Hi everyone, thanks again for waiting, I do appreciate your patience. This is the one chapter where it all hits the fan and our heroes suffer a major defeat. So, with nothing else needing to be said, let's get on with this update.

Parent's Night

Captain Black knocked on the door to the apartment of Linda Carol. "Miss Carol, this is special organization Section 13, we need you to open the door." He said as he had five agents behind him. After watching Elyon come to this apartment yesterday, Captain Black was able to look up Linda's information and saw she had no relation at all with Elyon. Getting suspicious, he decided to go there and see if anything suspicious was going on. However, there was no response, and when Captain Black knocked on the door again, it opened, revealing it wasn't locked.

Keeping his hand inside his pocket and trained on his pistol, Captain Black motioned for his agents to be quiet as they slipped inside the apartment. Once inside, they saw that nobody appeared to be there. However, Black and his agents heard some commotion coming from a nearby closet. Black hung close to the wall, pulling out his pistol, expecting trouble as he quickly opened the door, only to find Linda Carol tied up and gagged as she looked with alarm in her eyes.

Captain Black was quick to release her bonds. "Miss Carol, I'm special agent Captain Black, everything's going to be okay."

"Thank you…" Linda Carol said with relief.

"Do you know who did this to you?" The Captain asked.

"A blonde man with glasses."

Captain Black reached into his coat to pull out a photograph of Cedric's disguise as Rick Hoffman. "Is this him?"

"Yes."

Black grimaced. "Damn it. We just missed him."

Meridian – Phobos' Castle

The dark prince himself, as well as his followers, Cedric and Daolon Wong, have all gathered in the throne room as they made the final preparations for the Ceremony of Amalgamation. Cedric had already provided Phobos with the empty soda bottle, which had a faint essence of Elyon's breath in it.

"Symbols of Elyon's mind, body, and spirit." Phobos stated as he poured the essence into the central orb, followed by Elyon's hair as well as her perfect math test. Once the lid was closed, all the ingredients began to mix together in a large cloud of sparkles before it cleared to reveal a golden crown with a red jewel in the center.

"The Ceremony of Amalgamation is now complete, my lord." Cedric stated. "According to the ancient ways, her resistance to crossing will now be lowered."

"And with that irksome protection spell no longer a problem, there is nothing to stop us from bringing the girl here." Wong sneered.

"For now." Phobos stated as he took out the crown. "With Chan and the Guardians being as persistent as ever, Elyon must now learn of her true identity as Princess of Meridian!"

"Miranda and I already have a plan set in motion." Cedric revealed.

Wong snorted. "That child? She's even more bothersome than you."

"You would be wise not to underestimate her, Daolon Wong." Cedric cast a slight glare in Wong's direction. "She's far craftier than you give her credit for."

"After the coronation, all her powers will be mine!" Phobos declared as he let loose an evil laugh that echoed throughout the throne room, however, neither he nor Cedric noticed the small smirk on Daolon Wong's face.

Earth

Elyon walked down the streets of Heatherfield, her intent was going to the bookstore where Cedric worked, only to be given a reminder as she not only saw it was just as damaged as she last saw it, but even saw police patrolling the area. She already had an idea that would still be the case, she couldn't quite explain it, but that was one of the few places she actually felt like she belonged, even more so than at home with her parents.

"It's a sad sight, isn't it?"

Elyon turned around to see a girl who looked just about her age with black hair and greenish-blue eyes.

"Cedric loved working there."

That took Elyon by surprise. "You know Cedric?"

"Yeah, I'm a… friend of his. My name is Miranda." She offered her hand for Elyon to shake, which she did.

"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm…"

"Elyon, Cedric's already told me a lot about you." Miranda said with a friendly smile.

"He has?" Elyon smiled widely. "So, where is he? I tried to stop by his apartment, but for some reason, the police were there."

"Yes, Cedric has had some people… trying to get to him. Very bad people." Miranda said as they began walking away from the bookstore.

Elyon did not expect to hear that. "Someone is trying hurt him?! Why?!"

"I don't know, he's a good man, I don't see a reason why they'd try to hurt him." Miranda replied. "But don't worry, he's safe. And I was kinda hopping that maybe we could… how do you say it? Hang out?"

Despite the surprising reveal, Elyon smiled as they continued to walk down the sidewalk. "Sure, any friend of Cedric's is a friend of mine."

"Hey, Elyon!" They both saw Cornelia walking in from around the corner, though she didn't quite expect to see this other girl with her. "Who's this?"

"Miranda." Elyon briefly introduced. "Could you excuse me for a minute?" She asked the black-haired girl.

"Sure thing." Miranda nodded as she saw Elyon and Cornelia walk off but gave a small scowl in their direction that neither of them noticed.

Cornelia noticed that Elyon didn't look all that happy to see her. "Is… is something wrong?"

"I called you last night, your mom said you were off with the other girls." Elyon said in a somewhat irritated tone.

"Oh um… we were doing some… Kung Fu training." Cornelia tried to come up with an excuse.

"Kung Fu? Since when do you know Kung Fu?" Elyon didn't seem all that convinced

"Since… Jade and her Uncle moved to town." Cornelia answered. "It's not like we're doing a secret group fun-project or anything."

"How come I've never been invited though?" Elyon asked.

"You wouldn't like it, Kung Fu is a lot harder than it looks, trust me." Cornelia confessed, actually being honest about it.

"Maybe you should have let me decide that." Elyon stated. "I'll see you at school." She walked away to meet up with Miranda and they walked away. Cornelia wanted to go after her and tell her the whole truth, but she couldn't risk that with someone else being with her, so she decided to walk away and head to school in another direction.

Elyon sighed as she met up with Miranda. "Cornelia's supposed to be my best friend. Some time's it feels like Cedric was the only one who understands me, even more so than my own parents."

"Well, I know we just met and all, but I think I understand you Elyon." Miranda said with a fake sincere smile to hide the devious expression in her eyes. This was enough to make Elyon smile as they continued their walk.

Brown Residence

Jackie Chan, Uncle, Tohru, and Caleb walked up to Elyon's house as Jackie knocked on the door. Thomas and Elanor Brown were the ones to answer the door.

"Mr. and Mrs. Brown, my name is Jackie Chan." He introduced. "We need to talk about your daughter."

"Oh, is Elyon alright?" Elanor asked.

"Well you see um…" Jackie tried to find the right way to say it, but Uncle beat him to it, being as blunt as ever.

"We know Elyon is Princess of Meridian and brother is evil prince!" The elderly wizard stated, catching the couple by surprise.

The young rebel walked up next. "My name is Caleb, I'm the leader of the rebellion in Meridian. We're not trying to hurt Elyon, I promise."

"If anything, we seek her protection." Tohru quickly said.

Elyon's adoptive parents got a good look at Caleb and appeared to have recognized him. "You're Julian's son!" Thomas stated, catching Caleb by surprise.

"You knew my father?!"

"Yes, we were friends before Phobos…" Thomas didn't finish as he and his wife both realized the situation, they were now in. "Come on inside."

Once inside, Jackie and the others explained to Elyon's adoptive parents, who revealed their real names to be Alborn and Miriadel, everything that's been happening recently. Jackie revealed how he's been working with and training the new Guardians and helping to fight Phobos, while also telling them about everything in regard to Elyon.

"So, Phobos knows about Elyon?" Alborn asked with a grave expression.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Jackie confirmed. "He already sent Cedric in an attempt to suede her."

"Though we were able to expose him and drive him away, Elyon still remains in danger." Tohru added. "We even attempted to place her under a protective spell, but Daolon Wong was able to derive a counter-spell and has likely given it to her already."

Alborn and Miriadel looked towards each other with concerned expressions. "So that explains it." Miriadel said. "Elyon has already starting to become more distant from us."

"The Forces of Darkness are taking hold." Uncle said in a somewhat dramatic tone. "And with the Ceremony of the Amalgamation likely complete, it may be only a matter of time for Elyon."

"It's not going to happen!" Caleb exclaimed. "If Phobos or his cronies tries to lay finger on Elyon, I'll snap their arms like twigs!"

"Caleb, you may have good intentions, but not everything requires blunt force as a solution." Jackie lightly chastised the rebel leader before turning to Elyon's adoptive parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Brown, for Elyon's sake, I think it might be best for you and your daughter to leave Heatherfield for the time being, at least until Phobos is defeated."

"We have friends in high places that can help." Tohru offered. "We might even be able to get you to leave town by tomorrow night if you wanted."

Miriadel sighed. "Mr. Chan, we appreciate your offer, but you don't understand how obsessive Phobos is. Even if we do leave this city, he'll try and follow us. Perhaps… it is time we tell her the truth."

"Yeah, right… that we're not human and she's from another world?" Alborn said in a somberly sarcastic tone.

"You did it to save her life, though." Caleb stated. "Maybe if we tell her right now, she… OW!" Caleb felt his forehead where Uncle delivered his dope-slap.

"We have been over this!" Uncle stated. "Not everyone can accept magic! If Elyon learns everything all at once, she'll panic which the Forces of Darkness can take full advantage of!"

"Perhaps we can find a way to tell her slowly?" Tohru offered.

"Unfortunately, Tohru, I don't believe we have that sort of luxury." Jackie said in a grave tone as the group was at a loss of what to do.

Sheffield Institute

"'Parent's Night, tomorrow.'" Taranee read an announcement on the board in the school's courtyard. "'Food, Art, fun, fun, fun.'"

"Yeah, parent's at school." Irma voiced in obvious sarcasm as she kicked a ball and bounced it from her knee to her head. "That sounds 'fun, fun, fun' to me." She kicked the ball toward Jade.

"I think I might bring Uncle along for that, if only to make things more 'interesting'." Jade said with a somewhat mischievous smirk.

"You mean you're hopping he slaps some of the teachers on their foreheads." Cornelia said.

"Yep." Jade smirked as she kicked the ball to Taranee who walked into the game.

"Okay, I'll admit, that be pretty fun to see." Irma smirked as Taranee kicked the ball to Hay Lin.

"Well I can't wait to show them my history report, and my science project, and the inside of my locker!" Hay Lin actually seemed genuinely excited as she kicked the ball to Cornelia.

"Mine will spend the whole night pushing back my hair and saying, 'why do you wanna hide that pretty face?'." Cornelia complained.

"Odd, I thought you'd like showing yourself off a bit." Jade joked, resulting in some of the other girls laughing.

"Ha, ha, very funny Jade." Cornelia grumbled as she kicked the ball toward Irma.

"You think that's embarrassing?" Irma questioned. "Try having your mom bring cookies with your name on them. Her pet-name from when you were a baby!" She kicked the ball to Hay Lin.

"Does 'Shmoopy-pants' fit on a cookie?" Hay Lin asked as she kicked the ball to Jade.

"Droopy-pants." Irma practically cried as Jade kicked the ball to Taranee.

"Yeah, you're right, that does sound kind of embarrassing." Jade commented, resulting in laughs from the other girls.

"You think you guys have problems?" Will walked onto the scene. "Check this out." She handed them a piece of paper.

"You still dot your I's with smiley-faces?" Cornelia questioned. "That is so summer of sixth grade!"

"I'm talking about the C on my math midterm!" Will pointed to her grade.

"That's actually a C+." Jade pointed out. "Just under a B, so I'd say that's pretty good."

"You don't know my mom." Will replied. "It might not be a D or anything to get me grounded, but you can expect a boring lecture."

"Still better than fighting magic ninjas and a psycho prince." Jade replied back.

Taranee noticed Elyon walking toward then. "Oh, Hi Elyon!" She waved, not only as a friendly gesture, but a subtle warning to the others to stop talking about magic for a minute. The others tried to wave and say hi, but she didn't seem interested.

"Don't let me interrupt you." Elyon said somewhat spitefully as she walked past them.

"We need to tell her!" Cornelia persisted. "Uncle's protective chi-spell is gone! The bad guys can get to her now!"

"Tell her what? That she's about to be kidnapped and brainwashed by a psycho brother she never even knew?" Jade questioned. "I love fighting magic as much as the next big hero, but even I would freak out at something like that."

"But…" The blonde tried to protest, but Will quickly spoke up.

"Cornelia, I want you to think long and hard about this." The redhead began. "If we drop everything on Elyon; that she's not only a magic princess, but also a target for the Forces of Darkness including an evil long-lost brother, a giant shapeshifting snake, a dark wizard who makes Voldemort look like a pacifist, and an army of evil magic ninjas, how do you think she'd react to all that?"

Cornelia tried to come up with a retort, but once she thought about it, the more she realized that if all that really was unloaded at once, especially with her life being in danger, she did see a scenario of her freaking out as a very real possibility.

"Exactly." Will took her silence as the answer she needed. "And her freaking out is exactly what the bad guys want. Jackie and Section 13 have it under control."

"Students! Students!" Mrs. Knickerbocker got their attention as she walked onto the scene with a box of supplies in her hands. "Local merchants have once again donated generously to our Parent's Night festivities. We got this darling assortment of paper cups from cup city." She presented some party-cups that looked like they were from a five-year-old's birthday party.

"Nothing says 'par-tay' like three-little-pigs cups." Irma muttered sarcastically.

"And a new student even suggested the idea of family-tree-charts!" Mrs. Knickerbocker continued as she handed each of the six girls a chart. "I want you all to fill them out with photos of your relatives."

"I'd rather shave my head and wear clown shoes to the prom." Cornelia muttered.

Even Jade sighed. "You know Uncle's gonna have a field day with this. He's always going about family-history. I might actually need more charts just to fill it all in."

However, Hay Lin actually seemed even more excited. "Wow! This is gonna be…!" However, once all the other girls shot her glares, she tried to squish her excitement down. "Only… a little fun."

As Mrs. Knickerbocker walked away, she handed a chart to Elyon who could only look at it with a sigh.

"Family tree charts huh?" Miranda suddenly appeared behind Elyon. "It was actually my idea. What do you think Elyon?"

"Oh… great." Elyon didn't appear all that excited.

"What's wrong?" Miranda asked.

"Nothing… it's just… I have to go. I'll see you later, Miranda." Elyon walked away, not noticing the sinister smile forming on Miranda's face.

'Hook, line, and sinker.'

Later that Night – Brown Residence

"Mom, Dad, how come the only photos on my family tree charts are just ours?" Elyon questioned as she saw her chart, true to her word, only pictures of her parents and herself where on there. "What about your parents? Or Rodger, Claudia, and Great Aunt Millicent? And how come these people have never visited us?"

"It's a small family…" Alborn tried to say. "Both our parents… are no longer with us, your mother and I were both only children."

"There was a fire, I think fifty years ago…" Miriadel also tried to come up with an excuse of her own. "Your Great Aunt Sylvia, she lost a lot of documents."

"And her car, and her phone?" Elyon questioned with skepticism. "You know what? Never mind! I get it! I'm just not worth the bother!" She left the kitchen while slamming the door behind her.

Miriadel sighed. "It seems Caleb, Mr. Chan, and the others were right, we're losing her. Maybe we should tell her the truth."

Alborn knew his wife was right. "Tomorrow. We'll talk to her tomorrow after Parent's night."

The Next Day – Sheffield Institute

It was Parent's Night at the school as rain poured down outside. Multiple billboards were scattered throughout the gymnasium where all the students' family tree charts were presented. However, the biggest one appeared to be Jade's family tree, as she accurately predicted, was filled to the brim with family members she didn't even know about. She was there, along with her parents, Uncle Jackie, Uncle himself, and so many other second cousins that she honestly lost track. Though she also insisted on putting Tohru in as an 'honorary' family member.

Will just happened to walk by as she saw Jade's chart. "Dang… talk about a big family."

"Blame Uncle." She pointed to the aforementioned old man who stood with her, Jackie, and Tohru.

"Knowing one's roots is very important." Uncle insisted.

In stark contrast to Jade's enormous chart, Elyon's own family tree chart still consisted of herself and her parents, much to Elyon's own disappointment.

"I think our family chart looks very nice." Miriadel said in an attempt to cheer up her adoptive daughter.

"Absolutely, less is more." Alborn seemed to agree.

"Yeah, it's not crowded up with a bunch of family members!" Elyon exclaimed before walking away. The Chan clan happened to overhear Elyon yelling, Jade decided to head off in that direction as Jackie, Uncle, and Tohru made eye-contact with Mr. and Mrs. Brown, along with Caleb as he hung around the gymnasium.

Elyon gave a sad sigh as she sat down on a stack of folded up mats. "What's got you feeling so gloomy?" Miranda walked up to Elyon and sat down next to her, neither of them noticing Jade hiding around the corner. She couldn't explain it, but something about this Miranda-girl felt rather off.

"All this family-talk is awful." Elyon confessed.

"Why do you say that?" Miranda asked.

"Because my parents won't even talk to me about it." Elyon stated. "They're so secretive and weird. It's like I don't even have a family."

Jade did not miss the glint in Miranda's eyes. "You know, it's actually funny you should mention that. Cedric said he found something you should see. Follow me." She led Elyon out of the gymnasium.

Jade gave a gasp once she heard Cedric's name. "Uh oh." She quickly ran back to her family. "Uncle Jackie, we got a problem; Cedric's here."

"What?!" Jackie exclaimed as he, Uncle, Tohru, and even Caleb looked in surprise. Both Alborn and Miriadel heard what Jade said and were more than a little startled themselves.

"Yeah, Elyon's going to see him right now!" Jade stated.

"Jade; you, Caleb, Tohru, and Uncle find Will and the others." Jackie quickly got serious. "I'll see what I can do." He quickly made his way toward the gymnasium's exit, followed by Alborn and Miriadel.

Miranda led Elyon up the stairs where they stopped on the middle-level to where Cedric, wearing an overcoat, was waiting for them. "Cedric, what are you doing here?" Elyon asked.

"Elyon, listen to me. Those people have been lying to you." Cedric began.

This only served to confuse the young girl. "'Those people'? What are you talking about?"

"I did some research." Cedric reached into his coat and pulled out a series of papers. "City records, everyone born in Heatherfield twelve years ago, on March thirteenth."

"My birthday, so?" Elyon asked as Cedric handed her the list of names. One quick look was enough for Elyon to look in complete and utter surprise. "I'm not on here! But I know I was born on that day!"

"Yes, you were, but not in Heatherfield." Miranda said.

"What are you saying? And why would my parents lie to me?" Elyon asked as they heard the doors from the lower floor open. One peek over the railing and Miranda could see the shadows of Alborn, Miriadel, and Jackie. As Cedric spoke to Elyon, Miranda snuck closer toward a shaded corner and spoke in a subtle whisper.

"Deal with Chan but leave the other two alone." A series of shadows moved on their own down the staircase, which went completely unnoticed by Elyon as Cedric kneeled down to her level.

"They lied about who you are and what they are."

Back downstairs; Jackie, Alborn, and Miriadel continued to search for the girl. "Jade said they went this way." Jackie recalled.

"Elyon!" Miriadel tried to call to her. "Honey?!"

They suddenly stopped as they saw the shadows move along the walls and down toward the floor in front of them before the shadows rose and took the shape of five Shadowkhan.

"What…?!" Alborn exclaimed as Miriadel was more than a little shocked herself. "What are they…?!"

"Shadowkhan!" Jackie immediately took a marital art stance. "Find Elyon, I'll deal with this!"

Miriadel turned around and ran in the opposite direction as Jackie blocked and parried the punches and kicks from the Shadowkhan assailants.

However, right as Alborn and Miriadel turned the corner, they happened to run right into Cedric, who took out the Star of Threbe from his coat and shined it over the pair, to reveal their true forms, goblin-like creatures with long hair. This happened right in front of Elyon and Miranda, the former screamed as she hid behind Miranda who pretended to stand protectively in front of her.

Meanwhile, Will was in what appeared to be a parent-teacher conference between her mother and Mr. Collins. However, Jade quickly entered the classroom. "Excuse me! Sorry to bother you guys, Mr. Collins, Mrs. V, I gotta borrow Will real quick. Friend emergency!" She quickly pulled Will out of the classroom, much to Mrs. Vandom's and Collin's confusion.

Elyon clung to Miranda as she saw the true forms of her so-called parents before Cedric put the Star away, allowing them to assume their human forms, but not even that could hide away Elyon's trauma.

"What are you?!"

"Elyon, we brought you here to save your life!" Miriadel tried to tell her.

"You must understand, you needed protection from your brother…" Alborn also tried.

"I have a brother?!" Elyon exclaimed in shock.

"Elyon, you know we love you." Alborn said sincerely and desperately.

"Does she? Does she really know?" Miranda questioned, keeping up the façade. "Hard to believe someone who's lied to you your whole life."

"Miranda." Miriadel practically growled at seeing the deceitful girl.

Alborn turned around to face Cedric with an equally distrustful look. "Cedric, what have you told her?!"

"You guys know my parents?!" Elyon exclaimed.

"Don't listen to them!" Miriadel tried desperately to reach out to her adoptive daughter. "We don't want them to hurt you like they've hurt so many others!"

Elyon was quickly brought to tears, not knowing what to believe anymore. "You're the only ones who ever hurt me!" She ran out the doors in tears.

"Elyon, wait!" Miriadel tried to run after her, only for a quartet of Shadowkhan to emerge from the walls. They were quick to grab onto her and Alborn, despite their resistance, they were quickly subdued with their hands restrained behind their backs.

"Prince Phobos is so looking forward to seeing you two again." Cedric sneered.

Suddenly, the group was alerted to a flying Shadowkhan on the other side of the hall as it hit the wall and dispersed. Jackie, who already dealt with the Shadowkhan that were sicked on him, slid to a halt as he faced Cedric and Miranda.

"Let them go!" Jackie demanded as he made a Kung Fu stance.

"So, this is the infamous Jackie Chan." Miranda said with an evil sneer as she stepped forward. "Prince Phobos is making such a fuss over you, I'd like to see why." She was more than ready to attack, but Cedric held his hand out to keep her from advancing.

"As entertaining as that would be, I'm afraid we have other matters to attend to. So you'll have to excuse us, Mr. Chan." Cedric said casually as he, Miranda, and the captured Alborn and Miriadel vanished into the shadows with the Shadowkhan quartet, despite Jackie's best attempt to reach them.

Acting quickly, Jackie pulled out his cellphone and dialed a familiar number. "Captain Black, we have a situation! Cedric is at Sheffield! I need you and Section 13 to set up a barrier around his old bookstore now!"

Cornelia's mother pulled back on her daughter's hair, much to her embarrassment. "Cornelia, Cornelia, now why do you wanna hide that pretty face?"

"Mother." Cornelia groaned.

"Excuse me." Tohru walked to the family. "Mr. and Mrs. Hale, I need to speak with Cornelia rather urgently."

Cornelia also glanced out the window to see Elyon running outside and had a good idea that had to do with what Tohru wanted. "Sorry Mom, Dad, I'll be right back." She followed Tohru, leaving behind the confused parents.

"You told your parents I'm your what?!" Irma exclaimed in a harsh whisper to Martin.

"Oh, sorry. 'Girlfriend' isn't correct these days." Martin said. "'Significant other', or 'main squeeze', those will do to."

"Martin, it was just one lossy movie and an ice cream. Only one date." Irma said. "We didn't… OW!" She suddenly felt a familiar dope-slap on her forehead.

"Why are you talking about date? We have emergency now!" Uncle stated as he suddenly appeared and began to pull Irma away, much to the confusion of her parents, as well as Martin.

They were already in the hallway, where they met up with Will, Jade, Tohru, Cornelia, and Taranee. They now only had to wait for Hay Lin, whom Caleb was already bringing, practically by force.

"But… but they haven't seen my volcano!" Hay Lin complained.

Elyon was already outside in the rain with Cedric and Miranda as they began to tell her everything, or rather, everything that they wanted her to hear.

"It… it isn't true… it's just not… it can't be…" Elyon stuttered.

"Don't you understand how this explains everything, Elyon?" Miranda told her. "You weren't born in Heatherfield, or even Earth! You were born in the realm of Meridian, the same realm where Cedric and I are from. A beautiful and magical place."

"It's the reason I had to avoid Earth's authorities." Cedric also said. "I had to fake my Earth-identity so that I could find you."

"No… No… no, it's not possible…" Elyon was still in denial.

"We would never lie to you." Cedric said. "Once more, we cannot lie to Meridian's rightful princess."

That revelation was the equivalent of a bomb being dropped for Elyon. "What?! This morning I was a teenager with no friends, now I'm a princess?!"

"Elyon, you do have friends." Miranda told her. "You have me and Cedric."

Cedric kneeled down to Elyon's level and put his hands on her shoulders. "And in Meridian, you'll have more than just friends. Family. A history! You have a brother who loves and misses you so very much. It's time you went home."

"Elyon!" Will called to her as she, Jackie, Jade, Irma, Cornelia, Tohru, Hay Lin, Taranee, Uncle, and Caleb all ran outside. "Don't believe anything these guys say!"

"Oh, and your so-called friends have known about this, all along." Cedric revealed to the girl.

"What?" Elyon questioned.

"It's true." Miranda confirmed. "They didn't want you to know about your true heritage. Ask them for yourself."

Elyon turned with a glare to the heroes. "When were you going to tell me?"

"I wanted to!" Cornelia replied. "Elyon, no matter what they've told you, Cedric and that Miranda-girl are not your friends!"

"They've been more like friends to me than you!" Elyon stated. "Why shouldn't I go to this Meridian?"

"Because the place is ruled by an evil psychotic nutjob!" Jade argued. "These guys are brainwashing you!"

"Elyon, they have abducted your parents and…" Jackie tried to reason.

"Those monsters back there were not my parents!" Elyon exclaimed. "They lied to me my whole life! And it seems they're not the only ones!"

"Uncle, can't you cast some kind of spell to show Elyon what Cedric really looks like?" Hay Lin asked the elderly wizard.

"Uncle does not know shapeshifter reveal spell." Uncle replied.

"Come, Princess." Cedric was ready to lead her away.

"No, you don't! You threw me in a dungeon to rot!" Caleb charged right at the shapeshifter and tackled him to the ground. "Show your true nature, Cedric!" Cedric however kicked Caleb off him, when Caleb threw a punch out, Cedric was quick to catch it in the palm of his hand and began to squeeze. However, Tohru suddenly appeared behind Cedric, picked him up with one hand before throwing him hard to a wall.

"Stop it!" Elyon practically screamed, she was about to run and help when suddenly, three dozen Shadowkhan appeared from the ground and surrounded the whole group. Some began to surround the shocked Elyon as she looked more than a little frightened.

"Shadowkhan!" Jade exclaimed out of shock.

Will immediately took out the Heart of Kandrakar and said the magic words. "Guardians Unite!" She, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin underwent their flashy transformation to take up their form as WITCH.

"What… what are you…?" Elyon stuttered at seeing her friends transform like this. Immediately, they, as well as Jackie, Uncle, Tohru, Jade, and Caleb engaged in a battle against the many Shadowkhan. Will and Jackie engaged in hand-to-hand combat with them, along with Jade and Caleb. Tohru relied on his physical strength as Taranee shot threw fireballs from her hands. Cornelia raised slabs of concrete from the ground to throw them at the ninja-like assailants as Irma shot water from her hands, and Hay Lin blew a stream of air. Uncle took out his trusty blowfish and began to blast them with Chi-Magic. Despite the heroes' best efforts though, the Shadowkhan appeared to keep going. However, several of them also appeared to surround Elyon, who looked like she was ready to scream, but Miranda came to her 'defense'.

"Elyon, you have to run!" She exclaimed. "Go! We'll hold them off!"

Elyon, letting her fear take over, began to run away as it looked like the Shadowkhan were about to attack Miranda and Cedric as well. However, as Elyon hid around the corner of an alleyway, she couldn't stop herself from looking at the fight that was ensuing. As the Shadowkhan kept the heroes at bay, they also followed their instructions previously given to make it as though both Miranda and Cedric were being assaulted as well as they were pinned to the ground.

"Stop it! Get away from them!" Elyon tried to help the two people she considered to be her only friends, only to have four Shadowkhan blocking her path.

"Elyon!" Cedric called out in a façade of desperation. "You can keep them away! You know how!"

Letting her instincts take control, Elyon shot her hand at the Shadowkhan, unleashing a massive and powerful wave of magic that not only blew all the Shadowkhan away, but even sent the Guardians, Caleb, and the Chan Clan flying across the street. Even Tohru, who tried to stand his ground, was blown away. The street underneath her cracked, the lampposts were bent back, cars were flipped, windows were shattered, and a fire hydrant exploded. When the wave stopped, Elyon looked beyond shocked at what she just did.

"What was that?! Cedric, Miranda, what did I just do?!" Elyon questioned as the two picked themselves up.

"I'll tell you everything, but later. We have to go!" Cedric pulled Elyon away as they and Miranda left just as the heroes began to pick themselves up.

Meanwhile, back at the remains of the bookstore, Captain Black and a squad of Section 13 agents continued to patrol the area, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, particularly a massive snake in the form of a human.

"Evening Officers." They turned around to see Daolon Wong approaching them from a nearby alleyway. "Nice night, don't you think?"

Immediately, Captain Black and his agents drew their pistols and aimed at Wong, but he was quick to raise his scepter to ensnare them with dark magic and send them crashing into a wall in the alleyway he just emerged from. Daolon Wong looked down the street to see Cedric and Miranda running with Elyon in tow.

"So, those shapeshifters actually did it." Wong sneered. "Soon, the Heart of Meridian's power will be mine!" With a wave of his scepter, Daolon Wong vanished from the street just as Cedric, Elyon, and Miranda entered the broken remains of the bookstore.

"This is it Elyon, this is how we get to Meridian, our home. Your home." Miranda told her.

"But you have to be the one to decide, your majesty." Cedric kneeled to her once more. "We can't make this choice for you. Do you want to stay here? Or are you ready to go to your kingdom? To cross to Meridian?"

"I… I don't know…" Elyon had more than a little on her mind as all this felt like it came rushing in all at once. She grew up in Earth, she had friends and a family here, or rather, she thought she did. Turns out, her parents weren't really her parents, they weren't even human. In fact, her own friends had known who she really was and didn't even bother to tell her. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she didn't have anything in this world to hold her back. She had a brother and a history in Meridian, and she was ready to take it all. "I'm ready."

Cedric stood up and pulled out a book of Meridian from a shelf, once he touched it, a bright yellow glow began to emanate from it, which soon began to engulf himself, Elyon and Miranda.

Captain Black and his agents had recovered to see the light emanating from the show just as WITCH, the Chan Clan, and Caleb all arrived. They all entered the shop with one desperate attempt to reach Elyon, but they were too late. With one final flash, the three of them were gone, leaving the shocked heroes to face defeat, realizing they might have just lost the war.

"Bad day." Jackie muttered in disappointment.

Silver Dragon

All the heroes, including Captain Black and Blunk, met up at the Silver Dragon with Yan Lin to tell her what had happened. Captain Black had just gotten off the phone.

"Nearly all of Heatherfield has been combed through, no sign of Cedric, this Miranda girl, or Elyon." Captain Black told the group. "We haven't even found Mr. and Mrs. Brown."

"Of course, you haven't." Uncle stated. "They've all gone to Meridian. Cedric and Miranda have Elyon and no further reason to stay on Earth."

"Seriously, we had freaking Section 13 watching Elyon, and put a protective chi-spell on her!" Jade stated. "But it still wasn't enough!"

"Jade, we all feel bad for what happened." Tohru said. "We did everything we could, but it would seem that it simply wasn't enough."

"I wanted her back in Meridian, but not in the hands of her vile brother!" Caleb stated as it appeared, he was putting most of the blame on himself.

"Blunk cheer up friends! Found tiny folding stool!" The Passling pulled out a pair of glasses and tried to sit on them, only for them to break. Realizing this didn't do anything to cheer anybody up, Blunk only sulked.

"Well, we all know who's fault this is!" Cornelia cast a glare in Will's direction.

"Cornelia…" Will muttered.

"What!? You're the one who wouldn't let me warn her!" Cornelia argued.

"Oh, and how would you have warned her?!" Jade argued back. "Would you walk right up to her face and tell her she's a princess and a sister of a total nutjob?!"

"This coming from the girl who's got a knack for sneaking off on magic adventures!" Cornelia exclaimed.

"That is enough!" Jackie exclaimed with a firm tone of finality before he turned to the blonde. "Cornelia, I'm sorry things didn't turn out the way we hoped. Really, I am. But casting blame on one another is not going to change what happened. We can't dwell on what went wrong, all we can do now is try to find a way to make it right."

"Jackie is correct." Yan Lin agreed. "If ever there was a time to all work together, it is now."

Meridian – Phobos' Castle

The dark prince smirked triumphantly, after so many years of battle against the Rebellion, and more recently, his repeated encounters against Jackie Chan and the Guardians, his sister was finally within his grasp. All he had to do was keep her close to his side until the time of the coronation, and he will have more power than he could ever dream.

"Prince Phobos, your sister." Cedric and Miranda, both dressed in regal clothing, presented the girl to their prince.

Phobos turned around with a façade of a loving smile. "Elyon? Is it… is it truly you? I've waited so long!" He approached her, kneeled to her level and embraced her.

Elyon herself was holding back tears of joy. "My brother… you're really my brother… I didn't know…"

"There, there, welcome to your kingdom. You're finally home." Phobos broke off from their embraced. "This is your family, our family" He showed her various portraits of men and women who were indeed their ancestors.

"All of them?" Elyon looked with excitement and emotions all across the hallway.

"Our ancestral line, yes." Phobos confirmed. "Come, let me give you the tour of our home." He began to lead her down the hall of their castle.

Elyon spotted a glass container filled with all kinds of plants that she didn't recognize. "What's this?"

"A terrarium." Phobos answered. "I keep it for the children of the staff."

"Miranda told me you were nice." Elyon smiled as they walked away.

Earth – Silver Dragon

Will held the Heart of Kandrakar over the magic map to try and find an active portal, however, none appeared; meaning there was no way to cross to Meridian and get to Elyon at the moment.

"Who knows what lies he's already told her! We can't just sit here!" Cornelia exclaimed.

"Cornelia, calm down." Jackie told her in a firm yet understanding tone. "I understand your concern, but until a portal opens, we cannot do anything."

"I'll make tea." Yan Lin proposed, hopping the drink would defuse the tension in the room.

Meridian

Phobos had just finished giving Elyon the tour of their castle, specifically the areas he wanted her to see, before finally ending it at the large map that showed the entire kingdom of Meridian.

"And these are the maps of every part of the kingdom. Your kingdom." Phobos showed her.

"It's all so wonderful, just like Cedric and Miranda said." Elyon said with a smile. "I can't believe they didn't want me to know about this."

"Elyon, there are those from Earth who don't have the best of intentions." Phobos told her. "Those who crave power and will do whatever it takes to obtain it. That is why we have the Veil to protect our people from such danger."

"It makes me so mad to think I could have been here all along." Elyon practically growled.

"You must release all that bottled anger." Phobos told her. "I'd like to try something, put your hand on the great map, here." He showed her a portion of the map. "Picture those you are most angry with and think of something peaceful to balance it, such as… the terrarium I showed you."

"What? Is this like… meditation?" Elyon asked.

"Yes, and a test of your powers of concentration." Phobos explained to her. "You have a great power inside you, Elyon."

"Back on Earth I… I tore up an entire street…" Elyon looked towards her hands with a nervous expression, but Phobos held both her hands as he looked at her with caring eyes.

"Do not fret, my sister. I will help you to control your power, so it does not control you." Phobos told her. "But we need to test it first. Think of your friends, and those nice plants."

Elyon did as her brother told her and placed her hand on the map. Pulsing waves began to spread throughout the entire map as Phobos smiled evilly. He doubted this could get rid of Chan and the Guardians, but it would help him to test the limits of Elyon's power.

Earth

A red X formed on the map. "There! A portal!" Hay Lin pointed to the map.

"Let's go!" Caleb exclaimed. No time to waste, the Guardians, along with Jackie, Jade, Uncle, Tohru, and even Captain Black and Blunk all ran out of the Silver Dragon, just as Yan Lin arrived with the tea. She took a glance at the map and saw the X change from red to green, causing her to look suspicious.

Meridian

After assuming their Guardian forms, the girls of WITCH, followed by the Chan Clan, Blunk, Caleb, and Captain Black had just emerged from the portal.

"Where are we?" Jade questioned, looking at all the large plants around the group. "Some kind of weird forest?"

"Um… this doesn't look like Meridian." Caleb said, not recognizing this particular area.

Blunk walked forward, only to slam face-first into what appeared to be an invisible wall.

"Whoa. An invisible wall?" Jade questioned as the group quickly made their way towards Blunk, where Captain Black lightly knocked his fist against the wall.

"No, it's glass." Captain Black identified.

"Glass?" Hay Lin questioned. "Why? To keep us out from somewhere?"

Taranee looked around at their surroundings and realized where they were. "Nuh uh, in. This is a giant terrarium!" It was true, the group was indeed trapped inside a terrarium, but not a giant one, it was a normal sized terrarium and they have all shrunk down to insect-size.

"I don't think we're in a giant terrarium, I think we shrunk!" Irma exclaimed.

Jackie groaned as he slid his hand down his face. "Not again."

"Why do I have a feeling we we've been set up?" Jade questioned.

Uncle suddenly felt an enormous chill go down his spine. Before anyone could ask if he was alright, a large shadow loomed over the entire terrarium as they saw the massive form of Daolon Wong laughing.

"Daolon Wong!" Tohru exclaimed as they all looked in shock.

"Good." Wong sneered. "You've allowed yourselves to fall right into our trap." He raised his staff and cast a quartet of dark smoke plums, which phased through the glass and into the terrarium. The smoke solidified to take the form of four demonic-like insects consisting of a spider, a praying mantis, a scorpion, and a moth.

"Aiya!" Uncle shouted.

"Oh man… I hate bugs!" Cornelia exclaimed as the group scattered with the monster-insects crawling or flying after them.

Hay Lin and Irma flew up to try and avoid the moth that snarled at them and spat a silk-like substance at them, which they both managed to avoid as it pressed against the glass. Irma thrusted her hands to send a plum of water at the insect, but the moth flapped its wings rapidly to create a gust of wind that sent the water back to Hay Lin and Irma and send them crashing to the ground.

Blunk ran as fast as he could to try and avoid the spider, but Jade was quick to run up and grab the Passling before she attempted to climb up a thorny plant with the spider in hot pursuit. However, their salvation came in the form of Jackie and Will as the Guardian flew down and carried Jackie before she threw him with her enhanced strength, giving Jackie a boost that added to his own flying kick in the spider's face to send it recoiling back. However, it was quick recover as it resumed its charge.

The scorpion thrusted its tail at Uncle, but Captain Black dove and tackled him out of the way just as the stinger impacted the ground. They each drew their respective blowfish and pistol as they shot chi-spells and bullets at it. Taranee landed next to them and threw a series of fireballs alongside them. This seemed to keep the scorpion at bay, but it wouldn't stop it as it attempted to shield itself with its claws before it lunged its tail at them.

Tohru backed up slightly as the praying mantis loomed over him. He charged forward just as it swung its spined-front legs at him, but Tohru was already under the mantis and began to push up on its body to knock it down onto the ground. Once it was down, Cornelia pressed her hand on the ground to create a series of roots which shot up and began to entangle the mantis and pin it down. Caleb had picked up a rock and attempted to smash the mantis' head with it, but the mantis proved stronger than everyone thought as it broke out of the roots and knocked back Tohru, Cornelia, and Caleb.

The heroes soon found themselves literally cornered at the glass end of the terrarium with the insects looming over them with deadly intent.

"Don't you have some kind of insect-repellant-spell or something?!" Cornelia questioned, only to receive a dope-slap from Uncle. "OW!"

"Uncle is chi-wizard, not exterminator!"

Jackie looked past the insects toward the top of the terrarium, where he spotted a twist-lid, which could lead to their escape. "Cornelia, create an earthquake! Hay Lin, Taranee, we need a vortex of air and fire! Now!"

No time to question, Cornelia used her powers to create at tremor which began to shake up the entire terrarium, and knock the mantis, spider, and scorpion off balance, while Hay Lin spun her body to create a massive tornado, which Taranee added her fire to in order to create a vortex of wind and flame to keep the moth at bay. With the insects distracted, the group made their way to the top with Will carrying Jade, Hay Lin carrying Uncle, Cornelia and Taranee both carried Tohru, and Irma carrying Blunk; Jackie, Caleb, and Captain Black climbed up on their own along the plants towards the top. However, the insects were still in hot pursuit of the group.

"Itsy bitsy and company are little too close for comfort!" Irma exclaimed.

Taranee and Cornelia briefly set Tohru down on a plant just as Taranee shot a fireball at several branches to send them tumbling down to knock the spider, scorpion, and mantis back. However, the moth continued to fly toward them, but Hay Lin was quick to blast it back with a powerful gust of wind from her mouth.

"Keep climbing! We're almost there!" Captain Black stated as the group made their way to the lid.

"It looks like a normal right-handed thread." Caleb said upon seeing the lock. "Try turning it clockwise."

"Push!" Will exclaimed as she, Tohru, Irma, Captain Black, Cornelia, and Jackie began pushing against the lid to turn it.

"You guys might wanna hurry!" Jade exclaimed as she saw the insects recover and began to fly or climb their way closer toward them, which Uncle and Taranee attempted to keep at bay with chi-blasts and fireballs respectively. "The bug-boy-band is right on top of us!"

"Technically spiders aren't bugs, their arachnids." Taranee corrected.

"Gee thanks, that makes me feel so much better!" Jade exclaimed in obvious sarcasm.

"Keep pushing!" Jackie exclaimed as the combined strength of himself, Captain Black, Tohru, Will, Irma, and Cornelia, who were joined by Caleb, was enough to push the lid slightly, turning it and loosening it before Hay Lin blew another powerful gust of wind from her mouth to blow the top off.

They immediately flew out of the terrarium, Will holding onto Jackie who carried Jade, Irma carrying Uncle and Captain Black, Taranee and Hay Lin carrying Tohru, and Cornelia carrying Caleb with Blunk riding on Tohru's shoulder. They found the window and quickly flew outside.

Daolon Wong watched them leave and made no attempt to stop them. "It doesn't matter. We have what we needed." He commented with an evil snicker.

The group made their way into the castle town and set down on a wooden staircase just outside a house. A man passed by after finishing his apple, which he threw away, however it almost ended up hitting the group of tiny heroes on accident.

"What?! You never heard of a giant trash can?!" Irma shouted; despite the fact the man couldn't hear him.

Will sighed. "Now that Phobos has Elyon on his side, everything will be harder."

"We must find a portal, go back to Earth, hope we return to normal-size once we cross over, and form a whole new strategy." Caleb said.

"You, do have a way for us to turn to normal, right gramps?" Captain Black asked Uncle.

"Simple reversal spell." Uncle dismissed. "Very easy to cast."

"Uh… guys!" Jade pointed upward where the group gave a gasp at seeing Alborn and Miriadel in chains, being escorted by a pair of guards, walk right past them.

"Elyon's parents." Taranee said in a grave tone.

Jackie sighed. "Phobos has already made his move. It would seem that our job has indeed gotten much harder."

Earth

The heroes were able to find a portal, and once they passed through to Earth, they did indeed return to normal size. Captain Black returned to Section 13 while Caleb followed Jackie, Uncle, and Tohru to Uncle's Rare Finds, where they would meet with Yan Lin to discuss their next move. Jade, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin decided to spend the night at Will's place, if only to get some rest and acclimate about what just happened.

"Sorry mom, we're just not hungry." Will said as her mother brought a tray of sandwiches and food.

"Girls, whatever's bothering you, these teenage problems have a way of working themselves out." Mrs. Vandom told them in a sincere tone. "Think about something else. Like math?" She cast something of a joking glance toward Will before leaving the room.

"Teenage problems." Irma muttered. "Yeah, I'd give anything to have those back."

"For once, I completely agree with that." Jade commented.

Done.

So yeah, bad news for our heroes, despite everything they've done, Elyon has learned about her true heritage and has been won over to Phobos' side. We've even been introduced to Miranda earlier than in the cannon. Let me briefly explain the use of the Shadowkhan in this story; Elyon was emotionally confused by the revelation that Cedric and Miranda hit her with, and her friends' reveal as Guardians didn't help either, so she didn't know what to think as the Shadowkhan appeared to attack everyone, even Cedric and Miranda (as they previously instructed while keeping the heroes at bay), and with her viewing them as the only friends she had, it made her act on instinct and attack everyone else. I hope that all makes sense.

Things are going to be even more difficult for our heroes going forward, even more so than in the cannon, as I plan to introduce a new antagonist relatively soon after the next few chapters. Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there.