Stories/The Second Nature series/7 The Real Battle At Hand
From Transsexual Support
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[edit] Facing the Demons
I felt alone now for the first time in forever. All I could seem to do was cry my eyes out. I just had to get rid of a part of me to save someone who, until a week ago, was my mortal enemy, but was now in the body of a dear friend, and was carrying said friend now to term. Admit it, though... doesn\'t this all seem far-fetched to you? It sure has to me, until now. I guess I\'m living proof. I was about to start crying again when I heard a knock at the cell door.
\"Rachel? Can I come in, please?\" Eclipse asked.
\"I guess.\"
\"I... I wanted to see if you were alright, sis...\" she stammered as she unlocked the door to the power-dampening cell I had been placed in after I went crazy. \"This has gotta be tough on you.\"
\"Tough? You don\'t have a clue what I\'m feeling, Eclipse.\" I started to say when she interrupted me...
\"I have a name, you know. It\'s Kari. Eclipse is just my code name.\"
\"Kari, whatever. Still. I don\'t even know who I am anymore... I killed a part of myself in order to save you. It hurts, you know... the empti- ness inside me...\"
\"You only did that because, in the end, you are a good person and you didn\'t want to see anything happen to Jamie. You couldn\'t stand for anyone else to be hurt.\"
\"....but....\"
\"No, Sis. Not another word, ok? Being strong isn\'t the easiest thing to do, but it\'s the most rewarding thing to be.\"
\"I am glad to see you two are able to get along as siblings. I was really worried that one of you would end up destroying the other.\"
I looked up. \"Mom... I...\"
\"There, there,\" Mom told me. \"There\'s no need to be ashamed of anything the other part of you did. It wasn\'t your fault.\"
\"Angela\'s right, you know,\" Kari chimed in. Mom looked at her weird. \"Come on,\" Kari noted, \"you know I never called you Mom or Mother or anything like that, right?\"
\"Yes,\" Mom laughed, \"you\'re right. You never did show me any respect when you were young, just like a demon boy.\"
\"That was the past. I\'ve changed, you know...\" Kari said as she gently rubbed her midsection and smiled.
\"I know, you have changed a lot, for the better. Rachel,\" Mom said to me, \"Don\'t lose hope.\" She faded out at that moment, and as she did, I started to feel better.
\"I\'m gonna haul, too, see if I can net you a reprieve. Take it easy, Sis,\" Kari said as she signaled Null to let her out of my cell.
I\'m alone again...
[edit] A Traitor Strikes
Without warning, the lights cut off. I could hear explosions in the background.
\"Null, report! What\'s going on down there?\" Tempus asked through the intercom, frantically.
\"¡Desconocido!\" Null cried in his native language. \"Whatever it is, it is gran alcance, sir!\"
\"Gotcha, Null. Status of the prisoner?\"
\"Still in her cell, sir.\"
\"Make sure she remains there. Understood?\"
\"¡Sí!\"
\"Report any changes immediately. Tempus out!\"
I resigned myself to staying, then I felt more explosions. Screams followed.
\"Null! Can you hear me?? Null!!!\" This time, Raidra cried over the radio.
\"¡Sí, Raidra! What is it?\"
\"You\'re needed front-line! Tempus is down, repeat: DOWN! These forces are too much for us to handle alone, we need you here to weaken them!\"
Forces? Tempus is down?
\"I cannot leave the prisoner, Raidra!\" Null cried. \"She is too much of a potential threat. I have to remain here to restrain her powers; the power grid down here went out during the first barrage!\"
\"Negative. Get out here now or there\'ll be no one left for her to kill if she goes rogue again!!! Understood?\"
\"...\"
\"UNDERSTOOD?!\"
\"...si. I\'ll be out there as fast as I can, Raidra. Null out.\" He headed off, looking as though he did not want to go.
I realized I could feel my wings again now. The dampener was gone, and with Null racing off to the front lines, there was nothing left to keep me in the cell.
I stayed anyway. A half-hour passed.
\"Rachel!!!\" I could hear Kari yelling now in my mind. \"Rachel, listen. We\'ve been betrayed! Raidra is working for the enemy! He\'s...\" Her voice cut off. She must have been knocked unconscious. I quickly got my wits about me and scanned for the others. I could sense Raidra, barely, and I could also sense Crystalline, who was still holding up out there.
I couldn\'t sense anyone else. Tempus, Null, Phoenix, Metalshaper... all neutralized. I could sense something else, too, something familiar...
I fired a Spirit Wake at the cell door and flew off to where I could now feel Crystalline\'s life force fading away...
...and when I got there... I saw... him.
[edit] Family Reunion
\"Ah, the destined child... my destined child. It\'s good of you to join the party, dear girl. I\'m glad you showed up, yes. I didn\'t feel like having to look for you. I\'m glad you showed up... to your funeral!!!\" the dark figure said.
Raidra stood beside him with Kari lying unconscious over his shoulder. He smiled at me in the most sickening way imaginable. \"Yes, glad you were able to join us. Setting this all up was so tiring, but worth it, you know. Getting into the team, getting your dear brother into his unfortunate situation... he\'s going to make a wonderful mother for MY daughter, and they\'re both going to make excellent slaves... and for the power I will soon possess, all of it was worth it.\"
\"You sick fuck,\" I spat through my teeth. \"Just why would you join up with such an evil being?\"
\"What good son wouldn\'t join his father\'s side for the sake of conquest? Yes, that\'s right. My mother was a dragoness, but Altergrössererdämon here is my father... as well as yours and Necro\'s,\" he said.
Altergrössererdämon... Old Greater Demon... Father... my destined opponent?!
\"Of course,\" he continued, \"Father knew that Necro was too strong to fully succumb to him, so he wasn\'t a worthy successor, and you, being the one destined to destroy him, couldn\'t do it, but I could! After all, I was the one that placed the curse on you and your mother when you were still unborn, you know!\"
\"That\'s impossible!\" I cried. \"You\'re the same age as me!!!\"
\"No, actually, I\'m 15 years older than you, dear sister. One of Mother\'s abilities passed down to me - I only age at 1/10th the normal rate of a human or a halfbreed. Once I hit puberty, I pretty much quit aging,\" he explained. \"Of course, I\'ll outlive my two slaves here, but that\'s ok... the halfbreed can bear more children for me, and the children will serve me well, the males as soldiers, and the females as prime breeding stock for some VERY influential demons.\"
\"You\'re beyond redemption, Raidra,\" I said softly. \"I... you manipulated me into making Necro this way so you could have a clean slate for Jamie\'s body AND to get him out of your way! You sadistic son of a bitch!!!\"
\"That is NO way for a female to speak to my son!!!\" Father spat at me. Female demons have next to no rights in the Underworld, unless they\'re Higher Demons, and halfbreeds and others have zero rights and those found there eventually end up as little more than slaves. \"As I said before, you have to be destroyed... and for your little remark, I\'ll ensure that it is a slow and horribly painful death. If you would, Son? I feel no need to exert myself in a pointless battle.\" He teleported away and Raidra put Kari down on the floor.
\"Now it\'s time to show you why I was always Father\'s favorite.\" He closed his eyes and began to chant. Lightning encircled him. The air around him became ionized and started to glow, almost blinding me. I turned away and started to charge my power. I knew I was going to be in for a fight unlike anything before. When the light dimmed I looked back at him.
There was a 25-foot long golden-colored, but glowing, DRAGON in front of me where Raidra was standing.
[edit] Crysalis
\"Holy shit.\" I thought aloud. This was going to be tough. I barely had time to react as he fired a lightning blast from his mouth at me. I took to the air, barely dodging it cleanly. He followed, continuing to fire lightning bolts at me. \"Spirit wake!!!\" I cried... but to no avail, the blast bounced off of his skin and flew off somewhere... leaving a gigantic crater where it landed.
\"Don\'t tell me that is all you have, sister.\" he said as he began to laugh. He fired a barrage of lightning at me. There was no way I could dodge them all... my shield came up in time to protect me, but it gave out and I was hit. Badly. I hit the ground at about 75MPH. (120km/h.)
\"Nova Requiem!!!!!\" I shouted, and my power responded eagerly, exploding outward towards Raidra.
He was still unfazed.
\"Thor\'s Vengeance!\" he yelled, and suddenly I was pinned to the ground by lightning. It was shocking me, I was screaming in pain. 200,000 volts must have been going through my body at that point.
\"Rachel!\"
Mother?
\"You have my greatest power inside you, you just have to call for it. Once you do, Raidra will be powerless against you... but you can only use it for a short time. Use it!!!\" I heard her say to me, and then I heard a single word in my mind.
I was screaming my lungs out, but focused enough to scream the word Mom was saying to me.
\"...Crysalis!!!!!!\"
The lightning flew from around me in all directions, some striking Raidra. He winced. I got up and concentrated all of my power into a single point. I could feel the changes in me. My wings, normally just energy-forms, were now solid, feathered things of beauty. I could see my reflection, and I was downright... I looked like a powerful Goddess. My long blue hair flapped in the wind created by my charging energy. My wings were the most beautiful shades of purple and pink. I was hovering in the air with the greatest of ease, as though the ground itself were unworthy to touch me. I looked at Raidra, who was slightly stunned from the fact that I was able to hurt him at all.
I was about to do a lot more than that as I formed the energy in my hand into a sword. I flew at him, not saying a word. I was moving so fast, as though I were light itself.
\"Soul Blade!\" I cried as I pierced his body with the blade, created from my very soul, and now working as my most powerful weapon. I did his body no damage that I could see, but I heard him cry out in agony. I flew back to a safe distance as he grew enraged.
\"Bitch!!! You\'ll pay now!!!\" he cried. He began to charge everything he had as he slowly reverted to his humanoid form.
[edit] Princess of Light
He continued to charge up his power. The sky started to grow dark with black clouds, and their lightning began to strike, to be collected by Raidra.
\"Thunder Cannon!\" he finally said after he was satisfied that he had drawn enough energy to finish me in one shot. Suddenly, I was facing a bolt of lightning with enough destructive force to obliterate a planet or three.
\"Celestial Shield!\" The energy simply... stopped. It began to form around the bubble encasing me, being drawn into me, and simply... vanished. \"You will never learn that your kind of evil cannot defeat me,\" I said in a very stern, almost... motherly voice. \"You must be punished in the most severe way possible to make you understand. Send your father a message for me. I am ready for him now, and I will destroy him, and free the world from the threat of his kind of evil. From me, Jamie, and Kari...\"
He began to tremble slightly but stood his ground. He wasn\'t going to go down easily, he was thinking, and he would figure a way out of this.
I looked at him with a visage of seriousness etched on my face. My wings spread as wide as they could go, almost as though they were acting as collectors for energy. My hair flew wildly in all directions, thrown by my energy as though they were flapping in a hurricane wind. \"Time for Hell to claim you, treacherous brother!!!!\" I yelled.
\"Do your worst, you cunt,\" he spat at me. Defiant \'til the end.
All for naught.
\"Lucent Wind Destroyer!!!\"
I could feel all of my energy leave me and make a bee-line for Raidra. It began to envelop him, and he began to scream in the greatest of agony any person, human or ED alike, could even concieve suffering, and more. His eyes began to roll back in his head, and at the last possible second, he somehow had the sense to teleport out of it. This wasn\'t going to end soon, by any means. I re-collected my energy and flew towards my fallen comrades. They were all there...
...except for Kari.
[edit] Aftermath
Crystalline and Phoenix had come around as I reached them. Tempus was stirring, but wasn\'t conscious. Null appeared as though he were dead. I signaled, and Phoenix rushed over to revive him before it was too late. Crystalline asked the inevitable.
\"Where is Kari?\"
\"I don\'t know, Melissa... but I\'ve got a hunch, and I\'m going after him!\" I was about to teleport, but collapsed. My transformation had run out as I reverted to normal. I was completely drained of power.
\"Rachel?!\"
\"Yep. \'Twas me,\" I said as I tried to crack a smile.
\"I knew your mother was a Seraphim,\" Melissa said in awe, \"but I had no idea you were THAT strong.\"
\"That\'s because my father is a Pit Lord, Melissa - most powerful of demons...\" and he has Kari, I silently thought. \"...and combined with the power of a Seraphim, but charged towards good... yeah. I would say that I\'m very powerful, but it doesn\'t seem to last.\"
\"So, who did you say has Kari?\" Phoenix came up and asked.
\"Raidra... and Father,\" I said bluntly. I promptly fainted.
I could see Jacob advancing on Kari... she was tied down, naked, to a bed. and could not move. He started to take his clothes off and advance on her...
\"Come on, slave. You want this, don\'t you?\" he said, motioning towards his engorged organ as he pointed it towards her mouth.
She screamed for a second, then was gagged as it found its mark. He moaned. She cried and acquiesced.
I woke up, screaming and sweating.
\"Rachel?!\"
\"Melissa... it was a nightmare... he was forcing...\"
\"There, there,\" she said, holding me tightly. \"It was just a bad dream.\"
\"I know... but how long before it becomes a reality? How long before there\'s nothing left to save? And I\'m lying in bed?! There\'s no time...\" I said as I tried to get out of bed, then promptly fell on my face.
\"You\'re still too weak to move, sweetie.\"
\"I know... but...\"
She picked up her walkie-talkie. \"Ben, would you get in here, please? Bring Rachel\'s gift, too, will you?\"
\"Sure thing, ma\'am.\" I heard.
I cried in her arms as the door opened. \"Someone ask for a hunky man bearing gifts?\" Metalshaper asked.
\"Yes, Ben,\" Melissa said. \"Bring it in.\"
What he brought in was amazing. It was my armor, my experimental armor, but it looked souped-up beyond belief. It was silver now, instead of the dark green I had painted it to match our unit\'s battle armor. Parts of it were sky blue now, to match the color of the hair I had while I was transformed. There was a subtle dark blue trim as well... \"It\'s... it\'s gorgeous!\" I cried. \"Did you make any other improvements?\"
\"In fact. I did. I added some circuitry to the skin of the armor, to convert kinetic energy into battery power. In other words, you\'ll get stronger as you get hit. I also improved the DNA imprinting software. Now, when you obtain a power, it\'ll be permanent. Plus, the effect will no longer knock out whomever you take the powers from. I also tripled the battery capacity from where it was, so it will last a LOT longer in battle.\"
I was in awe... he was such a genius! I would have never thought to make those improvements myself!
\"The armor will also better focus your Spirit powers so that you don\'t waste any excess energy. And, the kicker... it\'s 50 pounds lighter! It\'ll feel like a second skin when you\'re wearing it - and you can wear it all the time if you want... I installed a cloaking system. When not in use, the armor can be changed into normal clothing.\"
\"How?\"
\"Who do you think I tested the DNA imprinter on?\" he said as he smiled.
\"Wow, cool!\" I said.
\"Ah, I see you got our gift to you, Rachel,\" Tempus said as he staggered in. \"Now, you\'re not going to be using it for personal business, such as running off like a little hothead, are you?\"
\"Huh?\"
\"I want Eclipse back here because she may have vital information on the enemy\'s operations, and I also want Raidra brought back, alive if possible. You\'re going on a mission to the Underworld tomorrow... and I\'ve already picked one other to go with you.\" He signaled... and the most dreamy person I ever saw walked through the door.
[edit] Guillorion
\"Cheers, girl, how\'re you?\" he said, with a slight twinge of a British accent and a French one as well. He was tall, had extremely long hair... No denying it. I was getting WET.
\"Uhmm...\" I stammered. I wasn\'t interested in talking in this point, I just wanted him between my legs.
\"Uhm... yeah. Anyway, I\'m Guillorion, and I\'ll be joining you on the mission Tempus, here, gave us.\"
\"Such a beautiful codename...\" I said, while throwing every feminine wile I had at the dreamy hunk. \"So how\'d you get it?\"
\"First off, you can stop flirting. I don\'t swing that way.\"
My heart sank.
\"Second, sure,\" he continued. He stood there, and started to change. His skin began to obtain a metallic sheen, as it tinted slightly red. His arms began to change. His upper arms became more slender, as his lower arms... one changed into a pincer, and the other changed into a scythe. He grew two additional arms, with slender upper arms like the others, and distinctly bug-looking hands on their ends. Wings sprouted from his back as his legs began to grow slender like his upper arms. His face remained largely unchanged, except for the skin change, but his ears became longer and pointed.
\"Wow. What else can you do?\" I wondered aloud.
\"I can breathe any liquid, gas or powder, for one, without obtaining any ill effects from it, my body metabolizes it all like it would oxygen. With my metal coat here, I\'m immune to telepathic attack. My body tends to heat a LOT, so the wings aren\'t used for flying, but they can be used to increase my normal speed by 3x if needed. Also, I can change my arms between hands, scythes, and pincers as needed while in Metal Coat.\"
\"That is a lot. I think you\'ll be a big help...\" I said.
All I could think of now was getting Kari back before my nightmare became reality. Getting shot down by the hunk only focused me more on my task.
\"Now that you two are acquainted,\" Tom chimed in, \"Guillo, let Rachel get some sleep, ok? You leave tomorrow morning.\"
I looked at the clock. Just 10 hours.
\'\'Contributed by Melissa (10/22/2004)\'\'
