Author's Note: George, Laura, Savannah, Becky, Gracie, and Annabelle are ©Savannah(author)
The X-Men and Mystique are ©Marvel and used without permission. This story is also ©Savannah(me the author). The setting of this is during the 2nd season and just before the 3rd season.

An Animal's Tale: Part I

"Darn it!" said Laura Caughlyn. She quickly took back her hand after touching the burnt bread. "Too hot." She said to herself.

"I wonder if Becky and Gracie are up yet?" she thought to herself. She closed her eyes to focus on the two girls images that were in their heads. Becky's images came first. It showed her in school flirting with a boy. Laura smiled to herself as she interfered with Becky's dream and placed an image of a hideous monster on the boy's face.

"AAAHHHHHH!!!" screamed Becky as she woke up in a sweat. She stopped screaming, and then became angry as she realized that her mother did that.

"MOTHER!" she yelled getting out of her bed.

"You should have been up 30 minutes ago!" Becky heard her mother say as she hurried to pick out an outfit to wear that day.

" Good morning dear." Said George kissing Laura on the check.

" Good morning to you too. I fixed you a nice breakfast today so that you could focus on that meeting with your clients today." Laura said handing him a plate with eggs and bacon, some toast that was a little burnt, and some jam.

" Oh, my favorite." He said as he sat down at the kitchen table to eat it.

" Hey mom? I have a question. When you were in my dreams you uh, you didn't..." Becky said entering the kitchen, and trailing off on her sentence. Laura smiled and looked at Becky.

" No dear I didn't see a thing." She said winking at Becky before George saw them both.

"Where's Gracie?" asked George putting down the newspaper.

"I'm right hear!" said Gracie as she entered the kitchen and sat down.

The Caughlyn family all sat at the table eating away at their breakfast. Then all of a sudden Gracie dropped her fork and her eyes widened.

"Are you okay Gracie?" asked Becky.

"Did you hear that?" asked Gracie.

"Hear what dear?" her mother asked confused.

"That, that strange spark like noise." replied Gracie. She got up from the table and started running out towards the front door.

"GRACIE!" her mother and father yelled as they ran after her.

Gracie ran to the next house on their right, and she stopped right in front of the door leading into the house. She tried opening it with her hand, but found that it was locked.

"It's locked." Said Gracie.

"Well of course. I don't think anyone would want you breaking in to their house." Said Becky. Gracie looked at her and then turned around to face the door again.

"Gracie, this isn't nice. You don't break into Ms. Smith's house like that. It's called breaking and entering. Stop it right now!" demanded Laura.

Gracie ignored her mother's commands. She backed up and ran right into the door. As she did that she made a low growl and her eyes glowed a yellow color. She didn't hear herself growl, nor did she know here eyes were yellow. Her sister and parents didn't hear her growl, but they were surprised when Gracie knocked down the door completely without her getting harmed.

As the wooden door came tumbling down, Gracie entered the house and stopped. She listened for a moment and heard a sound like flames were blowing around. Gracie ran into the kitchen to find that the oven had caught on fire and that the fire was spreading. Her mother entered the kitchen, looked surprised, and then ran to find a fire extinguisher. She found one and came back to put out the fire. Becky and Gracie watched as the fire began to die down, and then stop all together.

As Laura finished she breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Gracie. She was shocked and amazed that her own daughter heard the fire.

"How in the world did you?" Laura began.

"I heard a strange noise like an electrical appliance that just blew up or something. The I smelt it. I smelt fire. The smoke, I could smell it perfectly." Gracie explained, a little confused.

Laura started to suspect some things, but she immediately stopped thinking about them, and spoke again.

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to tell Ms. Smith what happened when she comes home for her lunch time. For now lets go back and get you both to school." Laura said as she lead the family outside.

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Bayville Junior High-

"Okay then. See you later Gracie." said a friend.

"All right. Bye." Gracie said as she turned the corner. She looked at her watch to see that she had thirty seconds before the bell.

"Oh no!" she said as she began to run to her class. Then all of a sudden she heard a noise from the distance. She stopped to listen again.

"Stop that! Hey, no!" she heard as her ears twitched a bit. Suspecting that something was wrong, she ran in the direction of that noise. As soon as she started running, the bell rang, but she didn't care. Someone was in danger.

"Hey! Don't tell me what to do kid!" said a voice. The noises were getting louder. Gracie turned a corner of a hall to see two kids. One, an older boy, was pinning a younger boy up to the lockers.

"Stop it!" Gracie yelled. The two boys looked over to see Gracie standing there.

"Stay out of this you goodie tooshoe!" said the guy holding the boy.

"I'm warning you!" said Gracie. She was starting to get angry.

"You twurp! I'm busy bullying this kid. Get out of here before I even think about chasing after you, you girly girl."

At that moment Gracie burst into anger. Her eyes glowed again and she started to growl. As she began to growl her body began to turn into a black panther. Here hands turned to paws, her skin turned to black fur, her mouth turned into a snout while her teeth became sharp, and her eyes turned yellow like a cat's eyes. When she was done, she was a full grown black panther growling and snarling at the bully.

"AHHH!" screamed the boys as they ran in each direction. The panther followed the bully down the halls. Strong and agile was the panther, that it chased after him not loosing sight of him at all. Finally the bully was cornered. He stopped at a window and then turned to face the panther.

"L- l -look panther girl or, whatever, please don't eat me!" he screamed in fear. "I promise I will not bully anyone again." He added. Gracie growled at him louder. Then a voice came and Gracie panicked. She ran away from the boy still in her panther form. The boy looked relieved as the panther left.

A teacher appeared and looked at the frightened boy.

"What's going on here? Aren't you suppose to be in class young man?" said the teacher.

"Yes, but there was a panther chasing me." The boy replied.

"Don't be so foolish. Get to class!" yelled the teacher as she grabbed the boy and pulled him off to his classroom.

*********************************************

Gracie ran around hallways until she passed the young boy who was being bullied earlier. She ran past him not even noticing him. The boy smiled in the shadows as he watched the panther go by. Then his figure started to change as Mystique was shown, and then another figure of some woman. She smiled and then started heading off for the panther.

*********************************************

Xavier Institute-

Savannah and Annabelle walked into the doors of the huge mansion that was known as the Institute. They were talking to each other, and they were soon greeted by Ororo. However, Ororo didn't have a smiling face. She had a serious look instead.

"What is it Ororo?" Savannah asked looking concerned.

"Savannah, the Professor needs to see you in the Cerebro room." exclaimed Ororo as she started heading for the elevator. Savannah and Annabelle followed. Savannah felt a Déjà vu coming onto her as she remembered an earlier time when she followed Ororo down into the Cerebro room.

As all three of them entered the Cerebro room, the Professor was sitting looking at data again. He called Savannah to come see what he had on his screen. As Savannah walked forward and looked at the screen, she saw that Gracie was on the screen.

All of her data was there, including a picture of her. Savannah's eyes widened.

"No! It cannot be! Gracie? One of us? My own sister!" said Savannah. She sighed and asked, " So what are her abilities?"

"Gracie is an animorphic shape shifter, meaning that she can morph or shape shift into any animal species. She can alter her molecules to also somewhat mimic animal's abilities. Such as hearing, smelling, agility, and more." Replied the Professor.

"Interesting." Said Savannah. She sighed again and closed her eyes. Then she opened them again and said, " Annabelle, lets go and talk to Gracie about her new powers."

"Savannah, don't you think that we should have all of us go and get her?" asked Ororo stopping Savannah in her own path.

"No Ororo. I will handle this. You and the Professor can go talk to my parents about this if you want." Replied Savannah as she and Annabelle left.

*********************************************

Bayville Park-

The panther ran across the park snorting and growling. People screamed and ran off in sight of the panther. Inside the mind of the panther was Gracie, and she was frightened and scared. She was afraid that she would be like this forever, and wasn't sure where to go. She stopped near a bench and looked around to see if anyone was watching. No one was.

The panther form started to change again. The paws became feet and hands, the snout pushed back in to reveal a mouth and nose, the fur went away, the eyes changed, and the claws also left. Finally Gracie was back as her human form. Gracie was now her old self again. She was relieved to see that she could change back into herself.

"Amazing!" she thought. " I can turn into animals!" Gracie smiled as she turned herself into a squirrel. The squirrel then turned into a bird. The bird flew around and landed on a tree branch. It watched as zookeepers ran around trying to find a missing so called "panther". Inside her mind Gracie laughed at the thought that there was really a panther loose in the city. When all the zookeepers left, she saw a person come walking near the benches. It was an elderly woman. She stopped near the benches and smiled to herself. Then she began to talk.

"Charles already thinks that Gracie is going to be with the X-Men? Ha! I laugh at it. That's only because of Savannah. Just because Savannah is Gracie's sister doesn't mean that she will join the X-Men." Said the elderly woman. She spoke again and started to change form. " Savannah will make a big mistake and lead her sister to the opposite direction." When she finished speaking, the elderly lady had changed form to look like Savannah.

"Gracie? Gracie, are you there? It's me Savannah."

Gracie, who had been on the tree branch and saw everything, swooped down to the ground and landed at Savannah's feet. The bird changed back into Gracie.

"Gracie there you are! I've been looking all over for you!" said Savannah. "Wow. Isn't it amazing how much you've changed? You're one of us Grace. You are a mutant just like me. You can change into animals huh? Cool power if you ask me." Said Savannah as she sat down on the bench. Gracie also sat down on the bench next to her. Her eyes stayed on Savannah.

"Well? Don't you have to say something?" Savannah asked.

"Yes they are fine powers..." Gracie said cautiously.

"So, have you thought about joining to get help?" Savannah asked.

"Why? My powers are fully controllable." Gracie said.

"That's not true. You still have to know how to use them. You have to train with them, learn to skillfully use your powers, and more."

"So you want me to join the X-Men?" asked Gracie, knowing that Savannah would say no somehow.

"Gracie, I want to tell you something. You may think that I am with the X-Men, but actually I am not. You see, the X-Men had this other shape-shifting mutant. They tried to use their shape-shifter, and make it seem that it really was Mystique causing all that chaos when I discovered my powers, but really it wasn't. The X-Men are mutant hunters, and the Brotherhood are not. The Brotherhood wants to help you. Mom and Dad don't know that I'm with the Brotherhood, but I'll have to tell them soon." Savannah exclaimed.

"Likely story Savannah. However, I watched you from above on that branch," Gracie pointed to a nearby branch above them, "and saw the whole thing... Mystique!"

Savannah stood up and glared at Gracie. Gracie started to feel uncomfortable, and she looked around for any help. Then she saw two figures out of the corner of her eye, and they were flying in the air.

Savannah(the real one) and Annabelle were flying in the air, and looking around for Gracie, when Annabelle spotted her and pointed to her.

Savannah knew immediately that the other figure who looked like her was Mystique. She frowned and raised her hands. Wind blew and Mystique raised in the air.

"What the heck?!" screamed Mystique as she changed back into herself. Wind blew all around her as she was raised up, around, and away from Gracie.

Savannah and Annabelle came down on to the ground, and Savannah released her winds.

"You!" screamed Mystique. "What are you doing here!!!" Mystique yelled waving her arms around.

"Preventing you from taking Gracie." Savannah replied.

"Go away Mystique before I have to make you!" Annabelle demanded as little sparks of electricity began to flow around her hands.

"Why Annabelle. When's the last time I saw you? You've grown quite a bit." Mystique said all of a sudden changing her mood.

"Shut up Mystique. I'm warning you. Leave!" Annabelle said louder as the sparks of electricity became more intense. Gracie watched from behind Mystique and wasn't sure what she was doing, but knew that it wouldn't be good.

"Poor Annabelle. You treacherous little twit! I pity you." Mystique said smiling and walking away slowly.

"You can't touch anyone with your skin... that has to be bad...Savannah can though. She's perfect." mocked Mystique.

Annabelle's sparks went away as her face went from a frown to a worried look. "Shut up Mystique!" yelled Annabelle. Inside her mind flashed things from her past. She started to breathe heavily, and tried to stop the images in her mind.

"Why should I have you on my team?" Mystique said as she started to leave. "After all you are a murderer. You killed your parents!" Mystique's eyes glared at Annabelle, hopping to mess with her mind. "You'll probably kill someone else these days... maybe even... Savannah." Mystique laughed and changed into a crow. She swooped away crowing.

Gracie watched as Mystique left. She turned her head towards Annabelle who was going berserk now with all the past things that were scrambling in her mind. Sparks of electricity came from her hands and her eyes. She was breathing heavily screaming, "No! Stop! I'm not a murderer!" Savannah tried to calm her down, but that didn't work. Gracie was upset now. She morphed into a bird and flew after Mystique.

"Gracie! No!" yelled Savannah. Ready to fly after her, Savannah started lifting off the ground, but then came back down when she saw that Annabelle was about to burst. The street lights were flickering, and a nearby water fall(that was controlled by electricity) was going off and on. The water seemed to lower, and then rise, and then lower again.

"Annabelle! Annabelle!" Savannah screamed as she tried to get closer to Annabelle.

"Professor! Professor, I need you. I found Gracie, but Mystique got to her first. We spoiled her plans, but she got revenge by making Annabelle remember her past. Now Annabelle can't control her powers, and I'm afraid that she's going to let loose any second. Please Professor! Come and help!" Savannah thought, hoping that her thoughts would get to the professor in time. Not soon after did she hear Jean's voice in her head.

"Savannah. The X-Men are on our way. Just hold on. Kurt should be there with me soon." Jean told her.

Savannah watched as Annabelle tried to control her powers, but couldn't stop the anger, and the fear, and the sadness that was rambling in her mind. Annabelle raised her arms, and a stream of electricity hit a bench and it exploded. Then Annabelle's other arm raised, and electricity came from her hands and hit a street light. Sparks flew everywhere.

"Annabelle!" Savannah screamed. All of a sudden, Annabelle hand pointed towards Savannah as electricity began to go towards Savannah. Savannah froze, but just before it hit her, she was raised into the air, and the electricity slammed into a tree, almost splitting it in half.

Savannah was forced over towards Jean and Kurt, who had just arrived. Jean had her eyes closed and her hands near her temples. She sat Savannah down slowly and ran in closer towards Annabelle. At that time, the rest of the X-Men had arrived.

"Jean no! Annabelle could hurt you!" yelled Scott as he ran after her. Savannah put her hands toward the ground as Scott all of a sudden became stuck. "Savannah!" he yelled.

"Let Jean handle it!" she yelled letting go of the gravitational pull on Scott. Scott watched as Jean closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Annabelle, can you hear me? It's me, Jean. Annabelle, concentrate on my voice. Concentrate." Jean listened, and scrambled through Anna's thoughts to find her.

"Jean? Jean, help me!" cried Annabelle, who tried to forget her anger, and concentrate on controlling her powers.

"Just focus Anna; listen to my voice." Jean replied.

The X-Men watched as Jean worked hard, and Annabelle struggled to control her powers. Finally the electricity died out, and all was calm. Annabelle sighed heavily, then she collapsed to the ground, and so did Jean.

"Anna!" yelled Savannah running towards her. Her cape flapped around, and her boots made squishing noises against the grass.

"You all right?" Savannah asked approaching her. Annabelle got up and stood on her feet. She raised her palm at Savannah and faintly said, "Stop."

" I just need to be alone." Annabelle said. She looked into Savannah's eyes with sadness on her face. Then she raised into the air and left. Savannah knew why she left. She had been reminded of her past, and needed to be alone. Now Savannah knew that her chances of joining with the X-Men were growing faintly dim, but that was only one of her concerns. Now how was she to find Gracie. She followed Mystique earlier, and there's no telling where she could be now... and if she was safe.