TP-What to Prepare For[16 of 18][FanFic]

[Twister]

Chapter Sixteen
---------------

Seeing the two people in front of him, Takaya marvelled a bit at the
recent turn of events. What he and Natsumi had set out to do that night had
been shunted to the sidelines as they had been swept up into a brief, but
potent, encounter with a major magical force. The professor had continued to
battle the one called the Outcast while Twister confronted the dragon. The
silent battle between man and dragon had started out normally with both
suddenly becoming very still. That had changed when Twister's eyes started
glowing a slowly increasing blue. The dragon had started to twitch its front
limbs and the body shifting lightly. These motions had stopped suddenly
with the entire body going limp in defeat.
When that had happened, the various serpent-men had turned into smoke
and were sucked into a swirling dimensional disk. The duel between the still
battling magic-users had come to a sudden stop when a screaming and cursing
Outcast was dragged into a black rectangle that seemed to match his aura.
He vanished with the magical portal. This had surprised Prof. Miyabi who had
been about to cast another spell before her opponent had been forced to
withdraw. The still figures of Twister and dragon seemed to satisfy the
puzzlement Takaya had seen in her eyes.
All of them had been relieved when the dragon started to shrink back
into the statue from which it had originally been. Wounds from Twister's
attack vanished as the statue became just that again. With the dragon gone,
Twister's eyes slowly came back to normal as the girl, Nabiki, he recalled,
in that rather revealing gown, quickly came over to worriedly stand in front
of the still figure. Worry became relief when Twister stirred and smilingly
made that joking comment before the girl embraced him. Takaya wasn't
surprised that Twister sagged with exhaustion in the girl's arms a second
later. Defeating that powerful spirit's mind must have taken a lot of
effort.
Glancing at Natsumi, he was a little surprised at what he found there.
Natsumi was sadly staring at the two hugging in front of them. In her
quest to become a great magic-user, like all those in her family before her,
she had never really been very attracted to boys she occasionally dated. Only
for their good looks had she been interested in them, as well as the
prestige of showing the current choice to other acquaintances. Friends
she had had no time for.
However, this battle she had just been involved in had shaken Natsumi
to the core. The power that had been displayed here had shown that she
had only made a minor contribution to the efforts made by the group.
The power Twister had displayed had _really_ shocked her. He had not
used magic at all and defeated a supremely powerful, _magical_ foe without
it. Even without the surprising fact that he had _made_ the statue,
Natsumi had numbly thought that the dragon and Twister had almost seemed
equal for a time.
The automatic defense of Nabiki and his helping _Natsumi_ when they had
both been in trouble had unplugged Natsumi's ears to some things inside
_her_ that were crying out to be heard. The sorrow, shock, and confusion she
was feeling now was a direct result of these acts. She felt and looked lost.
The almost forgotten Yuriko, who had been standing far out of the way
with the freed and frightened girls, noticed Natsumi's expression. She
could sympathize with Natsumi right now on that point. She too felt a little
lost after this rapid turn of events, but felt compelled to see if the
other girl was okay. Quietly she went up to Natsumi while a curious Takaya
looked on.
"You okay?" Yuriko softly smiled at Natsumi.
Natsumi started slightly and turned her head to blankly look at
Yuriko. In a confused voice, she asked, "What?"
"Are you okay? I know _I'm_ feeling a little out of my depth
here, but then I'm probably more used to it than you." Yuriko sighed and
looked around the big warehouse. "All this is _definitely_ beyond me. I
just wanted you to know you're not alone right now."
A thankful smile started forming on the normally aloof Natsumi's face.
"Thank you. I'm just feeling...small. It's...disorienting."
Hearing the conversation, Twister gently broke off he and Nabiki's
embrace since he had recovered enough to stand on his own power. Smiling in
their direction, he softly spoke to Natsumi and Yuriko so that the
scared business students couldn't hear him.
"Maybe doing something familiar will help. Putting those _much_ more
disoriented students to sleep for the moment would help. I'm sure Yuriko
would love to join you. Great experience for her."
"Sure! Come on, Natsumi! You can teach me how to do that!" With that
said, Yuriko dragged the still disoriented Natsumi away. The small
smile on Natsumi's face that promised a future lightening of her
attitude.
The professor rejoined them after examining the statue and the area
around it minutely. She raised an eyebrow at the departing girls.
"Hmm. _That_ one may brighten Natsumi's spirits. Finally." Turning to
Twister, she smiled. "I _do_ hope you realize that the dragon was just toying
with you before your fortunate link with it."
Nabiki was about to object, but Twister just nodded. "Yeah. I found
that out when I looked in it's mind. It didn't want to expend powerful
magic at such a...minor annoyance." He chuckled. "It might have been
surprised at the results with most spells if it _had_ done so. Still...it
was fortunate that I was able to send it back that easily."
Nabiki snorted, "_Easily_ he says." Looking down at herself she
reddened a bit and added, "Can we go home soon? This...thing isn't much
to wear."
"I noticed." Twister smirked before she hit him in the side,
causing him to lose his balance briefly since his tired state made him
a bit unsteady. At Miyabi's amused chuckle, he turned to _her_. "Are you
going to try to remove this night's experience from those girls while
they're sleeping?"
The professor nodded. "Yes. I think that would be best." She heard
thunder outside and grimaced. "Getting them home will be another matter in
the rain. We'll have to change their clothing as well."
"That should be quite simple, professor." Takaya confidently said.
Yuriko and Natsumi returned from the now-sleeping girls. Natsumi
sarcastically said, "I didn't know you were such a _women's_ fashion expert,
Takaya." This caused chuckles all around when they saw Takaya realize that
his experience with such things was practically nil and looking bemused
as a result.
"Well, you guys dress 'em up and I'll help with teleporting them
to a close spot to where they live." Twister sighed wearily, "One heck of a
Friday night." A fact was remembered and he slowly turned to look at Natsumi
and Takaya. "By the way... _Why_ were you two by Nabiki's apartment
again?" Nabiki raised a suspicious eyebrow at that.
"Ah...we were involved in a research project, I believe." Takaya
said as Natsumi looked faintly guilty, a fact which surprised many
present.
"Right." A glance in Natsumi's direction created more guilt there.
He just sighed. "A little more than that I think, but...all right." Twister
started towards the statue, but stopped halfway. "Hm. Better just leave
that and phone the police anonymously. To think that such a smallblubbb!!!"
Rain had gathered on the roof of the old warehouse and had nowhere
to go due to stopped up drainage devices. The weight had finally caused a
series of events which resulted in a downpour of rainwater falling right where
Twister happened to be. The others laughed out loud at Twister's drenching.
This stopped when half realized what had happened and the other half stared
at Twister's change.
Dripping water, Twister progressed through various feelings in a very
short span of time. First, horror at the badly timed change, then a resigned
expression as if she knew this would occur. Finally, a peeved look filled
her face as she shook both hands above her.
"Did that _really_ have to happen?! Gah!" She looked very weary
and just sat down at that spot, head sagging tiredly.
A similar change of emotions was showing on Natsumi's face now as well.
Shock, furious anger, puzzlement, and calmness showed in progressive order.
The calmness slowly changed into a slightly hysterical laughter.
"So...much for...your plan...to _marry_ 'Itazuka'," she chortled
at a mightily shocked Takaya.
Twister's head snapped up at that and focused on the male magic user.
"Marry?!" Her eyes narrowed. "Not that 'marriage to get wife's magic' ploy.
I've already gone through _that_ once. I'd rather not do it again, thank you
very much." An angry expression was on her face as she stood up and started
to stalk Takaya.
"Calm down, Twister. I think that particular idea just got shot down
anyway," smirked Nabiki as she regarded a weakly grinning Takaya backing up
from Twister's stormy advance.
Stopping, Twister eyed Takaya before reluctantly nodding. "True.
At least it _better_ be. Sometimes the fact I can only do magic in this form
really gets complicated."
"So you're really a _guy_, 'Itazuka'?" smirked out a calming
Natsumi.
"Yup. Had to come to class like this though."
"_That_ had been a surprise," Prof. Miyabi sighed. "I think we had
better finish things _here_ first."
With a sloppy salute, Twister got to attention, "Yes, ma'am!"
Rolling her eyes, Miyabi muttered, "This is going to be a long night."

Since hot water was unavailable, and no one wanted to tire
Twister any further, the group had to rely on the more experienced
magic-users to transport the now-normally clothed girls back home, sans
memory of the night's traumatic events. Takaya was still in a state of
shock over Twister's unintentional revelation of his dual nature. A
changed Natsumi accepted this fact a lot better. Likely due to Twister's
performance against the dragon which gave him a _lot_ of status in her eyes
and made her previous defeats _much_ more acceptable.
When they returned to Nabiki's apartment, they found that the
disturbance had amazingly not been noticed yet. This gave them time to
fix up the damaged apartment quickly. With her usual pleasure at doing
such, Yuriko happily found out how to do most of the clean-up magically
since she knew better than anyone else what everything looked like
before. She went to bed very quickly after finishing though.
The professor decided that she wasn't needed anymore and went home
with a smile before disappearing. The same thought hit Takaya and he
vanished as well.
That left Nabiki, Twister, and Natsumi.
"So I guess I don't have to worry about you trying to fricasee me
again?" Twister inquired Natsumi. He had found hot water and was back in
male form again. He and Nabiki, who had found normal clothes, were sitting on
a couch, facing a blushing Natsumi.
"Ah... I was very angry then, Twister. Sorry about that."
Twister waved a hand. "The sword thing wasn't very nice of me either
and..." He blinked. "Oh, jeez. I'd forgotten all about those. Be right
back." Vanishing silently, Twister soon reappeared with a thick envelope
which he handed to a puzzled Natsumi who opened it. "Um... This was when
I thought you were trying to kill me."
Natsumi became very red and slightly angry. "TWISTER!!"
"Are they _that_ bad?"
"You didn't look at these?" The thought made Natsumi calmer, but she
was still slightly red.
Nabiki was curious at the other girl's reaction, "What are they?"
"Ah, the two guys I gave Natsumi to were hentai's who were waiting for
_me_ to come out. I was a little mad at the time." Twister rubbed the
back of his head. "I found out they took photos and asked for an extra set.
Just in case. I don't think I really need them now." He sighed. "They tried
again, but I think they've given up on me. Hopefully."
"If _they_ took my bra..." Natsumi slowly gained a humorless
smile as she forced herself to look at the photos.
Shaking his head, Twister replied, "You won't have much luck there.
I think they burned it when they found out how far-reaching you can be."
Disappointed, Natsumi pleaded to him, "_Who_ are they then?"
Twister laughed at that. "_Mud_ I would say. When I reversed
the effects of a pheromone they used, every girl in smelling range wanted to
pound on them." Natsumi was barely mollified when she heard that. "I
don't think you need to do anything else to them. Besides, they're
friends of mine. Unfortunately at times."
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I know _you're_ beat,
Twister, and it's late." Nabiki stood up. "You also have your usual lesson
with Ranma tomorrow."
"True. I really need some shut-eye." He smiled at Natsumi.
"Thanks for helping tonight, Natsumi. Ta!" He vanished.
Natsumi sighed, "I'd better go too."
"Just a second. Before you go I just want to know something." Nabiki
crossed her arms. "You and Takaya were planning on 'changing' my mind, am I
correct?"
Thinking about denying it for a second then giving up, Natsumi sighed
and nodded. "We were. I won't try that again." A slow smile grew on her
face after that statement though. "I guess I'll have to try it by non-magical
means then. I'm new at that, but I can learn! Bye!" Before Nabiki could
retort, Natsumi slowly vanished like a Cheshire cat.
Narrowing her eyes and smiling, Nabiki spoke to empty air, "We'll
just see about _that_." With that pleasant thought, she got ready for bed.
When Nabiki went into her room, an invisible Natsumi opened the front
door and slipped out. She wasn't too good at teleporting like Miyabi and
Takaya. Fortunately, Nabiki mistook invisibility for teleportation as she
didn't know what Natsumi could do.
While it couldn't be seen, Natsumi wore a large smile on her face.
*I guess we _will_ see, but _this_ time you don't.*

When Twister 'ported into his room, he walked out to see how Yasuro
was doing.
The person in question turned around at Twister's door opening.
"Everything turn out okay?" Seeing Twister collapse laughing on
the couch after hearing that answered his question. "I guess so, but I
gather it must have been interesting."
Twister chuckled while still on the couch. It was very
comfortable and he was very tired. "Oh, fun and a half. An insane, evil
mage, serpent-men mages, and, joy of joys, one powerful dragon spirit
inhabiting a statue, with whom I had a _fun_ time fighting with. I would
say it was an interesting evening." Smirking at a gaping Yasuro, he
added, "Care to join us next time?"
Closing his mouth, Yasuro stared at Twister. "No thanks, I'll pass."
He blinked. "_Dragon_??"
"Don't worry. They're gone. Had help from my professor of magic,
Natsumi, and Takaya, which helped a _lot_." Twister mused out loud. "At least
I don't have to worry about Natsumi trying to kill me now. Darn rain."
"So she knows now?"
"Yup. I'm going to sleep. Just thought you might want to know." That
said, Twister fulfilled his statement and went back to his room after
regretfully leaving the comfortable couch.
Yasuro shook his head as he turned back to his computer.
"That guy has more things happening to him..."
Twister poked his head out between his door and added, "Oh, by the
way... How are the trouble twins?"
"Still in unbearable pain and agony I heard last. Of course they came
over to complain about their woes. They looked like they were surviving."
He chuckled slightly. "Then again, I don't think they feel like it right now."
Twister laughed as he closed his door again.

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