The Cale Storyline Story 12 Chapter 1

Attention: Generation X and their villains, as well as any other mutant mentioned in this story, is property of Marvel Comics. The character Richard Cale is named after family relations. Any other reference to anything copyrighted is a chance happening.

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That Is What It Is All About

Chapter 1: Too Real TV (updated)

She watched as Mojo ranted about the ratings. Ever since he had captured and enslaved her, Abcissa watched as Mojo regain his power. Ratings were everything to him, and she was just a tool to get more ratings. He had put her in his pet projects, but he hadn’t gone to extremes yet. Soon, she noticed that something had caught his eyes. She felt him tug on her chain and said, “Come Abcissa. You might be interested in this.”

She rolled over on her skates and looked at the screen. It was one of Mojo’s spy satellites that watched the various X-Men, but this group wasn’t the X-Men. No one was familiar, and then she saw one figure. It was her, but free. She envied and hated that figure. She had been able to dodge enslavement. As what appeared to be a fight continued, she looked at her master and said, “Who are they?”

His maniacal smile told her that he saw a huge ratings potential. He just said to her, “From what I can gather, they are called Generation X. Mostly teenagers, but a few are early 20’s. And the one with the sword could give us a few good shows.” She noticed the one he meant. She noticed that the sword glowed with a fire around it. Before she could ask how it did that, Mojo said, “Abcissa, I have a task for you.”

She nodded and said, “I’m ready to do as you ask, sir.” She had accepted her fate, and now she hated any version of her that had broken free. This version had to be taken care of.

She felt his gaze upon her and said, “I want you to capture Generation X. The ratings they bring in will be more than the X-Babies. Call on Spiral to do the transporting when you are done. If you fail, I may be forced to go for the cheap ratings grabber.” She shuddered and turned to roll over to Spiral. As she rolled over to the six armed mutant, she heard Mojo say, “Spiral, get her into costume. She needs to look more like Jubilee than she ever did.” She saw Spiral nod and she followed off to her task at hand. If Abcissa could have her way, she would just off this other Jubilee, but she knew that Mojo wanted all of Generation X alive.

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Jubilee continued fighting off the holographic creatures that the new danger room produced. This was one of the new changes that had started two months ago. It was a shock to both her and Everett, as well as the others, when they heard that Monet was gone. She was partially upset, since she still didn’t care for Monet, but they had been making peace. To hear that Claudette had taken over meant a whole new group of enemies, and more training sessions than normal. She was stuck in that thought when she heard Penny say, “Jubilee, look out!.”

Jubilee spun and shot plasma bursts in the face of her oncoming attacker. Emma and Sean felt that they should go up against movie characters from horror films. This one seemed the least dangerous. As the bursts knocked the guy back, she shouted, “Eat hot plasma, beanpole.” She was almost stunned to see the face melt away. “What the...” was all she said as an orb as big as the head of the man she had just blast exploded out of her would be attacker.

Before she could blink, she watched as Rich’s sword came up and split the orb, sending it back to bean two other attackers. She knew Emma allowed Rich to use his sword for this training session, since he asked her. In the brief moment after he had swung his sword, he looked at her and said, “You ok, Jubilee?”

She nodded and said, “Yea, Skitz. You use that sword well.” She never saw someone use a sword so well.

Rich nodded back and said, “Well, I have been practicing.” She then noticed that everything returned to normal. The session had ended.

She heard Sean say, “Looks like it, lad.” She watched as he and Emma came from the control room. “But, ye all need to do a little better than practicing. The only one who can pull their own weight is Clarice.” Jubilee looked over at the new girl. She looked like the one they tried to rescue from Phalanx long ago, but she was different.

Jubilee watched as Clarice said, “I had to live through the fighting.” Jubilee could only suspect what Clarice’s life was like where she was from. Rich had said that Clarice came from a world where Apocalypse had ruled. She also wondered if she and Everett were together in that world. She could guess that Rich and Yvette had been together in that world, because it was evident that Clarice thought she had to protect Rich and Yvette.

She then heard Emma say, “Well, hopefully you won’t see that much fighting here. Now everyone, I want you all to get back to your rooms and study. You have an exam on mythology tomorrow. Plus, I know some of you can do better than you did last time.” Jubilee knew what Emma meant. She didn’t fair too well on the last exam, but she didn’t understand why they needed to learn all the other things.

Jubilee watched as everyone dispersed. She knew that some of them were going to get cleaned off after that intense session. However, she knew that Rich and Yvette would head to their apartment. She quickly ran over to them and said to Rich, “Hey Rich, I was wondering if you might give me some swordfighting lessons.” She noticed the odd look on Rich’s face after she asked that.

She figured that Rich was talking it over with Penny in their mind link. Soon, she heard Rich say, “Sure, but we’ll start with fake swords first. Last thing I want to do is explain to Sean why you have a cut through your arm, or worse.” She knew what he meant. His choice was for her own safety. He then said, “Now, I believe you have a test to study for.”

She nodded and said, “Yes sir, but don’t you have to take the same test.” She loved to tease Rich about his odd status. He was both a student and a headmaster. She decided to let him be after that and headed to clean up. She had a study date with Everett tonight. First, of course, she had to get her books from her room.

Jubilee had never moved so fast in her life. She got cleaned up after the practice and ran back to her room in about 20 minutes, but she knew Everett might not be ready. She decide it wouldn’t hurt to give things a quick look over before she left. As she walked over to her bed, where she had thrown her books, she heard the door latch. She knew she was in trouble. She knew that someone was there. She quickly spun around, with a high kick, only to be snagged by a chain and thrown to her bed. She looked up at her attack and her eyes went wide in fright. It was someone she hoped she’d never see again. “Hello, Jubilee. I hope you don’t mind if I borrow your life, but Mojo thinks your friends have a lot of potential.” It was Abcissa, but she looked more like her. Jubilee then felt something being placed on her head, and at the point she passed out.

Rich walked with his wife down the hall to their apartment. He knew something was bothering her. He could tell. He just said, “Yvette, what’s bothering you?” He had a feeling he knew, but he wanted to be sure.

She looked at him and said, “I just don’t think it’s wise to teach Jubilee sword fighting. I mean, either of you could get hurt. I don’t want to see that happen. Plus, the whole Claudette thing has be nervous. What if the same thing happens with Jubilee?” He was right about what was bothering her.

Rich took her hand and said, “My love, I know that your worried about another incident like Claudette, but I don’t think that will happen again. Also, I won’t allow any harm to come to Jubilee. I said we wouldn’t use real swords.”

“I know, but I’m still worried. I thought Monet had stopped Claudette, but she didn’t and now look. I almost lost you.” He knew what she was referring to. When Claudette had broken free, the first things she wanted to do was kill Emma, and give him to Emplate.

Rich stopped and faced his wife. “Love, we know Jubilee is nothing like that. As for the training, I heard she picks up fighting skills like that easily. So I want to test her.” At that moment, he remember that they had to study. “Oh my gosh, we have that test tomorrow. I better brush up on the Egyptian Mythology.” He entered the door to their apartment like he was a blur.

He heard Yvette enter and say, “I don’t see why you have to study. You know more about mythology than I do.” It was one of his passions, but then with the family history, who could blame him.

As he grabbed some of the mythology books from the family library, he said, “My love, I may know a majority of the legends, but after my years at high school, I found out that Egyptian is one of my weak points.”

He was almost started when her heard Grimore say, “Not good. You should be aware of all cultures. Maybe this test will be a good way for you to brush up on your skills. It would do you well to know about what you might go up against. Some myths are not myths at all.”

This bothered Rich a bit. He knew some things his family had encountered seemed unreal, but myths being real. Of course, he was thinking about the monsters that he knew of. “Grimore, you mean to say that creatures like Scylla and Charybdis are real?”

He noticed that the cat shook it’s head. “No, that story isn’t true at all.” Rich took a deep breath and Grimore said, “Charybdis was the only monster that existed.” Rich looked at the cat, as it said, “Well, that is how the saying came about. Between a rock and a hard place meant betweeen Scylla and Charybdis, and the cliffs there were treacherous.”

Rich didn’t want to ask anymore and just sat down with Yvette at the table. He watched as Yvette had started to read one of the books on Mythology that he had brought, but it was one that he had purchased as a kid. He noticed the name she was reading and he said in their mind link, "Athena, the goddess of wisdom. She’s who Athens is named after." He watched as she smiled at him.

She then said, "Well, we might be up all night studying. Do you want to notify Jubilee that you can’t teach her how to use a sword."

He shook his head and said, "No, I think Morpheus will visit us while we are studying." It had been a late practice, but it had been worth it. Now, it was late, and they both need to sleep and study. He wondered how much studying they would get in before night would end.

Everett looked over at Jubilee as they studied. After dating for so long, he could tell when something was wrong. Something about her actions told him something wasn’t right. He put his hand on hers and said, “Jubes, what’s wrong? You seem so distant.”

As she looked into his eyes, he couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw something that didn’t quite fit. She weakly smiled and said, “I just feel a bit bad about the trouble we almost got in.”

Everett knew what she was talking about. He took her hand and said, “Don’t worry. Mondo said he wouldn’t mention it to anyone.” He had to admit, it was awkward, but Mondo talked with him first. It would have been worse if Mondo had told Sean. He noticed that something was still bothering her. He knew what it couldn’t have been, since they never got that far intimately. He then said, “Jubilee, are you worried about what happened here when we were visiting my family?”

He watched as she nodded and said, “Yea. I can’t believe that it all happened so quick. I wish I knew how Claudette had gotten free. I mean, I know I never got along well with Monet, but even she didn’t deserve this.” Everett understood what she meant. Claudette had imprisoned Monet in her own mind. What ever Monet’s body did, it was what Claudette wanted. He watched as she got up and said, “I don’t think I can study. I’m going to head back to my room and rest.”

Everett figured that Jubilee was worked up. Maybe she needed time alone. He walked her to the door and said, “Jubes, if you need to talk some more, just call. I also hope your ready for the test.” He watched as she nodded and headed out of the building. He didn’t know what had happened between the training session and now, but he could tell something was bothering her.

Clarice stepped out of her room and started down the hall. She had gotten her books and was on her way to study with Darrett. She felt she could relate to him best. Like herself, he did not come from this existance. As she headed out, she saw Jubilee walking into the dorm. She could tell that Jubilee was a little out of sorts. She figured that Jubilee was still shook up from the training session. When she finally reached the guy’s dorm, she made her way to Darrett’s room. When she got to the door, she knocked and she heard someone say, “Enter.”

Clarice openned the door, and was started to see one of the creatures she had fought earlier in the training session. She was dumbstruct as the being said, “I shall go now, sir. Take care.”

As the figure disappeared, she just said, “Darrett, that was....”

He nodded and said, “I know. I wanted to find out if I could control them, and I could.” Clarice had to admit that Darrett’s ability was a bit scary, but as long as he could control it, they were alright. Maybe it added to her attraction to him.

She then set her books down and said, “Darrett, how can you be so calm about that. What if one of those things rebelled.” She noticed a hurt look on Darrett’s face. She had touched a nerve. She then said, “I didn’t know.”

He just said, “It’s alright. Luckily, it only ever happened once here, but it happened a few times in the world I came from.”

She knew that Darrett was like herself, from another timeline. She looked at him and said, “Tell me what your world was like?” She honestly wanted to know.

She noticed how uncomfortable Darrett looked about the topic and then he said, “I came from a very dark future. You see, in my future, the world was over run by Emplates. In fact, there was a war, and all the X-Groups fell. All of Generation X fell. My parents were the last two to die of Generation X.”

She sat down and said, “Who were they?” She knew that Darrett never told anyone about who his parents were, mainly because how it would affect the team.

She noticed how mellow Darrett got, “They were Everett and Daria. From what my mother told me, they were about to storm the Emplate’s headquaters in the states, when half of the remaining members of Generation X were seperated. No one knows what happened to the two who went missing, but they had failed.”

Clarice could understand how Darrett might have felt. She didn’t want to mention it, but she did think she understood. She then said, “Who lead these Emplates? The Emplate we have to worry about.”

She watched as he shook his head, “No, the Lord and Lady of the Emplates were Richard and Yvette. They were captured, enthralled, and it blew their minds. They took it out on the world.”

She sighed. “Not like my world. Apocalypse had taken over. He had Rich and Yvette captured, experimented on, and killed.” He saw the grim look that crossed his face, like he didn’t believe it. She then said, “It is the truth. I saw what some of those experiments had done to them.” Before he could ask, she said, “Trust me, you don’t want to know. Now can we at least do some studying.” He nodded and they began to study for the exam.

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