Chapter Two: The Guardians Return

"No, no, no, damn!" Ryan cried, as Andy's car crashed into his.

"Ha ha! I win again!" Andy exclaimed.

"Rematch!" Ryan exclaimed, "Right after I make a stop at the washroom!"

And with that, Ryan ran up the stairs to the only washroom in the house.

A little while later, Alizia ran upstairs to her room.

"Great, I'm late for work!" Matt groaned as he ran downstairs from the attic stairs. Inez was in the kitchen, along with Slider and Jackie.

"Oh, again?" Inez frowned.

"Trust me, I cannot keep up with this." Matt replied.

"Might as well say goodbye to the kids."

"Okay. Andy!" Matt and the other adults walked into the living room, where Andy was playing the game in One-Player mode, while waiting for Ryan to return.

"Hey, where's Ryan?" Matt asked.

"In the washroom." Andy replied, still focusing on the video game.

"And Alizia?" Inez asked.

"In her room." Andy replied.

"Wait," Slider said, "Isn't the washroom behind..."

Andy gasped and made his car crash on accident.

The adults gasped.

Then, there was a scream from upstairs. "RYAN!"

Andy, Obi, and the adults, ran upstairs.

"Arf! Arf!" Obi barked.

The group made it to the front of Alizia's room, when Ryan was pushed out of the girl's room.

"Sorry!" Ryan called to his friend.

"Next time, warn me!" Alizia cried from behind the room door.

"Ryan, what happened?" Jackie asked.

Ryan then noticed that Alizia's parents were there.

"Mr. and Mrs. Williams, I can explain!" Ryan cried.

"It's okay, Ryan." Matt said. Then he knocked on Alizia's door, "Alizia, can I come in?"

"Hold on, dad!" Alizia called back.

"Um, I'll meet the rest of you downstairs." Matt told the others, "Inez, tell the office I'm not gonna be able to make it today."

"Okay." Inez replied, and led the others downstairs.

When everybody went downstairs, Alizia opened the door.

"Yes, dad?" Alizia asked.

"I'll have to talk with you privatly in your room." Matt replied.

Once the father and daughter entered the room, Alizia closed the door behind her.

"We gotta move the washroom somehow." Matt frowned, studying the bathroom door.

"Why not use our magic?" Alizia suggested.

"Unfourtunatly, I don't have the power to." Matt replied, "I maybe the Guardian of Energy and the Crystal of Shangri-La but that's still not enough. Unless we want to break this whole place down. We won't want that, would we?"

"Of course not." Alizia replied, "Hey, dad? Can you try to get someone to go to the Christmas Bash at the Girls and Boys Club tomorrow?"

"Alizia, honey, I can't find love for you." Matt said, sitting down next to his daughter, "You have to find the right one yourself. I found your mother by myself..."

Alizia looked at her father uneasily.

"...With some coaching from your godmother." Matt admitted, "But, basically, the only way I showed my feelings to her was teasing her."

"How did you tease her?" Alizia asked.

"Now, if I told you, your mother's gonna get angry." Matt replied.

"I promise I won't tell." Alizia said.

With a bit of hesitation, Matt finally said, "I called your mother, Nezzie. You know her real name is Ineza."

"Oh, I got it." Alizia laughed.

"Don't call me Nezzie, Matthew!"

Matt gulped when he heard that voice.

A drop of water appeared through the door, and soon formed...

"Inez!" Matt exclaimed.

"Mom?" Alizia cried.

"Alizia, do me a favour and don't ask your dad how he teased me." Inez said to her daughter, "As for you, what's taking you so long?"

"Listen, we gotta move that washroom. Yeow!" Matt said, standing up.

"We'll talk about that later!" Inez growled, pulling on Matt's ear.

"I told you she'll kill me!" Matt said to Alizia.

Alizia giggled.

Matt groaned. "From all of these years, I can't believe you still don't like being called Nezzie."

"Well, let's just say it's something I never grew out of." Inez replied, "Now c'mon. Alizia, you too. Motherboard called us for another mission. Unfourtunatly, this time we're gonna have to take Ryan with us."

"Oh no!" Alizia cried, chasing after her parents, "You are not gonna tell Ryan!"

"Tell me what?" Ryan asked when the three reached the living room.

"Mama, no!" Alizia cried.

"Ryan, there's something the family has to tell you." Inez said.

"Mom, no!" Andy cried.

"Inez, are you insane?" Jackie cried.

"You can put the whole family in danger!" Slider added.

"You can't be serious, honey." Matt said to Inez.

"Believe me, I am." Inez replied, "And I hate to do this as much as you do, but we have no choice. We have to tell him both secrets."

"BOTH?" the family exclaimed.

Obi whined. Obi didn't have to ask to find out what the family secret was. He already knew about it from the start.

"C'mon! To the computer lab!" Inez cried, letting go of Matt's ear and leading her family, Ryan, and Obi to the computer room.

"We're in for real trouble..." Matt groaned.

"YOU GUYS ARE WHAT?"

"We have magic, okay?" Alizia replied, "We were keeping this a secret from everybody. Ryan, you're the only non-family member in Earth to know about our powers."

"But, what exactly are your powers?" Ryan asked.

"Me and Andy have a fusion of our parents' powers." Alizia replied, "That's all I can tell you. We'll show you the other ones in Cyberspace."

"Okay, now this is just getting too weird." Ryan frowned.

"C'mon!" Inez said, "Slider, is the portal ready."

Slider entered the final code, then smiled. "It's ready."

Soon, a portal opened from the computer screen, and the Guardians entered the portal.

Except for Alizia.

"C'mon, Ryan!" Alizia cried.

"I am not going in there!" Ryan cried.

Alizia grabbed Ryan's arm and jumped into the portal before it closed.

Alizia and Ryan were the last to land on the grounds of Control Central.

"I can't believe you pulled me into this." Ryan frowned.

"Believe me, you'll get used to it." Alizia replied.

"Hey, where's Didge?" Matt asked.

"Bada-bing, bada-boom!" Digit cried, as he crashed down from the air, beak-first, causing him to squish his beak... again.

"Digit!" the others exclaimed.