Once again, this is Ghostalker, with the next chapter of Justin Russo, Planeswalker. I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to be one of the last chapters for a while, since I plan on somewhat interrupting the story in order to write a tie-in, then continuing on after that. Or perhaps I'll just write the tie-in later; one never knows!
On to the disclaimers! As you most probably know, I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place, or else I, like many others, would never have cast David and Selena as brother and sister. It's just too weird. Also, I do not own Magic: The Gathering or Monster Hunter, though I thoroughly enjoy both of them. What I do own is the OC that will be in this particular chapter, so hopefully you like him.
And thus, without further ado, here is the next chapter!
Justin hated flying.
Well, he hated flying in an airplane. Justin was the kind of guy who liked everything under control. He liked to be in charge of everything he could, because, as a perfectionist, he abided by the words "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." When someone else was flying the plane, it made him nervous.
Flying on the carpet was not an issue. He was in control then, in charge of his own destiny. He could fly wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, however he wanted. That was freedom.
He was on a flight from New York to Egypt, because, honestly, where else would a runaway mummy go, but back to Egypt? To this end, Justin had purchased an English-Arabic dictionary in case he encountered people who didn't speak English (a high possibility), and was currently reading a spellbook along with some of his notes. He wanted everything committed to memory, so that in the inevitable event of conflict between Justin and the mummy, he would be absolutely ready. He'd spent the first five hours posing endless scenarios in his head, scenarios that encompassed what he believed to be every possibility in the duel. He'd repeated the spells he'd need over and over again, to the point that they were by now reflex.
He'd gotten some funny stares when he'd whipped out his wand to practice wand movements, but he'd explained it away as a prop for a Dungeons and Gargoyles convention he was going to. His seat neighbors had bought the explanation. Justin was proud of himself for coming up with such a convincing lie so quickly and smoothly. I guess being around Alex wasn't all bad, he mused.
He spent the next three hours sleeping, then the final two hours reading his English-Arabic dictionary. He still had some trouble with pronunciation (Arabic wasn't very much like Spanish in terms of pronunciation), but he at least knew how to ask where the bathroom was. A very important skill.
When he finally landed, after enduring the necessary evils of waiting on luggage, he took all his things out to the curbside, and flagged down a taxi. After struggling to tell the driver where to go in Arabic, he simply whipped out a map, and pointed. This, at least, the driver understood, and so they took off for the bus station which would take Justin to the pyramids of Giza. He figured he'd start there first.
After about another hour, Justin finally arrived at the Great Pyramids. After losing his tour group successfully, Justin ducked behind a corner and whispered a spell, one that (he hoped) would put him right in the middle of the Great Pyramid.
It did work. What Justin had forgotten was that, since there were no tour groups allowed in the Great Pyramid, the lighting was rather lacking. This he fixed with a simple hovering light spell, one he'd learned on the way over.
After wandering through the many passages for some time, he began to get the feeling that he was being followed. Every time he got this feeling and turned around, however, he saw nothing. He shrugged it off, chalking it up to his fear of enclosed spaces, and continued on.
Eventually, he happened across a pathway that led down. He followed it, thinking he heard voices. After a short time, he saw light ahead, and extinguished his own light spell. He followed the light to its source, and found a torch-lit room.
Justin crept up silently to the doorway, where he peeked around the corner. Lo and behold, he saw the mummy from the museum, surrounded by his child minions and Juliet. Juliet was dressed in what appeared to be a ceremonial gown, and there were not one, but two sarcophagi in the room, side by side.
The children were chanting in an unknown language, one Justin assumed to be ancient Egyptian. As he watched, horrified, Juliet began to climb into the stone sarcophagus, as the mummy levitated a giant stone lid over it.
At this, Justin could not sit back any longer. He burst into the room, shouting "Let her go!" and aiming a fire spell at the unsuspecting mummy.
As the mummy turned to face Justin, he rolled to his left, avoiding eye contact, and aimed another fireball at the bandaged menace. The first fireball he'd cast hit, but the second dissipated as the mummy dropped the sarcophagus lid off to the side and focused his attention on Justin's attacks.
"So… the boy from the museum…" Justin started a bit from his place behind the empty sarcophagus. "Yes, that's right, I saw you. I knew you were there. I just didn't believe you held any worth as a minion." Ouch.
"Yeah, well, you made huge mistake, mummy," Justin shot back. "I'd have been perfectly willing to let you go, but you screwed up and took my Juliet with you. Nobody gets between me and her. Not our parents, not the monster hunter guild, and certainly not you."
"How touching. But you do realize that she is forever under my control, don't you? All I have to do is send her after you, and we'll see how long a wizard can last against a vampire." The ancient Egyptian laughed. "Wouldn't that be poetic? A man comes to rescue his lover, only to be killed by her. Rather fitting, I think." He gestured at Juliet's sarcophagus, and she stirred from her mesmerized state.
"Finish the boy," the mummy ordered, and Juliet began to rise from her resting place.
"I'm sorry, Juliet," Justin whispered, and he aimed his wand at the sarcophagus lid that lay forgotten against the wall. It levitated, floating high into the air, and he maneuvered it into place before dropping it.
Crack! The lid came down hard on Juliet's head, knocking her unconscious and trapping her inside the stone box. He'd get her out later; right now he needed to take this mummy on one-on-one.
He had to roll to the side again as the mummy's blow crashed into the floor where he'd been kneeling a moment before. Being very careful not to maintain eye contact, he began to shoot battle spell after battle spell at the mummy, but nothing he did seemed to work. The mummy's protective aura was too strong for his spells to penetrate. If I'd only been a full wizard, this guy would have been a cinch! Justin thought bitterly.
After circling the room a few times, dodging and rolling to avoid being caught, Justin felt his back press against something that was not a stone wall. He looked behind him, only to find one of the mummy's child minions grabbing onto his legs.
The others came the next moment, grabbing onto him, knocking him over, and immobilizing him. Even as he struggled, Justin knew this was the end, that he had failed. His fears were confirmed a moment later, as the mummy's head came into view.
"I'd have liked to pit you against your vampire girlfriend, but you leave me only one choice. Would you like to be my eternal slave, or should I just kill you now?"
"I'll never serve you," Justin spat. "I'd rather die than be a slave to a filthy dust rag."
"Eternal slavery it is, then," the mummy cackled, and his eyes began to glow red.
"Papyrium incarcerus!"
A new voice rang throughout the burial chamber, and Justin saw the mummy disappear in a flash of light. As the now-bewildered children let go of Justin, their master no longer there to influence them, Justin sat up, and looked around to see where this strange voice had come from.
A man Justin had never seen before stood in the entrance to the burial chamber. He wore a black robe, one with a hood, and Justin could not see anything above his mouth, as it was shrouded in shadow. In one hand, the man held a small, rectangular piece of what looked to be paper, and his other hand held a glowing ball. As Justin looked on, astonished, the glowing ball of light entered the paper, causing it to glow white, then fade into what looked like a baseball card. Only instead of a famous player, the likeness of the mummy was the main picture.
Justin stood and dusted himself off. He waved his wand toward the sarcophagus lid where Juliet lay imprisoned, and the lid began to lift off. As Juliet began to stand up, looking rather dazed from her small concussion, Justin turned back to the man.
"Hey, thanks for saving my life, man. I'd have been a goner if it weren't for you." He stuck out his hand, but in reply, the other man gestured and blasted Justin off his feet.
"Hey!" Justin struggled to return to his feet, only to see the man turn his attention to Juliet. "Wait, what are you…"
He never got the chance to finish, as the stranger whipped out a new blank piece of paper and shout the spell again, "Papyrium Incarcerus!"
Now Justin looked on in horror and disbelief as the flash of white encompassed Juliet, and made her vanish. The stranger once again held the glowing white ball in his hand, and forced the sphere of light into the card. Now Justin saw Juliet inside the card, and his thoughts were lost in a blinding rage.
"NOOO!" He whipped out his wand and started to utter the words to curse the man into oblivion, but his opponent was faster. With one hand, he slid the card into a holding belt, exchanging it for another, and with the other, gathered magical energy in his hand.
Justin finished uttering the words, and stream of angry red light burst forth from his wand and flashed toward his foe. In the same moment, the man released the built-up magic from his one hand into the card in his other.
Justin watched as a tall, flaming, skeletal being burst forth from the card and took Justin's spell without flinching. The monster that the other had brought forth from his card carried two giant axes which were also aflame. Justin's heart began to beat faster and he broke out into a cold sweat as he faced down the monstrosity.
The man clad in black spoke the first words besides the spells Justin had heard him utter. "Fool. You didn't think you could actually beat me, did you? You couldn't even rescue your vampire from the mummy, who I overpowered and imprisoned in a single spell. Listen closely. You messed with the wrong guy."
The infernal skeleton slashed an axe in Justin's direction, and he narrowly avoided being cloven in two. He tripped over a stone in the floor and fell on his butt, scrambling backwards in an attempt to escape his impending doom.
Justin's foe smirked. "I gotta hand it to you, kid, you've got the spark. You've got the will, you've got the smarts; you just lack the knowledge. It's a pity, really to have to kill you like this." The smoldering butcher raised his axe high above his head, and Justin knew his time had come.
Just as the axe came crashing down, Justin's mind was filled with all kinds of thoughts. I'm sorry, Mom, I won't be coming back. I'm sorry Juliet; I couldn't rescue you. Sorry, Alex, for always being on your case. But at the same time as these thoughts filled his head, a fiery heat was filling his chest.
And just as the axe was about to end Justin's life, he himself flashed a blinding white and faded into nothingness. The axe struck the floor where his neck had been but an instant before.
The black-clad man smirked again. "Come face me when you're ready, kid."
And with that, he returned the fiery creature to the card in his hand, and then flashed white and faded too.
So there it is, the next chapter of Justin Russo, Planeswalker. For those of you who know about Planeswalkers and sparks and all that, you've probably figured out what happened. Now I haven't read enough to know if this is what happens when such a spark ignites, but I did my best to imagine it, and this is what I came up with. If that's not how it works, and you feel so inclined, please feel free to tell me how it does work so that in the future I can correct it.
As I said, the OC in this chapter is my creation. If he bears resemblance to a character from an already established franchise, I apologize, that was completely accidental.
Please read and review. I do like reviews. Feel free to tell me what I'm doing wrong, what I'm doing right, what I'm doing right but could be doing better, anything. I'm writing in part to enjoy myself, and in part to improve, so criticism is welcomed.
Stay tuned for next chapter, which probably won't be up for a month or so.
Until then, this is…
::Ghostalker::