My Part of GEX (J?) 3:  Joshua and Slayer Team

 

 

Designated Universe:  U912 of Sector STC/4G9-Ω

 

“This is boring!” Buffy exclaimed as she and her friends walked along the street.

 

“Tough,” the tall handsome leader of the group snapped out, undistracted from his task.

 

It was night in Sunnydale, California, nearly midnight.  The stars, of what few could be seen in the city, were out and twinkling merrily, and the moon, bright and yellow, was showing in its third-quarter gibbous stage.  The town itself was remarkably peaceful considering that Sunnydale was located over the “Boca del Inferno,” the Mouth of Hell.  Thus it was often given the nickname, by those that knew the true nature of the town, “Sunnyhell.”

 

The group of seven was walking along a rather quiet neighborhood, not a place that vampires or even demons frequented…  which explained Buffy’s boredom.  The chosen “Champions of the Universe,” were in fact all sharing in that boredom.  The only one presently ignorant of that fact was the one in front, leading them on this merry goose chase.  Too bad they weren’t hunting geese.

 

The man in front, and the reason for them all even being there, was looking back and forth along the peaceful street, as though looking for something or expecting it to pop out at any second.  His name was Joshua.  And as far as normal mortals could guess or even care, he was a god.  Buffy and her team, however, knew better.  He stood about six feet to six and three inches tall, had dark, styled neck-length brown hair, and was as buff and hunksome as most male models or TV and movie actors.  His face was toned white and clenched with tension at the moment.  His eyes, a color not often natural in nature, were royal blue and constantly flicking from side-to-side.

 

Behind him and just to his left was Buffy Summers, the leader and primary representative of her team.  Ironically they had been officially dubbed the “Slayer Team.”  Buffy, her Tournament name Slayer, while small and female was without a doubt the strongest of the entire team.  Sometimes she was called Gold Slayer to further specify her.  She stood only a little over five feet tall, and while she enjoyed her shoulder length hair, most of the time she left it in a tight pony tail above her neck.  Her hazel green eyes were often intense and very focused, a side effect from loving fighting more than shopping like most girls her age.  Her dress marked her different from most other people or even people who shared her names, though it was shared with other members of her team.  A loose black vinyl-like material jacket, gi-style black pants of the same cloth, heavy-duty black leather boots, and what looked like a simple black tank top beneath the jacket.

 

Just behind her on both sides were her two best friends, and often, (very often), more than that.  On her right walked her fellow and sister Slayer, Faith Summers aka Dark Slayer.  Faith, after much trouble in her life and loosing her first Watcher to the treachery of the Council on their world, had come to Sunnydale to join Buffy and continue her ‘destiny’.  Buffy immediately accepted Faith and even went out of everyone’s way to make the new Slayer welcome.  After being accepted and trained for the Tournament, Faith decided to let go of her former life, and asked Joyce Summers, Buffy’s mother, to adopt her.  So Faith took the name Summers and after a little time, became Buffy’s lover, with her other lover’s consent of course.

 

To the Slayers left, Willow Rosenberg.  The Wiccan.  The most powerful magic user in near all of existence.  Also both Buffy and Faith’s lover.  Faith, as being a Slayer, was dressed identical to Buffy, black jacket, tank top, gi-pants, and boots.  Willow, as a magic user and not as focused on the physical and more the mystical style of fighting, was dressed completely different.  Her outfit was little more than a pair of dark green coveralls, with pockets just about everywhere, that were identified by being several shades lighter green than the rest of the coveralls.  The most obvious ones were the ones over her breasts, both shoulders, her right elbow, and then the side pockets and the back pockets over her buttocks.  She had many more going up and down both legs.

 

Behind Wiccan and Dark Slayer were the male members of Slayer Team, all huddled together, mostly in attempt to keep up with the leaders rather than to stay warm, since it was Southern California and the cold really didn’t affect them.

 

On the far right walked Alexander Harris, long time best friend of Willow Rosenberg and close compatriot of their leader, Buffy Summers.  He’d sooner prefer to be called Xander by his friends, but his enemies called him Warrior Alex.  So he didn’t have as cool a codename as the rest of them, what mattered was that he could fight and more than carry his weight.  He was dressed in an identical, albeit the male version, of the outfits Gold Slayer and Dark Slayer wore.

 

To his immediate left was Spike, the vampire answer to the 90’s version of John Lennon.  In more than one way when you considered Spike’s girlfriend.  Spike, because he already had the name, kept Spike as his codename.  His outfit, while fitted with some bonuses, was the same as any would expect from a vampire named Spike.  He had a black leather duster that reached the bottom of his shins, black leather pants, and tonight a simple red silk shirt, buttoned except for the top two which revealed his black undershirt.

 

Spike, originally William the Bloody of London in 1874, and killer of two Vampire Slayers.  He was turned by the insane Drusilla, a seer in her mortal life and when driven insane and turned by Angelus, a true monster.  He had come to Sunnydale to kill Buffy, but by then she had become too strong, especially for him, and had joined the Tournament, making her immortal and invincible to the likes of him.  After a year, he had managed to get himself involved in the Tournament and make them equals once again.  But the Powers that controlled the Tournament pulled a nice little loophole on him.  He was on Buffy’s team, so he couldn’t kill her.

 

Then after some trouble on their home world, where a demon named Archius attempted to gain control over the Slayer by using Drusilla, Dru gave her blood and her powers to save Buffy from the demon and in doing so, made Buffy Spike’s sire.  And so Buffy controlled Spike, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.  Instead of killing him or telling him to leave and never return, Buffy accepted him into the group and helped him get through the grief of losing Drusilla, the only woman he had ever loved.

 

Next to Spike was Rupert Giles, though if anybody he knew ever saw him dressed as he was now, they would never believe that it was him.  Giles, called Watcher, was dressed in heavy-duty boots identical to the others, and the same vinyl-like black material gi-pants that Buffy, Faith, and Xander wore.  Instead of a tank top however, he had a simple black T-shirt, of the same material as the others, and instead of black vinyl, his jacket was dark brown leather with a broadsword on the back, the handle appearing over his right shoulder.  He wasn’t wearing his customary spectacles either, though from his youthful, almost thirty, appearance it didn’t really seem like he needed them.

 

“Well?” Buffy asked some thirty seconds after Joshua had snapped at her.

 

“Well what?” he responded immediately.

 

“Have you found it?” she asked.

 

“No,” he said.

 

Silence accompanied them for another thirty seconds before a Slayer spoke again, this time Faith.  “Do all of us have to be out here?  I mean, me and B could patrol or something.  Or hell, I don’t know, maybe getting us a hotel room?” she proposed suggestively.

 

“Maybe later Faith,” Joshua said, still searching the darkness.

 

They continued to walk at a brisk pace, walking through two more neighborhoods before attempting conversation again.  They were all too focused on their surrounding environment to try and distract from it for the time being.

 

“There’s something different about this world,” Willow commented as the passed by a small single level house.

 

“What do you mean Will?” Buffy asked as she reached out with her senses, trying to determine their direction and if any enemies, such as vampires or other evils, were nearby.

 

Wiccan was silent for several seconds, composing her answer in her mind.  “I’m not really that sure.  It’s…  I don’t know.  It could just be the Hellmouth, but I don’t think it’s ever felt like this before.  It feels like… there’s more magic in the air.  Like this world and the Realm of magic are much closer to touching than on any other we’ve been to.  I don’t know how to best describe it.”

 

“Can you sense your double?  Or anyone equal to you in power Willow?” Joshua asked.

 

Willow immediately shook her head, causing her neck-length auburn hair to fly around her face.  “No.  That’s what’s surprising.  I can sense several very potent magical entities, one or two in this town, but other than Merlin, Morgana, and the Charmed Ones, I can’t really identify them.  And given that we are in Sunnydale, even if she wasn’t actively practicing magic, I’d think I could sense my double here… but I can’t.  It’s like she’s not even here.”

 

“Ditto,” Buffy muttered as she continued to walk.

 

Willow, Faith, Xander and Spike stopped at Buffy’s quiet statement.  Giles, not really paying attention to them continued to walk, as did Joshua and Buffy.  Until Joshua finally stopped and turned to glare at the halted ones.

 

“What now?” he asked in an extremely annoyed tone.

 

“Buffy, you can’t sense your double?” Willow asked quietly.  Everyone heard her though.

 

Sighing, Buffy just nodded her head, not saying or looking at anything.  Joshua turned to appraise her state and asked gently, “Do you want me to look into it?”

 

Buffy immediately shook her head.  “No.  Not right now in any case.  Right now we need to focus on finding the Dark Influx.  The sooner we find it the sooner we can mark it and move on, right?” she asked.

 

Joshua nodded and decided to let it go.  Turning to give one final warning glare at the others, he proceeded to walk on and extended his ethereal senses once more to find the contaminant dark energy that he had created.  He picked up the trail they had been following all evening almost immediately.

 

As they walked for another hour, coming close to midnight, Joshua felt a strong shift in the Ether.  Focusing on it and many other things all at once, he was more than just amazed to suddenly find the very thing they were looking for.  The Dark Influx.  Yet there was something different about this one.  It was inactive, as all the others had been, but it was somehow out of phase with the surrounding Ether, and in fact the dimension and universe as a whole.  Nothing as the others had been, which truly had been out of phase themselves but not nearly as much as this one was.

 

Orienting his Ethereal and his advanced Earthly senses, he marked and identified the location of the dark energy source and quickly turned the group in the necessary direction.

 

“I’ve found it,” he informed them as they raced quickly along.  Not running, just walking faster than normal.  “There’s something different about this one though.  I could only detect it because the Ether shifted just so, but I’ve got the location.”

 

“What’s different about it?” Willow asked as she stepped up beside the powerful man.

 

“I’m not sure,” he answered.  “It seems like it’s even more out of phase with this universe than all the others ever were.  Perhaps what you’ve felt about the Magic Realm has something to do with it.  If the Magic of this world is in fact greater than on others that could be part of the reason why the Dark Influx was drawn here.  It might also be part of the reason why I couldn’t detect this one as easily or that it was hidden by the Ether itself somehow.  I guess we’ll find out when I mark it.”

 

They all nodded and accepted this explanation as they made their way to the point of physical entry for the Dark Influx.  They finally reached it, a few minutes before midnight.  To the naked eye, and even those with access to eyes not of the physical realm, there was absolutely nothing there.  Joshua assured them however that the Dark Influx was indeed there.

 

They were at the edge of Free-Springs Park, a nature preserve at the edge of town.  No sidewalks, picnic tables, water fountains, or anything artificial or man-made really was allowed on the premises.  Just the trees, ponds, grass and few clearings between the trees were all that was in the park.  This area was not often shared among the many parallel universes and dimensions that this group had traveled, but fortunately, on their home world it was.

 

“That’s funny, I don’t remember there being a willow tree there before,” Buffy commented, pointing at the offending plant.

 

“It is another universe Buffy,” Joshua pointed out, “there are allowed to be differences.  Besides, it’s been what, a month since you last visited this park on your home world?”

 

Buffy just shrugged and looked around the clearing they had stopped in.  According to Joshua’s senses, the Dark Influx was directly in front of them, though she really couldn’t see anything.  Taking a few steps forward, towards the willow tree, Buffy began to get a creepy feeling at the base of her spine.  It was the same feeling she’d had every time that she had ever been close to a Dark Influx.  A feeling of foreboding, of something dark, of evil.

 

Frowning a little, Buffy took five steps to the right from where the feeling began.  Then she blinked.  The willow tree.  It wasn’t there anymore.  In fact not only was the willow tree gone, but it had been replaced with a line of dogwood and Magnolia trees.  Frowning further, Buffy went back the five steps to the left.  The willow surrounded by pine trees reappeared.

 

Joshua, noticing this, copied the warrior precisely, and noticed the same thing.  Xander, having enough of the silent mime treatment exclaimed, “What is it?!”

 

“A portal…” Joshua whispered, awe seeping into his tone.

 

“But how’s that possible?” Buffy asked.  “Every Dark Influx we’ve encountered before has been exactly what it’s named for, a point in ethereal space where dark energy is collected and then subsequently “inputted” into the universe that they’re attached to.  If…if this one is a portal then…”

 

“Then it is inputting the dark energy of another reality entirely into this one,” Joshua finished for her.

 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and let out a hefty sigh.  He rubbed his hands over his face and when they dropped the others could see signs of his true age and stress level peaking through.  “I just don’t understand this,” he muttered, sounding old, feeble, defeated.  “This wasn’t even supposed to happen.  I… I wanted to create a way to lessen the strength of things like the Hellmouths.  I just wanted to contribute my part, on a larger scale, to the safety of the universe.  The ‘Dark Plug’ idea was supposed to be a way of more or less closing the Hellmouths without the worry of balance in the omniverse.  They were supposed to just absorb all the dark energy that the Hellmouths spat out and direct it right back into it, creating a sort of closed circuit.  I just wish I knew how in all of reality they got out of my control in the first place.”

 

“We’ve been over this before Josh,” Buffy comforted, coming up behind him and giving him a half-hug.  “You took every precaution, and then made up thousands more.  It’s why the world, why all of the worlds still exist today.  You stopped the Dark Influxes from getting too far out of control, from destroying all of reality.  Then you accepted the blame, took responsibility for your experiment and asked for the help you’d need to make sure these things didn’t get fully out of control.  That’s why we’re here.  And all joking aside, I’m kind of glad that I’ve gotten to know you Joshua.”

 

Joshua smiled at her attempt and patted the hand on his shoulder.  “Thanks Buffy.  I’m glad that I’ve gotten to know you too.  At least you, out of all the Buffys I’ve met, are more open and willing to keep an open mind.  Thanks.”

 

Buffy grinned back, then frowned as they turned back to the problem of the Dark Influx that seems to be a portal to a whole other reality.  Finally she asked to the group standing behind them, “Any suggestions?”

 

Spike raised his hand and suggested in a sarcastic voice, “Go through it?”

 

“Spike that is… probably a good idea,” Joshua said.

 

Spike looked suddenly nervous.  “Uh, I… I was just kidding mate.  Uh… please don’t make me go through first.” The vampire begged.

 

“Don’t worry Spike, for once your safe from the folly of your big mouth,” Buffy teased him.

 

Then she stepped forward and started walking towards the distant willow tree.  “I’ll go first.”

 

“BUFFY!!” Faith, Willow, and Joshua all cried as the blonde started walking.

 

Ignoring their pleas of sanity, Buffy took three steps forward.  Suddenly, space itself seemed to fold inwards where Buffy had walked, as though she were walking into the edge of a scene.  It continued inward though and Buffy had the time to think, < Oh shit > before she suddenly felt an indescribable force tug on her and literally suck her into the folding space.

 

Seeing their leader and friend (in Josh’s case) in trouble, there was not a single hesitation as they all leapt forward to help Buffy.  A second before they too were sucked in, they all realized the same thing.  They couldn’t help Buffy if they were trapped in the same vortex that she was.  Yet the force that pulled them in was so fast that only Joshua could have hoped to react fast enough, let alone at all to it.  The second that they were all pulled into the fold, he thought < Aw crap >, which they all heard, being that they were psychically connected to one another.

 

Buffy, who had heard his telepathic cry, managed to respond, < What is it? >

 

< Never mind.  I’ll tell you-- > he began.

 

In the next instant, they were all standing in a clearing surrounded by woods, and a weeping willow tree surrounded by pine trees about fifty yards in front of them.  “—Now,” he finished vocally.

 

“Instantaneous travel.  Sucks for conversation, but gawd ya gotta love it.” Joshua joked.  The others were too confused by what had happened to laugh at it though.

 

“What…” Buffy started out loud.  She decided to finish it telepathically since she didn’t fully trust her voice at the moment.  < What the hell happened? >

 

Joshua, seeing that for the moment they all preferred telepathy, responded accordingly.  < Instantaneous travel.  That’s what I was referring too when I said “Aw crap.” >

 

< Well we didn’t think you meant something that you had stepped in just before jumping in with the rest of us, > Xander added in.

 

< Xander, knock it off, > Willow joined in the conversation.  < Joshua, really, what happened?  If you need time to scan, or whatever it is you do, please do so.  The rest of us can keep watch and… >

 

< Will, what’s wrong? > Buffy asked when Willow stopped “speaking.”

 

< How…?  I… I don’t understand this… > Willow’s thoughts muttered, her face showing her complete shock and confusion.

 

< Willow, what’s wro- > Josh stopped speaking himself as his head jerked in an easterly direction, apparently sensing something or maybe the same thing Willow had.

 

< Willow, speak to me… please? > Buffy begged, her psi-voice conveying all her emotion.

 

< Buffy… scan Sunnydale, > Willow told her as answer.  Immediately Buffy did so.

 

Buffy’s face froze in shock in the next instant.  “B…?” Faith asked aloud, hoping the external stimulus might drive the three most powerful members of their group out of their collective shocks.  Buffy shook her head to clear off her shock.  < How…? > she repeated Willow’s mental stuttering.

 

“B!” Faith shouted, taking her lover by the arm.

 

< Sorry Faith it’s just…  I-I can sense my double.  Ten minutes ago…neither Will nor I could even get a faint blip of our doubles, but now…  I can sense her clear as day.  I don’t understand.  How is this possible? >  Buffy finally explained.

 

< We’re in another dimension. > Joshua answered.  < Well, not really dimension, but yet another parallel universe.  One many, and I mean many, sectors removed from the one we were just in.  I could tell the moment my senses aligned themselves with this world’s Ether and Space Time Continuum axis. >

 

< Care to explain that one, > Spike spoke up.

 

< No. >

 

< So what gives with the ‘look like you’ve just seen a ghost’ face? > Faith asked.

 

< I-I’m not entirely sure.  I’m going to run a general S&D search real quick.  Right now I suggest we make our way over to the Motor Lodge and get us some rooms.  I’ve got to figure this out before we make any other moves tonight.  All right? > Joshua asked.  Everybody cast in their agreement and they left the park, making sure to avoid the Dark Influx as they did.

 

Once out of the park, Buffy turned them towards the general direction of where the Motor Lodge, Sunnydale’s best and one of the few motels in town.  Joshua was busy conducting his “Space and Dimension” scan, identifying the universe, the order of planets, the differences, and in some aspects the histories of the universe they were now in, so Buffy had to lead.

 

Buffy and Willow were still concerned and very confused about the sudden appearance of their universal doubles.  What was really troubling was that they couldn’t sense anything else about their doubles.  Only that they were on the planet, alive, and in Sunnydale, but nothing on their health, abilities, powers or even the potential of powers, or where exactly in Sunnydale they were.

 

Finally, after some minutes, Buffy was bored once again and struck up a conversation, verbally so as to less distract Joshua from his S&D scan.  “So uh, Will, sensing anything even more different about this world?  I mean you were just mentioning that the magic was that much more potent on the last world, what about this one?”

 

The group, sans Joshua, turned to look at the red witch as she shook her head to the negative.  “Nope.  In fact it’s nearly identical to our own world as far as my own ethereal senses can tell,” Willow answered.  “What about you Buffy?  I have been teaching you some magic Buffy, what do your senses tell you?”

 

Buffy looked off into the distance, her eyes glazed over as she reached out with her supernatural senses.  After a minute she frowned her face and she muttered, “Incoming.”

 

In the next few seconds, the others wondering what Buffy meant by that and the tension slowly built higher, and peeking when Joshua suddenly started.  “Oh shit!” he cursed loudly.  One second before a sudden burst of light blasted them all back a couple feet.

 

Standing, almost regally, in front of the stunned Slayer team was a man.  In height he was comparable to Spike, but he wore a simple yet elegant robe with a hood that hid most of his face.  Except for his gray beard and his eyes.  His eyes seemed both old and young, intense, angry, fierce, but at the same time held a gentleness and caring that could not be described in words.  Add to it, nobody had to have a super sixth “power” sense to feel the sheer power radiating off of him in waves.

 

< Joshua just said ‘shit’ > Buffy pointed out to her team.

 

< This is bad. > Willow deduced.

 

< This is very bad. > Xander concluded.

 

< All for running away? > Spike suggested.  He was ignored, everybody else focusing on the stranger that had appeared.  < Right then.  Who throws the first punch? >

 

Two seconds after appearing, the strange being, who had a strong ethereal quality about him, shouted, looking directly at Joshua, “WHAT.  ARE.  YOU. DOING HERE?”

 

Audibly gulping, Joshua, for the first time since they had met him, looked nervous.  No, he actually looked closer to outright afraid.  The stranger stepped closer, getting quite literally in Joshua’s face and repeated in a far more ominous tone of voice, that was as deadly as it was quiet.

 

“Uh… um-uh-uhm… I-uh, that is to say-um, I-uh-uhm… well… I can explain, really, I can explain.  Just give me ten seconds here and I can have an excuse ready!” Joshua stuttered, almost begging.

 

The stranger’s eyes narrowed dangerously and asked a different question, just as quiet and deadly as his last.  “How did you get here Joshua?  How did you get here, and most importantly, why are you here?”

 

“I can explain!” Joshua squeaked.  “I-I, I just have to actually figure out what happened.  I… I didn’t even know I was “here” until a few seconds ago.  Please, let me explain.  At the very least I deserve that much, don’t I?”

 

The god, as he could be nothing else that Joshua would kiss up to, just stared at the blue-eyed man for several seconds before finally nodding his head and backing down some.  Not much, but some.  Joshua, relieved at his chance, looked around for several moments.  He pointed off in a northerly direction and nodding his head.  The god squinted his eyes again, but nodded his head in return.

 

Before disappearing, Joshua turned to the Team and glared at Buffy as the god had been staring at him.  Needless to say Buffy was quieted rather quickly.  “Buffy.  Stay.  Out.  Of trouble.  Willow, Faith, make sure that she behaves.  Giles, make sure they all behave.”  Giving Buffy one last glare, “Buffy.  Behave!”  And with that, he and the god vanished.

 

 

 

Designated Universe:  U001 of Sector STC/4P7-Ω

 

 

 

“Now answer my question, Joshua,” the Wise One put forth as soon as they sat foot on the cliff in the desert to the north of Sunnydale.  “Why are you here?”

 

“I-I-I, I don’t know.  I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, tracking down the Dark Influxes and sealing them.  We had just arrived on the next world that I had tracked one to, and we managed to find it, but then…” Joshua paused and looked at the Wise One’s face to see if he was being believed.  So far so good it seemed.  “Then all of a sudden we found ourselves here.  Somehow, I don’t know exactly how yet, the Dark Influx was a portal.  One that led here.  We just came out of it about ten minutes ago.  And like I said, I had no idea I was in the Holy Universe until like a single minute ago, tops!  I swear!  And G, you know I don’t swear.”

 

The Wise One was about to make a comment on the use of the nickname that only this entity ever referred to him as.  Then he just shrugged and let it go for the moment.  “Very well Joshua,” he spoke in a more conversational tone, “I hold no blame over you for entering this universe, and in fact appreciate the troublesome situation you have found yourself in.  Now, tell me what you do know.  Maybe we have found out some things that you have not been able to.”

 

Joshua shrugged himself and thought to himself, ‘Not very likely,’ and proceeded to tell the Wise One of everything that had happened since he had lost control over his experiment that resulted in the creation and the threat of the Dark Influxes, and his adventures with the Slayer Team in closing the majority of the evil energy points.

 

 

 

----Back where Slayer and her team are;

 

 

 

“Okay, anybody wanna take a guess as to what the heck just happened here?” Buffy asked.

 

Receiving negative replies through her psychic link to her group, Buffy backed up her question with a glare to everybody, meaning that she did want an answer.

 

“Well, judging from my point of view,” Willow began, “It looks like Joshua had to do some quick and major hobnobbing with the local Divine authority.  We didn’t exactly come into this universe the normal way, meaning the way that Joshua has full access to every universe.  By coming here a way other than that we might have broken some kind of regulation, even if it wasn’t intentional.”

 

“OK, Red, you’ve got to learn to stop being so damn confusing,” Faith jabbed as she walked forward some to stand next to Buffy.  “So B, what’s the plan?”

 

“We wait for Joshua to return, F.” Buffy answered.

 

“Uh huh, and how long do you think he’s gonna be gone.  I mean sometimes, when he was just going to “check on some little thing real quick” he was gone for like three days!  Now he has to go and sweet talk some pompous ass god just so we aren’t vaped immediately, I don’t think he’s gonna be back before breakfast to be honest with ya B.”

 

"You're probably right, Faith" Buffy said as they continued to walk.

 

 

 

The being known as Joshua and the Wise One appeared on a cliff north from where they had been moments before in a muted flash of light.  The Wise One immediately started glaring at Joshua again, and true to any being under that glare, save two, he winced and flinched nervously under the stare.

 

“OK, first of all, I really, really, REALLY, did not know that we were in the Holy Universe until like a few minutes ago.  You know it takes me that long to realign my senses to a new universe anyway, right?” the blue-clad being began.

 

The Wise One nodded, but asked, “How did you get here, since you normally take the precaution of setting your senses before you fully materialize in a new universe?”

 

This is where Joshua frowned and started to pace, because he was still trying to figure that out himself.  “We had just found a Dark Influx in the last universe, we only have three more to go by the way, by my calculations anyway, but I digress.  We had just found it up in Free Springs Park, when suddenly Buffy got right in front of it.  Then I felt it connect to another universe, like some kind of space fold but no regular one, that’s for sure.  We were instantly transported and there wasn’t a single thing I could do.  My first guess would be we were forced through a portal.  My… best guess?”

 

Joshua hesitated for so long that even the Wise One got impatient enough to ask, “Your best guess?”  Joshua startled and looked back to the God of the Universe.

 

“Sorry.  My best guess… is that the Dark Influxes have formed some kind of portal network between the two in that and this universe, or maybe even between all remaining three.  No way to be sure without more investigation.”  Joshua suddenly stopped as he caught the look on the Wise One’s face.  “Uh, maybe I should give you a full report on what we’ve been doing so far.”

 

“I think you had better,” the Wise One agreed.

 

 

 

“Did you feel that?” Willow asked levelly. “That’s not something you feel every day…”

 

The other five people nodded. “The Universe screamed,” Buffy grunted. “And then there were two… well, of most of us, anyway. LOBO?”

 

None at this time, Buffy. My sensors are still worthless against these levels of dimensional energy.

 

“Okay, we’ll scout it out in person, then. Cordy, Angel, Oz, they don’t have doubles of you, I suggest you remain hidden,” Buffy said as she stood up, the others following her. “Xander, Willow, you’re with me.” After a final nod, the entire group shifted through nether-space towards their goal.  Gerius-Buffy, Willow, and Xander appeared directly in front of the group. Oz, Cordelia, and Angel remained in dimensional phasing on top of a nearby building.  “Good evening, and welcome to our humble universe, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Faith, Spike,” Gerius-Buffy greeted casually. “Would you mind telling us how you got here?” she asked amicably.

 

The newcomers stared at the residents. The first one to regain his senses was Giles, who deftly stepped forward.

 

“Giles…” GS-Buffy started.

 

“Be Quiet,” the Watcher ordered. Buffy cocked an eyebrow at the order, but obeyed nonetheless.

 

Suddenly, Wiccan's eyes widened in pure shock doubled with a strange combination of holy fear and terror.  "Holy shit!" she cursed.  Then she immediately fell flat on her face, undoubtedly bowing before the three holy warriors.

 

As Giles approached the residents, he drew the Nightblade in one fell swoop, dropped to one knee, and held the sword tip-down in front of him. “My Lady, my Blade and I swear our loyalty and service to your cause,” he said reverently, voice quiet in supplication and the only trace of fear that his teammates had heard from the Watcher in a very long time.

 

The three residents cocked their heads as they looked at the kneeling Watcher. Finally, Gerius-Buffy drew her Sword of Destiny. “Bane of Darkness,” she whispered. The blue-glowing sword morphed into the purple-glowing moonstone-encrusted sword. GS-Buffy, thinking that her double was about to strike her friend, started to advance. < Buffy, DON'T! > Wiccan commanded through their empathic link.  The Gold Slayer froze.

 

“We have received and acknowledged your request, Sir Rupert Giles, Knight of the Nightblade,” she said, as if repeating something. She tapped his shoulders and his head. “Arise, Sir Knight.” As Giles rose, she continued, “However, we will not take your service.” Giles bristled against the dishonor, as Buffy finished, “However, we will accept your friendship.”

 

“Thank you, My Lady,” he answered reverently.

 

“On one condition,” Gerius-Buffy grunted. “And that is if you drop the ‘Lady’ crap. No-one calls me that unless they’ve pissed me off.” Gerius-Xander and Gerius-Willow chuckled, causing Giles to smile. “Of course… Buffy.”

 

Buffy smiled and winked at him. “Now… would you mind telling us how you got here?”

 

Before Watcher could respond, Buffy evoked one of the few powers she held over the Power Blade Knight, using her psionic powers through the everlasting link to ensure the Watcher's silence.  Then, without taking her eyes off her double, she ordered, "Xander, Spike.  Get on your knees.  Faith?" she called the Dark Slayer to her side.

 

Not fully understanding what was going on, they all complied, as Buffy was only now getting the "whole story" from both Wiccan and Watcher.  Meanwhile the Gerius were still waiting for their answer.

 

"It's... complicated..." GS-Buffy tried to explain.

 

"We did not ask you slayer" Gerius-Buffy snapped. "Giles?"

 

GS-Buffy's eyes briefly flashed gold for less than a microsecond, but the emotion, as well as the effect, lasted even less than that.  She then decided to press her luck, even though knowing... somewhat... what these beings were before her.  "If you're really me... then you should know that being a "slayer" gives you one hell of a stubborn streak, and I'm sure we were plenty stubborn before we were "chosen".  Giles... the Knight that you just dubbed... is under my command.  I am the leader of this team, and you will address me... Slayer."

 

Gerius-Buffy smiled, eyes twinkling mischievously. "If you truly are the Team Leader, why is it that your team mates are the ones with brains?" she asked, her hand moving to signify the others in various kneeling positions. "Even though it's totally unnecessary, they are the ones showing respect, while you are not.

 

Gerius-Buffy took a step forward, and dipped her head to Giles as she passed him. "Your abilities include some basic magic, the Force... in a novel way of utilization, I might add... psionic abilities, Ki and Chi. You have been implanted with a chip that translates 99% of languages instantaneously, and allows for combat knowledge to be downloaded directly into your minds. I can list your full range of techniques and skills alphabetically, chronologically, by type, by origin, or by usefulness."

 

GS-Buffy stared in shock. "And the reason I asked Giles was simple," Gerius-Buffy finished. "I know how much we dislike cold hard facts, and that is just what we require in this case. A list of facts. How did it happen? Where did you come from? And so forth."

 

GS-Buffy grimaced in accordance with the reprimand and merely nodded her head.  "Like I said, Slayer," placing the proper emphasis to indicate that she meant "Master Slayer" rather than "Vampire slayer", "it's complicated.  For starters... have you ever heard of the Tournament of Good and Evil run by the Powers?"

 

All three Gerius nodded, smirks of high amusement on their faces.  GS-Buffy nodded as well and continued.  "Well, we're from the Compound.  Ya know, the dimension supporting 'Good'?  Well, it all starts..."

 

"Cold.  Hard.  Facts, Buffy" Gerius-Willow interrupted.

 

GS-Buffy blinked and then grimaced and nodded again. "We were hired by this high-level energy being only called Joshua who had several favors owed to him by the Powers and he called in one of his markers so that he could get us to work with him in taking care of a multi-dimensional problem that he had accidentally caused and was charged and accepted with the responsibility of cleaning up by the Gods of the Universe, so he says, and for the past nine or so weeks, according to our perspective, we've been jumping around the omniverse with him taking care of demons, mind controlled populations, and even a couple of open Hellmouths while he sealed the Dark Influxes that we're going around closing and in the previous universe, where ironically there was no me or Willow, the Dark Influx, which we fortunately found while it was still dormant turned out to be an instantaneous portal that dropped us off in Free Springs park about three blocks back that way, and just so it's clear, about every Slayer in history of every world in every universe has a problem with not showing "the proper respect" so deal with it, okay?"  Amazingly, it was all said in one breath and she wasn't even breathing hard afterwards.

 

"Wow, and I thought Will could babble," Gerius-Xander quipped comically.

 

"It's a little known fact, but we can babble even worse," Gerius-Buffy said, looking at her twin.  "Anyway, as I was saying, Giles? Rundown, please?"

 

"Uhm...yes. Certainly. As Buffy came to say, we are the champions of the tournament of Good and Evil.  Joshua conducted an experiment in attempt to close holes of great evil power, like the Hellmouth among others. The experiment backfired somehow, and we have been assisting him these last nine weeks in trying to closing the resulting 'Dark Influxes' as he calls them. The last world we were on, however, contained an anomaly... instead of being a regular dark Influx, it teleported us... here. Wherever 'here' is."

 

"Thank you," Gerius-Buffy said, turning to her double with a satisfied smirk. "That's what I wanted."

 

"This is bad, Buffy," Gerius-Willow whispered. "Remember when they got here? What it felt like?"

 

The smile disappeared, and a pained look crossed Gerius-Buffy's face. "The Universe cried," she whispered, actually wrapping her arms around herself. "So painful... as if it was being violated in the most vile manner possible."

 

"Exactly," Gerius-Willow said. "We need to resolve this... I think we've established they're not evil, but these... Influxes have to be stopped."

 

"Agreed," Gerius-Buffy said, snapping around and marching back to her comrades. "We need to resolve this. Sooner, rather than later."

 

GS-Buffy suddenly cleared her throat loudly, causing the Gerius to pause and turn to look at her.  "Uh... is it too late to apologize?" she said sheepishly.

 

The Gerius shook their heads with wry amusement and Buffy001 answered, "There's nothing to apologize for.  You were just being yourself and as you said, answering to your nature.  We don't condemn beings for that; we only reprimand it when it comes into conflict with us."

 

GS-Buffy nodded and quickly added before they could turn around, "Well, you mentioned stopping the Influxes as soon as possible, and well, while we aren't the ones that actually sealed the previous, we do have some experience in dealing with them.  Maybe we could... help each other out?"

 

Immediately, the Gerius linked to each other, including the three remaining hidden, allowing for everyone of them to add input and come to a mutual decision.  In less time than it took Xander, Spike, and Willow to get to their feet, Gerius-Buffy had turned back around to her counterpart and sterilely replied, "Proposal accepted."

 

"We'd better call in Fred," Gerius-Willow said to her Buffy. "This sounds out of our league."

 

Buffy nodded. "Right." She turned to the newcomers, and said, "Do you guys have a place to sleep already?"

 

"Eh... we just got here," GS-Buffy replied. "So how could we have gotten a place to stay?"

 

Gerius-Buffy smiled slightly. "I know versions of me who would have rented the entire Hilton hotel range within five minutes of getting here, so I had to ask. Anyway, reason I asked is simple. Since you don't have lodgings, we're going to provide them for you... The guy we work for has a Dyson's Sphere as main base of operations. It's the most secure place in the omniverse."

 

GS-Buffy was slightly taken aback, in surprise.  She quickly leaned over so she was by Wiccan's ear and whispered, "What's a Dyson's Sphere again?"  Wiccan giggled slightly and put her mouth directly over the Gold Slayer's ear, causing the most delicious tickling sensations to course through Buffy as she whispered the reply.  Buffy's eyes lit up, in more than just arousal, and then she slowly nodded her head.

 

Just as Wiccan was pulling away, GS-Buffy caught her eye and mouthed so no one else could see, "I love you."  Wiccan just smiled knowingly in response.

 

GS-Buffy smiled back and then returned her attention back to the three Master Slayers.  "Both Giles and my Willow tell me that you're... more than what you appear to be.  Some kind of Divine Champions with more power and authority than even our current boss can imagine.  First things first, before we move in together, introductions are in order, wouldn't you agree?  Maybe starting with just who and what you are?"

 

Gerius-Buffy dipped her head. "Very well..." She turned to Watcher. "Giles... could you please explain what we are? That way, I'll know what you know, and be able to fill in the gaps."

 

"Certainly," he answered with a dip of his head towards Gerius-Buffy. "You are beings known as Jokilar Gerius, created by the Gods of the Universe. The Jokilar Gerius have the authority over the entire multiverse, literally transcending the laws of physics or the four elements. If I'm not mistaking, your weapons are called the Frognar Trianvi, with the power to cancel out all magic. That's about it, I'm afraid."

 

Gerius-Buffy nodded, and turned to the rest of the newcomers, where Wiccan had now turned a very light shade of pale. "The Banes of darkness are known as Frognar Trianvi," she began. "I guess something went lost in the legends. Anyway, the original group of a dozen Gerius were created over nineteen billion years ago with the sole purpose of protecting every race in the then fledgling multiverse against the lesser gods, some of which had gone insane. As such, our predecessors were given tremendous ability and even vaster authority. Now, they have been resurrected. There are currently twenty-four Jokilar Gerius scattered around the multiverse."

 

At this, Watcher and Wiccan grew paler still.

 

"What Giles said is basically right. We are immune to magic, physical force, or attacks based on ki. The Force has no hold on us, and neither do the laws of physics. We can shape, bend, and twist the universe is any way we want, and have full control over the five elements." At Giles' stunned look, Buffy went on, "Earth, Fire, Water, Earth, and Space-Time. In fact, our powers are so vast that they are bound most of the time. There are three seals placed on them, and the final one can only be unlocked by the full authority of Frederic, the guy we work for. He's the only one with the necessary authorities.

 

"Since we are the police force of the lesser gods, so to speak, we fall out of the jurisdiction of just about anybody. Not even the Gods of the Universe can order us around... only Fred can do that. The Gods can make suggestions to him, but they can't order him, or us, to do anything. He literally falls out of the chain of command in that respect. In the other respect, he has full command authority over just about anything else. Q, lesser gods, Angels, Archangels, Seraphim, you name it, we can order it."

 

As Gerius stopped her speech, she looked back at the newcomers. "And what about you?"

 

 

 

Back on the cliff where Joshua and the Wise One stood conversing over the debriefing that the super-being had just finished giving the god, which had taken nearly thirty minutes time, even for the supreme entities.

 

“I see that you have accomplished much Joshua,” the Wise One complimented him.

 

“Well thanks, but I’m not through just yet.  By my calculations there are still three influxes left.  And this new development of one being a portal that leads directly to the Holy Universe…” he sighed and rubbed his face, as though to take away the weariness he felt at being so…helpless.

 

He turned to face the divine being and gave him a stern look that Buffy, Slayer, had called his version of the “Resolve Face” and stated, “I’ll find out what’s going on, but I’m going to need additional time.  I know it’s asking a lot after all you’ve already permitted, but I need you to prepare a dimensional time separation.  But don’t do it immediately.  I have to find out if it’ll even do anything first.  I’ll contact you directly if and when I’ll need additional help, and especially to tell you if anything else develops.”

 

The god nodded his head in agreement.  “Very well.  Yet since you are here.  You might as well take advantage of it.  Even though Frederic is not here at this moment… maybe he could still help you if you need it.” The Wise One proposed.

 

Joshua suddenly got a suspicious look on his face.  “I thought the Gods of the Universe wanted me and the Phalanx of the human race to never meet.  Under any circumstances.  And you have warned against and pointed out Frederic Fromthefield specifically.  Why the change of heart?  Aside from popular rumor and mythos, you aren’t a woman.  So what gives?”

 

"The reason why we didn't want you to meet is simple, Joshua. Frederic Fromthefield, the one you heard about, no longer exists. He gave his life in defense of the multiverse. Yet still he would not give up. His soul distinctively found the only route back to life, and grasped it with both hands. As the Universal Savior, his soul, known as Shadow, made it back.  And recently, Frederic Fromthefield, as well as his Master Slayers, have been appointed Jokilar Gerius, the Divine Master Slayers."

 

Joshua's jaw dropped. "You're kidding... right?"

 

The Wise One shook his head. "Frederic Fromthefield, Leader of the Jokilar Gerius, Commander of the ESMF, Supreme Jedi Lord, Super-S-Class Alter User, is known as the Universal Savior, the Inheritor of Hiten Mitsurugi, and Sailor Earth."

 

“Actually,” the Wise One continued, “We wanted you two to meet eventually, just when the time was right.  And again, if you need his help, he would more than be willing to provide it.  That is, if you ask properly and don’t lie to him.  Ever since Shadow…”

 

“Yeah, I remember.  Actually got to meet her on her path.  She didn’t realize what I was, since I was only passing through really, but yeah, I know what you’re saying.” Joshua finished.

 

Suddenly, both entities jerked their heads up and towards the south.

 

“Aw crap.  Now what have you gotten yourself into Buffy?” Joshua muttered aloud.

 

“It would seem that your charges are showing off to their doubles,” the Wise One commented.  “Of course you knew that the Master Slayers were approaching.  Or at least that your charges’ doubles were anyway…”

 

 Joshua screwed his eyes tightly shut. "And those guys I just left Slayer Team with..."

 

"Are members of Frederic’s Chosen Fighters, and thus possess all his knowledge and all his skills," the Wise One finished patiently. With those words, he looked in the same direction, and smiled slightly. "Hmm... Slayer Team better behave, or the Twins will have to look for new champions..."

 

Joshua shook his head and dropped it into his palm.  "Why me?" he asked the universe in general.  "All right G," Joshua steadied his composure and looked the Wise One in the eye, showing as much respect as the God of the Universe truly deserved, "So what exactly has happened recently in Fred's life that made him beyond what any living creature, that was not born a god, should ever become?  If you don't mind me asking that is.  I've been so busy with the Dark Influxes that I haven't had time to listen in on the grape vine."

 

"Very well, if only to help you to understand the grasp of Frederic's power now," the Wise One said in a sufferable manner, but the twinkle in his eye told Joshua that he was just itching to brag about his prize Phalanx.  Recently his wife, along with her double, the wife of Frederic’s dark doppelganger, Sorcerer, were kidnapped by the former Destroyers, Second and Third in an effort to wipe out the Phalanx to destroy the Divine Treaty.”

 

“Mistake.”

 

“Indeed.  Over the course of a week, Frederic’s family was split up, divided, and almost conquered by their individual ordeals.  His twin children were sent to the Digital World by Second, pretending to be me by using the form that I do in the mortal world.  Daphnix and Ami, Daphnix’s new girlfriend…”

 

“I don’t suppose this would be Ami Muzino, Sailor Soldier of Mercury?”

 

“Yes, it would be.  Now, where was I?  Oh yes, Daphnix and Ami had been sent  after the Stone of Ages, using the same trick.  Then Sorcerer showed up and Jennifer was kidnapped.  In order to save both of their loves, they had to train and work together, something that neither found very easy.”

 

“Hold the phone.  The ‘Stone of Ages’!  The heart and will and mind of the last truly living Ancient!  OK, knowing Ami, and hearing the rumors about Daphnix, I can say, why the hell would Second want to give them a weapon like that?” Joshua interrupted once again.

 

Holding down his temper at being interrupted once again, the Wise One continued as though Joshua had not even spoke.  “Meanwhile Fred and Sorcerer, through intensive training, managed to defeat the Assassin that had kidnapped the Jennifers.  Then, Third took over.  Frederic and Sorcerer then taught each other everything that they knew, Fred, ki-training and Alter power, Sorcerer, Advanced Magic.  Then they used the Fusion technique to become even more powerful.  They managed to break Third’s spirit, but then Second showed up and that’s when Fred was forced to go to Level 2, drawing both mine and Firsts attention.”

 

“Goodbye Second and Third,” Joshua offhandedly comments.

 

The Wise One suppressed his grin.  “Yes.  First killed Third right off the bat, but Second and Fred fought it out, on Level 1.  Finally, Daphnix and Ami arrived, with the Stone of Ages.  It decided to help the Phalanx this once and gave him the ‘Ancient Plate Battle Garb’ whatever that is!  Ever since, Fred has been pestering me to allow him to recreate this to replace the Phalanx armor, which he has grown beyond. Recently, however, that pestering stopped. Frederic's Alter-Armor, linked to his full conscious mind through a form of energy that's truly unique in the multiverse, is capable of remolding into whatever shape he desires. Tell me, Joshua, do you know of an armor called the 'Necroflesh'?”

 

"I've heard of it," Joshua replied with a frown.

 

"Well, this thing makes Necroflesh look like a child's toy. It can do amazing things... including take one of Goku's kamehameha-waves. At full power."

 

Joshua looked appreciatively. "And the Slayers..."

 

"That was why we originally make them Jokilar Gerius... they possess similar armor. And the same level of skill and technique with it as Frederic Fromthefield does. They are below him in speed and strength, but at the exact same level of skill and technique. And with the Banes of Darkness at their disposal, the Jokilar Gerius are stronger now than ever before... in fact, next to the Swords of the Phalanx, those Banes are the only known weapons that can penetrate their Alter Armor. You either need tremendous energy, a Sword of the Phalanx, or a Bane of Darkness."

 

Joshua whistled now, something he hadn't done in a very long time.

 

The Wise One looked off in the direction again. "What do you say we go bail out your hapless charges, before the Gerius decide that this is no longer fun, and that they're going to get serious? I'm sure that Frederic will appreciate it, not having to explain to the Twin Powers why their prize Tournament winners got vaporized."

 

Joshua chuckled, and soon they both disappeared in the next instant, no sign that they had ever been there.

 

 

 

The Gold Slayer smiled and turned to answer when suddenly she frowned and shifted her attention to the south a bit. Gerius-Buffy noticed this and waved off the concern her counterpart was exuding.  "Don't worry about it.  It's just the mud-demons.  We've been waiting for them to hatch to get an actual workout around here for once.  Not that they would be much of a workout after facing down a bunch of insane gods, but they're more fun than the vampires have been of late."

 

Buffy001 then turned to the side and mentally ordered Angel to take care of it, but Xander001 made a rude noise begging the leader's attention.  Almost rolling her eyes she asked, "What Xander?"

 

"Spook got the Creole demons yesterday," he said in a steady voice, though judging by his expression he might as well have been whining like a two year old.  "All I'm saying is that it's my turn to have some fun."

 

GS-Buffy smiled and shrugged.  "I don't mind, really." she said to her counterpart.  Buffy001 seemed to think it over for a second before shrugging and simply said, "All right Xander, go.  But try and keep it under the radar, all right?  We don't need another temporal incursion because one of us got out of hand."

 

{I said I was sorry, SHEESH!} Cordy mentally screamed. Willow001 almost giggled, but managed to contain herself.  Meanwhile, Xander just nodded and then disappeared.

 

"Whose Spook?" Warrior X asked.

 

"Angel," Willow001 answered easily.

 

Many brows went up in interest at that.  Then Spike asked, "Really?  And how is the great poofster?  Still brooding his nights away?"

 

"Actually, I prefer shopping with my wife and sleeping my nights away," said a cold voice directly behind the vampire.  They turned around suddenly and were more or less shocked to see Cordelia, Oz, and Angel standing there behind them in the same uniform armor as Buffy and Willow.

 

"Wow, and I thought I had learned every trick to doing that trick," Gold Slayer muttered to herself.

 

"There are always new tricks," Angel told her with a smile.

 

GS-Buffy blinked.  Then she smirked.  "Angel, allow me to introduce my wife," she said suddenly, grabbing the Willow beside her in the green overalls, and pulling her into an easy embrace, "Willow Penelope Rosenberg Summers.  Also known as the Wiccan, master of the 14 forbidden arts, and Power Mage level 19.  And one red hot firecracker in the sack!"

 

Willow001, despite having seen the scenario in other universes before, flushed slightly crimson, while Buffy001 just matched the other Buffy's smirk, waiting to see her husband's reaction.

 

Angel stared a bit, gathering in the expectant stare of his wife behind the group, as well as lounging in the typical male fantasy of meeting a couple of hot lesbians, in particular one of which he knew looked like naked, before commenting.  Smiling slightly, though not wholly, he nodded his head in a sort of bow and said easily, "Congratulations.  I'm sure you're both very happy.  And please don't look so shocked, we do after all, know about parallel universes."

 

Contrary to what he said, Buffy and the others did not look shocked.  Actually, they looked more like they were trying not to laugh out loud.  Then, just as suddenly as GS-Buffy's attention had shifted earlier, Willow001 tensed and whispered, "Wise One?"

 

"What was that Will?" Buffy001 asked.

 

"I... I can sense the Wise One.  He's not far from here," the redheaded Gerius answered.  That got everyone's attention.

 

"What's he doing on Earth?" Buffy001 asked.

 

"Who's the Wise One?" GS-Buffy asked, as Angel and the other two walked around to join Buffy and Willow.

 

"The leader and executioner for the Gods of the Universe," Angel answered as he passed.  GS paled slightly and mumbled, "Oh"

 

"Should we ask him?" Cordelia proposed.

 

"Probably," Buffy considered before GS-Buffy interrupted her.

 

"Just curious, but what does this "Wise One" look like?" she asked.

 

Amused glances were cast about before Gerius-Buffy answered, "Like God."

 

GS-Buffy nodded.  "Big flowing beard, contrary expression, big white robes, likes to make a big entrance?"  All the Gerius nodded.  "He was here.  He took the... well, the guy that hired us for lack of a better term, to explain to him why we were here suddenly.  They seemed to know each other actually."

 

Gerius-Buffy smiled. "He knows everybody. That's why he's God..." her voice trailed off as her head suddenly snapped to the direction of the mud demons. "XANDER! NO!!!!"

 

Suddenly, the night sky lit up an eerie blue. "Damn you!" Gerius-Buffy grunted. The next moment, the entire group was floating above a brown-colored flatland.

 

Gerius-Buffy's look could melt steel, as she hung there, staring at Xander, arms crossed over her chest.  "Alexander Lavelle Harris, what did I just tell you?" she asked with an Antarctic voice.

 

Xander stared sheepishly from the ground to Buffy, and back to the ground, and yet again to Buffy. "I... I..." he stammered, then sighed. He dropped to one knee in front of Gerius-Buffy, in mid-air. "I humbly apologize, My Lady."

 

Buffy remained hanging there, staring at the man. "Oh, alright. Get up already," she grunted, looking at the flatland. She motioned with her hand, and a red seal inscribed with symbols of unimaginable power rotated in front of her outstretched hand. "I resurrect thee," she whispered. The air seemed to vibrate slightly, before energy seemed to gather from all around, rebuilding the mountain.

 

"Thanks, Buff!" Gerius-Xander said, smiling widely, grabbing his team leader in a sideways hug.

 

"Just don't tell Fred," Buffy rumbled good-naturedly as they all went to the ground as the mountain finished rebuilding.

 

< Holy smokes! > reverberated through the Slayer Team's link.

 

< You have no idea how right you are Buffy > Wiccan whispered in awe to her wife.

 

< Actually that was me Wills > Warrior X input.  < Yeah, but it originated from Buffy > Wiccan responded.

 

< Children... > Watcher tried to keep things in perspective.

 

< I could take them. > Buffy suddenly thought to the rest.  She was met with dead silence, and a tenderly growing emotion of concern, fear, and everything below.  < What? > she asked, confused by their response.

 

< Buffy, they just regrew a mountain! >

 

< So, you've done the same thing and more before Will, > Slayer replied.

 

< Buff, I'm the absolute last to doubt you... but we can't even sense them to gauge how powerful they are!  How the hell can we... could any of us hope to stand a breath of a chance against them without any clue as to what they can do and how we stack up against them?! > Warrior X asked.

 

< Fighting isn't about the numbers Xan.  And I can sense them.  I... can't explain how I can, but I can most definitely sense their presences.  And no Giles, not with pinpoint accuracy. > Buffy explained.

 

< B, I know you're crazy, and that's one of the many things I love about you, but ARE YOU CRAZY?!!!??  These guys are freakin titans!  I know you got that whole prophecy thing to fall back on of being the strongest 'you' out there, but come on!  These guys got us beat so many ways there's no way we'll catch up!  Besides, a prophecy can be interpreted in about a million different ways, each one with an entirely different meaning and result!  And you want to beat them!? > Dark Slayer was screaming.

 

Buffy gave them an impression of shrugging.  < Look at their bodies.  Powers or not, I'm stronger than them.  I could beat them.  That much of the prophecy is true. >

 

< Buffy, were you even listening before! > Watcher suddenly snapped.  < The Jokilar Gerius are beyond the physical! They're beyond PHYSICS!  You wouldn't even be able to land a hand on them.  And they said it themselves, the universe around them, and us I might add, willingly protects them!  Physically you might be greater, but beat them you could not Slayer.  And do not remind us again how you've overcome the universe before.  This would be entirely different! >

 

< I've had the Force against me Giles!  As well as gravity and the elements, and the atmosphere and world around me!  Whatever they got I can handle! > Slayer stubbornly refused to let in.

 

< Buffy, the difference falls in that those were the elements against you. > Watcher continued.  < This would be all that, at the same time I might add, not against you but defending them!  An entirely different scenario.  Don't you see now? >

 

Slayer grimaced, but silently nodded.  Meanwhile, Buffy001 was watching the exchange, though not hearing any of it, understanding the look on her doubles face.  "I know what you're thinking... 'Can I, or can I not, take 'em', right?"

 

"Pretty much," GS-Buffy grinned.

 

Gerius-Buffy smirked. "Tell you what. You got to your full power. And I mean flat-out full-blown maximum power level. And we will match it within ten seconds... if not, I'll let you pummel me for as long as you like."

 

"Deal," GS-Buffy said with a big smile on her face. "You're so on..."

 

Instantly, a golden ki-flame of impressive strength flashed around the Slayer highlighted by highly ionized air and golden lightning flashing just as rapidly around the petite form.  The wind noticeably picked up as Slayer made sure to conceal her power-up beneath the technique called "Shroud".

 

Then she grinned and brought her arms up to her sides, her fists tightly clenched and raised to chest-level.  A glint of determination entered her eye, something that made the Gerius appreciate whoever had given her lessons in intimidation faces.  And then she screamed.

 

The moment that happened, it was worse than hell on earth, for a mortal anyway.  The moment the flame had appeared, the Slayer Team had scattered to somewhere behind the six Gerius, who were as still as statues.  When the Golden Slayer's scream pierced the night, so too did a yellow-gold flame almost a mile in full geometric circumference.

 

When it dissipated enough to see the warrior again, she was over ten meters in the air, though she hadn't moved, the ground had just suddenly gotten a lot lower.  The yellow-gold flame now surrounded GS-Buffy instead of her lightning-charged ki aura, and it only seemed to get fiercer and fiercer with each passing microsecond.

 

Her ponytail had come free in the explosion of power, leaving her golden blonde locks to fly freely in the ever stronger wind, but the grin never left the girl's face.  She screamed again and this time a cloud-like aura of mixed blue and yellow surrounded the outer tinges of the yellow-gold flame, and those that had the ability, could tell that Buffy had just brought her mental abilities into the demonstration, increasing her physical by over a hundred measurable levels, and her power exponentially by the same number, or over a million.

 

Then she suddenly stared right into the face of her double and said loud enough to be heard easily over the wind and sounds of her power demonstration, "Oh, you're gonna love this."

 

A look of intense concentration passed over her face before suddenly; there was a reverberating shout that echoed quite possibly all over the state of California, "SUPER SLAYER!"

 

In response, the gold flame was replaced by a light so pure that even the Gerius were forced to squint while anyone less covered their eyes.  Three more such lights responded to the first.  Quickly traced to their sources, it was found to be the members of the Slayer Team, Xander, Willow, and Giles.  Each had a light equally as pure as the first, yet were tinted a different color each.

 

Xander was embraced by a pure red column of light before he underwent a startling transformation.  Willow was surrounded by the purest green light that could ever exist on the planet Earth before being swallowed by it and her own transformation.  Giles was obscured from view by a solid blue aura of the same light and then before any could comment on what was happening, the three pillars left the people in blazing ribbons of energy and connected solidly with the still alight Gold Slayer, who flashed a resounding golden color before three pure white energy ribbons returned along the paths of the others and ensconced the three warriors, who had looked strangely dull until that moment.

 

Each seemed to be surrounded by black space as their transformation took place, yet they were still on the desert plane as the Gerius looked on in interest.  Xander, in his mostly black "uniform", was awash in red energy suddenly before four individual energy-strikes of red hit his outer extremities, seeming to cause a mixture of pain and ecstasy in the warrior.  His outstretched hands and legs were slowly transformed as the energy moved continuously inward of his body, changing the brash leather and black clad warrior, into a different kind of warrior.  The energy coalesced into a single strike, which immediately flashed upward and transformed his head last.  Xander now wore warrior leather boots, armored trousers, and a black dragon scale crest of armor shrouded in a red-lined forest green cloak.  His katana, which had been strapped to his back was now an Irish long sword strapped to his left hip.  His face had also been remarkably transformed, from the young face of Xander Harris, to the hard edged, goatee, silver-templed face of Warrior Alex.

 

Willow was struck by green lightning on each hand, that slowly danced its way down her body, transforming the green jumpsuit she commonly wore into a green and yellow-lined dress of apparent medieval origins.  The other change was that her neck length red hair rapidly grew to ankle length, with silver highlights that went from her temples all the way to the end of her hair.  A new maturity entered her already hard face as the Wiccan was transformed into Powermage Willow.

 

Giles' transformation began when he withdrew the obsidian blade on his back and held it high over his head, which drew in and was struck by the blue lightning energy that quickly shot down to the Knight bearer.  In a flash of the energy, Giles simple-clothed body was replaced in an obsidian armor that matched the blade in his hand.  The Helmet and upper crest of the armor held only openings of his eyes, and then his lower body encased in dark leather armor.  The Nightblade Knight twirled his weapon in a cascading energy effect before replacing it on his back and standing with his companions as the transforming energies died down.  On them.

 

For Gold Slayer, it was only beginning.  A portion of her shroud leaked out as her own energy became too great to be contained, yet it still held.  The same surrounded black space framed the dark clad Buffy as the pure energy she had collected from her friends formed all around her body in a strange halo that soon began to contract as she stood ready and firm.  As the halo contracted further and further, seeming to focus on Buffy's head, it was becoming steadily obvious that her body was becoming stronger and stronger.  Not in muscle mass, rather her already tight and incredibly strong muscles became even more compact and grew steadily stronger muscles to make up for the compacted mass.  When the halo reached her shoulders, her hair seemed to be caught in it and was contracted back down until it was once again in a ponytail as the halo disappeared altogether.  There was a flash of energy as Buffy opened her eyes and a startling discovery was made.  Her eyes were no longer normal, nor were they the turquoise of any other 'super' transformation.  Her pupils were still black, but the entire rest of her eyes were a solid and pure, glowing, gold.

 

When she spoke next, it was clear that her apparent transformation was more than just what it seemed, as her voice was a strange amalgamation, almost like the Fusion effect of voices, of Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles.  "But wait, there's more," Super Slayer quipped.  "I'm just getting warmed up."

 

She then screamed again, and with the amalgamated voice it was even more impressive and echoed almost four times as loud and long.  The normal gold ki flame returned, accompanied by the yellow-tinted lightning, yet to say it was agitated was to call a raging Sabertooth tiger an hour-old blinded kitten.

 

There was almost another explosion of energy, yet Super Slayer seemed to have more control over her ki than Gold Slayer Buffy did, and she succeeded in only needing the pure gold-flame to appear to "finish" powering up.  When she was, she dissipated the effects around her, and dissolved what remained of the shroud over her power, drawing an impressed statement from the Gerius leader.

 

"Cool," Gerius-Buffy said with a smirk. "Everyone.  Count of three. Flat-out physical."

 

"Yes, ma'am," the Jokilar Gerius said, snapping at attention in mid-air.

 

"Three." The next second, all six Jokilar Gerius were at Super 2, Magic Augmentation level 4. Slayer Team stared at the group in front of them as it was the fastest power-up they had ever seen in anyone; it was also one of the strongest, other than their own leader's.

 

"Oh, I know it's not enough to match you quite yet," Gerius-Buffy said, as GS' face started to give way to a 'knowing' expression.  "But... watch this." She turned her head slightly sideways to her team members. "Jokilar Gerius, as Team Leader, I am authorizing the lifting of the seal on the first level powers. Acknowledge the authorization."

 

"Authorization acknowledged," the entire group droned.

 

As the air started to thickening, GS simply lifted an eyebrow, and smiled. What happened next blew her away.  Literally.  As the higher flats started to align behind the Jokilar Gerius, the elemental forces of nature started to wisp and tug around the newcomers.

 

"What... what titanic power!" Wiccan screamed as her access to the magical realm was completely revoked when the magical plains aligned behind the Gerius.

 

"Authorization accepted!" the Gerius screamed, the thickening air imploding into them, created a shockwave that blasted the newcomers backward for at least six meters.

 

"This is ten percent," Gerius-Buffy intoned. "Ten percent of our full power over the multiverse and everything in it. We merely lifted the first seal.  There are two more levels after this one... 50% and 100%. Now, have we won, or not?"

 

"What in My Name is going on here!?!" a voice thundered over the scene as two new beings came into existence in the middle of the two groups.

 

"Lord Wise One," Gerius-Buffy whispered. "Nothing," she answered a little sheepishly. "Just a little... you know.  Demonstration."

 

"You are using the powers of the Gerius to impress your doubles!?" the Wise One thundered.

 

Gerius-Buffy looked helplessly at her companions, who could only shrug. "Well... yeah."

 

The Wise One stared sternly at them for a couple of seconds. "Okay, then," he said, turning to Joshua.

 

The energy being just shook his head in wry amusement.  "You weren't kidding." he said as though in response to some private joke.

 

"I never kid," the Wise One interrupted him.  That cracked up a couple of the Gerius as well as Joshua himself.

 

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Joshua said amidst his laughter.  Then he suddenly sobered and gave the Wise One a respectful nod.  "I'll keep you informed of any further progress... and take what you suggested into mind.  Thank you for your time Wise One."

 

"My Pleasure," the Wise One said knowingly, as if to some private joke only he knew.  Joshua just kept his respectful face on and remained as most "underlings" are, stiff as a board whenever in the Divine being's presence.

 

The Wise One turned to the Jokilar Gerius and nodded his own head and said simply, "Gerius.  Always a pleasure," before disappearing as if he had never been there.

 

"Always a pleasure to see you too," Gerius-Buffy said to the empty air. She turned to Joshua. "So... you're the guy who has been making our lives miserable for the last half an hour, huh?"

 

Joshua cocked his head slightly. "Yep."

 

Buffy shrugged. "Whatever," she answered coolly. "Anyway, since it's now official, are you guys ready to go see Fred?"

 

The powered-down Slayer Team shrugged and nodded.

 

"I'm not yet leaving," Joshua interrupted. "I need to find out more, and I can only do that when I'm present here."

 

"I invited them, not you," Gerius-Buffy said coldly. "And if I were you, I'd put a sock in that big mouth of yours. You're the guy who created this mess. You need our help. So if I were you, I'd be damned nice, or I'd find my ass destroyed. Nothing in the omniverse can stand against the twenty-four Jokilar Gerius."

 

Joshua smiled slightly over the number 24 before grinning openly and saying, "Okay, then." He disappeared just as easily as the Wise One did.

 

Before the Slayer Team and the Gerius left however, Gold Slayer, completely normal after the arrival of the Wise One and Joshua, grabbed her double's arm and silently asked her to wait.

 

"What is it?" Buffy001 asked in concern.

 

"Uh... I don't suppose you could tell us a little bit about this Fred guy, can you?  As good an impression I'm sure we made with you, I've been getting the feeling from everybody that he's not quite as easy to impress as you guys." GS-Buffy answered.

 

Gerius-Buffy smiled. "Well... when meeting with Fred, there aren't that many things you have to keep in mind. We meet a lot of cultures, so he doesn't embarrass easily, and doesn't offend easily. But one thing you DO have to keep in mind. He's the big guy. You don't order him, you don't threaten him, and you do NOT under ANY circumstance tell him that he can't do something. Basically, it's a case of shut up, listen, and do as you're told... and as long as you're nice, you can get anything done from him."

 

"So we ask nicely, and as soon as we have done that, let him call the shots?" Wiccan asked.

 

"Basically, yeah," Gerius-Willow answered.

 

GS-Buffy looked between her team members and didn't sense any problems with that information, however, some curiosity from Spike forced her to ask, "Any things that we should be sure to avoid to make sure we don't piss him off by accident, other than telling him what to do?  Like, oh say mention an enemy by accident that he really doesn't want to think about?"

 

The Master Slayers considered for several moments before Oz spoke, "Well the only enemy even close to that would be Sorcerer, and he's not much of an enemy anymore."

 

"Who's Sorcerer?  Is he dead or just not a problem?" Buffy asked.

 

"Sorc's our magic-teacher... the only being outside the Jokilar Gerius who can match us. And he's not a problem... Sorc kinda switched alliances," Gerius-Buffy answered.

 

Watcher and Wiccan choked red at that revelation.  Finally, Watcher was the first to recover, and he asked, "Kinda?"

 

Gerius-Buffy shrugged. "Yeah. He's still the evil anti-social sociopathic lunatic he always was... but he OUR lunatic now. Besides, most of us have a good deal running with him."

 

"Which would be?" Wiccan asked.

 

"Simple. He helps us train, and we don't sic Shadow on him. And then there's the extra deal me and him have running," Gerius-Buffy said with a smile as the other Gerius chuckled at the mention of Shadow.

 

"Who's Shadow? And what extra deal?" GS-Buffy asked.

 

"Well... Shadow's... kinda hard to explain. You'll see when you meet her. And the extra deal's simple. You see... Sorc's power comes from a creation he made. He stole a ring from a guy named Sauron, boosted it thorough all kinds of stuff, and fueled it by something called 'Key Energy'. Which, coincidentally, comes from a small brat named 'Dawn' which pops up here and there through the dimensions. He killed the brat, wiped her form the memories, restoring them to how they should be, and drained the energy into his ring. The more powerful the Dawn, the more powerful his ring becomes," Gerius-Buffy explained.

 

"I see, and the deal is that he doesn't kill any more of them, right?" GS-Buffy asked, smiling.

 

"No," Gerius-Buffy answered with an evil smirk. "The deal is that I kill the bitch, and he gets the energy. The brat has no reason to live... except to annoy people. So, she dies. I meet her, I kill her, and I call Sorc to come claim his energy. It's a sweet deal."

 

GS-Buffy exerted a will the likes of which only the Gods of the Universe or the Universal Savior alone could muster to keep from reacting in any way at all to that statement.

 

< Buffy... > Willow reached out to her lover in hopes of helping her keep calm.

 

< We will be pissing on her grave when its time for her to go, > Buffy darkly swore to her soulmate alone.

 

< They don't know the whole story, and who are we to judge how they do things.  Maybe the Dawns this Sorcerer guy erased needed to be in order to bring about a balance to maintain something or even something out that her presence disrupted.  Besides, it's not like they go out hunting for... >

 

< For innocent girls to murder! > Buffy finished for Willow with a shout.

 

The argument had lasted less than a single second and neither participant had moved in any fashion to indicate such a conversation was taking place.  In the mean time, Gerius-Buffy was waiting for a response.

 

GS-Buffy thinned her lips and almost made a face as she took one step forward, her entire demeanor changed from what it had been.  "Two things.  Don't ever mention that bastard Sauron in my presence ever again.  If you want, I'll tell you the story, just don't shove it in my face.  And two."  The Gold Slayer's face darkened considerably as she took another step forward, "I will rip your head off right this moment before any of you could blink if you ever go anywhere near my sister, and that's after I let my very much alive mother get through with you.  Don't.  Just don't!" Buffy snapped when the Gerius tried to say something more.

 

The Gerius, normally no one to take that kind of lip from anyone, held back any further judgment when they saw a passion and emotional purity in the warrior's eyes the like they had never witnessed before.  Not even in their leaders, who when they got pissed off were entirely composed and spoke more in threat than passion.  This leader, though it seemed, wore her heart on her sleeve, and that was just as intimidating as the cold demeanor of a pissed off Frederic.

 

Wiccan thought it a good point to add, "Something you must understand Buffy," speaking to the armor-clad Gerius, "Buffy chose to be Dawn's, our Dawn's, protector.  She chose to be the Keeper of the Key for our universe, and even though it is well within our, especially mine and Buffy's, power to do the same thing you claim this Sorcerer has done, we've chosen to keep Dawn in our memories as Buffy's sister, because the Summers' lives were further enriched by her presence.  At least on our world.  Admittedly, Dawn can be a handful, particularly after Buffy started giving her ki-training, but she's still my sister-in-law and I love her like a real sister, and almost a daughter in some ways.  Besides, not being an only child can usually improve a Buffy's demeanor, like in sharing."

 

Gerius-Buffy shrugged. "Shows that there is an exception every time. Every Dawn we encountered has been forcibly entered into memory, without consent whatsoever. That makes her the result of a crime against Mental Law. Every result of that crime has to be removed. Besides, be grateful I've taken to offing the brat. Sorcerer likes her physical form and he usually has... 'fun' with her. Before killing her." Slayer Team heard the quotes and understood perfectly just what kind of fun Gerius-Buffy was talking about.

 

"As to her teaching the different Buffys something... all they teach is misery. They get hurt, get into trouble, skip school, steal, do all kinds of nasty things," Gerius-Willow picked up. "As Sorcerer puts it 'she's a vat of useless energy. All I do is reconfigure the energy to do something useful."

 

"Bottom line," Cordelia said, "keep her away from Sorc, and she'll be fine. If not... pray that Shadow helps you out, but don't count on it. Sorc told her what he did to get his power, and all she said is 'energy is energy... she was never alive, and Sorc actually did a good work by returning things to how they should be.' So... I wouldn't give the brat a chance of survival if Sorc decides he wants her."

 

"You said you gave her ki-training," Angel said, curiously. "How strong is she? Just curious..."

 

Wiccan answered.  "Well, before Glory, she couldn't do much more than use it to fly or create a very weak ki shield, although it was enough to stop mundane object traveling at any speed, meaning bullets and stuff.  But after that, the Compound helped her to access the Key energy that she is made out of, and now she's about as strong as Faith, can turn herself into purified energy, and can breech dimensional barriers as easily or more than any piece of technology we possess.  She's also kinda taken it to her head on being the only known energy being in our entire universe. The only ones that can keep a rein on her usually is Joyce Summers and... well there's Angel but he left Sunnydale on our world a long time ago, but I think they kinda respect each other."

 

After the brief 'Willow-babble', the Gerius merely nodded.  "How much does she abuse her powers?" Gerius-Xander asked.

 

Wiccan shrugged, "About as much as we do.  I'm under the threefold rule as well as those governing divine beings, but the rest of us are regular ki warriors and can do pretty much whatever we want.  We also work directly for the US Military, so take that into account as well.  Usually it's only minor stuff and training, but we only directly use our powers when protecting our world.  Dawn included."

 

Gerius-Buffy smiled. "Key energy is good at that... manipulating the Space-Time fold. That's why Sorc's using it for a power source. But, tell you what. As long as she doesn't cross us, or the line of our rules, we won't have a problem and I'll be happy to stay as far away from your sister as possible.  Now... is that enough or can we get going?"

 

"Yeah, yeah, we can go now," GS-Buffy mumbled.  Gerius-Buffy frowned, but touched a device somewhere on her armor, and all twelve Sunnydale natives were transported by LOBO to SpaCECoB.

 

*****

 

On SpaCECoB, it was a beautiful, warm afternoon, the artificial sun, rather large in the sky, hung about the hour of 3 o’clock in the afternoon when the combined force of the Sunnydale Master Slayers of Universe 001 and the Slayer Team arrived, almost in the middle of the Fromthefield family’s picnic.

 

Frederic and Jennifer were lying comfortably on the large blanket on the soft green grass, casually and comfortably watching the actions of all the others.  Daphnix, Jessie, Borlan, Linda, Ami, and Rei were playing a game of volleyball, Daphnix and Borlan against the two Master Slayers and Linda.  The twins, David and Jessie, were having fun with their morphing abilities, playing tag as several number of fast-running species.  And it was quite obvious that everyone was having a good time.  Until it all came crashing down that is.

 

"Fred, meet our doubles, they've got a problem," MS-Buffy said, after the Triple-Phalanx/Universal Savior acknowledged their arrival. "Everyone, meet Frederic Fromthefield, Phalanx of the Human, Oech-anya and Ketari races, Commander of the ESMF, Leader of the Jokilar Gerius, Jedi Master, Personal Champion to the Gods of the Universe, Universal savior, Inheritor of Hiten Mitsurugi, S-Class Alter User, and conqueror of the Internal Force."

 

GS-Buffy gave MS-Buffy a confused glare for a second, right before her mind caught up with the tongue twister that had come out of her mouth.  Phalanx.  Human, Oech-Anya, AND Ketari races?!' shot through the Slayer Team's collective mind.  'ESMF?' Buffy figured that meant his personal army, like her with the Avengers or what not. Leader of the Jokilar Gerius.  Obviously, since their doubles had introduced themselves as the Jokilar Gerius, that meant the same thing when Liono said he was Lord of the Thundercats.  'Cept we're the only Thundercats than can use ki, but I get the feeling that all of these Jokers can, Buffy thought privately.

 

Jedi Master?  Universal Savior?  Alter User?  All of those terms meant absolutely nothing to Buffy or any of the people she could read the thoughts from.  Well, 'cept the first one, but Buffy still thought that hers and Wills trip to that "Galaxy Far, Far Away, long, long, long ago" was wasted on doing nothing more than learning new meditation techniques and how to increase senses.  Of course, the fact that Buffy soon outclassed even the most powerful Jedi on the council in over a thousand years in use and power over the Force was irrelevant to her.

 

The others of the visitors, however, quickly recognized the importance of Frederic's titles.  At least from the terms they did understand.  He was one strong SOB.

 

Frederic stood from the grassy knoll and dipped his head in greeting with a calm smile on his face.  "Hello, welcome to my home," he greeted the Slayer Team.  He then turned to the Buffy from his world and asked, "Showing off to trustworthy doubles again? Eh Buffy?"

 

GS-Buffy turned to her double and arched an eyebrow at the word, 'Again?'

 

Wiccan, seeing her partner distracted, stepped forth and bowed almost regally with hint of a curtsy, to the Lord Phalanx and said with due respect, "Thank you for having us here Lord Phalanx.  It is truly an honor to be allowed in your presence.  Particularly under such... circumstances."

 

Buffy turned back to Frederic, after having gotten a chastening glare from the Master Slayers, and muttered, "Yeah, and why am I getting the feeling that we're more honored than what I'm thinking we are?"

 

Frederic dipped his head in what was almost a bow in Wiccan's direction. "The honor is mine," he answered with an easy smile. He motioned for the grassy hill he had vacated earlier. "Please. Tell me about your problems, so that we may solve them." With those words, he sat down and watched the volleyball game that was going on a little further. The others sat down next to him. He cricked his neck, before turning to the newcomers. His expression was still open, and friendly, as he waited for them to start.

 

The Wiccan nodded gracefully and gave Buffy and specific others a hard look before motioning them to do as Frederic asked.  They all quickly caught on that Willow, who controlled Buffy, who could control all of them, wanted them on stellar behavior, so much better than even when she had visiting dignitaries, (such as gods, Fae kings or royalty, or a dragon or two) over for dinner.

 

The Slayer Team as a whole also gratefully nodded and made their way to where Frederic motioned.  After sitting a moment, Wiccan spoke.

 

"Well, actually we're sort of in the midst of several problems, but I believe the one that your Master Slayers want us to bring to your attention is our current mission," the red haired PowerMage began.  "We're working with... a... a scientist I guess you could call him, who through some... well, not mistake or accident, but some fluke, created omni-dimensional portions of stabilized black energy, or "Dark Influxes."  He never meant to do any harm; he actually wanted to help the whole omniverse.  He used every precaution imaginable, and then imagined about a thousand, (or more), more!  But... anyway, the experiment sort of... blew up in his face, and across half the Omniverse.  We've been working with him to... clean up the mess.  And one of them has landed in your home dimension."

 

Frederic lifted both eyebrows in curiosity and surprise. "Original idea... Although without the exact schematics, I'm not going to make any comments to the feasibility of the plan. So, basically, we've got a couple of these pockets of Dark Energy running loose?"

 

Wiccan nodded. "Basically, yes. They form a "Guardian" of sorts, which needs to be eradicated, or at least detained for long enough, while our... companion...  closes the Influx.  That’s what we’re here for anyway."

 

Frederic nodded slowly. "I see. Well, I think we'll need to talk to this scientist friend of yours before we can make any definite arrangements..." Frederic's speech broke off as a flash of white light appeared in front of them. The flash coagulated into a powerfully-built human form. With a pair of bright white wings on his back, and wearing some kind of battle armor none of the newcomers recognized.

 

Frederic and Jennifer slowly stood up as the newcomer knelt to one knee, drew a sword from somewhere, and planted it firmly tip-down into the soil.

 

"Lord Frederic. Lady Jennifer," the Archangel spoke with voice tinged with respect. "By your leave, I bring the daily report."

 

"Very well, Gabriel. Rise," Frederic intoned. The Archangel nodded, and stood up, the sword disappearing into a sheath that vanished.

 

"Yes, Your Lordship. The Archangels successfully completed the objectives you set out..." GS and her group were too astonished to follow what the man was saying to Frederic. Too astonished to see their friendly host transform like that. Too shocked to see an actual Archangel report to him. And too astonished at the fact that said Archangel knelt, and called him 'Lord', and his wife 'Lady'.  Except for Willow.  Who being a direct servant of the Goddess, by being dubbed the "Wiccan" made her a Divine creature, albeit weaker on the power scale than most.

 

They could hear the archangel say 'By your leave, Your Lordship.' He bowed to Jennifer, kissing her hand. “Your Ladyship," he said, before vanishing. Frederic and Jennifer's smile grew back as they sat down.

 

"All's fine in the omniverse," Frederic said as he sat down, smiling, his voice friendly once again. "Sorry about the interruption. It's all part of being Jokilar Gerius. The job has its advantages, and disadvantages. Anyway, where were we?"

 

"We need to find the companion of our new friends before we can make final arrangements," Jennifer answered, shooting a questioning glance at Wiccan, who seemed to have taken charge. 

 

"His name, that he calls himself, is Joshua," Wiccan provided helpfully.  "We only know what he's told us about himself, which is not as much as you might wish us to know Lord and Lady.  He is an exalted being (exalted meaning that he exists in planes higher than all of the Earth dimensions) that has so far shown abilities in energy manipulation and almost complete control over matter through the energy control.  Plus there is the fact that he knows our bosses and they owed him a favor and that's kinda why we're here today."

 

Frederic suddenly chuckled.

 

At the confused looks he got from all around he explained.  "Sorry, it's just refreshing to see that "Willow Babble" attacks are more common than we've encountered.  It was one of the things that endeared me to our Willow."

 

GS-Buffy smiled brightly and took her redhead's hand.  "Tell me about it.  It's especially cute when she goes on for a while and she turns this delightful shade of red..."

 

"Buffy!" Wiccan exclaimed and shot her wife a reproachful glare, but soon faded into a smile and soft blush at the Gold Slayer's returning looks of lust.

 

Frederic laughed openly once again and sighed.  "So, on your world you and Buffy are... "together"?" Frederic asked Willow.

 

Wiccan smiled gaily and nodded happily.  Buffy's expression however, lost some of it's gaiety as she turned and asked in a neutral tone, "You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

 

"Why would I?" Frederic asked, laughing. "It's your life, do with it as you please. Besides, It's not as if I don't have friends or acquaintances who are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, all of the above, miscellaneous, or none of the above," he finished with a chuckle.

 

Jennifer laughed, as did the Master Slayers present. Slayer Team laughed, a little relieved.

 

"Don't worry, Buffy," Frederic went on to GS. "We know there are people out there who judge on that kind of thing, but you won't find any of those in the rank of the Master Slayers. We judge on who and what you are, not on who you go to bed with every night."

 

"Yeah," MS-Buffy agreed. "Besides, it's not as if we haven't 'experimented' ourselves," she admitted with a distant look in her eyes and a goofy smile on her face.

 

"Oh! Buffy!" MS-Willow choked, turning red. "That... that was a very private thing, and I don't think you should have told them about that kind of private thing, seeing that it's something that I thought we'd keep to ourselves, seeing that it's private..."

 

"Will, breathe," MS-Buffy told Willow gently, who suddenly drew in a deep gulp of breath. MS-Buffy smiled, grabbed the redhead in a sideways hug at the same time. "They're friends, Will. They're doing it themselves."

 

Willow nodded, cast a glance at Slayer Team, and said, "Next time, warn me you're going to spill?"

 

MS-Buffy chuckled. "Deal," she said, planting a small kiss on the top of Willow's nose, and straightening out.

 

GS-Buffy then blurted with a completely straight face and level tone of voice, "We have orgies every weekend with myself, Willow, Faith, Xander, Cordelia, and when they're up to it, Steve St. Wolf and his wife Kathy St. Wolf."

 

That drew everyone's attention, even those that hadn't been paying attention until now.  Slowly the Slayer Team turned one by one to look at the Sunnydale Slayers.  Specifically at Buffy001 and Willow001.

 

"You win," Buffy001 said with a slightly sick look on her face.

 

"Yea-yeah!" Willow squeaked.  "Like we said, we... we've only "experimented".  Not declared an all out lifestyle.  You have orgies?  With Xander?"

 

"Hey!  You try satisfying two Slayers at once! Believe me, it ain't easy.  Particularly when there's only one of me and two of them.  By the way, have you noticed that one of these Slayer's is Faith!? And our Cordelia isn't gay; she just likes Xander enough to put up with helping me out." Wiccan defended their "life style".

 

"Not to mention she's jealous and protective as what you people would call Hell when it comes to me.  Especially since Faith started hitting on me after she first got here." Xander elaborated to Willow's explanation.

 

"Plus she likes Willow giving her mind-numbing orgasms," GS-Buffy continued in monotone.

 

Cordelia001's eyes shot wide and she and Willow001 shot fearful, and blushing, glances at each other.  "Uhh..." Cordelia tried to speak.

 

Suddenly Gold Slayer burst out into hysterical laughter, and had she been standing, she would have fallen to the ground and began rolling around.  Several other people, save Buffy001, Willow001, Cordelia001.

 

"You... you mean... you...!" Buffy001 stuttered.

 

Sitting up, but still laughing hysterically, her double tried to form an answer to the question she knew the Master Slayer was trying to ask.  "What... (laughing)... what I mean is,(gasp), what we are laughing about is the look on your faces when I said that we had orgies!" The Gold Slayer quickly fell back into her laughter.

 

"Oh hah. Hah." the three flaming red Master Slayers muttered deathly.

 

"Oh come on lighten up you three.  I'm sure she was just joking," Frederic tried to alleviate their sour moods.

 

"Well actually, we do have orgies every weekend, when we're not on a mission anyway.  I just like saying it like that to see what kind of reaction we get from our doubles.  You'd be surprised at how many barely bat an eye at it.  But their faces were just so funny!" Buffy fell back into gales of laughter.

 

Frederic stopped laughing when he realized what they had confessed to, then continued chuckling softly, the way he did when he met something interesting.

 

"Okay, now that we've had the tension relieved," Frederic spoke once most of the laughter had died down, "should we get back to business?  Buffy," directing the comment at the Master Slayer, "What brought these guys to your attention?  Was there a guardian there?"

 

Buffy001 shook her head. "We sensed their arrival.  And… it was not a very nice sensation."

 

"Actually, it was something else. We were investigating an Influx in a parallel universe. But, there was something different about it," Wiccan explained. "Instead of it being a simple 'hole' that needed to be plugged, this one was a portal of some kind. We found ourselves here, where we bumped into our doubles."

 

Frederic's left eyebrow lifted. "Hmm... the Influx has become interdimensional, probably connecting the different influxes together, forming a portal system."

 

Ami, Rei, Daphnix, Borlan, and Linda, who had been playing volleyball, came over due to the earlier laughter.  As had the twins, but they had come over when Gabriel had given his report.

 

“Showing off again?" Rei asked Buffy001 with a chuckle as she sat down, leaning against Borlan as she did so.  Daphnix and Ami sat down together as well, while Linda sat down next to Frederic.

 

"We only did that once!" Buffy001 screamed.

 

"Actually, twice," Willow001 reminded her friend, causing the others to chuckle slightly at Buffy's faint blush.

 

"There's a problem," Frederic told the new arrivals. "This group of doubles is traveling with some sort of scientist who tried to plug dark portals with something he called an 'influx'. Only, the thing backfired, and we've got holes of dark energy erupting all over the place. They've been plugging those holes. So far so good. Only, the last hole they came across wasn't a hole, but a portal. It looks like the influxes have connected to each other, feeding off each other."

 

"Original idea... but I do wish that he had gotten us involved," Ami said, shaking her head. "It can not be a good idea to try something this revolutionary without the proper backup."

 

"Hey, now!" Wiccan interrupted. "According to him, he started it a 1000 years ago. So, I don't think you were around then."

 

It was Rei who reacted. "Actually, we were around 1000 years ago."

 

"Meet Rei and Ami, Sailors Mars and Mercury, reborn princesses of Mars and Mercury," Frederic introduced. "And these are some of the other members of the team. Linda, holographic life form created by me for the original purpose of running the fleet. Borlan, holographic battle-oriented Logical Analyzer, the AI designed to fight and protect... and currently heavily involved with Rei," he added with total superfluously as the two were sharing a kiss. "And this is Daphnix, third in command over the Jokilar Gerius, and the best tactician anyone can hope to find."

 

Buffy and Team just kinda stared, a bit dumbstruck at first before Buffy, unwisely, looked straight at Rei and asked with a kind of disbelief in her voice, "I'm sorry, who are you?"

 

"Buffy!" Willow hissed, slapping the Gold Slayer on the arm.

 

Buffy cringed under the action, but immediately rose to her own defense.  "Hey!  Well, sorry Wills, but come on!  I mean, everybody knows Ami!  Sailor Mercury is like second in command after Sailor V!  But Mars is supposed to be some girl named Alia!  And I don't even recognize this wildcat from any of the database!"

 

"Excuse me, but I am right here ya know!" Rei growled at the bickering couple.

 

"I'm sorry Miss Rei," Willow immediately apologized, but she was interrupted by Buffy getting to her feet.

 

"And another thing, why do you always have to hit me when I make a social goof!  You couldn't just casually psi-whisper to me to make a slight correction!  I do happen to listen to that kind of thing!" Buffy ranted.

 

Willow got to her feet and stood over the shorter, somewhat stockier, Slayer, her dreaded Resolve Face in place.  "I slap you because you really only respond to physical stimulus, and it would probably be better on you if you stopped pretending that they hurt!  Buffy, you can withstand over 90,000 microns of G-Forces, and nothing can actually penetrate your skin, so I don't know why—“

 

"ALL RIGHT!  That's enough!" Frederic had to raise his voice, not shout, but speak louder, to stop the two of them.

 

The two Furies looked up startled at the towering Phalanx, so caught up in their bickering that they had forgotten where they were, and whom they were with.  At Frederic's glare, they lowered their heads, blushing furiously with embarrassment.

 

"Calm down you two," Frederic said, tone gentler now that he had their attention. "Fighting amongst yourselves never solves anything. Now, why don't you explain what the problem is with Rei?"

 

"Yeah. Why am I not there in your team?" Rei asked, stepping up. "And what's with the Sailor V being in command thing? Only ones who are in command are either Ami or Usagi."

 

"Usagi?" Willow asked.

 

"Don't have her either?" Rei asked. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Great. An imposter as Sailor Mars and no Sailor Moon. That's all I need..."

 

Borlan put an arm around her shoulders. "Calm down, Love. You shouldn't let it get to you so much."

 

"Dimensional discontinuity, ARGH!!" Rei growled, throwing her arms in the air. "I feel like Janeway and Temporal Mechanics."

 

"Headache?" the Phalanx Team asked at the same time, followed by a chuckle. Rei grunted, and looked at the ground.

 

"I actually enjoy a good multi-dimensional physics problem," Willow answered Mars statement.  "Unfortunately, I can only recognize up to about 50 individual dimensions, and it’s when they get blurred that I can only comprehend, without help from my link with Buffy and the others, only about 29 or so.  Usually less."

 

"I have no problems with seeing doubles, triples, quads, or higher," Rei muttered. "I have problems with goofy universes where the rules are off so much it's not even funny any more. I mean, the standard Sailor Senshi team is Moon, Usagi, Venus, Minako, Mercury, Ami, Mars, that's me, and Jupiter, that's Makoto. And then there's the Outers, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and every once and a while we encounter the Senshi of Destruction. But I've never... ever... encountered a team where there's no Moon Princess, Venus is still called Sailor V, and Mars is an imposter!!" Rei grunted. She shook her head. "Doesn't matter."

 

"Yes, it does," Buffy001 replied with a smile. "You enjoy the freakiness as long as it's us who gets freaked. Now it's your turn."

 

Rei grunted something under her breath. The Sunnydale Master Slayers chuckled.

 

Frederic and the twins raised their eyebrows, indicating their impressed state.  "That's impressive Willow.  Maybe we can show you some games that my kids developed to help them pass the time," Frederic offered with a smile.  Willow smiled back and nodded her thanks.

 

By now everyone standing had settled back to the ground, not feeling the anxiousness to depart and investigate the problems in 001 just yet.  "Fred, I apologize for... having a spat with Willow in front of you.  It was rude and uncalled for... well, actually I think that it was called for, but Wills never agrees with me when she's the bad guy..."

 

"Buffy?" Wiccan asked, an expectant look on her face.  GS-Buffy realized what she was doing and flushed with embarrassment before just ducking her head and adding a short, "Sorry," before sitting still and remaining silent for the remainder of the time.

 

"That's all right Buffy;" Frederic accepted her apology, "Believe me, you aren't the first couple to make such a... what did you call it... "social goof"?"  Several of the gathered couples, including Buffy and Angel, matched Gold Slayer's color in seconds.

 

"Now, before we pack camp and check out these 'Dark Influxes' that have invaded my realm," Everyone that knew Frederic knew he was pissed, just by the way he held his eyes and spoke the words, "is there anything else that we need to know or be made aware of?"

 

The Slayer Team glanced back and forth between each other, before a couple gazes landed back on Willow, Buffy's included.  Frederic took this to mean that Willow would be the spokesperson, for the time, and he looked to her as well.

 

"Well, as far as the Influx information, I don't have all of it.  I mean, I can perceive and identify them, but I'm only just beginning to understand the physics behind them.  Joshua is the one you need to speak with on that sort of thing.  Now as for our experiences with the Guardians that are produced," Willow began, "No Influx reproduced the same type or style of Guardian.  Of course, they were obviously all separated from each other, so with these two, and maybe even all the remaining three, connected, that may change.  In some universes, the Dark Influxes corrupted the local populace and surrounding demonic and dark forces, making the entire place chaos, which meant we spent more time saving the public than holding off the bigger threats.  Then there is what we've been calling the usual method.  Right at the location of the Dark Influx, a... spawning ground... is formed and something akin to a termite egg, only about the size of a three story house, shows up outta nowhere and within twelve hours to the 'hatching' of the Dark Influx itself, the Guardian's egg hatches.  For the single ones, they're always larger than normal, the average reaching about halfway between a full male and an adolescent Giant's height.  Not all of them, but it’s about the average.  A couple were bigger than Godzilla after a growth spurt.  All of them had unique abilities, except for the transformed populace.  They were all turned into hellspawns, and I'm sure, having your experiences, are more than familiar with those types of things."

 

"Question?" Willow001 asked her counterpart.  Wiccan looked expectantly at her.  "Do you mean 'human metamorphed to hellspawn' or 'Hell SPAWN'?"

 

At the confused look reflected back, Xander001 helpfully added, "You’ve seen the movie ‘SPAWN' based on the comic book?"  At that, Wiccan's eyes lit up with understanding.

 

"Oh no!  I mean humans metamorphed.  That kinda demon doesn't visit our world too often.  Not to mention that Necroflesh disintegrates around ki auras.  Or at least... Buffy's ki aura." the red haired mage-crafter answered.

 

"Any thing else?" Wiccan asked after a moment.

 

"What can we expect from this 'Joshua'?" Jennifer asked.

 

Again the Slayer Team shared glances until they all looked to Willow again.  "Well... he's kinda hard to explain.  I guess you'll just have to see for yourself," Wiccan then smirked at the Sunnydale Slayer, repeating, nearly, what they had said about Shadow.

 

"Fair enough," Frederic said, getting up. He looked at Ami. She nodded. The next instant, the other Master Slayers appeared.

 

"You've got to admit that interdimensional telepathy is a good thing," Xander001 said at the shocked looks of the newcomers.

 

"Have you been fully briefed?" Frederic asked. The group nodded grimly. "Okay. Since we don't know what we'll be going into, let's go in with full protection."

 

He balled his fists. So did everybody else, except for the twins, and Xander's smile was radiant. "Yee-hah!" he shouted as the ground shook underneath them.

 

Hey, now! No Altering my ground, please!! LOBO shouted. At the exact same time, a HUGE block of some kind of shining metal appeared a little off to the group.

 

"Cool, Octanium," Buffy001 said, looking at the block.  The next moment, the block glowed in rainbow-colored Alter energies, and broke appear into 24 streams of matter energy, which blasted towards the group, twisting and turning around them, before settling. At the same time, the bodies of the Master Slayers were glowing as well, and right before the energies coagulated on them, their bodies seemed to break apart as well.

 

The light show was over in five seconds. Slayer Team stared. Twenty-four Jokilar Gerius had gone full Alter Armor in front of them.

 

Frederic removed his helmet. The others followed. The helmets vanished until needed again.

 

"Okay. Now we're ready. Let's go pay this Joshua fellow a visit," Frederic rumbled. 

 

 

 

Sunnydale: U001 of Sector STC/4P7-Ω

 

 

 

The trip was instantaneous, so therefore wasn't much of a trip.  The destination however, left much to be desired.  Free Springs Park, where Slayer Team had arrived.

 

"Uh, this is where we entered your universe," Buffy pointed out as they all looked around at where they had landed.  Buffy looked to a specific spot and walked over to where the tail end of the vortex had been, the willow trees in the distance.  "And here is the Dark Influx.  Or the other side of the portal anyway.  It actually doesn't feel like an Influx on this end."

 

Ami, her helmet briefly flashing a brighter blue across the visor, stepped forward and quickly analyzed the spot that Gold Slayer had indicated.  After less than twenty seconds, "She's right.  I'm only detecting faint traces of evil energy, nothing that you wouldn't find anywhere else on the Hellmouth.  It could be that the Dark Influx is situated in that universe they were originally in, and it simply flung them into our universe without actually having to connect with this spot, just our universe."

 

Frederic and several others nodded.  The twins had stayed behind on SpaCECoB, going to the control room actually, figuring that maybe their help would be more needed with LOBO's scanners rather than being a burden with the Jokilar Gerius.  Frederic, in full Alter armor, didn't have to touch anything; he just activated his communication probe and asked aloud, "LOBO?  Joshua isn't here.  Is everything all right?"

 

This was the last location that I have even a sensor ghost of a being that could remotely be this Joshua they are talking about.  And I've run multiple scans.  Other than some particles that I have yet to identify, as they run in an energy spectrum I only discovered ten minutes ago, there would appear to be no trace of this being anywhere in 001.

 

"Try using the visual scanners," Frederic suggested.

 

Instantly, Found him.  Relocating And before anybody could register the change, they all found themselves in a back alley somewhere in Sunnydale's warehouse district.  And standing right before them, dressed in rather casual dress of a royal blue silk shirt and dark blue denim jeans and black jogging shoes, was the infamous Joshua.

 

He was just standing there in the middle of the alley, looking up to about ten feet in the air.  He spoke before any of them could move.

 

"Hi.  I was wondering when you would get here.  I like the entrance by the way, very colorful."

 

"Thanks..." Frederic walked up to Joshua, stood next to him, and looked at the same spot in the sky. “Nice hole you got there, Joshua. You always did know how to get yourself into trouble,” Frederic stated calmly, none of the Gerius looking at him, but at the spot. The reason why Joshua and Slayer Team stared at the man was simple.  He had spoken in the ancient language of the Jokilar Gerius.

 

“We never met Fred–” Joshua said calmly, about to continue when Frederic cut him off.

 

“Actually, we did,” Frederic replied. “19 billion years ago, you met the old Gerius, the spirit of which guided us when we first activated. Right now, we’ve progressed so far beyond the original Gerius the spirit can no longer help us. But… we can still draw knowledge from it.”

 

Joshua then smiled broadly and nodded in understanding.  "Well, recall the Incaddy Incursion event..." Joshua retaliated.

 

Frederic snapped before the others expected it, "That was not my fault!  And I did say thank you." Frederic said before starting to laugh.  Joshua as well began to laugh and then the two supreme beings embraced one another like long-lost brothers, still laughing happily with one another.

 

"So, Bro, what did you do this time? Wiccan said something about Dark Influxes, and trying to plug holes like the Hellmouth. By the way, I really wish you would have gotten us involved in this."

 

"I couldn't. You weren't around then, and the Gods said..."

 

"You're thinking laterally again, Bro... remember.  We're here now. Which means we are. It's no biggie to travel back and help out. Unfortunately, the event has already happened. Traveling back now would create a temporal regression wave that could tear the multiverse to shreds." Frederic turned and glanced amusedly at Joshua. "And when did the word of God ever stop us?" he asked, laughing.

 

Joshua laughed along with him before answering, "Oh, maybe since they kicked me back in here and told me to stay until they said otherwise."  At Fred's confused, and at the same time shocked look, Joshua waved off the concern with, "Ah, don't worry about it.  Most godlings and things like me prefer spending time Inside anyway.  And it was more or less a Divine decree that said that Frederic Fromthefield and I could not meet unless allowed to by the Wise One.  <shrug> It wasn't until this happened to hit a little too close to home for them that they finally dropped it and said I could.  By the way Savior, uh, am I still..."

 

Frederic suddenly had a mischievous grin on his face and barely nodded, which put a big smile, not evil or mischievous, just genuine, on Joshua's face.  “As for what happened, well, what you said.  It's not my fault!" Joshua was suddenly dead serious.  "Here, see for yourself," Joshua then held out his hand and suddenly there was a flash of light and then a blue energy cube was suddenly about half a foot over his extended hand held up by more blue energy ribbons.

 

Frederic nodded and held his same hand directly over the cube and then pushed his hand down until the cube was inside his hand.  Blue energy electricity shocked across Frederic's eyes and Jennifer momentarily blinked in surprise as she too received the information download at a shocking rate.  Even for them.  Less than ten seconds after, Frederic removed his hand, the blue energy completely gone.

 

The Universal Savior nodded in empathy with his old friend.  "I see what you mean.  You did everything necessary to contain the potential threat of your experiment.  You even implemented some things that only we would think of, not to mention came up with a few of your own I see.  There is no reason for this threat to exist as it does." Frederic agreed darkly.

 

"Which brings forth..." Joshua led the question.

 

"Why does it exist?" Ami finished the question in everyone's minds.

 

"Sentience?" Wiccan suddenly asked, bringing multiple eyes to her.

 

"I've thought of that, and it is possible, but we've seen no evidence of it as yet," Joshua answered.

 

"Doesn't dismiss it, but still leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions," Frederic agreed.

 

"Whatever it is, we need to stop it. Like yesterday," Gerius-Buffy said. "When they got here, we felt it... the entire unvierse001 screamed out in pain. It felt... it felt..." she struggled to bring it under words, and she closed her eyes. "Like rape."

 

"That's it!" Willow shouted. "That's the word I've been looking for! Yes, that's it exactly... like the Universe was raped when the portal simply exploded our new friends here into it."

 

Frederic let out a breath. "Never let me accuse you of doing half work, Bro," Frederic grunted to Joshua.  "When you do something, you do it right." He looked up at the hole. He could see clearly how the universe eddied around it, his Gerius-senses going haywire with the force of it. "Those things must be stopped. As soon as possible."

 

"Wait a minute... when you say 'it feels like' do you mean it 'feels' like as in sensing it or do you really mean it feels like?" GS-Buffy asked her counterpart.

 

"It feels like," Gerius-Buffy answered shakingly, emotions blazing across her hazel eyes that Gold Slayer didn't want to compare right now. "We're aligned with the Universe around us... usually, that's a good thing. The Universe protects us. In this case, it's a bad thing. We can feel its pain..."

 

GS-Buffy blinked in surprise, before a heavy emotion filled her own hazel orbs.  "Oh."  She then understood why she, other than Joshua, among her team was the only one to naturally sense the Dark Influxes.  And why she felt so cold around them.

 

"I know, and completely agree with you Savior, and I'm doing the best that is possible.  But until the Dark Influxes "hatch" so to speak, there's not a damn thing that can be done about them.  The way it is, there is a level of pure Ether surrounding what is the actual Dark Influx that slowly wears away as the Dark Influx absorbs more dark energy and continues to grow.  Only after it breaks out of this "egg" if you will, can anything be done about it.  What you are undoubtedly feeling is the reaction of both the Ether and Space/Time, and the Force, to the mere presence of the Influx.  Kinda like... a flock of birds taking flight when there's a forest fire.  The fire isn't to them just yet, but they know its coming and so they react." Joshua calmly explained, as though a doctor explaining a disease or a procedure.

 

"Are you trying to tell us what the universe is feeling because of this thing?" Gerius-Buffy screamed.

 

Joshua stared soberly back at the Divine Master Slayer.  "I know what it's feeling Buffy.  I know just as well as you do."  And there was no doubt among any that what he said was completely true.  "And I've also felt it when the Influxes are actually open and causing the chaos that they do.  You think it's bad now?"

 

Joshua took a deep breath and appeared to shake himself.  "Sorry.  Sometimes you can't help but distance yourself, ya know?"  There were agreeing nods, including from Frederic himself.

 

"Anyway," Joshua continued, "there is no way that we can take these things out until they hatch.  I've tried.  Believe me... I've tried." Joshua's voice caught a little but no emotions showed on his face.  "It doesn't absorb energy, it doesn't deflect it, and it doesn't catch it or dissipate it.  If you shot your most powerful combined blast... it wouldn't make a dent.  In fact it'd be the same as shooting at nothing but Dark Matter or empty space.  You're more than welcome to try, but all you'll succeed in doing is damaging the surrounding area..."

 

Before he had finished the sentence though, more than half of the combined Jokilar Gerius drew their Banes of Darkness and started forward towards the source of evil energy, intent on wiping it out with one stroke.  Or two if it came to it.

 

"Abort," Frederic said on a normal tone. "I don't want to run any risks. A Blast of the Heavens can either wipe Sunnydale in every dimension, or, worst case scenario, it can wipe Sunnydale and open the Hellmouth. Also in every dimension."

 

The Gerius nodded, sheathed their weapons, and returned to their positions. Slayer Team stared at the level of discipline. No arguments, whines, or groans.  Just... acceptance, and that was it.

 

"Ami? What've you got so far?" Frederic asked.

 

"It goes to 254," the girl said. "For the rest, I'm afraid Joshua's right. If we blast it, the Blast will just go through the hole, and vaporize Sunnydale in 254. All our senses are giving off signs that are insane. Magic says it's a black hole. Universal Detection claims it's a white hole, barking out energy and matter in tremendous quantities. A Mental Scan claims it's alive, while the Force says it's a long-dead body of an alien planet." She looked at Frederic, and shrugged helplessly. "I can't make head or tails out of it."

 

"And it's only going to get worse," Gerius-Willow said. "In the last ten minutes, the Ether-shield around it has deteriorated by .012%, giving it a hatching time of around 5 weeks from now by my calculations. Bad news is that the influx in the Universe is increasing. It's pulling tremendous resources to keep things together.  By the time it hatches, in every universe connected by these... Dark Influx Portals, for the lack of a better term, we will be unable to provide universal protection.  We'll be down to Interdimensional Psychics, Force, Magic, Ether, and Astrallity."

 

Those of the Jokilar Gerius who hadn't been scanning, and therefore didn't know the bad news already, stared in fear and shock at Willow and Ami. All but Frederic and Jennifer. She was impassive. He was smiling slightly.

 

"Y'know... every one of those guys is scared shitless.  But he looks like he's having fun," Spike grunted to his Xander.

 

"That's because this is fun," Frederic replied to the vampire. His smile was totally evil. "We have surpassed the odds before. We have done the impossible, time and time again, and we shall do so one more! Nothing in the multiverse can stand against the Gerius, and we shall prove it."

 

"But without Dimensional Protection, we're down 50% on shield strength," Ami said.

 

Frederic shrugged. "Any enemy worth fighting can break Dimensional Protection anyway. It's good against lesser gods, but god Kings or Higher Destroyers make short work of Dimensional Protection.  That's why we have all those other powers," Frederic answered calmly. He looked back at the Portal. "And you... you'd better not mess with us. Because if you do... you'll see WHY the mere mention of our name sends the strongest of God cowering in fear, and why the mere glimpse of our power sends a Destroyer running!"

 

Joshua stared at Frederic with something akin to a calculating gaze as the Universal Savior spoke.  When he finished, Joshua smirked and said almost teasingly, "I'm glad to see the philosophy hasn't changed much, but what's the second thing that you always used to say, Savior?"

 

Frederic immediately returned the teasing grin as his eyes briefly glazed over in memory.  Then, all the Gerius, Frederic, and Joshua, speaking as one said "And what's the fun in not beating the impossible every day?" followed immediately by rounds of laughter in what had been a darkly tense atmosphere.

 

Certain members of the Slayer Team, namely not Buffy, Wiccan or Watcher, exchanged concern looks before Spike put into words what they were thinking, "Corr, they're as bad as Slayer!  And he is having fun because he's going up against the impossible, the unknown, and what may or may not be the unbeatable?"  The next statement, fortunately, made that question go unanswered.

 

"All right, so we know what it is and what it's doing," GS-Buffy put in when the laughter had died down, "but we still have no clue as to why it's doing what it is, and what the final result will be when, or if, the final three Dark Influxes hatch on interconnected universes."

 

"Buffy's right," Joshua said regretfully.  "We're still at a major disadvantage because we don't know anything beyond the basics.  Fortunately, we have just over five weeks to get as much information as we can, and that's about five weeks, 23 hours, 60 minutes, and 99 microseconds more than I'm used to dealing with in getting info on a potential disaster."  Joshua then turned to Frederic, "So Savior, it's your universe, and although my show, for this scene I'm handing the reins to you. What do you suggest we do?"

 

"We know people on 254," Frederic said. "I think we should go warn them that their world is about to become a whole lot darker than it already is."

 

"We can't use the Portal... it's too strenuous on the Universe around," Ami said. "I suggest we use either LOBO's re-locator or the Gerius-power to shift dimensions."

 

"Agreed," Frederic answered. "You guys go ahead... I'll come in later."

 

The Gerius dipped their heads, while Joshua simply looked curious at his friend. Slayer Team just shrugged it off. The next moment, the entire group, minus Frederic and Jennifer, were standing next to the portal in 254.

 

"Let's surprise them," Frederic whispered to Jennifer as he drew her close, and in for a kiss.

 

"I like it when you go 'devious', Love," his wife answered.

 

Frederic smirked, and shifted into Shadow. She turned, so she was standing side-by-side with Jennifer. Shadow closed her eyes, and lifted her hands. That alone told Jennifer enough... Shadow never closed her eyes.

 

In front of the two women, a portal opened, fully in synch with the two universes it connected, a swirling vortex of annihilating nether and uber-realities swirling in a shiny amber-blue vortex. Around the wormhole in which physics literally had no meaning, a bright red band of shining energy was visible, consisting out of billions of small energy tendrils of Astral Energy designed to protect the surrounding Universe from damage.

 

Shadow and Jennifer stepped through. On the other side, they embraced, and kissed warmly, before Shadow turned to the 'transport vortex', and whispered, "In the name of the Jokilar Gerius, I thank thee." The hole disappeared.

 

 

 

The Slayer Team and Master Slayers arrived on 254 without any problem, except maybe one.  "Ooops, forgot about the time change," Buffy001 muttered as they looked around at the dark/early morning alley.

 

Joshua arrived a moment later, first as a floating blue spark of pure energy, which quickly began to expand and then coalesced into the human form he'd had on 001.  Just after Joshua settled in and adjusted his jacket some, the windstorm that was the Dimension Door of Shadow opened in 254.

 

After the two women stepped through, they embraced, and kissed warmly, before Shadow dispelled the transport vortex.

 

< Sweet Mama! > Slayer suddenly cursed, unknowingly so that anyone with mental powers could hear her, at the sight of the raven haired vision of erotic and natural poise French-kissing a woman that she knew to be happily married to the man that was supposed to be helping them.

 

'Helloooooo Shadow,' Joshua privately thought, making extra sure that even if anyone was trying to listen in on his thoughts that they couldn't hear him, or at least understand what he was thinking.  He also made doubly sure to keep his expression as neutral as possible, though he couldn't help noticing that both women stared lovingly into the other's eyes for several long seconds after breaking the kiss.  Then Shadow noticed Buffy.

 

"Who.  Is that?" Gold Slayer quietly, mostly because her voice couldn't be raised any higher under Shadow's return stare, asked her counterpart beside her.

 

"That's Shadow," the other Buffy answered sterilely, though she was having conflicting reactions in her own gut.  Surprise and affection at the sight of her two leaders expressing their love for each other so openly.  And complete and total terror at the expression on the prior's face.

 

GS-Buffy's face lit up as she recognized the name as the "other" Leader of the Gerius, and vaguely recalled Fred mentioning something about her being "his partner" or something along those lines.  By that time, Shadow had reached the spot directly in front of the wide-eyed Buffy, who the entire time had been shifting her gaze up and down the warrior's feminine form, noting the identical armor as on all the other Master Slayers, yet at the same time fit her curves in such a way that it added a higher arousing appeal than when Buffy looked at the other female Gerius.

 

"Is there a problem?" Shadow asked in her natural voice. It was a voice the others had grown used to... the cold infliction of sheer power that radiated from it could peel the Quadranium hull from a ship.

 

Gulping audibly, Buffy slowly shook her head.  "No, no problem whatsoever."

 

"Then what's with the look?" Shadow growled.

 

"What look?" Buffy innocently remarked.  Shadow squinted her eyes in warning.

 

Buffy shrugged and grinned sheepishly.  "What, I can't appreciate a drop-dead gorgeous female body when it's right in front of me?  All I'm doing is standing here.  And looking."

 

"One of the many instances I'm glad I never taught you that x-ray vision trick," the green-clad Willow muttered.  She shut up at both Shadow's and Buffy's stares.

 

They turned back to one another, Shadow standing a little over Buffy, forcing the blonde to look up.  After an extremely tense silence, Buffy blurted, "What?!"

 

Shadow frowned further and simply said, "I do not like to be," she paused searching for a word that wouldn't make Spike blush and cover his mouth as most of the words she was thinking of would do that, "ogled.  Even if it is by another female.  And before you ask, let's just say I've had bad experiences in other's sexual attractions to me.  One in particular forced me to derail a train and break every major bone in his body."

 

Buffy's eyes widened as she understood Shadow's behavior now.  "Well... I would never take advantage of anybody like that, I can promise you.  I don't exactly go to strip clubs or grab women's butts as they pass... except Willow's ass or if Willow takes me to a strip club… and there was this one birthday where she..."

 

"Buffy!" the Willow in question screeched, flaming red.

 

"Ooops," Buffy put a hand over her mouth.  Shadow nearly cracked a smile at the "social goof" and the behavior of this new ally.  She decided to have some fun with her, provided Jen didn't object.  Shadow secretly smiled as she realized that this Buffy and Willow's relationship was somewhat similar to hers and Jennifers.  Jennifer was always holding Shadow back from making mistakes that Frederic never would, while at the same time helping her explore her sensuality in a way that only a loving spouse would.  The first time with her wife coming immediately to mind and leaving the eternal warrior with a slight grin at the memory.

 

Shadow shrugged. "Whatever."

 

Everyone in the surrounding group let a collective sigh out from a breath none of them had been aware they had been holding.  Then they sucked it back in when GS-Buffy asked, "So... do you think you and the missus would be willing to 'swing' some time?  In case ya didn't know, Will and I occasionally hang out with this other Immortal couple and we have some... fun on the weekends after special occasions.  Not to mention Xan and Cordy every weekend.  Which is a good thing in case you can't tell by my tone."

 

Shadow looked around at Jennifer, who smirked silently. Shadow grinned, and turned to GS-Buffy once again. "First off, I am loyal to her I have wed. And second... you wouldn't be able to handle me. Unless you enjoy being inside a black hole, and have billions of gravities on you." The warrior leaned closer, and said, "And thirdly... you just don't do 'it' for me."

 

GS-Buffy smirked at the female warrior.  "I don't do it for a lot of my doubles either, but they still swoon when I kiss them," she said confidently.  "And who says that you could handle me?" Buffy innocently added.

 

The whole Slayer team then groaned, most of them rolling their eyes, while Giles just made a coughing/choking sound and went to the other end of the alley.  Spike made the same noise, but added to it by throwing his arms up in the air and cursing in a multitude of human languages before saying, "This is the last thing I sodding need tonight!  I'm going to go kill something.  Preferably demonic!" before storming off in the direction Giles was.

 

Willow turned to the Master Slayers who did not know them yet, namely their non-doubles minus Ami and Rei, and explained their reactions, "Buffy's very... active when it comes to things of... this nature I guess you could say.  Being the Slayer, and an enhanced one at that, she tends to get..."

 

"Rowdy?" Jonny offered.

 

"Hungry and horny?" Rocky offered next.

 

"A wild animal?" Makato suggested.

 

"...sexually competitive." Willow finished with a frown.  That gave the Master Slayers something to think about before they all breathed, "Oh."

 

"Believe me little girl, I'm over 250 years old, I'm definitely more than you can handle." Shadow snapped back, the twos' conversation continuing despite the reactions of the others.

 

"I've tuckered out older and most more experienced," Slayer retorted.

 

Shadow smiled, and moved still a little closer. "Like I've said... How well do you handle twenty-three billion times normal gravity?" she asked, deadly quiet and deadly serious.

 

Buffy opened her mouth to reply, but two people immediately stepped in to keep anything worse than a verbal slaying from happening.  Like Buffy being killed or Shadow actually inadvertently agreeing to what the Slayer was proposing.  Joshua stepped forward at the same moment Jennifer did, and put his hand over Slayer's mouth and literally dragged her back to the rest of her group.  Jennifer just put a simple hand on Shadow's shoulder to calm her back down.

 

"I'm really very sorry about that Shadow," Joshua apologized for the Slayer.  "Buffy quite often doesn't know what's bad for her.  Like hitting on the Universal Savior.  In any fashion."

 

Buffy stopped allowing herself to be dragged, and removed Joshua's hand.  "I thought Fred was the Universal Savior?" she asked, confused.

 

"I am," Shadow said simply before she rapidly morphed into her male form, back into Frederic.

 

"Oh," Buffy mumbled, a bit overwhelmed.  "I don't suppose you could change back into her, could you?" she immediately asked.

 

"Unless you're wanting to meet this black hole here dead on, I suggest you don't ask me that again," Frederic said with a smirk, holding up one of the hands Shadow had been holding behind her back.  Floating above it was, indeed, a tiny black hole, about the size of a tennis ball.

 

The four remainders of the Slayer Team stared at the object while Frederic dispelled it.  Wiccan noted that it was manifested by pure divine energy, and therefore wasn't a spell she could easily match anytime soon.  Warrior X noted that Frederic, contrary to him just twenty minutes ago in the very beautiful place they had first stopped at, was looking a bit... irritated.  He imagined that even if his forms had different personalities, that both didn't like it equally when stared at as nothing but a piece of meat.  Something Buffy was apparently forgetting at the moment.  Then he remembered that Buffy liked getting stared at as a big piece of meat and they all counted on looking like pieces of meat whenever hunting vampires.  Xander shook his head of that line of thought before he got himself anymore confused.

 

Dark Slayer didn't really mind the attitude, they had all seen it before from people that had pissed off Buffy or she had accidentally pissed off herself.  That was as normal as the wind blowing.  What got her was that Joshua looked kinda nervous when Freddie-boy had pulled out that weapon or whatever attack it might have been.  That didn't inspire too much confidence since it was this being who was now responsible for making damn sure they didn't die or stay dead longer than a few seconds if anything did happen.

 

Buffy was entirely silent, absorbing in the thoughts of the others as they reacted to the situation.  They all agreed that she had taken her flirting just a bit too far and she should either apologize, or go ahead and kill herself to save the pain.  She wasn't so sure that would help though.  She was more interested in what Shadow and Frederic had been threatening her with.  Over a billion gravities...

 

He turned to the others. "So, who's up for some breakfast, and for a round of planning’s?" he asked cheerfully.

 

Joshua rolled his eyes muttering under his breath, "19 billion years and he hasn't changed a bit."  He shook his head and kept Buffy from saying anything more.  Privately he added, < Let it go Buffy.  Just keep to the promise you made your double and stay out of Sorc's face and everything will be fine.  I hope. >

 

< How the heck do you know this guy anyway? > Buffy demanded.

 

< It's a long story, and I may end up telling you before the day is through.  Right now, get Giles and Spike back here so we can go.  I'll transport us as LOBO can't lock on to me, at least for another 3 to 4 minutes, then I'll have to translate myself to a new spectrum. > Joshua answered her.

 

Buffy just nodded and summoned the two wayward Englishmen.

 

“Well, I definitely am, at least on the eating part!” Buffy said smiling.  “And how about we do that as soon as possible?”

 

“I thought we were here to warn your friends in this universe though?” Warrior X pointed out.

 

Frederic nodded and looked around at the 3 AM darkness.  “I guess I forgot about the time difference.  There is none between 001 and 254.  Section 7 has probably turned in for the night as it is anyway, so we’ll have to wait for morning before spreading the good news about the latest bad news.” Frederic said cheerfully.

 

"Anyway," Frederic continued on his cheerful tone, "since we know where it goes now, and there's no immediate danger to this universe, let's all go back to SpaCECoB and confer. And maybe call in Sorc.  Evil dimensional energy run amuck is right up his alley."

 

Buffy arched an eyebrow, finally allowing her own reactions to surface.  "Yeah, we've heard about the Jerk-off.  I hope you don't mind if I'm... less than civil with him?" GS-Buffy allowed the furious passion she had when her double had threatened every living Dawn in existence to return to her eyes.

 

Frederic shrugged, waving off the insult to his own double.  "Not many are.  Especially me and my family.  So long as you stay on our good side, I think I can make sure that Sorc doesn't go after your sister or you because of your rudeness Buffy."

 

GS-Buffy grimaced and took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.  "I'm sorry," she said genuinely, every ounce of regret showing truthfully in her eyes now.  "I... went too far, and I regret that I made you uncomfortable.  Both of you." she added quickly.

 

Frederic smiled and nodded his head, then tilted it to the side before chuckling suddenly.  "Apology accepted, but Shadow warns you that she doesn't play flirting games and she is very serious about her loyalties.  All of them.  So if you manage to befriend my other half, you know you can count on her any time.  The trick is actually getting the chance to befriend her.  Consider yourself very lucky Buffy."

 

Buffy smirked, her confidence returning.  "There's no such thing as luck," unknowingly repeating the words of an old Jedi Master.  "And if there is, I make my own.  Thank you for accepting my apology.  Now can we get out of here?  I'm reeeeeaaalllly hungry!"

 

That brought a round of laughter from everybody, and Spike and Giles rejoined the group at Buffy's summons before they all disappeared into the thin air as Frederic had LOBO teleport them to his home on SpaCECoB.

 

Frederic just nodded, grinning, and ordered LOBO to deposit them in front of his home on SpaCECoB.  A split second before the Gerius instantly transmitted, Joshua and Slayer Team were already gone and there a split second after the Gerius had arrived.

 

 

 

Joshua whistled in appreciation as they all stared up at the exact replica of the Palais de Versailles, complete with gardens, and said with equal emotion, "Nice place Fred.  I used to have something like it on my homeworld.  Though I ended up spending most of my time at the office than there."

 

Frederic grinned. "This is the reception area for when we've got lots of guests. Lots of room. Anyway, let's call in Sorc, and have some breakfast." Frederic blinked. "There. Sorc's been notified. I wonder how long it'll take him-" Frederic's words were cut off when a portal opened right in front of the group, depositing a lone figure dressed in black.

 

"And you people call me a megalomaniac," the Frederic double said, ignoring the stares of the strangers as he motioned for Versailles 2. "At least I don't go around pretending I'm the Sun King, Louis XIV."

 

Frederic shrugged and smiled. "We needed the room.  Anyway, we've got ourselves a situation... have you reviewed the data I sent you?"

 

"Yeah, three times already... before I got here. Looks cool." He turned to Joshua. "I am beginning to like you. You work on a large scale when you're trying to blow up the multiverse... I can appreciate someone with a good sense of enterprise." Before the being could respond, Sorcerer put his hands in his pockets, and nonchalantly started walking towards the palace.  Frederic could barely contain his laughter when Joshua gave the Universal Savior an incredulous look and simply arched an eyebrow, as though asking "is this guy for real?!". The Gerius followed suit, all of them in more or less similar moods.

 

"I know that we're often viewed as egotistical, insane, power-insane vigilantes when we go to parallel universes," GS-Buffy was saying to those that were still in hearing range, "But compared to you freaks, we're the gray people!"  She then followed the rest of the Slayers into the literal castle.

 

"Thank you," Hadji, always the most polite of the Gerius in all circumstances, even when destroying an enemy, replied as he appeared next to the young Slayer.  GS-Buffy spared him a sidelong glance, and then smirked mischievously.  "It wasn't a compliment."

 

"I know," Hadji replied zenly.  Buffy just grinned further and followed along to the Main Dining hall.

 

"So, what does everyone want?  I'm cooking!" Frederic announced with a big grin when they reached the elaborate room.

 

GS-Buffy raised her hand, and almost beginning to regret dealing with the Golden Slayer, Frederic merely looked pointedly at her.  "You got any genuine Viking gruel?" she asked curiously with a tilt to her head.

 

Frederic grinned in response and answered, "I've got you one better.  One 'Shadow's Breakfast' is about the same on flavor on gruel, but with better energy efficient.  One canister can keep a normal mortal going solid for seven days with no sleep, minimum.  I use it instead of coffee."

 

GS-Buffy raised her eyebrows at the concept, but was kept from answering as her counterpart suddenly blurted, "Fred, I know we're Gerius and that means we're invincible now, and that my double is immortal herself, but we can't stand that shit!  What are you trying to do?  Kill her?"

 

Frederic looked at the Buffy but didn't say anything, until GS-Buffy suddenly spoke, "Sure, I'm willing to try some.  Sounds... healthy," she chirped.

 

"All right, everybody else?" Frederic looked around the room.

 

"Since you probably don't have my favorite, no thanks, I already ate," Sorcerer said as he merely went to his usual seat when he was invited over to a meal at Frederic's home.

 

Joshua just grinned and merely shook his head to the negative.  At the potential harsh glares he saw forming, he quickly answered, "I don't have a body.  Don't need to eat.  I just absorb energy from numerous sources.  Thanks though."  Frederic just shrugged and quickly took the orders for the rest of the people present.

 

Slayer Team expected him to walk into the kitchen.  Sorcerer expected him to go into the kitchen.  Instead, Frederic closed his eyes, focusing on something that was obviously far away.

 

A 'hole' in space opened in front of him. He pushed his hand in. When he withdrew it, he was holding a dish. Slayer Team looked on as Frederic passed dishes around for everyone save for GS-Buffy and Sorcerer. He withdrew a silver cylinder.

 

"Here you go, Buffy," Frederic said, throwing her to container. And finally, he reached in, only to withdraw a life animal. It had reptilian-like scales, colored a bright red. A pair of gray eyes angrily scanned the room, and flames escaped its nostrils. A pair of bat-like wings on the creature's back flapped angrily.

 

"Here, Sorc. One live dragon young," the man said, throwing the animal to Sorcerer, who deftly caught it, and in the same motion, broke the creature's neck.

 

"Cool," the man grinned, eyes lighting up in glee.  "You may be an asshole with the most disturbing jobs in the multiverse, but you do know how to throw a party," Sorcerer said, grinning widely, right before sucking one eyeball out of its socket, and he started to slowly chew it.

 

"That's disgusting," GS-Buffy commented, while adding to her Willow, < At least it's a Dark Vein breed.  Fragnar would never forgive us if we allowed any other dragonling life to be wasted so easily. > She received a flash of empathy from her link and then they both turned to their meals.  Buffy popped open the canister, and had to admit that the odor that flowed from the opening was rather pungent, and then she just threw back her head and started guzzling down the concoction.

 

Everyone stopped what they were doing, even Sorcerer, as they watched what could only be a miracle.  Someone other than Shadow and Frederic drinking a "Shadow's Breakfast" like it was water!  "And you called me disgusting?" Sorcerer asked as he turned a little green when a small trail escaped from the side of Buffy's lips.

 

"Impressive, wouldn't you say Love?" Jennifer asked, turning to Frederic.

 

"Huh?" Frederic looked down from his own gallon-sized canister of the same concoction.  Then he looked across the table at Buffy.  He grinned and shrugged.  "She must burn a lot of energy to be guzzling it down that fast."

 

"She's a Slayer," was the instant and near unanimous reply from six of the eight visitors (Sorc included as Visitor).

 

"What's that got to do with anything?" Gerius-Buffy replied.

 

DS-Faith snorted and answered over her steak smothered in ketchup, "Everything."

 

Frederic shrugged. "Whatever,” he said easily before turning back to his own breakfast.  “Doesn't really matter."

 

Sorcerer chuckled while noisily ripping one of the legs of the dragonling. He started sucking the meat from under the scales.  He pointed the half-eaten leg at Fred. "You know... one of these days, I have GOT to get used to that stuff. I mean, I have been drinking it on my away missions for some time now."

 

"Took Shadow not that long... a decade or two," Frederic answered levelly, chuckling as he emptied the canister, and dug into a stack of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup.

 

Sorcerer shrugged, and finished the dragon's leg. He put down the bones, and ripped the tail off the body. "Shouldn't take me more than a few more months, then.  Temporal violations are so much fun when you're suing something that doesn't leave drawbacks on the time-line coherence..."

 

< How is that stuff, anyway, B? > Dark Slayer asked her leader.

 

< Pretty good.  It's a bit more tart than what Ong fixed us at the farewell celebration, but it's definitely better than my attempts at recreating the stuff.  I'll have to ask for the recipe. > Gold Slayer answered.

 

< Buffy, have you noticed the... diversity, among Fred's forces?  And that his greatest enemy and closest ally is a universal double... > Wiccan inserted in on the sudden psychic conversation.

 

< ...who is total and complete evil, and oozes such bad vibes that there is no doubt in anyone's mind? > Gold Slayer finished for her wife.  < Yeah.  Why? >

 

< Well, first there's our doubles, then there are doubles... or at least alternate versions of the Sailor Soldiers, and over there is Jonny Quest, and two people beside him that I've seen in news reports with our worlds most prominent multi-gazillionaire business prodigy.  I can't recall their names just now... >

 

< Jessie Bannon, and Hadji Singh. > Gold Slayer answered immediately.  < Jessie is Jonny's father's bodyguard's daughter, and Hadji is the Premier of an Eastern Indian country, adopted by Dr. Quest when his father was killed in a coupe.  On our world, the opposite sort of happened, what with Dr. Quest being killed in that whole military deal, and George "Race" Bannon had to raise both his daughter and Jonny, until Jonny was kidnapped and then Hadji's father rescued Jonny and J&H grew up together, best friends.  I saw an expose on the Quest legacy last week... well, the week before we left anyway. >

 

< Guys... aren't those the Power Rangers?  Or were...or whatever? > Warrior X inserted directing attention to the last group of Gerius.

 

< Yeah.  What I can't get over is that Serena... sorry, Usagi, is an actual Sailor Soldier on whatever world they're from.  The team that we know... well, she's just the Moon Princess and they have to protect her.  Think we should mention that part? > Gold Slayer asked her team.

 

< Nah, you saw how that Mars reacted> X pointed out.  <I'm more interested in Shadow. >

 

< You and me both Xan, > Gold Slayer absently sent a wave of arousal throughout the link.  < BUFFY! > the other members of the team shouted at her.

 

"You know it's considered rude to hold private conversations when there's nothing to be private about," Jennifer scolded the Slayer Team.

 

GS-Buffy put down her second empty canister of the 'Breakfast' and put her elbows on the table and her head in her hands.  "Well, I thought you wanted me to "shut up and fall in line" like a good little soldier.  At least, that was the thought-impression that I got off of you, your majesty."

 

Buffy said back.  Jennifer frowned some, but the Buffy merely sat back in her chair and remained silent once more.

 

"Mistake number one kid, don't mess with Jennifer.  We're very protective of our mates," Sorcerer smirked as he finished "cleaning" the bones in front of him.

 

GS-Buffy smirked at the dark being now.  "You aren't the only ones," she warned with a dark undertone.

 

Sorcerer chuckled back evilly.  "Trust me; you don't want to mess with me kid.  I've eaten worse than you!" Sorcerer laughed at her attempts to intimidate him.

 

GS-Buffy just kept a steady gaze on the triple-Phalanx.  "And I've vaporized more obnoxious than you" she shot back.

 

Sorcerer burst out laughing. "You couldn't vaporize me if you tried, little girl. And yeah, I know I'm obnoxious. I thought they filled you in?" he asked, waving the dragon's tail at the Gerius, splattering purple blood around. He turned to Ami.

 

"Chief Brat, what in the name of the ten discontinuities of hell have you been telling her?"

 

Ami shrugged. "I didn't tell them anything..."

 

Gerius-Buffy swallowed. "Eh... it was me..."

 

Sorcerer fixed her with a stare that made her cringe.  "What... have you... told them?" the room darkened, and Slayer Team could feel the air thicken.  Breathing had become a chore.

 

Gerius-Buffy gulped. "You're an evil... anti-social... sociopathic... lunatic... whoblewuphisownuniverse?"

 

Sorcerer lifted an eyebrow, and shrugged.  The room returned to normal. "Close enough." he drained the tail, threw it down at the table, grabbed the remainder of the dragon, and literally, in one bite, shoved it down his esophagus. "Anyway, formal introduction... I am Lord Sorcerer, Conqueror of Evolved Combat Magic, Vanquisher of Marduk, Master Warp Mage, and Supreme Ruler of the Lost Universe." He sat down, and fixed his glare on GS-Buffy. "What that means is that I can rip out your soul, and use it as a power source. And since I am well familiar with the phrase 'dumb blonde', I shall explain it very... slowly. You see... no soul means no life," he said the last sentence as if explained quantum mechanics to a five-year-old.

 

The breath the Gerius let out wasn't lost on Slayer Team. Sorcerer looked at Frederic with a smile. "What? The most fun is in scaring the crap out of them.  Killing someone ain't fun unless you can see that look on their faces," Sorcerer said, laughing and pointing at the face of Wiccan, who had gone pale the moment he started to exert his power only a tiny bit.

 

"Wouldn't be the first time," Frederic muttered darkly.

 

Sorcerer shrugged. "True. But I'm not feeling 'evil overlord' right now. More Hannibal Lector than Darth Vader."

 

"Whatever," Frederic grunted. "Want another one?"

 

Sorcerer belched. "Sure. But make it one of those green ones... the red ones give me gas." As Frederic was about to reach into his temporal sinkhole again, Sorcerer stopped him. "Or rather... while you're at it... make it gold," he said, grinning evilly at GS-Buffy, seeing her face contort. "I can read minds, Slayer. Just because these other fools lock out those abilities does NOT mean that I am doing the same."

 

GS-Buffy stood to her feet, openly defying the Warp-Magician.  He only smirked at her as he caught the dragonling.

 

Frederic sighed, threw a squealing golden dragonling at Sorcerer, and said, "Here. Now stop reading their minds."

 

Sorcerer shrugged, and sucked the eye out of the squealing pup. As he munched, the dragon clawed his hands. "Damn, now I forgot to kill it," the man muttered after he had slowly chewed the eye and swallowed. "Oh, well," he said, grinning open mouthed at the fuming Slayer.

 

"Sorc..." Frederic warned.

 

Just at that moment, Buffy's eyes glowed with a previously unknown power and she whispered in the same power, "Dragon Evolution!" And before Sorcerer or anyone else knew what she had done, the dragonling in Sorcerer's grip suddenly began to grow.  But not just bigger, it grew up!

 

Before the Dark Mage knew it, he had a fully grown Gold Dragon literally sitting in his lap, its eye regenerated from the spell.  Having his breakfast spoiled, Sorcerer was in a sour mood so he didn't kill the annoyance, he just sent it to hell.  Literally.

 

"I'm sorry Lord Sorcerer," GS-Buffy spoke condescendingly, "Allow me to present my full introduction.  Buffy Annabel Summers, daughter of Joyce and Hank Summers, 26 time champion of the Tournament of Good and Evil, inheritor of the Slayer spirit, conqueror of the demon Daicon, Level 26(or above) Psion, Jedi Paladin trained by Masters Yoda, Buf Somars, and Willa Sunrose, and Avenger of Earth 111276, friend and aide of the Council of Dragons, and Honorary Thundercat appointed by Lord Liono himself."

 

"Whatever," the evil twin grunted.

 

Buffy continued to grin as she introduces the rest of her team, ""And this is my wife, Willow Penelope Rosenberg-Summers, Power Mage level 16 of the Compound and declared Mistress of the art of Wicca and master of all 14 Forbidden Arts, friend and mage-helper of the Council of Dragons, and also an Avenger and honorary Thundercat."

 

Buffy then turned and gestured at Xander, "Alexander LaVelle Harris, AKA Warrior X of the Compound, master of the Chi Arts, and transformed, Warrior Alex, Master Warrior and Champion of Justice. Also Avenger, Thundercat, and friend and ally of the Council of Dragons."

 

She turned to Faith. "And this is Faith Adams Summers, adopted daughter of Joyce Summers, 21 time champion of the Tournament of Good and Evil, first Slayer ever to naturally ascend to Super Slayer, inheritor of the Slayer Vaults on Earth 251678, and chosen champion of the Council of Dragons.”

 

Buffy was about to gesture at Giles when he stood up and introduced himself.  Bowing at Jennifer, and completely ignoring Sorcerer, he introduced, "I am Sir Rupert Giles, son of Duke William Giles. Bearer of the Power Blade "Nightblade", the 'Dark Blade Knight', Watcher, white wizard of the sorcery arts, and Avenger of Earth 111276 and friend to the Council of Dragons." With that said, he bowed again and then seated himself.

 

Spike spoke before anyone could say anything, "I'm a vampire, and I've won the bleedin' Tournament 23 times, and you can add me to that list of Friend and ally to the Council of Dragons, which by the way you'll see is the whole point of this lousy intro."  Then he sat back down, the others having risen to their feet as they were called.

 

Sorcerer smirked darkly.  "So your whole point is what?  If I kill the Council of Dragons, again, I'll put you out of a title?"

 

GS-Buffy just pouted her lips slightly and deftly shook her head no.  Then, in the language of the Dragons, a deep, throaty speech spoken from the gut, "Not at all Lord Sorcerer.  I am merely making you aware of our position on your... habits.  And I also figured an eye for an eye... a full introduction for a full introduction."

 

Sorcerer shrugged, raised his hand. The next instant GS-Buffy was pinned against the wall behind her, a small trickle of life essence flowing from her right nostril.  The blood quickly receded as soon as Sorcerer let her drop to the floor, no other injury present on her.

 

"Killing you at the breakfast table isn't polite, so I just hurt ya a little," Sorcerer said, letting the Slayer drop to the floor. He snapped his fingers, summoned the dragon he had banished earlier, and made a counter-clockwise motion with his right hand. The dragon changed... back into a dragonling?

 

"I don't like people that interrupt my breakfast," he said darkly to where GS-Buffy was getting up again. "And before you think about retaliating... your titles and powers are meaningless. I don't hold account to anyone. I can remove you from the time-stream from the moment your mother was an amoeba in the great ocean, back when life was formed."

 

It was Gerius-Buffy who whispered, "So... Sorcerer... please... we... eh... kinda said that... if she stayed away from you... you wouldn't hurt her..."

 

Sorcerer grinned. "Not that you could have stopped me, Brat, but for you information, she did NOT stay away from me. Here I was, minding my own business, eating my breakfast, and she had to interrupt," he said, motioning for the dragonling that was still squealing in the mental prison Sorcerer had put it in. He grabbed it, snapped off a leg, and sucked the meat.

 

"Besides," Frederic stated with a grin on his face, "it's not like they're real dragons..."

 

GS-Buffy snapped around, and stared at him. "WHAT?!"

 

The Gerius and Sorcerer burst out laughing at the flabbergasted look on the Slayer's face. It was so funny that some of her own Team started chuckling as well.

 

"You don't think I would give him real dragons to eat, do you?" Frederic asked between bouts of laughter.

 

< Buffy... I could have told you that, but... > Joshua tried to explain.

 

"Yeah, yeah, I didn't ask!" GS-Buffy was so upset that she answered the being  out loud rather than psychically.  Some of those present looked at her strangely, but quickly shook it off.

 

The Gold Slayer stared at the table for a few more seconds before turning fully to Joshua and snapping, "I'm going to get some rest.  If you don't mind that is."  Joshua merely nodded his head, fully understanding.  "Just ask a computer terminal for a place to sleep if you need it, Buffy.  I'll call you when we're ready to leave."

 

Buffy nodded her head sharply and then proceeded as quickly as "mortally" possible, for the exit.  She paused at the head of the table and looked ashamedly at both Frederic and Jennifer.  "Thank you for your kindness and allowing us your aid.  And thank you for breakfast Frederic, but I would not be a... courteous guest to my hosts if I remained anywhere near... that" she spat, pointing at Sorcerer on the other end of the table, "and remain in good manners.  So thank you for your hospitality, but I am no longer hungry."  She then practically stormed the rest of the way to the entrance.

 

Except that she paused at the exit for just long enough to turn back, raise her right arm, and then faster than senses could betray, shot an energy blast of impressive power straight at Sorcerer.  Nobody moved to block it or even react in the smallest portion as it traveled at half lightspeed the short distance... and vaporized the encaged dragon-clone.  She then left for the nearest room that LOBO directed her to.

 

Sorcerer stared at the remains of his seconds.  Then he looked to where the Gold Slayer had "thrown her tantrum" of sorts, even though it was far more polite than what some of Sorcerer's and Frederic's guests had done when dealing with the same or similar issues to what Slayer Team was.

 

"Feisty," he commented with a leer.  Then he shared a knowing look with Frederic, "I like her."  Frederic just chuckled and went back to his breakfast.

 

Sorcerer just looked at what little ashes remained of his breakfast. "Vive." The ashes recombined into the dragon. "Unfortunately for her, I'm still hungry."

 

******

 

Buffy walked temperamentally down the elaborate hallway, not a stone corridor like one would imagine from the concept of a real live castle as a home, but an immaculately decorated furnishment, like one would find in the modern day mansions of the Rich and Famous.

 

However it wasn't long before Buffy was completely lost.  Snorting in disgust at the irony, and seeing nothing that she would recognize or even guess as a computer terminal, she did the only thing she could think of at the time.  Focusing on the only people she knew that weren't back in the dining room, Frederic and Jennifer's twin son and daughter, she quickly locked onto their ki, and with only slight flickering of her body, she Instant Transmitted to the twins' current location.

 

Which unfortunately was one of the SpaCECoB control rooms.

 

The large room was dark, illuminated only by red lights and the faint glitter of flickering screens. In the Command Triangle, David and Jessica were seated, with the rest of the room deserted. Buffy could hear LOBO's voice chattering in full compressed binary mode with the duo, after which they replied in the same manner.

 

Intruder Alert!! LOBO shouted, immediately trapping Buffy in a negative universe field, effectively freezing her. The lights came to full strength.

 

"We were just about to break the record," David grunted as he and his sister got out of their chairs.

 

Jessie sighed a little sadly. "We'll just have to start over..." she grunted. "LOBO? Can you release her?"

 

Of course, the collective replied.

 

"Thanks," the Gold Slayer grunted. "Sorry about interrupting."

 

"No problem," David said, his foul mood already lifting.

 

"What's wrong, Buffy?" Jessie asked immediately after.

 

"Sorcerer," Buffy grunted, falling into a chair, causing the lights in the room to dim, and electing a squeak from the Slayer as the chair moved around to make her face the screen, at the same time molding to her form. She jumped out of the offending object quickly.

 

"Uncy Sorc?" David asked, surprised.

 

"What did he do?" Jessie asked.

 

"He ate... then insulted."

 

"The dragons," David said, nodding in understanding.

 

"Why were you insulted? Uncy Sorc doesn't insult unless he's peeved about something..." Jessie asked.

 

"Me being a good friend with the Council of Dragons-" Gs-Buffy began.

 

"You didn't!" Jessie screeched.

 

"You didn't know they were replicants?" David grunted.

 

GS looked at the ground. The Twins shook their heads, before they burst out laughing, causing GS to flush with anger. "That's not funny!" before a grin began to form on her own face as she saw it from the twins' perspective.

 

"Yes, it is," the duo chuckled, before composing.  "Anyway... why the visit to auxiliary control room #2?" David asked.

 

"I kinda got lost..." GS admitted sheepishly.

 

LOBO cleared its throat. GS started shifting her eyes to every corner of the room, which was now lit up and no longer in shadows.  'Who was that?' she wondered

 

"You could have asked LOBO," Jessie offered. "LOBO's good at guiding... and if you really wanted, he could have ported you."

 

GS looked at the ground, flushing once again. The Twins chuckled. "Come, come... not so gloomy."

 

"Not gloomy, embarrassed," she answered with a smile that made the twins burst out in laughter again.  "Besides, Joshua suggested looking for a computer terminal.  I didn't see anything even remotely like that, even if it might have been camouflaged.  And who's LOBO?  Nobody's really explained that to me yet.  As for where I was going... well a nap would be nice, so I suppose some place with a bed."

 

The twins nodded, and while LOBO set up assignments for the Slayer Team and any other guests that might be arriving, also known as building houses out of nothing using his nanoprobes, the twins decided to explain exactly who and what LOBO was to the Gold Slayer, in hopes of delaying any future mistakes with the computer AL.  (Artificial Lifeform)

 

"LOBO, which is also an acronym for Linda-Ortega-BOrlan collective, is a multi-universe spanning, collective of highly advanced nano-probes that were one day accidentally fused with bio-plasma generated by a now extinct race of intelligent Anthropods, or 'Bugs'." Jessica took the lead.  "Even if he was created by accident, we love him just as we love Linda and Borlan, who are just as much a part of our family as Uncle D and Auntie Ami are.  Linda and Borlan, by the way, are the "official" AI's of the ESMF.  Linda is the primary operating system, while Borlan usually takes care of everything having to do with battle or war."

 

"LOBO is a combination of the back-up data cores of Linda, Borlan, and the remains of our original "home" I guess you could call it," David picked up.  "The Ortega was the first {real} battleship made by the ESMF and Mom and Dad lived in it, and it's where we were born.  In the initial, and last I might add, confrontation with the 'Bugs', the Ortega was heavily damaged and the accident that created LOBO occurred.  Less than a few hours after being crippled, the Ortega was fully operational again, but with quite a few more tricks!"

 

"The Battle station Ortega was then used as the base skeletal frame for this... SpaCECoB; the "Space-bound Command, Exploration and Colonization Base".  The rest was... sort of made from the solar system that used to be here.  But don't worry, nothing sentient was in it." David hastily added.

 

Buffy's eyes bugged.  "An... entire solar system was used as base materials for this place...?" she asked, her voice in awe.  Both twins nodded.  "Whoa."

 

"Yeah." Jessie agreed.  "And that's just the start of it.  LOBO continuously grows, each nanoprobe being the same as a fully living and sentient human, only its knowledge is a part of and contributes to the collective as well.  So it's like a human being born with the knowledge of the whole human race, and then for his entire lifetime adding to that knowledge for the next generation.  Each new generation is "born" every half second though, and LOBO's collective is stretched across the whole multiverse... well, every universe that the ESMF has made contact with or sent a probe to anyway.  At last count, that was over..."

 

350,987...8...351,012... LOBO spoke over the intercom for the new arrival's sake.

 

Jessie grinned and added, "It's growing for every second of every day, though I wonder if even LOBO can map the entire multiverse.  Infinite realities and choices and all that."

 

Buffy just dumbly nodded her head.  Too stunned to speak as the realization of what this machine could actually do just from hearing it's origins running through her enhanced mind.

 

"LOBO, give her the rundown," David commanded.  An affirmative signal was given and a screen that had not been there half a second ago, suddenly flickered to life.

 

SpaCECoB is a Dyson's sphere, at the center is the star named Sol, an image of the star hanging in the middle of the base appeared on the screen before it suddenly turned into a three-dimensional hologram.

 

The weaponry is state-of-the-art,} LOBO's disembodied voice spoke to the assembled people in the meeting room. A holographic representation of SpaCECoB floated in mid-air. {And all systems have at least five back-ups. The hull is a new metal called Octanium. It has three times the strength and tension strength of Quadranium, while being only half as thick, and half as heavy. Not to mention the fact that it heals 50% faster than Quadranium does.

 

There are two main command centers, located at the poles of the small sphere. Two rooms blinked red, located at the poles of the smaller sphere.  And there are six auxiliary command centers, located on the main sphere. The image zoomed out, so the outer sphere of the construction was visible.  Six rooms started blinking: one on each pole; North, South, East, and West; as well as one room at the complete 'forward' position, and one at the 'aft' position, even though there was no forward or backward in space.

 

Weaponry consists of FH torpedoes, ZP torpedoes, a vast array of beam weapons, and a multitude of the combination-beam weapon developed for the WS Ortega. Defense consists of force fields, ZP shields, and omni-directional quantum pushers. All weaponry is able to fire inter-dimensionally, able to blindside any opponent, and bypass their shields.

 

Various areas lit up, blinking in blue, green, and purple for weapons, defensive systems, and support systems.

 

In case of a cataclysmic failure of the star as a primary energy source, the base is able to support itself on an array of 50 gigantic Zero-Point generators. Indefinitely.

 

Fifty gray areas lit up, scattered all over the inner sphere of the base.

 

Able to support hundreds of trillions of people, the SpaCECoB is able to function as a refuge for any planet doomed by uncontrollable elements... or ALL of the Earths from ALL of the known dimensions, if need be.

 

Her head still spinning after the explanation, GS-Buffy gratefully accepted LOBO's come-to-the-rescue attempt, and fell into the bed.  Asleep before her jacket and boots hit the floor.

 

 

********

 

Frederic's home

 

"So," Wiccan began over her benedict eggs, halide sauce, and hash browns with ketchup, "tell us about yourselves. One of my favorite parts about multi-dimensional travel is learning about all the different possibilities, or histories as it were, of the worlds and people we meet.  Usually ourselves though, but occasionally we meet other people we know in our universe, or as members of the Compound."

 

"Like that bogus Sailor team Slayer mentioned before?" Rei snapped out.

 

Wiccan smiled gently and nodded slightly, reminding Sailor Mars of her friend Ami PF, Pre-Frederic.  "They aren't bogus Rei-san," Wiccan continued in Japanese, "They are just a different possibility.  And yes it is true, that the Sailor Senshi team we know through the Compound does not have Hino Rei as Sailor Mars, nor Tsukino Usagi as Sailor Moon.  Let alone Sailor Moon at all."

 

Rei shrugged. "We've met all kinds of strange things, but never one where half the team's either an imposter, or un-powered..." she turned to Usagi. "Your twin isn't even Sailor Moon, and you're going to just sit there?"

 

"What would you have me do?" Usagi defended. "Go over there, and wipe them out?"

 

"At least yell at her," Rei grunted, waving at Wiccan. "Bearers of bad news and all."

 

"Rei! You're so mean!" Usagi wailed. "The girl can't help it!"

 

"No, but it makes me feel better!" Rei growled, turning toward Usagi, getting right in her face.

 

"Then you're not only mean, you're also a bitch!" Usagi defended. Rei turned red.

 

"And you're stupid!"

 

"Meanie!"

 

"Brat!"

 

"Bitch!"

 

"Dumb-ass!"

 

The rest of the Gerius shook their collective heads, looking on in pity as the two Senshi tore into each other. "Don't mind them..." Ami finally said. "They're the best of friends... if they're not fighting."

 

"Oh don't worry," Wiccan said, despite the rising bickering of the two friends, "Faith and I are much worse, only we don't use words.  And let's not even go near Xander and Spike."

 

"Hey!" the offending party's shouted in defense.  Willow just smiled at them, her eyes twinkling in mischief and humor.

 

"Besides, look at the bright side you two," Wiccan said a little louder, to interrupt the name-calling, which had gone into a couple other languages by now, between Moon and Mars, "With no Mars, and Sailor V as leader instead of Sailor Moon, there aren't any arguments like the ones you two have, and actually the whole team is run like a Special Forces squad rather than a bunch of teenage girls destined to protect one other, namely Serena Tsukino, the reincarnated Moon Princess."

 

"Don't you mean Usagi?" Usagi asked in a diplomatic tone that made her more 'Serenity' than 'Bunni'.

 

Wiccan quickly swallowed the bit of eggs she had just put in her mouth as she shook her head no.  "No, I mean Serena.  On their world, which is not ours by the way, Tokyo, Japan was what was sold to Britain rather than Hong Kong, and therefore the people and families that have lived there for at least two generations have stronger English influences than Tokyo’s on other worlds.  Rather than take the Japan name, Serena's parents gave her the English version.  Both mean the same thing as I understand it, just sound different when spoken.  By the way, Makoto's name is 'Lita', Ami is spelled with a 'y' instead of 'i', and Minako simply shortened her name to 'Mina'.  We've met Serena, but she's not a Sailor Soldier, like I said, but you'd be amazed at how many similarities you have with your doubles Usagi."

 

"Oh," Usagi nodded, pouring her mind around what the alternate Willow had just explained.

 

"I wonder what my double is up to?" MS-Buffy wondered aloud, yet to herself.

 

"Well, good... maybe THEY get some work done," Rei grunted. "I swear, sometimes, we spend more time watching Usagi eat than anything else. At times, I wonder how you can still get into your fuku..."

 

Usagi smirked. "Thank Frederic-sama for that... As Master Slayer and Jokilar Gerius, I can regulate my metabolism. And before, I had lots of practice running to school." Rei stared at her friend's unusual use of big words, yet only managed to do so for two seconds before Usagi wailed, "And I am NOT a glutton! You're so mean, Rei!"

 

"And here we go again," Ami sighed, rubbing her forehead.

 

As to answer your earlier question, Buffy, your double has retreated for the night. I have created a house for her and Slayer Team not too far from here.

 

"Thanks, LOBO," MS-Buffy answered.

 

*******

 

Shortly after breakfast had officially finished, Faith and Willow went looking for their wayward, and probably still upset, Team Leader.  Finally, after a short walk around the large “home”, Wiccan figured it prudent to simply ask LOBO.

 

I transported her to the accommodations you all would be needing for the duration of your stay, however some minutes later she exited and has found her way to the open menagerie.  If you’d like I can transport you to her, or would you merely like the directions?

 

“Thank you LOBO, that’s very kind of you,” Wiccan told the computer.  “Please transport us to Buffy’s location, but not to close.  We don’t want to startle a distraught Slayer that can blow up planets, now do we?”

 

An instant later, Faith and Willow found themselves in what was either a replica of Central Park, or the improvement model for its replacement.  Flowers of every type, whether tropical, temporal, or all of the in-between lines every sidewalk and the benches spaced evenly along the paths looked so comfortable and inviting that some had taken to sleeping in them, despite everyone currently in the park having a home of their very own.

 

It didn’t take long to find Buffy, who was just staring wistfully at such a beautiful arrangement of floral architecture that it brought a tear to the eye.  Unfortunately, it appeared the Buffy had been staring for too long as tear stains were evident on her face.

 

She shared a sly grin with Faith, pleased to see it reflected with a twinkling eye, as she wrapped herself around Buffy.  < What is it? > Buffy asked telepathically, her mental voice sounding as sour as the look on her face.

 

< Nothing, > Willow responded with a grin on her face.

 

Just then, Willow gave a long and loud yawn, and another, softer, pinch to Buffy’s side followed by Faith looking at Buffy just over Willow’s shoulder with a suggestive smirk on her face.  Buffy in response just raised her right eyebrow the barest fraction of a centimeter.

 

“Buffy?  You okay?” Frederic asked.

 

“Huh?” Buffy turned back quickly, completely lost on their presence, whatever it was.

 

< Buffy?  Why can’t I feel your emotions right now?  Not that I really need to as I can read you pretty well just from your expression. > Willow asked her wife.

 

Buffy sighed, and then let Willow and Faith, only, past her defenses she had around her emotions, emotions that were raging beyond all control at the moment.  Willow hugged herself tighter to the Gold Slayer while Faith placed her hand steadily on Buffy’s shoulder, showing her own support, since she couldn’t show it as avidly as Willow was.

 

“What’s wrong B?” Faith asked aloud.

 

All three were silent for some minutes until Faith thought she was going to have to repeat her question, and Buffy finally spoke.  “It’s… this whole deal.  We were doin’ ok, right?  I mean, Joshua found the Influxes, we settled in until he was ready and then it was show time and we did our thing while he did his.  So… why did we have to involve these people again?”

 

“Maybe because they wanted to be involved?” Willow asked.

 

“Or maybe because they would have sooner killed us than not get involved in something like this,” Faith suggested.

 

Buffy just sighed again.  “What else?  Other than not wanting to share in our ‘adventure’?” Willow asked.  Buffy returned to staring at the flowers, trying to reinstate the block on her emotions, but both Dark Slayer and the Wiccan were already in there.

 

“Sorcerer?  Come on Buffy, we were warned.  And from the way they all acted after you left, it wasn’t the first time something like that had happened.” Willow tried to comfort.

 

“That’s not just it,” Buffy remarked, turning out of Willow’s embrace.  “It’s the fact that I went out of my way to piss him off.  I could have let the dragon thing go.  Maybe have gotten away with only making a couple ‘eww’ sounds or a couple faces, but no, I had to go and take personal offense.  Am I the biggest idiot in the entire omniverse or what?  And for smartass computers or psychics that are listening, that’s a rhetorical question.”

 

“Buffy, you are not an idiot.  By any means,” Willow defended her wife.  At the incredulous look she received, Willow waved off Buffy’s self-doubt and went on.  “You have a higher IQ than most engineers and technicians in the entire Compound, probably as high as any one of the people here.  OK, maybe not including one of the Gerius or Frederic, or any of Frederic’s family, but I bet there are plenty of high IQ people that run around or work here that you’re smarter than.”

 

“Yeah, like the extracted cave family,” Buffy sarcastically remarked, still beating herself up.

 

“Buffy, stop that!” Willow snapped, but unsucceeded in getting her wife’s attention back.  “You are the strongest warrior in the compound, and just a few hours ago you were claiming you could take on the most feared warriors in all of existence.”

 

“And see where that got me?” Buffy bit out, still not turning around.

 

“A plush palace to eat at for breakfast and a two story apartment with all the plush fixings that we could ever desire?” Faith joked.  Neither were amused.

 

“All right if it’s not about the dragon, then what is it about?  That you made a laughing stock by attacking one of the most powerful and dangerous dark wizards of all time?  That you probably just ran the risk that if Dawn was brought anywhere near SpaCECoB that Shadow, who we were counting on befriending and convincing to protect Dawn from Sorcerer, would actually end up handing her over to him, just because?  Or maybe it’s that Sorcerer is actually stronger than you?” Willow ranted.

 

“That’s not…” Buffy spun around.  Then she stopped and stuttered, “I mean, well, yes, but no.  I don’t care that Sorcerer is stronger than me.  Goku is stronger than me and he’s still my friend.  My double and all these… Jokers are stronger than me by magnitudes, and I’m not exactly raving jealous here.  And I’ve been a laughing stock before.  No big.”

 

“But Dawn…” Willow landed on the button.  Buffy nodded.

 

“What Sorcerer did with the whole dragon escapade reminded me of what she had said about the Keys and Dawn and… I did think they were real, birthed dragonlings Will.  Will… we cared for Rosesummer… we care for her.  We found her as an egg, went through a whole hell of a lot to take her back to Dragon Valley, and then the Dragons there were so understanding and… they were the ones that married us Will!  The Dragon Blood Vows is the second oldest marriage ceremony in the omniverse, the first being that of the Gods themselves!  It was personal.  And probably more personal than that bastard has ever experienced.  Jerk off probably doesn’t even know what he has.”

 

“Oh he knows Buffy, he knows,” Willow corrected.

 

“Talkin’ bout Sorc’s wife?” Faith suddenly asked.  Both nodded.  Faith nodded back.  “Got the 411 from Cordy’s double.  Apparently for a few years, ole Sorc-y had his “beloved” under mind control for the better part of his reign, then when he realized that she was supposed to be his soulmate and not his love slave and tried to get her to love him normally, she turned him down and he vaped her, just like that.”  Buffy and Willow hardly batted an eye, not surprised at the turn in the story, as it fit their profile of Sorcerer.

 

“Anyway, he ended up goin’ back in time and saving her life, then went a step further by giving her the power that he so merrily enjoyed while he was at his weakest.  She coulda done him in like he had done her, even turned him into a puppet like she had been for so many years.  But she just couldn’t do it.  The whole soulmate thing.  She nursed him back to health, they fell in love, and he married her.  That’s the story.” Faith ended.

 

“Two guesses as to who Sorcerer’s wife is?” Buffy commented to the air as the three of them walked along the path.  “Jennifer.” All three said as one.

 

“I still can’t believe you hit on Shadow B!” Faith crowed.  “’Would you an the missus like to have some… fun later on, cause we do it all the time, like, you know?’” Faith mimicked in a parody of Buffy’s voice, in Buffy’s voice.

 

“I never should have taught you that trick,” Willow rolled her eyes at Faith’s voice manipulation.

 

“Yeah, well… you know how I am…” Buffy tried to defend herself.

 

< Speaking of “fun” Buffy, Faith… > Willow connected with her lovers in their unique psychic connection, sending them various erotic pictures, thoughts, ideas and emotions into their heads, covering it up with a yawn.

 

Faith’s grin grew into a smile at all the images and feelings she found in her head, but Buffy had very little reaction.  She had her “assimilating data” face on, which she often had when in telepathic or psionic conversations.  All of a sudden, right after Willow sent her one image in particular of herself in a pair of lingerie that Buffy had gotten for her for her last birthday, the Slayer practically leaped into action.

 

She rapidly dragged, practically flying, back to the apartment and made their way up to their room in a flash.

 

Once inside the room, Buffy looked less in a rush and more hornier than a foxhound in Spring.  She practically assaulted Willow, grabbing the redhead by the neck and all but surgically attaching themselves at the lips.  She and Willow kept up their tongue wrestling matches for several rounds before Faith scooted in beside them and moved her head in at the right angle to make for a three-way kiss between blonde, redhead, and brunette.

 

Buffy suddenly moaned as breathing, after sixteen and a half minutes of non-stop kissing, finally became an issue.  The three broke away, breath heavy, and eyelids heavy with passion.  “Damn Wills, you know what you in lingerie does to me,” Buffy moaned as she and the redhead went back in for a rematch in tongue wrestling.

 

“What about me B?” Faith asked after a second longer.

 

Willow broke the kiss and was instantly reattached to Faith’s lips, who didn’t resist in the least and in fact made to try and swallow the girl’s entire head, starting with her mouth.  “Actually Faith,” Buffy answered breathlessly, “You naked turns me on just as much as Willow in nothing but a red “cherry heart” thong.”

 

< Gawd damn! > Faith cursed mentally as the image Buffy described was burned into her brain.

 

Buffy began to nibble along Faith’s neck, kissing here, nipping with her teeth there, finding all the right spots where she knew just how to turn Faith on even further.  After another fifteen minutes, Faith had to call it quits on kissing as the combination with Buffy’s ministrations was making her dizzy and hornier than she’d been in over a week.  She saw Buffy begin to pull at the zipper on Willow’s jumpsuit, but was hindered by her lack of view on Faith’s neck.

 

Faith smiled and psi-whispered something to Buffy before soon taking over the undressing of the witch and Buffy concentrated more on undressing the Dark Slayer.  Faith turned to fully kiss Willow on the lips as her wayward hands reached up and slowly, purposely undid the clasp and zipper at the collar of the redhead’s jumpsuit.

 

Buffy was still nibbling and teasing at the Dark Slayer’s neck as her own wayward hands slid passionately and intimately up the Slayer’s body until they were at the brunette’s shoulders.  Carefully, as to not disturb Faith and Willow’s kiss, Buffy began to work Faith’s jacket off her shoulders, exposing the creamy white skin that made the Gold Slayer drool and beg to lick her counterpart all up.  She didn’t take the jacket off all the way, just to the elbows, kissing the skin around the black tank top that both she and Faith wore.

 

As Buffy moved from Faith’s shoulders and neck to the middle of her back, right where the skin disappeared beneath the vinyl-like clothing, the brunette’s breathing became more and more erratic.  Buffy smiled internally as she continued her ministrations.  Her smile intensified, as did Faith’s breathing, when her hands reached around the taut Slayer frame and lightly trailed her fingers over Faith’s exposed upper arms, causing goosebumps to appear and sending tingles throughout Faith’s entire body.

 

Faith finally broke her kiss with Will and stopped undressing the redhead with the zipper only just at the final few notches before being fully opened, and cursed, “Gawd damn it B!”

 

“Oh, that’s right,” Willow purred as she stepped more into Faith’s embrace, “Slayer’s have extremely sensitive backs, don’t they?  So Lover, tell me how this feels…” Willow trailed off as she moved her own wayward, and deceptively strong, hands to Faith’s back and neck, just above Buffy’s head, and adeptly applied several pressure points that had the Slayer’s eyes rolling back in her head in ecstasy.

 

“OoooohhAhhhAAHHHHHHHH, YEAH!” Faith had an instant orgasm with no more touches than that.  She was strong enough, though, to remain on her feet.

 

“Fuck Red, you gotta warn me when you do stuff like that?  And for the record, yes, I very much enjoyed that.” Faith answered her lover with a breathless husk.

 

“Less talking, more sex,” demanded Buffy as she came around and consumed Faith’s lips, removing both their jackets faster than either of Buffy’s lovers thought possible.

 

“That’s part of what I love so much about Slayers,” Willow said as the Slayer’s matched lips against each other.  “They’re so direct, forceful, instinctual.  They always know exactly what they want and when they know, there is nothing in all of the worlds that can stop them, so…”

 

“No talking,” Buffy interrupted, breaking her kiss with Faith and starting one with Willow.

 

“More sex,” Faith finished and finished up her earlier task of stripping Willow of her clothing.

 

“Ok-Mmmm,” Willow tried to answer but Buffy’s mouth soon had Willow finding a better way to use her lips.

 

After that, the talking was kind of pushed to the side in favor of grunting, groaning, moaning, mumbling, and screaming in ecstasy.

 

The two Slayers pulled and tugged at the shoulders of the jumpsuit, pulling it off of Willow’s petite, but tight little frame.  She wore the same undergarments as them, a leotard that looked more like a one-piece swimming suit than underwear, only where the Slayers wore black, Willow’s was a deep vinyl forest green.

 

Once the jumpsuit was off the red witch’s shoulders, it quickly ended as a pile of cloth on the floor, the Slayers unyielding to anything but the flesh of their lover and mate.  Willow was much the same, but with two very horny Slayers trying to cover every inch of her skin with their mouths, lips, and tongues, she began to find it very difficult to maneuver in reciprocation.  So finally, she’d had enough of the getting and no giving treatment, as fun as it was, she much preferred things to be mutual.

 

So, calling on the one art that Willow was almost ashamed she knew, the Wiccan forced both Buffy and Faith off her with a single spell.  On that made her neck-length bright red hair grow to over ten feet and wrap around them like tentacles, but nevertheless, only one spell.

 

“Cheater,” Buffy accused her wife as instantly got up from where she was tossed and pulled the Power Mage by the straps of her garment to the middle of the bed, knowingly breaking the straps and ripping the last bit of clothing the red witch had left.

 

“Well how else am I going to get the upper hand on two Slayers?” Willow innocently asked settling in to love-snuggle with Buffy, giving her a deep kiss right after her query.

 

“You aren’t,” Buffy answered breathlessly after their kiss ended abruptly as Willow yelped when Faith, without warning, tore the last stitch of clothing from Willow’s body.

 

“Oh, so that’s how we’re going to play it?” Willow asked with a skeptical eye.

 

“Yep,” Buffy answered succinctly, a mischievous smile forming on her face as she began to move her way suggestively down the natural redhead’s body.

 

“Buffy, no--!  You can’t--!” Willow was cut off when Faith assaulted her moving mouth, striking at the right moment to get her tongue in far enough to lick Willow’s tonsils.  Buffy ignored Willow’s pleas as she continued her sensuous path down the lithe, pale body.

 

She reached Willow’s juncture and spread open her lovely flower with no resistance, but more resentment, and with no more warning than that she struck at the all-powerful Wiccan in the one spot that she and only she could strike at well enough to knock her out with one blow.  Literally.

 

Buffy flicked her tongue as far into Wills’ pussy as she could and used her lower jaw to open her up even more while using her front teeth to flick and tease Wills’ exposed and engorged clit.  The response was instantaneous.  Will arched up like she was struck by lightning in a puddle of water on top of an iron plate, and lit up brighter than Roman fireworks.  Her muffled screams of ecstasy, because somehow Faith had managed to hang on despite Wills’ intense and immediate multi-orgasm (her cunt having been Pavlovian taught to do such whenever Buffy’s and only Buffy’s mouth was there providing the stimulation), rang through the empty guest house and possibly outside as well.

 

That would have been it if Buffy had quit once Willow had come five times in as many seconds.  Instead, the Gold Slayer stayed her position, her path, and her activity, and never letting up for an instant.  Willow, despite familiar with the pleasures her wife brought her in bed, never could adapt herself to lessen the intensity and form of those pleasures, making each time with her lovers as intense as the first, the last, and the next.  Willow never stopped screaming until Buffy filled herself on Willow’s juices.  Faith, however, did eventually lose her hold over Willow’s mouth and settled on suckling her titties, bringing more moans and sighs of ecstasy from “Red”.

 

After several minutes of non-stop orgasms, Willow’s responses became far less intense and more “rag doll” in nature.  When Buffy realized that Willow was exhausted, she slowly let up from her jaw-aching stimulation, softly licking the redhead’s swollen cunt and soothing it with kisses.

 

Faith too realized that Willow could stand no more of the Slayers’ pleasures; she sighed, smirked, and then kissed her lover on the forehead before dragging Buffy up to her by the straps of her clothes.  Faith, being naked already while Buffy was still in her leotard and pants, was at a slight disadvantage when the Gold Slayer turned her full attention to her sister Dark Slayer.

 

Faith tried to start undressing her elder, but Buffy would casually, almost seductively, smite her hands away as the blonde nuzzled and teased her breasts.  Slowly, trying to lick, bite, nibble, and chew on every square inch of skin, Buffy worked her way up from Faith’s breasts to her mouth, where Buffy paid as much attention as she had Willow’s pussy.

 

Faith was always amazed at how easily Buffy’s kisses could steal her breath away.  In fact the blonde boasted that she had perfected the art of kissing so well that she could leave the same reaction on anyone she kissed, male, female, heterosexual, or homosexual.  When the Slayer’s mouth was doing what it was doing to Faith’s, she believed it.

 

The Gold Slayer effortlessly and unrepentantly took advantage of Faith’s naked and prone form.  Buffy’s hands molded, caressed, massaged, and kneaded her breasts, while her lips did the same and more to her mouth and her legs were spread and teased at her juncture by the other woman’s agile legs.  Faith was riding a high like nothing any ordinary human could withstand, and few Immortals who could.  Every breath was a gasp or a moan of pleasure, every movement was rippled with ecstasy, and every sight of flesh whether hers or Buffys, just took her breath away.

 

Finally, Buffy got “down to business” as Faith liked to think of it.  Though she took her precious time getting there.  Buffy slowly, agonizingly began to slow hers and Faiths kisses, moving her head downwards, kissing and licking and biting every square millimeter of flesh set between her.  When she got to Faith’s breasts, the Dark Slayer arched maddeningly off the bed, her mouth open with a silent shout of rapture.

 

Buffy spent several more minutes there, Faith never losing strength in her responses until the elder Slayer decided to move on.  Faith finally fell back to the bed, with a soft thump, her breathing highly erratic and sweat covering her entire frame in bucketfuls.  Buffy’s mouth and hair on her taut and hardened abdomen tickled her, but she couldn’t raise the strength to laugh, or even respond anymore than soft moans.

 

Finally, Buffy reached her goal.  Faith spread her legs as wide as possible, anxious for the loving attention of her lover.  She managed the strength to look down at Buffy, the blonde’s hair was entirely unkempt and her face flushed with passion and her exertions to please her two lovers.  She also had this deliciously cute smile on her face as she stared, like a predator, at Faith’s shaved snatch.  She looked briefly back up into Faith’s eyes.  Her cute smile intensified and despite it being impossible, Faith felt herself drench just from that one action, becoming hornier than she’d ever been with any man.  Faith gulped silently, staring at Buffy, saying nothing.

 

Buffy turned her entire attention back to Faith’s pussy and leaned in and literally stuck her nose into it, taking big whiffs of Faith’s scent.  Faith’s breathing picked up and she just kept staring at her mentor.  Slowly, languorously enjoying every droplet of Faith’s fluid, Buffy licked from the tiny little bud of the Dark Slayer’s asshole to the top of her slit.  Faith shivered, closing her eyes as a moan, unbidden, echoed out of her throat.

 

Buffy smiled, enjoying her treat and Faith’s enjoyment at the same time.  She licked from asshole to clit again, twice more, and then on her third lick, she slipped her tongue inside of Faith, wiggling it around inside of her, licking up and down along the insides of her outer lips.

 

Faith became near livid; she opened her eyes and saw Buffy’s eyes staring straight back into her, with a passion that Faith felt both in her body and her mind.  Damn you B! Faith thought to herself as she felt her passion begin to flood over, her mind fueling her body’s desires, making her hornier than she’d been in weeks, if not months!  She kept her eyes locked with Buffy’s, despite her hard breathing and unconscious twitches and shifts of passion.  Then Buffy pulled out all the stops.  She opened her mouth wide, and sucked in one of Faith’s nether lips and started treating it the same that she might a tit!

 

Faith lost all semblance of control at that point.  She closed her eyes as her hips began to buck of their own accord and her hands, still at her sides moments ago, flew to her breasts and started kneading and pinching her nipples, hard.  Faith cried out, gasping for air, groaning at every breath and feeling so close to the edge that she was afraid she’d already gone over but was still held above the chasm of release, prolonging her ecstasy and suffering.

 

And then Buffy switched to the other lip…

 

If Faith had ever thought that Buffy cheated in bed with her and Willow, (if anyone could ever be accused of cheating during sex), she now had her evidence.  Somehow, Buffy managed to increase her passions ten fold, and still kept her from the abyss.  Faith thought she’d either die, or go insane.  And being immortal, insane seemed a very likely prospect unless she got off, and soon!

 

Finally, Buffy stopped her teasing and wrapped her lips around Faith’s enflamed clit, the red nub flushed nearly purple from her excitement.  The millisecond that Buffy’s lips and tongue touched her center, she started cumming.  And she didn’t stop.  Every second that it felt like the overwhelming, mind-shattering ecstasy would lessen, it doubled instead.  Faith screamed herself hoarse, her legs clenched tight over Buffy’s head, holding the Gold Slayer to her.  When she couldn’t cry out anymore, her mouth still held itself wide-open as though screaming, her hips and entire body humping and fucking B’s mouth at a pace that blurred.

 

Instead of letting up on Faith, Buffy kept her mouth tightly wrapped around the girl’s clit, and sucked harder still.  She brought both hands up, her right she brought up next to her mouth, inserting her pinky directly into Faith’s flowing vagina.  Her left, she let soak in Faith’s fluids for a minute before starting to tease Faith’s asshole, and finally inserting that pinky into the tight little bud.

 

If it were ever possible, Faith’s orgasm tripled at that instant.  And that’s when she really lost control.  Her ki flash activated, golden flames giving an ethereal light to the room and the coupling on the bed.  Buffy merely increased her strength and then added her ring fingers to the others.  She had to worm around a bit before her second finger could fit inside Faith’s asshole.  Faith’s vagina was so flooded, though, that Buffy had more than enough lubrication and could fit her last three fingers into Faith’s gaping snatch.

 

Buffy soon formed a fist with her right hand while trying to fit a third finger into Faith’s asshole.  Shortly, she began to pump her entire forearm up into Faith, moving at a tearing pace.  Faith, however was moving faster, but soon found Buffy’s rhythm and matched it.  Buffy went faster, Faith pounded hard back against her before her suddenly healed throat shouted out again and before Buffy knew it, Faith had transformed herself into a Super Slayer!

 

Buffy smiled and tripled her pace and began to bite and gnash at Faith’s clit with her mouth, and fitting four fingers into her tightening sphincter.  Twenty minutes of this, and Buffy finally sealed the deal by shoving her fist, dangerously, up Faith’s tight asshole, taking it to the wrist.  Immediately, Faith shot off the bed, her orgasm blasting Buffy away and off of her as her power exploded around them.  Or at least it would have if Willow hadn’t recovered and placed an absorbing magical barrier around the Dark Slayer, keeping her power and power level hidden and contained.

 

A few minutes after that, Faith regained consciousness and awoke to the two women she loved most in all the universes on either side of her, cuddling.  “Hey—“ she gasped, her voice extremely hoarse.  She cleared her throat, trying again.  “Hey.  Well I don’t know about you two, but I think this was the best time yet.  And how come B’s not naked yet?”

 

Buffy ignored the question and replied to the comment, “I don’t know Faith.  That first time that all of us ganged up on Cordy and Xander was pretty intense.  I’m glad that our training of Cordelia is more than just fighting though.  She’s got a great tongue.”

 

“Yeah, no kidding,” Faith shot back.  Sighing and dropping her guards as they all lay back on the bed.  “Feeling any better B?”

 

Buffy, tucked under Faith’s arm and Willow spooning her, nodded slowly.  “Some yeah.  I mean… a couple mistakes can be forgiven, and like Willow said, Sorcerer has offended before, and probably that dining room has seen bigger tantrums than mine.  I’ll be ok.  I hope.”

 

“Don’t worry about Shadow or Sorcerer for right now Buffy,” Willow slowly caressed her lovers, “Shadow’s probably gotten worse attention from less honorable sources than you.  Just keep it to a minimum, and never ask her to have sex again, and I’m sure you two will become friends.  As for Sorcerer… lets just try to avoid him at all possible costs, short of the mission.”

 

“Yeah, you’re right Wills,” Buffy suddenly grinned and exerted her psionic powers to rip the remainders of clothing on bodies, specifically her own, completely away, and turned to her red head and used her other arm to trap her brunette beneath her as well, “I’ve got more important things to worry about right now.”

 

******

 

That afternoon, the Fromthefield family (Frederic, Jennifer, Daphnix, Ami, and the twins) plus Sorcerer, Joshua, and the Slayer Team, arrived across the street from 317 Braddock Point, half those gathered feeling rather anxious about what was to come.

 

Sorcerer whistled a merry tune as they started walking towards the house of Steve, his hands deep in his pockets, looking around without concern.

 

"This place is tame," he suddenly said, turning to Frederic.

 

"Steve does a good job of keeping Sunnydale free of the nasty underbelly of the world," the man shrugged in reply. "Besides, we're here for that hole Joshua punched in space..."

 

Sorcerer simply shrugged. "Whatever. I still say we just blow up the planet and be done with it... joshy-boy's hellhole can be as evil as it wants. No demon, vampire, dark mage, devil, or arch-devil can survive in outer space."

 

"I've got some friends here I want to protect," Frederic grunted darkly, turning to his twin, and grabbing him by the collar. "And the killing of all innocents does not constitute a good solution!"

 

Sorcerer simply smirked. "It's an option. That's what I'm here for, right? Give you useless and pointless solutions until you've worked some completely stupid plan out for yourself?"

 

Frederic released his twin. "Fine. But know that, if you even look wrong at this planet, the Wise One might find his wish granted."

 

With that, Frederic started walking again, hands deep in his pockets, whistling the same tune as Sorcerer had been doing minutes earlier, looking completely the same as his evil twin. Sorcerer stared after Frederic, just a hint of resentment in his eyes.

 

"Now, now, Fred. That's no way to treat family," the Warp Mage said. Frederic simply waved over his shoulder.

 

Sorcerer growled, balled his fists, and followed, his face on 'thunder storm'. "Asshole saved my life and thinks he can treat me like dirt because of it," the man growled. "I should rip him into tiny strips..."

 

The rest of Frederic's family stayed away from the man.  Slayer Team dutifully followed the others' example.

 

Joshua, however, didn't.  He decided now was the "perfect time" to introduce himself to Frederic's dark counterpart.

 

"Hello Sorcerer, I've heard a great deal about you.  A lot of it... well, you would actually call it high praise I guess...  Allow me to properly introduce myself.  I'm..." Joshua began speaking in a highly friendly voice.

 

"Buzz off," Sorcerer snapped, still imagining ways to rip into his mirror image before Shadow could be released.

 

Joshua raised an eyebrow in surprise, but otherwise didn't really react to the brush off.  He opened his mouth to try again, but at that exact moment, Frederic rung the doorbell, and a sickeningly familiar buzzing sensation snapped his jaw shut as he began to panickly look around the amassed group.

 

"Crap, I knew this would happen," Joshua muttered to himself.  Nobody cared enough to comment.  Because just then the door opened to reveal...

 

"You must be Robin," Frederic said, smiling.

 

"I see you've heard of me, Oh Great One," Robin said with mock-seriousness. "Only good things I hope?"

 

"Sure. You're a mischievous prankster who, at full power, holds enough power to get rid of quite a bit of evil," Frederic said as Robin stepped aside to let the people in. "And I see you've heard of me as well."

 

"Sure. You're the guy with the power to blow up worlds, who can summon the seven-headed dragon, and beat the crap out of a Destroyer." Robin answered with more than a tiny bit of respect.

 

Sorcerer was right behind Frederic. The moment he wanted to step over the threshold, an invisible barrier became visible, stretching out before him.  Sorcerer lifted one eyebrow, and punched through it.  The entire house shook on its foundations.

 

"Pitiful attempt at magic," the man grunted. "So, you're Robby. I'm Sorc. Stay away from me, play lots of pranks on these goody two-shoes, and we'll get along just fine."

 

Robin, who had just seen a second Frederic simply vanquish four types of magic with his FIST, stared with muted fear, and nodded dumbly.

 

"Okay, what in HELL is going on..." Steve barked as he rounded the corner and looked at the newcomers. "... oh shit," he finished.

 

"What?  You don't look happy to see me Steve," Frederic joked, clapping the Wanderer on the shoulder.  Softly.

 

Steve was almost knocked to his knees and tried to hide the wince that almost came to his face.  "Well, considering the last time I saw you, our world was almost destroyed by an evil god that was only called "The Destroyer", and it took more shit than even {I've} seen to take him out, and every time one of your Master Slayers show up, it's usually to take out some insane god that wants to open the Hellmouth and destroy the world... for you, another you, and doubles of my team showing up looking like Hells Angels with an unknown Immortal... I know this is going to get {real} ugly."

 

"You've been hanging around Willow too long Steve," Robin commented as the Merry Wanderer walked past the Wanderer into the gym.  "Hi Joshua, nice to see ya again."

 

"Hey Rob.  How's Liam and Aideen?  I heard about what Obe and the others did.  Harsh man," Joshua answered back.

 

Robin paused long enough to grimace and shrug.  "They're dealin'.  It's not so bad really."

 

Joshua nodded.  "Oh, sorry I couldn't help with the whole Outworld deal, but I was kinda tied up with a couple other things."

 

Robin just shrugged and grinned comically.  "Don't worry about it man, there probably wasn't much more you coulda done that we didn't already do.  Although, you definitely woulda enjoyed seeing Shaw..."

 

"Robin!" a female voice suddenly shouted.  "Coming Dear!" Robin immediately about faced and practically ran into the gym.

 

"Friend of yours?" Frederic asked.  Joshua just grinned and nodded, saying nothing.

 

< Uh, okay, I'm still waiting on Steve to comment on the fact that his defenses, which by the way are more than I put on my diary, let alone our house, were broken through means of mere physical force, > Wiccan commented along the Slayer Team's link.

 

< Well, doesn't he kinda have to know the walls were broken in the first place? > Faith asked.

 

< I'll ask Fred about it, > Joshua suddenly inserted.

 

"Hey Fred, uh...don't you owe Steve something?" Joshua looked Frederic in the eyes.

 

Frederic raised an eyebrow, before smirking.  "Right. The problem.  Of course, the party is in your town Steve, so you get to run things... at least as far as the small stuff.  Some big things, I think you'll want us handling..."

 

"Uh, that's not what I meant Fred," Joshua coughed, and then non-too-subtly gestured at Sorcerer, who was having a bit of fun with a picture on Steve's mantle in the living room.  It was of V.A.N., and through a minor illusion, he was merrily watching all the amazons, plus three Slayers, and "jr. amazons" (namely Dawn and a couple others) put on... or rather take off, a little strip show.

 

Seeing the direction of gesturing, and squinting in annoyance at what he saw, Frederic gestured in Sorcerer's direction, canceling the low-level spell and ticking Sorcerer off one more notch.  Then the irises of Fred's eyes turned green and he spoke with a female voice all of a sudden.  Shadow's voice.

 

"Fix the shields on this house Sorcerer.  No 'else'." the Universal Savior "warned."

 

Sorcerer snorted, but didn't hesitate in reinstating the magic as though it were a simple telekinesis spell.  Joshua nodded his head, but then spoke again.  "Why not add your own protection Savior?  It wouldn't only keep stuff like this from happening again, but it would be guaranteed that Steve's house would be protected from evil."

 

Frederic looked annoyed. "Can't do that. There is this pesky little thing called 'impartiality'... I can't place protections on ANY dwelling not permanently inhabited by a Gerius." Suddenly, Frederic's face cleared up, and a smirk appeared on his lips. "Sorc..."

 

"Hey now!" Sorcerer protested. "I'm the BAD GUY, remember? I don't DO pesky protection spells. I'm more of a blow-up-the-galaxy kinda guy. Shields and protections aren't my strong point."

 

"You did well enough with the house shields," Frederic rebutted.

 

"Those are MINOR spells!" Sorcerer snarled in response. "Kid's stuff! Pointless!" He calmed down, smirked, and shrugged. "Besides... my shields will be charged by Warp Magic. Can't get more evil than that... after all, it DID destroy an entire world's Magic Realm simply to fuse the Power of Twenty Keys to me. If I create a shield, it'll attract vampires and demons not only from this world, but every thing seven slightly evil inclined ten worlds over will flock to this house."

 

"Then cloak it," Frederic replied calmly.

 

Sorcerer snorted. "Make me."

 

Frederic calmly got up, and walked to where Sorcerer was still seated, staring at the picture of the Virtual Amazon Nation, where the women had started round #2. He stopped right in the man's field of vision. "Sorc..."

 

Sorcerer looked from the picture at his twin, a bored expression in his face. "What?"

 

"Do NOT force my hand."

 

Sorcerer got up, getting right in his twin's face. "Or what?"

 

The air thickened as Frederic's fists clenched.

 

Sorcerer's eyes lost their glamour, and blue-blue Fremen eyes stared back at the Leader of the Jokilar Gerius.  The Gerius present gulped.  When the glamour dropped, the Warp Magic came into play.

 

A nearby table rattled.

 

The air thickened further.

 

Even though it was a clear day, the air inside of the living room darkened.

 

"I have no problems with you guys blowing up my living room, but you're paying for the damages," Steve warned.

 

"No problem," Sorcerer snarled, snapping his fingers.  A block of pure gold of one meter cubed dropped in front of Steve. "enough for a hundred houses," the Warp Mage snarled, never having taken his eyes off Frederic.

 

"Oh, God... they're going to blow this planet to pieces," Jessie whispered. "Dad pushed Sorc just that little bit too far..."

 

"LOBO... prepare for emergency relocation," David whispered.

 

Already on it, the collective said.

 

By now, the air in the room was dark as night, the only illumination coming from Frederic's reddish glowing body, Sorcerer's amber glowing one, Sorcerer's iridescent blue eyes, and the small sparks of lightning that jumped between the two warrior's eyes.

 

"You're not going to back down?" Frederic asked levelly, raising one hand. The Bane of darkness materialized in it, folding space to get there.

 

"Never," Sorcerer answered, raising his right hand, the Augmented Ring casting electric shadows across the man's lower arm.

 

"Okay, you two! That's enough!" Jennifer shouted. "Enough with the testosterone already!" She looked at Frederic. "You. Sit." As Sorcerer smirked, she turned to him. "And you will protect this house." Frederic smirked.

 

"Are you going to listen to her?" Sorcerer asked his twin.

 

"Depends. Are you?" Frederic asked, raising one eyebrow.

 

Sorcerer shrugged. "Maybe."

 

"So am I," Frederic grunted, dropping his arm, letting the Bane fold back to its hidden pocket. Sorcerer lowered his arm, and deactivated the Ring, letting the glamour return to its place. Frederic sat down. So did Sorcerer.

 

"And the shields?" Jennifer asked testily, standing in front of him.

 

"Not gonna happen," the man answered calmly. "As I tried to explain... Warp Magic uses pure evil. Imagine the Hellmouth as a small, almost extinguished candle.  Now imagine this as a ten-megaton thermonuclear warhead going off, and you'll have a pretty good idea of the attraction level this will have on creatures of darkness."

 

"Then why aren't you attracting them as well?" Frederic asked, coolly.

 

"Same reason you aren't attracting gods. Powers are inactive until needed," Sorcerer shrugged nonchalantly. He shot a dark look at his twin. "And shields are up all the time. No such thing as cloaking or hiding them."

 

"Sure there is," Frederic said, getting angry again.  "You just don't want to do it."

 

Sorcerer bristled upright in his chair. "Fine. You know what? Fine. I'll put some shields on this place.  I don't care anymore." he stood up, balled his right fist at his side, and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, the glamour was gone. He summoned his powers, and Wiccan, along with everyone else in the room who wasn't used to Sorcerer performing magic, had to look away from the blinding light on the magical realm. "Protect," he shouted, the words reverberating through the house, as if bouncing off the walls, continuing to grow in power and volume.

 

Finally, the words died out. "There. Happy now? But know that-"

 

"What is going on here?" an angry female voice demanded.

 

"Hello, Arty," Sorcerer and Frederic greeted at the same time, one looking at her from the place he was standing, the other simply glancing over the couch.

 

"YOU!!!" Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, barked out.  "Stand down, Arty," Frederic ordered. "We're just putting some-"

 

"Who dared to... oh, it's you guys," Michael the Archangel grunted as he materialized in the living room.

 

"As I was saying, we were only putting some-"

 

"Who had the gall to breach the shield of the Goddess Mielikki herself?" yet another voice demanded.

 

"We did," Frederic said, sighing at yet another interruption. "Hiya, Milli."

 

"As I tried to say," Sorcerer grunted, shooting angry glances at the interrupters, "I protected the place, just like you asked. Downside is that the other protections got cancelled. Evil energy, remember? Anyway, these shields are dormant until something tries to invade this place.  THEN the shit hits the fan for whomever is stupid enough to try it. I put some pretty nasty tricks in those shields..."

 

"What in Hell do you consider nasty?" Jennifer asked, shocked.

 

Sorcerer smirked. "Let's just say that I spent some time perfecting techniques of the Spanish Inquisition, Marquis de Sade, and some German Scientists during World War II," the man said with a smile, sitting down. "It should make for quite the spectacle. After all... I've got experience. After wiping out hell in my dimension, I had to create some form of afterlife for the sinners, didn't I?"

 

"Erhrm!" Joshua suddenly coughed, bringing the attention of all the assembled powers to him.  Artemis, and a couple others, suddenly started.

 

"Joshua!" she squeaked.

 

Joshua smiled easily, almost shyly the way his eyes spoke as he nodded his head towards the Goddess of the Hunt.  "Ari.  It's good to see you again.  You're looking... well, beautiful as always.  I still think Percius picked the wrong goddess." Joshua smiled.

 

Artemis, quite unbecoming of herself, suddenly flushed bright red and to all observing eyes, looked like a blushing schoolgirl in front of her Big Crush.  "I... thank you.  You're looking quite well yourself Joshua.  I trust that you managed to get yourself out of that mess with the Destroyers?"

 

Joshua actually blushed himself and nodded.  "Uh, yeah."  He caught the two Triple Phalanxes looks and just said, "I'll tell you later."

 

Then he returned to what he was originally going to say.  "Uh, I {was} going to say, that I can probably fix it, if you guys don't mind?" addressing everyone from Sorcerer and Frederic to Michael and Mielikki.  They all looked at one another, and seeing no one was going to outwardly nor obviously object, they all nodded their permission.  At that moment everyone else in the house, and that would be coming, showed up.

 

"Steve?  What just happened?  What was with all the magic being thrown around?" a familiar voice called as the group that was in the in-home gym entered the living room.

 

"WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS IS GOING ON HERE--''  Oh! Lord Frederic, forgive me!" Merlin barged in and went to bowing so fast that the lesser mortals were left with their heads spinning.

 

"Hello Merlin," ten voices said simultaneously.  Joshua, GS-Buffy, Wiccan, and Shawukay Redarrow Madison Macleod Hunter all said the greeting with a biting sarcasm that said they would all like nothing more than to see the wizard as nothing more than a distant, or preferably forgotten, memory.  Steve St. Wolf, Mielikki, Artemis, and a couple of the amazons that were able to speak said it with the respect of a colleague to another.  Jennifer and Frederic said it with a kind of lowered respect, like what a King might say to a page boy that hadn't ticked them off yet.  And Sorcerer said it like a Sabertooth tiger's growl towards its prey.

 

Ten seconds after Merlin's arrival, the Thunderbunnies and Aderron of Atlantis, better known as JP Withers, teleported in, all of them with high-speed automatic weapons drawn, JP with something akin to a cannon off a battleship in each of his hands.  When JP saw Frederic, Jennifer, and Daphnix, he immediately lowered his weapons and ordered the Thunderbunnies to do the same.  Joshua sighed and rolled his eyes.  Sorcerer just looked pointedly at Frederic and said in an extremely annoying tone of voice, "I told you so."

 

Frederic just glared at his dimensional twin.  "Oh shut up!" he snapped.  Then he turned to Joshua.  "You said you could fix this?"  Joshua just shrugged, something that Frederic's Savior memories told him was the super-being's way of saying 'Yes'.  "Then do it."

 

Sorcerer smirked slightly. "This'll be good..." he whispered so low that only Frederic right next to him could hear it.

 

Joshua nodded and walked over to the nearest wall. Then he looked at every corner of the room, literally looked at every *corner* of the room, and then looked back at the spot of the wall in front of him.  Then he placed his left hand flat against the wall and closed his eyes.

 

A moment later, Merlin, Wiccan, and the mages of the Thunderbunnies all gasped in surprise, while Sorcerer just grunted.  Joshua turned his head just so, as though listening to or for something.  A moment or two later, everyone noticed a soft blue glow began to emanate from every wall in the room, soft and low at first, and then it began to get brighter, until it was like instead of natural lighting, Dark lamps had been brought in and turned on to their highest intensity.

 

Sorcerer lifted an eyebrow. "You're good, but not good enough..." the next moment, Joshua vanished. "Told ya," Sorcerer added deadpan.

 

Two seconds later, Joshua was back. Or rather... he would have been back, if he had been him.  "He" was mostly just an energy ball floating where 'Joshua' had been moments before.

 

Sorcerer got up, smirking really widely, and glared at the blue hued energy ball. "Problem?"

 

"Only slightly," 'Joshua' replied, his voice sounding almost ethereal, but still very real.  "You have very temperamental magic Sorcerer."

 

"You ticked off my shields. Now they won't let you in.  If you hadn't stuck your head up your ass, and if my twin actually had a brain in his head, you two would have realized it isn't safe to tick off shields put on a dwelling by the most powerful magic user in existence," Sorcerer said flatly. He sighed, closing his eyes as he did so. Again, all magic-users turned their heads as Sorcerer literally ripped his shields apart, and rebuilt them. "There you can get in now."  He looked over his shoulder to Steve. "Take that as a warning. Don't attack these puppies... I'm the only one who can 'unhex' you. Once you piss them off, you can't get in. Ever. Even long after this house will have ceased to be, these shields will still be here."

 

"Good to know," the man muttered as Joshua reformed his body.

 

"By the way, did you like the accommodations?" Sorcerer asked.

 

Joshua grinned.  "Yes, thank you for asking," he said cheerily, yet also quite obviously was extremely sarcastic, and with a grin that made most of the people in the room chuckle, and Sorcerer growl in annoyance.  "Reminded me of my last vacation spot.  It was quite lovely.  Thank you again for that.  By the way, you could have mentioned the half-sentience you applied to the shields when I asked if anybody had any problems with me resetting all of the shields."

 

Sorcerer smiled evilly. "Serves you right. Asshole... thinking he can beat me at my own game. I'm glad you enjoyed it though.  If you ever feel the desire, I'd be happy to send you back."

 

Joshua's shook his head easily, still grinning. "Nah, thanks, but I think I'll manage without."

 

"Now... with your permission Sorcerer," Joshua bowed quite and genuine respectfully, "May I reset the shields to where they will be at beyond peak protection ability?"

 

"Fine, ya got my permission, do what you can.  Maybe I'll make sure you get sealed in that dimension next time." Sorcerer bit out.

 

Joshua just grinned back and walked back to the same spot and replaced his hand where he'd had it.  A few moments later, he disappeared again, but this time in a very different format.  His body dissolved into blue energy and then he seemed to...become a part of the house around them.

 

Several minutes later, during which every time someone tried to speak, one of the 'higher ups' would shush them, while all those with the ability seemed to be sensing exactly what Joshua was doing.  After that time, the blue orb of energy that was Joshua slowly drifted down from the ceiling and then slowly reformatted into the being's human form.

 

Sorcerer grunted as he analyzed what had been done.  "You almost collapsed the whole thing." he accused.

 

"But it worked." Joshua answered back.  "Your protection is still up, but is also buffered and insulated by the reactivated protections of the others.  Keeps the attraction level down, that's for sure, not to mention makes this place tough enough that you'd probably have to actually use a blast of magic to get into it this time."

 

"You added your own shielding to it though.  I thought that you could only do that when you're maintaining the shield.  When you leave this dimension, you'll either have to leave a tether or that part of it will disappear, won't it?" Frederic pointed out.

 

Joshua smiled.  "My powers have grown somewhat since I was last in the past, Savior.  Also, it's not my shielding per say, but rather I set up the "security program" that regulates all the other shields in such a way that they are boosted to maximum performance.  It's also adaptive, so it might actually take you two blasts Sorcerer." Joshua answered.  Not smugly, or with any grin, just as simple straight facts.

 

Again, Sorcerer just grunted.

 

"Uh... who are you?" Buffy254 finally asked.  Joshua turned to the Immortal Slayer and nodded his head as a sort of bow.  "Adrianna, so nice to see you again.  I told you that one day you would be rejoined with your father on this world." Joshua greeted her cryptically.

 

GS-Buffy looked up suddenly at her newest counterpart.  "You were Adrianna in a past life?!" she asked suddenly.  Buffy254, surprised and a bit overwhelmed by both statements, could only blink and then stutter, "Uh... yea-yeah, I was.  Uh, JP over there is my... past life's father.  He was cursed with Immortality back when Atlantis was still around.  And how did you know that I was Adrianna in a past life?!  And weren't you too?"

 

Both beings shook their heads no.  "I was Sedra in my first life, and Sinea in my second.  Sedra by the way was the great grandmother prophet of Sinea, who is "technically" the First Slayer, though on some worlds it's Alika." GS-Buffy answered her twin.

 

Joshua spoke next.  "I've been to this universe before.  I always like to start in a universe at the very beginning of time, so to speak, unless I have a specific place and time I need to go to.  I lived in Atlantis at the time of Caspian, when Aderron was Captain of the Guard.  I had the name 'Jonhua'."

 

"I knew I recognized you!" Aderron suddenly exclaimed.  "Hot damn, you look exactly the same kid."

 

Joshua snorted.  "I'm older than you, kid."  Then he looked back to the local-Buffy.  "We... I was close friends with Adrianna, sort of like you and Xander are I guess you could say, though I didn't dare try to court you or anything.  Aderron would've had my head.  And nobody messed with the Captain of the Guard."

 

"I'll still take your head if you so much as..." Aderron tried to threaten.

 

Joshua snorted and made a face.  "Oh please!  Give me some credit!  I don't break up already wonderful relationships, and I only date 'Buffys' to "introduce them" to the ones they really are destined to be with.  At most I've only ever dated 5 Buffys.  Present company EXcluded.  I date Willows more often.  Sides, redheads actually have more fun than blondes in my experience."

 

"Hey!" the Buffys and Willows, and a couple other blonds in the room, shouted.

 

"But that's not important right now.  OK, shielding in place, everybody is placated, and knows that something is going on and that we're the ones dealing with it, so Fred, I guess it would be time for that explanation." Joshua said in a rush as he caught the glares from numerous females around the room.

 

Frederic chuckled, before turning to Steve. "Anyway, Steve, I have to apologize for our... rude behavior," he said as opening line. "I know I said that you're in charge of the festivities, but it seems that other people had other ideas," he said testily, shooting an angry glare at both Sorcerer and Joshua. Neither reacted much.

 

"Anyway, this is what we have," the Supreme Gerius went on, "Our new friend Joshua here decided to tinker with the fabric of the universe, and see if he could plug Dark Portals, such as the Hellmouth, among others. In order to do this, he figured the best way was to funnel the Portal in on itself, using its own Dark Energy against it.

 

"Of course, as you can guess..."

 

"It backfired," Steve said calmly.

 

"It backfired," Frederic said with a nod. "The result was something called a Dark Influx. It doesn't actually DO anything in its initial stages, except be a huge magnet for the forces of darkness. It's also completely invulnerable. When the Influx 'hatches', it starts to draw the world around it into Hell, but not before creating an extremely powerful guardian creature. From what I've heard, think 'First Circle Demon', then multiply it by a Hell god."

 

Steve and his friends gasped, Michael and the two goddesses included.

 

"That's not the problem," Frederic went on. "Joshua and his borrowed team of fighters have been going after these Influxes, and sealing them. So far, no problem. But... these last three Influxes aren't like the others. They've inter-connected, forming something like a portal network. Instead of siphoning energy into Hell, they're siphoning amongst each other. Which means we can't close one if the other two are still there. And, you guessed it..."

 

"One of these portals leads here," Steve answered like an obedient schoolboy.

 

"Got it in one," Frederic said. "Now, as I said... this Influx will draw the worst creatures here. Which leads us to why we're here. How do you want to handle this?"

 

"When will this... Influx... hatch?" Steve asked.

 

"Five weeks," Frederic answered calmly.

 

"Hmm... so, basically, we need to hold out five weeks, and then you guys come in and close the deal down?"

 

"What I was talking about was how much backup you wanted," Frederic said with a chuckle. "If you want them, I can have a couple dozen squads of Black Cats here within the hour."

 

Steve whistled. "You mean those guys in the black uniforms who took out demons as if they were nothing?"

 

Frederic chuckled. "Yep. Those guys. They're the ESMF equivalent of the Seals, the elite fighters of the Mental Forces."

 

"I'll take all the help I can get," Steve answered earnestly. "If things are as bad as you say they are..."

 

Frederic nodded, and said a couple words to LOBO. "I'll also leave you a new communicator... if things get out of hand, just call. We'll be here faster than it takes to say 'oh, shit'."

 

There was a disturbing sound just then.  The unmistakable sound of someone clearing their throat, which is never a good sign.  Everyone turned and glared at Joshua.

 

Looking nervous, but not sheepish or embarrassed at their looks, he looked straight at Frederic, and Jennifer who was at his side, sensing the "bad news" the super-being was about to deliver.  "Uh, Fred... there's... something I think I should make you aware of... before we leave to train or whatever."  Joshua began.  Frederic took a deep breath, but nodded, reigning in both his temper and the urge to sigh at the omniverse working against him yet again.

 

"I know you received all the important information about the Dark Influxes during our link... but..." Joshua continued nervously.

 

"I know that you already deleted a timeline where the first Dark Influx had already hatched and been activated.  I also know what you saw and experienced in order to do that," Frederic interrupted. 

 

Joshua nodded.

 

"Yes, but you don't know what it was like Phalanx." Frederic wasn't lost on the fact that the being had referred to him as Phalanx rather than Savior as he had been doing.  "I carefully kept that from you, because I think it might have actually killed us in the link.  Fred..." Joshua's voice actually croaked as he tried to explain, "You, none of you have any clue as to what a Dark Influx really is.  None.  Now, first of all, I want to make this damn clear.  I did not, I repeat, not create the Influxes.  They were created as a result of sabotage on my project, and therefore my experiment, yes, but I in no way purposely created these things.  Something... else might have, I'm still not sure yet, but I just want to get one thing perfectly straight.  Yes, I am responsible for the creation of the Dark Influxes, and maybe even the threat they pose, but I did NOT create them.  I just want that understood."

 

Frederic nodded, getting a tad frustrated.  "Yes, we understand that Joshua, you didn't mean for your experiment to go out of control, or to be sabotaged like it was.  And since you are, as you put it, "cleaning up your own mess", we won't hold any retribution of the consequences of the Dark Influxes on you."

 

Joshua's eyebrows went up and he gestured a finger at Frederic, "You swear to that?" he inquired.  Frederic, remembering something from long ago at the same time, smiled and nodded his head, and repeated, "I swear."

 

Joshua nodded, confidant of the Universal Savior/Triple Phalanx to keep his word.  "You might change your tune after this Fred," Joshua grumbled.  Then he extended his right hand out into the air, palm up.

 

"What are you doing?" Jennifer asked.

 

"I'm showing you exactly what a Dark Influx is, by generating an infinitesimal and highly diluted portion of the energy it generates after it's hatched." Joshua answered, strain sounding in his voice as he was obviously focusing his energies.

 

GS-Buffy's eyes went extremely wide and her skin went death pale, after rigor mortis.  She squeaked, drawing attention to her briefly, and then began to moan like someone in pure agony and started to huddle herself into a tiny little ball, keeping the attention.

 

"Buffy, what's wrong?" Frederic asked.  She didn't answer directly; she just started moaning, softly but quickly building to louder volumes, "Not again, not again, not again, please, not again!"

 

Every member of the Slayer Team looked deathly sick, and the more aggressive ones were fidgeting, like they were fighting not to try running away as fast as they could, and damning any that got in their way.  In the end, only Wiccan seemed to have enough strength to finally answer Frederic's, and all the others', concerns.

 

"J-j-Joshua showed us the energy of the Dark Influx before.  Only... he gave us several hours to prepare...  We still weren't ready for it...  I don't think anybody ever could be." her voice sounded hollow, as though just the mere thought of what Joshua was about to demonstrate had already killed her and the soul was speaking from several lifetimes away.

 

Frederic suddenly found himself... apprehensive about this, but Joshua's arm was already beginning to spark, and the scientist/super-being had already proved that he would never willingly endanger innocents, even Champions, without their preparation beforehand.

 

"Buffy, you and anyone else can go if they wish to," Joshua spoke, his voice now very focused.  "I won't force you to experience this again.  Just be sure to use the door if you're going out.  Don't make one," he joked with a wry grin.

 

Every, every member of the Slayer Team, as well as some members of Section 7 that had gotten spooked by their doubles' reactions, immediately raced (GS and X flying) for the front door as fast as they could move.  Frederic tracked them until they stopped moving... about ten miles, or more in some cases, away.  Interestingly, Gold Slayer and Watcher were the farthest away.  Somewhere over China if his mapping was correct.

 

"Ok, if you're going to do this, do it," Frederic ordered.  Those that remained tensed themselves for whatever was to come.  The Thunderbunnies had cleared out on JP's orders, who had stayed for his daughter's sake.  The gods, Michael, Merlin, and the Immortals had also stayed.  None of the Amazons or men had stayed, at Artemis' prompting.  Shaw, Robin, and Amy had stayed as well, and Liam wasn't 'here' yet.

 

A dark feeling crept its way up Frederic's spine, like an ancient instinct warning him of impending doom. As a spark settled and started to grow, Frederic's senses warned him when he saw Jennifer and Daphnix draw pale.

 

When the hairs at the base of his neck stood up, Frederic knew that something was wrong. Definitely wrong. He closed his eyes and drew a breath. The Universe moaned. He felt its pain.

 

The instincts that had guided him, protected him, forced him through the continuous battles and only served to make him stronger were now turning against him. Frederic wanted to draw power. He wanted to destroy this evil, eradicate it, to banish it beyond space and time.

 

He opened his eyes, and drew a steeling breath. He forced himself to look at the ball. Jennifer and Daphnix were looking as if they were witnessing the death of every one of their loved ones, crying openly at the sheer pain they felt from the universe.  Frederic forced himself to his legs.

 

At Joshua's stunned gaze, the Triple Phalanx reached out, and grabbed the tennis-ball sized ball of energy.  The moment he made contact, the power and intensity of the pain increased a thousand-fold. Frederic let out a keening moan at the same time the look disappeared from Jennifer's and Daphnix' faces.

 

"More," Frederic groaned. "I need to know... More."

 

Joshua picked up his jaw from the floor, and nodded as he focused more power into the ball. "I can't make it full power," he whispered with a straining note to his voice.

 

"I need to know," Frederic repeated. "All of it."

 

As Joshua focused more power, he protested, "But..."

 

"LOBO. Scan, analyze, and boost," the Triple Phalanx snarled into the communicator, everyone knowing it was the sheer pain and not anger that was speaking.

 

Joshua could feel the influence of the being known as LOBO almost immediately. Rather than taking the burden off him completely, LOBO simply provided the power, while Joshua provided the knowledge and influence to use that power. The ball increased in intensity, yet not in size.

 

Frederic sunk to his knees, sweat pearling on alabaster skin. His eyes were pits of hellish fury and utter pain, his lips drawn back in a supernatural pose of combined rage and terror.

 

"That's it..." Joshua finally whispered, deactivating the ball.

 

Frederic immediately regenerated, walked to his chair, and fell into it. "That was not a pleasant experience," the Triple Phalanx said, looking at Joshua. "But I have felt worse."

 

"Come again?" Joshua asked.

 

"When she died, I felt pain worse than this. When the Destroyer wiped her, I felt rage worse than this. When I couldn't help her, I felt terror worse than this," the Phalanx listed, motioning to Jennifer.

 

"When he died, I felt worse," Jennifer picked up. "When I couldn't help him, and when I was unable to exact revenge, I felt rage and terror worse than this."

 

"But you were unaffected after..." Joshua's voice trailed off as Jennifer shook her head.

 

"I was affected," she whispered, tapping her temple. "We are linked, Fred and I... I can feel everything he feels. He can feel everything I feel. When he grabbed that ball, I felt it, even though no-one else did."

 

"Damn," Steve cursed as he finally managed to wipe the overwhelming buzz from his mind.  Buffy, Randi, Sonja, and Gabrielle were reacting much the same, though not all for the same reasons Steve was.  Each had felt a brief moment, save Randi, where their "Dark Sides" had flared, making them want to strike out at anything and everything all at once for no reason at all.  It had greatly disturbed them and they were silent as the others began to speak of what had just happened.

 

"That was... interesting," Sorcerer muttered softly.  He had felt... well, something similar to what Frederic and the Gerius had felt, except that where the pain made them weaker, it seemed to fuel some invisible and raging inferno inside his own soul, until that inferno consumed him alive.  Sorcerer gulped as he began to think of what would happen to him if he was exposed to this energy for any longer than what had been.  Perhaps, perhaps he would become stronger... but at what price?  His current level had cost him so many levels of risking insanity that he wondered just how much more his mind could take after all of it.  And if he finally, truly went insane, ultimate power or not, he had too much to lose to insanity now.  He was finally, after so long, with the one woman he belonged with, they were happy, and he was actually getting friends again, even if they had started out as his greatest enemy's pupils.  No, temptation of power, no matter how great, this Dark Influx threat had to be eradicated.

 

The gods were far worse, as was JP and Merlin.  "Anybody feel like summoning the Gerius?" Artemis half-joked half-worried.  Frederic and the two actual Gerius chuckled at that, but Mielikki, Michael, and Robin all looked quite serious as they began to consider what the Olympian had suggested.  "I... felt my sanity slipping as the seconds passed..." the Norse goddess admitted.  "To become one of the insane chaos gods is the worst fate any god can imagine.  I would rather summon the God Slayers to finish me now rather than risk the potential harm I could to do my children if this threat were ever realized."

 

"There is one of these... full Influxes, here, in this universe Joshua?" Artemis asked.  Sadly, the blue-eyed man nodded.  "We cannot allow it, or even a portion of it to be released on this world.  The Olympians, and countless other petty gods that reside here would never survive, or worse... they would."

 

Suddenly the Goddess of the Hunt took a regal and professional pose and she quickly saluted Frederic and Jennifer.  "I hereby, as a daughter of Zeus, offer the full services of the Olympian gods Master Phalanx.  In the face of this threat, we will no longer let our champions and worshipers do the work, but we will stand beside them, as equals against this enemy.  If you would allow us my liege, and if you would have us... to fight with your armies?"

 

Joshua smiled and turned a friendly eye on the man he called "Savior".  Frederic smiled too, but for a different reason and nodded, and then with an air that made him seem even more regal than he actually was, he returned the salute.  "Protect this world, and you have the honor of fighting with my armies.  Try and control the defenders and inheritors of this world, and..."  Frederic left the comment trail off.

 

Artemis nodded; fully understanding what he was implying and asking.  Just then, there was a rush of air, and everyone that had left was returned to his or her positions as the Slayer Team helped the 'not-as-fast' champions to get back faster.

 

"Well... that wasn't so bad," GS tried to jest.  Watcher snorted, "Yes, I suppose it does help having an entire planet between us and it."

 

"Not by much though," GS and Wiccan both muttered, mentally shivering.

 

"So, uh... what happened?" Xander254 asked.  Joshua shrugged.

 

"I showed everyone here what a Dark Influx is like... with a great deal of help from Fred's computer, I managed to show them what a normal Dark Influx is like." Joshua answered.

 

"A normal Dark Influx?!" Sorcerer repeated deathly deadpan.

 

"This was a copied, diluted, and extremely small portion of that dark energy.  It's diluted by my very energy that generated it, making it less than 10% of what it might be, and the portion is like a 10th of the energy necessary to help create a single, tiny spark in an engine.  The "normal" Dark Influx is like a Semi-Truck diesel engine.  This, "Trinary-Dark Influx Portal-system" that we're now dealing with, is like a Tripled Fusion reactor."

 

"Ouch," Steve winced in appreciation of the statistics.

 

Suddenly, there was a ringing chime as the doorbell was rung.  "Uh, I'll get it," Buffy254 said dully.  She disappeared down the hall, to reappear with two people behind her.  One, male, had sandy brown hair, soft blue eyes, and was built like pro-wrestler, which was obvious through his black tank top and opened white shirt.  Around his blue jeans, he wore a rather sophisticated combat belt, and from his pocket hung a pair of silver lined sunglasses that glinted in the light.  Next to him was an equally attractive brunette, female, in a pair of dark blue jeans, and a simple yellow and blue designer blouse.  Her soft brown eyes and equally soft toned skin shown her worry, though most could guess it was over her male companion than any other petty issue.

 

"Hey Steve, I just stopped by to check and see what was...going...on..." Jake Chronos greeted as he walked into the room, and trailing off when he caught sight of everyone there.

 

<< He's not normal >> Frederic and the other Gerius realized with a start.

 

These people are not normal Jake thought to himself as he scanned the crowd.  But then, since when does Steve have normal friends.  Geez!  Look at the power on those three!

 

"Uh... hi.  I'm Jake Chronos.  This is my girlfriend, Jennifer.  Steve..." Jake looked to the Immortal bearer of Demon Slayer, "would you care to introduce us?"

 

"Oh, right, sorry Jake.  Fred, uh, as he said, that's Jake Chronos, Jake, this is Frederic Fromthefield... uh, that guy that beat the "Destroyer".  I think we told you about that." Steve introduced.

 

Jake looked at Frederic with a whole new light as he slowly stepped away from Jennifer and towards the Universal Savior.  "Jake..." Jennifer hissed.

 

Jake looked back for a second and smiled at his true love's concern.  Jake looked at Frederic and reached out with his senses... carefully.  At first... he felt something like an impenetrable wall, something as big as the planet between him and what lay beyond... and then it was as though nothing, and I mean nothing were there.

 

He almost took a step back in fear, but curiosity pressed him closer.  He looked into the man's eyes... and had every answer to any question he would ever again ask.  The knowledge of the universe resided in this man's eyes, and Jake knew he wasn't ready for that yet.

 

Jake blinked, and then nodded.  "I apologize for interrupting my lord, but I was concerned over the... disturbing sensations I was feeling from Steve's house.  It's...truly an honor to get to meet you... I'm sorry, is it Master Phalanx, Universal Savior, or Fred?"

 

Frederic's mouth quirked slightly. "That depends... on whether you want my leadership, my protection, or my friendship."

 

As Jake looked confused, Frederic went on. He motioned to Joshua. "He wants my help, and thus calls me Savior." his move went on, to Steve, "He wants my friendship, and thus calls me 'Fred'." And finally, his hand rested in the direction of Sorcerer. Jake gulped when he looked at an identical twin of Frederic. "And he wants my protection from the Gods of the Universe, and thus calls me 'asshole'."

 

"Hey! I called you a bastard, not an asshole!" Sorcerer growled. He stood up, and faced Jake. "So... a Fire/Water Sorcerer, huh? And a half-titan at that... neat. Haven't met many of you guys."

 

Jake stared form one to the other, not believing his ears. He always thought of himself as the only one of his kind, and now this stranger proclaims to have met others like him?

 

"As to the disturbances you felt... they are part of the reason we're here," Frederic said. "There's a dark Influx maturing in this world, and we're here to stop it."

 

At that moment, a dozen people in total black outfits beamed into the room, each one carrying firepower the likes of which no one in the room had ever seen. As the eleven others remained in more or less 'at ease' pose, one person snapped at attention in front of Frederic. He was in his early thirties, and his entire body and posture radiated command and power.

 

"First Battalion Black Cats reporting for Duty, SIR!"

 

Frederic returned the salute. "At ease. The reason I called you here is for a mission of utmost importance, Colonel. This world needs to be assisted. I am placing you under the command of the local Field Commander, Steve St. Wolf. You will assist him in the defense of this world and its inhabitants, and to offer advice when he asks for it. If there's a problem, I want to know about it beforehand."

 

The man glanced at his eleven companions. "No problems, Sir."

 

Frederic smiled. "Good." The smile vanished. "This world is under our protection, Colonel. I am officially authorizing you to commandeer any and all resources of SpaCECoB, should you need them in the protection of this world."

 

The man snapped at attention. "Yes, SIR!"

 

"Good Luck, Colonel. Dismissed, and go with the blessing of the Gods."

 

The man dipped his head, and turned to his eleven companions. "Alright, men! Let's gather our Squads, and start a patrol while I hold conference with our new commanding officer!"

 

The eleven snapped at attention. "Yes, SIR!" and they vanished.

 

The remaining Cat then turned to Steve. "Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Harper reporting for duty,

 

SIR! Status as of now there is eleven squads patrolling Sunnydale, with one squad protecting HQ. Your orders, Sir?"

 

Steve stood up. "Join me in my study, Colonel. We'll lay out a plan there."

 

"Yes, sir," the man said, following Steve into the study, where Buffy254 slipped in after them.

 

Frederic watched until the door closed. "Good man, Mark."

 

"So you're letting your goons do the dirty work?" Sorcerer asked his twin.

 

"Those goons as you put them can wipe the ass of anyone is this room except for the Gerius, Joshua, and Slayer Team. Think of them as non-immortal Master Slayers," Frederic said, turning to his twin. "And you know how powerful the Master Slayers were before they became Jokilar Gerius."

 

Sorcerer shrugged nonchalantly. "You're still letting them do your dirty work."

 

"We need time to prepare," Frederic grunted. "And they will give us that time."

 

"Whatever," Sorcerer said, sitting down again. Jake just stared, jaw riding on the floor at the sheer amount of magical, physical, and technological power he had just seen step into and out of the room.

 

"Sir, if I may ask, how many people are there in one 'Squad'?" Jake asked Frederic.

 

"Twelve," Frederic answered calmly. Jake, who had expected something along the lines of four or five, stared again.

 

"There are 144 people like that running around Sunnydale?" Jake asked, too shocked to make his tone respectful, motioning for the door leading to Steve's study.

 

Frederic shrugged. "Yes. And there are lots more waiting at home base... the Earth Strategic Mental Forces range in the millions of combat-ready soldiers. Time to full deployment is 12 hours at all times. We never let our friends hanging," Frederic finished.

 

"Just... just who are you?" Jake whispered, falling into an empty chair.

 

"Frederic Fromthefield, Phalanx of Human, Oech-anya and Ketari races, Supreme Commander of the Jokilar Gerius, overall commander of the ESMF, Master Slayer, Jedi Knight, Personal Champion to the Gods of the Universe, Universal Savior, Conqueror of the Internal Force, S-class Alter User, and Inheritor of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. This is my wife, Jennifer, who will assume my responsibilities if I should ever be forcibly retired, and my best friend Daphnix, Tactical Commander of the ESMF, and third in command."

 

Sorcerer stood up. "And I'm the evil twin of this bas...asshole," the man said with a grin to Frederic, who rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I am Lord Sorcerer, Conqueror of Evolved Combat Magic, Vanquisher of Marduk, and Supreme Ruler of the Lost Universe."

 

Jake and his Jennifer looked as if they had long since suffered triple heart attacks.  Even if for different reasons.

 

Jake, slowly, stood back to his feet.  "Sorcerer?" he asked, both to clarify the being's name, and to ask his attention.

 

Sorcerer glared, almost vaporizing the younger sorcerer wit the look.  "What?" he barked.

 

"I don't suppose you can tutor me?  I've only recently been able to attain full 'Magician' status, and I'm still forced to draw in mana as I'm still trying to increase my reserves, and there's this one spell that I've been trying to do involving the four elemental figures..." Jake started to babble.

 

Sorcerer smirked. "You're kidding, right?" he asked darkly. Jake just stared, not knowing what to expect, or what he said that was so funny.

 

Sorcerer laughed. "You're not kidding. Oh, for the love of the Gods, man, are you just stupid, or do you have a REALLY pertinent death wish?"

 

Jake shrugged, not saying anything back.

 

Sorcerer continued to smirk. "Listen... pal... I don't have time to take on lost causes. Tell you what, I'll show it to you." He lifted one hand. Above it, a tiny candle flame floated. "This is you." Jake nodded. Sorcerer held up his other hand. Air above it rippled, the actual air deforming into a glowing ball of hot gas, about the size of a soccer ball. "This is me."

 

Jake's jaw tensed tightly as he felt the energy distortion. "Now, this is what would happen if I stopped hiding my magic," Sorcerer continued, bringing the two hands together. The small flame died out as its air supply choked up. "And that's just ordinary magic. I've got some stuff that don't even REQUIRE mana anymore." Sorcerer stood up, and motioned for Wiccan. "Train with her. She's actually got potential, other than you, who are just an amateur..."

 

Wiccan looked at the men. "Did he just compliment me?"

 

"No, I stated a fact," Sorcerer growled in her direction, turning, and sitting down again.

 

Jake, disappointed, went on, "Come on, there must be something I can do..."

 

Sorcerer just lifted his hand, and before anyone could do anything, he had thrown a small ball of faster-than-light Warp Magic at Jake, vaporizing him on the spot.

 

Before anyone could react, Jake stood there once again.

 

"Interesting," Sorcerer grunted with an evil smirk.  "Subconsciously using time travel on us, huh?" He grinned evilly. "You didn't survive the blast, kiddo. Which means no training from me."

 

"I automatically jump back in time if I'm ever suddenly killed. I can consciously control it, but normally it's subconscious in this type of situation."

 

Frederic smiled.  "Who's your father kid?" he asked.

 

"John Chronos," Jake answered honestly at first.  And then he quietly added, while looking embarrassed, "Cronus."

 

"I thought he was trapped at the bottom of the Chronos pit in this universe?" Jennifer asked.

 

"He was.  But about 2000 or so years ago, the Father sent Michael to ask my father if he wanted to redeem himself... by becoming a human and helping to protect this world." Jake answered.  "My father said yes."

 

"Interesting.  How did it work out?" Daphnix asked.  Jake shrugged and smirked.  "I'm here aren't I?"

 

Jake suddenly took a new interest in Sorcerer.  "He's your double?" Jake asked Frederic with a conspiratal grin.  Frederic nodded, returning the grin.  "Heh.  He reminds me of Adam."

 

"As in Adam and Evil?" Sorcerer smirked at his own joke.

 

Jake shook his head.  "No.  As in Adam Chronos, my double from a nearby universe.  Of course, I'm technically more powerful than Adam, but he's a mercenary for hire, whereas I'm a mercenary for the Light.  Plus he has this really bad attitude about competing with me."

 

Frederic started laughing as he realized the similarities between himself and Sorcerer and the relationship of this half-titan with his double. Sorcerer smiled evilly as well. "Only thing different is that, in this relationship, if we can call it that, the evil twin is the more powerful one."

 

Frederic turned to Sorcerer. "If I hadn't protected you from the Gods, you pathetic piece of Calderian Slime Slug, you wouldn't be here today!"

 

"And if I hadn't saved your miserable behind in your fight against the Assassin and the Third of the Destroyers, neither would you!" Sorcerer bit back.

 

"And neither would your Jennifer!" Frederic retorted. "Remember? That's why you came to me, begging for my help in saving her!"

 

"At least we would have died together!" Sorcerer growled. "Face it, buddy! The only one of us who got killed was you! And it was by me!"

 

Frederic grew ashen white. "And I returned from the Realm of the Dead, and I kicked your ass into oblivion!"

 

"Yeah right! You couldn't hit a fly! Why is it that you've returned eight months ago, have fought me on half a dozen occasions, and still haven't killed me?"

 

Frederic's color had returned, and he sat back in his chair with an evil smirk. "I don't do charity."

 

Sorcerer's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. As several of the people in the room had the stupid idea of chuckling, Sorcerer growled. The air thickened and the temperature dropped. Just like the light levels. The chuckling stopped. "I am really beginning to dislike you."

 

"As opposed to hating me?" Frederic asked. "I'm so scared."

 

Sorcerer growled again. "I am bound by my word not to harm you or your family." He raised his hand, leveling it at Jake's Jennifer. "She isn't part of your family. How about I see if time boy's incursions work when I actually use some power?"

 

Frederic eyes tightened. "If you do that, you will have the entire body of Jokilar Gerius on your trail, and your life will be forfeit. That's the deal, Sorc. You behave, and you live. Don't, and I will kill you myself!"

 

"If you can," Sorcerer snapped. But he did lower the hand.

 

Before anybody could say anything more, Frederic was suddenly distracted as an urgent message came through his mental link with LOBO.

 

Father!  Urgent message for Shadow from Universe 700!!  It's Vegeta!  He's asking for her help.  He's doing it via King Kai, who is on the planet of the Kais.  Things are getting desperate on Earth!  I've only been able to discover a limited amount because of a Space/Time rip that formed in the timeline, and it would be too dangerous to send anyone, or even a nanoprobe back to anytime before it.  But this is all due to a threat caused by a monster that has even the SUPREME Kai worried.  Its name is Majin Buu.

 

"Majin Buu?" Frederic repeated the silly sounding name out loud.

 

GS-Buffy immediately perked up.  "Majin Buu?!  Where?!  Can I fight him?  Please...?

 

Frederic looked out the window, yet no one was convinced that it was the outside he was looking at.  "Universe 700... Prince Vegeta... Majin Buu... Fine." He stood up. And shifted into Shadow, startling the living daylights out of the present duo of lesser gods, mages, and time-travel capable half-titans and their loved ones. Not to mention the crew of 254 who was present. "I have some urgent business on 700," the warrior grunted. "I need to relieve some stress."

 

"Oh, come on!" GS-Buffy whined. "Please? Please let me fight him! I've wanted to for so long!!"

 

Shadow turned to the golden-haired warrior. "Give me a good reason," she replied.

 

"Ever since we beat Glory on my world, I've wanted to try and take out something like Majin Buu." Buffy started.  "Goku told me about him and that it took more than anything easily imaginable to even match power with Buu.  After we healed from the final battle with Glory, I... nobody has actually been able to measure my ultimate power.  After all this time... I want to test myself, and I mean really let loose.  Against Majin Buu, who by the way can regenerate all wounds, and is made out of some kind of pink jello I think, and has a Double Negative 0 power level, I can probably either match him, or actually have enough to destroy him... I think.  My point is... I don't know!  I haven't had a test of my full power since Glory, and after we beat her I got a serious power boost that I haven't been able to measure.  I mean... well, for a serious challenge I could try you or one of your Slayers, but this way I don't piss any of your people off, I face off against a decent foe that will give me a workout, and you get a baseline of my power when we start training.  Of course, this is me assuming that you're going to be training all of us."

 

Shadow was silent as she contemplated the pros and cons of allowing Gold Slayer to accompany her to Universe 700, with the pretext of fighting a foe that a trusted ally, and former teacher/student, had asked her to defeat.

 

In the brief silence, Jake had stepped closer to the alternate Willow codenamed 'Wiccan'.  "Ok, I admit it, I'm an amateur, but he didn't have to be so mean about it," was his opening line.

 

The divine being looked amusedly at the half-titan for a moment before responding quietly, "Mean or not, it's the truth. Even I outclass you, and not just because I know and practice more magical arts than you do.  In Sorcery, elemental or not, alone, I rank right up to where a number of Fred's personal students are, and a little higher than some of them.  Sorcerer has dark magic fueling him, as well as a personal magic and energy that makes him... well, still in Fred's class.  'Cept I don't think that Sorcerer can create a stabilized Temporal Incursion like the Jokilar Gerius can."

 

"I can do that," Jake observed with an earnest look in his eye.

 

Wiccan smirked, "Jumping back in time and creating a Temporal Fold are entirely separate things."

 

Jake raised his eyebrows some.  "I can do that, too."

 

Wiccan's eyes drew a hard edge to them.  "You shouldn't be messing with that kind of thing.  Especially when you barely have enough reserves to fill your own body." she warned the amateur sorcerer.

 

Jake grimaced and nodded, before adding, "I don't mess with it, and I do not do it all that often.  Well, very rarely in fact.  Only when I have to."

 

Wiccan frowned for a moment, before her eyes suddenly widened as she realized what he was saying.  "You have the Phoenix Gate!" she hissed.

 

Jake smiled, but then lost it and shrugged, "It was given to me, by Lord Oberon himself, as a token of both appreciation... and my dubbed knighthood into the Court of the Fae."

 

Wiccan smiled, her own eyebrows raised in amusement, "You too?" she asked innocently.

 

Jake's eyes went wide, and then he decided, "I'm not going to ask for clarification of that."

 

At that moment, Shadow came to her decision. She shrugged. "Very well. Fight him, go all out, and destroy him if you can. I shall accompany you... just in case," the Warrior added with a small smirk. She turned to Jennifer. "We'll be back shortly. I'd ask you to come, if I weren't so sure that you'd want to stay here and make sure 254 is safe."

 

Jennifer smiled. "You really do know me too well... even if we don't have the same link as I share with Fred."

 

Shadow actually smiled. "If there is one thing I have learned in those 250 years I was dead, it's the skill of observation, Love."

 

"That, the ability to kick the Wise One in the balls and ask if it hurts, and the ability to stare for hours at someone without blinking," Jennifer added deadpan.

 

Shadow grinned. "Fred could kick the Gods in the balls long before he ever met me." The raven-haired warrior turned to GS-Buffy. "Prepare for dimensional displacement."

 

"Wa–" GS-Buffy started to ask as she suddenly felt the entire universe shift around her with a speed and ferocity she hadn't suspected.

 

She fell down on some rocky ground. Next to her, Shadow was looking up into the sky, where there was some kind of battle taking place. Shadow was neutral, even though she felt her 1000-times enhanced ki rage through her system, begging to be released.

 

Buffy, who was more surprised by the shift, and that it had deposited them just over a foot above the ground, slowly got to he feet, taking in everything around her.  Her power, which had been feeling rather smothered in the previous universes, as it normally was actually, was feeling more like it did when she was in the Compound, or maybe the Tournament.

 

She was used to the transition, and was silently pleased that she would get to see her real power level, if they ever found Majin Buu in the first place that is.  That was when she let her power senses flow.

 

She was almost staggered when she felt the powers of the nearby others.  Goku, which was a near perfect match for the Goku she knew and had been trained by, except that her Goku was the great, great grandson of this Goku, another Saiyan presence she could only assume was 'Vegeta', three unconscious Saiyan hybrids, one unconscious Namek, Dende, the current Guardian of the Earth at this time, (if she recalled Goku's history correctly), and ... oh yeah, wasn't that Videl's father?

 

She didn't remember his name, but she also casually noted that both Dende and Videl's father were on the ground some meters away... and with a small puppy that she somehow sensed had a connection to Buu.

 

Speaking of which... Buffy's eyes were immediately drawn to a small cloud of white smoke in the distance as she felt the overwhelming, and continuing to rise, power of the pink monster.

 

"Let's go," Shadow ordered.  Buffy nodded, and both Instant Transmitted to the area where they felt Goku, Vegeta, and the others.

 

"Shadow!" Vegeta started as the blonde and raven-haired warriors appeared out of thin air between the Saiyans and the pink monster. Getting over his shock, Vegeta snapped, "What took you so long?  I called you over two days ago!"

 

Shadow shrugged. "Temporal lag. My universe flows slower than yours, which meant that your message was delivered instantaneously from my point of view, but took two days from yours." She looked over her shoulder at Gold Slayer. "You wanted Buu?  Go get him.  I've got some temporal mechanics to explain to his Royal Majesty here..."

 

 

 

Buffy nodded to Shadow, understanding, quite possibly better than Shadow herself, the very real threat and potential unstable situation this Buu is.  Buffy, after having been told about the pink monster by Goku after the defeat of Glorificus on her world, had searched for every parameter the Compound had on him.  She was very impressed with what she had found out.  Buu had a Zero negative rating… in his early hatching form.  Yet according to the data the Compound had on him, he went through several multiple transformations, usually at the result of absorbing others powers, bodies, or abilities.  (Speaking of which, what is it with pink blobs that absorb other’s powers by eating them?)

 

Buffy, still only in her normal ‘warrior’ attire; GEO-jacket, loose fitting black pants, GEO-boots, and a black tank top/leotard, and her golden blonde hair done up in a simple ponytail, began to walk calmly towards the cliff where the Evil Kid Buu stood.  His solid black, red pupil eyes were staring directly at the group of humans/Saiyans, his small body still very tense after his transformation, and his lipless mouth turned down in a permanent frown.  He looked almost like he was waiting for something, and did not react when Buffy began to calmly walk toward him.

 

“Shadow?  Are you a fool?!  You can’t let some newbie face off against Buu by herself!  She’s weak, and she’s not even shrouding and I can tell that!” Vegeta raged against the raven-haired warrior.

 

Shadow just shrugged in the face of Vegeta’s rant.  “She asked to face Buu alone.  Thinks she needs to prove something to me so I’ll train her or something.  Also, it saves me the trouble if she actually manages to destroy this monster on her own, though it will prove nothing with me.  And I have a feeling Vegeta,” Shadow added as Buffy came to the edge of the cliff they were on and she simply leaped casually into the air over to the next outcropping of rock, though it was over fifty feet away, “that this ‘newbie’ may surprise you yet.”

 

Vegeta, typical to behavior, just grunted and gently set Trunks and Goten down on the ground, muttering, “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

 

Buffy’s jump had put her within a few meters, albeit below as well, from Buu.  She walked a few more meters until she came to the edge of the rock she was standing on and just stared up at Buu.  Buu, who had remained steady on the Saiyans and Shadow, finally made a move, turning his head to stare at Buffy.  Then he gave her almost a perfectly identical ‘Saiyan smirk’, except that this upturn of mouth was laced with so much pure evil that not even Vegeta on his worst day could have copied the expression.

 

Buu didn’t say anything; it just stared at the Slayer, waiting for her to make the first move.  She did, by giving the pink monster a returning ‘Slayer grin’ and crossing her arms over her chest.  “Frankly,” she began in a calm, taunting voice, “I don’t see what the big deal is.  Big whoop, so you’ve destroyed over a hundred worlds already, and you have a power that even the Supreme and Old Kais are scared of.  Big freakin’ deal.”

 

Buu’s scowl hardened and deepened by multiple levels.  Buffy just kept on taunting it.  “And what the heck is the deal with the smoke and the… well, the pink!  Pink is so out by the way.  Black is the new red, which by the way, five minutes ago was the new orange, which yesterday was the new pink.  So obviously, you’re a little behind the times.  Nice pants by the way.  Genie will be so relieved that he can bring back his pants from the dead 70’s.  As in the 0070’s, we’re talkin’ early A.D. here.  I do like the skin flap ya got goin’ though.  Very retro, not to mention makes to look like you’ve got hair where…well, when you’re balder than Master Roshi on a Sunday.  And another thing…”

 

“Are you going to fight or are you trying to talk me to death?” Buu spoke in a craggily, yet youthful sounding voice.

 

Buffy stopped ranting and turned to face Buu, with a playful glint in her eye this time.  “You know, I actually did talk a demon to death one time.  I was real funny too, cause I was—“

 

Buffy was suddenly caught off-guard when Majin Buu raced downward in a flash from his standing point and slammed the girl with killer right hook that sent her flying backward through the air.  Majin Buu stood in her place for some moments, smiling at the simplicity it handled its new power, and then scowled again when Buffy, without any noticeable rise in power, righted herself midair and soon found herself landing gently on the ground.

 

Buffy couldn’t help but rub her jaw at the ache it suddenly felt once she was standing on the ground once again.  “OK, ow.” She mumbled to herself.  Then in a flash of pure speed, Buffy disappeared and reappeared directly behind Majin Buu.

 

“You know, that actually hurt.  I’m somewhat impressed… but mostly just pissed off,” Buffy said, causing the monster to turn around in disbelief.  Just as the same cheek Buu had hit her on came around, Buffy threw a simple and what should have been non-effective punch against Buu’s cheek, but sent him flying as he had sent her!

 

Goku and Vegeta stared in complete disbelief at the display of strength, because they were actively sensing Buffy’s power, and it hadn’t raised any since she and Shadow had first appeared.  Shadow was simply staring at the blonde with a simple, yet calculating gaze.  She was secretly impressed at Buffy’s physical strength, because it was that alone that had knocked Buu back, no more energy than absolutely necessary.  ‘The girl knows how to fight, and she probably has some tricks up her sleeves.  She’s also quite a bit wiser than the Buffy from Fred’s world.  She does not underestimate her enemy, nor does she overestimate him.  And she gets him to strike first.  But I doubt she will win this fight unless she starts taking this more seriously.’

 

Unknown to Shadow, yet, Buffy was taking this seriously.  She had a plan, albeit a rather basic one.  Get Buu pissed, get Buu focused only on her, then use everything, over an extended time and not all at once, she has to take him down.  And though it had been done before, Buffy wasn’t sure if she could call on the others’ energy from this dimension, so she took it into account that she would have to rely only on her own energy and power.

 

Buu, meanwhile had oriented himself as Buffy had and stared hatefully down at the blonde.  “You’re going to regret that!”  Steam immediately poured in a loud whistle out of Buu’s head and he flashed down in an amazing burst of speed at the Slayer.

 

Shadow arched an eyebrow just before Buu hit.  When the dust settled after impact, it shown Buu, alone, and looking rather startled.  Shadow and the others quickly located Buffy for Buu; she was standing on the cliff where the Kid Buu had started out.

 

Shadow felt a slight fluctuation of energy and turned and saw a young Namek, followed by a small puppy and a large headed man in a brown karate gi.  Dende briefly paused upon seeing Shadow, but didn’t stop as he quickly raced toward the unconscious.

 

“Dende!” Goku shouted with surprise at the Namek.

 

“OH!  HEY!  I know you guys,” the bigheaded man started to speak in a very loud voice.  Before he could say any much more, Shadow cast a spell of silence over the man, keeping him more or less still, and thankfully silent.

 

“Thank you!” Vegeta automatically exclaimed in relief at Shadow’s actions against Hercule.  “No problem,” she said easily, turning back to the battle.

 

“I’m Dende by the way,” the young Namek introduced himself with a bow, before kneeling before Piccolo and placing his hands over his body.  A golden glow began to emanate from his hands and before any could ask, Piccolo’s injuries were healed and the larger Namek began to come around.

 

“A pleasure.  I am Shadow.” Shadow said in return.

 

Dende almost fell over in shock as he recalled all the stories Piccolo, Mr. Popo and the others had told him about the mysterious Shadow that had trained with them so many years ago.  Much to his credit, he quickly regained his composure and went to healing Gohan, Goten and Trunks, as Piccolo got to his feet.

 

“Oh… what happened?” were the first words out of Piccolo’s mouth.

 

“You were absorbed by Majin Buu.  So was Trunks, Goten, and Gohan, and with you, your power.  We just got you out about ten minutes ago,” Goku helpfully answered.

 

Piccolo started.  “Goku?!  But how?  I thought you and Vegeta were both dead?!  And how did Vegeta get to keep his body?”

 

“It’s a long story, we’ll tell it you after the fight,” Goku said after a pause.  Piccolo turned and saw Buu, although smaller in stature than he last saw the creature, facing off against a young short blonde.  They weren’t attacking yet, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d say that Buu seemed a bit off-balance.

 

“Glad to see you’re all right Piccolo,” Shadow said as affectionately as she did in such situations.

 

Piccolo started, and then calmed when he saw that Shadow was calm herself.  “Thanks for the concern.  I don’t suppose you had anything to do with getting us out?”

 

“I just got here myself.  Buffy wanted to fight Majin Buu… so I’m letting her.  I’m just here to make sure that she gets the job done, and if she can’t… then I do.” Shadow answered honestly.

 

Piccolo started again, this time in an almost nervous fear.  “Buffy?!  You’re kidding right?”

 

Shadow arched an eyebrow and smirked.  Piccolo already knew her answer, as he knew she never lied.  Piccolo soon realized this himself and then shook his head in total misery.  “This is just perfect.  A Slayer trained by Shadow.  As if that girl weren’t bad enough.”

 

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Shadow asked, her curiosity piqued.

 

Piccolo looked up and just shook his head.  “You’d never believe me if I told you.”

 

“Consider who you are speaking with Piccolo,” Shadow reminded.

 

Piccolo actually laughed.  “Good point.  I’ll tell you after the fight.” Piccolo answered just as the last of the three Saiyan hybrids awoke.

 

“What fight?” Trunks and Goten asked at the same moment, although a bit groggily.

 

“How did you do that?” Buu asked, absently rubbing his cheek the same way that Buffy had hers.  “You used no energy, yet you caused me the equal amount of damage that I did to you.  How?”

 

Buffy just smirked again and shrugged in response.  This caused Majin Buu to growl audibly.  “You are very frustrating.  But you know that, don’t you?”

 

Again, Buffy just shrugged.  “Hey, can’t blame a girl for tryin’,” she replied out loud. 

 

“By the way, in case you haven’t been keeping track of my so far ingenious plan on defeating you, this is where you’re supposed to make your move,” Buffy stage-whispered to Buu.

 

Majin Buu actually smiled at her, making it look very evil and cold though, and said conspiratorially, “Thanks,” before vanishing in a flash of movement and reappearing once more where Buffy had been.  Only Buffy was now where Majin Buu had been before, and where she had “started from”.

 

“Stop doing that!” Buu ordered.

 

Buffy put on a mock-thoughtful face and tapped a finger against her chin for several seconds before saying in a clearly playful tone, “Uhh, no.”  Then she looked straight at Majin Buu, all expression of gaiety leaving her features and a cold wind suddenly passed through the valley mountains.  Everyone save Shadow and Buffy shivered at it.  Even Majin Buu.

 

“If you want me to stop playing games, don’t even start playing them with me.  It normally takes at least an hour of fighting to get somebody like you to reveal even half their true power, and I want a real challenge.  If you can’t give that, I may end up destroying you before you even realize it.  No hiding, no playing, no ‘warming up’ and no waiting.  Come at me with your full power… and I’ll stop “doing that”, deal?” Buffy’s voice was so hard edged, that if the evil Buu had a heart, it would have been ripped to shreds like diamonds through wet tissue paper.  Luckily, however more powerful, Buu was still as dumb and as confident as he ever was.

 

“Fine, deal.” Majin Buu shrugged and crossed his arms, waiting.

 

Buffy just smirked, and then powered up to around 75% or a little above.  Just like that, no flame, no lightning, no environmental shifts.  One second her power was little more than Videl’s in full flight mode (Hercule’s daughter, Gohan’s love interest), and the next with barely any sense of transition at all, the Saiyans and Nameks were staggering backward in disbelief at the level of power a young human girl apparently had.

 

“That… that’s impossible!” Vegeta shouted.

 

“She must have been shrouding,” Gohan observed, scratching the back of his head.

 

Goku shook his head.  “Uh-uh, we made sure before she even started talking to Buu, and Shadow would have said something if she had been shrouding.  What I don’t get is how she powered up that much, that fast!  I thought only you could do that Shadow?”

 

Shadow just arched her eyebrow again, silently observing the Slayer, committing nothing.

 

“That’s not what I meant!” Vegeta raged.  “Her power is almost that of a Super Saiyans!!  Fortunately I’m more powerful than that by now, but it’s still impossible for a human girl to have that much power at that young an age!”

 

“Buffy’s older than she looks Vegeta, and no you’re not,” Shadow monotoned.

 

“WHAT?!!” Vegeta instantly powered to Super Saiyan in his anger.  In response, Shadow just looked at the Saiyan prince, which instantly had the effect of calming him and losing his transformation.

 

“This Buffy is barely at half her total strength… and she has a transformation of her own that more than quantifies her power and abilities.  I’m letting her do this rather than just destroying this creature outright for two reasons.  The first; so that both I and Buffy herself can learn her true limits of power at this time, and second, because she asked to fight Buu.  So I’m letting her.” Shadow explained.

 

Buu was also staring in somewhat disbelief.  Maybe his senses were off, or she had somehow changed something about herself… but he knew he was still more powerful.  “Is that it?  Is that your ‘best’?” Buu mocked.

 

Buffy just grinned.  “Nope,” was all she said before she flashed.

 

In the next three seconds, Buu knew more pain than he had known in his entire life, including the recent battles against the Saiyans, and even against Vegeto.  At the end of those three seconds, Buu reappeared over a kilometer from where they had been, multiple holes and fist impressions shaped his body into little more than a mound of pink clay.

 

Buffy was hovering above him, staring in confusion at first, and then sudden comprehension.  “Oh, that’s right!  I forgot.  You mostly rely on your energy for keeping your body and self together.  Whereas I, rely on my body,” Buffy landed beside the pink blob as it began to reform into the Evil Kid Buu’s body, “my energy,” she raised a hand over the blob as it began to gain height again, “and my mind!” she suddenly shouted and something like solid yellow lightning, starting at her head and moving through her outstretched arm, and then struck the blob that was Buu.

 

Instantly, the blob stopped reforming and started writhing in what appeared to be pain.  It was completely surrounded by the yellow energy, but no screams were emanating from it, just its movements.  On multiple occasions, pieces would try to break free of the rest, but they were always drawn back to the whole.  Then, lowering her hand and with just a gesture, Buffy raised the moving blob into the air, looking more like an atomic model than anything else.  The yellow energy was coming only from her head now and as she stared harder at the Buu blob, its agitations became almost threefold.  Finally, with but a gesture from her head, the yellow energy threw Majin Buu back toward Shadow and what remained of the Z fighters.  The blob smacked like a wad of chewing gum slammed up against the rock face, which is exactly what it looked like, ‘cept there were black and red eyes at the center of it, and Buffy smiled darkly.

 

“Maybe I should talk to her about fair play?” Shadow pondered aloud.  Then she answered her own question silently, ‘Naaaah.’

 

“What the heck kinda attack was that?!” Goku exclaimed, suddenly excited.

 

“It wasn’t an attack really.  At least not a real technique.” Shadow answered.

 

“Then what the heck was it?” Vegeta interrupted.

 

“Mental powers.  Or… no, psionics really.  Very powerful ones if I’m anyone to judge,” Shadow smirked.  “Still no match for Mental powers, and certainly not for a Phalanx, let alone a Triple Phalanx, but still…  Far more powerful than any of the psionics Frederic has encountered.”

 

The Z fighters, and Hercule still under the spell of silence, stayed quiet, not really wanting to ask for more, as they hadn’t even understood the first answer!

 

The Gold Slayer stared at the pink blob for all of a second, before the blob reformed into Kid Buu with a roar and flashed at her.  Buffy reacted defensively, blocking, dodging, and deflecting most of the monster’s attacks.  Next, with Buu smiling confidently, Buffy decided to up the ante against him suddenly, and used something that Shadow hadn’t seen in a while.

 

“SLAYER STRIKE!” Buffy shouted, pushing her right palm out against Buu.  Instantly, what looked like a flying wooden stake shot through the air and created a perfect hole through the pink jello flesh, which instantly reformed, but Buu was no longer smiling, the pain of the small attack starting to anger it more than amuse.

 

Buffy backed off enough to smirk once again at Buu.  “Solid objects may not affect you that much, but energy obviously does.” She commented before dodging again.  “Oh, by the way,” Buffy said innocently, dodging upward and placing both palms together and towards Buu, “Sor-rry!  SLAYER ASSAULT!”

 

Suddenly, dozens upon hundreds of flying stakes filled the air, each instantly puncturing Buu, causing the creature obvious pain.  After Buffy finished the attack, once again the pink jello reformed instantly into Buu, this time he was growling in anger and great frustration.

 

Goku and the others stared in disbelief.  “What kinda attack was that?” the Saiyan ask, scratching the back of his head.

 

“Hm,” Shadow hummed to herself.  ‘It’s still her life force, but both the attack and the energy used aren’t ki.  At least not the way the Z-fighters or I use it.  It seems… more like Sub-Zero’s Ice attacks and the other champions’ of Mortal Kombat attacks.  They used the term Chi rather than ki, and used a combination of physical with spirit energy to fuel their individual attacks.  Again, similarities, but strong differences.’

 

“I don’t know,” Piccolo admitted.  “It didn’t feel like it used any energy, but she claimed that energy affected Majin Buu more than physical, and those attacks of hers obviously caused Buu some pain.  So they must have been some low-level kind of blasts.”

 

“But why didn’t they bounce or get reflected off of Buu’s energy shield?” Gohan asked, also scratching the back of his head.  Shadow had a clue, but didn’t say anything, continuing to watch the fight.

 

“All that does is feel like pin pricks girl, you aren’t actually causing any pain.  You can’t hurt me, I’m invincible!” Buu boasted.

 

At that, Buffy scowled, and her power suddenly doubled from what it was, making her energy output level with that of Super1 physical, maximum.  Or the beginning levels of Super Saiyan 2.  And again, without any outward manifestation.

 

Buffy disappeared again, moving even faster.  Majin Buu immediately matched, leaving only Shadow capable of keeping track of the fight between the two.  Shadow arched an eyebrow once again when all of a sudden both fighters reappeared, one crashed into the ground, the other floating in the air.

 

Unfortunately, they disappeared from sight once again before any of the Z fighters could find out which was which.  Shadow knew, but she wasn’t talking, just watching.  Finally, after some more minutes, Shadow seemed to get impatient about something.

 

It was then that Buu and Buffy reappeared.  Buffy had a couple bruises on the side of her face, but they were quickly disappearing, her metabolism switched to ‘hyper heal’ mode.  Buu was laughing.  “You know, you’re about as amusing as little Gotenks was.  ‘Cept he dressed better.  I think, just for you wasting my time, I’m going to go ahead and destroy this planet anyway.  My loyalty to Hercule and Bee is gone, along with my ‘good’ self.  Say goodbye to this little dirtball, whoever you are.”

 

None other than Shadow suddenly interrupted Buu from his speech.  “Buffy!” she shouted, added with a sonic scream to make sure she got the Slayer’s attention.  Buffy looked up and over to Shadow, her face curious.  “I thought you said that you were going to test your full power against this monster.  Instead you play with it.  I don’t like wasting my time Buffy!  If you are going to test your limits, do it now!”

 

Buffy frowned, then gulped as she slowly turned back to face Majin Buu.  << What are you afraid of Buffy? >> Shadow added, “privately”.  Buffy answered in a similar manner, using her own psychic powers.  < I’m afraid that if I really do power up to my real max, in this environment… I’ll end up doing what this creepazoid just said he would do. >

 

Shadow couldn’t help but laugh, albeit softly.  << Buffy. This old bird can handle a lot more than even you can dish out.  Trust me, I know.  From experience.  I went absolute max, including Gerius powers, on this planet, where my power is over 1000 times greater, and she still held together.  There might be an earthquake or two, but the planet is completely devoid of people, save the ones right here.  The Dragonballs will repopulate the planet, don’t worry about anything else.  Worst-case scenario, I have to do a temporal incursion.  It’s no big deal Buffy.  Let loose, have fun… just take this more seriously, and do not waste my time! >>

 

Buffy couldn’t help gulping at the cold tone, but the next second she started smiling.  During this “pep talk”, Kid Buu had been powering a deathly pink-hued attack, adeptly named ‘planet-buster’.  Buffy saw this, and said to herself, “Screw it,” and then she closed her eyes, and listened to her heartbeat.  She felt her strength, untapped and unknown for so long.  She felt for her path to it, and found it.

 

Laughing maniacally, Buu was raising his attack, ready to launch it at the Earth’s core, when suddenly a large wind picked up, followed by a deafening shout that could have easily been mistaken for echoed thunder.  Immediately following the thunder, was an earthquake so massive, that the continental plate they were all standing on, actually lifted several kilometers off of the Earth’s surface before settling back down, causing mountains to crumble like sand, and the ground to crack and fall apart like breaking glass.

 

Surprised by all this, Buu lost his concentration and the attack vanished from sight.  “What?” he asked aloud, startled as he looked up and saw two things in the same place.  A beautiful angel surrounded by heavenly fire…and a red-eyed demon with the power to destroy worlds with but a snap of its fingers.

 

Buffy’s hair had come undone once again in the sudden gold-fire ki-flame that had appeared around her.  Her power had skyrocketed so that she was almost on par with a Master Slayer…not Jokilar Gerius by a long shot, but definitely on par with a Master Slayer.  The Z fighters were in overload shock.  They hadn’t felt this kind of power since Shadow was last among them, and even then, there was a bit more… tameness to the wild energy Buffy was giving off.

 

‘Hm.  Her power is wild, unforgiving, passionate… just like this Buffy it seems.  Yet at the same time…’ Shadow silently observed as Buffy pushed herself higher.

 

Bolts of lightning began to spark off of the Gold Slayer in strike after strike, each one more intense than the one before, and all of them enhanced even further by the golden fire that emblazed all around the Slayer.  Her hair flying wild in the wind of her own power, Buffy poured every ounce of will she had into pushing her power higher, her body further, and her energy into more than it had ever gone before.

 

When the wind reached the plateau where the Z-fighters stood, Shadow raised a shield of pure space between them and Buffy’s power, quite effectively blocking the elements the Slayer was raising along with her power.

 

Buffy paid no more attention to her surroundings.  Buu could have already destroyed the Earth and it wouldn’t have mattered to her at this moment.  She was focused solely on herself, literally.  She could feel her power, now more than ever, and it still scared her somewhat that she was this powerful.  Ever since Glory was defeated and destroyed, sparring matches between her and Goku had gotten both easier… and way more intense.

 

Her power, untransformed, had now forced Goku to go Super Saiyan2 just in order to keep up with her, and Super Saiyan 3 when she went Super Slayer.  It was a scary concept, being the strongest fighter outside of the gods themselves, (or their ranks).  She was surprised to find a sense of relief in herself when she was matched and then outclassed by the Jokilar Gerius she had met.  Even if one was her double, at least there was somebody out there that was stronger.  She didn’t want to be the strongest.  She wanted to be one of, but never the.  If anybody was that insane, they not only deserved the title, but they deserved the price of keeping and/or losing it.

 

Now she was testing her limits in front of the one being that not only claimed to be, but was proven to be the strongest ever, and she had to admit… it was pretty damn exciting.

 

Buffy let out another tremendous yell that shocked the Earth she floated over to the core and beyond.  Shadow altered the physics of the planet slightly to withstand not only any attack Majin Buu would throw at it, but also Buffy and Buu’s powers together on top of each other.  The groundswells stopped shortly after, but the effects of Buffy’s power-up were still going strong.

 

“Un-un… unBELIEVABLE!!” Vegeta shouted over the noise of the battle.

 

“Her… power… it’s unimaginable!” Piccolo exclaimed.

 

“Uh… why do I get the feeling she’s not even warmed up yet?” Gohan asked with an unsettling feeling.

 

“She hasn’t even transformed yet.  And I would remind all of you about the time that I discovered Super5!” Shadow reminded them.

 

“Yeah, good point.  But still…” Trunks trailed off as they all stared in amazement at the still powering Buffy.

 

‘Almost there… almost there…’ Buffy kept chanting to herself as she poured everything she could into her power in order to draw it out as fast as she could.  She had already passed the one-minute mark, and was getting a bit impatient.  But something she had learned in her first six weeks of real Training, if you aren’t going to do something right the first time, don’t do it at all.

 

 

 

Universe 254

 

 

 

Everyone was sitting around Steve’s living room, Shadow and Buffy having left suddenly less than a full minute before, when just as suddenly, Wiccan, Watcher, and Warrior X all jumped to their feet, their eyes distant.  Even those left from Frederic’s group, particularly Jennifer and Daphnix, got a glazed look in their eyes.

 

“By the gods of the universe…” Daphnix whispered in amazement.  “I thought only Shadow could do that.”

 

“Normally she is… but as Buffy said herself before she left,” Jennifer observed in an equally quiet tone, “she has no idea of her true strength.  And we’re actually paying attention.  Unless she were to do something really special, I doubt we would have even noticed her otherwise.”

 

“Point.” Daphnix conceded.  Which is when everyone noticed that the three standing members of the Slayer Team had begun to glow.  “Uh… oh…” Daphnix muttered.

 

The familiar, for those that had seen it earlier, red, green, and blue glows had begun to form around the three warriors as their eyes became more distant.  When it looked like they were on fire with the colored columns of light, Watcher drew Nightblade, just as Jennifer was about to say something to make them sit down.  Before her temper could erupt however, X suddenly shouted as his red energy/flame was drawn into Nightblade, who was now actually floating inverted before the three.  Next, the blue energy around Giles entered the blade, immediately followed by the Wiccan’s green aura.  Less than an instant later, in a contracting flash of lightning from both ends, Nightblade disappeared.

 

The moment the obsidian broadsword had vanished, the three warriors fell to the ground like puppets with their strings cut.  Multiple people in the room raced to help them, but before anyone could do such a thing, Wiccan raised her head, muttered softly, “Buffy…” and then with no more warning than that, her eyes filled with a bright white/green glow before creating a real-time magical projection of the events in 700.

 

Everyone jumped back at the unexpected event, but at a word from Jennifer, they all calmed and with nothing more to do, sat back to enjoy the show.

 

 

 

Universe 700

 

 

 

Buffy felt herself run up against a wall, when her energy ran out of excess and she was left with nothing but her will and her strength of heart.  She felt her power on the other side of that wall, and if only… if only…

 

Buffy took one look at the still smug looking, although there was a mild hint of nervousness in him as well, Kid Buu.  She sneered, cleared herself of negative emotions and turned back to the task at hand.  It was then that she felt a rush of pure power.  She had no idea from where, but she recognized it instantly.  With a sudden flash of light, Buffy’s powers continued to steadily, and steeply, rise higher.

 

Buu began to know fear.

 

With a mighty roar that shook the foundations of the planet, the full power of the Golden Slayer, unrestrained, became known to one Earth.  When Buffy knew she could go no more, that her normal body, as it was, could not ascend any higher, she released the energy that had been begging for it.  She transformed.

 

Unlike her slow transformation on Universe 001, there was just an all-encompassing globe of gold fire around the Slayer as her power shot upward to over double of twenty fold of what her power had been.  When the globe dissipated, like flames in the wind, Super Slayer stood there, her gold and black eyes staring hatefully at Majin Buu, her long golden ponytail flowing easily in the wind behind her.  And her power kept rising steadily… and steeply.

 

Shadow actually smiled as she felt the Slayer… no, Super Slayer accomplish her task.  A little more, and she would be at her maximum.  Then, not only would she, but Shadow as well would know what she was capable of.  Of doing along with learning.

 

Super Slayer felt a familiar tug, and turned her right eye to a spot some feet in front of her, where Nightblade had appeared.  As soon as her eye locked onto the weapon, three massive beams of green, red, and blue energy shot out and engulfed the Super Slayer in turn.  Once the effects of the beams had faded, Nightblade itself approached Super Slayer.  She smiled affectionately at the Blade as she heard its soft mental communication.

 

“Yes.  Full power.  Lets give them what they want… and what I need to know for myself,” she answered its unheard question, and then grabbed Nightblade out of the air, twirled it on her wrist at such a high speed that it looked like she suddenly had a black shield over her arm, and then slipped it into a sheath, that had appeared the moment she touched it, on her back, all in a single move.

 

A moment later, Super Slayer began powering up.

 

Majin Buu knows fear.  For its gold and black eyes are staring right into his black and red ones.

 

 

 

Universe 004:  SPACECOB

 

 

 

Buffy001 stopped what she was doing all of a sudden. As a result, so did all of the other Jokilar Gerius.

 

"What's wrong, Buffy?" Usagi asked, sounding concerned.

 

"I don't believe it." Buffy001 muttered, absently ignoring the Gerius leader.  Suddenly the second most powerful of the Gerius scowled.  "Look at 700... She's powering up, and it looks like she held back on us," the Slayer said with a smirk. "I think I'll like getting that smirk off her face when she gets back."

 

Usagi shook her head in surrender. "You will never change, Buffy", Usagi said affectionately.

 

Buffy shrugged. "She's my twin, and she's quite powerful." She looked at Usagi with a cold glint in her eyes. "And she thinks she's the best thing since sliced bread. I want to show her otherwise."

 

Usagi sighed. "As long as it's not on my watch. I don't want to explain to Fred how one of our new allies suddenly died... permanently."

 

 

 

Universe 700

 

 

 

More or less, the same thing happened, visually, that happened when Gold Slayer powered-up, as with Super Slayer.  It was the power and energy readings that made all the difference.  When one normally powers up, it takes energy, to first power up, and then to maintain it.  Thereby using and burning up the warrior’s energy, which is why they try to always increase their energy reserves.

 

With Gold Slayer, this had been the case indeed.  Yet with Super Slayer, it seemed that the more powerful she became, the more energy she had.  Only Shadow realized that the Super Slayer seemed to have an even more natural form of Direct Flow than even GS-Buffy had.  The Z-fighters were completely baffled by it though.

 

It was two minutes after Buffy had started powering-up to her max that Shadow felt the Super Slayer reach what she had felt was the girl’s max power potential.  Only… while her power rise did slow down a considerable much, it did not stop.  It wasn’t until the Super Slayer was surrounded by a more normalized gold ki-flame, tinged with gold lightning, that Shadow decided to speak up.

 

“You can stop powering up now Buffy; I can sense that you are at your maximum.”

 

“Sorry Shadow,” Super Slayer answered back in her amalgamated voice, “But I have not yet reached my full power.  However, you provide an excellent point.  My power is now twice that of which I need to completely eradicate this menace.  Oh, one more thing, in this form, I am known as Super Slayer.  Not Buffy.”

 

It was difficult to tell with the voice change, but Shadow could tell, that while there was still a very cocky attitude in her, the Super Slayer was speaking as respectfully as she could to the Universal Savior.  Shadow decided to see how much of this cockiness was based in truth.

 

“She sounds like Gotenks,” Piccolo observed quietly.

 

“Who?” Shadow asked; carefully quiet so that only the Nameks would hear her.

 

“The fused form of Goten and Trunks there.  I heard that you learned the Fusion technique from King Kai?” Piccolo asked, equally quiet as he stood next to Shadow.  She barely, but perceptively nodded her head.

 

“Let’s just say that, while his power was more than impressive, his attitude was just as bad, if not infinitely worse.  He was 100% power, and 250% cockiness.” Piccolo admitted.  Shadow smiled.

 

‘That does describe what Buffy described this Buffy as a Super Slayer like.  Although, judging from the power difference alone on these two, it may not all be cockiness.’ Shadow thought to herself.

 

“Let’s not even try for warming up.  I’ve got more deserving opponents that are a thousand times tougher to beat than you that I can fully test myself against, so let’s just cut to the chase and end this.” Super Slayer said as she dropped the ki-flame, her omnipresent power still strong, and still slowly growing.

 

Kid Buu just sneered, and with no warning beyond that, launched his planet buster straight for the ground, which had sunk several stories, forcing all fighters into the air, Hercule and Bee holding onto Dende.

 

Super Slayer just smirked right back, disappeared, and reappeared behind Buu, holding the attack it had just thrown.  “Boo, Buu,” she taunted, before slamming the energy right back down the pink monster’s throat.  Literally.

 

“Bored now,” Super Slayer said casually as she flew higher over the choking Kid Buu.  She raised her right hand down straight at Buu, and began to build a very good size of her energy towards an attack.  The first ten percent nearly floored all the Z-fighters and made Shadow pay closer attention, making sure that the Super Slayer didn’t screw this up.

 

“KAAA…MAAAY…HAAAH…MAAAY…” the energy peaked, but she was still pouring more into it as a globe of hot blue/white energy the size of a small asteroid (BIG).

 

“No… she can’t!  She’ll destroy the Earth!” Goku shouted.

 

“No she won’t,” Shadow observed.  No one was inclined at the moment to argue.

 

At the last second, after the globe of energy had surpassed large asteroid, Buu was frozen from his fear, and Buffy shouted the end phrase, “HAAAH!”  And then disappeared.

 

Less than a second later, Buu felt the full force of the Kamehameha wave, from his back, where Super Slayer had actually fired the wave from.  It didn’t go out in a beam though; it just stayed as a giant globe of hot blue/white energy.  Super Slayer smirked as she maintained that attack, and reappeared in another location 90º from the last and generated and fired another equally large and powerful blast, and another, and another, until seven full globe kamehameha waves were covering Majin Buu.

 

She then circuited the entire spectacle once, waved her hands once, and then snapped her fingers.  Instantly, the K-waves exploded in blinding implosions of energy… yet it was not felt because of Shadow’s force field.  It was all encased in a magical barrier of such strength that even Sorcerer would have to admit it was impressive.  Super Slayer didn’t even look winded.

 

As the energy finally began to die down, and Kid Buu was becoming visible again, (there was no doubt that he had survived, his energy, while wavering, was still there) Super Slayer drew the obsidian Nightblade from her back.  She assumed a straight stance, Nightblade held parallel with her head, straight up, broad side forward.  The black broadsword began to off and on again glow a bright, yet very deep gold color, and Shadow detected a somewhat familiar energy build-up in the power blade.

 

It was similar, but again vastly different to the way the Banes of Darkness manifested the “Blast of the Heavens”.

 

Suddenly, the magical barrier holding Buu was released, and the black sword began to glow from tip to helm, a solid and completely pure white.  Yes, definitely not the Blast of the Heavens, Shadow confirmed.  Super Slayer started moving very quickly towards Majin Buu, who was still disoriented enough to not yet be fully reformed, but it was quickly regaining its former shape.  The blinding white blade left a streak of light in its wake as Super Slayer moved in for the kill.

 

“NIGHTBLADE: ACTIVATE!” Super Slayer shouted just as Majin Buu finished reforming.  The blade’s intensity became so much that even Shadow had to shield her eyes some, squinting anyway.  “SLAYER SLASH!!  ASSAULT!”

 

There was an unmistakable sound of metal tearing metal in a single slash as the Super Slayer struck Buu.  The built up energy within Nightblade was released all at once, and only Shadow could detect the streak of a gold slash mark as Super Slayer struck Buu, before an overwhelming and completely blinding flash of white light blanked everything out for a number of seconds before everything was returned.  More or less.  The sound concussion of the attack hit about fifty seconds after the light had faded, and the continental plate, or a very large chunk of it anyway, they had all been standing on before, was filling in with water.

 

Super Slayer stayed in her ending pose for some seconds beyond the return of sound, and then slowly replaced Nightblade in the sheath on her back.  She Instant Transmitted to beside Shadow, Shadow having dropped the shield after Buffy's attack was completed.

 

Out of thin air a golden-hued form materialized, smashing the Super Slayer in the back, catapulting her forward. The hue flashed out of sight, only Shadow's eyes capable of following its speed. It received Super Slayer, blasting her upward. Again it flashed, and again it received, this time smashing the being into the ground.

 

"I am grateful," Kid Buu stated, flashing into existence next to the crater. "Thanks to you, the Saiyan powers I absorbed came into full effect. The harder you hurt me, the stronger I get after healing... and I heal pretty damn fast."

 

Super Slayer groaned when she righted herself, prepping herself up on all fours, ready to jump up.  She never got that far as an armored boot slammed into her stomach, blasting her upward.

 

"Buu Beam of Destruction!" Buu howled, throwing a gold-and-pink color blast after the Slayer, who had just managed to turn around by the time the beam caught up with her. Super Slayer's instincts took over, and she Instant-Transmitted out of the way just in time. Her feet barely touched solid matter next to Shadow before blasting off, roaring like a vengeful deity, directly at the golden-hued Super Buu.

 

Buu dodged her enraged attack, slamming his elbow into her back as she flashed by. Super Slayer bit the dirt.  Super Buu charged at full power, strength and speed, raining blow upon blow on the Super Slayer's body.

 

Vegeta smirked through his shock. "The girl's power keeps rising," he whispered with an evil grin.

 

"She's going to lose," Shadow grunted in reply. "Her mind is unstable. She feels the burn of the rage, but she doesn't have the control necessary to use it.  Because of that, her attacks are clumsy and uncoordinated. It's something we'll have to work on."

 

At that moment, Super Slayer hit the ground directly in line of Shadow, both arms at odd angles.  With a snarl, the Super Slayer threw herself into the air, jerking her arms the right ways into her joints, and charged once more.

 

"She has the heart, but lacks the mind," Shadow whispered philosophically. Buu received her attack, parrying it almost easily with his greater control, slamming both his hands into her stomach. For at least two seconds, they remained like that, the Super Slayer's eyes wide in unbridled amazement. Finally, she snapped back and tried to elbow strike his face, as he held his hand rigid, fingers outstretched towards her head. He was about to decapitate her.

 

"My turn", Shadow said calmly, jumping to Super-Light, traveling to the battle scene with speeds surpassing Instant Transmission, racing at the greatest speed in the multiverse: the speed of a Gerius at war.

 

Yet the moment that Shadow appeared, Buffy caught and snapped Buu's hand that Shadow was about to grab and twisted the pink blob into a hold that would at most last for a single second.  She brought her other hand into a stop motion in front of Shadow, her features suddenly much calmer than they had been.

 

"Thanks.  But I've got it from here," Super Slayer told her and then without missing a beat she twisted the struggling Buu around and with but a simple Tae Kwan doe maneuver, threw him to the ground.

 

"You can't defeat him; you know that, don't you?" Shadow pointed out calmly.

 

Super Slayer turned and looked evenly at the Universal Savior.  "You're probably right.  But the point about this exercise isn't to see if I can beat him or not, it’s to fully test the limits of my powers.  Can't tell as much if I don't get at least some hits, right?  But tell you what... give me five more minutes.  If I can't completely eradicate him using everything I have within that time... well, obviously you'll have to do it, but we'll at least know what I'm fully capable of at this point."

 

Shadow stared just as evenly back at the Super Slayer and considered the logic.  Finally, as Buu was getting back to his feet, "Fine.  Just don't lose control of yourself again.  And remember... the clock is ticking."  Shadow then disappeared, using super-light to go back to the cliff with the Z fighters on it.

 

Buu, with Super Slayer turned her back to him, saw the perfect opportunity and threw a super energy-enhanced punch right at her, which should have been able to take her head off, if not vaporize her on the spot.  Super Slayer, her head and eyes still on the spot Shadow had been in, just raised her right arm and caught Buu's punch as though catching a tennis ball.  "I'll remember," she told Shadow before turning back to Buu with a glint of evil in her eyes.

 

Caught slightly off-guard, Buu threw his other arm at Super Slayer's smiling head and then was trapped with his arms crossed as she dodged and caught the wrist of that arm.  What made him nervous was that no matter what, he couldn't extricate himself.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

Universe 254

 

 

 

"No.  Way!" Buffy254 exclaimed at the image she was seeing.  Even members of the Fromthefield group were surprised.

 

"She's better than she's been letting on," Daphnix observed to Jennifer.  Jennifer nodded silently, just watching the images. "Although, I don't know exactly what to say about her taking her team's energy like that, leaving them virtually helpless.  Not a very tactically sound move."

 

Jennifer looked at the three slumped warriors, including Wiccan whose eyes were the projection source of the images they were all watching.  "I don't think it was on purpose Daph.  From the reactions of those three, as well as Buffy when she took in the energy, it was as much an automatic response as raising Mental shields when in a crowded room, or powering up when you get angry.  Their leader, who is also the source of their own psychic link, was in danger and attempting to reach her maximum power. Probably from that they surmised she needed their energy as well and they willingly gave it.  All of it from the looks of it, as you recall the last time that they gave her their energy, they themselves transformed, according to our Buffy anyway.  If Shadow agrees to train them, I'm sure she'll cover that little problem as well."

 

"This can't be real," Buffy 254 ignored the whispers between Daphnix and Jennifer Fromthefield, watching her double do things more amazing than anything she had ever seen, Fred's battle against the Destroyer included.  Well, while not more spectacular, definitely more amazing in the fact that it was her doing those things!

 

"I'll say," was the muttered agreement from most of the present Section 7.

 

A couple of the gods had decided to stay, Michael had left at his lady's biding, but Mielikki and Artemis had remained, watching with growing interest the images of Universe 700.  "How can this Buffy be able to do these things?" Artemis finally had to ask the three Gerius. "The one that you train and is your fellow Gerius I can understand, but from the way you act toward this one... she is not that.  And yet she fights and has more power than most gods on any plane of existence!  How is that possible?  Is she a goddess herself?"

 

Jennifer looked to Daphnix and Ami and silently asked their opinions.  Ami just shrugged, while Daphnix had no answer to give.  Finally Jennifer answered, "No, she's no goddess.  She's just had some training.  And fights in the Tournament of Good and Evil run by the twin Powers.  So do they." she pointed at the remainders of the Slayer Team.  Dark Slayer smiled and waved at the Greek goddess.  Spike flipped her off.

 

Suddenly Artemis paled as she recognized exactly what Jennifer had just mentioned.  "Oh.  She's that Buffy." Then just as suddenly, the Goddess of the Hunt's mood changed and she smiled.  "I suddenly feel a little better about our chances against this Dark Influx threat."

 

"Oh?  Why?" Jennifer asked, genuinely curious.

 

Artemis looked at the Gerius in surprise.  "You mean you've never actually watched one of the Tournaments?!"  Jennifer and the others shared a confused and at the same time bored look.  "Why should it concern us?  The Wise One gave permission to the Powers that they could have their little Tournament, and so long as none of them bother us, there is no reason for us to bother with them."

 

Artemis blinked at the cold answer before turning and looking at both Joshua and Jake Chronos and then back to Jennifer.  "I'll be right back," she then disappeared.

 

"Where's she going?" Joshua whispered to Jake.

 

Jake shrugged.  "Probably to go ask Athena for the tape of the last Tournament.  It was just a couple weeks ago.  I'm actually surprised I didn't recognize Buffy when I saw her here."

 

"Wait just a second!" Buffy254 exclaimed.  "Are you saying this girl is famous?!"

 

"Extra-dimensionally famous Buffy," Artemis answered as she reappeared with a crystal in her hands.  "In laymen’s terms, you know how Hulk Hogan is the most famous wrestler in the world?"  Everyone from Earth and that paid attention at all to wrestling, nodded.  "This warrior is known across the omniverse as the most powerful mortal champion of good."  That drew some stares.

 

"But she's not mortal," Jennifer corrected.

 

"In the Tournament she is.  She can die just as easily as any of them... er, excluding the Immortals.  And she faces demons and creatures that would give Ares and me some trouble in taking down, on a regular basis.  She's won the Tournament 26 times straight!  This is the last Tournament, in case you wanted to see some of her in action.  If not, then just consider it a gift of entertainment." Artemis handed Jennifer the crystal.

 

Jennifer accepted the crystal easily and stared at it for a couple moments before it began to glow in her hands and her eyes glazed over some.  Less than ten seconds later, the crystal stopped and Jennifer pocketed the crystal.  Her eyes, rather than impressed, were actually harder than iron.

 

"She's still playing with Buu.  Her skill level is even with any of us Daphnix, and..." she stopped when she caught the images being displayed of 700.

 

 

 

******

 

 

 

Universe 700

 

 

 

Super Slayer stood perfectly still holding Buu's arms like that for only a single minute, letting the monster try and free itself, and getting more frustrated by being unable to.  Finally, she let go of its arms, just as it started another really hard tug, and at the same time, jumped up and in an upward crescent kick, knocked Buu a hundred meters away as she flipped and landed on her feet.  The golden ki-flame returned, but this time was much calmer than it had been a few moments before and Super Slayer waited patiently, though not very long, for Buu to come to her.

 

Super Slayer, where before she was wild and powerful in every move, was now as calm and gentle as a summer breeze as she avoided, at normal speed, every one of Buu's attacks.  In fact she seemed to move before Buu even thought of moving, and he quickly became tired from the over exertions, which made him only more frustrated and angrier.

 

Finally, Super Slayer started attacking, and while her strikes held as much, if not more power than ever, her movements were still calm and flowing, and made her seem more like water and wind combined.  Her punches, fueled by strength and energy, hurt and left impressions in the pink monstrosity that left it staggering from the blows, and her strikes were faster than Buu could hope to follow.  He tried to keep up and retaliate, but she was just too fast, and every time he had her, and was sure he was faster than her, she narrowly avoided it and turned it on him.

 

Super Slayer's power still kept increasing as Vegeta pointed out, but her style of fighting had switched from out of control rage to purely strategical and methodical thinking.  Shadow soon appreciated that the transformed Slayer had adequate skills enough for her to build upon rather than starting from scratch, and her power didn't seem to have an upward limit.  Though it wasn't growing as fast as it initially had, in fact it was to a slow crawl at this stage, after an hour of fighting, Shadow was sure that Super Slayer's power and energy would be enough to fully eradicate Buu from every existence if necessary.  But she didn't have an hour.  She had thirty seconds.

 

Which Super Slayer seemed to sense as she began attacking Buu even faster and faster, with more strength and power than it could easily heal from.  Finally, ten seconds from five minutes after Shadow had agreed to wait five minutes, Buffy stopped, giving Buu those ten seconds to heal itself fresh all over again.  Just before it attacked though, Super Slayer looked back over at Shadow.  Shadow nodded and super-lighted next to Buffy and caught the enraged Buu's strike as easily as Buffy had earlier.

 

Shadow caught Buu's hand in mid-strike, surprising everyone with the speed and strength of the small woman. With a simply flick, she threw Super Buu backward. "You show great wisdom in accepting this decision," Shadow intoned to Super Slayer, turning to Super Buu who had composed. Shadow's clothes liquefied, shifting into combat mode. On her back, the twin Banes of darkness were visible in purple-hued sheaths, while her belt held twin Light Sabers, two quantum pistols, and five batteries.

 

"Thanks.  But I know I don't have the power to utterly destroy this creature.  Defeat it, surely.  But not vaporize it.  Not just yet anyway.  After all, it took my most powerful attack, which by the way has been rumored to be able to kill some gods, and regenerated to full power in thirty seconds.  I may be thick headed, but I'm not completely stupid.  I'll leave you to it now.  Nice outfit by the way," Super Slayer grinned seductively before flying back to the Z fighter.  Shadow just nodded her head in acceptance of the Super Slayer's criticism, even if it was of herself, ignored the come-on and turned coldly back to Buu.

 

As Buu came racing toward her, Shadow lifted one hand. "Buu, as Jokilar Gerius, I am giving you one last final chance to surrender." In front of her hand, the Seal of Novgoronn floated rotating lazily. It sent shivers down the spine of Super Slayer, who was now watching from the location Shadow had told her to use.

 

Buu smirked, charged, and threw a punch at Shadow's face. To his utter astonishment, the warrior didn't dodge. Nor did she move when the impact struck.  Instead, Buu's fist deformed into golden-pink goop.

 

"You have chosen death," Shadow stated coldly, grabbing his newly formed wrist, and throwing him backward with a simply flick of her arm. She started walking to where Super Buu was staring at her with a new level of fear in his eyes. Super Slayer had scared him. But Shadow... Shadow spoke of death.  Buu could feel it. All his instincts, instincts shared by every living creature as a matter of survival, screamed for him to get away. The Jokilar Gerius. Part of the collective subconscious of every living creature, sprouting death and mayhem to the wicked.

 

Buu took a step back. Shadow's face remained impassive as she let her ki build. 10%. 50%. 100%. 500%. 1500%. 5000%. 9500%. Shadow didn't twitch in her slow deliberate walk toward Buu as she turned Super 1. "You know, I am quite angry," she stated as her ki rose to 12,500%. "First, an old friend drops by telling he has unwittingly helped in a matter that can destroy the entire multiverse. 20,000%. Super two came along.  "Then I see that the situation is even more dangerous, and some normal friends of mine are in the direct line of fire, irritating me even more." 25,000%.  "Then, I get a message from veggie over there, claiming that the biggest force this side of the dimensional barrier wants to blow up Earth. So, I get quite angry." 30,000%. Super three. Buu's eyes widen as he continues to step back on equal pace with Shadow.

 

"Then, SHE begs to fight you," Shadow growled, jerking her hand to Super Slayer. 35,000%. "And WASTES a good deal of my precious time with taking pot-shots at a being she knows she can't beat!" Super-four. Shadow's ki was black as death, and Buu could feel his demise ebbing around her body.

 

Shadow jumped to Super Light, grabbed him by his neck, and lifting Super Buu off the ground. "But you know what? That's NOTHING! And you know WHY?" she asked, getting so close in his face that their noses are practically touching. "Because it's THAT time of the month!"

 

Vegeta, Goku, and Gohan wince. Super Slayer grins.  Goten and Trunks look confused. Buu pisses his pants.

 

"So I'm PISSED!" Shadow snarls, going Super five.  Buu's lower jaw trembles, his chewing gum-like body rigid in mortal fear.

 

Shadow dropped his on the floor, turned, and walked away. Everyone stared at her as she did so. Shadow walked until there was a good 20 meters separating her form Super Buu before she twirled around, dropping into the ancient combat stance of the Jokilar Gerius.  "As Supreme Commander of the Jokilar Gerius, I am taking you as my enemy," shadow intoned, reaching for the central clip of her combat-harness. She clicked it, letting two swords, two Light Sabers, two pistols, and ten batteries clatter to the ground. "I will face you without weapons, and I will banish you from this plane of existence. Your worthless hide shall be scattered among the dimensions, and your tarnished soul shall rest in the Greatest, deepest, and darkest Void in existence!"

 

Buu scrambled backward on all fours. Shadow lifted one hand. Around her, the ground exploded in Alter Light as the warrior summoned her Gerius Alter Armor. "From the Inner Cloyster of Heaven I summon the Warrior of Protection of Life, Sailor Earth!" the Alter Armor grew the earth symbol over the Gerius' heart, summoning deep-dark purple patches at shoulders, hips, and around the warrior's eyes.

 

Buu knew it was pointless to run.

 

"Know that I am not taking this seriously," Shadow intoned casually. "This is merely Point-one percent of my total power."

 

Buu gulped, stood on his legs, and dropped into a power-up stance. He snarled, drawing energy. "This cannot be! I can NOT be defeated! It is impossible! I am the strongest being in the universe!"

 

Shadow smirked. "I am not from this universe."

 

Buu shook his head. "No matter," he snarled, disappearing in even greater speed than before, charging at Shadow, who merely let him it her, his punches not even enough to make her feel being hit, let alone doing damage. Shadow closed her eyes, centering herself. She placed her hand against Buu's chest.

 

A beam of energy shot out his back, taking Buu with it.  "The technique developed by Ami, aptly named by Sorcerer, and perfected by me, Shadow. Ki-projection." She turned to Super-Slayer. "Physical strength is meaningless when faced by Ki-projection, as it bypasses all defenses." she turned back to Buu, who was prepping himself up, his power increasing again as he healed.

 

Shadow jumped to Super-Light until she was right in front of him, before dropping to a 'mortal' level. Her foot hit his cheek, taking half of Buu's face off with the ki-beam on the other side. Right after that, shadow planted three hits on his chest, right before finishing off with a kick to the front of Buu's face, taking off what little remained of the backside of Buu's head.

 

"So I'm going to burn out some stress," Shadow said.  "The whole time of the month thing," she added for clarification when she saw Buu's single remaining eye look in confusion at her as he healed.

 

Or tried to.

 

"Gerius Ki doesn't allow you to heal, unless I let you," Shadow stated, walking towards him. "No healing, no power boost." she smashed his head under her boot, spraying pink all over the place. "Banish," the Gerius whispered. Buu's body Altered, and disappeared.

 

"Problem solved," the Gerius stated, dropping all her transformations. "Pity. What a weakling."

 

"Yeah, but what can you do?" GS-Buffy shrugged as though asking why the sky was blue.  Shadow, feigning indifference, shrugged herself and turned to the remaining humans on the planet.  "Well, we could go out and repopulate the planet," Shadow suggested.  GS raised her eyebrows and grinned seductively, but Shadow continued, staring coldly in response to Buffy's look, "by wishing all the people killed because of Buu back to life and repairing the damage caused by him."  Buffy's face fell.

 

"Uh, Shadow, there's just one problem," Goku stepped forward.  "We only have one wish left... and we can't use it for another 6 months.  We used the first one to bring some people back to life that Vegeta accidentally killed..."

 

"It wasn't an accident!  If you had just agreed to face me in the first place Kakarrot, I wouldn't have had to kill all those people!" Vegeta snapped viciously.  Goku blushed and scratched the back of his head.

 

Shadow frowned and activated the link to LOBO. << LOBO, what can you tell me about this space/time anomaly that gave you so much trouble? >>

 

Oh, well, it's not giving me as much trouble now. LOBO answered back through the link.  It was initiated by the now destroyed Buu, and would have been the equivalent of opening a black hole right next to the Earth, if it hadn't been stopped by Vegito that is.  Oh, and Vegito was the fused form of Goku and Vegeta.  If you are asking if it is safe to utilize the Temporal Incursion, then yes.  But you must be sure to destroy the wizard Babidi and the Egg of Buu to ensure that none of the same events happen ever again.  Here is the location of Babidi's space ship and the egg.  A diagram then appeared in Shadow's mind of all the information she would need.

 

Nodding, Shadow turned back to GS-Buffy and the Z fighters.  "Do not worry.  I'll take care of things.  Just curious, what was the date when Majin Buu was released?"

 

Gohan was the one to tell her, and Shadow nodded. "Do you want to remember, even if the others of this planet do not?" she asked, startling GS-Buffy slightly.

 

The warriors looked at each other and nodded almost instantly. "Yes, we want to remember," Goku spoke for the group.

 

"Know that you can't talk about this with anyone other than the group assembled here... No-one else in this dimension will remember this event," Shadow said as one final warning. Again, the group nodded. Shadow closed her eyes, and let the group drift upward along with her, carried on the silk wings of the multiverse.

 

"As Jokilar Gerius, I am authorizing Temporal Incursion on Buu and the sorcerer Babidi," Shadow whispered, holding her hands out in front of her. "Temporal Incursion has been authorized," she answered herself. Purple energy built around her hands, leaping up around the temporal bubble protecting the group of Z-fighters, augmented by GS-Buffy. "Temporal Incursion... activate!"

 

The purple discharge blasted off in every three-dimensional direction, changing whatever it touched.

 

"I have removed Buu and Babidi from the annals of history. They never existed, and could therefore not attack," Shadow whispered as she put the group down again. "Which is why you are the only ones who know the old timeline... now overwritten by this timeline where Buu never existed. Now... please excuse us.  We've got work to do," Shadow finished, nodding in the direction of the Z-fighters, and used her own interdimensional teleportation to get herself and GS back to 254.

 

 

 

Universe 254

 

 

 

Shadow and Gold Slayer appeared shortly after the magical images Wiccan were projecting disappeared in a flash of green and white light.  GS-Buffy, seeing her three friends, more family actually, on the ground like that raced forward in an instant, helping her wife first.

 

"Wills!  What happened?" she asked, her voice panic-stricken.

 

As her wife helped up Xander and Giles, Willow answered as best she could, still trying to still the spinning inside her head.  "I... I really don't know Buffy.  I... really don't know."

 

Daphnix snorted as he answered, "Well it's pretty obvious, they sent their energy to you to help with the fight.  It apparently created a link between you all and the Wiccan there showed us what was goin' on in 700."

 

Buffy turned and glared at the warrior, causing him to just smirk back at her. He had seen her fight, and he definitely wasn't impressed. He had seen David and Jessie fight better... in techniques, anyway. Power... he had to admit, she had power, but it was woefully apparent that she had no clue how to use it well.

 

"I meant {why} did they do that.  The obvious was, well, obvious, but the reflexive question to why and how, is usually 'what happened?'  OK?  Ok." Buffy said rather sarcastically.  She got rather antsy whenever it came to Willow, who she now hovered around like a defensive satellite.

 

Jennifer meanwhile had slipped closer to Shadow. "When it's that time, you really get theatrical, you know that?" she asked with a slight grin.

 

Shadow shrugged, and smiled slightly. "I know that. We all have our things... Ami gets really shy, you like to kick the crap out of people, and I like the theatrics."

 

Jennifer chuckled. "I wonder what Fred thought of that little performance..."

 

At that precise moment, Shadow shifted back into Frederic. "He was an arrogant bastard who deserved everything he got. Besides, I like a good laugh every now and again... and it was not as if it was a life and death struggle. Buu was never a real threat, so there's nothing wrong with some harmless fun."

 

Jennifer shook her head in amusement as she slipped in Frederic's embrace and stole a kiss.

 

"Is everyone almost done?" Sorcerer grunted. "What are you getting all worked up about? The guy was a loser. Why didn't you just wipe him out of the time line in the first place?" he demanded of Fred.

 

Frederic jerked his thumb at GS-Buffy. "She wanted to fight him. And it was that time of the month for Shadow." He smirked slightly over the shoulder of his wife. "Maybe I should bring her back, and you can ask her..."

 

Sorcerer's smirk lost its power instantly. "Steve will never forgive us."

 

"Houses can be rebuilt," Frederic answered easily, slipping in a last kiss to Jennifer before disentangling from her.

 

"Point taken," Sorcerer grunted, flopping back in his seat.

 

"Well, on the bright side, we at least know a portion of my ultimate power, and when I'm Super Slayer, I really don't have an upper limit.  At least not in the long run," GS said cheerfully to start with, but added the last hastily when she received some dark looks from the Fromthefields.

 

"We still need to find the final Dark Influx, the one that may or may not be located in this universe," Watcher-Giles suddenly spoke.  "And then determine not only if it connects to the universe we started in, but also what dangers or preparations need to be taken there as well.  The universes you call 001 and 254, obviously have their own defenders, and powerful ones at that, atop the Hellmouths, but in the universe we were in before suddenly pulled us to your home Lord Frederic... Neither Buffy nor Willow could sense their doubles.  A talent that all of us have taken to doing whenever we enter a parallel reality or alternate dimension.  And as Buffy and Willow are the most powerful and gifted of our group, they would certainly been able to sense their alternates, even if they were on the other side of the planet in a coma."

 

"Which means that in that universe... the Hellmouth may not have a Slayer, or adequate enough defenders," Frederic finished, understanding Watcher's concerns.  "LOBO?"

 

I have not yet been able to determine where precisely the Slayer Team originated from, as the exit aperture of the Dark Influx is unable to be scanned opposite its flow.  And as I have yet to locate the entrance aperture to the universe they came from, it is, for the time, un-locatable.

 

Frederic nodded, somewhat having expected the answer.  Things very rarely were that easy anymore.  After all, the easier things became, the more difficult the challenges became.  So Frederic turned to option #2.  "Joshua?  Any thoughts?"

 

Joshua nodded.  But he didn't say anything.  He just stood there, seemingly waiting for something.  Frederic quickly reviewed what he'd said and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  "Care to voice and thoughts Joshua?" he asked, stressing the word.

 

Joshua smiled brightly and then in a clear voice said, "Three... Two... One... " and then he nodded his head as everyone with ESP, or the like, senses shot their heads in the same direction.

 

"What the hell?!" GS-Buffy exclaimed loudly.

 

Sorcerer suddenly developed a grin. A very evil grin. "Oh, yeah... now HIM I can handle." Rubbing his hands in glee, the most powerful dark wizard of the omniverse continued, to Frederic, "Hey Fred. Wanna see how long this guy survives?"

 

Frederic raised an eyebrow. "Old acquaintance of yours?"

 

Sorcerer chuckled. "Ran into him when I had some fun with one of the Dawns. Guy had the ultimate gall to try and convert me to the goody-goody side. Needless to say... he found himself in a place where he had his work cut out for him. That was before the Gods told me not to hurt anyone... so if he pushes things, I'll just summon something to do the hurting for me."

 

Frederic's mouth twisted upward slightly. "Anyone who can piss you off like that I've got to meet.  Anything I should know about?"

 

Sorcerer shrugged. "Liam's an Immortal version of Angel. Never became vampire. Became Immortal instead. Has some stupid magic at his disposal that never really posed a threat... not even to that barbaric magic you once had. Basically, he's a nobody with a really big 'knight in shining armor' complex."

 

"A paladin?" Frederic asked, actually smiling wider.

 

"Something like that," Sorcerer said, smiling identically to his twin.

 

"I think I'll enjoy meeting him," Frederic said, grinning. "I have a big problem with paladins..."

 

"I know," Sorcerer smirked. The two twins got up, and actually clasped hands. "I won't say anything if you don't," Sorcerer said.

 

"I've got the authority to do as I please," Frederic added with a grin. "You can tell on my stuff. I won't tell on yours, though..."

 

The Gerius present exchanged worried glances. Daphnix bent to Joshua. "Whoever that guy is... get him the fuck away from them. When Fred and Sorc join forces, the Gods themselves are scared shitless."

 

"Why don't we see for ourselves before making judgment calls?" Joshua suggested, a suggestion immediately accepted by the two Twin Terrors of the Omniverse. When Good and Evil united, reality trembled.

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

Several blocks away, between two rundown stores, a large blue-hued, but translucent portal opened up in the middle of space at the exact moment that everyone's attention was drawn to it.  It made the sound of rushing wind, not mention caused quite a gale, but nothing much else, until...

 

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" Liam Willsright screamed as he fell out of the portal and landed roughly on the ground with a roll.  He looked back up at the portal and gave it the evil eye, rubbing the back of his head, as it disappeared.

 

'Fifty years, from my perspective, since I followed Cordy into that portal, and it still hasn't gotten any easier.' the Angel of Right thought as he got shakily to his feet.

 

Shaking his head one last time to clear out the cobwebs, he straightened himself up and then walked out of the alley between the stores and onto the street.  He took one look around and said quietly to himself, "Home sweet Hellmouth," before turning toward Revello drive.

 

Ten steps later, he paused, an overwhelming feeling of dread crawling up his spine.  Something wasn't right.  He could sense the Hellmouth, and that certainly wasn't what was troubling him.  Something else... just wasn't right.  It was like the universe around him was crying, and doing everything but crawling on him, begging him to help it.

 

That was when a brand new sensation hit the back of his neck.  One that was familiar by now, and definite due some concern.  He suddenly hastened his pace for any place that was less crowded than a busy street, hoping that the Immortal following, or looking for him, would wait long enough for some privacy so they could at least talk things out first.

 

Finally, Angel came upon an utterly deserted patch of grass between the park woods and a nearby graveyard.  He stopped and turned around.  There was nobody there, but he could still sense the Immortal, though he also suddenly had the feeling he was being watched and didn't even know it.

 

"I know you're there, and maybe I can't see you, hear you, or anything else, but I can sense an Immortal and I trust my instincts enough to know when I'm being watched," Angel announced to the air around him.

 

Suddenly two identical figures appeared out of the air almost right in front of him, but enough that a few steps would have to be taken for close-combat weapons to be drawn, let alone used.  He recognized one immediately, but it was the other that drew his attention immediately.  He'd felt this aura only once before, and that was when Cordelia had received her Immortality from his own.

 

Before either Frederic or Sorcerer could say anything, the Angel of Right suddenly prostrated himself before them.  Or to be more accurate, before Frederic.

 

"I humbly apologize, my Lord.  I did not mean to offend, and I had no clue that it was you.  I beg your forgiveness." was said forthright and with the full conviction of sincerity.

 

Frederic looked at Sorcerer and the other back.  Jennifer canceled the cloak on the others, Steve, Buffy254, and Joshua with her, Daphnix, and Ami.

 

Frederic chuckled. "I like him already," he said, turning to Jennifer. "Can we keep him?" he asked on a tone of a six-year-old pleading for a puppy.

 

"Hey! I thought we were gonna have fun!" Sorcerer said, tone rising.

 

"That was before he did the whole 'tremble before God' thing." Sorcerer stared at him. "Hey, just because I'm on the good side of things does NOT preclude me from having an ego problem, okay? Having someone grovel at your feet can be quite pleasing at times." He looked at Angel... no, Liam, he corrected himself... who was still prostrate on the ground before his feet. "But it tires real quickly. You can get up now," he told Liam. "Now... what's your story?" he asked, tone on the friendly side of neutral.

 

Liam immediately got to his feet and took a better look at the being that had just commanded him.  Then he did a double take between Frederic and Sorcerer, causing Jennifer to snicker slightly.  Steve and Buffy254 were still in shock at the similarities and at the same time strong differences between this Angel they knew to be Immortal, and the Angel they still knew.

 

This Angel was wearing a long light brown trench coat, whereas the Angel they knew preferred a black leather duster, and dark colors.  This Angel wore bright, almost all white colors.  Some very light denim blue jeans, light brown work boots, and a white shirt underneath both the coat and an open royal blue dress shirt.

 

Finally Angel looked directly at Sorcerer, a look of pure confusion on his face.  "Sorcerer?" he asked.  The Dark Warp Mage grinned his charismatic grin at the Immortal and just nodded his head, still hoping to see some brain splattering.

 

Angel looked back at Frederic and took a real close look at Frederic.  "You’re... not the same being that married me and Cordelia...are you?"

 

Frederic's eyes went upraised while Steve and Buffy went nuclear.

 

"WHAT!  CORDELIA!  I knew the whole vampWillow and vampXander thing was bizarro, but COME ON!" Buffy shouted.  "Angel and CORDELIA!  Not in a BILLION YEARS!"

 

"Well... that is kind of hard to imagine..." Steve tried to placate his girlfriend.

 

"Not as hard as you might think," Joshua mumbled, but no one was really listening.

 

"No... Liam is it?  I've never met you before.  How is it that you recognized me, enough to pay the proper respect in the first place that is?" Frederic asked.

 

"Your aura... it was... well, at first it felt identical to the being... I'm still trying to figure out if it was a Seraphim or an actual god, but he had way more power than any Seraphim, in legend let alone reality.  There... are strong similarities in the auras, now that I look, but I apologize again for thinking that you were him.  You actually have more power it seems." Angel tried to explain, still not certain himself what was going on.

 

Frederic smiled, "As appreciated as it is, I think you can stop with the sucking up.  I don't really like brown-nosers." He warned Angel lightly.

 

Angel looked back, a bit surprised.  "I... wasn't trying to... suck up.  I was only noting the truth.  I'm sorry if I'm out of line, but... who are you?  And which reality, exactly am I in?  The way my travel works is entirely random, unless I purposely designate a place and time.  But it's a lot safer than the way I received that power, that's for sure."

 

"The way you received this power?  You mean you can naturally open portals to parallel realities?" Ami asked, intrigued.

 

Angel nodded.  "I... seem to have a somewhat innate ability to... absorb and then copy the powers of others or certain phenomenon. Of course, I can only truly absorb another’s powers if they willingly give them to me.  I received the ability to open safe ruptures in Space/Time after the last battle with a Hellgod named Glorificus, which is also around the time that Cordelia Chaste and I were married, and she was allowed to share in my Immortality.  As long as I live, so does she."

 

Frederic nodded, absorbing the information, before turning to Jennifer and saying aloud what everyone was thinking, "Chaste?"

 

"It's a really long story, and I'll be happy to tell it to you... provided you don't try and send me to another Hell-pocket," Angel gave a meaningful glare at Sorcerer.

 

"Is that where you sent me?" Joshua asked, surprised as everyone also glared at Sorcerer.

 

The Warp Mage just smirked and shrugged, his way of saying "Yes."

 

"Hunh.  No wonder it felt like a vacation.  After spending a couple hundred years in HELL PRIME, any Hell-pocket dimension is easier than child's play." Joshua remarked, drawing a curious glare from Sorcerer.

 

"You've been to Hell Prime?" he asked, incredulously.  Joshua just smiled and nodded.

 

"You haven't?" Joshua asked, surprised.

 

"Wanna go back?" Sorcerer tapped into his Warp Magic, the One Ring glowing with green energy.

 

"All Right!  Enough you two!  Back off Sorc. Joshua... Shut up!" Frederic commanded and turned back to Liam.

 

"All right, how about we take this back to Steve's place, that is, if it's OK with you," Frederic asked the Wanderer, who nodded, agreeing.  Frederic nodded himself.  "Fine.  Liam, don't worry about anybody trying to kill you.  Just keep the pride thing down to a tolerable level, and we'll get along fine."

 

"Pride thing?" Angel repeated with a confused look on his face.  Joshua answered him.

 

"He thinks you're a Paladin."

 

Angel looked surprised.  "I'm not a paladin." he said wholeheartedly.

 

Frederic looked back at him, mild surprise on his own face.  "Oh?  Then what are you?"

 

Liam Willsright just shrugged.  "I'm a warrior in the Army of Light for the Gods of the Universe.  I've met real paladins... their pussies compared to me.  Oh, and that's not a pride thing, its just that I like to take on battles of overwhelming odds alone whereas they prefer to wait for reinforcements," he added quickly and somewhat panicked.

 

Frederic raised an eyebrow before what the Angel of Right had said sunk through.  Then his features darkened a fraction as he muttered, "The Wise One."

 

Then he started laughing to himself before it developed into a loud chuckle that soon spread to wholehearted belly laughter.  "He... he thought I was the Wise One!" Frederic managed to breathe out between his laughs, and soon everyone who knew what he was talking about were laughing just as hard.

 

"First... first time Fred got mistaken for the Wise One... it's usually the other way around.  As much as he, the Wise One, hates it." Daphnix explained to Angel and the others who weren't laughing, between his own laughs.

 

"Oh, I bet it went down really well with the Wise One," Frederic said, regaining control over his chuckles. "Liam here was so kind to point out that he thinks I'm more powerful than the Wise One."

 

"Oh, yeah," Jennifer replied for the others when that obscure piece of information came back. "He's probably sulking in some corner..."

 

"I do NOT sulk, Jennifer Fromthefield, second in command of the Gerius, Phalanx-ad-interim, Supreme Amazon, Second in Command of the ESMF, S-Class Alter User and Jedi Master," the Wise One boomed over the group as he appeared right next to the brunette.

 

"Of course not, Wise One," Jennifer said with as much respect and grace she could muster under the circumstances. And given her Gerius abilities, that was pretty damn much, and everyone gawked at her.

 

"This is merely a social call, then?" Frederic asked, turning to the God, and bowing slightly before returning to his full height.

 

The Wise One smirked under his hood, and threw it back. "No. I'm just here to warn you. That I overheard your earlier conversation with that is of no consequence. So, consider yourselves warned." The Wise One vanished.

 

"Warned for what?" Buffy254 managed to ask.

 

Frederic and Jennifer smirked, then chuckled, quickly followed by Daphnix and Ami. Frederic shook his head in amusement. "Warned about not making that mistake again," he said, turning to Angel. "That, by the way, was the guy that married you and Cordy." He leaned closer. "I'd be more careful around my other allies... they include a Cordelia and an Angel, so try not to make with the google eyes at Cordy, okay?"

 

"Hey, no problem. I've seen other Cordy's before," Angel defended himself before being whisked away in Frederic's Gerius-transportation. It sent every dimensional sense he had on overload.

 

"What was THAT?" he grunted the moment he arrived in Steve's living room. "I thought I had seen just about any transportation method, but that was... was... NUTS! Just WHO, or maybe what, are you?"

 

Frederic smirked. "My name is Frederic Fromthefield, Phalanx of the Human, Oech-anya and Ketari races, Commander of the ESMF, Supreme Commander of the Jokilar Gerius, Highest Jedi Lord, Personal Champion to the Gods of the Universe, Universal Savior, Inheritor of Hiten Mitsurugi, S-Class Alter User, and conqueror of the Internal Force. I am personally responsible for the safety of the entire omniverse, and I serve the Gods personally as their second in command. There is nothing on the side of good I can not command," the man said.

 

Angel gulped, grew pale, and started sweating.

 

"Looks like you need a drink", Frederic commented dryly as he pushed his hand in a pocket of darkness that wasn't there before. When he pulled it out, the darkness vanished and he was holding a glass of whiskey. "Here."

 

"Thanks," Angel grunted, slamming the drink back.

 

"Now... why don't you tell us your story?" Frederic asked, after the hapless newcomer had fallen into a chair.

 

"Who's this guy?" GS-Buffy asked before Angel could start though.  The other members of Section7 and the two goddesses had the same question.

 

"This is our "intruder"," Frederic answered.  "He came through that portal we all sensed.  His name is Liam, dubbed... "The Angel of Right?"

 

Angel shrugged.  "The demons of my world gave it to me... and it stuck.  Most... through my doubles more often than not, know me as just "Angel", so that's ok too."

 

"You're an Immortal?" Randi suddenly asked.  Angel nodded.

 

"Uh, this might take a bit, so why don't we all get comfortable?" Angel asked, and immediately everyone went to a spot around the spacious living room and "got comfortable".  GS-Buffy, Wiccan and Warrior X decided to float mid-air in the lotus position, while most others either sat around the couch, in chairs, or just chose to stand.

 

Liam Willsright had center stage, of sorts and began the story that had become almost natural in telling after starting his journey.

 

"First of all, my name is Liam Willsright." Liam began.  "I was born in Ireland in the year 1863.  Long ago, long before I was the man I am today, my fate was forever changed.  I’m still trying to figure out if it was for the better.  One night, after having gotten so drunk out of my skull, I was stumbling like the drunken fool that I was through an alley, when I suddenly saw the most beautiful woman that I had ever seen, up till then anyway.  Something about her called to me, and to this day, I’m still not entirely sure what."

 

"She was a vampire.  A demon inhabiting a human body.  She would have killed me, or turned me that night, but something different happened.  I was saved… saved by, and I know this doesn’t make much sense, I was saved by... myself!"  This brought some curious glares from all around the room as several tried to interpret how it was possible.

 

"Just as the vampire was leaning in for the bite," Angel continued, "she suddenly jerked back, and then turned to dust before my very drunken eyes.  When my vision cleared, I was looking at an identical version of myself.  Well, not quite identical.  His hair was shorter for one, not to mention spiked like he had seen Satan himself and the tips had turned partially white... kind of like my hair is now, I guess.  Anyway, he was also dressed differently from me, but aside from all that, he was me.  And he was also a vampire.  I found that out after I came too from passing out in my drunken stupor.  It was still night when I came around, and I can only guess the same night, since I was in the same alley, and my twin was kneeling over me, staring at me.  I was startled, to say the least.  And after several moments of embarrassing scrambling around, he calmed me with but a word,  “Quiet.” 

 

"He said it with such power that I had no choice but to obey.  He then spoke to me of his life, the life that he had just saved me from.  From being a vampire, killing hundreds of people, only to have been cursed with a soul fifty years later, and then to fall in love with a mortal woman over a hundred years after that, lose his soul, and get it back right before his love sent him to hell where he nearly lost his mind."

 

"Then he spoke to me of a second chance.  Not for him, but for the man that I was in general.  Today, I realize that he was speaking of the fact that there are alternate universes, and in nearly every one of them, I became a vampire, either to be cursed and be a force of good, or to be killed by a Slayer.  At the time, I didn’t even know what to think.  So when he told me that I had a choice to make, either run screaming out into the night and probably die in a forgotten grave after being killed in a mindless bar fight, or I could do something with my life, make a difference, be the man that my sister thought, and wanted me to be.  Thinking it through, and still not understanding what was being asked of me, I said yes, believing, and knowing that I did not want the life that I had been leading.  And then he did something truly terrifying.  He showed me his demonic face, and I knew it all to be true.  But instead of running, like I imagine any sane or sober person would do, I just stood my ground and stared right back into those yellow eyes.  And that’s when it happened.  My double, I’m still not sure who or which one he was; he began to glow a bright blue color.  Before I knew it, he had turned to dust like the other before him, but instead of the blue glow disappearing with him; it remained, and surrounded me.  It was then that I was struck with bolt after bolt of bluish white lightning.  I have heard what some others call it, but I choose to call it the magic of my destiny being chosen, by me.  It hurt like hell, I’ll tell you.  When I woke up the next morning, everything was different.  I don’t know quite how, I just knew everything was different.  After living for as long as I have like this, I can’t even remember what it was like before.  That night, I changed my own destiny, and I haven’t aged a day since."

 

"A Quickening," Joshua announced what they all thought it was.  Angel nodded.  "Aye, I've learned about the 'Game' in my travels, though on my world, I rarely ever met someone like me, and they were usually corrupted by demons or magic had something to do with their Immortality.  But it was different from any other kind of Quickening you could possibly imagine.  For starters..."

 

"Well, yeah, he was a vampire and you were still Pre," Joshua said, "But apparently if you were turned as your first death, that would have been disastrous.  Your future self, rather than a dead alternate must have done something to go back in time, and then he gave his quickening over to you, which was actually your Quickening from the future.  Some Immortals can actually do that, give up their power willingly to another Immortal.  Or even pre-Immortal."

 

At the looks he received he answered, "I know from experience."

 

Shaking his head at the sudden revelation, and at a prompting from Frederic, Liam continued with his story, "I spent the rest of my time in Europe doing what I thought was right, defending free will, honor, and freedom the best that I could wherever I went.  Outside of Europe, I studied, trying to learn everything that was possible.  My favorites to study were often fighting techniques.  Particularly those of the eastern regions.  Time passed, and I found myself creating a sort of legend among the demon community, which I had also fought, but not nearly as much as I had fought in the world of man.  They called me the “Angel of Right”.  And so I took that as a name, a new name for any to call me besides Liam, a commoner’s name.  And so I became Angel.  After a long time, and many hard and trying battles, I met a beautiful woman, and I fell in love.  She was a Slayer." 

 

"Oh let's all guess who that was," Xander254 said sarcastically.

 

Ignoring the jibe, Angel continued, "She often had with her a close companion, a powerful witch.  They were best friends, but if there could have been anything more, it never developed." At that Gold Slayer took Wiccan's hand and smiled.  "The Slayer’s name was ... Amanda Pierce. 

 

Her companion’s name was... Joyce Summers."

 

That drew some attention, particularly from the two Buffy Summers' in the room.

 

"I came across them one night while the Slayer was out doing what she did, slaying vampires.  I came to her aide, and was quickly accepted as an ally, though it took some convincing for them to see me as a friend.  After all, the only immortals that most Slayers ever meet they’re supposed to kill.  Yet, time passed, no more than a year, and I was accepted into the Slayer’s group.  I’d like to think that I helped a great deal to the Slayer’s cause.  She lived to be nearly twenty-seven.  She was killed by a master vampire that tried to unleash a nexus of demonic energies, and before you ask, no it was not the Hellmouth.  It was a statue named Acathla. She died in my arms."

 

Angel paused in his litany, "I... I have not told many people this, but as I held her, something began to happen.  As I was trying to save her life, just holding her to me hoping that my immortality could be given to her, if only for me to die, something else began to happen.  Amanda began to glow with a soft, yet strong golden light."  As Angel described this, Frederic noticed Gold Slayer looking nervously at Wiccan, who returned the look, but with more concern over the Slayer's tenseness than whatever was bothering the Slayer.

 

"As I held onto her ... she made me promise to continue the fight, to protect all that is good, but never at the cost of my soul, and all that is human, without becoming a monster.  And then... and then something changed within me forever.  I don’t know how, but as I promised to do as my love had asked of me to do, she somehow transferred the powers of the Slayer to me.  To this day I have kept my promise, and I will continue to do so, until it is decided that I must die and move on.  She died in my arms, smiling, knowing the world would be safe, and happy, being in the arms of the one she loved, and knew that I loved her back."

 

"After I buried her, I avenged her.  I stopped the Master vampire, and destroyed the demon statue, making sure that nothing could ever touch it again.  After the death of the Slayer, things were quiet for a time.  I traveled in my grief over the woman that I loved, but I always returned to Joyce and Amanda’s watcher, a young man named Rupert Giles.  When I first met him he was rather idealistic.  That changed after spending time with me and Amanda."  A few chuckles were spread throughout the group as the two men sharing that name gave identical gestures in scratching their noses and wiping their glasses.  Typical 'nervous-Giles' behavior.

 

"Joyce eventually married and had two children.  Two daughters.  The first, her husband named, Elizabeth.  The second, only a few years after Elizabeth, Joyce named in honor of Amanda and named her Dawn, because Amanda made sure that the world continued to live, each night, fighting the pits and creatures of hell, just so the world could see one more sunrise.  When I came back once more, Joyce was an aging mother, but she never lost that optimistic look in her eyes, and she was always, to the days that she died, peacefully I might add, the kindest woman on the planet."

 

A moment of silence was given for the remembrance of a still-loved woman, and a brief consolation to Buffy254 that Angel could travel through time as well as dimensions, meaning that he had probably been to the future for Joyce's death and funeral, though she might still be alive at this time.  After the brief hysterics were over, Angel continued.

 

"While I stayed with Joyce and her family, and kept up the fight with Rupert, or Giles as most know him, who was himself getting along well in his years, I befriended her daughters, especially the one known as Elizabeth.  When it was found that Elizabeth was to be the next called Slayer, Joyce was practically frantic with worry.  I calmed her, by asking her to teach me the one thing that I had never learned in all my time, magic.  And so I became Joyce’s pupil, as well as Elizabeth’s, or Liz to her friends, knight in shining armor as Giles became her Watcher and she took up the mantle of the Slayer at the age of fifteen."

 

"By the time that Liz was 19, Dawn had also become Joyce’s pupil, and I was well into my apprenticeship with the kind witch.  It was then that everything changed.  A demon goddess, known only as Glory descended upon our town, and was looking for some way back to her home demon dimension.  Her thoughts were to use some mystical “key” that did not seem to exist.  She tormented Liz and our friends for over a year before a plan was devised to stop the goddess.  The key element, excuse the pun, was to use the developing love interest in my life, one of Liz’s high school friends, a girl by the name of Cordelia Chaste."

 

"Despite her name, she was quite the flirt in school, especially with me when we met.  After an incident with Liz almost dying, but thankfully not, Joyce confronted the girl with the option of studying magic.  Cordelia hesitantly agreed.  After two short years, she easily surpassed Dawn and I who had been studying under Joyce for the better part of the former’s life.  It was discovered through some unusual circumstances that Cordelia had the potential to become a Seer, something extremely rare for witches, the power of premonitions anyway.  During their first year of college, Cordelia seemed to pass even Joyce in her studies, and for a time had to go into seclusion to learn more about her developing gifts.  She returned quickly, realizing that she at the very least needed all of our support, if not our guidance.  We gave it fully and freely."

 

"I can’t say when I actually let Cordelia’s flirtations get to me," Angel blushed as he noticed the Amazon Cordelia Chase in the group, but did his best to ignore her and continued, "but they did, and I began to find a strong interest in the woman she was becoming.  I would soon find out how intertwined our destinies really were.  Long story short, after a very gruesome adventure, Cordelia was given an immortality similar to mine.  She would only die when I did, but until we both reached our full potentials, we would have to be separated.  When the plan of how to defeat Glory came up, both Cordy and I knew that our time apart was fast approaching.  So throwing caution to the wind, I declared my “interest” in her, and she flat faced, boldly proclaimed that she was in love with me.  We had two days, two days together before we faced Glory.  I spent years with most of the loves of my life, and after spending two days with this... this... teenager, I was head over heels in love and ready to spend the rest of my days thinking and being with nobody but her."

 

"Of course, the fact that we were both immortal might have had something to do with the fact that made it possible." Liam admitted.  "Our plan against Glory was simple.  Well, simple enough considering how much we had learned about our foe.  She wanted to go home, to hell.  Well, finding a piece of the Acathla statue, Joyce, Dawn, Cordelia, Giles, and I managed to find a way to safely create a rupture in Space/Time that would suck the demon goddess straight back to hell, but not the hell she wanted, rather where even she would be powerless.  The trick was to getting her to think that Cordelia was this Key she was looking for.  That actually wasn’t the hard part.  The really hard part was knowing what she was going to do once she had Cordelia.  That was where we were surprised."

 

'Apparently, Glory already had a plan to force Cordelia to open up an unsafe rupture.  Combined with our plan to force the demon goddess to her own living hell, things got kind of screwy, and Glory ended up going to the hell we sent her to, but somehow I absorbed the power to open random, but safe rips in Space/Time that take me from Universe to Universe, and in some cases backward and forward in time.  Cordelia apparently already had this power, otherwise our plan would have never worked and who knows what mess we might be in."

 

Angel suddenly got a bit misty-eyed as he finished his story, "My last moments with Cordelia were of us saying goodbye, and promising to see each other again, even if it took a thousand lifetimes of searching, we’d find each other.  So, that’s what I’ve been doing, and what I assume she has also been doing.  Each world that I land on, I stay a while and learn all that I can, or think I should before moving on.  From my point of view, that was over fifty years ago.  And while I can say that my powers and skills have grown, they have not progressed that much, and so I strive even harder.  I have vowed, by everything that I know, everything that I am, and all the things that every good person that I know and love holds dear, that I will find my Cordelia, no matter what."

 

"Uh... wow," Cordelia254 said, wiping the tears that had fallen from her eyes away, and she wasn't the only one doing so.

 

The moment was temporarily ruined as Robin and Liam both let out loud "honking" blows into tissues they had magically produced from the air.  The then offered boxes, similarly made, to the rest of the group, and some actually took a few.

 

Frederic meanwhile was looking over at Joshua, who was staring neutrally back at the Universal Savior.  "Is this a coincidence?" Frederic had to ask.

 

Joshua smirked at him and in a chastising voice reprimanded, "Fred, you should know better by now, there's no such thing as coincidences, just chances, Fate, and destiny.  Oh, and choices is somewhere in there too, but it usually goes along with the chances."

 

Frederic sighed as Jennifer wrapped her arms around him and asked, "What's wrong Love?"

 

"Liam... is from, or rather Liam's universe... is where the last Dark Influx is." he said with dread certainty.

 

Angel's face grew confused.  "What's a 'Dark Influx'?"

 

******

 

"I don't see why you couldn't just show LOBO how to detect and identify the Dark Influx," Jennifer complained to Joshua as the key players trudged along, "instead of dragging us all down into the sewers to join in your wild goose chase."

 

"I didn't tell any of you to come Jen," Joshua shot back, "But for some reason, Sorcerer thought it would be fun, or maybe funny, if he got Fred to make you all keep an eye on me.  As for why I couldn't just teach LOBO, well, it would take me 30 minutes, 30 of your minutes, to teach him everything required, and yes, I know how long that is for LOBO, which should give you an idea of how long it would take you or your kids to learn the same physics."

 

"LOBO is..."

 

"The most advanced artificial intelligence in existence.  But not the most advanced INTELLIGENCE period.  I'm about two years further along than LOBO is, and considering that he goes through a generation in a thirtieth of a second, and how much can be done and learned in a generation, I think that puts me at the stage of "pretty damn advanced" wouldn't you say?" Joshua explained, trying not to snap.  Jennifer remained quiet but secretly wanted to strangle the super being.

 

"You shouldn't goad her," Frederic warned as he ducked under a pipe, directly behind Joshua.

 

"She's the one goading me!" Joshua defended himself.  "And you didn't have to come along you know.  I could have found this thing on my own and would have gotten back to you on SpaCECoB."

 

Frederic shrugged.  "What can I say, I felt like an outing."

 

It didn't take them long to find the portal, leading exactly where they predicted it would be going to... to Liam's universe.

 

"LOBO, can you mark this position on the precise temporal-omniversal dimensional flow charts?" Frederic asked the amplifier on his arm. To his surprise, there was no response. He stared at it for five long seconds before a cheerful as of yet unknown female voice replied, "The Linda-Ortega-Borlan Collective is momentarily unavailable. The request has been processed, and granted. Thank you."

 

Frederic drew back pale, while Jennifer looked worriedly at the amplifier. Sorcerer looked neutral, if not for a slight smirk. The others' reactions varied from surprise, over indifference, to a questioning glance from Liam.

 

"State the nature of the unavailability," Frederic demanded the device.

 

Again, five seconds later, the cheerful voice replied, "The Linda-Ortega-Borlan Collective is otherwise occupied. Do you wish to be notified when the Collective returns?"

 

"You're damn right I do!" Frederic barked.

 

It took ten seconds before the reply came. "Unable to process request. Please restate?"

 

"ARGH!" Frederic snarled, raising his hand, actually forming a sphere of destruction. He would have incinerated the device, probably taking off his arm in the process, if Jennifer didn't grab his wrist.

 

"State the nature of the occupation!" she snarled at the communicator.

 

"The Linda-Ortega-Borlan Collective is engaged with Lord David and Lady Jessica. Data retrieval unavailable. It is impossible to determine the nature of the processing. Do you wish to be notified when it is available?"

 

Frederic and Jennifer looked at each other. "What in HELL are they doing?" Frederic demanded, lifting one hand.

 

"Whatever it is, it's big," Jennifer replied, taking his hand. Together with her husband, she continued, "Emergency override, Highest priority relocation into SpaCECoB Central Processing Core."

 

The next moment, the entire group that had been in the sewers, the people present at Steve's house, and the remainder of the Jokilar Gerius reappeared in a huge room, facing what must have been the most intense study session they had ever witnessed.

 

A huge whiteboard covered one wall, leaving the other three walls lined with computer equipment of design so far that only the Gerius had a chance of understanding it. Two small forms, engulfed in bright gold Super-Ki-flames, were flashing around in front of the board, writing things down, correcting each other, and mostly deleted formulae before they were even completely formed. The computer equipment along the three walls was whining audibly, bright red and gold lighting indicating that it was redlining constantly.

 

Frederic, Sorcerer, and Jennifer looked at each other, and grinned. "Looks like you'll be out of date soon," Frederic commented to Joshua. "When the biggest human and artificial minds unite, things are learned and explored faster than anyone can hope to accomplish... including the Gods of the Universe, no doubt."

 

Sorcerer drew a breath, and looked at the board. "That's not right," he whispered, blinking a couple of times, thinking furiously. He flashed out of existence, and reappeared in the middle of the two flashing children. He licked his finger, and started writing on the whiteboard with it, overwriting previously determined statements. David and Jessica stared for a few moments, grinned, then started up again.

 

Frederic smiled. "You're not going to do this without me, you're not," he grunted, joining in. Jennifer staggered backward for a few steps.

 

"Fuck," she whispered. "It's the first time I actually feel that Fred's pushing himself..."

 

"Ami? What's happening?" Gerius-Buffy asked her leader.

 

The girl shook her head helplessly. "I do not know, Buffy... it's the first time I can not hope to follow. The mind of Frederic Fromthefield and his children really is beyond anyone in existence... and they are fully joined with LOBO."

 

"You’re kidding!" Usagi shouted, glancing from Ami to the whiteboard again. "Unlimited intelligence couple to unlimited knowledge, speed of thought and unrivaled parallel processing? What are they {doing}?"

 

"They are attempting to crack the code," Jennifer said. "They are recreating Joshua's experiments, based on mathematical equations and Hyper-physical simulations. They want to know exactly what went wrong."

 

Joshua stared, his eyes, used to moving and comprehending at hyper-light speeds, only strained when going nonstop for several years or if actually possible going faster, followed what they were all doing before he asked quietly and respectfully, "Can I help?"

 

Jennifer smirked slightly at the backpedaling being before growing serious once again. She looked back at the board. "I don't know," she answered seriously. "There aren't many people who can be in a link with a Phalanx and LOBO and actually hope their minds don't fry... we could join in as well, but all we'd be doing would be spectators," she finished, motioning for herself and the Gerius.

 

"Good evening all," BorgFred suddenly said, appearing out of thin air, going Super, and joining in. Jennifer just had time to make out Freda's materializing form, before she too joined in. 

 

"They determined the correct course of action approximately twenty-five minutes ago, fifteen minutes before we arrived here," Ami whispered. "They are now merely eliminating one by one the possibilities of malfunction, sabotage, stupidity, oversight, Murphy's Law, or Universal Will to determine the exact course of action would result in the current situation. That much I can tell... but it's going too fast for me to make out anything else."

 

The Gerius stared at her. Ami blushed. "You KNOW what I mean. I can read everything just fine. It's going to fast for me to do anything BUT read the outcome.  They're deducing things in mere moments that would take me hours!"

 

Suddenly, the four dimensional twins started pacing in a complex manner around each other, rubbing their chins in an almost identical manner. Only Freda's female form fell out of tone.

 

"They're pacing," two Jennifers and a Jonathan whispered at the same time, exchanging smiles.

 

"Fred never paces," Ami whispered flatly.

 

 "Only when he's extremely engaged in something..." Gerius-Jennifer replied.

 

 "Erhrm!" Joshua coughed, suddenly interrupting the tense mood.

 

At everyone's drawn stares, he pointed up at the board and said, "Can I just change... one little thing?"  Yet he was already moving, a light blue aura surrounding him as he moved up to the giant mathematical problem and changed a single digit that changed the entire outcome of the situation.

 

Before any could protest however, he floated back a couple "steps" and looked at the whole thing from a distance, his face scrunched in concentration.  Then in confusion, followed by grave concern.  "LOBO, can I have access to your link please?"

 

Frederic(s) looked at the changed digit, quickly coming to the new outcome and realizing that through something they had never seen before, they had oversighted and that Joshua was actually correct.  Not that they were incorrect, just that what they had done so far only went to prove what Joshua had told them.  "Allow him in," was the consensus as all those connected to the link spoke at once.

 

Immediately, Joshua lost his human form, reverting to the blue energy orb that was the effect of his consciousness and powers. "Ah... I see your problem.  Funny thing about energy beings, they tend to do nothing more than make up their own laws and mathematical permutations of physics that not even the Gerius and Gods of the Universe would have conceived of.  Like all those mathematicians that used to come up with complex calculus formulas for "2+2=4"..." Joshua was saying as he floated up to some newly created blackboards, the permutations and basic formulas and their proofs of the "new physics" he was talking about appearing on them for all to read.

 

Less than thirty seconds later, fifty large scale boards were full of calculations that left Ami's head spinning and the Fred(s) and twins burning on overdrive to absorb and utilize it all over again.  Once the flow got back on track, all those in the link started working the problem all over again, going at max speed just to try and keep up with their thoughts.

 

Joshua was in the middle of it all, sometimes several steps behind the twins, others at least one step ahead of Frederic and Sorcerer, moving like blue lighting in and around the group.  Sometimes he would help them finish a problem, other times he would start one for the others to finish, but much to everyone's amazement... he kept up!

 

And then something truly marvelous and dangerous began to happen.  Sparks began to shoot off through the twins' eyes, which soon became lightning bolts, which were tinted a slight blue, but mostly green color.  After a full, single second, the same effect entered all their eyes, save Joshua who had no eyes.

 

Now Joshua began to fall behind, so he, while still helping to point out minor flaws (very rarely) he also began writing three-dimensional versions of the blackboards with further "basics" of advanced computational subjects and then downloaded them to LOBO who assimilated it instantly and applied it just as fast to the link.

 

"His super speed..." GS-Buffy whispered, understanding dawning on her.  "He linked to them and he's granting them instant access to his superspeed, increasing their already... mind-boggling... mental processing.  If they could all already think at faster than light speeds, augmented by Joshua's speed..."

 

"Damn," Ami slipped into a curse, staring at the most amazing sight she would ever see until the day after she died.

 

All of a sudden, Joshua stopped.  "Uh oh..." he muttered to himself as he stopped his motions in helping all-together and floated back as far as possible from the equations and stared at it all.  Ten microseconds later, Frederic, BorgFred, Freda, Sorcerer, David, Jessica, and LOBO from his sensors, joined Joshua at looking at the equational equivalent of the Trinary Dark Influx.

 

Frederic's eyes were glass-polished steel as he stared at it.  Sorcerer understood it, but didn't know the whole story, while the twins stared in awe, the others in Sorcerer's boat.

 

"SpaCECoB..." Joshua began, reforming his body, "we have a problem."