Hello fanfiction fans. Sorry I had to place this under Miscellaneous Cartoons, but until this particular cartoon gets its own place here, I had to.
Anyway, I've been dying to do a "Life and Times of Juniper Lee" fic for a long time. No, Danny Phantom is not going to guest star… This fic is a look into my view of a more experienced June.
So strap on your seatbelts, and get ready, because this one is going full speed ahead!
I do not own the rights to The Life and Times of Juniper Lee.
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"You are a champion, Juniper Lee… You will be the best of us!"
- Ah-Mah, from "Dog Show Afternoon"
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It is a time in the not-too-distant future…
Okay, it is exactly five years in the future.
And things… Well, they haven't changed much.
In the World of Humans, little has changed. Five years hasn't made many advances, no ground-breaking changes have altered the status quo, and aging five years is not much in the long run for most folks.
In the World of Magic, even less has changed. The lifespans of magical creatures can be measured in centuries, and five years is nothing to them. The changes that have occurred are minimal.
But in five years, some people change a lot. Especially young people who have, during that time, aged from eleven years old to sixteen. In that time, their bodies have changed faster than their minds could keep up, and they struggle to understand the new feelings that are put upon them. Slowly, these youths are growing up.
And when puberty happens in a girl who is the one sworn to keep the balance between the World of Humans and the World of Magic, strange things happen…
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Two young teenagers walked down the city street towards the Cinemaplex. June held her arm around Marcus's waist, and he held her.
Looking at June right now, it was easy to recognize her as an older, more attractive version of the eleven-year-old Great Protector of five years ago. Her midriff still had the same odd symbol on it (she never got tired of it) and she covered the shirt with a jean jacket. She wore shorts made from a pair of jeans with the legs cut off. Her hair was still waist-length, still straight, and still with the streak of hot pink – it likely would never come off.
"So glad you could finally come, June," said Marcus.
"Well, it's been hectic,"answered June. "I've been studying a lot…"
"For the algebra test?" he asked.
"Well, that's one thing…" she answered with a smile.
"Think you'll like this movie," he said, as they looked at a poster. "They don't make ones like this any more… At least not until now."
June looked at the poster. The title was simply Nick Six. The painted art had the picture of an Old West lawman with grey hair and a tired face, holding a worn six-shooter.
"A Western?" asked June, with a giggle.
"Trust me," said Marcus. "They don't make them like this any more."
"Well…" said June.
She paused.
She looked down at the bracelet on her arm, which was flashing.
"So, should we get in line?" asked Marcus.
"Sure," said June, holding his arm. "I can't wait…"
She muttered something under her breath, and then her eyes glowed with golden light… She stroked Marcus's hair, and he blushed.
"Well," said Marcus, looking at the long line, "guess this is popular. Glad we got here early."
Marcus, of course, had no idea that the one clinging to his arm was merely an illusory clone of June…
…while the real June was dashing away towards the center of Orchid Bay.
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee
In a world full of monsters and demons,
June is the only one who sees them.
When evil beasts start their plotting and scheming,
She can stop the sounds of the screaming…
Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!
You can't stop the girl…
When crazy creatures come, June has to stop them;
She'd be happy if it wasn't her problem;
She's the one who has to resolve them,
Has to resolve them…
Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!
You can't stop the girl…
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JUNIPER LEE
SORCERESS SUPREME
A fanfic by Cyber Commander
Chapter One
Streets of Fire
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Up until the point where she was thirteen years old, being the Te Xuan Ze had a lot of problems. The hardest was having to run out on her friends whenever duty called. It made her feel guilty, and always forced her to make up stories and tell outright lies.
So figuring out how to cast the Spirit Illusion Spell had been one of the best things that ever happened to her in a life that usually went wrong.
The spell didn't truly create a duplicate of herself. To put it in simple terms, she had to cast the spell on an object or person as a focus (in this case, she had used Marcus), and everyone within a hundred feet of the focus would perceive her as being there, including the focus if she chose a person. Everyone would be able to see, hear, and even touch Juniper Lee, even though she wasn't truly there.
And this was only one of many powerful spells she had mastered.
As she ran towards the center of Orchid Bay, June looked at her watch.
"Okay…." she said. "The movie doesn't start for another half-hour, most movies have twenty minutes of previews, commercials, and other junk before they start, so if I'm lucky, this won't take more than fifty minutes to clean up."
She made a great leap, and landed on the roof of a building…
…and saw a flaming portal start to appear.
"Of course…" she muttered. "To clean this up, I might need some extra-strength detergent…"
She took a cell phone out of her pocket and speed-dialed a number.
"Monroe?" she asked as it was picked up. "Please tell me that Flamara is still in the hooscow…"
"Uh, yeah, about that, lass," answered Monroe, "I was going to tell you when you got back… She broke free from the place you banished her to about a half hour ago."
"Why didn't you call me?" shouted June. "Don't you remember what happened last time?"
"Aye, it took a month for the hair on my back to grow properly again," he replied. "But I thought she'd wait at least a day… And seeing as you told me not to interrupt your date unless it was something your bracelet thought was important…"
"Lovely…" said June, reaching into her pocket.
She pulled out a glowing blue gem – a banishment crystal – and aimed it at the growing portal.
"Okay, Flamara…" she muttered. "As much as I hate to attack by ambush, I'm going to banish your butt right back as soon as soon as you fly out of there…"
She waited…
There was a long pause.
She tapped her foot.
"Come on…" she muttered. "You usually come charging with both barrels loaded… What's the hold up?"
Then a flaming tendril shot out of the portal and grabbed the crystal!
"Uh… That was unexpected…" she said.
Finally, as she looked up, her foe walked out of the portal. Flamara was pretty intimidating. If she wasn't ten feet tall, surrounded by an aura of fire, with a mane of flames for hair, you might have mistaken her for some swimsuit model in an indecent outfit, and not the evil fire savant that she was.
She held the banishment crystal and casually tossed it up and caught it again.
"Did you really think I couldn't see you from the other side?" she asked.
"There was always hope," answered June. "Put on some muscle, I see…"
"Not exactly much to do when you're banished," she said with a frown. "So I got on a fitness kick to prepare for when I got out."
That's it, keep talking… thought June. Give me time to cast something powerful…
"Yeah?" said June. "Don't you know what an escaped convict is supposed to do when she escapes? She doesn't go looking for the law… She runs to Canada and hides out."
"I hate Canada…" replied Flamara. "It's cold up there, and I despise hockey. Anyway, once I got out, I thought I'd celebrate with a little destruction…
"And then maybe I'll make a snack… I was thinking a s'more…
"…using a certain teenage Asian girl in place of chocolate."
"Eat this!" shouted June.
She threw her hand forward, and strands of silk shot from her fingertips, entangling the demoness in webs. She grunted as the bonds looped over her…
She roared as flames erupted around her, burning them to ashes.
"Did you really think that would hold…" she started.
She was interrupted as June's fist slammed into her torso.
"No, I didn't!" replied June, clocking her in the chin. "The tangleweb was meant to distract you so I could beat you to a pulp!"
She kicked the savant in the stomach and she stumbled towards the edge of the roof…
June aimed a flying kick, and she fell over the side.
"Hmm…" said June, looking over the edge.
Then she stepped backwards, as Flamara rose up, crossing her arms, clearly angry.
"Did you forget that I could levitate?" she asked.
"Uh, no…" replied June. "Honestly, I was kind of hoping that you had forgotten that you could levitate."
Flamara glared at her, and her eyes glowed fiery red.
Here it comes… thought June.
The demoness pointed at her, and a stream of flames shot towards the Great Protector. June raised her arm, and her bracelet glowed with a different light. A magical barrier appeared on her arm like a shield…
…one of the many spells she had discovered she could combine with the bracelet over the past five years.
The shield held, but she was pushed back towards the other side of the roof, towards the other edge.
Levitating was one thing she couldn't do on her own. She was going down one way or the other…
But whether she landed or crashed was something she could control.
She backflipped off the roof, and guided herself to the street below, making a four-point landing.
She wasn't powerful enough to leap tall buildings in a single bound… But she could leap off them pretty well.
As she looked up, she sighed.
Next time I go up against a nasty fire savant, she thought, I'm packing some sunscreen.
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Marcus finally got up to the concession stand with the fake June clinging to his arm.
"All right, let's see…" he said. "We'll have a jumbo-sized bucket of popcorn… Uh, do you want butter on your popcorn?"
"Only if it's real butter and not some yellow liquid made out of chemicals," said the fake June.
"You heard her," said Marcus. "And two large Diet Pepsis."
"No candy?" asked the fake June.
Marcus whispered in the fake June's ear.
"Keep quiet about this…" he whispered, "but I snuck in some of my own…"
He motioned to his backpack.
"The prices in this place are crazy," he said. "I don't know how they justify charging more for popcorn than they do for a ticket…"
"Well, that's how theaters make a profit," answered the faux June. "It isn't like the studios pay them much to show the movies, and most of box office proceeds go to them. The theater itself has to make money, so…"
Marcus shrugged.
"I guess you have a point…" he said.
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June leapt out of the way as a ball of flame scorched the sidewalk.
"You'll be glad to know Te Xuan Ze," said Flamara, as she formed another projectile, "that I only intend to destroy you. Your city is completely safe this time…"
She threw another ball of flame.
"Once you're toasted extra-crispy, I will go into hiding… Maybe accept that offer for a modeling job I once got in the Underworld…"
"Pardon me if I say I don't believe you," answered June.
"Are you calling me a liar?" asked Flamara, annoyed.
"Well, your pants are certainly on fire," replied June.
She dodged the next blast, and landed by a fire hydrant.
Hey… she thought.
They say fight fire with fire… but maybe fighting fire with water makes more sense…
She socked the hydrant, smashing it in half, and a spout of water shot up over her! Then she lifted her hand and chanted…
The spout aimed forward, and crashed into her foe! Flamara screamed and was thrown backwards!
She fell against a car, and a cloud of steam rose as she sputtered…
"Angry, huh?" asked June. "I'd say you were steamed!"
The water slowly died down, and Flamara gasped for breath. Her aura of flames was gone.
Okay… thought June. Her pilot light is out, and until she manages to relight it, most of her powers are out of reach…
Most, that is… Still have to be careful…
June slowly walked towards the demoness…
Flamara slowly took a leather pouch from her belt.
"HEY!" shouted June. "That's a Six Demon Bag! Where did you…"
Flamara reached into the sack and pulled out a red gem. She threw it, and it hit June in the chest…
And explosion hurled the Te Xuan Ze backwards. She crashed into a group of garbage cans.
June held her head…
Six Demon Bags were very powerful magic items that were created by Chinese magicians. She should know… She had used one once or twice when she had a very powerful creature to deal with. Ah-Mah had used them many times when she had been Te Xuan Ze, and she still had a couple in her attic.
But it was an item you had to be very careful with.
Flamara walked up to her, holding the Bag in her left hand.
"You know, Juniper Lee…" she said. "Perhaps I won't make you into a s'more…"
She held up the banishment crystal that June had tried to use on her.
"I'd love it much more…" she continued, "if I could do to you what you did to me!"
"HA!" laughed June. "What an idiot! You're holding it backwards!"
"Oh, please…" said Flamara, with a grin.
She held it up, and it started to glow.
"Do you actually think I'd fall for such a dumb bluff?"
It glowed brighter…
Then a blast from it shot behind her, and a lamppost vanished in an aura of blue light.
The demoness looked dumbfounded…
"Okay…" she muttered. "So you weren't bluffing. Easily fixed… I'll simply aim it around the other way and…"
In the next second, June had her.
The young Protector's legs locked around the savant's waist, and then her fists hammered into her face. The banishment crystal fell to the ground, and the Six Demon Bag followed.
Flamara staggered back under the onslaught, with the smaller magical being still clinging to her! Blow after blow fell, until finally, the fire savant collapsed.
June got up and retrieved the crystal.
"Parole denied," said the Te Xuan Ze. "And I'm putting you in a much colder place this time…"
Flamara looked in fear as the crystal started to glow…
"Levistes, mephistus, cainius, molikrothus…" chanted June.
Flamara cried out, and then vanished in a burst of blue smoke.
June picked up the Six Demon Bag.
Maybe Ah-Mah could find something to do with it. In the meantime…
She checked her watch.
…she had done it with eleven minutes to spare.
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June crept into the darkened theater under a veil of invisibility. As she had hoped, a preview was still playing. It was easy to find the focus of her spell; finding a spell you had cast yourself was a necessary part of any sorcerer's procedures.
Quickly, she cancelled the illusion and took her doppelganger's place. And not a moment too soon. The movie was starting.
"So," she asked Marcus, "you say this is a good movie."
"It got really good reviews," he answered. "They said it was done in the tradition of old 'spaghetti Westerns' from the Clint Eastwood era."
"I always loved those," said June.
Some undoubtedly Western music started to play, and a narrator spoke up.
"The decades after the gold rush of '49 brought all sorts of folk to the West Coast… Some good, some bad…
"…mostly bad…
"We needed a hundred lawmen to keep the peace, and we only got a few…
"But we did manage to get some good ones.
"I remember one lawman I used to admire. I think his real name was Nicholas Nance. But no one ever called him that. They called him by a name he earned as a lawman…
"They called him Nick Six…"
June started to munch on the popcorn.
"Didn't you say you were going to wait?" asked Marcus.
June paused.
The Spirit Illusion wasn't perfect. For one thing, it couldn't eat, so it had to make excuses whenever it was offered food.
"Yeah…" answered June. "I was going to… wait until the movie started. Can't eat all the popcorn before it starts, right?"
"True…" said Marcus.
He opened his backpack.
"But we can start on this candy, too. You want peanut butter cups, or red-hot cinnamon jellybeans?"
June's eyes opened nervously.
"Peanut butter cups, definitely…" she said, reaching for the candy.
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Half an hour into the movie, a tense scene was underway. A young tough with two other young toughs behind him were confronting a young woman in a bar.
"Come, on, Mary," said the tough, "you know you want it…"
"When I told you I wanted you gone, Luke, I meant it," answered Mary.
"Ain't that too bad," said Luke. "I don't like it when I don't get what I want…"
Then his two friends grabbed her by the arms. She squirmed, but they were too strong for her.
"No one says no to me, Mary…" said Luke.
Then two gunshots sounded. Everyone turned towards the door.
A much older man, dressed in black, wearing a sheriff's star, was standing in the door. He had grey hair, and a tired face.
He held a six shooter (an old Colt Revolver) that had apparently just been fired.
"Three armed and strong men harassing a defenseless woman," he said, shaking his head. "And I thought I had seen it all…"
Luke's two friends tossed Mary aside, and reached for their weapons. The sheriff quickly fired two rounds, and they clutched their hands in pain, dropping them.
Then Luke himself drew his own weapon, but another shot sent it flying from him.
Luke looked, and saw that it was fifteen feet from him.
The sheriff pulled down the cock of his six-shooter and aimed.
"I suggest you leave it there, my friend, or the next one is going to be aimed differently…"
"Ha!" laughed Luke. "You fired five of your six bullets! You only have one left! Are you so sure you can hit me with it?"
"Are you really willing," said the sheriff, "to take that chance?"
They stared at each other.
"You three had best leave before you commit an offense that would be worth the judge's time," warned the sheriff.
Luke glared at him, and then he motioned to his friends. They rushed out the door.
The sheriff walked up to the woman and helped her to her feet.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said. "Thanks, Nick…"
"How does one manage to be so intimidating with just words?" asked Marcus. "Only one bullet wouldn't have been much against three…"
"Well," said June with a shrug, "authority figures have to be intimidating to get their point across…"
I should know… she thought.
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In a scene a half-hour later, Nick was having his arm bandaged by a doctor, while Mary and her boyfriend (a young guy named Cletus) looked on. Cletus had since been established as the son of the man who owned the gun store.
"You were lucky, Nick," muttered the doctor. "This was just a scratch. But next time it might be worse…"
"Can't worry about a little cut now," said the sheriff. "Bart is still out there…"
"Nick," said Cletus, "maybe you should think about trading in that old Colt. My pop could set you up with something better… A Peacemaker, maybe."
"A Peacemaker?" asked Nick, looking at his old-fashioned Colt. "Thanks, but… I never had any use for those things…"
"Darn…" muttered June. "Popcorn's gone…"
"You eat like a horse, June," said Marcus with a smile. "How do you stay so thin?"
"I get a lot of exercise," answered June.
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An hour later…
All eyes were on the screen. Nick was being held by his arms by two outlaws, while a third was in front of him…
The third was the antagonist of the film, a young gunfighter named Black Bart.
"This is it, sheriff…" said Bart, with a smile. "Once I'm done with you, they're gonna know the name Black Bart in every town west of the Rio Grande!"
"You're gonna shoot me while your two pals restrain me?" asked Nick. "Yeah, they'll know your name… They'll know you as a murderer."
"Not gonna do that…" answered Bart. "I'm not as low-down as you think. I'll give ya a sportin' chance…"
"Bart…" asked one of his friends. "You aren't actually going to give him back his gun?"
Bart looked at the older man.
"Naw…" said Bart. "Fred… Give him your gun."
The thug looked confused. Then he took his own gun – a Colt Peacemaker – and placed it in Nick's holster.
"Clear out," ordered Bart.
Everyone watched from the sidelines. Mary and Cletus watched from indoors.
"Heard you weren't very experienced with a Peacemaker, sheriff," said Bart. "Well, too bad… I'm rather good with one."
Nick's eyes narrowed.
"We draw on three then," said Bart. "One…"
Everyone tensed…
"Two…"
June held onto Marcus.
"Three!"
A gunshot fired…
Black Bart fell to his knees… He dropped his weapon…
…and then fell flat to the ground.
Nick Six held the Peacemaker, and smoke poured from it.
"I said I never had any use for it…" said Nick, slowly. "I never said I didn't know how to use it."
He looked at the dead outlaw, and sadly shook his head. Then he twirled the revolver and placed it in his holster.
He walked in the other direction, and the end credits started to roll.
"You were right…" said June, in shock. "They don't make movies like that anymore…"
"That Nick Six was one bad dude…" muttered Marcus.
June nodded.
He was like the Te Xuan Ze of the Old West, she thought.
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When a boy asks a girl out for dinner and a movie, the movie is only half of the equation. Soon after, the two of them were discussing the movie while waiting for pizza.
"I gotta admit," said Marcus, "it was quite a movie… But not realistic… how could Nick have beaten Bart in a fair fight when Bart was younger, faster, and more skilled?"
June sipped her soda.
"Bart was fighting for all the wrong reasons," she said. "Greed, lust for glory… While Nick was fighting to protect innocents. They say the higher powers tend to favor such people…"
She sipped her soda again.
"Of course…" she said, "the reason Nick won might have been because it was a movie, and it needed a happy ending!"
They laughed.
The pizza came to the table.
"So…" said Marcus. "You been thinking about college?"
"Uh… sometimes…" said June, with a forced smile.
"I heard some teachers say you were material for Harvard," said Marcus.
June gave a sad look.
"Uh… yeah…" she muttered. "Well… That would be great, but I could never move away from home… I'm likely just going to apply to Orchid Bay University."
Marcus gave her a strange look.
"You'd turn down an Ivy League school in order to stay at home?" he asked.
June gave the sad look again.
"Pizza's getting cold…" she said, with a forced grin.
How can I possibly tell him… she thought.
…that I really don't have a choice?
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Hundreds of miles away, just outside of London, was a luxurious mansion.
In the finest room of the mansion, a very old man lay on a bed. Surrounding him were his children, grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren, all of them with tears in their eyes.
A priest stood by the side of the bed. He touched the old man's hand…
He started to pray…
In one part of the room, unseen by anyone, where two figures clad in long, dark robes.
"Anthony is gone," said one of them. "Well, he led a very long life…"
"True," said the other one. "He likely had no regrets. But now we must proceed with our plan. We must contact the new candidate."
"But what if the child refuses?" asked the first. "She likely would not have accepted her first duty if she had been given a choice. How will she be convinced to try to take a second when she does not have to?"
"Trust me," said the second. "I have studied her career closely. The offer we will make would indeed give her more responsibility…
"But I doubt she will refuse.
"The role of Te Xuan Ze comes with few tangible rewards…
"The additional role comes with many."
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MONSTER MAXIM
Fire Savant
Rarity: Very Rare
Place of Origin: Italy
Magical Class: 5
Alliance: Energy
Average Height: 9'10"
Average Weight: 450 lbs
Maximum Age: 1,500 years
Powers: Able to create fire and manipulate any fires that they have created. Able to levitate for short amounts of time. Able to create portals to the Realm of Fire and use them to travel to any location on Earth.
Limitations: Vulnerable to water, carbon dioxide, fire-smothering foam, and other substances which extinguish fire. Rendered helpless in sub-zero weather.
Profile: Some beings think that fire savants live in the core of the Earth, but this is untrue. The first of these beings appeared in Italy shortly before the World of Humans and the World of Magic separated. Calling these creatures demons is a misnomer – they are actually elemental spirits who are born of fire.
A fire savant's disposition depends on gender. Male savants are kindly creatures who like to build things, and being able to control fire makes them excellent blacksmiths. Female savants, like Flamara, are often wicked and destructive creatures. They also tend to be exhibitionists, and other female monsters don't like them. The males tend to dislike the females as well, and the females usually turn to seducing them if they want a child.
Some say that the worst natural disasters involving fire were actually the work of female fire savants, and that more than one forest fire or wildfire was their doing. When male savants are asked, they deny knowing one way or another. This could be the case… Or they could be too ashamed of the female members of their race to admit it.
A note on this system:
"Magical Class" rates a magical creature on a system that measures magical power. One is lowest, and Twelve is theoretically highest. Five is pretty powerful (June herself as an eleven-year-old is Class Six), Steven is Class Seven (although he can only harness most of his powers in the Dream Realm), and Loki, the most powerful foe June has ever faced, is Class Eleven. It is speculated that the current Elders are Class Twelve, but they are never seen and their power cannot be measured.
"Alliance" is the force of nature or metaphysical force that the creature is allied with, whether it knows it or not. The six Alliances are Matter, Energy, Thought, Time, Darkness, and Light. June's Alliance is Light; not all her enemies are allied with Darkness, even though many are (Steven's Alliance is Thought, for instance).
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Coming up next: June visits her grandmother to dispose of the Six Demon Bag and have a quiet conversation, when a strange express letter comes, followed by a stranger visitor who explains something that might change Juniper Lee's life forever.
"Offer of Promotion" is coming up next.