Alright, I am so happy to be writing this story, guys! And I'm the first author to post a NEXO Knights fanfiction in this archive, then I would be so honored because I've looked, and from what I've seen, I heaven't found any NEXO Knights on THIS sight! So I hope you enjoy chapter one!

The Chronicles of the NEXO Knights

Chapter 1 – Evil Is On The Rise

BOOM

Dust filled the night air, making whomever was causing the destruction practically invisible, but was visible was what seemed like wizard attire and a staff with a glowing orb crest at the top. And there were also maniacal laughs, as small black orbs with jagged smiles and buggy eyes bounced out of the smoke.

CRASH

The person of destruction was angrily mumbling to himself as even more spherical monsters leapt out from his work.

THUD

Soon, the wall he was hitting finally broke, and he walked into a huge and dark room that was dimly lit as the moonlight seeped through, and where a certain desk he had his eyes on sat in the center…and he was here because there was something on the desk that he needed.

As he approached the desk, he chuckled darkly as he found what he needed: a still hologram of a young brunette man in his late teens with blue eyes, clad in silver, shimmering armor. So the shadowy figure picked up the still hologram of the smiling man.

"Today's the day, Clay Moorington," the old man laughed to himself.

Today was a very special day that every citizen in the kingdom was willing to celebrate.

"The entire Kingdom of Knighton is on the edge of their seat with excitement, Alice!" Herv, a middle-aged man with sleek, dark brown said with a smile as he and his she-robot co-announcer Alice, a four and half foot tall robot with a huge smile, blonde hair made of metal and mostly bright pink and metal attire, announced as the man and the robot sat in the room being broad cast on live television, and their room over looked a huge arena filled with hundreds of medieval-time humans and robots alike were sitting in and continued to fill the stadium.

"Yes indeed, Herv! A buzz, one might even say!" Alice laughed.

"Tonight's news network is proud to present to you the one-hundred and fifty-first Knight's Academy graduation celebration! And not only that, but we have three very important celebrity guests here us today! We have our beloved King and Queen Halbert!" Herv proudly announced as the live broad casting camera panned across the arena and up to the special box where three seat were aligned; King Halbert, a big and buff man who was probably in his early fifties with a huge, light brown beard and light green eyes, and his Queen Halbert, a late-forties, fit woman who wore a blue dress, had dark brown hair tied back in a tight bun and her blue eyes sparkled like the sea. And the royal couple took the biggest seats that looked more like thrones, and the last seat of honor wasn't exactly as fancy.

"And last, but not least, legendary NEXO Knight Angel!" with Herv's announcement, a human-shaped figure with golden angel wings flew in through the top of the arena and flew all around the stadium, maybe just to show off. But she soon descended and landed in the box with the king and queen, and she removed her silver helmet afterwards.

Angel was a beautiful, early-twenties woman with long, wavy, light brown hair, bright brown eyes and she was tall and fit, which were the two most important requirements for being a NEXO Knight.

Angel was known as the youngest NEXO Knight of the latest generation of knights who turned out to be the top of her class. And her victories of her years of such a fighter was always proven when you looked upon the faint scar over her left eye. She claimed she got it while defending the king and the queen from a viscous monster, and it is true because the king and queen were there. But everyone knows she's the best of the best because of her indestructible, golden angel wings; some have heard rumors of her father being an angel, and her mother a mortal, but it is still a mystery.

The crowd went wild over Angel's arrival as she waved her hair a little after taking her helmet off, and she waved with the king and queen to the citizens.

"They are here to begin the tournament, and to judge if the graduates are truly knight material!" Herv pointed out.

"That's right, Herv! And don't Angel's wings just look so radiant? She must have hired the best stylist in the kingdom the groom her wings for today; oh, what I would give just to groom those heavenly wings myself!" Alice added as the camera panned back to them, and five still holograms of five different people appeared.

"There are five knights possibly graduating today! But do I see any purpose in this? Not really? The realm hasn't been touched by monsters for years, mostly thanks to Angel!"

"Agreed, Herv! I just feel it in my circuits that's it's going to be an amazing show; for we're also featuring Murlock the king's wizard and adviser, and Jestro the royal jester! But I speak for everyone today when I ask: Will Princess Macey Halbert's parents let her become a knight with the rest of her class, and face the dangers out there?"

"Well now, Alice, she was the second best in her class!"

"Even so, Herv, I'm pretty sure her father King Halbert would prefer to see his fragile daughter in a lovely dress over a suit of armor!"

"A princess, yes. Fragile, not so much, Alice. Never tell Macey that's she's some fragile flower!"

Speaking of Macey, Herv was right to call her 'not-fragile' because she had a gap in her front teeth that proved that she was probably rough and not very careful in her younger years. But despite being a tomboy, the late-teens woman kept her dark red hair beautiful and tied back in a pony-tail like most female athletes, and her emerald eyes were sparkling too. She was a knight clad in silver armor with red coloration and an intimidating, red dragon as her symbol.

Right now, Macey was in the special guest box arguing with her dad.

"Dad, you promised that I could be a knight!"

"I-I, know…but Princess, I just don't want you getting hurt out there, is all," her protective king of a father protested.

"I wanna be a knight, Dad. And you and I both know that's what just I'm meant to be. Mom, tell him!" Macey whined as she looked towards her queen mother for back-up.

"You did promise her, Dear," Queen Halbert softly pointed out.

"If she were my daughter, I'd let her go out there. You should really give her the chance to show you, Your Highness," Angel said with a smile as she joined the conversation.

"If a legend like Angel can believe in me, can't you to, Dad? Pleeeeeaaaaase?" Macey whined while giving her father puppy eyes, but King Halbert still wasn't quite sure at first.

"Oh…oh, alright," King Halbert sighed as Macey left while whisper/shouting a 'yes' and left, "but you had better not come back with anymore scars, young lady!"

The camera switched back to Herv and Alice, as it was now time to introduce the graduates.

"Herv and co-announcer Alice are here to introduce you all to the next possible generation of knights!" Herv began as another hologram was switched on outside in the arena to present the graduates of their pre-recorded presentations.

"Top knight of the class is Clay Moorington!" Alice shouted as Clay Moorington, the same man from the picture in the beginning, was presented; he wore silver armor with dark blue coloration, a white and blue eagle as his symbol and a large sword at its finest as his weapon of choice.

"Can't wait to see what this country boy has in store!" Alice added with anticipation.

Next knight to come up on the board was a man who seemed to be a year or two older than Clay or Macey, had a mop of platinum blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a perfect smile. He was wearing silver armor with white coloration, a white horse with a horn as his symbol and a huge lance as his weapon of choice.

"This fashionable man is the Lucky Lance!"

"Who doesn't want to be him? He's gorgeous!" Herv had to add, "now, next on our list is the thrill-seeker Aaron!"

"He's got mad skills, as the kids say!" Alice added.

The next student was actually a year younger than Clay; with shaggy, dirty blonde hair, green eyes, had a little facial hair on his chin and possibly in need of braces more than Macey. He wore silver armor with bright green coloration, and yellow fox as his symbol and his weapon of choice was a metal cross-bow. Unlike the other students, his presentation was him flying through on a high-tech hover board; Aaron has a history with hover-boards.

"Hoo-hay, it's the big, the bad Axl!" Herv suddenly shouted as the next knight was presented.

"And with his big, bad axe!"

This next knight seemed to have his upper-body and muscles on steroids, but it wasn't true, and he managed to keep himself up on his nimble legs anyway. Axl had a black mo-hawk, he wore silver armor with dark purple coloration, a light purple bull as his symbol, and his weapon was obviously a giant metal axe.

"But we also have the amazing Macey joining in!"

"Oh, I never doubted it, Herv!"

"But…you just did…just a minute ago."

We've already met Macey, but her presentation was of her with…well, a giant mace as her weapon.

"Stay tuned, folks! 'Cause we'll be comin' back to start the tournament very, very soon!" Herv announced with a smile and a wink.

Inside the arena's garage, where the knights and some of the robots acting as targets waited to be called out, Jestro was practicing his juggling…and failing, as per usual…and freshmen knights Robin and Ava were helping to set up target dummies for the show.

Robin was a freshman with a mop of dirty blonde hair and brown eyes; he was a knight wearing silver armor with light blue coloration and a white…chicken as his symbol. Literally, a chicken.

Ava was also a freshman, but it was hard to tell if she was also a knight when she hardly ore any armor. Ava wore mostly dark purple attire, she had green eyes and short, dark brown hair.

"Oh, how I wish I could already be out there, graduating with the rest of the senior knights," Robin said with awe while dreaming.

"We're only freshmen, Robin. You should know just as well as I that we've got a few years to go. At least we got to help with the dummies—target dummies. No offense, guys," Ava said as she remembered the robots participating as the dummies for the knights. But they didn't seem offended.

"Don't worry about it; we volunteered for this," one of the robots reassured with a huge smile of metal teeth.

"Yeah, it's an honor to be dummies for the graduates," another robot happily added.

The robots were true to their word; they weren't scared to load into a slug-buddy with three of them in at a time. They pressed a button and accidentally activated one of the larger fighter robots. They tired out one of Lance's hovering metal horses, but it flew out of control and crashed.

"Don't give up! We've got a show to out on, everybody!" Robin called out.

Inside the fancier, more luxurious parts of the garage, the knights were getting ready for the show. And the one who was really getting ready was Lance as the man was being pampered by a couple of robots as they served him drinks and he was kicked back in a soft chair. But being the top in his class, Clay thought this wasn't the way to get ready.

"Lance, it's important that we make a good first impression," Clay said firmly as he marched up to the lazy knight.

"Relax wonder-knight. We're gonna win any other way," Lance calmly protested with a smirk, "besides, I always make a good impression just by being me. Now, would you like some sparkling water?"

But Clay only sighed in refusing Lance's offer of the drink, so he went off to go find the other knights. He soon found them near a stage, and Axl was swinging his feet off the edge.

"Oh…you nervous, Axl?" Macey whimpered.

"Nope. I'm hungry," Axl replied in his deep, guttural voice.

"You're always hungry, Dude," Aaron chuckled.

"But you're about to become an official knight of the realm? Don't you think that maybe the realm is a little more important that whether or not you stomach is full?" Clay questioned as he walked up and cut into the conversation.

"Hmmm…only if it gets me another slice of cake," Axl hummed while thinking hard.

But suddenly, the sound of a horn affair was sounded outside, and the knights knew what it was for.

"That's our cue! Time for a bow-datious battle!" Aaron said with confidence, thinking he could pull off the pun and he strummed the tight string of his cross-bow like an air guitar and even making guitar noises with his mouth.

Meanwhile, the target robots were getting into position in the arena outside as Clay was also stepping out, and he slipped on his thick helmet and pulled out his sword.

"Up first is the super knight Clay Moorington!" Herv called out as the crowd cheered for Clay's entrance into the arena.

Clay wasted no time in sprinting through the course and striking each holographic, red target that hovered above each robot.

"Murlock has really made Clay into the awesome knight he is now, huh Herv?"

"Very true, Alice, very true! The friendship between that old wizard and that young knight sure paid off during training!"

But that was when another knight came out into the arena once Clay's performance was over.

"Ooh look, it's Aaron!" Herv shouted so loud, it got the crowd riled up again as Aaron came flying out on his hover-board with his cross-bow.

"Yes! He's the air-born archer! He is 'off the hook'!" Alice added with a giggle.

Aaron proved Alice's point as he flew fast and shot glowing laser-arrows at each of his targets. Once he was also finished, his went and waited in the center of the arena with Clay.

Next was Lance as he came riding out on his hovering vehicle that was designed specifically to look like his symbol: a horse with a large horn. And with each cheer Lance was greeted by, the pampered boy blew kisses to his adoring fans.

"Lance is always so pumped, despite being pampered!" Herv pointed out.

"Oh yes, he is certainly the most magnificent man I've ever seen!" Alice added while fan-girling over Lance.

Now that it was Lance's turn, all he had to do was knock his robot opponent off his hovering machine, and both were equipped with lances. So the two started to speed up while circling each other around the outer edges of the arena. But Lance wasn't paying attention when he accidentally lowered he lance too far, and he was literally poll-vaulted high into the air.

Lance screamed out of terror as he flew through the air, but little did he know it was luck because the accident made Lance luckily end up landing on his opponent's hover vehicles, and thus knocking him off and winning.

Once it was a victory, Lance walked up to Clay and Aaron while nervously scratching the back of his head.

"I-I meant to do that," Lance clearly lied, making Clay roll his eyes.

"And here's Axl, who's always hungry for action, if you will!" Alice announced as Axl came stomping out with his axe over his shoulder. His target was the slug-buddy full of robots.

But the big guy knew he wouldn't have a problem as he lifted his axe high over his head, and then threw it back down to the ground with a smash, causing the robots to fall out of the slug-buddy and even the blade of his weapon was deeply impaled into the stone ground, yet he was able to pull it back out with ease.

"Ya may want to make way for Princess Macey, Axl, 'cause here she comes!" Herv warned with a joking tone as Macey came running out, ready to go with her mace at hand.

"I'm sure she'll put quite the womanly touch on this battle!" Alice added.

Macey's challenge was to take down a giant fighter robot, and she easily stunned it at first when she dodged its first attempt to hit her, and she kicked robot back. When the robot retaliated and the two started running towards each other at full speed, Macey swung her mace hundreds of times to build up momentum. And when she through her mace, it took down the robot by taking its head clean off.

"There's that touch now, Alice!" Herv pointed out as it was not a win for Macey.

"Wow! That was just a-mace-ing!" Alice tried to pull of the pun, but Herv wasn't laughing.

But now, it was time for the king, the queen and the legendary knight to dub who is knight material as the graduates each stepped onto a platform that raised them all up to the box where the celebrity guests waited for them.

"And now folks, it's time for that moment that every knight has ever dreamed of: the shield presentation!" Alice announced as the royal couple and the angel-winged knight were greeted by the eager and hopeful graduates.

"Fair citizens of this realm, we welcome these new knights with these shields to symbolize their righteous achievements, and what achievements they shall make in the future! Each shield holds the symbol of their family crests!" Angel called out to the cheering people and robots. And each knight smiled at this.

With that, four she-robots with shields came out into the box with a shield clasped in their metal hands…but there was only four, and Macey saw that not one of them looked like hers'.

"Uh-oh! This doesn't look good for Macey, Alice! I don't see a shield with her crest on it!" Herv pointed out with worry.

"Oh, now that's gotta sting!" Alice jokingly added.

Each of the boy knights received their respective shields, but Macey had a bone to pick with her father.

"Dad, you said I'd become a knight!" Macey growled.

"Uh, w-we'll discuss this later, Pumpkin," King Halbert protested in a hushed voice, only making Macey grunt in rage in louder.

But now, each knight that did have their shield left it up so that it was activated and so the people could see them, but Aaron wasn't holding his up, he was riding his shield as a, you guessed it, a hover-board.

"I'd say this thing makes a MUCH better hover-board than all my other ones!" Aaron said with a grin as he flew around a little for fun.

"That's completely disrespectful, Aaron, and you know it," Clay informed that care-free knight, only for Lance to give him a nice little konk on the head with his lance.

"Lighten up, eh uber-knights? It's a party, so enjoy it!" Lance pointed out with a grin as he referred to the cheering crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the graduates of the Knight's Aca-!" the king was beginning to announce, but he was rudely interrupted by a loud roar that came from the arena's entrance, and not only that, but fire and smoke flashed through the entrance and into the arena. The people were beginning to get very terrified.

What came through the smoke and fire was even more terrifying; there were three huge monsters made from scorching volcano magma.

"M-monsters?!" Herv quivered with fear.

"This doesn't make much since; there haven't been monsters here in the city for over one hundred years!" Alice stated as Herv jumped out of his seat and into Alice's arms out of fear.

Meanwhile, the knights outside readied themselves as this was to be their first, real battle. Even Angel spread her wings and lifted up into the air to help them.

"Macey, hurry, take this!" Queen Halbert called to her daughter as she grabbed out none other than the shield Macey was supposed to get earlier. And when Macey caught it and it activated to her touch, she couldn't be more confident to go into battle.

The five graduates and the knight legend jumped down and back into the arena with the dangerous monsters and ran up to them.

"Oh, how amazing! A real, live fight against monsters! I think our viewer ratings just went up!" Alice said with excitement while poor Herv was now hiding behind his chair and shaking even more.

But as the fight was progressing, the knights found out that each time they tried to hit the monsters, they just couldn't, as if they were intangible…like a hologram.

But their and fear confusion was short-lived when the monsters all exploded into a million sparks, and appearing behind them was Murlock as the old wizard was giggling.

"Oh, thank goodness, it was just Murlock," Lance sighed with relief.

"Good show, old friend. You truly are the greatest magician in this land!" King Halbert called down to his wizard adviser.

"I'm also the ONLY magician of my kind in the land," Murlock added sadly under his breath, but he soon perked up, "knight graduates, you must all realize that there is still very much for you to learn."

"He ain't kiddin'," Angel added with a smirk as she landed next to Murlock and folded her wings closed.

"But now, it's time for some magic!" Murlock announced, making the crowd start to cheer again, as he waved his staff around and its tip glowed. Soon, he pointed the end of his staff at the graduated knights, and they disappeared with a burst of a large, orange cloud of sparkling dust.

"Wow, Murlock made the knights disappear in front of our very eyes!" Alice shouted with glee, and Herv was now brave enough to come out of hiding and sit back in his chair.

As a center platform out in the arena started to rise up, Murlock waved his staff again, and the knights reappeared from thin air.

"And then he made them reappear!" Alice went on.

But as everyone was happy for Murlock, Jestro only got worried. He knew he'd never match up to Murlock's magnificence…but the ting that worried him most was Angel. He's always had a crush on her for as long as he could remember. And the last thing the royal jester would want is to look like a fool and for the angel to laugh at him.

A few hours later, as the sun was starting to set a little and the knights headed back inside to hang out with Angel before Jestro's part of the show, poor Jestro was still worried about going on. But Clay was his best friend, so he knew he had to reassure the poor clown.

Jestro was an early to mid-twenties man that was dressed in a bright blue and purple clown costume, his face was covered with white clown make-up and he had sparkling blue eyes that always seemed to be full of paranoia and worry.

"Look, I know it's almost your time to go out there and you're nervous, but you shouldn't worry so much, Buddy."

"Oh, I just can't help it, Clay. 'Never follow a better act' they say. A-and everyone loves Murlock," Jestro pointed out with nothing but worry in his tone.

"'Love' is such a strong word; I'd say 'adore' maybe 'cherish'," Lance joked as he did not really help when he joined in.

"C'mon, Jestro—I hear Angel will be watching your act," Clay whispered with a smirk, and just as they heard Angel say she was leaving to watch the show and she flew out. And that was enough to perk the royal fool up.

"R-really? A-Angel wants to watch ME? Well, ok then! On with the show!" Jestro said with a little bit of confidence as the doors opened for him to walk out, and he held his hands together nervously as he was greeted by hundreds of cheering fans…not his fans, of course.

"He's gonna crash and burn on front of his crush, isn't he?" Lance asked dryly.

"I'm—afraid so," Clay sighed doubtfully.

"And now introducing Jestro the royal fool!" Herv announced as Jestro continued to nervously glance around at the people and robots in search of entertainment.

So Jestro started his act by trying to do some cart-wheel and front flips across the arena, but he lost his balance and fell flat on his back.

Part of the crowd gasped while the rest of it laughed, humiliating Jestro as he slowly stood back up.

"C'mon, you can do this, you can do this. Be funny," Jestro motivated himself under his breath, but then he lifted his head to look at the crowd, "he people, it's great ta be here…I'm always here…I live here even!"

That was not bringing out the kind of humor that Jestro expected, especially as once again, people were giving him pity laughter. So Jestro went on to his next acts.

His second act was spinning plates on sticks…but he didn't do so well, and the plates fell and shattered one by one. So he tried his third act which was balancing on a plank of wood while that plank rested atop a log…but he lost his balance and soon fell again.

Now, it was getting really bad as the people were starting to boo him and just shake their heads with shame and disappointment.

So Jestro went to try his third act which was yanking a table cloth off a table while the rest of the food and centerpieces stayed on…but he failed once again as everything flew up into the air when he yanked on the cloth. He even ended up having the chicken splat in his face, making matters even worse for him.

"Try the juggling, Jestro! Everyone loves juggling!" the king called out to his royal fool of a friend as the crowd was booing even louder.

Jestro quickly took the king's advice and grabbed three weapons: a mace, a lance and a sword. He then started to juggle them while going 'da-da-da' in a sing-song voice to make it more humorous.

Meanwhile, the other knights were watching from inside on a holographic T.V. as poor Jestro was epically failing.

"Does he know that he's juggling a power mace?" Macey questioned with concern.

"Why? Does it make any difference?" Lance asked with confusion.

"It could…" Macey replied as she feared the worse that could happen to Jestro.

"C'mon, buddy," Clay silently cheered for his clown friend.

But Jestro kept trying, and he was juggling perfectly fine…except for the fact that Macey was right when she said he was literally juggling a power mace. So the said weapon started to activate on its own, and it harshly shocked Jestro; the royal jester then freaked out and threw the electrical mace out of fear. But that was a big mistake.

The mace was thrown all the way across the arena, and it hit none other than the main power-grid. And just like Christmas lights, if one grid goes out, so did all of the others. So the entire kingdom literally went dark as the electricity went out.

"Whoa Alice, a HUGE fail for Jestro!" Herv announced.

"I've heard of shock humor, but this is ridiculous!" Alice couldn't help but add.

And now, poor Jestro was trying to sprint back inside as fast as he could as the booing was as loud as ever now.

But just as the door opened, Clay and Murlock came out, and Jestro and Clay accidentally collided with each other.

"Oh, I can't do anything right! I'm nothing but a failure!" Jestro cried as his eyes even started to fill up with tears.

"C'mon, I highly doubt ANYONE even thinks that," Clay reassured as he helped himself and Jestro back up.

"YOU'RE A HORRIBLE FAILURE THAT CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!" a robot civilian angrily called from the seats. And that did it for Jestro as the jester sobbed while running off.

But little did Jestro know that the one person who felt very sorry for him, even more sorry than Clay, was Angel. And she just couldn't let him go off alone like that, so she opened her wings and flew off in pursuit of him.

But no one paid attention to the angel's escape from the stadium, as they were now shrouded in darkness since Jestro knocked all of the power out. So it was time for their king and queen to reassure their subjects.

"Do not worry, my people! Darkness may have fallen across the kingdom-!" But that was a bad choice of words as the crowd gasped with fear when they heard 'darkness had fallen'.

"No, no! I don't mean dark as in evil! There's no soul-taking evil!" King Halbert tried to rephrase, but it didn't really help, so everyone started to run and scream in terror as they fled the stadium.

"I don't think you're helping much, Dear," Queen Halbert sighed to her husband.

Jestro had run away to go and hide in the king's castle, as he had now stopped crying and he was walking alone in the large and dark halls. But Jestro wasn't going to be alone for long.

"Jestro, wait!"

Jestro knew that voice, but he never thought the owner of that voice would be looking for him. And he was proven wrong when he saw none other than Angel flying in through one of the large windows, and she landed in front of him.

"A-Angel? W-what are you doing here…Y-Your Knightness?" Jestro shuddered in the presence of his crush.

"My job as a knight is to help those in need, whether it's physically or mentally."

"But why would a legend like you ever want to help a low-life jester like me?"

"It's just my job, and I'm not that kind of person; I don't take my job for granted. That, and I'd never laugh AT you like some of those other awful people out there—I'll always laugh WITH you, Jestro," Angel explained kindly with a sweet smile, and it even made Jestro smile back at her.

"That may be so, Sweetheart, but I think he'd make a better villain than a jester, and so would you!" Both Angel and Jestro flinched when they heard a sudden and new voice echo throughout the halls.

"You heard that, right?" Angel questioned quietly.

"A-are…are you talking to us?" Jestro called out.

"Do you see anyone else around?!" the voice asked angrily. So they both looked around, and he was right, there was no one but them to be seen.

"I can assure you both that you're NOT goin' crazy; you're NOT insane, and you're minds are NOT playin' tricks on ya either! I am real, so I want you to come find me; I'm in Murlock's library!" With that, the two just agreed to follow the voice's instructions to head for the old wizard's library.

Soon, they came up to the massive doors, and pushed them open with ease as they entered the huge library.

"That's odd. These doors are always locked," Angel said with confusion.

"Yeah, well your boyfriend's little power-outage took care of that problem!" the voice chuckled darkly, and that surprised the angel Halfling and the jester both.

"Hey, he is NOT my boyfriend…but he is my friend!" Angel called out angrily.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say! Now, just keep walkin' forward; I'm in this giant, golden beam of light, ya see?"

The two looked around, and the only golden beam of light the voice described was in the very back between two tall shelves of books. So they headed up to the beam, where they found nothing but an old and thick book with a leather cover.

Jestro and Angel shared confused glances before Jestro shrugged and decided to pick up the open book. But when he closed it, he was greeted with a monstrous face.

"AAAAHHH!" Jestro screamed, but Angel managed to keep her cool better than him as she stared at the book with a face in wonder.

"Oh, I love doin' that," the book laughed.

"Wait…YOU'RE the one that was talking to us? But you're just a book," Jestro pointed out.

"Hey, I'm not just any book, I'm THEE book. The Book of Monsters. And I think you two would make the perfect baddies as long as you help me," the Book of Monsters began angrily.

"But…but she's a knight, and I'm just a jester!"

"Despite those facts, clown boy—I know her. Even being part angel, she's still part mortal, so she's still very capable of darkness—I sense she even thirsts for evil," the book said darkly with an evil grin. And Jestro didn't want to believe him as he glanced back at her.

"Is he right, Angel?" Jestro questioned with doubt.

"Yes—yes he is."

"What?"

"When was the last time you ever saw a monster in the city, Jestro?" Angel questioned angrily.

"Uh, well…never."

"Exactly. People may have thought that those dangerous creatures have disappeared, but oh, they are very wrong. They're always waiting out there in the land, waiting to strike, and just who do you think stands against them? It's tiring when you have an entire kingdom depending on you to protect them Jestro. So maybe this dark side is the only thing that will get me away from it; I won't have to fight anymore monsters then," Angel sadly explained as the book was nodding and grinning at her while Jestro still couldn't believe her.

"She's with me. What about you, royal fool?" the book questioned as he glared up at Jestro.

"Well…I-I still don't know…" Jestro whimpered.

"You really wanna throw away this opportunity to end the horrible life you have now? The one where everyone laughs at you, and thinks so little of you? Huh?! Listen kid, with my help, I can make you both into a new and better somebody; I can make you both the most feared and respected people in all the realm—that's gotta be better than spinnin' plates and fighting monsters 'till your heart gives out. Right?"

The two pondered the book's offer deeply in their minds, and they shared the same thoughts when they looked at each other with confidence.

"O-ok," Jestro whimpered.

"We're listening," Angel added with a grin.

"Perfect. Now, I want you two to look around; in this library is tons of books that can help make us more and more powerful, so I need you to go and grab as many as you can. Oh, and you'll need a staff to make my pages come to life; there's hundreds of Murlock's staffs lyin' around in here!" the book informed, and the two decided that their first objective should be a staff.

The first one to spot the perfect staff was Angel.

"Hand me that staff, Jestro," Angel demanded with a grin as she pointed out the wooden staff that had a golden crest in the shape of a sun, and it was closest to Jestro.

"W-what?"

"Just do it!" Angel snapped, and so Jestro did what he was told and grabbed the staff. He then handed it to Angel as she took the book from Jestro and set it on Murlock's desk and flipped it open.

"I say we try out a spell, just a little one…ah, here! Why not this one! Looks easy enough," Angel said as she flipped through the old and grimy pages, and soon stopped on a certain one not even a quarter into the book.

"Uh, I wouldn't try that spell if I were you," the book warned.

"Shut up, old book," Angel grimly protested.

"Ok, but don't say I didn't warn ya."

With that, Angel grinned even more as she began to wave the staff over the page with her selected spell, and Jestro watched with wonder as the staff's tip started to glow brightly.

Soon, the spell Angel chose came to life, and what came out of the pages was a long snake with one head on each end, and it was made of bright red lava. But suddenly, both heads of the snake hissed as they pounced at Angel and Jestro; one end took Angel's neck in its grip while the other end gripped Jestro's neck.

The long, bright red tail that each snake head shared started to disperse into a transparent strand of bright fire, as the heads spiraled around their necks and turned to stone. Before Jestro and Angel knew it, the snakes were like shackles and they couldn't pull them off, no matter how hard they pulled.

"What the heck was that?!" Angel hissed at the book.

"I told ya so. That spell was Monster Shackle Spell; meant to latch onto the first object or person it sees so that your enemies can't escape…but now you two can't escape each other. And I'm sorry to say that Murlock is the only one that could possibly break the spell," the book explained with disappointment.

"Y-you mean…we're stuck together by magic?" Jestro questioned.

"Ya hit the nail on the head, kid," the book replied grimly.

"Jestro? Jestro, are you in here?!" Clay called as he pushed the door open to look for Jestro.

"Oh boy, it's the goody-two-shoes knight. Quick! Page two o' five; wave the staff over my pages to conjure a spell and summon a monster to take care of him," the book demanded, and Angel quickly flipped him open to the suggested page and waved the staff over his pages.

"Wait a minute! Jestro? Angel? What are you doing? What's that book?!" Clay asked with fear as he started to walk faster up to them. But before he could reach them, the book's pages started to come to life as dark purple smoke started to pour from his cracks.

What came out was a ten foot tall, cycloptic monster that was made out of pure hot lava rocks. The creature pounded his massive rock fists and stomped his huge feet as he pulled himself out of the book, and he glared down at the first thing he saw: Clay.

"Looks like you two are finally good at somethin' useful; you're both good at bein' bad," the book motivated Angel and Jestro, and the two couldn't help but look at each other with victorious grins.

Meanwhile, Clay had luckily brought his sword…but the weapon was tiny compared to the monster. And the massive creature proved that to be correct when it effortlessly knocked Clay back slamming into the doors with a simple wave of his arm. And Clay was left helpless as he was very dazed after having his back slammed against the door, and he fell far back down onto the floor.

But luck was once again on Clay's side when the doors, opened, and in walked an angry Murlock.

"Oh great, now we've got that stinkin' wizard to deal with! But now's our chance; finish that old wizard!" the book growled, so Jestro thought it was his turn to try out some spells as he took the staff from Angel

Jestro waved the staff over the book's pages, and lava balls with maniacal faces and laughter came jumping out.

"Jestro! Angel! You must stop this! You shall not be—monstrous!" Murlock shouted as the monsters headed for him and Clay, but the wizard jumped in and slammed his glowing staff down onto the ground with a golden blast, and it sent the monsters back…but it didn't stop them. And even when Murlock kept using the same move and the monsters only kept coming…he figured there was only one thing left he could do to save the kingdom.

Murlock took one last sad glance at Clay before using his magic to send the young man out of his library and he locked the doors behind him.

"No! Murlock, no, don't do this!" Clay called, but Murlock only ignored him.

The said magician started to close his eyes tight and chant magic words aloud as he raised his staff and it glowed even brighter. But soon, Murlock's verbal spell ended with a loud echo as he slammed his staff down even harder.

For a moment, Murlock's spell created a bright golden light engulfing him, as the light even made everything literally stop and go quiet. But the stillness wasn't to last when it exploded, sending the book, Jestro, Angel and all of the monsters spiraling out of the kingdom the spell was so strong.

Clay lay still on the floor outside of Murlock's library as he tired with all of his might to regain consciousness and open his eyes; the young man's head was pounding.

But the first sight he was greeted by his other knight students, as they leaned over him with concern.

"What…what happened?" Clay grunted in pain as Aaron helped him up to his feet.

"Uh…that's what we wanna know," Aaron pointed out as he and the others followed a worried Clay as the brunette was pounding against the large doors to Murlock's library to get them open.

When the doors did open, they saw a horrible sight. For Murlock's entire library was demolished small fires, ashes and smoke…and the only remains of Murlock was his wizard hat as it was also mostly burst.

"Murlock…he's gone! It was Jestro and Angel; t-they had some sort of magic book, and they were making monsters to destroy us. But Murlock saved me with this huge spell and…BOOM! Now he's gone, and it's all because I'm clearly not meant to be a knight," Clay sadly explained as he played back the horrible said memories in his head and he picked up Murlock's poor hat.

"Angel? B-but…Angel is a knight! Why would she try to destroy Murlock?" Macey questioned with terror filling her mind.

"I wish I knew," Clay sighed, but then he looked up and glanced at his fellow knights firmly, "but we'd better be ready and become true knights if we're to face what's going to be out there."

Out in the forests way outside of the Kingdom of Knighton, Angel, Jestro and the Book of Monsters lay a little phased from Murlock's powerful spell in the fields.

But it was awkward for Jestro and Angel as they woke up…and Jestro found himself in an awkward position of being on top of her, and their faces were only inches apart. And when Angel finally realized their position, she woke with a gasp.

"What are you doing?" Angel asked quickly as both she and Jestro started to struggle to get away from each other, but it only made it even more impossible to get free as their limbs got tangled with each other.

"Will you two love birds get off me?!" the muffled voice of the book asked in an angry muffle, as Angel suddenly remembered that the book was being smooshed underneath her back, along with Jestro's weight too.

So Angel finally pushed Jestro off with a gentle shove of her knees and she finally sat up and picked the thick book up as it spat dirt from its fanged and mangled mouth.

"That damnable Murlock. Who does he think he is anyway? But none of that matters now. He's dead, and we're free," the book said evilly as Angel and Jestro stood back up.

"Yeah…yeah, we are free," Angel said with realization and a grin, and Jestro grinned with her.

"Yeah…we're free to be as bad as we want!" Jestro began to laugh evilly and maniacally, and even the two floppy ends of his clown hat started to curved up to a point where they looked like devil horns.

Evil was truly on the rise.

DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUUN!

So how do you guys like my OC Angel? Do you like her, and do you like the fact that I ship her with Jestro? Be honest, but don't be a hater is all I ask.

But until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!