, leaving his opponent below, frustrated and trembling.

As Coffee went into the mirror it turned into a silvery soup and parted with ripples like the water in a swimming pool would for a diver. Only were this a pool the water would have all fallen out as it was upside down, the mirror's shiny surface facing the ground below. That and it left no splash. Once inside the mirror Coffee saw blackness. Just blackness. There were no discernible walls or boundaries. No discernible shapes. It was so totally black that it was if he had gone completely blind. And in this blackness he floated. Gravity had no meaning here.

Yet Coffee was not in a complete void. There was a small wind here. The wind came from air seeping in through mirrors. The strongest gust was from the wind coming through the mirror behind him. It was this wind he had to harness so he could move deeper into the blackness to a point where the shining, glittering surfaces of other mirrors would come into view.

Alright. Taste the wind. Get an idea of direction and let's go. If the little kit isn't a moron he'll try to follow me through the high mirror. Must get out before he goes in. Coffee thought. The one thing he had going for him was that time moved at a different rate in this pace. He would have about 20 minutes in here before 1 minute passed out there. He had to make good use of his time. He stuck out his tongue and tasted the wind. Well not so much tasted as felt its direction. The strongest wind was from behind him,...that would be his entry mirror, the high mirror from the court. But, there was also a slight wind from his right hand side pushing towards him. That meant there were mirrors that way.

Alright, there's a cluster. But is it the right cluster? Every mirror in the Mojoverse, every mirror in a million universes, perhaps even infinite mirrors, were in here somewhere. But generally mirrors in here were clustered similarly to where they were clustered relative one another in the outside world. Thus, a gladiator ring mirror should be near other mirrors in the ring. Direction though didn't mean anything. The mirrors on the left in the ring could be on the right in here. Ok, glide right. That means dip under the wind coming at my right and ride the undercurrent to the mirrors. I can do that. he thought. All he had to do was unfurl his cape (all rabbit warriors had small capes to ride the winds like gliders, which were kept rolled up during battle to prevent being strangled by them) and get an angle.

Unfurling the cape carefully he judged his angle and flipped over into the undercurrent. Then he gently coasted along. Coasting for maybe five minutes of mirror hall time he came to a small cluster of mirrors, maybe 15 or 20 overall. He recognized 4 as part of the ring right away as they had the seal of Mojo on them and their ring numbers 1.1R6, 1.2R6 for first mirror in ring 6, second mirror in ring 6. "Alright, bunny, we're in business" he mumbled to himself. "Now which mirror was which number? I think I need 1.4R6, that's the little mirror behind that bastard. Yeah, that's the ticket."

1.4R6 was located near the edge of the cluster and no wind was going to get him there. Instead he had to ride a sub-current down to a mirror that wasn't even in the ring and push against its bulky wooden frame towards 1.4R6. Then as he floated over that mirror he grabbed its frame and pulled himself in.

With a hissing sound from the mirror he popped back out in the ring behind his opponent who was in mid air making for the high mirror to follow his last jump. Running with all his might, Coffee, launched himself into the air behind his opponent and stretching out his still bare right paw and his gloved left one he pinned his opponents left leg between the paw and the glove so that he dragged the younger rabbit down as he fell to the ground.

As they hit the ground with a thud, Coffee sat up and baring his teeth tore right into the stunned rabbit's left ear drawing blood. His opponent, in a show of cowardice, instead of fighting back shrieked and ran away, earning a cacophony of boos from the crowd.

For the next forty minutes they traded blows and jumped in and out of mirrors. They bloodied one another so that small pools of blood gathered in the sweaty sand and beads of blood trickled down their brows. They bit and gashed and tore out fur. The smaller rabbit smashed a mirror just as Coffee was about to jump into it, so Coffee got an awful concussion and glass imbeded into his cheek and jaw as he jumped into the back board of a wooden frame filled with shards as only an intact mirror can sustain a jump.

Finally, Coffee saw a chance to end the fight and win. His opponent was practically sitting on one of the small compact mirrors, completely unaware of its placement. All Coffee had to do was jump into another mirror quickly, come out behind him, and then snap his neck. Now, a mirror. What's my closest mirror. He thought. Ah, its behind me. A quick back flip should do the trick. Making the flip he went into the mirror behind him and once through started to feel around in the blackness for a wind.

Locating a set of mirrors close beneath him he unfurled his cape and started to ride it. As he got closer to them he felt another burst, a big burst of air suggesting a very large crop of mirrors somewhere in the distance below him. Wonder where those go. Maybe one of them goes somewhere nice; somewhere from one of those movies where families sit by the fire at night. There would be a little mother rabbit and all her kits...that kid out there. He'll never go home.

It was a ridiculous thought. He killed most nights because he fought most nights. But still. It was a thought. Of course if I were to go down there and jump in one of those mirrors I could come out in Mojo's bathroom and be skinned or come out in some place that makes here look like paradise. I do alright. I win my battles. I have a nice private hutch....yeah, and one day I'll lose and be stew. Besides I'll never get to love or have friends or family.

"Oh cry a river for yourself. Real brilliant. You'll just waste time and lose this fight," he yelled to himself and to the blackness. But then a devilish thought crossed his mind. That girl earlier. She kissed a mirror. Her mirror has to be in here somewhere. The lipstick should still be on it. If I can find it I'll be out. That's not Mojoverse. That's somewhere nice. The X-Men are there. Mojo tried to capture them and it didn't go well for him, he thought, chuckling as he remembered that fiasco, not from experience, he had never seen it, but from the whispered stories passed down from gladiator to gladiator in the group hutches.

Changing winds he rode the stronger one down past the mirrors from the ring, past another cluster, and another, and another, until after seemingly an hour of traveling he saw a small compact sitting next to what looked to be a lavatory style mirror; a small one like you saw in airplane bathrooms in movies. The little compact had bright lipstick on it. "That's the ticket!" he yelled, half giddy with excitement. As he floated by it he grabbed the airplane mirror's frame and used it to hurl himself into the compact.

With a hissing and a giant pop he came tumbling out of the compact and landed in the middle of the floor in front of two seats, blinking and staring at a large human boy whose face was catching the light from the mirror...Kelly Burns.

[Calorie]

"AAHHHHH OH MY freakING GOD ITS A RAT! ROGUE A RAT JUST CAME FROM THE MIRROR ITS A POSSESSED MIRROR!" Kelly shrieked. He threw his string cheese at the Rabbit, and then threw a magazine at him that turned into ham as it hit him. Kelly grabbed everything around him and chucked it at the rabbit, shrieking the whole time and turning every item into some kind of food. "GET IT AWAY!! ARIEL YOUR MIRRORS SUCK! RODENTS COME OUT OF IT!!!" he cried and then ran over to Rogue and jumped on her lap! "GET IT AWAY GET IT AWAY!!!" Kelly screamed holding on to Rogue's neck.

He hated rodents, and to him that looked like a giant rat with weird ears, even if it was covered in food that Kelly threw at it. Slabs of meat, cookies, vegetables, and several burgers with toppings all over him. Kelly never handled rats well. He was still working on turning animals into food and now wished he worked harder at it.