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[indent][indent][sub][color=#c9b142][B]Location:[/B][/color] [COLOR=gold][i]The Xavier Institute[/i] - [I]Westchester, New York[/I][/COLOR][/sub][sup][right][color=#c9b142][b]New Mutants #1.04[/b][/color][/right][/sup][/indent][/indent][sub][hr][/sub][sub][indent][indent][color=#c9b142][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/color] [@Bounce][/indent][/indent][/sub]

[indent]"My name is Dani Moonstar," said the dark-haired woman in her early twenties. "While I am in charge of your training, you will address me by my codename; Mirage."

The X-Man swept her intense brown eyes across the five gathered students before her. "Some of you, I understand, have already taken to codenames of your own," Dani continued, allowing her gaze to settle on the blue-skinned, winged child that she had first encountered a few weeks before. "Those who haven't should do so quickly. If you really want a shot at joining the X-Men when you graduate then I'm going to train you in an atmosphere that reflects that."

Kitty Pryde smiled at Mirage's words. This is what she had been craving. For someone to treat her seriously as a potential X-Man. To show her respect and not just view her as a kid. Kitty knew she could hang with the adults; she had been trained by several of the X-Men personally for a few years now, after all. She deserved a spot on the team, and she was going to prove it. 

The mutant teenager also couldn't be happier with the mentor she had been assigned. Danielle Moonstar may not have been one of the more famous X-Men, there probably weren't many children out there pretending to be Mirage during their imaginary games of epic battles, but Kitty knew this particular X-Man was the perfect person to continue her training with. 

They weren't all that different, Kitty thought. Like her, Dani had been brought to Xavier's mansion as a teenager after an incident with her mutant powers, and like Kitty, Danielle had received training from the X-Men of that time. The only difference was that Dani had already become an X-Man only a year after arriving. It was a difference Kitty intended to make another similarity. 

There was just one problem, however. Or four, to be exact.

Kitty shot a glance at the other four students to her right. Why had she been stuck with the reject squad? 

Okay, she acquiesced. So, Katie Power wasn't a reject. The girl, though two years younger, actually was someone that Kitty could recognize as talented enough for the team. Katie has had and honed her abilities for longer than Kitty, technically, even if the circumstances weren't entirely comparable. And although Kitty couldn't help but roll her eyes at little miss popular, the older girl at least understood that Katie wouldn't hold her back. 

But the others?

Samuel Paré may have been the same age as Katie, but he couldn't be more different. Granted, Kitty couldn't say she knew the boy well and had probably exchanged fewer than a dozen words with him, but she knew enough. The orange-skinned youth was as small as he was shy. Certainly not a fighter. Not X-Men material. 

The clone of Warren Worthington, the one everyone called Cherub, was barely any better. Kitty supposed that he probably had the potential. After all, he was a child carbon copy of the X-Men's Angel. And it's not like she had anything against clones, Cherub wasn't even the only one at the Institute. She knew everyone else avoided him out of fear or maybe disgust, but she didn't feel the same way. It was just... she couldn't put her finger on it, but something was [i]off[/i] with him. Kitty got the sense from the kid that he was holding something back, and she didn't trust whatever it was. 

But no one was worse than the last member of the forced-upon group. Bobby Drake. The 'Iceman.' The guy who was literally too cool for school. Of course, all of the other students seemed to love him. They saw his antics and thought he was funny and charming. His aloof, 'I don't care' attitude made him a hit with the other girls at Xavier's, and had everyone believing he was the greatest thing alive. Kitty saw through him, though. Kitty saw Bobby for what he really was. A slacker. A clown. A jerk. 

Bobby slept through pretty much every class Kitty had ever shared with him. His free time was spent lazing around the game room or pranking the students he deemed lame. The teen spent more time on his hair than he had ever spent on his studies or training. And Kitty knew for a fact that Bobby was going to be no different now when it really mattered. That he was going to be a liability for her and keep her from earning a spot on the X-Men. 

As she considered this, Bobby happened to catch her eye. He flashed her one of his trademark smiles, then puckered up his lips and gave her a wink. 

He was also a grade-A creep who wouldn't stop hitting on her. 

[i]Ew,[/i] she visually shivered as her face twisted into a grimace. [i]So[/i] gross.

"Alright," Dani clapped her hands together, bringing Kitty back into the moment. "I'm sure you're all eager to get started."

She pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the massive hedge maze that took up a sizable portion of the mansion's West grounds. "And I bet you're all wondering why I had you meet me here for your first day of training. I've got several tests for you today so I can determine where you're all at individually and as a group. This maze will be the first. Earlier this morning I took it upon myself to see how fast I could make it to the center. It took [i]me[/i] almost seven minutes."

Dani paused for a moment, taking out her cellphone and swiping across it several times. Then, she turned it to face the assembled students. "I'm giving you all [i]five[/i] to make it there." 

Kitty frowned. Was this a joke? The hedge maze was huge, sure, but it wouldn't take her five minutes to reach the center. More like thirty seconds. Her lips twitched back into a smirk. Mirage had practically tailor-made this test for the girl who could walk through walls. 

"Oh," Dani added, thumbing the 'start' button on the timer she had set up on her phone. "And no powers. We're doing this the old-fashioned way."

Kitty's grin vanished in an instant. Now [i]this[/i] must be the joke, she thought. 

"You're not going to get anywhere if you all just stand around. Go!"

[i]Crap.[/i] Kitty kicked up a small cloud of dirt as she instinctively sprinted toward the maze's entrance, not wanting to waste a second more. 
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