author's note: regarding the time this story takes place, picture late season three of Kickin' It, obviously before Kim went off to Japan. By this time, the Wizards Return: Alex versus Alex special has also taken place. Of course, events of this story will diverge from the 'canon' of later Kickin' It episodes, but hopefully you'll enjoy it.

******'******

"Ah, this is much better," Alex said as she stepped out of the door and into the California sunshine.

"Much better," Harper agreed as she followed Alex and closed the door behind them, causing the magically created Wizard-Door to vanish. A moment ago they'd been home in New York on a particularly cold and rainy day. The change in scenery was a definite improvement.

"Hey, we're already at a strip mall," Alex observed happily. "Talk about convenient. We can start shopping as soon as I take care of that dumb amulet."

While Harper was all for shopping, it was why she'd come along after all, she was also a little concerned about the other reason for this little trip.

"Are you sure it's going to be so easy?" she asked Alex. "When Justin asked you to do this, he made it sound like it was a big deal."

The beautiful brunette let out laugh. "He makes everything sound like a big deal. Now that's he's on the Wizard's Council he's 'Mister Dramatic' all the time."

Harper had to admit that her friend had a point there. Alex's older brother had long had a tendency to act serious and mature beyond his years...and this trait had only magnified since he'd moved to the other-dimensional 'Wizard World' and become Headmaster of the Wizard Training Academy, as well as the youngest ever member of the Wizard's Council.

"Besides," Alex continued. "If this were really such a dangerous mission, why would Justin ask me? This has got to be a cakewalk."

"I don't know," the pretty redhead replied. "You and Justin may still put each other down like when you were kids...but you both know it's all for show."

Alex tried to come up with a clever comeback, but couldn't think of anything convincing. Harper knew her, and Justin, far too well. For all their putdowns and insults, the truth was that Alex knew she could always count on her brother...just as she would always be there for him whenever he needed help.

And in this particular instance, he did need help.

"Okay," she admitted. "The amulet is important, but it's still easy to take care of." She paused and looked Harper in the eyes. "Do you really think I'd bring you into anything dangerous?"

"You saying I can't handle myself?" the redhead asked with mock indignation. "Just because I'm not a wizard doesn't mean I'm someone to mess with." She followed the statement up with some exaggerated hand gestures to indicate her 'toughness'...which caused Alex to crack up.

"Please...don't go 'gangsta' on me," she pleaded.

"Just keepin' it real, yo!" Harper responded before slipping back into her normal tone of voice. "But tell me more of what's really going on with this amulet thing."

Alex sighed, knowing she wouldn't be able to keep anything from her perceptive friend. "Here's the whole truth. There's this small group of evil wizards who are trying to take over the Wizard World. They've been gathering artifacts to let them control demons, evil spirits, dark angels...anything nasty and powerful. But their plans were discovered and special Wizard Agents have been hunting them down. They've caught most of them and have most of the artifacts locked up."

"This amulet is one of the artifacts then?" Harper guessed.

"Right. It's a prison for an ancient evil spirit called...Molok...Molac...something like that. The good news is none of the evil wizards still on the loose can get to Earth to grab it. But the bad news is that all the Wizard Agents are too busy chasing them around different dimensions to come pick it up. So...I got drafted."

"Ancient evil spirit?" There was a note of alarm in Harper's voice. "That sounds dangerous to me."

"Only dangerous if it's free," Alex reassured her. "The amulet is a prison, remember. It needs some powerful magic to open it up. So nothing to worry about. We grab it. I zap it off to Justin...then we shop."

"Why is the amulet at a strip mall though?"

Alex shrugged. "I have no idea. Justin only knew it was somewhere in this area. But it doesn't matter. Now that we're here I'm close enough to cast a locator spell. So..."

Alex pulled out her wand and made a few quick waves. An instant later a small light that only she could see began winding its way through the mall.

"Follow me," she told Harper as she took off after the light.

******'******

"Alright, enough sparring," Rudy called out to his students. "Everyone face front and let's go through some katas."

The four teens in the Bobby Wasabi Martial Arts Academy followed their sensei's instructions and began performing the formalized movements that were a basic part of their training. As they did so, Rudy walked around and observed them, offering pointers and praise.

"Extend the arm a little more, Milton. Good."

"Nice form, Jerry. Keep at it."

"Flawless, Kim. Excellent."

"Jack, you're-"

But whatever he was going to tell Jack was halted when Rudy froze in mid-sentence. He would have looked an odd sight to his students, except for the fact that they too were frozen at the same moment...all standing still as statues and unable to see or hear anything.

Thus they were unaware when Alex and Harper walked into thier dojo, which was just how Alex wanted it.

"So the amulet is somewhere in here," the wizard told Harper. "We just need to grab it, go back outside and I'll unfreeze these guys."

"Well, none of them are wearing any amulets," Harper said as she observed each of the frozen martial artists. She paused while observing the tallest of the males. A handsome fellow with shoulder-length brown hair. "Although maybe I should strip search this one."

"What are you-" Alex began until she turned her gaze to the young man. "Ooh...hello."

"Hey, I saw him first," said Harper.

"Well, you have a boyfriend already."

"So do you."

The two young women laughed.

"Well, we should forget about this guy then and get back to finding the amulet. Besides, it's for the best," Alex said as she too one more admiring glance at the man. "I'd never date a guy with prettier hair than me."

"Oh, I don't know if it's prettier," Harper offered.

"Aw...thank you," Alex replied with a smile. Then they resumed their search, splitting up so that Alex could begin at one end of the dojo and Harper at the other.

Harper found no sign of any amulet, but did become distracted for a bit when she came to a number of newspaper articles framed and hanging on a section of the wall. There were pictures and mentions of all five of the frozen martial artists...though the majority of them seemed focused on the tall handsome guy and the short fellow who was apparently the sensei of this dojo. There were also a fair amount focused on the sole female student in the group.

Out of curiosity, Harper looked back and forth between the frozen folk and the articles to identify each individual. The two males who weren't mentioned as often were both yellow belts...a tall, very thin redhead named Milton Krupnick and a swarthy dark-haired guy named Jerry Martinez. The lovely blonde girl was named Kim Crawford, and one article noted that though she was only sixteen years of age, she was the top ranked female black belt in the entire state of California.

Equally impressive were the credentials of the short sensei, Rudy Gillespie. He'd been a highly ranked black belt as a child and teen...though his name then disappeared from the rankings for well over a decade, only to recently reappear in the past three years as a top ranked adult competitor, while also receiving many accolades for his work with local youth.

But it was reading up on the final individual, the handsome guy with the great hair, that gave Harper a shock. Jack Brewer, was the highest ranked black belt in his age category in California.

It was just that that age category itself was not what Harper expected.

"Alex," she called out. "You won't believe this."

"What? Did you find the amulet?" the wizard asked as she came to her friend's side.

"No...but that guy," she pointed towards the man in question. "His name is Jack."

"Um...okay," Alex replied. "But I thought we already had the boyfriend discussion?"

"No, I don't want to date him," Harper explained. "And it's a good thing too. He's only sixteen!"

The wizard gave her a disbelieving look, but she could tell Harper was serious. She glanced back to the frozen young man...taller than everyone else in the room and built like a Greek statue.

"That's a sixteen year old?" Alex repeated incredulously. "You mean he's not done growing yet?"

"I know," Harper chimed in. "Can you believe it?"

Alex shook her head. "What sixteen year old guy ever looked that good?"

"Justin did," Harper answered.

"Ugh," Alex groaned. "How do you do that? All these years of you being over your crush on my brother...but you can still manage to gross me out by bringing it up."

Harper laughed. "I say Justin looked just as good at sixteen." She paused. "Okay, this guy has better hair. But other than that, Justin was just as-"

Alex put her hands over her ears and started speaking loudly. "LA LA LA LA NOT LISTENING!"

The pretty redhead giggled and stopped singing the praises of her former crush.

"Now let's get back to finding that amulet," Alex suggested.

It only took a few minutes more to find the object of their search. In one corner of the dojo was a small set of shelves upon which rested a bonsai tree and an assortment of Asian themed knick-knacks. There in the midst of it all was the amulet.

"I still wonder how it got here," Harper commented.

"It was misplaced on Earth years ago," Alex answered. "And like I said before, completely harmless unless you could do magic and knew the proper spell to release the spirit inside. Anyone here could have bought it at a rummage sale or something, just like any of these other trinkets."

"Well, send it off to Justin and then let's go enjoy the day."

Alex pulled out her wand and began to wave it...then stumbled backwards. If Harper hadn't reached out to catch her she would have fallen backwards.

"What's wrong?" the redhead asked in alarm.

"Don't...know..."Alex said weakly. Every word seemed to be a struggle and she leaned heavily against her friend. "Wand...not..." Her eyelids fluttered and she collapsed completely into Harper's arms. "Feel...dizzy..."

Harper was very worried for her friend by now, but fought down feelings of panic by concentrating on what she could do to help Alex. There were couches and chairs over by the entrance to the dojo and Harper carried Alex to the nearest couch and laid her down.

Thankfully, Alex began to stir after only a few moments. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her hands.

"Are you okay?"

"Getting there," the wizard answered. "It was so weird. For a second I felt like the whole world was out of whack. Couldn't think. Couldn't do magic." She paused, then she reached out with one hand. A look of concern came to her face.

"Alex?"

She ignored the question and began moving her fingers...slowly at first and then much more rapidly. Next she raised her other hand and began to gesture furiously. When she finally stopped there was a fearful look on her face.

"Alex, talk to me!" Harper demanded in a worried tone.

The wizard looked her in the eyes and responded with a frightened whisper. "I can't do magic!"

Before either could say another word, the sound of something shattering from across the room caught their attention. And although it wasn't very loud, the noise still instantly drew their gazes towards where the amulet had been. The amulet that was now laying in pieces on the floor.

To be continued...