Chapter 11
The spirits surrounding Gwen watched the bright aura of light as it surrounded her. That was their mistake as they never even had the chance to react as the light engulfed them and vanished into streams of blue life energy that was absorbed into Gwen. Everyone on the roof of the mansion watched in shock and awe as Gwen was engulfed in the light. The Master watched the transformation while preparing for what might happen next.
But even he was not ready as the light reached out, blasting into the sky and gathered life energy from not only the trapped spirits but the pocket dimension inside the book itself! Finally there was a tremendous blast of light as Gwen jumped into the air and landed back on the roof, a white aura with streaks of silver surrounding her. Everyone watched in shock, awe, and a little fear as Gwen's hair grew longer until it reached down to her waist. As it grew her hair changed color from the roots turning to silver that seemed to glow slightly, looking like a star.
She opened her eyes and everyone saw them change from dark green bordering on black to sapphire blue that resembled the night sky. These were not only changes as a few males, even the ones who had girlfriends blushed when they noticed Gwen's body had changed, her clothes becoming a bit smaller that showed off her figure. Gwen stood up and looked down at herself. Everyone had a lot of trouble believing they were looking at Gwen; everything about her was different from before.
Aside from the different color of her now long hair and eyes, the posture, the commanding presence that surrounded her, and the look on her face, it was the look of a fighter who had seen more than one battle with a cold glare at the Master. Her eyes were cold as ice that when you look at them you could tell that she had thought of every way to kill you in a very painful manner.
"Well, it's been a while since this has been done." She spoke out loud but it wasn't Gwen's voice, it was the voice of Andromeda.
She stretched her limbs, getting used to the body she was temporarily controlling before looking to the Master.
"Now...it is time you pay for after all you've done," Andromeda growled, holding up Gwen's sword, which was surrounded by a soft glow.
"Interesting...I've never seen a spirit given mortal form," The Master mused. "That would be enough Life Energy for me to...do anything beyond my wildest dreams."
"This isn't a dream," Andromeda said coldly. "This is your worst nightmare."
"That's Gwen?" Bridgette asked, completely frozen in shock.
"No. Not entirely, now." Alphaeus replied. "An Avatar is blessed with powers and abilities beyond that of a mortal human or an ordinary spirit, but even they can be defeated. When up against a foe that will cause complete destruction the Avatars are charged to do everything they can stop them. When everything fails the avatar has one last move, one that would usually kill them while ensuring that no harm falls on either worlds. The Ceremony of Summoning, able to summon the Avatar's spirit through their body, giving them their full power which is not something easily done for an ordinary Avatar. The strain of holding that power would usually kill the vessel if they are unable to contain the massive power of a spirit like Andromeda which is why I created the book." Alphaeus paused and then continued. "A way to save them, an extra battery to give that Avatar the life energy needed to keep them alive. As of right now, that's Gwen's body but her partner Andromeda has taken control of that body. Look closely, not everyone gets see the Heaven's Star herself out on the battlefield."
The Master chose to continue the fight as he dashed at Andromeda, slashing at the torso several times and attempted to bisect her. However Andromeda simply blocked the slashes with an ease making it seem like the Master was hardly making an effort to fight her. After blocking the last slash Andromeda pushed the blade up and raised her foot, sending it crashing into the Master's chest. The Master gasped as he doubled over from the blow that was stronger than any human kick regardless of how strong they could have been.
Andromeda sent two slashes at his head from above but the Master managed to block them in time. Moving faster than the human eye could see Andromeda brought up her sword from below that the master barely able to block, however the strength of the blow was enough to send him flying back. Andromeda launched herself at the Master who had just barely regained his balance in time to back flip and avoiding Andromeda's sword as it crashed into the ground and let out a blast that left a hole. The Master dashed at her and aimed his sword at her stomach while she was off guard but to his shock Andromeda jumped over the sword, her feet touching the tip of his blade and swung her sword at his head.
The Master quickly span to the side, Andromeda's sword managing to cut his cheek and aimed his sword to cut Andromeda in half through the torso. However once again Andromeda managed to easily catch the blow as she twisted and brought her sword up. She shoved the Master away and rapidly launched five more strikes. The Master managed to block the first two but the third managed to leave a small tear in his hat, the fourth knocked away his monocle and when the fifth blow came he only caught a glancing blow that ended up knocking him on his back.
He rolled out of the way as Andromeda's sword cut through the ground where he had been and flew back to gain some distance. He held out his hand and unleashed an energy blast that flew straight at Andromeda.
"Hmph...If you're that desperate." Andromeda rolled her eyes.
Just as the blast neared her she held out her hand and caught it. A second later she threw it up into the sky where it exploded above the mansion.
"You actually thought something like that was going to kill me?" Andromeda asked as she blocked the Master's sword with her own as he slashed at her chest.
The Master didn't reply as he launched more strikes at her, blocking them easily and noticing how desperate those strikes were becoming. The Master had never actually faced an Avatar before, he taken the life energy of spirits and humans who had come to live in his mansion for a century but never before had a Spirit Avatar entered his mansion. He was powerful but he never had a real fight before. Andromeda fought the urge to smirk as she ducked under his next blow; she'd show him a real fight.
The Master's sword glowed as he gathered energy inside of it and swung it, intending to kill Andromeda in one blow. But to his shock Andromeda vanished from his vision. He stopped and blinked before he felt a foot slam into his head and sent him crashing down on the ground again. He growled as he rolled out of the way and jumped back to his feet.
As he got up Andromeda dashed past him and swung her sword forcing him to spin around and block a strike to the chest. The Master then tried to fire an energy blast at point blank range but Andromeda tilted her head and the blast went past her, not even taking a piece of her hair with it. The Master leaped away and vanished from view. Andromeda didn't bother to look around as she could sense where the Master had teleported himself. She looked up as the Master reappeared above her with his blade raised above his head.
He shouted as he swung the sword down but Andromeda jumped into the air above him and swung her sword down. The Master barely blocked her slash but was unable to block a kick to his face from both of her feet that knocked him down to the roof. He hit the ground hard, creating several cracks under his body while Andromeda landed perfectly on her feet. The Master got back up and fired another beam of energy at her.
"Running out of tricks?" Andromeda scoffed as she slapped the blast out of her way.
The Master had taken the chance to charge at her while she was deflecting his blast but Andromeda blocked his sword again. The Master sent slash after slash at her but Andromeda kept on blocking and was starting to push him back. He tried to fire a blast at her chest at close range but that was another mistake as Andromeda simply powered forward and with a slash from her glowing sword the Master was tossed into the air and hit the ground on the other side of the roof.
"Whoa!" Izzy commented as everyone was speechless from watching the fight.
"That idiot has no idea just how screwed he is. Fighting Andromeda even when she is only at thirty to fifty percent power is the most idiotic thing anyone who's been in this buisness could do." Alphaeus said.
The Master growled as he got back up and watched as Andromeda approached him with her sword held out. As he glared he noticed something and smirked.
"What's so funny?" Andromeda asked, stopping a few feet away just in case the Master had a trap ready.
"It's funny because I just figured how to kill you." The Master replied as he started to laugh. "You're not at full power which is only reason you haven't destroyed me. You think I can't see it? You've been gathering life energy as we have been fighting the whole time!"
Andromeda narrowed Gwen's eyes as the Master had been right. Even now she was collecting life energy from the pocket dimension in the book to keep Gwen alive.
"You need to keep your host alive the only to do that is continuously adding life energy to hers to keep it from extinguishing and killing her, which would burn her body away and sever your connection to this world." The Master snickered. "But now I know how to beat you. How can you keep gathering life energy when there's nothing left to gather?"
That was when the Master started to glow bright as streams of energy came out of the ground and the sky and were absorbed into the Master's body.
"Damn!" Andromeda leapt at him, intending to cut him in half from the head to the toe.
But the Master teleported out of the way and reappeared in the sky above the mansion, still gathering energy.
"Damn it!" Alphaeus growled as he looked up.
"What's that psycho doing now?" Duncan looked to Alphaeus.
"He's taking all the life energy that has been stored in the book." Alphaeus replied. "If he takes all of it, there won't be enough for Andromeda to keep Gwen alive. If she doesn't hurry then all life energy will be taken by the Master that the only way Andromeda could do to make sure Gwen's life energy is not extinguished would be to end the Ceremony of Summoning or...find another source of life energy."
"Well you know this whole book, isn't there some pocket of energy you hid somewhere?" Bridgette asked.
"I had a long time to add to this book, true...a lot of the things I added are powerful," Alphaeus nodded. "But it would make our situation even worse if I summoned even one of the powers sealed away here. They are simply...unpredictable, that is the only way to describe it. They could give Gwen immense amounts of life energy...or turn her into a host for a Demon. That is why they were sealed in this book, so then that couldn't happen, ever!"
"But we have to do something! Gwen's gonna die if we don't!"
"...there may be one thing I can do," Alphaeus said thoughtfully. "Yes...perhaps that might do it...and best of all it really would be my last act to repent for all of this." He moved away from the group. "Follow me."
"Where are we going?" Geoff asked.
"The next page of the book, what do you think? Honestly you twenty first century teens," Alphaeus trailed off as the fight between Andromeda and The Master faded into shadow behind them along with their battle field. "Yes...here." They stepped into an area that was filled with doors...but no walls. It was all just an endless field of doors sticking up. "Welcome to the cell block, specifically for constructed methods."
"Constructed methods?"
"It means a seal that is designed to activate at a certain time or under certain conditions," Alphaeus explained. "And I do know of one seal that could tip the balance in Andromeda's favour and help to save your friend. But I placed a trap seal upon the door, and in the centuries since then it has only grown stronger until not even I can remove it. The trap will not stop me from opening the door and using the seal...but it will add me to the seal's effect."
"What will it do?" Trent asked.
"It is essentially a container of life energy, made by trapping old spirits within until the effects of their prison turned them into nothing but their most basic element. All of that energy can be channelled into a vessel, but until the door is opened it is locked away from the rest of the book, and anybody who opens the door at all will die, even if the door itself holds no power behind it. The trap will convert the trespasser into the flow of energy...and send them off to be absorbed by whoever the stream is directed to."
They stopped at a set of double doors, with a sign carved in to it. At first it looked like gibberish, but as they got closer the carving melded into a new shape.
ANY WHO OPEN THIS DOOR CONFINES THEMSELVES TO DEATH, REGARDLESS OF INTENT.
"I never thought I would use this door..." Alphaeus traced one hand along it. "Everything in there is dead now...converted to Life Energy. It will be more than enough to feed Andromeda and Gwen."
"But...you'll die," Beth said meekly.
"...I'm already dead." Alphaeus smiled humourlessly. "Now stand aside...this is going to be quite the light show."
He turned the brass knobs and opened the doors...
And he knew no more.
Xxx
Andromeda felt Gwen's form weakening as the Life Energy she absorbed began to run out. She got faulty and took a slice to her stomach from the Master's blade, and fell to one knee.
"I'll admit you gave me quite the run for my money, Andromeda," The Master chuckled. "But in the end it isn't age that wins the day: its experience and intellect."
The realm shook around them a bit, making the Master stop in his rant.
"...odd." He glanced off into the distance. "What has happened-"
A disc of light appeared at the edge of the realm that they stood in, and strands of energy shot out of it and connected with Andromeda, who gasped before she suddenly felt...
Full.
She could feel the power coursing through her, allowing more than enough power to fight while keeping Gwen alive.
She stood up, her energy flaring around her. "No, Master, it is not age...nor experience, nor intellect." She smirked, holding her sword up as she accessed all of her available power, which was equivalent to nearly 80 or 90 percent of her original strength.
"It's pure dumb luck and a few good allies," She swung, and the Master tried to block...
Only for his sword to be shattered the moment Andromeda's sword made contact with it. He screamed as he was cut in half from head to toe. He fell apart and exploded in a blast of energy that traveled up to the sky. Andromeda watched as the dark clouds faded and a bright light shined down on them.
"We did it, Gwen." Andromeda smiled as she cancelled the Ceremony of Summoning.
Everyone was engulfed in a bright light.
Xxx
Everyone groaned as they slowly opened their eyes and looked around. They were all in the Secret Altar the Master had used for his throne room.
"Wha-"Izzy looked down at herself and noticed something. "Hey! I'm back to normal! I'm not tiny anymore! Whoopy!"
She jumped up and down, shouting with joy as everyone got up.
"Izzy, you're-"Owen was cut off as Izzy grabbed him and gave him a big kiss.
"Izzy's back!" She squealed as she pulled away.
"Okay, but what about Gwen?" LeShawna asked as she got back up.
"Yo!"
Everyone turned and saw Gwen sitting on the chair the Master sat on before he used the book to send them all into the pocket dimension. Her hair and eyes were back to its usual color and her voice sounded normal instead of Andromeda's.
"GWEN!" Nearly everyone shouted.
"NO HUGG-"Gwen was cut off as her closest friends ran up and hugged her, nearly suffocating her and breaking her ribs.
"Girl, you are some kind of freaky!" LeShawna exclaimed as she pulled away. "I thought you were a goner!"
"Thanks to the book's extra stack of life energy my life span hasn't been shortened from using the Ceremony of Summoning. Maybe a few extra years or not, you never know when you have a job like this." Gwen shrugged as she stood up, holding the book. "This book is going someplace where it can't be used by any psychos ever again. Now all the spirits who were trapped here can finally pass on, with the Master destroyed."
"Aw man thank god," Cody exhaled. "That was like some twisted version of the Ghostbusters or Haunted Mansion."
"Are you kidding me? Those are second hand compared to what just happened here." Geoff shuddered. "I just wanna put all this behind me."
"Wait until everybody hears about this!" Izzy said ecstatically.
"About that..." Gwen sighed. "Sorry guys."
"What-?"
Gwen drew a symbol in front of her with her Omni-Glove. "Seal of the Void!"
The symbol glowed brightly, engulfing everyone in front of it. They all screamed for a second before the flash faded and they fell over.
Xxx
"Uuuuuuugh..." Izzy groaned, sitting up and stretching. "Agh..."
"AH! ZOMBIE!" Owen, lying on the floor next to Izzy's bed leaped up. "DON'TY EAT ME ZOMBIE MOMMY!"
"Wha?" Izzy looked at him.
"Uh...nothing!"
"What happened...?" Courtney groaned before realizing...
She didn't know that Gwen was behind this, but she was snuggling against Duncan just like on Total Drama Island...though this time in the bath tub.
"AH!" She leaped out of the tub, startling Duncan into consciousness.
"Huhwuzzat..." He mumbled.
"WHO DID THIS?!" Heather, who was definitely awake, pointed to the maid's outfit she wore. "Dress me up like some damn little doll!?"
"Suits yah," Bridgette replied, snuggled in bed with Geoff. "Now be quiet...sleepy..."
"What happened? Where are we?" Geoff asked, rubbing his eyes.
"What's with all the noise?" Justin groaned as he sat up from the floor. "Oh man! I slept on the floor! My hair will be infested!
"Oh man..." Harold rubbed his head as he sat up.
"Knock off the noise! A girl's trying to get her beauty sleep!" LeShawna snapped as she sat up from her bed.
"What happened? Where are we?" Lindsay whined as she and Beth who were on the same sat up.
"I think we..." Cody trailed off before realizing he was on the same bed as Noah...who woke up at that moment.
"AH!"
"AH!"
They both leaped off of the bed at once.
"Yeesh! Will you two calm down?!" Heather growled. "Where are my clothes?!"
"I'd keep the outfit, it covers more than the tube top and short shorts," Gwen, dressed in normal clothes and with a smug grin on her face was leaning against the wall next to the front door. "About time you all woke up."
"Gwen?" Trent asked. "When did you get here?"
"I take it you guys are sane now?" Gwen asked with her arms crossed. "About time. You guys were crazy when I found you."
"What are you talking about?" Courtney asked, rubbing her head. "Why does my head hurt?"
"What happened?" DJ asked. "Why do I feel dizzy?"
"You guys don't remember?" Gwen asked, looking confused.
"Remember what?" Heather snarled. "Did you do this? And where's the house that had the money?"
"I dragged your hallucinating ass out of that dump before you killed yourself. You're lucky I didn't leave you in the woods." Gwen frowned. "You wouldn't have lasted half the night considering whatever you had made you nuts while looking for imaginary money."
"I thought we were in a mansion for another contest for a million bucks set up by Chris!" Beth said.
"Wow...whatever those guys gave you in those drinks must have really messed with your heads!" Gwen chuckled. "Good thing I didn't drink the Pepsi."
"What?!"
"You guys got suckered, there was no contest and it was a joke by some of the producers," Gwen replied. "You really think Chris would hold a contest without cameras everywhere? Or didn't you notice that he wasn't there to meet you with a camera crew to broadcast live?"
"...aw crap," Noah groaned. "We got punked!"
"Yeah, you did," Gwen nodded. "Oh and don't worry about the whole bed thing, nothing happened between you guys last night."
"Last night...?"
"Its noon," Gwen then pulled the blinds, letting the sun shine...
Bad idea to do that in a dark room by the way.
"AH!" Everybody screamed, covering their eyes.
"The light...the light...!" Tyler hissed.
"Relax Dracula, you'll get used to it," Gwen replied.
Gwen had managed to get everyone to a cabin near the road and let everyone sleep while catching some sleep herself. She woke up in the morning and waited for the others to wake up.
"So...what happened last night?" Katie asked, getting off of the couch.
"Well aside from the fake contest, you guys had one heck of a party in that house," Gwen snickered. "I was a little late, but you guys were whacked out of your minds. DJ, you were making piles of food in the kitchen for some invisible big guy in the dining room. And Heather apparently thought she was a maid." she decided to have fun with this. "Well at least that's how I think she ended up in that outfit unless she was trying to seduce Trent."
"I really don't wanna know," The musician insisted.
"A few of you were just dancing around looking drunk. Ezekiel, you were knitting when I found you. Made this nice blue scarf for me." Gwen pointed to the scarf around her neck.
"I did?" Zeke stared at it. "Oh yeah eh, I see my mum's pattern in that!"
"Izzy you were jumping around screaming demonic baby." Gwen looked to Izzy.
"Those are dangerous. Demonic babies." Izzy shivered. "Was there one?"
"No." Gwen shook her head. "Anyone else what to learn what crazy stunt they were doing?"
"No thanks!" Everyone shook their heads.
"Good, because we have to get going, the bus is-"
HONKHONK!
"Oh, he's impatient!" Gwen swung the door open.
"There's a bus driver?" Bridgette asked.
"Yeah, when they found out the joke was over they sent a bus over," Gwen nodded. "Now come on, let's get you all home."
As they filed out of the cabin, the doors to the bus opened...
"Come on in guys...I'VE BEEN WAITING ALL NIGHT!" Carlos said with a demented grin.
Gwen certainly had a sense of cruelty. As the other contestants backed up, Gwen sighed. "Oh relax, he's not an escaped mental patient he's just suffering from insomnia right now."
"Yeah, she's right, it's okay!" Carlos nodded. "They cleared me on this, I passed me tests! See?!" He held up a very...convincing but fake license that said in big red print NOT INSANE. "SEE?! Now I had to drink 17 cans of Pepsi and 43 cups of coffee waiting for you all to wake up so I've got LOTS of energy to burn! Now get on the bus or I'll leave you behind!"
They all piled in, Gwen snickering at the back of the group. She high fived Carlos among the confusion.
"Now this is your driver, Carlos speaking," Carlos said in a calm voice. "At this time I would like to request that you...HANG ON TO YOUR UNDERWEAR!" He cackled maniacally before slamming on the gas and letting the bus shoot forward.
"Are you sure he's not insane?!" Duncan asked as he tried not to fly out of his seat.
"Look on the bright side! Your girlfriend can hire lawyers to sue for the fake contest, the drinks, and all of this too!" Gwen reasoned.
"Oh you bet I will!" Courtney said before she flew into Duncan-but Gwen knew that Carlos and his spirit had used a little telekinetic push to do that.
"YEE-HEE-HEE-HE-HE-HE-HE!" Carlos laughed before speaking with a Jamaican accent. "Fasten your safety belts, straighten your undies, it's gonna be a BOMPY RIDE!"
"Look out for the tree!" Carlos swerved around it at the last second. "DEER!" Carlos somehow made the bus flip over the deer, leaving it shocked but unharmed. "BRIDGE!" Carlos straightened the bus and shot over the bridge.
"Ok I think we're on the road, I got it straight now!" Carlos said, enjoying himself.
"BUS OF BOY SCOUTS!"
"Wha? AH!" Carlos shouted as he saw the bus closing fast. "Do something auto-drive!...oh wait that's from Simpsons, never mind!" He swerved out of the way of the bus at the last second; close enough to see the shocked look on the driver's face.
"Sorry! Wrong road!" Carlos shouted. "Just got back to driving!"
"We're so gonna die," Bridgette groaned, she and Geoff holding each other tightly.
It was a long day before Carlos dropped everyone and Gwen was the last one to be dropped off. She said good bye to her closest friends and sighed in relief. She sat back on her bed, glad that she was finally back home and done with all the fighting she had to do to save everyone.
"You did well, Gwen." Andromeda spoke as her spectre form came out of the Star Necklace.
"I know." Gwen smiled as she closed her eyes. "I got to say when I did that Ceremony...I never felt so powerful."
"One day you will be that strong but you must work hard for it." Andromeda replied. "You've come a long way...but don't ever scare me like that again."
Gwen smiled. "Relax, I'm not going to do that again anytime soon...but I knew you wouldn't let me die."
Andromeda was silent as she watched Gwen pull the covers over herself.
"Sleep well, Gwen." Andromeda receded back into the Star Necklace.