"Ah yes," Julio interrupted, still sitting on the floor, "You are definitely going to save them COMPLETELY nude and weaponless. What are you going to do, baffle them to death?"
Tabra glared at Julio for the sudden joke. "That was in bad taste. Janice is already going to...."
"Tabra, what did I tell you about your sense of humor? Janice could you please tell Tabra to take it easy sometimes?"
"Actually," Janice said out loud, "I agree with Tabra this time. I mean, we WERE having a touching moment here, but then you had to go and ruin it with that lame joke of yours."
Julio sighed in resignation. "Fine fine. I'm sorry for the stupid joke. Maybe you guys are merging after all." He stood up and stretched, his joints aching from sitting in the meditation position for several hours, "Anyways, as you said so aptly Ms. Angel..." He noticed that Tabra wasn't the only angel-fox anymore, "Er, I mean Tabra... anyways, as you said we need to focus on saving the people under Karther's spell. Janice, do you have any plans on how the armor should look or function?"
Janice looked blankly at Julio. "Armor? I'm already wearing that." Her expression changed to a stern one. "He meant the armor for the rest of the fox angels. We need to make it remember?"
Julio nodded. "Exactly. I'm guessing that the forging will take some time, so you two should go and focus on that. I'll help the new recruits here learn some combat skills...." one of the new angels opened her mouth to object, "yes yes, I know you guys still have that combat ability that Karther gave you, but we're not fighting Karther. We're fighting something completely unpredictable and I need to prepare you for that situation. Outside of Janice and Tabra, the best person to teach you would be me but.... for crying out loud, put some clothes on!"
Julio turned away slightly flustered as Tabra taught the new fox-angels the basics of clothing materialization. Soon, the foxes were clothed in loose-fitting cloth garments that would allow them easy movement. "Thank you," Julio said after regaining his senses. "Now I'm going to warn you that as of now," his pleasant mood turning serious, "I will be completely focused in making you into better fighters as much as I can. I expect all of you to give me your undivided attention in return, and I will NOT tolerate any smart-asses."
------
Several hours pass. In one room, Tabra and Janice are arguing among themselves about how to properly make decent angel armor. In the other, Julio was making the fox-angels perform surprisingly simple hand-to-hand techniques, which perplexed the recruits to no end. Eventually the first recruit Luna lost her patience. "This is stupid!" She bursted out, "You already know that this type of fighting is burned into our brain by that fox-prince bastard, so what's the point in training in it?"
Julio scoffed. "Training? This isn't training. This is just warm-up. You guys need to get used to your new bodies first before I introduce you to anything extreme."
"I have to agree with Luna on this one," the more confident Erica pipes up, "this type of training is useless. I mean, not only are we now four angels, but we have Tabra to guide us in controlling our power. In fact, I think that we should just skip this and focus on controlling our powers!"
Julio laughed insultingly. "Oh, so now you.... ladies think you are good enough to save Tammia and everyone now? All right then. I want all of you to take me on. If any of you can knock me down even once, I'll ask Tabra to take a break from her forging to teach you guys. Now come on," he positioned himself for battle, "We have not got all day!"
At this, three of of the four angels leaped at the human; only Lisa, who suddenly felt something amiss with Julio, stayed behind and observed the fight. The first one to reach Julio was Erica. Before Julio even moved, Erica span around and delivered a brutal roundhouse that she thought would have knocked out Julio....
....if it had hit that is. However, Erica got nothing but air as Julio deftly shifted down and let the kick fly over his head. As Erica recovered from her attack, Julio jutted his hand forward and groped Erica's right breast hard. Erica yelped as she felt a surge go through her breast and she leaped back. "What.... what the hell are you doing?!"
"Prepare for the unexpec....." Before Julio could continue, Luna began her attack, this time hoping to grapple Julio in close-quarters combat and put him in a paralyzing hold. However Julio's 2000 years of experience shined through as he deftly got out of each and every one of Luna's grapples, even landing several firm punches. At the last grapple, Julio span around Luna.... and grabbed her butt hard. A bright spark occurred, and Luna was sent sprawling on the ground. "You... damn lech!"
Julio just grinned (while Lisa looked on dumbfoundedly) in response and prepared for Viki's onslaught. By this point, Tabra and Janice had rushed out of the forging room when they heard Erica's shouting, and Janice was fuming when Julio groped Luna. "JULIO!" Janice screamed, "How DARE you...."
Suddenly she found that her mouth refused to open. "Don't do anything!" Tabra shouted mentally. "But why not? He's...." Tabra sighed, "Look, there are some things that they will have to learn the hard way. Look at Julio's eyes. Do you think they look like those of a pervert who is simply wasting his time?" Janice glanced at Julio, and when she saw Julio's eyes, she immediately shut up.
"So you want us to expect the unexpected huh?" Viki shouted, "Then how about this?!" She kicked up a patch of dirt into Julio's eyes, temporarily blinding him and allowing her to give him a solid punch to the left side of his face. She then started twisting Julio's arm, hoping to continue where Luna failed.... until Julio suddenly groped her nether region and sent a jolt that made her jump back and yelp.
"Hmm, not bad there Viki" Julio said calmly, "You came the closest to knocking me down... but since the others didn't even touch me, that's not saying much."
The three fox-angels looked like they were going to tear Julio apart for what he did. They stormed towards him in hopes to get him as a team. Julio's smile faded as he lifted up his right hand and simply snapped his fingers. Sparks of energy coursed over the three attacking angels' body and they suddenly found they could not move. Even moving a fraction of an inch sent massive amounts of pain coursing through their bodies. "What..." Luna managed to shout, "What did you do to us?"
"Nothing much," Julio said quietly, "I just used my power to screw up the energy flows in your bodies temporarily. I may not be able to change you guys, but I can sure as hell stall you. I'm surprised that you guys got caught on such a basic attack and didn't do anything to prevent... oh right, you guys were thinking all this time that I was nothing more than some pervert right?"
The fox-angels were speechless, not because of the paralysis, but because of the realization that dawned on them. "You know what this is right here girls? This is called a 'perfect opportunity.' Tamthis and any one of her cronies could have done the same thing to you in any way they wanted, and then done WHATEVER they wanted with you." He walked up slowly to Luna and put his hand on her chest. Suddenly, his body was coursing with bright energy, the very strands of hair on his head straight with static, and the anger in his eyes - the same anger that made Janice stop from objectiong - flared up. "They could even do THIS!" With a shout, he unleashed a shockwave from his hand, hurtling the paralyzed Luna through the air and slamming into a wall, making a thick indent in it. Luna gasped as pain coursed through her entire body.
"Luna!" The other angels - including Janice - called out. "Don't worry," Tabra said soothingly to Janice, "Angels are made of firmer stuff than that. Still, he was a little bit on the extreme end...."
"And physical pain is nothing compared to the mental pain she could cause. What would happen if...." he paused and closed his eyes. The energy around him was sucked into his body as it suddenly shifted. Red fur popped up on his skin and his body started taking more of a humanoid canine form while his clothes altered as well. Everyone's eyes widened as Julio turned into..... Karther. "What would happen," this new 'Karther' said, "If I appeared in front of you in the state you are in now?" The frozen girls started shivering unintentionally. This couldn't be Karther.... yet, everything - his mannerisms, his voice, his clothing, even his multiple tails... EVERYTHING - emanated that. He slowly walked up to Erica as the both remaining standing angels started having horrifying flashbacks to when they were brainwashed. "Yes, you remember everything don't you?" 'Karther' said, "All the things I did to you, everything that happened! And yet, here you are, paralyzed and at my mercy..."
"STOP IT!"
'Karther' turned around and saw Lisa, her facial fur wet from tears and heaving from a combination of fury and fear, staring at him. "We get it ok? We screwed up! Karther can do anything to us even if we're Angels! We understand now, we really do! Just.... please stop....."
“I agree with Lisa,” Tabra chimed in, “You are going too far with this Julio. Stop now.”
The anger in 'Karther's' eyes dimmed down to nothing and his expression relaxed. "This," Julio said, having reverted his voice back to normal, "is just one of the things that could have happened out there. I was not kidding about expecting the unexpected, but you girls just had to learn the hard way, didn't you?" The three fighting fox-girls suddenly found they could move again, and Luna pulled herself out of the indentation she made in the wall. "Look, you guys are angels... ANGELS! You people have far more power inside you than I can hope to get without blowing myself up in the process.... but your overconfidence can and WILL make you lose. You have got to understand that."
Julio, still in Karther's form, started walking back towards the center of the room but suddenly wobbled and fell on one knee. "Damn it," he swore, "I'm sorry, but I won't be able to teach you while in this form. My mind can not adjust to any new forms so I'm completely unfamiliar with this body, and it will take me a good 15 to 30 minutes to revert back to the way I was. Just....take a break or something." Somberly, the pseudo-Kitsune walked awkwardly back to his room while the other foxes looked on silently. "It's funny," Janice said mentally, "He's not even been here for a tenth of the time we've had to fight Karther and Tamthis, and yet he understands the danger of the situation better than some of us."
"2000 years can do that to a human," Tabra replied, "You are too young to understand just how much a person can suffer during that time, even with any joy he had in his life."