Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 04:07:13 -0500 From: Dash Jarrod Subject: force of one 17 Disclaimer: The characters of the X-men belong to Marvel comics. I do not know the sexual preferences of any of the characters herein except for those I made up. This story is complete fiction; any resemblance to real life is sheer coincidence. I do not know any celebrity that may be included in this story may or may not be gay. I also do not personally know any of the celebrities. If you are under 18, please don't read any further. I thank my friends Dustin and Alex for allowing me to make them into characters. Also thanks to all of you who have written me about my story. I have enjoyed writing it; I just hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much. After what seemed like an incredibly short flight, although it was in fact many hours long, we finally landed in Japan. Since Xang wasn't old enough to drive, I had to rent the car. The reasoning behind this was because his grandfather's dojo was a good hours drive away. Once we got there, I had a long chat with Xang's grandfather. I, of course, had to double-check what Xang told me on the flight over here. After a brief introduction by Xang, I started to do my checking. Even though I knew it was presumptuous to ask, I asked, "Sensei, what type of martial arts do you teach?" "I teach no specific type, the style I teach is a mixture of all of them." "Cool. Do you teach people how to make their mind and body one?" "Why yes I do. I don't think anyone has ever wanted to know that right off the bat. Why do you want to know?" "I have my reasons. But it's very important that I learn how to make my mind and body one. In fact, my life may depend on it." "Interesting. Do you want to disclose why your life may depend on it or is that too personal to share at the moment." "I'm afraid it's too personal to share. In time I may be able to share it but it will depend on how well I get to know all of your pupils." "Ok. I will respect your privacy. Most people who study the martial arts do so because they need to learn how to protect themselves but I have a feeling you don't need help in that way what so ever. In fact, I sense great power in you Matthew." "How are you able to sense power in people? Do you have power of your own or are you just able to see their aura's?" "I have been in the martial arts my whole life. I know enough about chi and auras to be able to see power in people." "Cool. If you don't mind, I would like to train under you to learn what I can." "I don't mind at all. Actually, I would be glad to take you on as a pupil." With that, I started my training in the martial arts. He started me off with all of the basic stuff, like how to properly throw a punch and how to block. As time went on, I got into the more advanced stuff. I know that he was very surprised at how fast I was learning everything. I was the fastest pupil he had ever had. I think that he thought it was do to the power that I had in myself. Although, I just learn things really fast anymore. He even told me that I was the best student he has ever had because of how quickly I am picking up the most advanced martial arts. In a matter of a couple of months, I was learning the basics that were necessary to make my mind and body one. My sensei said that it would take me a couple more months to completely make them one. I had absolutely no problem with spending a couple more months here because I was learning so much and spending time in a culture that I have always respected. In fact, he allowed me to make my own patch to make my gee unique. I ended up making a yin-yang of sorts. Except for the fact that there weren't the little circles in each side representing the little bit of evil in good and the little bit of good in evil. I made it so that there was an eagle on one side of the circle and a wolf on the other. As afterthought, I put a flying dragon going around the circle to make it complete. As I was learning how to make my mind and body one, time was flying by. Although, that wasn't the only thing I was learning at the time. I was also learning advanced kata. These kata were involving weapons of all sorts, from swords to daggers to sai. -SIX MONTHS LATER- One non-descript day during my martial arts training, many sentinels attacked the dojo I was in. The first wave of the attack was easy for me to take care of. There was only one problem with my taking care of the threat to myself; I showed everyone that I was a mutant. Luckily, none of them thought anything of it. I knew there was one problem with this attack though. I say this because I hadn't actively used my powers since I got here. Although, whenever I did my meditation, I did subconsciously use my telepathy and telekinesis. Thus, since I haven't used my powers, someone who knew I was here, intercepted one of my numerous emails to or from Bobby, or figured out I was here sent those robots. Anyway, the first few waves of the attack were easy to take out. But, as time went on, the sentinels started to stay out of reach of my hands. When they did this, I had to rely on my telekinesis and my control over magnetism, not that that is a problem. It ended up taking me a couple of hours for me to destroy all of the sentinels that were sent my way. After the attack was over, I had this sudden urge to just throw my hands in the air. I have no clue what made me do that, but the urge was just too overwhelming. As soon as I put my arms above my head, the strangest thing happened. What happened was a beam of pure psychic energy as large as my body erupted from me. When it happened, I couldn't move. -PROFESSOR XAVIER'S VIEW- Every once in a while, I take the time to see what Matthew is up to. Now, with how thick his mental barriers are, I cannot actually enter his mind to get first hand knowledge from him. But I can enter the minds of the people around him. One day, I decided to check on him and I saw him using his powers heavily. That is bad because he hasn't used his powers at all since he got there. I then decided to expand my mind a little and sensed a dozen sentinels attacking him. As soon as I sensed this, I got the X-Men and Matthew's team together to go help him out if he hasn't already taken care of all of them when we get there. Once we were en route, I used cerebro to check on his progress and see that he has taken out the first wave of the attack already. Once I see this, I look around at all of the X-Men that surround me and I smile. During the ride there, I checked in on him every couple of minutes to see how the battle was going. He was doing extremely well against such a number of sentinels. I, of course, told Bobby this so he wouldn't worry too much about his beloved. Although, after the battle was over, I sensed Matthew doing something extremely weird. He seemed to send out this strong beam of pure psychic energy so that Jean and I could sense it here. I think that every telepath could sense it, it was that strong. I must say though, that I have never witnessed something so extraordinary before. By the time we set down, it had been about four hours since the beginning of the battle. This also means that he has been emitting this beam for about two hours. I don't want anyone to get close enough to him because they might get hurt. I call Jean to myself so that we might be able to enter his mind together. We are able to do this but we find no way to get him to turn off the power. It is then that I call Bobby over to us telepathically. I do this because he might be the only one that can get close enough to him without getting hurt. This is because Matthew loves him so much that he would never hurt him. Anyway, when Bobby got close enough to see his face, he got Matthew to look at him. Then he did something that I didn't think was probably appropriate but it worked. The kiss that Bobbby gave him broke the psychic beam. Everyone around was glad that the whole ordeal was over with. After all that Matthew had been through, his sensei said it was time for him to go home and live his life. Matthew thanked him and said that he would stay in touch and maybe even come back to visit at some point in the future. Thankfully, he was able to learn all he could before the attack began. I think this is possible because of his unbelievable learning speed. -MATTHEW'S VIEW DURING THE PSYCHIC ENERGY BEAM- I don't know what I should do about what is happening. I don't think I can stop it by myself. Unfortunately, the only people I would trust to help me deal with something like this are half a world away. I didn't even know something like what is happening was possible. I guess anything is possible at this stage in my life. All I know is that this psychic energy beam can probably be felt all across the world by any telepath. It doesn't even matter if they are only slightly telepathic; I still think they can feel it. If what I think is correct, Jean and Professor X. should be able to feel it and find where it is coming from. I hope they find me soon because I don't foresee the beam ending anytime soon. Standing there frozen like I was for an hour seemed like an eternity. It was at this time that I sensed Professor Xavier coming toward me at an alarming rate. I figured that he had sensed the attack and had gathered up the X-Men and maybe even my team to come and help me out. I am definitely glad that the professor worries about me even when I am not at the school physically. I don't think I will ever be away from the school mentally anymore. As I thought about it, I could sense just about every mutant on the planet at the moment. This was a weird feeling because I have never been able to sense every mind before. Not even when I was using the original cerebro was I able to do this because I wasn't trying to do it then. Since I was too worried about what was happening to me at the moment to concentrate on the fact that I could sense every mutant mind on the planet, I couldn't contact Professor X. or Jean to ask for their help. Even with all of my power, I don't think this should have happened, unless, someone gave me their power as well. Although, I don't think there is anyone who is able to do that. After another hour, I was getting really tired. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I was standing out in the sunlight. It's a good thing that I was able to absorb the heat from the sun in order to fuel my pyrokinesis or I would have been burned out and I don't know what would have happened to me if I had collapsed. It was at this time that II felt all of my friends from the school approach but not get too close. This was probably a good thing because I don't know if they would have gotten hurt or not. Not too long after they got close by, I felt both Professor Xavier and Jean enter my mind together. I think they did it this way was because neither of them could enter my mind alone anymore. I felt them searching through my mind for anything that might give them knowledge on how to shut down what is going on, but finding none, they resorted to another method. The method they used then was to send in Bobby. They did this because Professor X. knew that I would never hurt my love. When Bobby was right next to me, he took my head in his hand and turned it so I was looking right at his eyes. The look on his face was one of extreme worry and concern. What he did next wasn't probably the smartest move on his part but he followed his instincts. He ended up kissing me in front of every person who was there, both those who knew we were an item and those who had no clue. Not that I minded of course. His bizarre act was the only thing that seemed to be able to end the beam, although I don't know how it worked. After it was all over, my sensei came over to me and told me that it was time for me to head back home to my normal life. He said that I had learned all I needed to. I was glad to be heading home with my family. Yes, they were indeed my family now; I wouldn't trade a single one of them ever. -BACK AT THE MANSION- When I got back, everyone expressed his or her gladness that I was actually back. Everyone had heard about my leaving and the reason behind it. Although, I think only a couple of people had actually heard my goodbye the morning I left. Surprisingly, I was allowed back in the school with no problem what so ever. Of course, Professor Xavier wanted to hear why I went over there come out of my mouth, even though he had heard it from Bobby and read it in my letter to Bobby. Since I had been expecting this, I was prepared to give my statement. I stated, "I went over to Japan because of what I found during my research in the library." "What were you researching in the first place?" "I was researching ways to make one's mind and body one. I did this because it was the only way that I could think of to get control over my pyrokinesis once and for all." "Why didn't you go to me or Jean to get help in this area? Didn't you think that we could help?" "It's not that professor. I just needed to handle this one on my own. If I weren't able to handle a problem on my own, I would have probably cracked. The reason I say this is because I don't want to always rely on a team to help me out. Not that there is anything wrong with relying on a team to help sort out a problem." "I see. I actually agree that it is sometimes best to handle a situation by yourself. It helps to give definition to who you are. If you can't do something by yourself, then how are you supposed to do it with help from other people?" "I'm glad that we see eye to eye on this topic Professor X. I was kind of worried that you wouldn't allow me back into the school for leaving like that and not coming to you first with my problem." "You needn't have worried my boy. Although, I would require an explanation like you just gave, I would never keep you out of the school for something like this. It was something you had to do. I just hope it worked in the long run." "I think it will work in the long run. I will just have to see if my pyrokinesis will evolve again. But for right now, I have complete control over every one of my powers." "I'm glad to hear that you didn't lose any knowledge you had concerning your powers. It would have been tedious to re-teach you everything you had already learned." With that, I was allowed to return to my normal schedule. All of my teachers got one of my fellow students from each class to catch me up on what I missed during my absence. As it turned out, Andrew was the student for each of the classes that he was in of mine. Not that I am complaining because it's always nice to spend time with friends. Of course, everyone was curious about what all I learned during my time in Japan. To answer this question, I gave a demonstration. During this demonstration, I did every kata I knew that didn't involve weapons. The reason I did this is because I don't own any weapons other than what my mind can do, which in of itself is a weapon. After I was done with all the kata I knew, I asked Jake if he would like to spar for the second part of my demonstration. Seeing as Jake loves to spar, he agreed without any hesitation what so ever. Once everyone was gathered around where we were getting ready to spar, the match began. I didn't want to do it in a ring because nobody gets into fights in rings except when you want to box. Anyway, when everyone was in a vantage point to see what was going whether through their powers or for sitting right up to where I would let them, we began to fight. I think I surprised Jake by actually being much better than he thought I would be even with the training I have had. With my training, I am as good at fighting as he is, I just don't have his mutation to help me win my fights. I actually was able to counter most of what Jake was throwing at me, which stunned most of the crowd because Jake was almost invincible in hand-to-hand combat. But in the end, Jake won out because of his mutation and his experience. But I have a feeling that when I am used to fighting like this, I will be able to at least tie him if not beat him. Although if he continues to get stronger like I am, the resultant fight between us should prove to be an interesting one. Once we were done sparring, we hugged and left chatting on the way back to the mansion. As we were walking and chatting, I sent a telepathic message to Bobby and Aaron saying, "Would you meet us in our room Bobby? Jake and I have to go get showered and cleaned up from our match. We will see you there in a couple of minutes." "Sure, no problem. We will be waiting expectantly to hear all about Japan and it's culture." "That's fine, I will fill you in when we get there." After our quick showers and getting dressed in the sweats that are in our lockers, we headed for my room. It will feel so nice to sleep in my own room again. On the way there, Jake couldn't help but ask about Japan. I, of course, told him to wait considering the other two members of my team were waiting to hear about it as well. Once there and everyone was seated, I started to tell my story. I started from the beginning saying, "When I first found out that I could die because of my pyrokinesis, I just sort of shut down. Now, I didn't shut down long enough for anyone to notice really. I was back to being somewhat active the following day. That day, I headed to the library to do some research. I researched what I thought would help me deal with these further mutations of my pyrokinesis. And what I thought would help was being able to make my mind and body one. Of course, the only thing I could find that would allow me to do this was advanced martial arts in their purest form. After I discovered this I had to go to dinner because I had been in the library all day and I knew Bobby would be worrying about me. But at dinner, even though I put a very convincing façade, Bobby knew something was wrong that I wasn't showing. That night, I told him what I was told the night before. To say the least, he was upset but then I told him that they weren't even sure I would die and that I would probably just continue to handle the amount of power that was coursing through my body. That night we slept together in the same bed to comfort each other. The next morning, I woke up early and went to the library again to pick up where I left off the day before in my research. I found out that day that I would have to go to Asia to learn these pure martial arts. It was also at this time that I decided that I would take a little journey and learn how to make my mind and body one. I even wrote out my schedule for the following week to see what day it would be easiest for me to sneak out of the school because I didn't feel like having anyone try to talk me out of it. I decided that it was to be Wednesday, which is why I schedule the Monday afternoon workout in the danger room. I also had us do the exercises with only three people to prepare you in case I would end up dying eventually. The Tuesday before I left was spent as normally as possible because I had to see the people I was leaving unguarded slightly and then I headed to the danger room to get in one last workout with my powers because I didn't plan on using them once I got to Japan." "You kept all this planning from me?" "I'm sorry for that. But it was the only way for me to be able to sneak out of the school. I knew that you would be the strongest voice other than the professor and Jean to try and convince me to stay. You don't know how many times in that half-week I wanted to tell you what I was doing, I just couldn't do it and still leave. I needed it to be as much of a surprise to you as it was to everyone else so that you couldn't be blamed for not trying to get me to stay." "Ok. I guess I understand the reasoning behind your actions but from now on, you better tell me everything." "Deal. That was the only thing that I ever wanted to keep from you, honest." "I will keep you to your word Matthew." "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the morning I was planning to leave, I got up early as I had been doing the past couple of days and started to leave the room when I thought I should write Bobby a letter stating what I was doing and why. I'm sure that you have seen the letter or at least heard of it. After I left the letter on his bedside table, I headed for the door. But, of course, before I could just walk out the door to the taxi that was waiting for me, I had to search the school to see if Professor Xavier or Jean were up. Seeing as they weren't, which was lucky for me, I started on my journey. Once outside the gates to the property, I sent a telepathic goodbye to the entire school." "I knew I heard you say goodbye when you left, I just wasn't sure if I was imagining it or not." "Yes, you heard me Aaron. As soon as that message was sent though, I went into my mind and pulled all of my powers into myself to prevent some people from telling that I am a mutant. Once I had eaten breakfast at that little restaurant we ate at the day before Bobby, I started to walk to the airport. But I didn't get very far because there was this scoundrel attacking this little boy. Now, being me, I couldn't just walk by and let this happen so I had to do something. I used my telepathy to get his attention and to tell the boy to run, my telekinesis to keep him away from me, and my pyrokinesis to cover my hands in flame to scare him away. After all of this was done, I had to telepathically freeze him so that he couldn't get away because he was trying. I kept him this way until Xang and I got him to the police station. Once we were right in front of the station and about to enter it, I unfroze him so that he would be active when we brought him inside. We actually did the community a favor by bringing in this guy because he had attacked other little kids and gotten away with it because nobody could catch the guy. Seeing how they were interested in catching the guy, they gave Xang and I the reward money that the parents of one of the victims were putting up. Anyway, as it turned out, Xang was headed back to Japan on the same flight I was and that his grandfather owned a dojo. As to repay the kindness that I showed him, he got me to his grandfather's dojo and got me to get taught by him. Seeing as you saw what I learned, I don't have to explain that really. That is, of course, except for the weapons I learned how to use. I learned how to use swords, bows, nunchucks, sai, throwing stars, and daggers. All of these weapons I am efficient in using now. But the day I was basically done learning martial arts, even if I didn't know it yet, was the day that those sentinels randomly attacked. I don't know how they knew I was there or anything like that because I hadn't actively used my powers since I got to Japan, but I slowly started to take each and every one out. The first wave of the attack was easy, the second was just slightly more difficult, but the third wave was the hardest because they were staying outside the range of my hands. Somehow, they learned not to come within a few feet of me. It was then that I had to rely on my telekinesis and control over magnetism. It's a good thing that I knew how to control all of my powers before I went over there. Once the last sentinel was destroyed, I had this sudden urge to just put my arms above my head. Once I had done this, the beam of psychic energy that you saw came rushing out of me and continued until you kissed me Bobby." "I can't believe you went through so much to be able to make your body and mind one Matt. Any normal person would have given up when they heard the news. All of us are glad that you made it out safe though. We all love you and would never want you to go away. So, don't go away again." "Trust me guys, I have no plans on ever leaving again." With that done, we split up to get to bed considering it had been a long day, especially for me. That night, I asked Bobby to sleep in my bed again so that I would know that he was there for me, even though I knew he always would be. After a quick kiss, we both fell asleep in each other's arms. Well, that is it for another chapter. I would appreciate some feedback from you this time, so please send me some emails. The more emails I get, the sooner the next chapter will be written and posted. You can send criticism or praise, either is acceptable to me. My email address is djminf@hotmail.com. Also, my screen name for AIM is spdyeagl. If you want to give me feedback that way, I am all for that. Thanks