Kyle Albatross

Individual

Character's full name: Kyle "Shine" Albatross
Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: Shiny(Nickname), Forte(Alias)
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Date of Birth: (12/11/1989)
Nationality/ Ethnicity: Caucsican, has partial Swedish in him
Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin:Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Appearance

Hair color and style: Black with red streaks. Kyle's hair is about shoulder length on the sides and back, with the bangs coming down to rest above his eyes. He does try to keep it from being too messy looking, often keeping it as straight out as possible.
Eyes: Emerald
Height: 5'10
Build: Physically built to be a fighter, his body about even all above. He's considered slightly above average in terms of physique, and no part of his body is more muscled then any other part.
Visible mutation: N/A unless he's using his abilities. In that case, his arms seem to glow and spark with a dark purple aura lining his body.
Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: Scars are something Kyle is quite familiar with, having faced his fair share of fights, both at random and by his own choosing. His chest and back has several minor scarring in various spots, these one's being mostly faded unless your up close. A much larger and more visible scar runs diagonal down his chest, from about his upper right shoulder down to his left kidney, obtained from one of his many fights over the years. Another scar runs down from the top of his forehead down to just above his right eye, and his arms both have long, jagged scars circling around his forearm on the left and his upper bicep on the right.
Other features: Slightly longer canine teeth.

Kyle Image: i181.photobucket.com/albums/x300/deadkid911/rsz_1tyros.jpg

Everyday clothing style: Generally, Kyle tends to wear a short or long sleeve tshirt of either black, blue or green over his skin. Black, fingerless gloves cover his hands and black, white and red sneakers are often what is found on his feet. He prefers black jeans, though he will wear blue if he has too; he despises wearing shorts unless its for a good reason like swimming or just lazying around the house in the heat. When he's out and about, he often wears a black jacket that has red stripes down the arms, yellow at the wrists and two red diagonal stripes across the upper chest. (Man likes black, my sorry) He also has reading glasses that he wears most the time anyway, though he takes them off when appropriate.
Uniform: Has worn a skintight bodysuit and a ski mask at times to cover up who he is when choosing to face trouble. He has several ideas for a more permamant costume for the future but he lacks the skills to make it/need for it.
Sleepwear: He tends to sleep in whatever shirt he was wearing during the day or switches it for a simple t-shirt while wearing a pair of sweat pants in the colder months and shorts in the warmer months; sometimes he wears the sweats in the warmer months as well.
Miscellaneous clothing: A pendant around his neck which is shaped like so; a circle with an arrow in its center pointing down and overlapping the outer portions of the circle, with two triangles pointing to the left and the right at a drooping angle, finished by a small circle in the the arrow's center with a little dot in the middle. The outer circle is black, the arrow is red, the triangles are yellow and the dot in the center is dark purple.

Character

Personality: Generally, Kyle is a decent enough fellow around others, if a bit of a smartass and bitter at times. He tends to be generally polite to others, though his words are often mixed with sarcasm and pointless jests. This attitude is most often showed actually to those he at least considers his equals; those he believes are on a level lower then him get spurns and jabs and at times, fully ignored. Oddly enough, this is his way of trying to inspire others to get stronger, if only to make him stop taking stabs at them.

Once you get to that equality level in his eyes, Kyle is one of the most trust worthy people you could meet. He never makes things easy for anyone though, especially if their asking for help in some way...but sooner or later, there's a high chance that he'll do it anyway. He rarely, if ever, shows any weakness to anyone, even those he considers his "allies". A true tough guy....and its not a front to hide anything for the most part. Still, once you've proved yourself, getting along with him is so much easier.

In a fight, Kyle is a lot more serious, though he does tend to keep his sarcasm and snappy attitude despite this. He never aims to kill, always cripple or incapcitate...but he has no moral qualms against killing someone if the situation is dire enough to call for it. Its one of the few things that make him different then so called "heroes", his lack of moral compass regarding such a choice. Still, he never makes that choice lightly and anyone that dares challenge him on that is asking for a beating.

The one thing that is rare to see from him but those that remain in constant contact with him will see is just how seriously he takes threats against those he considers allies. Sure, he may make a smartass comment or be difficult about it....but anyone that looks into those eyes at the time will see just how much he does care. A quiet fury is what most would call it....a quiet fury that he will unleash at the source of his comrades pain.
Hobbies/ Interests: Fighting, Reading, Training
Job or part time job and description: N/A (For the moment)
Fears/ phobias/ concerns: Fear of losing, fear of being too weak to protect those he cares about, is concerned about the state of affairs in the world, fears losing control of his power and being consumed by it.
Special talents: Good at improvising should the situation call for it, Parkour

Morality

Good/ bad/ neutral/ other: Anti-Hero: Kyle is a good guy, through and through. However, he often has slightly less moral standards when it comes to dealing with his enemies or people who threaten the lives of innocent people. He has no qualms about killing someone he perceives as a threat, though he generally tries to make sure his opponents survive to face their punishment justly. His methods at times may be a bit extreme, but he always tries not to cross that line between acceptable and not.

Mutations

Mutation description: Energy Creation and Manipulation

Kyle's mutation is simple in principle, yet hard to truly figure out. His body produces, daily, an unnatural amount of thermal and electrical energy. Normally, like most energy in the human body, this energy is invisible to the naked eye. Later tests into the use of his power showed that when he concentrates it physically outside his body though, it takes on a purple hue. Tests to determine what is the cause of this excess energy have been mostly fruitless; however they all agree that he should not be physically able to survive his body producing this much energy. Or be able to channel or use it in any way; but as many mutants know, there is always a way.

At first, the excess energy spread out among his body, breathing life into his limbs to the point where he never seemed to really get tired; a super charging of his muscles is about the best way of describing this. Normally, the excess energy in his body allows Kyle to simply go for longer periods without feeling fatigue. Before, the energy was passive, constantly flowing through him and giving him this seemingly endless stamina. However, because did not know how to properly store this energy, there were times when he would black out till his body was able to compensate. Now though, he is able to regulate the energy and store it properly without having this issue.

The other key feature that he has come to understand regarding his mutation is that by concentrating that energy to a single source, in most cases the palms of his hands or the tips of his fingers, he is able to expel that energy from that location. As if were, that means that Kyle is able to fire off energy bursts, in two different forms, the first being from his palm with power(20 EP) and the second from his fingers with finesse(5 EP per shot). When discharging the energy from his hands, the energy will always fly in the direction his palm is facing, either in a single destructive burst of energy or as maintained stream, the latter of which Kyle is still trying to gain a better control of. When releasing it from his fingers, the discharge takes the form of a small explosive pellet, strong enough to damage lock on a gate for example, or as a maintained stream that is as narrow and direct as the beam on a cutting laser(20-50 EP). The range these energy blasts can go at max so far is roughly twenty feet before the energy dissipates from being away from his body. Again, the latter he is working on due to lack of control over it.

His power affects biological and non biological things differently, though he's unsure if this is because he controls the output when facing something breathing vs say a wall. His energy, for the most part, hits like a mule and feels as if you've been burned at the same time. Sometimes a burn has been left behind where his energy hits, likely because the energy comes from his thermal energy, though he has no real proof on this. Also, when he creates the energy, it appears like crackles of electricity, though it has no real electrical properties besides the way it looks.

In essence, his mutation allows him to manipulate the excess energy within his body and use it to remain in his best shape for longer periods of time before his body requires rest, allowing him to fight extended battles longer then most people can afford. On top of that, he is able to discharge this energy in much more potent and powerful amounts in order to use it as a weapon to defend himself and others.

Kyle's power is still developing even at his current age, however, years of practice and experimenting with it have allowed him, to a degree, to control his powers to ensure his safety and that of those around him.
Strengths: Greater stamina levels, energy discharges are powerful enough to put a hole through a brick wall with relative ease at maximum strength.
Weaknesses: Overuse of his energy can rapidly tire Kyle if he uses it faster then his body can produce it, loss of control could lead to potentially fatal discharge to him and others.

Growth description:
Full Body Energy Control

An extension on his ability to fire energy bursts, Kyle is no longer limited to emitting the energy from his hands. By using the sweat pores all over his body, Kyle is effectively able to release his energy from anywhere on his body. Nothing fancy, nothing elaborate; his power was never anything but simple. His growth reflects that; not only does it provide him with a greater possible of offensive capabilities, it also has the possibility for defensive traits as well.

Strengths: Suddenly every angle isn't so hard.

Obviously, the key strength behind this growth is that Forte is able to attack from basically anywhere on his body. Not only does it open up a whole new method of attacks that Forte can produce(or learn), which expands upon his close quarters preference, it also opens up the chance for defensive skills as well. Being able to emit energy from anywhere on his body means that Forte can emit a sudden burst of energy from everywhere at once, creating a barrier of sorts. The possibilities behind this growth are many and Forte will only learn more with time. Where as before he had, per say in RPG terms, 500 EP points to use for his abilities, his power expanding has jumped this number up to 1000 to accommodate his new-found powers.

Skills to Learn: Barrier: As simple as its name, Kyle expels energy from his entire body at once, creating a sudden shield that can deflect an incoming blow or blows for several seconds till the energy fades. Since its an explosive burst of energy from his entire body, it takes a toll on him to use it, but can effectively blow back an attacker as well if the person is close enough. (Energy cost: 100 EP)

Boosted Blows: With his new-found ability to release energy from any part of his body, Forte is now able to expel energy in a sudden burst from, for example, his elbow, to increase the speed and power of his punch, effectively increasing the damage dealt to the target as well. Subconsciously, Kyle wraps a small amount of energy around his fist when he deals the blow to reduce damage back, although this depends on what he is hitting. (Energy cost: 50 EP per blow)

Weakness: To hit harder, more effort has to be given.

The major drawback to this growth is that since Forte has not had ample time to practice focusing from the various portions of his body, the energy unleashed there will not be as controlled. As such, excess energy may be lost, either from putting too much into it or waste energy simply slipping away. This means that by using his new-found abilities, Kyle drains his reserves faster; a trade off of sorts. Better moves, but running out of gas faster by using them. For example, using the "barrier" skill now would drain him of about 1/10th of his energy reserves. Couple that with the constant use of his normal skills and Kyle can quickly find himself tired, out of juice...and vulnerable.

Even with proper training, this weakness will not go away, not entirely, for using the energy from other parts of his body takes a much more conscious effort on his part; the extra energy is needed, not only to use it effectively, but to power any new skill he learns with it.

As another trade off, using the energy from other portions of his body has the added risk of misfiring or harming himself while it is unpracticed. In the event of a misfire, the energy would be wasted for no reason, cutting into his reserves for no gain. As for harming himself, rocketing parts of his body into something stronger then flesh and bone is obviously going to have negative effects. Forcing energy through places he has not prepared for could damage or strain the muscles in that area as well, leaving him wounded or temporally crippled for the foreseeable future until proper aid is tended.


Fighting Style
Street Fighting/Countering
Environmental Fighting

Explanation: Kyle has gone through most his life fighting the only way he knows how; straight on into the fray while using his powers to help give him that edge he needs. Mostly, he's learned the way of street and environmental fighting; he fights quick, fast and dirty as he needs to and constant battles have honed his instincts in a fight. Also, he is capable of using his surrounding's to the best of their and his ability, hence the enviroment fighting. Recently, however, he has begun to take an interest in learning more actual forms of combat to increase his skill level.

Specifically, Kyle has begun to look more into his preferred method of street fighting and that is to use the enemies strength against them and to use counters to attacks thrown his way.

Pros for fighting style: Adaptable, can be unpredictable at times, always allows him to make a move in response instead of falling for a trap.
Cons for fighting style: Is a bit weaker in terms of sheer skill to trained warriors, requires an enemy to make a move to be most effective, plenty of opening to exploit if not careful.

Faction Allegiance
Unaffiliated

History Of Your Character
The start of Kyle's life starts out much like that of everyone else. His parents met through a mutual love of their work and a common set of interests shared between them. Working together eventually led to one asking the other out, followed by a second date, then a third and so on and so on. Finally, his father got the courage up to ask his mother to marry him, which was an unquestioned yes. Several years after that and after a magical second honeymoon, the seeds of his creation were planted and nine months after that, Kyle's eyes opened to the world for the first time.

From there, his life followed the expected patterns that any child went through. The world was all new to him, so he wandered and explored as soon as he was able to crawl. There was almost no place he wouldn't crawl too within their home, probing anything and everything that he came across. At such a young age, many of the things he saw would likely be forgotten as he grew older until he properly learned what they were and the purpose of many of the items and objects he came across were completely lost on him. He learned to recongize things that were good and things that were bad though, through trial and error and experience. Soon enough, that crawling turned to walking and that incoherent babbling of noises and words that weren't even words turned into simple speech, words like mommy and daddy and hi and bye. And as he grew and the world opened up in amazing new ways to him, Kyle took it all in as only a child could.

His years as a small boy passed quickly, as the early life a child does. Without responsiblities, jobs, things to really care for, days seemed to fly by. School was soon added to his experiences, a new stop in his young curious mind to contemplate. School was enjoyable enough, but Kyle always seemed to be the person in the class that didn't seem to fit in with others. Strange, considering the kind of child that he was, but it was what it was. While he didn't really fit in, that didn't mean he was a complete outcast through the elementary years. Just....different. Simple sports soon found their way into Kyle's life, as a means to be active and try more new things, as well as find a common base in which to mix with his fellows. Another trait that he soon showed was that he was gifted with his father's photographic memory; whatever he saw or read, he would be able to see that again for life.

As amazing as life seemed to Kyle, it was, for lack of a better word, too normal. While learning new things was fun in its own right when he was younger, that soon started to wear off on him. There was always a lingering feeling that he was different, meant for something more and this feeling made him start to wonder if he would ever step outside the normal process of life or if he would spend his entire life without having anything of "great" meaning truly happen.

Luckily, Kyle's belief that he was different was not false. Around the age of twelve, a strange phenomna started to occur regarding him. No matter how long he played for or how hard he played, Kyle was always the one still standing at the end of it and his breath never seemed to be short. Where the other kids seemed to tire, Kyle seemed to just be getting started. Normally, this would not be a cause for concern. That was until one day, when Kyle ended up pushing a boy that was bullying him and several others back....about ten feet with a simple push.

It was that day, after his parents took him to see the doctor regarding the event, that they discovered what he was. At first, they believed that some freak of adrenaline had been the reason their son had been able to push someone bigger then him so far back. Considering that he was stressed, getting hurt and seeing his friends get hurt, the theory wasn't too farfetched. However, when the doctor ran rests on him, several of the scans shorted out in response to his mutation...and the one that managed to survive long enough to give a proper readout showed that Kyle was producing ten times the normal amount of biological energy that anyone else did. The machine seemed to be malfunctioning to the doctor though, as it showed thermal readouts at first, then electrical readouts, then back again, as if it was reading both. The doctor had only one explanation to tell the parents; their son was not a normal homo sapien.

He was a mutant.

Life changed that day for Kyle, changed in ways that would ultimately shape the years to come. Knowledge about what he was managed to spread, despite the doctor assuring them that he would not share this information with anyone. It didn't help that many people suspected it already and further "incidents" only backed their beliefs. As a result of this, many of the other children started to shy away from contact with Kyle, believing him to be dangerous and scary now, like a monster. At first, this shunning hurt Kyle, who couldn't fully understand at the time why every who had been so nice to him before were no different now then the bully he had stopped. Only a small group of people continued to interact with him, first and foremost being his parents...and his friends who he'd protected from the bully. They actually thought that he was cooler now that he had these "superpowers" and said they'd stick by him no matter what.

The shunning took its toll over the years though. For the most part, Kyle forced himself to keep his mutation from showing itself visibility to others, though the energy in his body still coursed through him and made his body better then what it could have been. In order to make others believe that his physical abilities came from his physical state, he started spending more and more time working out, especially in the early stages of high school. His group of friends from before stayed true to their word, though there were times when even they held some personal contempt toward him, times that did not go unnoticed by Kyle either. It was here that his budding personality of sarcasm and jabs started to take hold, as Kyle had grown tired of hearing people whisper in the shadows about him or mock him for what he was.

It was around this time that the world seemed to be descending into a series of endless chaos. Kyle had known he wasn't the only mutant to exist, but as the news played stories of mutants over the world and of the many events taking place either against them or with them, he truly started to see just how small his line of thinking had been. Still, he had seen what purposely showing his powers would grant him and considered at the time that staying as normal as possible would be for the best. Sadly, fate isn't that kind.

It was a harmless night with harmless intents at first, really it was. Kyle and his friends had planned to go out for his 16th birthday party to a local club to celebrate it. Everything went right for the majority of the night, Kyle and his group having one of the best times of their young lives dancing, meeting new people and through a clever con by his one friend, even got to taste their first beers. It was a highlight that would have remained lodged firmly in their minds as one of the greatest events ever....till a pair of drunk patrons got too frisky with one of the girls in their group. Despite her saying no and trying to push them away, the two would not be denied. As they left the club and headed for home, the two patrons, along with their equally drunk and stupid buddies, jumped Kyle, the girl Kyria and his two best friends, James and Spencer. James was hit first, Spencer quick to follow. Kyle himself managed to fend off the first two attackers before being clubbed as well. And then the group turned to Kyria, their eyes filled with lust and a need to do something that would have haunted Kyria for years. If they'd ever had the chance to carry it out that was.

The first few that fell didn't even know what hit them. As the rain started to fall, Kyle began weeding his way through their numbers, the energy he had convinced himself never to use again on purpose coursing with purpose now into his limbs. Heavy blows now backed with even more force smashed their limbs aside and a single fist was enough to put down the drunken fools. Their leaders, the two from the club, finally got their heads out of the gutter when the last man to fall managed to lurch out a cry. Questions were yelled, anger was spit from their lips and knives suddenly appeared from their pockets. Kyle stalked towards them regardless, an act that allowed the first one to give him a nice little cut on the arm. He didn't get a chance for a second as Kyle ended him with a single blow. He was dead before he hit the ground...and his buddy was rushing towards Kyria even before that, his intent to take her and use her as a shield to effect his escape. He was about a step away before something burned white hot on his back and he hit the ground with a thud, falling on his own knife in the process.

For the longest time, Kyle and Kyria just stood there in the rain. Then, with a word of apology, Kyle turned and ran into the darkness of the night.

He left that very night, gathering what clothes he could, some basic supplies and as much money as he had saved up. All in cash mind you. As he headed for the door, something caught his eye....a small package on the table with his name on it. Eying it, he moved over to it slowly and carefully unwrapped it. Inside was a small box filled with money alog with a note from the last people he had expected it to be from. "Go do what you need to do. Your home will always be here waiting." Signed by his parents was at the end of the letter, detailing how Kyria had called them and explained what happened. He barely bit back the tears that threatened to overwhelm his eyes...and writing a thanks and a quick note back, he disappeared out the door into the wet, black night.

The next set of years were the most eventful years of Kyle's life. With no destination in mind, he simply wandered for the first year, letting his feet and instinct take him wherever they felt like going. Feeling that he no longer needed to hide his abilities(and because they made a better defense then some feeble knife), Kyle spent the massive amount of free time he now had working on them. He already knew to an extent how to channel the energy into his limbs....but that last move, done purely on instinct, actually RELEASING the energy into a visible form and away from him, was new to him. And he liked it. So he trained hard, night and day, in order to learn how to propely use this power; and his best tests came from fighting with other mutants or criminals. He started to develop a taste for battle during this time, a taste that he'd actually picked up when he was younger....

By the end of that first year...and after numerous run in's with other mutants, the occasional law and those that broke those laws, Kyle was finally drawn into a situation that would lead to his greatest decision. Upon arriving in a slightly more active city, Kyle had intended to only stop for a few days to resupply befor moving on. Right before he left though, he ended up saving a girl about his age by the name of Ariel. Ariel, like himself, was a mutant, blessed with the ability to heal any wound provided she had sufficient time to remain in contact with it. It took her several days to heal his wounds from the fight....and through those days, a bond was created between the two of them. A bond that kept Kyle, for once, from choosing to move on and sticking around instead.

For the next year, the city was his home and Ariel his reason for staying there. On top of his training and his "moonlighting" against the crimes in the city, Kyle spent the remaining time in Ariel's company. For once, he was in the company of someone who understood the looks and hate one could get from others for being "different". Or superior as he'd heard a few egotistcal mutants say. She didn't look upon him with scorn or jealously or anger; she looked upon him as one being should look upon another of equal status. And he returned that look, which made them both very happy. This state of bliss also greatly helped to further his progress on his powers, because for once, he had a strong reason to want to gain full control of them, an action that helped him focus on his efforts.

But as always, life never stayed good. In his time as a "hero" against the criminals and mutants of the city, he was bound to make a few enemies. One of them, a mutant that bordered on the line between insanity and pyschopath by the name of Chillo, was the worst of the foes Kyle had come across. A cool face on the outside, Chillo suffered from the lack of a moral compass towards "anything", meaning that he could kill a child in cold blood without even batting an eye. Kyle had run into his on a few occassions, him and his crew, but every time Kyle had managed(barely) to send him packing. Every time that he did, Chillo's rage and sanity went farther and farther, to the point that Chillo would kill a whole group of people just to vent his frustrations. This time was no different...expect that Chillo had found out about Kyle's connection to Ariel. This time, his target was someone Kyle actually cared about it.

Needless to say, when everything went down, it went down in chaos and blood. Kyle returned to where he and Ariel had been staying, only to find a note left behind by Chillo about his whereabouts...and Ariel's. Shortly after that Kyle, in a blind rage, arrived at the location...and proceeded to rip his way through Chillo's men like they were butter. Chillo, a mutant himself, never employed other mutants to do his dirty work, instead believing that "humans" were nothing but fodder for the next generation and were disposable. As such, it didn't take long for Kyle to effectively remove the human bodyguards from the equation and confront Chillo himself. On the windy roof of a building under construction Kyle, bruised, battered and bleeding from the wounds he'd taken from fighting his way here, told Chillo to stop hiding like a coward and face him like the man he claimed to be. Chillo, his eyes livid with rage but also with that glint of insanity, said that if Kyle didn't bow to him right there and then, Ariel would learn to fly. Furious and yet completely useless at the moment, Kyle grudgingly did as he was told.

And Chillo shoot her in the chest and Kyle watched as she dropped. Watched the life leave her eyes and fade...and then Chillo tossed her from the building.

The next thing Kyle remembers is waking up with police on the scene. Chillo was gone, the place was an complete and utter mess....and there was no sign of Ariel, blood, body or otherwise. Weapons were trained on him, officers barking orders for him to stand down and not try any of his mutant tricks. He didn't listen of course; especially when the answer they gave to his question about other people was met by them stating that he was the only one they'd found.Angry, confused and hurt, Kyle blasted his way free and ran as fast as he could away from the site, ducking down into the sewers in order to get away. When he finally stopped and surfaced in an abandoned housing complex, he collapsed in a heap of pent up sorrow and regret and exhaustion.

A few days later, he was gone from the city entirely. News reports told the story of a mutant going crazy at a building in the downtown area and that said mutant was now on the loose, with any sighting of him to be reported to the police. They wouldn't have any luck though; a quick visit to Ariel's place to remember her was his only stop before he was long gone from the city he once called home. A night of forced remembering had brought that night back to him; in his rage and despair, Kyle had gone the distance. Unleashed his powers until there was nothing left for him to give....and he had gone far beyond the limits of what he thought possible. He knew he would likely never return; after all, who wants to go back to the place where they failed the most important person in the world to them.

His "attack" helped to put him on the list of wanted mutants for criminal acts/terrorism, something that made it a bit harder for Kyle to move around for the most part. That wasn't a problem though, he was used to living off the land more often then not. And this time...this time his journey had a location in sight. He'd heard word of a place that mutants wanting to learn more about their powers could do, some massive mansion that been converted into a school.

Kyle was loathe to admit it, but that night had taught him that he had only scratched the surface of his abilities. Seeing as he had not found a way to access those depths himself, at a standstill in his training, Kyle knew that he had to find help. If this so called school could help him learn the extent of his abilities...let him have access to them when he needed them most...then maybe he could prevent an incident like the one that had taken Ariel from him from happening ever again.

And so he headed for the mansion of the X-men.


Roleplay
Where did you learn about this site?: Googled "X-Men Forum Roleplay" and this was the first one on the list
Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: Nope
Sample RP: The rain poured down hard as night fell on the city. Below him, people went back and forth across the busy streets, cars splashed through the puddles and the sounds of an active city fought to avoid being drowned out by the pounding of the rain. The rain was winning that fight, though the occassional horn honking managed to perch the veil of thudding water on metal and pavement. From his perch on the roof of a nearby building, Kyle watched as the people below went about their lives, going to work, from work, simply hanging out with their fellows, any number of other possible reasons to be out and about on a Friday night.

The rain pelted against the ragged cloak he had taken from a dumpster when he'd arrived to this city, shielding his body beneath for the most part from the rain. Beneath it, a dark hoody kept his body warm, the hood hidden beneath the cloak as well for when he really needed it. Water dripped down from his hair down past his eyes, an action that required him to wipe the water away to see properly from time to time. He didn't mind the rain really; it seemed to wash away all the dirt and grime from whatever it touched and it made him feel clean after he was bathed in it.

It had been four years since he'd left the city he'd called his second home. Four long years of ducking and hiding and traveling through whatever means he could to get here. To the nearest city to this so called "school for mutants" that his searching had managed to turn up. He'd seen the news, read the reports, heard the rumors but the possibilty of a school that taught people like him was still news that seemed too good to be true. Too good to be true perhaps...but at this point, he had run out of options. It wasn't a question of if or how he lost control of his powers; only when and what would be the outcome of it this time. The first time no life had been lost...next time he might not be so lucky.

He reached up and stroked the pendant hanging from his neck thoughtfully. That wasn't his only reason for wanting better control. Four years ago, if he'd been stronger, able to tap into these unknown reserves he hadn't known about, he might have been able to save Ariel. Might have been able to stop Chillo before he shot her or got to her in time instead of losing himself to the rage. Heck, he might have been able to stop him the first time and then this never would have happened. Ariel would still be alive, he would still be with her...everything would be right.

But thinking about the past wasn't what he could dwell on now. It was the future he needed to look forward to now and his future lay somewhere in this city. Yes, he knew he had to go ask for help. But first he had to make sure those he was seeking could actually help him. And for that, he knew, a test was going to be in order. Standing to his feet, Kyle flicked his hood up over his head and jumped from the building to the next and bursting into a run for the next roof over. Most the buildings on this street were the same height, give or take a few feet...and he was more then capable of covering the distance with his body. The rain pattered off him as he went from roof to roof, over, under and around everything in his path.

Yes, his future was in this city. Now he just had to find it.