Chapter 13

Reno and his opponent fell into stance and circled each other looking for openings. Reno had patience on his side. The buff oriental looked to be the impatient sort. He lunged in with a flurry of hand techniques, most of which Reno dodged with little difficulty. His enhanced senses and reflexes were working out well. He moved in on his opponent, countering and blocking his blows. Shang Tsung was strong, stronger than an ordinary mortal, even one with years of martial arts training behind him, should have been. They traded blows and kicks, each displaying a mastery of body control that was truly impressive, and inhuman. They were far more evenly matched than either had expected.

Meanwhile, Willow's attention was on the paired cages containing Rayden and Cordelia while Cheri kept an eye on the green garbed wench running the show. Cordy was watching her hand slide through the bars of the cage with awed fascination. She looked around to see if the green clad woman was watching. Nope. Her attention was all on the fight.

Cautiously Willow shifted her weight so that she could really watch what Cordelia was up to. Cordelia stared wide eyed at her hand and arm which had passed through the bars of the cage without getting hurt. She shifted slightly so that she could slide her shoulder through. She figured she'd get stuck about there. Or someone would notice her. Or - She looked around at Rayden who was splitting his attention between the fight and Cordelia. It was difficult to tell, but she thought she was getting an encouraging look from the Thunder God, so she turned her attention back to removing herself from the cage. Slowly, ever so slowly, she moved between the bars and out onto the warehouse floor. It felt a little like being slowed down by syrup, only not so sticky. Maybe this was what they meant by heavy water? Somehow, she doubted that with the part of her brain that wasn't attempting to explain the sensation she was feeling.

Reno and Shang Tsung seemed to have come to a standstill. Both were breathing hard, which was a little odd when you considered that vampires don't breath. But then, Reno was a very young vampire, maybe he hadn't figured it out completely, yet. Vorpax was intent on the fight.

Cordelia looked around for a weapon. Where, oh where, were broken boards and stakes and saps when you needed them? She made certain the tackily green encased woman was still watching the fight and began to move away from the cage.

Rayden (younger) watched her go and wished he could find a way to protect her as she went. Just breathing was not easy right now. He could sense the weariness of his older self. They were linked so that what one felt, the other did also.

Shang Tsung moved in for the kill. His opponent was flagging. It was time. He launched his most dangerous attack - and found himself lying on the floor gasping for air, the distended fangs of his opponent inches away from his throat. In disbelief, he awaited the tearing of his flesh. Reno shuddered and regained control. He released his opponent and turned away. Shang Tsung was on his feet and attacking again. He had Reno down, now for his well known coup de gras - only it's a little difficult to suck the soul out of a vampire. The magic backlashed and slammed Shang Tsung into unconsciousness. Reno staggered to his feet, the winner by – a cosmic prank? He looked at the unconscious oriental, shook his head and staggered back to the others to collapse next to the Slayer. He looked up into her blue eyes and found a smile for her.

Buffy looked down at Reno and smiled back. What was it with her and vampires? Well, not all vampires, she corrected herself, just vampires with souls and vampires who rode motorcycles - and cancel that train of thought right now. She looked at Vorpax just as her name was called to combat. She didn't recognize the name of her opponent but she could feel him.

Vladislav the Impaler. What a name. He looked - well, he looked kinda wishy, until you got a really good look into those heavy lidded eyes. There was steel and fire and a touch of madness burning in their depths. He nodded to her regally as she stepped into the "ring" designated area. He looked her up and down, sizing up his opponent. He was not a fool. Just because the slightly built woman was young and beautiful, did not mean she was not a worthy opponent. Just how worthy had yet to be seen.

"Begin."

They circled each other. Buffy's strength and grace matched by the vampire's. She wondered why he didn't just vamp out and go at it the way most of them did. He feinted right and smacked the Slayer as she took the bait. She bounced back with a shake of her head to clear her senses and they circled again. OK. He was an experienced fighter. She was on her guard even more now. They traded techniques, both taking sharp hits, but nothing critical.

Giles was puzzling over the man's name. Where had he heard it before? Where? He muttered the name under his breath.

"Try Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Drakul of Wallachia - "

"Dracula?" Giles suddenly came out with his name as he turned to look into Cheri's too green eyes. "This is a joke -"

"Not if you know your history. He wasn't a vampire when he vanished from the pages of history - but those of us who are horror movie buffs do know that when they tried to get permission to excavate his grave, the church wouldn't give it. And Vlad Tepesh Drakula was buried under the altar in a Byzantine Rite church, a very old and very rich one. Odd place to bury even a prince of the country and a hero of the people."

Vlad could hear Cheri's discourse on his history. A fierce pride burned within him. For thirty years he had held Wallachia against the Turks. He was a hero to his people, not some stinking Turkish toy, not some monster. Buffy knocked him backwards off his feet and onto the bare planking of the floor. Splinters of wood scraped up and stabbed into his flesh. Wood. He howled with pain and shifted form. Mist. Smoke. A wind whipped up from nowhere and blew the smoke away.

"Victory to the Slayer," Vorpax cooed. Her eyes promised more to come as Buffy glared at her and returned to her seat.

Siro, Reno, Tanya and Buffy sized up the remaining opponents. There seemed to be an unbalanced lot of the others to their four. Well, they couldn't force them to fight each other - could they?

Vorpax gestured for one of the monks to enter the combat. A 2x4 smacked her in the back of the head with enough force to knock her off her feet, as well as out of consciousness.

Cordelia looked pleased with herself. "I think this is officially over," she said with a pleased grin.

The four armed thing growled at her and laughed. She looked around. The cages were still there and the pillar of energy between them was getting brighter. "Giles," she called sharply. "Do something."

Giles raised an elegant eyebrow at that. What the h**l did she think *he* could do? The combat had to be won. He looked to Rayden. Rayden was apparently in discomfort, but was thinking. "Together. Now," he called through gritted teeth. This might be his last few moments on earth, but he would back his people against OutWorld as he always had.

Siro grinned and advanced followed by Buffy and Reno, Tanya bringing up the rear. Just as the seven remaining OutWorld champions entered the ring, there was a crash of glass and Angel entered the fight. Melee combat with well trained warriors around her seemed just the ticket to Buffy as she let her pent up anger at being the Slayer, at time travel, at not being able to have Angel, at the unfairness of being a teenager and not being able to enjoy it most of the time and at the world in general surge through her. The monks fell before her onslaught. The dragon thing caught her with a back fist and Buffy went down for the count.

Tanya and Scorpion fought to a stand still. They ended up leaning against opposing pillars panting at each other, unable to fight. Siro landed blow after blow on his opponents until they went down. He turned to see who else was standing and Goro caught his arm between two of his. His forearm broke with a sickening snap as the four armed dragon spawn pulled him off his feet and tossed him across the warehouse into a wall. Siro slid down and gratefully lost consciousness.

That left Reno and Angel facing Goro. The dragon prince bellowed his power to the rafters. Angel looked up. One of the rafters came down. Panicked at the thought, Angel leaped out of the way and was also slammed across the warehouse at speed. He ended spread-eagled against Rayden's (now) cage. The incredible energy flows tingled and held him like a magnet holds steel.

Reno took a deep breath and fell solidly into stance. He would *not* let EarthRealm fall, regardless of what happened to him. Goro advanced. He attacked and Reno found a weakness. The huge dragon spawn was getting tired after tossing the others around. Reno used his smaller size and swiftness of movement to elude the swipes of the giant. He slammed kick after kick into exposed flesh until finally, nearly exhausted, a red haze floating before his eyes, he jumped and spun one more time. His heel caught his opponent in the temple and sent the giant crashing to the floor. Goro tried to rise. One of his arms would not cooperate and he fell again. Reno jumped onto his opponent's back and got a good arm lock around the thing's neck. He tightened his grip until the giant was choked unconscious.

Reno slid off the monster's back and looked around. Vorpax was regaining consciousness. She looked at the mess in the warehouse and screamed. No. Not again. She gestured, gathering force in her hands, her hatred focussed on Reno who was entirely too tired to move out of the way.

"Vorpax!" The Thunder God thundered. Rayden spoke with two voices as one. He intoned the rules of Mortal Kombat. A winner stood before her. The combat was over. EarthRealm was safe.

"For now!" she spat at him and threw the dazzling ball of green plasma at the lower cage. While the rest of the survivors were diving for cover, she spun and gestured again. A whirling red shot vortex opened and she jumped through, closely followed by her "champions". The vortex slurped up the unconscious dragon prince and closed with a snap.

Rayden fought the energy flows that tried to overload the cages and the flux between the two versions of the thunder god. Abruptly, with a very loud snzzzzt-pop sort of sound, Angel was blown away from the cage and the energy column disintegrated, taking the cages with it. Rayden the elder fell to the ground and passed into unconsciousness. Rayden the non-resident staggered as the energy flowed back into him.

"Siro," he almost yelled and nearly teleported to the man's side as the area started to rumble oddly.

Giles looked about wildly. He had a feeling the entire warehouse was about to go. He was right. With tortured creaks and snaps, the joists, rafters and walls started to buckle. "Angel!" he yelled. "Get Buffy." Giles grabbed Willow and Drusilla and headed for the door. Drusilla pulled free and went to snag Spike. Somehow, they all managed to get out of the place before it collapsed and without getting impaled on any flying debris. They all collapsed around Oz's van and watched as the warehouse seemed to get sucked into some invisible hole until nothing was left except bare dirt.

Faith wandered up, dusting her hands and looked them over. "Hi, B. What's up?"

Giles looked over the other slayer and shook his head. "Faith. It's late. Go home. We'll fill you in later."

Faith gave them all the once over and nodded. She knew when she wasn't wanted. She sauntered off with a sassy sway of her hips.

"I'm hungry," Buffy said quietly and giggled. The giggle seemed to be contagious.