Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:03:01 -0800 (PST)
From: P G <phoenixfire543@yahoo.com>
Subject: New at Mutant High: Chapter 1

*disclaimer*
I do not own the rights to any of the characters in this story, and make
no claims to the artistic visions of the marvel universe.  I know nothing
of the sexuality of any of the creators, actors, or characters involved
in the Marvel universe.  Similarly, this story contains graphic
descriptions of gay male sex.  If you don't like that, they you should
probably avert your eyes.

This story takes place in an alternate X-Men universe from the one in
which the 3rd movie took place.  Certain events occurred after X2 which
changed the timeline.  Jean, Scott and Professor X are all still alive,
and there was no cure.  The specifics of the timeline changes may be made
apparent as the story progresses.


Chapter 1 -- "Welcome Hydrogue"


I never would have believed that being in a class full of other mutants
could be just as boring as classes in regular school.  I sat in the back
of biology class in Mutant High, just as zoned out as I had ever been in
his public high school.  I entertained myself by forming balls of water
from the vapor in the air and rolling them around my desk.  I glanced
around the class, checking out some of my fellow mutant students, trying
to occupy the past few minutes of class time.  Most of the students
looked normal enough, though several had strange mutations which altered
their physical appearance such as green skin, horns, or in one case, an
extra set of arms.  I'm glad I can blend in if I want to, I thought to
myself.

Up until 3 weeks ago, that was exactly what I had done, blend in.  I had
been reluctantly content to pretend I was normal, until my whole school
simultaneously learned that I was not only a mutant, but gay as well.
Not even waiting to see if my friends or family would ever accept me,
since I knew they never would, I ran away.  I lived on the streets for a
few days until he heard about Xavier's School for Gifted Children, a
safe haven for mutant kids.  I was warmly welcomed, and had now been
living in the mansion for 2 weeks.

At long last, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class.  I snapped
out of my reverie, and started to pack his bag.  I stood up, stretched
his stiff muscles, and proceeded towards the door.

"Alexander Wental, could I speak with you?" asked Dr. Grey.  I groaned
at the sound of my name, and hung behind the crowd heading out the door,
and walked over to the front of the class.

"Yes Dr. Grey?" I asked.  She looked at my intensely for a second, as
if studying me.  Her eyes bored into mine until I had to look away.

"I just wanted to know how well you were getting along here.  I have
noticed you spend a lot of time alone and I wanted to be sure that
everything was alright."

"Oh, thank you, but everything is fine.  I'm still kind of shaken from
the huge shift in my life.  Don't worry; it just takes me time to come
out of my shell."

Jean smiled.  "I'm glad to hear it.  In the meantime though, could you
possible let you mind wander a little less during my class?"  I laughed
sheepishly in response.

"I forget that you are psychic. Of course, I'm sorry about that."  I
smiled and proceeded out the door to my final class of the day.  As
usual, I was impressed with how nice the mansion-turned-school was.
Beautiful wooden walls, high ceilings, and well placed art gave an
unexpected feel of comfort and hominess to the school.  I stopped as I
passed a mirror, and stopped to check my hair.  My short, light brown
hair was still nicely spiked up, despite a full day of classes. I
smoothed my blue shirt over my compact, 5'8" body, enjoying how it
showed off how my torso tapered towards my waist.  I grinned, and flashed
my deep sapphire-blue eyes, my secret weapon.  I could always charm
anyone over with my eyes the color of the deep and mysterious ocean.

"Quit checking yourself out in the mirror jackass!" I heard behind
him.  I grinned when I saw Caleb, my roommate.  Codenamed Demon, Caleb
had short, spiky black hair, red skin, ruby eyes, pointed ears, and a
long red tail which came out of a hole he cut in the back of all his
pants.  Caleb sported a muscular build reminiscent of a gymnast, muscular
but compact.  His showed off his body in the tight black sleeveless shirt
he wore above his tight blue jeans.  He also wore no shoes, as was his
habit. Caleb's feet were articulate and flexible, and he could use them
like hands. I knew that Caleb's musculature was extremely dense, causing
him to weight much more than he appeared to, as well as giving him the
strength of several men. Despite his mutation, Caleb was actually
extremely attractive with his goofy smile filled with perfect white
teeth.  His vermillion eyes were hypnotic, filled with beauty and
wonder.  Unlike many who had skin mutations, Caleb did not have rough,
scaly, or hairy skin. It was smooth and soft as a baby, as he grew no
hair anywhere but on his head and eyebrows. I greeted my roommate with a
pat on the back, which Caleb returned with a squeeze on the shoulder,
using his tail.  We proceeded together towards our mutual last class,
Mutant Relations.

"How was bio?" asked Caleb, a joking tone in his voice. He knew how
much I disliked biology.

"Fantastic as always.  How was math?" I rebutted, jabbing Caleb in the
ribs with my finger.  Caleb performed horribly in math and made no secret
about it.  We both enjoyed our final class though, as it almost always
contained interesting and current topics, and closely affected all
students personally. Rather than desks, the students sat in various
comfortable chairs, couches, bean bag chairs, and floor cushions which
formed a semicircle towards the front of the class.  Caleb and I took our
usual seats beside each other on a love seat on one side of the
semicircle, in the front row, but off to the side.  The full class of
40-odd mutant teens took their seats, and waited patiently.  At almost
precisely 1 o'clock, in wheeled Professor Charles Xavier and Dr. Jean
Grey to begin the class.  Silence fell over the class immediately, in
respect for the great man in front of them.  Every student in the class
had a heartfelt respect and gratitude towards Charles, who had done more
for mutant-kind than anyone else, and who had opened his doors to take
them all in and keep them safe.  The fact that he was considered the most
powerful telepath in the world didn't hurt either.

Class began as it normally did, with a review and discussion of what had
happened in the news around the world with special regard to mutants.
The Professor then changed the topic to one of his chosen discussions.

"Mr. Wental, can you tell me why most mutants have two names, a given
name, and a codename?" Xavier asked suddenly.

After a moment of consideration, I answered, saying "Mutants chose code
names for two reasons.  First to describe their powers and mutations, and
also to create an identity in which they can be themselves, but still be
protected from the outside world".  I was rather proud of his answer.

"That was very good, however you seem to forget that some mutants, such
as Magneto, need no protection from the outside world, and yet still go
by their chosen names."

Caleb piped up this time, stating "Well Magneto uses his name to inspire
fear.  If he went around commanding a hostile force by the name of Eric,
he would be a lot less scary to the everyday Homo sapiens".

"Very true.  So, what do we conclude about Mr. Wental's answer?"

"It was wrong." Stated a deep voice which came from a large boy named
Steve who stood leaning against the wall.

"Was he?  Why then, Mr. Blanco, do you call yourself Golem?"  Steve's
response was to turn his skin into iron-hard stone, making him appear
very much like a stone golem.

"I am aware of why you chose that name for yourself, but why did you
chose a name at all?" asked the professor.  Though he made no hint of it
on his face, I got the distinct impression he was amused with Steve's
subsequent confusion.

The answer came from a tall girl in the back of the room. "Well, I think
he was at least partially correct, at least about the part about
protecting ourselves.  We can use aliases and talk about each other or to
each other without it getting back to our families and friends.  It
allows us to blend in better."

"Some of us don't get that option" Caleb stated matter-of-factly.  It
was true, Caleb could never blend into a crowd, and everyone he ever met
would know he was a mutant.  He sat lounging back in his seat, and took a
bite from an apple, which he held with his tail.  I chuckled at the
sight, enjoying how comfortable Caleb was with his mutation.  He used his
tail as if it were another arm or leg, as it was quite strong and very
flexible.

"Correct.  Why then, do we need new names?" Asked Jean Grey, who spoke
for the first time.  She sat leaning against the desk at the front of the
room, her dark red hair spilling down her shoulders and complimenting her
maroon pant suit nicely.  She glanced around the room, scanning for any
student with an answer.

I decided to try again. "Perhaps we do it, because our original names
were given to us by our parents.  They reflect the expectations of the
homo sapien world, which we are not a part of.  We give ourselves new
names because we can identify with them more.  They allow us to be who we
are, and to be proud of that fact."

Xavier smiled at him, saying "That is how I see it as well Mr. Wental.
Or would you prefer Hydrogue?"  I smiled.  I had not given much thought
to a name for myself, but I liked the one the professor had chosen.  With
my ability to manipulate, generate, and become water, the name befits me.

"Hydrogue it is" I repliedand couldn't resist grinning.  I was honored
that the professor had taken enough notice in me to choose a suitable
codename.  For the next 15 minutes, the class discussed the finer points
of naming themselves, shared why they chose their names, and some even
came up with theirs during that class.  Someone then asked a question
which I had been wondering himself.

"Professor Xavier, do you have a codename?" Michaela, aka Firefox
asked.  The professor smiled, as if he had been waiting for the question.

"No Ms. Jenks, I do not.  I chose to live by the name my parents gave me
a long time ago.  I feel that it suits me as well as any name I could
give myself."

"What about you Dr. Gray?"  I asked, almost blurting out the question.
She appeared to wince, as though she had known the question was coming
(she was psychic he remembered), but was dreading it.

"I am Phoenix." She stated simply.

"But you don't have any fire powers do you?" asked a younger girl Alex
didn't recognize.  "I thought you were telekinetic and telepathic."

"I don't have fire powers.  My name comes from the myth of the phoenix
burning itself in its own flame, only to rise again, reborn."  When Jean
said this, her face held a mixture of fear and pride, and created a great
weight for her words.

"Excuse me for asking but, did you die?" asked Caleb, echoing the
thoughts of most of the students.

Jean faltered when she tried to answer, and the professor stepped in.
"Jean made a great sacrifice to save the lives of many other mutants,
including myself.  She protected and rescued us from a wall of advancing
water when a large dam broke.  She held the flood back long enough for us
to escape, but then the water took her, and drove her to the bottom of
the newly formed lake."  Gasps echoes through the room, and a girl or
two stifled tears.  "Jean's powers unconsciously protected her from the
force of the water, and kept her safe under the lake for over a year,
until she healed her wounds both mental and physical.  She then returned
to us when the X-Men traveled to the lake to pay their respects to her.
She rose like a Phoenix reborn, greater and more glorious than ever
before."  He looked at Jean with a look of deepest pride and respect.
Alex even thought he saw a hint of gratitude, for being willing to share
her story?

"And this brings us to our final topic for the day.  What do you all
know about the 5 Mutant Classes?"

Most of the student glanced around, not knowing if they had the right
answer.  Then Golem spoke up and said "I thought it was a ranking of how
powerful a mutant was, 1 for weakest and 5 for strongest.  I, of course,
would be a Class 5."

"Many would agree with you Mr. Blanco.  But in actuality, the class
system is more complex than that.  A Class 1 mutant is one with a
physical mutation for little or no ability beyond that of a normal
human.  An example of this is a mutant with a different color skin which
grants him or her no power of any kind, or one with horns.  A Class 2
mutant is one with a physical mutation which provides an `ability' in
and of itself, such as gills to breath under water, generating spikes, or
our friend Warren Worthington III who has large white wings and can fly.
The first two classes make up about 2/3 of all mutants."  The students
watched and listened with rapt attention, intent to learn about the
categories of mutant powers, and, of course, to classify themselves
accordingly.  I knew I did not belong in either of these classes.

The Professor continued, saying "A Class 3 mutant possesses a physical
mutation which provides a remarkable ability such as healing, shape
shifting, or some kind of self-altering ability.  Mr. Blanco, you would
be a Class 3 mutant."  Golem looked crushed, as he clearly wanted to be
a Class 5, which everyone considers to be the most powerful. "Class 4
mutants are the broadest class, as they can range in ability and power
considerably.  This class contains those with specific energy
manipulation, such as optic blasts, fire, ice or any similar thing.  It
also includes telepaths, telekinetics, and those with wide-range
abilities such as Storm's weather control.  Storm is an example of an
extremely powerful Class 4 mutant, as am I."  Though no sound was made,
I could tell that the class was surprised to hear the Professor call
himself anything but a Class 5.  Many students were only here because
Xavier's psychic abilities were so vast that he found them struggling
with their own thoughts from across the country and across the world.

"And then there is Class 5.  This is a bit of a difficult concept to
understand, but I have the fullest confidence in all of you.  A Class 5
mutant is limitless.  They can have a similar ability to a class 4
mutant, but they are not limited to certain specifics, and have all the
power they could wish for.  The easiest way to explain this is with an
example.  Doctor Jean Gray here is a Class 5 mutant."  The class
collectively gasped, looking at Jean with awe, reverence, and veiled
fear.  Jean met their gazes with a cool, though slightly nervous look.
Xavier rested his hand on hers as he continued.  "Jean has telepathic
and telekinetic abilities, which would normally rank her in Class 4.
But, her power is unsurpassed in these areas.  Her range with her
telepathy is limited only by how far she can perceive to stretch it.  Her
telekinetic abilities can extend down to the very atoms which make up the
world, and she can manipulate them in any way she can think to."

"So, a Class 5 would have to be telekinetic in order to fit into the
category wouldn't they?" I asked.

"No, that is a misconception.  Class 5 means that the mutant has a
limitless ability with their power.  Someone who controlled fire could be
a Class 5 mutant if he or she could extend their power so far as to be
able to manipulate thermodynamics on the smallest and largest scales.  By
doing this the mutant would extend their powers far beyond that of a
pyrokinetic such as Pyro.  They would gain the ability to influence heat
on the level of suns, and cold (which is the absence of heat) on the
level of the cold of space."  The Professor paused while the students
wrapped their minds around this concept.  The few in the room who
classified as Class 4 mutants were considering how far their powers could
go if their range and scale were limitless.

"There are extremely few Class 5 mutants.  Jean here is the only one I
have ever had as a student.  I have encountered only 3 others before, and
2 of them only through Cerebro.  It is difficult to directly focus on
Class 5 mutants, as their presence is much larger than humans or other
mutants."

"What about the other Class 5 mutant Professor?  Who was it?  What could
they do?"  I asked, extremely interested in knowing.  I thought of these
Class 5 mutants as gods among men, and felt I should know all I could
about them and what they could do.

Xavier smiled and said "I think that will be it for today.  Have a good
weekend all of you."  And with that, the class was dismissed.  I was
confused by the abrupt end of class, but soon forgot about it when I
realized that I had just finished classes for the week.  Caleb and I left
class and headed for our room, discussing class along the way.  We agreed
that we had covered some really deep stuff.  We also agreed that Caleb
was a Class 3 Mutant, and I was Class 4.  He also congratulated me on my
new mutant name.

We arrived at our room and shucked off our backpacks onto the ground.
Our room was a medium-sized room lined with golden wood.  There were two
beds against the wall on the right, under a pair of windows.  The room
also contained two desks, and had a door in the left wall which led to a
shared bathroom with a small stall shower.  Because we were both older
students, we got a few more luxuries than the younger kids.  Out the 3rd
floor windows, we could see the field and the lake behind the mansion.
It was a beautiful sunny spring day, and there were dozens of students
dotting the field and the shoreline.  We really lucked out with our room,
and I really lucked out with my roommate.  Caleb was a truly good-natured
guy, funny and intelligent, but a true friend when in need.  We often
stayed up late into the night talking about everything.  I had told him
everything about me, and what had led me to Xavier's School.

Getting ready to take a shower, Caleb shucked off his shirt and tossed it
onto the bed.  He stretched his muscles to work off the tension of a long
day of classes.  He unbuttoned his jeans and let them fall to the floor.
He wore black briefs with were super low-rise.  All of his underwear was
low-rise so that the waistband would be low enough to accommodate his
tail, which grew out of the base of his spine just above his ass.  Caleb
wore them out of necessity, but I enjoyed the sheer scandelousness of
them.  He stood with his hands on his hips in statuesque glory.  His hair
was black as oil, spiked and shiny.  His red skin glowed in the bright
sun streaming through the window.  His vermillion eyes glittered with
exotic beauty, and his perfect white smile seemed to light the room
around him.  His chest had full, compact pectorals, with small dark red
nipples which were oh so lickable.  His arms bulged with densely corded
muscle, a perfect specimen.  Caleb was build with the perfect physique,
he was 6' tall, heavily muscled, but not bulging like a bodybuilder.  He
looked like the perfect gymnast, and could have been used a model in an
anatomy class.  His stomach had every line of the abdominal muscles, and
there was a sweeping V at the bottom of his stomach diving down into his
briefs.  His entire body was completely devoid of hair except for his
head and eyebrows.  His legs showed a similar sculpture of muscles, and
he had perfect calves which tapered down to his large, red feet.  The
black underwear bulged out obscenely.  I knew that this was not because
he was hard, since his bulge was always enormous.  Though Caleb was very
proud of his body, and was free in his underwear around our room, I still
had not seen his full package.

"If you are done staring, I'm gonna hop in the shower he said, snapping
me back to the real world.  I looked at his face, which was grinning.  He
took my being gay very well, and I loved him for that.  He took my stares
at his body as a compliment, which they were.  If he knew just how much I
wanted to jump his bones, he might sing a different tune.  For the time
being, I would rather keep my friend.

"Just one more minute" I responded, grinning. He chuckled, and headed
for the bathroom.  Once the door shut, I tried to figure out what to do
with myself.  Due to my powers of water, I never had to shower, as I
could turn to water, dissolve any dirt on my skin and hair, and then
filter it out and turn back.

As I lay on my bed, I realized that what Dr. Gray had said was true; I
was a virtual hermit inside my room.  I had been at Mutant High for over
2 weeks, and had yet to do much socializing.  I had been too busy healing
from the total destruction of my life.  But now, I decided that this
would change.  I got up, put on my sneakers, and walked out of mine and
Demon's room.

It was time to meet my fellow mutants.



I have written other stories before, but this is my first story involving
the X-Men, so please feel free to give me some feedback; I really
appreciate hearing from you!  More will come soon, and positive feedback
will speed the process.

Matt -- phoenixfire543@yahoo.com