"Why can't we use Julio's power?" Janice asked out load. She had just ask
about using Julio's power to restore themselves and her sisters to humanity
and manhood. Julio was in meditation, something he explained he had to
occasionally do to bring himself into total focus and bring his abilities back to
their max without overloading himself.
Tabra spoke mentally. 'Don't speak Janice, -think- you can do it Janice, just
think how you normally would, I'm right in here with you, nothing else to it. It's
best we not speak too loud while Julio's realigning himself.'
'O-Okay... w-why can't we use Julio's power? If it's supposed to be a mini-
version of God that means he can do anything right?'
'Julio also has a human brain, meaning he's limited by his perceptions, he's
talented, but ... mixing magic never goes well, it always backfires somehow, it
like trying to use two program meant for different OS, there are going to be
some -very- big bugs, you have to work with what's there, or work with that
isn't the already existing program's territory.'
"Janice?" Vicki's voice broke them out of their internal discussion.
"Yes?" Janice said speaking through the shared mouth.
"We need to talk."
"Okay." Tabra said though Vicki no way to know it wasn't Janice this time, "But
not in here, let's go outside." She lowly.
"To the surface?" Vicki asked as they walked out of the 'room' in the mutli-
chambered cavern.
"Sorry no, just out of the room, our guest need his quite time so to speak."
Tabra continued. Finally he let Janice get a word in edgewise.
"What do you need to talk about?" Janice asked.
"Our sisters and I have been discussing, some of us want out."
'I saw this coming.' Tabra said mentally.
"How many?" Janice asked, feeling like a child in the middle of a divorce.
"Charlene decidedly, Luna of course wants to stay and fight, Anna... I'm not
quite sure -what- she wants." She saw the look in Janice's face. "I'm sorry."
"What about you?" Janice asked.
"I... I haven't decided yet." Viki hung her head down.
Janice grasped at straws. "You, you ask tell them to stay, you're our big sister
after all."
"It's -their- choice, I won't make it for them." Viki said sternly at her little sister.
'You're an angel,' Janice began, 'You can-'
'I won't! You're free to scream at me until Judgment Day, but there is no way
I'm forcing them to stay with you. Janice...I can feel your emotions, and the
memory you're replaying in your head again and again. You're NOT losing
them like you lost Tammy. They aren't being stolen from you.'
'I didn't want these feelings, I don't want these feelings, but I feel them all the
same, and they scream at me that they are my sisters.'
'And they still will be. That won't change, I promise, but you were kept together
through slavery, they each have to find their own path before they find their
way back to each other.'
Viki saw Janice's face turn desperate, then stern, then soft, then resolved. Viki
wondered what was going on in there.
"Come on." Janice said in a calm and steady tone that Viki guessed was the
angel's. "We had better settle this before we get any further. Our guest is
another drop of chaos in what is about to become a maelstrom, the more
things we have resolved before we make our go on Kather and...Tammy the
better."
Viki acknowledge the logic in that.
A few minutes later, all nine vixens were in a circle, Julio had come out of his
meditation and watched, but realized this was a, well, -family- matter, all he
could do was observe.
"All right." Tabra said, some of the vixen sitting, some standing, others
leaning, but all had their eyes on the fox angel. "I right now have three options
I can give you, and I'm very sorry, but staying in this cave indefinitely isn't one
of them." All the vixen nodded at this.
Tabra counted off her fingers. "Option one, you can just go home to your
families, there's still a chance when all of this is laid to rest you can be
returned to your original forms, it might be days, or years, but it is very
possible. I can even make sure your families will know you for who you are."
She counted off the next finger. "Option two, since you've all been changed
into kitesune, or at least partially, there are parts of japan that rely on faith
more than technology. I can give you a crash course in the culture and
language the fast non-verbal way. You'll be treated as minor deities of their
hometowns. -But- there won't be -any- turning back from this choice once you
taken the first two steps down the road, you don't become something sacred
then walk away from the job. And be very, -very- warned, while you will NOT
forget who you are, or were, though at times you might want to dismiss it as a
bad dream, nor will those dear to you stop being dear, but you will be trading
in your current instincts for new ones, and while you'll be able to assume the
form you have right now, hey, even a human again with practice, it will never
be your default form again."
Tabra stayed quite for a minute so everything she had said could sink before
moving on to the third finger. "Finally. Option three, for those of you brave
enough or foolish enough to stay here with me, and fight Karther's intentions.
Normally I wouldn't even consider this a valid option, but I have to
begrudgingly admit you ladies now Karther and his ilk better than anyone
else. And I also have to acknowledge your willing to fight as a choice you
have the right to make. And here comes the 'but' though. The but is: you can't
fight him as you are, if you wish to fight Karther's monsters on their level, and
save your sisters, you're going to have to become more than you are." Tabra
spread her material wings. "You're going to basically become like Janice."
"We're going to have to join you in there?" Erica blinked point at Tabra's body.
Tabra and Janice for once in sync slapped herself in the face. "No, no, no.
You're going to have become part of the angel army while you're still alive,
something that only happened once before in history." Only Janice felt the
echo in Tabra's memories that said that Tabra meant in the history of the
universe.
Luna said not looking at all as phased as the others, "So we get big fluffy
wings and get to blast things to atoms?"
Tabra spoke evenly, "This isn't just a simple transformation of your body, it
also transforms your spirit and soul as well! This change will reach all the way
down to the center of your self! Don't think you're just getting some pieces of
bones and feathers connected to your shoulders and a semi-automatic laser
blaster install in your forearm! It'll still be you, but I can't promise it'll be the
same version of you. And there's something -much- bigger, if any of you love
and serve any deities other than Jehovah, and you decide on option three,
then you had better say your good-byes and wish them farewell. And any of
you who has chosen to not love and serve any god, and you chose this
option, I'm afraid this won't be the case afterwards."
This had the desired effect of scaring most of the girls off who might have
taken the third rout, however, there will always be those bold enough.
"You can sign at least me up." Luna said, she hadn't wavered, in the face of
everything, she hadn't wavered.
Tabra thought/sighed. 'So much for no one taking option three. There is one
plus side.'
Janice was courious. 'What plus side?'
'Doing this should help you learn to use our abilities -much- quicker.'
'Won't this decease what we've built up?' Janice saw the echo of what Tabra
was thinking. It had the same feeling as a organ transplant, only the donor
didn't have to die.
'It will and it won't.'
'No riddles!'
'Riddles are only riddles if you don't know the answer. While transferring my, -
our- essence partially into another might be a drain on us at first, we'll get it
back much faster this way.'
'How's that work?'
'Long story short? To quote 'God is love' and love grows much faster when
shared. And as an angel, my original function before I was drafted into a
solider was to spread the stuff. '
'I'd say something, but at this point, I've kinda given up. I'll say something later
if it -doesn't- work. Otherwise I think I'm just gonna go with the flow.'
'Not a very smart way to go through life, but I understand. So sit back and, no
scratch that, stand up and be a part of this Janice, because this is something
no living human normally gets to see before they die.'
For once, Janice chose just to take what Tabra said at face value.
"The person who wants to stay and fight the most step foreword." Tabra/
Janice said.
"That's me." Luna said stepping foreword without a second thought.
Tabra/Janice said. "Anyone who doesn't want to do the easy and likely smart
thing and back out now, please watch this, because if you're going to chicken
out, this is the best time for all of us for you to."
The angel fox looked the former slave in the eyes. "Okay Luna. Brace
yourself, because this, is going to hurt like the gates of Heaven."
"Don't you mean hell?" Luna raised an eye brow.
"No." Tabra/Janice said simply. "Hell is the line at the bank at closing time.
Hell is the street corner after school when your parents forget to pick you up.
Hell is the quarter inch of glass between a kid and the toy at the store he can't
afford to buy but wants with all his heart. Hell is the closet a child is locked
inside by his parents. Hell is the -need- an addict hears whispering at the
back of their head . . . "
"You aren't scaring me."
"Then I'm happy that this is likely to also give you some common sense.
Because fear is healthy. And this, is -really- going to hurt."
'Total disregard of protocol! I can't believe you did this. Oh wait, yes I can!'
'What was that?' Janice asked, doing her best not to say it out loud.
'That was me imagining what Mike might say he finds out I held a recruitment
drive without telling him.'
'You gonna get in trouble that badly?'
'Only if we all get killed.'
'I'll remember to stay alive then.'
'Good idea. Follow my lead, let yourself go for a moment, just one moment.
Don't force it through, -let- it through.'
Tabra/Janice put their hands just above Luna's breasts, holding onto her
shoulders. Tabra/Janice breathed in deep, and carefully opened the
floodgates between themselves and Luna.
Then came the flood of white light to those with the spiritual sight to see it that
crashed through Tabra into Luna. Luna howled in pain, echoing from the
walls, feeling the force filling every inch of her being, altering it in ways that
were not just cosmetic. She felt her flesh and bone sculptured into a slightly
different shape, but this was nothing compared to what was happen to -her-,
for at this moment she felt almost a disconnection to her body, for she felt a
second pair of wings that were made of flesh or bone, but felt infinitely more
real than the mundane ones. The tidal wave seemed to wash the muck from
inside her, cleansing her body, and man did it hurt! But at the same time, she
felt something beyond it, yet was a part of it, something... wonderful.
The pain was in all honesty blinding. But nothing lasts forever in this world
and eventually the pain left her. And in the pain's place, was the wonderful
something.
From the vixens' perception, Janice glowed white, and in a moment, so was
Luna, the girls involuntarily took a step back as they hide their eyes. Luna's
howls of pain stinging their ears which flattened against their skulls. Which the
screaming suddenly stopped, they wondered if maybe Luna had died, when
they looked at her, they instead wondered if she had been dead before and
had just now been brought back to life!
Janice steeled herself and calmly followed Tabra's instructions down to the
letter. Touching Luna's body with as much professionalism as she could
muster. Then again at Tabra led her through it step by step, she undid a tiny
lock that was on Luna, and slowly opened it, then undid a similar tiny lock on
herself, then it was as if a piece of herself, and Tabra leapt out of her and into
Luna, slamming into her sister, with a force akin to a natural disaster. She
heard Luna scream, but Tabra held Janice fast so she wouldn't let go
prematurely, or Janice sensed the side effects would be awful.
But even as Luna screamed, she felt her change, felt her ... grow... it wasn't
like her body got larger but... it was like the complexity of Luna's spirit
increased, and Luna's eyes gained more vision. And Janice realized with a
ton of brick that what Luna was screaming about.... were growing pains. All on
their own, the lock on Janice closed, then Luna's too closed by itself and it
was done.
Janice realized she was hurting too but... it felt like a -good- kind of hurt.
Janice look at the change to Luna, but any material changes paled to the
transformation her spirit had undergone, those were the truly fantastic ones.
And Janice, looking at the reborn Luna, finally acknowledge the existence of
angels, not just some super powered mutant human with delusion of divinity,
not an alien pretending to be one, not some extra reality ET who humans
mistook for one, but, a Messenger.
Tabra said calmly. "Congratulations, you've just been conscripted."
Luna's eyes came back into focus, she saw her fur's 'gloves' had turned
snowy white, a odd contrast to her redding brown fur. Wait... no way... just no
way.
Luna stood up, and looking at herself saw her entire body was as white as
freshly fallen snow, pardon the old comparison. Slowly twirling around, she
got a look at her tail and... wings! Connected to her like she had been born to
have them.
Though she couldn't see her own eyes, they were now as blue as the sky
above ground. Her hair had also turned the same white but... it didn't feel like
it was hair that had lost it's color, more like white -was- it's color, if that made
sense.
Luna unconsciously touched her chest and felt a gem the color of the sky that
was as much a part of her body as her wings. ... Luna felt, beautiful. It was as
simple as that. But at the same time there was more to it, she felt, an intensity
just below the surface, like a sleeping storm and it made her feel alive.
"Are we all going to end up with a uniform appearance?" Vicki asked still
wearing the cross 'T' had given her. She wasn't liking the idea of being a
cookie cutter soldier even for a just cause.
"No. This is how the angelic essence interacted with her spirit, it rarely the
same with anyone twice."
"I see." Vicki said.
'Nice job.' Janice thought.
'Glade you think so, but it was as much you as me.' Tabra thought back.
'Cause it's your half of the job to get these newbie soldiers armed and
armored. I have the much harder task hamming into them some basic combat
sense and how to use the power that's now a part of them.'
'Wha?' Janice thought in a squeak.
'Come -on- you didn't think we were going to lead a tiny group of vixen into
battle naked against an magical insane wolf vixen queen.'
'Er, I see your point.'
"What happened to my sand armor?" Luna asked in a voice that carried a
tone that could bring stars down from heaven to dance among men. Truly
Janice realized, the angelic essence that Tabra had fused into her made
made Luna more than she had been.
Luna was in the fur, and she didn't mind.
"That was a part of Karther's magic... it couldn't hang onto you anymore, this is
the shape your body became because it's based on what you're now -used- to
seeing."
Luna looked at her hands, then nodded, "You're right, I do."
It would be a ugly lie to say that the vixens weren't all scared by Luna's
transfiguration, which was exactly Tabra's point. If they didn't have the
courage or resolve, in them, heck, or just wanted to go home and be done
with all this fur and breasts or no, Tabra wasn't going to force this on them,
and he was going to make -very- sure they knew what they were volunteering
for!
Tabra/Janice said to Luna, "The transfiguration should make you immune to
infection by the wolf creatures, however, remember-"
"Remember what?"
In a lightning quick motion the fox angel left a small cut on Luna's forearm.
"Your body is still alive, which means you can die, just like the living body I
have can die. So in other words don't think that just cause Tammy can't
remake you back into a slave doesn't mean you can't get killed."
"..I will."
Viki held the crucifix T' had given her tightly.
Erica looked at Luna, then at Tabra, then looked at Luna again.
"Red angelic fox, white angelic fox. What is this: Power Rangers?" She said
sounding rather annoyed.
Tabra didn't enjoy the comparison and saw fit to correct her. "You aren't
teenagers, you aren't going around in a giant robot, you aren't facing a
characterless monster of the week, you aren't expected to say 'Right!' or
'Morphin' to everything, and no, Jehovah does NOT normally take the
appearance of a giant floating head. Well, usually."
Erica was courious. "What does he normally appear as then?"
Tabra scratched her nose. "Well since he's the God of Everything, he has a lot
of options, there was that time he appeared as a little girl, then as a janitor, an
bearded old man in a white hat snipping lemonade on the beach, and of
course that time as a giant white lion."
Erica was quieted down. "Oh."