Chapter 45: Not Even Breaking A Sweat

Standing at the front of a row of perfectly spherical stones, right before the smallest ones, I nodded at Jarlone and looked down, eyeing the smallest stone; curious at his words of advice, I used my eyes and scanned the insides of it, but even after switching through the entire electro-magnetic spectrum, I noticed nothing that would make anyone suggest that the object before me wasn't just stone.

'Probably a weird mutant ability or something; well, this is the smallest stone, so it's probably a few hundred pounds at most. Here's goes nothing, literally.' Thought Pharaoh with a raised eyebrow as he suspiciously glanced at Jarlone before shaking his head and forgetting about it.

"C'mon, Tut! Lift that Stone! I Believe in you!" Yelled Rogue energetically from the sidelines as she did various poses while cheering, almost like a cheerleader.

Chuckling at Rogue, I reached down and stabbed my fingers into the stone, turning it into a bowling ball, and lifted it high into the air, an effortless feat and something that didn't seem to garner any praise other than a few nods from the spectating kids while Rogue just yelled even louder.

"YAY!! Beat those S-T-O-N-E-S, stones Tut!" Yelled Rogue from the side as she contorted her body into the letters she said; although she did a relatively poor job at it, no one said anything as her enthusiasm made up for it.

"Nice, you've beat the 300-pound stone, but that's not that impressive at all; even your average human can do that, let alone us mutants." Remarked Jarlone with a nod as he wrote something down in his notebook.

"Yeah, I know; my Dad can also lift this." Replied Tut with a nod as he gently set the stone back onto the ground before walking forward a few steps, only to stop before the next stone.

Looking down at the second stone, I scanned it just like the first stone, but I still saw nothing; I gave up trying to figure it out and just assumed it had something to do with a mutant or whatnot. Despite supposedly being heavier, the stone actually wasn't much larger than the first stone; its diameter was bigger by like two or three inches, not much. Copying what I did with the first stone, I reached down and stabbed my fingers into it before lifting it up with the same ease as the first one; I didn't even notice a difference.

"How much does this one weigh?" Asked Tut curiously as he looked at Jarlone writing something down while glancing at Rogue at the side cheering her ass off.

"1,000 pounds, though it seems you lifted that up just as easily as the first one." Replied Jarlone as he looked up from his notebook and glanced at Tut, easily lifting a one-thousand-pound stone above his head.

Nodding, I glanced at Rogue and Jean and acted as if I was throwing it to them, causing Rogue to instantly jump to the side while Jean flinched and outstretched her arms, probably hoping to stop it with her telekinesis, which she couldn't even control.

"Haha, calm down; I wasn't going to throw it." Remarked Tut with a laugh as he turned around and set the ball back in its previous spot.

"Hmph, you're so annoying, Tut." Muttered Jean with a frown and a pout as she folded her arms and glared at Tut, who chuckled, while Rogue quickly returned to cheering, utterly unbothered by the fact that her face and clothes had dirt on them.

Walking to the third stone, which was also only slightly bigger, I didn't bother with any cinematics and did the same thing I did with the previous two stones, and effortlessly lifted it up, finally causing some small "Woahs" to escape some people's mouths.

"The third stone in your hands is 5,000 pounds, a massive increase, but it didn't seem like much to you, did it?" Stated Jarlone with a raised eyebrow, slightly impressed by Tut's strength as he slowly placed the stone back in its prior spot.

"No; the only time I ever felt resistance when lifting something was when I was a child; I was three weeks old, and I stopped a tractor from falling onto my Dad while he was fixing it after the floor jack broke." Said Pharaoh with a nod as he glanced at Jarlone while walking to the fourth stone, though his words caused Jean to lightly hit her palm in eureka.

"So that's what actually happened." Muttered Jean with a nod as she watched Pharaoh reach down and just as easily lift the fourth stone like it was the third one, finally causing some people to be genuinely impressed.

"He's not just moving them; he's actually lifting them, and with one hand to boot. I've never seen anyone actually lift anything heavier than the second stone."

"That's only if you're counting the students because, if I'm not wrong, didn't Mr. Howlett manage to lift the fourth stone above his head?"

"Yes, he did. It was two years ago, and I was lucky enough to have been there, so I saw the whole thing. However, the difference between him and Mr. Howlett is the fact that Mr. Howlett used both hands, and he barely managed to lift it. You should've seen his face; I've never seen someone's skin turn so red, and the amount of veins popping was honestly kind of freaky."

'Mr. Howlett? If I'm not mistaken, I heard some students address Wolverine, or I suppose Logan likes that.' Mused Pharaoh with a thoughtful expression as he listened to the kids before glancing at Jarlone.

"I thought the teachers don't know about this place; why does it sound like Mr. Howlett has visited this place before?" Asked Pharaoh curiously, looking at Jarlone while tossing the stone between his hands above his head, causing the numerous spectators to fearfully back away.

"Cause he has. He's also not the only one; Mr. Rasputin and, surprisingly, even Mr. McCoy have been down here before to test their might. Also, I've been in this school long enough to know that not much gets past the teachers; they probably know every little underground game that's happening. By the way, that stone is 12,000 pounds." Replied Jarlone calmly with a nod as he too also backed away a little when he saw Pharaoh nonchalantly tossing the six-ton stone around like a tennis ball.

'So Colossus, Beast, and Wolverine have been down here? Heh, it doesn't matter how smart you are; if you're a man, you'll always have an urge to lift something exceedingly heavy for no reason.' Thought Pharaoh with a slight smirk as he set down the fourth stone, before moving to the fifth one.

In that regard, I also wasn't any different; in fact, I was probably more eager than anyone else to actually exert some force despite not looking like so. However, that's simply because I can't easily find something to lift that's incredibly heavy; like what am I supposed to do? Go to Manhattan and lift the entire Empire State Building out of the ground and bench it for reps, or go to the Himalayas mountain range located by China and squat Mount Everest.

'Yeah, neither of them are options I can just easily do.' Mused Pharaoh with a shake of his head.

"So, what's the limit of Mr. Rasputin and Mr. McCoy?" Asked Pharaoh curiously as he stood before the fifth stone and glanced at Jarlone.

"Both Mr. McCoy and Mr. Howlett stopped at the fifth stone; neither of them could push the sixth stone, while Mr. Rasputin stopped at the sixth stone. And there you go, lifting the fifth stone like it's your average ball; I've seen you do it four other times, so why am I still surprised? 36,000 pounds, by the way." Remarked Jarlone as he flipped through his notes before looking up at Pharaoh, only to see him lifting the fifth stone with ease, an expression of calmness plastered on his face.

"36,000 pounds!? I've never seen someone lift something so heavy before! I knew it; Tut is super strong!" Exclaimed Rogue with an excited grin as she grabbed Jean's hand and jumped in joy, though Jean just shook her head and lightly sighed at her first mutant friend's antics.

'Alright, 36,000 pounds; we're getting somewhere. I wonder how much the last one weighs.' Thought Pharaoh with a slight smirk as he gently placed the fifth stone back on the ground before approaching the sixth one, which was now the size of a beachball.

"Don't pick it up, please! I need to win; I bet all of my monthly allowance!"

"No, ignore that fool! Pick it up; I want that extra cash. I'm trying to get my girlfriend a gift!"

Amused at the various kids praying for me to either move it or not, and unfortunately for the ones who didn't wish for me to move it, I reached down and picked it up just as easily as the previous five behind me, causing several spectators to shout in joy, while a few others slumped to the ground in defeat.

"M-My money; I-I'm broke. I knew I shouldn't have bet. Stupid!"

"Haha, that's what I'm talking about! If I didn't have a girlfriend, I'd kiss you right now!"

"Woah, don't you mean to say, if I were gay, I'd kiss you? That's a whole ass dude, you know that right."

"Y-Yeah, my bad; I-I just let my excitement get the best of me."

'I would say mutants are weird, but so are normal people.' Mused Pharaoh as he looked at the dude who wanted to kiss him, only to slightly shiver when he saw the dude sending him suggestive looks.

___

___

I've noticed a lot of y'all nigga's seem somewhat upset that I say nigga, well, guess what nigga? That sucks since I'll still be saying nigga! Those who are upset don't even seem to understand how the word is even used; to us black people(Mainly African Americans), it's considered just a normal word in our vocabulary, similar to how Australians say 'mate', so stop fucking pressing me cause I'm not a bitch ass nigga! And if you don't believe I'm black, well, that fucking sucks for you, doesn't it?

Alright, well, other than that, I hope y'all have a good day, and give me then stones! (Please🙏)