Hi everyone, Happy New Year! My first update of 2020! One of my resolutions for this year is to have some of my updates up more frequently (even with my other stories), and I hope I am able to deliver. So, without further delay, let us get started

A Shady Service

Phobos stood on a balcony, overlooking his kingdom alongside Cedric and Daolon Wong. "The list you both have found of those born in the Earth-town should help to refine our search."

"Yes, but with Chan and the Guardians now allied with Earth's own forces, it may become more difficult to locate your sister, my prince." Daolon Wong said.

"Perhaps, but it may prove just as difficult for them as well." Phobos explained. "Only a select few would know of my sister's identity, not even she knows. Her ignorance, once serving as her protection, shall serve as my opportunity. However, we must also exercise the utmost of caution, as we have learned not to underestimate our enemies."

"What would you have us do then, Prince Phobos?" Cedric asked.

"I have a mission for you Cedric, one in which you will be need to pass as human." Phobos told the shapeshifter, causing him to smile sinisterly.

"Perhaps I may provide us with some assistance as well, my price." Wong proposed. "I have been working on a little… project that I'm sure you will find most pleasing." The Dark Chi-Wizard said, causing Phobos to look at him with a serious, yet intrigued, expression.

Earth – Sheffield Institute

All the students attending the school, including Jade, Irma, Will, Cornelia, Taranee, and Hay-Lin, had all been gathered in the auditorium as Principle Knickerbocker had an important announcement to give.

"Students, our newest history teacher… Professor Dean Collins!" She presented the newest member of the school's staff, a middle-aged man with short brown hair and a mustache who was greeted by applause from the students as he walked on-stage.

"Thank you, and good morning." He greeted the students. "I've been told that Sheffield prides itself on sharpening young minds…" He began, apparently not noticing many of the students paying attention, even Uriah was chewing the gum at the bottom of his shoe. "And developing your sense of community, that's why this year, we're going to be holding Community Service Day a month early!"

That got the attention of all the students as they all looked in borderline horror.

"A month early!?" Cornelia exclaimed.

"A month early!?" Irma dreaded.

"A month early!?" Even Uriah looked pale in fear as he chewed his gum.

The only ones not too horrified were Will and Jade as they looked around in confusion before looking at each other while Jade just shrugged.

However, Collins seemed oblivious to their horrified reactions. "I was impressed to hear you love community service so much you rush to school early on sign-up day!"

The announcement ended as all the students left the auditorium, none of which were happy about Community Service Day being moved up a month. Among them were the group of young heroes, alongside Elyon.

"Of course, we come early!" Elyon complained. "Oh man, I hate Community Service Day! I'm gonna stand up in the parking lot all night with a pen in my hand."

Taranee groaned in agreement. "Maybe I'll sleep in my locker."

"Uh, hello!? Info to the pair of new girls!" Jade exclaimed, referring to herself and Will. "What the heck is Community Service Day?"

Jade and Will were led by the other girls to a billboard in the hallway. "Okay, tomorrow morning there's going to be a list on this board. Four hundred jobs for four hundred kids." Irma explained.

"Our of those, maybe ten won't totally suck." Cornelia added.

"And the last kids to sign-up get the most gagerific ones!" Hay Lin exclaimed.

"It can't be that bad." Will said.

"Oh no? Try monkey-bar scraper at the zoo!" Cornelia stated, remembering her last job.

"Okay you had it easy!" Irma said to the blonde. "I was a sewer ladder painter!"

Jade scoffed. "You guys think that's bad; try clipping a dragon's toe-nails and then we'll talk about gross!"

"Wait… a dragon?!" Elyon questioned in surprise.

Jade's eyes widened, remembering Elyon wasn't aware of all the magic-stuff she and the other girls were doing. "Oh… I mean a komodo dragon!" Jade quickly said. "Did volunteer-work at a zoo one time."

"Oh." Elyon seemed to buy it. "Komodo dragons, those are pretty cool."

"His feet certainly weren't." Jade shivered.

"But we get the idea… get here early." Will said.

Later that evening, Will had returned home to have some dinner with her mother, who seemed to be looking at a vase with flowers on the table. Will was confused by that, but even more confused as she looked at what was in her soup.

"Uh mom, did you get a phone call while you were making the soup?"

"How'd you know?" Mrs. Vandom asked. Will merely showed a phone that actually ended up in the soup with her spoon, causing her mother to look in surprise. "Honey… uh… what would you think if I… started dating?"

Will took a sip of her soup before her face cringed; it wasn't exactly the best she had. "Well, if you meet a nice guy, I wouldn't feed him any home-cooked meals right away."

Meridian – Phobos' Throne Room.

As the dark prince sat in his throne, Cedric and Wong both bowed to him as several guards lined the large and dimly lit chamber.

"I've adopted a human's identity in their town." Cedric reported to Phobos.

"Mmm, the search for the girl will go faster now." Phobos sneered. "Now, what is it you wanted to show me, Wong?"

Daolon Wong snapped his fingers as a pair of guards brought in his black cauldron filled with a dark blue liquid. "Something I'm sure you'll find most pleasing, my prince. You see, while your guards and Lurdens are quite strong, they do not appear strong enough to crush the Rebellion and are even more useless against Chan and the Guardians." Wong's commented resulted in a glare from all the guards present. "However, I believe these new minions will serve us much better."

Wong approached his cauldron and began to cite a dark chant, causing the liquid inside to stir until it began to glow, and the light shinned to reveal a symbol representing a Japanese demon appeared. "Awaken from shadow!" Wong voiced in his chant. "Serve your new masters!"

All the guards looked in shock as all the shadows in the throne room began to move on their own and condense towards the floor, even Cedric looked in minor surprise while Phobos raised an eyebrow in interest as Daolon Wong sneered evilly.

"Behold Prince Phobos…" Wong presented. "A literal army of the shadows! A force of pure and unrelenting darkness!" The shadows began to rise from the floor and take solid forms. Soon, at least a dozen new beings stood in the center of the throne room; all of which bore the appearances of masked ninjas with black robes, dark blue skin underneath their attire, and emotionless red eyes. "The Shadowkhan!"

Phobos looked quite intrigued at these new dark figures while Cedric merely looked questionable. "What is this, wizard?" He hissed in annoyance.

"This, shapeshifter, is the means of our new army." Wong explained. "Unlike your guards, these are not mortal creatures; but physical manifestations of pure darkness. They bare no emotion, thought, or will of their own. They live to serve their master and will do anything and everything asked of them, without consciences or mercy."

"Hmmm, perhaps a demonstration is in order." Phobos mused. "Guards, attack these 'Shadowkhan'." He ordered.

All the guards in the throne room hesitated for a moment, but they all drew their weapons, namely swords or axes as they charged towards the group of Shadowkhan in the center of the throne room. However, as they did, all the Shadowkhan simultaneously jumped into the air, much to the surprise of the guards as they all looked up in shock, just as the Shadowkhan all fell and slammed their feet into the guards. The Shadowkhan then went on the offensive with several punches, chops, and kicks. They moved faster than the guards ever could or even understood what they were doing. In seconds, all the guards lay unconscious on the ground as the Shadowkhan stood firm and bowed their heads towards Wong, Cedric and Phobos.

The dark prince chuckled. "Most impressive. Excellent work Wong. This should indeed cause the Rebellion quite a bit of trouble."

"I am pleased that you are pleased, my prince." Wong bowed his head with an evil smile.

However, Cedric gave a subtle glare in the wizard's direction before. "Yes, against mere guards, these Shadowkhan are impressive, but I wonder how they will fare against Chan and the Guardians."

"Then allow me to properly test them against our enemies." Wong requested to Phobos. "I would also like to test my new Dark Chi warriors as well."

"Very well, go to the Earth realm Wong, and be sure to grant me some interesting results." Phobos instructed.

"As you wish." Wong bowed before swinging his scepter to vanish in a puff of blue smoke while the Shadowkhan merely 'melted' away in the shadows to follow the Dark Chi-Wizard.

Earth – Vandom residence.

Will heard her doorbell ring and answered it but was surprised to see her new history teacher at the door.

"Good evening Will." Collins greeted in a friendly manner.

"Professor Collins? Whatever you're here to tell my mom, I'd appreciate at least fifteen minutes to think of an excuse!" Will quickly said, thinking she was in trouble.

This proved to be false as Collins actually laughed slightly. "Oh, it's nothing like that." He turned his attention to Will's mother as she walked to greet him. "Good evening Susan."

"Dean, hi." She greeted back.

"Susan? Dean?" Will voiced in surprise.

"Your mom joined the PTA, but she missed the last two meetings." Collins explained.

"So, I asked Dean to bring over the material." Mrs. Vandom also explained as she let Collins inside. "Why don't we talk in here."

Will looked questionably as her mother and history teacher sat down on the same couch together and looked over the material and even laughed together.

Uncle's Rare Finds

Jackie, Uncle, Tohru, and Caleb all stood in the shop as they began to talk about their next move; which was locating the missing heir to Meridian before Phobos does.

"We know Phobos has recently acquired birth records of those born in Heatherfield, which will help narrow down his search for the heir." Jackie summed up.

"Can't your Section 13 also do the same thing?" Caleb asked Jackie.

"Captain Black is looking into it; but even with Phobos' physical description, it is still the equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack." Jackie replied.

"Well what about one of those locator-spells?" Caleb turned to Uncle. "You're a wizard can't you…OW!" The young rebel rubbed his forehead where Uncle had dope-slapped him

"Uncle cannot use locator spell to find heir, because Uncle needs a piece of the heir's essence. A piece of skin, a drop of blood, a stand of hair, anything! Does Rebel-Boy have essence of the heir? No? Then we cannot use locator spell!" Uncle stated.

"But relatives share DNA, and seeing how Phobos is the heir's brother, if we were to acquire something from him, shouldn't we be able to use a locator spell then, sensei?" Tohru asked.

"So, what, we ask Phobos to give a piece of his hair? Yeah, I don't think so." Caleb shook his head.

"But Phobos also has a wizard with him as well. If Daolon Wong is also a Chi-Wizard like Uncle, then he could use the same method to locate the heir himself." Jackie said.

"If that were the case, then Phobos would already have the heir with him." Uncle replied. "Which means, that the heir must be protected by enchantments to prevent Forces of Darkness from locating her that even Daolon Wong cannot break."

Caleb sighed. "Why does it feel like every time we get one step forward, we're also taking two steps backwards?"

Before anyone else could say anything, Jade had entered the shop. "Hi guys. No time to talk, getting ready for bed." She ran upstairs towards the apartment above the shop.

"Jade? But it's only seven thirty. I've never seen you actually go to bed early." Jackie told his niece as she was at the top of the stairs.

"I don't have a choice." Jade explained. "It's Community Service Day tomorrow, so I gotta wake up early to be the first the sign-up."

Jackie was surprised, but a proud smile formed on his face. "Well, I'm very impressed that you seem to be very pro-active in taking part in community service, Jade."

"Don't get the wrong idea. I just wanna get to school first so I don't get stuck with a job that's over nine-thousand on the gross-meter." Jade quickly said.

"But don't you regularly sneak off to fight criminals and evil-doers?" Caleb questioned. "Why do you seem so upset about something as trivial as community service."

Jade scoffed. "I'd rather fight the likes of Valmont, Phobos, or even Shendu then scrub toilets." She responded before walking into the apartment upstairs.

"Teachers make students clean toilets?" Uncle questioned in minor surprise. "School has changed since Uncle was a boy."

Hale Residence

Cornelia was already in her room, setting the alarm clock as she was preparing to go to sleep. "Let's say… 6 am." She set the alarm just as her younger sister walked in with a board game.

"Mom says you gotta play Wobbly-Wobbly-Walrus with me." Lilian gloated, but Cornelia wasn't in the mood.

"Beat it shrimp. I'm going to bed early." Cornelia glared. "And if you do anything to ruin my sleep, I will personally drop-kick you into the wolf-pit at the zoo!"

"You're mean!" Lilian shouted.

"I'm not mean, wolves are mean. Go!" Cornelia turned off the light and went to sleep just as Lilian slammed the door.

Two Hours later

Cornelia was deep asleep; she didn't even notice her door creaking open slightly. Lilian tip-toed into her older sister's room towards her desk and alarm clock. The younger girl smirked evilly as she turned off Cornelia's alarm clock and left the room.

The Next Day – Sheffield Institute

Nearly every student in the school shoved each other aside as they tried to sign up for whatever least-gross jobs were left on the Community Service Board. However, Jade, Irma, and Taranee hung back as they already signed up for the jobs they wanted. Hay Lin had done so as well as she walked over.

"Hey guys, what did you get?" Hay Lin asked.

"Sealing envelopes at city hall." Taranee answered as she and Irma high-fived. "Easy-street!"

"Will and I are painting over graffiti." Jade revealed. "At least we could look at the cool artwork as we work."

"Elyon, Alchemy, and I are cleaning up at the park." Hay Lin said. "Martin gut dumpster scrubber."

"Sucks to be him." Jade smirked, though Elyon walked up with a concerned look on her face.

"Have any of you seen Cornelia?"

Hale Residence

Cornelia gave a yawn as she woke up, but once she spotted the time on her clock, which was 8:34 am, she gave a loud scream as she ran downstairs, not taking the time to get dressed, to get her shoes and leave as soon as possible, much to the confusion of her mother and satisfaction of her younger sister.

"Mom, can I have Cornelia's pancakes?" Lilian asked. "I don't think she'll have time to eat them."

"If I were you, I would get into the Federal Sister Protection Program!" Cornelia glared at her sister before her pants briefly fell down, which she was quick to pull back up before leaving.

Lilian helped herself to her older sister's pancakes. "Gee, I wonder what's left on the Community Service list."

"Children! Children!" A day-care representative tried to get the attention of all the misbehaving children in the day-care, one of which was Lilian. "This is Cornelia!" She presented the reluctant blonde, but none of them seemed to listen as they continued to play, make messes, or draw on the windows and floor. "They have behavior issues." She gave a warning whisper to Cornelia. She clapped her hands to finally get the attention of the children. "Cornelia's going to read to you! What book have you chosen Cornelia?"

"The Little Sister Whom from Today-on Wished She Had Never Been Born." Cornelia grumbled as she caught the stink-eye Lilian gave her.

"Lovely, good luck." The representative said before leaving as a kid threw a rubber duck at Cornelia's forehead.

City Hall

Irma and Taranee had spent the last few hours licking and sealing multiple envelopes. Though this was definitely an improvement over the jobs they had the previous year, it wasn't the best. They still had dozens of envelops left to seal and their tongues were already numb from licking so many.

"Why did we sign up for this again?" Taranee questioned, her voice gummy from all the licking.

"I licked for two hours this morning." Irma voiced, her own voice just as gummy as her friend's. "We had to steam my lips open."

"On the bright side, we ate so much glue, we don't need to buy lunch." Taranee said as they resumed licking just as Professor Collins entered the room.

"Hi girls."

"Hello Professor Collins." They greeted simultaneously, but he noticed the gummy tone in their voice.

"You are using the special sponge-tongues, aren't you?"

"Sponge-tongues?" Irma and Taranee voiced in surprise. Collins walked over to a desk to show them said sponge-tongues while offering them a sympathetic smile, causing them to look in disbelief.

The Park

Hay Lin, Elyon, and Alchemy each used sticks and rods to pick up garbage all over the ground. Though Alchemy wasn't particularly pleased.

"Seriously there are trash cans like everywhere! Why do people just throw them on the ground?!" Alchemy exclaimed.

"Because they're all idiots." Elyon groaned. "I swear, people have no respect for the environment."

"Could be worse." Hay Lin said as she picked up some trash. "I feel so sorry for Cornelia right now." She said, knowing the job that her blonde friend had got.

Day Care Center

Cornelia didn't even get a chance to read to the children as they had already tied her to a chair and even put stickers over her mouth in the form of a gag, which Lilian took joy in as all the other kids continued to play and cause chaos while Lilian continued to stick stickers on her face.

"Look! She's outer space!" She put a star on Cornelia's cheek as she simply rolled her eyes.

"This is still better than last year."

Meanwhile; Will and Jade were at an abandoned train station and were painting over the graffiti on the walls.

"Well this isn't the worst job we could have gotten." Jade voiced. "Still beats cleaning Shendu's feet." All she got in response was a slight grumble from Will. "What's gotten you so crabby-grouchy?"

"You would be to if your mom was making goo-goo eyes at your history teacher." Will grumbled.

"Seriously?" Jade stated in surprise. "Wow, Collins is an idiot."

"Tell me about it." Will said, slightly relieved that one of her friends was also disapproving.

"I mean, have you seen your mom, that guy is way out of his league." Jade cracked, causing Will's mood to grow even more grumpy as she painted harder. Jade's attention was caught by some odd writing on the wall. "Whoa, who painted ancient spells on here?"

Will looked in surprise as she saw what Jade was pointing at, five symbols written on the wall. Though she couldn't read the symbols, she suddenly saw the symbols glow, causing her to feel dizzy.

"Uh Will, you okay?" Jade asked, only to look in shock as Will fainted and fell to the ground. "Will!"

Uncle's Rare Finds

Will groaned as she began to regain consciousness, having found herself on a futon that Uncle had rolled out in the back of his shop. She faintly heard Jade explaining to Jackie, Uncle, Tohru, and Caleb what happened.

"She saw this crazy writing and then fainted."

"Uh… guys…?" Everyone turned to her as she began to sit up. "Where am I?"

"Sensei's shop." Tohru answered as he handed Will a glass of water. "Here."

"Thanks." Will immediately drank from the glass.

"Will, are you alright?" Jackie asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Will shook her head to shake-off the cobwebs in her brain.

"What did this writing look like?" Uncle asked Jade. In response, Jade presented a piece of paper with the symbols she and Will saw written on it that she wrote herself. "Hmm, these are letters not from Earth."

Jackie, Caleb, and Tohru looked at the writing themselves. "I've never seen these symbols before. At least not in Uncle's spell books." Tohru said.

"It doesn't look like anything from any parchments or hieroglyphics I've studied before… Ow!" Jackie felt a dope-slap on his forehead, courtesey of Uncle, who did the same with Tohru.

"Ow!"

"Of course, neither have you have seen this writing before!" Uncle exclaimed. "Uncle literally just said symbols were not of Earth! Pay attention!"

"I've seen this writing before." Caleb said, getting everyone's attention. "In Phobos' castle, but I can't read it."

The shop bell rang as Taranee and Irma entered before walking into the backroom. "We came as soon as we heard." Taranee stated, her voice still as gummy as before.

"Is Will alright?" Irma asked.

"I'm fine." The red head assured as she stood up. "What's wrong with your voices?"

"We've been licking envelopes." Taranee answered.

"Don't they have sponge tongues for that?" Jade asked, causing both Taranee and Irma to roll their eyes.

Caleb was first to get back to the subject at hand. "I know who can translate this." He said, referring to the symbols. "But we have to visit the Infinite City."

"Where is that?" Jackie asked.

"In Meridian." Caleb answered.

Jackie sighed. "Somehow, I knew you were going to say that."

Will and Jade had led Jackie, Caleb, Irma, and Taranee to the train station, and met up with Cornelia and Hay Lin along the way. Uncle and Tohru stayed behind to keep an eye out for the Forces of Darkness while also watching over the shop.

"It was right here though!" Jade pointed to the spot where symbols were written, which was now completely blank.

"Maybe somebody erased it? Cover their tracks?" Hay Lin wondered.

"Perhaps." Jackie began to think.

Taranee noticed Cornelia trying to wipe the paint and stickers off her face. "What's that on your cheek?"

"The Big Dipper. Don't ask."

"There must be a portal close by." Will said as she took out the map and the Heart of Kandrakar. The crystal glowed as the map began to show their current location along with an x near their current spot. "Right there."

"In the tunnel." Jackie looked towards a nearby train tunnel. With nothing else needing to be said, the group of eight began to walk towards the tunnel. Once inside, Will used the Heart of Kandrakar as she spoke her titular magic words.

"Guardians Unite!"

In another flashy sequence; Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin had transformed into their persona as WITCH. Despite their powers being fully activated, the Guardians and their friends remained on high alert. No telling what was waiting for them inside this darkened tunnel as Taranee created a fireball in her hand to provide some light.

"Portal dead ahead!" Jade stated as the turned a corner to see the open portal. The group ran or flew toward the swirling blue portal before stopping right in front of it.

Irma cautiously walked towards it and stuck her arm inside. "Whoa! Do you know what David Copperfield would pay for this?!" She said jokingly.

Jackie's eyes widened as he saw something on the other side. "Irma, get back! Something is coming!" Irma flew backwards in alarm as she saw the shape in the portal. "Everyone be ready!" Jackie took a combative stance along with Caleb and Will. Irma, Cornelia, Taranee, and Hay Lin hovered in the air and readied their respective elemental attacks as Jade picked up a random pole and held it like a baseball bat.

The heroes were all ready for a fight, however, there wasn't a fight to come as Blunk stumbled out of the portal with a sack in his hands; causing everyone to look in surprise.

"Blunk?!" Jade exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"

"Doing business." Blunk presented his sack. "Dragon nostrils? Trade for girly wings? Good deal, yes?"

Everyone lowered their guard but looked questionably at the Passling. "Dragon nostrils?" Cornelia voiced.

"I am afraid to ask." Jackie voiced.

Blunk opened the sack as smoke began to immediately fly out. "Make good hat, once it stops smoking."

Everyone looked in disgust and blew away the smoke from the faces as they all walked through the portal and into the realm on the other side of the veil.

Meridian

The Guardians, Caleb, Jackie, and Jade all emerged from a portal in an alleyway in a rundown town, fortunately far away from Phobos' castle and any patrolling guards.

Jade looked at the rod she still had in her hands. "Huh, guess I won't be needing this anymore." She tossed it back into the portal, unaware that it would hit Blunk in the back of the head on the other side of the veil.

Caleb had led the group to what appeared to be the town's dump. "Looks like we know where Phobos dumps his trash." Irma joked.

"Caleb where are you leading us?" Jackie asked the young rebel as he came towards a large upside-down barrel.

"Don't worry, we're here." Caleb answered as he opened the side, revealed to be a door to a hidden passageway with stone stairs leading deep underground.

Jade gave an impressive whistle. "Secret underground base. Cool."

Jackie, Jade, and the Guardians followed Caleb down the stairs where they came before what appeared to be a massive underground tunnel lined with pillars in every direction.

"Whoa." Will voiced in surprise. "This place is huge!"

"Where are we?" Irma asked.

"I don't know but listen to that echo!" Hay Lin exclaimed excitedly. "Echo!" She shouted as she heard her voice echo in every direction.

"It be one hell of a place to hold a rock concert." Jade said.

"This is the Infinite City." Caleb answered as he continued to lead the group. "Nobody knows who built it, and in four thousand years, no one's found an end to it any direction."

"Hence the name." Jackie replied.

"Yeah, this makes a good place to hide from Phobos while we make our next move." Caleb said as he came towards a certain pillar and placed his hand on a carving. Once he did, a floor began to open to reveal yet another staircase, leading deeper underground.

"So, a secret lair inside a secret lair?" Jade voiced in surprise. "Like one of those Russian bobble-head dolls."

"I think you mean Matryoshka dolls, Jade." Taranee corrected.

"Right those."

"More stairs?" Cornelia complained as they walked down the staircase. "Don't you like have some kind of stone escalator?"

Caleb rolled his eyes as he continued to lead the group. "Ugh girls."

In just a few minutes, the group had come to the bottom of the stairs which led to a large waterfall with a figure hiding behind it. Caleb immediately kneeled in the being's presence. "Mage, we need your help."

The being known as the Mage spoke in a raspy female voice behind the waterfall. "Ah… you are the Guardians of the Veil."

"Yes sir… I mean… yes ma'am!" Will said, trying to sound respectful to this important figure.

"And… you are the warrior known as Jackie Chan…" The Mage observed, causing Jackie himself to look in surprise.

"You know my name?"

The Mage stepped out from the waterfall. She was a tall being, wearing a purple hooded robe with grey skin and tattoos on her face and green eyes. "One does not defeat the Ultimate Evil without having his name recognized. I am truly honored to be in your presence." She gave a humble bow.

"Oh well thank you…" Jackie gave a humble smile and an awkward hand-wave. "But I am just a simple archeologist."

"Who knows how to kick evil butt!" Jade exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, you could Chuck Norris a run for his money." Irma agreed in an equally excited tone.

"Guys, don't we have something to do here?" Taranee reminded.

"Oh right." Jade walked up to the mage and presented the paper with the symbols she written on it.

The Mage recognized it. "Ah, the writing of the Beasts."

"Well, what does it say?" Jade asked.

The Mage merely lifted her hand and the writing on the paper began to glow and reshape itself till it took the form of a sentence written in perfect English, which Jade began to read aloud.

"'You are still undetected, begin your search for the girl.'"

"A beast is in your town in human form." The Mage revealed as she kneeled down to speak to the group on a personal level. "It will try to get close to you Guardians."

"A beast in human form?" Jackie thought. "You mean a Shapeshifter? Like Cedric?"

"Indeed." The Mage confirmed.

Will's eyes widened as she suddenly thought of Professor Collins. "How can you tell a Shapeshifter from a human?"

"Touch a beast with the Heart of Kandrakar and it shows its true form." The Mage answered before standing up and backing into the waterfall once more, leaving a group of heroes very concerned.

Heatherfield – Local Diner

"You're serious?! Professor Collins?!" Irma exclaimed to Will.

"He's like, too boring to be evil." Cornelia voiced.

"Who is Professor Collins?" Jackie asked.

"Our school's new history teacher." Taranee answered.

"We know that Phobos is looking for a girl our age." Will began but was interrupted.

"He's looking for his sister, the true heir to the Meridian throne." Caleb reminded. "So why would he send one of his minions to an Earth-school?"

"Will, are you sure this isn't because you're upset about Collins getting the hots about your mom?" Jade asked.

"No of course not!" Will immediately said.

"But neither of you are the heir to Meridian." Jackie said. "So, what reason would Phobos' servant approach your mother?"

"Well, okay maybe Phobos is looking for his sister but think about it for a minute." Will began. "Who's his biggest obstacle? Us! So, he sends a shapeshifter to get in close and take us out one-by-one!"

All the girls looked in surprise. "Yeah, that actually does make sense." Jade seemed to get it.

"And how else do you get close to Earth girls? By getting a job as a teacher!" Will continued.

Taranee seemed to catch on. "That way you can scout out your targets one-at-a-time!"

"But, if he's from Meridian…" Caleb tried to voice his own reasoning, but the girls weren't listening to him.

"Okay, my mom is attractive in a funky-old-person kind of way." Will began. "but unless he's actually an evil shapeshifter trying to get to me, why else would Collins get to her?"

"If he's from another world, why would be teaching Earth history?" Jackie questioned. "How would he know enough to teach it?" However, like Caleb, Jackie was being ignored as well.

"And it would explain why he made Community Service Day earlier!" Cornelia stated.

"To separate us and watch us one at a time!" Irma also stated.

"We should follow him!" Hay Lin stood up.

"How would we do that without being seen?" Taranee asked.

"Easy." Jade reached into her pockets to pull out two Talismans. "With the Snake Talisman, invisibility! And the Dragon Talisman for extra firepower just in case."

"Jade! Those are supposed to be locked away in Section 13!" Jackie exclaimed. "How did you even get them!?"

"I'm only borrowing them; I'll give them back once were done." Jade quickly said.

"Girls please, let me suggest another plan I…" Caleb wasn't even surprised to see all six girls had ran out of the diner to go along with their plan to follow Collins.

Jackie sighed as well. "Caleb, can you please follow them and make sure they don't do anything rash? I will speak with Captain Black and see if we can look into Collins identity and see if he's really from Earth or not."

"Using resources from Earth! Now that's a good plan! Why didn't they think of it?" Caleb questioned. "Yeah, I'll follow them." He walked out of the diner to catch up with the girls as Jackie began to make a phone call to Captain Black.

However, as Caleb tried to catch up with the girls, he and everyone else were completely unaware that there was someone watching them behind a darkened alleyway, having listened to their whole conversation.

"Hmm, they seem aware of Cedric's presence in their town, but they are looking at the wrong mortal." Daolon Wong mused in the shadows amusingly as he glanced to the glowing red eyes in the shadows around him. "Follow them, but do not attack until I command." He instructed as he walked backwards, and he vanished with the darkness completely.

Professor Collins had left a hardware store and began walking down the street, unaware that Jade was watching him and completely invisible thanks to the Snake Talisman. While still invisible, Jade ran across the street toward the park where the other girls and Caleb were hiding by a bench. Jade turned visible once she got to the others.

"What did he buy?" Will asked.

"Glue." Jade answered.

"Glue for what?" Caleb questioned.

"Glue to stick on his realistic-rubber-human face!" Cornelia exclaimed.

"Cedric is a shapeshifter; he doesn't need a rubber-face for that." Caleb said, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe he needs the glue to stick us to tables, chairs, or poles and keep us still to torture us!" Hay Lin voiced.

Jade had used the Snake Talisman to turn invisible again and follow Collins to the pet-store, where he walked outside, completely unaware he was being watched. Jade regrouped with everyone else around the corner and turned visible again.

"This time he bought crickets. Live crickets. Two pounds of them." Jade told everyone.

"That's way too much for fishing." Taranee said.

"But not too much to eat." Irma said.

"EEEW!" All the other girls were grossed out by the thought of that.

"Snakes don't eat crickets. Do they?" Jade asked Taranee

"Depends on the type of snake." Taranee explained. "Some do, others eat animals whole. Depends on the size of the snake."

"Or maybe he's got a pet lizard." Caleb suggested rationally.

"Yeah right. Who has a pet lizard?" Cornelia questioned.

"Well, I don't wanna judge somebody before all the evidence is in…" Will began. "But it's obvious Collins is really Cedric who eats bugs for breakfast and tortures girls with glue as his personal hobby!"

All the other girls seemed to be in agreement, while Caleb simply smacked his hand against his forehead.

"We've gotta go to Will's house right now!" Hay Lin exclaimed.

Night had all but fallen as the group was hiding in the bushes outside the apartment complex Will and her mom were living in, and completely invisible; with Jade holding onto the Snake Talisman and everyone else touching Jade so they would be invisible to.

"We don't even know he's coming here. Why would he even be here anyway?" Caleb questioned.

"To kidnap my mom and hold her hostage to get to me! Why else?!" Will exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's a total cliché super villain thing to do." Jade agreed.

A car had pulled up and parked along the curve. Collins stepped outside with a file of papers in his hands as he walked toward the entrance way.

"There he is." Hay Lin whispered.

"Okay, I'll hit him with the Dragon Talisman to knock him out." Jade whispered. "Will, you use the Heart to reveal his real and ugly snake-face; then we haul his scaly butt to jail!"

"Good plan." Irma nodded.

Collins didn't appear to notice any of this as he was right at the front door. Before he could even open the door however, he was suddenly blasted from behind by a blast of fire from the Dragon Talisman and smacked hard onto the wall before falling backwards into unconsciousness.

"Get him!" Will exclaimed as they all turned visible and ran towards his unconscious body. Irma and Cornelia grabbed his arms while Taranee, Hay Lin, and Jade grabbed his legs. Will took out the Heart of Kandrakar and touched the jewel to his body. "Sorry Cedric, but you're busted!" His body began to glow pink briefly, but he remained in the same form, much to everyone's surprise, save for Caleb.

Hay Lin began to pull on his face. "Wow this is really glued on there."

Taranee picked up the papers he was carrying. "Hey uh, can you guys think of any reason Phobos would join the PTA?"

Will winced. "Oooh, uh no, but my mom might have… and so would have… Professor Collins."

"Who isn't an evil shapeshifter."

All six girls looked in surprise to see Jackie and Captain Black walk onto the scene.

"Jackie!? Captain Black?!" Irma exclaimed.

"What are you guys doing here?" Cornelia questioned.

"Professor Dean Collins." Captain Black began to list. "Age thirty-five, born in Brooklyn, graduated from Colombia University with a teaching degree in history. No criminal records whatsoever."

"You looked up his information…?" Jade winced, having a good idea where this was going.

"Yes, something that we could have easily done in Section 13 without following and attacking him." Jackie said in a disapproving tone, crossing his arms. Caleb had the same sort of expression.

"So, he's… not evil." Will looked quite ashamed as did all the other girls.

However, Hay Lin looked in minor surprise. "Uh… if he's not evil, why are there shadows moving around him?"

"What?" Jackie voiced in shock as he and everyone else looked surprise to see all the shadows around the area actually move on their own. Though Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, Hay Lin, and Caleb looked in confusion; Jackie, Captain Black, and Jade gulped as they knew what this meant.

"Uh oh." Jade gulped.

The shadows all stopped moving and became solid to reveal the shadow-spirit ninja-like warriors.

"Shadowkhan!" Jackie exclaimed just as the shadow-warriors threw a hail of shurikens at the group.

They all gave surprised yelps as they leapt towards the black van that Captain Black drove to get here for cover just as the shurikens hit the vehicle.

"Who the hell invited freaking ninjas?!" Cornelia practically screamed.

"Shadowkhan! Very bad news!" Jade exclaimed. "Will, we're gonna need you guys to Guardian up!"

"Way ahead of you! Guardians Unite!"

Before the Shadowkhan could even advance towards the vehicle a bright pink light shined behind it, forcing the ninja-minions to back away. Once the light subsided; the five Guardians flew over the truck to face the Shadowkhan as Caleb, Jackie, Jade, and Captain Black run around.

"Who or what are these things?" Caleb questioned.

"They're called Shadowkhan, basically magic ninjas." Captain Black summed up.

"But this should be impossible. Only Shendu can summon the Shadowkhan." Jackie stated.

"That may have been the case before…." A new voice spoke up; which belonged to a certain Dark Chi Wizard that appeared in a cloud of dark blue smoke in the middle of the gathering of Shadowkhan. "…But Shendu isn't the only one with knowledge of the Dark Arts."

"Oh great, it's the old guy again." Irma voiced sarcastically.

"Gan! Ren! Chui!" Daolon Wong had summoned the three Enforcers, each one in their new forms as Dark Chi Warriors.

"Whoa, that was freaky." Finn voiced as he and his friends felt weird to be summoned like that, still not used to their newfound forms.

"The Dark Hand Enforcers are here to?!" Taranee exclaimed.

"And it looks like they got a make-over in the Dark Chi department." Hay Lin gulped.

"Attack!" Wong commanded as his Shadowkhan and Dark Chi Warrior minions all leapt toward the heroes who retreated toward the street in order to avoid drawing the attention of those in the apartment building.

Despite the Guardians flying and the running of the other heroes; the Shadowkhan and Dark Chi Enforcers all leapt to land in front of their enemies before charging forward and attacking.

Jackie was put on the defensive end from Chow's punches and kicks. Jackie back-flipped onto a parked car and jumped to avoid Chow slamming both his fists onto the car, denting and breaking the hood on top. Chow looked at his hands in surprise, not expecting that sort of strength.

"I am so buffed!" He exclaimed with a grin before summoning his staff and charging at Jackie again.

"Bad day." Jackie uttered as he tried to put some distance between him and Chow.

Caleb tried to block and parry the attacks from several Shadowkhan surrounding him, but with so many enemies and their own natural speed, Caleb was stuck on defense. He tried to punch the front most Shadowkhan, only for the enemy to catch the punch and deliver a palm strike to Caleb's chest and a kick to his face to knock him down onto the ground.

"Caleb!" Cornelia was about to fly and help him, but a Shadowkhan had leapt into the air and grabbed her feet to pull her down and swing her to the ground. She had a rough landing, but as several more Shadowkhan attempted to attack her, she quickly raised her hand to break apart the street and halt their advance. Some even tripped and fell onto sharp and jagged pieces of concrete, causing them to vanish into puffs of black smoke.

Taranee found herself surrounded by half a dozen Shadowkhan herself. One even cracked its knuckles and its neck, causing her to look even more nervous.

"Um… you wouldn't hit a girl with glasses… would you?" She hopped, only to end up ducking to avoid a punch before taking flight to avoid the attacks from the other. "Guess you would." Taranee voiced before creating several fireballs in her hands to throw at the Shadowkhan. Though a few of the fireballs hit and exploded, destroying a few Shadowkhan, most of them were able to swiftly move out of the way before they began to throw several shuriken at her. "Whoa!" she flew to avoid as many as possible as the Shadowkhan leapt after her.

Irma landed by a fire-hydrant and used her powers to blast water out of the outlet, causing the cap to shoot out and hit one Shadowkhan, destroying that one. Irma tried to direct the water to hit the others, but they all seemed much to fast as they leapt to avoid it; but as they leapt to attack her, Irma spread the water around her to take the form of a semi-solid wall with several tentacles to try and knock them back.

"Heads up!" Irma looked in surprise to see a large bladed-weapon heading towards her that easily slice through her water-defense. The weapon returned to Finn as he leapt to lash out his blades against Irma, forcing her to dodge and take to the skies.

"Hey, this is a nice change of pace, isn't it?" Finn voiced with a smile. "Not so fun being on the losing side, isn't it kid?" He gloated to Irma.

"No, it isn't." Irma gulped as Finn and several Shadowkhan began to surround her, despite being airborne.

Hay Lin shot her hands out to create a tornado and send it towards a group of Shadowkhan coming her way. A few were hit, but several rolled out of the way. Hay Lin didn't get a chance to attack further however as Ratso came flying in with his hammer and smashed it into the ground, causing it to explode and sending Hay Lin flying and landing smack into a parked car. She groaned as she tried to pull herself up, but only looked in fear as Ratso and even more Shadowkhan approached her.

"Sorry kid, nothing personal." Ratso said with a hint of regret as he tried to swing his hammer down on her, but Hay Lin took to the skies to avoid the strike.

Captain Black tried to pull out his pistol and shoot the Shadowkhan. Though he shot and destroyed one, another batted his gun out of the way before delivering a kick to knock him back as five more began to surround him.

"Captain Black! Heads up!" Jade tossed the Dragon Talisman his way. He was able to catch it and instinctively shot it out to blast a wave of fire that destroyed all the Shadowkhan surrounding him. He looked at the Talisman in his hands before shooting a look towards Jade.

"We're gonna have a serious talk about this later, young lady." Captain Black said before taking the Dragon Talisman and running back into the fight just as Jade took out the Snake Talisman before turning invisible.

Will tried to defend herself with what martial arts Jackie has taught her, but all it did was back her into a literal corner by an alleyway; where a few more Shadowkhan emerged from the shadows to grab her from behind.

"Let me go!" Will shouted, even with her own super strength; at least ten Shadowkhan in total were keeping firm grips on her, and their combined weight was enough to keep her from flying. Will stopped her struggling and looked in fright to see Daolon Wong approaching her.

"Ah, the keeper of the Heart." The Dark Chi Wizard mused with a sinister grin. "It must be quite the heavy burden for one especially young. Allow me to relieve you of it." He reached out for the Heart of Kandrakar, despite Will's struggles, but Wong suddenly felt a sharp pain on his left foot, causing him to yell in pain before an invisible force gave an uppercut to his chin to knock him down.

Will and even the Shadowkhan looked in surprise, even as the same invisible force punch one ninja down, followed by another. This gave Will enough room to spread her wings and fly towards the sky where she used her strength to throw her arms out and knock all the Shadowkhan off her and send them falling to the ground where they vanished into smoke.

"Jade?" Will had a feeling it was her friend, which proved to be true as she turned visible, curtesy of the Snake Talisman.

"What gave me away?" Jade smirked.

Will would have replied, but quickly flew down to grab Jade and pull her out of the way to avoid a blast of Dark Chi magic from an angry Daolon Wong.

Despite everyone's best efforts; Will, Jade, Jackie, Taranee, Cornelia, Captain Black, Irma, Hay Lin, and Caleb were forced to come together as they were surrounded my multiple Shadowkhan; all three Dark Chi Enforcers, and even Wong.

"This looks bad." Irma voiced.

"Ya think?" Cornelia responded sarcastically.

"Foolish children and mortals." Wong sneered. "I am the most malevolent of Dark Chi masters! Three powerful chi warriors and an entire legion of shadow minions are under my command! You are children and powerless mortal who cannot even begin to comprehend the forces you are dealing with! And now I shall…"

Wong's monologue was interrupted as a car suddenly came driving down the street right towards them. Will grabbed Jade and took flight as Irma did the same for Jackie, Taranee for Captain Black, and Cornelia for Caleb, they and Hay Lin flew into the sky to avoid the car that rammed into and destroyed multiple Shadowkhan while the Dark Chi Enforcers yelled but leapt out of the way as Wong disappeared in dark blue smoke just as the car came to a halt. The heroes looked in stunned surprise and even more so as Tohru stepped out of the driver's seat with Uncle at the passenger seat.

"Aiya! Are you trying to jostle Uncle! I am too old for joyriding!" The old man protested

"Sorry sensei." Tohru apologized.

"Uncle! Tohru!" Multiple voices called out to them as the heroes set down near the duo.

Daolon Wong reappeared as his Dark Chi warriors landed near him, the Dark Chi wizard growled at the sight of the old man. "The Chi Wizard novice."

Uncle spotted the Enforcers in their new appearances. "Something is different about those three."

Caleb's eyes widened as he remembered something. "You trapped Wong's old minions before, can't you do it again… Ow!"

"There is only one Urn of Wei Cheing and it is occupied!" Uncle exclaimed to Caleb after dope-slapping him. Uncle's look became one of surprise as several more Shadowkhan appeared around Wong and his Dark Chi Enforcers. "Aiya! Daolon Wong has Shadowkhan minions!"

"Really?! We hadn't noticed!" Cornelia exclaimed in sarcasm.

"Do not just stand there, divide and conquer!" Uncle exclaimed to everyone present. "I shall deal with Daolon Wong. Jackie, you deal with Dark Chi Warriors; Guardians deal with Shadowkhan!"

Not really seeing any other options, Will shrugged and went with the Uncle's plan. "Well, you heard the man, get them!" She exclaimed as they all charged against the enemy forces.

Uncle stood face-to-face with Daolon Wong; the two wizards glared as Uncle drew his blow-fist to shoot a beam of green Chi-magic while Wong used his scepter to cast a bolt of Dark Chi-magic to intercept Uncle's attack. Both chi-blasts met, and the two wizards were locked in a beam-struggle as they each cited their respective chants.

Jackie faced Finn alone as he dodged and swerved under Finn's swipes with his bladed weapon as Tohru pulled out a parking meter from the ground and used it as a weapon to block and parry Chow's staff.

Meanwhile; Captain Black and Caleb were up against Ratso. Black shot out the Dragon Talisman to shoot a blast of fire, but Ratso swung his hammer to block the attack before leaping into the air to bring the hammer down on both of them, only for Black and Caleb to roll out of the way and avoid the devastating smash as the hammer hit the ground.

The Guardians hovered in the air to face the Shadowkhan. "Okay, anyone got any ideas how to destroy evil magic ninjas?" Cornelia asked.

Will tried to come up an idea, remembering how the Guardians were supposed to work together and even some fun conversations with Jade about them combining their powers. One idea Jade had actually given Will an idea.

"Hay Lin, make a tornado! A big one! Suck em all up!" Will ordered. Hay Lin did as instructed and flew around the whole group of Shadowkhan, she flew at a rate so fast that when she combined her own power over air, it quickly created a large tornado that suck up all the Shadowkhan in the area.

"Taranee, Cornelia, Irma, shoot everything you got into the vortex! Light the whole thing up!" Will stated as her other three friends shot blasts of fire, water, and earth respectively into the tornado. Soon it became a large vortex engulfed with flames, water, and large chunks of rock and earth that mixed in with all the Shadowkhan before all the shadow-minions were hit by either a solid object or a burst of flame or boiling water. Hay Lin then used her powers to lift the vortex high into the air before it exploded in a brilliant flash of light.

"Woo!" Hay Lin cheered as all the other Guardians smile. "Nothing on Fourth of July could top that!"

"Let's just hope we didn't wake up the whole neighborhood with that." Taranee voiced.

Meanwhile; Tohru continued to swing and block with his parking meter against Chow's staff before his weapon converted into a three-section staff, which he spun like a nunchuck to smack into Tohru's hands and knock the parking meter out of them before smacking the weapon into Tohru's face to send him skidding across the ground.

"Heh, guess you're not the strong guy anymore, eh Tohru?" Chow mocked before an invisible force kicked him where the sun doesn't shine; causing Chow to squeal as he held his crotch and fell to the ground in pain.

Jade turned visible as she stood gloatingly in front of Chow. "Dark Chi warrior or not, all guys got the same weakness."

Chow then looked in fear as Tohru marched towards him, delivering a single, yet powerful, uppercut to send him flying and smashing into the wall, causing him to vanish in a puff of blue smoke.

"Thank you Jade." Tohru nodded.

"No problem Big T." Jade replied as they shared a high-five.

Caleb ran and grabbed Ratso from behind to wrap his arms around his neck, forcing him to drop his hammer. "Hey, get off me!" Ratso tried to struggle, but this left him open for Captain Black to blast him with the Dragon Talisman, scoring a direct hit just as Caleb jumped off as Ratso exploded in a flash of fire mixed with dark blue smoke.

"You got some moves kid; you'd make a pretty good agent in my organization." Captain Black smiled as he offered Caleb a hand up, which he accepted.

"Thanks, and you'd be a really good rebel in Meridian." Caleb repaid the complement.

Jackie backed towards a wall just as Finn threw his bladed weapon, but Jackie ended up running up the wall to avoid the attack just as it imbedded itself into the wall, and once he was high enough, he jumped off the wall and landed behind Finn and delivered a kick to his back, sending Finn crashing into his own weapon and vanishing with it in a puff of smoke.

Meanwhile; Uncle and Wong were still locked in their duel as neither seemed to have the advantage over the other. That is until Uncle took out a dried lizard and fired it alongside his blowfish to add more to his own attack, which began to push back against Wong's. Once Uncle's power had pushed far enough to hit Wong's scepter, the Dark Chi Wizard was sent flying and skidding across the street. He groaned as he tried to pull himself up, only to look in frightened surprise as he found himself surrounded by the glaring Will, Jackie, Irma, Jade, Tohru, Hay Lin, Taranee, Caleb, Cornelia, and Captain Black; even Tohru cracked his knuckles for emphasis.

Daolon Wong growled, realizing he lost this fight. "This is not over!" He waved his scepter to envelop himself in dark blue smoke before he vanished completely.

"And don't you come back!" Irma exclaimed to him, despite him being likely long gone.

"Man, that was one heck of a fight!" Jade stated.

"One that could have been avoided had you all not jumped to conclusions." Jackie said in a disapproving tone, causing Jade and the five Guardians to lower their heads slightly.

"Okay yeah, so Collins isn't Cedric… Ow!" Will felt her forehead where Uncle just slapped her.

"How can you think history teacher was evil shapeshifter?!" Uncle question. "Teacher too boring to be evil!"

"That's what I said!" Cornelia agreed.

"Don't be a suck up." Irma lightly scolded.

Will rubbed her forehead. "Yeah, I get it. I was wrong and I messed up. I should have thought this through without letting my feelings get in the way. I'm… I'm sorry."

Jackie sighed as he put a hand on Will's shoulder. "A lesson learned the hard way is still a lesson learned nonetheless."

"So, speaking of which, what are we gonna do about Collins?" Irma asked. "He is still knocked out, right?"

The group made their way back to the apartment complex where Collins was still out cold. Captain Black felt along his wrist and his head. "He'll be fine. A small bump, but no concussion or any other major injuries."

"I'm just glad he didn't see us." Hay Lin voiced.

"We'll take him back to his apartment while he's still out." Captain Black said. "And no one is the wiser."

"What about this PTA stuff?" Taranee picked up his file folder.

"Just put that in his desk, anything he might remember, he'll think he dreamed it." Cornelia dismissed with the wave of her hand.

It didn't take much effort for the group to carry Collins back to his apparent in Captain Black's van. Thanks to his research, the group knew his address and got him back to his residence with no trouble at all. Though they did find out that he had a pet lizard, causing Caleb to point out how right he was about the crickets, much to the girls' dismay. But they soon left, and Collins didn't wake up till the next morning.

The Next Day

Collins sat at his desk just as all his students walked into the classroom. He opened his drawer to find the PTA papers he previously packed were in there. He sighed in relief, but had an upset and tired look on his face, something Elyon noticed as she walked in.

"Are you okay Professor Collins?" She asked.

"Last night, I had a weird dream of fairies fighting ninjas." Collins replied with a tired tone-of-voice.

"Ah don't worry, I get that dream all the time." Jade said as she walked in. "Price to pay for watching too many action movies."

Collins seemed to buy it. "I really need to cut back on those late movie nights." He said to himself as everyone sat down with Jade sitting next to Will.

"So, we're good?" She whispered to the dark-haired girl.

"We're good." Jade whispered back, causing Will to sigh in both relief and exhaustion.

"Yeah, last night was a disaster. First, we know Cedric is somewhere in our town, now Wong's got some magic ninjas?"

"Yeah, the Shadowkhan are really bad news." Jade seemed to agree. "But don't' worry, I'm sure we'll get them."

"I wish I had your confidence."

Day Care Center

"I'm back!" Cornelia sang as she walked into the room where all the little kids where waiting. "And today, I have a special surprise for you! When you kids are older, you'll learn about something called community service." Irma and Taranee suddenly entered the room, each one pulling in a wheel barrel filled to the brim with envelopes. "But you are going to start right now! As you, and my darling sister, lick these forty-eight-thousand and seven-hundred and fifty envelopes."

Lilian's jaw dropped as she saw not only the smirks on Irma and Taranee's faces, but also the vengeful and satisfied smile on Cornelia's face. "And no, we don't have any sponge-tongues."

Vandom Center

Will and Jade were having dinner at Will's apartment as Mrs. Vandom cleared her own place. "So, mom, you were never interested in Mr. Collins?"

"Please, he's so unreliable." Mrs. Vandom scoffed. "He was supposed to drop off some papers last night but he never showed."

"You know, I don't really mind you dating." Will said as Jade tasted some soup, only for her to wince as it wasn't the best she head.

"Might I suggest going out to eat." Jade offered.

"Who has time?" Mrs. Vandom put on her jacket and prepared to head out. "I've got an emergency block meeting. Seems a bunch of guys in black are setting off fireworks in the street." Right as she left, Jade took a sigh of relief.

"Well, let's just be glad that's all they thought it was." Jade voided.

"Yeah but we still got a big problem." Will said. "If Collins wasn't Cedric, who is?"

Meanwhile, in a bookstore off the corner of a street, the humanoid serpent known as Cedric transformed into a humanoid form resembling a tall man with long blonde hair in a ponytail, a white button-up shirt and blue jeans with glasses. Before he could get to work, he felt a familiar presence behind him as he smirked amusingly.

"It would seem Wong, that your precious Shadowkhan haven't lived up to their expectations." Cedric mused.

Daolon Wong stepped out of the shadows. "Oh, to the contrary; they were more than a match for Chan and the Guardians; were not for the Chi-Wizard, they would have destroyed our enemies. That being said…" Wong smirked at the humanoid shapeshifter. "Our prince has allowed me to continue using them in future battles."

Cedric's smile faded as he gave a subtle glare in Wong's direction. "Have you come here to gloat then, wizard?"

"No, ironically enough, I am here to warn you." Daolon Wong said. "The Guardians and their allies are aware of your presence in their city. Though they aren't aware of your human identity, yet."

"Your warning is duly noted, but I assure you, I am more than capable of keeping up appearances. Now if there is nothing else, kindly take your leave. I do have a store to run." Cedric advised. Wong returned a subtle glare of his own before vanishing in his titular smoke, leaving Cedric alone in the bookstore just as he hung up a sign that said 'open'.

Done.

So yeah; not only has Cedric begun his search for the missing heir to Meridian, but Daolon Wong has harnessed the power of the Shadowkhan for Phobos, which should make things much more difficult for the Jackie and WITCH. And it would seem that Finn, Ratso, and Chow are also more than a match for the young Guardians now that they are Dark Chi warriors themselves.

On another note, we have also met the Mage (but of course, we all know who that really is, but don't expect her to take on any villainous roles till Season 2).

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter as more will soon follow. See you soon and Happy New Year!