NOTE:~ means telepathic communication. * means personal thought. [ ] means cyberpathy or computer-generated speech.

Mass. Acad. Biosphere: 09/02/2006: 09:30 hrs EDT:

The last holofile faded away, leaving the surviving Hellions struggling to process the events of the past 10 years. Finally, Marie-Ange stammered, "F-Fitzroy killed 87 of us... and our 8 duplicates... sacre mere."

"And worst of all, he actually went on to survive Selene's murder by Candra in '99, and ascended to become the Black King in Shinobi Shaw's twisted Inner Circle!" Manuel snarled. "That tears it. I've got a trust fund waiting for me in Barcelona. It hasn't been fun, Frost - enjoy your playground of infant idealists." He stormed out, ignoring the enraged stares of those New Mutants who had chosen to sit in on the Hellions' meeting with Emma.

"Asshole," Bill muttered.

Emma breathed deeply and swept the room telepathically, trying to remove the lingering psionic taint Empath's tantrum had left. She turned to the other Hellions and said, "With the exceptions of Jebediah and Rhiannon, you are all adults. I release you from your vow of service, Haroun - you deserved better treatment than I provided. I won't keep any of you here against your wills, but my door is always open."

Sharon hugged Emma and said, "Catseye thanks smoothteacherfriend. But I want to see bigworld, go with Tarotfriend."

Emma smiled and said, "I understand, Sharon - Marie-Ange. I wish you all the best."

Marie-Ange nodded gratefully. "Merci, mam'selle," she said. "Whether or not my parents and siblings will accept me, I must at least try to go home again."

Catseye and Tarot were teleported away by Illyana, who returned a moment later wearing a beret and a grin. "Ah, Paris," she smirked. "Those cute French guys - c'est la vie!!"

"Spare us, 'Yana," Ray said, rolling her eyes.

Rhian coughed and asked, "C-could I join th' New Mutants, Miss Frost? I don't have any place to go, an' all of ye've been really nice... "

Cathy took the younger girl's hand and smiled. "You can room with me, Rhi," she said. "Dani fostered me, and I've always wanted a little sister." Rhian gasped in joy and hugged her friend; Cathy had been the first New Mutant to speak with Rhian, although all of them had been friendly to her.

"Well, since the rugrat's safe, Mike and I're heading to Atlantic City - with my luck and his brawn, we'll own the place in 6 months. And I've come to love him," Jennifer smiled.

Illyana teleported them away, and reappeared with a pair of fuzzy dice around her neck. "Siegfried and Roy at the Palace! Gag me - if I wanted stupid animal tricks, I'd ask Cathy to pull her animal friends in here and dance like in a Disney movie," she smirked.

"Not a chance - I don't violate animal rights like that," Cathy retorted.

"All right, all right, let's keep this orderly," Emma smiled behind her hand. "And you, Haroun? Jebediah?"

"I'd like to go home as well, ma'am," Haroun asked.

Illyana whisked him away, and reappeared with a camel. "Oops," she deadpanned, as the beast spat at Emma. A telekinetic shield saved Frost from slobber de camel, and Illyana teleported the beast away while Emma thanked Rachel.

"Not a problem," Ray smiled.

Jebediah shook his head and said, "Two months is a long time for a telepath not t' dig in someone's head an' pull out his mem'ries, ma'am. Ah wonder if ya really tried all that hard t' reawaken my true self all them years back." The New Mutants gasped, but Jeb held up his hand. "That's old news, guys. Th' fact is, ah ain't one f'r th' spandex scene," he continued. "'Yana, could ya send me home? Ah c'n control mah power, an' all I'd be doin' here is stealin' Luke's thunder."

"Jeb... ah wish y'd stay longer," Lucas asked.

The brothers hugged, but Jeb said, "Ah cain't, li'l bro. Ah got a life ah had planned, an' Ma'll need someone t'ride herd on Delilah, now th' girl's got boys lookin' at her." Luke smirked as Illyana teleported them away. Jeb waved to Rhian and said, "Take care, kiddo. An' don't fret 'bout mah amnesia..."

"I'll be brave, Jeb. Thank ye!" Rhian smiled.

She oohed as Frost handed Cathy her platinum card and said, "Rhian will need more clothes... "

Gailyn grinned and said, "Maybe we should open a credit line at the mall. Coming, Luna?"

Illyana reappeared while Luna shook her head. "I just want to rest, thanks," she smiled.

Illyana, Cathy, Gailyn and Rhian teleported away, while most of the other New Mutants left. Lucas and Luna were left alone with a dozing Lockjaw.

"Man... that was nuts," Luke said, breaking the awkward silence. *She'll think ah'm a dope,* he worried. *What'd a princess like about a doof like me? All I c'n do is control plants, n' talk t' them...*

"I know," Luna replied. *He's so nice... but he probably thinks I'm a snot,* she fretted. *How can I break the ice?*

*Mebbe...* Luke gulped. "Luna... ah was wonderin' if y'd like t' go out t' the movies after classes tomorrow?" he blurted. *Oh Lord... ah'm doomed,* he thought.

Luna smiled broadly. "Sure!!" she said. "I'd love to - my treat?"

"Ah c'n pay - or do ya wanna split it?" Luke smiled.

*He's a gentleman,* Luna swooned inside. Before they could work out the details, however, a burst of light heralded the arrival of Crystal and a puppy who looked like Lockjaw.

"Mom!? What're you - Agon!?" Luna gasped to see a bloody crown in Crystal's hands.

"Easy, honey! This is just your Uncle Blackagar's from the Royal Museum," Crystal smiled. Luna relaxed as Crystal continued, "We moved his and your Aunt Meduseld's private possessions to the Museum earlier today. I came to tell you, your dad and I've decided you were right - you don't need a bodyguard anymore. We do need Lockjaw back, too, because of our diplomatic overtures to the UN. Strongjaw's range is too short to reach our allies in the Pacific Rim." The puppy wandered over to his father, who woke and greeted the smaller teleporting dog with a "Wurfh."

"Cool! Frank'll be really happy about Strongjaw coming back - it was nice of him to let us borrow him while you were working on Attilan's trade negotiations," Luna smiled. As if on cue, Frank, Nate and Gareth came in arguing about who was the better poker player, Joe or Lockjaw. Frank grinned to see Strongjaw, who had been his dog from mid-1998 on.

"Hey, boy!" Boy and puppy wrestled and laughed, while Gareth said goodbye to Lockjaw.

"You don' cheat Mr. Gorgon, 'kay?" Gareth asked. "Burf," Lockjaw responded, coughing up an ace of diamonds.

"He stores the extra cards in cheek pouches," Luna whispered to Nate.

"So that's how he does it!" Nate laughed.

"Mom, before you go, this is Gareth Cassidy, Mr. and Dr. Cassidy's son, and this is Lucas Guthrie, another student - Sam's brother, you remember Cannonball from the X-Men Red?" Luna made introductions.

"Pleased to meet you both," Crystal smiled. She whispered to Luna, "Lucas is kind of cute. Remember to have a little fun as well as studying hard, 'kay?" She and Lockjaw teleported away, while Luna blushed fiercely.

*How does she know?* Luna thought.

"Hey, Luke - since I don't wanna room with a giant dog and Frank at the same time, you still lookin' for a roommate?" Nate asked.

"Sure," Luke shrugged with a smile. "If'n you c'n handle country channels on th' radio." Nate groaned in mock despair, and the kids laughed as Strongjaw let Gareth ride him around the biosphere.

Nate ran into Psionics class just as the bell rang. *Why I didn't plug the alarm clock back in, I'll never know,* he bemoaned.

He slipped in behind Ray, who smirked and sent, ~How'd the move go?~

~Fine, Miss "Stay Up Until 11 p.m. And Tongue Frank In Her Dreams,"~ Nate retorted. He grinned to "hear" Ray's mental cursing. ~You really gotta keep from broadcasting that stuff on the family intimode, sis,~ he continued. ~If it wasn't for that glass of warm milk before bed, I'd've been up all night with your ugly dreams in my head...~

"YOU LITTLE TWERP!!" Ray roared. She lunged at Nate, who barely dove under his desk in time to avoid his sister's telekinetically-hurled backpack.

*Oh boy,* he gulped, as she grabbed his shirt collar and dragged him out from under the desk with a look of rage.

"Ray, c'mon," Frank asked, while Gailyn and Charles kept a lookout for Emma. "Nate's just being Nate."

Ray grinned evilly and said, "Only for you, Scrap. You'll get off easy, runt." She focused her TK, and Nate yelled as his underwear rode up savagely.

"Face Phoenix's Atomic Wedgie!!" Ray giggled.

"I'm sorry!!" Nate begged in a squeaky voice. Ray relented and sat down as Emma entered, looking suspiciously at the all-too-quiet students.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're all full of energy," she said. "Do you have your essays on the nature of psi done?" Ray, Gailyn, Frank, Chuck and Joe turned in theirs, but Nate gulped again. "Erm... Miss Frost, may I give an oral presentation?" he begged. *I'm gonna GET Bill for keeping me up all night playing 'Mutant Defender,'* he growled mentally.

Emma deadpanned, "If everything is in place, Nathan, I don't see why not." The others snickered as Nate blushed; he had hoped Emma hadn't heard what Ray had done to him. He stood, wincing slightly, and began to speak.

"Psionic energy is, in fact, electromagnetic in nature. Since the human brainwave is merely a low-level electrical wave, telepathy is explained as the transmission of electons from brain to brain by use of radio-wavelength photons. This is why Erik Lehnsherr's magnetic pulse during the Leningrad crisis caused such a limiting effect upon telepathic transmission; the astral plane, which is effectively the collective subconscious of humanity, was disrupted by Magnus' pulse. A more devastating version of the effect occured in June 1998 with the EMP unintentionally released by Betsy Worthington in Africa. All unshielded telepaths were temporarily scrambled by the pulse - except those who were inactive, such as Professor X in prison at the Vault, or those who were protected, like Frank, Ray, Chuck and I when Mom locked us in the Z'nox Chamber just before the pulse hit. The EMP did have an unintended effect, though, since it restored the Professor's powers and enabled the X-Men to trace his whereabouts. Mom's powers were restored by Frank's healing power, even if others weren't as lucky..." Nate let his voice trail off as he remembered his big brother Cable's fate; left nearly psi-less, Nathan Dayspring had been savaged by his T-O virus infection until he had sacrificed himself Millenium Eve to forever kill Apocalypse in Akkaba.

"Thank you, Nathan. That was, while rather basic, an accurate exposition upon the nature of psi," Emma said. A buzz from the intercom made her excuse herself for a moment. "Yes?" she asked, annoyed.

"Yo, Frosty! The rugrats 'n I're here for the dime tour! Remember?" Jubilation Thomas' voice rang over the intercom.

Emma's face drained of color as she remembered her promise to Jubilee's daycare group. "Oh NO... not THEM!!!" she moaned.

Ray gasped. ~They're HEEERE,~ she sent to the others.

~Who?~ Joe asked. A huge cloud of brimstone and a squeaky, "We're baaaaack!" answered him.

Jubilee, Synch and a crowd of eight X-Men-uniformed kids waved from amidst the spreading cloud of smoke. "Welcome - the X-BABIES!!" Alexa Wagner grinned. "Myself - Blue," she said. "An' Zach Guthrie, Firewall; Nick Rasputin, Metalix; N'Dare Munroe, Windrider; Rebecca Richter, Wolfout; Phil Summers II, Magnetron; Meggan Worthington, Mindcloud; an' o' course, Gareth Cassidy, Shoutdown!!" Gareth ran in and smiled to see his friends.

"Shall we begin?" Everett asked his old teacher.

Emma groaned and prayed, *Lord, just let me die now...*

NEXT: The X-Babies are loosed upon an unsuspecting campus! Luke and Luna's first date! And Ray learns a shocking secret which may destroy her relationship with Frank... or bring them even closer together.