TP-What to Prepare For[12 of 18] [FanFic]

[Twister]

Chapter Twelve
--------------

Yasuro was listening to Twister's account of the fight with Natsumi
as Twister inspected the Dragonsword for any possible scratches.
"So she brought an _iron golem_?!" Yasuro shook his head in wonder.
"That's right out of the AD&D role-playing games I play sometimes. How did
your professor explain the fire damage?"
Twister smirked, "_What_ fire damage? One spell from the
Professor and it was fixed." He carefully set down the sword, after seeing
that nothing was wrong with it, and pointed at it. "It's a good thing I
made this. Otherwise, I might have been a crispy critter."
Looking at the sword, Yasuro could only agree with that. "True.
Natsumi's really going to be out for your blood now."
"Don't I know it." Twister sighed.
"What did you do with her after the fight anyway?"
Smirking at the memory, Twister said, "Well... I sort of _gave_ her to
Morio and Hito, who were waiting for _me_ outside, to take to the nurse's
office."
Wide-eyed, Yasuro choked out, "_Morio_ and _Hito_?? With her clothing
cut open in the front all the way down the middle??" Twister nodded and
Yasuro started laughing. "Oh, jeez! That's _cruel_, Twister!"
Twister snorted, "At the moment, I have _no_ sympathy for her." He
stretched his arms and legs as he lay on the couch. "She'll likely be a week
or two trying to recover from that little duel hopefully."
Facing his computer again, Yasuro talked to Twister in amusement.
"Natsumi won't likely attempt your _female_ side, Twister, but as you are
_now_... And only a few people saw the fight you know."
This truth dawned on Twister and he closed his eyes in denial, "No!
Nonononononono!" He sighed wearily as he nodded reluctantly, "You're
right. She doesn't know about me being 'Itazuka' and only the _magic_
class saw her being defeated. She won't want to return _there_ too quickly,
but my other courses _and_ between them... I still have to dodge her then.
Joy." Twister put his hands on his face and shook his head.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. When Yasuro got up and opened
it, a happy Morio walked in.
"Hello, you two! You'll never guess what happened today!" He saw
Twister with his hands still on his head and cocked an eyebrow. "What's up
with _you_, Twister?"
Removing the hands, Twister sourly looked at Morio, "One word. Natsumi.
I've had to dodge her every once in a while now for the past few days. Except
later today for some reason." *Which I know all too well why.*
Gleefully, Morio rubbed his hands, "I can answer that. Me and Hito saw
that cute red-head today, but before we could really talk to her she dumped an
unconscious Natsumi on us to take to the nurse. Since she _said_ it was nothing
serious, we...took a few pictures of her...ah...au naturalle you might say."
Seeing Yasuro's shocked look, Morio shrugged innocently, "Well, she _was_
halfway to that state anyway." His face turned thoughtful, "I wonder _how_ her
clothes got split down the middle anyway. Might be useful to know someday."
Suddenly, an idea came to Twister, "Hm. Could _I_ get a few copies of
those pictures?" Seeing the other two's surprised faces, he hastily added,
"Not to _look_ at, you guys! If she ever finds out about Nabiki I might need
something to get her off Nabiki's back." Twister slapped his forehead. "Gah!
I'm thinking like Nabiki now! Bad sign."
Chuckling, Morio nodded, "Sure. Why not? It's for a good cause. But
you'll owe me one so be warned."
Twister arched an eyebrow, "Ha! What about the eating contest and the
reprisal afterwards! I'd say _you_ owe _me_ bucko!"
"Oh, alright. We'll be even then since you're counting." With Twister's
snort, Morio grinned and closed the door on his way out.
"Planning ahead, Twister?" Yasuro inquired.
"Ohhh, yes. It worked with the sword so it likely will work now. I
just hope I won't need to." Twister sighed once more. "Wishful thinking..."

Thursday afternoon brought no joy to Natsumi. She was still fuming
over her defeat by 'Itazuka', and the state of her dress when she came to in
the nurse's office.
*If I find out _who_ removed and stole my bra they will find
out just _what_ it means to get me angry.* She murderously thought to herself.
After interrogating one or two of the weaker-willed students of the first
year class, she had ruled out 'Itazuka' as the culprit. *Those fools said
she returned after a minute so it could not have been her, but she has
_still_ truly earned my wrath.*
Suddenly, her anger collapsed as she thought about the fight. A slight
depression filled her as she thought on, *Just _how_ did she _create_ such
a weapon as obviously powerful as that sword? The illusion of that dragon and
now _this_ points to her being more than just an average student, but _where_
did she _come_ from!* Natsumi gritted her teeth in frustration, *Even asking
other students from first year failed to find out much about her. It's as
if she only comes to that _one_ class and with that damnable protecting
spell I can't follow her with magic. I must think about this further before
trying any sort of action against her.* She spotted a familiar looking person
walk by where she was hiding and smiled. *I believe _he_ should be a welcome
distraction to get my mind away from that little witch for a while.*
Leaving her spot, Natsumi followed her objective and planned on how
to corner her prey.

Twister was almost at the place where he and Nabiki had planned to
meet when he had a faint sense of dread creep over him. He paused and wondered
what the feeling had been about.
*That's odd. Now why...?* Looking ahead, he didn't see anything wrong
besides Nabiki not being there yet. When he looked behind, he found out why
he had gotten the feeling of dread. *Oh, no. I have _got_ to work on my extra
senses to warn me about these things _earlier_.* He steeled himself as Natsumi
realized he was looking right at _her_. She started walking towards Twister.
Natsumi finally got to the spot where Twister was nervously standing
and smiled at him in a seductive way, "Hello again...Twister, was it not?"
"Um...yes." Twister was trying to think how to get out of this so he
stalled for time. "I heard that you were asking about me. I didn't think I was
so interesting that a chance meeting like the one we had would get you so
curious about me."
The young sorceress smiled a little wider and stepped closer to Twister
as she replied, "It was not the meeting itself as the _fascinating_ show you
put on with those other boys. Quite a remarkable feat. You are _very_ good."
"I have a good teacher and he's much better than _me_ right now."
That raised an eyebrow.
"Your teacher must be amazing then from what _I_ saw _you_ do." She
slid closer to Twister while looking him straight in the eye.
Twister was frantically screaming inside. *Helphelphelphelp!* Sweating
heavily now, he tried to stay reasonably calm, but was failing, "Yes, I guess
you could say he is."
Twister was knocking his head mentally trying to find a way out of this
mess when Life sent him a reprieve.
"Twister!" A familiar voice called out.
Arriving at the meeting place, Nabiki had been wondering where Twister
was when she spied him nervously standing in front of another girl she didn't
remember ever seeing before. Noticing the predatory gleam in the girl's eye,
she immediately deduced what was going on and anger rushed to the fore. *Now
just _who_ is _that_ trying to snare Twister?* She mentally growled before
striding purposely towards the confrontation. When she shouted out Twister's
name, the look of relief on his face as he turned towards her took away most
of the anger, but not all.
"Ah! Nabiki! I see you made it. I was wondering what was holding you
up." Reluctantly remembering Natsumi, Twister hurriedly introduced them,
"Nabiki, this is _Natsumi_." He stressed the name. "She literally ran into
me a couple of days ago." Twister made a false chuckle and hoped Nabiki
recalled the name.
She did. That didn't stop her from trying to needle Natsumi. "Ah, yes,
now I remember. The one who doesn't look where she's running." Nabiki arched
an eyebrow as she looked at the sorceress, "Better not use so much makeup
there or your face will disappear. Which might be an improvement now that I
mention it," she added with amusement.
Natsumi was not amused. Roaring mad was closer to the mark as she
angrily viewed the strange, confident-looking girl standing beside Twister.
*So. This one already _has_ a claim on Twister? Not for long, I think.*
She made a magical shooing away gesture to make this 'Nabiki' forget this
meeting and walk away.
Suddenly, there seemed to be a brief flash of light around Nabiki's
neck area which startled Natsumi. The spell seemed to have failed for
Nabiki was staring at her with some confusion.
Knowing the significance of the gesture Natsumi had made, Twister
decided to beat a hasty retreat while she was still surprised. "Well, it
was nice seeing you again, but me and Nabiki have to run. Bye!" He almost
had to drag the reluctant Nabiki away from the confrontation. Swiftly, he
found a good secluded spot and teleported to Nabiki's apartment before
Natsumi could follow.
Breaking out of the shock of having a spell fail on her, Natsumi
ran to try to catch the pair again, but could not find a trace of them. She
didn't connect the slightly muffled bang she had heard a few seconds ago
with the pair's disappearance.
*Where? How?* She was getting angry again. *Not another failure!
How did my spell fail? Everything seemed alright and then...* Natsumi saw the
flash in her mind again. *Protected! That...that obnoxious girl is protected
by _magic_! Where could she have got such...a...spell.* Flames fairly flashed
before her eyes as realization came to her. *That little _witch_!! She heard
about my interest in Twister and decided to protect that girl from me!*
Natsumi wanted to scream in rage as she thought about her foe's cunning.
Calming down sightly after a while, she tried to think rationally
about her problem. *I am not succeeding with head-on attacks. I must be more
_subtle_ in my approach against her.* Natsumi grimaced as she knew from painful
experience that subtlety was not something she could do easily.
*I need help, as much as it pains me to admit it.* She finally
decided. *Now who would willingly help me put down that little witch?*

The apartment that Nabiki and Yuriko shared was quiet and peaceful at
the moment. Yuriko was reading a textbook on the bed in her room and just
enjoying the silence, smiling.
BOOM!
"EEEEK!" Yuriko screamed as the sudden, loud sound scared her from the
state of calm she had been in.
"Oops! Sorry, Yuriko! I guess I'd better see if I can make my
entrances quieter," called out the voice of Twister from the main room.
"I would say that is a wise statement," smirked the voice of Nabiki.
Slowing her beating heart, Yuriko leaped from her bed and ran out
to meet her friends. "You scared me half to death!" she scolded as Twister's
face showed his embarrassment.
"Welll... Maybe I can try teleporting the air I displace back to where
I depart at the same time I leave. That might help." Twister chuckled at
Yuriko's now slightly mollified expression. Both he and Nabiki sat on a
couch and Yuriko on a chair.
"Good!" Yuriko then giggled slightly, "That certainly does announce
that you've come."
Rolling her eyes, Nabiki agreed, "Yes, but the first time he did it,
it blew me off my feet!"
"Alright, alright! I'm just glad we got out of there before Natsumi
recovered from her surprise and tried something else that my necklace might
not have handled."
Nabiki was startled, "She cast a spell at me?"
Twister nodded, "Yup. That's why she was surprised that it failed."
"Does _she_ know about your two selves?" Yuriko asked worriedly.
Grimacing, Twister shook his head, "I seriously doubt it. Natsumi
would have been trying to kill me rather than pick me up then." He considered
the two choices, "If she had tried to _kill_ me, I would have had an easier
time."
_Now_ Yuriko was laughing, "She was trying to pick you up!?" The look
of amusement on her face told the others she thought the whole thing very
funny.
Nabiki sighed, "You're like Ranma, Twister. You both have a tough time
defending yourself against _that_ sort of attack." She leaned towards him
on the couch they were sharing together, grabbed his startled head, and kissed
him for a fairly long time before releasing him. Nabiki smiled at his stunned,
but happy face, "I rest my case."
"The verdict is: guilty, on all charges. I won't deny it." Snapping
sorrowfully out of his blissful state, Twister asked Nabiki, "By the way...
Have you been feeling those eyes still?"
With a relieved sigh, Nabiki shook her head. "Thankfully, no." She
fingered the diamond she wore on her neck, "This seems to be doing the trick."
"That's good." He pursed his lips together as he thought about
something that worried him a little. *If the crystal is preventing
whatever it is from seeing Nabiki that means it's _magic_, but from who?
And why?*
"Is it Natsumi?" Yuriko threw in fearfully when she saw Twister's
thoughtful face.
"Unfortunately not. She didn't even know about Nabiki when the 'eyes'
started lurking." Twister sighed, "I think I'll have to try to find out
who _is_ doing it fairly soon. It's not nice to do something like this." He
turned to Nabiki, "If you see or feel _anything_ strange, Nabiki, you too
Yuriko, call me." Twister suddenly stood up and smiled. "Well, I've got to
get back and do some homework for tomorrow. I'll try doing it 'stealth
mode'." He grinned.
"Okay! You'll help me again with rhymes soon, right?" Yuriko looked
pleadingly.
Twister laughed, "Of course I will. See you later! Oh, and thanks
Nabiki for that timely rescue from Natsumi."
Nabiki smiled, "It was my pleasure."
With a sight look of concentration, Twister stood for a few seconds
and then vanished without a sound. Yuriko and Nabiki started.
"I don't now which is _worse_. The noise or that unnerving departure,"
Nabiki mused and Yuriko giggled at the comment.

Twister silently appeared in his room. He could hear Yasuro tapping
away on his keyboard in the main room.
*It worked! Great. Now I can stop being a baby boomer.* He grinned as
an idea came to him. *I haven't done the 'unnotice me' trick for a while.
Should've used it on Natsumi a _long_ time ago but I grew accustomed to
not using it anymore. Time to change that...*
Opening his door quietly, while using his old trick, Twister walked
across the room and peered over Yasuro's shoulder. Playing Doom again.
Twister shook his head and waited for an appropriate time to reveal himself.
Unfortunately, someone chose to knock on the door and Yasuro answered it.
"Hello! Is Twister here?" Morio walked in, Hito trailing behind
him. He spied the paused game and smirked, "Playing that _again_? You're
gonna fry your eyeballs out if you play that much longer."
Yasuro crossly defended himself, "It's a good game and it's _my_
system. Why did you want Twister? He hasn't come back yet."
Morio waved a packet in his right hand, "Too bad. I've got those
pictures of Natsumi he wanted."
This news caused Twister to eagerly grab the packet out of a
now-extremely startled Morio's hand. "Thanks! I think I'll need these soon."
"Yah!" Hito jumped backwards towards the kitchen table as he finally
noticed Twister.
*Oops.*
Looking surprised and confused, Yasuro blinked, "How did you do _that_?
I didn't even notice you come in!"
"Never mind coming in! How did you just stand there without us noticing
you?!" Hito exclaimed.
*Uh, oh.* With an assumed nonchalance, Twister calmly replied,
"Oh, just something my martial arts teacher taught me. He said extremely
few people could do it, but he felt that I could and trained me in it."
Twister smiled. "I do it very well. I was just practicing in preparation for
using it to avoid Natsumi. Sorry if I startled you." The smirk belied
the words.
"Interesting trick." Morio appraised Twister, "_Very_ handy I would
say. Care to go on a trip with us?" He grinned. "Ladies change rooms..."
Hito, from his position beside the kitchen table, grinned along with Morio.
"Sorry. I have homework to do. Nice try though." Twister waved to the
three and went into his room.
Morio eyed Twister's closed door thoughtfully, "Hmm. I wonder if I
could get him to change his mind someday."
"Not likely. I think he's pretty shy around women sometimes. At
least that's my impression from what he's said during the conversations
we've had." Yasuro replied fairly confidently.
Sighing sorrowly at opportunity lost, Morio nodded his defeat, "Too
bad. Ah, well. I've delivered my package so let's be off, Hito!" He strode
out the door with Hito quickly following.
Yasuro closed the door after them, shaking his head in amusement,
"Those two..." He then went over to Twister's door and called out, "They're
gone."
With a sigh of relief, Twister opened the door, "Gah! I can't
believe I did that! At least I covered myself fairly well."
"What _did_ you do anyway?"
"I tried a different kind of teleport and got to my room without making
that darn boom that used to announce me." Twister smiled. "I recalled then
that I hadn't tried an 'unnotice me' trick for a while and decided to practice
it a bit. I really am going to use it to lose Natsumi though. _That_ part
is definitely the truth." He shuddered. "She just met Nabiki today while
trying to corner me. It was almost hate at first sight."
"Did Natsumi try anything? She sounds the type."
"Ohhh, yes. I'm not sure exactly _what_ she was trying to do, but the
necklace I gave Nabiki managed to defeat the spell she cast." Twister
chuckled at the memory. "Was _she_ surprised! I got me and Nabiki away
before she recovered, thankfully." He smiled at the memory of Nabiki
kissing him earlier.
Something was starting to nag him though, it was a combination of
past memory and something _else_. It was beginning to annoy him.
*Bug me.... Oh, no!* Twister started wandering around the room and
found that the feeling got worse only in one spot. *Oh, yes.* Twister
sighed mentally. *Right around where Hito was standing too.*
Yasuro was noticing Twister's sudden change in behavior and was about
to comment when Twister held up a hand for silence.
"I was thinking Yasuro..." Twister started talking as he bent closer
to whatever was causing the strange feeling. "How small _can_ you make BUGS!?"
The last word Twister, in his suddenly angry mood, said was somehow
unconsciously amplified by his telekinesis and the result sounded like it came
out of a megaphone. It rattled the small kitchen table which had some plastic
flowers on top. The two occupants of the apartment heard a BOOM somewhere
in the building. The strange feeling died satisfactorily and Twister soon
found the electronic listening device in the flowers. It looked like it had
burnt out from the overloading of the sensitive microphone.
When displayed to Yasuro, he was a little peeved, "Those two...!
Bugging _our_ place!"
"Time to visit _theirs_ I think." With Yasuro following angrily
behind, Twister left the apartment and checked the two privacy-breakers door.
Apparently, they had forgotten to lock the door in their hurried walk back
so Twister opened it and walked inside. He immediately saw Morio
staggering a little as he emerged from another room.
Morio looked like he had been caught in a small explosion. He had
a slightly stunned expression on his face which had a little soot on it.
His hair was blown back like Morio had been in a wind tunnel and applied
styling gel. The picture would have been hilarious had Twister and
Yasuro not been in an angry mood.
"Something you heard didn't agree with you?" Twister eyed the
dishevelled Morio. Sounds from the hallway outside indicated that Yasuro was
talking to the landlord, who was likely concerned about the loud noise he
had heard. Yasuro seemed to be mollifying the landlord's concerns pretty
well from what Twister heard.
"What?" Morio put a hand to his ear in stunned confusion.
Twister sighed as he waited for Yasuro to enter. Yasuro had just
finished with the landlord and was now standing in the doorway, staring
at Morio and trying to decide whether to say anything quite yet.
"Better come in. I don't think he'll be capable of rational thought
for a few minutes." Twister commented as he gazed around the room. It was
partly a haven for various assorted, or unsorted, electronic gadgets.
Half of the devices Twister couldn't identify offhand. The other part was
typical enough for the hentai pair. Big posters of almost naked ladies on
the wall and smaller ones, that Twister avoided looking too carefully
at, that removed the 'almost' and that could be taken off in a hurry in
case the landlord came up.
As Yasuro finally entered, Twister wandered into what he guessed to
be Hito's room. It currently looked like a bomb had been detonated
inside it. He found an unconscious Hito, looking similarly blackened as
Morio, lying on his back, about halfway on the bed. The remains of what
used to be a very complex-looking receiver, tape recorder, and speaker
system, lay in the center of the blast damage. Twister pulled out the
ninety-minute tape he found in it, which looked like it was half-full on
one side, and made sure there were no leads going to a back-up recorder.
Deciding that a little more damage wouldn't do much, Twister put the tape
on the destroyed system and mentally had the tape to heat up.
It melted most satisfactorily.
*Well, so much for _that_. If they had done it earlier then I would
likely have felt the same feeling and found something. Must have _just_ planted
the sucker.* He contemplated the dormant figure of Hito. *I wonder if they'll
remember much of what I said. The shock may have caused them to forget.*
Twister sighed, *Unfortunately, that's wishful thinking.*
Walking back to the main room, he asked Yasuro, "How's he doing?"
Yasuro's anger was down a very large degree by now and he had walked
the still-stunned Morio to a couch and laid him down on it. Yasuro looked
down at his soot-faced friend, "Hm. Might come out of it soon. What did you
find?"
"One expensive-looking rig that doesn't look so expensive anymore.
They must have been eagerly listening to what we were saying with the speakers
jacked up loud to hear us talking. When I...ah...commented about bugs, it
appears that the extremely _loud_, sudden signal overloaded the system, blew
the speakers rather dramatically, and toasted the system in between them
even further." He smirked, "The tape I found had a 'meltdown' with some help
from me. Though I think," Twister snickered, "what probably was a minor EMP
weapon for half a second likely fried whatever was on the tape anyway."
"But take no chances." Yasuro regarded the now-groaning
Morio. "I don't think I really need to say anything now. They've been
'hoisted by their own petard' I believe the quote goes."
"Rather well fitting too," smirked Twister before he got a slightly
concerned look. "I hope their ears weren't damaged."
Before Yasuro could comment, Morio groaned out, "Ohhh... Have I got
a headache." He opened his eyes and saw the two half-angry, half-concerned
people he had attempted to bug watching him. Morio weakly grinned. "Hi, guys."
"Hi yourself, Morio! Why did you bug us?" Yasuro angrily said.
A look of puzzlement came over Morio's face before understanding hit
and his eyes grew wide. "No!" He whispered as he lifted a hand and started
snapping his fingers. Understanding turned to panic. "I can't hear it!
I'm deaf!"
Twister motioned the approaching-panic Morio to look at him. Pointing
to his mouth he slowly said, "Do your ears hurt?"
Morio carefully watched Twister's mouth and nodded. "Yes. It feels like
something hurts," he pointed to his ear, "inside."
"Oh, no." Twister said involuntarily.
Yasuro wasn't mad anymore. Now he was concerned about his
friend, "What? Is it bad?"
"He _may_ have a ruptured eardrum if he feels something _inside_ his
ear hurting, but I'm not sure." Twister sorrowfully looked at Morio. "It
_is_ likely."
Coming to his own conclusions, Morio swallowed, "My eardrum's ruptured.
Oh, damn. Deaf for life."
Debating with himself for a short time while the other two were silent,
Twister sighed and spoke slowly so Morio could read his lips, "Maybe not."
"What? What do you mean?" Morio demanded as Yasuro looked on in
puzzlement.
With a half-smile, Twister reached out and firmly grasped Morio's soot
covered hand, "You have to see it to believe it." Quickly checking that the
door and windows prevented anybody from looking in, Twister started Healing.
Twister had done this to himself with extreme ease without any real
understanding of how he did it. Now that he tried Healing someone else, it was
another matter entirely. Fortunately, it was quite simple when he had a healthy
specimen to compare to, which was himself. Scanning Morio's head, he saw that
the inner ear on both sides of the head had ruptured. Using TK, he mended the
damage by comparing it with his own inner ear that he could feel as well.
No fluid had leaked into the ear which was good. He completed the Healing by
telling Morio's body to accelerate it's healing abilities until all possible
damage had been repaired. It had not required much power so the blue aura
had not appeared, but the concentration it took was mentally fatiguing so
Twister sat down after releasing a surprised Morio's hand.
It had taken a half-minute to do.
Wonderingly, Morio snapped his fingers and his face brightened, "I can
hear it now!" He looked at Twister with surprise and relief. "How did you do
that?"
Twister rubbed his temples, "With great suffering, I can tell
you. I've never Healed anybody else before and I found it's a _lot_ harder."
Sighing, he got up and started towards Hito's room, "Hito's probably the
same, if not worse, so I'd better do him now."
As Twister walked away, he could Yasuro calmly starting to talk, "Well,
now that you are alright again... I can shout at you for bugging our room!"
Yasuro finished angrily.
Smiling, Twister missed Morio's apologetic reply as he focused his
attention on Hito.

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