-----28-----
The rectangular rock formation stood in the middle of the room. Several people around it were cleaning it with delicate brushes. Tables with papers and the occasional computer showed this was a university lab. Some parts of the rock formation were straight, except for the small symbols carved into it.
"Uh, hello," a British voice called.
One portly man in university professor clothes turned and asked, "Rupert Giles?"
"Ah, yes," Giles answered as he passed the door frame. The portly man put his tools down on a table.
"Good day, I'm Doug Perren," the man said, walking over to Giles and guided him in. "Thanks for coming."
"Oh, not at all, I'm . . . flattered to be asked," Giles said, shaking the man's head walking toward the rock formation.
"How could we not?" Doug answered with a smile, "I called up Lou Tabor at the Washington Institute, and he said we had the foremost expert on obscure relics right here in Sunnydale."
"Oh," Giles said, smiling embarrassedly, "I . . . uh . . . he exaggerating a little. Ah, is this . . ."
"This is our baby," Doug answered with a proud smile, "Construction workers dug it up outside of town. Don't have a clue what it is. Any ideas?"
Giles touched the rock and took a better look at it, and said, "A few. None I'd care to share until I can verify." He then checked out the writing, and asked, "You, uh, have carbon dated this?"
Doug shrugged and said, "Results are due back tomorrow. I'll go on a limb and say 'old'."
"Yes, it-it does seem to predate any known settlement," Giles said, moving to the right and frowning at a groove. He looked to his right and found a jar with a scraper. "May I?"
"Sure, go right ahead," Doug answered friendly.
Giles picked up the jar, and scraped more rock not belong to the artifact away, and the groove becomes more clearer, straighter. He took the scraper back and tapped it clean in the bowl, and asked, "I assume you haven't tried to open it."
"Open it?" Doug asked surprised and leaved over, looking at the groove. "Well, I'll be damned, I thought it was solid rock. What do you think is in it?"
"I haven't got a clue," Giles answered looking up and down the tall rock.
"I guess we won't know until we open it," Doug answered with a slight green.
"Indeed," Giles answered, frowning as he went over the writing. "I was hoping though, you'd consider keeping it closed, until . . . uh . . . until I have been able to do some research; to give us an idea what's in it?"
"You don't like to be surprised?" Doug asked him with a smirk.
"Not as a rule, no," Giles answered taking a step back and taking in the almost two and a half meter tall monstrosity. "Can I take an imprint of the writing?"
"Okay, we'll wait, and go ahead," Doug answered Giles just a slight hint of disappointment in his voice. Giles went to the table to get some paper, then a pencil to strike it on the paper.
-----
"Uah, this makes no sense."
The statement was final, and filled with disgust. It rang through Buffy's room for all to hear. At the same time as stating it, Buffy slammed her piece of paper on her desk. Next to her sat Willow who quickly took the paper and said, "No, of course not, you just have to . . . oh, yeah, this doesn't make sense."
"I told you," Buffy said with a pout, "I'll never complete finals this way."
"Hey, but at least you know it doesn't make sense now, that's progress," Willow said enthusiastically, drawing a disgusted look from Buffy. Obviously saying Buffy was even stupider than she thought she was, or had been, was not a good boost.
The Slayer snorted, and said, "I can't believe we hat to learn this stuff. Once we graduate highschool what do we need Chemistry for? Or Physics, or . . . or even-"
Buffy was just about to continue; starting with 'English', when Xander spoke up, "Build bombs."
Buffy and Willow turned around to regard their friend with wide eyes. They had all but forgotten he was here; but there he lay, on the bed studying himself. He looked up, and said with a smile, "You can blow demons up with them . . . and if you combine Chemistry with Physics, you might be able to figure out a anti-vamp bullet. Means you can kill them without ever having to get near one."
Buffy and Willow regarded their smiling friend for a moment. "Okay, Chemistry," Buffy suddenly said, turning to her redhead friend, "come on, Will, focus here. Chemistry, and then physics, then the rest."
"Okay," Willow said, quickly turning back around to the task at hand, wanting to say thanks to Xander for getting Buffy to focus on learning, while at same time perturbed what the promise of violence could elicit in Buffy. Then again; easier and safer means to keep demons meant longer living Buffy, so perhaps it wasn't so surprising.
-----
"Nihau." Buffy, Xander and Willow, who had just arrived in school, turned around at the familiar call. Lotion joined them, and said, "School year is almost over. Is Future Husband looking forward to vacation."
As Willow and Buffy groaned, Xander answered, "Oh, yeah; nice trip to Japan. Booked and ready."
Willow and Buffy looked oddly at Lotion, as she openly with wide eyes checked Xander up an down. At first they thought she was openly ogling Xander, but then they saw her do the same to herself, looking back at her ass. Confused they decided to ignore it, and Willow asked her, "So, how is your finals studying going, Lotion? We've been crunching it hard yesterday. Will have to continue doing it tonight. Buffy still needs lots of help."
"Hey," Buffy whined a little.
"Oh, just fine, chemistry is easy," Lotion said with a smile.
"Of course," Buffy muttered in annoyance.
Xander smiled at Lotion, and asked her, "Can you make a bomb?"
"Sure, but I could do that before the chemistry; Amazon warrior training: once defeated great emperor Min's army with explosives," Lotion answered with a grin.
"I think I'm falling in love," Xander told the brunette with a smile.
"Hey! I can make bombs," Willow protested quickly, making Buffy give the studying Wicca a questioning, wry look. "I can make them bigger than her too."
"It's not the size that counts, but how you use them," Lotion answered sagely.
Buffy turned back to Willow to see if her redhead friend had a comeback. She hadn't, for she looked down and muttered something in obvious annoyance. "I like you," Xander answered with a little grin, making Lotion perk up a bit more.
"Okay, that's it - what are you doing?" Buffy suddenly asked, looking at Lotion, stopping the group's progress. The Amazon looked confused. "That's the third time in as many minutes you looked at Xander's body and then your own."
"Checking for scales and fins," Lotion answered, folding her arms across her chest, making it even more impressive than it already was.
"You were never anywhere near the steam showers!" Buffy wailed in disbelief and shock, making several of the other students look toward the group, speculating what she could possibly have meant.
"And who's fault is that?" Lotion answered in a huff, as the students turned away once more, the conversation to normal barely audible levels. "I can't believe it: who ever heard an all-male swim team? I could outswim anyone of them, even /with/ their dumb gene therapy. Besides, Xander was, and I was near him and the others. Could be contagious."
Buffy groaned, and said, "It's not contagious. Tell her, Willow." Buffy nudged Willow, prompting for an answer of the present brainiac. Said brainiac however, was zoned out a bit with a slight smile on her face. Inside her mind, Willow was replaying the scene: first Lotion came out in a drool-worthy bathing suit, and Lotion being drool worthy herself . . . Damn it was evil that her rival had to be so delectable. Of course, Xander in a Speedo afterwards, had positively made her, and she was pretty certain Buffy and Cordelia who had been watching the swim team training with her, cream her panties. The good-looking boys in Speedos before both of them, hadn't helped matters of course. As for bathing suits though, the only one Willow could think of that would look better in one than Lotion would be Lexa. Most definitely time for a trip to the beach . . . "Huh?" Willow said, throwing her head to her right and at Buffy, "Oh, no, not contagious." Willow felt herself go red, but the two battling shrews didn't seem to care. For a moment she wondered if defeating the couch together, made Lotion and Xander come closer, but quickly dismissed it. He seemed pretty interested in herself, lately, having demanded to go over to Buffy's studying for their 'three-way friendship' sakes.
"Better safe than sorry," Lotion said in response.
Buffy rolled her eyes, and said softly, "The fish monster you turn into, will rip out of its own skin. All changes underneath, looking at your skin won't help at all."
"Ah, good, there you are," a British voice sounded, and Giles caught up with them. "Come along now, quickly."
The four of them looked at each other, Buffy and Lotion's squabble forgotten, and they quickly followed. They soon entered their familiar headquarters: Sunnydale High library. As the four of them entered behind Giles, they found that Oz and Cordelia were already there. Jenny emerged from the office. "So what's the big emergency, Giles?" Cordelia said annoyed.
"Well, I found something disturbing," Giles said, walking to the corner of the table, while the others sat down. "Or rather, someone else found something disturbing and they asked for my expertise," Giles said with an imperious voice.
"Just when I was enjoying the calm," Buffy muttered dejectedly, but then put in a little effort to pay attention.
Giles cave her a look, and the Slayer placed her legs demonstratively on the table, but otherwise kept silent, waiting patiently. Giles sighed, and went to explain, "Yesterday, I was called by the archeology department of Sunnydale University; I was asked to take a look at something they found. Construction workers dug up a rectangular stone box. It was mostly covered with rock outcroppings, but a few sections were bare, and they contained inscriptions. I made prints. I have not yet had time to fully translate the texts; they are partially still obscured and I'm not well-versed in Akkadian-"
"Let me guess," Xander interrupted the watcher. "You want us to help with the research, and you have an idea?"
"Indeed," Giles said, and took off his glasses. He looked at his charges seriously, and said, "This is very important, although I don't think I have to remind you. My suspicion is Acathla; which means it would be prudent for some of you to research him as well, until we are certain that he is not it."
"Or we know everything about this Acathla," Oz pointed out calmly.
Giles nodded, "Indeed."
"Don't leave us in suspense, Giles, what /do/ you know of this Acathla that makes you suspect it?" Willow asked the watcher with eagerness for information.
Giles wiped his brow with the blouse on the back of his arm, and put his glasses back on, then said, "I know that Acathla was turned to stone by some great warrior, then imprisoned and buried. There was something about Acathla that made him extremely dangerous - Apocalypse dangerous. If someone would be to release him - make him alive once more . . . well, I don't think I need to paint you a picture."
"Hell fire, monsters, damnation, blood, guts, death," Lotion supplied.
Xander answered Giles with a grin, "That about sum it up, Giles?"
"Quite, let's get to work," Giles said with a grim look.
"Uh, why don't we just put it away again somewhere?" Buffy said, raising a finger. Everyone looked at her. "Well, it's been there for who knows how long, nobody bad on the Hellmouth, so why bother?"
"I like to be certain, and have a way to stop it, just in case it gets freed somehow after all," Giles spoke with a tone of finality, and Buffy groaned.
And so they went to work . . . actually they went to class, they went to work during breaks. Finally, later that day, Buffy was the one who hit pay dirt. "Aha! Acathla; that's him right?" Buffy called out loud, and they all turned to her as one. Quickly they went over, and Giles reached for the book. "Hey!" Buffy called in protest, and yanked the book to the side, making Giles miss. "You always do the big announcements, this time I find something, /I/ get to make the big announcement."
"Buffy," Giles said, and the Slayer stared him down. He sighed and took off his glassed to clean them, while giving her a go ahead gesture.
Buffy nodded in satisfaction and took the book back to her lap. She went to work at the text . . . saying nothing, deciphering the Latin with difficulty; with the ever returning researching the Scoobies had decided to take the old languages given on Sunnydale High, Latin, the standard, being one of them. Of course Buffy wasn't very proficient yet. After some silence, while everyone become more impatient by the second, Jenny spoke up, "Some of us could probably figure it out-" She was silenced by Buffy's angry glare.
"Hold your horses, I'm doing this," Buffy stated petulantly. Some more deciphering, while whispering among the others broke out, which slowly turned to murmuring. She glared at them again, and they attempted silence. Finally she said, "I got it, pay attention everyone." They did, and she got up, holding the book in one hand, trying to look officious - not surprisingly she failed miserably. "Acathla. Acathla was a demon brought forth to start Armageddon, to sow misery amongst mankind, yada, yada, yada." The others groaned at Buffy's editing. "Hey! Pay attention!" Buffy called out, and went back to the book. "It was given the power to create a dimensional vortex, and thusly suck . . ." Buffy blinked, looked closer, and said, "Ball? Suck balls? A demon that sucks balls? What's so great and terrifying-"
As Oz and Xander suppressed a shudder, Willow blushed, Jenny gave Giles a sympathetic look for more hardships than one, and the various other girls scowled at the blonde, Giles interrupted Buffy, correcting with annoyance, "No, not ball, you idiotic woman, globe: as in the Earth. That demon sucks Earth into hell."
"Oh, right, yeah . . ." Buffy replied perkily, and then frowned, "That's not good."
"Duh," Cordelia said, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, Quiet, I'm not done yet!" Buffy called out, silencing her friends. "All right, let's see, where was I, oh yeah. The demon was stopped by a holy knight, who plunged his blessed sword into its chest, upon which demon and sword turned to stone. They then sealed him in a stone box, and hid it in an unknown location."
"Right on top of the Hellmouth apparently," Willow commented with a frown, "Now why would anyone hide something like that in demon central?"
"Exactly because of that reaction," Xander said sagely, making her and several of the others look over at him. "Nobody will suspect somebody would hide it here, so nobody would go looking for it here."
Lotion then enthusiastically finished, "And if someone does find it, they probably weren't looking for it, which means they're probably good people, and either hide it someplace else or get rid of it once and for all."
"Like us," Oz commented calmly from his relaxed position next to his girlfriend.
"Right, which means the question now becomes, how /do/ we get rid of it?" Jenny asked the assembled committee.
"Ged reed of whad?"
The Scoobies turned around as one and looked directly at the new arrival. "Kendra!" Buffy was first to exclaim, a smile on her face. She placed the book on the table, and hurried over to the South American Slayer. Buffy hugged her, then broke the hug quickly, and asked sternly, "How did you get here?"
"Bought a teeckeet," she answered and pulled said ticket from her bag as proof. The Slayer was as made up as before, wore a pair of tight jeans, and a green tight t-shirt, over which was a open jeans jacket. Finally she wore a backpack.
"Good," Buffy answered with a smile, nodding, then walked her over to the group. "I think you know all of them- oh, except Oz. Oz, Kendra, Kendra, Oz. She's the second Slayer."
Multiple greets were exchanged between the Scoobies and the happy return. "So why are you here?" Buffy asked her sister Slayer. "Wait. Let me guess. You watcher saw the omens of a dark power rising on the Hellmouth."
"Eendeed," Kendra answered nodding.
"Mr. Zabuto did not contact me," Giles said with a light hint of annoyance.
"Meester Zabuto tought eet prudent, to arrive weetout anyone being able to find out, meening seecrecy even from you," Kendra explained quickly.
"Well, I guess someone is going to try and revive Acathla after all. Wonder who," Xander said, pondering the question.
"Or perhaps the archeologist is going to open the box after all, and wake Acathla without knowing what he's doing?" Willow supplied with a little dread, looking over to Giles.
"I doubt that, but I can give him a call he most certainly shouldn't open it," Giles said, and promptly went to do that.
"What ees dees Acathla?" Kendra asked softly as Giles made the phone call.
Buffy picked up the book and handed it over, confident that Kendra was much better at Latin than she was. Kendra read through it, with everyone watching her in anticipation, and then looked up with a frown just as Giles finished the phone call. "Dees does not sound right. When was eet found?" Kendra asked.
"A few days ago," Jenny supplied the Latin Slayer.
Kendra looked at Jenny and announced, "Dat ees wrong. Thee great demon dat me Watcher found out about, has been beesy accumulating power for several weeks now. Thee demon has been preparing a reetual. Thee omens and prophecy talk about 'ee small power riseeng too greadness', dat ees not dees Acathla."
"Oh, great," Cordelia commented sourly, "as if one Armageddon level demon isn't enough, now there are two of them. When will it end?"
"When Armageddon succeeds, or they are all dead," Oz observed coolly, making Cordelia, Willow, and Xander look at him. He just shrugged.
"May I be so bold to assume that that sentence is not the only thing you brought?" Giles prompted the South American Slayer.
"Eet ees not," Kendra answered and pulled her backpack off her back. She opened it, and pulled out a stack of books.
"Oh, joy, more reading," Cordelia observed sarcastically, while Willow beamed at the prospect.
"Wait a minute," Xander said, somewhat pissed. "Are you telling us, some dick demon has actually been doing this under our noses, and apparently kept all his minions in check not doing anything, to make it appear all is quiet?"
"It seems that way," Jenny said, with a expectation of a retort.
"Oh, my god," Xander said with wide eyes, perhaps even fear. That shocked most who knew him; Xander may have made jokes about being afraid, but even then he never really seemed afraid, and after his lovely vacation in China, he'd never seemed afraid at all - more like the opposite. "This is not good. Spike wasn't exactly stupid, but if this guy did that . . . well, Spike was smart, this guy would be brilliant. He'd be a strategic master mind. This is not good, seriously not good."
-----
They were researching, Buffy and Kendra setting next to each other. Buffy had been talking with the girl; someone who hadn't been here when she had to dust Angel, her subsequent screw up with the love spell, and her possession gave her a good distraction. Kendra in the mean time, while talking with Buffy and researching was building up the courage to ask /the/ question. Finally she had built up enough, and asked, "Buffy, I do not see Angel? Are you ant eem steell . . .?"
Kendra trailed off well planned, but would have done so if she hadn't, because a pained look came over Buffy. "I . . . he . . ." Buffy said softly, pausing to look down. Then she looked up and whispered all but choking up, "He lost his soul, and I had to dust him."
"I am sorry," Kendra answered her softly.
"Don't be; I would have broken up with him instead, corpse and Slayer don't mix," Buffy said, waving Kendra's compassion away.
"Eet must steell 'urt," Kendra whispered, and Buffy nodded.
"Oh, bollocks," Giles all but exclaimed.
Everyone looked up with dreading looks. Various books in front of all of them - except Willow and Jenny who gently chanting in a pentagram. "If I combine these two, and I have my calculations right, then the rising to power will happen tonight," Giles said in explanation.
"You were expecting anything less difficult?" Buffy asked him cynically.
The flames of the candles on the pentagram star's points burned a little brighter, and then went down again. Willow slumped a bit, and Jenny turned her head to Giles and the others. "He's put up a lot of wards to keep us from detecting his magic. We found his location though: the church."
"/The/ church?" Buffy asked stricken; she still had nightmares about Angel almost dying there, only hardly ever as other nightmares had taken their place - although sometimes those blended with the first.
"Didn't we burn it down?" Lotion asked annoyed.
"I hate dat place," Kendra muttered with a frown, "lost me favoreet shirt dere."
"Apparently we didn't burn it down enough," Jenny observed with a growl.
Buffy sighed, and said, "You never do, and if you do, somebody else rebuilds it." They looked at her, and she said with a blush, "I've done some gym burning in my time."
They nodded remembering. "Hey, look at the bright side, Buff," Xander said with a big grin, making Buffy frown.
"Fire is bright?" Buffy guessed.
"Ripping shirts of hot babes," Xander said with a big grin.
"XANDER!" several female shrieks sounded, and some implements were thrown his way, which he laughingly attempted to deflect with raised arms.
"I concur," Oz said.
"Oz, you perverted male!" Cordelia growled at him, giving him a light slap on his arm, but smiled surreptitiously at the dirty comment nonetheless.
Oz looked at Cordelia, and told her, "I've heard better from you." Kendra snickered then, joined one by one by the other girls.
Xander just chuckled. "Jokes aside, let's get weapons and go find him now, before this fellow gets to implement his plans," Giles said, as he visible put the strength-boosting ring on, and then they were off.
-----
A short while later, the whole group arrived at the church. They cautiously entered through the front door, checking for traps but finding none. When they entered the main hall from between some machinery, Buffy couldn't help but look over where Angel had hung. Along with the others she went silent, slightly widening her eyes at what she saw. There, at the other half of the church, whoever was the big bad, had done some redecorating. Candles lit the place, making it look yellow-hued. Most of the fire damage had been cleaned up. Upside down crosses, ankhs, and pentagrams adorned the walls surrounding the focal point: the altar, in front of which were two very big pentagrams. They were on the floor; candles at the star ends, just like Jenny and Willow had earlier, only bigger, two of them, and apparently drawn in blood. Some fifteen vampires were close by the altar. All but a few of the benches were gone; either pieces of them lying burned on the ground, or removed by the vampires.
"Well, look at that." The vampire's voice dripped with glee and sarcasm. He wore glasses and stepped forward from the other fourteen. He was vamped out, and apparently the leader. "So, you found us, one of mine disobeyed orders perhaps?" he said with an evil grin, eyes glittering yellow.
"Prophecy and omens," Buffy told him, as they all took the whole place in.
"Really?" Dalton said with a grin, "I'm important enough for prophecy /and/ omens, I'm flattered."
"You die!" Lotion yelled, and she, Xander, and the two Slayers charged forward.
"No, hold i-!" Willow cried out, but stopped as she was too late. About three quarters of the way of the church hall, a deep purple energy wall with oily colors within shimmered as the four of them slammed into it, and then dropped back on their asses. "There's a shield," Willow finished weakly, as the four looked from their down position with dismay at the vampire.
"Bloody hell," Giles muttered.
"Fuck! This is bad," Cordelia cursed, while Jenny just looked astonished, and the four downed warriors slowly got up.
All the vampires chuckled, including Dalton who took a few steps forward. "Nice of you to find me, but as you noticed, you're rather a little too late," Dalton said, tapping the invisible shield with his right index finger, causing it to ripple into visibility. "This won't come down, until after we've ascended."
"/We/?" Xander asked with disgust.
"Two pentagrams, two vampires, me, and my friend Marius over there," Dalton spoke with a big grin. He had already won. "There's no way in, shield surrounds us completely, including the bottom and the ceiling."
"Ant you are?" Kendra asked the vampire with a grimace.
"Oh, the prophecy didn't name me, huh? Name's Dalton, don't forget that name, I'll rule this world soon," Dalton told the dark Slayer with a smile. "Now if you would excuse me, however much I like this conversation, I'm somewhat busy." He then turned around, and went to one of the pentagrams, pulling out a book that he started reading in.
For a moment the Scoobs looked in frustration, then the warriors turned around and looked at Willow and Jenny. They joined and did a quick examination spell, then Jenny said, "Sorry, far too powerful for us to breach."
"RAH!" Buffy growled, turned abruptly and started walking the way they came. "Lotion, you get your mother, we're going to need her, and she did make a deal with Xander about that. The rest of us, we gotta get to the library and find a way to beat them . . ."
Everyone stayed put for just a moment, then followed the blonde out.
-----
"This is really bad," Buffy said as they entered the library. They had all been silent on the way back, thinking over their predicament.
"Duh," Cordelia said depressed.
"Can we do anything? Could the rocket launcher work?" Willow asked hopefully.
Xander shook his head, "No, he was one of Spike's minions. He knows about the launcher, he's gotten a shield that we can't penetrate."
Jenny sighed, and added, "Which would also mean, that whatever he's doing, will make him too powerful for the rocket launcher. He won't go through all this trouble just be blown to bits like the judge."
They reached the table, and Giles leaned heavily on it. "So basically, we're screwed," Cordelia summed the situation up quite nicely.
"He did make one mistake," Giles observed thoughtfully, and they all looked hopefully at him. Giles looked up, and explained, "Noticed when he touched the shield? It's two-way, that means it protects us from him as much as it protects him from us. He'll have to lower it before he can hit us; he can't just kill us safely from behind his shield."
"Wheech means that when ee lowers eet, we can hurt eem," Kendra summed up the little glimmer of hope.
Buffy felt the need to point out defeatedly, "Of course, he won't lower it until he's pretty much invulnerable anyway."
"So basically, we're screwed," Cordelia repeated with some annoyance; why did they always have to try and be smarter than her?
"This isn't fair!" Buffy exclaimed with wide eyes. "Where's the laser canon? Where's the super spell? Where's the damn magic anti-demon weapon? We're the good guys, aren't we supposed to get some weapon dumped in our laps so we can defeat this thing?"
"Unfortunately, this isn't a Hollywood production," Willow said sadly, while Xander perked up.
He blinked, and then slowly walked around his friends toward one still opened book. "Actually," he started with a slight grin rapidly growing, "we /do/ have a magic, holy, anti-demon weapon. You're a genius, Buffy!" He placed his hands on the table around the open book.
"I am?" Buffy asked and looked over to him, as did the others. Then they looked down at the book, reading which it was.
Giles was the first to realize what Xander had in mind. "-Are you off your bloody rocker?-" he exclaimed. Everyone looked over to him, and he quickly schooled himself, then continued, "If you take that sword, Acathla will wake up, and suck the world into hell itself. It'll be worse than suffering from Dalton's rule!"
"Then we'll just have to destroy him before he does that, won't we?" Xander said with a steadily growing grin: growing more cocky.
"And how are you going to do that?" Giles asked him annoyed.
Xander's grin grew to split his face, and he said, "Giles, seriously, step into the first century. Or should I say /boom/?" Everyone looked at him expectantly, as if he was mad, or both. He clarified, "Remember I said I took a few choice extras from the military base: a little C4 should do the trick."
"Why don't we just use this stuff on the big bad Dalton then?" Buffy asked a little confused.
Willow answered the blonde sagely, "Same reason the rocket launcher won't work."
Xander added, half correcting, "More so, Dalton is mobile, and you don't throw those explosives. Acathla is nicely a rock statue."
"Real nice plan, dork, but you're forgetting one thing," Cordelia said superiorly, "For all its holiness, it's still a normal old steel sword. Might be able to kill demons, but you'd have hurt the demon first; and somehow I don't see a demon that can survive rockets be much impressed with a steel blade."
"We can help with that," Jenny said with a hopeful smile, "I have to get a spell book from home, but I know there's a spell that can enchant a sword and make it far more sharp and unnaturally tough. It should allow it to penetrate almost anything."
"Go," Buffy said. Jenny nodded and was off to get the spell book.
"That leaves just one thing," Oz butted in, ever the head of calmness, "we need a way to get that sword out."
Everyone but Giles nodded, and prepared to get books. Giles observed, "This is utterly insane, waking up a demon that can destroy the world to vanquish another one."
"The riskier the road, the greater the profit," Xander said with a big grin. "I'm getting the C4 . . . and the rocket launcher; might keep 'em busy. Hey, Buff, you get to fire the rocket launcher after all."
"But I don't get to blow anything up with it," Buffy said with a her 'unfair' pout and tone. Xander grinned and was off.
Giles sighed. Shaking his head, he muttered, "I'm doomed."
-----
"Found it," Oz announced. Lotion and Deo had arrived half an hour earlier. Jenny had returned a few minutes after that, and she and Willow were now practicing and memorizing the enchantment spell. Xander had returned with the equipment not soon after.
"This one doesn't require you to be pure evil and have killed enough people to fill several stadiums?" Willow asked as they all came over to look.
"Nope, no mention of it, just that no one evil can use this," he explained quickly.
"Good, can you do this, Oz?" Xander asked the werewolf. Oz raised his eyebrows as if to say, 'Are you kidding?' and nodded. Xander nodded, and said, "Then you and I are going to get our magic sword, the rest of you confront Dalton."
"Uh, shouldn't we wait till you got it?" Cordelia asked a little perturbed.
"No time," Xander said with some annoyance, but not at Cordelia, at the situation, "we don't know when he'll be finished, if he's ready before I get there, you have to keep them busy and in that place; cramped quarters, possibly not fully charged just after whatever they're doing, and known battlefield might be the only advantages we've got, and we have to use 'em. We have to fight Dalton there, and nowhere else."
"Great, no we're cannon fodder," Cordelia said depressed.
"Happy to, Future Husband," Lotion said with a slight bow, making Cordelia roll her eyes.
-----
"You are . . .?" Doug Perrin asked from behind the door.
"We are; you got Giles' call?" Xander stated business like withing Sunnydale University.
"Yes, okay, come in, I don't quite get- . . ." Doug started.
"You'll see," Xander cut him off, as he and Oz, wheeling a moving cart, walked into the lab. They walked straight to the box, Xander pulling his small battle axe from his back.
"Hey!" Doug said, but before he could do or say anything else, Xander slammed his axe hard into the groove. The horrifying sound of splintering rock followed - at least it was horrifying to the archeologist.
Xander and Oz grabbed the door and with straining Hyena-chi-enhanced, and werewolf-enhanced muscles forced open the door. Inside was the petrified demon; all stone, tusks, and a sword stuck in his left chest. "That's a strange piece," Doug said enthusiastically at the interesting archeological find, a new art work, almost forgetting about the unsafe way it was freed. Without saying a thing, Xander and Oz stepped half into the box and grabbed the statue on either end. With a little strain, they picked it up. "What are you doing?" Doug asked with a frown that came a third from confusion, a third from concern, and a third from annoyance at the amateurish handling.
The super strong humans moved the demon over to the cart, and placed him on it. "Let's move it," Xander said with haste, and grabbed the handle, while Oz moved to the back to hold the statue, keeping it from falling off.
"Hey, you can't do that!" Doug said concerned now, instinctively hurrying after them.
"Yes, we can, didn't Giles say so?" Xander asked, as Oz kept his characteristic silence.
Doug shook his head, and said, "No, yes, no . . . he said to let you do whatever you need to do, wheeling it away isn't part of what I thought he meant. It's the universities property, there are archeological guiding principles, and . . . Hey!"
Xander and Oz sped up, continuing to wheel the demon through the night-silent school. "Don't worry, we know what we're doing. It's all safe." Oz actually raised an eyebrow at that statement - blowing up a statue, safe? He thought not.
"But- . . . protocol . . . uh," Doug tried, but the two boys already reached the exit, and with a little maneuvering and lifting the demon was over the threshold of the small side entrance. Then they went onward, out on the middle ground, quickly going for the middle. The moment they were done, Xander reached in his jacket and presented three bars of C4. Doug frowned as he watched Xander place the things on the statue. "That looks like . . ." he muttered, and then his eyes widened. "Those are! You can't do that!" he exclaimed in shock.
"-Quiet! This is delicate stuff,-" Xander ordered with authority, finishing with the last bar. "Oz, do your magic."
The command silence the man for a moment, watching stunned as Oz presented a book, and a jar with some powder. Oz tossed it on the statue, the sword of it, and chanted in Latin. Doug's eyes widened more at the crazy event, mustering up the need to speak. Oz finished though, and said, "Do the honors, Xander."
Xander nodded, and grabbed sword's short handle. There was a whoosh, and white-blue lite flashing around the sword, which stunned Doug fully. More so when the stone sword suddenly turned metallic, and was then smoothly pulled free, with equally smooth sound. There was crackling, like stones tumbling down a mountain, and with Doug frozen in position, the statues eyes opened. Yellow eyes took in the world, looking around, even as bit by bit the head came to life, and onward the rest of the statue. The teeth turned white, while the skin stayed grey, but now a clear alive grey skin. The demon opened his mouth, as its eyes settled on Xander, then a blue vortex started to form, then expand, even as the tumbling stone sounds continued and the rest of the demon - still frozen - steadily started to come back.
Somehow the demon could speak, even while opening the slowly expanding vortex. The grumbling voice, as if made of rock, said, "A human? You would plunge your own world into hell?"
Xander grinned, leaning closer, and said, "Nah. If you're born in the last two millennia, you'll understand the concept 'boom'." The demon frowned, and Xander pointed at one of the C4 bars at Acathla's neck. Behind Xander, Oz took the shocked Doug, and pulled him along to find distance and cover. Mostly still petrified, the demon's eyes shot downward with dread, seeing the bar. "Toodles," Xander said, turned, and ran off, his new prize in hand. After several steps, he pulled out a box from his jacket. He pushed a button on it just as he jumped high and far, onto the University's roof.
With a mighty explosion Acathla was blown to bit, pebbles of stone raining around, several slamming through a few windows with loud crashes. Xander, Oz, and Doug had to raise their arms for protection. Of the demon's flesh, nothing was left. The moment the demon was no more, the vortex - now about a meter in diameter - started to shrink, before collapsing in on itself and disappearing.
Xander jumped back down, and gave Oz a look that said, 'Let's go.' Oz nodded and the two started to leave, leaving a shocked, frozen Doug. "Welcome to the real world," Oz gave the man a last greet, before they disappeared into the night.
-----
They entered the church, weapons drawn, and looked at the spectacle before them. "Ah, shit," Cordelia said, looking at Dalton and Marius standing in the pentagrams. They were chanting while Dalton's minions were performing parts of the ceremony. A red pulsing light was circling both of them; and their eyes were glowing red, they were progressing rapidly. "We're so screwed," Cordelia added, greatly annoyed, as Willow and Jenny had gone over to a secluded corner, where they drew a pentagram and prepared several ingredients and candles. Buffy loaded her rocket launcher with one of the three rockets.
When they were done they returned to the middle, and Willow said nervously, looking over at Jenny, "W-well, let's see if Xander's right, and this makes them jittery." Jenny nodded.
Kendra added, "Ant dat being jeettery will cause dem to make meestakes." The others nodded, Giles rechecking if his ring was where it should be: on his finger making him stronger.
Willow and Jenny held hands; Willow on Jenny's left side with her right hand, and Jenny vice versa. They chanted, bringing their free hands together, pointing at the ceremony. Then a beam of energy erupted from their hands, and slammed into the shield - without any noticeable effects, apart from making the shield visible as before. "Anything?" Deo asked coolly. From the strain on Willow and Jenny it was an obvious 'no'.
Some of the minions paused, looking at the event. Dalton paused his chanting for but a moment, not losing his cool at all, just to tell his minions, "Continue." They obeyed, and went onward.
After a little bit, the two witches stopped and looked at each other. The flames on the candles around the two vampires grew, and the blood pentagrams started to glow. The energy circling them grew more intense, and started to circle faster. Then they suddenly shrunk, disappearing into the vampires. Dalton and Marius shuddered as the energy entered them. Their eyes snapped open and started to glow an unholy red. The church started to tremble with the power, and the Scoobies looked around and up, hoping the church wouldn't collapse. Luckily the fire had already destroyed the roof, so they didn't have to worry about any cave in. The candles started burning even brighter, and then shrunk to the floor as the large flamed consumed the fuel in no time at all. As the flames hit the glowing blood pentagram, it erupted into flame: the circle first, and then moving inward to the vampires. Finally the hellish fired the trembling fires, consumed them, and then disappeared into them.
The fire simple stopped, growing smaller then disappearing, after which the glowing dimmed leaving only the blood pentagrams. The vampires stood trembling and groaning, and then they started growing . . . and growing. Their limbs thickening, filling with steel muscles. The legs covered with fur, the pants ripped, as did the shoes when cloven feet burst forth from them. The upper clothes equally ripped apart as the arms grew to the size of tree trunks. The chests seemed to be made skin as solid as rock; the fangs grew along with the head. The head stayed the basic vampire head - except for the size and eyes turning blood-red instead of yellow. Dalton's glasses were torn apart and dropped to the floor. Finally they stopped growing at about three meters tall.
"Oh, shit," Buffy muttered in shock at giant vampires - the fur covering the legs and crotch the only thing that kept their packages from sight - one thing she was eternally grateful for.
"Meet, the /real/ vampire," Dalton said with a perpetual grumble, "the thing that mixed his blood with humans." He slammed his heads on his chest once, and grinned. "Now for my minions," Dalton said, and simply pointed his hands at each vampire one by one. Almost immediately they started to convulse and change; their eyes falling further into their heads; and their fangs growing narrower but longer, while a second fang joined the first right next to it. Their claws and hands grew, while their skin turned paler - even the one black-skinned vampires had pale dirty-white skin at the end.
"Oh, yeah," one minion growl and then howled at the sky with glee.
"Oh, sheet," Kendra muttered, mimicking Buffy.
"Turok-Han, extinct super vampires, bollocks," Giles said in shock at the transformed minions.
"Get ready, Buffy," Jenny said, keeping her head cool. Buffy nodded and mounted the launcher on her shoulder.
"Now it's time for you to die," Dalton said with hate, and licked his lips in anticipation. He pointed his hands, the shield became visible for a moment, and then disappeared.
Buffy immediately launched the first rocked. Dalton pointed his right hand, and two meters in front of him, the rocket stopped. It hung in mid air for a moment, making Dalton smile, and then exploded harmlessly. "I am a god, you're little toys can't hurt me," Dalton said with a grin.
"Shoot the minions, Buffy," Willow said quickly, as the vampires started to advance. Buffy nodded as she already was busy mounting the next rocket. Soon after, with the Scoobs in defensive positions she fired another rocket, directly hitting an advancing Turok-Han. The vampire was ripped to shreds, and a second was set ablaze. Cordelia leaped forward and slashed her swords down at a Turok-Han, but it easily caught her by the wrists. She kicked it in its stomach, moving it off of her, as the others started to go into action. Buffy fired another rocket, but this one was stopped by Marius before it could hit another minion, then exploded.
"Shit," Buffy cursed and pulled her stake. Next to her Kendra slammed her elbow in one of the Turok-Han staggering it just a little. Buffy herself smashed her fist with all her might into a Turok-Han making it fly back.
Cordelia managed to decapitate one, turning it to dust, and she said angrily, "Just like any other vampire." Then she was assaulted by another one.
Lotion tossed one against another, as Deo smoothly decapitated one. Willow and Jenny drew together as the others fought the super strong minion vampires. The witches each pointed a hand at one of the monster pure vampires, and said together, "Ignis." Flames erupted immediately, consuming both of them. With two mighty roars red energy blasted out from them and the flames instantly smothered.
"Was that the best you've got?" Dalton asked sincerely, and then pointed his right hand at them. "It's time for you to die," he grumbled as a red ball of energy formed.
"Oh, damn," Willow said, and they both jumped to either side as the ball was flung at them. It slammed into the ground where they had been a moment earlier and exploded with enough force to send the two hurtling away, even if they were already away but still in the air, leaving a good hole. They slammed painfully on the ground and rolled onward, and did the same with two of Dalton's minions and Kendra.
Buffy ducked underneath swing and slammed her stake home; only for it to stop at something solid with an audible crunch. Buffy's eyes widened and pulled the stake back, showing the point to be splintered and torn. "Fuck," she said, as the vampire chuckled. It grabbed her by her neck, and moved its fangs forward. Buffy quickly got her short axe from behind her back and gutted the formally extinct vampire. It freed her from its grip, but the pain served to only make it more angry. It roared; but then her axe struck its neck; the head came flying off and it turned to dust.
Giles smashed his right foot in a Turok-Han's got with the brute force the ring gave him, and it doubled over with pain and surprise. He then decapitated it with his sword, and moved forward to Dalton. Next to him a vampire about to hurt Kendra erupted in flames and turned to dust. With a quick motion Giles stabbed his sword at Dalton's gut with all his might . . . where it barely penetrated an inch. The stopping of the sword, made Giles had shoot froward and slam painfully against the guard. "Insect," Dalton grumbled and slammed his right hand in a backhanded manner. As the sword clang to the floor, Giles screamed in pain, hearing his own ribs break. He was launched backward, up and over the combatants, tumbling along, until he slammed with his back against the church wall. Once again he yelled in pain, feeling more bones break, and coughing up blood.
"GILES!" Buffy said in anger, and Kendra yelled an angry yell as well. Buffy killed her attacker rapidly, as did Kendra and they progressed toward Dalton together. A last few Turok-Han were burned to the ground, as Deo killed the last of her attackers and quickly rushed over to Giles. Giles was groaning in extreme pain.
As Deo gave him a cursory examination, she said, "I thought that ring gave you great strength?"
"It does," Giles croaked out, giving a yell of pain, which was blinding. He wheezing for air with difficulty, and added, "Just not . . . engh . . . less . . . vulnera- . . . ah, it seems!" Deo nodded, placed her hands on his chest, and rendered him unconscious with a pulse of chi. She picked him up, and quickly went to move him off of the battle field while the battle raged behind her.
"BASTARD!" Buffy screamed with blind rage, hacking uselessly into Dalton, while Marius was assaulted by Willow with small magic, explosive balls, which apart from making him wince and jerk just a bit didn't seem to do anything. "I will kill you!" Buffy raged, as Kendra join her, slashing at Dalton's furry legs with her sword. Dalton was growing annoyed, as he deflected blows: only those aiming for his crotch, they might not be able to cut him there, but it could still hurt like hell.
"Oh, really?" he asked, and then took a deep breath. Instinctively, and smartly, the Slayers looked up, and then Dalton blew out down toward them. Instead of air, it was a stream of hellfire that came flying at them. They jumped, aside quickly. Buffy's left side got singed, but Kendra almost took the full flame. She screamed as she was on fire; almost instantly the fire consumed her clothes, licking hungrily at her skin. One part of her face was already visibly black. As taught, she immediately started to roll to smother the flames. Dalton growled angrily and pointed his hand at her, firing another bold of red energy. Just as Kendra would be ripped to pieces in the explosion, Cordelia slammed into her, and jumped onward. The ball missed, but still had enough explosive power to send the both of them tumbling onward, screaming in pain as the energy singed them, debris pelted them, and ripped their flesh, causing several bloody wounds. They immediately started their efforts to get up, but were moaning in pain all the way.
Lotion had joined the assault on Marius. She had decided to forego the sword and her punches indeed did more damage that the sword. It allowed her too slam her fists with all her might; along with Willow's and now Jenny's magical explosive blasts, they actually seemed to make some progress on the monstrously large vampire - when in reality they only succeeded in slowing him down. Lotion danced and wove around Marius' wild slams. "Stand still," he grumbled, slamming his fist on the ground, making it burst, giving Lotion the opportunity to kick his arm.
Buffy got up with difficulty, seeing that three of them were already out. With tears of rage and pain in her eyes, she charged Dalton again. The vampire's right hand suddenly snuck out and grabbed her around her waist. She was shocked as the hand, almost as tall as her torso, lifted her easily off the ground in a painful, vicelike grip. The claw on its thumb then penetrated Buffy's right side, making her scream in pain, feeling the warm liquid of her blood rapidly being sucked in her top, and trickle down to her pants. "I think I'm going to eat you, whole," Dalton told Buffy.
Deo had just returned, and observed the battle - more like the blood bath, or it soon would be. Quickly identifying where she was need most, she raced over to Dalton, jumped, and slammed a devastating kick into his right wrist. "Damn it!" he roared with the suddenly painful jolt, and let go of Buffy, who slammed painfully to the ground. Grabbing her gushing wound she scrambled away, looking astonished at Deo.
The Amazon warrioress finally showed her true power. A devastating punch to Dalton's gut actually made stagger back, and jerk his torso forward a little. The followup uppercut made Dalton stagger more. Then suddenly Deo blurred, split up, and a moment later a whole lot of Deo's were running around the demon, kicking and beating him from all sides. One to the ribs, to the back. "What?" Dalton said in surprise noticing the multiple Deo's. "Raargh!" he roared and reached . . . straight through non-existent illusion Deo's, and he looked with wide eyes as kick after kick and punch after punch slammed into him. One sharp kick to the back of his knee brought him down to it. With the speed of the chestnuts, Deo drew her sword, charged it with her chi, and with a single devastatingly fast slice, cut open Dalton's throat. Deo paused for a moment, the illusions still running around, and looked surprised as the head was still attached; that thing's hide and bone was immeasurably tough. Dalton gurgled, and then wound started closing right in front of everyone's eyes.
"Damn it," Doe muttered in her own language, then ran again, starting to hit Dalton again.
"That's it!" Dalton spoke with finality, and with a roar charged an energy ball at both his hands, immediately firing them straight down. There was a mighty explosion that barely hurt him, but since it enveloped him on all sides it caught Deo full and she was launched away to the back of him, groaning in pain tell she slammed against the wall.
"Exactly," Marius rumbled, and produced the same tactic, shredding part of Lotion's clothing, and ripping open her left leg, before slamming into a wall. "This ends now," he said, and stepped forward resolutely. Willow was surprised at the speed, and moved too slow. A moment later the super vampire's hand was wrapped around her torso and neck, and yanked her off the floor. "You die, witch," he said angrily.
Willow looked up at him with fear and pain as he started to squeeze the life from her. Then suddenly from her right came a small package, which jumped up and grabbed ahold of the arm that was holding her. His teeth than bit down into the demon's flesh with all his might. Willow recognized Oz, just as Marius roared with annoyance and a little pain. He let go off Willow and tossed Oz away with a yank. He slammed painfully against the wall and groaned, "Willow, Jenny."
The two witches ran to their prepared ritual sight, while looking around. The saw Xander at the far end on the second floor, holding the sword up. He looked grim, and full of righteous anger as he surveyed the scene in front of him. They reached the ritual sight, quickly calmed themselves, and knowing they couldn't move until they were finished, being inviting targets, chanted, "Cha di, martok la, castageer, dirma, sword Acathla, korcha moran!" The ingredients went up in flames, and blue sparkles appeared around their hands, while at same time around the sword. Then they ran; a moment later an energy ball coming from Dalton slammed into the wall, exploded, and sent them flying while being battered up by the pieces of wall that were launched from the destruction.
Xander watched as the blue sparkles fluttered around the sword, then felt as if it came alive, the whole blade turned to the same deep, ethereal blue color; a sword of energy. Hissing in anger, he jumped forward, "May the force be with me. FUCK YOU!"
He slashed the sword down, but Marius just jumped aside, and slammed his fist against him. Xander landed painfully against the wall, but jumped up right away. He ducked beneath the next fist as Dalton advanced on the fight. Xander hit the demon in the knee, making it stagger back. With a angry roar he charged. Feinting to the left, he went to the right. Marius saw through it, and grabbed him with his left arm, grinning. A moment later he screamed and let go. Xander had managed to raise his arms before capture, and had now sliced the energy sword across the offending arm. It went through with ease, opening a deep, large gash. Raging, Marius brought his right hand forward and fired an energy ball. Xander had jumped up just before. Now at the height of Marius' head, he missed the blast, and then he slashed downward with a snarl and all his might. The blade, crackling with energy, sliced through the demon once again like a hot knife through butter. It split Marius head in two, then went through his neck, all the way down through his heart to reach the middle of the chest.
Xander pulled the sword out, and looked at vampire that finished screaming of horrifying pain. "They heal," Buffy managed to croak in warning from her position on the ground, cradling her wound. Instead though, the cut began to glow with red energy, starting at his heart. Xander frowned, and the almost healed cut on the demon's arm started to glow as well.
"Oh, shit! Cover!" Xander yelled as he realized what was happening. He turned and ran, but then Marius exploded with a mighty explosion, red fire and shockwaves blasting out from him, pieces of his body showering everywhere. They, however, did not come even a meter before they turned to dust, and the vampire was no more. The blast had caught Xander and a few others though, and they were tossed about like they were nothing. Making sure to not lose the sword, Xander found himself painfully slamming against the far wall.
"You bastard!" Dalton roared and walked over to Xander rapidly, his hooves sounding ominously on the marble church floor. Xander righted himself, and looked up, eyes widening at the massive vampire demon. Rapidly Dalton slammed his left foot onto Xander's right wrist, and the yelled with the pain. He tried to move it, but Dalton's strength and weight was too much; his wrist, and this the sword was pinned. "He was my friend, you will /die/ for that," Dalton hissed, reaching down. He grabbed Xander by his collar and opened his mouth to bite. At the same time, with all his strength, Xander shoved the sword away, sliding noisily across the floor. Dalton paused, looking back to Xander's hand. His eyes widened and turned half around.
Buffy, in mid run, picked the sword, grimacing and groaning at the pain coming from her still bleeding wound. She jumped up and twisted around in mid air rapidly, grimacing and making a loud painful sound at the back of her throat at the sharp pain from doing that. Dalton's eyes widened, and tried to do something, but was too late. A moment later the energy sword sliced cleanly through his neck, and his head flew off - a fountain of blood erupting from his large neck.
Buffy landed, groaning and grabbing her wound. The head bounced on the floor, and the neck wound on both sides started to glow. "Xan!" she yelled coming forward as he got up. She grabbed him, supported him, while he did the same for her, and the stumbled away as fast as they could. A moment later Dalton's body and head exploded mightily, sending Xander and Buffy hurtling forward and rolling painfully across the hard floor. Like with Marius, anything of the body that survived the explosion, turned to dust immediately after.
Xander and Buffy rolled to look at the destroyed vampire. They slowly got up, while the remaining conscious fighters surveyed the scene. They did the same, noticing the fine sheet of dust everywhere. Just as they wanted to give a sigh of relief, the sword started to hum and vibrate uncomfortably in Buffy's hand. She lifted it up, gave Xander a questioning look, and then her eyes widened. "Hit the deck!" she called and threw the sword high upward, passed where once was a ceiling and roof. High in the night sky, the sword suddenly exploded in a blue explosion.
"Ah!" Xander exclaimed as pieces of sword-metal audibly slammed into the ground. He reached for his right shoulder where one of the pieces had imbedded. Buffy jerked her head over, hands still covering it. When she saw he was fine she carefully looked around. It was over it seemed, and finally sighed in relief.
Deo and Lotion rose with groans as did the witches and Oz. After a moment of checking if everything was still attached to themselves, they rushed to their downed compatriots. "We need to call 911, you're watcher is the worst off," Deo said.
-----
Xander hadn't lasted long in the hospital . . . so now Lexa, Willow, Lotion, and Buffy on doing their rounds found themselves with Cordelia. "You okay, Cordelia?" Lexa asked concerned. Buffy was bandaged up underneath her clothes; but due to her Slayer healing she'd be fine in no time.
"Apart from the lovely new scars, I'm fine," Cordelia remarked sarcastically. "If I didn't already have a boyfriend, that will stay with me forever, marry me one day, and loves me fully, I'd be worried."
Buffy leaned over toward Lexa and Willow beyond her, whispering, "Good thing Oz isn't here to hear that; he'd be to half-way to the next state within the hour." Buffy and Lexa chuckled.
"What?" Cordelia asked, interrupting her newest diatribe.
"Nothing," Willow said with the face of an angel. "Go on." As they listened to Cordelia, they went over the casualty list. Jenny, Lotion and Deo were all but fine. Cordelia would have to stay in the hospital several days, but was basically okay. Oz had had a serious bang, but due his werewolf healing he was almost finished healing already. Willow had had several wounds, but would be okay. Kendra had gotten more than her fair share; twenty percent of her body had third degree burns; she was still in surgery and had to undergo several skin grafts from other parts of her body. She had to stay in the body at least a month, the doctors said. They were wrong, Kendra being a Slayer meant she'd be out within a week, and with no visible damage whatsoever. Giles had it worst though, most of his ribs front and back were broke or shattered, and he had multiple internal bleeds. He'd survive though; be stuck in the hospital all through the summer, but he was expected to make an almost full recover. He'd always notice the injuries when he'd be making certain movements, but he'd be able to do just about anything he wanted: as long as it wasn't fighting nasty demons.
And so the Scoobies and managed to defeat the Apocalypse again, but only just barely. Of course, they were unable to defeat Cordy's ranting, and so it was much later that they finally left the cheerleader's side. They sighed in relief that they were gone there. "Say, Willow, did you know the sword was going to explode?" Buffy asked with a frown, seeing the unpleasant possibility of being blown to bits by the sword.
Willow vigorously shook her head, and answered, "No. It wasn't even supposed to turn it into an energy sword. I guess enchanting an already magica, holy sword does some freaky things."
"Well, it worked, that's the important part," Lexa said with positive air.
"It would have been nicer if the weapon didn't almost killed us, though," Buffy replied.
-----
Mayor's office
"Ah, Allan, since everything is fine, I take it our intrepid kids have stopped our impolite friend from achieving ascension?" Mayor Wilkins asked with a smile as Allan Finch entered his office.
"Actually, no, sir," Allan Finch answered, scratching his skin nervously. Wilkins looked over at him with an astonished look. "They destroyed them anyway, the ascended forms that is, sir," Finch answered fidgeting.
"Really?" Wilkins said, a dark pensive look crossing his face for a moment. "Ah, well, Allan, you win some, you lose some. Send the chief's winnings to his bank account, will you Allan?"
"Of course, sir," Allan answered and left the office.
-----
A week later
"Are you sur, you wanna go?" Buffy asked with an uncertain pout.
"I'll be fine," Kendra said with a smile. "I'll sleep on de plane, and by d time I'm back, all me remaining wounds will be gone. Slayer healing as you well know."
The two Slayers gave each other a hug, and then Buffy left the dark Slayer to her friends. Lexa and Willow hugged the girl quickly and fiercely, having gotten to know her while she recuperated in the hospital, and finding they liked her a lot.
"Come back soon," Willow said with a tear in her eye.
"Yeah, we like you," Lexa said with a sad grin, "find a way to visit, okay?"
"Will do," Kendra said with a smile. Then they broke apart, and waving goodbye, Kendra moved toward the metal detector gate, only to disappear behind it soon after, where only passengers could go.
"You know, all that hugging, almost makes me think I'm not your favorite Slayer anymore," Buffy said with a sad little pout. Her ploy worked, for a moment later she was enveloped in a hug from her two best friends.
-----
Two weeks later
Xander was sitting next to Giles in the hospital. He was still recovering, getting slowly incremental physical therapies to rebuild his body. Buffy, Willow, and Cordelia were there was well.
"Xander, you are going," Giles said in a tone that brokered no argument.
Xander stubbornly ignored him, and said, "Giles, you're in the hospital, I'm not going on vacation while you're in the hospital.
"Mr. Harris," Giles spoke formerly and with an even more commanding tone, "I have a girlfriend, an overprotective Slayer, and equally so witch here mothering me all the time." Said witch and Slayer made a disapproving sound, but Giles just continued, "I am not in any mortal danger - that is long past. Trust me when I say, that your presence would only compound my stress, and not give any relief. Further, you have already booked this ages ago; do not throw your money away, and it is not just a vacation. You will be visiting a man you've come to see as your surrogate father, and one of your best friends. So, I will thank you kindly when you're on your way out."
"But . . ."
"No buts," Giles interrupted him.
"But . . ."
"Uh!" Willow warned Xander with a raised finger. When Xander tried again, Willow repeated the gesture. Finally he sank down accepting it, and said, "Okay then, off to Japan it is, as planned."
To Be Continued . . .
Author's notes:
Hmm, such a battle with so many people in such a small enclosed space is pretty difficult to write. Okay then; I hope you guys liked it, next up is Buffy Z episode 82, and the next part of this will start season 2, filled with hilarity: Xander arrives in Nerima, will it survive both him and Ranma? Or not?