Chapter 315 - My SI Stash #15 - A Marvelous, Legendary Isekai journey by FrancoGamerxz (MCU)

-Recently uploaded MCU SI Fic~ Even though the dialogue sometimes is quite forced, it truly still has potential and I really hope that the author doesn't ruin the story by limiting and nerfing our MC! It won't take much to get ridiculously OP after a few chapters with this cheat/ lol you'll get what I mean.

Synopsis: ???

Rated: M

Words: 22K

Posted on: forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/a-marvelous-legendary-isekai-journey-marvel.12193/ (FrancoGamerxz)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1-2 (exceptional)

The universe wants to kill me.

I am not being facetious, nor am I employing a metaphor, or setting up a punchline. I legitimately believe that the universe is trying to kill me.

The first event to occur that likely led to me ultimately growing up with this belief was the time when I, as an 8 year old, almost got ran over by a truck. I was minding my own business, walking home from school, when I reached an intersection.

The streets were conspicuously absent, despite the fact that kids had been let off from school already, which should have led to a higher amount of foot traffic. I can see in hindsight how that is very suspicious and should have led to me being careful, maybe even paranoid, but my kid self was way too oblivious and unaware.

I reached an intersection that was usually jam-packed with all sorts of cars, big and small, yet was conspicuously empty that day. Despite the fact that the streets were empty, I still pressed the button to turn the traffic lights red, and waited until the pedestrian lights turned green.

I took two steps forward, intent on crossing the utterly empty street, when a piece of candy fell off of my pocket. I took two steps back to pick it up...

FUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHMMMMMMM!

And barely survived the massive 18-wheeler that suddenly blazed down the previously-empty street, so close to me that the wind from it ruffled my hair and clothes.

It also led to me pissing myself, and I am not at all embarrassed to admit it.

After calming down, I reached the closest payphone available, called my mom so she could pick me up, and get some extra-tight hugs and a juice box after having told mom what happened. She also decided that she'd be picking me up from school every day from then on.

The second time I almost died I was 12. Me and my family had gone to the beach, and we were enjoying ourselves. Mom was tanning alongside my older sister, while dad and my two younger sisters were building sand castles.

I was feeling thirsty, so I asked my mom for some change, putting on my flip-flops and heading out towards a vending machine. After my first near-death, I gained the habit of looking both ways before crossing. It became sort of a compulsive thing, and I did it even while walking across tiny alleyways that couldn't fit a small car, much less an 18-wheeler.

I reached an empty road, and I saw a vending machine staring at me from the other side, taunting me with a can of my favorite drink. I looked both ways - several times - before deciding that it was safe enough to cross.

As I was about to step onto the road, one of my flip-flops' straps broke, getting a groan out of me and causing me to kneel down to check it out.

It's the only reason why I didn't get squished flat by a speeding truck that came out of absolutely nowhere, making no noise, despite the fact that it was little more than a blur to the n.a.k.e.d eye from how fast it was going. Utterly terrified, I decided to turn back and rejoin my family. I asked around for a bit, but literally no-one else saw or even heard the truck. I never told my parents about this, as I didn't want to worry them, but the thought that the universe was out to get me was really starting to etch itself into my mind.

The third time happened when I was a bit older, at 14 years of age. I had gone to a friend's birthday, and us boys were on their yard, playing some ball, until somebody threw too hard and it rolled into the middle of the totally empty road. All of the other boys refused to go, citing it as my responsibility since I was the one who should have grabbed the ball, forcing me to go out to take the ball. I did my ritual of looking both ways over fifteen times all the while focusing my hearing as much as possible to figure out if there was anything coming, but I saw nothing. I was about to slowly walk into the road, when the sudden appearance of a squirrel next to me startled me for a moment.

That moment was enough for me to barely survive another run-in with a speeding truck.

At that moment, the idea that some universal force was out for my blood had carved itself into my very soul. I started avoiding being outside as much as possible, my previous group of friends shrinking, and then eventually disappearing altogether as I refused to leave my place for anything other than my obligations, things such as school, family gatherings, the works.

The lack of companionship and physical activity, however, led to a whole different problem: I was bored as all hell.

My boredom led to me going on the internet and searching for was to entertain myself, which I succeeded in accomplishing. I already had a passing appreciation for comics, movies, cartoons, anime and manga, but being locked inside out of fear for my very life left me with very little to do, so I got into those hobbies.

I was hooked.

I sunk deeply into the world of that type of media, and I whenever I wasn't doing school-related stuff or dealing with my family pestering me to go out, I was either reading comics, manga, watching anime, cartoons, or going on the internet and getting into arguments with fellow keyboard warriors about why 'character x' could totally kick 'character y' into the stratosphere.

Of course, consuming that content also left me aware of the fact that some being, somewhere, was trying their absolute best to Isekai the shit out of me. It seemed to not want to involve other people, though, and it only ever kicked in on public places and roads, so I felt safe within my house, or whenever I was in the company of others.

By now I had reached 16 years of age, and I had avoided any further attempts on my life by Truck-kun, so I was pretty much feeling golden. Was.

It was all very surprising, how it happened. One moment I was sitting down in front of my computer screen, re-watching Dragon Ball Super: Broly for the nth time with a pack of snacks in hand, the next one I had my hands grasping at my throat as I gasped for air.

I was alone at home, since my parents were both at work while my sisters were out with their friends, so I that was an avenue of survival down. I tried reaching over for the phone on my desk, only for my grasping hand to jerk, causing it to slip away from me and fall out of view.

My body fell backwards off of my chair, leaving me rolling around a bit on the ground, all the while trying my best to breathe, but I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker, black creeping into the edges of my vision bit by bit.

The last thing I saw was the box of snacks I had been absentmindedly eating.

'Truckload Snacks' the box said, the image of a happy little truck with a face in the vein of something like Thomas the Tank Engine staring back at me, the innocent smile seeming particularly sinister from the angle I was at.

As my eyes drifted close, I had not but one last thought.

'Well played, universe. Well played.'

I felt my eyes snap open, a deep gasp of breath filling my lungs after what felt like an eternity of choking. I allowed myself to indulge in the sweet, delicious oxygen for quite a while, before my brain finally decided to take stock of where I was.

It was an all-white room, with a white desk in the middle, with a white chair behind it, white bookshelves with white books in them, a white ceiling fan, and white potted plants.

I was dead. That was an undeniable fact, so I decided to not allow myself to panic too much over it. Well, maybe my death was just too fresh, and I was in shock, so I didn't react as appropriate to the fact that I was dead.

Regardless of whatever the reason I am still calm is, I can say with full honestly that I am glad this office I was in felt cool, like an Air conditioning unit was working at a reasonable setting. If I had woken up feeling a sweltering heat, I'm sure that not even shock would have stopped me from freaking out.

I hadn't ever done anything 'evil', but I had a very... Questionable, let us say, search history, and you never know if god really doesn't want you to... Self-gratify.

"I don't mind it either way whether you wank one or not, really. If I didn't want you doing it, I wouldn't have given you the feature."

My eyes widened in shock - which likely meant that I previously was not shocked, but had instead managed to stay calm out of my own volition, which made me feel better, I guess - at the sudden appearance of a transparent silhouette that I could somehow still make out in this office of eye-burning white hues. I opened my mouth, intending to ask a question, only for the voice to speak up first.

"Yes, you're dead, no, I won't tell you the meaning of life. The reason as to why bad things happen is because of free will. Now that the big ones are out of the way, feel free to speak up."

"Why did you kill me?"

God seemed to wince, and I could somehow notice that despite the fact God was a transparent figure, which translated into view like if someone had penciled a few thin lines into the air in the general outline of a human being, but forgot to fill in the details.

"Well... I didn't actually kill you."

I fixed a stare on God and c.o.c.ked an eyebrow, getting another wince from them, before they spoke again.

"Well, what happened was that I had to sort out some of my systems up here, which meant that I was fiddling with the settings of the universe you live in. It seems that I accidentally activated the 'Isekai' protocol, and it chose you as the designated target. The sheer fact that the system failed so many times to claim you was proof of how much I bungled up my system's guts back then. You weren't really supposed to die this early, so... Sorry, I guess?"

I stared at God in open-mouthed shock. All along I though that some jerk-ass entity was trying to off me in order to toss me into another world, when in reality it was simply a bug in God's system that led to me living the life I lived. I mean, I won't say that my life was too bad, I did get to enjoy a lot of content that I considered fun and entertaining, but... It just didn't feel fair. There's so much more that I could have done if I hadn't died, or if I hadn't even been forced into the Otaku life I had been.

I felt completely cheated.

"I feel completely cheated."

And I didn't hesitate to say so.

God winced again, before speaking.

"I know what you're going to ask next, but unfortunately the answer is no. Your universe has death as a one-way trip as its default settings, and, well... It was me fiddling with settings that got us here in the first place. If a minor change led to the universe attempting to Truck-kun you as it did, imagine what could happen if I screwed up as I reprogrammed Death.

"However... Since you've gotten here through the Isekai protocol, or at least due to it escalating ridiculously as it did, I guess you can truly get that Isekai."

My incredulous stare turned into an indignant glare, which prompted God to speak again.

"I know that it isn't really enough to make up for what happened to you, so... How about I give you a little something, to try to at least start making amends?"

God started typing into the computer in front of them, before reaching down and opening one of the drawers, withdrawing a few sheets of what I believed to be paper, based on the edge's outlines against the blinding white of the room.

"Well... Usually an activation of the Isekai protocol would give you many different possibilities on where you could go, but because of my screw-up you only have Marvel available."

I grimaced. The Marvel-verse. As much as I enjoyed reading about it, watching the films and the cartoons, it was certainly not a place I wished to live in. Between cosmic beings like Galactus, Infinity, Eternity, Death and the Phoenix Force, jerk-ass demons like Mephisto, Blackheart and Belasco who wouldn't hesitate to eviscerate a baby and enslave a soul, and the fact that universal extinction-level events happened once every one or two months, it was generally a place I would prefer to avoid. And those were just the big problems! You had the 'smaller' problems like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Hand, Project Weapon X, Hydra, the Hellfire Club and however the f.u.c.k many other evil groups, gangs, societies or associations, there could possibly be.

Plus, vampires! Werewolves! Monsters of all different types, some of them supernatural, others just aliens that happened to look like mythological beasts, most of them with extreme murderous intent towards humans!

Why the heck would I want to go there!?

"Okay, I know this sounds bad, but, I can sweeten the pot for you! How about I give you the ability to 'create' your own 'character' in the Marvel-verse? You'll get to pick your appearance, race and powers!"

My eyes narrowed at the offer.

"Ah, how about a bonus! Your power set isn't limited to things that exist in Marvel! I'll let you pick anything you can think of as long as it isn't immediately balance-busting, how about it?"

That... Made things somewhat more interesting, and made me dislike the proposal a bit less, but I was still hesitating.

"Oh come on, think of all the hot babes that exist over there! Kitty, Jean, Felicia, Rogue, Mystique, Emma Frost, Storm... You get to exist in the same universe as them! And, since you're picking out your own appearance, and you'll be involved in quite a few important situations, as per Isekai rules, you will have plenty of opportunities to woo and charm them! Heck, you could even try going for the Harem route! Don't pretend that you wouldn't love that, I can see straight into your mind!"

I can't say that God doesn't know who I am and what I'm about, at least. And... God was totally right. I would absolutely love a Marvel Harem.

"I'll do it."

"Good, good. So... What will you look like, what race will you be a part of, and what powers will you have?"

Mhm... That was a tough one. I didn't have many problems with my original appearance... At first.

But then I stopped being sporty, and socializing, and I spent the majority of my time eating, lazing around and avoiding the sun, meaning that I put on quite a few pounds. Pounds that I'd rather not have, if I could avoid them, really. I also wanted to be tall. I used to have an average height, and that would generally be alright, however I am going into the Marvel-verse, where even street-level heroes and villains could easily break the average individual in half. Hell, Luke Cage was considered a street-level hero, and the guy could easily tank sniper rifle rounds without flinching! Making myself taller would give me an advantage in reach whenever I was fighting on the same level of strength as my opponent, and it would make it easier for me to intimidate most un-powered people (at least those who weren't heavily trained in the art of ass-kicking).

Plus, it and the power set I want will have great synergy.

But, back to my appearance.

I gave myself 6'6" (198 cm) of height, and 270 lbs (122 KG) in weight, all muscle of course. I gave myself a light skin tone, though not so light as to seem pasty, or to burn rather than tan under the sun, spiky black hair that I kept tied back into an also spiky ponytail reaching my neck, and hazel-colored eyes.

I was going to be a behemoth of a man, built like a brick shithouse sturdy enough to survive a couple of tornadoes unscathed.

Next, was my history, power set and race. For race I put down mutant, as it would make it easier for me to get in contact with the X-men, meaning Rogue, Storm, Jean and Kitty, and many more beautiful women that were either part of the X-men, parallel teams or just allies. Plus, being a mutant would put me in constant conflict with whichever anti-mutant extremist groups exist, be they the Purifiers, the Friends of Humanity, or any others. It would also put me against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants who, as a norm, didn't really kill other mutants as long as Magneto believed they could be swayed over to his side. All of that conflict was a massive advantage for me, due to the power set that I would have.

What power set did I pick?

Saiyan Physiology. More specifically, Broly's Saiyan Physiology.

I was going to be a Legendary Super Saiyan, goddamnit!

Plus, I saw the Super Broly Movie. Base form Broly was batting around Super Saiyan God Vegeta as soon as he learned to tap into his Ki. When he went Super, he curb stomped Goku Blue, Vegeta Blue, and Golden Frieza! And all of that without proper training, or understanding of whatever he was doing!

Plus, Saiyan Physiology would give me access to KI as it exists in the Dragon Ball Universe, meaning that stuff from earlier on in the series that was forgotten later on, like the ability for a KI user to read minds, make clones, use Telekinesis like Frieza and Chiaotzu did, create clothes like Piccolo did, and many more other things! And, Broly beat the everloving shit out of Blueku, Bluegeta and G. Frieza as a Legendary Super Saiyan 1. I didn't have to limit myself to that. Imagine how strong I'll get when I reach level 2, or 3? What's more, Future Trunks opened the DBZ-verse to alternate timelines, and Super did the same to alternate universes, so it's possible that I'd be able to reach Legendary Super Saiyan 4 if I wanted to. And, all of that is without mentioning Super Saiyan God, Blue, or Ultra Instinct, which anyone in the Dragon Ball verse had the potential to learn, as long as they put in the time, effort, and had the power of Shounen Protagonism behind them.

The only thing left is to make sure that I'm not going to be universe-breaking from the start. That leads to my background in the Marvel-verse.

"Mhm... I see... That could work. Yes, yes, I guess I can let you have this, since I pretty much owe you a full lifetime. Well... I hope you have a good time there!"

Those were the last words I heard God say before a snap of their fingers had my eyes closing, the darkness obscuring my sight...

This first thing that came to my awareness was the sound of hospital machinery, with all sorts of things pushing, squeezing and beeping. The second thing was the fact that my mouth felt dry as the Sahara desert. Third? My eyes felt as if they each had an anvil pressing down on them.

'Screw that, I'm a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Saiyan! Anvils aren't shit to me!'

Mustering as much strength as I could, I wrenched my eyes open, finding the exact setting that I expected to be the first thing I saw in this new universe I got Isekai'd into.

A hospital.

I didn't have anything in particular against hospitals, as I didn't really need them much in my first life, but being here, stuck in bed... It was annoying.

"Ah, you're awake!"

My head snapped towards the source of the words, allowing me to see both who the owner of the voice was, and making me regret having moved as I did due to the pounding headache that hammered at my brain.

"Hnnng..." I groaned before smacking my lips. I opened my mouth in an attempt at saying something, anything, but the only thing that came out was a dry cough, which prompted the owner of the voice, an average-looking nurse, to bring a cup over. She placed the cup on a nearby metal tray before helping me sit up, something which I did gingerly, trying not to jostle my already pained left side.

I felt a straw tap my lips after after having sat up, which I took into my mouth and drank from greedily, emptying the cup in three gulps, something that sated my thirst well enough for me to say a single word, with a tinge of heavy need.

"FOOD!"

The nurse jumped at my strong tone, before nodding and leaving the room, only to return to it rolling a cart with quite a few covered trays. She rolled up to me and moved with the intent to hand me a single of the food trays, only to be surprised as I grabbed the car itself, my tone rough from disuse as I spoke.

"Leave. It."

I don't know whether she was scared of me, pitied me, or if there was some sort of nurse protocol I was unaware of, because she actually did leave the cart with me.

It didn't last 10 minutes.

Under the incredulous gaze of the nurse that had been taking care of me, and of the two other nurses and a doctor that had come in after her, I utterly devastated the food cart, sucking up food like a black hole and drinking what I believed to be over 3 gallons of water.

"Ah~"

I burped in satisfaction, already feeling some of the pain from my side fading as my Saiyan body, now topped up, worked on rapidly bringing me back to a fighting condition. Still, the fact that I could 'feel' and gauge my regeneration allowed me to notice the fact that, while very much beyond the average person, it was way below what even an infant saiyan had available to them. Hell, Goku fell off a mountain and split his head open as a baby, and while he did get amnesia, that was the worst of the damage. And he was a low-class saiyan!

But, it was not unexpected. My slow - relative to other saiyans - regeneration was a consequence of the backstory I picked out for myself. My backstory was also the reason as to why I wasn't at the full height and weight I selected yet.

I basically gave myself a mostly-generic orphan isekai background. Parents died a few years ago, leaving behind an amount of money that, while by no means insignificant, didn't make me 'f.u.c.k you' rich either. I was 'wealthy', but just barely. I managed to get myself emancipated from my legal guardian just earlier this year, and now I lived in an alright part of New York. I was Alex Donnelly, 16 year old high school student...

And a mugging victim.

Before I 'Awoke', Alex Donnelly was a young man with a temperament that was akin to my current one, but with the physicality of my younger, pre Truck-Kun self, meaning that I practiced a bit of sports here and there, regularly attended the gym, and generally kept myself fit. Between good genetics and the exercise, Alex Donnelly had reached 6'2 (187 cm) in height, and 180 lbs (81 kg) of weight, all muscle, which was pretty respectable.

Unfortunately my physique didn't seem to intimidate the thief that shanked me before running off with my phone, and the money that was in my wallet, $150. That was for the best, however, as that situation turned into the catalyst for my change.

The moment I woke up after a mild case of 3-day coma, my X-gene would wake up with me. It wouldn't instantly boost me to my full form, as that would be way too noticeable. Instead, my transformation would be a gradual affair.

I got released by the hospital after a week of eating like a rabid beast, with a doctor's note allowing me to miss school for four weeks after my release. My Saiyan Physiology was already starting to show, as after three days of voracious eating and rest at home I felt the damage from the stab wound fully heal, something that should have taken quite a bit longer since the mugger had jabbed the knife in deep and apparently nicked something important.

I wasn't going to laze around, however. I knew the my physique was coming in, and I didn't want people to think I was using roids or something to get bigger, so I started hitting the gym hard and heavy. Between my increased trips to the gym due to my break from school, my voracious intake of food and my increase in height, I managed to make it seem as if my new build was a result of a fortunate meeting between hard work and a hardcore growth spurt. I managed to pull it off as my growth came over the course of 5 weeks, starting from when I woke up in my hospital bed.

I was probably the biggest, most ripped 16 year old everyone in my gym knew. Heck, there were bodybuilders who didn't have the same physique as I did! Whenever someone made a comment about my size I would stop to really think on whether or not I went too far on my physique, but then a look at myself in the mirror would quell any doubt. I looked badass, if I could say so myself, and, whenever I practiced my sneers, frowns or scowls in front of a mirror, I looked absolutely terrifying. I can just imagine how I would look like if I actually gave the Z-Broly psychotic laughter.

Shit, speaking of Broly, I only set up my size at base form, and neglected to do so for my transformed states. I know that Legendary Super Saiyan made the user really big, bigger than what Ascended Super Saiyan did to Goku, Trunks and Vegeta, and the three of them, smaller than me in both height and weight, became pretty damned big. Broly himself was a big boy, so I didn't know how much of it was the transformation, and how much was just him. I did, however, have another reference in the form of Kale, who went from 'Dainty Dame' straight into 'Death by Snu Snu' territory, so it was likely that when, not if, I became a Legendary Super Saiyan, I'd become even bigger.

Hell, How big would I get when I went Legendary Super Saiyan 2, or even further beyon? 'Heh.'

None of that was a concern for now, though. My biggest concern at the moment was the fact that my break from school was about to end, and Xavier and Magneto haven't made a move on me yet, which was inconvenient for a few reasons, chief among them being the fact that I had grown my tail already, and it would be a bitch and a half to hide. I had already stopped going to the gym when I saw the stub growing out, in order to avoid having people asking uncomfortable questions in the shower. My best bet at hiding my tail while being part of the general public would be to wrap it around my waist to use it as a belt, but I would prefer not having to resort to that when the people at the X-mansion wouldn't mind me keeping my tail out and loose. Hell, I'm sure Hank would appreciate having another person with a slightly less human appearance. Kurt too, if he were already part of the X-men.

I sighed as I turned in bed, incapable of sleeping. I had gotten used to exhausting myself at the gym for a good while now, but since I stopped going and started working out at home and without the gym equipment, I felt myself get much less tired, meaning that when I went to bed, my eyes would simply refuse to close, no matter whatever it is I did. I'd use this time to try and train my KI control, were it not for the fact that I was absolutely terrified of accidentally exploding my apartment and/or the whole building. I don't want to hurt anyone out of impatience or negligence, even if it means slowing down my gains.

Sick and tired of tossing and turning for the third night straight, I stood up and dressed myself, a simple tee that easily showed off my muscles, and a pair of baggy jeans, using my tail as a belt. I locked my door behind me, before heading out for an evening walk. Both my instincts and my meta knowledge were telling me that this wasn't something I should do if my heart is unprepared, as it would more than likely trigger some sort of flag, maybe a conflict with a gang, or I'll attract the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D, Hydra or any other group that may see utility in a massive wall of muscle like me. I chose to go out regardless, sick and tired of staring at little more than my apartment's walls when I could finally go out into the world without having to fear a friendly get-together with Truck-kun, both for the fact that I was no longer under the blasted Isekai system, and that I was likely capable of surviving an Isekai-attempt.

I was still salty at the fact that I got forcibly reincarnated, but... Not as much as I could have been, nor as much as I remember other people having been in their own stories. I mean... Most of them got ROB'ed, but they had a way to traverse to other universes, or the possibility of going back to their own, where they had friends, family and all other sorts of good stuff waiting for them. They were just displaced, for the most part. Me? I died. Fully. Even if I could open a portal back to that world, it likely wouldn't do me any good since my original world is a 'one-way death' world. Best case scenario, I get sent to the afterlife. Worst case scenario?

Well, the system already f.u.c.k.i.e.d me over before, and killed me with a f.u.c.k.i.n.g snack. What guarantee do I have that it won't simply choose to delete me as soon as I step back into my original universe? Plus... I didn't have much to return to. Sure, I would miss my parents and my sisters, but... There was a gulf between me and them. I admit that the gulf was mostly, if not fully my fault. I was retreating from the world, and got swallowed up by the otaku lifestyle. Between that distance between me and my family, and my lack of friends and social life back there, caused by my completely rational distrust of roads and cars, I didn't really have anything to return to. No girl I like, no friend I made a promise to, nothing like that. I would say that I would miss me entertainment media, but... Come on, I'm going to live the life of a mutant in the Marvel-verse, with the power set of motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g Broly. Few things could be more interesting than this!

FWIP! FWIP!

"COMING THROUGH!"

I watched in awe as Spider Man, Peter Parker, swung in-between buildings, the eyes of the people who were still awake at this time almost invariably tracking him for at least a short amount of time, before they returned to their daily lives, as if the fact that they just saw Spiderman wasn't one of the coolest things ever!

Granted, they were likely used to the view, since as far as my memories as Alex go, Spiderman had been active for at least 6 months by now. I had no idea what version of Spiderman this one was though, whether it was the teenaged, high-school student, or the college-aged Daily Bugle photographer. I had no way of knowing since the Bugle never credited any of the many, many pictures of Spiderman that it published, likely in order to protect Peter's identity from the villains who'd try to use him to bait the spider. I knew the irony of this train of thought, since I knew they were one and the same, but the villains definitely wouldn't.

After a while of allowing my mind to wander just as my feet did, I found myself enjoying the cold nighttime air of a small wooded area, generously distant from urban areas. My feet had brought me here, and there were only two possible reasons for that. Either my Saiyan side was craving for some time spent around nature... Or my instinct was driving me towards the 'Quest Trigger'.

"Hello there, young man."

Red and purple armor. Similarly colored helmet. Purple cape. Floating amongst a cloud of metallic debris.

"Oh f.u.c.k, you're Magneto."

I had said that out loud. I had said that out loud.

"Hah... It seems that my reputation precedes me."

It does. I am absolutely scared shitless of the mere fact that you are aware of my existence. I would rather you not know that I even exist, much less meeting up with you. Of course, I said none of those things out loud. He already knows that I know who he is, and he likely already knows that I am scared of him. He doesn't know how scared I am, though, which is one less advantage he has over me. Rather than stand there shaking in my boots, I crossed my arms over my chest and let a mild frown appear on my face, my back straight as I met his gaze unflinchingly, with courage likely belonging to my Saiyan instincts, as my human self would likely have turned tail and ran away already.

'Wait a second, Magneto located me, meaning-'

I abruptly cut off my train of thought, focusing on the image of my own mind being represented by a floating brain, before a green sphere of crackling energy surrounded it from all sides. If I'm lucky enough - which I'm likely not, see Isekai incident for more details - that would be enough to block at least cursory attempts at looking into my mind, or even concentrated attempts from weak telepaths. It would be as effective at stopping Xavier as a wet paper towel would be at stopping a tornado if he really tried to get in there, but it could be enough to make him aware of the fact that I'd rather prefer him outside of my mind, to keep Jean from accidentally reading me, and to keep me from broadcasting my thoughts to any and all telepaths around.

I had to take these precautions as, since Magneto had found me, Xavier would likely soon make his appearance as well, and I wouldn't want him reading my reactions of familiarity towards the various individuals which I should be meeting for the first time, both on the side of the good and bad guys. Still, I had to stall Magneto for as long as possible, keep him from giving me the recruitment pitch until the X-men showed up, least he decides to simply spirit me away to wherever his current base is.

"Hng."

I grunted at him in response, my 'impassive' gaze still meeting his own.

"If you know who I am, then you must likely know why I am here already."

My frown became deeper at those words, before I responded steadily.

"I do not. Please, elaborate."

A small smile appeared on his face, though I couldn't say what emotion that smile conveyed or hid, more worried about keeping my heart rate steady and keeping my fear under control least Sabretooth shows up and tells him I'm scared shitless. That is, if he isn't already aware, which wasn't really that far fetched.

"As you know the name Magneto, you likely know who I am and what cause I fight for. I am the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants, a group of Mutants that have banded together to fight against the oppression exerted upon us by this world, and to ensure the survival and victory of the Homo Superior. Mutantkind."

"...I see."

"Indeed you do, I can see the spark of intelligence in your eyes."

I calmly walked away from the spot I had been previously standing at, making sure to put a certain amount of distance between the dense canopy of trees and my back to ensure that Sabretooth couldn't simply jump me from the back. As a disadvantage I ended up walking closer to Magneto, but as long as he doesn't attack me with fully murderous intent, then I should be good.

"You somehow found me and decided to try to recruit a new mutant into your group. Is that it?"

"Correct. You may not be aware of this yet, howev- Logan, you should know better than engage me in combat by now."

The sentence that had begun at a genial tone had changed midway into n.a.k.e.d mockery as Magneto moved his fingers, pulling a scowling Logan into view. Despite the fact that Magneto had a hold over his entire skeleton, I could still see his muscles strain as he tried to attack the master of Magnetism.

He stopped, however, a shit-eating grin on his face as he spoke in a savagely satisfied tone.

"Just acting as bait, Bub."

A massive bolt of lightning slammed into Magneto, tossing him quite a long distance away from where he previously floated, before a vision of beauty clad in a form-fitting black bodysuit descended from the sky. Was what I thought about cheesy? Certainly. Was it a lie? Not at all. You see, the perception that we have of animated worlds in our reality is much different than the perception that is had here, in this universe. In order to understand just how it compared, you needed to look at a female comics character you found very attractive, and consider someone two to three times as attractive to be the version you'd see if you were within their universe. And I'm not being very generous. Heck, I could be low balling the shit out of it. Whenever it was said that female heroines had supermodel levels of beauty, it was not an exaggeration of the heroines' beauty, but rather an underestimation of it.

"I hope you are not hurt."

My heart wasn't ready to have Storm addressing me directly, but I didn't care about what my heart was ready for or not. I simply cared about the fact that I was with at least some of the X-men, while we fought against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - I know that not all of them are really evil, but I sorta learned of them by this name and it stuck - whose boss, motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g Magneto was trying to recruit me. I had to focus less on D.i.c.k thinking, and more on not getting killed or abducted. With those thoughts as my priority, I responded with a shake of the head.

"I'm alright."

"Raaaaaghh!"

"Ughhhhhhh!"

I turned towards the source of the grunts, watching as Wolverine and Sabretooth tried their absolute best to kill one-another, despite knowing that both healed too fast for the attempt to be viable.

I felt a tingling at the back of my neck that had me moving my head to the side at the same time as Storm juked hard to the side, allowing a fist-sized fireball to fly past us harmlessly and slam into the ground, creating a hole the diameter of a soccer ball at the point of impact.

I turned to look towards the source of the fireball, my eyes narrowing at the sight of Pyro.

"I thought you were trying to recruit me, not kill me."

I could see Storm looking at me from the corner of her eyes at those words, while still keeping Pyro within her field of view, while Pyro let out a maddened cackle before answering.

"You're not gonna join. You don't got the guts to do what's gotta be done, so you'll probably just align with the goody two-shoes anyways. Why not take the opportunity to keep their team from getting another player?"

My eyes narrowed further at that, my tail surprising both Storm and Pyro when it unwrapped itself from around my waist, revealing the fact that it wasn't a belt, and started waving behind me, reflecting my agitation.

"Team? Player? You try to kill me, all the while equating all of this to a game? How crazy are you? No, don't answer that, I don't need, or want, to know."

I uncrossed my arms from over my chest, feeling my blood pumping in a way it never had done before when I faced Pyro directly with the intent to fight him. It got the the point where my tail was repeatedly interrupting its agitated sway to slam down onto the ground, causing small cracks to spiderweb from the point of impact.

The sight of that seemed to make Pyro slightly more apprehensive, while Storm spoke up.

"Pyro is a very dangerous fighter with high amounts of combat experience, you would be best served leaving the fighting to more experienced individuals."

Rather than respond to her words, I took slow, measured steps forward as I spoke.

"This Pyro guy... Is throwing fireballs his only power?"

"I..." Storm wanted to say something, likely an attempt at getting me to let her take on Pyro, but she must've noticed something on my face, or in my posture, as she chose instead to answer my question. "He can control fire, but he cannot generate it. He needs an initial flame before he can increase its size, likely via consumption of atmospheric oxygen. Other than throw fireballs of different sizes, Pyro is also capable of sending out torrents of flames as if he were a flamethrower."

"I see... So he doesn't have any sort of physical abilities? Increased strength, speed, durability, nothing?"

"He does not."

"I see. Thanks."

It seems that this was just standard-fare Pyro, rather than some whacky Pyro from whichever arbitrarily numbered dimension could have him turn into fire, or make himself stronger, or something. All in all, not bad for my first opponent, especially with Storm here capable of putting a halt to any forest fires he may try to start, which would likely be the only way he could use to be me.

I cracked my neck as I walked towards him, before rolling my shoulder loos.

"DIE!"

A fireball streaked towards me, but my eyes could track it, and I was fast enough to dodge it. After receiving that opening attack, I dropped my slow walk altogether and started sprinting towards Pyro, the mix of my long legs and powerful muscles allowing me to close the distance in a moment. He was already throwing out a fireball, which I backhanded away as if it were a KI blast, before being pushed back at an explosion of flames around him, before he manipulated the flames generated by his suit into taking the shape of a dome of fire around him.

"HAHAHA, TRY TO GET ME NO-"

Pyro was interrupted by a hand unhesitatingly pushing through his field of flames and wrapping around his neck, before he felt himself be pulled back towards the owner of the arm, who didn't hesitate to punch him hard enough to knock a few teeth, and his consciousness with them.

Storm stared at me in surprise, as did the now halted Wolverine and Sabretooth, the returned Magneto, and the newly arriving wheelchair-bound form of Charles Xavier, all of them in surprise.

Noticing that the situation was to his disadvantage and that his target, me, was unlikely to allow itself to get gang-pressed into joining their side, Magneto pulled Pyro and Sabretooth towards himself, likely by metal pieces attached to their clothing, before flying away with them, leaving behind a scowling Logan, a focused Storm, and an intrigued Xavier.

Xavier was the first one to speak now.

"That was an impressive first showing, mr. ..."

"Donnelly. Alex Donnelly. And thank you..."

"Charles Xavier."

The two of us went silent again before Xavier opened his mouth, only for me to cut him off.

"Are you going to try to recruit me?"

"...Yes, I would like to extend you an invitation to my school for the gifted. Any combat-related activities related to the X-men are fully optional though."

"So you guys are called the X-men..." I muttered, if only to display my ignorance about them. "Can you give me the space and gear to train my powers better?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to go all over, fighting against all sorts of nasty people in order to save innocents?"

"Yes, howe-"

"Are you going to keep fighting those maniacs?"

"...Yes."

"I'm in."

Having said that, I crossed my arms back over my chest while my tail wrapped around my waist like a belt, before walking up to Xavier, whose chair was now being pulled by a surprised Storm.

'Fighting them gives me the opportunity to try to subvert the members of the Brotherhood that aren't really evil, only misguided or indoctrinated, and give them the chance to turn around before they do something so vile that they'll be unable to turn over a new leaf, much less forgive themselves. The fact that Mystique and Wanda rank amongst these people doesn't hurt.'

This was how I joined the X-men.

This was my first step towards Legendary levels of power.

Chapter 2

It was pretty weird, riding in the Blackbird alongside such legends as Wolverine, Storm, and Professor X. I was feeling a mixture of glee at being in close proximity to some of my all-time X-men favorite characters, and just living in the same universe as other legendary characters such as Captain America, Spiderman, Thor, Iron Man and many more.

This glee was somewhat - read, heavily - curtailed by the fact that people like Dr. Doom, Red Skull, Super Skrull, Juggernaut, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Thanos and freaking Sentry/Void were also existing in the same universe as I do. Not even a few galaxies of distance from them would make me feel safe, comfortable or alright with the fact that they exist, so you probably understand how living in the same planet as they do makes me feel. The fact that I couldn't have inserted myself as a universal-level threat from the start really bugs me for that reason.

Well, that and the various... Lets call them 'Unholy dudes', since like f.u.c.k am I even thinking of their names. Will probably attract their attention, and that isn't the sort of thing I want, or am ready to deal with. I'm gonna keep the names of eldritch gods and stuff out of my mind as much as I can as well, for that exact reason.

The point I'm trying to make is that I feel really tense, not having enough strength to defend myself from big bads, all the while knowing that any one of them could kick off an event or saga at any moment. I'm gonna make hardcore training my priority, as soon as I get settled into the institute.

"We're reached our destination, Mr. Donnelly."

Xavier's voice brought me out of my thoughts, causing me to notice the fact that the blackbird had already stopped. I nodded my understanding at them, before following after Wolverine, Storm and Professor X - who had introduced themselves to me as Logan, Ororo Munroe and Charles Xavier during the flight, meaning that I didn't need to be careful about showing the fact that I know their names - as they climbed down the lowered ramp of the high-tech jet.

"Welcome to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Mr. Donnelly."

I turned towards Storm, who had been the one to talk, before giving her a slight nod, then allowing my gaze to wander around the area around me, allowing me to take in the large - and quite honestly, beautiful - grounds. There was quite a bit of green, from the well-kept grass that covered large portions of the grounds, to various trees that likely provided great shade on the hotter days. There was a basketball court, which the Blackbird currently occupied, a few tables and benches spread around, and wide, paved pathways cutting off some of these sections from each-other, likely for easier car access.

My focus turned towards the sounds of moving feet, allowing me to notice the fact that we had stopped in front of the X-mansion - and it was a big ass mansion indeed - while various people that I had previously known only as fictional characters walked out of the mansion and into view, despite the fact that it was pretty damn late, but hey, curiosity killed the cat and all that.

My eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the sight of some people, though, as their presence caught me entirely by surprise.

"Students." My focus turned back towards Xavier as he spoke in his customary calm, genial tone. "You might have been asking yourselves just why it was that myself, Logan and Storm decided to make a late night trip in the Blackbird. While I am quite sure that some of you would have liked it to have been something such as a late night ice cream run, or something of the sort," I watched some of the students react in amus.e.m.e.nt, a few snorts and snickers, "The reality of the situation is quite different."

He turned towards me, prompting all of the students to change their focus to me as well - the fact that he could keep the full attention of a bunch of teens when an unknown wall of muscle stood close to him was pretty damned impressive - before making the introductions.

"This here is Mr. Alex Donnelly, the newest student of our little institute. While I am sure that you would all like to start making introductions as soon as possible, let me remind you of the fact that today is a school day, so It's best that you head on back to bed, and leave introductions for tomorrow."

Xavier's words drew out a few groans from the noticeably more interested students, while others looked more or less indifferent, but the end result was all of them trudging back into the mansion, likely thinking about the fact that, mutant or not, they still have to deal with the teenage prison known as high school.

"Before you can be introduced to your sleeping quarters, Mr. Donnelly, I believe it best for you to visit the infirmary, in order to ensure that your confrontation with Pyro did not leave any injuries."

I looked at Xavier before stretching out my hand, revealing the fact that while my arm hairs were somewhat singed, the only evidence of any lingering damage was a slight redness on my forearm.

"I just touched his fire for an instant. And call me Alex."

"Be that as it may, Alex, it is still best to at least administer some sort of disinfectant and anti-inflammatory, just to be safe. Logan, please take Alex to the infirmary, and then make sure he finds his way to one of the dorms. An empty room for now, to avoid disturbing the other children. More permanent sleeping arrangements can wait for now." He turned a mild gaze towards me, before giving me the open, inviting smile of someone who is an educator by vocation, rather than for money. "Once again, welcome to the School for Gifted Youngsters. I hope you enjoy your stay here, Alex."

The man rolled away after that, with Storm flying off, presumably towards her room based on the way she yawned and stretched as she did, leaving me alone with Logan.

"Follow me to the infirmary, kid."

He started walking after that, and I followed him shortly after, my tail swaying freely behind me. Watching his back as we walked, I had to admit that despite him being 5'3 to my 6'6, I still felt as if his very presence dwarfed me. My sensible, rational side that knows that 'he is the best at what he does, and what he does ain't pretty' was very much opposed to the idea of ever having to tango with the only man who makes sideburns look cool, but my other half, my saiyan half, could barely hold back the desire to throw a fist, to start a fight with Logan.

I ruthlessly crushed this desire, not wishing to get gutted in my very first day of studying at Xavier��s, and silently allowed Logan to guide me into a room that looked more at home in a futuristic Sci-Fi setting rather than the generally contemporary setting of the Marvel-verse I was currently in.

What I could identify as a hospital bed looked more like a pill-shaped hollowed shell, with attached arms that bore a series of buttons and screens. Various different instruments were spread out on different surfaces of the room, from the average microscope, to something that looked like if a spaceship's control panel had been grafted into the side of an industrial press.

I saw Logan rummaging through a cabinet before turning around, trying my absolute best to commit all of the tech I was witnessing to mind, only to hiss in surprise as I felt my scalded hand being pulled suddenly, before a blue paste got spread on it. I hissed at the sting of the past, only to blink in surprise as it vanished abruptly, replaced by a sense of numbness.

"It was pretty dumb what you did, slapping a fireball away with your bare hands, kid. Why the heck would you even do something that stupid?"

I turned my gaze to Logan, who was looking at me with a raised eyebrow, before shrugging.

"My body just moved."

"Your body just moved, huh? And what about you shoving your hand through a flaming dome, was that your body just moving as well?"

"No, that was just me really, really wanting to punch that jerk."

"Hrngh" Logan snorted in what seemed like mild amus.e.m.e.nt. "Pyro's a grade A prick, can't argue with that one. What I can argue with is you stupidly putting yourself in danger, when you had a more experienced individual with much better suited abilities there capable of taking down that nutty arsonist."

I grunted at the man, before crossing my arms over my chest.

"It worked, didn't it?"

"It could have not worked, which would have likely resulted in you getting severely hurt, if not maimed, and forced Storm into having to split her focus between defending you, and fighting Pyro. Based on your tail, I��d bet that your mutation has at least some level of an Animalistic Instinct as one of its components, am I right?" I nodded at that, which prompted him to continue. "I know your powers are new, but you gotta learn to keep them in check, otherwise they may lead you to doing stupid, and often irreversible stuff."

I nodded at that, knowing just how much the Saiyan's desire to fight strong opponents and their arrogance could lead them to f.u.c.k up. The two primary examples are vegeta allowing Cell to absorb Android 18 and become Perfect, and Gohan not just obliterating cell as soon as he became a Super Saiyan 2, which would have led to the destruction of the Earth were it not for Goku's instant transmission, and that did lead to Cell returning after his self-destruction in his perfect form, with a Zenkai boost that let him match Gohan. I was in no hurry to commit such a colossal mistake, especially since there were no Dragon Balls here to undo my f.u.c.k-ups.

"Don't worry, kid. I understand what sort of pitfalls you can run across when dealing with animal instincts, and I'll do my damnedest to make sure you don't commit the same mistakes that I did. Can't promise you'll like me much for it, though. Now let's go find you a room."

-X-

A beam of sunlight impacted directly against my eyelids, rousing me from my sleep with a muttered grumble. Turning towards the window, I glared at the sun for having had the gall to interrupt my sleep, which was a very stupid move as it resulted in nothing more than me having to blink tears out of my now aching eyes.

Finally fully awake, I decided to, after taking care of my ablutions, go out and explore the mansion for a bit, to see if I could fixate its layout. After a good yawn, scratch and stretch, I walked out of the room and just ambled around aimlessly, trying to familiarize myself with any notable fixtures I could use as references, only for the sound of people talking and the smell of food to reach me.

Following both, I ended up opening the door into a breakfast room.

The previous chatter died completely as soon as the people present noticed me, before a perky, cheerful voice came in a stereotypical valley girl accent.

"Hey there! You're the new guy, right? The one that came here last night? I'm Kitty! Kitty Pryde! What's your name?"

I stared silently at her for a few seconds, causing her to fidget in place, before responding.

"Alex Donnelly. Call me Alex."

She smiled at me in a welcoming manner, before turning towards the others sat around the table.

"Okay guys, introductions!"

Everybody just stared awkwardly for a moment, before someone else took the initiative, in the form of a brown-skinned, light blond male.

"I'm Evan. Evan Daniels. My codename is Spyke though, and that's usually what my friends call me. My power lets me grow sharp and durable bone-like spikes from my skin, and shoot them off."

The introductions continued after that.

"I'm Kurt Wagner," Kurt said in his accented english. "Meine freunde call me Kurt! My codename is Nightcrawler, und I can do this!"

He vanished with a Poof, before appearing perched atop the back of Lance's chair.

I nodded at them, before turning to the other people at the table.

"Ah'm Rogue," My old world Waifu said in her customary southern drawl that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. "Welcome."

I am going to try my absolute best to get together with her, and nothing is going to stop me. I didn't let my thoughts show, instead nodding at her before turning to the next person.

"Ellie Phimister. People call me Negasonic Teenage Warhead, though." She was texting through the entire introduction. "Use my surname and die."

"Hi! I'm Yukio Yashida! I don't really have a codename, but I can summon electricity which I can then shoot in blasts, or channel through objects, which I usually do using a Chain!"

I nodded at her, finding her cheerfulness absolutely adorable and refreshing, before turning for the last person present.

"I'm Jubilation Lee, but people usually call me Jubilee! I can create these energy thingies, I think the professor called them Energy plasmids or something. My hobby is hanging out at the mall!"

Kitty pipes up after Jubilee finishes.

"I think the others are sleeping or doing stuff on their own, so you'll meet them later!" She blinked, before fixing her gaze on my waist as she spoke. "That's a pretty interesting belt..."

She leaned closer to observe it, only to jump back with a surprised yelp as I suddenly unwrapped it from around my waist, allowing it to wave and wiggle in front of her. I smirked lightly at her reaction, prompting her to let out a huff before speaking with a pout.

"That was mean!"

A few of the others showed different levels of amus.e.m.e.nt, before Kurt spoke up.

"Is your tail your mutation?"

I shook my head at that.

"My tail is just part of my mutation. The significant part is that I'm faster, stronger and more durable than the average person. It manifested after I got stabbed bad enough that I had to undergo surgery and went into a 3-day medically-induced coma. After that, I healed in a week from a surgery that should have taken me over a month and a half to recover from." I could see that they were all interested in what I was saying, so I kept going. "I started getting taller after that, and my gym work-outs started getting easier and easier, showing their results faster, and leaving me less sore. All of this comes at the cost of me needing to eat like a hungry beast."

I paused for a moment, allowing a pensive frown to show up on my face before speaking on.

"I think there's more to it, I can sort of feel it, but this is what I've figured out so far. Well, that, and the fact that Bad Things will probably happen if I ever catch a look at a full moon."

"So you're like a werewolf?"

I turned a slightly wider smirk at Ellie, who had asked the question.

"You could say so, yes."

My stomach took the opportunity to remind me that it had been a sizeable amount of time since I had last eaten by making a noise so loud and intense that it caused Kurt to fall off his perch, Spyke to reflexively summoning his spikes, and everybody else to follow suit in calling up their various abilities.

"Ah, hungry."

They all stared at me incredulously, while I by, without a single drop of shame, walking up to one of the cabinets to a plate and cuttlery, before loading my plate with so much food that I could see Lance's face turn slightly green.

That green tint soon spread to everybody else when I started demolishing the food on my plate at the pace only a Saiyan - or a shounen proganist - could.

"Dude." Lance spoke. "That can't be healthy."

I shrugged, swallowing my mouthful before speaking.

"I already ate in high amounts before, since I hit the gym pretty often and I really wanted to keep developing my body. Now that my body's processes were turned up to 11..." I finished with a shrug, before returning to my breakfast.

The ring of a bell broke the spell my eating habits had put my housemates under, before they all started mobilizing. Kitty spoke up again.

"Hey, aren't you coming to class with us?"

I took the time to swallow - again - since I wasn't a savage, before answering.

"I arrived here yesterday after a five week break from public school. I have nothing on me other than a few clothes we got at a 24/7 mart, and the clothes and shoes I first came here in. I have no class schedule, no idea where any of the classrooms are, no idea on where I stand in each of the subjects, nothing. I'm going to have to figure stuff off with the a.d.u.l.ts first, stuff like getting me a transfer from my old school, picking up my clothes and stuff, that sort of thing."

"Oh. Well... See you later, I guess."

All of them left the room, heading off to class, before Yukio popped back in, a smile on her face as she spoke cheerily, while waving her hand at me.

"Bye Alex!"

She was absolutely adorable, I just couldn't resist it.

"Bye Yukio!"

I said that in a tone as cheerful as her own and with an energetic wave to match hers, which stopped only after she left for real, the door closing behind her.

After that I managed to focus completely on inhaling my breakfast, before going for seconds, and then thirds. After feeling reasonably full, I decided to test out my body in an environment where I don't have to hold back out of fear of being singled out for being a mutant.

I found my way outside onto the yard, before taking off my shirt and going down onto the ground, ready for some push-ups.

Then sit-ups.

Then squats.

I felt myself sink into a haze, all of my thoughts basically converging into the general idea of 'getting stronger'.

I was brought out of the haze by the sound of concentrated whispers, blinking to awareness mid sit-up onlyto mildly wince at the twinge of soreness from my body. I wiped the sweat off of my forehead with my forearm before pushing myself to my feet with little difficulty, before allowing my gaze to go towards the source of the whispers, the various teenagers that had been staring.

All of the people that I had met during breakfast were there, alongside quite a few more.

From sight alone I could identify Boom Boom, Magma, Iceman, Multiple, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Berzerker, Cannonball, Havok, and Magik, as well as Scott, Jean, Piotr, Hank and Storm, something that confused me greatly.

There was the whole student cast from X-men evolution, both the X-men and New mutants, but there was also Magik, who was from a different run of x-men comics, as well as Colossus, who had nothing to do with the show, and Ellie and Yukio. While Ellie existed in the comics, its her movie counterpart that I can see, alongside her girlfriend Yukio. What marvel continuity was I in? Comics? Cartoons? Movies? I have no idea, and that means that quite a good amount of my Meta-knowledge could be incomplete, unreliable or outright useless.

I felt my hand instinctively snapping up to snatch something from the air, which turned out to be a towel, before Logan's voice reached my ears.

"Not bad, kid."

I gave Logan a confused look even as I wiped my chest clean with the towel, prompting him to speak further.

"You've been working out for over three hours straight, at full speed."

I grunted at the man.

"Working out for five hours won't be enough to fight off the Brotherhood the next time we meet up. Now that they know that I'm an up-and-close kind of guy, they'll probably have me fighting people whose abilities counter mine. Maybe they'll pick someone that fights at range, like a less idiotic version of Pyro, maybe they'll find another physical fighter that can match me physically but has more skill and training, you never know. I certainly don't want to get caught by surprise, as the last time I got caught by surprise I came face to face with Magneto, and before that it was a mugger with a knife."

Logan grunted back at me, before speaking.

"Seems you're in luck, since I was just about to start today's training session." I tilted my head, prompting him to continue. "All of the kiddos here participate in joint combat training sessions, so that they can always be one step ahead of the brotherhood brats."

The moment I heard combat training, a part of me felt a profound excitment, my blood simmering and on the verge of going into a boil while my tail waved animatedly behind me. Despite all of that, my face was still in the same neutral mien I had been cultivating ever since I got dispensed from the hospital.

I think he noticed my eagerness, since he snorted in amus.e.m.e.nt before speaking up with a massive smirk.

"Illyana, pair up with the new kid and show him the ropes."

I watched as Piotr's very beautiful, very deadly sister sauntered up until she stood five paces away from me, giving me a saucy smile as she spoke.

"Well hello there, beefcake central. Are you up for showing a girl a good time?"

No, p.e.n.i.s, it's time to fight, not the other physically strenuous ability that begins with an F.

Rather than responding with words, I simply took up the same stance I've seen Goku take for years and years: Sideways, showing only my profile to the opponent, with the right leg forward and the left leg back, both bent, one hand in front of me with the index and middle fingers half-curled while the others were clenched inwards, while the other one was kept in a fist and next to my waist. I have no idea what I am doing since I've never as much as thrown a punch, but I'm hoping that I can just rely on the Saiyan Race's stupidly accelerated combat adaptation to make up for the difference.

Illyana pouted at me, her tone sinfully dangerous as she all but purred at me.

"Aww, what's wrong, handsome? Are you just going to leave me hanging, not toss back any banter? Not even something about 'going easy on a pretty girl' or something of the sort?"

My frown increased further at that, before I responded in a serious tone.

"Me trying to go easy on you would be like a 5 year old holding back in a fistfight against Joe Frazier."

Her teasing pount turned into a sharp grin, her tone conveying a type of savage amus.e.m.e.nt as she spoke.

"It seems you're smarter than all the other big, buff meatheads I've met before. They don't usually get it until I've kicked their ass seven ways from Sunday."

"...Get what?"

"The fact that I'm f.u.c.k.i.n.g dangerous."

My eyes widened as Illyana traversed the space between the two of us in a moment, her fist already on a collision course with my face.

I managed to just barely tilt my head, causing what would have been a full-on punch to the nose to end up as a glancing blow to the cheek that packed enough strength to completely ignore my enhanced durability, as relatively meager as it was at this point in time, and cause a small cut to open.

I raised my arm in time to block a punch aimed at my chest, catching it on my forearm and flying back more than ten feet from the power behind the blow. By the time I managed to stop, Illyana was already on me again, lashing out with a two-handed hammer blow.

I raised my arm in order to block the hit, absorbing it by bending my legs to avoid losing my balance, before I felt my leg shooting out for a kick to her head, something that she avoided by jumping back. I decided to take the initiative this time, dashing towards the smirking blonde and leading with a crescent kick that she reacted to by ducking under, before shooting a fist towards the thigh of my pivot leg.

My eyes widened as I instinctively kicked up with that leg, jumping over Illyana, twisting in the air and coming to a landing much more stable than I ever thought myself capable of, as if my body was automatically compensating for the gymnastics ability that I don't have.

"Hoh, that was a nice move, where did you learn it?"

"...Just now, when I did it."

Her smirk vanished, leaving behind a serious frown as she spoke.

"Really now?"

"Up until just now, I've never done any sort of flip in my entire life. Haven't ever been in a fight either until I punched out Pyro."

She surprised me by rushing me again, releasing a barrage of punches that I had a hard time dodging, the majority of which ended up connecting with my body, pulling pained grimaces from me. F.u.c.k, if this girl doesn't know to throw a punch. I didn't expect her to have physical capabilities above peak human, but since the make-up of the team is so eclectic and doesn't really match any continuity I can remember, then it's not too farfetched for the characters themselves to be different than I remember them to.

F.u.c.k, my meta-knowledge was showing itself to be more and more unreliable.

I tried mixing blocks and dodges and, while I was still absorbing quite a bit of damage, I felt the amount of clean hits she was landing decreasing further and further. After 10 minutes of this, I felt as if my body was moving before my mind could even think of doing so, allowing me to gradually block more and more of Illyana's blows.

Saiyan instincts for the win!

Feeling myself get somewhat more comfortable with her barrage, I decided to counter-attack.

Taking a kick into my guard, I allowed the momentum to push me back, before planting my feet so I can drag into a stop. Timing myself with a basis on Magik's previous pounces, I leapt towards her at the same time as she did towards me. I shamelessly ripped off Goku's move in his fight against the time-stopping cheater Hit, and made a gamble. I leveraged my limited ability to read Illyana's moves and tried to push it to its absolute maximum, allowing my own arm to move at the same time as as her own.

If I managed to read her right, I would block successfully, if I didn't, I'd eat a punch that was actually dealing noticeable amounts of damage. Hell, I was already ready to drop like a stone, the only reason why I was still going was likely a mixture of my Saiyan stubborness and my desire to get stronger, and avoid exactly this sort of situation.

I could see it in almost slow motion as her eyes widened, noticing the fact that I was countering her move before she had even fully made it, but it was too late. Before she could pull back or change her strike, our wrists had already clashed with one another. At that moment I pushed my body as hard as I could, allowing my hand to engulf not just her wrist but her entire forearm before I pulled her into what I felt was a perfect rendition of a shoulder throw.

Once again, Saiyan instincts for the win!

My victorious smile was aborted when I watched Illyana vanish through a white disk that opened underneath her, rather than slam back-first into the ground.

"Ah, crap."

A hard and unexpected blow to the kidney had me on my knees, grasping at my side and taking deep breaths. I tried getting back up, only to fall back on my side, covered in sweat and gasping for air.

I rolled over so that I was belly up, gulping as much air as I possibly could, only for the sight of a pair of ankles to have me looking up, ending up with me staring at a shorts-and-sports-bra clad Magik from a very interesting angle.

She smirked down at me, before speaking to me in the same almost-purr she previously had.

"Enjoying the view from down there, big boy?"

"...If I say yes then it's likely that that guy that is literally made of metal is going to go beyond simply glaring at me and actually try to feed me my teeth, so I'm going to have to abstain from answering."

"That wasn't a no~"

"That's because I don't much like making a habit of lying to beautiful girls." Not a lie, since I didn't really interact with beautiful girls in my previous life anyway.

"I had you pegged for the taciturn, boring, emotionless type, but it turns out you are actually interesting. Who knows, if you manage to beat me I may even let you take me out on a date."

"Beating a woman until she agrees to go out with me? That... Sounds totally wrong."

Illyana seemed to be ready to respond, only for Logan to speak up on his own.

"Enough flirting kiddos, before the Tin Man decides to show Tail here that he doesn't need oil to actually swing his arms."

Illyana's response was to pout at Logan, before giving me a 'call me' motion with her fingers and sauntering away with a purposeful sway to her h.i.p.s.

I would have watched her all the way, were it not for the fact that Piotr already looked like he was about to try to strangle me with my own entrails. Instead, I settled for closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, feeling as my bruises and welts receded at a pace that for the average person would be all but miraculous, yet one that made me inwardly curse.

By the time I got back up to my feet, everybody else had already moved on. I limped my way back into the mansion, shirt on one shoulder and towel on the other, heading straight for the bathroom so that I could wash off the sweat I had built up.

After that I decided to go out for a meal, following my nose towards the smell of food, only to end up in a standard, full-sized cafeteria. The school didn't have a full host of students, so rather than having people spread through all the different tables, there were only two tables pushed together, with everybody sitting down at it for a meal with the exception of Logan, Hank, Storm, Xavier and Piotr, likely making them the professors.

"Hi, Alex!"

I turned towards the source of the greeting, favoring the girl with a small smile.

"Hi, Yukio."

I procceeded to head straight for the food bar, taking a tray and loading it up with so much food that the students I hadn't met in the morning were staring incredulously at me. Their stares persisted even as I sat down at an empty spot on the joint table, completely skipping any sort of teenage drama about fitting in with an already existing group with all the finesse of a Broly in a china shop.

Bobby Drake - Iceman - raised a finger into the air...

"Increased physical capabilities and regeneration require vast amounts of energy as fuel, hence the jumbo serving size."

Only for Ellie to speak up in her utterly disinterested tone, all the while staring at her phone screen, prompting Bobby to lower his hand, his curiosity and that of most of the others present in regards to my food portions sated.

I am pretty sure more questions came up after I started eating, though. And even more when I went for seconds. Then thirds. Then fourths.

Watching me eat, they all had gone from incredulous, to nauseous, to impressed, and all he way back again a few times, before they sort of fazed it out, choosing to ignore my eating habits in order to make sure that they succeeded in keeping their own lunches down, and instead started making introductions.

Tabitha Smith, Amara Aquilla , Bobby Drake, James Madrox, Rahne Sinclair, Roberto da Costa, Ray Crips, Sam Guthrie, Alex Summers, and I already had gotten acquainted with Illyana Rasputin earlier. I was also introduced to Scott Summers and Jean Grey, the latter of which had been staring at me ever since she first saw me, causing the earlier of them to glare at me.

Since I was new to the group, then it probably was best for me to try to maneuver myself through this situation with as much tact as I could possibly muster-

"Why do you keep staring at me?"

Or I could just pull a kid Goku and completely ignore tact in favor of blunt honesty.

My words caused Jean to blush lightly, likely not expecting to have been called out like this, while Scott's glare towards me intensified. I could almost literally feel a heat from his glare that had nothing to do with his mutation.

Pushing a red bang over her ear in embarrassment, Jean responded.

"Well, it's just..." She seemed to be searching for the best possible words, before deciding to simply use what came to her. "I can't hear you."

I blinked, Illyana blinked, Kurt blinked, Jamie blinked, Jamie blinked, Jamie blinked... I think everybody at the table blinked at the seeming non-sequitur.

"...But you're answering me right now."

A blush came to her face again at her seeming inability to express herself, a blush that I know has nothing to do with me directly, though Cyclops' glare makes me feel like he didn't notice it, before she tried again.

"I meant your thoughts! I can't hear them! I'm... I'm a telepath, but I don't have too great control of my powers, so I usually accidentally pick up the thoughts of people when they're close to me. I try my best to not pick up other peoples' thoughts, because it's rude, but it sorta just happens. Except... It didn't happen with you. You're not broadcasting your thoughts out loud. What's more, whenever I try to focus in your direction, to try to figure out 'where your mind is', I sort of pick up this popping, crackling noise, and it's really loud when I do."

I didn't show it outwardly, but my inner self was jumping around in absolute joy. My makeshift defense from last night, when I anticipated Xavier appearing since Magneto had as well, seemed to be working! I mean... I don't know how strong my defense is, or what the effects of a probe from a skilled telepath like Xavier or Emma Frost would be, but I could at least keep myself from broadcasting surface thoughts, and I had some senblance of mind defenses, which is already a pretty massive win.

I didn't let any of those thoughts or feelings show up on my face, instead tilting my head before responding.

"Probably an effect of my mutation."

The bell rung again, signaling the end of their lunch period before they had to trudge back to their classes. Me? I went back into my room, already separating my dirty clothes for the wash.

I stepped on a pair of my boxer shorts, which led to me falling onto my bed. I intended to get back up, but suddenly I felt a wave of drowsiness swallowing me.

Maybe... I could just take a nap? I... Definitely... Earned it...

I felt my eyes slowly close, until everything went dark.