Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2006 23:57:52 -0400
From: Dash Jarrod <djminf@hotmail.com>
Subject: Force of One 19

Disclaimer: The characters of the X-men belong to Marvel comics.  I do not
know the sexual preferences of any of the characters herein except for
those I made up.  This story is complete fiction; any resemblance to real
life is sheer coincidence.  I do not know any celebrity that may be
included in this story may or may not be gay.  I also do not personally
know any of the celebrities.  If you are under 18, please don't read any
further.

I thank my friends Dustin and Alex for allowing me to make them into
characters.  Also thanks to all of you who have written me about my story.
I have enjoyed writing it; I just hope that you have enjoyed reading it as
much.


       Who is to say what attracted the being known as the phoenix to me.
All I know is that it is now coexisting inside of me.  I don't know if I
like having it inside me yet.  I will have to wait and see whether or not
it is a good thing.  Every one of these thoughts was going through my head
as I slept.
       When I woke up from that deep and restful sleep, I telepathically
contacted Professor Xavier.  I said, "Good morning professor, I hope
everything at the school is going well.  I have some news, both good and
undecided."
       "Everything is well here.  Thanks for asking.  What is this news you
are talking about?"
       "I'll let you know the good news first.  My friend Eugene agreed to
come with us back to the school.  At first he didn't believe that there was
even such a thing as mutants, but after we showed him our powers he
believed us.  The news that I haven't decided whether it's god or bad is
that the phoenix has now inherited my body.
       "I think both sets of news you have given me are good.  I'm glad to
hear that your friend from back home is willing to join us here at the
school.  The phoenix should stabilize your powers so that your pyrokinesis
won't kill you.  Your powers will probably continue to evolve but they
won't threaten your life.  Do you have any idea as to what attracted the
phoenix to you?"
       "I have an idea but I don't know if it is right or not.  I think it
became aware of me when I did that psychic beam while in Japan.  It
probably wanted to wait until I wasn't on school property and using my
powers to enter my body."
       "I would have to concur with your thoughts on that.  I, myself, was
wondering what would come of your psychic beam.  I had not ever seen
anything like that in all my years.  I also didn't think that such a feat
was possible."
       With our conversation over, I woke up my sleeping beauty.  Once we
were both up and dressed, we spent the rest of the morning with my parents.
When lunch was over, Bobby and I went and picked up Eugene.
       On the way back to the institute, I wasn't necessarily paying
attention to my driving.  It's not to say that I was busy talking, not even
telepathically, or doing anything else for that matter.  I was just
completely relying on my senses to navigate.
       At one point in time during the trip, I accidentally took both of my
hands off of the wheel.  It was then that my telekinesis took over and
gripped the wheel for me.  As soon as I realized this, I went to put my
hands back, but thought better of it.  I would be able to see if I could
drive it completely with my powers now.  So, I then took my foot off of the
gas pedal.
       Once this was completed, we started to slow down until I had
everything under my control.  Now, Bobby and Eugene were getting to know
each other during this whole scene, but they were brought back to awareness
when the car slowed down and then quickly sped back up.  Bobby was the
first to notice that I wasn't using my hands to steer. This did not unduly
worry him though because he knew how strong and dependable my telekinesis
was.  Then he saw my feet weren't on either pedal.  When he saw this, he
also noticed the blinking warning lights.
       It was when he started talking and then yelling at me that I was
brought back to reality.  As soon as I realized what he was saying, I
retook manual control of the car.  Both he and Eugene let out a sigh of
relief at seeing this.  When I heard their sigh, I apologized to both of
them telepathically.
       By the time we got back to the mansion, it was time for dinner.
Because of this, all I had to do was tell Professor Xavier that we were
home.
       When we got into the dining room, the rest of our team came up to us
to welcome us back.  Even though we were only gone for the weekend, they
still missed us.  It seems that without us there, they didn't have anyone
to sit and talk with at meals.
       That night, all four of us met in mine and Bobby's bedroom.  During
that time, I more personally introduced Eugene to Jake and Aaron.  All of
us got along amazingly well.
       While sleeping that night, I had yet another dream.  I dreamt about
the entire earth.  As I watched, the earth was surrounded by a visible
field of some sort of energy.  I think it was psychic, but I couldn't be
sure.  It didn't just appear there either.  It seemed almost as if a
psychic hand reached up and grabbed the earth, then it started to spread
out until it completely covered the planet.
  As soon as the earth was completely surrounded, I woke up.
       When I woke up, I was very confused as to the meaning of this dream.
I do believe that this one actually has a meaning too.  This one can't be
one of my fears visualized.  I just guess I will have to talk to Professor
X. about it.  I'm sure he'll want to discuss the phoenix with me more
thoroughly anyway.
       Once I was able to extricate myself from Bobby's embrace, I
contacted the professor.  I softly asked, "Are you awake professor?"
       "Yes, Matthew, I am."
       "Ok.  I had another dream this morning that I want to discuss with
you.  This one has to have a meaning because as far as I know, it is not
about any of my fears."
       "All right, we can meet up in my office after lunch.  There are
things I need to tell you anyway."
       During lunch, I couldn't help but be a little apprehensive about
what I was going to learn.  Everything I learn about the phoenix is
probably going to be very good.  Knowing more about what is inside of me is
definitely a good thing.
       Once I got to the Professor's office, I sat down and waited
expectantly.  As I sat there, he took a few moments to gather his thoughts.
All this did was to make me more nervous.
       Finally, he began with, "Matthew, what do you already know about the
phoenix?"
       "I only know a very little.  I know that in mythology, the phoenix
is a bird comprised out of living fire.  Also, the phoenix has to burn
itself and then rise from the ashes."
       "That's a good beginning.  Not everyone knows even that much.  The
phoenix we are talking about though is older than time itself.  It's also
powerful enough to wipe out the entire universe in the blink of an eye if
it wanted to.  She will naturally increase your powers exponentially.  In
your case, that should prove to be beyond imagination.  After you are used
to this increase in powers, I will want a demonstration.  Also, the phoenix
was the protector of something called the M'kron crystal.  She was
originally attracted to Jean because Jean would be able to help protect it.
But that is a story I will let Jean tell you when she is ready to do so."
       "Of course, Professor.  Why did you refer to the phoenix as a she?"
       "That's how it always appears.  If you ever have a conversation with
her, her voice will be female.  She will seem like a beautiful red-headed
woman.  Although, her hair won't actually be hair.  It will, in fact, be
fire."
       "When would I see her physical appearance or hear her voice?"
       "You will hear her voice and see her appearance when you start to
train in how to tap into her power.  Jean will help you with that starting
tomorrow."
       "Thanks for the information Professor.  I'm sure it will be very
useful."
       "Now, Matthew, you mentioned a dream when you contacted me."
       "Yes, I did."
       With that, I told him, with as much detail as I could, about my
dream.  To say that the dream was weird, would be putting it lightly.
       "Matthew, you were right when you said this dream wasn't about one
of your fears being visualized.  Unfortunately, I really can't help you
with the meaning of it because I don't fully understand it myself."
       "Thanks for your help professor.  I guess the meaning of the dream
will come to one of us at a later date."
       "Yes, I'm sure it will.  Although, there is one more option we could
do to figure out the meaning."
       "And what would that be?"
       "You should ask the phoenix what her interpretation of the dream
is."
       "Ok.  I will do that tomorrow while training with Jean."
       "Thanks for coming by to discuss these things with me, I will see
you later."
       "Bye, Professor"
       For the rest of the afternoon, I went and meditated.  I figured
tapping into the phoenix, I would need as much energy as I could get.
       If anyone happened to stop and watch me while I was doing this, they
would have noticed something was different.  What they would have noticed
is that there was a barely visible fiery phoenix form surrounding me.  They
would have also seen the psychic energy flowing between my hand and head in
a triangle wasn't the same either, it was in fact now my psychic energy
twisted with the phoenix flames.
       During dinner, Professor Xavier told me that my training session
with Jean about the phoenix was pushed back to Monday.  They did this
because Jean was busy tomorrow and to let me have a couple more days to let
my body become completely used to having the phoenix in it.
       That Monday, I met with Jean right after lunch.  The first thing she
wanted to teach me was how to let out the phoenix.  But, before I could
even pull that of, I had to get in touch with my phoenix.
       In order to do that, I had to enter my mind and search for the
phoenix.  That wasn't the hard part.  The hard part was seeing our astral
forms.  I had never gone into someone's head to chat before, only to see
what they were doing or search for information.
       When I went into my mind to search for my phoenix, it didn't take me
long to find her.  She looked even more amazing than I thought she would.
She had startling green eyes and very fair skin.  She reminded me a lot of
Jean.
       When I found her, I was hesitant to approach her because I knew what
she was.  But she said, "Do not be afraid to come right up to me young
Matthew, I mean you no harm."
       I slowly approached as I said, "That's good to know.  I have so many
questions to ask you."
       "That's understandable.  It's also ok because you know time doesn't
matter here."
       "True.  I guess the most important question to me would be, why did
you come to me?"
       "There is no simple answer to that question.  It is true that I
first took notice of you during your time in Japan.  Your psychic beam
wasn't the first thing I noticed though.  Whether you realize it or not,
even locking your powers away from anyone that might be able to see them
takes a lot of mental energy to do.  Your professor and Jean have the
capabilities, but not many others.  That psychic beam of yours just
confirmed you to me. "
       "I kind of figured that was when you first saw me from afar."
       "You are very perceptive for someone so young Matthew."
       "Thanks."
       Now that I was blushing so bad, I had to think of what to ask next.
I knew I should ask about the dream, but for some reason I was hesitant to
ask.  This is, of course, because sometimes we don't want to learn the
answer to something that could be beyond us.  We all have the thirst for
knowledge, but whether we take the steps to get it is another story.
       I finally decided to suck it up and asked, "Could you tell me the
meaning of a dream I had last night?"
       "I will try and give you the meaning of the dream but I will not
promise you will understand the explanation."
       "Well, thanks for trying to give me what information I seek.  If I
don't understand, it isn't your fault."
       With that I told her the same thing that I told the professor the
other day.  Of course, I gave as much detail as I could since it had been a
couple of days since I actually had the dream.
       When I was finished with my description, she stopped moving and
talking for a couple of minutes.  Although, the couple of minutes was
nothing to Jean, who was looking on from the room while I was inside my own
mind.
       Finally the phoenix decided to give me the explanation.  And this is
what she said, "Your psionic powers let you have something called
premonitions.  Premonitions are a rare power to get indeed.  Although, your
powers are so rare as they are this doesn't surprise me.  Premonitions are
the foreseeing of future events before they happen.  Most of the time they
are given to you because you can then do something about them, but other
times they are given to warn you of something that will happen or just to
inform.  I know that I probably shouldn't be the person to let you know
about a power that you have since you already have so many, but I'm
surprised your professor didn't realize you had this specific gift.
Anyway, as to what your dream means, that is harder to explain.  This dream
has to do with your future, but because of this I can't give you too much
information otherwise it might change things for you and other people.  All
I can tell you is that it is something that will happen in your future, but
when and where and how I cannot tell you."
       "This may come as a surprise to you, but that explanation of the
dream is actually a good one.  Even though it doesn't give me many details,
I at least understand why I had it.  I had it to show me a bit of my
future.  It didn't show me enough of it to let me change anything but just
to inform me of what was to come.  Was I right in my guess that the hand
and energy field were psychic?"
       "Yes, Matthew, you were right in your guess of that.  I am surprised
you didn't mention my telling you of your power of premonition.  Your
understanding of my explanation doesn't surprise me in the least since you
are one of the most intelligent people I have come across."
       "As to your informing me of another aspect of my powers, this
doesn't surprise me anymore.  Especially since my powers are constantly
changing and growing or mutating to make new or more powerful versions of
what I already had.  I guess I should get back to Jean to let her know what
I found out and that I actually found you.  I'm sure I'll be back to talk
to you later since you seem to know what's happening more than most people
I know."
       "Yes, I am well aware of what is happening.  This is because of my
powers are combining with yours.  I will see you later young Matthew."
       "Bye Phoenix"