X-Men: Revolution

5.0 Speed VS Spyke - 1/1

Author's Note: I didn't change much as far as action of this episode goes. If you remember the episode well you may very well skip this chapter, except if you want a novelized and more in-depth look at what I think happened... and some bonus or extended scenes.

BUT I moved the whole thing to winter. I figured it doesn't work with the 'pool party' at the end of the episode, but I didn't want to get rid of the scene, so I simply moved it from outdoor to indoor. I need to make the whole action of X-Men: Evolution last actually the right time for Scott and Jean to graduate in the episode when it happened in the series and keep them at least a year older than some of the folk (Kurt, Kitty, Evan and so on)... They've got little time to rest between one event and another, unlike the cartoon would have you believe. Especially in this particular episode.

Ororo followed her sister and her sister's husband onto the tribunes. All rows were filled with families, friends and siblings of the players, but they got themselves a good spot, which - wasn't that hard when you're related to one of the night's greatest stars.

There was a lot of buzz before, but once the judge whistled to inform teams that the game is about to begin audience became relatively calm as everyone's eyes turned to the court.

It was round 4, merely half a minute to the end and 81-82 for the guests.

"Daniels, over here!" player number 32 waved at the boy who passed the ball to him. Everyone watched as the white haired boy managed to avoid four players from the opposite team and throw the ball, however audience gave out a disappointed moan when it bounced off the basket and was grabbed by a rival.

Even Vivian and Richard were shouting at top of their lungs, giving instructions to the players, Evan especially. Ororo peeked at them amused; "Is it always this exciting?" she asked leaning closer to Rick so he could even hear her among the chaos.

"No, this one's a real nail-biter" the man replied.

With only a dozen seconds left the disappointed yet hopeful fans of PS 104 were raging, one good shot would be all it'd take to turn that coin around and Evan Daniels was in for the win. He got ahead of his fellow player number 32 as the silver haired boy retrieved the ball from their rivals, he heard their coach yell at him to pass the ball, and so he did. Evan could see for a second the anger cross Maximoff's face when he had to give that ball up, but there was no time to think about it - soon as the ball was in his hands he headed straight for the basket.

With a corner of his eye he saw the clock ticking down the last five seconds. 'It's now or never' he thought.

At this point it was impossible to tell who will win - if Evan fails to score or scores for just one point, PS 104 will lose or draw, if he manages to get 2 or 3 points they win the finals and are granted the title of the best basketball high school team of year 1995 in the entire New York State. All eyes were on him now.

Even Ororo couldn't help but cheer for her nephew. "You can do it Evan, shoot! Shoot!"

Three seconds to the end, Evan saw the boy trying to get in his way from the right and knew he can't avoid him; instead he jumped up sending the ball flying towards the basket just in time before he crashed into the rival.

Eyes of the audience were on the ball, everyone gasped.

Ororo's eyes however went with Evan who fell back due to the impact. She saw thick thorns cut through the skin on his arms from the inside and as he hit the ground they tore into the floor.

In the very last moment the ball landed in the basket scoring PS 104 three point and making the crowd go wild.

Ororo only peeked at Vivian and Richard but they were too engaged in cheering to notice the unusual phenomenon. It wasn't at all odd, since the spikes only appeared for less then a second, and a very heated second at that. She could see Evan worriedly examine his arms as the rest of his team closed in on him, but the unusual pieces were gone. A little dazzled still he let the team lift him up to celebrate his winning move, and with the danger of exposure gone by now, Evan quickly joined in on cheering, calling out and gesticulating in victory.