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Relax? Have You Said Relax?: Chapter Nine

A greenish thing, in a panther swimming trunks, had just passed by bounding through their fingers, closer following by a sort of blue-fuzzy elf.

"Oh man!! Kurt!" released Amara by raising in a jump like the others.

"Toad has been stealing his image-inducer again!" added Tabitha.

"GIVE IT BACK TO ME IMMEDIATELY NASTY TOAD!!"

The tourists cried at the view of Nigthcrawler and Toad, bounding, and moved of the way, open-mouthed, like Taryn and her friends who were just coming in this direction.

"But what's..." made the X-Men who were walking on the bank with Sara and Maria.

They hadn't even the time to look back that Toad was passing in front of them before doing a spectacular leap to escape at a ragging Kurt who had just teleported himself through his fingers. Seeing Nightcrawler's appearance, they had soon understood the litigation's reason.

"Oh no Toad!! You're going too far!!!" grumbled Jean by stopping Toad in the air with her TK.

"Hey!!" rose the victim who started to clap his hand and to stamp his feet uselessly, suspended at an half-dozen meters. "Let me go!!"

"Ok," accepted Jean by releasing him from her hold.

"Ahhh!!! Nooo! Catch me again! Catch me again!" he panicked.

But it wasn't in the mutant's intention to leave the toad crash to the ground, this would make disorder. She stopped him in his fall at the last time, turned him and put him on the beach, holding him however with her powers.

"Pffiioouuuu," he left escaped.

"Haven't you something to give back?" asked Scott.

"Er...no..." pretended Toad.

"Are you sure?" grumbled Nightcrawler, his arms folded, his forked tail beating the ground rhythmically like an irritated cat.

"Don't oblige me to bath you Toad..." insisted Jean by indicating the ocean with a nod.

"Well, ok, all right!" he surrended before holding to them the sort of watch.

Kurt snatched it from his hand and hastened to replace it on his wrist and set it right again, although the harm had already been done judging by the tourists' horrified glances. Bah, in all case, they were already running always from us before, thought the elf before casting a bad look at Toad, still immobilized by Jean.

Amara, Tabitha, Kitty and Bobby had just joined them.

"I've already said to you to keep your tongue in your pocket," noticed Tabitha as the Toad was finally set free.

He took to his heels to rejoin his band and had already covered some meters when she recalled him.

"Wait Toad! You've forgotten it!" she said by sending to him a little orange-ball much known by the X-Men. "With Tabitha's best regards!" she waved to him.

The Toad had opened his eyes wide at the object's view, but he hadn't the time to receive it in his hands that Jean had already rooted it in the air. She lifted the explosive some meters above before speaking at Tabitha in a slightly reproachful voice.

"No, Boom-Boom! It's too dangerous. He could have sent it anywhere and hurt someone!"

"Oh man, sorry, an old rancour, I've acted without thinking," apologized the young mutant with sincerity as the pyro-technique ball exploded.

The group slowly came back toward their belongings, the tourists glancing at them with more animosity than ever, if this was possible.

"I understand why Toad spend his time robbing my image inducers, but, I dunno, he only has to ask professor Xavier to make one with a single tuning, I'm sure that he'd agreed even if he isn't one X-Men." Said Kurt.

Ororo nodded.

"Yes, even if Toad pretends the contrary, his acts prove that he's suffering from his appearance: you're right Kurt, I'll ask Charles if he can help him."

A little further, Bobby, Kitty, Amara and Tabitha were thinking about an other point.

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Kitty.

"I've an idea..." answered Bobby by looking at the beach-volley pitch.

"You know what Scott had said and..."

But Cyclops, who was following them, cut her.

"That was before seeing that we were discovered," he declared. "The pitch is free, I don't mind if you want to play a party, but..."

"No overflowing, yes, we already know," said Amara.

Scott nodded as they have rejoined their emplacement.

"Well, we've the authorization of the fearless leader, the pitch, but above all, we need a balloon," noticed Kurt.

"Oh, but uncle Bobby has what we need in his bag!" declared Iceman by taking a volley-ball with pride, whirling it at the extremity of one of his fingers. "So, who wants to play?"

chap 10

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