You guys want Buffy, so you'll get Buffy

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?