Prologue
Water, earth, fire, air, and quintessence. Four years ago, my team of gatekeeper guardians successfully sealed Phobos, the King of the Old Ones. However, the Meridian Gate will open soon and a new team will be chosen to keep the Old Ones sealed. I was rebuilding the Dream World with my former team but chosen again to lead another team. My first team had a lack of teamwork so I will do much better this time. No more Misses Nice Girl. I'm in charge now. Gatekeepers Unite!
~Quintessence Guardian,
Jen Song
Chapter 1: Second Chance
Jen was sitting in her room and designing new outfits for future teams. She didn't like the plain jackets and pants. Four years has passed since her team sealed Phobos, the King of the Old Ones. Jen was 19-years-old, had long dark hair in a ponytail with side bangs, and was part Asian. Her teammates; Nick, Will, Packard, and Sam; were rebuilding the Dream World, a different dimension that keeps Earth in balance. The council is the head of the Gatekeeper Guardians. He is made of past souls of previous guardians and guides the current team. He holds a necklace called the Heart of Kandrakar that gives the teams their powers and transforms them into their battle suits. The Heart was going to show who the next gatekeepers were.
"Whatcha' doing there?" asked Nick, who was Jen's boyfriend.
She jumped in her seat from his sudden presence, "Just designing new outfits for the future teams. So far I have specific symbols for each on the front of their jackets. I don't think I want to change the outfits much."
Nick took a closer look at her designs. Quintessence was two curved lines, making an oval; Air's symbol was half a heart; Fire looked like a triangle; Water looked similar to a Nike logo; and Earth was a octagon with a square in the middle. "Where did you get these symbols from?"
"From a show called WITCH: Guardians of the Veil. I can relate so much from that show to the Gatekeeper Guardians. We're even called almost the same thing."
"Cool. How are you going to 'submit' it?"
"I bet the council can think of something," Jen said with a smirk. When Jen was done designing, she walked straight to the council's office. On her way, she saw Packard and Sam, who were twin brothers, making more museums for the past guardians. Packard would make ice sculptures while Sam metalbended the building. Will was visiting his uncle in the real world. Jen opened the door to the office and saw the council staring at the glowing Heart.
"Hey, I was redesigning the battle suits. Is there any way to 'submit' it?" asked Jen, ignoring what he was doing.
"Sure, let me take a look," he saw the designs and smiled. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks!" Jen replied. "What are you doing with the Heart?"
"It's time to pick the next gatekeepers. The Heart will show who like a projector."
"Cool! Can I see?"
"Of course." The Heart floated in the middle of the room and five people, four boys and one girl, appeared digitally. Each person had information about who they are, where they lived, and what power they had. Jen couldn't believe her eyes. She recognized these people before in a summer camp called Center for Talent Development, where the "smart" people were. The one that surprised the most was that the girl was herself. She was going to be the leader again.
"That's me! Why is the light around me glowing from purple to black constantly?" Jen asked.
"You will know soon. But last time, your light flashed so bright purple that it almost blinded me. Maybe this is why. You were going to be the leader again. This has never happened before. Do you know the others?"
"Coincidently, yes. I haven't talked to them for so long. It's been almost 6 years ago since I last saw them," she saw the fire guardian named Peter. Before they left summer camp, they had huge conflict between each other that broke their friendship. Jen went too far and Peter never forgave her for it. However, they were mad at each other.
"Do you think you can handle this team?" asked the council.
"Defiantly. I'll make sure this team won't end up like the last. At least I'll get along with three of the four," she smiled awkwardly.
"Good. I want you to get them together and explain the whole situation."
"What!? Me? How?" Jen exclaimed.
"You know the ropes and I'll give you the Heart of Kandrakar so you can teleport yourself around. I trust you that you can unite them," he said with a smile.
Jen sighed, "Okay, fine. I'll try my best to persuade them. Where would we go?"
"Take them to Houston, Texas. The agents built a secret base there that has a training room that you can change the setting, level of difficulty, and models of the Old Ones."
"Wow! That's so much better than a tree house you gave for my first team."
"With the technology these days, the agents were able to come up with new training room. Maybe we can get some for the Dream World," the council suggested.
"Totally!" Jen agreed. "So I guess I should get going." She grabbed the Heart and went back to tell Nick about what happened. The council took the outfit design and did some magic on them.
"Nick! Guess what?" Jen jumped on his back, surprising Nick a little.
"Whoa! What happened? Did the council accept your designs?" he put her down and pulled her close to him by the waist.
"Even better. I saw the next gatekeepers and I'm one of them! I'm supposed to get the others together to Texas."
"Congrats! You're going to be the leader again. Hope your team won't be as bad as the last one."
"Even if they did, I going to force them to corporate." Jen said arrogantly.
"You go tell them that, "Nick laughed. "Good luck and be safe. I'll be right here in the Dream World if you need me."
"I will and thanks," they kissed for a long time. Who knows when the next time they'll have time for that? After the kiss, Jen used the Heart to teleport to her first destination; St. Paul, Minnesota; where Alan the air guardian lived.
