"Hi, Alex here. You thought the first two
rounds of battles at New Hampshire's own hell mouth were pretty bad?
Well, wait until round three. Tina, Del, my friend Mik, and I decide to
check everything out one night and walk right into another battle. On
top of there only being four of us, Mik can't use any magic, even
though he's got a mind for mathematics. There's going to be some sort
of a team up between him and I that'll hopefully seal the hell mouth
for good... or at least yank some teeth. Stay tuned for round three or
we'll really cause some trouble."
Slayers fantasy presents:
Gables Ghost Battles Round 3
<music: 'Iczelion techno theme'>
On a rather typical summer night when the moon was
full and the air was calm, four college age people walked across
parking lot A near the local state university. Three males of varying
heights, ages, and hair color and hair length composed the majority of
the group, with a dark haired woman of the hefty variety being the solo
female. All four were more or less clad in typical college type
clothing, comprised of jeans, T-shirts, boots or sneakers, and various
jewelry.
"Well, we're here," Alexander West proclaimed to an
empty parking lot.
"And it looks like nobody else is here to greet us,"
Donat Fevre, aka Delwynndwn Siele, commented as he surveyed the empty
parking lot. "Only car in the entire lot is ours."
"Guess the ghosties scared everybody off," Tina
Johnson commented, grinning from ear to ear. "Erin's gonna slay us for
not including her in this escapade."
"So let her," Alex replied, brushing his fingers
through his summer length hair, "I really could care less if she, D,
RC, Sarah, Cassi, or Darren are here to accompany us."
"You mean like one of our first trips here?" Donat
asked, elbowing Alex in the ribs.
"Don't remind me of that," Alex sighed, rubbing his
temples, "I just want to think of that as a nightmare."
"I'm lost," Mik San Pedro said, being a newcomer to
the group, "What exactly happened on one of the first occasions you
came here?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all," Tina said, "I fell
down and they had to carry me out. That's all that happened."
She smiled and laughed, which meant she was
obviously telling a lie in Mik's book. However, since none of them
brought up the subject again, he decided that the point was now moot
and further interrogation wouldn't get any more answers.
"So what exactly are we doing here again?" he asked,
changing the subject to something current.
"We're here to find out why the queen of death here
wants to go playing in the woods by herself," Alex said, giving Tina a
sidelong glare.
"I don't know why anybody in their right mind would
want to play in these woods on their own in the dark," Mik commented as
they reached the end of the main parking lot and the driveway to the
Gable's apartments and the parking lot beyond. "Heck, I don't even know
why I'm here to begin with."
"You agreed to come along for at least one of our
little ghost hunting expeditions," Alex said, clutching Mik's arm.
"Get a room you two," Donat sighed.
"We're not even close to dating," Mik protested,
"Alex-kun, tell him."
"He's right, we're not dating," Alex said, smiling
evilly at Donat, "we're just fuck buddies."
"Yeah, we're.... WHAT?!"
Alex released Mik's arm and took off running,
laughing like a loon as the other three chased behind him.
A short time later they reached the upper parking
lot for the Gables apartments. Darkened train tracks that were
temporarily out of service bordered the parking lot on one edge, with
woods and a field surrounded by woods covering two other edges, with
the apartments and driveway bordered the edge they had just arrived
from. Alex immediately began to walk towards the field, unclipping a
flashlight from his belt as he neared the rocky border between parking
lot and field.
"Alex, will you hold up?" Donat asked, unclipping
his own flashlight. "What's the rush?"
"I'm curious to find out what is out there," Alex
replied, smirking from ear to ear.
'You know we
already defeated what was out there.... twice,' Donat said
telepathically.
'Yeah, but if the
queen can feel something is out there, then there must be something
that we missed,' Alex replied, hopping over the rocks into the
thigh high grass. "Yuck... mega wet grass."
"You were expecting them to keep it cut over summer
vacation?" Tina asked, hopping down next to Alex. "I think we should
have brought our own cutting tools."
"You could just ask," Donat said, clasping his right
hand shut.
'Not in front of
the norm,' Alex and Tina berated him mentally, causing Donat to
wince from the volume in his head.
"Sorry," Alex apologized as Del massaged his
temples, "forgot that I don't have to yell like that."
"What are you guys talking about?" Mik asked as he
hopped down to join the other three.
"Nothing," all three said, scratching the backs of
their heads.
"Mmmhmmm," Mik said, a sweat drop forming on the
side of his head.
"Any who, I'm starting to sense something in the
woods," Tina said, stepping towards the thick wooded area in front of
them.
"The same place where we encountered those things...
that time," Alex said, adopting a bit of a stoner / valley guy accent.
"Just walk," Donat said, pushing Alex forward. "If
we find something, we take care of it. Same as always."
Mik followed behind the three who seemed to know
what they were doing, an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach growing
with every step he took. He stopped at the very edge of the woods,
where a stone path began, and looked at the three who were making their
ways into the dark, black forest.
"Guys, I hate to say this, but I'm getting a really
bad feeling," he stated, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
"We get the same feeling all the time," Alex
chuckled, "it's called nerves. Any time we go in here at night my
stomach feels like it's gonna do belly flops."
"I know what nerves feel like, Alex-kun," Mik said
haughtily, "and this is far beyond nerves. There's a definite aura to
this place. A dark aura at that. And it's making me wonder why...."
Something hissed through the air above them, and
Alex perked his ears up as every sound in the area died away, from the
loudest bird to the quietest cricket. "It's show time," he said under
his breath, turning away from Mik to plunge deeper into the darkness.
"Something must have spooked the feline," Tina said,
also sensing a stronger force deeper in the woods. "Donat, why don't
you try to catch up to him before he gets into trouble. I'll catch up
with Mik in a few minutes."
"Right," Donat said, plunging down the path after
Alex.
Once Donat's flashlight had melted into the
darkness, Tina turned and looked up at Mik. "You can sense that
terrible force, can't you?"
"Huh?" Mik asked, arching an eyebrow. "I don't know
what you're talking about."
"Yes you do," Tina said, batting her eyes, "I know
why you stopped, and it's not because of how rickety this path looks.
It's because you can feel the spirits all around us. At least the
really strong ones. Am I right?"
Both of Mik's eyebrows were now raised, and he
slowly nodded an affirmative response. "Good," Tina said, "now that
we're on the same page, you don't need to worry. All three of us are
trained professionals. We know what we're doing and we won't let
anything bad happen to you. Do you trust me?"
"I guess I have to," Mik said as he began to descend
down the path to where Tina was standing. "So you and Alex-kun and
Donat-kun have been here often?"
"More times than I care to recall," Tina sighed,
stepping deeper into the woods. "You get used to the pathways and the
all encompassing darkness and the woods all around you after visiting a
few times. Just make sure you memorize the way that you came so that if
you have to make a hasty exit you don't trip and hurt yourself."
"Sound words of advice," Mik said, increasing his
pace a little, "however, I can't help but feel just a little worried.
Didn't Alex-kun seem a little, I don't know, excited about being here."
"He gets that way whenever there's something strong
to be discovered here," Tina sighed.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Something about wanting to be the strongest
in the world or some junk like that. Typical heroic macho stuff."
A sweat drop formed on the side of Mik's head.
"Alex-kun... macho?"
"As ridiculous as that sounds, it could be true."
Something screamed a short distance from them, and
both increased their pace to find out what was going on. They passed
through a small stream and over a muddy trail before reaching Donat,
who had since undergone a transformation from human to elf, a katana in
one hand with another blade strapped to his hip. His clothes had
changed from sweater and jeans to white ninja gear trimmed with black
and gold. The air around him hummed with electricity as a charge was
fed into the blade in his hand, the metal glowing enough to illuminate
the area around them.
"Donat-kun?" Mik asked, stopping to stare a little.
"What's going on?"
"Numbass found what everyone must have been
feeling," Donat sighed, "and you can call me Delwynndwn when I'm in
this form. Or Del. Your pick."
"Where the hell is Alex?" Tina asked, the band
around her right wrist glowing seconds before her clothes underwent a
transformation from sweater and pants to French Maid meets dominatrix.
Alex skidded to a stop in a crouch a short distance
from them, his clothes having changed to cargo pants, combat boots,
armor, and mage's cape, a shimmering no-datchi in hand. "I'm right
here," he announced, the blade in his hand increasing its glow to
illuminate multiple sets of glowing red eyes in front of them. "We have
a giga sized problem on our hands, and this is far stronger than that
Mage Master we fought a couple years back."
"And what sort of trouble are we talking about?" Mik
asked, squinting to see the glowing red eyes. "Oh... never mind."
"Feel the darkness," a cold female voice hissed, a
thick fog surrounding them, blotting out the light from Del's katana
and Alex's sword. "Feel it envelope you. Feel it chill you to the
bones. Feel the fear grow within you, for soon you will be mine."
"This is bad," Del said, backing up, drawing his
secondary sword to use as a shield in case something attacked.
"Tell me something we don't already know," Alex
said, also backing closer to the other three, "that's the first time
anything has been able to block the light from my blade. Heck, it
solidified the light with that fog."
"And it absorbed the light from my blade," Del said,
bumping backs with Tina. "And that was after the flashlights went out."
"Which makes it all the worse," Tina said,
shivering, "without light the spirits are getting closer, and they're
definitely stronger than they used to be."
The four stood huddled in the center of a small
clearing, standing back to back to cover their rears. Del's katanas
flashed in what little moonlight was able to flicker through the clouds
above. Tina and Alex glanced over their shoulders every few seconds,
trying to anticipate where their unseen attacker would come from next.
Mik was horrified by what he was feeling, since it was malevolent
beyond anything he'd ever sensed before.
"Where the hell is she coming from?!" Alex asked,
looking up and praying that the moon would come back out.
"Alex-kun, you all have some serious explaining to
do," Mik said, looking at the three who were all clad in their battle
garb.
"Later dude," Del said, moonlight flashing off of
his katana as the clouds above parted just a little bit. Something
above them screamed, and all four looked up to see a figure, enshrouded
in black robes and wearing a mask, through which they could see eyes
filled with hate, hovering above them.
"She hates light," Tina said, realizing their
enemy's weakness while simultaneously conjuring the energy needed for a
light spell. "She hates the light."
"Then light is what she's gonna get," Alex said,
crossing his arms in front of his face while incanting a spell under
his breath.
Something cold brushed against Alex's shoulder, and
Del's screams of terror filled the air. This snapped Alex's attention
away from his spell, and he looked up to see the elven warrior
struggling against the ghastly figure. Tina was startled as well, a
feeble globe of light forming above her head. The figure screamed as
the feeble light spell illuminated her, and she dropped Del, who curled
up on the ground and twitched.
"We need to get out of here," Mik said, grabbing
Alex's hand. Something flashed through Alex's mind from this contact,
and he looked over at his friend, who had a look of shock on his face.
"Later," Alex said, closing his eyes to recall what
had flashed through his mind. "Mik, you understand high level
mathematics, don't you?"
Mik gave Alex a look that more or less said, 'what
does this have to do with our current situation?' He simply responded
with a curt nod and a, "Yeah."
"Mathematics and magic go hand in hand," Alex said,
grabbing Mik's hand again. "And if you understand one, you can work
well with the other. All you need is a bigger piece of the power."
"But..." Mik protested.
"Just close your eyes and feed me something," Alex
sighed, concentrating on the task at hand. "I'll send you the
composition of a light spell, and you feed me something a bit stronger."
A flash of mathematical equations ran through Mik's
mind, and he pondered these for a few seconds before sending back
something with the properties of a light spell, only on a mega
magnified level.
"This is no time to be holding hands," Tina said,
favoring the other two with a death glare.
"Make the cold... go away," Del whimpered, curling
up tighter. "Death.... bloody death..."
Something above them screamed, and Alex's eyes
snapped open. He held up his free hand, a single globe of pure,
iridescent light forming in his palm. "She hates light, she gets light,
and this light is gonna fucking hurt. Heaven's Holy Light!"
A string of runes poured from the globe, splitting
off into several strings that wrapped around the foursome in a
protective manner. The globe floated to a height of about ten feet
where it hovered, pulsing every few seconds to renew the connection to
the runic strands. Tina looked at the spell, then at Mik and Alex, then
at the spell again, before she finally said, "Where... the fuck... did
that come from?!"
"Person with a strong background in math," Alex
said, glancing around the illuminated perimeter.
Mik and Tina looked at each other, then at the mage,
before both said, "What the hell?!"
Alex simply sighed and scratched the back of his
head. "I'll explain the basics. Magical spells generally have some math
involved. A basic light spell may be simple algebra, but for something
like the Giga Slave or Terra Nova one needs something a little
stronger."
"But didn't you almost flunk some of your math in
high school?" Del asked, slowly rising to his feet. Alex simply sighed
and rolled his eyes.
"My math skills have nothing to do with our current
situation. What I'm saying is that a mathematical equation....
generally algebraic in nature, though I wouldn't be surprised if they
threw in quantum mechanics for the fuck of it.... is the basis of any
and all magic spells. Those who have the gift of magic, who can cast,
are hardwired to know the math involved, even though they may have
received low marks in mathematics courses."
Something screamed from the perimeter and flung
itself part way into the light, shrieking as it was burned by the
purity of the magic involved and flying back into the blackness.
Alex took a deep breath before kicking his explanation into hyper drive.
"Mik knows physics and other high level math, so
he's got the mind for the use of magic, but doesn't possess the ability
to cast anything. However, I think we can merge our minds... or we have
some sort of a link... so that I can feed him a lower level spell and
he can upload to me a strengthened and refined version of said spell."
"Something strong enough to seal this fucking hell
mouth?" Del asked, rubbing his head while narrowing his eyes at
whatever was flying around outside their light circle.
"Something strong enough to seal this hell mouth,"
Alex replied, giving Mik a smirk. "However, we'd need time to formulate
the spell."
"Alex-kun, you confuse me," Mik sighed, bowing his
head. He looked up at Alex a moment later and smiled. "However, if it
will help in some way, I'm all yours."
Tina arched an eyebrow and Del sighed and smacked
his forehead. "You guys had better not start making out or anything,"
the elf said, narrowing his eyes at the the mage and the mathematician.
"Remind me to fry your ass later," Alex hissed,
narrowing his eyes.
"I'll take precious time away from the task at hand
to write myself a sticky note to have you slay me later," Del grumbled
sarcastically. "Do you even realize just how strong this force of evil
is?! It felt like she was trying to rip my soul out while I was still
attached to it. She absorbed all the heat from my body. Do you have any
idea what that feels like?!"
"Like being a flash frozen microwave dinner," Alex
replied with a smirk.
"Why, I oughta..."
"You oughta do what?"
"Lightning Dart!"
A small lightning bolt struck Alex in the rear,
causing him to jump a foot or so into the air. He turned his head and
glared at Del while rubbing where he had been zapped. "Been playing
with static electricity again?"
"Close. Been trying to see just how concentrated I
can get a blast to go."
"Play catch up later," Tina sighed, grabbing both by
the shoulders to steer them forward. The globe of light above them
bobbed as they walked, sending a warning to anything and everything
that would or could pose a threat to their cause. Mik walked behind
them, wondering what he had done in a past life to get caught up in
such a strange mess as this.
"We need some data on what we're fighting," Tina
said as she pushed the elf and mage forward. "Sweetie, why not phone
home and see if you can get anything on that screaming banshee thing."
"One step ahead of ya queenie," Alex said, pulling
out something roughly the size and shape of a gameboy advance SP. "I
took the precaution of setting my terminal to scan anything and
everything in the area."
"And what did it come up with?" Del asked as Alex
flipped the screen open.
"Well, what it came up with was not good," Alex
said, his mood going from smiley to serious in a matter of seconds.
"That is one pissed off spirit we're dealing with. Her name's Matilda,
and she was cast out of a place called Darkness Falls some time ago."
"And she wound up here in this hell mouth," Tina
said, shivering. "Bloody wonderful for us."
"Oh, it gets better," Alex sighed, "she chases down
and kills anybody who has seen her."
"Which means our lives are now meaningless," Del
sighed, "and I'm still a V-word."
"Oh, cheer up Del-kun," Alex smirked, "you and I
could always have a toss between the sheets before..."
Del grumbled something under his breath before a
lightning bolt struck Alex, roasting the mage to a cinder in a matter
of seconds. "Pervert," the elf muttered under his breath as Mik and
Tina goggle eyed at what had just transpired.
"Well worth it, "Alex coughed, exhaling a long trail
of smoke. "As I was saying, Matilda is quite powerful, or she was, and
it appears that exposure to the hell mouth has made her a fuck load
stronger."
"To the point of being able to summon a horde of
malicious spirits to make our lives miserable," Tina said, "three mages
and one norm versus an army of evil spirits. Who has money bet on us
surviving."
"Why are you calling me a norm?" Mik asked, stopping
in his tracks.
"Because you don't have any magical abilities to
speak of," Del said, "no offense."
"You could be considered a muggle," Alex added,
which led to a groan from Mik and a backhanded slap from Tina and Del.
"Sorry. Couldn't resist."
"The question is are we getting any closer to this
hell mouth?" Mik asked, pushing past Del and Alex to walk off into the
darkness, where a wall of glowing red eyes suddenly appeared. "Um...
never mind."
Spirits began whistling and howling through the air
around them, some daring enough to actually fly through the glowing
globe of holy light above them, only to be reduced to nothing
afterwards. With every blow the glow diminished, leaving the four to
press close together while Alex worked to strengthen their light spell.
"I think our question has been answered," Del said,
throwing lightning bolts out into the darkness. "I can see quite a
large gaping hole where the Mage Master's pond was the first time we
were here, and there are spirits flowing through the hole like water.
"Think we stand a chance as is?" Alex asked, pouring
as much power into the light spell to keep them safe without
overdrawing his reserves.
"I think we're gonna need the charge armor to finish
this off," Tina said, pulling out her cell phone to access the main
system at the Slayers HQ.
"Even that fancy armor won't protect you for long,"
Matilda's icy cold voice said as she whisked down to eye level, her
eyes glowing through her mask. "I may not be able to touch you now, but
once my spirits break that light spell, your souls are mine."
The spirits around them picked up their pace of
attack, waves of them crashing through the holy globe above their
heads. In a matter of seconds the glow was dimmed to the level of a
night light before it popped and fizzled out. Alex looked out at the
glowing red eyes as Del's swords began to glow again.
"Main computer has been reached," Tina announced as
Del's and Alex's wristbands began to charge up for transformation.
"Set for charge," Alex said, smiling, energy
crackling from his wristband.
"Bring on the armor," Del said, bowing his head
while stabbing his katana blades into the ground to provide
illumination.
"Go for a level two charge," Tina said, casting a
protective dome around them to stave off the attacks of Matilda, as
well as the other nasty spirits that were released when the hell mouth
yawned.
"Level.... two?" Del asked, glancing over at Alex,
who smirked a little.
"You weren't there when I executed a perfect level
two charge," Alex said, "it means that you download somebody else's
armor and see if it'll power up better for you than them."
"Then by all means download the storm armor for me,"
the elf said, giving a fanged grin as he began the motions to activate
the charge armor. Tina punched in a series of keys on her cell phone
and nodded at the two. Del's smile increased in size as he said,
"Charging...."
"Charging..." Alex called, executing similar motions
to power up his armor. His wristband beeped and glowed golden as a
different type of armor was downloaded to the charge program.
"UP!" both cried, finishing their motions.
Bubbles of energy formed around each of them, their
clothes melting away as the charge armor activated. Black armor with
blue archaic runes melted out of the air around Del, quickly merging
with his body. A circle of lightning formed around his head and spanned
down his body, forming a black tunic, black pants, and tight black
ninja style boots. A black headband with archaic blue runes formed
around his forehead as his eyes snapped open. He held his hands out ot
the sides, a set of katanas forming in his hands.
Alex's eyes widened in shock as jet black armor
components melted in around his wrists, shoulders, chest, hips, calves,
shins, and around his head. Instead of icy cold, the armor felt warm,
almost like it was embracing him. A circle of golden light formed
around each wrist, these growing in size as they spanned up his arms,
forming a black turtleneck, black tunic, black jeans, and black combat
boots. He held his right hand above his head, a saber of black with
gold inlay and gold trim melting out of the air.
"Spike," he breathed as the energy bubbles
surrounding he and Del vanished, setting them on the ground, "this....
this is his charge armor."
'Consider this
my.... my parting gift to you mate,' Spike's voice echoed in his
mind, 'You have wonderful friends
Alex.... they care for you, just like I do. So, for my final gift to
you, I give you the black nova armor, which I... we.... gained from Glory.'
Alex flashed back to the battle that almost ended
the lives of him and several of his friends. Thanks to the combined
efforts of himself and Del, they had managed to free Glory's armor and
transfer it to Spike. When Spike had used it for the first time, he had
been there, but hadn't understood half of the powers locked within.
This armor was a part of the vampire, or had been, and felt like a
gentle embrace from an old friend who was now gone.
"Spike," he said, a tear sliding down his cheek,
"Thank you."
'No problem mate.
Now seal this hell mouth before it turns into a repeat of Sunnydale!'
<music: 'Bring me to Life' - Evanesence>
"It's time to start this party!" Del said,
leaping into the air, his katanas spinning around his fingers, moving
so fast that they appeared to be blades. "Lightning Blade!"
He hurled his swords at the mass of dark spirits
that were escaping from the hell mouth, the blades glowing as lightning
struck them and gave them a holy charge. They made two complete passes
through the mass of spirits before returning to Del's hand, and as he
caught them the spirits appeared to melt into nothingness.
"Magnaaaaaaaaa...." Alex cried, crossing his arms in
front of his chest, the armor on his wrists spreading back to reveal
energy collection ports. These glowed as he summoned his rage and anger
forth to become useful energy. The saber in his hand, as well as his
gloves, took on a reddish golden glow before he stared into the
shrieking mass of darkness. "CLAW!" he shouted, spreading his arms
apart and slashing with his saber, blades of energy streaking through
the night sky, tearing into the mass and diminishing their number.
"Bonding Light!" Tina cried, flailing her whip about
before cracking it at their enemy. Rays of purifying light shot from
the strike point, burning through a multitude of evil spirits. She
turned around and cracked her whip again, striking a group that were
sneaking up from behind.
"This makes no sense," Mik said, dropping to a
crouch behind Tina and praying that his life wouldn't end in a manner
that confused him. "There are evil spirits.... very evil spirits... and
I can... I can see them. I can feel them. I can even smell them."
"Whatever you have for powers are unlocking
themselves," Tina said over her shoulder, reinforcing her defensive
shield with one hand while trying to strike with the other. "Sheizz...
this is a no go. Hey feline, any chance you can hit these guys with
some all encompassing attack like when you fought that Omega phantom?"
"New armor with unknown powers locked inside," Alex
replied, crossing his arms over his head, the saber of darkness rising
from his back into his hand. He spun this around before diving at
the ground and plunging the blade in. "Pyro.... DRAAAAAAAGONS!"
Eight rays of light shot out from the strike point,
splitting the field into pie wedges. The lights reared up into the sky,
taking on the forms of massive fiery dragons, which roared loud enough
to shake the woods around them. The dragons all reared back before
breathing flame upon the angry spiritual masses that surrounded them.
When the attack ceased Alex blinked and whistled in awe, since there
appeared to be twice as many spirits as before the attack.
"This might take a while," he said, descending to
the ground. "Yo elf, how's things looking from up there?"
"They're not going to go down any time soon!" Del
called, diving into the mass of spirits with his blades whirling. He
fell back a moment later, black miasma dripping from the spikes on his
elbows. "Damn... they're persistent fuckers."
"We don't have Erin or RC or D or Arianna's powers
to fall back on this time," Tina sighed, "Great. This is the one time I
actually *want* Erin here with us."
"So this means what?" Mik asked, taking off his
glasses and slipping them into his collar.
Alex giggled nervously and scratched the back of his
head, "This more or less means that unless there's some great magical
breakthrough within the next two minutes or so we're as good as dead."
Mik sighed and pressed his temples to his forehead.
"So, you're telling me that I followed you here Alex-kun, so that you
could get us slaughtered?!"
Alex winced, since it was very apparent that Mik was
growing increasingly angry with him. Mik looked up at Alex, hate
flashing in his eyes. "We're going to die a horribly painful death in a
place I should never have come to except for somebody who I thought was
a friend decided to drag me here! Gods Alex, I should never have
listened to you!"
"Dude, that's harsh," Del said when he saw Alex's
shoulders slump.
"It's the fucking truth," Mik hissed, "and it's
about time somebody told him that playing the hero all the fucking time
isn't going to get him anything except killed."
Alex looked at the ground, tears rising up in the
corners of his eyes. "You... you don't know what it was like to watch
someone you loved begin to combust," he choked, "you have no idea how
much I wished that I could have saved him... saved all of them. I
wanted to be the hero who filled the prophecy and sealed the hell
mouth."
He looked up at Mik, tears streaming down his face.
He then looked from Mik to Del, then to Tina, then back to Mik. "I
watched Spike die..... well, start to burn. I saw how Buffy looked at
him, how he looked at the others who ran past him. How he looked at me,
and the sadness in his eyes that he wouldn't be around to see any more
of me...."
The spiritual army continued to close in around them
as Del worked with Tina to expand their barrier and form some sort of
lifeboat in a sea of black. "Yes, it's selfish," Alex continued, tears
still streaming down his face, "but I wish that could have been me. At
least I can be revived by conventional means.... well, magical means.
But I don't know how to revive a vampire... or if they can be revived.
I didn't see much of Spike after he started to burn, since my loving
cousin smacked me upside the head with her slayer strength and knocked
me unconscious."
The wave of blackness washed up against the barrier
at that moment, shaking both of the shield casters to their knees.
"Right now I miss Spike more than anything, since he is the second
person I've lost this year who can't be brought back from the great
beyond. If that makes me a little depressed and irritable, so be it.
But right now I needed a diversion and a reason for life, and my reason
was to shut this hell mouth."
The blackness began to swallow up the barrier, to
cover it over, and blot out its light in the inky miasma.
"I don't care if you love me or hate me," Alex
sobbed, turning away from Mik to face the inky darkness beyond the
barrier, "but right now we're in for the fight of our lives. This is
something way more powerful than the mage master we fought here a
couple of years back. This is beyond the phantom menace a bunch of us
faced a couple of summers ago. This is beyond comprehension even to
myself, who fought an army of ubervamps along side the slayer herself."
"Guys, we're about five seconds from passing out,"
Tina said through gritted teeth. "Or at least I am... don't know about
the elf."
"I have a little longer, but this armor is about to
go nova on me," Del said, reaching for his wristband, "I should have
stuck with my original charge armor."
Mik looked at Tina, then at Del, and finally at
Alex, whose back was still turned from him. He started to say
something, thought about it, and closed his mouth before reaching out
and setting his hand on Alex's shoulder. Alex turned his head a little
to see Mik's smiling face.
"Alex-kun, let's defeat them together," Mik said,
smiling even wider.
<music: Pink Rose (long mix) - Pop N
Music>
Light began to flow from Alex's armor, bathing
himself and Mik in golden radiance. At that same moment Del's armor
began to glow, adding to the brilliant golden glow that was filling the
bubble. Del and Tina rose to their feet, feeling quite refreshed and
recharged and ready to kick some serious spiritual butt. The glow
filled the dome, expanding the barrier's dimensions to the degree that
it punched a hole through the sea of darkness.
"A golden boost without the incantation," Alex
gasped, a new power flowing through him, burning like a million rays of
sunlight. "That's something to add to the wow scale."
"If you guys just had sex without us knowing it I
swear..." Tina began to say, also feeling the incredible warmth of the
power, "never mind."
"Something has been awakened and brought to life,"
Del said, rising off of the ground, the cannon ports on his shoulders
rising back and locking into position. "Yeah baby, this is the type of
power surge we can use!"
Globes of lightning formed in the cannon ports,
glowing to exponential proportions before Del crossed his arms in front
of his chest and curled up into a ball. "Terra..... SLAYER!" he cried,
flinging his body rigid, his arms down to his sides as the accumulated
electricity burst forth, spiraling off into the blackness, where it
exploded in a brilliant flash of light that broke another hole into
reality.
"From alpha to omega, every beginning must have an
end," Tina chanted under her breath, performing arcane motions with her
right hand while her left was held in a prayer fashion, "I call upon
the spirits of time and space to come to our aid and help us to defeat
this darkness which has presented itself. Let the hell mouth that has
opened be sealed once again, and peace return to this part of the
world...."
"I pledge my life so that this miracle may be called
into existence," Mik chanted, his head bowed, "it is time for what has
begun to come to an end."
"I, a slayer and priest of chaos, shall pledge my
very life in order to prevent the destruction of our world," Alex
added, his armor glowing as the cannon ports on the shoulders opened.
He held the saber above his head, willing it to change form, grateful
when it heard his prayer and became his no-datchi. The chaos emeralds
phased into existence around them, widening their barrier and
increasing its power.
"Let the light be unleashed unto the darkness so
that we may be delivered from the shadows," Del chanted, his armor
glowing as well.
"May the holy angel be called forth to hear our
prayer and grant us our wish," all four chanted in unison, their
barrier widening, any spirit it touched melting away into nothingness.
Del and Alex shot into the air, their armors glowing, their paths
intertwining as they ascended.
"Chaotic...." Alex cried as he began a dive towards
what he figured to be the center of the dark mass.
"Lightning...." Del cried, following behind Alex,
his right fist reared back, a globe of lightning forming around it.
"VORTEX!" both cried as Alex pierced the darkness
with his sword, the chaos emerald in the end glowing fiery red as his
limit unlocked. Del smashed his fist into the emerald, infusing it with
the purity of his lightning power. Both fell back as the chaos emeralds
phased out from around their shield and reappeared in the air around
the sword.
"Magna Barrier!" Mik and Tina cried, both swishing
their arms to the sky, their barrier glowing a brilliant white as holy
runes formed around their feet.
The chaos emeralds around the sword glowed their
respective colors, small waves of elemental energy filling the air
around them as they linked together to form a goddess circle in the
air. At the center of the circle a vortex formed, sucking evil spirits
into a holy dimension and either purifying them or eradicating them
with holy light. The suction from the vortex increased exponentially in
the seconds following the invocation of the combined attack, tearing
open the ground while inhaling the army of darkness.
Somewhere above them Matilda screamed, and all four
looked up to see the former tooth fairy diving at them. As though all
four voices were attached to one mind they screamed, "Bonding Light!",
rays of holy energy wrapping around Matilda's arms and body, paralyzing
her while the vortex ran its course.
"I'll.... get.... even...." Matilda cried as she was
sucked into the chaotic vortex.
"The probability of that happening is in the low ten
thousandths of a percent," Mik said, smirking a little as trees and
bushes and starlight began to reappear at the edges of the darkness.
"Keep it up," Tina called to Del and Alex, both of
whom were beginning to show the strain of maintaining their limit
skills.
"Let's wrap it up," Alex said, the cannons on his
shoulders rising back once again, "What am I gonna do if I can't get
through counting all these freckles in my life...."
"Alex, you're horrible," Del chuckled, the cannon
ports on his shoulders also rising back, "how can you be singing DDE
songs at a time like this?"
"It's very easy," Alex chuckled back, "I just think
a happy thought and use that to give me the strength I need."
A couple of particularly large spirits came
screaming at the duo, and both closed their eyes, their cannons glowing
as energy accumulated for the ultimate attack.
"BAROVIA CANNON!"
"TERRA SLAYER!"
Four beams of raw energy, two lightning and two
astral, intertwined as they reduced the attacking spirits to nothing
before striking the chaos emeralds. As they struck the first chaos
emerald they were split and redirected through the other six, granting
the vortex more power than it originally possessed. Within a matter of
seconds the remainder of the dark army was wiped out of existence,
leaving the landscape in rather rough shape.
An earthquake shook the woods around them as Tina
and Mik dropped their barrier to haul the other two away from the
vortex that had apparently gone out of control.
"It's going to suck everything in," Tina said when
she saw large trees uproot themselves to be drawn into the vortex.
"The emeralds must have gained too much power from
that attack," Alex said, a sweat drop forming on his head. "What a way
to die... taken out by my own limit skill."
"Emerald cohesion estimated at fifty four percent
and falling," Mik said, staring at the glowing emeralds. "If one of
them goes, they're all going to go."
"I don't know which is going to be worse," Del said,
struggling to his feet, "the thought of being sucked into a closing
hell mouth, or the thought of the universe ending when seven chaos
emeralds explode."
"If I lose my emeralds then we're all screwed," Alex
said, diving for his sword. "I have to end my limit skill before it's
too late!"
The next few seconds for all of them seemed like
slow motion. Alex's armor disintegrated, his warrior armor forming in
its place. At that same moment Del's charge armor vanished, his
original battle clothes reappearing as he sagged to his knees. Tina and
Mik looked at each other, then at Alex with shocked looks on their
faces as the warrior of death and rebirth snagged his nodatchi
and dragged it out of alignment of the other six emeralds. All four
then stared in shock and horror as the remaining emeralds destabilized,
the vortex rupturing, holy light spewing forth and blotting out
everything in one blinding wave.
After what seemed like an eternity passed, the light
slowly died away, giving rise to a barren landscape where a woodland
had once thrived. What had once been hills and valleys was now one
gargantuan crater, with three bodies thrown across the upper rim and
one body down in the center of the bowl.
"Hell mouth status...." Del moaned as he sat up and
rubbed his head. He took one look at the crater and face faulted. "We
succeeded," he gasped. "We won!"
"We did?" Tina asked, looking up while pulling her
skirt down in the back. When she saw the crater she smirked. "Well look
at that, the feline pulled it off."
"Remind me to pack some sort of armor if we ever do
this again," Mik said, rubbing a rather large bump on his head. "I
don't think I can handle being damaged like this again."
"Isn't anybody gonna ask me how I'm doing?" Alex's
voice echoed as he looked up from the center of the bowl.
All three shouted down, "NO!" and burst into loud
laughter.
Alex sighed and scratched his head. "You guys are
bad," he said to nobody in particular before looking back up at the
crater's rim. He pictured himself slipping through time and space,
between time and space, and felt the biting cold of that place. While
he had hoped and intended to arrive with his friends, he wound up
overshooting his intended target and reappeared in a small pond that
had survived the destruction. "What the hell?"
"Alex-kun?" Mik asked, arching an eyebrow at the now
soaking wet mage.
"What's up with your teleport dude?" Del asked,
giving Alex a hand out of the pond.
"I... I don't know," Alex said, a shocked look on
his face. "I wanted to appear next to you guys, and I wound up.... in
this pond."
"We'll figure this out soon," Tina said, looking
towards the road, where flashing lights were visible, "right now we
need to get out of here before the cops arrive."
"And now what do we do?" Mik asked, looking at the
other three.
"We simply walk out under their noses," Tina
smirked, taking a crystal ball from inside her cloak. "Cloak sphere."
The four of them disappeared into the shadows,
slipping away from the questioning eyes of townspeople and police
officers before the spell wore off and they reappeared safely in the
shadows near the parking lot where Tina had left her car.
"Next stop... home," Tina yawned as she started the
car. Three snores answered her statement. "Yup," she sighed, putting
the car into gear, "home, sleep, and tomorrow we'll figure something
out."
"Going..... home," Alex muttered in his sleep,
vanishing out of the car to reappear on the roof.
Tina looked at the arms that flopped down her
windshield and sighed. "And we'll also figure out what's wrong with
kitty's teleport."
-To Be Continued...