Twisted Path 3: Chap 7+8 [BGC][FanFic]

[Twister]

The evil Malkon somehow destroyed my previous posting for these
chapters so I'm sending it out again.
I don't give up that easily. BWAHAHAHAHAH!!! :)
Zoner-Remember not to put this in archive since it's already there.

Thankx! And keep on maaaaaaaailing me. B>
---
Chapter Seven
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Nene was downcast as Sylia continued with the meeting. Impostors
were trying to frame the Knight Sabers and now Priss had just left saying
that she was quitting the group. The redhead softly sighed out the
depression she felt.
"Nene? Are you all right?" Sylia concernly said. Linna and Mackie both
turned to look at her.
"It's just Priss leaving and all, Sylia. It doesn't look good,
does it?"
Sylia smiled. "No, it doesn't, but we just have to do what we can.
Mackie is nearly done the autodroid that was based a little on what you
managed to scan on the D.D. and the new plane was completed some time
ago. We should be able to manage this challenge of the impostors on our own."
"Without Priss it _will_ be more difficult, Sylia," Linna commented.
"It takes our fighting capacity down by quite a bit. Too bad we don't have
another fighter like her."
Perking up at an idea, Nene excitedly said, "How about Darlene? She's
_very_ good at fighting! Remember that Steelfist creep, Linna?"
With a thoughtful look, Sylia considered it. After watching Darlene
quietly for months, she had come to the conclusion that, while the girl did
seem to have _something_ to hide, the young store owner truly was a good
person to know as a friend. Still... "Perhaps. If we _do_ have to encounter
those impostors it _would_ be a good idea to consider her as a replacement
for Priss...but I _do_ have confidence that Priss will come back eventually. It
_is_ a good idea though, Nene." She smiled. "Though, I suppose that with her
shop's business increasing that Darlene would be pretty busy right now."
"Oops. I forgot about that. She was complaining about that too." Nene
disappointedly sighed while the others smiled.
"Anyway, let's continue the meeting..."

Sylia was thinking back to that meeting in her armour as she, Linna,
and Nene faced off with the newly revealed Super Boomers that had been
impersonating them. The leader, who had looked like Sylia in her suit, had
shrugged off one of her palm-blaster attacks with ease.
*Maybe we should have asked Darlene after all, despite my doubts,
but she wouldn't have been ready for this in any case.*
Suddenly, someone stepped out of a shadow-filled doorway that was
on the roof. Seeing who it was, Sylia's hopes increased. It was the
Crystal Knight.
The lead boomer saw him and growled. "So. You've decided to join
our prey, foolish human? It will make no difference to us."
The Knight bowed mockingly at the boomer and quickly moved to stand
beside Sylia, who glanced at him.
"You waited for us?"
The armoured figure nodded and made an apologetic shrug.
"Very well. Let's..."
"We _both_ waited!" cried out a voice that seemed to be approaching
rapidly and was now very close. The Knight whirled around just in time to be
kicked _hard_ in the lower torso and thrown several meters away with his
attacker still with him. Who then leaped away to land at a spot away from
both boomers and Knight Sabers.
Sylia and the others blinked for the attacker was...the Crystal Knight?
"It's not nice to impersonate someone else," mocked the second
Knight to the first. The first said nothing as he got up, but when he did
he spoke, and in a voice unlike that of the second Knight, clear, deep,
and very, very malevolent.
"I'm pleased you _did_ come, Knight. It would have been too easy
to take out the Knight Sabers once I had fooled them. But now..." The
crystalline-seeming armour expanded and shredded apart from the strain as
the true nature of the first, and false Knight, was revealed. A Boomer,
of course. It was more lean looking than the others, but just as advanced,
who had impersonated the Knight Sabers, painted in all black, and had
long, wickedly sharp blades extending past it's hands. Various beam
weapons were also revealed by lens near it's head and in the torso. It
started walking towards the Knight in a smooth, precise, and predatory
manner.
"But you did come. The Master thought you would. He told
me to kill you if you did. He also told me only _I_ would be needed for
you. So now you are all _mine_."
"But we've only just met," called out an unafraid Knight.
"And parting is such sweet sorrow!" The black Boomer swiftly jumped
towards his opponent, blades ready to strike. Sylia took advantage of the
distraction to get the first shot at what appeared to be 'their' Boomers
and thus started Sylia and the others own fight.
Leaping backwards from the ebony Boomer's attack, Twister marvelled
at how _fast_ the thing was as he landed further away. He'd never seen a
Boomer move this...
The Boomer landed where he had previously been and gave him
almost no time to react as it rushed him, firing a particle cannon at the
same time from it's mouth with the same surprising speed. Obviously,
someone had figured out the lasers weren't much use against his armour.
He leapt to avoid the burst and then the Boomer was upon him.
One arm swung a blade at the Knight and was hurridly blocked by a
diamond sword made a few seconds previously.
Twister was unpleasantly surprised when his molecularly-sharp sword
didn't pass through the other's blade. Indeed, the other's blade cut
through _his_ sword. He had held the sword two-handed and since the
Boomer was swinging down, the enemy blade continued it's descent, cutting
halfway through his left forearm before stopping, despite his formidable
armour.
The Boomer was surprised as it pulled the blade out and
Twister cried out in pain from this and the broken arm. They were both
falling back to the roof and, as if to reassure itself of something, the
Boomer used it's other arm to stab down at the Knight's lower torso,
where flexible mesh and not hard armour protected. Distracted by the pain
of his arm, Twister wasn't fast enough to prevent the swift machine and
the blade pierced his armour. Sliding through his flesh, it emerged on
the other side of his body in time to impale him on the roof.
The Boomer was most curious, and said "How did your armour
prevent my blade from going all the way through? It has special fields
around it that allow it to cut anything. Nothing should be able to resist it
except another blade like it."
"The lifetime warranty, I guess," Twister gasped out in pain as he
lay pinned to the floor. The magic enchantment of his armour must've been the
only thing that had stopped the sword, but it hadn't been powerful
enough to prevent the blade from going halfway through it.
"Hah. Amusing. I guess I shall find out later...after I take your
worthless head of your pitiful human body." The Boomer raised it's other arm
and prepared to execute that last statement.
Twister saw the arm raise through his pain. He hadn't expected
the Boomer to be this fast and powerful and thus caught off-guard. The
idea of him dying brought to mind when he had faced it before. The Event.
And Malkon. And remembered his icy rage for the Demon at being threatened so
before.
And anew for this arrogant Boomer now.
The Knight's visor suddenly flashed cold, glowing blue eyes.
The uninjured right arm, lightning-quick, moved between him and the Boomer.
Pure telekinetic force blasted the startled cyberdroid into the air, not
injuring it but tossing it away and janking the impaling sword away with
it. No blood flowed from the wound as it did so and, as the Knight slowly
managed to stand up, the wounds on arm and torso Healed. The cool anger
fled as the threat of immediate death was gone, but the glowing blue eyes
remained as he knew he needed his power to defeat this hyped-up Boomer.
When Twister flexed his left hand cautiously, the Boomer was
stunned. "I broke your arm! You should not be able to do that!" The Boomer
shrugged off the surprise and prepared to launch another attack. "It does not
matter. Soon you will be dead."
"Can't have _that_, can we?" The Hyperboomer was now going to all out
to finish what it had thought would be an easy victory. Twister formed two
swords, new thing to do, in his both hands and prepared himself as the
Hyperboomer rushed him. *I'm going to have to boost my reflexes and
strength for this guy.* Twister's blue aura was hidden by his armour, but
the blue glow could be seen from the cuts his opponent had made. Also, the
visor still couldn't stop the sight of glowing blue eyes from shining forth.
Both of the Boomer's blades came screaming towards Twister and
were blocked, barely, by the diamond swords that glowed blue from the inside.
Twister had strengthened his swords with his energy to hopefully resist
whatever power the Hyperboomer's blades had. Fortunately, it worked.
*Jeez! I'm barely holding him at bay! Even boosted! I guess I can
only strengthen myself so much.*
The two forms strained to get the advantage, but couldn't make much
headway against the other. The black Boomer leaped back and regarded this
strange being in front of it.
"You are not as weak as the Master had thought."
"So glad I meet your approval. Guess Largo got bad info, huh?"
The boomer stepped back in surprise. "How do you know the Master's
name?!"
"You'd be amazed at what I know," the Knight chuckled as he warily
watched the other.
"Enough! It is time you died." The bladed Hyperboomer rushed Twister
again and leaped high to defeat this stubborn opponent. Twister leaped to
match the boomer and had almost reached it when multiple explosions went off
in the area where the other Hyberboomers and the Knight Sabers were battling.
The ebony Boomer was distracted by this, but Twister wasn't. He
had expected it and took advantage of it to finish off his opponent with
something he'd never tried before. With boosted strength, he accelerated
his velocity towards a startled Hyperboomer using his levitation and called
out his attack.
"Nova Kick!"
Twister's right boot instantly began glowing with a bright light as
approximately 99% of the crystalline armour's stored power was concentrated
in that one region for the special attack. A powerful kick plowed through
the Boomer's chest armour as it was being melted by the sheer radiant
energy of the boot. The energy was then outwardly released from the
boot, when it was buried inside the cyberdroid, in a vast wave of
infra-red to visible red light. This caused nearby sections of the
Boomer to become superheated plasma, flung explosively from the
force of the heat blast. Twister teleported away just before the
explosion could hurt him in any way and his disappearance was
covered by the fireball.
He reappeared in his underground lair and was barely able to move.
*Jeez. This thing is _heavy_ when it's drained like this.*
The load slowly lightened as the illuminated and warm room gave the
armour energy to lighten itself once more.
*Better wait till this thing is light enough to move around in.*

Twister had almost begun to feel prepared again when he felt the
floor tremble slightly.
*No! Largo's launched his attack on the city already! DAMN!*
He had already found Quincy's office earlier that week and had
carefully marked a position that was likely to be safe to teleport.
Activating the armour's cloaking mode, Twister went quickly to that spot.
What he saw when he silently arrived in mid-air was Largo finishing
off the last 55-C class boomer. Anri was looking at Largo from the side of the
room, frightened. *You should be...* Twister mused as Largo slowly turned to
face the android copy of Quincy.
Suddenly, he noticed Ms. Matagan was slowly losing consciousness on
the ground. Twister scanned her with his TK and found that a piece of shrapnel
had struck right by a major artery in her leg. As Matagan finally
fainted, she moved slightly and the shrapnel bit. Twister teleported
beside her immediately.
*I may regret this, but...* Twister mentally sighed as he reached out
and grasped the wounded Genom executive's hand. Blue energy shone as his
Healing power sought out the soon-to-be-fatal wound and the shrapnel was
eased out of the wound by TK. Healing was then started. There was some
strange resistance in the beginning but that faded away as the blue power
finished it's work.
Silently, Twister stood up from a no longer dying Matagan and watched
the events that he had finished in time to watch: Largo discovering the
deception; Quincy laughing at Largo from the remaining monitors; Largo's
angry destruction of the wall monitors.
And then...Priss came.
*Shoot. I'm gonna _hate_ myself in the morning.*
The drama played itself out in the way Twister remembered it. Largo
revealing Priss as the one who had killed Sylvie. Anri revenging Syvlie's
death upon Priss before discovering the _real_ reasons behind her dear
friend's death. Largo laughed and revealed his contempt to Priss and
Anri before raising his hand.
Twister got ready.
The bolt of power streaked towards Priss, but was blocked by Anri who
screamed in pain.
From his now-grounded position by Matagan, Twister quickly
focused his mind upon the dying Sexariod. _He_ had been the one who had
taken Sylvie before the police could arrive, for Sylvie had not been
truly dead.
Twister had managed to learn the trick of _reading_ information from
data disks with TK and had done so before Sylvie had given the important
information to Priss. The disk had contained _complete_ information about
33-S construction, repair and, if necessary, how to make them
self-sufficient. With his boosted mind and perfect memory, Twister had
quickly found a way to keep Sylvie alive, but unconscious with his TK.
When he had done so, he had waited for the Knight Sabers to leave before
teleporting her to his underground lair where she now lay asleep, but
repaired, until he awoke her.
Anri would soon be joining her as Twister repaired what needed
to be done to keep her alive, but unconscious. He then waited for Priss to be
blown out by Largo's punch and for Largo to leave. Twister teleported
both Anri and himself to where Sylvie lay and placed Anri beside her
before returning to Quincy's destroyed office.
*Whew. Tough part's done.* He looked around in his cloaked state.
*Boy, they really did a number on this place.* His eyes were drawn to the
shattered screens on the wall. *That must be where Largo displayed his power
by...destroying...killing...all...those...people.*
Twister's mind went blank when he realized what Largo had done and
that _he_ had practically allowed him to do so. *No...* The reality of the
situation hit Twister hard then. Thousands had died because he hadn't been
smart enough to think of a way to beat Largo _before_ this happened. He
had unconsciously gone back to thinking that this was just anime again
and he could very well have prevented it.
A little time passed before a thunderclap brought him out of his
shocked state and he heard Largo's cry of pain.
*Largo.* Twister clenched his fists.
*Largo!* He started walking towards the hole in the wall, cloak turned
off, and eyes burning coldly azure through his black visor.
When he reached the hole, he saw the object of his ice-cold hate and
heard the last words said.
"...I demand in atonement...death."

Sylia and the others had just arrived to help Priss and now Sylia was
supporting her as they all heard Largo's sentence of doom. The remains of
the three Hyperboomers Priss and the autodroid had destroyed smoked where
they lay.
Sylia turned to Linna to shout an order. "Linna!" Just as Linna and
Nene started to aim the giant weapon they had brought along, the
battleground echoed with an arctic shout.
"LARGO!" The voice boomed across the platform and all eyes, including
Largo's, went to see the Crystal Knight standing in the hole Priss had made
when Largo had punched her through the wall. Glowing blue eyes none of them
had ever seen before were focused coldly upon the being that was Largo.
Largo laughed. "So. Another worm has come to be WHOMPH!"
Whatever Largo had been about to say was cut short as the Crystal
Knight flew towards and tackled the would-be god with the speed and power of
a missile. Together, they quickly fell over the ledge of the tower.
"H-how did he move t-that fast without jets?" Priss managed to get out.
She was recovering, but she would likely be hurting for a week from tonight's
battle.
"I don't..." Sylia started to say.
Suddenly, the two figures of Largo and the Crystal Knight shot back up
into view. They were spinning wildly for some reason, then stopped rising and
began to arc back down to earth.
*He's keeping Largo disoriented and busy so he doesn't fire the
satellite!* Sylia realized. *But what is the Knight using for propulsion?*
Linna called out, "We've got the lock, Sylia! Should we..?"
"Yes! Fire!"
A button was pushed and the giant cannon fired. The blue bolt
sought out it's target that lived in the sky and destroyed it utterly.
The airborne duo stopped spinning when the bolt was fired and the Knight
Sabers could see the Crystal Knight holding Largo in front of him as the two
plummeted down to the ground. Largo's remaining arm was almost in position to
destroy the Knight when he was slammed with terrific force on the metal
floor, creating a man-sized dent. To add further punishment, the Knight's legs
dropped down with metal-crushing force as they propelled the armoured figure
away by using Largo as a springboard.
"AAAAARGH!" Largo had been damaged even more by the Knight's assault,
but he was still operational and dangerous. He glared at his enemies as he
slowly regained his feet. "So...you destroyed my satellite, but there are more
that I can control. All you have bought is time. Time until another of my
children lie above your heads!"
During Largo's hate-filled speech, the Crystal Knight had formed
one of his crystal swords. Strangely, by the time Largo finished, the sword
was glowing brightly.
The Knight said nothing save his next attack.
"ICEBLADE STRIKE!"
With the same uncanny speed the he had shown before, the Crystal
Knight threw his sword with such force that it seemed that one moment it was
in his hands...
The next embedded in Largo's torso, driving the once-human backwards.
"Urk! Ah..ha...ha...ha ha hah ahahaha!" Largo threw back his head
and laughed maliciously. "Is that the best you can do, Crystal Knight?" He
grinned mockingly at Sylia. "None of you can truly destroy me! I AM A GOD!"
The Crystal Knight hadn't moved since his last attack on Largo. All
he said, in a cool tone, was:
"Wait for it."
"What?!" Largo suddenly looked down. Contrary to all his previous
information, the crystalline sword was not dissolving. Instead, the bright
blue energy that the sword held was beginning to spread from where the sword
had been driven through his body.
And where it spread a cold fog formed and drifted to the ground.
Largo's cybernetic eyes widened as he realized what was happening to
him. In desperation, he grabbed the hilt of the sword with his remaining hand
in an attempt to remove the sword.
And succeeded.
Unfortunately, the sword's handle began spreading the blue glow into
Largo's hand, which instantly became unresponsive and continued it's deadly
grip. Without another arm, Largo was helpless as the blue energy, somehow
attracted to where the blade had struck before, flowed up his arm and down
towards his legs.
"NO! This is IMPOSSIBLE!" Largo said in futile rage, trying to
throw the blade away and failing as his arm quickly stiffened, fog rolling
down off it.
A blue-pink hardsuit walked up beside Sylia and Priss. "What is the
Knight doing to him?" Nene asked no one in particular.
Priss had to chuckle. "He's using the phrase 'Chill, dude.' to the
max."
"Chill...? Oh!" Wide-eyed, Nene turned back to watch.
It was almost over. Fog was rolling off Largo everywhere and the
blue glow was finally reaching the top of his neck. He would have fired his
mouth-cannon, but he had been so preoccupied in trying to get rid of the sword
that, by the time Largo had thought of taking his enemies with him, it was
too late for the cannon was non-operational now.
Largo tried a desperate ploy, in a passionate tone he called out
mentally to Sylia, thinking that perhaps he could use her to convince the
Knight to stop.
<Sylia. Sylia Stingray.>
She was startled, both by the contact and the content. <How do you
know my name?>
<I know because you and I are two of a kind.>
Normally Twister would not use telepathy as he had never used it
on people or ever wanted to, just the form he used with computers. But as he
had heard Largo and Sylia's sendings, a faint surprise, he felt a reply was
in order.
The Knight's cold mental voice came in, cutting off any chances of
escape. <No, Largo. Or should I say...Mason? _You_ are a murderer in any form,
human or resserected in a Boomer body. Sylia is _not_.> The blue glow had
almost reached Largo's head. <And now you must embrace the Gift you have given
to too many people. Farewell.>
<Noooooo....!> Largo's head was swallowed swiftly by the glow and fog
hid his entire body.
Suddenly, the sword Largo held shattered and a wave of blue energy
spread from the hand to the entire body, leaving a startling form behind.
Largo was still as a statue now as his body temperature had been
reduced to absolute zero. His arm was half-raised by his side and a mask of
hate forever frozen on his face.
The Knight Sabers gazed at their enemy before a shot from above rang
out and Largo shattered into little pieces that would now stay inert of life.
They looked up and saw Leon with a satisfied smile on his face. Warily,
they turned to the Crystal Knight.
Twister's eyes were back to normal and he was dead tired from the
amount of energy it had taken to take Largo's formidable heating systems
down beyond a temperature that they could not handle. His helmeted head hung
wearily as he regained some measure of strength to teleport noisily with a
bang.

The Knight Sabers looked over the city as Leon left in his chopper.
"Well..._that_ was satisfying," Linna stated.
"_Weird_ is what _I_ would say," said Nene as she looked disgustingly
at the frozen, shattered remains of Largo.
"Good riddance," Priss said firmly.
Sylia was silent before raising her palm blaster at Largo's remains.
With one shot, the pieces of Largo were either vaporized or thrown over the
side of Genom Tower. She turned to their transportation. "Let's go home."
Priss silently looked over the city for a second longer. *Sylvie...
Anri...* Resolutely, she closed her helmet and followed her teammates
and friends.

Twister was in his armor as he stood by the still forms of Sylvie and
Anri. Just thinking over what he had done.
*I killed him. I killed him and...I guess I don't feel any remorse
over it. I think that...I would have if it wasn't for one thing that I
saw.* He nodded to himself. *Yes. Definitely that.*
He remembered again what he had seen.
The look of hatred and pure evil in Largo's frozen eyes.

Two days later, a meeting was interrupted by a call from an astonished
Doctor Raven in his garage. He had refused to elaborate why, but he insisted
that they all come down to his garage to look at something the Crystal Knight
had brought.
_That_ got everyone's attention and now Sylia, Priss, Nene, Linna,
and Mackie were almost at Doc. Raven's. Priss was, of course, on her motorcycle
and saw the Crystal Knight, in his Blue Bullet outfit, leaning on the outside
of the garage. The helmet turned at Priss and the other's arrival.
"Ah! You're here, Priss. We and Doctor Raven were wondering how long
it would take for you to make it." His voice was _very_ cheerful and it sounded
like he was about to start laughing.
"'We'?" Priss asked as the Bullet waved his hand to signal someone
inside the garage.
Mackie and the Knight Saber's jaws all dropped as an impossibly alive,
smiling widely, Sylvie and Anri walked out with Doctor Raven smiling behind
them.
"Yup. I'd say 'we' would fit." The Bullet chuckled. "You can close
your mouth now, Priss."
Priss did so, leaped off her bike, and embraced the two friends she
had thought lost forever to form a Joyously Crying Trio.
Lifting her head she dazedly asked, "How....?"
"You can do wonders with scotch tape nowadays. Didn't you know?" That
got some glares from Priss and the two Sexaroids. "Okay, okay! Kidding!
Sheesh!" More calmly he said, "I prevented them from dying in the _first_ place
and fixed them up when I got back from...Genom tower."
"Prevented them...?" Realization dawned on Priss. "You _knew_ Sylvie
was alive?! _Why_ didn't you say so?" She looked furious.
Soberly, the Bullet answered, "I had my reasons. If I had, _Anri_
might have died in a way I couldn't have known about." The tone in his
voice stopped any reply Priss was going to make.
That got Sylia's attention. "You _knew_ what would happen?" she said
skeptically.
"Why do you think I was so angry at Largo?" the Bullet quietly
answered. He shook his helmet. "Anyways, I'll leave you guys now to enjoy
a 'precious moment' together. Ta." He leapt onto his blue bike. Before
going away, he turned to face Linna and said, "Visions of the past shall
come." He accelerated away before she could respond to that. Everyone
watched the departing figure go.
"That guy is _weird_," Linna said as she wondered what the Bullet
had meant by that.
"He has a nice body though," mused Nene.
"Nene!" Linna and Priss shouted crossly.
Sylvie grabbed Anri and Priss's hands. "I had thought I would never
see either of you again." Tears shone in her eyes. "Thanks to _him_, Anri and
I are finally free." She smiled at Anri. "Apparently, he made the adjustments
to me that _you_ already have so we truly _are_ free now."
"But where will they go? Won't they need some sort of job where they
won't be looked down on if people find out who they really are?" Linna asked
worriedly.
Priss, Sylvie, and Anri looked a little worried as well.
"I have an idea!" Nene brightly said. The others started to smile as
she told them it.

Darlene was busily working in her store the next day.
*Gah. This is really starting to drive me nuts.* Business was really
starting to pick up at her store. *I guess I should think about hiring
someone to help me, but who can I really trust in this town?* She sighed as
the door rang to announce more customers. Looking up, Darlene got a pleasant
surprise.
"Sylvie!" She acted surprised. "I thought you had left somewhere since
I haven't seen you around." Priss and the others had never mentioned Sylvie's
death to Darlene.
"I just got back." Sylvie replied smiling. "Darlene, this is my friend
Anri."
Anri was looking at the inside of the store in rapturous wonder. She
had never seen anything like it before. It was beautiful.
"Hello." Darlene looked at Priss and Nene who had come in with the pair.
"Where you all looking for something to buy in particular?" She said in a
mock sourly-nasal-department-employee voice.
Nene spoke up. "You said you were being kept very busy in the store.
Right?" Darlene nodded and Nene smiled happily. "Why don't you hire Sylvie
and Anri then? They could use the job." Nene and Anri looked imploringly
at Darlene while Sylvie looked anxious and Priss calm.
Darlene blinked in surprise. "Huh?" Then her look turned thoughtful.
"I _was_ thinking about that a minute ago come to think of it." She
thought a little longer and then smiled. "Why not? You're both
hired."
She got enthusiastic hugs and a happy "Thank you!" from Sylvie and
Anri, causing Darlene to blush fiercely.
Priss and Nene smiled.
"There's also something else..." Priss said, a little hesitently.
Darlene blinked and looked at the singer. Priss? Hesistent?
"What?"
"Well..."

Chapter Eight
-------------

Darlene woke up bearily since she still hadn't quite recovered from
Largo's deep freezing and fixing the two Sexaroids. With the long practiced
ease of habit, she got out, took off her clothes, and went to the bathroom to
take a nice, long, _hot_ shower. Head down, lacking the energy and
inclination to raise it. She always stayed in female form at home in
case she had to answer a vid-phone for anything or anything else
unexpected that she had to do personally.
*Need to eat a lot. I haven't been lately and that fight with the
Largo and his minon drained me since I guess I was low to start with.*
She was inside the bathroom before it registered that the shower was
_already_ on. Surprised, Darlene lifted her head and saw, through the glass
paneled doors, an amused and naked _Sylvie_ who was holding the removable
shower head.
"Forget that we were here?" she smiled.
Darlene then remembered that she had agreed, *Stupidly,* to let Sylvie
and Anri stay at _Darlene's_ place, in the guest room, until they could find
a closer, available apartment near the store.
Turning quickly around, Darlene stammered out, "Uh, r-right! Sorry
about this." Her face was red. *What was I THINKING?!?!? ARGH! My brain must've
been out of commission or something!*
Actually, it had been semi-active when Priss and the others had
come back late last night after unsuccessfully finding a place for Sylvie
and Arni to stay that was near Darlene's store. Priss and Nene had hinted
they might not be able to earlier, but weren't quite sure. Nene had said
it would be _much_ better if they could temperarily stay at Darlene's
place since her place was big enough and asked if they could.
Being half-awake is not a good condition to be able to refuse Nene.
"No problem," Sylvie chuckled. "I'm done now anyway. I'll leave the
shower on then." Wetly, she stepped out of the shower.
Carefully, Darlene avoided her hot water covered body, quite a
feat while not looking at Sylvie. "I'll wait till you go. I'm a little
more...bashful about things like that."
"You don't have anything to be bashful about. You have a wonderful
body," Sylvie commented as she dried herself off and chuckled as Darlene's
blush was becoming critical. She left, closing the door.
Calming down, Darlene locked the door and sighed.
*Just great. Juuuust great.*

Refreshed from the shower, and using cold water to change back to
female form, Darlene cautiously went back to her room and dressed before
going to the kitchen. Anri and Sylvie were eating leftovers, which Darlene
recalled she had from last night. They looked up when they heard Darlene
approach and smiled.
"We were hungry so we helped ourselves. I hope you don't mind. The
food you prepared last night was delicious so we couldn't resist," Sylvie
apologized.
Darlene waved a hand in acceptance. "Feel free with the food. I eat
a heck of a lot by myself sometimes so you two won't hurt me at all."
Anri smiled. "Thank you, Darlene."
They all started eating again, Darlene much faster about it, while
Anri and Sylvie were told all the things that Darlene did to keep the store
running. Since Darlene was realitively new at the business game herself she
wasn't completely sure about how much to pay the two new employees of hers
and confessed this fact as they cleaned up after breakfast.
"We don't need much right now," Sylvie comforted Darlene.
"Well, I'm _making_ plenty right now because of the dragon statues
still." She shook her head. "I've raised the prices _six_ times now and people
are _still_ buying them quickly. The people who buy them just get richer it
seems as word gets around."
"That's good," Anri commented as she rinsed off plates with a
water sprayer before putting them into the dishwasher.
Darlene took note of this fact. "Is that cold or hot water, Anri?"
"Hot. Why?" Anri asked curiously as she turned towards Darlene,
distracted by the question and forgetting that she was still holding the
sprayer handle firmly.
"ANRI! Noooooo!" The water hit Darlene in the face and changed her
back to male form. Fortunately, he still enchanted his clothes out of
habit so he didn't rip his clothing apart as they changed with him.
However, both Anri and Sylvie were both staring at the now, much taller,
_male_ Twister.
"D-d-darlene?" Sylvie stammered out. Anri was still spraying Twister
in shock.
Sighing, Twister TK'ed the water valve shut and he stopped getting
hit by water. The clothes were waterproof, thankfully. "Twister is what I
usually call myself. Surprise." He added sourly, "I should've _known_ that
would happen sooner or later."
"_That's_ why you were blushing in the bathroom?" Sylvie got out as
she and Anri slowly recovered from the incredible transformation.
"Yup."
"But _how_ did you _do_ that??" Anri blurted out.
"Something I picked up in the crazy life I've had for the last
year or so. Might as well show you the rest." A darkness shrouded
Twister's form and before Sylvie and Anri could react, it dissipated.
Anri gasped. "You?!"
The Crystal Knight stood before them in black and silver crystalline
armour. "The Master of Scotch Tape. That's me." The modulated voice sighed
before the darkness reappeared and left Twister behind this time.
Sylvie was struggling with all this. "_You_ saved our lives?" She
remembered something and stared at the sprayer Anri was still holding. "How
did the water get shut off?"
"Telekinesis." Twister shrugged. "I have quite a few powers of the
mind in this form." He jumped up, flipped, and used his levitation to stand
on the ceiling. Smirking upside down at the two stunned visitors, Twister
went on. "Levitation's handy too. I also have a few other powers I don't use as
much." Twister smiled at the two Sexariods after jumping back down to the
floor again. "So you see, we _all_ kind of have things to hide."
Anri and Sylvie had sat on the table chairs again to try to digest this
new information while Twister went to the cold water tap and splashed some on
himself to change into a more familiar form for the two confused girls.
They both seemed to accept it at the same time and looked in wonder at
the now female Darlene
"It's just incredible..." said Sylvie, then her eyebrows came
down with puzzlement. "What did you mean by 'in this form'?"
"Ahh..." Darlene decided not to mention the magic part of her powers
right now. "I can't use psionics when I'm female."
Sylvie nodded. "I see. But still..."
"Yeah. It is weird, but that's the way I am now. Hm..."
Darlene decided to tell them her story, edited and altered so that
the two listening would believe her. After all, a story with demons,
spirit dragons, and magic would not be very believable to people living in a
high-tech world, even though it was true.
"Now... Where shall I begin...?"

*Ahh... _Much_ better. Those two learn fast, but then again, so do I.*
With her two new employees, the store was much easier to run and
became more enjoyable to work in. Anri seemed to never tire of looking at the
store's interior between tasks. Sylvie took her work more seriously, but
seemed to enjoy working in the store with her two friends. The addition
of two more beautiful women working in the store seemed to attract more
male customers too.
Two familiar figures entered the store.
*Hm? I wonder what Leon and Daley are doing here? Then again, I don't
think they've ever been in here before.* Darlene decided to personally check
this out. She walked up to the two partners.
"Well, finally decided to come to my store, guys?"

Leon had been introduced to Darlene at Hot Legs while trying to get,
unsuccessfully, a date with Priss. Depressed, he had ordered a drink and had
brightened a little when she had given him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
He had tried to ask _her_ out on a date to which Darlene had arched an eyebrow
and said that he _must_ have been drinking too much. Leon had scoffed at that
and indeed, he was having his first drink that night. With a wicked gleam in
his eye, he had challenged Darlene that she had no way of being able to handle
more than a couple of drinks.
Needless to say, Darlene was a little miffed at that, even though she
had never really _had_ much, if at all, experience drinking and, like all
newcomers to the art of drinking booze, defiantly accepted Leon's challenge
without much thought. She declared for a drink-off and that the loser paid
the tab.
Leon had arched his eyebrows. "You sure about that?" He had eyed her
obviously small body weight.
"Yes!" Darlene had sat down opposite Leon at the table he was sitting
at. Daley had accompanied Leon that day, and Nene, Priss and Linna, Darlene.
Priss had left to get ready for the stage and so was absent. Daley,
Nene, and Linna, were worriedly looking at Darlene, wondering how to stop
her, but it was too late already because a crowd had gathered to watch this
small woman get drunk.
Darlene had ordered, and started on, one extra glass of what Leon
had to even things up. Tears formed in her eyes at the unaccustomed
strong booze. Leon looked a little concerned, but Darlene just waved to
continue as she struggled for breath.
Unfortunately for Leon, while he was an accomplished drinker, Darlene
had an advantage of her incredible metabolism and stamina given by the result
of the Event, that which had given her her powers. _He_ was the one beginning
to noticibly become drunk before Darlene was. The glasses were blurring
before his eyes as Darlene finally started showing the effects the drinks
were having on her. She was fairly drunk by the time Leon fell face first
onto the table.
Daley was amused at the scene while Linna and Nene were surprised at
their friend's resilience. Darlene had obviously never done this much drinking
before.
"How did you manage that?" Nene had giggled as she glanced at the
unconscious Leon.
Voice slurring, Darlene had replied, "_I_ have been thought...taught
by the housh of the Anything-Gosh Martial Artsh. _Believe_ mesh, that takesh
a _lotsh_ of staminash." She had peered at Linna. "Ish that you Nabiki? Making
betsh on the shide I bet." Darlene had started giggling uncontrollably then.
Trying to stand up, she had accidently broken the table in half when she
had dropped a fist down on it. Hard. Daley had quickly lifted Leon backwards
as he regarded Darlene with a _lot_ of respect. "Oops. Goodsh thing I'm not
ash Boomer, huh? Bulletsh all oversh the placesh." Darlene peered at the slumped
Leon in his chair. "We'd better getsh him home..." Before anybody could
object, Darlene had grabbed the out cold Leon, easily draped him across
her shoulder, and drunkenly started towards the exit.
Blinking, Daley had started after the drunken pair with Nene and Linna
close behind. Fortunately, they had intercepted Darlene before she got away
from them outside and got Leon away from her. She had _then_ started bouncing
happily up and down.
Five feet high into the air that is.
Linna had finally calmed down her friend after a time and got her
meekly into her van.
Daley had whispered to Nene, "_Where_ does that girl _come_ from?? The
Tribe of the Amazons?"
"Umm...sorta," was Nene's weak reply before she ran to get into Linna's
car.
Daley had shook his head at the unconscious Leon at his feet.
"Ah... My favorite dream. Oh, well." Daley hefted Leon and dragged him
home.
As they drove away, with Darlene snickering for some reason in the back,
Nene had breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whew. That was close."
"I wonder what Darlene was talking about... Well, it could have been
worse," Linna had said.
"Hm?"
"Both Darlene and _you_ could've been drunk. Now _that_ would've
been worse," Linna had said in a matter-of-fact voice.
The inside of the van had been filled with the indignant protests
of Nene for the next ten minutes after that.

*Sometimes, having a perfect memory in my male form can be _bad_,*
Darlene thought as she greeted Leon and Daley. She recalled everything she had
done and had blushed for a week after whenever Nene or Linna had brought up
the drinking escapade. Needless to say, she hadn't had any alcohol after
that.
Leon smiled at Darlene. "We just got off duty and thought we'd
check out your place. Nene's been talking quite a bit about it."
Daley whistled as he got a good look at the interior of the store.
"_Lovely_ place you have here. That dragon gave us a loop though."
"Oh, Charcoal you mean? He tends to do that." Darlene looked down.
"You can put the gun _away_ now, Leon."
Startled, Leon realized that he had instinctively drawn his gun when
he had seen the lifelike dragon and had unconsciously held on to it. With
a sheepish smile he put the gun away. "Heh, heh. Sorry."
" 'Salright. You should've seen Priss when she saw him the first time.
Backed up in a hurry I can tell you." Darlene chuckled. "See anything you
want?" She saw the gleam in Leon's eye and added, "I mean _inanimate_ objects,
Leon."
Sighing, Leon looked around and saw smaller versions of the dragon
that had so spooked him before covering a wall of the store. Raising his
eyebrows, he walked over to the display. "Ahh... So _this_ is where Nene got
that statue on her desk." He looked at the prices and his eyes widened.
"I didn't know she was getting so well paid."
"I gave her one as a gift when I opened, but you _are_ right, they
are a little expensive." Darlene sighed. "I had to raise the prices several
times before they were being sold at a comfortable rate." Her eyes narrowed
as she saw Daley closely examining the shoppers in the store. Darlene stepped
close to Leon and whispered, "All right. What's going on?" He started to
protest, but she cut him off. "Daley's being a _bit_ too curious about my
customers. Spill it."
"I can tell you've been around Priss," grumbled Leon. He gave in with
a sigh as she continued to stare at him. "We got an anonymous report that a
Boomer was going to go rogue around this area. Since it was a busy part of the
day we didn't want to alarm anyone if it turned out to be a false alarm."
"Oh, greaaat." Darlene's mystic senses had become fairly good as a
result of her few months of magical training in Ranma's universe and she had
discovered that she could sense the difference between Boomers and humans
a few weeks ago. She scanned her customers with it. Nothing. "It's not here
Leon."
"Now how can you be sure...?" Daley came over, shaking his head,
causing Leon to grin. "Now that's just luck."
"Heh." Darlene smirked at his skepticism and then frowned as her
Crystal Knight armour, in it's invisible pendant form, flashed her a brief
mental image of a newly revealed Boomer that appeared to be in an area near
her store. "I think it just showed up."
"You can't be..." Leon and Daley's ADPolice beepers started going off
which indicated that the Boomer they were seeking had indeed appeared. They
traded incredulous looks before they rushed out of the store.
Darlene herself went to the back and told Sylvie to mind the store
while she was taking a 'Knight' off. Sylvie smothered a smile as she saw
Darlene walk into a storage room and close the door.

Since it _was_ a busy time of day, Leon and Daley got to where the
Boomer had showed itself just in time to see the Crystal Knight quickly finish
it off by a sword thrust through it's head.
Daley sighed and turned to Leon. "Did you ever feel superfluous?"
Leon was not paying attention to his partner but rather looking at
a young girl who lay on the street near the downed Boomer. Everybody else
on the street had been able to get away from the Boomer with only minor
injuries except her. The blood seeping out of her side indicated that her
wound was serious and a police medic was going over her carefully. When
Leon came near, the medic shook his head quietly.
The girl was conscious and looked at Leon. She smiled sadly. "I'm dying,
I guess, from the doctor's look, aren't I?" Leon's silence confirmed it
and she weakly started crying. "Damn, damn, damn... I don't want to die."
She stopped crying when a shadow hid the sun from her eyes and saw the Crystal
Knight above her. She tried to smile again. "You're that Crystal Knight guy.
I guess you got here a little too late."
A modulated voice quietly, but fiercely, said, "It's _never_ too late."
The Knight knelt by the girl's side and grabbed an arm. "_Never_." Glowing
blue, the black gauntlet gripped the arm tightly and a barely visible blue
luminance spread from the point the gauntlet touched. Quickly, it reached the
wound and, before Leon's wide eyes, started closing it until all that there
was left was a white scar. Sounding tired, the Knight stood up from a now
much stronger girl, who was staring in wonder at the dark and shining figure
in the sunlight, and said a third time, "Never." He walked into the shadows
and disappeared before Leon thought to stop him.
Leon called out for the medic again and the grumpy man came over. The
grumpy look vanished as he saw the healed wound on the girl and quickly
re-examined the girl. He shook his head in disbelief when he was done.
"She should be dying from internal hemmoriging, but...it looks as if
its all been fixed and everything back to normal. I don't know _how_ but
she's perfectly healthy now." The medic shook his head in wonder. "What did
this is beyond me."
"But not the Knight apparently," Leon mused softly to himself. He
hardly believed it himself and he had seen it happen with his own eyes.
"Looks like he's more than just a guy in a fancy outfit, hmm?" Daley
was no less amazed than Leon, but decided not to show it overtly. He had
witnessed the miracle as well from a position behind Leon and had been silent
the whole time.
Leon tried to discount that theory immediately. "Or it could all be
another trick of that 'fancy outfit'. Who knows?" He smiled down at an
immensely happy, now recovered girl. "At least it worked, whatever it was."
The girl smiled back up at Leon.

The next day, Leon left a message on Darlene's answering machine asking
if she would like a tour of the ADPolice building for her 'willing cooperation'
in he and Daley's intrusion of her store. Darlene had raised an eyebrow at what
might be an unsubtle attempt to likely get Darlene on a date, but decided to
take him up on the offer since she was curious about the building that Nene
worked in. Leaving Sylvie and Anri in charge, Darlene took the bus and went
downtown. She got off a fair distance away because Darlene didn't really hadn't
been downtown that much and relished a chance to walk a bit to stretch her legs.
A delicious looking merague pie caught her attention from a store window and
Darlene couldn't resist buying it for later.
Eventually, Darlene reached ADPolice headquarters, got a visitor's pass
from a smiling girl in front, and ascended to Leon's floor in the elevator.
Spying Leon leaning back in his chair, Darlene quietly chuckled and silently
walked towards from behind him as stealthily as one trained in martial
arts could. Other people behind their desks noticed her going towards the
object of her attention and smothered their laughter as they figured out
what Darlene was planning.
Leon was musing over a case he was working on at the moment and also
wondering if Darlene would accept that invitation today or not. He sighed
sorrowfully as Leon didn't figure that he would be that lucky. *Then again,
the Chief Lardass over in his Royal Office isn't exactly in a good mood today.*
"Hi, Leon!"
"Wha..wha...whaaaaaahhh!" Leon overbalanced the chair he was leaning
in and he tipped over rapidly until the floor graciously broke his fall.
"Whomph!" He stared up at a grinning Darlene after recovering his breath.
"You came!"
Smirking, Darlene watched Leon pick himself up from the floor. "What?
Is someone curious about the ADPolice accepting an invitation of yours so
rare?"
"Ah...no." Noticing that his fellow co-workers were in various stages
of hilarity, Leon shouted at them, "Can I have a _private_ conversation with a
guest?!" After a few snickers, everybody went back to their paperwork and Leon
turned to a innocently smiling Darlene with a sigh and a smile.
"Shall we begin?"
"Certai..." Darlene was cut off by a bellow from a glass enclosed
office, which shook from the volume of the shout, with the door open and
it's angry occupant visible through it.
"LEON!! Get your sorry butt in here NOW!"
"Damn," Leon muttered softly before turning with a exasperated
expression to Darlene. "I'll be right back. Don't go away." Flashing a
smile at her, he went to face his angry boss. Leon entered the office and
went over to the side of the room so Darlene had a clear view of both
Leon and his Chief through the door.
"What's the problem _this_ time...sir?"
The Chief was _definitely_ not in a good mood today. "Problem?! I'll
_tell_ you what the problem is you young _punk_! This is a _police_ station!
Not some place where you can bring some brainless _bimbo_ in to impress them!
This a place for _serious_ police busine..." An airborne missile unerringly
interrupted the Chief with a big SPLUT! when it hit his face dead on.
Leon had been about to angrily retort about the 'bimbo' remark when
the missile had startled him into silence. He cautiously peered around the
entrance to see a tight-lipped, narrow-eyed Darlene advancing angrily
towards the Chief's office while bringing her arm back down after
throwing her merague pie at the Chief. The look in her eye made him keep
_very_ silent and out of the way as she walked up to stand in front of
the Chief's desk.
*Hell hath no fury...*
The Chief finally got his eyes clear of the pie's filling and angrily
opened them. "Garh! Who the blazes...?" The sight of Darlene standing in
front of his desk in an obvious and barely restrained rage startled him a
bit, but not much. "Do you know the penalties for..."
"...calling someone a...'bimbo' was it?" Darlene interrupted the
Chief with deceptive calm. "I'd say a pie in the face and losing the use of one
desk will do." Before the Chief could comment, Darlene raised her right hand
and with a, "HIIII-YAH!!!", brought it down on the Chief's big, sturdy desk.
Breaking it in half. Dusting her hand off, Darlene addressed the Chief once
more. "Anything else?" Her narrowed eyes disagreed with her question.
The Chief stared down at the two halves of his once whole desk in
shock. He slowly looked up at the small woman who had accomplished the deed
and was defiantly staring at him with anger in her eyes.
Leon was quicker to unfreeze and grabbed Darlene hurriedly before
dragging her reluctant form out the door. "I think we'd better start that tour
now and let the Chief...ah...recover." Glancing at the broken desk and the
still stunned Chief with pie still on his face, Leon smirked inwardly.
*I wish I had a camera...*

"You broke his desk in _half_??" Nene said, undecided whether to
stare in horror or giggle. Giggling won.
Leon's tour had brought them quickly to where Nene worked and Darlene
had filled her, and a curious Naoko, in to what had happened earlier.
Darlene was unrepentant. "Yup, and proud of it after _that_ remark."
She snorted slightly.
"He wasn't exactly in the best of moods today," Leon smirked. "But
somehow I think he'll have cooled off a bit now. Probably from the pie.
Where did you learn how to do that with the desk anyway, Darlene?"
"Um... Oh, a long time ago, Leon. I don't use it much," Darlene
nervously said. Nene blinked behind her desk at this comment.
Leon grinned down at a now fidgeting Darlene. "I seem to recall Daley
mention you doing something similar after that contest when I
was...er...out. I didn't believe him then, but now..." He let the
unfinished statement trail off.
"Well..."
Fortunately, the aforementioned Daley poked his head into the office
and spied his partner. "Hey, Leon! There's some trouble in district 23 and
we need you."
"Argh!" Leon wiped a grimace off his face and smiled at the three
girls. "Oh, well, duty calls! Could you help Darlene get out, Nene? Thanks!"
Before Nene could respond, Leon ran out of the office.
Darlene gave a sigh of relief. *Whew.*
However, Nene had gotten out of her chair and was now standing beside
Darlene.
Nene whispered to Darlene, "Have you got your memory back? I just
realized I never really asked you about that before."
"Ah...Yes, but I don't think now is the time to discuss it. Please?
Later?"
"Sure." Nene nodded eagerly and Darlene had to smile at that.
Not wanting to be left out, Naoko came closer to join the two's
quiet conversation.
"Say, Nene. Did you want you invite your friend with us to the concert
next month? I should be able to get three tickets." Naoko smiled at Darlene.
"One more person should make it even more fun."
"Did you want to come, Darlene?"
"Sure. I'd heard Vision was coming and was thinking about it myself."
"Great! I'll make the arrangements!" Naoko beamed.
"And as an added bonus...why don't you come by my store and pick out a
dragon as a gift? That is...if you want to."
_That_ widened Naoko's eyes. "_You're_ the one who owns that store
everybody's talking about? Oh, _great_!"
This was news to Darlene. "I didn't think it was that well known."
"Oh, sure! Those dragons, like the one you gave Nene, are beautiful!"
Darlene sighed mentally.
*So much for low profile.*

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