Alex is walking to his physical science class when all of a sudden, there is a pull from his backpack. He turns around to identify the culprit, when he realizes that it's only his best friend, Drew Ebon. "You always seem to be able to sneak up on me like that, Drew. What's your secret? It might come in handy for me someday," comments Alex, thinking of the fight between him and the others against Holocaust.

Drew gives Alex a shrewd smile, replying, "Oh, you know I can't do that. That's why it's my little secret. You gotta have the touch. Anyway, it's too cool to see you almost jump out of your pants every time I do that to you!"

"I did not!" Alex whines.

"Oh, yeah right, Alex. I know when you're scared. You can't hide that from me."

Alex starts to laugh, as Drew does as well. They then walk into their class and sit at their assigned seats, which is a problem since they cannot talk to each other without getting in trouble. Drew, though, enjoys talking to Alex anyway.

"Alex," he whispers. "I won't talk for long, but I need to talk to you about an envelope I got in the mail yesterday, okay?"

"Sure," Alex whispers back.

After the bell rings for classes to change, Alex and Drew walk out, as Alex laughs from the teacher of physical science, Mr. Greyson, who constantly makes jokes throughout the class period. Alex wipes away the tears from his eyes from laughing so hard.

"What was so funny, Alex? Tell me, tell me!"

"Well, Drew, it's just that -laugh- Mr. Greyson is so, so funny!"

"Mr. Greyson? I cannot STAND that man! He is continuously making senseless jokes, as if we were still in Kindergarten!"

"Shush, keep your voice down. That's only because you have no sense of humor whatsoever."

"No sense of humor? You gotta be kidding me. Why, I'll show you a sense of humor!"

Laughing, Alex asks his 'friend,' "Yeah, whatever. So, what's up with that envelope you were telling me about? You didn't look too pleased. Is something wrong?"

Drew replies melancholy, "I'm transferring to another school that's very far away from here."

Alex looks sad, yet puzzled. He thinks to himself, Either Cerebro's technological capabilities are far more advanced than I first thought, or my studies from the future are actually true. Only one way to find out, though.

Nervously, he clasps his hands, purposely covering up a ring, with the J X L symbol on it, that he received from Professor Xavier.

He asks, "Where are you moving? Or do you even have an idea on where you will be going?"

Drew answers, "A place called Salem Center. It's in New York. I'm really not supposed to tell anyone about this, but you're my best friend, Alex, I just had to tell you."

Alex's eyes grow wide with astonishment. He sticks his hands in his pockets so his ring won't be seen. He walks with Drew down the science corridor while he contacts Rose through her ability of telepathy, Rose, can you hear me? This is J X L business.

Down the hallway, Rose puts her hand on her forehead for a clear transmission of thoughts. I read you loud and clear, Alex. What's up? Something buggin' ya or what?

You might say that. I've found another one, a new neo-mutant, but he doesn't even know it yet. Cover up your J X L ring. I'm walking with him toward you. You aren't gonna believe this. It's Drew!

Drew??!!! Wow! I never thought that Drew of all people would be a mutant. When did you find out?

Just now, and I am just as shocked as you. We will have to break the news to him really carefully, though. We don't want him to do anything drastic, especially here!

I get what you mean. Do you know when we will get called to transfer? I'm getting rather jumpy about it. Something doesn't feel right here.

Why? What's gotten you so worried all of a sudden? Have you seen something in the future?

Oh, Alex, you know I can't see the far future, just the immediate. Anyway, I can't see anything, I just feel it.

Feel what?

I sense a disturbance in the space/time continuum. I think time is going to stop for a few minutes. I'm not really sure, but Alex, you don't know how it feels! My cosmic energies that allow me to manipulate the passages of time and space are directly linked to the s/t continuum. I feel so much pain, that it's almost unbearable.

Calm down, Rose, get a hold of yourself. Everything's going to be okay. Now, can you tell me when time is gonna stop?

In a few minutes from now. What do you think we can do? How can we stop it? What if we can't stop it? Will we be stuck in time forever??

Rose, listen to me. Everything will be okay. We just have to think about this. Now tell me, if time really stops, is there anyway you can put an anti-time shield around us?

I think so. Why?

I'll bet that we need to find out whatever will cause this abrupt stop in time, and find some way to neutralize it. Anyway, we'll jump that hurdle when we get to it.

Rose walks down one end of the science wing while Alex and Drew walk the opposite direction. The three meet in the middle of the corridor and begin to talk, but suddenly, a loud scream is heard from down the hall. Without warning, time stops and everyone seems to be frozen in time, just like Rose predicted, and because of her powers, Alex, Drew, and herself, are not affected.

Alex says to Rose telepathically, Looks like you were right, Rose. I can tell that your powers are growing stronger!

Drew asks, "What's going on? Why isn't everyone else moving?" He walks over to a person and waves his hand over him, but it shows no effect.

Alex answers Drew, "That will take a while to explain. Right now, we had better figure out who--or what--did this."

The three quickly run to the point of location where the scream took place, and that is when they witness a terrifying site. . . .

A man, presumingly, is floating in mid-air in the cafeteria lobby. Flames are projecting out of his back like wings of fire. He is holding a bloody skull of an unknown person in his right hand. He is laughing hysterically, amused with his handiwork, and watching the blood drip onto the floor, forming a puddle, when he notices the three teens watching him.

He exclaims to them bellowing, "How can this be? No one can resist the dark powers of those who serve the coming holocaust!"

The neo-mutants are stunned by the unidentified man's appearance. Red flowing energy emits from the monster's eyes like that of lava erupting out of a volcano. Pure blackness seems to cover the gigantic fiend from neck to foot! The flames that looked as if they were coming out of his back like wings are distinguished now as insufferable energy constantly surrounds him. His "gloves" and "shoes" sparkle like a consistent shower of different shades of orange and red.

Alex mutters to himself, Looks like Holocaust has some other tricks up his sleeve. Man, this guy is disgusting!

Rose says to the others, "I think I'm gonna be sick!" She jumps into the girl's bathroom. Unknown to the man, however, this is a ploy to draw attention away from Rose.

"Hey, come back here, Rose. You coward!" exclaims Drew.

"Don't talk about her like that, you moron, she's my girlfriend."

"Well, excuuuuuuuuse me!"

The man just watches and laughs at the two boys standing in front of him. "Go ahead, argue among yourselves. It will only make my job just that much easier!!" he utters as he laughs.

Alex whispers to Drew as quietly as possible, "When I say 'Go', run into the boy's bathroom and wait for me to tell you it's safe for you to come out."

Drew asks, "What are you gonna do, Alex?"

"I don't know. All I can do is improvise."

"You can't be serious."

The man yells at the boys, "I cannot stand this! Are you just going to stand there staring at me, or do you want to fight for your life before I take it away from you?!"

Alex exclaims, "Go!"

Drew stares in confusion at the horrific sight.

"GO!"

Drew stands like a gallant soldier at full attention.

"Drew, what's gotten into you?!!" Alex tries to pull him back, but before he can, he is knocked ten feet backwards onto from an electrical shock! He realizes that the unknown "visitor" has encased Drew in some kind of electrical shell which would prove to be fatal to ordinary humans. Alex gets back up to try to release Drew from the shell. Even though the electrical shield hinders most of the sound, Alex can hear Drew screaming something, but cannot understand the wording.

Alex yells to the visitor, "Alright. That's it. Now it's my turn!!!" He begins to consume himself with his magnetic ability. He surrounds himself with an electromagnetic shield. He jumps high in the air, which in turn makes his shield to glow bright yellow. As he hovers, he yells again, "I am Syntex, time traveler and leader of the J X L. You've pissed off the wrong person now! You can give Holocaust a message!!!" Alex grabs his shield and reshapes it into a flying magnetic disk. He throws it at the visitor, but the being uses his energy surrounding himself to reflect the disk back to Alex. Alex receives a direct hit from his own disk and is thrown to the floor. Alex returns to his normal self as he tries to get up when he notices Drew.

Inside the shell, Drew speaks boldly, "I shall not allow this! I will pay you back for what you have done to this innocent person!"

The electric shell bursts open and whirling energies discharges out of Drew's body.

"Drew?" Alex says in amazement.

The energies encircling Drew come down upon him as he and the energies unite as one. He then screams, "Divide and conquer!"

"Oh my God in Heaven. We're in for it now," Alex murmurs.

Two beings of energy issue from his body, both having the physical likeness of Drew. One of a reddish tone and the other a bluish tone. Drew articulates to them, "My children, destroy this vestige of annihilation!"

The two entities lash out with forceful energy blasts at the unnamed foe, who can only laugh. "Foolish, child. You are good, but not good enough!" he yells, stopping Drew's "offspring" with his colossal hands. Then he pushes them toward their creator, knocking Drew and his children in union once more, causing him to collapse.

"Drew!" Alex runs to his friend. "No, Drew, you can't leave us. You have so much promise! I can see it within you!"

"Alex?"

"Come on, we gotta get you out of here!" Alex lays Drew's left arm around his neck, heading for the boy's bathroom.

"Not so fast!" the enemy shrieks, hurling a massive blast of concussive force down at the teenagers. Drew is cast into the bathroom and is changed into his human form, but luckily, is still intact. Senselessly, Drew runs back out to stand beside Alex. He stumbles and moans, when Alex hears him.

"Drew? Man, you maniac, can you never listen to me?" he asks turning around. "Go now! Drew, do you want to survive or not? Go! GO!"

Drew stares at Alex with huge eyes, but snaps back into reality and dives into the boy's bathroom, finally getting out of the hypnotic fear.

Alex returns to the enemy as Syntex."Listen, you. . . you. . . whatever you are. You come in here, actin' all big and bad, encase my friend in an electric egg, throw my own powers back at me, and then try to send my friend into the next world. In my book, you've crossed the line from 'insane mutant enemy' to 'insane mutant DEAD enemy.' There's a certain prophet that said, 'Blessed are they who are dead, for they shall not have to deal with THIS!'"

Alex charges all of his magnetic and electromagnetic abilities and concentrates it into a very small bomb. He throws it at the villain, but the bomb detonates in midair. The electromagnetic waves engulf the enemy, while the magnetic waves tear the enemy apart.

Alex yells out, "It's okay now, Rose. You can come out now."

Rose reappears in the lobby and opens another portal leading into a different galaxy on the other side of the universe. The remains of the victim fall into the portal, as Rose closes it, never to be seen again. Alex walks into the boy's bathroom, only to find Drew asleep on the floor.

Walking over to Drew, Alex shakes him. "Wake up, Drew. Get up!" Getting annoyed, Alex sends a surge of magnetic energy into Drew's body, raising him from unconsciousness.

"Is it . . . over?" Drew asks Alex, looking at the bloody floor in astonishment.

"Yes, it's over. Everything's fine now."

"Who was that man? And how did you get him out of here?"

"That's information that you'll have to ask somebody else. I'm certainly not that person. All I can say is for you to follow the instructions in that envelope you received from Salem Center. Your questions will be answered when you talk to the founder of the school, Charles Xavier."

After this sordid experience, Alex walks Drew through the main hall as Rose uses her teleportation ability to clean up the rest of the mess caused by the unknown visitor.

Before Alex leaves Drew, he says, "That was totally cool what you did today. How'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Oh, come one, don't be modest."

"I'm serious, Alex. The only thing I remember of it was he captured me and then you saved me. Wasn't that the way it happened?"

"Sure, Drew, whatever," says Alex in a confused state.

"Catch ya' after class. Bye!"

"See ya'," he says perplexed. "That's funny. He doesn't remember? I have to tell the Prof. about this!"

"MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION FOR THE AFTERNOON ANNOUNCEMENTS?"

The four students are currently in their third period classes: Daniel in physical science, Drew in English I honors, Rose in French II, and Alex in Biology I.

In Alex's class, he thinks to himself, looking upward to the intercom, I wonder. . . .

". . . THE JUNIOR-VARSITY BOY'S BASKETBALL TEAM . . ."

Through their telepathic rapport, Alex contacts his girlfriend, Will they announce for us to report to the office for our transfer?

". . . THE SPANISH CLUB WILL HAVE A MEETING . . . "

Rose replies with her special ability, I sense that they're about to right now. Now, let's listen and find out.

" . . . WOULD THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS PLEASE REPORT TO THE OFFICE WHEN THE BELL RINGS: DANIEL SCHMIDTZ , DREW EBON, ROSE-MARIE WEST, AND ALEX DAVIDSON."

Walking out of English class, Drew contemplates, I'm so worried about all of this. The others have already been to Salem and been given roles in this supposedly upcoming battle. It's just not fair. Why do I always have to be the new kid, and why are they immediately transferring me when I haven't been there and the rest have? I just don't get it.

Alex, Rose, and Daniel say their good-byes, mostly to friends that they have had in their classes, and those who have been with them throughout each other's life. Some cry and some laugh, but they all cherish some of the special times that they shared.

Drew, however, purposely blends in the background, refusing to be sad, for he, even if he has only been living in Waterfall for two and a half years, has also made some friends that if he said good-bye, his heart would be broken.

They walk into the WHS office through the main entrance. Mr. Hallows, the Principal, and Mr. Wilson, the Vice-Principal, are there with the student records of each teenager.

They hand each of the students their profile and Jackson says, "Good luck to the four of you. Sorry you had to leave so soon. We hope you are successful in whatever journey you have chosen."

They walk outside the front doors of the lobby. Unbelievably, but not to Alex, they see a limousine, sent by Charles Xavier in Salem Center, New York. The chauffeur is standing by holding an opened door. The door has the same markings as the J X L ring. He motions for the teens to step inside the limo, which they do willingly, but before Drew can, someone calls out his name, "Drew! Stop! Hold on!"

"What?" he asks turning around. "Jeanie?"

"Sorry," she says trying to recover her breathing, "but you went so fast after class, I couldn't catch up. Where . . . where are you going?"

Drew turns around away from her, saying, "It's nothing, Jeanie, honest. Nothing at all."

That's all he says to his friend, leaving her speechless. He walks toward the car, then getting in, he slams the door. The limo drives off, as "Jeanie" can do nothing but stare into the horizon where the limousine has disappeared.

After a couple of minutes of the agonizing torture of silence, Alex asks Drew, "What was that all about?" "Nothing, Alex. Just drop it."

Rose speaks to Alex telepathically, What's wrong with him, Alex?

I really don't know. If I had to guess, he probably hates the fact that he's going to be away from his other friends. He always has liked Jeanie, the first time he saw her.

Oh, poor thing. Anyway, what's his power? We never discussed that.

You know something, Rose? Except from what I witnessed earlier today, I don't know that either.

"I sense confusion within you, Alex," Drew interrupts.

"What do you mean?" asks Rose.

"I'm not totally like Rose, but in a way, I most certainly am. My main power is Empathy: the ability to read, redirect, create, manipulate, and predict emotions in someone. I can absorb emotions also. If someone near me is angry, I absorb it. I then rechannel it as hot plasmic fire. If someone is depressed, or any of those other 'darker' emotions, and when I absorb it, I can redirect it as cold living fire. Don't ask me to explain it because I don't understand it myself."

"Okay," is the only thing Alex and Rose can say.

Alex says to Rose through telepathic rapport, Maybe that would explain why he didn't remember the experience before lunch today. His powers probably take up so much of him that he can't remember certain moments in time! The Prof. won't believe this!

Alex lets out a sigh of relief and tiredness. Rose asks, "What's wrong? Aren't you glad that you don't have to go here anymore?"

"No, it's not that. I'm just so tired. I guess I used more of my powers than what I should use. Hey, driver? How long until we get to Nashville?"

The driver replies, "It will probably be an hour or less before we arrive at our destination, sir. Are we picking up anyone else between now and then?"

"No. It'll be just us four. Can you turn on the radio please?"

The driver turns on the radio to 107.5. "How is that, sir?"

The station begins to play the song "Men in Black." Alex says, "That's perfect! Roll down the windows and crank up the volume!"

The limo drives down the road, with four kids yelling and loud music blaring, to Nashville where a suprise waits for the four teens.

To continue reading, go to the fifth chapter.