Twisted Path 3: Chap. 13-14[BGC][Fanfic]

[Twister]

Allo! Been a while, no? Ah, well, at least I got this up. :)
I'd like to thank Stephen Ayers(aye...@rpi.edu) for his comments on
bit of wording suggestions he made. Comments/ideas/editing offers always
welcome. (Warning: Not always implemented ;)
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Chapter Thirteen
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The door to an apartment opened, let the owner of the place in, and
then closed the home from the outside world once more. Said owner slowly
took her shoes off before going over and sitting down on a chair, facing
the computer system in the corner.
And just stared at the screen.
Nene sighed and stood up again. She couldn't go on the Net. Not today.
She just couldn't stop thinking about that day when they had fallen for that
trap and she had been knocked unconscious. Finding out later that Darlene had
risked her life to save Nene's and had lost an arm and a leg while doing so
had horrified then deeply depressed her.
*If only I had been more _careful_!*
Fortunately, Nene _did_ know that she had done all that she could.
Her suit's systems just hadn't been _quite_ as good as they needed to be to
discover the hidden Boomers. She _knew_ that.
*But it doesn't help,* Nene sighed mentally as she sat down at her
table and stared down at it with tears staring to form in her eyes as they
had often been doing for the past two weeks.
DING!
She looked up at the sound. *Doorbell. Must be Linna. Trying to
cheer me up again.* Nene tried to wipe the tears from her eyes as she
went to open the door. She didn't have much luck by the time she started
to open the door.
"Hi Lin..." The dull greeting died in her mouth as it dropped
open in surprise and Nene's eyes widened.
"I may not be a Linna but will a Darlene do?" said the
grinning red-head, chuckling at Nene's reaction.
Darlene's amusement turned to concern as Nene just stood there, looking
from her face, her left arm, her recently Healed left leg, and back to her
face again.
"Nene? Hey, are you alright?" Darlene softly said.
Startled, Nene stopped her examination and looked Darlene in the face
with a more normal-looking expression of guilt but still didn't say anything.
"Can I come in?" Darlene prompted.
Nene quickly nodded, still unable to speak, and Darlene
walked into the apartment. She had just taken off her shoes when Nene
closed the door and ran up to Darlene to hug her tightly, crying, "I'm
sorry!"
Startled, Darlene hesitantly hugged Nene back as Nene sobbed on her
shoulder. *Priss was right. She isn't doing to hot, is she?* she
thought with some concern. When Nene calmed down after a while, Darlene
said, "Didn't Priss and Linna tell you that I thought I would be alright?"
"Yes," Nene sniffled, "but..."
"...kinda hard to believe. I guess that's true." Darlene stared over
Nene's shoulder for a second. "For me as well." She sighed and shook her
head. "Still weird for me too, at times." She refocused on Nene's face and
smiled. "Got some cake? I've been busy with this leg all week. I've got a
case of the munchies and 'nothin else will do'."
Trying to smile, Nene walked over to the fridge and produced a half
of a cake.
Darlene smirked when she saw the cake. "Natch."
Nene didn't have to try to smile after that predictable, for Darlene,
comment.
After they had both eaten a piece of cake, Darlene, with no
little malicious satisfaction, told Nene about the 'little' setbacks she
and Sylia had conjured up on the computer to pay back Genom and keep them
occupied until they found a better solution. As Darlene had hoped, Nene
came out of that strange depression halfway through the descriptions of the
pitfalls created for Genom and started interjecting her own comments.
*Well, she DOES know the Net better than me or Sylia. Heh. The Net is
_Nene's_ kingdom.* As she listened to Nene's comments, Darlene inwardly
smiled that the distraction seemed to be working. *She looks 200%
better now.*
"...and the data transferal from that node will lose Genom's
pet hackers tracking your trail," Nene concluded. She paused for a second as
she realized her state of dress. Nene had been working hard at work this
particular day to forget her troubles and since it was a Friday there had
been lots of things to finish up. The result of this was that her uniform
was wrinkled, her deodorant starting to fail, and hair in a slight disarray.
She was distressed as she looked at herself. "Oh no! I forgot! I'm a
mess!"
"As long as you look happier than before, I don't mind." Darlene
smiled happily as Nene checked her uniform's status.
That was the wrong thing to say. Nene slowed her inspection slightly
before standing up. Sadly, Nene said, "I guess so."
*Oh no, I've gone and reminded her again. Shoot!* Thinking quickly
before Nene left to go clean herself up, Darlene hurriedly said,
"Say, Nene... How about you just do me a _favor_. Later. Though not as
dramatic or stupid as sacrificing an arm and a leg. Nothing big. Just so
you feel better. Is that okay?"
Nene listened to this and looked strangely thoughtful for a second
before nodding slowly. "Okay." As she walked towards the bathroom, she said,
"Thank you, Twister."
"No problem." It wasn't until Nene closed the bathroom door that
she realized that Nene hadn't called her 'Darlene'. That struck her
as unusual for some reason. *That's odd. She should be more used to that
name for this form.*
*I wonder why she used the name she knows for my male form...*

Darlene was sneaking another piece of cake with the self-rationalization
that it would help Nene with her sweet tooth and was quietly singing and humming
between bites as she ate. Her friend was taking her time.
*Sigh,* Darlene half-mocking thought to herself as she munched on
the piece of cake, *Curse you, Priss. You actually managed to get a
decent voice outta me and now I _know_ how bad I was before. Oh, well.
At least no one's going to wince at me anymore. I just wish she hasn't
looked so damned amused after seeing me wince at a recording she had made
of my singing before we started.*
"That's really nice, Twister. I didn't know you sang," Nene's
quiet voice commented behind Darlene from the region of the bathroom door.
*'Twister' again?* Darlene wondered as she started swinging her head
to face Nene. "I threatened Priss with bad singing which wasn't...too...
smart...um...ah...what's that for, Nene?" she nervously got out.
Wrapped up in towels, one for hair and one for body, Nene nervously
stood a few feet away from Darlene. Her eyes were looking alternately at
the floor and at the object she held in slightly trembling hands.
A steaming glass of water.
"Twister...do you want to..." Nene's voice trailed off as Darlene
stood up and approached her with some hesitation. When Darlene stopped, she
slowly raised her hands and before Nene could say anything, placed those
hands overtop Nene's shaking ones, keeping the glass between them. Miracle
of miracles that Darlene was able to keep her own steady considering the
panic she was feeling herself.
Darlene quickly started talking in a rush. "Nene...you're my
_friend_ you don't need to..."
"But I can't think of anything else!!" Nene cried, tears forming in her
eyes and staring to fall down her cheeks.
"I'm alright, Nene. Really." Quickly, Darlene guided Nene closer
to the table and managed to place the glass of hot water upon it by
taking both sets of hands away from the container. "You don't need to do
this. It's not...eek!" she squeaked in panic at what Nene did next.
Freed of holding the glass, Nene had suddenly rushed forwards and
hugged Darlene desperately and tightly as she cried. Surprised
again by Nene's reactions, Darlene could only let her friend sob into her
shoulder as her mind whirled in confusion.
"It's...just...too...much!" was Nene's muffled, but anguished, plea.
"Please!!"
*This isn't right,* Darlene thought frantically. *She's my _friend_
for crying out loud! But how can I get rid of this grief of hers? What
can I do? What should I do?" Suddenly, her mind flashed a rushed solution.
*Maybe...*
"How about a date?" she blurted out, then cursed to herself as
soon as she said it.
Not comprehending at first, Nene kept sobbing until the meaning of
what Darlene had said reached her. She stopped and lifted her head to look,
with some surprise, at the person she was holding on to.
"A...date?"
"Um...ah...yeah." Darlene dredged up a smile. "Just to give you time
to...er...think it over. Let's both go out tonight and try to have a good
time. I know you haven't had much of _that_ lately." Actually, Darlene
was beginning to think this might work after all.
Nene sniffled and considered this. "And you'll be a guy?"
"Of course. I'd be a funny date if I wasn't." Darlene rolled her
eyes. "And it'll be my first time being male in the city without wearing my
armour. That _does_ draw some notice," she said wryly.
Releasing Darlene from the hug, Nene giggled as she wiped the tears
form her eyes. "Ok. We'll go on a date."
"And, uh, you can pick where to go." Darlene looked slightly
embarrassed. "I've been in this city for almost a year and I'm still not
familiar with it in the entertainment value-wise sense. Haven't gone out
much, I guess. The only places I know is where you guys have taken me."
"Oh, I know some great places and Naoko has mentioned a few spots
to me that I didn't want to go to without a...um...date." Nene blushed,
then brightened as she thought about it. "Now I can!" They both giggled
at that.
"Heh. Well, if we're gonna do it then I guess we'd better get
ready." Darlene picked up the still warm glass of water. "If I stay like
this there's going to be some strange things being said about you if
you're seen by anybody you know."
Nene giggled as she nodded her agreement, then started looking for
something to wear, her depression set aside by excitement. As she looked,
something bothered her for some reason. Not the date, which she was
looking forward to, but something else she couldn't figure out. Then she
shrugged.
It couldn't _that_ important.

"I can't believe that guy was cheating," Twister grumbled.
"How did you know?" Nene's voice inquired curiously.
The two were walking out of an old-style amusement park that Nene
sometimes went to with friends from ADPolice. Nene had picked it as the
first place to go and they had enjoyed the rides and games that the park
offered. He had mock begged Nene to go on the roller-coaster ride called
the 'Tornado', which had caused her to dissolve into hilarious laughter once
she got the joke. But there had been one game that almost became the
exception to their enjoyment.
"It's hard to fool a telekinetic who's suspicious of something. Those
targets were easy to hit with the air gun, but just when I was about to win
they suddenly weren't flipping anymore. The second time I checked to see if
I was hitting them...and I _was_! The guy must've triggered something that
made the ducks harder to knock down. Once I realized that, I 'helped' my own
air gun shoot quite a bit faster." Twister smirked when he turned and looked
at Nene. She was quite happy since her arms were full of large, fluffy, and
cute dolls.
"The guy sure looked funny after I started winning and kept at it.
Want some help with those?"
"I'm okay. Mmmmm..." Nene happily hugged the dolls. Then she sighed.
"But we have to go back to my house and drop these off before we go
anywhere else." She pouted at the anticipated waste of time.
"Ah, but, madam. You have Twister's Delivery Service at your disposal."
Twister smiled as he quickly plucked a white plush kitten from the bunch in
Nene's arms and with a mystical gesture made it vanish. "One feline hath been
delivered to thy domicile, fair lady."
"Oh, right! I forgot." Nene started handing dolls over to Twister
with some sorrow but was cheered by the fact that she'd have lots of time
to be with them later.
When he finished, Twister bowed grandly to Nene and both were surprised
when the crowd that had formed around them started clapping.
"Uh, oh," Twister said in a low voice. *Didn't think. That was
stupid but I was more concerned with making Nene happy.*
"Oops. They must think we're performers for the park. What should we
do?" Nene nervously glanced around at the clapping audience.
"Not much choice, it's time to improvise!" Raising his voice, he
addressed the waiting crowd. "Thank you all for your applause! And for our
second magical surprise, I and my lovely assistant," Nene blushed at the
appreciative whistles from the crowd, "will deceive your eyes
and leave you with more fuel for your imagination." Twister gestured for Nene
to stand close to him as he started to chant, spreading his arms wide.
"Trantol fortran kantal pascal...." Nene repressed her smile
when she heard some of the words he chose.
With sweeping motions of his arms, Twister focused the crowd's attention
to the ground. Mist was forming from no visible source and was beginning to
rise and swirl around the pair. Higher and higher it rose until all there
was was Twister's voice chanting from a pillar of fog.
Suddenly, the voice stopped and the fog halted swirling for a moment
and began to drop back to the ground.
Then it pulsed.
And began to shrink into a familiar form.
After a few seconds, the crowd looked on with amazement at the giant
boomer made out of fog that slowly and silently walked towards one side
of the audience. Before anyone panicked, the boomer stopped and exploded with
a faint mushroom-like poof into mist that rapidly vanished.
The two that had produced such an illusion were nowhere to be seen.
After a moment's confirmation that the two hadn't left through the
crowd, the people who had seen the display clapped their hearty approval
for a long time, suspecting that the two were nearby but hiding to
improve the effect.

"Whew. That was close." Twister relaxed as he peered around the corner.
He had silently teleported them both away to a hiding place he had
quickly spotted when they had been concealed in fog and had used his
'unnotice me' trick to avoid them being noticed.
Nene was impressed at the control he had used to shape the fog.
"That was neat! But why did you make it do that?" she asked him curiously.
Twister turned to smirk at Nene. "They expected a surprise and I gave
them one. Still," he shuddered, "I hate being the center of attention for a
crowd. Brrr..."
"You didn't act like it," she pointed out.
"Didn't have much choice. Anyway," Twister gallantly held out an arm
for Nene, "I'm supposed to be giving _you_ a good time. Shall we go
before we're noticed?"
"Sure!" Nene quickly wrapped her arm around Twister's and they
retreated from the area.

When they finally returned to Nene's apartment, it was late and both
were tired from all they had done. Nene hadn't done anything for two
weeks so she had had quite a bit of stored energy once her mood had
improved. Twister had kept up with her the whole time and was surprised
at how tired he himself was.
"Ahhh... Back home!" Nene got a sudden burst of energy and ran to
check on her new stuffed pets. "Yay!" she cried as she found them on her bed
and tried to hug them all at once, then one at a time.
"Glad to see you back to your old self again," a female voice
commented wryly, but with an undercurrent of relief.
Nene looked up and saw that Twister must've used some cold water
to change forms again because Darlene was standing nearby and smiling at her
friend.
"Why did you...?"
"I had a feeling I didn't need to stay male and you're more used to
me being like this. Am I right?"
Nene didn't say anything for a moment as she checked her emotions
to see if that heaviness that had been a dark cloud over her heart for the
past two weeks was still there. While there seemed to be a shadow of it
remaining, it seemed less and less every second. Nene sighed happily at the
gladness she felt.
"Yes."
"Thank God," Darlene said with such feeling that Nene irritably
threw a pillow into her face. "Mmph!" came the muffled cry of surprise.
"Darlene! That's not nice!" said Nene as she was slightly miffed at
her friend's too heartfelt reaction. Her eyes widened in surprise when
Darlene, with a imp-like gleam in her eye and pillow in hand, leaped
to the attack and with a muffled sound hit Nene on the side.
Frantically scrambling for a weapon, she quickly grabbed the other
plump pillow and the war was on. The two were soon laughing too hard to
continue the pillow fight and collapsed on the bed, snickering.
After they had calmed down, Nene smiled gratefully at Darlene.
"Thanks for cheering me up, Darlene. I had been feeling so...so
depressed ever since..." she trailed off, not wanting to mention the
incident.
"Hey, we're friends. That's what friends do." Darlene sighed,
holding the pillow close to herself. "Besides, I haven't had that much fun
for a long while myself. Tiring, but fun." She closed her eyes to
remembering, what all they had done that night. One amusing thought came
to mind as she did this, even as she felt her eyes starting to droop.
"You know..." she sleepily said.
"Hmmmm...? What?" was Nene's tired response from where she lay
on the bed.
"I just thought about something."
"What's that?"
"Would rule number ten of the Knight Saber code have applied here or
not if we had done it?" The last part of the sentence was barely audible.
Nene wondered what Darlene was talking about until she remembered the
list of rules that Sylia had given her, Priss, and Linna. Not that they had
obeyed some of them. She thought about the wording of that rule and
her friend's strange form-changing abilities and had to giggle.
"That's funny, Darlene. I'm not sure. What do you think?" When she got
no response, Nene looked at her. "Darlene? Are you... oh." The slow and even
breathing told her that her friend had fallen asleep at last.
*Hmmm... I guess...I...will...too...* was Nene's last thought before
she followed in Darlene's footsteps and closed her eyes.

Early Saturday morning was bright and sunny and Linna was fully enjoying
this as she jogged her usual route. She was almost home and was planning what
she would do that day.
*Let's see... Going to pick up Priss at 11 and go shopping, then stop
over at Sylia's for a swim in the pool. What else?* She had jogged back to her
apartment building and paused before opening her door. *Nene.* Her friend
hadn't been included in her plans because Nene had not wanted to do anything
for quite some time.
Linna frowned.
*Two weeks is long enough.* She decided. *I'll clean up and head to
her place right away and get her to _go_ somewhere. Maybe me, Priss, and
Darlene can cheer her up. At least, now that Darlene's leg should be done by
now.* The thought of her friend's newly revealed abilities still caused her
some wonder but she had decided she was adaptable enough to accept it,
barely. She liked Darlene though, and that made all the difference.
Thinking over the plan briefly, Linna nodded to herself and smiled.
*We should be able to cheer her up.*

Later, Linna knocked on Nene's door and hoped that she was up.
*She should be....*
The door opened and Linna was very surprised to see Twister as the
one who was standing behind it. She hadn't seen too much of Darlene's male
side as he had almost always been under a cover but even dressed as he was
now Linna could see he was pretty handsome looking. He looked surprised and
a little embarrassed.
"Linna! Uh...hi! Come on in! Nene's in the shower and I'm making
breakfast for a treat." He had changed back into a guy so he could use his
TK for some practice as well as giving Nene a bit of a show. Seeing food
prepare itself, with him making exaggerated music conductor motions, had
almost made Nene collapse in laughter.
"What are you doing here this early?" Linna said as she walked in and
smelled the delicious aroma of breakfast. She had had a light breakfast to
get here quickly and this smell prompted her to eye the kitchen.
"Um....well..."
His hesitant answer was cut off as a toweled Nene came out of the
bathroom with a smile and saw Linna which made her smile even bigger from
the unexpected and happy surprise.
"Linna!" She looked very cheerful. "I'm sorry that I haven't been
much fun lately. Gimme a second and I'll be right out and we can have
breakfast and then go out and do something!" Before either Linna or
Twister could reply, Nene grabbed some clothes she had laid out before
taking her shower and went back into the bathroom to dress.
Linna was faintly stunned at this turn of event and her face
reflected it.
Twister blinked and speculatively looked at the bathroom door.
"Well, she's definitely cured of that depression."
Turning her head at his voice, Linna stared at him, then at the door
Nene had gone through, and then back to Twister again. Something was
slowly forming in her mind and she voiced it out loud.
"Did you two...?" His raised eyebrow made her blush in
embarrassment.
"Tsk, tsk, Linna. What a naughty mind. No, we didn't. We just had a
friendly date to try to cheer Nene up and it worked. Whoops! Gotta check on
breakfast!" Twister ran away from Linna to save the food and she followed
him inside.
That Nene had asked was better left unsaid, he figured.
As Twister continued making breakfast, Linna recalled how down Nene
had been for the past few weeks and compared that to the cheerful face
she had just seen. One thought entered her mind, stunned as it was at Nene's
enormous change.
*Must have been some date.*

After Nene came out, the three ate breakfast. Nene was the one
doing most of the talking with Linna, catching up on most of the week's events.
*Trying to make up for two weeks of gloom it sounds like.* Darlene
thought amusedly to herself. She had used some water to change into female
again as Twister had felt that Linna would probably feel more comfortable with
the more familiar form. The guess was a good one and Linna, now that one of
her best friends wasn't so depressed anymore, was smiling and laughing almost
as much as Nene.
When they finished, they all left in Linna's van and picked up Priss,
who still looked faintly sleepy, eleven a.m. was early for her. The cheerful
greeting she got from Nene woke her up in a hurry as she stared at the
unexpected, smiling face of her former doom-'n-gloom friend. Surprise
turned to pleasure as she got on the van, happy to see Nene back to
normal. As they drove, however, Priss was getting rather annoyed since no
one would tell her the reason for Nene's abrupt mood change.
Nene just smiled happily.
Linna just grinned and looked ready to laugh out loud.
Darlene just smiled and was trying hard to look innocent.
Priss just ground her teeth in frustration.
She hated not knowing what was going on.

The shopping mall provided Priss with some means of satisfaction when
Darlene attempted to avoid trying on or buying any female clothing.
"Hey, Darlene! Now why aren't you looking for anything for yourself?"
Priss grinned as she said that since everybody, with the exception of Darlene,
the group were looking at various things displayed in front of
female clothing stores.
"You know very well _why_, Priss." This was quietly muttered out the
side of Darlene's mouth as she embarrassed enough as it was.
"But what about when..." Nene started to say.
"...I first came? I didn't want to look suspicious then, that's all.
I think I have enough right now." Darlene looked uncomfortable. "Not that I
ever wore some of it." Nene hid a grin behind her hand as she remembered
some of the articles she had persuaded her friend to buy at Sylia's shop.
Darlene glared at her suspiciously and she tried to keep her face straight
but her lips twitched uncontrollably.
Linna saw what Priss was up to and decided to get into the fun herself
as well. "That was _months_ ago! You need to keep up with the fashions!"
Priss looked at her with a grin and they nodded imperceptively in agreement.
"Uh..." Darlene felt like she was losing ground somehow.
"'Sides, we're all going to Sylia's for a dip in the pool and somehow
I don't think you have anything for that." Priss grinned as she and Linna
each firmly gripped one of Darlene's shoulders and started herding the
reluctant shopper towards a store entrance.
Panic rushed up and Darlene dug in her heels, being as strong as
she was this stopped her forward momentum, almost tipping over from the
force of the surprised Priss and Linna's hands on her shoulders.
"H-hey! I don't really need to go in. Do I?" That last was added desperately.
"What's the problem? You've obviously shopped with Nene before."
"Yeah, but mostly clothes that would look good on either sex,"
Darlene retorted. "The rest I've never worn. And _that_ store," she waved
at the entrance that she had almost been dragged into, "looks like it
doesn't carry any of the former."
Priss carefully studied the store's displays. "You know, I think
you're right. Even better," she declared with an evil grin directed at the
horror filled red-head she held firmly. "All the things a cute girl
really needs. Don't you think Darlene fits into that category, Linna?"
"Oh, _definitely_, Priss."
Cutting off Darlene's denial, Priss bent down to look eye-to-eye
with her companion. "And she _does_ remember that she owes me, doesn't she?"
Darlene stared at the singer with a rapidly sinking feeling. "How long
are you going to hold that over my head?" she asked with a sick curiosity.
"Until I think you've suffered enough," was Priss' calm reply, a
wicked gleam in her eye.
Darlene slumped her head in defeat. "Oh, all right," she
muttered, "I'll go peacefully."
"Hey, it's not like you don't have the equipment," Priss quipped,
and smirked at the glare Darlene gave her. "Want to help, Nene?"
Nene, with great dignity, said, "Only if I get to help with the
swimsuit." Then she smiled broadly and innocently at Darlene.
"Traitor," the prisoner growled.
Nene stuck her tongue out impishly before they all went into the store,
everybody laughing save one resigned red-head.

Sylia was pleasantly surprised to see that Nene had come and was
looking cheerful again when the four arrived for the swim. Also, from Linna
and Priss' mirthful expressions, she suspected that they had something to do
with Darlene's holding two bags worth of recently bought clothing. Especially
when she had that martyred look on her face.
"Nene! It's good to see you looking better."
Nene looked down slightly. "I'm sorry if I worried everyone, Sylia."
"I _was_ a little concerned, but I can see you're okay now." She smiled
at Nene who had looked back up. "Shall we go swimming now and forget about
it?"
"Okay!" Nene smiled and then giggled as she remembered something.
"Wait till you see what I helped Darlene get!"
"Hmm?" Sylia blinked at this somewhat startling news and looked
inquiringly at the others.
"Oh, we decided that Darlene needed a new wardrobe seeing as she was
trying to avoid shopping today," Linna said offhandedly while Priss
smirked. "She needed a swimsuit anyway."
With an arched eyebrow and amused face, Sylia turned to Darlene.
"Really?"
Darlene sighed wearily. "I _did_ need one."
"Don't forget that _lovely_ dress..." Priss said, earning her a
black look from Darlene. Sylia wisely refrained from commenting after
seeing the reaction.
"I think the swimsuit looks great!" said Nene happily as they all
entered the building.
"Hmph." Darlene tried to cheer herself up a little. "At least it
wasn't a bikini."
"What's wrong with a two piece?" Linna inquired.
"For you, nothing. For me...I don't think so."
"Yeah, it's just not you."
"That's _not_ what I meant, Priss."
"Heh. I know."
"Priss...argh." Darlene gave up. "Anyway, I can live with green and
purple. I like purple."
"I didn't see why the first one I picked wasn't a good choice, Darlene."
"Nene, light _pink_ isn't one of my..."
"Say, Darlene," said Priss curiously, interrupting her.
"What?" she braced for another comment.
"I thought you were shy about this."
Darlene blinked.
Sylia had already been changed so she had not followed the four into
the room normally used to change into swimsuits. Darlene had been distracted
by the conversation and thinking about the very embarrassing incident at the
clothing store, the source of all the new clothes she now owned. The
other three were used to changing into their swimsuits here so their
movements had all been natural; Darlene had unthinkingly followed suit.
All present in the room didn't have much on at the moment.
"_ACK_!!!" Darlene shouted and an eyeblink later her hands were over
her eyes, which didn't hide the beet-red blush on her face. "Sorry!!"
Priss rolled her eyes as Nene and Linna were sorting out their own
feelings on the matter. "Somehow, I don't feel very threatened by this. Given
your reaction, that is. The fact that you're a girl now helps as well."
"I don't care," Darlene forcefully stated.
"Well...even if you were a guy at first, you've been a girl most of
the time while you've been here and we _are_ all friends. It's not like
you don't fit in with _that_ figure." Like Priss, Linna appeared to have
decided that it wasn't a problem.
"Right! Come on, Darlene. It's not that bad," Nene chimed in.
"No. The store was my limit." Darlene was trying to walk backwards
towards the door while still covering her eyes.
Linna sighed. "You'd think she'd jump at the chance." She motioned to
Nene who nodded with a grin. "If you don't, we'll pry those hands off
your eyes, even if we all have to wrestle you to the floor."
Darlene froze at the implications of that. "You wouldn't."
"One..."
"Okay! Okay! I surrender!" Reluctantly, Darlene lowered her arms.
Trying not to look at the semi-clothed others.
Nene stepped up in front of Darlene, a small frown of
exasperation on her lips. "It's okay, Darlene, don't look so resigned!"
She blinked and looked down. "Say...do you _never_ wear a bra?"
Priss and Linna hadn't thought someone could blush that red.
"Should've left on one of the ones we made you use while trying on all those
dresses," Priss commented.
"Oh, shut up," Darlene said as she grit her teeth together.

"HUP!" SPLASH!
"AGH!" "HEY!" "EEK!"
Breaking the surface of the water, Darlene shook her head to get
the water off her face and grinned at the soaked, surprised, and
beginning to steam Priss, Linna, and Nene who hadn't even gotten
in and weren't accustomed to the pool's temperature yet. She had directed the
splash of her entry just right to get all three. The design on her swimsuit
was all green leaves with purple flowers blooming between and above the
foliage, the waters of the pool lapped at the suit.
Revenge was sweet. "Payback!" Darlene crowed, laughing.
"WHY YOU...!" Priss dived in immediately, prompting Darlene to quickly
backstroke away as the singer resurfaced and made like Jaws towards her.
Evading Priss all the way, Darlene made a complete circuit of the pool
before standing up in the shallow end.
"Hey, I was just getting even for making me buy all those clothes!"
Having reached the shallow end and standing up as well, Priss slowly
advanced, not too angry anymore but with an evil grin on her face. "You
forgot one thing, Darlene...teamwork!"
"Huh?"
"GET HER!!" chorused a trio of voices.
Too late, the memory that Darlene had gotten all _three_ friends came
back and was washed away as three pairs of hands grabbed and dunked her. Nene
and Linna had entered the pool as Priss chased her quarry and had quietly
waited for the two to come back.
"Gaaaa..blub!"
Sylia watched their antics with a smile, pleased that they were having
a good time. It certainly seemed like everyone had finally recovered from
that last fiasco of a mission. The team hadn't been on any jobs as a result
and while they had been piling up, she had felt that the time had not come
yet. She wanted the others to initiate the restart of operations because if
Sylia did then they might feel like things were being rushed.
She smiled again as she watched the four splashing each other.
*I don't think I'll have to wait long.*

Mackie was sitting beside his sister and was staring in envy at
Darlene as she splashed the others in the pool.
*She changed with Priss, Linna, and Nene. Together.*
He sighed at all the potential opportunities to spy on girls such
form-changing abilities would present to him, even though Mackie had no
desire to actually _be_ a girl. Still...all those _chances_.
*How lucky can you get?*

Chapter Fourteen
----------------

Business was steady in the Flights of Fantasy store and Darlene was,
surprisingly, pleased as she surveyed her domain.
*I opened this store just so I could get enough money to support me
and then only until I could return.* She looked around at the customers
scattered around the store. *But it's amazing how attached you can get to
something if it succeeds.*
It was now several weeks since Darlene had fully recovered from
the injuries she had suffered in that little trap of Genom's for the Knight
Sabers. Nene seemed fully recovered and had gone with the Sabers on several
missions with only a slight bit of hesitation, which was fading fast.
"Excuse me?"
"Hm?" Darlene blinked, her mind had been wandering and hadn't noticed
anybody coming up to her. She looked up at a customer and almost blinked
again. That the customer was a lady, anyone could tell. She had an air of
command about her as she smiled, slightly mocking, at the recovering Darlene.
With long, purpleish hair, almost too-pale skin, and surprisingly blue(not sure)
eyes, she seemed to be a living model for the Elegant Woman and was
dressed like it.
Trying to collect her wits, Darlene quickly smiled at the woman in
front of her. "I'm sorry! My mind was some distance away."
"I could see that." The smile reflected amusement now.
"What can I do for you?" Something was bothering Darlene in the back
of her mind. *Where have I met this person before? She seems familiar.*
"I am thinking of buying..." The lady turned around and glanced at
what occupied the center of the store. "...that."
"Char?!?" Darlene looked incredulous. "Most people want to stay _away_
from him at first glance!" The urge to smirk was strong. "Or is it for 'the
man you love?' To _hate_, that is."
The purple-haired woman had to laugh briefly at that, "No. My employer
likes to collect...unusual things from time to time and that rather impressive
piece of work would please him very much."
Noticing two very large gentlemen busily looking at objects in the store
Darlene quickly checked with her mystic senses and had a guess confirmed.
"You always bring Boomers along to carry your shopping?"
That caught the lady by surprise. "How...?" She narrowed her eyes.
"I see you are observant."
"So-so," Darlene sighed. "In any case, Char's not for sale. He was a
gift for the store's opening."
"_Genom_," the woman hinted pointedly, "would be more than
willing to offer you a more than sufficient amount to compensate you."
Darlene stiffened involuntarily as she realized who she was talking
business with. Matagan! Darlene, as Twister, hadn't gotten a really good
look at her face during the Largo incident, but she recognized the Genom
executive now. And she also knew Matagan was, from a few hacks into the
Genom database, the project leader of the trap that had been planned for the
Knight Sabers. The trap that had literally cost her an arm and a leg. It
was a good thing this was Anri's day off, Matagan would have recognized
the sexaroid instantly.
"I don't think so," Darlene frostily replied. "The person who
gave me Char seems to be against Genom for some reason and I don't want
to chance offending him."
Matagan was slightly puzzled by the store owner's sudden coldness
after mentioning Genom but she was still not willing to give up so easily.
"Perhaps if I could talk to this person...?"
Now it was time for Darlene to do some major on-the-spot acting to
divert attention away from herself.
She snorted. "_I_ barely talk to him myself. Actually, not at all
since he vanished for a few weeks about a month ago. I tried looking for him
in some...strange places but couldn't find him until he re-appeared, muttering
only something about 'costing an arm and a leg,' whatever that meant."
Darlene tried to look puzzled as she went on. "I wish I knew how he delivers
his stuff inside the store too. He has a nice blue bike but that couldn't
manage all of his stuff."
The mention of the arm-and-leg phrase caused Matagan to stiffen
and she intently looked at Darlene as the latter finished talking. "Have
you seen his face at all?"
"No," Darlene snorted with mock amusement. "He's into this
'mysterious person' bit. Always keeps his face covered somehow. He's a
nice guy though. Did you want to get one of his smaller dragons? Easier
to carry."
Matagan slowly looked at the selection and picked a Western one at
random. "I'll take this one." As Darlene rang up the sale, Matagan thought
furiously to herself. *It _must_ be whoever the Crystal Knight is! I've been
looking for anything unusual that might lead to him and I think I've finally
found a lead! The rumors about these dragons drew me here as soon as I heard
about them. These hunches I've been having are getting stronger and I
came myself so I wouldn't need to tell anyone about these strange
feelings.* She contemplated the dragon she had just bought was she left
the store with her two guardian Boomers. *As for this, it looks _too_
well done. I think we should analyze this to see why...*
"Come again!" Darlene cheerfully said as she was thinking something
else. *I know _I'll_ be coming to _your_ place soon, and I have just the thing
to do it too. Mysterious Person, coming up!*

Much later that day, Matagan was standing in front of Quincy's desk
as he minutely scanned the dragon she had purchased in the morning.
"Perfect," the director commented as he examined every detail.
"Tell me what the results were," he said this without looking at his
employee.
"Perfect is correct in many ways for this statue." Matagan looked at
a sheet as she went on. "There is no possible way that this was done by hand.
By either human or Boomer. You would need precision mechanics for the
incredible detail incorporated into this statue...for a lengthy amount of
time."
"And you say these are bought daily."
"Yes, sir." She flipped a page. "Also, small samples were taken and
it was found that some had a purity of almost 99.99% for the metal sampled.
Again, something that would take a long time to create and useful for far
better purposes."
"I'm hurt. I thought it was a great way to use it."
Matagan whipped around at the totally unexpected voice and Quincy
slowly brought his eyes up to narrow his eyes at the unexpected guest.
Standing in ankle-deep fog, was a cloaked figure. The cloak was
impenetrably black with softly glowing blue trim. The hood of the cloak was
over the head of the person, shrouding it in shadow. The light of the
office failed to be able to penetrate the darkness for some reason. When
the figure started walking towards the two Genom execs, a pair of similar
black with blue trim boots were shown to be worn on the stranger's feet
as the fog followed like a puppy behind him. Again, the figure spoke in a
modulated reply.
"I'm glad you like it though..."
"How did you get in here!?!" Matagan shouted.
"Elevator, of course. Those stairs are murder." The figure chuckled.
*Actually, I used teleportation but I'm not telling _them_ that.*
Matagan went pale. "A stealth device," she whispered as a
suspicion of who this stranger was grew in her mind.
Quincy, as usual, was calm. "So then. You are the Crystal Knight, I
presume."
The hood of the cloak was facing Matagan as the Crystal Knight nodded.
"Quite right. I guess I shouldn't be surprised you know about my little
invisibility trick." The hood shifted as the Knight cocked his head at
Matagan. "Hm. I should be very mad at you, Miss Matagan. Your little trap
caused me a _lot_ of pain..." A brief flash of glowing blue orbs chilled
Matagan, making her wonder if he was human, before the Knight went
on, "...but the look on your face right now more than makes up for it."
He chuckled. "Priceless!"
An angry flush replaced the coldness in Matagan as she realized that
the Knight wasn't seeking revenge and had been enjoying the fact that she
didn't know that.
"Why you..."
"And after I saved _your_ life too. Ah, well." Twister mock-sighed.
"_What?!?_ What are you talking about?!"
"Largo. Scar. Leg. That help?" Matagan went white. "Yup, I guess that
did it." Seeing as Matagan was unable to carry on the conversation, shock
will do that, he turned to Quincy.
Quincy calmly regarded the person in front of him as he held the
dragon statue in one hand. "Your equipment seems quite remarkable. Indeed,
most of it looks to be beyond current technologies or, at least, very different
from normal methods. With your help, Genom would leap far ahead of all others."
Twister gave a distorted snort. "Do you always offer intruders in your
office employment? First Largo, now me?"
"Yes...how did you know of that?" Quincy clasped his hands together on
his desk.
"I came around after the Knight Sabers injured him. I stopped to
heal her during that time." Twister waved a black-sleeved arm in
Matagan's direction. Still white-faced, Matagan was beginning to shake a
little, eyes slightly defocused. Twister hoped she would snap out of it
soon as he turned his attention to Quincy again.
"Well, both you and he showed remarkable abilities to reach this point.
Unfortunately, Largo chose to refuse me believing that he was some form of
god."
"Some god. I gave him a bit of a chill and he went all to pieces." A
vast understatement if ever there was one.
"Do you think you are one?"
Twister laughed. "Hardly. I will turn down your offer as well though."
Quincy narrowed his eyes. "Then why did you come here?"
"Forgot my laundry the last time." Twister shook his head. "Scratch
that. Totally irrelevant. I just wanted to ask you politely to forget about
going after the Knight Sabers again OR trying to find out who they are.
Me too for that matter."
"Is that a threat?"
"No. Just a request."
"The Knight Sabers have interfered far too often in the affairs of
Genom. The only reason they have been left alone is that more pressing concerns
have been..."
"I know. Wanna know why?" Twister chuckled.
For the first time, Quincy looked slightly angry. "You have been the
cause for Genom's trouble in the computer networks for the past month?"
"Well...I didn't say I had completely forgiven Genom for what happened
that night. After all, you..."
Suddenly, something caught both Twister and Quincy's attention,
it was a bright flash of light that caused the two to halt their
conversation and stare at no-longer forgotten source of that light with
great shock.
"What the!?" "Ms. Matagan!"
Matagan was outlined by a bright yellow aura and her eyes glowed
the same color, making them twin lights of power on her expressionless face.
Her hair started flying upward wildly as wind picked up around her. When
it was noticed by her that Twister was facing her direction her face
contorted into a mask of rage.
"YOU!!!"
"Holy...argh!!" Twister want flying across the room and slammed
painfully into a far wall, which cracked at the tremendous pressure as he
was forced into it slightly. The power that had flung him across the
room let go and he fell to the floor where he started getting up again.
*Ow, ow, ow... Wasn't ready, but jeez! That would've seriously injured
a normal person!*
Before he was fully up, Matagan screamed furiously that her foe was
still alive and sent winds of rage to batter him. This time Twister was ready
and he stayed, standing in place during the onslaught, using his own power.
Quincy was wisely keeping quiet, not wanting to attract the female
psionic's attention to himself in her obviously unstable state of mind.
Twister's mind whirled with thought. *Since when is Matagan psionic?
Given her state right now...probably all of one minute. Just perfect. I'm
fighting an out-of-control psionic who isn't in control of her faculties
and likely able to do more than she would be able to normally as a result
of her insanity. Boy, am _I_ the lucky one. Whoa!*
Seeing that winds weren't getting anywhere, Matagan had decided to
turn up the heat. Pyrokinetic style. Orange-red flames appeared in front
of her that were fueled only by her mental powers. With a scream, Matagan
sent a roaring line of fire towards her opponent. A frantic wave of
Twister's arm managed to deflect the flaming line of death. He was surprised
that controlling the flames had come naturally.
*_Very_ good time to discover I can do it. Necessity, mother of
invention. Of course, I knew I was telekinetic and pyro is closely related.*
"Sir! What's going...oh my God!!" a voice cried out.
*Oh, no.*
Genom security forces had finally come investigating. A group of
mixed Boomer and human guards were standing in the office's large doors
and staring at Matagan's glowing figure. She, on the other hand, sensed danger
and reacted, temporarily ignoring Twister. Being the bigger threat, Matagan
telekinetically grabbed the Boomers of the group and violently twisted their
necks, snapping their fiber-optic backbone and rendering them inoperative.
She showed no pleasure in the act as the Boomers crashed to the floor.
"Fuck me!" screamed the leader of the security men as he saw their
most powerful weapons eliminated and dropped on the floor, aiming
his weapon, shouting, "Shoot her!" The others of the group quickly aimed
their pistols at Matagan. They were unpleasantly surprised when their
guns were jerked out of their hands and thrown into a very far corner of
the office. The men's eyes widened in helpless horror as flames sprung to
life in front of Matagan and shot out towards them.
To be blocked half a meter away.
Matagan snarled and turned to look at Twister, the only person
she sensed capable of deflecting her wrath. But when she did, even in her
current state, her face reflected a measure of shock at what she now saw.
"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"
Realizing that Matagan needed to be shocked back into sanity, Twister
decided that a very big display of power was needed to do this. Eyes
now blazing azure through the magical darkness underneath the hood,
Twister's blue aura had been raised and was shown to be substantially
larger than Matagan's. He too gathered wind about him and the cloak
billowed ominously behind him. He raised black gloved fists before him,
blazing with his blue mindfire that was quite distinct from Matagan's
mundane fire. Twister began walking towards her, consciously willing her to
feel his much greater psionic power.
She felt it. Her mask of rage cracking slightly, Matagan sent flames
roaring towards Twister. They were not deflected this time and the mask
cracked further when she saw him walking unharmed through the
psionically-created flames. She tried snapping his neck like she had the
Boomers but she couldn't move the hidden head a millimeter. Then he was
too close for anything else.
He stopped before her, stared into her eyes, and spoke words in a tone
that ripped through her power-maddened mind like a dagger cooled to absolute
zero.
"Cease or die." His words meant what he said but Twister didn't.
She listened to the spoken message. Even in her current state,
Matagan realized he could easily do so and quickly relaxed her power.
This act brought quick unconsciousness as she had used a higher level of
power than she would normally be able to handle. Her eyes rolled
up into her head and she went limp. Twister caught her before she fell to
the floor, letting his own power go down, and gently laid her down.
"Gee, that was fun," he sarcastically said.
Quincy stood up and cautiously came around his desk. "What happened?"
"Your executive is psionically active, which should be quite obvious.
I'm no expert, but the sudden flow of power probably made her temporarily
insane and she lashed out at the thing that angered and shocked her enough
that made her active. Me. I had to shock her again to make her stop and become
sane again. Since she knows the feeling now she shouldn't go berserk again.
But then, I'm no expert so that's just my theory."
"Psionic..." Quincy snapped his head up and regarded Twister carefully.
"That statue. You made it with your mind."
"Two points. No advanced technology, just thought."
"Uhhh...." Matagan groaned.
Surprised, Twister looked down at her. "That was quick."
"What... Sir? You?" The last was spoken with some venom when she saw
Twister's cloaked figure.
"Do you hear voices? Have you?" inquired Twister.
Matagan blinked. "What? Of course I don't!"
Twister breathed a silent sigh of relief, no telepathy. Hopefully.
"Well, she appears sane. Psionic, but sane. And so, I shall
leave since I doubt my help is needed, or wanted for that matter. Bye!"
One of the outside windows shattered and Twister made a running leap
through the new exit. One thought went through his mind before he vanished.
*First Largo, now me. Wonder how much these windows cost...*

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