Well...let's get to chapter 11! Thanks to everyone who has given a review to my story and let it continue!
Let's go!
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Masquerade in the Night
by Green Phantom Queen
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Chapter 11-Chamaeleon, The Chameleon
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The next morning, Prince Jeri and Molly waved goodbye to their family and started to pack their belongings. The children of the tribe showered them with flowers, hugs and wishes for the best. It took about an hour before they finally got back to the Circus tent.
"There you are!" said Adam. "Welcome to the Dream Circus!"
"It seems amazing." said Molly. "Will you give us a tour?"
"No." said Adam. "I'm busy with the Sphinxes for later tonight. But Gangrel should help you out. He should be preparing the props and the schedule for tonight's performance."
"Sphinxes?" Prince Jeri gasped out. "You have Sphinxes?" His ears started to twitch in excitement. "Can I see them?"
"Maybe later." said Adam, patting his head. "Now, go on and meet up with the ringleader, just take a left past the fire-breathing boys and then a right at the boy with the ghosts."
The two nodded their heads and soon followed the path. They immediately found Matt and Jeff with some torches.
"Where's the 'fire-breathing'?" said Prince Jeri. It was then Matt blew on torches, and a burst of fire came out of his mouth.
"Wow..." said Prince Jeri, trying to get closer to them. Jeff didn't pay any attention as the torches in his hands were lit with small flames. Jeff than started to move his hips to an unknown rhythm, juggling the torches in the air. Molly dragged Prince Jeri away from the two before he could get incinerated.
"Take a left there..." said Molly, pushing Prince Jeri away. "Then we have to find the boy with the..."
She looked to her right, seeing Randy surrounded by wispy smoky orbs. He was moving his hands like a conductor at an orchestra and the smokes started to circle him.
"What the heck?" said Molly. The smokes transformed into transparent figures who were dancing to a strand of faint music. They looked so happy as they waltzed away to the notes that were floating around them.
"Whoa...." said Prince Jeri. "Can we take a closer look?"
"Perhaps we can do it as soon as we get acquainted with the Ringleader." said Molly, taking a right past Randy. The two eventually made it to a small clearing that had a table for at least 15 people, a couple of baskets full of produce, and a pot bubbling away a delicious stew. They immediately saw Gangrel, placing more wood for the fire and immediately ran up to him.
"There you are!" said Molly. "We finally found you." There was no response from him.
"Hey!" said Prince Jeri, shaking the Ringleader. "We've come to speak to y...." He stopped when he saw Gangrel's eyes...they looked...empty.
"Um, Molly." said the prince. "We should go...slowly...because something's wrong with this man..."
"There's nothing wrong with me." Gangrel said softly. "I'm just wondering about something..." He looked straight at them, but Molly and Prince Jeri gasped more in surprise, the wing markings they saw before were already climbing around his neck. "Wondering about..." His voice rose in anger. "Why mommy and daddy abandoned me!"
At that instant Gangrel's whole appearance change until Dusk took his place. He smiled evilly at Molly and Prince Jeri who backed away from the young child. Dusk grinned as he brought out an orb of black energy.
"DIE!" He said as he hurled it at them. Molly and Prince Jeri screamed and closed their eyes...
Only to wake up back to where they were with Gangrel looking at them weirdly.
"Um," he said. "Are you two alright?"
Molly and Prince Jeri shot nervous glances at each other, then trailed their eyes at Gangrel's neck. There were no traces of the tattoo around his neck, nor was there any of Dusk at all. Was it all a dream? An illusion?
"We're fine." said Prince Jeri. "We were told by Adam to meet up with you. You were supposed to give us a tour of the Circus."
"Ah yes." said Gangrel, stirring the food filled pot. "The stew will be done by the time the tour will be done." He placed the lid on top of the pot, deafening the bubbling sounds of the delicious meal. Now let's go."
Prince Jeri and Molly nodded their heads and followed him.
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"Good girl." said Adam, petting Terrah on the head. She smiled, and let out a soft purr at the touch. Stryker mewed and received a small pat on the head."Now, let's get the next routine up and running!"
Adam brought out his black star wand out and started to wave it around in the air. Black stars started to appear, falling down like a shower. He twirled around, and more black stars appeared.
"So Terrah," Adam continued. "I'm going to shower black stars over the area, and then we're going to make a small pool of water in the arena. Terrah, you and Ven will have some clay pots in your mouth filled with water. When I give the signal, Terrah will pour her pot of water into the pool and Ven will bring hers and pour it onto the ground. That'll complete half of the performance....then, you're both going to crouch down as Stryker grabs the wand and starts bringing in more stars around the area. Finally, Terrah and Ven will both splash in the water, and we'll bring out a finale of light to make the water droplets look similar to stars. Do you understand?"
He then felt the sound of clapping hands. Adam turned around and saw Gangrel, Prince Jeri and Molly staring at him. Stryker mewed as she got on Adam's shoulder.
"So, you're going to do Major Arcana XVII-The Star." said Gangrel. "But you do know, that the image on the card is a naked woman, right?"
"Of course I do!" said Adam. "So I'm going to wear girl's clothing for the performance, but I won't be naked. After all, we've got young kids in the audience watching our acts and I don't think the adults will be throwing Beats and Melodi at us if I'm out there without any clothes on."
"Well, you do look like a girl anyway." said Prince Jeri. For that Adam immediately tackled him onto the ground.
"I do not look like a girl!" He cried out, as the two rolled around in the grass. "So don't call me one!"
"Then why do you have long hair?" said Prince Jeri, pulling a strand of Adam's long, golden tresses.
Adam blushed as he muttered. "I hate haircuts."
Molly giggled a bit, covering a hand with a cat paw. "Oh, is that all?" She asked. "But don't worry, Prince Jeri has a fear of anything pink."
"Don't say that!" Prince Jeri cried out. "Pink is the color of evil!"
"Then we better make sure he isn't near Mickie's clothes then." Gangrel muttered.
"Oh by the way," said Adam, pointing to his left. "If you need to see everyone else, they're over there working on getting everything prepared for our trip to Modera, or are just working on their routines."
"Thanks for the information," said Molly. She then saw Prince Jeri staring intently at the Sphinxes. "Um Prince Jeri, are you sure that's a good idea?"
"They're so cute!" said Prince Jeri, bringing his paw out. "It's nice to meet you."
Terrah saw this and sniffed the child's hand a bit; then she suddenly put it in her mouth.
"Terrah!" Gangrel cried out, rushing over to Prince Jeri's side and pulling him away. "Bad girl! You don't eat the newcomer's hand!"
Molly ran to Prince Jeri, also trying to pull him away. "Please, your Majesty." She said. "Get away from her, you can't lose a paw!"
After much effort the two were able to stop Terrah from chewing on Prince Jeri's paw. The poor hand was covered in Sphinx saliva.
"Ewww..." said Prince Jeri. "Why'd she do that?"
"It was because your hand was a treat to her." said Adam. "Terrah liked the scent that came from the Prince's hand and wanted to eat it." Terrah meowed sadly, bowing her head. "That's okay," Adam continued, patting her head once more. "You're forgiven."
"Now, that that's done. We can continue." Gangrel said, hearing the sounds of the determined Circus getting prepared for their trip.
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After going through a couple of the remaining acts—Jay's juggling routine, John's aerial silk act, Ashley's trapeze performance, Mickie's contortionist act, Paul and Brian's jester routine, and Shannon's snake charmer performance—they immediately found Maria with her Rain Bow Staff. She waved it around, and a wave of paint circled around her. She closed her eyes as the paint transformed into a sheet of rainbow ice. Then she opened them, and small rainbow colored birds burst free from the ice and circled around her. The three even noticed her attire: Maria was now wearing a red corset, an orange/yellow glove on her right hand, and a green-blue skirt. She also had purple boots.
"If she can't catch a rainbow, she would rather dress like a rainbow." Gangrel muttered. Maria turned around and gasped, which caused all of her new creations to melt into the regular rainbow paint that they originated from.
"I didn't see you coming at all." she said, her face turning red with embarrassment. "I guess you're going to say my get-up is ridiculous, right?"
"It isn't." Gangrel said, admiring the creativity in the whole set-up. "And I'm guessing you wanted to tell me something."
Maria nodded her head as she gripped her staff tightly. "Y-yeah." she replied. "I wanted to show the world my creative and artistic side. And rainbows...even though they're made of white light, share the happiness and hope for better things. When the rain clears down, a rainbow is the beacon of light for everyone to see that the sun is now shining once more. And since I heard that Adam is doing an act with water...could you...that is to say...let me go after him?"
"It is dangerous," Gangrel murmured under his breath, rubbing his chin in thought. "IT requires great focus, determination, creativity...Aw, what the heck. Why not?"
"YAY!" Maria cried, hugging Gangrel. "Thank you so much!"
Suddenly Matt and Jeff ran over to the four. "Um, Gangrel." Matt started. "Did you leave anything on the fire?"
"Just a pot of stew." said Prince Jeri. "Why do you ask?"
"Because if you don't come in the next 5 minutes, then it's all gone!" said Jeff. "Hurry before there's..."
In that instant, there was no one left except the Hardy Brothers. Jeff's stomach started to growl.
"Let's go before we don't get breakfast!" said Matt, laughing a bit.
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Prince Jeri and Molly sat amongst the hay bales in the wooden cart. They smiled at themselves as they started to fall asleep, their bodies rocking due to the movement of the cart going through the bumpy road.
"This is the life, isn't it?" said Adam. "Traveling to different places, entertaining for hundreds of people."
"Never having to be fending for ourselves ever again." Jay added. "I could get used to this."
Ashley pointed at something ahead of her. "Look!" she cried out. "It's...Modera..."
Immediately entering Twili, the Circus found many new things that made Noir pale in comparison. Everything was shimmering, as if the sun had blessed it with its eternal gift of a sunrise. The architecture had a look of marble, statues adorned them and the ionic columns made it look royal. What was also interesting was that Twili had the highest elf population...a fact that the Circus figured out from many of the people having pointed ears and long white robes going down to their feet.
"It's beautiful." said Mickie. "And we're in it's capital!"
Some of the children started to run toward Gangrel's wooden cart as they neared the Town Square. Then other people started to crowd around, intrigued by what is going on. Amazed faces on the young girls and boys started to multiply as the Circus stopped at the center of town.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Gangrel announced. "Tonight, we will bring in some brand new acts never before seen anywhere else! The show will be tonight at 8 PM sharp. Admission is a mere melodi, and there will be fun for the whole family!"
"Don't be late!" said Paul.
"There's going to be popcorn and cotton candy!" said Brian.
"The kids will have a chance to meet with some of the animals before curtains open!" Ashley added.
"It's a great show!" Maria finished.
Everyone in the crowd started to talk amongst themselves, some trying to imagine what was in store for them that evening. Everyone immediately left, leaving for their houses, their stalls, wherever they were heading for...until only three people were left.
"Well, well." The one in the middle said with a sneer. "Look what we have here...Paulie, Bria, Ashes and Mar."
Maria snarled at the three. "Mercury, Nitro and Melina...MNM...what do you want?" She said to them.
Mercury smirked. "We just wanted to wish you luck." He mocked. "You're going to need it when you fall flat on your face on a pile of horse shit!" MNM laughed at the idea.
Maria gripped on her Rain Bow Staff, trying her hardest not to make it some giant sword to slice their heads off. Paul was also trying his hardest not to make arms grow from the ground and pants MNM in front of everyone (not like he tried to do that years ago).
"Thanks for your support." Maria said in her cheerful grin. "So, how have you been doing since we last saw you 5 years ago?"
"Ruling the old orphanage, as usual." said Nitro. "The younger kids wait on us hand and food, and none of us have to lift a finger. And the old coots don't even notice what we're doing."
"The same as always huh?" said Ashley, trying to deliver her best fake grin ever. "Some things never change."
"Exactly." said Melina. "You four are still the same pathetic losers from the orphanage."
"Wait, a minute." said John. "How old are you?"
"18." Mercury said.
"And you're using kids for all your dirty deeds?" John asked. "I mean, what, you're paying money for them to give you dances or at least entertain you..."
"NOT LIKE THAT!" Nitro yelled, interrupting John. "How dare you have the audacity to say that to us!"
"Just checking." John said, rolling his eyes. "Now if you excuse us, we've got a wooden cart, three gryphons, some dragons, a panther, two sphinxes and a whole menagerie of animals that will kill and trample over you if you don't move.
"All right, all right." said Melina, as the three moved out of the way. Gangrel immediately clicked his teeth and the horse drawn cart started to move away, the parade of other animals soon followed him until no one was in sight.
"Hmph." said Nitro. "We're better without them."
"Or so you say." said a voice. MNM tried to find out where it was, but they couldn't find the source. "Tell me, why do you hate them so much? And don't leave out any detail...I want to know everything about them. But not here...follow the sound of my voice into the alleyways, and we'll get to know each other...a little bit better."
MNM exchanged worried glances; they knew from the orphanage that it was never a good idea to go into an abandoned house with some disembodied voice telling you to do so (not like they ever experienced it, but it was still a good thing to know). But something was pulling their bodies closer and closer to the house...something they were unable to describe.
On one of the rooftops, a lone figure twitched his fingers, pulling on invisible strings as he saw MNM come closer and closer to an abandoned house, ready for the plan to be in action. A blue mage's hooded cloak covered his body and a small strand of blonde hair was in front of his face. Pulling a small scroll out, he smirked at the two drawings in front of them. He then chanted a spell as the images on the scroll started to change.
"This is going to get good..." He whispered to himself.
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"This is awesome!" said Jay, seeing all of the stores in Modera. "I can't wait to get some new clothes!"
"Wait for me, Jay!" said Adam, him and Stryker chasing after him. The Circus was given time to go shopping and explore the capital of Twili before meeting up with Gangrel to set up and prepare for the big performance tonight. It was a great way to just relax after having to fight three villains, and surviving a battle with Dusk.
John was staring at a display window that had a beautiful cape on one of the mannequins. It was a beautiful green color, with golden embroidery and it had the images of two wolves looking at each other above a silver moon. There was a border of silver wolves and images of the moon in different phases...
But it was also expensive...about 30 clefas for that piece of cloth.
"It's beautiful," He whispered, pressing his fingers amongst the glass. "I want it so badly. Can you buy it for me, Randy?"
Randy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why would you want this cape?" He exclaimed. "You have other ones back in your trunk.
"But none are pretty as this one," John whined. "Please?" He turned to Randy, giving him a pair of puppy eyes. "For me?"
Randy tried to say something, but he saw how sad and cute John looked. He looked like a wet puppy that had been kicked and abused. The young necromancer tried to close his eyes, but that sad puppy face was clear as day in his mind.
"All right, all right!" he said. "I'll give you 15 clefas to pay for it. But you owe me a favor, deal?"
"Thank you so much!" John said, squeezing Randy to pieces. "I love you, man! I really do!"
Ashley, Maria and Mickie were at a jewelry shop, looking for new accessories. They were marveled at the craftsmanship of all the intricate shapes of metal that were there.
"I want that one!" Ashley said, pointing to a pair of yellow star earrings. Mickie cried the same thing to a pair of silver spiral earrings.
"But guys," said Maria. "You already have enough earrings. Why do you want those two?"
"Because," said Ashley. "We want to try out your Fusion Alchemy to make our Silver Bell Staffs gain new powers. What do you think?"
Maria beamed at them. "That's a good idea!"
Mickie started to bounce up and down. "Yay!" she cried. "I can't to try out my new weapon!"
Matt and Jeff were at a small candy store known as Sugar Cloud that had a young girl wearing a giant hat and glasses as the shopkeeper (she stated her parents were busy at home). She gave them a big smile as the Hardy Brothers entered.
"Welcome to my little shop!" said the girl. "It's 10 beats for the first quarter-pound of candy, and an extra 5 for every extra quarter-pound that's added. I highly recommend the Rainbow Cloud Fluffs, the Snapdragon Blossoms, and the Mallow Sheep!"
"Can we at least sample one of each before we make our purchases?" said Matt, trying his hardest to restrain his brother from the sugary sweets.
"Sure!" said the girl, bringing out two pieces of each candy. There were ones that looked like rainbow colored cotton candy fluffs, red flowers made of sugar, and a cute little sheep made out of marshmallow cream and even had a chocolate face and four legs.
"LET ME AT THEM!" Jeff cried, diving into the Snapdragon Blossoms. He bit one, but then started to sweat a bit. In an instant, he accidentally blew a small stream of fire, melting the poor candy on the display table into puddles of sugar. "Oops..." he said.
"I forgot to mention," said the shop keeper. "The Snapdragon Blossoms are created with Red Cinnamon Clusters...eating a whole one causes people to get a warm feeling in their mouths, but I've never seen someone breathe fire before."
"Yeah," said Matt. "It's amazing what the human body can do." He then stared at the candy puddles. "Sorry about the candy."
The girl giggled a bit. "That's okay! I'll just prepare you two bags of those sweets. And for showing me an awesome display of fire, I'll even give you a free Fairy float, Root beer flavored!"
"HOORAY!" Jeff cheered, hugging the girl. "I LOVE YOU!"
Matt rolled his eyes and shook his head, afraid of the sugar high Jeff he was going to have to face later on.
Shannon had accompanied Prince Jeri and Molly at a small pet store. Inside there were many birds chirping away, a couple of puppies yapping away, some kittens mewing for milk and...
"I WANT THAT ONE!" Prince Jeri cried, seeing the small sphinx cub staring at him. It had golden fur, blue eyes and a small collar with a golden name tag on it. "It's so adorable! Can I have it, Molly? Please?"
Shannon rolled his eyes as he had his pet snake, Dynamo slithered around his neck. It stared at everything around it, flicking his tongue out every now and then. "There, there." He said, petting his partner's head. "I'll get you a nice mouse or two. You're getting pretty hungry, right?"
He then noticed two small white mice, eating a couple of seeds in a cage. Shannon grinned as he stared at the two.
"Then again," He muttered. "I am hungry for something furry..."
"So please, can I have it?" Prince Jeri begged. "Please? I'll take care of it. I promise!"
Molly smiled, patting him on the head. "All right," she said, bringing out a money pouch. "After this, we're buying some hats for the two of us. If we go out in public exposed, we'll be fussed over more than the children back at the tribe."
Prince Jeri ignored what she was saying as she handed the pet owner the money for the sphinx cub. He then picked it up and started to cradle it in his arms.
"What do I call her?" he said as the little kitten mewed.
"It's a guy, actually." said the pet owner. "Sphinxes are mostly female, but this little guy is male."
"Aww, he's adorable." said Molly, rubbing the Sphinx cub's belly.
Suddenly a large shriek came from the mice cage. Prince Jeri and Molly gasped as they saw Shannon swallow a poor little mouse whole. With a gulp, the poor mouse fell into Moore's stomach.
Shannon stared at the two, showing them the other mouse. "Want one?" He asked.
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In another part of town, Paul and Brian were visiting the old orphanage. They were currently chatting away with the caretaker, Jim Ross.
"Bless my soul!" Ross said, seeing Paul and Brian all grown up. "It's been 5 years. How have you been doing, you two?"
"Awesome!" said Brian. "Ashley and Maria are great also! The Dream Circus has been attracting people far and wide. And we've grown from 5 to 15!"
"You tripled the amount of people in just that amount of time?" A smile was on the man's face. "That's amazing." He then let out a sigh, as he took a sip from his cup of tea.
"What's wrong?" Paul asked him.
"It's those three." Ross explained. "Ever since you guys left, they've been different. Sad, depressed, maybe a bit jealous actually."
"Sad? Depressed? Jealous?" Brian repeated. "You have got to be kidding me."
Ross shook his head. "I knew you'd say that." He replied. "MNM aren't that bad...they've had worse childhoods than you've had. Melina's father was an alcoholic and would constantly abuse her, and her mom had no choice but to put her in the orphanage so she'd could have a chance for another life. Nitro had two other sisters who were constantly spoiled and he was the 'black sheep' in his family. Last but not least, Mercury's parents had drug problems and he was nearly sent into child prostitution just to help support the family—who wanted to act more like kids, rather than take care of them."
"So because of their pasts, they act so arrogant...because they don't want people to pity them for all their past troubles." Paul summarized. "The four of us had a chance for a better life, but seeing the orphanage...MNM are the only ones who never found someone who would say to them 'I love you'."
"It's really sad." Ross added. "They keep waiting the children hand in foot, as a way to show that they have some control in the orphanage. But what really tears them apart is that those little children get to leave for new lives...but they continue to grow old, and still rot away in this prison." He let out another sigh. "I've tried all that I can, but there's nothing that can lift their spirits. And because of their reputation, no one in Modera or even Twili itself will accept them."
"Damn it," said Brian. "If we knew that sooner, than Gangrel might've taken them in also and helped create an even bigger Circus than what we have!"
"And here's the worse part." Ross said, bringing out a calendar. "It's August 11th; the same day when you left the orphanage and headed off on your journey."
"What?!" Brian and Paul cried out simultaneously. "It's today?!"
Ross nodded his head. "Hard to believe, isn't it?"
"Damn it!" Brian cried out. "We have to go and tell Gangrel that, and we have that show to prepare for. We're so sorry we have to leave, but we have to go now!"
"Come visit the show tonight!" Paul said as the two left the orphanage. Jim Ross smiled at them and gave them a wave good-bye until they could no longer be seen.
The two ran past the alleyway, running past some of the children playing, and the woman doing laundry.
"We're almost there!" said Brian. "We're going to make—huh?"
The two stopped as they saw two harlequins, one dressed in black and the other dressed in white. Both of them had big grins on their faces as their eyes were covered by their elaborate masks.
"Um, hi?" said Paul. "We'd love to chat but we've got to go and meet up with the other..." He stopped there as the two harlequins inched closer and closer to them. They removed their masks, showing their strange colored eyes, piercing into their souls.
"W-what's with that look?" Brian said as the black harlequin grabbed his arms. Brian stared into those strange eyes, slowly losing consciousness.
"Hush," the harlequin said, in a voice similar to Kendrick's. "Rest, and let the puppeteer take over. You will be nothing more than a simple marionette for him to control...resign to your fate."
"Yes," the white harlequin followed, that eerie smile on his face. "Continue to rest, and let the strings control everything from now on..."
Both jesters nodded as they grabbed onto the strange characters and soon jumped onto the rooftops, their feet interacting with the shingles. Little did they know that there were three pairs of eyes watching them.
"That is not good." said one of the three people staring at the scene.
"This is so going to be our fault." The second one said. "What do we do? What do we do?!"
"Calm down!" The third one snapped. "We have to find them and explain what's going on!"
"Will they believe us?" The first one said.
"I don't know," the third person said. "But, they'll have to if they want their friends back."
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"Ooh, he's so cute!" Ashley cooed, seeing Prince Jeri's new friend. The little sphinx cub meowed as Ashley started to rub its belly. "I love it so much! What are you going to call him?"
"I'll call him Lestat de Lionheart!" said Prince Jeri, placing a small rat in front of the little kitten. It immediately pounced on it and grabbed the scruff of its neck by its teeth.
Gangrel, who was near them when it was going on, suddenly started grasping his head in pain, closing his eyes shut as something was growing inside of him. Something familiar....
And what do we call you?A voice from his memory said. He couldn't recall who it was to, but it sounded just like him...or it was him. But why couldn't he remember?
I don't...have a name. This other voice said, young and shy. Perhaps, you can give me one?
I'll call you Lestat...he was from a book I read once. Do you want that name?
A nod. There you go, from now on you will be Lestat.
And what's your name? The young child asked him.
My name is...
"HEY!" Ashley's voice screamed out, breaking Gangrel out of his trance. "What the heck are you guys doing here?"
Said guys in question, MNM were panting for breath as they entered the Circus tent.
"We're here to warn you," said Melina. "Some weird masked people kidnapped Brian and Paul!"
"What?!" Molly gasped. "How dare they!"
"Yeah!" Ashley added. "How dare you act so nice to us and call Paul and Brian by their real names! What's next? You're going to say that you're the reason that they got kidnapped?"
"Um," said Mercury, twiddling his thumbs. "That also might be why they're kidnapped..."
Ashley sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Let me get the others." She muttered. "Molly, you and Prince Jeri entertain our former 'friends' and I'll get the others."
"Cool!" said Prince Jeri, bringing Lestat to MNM. "They can see my new friend!" the little sphinx cub mewed, its tiny wings twitching in delight.
Melina closed her eyes, her face turning away from the blue eyes of the little animal. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop her hand from petting the head of the kitten.
"It's so adorable!" she said, while Prince Jeri smiled triumphantly. All the while Gangrel chuckled to himself, setting up some of the risers for the audience to sit upon.
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Matt and Jeff were outside the tent, playing with their dragons Jack and Lucas. Jeff brought out a bag of popcorn and poured it onto the iron kettle.
"All right," he said, petting Jack's head. "Fire away!" The dragon smiled and let out a small flame came out of his mouth, and the small kernels started to dance up in the air as the sound of popping could be heard.
Matt was already working his hardest to control Lucas from eating the cotton candy he was making. The machine started to whir as he placed the pink sugar into the bowl, and brought out a paper cone to bring in the candy floss together into its fluffy pink form. Suddenly Ashley came running towards them.
"Stop what you're doing, and follow me." she said, panting. "Paul and Brian are in trouble! Someone's kidnapped them!"
"What?" Matt cried out. "We have to save them!"
"Yeah!" Jeff added.
"That would be a good idea," said Ashley, rolling her eyes. "But the Circus opens its doors in about three hours, so only a couple of can stay for the acts. And a couple people have to sell the refreshments."
"Right." said Jeff. "You go and save Paul and Brian, we'll sell refreshments."
"You sure you guys will be alright?" Ashley asked them, seeing the bags of popcorn and cotton candy yet to be prepared. "You've got lots of stuff to do."
"Don't worry!" said Matt. "A shopkeeper from this candy shop is going to stop by and help us out. We'll be fine, just go!"
"Right." said Ashley. "Say, where's Maria?"
"Over here!" Ashley turned around seeing something thrown at her. She immediately caught it and gasped in surprise; it was her old Bell Staff, but it was now blue with many stars decorating it, and on the top of the staff was a yellow five-pointed star. The bells had small stars painted on them also.
Maria and Mickie rushed over to Ashley. "I've done it!" Maria cried. "I used my Fusion Alchemy to make a new staff for you! Say hello to your Twinkle Star staff!"
"And my brand new Blustery Day staff!" said Mickie, bringing out her new staff. This one still had its silver coloring and a small tornado was on the top of the staff, but it also twisted into a spiral like shape at the bottom, making it easier for Mickie to grab it with her hand.
"Everyone else is gone and working hard for the performance." Maria added. "MNM stated that the person who kidnapped Paul and Brian was able to throw his voice from a very far distance. We need to find him before things get bad."
"You got a plan for that Maria?" said Ashley, twirling her new staff.
"Um," said Maria, blushing. "I don't...sorry." She received a pat on the head from Mickie.
"Don't worry," She said. "We can't all be like Adam and Jay; we just have to have the belief that things will be okay." She stared at the sun setting down in the horizon. "We've got to go...now."
The other girls nodded as they left toward the sunset.
It was at that time where the young shopkeeper from the candy store came in, carrying bags full of delicious sweets.
"What just happened here?" she said.
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The puppeteer smiled at himself, staring at a shimmering purple mirror floating above him. "I have them, my lord." He whispered inside the empty.
"Excellent," said the person on the other side. "You have outdone yourself; at least you'll be able to pick up where Vickie unfortunately screwed up."
"She was such an ass, anyway. Not worthy on serving you, Lord David." The puppeteer replied.
Lord David laughed a bit. "Please, flattery is not required in your job. Now, that we have the first two, it'll only be a matter of time until we get the other four."
"I understand about the black one, but why the white one?" The puppeteer questioned.
"The black one has been given the Leonard's blessing." Lord David explained. "And through my observances, the white and black ones both have a deep relationship, just like the Guardians of Shadow and Light have. Perhaps, the white one is the Vessel to the Guardian of Light."
"Hmmm....maybe." said the puppeteer. "I will get the next two tonight."
"Not if we have something to say about it!" The puppeteer turned around, to get collided with a shower of stars. He soon started to see stars as Ashley, Maria and Mickie came running toward him, brandishing out all three of their staffs.
"Give us Brian and Paul!" Maria cried out, her Rain Bow Staff transforming into a beautiful multicolored sword. "If you don't, you'll die in the hands of the divas of the Dream Circus!"
The puppeteer smirked, the purple mirror in front of him disintegrating into small particles. "You think you can defeat me?" He said. He raised his hands, his fingers moving in a strange motion as two figures soon came walking up to them.
"NO!" Ashley cried out, seeing the blank looks of Paul and Brian staring in front of them...they were still wearing their usual 'hooligan' gear—consisting of black/white vest and pants with a harlequin face on the back of the vest and their initials on the left pant leg—but their eyes weren't showing their usual happiness.
"You fiend!" Mickie cried. "You're going to die!"
"Take this!" said Maria, charging up to the puppeteer; unfortunately, Paul smirked as hands from beneath Maria's feet grabbed onto the legs, making her unable to move.
"Oh crap." said Ashley as she saw Brian swoop into the air and into a nose dive. Mickie immediately waved her staff, letting a gust of wind blow him away.
"You see," the puppeteer smirked. "You're not going to make me cut the strings off of my puppets so easily; I'm going to make sure you walk away in shame from the loss you were taken by your former friends."
Maria screamed in pain as the hands gripping against her legs started to tighten their grip. Focusing as hard as she could, she made her staff transform into what looked like...a water pistol.
"A water pistol?" The puppeteer started to laugh, at how ridiculous it looked—which it was, since it was multicolored and looked very small. "That is so--"
He couldn't say anything else as she fired a shot from the pistol at the hand, but instead of water, it was a rainbow-colored laser.
"Never mind." He said as Maria immediately shot at all the other hands, while Paul grunted in pain.
"How the heck did you do that, Maria?" Mickie asked while Maria shrugged.
"It was actually simple, really." she said, firing a couple more shots at Paul. "When it comes to limb replication, any damage those limbs get, it goes back to the guy who created them. So, by firing shots at the hands, Paul had to release the grip he had on me if he wanted to survive."
"Where the hell did you learn something like that?" Ashley asked her.
Maria shrugged her shoulders. "Not sure actually, I just know..." She couldn't finish as Paul tackled her to the ground, more arms pinning her hands and feet together.
"Hey!" said Ashley, charging up to to Brian. "Come back here!" Brian smirked as he floated into the air, his black wings fluttered around the ceiling. Unfortunately, even with Ashley's athletic ability, her star wand could only touch the tip of Brian's boot.
Paul smirked seeing Maria helpless with her poor water pistol. He then started walking toward Mickie, growing another pair of arms and an evil smirk was on his face.
"Stay back, I tell you!" said Mickie, bringing out a gust of wind from her staff. It didn't phase the Latino as he pinned Mickie into the wall with one pair of arms and grabbed her staff with another.
"Come on, come on!" Maria said, gripping her Rain Bow Staff. It magically transformed into a sword, and she sliced the limbless hands off of her...while Paul's arms started to bleed from what Maria did to them. Releasing his grip on Mickie he charged up to the rainbow dressed performer.
"Um, guys." said Ashley, trying to attack Brian. "What do we do about these guys?"
"If I remember correctly," Maria said, intercepting all of Paul's blows. "Either a memory, something they hear, a specific word, or even a smell can break them out of their trance." She gave a punch directly into Paul's jaw. "But the guy who did this spell must've done a doozy of it..."
Ashley leaped to bring Brian's feet down, but fell flat on her face as Brian grabbed her long hair and grinned at her.
"Get your hands off my hair, NOW!" Ashley screamed, placing a hand in front of Brian's face. Her hand started to show a small, purple iris design. "I mean it, Brian! I'll give you to three. One...two..."
"AHHH!" Brian screamed, pushing Ashley off of him, and holding his face. "What the fuck was that for?!"
"Huh?" Ashley said, seeing her hand print on Brian's face. She then sniffed the air. "Who the heck sprayed perfume here?"
"What the--?" The puppeteer gasped out seeing Ashley's hand. "She's a--"
"That's it!" said Maria. "The perfume smell! Ashley...can you try to make more of it?"
"Um, Maria." said Mickie, bringing out a handkerchief to cover her mouth. "That's not perfume...that's poison!" Mickie then saw Ashley's appearance...her black skirt and corset was now a beautiful black dress with golden flowers decorating it. The sleeves of the dress had white ruffles on it and she looked very radiant.
Ashley looked down at her attire. "Wow...where the heck did I get this?" She whispered. Something came into her mind as the puppeteer charged toward her, dagger in hand. She screamed as she ducked just in time, and grabbed the hand grabbing the dagger.
"Get away from me!" The man cried, withdrawing his hand from hers. It now had scorch marks from where the young girl had touched it.
Maria closed her eyes, grabbing onto the staff until it transformed into a perfume bottle. "Catch!" she said, tossing it to Ashley. "Fill it up with your perfume, er, poison!"
"Um," Ashley said, breathing into the bottle, the poison settling in into a liquid form.
Mickie immediately ran toward Paul, and got onto his back, spinning him around to face Ashley, who spritz the venomous liquid in front of his face. It hung into the air a bit as Paul's eyes started to regain its true color.
"Ugh," he said, covering his mouth. "What the heck is that perfume? And why are you wearing that costume, Ash?"
Ashley shrugged her shoulders. "Not sure." She handed back the perfume bottle to Maria, where it soon transformed back to its original form, and the liquid became vapor in the air. "But we better get out of here before any of us get sick."
Brian opened his eyes as he saw Ashley's dress. "Wow..." he gasped out.
"This is not over!" The puppeteer snarled, as the five circus members turned to him. "I'm not going to let some circus freaks defeat me!"
"My, my." said Mickie, fanning herself. "It's sure getting hot in here. Let's cool it down!" She swung her staff at the man, letting a huge gust of wind form knocking him into the wall and into unconsciousness.
"What do we do with him?" said Paul.
"Nothing." said Maria. "As long we got what we came for, then we're safe. Seriously, what are the chances that we find them on the first house we passed near the orphanage?"
"Very slim, Maria." said Ashley. She then turned to Brian, letting out a small gasp. "Oh dear..."
Brian's face had burn marks from where Ashley placed her hand on his face, making it look like he had a horrible disease. "What?" he asked.
Mickie brought out a mirror from her pocket and showed it to Brian. The first thing Brian did when he saw his reflection was scream.
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"ARE YOU NUTS?!" Brian cried, as Molly placed some cream around his eyes. "These things won't be removed until tomorrow?"
"They aren't deadly," Molly said, removing the cream from her paw. "We're lucky that it was a small bit poison. It appears Ashley has a strange ability."
"More than that actually." Paul, Brian, Ashley, Maria and Molly turned to see Jim Ross entering with a couple of papers in tow. "I've been waiting to tell you this when you return..."
He showed out a couple of birth certificates to the Circus. "This was given when Ashley came to my doorstep 10 years ago; it said that she was known as Beatrice, but to make sure her mad man of a father didn't kidnap her, that her name was to be called Ashley."
"Beatrice?" said Ashley, quirking an eyebrow. "What kind of snobby name is that?"
"Beatrice was supposed to be a daughter of a famous doctor," Jim Ross explained. "But he was crazy...he fed her poisons to make sure she would not be dominated by the guys who tried to go out with her. What was worse was that if she touched someone, the poison would seep into the person's blood stream, and their breath would be like poison also. However, Ashley's family was kind enough to inform me that her poison is only deadly to bring out temporary scars, but not spread poison to another person."
"Thank goodness," Brian sighed. "But how long do they last?"
"You'll be fine in a day or two." Ross replied as Brian sighed in relief. "Now for Maria, ah yes. Her parents were killed while she was about 7; her parents were Scholars, and according to the note that was left with her, she had a big mind and could memorize anything she read. Unfortunately—to add salt to a wound—she sometimes forgets information or stuff surrounding her."
"That's okay," said Maria. "Stuff'll just come to me later on."
"Finally, there's Paul and Brian. They were just left on my doorstep with notes saying to take care of them. No names of the parents, no addresses, nothing...sorry."
"That's okay." said Paul. "We've got lots of stuff to prepare for...like what we're going to do for tonight's performance."
"And how the hell I got this dress." said Ashley, staring at her new attire.
"They form when your powers activate, or at least that's what the papers say." said Ross, looking at the notes. "It's like an 'armor' in which you can call upon whenever you want to summon your powers, or something like that..."
"Okay..." Ashley said, as the dress started to be replaced by her original outfit. Suddenly the sound of a gong boomed through the area. "Uh-oh..."
"Opening curtain." Brian said, pulling his hair. "And we don't have anything to perform!"
Paul stared at Brian at a minute then smiled. "I have an idea...."
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Intermission time. Maria's new rainbow act, plus Prince Jeri's and Molly's knife throwing act was a success to the crowd. The popcorn and sweets were also doing well also. Some of the younger children were petting the animals, and were already cuddling the newest pet, Lestat the Sphinx cub.
"Get your free candy here!" Jeff cried, swallowing a Snapdragon blossom. He instantly blew out a puff of smoke from his mouth. "They're delicious! Try the Snapdragon Blossoms, they're HOT!" The teenage girls in the village were immediately rushing toward Jeff, none of them unable to resist his irresistible charm and love of things sweet.
Backstage, Ashley was already in her 'Beatrice' costume of the black dress with golden flowers. Her hair was also put up in a bun with a red flower hairpin keeping it together. Putting some white powder on her face, she smiled and picked up the delicate black mask. She placed it in front of her eyes as she spun around to Mickie and Maria.
"How do I look?" Both Maria and Mickie gave her a thumbs-up. "Awesome!"
Paul rushed in, wearing a white prince's outfit with a silver crown. "Hurry it up, princess." He said. "Show's about to start!"
"Coming!" said Ashley, rushing to the outside. "How's Brian doing?"
Paul smirked. "You'll see."
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The lights dimmed down as the audience saw Ashley walk into the center of the arena. A purple flower was in her hand as she smelled it. She sighed as Paul walked in from the left and grabbed her hand, kissing it. A white mask covered his eyes as he stared into Ashley's eyes.
"Wow," Adam whispered, seeing the act backstage. "Who would've thought those three could come up with something in about 10 minutes."
"They aren't the veterans of the Dream Circus for nothing." Jay added.
Brian soon came in, wearing a black cape and silk pants, a black mask covering his face. He immediately grabbed Ashley's other hand, and pulled on it. Paul seeing this, pulled onto Ashley's hand, until both London and Kendrick were soon in a tug-of-war with each other.
"Enough!" Ashley cried, whipping her hands away from the boys. Unfortunately by doing so, she knocked off Brian's mask. The audience gasped as they saw Brian's face, scarred and burnt. Brian stared at Ashley and Paul, running off with his hand covering his face. Ashley and Paul soon followed him backstage...soon coming back from the left, with Paul trapping Brian with two pairs of hands grabbing onto his legs. Brian fell and started to shiver a bit as the shadows of his two friends started to cover his body.
"Don't worry," Ashley whispered, placing a gloved hand onto Brian's face. "I won't hurt you, are you all right?"
Brian whimpered as he turned away, still covering his face. Members of the audience started to cry when they saw Brian's pitied state. Paul and Ashley smiled to themselves at the expressions of the people watching them; their plan was working. Ashley then turned Brian's face and made it face hers, she smiled sadly as she helped him stand up.
"Do you want to stay with me in my palace?" She whispered. Brian nodded and cried on Ashley's shoulder. As the lights turned off, the audience stood up, applauding the beautiful scene, and the sound of coins falling onto the dusty floor filled the three performers' ears.
"Best. Idea. Ever!" The three whispered to themselves.
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It was around 11 PM when the Dream Circus started to clear up the empty risers. MNM decided to help—because, after all, it was their fault that Brian and Paul got kidnapped in the first place.
"Seriously," said Paul. "You don't have to do this."
"We want to." said Nitro. "We clean up bigger messes back at the orphanage."
"But what are you going to do now?" said Brian. "You could join the Circus if you want."
Mercury shook his head. "Nah. The three of us are going to stay and take care of the orphanage; we've been there for so long, that we know how to take care of every type of problem that's in store for us."
"You sure you won't regret this?" said Ashley, placing the costumes away in a trunk. "I mean, you could have a chance to explore the world with us."
"Seriously." said Melina. "Your place is to travel and entertain people. It's our place to stay in Modera and take care of the young, lost souls that want and need a home."
"That's so sweet!" said Maria, who went and hugged Melina. "I'm going to miss you guys!"
"Y-yeah," said Melina. "We'll miss you too."
"Don't forget to send us a message once in a while." said Nitro. "We'd love to get a letter from you guys since we haven't received one from you for about...five years."
"We will," said Brian. "And sorry about what happened to you before...with your families and that..."
"Aw, let them all go to hell." said Mercury. "We had a better family here than anywhere else. So...sorry about all of that shit we gave you all those years ago."
"Forgiven." said Paul. "Anyway, we've got bigger problems on our hands."
"Like what?" Nitro asked them.
Maria sat down on a crate. "It's about Darkness, and the 6 Guardians of Gaea..." She began.
After telling the tale, MNM gasped at what had been happening to them so far. They never knew that that type of stuff was going on.
"Damn it," Melina whispered. "I never knew that was going on; maybe that guy who brainwashed Paul and Brian might've been working for Darkness."
"Could explain that purple mirror thing we saw as we went after him," said Ashley. "Still...that only means one thing."
"And what's that?" said Paul and Brian.
Ashley closed her eyes. "That things are getting a lot tougher."
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Who was the strange puppeteer that fought off the girls of the Dream Circus?
Who is this Lestat that is in Gangrel's memories?
What is in store for our heroes?
And will they be able to fight back?
All this and more in the next chapter!
So read and review!
