Author: 3D Master
Feedback: 3d.masterchello.nl
Website: http:members.chello.nl/jg.temolder1/
Rating: R
Keywords: X-Over Dragonball/Z/GT, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angst, Drama, Action, Humor.
Summary: Hera's arrival revealed.
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its characters do not belong to me, but Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions. Dragonball Z, its characters and the concept of the Saiyan race belong to Akira Toriyama.
Episode 65: Gods Like Pop Music Now?
by 3D Master (3d.masterchello.nl)
website: http:members.chello.nl/jg.temolder1/
Disclaimer see Episode 60.
She looked at the happening. In this valley, mountains on most sides, the valley once green, but now with deep cracks, and lots of uprooted sand, from the battles earlier. There he was, with his companions. The destroyer, the bringer of death, the one who murdered and killed virtually all she held dear, floating just above the ground. Across from him, herself, floating in the air. Herself from the future as she had said. Herself from the future was scared as was she, the hate and evil painted on the destroyer's face was a fearful sight to behold. "You will die here!" herself from the future yelled. "You lost your tail! Without it, you can't transform, you can't beat me!" With a fearful roar of her own, she charged a giant ball of energy above her, easily three times her own heigh in diameter, then flung it at the destroyer.
He grinned, and she watched it happening. His golden glow intensified, a tail grew from his backside, and a moment later there was an even more terrifying version of him, and horrifically more powerful; a monkey, black fur wherever his clothes didn't cover, except his chest. And his eyes, bloodshot with the promise of destruction, golden irises of a predator animal. With a mighty yell he simply punched, /punched/, against the huge ball, which instantly was flung right back at herself from the future. Herself from the future that was so much more powerful than her now, and yet, her ball was sent back as if it was nothing. She watched as herself from the future froze in horror, and then turned her head left, directly at her. A strange, almost sad look crossed her face, and then the ball of destruction hit her. What was that look? Why did herself from the future look so strangely at her? She watched in horror as herself from the future was engulfed by her own attack, and screamed in pain. She was consumed, and destroyed, torn apart piece by piece, and then the ball exploded, sending most of its energy up into the sky, the earth protected by a force field. Fear, and terror consumed her, and she made a vow: she would change the past, by changing the future at all costs. She knew what the future would bring, so when he would arrive, she would destroy him, before this could happen, and make sure she'd live.
-----
"He's here, he's here," she whispered frightened. "He's really here, just like he promised; a god of light, and a god of dark, both destroyed by him." For a short while she had thought he wouldn't be here after all, that something had changed history, changed the future. But here he was, in all his terrifying glory. She had to find out how strong he really was, if he was already as powerful as he was back then, charging in blindly would get her killed.
After a short while she was shocked, looking on from within her dimensional pocket. So casually he transformed and flew to San Francisco, why? After a short while she had come up with just the thing she needed. Right, it might not be enough to get him to show his true power, but it was a good start. The coven in San Francisco she had detected when /he/ went there would be perfect for it.
One night, when they were in communion, she appeared before them as a great benevolent goddess of nature. "The Sedra Soli, is here," she whispered through the winds, and the witches were suitably impressed. "I have come to warn you, the destroyer of all live, bringer of Armageddon has arrived. He is in Sunnydale, and you might be the only ones who can stop him. Hurry, save us all."
She disappeared to the safety of her own place once again, and watched. A few days later the coven decided to make their move. They captured him with energy rings, sapping his power. Hmm, perhaps she got even lucky and they finished him off right away. No, they didn't, there was the blinding golden flash once more. A little later his power went up, and up, and up! She felt the fear coming back once more. Such power, in a mere mortal, it wasn't right, he needed to be destroyed. He stopped, stopped his powering up. Was this it? Was this truly his max. She didn't dare fight him one on one, she just couldn't, even though she knew he couldn't beat her now. What if she was wrong after all? She had to think of something, something that allowed her to destroy him without having to face him.
-----
She looked at the two large rocks. Yes! Here in space they could be maneuvered, maneuvered to do her bidding. To destroy him; it would most likely destroy them all, or at least a large part of them and plunge them back into the stone age, but there would be no way for him to stop it. No way for all of them. They'd waste their energies on the first, and if they succeeded in stopping it, the second bigger one would finish them off. She grinned evilly. This would do it, this would be the finishing touch. From here on out, she would no longer have to worry about the Sedra Soli and her fate at his hands.
"Great Goddess Hera, we cannot let you do this," a voice stated.
Hera turned around and looked at two men all in white. "What!?" she exclaimed in disbelief. Did she really just hear right?
"If you send these asteroids toward the Earth, it would either mean the destruction of almost all life, or if they all work together, perhaps they can deflect them, but it would expose magic to the general public," the second man in white told her.
The first then added, "As you well know, our purpose is to keep magic hidden."
Hera laughed, and told them, "Of course I know, I helped set you up, didn't I? For /my/ purposes, and if my purposes now clash with mine then, mine now take precedence. Now get out of my sight, I do as I wish, and /nobody/ tells or makes me do otherwise." She turned around, and continued what she was doing.
The cleaners looked at each other for a moment, and then the first said, "Great Hera, we have no choice but to stop you."
Hera laughed, whirling around, and hissed, "You insignificant insects, what make you think, /I/ will let you interfere?"
"You know as well as we do, that we were created to clean magic, and to contain gods of your caliber . . ." the second told her, but was once again interrupted.
"-You /weak/ fools!! /You/ are /nothing/ to me!-" Hera growled out with anger. "-I built you, you /exist/ because of me, and /you/ have the audacity to tell /me/ what to do!? You think you can control me, you think I have to worry about what a bunch of insects tell me? RAAAAH!!-" Hera made a swipe with her hand, sending out an arched blade of energy, cutting through the middles of the two white-robed cleaners, and they exploded, being wiped out easily. "Those, insignificant . . ." Hera hissed out, and continued her work. Once both asteroids were on course, she teleported away. It would take some days before they reached Earth, and giving her time do something else in that time.
-----
Hera reappeared in a blueish seemingly futuristic circle, the court ground, council ground of a magical court and council; a council on keeping magic hidden. Outside the circle there was nothing but blackness. Hera stomped her foot in the middle of the circle once, grimacing with anger at the infraction brought upon her. Putting her energy into her foot had the desired effect. An echoing powerful bang, the shiny floor cracked open, anyone who was on this council wouldn't be able deny her demand. A moment later several large heads appeared around the circle. Some of them were Elders and the like, and the others were powerful demons from the underworld.
"/Youdared/ send them after me!" Hera told them with extreme anger, grimacing completely.
"What you have done, will expose m- . . ." one of the members started.
"-I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!!-" she screamed at them. "Without me, you'd all be dead. -/I/- told you how to defeat the Hollow! -/I/- gave you some of my essence so you could give some of my power to humans and defeat the titans! -/You/- do /not/ tell me what to do! -/I/- do as I please! /Even/ if it means exposing magic, /even/ if it means destroying you all! -/I/- am the Goddess here, -/you/- are the mortals! You're /nothing/ to me!"
A demon - they are always arrogantly evil - stated, "We are /not/ mortal. Our power combined . . ."
With a roar of rage Hera charged her power in an instant, the shiny ground cracking open and shattering aside. She glowed with power, massive balls of energy formed at her hands. She fired two balls and they exploded against the demon's head that had spoken. The darkness lifted, revealing an elder or demon standing in a see-through protective chamber behind every head. The Elders and the demons looked at each other, and then their eyes widened as Hera charged even more energy and now pointed it at the ground where she stood. A moment later there was a massive explosion, the heads crumbled, the protective cases shattered like they were nothing, and a moment later the shockwave destroyed the Elders and the demons, the chamber itself shook, cracked and couldn't contain the energy. Hera balled one hand in a triumphant fist and said, "/I/ decide." She disappeared in sparkles of light just before the whole chamber collapsed and was engulfed in the explosion.
-----
Hera watched the event. She watched how the first was destroyed, and she nodded, "That's right, waste your energy, heh, heh. Now you die." She watched, and watched in shock as the Slayers, some more humans, and then all the magic-able people pushed the bigger asteroid in a decaying orbit. She then grinned, "Just a stay of execution, you will die Sedra Soli, you will be finished." Thus she waited for the asteroid to hit. About a day went by, and she watched the pitiful attempt of the Slayers and the military with their nuclear weapons.
To her shock, the very being she wished to destroy returned on time. She shook her head: it didn't matter, even he wasn't powerful enough. "No! No! This can't be!" she yelled when she saw his power rising and rising. She shuddered, feeling his power, he was reaching her power levels. She saw the hair elongating, and everything. "No! /That/ form!" Half the world was affected by his and the asteroids power. Feeling apprehensive, she watched. The massive enormous power beam shot from him. She watched with wide eyes as the beam hit the asteroid, and then all went white. She had to shut down her viewing window, it was that blinding. After a few moments she opened again and watched with failure as the asteroid was largely destroyed, broken apart. "He doesn't have any life force left," she grinned in triumph, roared with approval. It was done! He wouldn't last much longer. She turned off her viewer, secure in her victory.
-----
It was two weeks later that she found out he was still alive, to her very shock. She cursed everyone and everything for an hour before she started desperately planning again. Yes, yes that might work.
The planning stages for the next attack were big. She had to make sure he was out of commission, because she wouldn't dare unleash a demon as powerful as him. She had to open the Hellmouth from afar, which consisted of gentle prods here and there to the Earth's hyper-dimensional field. The resulting energy chain reactions would work on the Earth's plates, but also upon the Hellmouth itself.
She kept her attention upon Sunnydale though, and along the way became aware of the Trio, and their desire to summon a very powerful demon to kill the Slayer. It was easy to travel to hell, and whisper into the type of demon they were going to summon about glory of defeating the Sedra Soli. Not that the demon would have a chance against the Sedra Soli, but you never knew, and things could develop. The Slayer herself destroyed the demon, so as really expected, nothing came of it.
She continued her further preparations, and once more went to hell, materializing on the steps right in front of the throne of Lohesh, the soul killer, the original one. "Lohesh," she said, as she was fully aware of his armies below in his cavern stirring and getting ready to attack her.
Lohesh the massive bunny demon laughed, and growled, "A Power That Be, down in this hell hole. Which one are you?"
"I'm Hera," she introduced herself, her green eyes glittering with unholy power.
He took the goddess with bug-clothes in, and said, "Ah, yes, Hera, Hecate, Goddess of air and magic. Tell me, oh, magical one, what stops me from turning you into a power that was?"
"You are powerful Lohesh, you can take on most of the gods, and not only survive, but win," Her told him with a grin. "But I am not just any god. I am one of the oldest, and most powerful, and I haven't been sitting around feasting on human brains and souls being all smug and self-indulgent. My power has grown immensely, and I can kill you easily - it however is still not enough to take on the Sedra Soli."
"You think so?" Lohesh asked, his eyes piercing hers, and she felt like she was on trial.
"I'm not certain, I do not know his full power, I don't know what he's hiding," Hera answered him, and noticed the armies behind and below her stopped in their advance, but stayed ready to attack.
Lohesh laughed, and said, "You're scared, you don't dare take him on one on one, even though you might win."
Hera grimaced, and said, "How would you like to kill him, and rule the Earth?"
Lohesh chuckled, and said, "I'm rather stuck down here."
"You keep an eye out on the Hellmouth, yes?" Hera asked him with a sneer. He shrugged, shifting his position on his massive throne slightly. "Then you've felt it shudder, that is my doing. I'm preparing to open it, big enough so you can come through, along with your armies."
Lohesh sneered back and her and said, "If you're so powerful you can kill me, but you're not certain you can kill him, what chance would I have?"
Hera slowly smirked, and turned around, leaving the Bunny wondering for a short while. Meanwhile she took in the armies, large masses of them, several true, giant, Lohesh-bunnies like Lohesh himself among them, leaders of the legions. Hera turned back around, and told him, "Before you yourself will come through, you will have to chase a Shinang demon through, make it think you're trying to kill it with your army."
"SHINANG!?" Lohesh thundered, his ears angling back, his red eyes blazing. "Are you crazy!? They are poison incarnate. They kill with a touch. It'll kill a hundred of my followers in no time. It's poison can even incapacitate me with enough quantities. Only demon lords like me dare go up against those."
"It cannot fly, it has no range, use that to your advantage, and yes, some of your followers will die, but that's the price you'll have to pay for ruling the Earth, and being the demon that saved everyone by killing the Sedra Soli, and even consuming his soul," Hera told him with an evil smirk. "You see, a Shinang's poison, is the stuff that will incapacitate the Sedra Soli, like it would incapacitate you. And when he's down, you can kill him easily."
"Hmm," the demon grumbled, with an odd grin on its face. "You gods are really that afraid of him huh, won't even go at him yourself when he's out."
"I've seen his power first hand. I was there ten thousand years ago. Will you do it or not?" Hera requested.
"Oh, yes, I'll do it," Lohesh said with an evil grin.
-----
Hera retreated back to her place, continuing her manipulations of the Earth's hyperdimensional field, and with it the Hellmouth. Eventually the time came, the Hellmouth opened; first one small blip, admitting the poisonous Shinang demon. Hera watched the Sedra Soli attack and kill the Shinang demon, and then he keeled over. "YES!" she yelled in triumph. This was it, there was no more saving him now.
She finished the final few manipulations and the Hellmouth blossomed open to its fullest. Lohesh came about. She grinned, and watched as Sedra Soli's companions came to fight the monster, all suicide. The witches closed the hellmouth in the meantime, but that didn't matter much to Hera, in fact, it had been half expected. None of them could stand up to Lohesh anyway, he'd consume their souls, and then finish off the Sedra Soli.
A sister down, a black man dead, a Slayer dead, everything went as planned. Witches returned to the fight, next Slayer going to be killed . . . What!? The first Slayer isn't dead yet? No matter, she still wouldn't stand a chance. Hera watched with a grin as Lohesh blasted another big energy ball at one of the humans, and Slayer placed herself in between. To Hera's shock the Slayer was not vaporized, she held the ball at bay in a tug of war, and then . . . "NO! It can't BE! Super Slayer!? She's that bitch that was with him!?" Hera balled her fists and watched in mounting terror as the newly emerged Super Slayer made quick work of Lohesh the Soul Killer. "NO!! NO!! DAMN YOU, BITCH!!! DAMN!! NOOOO!!!"
"Must think, must think of something new, have to stop him, have to," Hera shuddered, pacing about. "Why!? Why is this happening!? No matter what I try, the bastards and those bitches . . . AAAH!!"
-----
When the Sedra Soli took on Wolf, Ram and Hart themselves, Hera hoped for a fleeting moment that they'd destroy him, but of course, they didn't. She had to think, she had to think deeply. While she did that, she let her senses go across the Earth. Days turned to weeks as time continued. Hera could be patient, she just had to figure out a strategy that would do the trick. That was it, truly, just be patient. Weeks became months, and she was frustrated when the other Slayer transformed as well. Time went on, and then she became aware of a stirring, of something or someone awakening.
Hera took closer looks, and finally understood, "Shantia . . . the Super Slayer Vampire is awakening. I need to capitalize on this. While she'll keep the bitch in LA occupied, something needs to take on the Sedra Soli. No, not possible, too powerful, or- . . . wait . . . yes. If both Super Slayers are dead, and . . . and his wife . . . yes, yes." Now she simply had to bide her time, until she arose.
When she finally did, Hera made her move. Making sure she had her power and energy masked she appeared above the United States. She peered, flexed some of her power, and the cage of energy keeping the demon inside caged for the pas several centuries appeared. The brown-skinned, tailed demon looked at her with angry eyes. "Well, well, if it isn't one of the gods," the demon sneered at her. "Trickery by humans put me in here, so what would you possibly want?"
"I want to release you," Hera told him with a smile.
"What!?" the demon asked her in shock.
Hera grinned evilly at him, and said, "If I release you, and set you free upon the world once more, the Sedra Soli and his companions will undoubtedly come for you."
The demon laughed, and said, "No thanks, keep me locked up. I can't fight him, especially seeing as I lost a lot of power of the centuries just staying alive, even in hibernation mode."
"What if I told you, I know how you can destroy him, even less powerful," Hera said with a smile.
"Why don't you do it yourself, then?" he asked her.
"Nothing is ironclad," she told him. "I don't like to take risks." The demon laughed and looked at her expectantly. "I can tell you where his wife is, let you lead your attack right to her. You keep yourself alive against him long enough the attack is too far away - he'll rush after it, leaving you to kill his helpless companions, and when he finds his dead wife, he'll be too heartbroken to put up a fight."
The demon grinned, and then chuckled, "I like that plan, I like that a lot. What are we waiting for?"
"For Shantia to recharge, he's got two Super Slayers as companions and two super witches, I thought you'd like to fight just one of the Slayers, and the two witches, while the other gets torn apart by a vampiric version of the Slayer," Hera told him with a grin.
"I like the way you think," the demon told her, and Hera nodded, calmly waiting, keeping a sense on the vampire's power level. "Now looks about right, ready?" The demon simply grinned at her, and then she breached the magical cage with her power. "Go have fun," she told the demon who roared in laughter returning fully to the standard plane of existence.
Hera watched the events unfold with an evil grin. The dark Super Slayer and her friends got pummeled with frightening ease. The demon was being beaten up by the Sedra Soli, but the energy blast was nicely heading for his wife. Then, as expected, the Sedra Soli burst away after the blast, gaining ground. But he would never catch up . . . then again, he was getting obviously close. Hera sighed with relief as he failed to catch it. His house blew up, and his wife's life force snuffed out. "YES!!" Hera hissed in triumph. She grinned evilly, but then the opposite happened of what she was expected. Instead of heartbroken and empty, the Sedra Soli was heartbroken and filled with hatred and rage, his power spiked to unprecedented levels. "NO! What's this!? What's happening!? This can't be!?" Hera screamed in fear and disbelief. She watched as the Sedra Soli transformed into a giant golden monster ape. "What the hell is that!? How can this be!?" Then the ape transformed once more, into a smaller ape. If goddesses could have heart attacks, she would have one right now. "NOO!!! No!! Not that form, this can't be!? How!? WHY!?" she screamed out in utter terror. She shook with the fear, trembled at the sight of the being that killed her ten thousand years ago. "This isn't possible! This shouldn't be! How can this be!?"
Hera watched with mounting terror at how the Sedra Soli took apart the demon, over and over again. Tortured him to death with frightening ease. Hera placed her hands in front of her face in horror; the true evil, the true power had emerged. Death incarnate was busy torturing her newest plan to death. And if it all wasn't enough, the dark Slayer defeated Shantia.
Shuddering in fear Hera retreated to her place, and stayed there for weeks before the anger finally overcame her horror. She needed to do something. Fear was not an option. She needed to destroy him, needed to find something or someone powerful enough to do it. She had to, she just had to. Yes! She had it!
She left her place and traveled to the Oeral mountains in Russia. She quickly found the place, blasted it back open and entered the cave. After smashing through several more protection mechanism, she reached the inner sanctum of the place, and the god entombed there by multiple beams of energy, charged by machines and magic. "Stribog," she whispered in awe, of the white-haired, blue-skinned god. The god of wind, the sun and power. Entombed by his own wife Xiara and a whole string of other gods ages ago, because he was getting too powerful and enjoyed it too much for their liking. A young god, and yet so powerful. Fearful of the god's power - he'd be the only one she could think of that might be able to defeat her ancient nemesis; and kill her with same ease as the Sedra Soli could - she hesitated. Steeling herself, she destroyed the machinery, and used her magical powers to remove the rest of what was holding him.
Stribog roared in rage and anger, stepping mightily forward; his purple eyes crackled with electricity. Hera took a step back, and Stribog took her in, hissing, "Xiara, that bitch, where is she. I'll show her who's boss."
"Your wife is dead," Hera said with a fearful look, even now after several thousand years of inactivity without food or water, his power was still so much.
"WHAT!?" he yelled and grabbed her by the throat.
"But I know who killed her, and where you can find him," she told him quickly.
He narrowed his eyes at her, loosening his grip. "Who?" he growled out in a low eery breezy voice.
"You might want to rest up, and get your strength back fully. He's in a city they call LA, and he's the Sedra Soli," Hera told him, and felt the grip around her throat tighten while he laughed.
"The Sedra Soli is just a story, to scare us kids, you old bitch," he hissed at her angrily.
"Not anymore," she told him.
O
With a bright smile on her face Buffy set down in front of her house. Hugging herself close with enjoyment of the events of the night before she walked over to the door of her house. That door burst open though, an angry and concerned Dawn bursting out. Buffy blinked as Dawn screamed, "WHERE WERE YOU?! WHY WEREN'T YOU BACK!?"
"Dawn!" Willow called behind her sternly. Tara and Li stood next to her. "How about you let your sister come inside first, huh? Good morning, Buffy."
"Good morning," Buffy greeted back with a smile as Dawn chewed her bottom lip, her arms folded across her chest waiting impatiently. Buffy smiled at her and entered, her sister close behind her.
When Buffy was in the living room, Tara was the one to gently ask, "We were kind of worried, Buffy. We didn't sense you, I guess you either locked your power away or were busy hiding it somehow. And you turned off your cell."
"I locked it away," Buffy confirmed with a smile. She felt so good. She had a real boyfriend in almost two years. And this boyfriend might just be a keeper; no vampire, no super soldier, no jerk, just a nice guy. "I stayed over," she said.
Dawn narrowed her eyes, walking over to where Buffy had parked herself in front of the window. "Please tell me he was suicidal and he needed you to hold his hand," she said dreading the real answer.
Buffy shook her head, and said, "I slept with him."
Dawn looked with disbelief at her sister, and Willow and Tara were a bit stunned. "You slept with him? You lay unconscious next to him? Please say it's that," Dawn asked fearfully.
Buffy smiled at her, and said, "I had sex with him." Everyone looked stunned, apart from Li, who had gotten an earful on what the guy his girlfriend's sister was like from said girlfriend and how she was so concerned. He just looked and listened. The silence gave Buffy the opportunity to add, "We have a second date set for next week, it'll be in Sunnydale this time. I'll have to pick him up."
"AAAAAHH!!" Dawn screamed out, raising her arms in frustration. "YOU STUPID COW!! Which part of 'this will end bad' didn't you get!? What the hell is wrong with you!? Now you knew on /beforehand/ he was a bad choice, and still . . . you stupid cow!"
Buffy looked hurt and protested, "It's not like that. He made me laugh. You know how special that is? I like him enormously, I'm falling in love with him. Yes, there are big hurdles, but we'll make it work, I know it."
"Aargh!!" Dawn screamed in frustration started to stumble around in frustration. "I have the stupidest woman on the planet for a sister! I can /not/ believe this! What's wrong with you!?"
"There is nothing wrong with me!" Buffy returned angrily. If her sister didn't care for her, or didn't stop soon she'd send her up to her room. "And if you don't shut up, you can damn well go to your room."
"Of course, send the smart sister away!" Dawn called out, while Willow, Tara and Li went into action. Li went to Dawn, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her close, fighting her struggles because she was too annoyed to just calm down right away.
Willow and Tara reached Buffy and put some soothing hands on the girl's body. "She doesn't mean it that way, Buffy," Tara whispered.
At the same time, Li whispered in Dawn's ear, "Calm down, beautiful. It's your sister's life, she can do with it what she wants to. Don't get worked up over it."
"Buffy, she just doesn't want you to get hurt," Willow told Buffy who calmed down some. "I can't see I agree with your decision, Buffy, but if this is what you want to do, I'll support you."
"The same goes for me," Tara told Buffy with a smile.
Dawn relaxed but rolled her eyes. Buffy smiled and said, "Thanks, guys. He made me laugh you know. Really laugh, belly-shaking hard. He's polite, smart, I've fallen in love with him. Best of all, he's just a guy, no corpses, no soldiers, no nothing, just a guy who's, well . . ." Buffy paused for a moment, and then added softly, ". . . very good in bed."
"I could hear that," Dawn spit out annoyed, pushing back against Li letting his embrace take away the frustrations. Buffy blushed. She had hoped her little sister wouldn't have been able to hear. Willow snickered, making an uncertain Tara smile.
The phone rang, and Tara picked it up. "Summers residence . . . Hey, Faith! How are you doing?"
"Okay, that's good, and Xander?" Tara asked her. "Oh, making Angel's life miserable, huh? I guess that's an improvement."
"What!? Y-you're not kidding, right?" Tara asked, and after a moment her face brightened. She put her hand in front of the phone, and called out, "Guys! Faith and Xander saved Jessica Mears' life from some vamps. They've got tickets for the concert next Saturday for all of us if we want to go."
"All right!" Dawn yelled out excitedly.
"Yeah, Jessica's hot!" Li yelled out, and everyone looked at him. "You know . . . as in popular, very good, good music, good voice," he added, fidgeting a bit. Dawn grinned at him, and put her arm around his waist.
Willow nodded at Tara, "He's right, she's a babe. We're going." Li blushed, as Tara nodded in agreement.
"I'll call Chris," Buffy said with a smile, and went to get her cell, making Dawn frown at her in annoyance.
Tara then returned to the phone, and said, "We're all coming! Oh, and Buffy has a boyfriend, can he come to? . . . Great, see you then!"
-----
Tara sat in Faith's room, watching the brunette get dressed for the concert. Faith had absolutely no qualms at her half-naked state. Actually she was more than half-naked, she was only wearing a thong, and was busy putting on a stocking, which she hated judging from her expression, but she seemed determined in putting them on. Tara could see the brunette's breasts sway, and she quickly looked away. She wondered if Willow walked in she'd get her ass kicked by the redhead. It took all her self-control to look away.
"I see you're still doing great. We didn't have much time to talk during the wedding . . ." Tara's face fell, ". . . and the funeral."
"Yeah," Faith said pained, pausing her struggling with the stocking for a moment, and then continued. "I'm good, I'm going to show Wes a really good time. I'll be for him all the way tonight. Between me and Cordy taking care of Xander, and Pike's slow recovery, I've been neglecting him a bit."
Tara smiled at her, and then quickly once more took her gaze away. Faith noticed it and looked up at her, pausing again. "Do I have a zit or something?" Faith asked, peering across her body.
"No!" Tara exclaimed blushing. She took a deep breath, and said, "I'm a Lesbian, remember?" Faith looked at her, not comprehending. "It's like I'm a guy and I'm looking at you."
Faith shrugged and said, "If they are good enough friends, they get to look." With some effort Faith finished pulling on the stocking, and smiled. "Putting them on is hell, but boy do they make me feel sexy," she said, and then got the second stocking. Tara grinned, at the comment, nodding. She loved the sight of Willow in stockings, and she loved the look on Willow's face when she was in them. Faith continued her earlier thought as she once more had difficulty with the second stocking, "In fact, you should have seen Archie's face a couple of months ago, and even more so when Tiffany and Zoey tried to keep him from looking." Faith grinned suddenly, leaning over, and looked with twinkling eyes deep into Tara's and said, "Tiffany's and Zoey's were even more priceless when I told them he could look."
Tara grinned, and said, "I'll bet. You should have seen Willow's face the first time I suggested doing a ritual in the nude; priceless." Tara snickered a bit, and added, "Sometimes it still makes me laugh, and then she'll ask my why I'm laughing and I tell why, then I laugh harder at the pout."
Faith finished with the second stalking, and said, "She got a cute pout?"
Faith got her top, and Tara said, "The sexiest, the hottest, the most beautiful, the most innocent, the loveliest- . . ."
"I get it, I get it," Faith interrupted Tara and smiled at her, tugging the tight white top over her ample chest.
-----
Chris arrived at the address Buffy had given him, or at rather a short distance away from it. The hotel seemed imposing, the more so because he knew his brand-spanking new girlfriend and her friends and family were inside there. Friends and family he had never met before. Should he go in, or wait a bit? To his surprise he saw his blonde girlfriend come through the gate, and then rapidly walk over.
"Hi," Buffy greeted him, and planted a quick but steamy kiss on his lips, having to stretch her arms around his girth. She broke it apart, looking at the sudden smile on Chris' face. "You don't have to be nervous, they'll like you, and even if they don't; doesn't matter, /I/ already like you, and more."
"Yeah, no problem," he bluffed rubbing his hands nervously, taking in his girlfriend. 'His' girlfriend, it still amazed him. Today she looked even better then on her first date. Very tight hip-hugging, dark-blue pants. Bare midriff, lovely bellybutton, and a pink sleeveless vest with a deep cleavage. It was finished with a frilly, white choker. Her lips were bright red, and her eyes colored. She looked good enough to eat right here. God, she was absolutely, stunningly beautiful and sexy.
"My brave hero, and don't worry about my sister Dawn, she'll probably be nasty, just ignore her. She thinks she needs to look out for me," Buffy told him genuinely and then hooked her left arm into his right, and trudged him along. Buffy brought him into the hotel, and proudly told everyone present, "Guys, I'd like you to meet /my/ boyfriend, Chris Rivers."
"Uh, hello everyone," Chris said with a nervous smile, not really looking at anyone, not wanting to break into hives.
"Let me introduce you to everyone, starting with my best friend," Buffy said with a smile, pulling Chris off to the right. Buffy gestured to Willow who had Tara's hands wrapped around her waist from behind. "This is Willow Rosenberg, she's a witch," Buffy said with a smile. Chris reached out his right hand, and the petite redhead grabbed his. Chris swallowed as she took her in. High heels, a short, black tight dress, reaching half-way her knees. Her small, but lovely prominent breasts were practically all on display. Her red hair reached to below her neck, and seemed to flow around her head. Her lips were bright red as well, her eyes green and blue. Obviously, just like Buffy, she was dressed for a night of fun.
"Uh, hi," Chris said.
Willow smiled, and told him, "Hi, nice to meet you and put a face to all the superlatives Buffy's been sprouting about you." Chris turned his head to Buffy who blushed lightly.
Tara took her hands away from Willow's waist and stepped forward. Buffy introduced her, "This is Tara McClay, Willow's girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you," Tara said and Chris and her shook hands.
"N-nice to meet you too," Chris said taking in yet another beautiful woman. This blonde was wearing a slightly more conservative dress. It seemed it was a dress that if went all the way down it could be make her look like a grand Earth mother. But now it was cut above her knees, and the neckline plunged down deeply, showing off parts of the globes of her breasts, making her look like a naughty Earth mother instead. High heels, and immaculate, less-contrasting makeup as Willow's and Buffy's completed her look. She wasn't as petite as Willow, and not as thin as Buffy, but his eyes had been drawn to the curves she had wherever they were meant to be.
"She's a witch too," Buffy added with a smile.
Chris widened his eyes, but held back. "What did you want to say?" Tara asked with a smile, taking her girlfriend back into her eyes. "Go on."
"I-I w-was about to say that . . ." Chris looked over at Buffy who gave him an encouraging nod of her head. Confidence, right, right, right. ". . . that I-I should be glad th-that Hollywood and f-fairy tale cliches aren't real." Willow and Tara smiled gratefully, at the compliment.
"Amen to that, friend," Lorne's voice answered.
"Oh, absolutely, a rehabilitating sight for the crippled," Pike added with a huge grin, while everyone smiled, making Tara and Willow blush furiously.
Chris turned around and took in the green guy who gestured at him; it was the first time he noticed the green skin. The guy in the wheelchair next to him grinned too. Buffy smiled, and told Chris, "Lorne, an alien from who really knows where, he's a mystery even to himself . . ."
"Hey, no mystery here, Bombshell, I'm the real alien originating from Soul," Lorne protested a little bit.
"And Pike," Buffy added with a wry look. "We'll get to him later."
"Hey, what did I do?" the wheelchair-ridden guy said. Lorne bent down and whispered in his ear. "Oh, right," Pike said. "I guess."
Chris shook his head as he weakly waved at Lorne and was pulled a bit to the left, going around the circle. Next up: Xander. His tail happily waved around, the guy had pulled a really bad lottery number for him to get to meet /everyone/ /all/ at once. It was a fun little enjoyment of the suffering though. "This is my best friend, Xander," Buffy said gesturing to the Saiyan.
"Hi," Xander said offering his hand.
Chris looked the muscled guy over as he shook the guy's hand. He looked incredible. He made Chris feel like a troll. Then he noticed the waving tail. His head shook back up to Xander's face, and said, "H-hello."
Buffy added sheepishly, "He's another alien. A Saiyan from another dimension."
"O-okay?" Chris said, really starting to wonder where he had landed. What did it matter? He had a stunningly sexy and beautiful super heroine for a girlfriend. So she has some weird friends, big deal.
They went to the next two people, a stunningly beautiful girl with a somewhat Asian, and very good-looking guy holding her around her waist from behind. "And /this/ is my infamous sister Dawn, and her boyfriend Li-Huei Ki- uh . . ."
"Kijimuta," Li-Huei supplied with a smile, breaking contact with a glaring Dawn for a moment to shake the guy's hand.
"H-hello, I'm Chris," Chris managed to say, taking in Dawn. Even with the glare she looked incredible. A few more years and he wouldn't be surprised if she was more beautiful then her sister, or perhaps she already was. She was quite tall, especially in comparison to her sister, giving her an air of chilling beauty.
Dawn got a nudge from her boyfriend to Chris' surprise. She look back at him, glaring as he retook his place behind him, but shook her sister's new boyfriend's hand anyway. "Hello," was all she managed to say, and he smiled at her.
With a happy smile Buffy pulled Chris along, and they reached Angel. "This is Angel. Angel, Chris, my new boyfriend," Buffy said, and gave Angel a quick warning-glare.
Chris was stunned. This was Buffy's ex, and he looked incredible. He couldn't grasp what Buffy now saw in him if she was surrounded by such incredible specimens of manhood. They shook hands and Chris glanced down for a moment at the very cool hand. "Nice to meet you," Angel said with a smile, noticing Chris' look at his cool hand. "I'm a vampire, the only good one, the only one with a soul. I was cursed by gypsies."
"Oh, good to meet you too," Chris managed nervously, his self-doubt at Buffy's previous taste in a boyfriend rising. He looked at Buffy who fidgeted nervously, hoping her affair with basically a corpse wouldn't make her new boyfriend hate her and run away screaming. She had told him about Angel, but not /that/ aspect of him, having decided it was best to simply let him find out.
"Hi," an enthusiastic voice followed, almost violently pushing Angel aside. Cordelia bent down to be at eye-level, making Chris gulp at the suddenly very visible cleavage. Cordelia just continued grinning as she said, "I'm Cordelia Chase, the only one with any class in this sorry lot . . ."
"Hey!" Lorne and one girl Chris had yet to meet called out. Everyone else glared.
Cordelia threw Lorne a glare as she took Chris' hand to shake it, and finished, ". . . except for Lorne here . . ."
"Hey!" everyone else called out except for Buffy, Chris and Angel.
". . . and perhaps you," Cordelia finished, and smiled brightly at Chris.
"Oh, hi," Chris answered, stunned at looking into the face of another incredible looking girl. It was almost like he died and went to heaven. The scar on her cheek didn't really do anything to detract from her beauty. The tight clothes she was wearing made her look incredible.
Cordelia then continued, taking the guy in, "Although you could d- . . . Hey!"
Buffy had pushed Cordelia back, knowing of her inability to keep anything to herself, and the blonde told the brunette, "If you're the one with class, stop flashing your breasts at my boyfriend."
Chris blushed, more so as Cordelia folded her arms just under her chest, pushing her globes up just a bit, and said with an annoyed frown, "Even my flashing is classy."
Buffy glared at her for just a moment, while starting to push Chris onward. If Chris thought he had seen it all, he was now stunned in admiration. A girl was supporting an almost-fully-healed, but still banged-up guy came into view. The brunette girl had a thick layer of makeup on, bright red lips and colored eyes. Faith had decided to bring back her old, less classily beautiful, but much more lucius and suggestive look back for the concert. Knee-length boots, a tight, leather, black skirt - Cordelia's choice at the beginning of school year came in handy after all - and a white shirt - low cut, bare arms, just spaghetti straps - completed her look. Every curve - and Faith had plenty - was accentuated. Chris swallowed away a lump as Buffy introduced the girl as Faith and being a Slayer like her, and her boyfriend as Wesley the head of the company. The girl was not only absolutely gorgeous, but also sizzling hot. The way she smiled at him, made him feel like a piece of meat to be devoured, the good kind of devoured, and he wouldn't mind one bit to be so. Really, only a naked Buffy held a candle to the girl in front of him, and the brunette was still dressed.
"Well, well, you bagged Buffy, you /must/ be one /hell/ of a stud to pull that off," Faith said hotly shaking Chris' hand. Both he and Buffy blushed at the compliment . . . or was that insult? Or both? Faith suddenly leaned forward and placed a suggestive kiss on Chris' cheek, making him unable to return anything but blubbering.
"Cruel!" a voice commented from half behind her as Buffy glared at Faith and she just grinned at her blonde counter part.
Wesley reached out his hand and shook Chris's, as he said, "Welcome to this dysfunctional little family and friends." Once more Chris self-confidence took a hit at the guy's appearance. His British accent made him sound exotic, his looks were amazing, and the just tiny bit show of stubble on his chin gave him an air of rough, danger, and sophistication all at the same time.
"Hi," another guy said as he came around Wesley. It was the same voice who had commented 'cruel' a moment earlier. The teen smiled as he reached out a hand and said, "I'm Archie." Chris felt relief. Although the guy was a lot less than him, he was a little pudgy, although he could feel quite some strength in the grip. He had the distinct impression the guy had been a lot more pudgy along the way. More importantly, Chris finally was face to face with someone who wasn't super model material, on both genders.
Faith spoke, her voice sultry, taking over from Buffy for a moment, "This is my best male friend, Arch, and his girlfriend Natalie."
The stunning brunette reached behind and pulled a girl forward. She was obviously a little shy. The girl had raven-black hair, even more completely black then Faith who had hints of brown and lighter colors here and there. The girl had on bright red lipstick, making her lips sharply contrast with her dark hair. She was wearing heeled boots, a skirt reaching to her knees, and a strapless top. The girl's looks were a strange mixture of lovely curves but 'plain'. She was sexy though, and her shyness was further accentuated by Archie gently pushing her forward with a hand in the small of her back. She reached out a shy hand that Chris took, and she nervously spoke, "H-hi, I'm Natalie Deveraux, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Chris said with a smile. "You don't have to be nervous," he said, feeling less nervous himself now he got to meet some people who weren't specimens of physical perfection.
"That's what I keep telling her, but she just won't listen. She looks great, doesn't she?" Archie told Chris, smiling brightly at his girlfriend. There were times when he still couldn't believe his luck.
Archie wrapped a protective arm around Natalie's waist while she said, "I do not."
"She does," Chris answered with smile.
"See, now you hear it from another guy," Archie said with a smile as Natalie seemed to stand straighter.
Chris shrugged, as Buffy felt the need to lean sideways and plant a kiss on his cheek.
Faith continued, saying, "My best friend Zoey Lancaster, and her date and another friend Tiffany Mayfield."
Chris and Zoey shook hands - he considered her cute as a button. He would have considered himself blessed to have a girl like her on even one date; instead he got a goddess in Buffy. Life was strange. At the same time as they shook, another girl's voice said, "Hey! Just because neither of us got a date because you didn't get enough tickets, doesn't mean you have to call us Lesbians."
"And what's wrong with that?" two female voices sounded in unison.
Tiffany looked over at the lesbian couple of Willow and Tara, and she said deadpan, "We're not Lesbians. It's factually incorrect."
The girl reached Chris, as Zoey took a step back. The sixteen-year-old, perhaps seventeen, was hot. Blonde, lovely breasts judging from the stretched fabric of her top and the cleavage. Fantastic legs encased in suggestive white pantyhose, or stockings, and framed by a loose short skirt. "Hi," Tiffany greeted him, shaking his hand, and then bent down. She gave him a kiss on his right cheek, offering her right cheek which he failed to kiss. Faith and her other friends groaned, Buffy glared. Oblivious to, or not caring about the glare Tiffany then went over to his left and gave him a kiss there. Chris had just enough wits to place a light kiss on her left cheek this time. She returned to his right cheek and gave him a light kiss again, and so did he. She then pulled back, and at the Sunnydale crew's and Chris' confused expressions she explained with a grin, "I had to do a project on an interesting relative. My grandmother was an immigrant from Europe and I found out in middle, west Europe women greet and say goodbye to other women and men like that. It gives me an air of sophistication, /actual/ class . . ." Tiffany glared over to Cordelia who glared right back, and she finished, "sets apart, and I think it's fun."
Chris was stunned. He'd known girls like that in his highschool days. They were cruel, and if not, at the very least they would never take the chance of being seen friendly with somebody from the lower levels, let alone kiss one. "I guess," he said weakly.
Buffy pulled Chris along and reached Pike in his wheelchair with Fred standing behind him, holding the wheelchair's handles. "This is Winifred Burkle, Fred for short," Buffy introduced the petite girl. "She's really smart, math wise."
"Hi," Fred greeted friendly shaking his hand. A smile was on her face, one that was almost as bright as it would have been before Gunn was killed. "You're a lucky guy, I've been told. Cherish Buffy deeply."
"Hello, thanks, and I will," Chris answered while Buffy blushed, and silently denied her words; she was the one who was going to cherish him.
"And this is Pike, my first boyfriend, first guy I fell in love with, he came slamming back into my life a few months ago," Buffy explained nervously.
Chris looked at the wheel-chaired guy, who looked up at him. The guy was scruffy, a goatee and stubble around it. He somehow pulled it off though, because he looked good, even in a chair. Pike reached his right hand up, and said, "Congratulations, man. Do make sure you don't hurt her, 'cause if you do, I'll take this wheelchair and bash your head in with it."
"Pike!" Buffy called out with some anger.
"Sorry, Buff, but that's the way I feel," Pike told her cooly as Chris grabbed the guy's hand.
Once more self-conscious at the basic good-looking nature of /another/ of Buffy's boyfriends, he said nervously, "Don't worry, I won't be the one to hurt her. Is that . . . permanent?"
"The wheelchair?" Pike asked and Chris nodded. "Nah, I've already taken short walks, just can't do it for long periods of time yet. A good long period of training, practice, and exercise and I'll be up and about like before."
"Well, good," Chris said cheerily, feeling guilty about being disappointed, nervous that he was half expecting Buffy to run back to one good-looking ex-boyfriend, soon there'd be two of them walking around.
"And finally, already introduced, our singing alien Lorne," Buffy said with a smile. Chris shook his hand.
-----
Xander watched with a sad smile as Jessica Mears danced and sang on the stage. He wondered briefly if she like some other singers playbacked. He found he really didn't care. It was a strange mixture of sadness and happiness when he watched her sing, and on occasion recognized Anya in her. On the one hand it reminded him once more of the fantastic woman and unborn child he lost, on the other, it was as if Anya wasn't quite dead yet. The fantasy of Anya actually being on that stage dancing and singing to her heart's content filled him with a pleasant warmth, accompanied by the sad pain.
He looked around. He saw Willow and Tara dance together. Faith seemed to be making a lap dance for Wesley despite the fact that he was standing. Dawn and Li-Huei were busy with a heavy make out session to the tunes of the music, and Natalie was giggling as Archie pulled her playfully off the ground.
The song came to an end, and Jessica, exclaimed, "Phew!" Her breathing could be heard through the microphone, while she was pulling her shirt back and forth like a fan. "Now that's tiring, I really need a breather," Jessica said and a stool was wheeled onto the stage, which had an aisle deep into the public, who cheered. She took the stool and wheeled it down the aisle saying, "I think you all like the next song, one that is better done gently sitting down." Once on the round island at the end of the aisle she pushed a handle down with her feet and the wheels moved up, the legs of the stool now standing solidly on the floor. She sat down upon the stool, named the song and the crowd went wild. The romantic music then started, and she started singing the romantic song.
Xander looked onward again, his gaze falling to his right on the final couple. Buffy and her new boyfriend Chris were clinging together. Chris seemed to gently sing along with the song, while Buffy planted a kiss in his neck and snuggled up close to him. Xander smiled sadly, feeling the lump in his throat forming, wishing Anya could still do that to him. On the other hand, Buffy and Chris seemed to fit together well, even though Dawn had complained to him about how they met. Xander shrugged, the way him and Anya started their relationship would have made many people think their relationship was doomed, but only death had torn them apart. Perhaps they would make it. Anyway, to him they seemed good for each other now.
Fred was taking care of Pike in his wheelchair. Both were having a good time, and so was Cordelia and Angel. The latter seemed to enjoy himself immensely, although obviously not enough to get one moment of true happiness. Xander remembered Angel's complaints about the horror's of modern 'drivel', so probably the sheer experience of being at a concert with a lot of other people, probably for the first time in his long life was what made him enjoy it. Night time concerts had its advantages for vampires. Xander frowned at that, but decided against searching for vamps in the crowd with his senses; there wasn't much he could do about it anyway without flying up, and he was here to enjoy himself. Vacation was necessary for everyone on occasion. Tiffany and Zoey were singing along loudly, swaying next to each other, and both having attracted a few guys who were watching them.
This song came to an end too, and Jessica put the wheels back under, then rode the stool back to the main stage, and said, "All right guys, I've got take a short few minutes break to change, and then I'm back." Indeed, in the two minutes she was gone some dancers and light show kept the people interested. Then Jessica's voice sounded once more as something raised out of the floor, "The next song I'd like to dedicate to two people who are in the audience at this moment, and you know who you are." By the time she finished talking, the elaborate set piece had risen up, and Jessica was sitting on part of it. She continued, "Last week my bodyguard was killed by some real nasty scum bags, and they tried to kill me too." The crowd grew silent at that announcement, and Jessica continued, "I still mourn his passing, and luckily for me, two heroes came around that defeated the killers and saved my life. This one's for you guys." The music started, and Jessica started a swinging dance, and somewhat rewritten version of 'thank you' originally from a very different artist.
Faith looked over to Xander and gave him a grin. He grinned back, and continued to listen to the song. Halfway, all the ones of the group able to feel energy looked up in shock, which was almost all of them. Xander instantly jumped up out of the crowd. With a whirl of golden energy he transformed, gaining thicker muscles, black fur almost everywhere on his body visible wherever his clothes allowed it, long hair to below his shoulders, golden irises with normal pupils, and the rest of his eyes bloodshot. A moment later the tall back wall of the set was breached. There was debris flying everywhere from a basketball-sized hole. Xander landed in between Jessica and the ball that was coming right at her and he squatted the ball up into space.
The crowd went silent, so did the music and Jessica, who looked at her hero now protecting her again. A moment later there was a sparkling on the scaffolding of the tall back wall, and revealed a mostly purple-wearing, blue-skinned and white-haired guy, sitting casually on a metal beam. His eyes crackled with energy, and his power was huge. "So, you're the one who killed my Xiara, eh?" Stribog asked, taking in Xander's fourth super form.
"Your Xiara? You're somewhat out of touch, aren't you? I destroyed that bitch over a year ago," Xander said, with a fearful singer behind her.
"I was somewhat detained. I'm Stribog, I'm the god of wind and thunder, and I will kill you for killing my wife," he said, and then blurred forward. His punch was blocked, and an uppercut later sent him high up into the air.
A moment later Stribog fired a purple energy ball blindly down, completely missing Xander and going straight for several houses next to the stadium in which the concert was being held. Xander blinked away, moving in front of the energy ball and squatted it away. A moment later Xander fired his own energy ball which the god avoided.
The crowed suddenly went wild at the fight; apparently they thought it was part of the show. Jessica suddenly turned fearfully back around, looking at the people. Her hero she couldn't even see anymore; there was just two streaks of light, one golden, and another white-blue. "Get out of here!" Jessica suddenly screamed hysterically. "This isn't part of the show! This is real!!" When people only screamed encouragements to her she jumped up and down terrified, yelling, "This isn't fake, damn it! Go! Run!" Then she had enough of it, and ran off the stage herself. Behind the set she suddenly slowed down and wondered if running really helped any. Well, she'd be a moving target instead of standing still one.
In the crowd, Xander's friends looked up, feeling the raw power the two combatants were putting out. "Shit," Li-Huei said, and then looked at Dawn. "Even if you all combined your strength, you wouldn't even be able to scratch him, could you?"
"Not really, no," Dawn said and powered a bit, floating off the ground. Li-Huei followed her with some strain, the others lifted off in the air as well. Buffy carried Chris, while Angel took Pike and his wheelchair. Wesley took Chloe and Archie, while Tara pulled Tiffany along. Their power rose, Faith transformed. The power washed over the rest of the audience, and then they slowly started realizing this wasn't a show.
"I'm going to transform, because we might have to get going quickly," Buffy told Chris, holding him close. "Don't be frightened, it'll still be me." Chris nodded, utterly dumfounded at the whole happening. He knew about flying of course, and the energy balls, but transforming, and especially Xander's transformation and the immense speeds he and the evil being were going at . . . With a wash of energy his girlfriend's energy suddenly turned blue, and her hair crackled with electric energy. The energy that he felt pulsing through his body made him feel safe somehow, the whirling hair looked kind of odd. Buffy opened her eyes slowly and looked at Chris. He flinched for a moment at the pools of blackness her eyes had turned into, and then went closer looking into her nervousness-filled eyes. It was really quite easy to spot when he looked deeper into those eyes, behind the black holes it were still the beauty's eyes.
"You're amazing," he said in awe, and she smiled.
Meanwhile Xander and Stribog were going at it with even greater power. Xander avoided a blow and landed one of his own, hit him with an energy ball and then crashed a knee in the God's gut. The god doubled over and flew backward, firing several powerful energy balls down. Quickly to keep the balls from leveling the city, Xander swished from one ball to another, gathering them all and firing them back to the god. Stribog looked in astonished and barely avoided the ball. The two powerful warriors paused for a moment.
"You're very powerful, /and/ very skilled," Stribog said with some surprise. Xander didn't say or do anything, taking in the god, letting all his senses go over him. He wasn't even nearly as skilled as Xiara, as if he hadn't been around - detained - for a very long time. But he had power, enormous reservoirs, and he healed rapidly, /too/ rapidly. Whatever damage Xander had inflicted was already gone, this Stribog healed faster than Glory, faster than Ram. To inflict serious damage on this bastard, with the city below. Stribog continued his speech, saying, "But it isn't enough."
Stribog streaked down to Xander landed a devastating punch, sending Xander streaking down. He grimaced, and stopped himself before he crashed into anything and shot back upward. He landed a powerful punch in the god's gut, doubling him over. Xander opened his fist at the same time, and with a yell fired a powerful energy beam from his hand. Stribog yelled out with pain as he was shot upward. Xander then changed the chi in the beam, and it suddenly ignited in fire. The fire shot up the beam almost instantly and Stribog was set ablaze. With a roar of defiance, Stribog threw his arms wide, raising his energy. A moment later Xander's energy beam and fire was dissipated. He emerged with quite a deep wounds in his chest, and burn marks across his body. Xander watched as the wounds healed in no time, the god grinning. "You can't win," the god said.
"I've heard that before, from your wife in fact," Xander said coldly, getting fed up with this game. He shot forward landing a flurry of blows, that Stribog partially parried or avoided. The following Tanekakosa Stribog avoided and pushed aside, while down below the stadium started emptying rapidly.
The god then fired several massive blasts, that Xander took to his chest, dampening the explosions with his life force so the city wouldn't be destroyed. They hurt, Xander knew he was hurt, but he didn't really pay attention. He shot upward, grabbed one hand, and with a roar crashed an uppercut into the pit of Stribog's shoulder. Xander didn't let go, nor let he slow his hand. A moment later Stribog screamed in agony as Xander finished tearing off his arm. Xander shot back a bit, holding the god's arm. Stribog grimaced at Xander, growling, "You will pay for that."
Xander felt the arm in his arm dissolve, even as slowly the shoulder wound closed and a small arm started to grow. Xander looked down for a moment as the blue goo that had been Stribog's arm fell down, splashing on a roof of a flat building. Xander looked back up and watched the new arm grow steadily. "Damn it," Xander said and shot forward, firing multiple energy balls that Stribog had difficulty with bashing aside with only one arm, soon to be two once more. Xander crashed both fists into the god, one after another, into the stomach, and up across the god's cheeks. Xander then shot away, squatting aside his one energy ball that was going toward the city after Stribog had squatted it aside.
Xander returned to the god a moment later, watching as the arm finished regrowing. The god grinned, shaking his arm for a moment getting it all back in order. "You can't beat me, not without destroying the city?" Stribok mocked. "Even if you had the power, you will never beat me, you fool. You won't dare to hurt the people below." He laughed then.
Xander narrowed his eyes at him, tail dangerously flailing about. He looked down at the city for a moment, then turned back, and said, "I know, that's why I've been trying out ways to destroy you without hurting anyone below. I know now I can't, but if I didn't know I have to sacrifice some people before, thanks for the tip."
The god looked astonished, and then Xander sped forward smashing his arm across the god's stomach, grabbing a hold. With an oof the god doubled over and was then rapidly flown upward. "What?" he groaned not comprehending.
Once Xander was high enough for his liking he let go, sending the god onward, who stopped himself, looking stunned as Xander charged a massive ball of energy between his hands. He pulled them back then, charging it with more bluish energy, and he yelled, "-Tanekakosa Annihilation-!!"
A moment later the devastatingly powerful energy attack shot upward, straight at Stribog. The god's eyes widened in shock as he saw the attack widen rapidly, so he couldn't avoid it. He put his hands against the ball, and screamed at the pain and strain of trying to keep it from engulfing him. To no avail, for the ball continued, sizzling along his arms, hitting his body. A moment later there was a huge, massive, devastating explosion, shooting outward in all directions.
Xander had stopped firing the attack by then, and charged a shield in the shape of a bowl above him. A moment later the explosion crashed against his shield, which held. In this shape, Xander could capture a whole lot more of the explosion than if he had made a flat one, or one with the round edge pointing upward. He shot down, expanding the shield, capturing the energies before they hit the city below. But even the shield couldn't hold it all.
Some of the energy, a lot of them energy balls flew over the upper edge of the shield and then down below. Faith saw it happening, and called to Buffy, "Let's go, B."
Buffy nodded, handing Chris over to Willow and blasted off toward a different part of the city where energy balls was raining down from where Faith had gone. A few moments later the Super Slayers arrived at their chosen locations - residential areas - much too late to keep the first balls from impacting which had already destroyed several buildings. There they started deflecting energy balls, or blocking them from hitting the city.
Meanwhile Xander - still shooting downward - was slowing down, steadily getting more control of the cooling down shockwaves of energy, who were no longer blinding white. With a roar Xander stopped his downward momentum, and then flew upward, steadily increasing speed, pushing the energy of the explosion back up. Thus the shield and it's bowl edges went up as well, containing more energy, although the initial horizontal moving part of the shockwave was long gone and was rolling across the atmosphere, not doing much damage. Xander went higher and higher, faster and faster. Finally he brought the upper edges of the shield together, enclosing the energy in a ball. Once more he gathered his energy into his hands and then shot the ball into outer space. Several moments later the ball shrank as the energy dissipated harmlessly. Satisfied, Xander then shot down and started deflecting the excess energy away from the city.
After a short while they were done, and he, Buffy and Faith joined together, looking painfully at the about twenty burning buildings, and another ten collapsed ones. "Damn," Faith muttered as she took in the carnage.
Xander nodded, saying, "All the gods be damned."
Buffy looked over, and said gently, "Do you think this is the one behind killing Anya?"
"No, this guy seemed to have been imprisoned until recently," Xander said demure. He then looked down at his bloody chest, and murmured, "I'm going to need some time in the regeneration chamber soon."
-----
The next day inside the hotel, Buffy was sitting in Chris' lap at the (late) breakfast table. She giggled lightly as she fed him a piece of bread, then kissed him on his cheek. Dawn rolled her eyes at the scene, stuffed her mouth with her sandwich and then left in disgust. Xander watched from his position leaning against the counter and smiled, happy for Buffy. She and her boyfriend seemed to be hitting it off really well. His chest was wrapped in some bandages.
Tara and Willow were eating as well, while most of the Angel team had had breakfast earlier and went about their work. Last night, all those able had been helping with getting out any survivors. Most of the fires and explosions were attributed to some mundane things, others to terrorists fucking up mixing explosions, one on a successful terrorist attack, and a few more on straying meteorites, although Xander guess most people, especially those at the concert knew better than the official story. Xander wondered how long authorities could keep spinning things around before people completely stopped believing them. Humanity was waking up, piece by piece, he knew.
"I'd like to return to Sunnydale," Xander suddenly said with a sad smile. Willow, Tara, and Buffy looked surprised at him.
"You sure? You won't be moping about all day, doing nothing?" Buffy asked bluntly.
Xander nodded, then smiled, saying, "I'll go looking for whoever was behind Anya's death, and he, she, or they will wish they were never borne."
Willow and Tara smiled sadly, and Tara said, nodding her head quirkily, "We'll help."
Buffy smiled, biting off a piece of bread, and put the remaining half into Chris' mouth, and she said, "See, I was right, spending some time here did make you feel better." Xander gave her a smile and nodded in acceptance.
So Xander went upstairs to pack.
-----
An hour later the reunited Scooby Gang was standing outside the hotel, out on the pavement. They had said their goodbyes to most of the Angel Team, only now waiting for Cordelia and Wesley, who were due to return from the hospital picking up her test results. The Angel Team themselves - except Angel of course, due to crispy consequences - were also waiting with them. It didn't take very long before Cordelia cam bounding down the pavement, Wesley right behind her.
Xander smiled at her, then was surprised when the ex-cheerleader suddenly jumped and flew around his neck. He dropped his suitcases and wrapped his arms around her quickly. "No more decay! No more decay, Xan! I'm not getting my damaged brain cells back, but my mind is powerful enough to handle the visions! I haven't lost any unnatural amount of brain cells!" she yelled extremely happy. She then planted a huge kiss on his lips, pulling back and laughing. Everyone, including Xander himself, looked astonished at Cordelia for a while, then they smiled at her.
"That's great, Cordelia!" Xander said with a huge smile, twisting the girl around happily. "But about those brain cells not coming back, we'll have to see, we won't let up on your training." Cordelia happily nodded her head.
Willow said with confusion, "I thought Human brain cells /can't/ divide, or heal."
"That's true now," Xander said with a smile.
Cordelia laughed and said, "I won't die anytime soon! Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Wesley, his faced covered in lipstick, grinned at the scene. Faith came over, and mock-jealously said, "Cordelia, you kissed my boyfriend! You skank!" Smiling, Wesley wrapped Faith in a hug, and she melted in his arms.
Cordelia grinned, and said, "Sorry, but I couldn't help myself!" She got off Xander and jumped Lorne next, hugging him happily, kissing him too. The brunette then moved on to Buffy, hugging the startled Slayer deeply, continuing on to her boyfriend, not really noticing who she was hugging and yelling her happiness at. When she had hugged all of them, leaving a flustered Chris and Tara, Xander grinned, picked up his suitcases and walked onto the street after checking for cars.
"Okay," Xander said, looking up, about ready to fly away. His eyes, and all the other's suddenly widened in shock and fear. Seemingly out of nowhere a huge boulder, about the size of a good, five-story house appeared above Xander and came crashing down. In reflex he dropped the bags, powered up fully and placed his hands under the boulder. It was much too heavy and he sank to his knees, smaller and smaller, straining with all he had against the huge rock. His muscles and ligaments threatened to tear and be destroyed, and he couldn't transform. The strain on his body just keeping from being crushed was too much, he didn't have anything left to initiate a transformation to any of the Super Saiyan levels.
He suddenly stopped grimacing, the pressure was gone, just like that. His widened and he looked shocked around, seeing the others looking shocked back at him, except Cordelia. Her hands were holding her head, blood oozed from one nose hole, and her face was grimacing in pain. "HURRY! TRANSFORM! CAN'T HOLD LONGER!" she screamed out suddenly, staggering back.
Xander's eyes widened further, and roared, his golden energy swirling around him. A moment later Xander in his fourth level, even as he stood up, yelled, "I got it, Cordelia! Let go!"
Cordelia relaxed, and then dropped bonelessly down. "Cordy!" Lorne yelled, lunging for Cordelia, as did Faith. A moment later both of them held the telepath and eased her slowly down to the ground.
"-WHY WON'T YOU DIE-!?" a hysterical voice screamed out, and Hera teleported in, floating in the air. She had already charged a ball of energy, with both hands above her head. Her face was twisted in hysterics, panic, terror, possibly all the way into insanity. Her glowing green eyes looked fearful, and she fired the ball of energy. A moment later it crashed against Xander and exploded. Xander had had just enough time to raise his shield, but staggered on the combined force of the energy ball and the weight and bad leverage of the rock he was holding. With extreme difficulty he kept from letting the rock go, possibly crushing his friends, but rolling over the other way if he managed and crushing innocents. Hera raised her hands again, powering a bigger energy ball. As thunder clouds gathered above her, she screamed, "-Witches! Asteroids! Poison! Demons! WHATEVER I DO YOU WON'T DIE!! NOW DIEEEEE!!-"
Everyone looked in shock at the spectacle, except Willow and Tara. In reflex they had grabbed each other hands the moment the goddess had started charging her second attack. They didn't even fully grasp what they did, completely in sync they just brabbled an improvised spell together, gathering their energy, and fired off an oddly pink, orange, golden, and purple ball of energy just before the goddess fired her own. About a meter from her, the two energy balls collided, and instantly several bolts of energy shot away from the collision point. A moment later there was a powerful sound as the two energy attacks reacted together. All the good guys could see was swirl of energy with a rounded edge, the energy pulsing around the edge and seeming as if there was a way down into nothingness.
Hera though could see straight into the energy vortex, a small wormhole. Massive gravitational forces sucked at Hera who was immediately pulled down. "-NO! NOOOO-!!!" Hera screamed in utter terror, struggling away from the vortex, but she was too close. Some energy jumped upward and latched onto her, as if she was too close to an electrically charged object. With a scream of such terror and pain it sent chills down everyone's spine Hera disappeared into the vortex, and then it collapsed and disappeared.
Everyone looked at the empty air astonished, the thunderclouds above calmed down some, but lightning still flashed. A moment later Xander tossed the boulder up just a little, went up himself, circled backward and kicked hard. Part of the boulder cracked and shattered, sending some debris raining down, the rest of the boulder though flew upward. A Tanekakosa later the boulder was no more. Xander twisted to Willow and Tara, and exclaimed, "What did you do!?"
The witches looked at each other for a moment, and Willow answered, "We don't know, it was reflex, we just mumbled something about deflecting and banishing, and fired."
Xander blinked and looked down at Cordelia, and asked Faith or Lorne, "How is she?"
Faith started to answer, but Cordelia groaned and weakly sat up. "Okay, although I've got a splitting headache - ouch, aargh - and I think I want to spend a few days on bed. Ow." She wiped away the blood above her lip and looked at it for a moment.
Wesley spoke up, "We better get you to the hospital and have you checked out again, just in case."
"What happened?" Xander then asked of Willow and Tara.
The witches looked at each other again, and Tara replied, "We're not certain. Some kind of interaction between the magic and her attack. I've got the distinct impression of something temporal though."
"Can you get us too follow wherever she went?" Xander asked hastily, his anger boiling.
"Basically," Willow answered embarrassed.
"Basically?" Xander prompted impatiently.
Tara explained, "I can sense still enough energy to magically follow, but we don't have the power to breach the space time continuum again like that. That was her and our power combined."
"You don't have to!" Xander said with sparkling, bloodthirsty eyes. "The interdimensional drive can do that, you just make sure the ship follows her! She's the bitch that had my Anya killed, I'm going to return the favor. Come on!"
Xander grabbed Willow and Tara, pulling them up, making them yelp in surprise. He looked at Wesley, Lorne and the weakened Cordy for a moment, and the men nodded, telling him they'd take care of the seer. "We're coming with!" Faith and Buffy blurted out together. Everyone looked at them, and they at each other. They smiled, and Buffy added, "There's no way we're staying behind, we help avenge Anya's death."
"Me too!" Dawn exclaimed already lifting in the air.
"No!" Xander exclaimed. "Not you, Dawn, you stay behind. You two come on then."
"But . . . !" Dawn was about to protest, but Xander blasted off already, as did Faith and Buffy, and Dawn slumped, knowing she couldn't keep up.
Xander called back, "You gotta stay here, hold the fort, Dawn! After Spike you're the strongest!"
Li-Huei grabbed Dawn and rubbed her shoulders. She turned to look at him in disappointment.
-----
Some time later, the five of them were in Xander's ship. It shot up into the atmosphere, and out of it. He looked back, seeing Willow and Tara sitting across from each other on the ground. Faith and Buffy were on either side of Xander, looking confused at the many blinking lights. "Ready? Then I'll get this going," Xander said.
The candles the witches were using burned brighter and they nodded. Xander pushed the ignition button, and then the interdimensional field started twisting around the ship. A moment later it started glowing purple, as Willow's and Tara's magic fused with it, then the ship disappeared from view.
It appeared once more in space. Xander looked through the windows, as did the Slayers next to him. Willow and Tara got up a little woozily and joined them. Earth hung there, but none of them saw any familiar cities, just the continents.
"Uhm," Willow muttered, closing her eyes, as did Tara.
The blonde opened her eyes sooner, surprised, and said, "If I'm right, we're about ten thousand years in the past." Willow nodded in agreement.
Xander frowned, and then resolutely steered the ship for re-entry into the atmosphere. When it did, it glowed brightly, the air super heated around it. Thus piercing the heavens the space and interdimensional ship rocketed toward what would much later be China. There was hardly a living soul and other beings in that hemisphere that didn't see the piercing light as Xander's ship streaked toward ground, where, close to the coast, on a rock outcropping, it landed.
To Be Continued . . .
Oh, my! The Scooby Gang is in the past! What trouble will they get themselves into now!? Find out next time on Buffy Z - Episode 66: But It's Just a Peach!? The Legends Begin!
Author's notes:
End of the first part of the Hera saga! Next part: The Journey to the West! As always; feedback please! Oh, and a little brain teaser: name all the hints from episodes previously that his trip through time was coming!