There was a loud knocking at the front door. One that could wake the dead, had anyone been asleep at 8 PM in the West house. Alex was dancing to loud techno music, which drowned out the knocking and anything else. However, even the loudest music couldn't drown out the bone cracking THUD that was the front door being kicked off of the hinges.
     “Where is my mage?!” a loud female voice demanded of Mister and Misses West. “Give him to me NOW you old farts, before I forget I’m a lady and get really tough!”
     Alex poked his head out of his door in time to hear one loud crack, then another. His mom’s lifeless body landed in front of his door, and his stomach did a lurch and turn. He was somewhat glad to see that she’d been able to change her form to her 20 year old self, but that didn’t help her very much against whoever had whacked her.
     “Mom?” he asked, slowly slipping out of his room, “Mother?”
     “There’s my mage,” the woman said perkily as he stepped into view. He looked at her with disgust, even though she was quite attractive, with curly blond hair, deep brown eyes, a cute face, and a body that wouldn’t stop.
     “Glory,” he hissed.
     “That’s me darling,” Glory said, putting her right hand on her hip while raising her left hand to the sky, “I’m here because I need a little favor from the cousin of a certain slayer.”
     “Go back to your private hell,” he growled, pulling his transformation pen from behind his back. He crossed his arm in front of his face so that the star surrounding the Saturn symbol was level with his eyes.
     “That won’t help you any,” Glory purred as she began to step towards him. “Sure, you’ll have all that cool armor, but it’ll hurt you instead of help you.”
     “You killed my parents, and I’m going to give you a one way trip back to your hell dimension.”
     His pen glowed as wings formed beneath the star and spread upward, embracing the jewel. He shouted, “Saturn Cosmic Power!” as a wave of light washed over his body.
     Glory shielded her face as angel wings formed on Alex’s back and embraced him. When the wings spread again he was wearing his warrior armor, the wings folding up behind his back to become part of the armor.
     “Interesting little light show,” Glory said when he’d finished his transformation, “however, it’s like I said. I’ll make you...”
     She stopped speaking when she noticed the rings of iron forming around her and the mage she’d come to capture. She looked at her hand, which was becoming transparent, then at the mage who had his arms crossed over his head, a magical glow emanating from his bracers. “You... what are you doing?”
     “Iron Ring Teleport!” Alex cried, bringing his power to full activation. The two suddenly vanished, leaving golden glitter to flit through the living room and dining room. A moment later cherubs appeared and tapped on the two bodies in the room before vanishing. Mister and Misses West stood up, dusted themselves off, and looked around.
     “Now do you think those green dreams are ridiculous ideas?” Mrs. West asked, glaring at her husband.
     “I won’t doubt your word about magical objects ever again,” Mr. West replied. “I just hope Alex will be OK handling that psycho woman on his own.”
     “I’m sure he has sufficient power for that,” Mrs. West replied.

     High above the town a pair of forms appeared, one managing to maintain a flight spell while the other blinked and began to plummet. A bubble of energy formed around Glory, keeping her from dropping like a rock.
     “You know, as soon as we’re on the ground again I’m gonna kick your sorry butt from here to next Tuesday,” Glory growled, crossing her arms and pouting.
     “And you know that I can easily send you orbital,” Alex said, smiling evilly. To demonstrate he flicked one finger upward and Glory was sent screaming into the stratosphere. “Or I can send you slamming into the ground.”
     “No... no...” Glory pleaded seconds before her bubble took a sharp dive towards the ground. The hell goddess screamed at the top of her lungs as she picked up speed. The bubble stopped ten feet from the ground, and she collided with the bottom, landing on her face. The bubble then slowly ascended back to the level that Alex was floating at.
     “You hell born little brat, do you have any idea how to treat a goddess?!” Glory hissed, glaring at Alex.
     “Only those who piss me off, hurt my friends, and try to kill my family,” he replied, ticking off each point on his fingers.
     “Oh, and like you’re any better with your high and mighty powers? You have some nerve...”
     Alex waved his hand to silence her, then twitched his fingers. The bubble rose sharply, stopped, then dropped sharply and stopped. The bubble then rose back to his level, and he grinned evilly as Glory primped her hair back into shape.
     “Now, we’re going to play a little game,” he said, smiling even wider, a demented glint in his eye. “It’s called ‘UP and Down’. Normally you play this game in a room that has a rocky ceiling and floor, to maximize the pain felt. However, I think you deserve this on a grand scale.”
     “What the hell are you babbling about?” Glory demanded, stamping her foot against the bottom of the bubble.
     “Well, you hurt Spike for one...”
     The bubble descended rapidly, smashing into the ground with enough force to leave a fairly good sized impact crater.
     “You hurt Buffy...”
     The bubble rose from the crater and stopped somewhere in the troposphere.
     “You hurt Dawn. Hell, you tried to kill her...”
     Glory barely had time to catch her breath before she found herself plummeting to the ground, forming an even larger impact crater this time around.
     “You threatened Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara... and hurt them as well...”
     The bubble rocketed into the lower levels of the upper atmosphere before stopping. By now Glory was gasping for air due to the amount of screaming she’d done during the twisted game that Alex was playing with her.
     “Oh, and let’s not forget that you killed my parents when you came looking for me.”
     “No, no more, no more,” she gasped, running her hands through her hair, “I get your point.”
     She thought she had him on the ropes, only to feel the bubble go a little higher before plummeting at supersonic speeds to the ground.

     “Look mommy, a shooting star,” a little girl said as she pressed her face to her bedroom window. “Isn’t it pretty?”
     “Make a wish,” the young mother said as she joined her daughter in the window. “If you make it hard enough it’ll come true.”
     “O.K.. Umm....” the girl said, closing her eyes and wishing with all her might, “I wish....”

     The bubble screamed by Alex, who grinned evilly as he added a little power to the free fall by casting a Dragon Slave. Glory screamed louder and longer as the bubble crashed into the ground, followed nanoseconds later by a powerful spell strike. An old abandoned strip mine suddenly became a giant smoking crater, an inhuman scream echoing through the air for moments after.
     “And now to seal that bitch goddess away for good,” Alex said as he descended to stop a short distance from the ground. He drew his sword, which glowed a blinding white as a Flow Break was channeled through it. A large magic circle formed, surrounding the area before vanishing. Something screamed and slammed headlong into the spell wall, connecting with a very audible WHUMP.
     “You think your dinkass little barrier is going to keep me in?!” Glory demanded as she punched against the invisible wall. “I’ll get free, then I’ll hunt down your little friends and bleed their brains dry, just like I did to that witch Tara. That was a yummy memory.”
     Alex’s eyebrow began to twitch as he grew increasingly angrier with Glory. He sheathed his sword on his back before floating inside the Flow Break with the hell goddess. “You. Me. Right here, right now you hell born bitch with permanent PMS!” he growled.
     “About bloody time” Glory said, cracking her knuckles. “This is going to be a fun little warm-up before I take what I want.”
     A flick of each of Alex’s wrists charged the chaos emeralds, and the seventh one in the hilt of his sword glowed as well as Chaos power was released. Green lightning crackled around his body as he dove at Glory, unleashing devastating combos of kicks and punches that would have had most monsters and demons crying for their mothers. Glory, however, shrugged off every attack and came back with some of her own that made Alex’s head spin. He soon found himself on the losing side of the battle, and when he crashed through several trees and into a hillside he knew it was time for something larger.
     “Anaku, ra zo omo, ranaku tsuramu, izu peku naomo,” he chanted under his breath as Glory dashed up to him. She grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up, his feet dangling several inches from the ground.
     “Whatcha mumbling about now? Am I going to tear out that lovely tongue of yours and give you whiplash with it?!”
     Tears streamed down Alex’s face as he summoned the energies needed to complete his spell. “Flame Breath!” he rasped. A pentagram of fire formed over Glory, striking her with ethereal flames until she released a very weak mage, who crumpled to the ground.
     She glared at Alex with disgust as she struggled to put out her smoldering clothes. “You little brat!” she grumbled, “These are top quality garments!”
     She was towering over Alex within a heartbeat, and a nanosecond later she’d kicked him in the ribs, shattering a couple of them with a single blow. She kicked him a couple more times before digging the heel of her shoe into his shoulder.
     “You like that pain, don't you? The smell of blood, the cries of anguish. How much longer until you wet yourself?”
     “Release the light... ugh.. from the darkness, deliver us from the... the shadows,” Alex wheezed as his shoulder was dislocated by a 5” stiletto heel. “Release the light unto the dark, deliver those locked in the shadows. ALEXANDER!”
     Glowing angel wings formed out of thin air, and these folded over the mountain near them. The wings parted a moment later, revealing the esper Alexander, the holy angel of light. The esper spread its wings, the feathers glowing a blinding blue white seconds before a barrage of holy missiles fired off, all targeting Glory.
     “This is boring,” Glory yawned as she waved her hand, a barrier forming to deflect the missiles back at the esper. “You know, you could challenge me with something. This is so passé.”
     ‘She wants a challenge? She gets a challenge.’ “Goddess Blade!”
     A sword of glowing white formed in Alex’s hand, and he struck Glory in the leg with this. the hell goddess let out a startled shriek, then a blood curdling scream when she saw blood issuing from the wound.
     “How? How could you do this?!” she asked, a pained look on her face as the mage struggled to his feet.
     “Willow’s a witch. So’s Tara. Then you have warlocks and clerics. But I’m different from them all. I’m a sorcerer, meaning I wield the powers of the gods themselves.”
     “You little shit! You’ll stain for that one!”
     “Wall of force.”
     Alex waved his hand, and Glory found herself unable to advance. She pounded against the wall in an attempt to break through. Alex grinned evilly as he took a bottle of pinkish colored liquid from subspace, popped the top, and chugged it. A dark aura formed around his body as the power of a meteor potion took effect.
     “METEOR SMASH!” he cried, waving his hands about in arcane gestures. Small rocks began to rain down upon Glory, and these grew in size until they were roughly the size and shape of boulders.
 “Spell fusion time,” he said to nobody in particular as he set up for the next part of his revenge. “I call upon the 13 signs of the zodiac and pledge my life so that he may be called forth. By the blood red tides of hell I command the celestial gates to be thrown open. Unleash the crushing blow of destiny!!”
     “Wha... What are you doing?” Glory asked between pummelings. An inverted magic circle formed around her feet, the lines glowing blood red as Alex brought the powers for his spell together.
     “Demon’s Gate!” Alex cried as the circle opened to a hell dimension. Glory struggled to stay free of the clutching appendages, but was done in by a meteor crashing down on her head. Once she was in the nexus realm the portal closed and Alex collapsed to his hands and knees.
     “Ding dong, the bitch is gone,” he sighed before lapsing into unconsciousness.

     “Just how bad is the damage? He’s not going to need anything amputated, is he?”
     “Where’s the person who did this to him? Let me at ‘em!”
     “Are you related to the patient in any way what so ever?” the doctor asked. Those being questioned where Andrew, Derek, Delwynndwn, Nick, Mackenzie, and Jubilee.
     “Sister,” Jubilee said, “Well, by adoption any way.”
     “Close friend,” Del, Nick, and Mack replied.
     “Best friend,” Andrew and Derek said, glaring at each other.
     “Bleedin’ boyfriend,” Spike said as he kicked the door open. “I got here as fast as I could, but teleporting is something I’m new at.”
     “You’ll get the hang of it at some point,” Nick said, “Celia still giving you lessons.”
     “Yeah, but we’ll talk later,” Spike said as he sat on the corner of the hospital bed. He brushed some of Alex’s bangs out of his face and sighed. “Will he be OK doc?”
     “As I was trying to say earlier, he’ll be fine,” the doctor said. “We were able to repair the damage to his shoulder and ribs. He’s damned lucky that nothing inside was seriously damaged.”
     “He’s a slayer,” Jubilee said as she fidgeted with her sunglasses. “He can’t get seriously injured.”
     “Except by a hell goddess,” Alex moaned. He coughed, since his mouth felt like sandpaper, then gasped as pain tore through his chest. “Ouch.”
     “I’ll leave you all alone,” the doctor said as he left.
     “So, Glory did this to you?” Spike asked as he ruffled Alex’s hair.
     “Who’s Glory?” Jubilee interrupted.
     “A hell goddess with a serious attitude problem and PMS 24/7,” Spike said as he smoothed Alex’s hair back. “She messed with us a while back, out in Sunnydale. I guess she broke out of her hell dimension to get the Chaos emeralds, since they’re more powerful than any key, and with the right person wielding them, could bring whole worlds to their knees.”
     “She said she needed a favor,” Alex moaned, “she whacked mom & dad, then I teleported us out. The rest is a bit hazy, but I think she’s in another demon dimension right now.”
     “Do you know what the favor was?” Derek asked. Alex shook his head. “Damn.”
     “What if she gets loose again?” Mackenzie asked.
     “Then we’ll be in a world of trouble,” Alex said, “she’s got some of her powers back. She deflected Alexander's holy judgment like it was nothing.”
     “Well, if she gets loose again we’ll just have to kick her lopsided ass back to hell,” Spike said, “C’mon gents, we’re gonna prepare for the inevitable.”
     “Demon’s Gate,” Alex coughed.
     “What was that luv?”
     “I used the Demon’s Gate. She can’t get loose from it, no matter how powerful she is. Tormaline ranked on God and he still got pulled in. Glory was a god and she’s in there now. We should be safe for the time being.”
     “I still wanna whomp her for what she did to you,” Andrew said, “Only I’m allowed to beat up on him.”
     Spike turned and punched Andrew in the gut, sending him crashing into the wall, then crumpling to the floor, the wind knocked out of him. The others in the room applauded.
     “It’s because of all the shit I took from mister raw garbage that I survived,” Alex sighed, rubbing his head, “Without that I would be dead right now instead of hurting like this.”
     “Say Alex, what was your Japanese pet name for Andrew again?” Mackenzie asked.
     “Namagomi, which roughly translates to Raw Garbage. The full translation is kitchen waste, but Raw Garbage sounds so much... nastier.”
     A cell phone rang, and Derek reached into his pocket to fish it out. He talked for a moment before handing it to Alex. “It’s Mrs. Gainsborough,” he said, “Glory’s busted out of her new hell dimension and is now after Aeris.”
     “Bloody hell,” Alex coughed as he sat up. His eyes rolled back in his head as he fell back onto the pillows. Spike caught him part way down and gently lowered him back onto the bed.
     “You guys go help this Aeris girl,” Spike said, “As soon as our spell thrower is back to somewhat functional we’ll catch up with you.”
     “Deal,” Derek said as he put the phone to his ear. “Mrs. Gainsborough, we’ll be there as son as we can. Please hold on until we arrive.”
     He ended the call, slipped the phone back into his coat, and headed for the door with the others in tow. Before Jubilee left, though, she paused at the door to say, “Take care of him please. He’s the only brother I’ve got.”
     “Will do luv. Go kick Glory’s butt once for us,” Spike said, winking at her. Without further conversation she smiled and left.

     In a clearing in the thickest woods anyone could find on the planet sat a tiny house. There was nothing really special about the white washed walls, wood shingle roof, or all the beautiful and colorful flowers that grew around it. What made the house special was the fact that it was home to Aeris Gainsborough, one of the most powerful white magic users in history AND the last of an ancient race.
     On any particular day a lonely and lost traveler might find comfort within the comfy house with the two female occupants. However, on this day there was no comfort to be found due to the hell goddess who was throwing a tantrum of epic proportions on the outside of a magically created barrier.
     “Let me in you little witch!” Glory growled as she continued her almost endless assault on the barrier. “If you let me in now I won’t hurt you or your mother as much as I would if I have to get all hot and sweaty and smelly.”
     “I wouldn’t let you in if you were the dark angel himself!” Aeris said, her hair billowing freely as holy power coursed through her body. Her staff floated high above the clearing, acting as a channeling point for the barrier.
     “Maybe I should drain your brain instead of killing you. That way I could summon this Meteor thing without your help.”
     “I won’t let you summon even a tiny speck, much less one of the most destructive forces in the galaxy!” Aeris cried, the energy to the barrier increasing.
     “Suit yourself,” Glory said, a large sword forming in her hand. “Good thing I can learn things from the people whose brains I drain. Gaining new powers is so much fun.”
     The hell goddess vaulted into the air, bringing the sword up behind her head to strike. “Shield Breaker!” she cried, diving at the barrier. She swung to strike, only to have some incredible force pull her away and slam her into the ground.
     “Not the brightest hell goddess, was she?” a female voice asked from the shadows.
     “By far one of the dullest flames,” another voice said from the shadows, this one male, and around a tenor.
     “Dude, that joke was lame,” a second voice said, this one between tenor and baritone.
     “Who.. who’s out there?” Glory asked as she pulled herself out of the ground.
     Several magically created spotlights appeared, shedding light upon six people. Two were clad in armor, one in a sailor fuku, one in a white karate gi, and two dressed rather stylishly in black, red, and white.
     “From the time space star, Pluto, a guardian of all time, Warrior Pluto.”
     “Brought forth by the call of the hunt, a warrior of virtue, Warrior Orion.”
     “From the shining star, Mercury, the sister of the poor guy you whacked, Neo - Sailor Mercury!”
     “We’re... just along for the ride,” Nick said as he, Mackenzie, and Del backed away from the seriously angry hell goddess. They found their path blocked by Glory, and all three blinked in awe.
     “Woah, she’s fast,” Nick whispered to Mackenzie. Mack nodded.
     “I think I’ll enjoy the things I’ll learn by draining your brains,” Glory purred as she swaggered towards them.
     “You might want to consider a diet,” Orion shouted, vaulting into the air. He held one hand above his head, a small ball of golden light forming in his hand. He clasped his hand around this, a large spear of gold forming. “Holy Lance!” he shouted as he hurled it at the hell goddess.
     “Yawn,” Glory said, batting the spear away, “can’t you people do anything original for once?”
     “Aurora Beam!” Mercury cried, waving her hands about. A cloud of snow formed around Glory, and a moment later a brilliant array of lights engulfed the hell goddess.
     “Double yawn,” they heard Glory say from inside the cloud. A split second later there was a very audible WHUMP as the cloud was blasted apart at the atomic level. Glory shook her head to get rid of the flakes in her hair.
     “You have any idea who the hell you’re fucking with?!” she demanded, stamping her foot. A small quake shook the area from the impact.
     “Someone who’s in serious need of some antidepressants,” Nick said as his hands glowed. He performed a half split as he punched the ground. “Frozen Jet!”
     Ice shot up from the ground, forming a circle around Glory. A split second later she was propelled into the air by a geyser of ice cold water. In midair the water froze into a crystalline spire that trapped the hell goddess inside.
     “I think that’ll hold her for a moment,” Nick said as they regrouped and approached the barrier.
     Aeris ceased casting the barrier and ran to hug Derek, Jubilee, and Andrew. She more or less slumped back into Nick’s arms, her staff dropping and embedding itself in one of the flower beds by the house.
     “I think I overexerted myself,” she giggled as Nick helped her to her feet. “Thanks.”
     “Sow how do we protect everything without Aeris’ magic?” Jubilee asked. An ear splitting hum filled the air as an AT Field was unfolded and extended. The hum ceased a second later, and they looked over to see Andrew in a trance of some sort.
     “AT Field is extended and holding,” he said in a computer type of voice. “All levels are optimal for...” He blinked and shook his head, tapping his temples for a moment. “Woah... what just happened?”
     “You extended your AT Field,” Jubilee whispered in his ear.
     “Right. So we should be all set for the moment.”
     Aeris looked at the others, all of whom shrugged. She sighed and bowed her head, a sweat drop forming. ‘How come all the weird people have the strong forces?’ she asked mentally, brushing some of her long brown hair out of her face.
     “Aeris honey, are you all right?” Mrs. Gainsborough asked as she poked her head out of the front door. When she saw the two warriors and the single senshi her face brightened and she bounded over to meet them. “How are all of you doing?” she asked, latching Derek, Andrew, and Jubilee in a bear hug.
     “Never.... better,” Jubilee croaked. “It’s nice... to see you... again.”
     “Who are your friends?” she asked, looking over at Nick, Mackenzie, and Del while releasing the other three. “Come here and give Mother Gainsborough a hug.”
     “These would be Nick and Mackenzie Andrews,” Derek said, “otherwise known as Coldsnap and Heatwave, and the blond elf is Delwynndwn Siele.”
     “It’s a pleasure to meet..... you,” Mackenzie said, the last word a faint chirp as the air was squeezed out of him due to Mrs. Gainsborough’s bear hug. ‘Wow... she’s strong.’
     “Where’s Alex?” Aeris asked as she set to work braiding her hair. “I don’t see him anywhere.”
     “Glory sorta pounded on him,” Andrew explained, “which is why we’re here. We’re gonna provide the firepower to buy us some time so that he can recover properly.”
     “She’s looking to summon Meteor,” Aeris said, “which is my bad news for the day. She just sorta popped out of thin air and began attacking. Man, is she strong.”
     “She’s a hell goddess,” Jubilee said, “we think she was after Alex’s chaos emeralds, but after he sent her screaming into a demon dimension we figure she moved onto what she thought was an easier target.”
     A loud scream filled the air, and a moment later the crystalline spire shattered, spraying the surrounding area with ice shards. Glory sailed high into the air, executed a couple of very acrobatic flips, and landed on her feet, a look of pure disgust and hatred in her eyes. She dashed forward, slamming headlong into the AT Field. Andrew fell back a couple of steps, as did Glory, who opened one eye to see the warrior recovering his balance.
     “Ahh.... somebody to inflict new and untold pain upon,” she said, grinning maliciously as she dove at the AT Field and unloaded every martial arts move in the book, and some that had yet to be written in. Andrew thrashed about as the AT Field was pummeled to no end, and he eventually grabbed the sides of his head and let loose a heart rending scream of agony.
     “We need to stop her before she kills him,” Aeris said, crouching down to place a comforting hand on Andrew’s cheek. She closed her eyes and looked into his thoughts. “Such agony... his mind’s being torn apart as his AT Field is attacked. He’s wondering if this is what an angel feels when its AT Field is torn open.”
     “Then we need to stop her,” Nick said. ‘The only question is how.’

     Back at the hospital Alex sat up, rubbing his head as he looked around frantically. He could sense Glory’s power, and that it was off the scale. He coughed a few times, feeling his ribs burning in pain. One powerful cough later he felt something wet dribbling down his fingers. Pulling his hand back he saw his worst fear - blood.
     “Bloody... bloody hell,” he rasped, his eyes wide with fear, “there was more... more internal damage than they thought. I... I need a powerful healing spell... or I may not survive.”
     The door to the room opened, and in stepped Spike, his arms laden with munchies from the vending machines. When he saw that Alex was sitting up he smiled. “I figured you could go for some food that’s not hospital quality,” he said, dumping his load on a nearby table. He arched an eyebrow when he saw that the mage hadn’t turned to see him. “Hello? Did you die while sitting up luv?”
     “Blood,” Alex said, holding out his hand to the vampire. “My blood. I coughed it up.”
     Spike’s eyes widened a little in shock. “Wow,” he said after a moment, “Glory really pounded you, didn’t she?”
     A wave of nausea washed over Alex, and he threw the covers back as he dashed for the bathroom. A new wave of coughing had over taken him, and he skidded across the cold tile on his knees, coming to a stop in front of the toilet. “This isn’t funny,” he coughed before retching. “Damn it all,” he added as a new fit of vomiting overtook him.
     “I’m here for you,” Spike said, crouching behind him to hold his long hair out of his face and rub his back. “And I’m not going to...”
     He looked into the toilet, seeing that there was more blood on the white porcelain, and most of what was in it was bloody. “Oh gods,” he said, “I’ll kill that bitch for what she did to you.”
     As he stood up Alex reached out and grabbed his coat. “Don’t go,” the mage rasped, looking up at him with bloodshot eyes. “Stay... stay and help me... help me so that I can help you.”
     Spike sighed and crouched down. He gently took Alex’s chin in his hands and gazed into his eyes. “Kid,” he said, “you’re doing the demon thing again, you know that?”
     Alex blinked a couple of times and crooked his head. “Say what?” he asked, a little puzzled. Spike reached up and took a hand held mirror from the sink, which he held in front of Alex’s face. Alex looked at his reflection, then pulled his lower eyelid down to see that he’d busted a few blood vessels in the white of his eye, leaving it a bright red. “Bloody hell. Now she’s REALLY gonna pay for... for pounding on me.”
     Alex moved to rise, and Spike looped an arm around him for support. “I’m... I’m going to need a shower,” the mage said, “think you can help me with that?”
     The vampire blushed a little, and chewed his lower lip in thought. Finally he nodded. “O.K.. I’ll help you with the shower bit, but you can’t tell anybody about this, understood.”
     “Understood,” Alex replied as he stepped into the shower and turned the water on. A blast of overly warm water washed over him as he threw the lightweight hospital gown onto the bathroom floor. He held onto one of the railings in the shower for support, and a moment later a pair of warm and strong arms encircled him from behind, giving him the support he needed.
     “So, what exactly are you planning, aside from getting cleaned up?” Spike asked as the water slicked his hair down. “You know some sort of ritual to regain the strength you need?”
     Alex nodded as he leaned back against Spike’s naked torso, feeling the vampire’s body heat and the strength it gave him. “There’s a way of transferring vital energy between two people, like we’re doing right now. I’m drawing some of your energy into my body to give me the strength I need for the next part?”
     “And what, may I ask, is that?” the vampire asked, holding the mage closer.
     A gentle white glow surrounded the shower head, and a moment later the water gained a bit of the glow. Both vampire and mage felt a recharge from the healing water that was splashing down upon them. Alex coughed a couple of times, feeling the pain in his chest lessen little by little. He turned around and kissed Spike, lightly but sensually, on the lips, completing the energy transference and his healing.
     A moment later Spike broke the kiss and blinked, water dripping down his face as he looked down at the mage. “Wow... what a rush,” he gasped as Alex shut the water off. “That... was bloody amazing. Far better than sex.... I think.”
     “Told you I needed your help,” Alex said, winking as he reached out and grabbed two towels, one for himself, and one for Spike. “Now hurry up and dry off. The others are going to need our help sooner than we think.”
     He hopped out of the shower, shaking water from his hair, a glowing ring of red energy forming around his head to help his hair dry quicker. He wrapped the towel around his waist as he stepped into the main room, where a nurse had entered to check up on him.
     “Mister West, you know that if you’re not in bed you can’t get better,” she said as Alex crossed the floor and began to rummage through the bedside table. “Now what are you doing?”
     “Looking for my transformation pen,” he said without looking up. “It’s violet, has the symbol for Saturn and a glowing violet crystal in the head, with angel wings embracing it. Seen it? Oh, wait, never mind. I found it.”
     He held the pen aloft, the angel wings glowing and rising higher, the crystal glowing a brilliant amethyst. The nurse made a motion to restrain him, but stopped in her tracks when a blinding glow surrounded him. “Saturn Cosmic Power....” Alex cried, a ring of light forming around the head of his pen, “TransFORM!”
     The ring of light spanned down his body, forming the black tunic, pants, and boots that he wore beneath his armor. The ring stopped at his feet before tracing its path back up his body, forming armored shin guards, hip armor, chest and shoulder armor, bracers, and a crown around his head. A violet visor formed over his eyes as his star sword materialized on his back, as did a set of wings.
     “Spike,” he called, “Get out here, or I’m leaving without you.”
     “Don’t get yer bloody knickers in a kink,” Spike said as he hopped out of the bathroom while trying to put on his boot and his jacket at the same time. “I’m getting dressed as fast as I can.”
     “Oh... oh my,” the nurse said, turning pale before passing out. Alex winced as she hit the floor, narrowly missing all the furnishings on her way down.
     “Oh brother, now we gotta get her some medical attention,” Alex sighed, casting a quick levitation spell to get the nurse from the floor to the bed. He pressed the call button on his bed before bouncing over to Spike. “Are you ready yet darling?”
     “Gimme a moment,” Spike said, adjusting his boots, pants, shirt, and jacket before running his fingers through his hair. “OK. I’m ready to go. You know how to teleport there?”
     “I know where it is. Teleportation is another thing, since I usually just appeared some distance away and flew down. Never had to do a direct teleport before.”
     Spike sighed, as did Alex, since both of them could do a jump, but neither knew the exact coordinates. The door began to open as Alex grabbed hold of Spike and said, “Just read my thoughts. I’m picturing Aeris’ house. Think you can get us somewhere near there?”
     “Yeah, sure, no problem,” Spike said, seeing the image in his mind as well. There was a pair of soft BAMFS as the chief night nurse stepped into the room, and seeing a body in the bed that was definitely asleep, sighed and left.

     In the air above the forest there was a somewhat BAMF as two people appeared. Both blinked a couple of times before they began to plummet like a pair of lead pigeons. Several more BAMFS followed as they teleported closer and closer to the ground.
     “You could help with the transitional jumps, you know,” Spike grumbled when they came from between for the fifth time.
     “I’m working on keeping us airborne,” Alex grunted as he cast a levitation spell around them. “Somebody lied about their weight, which is throwing my calculations off.”
     “Stick a bloody...”
     BAMF
     “Sock in it!”
     BAMF
     “You bleeding pain in my...”
     BAMF
     “Ass??”
     They had reached the clearing during Spike’s ranting, and they could see Glory attacking the others. Alex chewed his lip when he saw the hell goddess beating on the AT Field, and he growled low in his throat before setting Spike down.
     “Leave my namagomi ALONE!” he shouted, multiple fireballs phasing into existence around Glory. He executed one quick motion with the index finger on his right hand before the fireballs attacked the hellgoddess.
     “I think you got her attention,” Spike said, blinking as the smoke cleared to reveal one very pissed off Glory. “Yup. You got her attention.”
     “I know,” Alex smirked as he unclipped the sword from his back and assumed the beginning stance of a trained swordsman.
     “Well looky here,” Glory purred, ceasing her assault on the AT Field and turning towards the warrior and the vampire. Behind her Andrew slumped to the ground, and Aeris crouched next to him to administer a healing spell. “It’s my mage... and some dead guy whose name I can’t for the life of me remember.”
     “How did you manage to get out of the demon dimension?” Alex purred, standing between Glory and Spike. “Not even some of our old enemies had the power to break out.”
     “May it be ever so humble, there’s no place like my hellish home,” Glory replied, smirking. “And once again the other two hell gods kicked me out.”
     Alex paled a little, but remained calm. “Well, next time you’ll be sent screaming into oblivion.”
     “Who’s going to stop me? You and this mega pathetic army? Don’t make me laugh.”
     Spike looked from Glory to Alex, and blinked in surprise as the mage handed him a katana blade. ‘Take this and get to cover,’ sounded in his mind as Alex charged up the star sword, the blade glistening white.
     “You going to be all right by yourself luv?” Spike asked. Alex gave him a nod for a reply. “Make sure you kick her a couple of times for me.”
     As Spike ran for the house Glory moved to stop him, only to run into a force wall. “This is between you and me,” Alex said coldly, “none of them have anything you want.”
     “That’s where you’re wrong,” Glory hissed, phasing through the force wall. “That Aeris girl has a spell I want, your vampire friend has some info I want, and you have those lovely chaos emeralds, which I also want.”
     “What’s going on?” Jubilee asked as Spike joined them behind the AT Field. “Who the hell is she after?”
     “All of us to varying degrees luv,” Spike replied, “But to a greater extent he wants me, your brother, and Aeris.”
     “We can’t just leave everything to him,” Del said, “he’s still not at 100%, and taking another beating like that last one could kill him.”
     A bone cracking THUD filled the air, and they looked up to see Alex sailing through the air towards the AT Field. He hit the ground and did a flip that was really acrobatic....
     <Jubilee: “But, damn it all, I can’t find my Instamatic>
    ... Coming up into a tuck that gave him more altitude. He hit the AT Field feet first, coiling his legs under his body for maximum potential energy. He sprang off of the wall, his blade held before his body, which was hurtling through the air at super high speeds. He collided with the hell goddess, whose back was turned to him, and the force of the impact stopped him while sending her screaming into the woods.
     “Score one for our team,” Nick cheered.
     “She’s far from being defeated,” Alex said, blinking in inside the AT Field. “Damn, she’s beyond strong. She’s downright...”
     “Godlike?” Glory’s voice said a moment before she reappeared. “I’ll give you an ‘A’ for effort. You’re really getting me worked up.”
     “And the party is just beginning, right?” Mackenzie asked. “After the phantom menace from earlier in the summer this is beyond boring.”
     “Too true,” Del added, “I mean, the black operatives - no sweat. Those phantoms were tough, but we still conquered them. But some cast out hell goddess. Puh-lease. I’m bored to death here.”
     Glory’s eyebrow began to twitch, and she stamped her foot in anger. “I’m just beginning to make your lives miserable!” she growled, multiple blobs blinking into existence around her.
     “So she can summon too?” Derek asked. “What else can she do?”
     “Those aren’t harmless magic blobs,” Jubilee said, her voice shaking. “Can’t you feel their power?”
     “High level, cold, evil, and hungry,” Spike said, “not a good feeling mates.”
     Alex and Derek reached out with their minds, and both shuddered when they realized what they were dealing with. In unison they said, “Langoliers.”
     The blobs turned around, showing rows upon rows of jagged metal teeth that grated and ground together like saw blades or grinder blades. Del, Nick, and Mack all grew pale. Andrew sighed and rubbed his head as Aeris finished her healing spell.
     “We fought those things years ago in the North,” Derek explained, “and we were fortunate to have survived.”
     “But that was before we became full fledged mana mages,” Jubilee added, “plus we have warrior and sailor powers, which give us extra perks.”
     “Do whatever you can,” Glory taunted, “you’ll never win, and in the end I’ll get what I want. Now go, my pets. Lunch is served.”
     The Langoliers smiled evilly before tearing about the woods, felling trees that took hundreds of years to grow in a single pass. Several of the trees fell towards the house, and if not for the quick thinking and action of Nick, would have crushed it flat. The ground and some of the distant flower beds also fell prey to the hunger of the Langoliers, and Mrs. Gainsborough and Aeris averted their gaze during this destruction.
     “Now we’re getting angry,” Jubilee said, a blue glow surrounding her. She smirked as her limit skill unlocked. “Super Aqua Illusion!”
     A cone of freezing cold water washed through the air, catching many of the Langoliers inside the wake and freezing them in solid ice. Those that were frozen were quickly replaced by new ones with the same unbelievable hunger.
     “Diamond Dust!” Nick shouted, a small blizzard forming in his cupped hands. He held this out to the Langoliers, and a moment later a cone shaped wave of ice and snow blew from his hands, catching more of the Langoliers in the freezing cold attack.
     Glory sat back and laughed at their attempts. “You’re just delaying the inevitable,” she snickered, “this is quite entertaining to watch.”
     “Water... Dragon!!” Alex cried, a stream of water spiraling up around his body and concentrating into his right hand, which he held above his head. He then brought his hand down, the stream taking on the shape of a dragon, complete with glowing red eyes. The dragon mowed its way through the army of Langoliers, targeting Glory. The hell goddess looked up in time to get drenched by several hundred gallons of water.
     “You... are so DEAD!” she growled, shaking water from her hair. “You’re beyond dead! I’ll.... I’ll kill you, revive you, and kill you again for this!”
     “If you hate us now, just wait a few seconds,” Mackenzie said, a wry grin crossing his lips.
     “Why? What are you going to do?”
     Mackenzie stepped aside, revealing Del, whose hands were sparking from the amount of electricity contained there. Glory added two and two to come up with what they were planning. Electricity plus water plus her who was soaking wet equaled some serious discomfort. She shook her head as Del grinned, his hair beginning to stand on end.
     “Lightning Blast!”
     The elf lobbed a bubble of electricity through the shield, and all grinned as it burst into a conic shaped wave of raw lightning power that wiped out a few Langoliers before striking the dripping wet hell goddess and giving her an amplified jolt that left her hair a super frizzy mess.
     “I hate you! I hate you I hate you I hate you!!” she whined, smoke rising from her hair. She stamped her foot like a spoiled brat as she whined. “Do you know what that did to my perfect hair and complexion?!”
     “Ask someone who cares,” Spike said, grinning triumphantly, “because none of us give a crap.”
     “One hell goddess who wants us dead several times over,” Nick sighed, “we’re fucked.”
     The Langoliers vanished into thin air as a blood red aura formed around Glory. She brought her hands up above her head, crossing them at the wrists, as her golden hair was tossed about by a magical wind. She threw her head back, bringing her arms down to her sides in one swift motion as she screamed, “CHARGING... UP!”
     Her dress vanished, leaving her naked in space as black armor components phased in around her body. These joined to her body at the shoulders, forearms, wrists, chest, hips, shins, and finally around her head. A body suit of jet black appeared over her skin, completing her transformation.
     “Shit,” Mackenzie said, blinking in awe. “She’s got that mega armor as well.”
     “And it’s powered by evil and darkness,” Jubilee said, taking some readings with her computer visor. “We may not have the power to defeat her.”
     “Oh, trust me,” Alex said as he and Del stepped to the front of the group, “We’ve got more than enough power. You ready Elf?”
     “Ready cat boy,” Del replied, holding his left arm to the sky, the bracelet around his wrist glowing forest green.
     In unison the two shouted, “CHARGING UP!”, magical glows surrounding their bodies as their clothes melted away, leaving them naked in space. Armor components phased in around them, green and brown for Del, black with gold trim and blue runic symbols for Alex.

     ‘I need to get above her somehow,’ Alex thought as he ascended into the treetops. Below he could see the fog created by Jubilee’s Mercury bubbles. There were two objects moving inside the fog, and he reached out with his mind to see which was Glory and which was Delwynndwn.
     “Alex, you’re going to want to hit her hard and fast,” Del’s voice said in his ear as the two people began to ascend. “She’s hot on my tail, and if she were any closer she’d be a hemorrhoid.”
     “Roger,” Alex replied, flipping over in mid air. His armor glowed as he moved like lightning, in one place one second, a bit further down the next.
     “Countdown engaged,” Alex and Del said in unison as they moved into positions. “Four... three... two... one...”
     They passed in midair, and Glory passed by Alex without realizing it. A moment later the hell goddess had Alex attached to her back, his hands pressed firmly to her head, his legs wrapped around her chest.
     “Download commencing,” he said, his hands glowing as he copied her power.” Download in progress.”
     “What the hell are you doing!?” Glory demanded as they began to lose altitude. “Get out of my head!!”
     “Not until you’re powered way down,” Del said, phasing out in front of Glory.
     As they neared the ground Glory’s armor transformation began to fall apart at the seams, the body suit vanishing as pieces of armor came off. These floated in the air around her until there was no armor, or anything else for that matter, left on her body.
     “Spike, prepare for a point to point teleport,” Alex said into his radio. “Countdown. Three. Two. One.... GO!”
     Alex and Glory vanished into thin air, leaving the power armor components floating in space. A split second later Spike appeared in the midst of the armor, his trench coat billowing in the breeze. “So now what?” he asked, looking at the armor, then down at the ground where Alex was restraining a very naked Glory.
     “You need to shout the activation code,” Del said, still floating towards the ground in front of Spike and the armor.
     “And that is?”
     Everyone on the ground shouted, “Charging UP!”
     Spike grinned. “Thanks,” he said, smiling down at them. He moved his gaze back to the armor, his face growing cold and composed. “Charging UP!”
     The vampire’s clothes melted away as he was bathed in white light. The armor components for the shoulders and forearms joined with his body before he crossed his arms above his head. A ring of silver light formed around his wrists, expanding to just a little more than shoulder width before spanning down his body. A flowing black shirt and black jeans melted onto his body, a pair of black motorcycle boots forming as well. The armor changed from black to gold with emerald trim before it joined with his body over his shins, thighs, hips, chest, and back. The headpiece that Glory wore joined with his back armor, forming some sort of energy broadcast system.
     “What the hell are you doing to me?!” Glory demanded as she struggled to break away from Alex. “Why cant I use that armor now?!”
     “No reason, really,” Jubilee said, running some scans. “Your mage, as you called him, simply used one of his mutant abilities to copy your brain drain ability and download some of the information and skills that you acquired.”
     “Including how to summon mega armor,” Alex smirked as Spike touched down. “Without the knowledge, you can’t link, and with no link there’s no armor to summon.”
     “So... this is mine now?” Spike asked. The others nodded. “Bloody smashing.”
     “I’ll still kill all of you,” Glory smirked, breaking free of Alex’s grip before punching him in the stomach. The mage sailed through the air, colliding with Andrew and impaling the half angel with the elbow spikes from his mega armor. Spike dove at Glory, only to have her move at the last possible second by leaping into the air. She landed on his back, putting her full force into the landing so that he crashed down on his face and skidded before his head struck a large rock. “Ahh... there’s nothing like chaos and bloodshed in the morning.”
     “Aeries, catch!” Mrs. Gainsborough shouted, pulling her daughter’s staff out of the flower bed where it had landed before lobbing it through the air. The staff spun rapidly, and Aeris vaulted into the air, executing a forward flip before catching it and spinning it behind her back like a trained baton twirler.
     “Oh no you don’t,” Glory said, dashing towards Aeris at high speed. She lunged, her arm swinging for a power packed punch for where the last of the ancients would be landing. What she didn’t expect to happen was Aeris setting her staff down and using it to keep herself airborne for just a few seconds longer, which was enough time for Glory to sail past her position and take a header into the ground.
     “Never underestimate your opponents,” Aeris said, landing on Glory’s back and digging the end of her staff into the back of the hell goddess’ neck.
     “Nice advice,” Glory said, pushing herself up so fast that Aeris didn’t have time to maintain her balance and wound up falling off. As the hell goddess stood she added, “Maybe you should learn to heed your own advice. And now I’m going to drain that lovely brain of yours and learn how to summon this Meteor thing.”
     She crouched down next to Aeris, pressing her fingers to the ancient’s temples. Aeris closed her eyes and prayed to every deity she could think of, and her prayer must have been heard since Glory’s fingers were unable to penetrate into her head. “What the hell?” Glory asked, a look of shock registering on her face, “Why can’t I drain her mind?”
     “Like my girlfriend said,” Alex coughed, rising to his feet, blood dripping from the spikes on his elbows and shoulders, “never underestimate your opponent. When I copied your ability to download things from someone’s mind and thereby downloaded some info from your brain that was something that I locked. You’re powerless Glory, so just surrender.”
     “We’ve got you outmatched, outclassed, and outgunned,” Spike said, pushing himself up from the ground. “Just surrender and we might go easy on you.”
     Glory bowed her head and began to laugh. Her laughter soon took on a sadistic edge, and when she looked up there was a look of insanity in her eyes. “You really think you’ve won, don’t you? You think that by locking away my powers you’ll beat me. Hah, in your dreams buster. I downloaded something from you while you were downloading all that fun stuff from me.”
     “What’s she talking about?” Del asked as he floated a short distance away from Glory and Aeris.
     Glory grinned evilly, tossing Aeris aside like a rag doll. Nick and Mackenzie dove to catch Aeris before she hit the ground, and both wound up on the ground underneath her to act as landing pads. “Lord of these dreams that terrify, sword of cold and darkness, free yourself from the heaven’s bonds,” she chanted, dark energy crackling around her. “Unite with my body, unite with my power, and let us walk the road to destruction together. Power to smash even the souls of the gods!”
     Alex’s eyes went wide with horror when he realized all the possible spells that the hell goddess could have downloaded from his mind without his knowledge. Black Magic, white magic, shamanist magic, and his own special branch of zodiac magic. All the spells he had memorized, if used by Glory, could cause great destruction. “She... she may even know the Giga Slave,” he said.
     “She has to be stopped before she can even think of casting that one,” Mackenzie said as he and Nick helped Aeris to her feet.
     “Ragnaaaaaaaa.... BLAAAAAAADE!” Glory cried, a large sword of darkness forming in her hands. She smiled evilly before dashing at Spike, who was still trying to recover his senses after taking a header into a rock. She swung, and the vampire cried out in pain as the black blade of the lord of nightmares cut into his body.

     In a pocket dimension of hell somewhere to the left of insanity and the right of torment, Glory was experiencing her worst nightmare. She sat on a lush, green hill overlooking a quiet lake with tall trees around it. The mountains in the distance looked like they were painted the colors of the rainbow, and the sky was done in Technicolor. Cotton candy pink clouds floated across the sky, and all around her flowers danced and animals sang.
     “Will you be my special friend?” a small fluffy pink bunny asked, stopping at her feet and looking at her with big blue eyes.
     Glory looked down at the bunny, then around her as hundreds of fluffy pink bunnies suddenly appeared. She winced, shuddered, then screamed, and her scream echoed across the land.
     A short distance away a short old woman sat at her kitchen table and chuckled, listening to the anguished screams of a hell goddess in a new sort of hell. Across from her sat a fluffy pink rabbit, who smiled at her and sipped on his tea.
     “Well Auntie Aqua, it looks like we just repaid a bunch of favors to the friends of Lina Inverse,” the rabbit said. The old woman smiled and nodded.
     “Yes, my mystical advisor,” Auntie Aqua said, smiling as a new fit of screaming echoed through the air. “Though I’m afraid we may have to shut her up soon lest we wind up with our ears pierced.”
     The rabbit smiled and pushed his cup towards her. “Can I have another cup please?” he asked politely.
     “But of course,” Auntie Aqua replied, giving him a fresh cup of hot tea. “Would you like cream or sugar with that?”
     “Just a lump of sugar please,” the rabbit replied as Auntie Aqua dropped a sugar cube into the tea. “Thank you.”
     “You’re quite welcome,” Auntie Aqua replied, sipping at her tea. “Nothing beats a quiet afternoon with good company.”
     “Save me from this torment!” Glory’s voice echoed as the rabbit and Auntie Aqua enjoyed their afternoon tea.

-End

     What will the future hold for our brave heroes? Even we’re not sure. Just make sure to stick around and stay tuned to Slayers Fantasy, Random Nothingness, and all the other wonderful series, brought to you by Warrior Saturn himself.
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