Xander ran into the Magic Box, seeing Willow and Anya lie on the ground among broken pieces of furniture. The giant troll - pale green skin, red shoulder-length hair, same color beard, and two horns on either side of his forehead - stood before them.
"No, don't. Get away from them!" Xander called out with anger.
The troll turned to look at him, and told him relatively calmly, "I will get away from them, after I kill them."
"You are not touching these women!" Xander growled in anger, and ran straight at the troll. He jumped and the troll held out his hammer. Xander crashed into it and fell to the floor faking pain, which wasn't too hard; that hammer was hard.
Olav, the troll, grabbed him by the front of his shirt with his free hand and pulled him up. Xander swung his left fist, putting enough power behind it to snap the troll's head back, which was quite an accomplishment for a supposedly mere human. The troll got angry, let go of Xander with one hand and smashed him aside with his hammer, sending the young man flying across the room, making him land in a corner. Xander got up again, looking at the thing in anger.
"You wish for more? Admirable," Olav told him, laughing jovially.
Xander ran at him, hit him across the face, making the troll take a step back for balance. Olav grabbed Xander and smashed the hammer on Xander's back. Xander felt the impact, and went down to the floor on his stomach. His quickly erected chi shield - lacking the intensity needed to become visible - was the only thing that had kept the god's weapon from knocking him unconscious, if not break his back and cripple him. The troll kicked Xander past him and then with a ram from his hammer sent him sliding across the floor until he stopped next to the stair case a few meters away.
Xander for a moment allowed a grim smirk to cross his face, out of sight from the rest. *Man, that hammer should be called Sledge the Destroyer,* Xander thought ironically. *That thing packs a wallop. Keep it together Xand, just keep him busy long enough for Buffy to get here.* He spit out some his blood, and got up. He quickly jumped up on the stairs and then jumped at the troll, who deflected him easily.
Xander laid there in pain, he really should have used more of his chi. Olav laughed and said, "You fight well, although you are a tiny man." Olav pulled Xander up and slung his arm around his shoulder. "I shall reward you," he told him with a smile in his voice. Gesturing at the two girls, lying on the floor behind the counter, he continued, "Only one of your women shall die, and you shall be the one to choose."
Willow and anya had barely managed to get in a sitting position. Willow looked at Anya, and asked softly, "Did he just say . . .?"
As the two girls got up, Olav gestured at them again and said to Xander, "Choose! Anyanka, or the witch. One of your women must die."
Xander's eyes were wide in horror. "No," he said hoarsely. He watched as Willow and Anya stood up, fear in their faces. "You're one crazy troll," Xander said desperately, keeping fear on his face, and keeping himself deliberately small and weak looking - inside though, as many times before his anger slowly started to boil. "I'm not choosing between my girlfriend and my best friend. That's insane troll logic." He looked up at Olav's smiling face.
"Go Xander. I love you," Anya quickly said, looking disheveled from Olav's earlier assault.
Olav laughed and told Xander, "Good for you. You are a loyal man." The troll brought up Xander's right wrist and with a yank broke it. Willow and Anya shrieked in shock.
"Xander," Willow exclaimed.
Xander bent down in pain, his face a grimace, his anger shooting upward, but he kept it bottled in. "Now choose," Olav told him, holding him up by the back of his shirt.
"Olav, no!" Anya called out.
"I'm not choosing!" Xander hissed out.
Olav pulled him up further and said, "Than <you>, shall be the one who dies."
"No!" Anya shrieked, bounding forward, finding the counter to lean on. "Choose me. Don't take him! Don't take Xander!"
Olav hesitated looking at Anya and Willow. Xander looked at his girlfriend and felt himself fill up with love for her, and his anger spiked up another few notches. That thing had his girlfriend begging for his life, offering up her own, for him, while he could take out this blustering fool with ease! Willow threw some dust into the air, and tried her luck with a spell, which only resulted in making a pot filled with ingredients disappear.
"Damn," Willow said with sadness.
"You, Anyanka, would give up your life for him!?" Olav asked surprised.
"Yes, I would, I love him," Anya told him with a desperate face.
Olav only hesitated a fraction of a second before turning to Wilow and asking her, hearty humor in his voice, "And you, would you give up your life for this little man as well?"
"Yes," Willow said without hesitation taking a step forward, also meeting the counter. "I love him as well . . . but not in the having sex kind of way."
The troll's smile widened, he gave a laugh and said, "Very well, then." He threw Xander backward a few meters. "Then you shall both die." Olav took a step forward, raising his hammer high above his head in the process, then with a smile he let it descend.
Xander saw it happening, no longer having the luxury of keeping his secret, he got up instantly and crossed the distance in less than a second. Placing himself between Olav and the counter he stopped the hammer's descent with his left, grabbing the handle of the hammer just above Olav's right hand. Olav yelped out his surprise, even as . . .
"Xander!" Anya and Willow exclaimed in unison - Willow in surprise, Anya in happy cheer - as a white aura fit skintight around Xander's body, who had appeared with lightning speed between them and the monster.
"You insignificant . . ." Xander hissed with anger, looking up at the troll with frightening eyes. "I can't believe that a half-witted, weak pathetic fool like you forced out my secret, while some of the most powerful things on this earth failed. I was expecting somebody like Glory to pull it off, but not a disgusting thing like you." Xander raised up his right arm to shoulder height, just to the right and below the middle of the big troll's chest. He forced his hand to point at Olav. Xander hardly felt the pain of his broken wrist, too caught up in his anger to pay it any heed. Willow's eyes grew wide with astonishment as an energy ball formed, flickering with angry energy, and Xander didn't even have to recite a spell!
Olav's eyes widened in shocked fear and then Xander let the energy blast fly. It burst through the troll's body and sent him flying backward until he collided with the display rack there. Ollav gave a short yell of pain as he flew through the air, and now that he was lying on the floor he grunted and groaned with pain. Raising his head to look up at the angry glowing man he saw, Xander was still holding the hammer, and none of the intense anger had left his face.
Xander switched the hammer around. He then jumped forward, crossing the distance to Olav easily and led the hammer fall down as he roared out with anger, "DIE!!"
Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer, killer of demons, and other things that go bump in the night ran through the darkness of the night. She needed to get to the Magic Box quick. A giant troll was threatening her friends, and none other than her could stop it, and in the process protect them. Problem was, running next to her was the girlfriend of one of said friends, and she couldn't just out run her and leave her here. She'd be lunch to a vampire, or whatever else was lurking out here in this night on the Hellmouth.
Finally seeing the Magic Box - and close enough now, that running at full speed ahead, Tara wouldn't be in any more danger - she sped up, quickly reaching the entrance, leaving Tara almost fifty meters behind. Buffy opened the door, ready to kick some troll ass . . .
"Xander?" she muttered in disbelief, as she saw her best male friend holding up the hammer of the giant troll, his right arm extending toward the green monster. More incredible was the white energy coming off of Xander and bounding upward. Wave-like, or flame-like shapes around his body, they looked quite a bit like the plasma bursts on the surface of the sun that she had seen in a few pictures. Buffy's eyes widened to their maximum as she saw an energy blast form before Xander's outstretched hand. Moments later the blast burst forward, taking the troll on an all-expense-paid flight to the other side of the room.
Then, as she saw him switch around the hammer, she saw him jump through the air, yelling, "DIE!!" Moments later, using his undamaged left hand, the hammer smashed onto Olav's skull, which promptly splat like an overripe melon. Brain matter, muscle, blood and bone flew in all directions as the troll's head was crushed under the god's weapon's impact.
"Xander?" Buffy said again. She stepped inside and watched as Xander stayed slightly bent over, looking down at his handy work with an intense gaze. A few splatters of blood marred Xander's face as he stood there hunched over.
Xander still looked down at the thing that had dared to attack his girlfriend and best friend. He felt Anya and Willow come from behind the counter and Anya said proudly, "My boyfriend." He could practically hear her bounce up an down in pride. "He saved our life," Anya added, with a big smile on her face. "I'm horny."
Buffy walked in from his right and he heard her gently say, "Xander?"
Xander's rage had been set free, along with his chi. He had let out his anger before, and he had led out his energy before, but he had never let them out together. Now that they were out, it was not so easy to bottle them up again. Not that it was difficult per se, he just didn't want to, anymore. He had kept them inside long enough, with every second his anger grew, as did his chi. He wanted to smash things to pieces, kill some evil things, he wanted to scream out in rage and power, he wanted to be a Saiyan. The glow around him threatened to become a fully fledged chi flame, and since he didn't want to trash this place even more, he decided to go outside. He turned left and walked toward the exit.
"Xander? Is that you?" Buffy asked astonished as she looked at her best male friend. She had never seen him glow before. When he turned around and looked into his eyes, she involuntarily took a step back. He seen that anger directed at her only twice before - when she had just come back from her walkabout two and a half years earlier, when they were about to come to blows, each accusing the other of their 'crimes', just moments before zombies came crashing into the house, and another time after Spike managed to twist their minds during the whole Adam debacle. Luckily it didn't seem like his anger was directed specifically at her this time, he was just angry in general and she happened to be in his field of vision. She looked astonished at the glow and saw it growing in intensity. As he stepped forward, dust and debris lying on the floor was being pushed aside. Buffy's eyes widened as he got closer, she could actually feel the energy washing over her in waves, both from the air movement, as the prickling on her skin, like static electricity. She stepped aside and let him pass, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Xander? Where are you going!?" Willow asked from behind, as she walked forward, wanting to calm her best friend down.
"Let him," Anya told her holding her back a little.
The two joined Buffy moments later.
Tara ran until she was finally in front of the magic shop, breathing heavily. That slayer was fast. Her eyes widened as she saw a glowing figure come walking out the Magic Box. She did a double take when she realized it was Xander. "What the . . .?" she muttered. Once he was outside, he turned away from her and walked forward. Then Buffy, Willow, and Anya came walking outside and turned to regard Xander. Tara joined them, and breathing heavily she asked, "What about the Troll?"
"Xander killed it," Willow answered her, her tone still astonished.
Xander finally stopped walking and then with a roar, the glow turned into a powerful flame of energy. The wind caused by it, whipped the girls' hairs about. Three pairs of eyes widened with even greater surprise.
Xander stood there, his anger growing, every little bit he had ever bottled up, hidden, or was cut off was coming to the fore. His cut short fight with Adam, just before the whole group of them went to get him in the initiative, the three of them blowing their fuses at each other just before that, his anger at Buffy for not telling Angel was back, his anger at himself when he lost Cordelia, his anger at Buffy when she left them after sending Angel to hell, his anger at Angel and Angelus in general, his anger when he and Buffy were in the tunnel and vamp Jesse was there, his almost overwhelming desire to smash down the door, kill every vampire in that tunnel, culminating with the bastard who had killed his best friend, and last, but the biggest of all angers, the destruction of his planet by the tyrant Freeza, seeing his father die in front of his eyes and not being able to do anything about it. With every new wave of anger his chi flame grew in intensity, his power sky rocketing with every moment that passed.
"I think it's happening," Anya whispered in awe as she watched the display of power.
"What's happening?" Willow asked astonished.
Anya looked at Willow for a moment as if she was crazy, then she remembered the redhead didn't know, "He's ascending."
"A-ascending?" Tara asked surprised. "T-t-to w-what?"
"Whoa," Anya said in astonishment as she looked down. "Look at his feet," she muttered. The girls did and their eyes widened, a star of small cracks had appeared in the asphalt around each Xander's feet.
After a moment they looked back up and saw Xander's hair standing up and change to gold for a moment, then returned to normal. "Did you guys see his hair change color as well?" Buffy asked astonished, looking at the energy surrounding her best friend, just grow and grow.
"Yeah," Willow answered, their eyes still hadn't become smaller.
Then, it happened. Xander threw his head in his neck and roared, his hair stood up, turned to gold and then there was a blinding flash. The girls brought their arms up to protect their eyes in reflex. The following shockwave forced them to take several steps backward. Once it was over, they heard a pulsing sound, and they tentatively opened their eyes. Their eyes widened in surprise again, Xander was enveloped in an intense golden aura, his hair stood up on his head and was a pale golden color.
"Just like the legend," Anya muttered out in awe. "During the height of his power he wore a golden armor."
"Huh!?" the three other girls said looking at Anya as if she was crazy.
Buffy cautiously stepped forward and tried, "Xander?"
Xander turned half around and looked at her. Buffy almost jumped back seeing the inhuman emerald green eyes, the pupils were gone, or at least had become invisible. Then she stepped forward in anger and said, "You're not Xander. Where is he? What have you done with my Xander?"
Xander gave a bone chilling chuckle and said, "Sorry to disappoint, Buf. But I <am> Xander."
Buffy shook her head in denial, and then Xander gently lifted off the ground. Again three pairs of eyes widened in shock. "Where are you going?" Buffy called out. She was the first to recover.
"Kill Glory," Xander told her without looking back. Then he blasted off.
Finding Glory was easy, her energy was like a lighthouse in dark sky. He quickly reached the building and gently stepped through the entrance and into the lobby. Some of her minions looked astonished, and before they could do something, Xander blasted a powerful blast in an arc across the room, killing the things instantly. He crossed the lobby and got into the elevator. It opened up in the level above, no minions. Xander pushed the next floor, and kept doing so until he reached a floor with a few minions that were guarding the place. Xander walked out the elevator, and as he did this, blasted the guards away as well. He reached the penthouse and kicked the door in, it splintered on the impact of his foot.
Walking inside the room another minion revealed himself. "You cannot just step in h . . ." Xander snapped its neck, silencing him, and threw him out the right window with his left hand.
Glory sat leisurely on an extravagant couch halfway into the big room. She got up and raged at Xander with an indignant, 'I am too good for you', tone, "HOW DARE YOU STEP IN HERE, MORTAL!? I'M A GOD OF HELL A . . ."
She was silenced by Xander's left fist slamming into her stomach and doubling her over. Pain blossomed from her stomach across her entire being. Not once in her entire life here on Earth and back home had she felt such pain. She realized her mistake, she shouldn't have sprouted off, she should have powered up.
"Sorry," Xander told her in a flat, 'I'm going to kill you now' tone. "Lost my patience a few minutes ago." With a left hook Glory flew across the penthouse and crashed into the corner wall of the apartment, cracking it.
Still dazed, Glory saw Xander bring his hands together next to his body, gathering energy between them. "TANEKAKOSA!" Xander hissed and fired his energy beam. Glory was vaporized and that whole side of the building of this floor was blown away. Xander stepped forward until he was at the edge of the hole and looked out.
He lifted his right hand, now that he had killed the bitch some of the anger ebbed away and his broken wrist once more started to throb. "Fifteen minutes in the regeneration tank," Xander said with a grin. "And then I'll go give Freeza a little visit."