"I don't know why I insist on entering this contest all the time," Oliver said. "I completely suck at it."
"Aww," and Yvette gave him a hug. "115 targets isn't so bad. That's almost half."
"Almost is right. I should be doing much better than that. No wonder I didn't get into security. They have high standards on power control."
Oliver looked down and shoved his hands into his pockets. Yvette frowned.
"Oh, c'mon," she began. "Just because -"
"Hey, Ivan's on!" Libby bounced.
They watched as Ivan started knocking down targets electrokinetically.
"That's so cool!" Duke grinned as the targets were zapped. "Zap! Zap!"
Oliver and Yvette shared a glance.
"He's your brother," Yvette said.
"It's his first tournament. He doesn't get to see powers in action all that often."
"Really? Cool."
Ivan zapped 169 targets (his own personal record). Hunter followed and technokinetically dealt with 153 of the 250 targets.
"Ha, I beat you."
"Only by 16," Hunter muttered.
"Still beat you," Ivan grinned.
Not long thereafter, it was Gambit's turn. He flexed his fingers, got out his first card, and stood ready for the signal.
"Kaboomy!" Duke yelled delightedly as the targets exploded the moment Gambit's cards reached them.
"Is that legal?" Yvette whispered.
"It's the Kinetic Shooting Gallery," Oliver replied. "Gambit's using kinetic energy. Perfectly legal, although some people my not like it. But lets face it, Mutant powers are as... stock and standard as Daths or Sems."
"True."
Gambit whipped out those cards, charged them, and sent them forth, exploding the targets.
"At this rate, he's going to get all of them," Hunter said in awe.
"There are certain advantages to being able to hit a few targets at once," Ivan said.
Gambit gave a showman's bow when his turn was over, to which there were a few cheers. And it turned out that he had hit 236 targets in total.
"That was soooooo coooool," Libby said.
Mikey and Miguel
Mikey took a deep breath. Now, maybe he hadn't had his powers since birth, like the aliens and some of the hybrids, but for a mutant he was pretty skilled. Well, enough in the professor's eyes to have Xavier ask him to tutor Gwen when she first showed up. He closed his eyes for a moment to focus, and then gave the referee a nod. At the signal, he began, releasing just enough electricity to hit the targets. Because there were different types of kinetics, the gallery was created to be waterproof, fireproof, and made from non-conductive materials, so that the excess electricity would travel and short-circuit the entire station. he did his best, and when he was done felt very proud of himself.
"iBien hecho, querida!" Miguel said, hugging his lover and kissing him on the cheek. Mikey waited for them to flash his score on the board. 236.
"hey, G, looks like we tied," Mikey said, slapping Gambit a high five.
Gambit and Rogue
"Uh huh," Gambit replied.
Rogue giggled at the expression on Gambit's face.
"Hey, G," she repeated, still laughing.
Gambit just shook his head. And then took about ten steps away from Mikey.