Chapter 2- the next step
The next morning…
Connor got out his hidden journal from under his bed to record what he could recall of his dream so he could figure out the meaning.
He was still shaken by the imagery.
After writing in it, he placed it back where he found it.
Better use the PJ Player tonight to analyse it he thought.
-A few hours later-
Connor met up with Amaya and Greg while it was playtime.
"What should we do about that new villians?" Amaya asked in a whisper.
"We can't beat this guy alone and the villians don't have their things so…." Greg began.
"Hey guys! Wanna play tag?" Arsène IV called out.
They all froze.
"Um, sure" Amaya replied quickly.
The other children included a female named Galia with blond hair in two buns, blue eyes and pale skin wearing a light purple top with dark purple sleeves and a pink bubble symbol in the middle along with a red skirt and blue shoes, Aisha, Cameron, Archie (the boy with the hat), Meg, a young black female with brown eyes and black hair in two buns wearing an orange dress with red sleeves and a yellow line on the waist of the dress and yellow boots, Steven- A young male with pale skin, brown eyes and light red-brown hair wearing light blue glasses, a white long sleeved top with a multi-colour cars pattern, red jeans and red and white shoes, Billy- a young boy with short dark brown hair, pale skin (a slightly tanned tone compared to Steven) and blue eyes wearing dark blue glasses, an orange hoodie, a blue top with a swirl design, blue jeans and red and white shoes and Jenny, the girl with blue eyes and short brown hair wearing a purple top with indigo sleeves and a pink flower in the middle, an orange skirt and light blue boots with a yellow hair clip joined in the game as well.
After a lesson on sharing and numbers, Arsène IV went to Connor first.
"Would you like to hang out?" He offered.
"Sure!" Connor replied.
They sat at one of the picnic benches.
"So, Connor, what do you like to do for fun?" Arsène IV asked.
"I love to draw and write in my spare time, I love blue and any type of feline" Connor replied with a smile.
"Hmmm… is there anything that terrifies you the most?"
Connor thought hard.
"I'm still terrified of water. I had a 'accident' when I was 3 and I thought I was gonna drown but my dad saved me. At least that's what my parents told me" He confessed.
"Oh, sorry I brought it up. Would you like to draw?" Arsène IV asked.
"What about Master Fang and Flossy Flash with Patch the hero cat?" Connor suggested.
Arsène just nodded as Connor led with the drawing by starting with Patch.
20 minutes later, their picture was finished with Master Fang, Flossy Flash and Patch hanging out together.
"This was really fun" Arsène admitted.
"Yeah" Connor agreed.
He got to bond with Greg with painting different animal symbols like Greg's gecko symbol and fun games like one of Master Fang's games.
One of Greg's fears was losing his friends, getting lost in space and city blackouts.
He later got to bond with Amaya over reading, sports (Basketball) and comics and learnt one of her fears were dinosaurs and hawks.
When he got home, he made a list of other activities he could do with his new friends.
On a different afternoon, Arsène IV hung out with 'Dill' at play time.
"You said your favourite sport was Athletics in class today. Maybe we'll get to race at some point in PE?" Arsène offered.
"Yeah, maybe" 'Dill' replied.
"What about rock climbing?" Arsène added.
"No…er…I really hate heights and small spaces" 'Dill' said, nervously.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't fall" Arsène reassured him.
'Dill' just smiled weakly.
During their last lesson, Arsène sat in front of Connor.
"Say Connor, would you like to have a sleepover at my house this weekend?" he asked.
"Sure" Connor replied.
They went back to his family house and encountered a cat inside.
"This is Morgana, he's a great friend" Arsène introduced.
"Hey there, Morgana. I'm Connor" Connor said, softly.
Morgana meowed in a soft voice that was distinctly different from Patch.
Morgana was a young black and white cat with white 'socks' and face, brown eyes and a blue collar.
As Connor then followed his friend to his room, he paused to watch Morgana go downstairs.
He's kinda like Patch in appearance…I wonder if he and Gris would be friends if they met Connor thought.
The pair proceeded to watch Master Fang and Flossy Flash on Arsène's yellow tablet.
Two days later, Connor and Greg were at Amaya's house for a short sleepover, looking for constellation with her telescope.
Until they saw what they thought was an asteroid or meteor…
After the PJ Masks dealt with Armadylan thinking he was a PJ Mask and agreeing with the idea that he is just an ally for now, Romeo's Dad Theo organised a book signing for Flossy Flash and Master Fang to help the young fans experience meeting their heroes in about 2 two days' time.
This signing inspired Romeo use the children's heroes against them since his mother had told him about Bossy Brash being real.
If my toy figure plot almost succeeded, then maybe this plan can too he thought.
He went up to his dad in his workshop/lab.
"Dad, you know the Lupin Collection? Where's the detailed book on all the items?" He asked.
"They're in the attic, Romeo" Theo replied.
"Robot, time to get to work" Romeo stated.
Meanwhile…..
Luna Girl was busy making a 'good' impression on Armadylan for her back-up plan.
"Everything is going smoothly so far, little one. So, what's with the frown?" Masque Ombre asked.
"I'm wondering when's the right time to call for a formal duel" Capitaine Lupin pondered.
"We can use their weaknesses against them" he added.
"What do you have in mind?" Masque Ombre asked.
"We'll get help from Luna Girl, Rip and Night Ninja to exploit their weaknesses…. Although since Luna Girl is away, we can get Batarina and Tera to help" Capitaine Lupin suggested.
He sent Morganna out to find any cats that could be allied to the PJ Masks.
Masque Ombre looked at Capitaine Lupin's list of the PJ Masks' fears and smiled.
"Until Luna Girl comes back, this will do" she stated.
The pair got into contact with Rip, Night Ninja, Batarina and Tera.
They managed to plan a scheme that included dinosaurs, water, hawks and blackouts.
In Amaya and Greg's bedrooms, Birdie and Lionel were fearful of the sudden blackout of electricity through the city.
The heroes were automatically alerted of danger before they transformed and arrived at the HQ.
On the screen with night vision activated showed that Rip, Night Ninja, Batarina and Tera had messed with the electricity and had taken control of the water supply.
"How are we going to combat this?" Gekko asked.
"I don't have night vision like a REAL cat" Catboy sighed.
"We'll take all three vehicles. I can light the way so we can find them" Owlette suggested.
"Alright but this attack feels too co-ordinated like they know all our fears" Gekko shivered.
They hopped into their machines as the Owl-glider led the way.
On a roof top close to where Batarina, Night Ninja, Rip and Tera were gathered, Capitaine Lupin watched.
"This has to work" He muttered.
"It will, young one. Then you can resume your other stealing plans" Masque Ombre reassured him.
It had been difficult to get Night Ninja to trust him after what he had done to his Ninjalinos but the whole 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' line was enough to let it slide….for now.
The PJ Masks arrived at the edge of the woods near the first street close to the school.
"So glad you could join us, PJ Pains" Tera said.
Batarina was holding a hose as there were sprinklers nearby
"Night Ninja, I thought you were desperate to get your Ninjalinos back!" Gekko cried.
"I am but I need a break every now and then" Night Ninja pointed out.
Batarina fired directly as Catboy as the sprinklers went off and began to flood the place.
In the sky, a mechanical hawk flew with Rip controlling it. They'd been given some extra help from Romeo for this to work out.
Owlette tried to escape by flying faster than the hawk but Rip kept tailing her.
The Owl-glider's headlights went out and it became pitch black.
Night Ninja used his smoke bomb to appear behind Gekko in the darkness and splatted him to the ground.
He then caught Catboy in a sticky splat as well.
Rip used the eye beam feature on the mechanical hawk to freeze Owlette.
Then Batarina, Tera, Rip and Night Ninja retreated to watch their masterpiece get to work.
"I don't think we're getting out of this one, guys" Gekko remarked, hopelessly.
The water continued to rise and Catboy became more agitated.
"It's over" he said, softly.
The water above their heads.
Gekko broke free of the sticky splat and helped free his friends as well.
His body began to glow green again as the ponderweed power changed his outfit to be more salamander-like with temporary gills.
Catboy pointed at his eyes.
"Whoa! I'm glowing! Wait I can speak?!" Gekko cried.
Catboy began to turn blue.
"Oh, sorry Catboy." Gekko said, quickly.
He grabbed Owlette and Catboy and took them to the surface.
His friends gasped for air as Gekko looked astonished at his changed outfit.
"Guess that Pondweed power is evolving" he noted.
"Yeah…That was…crazy" Catboy managed to say.
"We'll…need time to recover. Get…PJ Robot to….help you stop the water flow and save the city" Owlette breathed.
Gekko nodded.
Owlette used what strength she had left to fly Catboy and herself onto a roof for safety.
Gekko activated his comms with HQ.
"PJ Robot…I need help with emergency lighting" he requested in a slightly scared voice.
We really DO need him back Gekko thought, worriedly.
The HQ reacted at command and activated the lights in the HQ as a light trail.
As he watched, Captiane Lupin got frustrated.
"THAT. That 'evolution' of power was not meant to happen" he said through clenched teeth.
"But it could benefit us to study it. Batarina, Rip; Go now and do what you must on Catboy and Owlette" Masque Ombre stated.
Batarina and Tera flew to Catboy and Owlette's location.
"What do you want?" Catboy asked, coldly.
Tera grinned.
"Did you know that Owlette sees herself as a leader of your team more than you?" she goaded.
"What?!" Owlette cried.
"But you know we always take it in turns" Catboy pointed out, softly.
"I-" Owlette began.
"And did you know that Catboy reads Flossy Flash comics?" Batarina interrupted.
Catboy blushed heavily and looked away.
"Is this true? Why didn't you tell me?" Owlette asked.
"I was afraid. Afraid everyone at school would mock me for it because I'm just a boy" Catboy admitted.
"Is that why whenever I want to play with you as 'Flossy Flash' you reject me?!" Owlette cried.
"Yes!" Catboy yelled as they both began to cry.
Their eyes glowed purple again.
Batarina and Tera looked at each other knowingly and flew off.
Gekko made sure the water went away and PJ Robot got the lights back on just as Geko's suit went back normal when the water was at a low level.
"Aw it really was temporary" he sighed.
He used his muscles to climb up a building close to Mr Shawn's house to reach his friends.
"We won, guys" He said, happily.
Then his smile became a frown.
His friends were still arguing about the comic secret.
Gekko sighed and dragged them home.
The next day, Mr Shawn announced the book signing for Master Fang and Flossy Flash was tomorrow.
Everyone was excited but Amaya and Connor started arguing again.
When they all headed outside, there was a note on HQ which said 'Catboy and Owlette, please come to the annual comic debate tonight. No Gekkos allowed'.
"This is awfully suspicious..." Greg began.
Amaya and Connor glared at each other as their eyes glowed purple slightly longer before changing back this time.
Greg sighed.
"Go on, I'll catch up later" he said, sadly.
-That night-
Catboy took his car and Owlette took her glider to attend the comic debate in the playground.
When Gekko tried to tail them in his Gekko-mobile, the luna moths covered his wind shield and caused him to crash in the lake.
At the playground, Owlette and Catboy were given topics on Flossy Flash to debate over.
The debate turned into an argument almost instantly as the pair didn't notice the robo-PJs were giving them the topics.
Luna Girl came out on her lunaboard on cue.
She used her magnet to create a Lunar Dome over the hero duo.
She made a low chuckle as she flew over to Masque Ombre who stayed safe in the shadows.
"This plan of yours is working well, they haven't suspected a thing and Lizard boy is taken care of" Luna Girl noted.
"For now, anyway. That robot of theirs is likely to save them but the discord between cat and Owl will have damaged their friendship enough for the corruption to grow more ever time they argue" Masque Ombre pointed out.
"However, you just sit back and enjoy the show" she added.
Luna Girl smiled as Catboy and Owlette's eyes glowed purple much longer and a purple vein appeared on left side of their faces.
Gris the cat distracted Catboy and Owlette to stop fighting long enough for Gekko to escape the lake and free them from the Lunar Dome.
The lunar moths returned to Luna Girl in shame.
"You did great" Luna Girl stated, causing the moths to chatter happily.
"We'll meet again, PJ Masks" Robo-Cat said as the Robo-PJs reversed back into the shadows.
After saying their hero catchphrase at the end of a mission, Gekko noticed the purple vein on Catboy and Owlette's heads and frowned in horror.
Captiane Lupin watched on from a high rooftop.
"I'm glad Luna Girls back but can I resume my plan now?" he asked.
"Patience, child. Your next opportunity will be here very soon" Masque Ombre replied with a sinister smile.
-To be continued-
Sorry it took a while, had to get through a few hoops to get here. Hope you enjoyed chapter 2.
Next time you might see a few familiar elements with some unique twists.
I'm doing my best to develop everyone as we go along.
Um I will reveal the full timeline at the end of the story as I keep updating with the new episode titles at the moment.
See ya next time!
PS: somethings referenced here will be expanded on in 'Universal Knights'.