Chapter 10- The last Chosen One
'So why do you want me here?', Cherry asked Phoebe as she was sitting down on the blue sofa.
Phoebe shrugged, trying to seem careless.
'No particular reason, actually. I just wanted to spend some time with my best friend…', Phoebe said, in a bored manner. 'Do you like Max?'
Cherry's violent blush said it all-Phoebe's best friend had a crush on Max! Normally, Phoebe would consider her best friend's crush on her twin brother gross, but now she found it perfect, a wonderful chance to break Max's heart!
'Well, yeah, I kinda like your brother! He's so hot and he's just… so perfect… I think I'd like to marry him one day!', Cherry exclaimed, much to Phoebe's disgust.
'Wow, sister, slow down a bit!', Phoebe exclaimed, trying to get Cherry back to reality, but obviously she wasn't able to do that. So she decided to go with the flow.
'Well, I think he likes you too!', Phoebe said, putting on a grimace that originally had to be a smile, but Cherry didn't observe it…
'Really? You think so?', Cherry exclaimed happily.
'Maybe I should talk to him…', Cherry started to say, heading towards the stairs that led to Max's lair.
'No, no!', Phoebe cried out, grabbing the blonde girl by her wrist and pulling her back on the sofa. 'What I think you should do is to tantalize him a little, you know, boys like that!'
'OK… what do you suggest?'
'Max likes girls that have no ethics, we have Tara for instance… Some short skirts and more… challenging outfits will surely do it!', Phoebe started to say, but Cherry stopped her impatiently.
'You do not suggest…', the blonde girl said with a scandalized look on her face.
Phoebe nodded in approval.
'No, Phoebe, I-I can't… You sure he likes me?'
Phoebe nodded again and Cherry's mostly expected answer came: 'OK, fine!'
'Good, let's go to the mall then!', the black-haired girl exclaimed grabbing her phone and wallet, rushing Cherry out of the house.
In the meanwhile, in Max's room…
'Now let your inner energy flow through your body and allow your self-conscious slip into oblivion.', the grave voice that Max grew accustomed to said. The boy tried his best to follow the instructions; eyes closed and limbs relaxed on the bed.
'Max you wouldn't believe this!', Dr. Colosso's voice made heard from somewhere around the teenager, interrupting his session of meditation.
'What is it, Colosso?', Max replied with annoyance, opening his eyes slowly.
'You wouldn't believe it!', the bunny replied loudly. 'That blonde girl, uhm- Cherries or something and your twin sister are leaving for the mall...'
'So?', Max replied, trying not to ask the white bunny to leave him alone. But he wouldn't do it anyway, as the teenager knew very well that Dr. Colosso didn't deserve it.
'The mall is a place the two of them might try to sabotage you!', Dr. Colosso exclaimed.
Max rolled his eyes, trying to find a way of telling the talking bunny that he was paranoid.
'Look, all girls go to the mall together with friends, there's nothing unusual about it…', the 15-year-old boy said, hoping that the white bunny would just drop it.
'All girls go to the mall in order to buy latex pants and you know… the-the whole set?'
'Well, occasionally, I suppose', Max replied, trying to convince the white rabbit that there was nothing unusual in Phoebe's comportment.
'Sorry, let me rephrase that that- do all girls go to the mall in order to buy tight outfits so they can tantalize Phoebe's twin brother?'
As Dr. Colosso said that, Max's attention was officially captured.
'How do you know-'
'I placed a microphone in Phoebe's purse', the bunny replied, definitely proud with what he's done.
'How did you do that?', Max asked, not being able to imagine a bunny, even one that was able to talk, able to put a microphone in someone's purse.
'Do you really wanna know?'
Max did not respond, being too busy with grabbing his leather jacket and heading to the stairs leading to the sitting room.
'Where are you going in such a hurry?', the rabbit asked, observing Max's frenetic behaviour.
'To the mall!', he said before superspeeding out of his lair.
Despite the fact that the two girls were moving pretty fast, Max had no problem in following them closely. Well, at least until they reached the mall, because then Phoebe and Cherry started to wonder from a shop to another, making it almost impossible for the Chosen One to keep up with them. But he had to, much to his displeasure. Luckily the two girls decided to enter a boutique.
'So why do you want me and Max together that badly? You used to hate the idea!', Cherry asked, once entered in a fitting room with Phoebe, none of them knowing that Max was listening closely from the room next to them.
'Well, you are my friend, and that's far more important than any of my quarrels with Max…', Phoebe said and the Chosen One correctly presumed that she was bluffing.
Cherry looked at Phoebe, quirking an eyebrow.
'So how do you want to hurt Max?', she finally said, after a moment of silence.
'What?!', Phoebe exclaimed, but it was obvious for both Cherry and Max that she sounded off tone. 'Alright fine!', Phoebe exclaimed, giving up. 'I want you to break Max's heart!', the black-haired girl said calmly as they weren't planning something nefarious.
Max felt as he was hit with a rock in his head- everything looked as on the verge of spinning wildly. The Chosen One dropped his invisibility and ran out of the shop, hardly restraining himself from crying.
'Hi Max!', a familiar voice said and Max turned around only to stay right in front of Cherry. 'Hi!', she repeated and Max nodded slightly in response barely hiding his misery. 'I-I uhm… wanted to tell you that I-I like you… and a lot!', Cherry said, her cheeks reddening violently, but Max did not reply, much to the blonde girl's surprise. And, without thinking twice, she let her face approach Max's, in an attempt to kiss him-she failed.
'No, I can't!', Max exclaimed, taking a step back.
'Why?', Cherry asked in genuine wonder, as she has never been rejected by a boy before.
'Why? WHY?', Max half-screamed, his sadness quickly turning into anger. 'I don't know, maybe because you and Phoebe are trying to make me suffer! I am deeply disgusted of you two, especially of you, Phoebe!', Max said, pointing to a thick pillar right behind Cherry, and Phoebe had no choice but to come out. But her face did not show regret, on contrary actually, her eyes were glowing with hatred and her lips were arched in a defiant manner.
'It was her idea!', Cherry exclaimed, startling the numerous crowd that was starting to form a circle around the three teenagers.
'Exactly, YOU DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!', Max replied, looking at the two girls in the dirtiest way possible. 'I have nothing to say to you Phoebe Thunderman, but be sure, I'll never consider you my sister again. I thought you were good, a true impersonation of Light, but if this what Light can offer, then I'll join Darkness! And be sure that I'll do the best of my ability to finish the Light side once and for all! FROM THIS MOMENT ON,', Max screamed, 'THE UNITED STATES WILL BE REORGANIZED INTO AN EMPIRE, WHERE DARKNESS WILL RULE! FOREVER!'
And before anyone could've said or done something, he supersped away.
Max felt a slight sensation of guilt as the tall grey fences of Villain U came in sight. Was it right what he has planned to do? Was Phoebe's betrayal a good enough excuse for his own treason? He was so confused…
As he came nearer the huge gates of Villain U, they opened by themselves, giving Max the feeling that he was expected. The inner yard of the University was disappointing for Max-the famous Villain U was nothing but a tall grey building with few windows and enormous doors.
The Chosen One opened one of the metal double doors and entered inside reluctantly, letting it close behind him with a loud bang that caused him to quiver. However, the interior wasn't as plain as the outside, the large hallway being decorated with statues of people has never heard of. The walls were decorated with gothic patterns and pictures of different personages of which he heard of and of some he didn't. A grand chandelier was dominating the ceiling, also decorated with gothic arches and, much to Max's disgust, with stuffed bats. But what really scared Max was the floating presence of danger.
'I was expecting you here, Chosen One Max', Dark Mayhem's voice made heard from the far end of the hallway, causing Max to snap out of his thoughts. 'But how impolite of me, please come in!', Dark Mayhem said, gallantly shoving Max into an obscurely lighten room, that Max soon observed, contained thousands of books, ordered systematically on wooden shelves. Dark Mayhem entered after Max, closing the door behind him.
'I suppose you are here, to… negotiate', Dark Mayhem said, arranging his robes.
'I want to join Darkness!', Max said.
'It is not necessary complicated…', the masked man said, thoughtfully. 'But you'll have to give away all your Light.'
'How do I do that?', Max asked, ready to do anything the masked man would've ordered him.
'Just let it all out… It's like breathing…', Dark Mayhem replied.
Max closed his eyes, repeating to himself that he wanted the Light no more and then he exhaled. In that very moment he felt as something heavy was being released off his soul and am warm draught touching his face tenderly.
'Get him!', he heard Dark Mayhem say and opened his eyes quickly, but it wasn't quickly enough. Two soldiers wearing masks and dark clothing had already grabbed him. He tried to fight back, but suddenly he wasn't able to do it- Dark Mayhem just fooled him to give away all his powers; Max was the Chosen One no more.
Max sat down on sorrowfully on the hard floor of the cell. What was he supposed to do now? What will happen to the world if there was no one to save it now? The world was doomed to an infinite period of rule of the Dark side, wars, illnesses and suffering everywhere… and all because of him…
Max tilted his head in a way that denoted shame-he was so ashamed of himself! Some tears have already made their way on his cheeks and quickly many others were following.
'There, there, don't cry, Max!', the Chosen One froze as he heard Phoebe's voice coming from somewhere behind him.
'Don't play with me, Mayhem!', he yelled, flinging violently at the bars that kept him apart from the rest of the world.
'I'm not Dark Mayhem, I can assure you of that, Max!', the voice said, and this time the ex-Chosen One listened. 'Turn around.', the voice ordered and Max complied, but when he saw what he saw, he thought he was going to have a heart attack. There, sitting in the dark, in the back of the cell was Phoebe, although she didn't look exactly like her, the dark-haired figure was far more fainter, even transparent.
'Who are you?', Max asked, approaching the girl cautiously, as she was about to attack him in any moment.
'You should ask what am I!', the girl replied, but edified the boy quickly. 'I am Phoebe's conscience.'
'What?', Max asked loudly, presuming that his hearing wasn't as good as it used to when he had his powers.
'After I accepted to give in to Dark Mayhem in change for Nora's life, he separated me from my body, so Phoebe would break your heart and make the prophecy come true.'
Max sat down near the pale person, but he still was a little shocked.
'I should've known that Phoebe would never do something like that to me, I should've known something was off!', Max exclaimed, tugging his hair, in pure frustration.
'Max,', Phoebe said, placing her hand on Max's shoulder as in an attempt to calm him down. However, the boy felt nothing else but a cold wind hovering his shoulder and right cheek.
'But now-now I lost my powers too!', Max exclaimed, his frustration increasing, and if Phoebe wouldn't have placed her other hand on his left shoulder, he would've pull out his hair.
'It's not for your powers that make you who you really are!', Phoebe's replica said. 'The Chosen Ones before you knew that. I suppose…'
'Wait!', Max stopped her. 'You knew that there were other Chosen Ones in the past and you didn't tell me?'
'Yes…', she replied highly embarrassed. 'Well, I kinda forgot, sorry!'
'No harm done. But I think I got an idea!', Max exclaimed. 'Just… just don't make a noise, OK?', he said and upon earning Phoebe's nod of confirmation, he laid on his back, eyes closed, trying to free his mind of all his worries.
Max opened his eyes slowly only to find himself on wet grass. He jumped on his feet puzzled and looked around himself. He was in a beautiful garden that contained hundreds of differently coloured flowers, arranged in grandiose patterns. Everything in the garden was meant to pleasure the eye, he observed.
'Where am I?'. he asked himself out loud, but soon his attention was captured by the sky, which curiously wasn't blue, neither was it clouded nor was the sun observable. It seemed like there was no time.
'This is an interdimensional world, Chosen One Max.', the grave voice that Max got so accustomed to said, and Max turned on his heels in order to see a majestic looking, tall old man, with a long white beard and hazel eyes. His face, of an infinite calm was marked by the occasional wrinkles.
'It is good to put a face to a voice, right Max?', the man said, looking at Max intensely as in an attempt of reading his mind. 'You are here to get answers, but I am afraid I cannot give you too many-'
'What is a Chosen One?', Max interrupted the old man rather unceremoniously.
'A Chosen One is an offspring of a superhero, born exactly in the moment when Achilles Comet penetrates the atmosphere of Earth and his or her main mission is to maintain the balance of the world. He or she has the power to control all four elements and master the superpowers of all the contemporary superheroes. Obviously, in time, the Chosen One gets stronger and stronger. It all started in 1245 in Germany, when the members of four great German families helped the spirit of Light, Avirra defeat Darkness. In return, she promised that some heirs of the four families will be connected to her sequentially. So the first Chosen One, which would be me, was to be part of the Hardt family. After my death, the next Chosen One was someone from the Klärk family, then the third Chosen One was part of the Teiner family and the fourth Chosen One was part of the Donnermann family. And of course, the cycle continued without interruption.
'And then what happened?', Max asked, having the feeling that something had to happen in the story.
'Klaus Donnermann was another Chosen One, but he did no remarkable things during his lifetime. In 1849, when he was 39, his best friend, another superhero tried to steal his powers. Klaus killed the man and then, with the rest of his family he left for the US, in an attempt to clean his conscience of the murder he had done. And that's when the Donnermanns became the Thundermans. In the end, overwhelmed by what he had done, he killed himself, and became ghost. Regretting the powers he possessed during his lifetime, he joined Darkness and became what now we call Dark Mayhem, Lord of the Dark Side. Waiting and sometimes contributing to the extinction of three of the four families, he is now decided to destroy the Thundermans too and to end the Chosen One cycle once and for all! The Chosen One is the only person that can stop him from accomplishing his mission-to destroy the Light side.
'How can he do that?', Max asked.
'If he creates an Army of Darkness then the souls of his souldiers will give him enough power to create the Dark Seed, a piece of pure Darkness that once in contact with the earth it will expand, killing everything in its way and then, giving birth to an empire of Darkness…'
'I have to stop him!', Max exclaimed.
'You will!', the man replied.
'How? My powers are all gone!'
The man started to laugh loudly. 'Your powers aren't gone! Light is infinite and when you did what you did because of your slight moment of aberration you only gave away a part of your strength, but your powers are still there.
'Then I'll have to return!', Max exclaimed, trying to see an exit. There was none.
'One moment, though!', the old man said. 'I have to warn you- all the other families that compose the cycle exist no more, so if you die, sooner or later, the cycle will be permanently broken.'
As the old man said this, the image of the gardens started to fade away, but the image of the bearded man persisted for a long time in Max's mind.
The Chosen One opened his eyes, eagerly rising on his feet.
'Stand back!', he ordered Phoebe's conscience and she complied.
Then, he closed his eyes, gathering all his inner strength in one place, before letting it all out. The moment was spectacular; rays of blue, red, yellow, green and violet light appeared from nowhere, all of them directed towards the bars of his cell that kept him and Phoebe's conscience apart from the world. Seconds later, the metal grid was nothing more than a bunch of bars half melted, scattered on the floor.
Max looked around to make sure Phoebe's conscience was fine but much to his concern, Phoebe's humanoid form started to become even more transparent.
'Thank you!', she whispered before vanishing.
'Go get Phoebe right!', Max said, although he knew that his sister's conscience was already hundreds of miles away.
In the meanwhile, back at the Thundermans house…
Phoebe gasped- she felt like a cold piece of metal was directly applied on her skin, but she had no time to think about it as an avalanche of thoughts started to seize her mind.
"What have I done? I betrayed Max and lost my best friend and in the same day! What am I going to tell mom and dad? That I drove Max away? That I made the prophecy come true?!'
'Phoebe…', the black-haired girl heard Hank's voice which made the teenager girl startle.
'Where's Max?'
'Why?', she replied, trying to dodge the question.
'Superman called. An army led by Dark Mayhem is threatening to attack Metroburg. They need every superhero and especially Max in order to defend Metroburg and defeat Dark Mayhem. Now, more than ever, the world needs the Chosen One. So where is he?'