His first day had been a breeze! It turned out living off campus and pre-registering beforehand made the paperwork here pretty simple. He was able to jump right into his classes with little incident. He stood out like a sore thumb, of course, being 6'5, chiseled like a statue with a smooth complexion and a winning smile. No one seemed to want to bother him a whole lot past blushing profusely and asking him for his number. He'd collected eight numbers so far, which was great, because he needed new friends! 

He'd been picked first for teams in Basket Ball, and had helped his team dominate. He'd gotten called on in history and knew the answer. His father's prep had set him up well for that pop-quiz in Calculus! 

Everything was moving swimmingly. Now he just needed to make his move... The one toward what was really important here. He could do well and be popular in... pretty much any highschool. This was the only one he could become one of the X-Men in.

He stood before an intimidating door. Not the door itself, mind you, he could beat pretty much any door in a fight. No, this door was opportunity, and all he had to do was knock. He straightened his shirt, and reached up to knock on the office door of one Professor Tetsuya Shinbo, X-Person Extraordinaire.

In the middle of Central Park, a caterpillar twitched in its cocoon. On Sunday, he’d been summoned. The person had figured it had been a failed monster summoning, and went on to summon something else the very next day. He’d been a very hungry Caterpillar.

On Monday, he ate one rat. But he was still hungry.

On Tuesday, he ate two little Japanese women-shaped action figures. But he was still hungry. The plastic had given him gas.

On Wednesday, when the person who had summoned him was still stuck in jail, he ate three street tacos people had dropped when they’d seen him, big as life. But he was still hungry.

On Thursday, he ate four pigeons. Still, he hungered...

On Friday, he ate through five oranges. Someone had just thrown them out! But nope, still hungry!

On Saturday, he ate through one paper bag, one stray poodle, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one hamburger, one cockroach, one churro, one slice of pizza, one hot dog with onions and relish, and one street vendor. That night, he had a stomachache.

The next day was Sunday again. He trundled off to a big grassy area with lots of hard paths and trees. He ate through one nice green leaf. After that, he felt sated.

After that, he wasn’t a little Pomeranian-sized caterpillar monstrosity though. He was the size of a German Shepard. And he wasn’t so hungry any more. He was big and fat! He spun a thing called a cocoon around himself and went to sleep! He felt like he could sleep for the whole day! So he curled up inside his cocoon, and did.

But soon, soon he will wake. And he isn’t a very hungry caterpillar inside that cocoon any more, oh no. Friends and neighbors, we aren’t all that sure what he is.

—

It was Monday. Later in the day. Classes had gone swimmingly. A few of his charges had given him headaches. Some of the newer students still weren’t all that used to things at the mansion. Like fish out of water, they were. They would get it down, with time. Do or do not, there is no try.

He was just stuffing his face with a mounds bar when there came a knock knock knocking on his office door. He hurriedly finished chewing, and crumpled the wrapper into a 3-pointer ball from down town. It went into his waste-bin neat as can be. Then, he opened the door.

The kid was tall. Taller than him, probably. Always was weird to look up when you spoke to students. But with mutants, it was probably a wonder the kid wasn’t 7’7 or 66’6. That last one, whew, would be giant, man.

”Hello. Can I help you?” He smiled at the very handsome man. Kid looked like a teenaged Thor, if Thor from legend lost the red beard and was a blonde bodybuilder who’d cut out the meat and mead. Your more modern Thor. The kind that listens to butt rock instead of Scandinavian death metal. A kinder, more touchy feely Thor.

Shin hoped he didn’t have chocolate on his teeth.

He was mid practicing what he was going to say under his breath, when the door opened, and he froze for a half second before reaching up to rub the hair of the back of his head and get out a. "A- Hey! Mister S! It's, oh, got a little something in your teeth, Hey! I'm Xavier Legend, you know, the new kid in Calc." He was way off script. Damn. He'd meant to sound super heroic. Like... The Stoic silent type, you know? 

No, though. Any time he ever tried to act in any way that wasn't just... how he was, he always failed. He couldn't help but be true to himself. In this case, he was talking to Shard. He was a legend for his work with Mutant Related crimes, though he hadn't been active with them for... quite some time. What had he been up to lately? Was he just standing awkwardly? Change the subject!

"Hey, Great job teaching today. I have a feeling I'm going to learn a lot from you! Anyway, that's not important. Well, it is, but not as important as." His slightly nervous rambling suddenly gave way to a serious firmness backed by certainly as his voice hardened. 

"Mr.S, I am here to become a member of the X-Men." He sealed it with a nod.

The tumble of words resembled a coherent sentence, but he got the gist. Mister S, though? They didn’t abbreviate last names that much, even in Japan.

S San would sound like a stutter, come to think of it.

S Sempai. Notice me. No.

He waited until the kid had finished speaking, then gave him his cheesiest grin.

“Oh of course I know you, kid! You’re legendary!” And he winked the most cornball wink one can wink. To show that he, too, thought he wasn’t funny but was putting on a brave face to cover the fact.

Then, he brushed at his teeth with the corner of his sleeve while the kid wasn’t looking. Damn candy.

“So you wanna be a hero kid?” Well, whoop de doo. “Well. You certainly have the physique for it. What, did you grow up on a farm?”

Bee beep bee beep. The X -communicator in the pocket of his gray suit went off. “One second.” He held up a finger, and turned to take the call.

“WHAT?! It’s WHAT?! Hold on.” He turned to eye I Am Legend. “What can you do again? You’re not Hercules in disguise right?”

Not that they had a Nemean lion or anything. Or any stables.

His first response was a pun. Xavier chuckled. He was legendary. Classic. This guy was the legend!

He have a stiff nod at the question of him wanting to be a hero, and smiled a bit as he appraised him, and asked if he'd been raised on a farm. "I have prepared my whole life for this. Physically and mentally, I am prepared. I hav-" A phone ringer interrupted his train of thought, and the X-Man answered quickly. 


Xavier's eyes went a little wide as he watched him talk. My god... It was an actual hero answering the call sort of moment. Was it the mayor calling? Was there trouble down town? Holy crap, this was awesome to see!

Shin was talking to him. He paused for a beat, and then spoke up quickly. "Oh, Repulsion of physical objects from myself. Strong defensive capabilities, decent mobility, and I can hit targets if they are big, working on aim."

That was about as fast as he could sum that up, and he'd practiced. He smiled widely. Was... He asking because he might have him join? Was he about to go with a real hero on a real mission? Holy crap! Was he in? Oh, or... was this a test?

He realized he'd leaned his tall frame forward in excitement, and cleared his throat as he stood straight again. If this was going to be a test, then he was going to ace it. 

”Big. Good. That has potential. Listen, I got a Mothra situation in Central Park and Angels in the Outfield. You okay with bugs?”

Some people just couldn’t handle insects. They got all squidgy and nervous. And that was on the small scale. With what they were talking about, it would be a liability.

Usually people fresh off the street didn’t get drafted for X Missions. It was irresponsible. But he had a good feeling about this kid. He reminded him of Koga. Full of youthful energy and just a little too much innocence.

If nothing else, the guy could flex and direct people to run away. Crowd control.

He was already performing the mental gymnastics to prepare the flying motorcycle. Regardless of the kids answer.

—

Very hungry caterpillar, it seemed, turned into a moth. #justmonsterythings #aintgottaexplainit

This was happening. His teeth clenched as THE Shard said his power had potential, and asked him how he did with bugs. Caught up in the moment, he struck a thumbs up pose, and spoke with levity. "I am prepared for anything." 

__

That... Was a really big bug. Half way through getting dressed he'd seen a news flash, a stay away advisory on his phone about, well, Mothra.

He hadn't really registered what Mr. S had said back there. He didn't watch movies a whole lot, so he'd figured the Mothra thing was, you know, some sort of X-Person code? Nope. It was Mothra. A giant flying monster. For real. Like from the movies.

Holy Crap. This was happening.

Was he prepared?

Well, Physically, he was there. He always kept an extra costume around, and had practiced getting changed fast, so while Mr. S prepared transportation he got prepped. He walked out of the bathroom and hustled to find Shard once more. 

"Ready, Mr.S!" What were they riding there in, now?

Welp. Time to endanger a student. Was he prepared for anything, like Mr. Legend? Perhaps.

He slipped on his white overcoat, and rejoined Xavier... who already had a costume of his own? Well wouldn’t Kealey be pleased she didn’t have to work.

“Ready, Mr. S!” The kid said.

”Really, you can call me Shin, man. People who get to ride my flying motorcycle can call me by first name basis.”

We’re they really riding a flying motorcycle? Shin led the boy outside and summoned it, just to be sure.

The time between leaving the mansion and arriving over Central Park and spotting the giant moth monster was absolutely chocked-full of excitement. Who knew Hagrid’s flying motorcycle was so popular?

Maybe he should have done a big Porygon, instead?

They landed about a football field’s length away from the massive hovering thing. Shin stared up at it as he reformatted the motorcycle shards into a layer of shard armor over his coat. For extra protection, and flight. He also formed a very long white katana blade.

”Want to go find a trash can so we can lob it at the thing and one-shot it?” He asked Xavier, with a small grin. ”It’s just a psychic construct. No worrying about hurting anything alive.”

He swooshed his katana, to prove a point.

Mr. S Assured him he could call him Shin. A look of horror crossed his face. "Oh, Oh, I couldn't Mr.S! I'm your student! What would the other students think? Wait, Motor-" 

His Jaw dropped. Floored. He was floored. Absolutely Floored. He was going to ride on Shard's flying Motorcycle construct?!

Xavier followed him outside, and oogled silently as it came into existence. He was still in silent awe as he climbed aboard. That faded fairly quickly, though, and he got to talking.

And talking.

"OHhhhhh, my god. I can't believe it! The last time I saw this was when you fought the LavaMancer last summer! It's so much cooler than on the forums! Woah, nice control! Hey, remember the time you-" It went on. He knew... a surprising amount about the X-Men. Well, anything that had reached the public, or that was speculated about on SuperHero Forums. "You know, I have a friend named Teemo that does a pretty good cosplay of you- I mean, I dunno if that's weird. Wow. I'm talking a lot. Sorry... I'll shut up." 

He paused for a moment, and then started talking again.

When the moth came into view, though, he went silent. It was visible from a long distance away, and it just. Kept. Getting. Bigger. One might easily mistake his silence for a terrified one, but a quick glance in the rearview would show his jaw set in determination, and... A bit of a smile.

They landed, and he jumped from the construct, noting the really cool transition into armor as his cape settled onto his back. Shard gave him instructions, and he nodded, maybe going a little sparkly eyed at the Katana wave before bolting off to try and find something large to throw. His bounds were long, assisted by his power as he pushed off of the ground a little with each step. He didn't find a dumpster, but he did end up rolling to a parkour stop next to a park bench with some people cowering near it.

"Found one, Shard! Heads up!" He poked a foot up beneath the bench, repulsing it away from the top of his foot to lift it into the air, and then spinning with a flourish to smack it with the back of his fist, applying his power to send the wooden and metal seat flinging toward the big moth. He came to a stop to view his handiwork with a grin.

About then, though, the great beast flapped its mighty wings suddenly, and created a huge gust that slowed the bench, and then swept it up to send it flying right back. He blinked a few times, tracking the flight path and realizing it wasn't going to hit him, but instead the innocent bystanders! He sprung into action, leaping forward and landing before them just in time to blast it off to the side. "Not on my watch!"

He'd saved the onlookers, who hurried for better cover. "Mr- Uh, Shard, I don't think I'll be able to hit it without a distraction!" 

The young mutant turned to look for something else to throw.

Had he ever fought a lava monster? Maybe that had been some other Shard. Or maybe Shart, the AV version of him nobody had ever met. That guy was... probably a piece of work.

The kid was... almost as much of a fanboy as Mal had been. Except this one was starting to exhaust him.

Nonstop. Nice kid. But was there an off switch?

Kid needed to discover girls. Then he could talk up miss November centerfold 2019, and relate all her personal facts back to her as well as some the forums had made up

Had he even had his full power a summer ago? Or had he been missing that two summers ago? When had he gotten kidnapped by SUPER?

And why would anyone cosplay him?

So many questions.

But at least, when they got there they had the distraction of a giant moth to deal with. That got him quiet.

He snapped off instructions to the caped crusader, and then— man, the kid really was Extra, as his students might have said. Like a cheeseburger with extra cheese. Over the top.

He imagined a cheeseburger with cheese over the top. Nope.

Kid threw a bench. Didn’t work. Mothra used Wing Attack. Or Gust. Sent the bench flying at some innocent pedestrians. Kid barely saved them in time.

Ugh. This was going to take some work.

They needed a distraction. ”I’ll fly around. And slash at it. You protect people and try and find something you can lob at it. If that doesn’t work... I got ideas. Would have to time it right, but— how big an object can you launch. Like,”

He jumped up and cut down a tree branch Mothra had sent flying their way.

”People sized?”

Once he had his answer, the Asian started flying around, cutting down airborne objects and trying to zoom in at the monster to cut its wings.

He'd run into this a bit already. Believe it or not, the X-Men, including pretty much all of his teachers... didn't even come close to realizing how famous they were. Like, they had done some crazy stuff over the years, and there were people out there that worshiped them! Still, all of them seemed confused when someone fangirled over them a little bit. Or a lot. A lot a lot. Okay, maybe he was being a little too intense. 

It was hard not to! These were his idols!

Anyway, on to the task at hand!

He rolled to avoid an incoming branch as Shard talked to him, and stood up tall suddenly, poking his chin. 

"Uhhh... Oh! The biggest thing I've thrown is a '99 GeoMetro! It was my friend Paul's.... I still owe him for it!" Paul loved that car. In past tense. It landed in a pool and broke both of the two objects. The neighbor really liked that pool, too.

Shin rocketed off and bobbed and weaved through, managing threats and attacking where he could. It was pretty amazing, watching him work. He didn't dawdle for long, though, turning to try and find something bigger to throw... Something roughly car sized... Something like... oh! He skid to a stop next to a large dumpster enclosure. 

"Will something like this work Mr- uh, Shard?!"

99 Geometro, what was that? A car?

A fierce smile spread across his face. ”That’ll do.”

He ran interference and defense while he left Xavier up to finding the right item for offense. This would be a team effort. He’d protect X, the quarterback, while he got ready to launch that great big pass all the way down field at the giant moth. Which is usually how it works in football. With kaiju.

He cut a cafe parasol in half as Xavier shouted from a ways off, “Will this work?” Big dumpster sized object, enclosure, whatever.

”On MY SIGNAL!” Shin shouted.

Then, he landed and reformatted all the shards into a giant storm of triangular blades about an inch wide on every side, except the flat one.

”SIGNAL!!” He shouted. And he hurled the storm of blades at the giant moth in a great big spinning column. It was big, it was flashy, multicolored and glowing in places. There was a hole in the column, big enough for a dumpster enclosure. It was like a giant target in the sky.

He fought against the torrents of wind as they tore at his shards, doing his best to keep up his concentration so he could clear the way for X.

X, gonna give it to ya. he thought with almost delirious amusement. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face.

That seemed like it might do the trick! At least Shard was into it. Xavier scrambled to open up the enclosure gate to get to the trashy prize within. With a POP! The little dinky lock on it was repelled off, causing the young man to utter a quick sorry to no one at all for the destruction of property. As the gate opened, and Shin started doing some, like, really cool stuff with his shards, Xavier plugged his nose and scrambled behind the dumpster, using his height to his advantage to close one eye and get a good idea of where to touch this thing to get it to go where he wanted.

His eyes widened as Shin gave the go ahead, and made a column of shards, shining and guiding his impending attack. Man, that was so @#$%ing cool! 

His teeth clenched and his lips opened to form a giant grin as he dove down, placing a hand on the side of the dumpster, and one hand on the bottom. He would have to give this one a huge boost... everything he had, yes!

He took a quick, deep breath, and dug deep... No, deeper... He began to shake with effort... MORE!

WHOOMPH!

The enclosure burst open suddenly, sending the walls flying in every which direction as the dumpster rocketed into the sky at a blinding speed, right through the guided tunnel and toward the moth monster.

A somewhat shocked Xavier stood in a small crater, now dressed only in his birthday suit... Had it worked? Was there a draft?

Oh god. They had saved the day, only for X to go and do something that would get himself arrested.

The Asian sighed a sigh of long suffering patience. Then, he brought the column of shards in to hover around Xavier and create a line of sight shield. He blunted then edges, of course. But he kept the form as a giant raging column of dangerousness. He figured Xavier would be over the moon about it, if he didn’t walk into the damned thing.

For good measure, Shard shouted ”Stay still! We got it! And you’re naked!!”

Yeah. They’d gotten it. X had sent that dumpster careening at well over the top speed limit for the park. Punched a hole straight through Mothra. The thing had disintegrated into a fine red mist. Kind of an anticlimax, but hey. Once again, the day had been saved!!

Cue the theme music. Roll credits. Once again, the day had been saved by... some naked man and his teacher. And oh look, the police were finally starting to filter in. They had to resolve this issue before things got out of hand.

He let out another sigh. More of a groan, really. Then, he took off his coat and walked towards the big swirling column of razor sharp, multicolored, occasionally glowing, triangles.

Shin held up a hand, and closed it into a fist. The triangles lowered and withdrew until it was a well compacted swirl at waist level. For kicks, he altered the coloration of the wavelength of the shards and made it rainbow. Then, he held out his coat and looked X in the eyes.

”This is a bit out of my wife’s intended design parameters, but do me a favor and put it on? I don’t want the cops to cite you for public indecency.” Shin said mildly. Then, he smiled a little crooked smile and added. ”Plus, it’s the Shard coat. It’s probably a fan favorite, right? Don’t dance around in the Shard Storm. I know you want to.”

As the reality of the situation came to bear, his expression went from confused, to excited, to mortified. He'd saved the day! Woooo! He was nude! Oh God! Indecent exposure! He was in trouble! Ohgodohgodohgodohwait... A swirling mass of shards swept around him, and his eyes widened once more as he looked around.

Woah... It was... sorta beautiful. Extremely dangerous, based on his knowledge of Shard's abilities, but beautiful. He smiled widely as he heard Shin's voice. "I know! That was amazing!" 

He laughed in spite of himself until he heard the sounds of sirens incoming. Oh @#$%! He covered himself with his hands even though there was a wall of shards around him. Shin suddenly appeared, and in a moment that young Xavier would never forget, held out his coat... for him. His eyes went wide again as a shaky hand took up the item of clothing, and slowly he draped it over himself.

This was real. He'd just fought a monster with one of his heroes, and now he was wearing his coat. He was about to explode in excitement when Shin warned him, and he nodded silently.  

"Th... Thank you, Mr-... Shin. Thank you."

Wearing the coat, he was decently covered up, though it only went down to his knees, so it looked funny. Still, if you asked him he was wearing Jason's golden fleece. Was he crying a little? Maybe a little. He was so happy!