Disclaimer: I, obviously, do not own X-men: Evolution. I do, however, own Velvet asher. if anyone likes my idea with The Game, feel free to use it.

The Game

an X-men Evolution fan-fiction

by

Aliq

It was a Thursday night and Velvet Asher lay on her uncomfortable cot staring at the bland concrete ceiling, her mind and body void of emotion. Every week was spent basically the same way, one routine with few variations. It makes a person dull after awhile. She couldn't even wonder if she'd ever escape anymore. Escape from this small cage, escape the people keeping her, and escape the game. She had realized a long time ago that she had nowhere better to go so she gave up. She didn't want to leave anymore. She didn't even care. She had become irrelevant to the world and the world had become irrelevant to her.

All in all, though, the place wasn't so bad. Velvet was healthy, alive, had a roof over her head and enough to eat, she wasn't abused; she was just used for entertainment. Her and any other mutant either blackmailed into playing or simply kidnapped and forced to play. Not many of the others ever lasted all that long though. A couple times people have been killed. Some ended up in comas. None had escaped yet, though not for lack of trying.

The Game itself is fairly straightforward. Two mutants are chosen, locked in a cage in a large arena and made to fight. If you refuse to fight you're hit with a stun gun, dragged away and replaced. If you fight your heart out and lose three times you can leave. If you throw the fight you're hit with a stun gun, dragged away and replaced. No hitting below the waist, avoid all kill shots if you can. If you never lose, you never leave. Velvet has never lost. The game is played every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights starting at nine o'clock. Velvet is the champion and it's rare that a contestant gets far enough to be matched with her but this Friday would be one of those rare occasions. Mutants who sign up for the game can leave anytime, so can any mutant who might have family or friends that could cause trouble for the crowd that runs the game.

Apparently some kid calling himself 'The Blob' had signed up and was doing well for himself. Velvet's cage guard had given her warning and told her she should be training, but she didn't see the need to as she never got rusty. The physical side of her mutation had always been so natural it was no harder than blinking to her.

As Velvet lay wide awake in her small room for hours on end she found that the only way to keep herself sane was replaying the nights she got to fight; the nights she got to be seen… the nights she was significant. Even though these days her fifteen minutes of fame were few and far between and only lasted fifteen seconds, she still felt exhilarated by the roar of the crowd. Her last fight had been a little over three months previous. Between fights she was not allowed to leave her cell and was thankful that she had her own bathroom. Sometimes when her memories became a bore she would stare out the one small barred window on the back wall, not that it presented much of a view, other times she opened the tiny panel on her door to watch the other contestants being dragged back to their chambers. But tonight she just felt empty.

"Lights out!" a patrol guard called through her door then switched the light off. Velvet blinked twice then rolled onto her side and waited for sleep. It seemed like hours before she could no longer feel the coldness of the small room or the rutted stiff mattress underneath her. A dreamless broken slumber was the best she could get when the only real thing to do in this place was sleep.

Velvet had awakened many times during the night, she had been conscious when the buzzing light of her cell was turned back on, but found sleep easy to return to. The daylight hours of the Friday were almost over, Velvet's next fight was fast approaching and by this point her comatose state was becoming elusive. She looked toward the foot of her door and found, as expected, a change of clothes and a towel.

Heaving a sigh Velvet moved off her cot, picked up the clothes and proceeded into her minuscule bathroom which consisted of a toilet, a shower head and valve with one temperature – lukewarm - , the drain below the shower head and a shelf on which stood a cheep shampoo pump bottle, a hair brush and a bar of soap. Dumping her change of clothes on the shelf, Velvet stripped, turned the water on and started to wash herself. The water was soothing and the only pleasant thing she had so she spent a lot of time sitting under the refreshing spray when she knew she had something clean to wear afterwards. But Velvet had a fight tonight, and she hated fighting with wet hair, so she finished showering and dried herself quickly.

Wrapping the towel around her damp hair, Velvet dressed swiftly and walked back into the main cell. Tonight she wore a pair of fingerless leather gloves, a black tank top and a pair of stretchy black pants. She brushed her long dark hair into a ponytail high on the back of her head. When she was dressed and ready she dropped to the floor and did push-ups until the guards came to collect her for her match.

"…sixty-one…" Down, up "sixty two…" down, up "sixty three…" She counted as she bobbed effortlessly up and down on the floor. Velvet may look delicate and petite but this is one girl that should never be underestimated. Her strength, matched with her speed, agility, flexibility, astute and assessing mind, and her reflexes are damn near unconquerable in hand to hand combat. Velvet could calculate the situation and rapidly triumph in a one on one fight with anyone if they were only using physical attributes. "Sixty eight…" down, up "sixty nine…" down…

"Chaos… it's time." Three guards stood in the entrance of her chamber each firm postured and expressionless. Velvet glanced up at them and pushed off the floor. "You know the drill, hands on the wall." She moved over to the wall and placed her palms flat against it. As one of the guards patted her down, checking for concealed weapons, the other two took firm hold of her arms. Not that their firm hold would do much good had she actually wanted to get away. "She's clean." He confirmed and led the way to the arena.

As they trekked through the halls the other captive mutants cheered through their doors and wished her luck. None of them had ever been friends but they were all proud of her. She was their pride and glory; she was the best they had. And they didn't even know the half of it.

Five minutes later Velvet was standing behind the black curtain entrance to the arena waiting for her introduction. She could hear the announcers booming voice and the roar of the crowd through the thin veil barrier. "… Undefeated in nineteen consecutive rounds, ladies and gentlemen; the blob!"

The masses cheered and celebrated, and velvet heard a distinctive 'Yeah!' coming from the center ring. Her opponent sounded quite large. Her calculating mind had already kicked in, she had deduced that it would be best to start with the knees and ankles, try to bring him down to her size.

"And now," the announcer continued as the bellowing died down, "the moment we've all been waiting for, standing at a mere five-foot-seven and weighing in at ninety-six pounds, undefeated in her two hundred and sixteen consecutive rounds, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to introduce; Kid Chaos!"

"Ugh," she spat as the curtains concealing her were pulled back. She had always hated her codename. Nevertheless, her features were set in an empty stare as she made her way to the cage in the center of the arena. She stared around at the crowd as she strolled confidently pass them. She noticed a few of the spectators flinch under her steely detached gaze, but found it no harder to keep a strait face.

Finally she reached the cage and stared straight at her new challenger. He was a large boy, tall and round. He had a blond Mohawk and big round cheeks – and he was belly laughing at her; almost collapsing in his amusement. This did not deter her though; this was the reaction she always got. And they were never laughing when she was finished with them.

They opened the cage and Velvet calmly sauntered to her place in the ring. She fixed her hard stare on the floor as the announcer clarified the rules, not that she needed to hear them. "… no hitting 'below the belt', avoid all kill shots and…" he turned to velvet and pleaded "try not to break the cage this time." loud enough for her challenger to hear. Velvet nodded once, her hardened eyes never leaving the floor and her arms hanging comfortably, hands fisted, at her sides.

The announcer then turned on his heel and rushed out the gate. 'Three, two, one' Velvet counted backwards in her head and as she hit one the bell rang for the fight to start. All at once, velvets head snapped up and her hardened features twisted into a determined and loosely sadistic glower.

To the spectators, Kid Chaos was nothing but a black blur. She got behind her opponent and kicked him hard in the back of the left knee, then swept her foot under the weakened appendage. The boy was suddenly kneeling with a stunned expression etched into his features. He swung his large arms back trying to strike her by chance but she was much to fast, and dug her fingers into a nerve cluster under his right arm rendering it useless. She blurred again, getting in front of the boy who was still rather large compared to her small form, and used his right knee as leverage as she brought her left knee crashing into his right cheek. The blob boy swayed, hazily surprised for a moment, then tried grabbing the small girl but she was already gone. He could feel the areas she had hit already starting to bruise which was strange for him, he didn't think anyone would ever be able to hit him hard enough to leave a mark; especially not a girl who wasn't even half his size.

The next thing anyone knew, kid chaos was clinging to the blobs back with her knees and feet digging into his blubbery sides as she maneuvered her arm around his neck in under his double chin. In under a minute she had brought the blob in all his massive form to his knees and had him in a choker hold.

"Five," she whispered into his ear as he struggled to regain his breath "four," gasp, wheeze, gurgle, "three," heave, sigh, gasp "two," gurgle, grunt, retch "one!" With her countdown over she kicked off of his back, launching herself eight feet in the air, flipped once and landed silently behind his collapsing form.

The gates burst open and the announcer rushed in bellowing "Winner by knockout!" as he grabbed Velvets arm and hoisted it into the air. "As if we didn't see that coming." And as the crowd hollered, whistled and shrieked with enthusiasm some guards hurried into the cage to try and move the large figure of the unconscious blob. They tried to lift him, drag him and roll him but no matter what they tried he would not budge.

Velvet shook her head annoyed and taped one of the guards on the shoulder "Get me some smelling salt." she demanded. The guard nodded and was back at her side in seconds handing her a small capsule. She took the pod with a polite dip of her head, hooked her arm under her former opponent and flipped him effortlessly onto his back. Kneeling beside him she snapped the shell, rubbed the salt between her fingers and waved the putrid substance under his nose.

"Ugh, what the fuck!" he barked, coughing and gagging as he pushed himself off the floor. "That shit is rank!" he pointed accusingly at Velvets hands. Seconds later he was distracted by a guard telling him he had to leave the arena, and he was led away through the horde of cheering people.

Pulling Velvet into a one armed, meaningless hug, the announcer continued addressing the swarm of citizens "Tonight we have a special treat for our lovely guests. Tonight; we are giving you the chance to go up against our champion! That's right; two lucky spectators get the chance to show us what their made of!"

The mob went wild with passion, jumping, screaming and chanting 'pick me!' as Velvet started getting frustrated. "What?" she snarled, eyes narrowing at the host who glanced shiftily back and continued smiling.

"So who wants a go?" he paused and scanned the masses, "You sir!" he called pointing at a tall, fine-figured boy with silver hair. A wicked smile spread wide across the boy's dazzling features as he speedily marched towards the cage. He stepped through the gates and strolled over to stand on the other side of the commentator "What's your name kid?"

Striking blue eyes glinting with satisfaction, the boy answered "Quicksilver." He leaned around the host to make sure Velvet had a clear view of him and scoffed "That was my buddy you throttled back there."

Velvet simply quirked her brow and averted her gaze as the announcer picked one more challenger. The other competitor was a woman in her early twenties who gave the name 'Tricky'.

After confirming that both new contestants were mutants and stood at least a meager chance the man with the microphone turned to view the horde of viewers "Alright, we'll flip a coin to see who takes on the mighty Kid Chaos first." the host announced digging through his pocket and pulling out a coin. "Heads or tails, son?" he turned to the boy called Quicksilver.

"Hmm, I don't know, let me think, uh –tails!" his rapid speech was harmonized with somewhat exaggerated movements. He seemed a little hyper.

The host confirmed with Tricky that she didn't mind taking heads then flipped the coin. The crowd held their breath as the coin spun through the air. The anticipation was intense as one thousand pairs of eyes followed the coin back to his palm. Finally it landed and was slapped to the back of the hosts other hand. He peeked quickly then held his head up with a growing smirk, no one breathed. The commentator moved his hand and bellowed into the microphone "Heads!"

Once again the crowd erupted into applause. The boy Quicksilver left the cage in a huff as the two girls took their places on opposite sides. 'Tricky vs. Kid Chaos' flashed atop the score board as people rushed to place their bets. The host explained the rules to Tricky while Velvet returned to staring at the ground and wondered what her new opponent's mutation was.

A/N: Chapter two might take awhile... then again, it may not come at all, that depends on if The Game gets any reveiws.