Spiritual Showdown in Tokyo!
Tokyo, Japan. A country that once had ancient dynasties and warfare weaponry that left thousands of innocents hurt, dead or homeless now modernized as the years went by along with the rest of the world. In the present, it was at night, and aside from the multitude of ghosts patrolling the sky and some Marra who were on stakeout outside the factory in the middle of Tokyo on the off chance that someone was awake and would try to play hero, it was mostly silent aside from the ghostly moans and clicking of the apps of the phones that the teenage girls with ghost-like powers had.
In a alleyway in the lower suburbs of the city, a magical, pink portal appeared as the Fenton Vehicle, Vanzilla and Lion carrying his passengers either on his back or inside of his mane that had its own world into it came jumping out of it.
"Okay," Hilda began as she got off Lion's back. "I think this might be Tokyo."
"Sure, looks like it." Annie said as she looked up at the tall buildings. "Kinda hard to distinguish from Las Vegas or the rest of the world though."
"I think language and culture are a good way to distinguish a place from another, Annie." Sam said.
"Not to mention the types of people too." Jazz said.
"Don't forget some historical events." Maddie said. "That should help you."
"It is Tokyo." Steven clarified. "I've been here once or twice."
"This is going to be a bit difficult." Valerie said as she and the others walked out of the alleyway. "How can find out where Nocturn is when this place is huge."
"Hmm, I think me, Valerie and Danielle can search from the air." Danny theorized as he began to float with his "cousin" doing the same as Valerie got out her hover board as the half ghost turned to Steven. "You guys search from the ground. Steven, you, Lincoln, Lucy, and Hilda use Lion to search from the rooftops using his portal power." He then turned to Annie and Pony. "Annie, you, Bismuth, Ed and Peridot use Pony to traverse the streets from the left side of town," Danny then turned the rest of his family. "And Dad, you and everyone else search the right side using the Fenton vehicle. If anyone sees the factory, don't go in without the rest of us. Any objections?"
"I have one?" Tucker says. "What if we get attacked by a sleepwalker or a Marra?"
"I can help with that!" Jack said as he opened the door to his ghost hunting vehicle. After a few minutes, he came back out carrying ectoplasmic blasters. "Gear up everyone." He threw pistol-like blasters to Tucker, Lincoln, Lucy, Annie, Hilda, Steven, and Ed and rifle-like blasters to Bismuth and Peridot. "Ghosts can't be hurt by normal means."
"Wicked." Lucy said.
"Be careful with that thing, sis." Lincoln said a little concerned. "That looks like it could hurt humans too."
"Lincoln's right, Lucy." Peridot said. "Bismuth and I have been around blasters like these ones for most of our lives. We know what that type of weaponry is capable of."
"Yeah," Bismuth interjected. "One wrong move with that thing and you could do some serious damage to yourself and even those you care about."
"I can try but I'll make no promises." Lucy said.
"Good enough." Steven said as he got on Lion's back. "I'll admit, I never fired a blaster before but hey, this should be quite a learning experience for me."
"Same here Steven, I never fired a blaster before either." Hilda said as she got onto Lion's back as well as she began to inspect the weapon given to her a bit. "But it's like the old saying goes, there's a first time for everything."
"Wait!" Maddie said, stopping everyone from taking off as she quickly ran into the Rv. Seconds later, she came outside with her hands full of small, communication devices. "Here, take these and stick them into your ears."
"Mom, are these..." Dani began to ask.
"Yes, this way we can keep in contact with one another." The Fenton mother said as she passed said devices to everyone.
After a few moments of putting the devices in their ears or in Pony and Peridot's case, trying to. Everyone was ready.
Jazz and Sam then went into her boyfriend's family's ghost hunting RV. Seconds later, Sam came out wearing a gray colored, full body metal battle suit with a glass face plate and Jazz held got her hands on a bazooka only instead of rockets, this one can fire ectoplasmic energy.
"Alright, let's do this." Bismuth said.
With that, the team went their separate ways...
As the two Phantoms and Valerie flew above the sky, they couldn't help but admire the view they got due to their flying capabilities.
"You know, guys." Dani began, gaining the two's attention. "I know we're trying to stop Nocturn and all, but this is nice."
"Yeah, it kinda gives you some perspective on what were fighting for." Valrie said.
"Preach Val." Danny simply said. "I can't wait to send that dream jerk back to the ghost zone."
Just then, both Danny and Danielle's ghost senses went off causing the three to stop.
"Did you find him?" Val asked.
"No." Danny said as he looked down and saw what appeared to be a baker's dozen of sleepwalkers growling at the three.
"Whoa." The ghost hunter said as she readied her wrist blasters.
"You ready, cousin?" Dani said, not intimidated as her hands glowed with ghost energy.
"You know I am." Danny said confidently as he cracked his knuckles.
Like primal instinct, the sleepwalkers charged at the trio...
Bismuth and Ed were running down a Tokyo Street as Peridot was riding on a trash can lid as Annie was riding on Pony's back.
"So, Bismuth." The animal asked. "What do Gems like do nowadays?"
"Well, after Steven helped save the universe, me and Tiny here built Little Homeworld where Gems who want to learn how to live in a peaceful way and go there and we'll teach them how."
"Yes, but not everyone is up for it, which is fine. After all it's their choice to mope and sulk." Peridot said as she remembered a certain rogue pair of gems out there in the universe, not to mention, probably more gems as well who all weren't too thrilled with the shakeup of their status quo.
"Whoa," Pony and Annie said in unison.
"I want to visit that place one day." Annie said, giddy.
"Same here Annie." Pony agreed, all around excitement.
"What about you two." Bismuth asked. "What's your home life like?"
"Oh, nothing too exciting." Annie said as she ruffled Pony's mane. "Just trying to keep my friend here out of trouble only to fail at it."
"Basically, our lives in a nutshell." Pony agreed. "Though I don't intentionally get us into trouble."
"LOOK!" Ed shouted as he pointed down the street.
What the four saw, was surprising.
It was an army of what appeared to be 40 ghosts and once they saw the four heroes, they immediately either charged at them in a blind rage or fire ectoplasmic blasts from their mouths.
"Take cover." Peridot screeched as she quickly used her trashcan lid to block a blast from a sleepwalker... though she was blown back a few feet due to the sheer power of the blast.
"Peridot!" Annie, Pony, Ed and Bismuth shouted in concern for their possibly injured friend as the sleepwalkers began to close in on them.
"Man, I hope the others have found the factory by now." Pony said as he began to back up a bit in fear.
"Ditto Pony." Annie said as she shook in fear as she tried not to drop her blaster at the moment.
Lion was carrying Steven, Hilda, Lincoln and Lucy from one rooftop to another either by using his portal powers or by simply jumping from one rooftop to another. As they were riding on Lion's back, the four were trying to find at least a sign of the mattress factory.
So far there was no dice...
That was until Hilda saw something out of the corner of her eye which caused her to turn to the right as time slowed down as she saw someone she remembered not to fondly.
It was a tall and slim girl with red pimples on her face, long, white hair pulled back into two ponytails wearing an over-sized black sweatshirt or possibly an over-sized black dress, a light pink scarf, and salmon pink tights with black sneakers. This one was the Marra that gave David and Hilda nightmares that one time. Her name is Kelly.
And she was alone either as there was Ava, a girl with long, leg-length blond hair with a white hair clip inserted in her facial hairline wearing a salmon-pink t-shirt with a white star in the middle, a white long-sleeved shirt underneath the pink one and light blue jeans with pink and white high tops.
Next, there was Harper, a girl with black hair and a hair clip in her hair.
Then, there was Paisley, a girl with bangs over her eyes and a ponytail.
There was Scarlet, a girl with red hair and bangs covering her right eye.
And lastly, there was Isla, a girl with a bun in her hair.
And they were all standing outside the factory.
"Stop Lion." Hilda whispered to the feline.
Lion upon hearing that and stopped dead in his tracks on the roof of a Japanese outlet mall, nearly causing the five to fall off the magic infused, pink feline.
"What's the big idea?" Steven asked, upon regaining his bearings.
"Look down there." Hilda said as she pointed down. "I think I've found the factory."
Upon hearing that, Steven, Lincoln, and Lucy crawled on the roof and looked down across the street.
Sure enough, it was the factory.
"Wow, that was quite easy." Alfur and Lucy whispered though Hilda heard both of them.
"Yeah, a little too easy." Hilda whispered. "Looks who's there."
"Let me guess," Lincoln whispered to Hilda as he pointed to the group of teen girls standing outside the factory. "Those girls are the Marra?"
"Yup." Hilda whispered to Lincoln. "I can't tell if they age or not cause every time I see them, they continue looking like that."
"Quite young aren't they?" Steven asked quietly. "Don't tell me that we'd have to fight them?"
"I don't want to fight as much as you do, Steven." Lucy said as she tried to be helpful. "But we might not be given a choice if it comes to that." She then held up her ectoplasm blaster. "Remember, Mr. Fenton gave us these blasters just in case we run into trouble and we need to defend ourselves."
"Same here Lucy, but don't let their looks fool you, Steven." The female adventurer warned her new friend as silent as she could. "They may look like teenagers, but they are quite intelligent, given what they can do, I'll bet that they know just the right thing you're afraid of to make you have nightmares for weeks afterward. Either that or make you pee yourself and wet your bed from whatever nightmare they make you have... whichever one they feel like doing. They get joys from doing both either way."
"Wow, and I thought the inmates locked away in those mental institutions were sadistic." Steven whispered, a little loudly.
"I kind of doubt that dude." Lincoln interjected quietly. "Those lunatics are quite crazy and disregarding towards other people. I've heard reports from news outlet or two about that place. I hope I never end up there. And I really hope that none of my family and friends end up there either."
"Whoa, whoa, Lincoln. Don't you think you're being a bit insensitive to the mentally ill." Steven kindly scolded him. "Just because those poor, mentally messed up souls are locked up there doesn't mean that they aren't psychotic. They are still human after all." The half gem them brought a hand to himself. "I mean look at me, I have a TON of different problems but I'm going to therapy to help sort them out and you don't see me getting locked up in a mental facility."
Lincoln thought about what the half human said before sighing. "I get what you're saying Steven, but I'm not wrong with what I've saying though with those mentally messed up, they don't care who they hurt or kill as long as they get what they want, mental disability becoming irrelevant to whatever goal they wish to achieve. It may sound rather harsh but it's the truth." He said, not trying to offend Steven. "The difference between you and them is that you feel remorseful for what you do, others don't, they just do it for the sick thrill of it. Unless they are totally irredeemable, which some people in this world are capable of being, they deserve what happens to them due to them digging their own graves essentially."
As much as Steven wanted to deny the white-haired teen's claim, he then thought back to two little gems currently out in the universe named Aquamarine and Ruby (though he nicknamed her "Eyeball to distinguish her from a Ruby that makes up one of his mother figures, the fusion named Garnet as well as any other Rubies he's met so far). He remembered how his last encounter with those two jerks went. How they fused into Bluebird in order to try to trick Steven into thinking that they've turned over a new leaf (even though Steven and the Crystal Gems saw through their paper-thin disguise almost immediately, but Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl chose to give the two the benefit of the doubt though they were ready to squish them if they tried anything. Steven decided to give them the chance to change too... though rather reluctantly after his family talked him into doing so in spite of everything the two did). During that time, the galactic savior was suspicious the whole time and considering his history with those two munchkins, it was for good reason as a few days later, they threatened his dad, a musician named Greg and Greg had to cut his hair to get away from them.
And that was the last straw, as he remembered beating the two little bullies around in his pink state before they attempted to fuse into Bluebird again before they attacked each other... and fused again when Steven tried to talk them down in his attempt to use fusion as something positive rather than negative... which didn't work out.
After that encounter, he never saw them since, he also learned that while people have the capacity to change, not everyone would want to.
Despite not having seen them in a rather long time, something in the back of his mind kept telling him that he might cross paths with those two rouge gems once more in the future.
"I guess you have a point." Steven said after thinking to himself for a few minutes. "But the world isn't so black and white though, there's some gray areas there too."
"True." Lincoln said as he and Steven bumped fists.
"Ahem." Hilda cleared her throat to gain the two's attention. "If you two are finished with your psychological and moral debate can you two please stay focused?" She whispered, not trying to sound too harsh.
"Right sorry." Steven whispered.
"Right, world in danger almost forgot about that. Sorry about that. I'll try to, sweetie." Lincoln said, accidentally calling the adventurer sweetie, causing him to cover his mouth due to the slip up as he felt his cheeks heat up.
The Loud teen's little slip up caused the blue haired teen's cheeks to turn red a little as she couldn't help but feel that her heart skip a beat or two as she also couldn't help but giggle a bit.
"Quite the charmer, aren't you Lincoln?" Hilda thought to herself before saying. "Thanks for compliment, I appreciate it."
After a few seconds, Lucy interjected to save her brother from possible (or at this point definite) embarrassment. "Marra? Is that what these girls are called?"
"Lucy, thank our almighty God in Heaven that you're here and helping me. I'm so glad you're here." Lincoln couldn't help but think to himself as a hopeful expression set root on his face as he saw his sister give him a quick thumbs up.
Hilda was a bit confused but quickly realized that the goth wasn't there when she explained what exactly the Marra were when she was in the dream world with Lincoln and the rest of their team sans the Fentons, Peridot, Bismuth, and the goth in question. "Oh right, you weren't there when I told the others about the Marra." She said shaking her head at forgetting that important fact. "Well Lucy, the Marra are teenage girls that have the power to give people nightmares. And if what that rat from earlier said that Pony translated was right, Nocturn probably gave them ghost powers due to that weird deal they made with him." The adventurer explained quietly. "Me and my friends have dealt with them. The only weaknesses that they've have that a friend of mine told me about is a leather belt."
Lincoln and Steven struggled to contain their laughter as Lucy just nodded with a smile, the concept of laughter being foreign to her.
"Yeah, you two won't be laughing when you find yourself at the mercy of a Marra giving you nightmares." Hilda whispered, rolling her eyes. "Speaking from experience of course."
So the four (well six counting Lion and Alfur though no one but Hilda could see the tiny elf due to not signing the proper paperwork in order to see him and his kind) began to listen in on what the group of humanoid looking ghostly girls were saying.
"My God, this is soooo booooring!" complained one of the Marra.
"Preach sister." another Marra said.
"I feel the same, girls." The Marra leader said, looking at a shard of glass in her hand as she turned around. "But all we have to do is to guard this factory and crush anyone who wished to try anything. And with our newly acquired powers that we got from Dream Drainer in there, it's not like anyone is going stop us. Just like..." She stopped as she stared at the reflection, but more importantly... at the reflection of Hilda and the others on the roof of the building behind her. "That crazy blue haired girl and what appeared to be some of her friends on top of that building in front of you and behind me."
Hearing that caused the group overhearing them freeze as their eyes widened in shock as well as surprise.
"SHE KNOWS THAT WE'RE HERE!" Alfur shouted in shock as he hid in Hilda's hair.
At a speed that any of the teen heroes couldn't comprehend or react to, the six Marra were floating front of them before they even had a chance to do anything.
And the looks they were giving Hilda and her buddies just screamed mischievous and ulterior motivations. It was the look that a predator would give to its prey before going on the attack and devour them. Or a look that a bully would give to its victim before doing something hurtful to them be it physically, mentally or emotionally.
"We meet again, you crazy brat." The leader of the Marra said with a hint of malicious. "How's that David kid?"
"Forced to stay asleep, thanks to your dream sapping boss." Hilda said with a hint of anger in her tone as she raised her blaster. "And while we're on the subject of him, what deal you and your gang of ghastly harlots make with him?"
The blonde's teen's eyes widened in surprise a bit. "How did you know about that?!"
"I'm surprised the Rat King didn't tell you that." Hilda said smugly. "I suggest you cooperate and tell us and let us pass."
"Yeah, well what if we don't feel like it?" The ponytail having teen said sarcastically.
Before Hilda could say anything else as a response, Steven interjected as he summoned his shield. "We're going to have to do this the hard way. Despite me not wanting to."
Upon hearing that, the girl with long blonde hair and white hair clip couldn't help but laugh. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Look girls, it's the pink, emotionally charged, monster! Wrecked anyone's places due to your outbursts lately?!"
Steven froze a bit as he heard the group before him laugh as he could also feel the gem in his stomach began to glow like it did when he turned into his uncontrollable pink state. He couldn't even hear the words of his friends were saying in the now turned shouting match with the ghostly girls.
But in the back of his mind, he remembered the words that his therapist told him during one of their sessions together.
If at any moment that you're reminded of your traumatic past and your gem begins to glow uncontrollably, just take a moment to take deep breaths and calm your nerves and think of what you're going to say before you say it."
Taking a moment, he inhaled and exhale a few times as he felt the glow of his gem recede before responding back with his own witty retort. "At least I'm not a dream messing, growth stinted, coward!"
Upon hearing that, the six girls stopped laughing and glared at the half gem.
"What'd you just call us?" said the Marra with glasses.
Upon realizing what their half alien companion was up to, Lincoln, Lucy and Hilda couldn't help but smirk as the blue haired girl spoke next.
"Oh, nothing that should concern you, you dream distorting bunch of bitches!" Lincoln said with a smug expression on his face, relishing in this verbal thrashing his was dealing out.
Now feeling rather embarrassed as the rest of her friends, the now red in the face, black haired, bang covered girl was fuming underneath her bangs as her eyes glowed green with rage. "Who... are you... to call us a... a bunch of... of BITCHES?!"
"You girls obviously." Lincoln said as he smirked as he held his blaster in a defensive manner before he stepped up to the girls using something he used on his sisters from time to time, even when he was 11. And that is using there own pride against them. "What do you call a bunch of self imposed, self proclaimed bad girls, who do nothing but emotionally hurt others just because their own lives suck?"
"A Karen who's has problems that she blames others for the problems that she refuses to take responsibility for, that's what." Lucy said as she held up her blaster in one hand as her older brother gave her a high five.
At that moment, the Marra with the bun in her hair has had enough. "A Karen, well joke's on you on Gothic. Cause I'm at least a justified Karen!"
Upon hearing that, Hilda, Steven and Lincoln couldn't help but spontaneously bust out laughing. It was only then that Isla realized what she just said and the embarrassment slammed into her like a punch to the face.
"Stop laughing!" Scarlet said as her hands glowed green before she charged up and fired a blast formed into a medium sized ball of her newly acquired power at the team.
Steven noticing that the blast was quickly come towards him and his friends, quickly summoned a bubble that had spikes on it around himself and his team.
When the Marra's ball of ghost energy made contact with the bubble, it exploded instantly. It took a lot of Steven's mental strength to make sure that the bubble didn't break as he and his team fell through the ceiling still inside in his bubble. Add in that he was also using his floating powers to slow the fast paced descent as he gently landed onto the floor.
"Everyone okay?" Steven asked in concern.
"Yeah." Lucy said.
"Thanks to your bubble, I think we're good." Hilda said.
"All good here, dude." Lincoln said as he got up.
As Steven dispelled his bubble, Harper phased up from the floor right behind Steven. Before anyone could warn him, the Marra with ghost abilities quickly phased her way into the half gem's body, intent on taking it for herself.
"Get... out!" Steven said through gritted teeth at the female apparition for trying to force his body under will, not if he had anything to say about it.
"Steven, fight it!" Lincoln pleaded.
"It's your body, not hers." Lucy said, pointing her blaster at Steven just in case he fell under the Marra's influence.
"Yeah, show that bully that she's not capable of controlling you!" Hilda encouraged.
As the team was trying to encourage Steven not to give in, the half human's gem started to glow brightly, as if it was attempting to fight off the spiritual influence. Then, portions of Steven's body began to go crazy as they began to grow uncontrollably before going back to it's normal size as well as it moves wildly a little bit as he stood in place, as if Steven's gem was going to war with the uninvited ghost teen.
Inside Steven's mind, Harper was trying her damnedest to blast away the multiple of defenses surrounding the war survivor's mind as Pink Steven was standing there unconcerned like the classic round Rose Quartz shields, both the one he usually summons when in training and rather large ones like when he protected Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl as well as himself from Peridot's hand ship laser and when Blue Diamond invaded and fought him and his friends and shielded them all from one of the formerly depressed galactic Homeworld monarch's attacks.
That wasn't all as their were also strong and durable hexagonal shields right behind them like when he uses his Pink State as well as the gem facet like shields like when his other half emerged and forced White Diamond and the others to the floor trying to reunite with his human half.
That wasn't all as the brain was covered in a massive pink dome made of diamond shaped shields which was covered by the hero's classic bubble which was covered by another bubble... but with spikes sprouting from it.
"Fall dammit!" The annoyed teen ghost girl said as she let out blast after blast of her power at the shields. "Your body is mine."
Upon hearing that, the pink version of Steven did something rather unexpected.
He... made a pathway for the ghost bitch to come through.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Harper laughed as she flew towards the other half of Steven. "You're all mine!"
However, the teen ghost had all the air in her throat suddenly stopped flowing as she felt the gem grab her throat and began to apply some rather tight pressure slowly.
As Harper struggle to break free from her enemy's tightening grip. She took one look at his face and her blood instantly ran cold at what she saw...
Stoic rage. Tranquil fury. A silent anger. That was what Harper was seeing as she stared into Pink Steven's eyes which had stars in them. Indicating he was himself and not his masquerading mother. And once she realized that she was no longer scaring him, she couldn't help but sweat as she smiled nervously as she could feel herself begin to wet her blue jean shorts.
In the other words, she was pretty much screwed!
Back in the real world, as Steven was fighting to make the Marra exit his body, the rest of the group was confronted by the other Marras as they all were forced split up as Scarlet and the others that were with her combined their energy before raining it in a hailstorm of purple, green, black and green energy blasts at the three teens. And since it was the three of them (well four because Alfur was hiding in Hilda's hair but aside from the adventurer no one even knew of his existence) against four ghost chicks, it was going to be quite the difficult battle for Lucy, Hilda and Lincoln.
Lincoln rolled behind a pile of metal barrels as he readied his blaster as he could Isla flying towards him.
"Okay, stay calm Lincoln, she may be powerful but she's arrogant. Maybe I can use that to my advantage." He thought to himself as he peeked behind one of the barrels where he saw the Marra in question readying her fist, which was glowing with black colored energy.
"Come on out, eggshell." She demanded. "Or I'll blow you to bits."
"You do that and you won't able to give me nightmares, you thirsty jerk." Lincoln said, clearly hoping to get under the Marra's skin.
"At least I'm not some pathetic loser who hasn't got any!" The enraged girl snapped as she launched a ball of energy at the pile of barrels which Lincoln jumped to his right, barely managing to dodge it but he caught it the shock-wave as he was blown into a nearby tech store where he slammed his back into a large piece of machinery, causing him to he nearly dropped his blaster in the process as he landed upside down.
As he began to get up, he saw Isla standing in front of him with both her hands now turned into nightmarish claws and a ticked off look on her face... at least he thought it was a ticked off look on her face.
"That all you got?" Lincoln asked in a joking manner despite his back being hurt. "Cause I've been through worse."
"Oh, you deluded boy." The ghost girl said as her claws began to glow a bright green as she began to float above him. "I'm just getting started, hope you're ready."
"You better be ready yourself." Lincoln said as he readied his blaster but chose not to point it at his opponent just yet deciding to instead put it in his pocket. "Cause like you, I'm full of surprises.
Lucy was running around two parallel catwalks in the upper level in a circle as she fired ecto blast after ecto blast from her blaster at Paisley, who's transformed herself into a giant Pac-Man like monster who was devouring her shots with her ginormous mouth except without the video game character's classic yellow skin and circle like exterior, Paisley's monstrous form was rather cubic in shape and hand massive teeth and plump, green, cracked lips.
"I'm going to gobble you up, you little brat!" The monstrous ghost taunted.
Lucy panted as she reached the end of the catwalk as she saw her transformed opponent baring down on her at at fast pace.
Oh, what was she to do in a new situation like this?
As she looked at her blaster and then at the rails of the catwalk, a semblance of a plan rattling in her brain.
"I wonder what's the highest setting on this thing?" Lucy asks herself as she inspected her blaster for a switch or something to turn up the heat if the fight.
After a few seconds, she found a dial with four settings on it.
Level 1: Poltergeist Pulverizing.
Level 2: Spiritual Scraper.
Level 3: Wraith Wounder.
and finally
Level 4: Apparition Exorcist.
"This should be quite useful." Lucy said as she began to run from the ghost transformed monster once more...
Hilda jumped over a fountain as she continued to run for her life tried to focus onto where she was going that she couldn't blast Scarlett and Kelly, as one slip up and it would be it for her.
And considering the circumstances, she couldn't afford to make that mistake as it wasn't just her life at stake. It was her Mum, Alfur, Raven, her friends Frida and David, all of Trollberg and its verified residents be it a human or a magical creature, her new friends and even the whole world was riding on her and her new friends stopping Nocturn.
But in order to confront the Dream Drainer, she and the others had to get past Kelly and group of cowardly "friends".
And given what was happening at this moment, it wasn't going to be easy if you take into account that it was two on one, hat just made things even more difficult for the blue haired adventurer.
Noticing the powered down escalator was in front she began to increase her speed as she was dodging ghost blast without losing her momentum.
"Hilda, what are you doing?!' Alfur said in worry. "We won't survive a jump of that height."
"Hang on Alfur." Hilda whispered to herself as she noticed the dial on her blaster and turning it to the fourth option.
Hilda then jumped into a forward flip over the escalator as she stared at the two enemies in a slow motioned, upside down position, she pointed her blaster at them and pulled the trigger.
The tip of the blaster glowed a bit in a bluish color before firing a blast of energy. While Kelly managed to dodge the projectile, Scarlet wasn't so lucky she was hit dead on.
As she was hit, a blue colored vortex manifested behind as she felt her powers begin to leave her and go into it at an instantly fast pace. Scarlet couldn't help but let out a scream of incredible pain and agony as she could feel not just her Marra powers that she was born with leave her body but also the additional ghost powers that she's got from Nocturn as well. She tried to escape it, but the strength of the portal was too strong for her to break free.
"Scarlet!" Kelly shouted in concern.
When her powers were successfully drained into the portal, it disappeared as the now former ghost girl fell down. She would've hit the ground had Kelly not caught her in time.
"Scar, you okay girl?" Kelly said, concerned that her "friend" has now lost her powers.
"I think so." She said as she tried to conjure up a energy blast in her hand... only for nothing to appear in her hand. "Dammit, it's as I figured."
"You have got to be f%#ing me with a goddamn brick." She groaned. "Wait here."
"What are going to do?" Scarlet asked.
Kelly thought as she looked to where Hilda was going to land before responding.
"I'm gonna make sure that blue haired, crazy brat will ever regret hurting you, babe." Kelly stated calmly as she clenches her claw making some blood drip out of her wound and onto the floor.
"Kiss for luck, sweetie?" Scarlet said as she puckered her lips.
Kelly blushed a bit as she leaned in...
Meanwhile, Hilda (and Alfur) landed onto a sleeping person in a massage chair... that was still on.
"Whoa! Talk about really convenient." Hilda said, surprised that she managed to not only survive the descent of her leap of faith but also managed to land on something that was resilient enough to break the two's fall.
"Goodness woman, can't we get through one adventure without almost nearly dying!" The elf groaned.
"Oh, come on, Alfur, where's your sense of adventure?" Hilda joked.
"Oh, believe me, it's there. But I still have my limits through when it comes to them." The elf said being rather snarky when he said that. "And almost dying is one of them."
Suddenly, Hilda's ears picked up a sound of something incoming from behind her. So, she quickly dived to the right as she felt something or rather... someone flew right past her as he landed on the ground in a heap of pain.
That something turned out to be Lincoln, who had apparently lost his blaster and was covered in a few cuts and burns, but they were minor and not life threatening.
"Lincoln, are you okay?!" Hilda said as she tried to move to his aid...
Only for him to hold up a hand to stop her in her tracks as he slowly began to get up.
"I'm fine." Lincoln insisted as he was now back on his feet before turning to his new friend (and possible love interest) and smiled before giving her a rather tired but reassuring thumbs up. "It's just a couple of scratches and a few minor burns. Nothing too serious. Living with 10 sisters has forced to be hurt by a lot worse than this."
However, as he said this, he let out a scream of pain as he was blasted in the chest by an off-guard energy ray by his ghostly bitch of an opponent and knocked onto his back in a heap of pain as Hilda screamed in horror.
Thankfully, the blast wasn't life threatening as Isla hovered over him with green eyes to contemplate her pissed off look that her scratched and cut up face was giving as some green ooze was leaking out of said cuts and gashes.
"Any last words before I-AH!" Isla began to say as she closed her eyes before she let a scream of pain.
Lincoln managed to quickly get his blaster out and quickly turning it to the 4th setting before shooting the ghost girl while she was to busy gloating.
After a few seconds of screaming in pain, Isla fell to the ground on her knees, now having lost her powers.
"Wha... What did you DO to me!" The now former ghost teen demanded as she struggled to get to her feet, only to fall to her knees.
"That setting took away your powers." Lincoln said as Hilda helped him up. "I don't know if the effects are permanent or not. But now you can't use them to attack us."
Just then, everything that happened a microsecond afterwards appeared to be in slow motion as Isla was shot through the midsection as Lincoln was shot through the center of his chest and out of Hilda's grip in quick succession by a thin, though slightly powerful, green colored beam of energy as Isla fell to the ground at the same time that Lincoln did after being blasted a few feet away.
"LINCOLN!" The two screeched as they looked on in horror at their new friend's condition.
Suddenly a malicious laughter echoed from the area as the two looked over to see that Kelly was floating in front with a wicked smile. Just then, she spoke.
"Man, isn't payback a bitch?" She said, condescendingly.
Isla managed to look up at her "friend" as she could only say in shock as tears pricked into her eyes.
"Why? I'm your friend?" She asked in disbelief that one of her Marra friends would betray her... until now.
"The second you lost her powers you were deemed expendable." Kelly said as her eyes glowed a mysterious purplish color and in a very different yet familiar voice as she then raised her hand and began to charge up another blast only this time more powerful. "And those expendables must. be. Done away with."
As she fired it at the injured and bleeding Lincoln, the events that happened next appeared in slow motion as Hilda ran to Lincolns aid as fast as she could to hopefully intercept the blast.
"No, no, no, NO!" Hilda thought to herself as she ran even faster. "I can't let Lincoln die. I WON'T let him DIE!" As she jumped in the way of the blast, she thought of one more thing.
"I CARE ABOUT HIM TOO MUCH TO LET HIM DIE IN FRONT OF ME!"
At the girl's declaration in her mind, something unexpected happened.
A white light manifested in the blue haired teen's hand as it blinded the three in the room for seemingly a few seconds.
Once the light went those few seconds, Hilda opened her eyes and shocked with what she saw.
It looked like a sword type of weapon in her hand, except it looked kind of weird in its design. It was 6 feet in length and was surprisingly light in its weight. The design itself was that it was exactly the shape of a normal sword except with a noticeable difference or two with the sparkly, blue and red glitter on the sides, the patterns of the multiple creatures of Trollberg that she's encountered over the years running along the blade starting the start of the blade before stopping below the heart shaped tip.
The creatures in question were the Troll that she switched her and her child's places, the Marra that gave her and David nightmares and the one that she was currently fighting, Kelly...
The sometimes-rude Woodman that she encountered when she previously lived in the wilderness...
That giant Troll that nearly flattened Trollberg and that the Trollberg safety patrol killed...
A Tide Mice that she used to help David and her mother once...
And many others, and a big, blue colored, heart-shaped tip that was upside down so that the tip was the pointy end of the blade that the adventurer used to knock the blast away from her and Lincoln and right back at Kelly, sending her flying backwards.
"Whoa..." Hilda said, awestruck at the weapon she was now possessing.
"Amazing..." Lincoln groaned equally awestruck.
With Kelly temporarily taken care off, Hilda knelt down to Lincoln's side as he was bleeding out.
"Lincoln, stay with me!" She begged.
"I don't know... Hilda." Lincoln managed to get out. "I think... this is it... for me... Tell my family I love them!"
"NO!" Hilda hollered as she grasped her friend's hand with both of hers. "Don't you DARE think that Lincoln!" She pleaded as tears began to well up in his eyes. "Just about how your family would feel about losing you! Or your friends! Or Steven, Annie, Pony, Ed! Or Bismuth, Peridot, or Lucy! Or Danny's family! Or Me! Do you not understand how much that we value you?! Do you not get how much we CARE about you even though we've all just met?!" She embraced him as tightly as she could. "God dammit! If only I could heal you, I could-"
Hilda stopped talking as she let him go when she saw the tip of her sword-like weapon began to glow a bright green as images of leaves manifested underneath Lincoln as he was enveloped in said greenish light as it lit up the room causing Hilda to cover her eyes due to the brightness.
Once it was over, Hilda blinked a bit as she looked at Lincoln.
Lincoln slowly sat up as he looked down at his chest, the wound was completely healed up almost as it was never created.
"Whoa, that sword is amazing." Lincoln said, amazed at the blade's apparent healing abilities. "Thank you, Hilda."
Hilda's only response was to hug him again as tears stopped flowing down her face. "Don't scare me like that, you big dummy! I was really scared!"
Lincoln hugged her back. They held their embrace for a few minutes before the sound of footsteps brought them back to reality. Looking back, it was Kelly, who looked incredibly pissed off.
"Okay... you know what. That's it." Kelly began to say as she stomped her way towards the two as her eyes just spelled out the rage that she was currently feeling, about the current situation, pissed off at two heroes that she was currently facing, the fact that she incredibly injured one of her own friends while not in control of her actions, basically everything at the moment. "Once I'm done with you two, your friends are next. And once I'm done with them... Everyone else is next!"
Lincoln aimed his blaster when Hilda held out her arm to him, telling him not to engage.
"Lincoln, I think you should stay back." She said, determined. "I should handle this myself."
Lincoln was confused a little. "You sure?"
"Yeah..." Hilda said as she glared at the raging Marra as she readied her strange yet entirely brand new weapon. "Let's just say it's personal and not just attacking you factoring into this either."
Lincoln wanted to saying something to hopefully convince Hilda not to go at Kelly by herself but considering the determined look in both of the two females' eyes, it was pointless.
"Well, alright. But I'm here if you need me." Lincoln said as he readied his blaster just in case by holding it at his side but backed away from the soon to be ensued fight so he doesn't get in either of their way.
With Lincoln watching, the two girls charged at each other with Kelly charging her energy through her hands as she slammed her her hands down on Hilda, who managed to block it with her blade-like weapon, causing a shock wave that nearly knocked everyone to the floor.
Lincoln then began to think to himself before eventually saying to himself. "I know I should help Hilda out, but I can't help think that this fight is gonna be kinda cool."
Harper screamed as she was forced out of Steven's body as she slammed into her back into a wall. She was about to get up, only to let a grunt of pain as she felt something solid slammed into her shoulder, and then her other shoulder, and then her midsection, and then her legs, pinning her in place to the wall.
Looking at what was pinning her, she saw that it was some kind of weird hexagonal shields that were colored pink.
As Steven was walking towards her, he had a calm yet stoic expression on his face as he spoke. Looking at the shields, he remembered the last time he used them. And while he's gotten over that, he couldn't but winced a bit on the inside as he looked at them, but as long as he didn't get angry about it and remained calm, it was fine.
Also, his skin wasn't glowing so that is some progress right there.
"You know, I hope you're happy with yourself, ghost girl." He said as he stopped in front of the pinned girl, who was too scared to use her abilities to go intangible and phase out of it. "It's been said that the scariest warrior is the pacifist, and this should prove it." Steven explained as calmly as possible then summoned his shield, his classical round one. "Now I don't usually go the interrogation route I usually appeal to the humanity in whoever is attacking me or my home, that's how I saved the universe from Homeworld. But in cases like this or when I'm pushed to my emotional limits, I'll make an exception or two."
"Why are you telling me this?" The Marra said, confused.
"To let you know that in spite of the powers I possess, I'm still human, just like you are." Steven said as he pointed his blaster at his incapacitated opponent as he turned the dial to its fourth setting. "But if this what you intend to do with your powers, then I don't think that you don't deserve them."
Harper's eyes widened as she shook her head in fear. "No, no, please! Don't take away my powers, they're all I have!"
"If you think that all you're good for is the power you possess, then try to develop yourself as a person." Steven said as he was about to pull the trigger.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Harper began to beg as tears began to stream down her face. "I'm sorry for trying to take over your body, I was just following Nocturn and Kelly's orders!"
"Yeah, but that doesn't excuse what you've done." Steven said, pressing the tip of his blaster to her cheek. "Why should I let you keep your powers if you're just going to use them to hurt others?"
"Oh come on, man! You don't know what it's like to be seen as weak by your peers and having to do anything just to receive recognition!" Harper said, revealing her true colors to the half human. "That's basically been my whole life up until now! That's why I took Nocturn's deal so that I could be powerful in the face of my peers and never ignored again!"
"And was it really worth it?" Steven said, shocked that this teen would doom everyone else just for attention.
"Who are you to judge me, Universe?!" Harper said, irritated. "I'm pretty sure that you've done things just to seek attention from the people around you and make sure that they don't leave you!"
Steven looked to the ground as he thought on what to do. On one hand, if he let her go, she could easily try to possess his body again or even attack him. But on the other hand, he knew where she was coming from as he knew that she was right, he had done some things in order to not feel alone. But regardless, he wasn't going to let his past mistakes get to him, that'll just let the Marra win.
"Well, you're right on that," Steven began as he let out a breath of calmness. "I have done things inconsiderate of others and while I do regret them I don't let them control me like you do, not anymore anyway. Going down a path like that without trusting the people you care about will make you do something irreversible and there's nothing you can do to fix that irreversible thing if you do it. Take it from me, that's what nearly happened to me and now I'm working to better myself by trusting my family, and it's genuine too unlike Kelly or some of your other friends. After all, if you want to not be alone, take my advice and go see a therapist for issues like this, that's what I'm doing. Of you want that is, it's your choice."
Harper then looked to side to avoid her opponent's gaze. She just couldn't understand this guy. A few minutes ago, she was trying to take over his body and try to hurt his friends if she succeeded. Now he was trying to SYMPATHIZE with her and try to steer her on a presumably right path? Is this guy that naïve or something? Or was this a trap? Or... wait, was he actually being sincere and genuine with what he was saying?
Briefly looking back into his eyes, she saw that there was no hint or malicious or some sort of alternative motive within his gaze.
"I don't know if I can turn my life around." Harper finally said. "Maybe it's too late for me."
"Then prove to yourself that you're worth it!" Steven said, determined. "After all, it's never too late."
Harper began to think about the half gem's words when suddenly a series of shock waves sounded off behind them, spooking them a bit. When they turned to the site that the shock waves were coming from they saw a blue and green colored shock waves going all over the upper levels of the mall from two opposing forces as energy rays and some kind of strange blue and white colored magic energy balls going off as a result once the shock waves died down as the green and white colored silhouettes were sent flying to the opposite sides of the mall as the former was launched into an antique store into multiple vases and other expensive items while was blasted through three stone columns before crashing into a nearby application store.
"What the heck is going on up there?!" Harper asked in shock.
"I think someone from my side is fighting someone from your side." Steven responded simply. "And it looks like it's even."
Suddenly, Lincoln and Lucy ran up to the two.
"Hilda's fighting Kelly, right now. We should stay back." Lincoln said as revealed who both of the silhouettes were as Steven noticed that Lucy wasn't fighting her opponent anymore. "She's got this. She told me so."
"Wait, you guys already beat those Marras?" He asked in surprise.
"Yeah, my enemy is handcuffed up there now that she's depowered." Lucy said as she pointed her thumb to the upper levels to see Paisley, who had both of her hands handcuffed to the handrail struggling to get out of them.
"When I get out of here, I'm gonna strangle you in your sleep, you goth turn off!" She threatened the Loud girl from her position.
"Yeah, and I managed to depower the girl I was fighting before she got blasted from behind by her so called friend." Lincoln revealed as he placed a hand over his chest, where his wound no longer was. "Jerk got me through the chest thanks to one of her attacks. And for some weird reason, Hilda managed to conjure up a sword out of seemingly nowhere and used it to heal me."
"Must be that potential that the rat that Pony translated for?" Lucy said as she turned her head.
"Wait, Kelly killed Isla?!" The trapped Marra said in shock.
"I'm pretty sure that she's still alive, the beam was thin." Lincoln quickly reassured her.
Lucy then turned to Harper. "What was that deal that you and your friends made with Nocturn?"
Harper looked to the side for a bit before letting out a sigh. "We agreed to be his elite guards in exchange for some of his powers."
"Why did you want that?" Lucy asked.
"Primarily selfish reasons and mostly because we were bored." The Marra revealed.
"Was it really worth it in the end?" Lincoln asked.
"Guess not." She muttered in guilt. "Considering the results."
As Hilda was getting up, she had multiple cuts on her face from the shards of glass from having slammed her face into multiple glass things. She was breathing heavily, her energy beginning to run low. "Man, she is tough." She said to herself as she readied her mystical sword-like weapon, ready for another bout. "But I can do this. I've faced tons of dangerous creatures who are even more dangerous than her."
Kelly coughed up some blood as she struggled to get to her feet, her rage fueling every step. "Okay, you annoying, blue haired brat. It's about time we finished this."
With that, the two female opponents flew towards each other once more. Once they were at pointblank range, Kelly made the first move by blasting a large beam of ghost energy using all of her power as Hilda slashed down at the glowing hands of her enemy, which caused quite the explosion, causing those watching to brace themselves for the resulting smokescreen as they closed and covered their eyes.
Kelly began to breath heavily as she floated down and collapsed onto her knees as she stared at the big cloud of smoke.
"I... can't... believed that... worked!" She said, as she fell onto a support beam in exhaustion.
Upon hearing that, Steven's eyes went in shock as Lucy covered her mouth with her hands to express her shock. Harper was slack jawed at the idea that the one that she considered a friend had actually killed someone.
That was nothing compared to Lincoln, who fell to his knees as his eyes were the size of dinner plates. Almost a catatonic state as tears began to be created in his eyes.
Which was soon broken as something spoke up from smoke from the explosion.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." said a familiar yet confident voice.
As the smoke dissipated, it is revealed that a bubble made of hexagonal, almost mirror like shields was formed around Hilda at the last possible microsecond as it protected her from the blast.
"Protection spell?" Steven said in awe as stars filled his eyes.
"Cool." Lucy said as a small smile appeared on her face.
"I honestly thought she was a goner." Lincoln said as tears of joy streamed down his face.
"Dispel." Hilda said as she focused her mind to launch herself forward at the speed that was kinda similar to that of speeding bullet as Kelly quickly formed a ghost force-field around herself as felt Hilda slashed at it with her mystical weapon, breaking the empowered barrier and causing a shock wave that knocked the ghostly powered female back and sent Hilda skidding back a little before she managed to regain her stance.
"Take this!" Hilda said, as she pointed her weapon at Kelly as she forced some large, metallic objects to pin the ghost girl down.
"She got her!" Steven said, thinking that the fight is.
"No, she didn't." Lucy said.
Breathing heavily, Kelly turned intangible and walked free from it.
"What?!" Hilda said in shock.
"Well duh, I have ghost powers, what did you expect?" Kelly said, mockingly. "Wanna give up? I have better things to do than to play babysitter with a bunch of brats."
"Why don't you give up then?" Hilda said in response as she fired a ball of magic at her enemy.
However, instead of hitting her like Kelly expect it to, it exploded in manner similar to that of a flashbang grenade.
Kelly screamed in pain as she fell out of her intangible state trying to clear her eyes of burning sensation as those watching managed to close their eyes in the nick of time.
Kelly's blindness was giving Hilda enough time to end this.
So she took out her blaster and quickly pulled the trigger.
As her sight cleared up, Kelly's eyes widened in shock as she felt herself get blasted with the anti ghost weapon, letting out a scream of pain as she felt her newly acquired powers vanish from her body.
After blinking a few times, Kelly found Hilda, Harper, and three of the adventurer's friends including the pink, portal making Lion standing in front of her with Lincoln, Lucy and Hilda having their blasters pointed at her and Steven having his shield out and Harper having a saddened look.
The Marra leader tried to move, but found herself restrained somehow. Looking down, she saw that her hands were handcuffed and tied around a stone column and a rope tied around her abdomen and her legs.
"I wouldn't recommend that you move, blondie." Lincoln said rather smugly. "You can't use your ghost powers anymore."
"Plus you're outnumbered." Hilda said with a hint of smugness in her tone. "So you are not going to get free."
Knowing that they were right, Kelly stopped her futile struggling as she glared up at her enemies.
"Now, we're going to cut to the chase." Lucy said as she stepped up to the tied up girl. "Where's Nocturn?"
"Not here." She said simply.
"Is that right?" Lincoln said as he pointed his blaster at her in a uncharacteristically threatening manner.
"Check the factory we were guarding. That Nocturne is a fake." The former ghost explained.
"Is that right?" Lincoln said snidely before he then turned to Steven. "Steven, you and I will check it out." He then turned to Hilda, Lucy and Lion. "You three stay here and watch these Marra in case they try anything."
The group nodded as the two boys began to walk away.
The group still in the place looked in silence as four minutes were going by.
Seconds later, Hilda heard the device in her ear go off as Lincoln's voice was heard.
"What the Marra said was true." The white haired teen said. "This "Nocturn" is just a big cut out placed in one of the tallest boxes I've ever seen."
"Guess you aren't a complete liar after all." Hilda said, now getting annoyed. "So where's the real Nocturn?"
"Let me answer that with a limerick." Kelly said smugly. "A crazy girl and her friends try to save the world, from a dream named Nocturn, unbeknownst to them to them that upon discovering the fake they soon realized that the real Nocturn is in Trollberg, crazy girl!"
Upon hearing that the ghost was in her hometown and didn't even realize it caused Hilda's eyes to go wide with shock. "Say it ain't so."
"But it is so." Kelly said, a smug grin having don her face. "He told me and my friends himself that he was resting there before you guys woke up."
Lincoln, being rather fearful, quickly tapped into his earphone. "Danny, come in! Do you read me?"
A few seconds later, he heard the ghost hero's voice on the other end.
"I hear you, Lincoln. What's up?"
"It turns out that Nocturn had a backup plan for us coming here!" Lincoln said, urgently. "He's really in Hilda's hometown of Trollberg! We've got to get there now!"
"Okay, Lincoln. I understand that worried for your friend's hometown, but you've got to calm down." The phantom hero said, noticing that the young teen was panicking. "Just take a moment to breathe. Can you do that, dude?"
Understanding what the experienced hero was getting at and releasing that freaking out right now won't help anyone. So the man with the plan breathed in, then out...
In...
And out...
He repeated this process 6 more times before he finally managed to calm himself down.
"Better?" Lucy said as she laid a hand on her brother's shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm good." Lincoln said before talking to Danny once more. "Thanks Danny."
"No problem, man." He said in response. "You should try to keep calm in stressful situations. Okay, more sleepwalkers are coming, I think they're trying to keep us distracted. Gook luck in case we take too long stopping these guys."
Just then, Steven's earpiece went off.
"Steven, can you hear me?" Peridot asked into her own earpiece.
"Peridot? What's going on?" The hybrid asked.
"There's too many sleepwalkers for us to fight so we needed to retreat." The green gem said. "We're heading to you guys now."
"Alright, see you guys soon." Steven said as he turned to the others. "Everyone get ready, we're about to have some company."
"Then let's not keep them waiting." Hilda said as she summoned her strange blade again. "Let's go!"
At that declaration, Lincoln, Lucy, Steven, Hilda, the still hiding Alfur, and Lion all ran to the nearest exit.
Get ready guys! Cause the final fight with Nocturn commences in the penultimate chapter of Dreams of Destiny. Stay tuned for next time!