Chapter 10: "Dance to the Jiggy-wiggy" (Will the next apocalypse in line please take a number and be seated

Chapter 10: "Dance to the Jiggy-wiggy" (Will the next apocalypse in line please take a number and be seated?)

Buffy saw the energy blast heading straight for her! With nowhere to go, she muttered a desperate prayer and instinctively raised both hands to ward off the oncoming blast – realizing too late that her Slayer abilities had been locked down for this exercise. Ten seconds before it hit, her life flashed by her eyes one more time. She was then suddenly surrounded by a golden glow similar to The Eternal Champion's – the energy shooting towards her hit and blew her across the cave floor and through the cave wall with a sickening crunch. Confusion and pain was the last thing she felt as blackness claimed her.

The first thing Buffy saw was Richard's smiling face as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"What the hell happened?" She asked, furious at him and at herself for letting her guard down that time.

Richard laughed and looked at her in open admiration and respect. In the time she had been out cold, he had reverted back to his human guise and was bending over her. "My dear, you've just survived a plasma blast at one-eighth strength! Near impossible since it would have completely obliterated a normal human, including the cave wall behind you and the rest of the mountain beyond it. The fact that you're up fifteen minutes after that fact that you should be dead is better than I had hoped."

"Huh?" Was all Buffy could say.

"It seems your newfound powers have found a way past my blocks on it and managed to save you by sheer instinct – with some newer abilities that I never foresaw."

"Come again?" She still wasn't thinking straight.

"Somehow," Richard continued, "You were able to create a strong energy shield that partially protected you from the blast and the rest of your enhanced Slayer constitution did the rest. Though I don't know if that shield of yours can run only by instinct or you can purposely create one is still a question that's up for debate. Honestly, I am beginning to admit having inadequate know-how as to the limits of your growing powers."

"So you're saying that my shield thingy may not pop up whenever I want it to or not, plus other wiggy stuff might come out of me?" She chewed that one over aloud and shook her head. Definitely not wanting the crazy way it was sounding now. What the hell is she becoming now? Fear grips her as she realizes that her humanity might already be slipping away from her because of all this. Richard suggested they continue sparring to test her changing abilities. What they found was slightly unsettling to say the least. It was as if the powers of the first Slayer and what she was now (which they haven't the foggiest idea what) had merged and made her into a newer class Slayer. Buffy joked about probably being a new and improved model of sorts. Richard shuddered at the eerie, yet almost accurate analogy to her current state of being now.

Richard mused with her and reviewed the sparring match they just had. He was getting a little worried when she wasn't able to dodge that live one after he had been alternately throwing light plasma blasts mixed with harmless pyrotechnics at her. Granted that she was able to get around the others, he very nearly paralyzed himself with fear - since she wasn't able to dodge the last one. And that last one had been real energy ammo rather than a fake round. He almost expected himself to resurrect her lifeless carcass again, but what he didn't anticipate – was her natural ability to subconsciously get around his way of blocking her powers again and unleash an energy field of her own to protect herself. And to think there were only few things that could shock him of late. Looks like Buffy's new ever-growing Slayer powers were added to the list.

"A new breed of Slayer." He said aloud, and chuckled in spite of himself.

Buffy heard the comment and had to admit he was right. It's not as if every Slayer can come back from the dead twice in a row. As the rules clearly went, Chosen Ones weren't immortal or god-like; the short lifespan made sure of that. As if Richard had read Buffy's train of thought, he wondered, too.

"I just hope there's not going to be a "third-time's-the-charm" thing, because seeing people die again and again is not a my idea of a good time. Too much drama, and not enough box of tissues."

Buffy felt her jaw drop in dread at his reasoning and then felt her insides do a flip-flop as her mind caught the distress and confusion coming from far away. She reached for a nearby cave wall outcropping to steady herself and felt Richard's questioning gaze flood over her.

Richard Todd's eyes narrowed as he, too, felt a disturbance of mystic origin come over him. Acting much like a Jedi in a Star Wars flick; he searched with his thoughts as to the cause of the anomaly. What he saw shocked him to the core, so much so that he grabbed hold of Buffy's hand and opened his mind to her to let her see what was going on. She gasped in horror!

Buffy saw her friends being surrounded by vampires and demons!

REAL demons.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

TBC