Taylor and the Chaos Gacha Part 5 (Patreon)

Taylor gestured for her familiar to follow her then followed Buffy into the club, figuring she'd hang out a bit and enjoy some music before heading back since she had a lot of time to kill since she didn't have to deal with school at the moment.

Feat Achieved! Go clubbing, bonus points if you walk into the club naked.

+1x Silver Random Gacha Ticket

'My power is a pervert or maybe it's just because there's more risk?' Taylor mused as she glanced around the nightclub, something she'd only seen on television.

"Burger and fries?" Buffy asked, figuring that would be easy and reasonably cheap.

"That would be great," Taylor agreed as she tapped the new card, revealing a picture of a strange green alien blasting someone with a beam of light. 'Clothes Beam, you're able to fire off a laser beam that can dress anyone in any mundane clothing of your choice. That should make getting out of costume or into it easier.'

"Over here," Xander said as he headed over to one of the tables where another teenager was sitting.

"Uhhh?" Jonathan blurted when he looked up and saw the naked girl standing there with Xander and Willow. "What's going on?"

"She saved Jesse from a vampire," Xander offered as he sat down.

"Huh," Jonathan muttered, making a mental note to apologize to his 'crazy' uncle for not believing him. 

Taylor sat down in the cleanest plastic chair. "Can I get some names?"

"Is this like a fey thing?" Jonathan asked warily.

"No, I'm just trying to put some names to faces, first names are fine," Taylor assured them. "I'm Maverick and this is my familiar," she offered as she gestured toward her Darla shaped familiar.

"What made you think of the fey?" Willow asked.

"She's naked, no one is calling for security and her eyes changed colors," Jonathan offered. "There's obviously something strange going on."

"The eyes are because of a curse," Taylor offered, still sort of annoyed that her de-cursing ability couldn't fix the gacha curses.

Willow glanced around and realized that while a number of people were staring in their direction, no one seemed like they were going to get up and yell at them. "Huh."

Jesse glanced between Willow and Xander. "Are fey deals a thing?"

"Probably, we'd have to ask Buffy," Xander suggested as he checked Taylor's eyes, surprised that Jonathan had actually noticed.

Willow focused on Jesse. "I'm pretty sure they can't steal your names if someone else introduces you."

"They can't," Buffy assured them as she sat down. "You have to trade it or get tricked into giving it away. I'm Buffy, this is Xander, Willow, Jesse and…" she looked at Jonathan.

"Jonathan," Xander offered, trying to avoid an argument about giving names away.

"Thanks," Buffy replied then focused on Taylor. "Your burger should be here in five, what can we get?"

"Extra strength, stamina, flexibility, dexterity and the ability to toss fireballs," Taylor offered. "Who should I start with?"

Jesse raised his hand off the table. "I'll go first."

Taylor double checked her curse to make sure it was still there then used her Bequeath ability to give Jesse 95% of her strength, jumping distance, stamina, flexibility and dexterity then used her Budding power to give him a copy of the Fireball ability she'd picked up.

Feat Achieved! Captain America, turn a normal human into an enhanced human.

+1x Silver Trait Gacha Ticket

Jesse held his hand out and conjured a small marble sized ball of fire over his hand. "This is awesome."

"We're in public," Xander reminded his friend.

"Right, sorry," Jesse replied as he let the fire vanish.

"Nifty," Willow offered, excited about picking up the ability to conjure fireballs.

"I'll just go around the table…" Taylor trailed off when she empowered Xander and got an achievement that didn't make sense considering she'd only received a silver for empowering Jesse.

Feat Achieved! Not the Zeppo, give Xander lasting powers.

+1x Gold Trait Gacha Ticket

'Strange,' Taylor mused as she quickly went around in a circle, empowering the group, ending with Jonathan, leaving her fireball half as strong as it started as.

Feat Achieved! Empower a team of heroes.

+1x Silver Random Gacha Ticket.

"We're going to have to hit the gym," Jonathan mused as he lifted the heavy table an inch off the ground with one hand. 

"And find something to burn," Jesse added with a grin.

"Pyro," Xander teased, looking forward to playing around with his new power. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Taylor assured them as she reached out, touched her familiar and used her Mirror ability on her minion. "I can pick one ability, would you rather have more strength, speed, Enhanced Senses or Regeneration?"

"Strength," Jonathan suggested at the same time Jesse said, "Speed."

"Regeneration," Xander and Willow said together..

"Are you grabbing powers from a vampire?" Buffy asked warily.

"My familiar copied her abilities or at least the stuff that was safe, I can basically copy one of them and hand it out," Taylor offered.

"If it's safe, Regeneration, hunting is dangerous," Buffy pointed out, fairly sure she wouldn't be able to stop them from trying to help.

"Should be," Taylor copied the power and checked her interface to make sure the power was safe. "Try not to get shot, you're not a walking corpse but bruises should fade in minutes and broken bones in hours."

"That would probably help with my asthma," Jonathan mused.

"Remind me to fix that when I'm done," Taylor told him as she started handing out regeneration to the group. 

"When did you start learning magic?" Harmony asked as she walked over with Cordelia, having seen the ball of fire that Jesse had conjured.

"Recently," Jesse replied awkwardly.

“I didn’t see any slight of hand and you’re far too clumsy and untalented to actually pull off a magic trick,” Cordelia said with a frown.

“Hey!” Willow said, accidentally blowing out a tongue of flame, and blushing in embarrassment.

“Did you guys get put into some secret government program like Drew Barrymore?!” Harmony asked excitedly.

“No, they bought it off me,” Taylor replied absently as she checked her timer on copied powers, having made a mental note to start doing that after having fallen out of the sky that one time.

"Can we buy powers?" Cordelia asked, thinking it would make her future acting career that much easier if she had some unusual powers to back it up. 

"That depends, how much are you offering?" Taylor asked as she finished giving everyone at the table regeneration. 

"Two hundred?" Harmony offered.

"I have a hundred on me," Cordelia admitted when Taylor looked at her.

"Do you know these girls?" Taylor asked Xander.

"They're in our class, they're a bit annoying, but generally harmless," Xander offered.

"Thanks," Cordelia offered dryly, not going with her usual banter as she didn't want the girl to take it the wrong way, as she liked the fact that Xander stood up to her.

"Money first," Taylor told them as she tapped the silver trait card, causing it to flip and reveal a drawing of a toilet with a large red X through it. 'Digestive Expulsion Independence? You never have to piss or shit, don't ask where all the waste goes. Weird and yeah, probably better off not knowing,' she mused as she tapped the next card while the girls pulled their wallets out, revealing a picture of a key. 'Dojo key? Pocket dimension dojo,' she mused as skimmed the description of the rather nice training area.

"What power can I get?" Harmony asked excitedly.

Taylor pulled her attention away from the description and looked at Harmony. "Regeneration and increased physical abilities, including flexibility and enhanced stamina?"

"I'll take it," Harmony said as she handed over the money, figuring that would be even better than the ability to toss fireballs since it would make being a cheerleader so much easier.

Taylor used her Budding ability to give Harmony a copy of her Mirrored Regeneration, dropping it to 40% of the original power. 'Not like it matters, I don't get to keep this one,' she mused as she used her Bequeath ability to give the girl 95% of her physical abilities like the rest of the group.

Feat Achieved! Power Broker, sell an ability.

+1x Gold Trait Gacha Ticket

"How do we know it worked?" Cordelia asked.

"Jump as high as you can," Taylor told Harmony.

Harmony jumped, easily jumping five feet straight up. She laughed when she landed, rather impressed by how high she could jump. "That was awesome."

"You're welcome," Taylor told her as she tapped the gold trait card in her interface, causing it to flip and reveal an old wizard holding a staff with glowing runes. 'Surging Magic Power, your connection to the mystical is far more potent, any magic you use is far stronger than it normally would be and you can overload spells without breaking them. I'm going to need to find more magic books.'

"Deal," Cordelia said as she handed Taylor the money, figuring that would be useful for cheerleading.

Taylor repeated the process, giving Cordelia enhanced physical abilities and a copy of her Mirrored Regeneration. "That should do it."

Cordelia reached down and lifted the table up, finding it a bit easier than it should be but not insanely easy. "Good enough. So, why are you walking around naked? I mean it works, but aren't you cold?"

"Not really, I've got cold resistance," Taylor replied, not seeing a problem with sharing since she wasn't in her world.

"And the naked bit?" Harmony asked.

"I got teleported to save someone and I wasn't wearing clothes," Taylor replied as she tapped her gold card, causing it to flip and reveal a rocky area with dozens of creatures made out of fire. 'Summon Greater Fire Elemental? Allows you to conjure powerful Greater Fire Elementals out of your energy and command them, such as Firebirds, Greater Efreets, Flame Devourers, etc. They can use a variety of fire-based magic and other abilities based on their nature.'

"Why not?" Cordelia asked, not sure what would have been worth running around town naked.

"I just got out of the shower," Taylor replied absently as she continued reading the description, 'You can only conjure elementals that are equal to or lesser in power than an Elite Familiar. The power, shape and ability of the elemental you can conjure depends on your own expertise and power level. The conjured Elemental will draw power from you to maintain itself and use its abilities. The stronger the Elemental, the more energy they will need from you to sustain themselves. If you stop supplying them with energy, they will vanish. If you spend enough time, energy and have the proper skills, you can create permanent elementals who do not rely on you for energy. Elementals are not counted as Familiars by the system.'

"Bad timing, got it," Harmony said as the waitress walked over with Taylor's food.

"Yep," Taylor agreed, finding it strangely freeing to deal with people that she'd probably never see again.

"Enjoy," the waitress offered with a smile as she set Taylor's plate in front of her. "What type of soda do you want?"

"Rootbeer," Taylor replied, figuring that was a safe bet.

"I'll be back in a minute," the waitress said as she turned and left with a spring in her steps.

Taylor absently gave the waitress a boost to her physical abilities and some Regeneration since she hadn't complained or said anything about her state of dress.

Feat Achieved! White Whale of Tippers, give a tip worth more than ten thousand dollars, bonus points if you're not trying to get something out of it.

+1x Gold Random Gacha Ticket

'How do you put a price on Regeneration? Then again, one hospital visit and you're on the street on a bad day so that's not unreasonable,' Taylor mused as she absently ate one of her fries and tapped the new card with her other hand, revealing a card with a shadowy hand drawing a shadowy hand on a white page. 'Shadow Hands: allows you to manifest floating hands made out of shadows that you can control as your own, they can grip, crush, slash and combine to become large and more powerful.'

"So vampires?" Jesse asked Buffy.

Buffy glanced at Cordelia and Harmony then sighed, figuring she might as well just tell them since they might actually believe her. "They're basically demons that possess a corpse and continue 'living' the victim's life, except they're homicidal and twisted."

"That explains a lot about this town," Harmony admitted, thinking about some of the stories she'd heard over the years and the sheer number of missing classmates in a way she never had before.

Feat Achieved! Girls Gone Wild, get your photo taken while half naked or naked in public.

+1x Silver Random Gacha Ticket

Taylor glanced around then focused on the teenager that was taking pictures of her from a couple of tables away. She smiled as she realized that she didn't actually care, mostly because it was confirmation that the Trio were full of shit and that her Body Reformation ability was awesome. 'At least Dad is never going to see the pictures,' she mused as she tapped the card with her free hand, revealing a picture of a mind crafted out of books. 'Library Mind, your mind is like a library, organized and efficient. Your memory, mental clarity and speed are significantly faster.'

Xander followed Taylor's gaze to the guy taking pictures. "Do you want me to yell at him?"

"It's fine," Taylor assured him and started eating her burger, knowing that she'd have to get used to people taking her picture once she was running around as a cape.

0o0o0 

Taylor absently worked on eating the last of her fries as she hit Jonathan with her Mystic Eyes ability, wanting a bit of practice with the ability and figuring that it wouldn't do any harm.

Feat Achieved! Medicine Man, cure a disease or medical condition.

+1x Silver Random Gacha ticket

'That was probably his asthma,' Taylor mused as she continued hitting the rest of the group with her ability, not really expecting much which was why she was shocked when she hit Cordelia with her ability and got an achievement that sent a shiver down her spine. 

Feat Achieved! Prophecy Breaker, break a divine prophecy, bonus points for pissing off an Exiled Power in the process.

+1x Diamond Trait Gacha Ticket

'What the hell?!' Taylor thought as she stared at the achievement, trying to make sense of why Cordelia was important to a god's plans and how the hell breaking a curse or removing a disease would break things and piss them off. 'Should I just hit the return button?'

"Is something the matter?" Cordelia asked, having noticed that Taylor was staring at her.

"Sorry, I got distracted," Taylor replied as she tried to focus on what she'd been doing and not worry about getting hit with lightning from the sky. 

"Can you fill a squirt gun with holy water?" Harmony asked.

"It's more like acid and they heal super fast so a little bit isn't going to help and you'll just piss them off," Buffy warned her.

'Screw it, I'm still alive and magic and vampires came as a shock to the locals so there are probably rules they have to follow,' Taylor told herself as she hit Harmony with her ability, figuring she'd be fine as long as she didn't stick around their world.

Feat Achieved! Purification Specialist, purify five or more individuals exposed to a significant amount of dark magic.

+1x Gold Skill Gacha Ticket

"Worth asking," Cordelia told her.

'I need an ability that lets me check for status effects,' Taylor mused as she hit Buffy with her ability, figuring she might as well make a clean sweep.

Feat Achieved! Stealing Thunder, you've managed to call a new slayer, while keeping the old one alive.

+1x Gold Random Gacha Ticket.

'I'm going to need a scanner,' Taylor mused as she tapped the diamond card, causing it to flip and reveal a parchment contact. 'Full Coverage Insurance Plan: Your Familiars get a full coverage insurance plan, as long as a familiar is in Familiar space for 24 hours straight, uninterrupted, they are completely and absolutely returned to perfect health. If a familiar dies, they will be resurrected in the familiar space in perfect health after 48 hours have passed. That makes tossing my familiars at monsters less risky.'

"Is there anywhere in town you want to see?" Buffy asked Taylor.

"Do you have a magic shop that sells actual magic?" Taylor asked, fairly sure they wouldn't considering Jesse hadn't known magic was real.

Xander shook his head. "That would be nice."

"We might," Jonathan offered, thinking about the magic shop his uncle had mentioned. "I always just thought it was a new age shop but my uncle mentioned Uncle Bob's Magic Cabinet and he’s mentioned vampires, so there's a chance."

"Worth a try," Taylor agreed as she stood up and tapped the next Silver Trait card, revealing a picture of a girl with bushy hair and holding a stack of books. 'Scholar, you're an expert at reading, learning, and retaining information, you could read 50 books in a day and still be able to retain all of the information from the individual books. That would make studying a hell of a lot easier,' she thought as she tapped the Gold Skill card. 'Master Shooting: Your marksmanship is on the level of legends like Orion or Arash, or it might be if you train enough. Few mortals can dodge your projectiles, in the old times you would have been hailed as a legendary archer.'

"Let's go," Buffy suggested, glad that she'd already paid for the hamburger so they could just leave.

'I hope that works with fireballs,' Taylor mused as she tapped the last card she'd picked up as she followed the group outside. 'Sapling: You're able to create, communicate with and control plants in your range. You can make grass grow on fertile dirt, make roots dig through concrete, ripen plants, change their shape slightly, make trees grow fast enough to create natural barriers and harvest the bounty of nature. That should stretch the food budget once I get back home.'

"Do a lot of people have abilities where you're from?" Cordelia asked Taylor as they headed down the street.

"Not really, we've got about fifty in my home city, maybe three or four thousand capes in the states and forty or fifty thousand in the world?" Taylor offered. "The numbers fluctuate and most governments aren't all that happy with printing the actual numbers."

"War?" Xander asked.

"Most of the countries agreed that it would be a horrible idea to use parahumans in war but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened or couldn't happen," Taylor agreed. "Capes are generally more worried about local issues and the Endbringers, which are basically giant monsters that destroy or cripple a city every three to four months."

"Every three months?" Jesse asked warily.

"They don't always completely destroy it but I've seen the pictures, we're losing," Taylor admitted.

"Lovely," Buffy complained, wondering how long it would take for society to collapse if they lost a city two or three times a year. "How long has that been happening?"

"A while," Taylor replied with a sigh then started sharing what she knew as they headed toward the magic shop.

0o0o0 

"Pretty sure this is just crap for the tourists," Cordelia said as they headed toward the shop.

"Worth a try," Xander pointed out.

"Wouldn't be the strangest thing that happened today," Willow offered, figuring that 'honor' went to Cordelia and Harmony for being civil and somewhat reasonable.

"Yeah," Taylor agreed as they walked into the shop.

Feat Achieved! Pull Back the Curtain, walk into a shop that sells actual magic.

+1x Bronze Random Gacha Ticket

"Looks like we're in the right place," Taylor mused as she glanced around the shop that looked like a new age shop. She glanced at the middle aged woman behind the counter then glanced over at the collection of books on the shelves. "Where do we start?"

"What are you looking for?" the woman asked as she looked over the group of teenagers.

Taylor raised her hand and conjured a small ball of fire, wanting to prove that they weren't looking for tourist shit. "Do you have any books for learning magic safely?"

The clerk glanced at the small ball of magical fire then focused on the girl's face. "What type of magic are you interested in?"

Taylor let the ball of fire vanish. "How about a basic magic primer or something that has magical exercises that would help us build up our magic or purification rituals or spells?"

"Purification spells?" Jesse asked.

"The town seems to be soaked in dark magic," Taylor warned him, recalling getting a ticket just after cleaning the five of them, wondering if that was a function of the world's magic or something specific to the area.

"That's because we're near a Hellmouth, it has a tendency to attract the darker side of the magical world," the clerk explained. "I've got a couple of books that you should read if you don't want to end up going insane and you're planning on staying in town and using magic."

"That would be great," Taylor agreed. "If you have any books on summoning elementals or things that aren't demons or devils, I'd probably be interested."

"I'll see what I can find," the clerk replied then headed for the back room to grab some of the safer books that she didn't leave on display since they were a lot rarer and too valuable to have sitting out.

Taylor tapped the bronze card, causing it to flip and reveal a picture of a pair of eyes. 'Thermal Vision: allows you to switch your vision so you can see heat signatures while not impairing your regular vision.' She turned to look at Buffy. "Are vampires cold?"

"They're generally room temperature or a bit colder, why?" Buffy asked.

"I was thinking about making some magic rings that would let you see temperature while not messing with your normal vision, are you interested?" Taylor asked.

"That would help," Buffy admitted, knowing that her ability to sense vampires wasn't particularly great.

"I'll give you a thirty percent discount if you make me one," the clerk called out from the back room.

"Sure," Taylor agreed, not seeing a problem doing some trading for that sort of discount. "Do you have any bags that are larger on the inside?"

"Those are generally special orders," the clerk replied as she walked out with a stack of books. She set the books on the counter. "You're going to want the basic summoner's guide along with Remedial Witchcraft, that's actually a decent place to start. Art of Purification by Belladonna Blackwood and Mystical Herbs by Harry Prince."

"Weird names," Jesse said as he looked at the books, wondering if there was a spell for getting girls to notice him.

"You'll run into that a lot on the magical side, it's best to just shrug and ignore that sort of thing," the clerk warned him, "if only because most magic users can set people on fire with a bit of Latin."

"Got it, no Latin near the books," Xander assured her.

"That's generally a good idea," the clerk agreed and then continued her lecture about the books and where they should start.