Here is chapter 4 of my Real Life/Records Of Lodoss War/BubbleGum Crisis
(way later)
crossover!   C&C at mgiroux@upc.qc.ca

PS- I am NOT on the FFML!  I'm just posting there!

Chapter 4:  More questions

    On the way to the other room, Donna kept fingering the shard on her
forehead, lost in thought.  She didn't notice the curious looks she got
from a few servants that were passing by (face it: you'd get weird looks
too if you were walking around with a big red crystal imbedded in your
face).
    Startled out of her reverie, Donna realized Etoh had just asked her a
question.
    "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening.  What did you say?"
    "I was commenting on how much more you and your brother look
alike than you and your younger sister."
    "Of course we look alike!  We're twins, after all."
    "Twins?"  That came from Deedlit.  "What does that mean?"
    "It means that we were born at the same time."  Noticing her
confused look, she continued: "It doesn't happen among... elves, does
it?"  She still had a little trouble accepting the fact that Deedlit was
from a different species.
    "Not that I've ever heard.  Does it happen often on your world?"
    "No, it's very rare."
    "We're here." interrupted Slayn, stopping in front of a big woodden
door.
    Donna opened the door slowly, for she didn't want to wake up
Stephany just yet.  To her surprise, she saw not only her younger
sister in a bed, but also Chang and Terry sleeping in their own beds
besides Fanny.  She walked over to her younger sister and saw that like
herself, she had a bandage around her head.
    She also appeared to have a bump on her forehead.  *The shards she
fell on!* remembered Donna, suddenly anguished.  She turned around
and asked in a small voice: "Is my sister all right?"
    "Right now, she is in the same condition as you were this morning,
which is to say she's fine and resting," said Etoh with a smile.
    "But what about her head?  What kind of injury did she have?"
asked Donna plaintively.
    "She has a shard embedded in her forehead like you, but although we
can say for certain that she _did_ absorb magical energy, we have
found out that there is a great part of the magic which is unknown to
us.."
    "How old is your sister, Donna?" asked Slayn.
    "Ten and a half years old.  Why?"
    "Because it just occured to me we may have to train the youngest
sorceress in existence."
    "What are you talking about?"
    "We can't in good conscience let you go without giving you at least a
minimum of training in your magical abilities.  From what you told
me, none of you are magic users: you could cause a disaster if you don't
learn control."
    "What does that have to do with Fanny?"
    "Most magic users develop their talents in their early twenties.
I've never heard of any kind of wizard or magician who discovered
their ability younger than at sixteen years of age."
    "Fanny's a mature girl.  I'm sure there won't be any problems.
Besides, at her age, she'll probably be thrilled to learn she can use
magic."
    "I hope you're right." said Slayn.
    "Well, at least Terry and Chang didn't get hit," said Donna, turning
back towards the two other beds.
    "Err, not quite.  They also gained magic," said Etoh a bit sheepishly.
    "What?"  Donna looked at Terry again, but found no trace of either a
yellow or a red crystal shard.  "But I don't see anything on their
faces."
    "That's because they weren't hit in the head like you and your
sister.  They absorbed the shards on different places."
    The inevitable question followed.  "Where _were_ they hit, then?"
    Lifting the bed covers so she could see for herself, Etoh said: "Your
brother absorbed some shards in his hands and your other friend..."
    "His name is Chang" Donna interrupted.
    "And... Chang... got hit in the chest" Etoh concluded.  "He tried to use
a Crystal to stop himself from running into a wall.  He didn't quite
succeed."
    "Do they also have this... supposed Fire Magic, then?"
    "No, not Fire Magic," interrupted Deedlit.  "They absorbed different
magical energies.  Your brother probably now has Earth Magic and
Chang will probably be able to use Wind Magic."
    Donna was slowly digesting this latest tidbit when she heard
Stephany moaning.

    Parn was mindlessly pacing in a room elsewhere in the castle, when
a familiar voice shook him out of his routine.
    "Parn!  How's it going?"
    Parn turned around to see his friend Shiris smiling at him, Orson
close behind her as usual.  "Shiris!  It's good to see you again!  Slayn
told me you might come."
    "Where is he, anyway?  He told us there was some information he
might want us to hear."
    "That's an understatement..." Parn mumbled.  And he set out to
explain what had happened in the last two days.

    Half an hour later, Parn had finished explaining the situation to
Shiris and Orson.
    After a pause, he frowned and added: "I keep repeating the fight in
my head, but I can't shake the feeling that the sword the the last guy
used to strike at Karla seemed familiar for some reason.  I didn't pay
attention back in the cave.  I'll have to ask Slayn if he can take us back
to the cave so I can verify this."
    "A 500 year old witch and Elemental Crytals?  You do live an
interesting life, Parn", said Shiris while shaking her head.  "By the
way, where _are_ Deedlit, Slayn and Etoh?"
    "They went to try to settle a certain language problems with the
folks we brought back from the cave.  It would appear that our guests do
not speak the same language we do."
    Siris and Orson raised an eyebrow each.  It was the last gesture they
had time to do before the floor started shaking.

<A minute earlier>

    In the now crowded room where Donna, Slayn, Etoh and Deedlit were
talking, Stephany started moaning.  Donna immediately turned around
and rushed to her little sister's side.
    "Fanny?" she asked in a small voice.  "You okay?"
    Stephany moaned louder and started shaking her head.
    *Maybe she's having a nightmare,* Donna thought.  She then saw a
golden yellow glow coming from under her sister's bandage.  "Slayn!
The crystal is glowing!"
   The wizard immediately rushed to the other side of the bed and put his
staff over Stephany's head while closing his eyes.
    "What are you doing?" whispered a frantic Donna.
    "I'm trying to determine what kind of magic she's using.  Now keep
quiet please.  I need all my concentration"
    Donna was about to give him a piece of her mind when she saw his
eyes open wide in horror and stare past her shoulders  Donna was about
to ask him what the problem was when the ground started shaking.
Badly.
    "An earthquake!?" asked Donna in a worried voice.
    Slayn and Deedlit knew better than that.  Being experienced with
magical energies, they knew exactly where the surge came from.
    "Not an earthquake!  Your brother!" said Slayn, snapping out of it.
    Donna turned around and saw a threathning glow coming from her
sleeping brother's hands.
    Deedlit turned to Slayn: "How can he possibly use his magic at level
like this while he's asleep?"
    Slayn was about to answer when Stephany woke up with a shriek.
Donna immediately grabbed Fanny in her arms and started soothing
her.  "Easy, Fanny... It's all right.  You just had a nightmare, that's all.
I'm here, don't worry."
    "I dreamed I was stuck in an earthquake!" wailed the younger
sibling between sobs.
    Not knowing how to explain it, she said instinctively: "It's Terry's
fault.  He did it."  And this time, it was true in a way.
    "I'm afraid your brother was not the cause of the tremors" said
Slayn in a grave voice.  "I've just discovered an aspect of your sister's
magical abilities."
    "What are you talking about, Slayn?" she said, while stroking her
sister's head.  "You saw the glow coming from my brother's hands and
Deedlit said he has Earth Magic."
    "Yes, he generated the earthquake, but it wasn't his fault.  Donna,
when your sister imagined she was in an earthquake, her magic
unconsciously reached out to your brother and _she_ used _his_
abilities to generate the same earthquake as in her dreams.  We're
lucky she didn't tap your brother's full power."  Slayn looked pensive.
"If what I could tell of her magic is accurate, she can, among other
things, tap and use certain other people's magic."
    "Whose?" asked Donna.
    "Your brother's, Chang's and yours," *and one other source I won't
mention right now* added Slayn silently, thinking about a certain Blue
Crystal.
    "Then I guess it's a good thing she didn't dream she was in a burning
house, eh?" said Donna nervously.
    "I don't think that would've been a problem," said Slayn.  "The only
reason this worked was because your brother was unconscious.  Had he
been awake like you, he most probably would've been able to resist
your sister's magic."
    "What are you saying, Donna?" piped up Fanny, who was now paying
attention.  "You speak funny, just like Chang in his lessons.  And where
are we?" she added while looking all around her.
    "It's the language they speak, Fanny.  Slayn here," she said while
pointing to Slayn "taught me his entire language with a magic spell."
    "Magic?..."  Fanny looked as if she was about to start asking a _big_
bunch of questions.
     Before things got messy, Donna turned to Slayn: "Could you cast the
laguage spell for my sister as well as for my brother and Chang?  I
have a feeling they'll have a lot of questions when they wake up."
    "Of course."  A few seconds later, the spell was cast.
    "Hey, Donna!  You haven't told me where we are and you're dressed
all funny." said Fanny with a giggle at the end.  She rubbed her eyes.
"And why do you have a stone in your forehead?"
    "I'd like to know the same things," added yet another voice.  Heads
were turned to see Chang staring at the merry group in the room.  "I
would also like to know why I suddenly understand every word of
Japanese that has been spoken."
    Donna heaved a long sigh.  "This is going to take a while to explain.
I'll explain what I can once I've woken up Terry."  Staring at her
brother's unconscious for form, she mused out loud: "I wonder why
he's still asleep after all the noise in here?"
    "Maybe it has something to do with how he got knocked out," replied
Chang.
    "What are you talking about?" asked Donna, getting worried.
    "When you got blasted by the weird guy, Terry went nuts and tried
to hack the guy to pieces.  He got blasted back to a table and then, the
guy shot a blast that made a jar near Terry explode.  He got the brunt of
the explosion with his hands."  After a second's silence, he added: "I
was knocked out myself a few moments later shortly after _they_
barged in," pointing towards the Lodoss natives.  "How was that guy,
anyway?"
    Donna, more worried now, ignored the question and took a nearby
pitcher of water.  She emptied it over Terry's head and prayed.  That
got the desired results.  A sputtering Terry was now looking around in
surprise.
    "Fanny! Donna!  You're okay!" he shouted when he saw his sisters.
"Or maybe not." he added, uncertain, when he finally took notice of the
Crystal shards his sisters were now sporting.
    Donna let out yet another sigh.  This was going to take a _very_ long
time to explain...

* * * * * * * * * *

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Another Phoenix
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Louis-Philippe Giroux
mgiroux@upc.qc.ca