--------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Marvel X] X-Men Team-Up [Marvel-X X-Men] #9 STARRING SEP '99 Lockheed & Cr+eee --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lockheed: Alien dragon that "adopted" Kitty after she found [Lockheed] him. Since that day the two have shared a remarkable friendship. Lockheed is extremely intelligent, and has also shown the capacity to talk. Cr+eee: The furry little friend of the Starjammer Ch'od, who is constantly on the Timorian’s shoulder. He comes from [Cr+eee] the planet Lupus, where his people are extremely more intelligent than most humanoid species. The chattering noises he makes to speak are understood only by Ch'od. Sprite: The youngest X-Man, Kitty Pryde was recruited to join the X-Men in a bid to stop the devious Hellfire Club [Sprite] recruiting her first. She is a mutant with the ability to phase through solid objects, disrupting electricity when she does so. Nightcrawler: Kurt Wagner, one of the second generation of X-Men, is possessed of the mutant ability to teleport to [Nightcrawler]any location that he can envision in his mind. Cursed with a demonic appearance, complete with fangs, blue fur, and a forked tail, Kurt is an extremely religious man. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Worlds Apart" by Brendan Crowther & Sarah Jane Glaetzer edited by Eric J. Moreels --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor's Note: This story arc takes place during Uncanny X-Men #166-168. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The interstellar starship Starjammer travelled through space away from the recently destroyed Broodworld.[*] The ship, manned by the rebellious pirates known as the Starjammers, was bringing the sometimes-outlaw X-Men to the planet Earth to prevent the 'birth' of a Brood Queen.[**] Meanwhile, on the lower decks of the Starjammer, the smallest 'jammer had other business to attend to. [*] (back in Uncanny X-Men #166 - Eric) [**] (within Professor Xavier, as seen back in Uncanny X-Men #167 - Eric) Cr+eee sighed as he crawled into the corridor. 'I'm glad I made it to the restroom this time,' Cr+eee thought, 'Ch'od got angry at me the last time I did that on his shoulder!' The white-furred alien paused his stroll down the corridor to stare out the observation blister at the passing stars. 'Perhaps I won't go back to the bridge, this view is wonderous!' He sighed again, 'Of course, if I don't go Ch'od will probably worry about me.' Cr+eee's view of the stars was suddenly blocked when a blue-furred man and a girl with long brown hair appeared in a cloud of smoke. Cr+eee was about to complain when an even bigger human, wearing a silly red costume, caught the other two human's attention. 'I believe their names are Colossus, Sprite, and Nightcrawler... it's hard to tell with that strange language of theirs. My vocal chords may not be able to speak it, but at least I took the time to learn and understand it. Those silly humans rely on universal translators, which can't understand my language, and except for Ch'od, none of them have bothered to learn it!' A colorful light show sparkled through the observation blister as the Starjammer jumped to hyper-light speed... and Cr+eee couldn't see it because the three mutants were in the way. "We better get back to the bridge before somebody gets suspicious!" Kitty Pryde suggested.[*] [*] (to find out what the others might be suspicious of check out Excalibur #116 - Brendan) They turned toward the closest lift, and because she didn't notice the small alien, Kitty accidentally stepped on Cr+eee's tail! Cr+eee shouted, "You stupid girl! First you block my view of the stars with your big body, and then you step on me with your big foot!" Of course, all Kitty Pryde heard was, "Squeeek! %#$&*@#! Purrr!" "Awww, how cute!" said Kitty. She bent down to hug the furry little alien, intending to bring him to the bridge, but Cr+eee scurried away from her clutches. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once on the side of the ship opposite to the Sprite girl, Cr+eee hoped to have an uneventful day. His hopes were dashed when he saw something creeping down the corridor towards the medical bay. Through the open door to the medical bay, Cr+eee could see the unsuspecting resident doctor onboard the Starjammer, the insectoid named Sikorsky, fluttering around. Jumping into action, Cr+eee landed on the wall by the door, and tapped a code into the door-panel. The door shut quickly, and locked, as Cr+eee pounced on the intruder - a purple dragon!?! The pair tumbled down the corridor until they set off a door's motion sensor, and they continued their fight into one of the medical labs. The purple dragon, who would later on be dubbed Lockheed by Kitty, thwapped Cr+eee off of him with his paw and wing, which sent the furred alien into a wall. The two little aliens got to their feet - prepared to fight. Cr+eee sneered with his normally fluffy white fur standing up like a porcupine's sharp quills, while Lockheed looked considerably less threatening... until the fire shot out of his mouth! Cr+eee barely escaped a burned tail by pouncing onto a countertop, but was followed by Lockheed as the dragon took to the air with his wings. The dragon spat more fire at Cr+eee, who tried to again avoid it, but didn't and had his side singed. As Lockheed took a breath before expelling more fire, Cr+eee hurled a beaker of something at Lockheed. Fire immediately shot from Lockheed to the beaker to stop the hurling object; unfortunately the something inside the beaker was flammable. The beaker smashed, sending flaming liquid to splash on Lockheed's face, knocking him to the ground. Cr+eee brushed the slivers of beaker glass off of his fur, as a pseudo-plan formulated in his head. As he thought about the area of space that the intruder probably came onboard the Starjammer from, Cr+eee insisted, "The insectoid you were hunting is not Brood, nor am I! We are not food!" "You being sleazoid stupid fuzzy! Me am saved I myself," Lockheed replied in Cr+eee's language. "What?!" Cr+eee spat out incredulously. "Sorry, my Lupese is a small bit rusty." Cautiously approaching one another, Cr+eee tried to help Lockheed brush up on his Lupese language skills. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sneaking into the corridor, Cr+eee and Lockheed noticed the X-Men running towards the teleporter room, and the pair followed them. By the time the two aliens entered the room, the X-Men were gone - already teleported to the surface of the planet Earth. "I have to go! I have to find that girl!" Lockheed said earnestly, glancing at the transporters. Cr+eee mumbled under his breath, "Sprite... snuffle-mumble-frazzle..." "Come with me, I have to get down to Earth... can you work these things?" he asked, looking warily at the teleporter again. "I don't think Ch'od would like us to..." Lockheed interrupted Cr+eee, "I don't think Ch'od would like an intruder like me on the Starjammer." '...whoever Ch'od is,' thought Lockheed. "True," admitted Cr+eee. He crawled up to the teleporter control panel, and just sat on it for almost thirty seconds as Lockheed stepped up to the teleporter platform. "Aren't you going to teleport me down?" Lockheed asked. "Well... um... it's just that one of the other Starjammers usually operate the teleporter. I'm just trying to figure out how it works." Lockheed taunted, "You're from the planet Lupus, right? Shouldn't that make you very intelligent? Or are you..." Hitting the controls quickly, and not particularly caring if he made a mistake, Cr+eee jumped from the teleporter control panel to the platform, and disappeared in a flash of teleporter energy alongside Lockheed. On the Earth below, Lockheed and Cr+eee appeared in a pile of snow on the grounds of the Xavier Institute... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lockheed stood, stunned. "White, cold, slushy..." He scooped a pawful of snow and patted it into a ball. Cr+eee grinned and quickly made a snowball too. With all his strength, he hurled it at Lockheed, who, unsuspecting of his new friend, recieved a large slushy glob in the back of his head. "Hey!" shouted Lockheed angrily, "What was that for?!" "It's fun!" Cr+eee insisted, "Try it!" Looking at the snowball melting in his paws, Lockheed shrugged and lobbed the gloppy mess at Cr+eee. Skillfully ducking out of the way, Cr+eee hurriedly crafted another snowball and returned the favour to Lockheed. Giggling and purring, the two aliens exchanged a few more rounds, until Cr+eee started shaping a large... lump on the ground. "You're not throwing that at me!" Lockheed declared. "No, I'm making a snow-Cr+eee!" he replied proudly. "You want to help?" Lockheed rubbed his paws together and began moulding the dirty snow into a Lockheed-shaped form. Standing back to admire their work, Cr+eee and Lockheed stood face to face with two snow-aliens, slowly melting in the winter sun. Cr+eee smiled and patted Lockheed on the back. He had found a new friend. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lockheed nodded to Cr+eee, and they stared in awe at the mansion, towering in front of them. Cr+eee put on a brave face, "Okay, let's go find this girl of yours then!" They sat in the snow and pondered how to get inside. "We can't just walk up to the door, you know," Lockheed stated, thinking out loud. "Wait, you can fly!" Cr+eee said suddenly. Puffing his chest out proudly, Lockheed stood and stretched out his wings. "Of course I can!" He was feeling a little indignant. "That window's open up there," Cr+eee said, pointing to a high window, "You could fly us up there, no one would see us..." Lockheed thought for a few seconds before agreeing. He still wasn't sure what exactly he would say to the girl when he found her, but he simply HAD to find her anyway! Cr+eee nervously held up his paws for the little dragling to pick him up, and they soared up into the air. Pausing on the window sill, they peered into the room. Inside was a large bed, a small table, some odds and ends - obviously someone's bedroom. There wasn't a human in sight though, as the two friends quickly scampered into the room. Once inside, they took a closer look around at everything. There were suitcases stacked up against the side of the bed, and a small blue-furred stuffed doll sitting on the pillow. It had pointy ears and a long tail, Lockheed didn't like the look of it at all! He scowled at the doll. "That looks like Nightcrawler!" Cr+eee giggled. Lockheed looked at him blankly. "The girl you're looking for, her name's Sprite or something, I think. She has friends living here too," he paused, thinking. "There's Colossus, he's a big man, and Nightcrawler, he's like a bigger version of that," he explained, pointing at the Bamf doll on the bed. "Sprite though, I don't like her..." he trailed off, seeing the disappointment in Lockheed's eyes. "I... this must be Nightcrawler's room!" he said quickly, covering his blunder. Just then, the door swung open, and Lockheed and Cr+eee leapt under the bed just in time. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Professor Xavier is a jerk!" "Come now, Katzchen - it is not so bad!" Kitty slumped on the bed. "Oh Kurt," she wailed, "Why do I have to join the... the X-Babies!?"[*] she spat. [*] (the New Mutants, actually, as decreed by Professor X back in Uncanny X-Men #167 - Eric) Nightcrawler smiled in spite of himself. "Katzchen, the New Mutants are not X-Babies! We've been through worse together! Now come on, smile for me." "Yeah, but we're not going through THIS together!" Kitty grumbled, adamant about her bad mood. Kurt picked up the Bamf doll and pretended to make it 'poot' around the bed. Kitty tried her best to retain her angry demeanor, despite Nightcrawler's efforts to the contrary. Slowly but surely, as the Bamf doll continued its 'pooting', a smile spread cross Kitty's face. With a final 'poot', the doll ended up on Kitty's head, and she collapsed into a fit of giggles. "Thanks Kurt, ya poot-head!" she said, poking her tongue out at him. "I'll see you before you leave tomorrow!"[*] With that, she left the room and disappeared into the corridor. [*] (Nightcrawler moved in with his girlfriend, Amanda Sefton, in Uncanny X-Men #168 - Eric) Under the bed, Lockheed and Cr+eee huddled together, waiting for a chance to leave without being seen. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In X-Men Team-Up #10: What really happened between the time Lockheed saved Kitty and actually meeting her? We know Lockheed finds her, and we know what happened after that, but what of Cr+eee and Lockheed's new friendship? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tell me what you think! simply send an e-mail to either morn@idirect.com or shadowcat45@hotmail.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Story © 1999 Brendan Crowther & Sarah Jane Glaetzer, and may not be reproduced without permission. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------