"Alex, why do you carry a sword with you?"
     The girl's question broke the icy stillness which had come over the room. The young man seated next to her looked up from his palm - top computer and turned to the girl.
     "What did you ask?" he asked, puzzled at how the girl reacted.
     "You never pay any attention to me!" the girl huffed, blowing steam from her nostrils, "You'd rather look at that tiny screen all day than talk to me."
     "That's not true Kelly and you know it!" the young man said, closing his computer and slipping it into his pocket. He put his hands on the girl's shoulders and said, "I'm glad you're here to visit. It's not often that somebody makes a two hour car trip to see me."
     "Then why were you ignoring me just now?" she asked, brushing the stray lock of brown hair from her face and positioning it behind the butterfly clip in her hair.
     "Oh... you mean the computer thing," he said, sighing, "I was scanning the immediate area for monsters and the forces of evil."
     "Is that why you carry the sword?" she asked, brushing her delicate fingers against the bottom part of the golden sword hilt.
     "You could say that," he replied, standing up. He picked up his back pack, which the sword's scabbard was attached to, and slung it over his left shoulder before pulling the other strap over his right shoulder. He brushed a stray lock of his own red - brown hair from his face before holding his hand to Kelly. She took his hand and the two walked towards the outdoors.
     "So, how are things going here?" she asked, her small body keeping perfect step with his much larger body.
     "Things are going just dandy," he said, shrugging deeper into his denim jacket, 'I can't tell her that I'm a warrior. And she can't know the secret of the star sword... the one I carry... the symbol of the leader of the Star Warriors.'
     Kelly looked over at Alex to see him staring out into space. She knew that when he drifted off into thought that it was really deep. She wrapped her arms around Alex's arm, which snapped him out of his trance.
     "What's wrong?" he asked, turning to see a look of fear in her eyes and on her face. He turned his head to see one of the ugliest, slimiest, and most foul smelling monsters in the history of the world. He turned blue in the face before turning to Kelly and shouting, "Go back to my room and call for help!"
     "What about you?" she asked, running from the woods.
     "I'll be just fine," he said, drawing the sword, the blade glowing with energy. Once he was sure Kelly wasn't hanging around he put the sword by his side, raised his right hand to the sky, and shouted, "Star Crystal POWER!"
     A wave of violet light washed over him, changing him into the Warrior of Darkness, Warrior Saturn. Saturn raised his sword and pointed it towards the monster.
     "Who the hell are you?" the monster growled, hurling a long, slimy tentacle at Saturn, who dodged easily by cart wheeling out of the way. Once Saturn was back on his feet he launched into his intro.
     "Guarded by Saturn, the planet of darkness. I'm the Warrior of the stars who guards the light, Warrior Saturn."
     "You're toast," the monster growled, launching a stream of slime at Saturn. Saturn leapt forward, flipping forward and rolling off of his shoulder. He quickly turned towards the monster and cast a spell.
     "Fireball!"
     The fireball sailed at the monster, and looked to be a sure kill, but a wave of slime quickly snuffed the spell.
     "Crap!" Saturn said under his breath, "This won't work if he can snuff the spells."
     "Get a whiff of this!" the monster said, releasing a foul smelling cloud. Saturn caught a whiff, turned green, and came close to losing his lunch. He held his sword like he was holding a baseball bat, the blade glowing with energy. He swung the blade while shouting, "Tornado Strike!", which released the energy from the sword. A massive twister formed between Saturn and the monster, sucking up the gas cloud and propelling it into the upper atmosphere.
     "Don't underestimate our powers," Saturn said, re sheathing his sword and producing his glaive.
     "Yeah, whatever," the monster said, hurling tentacle after tentacle at Saturn. Saturn dodged every one like a graceful gymnast, ducking and dodging and tumbling and rolling until he needed to stop and catch his breath. The monster took that moment to wrap a pair of tentacles around Saturn's legs and lift him into the air, upside down.
     'Damn,' Saturn thought, 'What a stupid move on my part!' As the monster moved its catch closer to its mouth Saturn thought, 'Oh great, I'm going to become dinner!'
     "Hey you ugly puss wad, put him down!" came from the entrance of the path. Saturn turned his head to see Kelly holding his glaive, the blade about three feet above her head.
     "You think you can beat me with a weapon that is almost twice your size?" the monster chuckled.
     "You had better believe it," Kelly said, charging forward with the large weapon in hand. She leapt into the air and swung downward, cutting Saturn free of the slimy tentacles. Saturn landed in a crouch, the tentacles which were around his feet rapidly decaying. Kelly landed in front of him, the blade of the glaive shining in the sunlight which broke through the trees.
     "You're strong for a little girl," the monster said, spewing a stream of slime at Kelly. Kelly held the glaive before her body, a force field forming before her, which took the brunt of the attack. Saturn stared in awe as the girl he considered to be a friend and rather hyperactive take on a large slime creature with his weapon.
     "You can jump in at any time," she said through gritted teeth.
     "Right," he said, drawing his sword. He leapt into the air, the sword above his head, the blade glowing with energy. He slashed downward, releasing an energy blade which cut the creature in half before cutting through a tree and disintegrating. The monster reformed a moment later, as strong as it was before.
     "Crud, this will take forever," he groaned as he landed.
     "Hit it with an ice spell or attack," Kelly said as the large blade above her head glowed.
     "All right," he said, forming a sphere of ice energy between his hands, "Supreme king of the frozen soul, grant me the power of your icy rage. Dynast Breath!"
     He slammed the sphere into the ground, causing a wave of ice to wash over the area and the monster, freezing it in an icy prison. Kelly leapt into the air, the blade above her head. She screamed, "Digger Volt!" before she swung the glaive downward and releasing a thunderbolt. The thunderbolt struck the frozen monster and shattered it. She landed a moment later, landing with the glaive over her shoulder.
     "Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asked.
     "From reading about your adventures and battles against the forces of evil," she replied, handing the glaive back to Saturn.
     The frozen bits and pieces of the monster melted quickly and regrew into more slime creatures, which quickly surrounded the pair. Alex and Kelly stood back to back, each striking battle stances. The pair cast spell after spell, laying waste to creature after creature until only one was left, this one able to absorb all common spells and could withstand direct attacks.
     "What do we do now?" Kelly asked, "My magic doesn't work."
     "Like Lina said," Saturn said, a wry grin on his face, "we use an uncommon spell."
     "Yeah.... huh... you don't mean?!" Kelly said, her expressing changing three times.
     "Yup," Saturn said, beginning the motions for the spell, "get behind me and you won't get hit by the blast."
     Once Kelly was standing behind him he began to incant the spell. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows. Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows. I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand against the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hands. Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess. Dragon... SLAVE!!"
     Saturn accumulated a mass of dark energy which he released in a massive energy beam. The beam struck the monster before exploding into an expanding energy dome. When the dust settled the monster was vanquished, the section of the campus a massive blast crater. The pair stood on the edge of the blast site, both in shock by the force of the explosion.
     "Wow Alex," Kelly said, "remind me not to get on your bad side at the store."
     "Like the copy Scott and Josh did that one time?"
     "Yeah. I couldn't believe that then, and I can't believe how much stronger you are now."
     Alex returned to his mortal form and the pair began to walk back to the Union Building. At the same time the clock chimed four and Kelly sighed, since her boyfriend Tylor was going to pick her up in about half an hour. As they walked on, Kelly's arms wrapped around Alex's right arm and she said, "I had a great time today."
     "Even after the monster attack?"
     "ESPECIALLY the monster attack. I haven't had so much fun or adventure.... " she paused for a moment, "for a long time."
     "Maybe next time I can teach you some stronger magic, and then we can fight a dark lord or two," he laughed. Kelly giggled in response.
     When they reached the Union Building they mounted three flights of stairs to the Coffee Office, where Alex treated for fruit smoothies. They then sat and waited for Tylor to arrive.
     After a couple minutes of silence Kelly said, "I need to get an outfit for when we go into battle."
     "You have any ideas?" Alex asked, taking a long sip of his drink.
     "Yeah, I was thinking of getting a pair of purple bell bottom pants, a midriff shirt, and a flaming pink cape with gold embroidering around the edges."
     Alex nearly snorted the mouthful of smoothie out of his nose. He coughed for a moment and said, "Seriously?"
     "Maybe a sailor fuku or some female armor."
     "That sounds better."
     A couple minutes later Tylor entered the Union Building and stepped up to where the pair sat. Kelly quickly finished her drink, tossed the cup away, and told Tylor to wait outside for a minute. Tylor, like the good boyfriend, obeyed.
     "I really had a great time and it was nice to see you again," Kelly said, kissing Alex on the forehead and giving him a big hug. Alex blushed. As Kelly ran off she turned and said, "Don't forget what you promised for my next visit."
     "Don't worry," Alex called back as Kelly left the building, "I won't forget. Ever."