| CHAPTER 2 ~ The Change Master A/N This is probably the fastest I've typed in a while... Opal lifted a hand, black waves of power forming in her palm. "Fools." The casade of black energy came towards me, letting me feel the sheer icyness of the blast before it came. My heart thundered in my chest. And I awoke in my bed with a scream. Sunshine poured through my window. Birds chirped happily, okay, the crows outside screeched noisily outside. I lay panting on my bed, cold sweat making my pyjamas cling to my skin. My alarm continued to ring beside me. "Oh shit." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "Hey, yo, HELLLOOOO!!!" A pencil struck me head, taking me out of my dazed state. Jocelyn raised her eyebrows at me. "What's wrong?" I turn to her slowly, my mind super-imposing an image of Liathano over her. //I'm going insane.// I turn to stare back at my blank maths book. Ester beside me started poking me to get my attention. I kinda wobble in my chair.A looming shape comes up behind me. Yes, the evil cow from beyond the maths staffroom. Ms Glison. Second time I've had her. Pity me. Pity ALL of us. "Is this ALL you have been doing?" She said nasally. I HATE when they make you feel guilty. It would actually work if I cared. I mean, a little math work doesn't compare to the possiblity of one's alter ego DYING!!! I mean does that mean I would lose part of my precious and ORIGINAL personality?! That I lose part of myself...MY CREATIVE SIDE and possibly lose all prospects of a future career since I'm not good at anything else!!! As I thought this, my eyes got steadily wider, and the table with all my maths things crashed to the ground with an amazing thud. Jocelyn covered for me as usual. "Miss, she's been like that all day." Glison didn't buy it, only raising her eyebrows. I can sense the looming thing she does, god, did this woman know the meaning of personal space?! I didn't look at her, staring blankly ahead. "Hey, cool," Nandini's face loomed in my vision. "She hasn't blinked for 5 minutes." She lifted a pencil at eyes. My hand shot out and grabbed it, knuckles going white as I gripped it. Crack... "May I take her to sick bay?" Jocelyn said hurriedly, smiling sheepishly. She had me up before she finished, edging me out of the room. I just let myself be dragged after her. Nandini yelled after us. "You owe me a new pencil!!!" "What's with you today?" She asked worriedly, watching me walk unsteadily beside her down the corridors. I laugh. "You wouldn't believe me." She stopped me mid step. "Try me." I laughed again, and shook my head. We arrive in sick bay. I slump on a bed, seeing no one there. "Will you be okay Anita?" Jocelyn stood in the doorway, looking around. I nodded, and closed my eyes against the horrible pounding in my head. Arrrrgh... I heard her leave. And suddenly, my eyes opened to darkness. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "Eek." I look around. This was NOT sick bay. "Gee, what makes you think that?" I spun at the voice, and screamed, seeing MYSELF. This continued for a few minutes while other me stood by silently, tapping her foot. I stopped screaming when I ran out of breath. "Done?" I looked around, then looked down. Uniform. I looked at her. Leather... "A-Alita?" "Bingo genius." She walked over, smiling. "Guess what? You fell asleep." "BUT YOU'RE DEAD!!!" I scream. She slapped me. "OW!!!" I look indignantly at her, protecting my reddened cheek with my hands. "Yes, and no. I'm not dead because you're not dead. I wasn't lying when I said we are alike you and I." I just raised an eyebrow. "I've come to make a deal." Alita walked around me. "You are really flat chested..." "OI!!!" I scream crossing my arms. "I'm a GROWING GIRL!!!" "Not growing much are ya?" I growl and narrow my eyes in what my friends call 'my evil eye'. She lifted her hands. "Okay, okay, just kidding. Can't you take a joke? Especially from YOURSELF?" "What deal?!" I snap. Alita stood in front of me, her face serious. "My body, OUR body is really hurt back there. It will only remain hurt if I reside in it. If you take my place, the wounds will heal, and revertabrate back to health, since your mind thinks it's healthy. That will carry over when I take it back." I frown. "Wait...you want us to swap?" She nodded. "A life for a life. You can have the excitement of mine, and I can have...whatever strange life you lead." I thought it over. "If we don't swap, I will die." Alita added solemnly. I sigh. "A life for a life. Fine." She smiled, and started walking away. "WAIT!!! Can't you give some pointers or something!? I don't know how to do magic or anything!!! How the hell..." I shout at her. She looked at me, walks back and touches my forehead with her hand. "Ice and power, one and the same. Pass your knowledge." I heard her say in this weird voice. Suddenly, my mind erupted in light, like a million needles at once drove into my mind. It hurt. I heard my own scream of pain, before it suddenly stopped. Alita held me up. "Hey, you asked for it." I only managed a weak glare at her. "How..." I fought to catch my breath. "How would you know about my life?" She shrugged. "Guess I'm going to wing it." I stare increduously at her. "Hey, your life doesn't sound so interesting as mine...almost, peaceful..." Again, I stare, standing up again, though a little wobbly. She growls. "Look, we don't have much time..." "Wha..." The blackness consumed us. And for the third time today, I awoke. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A vision of light blinded my eyes. First darkness now light, a person's pupils can only TAKE SO MUCH!!! "So you are awake." That voice...TARA!?! Sitting up abruptly, I stared at the form of light in front of me. Wait, wasn't Tara, no, Harlequinn evil in this world? What the hell? Where was Opal? Where was I!?! Suddenly, I coiled in a pain on my side, a yelp escaping from my lips. The leather garments I wore were torn, and a nasty looking gash was split on my side. My eyes widened in disbelief as I looked closer. IT WAS HEALING ITSELF!!! Kinda gross looking as the skin closed in around itself. Cool. Harlequinn frowned. "I didn't know a low class mage such as yourself can heal, especially since your speciality is Ice. Guess I underestimated you two." //Two..?// "Liathano!!!" I looked around, and suddenly noticed that we were in some sort of black marble cabin. In the other side of the room, Liathano lay, unconcious. I turn angrily to the creature of light in front of me. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER!?!" Harlequinn smiled. It wasn't like the almost insane smile that Opal wore, a true smile. "She's fine. I got healers for her minor wounds. You however, they told me you lost too much blood to be saved. Huh, go figure. Guess you guys are alright after all." Again, that smile. Something didn't feel right. Evil Light person in a cabin??? Tara didn't speak like that!!! The way this person spoke was more like... "You're not Harlequinn!" I accused, staring at her. Her eyes widened, and she looked wildly at me. "How did ya know!?" I raised an eyebrow. Whatever actress this person was, wasn't a very good one... She did looked annoyed at herself. "Damn! Knew I should've studied more! This is bad..." Study? My suspicions were getting closer... "Who are you?" I look at her scrutinizingly, trying to see past the acting. Then again, it could be Tara being spastic, she does that quite alot. The other woman looked at me. Suddenly, her features started to transform. I gasp as the light disappeared from her body to be replaced with pop blue colours of clothing. Blonde hair darkened into a bronzed-black. Eyes deepened into...of all colours, PINK!?! Well, at least they looked halfway normal as only the irises were pink, not the WHOLE eye like Harlequinn's and Opal's. She also shrunk a lot, becoming shorter than me. There was no mistaking who it was now. ALISHA!?! She smiled and waved at me. "Hi! My name is Little Lost Leesha!" She twirled around and posed with her fingers in a 'victory' sign. My eye twitched. Little...Lost...Leesha...wasn't that Alisha's email address? I stared at her in disbelief. "You...you're a shapesifter." I said slowly. Leesha nodded, still smiling. "I'm the best there is!" She looked at me, suddenly with a frown. "What were you doing in Opal's palace anyways?" "What were YOU doing there?" I countered, reminding myself this wasn't Alisha, but someone else entirely, no matter how much she looked, sound and acted like Alisha. She scratched the back of her head. "Er...I got lost..." She must've seen my dubious look of utter disbelief. "HEY!!! I had to save my ass from Opal, what else was I supposed to do!? " I leaned back a little from the gigantic flaming head that formed on her shoulders. Scaaary... "How about, NOT take Harlequinn's place? That's pretty stupid if you were trying to hide yourself..." I trailed off when a sudden thought hit my mind. "Unless...YOU WERE NOT LOST AND WANTED SOMETHING FROM THERE!!!" I accused right back. Leesha recoiled, her hair changed colour to orange. "I did not." I frowned. Her hair gave her away...It looked like it changed with her emotions. Red was for anger since the flaming head thing, bronze was...normal spastic mode? Seems like it. Then what was orange? A groan interrupted us. A blaze of Light came from my side. And a piercing scream tore through the air. "DIIIIEEE!!!" A fireball raced through the air, only to be stopped by a wall of pure light. Liathano gasped heavily for breath, obviously weak. Her hand dropping down to the bed tiredly. Her eyes looked nervously around and spotted me, widening in surprise. "What the hell is going on!?!" Leesha, who had apparently shapesifted back to Harlequinn turned back to her original form to the sheer disbelief of Liathano. I looked at her and shrugged. "Liathano, meet Leesha." Liathano's eyes narrowed in distrust. "Shapesifter. Who are you?" Hm, so much colder than the warm and clueless Jocelyn I know... Her hair now bronze once again, Leesha looked at the two of us. "I'm Little Lost Leesha. And I know you two already. Liathano and Alita right? Team Vengeance. Opal said so when she sensed you arriving." Liathano growled. "You WORK for her." Leesha shook her head vigoriously. "How did you trick Opal? She seems too powerful..." I asked. A wave of Leesha's hand stopped me mid-sentence. "What you saw was only a small fraction of her power. That wasn't Opal. It was only a projection of her. That's why I could sneak past her senses as I can mimic anyone's power, attacks and life force perfectly. I just have to work on the personality." She explained. "Ahhhhhh...." I nodded in understanding. "And...where are we?" Leesha shrugged. "I don't know. I just dragged you two from there after I killed Opal's projection..." "YOU KILLED HER PROJECTION!?!" Liathano screamed. Did that even make sense? Killed a projection? Wha? The shapeshifter's hair changed colour to black. I'm gonna guess black is smugness. "Yup. I told you when I shapeshift I take on that person's power's and moves. Plus, it was only a projection..." A pretty darn powerful projection if you ask me... Wait a second. That means that...It means that... ALISHA IS STRONGER THAN ME!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Meanwhile... *Peh. This isn't so hard...* I look around the corridor as I walk down it. *If only I knew where I was...* "Young Lady?! Shouldn't you be in class!?" I looked behind me to see a dumpy looking woman with red hair and a blinding red suit. A small name tag on her breast titled her as 'Principal', whatever that meant. I looked around me. Was she talking to me? "Um..." *You said you would wing it Alita...* "Who....are you?" From the look on her face, that wasn't the right question to ask. Her lips thinned to a line and her nostrils flared. Ew... "Do you have a HALL pass?" *What the hell is that?!* "Yes. As long as you have no followup questions to that answer, yes, yes I do." *If you screw up, screw up well.* I looked at her intently. "Show me it then..." *Er...wait, here's an idea.* "I was on my way to the toilet..." I looked around at the empty corridors. *Maybe I can blast this annoying woman.* My hand flexed. Nothing happened. I stared down in shock. "Get back to CLASS young lady or you will see me in my office!!!" *I couldn't do magic in this world?! NO MAGIC!?!* I looked at the oldish woman. *WHO IS THIS MANIAC!?! And why would I care if I see her in her office?* "Pardon?" Nostril flare. "What is your name." She said in a dangerous tone. *My...name...I KNOW!!!* "Anita Downs." Suddenly she grabbed my arm. "Come with me." The woman said angrily. I shook free of her grip, annoyed. I saw her stare back in shock. "I can walk by myself. Take me where you want." I narrowed my eyes at her, my tone dangerous. No one touches me if I don't want them to. She just stared at me in shock...might have been anger, her face was red, matching that monstrocity of an outfit. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "Let me get this straight, you want us to JOIN you?" Leesha nodded, again smiling. "Yup. We need ALL the help we can get." So far, I've found out some interesting facts. Alisha in this world was more...um...psychotic...and also a shapeshifter. The Opal we saw was ONLY a mental projection from her mind, and held only a FRACTION of the real Opal's power. That wasn't so good. Leesha had posed as Harlequinn because she got lost, which is quite believeable since I caught her wandering off in a COMPLETELY different direction from us a couple of times, BY MISTAKE. No wonder she's called Little Lost Leesha. Which meant, that Harlequinn, or Tara, is somewhere else. Can't wait till I meet an evil Tara. That would be interesting... or completely normal. And now, Leesha wants me and Liathano to join something called the Legacy. Apparently it's a group sworn to defeat evil, blah blah blah, and stop Opal and Harlequinn's reign of terror. Real corny so far. "What's in it for us?" Liathano asked. Just what I was thinking, well, as much as I COULD think while steering a horse on MOUNTAIN CLIFFS when I've never ridden one before. Leesha quirked an eyebrow. "What do ya mean? Isn't it enough to grant freedom to everyone?" Lianthano stopped her horse. "Pffft. Your wars don't concern us, right Alita? Vengeance doesn't work for free." I nod. Note to self, have to ask why we are SEEKING vengeance anyway. Leesha fell silent, looking ahead at the rocks, rocks, and more rocks in front of us. Wait, was that...GASP...A PIECE OF MOLD ON THAT ROCK!?! I look at Leesha, it wasn't often she was silent. "HEY!!!" Liathano and I jump as she suddenly shouted, making me almost fall off my horse. "How about you actually WORK for us? You would get paid that way!!!" Leesha cheered. Our eyes twitched. Even to me, the reknown Queen of All-dumb-ideas, thought that was REALLY stupid. Guess I'm over-thrown huh? I looked at Leesha, hands gripping the horse from the near fall before, and spoke slowly. "You, are an idiot." Liathano looked at what looked to an compass in her hand, changing the subject. "Where did you say we were going again?" Leesha pointed down the trail. "The East Caves of Redemtion." I saw Liathano scowl. Here it comes... that look always came before an outburst was due. "EAST IS IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION YOU UTTER MORON!!!" Followed by some choice words that made Leesha laugh nervously. I expected fireballs soon. "Well, now you know why they call me Little Lost Leesha." Her hair turned blonde. For...stupidity? I nearly fell off my horse again. Liathano growled. "Fiiiiiiire...ball!!!" Leesha eeped... WHOA!!! Damn, that must've hurt... ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "You're ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE this is the right place?" After wandering around for a few hours backtracking, we were finally going in the right direction. Now I just have to find out where we are going since all I can see is rocks and still more rocks. There was no impressive base in sight as of yet. Leesha nodded, her hair with bronze streaked with blonde. Hm... A sound of rock crunching stopped the three of us. Liathano looked around nervously. "What was that?" I was busy searching my mind for some useful spells that I could do, since I didn't really know them and I... "CYCLONE!!! " Leesha dove for the rocks. "SHIT!!!" A torrent of wind came at us howling through the rocks and shattering them as it passed. This is gonna hurt... "Alita!!!" I heard Liathano scream, her ducking behind me. Why that coward...USING ME AS A SHEILD!!! Wait, maybe she thinks I can do something about this...though I can't figure ANYTHING out at the moment!!! The swirling cyclone of wind came at us, morphing into the form of a dragon as it came closer...a dragon with it's MOUTH open...LOOK AT THOSE TEETH!!! "Um..um..um..." I stumbled. "Do SOMETHING!!! Use your sheild you idiot!!!" Liathano screamed in my ear. "Er..." My mind clicked. I put my hands forward. "ARMOUR OF ICE!!! " The air infront of me solidified, just as the wind dragon came at us. It crashed against my shield with a thundering BOOM that had me stumbling back as it dissipitated into air. Silenced reigned, only disturbed by our heavy, and nervous breaths. As well as my thundering heart. A head, morphed from the rocks beside us into the orange of Leesha's hair. "Is it gone?" What the hell!? She just RAN and camouflaged herself!!! "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?!" I scream at her angrily. Too bad she wasn't paying attention. Twin puffs of steam came from my nostrils. Leesha looked up in the air, specifically towards the cliffs above us. "KAYASHI!!! IT'S ME LEESHA!!!" She shook a fist in the air. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU ATTACK US YOU SAD EXCUSE FOR A GUARD!?!" The flaming head was back. //Kayashi????// At the very moment, a figure zoomed through the air straight at us. Thinking it was another attack, I brought my hands up. Liathano started a fireball in her hand. To my surprise the figure stopped mid flight, and bonked Leesha on the head. "Who's a sad excuse for a guard?" She said angrily. I gasped as she looked at us. Black hair streaked with red was cut off at shoulder length, ending in thin wisps. Almond shaped eyes stared at us, the colour of flashing grey. A coat of the same colour streamed down from her shoulders, covering a white long sleeve shirt, baggy and casual with what looked to be cargos. Huh? Cargos!? Still, it wasn't hard to figure out who it was. Especially with the name, Kayashi. Cathy. "Who are they?" She said suspiciously to Leesha, who was fuming after the bonk on the head. She 'hmphed'. Liathano looked at Kayashi. "We are Team Vengeance. I am Liathano Blackstar, this is Alita Battle Angel. Who are you, and why are you attacking us?" She said all in one breath...disregard the punctuation. Kayashi studied us. "THEY'RE Vengeance? They don't look that strong..." Our eyes simultaneously narrowed into slits. Leesha shrugged. "Hey, you were the ones that hired them." Kayashi snorted and crossed her arms. "Wasn't me." "Whoa, wait, YOU hired us?" Liathano screamed. News to me. The newcomer stared at us for a moment before laughing like mad. Typical Cathy behaviour. She only stopped when Leesha nudged her. "Come with me." Kayashi said simply. Suddenly, we were all lifted into the air by a sudden tornado of wind. Literally a tornado. Liathano and I screamed like there was no tomorrow, which for all we knew could've been true... The rock face of the mountain came at us. "HOLY...!!!" And just like that, everything stopped whirling and we landed softly in darkness. If I could've seen the floor, I would've kissed it. But since it was dark, I didn't want to find out what grime was down there. Actually, I had the strange sense we were still moving. Liathano made wimpering noises behind me somewhere. Jocelyn was scared of heights. I guess so was Liathano. I wasn't scared of the HEIGHT part exactly since I was 'height challenged' NOT short. Not THAT short at least. It was the landing that worried me... The going SPLAT part... Light exploded infront of me, making my pupils rapidly dilate. I blinked back the sting, covering my eyes with my hand until they got used to the light. I look around around me. And standing right there was a COW!?! It had a smile on it's face. WHAT THE HELL!?! "You know...flying cow, tornado...forget it..." Leesha morphed back into herself and sighed. Liathano massaged her temples. I just stared. Kayashi rolled her eyes, and started walking forward down the white, sterile wall. Yes, WALL. The room in front of us was spinning, which at first, due to dilated retinas I thought was an illusion. But the whole thing, thankfully circular, was moving, going across at least a hundred meters for so. Actually, when I looked closer, Kayashi was FLOATING above the ground just a little. It was obvious what HER power was. Wind, or Air. Which provided flight. Me? I had to walk. I shared a dubious look at Liathano who gritted her teeth and walked forward. And fell flat on her face. I winced. Not a pretty sight. Not really UNcommon though. Leesha was laughing her head off. A fireball exploded in her face, making her bronze hair all the more brown. I watched as Liathano tried her best to walk along the tunnel room. Then I couldn't take the pain after she fell for the third time. After all, I'll be next. I looked at Leesha. "Why is this here in the first place!?!" Her hair turned black. Why would she be smug? "Scanner." With that, she shapesifted into a hawk, and screeched, flying easily through the tunnel to morph back at the other side. I shot her tail feathers a death glare. Taking a breath, I stepped forward. And ended up going one cycle of the tunnel with my face on the wall. Ahead of me Liathano laughed. Growling, I tried again. //Come on, you've seen Grease, they had one of these!!!// Besides the fact that this one is rotating faster and is LONGER, wasn't very comforting. After the second turn on my face, an idea hit me. //My magic is Ice right? Shouldn't I be able to do something with that?// I crawled back to unspinning space. Arrrgh...Damn, Liathano was almost there. I stood, and looked at the spinning hall...think...impossible answers... A light bulb lighted above my head. I lifted my palm at the tunnel. "Ice BEAM!!!" Liathano dodged as a sheer beam of ice curved over the tunnel from where I stood, ending on the other side. I smirked, and walked over it to the other side, pulling my team mate up in the process. "Okay, THAT was pointless." I muttered. "I don't trust these people." Liathano whispered to me. I just nodded as I couldn't answer. These were my friends. Yet they are completely different people in this world. Leesha pushed opened the door infront of us and started waving manically. "HIYA!!!" Snorting in annoyance, Kayashi walked passed her with a smile. We followed suit. In front of us, was an awesome sight. The room was a gigantic pool of sorts, with waterfalls on both sides churning the waters below, with thundering crash. Mists travelled through the air in comforting humidity, coupled with a cool beeze. Behind the sheilds of water were walls of...ice. Where we stood was a thin walkway to the middle where what looked alike flames of spiralling water surrounded a large platform with a pool in the middle. I had a sudden sense of nervousness as I walked down the walkway. Liathano fidgeted around me. I frown at her. "What's wrong?" She looked around. "I don't like so much water." Of course! Her power was fire so... My thoughts trailed off as the pool infront of me erupted into the air, shaping into a human form. My eyes steadily widened as a cool pastel blue cloak draped over an pastel aqua dress. Hair of shining black took form in draping over her shoulders. Eyes of crystal water smiled at me. Only one person I knew wore THAT much pastel. "Hello...sister." Catherine in this world said cooly. WHHHHHAAAAAAT!?!?!??! My jaw fell with a clunk. Liathano stared with wide eyes. "YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU HAD A SISTER!?!" She screamed hitting the back of my head in the process. I just stared numbly at Catherine, or whatever her name is in this world. Leesha looked around. "What's with the showing off Catsyile?" The moment was broken as the water sorceress sighed and in an instant, the whole room's water supply was sucked into her open fingers leaving me and Liathano gaping as the floor where the water was, rose to connect with the walkway and platform, bringing tables and chairs of that of a lounge. The pool remained in the middle but fountain spurts came out of it now. "Spoil sport." Catsyile muttered. She looked at us. "How have you been Alita?" "Er...good." I was still coming to terms with the fact that CATHERINE was my SISTER!?! What kind of screwed up world WAS this?!?! She rolled her eyes. "Typical answer. I swear you are a such a male sometimes..." "WHAT!?!" I yelled. Catsyile laughed. "Why did you bring us here?" Liathano cut in on my fuming. Catsyile turned suddenly solemn. "I need your help." TO BE CONTINUED!!!!! A/N: FINISHED!!! FINALLY FINISHED!!!! I SHOULD MAKE SHORTER CHAPTERS!!! THESE ARE KILLING ME!!! Kay, just a rerun, I wanna recap people and powers. Alita Battle Angel ~ Ice Liathano Blackstar ~ Fire Little Lost Leesha ~ Change or shapeshifting Kayashi ~ Wind Catsyile ~ Water Ai Senshi (JWo) ~ Fight and Power *Guess where THIS came from o_O* Black Opal ~ Shadow Harlequinn ~ Light Bui ~ Thunder/lightning Xas (Haydz. DON'T ASK, Joc made me add him in here) ~ Mind power *I'll see where THAT takes me...* Okay!!! *takes great gulp of coffee* ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!!! |