57 Chapter 56: New Sensations & Jean's Final Decision
Standing around in the open while still covered in blood, oil, and other bits of bodily organs I'd prefer not to know about, I looked up at the control and listened to them, apparently not knowing what the heck was going on; though at the sound of footsteps, I looked to my left, only to see me.
'Huh, what the hell is going on?' Thought Tut with a raised eyebrow as he looked at himself, slowly walking towards him.
Looking at myself, I noticed he looked exactly like me and wore the same clothes; the only apparent difference I could point out was he looked far too emotionless.
"Still, you're one handsome nigga, I'll tell you what." Remarked Pharaoh with a smirk as he gazed at his approaching self, who suddenly lunged toward him with speed comparable to what Pharaoh displayed earlier.
Seeing him dash toward me, I waited until he got close before punching a right through his chest, causing him to give me an emotionless look before collapsing on the ground after I retracted my hand; however, the sight of a dead body of me was very uncomfortable to look at, and it didn't help that I was the one who killed myself.
"Yo, this ain't it; Karl, can you make this body disappear? I don't really like looking at myself dead on the floor." Asked Pharaoh with furrowed brows and an uncomfortable expression as he looked up at the control room.
After I said that, not even three seconds later, my corpse turned into a bunch of small white lights before vanishing into the wind, pretty much like it was a video game.
'Wait a fucking second! Could I play video games in here!?' Thought Pharaoh with widened eyes as he looked around in glee.
Though before I could ask anyone about my genius idea, I reappeared, though this time, there wasn't just one of me; there were two, and they still looked just as emotionless as before. They didn't waste any time and dashed right for me; however, I quickly noticed they moved decently faster than the previous me.
'Hmm, I wonder, are they also stronger?' Mused Pharaoh as he stood motionless and allowed them to punch him, prompting him to be flung far into the distance, crashing through a building before he stopped himself.
'They also seem decently stronger.' Thought Pharaoh with furrowed brows as he waited for his two duplicates to approach him before killing them with one attack each.
Killing myself again; their bodies couldn't even touch the ground before their bodies turned into white lights and dissipated into the atmosphere. After waiting a few seconds, three more of me suddenly appeared as they directly lunged at me, this time with even more speed and strength than previously, though it still wasn't anything I couldn't handle, at least not yet, if my theory were correct.
Instead of outright killing myself like previously, I dodged two of their punches before grabbing the third fist; spinning him around, I swiftly put him in a rear-naked choke, though I made sure to keep my strength in check, keeping it somewhere around their level of strength.
While I was choking myself out, the other two constantly hit him, but they didn't do any damage; I had lowered my strength, not my durability; once I finally choked myself to death, I grabbed another one of myself's and did the same thing. Once I had killed all three of them, I waited a few more seconds, curious to see if my theory was correct, and this time, four of myself's appeared several meters before me.
Drilling my legs into the ground as I wasn't trying to be flung away, I let the four punch me, causing me to, unfortunately, fly away, but nonetheless, I was smiling.
'I was correct; the Danger Room is creating clones of me to fight that have adapted to my strength from the previous set of clones. So that means I should eventually reach a point where these clones are actually as strong as me, right?' Thought Pharaoh with an excited grin at the prospect of finally facing a challenge.
Since the clones were adapting to the strength I displayed, they were hardly stronger or faster than the previous set, but their durability should be much higher; stopping myself, I dashed toward the incoming four, quickly dispatching them and causing five more to appear.
"Heh, this might take a few minutes." Muttered Pharaoh with a slight smile as he dashed at the five clones, killing them with ease.
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"Karl, can the Danger Room withstand this level of abuse?" Asked Professor X in worry as they watched Pharaoh fighting against roughly fifty of himself's through the monitor on the screen while the entire Danger Room, no, the entire estate was trembling like an earthquake was occurring.
"No, the Danger Room has already exceeded its limit; if this continues for too much longer, it will be destroyed." Replied Karl as he grabbed ahold of the control panel to keep himself stable amidst the intense shaking that happened multiple times a second.
"I-I never knew Tut was this powerful- ugh, sorry, Professor." Said Jean in awe as she looked at Pharaoh before falling atop Professor X, who merely smiled slightly.
"He had the audacity to say that entire countries would be frightened of me, but look at him; he could probably sink an island if he so wished." Muttered Ororo in astonishment as she floated in the air.
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Punching myself away, I blocked another punch, only to be kicked in the stomach as I gritted my teeth in minute pain and retaliated, fighting against fifty of myself's with a large smile on my face. I was feeling everything a normal human would feel: exhaustion, pain, fatigue, yet I was loving every second of it. I was no battle junky or anything like that, but just feeling somewhat challenged in general gave me a euphoric sensation that was incredibly hard to come by.
I'm sure I've felt exhausted or injured before in my past life, but I don't remember any of it; all of this is a new, foreign sensation to me, and I loved it; I wanted to relish it some more; but after I killed the last of my clones, the entire Danger Room shut down, and I was returned to the large room.
"W-What the hell h-happened? I-I was having f-fun!" Remarked Pharaoh in slight exhaustion while covered in light wounds as he glared at the control room in annoyance, only to hear Karl's voice through the speaker.
"The Danger Room wasn't capable of handling the full extent of your strength; if I had let it run any longer, you would've destroyed it." Replied Karl seriously, his words prompting Pharaoh to look around, spotting various dented and damaged panels, causing him to sigh in frustration.
"Haa, unfortunate; just when I was getting ready to finally get serious." Muttered Pharaoh with a sigh as he calmed down and lowered his guard, though his words caused everyone watching to twitch.
'This boy was still holding back? Oh dear.' Thought Ororo as she shook her head and left the control room, heading to the woman's locker room to shower.
After putting on my socks and shoes, I grabbed my hoodie and exited the Danger Room; I didn't need to worry about the blood since it was fake, so the instance the Danger Room turned off, it disappeared.
Entering the control room, everyone gave me a weird look while Jean ran up to me worriedly.
"Tut, are you okay? You've got bruises everywhere, and you're bleeding a little!" Said Jean as she looked at Tut, who merely yawned before gently patting her shoulder.
"I'm fine, Jean, just a little bruising, that's all; it'll heal up in a few minutes, probably. Anyways, I'm heading topside; I need to cool off after that exhilarating fight; you can continue the tour without me, Professor." Replied Tut with a smile as he quickly left the Danger Room and headed back outside.
Leaving the basement, X-Men, or whatever it's called, I looked around and instantly froze when I noticed all the broken glasses, damaged walls, collapsed bookshelves, fallen chandeliers, and many other things. Seeing that, I first ensured no one was hurt, which thankfully no one was, before grabbing my head and sighing.
'Ugh, another reason why I can't let loose, I'd destroy everything around me. Haa, this is going to be a long day.' Mused Pharaoh in exhaustion as he started cleaning up the mess he made, whether it be picking up bookshelves, sweeping shards of glass, or anything else he accidentally caused.
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It was nighttime, and I was standing just outside the damaged mansion I had done my best to fix, though there was only so much I could do; I was no carpenter, after all.
"So you've really decided to stay, Jean?" Asked Pharaoh as he stood before Jean, who looked up at him and nodded her head with determination despite the slightly sad look.
"Yes, I wish to control my powers and help other mutants like myself in need." Replied Jean, causing Pharaoh to sigh slightly, though he didn't try to persuade her otherwise.
"Well, If that's what you want, I won't try to stop you; good luck with speaking about this to your family and friends." Said Pharaoh as he leaned down and hugged Jean, who reciprocated the hug.
"I'll tell them some of the truth, and if they don't like or disagree with it, then too bad." Remarked Jean sternly, earning a chuckle from Pharaoh.
"Someone's entered their rebellious phase; just don't pull a Sara on me, okay, Jean?" Said Pharaoh lightly, causing Jean to pout, though she nodded her head.
"Welp, I'm not going to say any goodbyes or anything like that; we'll be seeing each other again; it just won't be as often. Also, sorry about the mansion, Professor; I got a little too caught up in the fun." Added Pharaoh as he removed himself from Jean's arms and apologetically smiled at Professor X, who shook his head.
"No one got hurt, so it's fine; just try not to do that next time." Replied Professor lightly with a wry smile.
"I'll try, but no promises." Remarked Pharaoh with a slight smirk as he prepared to turn around and leave, only for Jean to suddenly run towards Tut and give him a quick kiss on the cheek, surprising him.
"T-Thanks for being there for me, Pharaoh." Said Jean softly with her head down, too embarrassed to look Tut in the eyes.
"Ay, that's what friends are for, and don't forget, if you ever need me, just say my name: I'm always listening." Replied Pharaoh with a grin as he turned around and started walking away while waving his hand in the air.
'Now, let's see where Mom and Dad are.' Thought Pharaoh curiously, only to quickly grab his ears at what he heard.
"~Urgh~ Hana, your so fucking tig-"
"God dammit, my parents are a couple of sex fiends! They're having sex while their only son is walking home in the middle of the night! Lousy parents!" Muttered Pharaoh with an ugly expression as he used the cover of night to run back home.
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Pharaoh was cooking too hard, they had to stop him!!
