Lady Knight... Saber? IV



Disclaimer: The Protector of the Small belongs to Tamora Pierce and Random House, and Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 belongs to ADV. I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.



Linna wheeled Keladry into the rehabilitation and physical therapy gym that Sylia had reserved for them. Kel's eyes hit her eyebrows at the range of strange equipment before her, but didn't say anything.

"Don't worry, it won't eat you," the Knight Saber joked. "The parallel bars are for practicing walking, those are weights to build up strength in your legs and arms," she pointed to each gadget, describing what they could do. "There is a pool you can swim in over there."

"Swimming?" Kel said wistfully. She hadn't went swimming in years, because it wasn't considered proper by her year-mates to see her in nothing but a loincloth and breast band.

Linna grinned. "Its supposed to be really good for people who have been paralyzed. I'll go get you a suit," she said cheerfully and trotted off to find her a bathing suit. When she returned, Kel's eyes nearly bugged out. It was a soft blue, with cream accents, and would barely cover her torso...

"I hope you don't mind this, it looks to be about your size, and since its just you and me... I'm not sure what you are used to, I mean, if its too dowdy, its an old style, most people I know of who wear this style..." Linna sighed, hoping that Kel wouldn't mind the rather modest bathing suit.

"You want me to wear THAT? Its- its-"

"Ugly?"

"Improper!"

"Well, what else would you swim in? Or swim nude?"

Kel balked, then reconsidered. She wanted to swim. No one was there but her and Linna. Linna was wearing a bit of cloth that covered even less than the one she had given Kel. Not that Kel minded...

The thought was a mere blip internally, she barely even recognized it as such. Had she noticed what she was thinking... She might have panicked.

"You'll have to help me get this thing on," Kel said stonily. She was brought up for girls to wear much more. It felt odd, to know the what would have gotten her stoned or arrested as a child was considered fashionable here. Then she shrugged. New land, new customs, and new ways of doing things were all old habits to her.

Kel had little trouble removing her short sleeved, white shirt, which Linna had called a 'tee-shirt' (something else new to her) and then the halter called a 'sports' bra'. She then unfastened the calf length skirt from around her waist, and then the loincloth like thing called panties.

The Lady Knight managed to get them down around her knees, before levering herself up enough for Linna to remove them the rest of the way. Kel wasn't embarrassed- she was used to the ladies' baths of the palace, but Linna didn't look all the perturbed either.

"We wear skin tight clothing called soft suits, under our Hardsuits," Linna said, after Kel's questioning look. "And public baths. I know that Westerners are supposed to be really shy about nudity, but you aren't. That makes things easier," she commented, and helped her get the one piece suit over her legs and up to her waist.

"I'm an Easterner," Kel protested, pulling the front of the suit over her breasts. They started to wheel over to the pool.

"Have any feeling in your feet yet?"

Kel nodded. She had been able to move her toes this morning. The rest of her legs tingled, pins and needles. When she had mentioned this to Sylia, the woman had been surprised, commenting that she was recovering very quickly.

"This water smells odd," Kel commented to Linna, looking at the very blue waters of the artificial pool.

"It's treated with chemicals to keel algae from growing in it," Linna replied, before helping Kel out of the chair, and to the edge of the pool. Linna then jumped in- the water was about four feet deep at that spot. They eased the paralyzed knight into the water, and Kel wanted to squeal with delight, though her Yamani mask kept her from doing so. The water was just the right temperature, below body temperature, feeling like silk against her skin. Wiggling her toes, she moved her arms to tread the water while Linna kept her head up. The pins and needles feeling in her legs increased-

Kel suddenly yelped as bolts of agony made her lower half clench, her teeth grating. Her hands clawed into Linna's arms, making the other girl yip in surprise and pain. The knight thrashed in the water, causing waves to splatter over the sides of the pool. The yells worked to a full fledged scream- and Kel's eyes rolled up in the back of her head. She went still, and nearly slipped completely under the water before Linna snatched her to the surface.

"Kel? KEL!" Linna exclaimed, shaking her, then lightly slapping her face. Kel's eyelids fluttered, and she groggily realized someone was holding her. Linna thought that if they weren't in water, she couldn't have held Kel up- the woman was very solid.

"Whaaa?"

"Are you all right? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Kel groaned, now that the pain was gone, she felt like she was part of the water she was submerged in. Her bones didn't exist anymore; at least, she was fairly sure they didn't. Hissing softly, she got her feet under her, because she didn't like having someone need to hold her up like that-

She stood.

Linna gaped.

Kel blinked at her, wondering why she looked so shocked- and realized she was standing.

Even as she realized it, her knees buckled, but she could feel them again. She could feel them, could tell they were weak and was able to attempt to stiffen her knees.

"MY LEGS!" Kel cried joyfully, in a most un-Yamani manner.

Pulling away, she held herself up in the water, by clinging to the side, then laughing, and launching herself out to swim. Her legs attempted to drag, straining, and her swimming was awkward- but they were moving. The fear that she might never walk again, that had been shoved to the back of her mind, broke free. Kel started crying- and she felt an arm around her shoulder. The tears of joy and released tension kept flowing, but Linna didn't say anything, just gave her the comfort of her presence. Kel was grateful. Words wouldn't have been appropriate right then.

~*~*~*~*~*~



Nigel and Sylia looked over the specs for the newest Hardsuit they were building. The conceptualization had gone along easily enough. Kel's brain waves, while unusual, fit well with Sylia's- not as a match, but as a harmonization. This meant that a suit could be built for her- but it would be different than the others…

The various sections were assembled.

"Here is one of my own cores," Sylia said softly. "I've re-tuned it, so that it will work with Kel's brain waves." Carefully she inserted it into the new Hardsuit, watching as it shrank down to the specifications of its wearer. It absorbed the cold light, and Sylia smiled faintly, looking at the enamel patch that was the only thing Kel had requested. It was a shield shaped badge, a gray owl on a field of blue, with crossed glaives outlined in gold below it. The entire badge was bordered by two stripes; the outer blue, and the inner one was cream. It went on the left shoulder.

"That oddly fits," Nigel said flatly. Turning, the two lovers left quietly, leaving the polished powered armor there.

~*~*~*~*~



"What?" Sylia yelped, listening to Linna babble over the phone. "She can use her legs now? Getting feeling back should have taken weeks! Let alone use! Bring her back here, we need to do some more tests…"

Linna, on her end, just nodded, watching as Kel went through her last set of weight training. She had swam for a good hour, just enjoying the water and that she could use her legs, albeit awkwardly. Linna had then had the ungainly task of dragging her out, and getting her to the chair again. From there, they had tried various weight machines- which had amused Kel no end.

"I'm used to using my own body weight and a weighted harness for these kinds of things," the knight had remarked, as the stretched and flexed the legs. Kel would have slight spasms, like muscle cramps on occasion. They didn't stop her for long. Linna had to wonder about how quickly she was recovering.

"Sylia wants us back at the Pit," the Green Knight Saber told her friend, and Kel nodded. She felt a little wistful that she wasn't going to get to use the other 'toys' there, but she knew when to obey an order.

The trip back was uneventful. When they arrived, Linna shuddered, seeing the machine that they had strapped on her when she went through her trial to be a Knight Saber. The memories of the simulation were not… pleasant.

"Linna, would you please assist me?" Sylia said, businesslike. Linna bit her lip, and nodded. Nene walked in, carrying some more equipment, and Kel stared as she had little white disks attached to the sides of her head.

"What are you doing?" Kel asked in concern, looking around at the assorted faces.

"I told you we had to give you some boomer parts to help with your damaged nerves. In the normal course of healing, you should have taken far longer to get feeling back, let alone use of your legs. This is highly unusual. I need to see what is causing this, and if it will cause ill affects down the road."

Kel nodded, and she grinned despite herself, as she was helped from the chair. The surprise on Nene and Sylia's faces as she moved her legs, not yet able to support her weight, to get to the harness, was very satisfying.

Then she was strapped in.

The other women left, and the room darkened, and Kel wondered if this would be like the Chamber of the Ordeal.

The lights came back up- and she was in some kind of armor. It was green, and she was hearing the voices of Linna, Nene and Sylia. Her body moved to get into some kind of giant tube, as a door opened to it- and energy crackled around her, and she was then shot into the air like an arrow. Nene was beside her, telling her how to use her jump jets- and then they both bounced off the flat roof below them. Kel was almost sick. She was flying! All that- that emptiness beneath her-

Rushing, they both entered an eating house, and saw Priss smacking on some kind of monster with a pipe. It looked female... with a giant tongue. Kel wanted to flinch, but the spidrens she had seen, and the killing devices, were just as bad. Yet, this looked so grotesque...

She heard Sylia telling her to crush its core- and she charged in. Only her armor- she realized it was a Hardsuit- had frozen up. Shock hit her, then anger. She knew to never go out fighting in equipment that was in less than perfect shape!

LIGHT!
"Ugh," Kel said eloquently. She looked around, panting.

"You just had use the records from my first time in a Hardsuit, didn't you?" Linna sighed, as Nene giggled beside her. Sylia didn't look at them, but answered softly.

"She needed to see what would happen when things go wrong."

Linna sighed and nodded. "She doesn't look too scared, though. In fact, her readings were much calmer than mine were, when you compared them."

"Yes," Sylia murmured. "Her artificial nerves have apparently increased the speed of her reflexes. Yet... it seems like her own nerves have started to heal... and they have integrated with the artificial ones."

Sylia tapped her chin thoughtfully. "The reason people can't go as fast as they think, is because it takes so long for their nerve impulses to travel from brain to spine to muscles. This could have either the effect of reducing that lag, or else just helping her heal faster... Either way, this will be fascinating to study."

"It won't hurt her?" Nene asked, eyebrows raised. Sylia shrugged.

"It shouldn't, but we'll keep monitoring the situation."

"What, in the name of the Black God, was THAT?" Kel called out, as Nene and Linna came down to help her out of the harness.

"We were wanting to see how you would react to being in a Hardsuit, and why you are healing so fast. Other than the boomer parts, that is."

Kel reached over and started to look over the restraints, and managed to remove them, bracing her legs. Gasping, she realized that she was able to hold herself up, so long as she stayed leaned back. This was... wonderful!

~*~*~*~*~



"Um, Nene, you mind showing me how to use this again?" Kel asked, as she cautiously poked what the genius hacker had called a 'keyboard'. The Knight could understand the 'board' part, but keys should have been something else… It was another of those things she was learning to take as a given in this new place. She found that if she suspended her disbelief about something being impossible, it was easier for her to accept it. Like this computer, for example…

"You enter the information you need to retrieve, and this will search the databases- think of them as thousands and thousands of books compressed into a machine. That's how you do a search."

"I'll take your word for it," Kel muttered, shaking her head. So much, without use of the Gift…

"Priss is going to take you shopping this afternoon," Nene said, her attention on her screen. "She said she wanted to know what a real knight was like and if she had company Leon wouldn't bother her…"

Kel sighed and blanked out what Nene was saying after getting the pertinent information- the younger woman liked to ramble. It wasn't that Kel didn't enjoy talking to someone about her age- it was that Nene loved to 'techno-babble' as Linna had put it. Kel would be able to pick up one word in three. It was worse than learning another language, because even though Nene KNEW Kel had no idea what she was talking about, she would do it anyways.

Still… all of this was fascinating…

About five hours later, Nene was pulling the crutch bound Knight away from the computer she was practicing on.

"But I want to see the rest of the planet from space! The sky hook project is so interesting! The information on past wars- what is a nuclear bomb? Is it like blood rain?" Kel was nearly babbling, because she felt like her head was about to burst. So MUCH information, and it was so easy to access! Maps, histories, sciences! All of it!

"A nuclear bomb is- well, its like this, a lot of very little things implode, then explode. Makes a big, big boom. I don't know what blood rain is so I can't say, why don't you ask Sylia when we get back?"

"Okay, okay," Kel muttered, looking around. She was gradually becoming more accustomed to this new world she was in. She had cried her tears about being lost, and knew that she could handle it now...

"How does this work?" the Lady Knight asked as they made their way to a bus- which Nene had called mass transit.

"Combustion engine."

Okay, maybe Kel didn't know as much as she thought she did...

The arrival back at the Pit was quiet, until both Nene and Kel looked into the middle-

And saw a jet black Hardsuit.

"Its beautiful!" Nene whispered, and Kel had to agree. It was completely matte in finish, taking in all the light and giving nothing back. Over the fingers were sheathes for four blades, and the Mindelan badge shone proudly in counterpoint to the darkly handsome mecha.

"Its got some... special features," Sylia said with amusement, after she was glared at by Nene for making another 'too advanced suit for a new kid'. "We'll work on those after you have tried it on. There is the changing room, we'll be up in the control room. Do you need any help?"

Kel considered for a bit- the open suit looked like it might be hard to haul herself into with nothing but her crutches. (Metal crutches that were adjustable. If she ever got home, she would suggest them to Duke Baird.)

"A chair, or someone down here incase I call on my face," she requested, and Sylia went to get a stool.

Kel obligingly crutched over to the dressing room and saw, for the first time, the 'soft suit' that went underneath the Hardsuit. It made the 'swim suit' she'd worn with Linna look modest. It covered everything- but everything was shown. She stripped off her clothes and started the process of putting it on, which was not as easy as it sounds when one had trouble standing. Get it on, after a number of fun and colorful acrobatics and flavorful cursing, she did.

"Its pretty comfortable," she said, looking down at herself. The other knights would never think of her as a guy again, after seeing her in something like that...

Crutching out, she looked at the odd contraption.

"It will be cold at first," came a voice over the intercom. Kel nodded, and carefully balanced one knee on the stool and maneuvered a leg inside. She felt rather like she was doing some gymnastics by the time she had finished.

The Lady Knight muttered some unladylike things about it just being 'cold'.

Her legs were completely braced now, and her arms fell naturally into the hands of the suit, and she pulled herself up. The suit locked over her- and she paused. The feeling now was wearing nothing at all- it seems to respond to any thought and action. What was even more wonderful was that she could walk without the awkwardness of the crutches!

Mentally she cheered- when Sylia's voice came over the intercom.

"Ladies, there is a report of a mad boomer in the city. All of you save Kel and I will stay here, we need to contain it."

~*~*~*~*~



Blayce the Boomer was confused- he was now a passenger, holding on for dear life has his new body attacked buildings and people randomly. This new form had mutated, changing into something even more monstrous than the Killing Creations of his making. It was odd... strange...

Intoxicating...

He loved watching the blood flow, seeing the beautiful suffering and wonderful wanton destruction... Blayce always had. Here was the power he wanted, to take lives, to feel the crunch, the crush of bone and metal and flesh under him.

Metal squealed in protest as he landed on a vehicle, and he was soon surrounded by the civil guard, if he was correct...

FOOLS! They could do NOTHING to harm him!

Had he still been human he would have laughed, instead his new body made a screeching sounds-

"THIS IS THE AD POLICE! YOU ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED!"

Meaningless noises-

"Wait," hissed a nearby voice-

"Its the Knight sabers!"

Looking up with everyone else, Blayce saw three mechanical forms above him...



To be continued!