14 Getting Involved

Anna's small figure was made to look even smaller when in front of Jennifer's 6'6" athletic one. But underneath Anna's baggy clothes, I could tell that there was a pretty athletic body.

Not that it mattered when you're up against the She-Hulk, but oh well, I'm trying to make myself feel better about this matchup, okay?

Anna slowly got into a combat stance which looked a bit sloppy - I'd have to train that out of her - but other than that, she didn't look at Jennifer with any kind of fear, which surprised me just as much as it did Jennifer.

"You ready, pipsqueak?" Jennifer jeered at Anna but got no reply so she rushed at her. Not using all her speed and strength but also not underestimating the newbie. She didn't want to end up like Luke after all.

Despite all her strength, Jennifer was limited in terms of speed just like I was. We could improve our strength and therefore our speed but we'd never be outright as quick as a speedster like Quicksilver. Not that it was too big a disadvantage to me, however, as my reaction speed and reflexes could catch Quicksilver for me when he tries to attack me.

But for Jennifer, all she has is strength and durability. I'm sure she has pretty good reflexes when she's angry enough but that defies the point; She'd probably be too angry to act on those reflexes in a good way.

Anyway, back to the fight, Jennifer threw a sloppy punch at Anna. She didn't use a lot of her strength as she didn't want to eviscerate Anna as she was a pretty normal human being without her Mutant Power active.

Anna ducked under the punch to everyone's surprise. Well, everyone but me. Anna grabbed the wrist of Jennifer and using her bulk against her, flipped her over her shoulder and slammed her into the floor.

The massive green woman had wide eyes as she looked up at Anna who had a small smile on her face. She even glanced over at me, to see what I was thinking.

To reassure her, I smiled and put a thumbs up. You'd have thought I gave her a million dollars by the wide smile on her face.

Anna quickly focused herself, however, and took off one of her gloves before gripping Jennifer's wrist once again.

At first, Jennifer was on the floor doing nothing because she was stunned that such a small girl had flipped her. She knew she'd made the same mistake as Luke and severely underestimated her opponent.

But as soon as Anna's bare skin touched her, she felt paralyzed and her strength started to leave her body.

Jennifer's green eyes looked at Anna who was slowly going green herself as if mimicking her abilities...as if she were stealing her abilities...!

A growl of anger came from Jennifer's throat and she started to slowly stand up despite her weakening state. Her body was being fueled by the anger from having her powers stolen.

The weakening of her body was slowly coming to an end and replacing it was a surge of strength.

Anna saw this and couldn't help but widen her eyes in slight fear. No one had been able to resist her powers like this. But as I watched, I couldn't help but shake my head.

Number one rule when dealing with a Hulk? Don't get them angry, just knock them out as soon as possible with maximum force. And if you can't do that? Just leave them alone.

I slowly tensed my muscles, knowing I might have to come in and help Anna if Jennifer gets too angry. I know the teachers could help as well, in fact, The Thing is probably the best person to force the She-Hulk to calm down. The dude's a fortress that can walk.

But I doubt he'd be quick enough to intervene.

I summoned my divine tattoos on my legs only, knowing I'd need a speed boost if I wanted to properly help.

"You're stealing MY powers?" Jennifer's voice was slightly distorted by her anger and her eyes were now luminescent, "You b*tch!" Jennifer broke free of Anna's grip before backhanding her with her massive strength.

Unlike what she was expecting, Anna only slid back to the edge of the arena before she forcibly stopped herself.

Anna turned her head toward Jennifer before wiping some blood off her lip.

Seeing her casual attitude made me smile, she just kept getting better.

Without waiting for anything else, the two of them charged at each other. Anna had grown an inch or two and her skin was a light green. Her normal emerald eyes were now shining with slight anger. Her baggy clothes were also a bit more filled by her body.

Instantly they met each other, like two charging elephants their clash resulted in a massive thud of flesh hitting flesh.

The two of them grabbed the hands of the other and started pushing one another. Anna continued to absorb the power, while Jennifer's power just kept crawling higher due to her anger.

Jennifer brought the stalemate to an end when she pulled Anna toward her and brought her knee up into Anna's gut.

Anna wasn't used to the abilities she'd stolen and was pulled straight into the knee. The air was forcibly pushed out of her lungs. But she pushed through it and released one of Jennifer's hands before throwing a hook at Jennifer's jaw.

The resulting bang from the fist even made me flinch a little as I saw Jennifer's head slap to the side like a lifeless fish.

But it soon came back like a bloodthirsty shark and another dig of her knee blew Anna backward once again.

This time some blood came from Anna's mouth but she ignored it and ran back to Jennifer.

They exchanged fists and kicks, each one seemingly more vicious than the previous one. It was like watching two gorillas fight each other for supremacy; Animal-like, savage, and supreme strength ruled above everything else.

But slowly but surely, Anna was losing. The powers she'd absorbed were slowly leaving her and it wasn't helping that she was getting beaten at the same time which accelerated the process. Which then led to her getting overpowered even more. It was a vicious cycle.

*BANG!*

Suddenly, Jennifer sent a jab into Anna's face before following up with a massive uppercut which damn nearly knocked Anna out....and if it weren't for the sliver of Jennifer's powers she still had, she'd have died.

Seeing this I was already annoyed. Seeing a friend of mine getting hurt was just overall an uncomfortable experience, and seeing a cute girl getting beaten on was even more uncomfortable. Guess that's just the kind of person I am. Yep, totally no other reasons.

I was brought out of my thought process when I saw Anna's body hit the floor with a dull thud. She brought her head up and I saw her nose was pretty badly injured and her mouth was flooded with blood. All the green had left her skin and her body went back to its normal size.

She opened her mouth to forfeit but Jennifer didn't stop and pulled her fist back before letting loose another punch aimed right at Anna's head.

If it hit, her head would've blasted open like a watermelon.

Not that it'd hit as I'd charged onto the stage as soon as I saw what was happening. Ben did the same thing but he was still naturally slower than me. Though he was quicker than his bulky size and rocky exterior would have you think.

I entered the Burning State, the tattoos growing across my skin. Up my arms, across my chest before spreading down to my legs and up my neck and onto my face.

As the tattoos had fully awakened, I was to the side of Jennifer and Anna, so I put my fist out and caught Jennifer's furious punch.

Turbulent air spread out from the collision as a massive bang spread out and echoed off of the walls surrounding us.

A slightly demonic grin was on my face as I looked at Jennifer, "What the f*ck do you think you're doing?" my voice was steady but the underlying wrath within it was audible to everyone in the room.

Jennifer didn't answer me and she only grunted and tried to push her fist forward.

She was a lot stronger than I thought she was and her strength alone had reached about 95 tons. But it didn't matter as my base strength was higher than that and I was currently in my Burning State which added 30 tons at the minimum to my strength. So, in layman's terms - She was completely outmatched when it came to a contest of strength against me.

I clenched my hand around her fist, squeezing until I felt a small crack, "Calm down, Jennifer, you can have a crack at me another time...maybe even today, but you take another step forward and I'll take your head off your shoulders," my lines were simple, but the deadly threat was increasingly clear as Jennifer slowly calmed down, the green in her eyes fading off.

I let go of her hand and she quickly brought it to her chest, letting her healing factor tend to it.

Seeing this, I turned around to see Anna looking at me with dazed and glossed over eyes. She seemed to be seeing something in me but what she was seeing I had no clue.

I bent over and picked her up in a princess carry before walking back over the line and sitting down, placing her down on my lap.

By this point, Anna had come out of her daze and her face had gone completely red. It would've made her incredibly beautiful and delightful to look at if it weren't for the broken nose and bloody mouth.

"Before you try and move, Anna, let me heal you," I spoke gently and her face morphed from embarrassment to confusion.

I aligned my thumbs on her nose before quickly setting it right, which resulted in a small yelp of pain from Anna who glared at me. Seeing her glare I sheepishly smiled before summoning my Holy Fire element.

"If this hurt, Anna, tell me and I'll stop instantly, okay?" she didn't know what I was talking about but she still nodded her head.

I started channeling the energy into her body after making its properties positive. It wasn't boiling hot like it was in my body but instead felt warm, like the perfect bath. I took away all its offensive elements and enhanced the strength and potency of the healing effects with the Strength Force.

I'd learned how to do this through multiple testings on my self. I couldn't be sure it'd work on a Mutant like Anna but I made sure I was vigilant to stop anything bad from happening.

But from the look of pure comfort on Anna's face, and the content smile, I'm pretty sure nothing bad was happening.

Nonetheless, I still kept the Sage Force active and scanned through her body just in case.

And what I saw was the energy rushing through the body in a steady stream of healing. Healing both the injuries from the previous fight and also any hidden injuries she had in her body. Her nose completely healed within seconds and whatever was spilling blood into her mouth healed soon after her nose.

But seeing her look of comfort, I continued healing her. Something told me she needed this relaxation, that she couldn't get in her normal life.

After a while of watching the fights, I stopped the healing which caused Anna to open her eyes in displeasure and reluctance.

But she soon remembered where she was and instantly scooted off of my lap and onto the floor in front of me. She glared at me like I was some kind of criminal.

The glare, however, soon melted into a look of sadness but also of reprimand.

"What? Would you rather me not heal you?" a wolfish grin spread across my face as I looked at Anna. I wanted to cheer her up a little.

Anna looked at me, "You didn't need to step in at the end...you could have gotten hurt..." her voice faded off as she looked up at me with a guilty look.

I could only laugh at what she said which caused her to pout, but I answered her nonetheless, "Well, of course, I had to step in, even if I did get hurt. You're my friend, after all, and secondly, it takes a lot to hurt me, Anna, so don't worry about that~" I patted her head a little, like how Nat did to me when she saw me looking down when I thought about my lack of memories.

Anna just accepted the pats with a light blush on her face but a small smile nonetheless.

She really does remind me of a little kitten, what the hell is wrong with my mind!?

As I was undergoing a small mental reevaluation, I noticed a black-haired girl walking over to us. Her green eyes were filled with a guilty look.

I was instantly on guard as I knew this must be Jennifer out of her She-Hulk state. Even if she was sorry for what she did, I was still pretty pissed at her.

{A/N - For those who are wondering what Rogue/Anna looks like. Think of how she looks in X-Men Evolution (The animated show) but without the choker and the revealing clothing. She's more likely to wear baggy hoodies and sweaters, with skinny jeans or something similar in this fanfic because of how shy-ish she is. But if you want a more realistic look at what she looks like, check this link out: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Rogue_(Anna_Marie)_(Earth-616)?file=Astonishing_X-Men_Vol_4_1_Artgerm_Variant_Textless.jpg - its how I imagine her to be at least, just a bit younger.

Oh and if you're wondering why she didn't drain She-Hulk instantly, she's still a teen and hadn't fully gained control of her power. Nor can she use it to it's maximum effectiveness.

Anyway, a few people have been calling the fanfic boring lately, so I just wanna get across that this fanfic, right now, is focusing on expanding on Michael's character/personality and his relationships with other people in the story. I can't do instant fighting without you guys knowing who Michael is and how he reacts to certain things. That's just be a bit dumb.}