Chapter 17:
Later that day, during Study Hall, those in the Newspaper Club and along with those in K-SHIP met up in the room of the Newspaper Club to have they daily meeting.
"Okay guys! Listen up!", Angelo said getting the attention of everyone. "Hay Lin and Selece have come up with an interesting idea that Knickerbocker gave the okay on."
"Get out! Really?", Uriah questioned.
"Really!", Hay Lin said as she pulled out a folder from her backpack.
"So what's your idea?", Taranee asked.
"Calenders!", Selece and Hay Lin said.
"Calenders?", Martin questioned.
"Hear them out.", Angelo said.
"I'll bite.", Uriah said. "What kind of calendars?"
"Different kinds.", Hay Lin said as she and Selece handed out copies of their plan. "We can have calendars of the sports teams. Which we can do three ways."
"We can do calendars of the boys sports team, girls sports teams, or calendars of both guys and girls.", Selece explained. "We can even do a calendar where we have the most popular girls, guys, or both!"
"Granted, we'll have to have a poll for the students to vote on that.", Hay Lin said. "And we can even charge students a cheap price for the calendars!"
"We were thinking maybe $2 or $3 dollars for each calendar.", Selece suggested.
"I say two dollars.", Elyon said. "We'll sell more."
"Good idea.", Angelo said. "Now we just have to get the teams to do the pictures."
"May I suggest that we get the rosters from the last school year.", Taranee suggested. "Seeing as we don't know who will be on the Winter and Spring sports teams for this years."
"Good idea.", Cornelia said. "I'm sure they'll do it if part of the money we make from the calendars they do will go to buying better sports equipment."
"While the rest will go to improving the newspaper and the radio show.", Taranee said.
"So let's put it to a vote.", Angelo said. "All those in favor.", he said as ge raised his hand as everyone else did. "Then it's official. We're making calendars."
"So what do we do for this month?", Alchemy asked.
"We could do a group picture of us.", Martin suggested.
"Works for me.", Angelo said. "We need to do a poll for the calendars for the most popular guys and girls."
"May I suggest we announce the calendars during the final broadcast of the day.", Bess said. "We can have a box set up in the Lunch Hall tomorrow morning for students to cast their votes."
"And let's tell them that they can't vote for themselves.", Courtney added.
"Oh yeah!", Elyon said in agreement.
"Question.", Cassidy said. "Does the swim team have to be in their swimsuits for their picture?"
"That is up to you all.", Hay Lin said.
"Then I see a lot of them wanting to show off.", Cassidy said while rolling her eyes.
"So does any one have anything for the school paper?", Angelo asked.
"How about an advice column.", Micheal said. "We can have student ask questions that we can answer to the best of our abilities. We can even tell then that they don't have to put their names down."
"You know, we can do it for the radio show as well.", Martin replied. "Knickerbocker may allow it. We can make a box that can take the questions as well as song suggestions."
"I like it.", Taranee said with a smile. "You'd be surprise at how many students have questions or problems that they need help with."
"Amen to that.", Cassidy said.
"All in favor?", Angelo asked before he along with the others raised their hands. "Then an advice column it is.", he said. "Any other ideas?"
Meanwhile, Will and Caleb were sitting next to each other in their Homeroom for Study Hall like all the other students listening to the music that was set to play from the radio show. And for the life of him, Caleb wanted to ask Will about what she and Angelo did yesterday. So after thinking about it for so long, he took a deep breath and...
"So what did you and Angelo do yesterday?", he whispered to his girlfriend.
"What?", Will asked.
"What did you and Angelo do yesterday?", he whispered.
"Some training and talking about stuff.", Will whispered.
"What kind of stuff did you two talk about?", Caleb whispered.
"Really?", Will whispered knowing where her boyfriend was going with all of this. "Listen, Caleb. You have nothing to worry about. Angelo and I are friends. That's all. Now I have some homework to catch up on. I suggest you do the same thing.", she said before returning to doing her homework while bopping her head to the music a bit.
"Okay.", Caleb said as he went back to doing his homework.
'I hope that's all there is to you and Angelo.', Caleb thought to himself as he was doing his homework.
Later that day, after school, our young heroes were leaving school when Angelo's grandfather came walking up to them with a worried look on his face.
"What's wrong, Grandpa?", Angelo asked.
"There's another robot attack in Meridian!", Joe said. "Blunk folded into the house in a panic and told me and Kaddie. She's at the house calming the little guy down."
"Looks like we have work to do.", Will said. "You three up for your first fight?", she asked Angelo, Micheal and Selece.
"Ready as we'll ever be.", Selece said.
"But what about you and Irma?", Micheal asked. "Aren't you're parents coming to pick you up?"
"Got that covered.", Will said as she and Irma ran behind some tall bushes.
A few seconds later, Will and Irma walked out from behind the bushes and up to the others just as Susan and Anna drove up in their cars. Both girls got in their family cars and closed the doors. Once the cars drove off, two other girls walked out from the bushes. They both looked like Will and Irma only the one that looked like Will was a brunette while the one that looked like Irma was a red-head.
"That's just weird.", Cornelia said.
"But creative.", Taranee said.
"Let's go!", Will said as they all headed down the nearest alley.
Once down the alley, Cassidy opened a fold for Metamoor for everyone to go through, leaving Joe who watched the fold close.
"Good luck, everyone.", Joe said as he walked out of the alley and headed home.
Once on Metamoor, the others saw that they were in the Royal Courtyard where the Honor Guard were on their horses ready to go.
"You're just in time!", Raythor said as he handed Micheal his broadsword. "This time the machines are all over the place!"
"How big are they?", Elyon asked as Drake, Aldern, and Micheal got on a horse one of the soldiers brought up to him.
"Believe it or not, from what we were told, they look like Hermeneuta Beast.", Alborn said.
"Oh! That's not good.", Taranee said.
"What's a Hermeneuta Beast?", Selece asked.
"They look like super sized boars.", Hay Lin explained. "And have a bad attitude if you get them angry."
"How many of them are they?", Will asked.
"Seven from what we were told.", Vathek said.
"That's a lot!", Matt said before transforming into his Regent form.
"We have some squads of soldiers ready to retrieve the fallen machines.", Raythor said.
"Good thinking.", Taranee said. "We don't need anything leaking out from it polluting the land."
"I'll go on ahead with the Honor Guard.", Elyon said as she and Matt took to the air. "You guys catch up when you transform!", she said as she flew off with Matt as the Honor Guard following them on horseback.
"Guardians, Unite!", Will and Cassidy said as they held up their Hearts.
"Water!", Irma and Cassidy said as they transformed into their Guardian forms.
"Fire!", Taranee and Alchemy said as they transformed into their Guardian forms.
"Earth!", Caleb and Cornelia said as they transformed into their Guardian forms.
"Air!", Hay Lin and Selece said as they transformed into their Guardian forms.
"Quintessence!", Will and Angelo said as they transformed into their Guardian forms.
"So what's the plan?", Irma asked as they all took to the air.
"I say we split up into our two teams and go after these robots.", Cassidy said.
"I'm sorry, but I was talking to Will.", Irma said with some disdain in her voice. "Our leader!"
"But I thought that whoever had the Heart was the leader.", Angelo said.
"And Cassidy has a Heart just like Will.", Selece replied.
"But it's not the Heart of Kandrakar!", Caleb snapped making Selece back away from him. "You five are just..."
"That's enough!", Will yelled. "Cassidy is right. It's best for us to split up into our teams and take down as many of these robots as we can. So let's get to it!"
So W.I.T.C.H. went in one direction while Cassidy and her Guardians headed in another direction.
"What is your problem!?", Will snapped at Caleb as they were flying towards one of the robots. "We're suppose to be working together!"
"And you're our leader!", Irma said. "Not Cassidy!"
"Are you kidding me!?", Taranee questioned. "What's wrong with having two leaders?"
"Besides. Cassidy has experience we could use.", Hay Lin said.
"Who's side are you two on!?", Irma questioned.
"Maybe you should ask yourself that question.", Will said. "You and Caleb! The ten of us are all Guardians! We need to work together if we're going to stop this threat! So cut the crap!", she said as she flew on with Taranee and Hay Lin.
"Can you believe this!?", Irma questioned as she and Caleb flew behind Will, Taranee, and Hay Lin at a distance. "She's starting to take their side!"
"Don't worry about it.", Caleb said. "As long as we keep Will and Cornelia away from each other, things will be alright."
"I hope you're right, Rebel-boy.", Irma said as they flew on.
As for Cassidy and the others, they were flying in a different direction.
"Well, that went well.", Alchemy said.
"What's Caleb deal any way?", Selece questioned.
"Well, he and Irma think that we shouldn't be Guardians.", Cassidy explained. "Especially Cornelia. If they had their way, our powers would go to them and the others making them super-charged."
"Will told me about that.", Angelo said. "She also said the Oracle said that th ten of us need to work together to stop some threat."
"You got it.", Cornelia said. "But Caleb and Irma still don't trust me."
"And with that they don't want us around.", Selece figured.
"Well, they're going to have to get use to us being around!", Angelo said as he spotted a robot that looked, from what he figured, like a Hermeneuta Beast. "Is that one of the robots?"
"Yeah. That's it!", Cornelia said as they dove down towards the robot.
"Geez! It's almost as big a van!", Selece said.
"The bigger they are the harder they fall!", Angelo said.
"Let's get to work!", Cassidy said ready to fight the robot.
Once they got close enough to the robotic Hermeneuta Beast, Cassidy and Cornelia landed and used their powers to make the ground muddy enough to slow the robot down.
"Melt a hole in it, Al!", Cassidy said.
"Right!", Alchemy said as she landed on the robot and fired a flame at a spot on it.
"Once Alchemy burns a hole in it, give it a good shock, Angelo!", Cassidy said.
"Gotcha!", Angelo said ready to give the robot a bolt of lightning.
Suddenly, the robot's legs folded inward as large tread tires came out. The robot then started to peel off at a great speed with Alchemy still on it!
"Whoa!", Alchemy shouted as she did her best to hold on to the robot only to get flung off as it made a sharp turn. "Ahh!"
"Gotcha!", Angelo said as he caught Alchemy.
"Thanks!", Alchemy said as Angelo let her go to fly on her own. "I almost melted a hole in it!"
"Then let's finish it off!", Cassidy said as they flew after the robot.
"I have an idea! But it's going to take all of us working together.", Cornelia said.
"Lay it on us!", Cassidy said.
Cornelia then shared her idea with her fellow Guardians via Alchemy's telepathy. Once she told them her plan, they all spit off and got ready to do their part. First was Cassidy who used her powers to made a path of ice in front of the robot. Once she did that, the robot began to spin around. Cornelia then got in front of the robot and made some of the land lift up making a ramp for the robot to fly off of. Once in the air, Selece made a twister that spin the robot on its side. Seeing this, Alchemy flew to the robot and continued to burn a hole in the robot. Once she did this, Angelo blasted the robot with a thing of electricity. Once he did this, the robot short circuited and shut down.
"That's one down.", Alchemy said.
"And six more to go.", Cassidy said as they all took to the air.
"Looks like the soldiers are here to pick up what's left of the robot.", Angelo said as he spotted a squad of soldiers approching the fallen robot.
"Good.", Cornelia said. "The less wreckage the better."
"So which way?", Selece asked.
"You tell us.", Cassidy said. "You have the hearing.", she said with a smirk.
"Oh yeah!", Selece said as she closed her eyes and began to listen to the wind for any sounds of one of the other robots. "I got it! One is that way!", she said pointing to the south.
"Then let's go!", Cassidy said as they all flew in the direction Selece pointed out.
Meanwhile, Elyon had her Honor Guard split up into teams of two. One team consisted of Alborn, Miriadel, Raythor, Julian, Tynar, and Matt while the other was of Vathek, Drake, Aldern, Micheal and Elyon herself. Alborn's team headed east while Elyon's team went west.
"We should be closing in on the machine!", Alborn said as he heard the sound of an engine running.
"What is that noise?", Raythor asked.
"That is the sound of an engine!", Miriadel said. "A machine from Earth!"
"It sure is loud!", Tynar said as they stopped their horses.
"It just makes it easier to find.", Julian said as they all got off their horses.
"No kidding!", Matt said as he flew high in the sky. "I see it! It's over the hill!"
The five Honor Guard members ran up a hill to see one of the large robots walking around knocking down some trees. Taking a chance, Miriadel shot the robot in its front right leg doing some damage as it tried to walk but couldn't. Matt then shot the robot in its side blasting a hole in it all the way through. It was then that Alborn, Julian, and Raythor charged at it with their weapons and began to attack it. Raythor slashed at its eyes while Julian and Alborn attacked it's hind legs. It was then that the robot began to bring out it's wheels. But it did it no good when Tynar jumped on top of it and drove his spear through it's back hitting it's engine shutting it down.
"That was easier than I thought it would be.", Julian said.
"Indeed.", Raythor said. "I figured that it would have put up more of a fight.", he said as he sheathed his sword.
"Same here.", Matt said.
"Looks like our weapons, Queen Elyon's charged with her power are working well.", Tynar said as he jumped off the robot.
"Let's just hope that the other robots are just as easy to beat.", Alborn said.
"Only one way to find out.", Miriadel said as they headed for their horses just as a squad of soldiers came running up to the fallen robot.
Once at they mounted their horses, the five warriors began to search for the next robot to take down with Matt right behind them from the air. Elsewhere, W.I.T.C.H. had found another robot and were surprise at how it looked like a Hermeneuta Beast. Only it was gray with red eyes like the other robots.
"It's as creepy looking at the real thing!", Taranee said remembering what the real Hermeneuta Beast looked like.
"Only metal!", Hay Lin said as the five of them dove down to the robot.
"Let's take it down before it does any damage.", Will said before she fired a thing of lighting at the robot.
Once the robot got hit by the lightning, it trembled a bit before it brought out it's wheel and peeled off away from the Guardians.
"It has wheels!?", Irma questioned. "When did it get wheels!?"
"Who cares!? We have to stop it!", Caleb said as they flew after the robot.
"We need some ice!", Will said to Irma and Hay Lin.
"Gotcha!", Hay Lin said as she and Irma combined their powers to make a path of ice in front of the robot causing it to slip and spin around.
"Caleb! Make a rock come up for the robot to smash into it!", Will told the Earth Guardian.
Nodding to Will, Caleb landed several feet in front of the robot and made a large rock that was near by float over in front of the robot for it to crash into. Seeing this, Taranee was about to use her fire power to melt a hole in the robot so Will could blast a thing of lightning in it when Caleb stabbed the robot in between the eyes.
"Caleb! No!", Will shouted.
But it was too late as Caleb was hit by a surge of electricity from the robot that sent him flying and slamming to the ground. Will wasted no time flying to Caleb and drawing the electricity from him before helping him sit up.
"Are you okay?", Will asked with concern.
"Yeah.", Caleb said as he slowly got to his feet.
"Good.", Will said before slapping him behind his head.
"Ow!", Caleb shouted. "What was that for!?"
"For being stupid!", Will shouted as the others landed next to them. "You could have gotten yourself killed! What were you thinking!?"
"That the robot had to be stopped!", Caleb said.
"Taranee and I had that covered!", Will said.
"But you didn't say anything after you told me to block the robot's path!", Caleb replied.
"I didn't need to. Taranee already knew to melt a hole in the robot so I could hit it with some lightning which would have shutted it down.", Will explained as Taranee nodded.
"Well, we still stopped it and Caleb is okay.", Irma said. "Let's not argue about it and go after the rest of the robots."
"Okay.", Will said as they took to the air. "But from now on we go with the plan where Taranee melts a hole so I can blast it."
"Okay. Okay.", Caleb said. "No more dumb risk."
"Good.", Will said as they searched for the nearest robot that Hay Lin could hear in the distance.
As they flew on, Taranee and Hay Lin giggled to each other as they flew on with the others. Elsewhere, Elyon's group pf Vathek, Drake, Aldern, and Micheal were closing in on a Hermeneuta Beast robot that had converted it's legs into wheels and was making a get away from them.
"Our horses can't keep up with it!", Aldern said as he, Drake, Micheal, and Vathek were doing their best to keep up with the machine. "We need to slow ii down!"
"Let me try something!", Elyon said as she flew on ahead of the guys.
Taking a chance Elyon flew in front of the robot and blasted it's eyes blinding it.
"Gotcha!", Elyon said as the robot swerved into a thing of trees and fell on it's side.
Once that happened, the others caught up with Elyon and got off their horses. Vathek was the first to smash a hole in the robot with his morning star mace. Seeing this, Micheal looked inside the hole and used his broadsword to pry out what looked like a battery. Once he did this, the robot powered down.
"Smart move.", Elyon said as she landed next to Micheal.
"Thanks.", Micheal said. "I just hope that the next one we run into will be easier to take down.", he said as some soldiers came up to them.
"Be careful with this thing, men.", Elyon said as se used her powers to bring the robot up on it's wheels. "It'll be easy to move with it's wheels out."
"Yes, Your Majesty.", the soldiers' squad leader said as before he joined his squad in moving the robot.
Micheal, Vathek, Drake, and Aldern then got on their horses and took off for the next robot with Elyon flying along side them. Soon all four teams took down another robot each with the skills they had leaving one robot that was heading for a dam, in a narrow canyon, that held back a lot of water. All four groups had closed in on the robot ready to take it down.
"All of us against one robot. We so got this.", Irma said ready to take the robot down.
"What a minute!", Micheal said. "What's it doing?"
Everyone looked to see a cannon rise out of the robot's back and aim at the dam.
"It's going to blast the dam!", Matt yelled as everyone gasped in fear of what might happened.
It then fired three balls that exploded as they neared the dam which released small spiked balls that stuck to the dam's walls. Matt then took a chance and fired a powerful eyebeam blast into the opening of the robot shutting it down.
"Nice shot!", Alborn said.
"What was that all about?", Selece questioned.
"And why are they blinking?", Cornelia asked as she saw the spikes had blinking lights.
"I think I know.", Taranee said as she flew up to the dam to get a better look at the spikes.
When she was close enough to one of the spikes them, Taranee saw that it had a there was a timer on it that was counting down.
"There bombs!", Taranee said getting a gasp out of everyone. "And we only have twenty seconds left!"
"What do we do!?", Hay Lin asked.
"Can a surge of electricity shut them down?", Will asked.
"Maybe.", Taranee said. "Not sure."
"Worth a try!", Angelo said getting a nod from Will as they both got into position.
Taranee flew out of the way so Will and Angelo could do their thing. The two Quintessence Guardians then sent a wave of electricity at the dam hitting the spike bombs. At first the blinking lights stopped to which everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But then the lights began to blink faster than before.
"Everyone move!", Raythor said as he and the rest of the Honor Guard got their horses moving as fast as they could while the Guardians, Elyon, and Matt flew away.
But it was too late when the spikes exploded destroying the dam which released all the water that it was holding back. Seeing this, Cassidy stopped and turned around to face the rushing water and used her powers to hold the rushing water at bay. Seeing this surprised the other at how powerful Cassidy was.
"I can't hold it for much longer!", Cassidy said. "Get the Honor Guard out of here!"
"You heard her!", Will said. "All Honor Guard gather together! Irma! Held Cassidy with the water!"
"Right!", Irma said as she flew up to the rushing water and helped Cassidy hold it back so the Guardians could teleport the Honor Guard out of the canyon. "Wow! This is heavy!"
"What took you so long?", Cassidy said asked with a smirk.
"Oh you now me.", Irma said as she was helping Cassidy hold back the water. "I like to make an entrance!", she said as the Honor Guard gathered together.
"Can you teleport that many at once?", Angelo asked Will.
"Not sure!", Will said. "The best I was able to do was me and the rest of W.I.T.C.H."
"Let me do it!", Elyon said. "I've been practicing!", she said as she hovered about her Honor Guard.
"Hurry up, guys!", Cassidy said. "Starting to lose control here!"
"Here goes!", Elyon said as she teleported herself along with the Honor Guard along with the other Guardians leaving Irma and Cassidy who were still holding back the water.
Soon they all appeared up on higher ground looking down at the canyon and Cassidy and Irma who were still holding back the water. But to their horror, the two Water Guardians lose control as the water came rushing at the swallowing them up in it's wake.
"Irma!", Hay Lin cried for her best friend.
"Cassidy!", Alchemy and Aldern cried out.
Without thinking, Angelo dove down into the water after them.
"Angelo!", Will, Selece, and Micheal cried out.
"What do we do!?", Taranee questioned.
"We have to stop the water!", Drake said. "This canyon leads to a nearby village! If this water hits that village, it'll be wiped out!"
"Then let's make another dam!", Cornelia said.
"Only this one will be made of stone instead of wood!", Will said. "We'll fly on ahead to a certain point in the canyon and make the dam.", she said as she led the way down the canyon ahead of the water.
"What about Irma, Cassidy, Angelo!?", Hay Lin questioned as her eyes began to water.
"They're okay, Hay Lin.", Taranee said s they flew down the canyon. "I can sense them. It's a bit faint but they're okay.", she said putting a small smile on the Air Guardian's face.
"Please be okay, guys.", Selece said to herself.
She then felt a hand on her shoulder as she flew down the canyon with the others. Selece turned to see that it was Will giving her a smile letting her know that it was okay. Selece returned the smile as they continued their way down the canyon. Soon, after flying as fast as the could, they were far enough from the water for Will's plan to work.
"Okay! Cornelia and Caleb, gather all the stones rocks and boulders that you can!", Will said. "Get enough so that we can make a high and thick dam! Elyon and Matt! I need you two to blast some rocks and boulders for the dam, too!"
Nodding to Will, the two Earth Guardians, Regent, and Meridian queen flew around and used their powers to gather any and all the boulders, stones, and rocks they could to make the dam.
"Selece and Hay Lin! Get ready to use your powers to try and hold back the water just in case if we need to buy more time.", Will said.
"Right!", Hay Lin and Selece said before they flew back a bit ready to use their powers to hold back the rushing water with their wind power.
Will then went to help Matt and Elyon blast more rock and boulders for the dam. Soon the three of them along with Cornelia and Caleb had enough to make the dam needed to block the rushing water.
"Okay! Caleb, I need you and Cornelia to set all of this up so that you form a wall.", Will said.
"Gotcha!", Cornelia said as she got on one side of the pile of rocks, stones, and boulders.
"Oh brother.", Caleb said to himself as he flew on the other side.
Nodding to each other, the two Earth Guardians began to make the pile form up into a large stone wall that was high enough to block the water.
"Good work, you two! Now hold that wall up!", Will said before turning to Taranee and Alchemy. "Taranee! Alchemy! You're up! I need you two to fuse that all together with the canyon walls to keep it in place!"
"Think we can do it?", Alchemy said as she and Taranee flew towards the wall of stone.
"Only one way to find out.", Taranee said as she and Alchemy combined their fire power to fuse the stone wall together with the canyon walls.
As they were doing this, Caleb and Cornelia were holding the wall in place so the wall could be complete without any problems. Seeing this, Elyon used her powers to help hold the wall in place while Matt used his eyebeams to help fuse the rocks, stones, and boulders together. With their help, they were able to make a stronger dam to hold the water at bay. Seeing this, Will was ready for the next part of her plan.
"Hay Lin! Selece! I need you to help cool the wall off!", Will called out to the two Air Guardians that were at a distance.
"Coming!", Hay Lin said as she and Selece flew to the wall and used their air power and cooled off the wall.
When they were finished the wall was up and ready for the rushing water. At least that's what Will was hoping for.
"Good job, everyone.", Will said as the Honor Guard came galloping up to them. "Now we just have to pray and hope for the best.", she said as the water came rushing towards them.
Seeing the water coming, the Guardians, Matt and Elyon flew out of the canyon hoping the wall would hold the water at bay.
"Here it comes!", Miriadel shouted.
Everyone watched as the water crashed against the new stone dam wondering if it would hold the water back. Everyone watched as the water began to settle as the dam held the water at bay. Glad that the dam was holding up, the Guardians headed back along the flowing water to search for Cassidy, Irma, and Angelo.
"You guys stay here and keep an eye on the dam.", Will said to Matt and Elyon as she flew off with the others.
"Do you think they'll find them?", Alborn questioned as they watched he Guardians fly off.
"I hope so.", Micheal said hoping for the best. "Dear Lord, I truly hope so."
A/N: Well, the robots are done and a disaster was avoided. But what about Cassidy, Irma, and Angelo? Will they be okay? Or will Angelo decided to quit after his first mission? Find out in the next chapter.
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