You guys want Buffy, so you'll get
Buffy! And for those who wanted Buffy
more powerful – sheesh, some people just don't love the element of suspense
these days. But anyways, if it weren't
for people like them – we writers wouldn't have any life. hehehe
Chapter 8: "Tinker, tailor, and Vampire Slayer Trainer" (And he thought HE had problems)
"Oh my God, he's killing me!" Buffy thought.
She ran a difficult obstacle course
at fifty degrees below zero right across the north polar plains swathed in
clothes that makes a polar bear look like the beast had summer furs instead. Its been a whole week since she was brought
back and none of her friends and family – with the exception of a very happy
peroxide vampire, who was "tortured" into silence about her return – knew she
was back from the grave. A week since
she started to relearn how to use her body in a way a woman and a warrior had
used them in her lifetime. Then Richard
Todd a.k.a. "Ja'Redd, The Cosmic Protector" told her she was due in for some
heavy re-training – and zapped both of them into the North Pole. Buffy saw Richard ahead by the horizon and
though tired from a ten-hour non-stop marathon, pushed herself faster to reach
him. All she could focus now while
fighting from being a frozen corpse was the very thought of strangling one of
the most powerful beings in creation once she got to him. Looking ahead, she noticed the bastard
grinning like an idiot as if knowing what was on her mind.
"Had enough yet?" Richard asked, just
wearing thin dark clothing, complete with a long black coat to finish the
ensemble. He didn't even feel the
cold.
"Just what exactly am I doing here
again?" She panted, pulling up short
from where he was.
"Making sure that you wouldn't get
yourself killed again." He continued,
giving her a hot mug of chocolate that appeared out of thin air. "And making sure you know how to use your
fully enhanced Slayer abilities now."
"Come again?" Buffy couldn't believe what she was hearing.
She certainly didn't feel any different than before. Then she realized, taking a long look at where her polar run
began and gasped. Ten hours and she
wasn't even breathing all that hard from the exertion.
"How is this possible?"
"The energy from the vortex." Richard explained, sounding a lot like Giles
in "professor mode. "I removed as much
as I could of the remaining energy still lodged in your body, but not all. Instead of making it a danger to you, I
changed your sub-molecular DNA to accept the energy. In doing so, enhanced your already "enhanced" abilities. Essentially, you'll still be human up to a
point."
"Up to a point?!" Buffy said in
shock, "What the hell do you mean by that?"
"If it wasn't easy to kill you
before," He answered. "You're gonna be a lot harder to kill now."
Then Richard ticked off an invisible
list of her newfound abilities: "You've
now got a faster healing rate – about three times your original slayer
healing. You're physical strength more
than doubled, and so did your endurance. All five senses have been seriously jacked up – no pun intended. And you've begun to show some invulnerability
to certain things of which I don't know much yet the extent. Even though you're now all this, you can
still be killed if you don't watch it. Bottom line, Buffy, is that you are NOT immortal. Just a whole lot harder to kill than before
- which is why I made this little exercise so you can maximize your new
potential before you join your friends again."
Buffy didn't know what to say; she
certainly didn't know what to do now that she heard what Richard said about her
new "gift" and how he was responsible for it. They stood in silence until she found her voice again. "So what do I do now?"
"We train." Richard said, and they were no longer standing across the frozen
plains. They were now inside a huge
cavern; illuminated by minerals yet undiscovered by man.
"Okay," Answered the Slayer. "Lead on
Master Yoda."
"You're going to regret that."
And suddenly as if someone pulled a
light switch off, she couldn't see. She
panicked. "What the hell did you do?" She said, her voice full of fear.
"I removed your ability to see." Richard explained, sounding much more like a
marine drill instructor. "You and I
will spend some time in here – no matter how long - re-mastering all of what
you've got and more. I've taken your
sense of sight, Slayer, now you show me what you've got. So don't hold back."
It went on for some time as Buffy
learned on her own just how her other senses were to survive in total
blindness. Both stopping once in a
while for her to rest and recuperate from her injuries; and also eating when
she could. Once she passed, she could
see again. But then that's when she
found out she couldn't hear. "C'mon
Buffy." Richard taunted her, speaking directly into her mind. "Defend yourself!"
And so it continued, as all of her
major senses were taken and each returned as she fulfilled each test the
Protector threw at her. Once that was
done, she was ordered to fight some one hundred humanoid constructs he animated
utilizing all of her new abilities. -
Each construct had enough strength to do her in.
She made short work of them in less
than ten minutes.
"Hmmmmmnnn." Richard thought. Then he had it. "Let's
try to make this interesting shall we?"
"What?" Buffy smiled, enjoying the
exercise. Taunted him as well. "What now oh high Master Yoda?"
That's when she felt lightheaded.
"Now you and I will fight." Richard answered. He threw her a hard right cross and she flew towards the cave
wall, slamming down hard onto the surface and landing on the floor nearly
unconscious.
"What the hell did you do to me this
time?" She was barely able to speak due
to the pain lancing up her side. She
noticed her lip was bleeding, tasting coppery.
"I blocked out your powers." Richard grinned evilly. "You're going to fight me without them. Whereas I on the other hand, am going to use
all I've got against you!"
"Welcome to your final exam!" He roared as he transformed into his cosmic
alter ego.
"Oh shit." Her eyes widened as she saw Ja'Redd powering up a plasma
sphere. Just one touch from one of
those could seriously destroy anything in its path.
And then he let fly at her.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, back in Sunnydale, Max and
the others where frantically trying to translate the newly acquired tablet from
Spike. And no amount of interrogation
they could devise could wrest from the peroxide vamp the full story as to how
he found it in the first place.
Two weeks pass and suddenly Giles had
it. As the once again former Watcher
handed Max Quaylen the rough translation of both tablets – even with the middle
one still unaccounted for – gave off a sense of dread like no other. The Scoobies looked bewildered at each other
and then back at their mentors.
"We're gonna need help." Max said.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
TBC
Er, excuse me – is this still
confusing or what?
