Ouside the school at lunch.

Scott: go to Duncan Matthews' party? I don't think so.

Evan: You gonna finish that moo juice?

Jean: You can have mine.

Jean: Come on, It might be fun.

Scott: Matthews is a jerk.

Kitty: No, he's not. I'd go.

Scott: No freshmen allowed.

Kitty: Oh, Matthews is a jerk.

Scott: Half of the school will be there. Suppose somebody gets too close to Kurt? That holo projector won't stop them from feeling his fur.

Kurt: He chicks dig the fuzzy dude. Right? *he grins at Kitty*

Kitty: I'm, like, so out of here. Later!

Kurt: Oh, yeah. She can't resist.

Scott: I'm trying to be serious here. Look, we go to Matthews' party, Suppose Dukes or Maximoff try to start something? We're not the only mutants in the school, you know.

Evan: Yeah, just the cool ones. *he and Kurt high five*

Jean: Hey, come on, Scott. What's wrong with a little socializing?

Scott: I'm sorry, But I just don't think It's a good idea.

Kurt: Dude, it's just a party! Time to shake that tail! Whoo-hoo! Par-ty! Par-ty! Par-ty! *his tail gets loose and starts waving around. Scott pulls it to get him off the table* Watch the tail! Ow!

Scott: Now, see? That's exactly what I'm talking about!

Kurt: You pulled my tail, man!

Scott: Grow up, Kurt!

Kurt: Hey, lighten up, dude!

Scott: You're always Goofing around!

Kurt: And you're seriously cramping my style!

Scott: Listen...

Kurt: No! You listen... there's a sound I want you to hear. And it's-- [whoosh] *Kurt ports out of sight*

Scott: [coughing] Blew it, didn't I?

Jean: Oh, yeah. Totally.

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

Flash over to Rogue, sitting at a tree and reading. We hear Kurt port in. She smells and grimaces.

Rogue: Huh? Ugh.

Kurt's in a lab.

Kurt: Oh! I have got to work on my re-entries. *the holoprojector shorts out* Oh, weak, man!

Rogue: Who's there?

Kurt: Ahh...unh. Unh...ahh. Unh. *runs into another room, really grungy* Man, somebody should fire the custodian. *he triggers an alarm* [beep beep]

Face on the computer screen: January 22, 1978. Hi there! If you're hearing this message, You've got 10 seconds before this lab self-destructs. Have a nice day! What's left of it.

Kurt looks shocked.

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

Opening Credits

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

Kurt: I knew I should have paid more attention in computer lab.

The room explodes

Rogue: Hey! Hey! Are you okay? What happened?

Kurt: Unh. Lab...booby-trapped.

Rogue: Lab? Whatever this stuff was, it's thrashed now. Except for this. *she picks up a small machine*

Kurt: What are you doing here?

Rogue: Look who's talking. At least I didn't blow the place up.

Kurt: *grabs for the machine* Hey! Let go of that! *they struggle the machine goes off and Kurt disappears*

Rogue: He's gone!

Snap to a foggier version of the school hallway

Kurt: Uh! Huh? What happened? Where am I, the twilight zone?

[faint student voices]

Evan: Man, Scott's got to lighten up.

Kitty: Yeah, but Kurt's got to, kike, know when to quit.

Kurt: Kitty? Kitty! [Kitty laughs] No! Wait! No! What's happening to me?

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

Shift to the parking lot outside the school. Toad's trying to capture his lunch .

Toad: Hey!

[car horn]

Darkholme: Out of the way!

Toad: Huh... Aw, my lunch!

Darkholme: You are to stay away from this area, Mr. Tolansky. If I see one drop of slime on my new car, It's detention for life! Are we clear?

Toad: Oh, yes, we're very clear. Pffft!

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

Rogue is trying to dispose of the offending machine.

Rogue: *she drops it* Unh!

Toad: Ooh... What's this?

Rogue: Don't touch it!

Toad: Why not?

Rogue: It's--never you mind. Just leave it alone.

Toad: Oh, what's the matter, little girl get into some trouble?

Rogue: Trouble? No. There's just one less X-men to push us around.

Toad: Say what? You mean you toasted one of them goody-goods with that thing? Wicked!

Rogue: Hey! Just leave it alone! You got it, swamp breath?

Toad: Jeez, what is this, "Abuse the toad" day? *picks up the machine* Hmm... [whir] *zaps the dumpster* Aah! Cool...

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

Shift to Scott and Jean in the hallway.

Scott: So, you think I should apologize to Kurt, huh?

Jean: Well, what matters is what you think.

Scott: You got to admit, he jerks around way too much.

Jean: So? Is that worth losing a friend over?

Two guys come running out of the washrom.

Guys: Gaah! Ghost! We just saw a ghost! Aah! A blue-and-hairy demon! I'm out of here!

Scott: I warned him! *goes into the washroom* Kurt? *comes back into the hallway*

Jean: Not there?

Scott: No. You'd better contact him. Tell him to knock it off.

Jean: Hmm. Scott, I can't pick up a trace of Kurt anywhere. It's like he doesn't exist.

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

Scott: Try again. He's got to be somewhere.

Jean: I am. I'm not getting anything. He's just completely gone.

Scott: *seeing the brotherhood* Or somebody did something to him.

Lance: What are you looking at, Summers?

Scott: Where's Kurt?

Fred: Huh. Yeah, like we'd tell you. *Scott rushes him*

Jean: Scott, no!

Lance: *Scott slams him into the lockers* Hey!

Scott: I said where is he?

Lance: Get off of me!

Scott: What have you done with kurt?

Fred: Get lost, slim! *picks Scott up*

Jean: Put him down!

Lance: Back off, red, Or I'll rock you! [rattle rattle]

Students: fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Darkholme: What is going on here?

Fred: We weren't doin' nothin'.

Lance: Yeah. Summers here just went ballistic on us for no reason.

Scott: Oh, I've got a reason.

Jean: Scott...

Darkholme: Quiet! You two in my office now.

Shift to Kurt.

Kurt: Huh! Ok, wherever this is, I can't teleport out. This is just way too freaky! *furniture starts popping in* Daah! It's raining furniture!

Toad in Darkholme's office.

Toad: Heh heh heh. See the desk, don't see the desk. See the chair, don't see the chair. So, miss big shot, Let's see how you like my new clean-office policy.

Darkholme: Inside, both of you.

Toad: Uh-oh.

Darkholme: I don't care what influence Xavier has with the school board. I am going to get-- What?!

Scott & Jean: Huh? What?

Darkholme: What happened here? Who took my furniture?!

Toad: *outside* Heh heh heh heh.

Scott: Bet I know what happened to Kurt.

Kurt: *dodging a car* Aah! Oh...

He ports, kinda showing up in front of Scott and Jean.

Jean: Scott, look! It's Kurt!

Scott: Or...or his... ghost.

Jean: No! I got a brief mental reading. It's like he's... trapped somewhere.

Scott: I think we'd better have a talk with the toad.

Kurt's still in his weird little world.

Forge: Whoa! Where'd you come from? Gaah!

Kurt: Relax...

Forge: What are you, man?

Kurt: Don't let my looks fool you. I'm a harmless blue fuzzball, Really. Hey...I know you. You're the one I saw on the computer screen... just before it blew.

Forge: Uh, yeah. the name's Forge. So you found my lab, huh? What's with the halloween get-up?

Kurt: No costume. I'm human. But I'm a mutant. I know I look strange, but-- There are some fringe benefits. *he ports*

Forge: Trippy! I thought I was the only one. *He demonstrates his power -- the ability to change into metal*

Back to the real world. The X-Men are chasing Toad.

Scott: There he goes!

Toad: Ehh...

Scott: Unh! Take that! *he fires off a shot at Toad*

Jean: Shadowcat, down!

Kurt: Aah! Man! Somebody's really giving that gizmo of yours a workout!

Scott: Get him!

Toad: Unh. Aw...unh.

Forge: That gizmo is a transdimensional projector, my science fair project back in '78. And when I fired it up, it created this pocket dimension that I call middleverse. I got caught in the ray myself, and I've been here ever since.

Kurt: '78? But you still look...

Forge: Like I did then? I know. I can't explain it. They shut down and locked my lab after the accident. Everyone was totally freaked when I disappeared.

Kurt: So there's no way back?

Forge: Not without help from the other side. And I'm thinking that you may be able to help out on that. And, man, I'm telling you, I'm ready to go home.

[girls giggling]

Girls: You are so lucky! Oh, isn't he so cute? Totally! [giggling] I know. [laughing] *they head into the girl's locker room*

Kurt: So...just how far does this middleverse extend?

Forge: It stops just short of the girls' locker room. Isn't that a burn? Hah! Done!

Kurt: What is it?

Forge: This little baby will alter the phase-shift frequency of your teleport power.

Kurt: Uh...my english is a little limited.

Forge: You can teleport back to the real world.

Kurt: All right!

Forge: But only for a sec. These batteries don't have much power. Still, with luck, you can tell somebody how to reset the projector to get us back.

Kurt: Oh, I just hope they don't think I'm joking. I...kinda have that rep.

The X-men have Toad cornered in a tree.

Toad: Get lost! I'm warning ya! *Scott blasts him* Aah! *drops the machine*

Jean: Got it!

Toad: That's it. I'm outta here!

Evan: Why don't ya stick around for a while?

Scott: Now...tell us what you did to Kurt.

Toad: I didn't do anything!

Rogue: He didn't. I did. If y'all wanna find blue boy, you better let him go.

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

Back in the laboratory.

Rogue: This is where it happened.

Scott: If you've hurt him, I'm gonna--

Rogue: You start threatenin' me, And you're never gonna find your friend.

Jean: Whoa, take it easy, Cyclops.

Kurt: Yeah, cyclops, Just like I'm always telling you.

Kitty: Yo, guys! We've been running a diagnostic on this thing.

Evan: Can you believe it? It uses cp/m. I mean, talk about retro, man.

Kitty: It's putting out some kinda, like, steady low-power pulse wave that just seems to disappear into thin air.

Scott: And that means What exactly?

Evan: Well, we figure that the pulse has trapped the crawler in some other dimension.

Scott: Ok. So let's trash this thing.

Forge: No, no! They've Got it all wrong! If they destroy The projector, We'll be trapped here Forever!

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

Scott: Everyone stand back. I'm gonna use full power. This could get messy.

Kitty: Um, you know, I could just, like, phase through the gizmo and quietly short it out. *the guys stare* Ha. Right. Forget I mentioned it. Like, what is it with guys and explosions, anyway?

Kurt: Forge, hurry! They're gonna nuke the projector any second!

Forge: Done. I think it'll make you visible for a second. But I was so rushed putting it together--

Kurt: Just tell me what to do!

Forge: Push that button and teleport. Tell them not to destroy the machine. They have to reset it instead. But you've only got a second before the battery fries.

Kurt: Right. I'm gone.

Scott: What--

Kurt: Reset! Don't de--

Scott: You guys Saw that, right?

Rogue: He's still alive!

Kitty: What was he saying?

Evan: He said, "reset. Don't." you know, don't reset it. He wants you to blow it up. Do it!

Kitty: I swear, these guys are, like, obsessed!

Scott: Uh...it sounded more like a warning to me.

Forge: Do you think they'll get it?

Kurt: I just hope they believe it.

Evan: A warning? From the goofman himself? Naw, come on! Shred that sucker!

Forge: Man, you do have a rep.

Scott: No. Nightcrawler's a joker, but even he knows when it's time to get serious.

Kurt: Yes!

Scott: If he wanted to blow up the projector, why didn't he just say "don't reset" instead of "reset" then "don't"?

Kurt: Oh, cyc, you the man!

Scott: I think he wants us to reset this thing.

Scott & Forge: Score! Score!

Scott: Intensity settings... power regulators... uh, beam width... restart! [motor charges up] *a portal opens* come on! Teleport through!

Kurt: Hang on. Let's go!

Forge: We can't. The battery's tapped out. We need more juice to get us home.

Kurt: Look!

Forge: The portal won't last much longer. It's now or never!

Scott: What's the matter? Let's go!

Kurt: Another power source... I know! Come on!

Evan: What are they doing?

Scott: I don't know! But I hope they hustle.

Toad: There they are. And they still got that vape-ray I was telling you about.

Lance: Rogue, mystique sent us to find you. So you with us... or them?

Scott: Mystique? You working for her?

Rogue: Hey, summers, you got your friends, I got mine. But this ain't my fight. I'm outta here.

Fred: Ok. Fork it over, losers.

Lance: Or this place is gonna rock!

Scott: The projector stays with us. X-men, keep that portal open!

Lance: Your call. *he starts an earthquake*

All: Uh-h-h-h... Yaaahhh!

Forge: Groovy ride. But where's this power source?

Kurt: Check it!

Forge: Far out, man!

Kurt: Oh, I swear, that homie's lingo is so whack!

Fred: Come on! Hit me with your best shot, slim! Ha! Takes a lot more than that to stop the blob!

Scott: Thanks for the tip. Jean! *she and Scott knock him to the ground*

Lance: You and me got a date, pretty kitty. How 'bout a ride on the concrete coaster?!

Kitty: Lousy ride, loser!

Toad: Come on! Come on! What you got? You ain't got nothin'. That's right! You ain't got nothin'! Heh heh heh!

Evan: You call that nothing, You slimy superball?

Kurt: [revving engine] You sure this will work?

Forge: No.

Kurt: Wunderbar. Let's hit it!

Fred: Ok. Enough of the warm-ups. Time for some serious smashing! [car horn honks and comes through the portal]

Kurt: Ywe-hoo!

Fred: *car hits him* Whoa...good thing I'm the blob.

Toad: Yeah. You can say that again.

Lance: *seeing the machine is demolished* Aw, come on, guys. This party's over.

Forge: What the heck are these?

Kurt: Re-entry cushions. Cool, eh?

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

Outside the school at Scott's car.

Scott: Hey, you're welcome to crash with us a while, forge. Xavier's cool. You'd like him.

Forge: Thanks, but... I'd better go find my parents. I'm 20 years late for curfew! Thanks for bailing me out.

Kurt: Hey, any time.

Scott: Hop in. We'll give you a lift.

Forge: No problem. It's just a few blocks.

Scott: Ok. But if you need any help, just call.

Forge: Sure. I'll do that.

Kurt: see ya, dude.

Everyone else: Bye-bye.

Scott: Uh...you're gonna have to duck until we can get you a new holowatch.

Kurt: [gasps] so it's true... You really are ashamed of me!

Scott: Ha ha. Right, dude. Hey, listen, about what happened before... my bad.

Kurt: No...it was on me, too.

Scott: Maybe...ahh... maybe you're right. I take things too seriously. I need to lighten up some.

Jean: Oh, Scott, not you!

Kitty: Check his temperature. Mr. military's going soft!

Kurt: Yeah. And I could probably dial down the goofing a little.

Scott: Ah, welcome back! Ok, so... now what do you say we head home, gear up, and run a level-3 training sim in the danger room?

Everyone: [moaning] Give us a break.

Kurt: Oh, man! See? That's what I'm talking about. Always serious.

Scott: Psych!

Kurt: You got us! Ha ha ha! Very nice. There's hope for you yet.

Scott: Yeah, well, tell me about it on the way to Duncan Matthews' party.

Kitty: I can't go, remember? I'm, like, a freshman.

Scott: Hey, you're also one of the x-men.

Jean: Don't worry. We'll make it happen.

Kurt: Let's roll!

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