JohnnyChany

THE XAVIER INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT PART 7 TEAMS AND SET-UP In the battle pitting representatives from the New Mutants team and Alpha Flight, Magik and Vindicator crossed swords. Magik’s Soulsword and the Scell smashed against one another. Illyana laughed. MAGIK: Let me know whenever you want to get serious. VINDICATOR: I am ready when you are. Magik quickly teleported behind Vindicator and took a swing, Using the inherent magical abilities within her own blade, Vindicator teleported away from the swipe. VINDICATOR: Weren’t expecting that were you? Magik laughed again. MAGIK: You don’t think I, the ruler of Limbo, know about that sword, made from Promethium, a magical metal only found in Limbo? I know all about it and the women that carried it, Isabel St. Ives, Jane Thorne, and Amelia Weatherly. But you don’t strike me as a spirit of retribution. Vindicator lunged at Magik. VINDICATOR: A person should always use the tools available to them. Magik again evaded the attack and jumped on stepping discs that she had created. MAGIK: Even if that tool is sapping away your life force? VINDICATOR: When you put it like that.. Vindicator briefly appeared to be struck by these words and looked warily at her sword before quickly revealing her ruse and striking Illyana with a barrage of electromagnetic pulses. After the first few knocked Magik off her feet, the young mutant defended herself with a psionic shield. MAGIK: That was on me. I’m much less versed in Canadian super suits than mystical swords. VINDICATOR: Let me give you a closer look. Heather jumped toward Magik and punched at her psionic shield. Magik cast a binding spell that manifested itself in an orange aura surrounding Vindicator. Using her suit, Vindicator created a force field to protect herself and broke the binding. VINDICATOR: Look at that, science can trump magic. Vindicator knocked Magik to the ground with some quick martial arts moves and another electromagnetic pulse attack. Magik teleported away and appeared above Vindicator on a stepping disc. MAGIK: Ok. We’re done here. Heather flew toward Illyana. Magik conjured a massive hydra composed of eldritch energy that crashed into Vindicator and took out the Alpha Flight superhero. Magik stood victoriously over the knocked out Vindicator. CANNONBALL: Is that what you call not taking it too far? MAGIK: She’ll be fine. If anything, she should feel proud. It was clear that normal magic wasn’t going to take her down. COMPUTER VOICE: The winner is Magik. That is one point for the New Mutants. The Danger Room opened up and Magik rejoined her teammates to wait for the next round. Shaman of Alpha Flight tended to his fallen teammate. SHAMAN: I will have you feeling better soon, Heather. I won't lie, I don’t envy that you collided with that demonic apparition instead of me. Elsewhere, the X-Men Blue team of Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke, and Jubilee celebrated Gambit’s recent win over Archangel and reminisced about old times. As the second round started the conversation shifted to the near future. WOLVERINE: I really want to know who I’m going up against. If it isn’t Scott, Jean, or Hank…it’s got to be Kurt. Our history, our bond, our contrasting philosophies…. Wolverine unsheathed his claws. WOLVERINE: Heh, it’s going to be a bad day for the elf. Oh wait, what’s if it’s ‘Ro? ROGUE: Come now Suga, I think it would be much cooler if me and Storm went a few rounds. JUBILEE: I figure the professor would pair you up with one of the other powerhouses. ROGUE: Yeah, you’re probably right. That Cerise girl on the Excalibur team seems pretty fit. She is Shi’ar and Kurt used to talk bout how strong she was all the time. GAMBIT: She doesn’t hold a candle to you, cher. JUBILEE: Monet St. Croix is really strong, really durable, and can fly super fast. That would be the most obvious pick I would think. ROGUE: Wouldn’t you be disappointed if you weren’t our rep when we face Generation X, Suga? JUBILEE: Wow, um, I hadn’t thought about it, really. I guess it would be cool to go up against one of my old classmates. Just as long as it isn’t Monet, I want no part of that. Now that I think about it, a battle against my X-Treme X-Terminator teammate, Dazzler, would be pretty fun. Ali and I would put on a show for sure. PSYLOCKE: It would be one of the most colorful skirmishes for sure. As for me…. I saw that the second round is starting with the First Class versus X-Factor. I would think that would mean Alex versus Scott. If that’s the case then I am destined to face off against my brother, Brian? JUBILEE: I don’t think you can assume that. Colossus and Magik already had their matches in the first round and they weren’t against each other. GAMBIT: Gambit is just thankful he doesn't have to play this wondering game anymore… at least for now. ?: More answers will be revealed if you follow me. The fivesome was joined by former New Mutants leader and current librarian and French teacher, Xuan Cao Manh, Karma. GAMBIT: Quite far from the library, cher. KARMA: Its a ghost town currently as is my classroom. All the students are watching the matches. Which works out well for me since the professor asked for my help. WOLVERINE: Sounds like my kinda learnin’. Gambit smiled at Karma. GAMBIT: Ouvrir la voie. KARMA: If I’m ever out sick maybe you can sub for me. GAMBIT: The kind of phrases Gambit learned in the French Quarter shouldn’t be taught to no children. The X-Men Blue Team returned to the Danger Room where they were joined by Karma’s former team. Cannonball stood across Wolverine, Sunspot stood across Jubilee, Danielle Moonstar stood across Psylocke, Magma stood across Rogue, and Magik stood across Gambit. GAMBIT: Congrats on your winning hand earlier. MAGIK: You too, Remy. JUBILEE: Wait, am I facing Roberto? PSYLOCKE: I think not. It’s plainly obvious what the pairing here is. KARMA: It should be. Betsy Braddock, Danielle Moonstar, the telepathic ninja who fights with psionic blades, and the telepathic warrior who fights with psionic arrows, bolts, and bullets. DANI MOONSTAR: And an occasional illusion here and there. KARMA: You more than earned the codename, Mirage. PSYLOCKE: It will take more than a mirage to throw me off my game. DANI MOONSTAR: Is that a challenge? PSYLOCKE: I’ve been kidnapped, brainwashed, gutted by Sabretooth, what are a few scary images going to do? DANI MOONSTAR: They would probably be wasted on a telepath of your ability anyway. Let’s stick to physical fighting and psychic weaponry. PSYLOCKE: Works for me. The two highly skilled mutants stepped into the Danger Room which immediately transformed into a dense forest.

Good setup as usual, Boratz. I'm amazed as popular as these characters were to use on here that they haven't been paired up before. I think I'm going with Starkiller.

Fun match, hadn't heard of Hippo. Looking him up I think I will go with him.

LOL. Poland's only hope would be if their karate master Prime Minister caught Jean off guard.

I didn't know either until I had already picked the match and was looking through images. Figured I might as well incorporate into the story since it wasn't really a fight but still a good display of their powers.

Is it possible to delete images entered into the alt image folder? I added some images accidentally before resizing them to 300x300 and then added the appropriate ones.

For all intents and purposes, she basically is.

Super super creative, Culwych. I'm going with Nordstrom. The best thing Esther has going for her is that she appears to be a young girl which isn't as useful against a blind man. She can use her voice and I guess he might have a soft spot for young girls given what happened with his daughter and the plot of the sequel which I never saw, but I still think he survives any initial attack and takes her down.

THE XAVIER INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT PART 6 TEAMS AND SET-UP Colossus and Strong Guy exchanged blows in the abandoned factory setting setup by the Danger Room. Strong Guy absorbed the kinetic energy from Colossus’s punches and smiled at his opponent as he punched him back and knocked him to the ground. He was then somewhat surprised to see Colossus was also still smiling. STRONG GUY: you keep hitting me although you know my mutant power. I don’t get it man. COLOSSUS: Just wanted to have some fun, comrade. STRONG GUY: If you don’t take this seriously, I’m going to beat you. Strong Guy loomed over Colossus. COLOSSUS: Da, I do take it seriously. If I wanted to I would use the strategy we have used against similar mutants like Sebastian Shaw from the Hellfire Club. But…. Colossus momentarily knocked back Guido with a rising double ax handle strike. COLOSSUS: I also know how strong I am. What I was able to do in fights against the likes of Juggernaut, Hulk, and Gladiator and… Colossus landed a body blow to Strong Guy’s side. COLOSSUS: I know there are limits to the amount of energy you can absorb and how quickly you need to discharge it. Instead of going for home run swings, Colossus peppered Strong Guy’s body with a combination of skilled strikes that started to overload the energy inside Guido. Soon, the more experienced X-Man could feel Strong Guy weakening and put him down hard with a powerful uppercut. When Strong Guy remained on the ground the Danger Room transformed back to its normal state. COMPUTER VOICE: The winner is Colossus. That is one point for the International X-Men team. In the viewing area for the Danger Room, Storm, Nightcrawler, Banshee, and Sunfire cheered. Havok, Polaris, Quicksilver, and Multiple Man clapped respectfully. The leader of X-Factor then walked over to Storm. He shook her hand. HAVOK: A good first fight. Good luck to you and your team the rest of the way. STORM: Good fortune to you as well, Alex. Both teams exited and waited to be called back for another round. The Danger Room was transformed later to a rocky seaside cliff for the first-round battle between Gambit and Archangel. Gambit displayed his amazing agility as he rolled and weaved to avoid the razor-sharp projections Archangel flung at him from the sky above. GAMBIT: You’re wasting your time up dere. You ain’t ever going to hit me and you are going to run out of shrapnel soon enough. ARCHANGEL: Not before you run out of energy and slip up, Remy. GAMBIT: I always have enough energy to keep all my cards on the table. A razor projectile cut through Gambit’s coat and snagged it to the ground. ARCHANGEL: It almost feels unfair fighting you from this vantage point. Best to end it quickly. Archangel dove toward Gambit fist first. GAMBIT: No worries mon ami… Gambit quickly bent down and flung a collection of rocks in the air charged with kinetic energy. The rocks exploded in Warren’s face, obscuring his vision. Gambit twirled out of his coat and propelled himself off a nearby boulder. He smashed his staff across the back of Archangel’s head. Warren crashed into the ground with a sickening thud. GAMBIT: Gambit has plenty of experience swatting birds out of the sky. Archangel quickly returned to his feet and was greeted by a barrage of kinetic cards being flicked with grace and speed by Gambit. He shielded himself with his metallic wings from the constant explosions. Gambit swiped at Archangel's feet with his staff and tripped up the original X-Man. Archangel swung his wing around like a sword to try and create some distance, but Remy jumped over the move and brought down his staff hard across the face of Warren, putting down the wealthy mutant. Gambit kinetically charged his staff and placed it under Warren’s chin. GAMBIT: Looks like this round goes to Gambit. The simulation around them ended. COMPUTER VOICE: The winner is Gambit. That is one point for X-Men Blue. From the viewing room, Wolverine, Psylocke, Rogue, and Jubilee cheered on their teammate. Inside the Danger Room, Gambit helped Warren back up. GAMBIT: You’re buying me a new coat, mon ami. Once they had left the Danger Room, Cyclops did his best to keep the motivation high for his teammate. CYCLOPS: Good effort, Warren. Just need to shake it off. There is plenty of tournament left for us to move up the standings. Cyclops, Archangel, and the other members of the original five, Beast, Iceman, and Jean Grey left the Danger Room and waited for the rest of the first round to complete. A little while later they were summoned back to the Danger Room by Magneto himself. Upon arrival they got a good luck at their next opposing team, X-Factor led by the brother of Cyclops, Havok. The two teams greeted each other warmly. After exchanging pleasantries, Cyclops got down to business. CYCLOPS: Let me guess, it’s going to be me and Alex going at it again. MAGNETO: Not this time, Scott. The representative for your team for this round against X-Factor will be Jean Grey. Jean Grey stepped up confidently. MAGNETO: And her opponent will be the Mistress of Magnetism, Lorna. POLARIS: I’m ready to go. MAGNETO: A match pitting my daughter who inherited my abilities against Charles’s first and lets be honest, favorite student, who also happens to have many of his abilities. How could we not do this pairing? JEAN GREY: I get it. MAGNETO: Although I must add one more thing. I have granted Lorna a very special helmet to protect against any telepathy. That is not the kind of battle either Charles or I want. JEAN GREY: So, you just want us to use our powers to create force fields and then throw things at one another? MAGNETO: If you want to describe it in the most crude and reductive way possible, then yes. Jean, you know as well as anyone that you can’t always rely on your telepathy to get you out of a jam. Sometimes you only have your wits and your telekinesis to fall back on when there is chaos around you. Same holds true for Lorna and her abilities. POLARIS: This could get dangerous. MAGNETO: I don’t want either of you to hold back. Both of your teams lost in the first round and could really use a win. If safety is your concern, let me put your minds at ease. We have a lifeguard on duty. On cue, Heather Cameron, the gold skinned mutant Lifeguard, stepped into the room. LIFEGUARD: I’m here if needed. JEAN GREY: Alright then let’s do this. Both women stepped into the Danger Room which quickly transformed into a steel mill. JEAN GREY: This could definitely get dangerous.

Thanks, glad you are liking it thus far. I have all the matches for this first part already mapped out but if both Kurt and Pietro emerge victorious, I agree that could be fun.

Panels from the confrontation referenced in the set-up..... .

THE XAVIER INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT PART 5 TEAMS AND SET-UP Emma Frost gathered her former students M, Husk, Chamber, and Hollow in one of the classrooms of the Xavier Institute. HUSK: Have I mentioned lately that I think our classrooms in Massachusetts were much better than these ones. EMMA FROST: Undoubtedly. HUSK: I’m happy that we were put together on a team. EMMA FROST: This tournament will give us a phenomenal opportunity to show what we built with this class M: Easily the top mutant class in X-Men history and after this, everyone else will know it. EMMA FROST: We mustn't be too cocky, but I agree with your sentiment. Emma Frost walked over to the predictably silent and mysterious mutant, Hollow. EMMA FROST: I find it fascinating that Xavier would pick Hollow out of all of your other Generation X classmates to be on this team. I wonder what he has in store HUSK: Yeah, I would have figured Synch or Skin or Jubilee. Although she wound up on some other team. I hope one of us gets to face her. Hollow remained silent. M: Obviously everyone recognizes the importance of the St. Croix family. ?: If I may… Longtime X-Men ally and former Professor Xavier paramore, Moira MacTaggert entered the classroom. EMMA FROST: Of course you would be here. MOIRA: It is time for the last match of the first round, and it involves you and your team, Miss Frost. Emma and Generation X followed Moira outside the mansion. Emma chuckled at the sight of the opposing group. It was the Excalibur team composed of Captain Britain, Rachel Summers, Cerise, Meggan, and Kylun. EMMA FROST: Britain’s premier superhero team, huh? I suppose that tracks as a good first appetizer to see how far my students have come. MOIRA: None of them are going first, you are Emma. EMMA FROST: Me? MOIRA: What better way than for you to go first to set an example for your team? EMMA FROST: Don’t try to play mind games with me MacTaggert. CAPTAIN BRITAIN: You think you are somehow above us? EMMA FROST: No, not at all. I just imagined I would have been paired off against Jean, or maybe even your sister, Betsy. If I am to square off against one of you that would only mean it’s.. Rachel Summers stepped in between Captain Britain and Emma. RACHEL SUMMERS: Doesn’t take a psychic to figure it out. EMMA FROST: Rachel, darling, you and I, one on one? Intriguing. RACHEL SUMMERS: I seem to remember another time of us being in friendly competition and me putting you on your behind by striking you out. EMMA FROST: This is no baseball game, and don’t forget, Rachel, we’ve done this dance before. RACHEL SUMMERS: That was different… EMMA FROST: True enough, that was really more of a misdirected temper tantrum at me over your anger over your mom. RACHEL SUMMERS: and I’m different. You’re not going to get a rise out of me from one of your cutting comments. I’m older, wiser, and more skilled, partially thanks to you. I won’t be sidetracked by emotion. EMMA FROST: Glad to hear it. We shall test how true that statement really is. MOIRA: Let the battles begin.

Great fight, RakaiThwei. Looking at his list of opponents so far in this arc, I don't think Michaelangelo has come across anyone who fights quite like Guile yet, Mr. Defensive Zoner himself. I see the fight starting like most Guile fights start. Guile spams Sonic Booms, Michaelangelo tries to jump over them and immediately eats a Flash Kick or two. He then decides to tech roll under them and gets grabbed for a German Supplex. What he does at that point is what determines if he can win or not. I'm not sure yet who I'm going to go with, want to give it one more day to see if anyone has some compelling arguments either way.

Koba tears apart Henry.

There definitely seemed to be a disconnect between what he has legendarily done and what he seemingly could do even with the hook. Still he did battle large monsters for a long time so he could concievably do this.

THE XAVIER INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT PART 4 TEAMS AND SET-UP Kitty Pryde, Forge, Longshot, Dazzler and Bishop met together on the basketball courts of the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning. SHADOWCAT: I must admit this isn’t the team I would have thought I would have been on if you had asked me. DAZZLER: Are you saying you don’t want to be teammates? SHADOWCAT: No, not at all. I’m just saying we feel less connected than most of the other teams. You and Longshot together I would understand but all of us together… LONGSHOT: Feels thrown together? SHADOWCAT: I wouldn’t go that far. I just would have expected Forge to be on the X-Force team or the X-Factor team. Heck, I was a founding member of Excalibur so I would have assumed that I would be on that team or another X-Men team with Piotr and Kurt. Forge smiled. FORGE: Kitty, are you forgetting that we were all together when we first became X-Men? SHADOWCAT: No, but that was a long time ago. And I don’t recall Bishop being around yet. BISHOP: I definitely wasn’t. FORGE: It is possible that it is a wider net than I am thinking that binds us all together. SHADOWCAT: That’s kinda my point. FORGE: Whatever the reason may be could soon be revealed to us. BISHOP: I don’t care why we were all picked for the same team, I still aim to win. SHADOWCAT: Oh, absolutely, don’t get me wrong, we are winning this thing. ?: Then you better hope that lucky charm mutant you are with has enough to go around. The group of five were startled when they were suddenly joined by the black and white skinned mutant mercenary, Domino. Forge was happy to see his former teammate. FORGE: Domino, I didn’t know you were here. It is always good to see you. Domino stepped toward Longshot. DOMINO: Well I wasn’t formally invited to be on the X-Force team, which is a shame, because I would have loved to go one on one with this guy and see whose luck would run out first. But Xavier must have known I would have found out that Cable and my former teammates were all here so that I would show up anyway. He reached out to me to help put this thing together. DAZZLER: Just how many mutants are here right now? DOMINO: A lot. Now follow me. Forge, Shadowcat, Longshot, Bishop, and Dazzler followed Domino to the Danger Room. DOMINO: I asked specifically to be involved in this matchup because I didn’t want you guys to have an unfair advantage with Longshot here giving you luck. I wanted to be around to counteract it. FORGE: I don’t know if Longshot’s powers can assist other people in that way. LONGSHOT: If anything, I have been guilty of siphoning other people’s luck away in a nearby radius but if I’m not actively doing anything that shouldn’t be the case. FORGE: And don’t you have to be actively doing something yourself for your powers to activate, Domino? DOMINO: Regardless I wanted to be here to offer support in any way I could and you’ll soon see why. The group reached the entrance of the Danger Room. Waiting for them was the X-Force team of Cable, Feral, Shatterstar, Rictor, and Warpath FORGE: My friends, it is great to see you all. How strange that members of our teams would be the first to fight. DOMINO: Not just any members, Forge, it’s you…. versus Cable. FORGE: What? Why would the leader of X-Force go first and why would I be picked to go against him? Cable cocked his pulse rifle. CABLE: We both love our armaments, don’t we? And there is no need to be modest here Forge? I know you have developed weapons with that brilliant inventing mind of yours to take me out if the need ever arises. Forge smiled sheepishly. FORGE: One must always be prepared. DOMINO: Another reason why I wanted to be here for this fight. I would pick Cable against anyone in this room, the only one that would give me pause is you. BISHOP: I take some offense to that. LONGSHOT: Same here. CABLE: Bishop, I initially thought it was going to be you. A battle of the future boys, but I’m not disappointed that it’s Forge. Cable looked back at Forge with a yellow spark in his eye. CABLE: Are you ready? FORGE: Give me a moment to make sure I have the proper equipment and I will be ready to go. CABLE: Take all the time you need. I want a good challenge. Bishop quietly leaned next to Forge. BISHOP: I hope you aren’t planning to go easy on him because you were a part of that team for so long. FORGE: Never. Going easy on Cable would automatically result in failure and it is as you and Kitty said, we are winning this thing.