More Meteor Showers Bring Even Stranger Powers. (O/A)

[Nova Blancke]

"Yeah that's Eclipse. The dude that is trying to free the Hellstar here." He responded before stretching a bit and cracking his neck.

"I'm gonna take a break. There's a lot to go over."

"Oh please, I'm not gonna call you mom. She couldn't handle the trauma and stress that came with having both a meta daughter and having that same daughter murder her other daughter. I'm just doing this because I felt like it. Nothing more, nothing less. I barely know you. I have my dad and that's enough for me. Now if you were to start dating him now that'd be different." She responded.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Three Weeks Later...

"Are you sure this will hold whatever comes out?" asked Fenris

*CLICK*"No. Like I've said a thousand times, this is the best thing we have. It was built to contain my brother, so hopefully it'll be enough for your inner rage beast."*CLICK*

Gidget, Ako, Alec, Kerana, Liam, and Fenris were at Daedalus Blacksite 0; a specialized holding facility for what Gidget would classify as an "S" ranked threat. It was the first night of a new moon, and the goal was to get rid of Fenris' curse. Fenris paced nervously in the large, reinforced cell where Liam and Alec also stood by. Gidget, Ako, and Kerana were in an observation room that would hopefully keep them safe.

Gidget turned to Ako and reminded him, "Ako, I love you, but you've got to stop hovering over me. I'm pregnant, not made of glass."

Ako took a step back and sighed, "I know, and I know your plans are solid, but I can't get what she said out of my head. It's going to be angry and have access to her powers, right? Plus you have a habit of throwing yourself at danger. That is one of your suits in that case, right?"

Gidget glanced down at the case she'd brought and then back at Ako. "I mean...it's not the only thing in there. Look, I promise I wont leave this room, okay? I mean, there's no safer place to be than next to the healer, right Kerana?"

Alec said to Liam and Fenris, "Okay, one more time. When Fenris starts to change, Liam will do his best to either restrain or incapacitate her. At which point I'll go in and separate their souls from the body, the remove the malicious soul and Crosis' mark. Then Kerana will be clear to come down and put the soul back into place. That's if everything goes right."

"There is just as equal a chance that the beast will use Fenris' aura power to fight against, and potentially break out of, whatever hold Liam will have. At which point this room will lock down, and it'll be up to me, Liam, and the automated defenses to bring her down without killing her."

"Yay..." Fenris quipped with a tone of morbid sarcasm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at Valhalla, Rydia dialed Trinity's number. She'd heard that text messages were quicker, but she preferred to hear someone's voice when she spoke to them.

"Hey Trinity. I know it's late, but I'm so worried about Fenris that I can't sleep. If you've got the time, I can start to teach you my family's ultimate technique."  

[PixelMuse]

“Hi Rydia, Yeah can’t sleep either. Kind of their backup if things go awry. Odds are their plans seem pretty solid so they may not need to call me. Sure I'll head over I know I've been trying to get that down but no luck."

It has been three weeks since she broke up with Theonis. Part of her still wants to mend things to be with him. Yet the other part knew it was better this way. It was a constant tease for her to see him daily at work or in general. She has been meaning to get with Crystallion but had not had the time to get with her.

She had a hand in coming up with plans to contain Fenris. Along with Alec she wanted to be sure Kerana was safe from danger until absolutely necessary. Kerana and Alec had been going through training with Fenris she just had not seen her in action.  

[Nova Blancke]

The last weeks of being alive have been very interesting for Legio. The very first time he had to relief himself for example. He was still under the impression that mortality was very inefficient when it came down to energy consumption and storage. A lot was wasted. There was also something else he enjoyed doing, mastering new skills. Due to his own psychic powers and logic based mind, he found that it was easy to do. There were things that despite being able to do, just didn't quite click with him. The notes were perfect but something was missing.

Legio made sure to stay in shape. Granted Cassandra's perfect physical traits carried over to him so there was little to worry about. Fatigue didn't seem to catch up to him either. But he did take an interest in martial arts. Something he had before but now he was actively practicing forms. To him it was amazing that humans learned to use their body in such ways to achieve results.

But his createst joy was cooking. His first impression of it lasted and if he wasn't pursuing one of his new hobbies he would be refining recopies and helping in the kitchen. Multiple times he had offered Fenris to taste test only to be shut down in her usual aggressive manner despite being interested. He did not understand why. Regardless he did leave finished dishes in her room from time to time.

Currently he was sitting seiza position, observing everything around him. Legio was aware that most of it came down to him for he was a match to her in power. He did create her with the additional power. Perhaps that now came back to bite him. Literally.

"You can finally.....beat the s**t, out of me as you have been saying of wanting to do for a while now. But do not worry. I have made a promise to cure you of this. So I will with the Ascendants help."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Ako could not help but chuckle and hide his smile behind his right hand, "I don't know, Gidge. Has anything like that ever happened to you?"

Gidget blushed, grinned, and pushed Ako playfully. "Quiet you! Plug your ears and keep an eye on Fenris. Kerana and I are gonna have some girl talk."

Gidget motioned for Kerana to join her in a corner of the observation room farthest away from Ako. "Okay, first off, what you're feeling is completely natural. Unfortunately, I spent a good chunk of my teens and early twenties floating in a giant vat of suspension goo, so I never got to experience these sorts of feelings when I was your age. But, when I was thirteen, I had a major crush on Ako who was eighteen at the time. Of course neither of us could act on those feelings, but then I was revived two months ago."

"And, oh man, let me tell you, I couldn't keep my hands off of him. The first moment we had alone I literally hopped up on my toes, kissed him, and asked him to make love to me right then and there. It was incredible, like waiting half of your life to open that one Christmas gift you've always wanted. I'm sure glad that meeting room was sound proofed, 'cuz I nearly went horse from-"

Gidget stopped herself abruptly when she realized she was not only going completely off track, but she was also not answering Kerana's question while possibly making things a lot worse for the poor girl. She cleared her throat and giggled nervously, "Ehehe. Sorry about that."

"Suffice to say, you've got much better self control than I do. You're at that age where those sorts of feelings can hit you hard. It's okay to have those sorts of feelings, but whether you act on them or not is completely up to you. Surely your mother has had 'the talk' with you, right?"

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Down in the cell, Fenris stopped her pacing long enough to start yelling at Liam in a fashion that was vastly more harsh than usual. <******** you! I keep telling you it wont be me! It's your fault I'm in this mess, you smug sack of s**t! ******** getting into martial arts and s**t, ******** encroaching a** mother ********! You know kata is for kids and old ladies, right?! Ugh, God I hate you so much!"

She paused for a moment and thought about how hard he had been trying to offer an olive branch the last three weeks. Each time she berated him with a string of very colorful insults. Even when he started offering her food, she refused to take anything from him directly. Then he started just leaving it in her room. The first three or so plates went immediately into the garbage. Then one night she gave in after a long day with the her students.

"If I survive this, you're going to spend the rest of your life making it up to me. Tomorrow I want one, no, two of those bone in honey ham things. The ones with the slices already put into it."

She started pacing again. Her memories of Freya and Okami undergoing the changes made her incredibly nervous alone, but it was worse knowing that what would emerge from her would not be friendly.

"I'm ******** dying here. Talk to me, Alec. How's it going with you and Kerana."

Alec was surprised. The last three weeks she had either called him kid, emo, or emo kid. In fact, she didn't call any of them by there names during training. Kerana was either bubbles or Kitsune. He figured Fenris must be in quite a state to start calling them by there actual names.

"Oh, um, we're good. We finally had a chance to have that picnic we'd been talking about. I'd never really liked the outdoors, but that was really nice. Things have been a little weird since my ascension, though. It's like, I get this weird vibe from her. Like, she wants to be close to me, but not too close to me. I think I get it, because there are times I want to go beyond making out too, but I don't want to push her into something she's not ready for. I haven't pried into it, but I'm pretty sure she was raised to wait until marriage. Plus, I think the fact that I look like I'm in my early twenties is weird for her."

"Can't you two, like, read each other's minds? How are you kids still this awkward?"

"Because we actually have a mutual respect for each other's boundaries, unlike you."

"Hey, don't get lippy with me just because you've got me in a vulnerable state."

"Sorry, sensei. It's just...I really don't want to mess things up. I love her so much, and I want to act on these feelings, but not if it means forcing her to do something she doesn't want to do."

"Pft, forcing her? Fenris scoffed. "Kid, you're as dense as a sack of rocks. Quit being a sad sack and talk to her. I can almost guarantee that she's twisting herself in knots worrying about the same thing."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rydia changed into a simple set of workout clothes that were tight to the body but allowed for full range of motion. She came to like yoga pants a lot more than she thought she would.

The last three weeks had been a test of patience for the ex Princess. The first week and a half was spent primarily in seclusion. Only once did Rydia find a person who was willing to allow her to indulge her heat. After that, no one else wanted to go anywhere close to her. Something about scars and a broken pelvis. She wasn't sure, the week of her cycle was a blur for her.

The next week and a half was spent with Valhalla's senior class since ahe was the equivalent of an eighteen or nineteen year old. She wanted to help more with training the eight, but Lokelonni insisted that Rydia learned more about the world she would be living in. It was a humbling experience to discover that she had a lot to learn about the surface world. Her usual confidence was quickly subdued by the instructors of areas outside of computers, anatomy, mathematics, or language.

She entered the training room that had previously been distorted by Theresa's powers. It was fully repaired, but the scars of her act still scored the walls. Rydia hadn't picked the room for any particular reason other than she would feel less bad about wrecking a room that had already been wrecked.

She started to stretch while she waited for Trinity to arrive.  

[Nova Blancke]

Legio just raised his eyebrows a bit at her verbal assault before she came around. He found himself with a soft smile as he looked down.

"That....can be arranged." He responded.

He continued to just wait and listened to the conversation.

"I am not educated on the topic but I believe honesty is important. She is right. Talk to her."

Theo's last few weeks were...busy. There was Theresa to deal with, the future kids weren't that much of a problem but he was helping them master the power they've gotten from their father. On top of that, there was the 'training' Fenris was doing. He didn't feel like he needed that. Catching on to her lessons went quickly enough for him. Then there was his parents. Who seemed to have made up but ever since his mom found out he still sings and plays guitar, she is making him continue practicing. Though most times he can give her an excuse not to. But by a stroke of luck, Leo found out he sang and Theo thought it could have been a good outlet for him. Mostly the Heavy Metal and MetalCore genres.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

"Sweetie, it wasn't about being in an older body. It's because he was legally an adult and there was a five year gap between us. When my fleshy self was revived, I was twenty-six, and he was thirty-one. You and Alec have two years between you. That's legal in this state."

"As far as waiting until you're married is concerned, that's entirely up to you. I was raised Catholic, and I had similar ideas when I was a kid about love and marriage. But when you've seen what I have, and had your perspective of what you thought was true completely blown apart, a lot of the old traditions just don't seem to matter or make sense anymore. I mean, look at Theresa. She's a three year old girl in the body of a twenty-one year old woman. That happened because the deities we learned about did that, are real, and with different names and origins. And they came about because a cosmic murder moon attacked their home."

"Look, what I'm trying to get at is that you two started this year as two kids who were part of the same poetry club. Now, he's the Grimm Reaper, you're a kitsune, and you both have a love and respect for each other that transcends mortality. I mean...c'mere a sec."

She led Kerana over to the window and pointed out Alec, who was visibly fidgeting in place. "You know, he only gets that way when he talks about you. I'd bet money that he's talking to them about the same thing you're talking to me about. You kids were so worried about respecting each others boundaries that you forgot to do the most basic thing us mortals do. Communicating with words. Talk to him. You might be surprised how similar the two of you really are, even though you're polar opposites."

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"I'm really regretting bringing this up now." Alec wheezed with a deep blush.

"Why? You're eighteen, we're all adults here. Well, not Liam, but I don't give a s**t about him. Look, all I'm saying is if you really want to make your first time memorable for her, you've gotta learned how to work the cl...the...oh s**t, I'm gonna be sick!"

Fenris turned away from the boys, dropped to her knees, and threw up violently. What came out was a mix of what she'd eaten and blood.

"Aw, oh ********. That can't be good." she moaned.

"Holy s**t! Are you okay?! Is this how it starts?!"

Fenris shook her head weakly and croaked, "No...never. It's supposed to be a sudden burning and splitting-"

The sound of her scream cut off her own words. She reared back and gripped her head like something was drilling into it.

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"Gidget, I think she's-"

Gidget slammed her hand down on a red button surrounded by black and yellow hash marks. She then keyed the mic and warned, "It's go time, boys! The room is locked down and the defenses are prepped. Good luck!"

Without turning her head, Gidget said to Kerana, "Don't look, Kay. You don't want to see this"

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Alec's spectral fire flared to bring his cloak around his shoulders and his scythe in his hands. He was a fan of horror movies. From the worst schlock and the legendary greats. At that point, he had even lived his own horror movie a few times. Yet nothing, not CGI nor practical effects, could have prepared him for what he saw that night.

Rotating yellow beacons flashed as alarms went off to warn all present of the lockdown. They did little to drown out the horrific sights and sounds of Fenris' grotesque metamorphosis.

The she-wolf kept herself turned away, it was all she could do. She lurched forward and arched her back like a cat. Her vertebrae bulged and expanded which caused her pelt stretch and split like a cheap suit. Underneath was a pale body that had what looked more like hair than fur. She reached out to the wall and clawed at it as the growth and extension went down her arms and legs. It was not long until her claws were the size of a person, and they tore into the reinforced steel with an ear splitting screech. She stood up for just a second, but it was long enough to see that she had grown to almost twenty feet tall. Tatters of what was Fenris fell to the ground in disgusting heaps to give way to the newly born shadow stalker.

What was left was a lumbering, wheezing beast huddled against the wall. It's body was covered in the hair like fur, but there were only tufts of it on the forearms, shins, and calves. It held its massive hand over its eyes and muzzle, which had grown large enough to swallow a human whole with a single bite. The stalker kept its back turned to Liam and Alec.

Alec struggled to keep himself from getting sick. The stench that wafted from the monster was intense enough to sting his eyes. It was either that or the rapidly rotting pelt that used to be Fenris.

"Do you have her?" Alec asked Liam nervously.  

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

She entered the training room that had previously been distorted by Theresa's powers. It was fully repaired, but the scars of her act still scored the walls. Rydia hadn't picked the room for any particular reason other than she would feel less bad about wrecking a room that had already been wrecked.

She started to stretch while she waited for Trinity to arrive.

It didn’t take long for Trinity to show up. “I’m here” her voice said from behind her. She was wearing a white sports bra, red shorts, tennis shoes and her hair was up in a ponytail. She decided to let her hair grow out the past 3 weeks. Most people didn’t notice because her hair tend to be tied up.

As Rydia turned to her she said “Ready when you are.” She couldn’t wait to get started in training to get this technique down. “Silhouette mentioned that she has a way to do the technique without risking your life. However we can go over what you know first. I’m sure she could step in if needed.”

She rubbed her arm, “I know we’re trying to get are minds off the subject I can’t help but worry about them. Gidget said she’d call if they need me and I want to give her that chance to try to handle it with the rest of them. But I dunno when it comes to a likely fight I’m usually the first one there. I dunno got a sinking feeling about the whole scenario.” she huffed to herself.

She closed her eyes and collected herself “Sorry, let’s start from the beginning.”  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

"I wouldn't be surprised. The Ancients were our old gods, and my mother used to say that the grandmasters of old communed with gods for this power. We risk our lives in exchange for the temporary strength of a god. That's why it's called 'Wrath of Heaven.'"

"I'm right there with you. I know Fenris' didn't want us to see her in that state, and she assured us that Liam and Alec would be enough to deal with it, but it was Freya's habit of doing things on her own that caused Fenris to come into existence. If they do call, please take me with you."

Rydia shook her limbs to loosen herself up and sighed, "So, from the top. Gekido Tengoku, or wrath of heaven, is a technique that removes your inherent limits and allows you to let all your power out at once at the risk of your own life. Like a cannon made out of glass, you're going to be pretty much useless when you shoot your shot. As you know, my family and I use hand signs to shape and manifest our will. There are a lot of them, but you only need nine for wrath of heaven."

She proceeded to demonstrate each hand sign slowly. "Rin: strength, Pyo: channeling, Ta: harmony, Sha: healing, Kai: sense of danger, Jin: reading of thoughts, Restsu: control of space and time, Zai: control of the sky and the elements, and Zen: enlightenment."

"Of course, none of these are literal. You wont actually control space and time or read thoughts. They're just a means of understanding your own body, the flow of ki, and how to open the gates that would keep you from hurting yourself with your own power. How the power manifests differs from person to person. Fenris has her black aura, my uncle had his void sword, and I have my spirit beast."

"But you don't use hand signs to weave your shadows. So we're going to work together and find a way for you to accomplish the same thing by different means, and find a way to use your power in a way that suits you. At least we would, if you didn't have an Ancient conveniently living in you. It's up to you. We can ask Silhouette, or I can continue to work with you."  

[Nova Blancke]

Legio never understood embarrassment. Why concern yourself over how others might perceive you in a moment of physical or emotional weakness?

His concern did show when Fenris threw up the contents of her stomach plus extra. Her scream was unsettling. He didn't like it. Despite it all he continued to sit and focus on his own breathing. His own heart rate did start to increase, something he could not control properly in this situation. The alarms went off and the lockdown initiated. Fenris started her painful transformation. Just like the how the sounds were unsettling, the scent was not pleasant either.

Looking up as she grew, he suddenly felt under prepared. He had not considered her to grow in size. Not to that extend. His eyes focused on what remained of Fenris that slid off of the beast, who turned away from them.

Alec's words registered . He nodded and using his psychic power he wrapped it around the form of this new beast to contain her. Perhaps it was futile but he reached out to Fenris with his mind.

"Are you still in there?"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Alec drew the cloak's hood over his head. This caused him to become invisible to all but Kerana. The scythe took on an ethereal glow that was also hidden by the cloak. It was prepped to reap souls rather than slice flesh. He carefully approached the beast and reared back his scythe to strike.

The beast's labored breath stopped when Liam attempted to reach out to Fenris. It strained against the hold on it and craned it's neck far enough to look at Liam with one eye. The beast looked at Liam mournfully; almost as if it wanted to cry. A new, strange voice echoed from the depths of it's consciousness.

"Kill...me."

The last pitiable remnants of intelligence in it's eye faded, hardened, and then flared into something feral. It's thoughts devolved past the point of making any sense, and became more like audible emotions. It's mind was broken. The curse had taken hold. The orange aura of hatred, a combination of the yellow "burst" aura and the explosive "rage" aura, enveloped the beast. It reared it's head back, shrieked, and detonated the aura. A cloud of dust kicked up into the air and made it impossible to see anything. The lights, which had been spinning to make shadow travel nearly impossible, were unable to completely cut through the dense fog of dust.

Alec was thrown back against the wall underneath the observation deck violently, which caused his hood to fall off. He had become visible again. He was thankful that his body was in the shape it was in. Had he been his old, gangly self he would have most likely broken most of his bones. Instead, he coughed, shook it off and scanned the environment for the beast.

"s**t s**t s**t!" she swore to himself. He had hoped this would not be the course they would have to take. His eyes went dark and he looked into the possible futures. His eyes widened. The beast was so wild, so unpredictable, that he was not able to find the most likely outcome. Even after the training he and Liv had to go through to use their future vision against an unpredictable enemy, he was at a loss.

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"Oh to Hell with this. I don't care what Fenris wanted. I'm calling Trinity."

She typed "911," hit send, and then nearly jumped out of her seat when she heard a series of resounding bangs.

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The beast had sensed that Liam was the more serious threat. It used the Cassandra strength Fenris had been given to smash the ground, claw, and sweep the floor in conjunction with the still going orange aura. Every impact was another explosion. It's cries were a mix of roaring and screaming. The dust swirled and puffed with every one of it's movements. When the the floor was visible, there were large imprints and scours through the reinforced steel and into the concrete.

Alec watched helplessly as the monster thrashed and attacked Liam. He could not see an opening for him to attack without being exploded into a mess of body parts and pink mist. "Being a super saiyan werewolf just wasn't enough, you just had to give her super strength too, didn't you." he muttered.  

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

"But you don't use hand signs to weave your shadows. So we're going to work together and find a way for you to accomplish the same thing by different means, and find a way to use your power in a way that suits you. At least we would, if you didn't have an Ancient conveniently living in you. It's up to you. We can ask Silhouette, or I can continue to work with you."

Trinity nodded in thought as she covered the signs, flashbacks of when those hand signs were used in previous fights. Though as she pointed out she didn’t need to use hand signs. When she was learning and they found that the signs weren’t working it just came naturally to her. It was in a way like breathing to her she’d really had to pause to think about how she does it to explain, otherwise it just happens without thinking much about it. “I suppose in some ways it’s concentration. I think about it and it happens. There are times I may move with it for emphasis. For bigger shadows like the one I manage to manage to manipulate for Legion it takes a lot more concentration. In fact, I had to use what your uncle would call ki in a bottle. It definitely was helpful after I did all of that. Even though I had to stay still through that it took a lot out of me that I fainted.”

“Sil, you were going to teach me this technique a while ago and you mentioned it would be less risky-”

Her phone buzzed with an SOS vibration. That meant anyone that typed to her the word “help” or “911”. She looked at her phone and confirmed, “It’s Gidget.” She reached out to Rydia and she grabbed her arm like a warrior's handshake they were pulled into his shadow and saw what was going on. She placed Rydia with Alec and pulled Liam into her shadow placing him behind Rydia.

Then she summoned her suit and took Liam’s place. This happened in mere seconds. The cursed beast was facing Trinity in her dragoon-looking suit. Her helm revealed her lips and chin and said, “Try me instead!” The helm concealed her chin and she was prepared to dodge or counter.