Layla

Chapter One: Back in the Saddle

Hello, everyone! ^_^

 I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy, and I finally found some time today. I did rewrite the first chapter. I rewrote chapter one because I had a different idea to set up the story. I hope you all like it. I'm hoping I'll have chapter two out by the weekend. 

Enjoy!

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"Alright, listen everyone!" Raven shouted to the young group of X-Men, catching their attention quickly.

Raven stood in the middle of the training room with Hank behind the system as usual, preparing for another day of training for what Hank called the X-Men. To be honest, Raven didn't think she'd still be standing here training the young students, but here she was. Given everything that happened during her past she never thought she'd be back at Charles's mansion training a group of young kids to fight and defend themselves against those that wanted to stop them. She thought she'd be elsewhere, perhaps somewhere on her own away from others, or joining Erik on his mission, but then again, he had been all over the place, and she wasn't fond of his plans with Apocalypse.

Raven looked into the eager eyes of her students, and couldn't help but smile on the inside. Each of the students here looked up to her and saw her as their hero. It still made her feel a bit odd, but right now she was happy with what she was doing. Though there were times, she wondered if she should leave.

"You all are very close to finishing this program. Once, you are done you should be able and capable of fighting on your own, and planning strategically if anything were to happen. You will be the first group to join the X-Men. Training will no longer be everyday, but something that you can choose to do on your own if you want to further improve or practice. Which I advise because you should always be prepared. Today, we will be doing something different. I am going to team you up. Two of you will be put in training working together to take down the sentinels we have. This will determine how well you can work together, and plan your attack. Layla and Ororo you will be first."

Layla pushed off the wall and followed behind Ororo as they made their way to the center of the training room. 

"Please, I would like to be addressed as Storm. You may all call me Storm, and it will be the name I will use if we were to fight again." Ororo informed Raven. 

Raven nodded. "Very well. Layla and Storm will be fighting. I advise that the rest of you watch carefully." Raven walked away and made her way over to Hank as he prepared the sentinels. 

"Are you ready?" Storm asked. 

Layla shrugged. "Yeah. How hard could this be? It's similar to our typical training, but a bit easier since there will be two of us, right?" 

"I don't see how hard this could be. How do you want to do this?"

Layla opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when the Sentinels came out. It all happened very quickly, and Layla and Storm had no time to think, but react instead. The sentinels hadn't even touched the ground, and they began firing at them. Layla dodged a beam by throwing it back at the sentinel that threw it, but it had moved, and the beam struck the wall searing the tile. Layla cussed silently to herself, and looked over at Storm who stood in front of the sentinel unmoving, while she tried to blow it back against the wall. 

The wind that Storm produced had been strong and was blowing Layla's hair all around her face, making it difficult to see. Layla could feel the heavy footfalls of the machine underneath her feet, the sound was getting louder with each step, but she couldn't see. Out of the corner of her eye, Layla saw the bottom leg to the sentinel, and she quickly hid herself away from the machine, crawling behind it. It would only give her a few minutes, and she didn't waste time. Grabbing a hair tie out of her pocket, Layla tied her hair back allowing her to see again. Looking around, Layla noticed Storm had pressed the robot up against the wall with her powers, ending the wind, and she quickly shocked the robot bringing it down to the floor.