First I find out there is no cash in either of my wallets, even though I swear I just got some money yesterday.  Next Vivian tells me to take Gena along for training after school, but I think she just wanted to get Gena out of her hair for a while.  Then when we reach the bank their ATM is out of order and I have to go inside and wait in line to get a little cash.  And then the clerk just moved his head back and started staring at me.  At least I haven't spontaneously turned female yet.

Finally I burst out, "What is it?"

"Well, uh, ma'am, you don't seem to match your picture."

"Ma'am?   Do I look like a ma'am to you?  And what do you mean I don't match my picture?"

"I mean your femininity seems much more clear in the picture.  If you've just had a major surgery of some sort I apologize, but that doesn't look like you."

I took the wallet back from him and stared at Tora's license.  Damn I grabbed the wrong wallet.  Taking Tora's credit card I put it back in her wallet, then put that back in my pocket.   This time I grabbed the right wallet, gave the clerk the right credit card, and showed him the right ID.  He stared at me again.

"What?   Are you saying a guy can't carry around his sister's wallet for some reason, that there is something wrong with that?  That it is illegal, or otherwise wrong?"

"No sir, of course not.  Just that it is rather odd."

"Just give me the cash please."

He gave me the cash and I walked over to Dream and Gena who were standing in front of a bunch of doors on a wall which I guessed must be the private conference rooms.  They seemed to be having a conversation about something, and giggling, but the second I get close they stopped.

"What were you two talking about?"

"Oh, nothing," Gena said

"We were in fact talking about something, but Ms. McGreggor wishes to keep it private," Dream continued.

"OK.  Then lets head out of here."

"So where are we going for training again?" Gena asked.

"The zoo." I replied.

"How does going to the zoo count as training?  Shouldn't we be on patrol or something?"

"Because I feel like visiting the zoo, and it doesn't matter where I go, trouble follows.  So the way I see it I might as well do something I want to do while waiting for trouble to start."

Dream broke in: "Speaking of trouble I still can't believe you tempted fate like that last night and nothing happened.  Or that you still have yet to be attacked today."

"Maybe fate was tired.  As for today maybe the only..."

I stopped when a bunch of guys in neon green pinstripe suits wearing black horse masks and matching green hats bust in the front door.  They all raised old style tommy guns and fanned out and a guy with a hammer for a head in a neon pink pinstripe suit walked in.  The side of the hammer head I could see had one eye, and I watched as he raised his tommy gun over his head and shot up into the roof.

"Yea, this is a robbery.  My name is Head Hammer, yea.  Hand over all your paperclips, and those pens attached with the little chains too.  Yea, and be quick about it."

"But how can we do that, the chains are attached to the counters?" yelled out a female clerk.

"Well then me and the boys will just have to unattach em, yea."

"This is just stupid," I nearly yelled.

A black silhouette of a furred vixen undulates erotically across the screen from left to right, covering the scene of chaos at the BNPFNBPSB&G with a picture of an oddly changed Supermare floating in the command center of the Crusaders headquarters.  The only sound heard is a wolf whistle.

My hooves tapped faintly on the polished wood and I opened my nostrils to drink in the scent of the ocean.  It was morning, well really afternoon, but I'd had trouble sleeping as I hadn't gotten my sea-hooves yet.   Nodding gently to each of the human cattle that made up the crew, from those on the deck, to those climbing up in the rigging and the crow's nest, I just drank in the air.  There was a snap behind me as the ship tacked, a scream, and a splash, as one of the humans fell from the rigging and into the water and I made my way to the railing to watch him slowly drown.   Someone on the crew at the very corner of my vision -- I'd thought they were well trained -- grabbed a rope and threw it but I spun around, grabbed the whip from my petticoats, and struck the rope from his hands so that it went trailing overboard, its ends coloured with splatters of blood.

"Slave, what do you think you're doing?"

"Mistress, I was just..."  He turned away, clenching his bleeding hand.

"Slave, if a human is stupid enough to fall overboard, then he is not a good breeding specimen and is better left to die."

He bowed.   "It won't happen again ma'am."

"No it won't, because you've proven yourself too stupid to breed."  I struck him again with my whip on his bare chest, and again, and again, forcing him to his knees.  "You only do what we tell you to do.  You don't think, you simply obey."

He bowed and I waited -- I could smell his hatred and he was...  He leapt up and ran towards me and I smiled baring my carnivore's teeth and at the last moment spun, and then kicked him with a foot hoof and he went screaming overboard.   Ignoring the splash I turned to order somebody to clean up the mess, but my handmaid, in her fox form, was standing, head bowed.  "Gena, get somebody to fix the railing."

She curtseyed, "Yes ma'am," and ran off, her tail held high.

"You're too nice to her you know."

Smiling I turned, and looked up into the black eyes of my love.  He wore only a pair of pantaloons showing off his ebony hide and hair and I smiled and embraced him, dropping the forgotten whip.

We were on our way to the Americas to...

WHOOoooEEEP...WHOOoooEEEP!

The sound of the Trouble Alert awoke me -- I must have dozed off.  My throat was dry, parched, and as I blinked the sleep out of my eyes I grabbed a full cup of water telekinetically and drank it down.  Ever since I'd gotten back from the Legal League I'd found the air uncomfortably dry -- I'd adjusted it until drops of water slid down the consoles but it was still uncomfortable.  Then I turned my attention the Big Screen, not as big as the Superduper Big Screen on the Legal League Satellite, but still big.  It was tuned to an old black and white episode of 'The Adventures of SuperAccountant (and his faithful sidekick Double-Entry)' and it had reached the scene where the cheesy robot had smashed into the accounting offices just as SuperAccountant was removing his glasses when I telekinetically pressed the answer button.

Instantly the Big Screen blanked and showed a scene from the BNPFNBPSB&G.  Hundreds of other screens throughout the control room also flipped on showing scenes from the cook flipping burgers, the underside of the grill, to a look upwards at the bank cl...  Let's not go there.   From the speakers echoed the voice of the BNPFNBPSB&G manager: "Crusaders!  We're being robbed of all our accessories!  Can you help us or are you busy doing something important like saving the planet from an intergalactic invasion?"

The multitude of colours reflected off my scales and sheathed me in a kaleidoscope of colour -- it was all so confusing that it took me a few seconds to concentrate on the Big Screen and the voice to see what was going on.  It was a bank robbery and...

Oh - Dragon Warrior X and Red Kit were there.  No problem.  I pushed the talk button telekinetically and was about to state that it was already being taken care of when I blinked both eyelids in shock.  The henchmen were all wearing black horse heads!  Black Stallion was at it again.  "Crusaders are on the way!"  Another mental effort flipped everything off, leaving the room darkened as green blue fire swept around me and I accelerated out to fight evil.

I just hoped the fish wouldn't get in any trouble while I was gone.  Giving them hands was bad enough, but now that I'd made them amphibious...

A black silhouette of a furred vixen undulates erotically across the screen from left to right, covering the scene of Supermare exploding from the hatch in the roof of the Crusader's Secret base with an image of one of the sinister horse-headed gangsters.  The only sound heard is a wolf whistle.

I watched as one of the gangsters started pulling on the pen closest to him.  Turning around I saw Gena standing at the door of an empty conference room making head motions to it's interior.  I got the idea and rushed in and the second Gena closed the door I hold up my bracelet and hoped for the best as I yelled, "I wanna be a Miniminion(tm) champion!"  When I once again felt the crotch sucking chest weight addition feeling I wondered how many of my forms were are female and how many were male.  This time it was an orange glow and while I ended up with wings and tail and weird ears, I looked close to human.  The small black shirt appeared first, it looked more like it belonged on a little boy than a full grown woman.  Next were the blue jeans, sneakers and a blue jacket with a white lining.  A belt with a bunch of half green, half white cubes and a Dreamcast VMU with a clip appeared.  Finally a white hat with the brim and front two panels green and a black dragon silhouette appeared in my hand.  I placed it on my head of now scruffy brown hair.

Gena must have yelled her own transformation phrase right after mine as her snout finished pushing out as I looked in her direction.  I noticed that Dream was now on the ground and had three parallel orange streaks down his back and his tail tuft had turned orange.  Running out the door with Red Kit in tow we both jumped on top of a desk.  The bad guys looked in our direction and Head Hammer yelled something I couldn't quite make out and his thugs advanced on us.  Suddenly I felt an entry phrase coming on.

"Prepare for trouble.  I'll burst your bubble.  To fill young men's thoughts with sweet temptation.  To unite all peoples in every nation.  To protect the virtues of truth and love.  To bring peace on wings of a dove.  Freedom.  Justice.  Dragon Warrior X(tm) is here to defend what's right.  Evil forces should now take flight."

"Dream, that's right," said Dream, jumping in front of me.

Instantly the entire bank erupted in laughter, including Red Kit.  People even stopped fleeing for the Origin Shelter to laugh.  Dream remained silent, likely out of embarrassment for his contribution.  I just groaned, I couldn't believe I just said that and I glared at my allies until they stopped laughing.   Deciding that the only way to silence the rest of the crooks was to show the power of this form, and as the only weapons this form seems to have are the little cubes, I took one off and threw it at the goons.  I yelled "Go Minioncube(tm)." as it flew through the air and hit one of the gangsters in the arm.  The cube then opened and sucked in his entire suit including hat and shoes, leaving a guy in his underwear, a black under shirt, the mask, and white socks, carrying a tommy gun.

Everyone started laughing all over again.

"It could be worse I suppose, at least those apartment annoyances aren't here." I muttered, but too late...

"That is where you are wrong capitalist pig dog."

Spinning around I saw Frigid Fan speaking, and she was not alone.

Ornery Oven added, "Darling, I think you just gave away the element of surprise."

Meanwhile, as the Innocent Bystanders restarted running for the Origin Shelter, Red Kit apparently decided she could take care of the thugs by herself and jumped into the laughing crowd of masked men.  A hail of gunfire erupted as they realized they better start firing, but Red Kit dodged it easily.  Satisfied I wouldn't get shot in the back I turned my attention to the four figures standing at the entrance to the bank.  Ornery Oven, Frigid Fan, Luscious Lamplady, and one other I didn't recognize.  She was a young looking woman with a very slight build dressed in black latex with a big white eight on her back and she turned forward to reveal a round window filled with blue liquid in her stomach.

"I am the Elfin Eightball, and the rest you already know.  We're here to rob the bank, but killing you will have to suffice I suppose."

"I thought the only thing you losers did was try to kill me?"

"Well that there was the plan, but it be a might expensive being a super villain," said Oven.

"This would never be a problem in mother Russia."   Fan said, then lowered   her voice and muttered, "Cursed capitalism."

"Uh, yea, whatever.  Lets get this over with."

Dream who I hadn't even noticed leaving my side came running back with the cube I had thrown in his mouth.  Grabbing it I suddenly wondered if maybe there was some point to having the ability to steal someone's clothes.

"So Dream, any idea how stealing clothes is useful?"

"It is not merely stealing dream, but any inanimate object that can be dreamed.  After the object is captured it is dreamed into a servant of some dream appropriate to the dream."

"Uh, Dream, why in the world are you doing that?"

"Dreaming what?"

"That, replacing seemingly random words with forms of your own name."

"I am not aware of any doing any dream thing, but if I dream, than maybe it is a result of my current dream.  However it would dream I can not notice this if it is really dreaming."

"Never mind. How do I activate this servant then?"

"Simply toss the cube to the dream and dream the activation phrase."

"To the what?"

"Dream it to the ground."

I thought I got the idea and threw the cube to the ground with a shout of "Go Pinsuit(tm)."  The cube opened and a miniature dark blue pinstripe suit and tommy gun popped out.  It was almost like an invisible two foot person was in the clothes holding the gun, but I got the feeling there really wasn't  anything there.   He then shot behind me and I turned to see a gangster that was sneaking up hit by hundreds of little projectiles.  He fell the ground, but there wasn't a scratch on him.  "I swear the bullets hit him, but it didn't look like a single one connected."

"The attacks of the dream are purely psychic, and can only injure living dreams.  They pass dream through inanimate objects, and they only cause dream damage to the person.  This dreams that he is only unconscious, but dream be for quite some time."

At that point there was a tearing and ripping sound and we all looked up as the roof of the building was ripped off and two monstrous robots, their armour painted various shades of pink, glared down at us.

"HOWDY FOLKS. M' NAME'S PICKET 152, AN' THIS HERE IS M' GOOD BUDDY PICKET 42. WE-ALL WAS JES' PASSIN' THROUGH WHEN WE NOTICED THERE WAS A FEW O' DEM MUTANT PECKERWOODS IN TH' NEIGHBORHOOD, SO'S WE FIGGERED IT WAS TIME T' OPEN UP A LITTLE OL' CAN O' WHUPASS ON THEM UNNACHERAL FREAKS."

"JUST A COTTON-PICKIN' MINUTE, PICKET 152. I AIN'T PICKIN' UP NO TWISTED MUTANT GENETIC EMANATIONS AT ALL, NOHOW."

"YOU SHUT YER OILCAP, PICKET 42. THEY'S HERE AND THAT'S A FACT."

Before I could take action, Red Kit looked up from this manual she'd pulled out from somewhere and replied:   "We're not mutants!  I think you want Bob's (N+1)th National Bank, Pawn Shop, Bar and Grill.  It's two blocks west.  This is Bob's Nth National Bank, Pawn Shop, Bar and Grill."

"WELL IS THAT SO. SHEE-IT. I'M POWERFUL SORRY T' DISTURB Y'ALL."  It turned to it's comrade and said, "WELL AT LEAST WE DI'N'T HAV'TA DO NOTHIN' UNMANNERLY-LIKE.  MASTER MICROWAVE'LL BE MIGHTY PROUD O' US, YES HE WILL."  And then they took off leaving behind billowing clouds of smoke as they rose on pillars of fire shooting from their boots.

A glance at Dream showed me that he didn't have a clue so I turned and stared at Red Kit.  She'd dealt with all the original robbers except for Head Hammer, and he too was staring up at the giant robots.  I asked her, "What was that all about?"

"Those are just Pickets, a bunch of giant robots built to capture mutants who'll end up taking over the US in an horrible alternate future.  Not from our comic so just ignore them."

"How'd you know that?"

"Classic Enemies, Sidekick Edition."  She waved the book she was holding.

"Okay...."

She turned and leapt at Head Hammer so I turned back to the Tenement Twelve.  Pointing at the third of what might be a decent supervillain team gave Pinsuit(tm) the idea and it started moving toward them.  It fired a volley of gunfire at Frigid Fan and I watched unbelieving as it passed right through her and hit Ornery Oven standing behind her.  I guess that meant that being a robot counted as an inanimate object, but then why did it not go through Oven too?  Then Oven fell on his butt, but didn't look unconscious quite yet.  Pinsuit(tm) fired off another few rounds this time directly at oven boy, and this time with a loud thump his head hit the floor.  Gee, how the heck am I going to defeat fan girl?

Lamplady tried to blast the little guy with a bolt of lightning that came out of her fingertips but even though it hit it had absolutely no effect.  She then looked in my direction and I decided it might be a good idea to move, throwing myself to the floor just as a bunch of bolts flashed over head and struck the wall behind me.  Instantly it caught fire which spread incredibly quickly over the walls of the bank and in a few minutes the entire place was in flames.  Sparks from the wall had started a few smaller fires on the carpet and desks.  What the hell is in that paint?  I briefly considered asking Dream, but decided I really didn't want to know.  This was not good.  "Red Kit, can you get to the Survival Shelter before the fire sucks out all the oxygen?"

I heard a THWAP and then the sound of a block of metal hitting the floor before she called out from behind me, "Silly, we all KNOW physics doesn't REALLY work that way."

A black silhouette of a furred vixen undulates erotically across the screen from left to right, covering the scene of Dragon Warrior X glaring at Lamplady from behind cover with an image of Supermare flying through the air surrounded by a greenish-blue fire.  The only sound heard is a wolf whistle.

Even though it took me almost no time to reach the BNPFNBPSB&G, the entire building was engulfed in fire.   Closing my inner eyelids I pinched my nostrils shut from the smoke and tried to figure out what to do in the seconds I had before it was too late -- somehow I knew that Dragon Warrior X and Red Kit were trapped inside.   I could hear the sirens of fire engines approaching, but they wouldn't be in time.  Think!   There was a hydrant, but that wouldn't be fast enough.  Think!  What does fire need?  It needs fuel, oxygen, and heat.  Fuel it had.  I might be able to pull out all the oxygen, but I'd never done that over such a large area and I'd have to do it exactly right.  That left heat.   The Skiptracer from Saturn had told me that I had drained all the energy from the fusion reactor on the Legal League Space Station.   Heat was energy.  Could I?  Closing my outer eyelids I stretched out my hoof-hands and concentrated and then I could sense the pockets of heat as the flames spread.  I needed finer distinction!  Shaking from the effort I felt and willed my way around, and then I had it!  Dimly I could sense the Innocent Bystanders in the shelter, Dragon Warrior X, Red Kit, and Dream, and a bunch of others in the bank.  Some were probably the gang I'd seen, but some were also likely other Innocent Bystanders so I couldn't take their energy.  Fine.  With my mind I pulled the heat towards me, heat from the flames, heat from the paint, the metal, the wood, the plastic.  I could sense the quantum foam quieting as a whirlwind of blue and orange and yellow flames swept from the bank and twirled around me.  And then it was done.

I opened both eyes and looked down at the frosted shambles of the BNPFNBPSB&G and the figures slowly uncrouching from the floor.  The thugs in the horse masks, now melted off their heads, were unconscious, as was their leader, a quick mind scan showed that Red Kit, Dragon Warrior X in her current form, and Dream were all right, what looked like an animate oven was lying on the floor though three others were still active.  I recognized them from Dragon Warrior X's description as members of the Tenement Twelve.  Well, they were Dragon Warrior X's and Red Kit's problems -- if I was lucky Black Stallion would have been knocked unconscious with his slave and I could finally find him...

Swooping down towards the bank I was distracted as the Tenement Twelve members burst out laughing.

What?

I focused my attention back on them, and saw that Red Kit was just as confused, and Dragon Warrior X had both hands over he mouth making strange noises.  I hadn't seen her yet as she joined whilst I was with The Legal League.  "What's so funny?!"

One of the Tenement Twelve with electric fans all over her just pointed at me, and then collapsed on her ass.

What?  I looked perfectly fine.  Sure, I hadn't had a chance to clean up yet having just gotten back, but...

"Uh Supermare..." Red Kit began.

I spun around, glared at her, and she shut up.

"You're a...a...fish!" Frigid Fan burst out.

"You!"   Telekinetically I reached out with a hoof-hand and grabbed her and pulled her up until she was inches from my snout with the fiery corona turning the metal of her fans a dim red.  "I am NOT a fish!"

She lost it again, blowing clouds of dense fog around us.

I'd show her!   With my experience in the reservoir of the Grand Hoover Dam it was easy to isolate, condense, and collect a sheet of water.  Pushing Frigid Fan out of the way I enclosed and shaped the water into two layered thin films, the one further away compressed with great effort until it was noticeably denser than the closer layer and then arced the combination until the critical angle of grazing incidence so that I could see my reflection.

By the fires, I WAS a fish!  My eyes were bulging black spheres, my nostrils were pinched shut like a walrus's, I was gulping air into my lungs and exhaling it through my gills, my body was covered with scales, my mane was now a greenish fin...  They'd done it!   The Tenement Twelve!  Letting the two water films loose, I pulled Frigid Fan back until I was staring into her face and my corona began to heat the metal of her fans.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

But she was still laughing!

Did they have that much power though?  Did anybody...

And then I realized that it was I who had done it.  When I'd been drowning I had modified myself, and when I was back on the dam I'd restored my lungs, but I hadn't undone the rest of it.  Shaking my head, I closed my eyes and concentrated.  The pinching nostrils, and inner eyelid could remain -- they'd proven useful -- as could the gills just in case.  But the rest...   I squeezed my eyes back to normal, restored my ears to their quivering glory, tore my scales apart into fur, and modified my eyelids appropriately, and then spread the fin that made my mane and tail apart into glorious hair.

Now where was I?   Oh right, Frigid Fan.  Opening my eyes, I saw her, mouth open, unconscious, the metal in her fans now glowing yellow hot.  The fog was dissipating and I could see Dragon Warrior X and Red Kit still fine.  Thank god that Red Kit was all right.  And there was the leader of the original gang.  I dropped Frigid Fan and swooped towards the leader and...

"Supermare!   Catch her!" Red Kit called out.

Catch?  Who?  Oh, right, Frigid Fan.  I was a good guy.   Catching her just before she hit the ground I lowered her gently, even as I stopped in front of the leader of the original gang.   Would I get lucky?  Brutally, I roared into his mind, through the shields he somehow had up, and began to search.  I didn't worry about his mental health, he was just a human breeder, and then I found him.  And the link was still there!  Closing my eyes I followed it, down and into the Origin Shelter and into Black Stallion himself!  He was there, unconscious, the link still open.

I finally had him!

A black silhouette of a furred vixen undulates erotically across the screen from left to right, covering the scene of Head Hammer's head rolling to the side with tongue hanging out with an image of Dragon Warrior X hiding as the fire roars up to consume the bank.  The only sound heard is a wolf whistle.

The flames flickered out and died for no apparent reason, then came the cold.  All the heat had been sucked out of the room in an instant and frost covered almost every surface.  Slowly warmth began flooding back into the room but it was still cold.  I started shivering, and noticed that not only Red Kit seemed just fine, but the rest of the villains as well.   Heck, even the few remaining innocent bystanders don't look to be in too much discomfort.   Great, this form is weak against cold, and Frigid Fan seemed to have noticed my discomfort.  Just wonderful.

However she and her other two conscious companions suddenly began to laugh and I looked up to see what they were looking at and saw that Supermare had come through hole in the roof.  She looked absolutely ridiculous.  So ridiculous that I put both hands to my mouth and tried desperately not to laugh.  When she asked Frigid Fan what was so funny I was glad I wasn't closer or she would have heard me giggling for sure.  I couldn't believe it when she started to say she looked perfectly fine.  Somehow I managed to get my giggles under control and started to ask Supermare if she had any idea what she looked like, but when she looked at me I stopped.   The way she looked at me sent shivers down my spine.

When Frigid Fan blurted out the truth and Supermare yanked her up into the air beside her, I was just glad it wasn't me.  When Frigid Fan started laughing I had a sinking feeling of what was going to happen, you don't argue with people hanging in mid-air surrounded by fire.  She kept laughing, and cloaked the two of them in a thickening fog but I couldn't stop watching as Supermare created some kind of mirror out of the vapour and then accused Frigid Fan of changing her.  Instead of answering Frigid Fan just kept laughing and I continued getting a sinking feeling.  Something was wrong, something really bad was about to happen.  Then, somehow, Supermare mutated, her body twisted and pulled and she looked like I'd seen her in the news before, still surrounded in fire, and seemingly oblivious to Frigid Fan as her metal grew hotter and hotter, changing colours as it heated up.  A sensation of something, too fast to analyze, flashed through me, and then it was gone.

I was shocked out of my confusion when Supermare dropped Fan and Red Kit had to remind her to catch the villainess.  After setting down Fan, she stared at Head Hammer for a while then took off toward the origin shelter.  Once again I briefly got the funny feeling, but it vanished just as fast.  What was going on here?  Red Kit started after Supermare, but Lamplady had her own ideas.  At least she decided not to set the place ablaze again, because she kicked Red Kit in the back, instead of trying to nail her with lightning.  Lamplady was fast and her kicks must have some power behind them the way Red Kit was knocked down, but then again maybe she is solid metal, and that would make it hurt.

"I think you may have forgotten me, but you do so at your peril," called a female voice that seemed to echo for no good reason.  Turning, I saw the Elfin Eightball behind me.  A triangle was appearing in the window filled with blue fluid which read "Oh course he did, you're not that important."  She frowned as it faded back into the blue fluid.  "Oh yea, well not a single one of those bullets from that suit thingie of yours will ever hit me."  The triangle changed and read "Yes, absolutely."  Pinsuit(tm) decided that was a challenge and started shooting and the bullets flew forward until they were close to Eightball, then they suddenly changed direction.

I shook my head -- this day just keeps getting better.

"Hah, I will surely be victorious!" Eightball yelled, but in response the triangle read, "Outlook is bleak."  She frowned for a moment and then looked down at her chest and muttered, "Damn it.  I guess that is a possible outcome."  Dutifully the triangle in her chest displayed, "Yes, it is."

There could be a possibility here.  "Hey!  Can anyone say something or does it have to be you?" I asked.

Eightball glared at me.  "Just me you heroic duntz.  I bet you were trying to find some way to defeat me, but guess what!  Only possible events I say can be effected!  Brahahahahahahahaha!  Like, for instance, you never touch me!"  She laughed again, louder, as the triangle in her chest responded with, "Yea, that'll happen too."

I had a bad feeling this wouldn't work, but I decided she didn't look that tough so I took a swing at her as I was now a couple of feet behind her but at the last moment my hand and arm seemed to bend, and I missed.  She must have noticed that as she spun and saw me and yelled, "Not a thing in this place will be able to hit me either!"  The triangle read "That's true as well."  Definitely one of those days.  However, when Dream ran up beside me I suddenly got an inspiration.  I don't know exactly how her power works, but if what she says can be interpreted differently, and if thing means that which is not a place or person then there might be a way.  Grabbing Dream I threw at the short woman, before she could say anything else.  Apparently this form had a good arm, because he smacked her right in face, knocking her to the floor.

Dream slowly picked himself up off the floor.  "I do not dream that that is the dream way for me to dream you aid in this form."

"But it worked didn't it?  And it's not like it was going to kill you."

"Yes, she dream unconscious, but dream am very dizzy, please don't dream that again."

"Only if I really have to okay?"

"I dream that's okay, but dream that you never dream."

I took a look back at Red Kit, she didn't look much the worse for wear, and none of Lamplady's attacks seemed to be connecting, but Lamplady was much the same.  Then I saw Pinsuit(tm) was wandering over there and I watched it put it's gun away and pull out a set of brass knuckles, which it placed on one of it's nonexistent hands.  It charged Lamplady, wrapped itself around one leg, and began punching her like crazy.  The only effect was that she did reel back from Red Kit's kick that connected the brief second she looked down at the little thing.  "You go after Supermare Redkit, I can handle her," I said with every ounce of false confidence I had.

Red Kit either had more respect for her elders than I thought, or was really worried about Supermare, as she turned and left.  Lamplady stared at me a second, then counted to three on her fingers and pointed at her self.  "I'm the only one left now, huh?" she asked.

"Oh course…" I began...

...but stopped when she yelled "Burnout flash."  A bright flash emanated from under her lampshade and momentarily blinded me.

When I could see again, Lamplady was at the front of the bank carrying her three teammates on her back.  Wow, she really is strong, and balancing those three like that must take some mighty fast reflexes too.  Looking back at me, she grinned, and then ran off with that heavy load.

Pinsuit(tm) came over to me with his cube in one hand, looking rather scuffed and dirty and I took it from it and watched as the clothes folded them selves and were sucked inside the cube.  Then I got that feeling again, and this time it chilled me from the inside, out.  Something bad was going to happen, or maybe was happening, or maybe soon would happen.

"Dream is there any chance I could tell the future?"

"No, but 90% of all anime and manga stars have dream sort of enhanced awareness of spirits, magic, or some dream truth of the universe, dream it is likely only dream of your forms has any skill in such dreams.  This dreams that, for example, the supposed creepyness of Epeius dream felt could dream you sensing something dream him, but dream to extreme lack of skill and or ability, dream could be anything dream he wishes sacrifice every human on dream face of the planet to some dark dream down to nothing more than a  dream bondage fetish." [Dragon Warrior X encountered Epeius back in Dragon Warrior X #3 - Darkly Dreaming Draven]

"It is probably a good idea to go check on Supermare anyway huh?"

"Yes, besides the doom is dream than likely something in your life, as Supermare is dream dream powerful and dreaming competent to be in any dream danger."

"You're right, I'm just being silly."

A black silhouette of a furred vixen undulates erotically across the screen from left to right, covering the scene of Dragon Warrior X looking at Dream with an image of Supermare flying down a staircase surrounded by a orange-yellow fire.  The only sound heard is a wolf whistle.

I followed the heat I'd sensed earlier past the sublimating frost and soon found the Origin Shelter.   A mental yank and the vault door went flying across the floor with a CLANG, a THUD and then a BOOM.  Bank clerks were there, others, all screaming and trying to press themselves against the wall, but I didn't notice, my interest only on the silver thread leading to Black Stallion.  There he was -- in the corner, a non-descript man with tangled hair, sideburns, mustache, and wearing a t-shirt that stated 'chtulhu cthuckth'.  He moaned as I grabbed him and I yanked him out amidst the sudden quiet as the Innocent Bystanders recognized me and just stared in shock.  Black Stallion's eyes flickered open, and then he threw a mental bolt into my mind.  Screaming, I dropped him, as I was flung back into and through the wall by the force.  Shaking my head I found myself on a wooden clipper ship, empty, except for me and a human animal -- Black Stallion.  "You aren't getting away you bastard!"

Before my eyes his flickered open and he smiled, his teeth turning to fangs, and his eyes night black.   And then he began to grow and mutate, blossoming like a pus-filled wound into a monstrous creature of grasping tentacles, quivering wings, and fuzzy green skin, all dominated by the glaring black orbs.  "No Supermare, you are mine!  Your will, your very soul!  BRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"  And then he reached out with tentacles that stretched and twisted and I barely formed a barrier of fire in front of me as the Skiptracer from Saturn had taught me and the creature's tentacles sizzled and steamed as they contacted it and began to force their way through.

"I won't surrender to you!"

The creature just laughed, an echoing insanity of evil that clawed at my mind.  Clenching my ears tight to my skull made no difference and I could feel my Firewall faltering, the crackle of flame being drowned by the sound of fine fur slithering across the deck planks.

With the sound of flesh on fire, my wall shattered and the stench of evil and hatred filled my nostrils as fuzzy tentacle after fuzzy tentacle enwrapped me.  I struck out with flames, with my mind, with my teeth, kicking, screaming, but whatever I destroyed reformed, and I was clasped tighter and more securely and dragged towards that malevolent glare and insane laughter.

"Release her demon!"

Into my side vision stepped a creature of glory and hope, an anthropomorphic stallion covered in fur, mane and tail of glistening night black.  But it wasn't an evil black, but a comforting stateliness.  He was wearing a long black coat and hat in the style of the American Revolutionary War and in his right hoof hand was a gleaming silver blade.  With the sight of him I struggled harder, scrabbling with my hoofs on the deck to slow down my inexorable progress into eternal damnation, calling fire and flame, yanking a sphere of hydrogen from the ocean all around to hang beside me and fuse, but the faster I destroyed the foul fuzziness, the faster it regenerated.  More and more tentacles covered me, my body, my hooves, my head, I couldn't see, move, breathe...

Then, suddenly, the creature screamed and its tentacles recoiled from me.  Before me was the ebony horse morph, standing, proud, his sword deep into the creatures entrails.  I watched as he grasped the sword with both hands and dragged it downward, making the wound bigger, wider.   Bubbling ichor dribbled out, then streamed, and then poured.  The sword smoked, and whenever the ichor splashed onto the horsemorph his skin melted.  But he remained silent.  Silent as he fell to his knees, still dragging the sword; silent as a wave of bubbling hissing ichor sweep over him tearing off his flesh, grasping and dragging away the naked bones until he was gone.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  The ship, the ocean, it all vanished, all that was left was a gleaming whiteness, myself, and the image of a blackened soul, dark, in pain, but still alive.  I knew that the whole battle had taken place in my mind, but now I reached out and sucked the water from the air, pulled the electric current from the wires around me, and changed it all into flame and struck at the image of Black Stallion's mind.  Striking with a sheet of fire, of hatred, of fear, of love for the being who had sacrificed itself, I poured all that I had into it.  I beat it down, tore through its defenses, its terrors, its hatreds, and shredded the mind until nothing was left.

I was in my body again looking up at Red Kit, the one bright hope in my life.  From my side vision I could see the smoking body of Black Stallion as he lay on the floor still breathing.  With the last of my strength I pointed, "He's Black Stallion.  You must..."

And then darkness consumed me.

A black silhouette of a furred vixen undulates erotically across the screen from left to right, covering the scene of Supermare slumping to the floor with an image of Dragon Warrior X hurrying down the stairs.  The only sound heard is a wolf whistle.

Supermare was unconscious but my eyes only saw the smoking body on the floor, and until Dream examined him and told me he was still alive, I would have sworn he was dead.  Red Kit was right next to Supermare, and I was a ways behind her and couldn't see the body too well, but I heard Supermare's choked whisper identifying the body as Black Stallion.  Supermare had almost killed Black Stallion, I guess that counted as the very bad thing I'd been sensing.  Well with the Black Stallion in such a state, this is all finally over.  For a second I thought I heard a rich female laugh, but dismissed it as just my imagination.

"Red Kit, it's over, get Supermare and let's get out of here."

"I took the dream liberty of using the remote control dream of the vixen dream to drive it to the front of the dream.  It is now dreamed outside, and waiting for dream to take Supermare home.   I also made the emergency dream personnel and police aware of the Dream Stallion," said Dream.

Red Kit picked up Supermare without saying a word, and followed me and Dream out of the shelter.  Paramedics carrying a stretcher rushed past us as we left the frozen roofless building and the police rushing in.  Obviously Dream also mentioned the current state of the Head Hammer and his gang, and the flight of the Tenement Twelve.  Still in a daze I watched Red Kit place Supermare on the back of the bike and produce some rope via a spell.   She must be taking an elective, since as far as I knew she didn't  have any magical abilities.  Then she then got on the bike and tied Supermare to herself with minimal difficulty and sped off.  As I watched her roar away, a police officer then came up to me.

"Ma'am, I was just wondering about those people you turned into rabbits.  I mean they were only under the control of the baddy Supermare just gave a beating to, not really criminal." [A bunch of thugs in the service of Black Stallion were changed into rabbits by Dragon Warrior X way back in Dragon Warrior X #1! -- Continuously Compiling Cubist]

I just paled and stared at him.  I couldn't  believe I'd forgotten about those poor people, man they'd  been rabbits for quite a while now, hadn't they?  When I noticed the officer was staring at my chest I had a sudden urge to smack him, and with a yell of "pervert" that's just what I did.  He looked surprised, not really mad, but everyone was looking at me and I was glad when the paramedics came out with the stretcher as it took everyone's attention off me.  Taking advantage of the opportunity, I ducked into a nearby alley as the ambulance drove away, siren screaming.  There I changed back. It had been quite a day.

Copyright 2002-2005 Michael Bard.  Please send any comments to him at mwbard@transform.to