~I realize this story isn't as popular (probably because not many people watch Dark Oracle anymore) but I promise I will finish the story, enjoy.~
Vern, Doyle, Lance and Cally were standing in the dark room when the phone rang.
"I thought you said it wasn't working." Cally whispered nervously.
"It wasn't." Doyle replied as he answered the phone, his face paled as he listened to the person on the other line.
"It's the Puppet Master." Doyle whispered to the others.
"What do you want?" Doyle demanded into the phone.
Doyle had an angry but scared expression as he listened to the Puppet Master's answer. Suddenly, the line went dead and Doyle slowly put the phone down.
"He wants revenge." Doyle explained to the teens.
"So, we beat him once, we'll beat him again." Vern replied. Doyle glared at him.
"It's not that simple, the Puppet Master has never been this powerful before and we don't have three practitioners so the Power of Three won't work." He lectured.
"What are you suggesting, that we should just wait for him to attack us? You're a bigger coward than I thought." Vern argued.
"We need to find a way to defend ourselves. Magic isn't all about brute force." Doyle replied.
"Maybe we should split into groups of two to search the shop, Lance and Vern, why don't you two take the left side and Doyle and I will search the back room. We'll meet up in the shop in a half hour." Cally suggested.
"Alright." Doyle agreed.
"Nice job." Lance whispered to Cally as the two teams split up.
"So, why are you and Doyle always fighting with each other?" Lance asked as they searched the shop.
"Why do you care?" Vern asked.
"We need to work together to get out of this," Lance said, then replied chuckling, "besides if we managed to have even this much of a truce, I'm sure you two could get along well for the time it takes to stop this." Lance replied.
"Well, he used to train me in magic but we had a... disagreement."
"I see, what about?" Lance asked.
"I wanted to learn faster than he was willing to teach." Vern replied coldly. Lance nodded.
"Let me guess, you're going to tell me that I didn't need to know all the magic at once." Vern scoffed.
"I'm not going to say anything, Vern." Lance replied then continued looking in the shop.
"That's pretty cool of you, thanks." Vern replied. They continued looking and found some rope that could be used to set a trap for the Puppet Master if he chose to go into the shop. They both hoped it didn't come to that.
Meanwhile, Cally and Doyle were searching the back room.
"So, why are you and Vern often fighting with each other?" Cally asked.
"You're one for subtlety, aren't you?" Doyle responded dryly.
"I just think that we need to get along in order to get out if this." Cally responded. Doyle sighed.
"He was just a bit too insistent on learning the powerful spells when I thought he was moving too quickly." Doyle replied. Cally decided to let it go and they continued searching. They found spell books, some for healing, some for defense and one attack book.
They met up at the front of the store as planned.
"We found some magic books that could help." Cally explained.
"We found some rope that could be used if we need to set a trap." Lance told the others.
"We have to be ready for anything the Puppet master throws at us," Doyle reminded the others, "We don't know what he's capable of and experience tells us that he is willing to do whatever it takes to get out of the comic."
"So, we'll be ready." Vern replied. Lance and Cally glanced at each other, hoping that this doesn't start another argument. Doyle simply sighed in response, but left the matter alone. Cally grabbed the comic and began to read it, trying to find something that could help. Doyle, Vern and Lance looked over her shoulder. There was an image of the Puppet Master sneering and looking right towards them, there was an image of the Puppet Master entering Gamerz Cave and then him standing alone, with the store in a state of disarray, his back was turned, however it looked like he was chuckling.
"This... this isn't good." Lance breathed out.
"We're not in the last scene,what do you think happened?" Cally gasped.
"I don't know Cally, but we'll be okay." Lance reassured her. Vern glared at the comic, his face twisted in rage.
"I'm done playing cat-and-mouse with him, trying to just defend ourselves, I say we just use everything we got to put him back in the comic world where he belongs." Vern said, still glaring at the comic.
"Vern, we don't have enough power for that kind of attack. We need to think strategically." Doyle replied sternly. I have enough regrets, I don't need you, Cally or Lance being hurt on my conscience as well. Doyle thought. He and Vern were glaring at each other.
"Guys, I think we have another problem." Cally replied nervously as she pointed at a dark figure opening the door and entering the store.
~Okay, I don't know if that's the reason for Vern and Doyle's rivalry, but that's my guess, There will be more.~