by Berzerker_prime

Summary: Kurt/Kitty and kinda cheesy in places.  Shadowcat takes a quick, little unexpected jaunt through time, fifteen years into the future.  What does that spell?  ANGST-RIDDEN NIGHTCRAWLER OFF THE PORT BOW!!!!  ^_^

AN:
    This sorta sprung out of a little idea that popped into my head about what would happen if the Morlocks were introduced into the Evolution story line.  How might they have formed and what would it mean?  So, here's my take.
    The beginning of this fic employs what I like to call "Escaflowne Syndrome," so don't take it at face value for what happens in the first three scenes.  ^_~
    Appologies to everyone for my horrible attempt at putting Kurt's German accent in print.  It didn't quite come out as well as I had hoped... ^_^;
    This is my first attempt at an Evolution fic, so please R/R, k?  ^_^
    Enjoy, minna-san!

*********

 An expanding puff of smoke and the smell of brimstone were the earliest warning signs of the sudden existence of the blue demon with the blazing white eyes.  Immediately, he was down on all fours, relying on his larger, more powerful animal-like feet to propel him forward into a run.

 His name was Kurt Wagner, although he would never say so if he were stopped during this particular endeavor.  For now, he was only known as Nightcrawler.

 Dodging numerous trees and bushes, he caught up with the young brown-haired girl in front of him.  As he pulled up along side of her in their run, she hardly took notice of him, concentrating on her own sprint.

 The path ahead of them narrowed slightly and Nightcrawler noticed that it was only wide enough to allow one of them through it at a time.  He took the path, letting his partner go off of it, knowing she would have no trouble with the obstacles.  He chanced a glance up to make certain he had been correct and saw her form sliding through the solid greenery as though they weren’t there.

 She was like him… different.  Her name was Kitty Pryde, but for now she was called Shadowcat.

 There was another one, up ahead, standing in his path.  Nightcrawler skidded to a halt and took off into the woods, off the path.  Shadowcat wordlessly followed him, changing her own path.  They soon came to a sort of clearing, their only cover suddenly nothing but dried up cattails sticking up from the mud.

 “This isn’t good,” Shadowcat murmured as they came to a halt just short of the mud.  “What now?”

 “Over there,” Nightcrawler stated, pointing through the cattails to a short dock jutting out into the mud clearing.  He grabbed on to her and willed his talents to life, surrounding both in that familiar and overwhelming smell of brimstone.

 They were suddenly elsewhere.  Shadowcat, having ducked at the sudden transport on Nightcrawler’s part, stood up and clunked her head on the wood of the dock.

 “Ow!” She exclaimed and was suddenly hushed by Nightcrawler’s three-fingered hand over her mouth.

 There was suddenly a cacophony of clomps from above and a flurry of voices.  Three figures stood on the dock above them, looking out across the mud clearing.

 “Where the heck they go?” Asked one.

 “I dunno,” responded the second, “you were the one who said we could head them off by heading around the pond the opposite direction.”

 “Don’t look at me,” countered the third, “frankly, I think we should just let that freak go.  Whatever it is, it looked like it could do some serious damage.”

 “That’s why we have to kill it,” snapped the first.

 “Yeah,” the second agreed, “someone’s gotta be the pest control, you know.”

 “Whatever,” said the first, “we aren’t gonna find them by arguing here.  They must have left the woods by now.  Let’s go back up.”

 The other two agreed and there was another cacophony of boots on wood as they left.  Nightcrawler and Shadowcat waited for a few more moments until the three boys were out of sight and definitely out of earshot.

 “That was close,” Shadowcat sighed.

 “This is my fault,” Nightcrawler murmured, “I’m sorry, Kitty.”

 Kitty made a sour face at Kurt as he turned away, settling into a blanket of self pity and disgust.  She reached down behind him, grasped his thin, blue tail, and gave it a firm tug.

 “Agh!” He exclaimed, turning back to her.  “Vhat was dat for?”

 “Knock it off, Kurt,” she snapped, “this is no more your fault than it is mine or the Queen of Sheba’s!”

 “But… I-”

 It was her turn to put a hand over his mouth.

 “No buts, blue boy.  How many times do you have to hear it?  You can’t blame yourself for who you are.”  This seemed to quiet Kurt and she took her hand off his mouth, instead sticking it out as if to take something.  “Now, let me see the watch.”
 Quietly, Kurt took off the small watch on his left wrist and handed it to her.  She looked it over, popping open the back.
 “Yup,” she said, “it’s on the fritz again.”

 Kurt frowned and looked up at her, a slight twinge of fear evident in his eyes.  “But it’s broad daylight!  I can’t go anywhere like zis!  Those thugs will see me and start chasing us again!”

 Kitty handed the watch back to Kurt.  “Don’t worry,” she said, winking, “I’ve got an idea.  They still think I’m nor-… like them… I’ll just go and play off their fears a bit, then I’ll come back for you when I know they’re gone.”

 “But vhat if they-”

 “You got a better idea?”

 “Wait until dark?”

 “Then we’ll be late for practice with Logan.  You know how he gets.”

 He nodded.  “I’d rather face the thugs.”

 “Exactly.  I’ll knock three times on the dock when it’s safe; one long, two short.  Now, you stay put.  I’ll be back in a few.”  Kitty picked her feet out of the mud and made her way toward the path.

 “Be careful!” Kurt called after her.
 
 

 Later, they were both hustling down a set of railroad tracks, west, into the sunset toward the more upper class part of town.
 “Why does the hologram keep malfunctioning?” Nightcrawler mused aloud between puffs of breath.

 Shadowcat, too, was huffing along down the tracks.  “Shut up and run, we’re late enough as it is.”

 It had taken longer for Kitty to throw off the thugs than she had expected.  The hard-headed jocks from the basketball court had been more stubborn than burrs in a German Shepard’s fur.  She had finally had to tell them that Nightcrawler had been controlling her mind and she wanted to get back at him by telling the thugs where he had gone.  She hated spreading new rumors about Kurt, but it had been her last resort.  She knew that Professor Xavier would have a thing or two to say about it, but was content that she and Nightcrawler had a chance to get away, for the moment.

 They had decided on taking the railroad tracks for the slight amount of privacy their sloped banks offered on either side.  It worried Shadowcat that they didn’t have anywhere to go if a train came along, but Nightcrawler had been skittish about leaving the shadows of the dock unless she agreed, so she didn’t have much choice.

 All in all, she hated how little control she had over the situation.

 Suddenly, from their right came a flurry of motion in the long grass on the bank.  It headed their way, finally coming to a stop on the tracks just in front of them.  Nightcrawler and Shadowcat skidded to a halt, finding it to be one of the thugs, holding a particularly hard looking baseball bat.  There was another flurry of motion behind them and as they chanced a glance back, they found it to be the other two thugs, one with a tree branch and another with an old rusted coat hanger.  Shadowcat and Nightcrawler took up defensive stances back to back.

 “Nice little tale you spun back there, chicky-babe,” said the one in front of them, “that freak friend of yours is just freaky enough that I almost believed it.  But you didn’t notice that I saw you moving through the trees like they weren’t there.  You’re a freak too, ain’cha?”

 “Let’s trash ‘em!” exclaimed the one with the tree branch.

 “Shadowcat!” Nightcrawler snapped, grabbing hold of her hand.

 The next thing Kitty knew, she was standing in the middle of the front lawn at the Xavier institute, her stomach turning wild loops in her abdomen, the smell of brimstone all around her in the air.

 Kurt’s iron clad grasp on her hand loosened and he groaned, falling to his knees and putting a hand over his mouth in what seemed to be a desperate attempt to staunch a flow of vomit.

 “Kurt!” Kitty exclaimed, kneeling next to him, at a loss for what to do.  “You tried to go too far!  That was almost two miles!”
 “I can handle two miles,” Kurt said around puffs of breath.

 “But not while carrying someone along with you.”

 The voice had come from their left and they looked up, seeing Xavier and Logan heading their way.  The voice had belonged to the former.

 “You’re late,” Logan said, simply.

 Kitty frowned up at him.  “We were attacked at the basketball court when Kurt’s hologram fizzled out again,” she stated, sourly, while pulling Kurt to his feet.  “They chased us and Kurt teleported us out.”

 “But he tried to go too far with you along,” Logan snapped back, “he doesn’t have that much control yet, you both could have been stuck between places.”

 “Or ve could have been stuck inside a vall somevhere,” Kurt shot back, still a little weakly, “I von’t teleport anyvere I don’t know.  Especially not vhen I have someone along!”

 “Listen up, rookie, you’ve got a lot to-”

 “That’s enough, Logan,” Xavier interrupted Logan’s tirade, “Kurt’s right, in this case.  If he had tried to teleport somewhere he didn’t know, they both might have teleported into something solid.  I don’t have to tell you what that would have done to them if that had happened.”  He turned to Kurt the Kitty.  “You two have had enough action for today, I think.  You’d better sit out training and leave it to the others.  Now, let’s get Kurt inside so he can rest.”
 
 
 

 Kitty closed the door to Kurt’s room as quietly as she could, sneaking one last glance at his amazingly peaceful, sleeping face.  He had fallen asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow, before she even had a chance to tell him to sleep tight.

 After closing the door, she turned to leave and found herself face to face with Professor Xavier.

 “He’ll be all right, Kitty,” he said, “you don’t have to worry.  After he gets some rest, he’ll be as good as new.”

 “That’s not what I’m worried about, Professor,” she responded, “last time this happened, he woke up having nightmares about mis-teleporting for a week.  I’m just worried that… well… I dunno… you know?”

 Xavier nodded, a slight smile on his face.  “Yes, I know.  Don’t worry, I’m seeing to that right now.  He’ll sleep just fine.  And I suggest you do the same.  That teleport took a toll on you as well.”

 Casting a glance at the closed door to Kurt’s room, Kitty nodded, then headed off to her own room, suddenly feeling quite tired herself.

 Xavier, for his part, wheeled himself into the study and settled into a meditative state, allowing the turbulent readings he was receiving from Kurt to fade into the back of his mind a bit.

 “And to think,” he mused to himself, “he used to frighten her not too long ago.”
 
 
 

 “You gonna drink that?”

 The question had come from Evan, as it usually did.  He was pointing to Kitty’s unopened carton of milk.  Even as he did, he tossed another, empty one into a the garbage can not far away.  There was a whole pile of the cartons in the can already.
 Kitty rolled her eyes and pushed the carton toward him.  Evan opened it and chugged it without even breathing.  When he was finished with that, he began eyeing Rogue’s carton and she shielded it from his grasp.  Evan gave up and turned back to Kitty.
 “So, I hear you and Kurt had an adventure yesterday.”

 “Yeah,” Kitty responded, “we were playing basketball with a coupla closed-minded morons and Kurt’s holo went totally on the fritz again.  That thing is a real pain, sometimes, you know?”

 “Man, I hear ya’.  Seems the thing wigs out every other day.”

 Rogue finished her drink and joined in on the conversation.  “It’s really dangerous, is what it is.  If anyone sees what Kurt really looks like… POW… he’ll get smeared.”

 Kitty sat back and considered for a moment.  “I wonder if there’s a way to boost the holo’s gain and give it, like, a bigger power source or something.”

 There was a crash and a sudden commotion from the other end of the cafeteria and all three turned to find out what had caused it.  A rather irate looking Lance Alvers was half covered in soda and his tray of lunch was in ruins on the floor.  From the looks of things, he and Scott had run into each other near the crowded lunch line and they were now staring each other down.  Jean and Kurt were with Scott and likewise with Lance were Toad and Blob.

 “What’s the deal, Alvers, I said I’d get you another one!” Scott fired in Avalanche’s direction.

 “You did that on purpose, Sommers,” Lance fired back, picking up the tray from the floor and wielding it like a bludgeon.

 “This isn’t good,” Rogue stated, making her way over to the group with Evan and Kitty in tow.

 “Scott, knock it off!” Jean pleaded, grabbing Scott’s hand and trying to pull it back.  But Lance had thrown the tray at them, stamping his foot down.  As though in coincidence, a slight rumbling of the Earth occurred.  Jean deflected the tray, ever so slightly so as to not show off her talent to the growing crowd.

 On impulse, Kitty found herself standing in between the two sides and she was joined shortly by Kurt.

 “Like, knock it off, you two!  It was an accident, okay?”

 “Calm down, already!” Kurt agreed.

 And suddenly, as though the world itself had ordered chaos to consume the scene, a blazing white light flooded the room and a horrible scream shot through the air.  Everyone covered their ears and looked away from the light, which had formed itself into a bright coalescence just above Kurt, Kitty and the rest.

 The entire room erupted into chaos and people scattered everywhere, trying to get out of the room in a giant stampede.
 Kitty felt her ears pop and a wind began blowing toward the light, picking up larger and larger items as it increased in intensity.  The doors to the cafeteria slammed closed and blocked the way of the retreating masses.

 “What’s going on?” Evan shouted over the din.

 “You mean you guys don’t know either?” Toad shouted back.

 The wind picked up some more and Kurt went down to all fours, using his talent to stick to the floor the same way he stuck to walls.  The others all found something to grab on to; a post here, a counter there.

 But Kitty found her weight leave her.  She began to float off the ground and felt a three-fingered hand grab hold of her wrist.  She grabbed hold of the one who had grabbed her, finding it to be Kurt as her hand covered his watch.

 “Kitty!  Don’t let go!” He squinted up at her, trying to see her though the light just beyond.

 “Just hold on to the ground!” she responded, even as she felt their grips slipping.  She almost lost her grip entirely and grabbed on to the first thing she touched.  Unfortunately, it was Kurt’s watch.  The wristband broke apart and the sudden jerk made Kurt lose his grip as well.  That instant was all it took and Kitty found herself floating upward.  Soon, she was engulfed in white hot light…
 
 
 
 

 What seemed like ages later, she opened her eyes, feeling a bruise forming on her backside and a steady drip-drip on her face.  It was dark, quiet, and smelled of something she couldn’t describe, it was so horrible.  Slowly, rubbing her aching back, she sat up and looked around.  The place was dirty, dank, and half destroyed.

 “Where in the world am I?” She wondered, rubbing her head with her other hand.  She found the remains of Kurt’s watch in it.

 “So, you’re awake, huh?” came a voice from the darkness.  Kitty looked around again and she caught site of two green, glowing eyes staring straight at her.  A small, orange tabby cat came into what little light there was and approached her.  “Are you okay, lady?”

 Kitty blinked a few times.  “I musta hit my head, or something.  I coulda sworn you just talked, little guy.”

 “Don’t call me little guy, I hate that!” The cat snapped back at her.  “And I did talk.”  Then, something miraculous happened.  The tabby grew, changed and transformed until sitting in front of Kitty was a slightly dirty brown-haired young boy of about ten.  “The name’s Lycanthrope.”

 Kitty found herself gaping.  “Are… are you a Mutant?”

 “Yep!  Just like you!”

 “How did you…?”

 “You slid right through the ceiling,” Lycanthrope answered, pointing skyward, “without even moving a grain of sand.  So, I guess you can walk through walls?”

 “Y-yeah… I’m Kitty Pr-"

 “Shh!  No names on the surface, remember?  They’ll find you, that way!  What’s your Mutant name?”

 “Sh… Shadowcat, but like, why can’t I tell you-“

 “Hey!  You in there!” came a voice from outside the ruined building.

 “Uh oh!” Lycanthrope exclaimed, grabbing Kitty’s hand.  “We gotta get out of here!  It’s the search parties!  C’mon!”  He changed form once again, turning into a black horse and he got underneath Kitty, sliding her onto his back.  He broke out of a small opening in the ruined wall and was about to break into a gallop when lights shown down on them from several different directions.

 “Hold it, monsters!”

 “Monsters!?!” Kitty exclaimed.

 “This is very bad!” Lycanthrope growled.

 Kitty squinted past the lights and she was agape once again.  There appeared to be a whole group of soldiers, all of them pointing weapons at them.  Her mind raced, wondering what to do.

 However, several fireballs rained down upon the scene, suddenly, taking out all the lights and cutting off most of the soldiers from Kitty and Lycanthrope with a wall of fire.  Three figures appeared in this new light and faced down the soldiers, some of which had opened fire.  The figure in the lead turned back to Kitty and Lycanthrope, one white eye, breaking through the darkness of his silhouette and reflecting the light.

 “Lycanthrope!  Get to point x-ray!  We’ll meet you there!”

 “Gotcha!” Lycanthrope answered, breaking into a gallop and changing form again, right under Kitty.  This time, he took the form of a very large bird and took flight.  Kitty looked down and saw the chaos that was ensuing below.  Fire was mixing with ice, creating steam that covered the area.  She didn’t get to see what happened to the three who had helped them as Lycanthrope dove back behind some other buildings and out of sight of the fight.  He let Kitty off and changed back to his boy form, then approached a manhole cover which he lifted off and motioned Kitty into.

 “But what about-?”

 “Just get in!”

 Kitty complied and climbed down into the hole, followed by Lycanthrope.  When she reached the bottom she stopped and let her new friend lead the way down the rather smelly sewer.

 “Where are we going?” Kitty asked.

 “X-ray.  We’ll meet up with the others there.”

 “But how are they going to get out?”

 “They’ve got their ways.”

 They traveled down the tunnel for a few blocks or so until a small orange light appeared and a lady’s voice called to them.  “Lycanthrope!  Over here!”

 “Fire Bomber!  About time!”

 “He’s really peeved at you this time,” another voice came, a male one.

 “Jack!  Save it!” came a third.

 Lycanthrope and Kitty approached them.  The small fireball was being held in the hand of the lady who had called out to them.  She was a not all that unattractive young lady of about Kitty’s age with short blonde hair bleached white in streaks.  She was wearing what appeared to be a body suit augmented in places with pieces of colored metal serving as armor.  The light of her fireball cast itself on the young man next to her.  He was perhaps a few years older and similarly dressed, but for the theme of blue instead of red.

 There was a third figure, resting against the wall behind them.  The light didn’t quite reach him and Kitty couldn’t make out what he looked like.  He turned to look straight at Lycanthrope, one white eye catching the light.

 “I told you to stay away from there, today!”

 “I didn’t mean to go there,” Lycanthrope answered, “but I saw her-“

 “Tell me later,” the figure said, standing, “let’s get moving.”  He started forward into the tunnel, but stumbled.  Jack was next to him quickly, moving to help him.  “K!  you all right?  That wasn’t too far, was it?”

 “I’m fine!  Let’s move before zey track us!”

 German…

 Kitty hadn’t noticed his accent before, but now she did… and it was German.

 Silently, the group moved further into the tunnels, winding this way and that through them, climbing ladders, some up, some down.  Finally, they arrived at a small pile of things.  Jack and Lycanthrope moved aside a few pieces of the junk, revealing a well lit hole leading into another room.  Jack, Fire Bomber, and the third figure climbed down into it and Lycanthrope motioned Kitty to follow.

 “Go on, I’ll close it up.”

 Kitty nodded and climbed into the hole, sliding down the small shaft and coming to a stop on the floor of a well-lit, well-populated room.  A hand reached out to help her up…

 … a yellow gloved, three fingered one.

 “Oh, Kurt!  Thank god it’s-“

 She broke off as she stood up and looked her helper in the face, expecting to see a familiar one, but seeing someone almost completely different.

 It was Kurt Wagner… but not the one she knew.

 She pulled back, gasping.  She looked her friend up and down, seeing a completely different person than the one she had seen only a half an hour earlier.  He was older, more muscled, and had a few scars here and there on his arms.  Like Jack and Fire Bomber, he too wore his share of armor, colored black, over a modified version of his X-men uniform.  His hair was longer, pulled back into a pony tail but for two locks that framed either side of his face.  There was a black eye patch over his left eye and Kitty could only guess what had happened that he needed it.

 “Kurt?” she ventured.  “Is… is it you?”

 He looked at her with his one good eye for several silent moments, seemingly taken off guard himself.  Suddenly, he turned away and started to head off into another room.

 “So,” he said, “you did fall through ze Chrono Hole.  Just like Forge thought.”  He paused and just before the doorway leading into the next room.  “Everyone, zis is Kitty Pryde, the Shadowcat.”  And with nothing further he left, leaving a group of murmurs behind as the whole room started whispering to each other.

*********

Well, what do ya'll think so far!?!
I was bored one day and made some pics of Future Nightcrawler and Fire Bomber.  Obviousy, not the calibre of the show's animation by anything even related to a long shot, but if you wanna see 'em, just drop me a line.  I plan on drawing some pics of Blizzard and Lycanthrope at some point as well.
Thanks for reading!  ^_^