TP3-Anot. Bubble Blown Chap 3+4 [BGC]

[Twister]

Here's three an' four! :)
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Chapter Three
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It took a week of searching and Nene giving some secondhand advice
from Sylia, but eventually Twister finally found a nice looking store for
sale. The primary reason for choosing it was the large living area on the
second floor. Nene and Linna helped move the clothes she had bought to
the new place and went with her to buy some furniture for the place.
As for the store itself, it was largely empty with bare shelving
but that didn't worry Twister much, especially with such a _large_ metal
scrap yard relatively close by for material to TK into various stuff. He
had also bought some common items from dealers to fill the racks when
the store was ready.
Twister, as Darlene, had gone directly to Sylia for advice and
information on how get all the financial dealing done and Sylia, grateful
for the chance to study Darlene and her intentions more closely, seemed more
than happy to help. Various other details dealing with the store occupied
Twister's time and it was almost Christmas by the time he was done.
However, the store wasn't the only thing Twister worked on. A secret
place was needed for experimenting with various spells. Quickly
eliminating the city to hide anything, Twister decided to _make_ a place
to work in just outside city limits and _deep_ underground. Tunneling
with TK and teleporting the rock to scattered regions took a lot of energy.
It was good practice for Twister tried freezing and heating the rock
rapidly to dig, as well as cutting with TK. He also used the
Dragonsword to cut through rock; to see if it was any better or not. It
had been with him when he had arrived but Twister hadn't thought much of
the, then, knife-sized sword before he got his memory back. He
hadn't any occasion before to use it but this task seemed to fit the
bill. It _was_ pretty darn sharp for even an iron golem had been cut to
pieces by it. Stone was easier.
Soon, he had a hole suitably deep enough to start.

*Whew! This is _work_ even without using hands!*
Twister stood at the bottom of the shaft he had spent hours digging.
It was damp, but not so much as to trigger the change. He had packed the
earth and rock of the tunnel to prevent water seepage and the local rock was
fairly dry so water wasn't a problem. When packing hadn't worked he had
managed to melt the rock to keep the tunnel intact. Light was provided by a
flashlight in his right hand.
*Though, I'd better seal the opening so that rain can't fill it up
later,* he mused. *Fortunately, I have means to make what I want without
spending days on it. Besides, I haven't used any magic since I got here.*
With that thought, Twister pulled out a thermos from the packback he
had brought for this purpose and used the water carried within to change
into female form.
*I don't need a very large place maybe a room or two...* Visualizing
what she wanted, Darlene cast her spell.

"Earth and stone now give me space,
A place to work, a place to pace,
Compress together, enhance it's strength,
Walls standing firm to hold it's length."

Darlene held her hands on the cool walls of the tunnel as the spell
was performed. Purple light spread from where her hands were in contact
and soon the entire bottom of the shaft glowed with a bright violet color.
Darlene poured a fair bit of power into the spell to make sure it did the
job. She wasn't sure how much was needed but better safe than sorry. When she
stopped, Darlene stepped back into the center of the circular floor and looked
at the glowing walls carefully.
Sure enough, the floor she was standing on was smooth now, instead
of merely being a roughly level surface. The beginnings of a ceiling were
starting to show as the walls of the shaft slowly moved away from her in all
directions.
*Great! And the rock is being compressed _into_ the floor, walls, and
ceiling so it will have all the strength it needs and I won't have to worry
about it collapsing.* Darlene yawned suddenly and looked at her watch.
*Jeez but it's late. Guess I'll seal up the tunnel and leave. Better open it
before coming back though or I might be sucking vacuum due to the compressing
rock and all that new empty space.* Darlene got the other thermos from her
pack, changed back into male form, and teleported to the surface to seal the
entrance.
If Twister had stayed a few minutes longer he would have seen the
bright purple glow begin to pulse rapidly.
And increasingly chaotic.

Two days passed before Twister was free enough from getting the store
set up to return to see how the spell had worked. It wasn't anything that
vital so he was in no rush.
Appearing in a sheltered area, Twister eventually walked over to the
spot where he had sealed the entrance to the tunnel.
*Time to pop the cork. Still...I guess there shouldn't be _that_
much difference in air pressure. After all, the area I visualized wasn't
that large and there should be lots of air in the long tunnel I made. Oh,
well.*
Concentrating, Twister focused on the stone blocking the entrance and
used his TK to unseal it and then teleported it a short dista....
WWWHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Twister shouted in his startlement as a massive
suction threatened to drag him into the dark pit he had uncovered. He was
pulled forwards a few feet before he used his psionic powers to stay put
and not fall into the tunnel. Slowly, the rush of air abated and then quickly
died, leaving Twister very much surprised.
*I didn't think _that_ much air would be sucked in. That was over
two minutes at least! Must've _really_ misjudged the air needed. I'd better
go down now and take a look.* With that last thought, he teleported to the
spot he had last been standing in the tunnel.
It was totally dark, but Twister was ready for he had enchanted a
diamond he had made to produce a very bright light. It was much more powerful
than the flashlight he had used before and less bulky. He got a shock when
the light from the gem, when pulled out of it's cover, illuminated the
surrounding area.
"What the...?" Twister whispered in amazement. "This...can't be
right."
Instead of the normal sized, square room of about fifteen feet or so
he had visualized while casting the spell, there was a slightly oval room
about twenty feet wide and thirty feet long. Also, on _three_ walls there were
seemingly passageways to _hallways_! He had only imagined _one_ for an extra
room! Numbly, Twister walked towards one of the walls where an arch-like
opening seemed to beckon. As he traveled along the long passageway, he noticed
that a purple light flickered at the end.
*The spell's still going?!? Oh, FARK!*
Twister burst into a run and quickly came upon a sight that further
shocked his stunned mind.
"Holy...."
He was in another chamber, but the previous one was tiny compared
to the vast, empty space that the spell had opened in the rock. Twister
numbly guessed it to be the size of an aircraft hangar for really, really,
_really_ big planes.
*Good thing I dug deep. The walls must be stronger than frigging
_battle armor_ if all that rock was compressed into them. And the spell...*
The mentioned spell was no longer the nice, tame purple glow that had
been his last memory of it. The far wall looked like what the surface of the
sun must look like, if it were possible to get that close, to see with the
naked eye. With a purple light filter, that is. Fiery tendrels snaked out
of the blazing sheet of sickly-looking, violet fire, only to dive back into the
mystical inferno.
This was _not_ good.
*How the heck can I stop the spell if I don't know what went wrong
for _this_?!* Twister cautiously moved towards the still far away wall.
*None of my spells ever did anything like _this_, especially when I thought
it would be a fairly simple task. What happened to it?*
He was three-quarters of the way to the flame wall, still wondering
what to do, when suddenly one of the purple tendrels leaped straight _at_
Twister. Reflexively, he flung up a hand to ward of the flame since he was
still too stunned to do anything else.
The flame disappeared into his palm. With no effect.
Twister almost kicked himself. *Argh. It's _magic_. It only _looks_
like real fire and I'm immune to magic now.* An idea started to form
in his mind. *And the flame disappeared when it touched me...*
He began to smile.
*What about the whole shabang? Let's find out.*
Just in case, Twister removed his shirt before advancing for the wall
with his arms stretched out ahead of him. One tendril, and then more, started
flying towards him, only to be vanish into his arms. Finally, he reached the
wall and placed his palms upon the inferno.
It was like an oil fire in reverse at that point. The flames on the
wall, akin to the air above when Twister had unplugged the entrance to the
tunnel, rushed into his hands as if they were a vacuum for magic. Which, in
a way, Twister supposed he was to this out of control spell. All the
flames were soon gone and the only light was that of the gem. Not feeling
safe yet, Twister began to run towards the enormous chamber's entrance.
There _had_ been two other hallways in the main room.

Whereas the first tunnel had led to one massive room, the other two
had made many smaller ones. They had even connected at some points. Some
rooms had had the spell still going and some not. Regardless, he had
stopped counting rooms at fifteen and had hurried the pace at that point.
After finding, and disposing of, all the remains of his chaotic spell,
Twister returned to the first room he had appeared in.
*Whew, all gone! But what made it do all this?* He stared at the still
brightly glowing light in his hands. *I did this recently after the first spell
so why is this gem working just fine? Maybe...because I _enchanted_ the rock?
So this spell is _tied_ to the rock, whereas the other wasn't? If that's the
case...then the first light spell I learned should prove my theory.* Getting
a thermos, Twister changed and cast the spell which formed a ball of light.
Several minutes went by before the globe of light above Darlene's head
started to pulsate.
*Uh oh.* Darlene quickly changed back with the other thermos and
stuck a hand into the beginning to flame light. It vanished into
Twister's hand.
He pondered this. *So I can _enchant_ things only. Otherwise, the
spell goes haywire. I'll have to find out why...but not right now.*
Finally, Twister mentally went over all the rooms he had accidentally
created. He was shocked at the _size_ of the place. *Gah! Overkill city!
I don't think I needed quite _that_ much room. I'll have to map it all
later to figure out what to do with it. Just great.*
He sighed ruefully.
*At least I can enchant something so it can avoid detection.
Whoopie. Oh, well, I have _lots_ of room to play with now.*

Twister used his female form to conceal the now-extensive system of
rooms because if anyone were to search, the huge, hollowed out areas would
surely be detected. When done, the spell made the newly created complex look
only like solid rock from would-be sensors outside. Hopefully.
It was also time for Darlene's new store to open for business, which
was fitting in a way. As a celebration idea, Twister made dragon statues to
sell in the arts store like the ones he had made a long, at least it seemed
long to Twister, time ago.
The new friends Darlene had made were invited to the quiet opening.

"I can't _wait_ to see Darlene's store! She's kept it such a surprise.
Aren't _you_ excited Priss?" Nene exclaimed enthusiastically at a bored Priss.
They were both in Linna's van as Linna drove them to the new store.
"Yeah, yeah, Nene." Priss turned her head to the window. "It's just
some boring art all the same."
Linna spoke up before Nene could respond to Priss's comment.
"We're here." She stopped the car and they walked out to the front of
the store.
The store's name was 'Flights of Fantasy'. A sampling of the store's
merchandise was displayed in the front windows but you could not see inside
the store itself.
Priss gave a bored look at the stuff displayed in front as Linna and
Nene looked excitedly at the various items shown. The singer had seen all this
sort of stuff before when she was younger and a little more interested in
this sort of thing. One thing displayed, however, caught her eye and her
boredom dissipated as she walked closer to the glass barrier to look
closer at it.
It was a small but incredibly detailed statue, about a foot high, of
a Western style dragon that looked ready to attack an invisible enemy. That
such a vivid impression was given surprised Priss as she studied the statue.
Nene and Linna noted their companion's interest with some amazement,
Priss didn't usually like 'artsy stuff' as she called it. They came over to
look at what Priss found so compelling and were also surprised at the
statue's detail.
"Oh, wow! It almost looks alive!" Nene breathed in wonder.
"Must be expensive," Linna commented as she silently agreed with Nene.
"I wonder where Darlene found _that_. Never seen that sort of thing
before. Must be new."
Tearing away her eyes from the statue, Priss offhandedly said, "I'm
impressed with it. I doubt she has more than one though." She strode towards
the store's entrance and walked in through the door. Nene and Linna
walking quickly behind her to keep up. After they entered, the two behind
were startled when Priss exclaimed something and quickly backed up into
them . Looking around Priss, the two started instinctively backing up as well.
The store had a cave-like appearance now since Twister had decided
that plain walls and shelfs weren't likely to be very interesting for
customers. What he had done was use psionics to carefully coat metal
around and on the holding racks, walls, and ceiling. Small, colored
crystals decorated the shaped metal. They were embedded in it in colorful
swirls around the store's interior by ways that caught the eye. The
light from the store's ceiling lamps reflected colorfully in the
crystals. Twister had made the store's slightly darkened interior itself a
piece of artwork in itself.
_That_, however, was not what had badly shaken Priss when she entered.
In the middle of the store, staring right at the entrance, was a _much_
larger dragon than the one displayed outside. It was another Western style
dragon and as incredibly detailed as the other, but the sheer size, about
seven feet tall and _much_ larger lengthwise, heightened the impression that
this was _not_ something you wanted to mess with. The look the eyes gave
as they stared at the entrance was one of challenge at the puny mortal
beings who dared invade it's lair. The view of wickedly sharp talons and
the deep red, powerful body increased the effect further.
"Ah! You came!" cried a voice from behind the drake statue. Darlene
stepped around the statue and chuckled at their expressions. "I see
you've met Charcoal here." She patted the statue's side. "Great burglar
deterrent, don't you think?"
"Good God, Darlene! _Customer_ deterrent I would think as well!" Linna
shakily said as Nene peeked around her friend's back to peek warily again at
the statue.
"Oh, come on! He's harmless!" Darlene chuckled and waved them in. "He's
a lot less scary from inside the store. Take a look around."
Priss, mad at herself for reacting the way she had, boldly walked into
the store and took a look. The feeling the dragon _knew_ where she was when
she looked at the immobile head unnerved her a bit, but she wouldn't let that
bother her. *It's just a statue, Priss. Get a grip.* She distracted herself
by looking at the store itself and when she got a good look she was
impressed by the sight.
Moving quickly into the store and not looking at the dragon in the
center, Nene started looking at all the items for sale and was surprised at
what she found on one wall.
"Linna! She's got _lots_ of those dragons."
Curious, Linna joined her friend and saw that Nene was correct. An
entire wall was used to contain a whole variety of those wonderfully detailed
dragons. They ranged in size from an inch to two feet high and were all
different. Colors and attitudes varied from one dragon to the next. Half
of them were Oriental and half Western style dragons. Nene found a silver
colored Western dragon, wings spread, that looked somehow looked mischievous
as it cautiously looked behind itself while holding a small crystal in it's
forepaws.
*This one's so cute!* As she admired the half-foot statue, she glanced
at the price and smiled with delight. It wasn't too expensive. Nene called
out to Darlene. "I'll get this one, Darlene!"
"Okay. It's yours." When Nene blinked in confusion, Darlene smiled. "I
can afford to give a few away to friends, I should think. You too, Linna and
Priss." The overjoyed, enthusiastic hug she got from Nene staggered her a
bit.
"Thank you, Darlene!"
"Really? Hmm..." Linna looked over the dragons with more interest as
Priss strolled over to look them over as well. The dragon Linna picked was
an Oriental, aquamarine dragon. It was curled up around its horde of treasure
and looked quite smug. *Must be envisioning herself in the future,* Darlene
thought amusedly. Priss didn't seem to want anything until one particular
dragon caught her eye. It was the same style as the giant dragon in the
center of the store, but instead of looking menencing it had the look of a
defiant fighter as it prepared itself for combat against any opponent. Priss
immediately chose that one.
*Hm. Should've known that one would appeal to Priss.* The sound
of a door opening and a gasp caused Darlene to look at the new arrival, which
happened to be Sylia. *Gah. If he affects _Sylia_ that much maybe I should
turn Charcoal around. Definitely made him a bit too menencing looking.*
Sylia was not affected for long, however, and chuckled softly at herself as
she walked over to where the others were standing with their dragons.
"That's a bit of a shock when you walk in," Sylia said as she smiled
a little ruefully.
"Well, it will definitely wake up the shopping drone," Darlene
chuckled. She waved at the dragon assortment on the wall. "Want one? On the
house, though I think I'd better stop that soon or I won't have many left."
Raising an amused eyebrow, Sylia scanned the statues. "These are very
good. Excellent in fact. Where did you get them?" She selected a pale blue,
Oriental dragon that had calm, wise eyes that seemed full of intelligence.
"Very detailed for the price."
"Well, I had to guess the price." Darlene smiled, she had prepared
a story since she knew that _someone_ would ask about the dragons. "The person
who approached me to sell their work didn't have much of an idea either. So
I told them I would guess at a price to sell the lot." She chuckled. "If you
four's reactions are any guess I may have to raise the price soon."
"Did they give a name?"
Darlene shrugged. "They said they preferred to remain anonymous, but
I believe they signed the dragons with a small tornado image." The four new
owners checked and saw the signature on each dragon.
"Hmm..." Sylia didn't like the mystery apparently, but accepted
Darlene's story. For now. She smiled and looked around. "You've done a
wonderful job of decorating your store. How did you manage all this?"
"It's a secret." Darlene smiled mischievously at Sylia, trying to
look cute to get Sylia off the questions. "I'm sure _you_ have one or two
secrets yourself, Sylia. Life wouldn't be fun if we didn't have secrets." The
four Knight Sabers had tensed up unconsciously, but relaxed quickly when
Darlene blinked in surprise at the reaction her comment had caused.
*Yeesh. Lighten up about that,* Darlene thought.
"Yes, I guess you're right, Darlene. We _all_ do." Sylia smiled
mysteriously. "I have to get back soon. Good luck with your store."
Darlene missed Sylia's hint."Thank _you_ for the help you gave
_me_, Sylia! Bye!" The remaining friends said their good-byes as Sylia
walked out with an arch look at the guardian dragon as she left.
Turning to the others, Darlene smiled. "Well, now that you've seen the
store and since I haven't any customers yet, I'd like to invite you all for
dinner if you don't have to go anywhere soon."
No one said nay and Nene had an expectant look on her face since she
had had meals made by Darlene before.

After a satisfied Nene, Linna, and Priss left, Darlene chuckled as
she sat on a white couch and watched the television. The room she sat in only
had a few pieces of furniture and several of the dragon statues for
decor. The doorbell would ring if anyone came into the store, but
since she had just opened and hadn't advertised she wasn't expecting anyone
today.
*Finally got this place done.* Darlene sighed with satisfaction. *If
the dragons sell as well here as they did in the other universe then I should
be having a lot of business soon. Might want to make something different
for variety later. Maybe.* Picking up a plate with a slice of cake, she
began munching on the heavily frosted piece as she watched the TV. Nene
was a bad influence but Darlene could always use the energy. *That
underground workplace I created took up a lot of power to finish even
though it did get out of hand. The store was a lot of work too. Guess I
can start looking for a spell to get me back soon...once I figure out
how to get my normal spells working properly again. I still have to find
out why they aren't...*
The television started blaring out the, news interrupting Darlene's
train of thought.
"ADPolice stopped a rampaging Boomer last night after it ran through
the busy shopping district causing twenty-one people to become wounded and ten
dead. Seven ADPolice officers were killed in the process." Several shots of
the wounded and killed flashed before Darlene's eyes on the screen. A girl who
looked remarkably like Nabiki was one of the dead. Eyes mercifully closed.
Darlene stopped eating the piece of cake at that point. The metal fork
she was using slowly became warped and bent as her hand tightened it's
grip on the utensil.
She shook her head. *That's not Nabiki. This is a whole different
universe.* Unwillingly, Darlene looked at the scene of destruction shown
on the television again. *But what if she too had someone... Damn Boomer.
No... Damn Genom.* The true story behind the creation of the Boomer's was
known to Darlene. She had been planning on leaving before she accidently changed
something that caused her friends, the Knight Sabers, to _lose_ in a battle.
However, the story on the news was jolting. This wasn't some fantasy
universe. This was a real world with _real_ people and the Boomers
were killing people.
And Darlene had the power to help.
Darlene sighed softly as she stared at the screen.
*I think I may stick around a little longer than I thought.* That
decided, she focused on the problem of _how_ to do it. *First problem:
I'll likely need to access computers of all _sorts_ of restricted info to
really get anywhere. The Knight Sabers have Nene to help them, but I...*
Darlene thought about the problem. *When I fought that dragon
mind-to-mind, I enhanced my mind so that it _became_ a _very_ powerful
computer in essence. What _else_ is a brain? Also, if I can go
mind-to-mind with a dragon, can I do so with a computer? With
precognitive power as well I'd be almost unbeatable at guessing
passwords and sensing detection. As if they could track me.* Darlene
smiled at the idea. *It might work. After all, AI's are artificial minds
and that's good. Other _human_ minds don't exactly appeal to me.*
*But for the rampaging Boomers, I think I'll have to do something
special. After all, I miss my practice sessions with Ranma.*
Slowly, Darlene smiled and narrowed her eyes as an idea came.
*Genom, you may think the Knight Sabers are nothing, but a _Twister_
is another thing entirely...*
Darlene grinned at the image that thought produced.
*Head for the storm shelters!*

Chapter Four
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Inspector Leon McNickel was enjoying a nice quiet night in his squad
car when ADPolice headquarters radioed him. His partner Daley was busy
somewhere else right now so he was alone in the car.
*Damn. So much for a calm evening.* With a sigh, Leon picked up the
mike and inquired what was up.
Apparently, another renagade Boomer, *What else,* Leon thought with
a snort, had appeared near his position and he was requested to go aid the
other officers on the scene. He signaled his confirmation and accelerated
to get there as fast as possible.
As he dodged traffic, Leon frowned. *Another Boomer. Damn. Double
damn. We lose too many men to these things and the civilians...* His mind
stopped that thought as he spotted ADPolice cars barricading the road up
ahead. Driving up, he opened his window and flashed his ID to an inquiring
officer.
Leon was brief. "Where?"
The officer nodded his head towards the barricade. "It's headed this
way, sir. Fortunately, the street it's using is pretty deserted and
people are staying away from it. It should be here any minute."
Leon nodded, stepped out of the car to stand, and waited for the
Boomer to appear.
He didn't have to wait long.
Running faster than a normal human, the blue Boomer quickly came
into sight. The ADPolice barricade, which had police officers all training
their machine guns at the out-of-control 55-C class Boomer, caused the
humanoid robot to stop once it noticed the obstruction.
Despite the destruction it had caused, one had to marvel at what
man's technology had created. Bio-technic in nature, the Boomer moved
smoothly and quick, belying it's bulky, armour-plated form. Even more
marvelous was the AI that lived within the red-eyed, skull face. It
had been a goal long sought after by scientists, made possible by the
late Dr. Stingray. And then stolen by Genom for the power it promised.
Rather than attack, the Boomer just stood there in front of the police
line of fire with an air of amusement about it. The police opened up
their weapons without any prompting. To wait for an order was not wise when
dealing with these machines of mayhem.
Leon was not happy with the results of the storm of bullets hitting
the Boomer, but not surprised either. *Damn it! The bullets are denting it's
armour, but it just reforms the slight damage done to it. Bastard machine
_knew_ this wouldn't hurt it. We need heavier weapons!*
The police line soon ran out of ammunition and the Boomer was unharmed.
Unfortunately, it seemed to have become bored and decided to send some
of it's _own_ fire back. Chest plates opened upwards on the Boomer, revealing
the multiple array of lens for its heat weapon that was aimed at the
frantically reloading men.
"Move out of it's line of fire!" Leon shouted, knowing sickly that the
men in the police barricade wouldn't have the time to move. The Boomer's
weapon started to glow as Leon forced himself to watch what would happen.
However, just before the weapon fired, a black figure interposed
itself between the shooting Boomer and the police. The intense heat hit
the unknown form, and either disappeared or was reflected off the
intruder. The police officers who had seen sudden death approaching
watched in amazement and relief as this happened with no harm to the
being standing in front of them.
"What the...?" Happy that men hadn't died, Leon was amazed at this
new addition to the battle. For a brief moment he had thought that it was a
Knight Saber but once he got a good look he didn't know _what_ it was.
The figure wore armour, but was of a completely different type from
the Knight Sabers' hardsuits. The black portions that covered the
non-flexible parts of the body looked...crystalline, but no crystal-type
material _Leon_ knew could withstand a Boomer weapon like it had. The
movable portions were covered in a fine, flexible mesh that shimmered
like quicksilver in the squad cars light. The heat weapon the Boomer had
fired had likely been absorbed by the dark material while the shimmery
mesh reflected and dispersed the heat back at the Boomer harmlessly.
Covering the head was a helmet that brought to mind ancient styles
of knight armour, but was made of the same absorbing black material as the
rest with sharp looking, wing-like projections for ears and a narrow visor
for eyes. The visor was just as black as the rest of the helmet.
*Who, or _what_, the hell is that? It just saved some butts but can
it handle the Boomer?* Leon wondered.
Said android wasn't taking the dramatic failure of it's weapon too
well however, and it roared at the interloper. The Boomer leaped high
into the air so it could land and crush the strange-looking figure. What
it didn't count on was it's target jumping up just as high and meeting
it in mid-air. With a kick that left a large foot mark in it's chest
armour, the Boomer went flying in the opposite direction and crashed
heavily to the ground as the black and silver stranger landed gracefully
on the ground. As the Boomer angrily started getting up, an odd blue glow
coalesced into a shining, crystal sword in one of the armoured stranger's
hands.
"How did he do _that_?" one of the startled officers blurted out.
Narrowing his eyes, Leon also wondered at the sword. *That thing better be more
than an ordinary sword or this guy isn't going to last long.* Irritably,
Leon scanned the skies. "Where are the copters?" he muttered as his eyes
returned to watch the fight.
Running, the stranger approached the almost standing Boomer at a
speed equal to the surprised and angry machine with sword ready to
swing at the side. The Boomer lifted a hand to grab the sword when the
unknown person swung the sword swiftly at it. It got a shock when the sword
continued through the grasping palm, roughly down it's arm, and finished
it's passage by exiting behind the Boomer's shoulder. A fascinating, cross
section was formed for examination of the interior make-up of a Boomer's right
arm as half of the limb dropped to the ground.
Leon whistled. *That thing's _sharp_ to go through Boomer armour
like that. Must be like the green Knight Saber's ribbons.*
Furious now, the Boomer decided to end the fight by using the laser
beam weapon in it's mouth. After carefully dodging the dangerous sword, the
Boomer leaped backwards from the stranger and opened it's mouth to fire the
weapon causing the mussel of the weapon projected out. As a blue glow
started in the barrel, the crystalline stranger, after apparently deciding
something, hefted his sword with the right hand and threw the sword
powerfully at the about to fire weapon. The blade impaled the laser
cannon and continued through the Boomer's head until the hilt of the sword
stopped it from continuing. Energy discharged wildly and uncontrolled
around the sword as the it dissolved into black dust, no longer needed.
It had accomplished it's mission of destruction.
Badly disoriented and in critical condition due to the overloading
feedback of the cannon, the Boomer wavered unsteadily in the middle of the
street. The stranger raised it's right fist high. After a second, energy
began crackling around it in electric discharges. The armoured knight
ran towards the injured Boomer and hit the machine hard in the lower torso
with the crackling fist. A flash of light and a huge boom echoed down the street
as the Boomer was ripped in half explosively at the torso, due to the fist
punching through it's armour and the force around the fist expending
itself inside.
"Jesus," a person said as the police watched the finishing touch on
the Boomer silently. The being who accomplished this feat hopped up onto a
second story building roof and quickly disappeared. The police choppers
finally arrived on the scene, but found no trace of the strange person
who had handled a Boomer as easily as the Knight Sabers.
Leaning on his patrol car, Leon smiled at the remains of the
destroyed Boomer. *Well, well, well. Looks like someone has decided
to help the Knight Sabers to destroy rampaging Boomer's. Arrived just in
time too.* Thoughtfully, Leon wondered at the abilities of the new
appearance. *Odd though. Didn't look like anything _I've_ seen before.
Even the Knight Sabers armour and weaponry looked more familiar than
that piece of work. Interesting.* He sighed as he climbed into his car.
*Time to do the paperwork for this mess.*

"...and then Leon said the armoured guy _threw_ the sword he had made
into the Boomer's laser cannon!" Nene excitedly said as she repeated what
Leon had told her to Linna, Priss, and Darlene, as they ate in a restaurant
Linna had recommended. Continuing, Nene finished her story. "The 'Crystal
Knight', as everyone down at ADPolice are calling him now, ended the fight
by punching through the Boomer's armour and blowing it in half with
some kind of energy discharge. He left by jumping onto a nearby building
and disappeared." She leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Isn't that
romantic? Someone else besides the Knight Sabers are fighting amuck Boomers.
I wonder what he looks like..."
"If he's blowing away Boomers he's got my vote," Priss chuckled.
"Yes, but what if he's just a trap for them?" Linna worried out loud.
"I mean, they _are_ mercenaries. Someone might be using this guy to lure
them out for revenge."
As Darlene was with them and they didn't know if she could be trusted
yet, the other three were being cautious about the discussion, but they wanted
to talk about it anyway.
Darlene snorted. "Riiight. Have _you_ ever seen anything come _close_
to what Nene said he did? Like, suddenly appearing crystal swords that
disintegrate? Crystal armour that _absorbed_ a heat blast? _I_ certainly can't
tell where he got that stuff." Darlene had a descrete hand with crossed
fingers behind her back.
Linna wasn't very reassured. "But what does he _really_ want?"
"Oh, don't make everything seem so gloomy, Linna!" Nene pouted. "Maybe
he just doesn't like Boomers, like Priss."
"Got _that_ right. Now and forever," Priss stated firmly.
"Oh, you never know Priss... Nothing lasts forever," Darlene cheerfully
said, making Priss look sourly at her. The reply was cut off when three
separate beeping noises got their attention. Linna, Priss, and Nene, quickly
shut off their Saber Signalers(tm) that were disguised as watches and stood
up as Darlene blinked.
"Forgot something that you set your watch alarms for?"
"Uh...yeah! We promised a friend we'd help her with something. We
_really_ have to go," Linna uncomfortably said. "We'll pay our bills on the
way out. Sorry to leave you like this."
Darlene waved her hand in acknowledgment. "It's okay. If you have to
go, you have to go. I'll see you later then."
The other two said their apologies to Darlene and left with Linna,
leaving Darlene alone with her meal, musing.
*Sheesh. Lousy hours they have.* She chuckled. *Must get them in all
sorts of awkward situations.*
As she ate, Darlene smiled internally at her successful first try
against a Boomer. The compressed diamond armour and reflective microchain
weave had worked great even though the heat beam had made it a little warm
inside since the armour couldn't reflect or absorb _all_ of the heat
perfectly. It had taken a _week_ to make that complete set of armour using
plain TK. The _spell_ devised to make it wearable took almost as long to
build up the power level necessary for it. And that didn't include all the
time spent thinking on _how_ to do everything. How to make the diamond
microchain itself took a while to figure out.
In fact, she had the armour right now on her neck. Magically cloaked
from all sight, disguised as a diamond, and ready at activate on vocal or
mental command. The complexity of the spell was...quite a bit. And more so
than the Dragonsword she had made before coming to this universe. A lot
of what she had done was new, though she had done a few tests, but it had
worked, luckily. It allowed her, in female form, to sense approximately
_where_ a Boomer was causing havoc and showed a brief mental image of
the Boomer in question. That it hadn't done so meant that the Sabers
were going on a job and not going after an already rampaging Boomer.
*Well, it's what they do. Good thing I found out my armour responded
to my mental commands while _male_. Apparently, my magic resistance is only
affective when something is _actively_ doing something on _me_ so that my
armour can receive my _broadcasted_ thoughts. Makes things easier anyway.*
The Thunderfist had activated perfectly against the Boomer, as well
as the magically produced full-view display of the outside so that it seemed
like the helmet wasn't even there. The infra-red and enhanced light hadn't been
needed though. Cloaking worked perfectly, as did the absorption of light for
power reasons. The cloak had allowed Twister to stay and watch the ADPolice
clean up the Boomer.
The armour, though magical, had needed a power source to recharge
because of the heavy demands on it so Twister had decided on ambient
light to collect power for the armour. The heat beam of the Boomer had
merely charged the armour. Cloak mode didn't allow the armour to charge
since it _bent_ all forms of light around the armour while giving a
display to see by magically sensing what light had been bent. No
illusion that but actual _invisibility_.
Hidden hot and cold water pockets were kept in the armour. While
Twister could not actively _control_ water, the armour could store it.
The idea had come from the fact that teleporting water in a container had
worked before, so why not in the armour? Heating or cooling itself around
the water it also opened the sections when donning or removing armour to
change Twister into the appropriate form. Clothing was _also_
stored...somewhere, in magically shrunk form. Twister wasn't sure how he
had managed that bit.
Twister was quite proud of what he had accomplished with the armour.
He was quite sure the _dense_, yet magically lightened and strengthened,
diamond material would hold up to a normal Boomer attack. The compressed air
padding used inside the armour would help as well.
*Thing didn't restrict my movements at all. Funny thing is, even though
I made the armour almost weightless using magic, the inertia of the originally
_heavy_ armour seems to have remained. I didn't hit that Boomer with my foot
_that_ hard to leave such a dent. Unexpected bonus I guess.* Darlene had to
chuckle at what she had done. *Talk about your 'Any magic sufficiently
advanced is indistinguishable from science.' quote.*
Darlene chuckled as she finished her meal.
-------------------

(BTW. I did not copy SkyKnight! :) The color was practical for the armour.
Black-absorb Silver-reflect.
Heh.)

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Darren Steffler a.k.a "Twister"- mail at <umst...@cc.umanitoba.ca>
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