Chapter 1

(This is based solely on the modern X-men movies, not the comics. This story takes place after the movie the Wolverine.)

Logan took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and blocked out all the roadside chatter and strange scents infringing on his senses. He needed to focus. To concentrate.

Releasing the breath, his eyes snapped open. Yanking clenched fists from his coat pockets, he raised them before his face and stared - just two simple things, really, but with them came such struggle and frustration. In one hand he held a map of True Cross town, in the other a Japanese-English phrasebook.

"Alright, let's do this," he growled.

Yukio had run off without telling him where she was going, saying she had some personal business to settle. "Personal business" was a phrase he knew only too well, and it never denoted any business-like activity. At first he had been relunctant to let the spunky redhead tag along, but now he felt himself missing her sarcasm and sassy attitude. Not to mention, she was pretty good in a fight.

He had managed to find the envelope that had sent Yukio into frantic, furtive packing. She had taken the letter, so Logan still had no clue why she had run, but at least he had an address. Unfortunately, he hadn't the faintest idea how to read Japanese.

He could either meticulously leaf through the maps searching for the same symbols written on the envelope, or he could ask for directions. He stood indecisively on the sidewalk, warring between his loner nature and impatience, unaware of pedestrians glancing warily in his direction as they veeered to the side to avoid his scowl.

Then suddenly, someone slammed into his back like a speeding train, sending he and his papers to the rain-soaked ground. Picking himself off the concrete and observing his ruined map laying in a puddle, his frustration flared.

"Watch it, bub!" he barked, spinning around to face the careless assailant. Instead, he was met with a gaping, fang-lined maw and slithering tongue.

"What the-" he stumbled back in surprise - before him stood some sort of monster. It looked like a giant green worm with shark teeth and spider legs. It chattered its razor-sharp fangs in Logan's face and flicked a rope-like tongue before scurrying off down the sidewalk.

Logan was frozen, staring at the beast; out of all the things he'd seen, this was definitely the strangest. But no one else seemed to notice it. He watched in tentative terror and wonder as the creature meandered past pedestrians, occasionally sniffing or even lightly licking their clothes or stealing meat buns from a vendor.

Have I finally lost it?

He stumbled forward, forgetting his bag on the sidewalk, pushing past people to keep the monster in sight. All his instincts were telling him to attack - he could feel his claws rippling beneath his skin, itching to break past his knuckles. However, he kept himself in check - if he started fighting now countless bystanders would get caught up in it. Besides, the creature wasn't doing anything, really.

As if it could hear his thoughts, the thing stopped. Snake-like tongue flickering hesitantly in the air, it slowly turned towards a woman standing at the corner chatting on her phone. The hair on his neck stood up straight and he broke into a run, shoving people aside as he shouted a warning.

"Hey! You! Watch out!"

He had several people's attention now, but the woman remained oblivious. And still no one seemed to see the monster, even as it crept closer to the woman and stretched his slavering jaws wide. Everyone just looked at him like he was crazy - maybe he was. But he couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

Abruptly, the tongue snapped out and wrapped around the woman like a python, rapidly darting back towards its mouth for a quick snack. She screamed, apparantly noticing the creature for the first time.

With a bellow, Logan leaped into the air and brought out his claws, slicing downwards and severing the monster tongue. A spray of crimson washed over Logan and the woman, who collapsed to the ground with another scream.

"You alright?" Logan queried, but she merely shrieked again. The creature was getting away, and a flock of frightened, concerned citizens were gathering around the woman. With a disgruntled shrug, Logan launched himself after the freakish animal.

Was it some sort of escaped experiment? A mutant? A demon from his long-overdue hell? All these speculations flashed through his mind as he raced after the creature, eliciting shrieks of fear and indignation from passerbys. Occaisonally the monster would scamper up walls or across rooftops, but Logan could always follow its trail - it stank to high heaven. But it was fast - eventually he lost sight of it. And then it vanished completely, the scent mingling with a medley of other strange, powerfully rancid smells. Clasping a hand over his nose, Logan scrunched his face up in disgust.

"Aw jeez. What is it with this city?"

A shrill scream, quickly joined by others, snagged his attention and he was once again running. He arrived on the scene just in time to see the monster's tail dart around the corner of a building. Several young people in uniforms rose from the ground and gathered dropped textbooks, wondering what had just happened. Luckily no one seemed injured - not yet, at least.

He ran sprinted towards the building, noticing some English words on a small sign beside the entry gates - True Cross Academy.

"Great. A school - this should be fun," he huffed, cracking his knuckles.