In all his life, Xander Harris had never even been in an airplane before, so standing on emptiness several thousand feet high in mid-air above his hometown without any possible means of support would have ordinarily totally freaked out that young man. Not tonight, though. Instead, he was just pissed. No, he wasn't drunk, as that word would have been defined by those living in England, Australia, and New Zealand. Rather, right now, Xander was truly furious, and he was about to start things off that would surely end up with someone bending over to kiss their ass goodbye.
Floating over Sunnydale, the tie of his good suit gently flapping in the mild breeze, Xander closed his eyes, while at the same time lifting his arms from his sides, to hold them horizontally at shoulder height, palms facing outwards, as if he was about to embrace the air itself. Feeling his mouth abruptly go dry over what he was about to carry out, Xander quickly brought up an image in his mind of Willow, and as he mentally regarded the smiling face of his redhaired friend that had died tonight, the teenager's will stiffened, and he then did as Wilkins' memories meticulously instructed him.
Xander Harris called up the power of the Hellmouth.
From the very center of the Boca del Infierno buried under the Sunnydale High School, and stretching outwards from this dimensional opening between levels of realities, across the entire surface of the small California city, an immense wave of magic burst forth, ethereal in its passage in that nothing seemed to be affected by its existence, and then invisibly rising upwards into the skies to where it had been summoned.
Xander jerked once in his spot in mid-air, as the first of the magic crashed into him, to then freeze rigid as he started to absorb the mystical energies. The little surge of power he'd experienced over drawing back into himself the first Orb of Confinement he'd cast against that demon after waking up in his new body sure as hell didn't feel anything like Xander was now experiencing. That had been akin to being shot by a dinky water pistol; this right here and now was being sprayed at full force by a honkin' big fire hose backed up by all the water trapped behind Hoover Dam. His whole body was comfortably on fire, from his skin to his deepest core, in a painless surge of warm heat that didn't burn, but instead thawed every molecule of his being.
He'd grown up as the child of two drunks, which meant Xander had determinedly vowed to never let a single drop of alcohol ever pass his lips. Seeing addictive behavior up close (with the accompaniment of the usual punch or slap) had also caused that teenager to avoid drugs. Which in due course resulted in the high school student currently hovering in the air, while greedily soaking up every bit of magic still being summoned, never in his life becoming intoxicated or high. Beginning to writhe in pure rapture from the wonderful sensations of pure power pouring into him, Xander could only manage a mental gasp of euphoria: *Good…as…Twinkies!*
Surprisingly enough, that odd phrase managed to settle Xander down a bit, along with the sudden sheepish memory of the time when, as a second grader, he'd found a lost twenty-dollar bill on a sidewalk, promptly went to the nearest grocery store to spend it all on boxes of Twinkies, and after consuming every single one of those snack cakes as fast as he could, that child then miserably learned it was indeed possible to overdose on his favorite dessert, and that those sweets had been a lot less delicious coming back up his throat than they'd been going down to his stomach.
Being mindful of this reminder of how easy it was to go too far, Xander managed to tone down enough of his current magically-caused exhilaration to quickly scan Wilkins' memories concerning the possible dangers of absorbing the vast amount of Hellmouth energies he'd already incorporated into himself. At once, now that it was finally being asked, the remaining fraction of the Mayor's personality urgently instructed Xander, in the most definite manner possible, to STOP RIGHT NOW!
Mouth dropping open in shock, Xander instantly sent a mental command downwards that shut off without any delay the wave of magic coming from the dimensional nexus and the rest of Sunnydale. As the Hellmouth then closed itself off while he continued floating in the air, a worried teenager subsequently followed Wilkins' next order in using the enchantment now displayed in the older man's memories. Effortlessly, Xander proceeded to cast upon his entire body personal wards that were mystical shields, capable of protecting him from others' magic and spells, while also concealing him from these possible enemies' attention.
Xander doubtfully asked a fading personality if it was really necessary to hide himself like that, only to be firmly assured by his mental guest that the young man had just gaudily displayed to the whole world that here was an inexperienced mage having vast powers that could be handily seized by any more-skilled opponent. The caustic phrase of "lighting a bonfire in cannibal country" was then brought up in Xander's head, making him hastily follow Wilkins' further directions in casting additional wards upon himself, with these specifically designed to protect him against non-magical, material weapons, from a thrown rock to an elephant gun. Defenses against much more powerful weapons could definitely be created, if Xander felt it was necessary to expend the Hellmouth's energies upon those spells.
The vague manner in which the last comment from Wilkins' memories was delivered made Xander a little thoughtful. He then probed into these recollections, trying to find out what had seemed a little off to him, only to have his eyebrows rise while coming across the Mayor's lifetime determination to be as thrifty as possible with the forces of the dimensional nexus he controlled, in order to accomplish his planned undertaking. Xander snorted to himself at that, muttering, "Yeah, the whole giant snake idea. Like that's gonna happen."
Shaking his head in firm rejection over that absurd plan, the teenager investigated further the stock of retained knowledge he'd gotten from the older mage, to then feel somewhat astonished at the new detail he'd just learned. Right now, Xander was imbued with as much personal power from the Hellmouth that the Mayor might have used in perhaps an entire decade, and that had been in both controlling the whole city of Sunnydale while also fending off potential usurpers. *Well, good, 'cause-*
THUMP!
Abruptly jerked from his thoughts, Xander gaped downwards at Sunnydale, seeing a small mushroom cloud rising at the spot near the center of the city, where a tremendous explosion had just taken place. "Shit!" he snarled, his anger again surfacing at this reminder of the disaster that was taking place in his hometown during this night of chaos. There just wasn't time to go slowly and cautiously with what he was learning about the Hellmouth mojo. People were getting hurt down there!
Well, at least he'd already managed to think up and do something about those people changed by their costumes in his previous encounters with these unlucky individuals. All he'd needed was more power, and after getting that from the Hellmouth, he could really get to work now. Leaning forward while still standing in mid-air, Xander thrust out his hands at waist level, every finger outstretched, as he concentrated.
*First things first-* Yes, from up here, he could scan the entire town, use his mojo to identify all those people wearing that asshole's costumes. *Aw, geez, there's so many of them! What'd he do, offer a two-for-one sale with his outfits to everybody? Never mind, you can punch his lights out later, but get back to business!* Gritting his teeth, Xander drew upon his newly-acquired Hellmouth energies inside himself, shaping these forces into the most powerful spell he'd cast so far.
From all of his fingertips, marble-sized Orbs of Confinement burst forth, one after the other in a continuous stream of steadily-expanding white globes that curved and swooped and dove down towards the city of Sunnydale, each and every one of these enchantments spreading out to head directly towards a single Chaos-affected Halloween celebrant.