The first tries were predictable.
Erica's armor was, like something out of Conan The Barbarian, looking more
like a metal bikini than something meant to protect one's self from deadly
deadly beasts. Erica smiled, Tabra did not. Tabra painfully pulled two feathers
from Tabra's mundane wings. And with a totally straight face, began to tickle
Erica until she was in tears on the ground begging for mercy.
Luna's armor was thick, power, and easily resistant to any melee attack that
the other threw at it. Luna looked rather confident with herself standing in her
armor in a heroic pose. Tabra calmly walked up to her, and with two fingers
gently pushed her. Still stuck in that exactly same pose in her inflexible armor,
and a look of shock and confusion on her face, Luna fell over backward like a
statue hitting the ground leaving an impression.
Viki's armor was comfortable, flexible, and didn't restrict her movement at all,
as she demonstrated to everyone proudly. Tabra created a butter knife and
lightly stabbed her in the leg showing that it also had all the density of canvas.
Lisa accidently began choking on her own armor the moment she summoned
it, having made it tight where she had meant to make it loose and loose where
she had meant to make it tight. In alarm Tabra quickly undid the angelic armor
around Lisa's breathing passages just as Lisa started to turn blue under her
fur.
Tabra slapped her own face and mentally sighed, 'I wonder if this is what Mike
felt like when training me...'
Janice however, took note of each of her sisters mistakes, remember what
Tabra had taught her, figuring out some flaws in her own attempts to modify
their armor to suit their new body.
+++++
No one questioned when Tabra said session two for the day was crucifix
creation. After all, they had all been on the receiving end of 'T's' and knew
exactly what it could do.
After the disaster with the armors, and having learned from their mistakes,
creating the metal went with only one help question from Erica. Shaping it had
also been a lot easier than the armors, and went on with only slight help from
Tabra. But turned them into little mirrors of their own angelic essence. On this
each of them crashed and burned. Lisa and Erica pushed the process too
fast, making the ethereal energies break apart before they had matured. Lisa
had weaved the ethereal threads well enough around the holy symbol, but
make it reflect her angelic self proved too tricky and the aura it gave off was
totally vague. Viki got the farthest along. The cross was made into the proper
shape, the invisible threads were woven into the matter, it was even was able
to properly reflect her spirit. Tabra even praised her for doing as well as she
did. She made but one simple but stupid mistake. She had left the bindings
open, leaving it totally naked to tampering. Tabra pointed out that could easily
lead to trouble later on. Viki took what Tabra said as honest advice, after all,
they were in Tabra's field of expertise.
Again, sitting alongside Tabra, Janice took note of everything, memorizing it
as best she could, practicing it over and over in her mind's eye. This proved
rather useful since Tabra had a view of her mental TV screen as well she was
able to point flaws in her scenario that Janice was able to correct.
+++++
As per Julio's idea, he trained two of the angels in hand to hand combat, while
Tabra taught them weapon to weapon combat, then after a few hours switch
pupils. One of the things Tabra showed them was indeed they had to expect
the unexpected. Tabra fought them with a dagger, shifted it back into proto-
matter and into a tasers and gave them both an intense electric shock.
The weapons that Tabra's students created of course were crude at first, basic
shapes made of basic material. But this was one area that all of them, in
particular Erica, followed closely by Luna, were able to improve upon quickly.
All he had to do was explain to them was that it took some on your feet
thinking and a good imagination. Still he had to keep reminding them that just
cause they had created one weapon, didn't mean they had to stick with that
weapon.
+++++
After purposely being -very- rough with them in the last rounds of the combat
exercise, Tabra -showed- them how to properly heal injuries on the fly, on
yourself and on others. Mending bones, closing skin, and repairing organs
was something Tabra could do easily, she was very sure that the recruits -all-
understood even in their sleep that they had to have a full grasp of the subject
before trying it themselves. And that would wait until tomorrow when
everything she had had time to sink in. Lisa listened intently to each word.
+++++
All in all, it proved to be a very rough and trying first day for teacher and
students alike. Of course, all of the recruit managed to walk away with
something. Tabra was impressed they didn't crawl away in exhaustion.
"You've all earned yourselves a rest today. Of course." Tabra said those
fateful words. "Now that you all have the basics down... tomorrow we get
started for real!"
The recruits all paled.
"Want to hear something crazy?" Viki asked her three little sisters.
"Just one more for the day." Erica said.
"I can't wait for tomorrow." Viki confessed.
"Yep, crazy." Luna rolled over to get the sleep she knew she'd be needing in
the morning.
"Heh... crazy like a fox." Erica couldn't help but say.
Lisa made a slight giggle. It sounded like sleigh bells at christmas. It was
enough to lull the recruit to sleep.
++++++
'Tabra.' Janice said, Tabra saw the mental pictures running through her half of
their mind. 'I -need- ask you, I need to try it!' Of course Tabra knew what 'it'
was.
'It right about time for you to ask.' Tabra said calmly. 'This is around the time it
kicks in. It's base nature for you. I suspect the recruit will feel the exact same
urge some time later tomorrow. You getting it out of your system today actually
works better so you can help them too.'
'So it's just, 'natural then to feel this?'
'What did you expect? You, WE are an angel.'
'Then show me Tabra, please teach me, teach me how to fly.'
'Janice, by the time we're helping the recruit through this base desire all
angels feel, you'll see the even without wings, you can still fly.'
++++++
A teleportation done totally by Janice only with a mental image form Tabra, in
another part of the world. The angel fox stood on top of a mountain, above the
cloud level. Her angelic form resisting the lack of atmosphere. She breathed
what wisps of it there was into her lungs, not damaging them in the least. She
looked at the moon, the same no matter what of the world you were in. The
stars, ever so slightly different depending on where you were. It was like the
clouds really were just another type of ground she could dance on.
'You can.' Tabra reminded her.
There was no way in high Heaven or the deepest Hell that Tamthis would
sense her here. Even Tamthis' power had limits, for one, there wasn't any
sand for hundreds of miles of this mountain peak, and there was just
something about this mountain that repelled perverted and deviant forces like
the ones Karther had controlled. This was also Tabra had picked out this
place to be the spot for the sisters' 'outing tomorrow.' Why teaching them to fly
with both their mundane and True Wings -was- an important part of their
training. It was also, Tabra knew without a doubt, going to be the most
wonderful.
'Don't let fear stop you Janice, there is nothing to fear, you won't fall. You can
fly.'
'Think happy thoughts?'
'Only if that makes it easier for you. Now spread your wings, no, not those
pieces of feathers and bones connected to your back. Your -true- wings. Yes...
that's yet. Let go of your doubts and fears, and just... fly.'
The simple dress Janice/Tabra was wearing dissolved back into proto matter
and vanished. Leaving the vixen with nothing between her and the natural
world.
Eyes closed, Janice lifted a few inches off the ground, not even upsetting dust.
And then, she fell.
Hardly!
With unearthly but loving grace Janice flew down the mountain side, and
changed angle just as she would have gone through the cloud layer,
skimming around the surface. She then flew upwards, did several loop-de-
loops and corkscrews. She had never felt so alive, so free. And in this
moment, she totally forgot about Tabra. About being originally male. About
having been a slave. At having her mind and body violated. About having her
old beliefs shattered. There was only the total absolute -freedom- she felt in
this one moment!
With unearthly but loving grace Tabra flew down the mountain side, and
changed angle just as she would have gone through the cloud layer,
skimming around the surface. She then flew upwards, did several loop-de-
loops and corkscrews. It had been forever since she had so alive, so free. And
in this moment, she totally forgot about Janice. About being originally male in
body. About having been turned into Tammia's second body. At having her
mind and body violated. About having to fight a war for so, so long. There was
only the total absolute -freedom- she felt in this one moment!
Janice/Tabra started and gasped as they hit the very edge of the upper
atmosphere. She nearly fell back down to Earth in free fall.
'Tabra!' Janice thought. 'Was that, was that, was that really-'
'I think. That was, the closest we've come to having our thoughts, not just our
actions, totally and perfectly parallel.'
'First... first signs of the... merging?'
'Maybe... likely... '
'Can we go home now.' Janice didn't bother to question how she thought of
that hole in the ground with no way to the surface where her sisters were as
her home.
'Yes we can. Just answer me one question honestly.'
'You can read my mind for the answer.'
'It's for you.'
'Okay.'
'Do you regret coming here, or flying, at all?'
'...no. I don't.'
'Then don't fear the future.'
++++++
'Tabra I've been thinking.' Janice thought when they were alone in their
spartan room again. She had been fiddling with the armor ever since coming
back here, and was on a completely different level from before.
'I know, I could hear you.'
'So what's the answer?'
'Stop thinking like a human, icons, logos, and crests are material things
ultimately for when ideas can't be expressed directly.'
'I know -but-, except for you, we all used to be human, I think it can help in the
transition. And didn't you tell me -I'd- be making their armors? Why'd you put
them through those lessons then?'
'Because it's still good practice, it helps teach them how to use their abilities.
Even if the job will ultimately fall on you.'
'Then let me do my job the way I think it can best get done. If the armors are
done in a similar style with with some sort of "family insignia" it'll be a big
moral boost. They begin to actually -feel- that they're part of something greater
than just being told they are.'
Janice saw Tabra running all the possible out comes and scenarios through
his half of their mind. 'All right. Just remember, this isn't a magical girl TV
show. We're going out there to fight, not look pretty for the cameras.'
'I'll remember.' Janice promised. 'But I know you won't forget.'
'Okay. But first, let's finnish on customizing -our- armor before you start making
theirs. I can tell you were paying attention in class.'
'Why thank you teacher.'
'You're welcome.'
She moved and altered the unearthly metal with her hands, but even more so
with her mind's eyes and carefully manipulating the matter.
The inflexible pieces of the armor were easy to make after watching Luna,
and the parts that were supposed to move and breath were much easier
thanks to Viki, or course Janice's parts couldn't be penetrated by a butter
knife. The pieces of material that went around the body binding the fixed
shape components of the armor were like a million fine metallic cords. They
flex when she flexed, they allowed her fur to breath yet at the same time were
perfectly water and -sand- proof. This armor could never be put on or
removed practically by mundane means, the cords were far too small and just
far too many of them. Summoning a sword and striking the cords that
surrounded her arm, Janice would have never guessed they weren't a single
piece except of course when she moved her arm muscles.
'You've got the basic down Janice... now you can truly begin.'
'I intend to.' And so Janice began to work into the night.