Three months later, the Phalanx member known only as Harvest attacked Angelo, and abducted him to the Phalanx base on an abandoned Naval Destroyer in the San Diego bay. There, Angelo met other young mutants, Paige Guthrie, Monet St. Croix, Clarice Ferguson, and a young man named Gregor. He arrived earlier then Paige, who woke up from her violent capture to find herself covered in Angelo's skin (maybe he was not yet in control of his power, maybe he was keeping her warm, who knows?).

Skin seemed to take it upon himself to make sure that everyone understood the gravity of the situation, something felt rather strongly by Clarice, but that didn't seem to affect the then catatonic Monet. Skin's mood did not change, until an outburst of Clarice's teleportational power revealed that the Phalanx had no control over their mutant abilities.

Before Skin could put this newfound knowledge to use, Monet came out of her stupor to attack Gregor with a device she had fashioned out of technology used by the Phalanx. In doing this she revealed Gregor to be a Phalanx spy, and provided them with an escape.

As Harvest tried to return the young mutants to their prison, Banshee, the White Queen, Sabertooth, Jubilee and Everett (Synch) Thomas came to the rescue. Harvest overwhelmed the combined might of the mutants, and was only stopped when Clarice decided to use her "blinking" teleporting power to use, and sent her, Harvest, and the destroyer to parts unknown. She was honored for her sacrifice, and the foundations for Generation X were laid.

Having escaped a harsh life on the streets, and now, the clutches of an alien race bent on destroying mutantkind, Angelo felt he had his fill of excitement, and decided to strike out on his own. Hank McCoy, the X-Man/X-Factor/Avenger/Defender/world-renowned-scientist known as Beast had his own thoughts on Angelo's fate, and decided to talk with the boy before he left. While hitchhiking his way to New York, he was offered a ride by the bouncing Beast, which he quickly turned down, but, realizing that the chances of getting another ride any time soon were slim to nil, he begrudgingly accepted the ride.

Following Angelo's wishes, the Beast refrained from giving him the pep talk he'd intended, and instead decided to sing along to the Rolling Stones and joke the trip away. This annoyed the already angry Angelo so much that he lost control of his distended skin just as he was giving Beast a piece of his mind. Shaken by this turn of events, Beast decided to let the young mutant wallow in his own misery, and handed him the keys to the car, telling him to go ahead and hide from the world if that was what he wanted. As Angelo drove off, he let the Beast's words sink in, and drove back to the Xavier estate, to speak to Charles Xavier himself. The professor promptly gave him directions to the new school, and Angelo accepted his position as Skin, in Generation X.