Chapter 27:

C is for Complicated

"If only we'd have gotten here sooner, this might not have happened." Wanda said as Derek helped her to her feet.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, apparently Phobos needed Eva even without the Heart of Kandrikar." Shegon transformed back in to Matt as he spoke.

"UGH! I hate this... now we've got to rescue some girl who's not even our friend!" Cerella said in frustration."

"Yeah, but as ugly and non-fashionable as she is, even she doesn't deserve what Phobos is capable of doing." HuiLing looked thoroughly depressed over what had just happened.

"Either way, you've got to get back to school. Will's informed the Principal as to why you had to bail so suddenly, but we're not sure how long they're going to be kept in the dark in regards to Ingrid's track record." Matt said.

"And what exactly did mom tell the Principal?" Blinked Wanda, almost in dread.

"That the pet shop needed some help asap due to escaped animals. Now let's get a move on, we can't have you missing school so much." Matt said firmly.

"Fine..." Sighed Wanda, and the group returned back to their civilian forms.

"Ah, here you are. You girls gave us quite the scare, running off like that." Principal Knickerbocker said.

"Sorry, it was just easier to get all the animals back quickly at work with all of us helping out." Wanda said nervously.

"If it weren't for the fact that Ingrid went with you, I'd have been suspicious of her intentions. However, if you high tail it to your next class, we might forget this ever happened." Principal Knickerbocker winked. She then looked up at Matt. "Thanks for bringing them back once they were done, Mr. Olson. You should be getting a report card on Wanda's progress later today."

Wanda froze on the spot, causing Derek to crash in to her.

"What do you have to worry about?" HuiLing blinked.

"You mean apart from the fact that she was gone for nearly three months, missed half of school, and I had to take double notes for her to play catch-up with?" Smirked Ingrid.

"W-I-T-C-H hasn't exactly been good on G-E-D." Muttered Wanda in slight embarrassment. "I know mom knows about us and all, but still... Something tells me she and Dad won't exactly be thrilled with me tonight."

"Come on, you've had days to catch up on your schoolwork. How hard can two and a half months of make-up work be?" Asked Tress.

"For you miss genius, not so much, but for someone who hates studying to begin with, it's slow and painful torture." Snapped an irritated Wanda as they walked back in to the school building.

"Tell me about it." HuiLing nodded in agreement.

"Well, how about I help you get your grades back up?" Derek asked.

"Oh, a study date?" Cerella couldn't help herself.

"Ugh, what kind of guy do you think I am?" Blinked Derek in disgust, shaking his head. "At least I know how to separate personal life from school life. Besides, I'm taking Wanda out to dinner tonight after homework." He shrugged.

"You're no fun." Sighed Cerella, flipping her hair imperiously as she went back to her locker.

"I do appreciate the offer for help, I can barely understand math as it is." Said Wanda as she kissed Derek on the cheek.

"Then I'll just go home with you after school." Derek smiled at the kiss, remembering an incident several months back when they had been stuck in a cave on Meridian.

At lunch time, the group was gathered around a table in the cafeteria with their trays of food.

"You know, this may sound crazy, but I kinda miss that annoying little brat." Ingrid said as she ate her spaghetti, mixing it with her salad. "If she didn't bug us once in a while, school might be boring."

"You mean apart from Phobos attacking us every other day of the week, trying to kill us to get the Heart of Kandrikar, AND our midterms coming up?" Tress asked.

"Yeah, can't have boring, can we?" Muttered Wanda as she piled parmesan on to her spaghetti. "Personally, I don't miss her at all." She added through a mouthful of meat sauce.

"Wanda!" Blinked Tress in alarm.

"What? She was nothing but trouble for me, always trying to frame me for something I didn't even do, just because she's jealous of my boyfriend." Snapped Wanda.

"Come on, even Eva doesn't deserve what Phobos is doing. Sure she's annoying and a trouble maker, but that doesn't excuse the unwillingness to get her out of his spells." Tress waved her fork full of spaghetti at Wanda.

"Fine, fine, let's do what we can to save the annoying blond girl." Wanda bit down viciously on her spaghetti. "Happy now?" Her voice was full of a lack of enthusiasm in regards to the task ahead of them now.

"Thank you." Sighed Tress in relief.

Wanda hated the idea of having to save someone she did not even like, but she had no choice in the matter at this point. Which irritated her even more. On top of everything else, now she had to contend with rescuing Eva of all people.

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least things can't get-" Ingrid began.

"Say it, and I swear I will personally throw you head first in to the sewer pipes under the school the first week of football season." Growled Cerella.

"Ok, never mind." Ingrid busied herself with her lunch for several moments after that.

Wanda watched from the window of her math class as dark storm clouds rolled over Heatherfield. By the time the final bell for school day blared through the building, thunder was booming over head and lightning shook the windows.

"Oh, were you going to say something Ingrid? Like how things couldn't get any worse?" Snapped a very moody Cerella as they stepped on to the front entrance of the school. "I didn't even bring a rain coat and this is dry clean ONLY."

There was a particularly loud clap of thunder which caused a few girls nearby to scream and run for their parents' cars in the parking lot, then it started raining heavily on them.

"Don't look at me, I had NOTHING to do with this." Ingrid blinked when she got glares from all ends.

"Let's just get home without drowning, ok guys? I'll be seeing you later!" Wanda suggested hopefully. Now she had the Heart of Kandrikar hanging around her neck underneath the collar of her shirt. "Hey, there's my Dad!" She said, and hurried off with Derek following closely.

"Hey you." Matt said as Wanda threw open the car door. "Hey Derek."

"Hi Mr. Olson. You don't mind if I tag along, do you?" Derek asked.

"Sure, hop in."

HuiLing stared up at the sky wondering why it decided to torture them along with everything else that week, then started the long walk home in the rain. At the first stop light, the rain seemed to gain strength with the thunder.

"Oh great... I'm going to be the world's biggest living mop by the time I get home." She moaned while waiting for the light to turn. At that moment, a car drove right by her, which resulted in her being drenched in a wave of water from the puddle between the sidewalk and the street. She glared after the offending vehicle, then blinked when she realized that the rain was no longer touching her and looked to see that an umbrella had appeared over her head, and the source of that umbrella was... "Stevie!" She exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in ages!" She wrapped her arms around him in a big hug, which caused his face to turn maroon.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I've been kind of busy." Smiled Stevie nervously.

"Yeah, the girls and I managed to worm out from Derek what you've been doing." HuiLing returned that smile.

"There we go." Stevie said happily. "That's the HuiLing I know and love. Smiles suit you much better." He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.

HuiLing was blinking rapidly for several moments as her face steadily turned red as the stoplight they were standing at. She then let out a squeal before jumping up. But instead of landing on the ground, she kept on rising.

"Woah there." Stevie grabbed her by the elbow to pull her back down to Earth, quite literally as a car drove by them again. He was glad that he was used to the fact that HuiLing had super powers by now, otherwise he would've gone in to shock seeing her floating in midair without any wings. "Let's get you home before someone sees you floating again." He said quickly.

Wanda was standing in dread as her parents went over her grades, and Derek stood nearby.

"Well, if Derek wasn't so eager to help get your grades up I would have said no more dates until you at least got a C in math. But Failing?" Will shook her head. "Wanda, even I figured out how to get passing grades in school while juggling double lives."

"Yeah... try worrying about what Phobos is doing, having to worry about your own mother, having to worry about keeping a secret from Phobos that one of your best friends is keeping a powerful Crystal on her, AND now on top of that, I've got to rescue someone I don't even like from Phobos." Muttered Wanda, turning her back on her parents.

"My statement still stands. No dinner date until you have spent at least two hours doing homework with Derek tonight." Said Will in a 'this is final' sort of way.

"Fine. At least let me grab some Diet Pepsi." Wanda pouted, moving to the fridge and grabbing herself a can of soda. "Ugh..Why can't I just drop out and join the crew of Dirty Jobs?" She moaned as she pulled out her textbooks from her backpack.

"Hey, the sooner we get this done and over with, the sooner we can head out." Said Derek as the two went in to the living room so they could spread out the homework on the coffee table while the rain seemed to become heavier by the minute.

"Mom! Dad!" HuiLing called when she arrived at her home above the Green Dragon with Stevie in tow.

"HuiLing, you're drenched!" Eric said, blinking at his daughter's appearance.

"Uh-uh, no way is my great granddaughter going to be leaving giant puddles of water everywhere like a walrus just out of water." YanLin said. "Go dry off."

"Sorry." HuiLing trotted off to her room.

"And who's this chunk?" YanLin smiled at Stevie.

"Um..." Blinked Stevie as he folded up the umbrella.

"Oh! You're that guy HuiLing likes so much!" HayLin said "And it's hunk, grandma, I've told you that before."

"Here's a towel." HuiLing had reappeared in dry clothes, with a towel for herself and Stevie. "He walked me home today from school. If not for him, I'd look like Ingrid after a water fight."

"Well, Stevie, why don't you stay for dinner? With that kind of storm out, no one else is gonna wanna come here." YanLin suggested.

"Sure?" Stevie looked around nervously as he took the towel HuiLing offered him. He was surprised to see that she had taken her hair out of its pigtails, and it was now hanging loose just past her waist when it wasn't up in some kind of style or fashion. He decided then and there that he liked how she looked with her hair down.

Cerella was busy in her room after having finished her homework, when she was done cross-examining her brother about Wanda, she started work on an outfit for her friend. She already had her large table in her room full of varying shades of purple as she sought to pick one or two for her friends' outfit.

"Ok... this one looks too gaudy..." She threw one of the rolls of fabric to the floor. "That one too goth... she'd disown me for life for picking this color..." The pile steadily grew on the floor of rejected shades, until she narrowed it down to two shades- dark royal purple, and pale lavender. Finally she settled on using the two colors in the same outfit, and set to designing the outfit itself. She had her papers spread out across the table with the colors from Prismacolor Markers and Pencils out as well.

"What'cha doin' doll-face?" Napoleon had jumped up on to the table.

"What are YOU doing here? I thought you were Aunt Lillian's familiar?" Cerella jumped, just as she was about to start sketching.

"Well, considering Lillian sensed a disturbance on her planet the last few days, then Cornelia informed her what you said about Phobos, she decided to pay another visit. She's with Corny right now."

"Well, why don't YOU stop bugging me so I can get to work on this?" Snapped Cerella as she pulled out her mechanical pencil and eraser.

"Naw, I'm gonna stay here. At least you have a sense of sanity from all this chaos." Napoleon stretched out his back before jumping up on the table.

"Yeah, but for how long?" Mumbled Cerella, glaring at the cat willing it to try something to give her an excuse to kick him out as she started sketching out the human female figure in order to be able to draw the outfits for Wanda that were coming to mind as she sat there.

Ingrid was in the living room at her home, playing a video game on her Playstation console with her mother and father sitting nearby reading. She was currently playing the Final Fantasy Ten game, watching one of the cut scenes with her eyes glued to the television screen as the rain pounded on the windows, and thunder shook the building at random intervals. There was a particularly loud boom of thunder, which in turn caused Martin to tell Ingrid to shut off the video game and turn on the news.

"You've been playing for four hours, now save your spot so we can watch the television." Martin said.

"Ugh, fine." Ingrid sulked as she saved her spot when the cut scene was over, and she sat in between her parents when the news came on moments later.

"This storm is going to last into the night, and possibly through the afternoon tomorrow. Make sure everyone's bundled up inside with lots of blankets! It's going to be a long one!" The Weatherman was saying. "Winds will start to pick up after eight P.M., and be up to fifty miles an hour in some areas. There's a good possibility of school being canceled tomorrow. I'm sure my son won't have complaints about that. And on a side note, make sure you've got those power generators ready just in case power is knocked out."

"Thanks Tom, we'll keep everyone posted on the progress of this storm front as it moves through Heatherfield over the next couple of days. This is going to be a doozy tonight." Said the news anchor on the left.

"I can imagine Cerella's not too thrilled right now." Smirked Ingrid. "Poor girl's not going to get a chance to work on her tan."

There was a loud knocking on the door.

"I'll get that." Said Irma. "Hello?" She opened the door and saw a familiar face on the other side standing on their front porch.

"Hi, is Ingrid home?" Asked Fusagu, looking as though he had just walked through the eye of the storm itself to get here.

Ingrid turned to see who it was and blinked for a moment, surprised to see Fusagu of all people at her front door step.

"Fusagu!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

"Oh, a friend of yours?" Asked Martin with a smile.

"You could say that." Said Ingrid nervously.

"Come on in, Fusagu. What brings you here?" Asked Irma, moving aside to let him in.

"Well, I got caught in the storm on my way home, and I remembered Ingrid's place was closest. I hope you don't mind me crashing here till the storm passes?" Asked Fusagu rather nervously.

"Not at all." Martin said. "Any friend of Ingrid's is a friend of ours. We're planning on having dinner soon if you'd like some."

"Thanks, Mr. Tubbs. I appreciate it." Nodded Fusagu.

Tress was watching the news in her room as she was working on a sculpture at her desk that afternoon. Her hands were covered in clay remnants while she glanced over at the television. She was glad that she didn't need video games for her entertainment. Nearby on the table she stood at sat the Crystal of Cepheus, which gleamed in the light of the lightning from the storm outside.

When suddenly a rank smell reached her nose that wasn't from the clay she was using, or smells from the storm.

"Mom!" She called through her open door, and a few moments later Taranee came up.

"Yeah, hon?" Asked Taranee.

"Is it me, or did the local dumpster move in nearby?" Tress looked over at her mother, who suddenly noticed the rank smell as well.

"Blunk." They both said at once.

They set about locating Blunk by following the smell of dumpster and old cheese throughout the house until they got to the back yard where the recycle bins were set, then they didn't have any problems finding him. They could see objects flying out of the recycle bins even in the stormy weather. After grabbing their raincoats and putting them on, the two went out back and Taranee reached in to the garbage.

Blunk let out a yell of surprise as Taranee pulled him out of the recycle bin.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Asked Taranee.

"Agh! Blunk find goods for trade!" Exclaimed Blunk.

"Right." Taranee did not buy this excuse for a moment.

Tress had her hands at Blunks face, with a ball of fire appearing at the palm of her hand.

"If Dad finds out about you, he's gonna throw a fit." She snapped fiercely. "Should we send him to Ingrids' instead, Mom? At least she can give him a bath without having to touch him."

At this, Blunk started squirming and trying to fight Terrane's grip that she had around the back of his neck.

"Not there! Blunk get too clean to be recognized by mama!" Blunk cried. "Trade fire girl's pretty gem for shelter from rain?"

"No go. Pretty Gem isn't for sale." Snapped Tress. "And how do you know about the Crystal of Cepheus anyways?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Well?" Asked Terrane as Tress brought the ball of fire closer to Blunk.

"Ack! Ok, Blunk be here keeping eye on fire girl on Queen's orders! Queen tell Blunk Phobos might find out about Pretty Gem, and Queen wants Blunk to watch fire girl so he can tell her if Phobos turns up."

"Ugh. Phobos would be a better smelling sight than that. Blunk, why don't you go to the shed instead? Dad never goes in there except for winter." Tress pulled away from the stench that reeked in her nose. "And next time I see or smell you, unless it's for a Phobos related emergency, I'm sending you to Ingrid for a two month bath."

At this, Terrane let go of the Passling, who at once scrambled at the threat of a bath.

"Well, that takes care of that. Let's get inside before we get sick, ok?" Terrane asked, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"You guys ready for dinner? I made some chili considering the weather." Said Nigel from the kitchen as the two came in to the home.

"Why can we not go now, Master Phobos? This would be a perfect chance to challenge those Guardians for their status." Galena suggested eagerly, tired of being made to stay in his castle this whole time.

"I need to ensure that your powers are in sync with my scepter. Things are still too unstable now for me to wish to send you away." Replied Phobos.

"You know, if you had used the Heart of Kandrikar, this wouldn't be a problem?" Stated Ila Nur, leaning against the wall in a bout of boredom.

"Enough." Snapped Phobos. "You will attack when I order you to. No arguments." He added as Tuula started to open her mouth. He thought that these guardians might be more trouble than they were worth, but they were still under his control. Their personalities were just incredibly strong to be able to show through his spells.

The storm lasted through the evening, and by the end of the day, Principal Knickerbocker called the students' parents to inform them that school had been canceled the very next day due to damages being too severe around the school to trust it with hundreds of students.

"Any chances they'll close the school on Community Service day?" Asked Cerella hopefully.

"Nice try. You're still going to school on Friday. Even if it is closed then, you'll have to take that class eventually." Cornelia looked down at her daughter's hopeful blue eyes.

"Kill joy." Grumbled Cerella.

"You two aren't going anywhere in this weather." Said Susan to Derek and Wanda once they were done with schoolwork.

"Derek, why don't you stay here and have some dinner with us? We'd love to get to know you better." Dean smiled.

"So long as you aren't cooking, you mean?" Will came around the corner, looking at her mother. "What do you guys want for dinner?"

"Pizza sounds good, actually." Said Wanda. "What?" She added upon a look from Derek.

"Didn't you have pizza at the school earlier this week?" He asked.

"So? Not the same as Hawaiian Pizza from the freezer." She snapped.

"Ok, ok. I'll heat some up." Will hurried to the kitchen with her step-father as Derek rolled his eyes.

"Sorry about this." He looked at Wanda, who smiled. "Looks like our dinner date will have to wait."

"No worries. Can't blame it if mother nature decided to go on a rampage." She hugged Derek around the middle. "You should probably call your parents, to let them know you're stuck though."

"Right." He suddenly remembered that Mimiru had not yet given him his phone back. "Mind if I borrow yours?" He asked, knowing it would be odd to Susan and Dean to be caught asking Wanda's cat if he could have his phone back.

"Sure, but didn't you have a cell phone?" Asked Susan.

"Yeah, I left it at school." Said Derek, looking rather embarrassed at himself.

"It's just in the kitchen, then, dear." Susan showed him to the kitchen, where he dialed his parents' number.

"Hi, Mom? I'm going to be stuck at Wanda's because of the storm. You can just let Cerella have my part of dinner." He said, then he heard Cerella yelling at him in the background about not being a pig.

"All right, but if the storm is calmed down tomorrow, come right home, ok?" Cornelia replied. "What happened to your cell phone?"

"I forgot it at my locker back at school." He lied again.

There was a pause, and he had the feeling his mother did not buy that excuse for one minute, but was glad when she did not make a scene regarding his phone.

"Ok, just stay safe, and tell Will and Matt we say hi." Cornelia said.

"Will do. Talk to you tomorrow." Derek gave an unseen nod before hanging up.

"Hey, why don't we go play on my Nintendo for a while?" Asked Wanda, suddenly appearing in the kitchen and making Dean jump. "At least until dinner is ready." She added at a suspicious look from her father.

"Sounds like fun." Derek decided some kind of entertainment was better than no entertainment during a storm.

"Keep the door open, Wanda!" Will called as the two went upstairs.

Wanda waved to show she heard her mother, before they rounded the corner.

"Honestly, it's like they can't trust you." Wanda shook her head.

"Do you?" He asked.

"Of course. You went out of your way just to try and get me back. And I've known you for a good part of my life. Why wouldn't I?" She looked back at him as she led the way up the stairs.

Derek smiled slightly, pausing on the stairs to watch her for a bit before hurrying to catch up.

Phobos sat on his throne, with his five new Guardians standing against the wall nearby.

"So what's your next move, Majesty?" Asked Tuula, being bored out of her wits.

"My next move will be to lull the Guardians of Meridian to a sense of security, while we pay a visit to my dear sister." Phobos stood up. "Now that I have my own Guardians, it is time to show them to her."

Leila smiled. Her hair was back in a pony tail, and she wore the clothes Eva had been in before Phobos attacked. Tuula wore a red and gold dragon chinese shirt with a slit on either side of her hips, black pants and boots, and her hair was in a single Chinese-style half braid. Ila Nur wore a bright red jacket, pink shirt with a v-neck line, a red skirt and pink shoes, while her red hair was short in the back with strands hanging loose over her shoulders in the front. Helena's sepia hair was naturally shoulder length and wavy, while she wore a green t-shirt with a u-neck and white trim, and her shorts were tan capris. Helena's shoes were black, and she wore white socks. Galena wore her blue shirt with a v-neck and light blue trim at the bottom, she also wore a Japanese style school girl mini skirt, flat bottomed blue shoes, and white socks.

"Guardians Unite." She said casually, almost bored once Phobos nodded. There was a flash, and she and her friends reemerged in their Guardian form. "And conquer." She said the last half of her statement as though this was the most exiting thing imaginable.

Fusagu blinked at the meal he was being served that night- chicken soup with hot tea.

"Thanks Mrs. T." He said to Irma.

"No problem. With this crappy weather, I figure that this would be perfect. Martin should be done with the garlic bread in a bit. Martin! Where's that Garlic Bread?" Irma bellowed, causing Ingrid to wince at the noise.

"Coming, Captain Cutie!" Martin's voice called from the kitchen, which caused both Irma and Ingrid to wince in humiliation as Fusagu chuckled at the mortified look on Ingrid's face.

Martin came out with a foot long, flat white plate with what looked like sliced French bread with home made Garlic butter spread on it.

"Mom, can I disown Dad, please?" Asked Ingrid.

"Awe, come on. It's not that bad." Martin grinned, messing up his daughter's hair.

"Hey, at least your Dad hangs around long enough to annoy you." Fusagu piped in. "Mine's always out doing something government related."

"Lucky you." Mumbled Ingrid as she grabbed herself some garlic bread.

Elyon was wandering the halls of her palace, finding it hard to believe that she had been just as old as Wanda and her friends when she found out that she was the true ruler of Meridian. She saw Raithor standing guard on one of the balconies facing the entrance gate of the castle.

Raithor looked over at his Queen and bowed,.

"Hard to believe it's been nearly thirty years since Meridian was liberated from Phobos' control." Raithor said, looking out over what was the luscious land that used to be wasteland pocked with marshy jungle. Now below the castle thrived the sprawling city that was once a gloomy village.

Abruptly, the scene changed as with a flash of light, Phobos appeared at the edge of this city built in the style of old English villages. He wasn't alone this time either. Elyon saw five young women hovering behind him, as well as Rhea, Cybelle, and Cedric.

"Are those the guardians?" Asked another of Elyon's Royal Guard.

"No. They would never side with Phobos. This must be some trick or spell by my brother." Elyon was staring up as the black haired guardian raised her arms straight up.

What looked like a small cyclone appeared, engulfing her, then grew larger and larger until it was the size of a tornado, and when she directed the palms of her hands at the castle, the tornado started moving towards the elegant building that towered over the city below them. While ripping up homes and small farms on the way, which caused debris to start flying, and screams to echo up at Elyon who was frowning.

"Raithor, go find Blunk. He should be here today. Tell him to get the Guardians back from Earth immediately or he gets a nine month bath with scented soap." She snapped. "I'll hold off Phobos as long as I can." She raised up her right hand, directing it at the tornado. A beam of light shot from it at the tornado, which was dispersed just as it reached the gates of the castle. Loud crashes shook the building as the rubble fell to the ground. When she glanced back, Raithor had gone.

Leila frowned when the Queen dispersed Tuula's attack. She brought up both her hands, with black lightning shooting out, and around her before being sent in a single wave at the Queen of Meridian, who's blue eyes narrowed as she prepared her counterattack.

It was the next morning, and Susan walked in on her granddaughter arguing with the toaster.

"I'm hungry and I have a big test today. So unless you want to see something REALLY electrifying, Judy, I suggest you give me my toast!"

"First, I'd look at the door and see who just caught you yelling at me." Judy replied.

Wanda blinked, then looked over.

"Grandma! Hi...!" She said, her face bright red from embarrassment.

"I'm not going to ask why you're talking to the toaster... your mother went through that same stage." Susan shook her head, walking by as the toaster popped back the golden brown cinnamon toast at Wanda.

"Heh..." Wanda stared at the toaster as Derek walked in, his brown hair sticking up at odd ends since he had to sleep on the couch, and he had a pale groggy look on his face. She smiled and walked over to Derek, reaching up- standing on her tip toes because she was so much shorter than he was- and straightening out his hair as Dean came in, walking around the two.

"Don't let us intrude." Came Matt's voice from behind.

"DAD!" Wanda jumped away from Derek, her face beat red.

Derek coughed to cover the awkward moment.

Tress was woken the next morning to hearing silence outside her door, but a rancid smell reached her nostrils from her window. She let out a yell when she saw Blunk's eyes staring at her from the window, and pulled shut her curtains as Blunk fell backwards in to the hydrangea bushes outside.

After she'd gotten dressed, however she opened the curtains back up.

"Blunk!" She shouted in outrage as she pulled open her window. The last thing she needed was for her father to find out about Blunk. "What do you think you're doing? If my Dad catches you here, we're BOTH dead."

"Gah, Blunk have message from Queen! Need guardians back on Meridian!" Blunk gasped, as Tress yanked him out of the hydrangea bushes by the neck of his collar, while pulling her nose with her other hand. She tossed him on to the grass before grabbing her white crystal necklace and put it around her neck before jumping out of her window in pursuit of Blunk as he tumbled out of sight right as her mother came tearing around the corner in search of the offending smell.

"Sorry mom, can't stay for breakfast. Emergency in Meridian." Tress explained. "Blunk, why didn't you tell me sooner!" She demanded.

"Blunk tried! But storm too loud!" Replied Blunk indignantly.

"Well... least we don't have school to worry about now... come on you overgrown stink bug... let's get the others!" Sighed Tress as Taranee watched her daughter boss Blunk around. She pulled her cellphone from her pocket, and started making phone calls at once as she ran.

A short time later, the group was gathered behind Wanda's house, Fusagu, Derek and Stevie included.

"Guardians Unite!" Wanda called out the transformation phrase, and the flash of light engulfed the five girls. Moments after, they reemerged as the Guardians of Meridian once more.

"And let's hope we're not too late!" Said Ingrid as the portal appeared when Wanda sliced the crystal through the air.

Wanda glanced back, seeing her mother watching them through the kitchen window. Fortunately, Dean still had papers to go over for his history class, and Susan had house work to do. She had talked her father down from leaving with them, saying that they had plenty of protection with Fusagu, Derek and Stevie joining them in the battlefield. She also knew that her mother would be prime target if any of her former enemies found out she was pregnant, so Matt had no choice but to stay. It wasn't as though Dean could just be thrown in to the fight if they were attacked, after all.

"Come on!" HuiLing's voice called Wanda back to the present rather rudely, and she was shoved through the portal that she'd just made for them.

On the other side, Wanda let out a yell as she landed on the dining table in the Great Hall of the castle of Meridian. The sounds of battle could be heard raging around them from the outside, and Wanda was ever so grateful that it wasn't breakfast or supper time as she stood up.

"Nice one." Grinned Cerella, looking at where the other end of the portal came out.

"I was distracted, ok?" Snapped Wanda as Derek helped her up and off the table.

"Come on! Let's go help the Queen!" Said Fusagu, sensing another argument was coming and reminding them what they were there for.

To reach the battlements faster, the five girls took to the air as the three young men started running as fast as they could through the halls of the castle, simply following the crashes and bangs that they heard.

When they were met with the sights of the five new Guardians Phobos had created not even a full day ago, and the Queen fighting with Raithor and her soldiers to fend them off. As well as Phobos himself standing on the ground with his staff raised as his own soldiers ran past him right at the castle walls.

"Hurry! Derek, you Stevie and Fusagu join the foot soldiers!" Wanda shouted at once, and the three men did not need telling twice as they ran to join Raithor as they were building shields, sending large bowlders from catapults at the attackers, and finding ways to fend off Phobos' foot soldiers. "Come on!" She shouted at her friends, and the five girls flew off right at the attacking Guardians.

"It's them! They're here!" Shouted one of Queen Elyon's soldiers in elation at the sight of the five Guardians who were flying ahead of them.

"Don't drop your guard!" Cried Elyon as beams of golden light shot from her hands ripping apart the ground beneath the attacking soldiers feet.

The Guardians of Meridian faced Phobos' Guardians in mid air high above the castle, ready for whatever was thrown at them as they distracted the girls from attacking Elyon and her castle to focus on the untimely arrival of the true Guardians of Meridian.