Title: The Pharaoh's Guardian

Author: Gatecrasher12

Word Count: 2900

Genre: Action/ Fantasy

Cartoon: Mummies Alive

Publish Date: 07-02-10

Author's Note: A plot bunny bit me! Seriously, it just suddenly jumped up in my head while I was reliving my childhood watch old 90's cartoons, particularly Mummies Alive, on the computer when I hear the W.I.T.C.H. theme song from the TV in the next room when I suddenly thought, "That might make an interesting crossover" and since I've not seen one, here it is. I seem to be making a lot of first crossovers lately.

-((O))((O))-

The Sphinx of San Francisco, built four years ago as part of the ever changing Egyptian exhibit, had become quite the tourist attraction of the city. It stood more than three times smaller than the actual Sphinx in Giza, Egypt, and only partially accessible to the public… at least, the lower floors of its interior was. The upper floors, however, were strangely, completely sealed. Not even the builders could open the doors without doing costly damages to the surrounding walls. That said, nobody really seemed to mind since it was only empty storage space. In truth, what the Sphinx his within its stone walls was something so ancient and paranormal, it would be considered mystifying and even frightening to the masses if anyone found out. Mummies, four of them in fact. But these weren't normal dead ancient Egyptians, no, these mummies were alive, or at least as alive as the living dead could be, and walked among the living, hiding in plane sight. They weren't your normal B-rated horror movie stereotype mindless corpses that simply walked around limply without purpose, terrorizing the living with curses or threatening to devoir them. No, there four were special and as sentient as the day they died so many centuries years ago.

3500 years ago, these four mummies were charged with the protection and tutelage of the heir to the throne of Egypt, first son of Pharaoh Amenhotep, the young boy Prince Rapses. These four guards were Ja-Kal, lord of the huntsmen and leader of the group, Rath, a master of sorcery and achieved swordsman, Armon, a one-armed former soldier and expert of Egyp-tsu, and the disguised as a boy woman under the name Nefer, truly named Nefer-Tina, whip master and the finest chariot driver in all of Egypt.

However, betrayal had seen them all to their early graves as Scarab, a great sorcerer and the once most trusted advisor of the Pharaoh, in a ploy for power, youth, and immortality, kidnapped and murdered the Prince by draining and absorbing the child of his life force by way of a dark spell. However, unfortunately or fortunately however one looked at it, due to the interference and sacrifice of the guardians, Scarab was unable to receive the Prince's soul even though the boy's body had been lost to the sands. For his crimes against the royal family, Scarab had been entombed alive and sealed. The four guardian's, however, to right their failure were cursed to never know rest in the afterlife and would sleep death's sleep until the soul of the Prince reappeared and called on them for protection again. Only with the death of Scarab and the reunion between the souls of the Prince and Pharaoh, of father and son, would they return to the tomb in true death.

The Prince's sacred pet cat, Kahti, was also buried with the four, if only because the feline so loyal that she allowed herself to die when she realized her young owner was gone.

The group of mummies had awaken from their cursed slumber four years ago, sensing the young Pharaoh's soul had been reborn a twelve year-old child named Presley Carnovan and was close by. It was only when the reincarnated boy called out for help did they truly awaken, realizing their prince was in danger and that Scarab had resurfaced to carryout his original plot to steal the young boy Pharaoh's soul, and has been defending their prince from all the many forms of evil and danger that threatened him ever since.

Living in the new, fast pace era the mummies found themselves in for the last four years had been difficult to say the least, but with Presley's help they were slowly becoming well versed in the ways of modern technology and adapting nicely. The may still not be as well accustomed to the time period and its modern wonders as Scarab, but they had learned enough to blend in with the crowds unnoticed. Nefer-Tina, since the beginning had always been an enthusiast for trying anything new and fun, was both the team's mechanic and culturally learned race queen. Rath, having finally learned the difference between modern science and ancient magic, was the team's snarky spell weaver/potions master/researcher/inventor (no matter how redundant his inventions were). Armon had positively fallen in love to this timeline's many foods, especially Beefy Burgers, and had taken to being the group's chef and made great efforts to study other time honored fighting methods to improve his own lost style. And finally their was Ja-Kal, still kept his title as leader unchallenged, was as selfless and worrying of others, especially of his prince, as ever and had managed to learn how to relax, if only a little, and not to take everything around him so seriously. Kahti spent most of her time being a simple cat living a simple cat's life between the Sphinx and her master's home, only occasionally using her powers in her owner's defense.

At the moment the mummies were tending to their daily chores and what not. Ja-Kal was busy crafting new arrows to replace the ones he recently lost in battle while periodically eyeing the new channel for any reports on strange happenings in or around the city. Rath stood stood under the hood of Hot-Ra, elbows deep in its engine working on the magical aspects of the dragster, while Nefer-Tina was rolled under the car tinkering with the actual mechanics. Armon stood watching Rath work over his shoulder while eating a sub sandwich, chewing somewhat loudly.

The serpent warrior pulled back, in his hand was a gold amulet the shape of an eye with a lackluster sapphire jewel. Rath brought the trinket closer to his eyes to examine it. "Hmm… maybe a different amulet? I've noticed lately the Hot-Ra has been depleting the power of Ra's rays much too quickly."

"You mean the Hot-Ra needs a new solar battery?" Nefer-Tina simplified.

Rath sighed, shoulders slumped. "Yes, it needs a new battery." the magician said before he noticed small bits of food sprinkling on his shoulder from Armon's mouth. "Uhhgg! Armon! Would you please stop eating over my shoulder? You're getting crumbs everywhere." he admonished courtly with a disgusted scowl as he brushed the offending morsels off, ignoring Nefer-Tina's quiet giggling.

"Hehe, sorry Rath," the Ox mummy gave a muffled apology before swallowing. Armon licked his lips and continued, "Didn't mean to do that." He took the last large bite as he went back to the kitchen. He was in the mood for a second sub.

-((O))((O))-

"Presley, sweetheart, go get the mail for me." Amanda Carnovan said from her place standing bent in the refrigerator.

Presley Carnovan, average sixteen year-old, almost seventeen, high school sophomore student and not-so-average reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Rapses, sighed into his half empty bowl of cereal. "Yeah, okay." he called back.

Time had done wonders for the boy, once a scruffy little loud mouth twelve year-old kid, now a partially aloof, yet still adventurous teen. He was a reincarnated Pharaoh after all, his years with his mummy guardians had taught Presley how to be the king and leader he was suppose to be. He had become a fairly handsome young man over the years, his hair, at the moment bedraggled, had grown until it was now just brushing his shoulders, his voice deepened to a mid C tenor, he was no longer short and awkward, but tall and moved with a almost regal type of self-assurance and hidden strength, both in body and attitude. He had went from a spastic bottom-of-the-barrel nobody, to a near A-List popular in school. He was no football jock but he did have an athlete's build and hard muscle from all the time he spent practicing Egyp-tsu and sparring with Armon and had dead-on aim with his Boomera-Ra under Ja-Kal's tutoring. He was a bit of a fearless speedster (Nefer-Tina's fault) when his only female guardian let him behind the wheel of the Hot-Ra, and a very out-of-the-box thinker and spell caster thanks to Rath.

It was Saturday and the young teen was still in his pajamas (a tee-shirt and his boxer shorts) and was feeling particularly moody lazy this morning. Monday was the start of Spring Break and almost all his school friends would be either going on road trips around the country or heading to Florida for the annual Spring Beach Party. And what would Presly Carnovan be doing for the week? Nothing but spending his break helping his mom at the museum set up a new exhibit. It just wasn't fair!

Picking up his bowl Presley continued to eat as he walked to the front door where the mail basket sat under the mail shoot. He quickly scooped up the mail and walked back to the kitchen. He tossed the small stack of envelops on the counter before eating the last spoon of his cereal and draining the sweetened milk from the bowl.

"Thanks Presley," Miss. Carnovan said as she started shifting through the post while her son washed his bowl and spoon. "Let's see, bill, bill, junk, notice, bill, huh… a letter from my brother Tom."

Presley was already heading up to his room when she said that. All he wanted to do was go back to sleep, but he knew his mom wouldn't allow that to happen now that he was awake. "It's too early to be up. Why can't I sleep in till noon like a normal teenager?" As he walked into his room, he saw Kahti, his secret 3500 year-old mummified cat, sleeping contently on his bed, basking lazily in the morning sun. "Lucky cat, you aren't made to get up."

Kahti simply cracked and eye open to look at her master before mewing at him and turned over to warm her other side.

Presley shrugged and went about his morning ritual of preparing for his morning bath before getting dressed for that day. "Maybe I'll drop by the Sphinx and visit the others. Not like I have anything else better to do this week." he muttered.

"Actually you do!"

Presley started violently at his mother's voice from his door. He threw his unmade covers over Kahti and turned in one swift motion. "Mom! What do you mean?"

Amanda smiled at her son, not really noticing his reaction to her sudden arrival, and held up a letter. "My brother Tom, your uncle, has to go to a nation-wide police summit this week and he's taking his wife Anna with him," she informed, walking into the disaster area better known as Presley's bedroom.

"Yeah, so…" the younger Carnovan prompted.

"So, that means your cousins, Irma and Chris, are coming to stay with us for the break tomorrow." she continued while raking her fingers through her taller son's hair, making it sit flat.

Presley blinked blankly before a sense of dread settled in his stomach. "You mean both of them?"

"Yes, of course I mean both of them." Miss. Carnovan's hands settled on her hips, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Why, is something wrong with that?"

The reincarnation shook his head with a smirk. "No, not really. But I should probably go pack my valuables and hide them to keep them safe. Don't want them broken or lost like last time." He was totally serious about stashing some of his stuff too.

Amanda lightly slapped her son's arm. "What horrible thing to say about family." she reprimand half-heartedly, lightly smirking herself. What he said was the truth after all. "Anyway, you can go out after you help me set up the guest bedroom." she told him as she walked out.

"Right, I wonder if I should clean my room? …Nah, I'll do it later." Presley tussled his hair as he gathered his bath supplies and wandered to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Kahti wriggled her way from under the covers thrown on her. She meowed after her master before getting comfortable again and resuming her catnap.

-((O))((O))-

The scraping of stone against stone alerted the four warrior mummies to Presley's arrival, aside from them he was the only other that had a key to enter the upper levels of the Sphinx.

"Hey guys!" Presley greeted as he walked into the main chamber that was also the recreation room and garage. Tucked under one arm was his skateboard and under the other was a small brown box marked Presley's Stuff written in bold letters in both English and hieroglyphs.

"Good morning my prince." Ja-Kal stood and walked over the teen. As casual as Ja-Kal had allowed himself to become, he still had not broken the habit of addressing Presley formally and made no effort to do so, much to the teen Pharaoh's chagrin.

"My, someone is up earlier than predicted." Rath said with a question in humor with a smirk from his place near one of several bookshelves of ancient scrolls and tomes he procured from the Rapses exhibit he and the others were once part of. He had been adding to it over the years and now he had enough written knowledge on sorcery, history, astrology, myths and legends, math, and modern science to fill a school library. "Certainly our young prince intended to arise later in the day, say around noon?"

Presley grunted in annoyance. "Don't remind me. It should be a crime waking up before then." he griped as he set things down against the wall. "My mom made me get up early, says it was too nice a day to sleep in."

Ja-Kal nodded. "And it is, but may I ask what is in the box?"

"Is it food?" Armon asked hopefully.

The brunette shook his head, laughing at Armon's insatiable bottomless pit of a stomach. "Nope, it's just some things I'm hiding from my cousins."

"Cousins?" Nefer-Tina asked curiously. Presley rarely ever talked about his family outside his mother, and on rare occasions his father.

"Yeah, my cousins, Irma and Chris, are coming to stay with me and my mom for the week tomorrow. Irma's cool and all, but she's kinda nosey. Chris is… well he's just a little kid and he's a bit too playful and destructive." he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "So I wanna stash some of my stuff I don't want ruined here. Is that okay with you guys?"

The mummies looked at each other and nodded. He was their prince after all and, as long as it was within reason, he got whatever he asked of them. "If it is what you want, we do not mind."

"Thanks!"

Rath then gave an attention seeking cough. "Ahem! My prince, since you are free this week, mostly anyway, I believe we can use that time to catch up on your studies on the mystic arts, yes?" he stated more than asked, a roll of frayed parchment tapping into his free hand and his green eyes glowing at the prospect of teaching. He loved knowledge and he loved to share knowledge with worthy apprentices, it was his ultimate passion next to serving the Pharaoh.

Presley's shoulders drooped. 'Man, I catch a break from school only for one of my guardians to shove more books in my face.' he bemoaned his fate silently, knowing his green protector would only double his work load if he complained, as Rath led him over to a stone desk with a stack of tomes and scrolls waiting for him.

"Or we could do some sparing. Can't put off training you know. Gotta keep your skills sharp!" Armon's beefy hand encircled Presley's wrist entirely as the one-armed mummy pulled the teen toward the practice mats.

Rath hissed in ire like a snake that had been stepped on. "Now stop right there, Armon!" the lanky mummy seized Presley's free arm and gave a resisting yank. "It is my turn to teach the prince his lessons! I'll not have him run around like some thoughtless brut like someone here I know!"

Armon's response was immediate. "I may not know a lot of stuff, but I still think!" Rath snorted haughtily at that. "Besides, what's he gonna do when he gets into fight with someone? Think them into submission?"

"Are you saying your brawn is better than my brain?"

And thus, the ever quarrelling serpent and ox guardians began yet another round of their 'Brawn vs. Brains' battle with Presley standing hopelessly between them playing the rope of their tug-of-war. Whether they realized it or not, for dead people they were almost as strong as they were in their armored forms and his arms felt like they were beginning to come out of their sockets. The teen gave his two remaining protectors a pleading look.

Nefer-Tina laughed as she stepped forward to save him while Ja-Kal's expression was half quiet amusement and half exasperation.