Mystery Fanstuff Theater 3000/Spirit/11

"They aren't that heavy, Kali," Danny said. Kali shot him a glare and shifted her hold on the twins. Saying they slept like rocks was an understatement. Rocks were lighter.

"How is it that when kids fall asleep they seem to get heavier?" Kali panted.

"Dunno. I'm not exactly a child expert if you haven't noticed."

"You don't consider Sean a child?"

"I consider him special," Danny grinned. "It can't be that hard giving two toddlers a piggy-back ride."

"I believe we went over this already!"

Danny turned the door handle with his foot and tapped it open. For once I'm glad he doesn't lock the door. Danny grinned inwardly and set Andy on the nearest chair.

"Sure, don't be a gentleman and offer to take the twins from me." Kali said sarcastically.

"Okay, since you offered." Danny tossed her a soda once the twins were safely set next to Andy. "So, what kind of stuff did you want to go over? We can't cover everything in one night." He straddled the chair and looked up at Kali.

"If I knew what I could do with the plants and whatever, I wouldn't be here, would I?" Kali sipped her soda. "You gonna wake Sean up? I thought he was helping."

Danny grinned. "Well, considering that I'm taking time out of my day to help you, I figure it's only fair that you try and wake him up. I could use some amusement to keep me awake."

"Whatever. He can't possibly sleep any deeper than the twins."

"You have no idea how wrong you are, Kali."

"How the hell does he get to his bed?!" Kali felt her jaw drop. Things she never knew existed were littered around the room. The bottom three stairs were covered in everything from underwear to a tipped over lava lamp.

"Beats me, but the good thing is the clothes soften your fall when you trip over those toy soldiers he found a while ago. He says they're waiting to ambush him." Danny shrugged and waited for Kali to find a way to Sean's bed, strategically located on the opposite side of the room.

"I see what you mean by special, but I'd say pack-rat fits better." Kali stepped carefully down to the next step.

"At this rate, we won't have any time to practice," Danny said teasingly.

"Fine! Men are so impatient." Kali mumbled. She took another step and much to her surprise didn't fall. "And they make such big deals about nothing."

Crack!

Kali looked down at the piece of plastic that was now cracked down the middle. "What in heaven's name was this?"

"A piece of plastic?" Danny stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

At about two meters away from his bed, Kali slipped on a skateboard with three wheels left intact. The other had popped off once Kali had stepped on it and was now located safely next to what appeared to be a dresser. Danny laughed until Kali began throwing the random objects that littered the floor at him. Luckily the old army knife embedded itself in the wall instead of his head.

Kali took of Sean's headphones and set them on a semi-visible shelf. The battery had died sometime during the night.

"You know, that was really uncalled for." Danny pouted and rubbed his head.

"You were laughing at me. I had every right to."

"But a flashlight? I was lucky you had bad aim with everything else but that was just cruel! That thing weighs five pounds!" Danny ducked again as the skateboard came flying at his head.

"Don't tempt me. I'm the one with unlimited ammo." Kali poked Sean in the head, once; twice. She tried shaking his shoulder. One minute. Two minutes. Kali glared at Sean. At the moment he was sprawled out on his bed, getting the full use of its length, and drooling on a wrinkled pillow.

"You think it's that easy to wake him up? Try again." Danny kept his head ducked in case she decided to throw something else. Instead, Kali sounded off a megaphone she found on the ground. Sean started snoring.

"Can't we just skip this and work without him?" Kali asked.

"Nope. This is your payment for me teaching you. You'd better wake him up before I accidentally fall asleep." The megaphone crashed against the wall in response.

Kali leaned over and said, "Breakfast!" Sean shot out of bed and was halfway up the stairs when he tripped over Danny.

"Hey! What are you doing on my stairs? And more importantly, why aren't you cooking my breakfast?!" Sean stood over Danny and glared.

"He's up, so can we get started?" Kali snuck her way back through the pack-rat's nest and to the safety of the stairs.

Sean looked up. "Get started on what?"

"Aw, hell no! I know how Danny practices, and I don't wanna be a live target!" Sean tried to run back down the stairs, but Danny grabbed his collar. Sean pouted again. "I can't believe this! I thought you were one of the nice ones!" This was directed at Kali.

"Chill out. It's only going to be a few hours, at the rate this is going, so you'll only be sore for a couple days, three tops." Kali cheerfully clapped him on the shoulder.

"Why do I have to help her learn to use her Life Power thingy? You agreed to help her, not me!"

" Power thingy. Very impressive vocabulary you have there, Sean." Danny teased.

"Yeah, well- hey!" Sean stared at Danny who was already in the backyard collecting...grass? "What the hell are you doing, Danny?"

"She needs something to work with, right?" Danny plucked a deep rose from a bush. "Control is a major factor in fighting."

"Oh, the pyro-maniac is teaching control! Lemme get my camera!" Sean ran back downstairs and began searching through his bedroom.

Kali shook her head and sighed. After a week she was already getting annoyed by him, not to her surprise.

"Let's hurry and start. He won't find his camera for a while."

"No duh. His room's a mess." Kali took the grass Danny handed to her.

Danny grinned and held up a small black camera. "Actually, it mysteriously disappeared and ended up in my room where I confiscated it. Maybe you should have it though as a souvenir. Anyone who makes it out of that room alive deserves a medal!"

"Okay, you're starting to get it. Look at that willow there and focus on it." Kali did as told. "Good, now..." Danny continued explaining. Sean had found a camcorder and had used it on and off (when he wasn't being used as target practice) while making commentaries, which had led to Danny threatening to melt the camera. Unfortunately, blackmail only worked so long and Sean was back in his "announcer" mode. In short, he was deliberately trying to piss Danny and Kali off.

Grab him. Kali thought. As if waiting for the command, the willow branches grew and tied Sean up, making him drop the camcorder.

"Good! Now we can try growing," Danny said. He went over to Sean who was still unable to move. "Can I borrow this? Thanks." He pulled off part of a branch; only about three inches long and put it in his pocket. Then he pulled out a small red seed and held it out for Kali to see.

"This is a very old plant and like any other tree you will find, but when you use your energy, you can manipulate it to do whatever you want. Kind of like the willow tree, only this time you must summon the plant from its seed first. You can make it into any kind of weapon you want, or you can just grow it for fun. Either way, you'll need to focus."

Kali took the tiny seed and looked at it for a second. Grow, she thought. Sure enough, after giving it a little bit of energy at a time, the plant began to sprout right in her palm. Long branches grew and wound around her arm, not vehemently, but tight enough to be able to sprout further. Foliage grew among the new branches.

"Very good. Now try attacking me with it."

"But I might hurt you." Kali pointed out.

"We'll see about that."

"Alright, you asked for it!" Kali didn't even have to focus anymore; it was like second nature now. All she had to do was will the plant and give it a little energy. Three roots tunneled underground while she distracted him with the branches.

"Aren't you going to attack?" Danny asked, obviously disappointed and a bit confused as to the slow onslaught.

"Why are guys so eager to get their butts kicked?" Kali murmured and summoned the roots to come up and cage Danny.

Danny only grinned and dodged each root as easily as he had the branches. "Try using something else," he suggested.

Kali's aura glowed green and a flurry of leaves swirled around her. The edges turned sharp as glass and locked onto Danny. "Have fun!" Kali shouted.

Danny jumped and flipped to dodge, but the leaves followed him at every turn. Deciding he could retaliate now, he landed and summoned a fireball to his fist. He punched in front of him and hundreds of tiny fireballs countered the razor leaves.

They continued to dodge each other, Danny holding the elemental advantage and Kali holding a genre of counter attacks. Kali got an idea and sent a new cavalry of leaves at Danny. While he was distracted, Kali willed the grass to wrap itself around his feet so he couldn't run away.

"Wha-?!"

Most of the leaves had been burned but enough were left to attack. Relaxing his body, Danny created a diamond with his thumbs and forefingers in front of his chest. A fire shield rose up and completely surrounding him, burning the oncoming leaves and the grass holding him down.

"No fair!" Kali pouted.

"Here." Danny tossed her the portion of willow branch he had secured earlier. "Try turning it into a whip."

"Should I yell something or give my attacks names?"

Danny snorted. "No, this isn't like those cartoons on T.V. you can give it a name, but you'll waste time trying to make it look or sound cool. They won't wait for you to introduce every weapon you have, because you can copy any weapon ever made if you want to," he explained. "Besides, you lose the element of surprise. If you had yelled 'grass leech' or something when you had summoned the grass, I could have dodged it easily."

Kali nodded and flicked her wrist. It immediately grew into a vine whip with three sharpened tails at the very end. The few leaves on the sides were like knives striking out.

"Cool."

"Now turn it back." he said. The whip retracted back into the small branch. Kali smiled inwardly. This is a lot easier than I thought. Kali thought.

"Now try turning it into a sword."

"Okay."

Holding the stem a bit more confidently in her right hand, she held her left open next to it. The two leaves and bottom stem grew into the hilt of her sword. The top jolted out and became extremely sharp. It was the same light green as the hilt of the sword, but held a gleam to it that made it seem to glow.

"I like this form better. I know how to use a sword, and I have more control over it."

"That's great. Now attack me."

"Alright."

Danny created his own sword out of fire, but Kali manipulated her energy to make her sword unbreakable and immune to fire. They sparred until the moon was covered by the clouds and they couldn't see each other anymore.

"You weren't kidding...when you said...you could use a sword..." Danny managed between breaths.

"Are you gonna let me out of this thing or not?! I can't feel my legs anymore!" screeched Sean. Kali realized he was still tied up in the willow branches.

"Oops. Sorry about that, Sean." Kali apologized as she loosened the willow branches and let it go back to its original form. "I didn't realize you were still all tied up."

"Yeah, sure." Sean mumbled and brushed stray leaves off his shirt. Kali plopped to the ground.

"Man I'm wiped!"

"She almost caught you, Danny!" Sean teased. "And she's a newbie!"

"I wasn't the one tied up in willow branches for three hours, Mr. High-and-Mighty!" Danny said and ruffled Sean's hair.

"Why don't you spar with me, Sean? I don't know what kinds of attacks you have yet." Kali returned the sword to the small branch and stuck it in her pocket.

"That's quite alright. I like my head where it is, thank you very much." Sean replied. "Why don't we get breakfast instead, and since Kali woke me up she can cook!"

"Sounds good to me! Everything's in the fridge and the pans are in the bottom corner by the oven." Danny stretched his arms and walked into their house behind Sean.

"Whatever. That means that you two get to take care of the twins and Andy since I'm busy." Ah, the ever popular stunned silence. Kali thought wryly. She had just finished tying the bow of her apron when Sean began screaming insanities about 'evil devil children' and 'the master'. At the moment, Danny was pulling Sean to the bedroom, thus moving the table that Sean had a death grip on.

"Stop being a baby! They're only, what? Five years old?!" Danny shouted. Kali cringed. If the twins hadn't been awake before, they sure as hell are now.

"That's what you think! They aren't really humans, I swear! They had little devil horns and fangs and they were glaring at me the last time I saw them!" Sean lost his grip on the table. "They'll eat us alive I tell you!!"

Kali shook her head. When it really came down to it, Sean was utterly pathetic sometimes. 'Let's see, pancakes sound good right now.'

"Oh, Madison!" Ben called in a sing song voice the moment her door creaked open. Silently cursing the door and the ungodly hour at which Danny had chosen to meet, Madison walked down the stairs rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Waddya wan'?" She asked sleepily.

"Well, I thought that since you resemble nothing less of a zombie before ten in the morning, I could try something to wake you up." Ben grinned as she slowly processed his words. She was so unlike her step- parents it was amazing.

"I'm not...," she yawned, "a zombie."

"Well, then I guess you wouldn't like to go for ride to lake. Damn!" Ben tried to sound disappointed. "And here I thought I was doing something nice."

Madison brightened. "Can we go on your motorcycle?"

"What else do I have to ride?" Ben handed her a helmet and grinned wider.

"Just don't go too fast, okay?" Madison held onto the small bars on the side of the bike.

"Oh, of course I won't. We probably won't pass eighty most of the time. Don't worry." They were already out of the drive-way before Madison had a chance to complain.

"It's a demon I'm telling you!" Sean screeched and hid behind Danny's dresser. "They're gonna try and eat us, alive and screaming!"

"You, Sean, are the biggest baby I have ever seen." Danny gave up trying to pry him away from his temporary hide-out. The guy was stuck to it like glue. Surprisingly, the twins were still asleep. Andy, however, was a much lighter sleeper. So, he was sitting up glaring at Sean and Danny from under his bangs.

"Would stop acting like a child and tell me what happened?" Andy swung his feet over the side of the bed. "I'm ready anytime you are."

"Well, you see...uh, after you fell asleep, Naari kinda left and took Meg with him." Danny laughed uneasily under Andy's glare.

"You sure as hell had better be lying, Danny."

"'Fraid not. Kali's here though, so you can rant and rave about how you're both going to rip his head off later. Right now, I smell pancakes!" Sean grinned and walked gaily out of the bedroom in a reverie like state.

"Now that Hungry is gone, you can explain it to me." Andy stood up slowly using the wall for support.

"What are you talking about?"

"There's something that you're not telling me. Something important."

Danny looked down at his shoes and sighed. It was times like this that made him feel as though his life was made out to be one big soap opera that would wind up being imitated on TV. "Well, first, I met up with Kuro at the park. She warned me that one of our members, she implied it was a girl, was going to betray us. She also mentioned that Meg was going to get captured by Naari."

"That's a load of bullshit. None of our members can afford to let the demons win. We'll all die if we help them!" Andy pushed off against the wall to walk over to Danny, but quickly realized his body fully rejected the idea of moving. Leaning back against the wall in contempt, he sighed. "It just doesn't make sense. Why would she tell you and why would they go after Meg?"

"Well I don't know, but there is one of our members that can afford to help the demons." Andy looked up to Danny's serious face in shock. "Chris is immortal, remember? There's only one way to kill her and once we're dead no one but her will know how."

"Slow down!" Madison screamed.

"What?"

"I said, slow down!"

"What?" Ben chuckled when he heard her give an exasperated sigh. They both knew that he could hear her. What else would she be saying going down an empty road at eighty miles an hour? Certainly not "Speed up!"

The Harley bike came to a stop at a shoulder on the road. The dust kicked up by the bike slowly faded, adding to the feel of everything. Clean salt air blew in their faces and the sea gulls hanging out on a rock flew away in fear of the next oncoming wave. The best part, however, was right when the sun began to come up, illuminating the ocean and the sparse clouds hovering in the air. Orange and pink flowed to red and golden.

"Wow." Madison watched in awe as it grew.

"You know, there used to be an old saying that went: 'When a red sun rises, blood has been spilled that night.' Now, scientists say it's just because of pollution."

"What do you believe it means?"

"I think that it's the Gods way of praising someone who's done good."

"But everyone gets to see it. How is it special for just them?"

"Simple; no one else will appreciate it more than that good person, or good people. And it can also be a way for those who are troubled to find something worthwhile in this world." Ben laughed ruefully. "Maybe I should've taken up a career in philosophy or something instead!"

Madison looked back out at the sunrise. A way of praising... Madison watched blankly for a moment until Ben's cell phone rang. Phone…she had talked about something important on the phone earlier... Madison jumped up and grabbed her helmet, strapping in.

"Whoa, what's the rush? Get freaked out by those birds staring at you? They do have freaky eyes-"

"I'm supposed to be heading to Danny's house right now! I agreed to come early!" Madison tossed him his helmet. "C'mon!"