Chapter Five:

From Uncertainty to Impatience

Wanda was staring ahead, her eyes narrow. They were getting ever closer to their goal, she could feel it in her very bones.

"Dude, you're freaking us out girl." Said Cerella, flying by her side.

"Huh?" Blinked Wanda.

"You were looking so serious and... determined and we haven't even got there yet." HuiLing was on her other side.

"Sorry. Just got into the moment." Smiled Wanda.

"So what's going to happen once we're all together again?" Asked Tress. "I mean... back home." She added.

"Yeah. The rest of us live in Heatherfield... but you... You live in San Francisco. How are we going to be the Five Guardians of Meridian if we're separated?" Asked Ingrid, realizing this for the first time.

Wanda looked away. She was finally getting used to being around the girls all the time, and they had to bring up that subject.

"Let's not talk about that just yet. We have to focus on the here and now. And the here and now is saving our parents from the clutches of that evil Prince." She smiled.

Cerella blinked.

"You actually sounded wise, there." She said.

"Sorry, I usually leave that for Ingrid." Wanda went on hastily.

"So how far from the place are we?" Asked Ingrid irritably.

"A few hours, but we need to go slowly. Phobos will expect us to be there sooner than later, so we need-" Derek was interrupted by HuiLing.

"To keep him off guard?" She said rather excitedly.

"Exactly." He nodded. "So we stop here for now."

They had reached a small pond.

"And strike at nightfall." He went on.

Deep within Phobos' hidden lair, he was observing the Guardians and their companion in a silent muse.

"Cedric... Send our pet over to greet them. The mud slug should do fine against the new Guardians." He said in his low voice.

"Yes, my master." Cedric bowed and left the room.

Phobos' eyes focussed on the leader, who reminded him starkly of the former leader, Will. Then it hit him, and he smiled.

"This will be interesting..." He said.

"Is it always this quiet here?" Asked Ingrid.

"No. Normally there are birds and beasts making their presence known." Derek replied.

"Something's not right here." Tress looked around.

"Is something moving underground?" Cerella looked down at the earth beneath her, she could almost feel something slithering from far away.

On the other end of the small lake, a hole appeared, and out came the green, black and yellow slug Phobos sent after them.

Cerella let out a high pitched screech of disgust.

"That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen..." Tress said, voicing what the other girls were thinking.

"What is that?" Asked Wanda, taking to the air to get a better look. She was hardly terrified by slugs. At least it was not an ant or spider.

"A mud slug. Dad told me about these guys." Derek stood up. "They usually travel in packs and follow the scent of their prey. Then mom comes in for the kill." He added. "Virtually nothing can stop them once they've locked on to a target."

"Gross." Ingrid looked rather green in the face.

"The best thing we can do is get moving away from here. We'll have to go around the long way if we're to reach Phobos' hide out." Derek looked up.

And this time without argument, Wanda flew over and reached down to grab his hands.

"Hurry up!" Cerella said in alarm as she saw more holes appearing in the ground and more slugs slithered their way up to the surface.

A blast of fire sent the rising wall of mud slugs down to the ground as the group flew into the air.

"Which direction do we keep going?" Wanda asked Derek.

"We need to go forward from the pond." Derek looked up.

"Tress, HuiLing and I will fly slightly behind to keep the uglies from getting us." Ingrid instructed. "You guys fly on ahead."

Wanda nodded, seeing the slugs forming a solid wall on the earth below.

"Disgusting..." Wanda failed to repress a shudder at the sight of those things.

"Just keep moving." Derek put in urgently.

"Right... sorry." Wanda looked up ahead and began to fly in the direction he gave her.

Ingrid looked back as they flew over the hills and deserted valleys and saw the slugs were hot on their trail. She paused, placing her hands in front of her, palms facing down to the ground. She could feel the water deep within the planet, and pleaded for its help. It literally rose to the occasion, and a great wall of water erupted from a fissure that formed. She raised her right hand, eyes closed in deep concentration, and the water turned into a giant pillar that circled around her. With her left hand, she sent it flying at the slugs.

"Awesome!" HuiLing exclaimed.

"I don't know how much time that bought us, let's keep moving and get to the others." Ingrid wiped sweat off her forehead.

The three flew as quickly as they could- HuiLing a little slower than she would have liked in order to keep the other two with her- and soon caught up with Wanda, Derek and Cerella.

"How did they find us? It's not like they had anything of yours..." Derek thought out loud.

"I'm not sure... but I think something from my parents' room might have gone over with them when they were taken." Wanda thought back to when Cedric kidnapped her mother and father.

"Uh... guys, can we talk later?" HuiLing was glancing behind her shoulders.

"Why?" Cerella asked.

"Because the ugly slugs are already following us again!" She pointed.

"HuiLing, why don't you take Derek? You're a better flyer... We can meet you two there while we distract those things." Ingrid looked at the others.

HuiLing nodded, and Derek reached out with one hand to HuiLing.

"Cerel', can you see how many there are?" Wanda looked over.

Cerella touched a nearby tree and closed her eyes.

"Loads. I can't count them all... and there's a giant one following..."

"That would be mama... She usually comes in for the kill, according to Dad, she's a giant if there ever was one." Derek's eyes were wide.

"Is there any way to really defeat them all?" Asked Wanda.

"Not to his knowledge. They were only able to toss them back in to Meridian when they invaded Earth." Cerella was the one who spoke this time. She remembered stories her mother would share when she was a child.

"Well, this time we'll have to find a way." Wanda looked at the slugs. "And make sure that there's no chance they'll come after us again."

"Hey! Why don't we use Derek as bait?" HuiLing said suddenly.

"What?" He looked up at her incredulously.

"What I think HuiLing is saying is this... We set you on the ground, and at the last second, we swoop in and attack..." Ingrid translated HuiLing's vague suggestion into something understandable. "That way he's still living when we're done."

"Right." Derek still did not like this idea, but he saw that he was going to be overruled by five girls, and did not like to think what they would do or say if he refused. He had seen their wrath far too many times to want to invoke it now.

"Everyone agreed?" Cerella looked around as though she were the deciding factor in what happened to her older brother. They all nodded.

"Then set me down, HuiLing." Derek looked up at her, and she did so. Derek looked ahead of himself, and could see the ground literally crawling with slugs as they seemed to speed up at the temptation of fresh meat.

The girls were directly above him waiting for Ingrid to give the signal.

"Ingrid...?" Wanda looked at Ingrid, who's brow was furrowed in deep concentration as she watched.

"NOW!" Shouted Ingrid.

HuiLing sprang in to action first.

"Time for a tornado!" She cried, spinning around in a circle above the first wave of slugs. She managed to ensnare a fair number of the creatures in her powerful wind before flinging them hard against the nearby rocks.

They fell with a disgusting cracking noise as more replaced them.

Wanda and Ingrid nodded at each other. Both of them knew enough about science and weather to know that water and electricity equaled bigger bang. Ingrid summoned another pillar of water, while Wanda raised her hands into the air. Lightning surrounded her, causing her hair to momentarily stand on end as she focussed her energy into a pillar like Ingrid. This was the most she had ever done with her power, and she liked how it felt.

Derek looked up at her as she formed the lightning from nowhere. Ingrid and Wanda flew close together, then joined hands. Their water and lightning turned into a sphere, which they directed at the center of the wall of slugs slithering over the earth. The resulting explosion created a huge crater.

Tress saw her moment to act. The slugs were now in a crater struggling to get out, even the giant slug towards the end.

"Es-cargo anyone?" Tress asked as she sent a wave of fire around the outside of the crater, burning many of the slugs.

"No thanks... I hate slugs." Wanda looked green at the thought.

Cerella closed her eyes and put out her hands. Derek noted the earth beneath him began to shake, his sister seemed to be straining every muscle in her body.

"Ingrid, HuiLing, do your stuff!" Wanda looked over at the two as the crater became deeper and deeper, bits of earth around it falling as the slugs struggled to get out.

They didn't need telling twice. Ingrid once again put out her hands, and water poured from them to fill the crater with a fresh lake. HuiLing sent freezing air into it just before it reached the earth. Turning the crater into a frozen ice bed of slugs deep below.

"Tress, we're going to have to do this one." Wanda looked over at Tress, who nodded.

Tress formed a ball of fire in her hands, and Wanda joined it with a sphere of lightning. It grew larger and larger until they were five feet from each other.

"Ready?" Tress looked like it took every ounce of concentration to keep the fire in a sphere shape like this.

Wanda nodded, straining just as much as Tress. They lifted the giant ball of energy and fire above them before as one tossing it right into the ice bed. It shattered into shards of ice, the slugs finally defeated.

Derek was knocked off his feet with the force of the explosion, and the sound echoed all around them.

"Not bad girls." He said.

"Ugh..." Wanda wiped her forehead with the back of her sleeve.

"Let's just get moving before Phobos sends anything else at us, all right?" Tress asked, and they nodded, Derek taking the lead once again.

"Looks like Meridian has a new crater in its landscape..." Ingrid smirked at the sight of one of their more memorable victories yet, at least in her opinion.

They returned their focus to reaching Phobos' hide out before anything happened to their families...