Gathering   of   Forces


Prologue:

Paradox reviewed the items offered for this afternoon's lunch. He wrinkled his nose and sighed. It was always the same thing. "Why do they always serve this same crap?" he asked turning to Catana who was behind him in the line for the food. She raised an eyebrow. "You're objecting? They serve the best food of any cafeteria anywhere!" As if to demonstrate she held up her tray that held a nice sirloin, a baked potato, some peas, and a glass of juice. She needed a hearty meal after the grueling Marauders workout that morning. "Yeah, but the options are always the same," he said somewhat airily. She rolled her eyes and he scowled.

The walked over to the table where ShockWave was sitting and reading. "What are you all dressed up for? I didn't realize you owned such fancy clothes," said Paradox with a wicked grin. ShockWave looked up and glared at him. "Why are you dressed up like that anyway?" asked Catana as she set her food tray down. ShockWave was dressed kind of schoolgirlish, with a really short pleated skirt, and a t-shirt with a dragon image on it. "I felt like it. And someone told me I look nice like this," she said sharing a look with Catana. "You dressed like that so we guys can look at you, huh? How magnanimous of you," he said. "If you were being sarcastic again Nathan, I'll throw this book at you." "Sarcastic? Nah, I think you have nice legs" ShockWave pulled her skirt down a little. Catana laughed. "Don't mind him. He's been like this ever since Gomurr started toughening up the teams training." "Both teams right?" "Yup." "It's too easy!" complained Paradox. Both girls laughed.

Catana scaned the cafeteria. Other than ShockWave, Havoc1, Jamie, and Gomurr, no one else of rank in the BHC was there today. "Where is everyone?" she asked. "They aren't at the academy," said ShockWave. Members of the Advocates and the Inner Circle didn't all have to train at the Academy. Things were more lax for some members of the upper ranks. "Well I wouldn't blame them. I wouldn't take Gomurr's classes if I could help it. And the food is just awful," said Paradox. "Does that mean you won't be eating that?" asked ShockWave glancing at the salmon, with rice, and corn he had on his plate. "No," he said laughing. ShockWave smiled. "You just complain for complaint's sake don't you?" "Well I have to have something to talk about!" he said. "After all, I can't very well sit here and tease you all day."

Meanwhile, elsewhere someone was ensuring that the BHC'ers would have plenty to do all day long. She didn't know that yet of course. Her name was Lilianna Catrina Marques. She was a bit of a sorceress, and she knew that someone was after her. She had been fleeing from some unseen magic for days. She had finally found her safe heaven. Now she could safetly use her arcane powers to find her enemy. She closed all the doors to her room and sat on the cold cement floor. She took a piece of black chalk and drew a circle around herself. She took a deep breath and slipped a black candle out of the sleeve of her flowing red blouse. She pulled off her shoes and tossed them out of the circle. She sat with her feet meeting in front of her. A match was pulled out of a clip on her belt. She struck it on the floor, placed the candle between her feet and lit it. She put the still burning match in her mouth and extinguished the flame with her tongue. Then she forced herself to swallow what was left of the match.

She contorted her body backwards, her long and straight blonde hair brushing the floor behind her. She straightened in a jerk and took the candle in her hands. She had left the lights on, but now it was dark save for that dark flame. She stared deep into it. The image flickered and danced with the fire. There was a sudden hiss before she could make out what she was seeing the flame turned green. She almost dropped the candle in surprise, but the flame went back to normal again. Wax rand down the candle and on to her hands. It burnt her flesh as it ran down the back of her hand and she bit back a gasp. Panting, she concentrated on the image in the flame. She saw an old man. An academy. The old man again. Was this her enemy? The flame spat sparks as if to say yes. How must she fight him? There was a flash, and all the wax melted onto her hands. It hurt! But once the sting stopped, it was dark again and she held something in her hands.

A quick incantation turned the lights on. She pulled her hands apart, and between them was a wax figure. It looked particularly gruesome. "I'll conjure it up and smite my enemy," she whispered to herself. She reached for her scrying crystal. She needed to learn more of her enemy and what kind of magic he was capable of before she tried anything. After all, there was no point to conjure something he might quickly disspell. She saw the Academy in her scrying crystal. The old one was a mage, and in charge of teaching a group of superpowered students. She needed to now if any of the others had magical abilities. She scanned auras. The old man had a bright magical aura. A young man had a black and very magical aura about him as well. A girl with red hair had a faint whisper of magic in her aura. It puzzled Lilianna because it didn't seem part of the girl, yet was. To be on the safe side, she have to disable all three of those who had magic in their auras. She would then use her creature to destroy the old man's school and students. It was only fair. He sought something. She could see that in her crystal. He sought a child. Her hand fluttured to her belly. She would make sure he never found what he sought.

She searched through her books wildly. She needed to find somewhere to entrap the magical ones. Somewhere she could spirit them away to without having to fight them. Somewhere they couldn't leave easily if at all. It took her the good part of the next day to find what she sought. 'I must do this' she told herself. She was afraid. She could admit that to herself. But she couldn't let anyone get her or her unborn child. Her magic wasn't as strong as it could have been, but her child would be very powerfull indeed. That's why someone was after her. She'd stop the old man's evil plan. She took a vial from her knapsack. Demon's blood was dangerous, but it could strengthen a magic weilder if followed by the proper incantation. She'd need all the power she could summon for the task before her.

Part 1:

ShockWave sat on her bed, resting her chin on her knees. Catana was sprawled out in an armchair across nearby. They were in the room that Catana and Puma11 (who always seemed to be stuck together) shared at the Academy. Puma11 was elsewhere for the week, and since ShockWave still had some classes to finish up from her stint as Headmistress but didn't have the rooms that went with it, she was staying with her best-friend. "So who were you dressing for today?" Catana inquired. "Someone," responded ShockWave mysteriously. "You have to tell me!" "You can try guessing but I may not answer," responded her friend with a teasing smile. "That's not very fair!" Catana eyed her friend with her eyes slit. She looked very feline indeed when she pulled that look. "Someone who told you you look nice, and that you are sweet on... hmm..." "I didn't say I was sweet on anyone!" exclaimed ShockWave indignantly. "Well if you ask me you are definately sweet on Havoc1." "What?!" "And what about Silver? You seem to have only words of praise for our King." "That's because he's such a nice, kind, and sweet person!" "See there you go, you are doing it again!" ShockWave threw a pillow at Catana. "Maybe I empathize with him. He's under a lot of preasure you know. He doesn't have parents, just like we don't." "And wasn't his father murdered?" "Yeah," said ShockWave sadly.

There were a few moments of silence as each girl thought of the people they had loved that had been murdered. "I still think you are sweet on him," Catana burst out with a grin. "Oh you are impossible!" said ShockWave throwing up her hands. They both started laughing. "Well maybe if you told me who..." "Ok, ok fine. I'll tell you. But you have to promise not to make a big deal out of it because I am not sweet on him." "I promise!" said Catana quickly. ShockWave leaned over and whispered in her ear. "You're kidding!!! You're sweet on HIM?" ShockWave hit Catana with a small wave of electric energy. It was just enough to irritate and make the hairs on her arms stand up. "For that you're going to have to help me move tomorrow!" ShockWave was going to move into an apartament with Monet. It was a nice place conviniently located between the Academy and the Mansion (which are only about 15 miles apart). Still, ShockWave had a lot of computer junk to move and Havoc1 had run off when she was about to ask him to help.

It so happened that Silver was also at the Academy that night. Siryn the Black Rook was with him. He had come to talk to Gomurr about the students and how Avalon was doing with the computer system. Siryn tagged along just to keep the King company. Gomurr watched them approach his office together laughing at some joke she had made. He couldn't help thinking that the King and the lovely Rook looked good together. They could do so much for each other too... He dismissed those thoughts from his head. When he had been young and reckless he had learned the dangers of messing around with love and romance. If anything was to bloom between Siryn and Silver it would do so without his meddling.

Silver smiled at Siryn as they walked in to the office where Gomurr was waiting for him. He was glad she had wanted to tag along. It was a short drive to the Academy but it could be lonely. Come to think of it, he was lonely a lot. People were intimidated by his rank a lot. Siryn didn't seem intimidated by anyone though. And she had a great sense of humor. "Sorry to bother you at such a late hour, Gomurr, but I couldn't get away from my affairs sooner." "No problem. I always have time for you, Silver." He was about to say something more but then something strange started to happen. He was surrounded by a dark mist. He could see Silver but he started to fade. Then, he simply wasn't in his office anymore. He reached for the powers of the Crimson Dawn but found that there was a black veil between him and those powers. Try as he might he couldn't pierce the veil.

In the middle of a pillow fight, ShockWave suddenly faded away. Catana's hackles rose. She wasn't the type to scream, but she was suddenly overcome with fear for her friend. She had to find someone to tell this too. She dashed out of the room and ran for Gomurr's office as fast as she could.

Back at his room at the opulent BHC Mansion, Rahsas was suddenly enveloped in a black cloud too. It was similar to the gateways he could open, yet so different. As he fell through, he felt something ripped from him and knew that he wouldn't be able to use his powers wherever it was that he ended up. There was no one nearby to notice his disappearance.

Demona was awakened by the pounding of footsteps past her door. She hadn't been sleeping well that night. She opened the door just in time to glimpse Catana dashing past. She shook Roulette, her roomates, shoulder. "Something is up. Come on!" Roulette groaned. "Can't it wait for morning? It feels like I just fell asleep!" "That's 'cause you did!" She groaned again. "This had better be good!" she threatened.

Silver and Siryn had just finished searching the office for a clue as to why Gomurr had suddenly vanished when Catana ran in. "Where's Gomurr?" she asked, surprised to see them there. "He just vanished!" said Siryn ignoring the stern don't scare the students look that Silver sent her. "ShockWave just vanished too!!" There was a crash outside, and someone yelled. Silver, Siryn and Catana all ran outside. Demona and Roulette were at the top of the staircase in their pj's staring down at this creature. The thing was like nothing Silver had ever seen before, and he had seen quite a lot in his time. It was of demonic appearance, with horns on it's head and a twisted red body. It also had fangs and in it's claws it held a flamming sword. It saw the girls at the top of the stairs and blew on the sword. Flame blew from the sword across to the two girls. But Roulette had already reached for her bottle of water and surrounded herself and Demona in a protective water bubble.

The water hissed and steam filled the room. Demona flicked an emotionaly charged psionic bolt at the creature, but it didn't seem to have any effect. "Siryn, go wake the students. We can't have them dead if that thing burns this place down," said Silver quickly taking charge of the situation. He turned to give Catana some instructions too, but was dismayed to note that she had leapt at the creature in attack. She raked her claws across it's back and let out a yelp as fire leapt from the broken skin. The thing had turned to her and raised his sword. Silver acted quickly. The banister was made of a metal alloy, so he seized it with his powers and wrapped it around the thing. Catana quickly leapt away, and landed at Silver's side with feline grace. "Demona and Roulette, get out using the servants staircase and instruct the other students to do so as well." The two girls ran off, presumably to do as he told them.

The metal around the fire demon was red with heat, and Silver knew that the creature would be free in minutes. "What are we going to do to stop it?" asked Catana. Her hands were red and they had to hurt, but she seemed unconcerned. "We aren't going to do anything. You will leave the building and regroup with the students on the lawn. I will hold the creature back until everyone is out. Then we can worry about mounting an offensive." He pushed her towards the kitchen as the demon got free and began spraying fire everywhere. Rugs and tables caught on fire and the heat was intense. Silver had to make sure Catana left. But he also had to hold the thing back until he was sure the other students were out. He would not be King over a disaster. But the desicion was taken out of his hands. "You're very gallant, but we can't lose you," said Catana. While he had been observing the destruction, she had grabbed the nearest heavy object (one of Gomurr's elegant japanese vases) and smashed it over the King'd head. She then dragged him out the kitchen door "He's really going to punish me for this," she sighed to herself. Still, she wasn't about to let the Black Hellfire Club's King die because of his stupid chivalrous pride. He was indispensable to them.

"Where the heck am I?" ShockWave yelled. She could see absolutely nothing but a grey mist of fog. But it was so unnaturaly still that her skin crawled. One minute she was tossing a pillow at her rude, ungracious, and perfectly wonderful best-friend and the next she was stuck in some insane twilight-zonish nothingness. "That's probably a very good question that I would also like the answer to," came a voice. ShockWave jumped and spun around. "You scared me you silly old man!" she said to Gomurr, hitting him lightly on the shoulder. She wasn't about to let him know how relieved she was to see him. "You weren't already scared?" he asked with one eyebrow raised in mock surprise. She glared at him. "I won't even reply to that insinuation." "Well that's ol' Gomurr for you. Always insinuating himself into trouble," came another voice. "Rahsas!" exclaimed ShockWave, actually looking pleased.

Rahsas looked very pale and Gomurr knew right away that something was wrong. "Can you use your powers, old man?" "No," said Gomurr looking somber. ShockWave glanced worriedly between the two of them. "I can use mine," she said sending of a few waves of light energy. "We need to figure out what is going on here," said Rahsas. "And why the three of us," agreed Gomurr. "Last time we were five." "Yes, but Marita, Bux, and Jam aren't with us anymore." "True, and maybe you know why, Gomurr, but why is ShockWave here? If we are still assuming this is magic related." ShockWave flushed. She hoped she wouldn't have to go into to many details about her encounter with magic and how it had branded her. But how would she explain her secret without revealing anything?

Part 2:

Gomurr was looking at her in a way that it seemed he was looking through her. He knew something. She could tell by the glint in the old man's eye. He wanted her to say it though. There was no way she could reveal this though. "Magic can be seen as a form of energy right?" asked Rahsas. "Yes is can," agreed Gomurr. "Then isn't it plausible that ShockWave can use magic energy waves and therefore is in a way magical?" Rahsas looked expectantly at his friend, ShockWave. "I never really thought of using magical energy, but I suppose that like everything else it has an energy signature and pattern that I can reproduce and manipulate," she said slowly. "I should have thought of that myself!" said Gomurr. "It seems just another way in which I have been neglecting your training." ShockWave saw the glint in his eye though. It said that he figured on a different reason. She had underestimated him. "More training! Having a highly versatile power is a curse rather than a gift," she grumbled. Both men laughed.

There was pain. He had a horrible headache and he couldn't remeber where he was. "Hey, hey! I think he's waking up!" yelled a frantic voice at his ear. He opened his eyes to see Byron leaning over him. "You are so screwed," Byron whispered loudly to Catana. Silver suddenly remembered what was going on. Catana stood nearby, and he glared at her. "That was foolish and completely unncesary," he said angrily. "I couldn't very well let the King of our organization die," she said icily. "We'll deal with this later," he promised. "Did all the students get out?" he asked turning to Byron. He could see a lot of people scattered on the Academy's front lawn. "Not quite. Since the Academy is distant from the road we don't have to worry about someone calling the fire department and their interference," she said. "What do you mean not quite? Who is still inside?" He fought to control his anger. The students thought to protect him and keep him in the dark did they? He hadn't achieved his position by being a milksop. "Roulette want's to try and see if she can put out the Demon's fire. I told her it wasn't a hell demon so I wasn't sure what would work, but she wanted to give it a go." He sensed that she still wasn't telling it all. "Who stayed with her?" he asked with icy calm. "Demona insisted on staying with her friend. This of course prompted both Paradox and Nate to stay behind because I don't think they both realized it yet, but they are both quite taken with her." Amusement sparkled in Byron's eyes. Silver vowed he'd definatly have a word with Gomurr about his students behavior and disrespect for authority. ShockWave too probably. Monet had just taken over, so she might not have been aware of such goings on.

"Where is Siryn?" he asked as he got to his feet. "Well," said Rogue. "She tried fighting fire with fire, you know. Then she went inside to make sure the students didn't get killed and Paradox didn't do anything heroicly foolish." "Monet you're with me. We're going to get the others out and lure the demon on to the lawn where we can fight it without more damage to the Academy." "You want me to get a big, bad and hot monster out of the house without letting the students fight it... What kind of a death wish do you have?" she replied. Silver gritted his teeth. It was hard to be patient when he had a headache and numbers ran through his head. Numbers that were the money it would cost to repair this fiasco. "I'm sure you can manage if you try hard enough, Monet. You are a very talented young woman." "Flattery will get you everywhere," she said with a grin. "Even if it is forced flattery," she whispered to him. He wondered how everyone could be so amused. Was he missing out on some joke? Was this demon just Avalon in disguise or something? Maybe his head hurt more than he thought.

Nate's TK shield was all that was keeping Demona, Paradox, Siryn, and Roulette from been burned to cinders by the fire demon. They were all gathered in the kitchen where the faucets were all running to give Roulette a water supply to work with. The only problem was that they could no longer see the demon because of all the steam. "This is fun and all that, but it ain't working," commented Paradox. "Yes but we can't let him burn down our school," said Demona. "Personaly I wouldn't mind missing a few classes," replied Paradox with a grin aimed at Demona. "It's hard to coordinate Roulette's attacks through the TK shield. This demon isn't dumb," said Nate. "I don't want you to get hurt," he said more softly to Demona. Demona didn't seen to realize it, but both young men liked her very much." "We have to pull back to somewhere with less steam," said Siryn. "Capital idea," came Silver's voice from the doorway. Metal from the sink, knifes, etc seemed to melt together to form a thin shield between the students and the rest of the room. "Everyone outside now," said Monet with an imperious glare. "But..." began Roulette who was then silenced by a look from the new headmistress. There was banging noises coming from the metallic barrier and the whole thing was turning red. "I'll draw it out," said Monet as the barrier began to melt. "You get a strategy together. You're better at that." She figured that flattery was the only way to get the now stubborn King to take a suggestion. The hit to his head seemed to have also served as a blow to his royal pride.

"So what are we going to do?" asked ShockWave. "It seems we have no choice my dear but to explore this relm," replied Gomurr. She looked both of them up and down speculatively. "Rahsas is in his pj's," she commented. "And you don't have shoes," he replied. "I can fly," she replied. He looked pointedly at her short skirt. "Could we please cease this pointless debate on how our current wardrobes are unfit for our current situation?" asked Gomurr. He had never seen either of those two debate pointlessly in a serious situation before. Maybe it was something in the air? He started off figuring that any direction was as good as the other in the unnatural fog. "He only says that because he's in what he always wears," whispered ShockWave to Rahsas. They both smiled.

After about ten minutes of walking, or flying close to the ground as in ShockWave's case, the came upon a strange castle. It, like the rest of the foggy surroundings looked gloomy and dank. "We should check it out," said Rahsas. "Yeah, maybe it'll gove us a clue on how we can leave this grey, dreary place," agreed ShockWave. "I wonder if it is the only structure hidden in this gloom?" mused Gomurr.

The inside was full of cobwebs and dust. Suits of armor had collapsed leaving helmets and gauntlets strewn across parts of the entry hall. ShockWave hovered near a dusty tapestry. "It looks blank," she said, shaking it a little. A cloud of dust descended on them, and the tapestry did indeed look blank. "Very strange indeed," said Gomurr peering up at it. "Let's see what else me may chance to discover." 'What a gloomy old place,' they all thought to themselves. 'Reminds me of the castles in Arthur's day,' thought ShockWave. Then she gave a startle blink. She hadn't seen any arthurian castles. 'It's a very romantic sort of castle,' thought Gomurr. Then he almost tripped on the edge of some carpeting. He never thought of castles in a romantic sense before! Rahsas almost tripped over one of the helmets. 'Silver is the sort of person I can see wearing a suit of armor,' he thought. Then he started. Since when did he care what Silver or anyone wore? Now they all thought the same thing. 'Something is very weird here.'


Part 3:

The castle seemed to be pretty empty. Everything was covered with dust. The ballroom floors appeared rotten and dangerous. There was furniture in various stages of disrepair everywhere. 'It's nothing like my castle in Scottland,' thought Rahsas. Then he blinked. 'I don't have a castle in Scottland!' "What could have happened?" asked ShockWave out loud. "Nothing had to have happened. Remember that this is not out relm and the same rules that govern our world won't necessarily operate here,' said Gomurr. "But why is everything blank?" asked Rahsas, holding up a plain undecorated vase. "Nothing is decorated or embellished," said ShockWave with a sigh. "Don't they have any imagination here?" she asked. "Thusfar we have seen no evidence of anyone actually being here at all," said Gomurr as he looked up at another blank tapestry. "Well than this seems no help at all!" said ShockWave with a frustrated sigh. "Every relm has to have a way to escape it, my dear. It's a law that governs the nature of these things. The person who sent us here obviously thought that we would be incapable of finding the way out. Maybe because there is something about this place that prevents magic from being used." "Great, so we are stuck," she grumbled. "Not necessarily. If the person sending us here didn't know that the nature of your powers is not essentially magical, you are a wild card we can play to get out." She sent him a startled glance.

"No enemy that we currently know of would have enough magic power to send the three of us here. So it's safe to bet that they may not know the details of your powers," said Rahsas. "That's exactly what I was thinking," Gomurr said to Rahsas. "So in other words we keep exploring and keep our eyes peeled for clues?" said ShockWave. Gomurr nodded. "Well I hope that you can recognize a clue when you see it, because I doubt I will," she said. Gomurr glared at her. "Use your imagination. After all the classes you claim that I forced upon you, you should have a sharp mind." ShockWave scowled and Rahsas chuckled. 'Reminds me of a ghost house,' thought Gomurr. Rahsas saw a suit of armor that hadn't fallen and stood dusty but lifelike. ShockWave suddenly imagined the armor coming to life and attacking them. At the same moment they turned a corner and almost ran into another huge tapestry. It depicted the a suit of armor chasing Rahsas with a sword upraised. A ghost image of ShockWave was next to him. "I just thought that!" exclaimed Rahsas and ShockWave at the same time. Then they glanced at each other with mouthes hanging open.

"What does it mean?" asked ShockWave turning to Gomurr. "It's the only one that we've found that's not blank," said Rahsas. 'He'll know,' Gomurr thought hopefully. But wait, that couldn't be his thought. "I'm hearing thoughts that can't be my own!" Rahsas declared. "You're right!" said ShockWave. "I had a thought of how romantic castles are earlier," said Gomurr. Rahsas looked startled. "I was thinking that!" he exclaimed. "Do you have a castle in Scottland?" he asked Gomurr. "I do!" said ShockWave. "Our thoughts are being projected to each other and our imaginings onto the tapestries," said Gomurr. "I don't get it..." said ShockWave. "Let's go back and look at the other 'blank' tapestries, said Gomurr. They retraced their steps and re-examined the tapestries they had passed. One tapestry depicted the scene of Arthur's coronation. Another showed Silver dressed as a knight and fighting a dragon(you could tell it was Silver since the helmet had fallen off). Gomurr looked at ShockWave and raised an eyebrow. "An errant thought," she said defensively. "You're sweet on WHO?" Rahsas asked looking surprised. "Hey! I am not, keep away from my thoughts!" said ShockWave. "On Silver?" asked Gomurr. "No, on..." began Rahsas, but ShockWave stopped him with a murderous glare.

"Why does this remind you of Sir Gawain?" asked ShockWave sounding confused. "Let's just keep our thoughts to ourselves," agreed Gomurr icily. "But how?" asked Rahsas. There was a rumbling in the castle. ShockWave jumped guiltily. "I was just wondering if the decript old place would eventually collapse," she said quickly. 'That was smart,' came a thought that she didn't think was hers. She glared at both Gomurr and Rahsas. "Perhaps it's that the castle has already given us it's clue," said Gomurr. "That this relm is affected by the thoughts of visitors," finished Rahsas. "This is creepy. Let's get out," said ShockWave.

Monet flew back into the house for the third time. The demon like to send jets of flame chasing after her, and try to decapitate her when she was inside the house but everytime she tried to get it to chase her outside the house it went back to destroying things inside. "I wonder if we are the primary target or the Academy is," she thought. "Duck!" came a shout behind her. Monet hit the ground and rolled. A TK bubble caught the demon and exploded outwards with it. It hit the ground and the grass around it caught flame. "We have to get it to the lake," said Nate. There was a man made lake out behind the Academy. "Great," muttured Monet. She picked Nate up as a jet of flame shot accross the grass at them. "Did they send anyone else to help?" she asked. "Silver had Siryn take most of them to the Mansion," he replied. "Swell," growled Monet to herself.

Liliana Catrina Marques was not very happy. Those little meddlers were trying to draw the demon from the building. She needed for it to destroy that Academy. The old sorcerer's work had to be destroyed. He was searching for a child. She didn't know for sure why, but she knew her unborn son was a candidate and her son was to be hers alone. She needed to destroy the wizard's work so none could just pick up where he left off. His students seemed very dedicated. She didn't have the power to destroy them all, not yet anyway. It was a shame. She had a few more tricks up her figurative sleeve though. Maybe she could kill a few of them as well as destroying their home. She drew her talismans to her. She was best at working fire. It was her element. For those unfortunate children the night would become an inferno.

"We'll never get it to the lake," said Monet. "I think Roulette is bringing the lake to us," said Nate. His TK had protected them from most of the fire attacks, but it couldn't reduce the ambient heat. So he was very glad to see Roulette, Silver, Demona, Paradox, and Byron approach inside a large mass of water. "Something is happening," said Monet with apprehension. The demon had fallen on the ground and was shivering. "Cool!" she heard Paradox shout. But then flames jumped up from the fire sword and formed people made of fire. "Our problems must have taken Prof. Toltops basic math course," said Paradox with a groan. Demona sent him a curious glance. "Multiplication," he said and laughed at the stupid joke glare that she sent him.

Part 4:

"What's up with? you know..." whispered Rahsas. Gomurr had gone ahead of them for a bit, leaving ShockWave and Rahsas together. 'That thought exchange castle really screws things up,' she thought, glad that it's effects were no longer evident. "He told me I looked nice dressed girlishly. What's wrong with that?" she whispered back. "You had to dress to please him?" She rolled her eyes. "It just so happens that I like looking nice," she whispered back. She knew what it was that was bothering him. She and Rahsas had recently developed a relationship of sorts. "But you like him." "It just so happens that I wouldn't mind having a relationship with most of the guys in the BHC. It won't happen though." "And our relationship isn't a steady thing," he agreed. They had agreed on that when it first started. They liked being together, but there was no pressure for it to last forever. They both wanted something casual and fun. Besides, relationships didn't seem to last long in the BHC. She was smiling charmingly at him. "I didn't know you had a castle in Scottland," he said with a grin. "It's sort of a museum of my collection of paintings, swords, and ancient works of art." She grinned mishchevously. "It does have a tower set up for living for my visits," she said. "I'll take you there sometime." He grinned back.

"We're being followed by something," whispered Rahsas. Gomurr nodded. He had noticed that while his two former students were chatting. "Let's find out who or what it is," said ShockWave anxiously. She was tired of this foggy relm. "It could be a clue." "It might be best to let it spring at it's own time," said Gomurr. ShockWave sent him a pained look that made him smile. The shuffling noises behind them grew louder as they went along. Then a short and hairy little figure began to form in the fog in front of them. It had a tiny face and bif eyes of a body that was all head and covered in grey hair. "He could be an alternate version of you," ShockWave hissed in Gomurr's ear. He shot her a glance that told her he was not at all amused. She tried to hide a smile and failed. Hanging around Havoc1 made her even lest able to resist the oportunity to poke fun at Gomurr than before. 'Not that she had been restrained before,' thought Gomurr drolly.

"You want to kill the demon, you cut it's head off," said Byron. "Hopefully before he melts whatever I choose to use to cut the head off right?" said Silver in a somewhat sarcastic voice. "Getting your sense of humor back?" she said with a grin. "I'm inmune to flames, Roulette has her water, Nate's TK offers him some protection. So like you said, we handle the fire people." "Leaving Paradox, Demona, and myself to handle the demon. I know the plan Byron. We made it..." "Although things rarely go as planned," she said finishing his thought for him.

"Ok, so let me get this straight. A fire demon is running loose at the Academy so Silver sent you here for safety reasons. Gomurr and ShockWave have disappeared from the Academy. Rahsas has just turned up missing here. None of you know who it is that is attacking us or where those three could be?" asked Nemesis to the assembled Upstarts and Marauders. She had been sleeping in her nice soft luxurious bed when the commotion of their arrival had awoken her. Most of the students were irritated that Silver had sent them away from the action while allowing others to stay behind. Siryn had told her that Silver had been hit over the head so maybe he wasn't thinking clearly, still she couldn't see why Paradox and Demona who had no real flame fighting powers would be allowed to stay. Nemesis also didn't like the way several male students were eyeing her as she stood there in her robe. Ever since that horrid thing with Avalon... But she hadn't been in control then. She'd have to make a note to teach Gomurr's students a thing or two about the proper respect for their queen. But first she had to find somewhere to put the students before sending help over to the Academy.

They were surrounded by those little fuzzy creatures. They had all seemingly melted out of the fog. Each held a little rounded segment in their hands. Gomurr watched interestedly as they put the pieces together on the floor forming a circle around them. Aprehension seemed to emanate from Rahsas and ShockWave. Gomurr could almost hear their thoughts of dislike for the situation. He just wanted to see what would happen next. It could be another clue. Everyother one of the creatures picked up buckets of water from somewhere and poured them into the circle. He could feel the water reach his feet, but it didn't feel wet. When the puddle they were standing in started to shimmer, ShockWave started to fly up a few inches from the ground. Rahsas was nearest to her, so she quickly grabbed his hand. Something was happening. Gomurr started to sink into what could only be described as a portal. Perhaps waiting had been a bad idea. Still nothing in their environment had harmed them yet, and ShockWave was the only one who could fly anyway. Rahsas was sinking too. She wouldn't be able to lift him out. There was a limit to what she could fly with, and in flight she couldn't lift more than she could lift standing. So, like Gomurr, Rahsas slowly sank through the portal. Everything outside now was black. The creatures were gone. The portal vanished with Rahsas.

Part 5:

Liliana Catrina Marques pouted unhappily. Her demon would be vanquished. A trio carefully took out the fire men while four others distracted the demon. They seemed to be trying to sever the head of her demon, but they couldn't get close enough for long enough. She surveyed everything through her scrying crystal. 'At least the mage's office is burning' she thought. He'd lose most of his things. His students didn't know who attacked them and he'd hopefully be lost forever. She would at the very least have enough time to recoup her powers and hide her son away. If only she could do it all now! She seethed with frustration. Her powers over fire weren't as grand from a distance. But she couldn't risk herself against the mage's students. In just a few more minutes they'd have everything under control. She wanted to kill them! Demon's blood stimulated violence. She had drunk a considerable amount in order to do all she had done. But her magic hadn't drawn blood. "I'm going to take this one step further," she said as she formed a ball of flame between her hands.

ShockWave could have screamed in frustration. Gomurr and Rahsas had sunk through the little hairy men's portal. She wasn't too upset though. She would have been more upset if it had been her best-friend Catana who had suffered that uncertain fate. Gomurr and Rahsas knew more about weird magic and stuff than Cat anyway. But still, intstead of letting her friendship make her instictively try to pull Rahsas out, she should have grabbed Gomurr. The old man was much lighter and she could have flown with him. For a short distance anyway. Now she was alone. The little hairy dudes vanished. "This really puts a damper on my plans to move to the apartement," she sighed as she landed a few feet away from the portal.

Nate used his TK shield to suffocate the last fire person as Byron and Roulette moved on towards the demon that was turning the lawn into a bonfire. Silver and Monet moved the others who had been in charge of distracting it back a safe distance. He wondered idly if Silver would be grading Roulette and Byron on their performance the way Gomurr would. He was distracted and that's why he didn't see what came up behind him.

Demona felt Nate's sudden emotional anguish. She turned to see him go down as a blade of light went through his body. A female figure stood behind him. Demona knew that this was a real person and the one who caused the attack on the Academy. She could feel the anger that radiated from her at the failure of her attack and the protective feeling that lay underneath. She didn't totaly understand, but she also knew that the woman wasn't there physicaly. She leapt towards her and shot a bolt of anguish like what she felt from Nate at the figure. She tried to ward it off with the light blade, but the bolt went through the blade and struck home. With a cry she was gone.

"FHGKSDSOSDD?" a figure seemed to ask. ShockWave stared at it blankly. It was one of the strangest creatures she had ever seen. It was a person with over-large eyes, pointed ears the lobes of which hung down to the waist, a thin face, and writhing hair. Was it hair or a living creature? She saw many others like it beyond it in the fog. Suddenly it was gone. "Way weird," she whispered to herself. As she floated along she saw more and more weird creatures. As soon as they spotted her though, they vanished. "I know this means something... But what the @#$% could it be?"

Gomurr had almost figured it out. They were in a situation very similar to ShockWave's. "This is like one of my nightmares," Rahsas had sighed. That was the key. Gomurr realized that they were in a dream world and they were the figures that one sometimes sees in the corner of the eye inside a dream. "And that's why images in our minds have some effect in this place," he said as he explained his theory to Rahsas. "Sounds plausible. If we have a dream world why shouldn't alternate worlds have one also?" "Exactly!" agreed Gomurr emphaticly. "My only remaining question is how to leave this world," he added half to himself. "Unlike the normal denizens of this place we can not simply 'wake up'"


Part 6:

ShockWave walked for what felt like forever. Some of the scenes or images of the world lasted more than a few seconds. Some buildings you could enter. She saw more weird people-like creatures. Everything was becoming a grey haze in her mind, like a dream. She found it hard to believe that any of this was real, but she knew that she was not dreaming and was really there. The feeling was confusing to say the least. She hoped that she would find Gomurr soon...

Gomurr meanwhile was hoping he could get back home soon. He had many projects and interests that couldn't be left unattended for too long. He had an idea for something they could try in order to escape this realm, but they needed ShockWave. He and Rahsas concentrated on finding her as the walked and hoped that the dream world would help make it real. "How will we know if it's really her and not a dream?" asked Rahsas suddenly. Gomurr paused. He hadn't considered that. "I suposse we have no garantee, but seeing as how this is not our dream world I don't think a dream image will be produced solely for ourselves as we are intruders here." "And there's no garantee that we will find her at all either then," said Rahsas gravely. "Quite correct. We must trust to luck here unless you have any better suggestions."

"What was that?" asked Silver as he reached down to Nate's unconscious form. "He's alive," said Demona. Byron and Roulette were still fighting the demon, and displaying a good show of teamwork. "I'm not sure exactly what the other thing was, only that it had emotions so I assume it was a person or at least the manifestation of a person. Still my studies into these things have just barely begun and the first part of our training is mostly in fighting so we don't get ourselves killed in a crisis." With that Demona turned and walked off to be alone. She had no skill in healing so she couldn't help Nate. Nate was bleeding from his nose and Silver wondered if what struck him down had been psionic, since there was no further evidence of injury.

"Want me to fly him to Nem?" asked Monet, who had come to the same conclusion. "I can help," said Paradox. Silver eyed Paradox. He was said to be very powerfull, but how much of his own powers he really understood was uncertain. "Can you tell us what's wrong with him?" he asked. "Well in layman's terms you might say that Natey boy was struck down by the equivilent of a psionic club. It's shut down his mental processes, which is a real bummer for him. There some weird signature about it though because whoever struck him down doesn't really have any telepathic powers so the blow was generated by some other form." Monet rolled her eyes. "You can stop showing off now and tell us what all that comes out to in english, as in will he be ok?" she said sounding worried and upset. Paradox glanced at Silver. "Well Nate here is brain dead," he said bluntly."

ShockWave was feeling weak. This world was draining something from her. She shivered. She suspected that it was draining magical energy from her. There was no limit to how much of a certain kind of energy she could produce, but her body needed to get energy of it's own in order to produce the energy of her mutant powers. She was afraid that this magical draining was still going on, and her body was still loosing energy without any new energy input into her sistem. This had never happened to her before. She was scared.

"Hey look!" called Rahsas. He was looking through a mirror that had appeared beside him as he walked. It showed someones back, with wavy red hair running down it. "It's her." She was sitting still on a rock that looked to be on a beach with foaming lilac colored water. "The best way to be found if you are lost is to stay in one place," Gomurr said with a nod. "How can we get there?" Rahsas wondered out loud. They thought for several moments. "You ever hear of a girl called Alice in Wonderland?" asked Gomurr finally. Rahsas gave him a funny look. "Yeah, a kids story and a Disney movie. Why?" "Well the book had a sequel and it has given me and idea." Gomurr touched the glass. "We shall go through the looking glass." Rahsas wondered what a telepath would think of Gomurr's mind if they could get inside it. It seemed that his thoughts beat an erratic path through his ancient brain.

At first the mirror remained solid, but slowly the surface seemed to get softer and softer. It got to about the consistency of water, and Rahsas suddenly thought of the portal in the movie Stargate. "Here goes nothing," he said as he held his breath and stepped through. Gomurr stayed behind to see if he came out ok, and then followed him through the mirror.

Part 7:

She stared at the havoc she had caused and wondered what had come over her. She looked at the fallen figure of the boy she had struck. A mere boy. Lilianna Catrina Marques was ashamed of what she had done to them in her anger caused by the demons blood. She could have contented herself with merely removing the threat to her child and destroying his task, but she had gotten carried away. Her magic had never hurt anyone save in self-deffence before and now it felt tainted. She shivered. "That was very well done even if I say so myself," came a strange and chilling voice. She whirled around, and fell in her weariness. "Yes I belive it was a deft manipulation that made you believe that my rival in this task was the one truly seeking you rather than myself. You're magic is not more powerfull than my own, but it was pure and good. I couldn't break your shield until you had done something that led you to evil." Her eyes widened in horror. "Oh don't be such a fool my dear," he said as he cradled her head. "Demon's blood is rare and hard to find. You could not truly have believed that you a hedge witch could possibly discover any on your own?" He laughed an evil rasping laugh. "But you did and you fell when you dared to use it. Your magic was tainted and so I was able to break it down with my darker arts. I've been manipulating you for years in expectation for this whelp and now I will not be denied."

Her blood was cold and tears ran down her cheeks. She had used up her strength on those poor students and now she could not defend her unborn child. She would suffer the ultimate penalty for what she had done to them and her child would suffer worse. The old man would have been a much better mentor to her baby than this monster but she had let herself be tricked. Every muscle hurt, but she tried vainly to struggle anyway. Her poor baby! She had to try for the babies sake! "Your struggles are useless woman! You have landed in my trap. I would have had you one way or another, but since you proved the fool it seems your only use was to bear the child that will be born on this night." 'He's mad, she thought. It was not time for the birth yet. But she knew that he had no intention of waiting anyway. Her screams as he ripped her open and took the child were not for herself but for that poor innocent.

He stood over the bloody body of the foolish woman holding a very small child that was covered in his mother's blood but that dared not scream or cry, for it was as if he sensed what the man truly was and the fear held him silent. It was a boy. It could very well be that this boy would become the ascended one. 'Gomurr is a fool if he thinks that he is the only one to seek that ascended being,' thought the deft manipulator and servant to evil that held the child. He had lived many centuries and opposed Gomurr's many shapes from the shadows, remaining unknown to the gnarled old man. He was determined that the ultimate victory would be his.

"She's dead!" said Demona. "Last I heard Natey boy was male, but I suppose it's not the weirdest thing that I've heard of in my life if he was suddenly a she or had been all along." Monet glared at him. "Nate is not a female! He never was. She's talking about someone else." "When I hit the woman who struck Nate, I formed a brief connection with her emotions. There was anguish, then pain, then suddenly nothing. She's dead." Demona said it all without a trace of emotion in her voice as usual. She was a very controlled and quiet person. Perhaps that's why she didn't say anything else. She felt sad that the attacker had died. She didn't entirely understand it, but she trusted her emotions not to betray her.

"Can you help Nate?" Monet asked Paradox fiercely. She was worried for her poor friend, Nate. 'Brain dead,' she thought with anguish. 'Oh God, help him.' "Well I have the power, but not the finesse. I've never tried to jumpstart someone's brain before." "I never heard of anyone who has done that before," said Silver thoughtfully. Monet would have cheerfully killed the King just then, if it weren't for Nem's arrival.

"What is going on here?" she demanded imperiously. Havok, the Black Warlord, strolled along behind the ilustrious Queen. He noticed the battle still going on with the fire spouting demon, and jumped right in while Nem continued on toward Silver. Havok distracted the demon at the crucial moment, permiting Byron to slay it, while the others saw to Nate.

Paradox transmited the situation to Nem telephaticaly. She was somewhat startled to feel the presence of his mind in hers, for it proved he was very powerfull, and managed to quell the instict to block his contact. "We can fix him," she afirmed out loud. Without wasting time she joined with Paradox's mind and delved into Nate's brain functions.

"So what's the plan?" ShockWave asked Gomurr. "We can control our environment a bit here. It won't bend around for us, but if we imagine it hard enough we can go to a dream were there is a portal." "I understand it up to there," she said impatiently. Gomurr sometimes seemed to forget how smart his students were and automaticaly went in to lecture mode. "I don't get the part about me using energy to power the portal so that it'll really work, taking us back to our realm/world." "It's really quite simple. You sense energy flows and patterns. Being around mutants who can teleport or open portals as Blink, for example, could should have given you some idea of the kind of energy required. You infuse a dream portal with that energy and it should take us to another realm instead of just another part of this realm." "We have no garantee that it'll be our realm though," said Rahsas. "Yes but the laws of probability would suggest that magic that powers so many realms, would work where ever we end up therefore giving us a chance to attempt a return with more presicion." Rahsas gave him a doubtfull look, remembering that adventure with Marita, Bux, and Jam. "We can at least try," Gomurr said in answer to the unasked question in Rahsas' eyes.

'Easy for him to say,' thought ShockWave. "I know the feel of our world if there was some way to link us I probably could guide us there." "I can't link you to me," ShockWave said flatly. "Well actually my dear you can link him to you with an energy leash like you did when under the influence of Nem's twin," Gomurr said pensively. "I don't really see how that would help execpt that you'd be able to draw on and multiply his energy. Actually you may need a boost of energy to make a portal work in the first place." ShockWave knew that with the way she was being drained, Gomurr was probably right, but she didn't want to use her powers that way.

Nate's mind was shut off. It was as if it had been shortcircuited. Some of the neural pathways were broken, but with the help of some TK they were put back together. The whole process felt like it took forever to complete, but in reality only a few agonizing minutes had passed. When Nem and Paradox came out of what seemed to the others to be like trances, and was really just a high level of concentration that was required when working with something on a small level, Monet gave them an anxious glance. Nem ignored her and turned to Paradox. "Your power is amazing. I could not have done that alone." "Yet if the damage had been as bad as it could have, I wouldn't have been able to do anything for him even with your help," he replied. "Will he be ok?" "We'll find that out when he wakes up. I expect to have the premisses clear, the damages assesed, and a complete report by then," Nem said authoritatively. "Where the hell is that little twerp, Gomurr?" Nem asked in an irritated tone. "He should be in charge of the students clean up." "He vanished," said Monet. "I'll take charge of this," she added, sending a pained glance at Nate that indicated that she'd rather go with them and see if he was ok.

ShockWave closed her eyes and mentaly took a deep breath. Things were going good so far. They were lucky enough to find a dream with a portal in it, even though this structure was squared and stood upright. It's surface moved and reflected, creating a beautiful effect... But she wasn't here to admire the stupid thing. Gomurr was glancing at her keenly. She could feel his eyes on the back of her head. She shot him an annoyed look. 'Stop staring at me, I will try your plan,' she thought in her head. If she were telepathic she'd have sent him the thought. As it was, he did seem to hear it. It was probably an effect like the earlier thought sharing at the dream castle. The portal was wider than a door, but if she opened her arms enough, she could hold on to the sides. She felt energy flow through her. She channeled it into her hands and they began to glow an erie green. She was trying to channel the kind of energy she could 'feel' from portals like the ones Blink could make, but she couldn't be sure that it was the same. She didn't know enough about this sort of thing, and she doubted that she would be able to do this back on their world anyway. Still, she could feel something happening to the portal. Everything has an energy pattern. She could feel them if she concentrated. She felt the pattern for the portal change. For all she knew now the next person to step through would be fried, transported, or turned into a chicken; but they all knew that they had no other way to leave. All or nothing.

She channeled more and more energy into the portal trying to change the whole energy pattern. If only parts of it were changed and it still teleported them, she doubted they would come through with all their extremities and vitals still attached. The rippling energies across the portal she tried to change without stopping the ripple effect. The other portal had been rippling like water, so if that effect was canceled this probably wouldn't work. She could feel herself losing energy. She could feel the pull of the draining, and then the energy output of her hands was going to drain her dry soon. She wasn't finished yet though. She was thinking of taking Gomurr's advice, when she felt Rahsas' hand on her shoulder. He seemed to radiate acceptance, so she drew energy from him to complete her task. Once it was complete she stepped away from the portal and grabbed hold of the swaying Rahsas. It was dangerous to take energy from another living being. They couldn't spare as much as she could, for her powers augmented all energy output and allowed her to function with limited amounts of energy to draw on. Once she learned that she could take other people's energy, she dreaded becoming like an energy vampire. "It's done," she said softly. "Whether it works the way we want it to or not, there is only one way to find out." "Well it's all or nothing," said Gomurr.

Epilogue:

In the middle of an extensive clean up, undertaken by grumbling and complaining students, Gomurr, ShockWave, and Rahsas fell out of the sky over a blackened lawn. Monet was notified inmediently and came rushing out of the salvaging operation in Gomurr's office. "What happened here?" asked Gomurr as he blinked at the burnt grass and glanced at the fire damaged Academy. Monet sent him an irritated glance. "I'd rather know where you've been," she replied. Gomurr smiled wanly. "Someone transported us to an alien dream world were magic is blocked or drained," he answered. "Well that someone also sicked a fire demon on the Academy. It destroyed most of your office and a lot of the downstairs portion of the Academy before we got it out on to the lawn and killed it. It seems that you had a magical enemy that wished you harm, but Demona managed to connect with her briefly and says she was killed." "Really? I must talk to that girl. I have no knowledge of anyone with these kind of powers who would want me dead. Take me to my office, I must see how much of my invalueable possesions were destroyed." Gomurr headed of with Monet, all hustle and bustle as she filled him in on the further details.

ShockWave and Rahsas picked eachother up off the ground. "You ok?" she asked. "It worked," he said with a grin. "I wouldn't mind a nap or some food right now, but I'm glad to be back where my powers work." He transformed into his smokey black form.

Silver had conducted many individual interviews after the general debriefing. Catana would be the last. He winced and put a hand to the rather large bump on the back of his head. It still ached, and it didn't help that he hadn't gotten any sleep. When Nem had heard what happened, her laughing glance grated on an exposed nerve. "You do realize that the BHC is an institution that demands respect for all other members, but most especially those of a higher rank than your own?" he asked arching and eyebrow. Catana was sitting in a chair across from his desk, with a feline grin on her face. She was a bit nervous, because she kept popping and then retracting her claws. The slight change into her transitional form sent an adrenaline surge through her body. Catana was nervous before the fierce looking king, and kept popping her claws because the adrenaline rush made her feel more confident. "I realize that, sir, but I also realize that your position as King makes you not quite unexpendable but makes your continued ability to breathe more important than that of the regular members."

Silver frowned. He believed that his rank made him responsible for the lives of the others. He had to keep them alive in any instance where this was possible. "See! My argument does make sense!" Catana explained at his pensiveness. Silver opened his mouth to say something, but Catana turned towards the door expectantly. Silver's mouth snapped shut and he glared at ShockWave who opened the door and walked into his office at the BHC Mansion as if she owned the place. "You are supossed to at least knock first, Bishop," he said acidly. ShockWave raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Catana. "I heard that you'd called Catana to your office and figured you'd expect me." "Why would you think that?" Silver said, raising his eyebrow in turn. He knew the answer perfectly well, but just wanted to be obstinate. "Well I'll make a little list for ya." She tapped one finger. "I've known Cat the longest." She tapped the next finger. "She is part of my 'business' operation" Tapped a third finger. "And she's my best-friend." "That still doesn't give you the right to barge into this office or irritate your King," Silver said somewhat testily. "Does that bump hurt?" ShockWave walked behind him and reached for his head. Silver tried to fend her off, but she grabbed his head and soon he felt the warm glow of healing energy bathing the bump. Catana had started to giggle as they struggled, and as ShockWave finished they were both laughing together. Silver Looked back at ShockWave and gave her a wry smile. "How can I gain the respect of the students if you insist on teasing me in front of them?" he asked with a grin. "Don't worry, she hit you because she respected you. Besides, you owe me."

Silver sighed. "Fine, get out of here both of you." He suddenly put on a stern expresion. "But I will be respected!" ShockWave giggled, spoiling the moment. Silver pretended to pout. ShockWave and Catana exchanged a quick look. "Yes, sir!" they both said as they snapped to attention and saluted. "That's better," Silver said. Laughing, both girls shut the door to his office and walked back to the Academy together. 'Well at least they respect me in public,' Silver thought to himself with a mental sigh. He was going to have to pull some hidden prank on ShockWave to pay her back for this though... Maybe some special gift for her moving into the apartament with Monet. Then he could get the new Headmistress at the same time. He grinned. This idea certainly had posibilities...


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