IV
"What you reading?"
Gwen jerked at the sudden voice from above her, looking up to see a four-eyed, blue furred, monkey-like creature hanging upside down from one of the many branches of the tree she'd taken shade under.
Her frown suggested she wasn't impressed with the interruption. "Go away, Ben."
The inverted smile from the alien primate was one only a pesky cousin would return.
"You've been alien for like six hours now, don't you think you should give it a rest?" Gwen added, slightly shifting up from her reclined position against the tree. "Ever since Azmuth unlocked Master Control for you yesterday you've barely slept."
Ben—or Spidermonkey, if you like—curled his tail off the branch and latched onto the tree itself, climbing down until he was level with Gwen's head.
"You've been glued to your spell book for weeks, there can't possibly be anything in there that still interests you so much?" Ben said, squinting his four eyes to try and read the text on the page of Gwen's book but gave up nearly as soon as he began.
"This is one of the ancient spell books from Ledgerdomain, it has texts that are thousands of years old." Gwen answered, opting to try and ignore Ben till he left as she slid her back down on the tree.
He was persistent when he was being a pest, she should know that.
"So, which one of them has got you reading at the park on a summer day, while your friends are having some actual fun?"
"I wouldn't call trying to stop Zed from starting a canine war whenever we take her for a walk fun, but that's just me personally."
"You know I'm not leaving 'til you tell me, right?"
Gwen heaved a groan, laying her head back and inadvertently coming face to face with Ben's monkey-mug of a face.
"If I do, will you leave?"
"Pinky promise." Ben said with an open-mouthed grin.
Gwen deadpanned. "Spidermonkey doesn't have pinkies."
"Having a tail counts for like... two pinkies, that's a scientific fact." he retorted.
Gwen's glass-shielded eyes blinked at him. "Sometimes I wonder why I had to get stuck with you as a cousin."
"Ugh, you have no idea, most miserable story of my eighteen years of life."
The wry smirk that found its way to Gwen's lips at Ben's sarcastic retort was a fond one. She held the spell book up and cleared her throat for dramatic effect.
"Immortalis Cincinno."
"Say what?" Ben blurted.
"It's one of, if not the most powerful sealing spell in existence, legend says it's never been broken by any sorcerer." Gwen said with a geeky smile.
"So, what are you learning it for?" Ben inquired.
Gwen looked back at him momentarily, then turned back to the book with the excited look still in her eyes.
"When I die, I want you to wrap a scroll imbued with this spell around my coffin."
Ben blinked all his four eyes at her. "You sure you don't want to get into the sun a bit? I think this lack of vitamin D is getting to your head."
Gwen chuckled, before shifting around so she was sitting facing Ben. "I'm serious, Ben."
Ben went quiet, and Gwen's visage grew more serious.
"Ever since Charmcaster gave me the Alpha Rune I've been thinking about how to protect it, even when I'm gone." she said. "It can't ever fall into the wrong hands, ever."
Ben stared at her a second, then flipped over to land on the ground beside her. A glow enveloped him, and it was his human form that sat beside her when it disappeared.
"I'm not sure I like where this is going." he said with a mildly worried tone.
Gwen closed the spell book and placed it on her lap, throwing her cousin a soft smile. "Just promise me if I die first, you'll make sure I'm sealed with the Rune."
Ben's thinned lips fell further into a frown, Gwen placed a hand on knee beseechingly.
"We've seen like five future realities where we're both still alive well into our forties, so I don't get why you're being morbid but... I promise."
Gwen smiled wider. "Thank you."
"Mr Tennyson?"
Ben blinked at his name, being pulled back into the present to see the server handing him a smoothie.
"Thanks." Ben said with a friendly smile.
He exited the Angel Grove Youth Center a few moments later, sipping on his drink while reminiscing on the flashback he'd had.
Was she trying to tell me something? I should have paid more attention... it was like she knew it was coming—
A beeping in his back pocket brought him back to Earth, and he rose a brow when he fetched his Plumber's badge.
Once it was up at his face a hologram projected upwards, revealing an afro-haired, dark-skinned teenager he knew all too well.
"Alan?" Ben said.
"Ben!" the boy yelled. "Bellwood is under attack!"
Ben's eyes widened and he threw the smoothie to the pavement. "What's going on?" he bleated.
"These tall ass green aliens appeared out of nowhere, me and the rest of the helpers were on patrol and went to intercept them."
"What are they after?"
"No idea, they keep talking about a crystal." Alan answered, Ben's eyes went even wider. "And Ben, they backed us up into the cemetery, I think they're trying to get to Gwen's gra—"
The hologram went dead as Alan turned away from Ben, priming to block an attack.
Ben stared at the now dim badge in silence, but that barely lasted a second.
His face twisted into a type of anger that was rarely seen on his person, before a glow enveloped him to leave XLR8 in his place as he blurred away with a sonic 'Boom'.
A kid whose cap had been blown off stood with his camera facing where Ben had just run off towards, and his mouth hung in awe as his clothes settled.
ZORASTER, LEDGERDOMAIN.
Ledgerdomain was one of the many interdimensional realms in the universe, famously known as the birthplace of magic. Most of the landscape bore a demented appearance, with vortexes covering the sky and giant roots sprouting hundreds of feet from the ground. Planet-like orb structures floated randomly in the sky, tethered by roots that cratered into the ground below them. Strange creatures of all shapes and sizes flew through the dark hued sky all over the realm.
It was a sick looking place, to say the least. However, there were areas of the realm that were a bit less balmy, one of them being a city-sized landmass called Zoraster.
In some ways you could refer to Zoraster as the 'capital' of Ledgerdomain. It was essentially a massive floating mega city, with clear orchid-coloured skies. Stone walkways represented streets where the arc-shaped stone structures they led to housed the numerous occupants of the realm.
Zoraster was where the affairs of Ledgerdomain were orchestrated, where all of the populace that weren't stone golems or monsters resided, where the ruler of the realm operated from.
The only building structure that wasn't arc-shaped took the form of a total circular structure with spikes protruding all around the circumference. This was the palace, where Ledgerdomain's ruler was usually found, and the case was no different today. The only difference was that being...
They had some company.
Two giant stone golems galloped in unison at the palace intruder, who floated above with a taunting smirk, the type of smirk you indeed only saw on her kind.
The Anodite intruder made a swiping motion with her hand as a wave of energy slashed out her fingers and through the air, slivering the golems into pieces before they reached her.
Multiple more golems manifested from the ground below and continued the onslaught, stampeding towards the Anodite with ill intent. Said purple skinned alien simply rose her hand, before opening her palm slowly, and all the golems who leaped from the pillars towards her slowed in the air.
She grinned wider before bringing her other hand up and clasping both together forcefully, simultaneously crushing every golem grounded or airborne as she did so.
There was no respite however, as two robed figures sprinted out the dust screen created by the golem's demise, both slid to a stop a-ways from the floating Anodite and bent into a stance before pointing their opened palms up at her.
"Choris Luminum!" they chanted in unison and random sparks of energy popped through the air in-front of them, rapidly shooting towards her.
Her inveterate smirk never faltered as a pink shield manifested around her just before it was jolted by the scattered energy intended for her body. The attack fizzled out and the shield went down, she soon followed, diving down at her attackers with blinding speed, too much speed for them to react before she placed her hand on both their chests.
The dual gasp that emanated from both was barley heard before they were blasted away, far back into the high walls of the throne room before descending helplessly to the ground.
The Anodite floated where the guards had stood moments ago, basking in the aftermath of her work as she stared at the only conscious one left in the room.
"You should get better security princess." she said brazenly.
The figure she spoke to glared at her from their position standing in-front of a gem-studded, stone throne. She certainly wore a crown fit for a ruler, black and mounted atop her head of long, flowing silver hair. Her purple dress was tied by the middle by a pink ribbon and held at the top by a pink gem with a golden border.
The bird-like top headed staff she held in her hands all but screamed her royalty.
"What's with that face? Do you get touchy about nicknames, Charmcaster?" the Anodite said.
"You've got some nerve showing your face here, Sunny. What do you want?" Charmcaster spat in an unwelcoming tone.
"Wow, what's with the hostility?" the Anodite now identified as Sunny chuckled as she floated forward. "I know we look alike but I'm not her."
"Of-course not, you could never be." Charmcaster retorted.
"Right, I forgot you two made up before she died."
"Don't come any closer!" Charmcaster raised, holding her staff up beside her.
Sunny obliged and stopped advancing, now hovering a few feet away from the throne Charmcaster stood in-front of.
"What do you want?" the latter asked.
"Where's the Alpha Rune?" Sunny demanded, her visage straightening.
Charmcaster's lip curled in mockery before she scoffed. "So, the rumours are true, you're a lackey for that horse alien warlord."
"He's more of a centaur if anything, no need to be insensitive."
"You could be so much more, but I guess you only know how to live in people's shadows."
"Right, I think we both know I'm not the one suffering an identity crisis from raging daddy issues." Sunny affronted.
Charmcaster slammed the foot of her staff down on the ground, igniting a pink aura around her, as well as over her eyes.
"Get out of my kingdom." she warned.
Sunny released a bored sigh, propping her hands on her hips as she looked to the side. "You don't have the Rune, do you? Had a feeling, this was a waste of time."
"Doesn't matter," Charmcaster growled lowly. "You're never going to get your hands on it."
She thrust her staff-holding arm forward, releasing a torrent of bolts at Sunny, the latter smirked before retorting with a hand fired mana beam.
The attacks clashed, cancelling each other out, albeit Charmcaster had to skip out of the way to dodge some residual energy aimed at her.
She grunted and stood back straight, eyes falling on a still smirking Sunny who hadn't moved an inch.
"Please Hope," she said, floating higher into the air. "You have to use toys to channel your strongest spells, I'm made of magic."
A large outpour of aura expelled from Sunny's ascended person, denting some cracks into everything stone around them. Charmcaster wasn't deterred, and instead zipped open her magic bag, before placing a firm second hand on her staff,
Sunny laughed tauntingly. "Let me show you the difference between us."
ORCHID BAY CITY, VIRGINIA: KEYSTONE PARK
"Y'all stay still." said an Asian American, spiky-haired boy behind a camera. He was grumping at a group of teenagers sat together on a picnic mat some meters in-front of him.
"Just take one more Ray Ray we weren't ready." one of the dark haired, freckle-faced girls sat on the mat beseeched the boy now known as Ray Ray.
His pout didn't drop but he did raise the camera back up to his face. The objects of the photo got into position at his stance, giving him everything from dinky smiles to simpers and gang signs.
"Wow, so cute. Okay, I'm done." Ray Ray said as he stalked over to the group with his hand extended with the camera.
"You act like you actually have somewhere important to be." the girl from before said with a jaded tone as one of her friends took the camera.
"Excuse me? The first Sumo Slammers convention in Orchid Bay starts in an hour and I'm not missing the opening for anything."
"Sounds riveting." the girl deadpanned.
"Whatever Juniper, you guys have fun, reports say it's gonna be scorching in a couple hours." Ray Ray said with a sarcastic wave as he pivoted and picked up his skateboard.
"Remember when your brother used to be so cute, nice and innocent?" a blonde bob haired girl beside Juniper said as she watched Ray Ray roll away on his board.
"No Jody, no I don't." Juniper answered.
A chuckle came from her other side, belonging to a chocolate skinned boy with a mane of dreadlocks. "He's just getting into his edgy teenage phase, give him a couple years." he said, raising his hand that was seen to be interlocked with Juniper's.
Said girl threw him a bashful smile as he kissed her hand.
"I feel like I made a bet with someone about Marcus having dreads and being pretentiously mature by senior year." said a buzz cut bearing goth girl who sat opposite Juniper on the other side of the laid out food on the large mat.
"Joke's on you Ophelia," the dread-haired Marcus retorted. "I made a bet with Lila that you and Roger would be a thing by senior year." he smirked at the purple haired girl.
Ophelia's eyes slimmed in suspicion and her eyes swivelled to her left, where a brunette, double pony-tailed girl had her eyes looking anywhere but Ophelia in nervousness.
"Are you serious?"
"Oh come on, how was I supposed to ever guess that you would date him?" Lila said in defence, gesturing towards the glasses wearing boy sat beside Ophelia. "No offense, Roger."
"None taken, I hit the jackpot." the frizzy haired boy replied distractedly, cooing at his goth girlfriend like a literal puppy.
Ophelia turned to him. "You're adorable." she said with a monotonous but genuine smile. Roger leaned in, but only met her open hand. "We don't do that, we'll make out in your car later."
"Okay!" Roger obliged, nodding vigorously.
"I still don't understand how this happened." the blue-eyed Jody said incredulously.
"Me neither, had Monroe check Ophelia out too, no love spell or anything." Juniper assented.
"Very strange." Jody nodded, eyes on Roger who was all but wagging his tail as Ophelia cupped his cheek.
"Who'd you make your bet with anyway?" Marcus asked.
"Taylor." Ophelia answered, pointing thataway. All their gazes followed her finger's direction to a bulky, red-haired boy with a sandwich halfway in his mouth.
The sudden silence made him look up at the group, then to Marcus who gave him a look that said "Really?"
Taylor swallowed then answered "What? I didn't know you that well five years ago, I at least thought you'd have gotten a trim by now."
"Bro, you know I'm trying to embody the Marley vibes."
"How about we cash in on betting returns later?" Lila interjected. "We're here for a reason." she finished, smiling at Juniper.
"Yes we areee!" Jody said in a sing-song voice, embracing Juniper for good measure.
The latter was still smiling when she let go, already knowing what her bubbly friend was about to do.
"Order! Order!" Jody said while tapping a plastic spoon against an equally plastic cup, only stopping when she'd gotten everyone's attention. She dropped the spoon and cleared her throat, eliciting everything from chuckles to head shakes at her theatrical behaviour. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the one and only Te Xuan Ze!"
Jody clapped reverentially, leaving the rest no choice but to amusingly follow.
Juniper smiled bashfully at the scene, subconsciously brushing her hair back, making the pink streak that ran along the front flow over her back. It was a bit crazy to think that she'd been the Te Xuan Ze for seven years now, and it was even crazier to think that all her friends knew.
That one didn't go down well with the Elders, but she'd managed to convince them not to magically wipe her friend's memories if they swore never to get involved in magic business.
She definitely appreciated not having to lie to them anymore when she had to take care of dark spirits. She wasn't the only one anyway, it'd been pretty funny to see her 'regular' friends react to Lila actually being a Sasquatch, and Taylor being a part demon Demigod.
She was a magical protector of two realms, okay? This was her norm.
"To seven years of saving Orchid Bay!" Jody exclaimed, finishing her speech and raising her cup, an action they all repeated before clicking their cups together in a toast.
"I still can't believe you guys are using my being the Te Xuan Ze as an excuse to have a picnic." Juniper chuckled as she sipped some juice.
"Jody just wanted to force us to try her mom's cookies." Marcus said.
"Not complaining." Lila said, rubbing her hands together as Jody opened up the tupperware containing said cookies.
"What are you doing?!" Ophelia chided Roger, slapping his reaching hand for the cookies. "We're vegetarian now."
"Oh yeah! We are, I'm sorry don't be mad." Roger said with a pout.
"Aw, I could never be mad at you." Ophelia said, affectionately petting his chin, with turned his frown upside down instantly.
"Is this how all human relationships are?" Taylor asked with a worried stare at the couple.
Juniper snickered cookie-in-mouth. "If you date someone like Ophelia."
"Is this a new necklace babe?" Marcus asked in a cookie muffled voice, gesturing towards her neck.
Indeed, there was a golden necklace around her neck, with what looked like an almost glowing red crystal for a pendant.
"Oh, this is just one of the items Ah-Mah gave me on my sixteenth, she said I was ready to take care of it." Juniper answered, holding the crystal between her fingers.
"Oh, that's cool. How come you're wearing it today?" Marcus furthered.
"It's hard to explain but it's like recently it's been... calling to me. And this morning it randomly started glowing, it's never done that before so, I just figured I should keep it around me in-case."
"Makes sense, did your grandma like, tell you what it is?"
Juniper rubbed her thumb along the crystal a bit more before answering. "Yeah, she said it's one of the crystals of Hamatis, the goddess of restoration."
Marcus let out a chuckle. "Figures, coolest family artifact I own is my grandad's lighter."
"Babe." Juniper laughed while shoving him.
"Now, let's enjoy the rest of our afternoon," Jody proffered, settling into a sitting position. "No evil spirits, just fun bonding time, which we should do more often!"
"Don't jinx it." Lila grinned.
It wasn't even ten seconds after they entered regular conversation that the wind began to pick up a bit.
"Hm, that's weird, we're supposed to have practically no winds today." Roger said distractedly.
The wind got a bit stronger.
"Um..." Marcus blurted as his locs began to rise with the wind.
"It was so drafty just now what chan—"
"Yeah..." Ophelia cut Jody off, her eyes up looking up above them. "I don't think it's the weather." she finished.
Juniper had already noticed.
She looked up with the rest of her friends at the—and she couldn't make this up—large, circular space pod that hovered above the park.
Juniper's eyes went wide with horror.
"So..." Tayor dragged. "...did you guys invite anyone else to the picnic?"
Trini waved goodbye to the uber driver who thanked her for letting him keep the change before driving off.
She exhaled and turned to face the beige-hued, quadrilateral structured building that was her house. She didn't always enjoy the fact that she schooled just an hour away from home, her parents had surprised her with visits in very... awkward situations.
But there were certain times she appreciated having her parents in close proximity, like now, where she desperately needed to clear her head.
She crossed the walkway that turned away from her garage and towards her front porch. She rang the bell when she got there, after ten seconds without a response she rang it again.
This time she heard some shuffling behind the door almost instantly, and it was just a couple seconds later that the door swung open, revealing a woman who was essentially Trini's doppelganger standing behind it.
This doppelganger stood five foot six inches, only appearing shorter than Trini due to the combat boots the latter wore on her feet. This doppelganger also had longer black hair than her blonde counterpart, brushing her shoulders. The doppelganger wore a face of surprise, before it softened into a gleeful smile.
Trini managed a smile back. "Hi mom."
"Sweetie." her mom said and stepped forward, holding her daughter in a tight embrace. Trini let go of her backpack strap to return the gesture, really savouring the feeling of her mom's hug—she hadn't gotten one of these in a while.
"Sweetie I'm glad to see you but, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?" her mom asked, pulling back while still holding Trini in her hands.
"Yeah, everything's fine, I just... wanted to spend this weekend at home." she said, immediately knowing she'd failed to disguise her tone.
Thankfully her mom didn't bring it up, and instead just gave her another encouraging smile. "Come on in then, you're just in time I made some Tteokbokki."
Trini smiled back and walked around her mom to enter the house.
"So," her mom started from behind her. "Your being here to reset wouldn't happen to be because of—"
"If you talk about Ben I'm going back to school."
"Sorry! Just wondering."
"Ugh!" groaned yet another Four Arms resemblant alien as his body crashed through a gravestone.
A Lowardian baring a gauntlet on its right hand dove towards him with said hand pulled back. The multi-limbed alien flipped backwards, avoiding the ground shattering punch.
He rolled onto his feet and back into a fighting stance to face his assailant, who was already sprinting towards him with a battle cry. The plumber uniform clad Four Arms pulled two of his arms back in preparation but ended up not needing them.
The Lowardian was blasted away by a large fireball that exploded upon impact, blowing the tattooed alien off to the side.
"Manny! You alright?" said the perpetrator of the fire attack, who looked to be a fiery plasma humanoid, his plasma inner body was covered by dark, reddish-brown volcanic rocks.
If you were conversant with the many aliens heralded by Ben Tennyson, you'd know of a certain Heatblast, and you were looking at an alien lifeform just like him.
"I'm good Alan, look out!" Manny yelled, but Alan only had time to shoot out short beams of fire to mitigate the double fisted punt at his chest.
The female Lowardian responsible watched him soar away, turning to a raging Manny just in time to dodge a punch swung at her at her head, and another, and another.
But it was hard to dodge a guy with four hands. The last fist connected with her jaw, putting her on her back meters away.
Immediately sprinting towards Manny from the position his comrade fell was another Lowardian, dagger in hand.
Manny braced himself but yet again was helped out by a blue-black blur that raced into existence around the Lowardian, leaving the latter stumped as the blur swished around him in a rapid, growing circle.
He was uncontrollably floating off the ground in the middle of the miniature tornado within seconds, before the tornado just as quickly 'whooshed' away once the blur came to an abrupt stop, revealing a female, equally plumber-suit clad XLR8.
Manny jumped forward and biffed the airborne Lowardian away, watching his body collect rock as he skidded into the ground.
"Helen!" Manny called out once he landed and turned back to face her.
"I'm fine," the Helen said as her visor went up to reveal her blue, black lined face. "Where's Alan?"
"One of 'em hit him over th—" Manny started but was cut off by a familiar gauntlet-clad hand choking him from behind.
"Manny—" Helen made to wheel towards him but fell to her face to instant she tried to move. She gasped and looked back at her feet to see her ankles were wrapped in chains, which she traced back to the second female Lowardian present, standing a-ways back on top of a headstone with a smirk and the grip of the chain whip in her hand.
Manny grunted as he tried to wriggle out of the Lowardian's grip, but the green skinned alien didn't budge, putting a second arm firmly round Manny's neck before flipping him over on his head, where Manny's own head met the ground in a loud thud.
Alan was just getting back to his feet when he heard something above him, he looked up just in time to jump out of the way as Manny's body crashed to the ground, then Helen's on top of him.
"Guys!" Alan exclaimed worriedly, rushing over to his teammates as they gingerly got their bearings.
"Give up already." came the voice of the female Lowardian baring the whip. The Plumber teens looked up to see her stalking up to them with two others by her side.
Behind them, Helen caught sight of the last two Lowardians running towards Gwen's grave.
"No!" she yelled but could only glare at the ones in-front of her who had her and her friends cornered.
Meanwhile, one of the Lowardians who neared the grave looked to the square shaped device in her hand, identical to the one Warjin had, and the orb connected to the top of said gadget began to blink rapidly as she pointed it to Gwen's grave.
She looked to her colleague, a male who held a large, high-tech looking drill in his hands. "This is the one." she said.
He replied with a nod and reached to the side of the machine, the drill thrummed to life, spinning wildly as he stepped closer to the grave.
He'd just begun to drill into the ground when something sliced through the air and pierced through his forearm.
"Ah!" the Lowardian exclaimed in pain, inadvertently dropping the still spinning drill on its side.
"What happened?!" the female one besides him raised, her eyes widening when he turned around to reveal a long, green crystal shard pierced clean through his arm. "Where did—"
She paused, when that faint sound of something slicing through the air came back louder, and more prolonged. She looked up to see it—literally—raining crystal shards, too many for her to dodge all of them.
She hissed as one seared into her shoulder before she jumped back, looking up to see a figure descending after the crystal shower stopped.
It landed in-front of the grave with a booming thud, before pokily standing to its feet to reveal a crystalline humanoid alien, its bulky arms as well as its face were the same hue of the crystals that attacked the Lowardians. The rest of its body consisted of an indigo colour from its feet up to its pointed head.
The only other area on its body where any green was found was on both his pecs, where two shards sprouted out at either side of a symbol that panicked the hurt Lowardians.
"Ben!" Alan exclaimed joyfully.
The three that had cornered him and his friends looked back towards the scene with worry in their eyes.
Manny released a throaty laugh. "You guys are fucked now!"
Ben slanted Diamondhead's eyes at the two aliens before him in a glare, then slammed his palms down on the ground, which prompted a cluster of crystals sprouting up from the ground towards the Lowardians with speed.
The two pulled out the bloody shards from their affected areas and dove out of the way. When they got back to their feet by each other's side, Ben was already bounding towards them with the tip of his arms now formed into two pointed edges.
His tattooed adversaries growled in unison and ran towards him fearlessly, which they immediately regretted.
More edged crystals sprouted from directly under them, impaling their feet and halting their advancement.
They didn't even have time to verbally express their pain as Ben reached them and began to slice ferociously. They cried out and swung their fists, but Diamondhead's smaller size made dodging light work as he sliced at their torsos with every opening, the red that spilled from their bodies becoming almost indistinguishable with their tattoos.
Ben stopped suddenly, stepping back as he was covered in a glow, leaving Four Arms in its wake. He leant back before throwing double fisted punches on each alien with enough force to lift them out the shards that bound their legs and send them soaring across the cemetery.
The other three pivoted and moved to aid their brethren but were halted by a ball of flames exploding on the ground in-front of them. The three covered their eyes and pulled back, finding Alan levitating on a rock in-front of them. They looked up to see Manny flipping over them, sticking a perfect landing under Alan before Helen zipped to his side.
"Where do you think you're going?" Manny said, slamming one of his upper fists into the other palm.
The more traditionally clad Four Arms looked towards the scuffle going on between his subordinates and the rest of the Lowardians. A glow later, he was zooming towards the action as XLR8, stopping when another glow covered him and left a hurling, black-lined yellow ball that pelted into the Lowardian wielding the whip, who was knocked back through the air at the unexpected force of impact.
Helen—who'd been the one facing her—smiled as the yellow ball unrolled itself to reveal the hefty, white, yellow armour-plated alien that was Canonbolt. Ben looked to his right to see the gauntlet wielding Lowardian blocking Alan's fire blasts.
With another glow, he was back to Diamondhead and lifted his hand towards them, shooting out crystals like an automatic. The Lowardian was able to raise his gauntlet to in-front of him to block the bullet like crystals, gritting his teeth at the few that managed to sear his body.
But he'd left himself wide open.
A large fire ball exploded on his chest, sending him reeling to the floor with a pained groan.
"Boom!" Alan smirked as much as his mask-like rock face would allow him, smoke rising from his palms.
Manny dodged jab after jab as the Lowardian he faced attempted to dagger him, the latter managed to dig a leg under Manny's and sweep him to the floor, he immediately followed through by plunging the dagger into Manny's chest.
At least that's what he was supposed to do.
By the time his closed fist reached Manny's chest his hand was empty. The warrior alien blinked in confusion, looking up to see Helen dangling his dagger between her claws a few feet away from him.
"Looking for this?" she taunted.
He barely had time to growl before being uppercut up straight by Manny.
"Never take your eyes off your opponent, Goro." Manny heaped on the taunting as he sprung back to his feet.
"How dare y—" the Lowardian started but was literally choked out of the sentence as a similar pair of four red arms wrapped tightly around his torso and lifted him off the ground.
He struggled in Ben's grip, but the latter held firm as Manny walked up to the wriggling alien with a grin.
"You probably want to clench your teeth, bro." he said, then huffed before unleashing a barrage of heavy punches on the Lowardian's face. Ben chucked him into the air when Manny pulled back, and the latter took the cue and jumped to meet the Lowardian up there.
All four fists drawn back.
He threw them forward, connecting with a small 'boom' as his green skinned opponent was pelted through the air, soaring over even his bloodied comrades before crashing to a harsh landing at the gate of the cemetery, which his body took out.
Ben's first victims looked back at their fallen brother, and them along with the two others at varying distances, turned in unison at the thunderous roar that echoed through the graveyard.
The sight they met was a hulking, twelve feet tall humanoid dinosaur with rough brown skin. And none of them could deny the slight fear that passed through their bodies when it released another sonorous roar, turning its head to direct it at all of them.
The bleeding female Lowardian grunted in frustration, but knew they had no choice. "Retreat!" she ordered.
Her brethren didn't need to be told twice, they each got up and speedily made for the nearest possible exit to the cemetery to them.
"I'll go after them!" Helen proffered, getting ready to move.
"No," came Humungousaur's thick voice. Helen relaxed her stance and looked up to him right as he was covered in a glow that left Ben back in human form. "We shouldn't take the scuffle into the city and put civilians at risk. Just go see where, and how they're escaping."
Helen nodded, her visor slid down and she was off.
"Who were those guys?" Manny inquired as he came up behind Ben.
Ben continued to stare silently at the cemetery's entry. "Zavgath's army men."
"Uh... who's Zavgath?" Alan said from Ben's other side, getting encased in a light glow himself and reverting back into his dark-skinned human form.
Ben didn't respond, and instead just looked over Gwen's grave.
"Is that why they were here?"
"Why would they wanna dig up Gwen?" Manny and Alan asked respectively.
Ben's eyes suddenly got hard as the breeze picked up around them.
"I think I have an idea."
"June, what's going on?" Jody asked anxiously.
"I... have no idea." Juniper answered.
She, along with her friends and everyone else who was present at the park stared up in a mix of anticipation and dread at the floating orb in the sky. It was too far up for any of them to see this, but the bottom of the pod slid open suddenly, and one after the other, figures were seen dropping out of it.
Juniper saw their descending forms, counting five. She looked to her left, Taylor and Lila were already looking back at her with game faces, nodding simultaneously at her gaze.
"You guys get out of here," she said to the rest of her friends. "We got this."
The non-magical half of the group exchanged glances, before obliging and breaking into a collective run.
Juniper returned her attention to the descending figures before feeling a hand grab hers, she whipped her head back, meeting Marcus' eyes.
Before she could speak, a 'boom' of successive thuds stole her attention. She looked back towards the sounds, seeing a large dust cloud rise into the air.
Lila's muscles reflexively tensed, and a pair of horns grew out of Taylor's forehead before he clenched his fists.
The dust cloud was swiftly billowed away by the wind, revealing none other than Warjin.
Juniper turned back to Marcus. "Go! I'll be fine."
Marcus hesitated, but one look at the towering green creatures just fifty meters in-front of them was enough to convince him to listen.
"I love you." he said, looking into Juniper's eyes.
"I love you too." she said in a softer tone, and with that Marcus turned heel and ran, joining the now scampering civilians who were sprinting away from the park after the aliens had landed.
Juniper turned with a fiery look in her eyes, walking up until she was in the middle of her two friends who'd stayed behind.
"Well, these definitely aren't dark spirits." Taylor said.
"Who... or what are they?" Lila asked, genuinely confused at the aliens' presence. Judging from their features there seemed to be only one female among them.
"Let's ask." Juniper said, stepping forward. "Who are you?!" she exclaimed to the alien group.
Warjin stepped forward as well, and Juniper admittedly felt like she was being stared down even at this distance.
"I am Warjin, commander of the Lowardian army and servant to the Great Blue." he proclaimed.
Juniper arched a brow before replying, "Well, you must have the wrong address, I've never heard of you." she said with a scowl.
"I thought it was human custom to equally introduce yourself after asking an introduction?"
"It's also human courtesy not to barge into people's homes, and on that note, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Warjin retorted, his eyes slowly dropping to Juniper's neck. "You have something I need."
A confused look washed over Juniper's expression.
"What's he talking about?" Taylor asked.
Juniper wondered that herself, she thought back to this morning, to her conversation with Marcus earlier...
Her eyes marginally widened, and she looked down at the pendant of her necklace, the crystal.
"He wants that crystal?" Lila asked.
"Correct." Warjin confirmed, making the trio of teenagers refocus their glares on him. "Hand it over."
Juniper closed her fists. "Not a chance."
She had no idea who or what these creatures were, but she knew instinctively that she couldn't let them get their hands on this crystal.
"Very well," Warjin said as he crossed his arms, his four subordinates settled into stances behind him, in unison with the three teenagers they faced...
Warjin huffed. "Kill them."
And they pounced, dashing towards Juniper and her friends with their weapons primed.
They responded in kind.
Taylor and Lila rushed forward in unison, the latter sharply ducked underneath an axe swing from the attacking Lowardian, before flipping over another swing and immediately attempting to rake the alien's legs off the ground. The Lowardian jumped above her sweeping leg with his axe held over his head. Lila looked up with wide eyes, before lifting herself off to the side, the axe sinking into the ground she'd been on seconds before. The Lowardian grunted at her and pulled his hulking axe out the ground to swing again, but Lila sprung up too quickly, her feet making a full connection with the alien's face.
He was sent hurling backwards, and Lila ran after his airborne form to pile on her attack but halted in her tracks as she reflexively dropped to her knees, watching the axe soar barely an inch over her face. She looked back at it, then swivelled her head back to the Lowardian with gritted teeth. Her eyes went wide, and she quickly put her arms up in-front of her, wincing when they met the full force of an attempted hook punch and she got pelted backwards. The Lowardian roared after Lila's form as she skidded along the ground, jumping after her.
Across from them Taylor stood slightly hunched over in preparation for the Lowardian that raced towards him with a giant Warhammer, he jumped back as the Lowardian swung, shattering the ground beneath the hammer's blow. He looked up to see Taylor turn in the air with an outstretched leg, he managed to raise an arm to protect himself from the full force of Taylor's kick, which he was surprised made him skid back. He huffed, then lifted his hammer and charged towards Taylor again, the redhead smirked and rose his hands towards the alien, who was a paragon of confusion as his hammer was yanked out of his hands by some invisible force.
"What is thi—" he started but was cut off by his own weapon swinging at him, striking him right across the jaw, then the chin, and again, and again, and again.
Tayor huffed, moving his hand in an uppercut motion, and the hammer followed said motion, punting the alien off the floor with force. His landed about the same time the hammer floated into Taylor's awaiting hands, he passed his eyes over it and pursed his lips in approval. The Lowardian groaned as he picked himself up, glaring scathingly at Taylor as the horned teenager held the hammer over his shoulder.
"I think I'll take this." he said smugly, before rushing forward to continue his assault.
Juniper stuffed the necklace under her collar to occlude the crystal from the approaching aliens, the female one swung her double-edged spear at her but only met air as Juniper backflipped away. She'd already pulled a dimly glowing gemstone from her back pocket when she rolled to a stop, that glow brightened significantly just as the second Lowardian swung his flail down at her crouched form, only to have to step back when the metallic spike-covered balls were deflected back at him.
The glow in Juniper's hand dimmed to reveal an unusually large sword, she exchanged glares with the Lowardian before springing off the ground as the female one's spear plunged into the ground where she was. The Lowardian growled up at Juniper as the latter swung down her sword, but the spear-wielder had managed to dig her weapon out the ground to intercept as the blades clashed.
Juniper landed behind her, immediately using a double-strike to deflect the flail from the other one, then set her sword behind her without looking as the spear was blocked inches from her ear. She was in the middle of the Lowardians then, dodging, swinging, parrying, and when the edge of one of the spears lightly sliced a mark on the cloth of her shoulder, she'd had enough.
She held her sword in-front of her face grip up, just as the male Lowardian swung his flail, an action he regretted instantly as Juniper wrapped his chains around her blade and pulled him forwards. Shocked at her strength, the Lowardian was unprepared and was dragged off his feet and thrown towards his companion, who had to stop herself before swinging to flip over his soaring form.
"You irritating little—" she started as she landed but was cut off by the tip of Juniper's blade whizzing inches past her face. She grunted and met Juniper next swing with her spear, before sparks began to fly between them in a rapid melee.
The Lowardian managed to use her spear to pin Juniper's sword to the ground, and the Te Xuan Ze barely managed to get an arm up to block the ferocious kick that was arced her way. She hissed at the impact and dug her sword into the bedrock to keep her grounded as she skidded back forcefully. She huffed, putting her arm down to see the Lowardian speedily approaching her, she rushed to her feet, sprinting as fast as her legs could allow her, watching her opponent's movement carefully.
Now.
She sunk to the floor on her knees right as the Lowardian swung, sliding under legs with her sword-in-hand and twisting just enough to slice through the alien's heels. The female Lowardian yelled in pain, and Juniper didn't miss that opening. She hopped into the air above the alien's head and spun a roundhouse kick on said body part with full force, sending her flying.
She turned to the rest of the battle, Taylor was handling two of them now, while Lila still dealt with one more. Her gaze shifted to Warjin, who hadn't moved from his position.
He unfolded his arms when her eyes met his, an almost inviting gesture. Juniper's lip curled in a frown as she strengthened her grip on the sword with both hands and ran towards Warjin with a battle cry.
The lofty alien waited, a composed figure as Juniper closed the gap between them and swung at his torso.
Warjin didn't carry a weapon, which already told Juniper he was either strong enough not to need one or arrogant enough to not deem it necessary. She'd prepared herself for it to be the former, but she didn't quite expect it to the extent that he'd grab the blade with his bare left hand, and snap it clean in half with his right. She barely had time to register that before Warjin attempted to grab her, she ditched the sword and flipped back before immediately springing back with a closed fist, a fist that met Warjin's.
Juniper hadn't felt so much pain in a while.
Her eyes went wide with shock as the pain waved through her entire arm, a second later she was being held up in the air by her ankle and thrown forcefully through the park, only coming to a stop when her body crashed through a tree.
She skidded to a slow stop as her body gathered debris, a groan escaped her throat as her back cried in protest of her trying to get up. A shadow curtained over her from above and she opened her eyes to see Warjin descending towards her with his fist pulled back. Juniper raised her arms in-front of her in an 'X', shielding herself as Warjin's blow connected, pushing her deeper into the ground and sending debris flying around them.
Warjin stood up straight, glowering down at Juniper whose arms were now by her side, barely able to sit up.
"I must commend you for your combat prowess, but you have wasted enough of my time, Master Zavgath will be growing impatient." he said, watching pitilessly as Juniper struggled to talk before reaching down to rip the necklace off her.
With his eyes still on her he reflexively grabbed something flung at him from his left, he looked to see it was the hammer that belonged to one of his subordinates. He hummed, looking pat the weapon to see a red furred... Griffin?
The creature pounced on Warjin, latching on to his shoulders and baring its teeth. The alien commander groaned as the hammer dropped out of his hands, a second later Lila tackled him from his torso, making him stagger back as he aggressively tried to wriggle free.
Back in the crater made with her body, Juniper finally managed to drag herself into a sitting position. Right as she grabbed her hurt shoulder there was a loud thud beside her, she coughed as the smoke cloud cleared, looking back to see Lila in a similar state to her, the Griffin beside her slowly reverted back to a hurt looking Taylor soon after.
"Guys." she croaked.
"June!" her friends echoed before dragging themselves up and rushing over to her.
"Can you stand?" Lila asked, throwing Juniper's arm over her shoulder as she helped her do just that, Taylor did the same on Juniper's other side.
"I think so." June winced.
"Any more resistance—" came Warjin's voice, and the three teens looked up to see him sauntering menacingly towards them, the other Lowardians following behind him. "—and I will pull the crystal off your corpse." he finished once he reached the foot of the crater.
"Go to hell." Juniper spat, glaring up at him, a gesture her friends followed, with Taylor's free hand manifesting sparking red lightning around his fist.
Warjin's face fell into a form of exhausted exasperation at their futile defiance. "Bring the crystal." he ordered, and the other awaiting aliens moved in on the teenagers.
"Any plan B here June?" Taylor said.
"A plan B would really slap right now." Lila assented.
June heaved as the Lowardians neared them with their weapons bared.
Don't have any more gemstones. How can we escape? Come on think! Think!
Something cut into Juniper's musings then, something that also stole the attention of her friends. They'd begun to get covered in a strange, white glow.
Except—Juniper quickly realized—it wasn't strange at all.
"What's going on?" Lila said confused.
Juniper simply smirked before looking to Warjin, the latter's eyes widened with panic.
"Take it now!" he exclaimed, but it proved too little too late as Juniper and her friends disappeared just before any weapons could land on them.
Warjin released a loud shriek of frustration as he stomped down, destructively indenting the ground once more.
Juniper and her friends reappeared in a dark room, only illuminated by the numerous candles set up in a circle around them.
Outside said circle of candles was an elderly woman in a purple, traditionally Chinese robe, sat with stone-embellished beads in her hands. Standing beside her was a teenage boy you'd already met earlier.
"June!" Ray Ray exclaimed joyfully and ran towards her.
"Easy." Juniper chuckled as her brother embraced her, made possible by her friends letting her stand on her own.
"Marcus told me about what happened at the park, I figured we'd have to get you out of there if those guys were too strong." Ray Ray explained once they separated.
"Well, one of them was." Juniper said with a frown, looking over her brother's shoulder before slowly walking past him.
"Man, you guys look like shit." Ray Ray said to the rest of the summoned party.
"Shut it runt." Taylor affronted while Lila playfully punched him in the shoulder.
"Ah-mah." Juniper said to her smiling grandmother, carefully bending to sit in-front of her.
"Juniper, you're hurt." Jasmine said solemnly as she took her granddaughter's hand in hers.
"I'll be fine, but we've got a problem." Juniper said, Jasmine arched a brow, urging her to elaborate. "The creatures that attacked us at the park weren't dark spirits. I'm not sure what they were, but..."
She trailed off and pulled the necklace out of her t-shirt, revealing the crystal. "...they wanted this."
Jasmine's expression dropped into something unreadable as her eyes laid on the crystal. "Did any of these creatures reveal who they were to you?" she asked.
"One of them said his name was Warjin. I think he's working for someone, he mentioned a name... Zavgath, or something like that."
Jasmine's eyes widened at the mention of that name.
"You know who that is?" Juniper inquired.
Jasmine looked away from her, purporting worry as she raised a hand to her mouth. "This is bad."
"What is? What's going on?"
"I'll explain everything Juniper, but for now we can't keep the crystal here in Orchid, it's too dangerous." Jasmine said, pausing again as she looked off to the side. "I have to call Max."
"Where are we going to send it?" Juniper asked, holding said item in her hand.
Jasmine looked back to her with strong eyes.
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: CANAL STREET ELECTRONICS
Canal Street Electronics—as the name suggests—was located on Canal Street of Manhattan's Chinatown. It was a store that had stood firm since the 80s, though not for conventional reasons.
Business was terrible, they barely ever had customers save for the occasional visit from mermaids for some morph potion.
You read that right, it wasn't exactly sparsely known amongst the Manhattan populace that strange things occurred in their town. Defining 'strange' when the existence of things like aliens, ghosts and sorcerers was common knowledge was a bit tough in any case.
But the people didn't know everything, they certainly didn't know about the magical underground community that ran through the entirety of New York. Where you could find everything from Leprechauns to Centaurs.
The owners of this electronics store however, were fully conversant with the hidden magical realm. If they ever had any human consumers, said costumer simply walking into the store's backroom would be enough to reveal that to them. Resembling a regular office-like space in pretty much every detail, well except for the desk in the middle of room was littered with spell books and tiny bottles filled with elixirs and potions, rather than gadgets and paperwork.
Though the real kicker was probably the dog humming melodically behind said table as he mixed and matched different potions. Fair to say it wasn't everyday one saw a grey Shar Pei standing perfectly on its hind legs while bopping its waist to music blaring from a speaker.
"That's the stuff." the dog said, bringing one of the bottles close to his face as the pinkish liquid it contained bubbled.
"Yo Fu, turn that shit down I'm tryna talk here!" came a male voice from the other side of the room.
"In-case you forgot, your gramps left me in charge 'a this joint in his will, so I better hear some grovelling in that tone." the dog that'd been tagged Fu replied.
At the other end of the room was a sofa couch that faced the old TV they had, a hand reached over the top of said couch, followed by the face of a very peeved looking Chinese-Amercian boy.
Would any description further than said boy's unruly spiked hair, trimmed at the edges with green dye be necessary to identify him? Maybe the gold dragon earring in his left lobe, I don't think much else was needed.
"Would you please, turn that shit down? What is that anyway?" he said.
"70's punk rock Jake, music peaked then kid, you wouldn't get it." Fu answered, taking time to bop his head a few more times in tune with the song before reaching for the speaker to turn the volume down.
"Don't plan on it, dawg." Jake said with a deadpan, flopping his back onto the couch when he could finally hear himself think again.
And also, could finally hear Trixie and Spud.
["You and Fu like a married couple up in that store."] said one of the two people on his screen, being the brown skinned girl that had her puffy hair up in a free, woolly ponytail.
["Eat me Trix."] Jake retorted with a grin.
["Boy, I got a man you can't be sayin' all that to me."]
["You excited for y'all's anniversary I bet."] Jake chuckled.
["You know iiit, my baby Kyle is top one at planning date nights."]
["I'd beg to differ, doubt your boy could take you on a twenty-four-hour boat ride and get you ice sculpted by a professional... with an all paid for full-course meal."] Jake's other very much caucasian, scruffy brown haired male friend said.
["Ain't everybody got your deep pockets Spud."] Trixie rolled her eyes while Jake laughed.
["Game's the game."] Spud shrugged with an innocent grin.
["Hey how's that WadeTech internship going bro?"] Jake asked the brunette.
["It's awesome bro! The level of tech they got there is nuts, if I get promoted I'm dropping out asap not even going to lie."]
["Can you chill with the droppin' out talk your gonna encourage Jake."] Trixie chided.
["Right here by the way, I am right here."] Jake said.
["You applied to NYU yet? Promised me you would."]
["Yes, yes I applied, haven't gotten a response yet but I'm keeping my eye out for it, mom."] Jake teased.
["Come on Jakey you know I'm just lookin' out for you. I know you needed this gap year, but I still think college would be good for you."] Trixie said genuinely.
["I don't know Trix, I got a lot to take care of back here."] Jake replied, briefly looking away from his friends as he did so.
["We're just kind of worried about you man."] Spud pitched in.
Jake released a coltish scoff. ["I know y'all love me that ain't news."]
Spud tittered at around the same Trixie threw Jake a soft, playful glare.
["Boy."]
Jake laughed a bit himself before continuing. ["No for real though, I'm doing alright. Just you know, I'll make decisions about my future later, got a lot going on in the now I gotta focus on."]
His friends nodded in understanding.
["Now y'all get back to telling me the crazy shit that's been going down at college."] Jake smiled, veering the topic.
["Listen, you guys are not going to believe what happened to this Frat guy last week—"] Spud started, barely able to talk without laughing.
Over half an hour breezed by before Trixie and Spud had to go, Jake bid his byes as well and ended the call. He huffed a heavy sigh out of his chest as his eyes found the ceiling.
A second later he was sitting up and straightening out the sleeves of his long-sleeved, scarlet red t-shirt. He bent to reach down and pull his black-white converse shoes closer to him, stuffing his white-socked feet into them. Socks that were fully visible due to his black shorts.
"I'm going to grab somethin' to eat Fu dog, want anything?" he said as he stood.
"Oh! Get me a shawarma, I don't know what they put in those suckers, but I can't get enough." Fu dog answered, briefly taking his gaze off a spell book to manifest hearts in his eyes.
"You've been eating those through your ears for the past three weeks man. How about a ham sandwich or something?" Jake said as he grabbed a beanie off the sofa arm, placing it over the back of his head so his hair still poked out the front.
"You're one to talk, you've been inhaling 'em right alongside me pal." Fu dog argued but Jake only smirked as he used his foot to roll out his skateboard from under a clothing rack full of robes.
"I'm a Wyvern G, our metabolism is not the same." he said as he flicked his board into his hands, adjusting his collar just enough for the light to catch his gold necklace under it.
"I'll have you know this baby's carried me through six centuries," Fu dog said, holding his belly in hands. "I got a few more in me. Now shawarmas, chop chop."
Jake shook his head with a snicker as he walked past the table. "You got it, maybe seeing you choke on cholesterol will be enough entertainment for today."
The second those words left his lips, a sudden white glow manifested around his neck.
"Ayo?!" Jake exclaimed, almost dropping his board in shock.
"What's going on?" Fu dog asked in worry. Jake turned to show him just what, and the magical dog's eyes widened. "Huh? Wait... I think something's being ported to you."
Jake was still alert but calmed down a bit at Fu's recognition of the situation, and within a few seconds, he was proven right.
The glow dimmed, leaving another gold necklace around Jake's neck. A thicker necklace, with a glowing red crystal for a pendant.
"Fu, what's going on here man?" Jake asked, looking up at his guardian dog.
Said dog climbed onto the table as Jake moved closer to him so he could get a better view.
"That thing's pouring magical energy." Fu said, squinting at the crystal.
"You recognize it?" Jake inquired.
"There's a gazillion crystals and gems in the world of magic kid, I'll have to flip through one of these books, but one thing's for sure... someone sent this to you."
"Who would—"
His phone ringing in his pocket cut Jake off, and both him and Fu looked to his pocket, then to each other, then the pocket again. He drew it out after the third ring, eyes widening marginally at the name he saw on the screen.
"Who is it?" Fu dog asked.
Jake simply answered the call. ["June?"] he said with the phone at his ear. ["I got a feeling you ain't calling 'cause you miss your big cousin."]
["Hell hasn't frozen over yet,"] Juniper retorted. ["Have you gotten it?"]
["By it do you mean this ominous ass crystal round my neck?"]
["Okay, you have."]
["June, what's up? You sound... serious."] Jake noticed.
["Can't explain in detail right now, there's no time. You've got to get that crystal to the Plumbers."]
["The plumbers? You mean like, Ben Tennyson? Those plumbers?"] Jake inquired.
Juniper's quietness confirmed her answer.
["Woah, woah, woah, what the hell is going on here?"] Jake insisted.
His cousin sighed on the other side. ["The world could be under attack... soon."]
Jake's franticness melted into silence at that.
"What's she saying? What's she saying?" Fu dog asked stressfully.
["I'll fill you in on everything I promise, it's all new info to me too, but I just got attacked by aliens for that crystal,"] June said. ["They were ready to do anything to get it off me...anything. And I bet they're already tracking its location."]
Jake remained silent, digesting the information.
["Do you understand?"]
Jake dropped his skateboard. ["Yeah, I do."]
["You've obviously got more access to other heroes than I do, do you know anyone who can help you get to the plumbers?"] June asked.
Jake looked to a wide-eyed Fu dog, and then to the crystal, taking it in his free palm.
A dinky smile crept up to his lips. "Yeah, I think I know a guy."
END.