Title: Gen13 Mystic Training: Rainmaker

Author: Joshua "The Evil Guy"

Rating: M (Due to Language, Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Content)

Disclaimer: Gen13 and all associated characters and events were created by Jim Lee and J. Scott Campbell, and the original comics/events this story covers distributed by Image Comics, though are now owned by DC Comics. There will be brief mentions of Harry Potter, but he doesn't show up in this story. Other crossovers, mostly from concepts and magic powers will be mentioned. Niklaren "Niko" Goldeye belongs to Tamora Pierce, drawn from her "Circle of Magic" series. I don't own any of it and I'm not making any money from all this, so don't bother suing me. No spoilers in this one, just character development and a bit of rewriting.

Summary: Side Story to Gen13: Mystics. After discovering they each have magic, Harry Potter set about getting special training for each of his teammates. This is about Sarah Rainmaker's training as a Natural-born Earth Witch.

Rainmaker

Sarah Rainmaker was unique, complicated, one of a kind, and yet at the same time, your typical rebellious Native American teenager growing up in the turn-of-the-century. The only anomaly, besides being a self-proclaimed lesbian and not having a girlfriend, (and sometimes catching herself thinking that her blond teammate was kinda cute), was that she had the power to control the weather, and she'd had this power since as long as she can remember.

Growing up on the reservation, it had just been her, her mom, and the tribe. She knew the stories behind her father, and the strife that had caused her mother, ultimately leading to the woman's death, but she didn't let that affect her outlook on life. Her childhood had been good, happy, everything a childhood was supposed to be. And then childhood ended.

She should never have gone to school so far away. She probably never would have been found by IO to recruit to Project Genesis if she'd just stayed at home, become the Medicine Woman of her tribe, or even went to work at the local Kwik-E-Mart or even a casino! Instead, she'd gone to Arizona University, and was recruited at the end of her Sophomore year.

Life at the Compound was... not what she was expecting. Especially not her assigned... partner. He was unique, always trying to get her to open up, but never forcing the issue. He was different than all the other men she'd ever known. It intrigued her. Even though it was all too obvious that he had more interest in another of their teammates than in her.

During the months of training and experimentation, Sarah made sure she never used her powers. Near the end, however, the night of their escape in fact, she noticed something shift inside her. She'd always been able to control the wind, call up rain or sunshine, even sometimes predict lightning strikes. She hadn't however been able to shoot out lightning from her hands or create mini-cyclones strong enough to carry half a dozen people over a mile through open air. When... Threshold in disguise, and Bobby had found her, she'd been dealing with the fact that she suddenly had electricity shooting out of her hands, and her anger and frustration was heating up the air around her to make the wind blow quite noticeably. Then, everything started happening all at once and she didn't have the time to dwell on it, merely react to the situation as it came.

The amplifiers she was provided turned the 'Jacob's Ladder' sparks she was giving off into genuine bolts of lightning, enough that she could at the least taze some of the Keepers coming after them. As for the rest, well, it was what she could always do, just... more!

They escaped, she went back to the tribe, but ultimately left them because she knew if she'd stayed she would be putting them all in danger. They all met up in a town a couple hours away from Los Angeles, called Sunnydale. Before that though, Harry had revealed the big secret; magic was real.

The Tribe had always known about the supernatural. They had a number of tamed werewolves, witches, and mages among their number, to say nothing of their alliances with other supernatural communities in the area. Vampires and various earth-bound demons were a threat to everyone, but they knew better than to mess with the Apache after all these centuries. Sarah herself, back in High School, had gone on a couple of vampire hunts, and been witness to their shaman vanquishing one particularly vile demon.

Learning that her partner from the Compound was a wizard, well, it was surprising, but not earth shattering. Learning that she, and all the others, also had magic to call upon, well... yes, that was earth shattering. Especially after her discussion with the mage, Niklaren Goldeye.

Lynch Villa

Sunnydale, CA

April 1999

"Can I see Miss Rainmaker next, if that is all right?" Niko requested.

Frowning, but quick to mask it, the Apache was soon on her feet and following along behind the Sight Mage. He silently lead her to the office down the hall from the stairs, the one with the conference room table in it. He gestured toward the chair nearest the door sat at the long side of the rectangular table, saying, "Please sit, if you would, Miss Rainmaker." Before he walked around to the other side and sat in the opposing chair.

"So," she questioned, hands folded before her on the table, "how does this work exactly? I understand a little about the supernatural and the ways of magic, but I was never trained nor taught anything by my tribe's shaman. Despite my gifts, it was determined that my path was not to be either a shaman or medicine woman."

"No, you are most assuredly not a shaman, Miss Rainmaker," said Niko.

He pulled up his bag and placed it on the table beside them. Opening it up, he reached in to his elbow, dug around for a bit, and then pulled out a leather bound book. There was no writing on the cover to depict the title, but it looked old yet well cared for and in good condition. Turning it around in his hands, he offered it to the brown skinned young woman.

"What is this?" she asked, accepting the book and opening it to the first page.

"It is your Book of Shadows," he replied with a knowing grin.

"My what?!" she shouted.

"Your aura, Miss Rainmaker, is unmistakable," Niko told her. "And while, yes, I can see many things about you, it nevertheless is clearly that of a witch. To clarify, as I understand that word has a great deal of misconceptions about it, you are what we mages call a nature witch, a female practitioner of magic that has a direct spiritual connection to nature, to the planet, to the Goddess. This book is a, let's call it a primer, on what all you can do with your power. How to tap into it, how to use it, when you should and when you shouldn't use it, and why you have this gift in the first place. There are also plenty of blank pages for you to make your own observations and put in your own spells and knowledge. This book was given to me by a dear friend, who said that I should pass it on to the next lost little witch I came across. It was a private joke between us," he added at her hard look.

"My point is, Miss Rainmaker, that you have a great deal to learn, but unfortunately, neither Harry nor I can do much more than help you beyond placing a few guide-posts along the way," he said. "While it is true that female wizards are also called by the title 'witch', their kind of magic is not truly compatible with, well, your kind of magic. If it were possible, I might direct you to some friendly covens, ones that know true magic, but I'm afraid the standing policy for those few witch covens that aren't elaborate family groups, are more of a... how shall I put this...?"

"Join them or I'm out of luck?" Sarah guessed, already paging through the grimoire. It was... interesting. Nothing outright stated how magic worked, but neither was it like a text book. If anything, it was more like a diary, written with the purpose of being read by strangers, by newly found witches. She'd have to study this more to, well to find out if she wanted to find out more.

"There are stand-alone groups, singular witches that take it upon themselves to train the next generation, but," Niko shrugged helplessly, "most of them are in Southern Europe, and they only take young children at that. Sometimes a teenager, but never have I heard of those individuals taking on students that were older than twenty. I'm sorry. I'll certainly keep checking my sources, but..."

"That's all right Mister Goldeye," Sarah acknowledged his knowledge and efforts. "I think... You've given me a great deal to think about today as it is. I'm sure that Harry will find me teachers... if I decide that I want them."

"I understand," Niko nodded, getting to his feet and closing his bag back up, though he did leave it on the table, she noticed. "Let's rejoin the others. I'll need to speak with Mr. Lane next, I think."

"Bobby?" she asked as they made their way down the hall. "Why's that?"

Smirking, he merely remarked mysteriously, "Oh, I imagine you'll see all too soon, my dear."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sarah wanted to know, somewhat alarmed.

"I'd hate to ruin the surprise," Niko laughed softly. Then a thoughtful look crossed his face. "Before we... adjourn, as it were, perhaps... an experiment?"

She looked at him, suspicious, but curious. "How so?"

"Let's try a simple spell," he suggested. "Nothing too elaborate or complicated. Yet sufficiently... magical, to convince you of your own abilities. It may even motivate you in seeking out the aid you so desperately require, whether you acknowledge it as such or not."

"What did you have in mind?" she asked, holding the grimoire in her hands with some anticipation.

"You tell me," he grinned. "It is your spell book, after all. Although, I would recommend keeping it as simple as possible, to start with."

"Uh, all right," Sarah acknowledged and opened the leather-bound tome, logically starting at the beginning. She soon found something that was very simple, and if done right, quite useful as well; making light out of nothing. All it required was either a circle and her energy, or a prepared potion (ingredients and prep included) and some words in Latin. Already familiar with using her 'energy' from past rituals she participated in, she decided to go with the first option.

"Here, this one, I guess," she set down the book and pointed at the spell. "Making light out of nothing."

"Hm," Niko nodded. "Not exactly what I had in mind, as this is more low-intermediate than beginner, but not that complex either. I think I have all the ingredients, and if not, I'm sure Harry will have more..."

"No, I want to do it via the magic circle method," Sarah interrupted him.

The mage's brow practically hit the ceiling.

"That," he said slowly, "is a rather advanced method, Miss Rainmaker. And allow me to assure you, however... gifted you have been in controlling and utilizing your... natural talents, magic of this nature is not as... easily controlled."

"You think controlling the weather is easy?" she snapped at him, anger flashing in her brown eyes.

"Compared to controlling magic, it is easier than breathing in and out," he snapped back.

She blinked and recoiled at his outburst. Seeing that he calmed as quickly as she did, Sarah reconsidered her decision. Finally, after a bit of hemming and hawing, she decided that whatever else she had to compare it to, she was an absolute amateur when it came to magic, so it might be wise to listen to those that knew a thing or two about it. At least until she understood it better herself.

She nodded and acknowledged his caution. "Then... can we try it both ways? I'll do it with the potion first, and once I can do it myself... maybe you can supervise me through the second method?" she offered.

Taking a deep breath, Niko nodded his head and replied, "We can do that, yes. I'll put the necessary ingredients out for you. You brew the potion and perform the spell, and if successful, I'll teach you a trick that we mages use to prevent... corruption to our magic. You'll want to do this yourself, or find your own method of doing the same. And only then will we try the more advanced method. All right?"

"Sounds fair," Sarah accepted. "Ready when you are?"

Niko proceeded to lay out the ingredients for the making light spell from his bag, and then sat back and watched her as she worked. Aside from the fairly rare ingredients themselves, the potion really wasn't that complicated. Going over the instructions from the tome a few times before getting started, Sarah soon began working and had the concoction completed, correctly, inside of five minutes. No boiling or toiling or anything, just putting the materials together in the method laid out in very straight-forward instructions in her grimoire. Once she had the potion, contained in a small disposable—not to mention easily breakable—glass vial, she reread the aspects of the spell so she'd know exactly what to do and how to use the magic.

"Whenever you're ready," Niko said, when he saw her hesitating. "And if you're worried about how to use the potion, you can either pour it out, or smash it open. Either is fine, although most choose the latter as it adds a touch of the dramatic."

Smiling, she nodded and merely reopened the vial and gently poured out the liquid potion until it pooled at the center of the table, and she called out, focusing as the book said to, "Fiat Lux!"

The puddle on the table suddenly boiled itself off in a rush of smoke and steam and the whole room was filled with a multitude of "tiny tinkerbell lights" floating about here and there, most of them centered around the table, but spreading out from there. At the moment of the spell's invocation, Sarah felt a rush of power shoot through her. It was similar, on some level to when she used her Gen-Factor to maximum effect, but it was different at the same time.

'Magic,' she realized. She was feeling magic for the first time, and recognizing it as such.

After about a minute and a half or so, she began to feel as though she were over-exerting herself, like when she'd used her lightning blasts just one time too many. Reaching out with that feeling of magic, she intoned the counter-spell the book told her to use when she wished to extinguish the light.

"Nox!" Instantly, all the little fairy lights floating about winked out of existence.

"Very well done, Miss Rainmaker," Niko congratulated her. "Do you still feel up to attempting the more advanced spell?"

"Yes, but, perhaps you should show me that trick you were going to first," said Sarah. "My power... my magic, it... it seemed to drain me faster than it should have."

"No," Niko remarked, cleaning up the residue of the completed spell with a handy rag. "For a spell of this caliber, with your mana reserves, it was quite sufficient. That is another difference between the different types of magic users, Miss Rainmaker. Wizards and Mages, both have an... an internal magical core that supplies them with the power to complete and utilize their spells. Witches, specifically Nature Witches, such as yourself, have very, very little internal magic to call upon. Hence why most call upon various deities and spirits, and yes, even demons to aid them in their spellcraft. To not do so is you use your own, and rather limited, magic core to power your spells. At best, you can probably power a single battle spell, and then be wiped out for three days straight."

"How can I improve and learn with such... limitations?!" she asked, outraged.

"This is where my little trick, as you called it, comes into play," he answered. "You'll still call upon gods, goddesses, and nature spirits, but this way you'll avoid being corrupted by their influence. I must warn you, if you do not use this protection, you risk endangering your very soul as these supernatural entities will try to, well to infect you with their energy and corrupt your spirit. The warnings are all there in graphic detail in your spell book there. Now first, you want to..."

He then laid out in the most simplest of terms how she would invoke a circle of protection around herself, her mind and body and spirit, which should keep her from being corrupted by 'outside influences' when casting spells. It was actually a rough and simple combination of techniques; what a mage does to center themselves, when a witch calls for the Four Watchtowers, and a wizard invoking their Occlumency protections, just all at once and without any ritual required.

Once she'd done this a couple of times, Sarah determined that she was ready to try the more advanced version of the Light spell. Using a pen and paper, she copied out the magic circle from the book, including the elements left out of the diagram the text mentioned (symbols representing the positions of the sun and moon and various stars. Once that was done, she held her hand over the magic circle and felt for that tiny part of herself the magic came from. She felt it was about half empty, being closer to the 'empty' mark than not, and then decided, without telling Niko, to see if maybe she could mix up her powers a bit and draw power from the same place her Gen Factor used to control the weather; IE nature.

To her immense, and pleasant surprise, she found it not difficult at all, and quickly tied in this new found power to her spell, speaking aloud, "Fiat lux ex nihilo!"

Instantly, the magic circle ignited the paper and as with the potion it burned up and vanished in a puff of smoke, after which the whole room was filled with light. Unlike before, with hundreds of tiny floating balls of illumination, the entire room practically shone with brightness, as though there were halogen spotlights placed at every inch of the space inside the room and shone on every corner of it. At the same time, it was not blinding or painful, just very, very bright. Looking about, Sarah believed that every trace of shadow in the room had actually been removed, seeing how all-encompassing the light was.

"Impressive," Niko freely admitted. "Who did you call upon to power the spell? Oh, don't look so surprised, Miss Rainmaker. While the preparation is different, the results of this spell should be identical to the first one you cast. That it is not, says that you either tweaked the spell... or you overpowered it. I'm banking on the latter, myself."

"Uh, I tried to see if I could link the spell to the same place that my, well that my other powers come from," she answered.

"In other words," Niko said slowly, "you called upon nature itself. You called upon Gaia."

Unsure what to say, the Native American shrugged and nodded her head.

"End the spell. Immediately!" he commanded.

"Nox!" she cried out, and instantly the room returned to normal illumination.

"Never call upon Gaia casually, Sarah Rainmaker," Niko told her. "And always, Always! If you ever do call upon her, always make sure that your reasoning is pure. If you wish to increase your personal power, there are exercises that you can do. Calling in ambient magic and containing it to increase your reserves, for example. And of course, there are always lesser deities, neutral or ambivalent towards humans, which are safer. In terms that you can understand, Miss Rainmaker, using your own magic is like using a small rechargeable battery. Using demons or dark sources is like using a diesel-powered generator, using minor deities is similar although they'd be more along the lines of green-energy-based generators, while major deities is like tapping the power grid of a major city. Gaia, nature, would best be compared to a nuclear reactor, except this nuclear reactor is the size of the planet and has the resources of the sun itself. And is just as unstable as one would expect."

Gulping, Sarah once again nodded, and said, "I understand."

"I pray that you do, Miss Rainmaker," Niko said, collecting the residue from their experiments. "Harry should be able to find other witches to aid and teach you in anything that you need direct support in. In the mean time, perhaps we should rejoin the others. I still have the others to test."

"Yes," she nodded. "Thank you, Mister Goldeye."

Smiling, he bowed his head slightly and replied, "Please, Miss Rainmaker. You are a friend and perhaps one day ally. You are free to call me Niko, if you wish."

Smiling back, she responded, "Mister Niko then."

They both laughed and soon rejoined the others in the back yard.

Continued...