Tarb was walking the halls of the hide-out by himself when he heard the faint sound of music coming from somewhere, he decided to go investigate…as he got closer he recognized the tune, "Who would be playing 'Greensleeves'?" he asked him self.
When he got close to the sound he felt someone grab his should, he turned around to find Sardon had stopped him, "I wouldn't bother the General right now, it would be bad luck for you."
"The General's playing that, but why?" Tarb asked
"He's thinking…he's thinking about his next plan of attack, I learned early on with him, best let the music play and let him think." Sardon told him.
Meanwhile the General was deep in thought, "This next part of my plan has to revoke Elliot into revealing himself to me…but how?"
He let out a heavy sigh and said, "Sometimes being a military superstar can give you a headache."
He then decided to a little searching on Earth, maybe that would give him an idea. Of course he'd have to wear his cloak…but he was accustom to wearing it time and time again, he only need take it off in the heat of battle.
While walking the streets, he saw a newsstand, "Look at the press, maybe then you'll get an idea." Htarw thought to himself. He picked up a newspaper and looked at it, "Hey buddy…you going to pay for that?" The stand owner asked.
"I'm looking at it, dear fellow…I shall return it to you when I'm done." Htarw said gently.
"Uh pal, you better pay for that or I'll call the cops." Threatened the stand owner.
Htarw then turned to look the man straight in the eyes, "Do you have a family?" Htarw asked.
"A wife and a teenage daughter." The stand owner said.
"You're only telling me a half truth, my dear fellow…I warn you, your daughter suspects…stop seeing her now and maybe your daughter will grow doubtful." Htarw told him.
He then put down the stand owner and continued looking at the paper, the stand owner backed away from him and asked, "H-h-how did you know about that?"
Htarw looked at him and said, "Your eyes."
"My eyes?" asked the man in disbelief
Htarw nodded, "Your eyes are a reflection into who you are and what you've done…sort of like a time machine, you can go back to a certain moment and see what you want."
"So what do your eyes say about you?" the man asked.
"Why don't you look into them and tell me yourself?" Htarw asked.
The man looked directly into Htarw's eyes, then took a few steps back.
"Do you see the person I am?" Htarw asked.
"Yes…Dear God Yes!" pleaded the man.
Htarw then looked at the newspaper, turned a few pages and asked, "How much money do you have on you?"
"Here take it, just don't look at me with those eyes again," The man said, tossing Htarw his wallet, the man then whispered "the horror, the horror."
Htarw took at least $60 and left, he had a busy morning ahead of him.
That morning Zoey went to work at the café Wesley handed an envelope to her, she looked inside to find a ticket to a carnival that was going to in town over the weekend. "Mark must've gotten tickets." Zoey thought to herself.
"That's not all though, there were six more tickets in that envelope…looks like whoever bought these wanted all of us to come along." Wesley told her.
"Well Mark must've wanted to meet some of my new friends, it sounds suspicious…but he's probably trying to be nice." She then thought to herself.
That Saturday Zoey met Mark at the entrance, they both exchanged hellos and went in, Zoey could see the big-top, off to the far right, and straight on ahead was a Ferris Wheel, and too the left of that were a few other rides, the path leading up to those things were lined with concession stands and other carnival games and booths like a dunk-tank, a fortune teller, etc.
Suddenly a clown appeared before them and said, "Hello you two…howdydoo, wouldn't want to miss the big top performance…it's in an hour, you'll feel the whimsy of it's power." The clown said in a sing-song voice that Zoey thought sounded familiar, "Bouquet for the lady?" The clown asked, holding it out for Zoey, she was about to grab it when one of the flowers squirted water at her, the clown let out a playful laugh and ran off, Mark helped Zoey dry off while trying to hold back his own laughter.
Meanwhile the clown watched them both, only his happy expression changed to one of disgust, "I don't see what she sees in him and not in me?" The clown thought to himself.
"Dren, you did a good job." Said Htarw, dressed now not only in his black hooded cloak, but a lighter emerald colored one now too.
"Is your plan working out as you hoped it would?" Dren asked.
"Like clockwork Dren…like clockwork, in about an our the big top will be filled to capacity, and when the magician asks for a volunteer…then you run out and choose me from the crowd."
"You mean I have to keep wearing this getup?" Dren asked, sounding annoyed.
Htarw looked at him sharply and said, "It's part of my plan, if you don't like it…tough!" and with that he departed.
Zoey then looked around and saw Wesley and Elliot, she waved to them. Elliot was shaking his right hand, "Clown got him with a joy-buzzer." Wesley told her, Zoey laughed a little.
"Hey Zoey…who are your two friends here?" Mark asked.
"Name's Wesley…and the person next to me here is Elliot, who was just the victim of a joy-buzzer." Wesley introduced.
"Mark…nice to meet both of you." Mark introduced in response. "Hey…haven't I seen you two at that café?" he then asked.
Wesley nodded, "Elliot and I here own it, Zoey's one of the waitresses."
"Okay…see you two later." Said Zoey, pulling Mark behind her.
"Nice kid." Wesley said.
"Yeah, I guess," Elliot added, "but don't you find it at least strange he had the money to buy those tickets?"
"Elliot…what exactly are you implying?" Wesley asked.
"I'm just asking to keep your eyes peeled, I think we're seeing only the surface treatment of a deep-rooted plan." Elliot told him.
Well the next hour went pretty smoothly, Mark tried a few of the carnival games, he was able to win Zoey a stuffed animal that looked like a tabby-cat. At one point on the Ferris Wheel Zoey thought Mark and her were finally going to kiss, but that was foiled when those cat-like ears suddenly popped out and Zoey had to distract Mark until they disappeared again.
Then came what the clown had said would be the big show under the big top, Zoey looked back and saw her the others sitting behind her at least three rows back, they waved hello to her.
When the show started, Zoey saw the clown was right, she saw elephants, horses, even some lions and tigers (in cages of course), there were other clowns, and acrobats, and even a dare-devil.
The ring-master took the stage and the show started with the clowns first, of course. Then the ring-master took the stage again and tamed a few of the lions and tiger, made them jump through hoops and stuff. Then came the dare-devil, who attempted to shove several swords down his throat then remove them without hurting himself.
The last act was a magician, he did the pretty standard stuff like made doves appear out of thin air and stuff like that, then for his final performance he needed a volunteer…he asked one of the clowns to go out and find a volunteer from the audience, sure enough. He chose Htarw, Zoey saw this and wondered what he was doing here, then suddenly it was if a light of realization had dawned on her.
The final performance was to be an escape trick, Htarw was put inside a wooden box, the magician explained that his volunteer had 15 seconds to escape from the box before it blew up.
Eventually the box exploded and released a bunch of confetti and popery, the spotlights zeroed in at the top of the bleachers where Htarw stood. Htarw suddenly teleported down to the magician and said, "That was an impressive trick, want to see one of mine?" Htarw asked.
He then grabbed the microphone from the magician, turned to the audience and asked, "What about it folks, since I played a part in the magician's act…wouldn't you say it fair that he participated in one of mine?"
The crowd applauded him, "I'll take that as a yes." Htarw said, "Could I have one of the clowns bring me out a chair and a cage for this trick?"
One of the clowns brought out a chair, Htarw asked the magician to sit down. Three more of them pushed out a cage, Htarw then asked the magician if he was comfortable, the magician nodded.
Htarw then threw the Emerald cloak he'd been wearing over the magician and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen…what I look to do tonight will be a one-time performance, seen here and only here, to your eyes alone. In this trick I will attempt to force a ball of light from our dear magician's body through the cloak I was just wearing, and into my right hand, of course our dear magician volunteer will be in a deep sleep once this ball of light is removed (Well Almost)…then I will put the ball of light into the cage provided for me and cover it with a tarp, if this trick works (As it should) I will be able to bring a creature from the spiritual realm, over to ours."
People watched as Htarw went into deep concentration, and slowly but surely, the ball slowly made its way through the cloak to his hand. Zoey didn't need to stick around to see where this trick was going, she and the other four girls quickly exited the big-top.
Meanwhile Htarw continued his trick and put the ball of light in the cage, a huge tarp then dropped down and covered the entire cage. Htarw smashed his fisted against it three times and suddenly the tarp dropped, and in place of the ball of light was a raven/human like creature in a tuxedo and dress pants, but it had a raven's head. The audience applauded Htarw's little trick like it was part of the show, but unfortunately along with the appearance of the creature, was the disappearance of the cage. Htarw then gave his new creation a sly look and said, "I think they're demanding an encore…what do you say we give it to them?"
The creature nodded and pulled a magician's wand out of it's vest, it then gave it a wave and just like that a bunch of vines popped out and started ensnaring the audience.
The clown that had chosen Htarw from the audience (Which in case you haven't guessed by now is Dren in disguise) Pulled out two more chairs and said, both he and Htarw sat down, "Now this is what I call a show." Htarw said, hearing the screams of the audiences' disbelief. "I couldn't say better myself." Dren replied.
Htarw then pulled a paper bag of something and asked Dren, "Want some kettle corn?"
"Don't mind if I do." Dren replied reaching into the bag and pulling out a handful.
"I think you've had enough fun for one night, General!" Shouted a voice from behind them.
Htarw looked back to see all five Mew Mews standing behind them, Htarw got up from his seat and said, "Not you five again…I thought from our first encounter you might've had enough."
"We've had enough of you…truth is you haven't had enough of us." Zoey told him.
"Blah, blah, blah…that's all I hear from your mouth, you can talk the talk foolish girl," he then unsheathed Requiem and said, "but let us see if you can walk the walk."
Zoey then looked back at her friends and said, "Corina, Bridgette…you deal with the predasite, me and the others will tangle with Htarw."
"Ah yes, split your forces into two factions to tackle both threats…I've seen this tactic 74 times, and it bestowed upon me wisdom to do this." Htarw then looked at the creature and said, "Hey…you, there's something here I need you to take care of."
The creature turned and saw the girls, it immediately gave another wave of its wand and suddenly a bunch of fire-balls appeared and started shooting at the girls. The girls did their best to dodge them, meanwhile Htarw started singing, "Feelin' HOT, HOT, HOT!"
"Okay…maybe it's best to take care of the Predasite first then worry about the General." Zoey thought to herself, she then looked back at her friends and said, "Okay new battle plan, turn your attacks onto the monster."
"What about Htarw?" Corina asked.
"We'll worry about him once this guy is taken care of." Said Zoey, Bridgette, Corina, Kikki used there attacks to pin the creature down, but just as Zoey and Renee were about to capitalize on it the creature disappeared. Then reappeared in front of Renee and threw her towards the entrance to the tent, Htarw looked at the creature and said, "Finish them…then join us outside, I think this city needs to see your great talent."
Htarw then started heading towards the exit, Requiem leaving a line in the ground as he dragged it along, as soon as he got near the entrance two people stepped into view of him, "Htarw…I'll take it." Said the voice of Elliot. Htarw had a pleased look in his eyes and said, "Elliot…Wesley, good to see you both again."
Meanwhile the girls were having some problems battling Htarw's new Predasite, it seemed to keep them on the defensive with vine-whipping and fire-ball throwing attacks.
"It has been a long time Htarw," Elliot said gently, "or should I say, Walter?"
Htarw flinched at the mention of that name, "That name is my past, and my past is like George Harrison, its dead." Htarw hissed at him.
"All these years we thought you were dead Walter, and now this…is that really you under there?" Asked Wesley.
Renee was starting to come through when she heard Htarw, Elliot, and Wesley talking.
"To an extent…I'm far more than I once was to you two," He then stared at them with that Amber eye of his and said, "you shouldn't have gotten in my path."
Suddenly Htarw looked behind him and saw his Predasite had been defeated.
"But why Walter…why join this side?" Elliot asked.
"Because they're the ones who helped me become a thing of wonder, they helped me achieve a level of fame and power I never knew was possible." Htarw told them.
"But back then you seemed so happy to be with us, you were happy to help out anyway you could?" Asked Elliot.
"I was, I was happy to have known and helped you two in that short amount of time…but that was then Elly, I'm one of the Cyniclon now, and I like what I am," He then seemed to have a look of pleasure in his eyes and said, "you can't imagine how good this feels."
"So what…are you going to kill us now, old friend?" asked Elliot.
Htarw/'Walter' brought Requiem up between them and said, "It is certainly within my power to do so, but you're not a threat to me Elliot…and neither are you Wesley, be smart, get out of my way and never look to confront me again."
"Doesn't look like you're giving us much of a choice?" said Wesley.
"I wouldn't attack them if I were you Htarw!" shouted Zoey.
Htarw snickered and said, "Fools, I lavish the thought…but I'm giving them a pass…for now."
With all that done the vines that entangled the audience were gone, as Zoey and Mark left the carnival grounds Mark said, "Hey Zoey…I had a good time, the magic act that guy pulled was a little screwy though."
"Yeah, screwy." said Zoey with weak laughter.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later." said Mark, "See you." Zoey said and with that they went their separate ways.
Renee caught up with Elliot and Wesley, "What do you want?" Elliot asked.
"Don't play dumb with me Elliot, I heard you and Htarw talking…or should I say you and Walter?" Renee asked.
Elliot hung his head, Wesley looked at him and said, "I think it's time they knew."
"If you say so," Elliot said, he then looked back at Renee and said, "When you and the other girls arrive at the café tomorrow for work, I'll explain everything to you then…I guess I'll have to tell this story sooner or later."