Character/story development at the beginning. Action when they get to Meridian. And more! Enjoy!
Real Toons
Chapter 2 - Cornelia's Story
by Shawn Q. Evans
Starring Cornelia & Will from W.I.T.C.H.
Guest starring Duke and Snake Eyes from G.I.Joe,
Dustin the Ninja Storm Yellow Power Ranger,
Stella from Winx Club, Danny Phantom, Batman & The Joker
W.I.T.C.H. and related characters copyright Disney Enterprises
Duke and Snake Eyes copyright Hasbro
Dustin the Ninja Storm Yellow Ranger copyright BVS Entertainment
Stella from Winx Club copyright Rainbow Srl
Danny Phantom copyright Nickelodeon
Batman and The Joker copyright DC Comics
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I'm Cornelia, the Guardian of the Earth. And I love my friend and teammate, Will. Really. But sometimes, she just doesn't get it.
"But Cornelia, I can always magic up a new dress and wings for you! You don't have to take this stuff they're offering!
"Will, did you not hear? It's a Stella McCartney original!"
I may not be a fairy princess. I may NEVER be a fairy princess. But that's no excuse for not looking as good as one!
"That's another thing. Why does the leader of this group have expensive designer fashions lying around?"
"Hello, Will! You told me this Batguy is supposed to be rich!"
"Batman."
"Whatever."
But I'm getting ahead of myself. When we joined this 'Real Deal Crew' (Ugh! We're definitely going to see about a name change!), we had yet to meet the leader.
When we did, I was surprised to discover Will already knew him. Somehow.
"You? But you're-you'reā¦Batman?"
"Correct."
"I know who you are, even though I've never seen or heard of you before! How is that possible?"
"Mr. B has that effect on a lot of people! We figure it's 'cause he's been around so long and in different ways."
"And also because we suspect his creator is dead, freeing him to act."
That was Stellar. Tres' creepy.
"Hold on! Who's Batman?"
"A, a rich guy who puts on a batsuit and fights crime."
"Really? Well, I suppose everyone needs a hobby!"
"Ahem. Well, ladies. Do you need anything? Food, drink, change of clothes?"
"Some food would be nice. I can always get new clothes."
"Uh, yeah. Me too. But if we were to get new clothes, it wouldn't be her, Stellar's, hand-me-downs, would it?"
"No, of course not."
"Cornelia, what?"
"Just asking, Will! No harm in that! Besides, this dress is getting a bit...worn."
I said, as I ran my fingers over my torn and tattered dress.
"Clothes are provided for all members of the Crew."
"That's very nice, sir, but we don't need any."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"They're Stella McCartney originals."
"Oh! Lemme see! Lemme see!"
"Made of Kevlar and micro mesh nylon with a Gore-Tex outer shell, so it's durable yet lightweight. Impact resisitant. Insulated."
"See, Will? Practical, too! Does it come in any color besides black?"
"But, Cornelia! There's no space for your wings. How will you fly?"
"She doesn't need them. She should be able to move by using her power to levitate earth."
"Really?"
And that's where we came in.
"If you're interested in learning more about your power, I could train you."
"Seriously? Thanks!"
"For now, though, if you wish to eat you should see Mr. Kerr in the galley."
"Okay. Thank you."
"Isn't he the nicest? Not exactly how I picture a 'Batman' acting, huh, Will?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm not sure training with him is the best idea, though."
"Oh, listen to you! These people have been nothing but good to us - heck, they saved our lives! - yet you're going to run them down? Why, because you're not in charge?"
"No, that's not why! I just have some concerns, that's all. And things are changing way too fast"
"Things have changed, Will. The sooner you realize that, the better."
"I know that. But...do we have to change, too?"
"No. We'll always be friends."
"I hope so. And then there's that whole breach thing. There was something wrong there. There's something wrong with all of this!"
"Hmph! Like I was wrong about Elyon?"
"Cornelia, that's not fair! Look, let's just get a bite to eat. We can discuss this later."
"Fine."
As we walked through the ship, we passed the others' rooms. I couldn't resist peeking in.
Duke cleaning his gun.
That other one, Snake Eyes, meditating.
Dustin practicing some karate moves. Looking a bit silly.
Danny the ghost boy, he, well, I couldn't tell, really. It was hard to even see him. He kind of faded in and out, reappearing here and there in his room.
And then Stellar, the big tough girl. Wait...was she crying?
"How much longer? Sniff How much longer do I..."
"The poor girl. She's been through so much."
"What? Oh! I, I wasn't staring! I just..."
"That's okay. I understand. I'm Mr. Kerr. But you can call me Joe."
"Joe...Kerr? Jo-ker? Oh my gosh! You're the Joker!"
"Yes. Once upon a time, I was."
"Who?"
"A villain, Corny! A bad, bad villain."
"It wasn't my fault. THEY needed a villain. So that's what I became. They hurt so many of us. Thanks to Batman, though, I've gotten beyond all that."
"What happened?"
"Batman found medication on another world to control my condition. Medications that were routinely denied me by my so-called 'creators!' That, and cosmetic surgery, fixed me up. So this whole 'reality breach' business has actually been a boon to me. Though a nightmare for so many of you. I'm sorry. If you want me to leave, or another server, I'll understand."
"Oh! No, Joe! That's fine! You can stay! Right, Cornelia?"
"Sure!"
"Oh, thank you! Just one more thing?"
"Yes?"
"Mango cherry smoothies, anyone?"
We didn't say much after that, as we ate the meal cooked up by our strange, new companion. A former villain. Imagine that.
"See, Will! Helping an enemy. And he can help us!"
"I suppose so. I hope so. We'll see."
Later, I tried on the new outfit.
"What do you think, Will? Batman even had it lined with cotton after I told him synthetic fibers make me itch."
"That's great, Corny. It's definitely you!"
"What? I kept the teal and purple color scheme!"
"Kind of a dark teal and purple, don't you think?"
"Pff! Let's get another opinion! Oh, Stellar! What do you think of my new costume?"
"I used to care about things like that."
"Somehow, I find that hard to believe. Oh, uh, ghost boy! Danny! Looking good, huh?"
"Yeah. Whatever. It doesn't matter. Nothing does anymore."
"Geez! Depressed much?"
"Cornelia, we get it! It's fabulous!"
"Hey, I like it!"
"You would, Dustin."
"Actually, we have a lot in common! I have earth powers, too!"
"Really?"
"Oh yeah! Let's go outside and I'll show you!"
"Whatever."
Then he disappeared, ran under the earth somehow, and shot out of it in a cloud of dust.
"Great. So you can make like a gopher and shoot dust at people!"
"Well, yeah. Why, you think you can top that?"
So I placed my hand on the ground, cut off a huge chunk of earth, floated it over his head...
"Um, you got that, right? It's not gonna fall or anything?"
...and sent it flying into space.
"Whew! Okay, that totally rocks! You win!"
"That was nothing! You should see her split mountains with a wave of her hand!"
"Seriously? Whoa!"
"Okay, people, floorshow's over! The breach is gone from this world, but we're still getting faint readings! We need to check it out!"
"You're still...oh no! Meridian! The Lurdens had to have come from there! They must have had a breach, too!"
"Excuse me, what?"
"Meridian's a world on the other side of the veil!"
"And some of our friends are there!"
"You know how to get there?"
"Yes."
"Duke, you and the rest stay here. I'll take the ladies over to this Meridian and analyze the situation."
"But, sir..!"
"This world is still the epicenter of any breach activity. It needs you to protect it. They'll be my guides. We'll be fine. I'll call you if I need you."
"Sir, yes sir."
"Before we go, though, I, I don't want our friends and family to worry. Spord Lartsa!"
So Will used the pink jewel she carries around with her, the Heart of Candracar, to create two astral drops to take our place. And mine almost looks as good as me.
"But, Will, what if someone says, you know?"
Because they'll disappear if someone says 'astral drop'.
"I, uh, command you to turn your hearing off for three seconds if anyone says 'as-'. Now go!"
"Come on. Let's go to Meridian."
"Will, you sound so...final. Like we may not be back."
"Don't know what we'll find, Cornelia."
"Don't say that! I...you're right. Let's go."
So Will magiced up a portal.
"Your pendant does that, too? Interesting."
"Oh yeah! It's tons of fun at parties."
We arrived in Meridian...in the mountains?
"Uh, Will, why aren't we at the castle? Or at least in town?"
"I don't know. The Heart must have sent us here for a reason."
"Well, at least my 'earth shoes' work, just as Mr. Batman said!"
I said, pointing to the ground under my feet that propelled me through the air.
"Uh huh."
"Not the most stylish, but, hey, Will, check it out! An 'earth skating' spiral!"
As I sailed through the air I balanced on one foot, mimicking ice skating moves. I am a champion figure skater, you know!
"That's great, Corny...look out! Scuttlers!"
"Whoaaa!"
I spun to avoid the giant roaches! Except, in veering away from the big icks on my right, I lost my balance and was about to run smack into the ones on my left! (I'm not yet an expert at the whole riding-levitated-rock thing. Especially when huge, nasty bugs are running straight at me!). Will, thank God, used portal energy somehow to push the scuttlers back and away from me! Then she flew up. Batman, meanwhile, jumped on the back of one, flipped, landed on another, and repeated, all the way through the pass.
"Batman! Grab my hand!"
Said Will. As hundreds of the things ran through the mountain pass.
"What are they running from?"
"Them! Mudslugs!"
Will pointed ahead at the mudslugs coming out of the ground and grabbing scuttlers.
"Why would these 'scuttlers' be afraid of mudslugs?"
Asked Batman as Will flew him over the icky scuttlers and slugs.
"They're not afraid of the mudslugs! They're afraid of that!"
Ugh! Super ick! It was Mama Mudslug. That huge, disgusting creature I thought we saw the last of.
Her tentacles were everywhere! Grabbing at us! Have to dodge and...
"Close the pass."
"Huh?"
"Bring the mountain together."
Oh. Right.
"I would have figured it out, y'know, Mr. Smartypants!"
"Of course."
With a gesture from me (and plenty of intense concentration!), the two sides of the mountain pass fell towards each other in a great roar of sound and dust. When the dust settled, all that was left was one huge pile of rock, the avalanche burying all of the mudslugs and scuttlers, including Big Mama. But I was almost totally wiped out. And we still had no idea what we'd find in town.
No one. That's what we found. No people. The town was abandoned. Oh, there were a few larvex and some other creepy-crawlies feeding on something (we didn't want to get close enough to find out), but none of the people of Meridian were there. And then we heard a familiar voice.
"Ah! Blunk not know where portal is!"
"You'll tell me how to get off this doomed world, or..."
"Hands off our friend, Tracker!"
The Tracker whipped his chain at us.
Will and I avoided it, but Batman grabbed it and yanked the Tracker to the ground. But then the Tracker's dog attacked Batman!
I tried to restrain the Tracker and his dog with vines, but he was too strong! He was about to break free when Batman said...
"Why use a mountain when a molehill will do?"
"What? I so not understand!"
"He's a tracker. So he uses his senses to fight, correct?"
"Yesss, so..?"
"So make him blind and deaf."
I got it. I think. So I put dust and dirt all over his eyes and ears. He's unable see or hear us. But now what?
"Why do you hang back so much?"
"What? This is no time for a debate!"
"Get in there, wrap your fists in stone, and take him down!"
Oh. I see. We, uh, always let Caleb do that stuff. Before.
"Okay."
"What? Cornelia, are you crazy? You can't..."
"First time for everything, Will!"
I did as Batman said. I walked up to the Tracker (when every instinct said to run!). Evading his clumsy attempts at defense, I formed a big stony fist, wound up, and...
KA-POW!
The Tracker staggered backwards. So I hit him again and again with my rocky hands until the Tracker went down - hard!
Whoa. Talk about intense!
"Cornelia, I, I'm sorry. For doubting you."
"That's okay, Will."
I could tell she was really upset about something else.
"Things may have changed. But we're not going to!"
"Promise?"
"Sure!"
"Excuse me. But why is your 'friend' running off?"
Said Batman, holding Blunk as far from his nose as he could.
"Not Blunk's fault! She said to send Lurdens through portal!"
"What? Blunk, what did you do?"
"You miserable troll! You did that to us? To Heatherfield?"
"Blunk not troll! Blunk passling!"
"Hands off the passling! He's under my protection!"
It was Elyon! An image of her, anyway.
"Elyon, what, what happened?"
"As if you don't know!"
"We, we know some strange things have happened, and..."
"Don't bother! I was at that weird portal! I know what's going on! What you are! What we all are!"
"I, I'm sorry, Elyon! We didn't know! We never meant for anything bad to happen!"
"What happened here, Elyon?"
"It started in the jails, first. The Lurdens acted up. Killing guards. And we didn't have a defense. Then it spread. I tried to stop it at the source, but when I approached it...I learned everything. Then it was all I could do to keep Phobos and Cedric and most of the others imprisoned. It was chaos!"
"But...you were powerful! Why couldn't you fight them?"
"That's not what I was designed for, was it?"
"Huh? But..?"
"Whose 'job' was it to fight the monsters?"
"Oh. It was ours."
"And you weren't here! So, to save my people, I told Blunk to send the Lurdens to the only ones who could stop them!"
"Elyon, what, what about Caleb?"
"He...he was among the first to go."
"Oh! I'm sorry, Cornelia!"
"It's okay, Will. We, we should have been here - sniff"
"Yes. You should have."
"But what - sniff - what about you and the people of Meridian, Elyon? Where'd you all go?"
"Someplace safe. Now please leave."
"But-"
"Haven't you done enough?"
And with that, Elyon disappeared.
"Let's go, Cornelia."
"I don't - I don't want to leave things like this, Will. At least let me see if they're safe. Let me say goodbye."
"Okay. Sure."
Then Batman shot me such a look. But I couldn't think about that.
I wandered around the empty castle, searching. But there was no one there. It was just me and the paintings on the walls.
The paintings!
One had a tremendous crowd scene. And I thought I heard something. I leaned in for a closer look, and...
"Why are you still here?"
Another image of Elyon.
"I wanted to make sure you were safe! Elyon, a painting? How is that..."
"Not just the painting! See that over there? It's a Millennium Bloom. If anyone approaches with evil thoughts, it blooms and puts them to sleep. So we're protected!"
"That's it? That's your big plan?"
"As if you could do better? Cornelia, please go. I have to watch over my people, and I can't do this with you anymore! All these games! I can't..!"
"Elyon, I...I'm sorry."
"What do you mean? What are you doing with the Bloom?"
"Shhhh. Go to sleep."
"Cornelia...n..."
Said Elyon, as her image faded away.
"Sleep. All of you. Sleep."
I activated the Bloom and covered my nose. Then I gently put the painting on the castle's stone floor. Upon my command, the floor rose up, engulfed the painting, then reversed course and became a floor again, entombing the painting below it.
As I left the castle, Will greeted me. I felt sick to my stomach, but I had to put up a brave front.
"How'd it go? Things okay?"
"They're fine. Now. But there's nothing here for us anymore, Will. Let's get out of here. Okay?"
"Sure, Corny. No prob."
I'm Cornelia, the guardian of everything under our feet. I love my friend, Will. Really I do. But there's some things she just doesn't understand. That she'll never understand.
I did what I had to do. The only thing I could do to protect the ones I love. But she can never know. Never. Not what I did. Or what I plan to do.
Because I live in the real world now. And the real world has no place for fairy princesses.
Luckily, there's one who does understand.
Batman.
"Again!'
"Errrr Ut!"
I gasped, on the training course, as I exerted myself to fire hundreds of small, sharp earthen projectiles at a target, obliterating it.
"And again! Faster!"
Commanded Batman.
Soon there were no targets left.
Holy socks! Did I read that right? Did Cornelia 'mercy kill' Elyon and the people of Meridian?
Oh man! Hope Will doesn't find out!
Next:
In the Teen Titans Go! area: Robin's Story!
(If you're a fan, you'll probably hate what I do with Robin.
Or maybe not.)
Cornelia meets Beast Boy!
Batman encounters Raven!
Plus: The first appearance of...The Others!
(The other group of Toons, with their own agenda!)
Miss it not, toon fans!
Notes
Dustin has ninja powers, but not Power Ranger powers. Just like the last time he was seen, in Thunder Storm.
Will does have some offensive capabilities. In Episode 21, Escape From Cavigor, she uses the Heart's portal energy to push the scuttlers away from her. Since Will can open and close portals anywhere, and a closed portal is like a barrier, she must be able to move the portal energy around and use it as a physical battering ram. Will has other powers, such as broadcasting over a radio transmitter, making image duplicates of the Heart and finding people. I also think there's evidence Will uses the anti-gravity effects of her wings to lift heavy objects (super-strength), since she does carry some people, holds half a table and pushes a bookcase over.
Cornelia 'danced' on a wooden table she animated (in Episode 3, I believe). Also, Caleb rode one of her flying rocks. And there's other moments when she or the Guardians stand on earth she pulls out of the ground. So she could use earth objects (ground, stone, wood, etc.) to levitate/float/travel rather easily, if she wanted to.
Blunk is a passling, which means he can find portals between Meridian and Earth.
I didn't realize when I wrote the story that the Tracker's cloak can produce hordes of mutant bats. If he did, though, Batman would have just disabled the bats with a sonic whistle only they could hear.
I don't recall any sort of flower that made people fall asleep in W.I.T.C.H., so I made up the Millennium Bloom. Both Elyon and Cornelia had powers over plants, so it fit. And Elyon would take a more humane approach to defeating her enemies, since she was a princess and not a warrior. The whole 'falling asleep' thing is very fairytaleish, so it's appropriate.
Mythic allusions abound. Cornelia loses her wings in Chapter 1 (like a fallen angel). Then she describes herself as the guardian of 'everything under our feet' in Chapter 2. The earth is under our feet, but so is the underworld. She also 'buries' her friend. In addition, she levitates by riding pieces of earth that float in the air. So her feet never touch the ground. It was said that witches' feet never touch the ground because they were rejected by God (although I'm not sure if this is a true, ancient witches' tale or was inspired by the more recent Blair Witch Project. But that could have been a version of the 'dunk test ' that says witches float in water because water is sacred and rejects them - and Cornelia can't swim). Also, the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz used flowers to put Dorothy & Co. to sleep. So is Cornelia becoming a real witch, and creature of the underworld? Hmmm.
It's obvious Batman took only Will and Cornelia to Meridian because he wanted to assess their powers. But what else is he after? He pushes Cornelia to use her powers in new and different ways, and even lets her 'have her first kill' (although she doesn't kill anyone. She only knocks the Tracker out. But it's a big change in the way Cornelia handles herself on the battlefield). He's initiating her, preparing her for...what? Will knows something is going on. She sees Cornelia change before her eyes. But what can she do about it?
