20 | Chapter 20: X-Men? All I See Is Weakness - Part IV(Final) |

| Author's Note: Sorry for not posting yesterday, I had no inspiration to write whatsoever, and thus, not wanting to give you guys some mediocre quality chapter, decided to wait until today. Might do a double release, IF I feel like I can do it without any loss in quality. Have a great read, and do tell me what aspects I can improve on. |

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| Jean Grey Pov / Back Into The Present |

I'm not sure how much time passed by, but after being in that strange dream of mine, and having fallen asleep in it, I started to hear various sounds all around me.

From slashes across the air to metal-hitting sounds, or even grunts and shouts.

Seconds passed, and my eyelids started to open up by themselves, the light entering my eyes instantaneously, making me temporarily blind.

But not for long, as I got my vision back, and sat back up with a fast intake of air. (=gasp)

As I tried to understand what was happening, I heard a shout beside me.

"Jean, you're okay?!" As I looked for the carrier of the female voice, my eyes found those of Katherine.

"Katherine, what's happening?" I asked her, my voice confused and my mind a little bit foggy, still.

"That presence you warned us of, i-it turned out to be the king of this place, of this island,..." She told me between breaths, having reached my position. ",... we first talked it out, but Colossus and Scott believed we should search for any lost or unfound mutants in his kingdom, even when denied such request." Katherine's voice sounded like a panicked little girl in the current moment, something that I noticed.

"Wait, slow down! You're not making any sense!" I told her firmly as I took hold of her shoulders, stopping her in her place.

Around us, the distant sound of fighting could still be heard, but nothing could be seen.

Though distant sparks and explosions were an occurrence by now, it seemed.

As I focused on Kat once again, I asked her to slowly lay out things for me. And she did so, as the king they had encountered didn't seem too keen on letting us enter his kingdom for the simple reason of finding possible unawaked mutants that could need guidance, and thus, with Colossus's order, we engaged in a... fight?

"Are you all crazy? Trying to incapacitate a King, just so we could investigate his kingdom, and perhaps find some mutants?" I asked my best friend in a shocked and confused tone, to which she just nodded.

"That's all there is to it. I tried to voice my discomfort with the choice, but no one paid me any mind..." Kat said, her voice saddened and angry, for not having been listened to.

"Damn it... what's the current situation of the battle?" I asked her for more details, as I started to walk in the direction of the fight, Kath right behind me.

"Well... we are not making much progress. At all." She started. "... we are losing badly." And she ended. My eyes found hers and I asked:

"How strong is he?"

She looked at me unsure of what to say, I could tell, but I needed to know what to do from here on out.

"I don't think I have a measurement, but he is the strongest person I have ever fought, that's for sure. Those throwing weapons of his, they are no joke, Jean!" She said, having run up to my side, looking me directly in the eyes and firmly warning me of this king's supposed strength.

"I understand, then, let's go and see what we can do to help no? Try to have Colossus order our retreat, if necessary I will contact the professor." I told her before we both ran in the direction of the fighting sounds.

The sounds of slashes and explosions, grunts and shouts, barked orders and painful screams reached our ears way before we could see anything else, but destroyed trees and scorched ground.

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| Colossus Pov |

Things were not going as expected, that much was certain.

"Move to the side, Scott!" I barked orders left and right as I fought the tsunami of weapons that were thrown my way, keeping me from doing much.

"Urgh..." I grunted, having taken a war hammer to the head, making me lose momentarily focus. This guy is a good thinker, making me unable to act on anything really, and meanwhile, taking out the rest of the team while I am stuck without much help to provide them.

"Will... you stop this futile resistance? These measly weapons won't do anything to me." I said between weapons taken to the body, tired of not being able to move much.

"I'm afraid not, that's the entire point of it." He told me curtly, his voice holding no warmth to it, but having regained a sense of amusement, though at what, I did not know.

Looking around, I could see Anna being slowly overpowered, her infinite resistance and endurance waving slightly faced with her mental tiredness. Her movements were starting to become less sharp, slower.

To my right, Scott was the same, having almost reached his limits, he wasn't being much of a helper, his eye-beam powers having a near zero chance of hitting the opponent, and damaging him was also hard it seemed.

At that, I gritted my teeth, was my choice the wrong one? Should we have left when there was a chance? "Damn it!" I roared, moving my arms in a way that they could defend and throw away the weapons launched at me. It was successful, as I could now move.

With a swift and powerful step, I sent my body rolling to the side, stopping a spear that could have been fatal to Anna, her visage was one of tiredness, looked at me in surprise and thanked me. "Thank you, teacher!"

"Don't fret about it," I told her curtly, before moving away from her, more like running.

Scott, seeing my movements, understood what I wanted to do and shot a beam of energy in the golden-armored king's direction, hoping to make him react by defending himself, giving me a chance to get closer to him.

Faced with the beam, he did try to defend himself, taking his armored hands to his face, and while he did so, Lockheed, who had been back to battle for a few minutes already, showered him with fire, blocking his vision of the surroundings.

Seeing my cue, I moved in fast, wanting to placate him, so Anna, who was already running in our direction, could try and incapacitate him with her powers.

As I got closer to the fire, Anna a few meters from it as well, and Scott on one knee looking at us intently, I sensed happiness in seeing the present team work so well together. I should let Charles know to pair them in the future as well.

Letting those thoughts go for a moment, I slightly jumped, wanting to gain more strength behind my hit, my hand coiled back and I released a primal shout, my adrenaline high and my hopes of achieving victory were rising, but then a voice cut out the atmosphere like a warm knife cuts butter.

"That's it?" The self-proclaimed king said with a disappointed tone of voice, I could feel it. Right then, chains shot out of golden portals hidden in the fire, as camouflage, and kept coming in my direction at high speeds.

The world slowed down for me, as I could see the shocked look that Anna displayed at the scene, Scott did too, no doubt.

"Argh!" I screamed, as the chains enveloped me in a painful "hug" and threw me into the ground with such a force that even spit and blood left my mouth.

"Teach!" I heard the muffled voice of Anna calling for me, but I could not hear anything more than a buzzing sound, once the outside sounds faded away.

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| Gilgamesh Pov |

"That was it, that was your great plan?" I asked the downed Colossus in disbelief.

The fire around me had dissipated, and the rest of the present team only shot wide-eyed looks at me.

"N-no way..." I heard Rogue say, her voice low and in disbelief. Scott only gritted his teeth, as usual.

Now, having fought some of the "X-Men", I could say I was impressed by myself. Not making a dumb mistake amidst the fight, nor getting too hot-headed with my current powers, I had done great, all in all.

"Now, perhaps you would like to leave my island? My patience has a limit..." I told them all, Scott and Anna in front of me, unsure of what to do, and Colossus stuck in the Chains Of Heaven, beside me.

Seeing no answer to my question, I did what every sane person would do. I took my right hand up and opened another golden portal.

From it, a shining spear, one similar to the ones Gilgamesh had used against Hercules, appeared. Its aim was at Colossus's head, and the pressure it exuded on those present was felt, I could tell by their reactions.

"W-wait, what are you doing?" Asked an out-of-breath Rogue, her eyes wide and mouth slightly hanging open, but still unable to move due to the spear emitting pressure.

"Bas-..tard!" Scott roared in my direction, his vision glowing slightly red, before going back to normal.

It seemed Scott was out of the picture as well.

"Well, if you can't decide wether or not you lot should leave my island, I might as well decide in your place," I told both of them with a smirk. "Perhaps, if I kill your leader, you guys might run with your tails between your legs?" I taunted them with a laugh in between. I was having a blast, using Gilgamesh's powers and imitating something a villain would say.

"N-no..." Rogue said as I could see a small tear leaving her eye. I smirked even more at that. These people should feel this, for interrupting my relaxing time with the ancient one.

"Well, since none of you seems to try and stop me, I hope you have said your goodbyes to each other." At that, I moved my hand down slowly, as the spear did the same, getting ever closer to Colossus's head.

Suddenly, the spear stopped and a shout was heard beside the clearing we were in.

"STOP THIS INSTANT!" The feminine voice said, urgency present in it.

I stopped my hand and looked curiously at my forcefully stopped spear, and then at the host of the voice. Fiery hair, green eyes and a slender body. I had to say, Jean Grey was and would be quite the beautiful woman.

"Hm? So you woke up already." I told her, flat-faced. Katherine, aka Kitty Pryde, was panting behind her, surely having run over here.

But then something strange took place.

Jean, with her green eyes, widened, looked at me with a strange expression on her face. "Y-you?" She asked me.

Now, I was confused.

"Do I know you?" I asked her back in a confused tone of voice. Well, of course, I knew her, she would be the legendary host of the phoenix soon, so no need to talk about knowing her. But I have never met her, so, how does she seem to know me? Has she confused me with someone? No. Those eyes of her...

I thought as I took a look at her more closely, no, those eyes are telling the truth.

She knows me. But how?

"I-..." The words caught on her throat, unsure of what to do at the moment. Strangely enough, she gained courage and a backbone and spoke in my direction again.

"Let go of our teacher. We shall leave this island, but please don't harm him anymore." She pleaded, her green eyes focused on my ruby ones. A smile then erupted in my face.

"What if I don't want to?" I played with her unruly feelings. "After all, you guys did attack me for denying you entry to my kingdom. So what if I want to take his head as compensation, before letting you all go?" I asked her, in turn.

Her eyes went wide.

"Surely you can let us all live, after this misunderstanding. Killing someone over it would be too villainous!" She told me with a pleading and strong willpower.

"Hm, and who told you that I am a good guy?" I asked her with a raised brow. My smile is yet to fall.

"You are not a villain!" Her sudden response, filled with conviction left me in disbelief at the situation, Scott looked at her with a strange look, and all the rest of them looked on, confused. By then she had caught up on her slip-up, and covered her mouth with both her hands, before taking a step back.

Her emotions rose all at once, as the unruly emotions they were.

"You..." I said in a confused state, but that was enough for Colossus to loosen himself up in the chains and launch himself at me.

Time stood still as I tried to react, but all I could do with my very limited and current experience, no matter the body I now carried, was to cross my arms as he punched me with such strength, that I was thrown a few meters away from the group.

"Jean, hold him down with your powers, we are lea-" Colossus started to order the fiery girl, as he made his way to the group, walking fast.

But that was enough for me.

I was tired of playing with these stupid people, save for some of them, such as Katherine, who seemed against the whole thing from the beginning.

Quickly standing up, I took a step forward with such strength that the ground beneath me trembled and cracks appeared. Having enough momentum, I launched forward with tremendous speed, having reached Colossus mid-sentence.

My armored arm coiled back, and in a swift turn of feet, I shot it forward, its aim at Colossus's metal torso.

With a loud boom, he was sent flying toward the ocean, skipping atop the water a few times before sinking in the water, slowly and passing out.

A shockwave had spread throughout the place as I did so. Everyone was pushed back, minus Jean who used her telekinesis to hold herself down. As the dust settled, before anyone could react, a golden and orange circular portal opened behind Scott, and with a swift step, arriving in front of him quickly, I followed the example but this time with a powerful kick to the face, his visor shattering and multiple shards cut his face and eyes on impact, before he was sent flying through said portal; moving away from his position quickly, I grabbed Rogue's hair, swiftly reaching out to Katherine's hair as well, I pulled them both hard onto the sky with me, as I took flight. On the ground, another orange portal opened up, and I dived down. Both the girls screamed in pain at the sudden change of direction. Both their hairs no doubt being strained, and their heads surely hurting like hell.

And as I dived, I sent them hard through the portal, before the same closed, and I landed on the ground, shattering the same to pieces, as I did so.

Jean looked scared and dumbfounded at the scene. "N-no...!" She said, as she tried, to no avail, using her powers to hold me back.

To which I used pure strength to push through.

Her beautiful green eyes watered slightly in the meantime as she asked me: "Where have you sent my team?" Her voice strained, trying to hold me back, still.

"I sent them home, why of course," I told her smiling, her spine trembled at that, I could see her whole body trembling. "Now, it's your turn," I told her, having almost reached her by now.

"Wai-...t, I wanna talk to you!" She shouted, but I still didn't stop my advances. I was curious to know how she knew of me, but right now all I longed for was for some peace.

"We will surely meet again then, fiery hair!" I said with an amused smile and a flick of a hand, tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear, to which she, confused and by instinct, took a step back, walking straight into a portal that was opened behind her.

"W-wait, no!" She said, but the portal closed before she could react anymore.

...

Now alone in the clearing, I took a look around and sighed. "Damn, I did make a mess out of this." I said to myself, though the Ancient One stepped out of behind a tree, where she had watched the whole interaction.

"Seems that you caused quite the destruction here..." She said with a light laugh, walking in my direction.

I turned to her and smiled awkwardly.

"It seems as much." I told her, as I looked a her.

"They were a noisy bunch no doubt, but there were some exceptions. Like the "Fiery Hair" you just casually sent away." She referred to my last action with a teasing voice. "Wasn't there a better nickname for the future host of the Phoenix?" Her right brow shot up in amusement.

"Argh, what would I call her? Hot Chick?" I told her in a joking manner, before addressing her again. (Pun Intended, get it? Hot = Fire / Chicken = Phoenix, A phoenix made of fire? No?)

"Did you also open up a portal for Colossus, or do I have to worry myself about killing a hero of the X-Men?" I asked her, to which she just nodded her head with a 'yes'.

"Good, now let's get back. I need to talk with Siduri and Art before the day finishes. Are you coming with me?" I said, and asked her as well, as I started to walk away from the scene.

"No, I think I will go home for now." She told me in an amused tone of voice, before turning away into a small portal that led to Kamar-Taj. "Sure thing." I responded.

...

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| End Of Chapter |

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| To aphos: No enkidu reference, bish xD |