AN: Hey, guys! Welcome to Season 1 - Gormiti: The Lords of Nature Return! I would just like to reiterate that there will be scenes that didn't occur within the episodes due to the chapters being written from each character's individual perspectives as well as the inclusion of my own personal headcanons. Feel free to ask questions if you have any!
Oh and, by the way, I will only be describing the transformations of each Lord (in their own book) once per season. Hope that's okay :-)
I don't own Gormiti or its characters.
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It had been a fortnight since Razzle had revealed that we were the Lords of Nature. Since then, we hadn't heard anything from the talking green lizard.
Right now, however, the only thing on my mind was complete and utter freedom.
Mom and Dad often go on vacation to lots of different places. Normally they take Nick and I with them but there was a glitch in the travel system and they were only able to get two tickets. This meant only one thing...
"Now remember, if you boys need anything, just call us," Mom says, practically crushing us in a hug. What was with Mom and her crushing hugs? She lets go and I get my breath back.
"Make sure you stay out of trouble!" Dad reminds us as he ruffles our hair.
Nick nods and walks off, mumbling something under his breath. I think I hear the word "chores" but I can't be sure.
I look at Mom and Dad, trying to pull off my best earnest expression. They look at each other warily then back at me. "Since you're going away for the weekend, can we have a pool party? Please?" I ask, remembering my manners for once. I had been wanting to have a pool party for ages!
"I guess it would be-" Dad starts to say.
"As long as you clear up afterward!" Mom interrupts.
"So is that a yes?" I ask and they nod. I whoop with excitement and hold the door open as Dad takes the last of their luggage to the car.
Nick comes into the hallway through the living room and Mom decides to hug us again before she leaves.
"Bye! Have a good trip!" We call as Mom gets into the car and we watch as our parents drive away.
I head upstairs to get my phone. A pool party would suck if it was just Nick and I. I grab my phone off my bedside cabinet and send the following message to Lucas and Jessica:
"Mom and Dad away for the weekend. Having a pool party at ours! Be there! :-)"
I receive their replies almost instantly. Both of them seem pretty excited. With the warm weather, a pool party is exactly what we need!
I decide to go downstairs after that so I can try something I've never been able to do while Mom and Dad were at home. I go to stand at one end of the hallway before I run forwards and allow my feet to slide over the floor, carrying me towards the kitchen.
"Sock surfing!" I cheer as I rocket through into the kitchen. "Woohoo - wipeout!" I look up just in time to see Nick who yells my name as I use the cabinet to steer myself away from him, accidentally knocking one of Mom's vases over. Luckily Nick catches it and puts it back before it hits the floor.
Leaning over Nick, I tap his shoulder. "Tag, you're it!" Nick doesn't seem to find it funny as he swats my hand off. I walk over to the cupboard and search for something to eat.
"This is no time for fun and games!" Nick lectures me and I sigh, wondering why my little brother has to worry about everything. "Mom and Dad are-"
I find a box of cereal and begin pouring it into a bowl as I cut in. "Gone for the entire weekend! Dude, we've got forty-eight hours for nothing but fun and games!" I walk over to the microwave, put the bowl inside and shut the door.
As I begin setting the timer, Nick holds something in front of my face. I scan its contents before I turn to him, genuinely confused. "Uh, what's this?"
"An itinerary of chores" He informs me. I'm not sure if he's proud of himself for writing it out, indignant that I didn't know what it was or both. "Hey!" He yelps as I snatch his chore list right out of his hands.
I stare at the list for a mere second before draping my arm over Nick's shoulder. "Life isn't about sitting on the sidelines making chore lists." I begin, before jumping away from him. "You've gotta jump in - improvise!"
Behind me, the cereal inside the microwave begins... popping? As the pops grow louder, I gasp as the microwave door flies open and pieces of popcorn shower the kitchen floor. "Popcorn?" Nick's only response is to sigh, grab his list from me and head outside. "Just means more for me!" I say gleefully as I pop some into my mouth.
Once I finish eating the popcorn, I decide to watch some TV, taking the rest of the popcorn with me. I flick through the channels before something catches my attention. A local farmer seems to have a whole field of popcorn. What could be more awesome? I relax on the sofa after putting the remote back on its arm.
"So, Toby, does Nick know about the-" Jessica begins. Oh yeah, I totally forgot that she and Lucas said they were coming over.
"Swim party?" Nick interrupts her before turning to me. "Toby, we are not having a swim party!"
"Why not?" Lucas questions. My thoughts exactly.
Nick turns away from me to face Lucas. "Well, because-" he starts, holding up his chore list.
"Shhh!" I hiss. "Check this out!" I turn up the volume of the TV so we can all hear what the female reporter is saying.
"The strangest of these events was at this Venture Falls farm where a field of corn seems to have popped!" The image showed a cornfield with white smoke rising from the corn. Every couple of seconds, there were bursts as the corn popped before our eyes.
I place some popcorn into my mouth as Lucas sits down next to me. "This is terrible!" he exclaims. Personally, I didn't see what was so terrible about having a popcorn field.
"Lucas?" Jessica asks as the three of us stare at him.
"Living corn popped to death? It's a tragedy!" He says.
For the first time today, Nick and I finally agree on something. We look at each other then at Lucas before saying, unimpressed, "It's corn!" Lucas looks at us both, seeming horrified by our lack of concern.
"It is weird," Jessica says thoughtfully, glancing at the TV. "What would cause such a thing?"
"Magical steaming sulfur blasts!" A voice answers. Wait, that voice sounds familiar! What's more, it sounds like it's really close to me.
"Razzle!" Nick and Jessica say. Lucas and I scream, falling over backward as we notice the lizard perched between our heads on the back of the sofa. Razzle falls into the popcorn bowl of all places. We get back up, rubbing our backs as we sit down.
"Stop sneaking up on us like that!" Lucas snaps.
I hold my hand up in a talking motion. "Talking lizard - kinda cool!" I say, still impressed by the fact that Razzle can talk. I then begin to wriggle my hand "Sneaky lizard - kind of annoying!" I say dryly, as I narrow my eyes.
Razzle folds his arms. "I'm trying to help here! Is it my fault there's trouble in the Gorm?"
Jessica looks worried. "Trouble for the Gorm means trouble for Venture Falls!" she reminds us. I guess I know where we're heading next.
"Race ya to the Primal Pad!" I challenge as I leap up from the sofa and start running.
"You're on!" Lucas accepts my challenge.
I hear Nick yelling, "What! Toby! Hey, wait up!" Just then, Lucas knocks into me and I fall over sideways, watching as he and Jessica run past me.
Lucas opens the pantry door and he and Jessica walk inside. I get up and start to follow them in when Nick grabs the back of my shirt and pulls me back out, causing me to yelp.
He holds his chore list up to my face. "Toby, this is not on my checklist!" he says disapprovingly.
"So add it right there at the bottom!" I say, pointing at a blank space on the paper. "Saving the Gorm!"
With that sorted, we both head inside the pantry. The grate slides open, revealing a panel. I swipe my hand over it, followed by Jessica, Lucas, and Nick - our elemental symbols revealed as we do so.
The center of the panel glows green and we watch as the floor forms a staircase that leads down to the Primal Pad. I follow Razzle as he leads the way down the staircase, the others following me.
We run to stand around the Gorm Gate as Razzle begins speaking. "For centuries, a great power has been guarded by a mysterious tribe of Earth Gormiti."
An image of a weird yellow stone thing appears in the Gorm Gate. "That power is the Sulfur Stone and it's been stolen, causing havoc in the Gorm and - uh - those weird sulfur blasts in your dimension! Your mission - retrieve this here Sulfur Stone and get it back to the Earth Gormiti tribe, stat!"
"Elementals!" We call out together.
"Air!" Jessica cries. Her light-blue orb glows with the Air symbol.
"Water!" I yell. My dark-blue orb glows with the Water symbol.
"Earth!" Nick says. His orange orb glows with the Earth symbol.
"Forest!" Lucas finishes. His green orb glows with the Forest symbol.
"Reveal to us the Keeper and give to them your chair!" We chant.
The chair begins to spin around at a blinding speed. I hoped that I wouldn't be chosen as the Keeper. This was our first mission - how anti-climactic would it be if I had to stay behind!
"And the keeper is..." Razzle paused for dramatic effect. We watched as the circle on the back of the chair glowed green with the Forest symbol. "Forest!" He runs over to Lucas. "That's you, kid!" He informs.
I couldn't see Nick's face but I could tell he was disappointed. "Hello? I'm the one who's been studying the tomes!" Yep, definitely disappointed.
"Too bad, so sad!" Lucas responds as he runs over to the chair and jumps into it. It rises up from the ground and rotates so that Lucas is facing the control panel. An image of Gorm appears onscreen. Lucas slides the crystals into place, activating the Gorm Gate. "Good luck in there, gang! Lucas has got your back!"
We run towards the portal and jump through, Razzle screaming as we move from one dimension to another. My eyes widen as I take in the sight of Gorm for the first time - the real thing, not just on a screen, I mean.
Lucas begins speaking to us from the Primal Pad. "Okay, guys, according to the Travel Tome, you should be surrounded by the jagged hills of the Rocklands." We get up and begin brushing ourselves off. "What do you see?" He asks.
A huge shadow obscures our view. "Uh, the welcoming committee?" I guess, my eyes going wide with fear before I dash away.
A Gormiti lets out a fierce cry as he raises his fist before punching the ground. We gasp as the tremor rushes towards us and knocks us off our feet. He growls threateningly at us.
I lift my hand off the ground as Razzle runs behind us. "You know, if I had been the Keeper, there'd be powers by now!" Nick complains.
A flickering image of Lucas appears beside us. "Yeah, yeah, yeah - kicking your powers to full glow!"
All of a sudden, we hear something heavy crash into the ground. "Now what?" I wondered. I yelp as a huge spiky rock ball begins rolling...directly towards us!
We start to run away, none of us wishing to face death by being flattened. The rock ball gathers speed until it hits a dip in the hill and comes to a stop. It then stands up, revealing a second Gormiti.
"Prepare for a Steelback attack!" He yells as he starts to chase us. This wasn't good.
"Lucas?" I ask, looking back to see how much distance there is between us and the angry Gormiti.
"We've got glow!" He tells us.
As we continue to run, we yell together: "Elemental powers flow, Gormiti - Lords of Nature, go!" before we jump into the air.
"Powers of the Sea!" I yell. I find myself surrounded by bubbles as I spin around, transforming into the Lord of the Sea. My skin had turned blue, I grew a lot taller, my feet were now webbed and my hair had lengthened and thickened to form tentacles.
Once our transformations are complete, I run to stand beside Nick who is kneeling on the ground. Jessica hovers behind us before flying up and releasing a tornado from her hands, sending it towards the two Gormiti.
"Accursed wind-witch, you will pay for stealing our stone!" The second Gormiti yells.
Razzle pokes his head from behind Nick's leg. "Pay for doing what now?" He asks.
Nick looks thoughtful but I decide it's time to act. I run forwards, Jessica flying alongside me, clearly thinking the same thing I was. If these Gormiti wanted a battle, we'd give them one! "Go!" We yell together.
As we got closer, something hard and sharp hit the back of my feet, knocking me over. Jessica seemed to have been hit too as she also crashed to the ground.
I wince as I force my aching body into a kneeling position. That hurt.
Nick runs in between us and kneels down, taking one of our hands in his and holds them up in a surrender position. "We're on the same side here!"
Oh. That explained why he stopped Jessica and I from attacking them. They must be Earth Gormiti like him.
The first Earth Gormiti looms over us, his fist raised as he prepares to strike. Before he gets the chance, however, the second one intercepts the attack. "Wait!" He says. "They know the honor bow!"
I had no idea what "the honor bow" was but at least they weren't attacking us anymore.
"It says here that the honor bow is a highly revered gesture to the Earth Gormiti of the Rocklands," Lucas tells us.
The two Gormiti instruct us to follow them. Before we go, Lucas shuts our powers down, explaining that he wants to charge the orbs up in case we run into the real thieves.
I walk alongside Nick. I wanted to know how he knew about this honor bow. "How did you-"
"If you studied the tomes as much as I do, you would have known it too!" He tells me.
"Ooh, so it's a game of Super Nerd?" I tease before tapping his shoulder. "Tag, you're it!" I laugh as we stop in our tracks.
"We are Rocklands tribe." One of the Earth Gormiti says. "Our people have lived by this river for centuries."
I walk over to some Earth Gormiti who seem to be stirring something in bowls. One of them offers a bowl to me. I look inside and see that it is filled with brown gloopy stuff with lumps of rock. What's more, it smells terrible. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry." I decline.
Lucas projects his image beside me. "That's a first!" He says and I frown. I'm not always hungry! "Maybe with chocolate sauce?" He suggests.
I pull a face. "Not even with chocolate sauce - yuck!"
After that, I rejoin the others as the two Earth Gormiti continue leading us through their village. "This is where our sacred stone rested for countless years." One of them says as we approach a building made of rock. "It heated the river and brought prosperity to our lands... until it was stolen by the lava eaters."
"Lava eaters?" I ask, confused.
"You mean Volcano Gormiti." Nick clarifies.
"They used their lava magic to transform our precious stone into a terrible weapon." The Earth Gormiti explains. "We fought many battles with the thieves - Lavor and the Screaming Guardian - but we were no match for the power of the Sulfur Stone."
"A power that sends sulfur blasts through the dimensional fabric and into the Venture Falls cornfields," Nick says.
"That poor defenseless corn!" Lucas says as he projects his image in front of us.
As one, we say, "It's corn!" and he chuckles.
"So where are the lava eaters now?" I was itching for a battle so I could see what I could do. Suddenly the Earth Gormiti let out cries of pain as they were hit by fire.
We all gasp as the culprits run to stand in front of us. "Here we go again!" Razzle yelps.
The Volcano Gormiti whose head is shaped like a volcano starts to speak. "We have returned to finish the job!"
"Guys, I'm detecting a weird energy signature in your vicinity - maybe the Sulfur Stone?" Lucas tells us.
"A little late for the newsflash!" I point out.
"Sorry, bro. Getting ready for glow!"
We start to back away as the Gormiti continues talking. "When your tribe of mud bathers is no more, then only I shall hold the proper rights to this stone!"
"Yeah, hold that thought!" I say as we stop moving. It's time to battle, at last.
"Elemental powers flow, Gormiti - Lords of Nature, go!" We yell.
"Powers of the Sea!" I shout as I transform.
"Now - you were saying?" I ask once we've all transformed.
Jessica flies into the air and fires a tornado at the Volcano Gormiti. The one with the hook for a hand gets blown backward but manages to cling to a rock. He then fires yellow fire from his other hand. Nick and I manage to avoid it. Jessica, on the other hand, wasn't quite as lucky.
As the Gormiti continues to fire his attack, almost hitting Lucas' projected image, the yellow fire hit her, causing her to smack right against a rock. Ouch!
"Jess!" I yell as she falls, stunned, and lands heavily on the ground. All of a sudden, the ground begins cracking and we are all falling.
I manage to grab onto the rock wall, Razzle and Nick hanging onto me. Unfortunately, I was struggling to hold Nick's weight - now that he was made of rock, he was way heavier than I was.
I try in vain to hold on but I lose my grip and we fall, landing on the ground. I climb back up to join Nick and Razzle who screams and darts behind Nick's leg as soon as he sees the Volcano Gormiti.
Nick grunts as he releases dozens of small but sharp rocks at them. That must be what he hit me with earlier. Yeesh, no wonder it hurt!
The Volcano Gormiti raises his hand, surrounding himself with a wall of flames as the rocks melt away to nothing. He then disperses the flame wall with a yell.
His companion lets out a loud scream and the ground begins shaking violently. Oh great - not again! Sure enough, once more, the ground seems to disappear from beneath our feet and we are falling...again.
Just as I was considering whether I should have written my will or not, we found ourselves inside a small tornado that carried us safely to the ground before disappearing.
We rise to our knees as Jessica lands in front of us. "Nice work, Jessica!" I say, relieved that our lives haven't been prematurely cut short.
"Don't thank me - thank Lucas!" She says, holding her hand up in an it was nothing motion.
"Who's got your back?" Lucas asks as if on cue.
The Volcano Gormiti jump down in front of us and we gasp. A wall of flames burns brightly behind them. "This is the part where I get the drop on you!" The first one says, laughing evilly.
I spot the river behind them. Hmm, now what happens when fire is exposed to water again? Oh yeah! I use my control over water to create a huge wave of water, confusing the Volcano Gormiti. "The drop, get it?" the first one says, sounding angry that we didn't get his pun.
"Not as much as you will!" I say as the wave washes over them. The water rises up, soaking my feet before returning to the river.
When the water disappears, we discover that the Volcano Gormiti have disappeared too. The ground where they were standing is smoking.
"They're gone!" Jessica says gleefully. Just then, Lucas projects his image and, for some reason, he looks scared. Really scared.
"Uh, guys, I need you back home, stat! We've got a situation here!" He says before his flickering image disappears.
We look up as a tornado forms above our heads. I grip Nick's hand then Jessica's as we form a circle. As the tornado carries us upwards, one of the Earth Gormiti asks, "You would abandon us now? The lava eaters are still out there!"
"Don't worry, we'll be back!" Nick assures them.
"We swear it by the orbs!" Jessica adds.
"By the orbs of Gorm!" We promise before we disappear from their view.
We rise up through the Gorm Gate, now back in human form, and run over to Lucas who looks even more scared than before.
"So what's the emergency?" I ask.
"The little weasel is here!" Lucas says as he rotates the chair to point out the screen which shows a small girl with short, dark hair and blue eyes frowning while pressing our doorbell.
"Paula Pinkney?" I lean in towards Lucas. "So why didn't you answer?"
Lucas holds his hands up in a surrendering motion. "Hey, it's your house - you deal with her!" I narrow my eyes at him. Okay, I hate that sort of logic. The last thing I want to do is deal with Ike Pinkney's eight-year-old sister who somehow manages to be ten times more annoying than he is! Unfortunately, it seems that we have no other choice.
After we leave the Primal Pad, Nick runs to the front door and opens it, revealing Paula who is standing on the porch tapping her foot impatiently. "Oh, hey, Paula! What's up?" He asks, trying to sound casual.
Paula starts trying to peer through the open door into our houses. "I wanna know what you're doing in there!" She demands.
Nick attempts to block her view so I decide to help him out by sliding underneath his arm and blocking out even more of her view. "In here - what are we doing?" I ask rhetorically. "Nothing. We're just - y'know - hanging." I pull my best innocent grin to emphasize my point that we were not up to anything weird.
Clearly confused but going along with it anyway, Nick adds, "Yeah, sure! Hanging! Like we do! Why?"
As we looked up, it soon became apparent why. Wow, I had no idea Venture Falls had become an aquatic city! The water is so high it almost completely submerges our mailbox. Wait, no, this is bad. "Cos you're, like, flooding the whole neighborhood!" Paula informs us.
Nick and I look at each other briefly before gasping, both of us terrified. I can't be sure but I think all the color drains from my skin. "The pool!" Nick realizes in horror before we hastily slam the door in Paula's face.
We turn to face Lucas and Jessica who both give us what did you guys do now? expression. Figuring that we should find out what's causing the flood, we walk into the conservatory. It doesn't take long before we find the cause - the pool. Nick apparently didn't shut the hose off when he finished filling the pool so it just kept filling and filling and - you get the point.
"That's one way to fill the pool!" Jessica says.
"And water the lawn!" Lucas points out.
"And the patio!" Nick adds.
I didn't see the point in us standing here talking about it. "So let's go turn it off already!" I say as I go to open the doors.
"No!" All three of them yell, looking scared for some reason. As I open the door, we scream as we are washed off our feet by the water. The water starts to flood the house meaning that we are now all soaked.
"Oh, right..." I say sheepishly. Well, people make mistakes!
"This is a disaster!" Nick panics. "Our powers don't work in Venture Falls. What are we gonna do?" As he speaks, I pick up a piece of paper before tossing it away.
"Relax!" I advise him. "You know how long Mom and Dad take on their little travel excursions! We're gonna have plenty of time to-" The phone rings suddenly, causing all of us to gasp.
Nick splashes over to the phone and holds it to his ear. "Hello?" he says. "Oh, hey, how's your trip?" he adds, trying to sound casual. Must be Mom or Dad he's talking to, then. He makes affirmative noises as the other person talks before ending with an "Okay, love you!" He hangs up, placing the phone back in the holder but it dangles loose, beeping rhythmically.
"Mom and Dad checking in?" I ask hopefully.
"Checking out of their hotel!" Nick tells us. He sighs as he sinks to the floor. "They're coming home early - tonight!"
I walk over to him and sigh as I sit down. "We're chumped!" I groan.
Jessica picks up the piece of paper I threw away earlier and slams it down on the table. "Hey, if we can put a smackdown on evil Volcano Gormiti, I think we can handle a little house-cleaning!" She holds up the piece of paper so we can see it and, for the first time today, I'm actually glad to see Nick's chore list.
Nick and I exchange determined looks before nodding slowly. Time to do the chores!
Lucas sweeps a pile of rubbish into a bin which floats away. I take a bucket and fill it with some of the water before pouring it down the sink. I then go to grab another mop, hearing the whir of a drill in the background.
I begin to mop the water off the floor when my mop becomes tangled with Nick's. We look up at each other before we start hitting each other with the mops. We stand nose to nose while frowning at each other, mops held above our heads.
"Whoa!" Lucas yells as he jumps between us, his hands held up in a calm down position. We fix him with identical glares and he runs away from us screaming as we repeatedly hit him with the mops, laughing all the while.
We stop upon hearing a strange sound. Oddly enough, when we look down at our feet, the water level seems to be going down rapidly. Finally, I can see my feet! We gasp and look over at Jessica who is tapping her finger against the vacuum cleaner. Apparently, she had tinkered with it to suck up the water a lot more quickly than we were managing with our mops and buckets. That girl's a smart cookie!
Soon enough, all the water has disappeared from the floor and is getting sucked into the vacuum and out into the garden through another hose which provides a sprinkler for our Jack Russel, Geo, who runs around while barking playfully.
I look at Nick who actually looks disappointed. I bet he wishes he'd come up with that idea. Jessica and Lucas hi-five and we turn away from the window to straighten the house up.
I finish mopping the floor while Geo, who apparently decided to come inside, barks at me. I chase him out, not wanting his pawprints to ruin my hard work. Mopping that floor took a lot of effort, you know!
Once the job is done, we stand back to admire our handiwork. The house is practically gleaming and our parents can't complain that we made a mess of the house, right?
We head out into the garden to relax after our grueling hard work. Lucas and Jessica sink into the chairs, leaving Nick and I to flop onto our backs on the grass.
"This is terrible!" Jessica sighs. I look up at her, confused. She seems to be holding her hand up to her face. I didn't understand what was so terrible about the fact that Nick and I had been saved from a potential grounding. Wait, her hand? I think I know what this is about!
Nick is apparently as confused as I am. "What are you talking about?" He asks her. "This looks great!"
"Not the house!" She squeaks. "I broke a nail!" She holds up the offending finger and slumps down in her chair, looking miserable. Nick doesn't look too impressed. I look at Lucas and we both chuckle. I knew it - Jessica always freaks over this sort of thing.
There is a sudden rumble of thunder and, as we look up at the sky, dark storm clouds move in overhead. "Haven't we had enough water for one day?" Nick asks as lightning flashes and it begins to pour with rain.
We follow Nick - who is holding his hoodie over his head - back inside before we all stand at the window watching the storm from inside. The rain is pouring and it shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
"Whoa, spooky!" Lucas says as lightning continues to flash.
"You don't know the half of it!" Razzle says from behind us. We gasp with fright as we spin round to face him and he screams as he darts underneath the sofa.
When he finally crawls out from his hiding place, we head back to the Primal Pad and stand around the Gorm Gate.
"So the storm is a dimensional rip through Venture Falls and the Gorm?" Nick guesses as we see an image of our hometown.
"Bad stuff in the Gorm has a bad impact on your dimension," Razzle explains.
"How much ya wanna bet that Sulfur Stone is at the heart of it?" I ask the others.
Razzle jumps onto the edge of the Gorm Gate and begins to pace. "I'm telling you - those Lava Gormiti are up to something big!"
"Guys," Jessica says, grabbing our attention. "These aren't the Venture Falls stormclouds anymore! That's the Rocklands - and look!" We watch as the image changes revealing the Rocklands, which appears to be flooding badly.
"We can't just stand here while those Rocklanders lose their home!" I say.
Lucas jumps back into the Keeper's chair, moving the crystals around to activate our orbs. "I've charged the orbs - you use the power!" He tells us.
"Let's do this thing!" I say determinedly before jumping through the Gorm Gate followed by Jessica, Nick and finally Razzle who yells after us to wait for him.
When we land, transformed once more, we see the Earth Gormiti trying in vain to hold up the rock wall. "It's no use!" One of them yells. "Run for it!" They begin trying to outrun the huge wave of water. Jessica uses her tornado to sweep them out of danger and to safety, the same way she had saved Razzle, Nick and I before.
"You have returned!" The same Earth Gormiti says gratefully.
"We'll take it from here!" I say before I execute a perfect dive into the water. I spin around to take control of the water and swim forwards, the water following me and moving away from the Rocklands.
I flip out of the water, landing on top of the rock dam Nick created. The water slightly soaks my feet before retreating, the dam preventing it from being able to move and flood the Rocklands. I give Nick a thumbs up and he returns the gesture. "I think that's what we call teamwork!" We start heading back to Jessica and the Earth Gormiti, our job complete...for now.
The Earth Gormiti get down on one knee, their heads bowed. I don't know why but maybe they're praying or something - thanking us? I have no idea.
"Excuse me?" Jessica asks suddenly, looking at a weird jagged rock. "What is this place?"
"Boulder Peak." One of them answers.
"Lucas?" Jessica calls.
"I'm already on the geography shelf!" He informs us. "The highest point in the Rocklands and - uh-oh..."
"Not liking the uh-oh!" Jessica says worriedly.
"It says here that Boulder Peak is a-"
"A magical nexus point!" Razzle says, his tiny body shaking with fright.
"What's a magical nexu - what?" I ask, confused by the term. I could guess it was something bad pretty easily.
Razzle jumps up to answer me. "A place where super-charged sulfur blasts can tear open a massive dimensional rip to Venture Falls!"
Lucas adds, "Says here that the last time something like this occurred was six hundred years ago." Razzle groans.
"What happened?" Jessica asks curiously.
"I'll tell you what happened!" Razzle says. "An entire city was wiped clean off the map is what happened!"
"Shh! Keep it down!" Nick hushes us. Wait, is that chanting or am I hearing things?
We look over at Boulder Peak and see the Screaming Guardian holding up the Sulfur Stone while roaring triumphantly. A crowd of Lava Gormiti seem to be the ones doing the chanting. We watch as the Sulfur Stone floats in the air, glowing while getting bigger.
"It's even worse than I thought!" Razzle despairs. "Even if you could contain the Sulfur Stone, you couldn't get past that army of hotheads!"
"We can't just stand around and let them wipe Venture Falls off the map!" I point out.
"What are we supposed to do?" Nick asks me.
What I do best... "Improvise!" I say as I stand up. I use my tentacles to lift a huge boulder above my head. "I hate to interrupt your ugly convention." The Lava Gormiti turn to face me in shock. "Anyone up for a game of catch?" I grunt as I throw the boulder, watching as it knocks several Lava Gormiti over as easily as bowling pins.
Lavor sighs angrily. "Do I interrupt your megalomaniacal rituals?" he asks. "No - I think not! Get them!" He yells as he points at me.
Some of the Lava Gormiti start climbing the cliff on either side of me and I gasp as I realize that I will soon be surrounded by them. If I am going down, there's no way I'm going without a fight!
As I find myself surrounded, I use my tentacles to toss them away from me. "Crash one party and suddenly I'm Mr. Popular!" I say. Out of nowhere, one of the Lava Gormiti tackles me from behind causing me to scream as we crash to the ground.
The next thing I know is that I'm tied to the rock wall by my arms, legs and even my hair! These guys sure don't want to take any chances, huh?
Lavor begins talking again as red clouds form above the Sulfur Stone, before clearing to reveal Venture Falls. Why do I get the feeling that all of the bad guys we meet will all love the sound of their own voices?
"Soon the power of the stone will be unleashed by me and the name of Lavor - who is me - will be feared throughout the universe which will be mine!" He turns to point at me, an unpleasant smirk on his face. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me!"
"Maybe not me alone!" I admit as the wind starts to pick up. " But I am not alone!"
I watch as Jessica aims her wind attack directly at Nick who stands in place while she rotates around him at a dizzying speed, forming a huge tornado that carries him upwards toward the Sulfur Stone. I was completely floored - what were they doing?
The answer quickly becomes apparent as Nick wobbles about on top of the tornado which moves toward the Sulfur Stone, allowing his hands to make contact with it. I almost find it funny...until the stone glows brightly and pulls him inside it.
Everyone watches with bated breath. For a while, nothing happens. Suddenly red rays of light begin shooting from the Sulfur Stone. They cut through the ropes the Lava Gormiti used earlier to tie me up and I manage to pull myself free.
The Lava Gormiti are screaming and running away in a panic. The stone glows brighter than ever before as it disappears, revealing Nick who is glowing yellow.
He floats above Lavor and the Screaming Guardian before turning over and opening his eyes which also glow yellow. They scream and run away in fright along with the rest of the Lava Gormiti. Lavor pauses for a moment. "This is so wrong on so many levels!" he declares before turning on his heel and sliding down the rock.
I watch in horror as Nick drops like a stone - I didn't mean that as a joke! - and hits the ground in human form. I feel a strange tingling sensation and the next thing I know, I'm back in human form. When I open my eyes, I see Jessica standing beside me, also back in human form. I guess our orbs must have been drained from the whole Sulfur Stone absorbing episode.
She taps me on the shoulder and I turn to look at her, immediately noticing how frightened she looks. "Nick!" she gasps, pointing in front of us.
I follow the path of her finger and what I see makes my face lose its color. "Oh no..." I whisper.
We both run forwards. My little brother is laid unconscious, clutching the Sulfur Stone - which is now considerably smaller - in his hand.
I reach him and kneel beside him. "Nick, are you okay?" I ask, concerned but also relieved that he's still breathing.
"That was amazing!" Lucas says from inside the Primal Pad, clearly impressed.
Razzle runs over to us. "Way to go, kid!" he says.
I shake him by the shoulder gently while Jessica pats his head to try and get some sort of response. "Talk to me!" I beg. "Say something!" This cannot be happening! I can't lose him! As annoying as he can be at times - he's the only brother I've got...and I care about him!
He moves his hand and taps mine, slowly opening his eyes before saying, "Tag, you're it!" and chuckling. I narrow my eyes at him - does he not realize how worried I was about him? Despite that, I was relieved beyond comprehension that he was okay and, thankfully, unhurt.
We return to the Rocklands village where Nick presents the Sulfur Stone to the Earth Gormiti who accept it gratefully. He then joins Jessica and I in an honor bow as one of the Earth Gormiti proudly holds the Sulfur Stone aloft.
"We are indebted to the Super Gormiti. You are truly heroes!" He compliments. Man, it feels good to be called that!
"That they are!" Razzle agrees happily. "They saved both the Gorm and their hometown from some serious destruction!"
"Then come!" The Earth Gormiti declares. "Join us in rock soup celebration!" Wait, did he say rock soup? We gasp as two bowls of the stuff, which is apparently a delicacy for Earth Gormiti, is held in front of us.
I cringe at the familiar but awful smell. Nick sniffs and groans with disgust. "That would be great!" I begin, hoping that I sound convincingly grateful. "But, uh, we've got this thing called house-sitting on our chore list!" I roll down Nick's chore list as I speak. Fine - I admit it! I guess there can be times when making chore lists is useful like when you need an excuse not to eat rock soup! Nick and Jessica chuckle and Lucas brings us all back to the Primal Pad.
After Lucas and Jessica leave to go home, Nick and I stand in the kitchen. Suddenly the front door opens and Mom and Dad walk in with their suitcases. For some reason, they don't seem too happy.
"I think there's something you wanna tell us," Mom says as she and Dad stand in front of us.
"We saved Venture Falls from an evil volcano monster invasion?" I try nervously, knowing full well they won't believe me.
"You flooded the neighborhood with your big weekend swim party!" she says angrily.
How did she know about that? We practically broke our backs cleaning up the house. Who could have - oh, wait, I know exactly who could have told them!
"Now, before we talk about how long you're grounded," Dad begins. Great, thanks, Paula! "I brought you a little something from our trip!" He holds a plate with a chocolate cake on it in front of us and I instantly feel horrified when he says "Chocolate mud cake!"
"A-ha!" I hear Razzle say from inside the pantry. Nick closes the door on him, causing him to scream as his tail accidentally gets trapped. Luckily Nick and I are the only ones to notice this.
Nick laughs and starts clapping. Mom and Dad look at each other with confused expressions before we all start laughing, Mom and I joining Nick in clapping. Though I'm not quite sure what we're clapping for!
AN: Thank you so much for your patience, guys! Sorry, this is late but I had a really busy weekend and today (Monday anyway) I had a really migraine :-(. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! See you next time!