Belatedly, you recall how your first encounter with the (hopefully) late sorcerer and his minions interrupted an attempt to explore the difference, if any, in using magic off of the Hellmouth, as opposed to the casting near the dimensional weak-point that had previously been all you'd really known of magic. You never did get around to following-up on that aborted examination, and while your time in Japan did net you a great deal of experience casting spells and using ki techniques away from the Hellmouth's unique environs, you were never really in the right mindset to analyze how it all worked. Too much was going on during the tournament, and afterwards, you were leery of carrying out the necessary magical experimentation while in a government building full of government personnel and government security cameras.
As it happens, you've got a five-hour plane trip to work with now. Setting up a variant on the same "notice-me-not" warding you've been using at school to divert attention away from Moblin, you're able to distract your Dad, your fellow passengers, and the helpful flight attendants from your experiments. Simple cantrips are enough to test the environmental impact on the different varieties of magic, and while you suspect that some of your results - Earth and Wind Elementalism in particular - are coming out biased due to your being several thousand feet in the air, you are able to not only confirm that the mystical atmosphere is different away from the Hellmouth, but also what those differences are and how they relate to spellcasting. Knowing what magic is supposed to feel like, free of the taint of chaos and evil, is enlightening in a number of respects.
Gained Conjuration E
Gained Ice Elementalism F (Plus)
Gained Item Crafting F (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Lightning Elementalism F (Plus)
Gained Mana Recovery E
Gained Thunder Elementalism E
Gained Water Elementalism F
Gained Wind Elementalism E
After about an hour and a half of reviewing magic, you turn to investigating your ki. You don't notice anything different about the ki techniques you test out, but then again, you were only able to use the basic augmentation techniques when you left Sunnydale. The more advanced stuff - like the non-exploding Ki Blast that you spend some time juggling, or the Doppelganger that you partially manifest as extra limbs - you only figured out after getting to Japan. You make a mental note to test these moves out after you get back to the Hellmouth, before you end up needing them in a fight. It's only when you've spent most of two hours in intensive meditation that you pick up on the faint feel of malignant, erratic energy clinging to your being, trying to interfere with you, make you slow, stupid, weak - in all ways LESS than you could be. Now that you know what the Hellmouth's taint really feels like, you're able to pick it up on your father - stronger than it is on you, which is hardly surprising considering that your old man has lived in that cursed town for four decades, but not so strong as you'd feared it might be. You can't say for certain if the results you get from scanning your father are at all typical of an adult native of Sunnydale; it's something you'll need to investigate more once you're back.
Gained Doppelganger E
Gained Ki Blast F (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Ki Recovery F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Strength Concealment F (Plus)
Gained Strength Control F (Plus) (Plus)
Finally, you spend the last hour of your return trip trying to work with your spirit. You're able to confirm the Hellmouth's taint here, as well - and more of it wrapped about your father's soul, now that you're looking at things the right way - but that's about the limit of your progress without more knowledge of and experience in the pure spiritual arts.
Gained Spiritual Concealment F (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Power F (Plus)
In the course of your self-examination, you take a moment to study Briar for traces of the Hellmouth's corruption, beyond that feeble, twisted, not-quite-a-familiar-bond that exists between the two of you. Interestingly, despite being orders of magnitude smaller and/or less mystically powerful than you are, Briar is far less marked by the vile energies of the dimensional weak-point. You wonder whether it's her fey nature, the fact that she's only lived in the town for a couple of years, or her own regular use of personal cleansing rituals that should get the credit for her relative mystical "cleanliness." If it's the first, there's not much else to be said, while the second is merely logical, but if the third has contributed more than you think... well, there are possibilities that way.
Overall, your in-depth examination of body, mind, and spirit has been a very productive use of your time.
Gained Corruption Resistance F (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Corruption Sense F
After the plane has touched down in L.A., you go through the business of getting your passport checked, being welcomed back into the country, and having your luggage gone through in search of hazardous and/or contraband items. The scroll and incense get some looks, and one of the guards who checks out your commemorative plaque congratulates you with the enthusiasm of a sports fan, but the various supernatural animal parts pass unnoticed - mainly because you've taken the sensible precaution of stowing them, that bottle of shrine water, and your rock collection, in a dimensional pocket. You've managed to set the thing up to be reasonably well-shielded against the Hellmouth's influence, although you weren't able to think up a way to make it self-sustaining. The best you managed was to give it a constant feed from your own mana reserves - this has the unavoidable side-effect of reducing your available mana by 5% of your maximum, until such time as you empty out the pocket and shut it down, or else figure out how to make it truly permanent. Still, it seems a small price to pay to keep your reagents uncontaminated. On that note, you tuck Kagome's ofuda and the box of incense away once you're through security.
Gained Abjuration D (Plus)
Gained Summoning C
One last bit of important business is attended to while your father is getting a car from the airport rental outlet. After making sure that you're clear of any observers, you invoke the strongest transformation spell you can conceive and cast, making yourself as small as possible. The results are not completely ideal, as you end up three and three-quarters of an inch tall, better than half again Briar's height.
The fairy stares at you. "Alex?! What the- why are you shrinking?"
"There's something I've been meaning to do for a while," you admit, taking a moment to study your companion from this new perspective. Huh. You were never quite sure before, what with how small she is and the interference of her near-perpetual aura, but Briar has blue-green eyes. Taken with her strawberry-blonde hair, slight tan, and the style of her long green tunic, you'd almost think you were looking at a Hylian girl in her early teens. The wings and the fairy-light clearly indicate otherwise, though, and her ears, while pointed, are proportionately quite a bit longer than those of the purportedly god-hearing "chosen people." She also has something of the inhuman loveliness common to the Great Fairies, although it's muted in comparison.
"And what was that?" Briar asks, giving you a wary look.
"Well, after all the crap we went through on this trip-"
"No small amount of it because you had to run off and poke things."
"-that too," you admit. "Anyway, I figured I owed you an apology, and well..." You trail off, not entirely sure how to put this, and finally settle for opening your arms. "Would you like a hug?"
Briar stares at you, then smiles. "Dummy."
And the answer, it turns out, is yes, she would. You learn that when a fairy hugs someone, she can put her wings into it - they're remarkably flexible. You also discover that, at this scale, Briar is pretty strong. Not disproportionately so, but she could probably hit about as hard as a non-ki-enhanced Cordelia. That matches up well with the times she's punched you.
You don't stay Briar-sized for long, but it's long enough.
Gained Transformation E (Plus)
Not long after that, you're on the road with your Dad, listening to a familiar rock station on the radio. In due course, you find your way out of L.A.'s infamous traffic and onto the freeway, beginning a long, lonely drive out into hot, arid SoCal. At long last, when the sun is just touching the horizon and painting the sky with scarlet fire, your senses twinge at a now-familiar, unpleasant presence - like blood, pain, death, and other unpleasant things all rolled up into one. It's faint but rapidly growing stronger, and in just a few minutes, you see a sign that you've heard about, but never had the pleasure of looking at in person.
WELCOME
TO
SUNNYDALE
ENJOY YOUR STAY!
Population 40,300 Established 1910
Home sweet Hellmouth.
With the ingrained instincts of a lifelong Sunnydale resident, your father glances at the setting sun and heads directly home, muttering something about dropping the car off at the rental agency's local outlet in the morning. You have no objection to this, and in fact are carefully getting your expanded and diversified abilities locked down behind the strongest and most subtle shields of normalcy you can pull up. Miss Akasha's warning about power attracting power has been borne out far too many times for your liking, and that was in relatively non-hostile environs; you do NOT want to see what the Hellmouth has to offer in the way of supernatural opportunists. Not tonight, not for a good long while.
Gained Spiritual Concealment F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Control E (Plus)
Gained Strength Concealment F (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Strength Control F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Locking down your skills has another benefit, in that it shuts out your awareness of most of the unspeakable foulness that seems to cling to everything in Sunnydale, while also "hardening" your spirit's innate resistance to the same. Before you fully close off that sensitivity, however, you get a depressingly good look at the malignancy that covers the town and its inhabitants - what few of them there are on the streets at this time of evening. Most of them are teenagers, for some reason.
Gained Corruption Resistance F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Corruption Sense F (Plus)
Testing out your shields, you confirm that you'll be able to maintain this level of concealment more or less indefinitely, as long as you don't start casting spells. The only real drawback is that operating like this will hinder your ability to multi-task, or rather, that it IS multi-tasking, and to the limits of your current capacity for such things. You'll have to keep that in mind when you train, and especially if worse comes to worst and you end up in a serious fight again.
Then you're home. Shields or no, you briefly consider using some magical sleight-of-hand to pull a prank on Zelda, but your younger sibling puts paid to that scheme by racing outside as soon as she sees you and your father getting out of the car. Your big brother skills have not gotten rusty despite the weeks-long absence, and you brace yourself in time to withstand the impact of a Class One Sister Missile. Amidst the ensuing hugs, chatter, and efforts to offload your luggage, you try to salvage your scheme by slipping the dragon plushie out the non-magical way when Zelda isn't looking. It works, kind of; you end up with a decidedly serpentine lump tucked away under the back of your shirt, obvious to everybody except your sister.
Gained Sleight of Hand F (Plus) (Plus)
The next hour is taken up with your homecoming. You recite the sanitized story that you gave your father for the bright-eyed and eager Zelda and your Mom, producing items from your luggage at the appropriate points. The plaque that commemorates your victory gets a disappointed frown, while the belt is considerably better-received - while it's not the big shiny pro-wrestling belt that Zelda was clearly anticipating, she deems it pretty neat in its own right. Not unsurprisingly, Zelda forgets all about the belt when you "magically" produce Plushie Altria. After that, your mother brings out the dinner she spent most of the afternoon preparing for your return. It's nothing exotic - you have accepted that your Mom isn't ever going to win awards for her home-cooking - but it's hot, filling, and familiar. You and your father demonstrate your gratitude and happiness at being home by clearing your plates twice, three times in your case.
It's dark by now, if not precisely late, and you decide to call up your local friends to let them know you're back in town and arrange for a proper get-together tomorrow at school. Larry is pleased to hear from you, mentioning in passing that things have been kind of dull with you, Lu-sensei, and Cordelia out of town; he's mostly been alternating between hanging out with some of the guys at school, and visiting his Grandma. Larry also adds that Amy asked if he'd heard from you the last time they spoke, which was a few days ago. It seems that Mrs. Madison has been helping her daughter keep up her exercise routine since Lu-sensei's been out of town, and it hasn't left much time for Amy to be social. Not that she is particularly outgoing at the best of times; mostly she just follows you or Cordelia. Speaking of whom, Cordy showed up for a half-day of classes today.
After talking to Larry for about fifteen minutes, you say goodbye and dial the Madison residence. You get Catherine, who welcomes you back to town but adds that Amy can't come to the phone, since she's busy with her homework. Mrs. Madison is fairly strict about that sort of thing, so you leave a message for her to pass along and hang up.
Finally, you call Cordelia. You're answered by one of the Chase family servants, whose voice you don't recognize and who does not offer her own name, but who agrees to inform "Miss Chase" that you're calling. A minute later, Cordelia picks up on a different line. The ensuing talk goes on for the remainder of the hour and then some, as despite your best efforts to the contrary, Cordelia digs the truth out of you regarding events since you last saw each other. She is less than pleased to hear that you got in trouble AGAIN, although your hushed admittance that the old sorcerer is extremely unlikely to present any further problem quiets her for a moment. Mentioning your successful sacrifice to Din silences Cordelia completely, and when you inquire, she explains that she's been thinking about what you and Briar said on the subject of faith and religion. At the moment, she's still uncertain whether or not she was ever baptized; she hasn't spoken with her parents since returning home, as they're still out of the country, and none of the household staff have been with the family that long. Rich as they are, the Chases are very much "new money," not one of those families with a genealogy going back five hundred years that inherits servants along with everything else.
Your over-the-phone interrogation concludes more or less amicably, but it still leaves you feeling particularly wrung out. The jet lag isn't helping at all, so you decide to call it a night. You don't immediately go to sleep, however, instead taking the time to talk to Briar about what happened in the volcano yesterday. The fight and its aftermath have really had time to sink in, now, as have the various implications of those events. For example, you now know that despite your efforts at supernatural subtlety, a magic-user who knows of your existence can still find you, and even work out where you're going to be several hours in advance by calling up the right powers. That is beyond unsettling. The flip side, of course, is that you have confirmation that Din has Her eye on you as well, although that is not quite as reassuring a fact as it might otherwise be. For one thing, the Goddess of Power is fairly big on self-sufficiency, and is accordingly less prone to altruism than her sisters; for another, Din's powerbase in this reality is as small as it can possibly get, which is going to seriously limit what she can do even when you're directly asking and going through all the necessary steps on your end of the worshipper-and-deity relationship.
Then there's that whole thing with the Triforce symbol showing up on the back of your hand. You're not touching that subject with a ten-foot pole. Not now.
You try to get in a question about purification rites, but fatigue overcomes you before you hear a response from Briar.
You have no dreams that night.
The next day finds you with a decided lack of free time. On the school front, you're seriously late handing in the handful of assignments your teachers gave you before you left, to say nothing of the reading and lessons you've missed while you were a guest of the American embassy in Tokyo. Never mind that you did a fair bit of extracurricular study at the time, you weren't in class, and as far as your teachers are concerned, that means you're behind until they see you prove otherwise. There's also the matter of reestablishing yourself socially; quite a few people give you surprised or wary looks, like they didn't really expect you to come back and can't decide whether you're yourself, some kind of impostor, or even a ghost. On top of that, there's the fallout of the news that you, Alexander Harris of Sunnydale, are now an accredited world-level martial arts champion. It seems that news of your victor's status - if not the details of your fights - made it to the Sunnydale Press, courtesy of the L.A. Times, and a couple of reporters were in touch with your mother while you were still in Japan. Now that you're back, they'd like an interview. City Hall also left the Mayor's compliments, and suggested some publicity shots.
Gained Publicity E
It's all a bit overwhelming. What do you do?
You're not particularly keen on being famous at this point in your life. Sure, it has its uses, but it also causes problems. Social obligations will place demands on your time, which is already precious. Curious eyes will follow you, even to the point of intruding upon your privacy. And that's not getting into the actual threats to life and limb that you know are out there. In this day and age, it would be a poor evil ninja clan indeed that didn't have an information network that at least bothers to check the papers and TV news, to say nothing of the demonic presence somewhere within the state government. If they're at that level, odds are good there's a few demons and other supernatural beings working at the local level, particularly here on the Hellmouth.
On the other hand, running from people tends to make them curious as to why you're doing it. You're familiar with the "nosy reporter" figure from the comics, TV, and movies - not all of them fictional characters - and those same sources have given you some awareness of how people can react when they've been socially-snubbed. Ganondorf's memories provide other examples, ranging from his own rage at how the Gerudo were treated by the Hylians to the occasional deal with a monstrous entity gone sour and prematurely violent. Overall, you can see how trying to refuse the interviews and public appearance could be a problem. You do have things to hide, after all.
And as the desert bandit within you well knows, sometimes the best way to hide a secret is to put it in plain sight.
So, you decide to split the difference and take care of all your social matters in one go. Your father calls up City Hall and speaks with one of the Deputy Mayor's aides, who gets back to you the following evening with word that the Mayor thinks it's a great idea. They discuss dates and times for a bit before agreeing on the upcoming Saturday morning. City Hall also agrees to handle the press.
When you talk about this with your friends at school, Cordelia approves of your decision, especially since she's also had a local reporter and someone from the city trying to get in touch with her. Seems like you'll both be at the Saturday meeting. Well, at least you'll have somebody your own age to talk to, instead of being surrounded by adults.
A few days later, you get up and go through a heavily-modified version of your usual morning routine, not only locking down your aura but casting a spell upon yourself that should conceal its presence against active detection. After all, while you don't know for sure that there are supernatural beings in City Hall, you don't know for certain that there aren't any, either. No sense taking chances.
Gained Guarded D
Gained Mana Concealment E (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Concealment E
Gained Spiritual Power F (Plus) (Plus)
The main reason you don't use this spell on a daily basis is that it interferes with your link to Briar. Feeble and fouled as it is, that connection is a constant reassurance to both of you, and without it, it's all too easy to start thinking that something bad has happened to your partner, especially if she's currently out of sight. It's the same on Briar's end, with the added drawback that she can't use her own spells to find you. Thankfully, this problem will be cleared up once you've finished the familiar ritual, which you can technically do at any time you can find a few hours to get out of town. As things stand, you and your fairy have agreed that a few hours of personal discomfort is worth keeping your power concealed from anyone or anything at City Hall that might notice it. Briar herself will not be accompanying you to the interview, for much the same reason; while invisible to most, she's not undetectable.
Once your guise of mundanity is firmly in place, you go through your standard physical workout, reflecting with disappointment that you weren't able to get in touch with Lu-sensei. You really would have liked to get your master's input on your first public appearance. After exercising, you shower, dress somewhat more formally than usual, and head downstairs for breakfast. Your father is there ahead of you, and like yourself, has gone with semi-formal wear. You recall that your parents both voted for Richard Wilkins III in the last election, and hold the mayor in fairly high esteem due to his committment to education and public health and safety. It should be interesting to meet the man for yourself.
At about nine-thirty, your Dad parks at the lot just down the street from City Hall. You take the opportunity presented by your approach to study the building with those of your more-than-human senses that you're able to call up without breaking cover, but you don't find anything particularly noteworthy. Like every other building in sight, City Hall carries a thick layer of Hellmouth taint, more so than your house or the other residences in your neighborhood. This might be a manifestation of the "threshold," that subtle, ill-defined force that protects private residences against vampiric intrusion and other low-level supernatural menace. Since none of the buildings here are proper residences, they don't enjoy that protection, and are more heavily contaminated. Aside from that, there's nothing obviously unnatural about the place.
Gained Corruption Sense F (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Perception E (Plus)
You let your senses fade back to normal as you near the building, not wanting to ruin all your preparations by giving yourself away with something as obvious as glowing eyes.
Upon entering, you're directed down the hall by the guy at the front desk, and end up in a modestly-appointed, comfortable-looking, remarkably clean waiting room. Cordelia is already present along with both of her parents, all of them better-dressed than you or your Dad; you notice Tony tense up at the sight of the elder Chases, who in turn regard him and you with that bland, dismissive, vaguely disapproving air of the rich who've unexpectedly found themselves "slumming."
You and Cordelia trade looks, not quite sure what to do about the unspoken animosity between your folks. Fortunately, the unpleasant atmosphere is neatly punctured by the arrival of Mayor Wilkins, who strides in with a smile, greets everyone by name, and invites you to try the gingerbread cookies. The man's charisma is tangible; he has the grown-ups chatting amicably inside of two minutes, and manages to draw both you and Cordelia into the discussion without being condescending in the least.
"I admit, I don't know the first thing about martial arts beyond what Hollywood shows us," Mayor Wilkins says. "Not much of a pugilist, myself. Too messy. That said, I do know hard work and discipline when I see them, and I don't see them nearly enough these days, which is a real shame, because they're part of what made this country great. Having two of our own put in the time and effort to merit an invitation to any kind of world-ranked tournament would be worthy of notice, but to have you both reach the finals in your first-ever appearance? For Mister Harris, here, to actually win? I think that's something worth celebrating."
One of his aides shows up then, letting him know that the reporters have arrived. They're ushered in promptly, the two or three individuals you expected to meet joined by a dozen more that you weren't. Most of these are dressed like the Chases, if not so well, and Mayor Wilkins again greets them by name, asking about family, work, and other matters that only an old friend - or a well-prepared politician - would know to inquire after. He's less familiar with the reporter-and-photographer duo from the Times, but no less adroit in his greetings.
The interview takes an hour and change, and you and Cordelia between probably don't spend even a third of that talking. Mostly, you sit next to your parents, nibble on cookies - which true to the Mayor's recommendation, are really darn good - and listen as the adults talk. Your Dad fields some questions on your behalf, as Mister and Missus Chase take turns doing for Cordy. Mayor Wilkins acts as host and mediator for much of the interview, keeping his commentary subdued enough so that it registers on the listeners without actually taking over the dialogue. Only after you've said your piece does he steer the discussion towards his hope that the example set by you and Miss Chase might encourage some of Sunnydale's other young people to really apply themselves, be it athletically, academically, or in their forays into part-time jobs and entrepreneurship. You learn quite a bit listening to the man.
Gained King of Men E (Plus) (Plus)
Several pictures are posed for and taken, after which the meeting begins to break up, various people milling around looking important while others head out to attend to other matters. The Chases are going to be staying for a bit, but your father's clearly not comfortable rubbing shoulders with this crowd, as he taps you on the shoulder and nods towards the door. You don't have any objection to leaving, and trail along in his wake.
You're met by the Mayor at the door, who smiles. "Thank you both for coming, Tony, Alex. Be sure to keep up the good work, okay?"
"Yes sir, Mister Mayor," you reply.
"And pass along my respects to your teacher, would you?"
"I'll do that, sir."
"Terrific! Well, duty calls. Take care, now." And he's off to speak with some of the suits.
It's only after you've left the building that you realize the Mayor never shook hands. Not with you, not with any of the reporters, not even with the local rich voters and taxpayers. You always thought that was a prerequisite for politicians, but apparently not.
You didn't feel any magic other than your own at City Hall, but Briar gives you a once-over when you get home, just for safety's sake. She finds nothing that wasn't already there, and the two of you agree that there's nothing to find. Whether that means the Mayor's office is clean or you just flew under the radar is another question entirely, but it's one for the future.
You spend the rest of the weekend relaxing, and a good part of the following week dealing with the attention of your fellow students, which takes a sharp upswing after a bunch of them are told by their parents that your name was in the paper. It's a front-page article in the Sunnydale Press, with you and Cordelia standing together, Dad on your left and the Mayor and the Chases to Cordelia's right. The same picture - much smaller and with the 'rents cropped out - shows up in the Sports section of the L.A. Times. For the next couple of weeks afterwards, you're getting phonecalls and letters from people you've never met, most of whom you've never heard of. Aside from your newfound fanbase, you're also contacted by several martial arts associations. You field most of this official interest by telling them that you'll have to speak with your teacher before you can make any committments, and he's currently on sabbatical - a word your Mom provided, which basically means vacation. They generally take this in good humor; the pushy ones, you let your Dad growl at until they go away.
Gained Fighter's Rep E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Eventually, most of the fuss dies down. Lu-sensei comes back from Japan, and life returns to more-or-less normal, with just a few outstanding matters left for you to attend to.
Which do you want to deal with first?