Cessily settled herself on the floor while carefully holding a glass.
She took a sip and glanced sideways at Kitty.
"Doesn't it seriously strike you as strange?" Cessily asked calmly. "I mean, that Piotr so easily told you where to find Legion and on top of that let you be the one to bring him the pizzas."
Kitty took a small drink and shrugged, as if she saw nothing mysterious about it.
"Why would it be strange?" Kitty replied casually. "Piotr and I are very good friends. I'm sure that if Kurt had asked him, he would've told him too."
Kurt, who was sitting on the edge of the bed finishing a slice, laughed and shook his head before speaking.
"We can be friends, but Piotr takes the teachers' orders very seriously," Kurt commented. "He just graduated and he's on probation to become an official X-Man. I guarantee he wouldn't just give me that information so easily, much less let me take pizzas that Scott specifically assigned him to deliver."
Kitty wrinkled her nose, crossing her arms with a hint of stubbornness.
"Well then, maybe he's just not as much your friend as he is mine," she shot back, convinced.
At that, Pyro and Bobby exchanged silent looks while they kept eating.
There was no need to say anything. To everyone else, it was obvious that Piotr treated Kitty differently, even if she herself didn't seem to notice.
Bobby chuckled, wiping his hands before looking at Kitty with a teasing grin.
"Sure, Kitty, that must be it. Maybe tomorrow Piotr will also let you take his X-Men suit to the dry cleaner because you're 'very good friends,'" Bobby said, exaggerating the air quotes with his fingers. "The guy's a solid block of steel with the rest of us, but with you he melts faster than ice cream in the sun."
Kitty immediately turned red and opened her mouth to protest, but before she could say a single word, a loud thud echoed from the back of the room, followed by the sound of furniture being shoved around.
John lazily turned his head, looking toward the far corner.
"How long are you planning to keep playing tag?" John asked, nodding toward where Illyana was leaning against the wall.
She was holding her phone in one hand, recording the scene with an amused smile, while with the other she brought a slice of pizza to her mouth.
On her phone screen, visible to everyone, Jubilee could be seen cornering Rath against a dresser.
"Come on, I just want to pet you a little longer!" Jubilee insisted, stretching her hands toward the Appoplexian's furry arms. "Your fur is way too fluffy and super comfy!"
Rath straightened to his full height, baring his teeth, his tiger ears twitching with sheer indignation.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, FIREWORKS HUMAN!" Rath roared, pointing at her with a claw. "RATH IS NOT A PILLOW WITH LEGS! RATH IS NOT A COMFORT OBJECT FOR YOUR RESTLESS HANDS! IF YOU TRY TO TOUCH RATH'S FUR AGAIN, RATH WILL MAKE YOU REGRET HAVING FINGERS!"
Jubilee didn't back down an inch. On the contrary, she narrowed her eyes with playful defiance.
"If you won't do it the nice way, then it'll be the hard way," she declared, releasing small colorful sparks between her fingers.
Rath snorted.
"ARE YOU CHALLENGING RATH?! RATH ACCEPTS YOUR CHALLENGE! PREPARE TO SEE HOW RATH DEFEATS YOUR COLORED LIGHTS WITH PURE BRUTE STRENGTH AND STYLE!"
Illyana let out a dry chuckle while continuing to record every second of the encounter.
"Do you really think the little sparks you shoot from your hands will be enough to tame a tiger, Jubilee?" Illyana asked without taking her eyes off the screen.
"Maybe they would be if a certain woman with a giant magic sword helped me a bit," Jubilee replied sideways, hoping for backup.
Illyana simply laughed, taking another bite of her pizza with total indifference.
"If I hunt, I do it alone," she said mockingly. "Take it as a learning experience, Jubi. Try not to get thrown out the window."
Jubilee stopped, ceasing the sparks as she noticed Rath repeatedly glancing sideways at the pizza boxes.
A mischievous smile spread across her face. She walked over to one of the boxes and pulled out a whole pizza, holding it with both hands.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, JUBILATION LEE!" Rath roared, immediately suspicious. "WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH THAT CIRCLE OF DOUGH AND CHEESE?!"
"I suddenly felt like playing frisbee," she replied with a hint of malice. "But since we don't have one, I'll use the closest thing in this room."
Jubilee made an exaggerated motion, winding up her arm to throw the entire pizza. Rath's eyes widened beneath his visor.
"LISTEN CAREFULLY TO WHAT RATH HAS TO SAY, JUBILATION LEE, THROWER OF CHEAP FIREWORKS!" Rath bellowed. "WASTING FOOD IS A DISRESPECT TO THOSE WHO TOOK THE TIME AND DEDICATION TO PREPARE A MEAL TO SATISFY THE CUSTOMER'S HUNGER AND DELIGHT THEM WITH THEIR CULINARY ART! RATH WILL NOT TOLERATE YOU INSULTING THE WORK OF THE MASTER PIZZA MAKER!"
"Then that's a shame…" Jubilee said, hurling the entire pizza toward the center of the room.
"UNDER RATH'S WATCH, SUCH AN INJUSTICE WILL NOT BE ALLOWED!"
Rath leapt with an agility no one expected from someone his size.
In midair, he activated the mechanism on his helmet, the lower portion retracting with a hiss and freeing his mouth. He caught the entire pizza with his teeth before it could hit the floor, but Jubilee was already moving.
She slid beneath him and pushed off with force, slamming directly into his chest and stomach while he was still airborne.
The impact made Rath spin and crash heavily onto his back against the carpet.
Without losing a second, Jubilee curled up on his chest, rubbing her face against the orange fur.
"It's so soft!" she exclaimed, ignoring his muffled growls. "You're the best plushie in this mansion!"
Rath lay there, a whole pizza in his mouth and Jubilee using him as a pillow, while Illyana kept recording the scene with silent laughter.
The Appoplexian tried to reply, but with the entire pizza still between his teeth, all that came out was a muffled, chewed sound.
He tried to push the girl aside with his furry hands, but Jubilee clung to him like a tick. Every time he tried to move her, she latched on tighter to his torso, laughing as she continued rubbing her face against his fur.
"Mphf-glrp!" Rath growled, momentarily giving up as he finished swallowing.
Illyana approached him calmly and held out a full bottle of soda.
"Here. You put on quite a show earlier with that shapeshifting bitch," Illyana commented. "For a second, you made everyone think you were a complete lunatic who might snap a young girl's neck."
Rath snorted and accepted the bottle with one hand.
He resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't be able to shake off the tick still rubbing her face against the fur on his back.
He pressed the bottle to his lips and drank half of it in one go, feeling the carbonation bubble in his throat.
When he felt a burp rising forcefully, he quickly covered his mouth with his hand and released the air in a restrained, silent puff.
"Oooh!" Jubilee exclaimed from his back. "The kitty has manners."
Rath glanced at her sideways, making his tiger ears twitch with irritation.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, JUBILATION LEE!" he roared, this time without dropping the bottle. "RATH CAN DESTROY A TANK WITH HIS BARE HANDS, BUT RATH IS NOT A SAVAGE! APPOPLEXIANS ARE A SPECIES WITH A HIGH SENSE OF HONOR AND RESPECT FOR BASIC COURTESY! IF YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE RATH HAS FUR HE'LL BEHAVE LIKE A CLASSLESS ANIMAL, YOU ARE SORELY MISTAKEN, SPARKS HUMAN!"
Jubilee nodded with a mischievous smile, refusing to let go of even an inch of her new furry "pillow."
"All right, you're right. Sir Whiskers is a true gentleman," she said casually.
Rath's ears went rigid, his eyes widening with pure indignation.
"H-HOW THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL RATH?!" he roared, but she simply ignored him, continuing to run her hands through the fur on his back.
Illyana, who had not stopped smiling smugly, put her phone away and walked over to the group sitting on the floor.
Rath let out a heavy sigh, resigned to his fate as a luxury backpack, and lumbered over to the rest of the teens, dropping heavily to the floor.
When they saw them approach, John greeted them with a mocking grin.
"What's up? Done playing already?" John asked sarcastically.
Illyana didn't even bother replying with words. She tossed the empty plastic cup straight at his face.
"Shut up, John," she said flatly as he barely dodged it.
Cessily, who had been watching everything much more calmly, raised a hand to greet them.
"Hi again. Hi, Legion," Cessily said kindly.
Rath looked straight at her. His ears twitched and he let out an involuntary growl when he felt Jubilee find a knot in his fur and tug on it a little, but he quickly forced himself to soften the reaction.
"RATH APOLOGIZES FOR THE GROWL, IT WAS NOT MEANT FOR YOU, MERCURY GIRL!" Rath said curtly, in his own blunt way.
Cessily let out a soft laugh and shook her head.
"It's okay, really. I just wanted to thank you for rescuing me… you, and you too, Illyana."
It took Cessily a bit more effort to say those words to Illyana, perhaps because of how intimidating or sharp she could be, but she did it.
Illyana simply smiled with pride, enjoying the recognition. Rath, meanwhile, puffed out his chest, making Jubilee bounce slightly on his back.
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO THANK ME, CESSILY ANNE KINCAID!" Rath exclaimed firmly. "AFTER ALL, THAT IS WHAT A HERO DOES!"
The atmosphere in the room quickly relaxed. The teens chatted naturally, trading jokes and nonsense.
Before long, however, questions began flying about the new member's strange condition.
"So…" Bobby began, pointing with a slice of pizza at the ears twitching on Rath's head. "Is this really because of your 'technology'? Because you look like you're mutating at a crazy speed."
"LISTEN CAREFULLY, ROBERT LOUIS DRAKE!" Rath roared, trying to ignore the ongoing nuisance on his back. "THIS IS NOT A MUTATION! THIS IS A GRADUAL GENETIC TRANSFORMATION! RATH'S DNA IS SO POWERFUL THAT IT SURPASSES THE LIMITS OF ANY MACHINE!"
Cessily leaned forward, studying the pattern of black stripes on his furry arms.
"So they really exist?" she asked in awe. "There's a whole planet full of… alien humanoid tigers?"
"OF COURSE THERE IS!" Rath replied proudly. "THE APPOPLEXIANS ARE THE STRONGEST, BRAVEST, AND MOST RESPECTED SPECIES IN OUR SECTOR! WE LIVE ON THE PLANET APPOPLEXIA, WHERE ANY PROBLEM IS SOLVED WITH HONOR, COURAGE, AND A GOOD SUPLEX THROW!"
Kurt scratched his chin, fascinated by the image Rath painted.
"That sounds incredible," Kurt murmured. "But why do you act like this? Your personality… is that also part of the species?"
Rath crossed his arms, causing his muscles to tense beneath the orange fur.
"APPOPLEXIANS ARE NOT A COMPLICATED PEOPLE, KURT WAGNER!" he exclaimed. "WE FEEL DEEPLY AND WE SAY EVERYTHING! IF RATH IS ANGRY, YOU WILL KNOW! IF RATH IS HUNGRY, YOU WILL KNOW! AGGRESSION IS SIMPLY HOW OUR BODIES HANDLE THE INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF ENERGY FLOWING THROUGH OUR VEINS!"
Kitty stepped a little closer, looking at the visor that still covered part of his face.
"And does it hurt?" she asked with a note of concern. "I mean, growing taller, the fur, the claws, all of that happening so fast can't be pleasant, right?"
Rath snorted and glanced sideways at Kitty. For a moment, the aggression in his tone softened slightly.
"THIS IS NOTHING, KATHERINE ANNE PRYDE!" he said, lowering his volume just a bit. "POWER IS NEVER COMFORTABLE! BUT RATH DOES NOT COMPLAIN! RATH ADAPTS, RATH CONQUERS, AND RATH—!" He stopped when Jubilee gave one of his ears a playful tug. "—RATH IS GOING TO THROW THIS STUPIDLY BRAVE HUMAN OUT THE WINDOW IF SHE DOES NOT STOP!"
Jubilee just laughed, settling more comfortably on his back.
"See? Even his threats are adorable," she commented to the group. "He's like a big cat with a WWE wrestler complex."
Rath froze for a second, his gaze locking onto a small box half-hidden beneath the TV stand.
"ANSWER ME THIS, ROBERT LOUIS DRAKE!" Rath roared, pointing at the object with a claw. "RATH HAS NOTICED YOU HAVE BEEN GUARDING THAT CARDBOARD CONTAINER JEALOUSLY SINCE YOU ARRIVED! WHAT ARE YOUR COLD HANDS HIDING IN THERE?!"
Bobby jumped, smacking his forehead as he remembered.
"Oh, right!" Bobby stood up and pulled a matte black console out of the box, along with a couple of controllers and some games. "I brought it in case we got bored after the pizza. It's a PlayStation 2."
"OHHHHHHHHHH!" Rath's shout was so powerful that Jubilee nearly flew off his back from the vibration.
The Appoplexian lunged forward, landing in front of Bobby with astonishing agility.
He dropped to his knees, staring at the device with a passion bordering on religious. His eyes gleamed behind the visor as he brought his hands closer, stopping just short of touching it, as if afraid to desecrate it with his strength.
"What's wrong?" John asked, raising an eyebrow as he chewed on a crust. "Never seen one before?"
Rath slowly turned his head toward him, his expression utterly serious.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, JOHN ALLERDYCE! RATH IS NOT LOOKING AT A SIMPLE MACHINE! RATH IS ADMIRING THE BLACK BEAST!"
The others stared at him in total confusion. The Black Beast?
"WHERE RATH COMES FROM, THAT IS WHAT IT IS CALLED… OR AT LEAST THAT IS WHAT RATH CALLS IT WITH ALL THE RESPECT IT DESERVES!" Rath extended a hand and gently ran his fingertips over the console's rough surface with almost comical delicacy. "ADMIRE THIS PERFECTION! ITS MONOLITHIC DESIGN THAT DEFIES TIME! ITS DVD DRIVE THAT REVOLUTIONIZED HOME ENTERTAINMENT!"
Rath straightened slightly, gesturing fervently toward the group.
"THIS MACHINE HAS THE MOST POWERFUL CATALOG IN HISTORY! ITS EMOTIONAL PROCESSORS WERE THE TERROR OF THE COMPETITION! IT CAN RUN THE MOST EPIC ADVENTURES AND THE MOST BRUTAL COMBATS WITHOUT BREAKING A SWEAT! IT IS A LEGEND, A MYTH, THE PILLAR UPON WHICH THE DREAMS OF AN ENTIRE GENERATION WERE BUILT!"
The teens fell silent, alternating their stares between the console and the humanoid tiger who looked ready to recite poetry about Sony hardware.
"Wow…" Kitty murmured, blinking. "It really seems like you like videogames."
"RATH DOES NOT JUST PLAY, KATHERINE ANNE PRYDE! RATH CONQUERS VIRTUAL WORLDS WITH THE SAME TENACITY WITH WHICH HE CONQUERS THE BATTLEFIELD!"
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Bobby finished connecting the cables, and the iconic PlayStation 2 startup sound filled the room.
Rath remained kneeling in front of the box, treating the discs like ancient treasures. Jubilee, still glued to his back, craned her neck to see what he would choose.
"So the great hero turned out to be a nerd?" Jubilee teased with a giggle. "Who would've thought, Sir Whiskers knows more about games than anything else."
Kitty looked at Bobby and then at Rath, smiling.
"After everything that happened, I forgot, but Legion is more or less our age," Kitty said. "It makes sense that he likes this stuff, right?"
Kurt nodded as he grabbed one of the controllers.
"That's true. Even if he's a giant tiger now, he's still a kid like us," he commented.
Illyana, leaning against the wall, raised an eyebrow and stared intently at the back of Rath's neck.
"More or less our age?" Illyana asked in a flat voice. "Legion is 27… no, wait, he's 15… or maybe 42? Definitely not 42."
John froze with a slice of pizza halfway to his mouth, staring at her like she was crazy.
"What the hell are you talking about, Illyana?" John asked, frowning. "The guy is clearly a teenager like us."
Illyana poured herself some soda, never taking her eyes off the Appoplexian.
"Maybe my eyes are off today," she murmured before taking a sip. "But the age of his soul is strange. It's like seeing something old mixed with something new."
Rath, who was far too excited looking through the games, didn't even notice what Illyana was saying.
The alien glanced sideways at the girl who was still clinging to him with no intention of letting go.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, JUBILATION LEE WHO IS HANGING FROM RATH'S SHOULDER LIKE A TICK!" he roared, though with a strangely nostalgic tone. "RATH DOESN'T CARE IF THEY CALL HIM A NERD! BUT THE PLAYSTATION 2 WAS A TRUE BOOM! THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN COMPETE WITH IT IN RATH'S HEART IS THE SEGA GENESIS!"
Rath lifted his head, closing his eyes for a moment as if watching scenes from another life.
"AH, THE AFTERNOONS PLAYING SONIC ON RATH'S SEGA!" he reminisced with a sigh. "THE SPEED, THE RINGS! OR BATTLETOADS, WHERE RATH LEARNED THAT TRUE RAGE IS BORN FROM FALLING IN THE SAME PLACE TEN TIMES IN A ROW… DAMN YOU, TURBO TUNNEL!"
Jubilee rested her head against his furry shoulder and smiled as she listened to him speak with such passion.
But suddenly, Rath lowered his gaze toward the box and let out a sharp breath of pure surprise.
His hands began to tremble as they reached back down into the bottom of the cardboard box.
"What?" Jubilee asked, intrigued. "What did you find in there?"
Rath didn't respond right away. His breathing grew heavy.
"What I found… what Rath has found…" he murmured, his voice, for the first time, cracking with emotion.
With extreme care, he took out a plastic case.
Slowly, he lifted it, as if contemplating a relic under the room's light.
His hands and his voice were truly shaking.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, JUBILATION LEE!" he exclaimed. "WHAT RATH HAS FOUND HERE… IS THE ONE PIECE!"
Rath pressed the case to his face with an almost religious solemnity, closing his eyes as he gently rubbed the plastic with his furry forehead while thousands of memories flooded his mind.
It was as if the world around him had stopped. The pizzas, the rescued metahumans, even the tick still hanging from his shoulder no longer mattered.
Jubilee, Kitty, and the others fell silent as they watched the feline act so strangely. Bobby leaned in from the TV, trying to read the title.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, UNIVERSE!" Rath cried out, his voice trembling with pure emotion, while the tears of a true warrior threatened to appear beneath his visor. "RATH HOLDS IN HIS HANDS THE PINNACLE OF ENTERTAINMENT! THE GRAIL OF COMBAT! THE ONE, THE UNEQUALLED!"
He snapped his eyes open and, with a shout that surely echoed all the way to Professor Xavier's office, pronounced the name:
"DRAGON BALL Z: BUDOKAI TENKAICHI 3!"
Rath jumped to his feet, holding the game high as if it were a trophy of war.
"BOBBY DRAKE, PREPARE THAT MACHINE IMMEDIATELY!" he roared with renewed energy. "TODAY RATH WILL TEACH YOU WHAT TRUE SAIYAN POWER IS… OR AN APPOPLEXIAN WITH A CONTROLLER IN HIS HANDS!"
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Hello. How are you all doing?
I hope you're well. We'll leave it here for now. The young students have begun interacting with our hero in a more relaxed and comfortable setting, enjoying a moment of peace and quiet.
Rath is gradually revealing himself more and more, and this, combined with his inability to keep his mouth shut, means he's letting slip things our hero wouldn't mention so casually.
Anyway, in the next few chapters, we'll see how the transformation progresses, how he encounters other interesting characters...maybe even a fight or two, hehe, who knows?
As always, thank you so much for your support and comments, I really appreciate them.
Take care, kisses :)