Chapter 28:
The next day, wasn't going so well for the W.I.T.C.H. girls. During the night, Irma was up late, waiting for Scott to call her on her cell phone. Cornelia was doing the same. Taranee, who Hay Lin called and told what happened, was hoping that Ricky would call her too. As for Will, she was hoping to see Sho show up on his motorcycle, to take her to school, but he didn't show up! Once at school, Hay Lin was getting real worried about Angelo.
"What if something happened to them?!", Hay Lin asked. "We have to go after them!"
"It'll have to wait until after school.", Will said sadly. "As much as I want to go after them, we can't draw any attention to us not being in school."
"This sucks!", Irma said.
"Maybe they're tired from fighting Nerissa.", Taranee said, trying to look on the bright side.
"Then why didn't they call us?!", Cornelia asked. "If that witch does anything to Tommy, I'll make her pay big time!"
"Easy, Cornelia.", Will said trying to calm her friend down. "Today is a half-a-day. So we'll have plenty of time to go look for the guys."
"Until then, we play it cool.", Taranee said.
Just then, the school bell rang. The girls then headed into the school, with one thought on their minds.
To find the boys and rescue them, if needed.
As they walked into the school, Matt, Nigel, Eric, Martin, and Peter saw how down the girls looked.
"Looks like they're trouble in their little paradise.", Eric said.
"I wonder where their new boyfriends are.", Peter pondered.
"They must be on one of their little missions.", Nigel said.
"And two to one, they ran into some trouble.", Matt said with a smirk.
"Think the girls will go after them?", Martin asked.
"Of course they will.", Matt said. "And I just may go with them. If only to show those Defenders up a bit."
"Man I wish the four of us had some powers!", Peter said. "Then we all could so those chumps up!"
"That would be coo!", Nigel said.
"Totally!", Eric said.
"Without question", Martin agreed as they all went into the school.
In the Shadow Realm, Necra and Phobos were watching what just happened with the Guardians and Matt and his friends. Both were pleased with what they just heard.
"It seems that we have our Dark Guardians, Necra.", Phobos said with a wicked smile.
"It would seem so, Phobos.", Necra agreed. "Now we just have to wait for Nerissa and Paul to do their part."
"Let us hope they can do what they need to do, before the Guardians get to them first.", Phobos said as they went back to what they were doing.
After school, the girls left out of the school, and began to head for the home of the Defenders. As they neared the school gates, Matt and his boys came walking up to them.
"Going somewhere, ladies?", Nigel asked.
"None of your business, Nigel!", Taranee said as they walked past him.
"I'm going to guess that something happened to your Defender buddies.", Matt said which stopped the girls in their tracks. "I thought so."
"How did you..........?!", Will began to ask.
"One, they aren't here today.", Martin said.
"Two, you five were looking pretty worried about something earlier today.", Eric added.
"So you came to gloat about it?!", Irma questioned.
"Actually, I'm offering to help.", Matt said.
"Why would you do that?", Hay Lin asked. "You don't even like them!"
"Maybe I just want to help.", Matt said as he turned his back to them. "Maybe I have my own reasons."
"Or maybe you want to impress Will enough for her to take you back.", Cornelia figured.
"That's not going to happen!", Will said as she walked past Matt. "We can handle this ourselves!"
'Will, wait!', Taranee said to Will mentally. 'As much as I hate to say this, we may need his help.'
'What?!', Will asked Taranee mentally as she turned to look at her.
'She has a point.', Cornelia agreed. 'Not only do we have Phobos and that Necra woman to deal with. But we have Nerissa, Nocturna, Cedric, Miranda, and Wesley to deal with.'
'We're going to need all the fire power we can get.', Irma added.
'Please, Will.', Hay Lin pleaded with her friend.
'Alright, fine!', Will said giving in. 'I don't like it, but we may need his help.
Will then turned to Matt, not looking to happy about what she was going to say.
"You can come.", Will said. "But don't think that this changes anything."
"Fair enough.", Matt said. "But, anything is possible."
Rolling her eyes, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, Hay Lin, and Matt headed for the Defenders home, leaving Peter, Nigel, Eric, and Martin behind.
"So I guess we wait, until they get back.", Nigel said as they headed in the opposite direction.
"Man I wish we had some powers!", Eric said. "Then I could show that Angelo a thing or two!"
"I'd like to kick Ricky's butt!", Nigel said.
"Same goes for me, when it comes to that Tommy guy!", Peter said. "But I wouldn't mind getting a good hit off of Ricky myself."
"I'd like to have my chance with Scott, and kick his butt!", Martin said.
'That can be arranged, boys.', a voice said in their heads. 'And seeing as you four want to defeat four of the Defenders so badly.......'
Suddenly a dark aura surrounded the boys. A surge of energy was sent through the boys as their eyes glowed a dark purple.
'.......... I'll be more than happy to help with that.', the voice said as the dark aura faded away.
At that moment, the four boys had smirks on their faces as they all said the next few words.
"What is your command, Mistress?"
Once the girls, along with Matt, arrived at the Defenders home, they saw Yan Lin wave them over to her, from an alley next to the Silver Dragon. The girls and Matt ran over to her, once the road was safe enough to go across.
"What's wrong Grandma?!", Hay Lin asked.
"Follow me quickly!", Yan Lin said as she headed for the basement entrance to the Silver Dragon.
Once in the Silver Dragon basement, they saw John Vanders and Blunk, who was pacing back and forth with a worried look on his face.
"Blunk?", Irma asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Girls! Gold-mask boy!", Blunk said with a bit of panic on his voice. "Big trouble back home!"
"Easy Blunk.", Hay Lin said as she knelt down to the little Passing. "What's wrong?"
"Bad Guardian attack village!", Blunk began to explain. "She come with bad man who drain power from boys like you! Then they took them and Caleb away in fold!"
"How could Nerissa beat them?!", Cornelia asked.
"It wasn't Nerissa who beat them.", John said. "It was my uncle."
"You don't mean....", Yan Lin began to ask.
"I'm afraid so Ms. Lin.", John said. "It was Paul Vanders. Angelo's granduncle."
"I didn't know Angelo had a granduncle.", Will said.
"He didn't either.", John said. "Until he came back a year ago."
"What was he like?", Hay Lin asked.
"He's the male version of Nerissa.", Yan Lin said. "A rouge Defender, who wanted power."
"His fellow Defenders stopped him from trying to free Nerissa from her prison, on Mt. Thanos.", John said. "He was then imprisoned somewhere in Valora. After that, My father, Joe Vanders, was made the Keeper of the Star Heart. Last year, Paul somehow escaped and tried to regain more power. But the boys beat him and made his powers dormant."
"Why would he try to free Nerissa?", Irma asked.
"They were........ close.", Yan Lin said.
"Did not need to hear that.", Matt said.
"So why drain the guys of some of their energy?", Hay Lin asked trying to change the subject.
"To reawaken his powers.", John said. "And thanks to Blunk, we know he has the boys somewhere in Valora."
"Looks like we have to save them this time.", Cornelia joked as Will pulled out the Heart.
"Guardians, unite!", Will said as the Heart began to glow.
Once the words were said, Will was covered in a ball of pink light, while Irma was in a ball of water, Taranee in a ball of fire, Cornelia in a ball of green light, and Hay Lin in a ball of air. They then floated in the air as they began to transform into their Guardian forms.
Irma- "Water!"
Taranee- "Fire!"
Cornelia- "Earth!"
Hay Lin- "Air!"
Will- "Quintessence!"
Once the the light faded, the girls were in their Guardian forms. Matt then changed into his Regent form. Will then opened a fold for Valora.
"Be careful. All of you.", Yan Lin said. "Nerissa and Paul are a powerful pair!"
"And they won't think twice about taking you out.", John said.
"We'll be careful.", Hay Lin said as they all went through the fold..
'Watch over them, Lord.', John prayed as the fold closed.
Once in Valora, they saw they were in a forest. They soon saw Orube running through the forest.
"Orube!", Will called out to her friend.
Orube stopped and turned to see the girls and Matt flying towards her with, Blunk right behind them.
"I take it you know what has happened?", Orube asked them.
"Blunk told us everything.", Irma said. "Any ideas where they are?"
"I was able to track them to these woods, but couldn't sense them after that.", Orube said.
"Leave to Blunk!", Blunk said. "Blunk smell out Nerissa!"
"Works for me.", Taranee said.
"Go for it Blunk!", Hay Lin said.
Blunk then began to sniff the air around him. After a few seconds, it seemed that he couldn't pick up the scent.
"Well, this is a bust!", Cornelia said. "What do we........"
"Blunk find scent!", Blunk said as he took off in a direction. "Blunk find scent!"
Everybody followed behind Blunk, as he followed the scent of Nerissa.
Deep in the forest, in six cages, sat the Defenders and Caleb. The cages were made special for the Defenders. But that didn't stop them from trying to break out.
"Inferno Fist!", Scott yelled as he did a flaming punch at the lock of his cage, only to have the attack fail. "Blast it!"
"Ice Breaker!", Ricky said as he froze the bars of his cage.
He then snapped his finger to shatter the ice, hoping the bars would shatter with the ice.
"Dang!", Ricky yelled as he saw the bars were still there.
"I can't make the bars bend!", Sho said as he was still trying to make the bars bend.
"Quintessence Slash!", Angelo yelled as he slashed at the bars of his cage with his sword, made from his power. "Crap! Nothing!"
Caleb, and Tommy were trying to kick the cage open, but it was useless. They were trapped.
"We have to get out of here!", Tommy said as he shook the bars of his cage. "They could be going after the girls!"
"Don't worry boys. You're the ones we want."
The Defenders and Caleb looked to see Nerissa and Paul floating down in front of them.
"Nerissa.", Angelo said. "So I finally get to meet the woman, my Grandpa Joe still calls one of his best friend."
"So Joe told you about me.", Nerissa said as she walked up to Angelo's cage. "I'm touched. How are him and Kadma doing, now a days?"
"Living their lives.", Angelo replied. "It till hurts them to see what you've become. Same for you old man!"
"And what's that?", Paul questioned. "Me and Nerissa are stronger than any Guardian or Defender Kandrakar has ever had! And you can be a powerful Defender too, boy!"
"And you can be a powerful Guardian, my son.", Nerissa said as she walked up to Caleb's cage. "There use to be male Guardians. You can be one of the strongest Guardians ever! All you have to do is help us get the Heart of Kandrakar, and the Star Heart."
"Never!", Caleb said as he stared his mother in the face. "I'd never betray my friends!"
"What of you, boy?", Paul asked Angelo. "Think of the power!"
"Do you really think I'd go down the same path as you?!", Angelo asked his granduncle. "Not gonna happen! I'm a Defender! Part of a team! That's not going to change!"
"Have it your way!", Paul said as he and Nerissa floated up in the air. "You can just wait here, while we go after your little girlfriends!"
"I'm sure that they'll be easy pickings.", Nerissa said. "Seeing as they're worried about you all."
"You don't give them enough credit!", Scott said.
"They're tougher that you think!", Ricky said. "After all they did keep you from completing your plans, didn't they?"
"And they have plenty of allies to help them!", Caleb said.
"Even if some of them are total jerks.", Tommy said.
"And somehow, someway, we'll get out of these cages.", Sho said.
"So, you think you can do that, before we take them out?", Nerissa questioned with a grin.
"You harm one hair on their heads, and you'll see how powerful we can be!", Angelo said as his eyes glowed white.
"Looks like we struck a cord.", Paul said as he and Nerissa floated above them. "To bad you won't be able to stop us!"
Suddenly, a fireball flew by Nerissa and Paul. They looked up to see the Guardians.
"Well, this is a strange turn of events.", Nerissa said with a smile.
"I take it these are the Guardians, you've told me about Nerissa.", Paul said. "I'm not impressed."
"Come take us on and we'll show you what we can do!", Irma demanded as she threw a ball of water at Nerissa.
"If it's a fight you want.......", Nerissa began to say as she dodged the attack. "....... then it's a fight you'll get!"
"Finally, some action!", Paul said as he and Nerissa flew after the Guardians as they flew off.
Once they were far enough away, the boys went back to trying to break out of their cages.
"We have to get out of here, now!", Angelo said as he began to wail on the bars of his cage, with his fist and boots, glowing with energy, just as the other Defender were doing, while Caleb was kicking at the lock of his cage.
"If they hurt Cornelia, so help me I'll.......", Tommy began to say.
"Didn't I tell you before that I can take care of myself?"
"Cornelia?!", Tommy questioned as he looked around.
Just the Cornelia floated down in front of Tommy's cage.
"Hey you.", Cornelia said as the other Guardians landed in front of the cage of the Defender they liked.
"But we just saw you flying away from Nerissa and Paul.", Sho said.
"That was Matt using his powers to make a glamour of us.", Will said.
"He actually came to help you all?!", Ricky said.
"He only did it to try and get me back.", Will said. "But, that's not going to happen. Now to get you guys out of these cages."
"You may have better luck than us.", Scott said. "We can't bust them up from in here."
"But we maybe able to from the outside.", Orube said. "Like with the energy bubble we were trapped in."
"Worth a shot.", Hay Lin said.
Taranee was the first to try as she began to melt the bars of Ricky's cage. Within a few seconds, the bars were melted.
"To be free again!", Ricky said as he scooped Tarnee up in his arms. "Thanks to you, my little Fire Nymph."
"My pleasure, my Aqua King.", Taranee said before they kissed.
"Now to get you out of here.", Will said as she blasted the lock to Sho's cage, destroying it! "That was easy!"
"And I thank you.", Sho said as he walked out of the cage.
Orube charged her fist with energy and broke the lock to Caleb's cage.
"Thanks, Orube.", Caleb said as he walked out of the cage.
"My pleasure.", Orube said.
Irma formed a short sword out of ice and slashed the bars of Scott's cage, freeing him.
"Nicely done!", Scott said as he kissed Irma.
"No problem.", Irma said with a smile.
Hay Lin formed a blade of air, and cut the bars of Angelo's cage.
"Hay Lin. Wind Warrior!", Angelo joked as he stepped out of the cage.
"I cut through the air, like ninja!", Hay Lin joked as she took a fighting stance.
"I think we better go give Nerissa and Paul a proper greeting!", Scott suggested.
"No argument there!", Angelo said as he and the other Defenders and Guardians took to the air.
Sho then mad the ground Caleb, Orube, and Blunk lift off the ground.
"Hang on!", Sho said as he stood on the ground they were on, and made it fly in the direction the others were flying.
"Run all you want girls!", Nerissa said as she and Paul chased after, what they thought were the Guardians. "We'll catch you eventually!"
"I tire of this!", Paul said as he made a funnel of air. "We end this, now!"
Paul then sent the funnel of air at the so called Guardians. Once they were caught in it, Paul made it go crashing into the ground.
"Nicely done.", Nerissa said with a smirk.
"It was nothing.", Paul said as they landed where the Guardians crashed. "What the......?!"
Both Paul and Nerissa looked to see Matt, in his Regent form stand up slowly.
"You!", Nerissa hissed as she glared at Matt.
"Who is this?!", Paul asked Nerissa.
"One of my old Knights of Destruction!", Nerissa said. "Only now, he's one of the Regents of Earth, I told you about."
"So he's one of the beings that can harness the powers of the Heart of Earth.", Paul said as he looked Matt up and down. "I'm not impressed."
"What do you think of this?!", Matt asked as he fire his eye-beams at full blast, towards Paul and Nerissa.
Paul just simply made a force field and sent the blast back at Matt, knocking him back a few feet.
"Well that was easy.", Paul said as he and Nerissa began to walk towards Matt as he was getting to his feet. "This is all there is to challenge me! Bring me the Guardians!"
Suddenly, a fireball hit the ground in front of Paul and Nerissa. Both looked up to see the Guardians hovering in the air.
"You want the Guardians?!", Will questioned as she had a thing of electricity in her hand. "You got the Guardians!"
"And they're not alone!", Angelo said as he and the other Defenders flew up next to the girls. "So, let's get this party started!"
A/N: Five Guardians, and five Defenders, along with three of their allies, are about to fight two fallen heroes of Kandrakar! How will it turn out?
P.S.: Happy Birthdya to me! It's good to be alive!
