Chapter 7 – Testing the Waters

"DAWNIE, I"M BAACK!" the yell cut trough the somber mood like a hot knife over butter.

"I believe our conversation must be postponed for another time. Tomorrow perhaps, while my… sister is training." Dawn spoke, while attempting to dry the tears and compose herself.

"We'll be here." Xander answered for them. Nobody had noticed how the time had flown.

"Hey, Dawn, you…" The door to the room opened, admitting the blonde Slayer. She gave a good look at their faces "Hey, what's with the faces? Dawn, you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm cool. We're just remembering… mom."

Xander was amazed as how the voice and the attitude changed from the powerful and old Sorceress to the weak and young Dawn. Buffy calmed down some with the lie, but the mood hit her also.

"I miss her too, little sis. But don't worry, all will be better, you'll see." And the Slayer fiercely hugged her.

"Slayer strength! Slayer strength!" Dawn complained, and she was released immediately.

"Sorry."

"No prob. And Buffy… thanks." Dawn grinned, sheepishly.

"This is our cue to leave." Xander spoke, grabbing a teary Willow by the arm.

"You guys don't have to. It's movie marathon night at the Summers House, you can stay." Buffy protested.

"No, Buffmeister, It's sisters' bonding time, we'll only be in the way. Don't worry, we'll be cool. Matter of fact, Wills, care for a specially prepared Xander mocha?"

Willow perked up instantly. "Always!"

"Do you have the ingredients, Red?"

"I don't know, but we can buy them on the way."

"And IT"S MOCHA'S TIME!" Xander yelled, making a poor imitation of a Power Ranger.

"He's nuts." Dawn quipped, making the sign of 'nuts' with her finger near her head, and grinning.

"Don't I know it? Let's go, Mocha Ranger." Willow walked out of the room laughing, some of the mood already dissipated.

Once outside, Xander grabbed Willow again, and he turned in the other direction, moving away from her house.

"Xander, my house is…"

"I know where your house is, Wills, but we are going somewhere else."

"Where?"

"The old scrap yard. It should be free from vampires and I want to test my powers. Don't you want that?"

The redhead thought for an instant. She had just been transformed for a few moments, she most surely wanted to feel that power again.

"Let's go!"

The scrap yard was a bit far, and the minds were full.

"What do you think?" Xander asked, the tone indicating the subject.

"About Dawn… the Sorceress' story?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know if I can blame her, I think any caring mother would do anything to save a daughter, no matter how twisted she could be. You?"

"I felt anger. And betrayed. And a lot pissed. The matter is that it didn't happened to me, but it seems as if."

Willow looked at his face, the feeling was still displayed on the youthful features.

"You're putting yourself in his place. I would feel the same. Matter of fact, I felt that bolt, as if it had hit me!"

Xander halted for a moment. That was way too weird.

"Do you think that the swords are somehow showing us their feelings?"

She remained still for quite some time. Finally, she sighed.

"I don't know. Not yet, anyhow. But we will find out."

The rest of the way was made in silence, the only sounds were those of footsteps on the ground.

Luckily, the town was really calm, and they didn't find any vampires on the way. The old scrapyard was abandoned for quite a long time, the rusting carcasses displayed for the entire town. The place was a big trap, the large piles of old car wrecks being too unstable for anyone to wander around. The last owner died from a heart attack when Xander was a small kid, and no one had ever re-opened the place. The vampires didn't like it, saying it was "too spooky". Go figure.

Xander found a hole in the fence and they entered the place without being bothered. They wandered around for almost half an hour, careful to not bump on anything that might cause a car-valanche.

"Perfect!" Xander said. They were standing in the middle of a clear area, large enough for a few exercises. "Ladies first." And he mock-bowed to Willow.

"Thank you, kind sir." She raised the sword sky high. "FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL! I AM SHE-RA!"

Xander was still surprised with the change. Willow was a beautiful young woman, but the change into She-Ra made her the most drool-worthy woman he had ever seen.

"Your turn, my friend." She said with a very sexy voice.

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL! I HAVE THE POWER!"

The mystical warriors looked at each other and then around. He-Man asked "What first?"

She entered a combat stance. Somehow, her mind named it as the Dance of Nine Defenses. Her body was turned laterally to He-Man, sword held upright, giving her a good mix between attack and defense. He-Man grinned, and he chose the Crouched Cat attack stance. The eyes locked and the sparring began.

The first clashing of swords was so strong that the entire place trembled, as if hit by a small earthquake. Some piles fell, some glasses were broken, but in the middle of all that, both were standing up, one trying to overpower the other. An entire minute passed, each second more pressure was being applied. The power involved could crush a mountain into sand. A quick shifting of feet and He-Man jumped back. She-Ra wasn't expecting that, and she unbalanced for a moment. Her "brother" used the opportunity to try and hit her with a lateral strike, but the combat experience gained by the magic made the Princess of Power roll with the motion, and the Sword of Power only cleaved air. At the end of the roll she used her legs' impossibly powerful muscles to jump in the air.

She landed several feet away, behind the rusted remains of a car. He-Man ran to her direction, and she placed a solid kick in the car structure, and it flew trough the air as if shot by a cannon. He-Man stood his ground, his sword held high above his head. With a mighty strike, he cleaved the flying carcass in half, each part landing several meters behind him. She-Ra grinned, and with a mental command, she changed the Sword of Honor to a quarterstaff.

He-Man compensated for the change without a thought, feet spreading wider on the ground. She would have the advantage of reach over him, so he decided to wait for the first strike. She approached like a blur, the staff flying to the man's legs. He-Man jumped over it, but the redheaded warrior was expecting it.

She twisted her body in mid-strike, the other side of the staff hitting him solidly into the armor right over his ribs. He flew to the side with the impact, but she knew he was only unbalanced. She had to seize the moment. Using the staff as a pole vault she jumped in his direction, both feet aimed at his torso.

The warrior saw her at the last moment. He twisted the body as far as he could, and the full blow changed to a glancing one. She-Ra wasn't prepared for the move and she fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. A moment later the Sword of Power was pressing at her throat. Two seconds later, it was being lifted and a hand was being offered. She took it, and He-Man helped her up.

"Very good. But, until we train a little more, I suggest we keep it simple."

"Ok." She picked up the staff from the ground where it fell and she changed it back to the Sword of Honor.

"How do you do that?" He-Man asked.

"Do what?"

"Change your Sword into other things."

She-Ra stopped dead for a moment. Then, she made a very Willow-like "Wow."

"What?"

"How I'm stupid! I went for the physical aspects of our powers. I never thought of the mystical ones." She spoke, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Mystical?"

"Yes, it seems that the Heir of Honor powers are also focused on the mystical aspects. That's how I can change the Sword. And how I can do this." She opened her hand, and a fireball appeared, the size of a tennis ball.

"Holy… That means that you are a Sorceress also?"

"No, I don't think so. Not even remotely close, from what I could sense from her. What I mean is that since I'm already a wicca as Willow, somehow the transformation enhances my natural gifts. I'm doing this without a spell, Xa…He-Man. I just wished the fireball to appear."

He-Man thought it over for a second. "Mind if I do a little test?"

"Sure."

"Can you conjure some sort of protection spell? Like a barrier or something?"

"I think I can. What will you do?"

"Test its strength."

"Oh."

She-Ra's brow creased for a second, and she waved both hands in front of her. The air shimmered a bit, and it calmed down.

"All right. Done."

He sidestepped a bit, and cocked his right arm. He punched the air in front of him with just a little strength. His fist hit the barrier and for a moment the air glowed yellow.

"Anything?" He asked the wiccan.

"Just a bit of feedback, not much. How much strength did you use?"

One of the advantages of the mystical transformation is that the warriors instantly knew how much strength to apply in each situation. It wouldn't do good to shake a friend's hand with enough power to crush coal into diamonds. So, He-Man knew exactly how much force he had used.

"I don't have an exact comparison, but I think somewhere above the maximum strength of a common vampire."

"Hit it again. Slayer strength." She asked.

He cocked the arm again, and hit the invisible barrier.

"Still good. Not painful. Again."

He gave another hit. And another. And another. And another, each time "doubling" the force used.

"Stop. My head feels like a church's bell." She-Ra sat on the ground, holding her head with both hands. He-Man wanted to help, but she still hadn't lifted the barrier.

Then he noticed her hands glowing white. A few seconds later, she stood up, one hand waving in the air, and the spell lifted. She grinned like a million dollars.

"I've forgotten the healing powers. Those are pretty good tricks to have, sister." He-Man concluded. He motioned for her to sit into one fallen barrel, a couple of meters away.

"Do you really feel like that? Sister?" She asked, while sitting.

"I've always felt like a brother towards you, Willow." She-Ra noticed the slip up on the secret identity stuff, but she let it pass. She couldn't say she felt the same towards him, her feelings ran deeper, but she knew he would never love her that way. So, she comforted herself with this "brother-sister" relationship. "Besides" he continued " He-Man and She-Ra were brother and sister in the cartoon. Why don't we use that? It'll help with the secrecy."

"I agree." She looked around. They hadn't cause much damage, not that anybody would notice, but she was grateful anyway. "What now?"

"Short term, I believe that we can help keep this town safe. Long term, who knows? As for right now, I believe Xander Harris promised his best bud a special mocha with all the fixings."

She-Ra rose from the barrel, patting her butt to clean the dirt. "Lead on, MacDuff."

- To be continued -