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| - Cloudless, star filled skies and a full moon, it's silver-white light shining down upon the seemingly peaceful jungle filled landscape of the Savage Land. It was almost a picturesque sight for anyone living there, a night any sensible person would have loved to sit back and relax. Such a night as this was what one young Neyaphem mutant always hoped for. Amethyst always loved the full moon nights the most during months, especially when it was cloudless since it allowed her to absorb more lunar energy faster and to just enjoy the sight of the large silver circle in the sky. Of course, as recommended by her field leader she wasn't alone. Lounging nearby was her half sister Carol who seemed to be enjoying the sight from the gigantic tree in which they sat upon, something quite common in the Savage Land and not far off with just a branch off to the side of them was Lance Bond, who's light snores could be heard. It seemed his own sight seeing was cut short, possibly since he was no doubt tired from the trek away from their base and climbing up soon after, next to it being decently late at night. A soft smile came to her face at seeing things were quite peaceful to say the least and her mismatched eyes returned to the silver-white circle above them, which brought much light to see quite a bit of ways out from where they were and she wasn't too worried since Carol could sense a decent number of feet to inform them if there was danger. Unfortunately, there was danger lurking about for the three young X-men in training. Two others crouched quietly on another of the trees in the area, remaining just out of range of Carol's telepathy of where she would have easily sensed them; this knowledge of course was known by her own brother who was one of those figures. The other happened to be Lance's own younger brother, Kicker. "What do you know, Jacob actually came through for once. Right in the same area too." Kicker said with a wicked grin coming to his face as Merrick gave a quick nod. "Yea, but the moment we try and attack close up the faster they'll know we're here. Her telepathy gives them a chance to coordinate silently, where we will have to coordinate outloud if we hope to have the advantage." Merrick pointed out as Kicker snorted, "That is why we attack from a distance, and you are the one who's going to draw their attentions away." "Yea, yea, I know, hold your horses." Merrick said as he was drawing his bow, already knocking three arrows in preparation to fire. It seemed the three X-traordinary X-men were blissfully unaware of the problems going on though, neither of them even having enhanced senses to realize it either. Releasing the three arrows Merrick watched as they flew through the air, his companion moving around to a new location as two arrows struck just below Amethyst and Carol, startling both so bad they nearly fell out of the tree but managed to keep their balance. Lance on the other hand felt the third arrow graze his arm, making him yelp in pain and losing his spot in the tree, making him scramble to have to grip it and hang there for a moment before swinging his body a few times to land on the branch below him. Blood though could already be seen slowly coming down, the wound stinging like he had been cut by a knife again in his criminal past. Nonetheless, it became clear to the three as they exchanged a glance that they may very well be under intentional attack, but it certainly wasn't by the natives. Carol used her tail to pull out the arrow beneath her, recognizing the make rather easily as her brother used such arrows of similar design when she had seen him train with archery before his disappearance some years before. "Well, so much for friendly competition." Carol said as she tossed the arrow away and tried to reach out towards her brother's mind, only finding several small critters and the occasional dinosaur wandering around. "Dang, he's just out of my range I...Ugh!" Carol was cut off as a sonic wave from Kicker blasted her and Amethyst forward with such force it sent the two Neyaphem teenagers far off into the brush, causing Lance to loose sight of the two. "Amethyst, Carol!" Lance called out, not recieving an answer after a few minutes before trying to project his thoughts outward. "Carol, speak to me! Are you two alright?" Lance tried to ask telepathically, hoping this might get some answers. "Agh, not so loud Lance. We're fine, just shaken and need a little bit to gather ourselves. But watch your back, that Soundwave kid might be around still." Carol managed to reply much to the slight relief of the young man. Unfortunately, he knew he had other things to be concerned about. "You know I'll admit, I was half hoping that arrow would hit it's mark. Then again, Merrick is no Hawkeye." A voice stated boredly, causing Lance to turn on the branch he now stood upon and look down in anger towards his long-lost brother, one he had since had faded into memory. "What exactly is it you want? If you have something against me then leave my friends out of this!" Lance growled furiously, waving his good hand to make steps of psionic ice which he jumped down to reach the ground and standing face to face with Kicker. "Oh that's easy enough. I want to get rid of you permanently in revenge, while my teammate over there wants to liberate his sister. You see Lance you might have forgotten but I haven't, especially not you big brother. I'm just here to return the favor to what you did to our family." Kicker said, his voice now getting a venomous edge to it that cause Lance to be quite shocked, practically speechless. He tried to rack his brain, to remember having a brother but at the moment he had nothing. Figured he didn't remember, which Kicker had expected but still found it annoying he couldn't even get some recognition for a face at least. "Allow me to refresh your memory." Kicker said, stomping his foot to send sound waves through the ground, causing a simulation of an earthquake that caused the older of the two Bonds to struggle to keep his balance, trying to concentrate as his eyes glowed an indigo color but he yelled as he was knocked off his feet, a jet of psionic water being hurtled in time to knock the younger of the two right off his feet, which shocked him Lance had had that time to create the energy to do so. While the unexpected family fued was waged the two young half sisters were getting their barrings, having finally been able to get on their feet after having the wind knocked out of them. "The X-treme X-men surely don't seem to understand the concept of "friendly" competition now do they." Amethyst said as she rubbed her head a bit, haivng hit it hard enough it gave her a small headache but at least nothing of a concussion thank god. "Yea, well, look at who their leader is. something tells me she takes the Summers guy's ideals pretty close to heart. That or there's something that Tempus woman is missing." Carol replied, lashing her tail in slight annoyance and wondering why the two were attacking them out of the blue. Already it was clear a fight was breaking out and getting intense between the brothers, least from the sounds of it. But Carol couldn't be sure. Besides they had someone else they had to deal with as well. Seemingly on cue at that moment Merrick finally came forward, seeing his sister wasn't seriously harmed but he could careless for their half sister who seemed to be fine as well. "Carol, seems your telepathy hasn't been serving you very well now has it." Merrick said, his tone slightly smug as electricity began to spark around his body, more so as a precaution if a fight ensued. Though there was some doubt either would fight back, as he knew his sister was more of a pacifist and Amethyst just seemed too shy to be much of a fighter. "Okay I might regret this but what exactly is it you want brother?" Carol asked as her and Amethyst tensed slightly at his arrival, and both becoming uneasy at the sparking they saw before them. "Easy answer: to liberate you from those sorry excuses of X-men. I know it's been a few years since we actually have been a family Carol, but come on. Are you really going to follow these guys, especially when they seek to protect those who hate us?" Merrick stated, trying to knock some sense into Carol who found this talk nonsense. "What kind of ridiculous nonsense do they feed you at that so called school of your's? We seek to show mutants are not all bad, but hard to do that when the likes of you and Cyclops' X-men keep making it difficult for us mutants to even walk the streets. Not to mention you seem to forget not all humans hate us." Amethyst immediately stepped in, making Carol somewhat relieved since she was somewhat reluctant to argue her brother's point. Though it didn't seem Amethyst's words sat well with Merrick. "And who exactly was asking you." Merrick stated before firing a concetrated beam of electricity towards their feet, causing the two to dodge to the side quickly. "Merrick this isn't necessary!" Carol tried to reason with him, coming to land in a half crouched position, "I know the humans have wronged us, they have with all mutants. But that doesn't mean they can learn." "Sounds like I'm too late already. If you want to talk about nonsense you should really hear yourself talking." Merrick said, looking quite disappointed since it seemed pretty clear his sister's decision was made. And to make it clear he was getting serious he flapped his glossy black wings and took flight towards the two, creating an electrical aura around his wings and moving at speeds the two girls couldn't dodge, being knocked off their feet and yelling as they were given some nasty shocks in the process before Merrick took flight above them. And still he was ready for more. Meanwhile, when it came to Lance's and Kicker's fight, the two brothers seemed to be able to go blow for blow with one another. No matter what construct Lance created out of the four psionic elements he could manipulate his younger brother, as he claimed to be, seemed to easily be able to counter with his sonokinesis. It was quite a sight to see as the two clashed and flashes of indigo and blue energy, the color of Kicker's visible sound wave attacks, almost dominating the area now. In their latest clash, the two were forced to separate again as Lance decided to try a more mental approach. "I didn't want to have to resort to this but I have no choice, Kicker." Lance said as he concentrated upon his younger brother's thoughts, making Kicker frown in thought of what was going on before he stiffened and grabbed his head, feeling his mind going numb it felt like. "Now that's dirt play, guess you haven't completely forgotten what it's like to be a true criminal." Kicker stated as he tried to ignore that numbness, finding his thoughts scattered and almost nonexistant...almost. Unlike others, Kicker did have some thoughts he could catch, even if it was a small one. Or in other words he could still piece together small thoughts to create a bigger one. "Perhaps, but this is becoming meaningless. I still fail to see why you take revenge on me when it was our family, our past generations that brought us that fate. What I did...it wasn't intentional but I take full responsibility, it's why I'm here." lance tried to explain, taking a few steps forward as he stopped the concentration, thinking Kicker was finally done for. "Your lying." Kicker said angrily as his eyes glowed a bright blue as he lunged at his brother. The sudden rush shocked Lance, realizing his power really had only a small affect upon his enemy X-man and reflex he errected a psionic lightning barrier around himself just moments before Kicker collided with it full force, the collision sending out a shockwave followed by a bright flash of blue and indigo that lit up a small radius and enough to blind those watching. That collision was enough to shake the very ground, causing even the fueding neyaphem family at a distance to nearly stumble off their feet. Just before this occurred, the two sisters had been struggling to fight off Merrick, having to rely on their greater acrobatic skills to dodge and confuse the older sibing of their's. Once or twice this tactic had worked enough Amethyst was able to strike him with a few concussive blasts but he quickly came back for more. Merrick wasn't ready to give up this fight despite him being in obvious pain and slowly tiring with using his flight and Electrokinesis powers. Clearly though, he had underestimated his younger sister who didn't need to fight to show she wasn't helpless. "Okay this is getting us no where, time to show him what a little sibling bonding can do." Carol said as Amethyst gave an agreeing nod. Just as Merrick looped in the air to make another pass, hopefully his final one, Carol saw her chance as she concentrated on both him and Amethyst simutaneously as she served to be more of a distraction then anything. It seemed out of no where Merrick yelled in shock and pain, feeling as if his mind was being literally stabbed by a non-existant dagger, one that easily caused him to completely loose all thought and try to defend himself. But it was too late to attempt a countermeasure as Amethyst charged up a beam of lunar energy from both hands, one of which seemed twice as strong as before thanks to a little mental nudge from Carol's neural jumpstart. When satisfied with it's power Amethyst unleashed the beam to blast Merrick clear out of the sky, sending him flying far into the brush and the two hearing a distant thud. "How was that?" Amethyst finally asked, panting slightly as she too was drained, as was Carol who tried to get a mental check upon her brother's condition, but finding him not having much of a single thought going on. "Seems he's finally down for the count. But I recommend we leave while we can, another round like that we might as well start calling for some back up." Carol said as Amethyst couldn't agree more as the two hurried off to find Lance, both praying he was alright. But much to their shock when they arrived they came upon a crater of where the brother's had collided, their enegies having created a crater of several feet in diameter and at least five feet down into the ground while the two lied panting on either side, having been thrown back at a distance. "Lance, are you okay?" Amethyst inquired, the two hurrying on either side of him and taking each arm over their shoulders to support him, "I've seen better nights ladies. I barely have the strength to stand, more or less to focus properly." Lance explained to them, his tone tired and weak and making the two somewhat concerned. "Let's get the hell out of here, before he finishes recovering." Lance added, having noticed his so called brother having created a shell or cacoon of some kind of the sound energy, and he didn't like to think of what that would do. Without saying another word the three young X-men quickly, or as quickly as their tired bodies would move, headed back towards their base, which luckily wasn't too far off. Kicker in the meantime used his sonokinetic healing shell to give himself a boost and heal a majority of the wounds he sustained, mostly thanks to the acceleration of the cells that included the natural healing process. By the time he was slowly back on his feet though his adversary was gone, but it was clear his power didn't affect his brother as it would have with most. Which had been the same result for Lance. Shaking his head and looking in quite the bad mood for having failed his mission Kicker moved to find his companion, eventually coming across the unconscious form of Merrick who had seen better days himself. "Next time, we'll try switching opponents." He said out loud to himself, heaving the red furred neyaphem over his back and making the long trek back towards their own base. Though it was quite clear revenge burned even more hotly inside the young man, and the ever growing desire to rid the world of his older brother for good.
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