Marvel owns all of the GenX charters, but I own Nicky and Stinky. So there! (blows a raspberry at the people down at Marvel.) This story is just for fun and not for profit. Oh! And thanks to Adrian Dark for the E-mail, pics, and nice things to say!

Jubilee jumped around excitedly. "Look! Look at the poster!"

The others looked. An ad for a Halloween Party at a local teen night club. Jubilee whirled around, her face hopeful. "Oh, let's go! It'll be great!" Monet sniffed disdainfully and Jono didn't look all that interested, but they all agreed to go. They went back to the van to ask Penny if she if she wanted to go, but she was fast asleep. Ever since they had reached San Antonio the day before, she had been going almost non-stop. Seaworld, malls, six-flags-over Texas, the works. They didn't have to worry about her appearance, as Monet and Nicky took turns covering her psi-wise from other people by making her seem hardly there. No one really even noticed her.

They piled in, debating about who would be what. It was Nicky's turn and she drove them to a local shopping mall. When they got to the huge building, they parked, decided on a meeting place, and departed. The girls went off to find a costume shop on the upper levels and the guys took the lower ones.

Monet stood outside the changing rooms, garment in hand. Jubilee was rummaging through a box of hats and masks.

"Yo Hayseed, catch this." She twirled around so the streamers on the fairy crown flew out around her. Paige walked over, ignoring the younger girl's pet name for her.

"I like it." She plucked off Jubilee's head and walked over to the mirror.

Nicky was looking through the capes, trying one on, discarding it, and trying on another. Suddenly Jubilee popped out from around the rack, a sword in hand.

"Watch out, Mississippi!" Nicky dodged the plastic weapon, grabbed a knight's sword off of a display and turned.

"Try to stab me, will ya?" she dodged another swipe. "In that case, I challenge you to a duel!"

The poor shop keeper glanced nervously about, trying to find the two teenage girls who were stalking each other between the racks, around corner, and behind counters. 'Please, please, please, let the energized girls with toy weapons leave soon so he could relax!', he thought.

Monet walked out of the dressing room, evaluating herself in the large mirror. 'Not bad.' She saw a movement of blue and green behind her.

She turned around and was plowed into by a giggling Jubilee and squealing Nicky. They continued their dueling until Jubilee had Nicky on the ground and the point of her sword an inch from her jugular.

"Okay, okay, J! I give up!", Nicky giggled breathlessly. When she opened her eyes, she stopped. A very upset M struggled to get out of a barrel full of bowties without success. Jubilee dropped to the ground and shook with laughter. Nicky joined her shortly.

"Humph! Get me out of here you tasteless juveniles! You two look ridiculous!"

"You're not one to talk, M" Paige helped her teammate out of the barrel.

Jubilee and Nicky took off their blue and green capes and replaced them on the rack. After selecting their costumes, they paid and left.

The shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief.

******

Angelo and Everett inspected their reflections in the mirrors, waiting for Jono to join them. When finally he did, they bought their costumes and left, going to find the girls. The girls didn't tell the guys what their costumes were, and vise versa.

They drove across town to a hotel they were staying at and went to their rooms. When It got dark, the girls snuck out and hailed a cab so the guys couldn't see their costumes and the guys took the van.

*******

Jono, Ev, and Angelo walked into the dance room, searching for the girls. They spotted them out on the floor. Monet was dancing with a dark-haired guy and seemed to be enjoying herself. She was dressed as a gypsy in purples and fuchsias that were very flattering against her

dark skin. She had on tons of gold jewelry that bounced and jangled as she moved. Paige was dressed as an angel with creamy wings and a flowing dress. A wreath of flowers adorned her head and sparkle danced across her face, arms, and yellow hair. A complete contrast to the sunny girl, Nicky was dressed as a vampire. She had morphed her hair from a sandy-blonde to a midnight black, her white streaks gone completely. Her skin was a snowy white and made even more so by the airy dress she wore. It was as dark as her hair, with a slit up one side. When she smiled, a set of fangs were revealed. Her tall dancing partner looked nervous. Jubilee was dressed as a punk rocker, her hairdo teased up and streaked with neon yellows, greens, and pinks. Her clothes were outrageous and completely mismatched. The effect was perfect. The song ended and the four girls moved over to the table where the guys waited.

"Hey, you guys look great!" And they did, Paige thought. Jono was still clad in black, but now a magician. His long black cape flowed around him and his black top hat made him look even taller than he already was. Angelo was dashing as pirate. His cutlass was at his belt, a bandanna on his head. Jubilee and Nicky giggled at the memory of the sword fight at the shop earlier. Everett was dressed as a football player, wearing a jersey, pads, cleats, and helmet. He looked really strange standing next to the punk rocker that was Jubilee.

#Okay, people, get ready for the costume contests! Get out on the floor with your partner and let the judging begin!# The electronic voice

faded and they followed the announcer's advice and got out to dance. Jubilee drug Ev over to the other dancers, Monet found her previous partner, Jono and Paige got over there and Angelo and Nicky followed.

"I like your costume, Lee. It's really bight."

"Thanks, Ev!" Not so bad yourself, she thought. She liked the football look.

Jono watched Paige move, taking in the memory. 'She looks so good.' ~You look really beautiful tonight, luv.~

Paige smiled, happy for the comment. "Thanks, Ah hoped Ah didn't look to silly in this." Then, blushing, she noticed she had lost control of her accent. "Ah, I mean..."

~Paige, don't try to hide your accent, It's a part of you. I like it~ Paige beamed, happy she didn't have to pretend anymore.

Angelo should get used to Nicky's constant shape-shifting, but he never really got over it. This was really a change from before. And he couldn't say he didn't like it. He did. Except for the fangs, they were creepy.

"Do my fangs make you nervous?" She smiled evilly, the enlarged eye-teeth gleaming. Her eyes flashed silver, instead of gold, like usual.

"Nah, I'm a fearless pirate. Nothing makes the amazing Angelo nervous. Um, nice dress." She looked down and laughed a little. The slit was a little high, but she didn't care. No wonder he liked her dress.

#If you would make your way down to the front, I'll announce the winners.# They headed over and waited for the announcer to speak again.

#Our second runners up are Monet St.Croix as a gypsy and Calvin Highlander as a samurai. First runner up are Nicky Bowman and Angelo Espinosa as vampire and pirate. Our winners are Paige Guthrie and Jonothon Starsmore as angel and magician. Congrats you two!#

*******

They walked out into the cold night air, laughing and smiling. It was great not to have to worry about fighting and facing death. It was too good to last.

**Commencing attack on unidentified mutant and designate: Jubilee.** A large pink and purple robot towered above the teens.

"I thought those things went out with Zero Tolerance!", Nicky yelped.

~Dunno, luv. But we've got to get them away from the kids!~ Jono was referring to the frightened trick-or-treaters that had just been trying to enjoy their Halloween, just like the members of Generation X.

Monet, Angelo, and Paige were on crowd control and evacuation, While the others took on the sentinel. Jubilee started in on her pyrotechnics, trying to make each count. Everett synched up with Chamber and they attacked together, trying to shut down the firing mechanisms. Cyclone flew up behind it, not knowing really what to do. She might be invulnerable against bullets and knifes, ect., but energy did do allot of damage. With not only the sentinel using energy attack, but Jubilee, Chamber, and Synch as well, it was a hot zone for her. And she really didn't know much about sentinels in the first place. She observed how the neck of the robot turned on a socket with a gap, she saw her opening.

Husk scooped up kids in her arms and ran, Skin pulling others out of the way, and M flying still others out, It looked like they might be able to get them away from danger in case the thing fell. They were worried however, as Chamber's, Synch's, and Jubilee's attacks were doing less

and less damage against the titan's body. It must have been galvanized against such attacks. Then they could here a sickening scraping and tearing noise from the sentinel.

**Mutant: Cease your attack against this unit. Attack has 51.314% chance of failure, 44.005%, 37.886%, 21.532%, 13.273%, 3.538%, 1.553%,

...** The sentinel's head departed from It's body and floated before being hurled toward a public swimming pool that had closed several hours before.

" Awww, shuddup ya big tin man!" Nicky grinned from her lofty stance. Her self-made fangs shining.

*******

Sean Cassidy switched on CNN and relaxed with a cup of coffee. "This is Trish Trilby, reporting from San Antonio, Texas. Only minutes ago, a sentinel attacked seven unidentified mutants that apparently had just exited a dance club..."

Sean stopped drinking the coffee. Please don't let it have been. A shot of footage revealed A football player that was using an attack the magician in black used , a gypsy that flew about, an angel with blonde hair, a pirate that stretched his skin to pull a child out of the way, a punk rocker with sparks shooting out of her hands, and a flying vampire who ripped the thing's head off.

He quickly picked up the phone, dialed the school, got only the answering machine, and hung up. Then he dialed Emma's Cell phone. He sighed heavily as she picked up, angry at him for disturbing her in the middle of a business meeting in Bermuda. The kids were in it deep this time.