Love for One, Love for All (The Conclusion!)
Love for One, Love for All
The Conclusion!

Angie's anxiety grew into near total panic. She could not understand why Angel had acted so cold to her and had trouble getting out of her own room. "I've got to calm down," she said to herself. "I can't be frightened like this." She took a couple of deep breaths to lower her increasing heart rate. As soon as it was back to normal, she considered what to do. "I could try the radio, but if something's affected Angel this badly, she could easily block radio contact. However, one thing she can't stop is psychic contact."

The young magician then closed her eyes and tuned in to Ace's mind. "Ace, Ace, wake up, quick. I think we're in serious trouble."
Ace was sleeping soundly on his bed with Zina at the foot base. Then, he heard his younger counterpart's telepathic distress message and awakened in a gasp. "Angie, what's wrong? You're about ready to panic."
"Something's wrong here, Ace. Is Cosmo awake yet?"
"No, he's still asleep. Why?"
"Then, who's at the controls of the Express?"
"Wait a minute. You mean we're already moving?"
"Yes, but that's not the worst of it. Angel's acting very peculiar, and her holographic image looks all black!"
"Hang on, we'll know in a minute."
Ace called his computer system. "Angel?"
When the hologram appeared, it said, "Oh, brother. What's the problem, Magician?"
Upon noticing the darkness colored through the points, he knew immediately what had happened. "Oh, my God. A virus, just like before."
In his mind the memory of what Bill Peach had done to the Magic Express had come up. At that time, Ace had trouble getting into his own home because Peach was able to control everything, including his Magic Bike. He nearly got ran over by the train itself, but he managed to get underneath and enter through a special trapdoor Cosmo had built himself. With some magic, a lot of luck, and help from Cosmo, the Express finally came to a stop before it could harm innocent people at a then newly opened amusement park.
Getting his mind back into the present situation, he looked at Angel and said, "I want you to open the door right now."
"Forget it, Cooper," it responded insultingly. "I'm not going to help you with anything anymore." Like it did with Angie, the hologram disappeared very quickly.
Ace then sent a thought to Angie. "You were right. Something is wrong here. A virus has overtaken the Magic Express and the control systems. Maybe I can open my door with magic."
"If you can do it, I hope you can show me how because I couldn't."
Ace put his arms forward in the attempt to open the door by magic. Focusing his mind on the door, he tried with all his might to get it open. Unfortunately, he had no luck, either. "It didn't work, Angie. I think there's only one alternative left."
"I agree. It's time for the Magic Force!"
Although they were in separate rooms, their scream was in perfect unison. "Magic Force, reveal the power within!" As both went into dizzying spins, they were surrounded in bright light: Ace in violet and Angie in light blue.
In a matter of seconds, both emerged in their special crimefighting costumes. Ace was in his all dark-grey bodysuit with yellow belt, yellow collar, dark-colored cape, and black boots with yellow trim. Angie's costume was almost exactly the same, except she wore a dark-grey miniskirt and red tights.
At the same time, Ace pounded the right side of his chest with his left hand while Angie placed her left hand in front of her shirt on her right side. A red half-face with a yellow eye appeared on both costumes, and the two magicians were ready for action.
"Angie, you should be able to use your magic now to open the door. Concentrate your power on the lock and only the lock."
"Okay, Ace. I'll give it a go."
In their separate rooms, the two magicians were able to unlock the doors and get free of their small prisons.
"Whew," Angie said in relief, "I'm glad that worked." She then ran out of her room to join Ace in the hallway.
Ace was thankful to see his friend safe. "You okay, Angie?"
"Yeah, I think so. Now what should we do?"
"We've got to wake Cosmo and Mona fast. I'll take care of Cosmo while you alert Mona."
Angie went to Mona's door and knocked on it as hard as she could. "Mona, wake up! Come on, wake up!"
In her room, the singer heard Angie's screaming voice and ran to the door. "Angie, why are you in your suit? Are we in trouble here?"
After she nodded she said, "Mona, stand back. I'm going to use magic to open the door. You won't be able to open it yourself."
Mona did what Angie had told and stepped back from the door.
In mere seconds, the door was open, and Mona was also free.
Then, Angie and Mona joined Ace and the already freed Cosmo in the living room.
"What's goin' on here?" asked a worried Cosmo.
Ace gave a grave answer. "The Express has been taken over by a deadly computer virus. It's making Angel act up and moving the train by itself. Fortunately, we're the only ones involved right now, but we've got to stop this thing, or else we're all dead."
"So, what can we do?" Mona questioned with concern.
"Our only chance is to try to reboot the system, like we did before." He then turned to Angie. "You and I will keep Angel busy and try to reach the controls at the front. Cosmo, you and Mona get into the computer room and see what you can do about the rebooting."
"Sounds good to me, dude. Let's go!"
The two pairs split up and got to work in trying to stop the Express.
As the two magicians tried to make their way toward the front controls, Angel did everything in her power to stop them.
"It's no use, magicians," she said sinisterly. "You're not going to get to the front alive!"
Suddenly, from the far end of the wall, arrows were fired toward the pair!
"Angie, duck!" Ace yelled.
The two dropped to the floor quickly as the arrows landed at the other wall.
The younger magician breathed heavily as she said, "That was too close."
"It's not over yet. We still have a couple of other obstacles to get through. Just stay close to me."
"You got it! Let's move!"
In the meantime, Cosmo and Mona were able to hotwire their way into the computer room to get to work on fixing the computer.
"Um, Cosmo, I hate to tell you this, but I'm not as advanced in computer knowledge as you are."
"Don't worry about it, Mona. You just stand by and wait for instructions. I'll tell you what to do when it's time, okay?"
"Sure thing." Her bigger concern was Ace and Angie. "Please make it up there, guys. If we can't do it here, it'll be all up to both of you."
The Magician and his younger counterpart had another major barrier to pass before they could make it to the front.
Angel unleashed a gigantic saw blade and had it moving towards them. "You won't get past this."
"I did it before, Angel," Ace stated, "and I'll certainly do it again." He then grabbed Angie's hand. "Hang on to me, and don't let go!"
Angie followed the movements of her mentor, and both missed being sliced by about an inch.
"Way to go, Ace! How did you know what to do?"
"This is not the first time a virus has taken control of the systems. Now, I think there's just one last obstacle to get through, and we'll reach the brakes."
Meanwhile, Darlena took the stolen police car and stopped it at the point where Tracer said the best view would be. She then got out and looked at the view. "Oh, how perfect! This spot is just the place to watch Ace Cooper die!"
When she looked around, she did not see anything come into view yet. "Hmm, apparently I got here earlier than expected, but that's okay by me. I can't wait to look through these binoculars and see the shocked looks of the Magician and company when they realize there's no way to stop the Express from crashing."
She then took out a cell phone Tracer had given her to call. "How's everything at your end?"
Back at his apartment he answered, "Everything's working perfectly. That teen hacker partner and another woman are trying to reboot the system while Cooper and that young woman are attempting to reach the controls at the front engine."
"That young woman? You mean Angela Jacobs?"
"Yeah."
"How can that loser help Ace Cooper? She's not as skilled in magic as I am! Well, not to worry. When this is all over, the greatest magician in the world will be me!" Darlena let out a laugh of pure nastiness, as it looked like her dangerous plan would succeed without a hitch.
Ace and Angie made it to the front engine controls, but a number of cable wires caught Ace and entangled him.
"Angie, lunge for the front to reach the brakes!"
She tried to make her move, but then the wires caught her ankles. In a matter of seconds, Angie was completely unable to move as she lay on the ground. "I'm sorry, Ace. I tried."
"Don't worry about that right now. At least we're okay for a little while."
Angel then appeared in front of the pair. "Sorry, Magician. I'm going to make sure no one comes out of this except for me." She then gave Ace and Angie a slight electrical shock.
As the two grunted in pain, Angie had a frightening thought go through her mind. "Oh, no. I just remembered about the Party Carnival. Unless I miss my guess, whoever did this sent us on a collision course with the festival. If we don't stop the Express soon, thousands of people will get hurt. I've got to do something to overcome this, but how?"
In the computer room Cosmo asked Mona to press the button to restart Angel for the rebooting process.
However, as Mona did so, she received an electrical shock and was thrown back three feet.
The apprentice then ran up to her. "Mona, are you okay?"
"I think so. I didn't know Angel could play so rough."
The blackened hologram appeared there suddenly. "You think this is rough, lady? You haven't seen my full capabilities yet. And by the way, don't bother trying to restart the system. There's no way it can be done. Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Mona became gravely concerned. "Cosmo, what'll we do now?"
"I don't know. Right now, though, it seems we can't reboot Angel at all. We're going to have to go a bit extreme and do a total system shutdown, but the only way to do that is for Ace and Angie to apply the brakes at the front."
"Great," said the singer sarcastically. "We have to turn off the computer, and we have to stop to do it?"
"That's the way this system was designed. The problem is we can't contact them, like, because she could easily block off the radio communications."
"Then . . . our fate lies in the hands of Ace Cooper and Angela Jacobs. I just hope they can pull this off."
The two magicians struggled desperately to break free of their bonds to reach the brakes.
"This is serious," Ace thought to himself. "This virus is far more powerful than the one Peach used on us. It also looks like Cosmo was unable to reboot Angel. If only I could break out of these wires, but the grip's getting so tight I almost can't breathe."
Meanwhile, Angie's concern for the people at the Party Carnival was growing rapidly. "I have to do something, fast! Right now, I'm more afraid for those attending that festival. I can't just give up, I just can't! I must break out of here, or else all those innocent people will get hurt! I will not allow innocent lives to be lost this way!"
Suddenly, she felt a surge of magic within her heart. Allowing her heart to take control, she started glowing in a light-blue aura and freed herself from the wires.
Next, Angie levitated four feet above the floor and closed her eyes to feel her power flowing through her. "Let my heart guide my power!" she screamed with all her heart.
In a matter of seconds, everything around her started to glow, as she concentrated as hard as she could to try to stop the train.
Knowing right away this would strain her severely, she moved her right hand over to where Ace was tied up and quickly freed him from the cables.
Ace could not believe what had happened when he heard Angie's gentle voice in his mind. "Ace, I need your help. There's no way I can stop the Express all by myself."
He ran up to where his younger counterpart was. He next closed his eyes and levitated himself to reach her in the air. Then, he took Angie's hands and felt a surge of power as he began to glow in bright violet. "Let's do this together."
Their hearts and minds bonded as one, they both yelled out, "Magic Force, unite our powers!"
As their powers grew stronger between them, Ace became a little curious as to why Angie was going all out in her efforts to stop the Express. He then searched her mind for the truth and discovered the real story when he saw the image of the flyer on the lamppost. "Oh, my God. We're going to collide with something called the Party Carnival?"
"Yes. We're less than 100 miles away from it, and tens of thousands of people are there already."
"At the rate we're going now, we'll be there in about 10 minutes. We must concentrate on keeping Angel from attacking us and putting the brakes on. Fortunately, our united magic will keep Angel's defenses back. Now, we must concentrate on applying the brakes. Focus as much magical energy on the brakes as you can."
"Okay, let's go for it!"
The pair concentrated as hard as possible to apply the brakes and stop the Magic Express from hurting many people at the Party Carnival.
Back in the computer room, Cosmo and Mona were having problems of their own.
"Aw, man! Whoever made this virus did a real number on the system. We can't reboot it, and we can't shut it down unless we stop."
Suddenly, the two noticed the area around them starting to glow.
"What's happenin' here?" Cosmo asked curiously.
"It must be Ace and Angie. They've combined their magic, but I don't understand why. Aren't we the only ones in danger?"
"I don't know. Maybe one of them knows something the rest of us don't."
"Let's just hope they can stop this thing before it's too late."
For the moment, Ace and Angie were slowly starting to apply the brakes on the bottom of the train itself.
Angie's anxiety was becoming greater at every passing second. "Magic Force, please help us stop the Express before those people get hurt. I must do my part do save them."
Ace then realized something important. "Angie, I know what you're trying to do, but I sense you're holding back."
"Holding back? How? What are you talking about?"
"Listen to me. You have spent your whole life worrying for the safety of others but never thinking about yourself. I know other people's lives are very important, but if you think about yourself right now—"
"Ace, I can't think about myself in this situation."
"Let me finish. If you can think about yourself and what you want right now, your power will become far stronger than you can imagine. Try to put some love into your own heart. Give it a try."
"I can't. I'm afraid."
"Why are you scared to love yourself? Are you fearful you'll become selfish?"
"Yes. That, and I'm afraid I'll become greedy and irresponsible."
"That is not true, Angie. There's nothing wrong with thinking about yourself ever so often. You can't spend your whole life saying 'I have to' or 'I must.' You need love for yourself, too. I know you've suffered so much in your life, being shy and quiet, being picked on by more popular people, and losing your parents in that terrible accident. However, there is a huge difference between doing something because you have to and doing something because you want to. Do you have to save those people, or do you want to save those people? Say you have to and want to, and see how you feel."
"Okay. I have to save them." She felt no change. "Now, I want to save them." Angie then felt her heart becoming warmer. "I felt different when I said 'I want to save them.' Why?"
"That's because you finally understand that loving yourself is just as important as loving those around you. You cannot love others unless you love yourself first. Do this because you really want to do it, not because you think you're obligated in any way to do it."
"Yeah, you're right. I want to do this not only for the people I love and the innocent people I'm concerned for, but also for myself! I am the one who makes my magic happen, and I chose to be like this. It's my decision, and I say I want to do something for everyone around me and me myself!"
Darlena looked through her binoculars and began to see the Magic Express itself over the horizon. "Oh, how beautiful this is! The Magician's home is now his death trap." However, she started to notice a bright light around the train. "What's that? The glare of the morning sun against the train?" She then got onto the cell phone. "Tracer, why is there a light around the Magic Express?"
"What're you talking about? The computer system shows no light source anywhere. Everything here's under my control. I—wait a minute. I'm starting to get some sort of interference."
"Interference!?" she screamed into the phone. "What do you mean by that, you fool? I thought you said there's nothing they could do to stop the train, not even reboot the system. What's going on here?"
"I don't know, Darlena! I can't understand what's going on!"
Back inside, Angie's self-love gave the combined efforts of her and Ace a bigger boost in power.
"That's it, Angie," Ace said aloud. "Add love to yourself, since you're important, too."
"It all makes sense now," stated Angie with compassion in her soul. "I have to have some time to think about what I myself want out of life. I can't continue believing I'm obligated to help everyone around me at every turn. I can make a difference, but I have to realize I can't save the entire world myself, just try to help one person at a time, including me once in a while. Now, let's put the brakes on this thing!"
"You got it, friend. Let's concentrate on the brakes together."
Both magicians gave everything they had with heart, soul, mind, and spirit.
Within the span of about two minutes, the brakes were slowly beginning to apply.
Angie focused her power even harder than she had ever done before, causing her to start feeling an enormous amount of physical strain. "I'm gonna keep going! I want to keep going!"
With Ace's help, their magic put on the brakes of the Express, and it finally came to a stop five minutes later.
In the computer room, Mona and Cosmo accidentally crashed into the wall during the braking process.
Upon realizing they had stopped, Cosmo checked on Mona. "You okay?"
"Oh, I think so. Wow, that was quite a stop."
"Ace and Angie did it! Now we can shut off the system." He then spoke into his wristwatch radio. "Computer shutdown code M-J-C-4-S. Commence."
The dark hologram appeared to try to stop them. "No! You won't shut me down! You can't . . . stop . . . me . . ." The voice became slow and distorted as the hologram slowly vanished into nothingness. The system shutdown was a success.
"You did it, Cosmo," said Mona as she hugged the apprentice/hacker. "That's some code you've got."
"That's nothin', Mona. Sound out the code M-J-C-4-S."
"Mag—ic—force," she sounded. "I should have known: 'Magic Force'."
"Right. Now, let's get to the front to see how the two magicians are doing."
At the front controls, Ace and Angie lowered themselves back to the floor, where she abruptly fainted into his arms.
Ace noticed his younger counterpart looking completely pale. "Are you all right?" he asked softly as he gently laid her on the floor.
Slowly opening her eyes, her voice was a whisper. "I'm . . . okay. Just very tired. I guess . . . I still have . . . a long way to go, don't I?"
"That's okay, Angie. I'm very patient. You'll make it in due time, I promise. I'm proud of you, I know your parents are proud of you, and I hope you're proud of yourself, too."
"I am proud of myself, my friend. I finally understand about being able to love the person I am."
Cosmo and Mona ran into the control room and found Ace and the very tired Angie.
Mona gasped in worry. "Angie, are you okay?"
"She's fine," Ace responded. "She channeled so much power through herself it completely strained her out."
"I don't understand something. Why did you go all out to stop the Express? There wasn't anyone else in danger besides us, was there?"
"On the contrary, Mona." Ace then went to a nearby compartment and took out a pair of binoculars. "Here, take a look over the horizon and tell me what you see."
Looking through them, she noticed something. "Hmm, it looks like some kind of festival or something."
"That's right. It's called the Party Carnival, and we were heading right for it."
Cosmo had a look of dismay on his face. "You mean, we were gonna collide with the carnival?"
"Yes. Angie had known about it the entire time. She saw a flyer advertising the carnival back in Lazaro City and realized thousands of others were in just as much or even more danger than we were. That's why she concentrated so hard with all her heart. She finally understood the importance of being able to think about herself once in a while."
"Will she be okay?"
"She'll be all right. Using her powers is still a learning process for her. She'll get it mastered when the time comes. Come on, everyone. Let's get to the living room."
He then picked up the young magician and carried her in his arms with Mona and Cosmo following close behind.
Zina, who had been sticking it out in the living room after she woke up to find no Cosmo in his room earlier, stepped down from the sofa as Ace put Angie's body on top.
Angie slowly opened her eyes again and noticed everyone around her. "I'm sorry I got you all worried these last couple of days," she said softly. "I guess a little nagging voice inside me kept wanting to say I could never have any real friends, and I believed it for so long. You were right, Ace. I can't love anyone else unless I love myself."
"Exactly. You need to have some things for yourself, including love. If you spend your whole life trying to satisfy others without thinking about yourself, you won't have your own purpose in life. You've always been true to yourself and your heart, but you were afraid you would end up like Darlena: egotistical, vain, jealous, and greedy."
"Listen," interrupted Cosmo. "While Angie gets some rest, Mona, could you help me use the mini-diagnostic computer to see if we can get rid of that virus?"
"Sure thing," the singer agreed.
"You two get to that," Ace said. "As for me, I've got a rogue magician to find."
Angie took hold of her mentor's hand. "Ace, can you do me one favor?"
"Anything, my friend, anything. What is it?"
"Stop her for me."
"I will, Angie. I promise." Then, as he put his right hand in front of her face, he lowered his hand as her eyes started to close. "Now," he whispered, "sleep, young magician. You need the rest."
Angie fell into a deep and relaxed sleep.
Mona then whispered, "Ace, will she be all right by herself over here?"
"Yes. You help Cosmo while I take care of some business of my own."

Up on the cliff, Darlena became bitterly angry. "I can't believe it!" she shouted. "The Magic Express stopped, but how!? It's absolutely impossible!" She then yelled into the cell phone. "Tracer! What happened!?"
"Don't holler into the phone, cream puff! I don't understand why I can't control the Express anymore. They must have shut the system down completely. How did they do it, though? There was no way that hacker could have done it!"
"You jerk! You failed completely! Don't expect any more help from me!" She then threw the phone to the ground, breaking it instantly. "It's just not possible for them to have stopped the Magic Express!"
Suddenly, from behind her an angry male voice said, "Anything is possible with magic, Darlena."
When she turned around, she gasped in surprise. "Cooper? So, you survived the deadly train trip?"
"Yes, I did, my dear."
"But how? How did you stop the Magic Express when rebooting the system didn't work? Nothing could have saved you!"
"Nothing, except Angie's heart. You didn't count on her magical powers becoming stronger in the time of great danger. For a little while, she was afraid she was interfering with our lives, but after what she did to help stop the Magic Express, I now know she's a part of our family now and forever.
"As for you, your chances of becoming an apprentice to any magician just went up in smoke because of this. How can someone so young be so coldhearted and cruel?"
"Since you wouldn't take me in, I decided to get even with you. I am far better than Angela Jacobs, yet you choose to keep that old beginning loser, and you call your pathetic bunch a family."
"That's right, Darlena. We think of ourselves as a family of brothers and sisters, not a team of performers." The Magician then changed the subject. "Did you even realize what else you did?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Because of your little stunt, you endangered not only everyone inside the Express, but also thousands of innocent people attending the Party Carnival, which is less than five miles away from here. I can't believe you would do something like this just because I wouldn't take you in. Don't you have any regrets or remorse for what you've done?"
"None, whatsoever. I'll do anything to get what I want, and when I don't get it, I will get even!" She then conjured up the poisonous snakes, like in her dream. "Get him, my pretties!"
Unlike the dream, though, Ace showed no fear. "This is your idea of pretty?" He then magically changed all the snakes into doves. "Now that's more like it."
"That's it, Cooper! You're going down!" The rogue magician concentrated hard to create a blast of magic at Ace.
Ace, though, fought back with his own power. "If you think you can take me down so easily, you're way out of your league, sister!"
"How dare you say that to me! I'm better than Angela Jacobs, and I'm better than even you!"
The Magician noticed how her power was building rapidly. "Wow, she's a tough one. Her power is built on greed and jealousy. The more agitated she gets, the more powerful she becomes. I'm not going to let her win, though."
On the sofa in the living room, Angie was still in a deep sleep when she saw an image forming in her mind, one showing her friend's struggle against Darlena. "Ace, even though I am physically weakened, I can sense you need help."
Within her mind, she could see herself standing tall. Placing her hands to her heart, she calmly said, "Magic Force within my heart, I can feel Ace needing assistance in his battle against that misguided magician. I want to do something to help him stop her once and for all."
As her body glowed in light blue, a ball of light was forming in her heart. The ball of light surfaced as she put her hands outward and downward. With determination in her eyes and love in her heart, she yelled, "Magic Force, by my own free will and choice, please transfer some of my power to the Magician!"
Ace's battle with Darlena was beginning to put a burden on him, as his mind was beginning to feel the strain.
"You're finished, Cooper! You're going to lose to me, and I'll be the greatest magician in the world from now on!" She laughed as hard as she could.
Out of the blue, Ace felt something within himself. "What . . . ? What is this powerful feeling in my heart?"
Angie's inner voice spoke to him gently. "Kindred brother, please hear me. Although I am physically too weak, my heart is still strong. I have made the choice to give some of my power to you, and I want to help you this time. You are my big brother, and I'm going to do this for you and more importantly for me."

The Magician closed his eyes and felt warmer than ever before. "Angie, I can feel your kind and loving heart; your warm and compassionate soul. I proudly accept your gift . . . my kindred sister."
He could see his younger counterpart smiling as he began to feel her power coming to him. As his purplish aura started having tints of light blue, he yelled, "May Angie's heart help me!" The double-colored aura became brighter with every second.
Darlena could not believe her eyes. "What!? It's not possible! Why are you getting stronger?"
"That's for me to know," said a determined Ace, "and for you to find out!"
The rogue's powers could not stand up to the Magician's special bond of friendship with Angie. "I must know! How do you continue letting your power become stronger than ever?" Finally understanding she was no longer a match for him, she tried to run for it.
Ace said, "Oh, no, you don't, rogue! You're not getting away from me that easily!" He then flung his cape and quickly tied her up.
Darlena fell to the ground, with only her head and feet visible.
Just then, a series of police cars showed up at the cliff.
Ace started wondering if he was going to get into trouble with the law, like he normally would in Electro City, without a good reason.
A gentleman in a suit came up to the Magician. He had thick, dark brown hair with grey highlights and blue eyes, and looked enough like a chief of police. "Hello, Mr. Cooper. I'm Captain Jimmy Raleigh, Chief of Police in Lazaro City."
"Umm," Ace said apprehensively. "I hope you don't think I—"
"No," said Capt. Raleigh with a reassuring smile. He shook Ace's hand and added, "Unlike my Electro City counterpart, Howard Friedrichs, I do appreciate help anytime, anywhere. I've been in the force long enough to know playing by the book doesn't always work."
The Magician breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew, I was worried you were just like him."
"Forget it, Mr. Cooper. I respect any type of help possible, including magic. I don't know why Howard just won't give you the respect you deserve for keeping Electro City safe."
Then, one of the officers ran up to his patrol car. "Yup, this is it, the stolen patrol car, and there's the little creep who did it."
Raleigh then looked at the young woman's face. "Ah, Darlena Lowland."
"You know her?" Ace asked curiously.
"Oh, yes. Here, look at this list."
Ace took the sheet of paper and was very surprised at what he discovered. "She had trained under three other magicians but was thrown out for trying to frame them for crimes she had committed?"
"That's correct, Mr. Cooper. She was using her own magic to carry out robberies and tried to place the blame on the three magicians she had trained under. In fact, she was placed into a special list known as the Universal Magician Alert just two weeks ago."
"I've heard of that list. It involves would-be apprentices who actually use their training to do things only for themselves instead of trying to entertain people, as that is the main purpose of magic."
"Mm-hmm. I figured you got that alert by e-mail."
"Sorry, I was out of town two weeks ago, as I was going to see the Chrysalis's final renovations."
"That's understandable. Anyway, it's only appropriate for a rogue magician to be taken down by the best in the world."
"Well," Ace started, "I really couldn't have done it without Angie's help. It was the love in her heart which gave me the strength to fight on and stop Darlena."
"That reminds me. One of my officers said she took down a pair of seasoned criminals yesterday but accepted no reward for it. The reward for their capture was $25,000, and I really want to give it to her. Where is she?"
"Resting comfortably on the living room sofa in the Magic Express. Now, I assume you're going to take Darlena into custody, so I'll release the cape with one bonus surprise."
Using his mental capabilities, the cape floated back onto his back.
Darlena wanted to move her arms to do something but discovered she was unable. "What the--? I've been cuffed!"
"Yes," said Ace, "and those are a special pair of handcuffs, specifically designed to prevent magicians from escaping. The only way out—" He then made a small object appear in his left hand. "—is by unlocking them with this one-of-a-kind key." He then gave it to Capt. Raleigh.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Cooper. Gentlemen, read Miss Lowland her rights and book her downtown."
As Darlena was being read her rights, she looked angrily at Ace. "Why? Why won't you accept the fact I'm better than Angela Jacobs?"
"Darlena, you did prove to be better than Angie. The only problem is, you believe magic is nothing more than skills and practice. The true purpose of magic is to entertain and enlighten, but it takes much more than practice. You have the abilities, yes, but you don't have the heart like Angie does. Her heart is pure and clear, and she cherishes life. She has been blessed with the gift of magic because of her love and her kindness. She cares about others, but now she cares about herself, too.
"For most of her life, she considered her gift as a curse, and after seeing you, I could understand why."
Darlena growled at the Magician. "You'll never get away with this, Cooper! I'll get you back, and when I do, you'll be sorry!"
Capt. Raleigh stepped up and stated, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Your friend, Tracer, was arrested in his apartment."
"What?" she shrieked. "I thought he said he was untraceable."
"He was, but one of his old friends is our official police hacker. He decided to use his hacking skills to help us catch him. So, now you're both going to jail, charged with attempted mass murder and illegal tampering of computer systems."
"Mass murder!?"
"Yes, since it was within ten miles of the Party Carnival. Take her away."
Back inside the Magic, Angie finally awakened after a long nap and saw all her friends and a couple of extra visitors. "How long have I been out?"
"Hmm, about an hour-and-a-half," Cosmo answered happily.
As Angie slowly sat up straight, she noticed Ace. "You're okay."
"Thanks to you, Angie. Your transferring of power to me was what made the difference."
"And Darlena?"
"On her way to jail with her partner Tracer. He planted the deadly virus into Angel's systems."
Angie then became a little frantic. "Angel! Is she—"
The purplish-pink hologram appeared in front of her. "Don't worry, Angie. Cosmo and Mona did a full diagnostic run on me and removed the virus from my system. I'm fine now."
"If you were real, Angel, I'd hug you."
"I'm sorry for what happened."
"It's not your fault, Angel. It was that creep Tracer who did this to you. I don't blame you at all. In a way, we knew the security systems were still working okay."
Everyone laughed at the joke.
"Angie," said Mona, "this is Captain Raleigh, Lazaro City's police chief."
The chief shook hands with her. "Hello, Miss Jacobs. Are you all right?"
"I'm much better now. That nap Ace hypnotized me into taking actually helped me."
"That's good, because I have a surprise for you." He then took out a small piece of paper. "Knowing you're a little weak still, and probably not in the mood for a public ceremony, I'll just make the presentation here. Angela Jacobs, on two occasions, you have demonstrated courage far above and beyond the call of duty in protecting the citizens of Lazaro City and the tourists and visitors to our annual Party Carnival. Now, do you remember this officer standing with me?"
"Yes, I do. He took those two criminals downtown yesterday."
"That's right. I didn't tell you this part. There was a $25,000 reward for their arrest."
"Really?" Angie asked.
Raleigh answered, "That's right. This small piece of paper is a check for $25,000. Please accept this with our gratitude."
Angie looked at the check. "Thank you, sir."
"That's not the end of it, however. Because of the courageous actions of both you and Ace Cooper to save the people at the carnival, Mayor Sandra Wilkins hereby names you both honorary members of the Lazaro City Police Department. Please accept these two special badges in your honor."
Both Ace and Angie took their awards.
"Thank you, Captain," said the Magician happily. "I'm flattered to accept this award."
"Me, too," Angie added. "I'm just glad all those people are safe to enjoy their time at the Party Carnival."
Capt. Raleigh and the police officer then left the Magic Express to file their report with the mayor.
Just then, Sensa-News reporter Kendra Rayler knocked on the door.
"Miss Rayler," said Ace happily. "I guess you'd like to know what happened."
"Yes, I do, but if Angie's not up to it, I'll understand."
Angie then came to the door. "No, I'm up to it now. I've had a good nap to recover."
"Great." Kendra conducted her interview fairly quickly, only wanting the facts about what had happened.
Angie and Ace gave their answers simply and succinctly, and Kendra got her story in just a few minutes.
"The people attending the Party Carnival are safe today thanks to the brave efforts of Ace Cooper and Angela Jacobs. For Sensa-News, this is Kendra Rayler." After the camera went off, she looked at the two and said, "Paparazzo's never been easy on you, has he?"
"For all the times we've known him," Ace started to answer, "he'll never be easy on us."
"Well, as long as he's stuck doing restaurant scores for the health department for the next two weeks, I think you both have nothing to worry about for a little while. I'd better go, so I can file my report at the TV station. Thank you both."
"You're welcome, Miss Rayler," Ace and Angie said together.
The two went back to the living room to join Mona, Cosmo, Angel, and Zina.
Angie then looked at the check. "Hmm, I think I know what I'm going to do with this check."
"What?" asked Cosmo.
"I'm going to take $5,000 for myself and donate the rest to charity."
"Wait a minute, Angie," Ace stated cautiously. "Are you sure that's what you really want to do?"
"Yeah, I'm positive. I really want to do this. It's time I accepted loving myself and make it equal to loving those I call my 'family'. I also have to remember that being a little selfish isn't bad. I was so afraid of accepting anything for myself I lost touch with my own reality."
Everyone gave her a hug.
Mona, with a small tear coming from her left eye, happily said, "That's good, because when we get back to Electro City, you and I are going on a shopping spree, and you will buy whatever you want, okay?"
"Sure," said Angie, "but why wait until we go back to Electro City? We're close to the Party Carnival, so why don't we stop there?"
Ace agreed. "That's a great idea, Angie. We could pick up some souvenirs from the festival on the way back."
"Okay, we'll stop there," declared Mona, "but that shopping spree's still on, okay, Angie?"
"It's a deal."
The Magician then asked, "Angel, are your systems well enough?"
"Yes, they are, Ace."
"In that case, Party Carnival, here we come!"
Twenty minutes later, the Magician and his friends (except Zina, who had to stay in the train) dispersed and started buying some great mementos from their trip to the festival.
Angie, in particular, found a dream catcher and a pretty beanie butterfly and bought them for herself. The dream catcher would help her grab hold of more pleasant dreams in her sleep. As for the butterfly, it was a special symbol for her, for she knew in the time she had spent with Ace Cooper, the Magician, she truly had bloomed from a shy, quiet caterpillar into the wonderful butterfly filled with love, kindness, compassion, warmth, and magic in her heart.

THE END