Rogue wakes up on the Blackbird, being attended to by Beast, who was called in to deal with her increasingly disturbing seizures, the last of which was her dinosaur dream. She quickly relates the dream to the others, and the obvious conclusion is "Savage Land." Rogue is disturbed by the fact that the dinosaurs were wearing X-Men outfits, but Sage isn't willing to pursue a psych session at the moment. She does offer the location of Rogue's dream, which is near the southern tip of South America, not far from the Savage Land itself.

Rogue sacks out after Storm orders Sage to fly to that location. Storm thinks it could be a psychic message. Bishop is more concerned that one of the villainous personas Rogue absorbed in the past could manifest itself now that her powers allow her to access any power she absorbed previously.

Inside Rogue's mind, Bishop's fears are not far from being proven correct. The avatars of villains like Magneto, Sabretooth and Apocalypse attack Rogue, constantly trying to take control of her mind and body. She knows if she lets up for even a minute, she will be lost forever. Suddenly a strong voice tells her she'll never be alone, because she's absorbed heroes as well. Captain America reaches out to Rogue, as does Destiny. Rogue's surprised that the heroes aren't angry at here, but hey, Cap says, they're the good guys, and Irene says they're all here for a purpose...

Rogue reflects on what Destiny told her, that her mutation, her warring psyche, everything has happened for a reason. Rogue has the ultimate power because she has great knowledge, and it's her destiny to take control of her fate. She doesn't get to tell the team what she saw before they land in southern Argentina. Unfortunately, there's a whole army right there in pursuit of something, and the team debates going in. Rogue, however, is sure that the pursuers are like the dinosaurs in her dream, and grabs the stick and buzzes the soldiers, popping out of the hatch to bust them up some on the way. Storm creates rain as cover, stopping the soliders and making them run for cover. Rogue flies on and lands, then cries out at what she sees.

The team can't raise Rogue on the radio, nor can sensors get a good lock, so the team exits the plane, only to find Rogue surrounded by saurian humoanoids, whom Rogue says are not looking to fight. Rogue explains that they are refugees from the U.S. Southwest who are trying to make their way to the Savage Land. They had thought they could live in peace with humanity, but man's intolerance forced them into exile. Rogue is convinced the X-Men should help these beings get to the Savage Land, stating that if they were mutants, there would be no debate, and the fact that they're NOT mutants shouldn't matter.

The X-Men load the saurians onto the Blackbird, then use their various powers to blast a cut through the cavern that leads to the Savage Land large enough for the plane to get through on Rogue's back. C'Rel, the head saurian, and her warlord are concerned about the new waterfall flowing into the cavern. Beast reassures them, as Storm and Thunderbird III check it out. Neal is worried because the water is salty, meaning it comes from the ocean above, which could flood the whole cavern with ease. Little do they know they are being watched from above, as well as from a long distance away by the mutate known as Brainchild, who promises to make things "interesting" for the X-Men.

Meanwhile, as Storm and Neal head back to the Blackbird, one of the saurian kids strays too close to the edge of the plane and falls off. A female grabs him and goes over as well, but Beast manages to swing around on a line and catch them both. He's surprised that the female almost bit him as they returned. The saurian warlord notes that the female's family was killed by humans, so it's no wonder she doesn't trust any of them. C'Rel explains that her father Arachty'r tried to live in peace with humans, and Khadar, the warlord, notes that it got him killed, and that the X-Men's similar dream doesn't seem to have gotten them anywhere either.

C'Rel and Khadar disagree a little. C'Rel is dedicated to peace, to using intelligence and reason to overcome baser instincts, but Khadar believes the humans will always fear and hate them, and the saurians will have to fight to survive. Neal overhears the conversation and tends to agree with Khadar. People will never stop being afraid of mutants or other alien cultures because they feel powerless before them. He realizes he can't go back to his old life anymore, and is bound to Xavier's dream, because it's the only way to survive. However, he still feels that Storm is a bit of a dreamer, and she agrees, as they help the saurians get home.

Meanwhile, Brainchild has had enough, and tells his hidden agent to self-destruct, which it does, causing the ocean to pour through into the cavern!

Review: A good start, with some promising developments. I'm not going to get into it too much, because I want to see the direction the plot takes. So here are just some quick comments:

Sharpe's art is really nice. A good match to Sal's character style, though the no-ink art that Sal is currently using make it very different visually. Still, Sharpe picks up the X-Treme "theme" and runs with it pretty well.

The conflict in Rogue's head is intriguing. I hope we get to see more of it. It would be nice to see her start to manifest powers on purpose, or use the knowledge of the different people she has inside her together to achieve something no one else could. The real question is, though, how much is her own psyche telling her, and how much is really coming from these "disembodied" versions of other people? Couldn't she just be a schizo?

The saurians look OK, but something tells me that's not the whole story. Brainchild's involvement is a clear indicator of that, too. I don't trust them too much yet. I'm also not sure how they relate to the dinosaur dream . It's not so simple. The fact that the dinosaurs wore X-Men uniforms bothers me too.

Now, I understand that Beast was part of the original team, but he left, so why bring him back? Can they really trust him to keep their activites secret from Xavier? What was the whole point of "cutting all ties" if they have members shuttling back and forth? It's screwy.

All in all, a decent start out of the gate. Now it's up to Claremont to deliver, and provide a solid enough story to justify taking a whole team out of their own book and giving them an LS. Given his track record with XXM so far, he's got a good shot at it.