Hi everyone, welcome back to J-WITCH. Last chapter was a real emotional ride for sure, but now things are going to get even more insane as the conflict between the Guardians and Demon Sorcerers continue.
That being said, let's get started!
Fall of Kandrakar
The Guardians, Chan Clan, as well as Matt and Alchemy, had met up with Caleb, Blunk, the Enforcers, and the Council of Kandrakar in the central dimension as they discussed everything that happened recently.
"So… Nerissa, Drago, and Shendu were able to free all of the other Demon Sorcerers… and they attacked your families…?" Halinor questioned, summing up everything that they were told.
"Yeah…" Will confirmed regretfully. "They even kidnapped my mom… I… I had to reveal my secret to her…" She looked away, causing Matt to come up to her and link his hand to hers to provide some comfort, with Jade doing the same as she put a hand on her spirit sister's shoulder. Even Cornelia linked hands with Caleb, remembering how the demons attacked her sister.
"Things just keep getting worse, don't they?" Finn said.
"First the old hag and her dragon brat nab Elyon, now all this?" Chow questioned.
"Yeah, it ain't looking good right now." Ratso looked down.
"And I… foresaw none of it…" The Oracle confessed with a feeling of agitation. "Ever since Drago had first appeared… my visions have only gotten foggier. Even the deepest of meditations do nothing to lift it."
"Well, if you're powers have been bugging you since Drago… maybe he did something…?" Hay Lin guessed, looking towards Uncle for a possible answer.
"No. Oracle powers cannot be so easily clouded." The old man answered. "A powerful form of magic is at work, far superior than what Drago can currently do."
"My money's on his mommy then." Irma said with a growl.
"Then what about a spell to heal the Oracle?" Alchemy asked.
"All our spell resources are currently being used to devise a possible universal banishment spell to send the Demon Sorcerers back to the Netherworld." Tohru said.
"But won't Nerissa just be able to Fold them out again?" Taranee questioned. "And what about Drago? It might affect his dad and everyone else, but what about him?"
"Even if Drago and Nerissa are unaffected, banishing the demons could give us some time to find a permanent solution to the two of them." Jackie said.
"Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?" Cornelia asked.
"You must all return to Earth." The Mage said specifically to the Guardians, Chan Clan, and their earth-allies. "Until the Oracle regains his sight, you are the eyes of the Council."
"And how do we know they're still on Earth?" Jade questioned. "Since Nerissa can Fold, they could be anywhere in this dang large universe."
"Indeed, which is why we must focus our attention on demon banishing spell." Uncle said. "Why waste time searching individual world, when we have no means to permanently defeat our enemies?"
"Uncle is right." Jackie said. "We all fought the Demons and forced them to retreat in the past, but that is not the same as a total victory. First, we need to banish the demons again. Then, we will deal with Nerissa and Drago."
"Well, it's better than nothing I guess." Will said as she used the Heart of Kandrakar to open a Fold, allowing the group to leave the central realm for Earth with the Fold closing behind them all.
"So… what do we do?" Chow asked, referring to himself, Caleb, Finn, Ratso, and Blunk.
"Wanna play cards?" Ratso offered as he pulled out a deck of playing cards from his coat, which Blunk took to inspect.
"Hmm… pretty paper cards. Blunk could trade these." The Passling contemplated.
"Those ain't baseball cards. Not the type to trade." Finn told him.
"Hmmph. Finn no nothing about art of trading." Blunk looked away, sounding comically offended.
Caleb rolled his eyes slightly as he approached the Council. "Oracle, High Council, is there anything at all we can do to help? Alborn and Miriadel are ruling in Elyon's stead until she returns, and with the Knights of Vengeance detained, there hasn't been any kind of trouble there."
"Not yet." The Mage said as she put a hand on Caleb's own shoulder. "But perhaps you should return to Meridian. Nerissa and the demons may be hiding in that realm as we speak."
"Good point." Caleb admitted. "Blunk… we gotta…" The young rebel turned around to look in surprise to see Finn trying to yank some of Ratso's cards out of Blunk's mouth with Chow pulling on Finn and Ratso pulling on Blunk as the stubborn Passling tried to keep them in, but the Enforcers won out as Finn and Chow pulled all the cards out but fell back as their saliva-covered cards landed on both their shirts.
"Dude… I just cleaned this suit…" Finn groaned.
"Why'd you eat those things!?" Chow questioned to Blunk.
"Not eat. Paper cards made good toothpicks." The Passling answered as Ratso held him. "Why else trade cards?"
"Oh, never say that on Earth, Blunk." Ratso advised. "Not unless you wanna piss off a bunch of comic book geeks."
As Caleb smacked his own forehead at his colleague's mischief, the Mage happened to look out the skylight, showing the clear blue sky as she saw a faint flash of energy in the distance, something that made her wince slightly.
Caleb should have left when he had the chance. But now it was too late. The attack was about to begin.
A massive Fold had opened up some distance away from the fortress of Kandrakar. Emerging from said Fold was a giant flying dragon-like creature, which was actually Po Kong, using the ability of the Monkey Talisman to take the form of a giant flying beast, allowing for all of her siblings and nephew to ride on as they neared the fortress.
"Ah, Kandrakar." Drago took in the scenery. "So beautiful… so peaceful… Let's fix that, shall we?" He mused with a sinister grin, clenching a fiery fist.
Earth – Uncle's Rare Finds
Uncle, Tohru, Alchemy, along with Will, were all gathered in the back room of the shop as they had a large assortment of various spell ingredients; among which were eight specific items including a sword, a gourd, a flute, a fan, a flower, a wooden drum, a pair of castanets, and a lotus pod.
"Okay, we got all eight of the main spell ingredients. One for each Demon Sorcerer." Alchemy summed up. "Think we can… maybe mix it altogether somehow? Like… grind all of them together into powder… Ow!" She felt a dope-slap on her head, courtesy of Uncle.
"Key relics are not same as ingredients!" Uncle chastised. "They must be used with spells!"
"Sensei's right. Three of them are musical instruments and have to be played in order for the spell to activate." Tohru said.
"I see…" Alchemy rubbed her forehead.
"Well… what if we cast all eight of the spells at the same time?" Will suggested. "Should be easier, right?"
"Hmm, perhaps." Uncle thought for a moment. "Similar ingredients are used in spells."
"A simultaneous casting though would require multiple people." Tohru said.
"Well there's at least eight of them; three wizards plus six Guardians plus Jackie is ten, that's more than enough." Will added. "Huh, looks like math can be used in real life, who knew?"
"Will?" Jackie poked his head in the back room, getting her attention.
"What's up, Jackie?"
"Can we speak outside for a moment?" The man requested.
Shrugging, Will stood up and left the room, leaving Uncle, Tohru, and Alchemy alone to their work. Once outside, Will saw Jackie, as well as Jade, Matt, and all her friends looking to her with concern.
"What's wrong?"
"You've been staying at my place so long…" Jade began "You're literally sleeping in the same room as me. And don't get me wrong, I love a good sleepover, especially with my spirit sis but…"
"You have not made any effort to go to your own home." Jackie said.
"Well, duh. We got a crazy sorceress, her homicidal son, and eight walking apocalypses lurking out there!" Will said as if it were obvious. "Wanna do what I can to help get rid of them!"
"Is that the only reason you're staying here though?" Taranee questioned.
"What are you guys getting at?" Will questioned irritably.
"Will… you've been avoiding your mom." Matt said, getting right to the point.
That caused the redhead to wince slightly before trying to calm herself down and gave her response. "You guys said to give her some space to let her process it all. That's what I'm doing."
"It's been almost a week. I'd say that's more than enough time to process." Cornelia pointed out.
"Time to process that her daughter has magical powers and has been fighting murderous monsters?" Irma retorted.
"Not helping, Irma." The blonde retorted irritably.
"Look Will… we get it." Hay Lin tried to speak more gently. "What happened with your mom was… It didn't go the way you wanted to, sure. But that doesn't…"
"She doesn't want anything to do with me!" Will all but exclaimed, causing many of her friends to stumble back. "You all saw how she was! You really expect everything to just go back to normal after all that?! After getting kidnapped by demons and me dumping all of this on her?!" She pulled out the Heart of Kandrakar for emphasis.
"Obviously, not." Jackie said more firmly, as he wasn't even remotely taken back by Will's outburst. In fact, he was actually expecting it. "But avoiding this altogether is not going to solve the problem. You need to speak with your mother."
"And what if she doesn't want to speak to me?" Will looked away, crossing her arms with a scowl.
"Come on Will, you don't know that." Jade tried to speak.
"Jade, you have absolutely no room to talk." Will turned around and pointed to her. "When was the last time you called up your parents about fighting your demon of the week?!"
"Will!" Matt exclaimed, pulling her away.
The girl soon realized what she said and looked towards Jade, who seemed shocked and even somewhat hurt by what she said, which caused a bubble of regret to form inside her.
"Jade… I-I'm sorry." She quickly apologized. "I shouldn't have said that."
"No, you're right." Jade admitted with a sigh before giving a hallow chuckle. "And I know my folks wouldn't take it well either."
Jackie put a comforting hand on his niece's head before doing to the same to Will as he smiled. "I know that this is… difficult ground we're treading on right now. But I still stand by what I said before. We're in this together. Whether it be fighting demons or mending familial troubles. Will, you know we are all here for you, and you are not facing this alone. But you still have to face it. You can't just avoid your mother forever. It has been some time… and I believe the worst may have passed. Your mother is a good person, Will. I'm sure she will understand, if you give her the chance to."
That seemed to cause Will some mental release as she looked to the man with a sad smile. "Thanks Jackie. And Jade… I am really sorry for what I said."
"Forget it." Jade brushed off with a grin as she lightly punched Will in the arm. "In a way, she's kinda family to me too. Ya know, the whole spirit sister thing? Can't wait for her reaction to that."
Will laughed, which caused everyone else to smile with relief. Honestly, imaging how her mother would react to that little tidbit of information probably would be funny.
Speaking of her mother, Susan was currently in Dean's apartment as she brought her boyfriend a cup of coffee while he sat on the sofa, with some bandages wrapped around his forehead.
"Susan, I'm fine." He said with a mild laugh. "It was barely a mild concussion, I'm not crippled or anything."
"I know, I know." She replied as she sat down next to him. "But just making sure. The school and PTA even insisted you take a week off."
"I'd say they're overreacting, but it's not all bad." Dean smiled as he leaned into Susan's shoulder. "Means I get more time with you."
Susan giggled slightly with a blush as she looked away. However, that's when the man noticed a brief look of sadness in her eyes, evident as her own smile faded.
"Hey, is something wrong?" He asked, sitting up slightly.
"Um… well… I guess so." Susan began to confess. "It's… It's Will…"
"What happened? Is she okay?" Dean asked with worry.
"She's fine… but…" Susan didn't even know what to say to him. What even could she say? That her daughter had magic powers, and that she and all her friends led a secret double-life fighting monsters?
"Did you two get in a fight?" Dean asked once more
"Something like that…" Susan began. "I… It's hard to put to words but… What do you do when someone you love has a secret…? When they've kept it from you for so long… even lied about it…?"
"Well… I guess it depends on what the secret is." Dean said, listening closely.
"She's not doing drugs or anything like that." Susan quickly said. "But…" She rubbed her own fingers together. "I guess from a… certain perspective… she thinks she's been helping people… but at risk to herself."
Dean gave a chuckle. "What, is she a superhero or something?"
Susan did her best not to wince, or even explode in fury at that. She knew Dean wasn't serious and meant that solely as a joke, but it was not funny. Her only child was risking her life fighting dangerous creatures that could kill any normal person. In fact, she herself probably could have died back there. But she did her best to restrain herself. It's not like Dean would have believed her if she had told him. Especially when she herself still had a really hard time processing it.
She soon felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to Dean who gave her an assuring look. "I… won't ask for details, I can tell it's bugging you. But Will's a good girl. She's smart, she's nice, and she's always sticking by her friends when they're in trouble. And I know that she cares about you a lot. Whatever that secret is, has it really changed any of that about her?"
Looking down, Susan thought for a moment, flashing back to that horrible night. She herself was panicking so much that it was a miracle she didn't have a heart attack. But her daughter had kept calm… and even protected her and all her other friends. She spoke to her with assurance and did her best to make sure that she was safe.
Susan said nothing but shook her head to give her answer.
"Well, there you go." Dean said. "Everyone has their secrets. We kept our relationship a secret… even if it was a bad idea. But, sometimes we all do the wrong things for the right reasons. You kept us dating a secret because you were afraid of hurting Will, maybe it was the same thing here and she didn't want you to worry. I know how close you are, so it seems like something she would do. But, look at it like this. Now that it's all out and in the open, you can find a way to work through it. Reach out to Will, talk with her, try to understand her point of view and why she felt she had to keep her secret just that. I'm sure you'll work it out."
A small smile graced Susan's face. "Since when are you therapy material? I thought you were a history teacher."
"Undergrad in sociology and psychology." Dean answered with a slight chuckle. "Gotta know how the idiots in history think so you can teach the students not to repeat their mistakes." That caused Susan to laugh again. "There's that cute little laugh I love."
Susan sighed, feeling something of a weight lifted off her shoulders. "Thanks, Dean." She kissed him on the cheek, causing him to blush with a smile as he stood up standing up. "Gonna head home, talk with Will for a bit. Will you be fine on your own?"
Dean laughed. "Again, not crippled. I'll be fine. Worst case scenario, I'll ask Scales for help, right buddy?" He gestured to the tank where his pet lizard was kept, who stuck out his tongue in response.
"Alrighty, then. Scales, you're in charge." Susan told the lizard with a smile before leaving.
Kandrakar
"I can't believe we're actually here… the center realm…" Hsi Wu looked around alongside his siblings as they continued to ride Po Kong's giant dragon form.
"Ugh, it's too bright for my taste." Xiao Fung held his hand over his face.
"A problem easily remedied, brother." Shendu said with enthusiasm. "Kandrakar has been undisturbed since the formation of the universe itself. But that is now about to change. Follow the plan, and the realm that has held the cosmos together, the realm that has brought order this universe… it will all be ours!"
"Just remember, Shendu." Tso Lan advised. "Should you, your mate, and your son fail… the responsibility will be placed squarely on your shoulders."
"Then we got nothing to worry about." Drago relied confidently. "So… who wants to strike first?"
Tchang Zu roared as he threw a large thunderbolt towards the top of the palace, which caused a powerful explosion. And that was only the first out of dozens of lightning blasts that the Thunder Demon had unleashed.
The palace shook as rubble was already falling from the ground, alerting the Council and their gathered allies.
"What was that?!" Caleb questioned.
"Earthquake?!" Ratso wondered.
"There are no earthquakes in Kandrakar." Luba said.
The Oracle waved his hand to create a magic projection to show what was occurring outside, which was the incoming demons as Tchang Zu threw lightning bolt after lightning bolt, much to the shock of everyone.
All except the Mage, who did her best not to smile sinisterly. How she would have hoped this attack had occurred just a moment or two later, where Caleb had left. But it was too late for that now.
"Uh oh…" Chow gulped.
"The fortress at the heart of infinity… is under siege…?!" Halinor's face went pale.
"Yeah, by Shendude and his freaking demon family!" Finn exclaimed.
Another lightning bolt strike at the top of the tower caused even greater damage, leading to the ceiling above to break apart with chunks of rubble falling to the group, with Blunk screaming as Caleb and the Enforcers braced themselves.
However, the Oracle, who was remaining calm, extended his hand forward. This caused all the rubble to stop in mid-air before it slowly re-ascended and merged back with the ceiling, repairing itself thanks to the Oracle's power.
"Whoa…" Ratso looked in awe with his colleagues.
"Remain calm, everyone." The Oracle began to lay instruction. "Blunk, Fold to Earth and summon the Jackie and Guardians."
"Yes, Blunk do that! Fold out of here quickly!" The Passling already had the Tonga Tooth out, which he slashed to open a Fold and leapt in quickly.
"Luba, maintain the Aurameres! Nothing must interfere with the source of the Guardians' power!" The Oracle ordered, to which Luba nodded before quickly making her way to the instructed destination. "The rest of you, follow me. We'll hold the demons at bay until reinforcements arrive." He led the others away.
"Eh… We've written our wills, right?" Chow said nervously to his friends, all of whom looked extremely nervous, but they went on ahead regardless.
The Oracle led Halinor, Tibor, Althor, Caleb, the Enforcers, and the Mage all outside where they saw Po Kong's flying form with her demonic family still riding on top.
The transformed Mountain Demon licked her chops. "Hmm, the appetizers came to me." She lunged forward with an open mouth, but the Oracle thrusted his hand forward to unleash a massive energy blast right into Po Kong's face, which was enough to knock her transformed state off balance, sending all of the demons on her back flying off as she herself fell.
However, Shendu was still able to fly as he caught his own son in his hand, as could Hsi Wu and Tso Lan, with the Moon Demon using his gravity powers to catch Dai Gui while Tchang Zu conjured a thunder cloud to ride on, as Bai Tza blasted water from her hands to reach Xiao Fung, who unleashed wind from his mouth to ascend straight up and rejoin their siblings. Likewise, Po Kong shifted her form into that of a giant cobra, to curl around the base of the fortress before she reached the clouds and began to slither her way up.
Tso Lan used his powers to hurl Dai Gui into the bottom of the fortress, where the Earth Demon proceeded to dig his way into it, allowing the other demons to advance towards the Council and their allies.
Tchang Zu threw another thunderbolt, but Tibor created an energy barrier to protect everyone from the blast. Althor threw a fireball at Tchang Zu in response, and while that did knock him back somewhat, it wasn't nearly enough to stop him as he threw another thunderbolt at the area above them, causing the walls to crumble. Hsi Wu added to that by quickly flying forward and shooting heat beams from his eyes at that same spot, carving a line along the wall as more rubble fell towards the council and their allies again.
However, the Oracle was able to catch the debris before it could hurt anyone and used some kind of telekinetic power to hurl it towards the incoming demons, who were forced to scatter and avoid the debris.
All except Tso Lan who caught it with little effort with his own gravity powers. The Moon Demon narrowed his eyes at the Oracle, as he used his powers to bring all the rubble together in the form of a large and hardened sphere of rock and sent it straight at the Oracle like a cannonball.
The Oracle responded by waving his hand at the incoming rock, causing it to turn to dust as it all blew past him. The leader of the Council glared as he ascended from his position at the fortress and hovered in the sky, on equal level with Tso Lan.
"The mighty leader of Kandrakar." Tso Lan acknowledged. "Let us see if your power makes you truly worthy of that position." He extended all four of his hands to blast a powerful gravity attack at him, which the Oracle met with a blast of pure white energy from his own hands as their attacks collided and pressed against one another.
Shendu was next to attack, with Drago on his shoulder. He hovered directly in front of the council and their allies, making brief eye-contact with the Mage, who gave only the tiniest of nods, before the Fire Demon unlashed his titular element upon the Council, causing Caleb and the Enforcers to scatter as the Council used their respective powers to shield themselves.
Tibor, however, appeared to be vulnerable as Xiao Fung blew himself, and the riding Bai Tza, onto a ledge where the Water Demon blasted a steam of liquid onto Tibor, knocking him to a wall before Xiao Fung added to it, blasting cold wind onto the soaking wet Tibor, causing him to freeze solid.
"Hmm, an impressive combo. I can see why those two Guardians use it so often." The Wind Demon credited.
"Indeed. Perhaps there is more to this… teamwork… as Nerissa had said." Bai Tza agreed. "But that does not mean she's trustworthy."
"Of course not." Xiao Fung said before hoping to another spot with his sister still riding on top.
"Hang on, Tibor." Halinor quickly went to her colleague's side and superheated her palms, causing the ice around him to melt, freeing him from his imprisonment. This caused the older woman to fall to her knees in exhaustion.
"Awe, what's wrong?" She looked up to see Drago standing directly in front of her, having leapt down from his father's shoulder. "Is Auntie Halinor tired? Maybe you should take a nap. A dirt nap!" He was ready to unleash his fire breath on her, only for Caleb to rush him with a shield, knocking Drago back as the former rebel drew his katana along with his shield.
"I don't think so." Caleb said. "You gotta get through me first."
Drago grinned. "If that's what you want." He charged directly at him.
The Mage was by Halinor's side as she helped her to her feet. "Halinor, you must be careful. Using your former Guardian powers without an Auramere will drain your lifeforce."
"I know…" The former Fire Guardian admitted as she looked to the situation her comrades were in. The Oracle was still battling Tso Lan, Drago and Caleb were dueling each other, Althor struggled to hold back against Tchang Zu, and the Enforcers were now facing Xiao Fung, Bai Tza, and the newly arrived Hsi Wu. "But I must help… the palace has never been attacked before…!"
After doing a brief headcount, she noticed something. 'Wait… two of the demons are missing. And where is Nerissa? She obviously has a hand in this, but what? Why attack Kandrakar now? Is she more confident with the Demon Sorcerers at her side? Is this all about revenge? Or is it something else?'
The more she thought, the more nervous it made her. And that fear was noticed by the Mage, who could practically see the negative emotion growing inside her just with a look into her eyes, which only caused her to smile.
Earth – Uncle's Rare Finds
A Fold had opened up in the main room of the Chan family store, much to the surprise of Jackie, Matt, and the girls, and even further surprise as Blunk hoped out of it in a panic.
"Blunk? What are you…?" Will questioned.
"Big trouble!" The Passling exclaimed. "Demons attacking Kandrakar!"
"What?!" Jackie questioned as everyone else looked in surprise.
"Uh Uncle… how's that spell coming along?" Jade questioned to her uncle in the backroom.
"Aiya! Spell only in preparation phase! Not even begun devising!" The old man called back as Alchemy and Tohru continued to work, mixing different potions and ingredients together.
"Well, there's gotta be something you guys can do!" Cornelia stated. "Some kind of instant spell powder?!"
"Magic is not coffee!" Uncle cried out.
"We'll… try and have something ready… But we need time!" Alchemy replied back.
"Perhaps we can devise each individual demon banishing spell and find a means to cast them all at once, as opposed to a single spell." Tohru assumed.
"Alright. Matt, Blunk, you two stay here and help Uncle and the others work on those spells." Jackie instructed.
"Yeah, we're on it." Matt nodded
"Yes! Blunk stay where it safe!" Blunk said in clear fear, clinging to a nearby chair.
"Do we even need a spell? We kicked these guys' butts before, remember?" Irma reminded.
"It's not just the demons, though." Taranee replied. "Nerissa's probably gonna be there, and she's not the type of bad guy to make the same mistake twice."
"Probably not, but that doesn't matter. We're going to Kandrakar." Jackie told them all.
"Uncle Jackie, you might wanna suit up with the armor again." Hay Lin told him.
"No time. We're leaving now!" Jackie insisted.
Without another word, Will took out the Heart of Kandrakar to both open a Fold and say the magic words. "Guardians Unite!"
Vandom Residence
Susan was currently in her daughter's room as she gave Mr. Huggles some food, which she had been doing for the past few days since Will was not currently there.
"Eat up, Mr. Huggles. Mama's cute little baby needs a full belly." The woman gushed as she saw the adorable dormouse chow down on his food.
However, that smile faded as she looked around at her daughter's empty room again. It had been almost a week since Will had told her about her… secret. She had a feeling that Will was safe and staying with one of her friends, probably Jade since they seemed the closest. Thinking back on it… she did act rather coldly to her. Did she make her feel like she didn't want her home again? Was it her fault that she left?
Remembering Dean's words about talking with her… Susan took out her cell phone as she stepped out of Will's room. Taking a deep breath after a moment's hesitation, she dialed her daughter's phone number. But it went right to voice mail.
"Hey, it's Will. Leave a message."
After the tone, Susan spoke. "Uh… Hi… Will… It's… it's your mom. I… Uh…" She tried to find the words but had trouble even doing that. "About…. How we last spoke…. Or…. How I didn't speak… I… Could we just…? Could you… Please just… just come home. I'm not mad, I promise I'm not!" She was starting to get emotional. "I'm sorry if it feels like I am I'm just… I'm just so scared… Please… baby girl…. Just come home. Please." She hung up and leaned back against the wall, putting her hands over her face.
'Nice Susan. Way to sound desperate.' She chastised herself. 'Maybe you just made it worse. Is this the reason why she didn't tell me? Did she think I wouldn't take it well? Well, how else was I supposed to take my own daughter endangering her own life fighting monsters!? But… I didn't want to hurt her. Oh god… why is this such a mess?!'
There was a knock on the door, and Susan tried to calm herself down as she went to answer it. Maybe it was Will.
However, when she reached for the door, a feeling of uneasiness swept in her. What if it wasn't Will? What if it was that awful lizard man again? Or one of those other monsters looking to hurt her or her daughter?
Quickly going back into the kitchen to grab a knife, Susan slowly inched to the door. She grasped the handle as her body began to shake and slowly opened it to peek outside…
"Hello there." Yan Lin greeted on the other side with a friendly smile.
Susan let out a breath of relief as she opened the door all the way, hiding the knife behind her back "Hello… Miss Lin."
Yan Lin already figured out what was going on just from Susan's body language. "Expecting someone more of the demonic variety?"
Now the woman just looked ashamed of herself as she relaxed, revealing the knife she held. "Sorry…"
"I don't blame you. Being kidnapped by demons will do that to you." Yan Lin assured. "May I come in?"
Susan simply stepped aside, allowing Yan Lin to enter just as Susan closed and locked the door before going into the kitchen to put her knife away.
"Don't worry about any unexpected visitors." The grandmother of Hay Lin said. "We put a protection spell over this place to keep any bad guys from getting in, so you're safe here."
"Protection spell…" Susan said with a hallow laugh. "I guess I'll have to get used to this kind of thing, huh?"
Yan Lin looked to the woman with sympathy, understanding what she was going through as she walked over and gently grasped Susan's hand, causing the woman to turn to her as the older woman looked with an understanding smile.
"Let's talk for a bit. Parent-to-parent."
Kandrakar
The Oracle and Tso Lan were still locked in a heated battle, pressing their respective powers against the other as they continued to hover in front of the fortress, and the two appeared to be evenly matched. That is until Hsi Wu flew in from behind to blast the Oracle in the back with his heat-beam eyes, causing him to stagger and allowing Tso Lan's gravity beams to overpower the Oracle's attack and send him crashing into the wall of the fortress.
Tchang Zu threw a thunderbolt at Tibor's feet, causing him to get blasted back to the wall. Shendu unleashed his own fire breath upon Althor, who tried to shield himself with some fire power of his own, but Shendu's power proved to be too strong for him and he too was overpowered.
The Enforcers all charged at Bai Tza and Xiao Fung before the Water Demon sprayed water across the ground, causing them to slip and fall before the Wind Demon inhaled to unleash a gust of wind and blast the three of them all the way across the floor and back to where Drago and Caleb were dueling. The half-demon noticed the incoming sliding Enforcers and ducked under Caleb's katana-swing to swipe his tail at Caleb's chest to knock him into his companions, all four sprawled across the ground.
Drago laughed as he hoped onto the ledge to face the Council members as they pulled themselves up. "You spent so much time watching and judging, that you forgot how to fight!" He blasted a steam of fire from his mouth, hitting the walls above the Council members and their allies, sending more debris falling over them. But the Oracle was quick to catch all the falling rubble while the Mage blasted bolts of magic at Drago, but he dodged them with ease.
"You dare to attack this holy sanctum?!" The Mage questioned, going along with the act, as she shot another bolt at Drago, who ducked under it.
"Yeah! I dare alright! Cause nobody else ever has, and that makes this even sweeter!" Drago threw a fireball at Halinor's feet, causing her to be blasted back into the Mage's arms. "You haughty sons-a-prick bureaucrats have had this coming for a long time! And you have no one but yourselves to thank for it! Right fam?!" He looked back to his father, uncles, and present aunt as the Fire, Water, Moon, Wind, Thunder and Sky Demons all gathered around and above him.
"Indeed." Shendu sneered. "While worlds around you all crumbled, and Forces of Darkness arose one after the another, you all watched in comfort, from the safety of your own fortress, thinking no one could ever challenge you! Well, now what do you have to say?"
"You want a challenge, Shendu!?" This came from none other than Jackie Chan as the six Guardians flew out from the Fortress, having arrived from inside the via a Fold, with Will holding onto Jackie by his arms. "We will provide you one!"
Will spun herself around and threw Jackie forward, who stuck out his leg in the form of a flying kick, striking Shendu in the face and knocking him somewhat away from the fortress before Jade caught Jackie with a shadow-lasso and sent him to the fortress balcony where Jackie landed a double-kick on Drago to knock him back. The half-demon growled as Jackie stood in front of him, taking a martial arts stance before they engaged in close combat.
Meanwhile, the Guardians flew to engage the Demons in one-on-one battles. Tchang Zu blasted a steam of lightning towards Jade, who countered with a steam of shadow-flames, which absorbed all of the Thunder Demon's electrical power before flying in close. Generating pair of spiked shadow-gaunltets over her fists, she struck the demon in the face repeatedly to knock him back.
Will went for Tso Lan, flying to avoid all the gravity beams shot at her before getting close enough to grapple with him. She grabbed his upper arms, and it looked like his lower arms would strike her with his dark powers, only for Will to flip up and over Tso Lan to kick him in the back and press on with a blast of pink Quintessence energy to knock him to the fortress.
Hsi Wu flew after Taranee, blasting heat-beams at her from his eyes and she was able to avoid most of them before aiming her fist backwards to shoot a fireball at the next eye-beam attack, creating an explosion and a brief smokescreen to disorient the Sky Demon. Taranee used this to fly right through the smoke and land a fiery punch into Hsi Wu's face and knock him down on the fortress' balcony.
Irma flew up and around to avoid the gusts of Wind that Xiao Fung sent her way with his open mouth, to which she retaliated by throwing balls of water at him. Though Xiao Fung was able to blast all the water away with his own wind attack, the Water Guardian smirked as she saw the water droplets scattered around the Wind Demon, right before she clenched her fists and expanded all the water droplets around Xiao Fung to trap him inside a large bubble of water. She then lifted the water bubble up, along with the trapped Wind Demon, and slammed it and him hard and down onto the ground.
Bai Tza hissed as she shot her own steams of water at the flying Cornelia, who used her telekinesis to raise the debris around her like a shield before shooting it all down like machine guns, causing Bai Tza to slither away and avoid most of them, but one lucky rock hit her in the head, causing her body to explode into pure water. Though it was quick to reform.
"Man, good thing the calvary showed up." Finn said with relief as he, his friends, and the Council members all recovered.
"Yeah, thought we were goners back there." Ratso added.
Halinor happened to breathe a huge sigh of relief herself, which didn't go unnoticed by the Mage. But she knew that kind of relief was only short-lived. The best kind of terror, is one that is felt when your hope is taken away from you.
Jackie kicked Drago in the chest, knocking him to the ledge of the balcony just as Shendu hovered back up to see the Guardians regroup around their mentor and standing protectively in front of the Council members and their other friends.
"Didn't you guys learn your lesson from the last time we kicked your butts?" Cornelia questioned.
Jade gave her titular scoff. "These guys are all related to Shendu. Ya know, the most hard-headed demon in the world?"
"Yeah, a family tree of slow learners." Irma smirked.
"Hang on a sec…" Taranee looked at all the demons as they recovered and did a quick headcount "Five… Six… Seven… We're missing two demons!" She said, much to the surprise of her friends. "There's eight Demon Sorcerers, nine if you count Drago, but I'm only seeing seven!"
"Well… who are we missing…?" Hay Lin questioned.
"Dai Gui and Po Kong…" Jackie realized before looking directly at the sneering Shendu.
"Oh, we've learned alright." The Fire Demon grinned menacingly. "I believe you call this… to divide and conquer!"
"Let the dividing beginning!" Xiao Fung blew another gust of wind, one rather powerful while also curving at an angle to sweep up Jackie and all six Guardians and throw them up into the air, where Tso Lan caught them with his gravity magic, all of them covered in a dark aura.
"And now… conquer!" Tso Lan expanded all four of his arms in separate directions. Will was caught alone in one gravity aura before the powerful force slammed her hard enough to the ground to create a crater, while the others ended up being flown in separate directions at various spots in the Fortress. Taranee and Cornelia were both sent crashing into a lower area on the eastern side, while Jade and Hay Lin were that on the western side, with Jackie and Irma being flown into the upper area well above everyone else.
As everyone gasped in surprise at this sudden turn of events, the demons made their next move. Tchang Zu rode on his thunder cloud as Xiao Fung blew air from his mouth to propel himself as both the Wind and Thunder Demons went above while Hsi Wu flew down to the lower west area and Bai Tza let her water body melt and seep into the cracks in the ground, sinking deeper into the fortress.
Will was able to pull herself up, with Caleb and Chow coming to help her. But soon, she, Caleb, the Enforcers, and the Council members all gazed up in fear to see Shendu and Tso Lan hovering above them, with Drago standing just below his father and oldest uncle.
"Who's the slow one, now?" The young half-demon snickered, cracking his knuckles.
Jackie screamed as he fell from the ceiling, falling toward the main council chamber, but Irma was quick to fly and catch him.
"Whoa, gotcha!" She slowed her decent as they touched down on the ground.
"Thank you, Irma. But we need to get back to the others." Jackie said, only for a bolt of lightning to strike a point on the ground in-between them, the force knocking the two on opposite ends of the chamber as Tchang Zu appeared from the electric bolt and Xiao Fung propelled himself down and landed alongside his brother.
"You'd best worry about yourselves." The Wind Demon advised as the Thunder Demon sent out bolts of lightning in multiple directions.
Jade rubbed her head as Hay Lin helped her to her feet. "You okay, Jade?" Hay Lin asked worriedly, two appearing on a pathway in-between several large white buildings.
"Just a little shaken…" She shook her head to regain her senses.
"Awe, did widdle Jade get a boo-boo?" Hsi Wu mocked as he flew through the hole that was made upon their impact and perched himself on a ledge above them. "That's going to be the least of your worries now."
Suddenly, two large hands emerged from the ground underneath the Shadow and Air Guardians, grabbing a hold of both of them as Dai Gui emerged from the ground with a growl.
"You two fly about like insects." The Earth Demon glared. "And insects… must be crushed!" He slammed them both so hard on the ground that it left a crater below each of them.
"Why do I get the feeling… these guys were planning for us…?" Hay Lin winced.
"Sure seems like it…" Jade winced as well.
Taranee and Cornelia were both in a similar location themselves, in-between several white buildings, and far away from everyone else.
"Anyone get the number on that bus that hit us…?" Cornelia muttered as they pulled themselves up. "Where are we?"
"Somewhere else in the fortress…" Taranee said. "I'll try and use my telepathy so we can regroup…"
But before she could even think about doing that, the ground below them caved in. The two tried to fly up, only for a pair of giant green tentacles to shoot up and ensnare the two. The one responsible was none other than Po Kong, who was now in the form of a giant kraken.
"Hmm, dinner for me? You shouldn't have." The transformed Mountain Demon curved herself upward to reveal her mouth at the center point where all the tentacles led to, which was lined with loads of teeth.
"Careful! This I got a real spicy kick!" Taranee was about to light herself on fire, only to be soaked by a stream of water, courtesy of the newly arrived Bai Tza.
"I thought you could use a drink, sister." The Water Demon said to Po Kong, smiling evilly.
"Much obliged." She thanked as she pulled the girls closer to her mouth, but Cornelia was able to use her telepathy to pull up a large rock and shoot it right into the mouth, stuffing it. The surprise caused Po Kong to loosen her tentacles and allow Cornelia to fly and grab the soaking wet Taranee, flying away from the water blasts that Bai Tza shot at them as they rounded a corner.
"You good?" The blonde asked her teammate, who lit herself up with some small fire, causing the water to evaporate around her.
"Yeah…" She said before facing off against Bai Tza and Po Kong again, the latter taking the form of a giant spider. Taranee quickly connected to the others via her telepathy. "Guys, the demons are trying to scatter us!"
"Yeah, no duh!" Irma replied on the other end.
"Everyone's scattered!" Will alerted her friends as she Tibor, Althor, and even the Oracle used whatever powers they could to defend themselves against the relentless onslaught from Tso Lan and Shendu's gravity and fire powers, while Drago was dealing with Caleb and the Enforcers.
"Did you hear that?" The Mage asked Halinor, who was looking more and more afraid, her fear coming back to her in stride. "The demons anticipated the Guardians' counterattack and planned for it. I fear this is Nerissa's doing. But with all our allies occupied, what more can we do? There must be something."
'How could this happen?' Halinor thought to herself. Kandrakar has never been attacked before. It's always been a safe haven, a place where she and her old team could rest and recover from any battles that were too difficult for them. But now it was coming undone. The Oracle struggled and even this new generation of Guardians had their backs against the wall. This was clearly a losing battle. And what was worse… the young child that she and all her friends planned to raise together… to be a force for good… was at the head of this very attack. But what really scared her… what the Mage had just reminded her of… was that Nerissa was nowhere to be seen. Was this all just a distraction? Did she have something else planned? That did sound like something she would do. But she wasn't about to let that happen! She would not let this fortress fall, or her friends and allies lose this battle.
"There is something we can do." The former Guardian said. "Something I can do." She quickly made her way into the fortress.
As she did, with the Mage following her, the disguised sorceress smirked to herself. 'Like clockwork.' She subtly reached into her robe to grab a hold of the Heart of Meridian and reached out telepathically. "Miranda, it is time."
"I understand." The shapeshifter, currently in her draconic-spider form responded as she climbed along the walls of the fortress. She appeared along one balcony that was perpendicular to the area where Will and the others were fighting. With everyone so focused on the fights in front of them, nobody noticed her, even as she shifted into her human form.
Nor did they notice the Glamour spell that was later used to transform her human appearance, into that of the Mage.
Earth – Vandom Residence
Susan sat at the kitchen table, across from Yan Lin, both with cups with tea as the latter explained to the former how exactly Will and the others became Guardians. More specifically, who it was that gave them the jewel.
"It was you… You… were the one who gave my daughter powers…?" Susan muttered, looking down into her cup, haven't even taken a sip yet.
"Technically the power was already inside her, and the others." Yan Lin explained. "The Heart was a means for her to properly harness that power. But yes, I did give her and everyone else the Heart of Kandrkar."
"But why…?" Susan began, looking toward the older woman with emotions building up. "Why does my daughter have magic powers?! Why does she have to be some kind of… mystic warrior or whatever?! Why does she have to risk her own life over and over again fighting terrible monsters?! Why!? Why her?! Why couldn't it have been somebody else?!"
Yan Lin was unfazed by Susan's outburst, completely expecting it. And she understood exactly why she felt that way.
"Because that's how the universe works." The older woman said.
"Excuse me?" Susan questioned.
"May I?" Yan Lin offered, showing her finger with a little sparkle of magic. "It'll be easier to explain with some… visual aids."
Susan sighed as she gestured with Yan Lin to do so, to which the older woman stood up and twirled her finger, creating a magical projection of the very universe itself, much to the younger woman's own awe.
"I'm sure you've learned in your own science class growing up that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, a form of balance, if you will." Yan Lin explained. "Push and pull, light and dark, good and evil, yin and yang. If one side grows stronger than the other, the universe acts to find a means to counter that balance and tip the scales back the other way. That's the one thing that we absolutely have no control over. The universe itself chose your daughter, my granddaughter, and the other girls, to become the next generation of Guardians as it had for me." The visual disappeared as Yan Lin sat back down, across from Susan as she continued. "I myself was a Guardian with four others, and like our girls, we acted to protect the innocent from the Forces of Darkness."
"But that still doesn't explain why Will has to be a Guardian." Susan said.
"I don't have the answer for that." Yan Lin replied. "The universe chose her for reasons that we cannot explain. As said, we cannot control how the balance acts, such as who is gifted with what power. But we can control how we use that power and how we can help those who do have it. I am sorry that your daughter had to be the one to be the next bearer of the Heart and believe me, she was too at first. She struggled. They all did. It was a very hard thing for them to adjust to, just as you are having trouble adjusting now yourself."
"And we can't just have someone else replace her?" Susan asked.
"I'm afraid not." Yan Lin shook her head. "Though a mystic Heart can be given to another person if the current bearer choses to give it up willingly, but given our current circumstances, it is safer for the whole universe if Will continues to hold it. Even she would think that. There is no shortage of power-hungry psychopaths in this universe."
"…And my daughter has to fight them." Susan looked away.
"Not alone though." Yan Lin said. "She has help. A team, and friends and mentors to help guide her."
"B-but… you're granddaughter is on that same team…" Susan stuttered.
"She is." Yan Lin confirmed.
"Then how are you so calm?!" Susan exclaimed. "H-how… how can you know all this… and not be terrified for her!?"
"Oh, I'm plenty terrified for Hay Lin." Yan Lin quickly said, surprising Susan with how straightforward she said that. And the older woman looked down as her smile faded. "As I've said, I was a Guardian myself, so I know the kind of dangers she would be facing. And even though she and the others have gotten stronger, a part of me is still worried that she will go on a mission that she will not come back from, even with her friends backing her up. That same thing happened to my team. One of my closest friends… lost her life, a long time ago."
Susan gasped at that, placing a hand over her own mouth as she saw the mournful expression on Yan Lin's face.
"So, believe me, I do understand." Yan Lin looked at her the younger woman in the eye. "As parents, or grandparents in my case, the one thing we want more than anything is for our children to be safe. But, as they grow older, we must also accept that they need to make their own choices, even if we disagree with them. But that does not mean we just let them loose into the wild. We let them make their own choices, but we also let them know that we are there for them if they need help and are willing to step in if it gets too dangerous. I may be retired, but I still help Hay Lin and the others when they need it. That's also the reason I asked for Jackie to come to Heatherfield, to help train them, so that they are better prepared. But more importantly, he is someone who has seen the kind of things that they see now, he is someone who is very down-to-earth, the kind of person who can help those young girls in staying in touch with themselves and not become lost, but that doesn't mean her journey has been any easier. Will has been through a lot since receiving the Heart, but she's also grown so much, in ways you can't even imagine, in ways that even surprised me. Susan…" She reached out to gently grasp the woman's hand. "I want you to think about how much your daughter has grown since coming to Heatherfield. While she kept all of this from you, can you really say that what you have seen from her was a lie too?"
Susan had taken in everything Yan Lin and said and looked back at how her daughter had progressed since they moved to this city. Before, she was so shy and anxious, having a hard time talking with others and even seemed reluctant to try and find any friends. But over this past year, Will had opened up so much. She'd matured faster than she could have expected. She's made plenty of new friends that have caused her to smile and laugh more. She even has her own boyfriend now. There's just… been this glow around her… like a ray of sunlight. And it was just beautiful. Her baby girl was growing up so much…
"No…"
"Exactly." Yan Lin said.
"But… all of this… magic… it's…" Susan still seemed hesitant.
"It's a lot, I know." Yan Lin understood. "Will intended to tell you, ideally after we've dealt with our current… situation. But circumstances forced her hand. It was not hers or any of our intent to put you in danger."
"So… what can I do…?" Susan asked. "I mean… it's not like I can fight monsters or anything…"
"Who said anything about fighting?" Yan Lin responded. "No one intends for you to join the fight, Susan. But there are other ways you can help. Will has matured, yes. But she is still going through a lot. And just being there for someone… someone to talk to… or just a shoulder to lean on…" The older woman smiled warmly. "That alone can work wonders."
This was still a lot for her to take in, but now that she had time to really process everything… above all else, she wanted to help her daughter. But how could she? Even if it was something small like talking… how would she be able to understand any of it, let alone give any kind of emotional support if she didn't know any of the stuff she's been through?
Susan then finally took a sip of her tea to collect her thoughts before she looked towards the older woman. "Tell me about some of the stuff that Will has been through. I want to know everything."
Yan Lin smiled once again. "Them make yourself comfortable, because we have a lot to talk about."
Kandrakar
"Bad day! Bad day! Bad day! Bad day! Bad day! Bad day!" Jackie and Irma both exclaimed as they held onto a stone pillar to avoid being sucked into Xiao Fung's mouth as he began is inhaling process.
The Water Guardian struggled as she extended her hand to blast a condensed stream of water, hoping to do some damage to the Wind Demon's insides, only for Tchang Zu to blast some lightning into that water, which traveled its way to Irma, shocking her and forcing her to let go, but Jackie was quick to grab a hold of her.
"Irma! Hang on tight!" Jackie cried out as they held on for dear life against Xiao Fung's vortex.
"Trying! But I'm numb all over!" Irma cried back. That electrical shock was enough to make her limbs and most of her body fall asleep. Suddenly, Xiao Fung's inhaling attack stopped, causing both her and Jackie to fall to the ground.
"Wind and thunder do go well together, wouldn't you say, brother?" Xiao Fung complemented.
"Indeed. We are the storm that will lay waste to our enemies!" Tchang Zu charged his fists with electrical power.
"Then shall we get started with these two?" Xiao Fung blew a powerful gust of wind, which Tchang Zu added to with a blast of lightning. The wind and lightning all mixed together for a deadly attack.
Jackie wasted no time in picking up Irma over his shoulder as he ran for dear life, gunning straight for the exit of the council chamber, with the attack hitting the doorway to completely blast it away.
Po Kong's giant spider form loomed well over Cornelia and Taranee as she raised several of her eight legs to skewer the girls, but they flew around to avoid the stabs that created large and gaping holes on the ground.
"Hold still girls! I want to make kebabs out of you!" Po Kong demanded as she continued to raise and stomp her spider-legs, but Taranee was quick to fly up to her face with a blast of fire ready.
"How about I give you heartburn instead!" Just before she could shoot out all that fire, she was dosed once more by a stream of water as Bai Tza rode atop her sister's head. "Ah, not again!" Taranee grunted in frustration as she felt her flames extinguish, but soon gasped as Bai Tza leapt at her, with her body morphing into water which splashed over and wrapped around Taranee, trapping her in a bubble of water.
"Taranee! Hang on!" Cornelia was about to fly in and assist her, only to get grabbed by Po Kong, who had now taken the form of a giant gorilla.
"Remember me, skinny girl?" Po Kong mocked. "I believe you said I should go on a diet. You seem like you'd be nutritional enough. Not fat at all, and that muscle would make good protein."
"Or maybe you should just eat more vegetables. Here, I got some for ya!" Cornelia's hair suddenly grew out and extended to ensnare around Po Kong's wrist before it constricted around her, complete with golden leaves falling out. She squeezed as hard as she could, to the point where Po Kong had to relinquish her current form and returned to her natural form with smaller hands, allowing Cornelia to escape.
"Ouch." She felt her own wrist, which was already bleeding.
At the same time, as Taranee struggled to escape Bai Tza's suffocating water grip, the girl focused in on herself. Her skin began to glow red as her body super-heated, to the point where the water inside was boiling and steam began to evaporate from the surface. It soon got to the point where the boiling water bubble exploded as Taranee's superheated body fell to the ground with steam coming off it.
"Taranee…?" Cornelia flew down to help her.
"Wait… I'm red hot! Don't touch me…!" Taranee warned as she tried to catch her breath and let her body cool off, her skin turning back to normal.
However, their reprieve didn't last long as the scattered water gathered together again before reassembling and remolding itself into Bai Tza with Po Kong stomping forward behind her as both female demons looked down upon the young Guardians, who couldn't help but feel nervous at their current predicament.
Jade flew backwards as she blasted a stream of shadow-fire towards Dai Gui, who dug himself into the ground before quickly moving through said ground towards her, his horns sticking out like how a shark would move through water.
"Bet I can claw you out quicker, you big oaf!" Jade created a set of shadowy claws on her hands and was ready to tear Dai Gui out from the ground, only for the ground itself to explode like a geyser of dirt, blasting Jade and sending her straight up.
Dai Gui also emerged from the ground via a rising earth-pillar and met Jade in mid-air before bringing both his fists down on her to send her crashing back hard onto the floor, creating a large impact.
Meanwhile, Hay Lin was on the defensive as she flew away from Hsi Wu, who continued to shoot at her repeatedly with his heat-beam eyes, and while she was able to avoid most of it, it was hard for her to lose the speedy Sky Demon. Acting quickly, the girl turned herself invisible.
"I won't fall for the same trick, twice! Dai Gui!" Hsi Wu called to his brother just as used his heat-beams to shoot at the surrounding buildings
Hearing his scrawny brother's call, the Earth Demon slammed his hands on the ground and created a powerful tremor that shook the surrounding area, one powerful enough to send up a cloud of dust into the air.
The invisible Hay Lin couldn't avoid the dust as she tried to cover her mouth but coughed. All the dust soon covered her invisible body, while the sound also drew Hsi Wu to her location.
"There you are." He spotted her before blasting his eye-beams at her, landing a direct hit and sending Hay Lin's now visible body plummeting to the ground.
Fortunately, Jade was able to catch her by quickly forming a large shadow-construct resembling a pillow, softening her landing.
"Thanks Jade…" Hay Lin breathed in relief.
"Don't thank me yet. We're far from done here." Jade said as they both faced Dai Gui and Hsi Wu once more.
Back outside, Will shoot a beam of Quintessence energy at Shendu, who countered with a blast of fire from his mouth. The attacks met and created a brief explosion, with Shendu himself flying through to pull back a punch. And while Will tried to create a pink energy barrier, Shendu's strength proved strong enough to break through as his punch sent the leader of the Guardians flying and crashing to the fortress wall and somewhat inside.
In that same area, Drago backed up as he threw several fireballs at the charging Caleb and Enforcers. Caleb and Finn used their respective shields to try and block the fire, but the explosive attacks still sent them both backwards. But that gave Chow and Ratso a chance to charge in with a spear and hammer respectively. Chow lunged and swung his spear at Drago, who dodged most of the strikes, but after one swerve, he kicked upwards to break the spear before swinging his tail at Chow to knock him back. Ratso tried to bring his hammer down on Drago, only for the half-demon to shoot a blast of fire from his mouth and blast away the mallet, leaving only a broken handle as the man looked at it nervously.
"Uh… time out?" He requested.
"Hmmm, no." Drago then punched him in the face.
The Oracle used his powers to erect a barrier around himself and his fellow Council members as Tso Lan used his lower hands to blast his gravity beams at them. And while Tso Lan's dark attacked was washed away against the Oracle's barrier, like water over stone, that did not stop the Moon Demon from using his upper hands to increase the gravity of the structure above the Council, causing it to collapse and fall towards them.
Acting quickly, the Oracle dropped the barrier to mend the structure, while Tibor and Althor blasted their respective magics at Tso Lan, but he threw out a wave of dark gravity magic to break through the attacks and strike all three as they were knocked deeper into the fortress towards the recovering Will.
"Ugh, where's the Veil when you need it?" The redhead said in frustration.
"The Veil… of course!" A certain shapeshifter, who still appeared to be in the form of the Mage, approached the group. "The council has the ability to create Veils. Perhaps a small one can be used to protect the palace and potentially expel the demons."
"Maybe…" The Oracle admitted. "But it will require a significant amount of power, and time to prepare. Mage, where is Halinor?"
"I do not know. We were separated in the chaos." The imposter Mage lied.
"Then the four of us will have to do." The Oracle said. "Will, contact the others. Tell them to keep the demons occupied as long as possible. But you need to get to the Aurameres. Should we fail, you can use the Heart to absorb the Aurameres to maintain your powers. Above all else, those orbs cannot fall into the enemy's hands."
"I understand." Will nodded. She looked to see Caleb and the Enforcers struggling against Drago as he swept his tail to knock down Finn and Ratso, slammed his arm into Chow's face and slashed his claws at Caleb, who blocked it with his katana. But Will quickly flew in to blast Drago away with her Quintessence. "Guys, we need to fall back! Distract the demons and get to the Aurameres! The Council has a plan!"
"Alright, we'll follow your lead." Caleb nodded.
"Anything's better than getting our asses handed to us." Chow commented.
The wall outside suddenly exploded as Shendu and Tso Lan entered. "Hey, Shendude! Yo mama's so ugly, she turned Medusa to stone!"
"Well since all his brothers and sisters are as ugly him, that's gotta be one really ugly mama." Ratso put in.
Shendu growled before unleashing his fire-stream in their direction, prompting the group of five to flee deeper into the fortress. Though Drago happened to notice the Council moving in a different direction, with the imposter Mage in the back, turning around briefly and giving a wink to the half-demon, causing him to sneer.
"It would seem your mother's plan is coming along nicely." Tso Lan said to his nephew.
"Toldya. And if we're lucky, we can score the Heart of Kandrakar's power here too." Drago sneered.
"Chan! Show yourself!" Tchang Zu demanded as he blasted a way a stone pillar with his lightning. He and Xiao Fung scoured a pathway, looking for their enemies as Jackie and Irma both hid behind a pillar on the opposite end of the pathway.
"Got any plans, Jackie? Cause I'm drawing a blank here." Irma whispered.
Jackie shook his head in response. "Where is Uncle…?" He muttered to himself in frustration.
"Everyone, listen up!" Will made contact with her fellow Guardians via their psychic link. "We're falling back to the Auramere chamber! The Council is gonna try and create a Veil to block out the demons, but I'm gonna try and use the Heart to absorb the Aurameres just in case! We'll regroup and keep the demons busy!"
"Okay, got it." Irma relayed back. "Jackie, we gotta get to the shiny orbs."
"I understand." Though Jackie had no connection with the girls' psychic link, he trusted Irma enough to follow her lead. "Can you run?"
"I feel a little tingly, but I can least use my wings now." She replied, only for the pillar they were hiding behind to be blasted away by lightning, revealing their location to the enemy.
"Found you!" Xiao Fung sung as Tchang Zu prepared another electrical attack.
"So yeah… fleeing now!" Irma exclaimed as she flew with Jackie running at breakneck speed, both shouting and yelping as they avoided the wind and lightning attacks from their demonic opponents.
Taranee threw out waves of flame to keep Bai Tza at bay, right before the Fire Guardian re-directed all her flames to form a circle around the Water Demon and raised their height to the point where they were twice as tall as her.
"Cornelia! We're falling back to the Aurameres!" She called to her teammate.
"Yeah, I heard!" The blonde replied as she put her hand on the ground and sent a tremor in the direction of the stomping Po Kong. The ground quickly weakened and soon collapsed under the enormous weight of the Mountain Demon.
"That won't hold them long!" Taranee said.
"Then less talking and more flying!" Cornelia exclaimed as they both flew away, just as Bai Tza used her water powers to extinguish Taranee's flames and Po Kong shifted into the form of a giant armadillo to dig her way out from the ground.
"They escaped!" The Mountain Demon observed.
"After them!" Bai Tza ordered as she slithered up on Po Kong's body, who took the form of a giant Chinese Dragon and flew after the two Guardians.
"Jade, did you hear that?!" Hay Lin cried out as she flew up and over to avoid the eye-beams before throwing air disks at Hsi Wu, who easily flew around her attacks the same way she did with him.
"Yeah, but these guys aren't making it easy!" Jade had ensnared Dai Gui with several coils of shadow-rope, only for the Earth Demon to sink into the ground again and escape it. Jade flew as high as she could to avoid the resulting dirt geyser that would have struck her like last time. But this also gave her an idea. "I think I can get us out of here, but I need like maybe two seconds! And we both need to be on the ground!"
"I think I can manage!" Hay Lin said as she created a sphere of air around herself and quickly expanded it to knock back the incoming Hsi Wu. She met with Jade as they set on the ground, but they quickly noticed Dai Gui's horns moving closer to them as he swam through the ground in their direction. "Two second distraction coming right up!" Hay Lin aimed her hands upward as a cyclone of wind appeared above them and descended downward, protecting the pair as Dai Gui tried to push through.
"Okay, hang on tight and hold your breath!" Jade wrapped her arms around Hay Lin as both their forms were encompassed in shadows just as they melted into the ground.
The second they did, Hay Lin's cyclone vanished as Dai Gui emerged from the ground, looking around in confusion to see that the girls were no longer there.
"Where did those flies go?" The Earth Demon questioned.
"It doesn't matter." Hsi Wu replied as he flew down towards his brother. "It's time to meet up with the others at the Auramere chamber as Nerissa said."
Dai Gui growled. "I do not like taking orders from a mortal."
"Neither do I, but her advice has proven beneficial thus far. So, unless you have any better ideas, we need to go." Hsi Wu said.
Glaring in frustration, Dai Gui conceded as he dug into the ground again and proceeded in the direction instructed with his winged brother flying above him.
At the same time, Hay Lin had felt Jade holding onto her tightly, but even with her eyes opened, all she saw was darkness. "Wait… where are we?" She asked via their psychic link.
"Don't speak. Keep holding your breath." Jade communicated back. "We're traveling through the shadows right now. It'll get us to the Aurameres quicker."
"That sounds a lot like what the Shadowkhan could do." Hay Lin recalled. "I didn't know you could do that, Jade."
"Neither did I, but I'm glad I can. But keep holding your breath, it's like trying to swim underwater right now." The Shadow Guardian relayed back.
"I'll try, but do you know where you're going?" Hay Lin asked.
"Yeah, I can see everything clearly." Despite her friend being surrounded by darkness, Jade could see everything around her as the shadow that encompassed her, and her friend moved down through the fortress and straight to their intended destination. "Don't worry, we'll be there soon."
"I hope so. I was never good at holding my breath underwater." Hay Lin replied.
"No!" Luba protested as she stood in-between the Aurameres and the recently arrived Halinor and Mage. "You may have been a Guardian once, Halinor. But your connection to the Heart was severed when this new generation took hold!"
"I don't intend on replacing any of them, or anything of the sort!" Halinor argued. "Merely that I share the Auramere with Taranee and lend them my aid!"
"Even so, two people using a single Auramere could damage it, and the others!" Luba countered. "This is not up for debate!"
"Then I am sorry, Luba." Halinor raised her hand, where a green flame appeared all around her fellow Council member's face. It lasted for only a second before the green fire was extinguished and Luba fell unconscious into Halinor's arms.
"Halinor, what are you…?" The Mage feigned surprise.
"The flame soaked up the oxygen around her." Halinor explained. "She'll recover in minutes, but I must act now!" She approached the Aurameres and prepared to channel her power and connect to the one that was once hers. "The Guardians are strong, but not strong enough to deal with the threat at hand! I must help! And once this crisis is over, I'll take responsibility for my actions and resign from the Council."
"So, you risk their power in the midst of a dire battle…" The Mage mused before a sinister smirk fell on her face. "Fear is a powerful emotion, especially when it fuels betrayal." She pulled out the Heart of Meridian and Tiger Talisman in one hand. The magics of the two items were brought together as dark red energy steams emerged from them and were drawn directly into Halinor, binding her as she felt her own negativity being drawn to the surface. "The need to do anything, no matter how treasonous, to smother the burning flame of your own fear, even out of good intentions, is the key to the darkness in your soul and all I need to make you mine!"
Halinor blinked before her eyes became blank and empty, her face emotionless, showing that she was now firmly under the control of her former leader. Said disguised former leader looked to the Aurameres.
"Now then, perhaps we can…"
Suddenly, a large shadow shot up in front of the Mage and Halinor, causing the two to back away slightly as the shadow cleared to reveal Jade and Hay Lin, the latter fell to her knees to catch her breath.
"Air!" She soaked in as much of her own breath as possible. "Sweet... sweet... air!" She breathed. "How about… we don't… do that… again… Not unless we have to…"
"Sorry." Jade apologized before noticing Luba's unconscious form on the ground. "Whoa, what happened?!" She questioned as she and Hay Lin kneeled to try and help her.
"She was like that when we found her." The Mage quickly lied, hiding away the Heart of Meridian and Tiger Talisman. "There may be an enemy lurking about. Be ready for anything."
"Okay!" Hay Lin looked ready for a fight. "We're ready!"
"Wait a second…" Jade said. Something didn't feel right. Looking at Luba, she could see that she didn't have any major injuries. And looking around, there didn't seem to be any signs of a struggle. Who could have attacked her if Shendu, Drago, and the other demons were all outside? Unless…
The Shadow Guardian looked directly at the Mage, who narrowed her own eyes at her before Jade focused in on her shadow. A shade that she never really focused in on until now. And that's when she picked up on it. That familiar sensation… of a certain old hag whose been hounding her and her friends for some time now.
"Of course!" She glared as she channeled her powers into the Mage's shade, causing it to expand upward and shoot multiple spikes at her, which the Mage countered by waving her hand to send a wave of electrical Quintessence power and blast the attack away.
"Close…!" The imposter dropped her glamour spell to reveal her true form with a scowl. "So very close…!"
"Nerissa?!" Hay Lin exclaimed in surprise while Jade glared hard as a shadow-katana materialized in her hand.
"Halinor, back away from the ugly hag!" She warned.
"I'm afraid that Halinor has a had a… change of heart." Nerissa said, looking to her controlled teammate before looking back at the girls. "I had hoped to absorb the Aurameres into the Heart of Meridian while I was here, but once again you had to get in my way… little Jade. It's high time you learn some discipline!" She shot out multiple bolts of Quintessence at the pair, with Jade erecting a wall of shadow fire to absorb and shield the attack before Hay Lin flew above her and shot down to Nerissa with a flying kick, an air-ball at her feet which quickly expanded to blow Nerissa back before Hay Lin delivered a kick to her stomach to send her to the wall.
However, a ring of green flames appeared around Hay Lin to suck up all the air she was using, courtesy of the controlled Halinor. Though those green flames were quickly extinguished by Jade using her own shadow-flames as she contacted her friends.
"Guys! Nerissa's here! She was disguised as the Mage!"
"Wait, what?!" Taranee questioned.
"Yeah! She's at the Auramere chamber and it looks like she's brainwashed Halinor!" Hay Lin added as she threw several air-disks at Nerissa, who shielded herself with a Quintessence barrier. When Jade tried to fly in with her shadow katana, Halinor stood in her way, leading Jade to halt her charge and leaving her open for Nerissa to blast her. "Jade and I are holding her back, but we need help!"
"Hang on, we're on our way!" Cornelia relayed.
"Wait a second…" Will sounded concerned on her line. "You said Nerissa was the Mage…?"
"Yeah, why?" Jade asked as she recovered, flying up to avoid another Quintessence bolt that Nerissa shot at her.
"Then, who did I see with the Oracle and the rest of the Council?!" Will questioned.
In the central council chamber, standing in the very middle were the present members of the Council; the Oracle, Tibor, Althor, and the supposed Mage, all of whom were standing together in the form of a square.
"Can we really do this without Halinor and Luba? It took all of us together to raise the Veil over Meridian." Tibor said.
"We will only be casting the Veil over the fortress, not an entire realm." The Oracle said. "It should expel the demons and keep them away from the source of the Guardians' power, even if they are inside the fortress, currently. Now, all of you, link your magics together."
The Oracle raised his hands as a pink energy veil appeared, one that flowed like water. Beams of energy shot out from his sides as they linked to Tibor and Althor, which they spread from them to the supposed Mage.
But once they touched her, the beams suddenly turned dark purple as dark energy spread from her to the other Council members, including the Oracle, causing him to stumble as he and his cohorts found themselves now bound by dark energy and unable to move or break out of the link.
"This presence…" The Oracle looked to the smirking imposter. "It's… It's you…!" It all dawned on him. "You who hid among us! You who had tampered with my sight, even from the beginning! Nerissa!"
"Yes and no." The imposter dropped her glamour spell to reveal Miranda's human form, much to the Council's surprise. "Nerissa did disguise herself and infiltrated your council, blocking your site. But at this moment, she's a little busy with a reunion that she's been planning, so I'm here in her stead. But this spell is all hers. The spell to corrupt and seize control of your Veil." As she spoke, the Veil that the Oracle had conjured and changed from bright pink to a dark purple as it expanded, with Althor and Tibor being pulled directly into it. "Rather than being used to protect your precious fortress, this Veil will be used to trap and imprison you." The Oracle could only look in dread as he was pulled into the sphere himself. All three Council members floated helplessly in their new prison, one that prevented them from so much as moving or even speaking.
"The mighty Council of Kandrakar, overseers of the infinite dimensions… being trapped by a lowly insect such as myself?" She chuckled. "Oh, that irony must sting quite a bit. Now, do hang tight. Nerissa will be here shortly." The shapeshifter sat cross-legged on a piece of rubble to guard the prisoners until her allies came to her. "I believe there will be some changes in management around here."
Earth – Uncle's Rare Finds
"Okay… uh give me some hummingbird saliva!" Alchemy extended her hand.
"Right here!" Matt handed her a vial of the contents, which she poured into the cauldron she sat in front of. The potion inside glowed green as the flute next to her did the same.
"Sky Demon spell, done! That's six!" Alchemy announced.
"Possum nose hair!" Tohru extended his own hand as Blunk leapt down from a pantry and onto Tohru's shoulder to hand him a small container. The sumo poured the contents into his own cauldron. It glowed green, as did the nearby lotus pod. "Moon Demon spell complete! That makes seven!"
"What about the last one?" Matt asked, looking to Uncle as he mixed the potions together at the cauldron in front of him. Just like all the others, the resulting potion glowed green, which caused the sword at his side to glow as well.
"All done. Fire Demon banishing spell is now complete." The eldest of the Chan Clan said.
"Even if we couldn't devise a single spell to banish all the Demons, we can still use the eight individual ones simultaneously to send Shendu and the others back to the Netherworld." Tohru said as he looked to all the glowing items.
"Big demons banish. But what about little demon?" Blunk asked. "Drago and Nerissa still big problem."
"Yeah, what's to stop them from Folding all the big guys out all over again?" Matt asked as well.
"Nothing. But if we can send Shendu and everyone away, maybe it'll give all of us a chance to gang up on Nerissa and Drago, and maybe take them down before they get the chance to call them all back." Alchemy replied.
"We have no time to lose! All items must be present when spell is cast!" Uncle said upon standing up. "Alchemy, take castanets and fan!"
"Got em!" She picked up the glowing items that would be used to banish the Thunder and Wind Demons.
"Tohru, carry sword and gourde!" Uncle ordered.
"Yes, sensei." The sumo picked up the items needed to banish the Fire and Water Demons.
"Matt, play flute!" Uncle commanded.
"On it!" Matt picked up the musical instrument that would be used against the Sky Demon and proceeded to blow into it, only to get dope-slapped on the head by Uncle. "Ow!"
"Why play flute, now!? Spell will only work when demon is in range!" Uncle chastised.
"Sorry." Matt rubbed his forehead.
"Blunk, play drum!" Uncle instructed again.
"Yes! Blunk bang drum extra hard!" The Passling carried the drum in both his hands, preparing to send the Mountain Demon away when he got the chance.
"Uncle will hold flower and lotus pod and recite incantation." The old man tied both plants that would be used against the Earth and Moon Demons around his wrists. "Now, Fold to Kandrakar!"
Wasting no time, and tucking the drum underneath one arm, Blunk took out the Tonga Tooth and used it to open a Fold for all of them to enter.
Kandrakar
Back in the Auramere chamber, Hay Lin blew a cyclone Nerissa's way, which she shielded herself from via Quintessence barrier. Jade flew in, wielding a large shadow-axe and was about to bring it down…
Only for the controlled Halinor to stand in the way again, much to Jade's shock and frustration as she quickly dissipated the shadow-axe before she brought it down, allowing Nerissa to strike her with a Quintessence bolt.
"Are you seriously using Halinor as a shield?!" Hay Lin exclaimed in shock. "I thought she was your friend!"
"She was." Nerissa replied calmly. "I don't necessarily enjoy taking her free will away, but it is a necessary evil to undo what's been done."
"You twisted old bi…" Jade scowled as she picked herself up.
"Now, now. No need for such language." Nerissa chastised sinisterly. "Didn't your uncle teach you to respect your elders?"
"I did." Suddenly, Jackie appeared behind the old sorceress to land a solid kick at her back, knocking her to the wall on the other side of the chamber, while the controlled Halinor was splashed away by a stream of water, courtesy of Irma. "Just not the cruel and manipulative type."
"Uncle Jackie!" Jade and Hay Lin both looked in relief.
"And what am I? Chopped liver?" Irma questioned humorously, having managed to regain all sensation in her body.
A circle of fire appeared around the recovering Nerissa while a wall of rock was raised up and around the controlled Halinor, thanks to Taranee and Cornelia respectively as they arrived in the Auramere chamber alongside Will, Caleb, and the Enforcers.
"Thanks guys. Good to see you all." Hay Lin smiled.
"I wouldn't thank us." Cornelia said in a low grumble.
No sooner than when she said that, Po Kong's Chinese Dragon form broke into the chamber before it shifted into the form of a giant cobra as Bai Tza slithered in behind her. The ground on the far right exploded as Dai Gui emerged with Hsi Wu flying in no soon after. Tchang Zu blasted his way through the center doorway with Xiao Fung by his side. And finally, the entire ceiling was lifted up and away, thanks to Tso Lan's gravity powers as he, Shendu, and Drago descended into the chamber.
"See?" Cornelia's eye lids lowered as the group found themselves backed towards the six spinning globes that was the source of the Guardians' power.
"Look at you all, cornered like rats." Drago sneered. "And don't expect the Oracle or his buddies to save you."
"The Council of Kandrakar has been neutralized." Shendu revealed. "The fortress is now ours. Surrender the Aurameres to us and we may let you live to be our pets."
"Wow, how nice of you." Irma said sarcastically.
"I'll handle the Aurameres, just keep them off my for a few seconds!" Will said as she turned to the Aurameres.
"Alright." Jackie nodded as he, Caleb, Finn, Ratso, and Chow circled around Will while the five other Guardians hovered in front of them and sent out their respective elemental attacks in all directions to keep the demons at bay, who responded with their own elemental powers, creating a multi-elemental clash of magic that rocked the entire chamber.
As her friends kept the enemy distracted, Will held the Heart of Kandrakar over the Aurameres and tried to channel the Heart's power. The crystal glowed a brighter pink before the Aurameres glowed the same color.
"Uh… kid… you might wanna hurry!" Finn urged as the demons' attacks were beginning to win against those of the Guardians.
"Hang on…" Will focused as hard as she could as the glowing Aurameres began to shrink and condensed into trails of energy that flowed directly into the Heart of Kandrakar. In a manner of seconds, all six of the Aurameres had been absorbed into the crystal. "I got it!"
But right as she finished, Nerissa threw out a bolt of Quintessence to add to the demons' power and gave one final push to ultimately overcome that of the Guardians, sending them tumbling back into Jackie, Caleb, and the Enforcers, as well as into Will and the still unconscious Luba, where all twelve of them were pressed back against the wall.
Nerissa went to inspect the pedestal and saw that the six energy orbs that were once circling around perpetually were indeed gone, absorbed into the Heart of Kandrakar. This was a disappointment, but not something she didn't see coming.
"The Aurameres?" Drago asked his mother.
"Gone." She confirmed. "Ah well, we still have what we came here for."
"So, what now, little mortals?" Shendu loomed over his enemies alongside his siblings. "Will you retreat to fight another day? Or make a heroic last stand?"
Before any of the heroes could respond, a Fold had opened up in between them and all the demons as Uncle, Tohru, Alchemy, Matt, and Blunk all stepped out, still holding their respective items.
"Or how about we send you guys back to where you came from?!" Alchemy retorted.
Uncle put his hands together as he recited a familiar incantation. "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao." As he chanted, the flower and lotus pod that were tied to both his wrists began to glow. "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao." As he continued to chant, Matt played the flute he had while Blunk banged his hand against drum he was holding, both instruments glowing green as well. "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao." The sword and gourde that Tohru held glowed too, along with the fan and castanets that Alchemy was holding as she waved the former and clicked the latter.
The sight of the glowing relics caused the eight Demon Sorcerers to back away slightly almost on instinct as Uncle continued to recite his chant.
"Buh-bye." Jade waved with a grin as she and her friends felt an immense sense of relief.
However,… Jackie noticed a sinister smirk on Nerissa's face and knew immediately that something was wrong.
"Uncle! Wait!"
But it was too late. Beams of green Chi Magic were shot from all eight of the items and struck the Demon Sorcerers, causing them all to glow green as well.
"Got em!" Hay Lin cheered.
"We'll see you in the Netherworld, you sick freaks!" Irma said, putting on the impression of a hero from action movie.
"Wait…" Tohru, however, noticed something was off. "Something's not right…"
Rather than scream in despair or denial as they usually would before being sent back to their inter-dimensional prison, all eight of the Demon Sorcerers began to laugh. Shendu, Bai Tza, Tso Lan, Dai Gui, Hsi Wu, Xiao Fung, Po Kong, and Tchang Zu, they all laughed in pure diabolical fashion as the bright green Chi auras surrounding all of them turned dark blue before that same energy was rebounded from the Demons and sent straight to all the heroes, much to all of their shock.
All six of the Guardians, as well as their friends and allies, including the unconscious Luba, were pulled up in the dark blue aura and unable to do anything.
"The hell's going on?!" Chow exclaimed.
"I don't know!" Alchemy cried out.
"I can't… move…!" Taranee struggled in the dark energy aura.
"Aiya…!" Uncle exclaimed. "Banishing spell has been corrupted!"
A small chuckle escaped from Nerissa as she approached the magically bound group. "Did you seriously not think I wouldn't see this coming? The banishing spells that were used to defeat the Demon Sorcerers thousands of years ago, the same spells that you yourself used to do the same thing, my dear Jin? So clever and resourceful and yet… you've become predictable in your old age."
"We figured you'd tried something like that long before we busted my fam out." Drago added, leaning his arm on his mother's shoulder. "So, we flipped the script a little bit. That spell you just used? We put our own on to reverse it. Instead of banishing all of them to Netherworld, it'll banish you from which ever realm we want."
"And as the current bearer of the Heart of Meridian, and the one who erected said spell…" Nerissa held out the jewel for emphasis. "I hereby banish all of you from the realm of Kandrakar, now and forever! Now begone!"
Right as she said that, a portal had opened up behind the trapped heroes, one that looked near identical to that of the Demon Sorcerers when they were banished, but darker. Rather than glow green, the doorway was dark blue with a black vortex inside. And all of the heroes… Will, Jade, Jackie, Irma, Hay Lin, Taranee, Cornelia, Tohru, Uncle, Matt, Alchemy, Blunk, Caleb, Finn, Ratso, Chow, and Luba… all of them were sent through the portal, screaming and crying out from despair as they were forcibly shot out from Kandrakar, right before the portal closed, leaving only the wicked sorceress, her half-demon son, his vile father, and his demonic siblings.
The entire fortress of Kandrakar was in ruins. What was once an elegant and mighty sanctum was now riddled with holes, debris, and smoke. There wasn't a single location in the whole place that wasn't damage. Among the most damaged was the main council chamber, which had massive holes in the ceiling and several of the open pillar-walls had been blown away.
But that was of no consequence to Miranda as she continued to sit on a piece of debris cross-legged, causally humming a tune to herself while keeping an eye on the Council of Kandrakar that remained trapped in the miniature Veil that she had sabotaged upon being invited in by the Oracle.
She then noticed Drago and his mother enter the chamber, with the eight Demon Sorcerers behind them. "So, how'd it go?"
"Will absorbed the Aurameres into the Heart before we could get to them, so the Guardians are still in the game." Drago answered. "Other than that, I'd say it went pretty well."
"The Guardians and their allies have been banished from Kandrakar and do not currently have the means to set foot in this realm again, even should they Fold." Nerissa added. "The only way they can now enter is if they have a second mystic heart to add to their power, but I do not foresee them obtaining one in the immediate future." The second she saw the trapped council, Nerissa chuckled. "And you have performed beautifully, my dear Miranda."
"You were the one who gave me the spell that could sabotage their Veil and let it trap them." Miranda granted. "But then again, I did do well, didn't I?" She praised herself.
"I should expect nothing less, from my future daughter-in-law." Nerissa teased, causing Miranda to blush.
"Ugh, Mom!" Drago put his hand on his face in annoyance while his mother snickered before turning to the trapped Council and changed her form to that of the Mage as she looked the Oracle dead in the eye.
"You may not be able to speak, but I know you can see and hear everything around you." She began. "How does it feel? To be so trapped and helpless? But more importantly… how does it feel to be betrayed by someone you trusted? Someone that you never once doubted? Like a knife being twisted into your back? Well, now you have only a small understanding of how I felt when you imprisoned me, even after I lost everything!" She laughed again. "So arrogant… for all your power… all the ability to see in countless dimensions… and you never once saw the snake that you invited into your garden?" She dropped her glamour spell to reveal her true self. "This is only a taste of the dread that you will soon experience. Everything you took from me? I will get it all back!" She waved her hand, prompting the controlled Halinor to step to her side, making sure the Oracle saw that. "And I will tear down everything you've built in order to do it. And you will see it all. I'll make you beg for mercy… for death even! And when I finally have everything that I've lost again… and you finally see that I was right… I will show you mercy. The mercy of a quick death."
Shendu smiled at the sorceress' gloating over the Oracle. He can understand just how satisfying it was to outwit your enemy, particularly one that has caused you so much pain. While his and his sibling's reign over the Earth, when he rewrote the Book of Ages, was arguably short-lived… it was still satisfying to have Jackie Chan and his family act as his slaves, serving his every whim. But at the same time, he won't be so merciful the next time he sees Chan. Next time, he'll make Chan watch as he slaughters every one of the girls in his charge before finally putting him out of his own misery.
"Well, my siblings?" Shendu drew the attention of his family again. "I do believe we are owed thanks. After all, did our plan not proceeded as we intended?"
Many of the Demon Sorcerers all grumbled in annoyance. "I am loathed to admit it…" Bai Tza hissed.
"Oh, please do, Auntie Bai." Drago sneered.
"You, your mother, and your… father…" Bai Tza groaned especially at that last part. "Have proven to be… competent allies, dear nephew."
"Keep it coming. I can listen all day." Drago said cockily.
"Don't be too confident." Po Kong loomed over him. "Chan and those Guardian brats are still active. Even if they are exiled from Kandrakar, they are still a threat."
"True." Shendu admitted. "But we are victorious. They have lost. They can be beaten. Our foes are not as invincible as they believe, and this is only the first of many victories!"
"Indeed. With Kandrakar under our control, we now have access to all the other realms!" Nerissa stated as she opened her palm and used magic to erect an electrical construct that resembled something of a tree with Kandrakar lying at the central roots, with several other worlds being connected to all the branches. "One-by-one, they will fall to us! You'll each have your own world to rule as you see fit! Even if our foes are still active, we will crush them soon. It's only a matter of time now."
Xiao Fung smirked. "Yes, I do believe we can make this work."
"Indeed. But first, I believe it is time for some… renovations." Tso Lan blasted beams of gravity upward to completely obliterate what was left of the ceiling before ascending upward. Once he was outside, the Moon Demon looked around at the bright and clear sky, as well as the vast clouds below that stretched in all directions. "Kandrakar has some new tenants, after all."
He extended all four of his arms, two pointing upward and the other two down to the clouds below and began to cast a large veil of dark magic that quickly spread across the sky, turning it from bright blue to one that was almost pitch black. The clouds below began to clear way as ground slowly began to rise, ground that was also pitch back.
The several of the other Demon Sorcerers emerged from the ruined and now-occupied fortress and began to make renovations of their own. Dai Gui hopped to the rising ground and proceeded to dig. Bai Tza went to one location and began to write symbols on the ground with her water body to summon even more water than before. Tchang Zu flew into the sky and began to spread thunder clouds. Xiao Fung began to inhale some of those very storm clouds and exhaled them out in one direction that cleared away and flattened the land in front of him. Po Kong stomped her way out and took the form of a giant goffer to dig herself her own spot. Hsi Wu simply flew to the very top of the fortress and perched himself on the highest ledge to oversee it all.
Shendu, Nerissa, Drago, Miranda, and even the controlled Halinor all stepped out to see the rest of the Demon Sorcerers begin their work of 'renovating' Kandrakar.
"This place will serve as a nice home and a base to begin our conquest." The Fire Demon sneered.
"We're gonna turn the entire cosmos inside out!" Drago clenched his fist with anticipation.
"And we'll make it into a paradise for us!" Miranda shifted into her draconic-spider form.
Nerissa looked to her side towards the controlled Halinor, before glancing to her other to see the spirit of her beloved Cassidy, who was also under her control, land beside her. "Two down…" She smiled. "We'll all be together soon, I promise. But first… maybe it's time to bring in the rest of the family."
Earth – Ben Shui Temple
Luba took a moment to observe the Heart of Kandrakar before handing it back to Will. "The Aurameres are still intact. You and the others should still be able to transform and use your powers as before. But they cannot leave the Heart under any circumstance. The Aurameres manifesting in a realm other than that of their origin could lead to their connection to Kandrakar being severed and irreparably damage the Heart."
"Okay… keep them in the Heart at all times. Got it." Will nodded in understanding before turning to all her friends as their injuries were being patched by the Ben Shui temple monks. Even the yak that they had taken in sat alongside Jade as she patted its head.
"So… this is… terrible…" Irma put in.
"That doesn't even begin to cover it." Taranee said. "The demons took over Kandrakar, the Council's trapped, and we can't get back!"
Blunk took out the Tonga Tooth and attempted to use it to Fold back to Kandrakar, only for the Fold to shut immediately. "Taranee right. Blunk can't use Tooth to get back."
Will looked at the Heart one more time before opening up a Fold herself, but that Fold remained opened. "Looks like we can get to Meridian just fine." She said before closing off the Fold.
"That's understandable." Tohru said. "Nerissa did say that we'd be banished from Kandrakar, so the spell should apply only that realm."
"How in the heck did that even happen?!" Alchemy questioned. "The demons were supposed to be sent away, not us!"
"Nerissa probably hijacked the spell or something." Matt assumed.
"Ow!" Uncle dope-slapped his own head. "Why didn't Uncle see this coming?! Ow!" He dope-slapped himself again. "Of course Nerissa would plan for us to use demon banishing spells! Ow!" He dope-slapped himself again. "Now Halinor is in clutches of demons! Ow!" Once more, he dope-slapped himself.
"Uncle, please." Jackie stopped his uncle from slapping himself again. "We were in a hurry, we didn't have time to consider what Nerissa could do. Yes, we've lost this battle, but does not mean we've lost the war."
"Yeah, Jackie's right!" Hay Lin tried to interject for some positivity. "Even if we can't Fold to Kandrakar, we can still go everywhere else! We'll just fight the demons there!"
"But with the Council captured, we will have no means of tracking them." Caleb said. "The Oracle was the one who could see into the other realms, right? And with him gone…"
"We're blind, and the demons have unrestricted access to all the other realms." Will assumed.
"And the Mage was Nerissa the whole time!" Jade pulled on her own hair. "How did I not see that sooner?!"
"Jade, this wasn't your fault either." Jackie tried to assure her.
"But I found her out when she was posing as everyone when we were all on vacation!" Jade argued.
"Perhaps it's because you were more familiar with your friends." Tohru assumed. "You've known your friends for a long time and have been with them since coming to Heatherfield, Jade. Because of that, and your connection to shadows, you were able to sense something was off when Nerissa in disguise. But you've never really interacted with the Mage all that much."
"And we don't know how long she was posing as the Mage." Jackie added. "If Nerissa was responsible for the deaths of Elyon's parents, it's likely she's been disguised as the Mage for years. So, there were no other shadows for you to compare her to."
"Just like with Trill." Caleb added.
That caused Jade to look away slightly. She couldn't argue against any of that and now seemed to understand that it wasn't any of her own fault. But that didn't make it any less frustrating.
"Can't you just use some spell to unbanish us, old man?" Chow questioned.
"For real, you got spells for pretty much everything, Unc." Finn added.
"Or maybe a magic eye spell to see to the other worlds?" Ratso questioned.
"Spell used to banish us was empowered by Heart of Meridian, which is equal to Heart of Kandrakar." Uncle replied. "Only a greater amount of power can override banishing spell."
"Greater than a Mystic Heart?" Jade questioned. "Yeah… that's gonna be a problem."
"We may not be of Kandrakar, but we monks of the Ben Shui Order will do all that we can to resolve this issue." One of the monks said as he and his companions bowed humbly. "We will try to find a means to access Kandrakar once more and learn of the demons' intent."
"I will do what I can to help as well." Luba walked to join the Ben Shui monks. "But with the Council broken… I'm afraid the responsibility of stopping Nerissa and the demons lies squarely on your shoulders now, heroes." She looked with a saddened expression towards the Guardians, Chan Clan, and their friends.
"Great. No pressure." Cornelia said sarcastically.
Vandom Residence
The sun had already set as Will was just outside the door that led to hers and her mother's apartment. All her friends in the Guardians, the Chan Clan, as well as Matt, Alchemy, and Caleb, were all there with her.
She reached for the door handle but was hesitant at first. That is until Matt reached to grab her other hand and gently squeeze it, prompting Jade to put her hand on Will's shoulder. Looking back, Will saw all the supportive smiles of her other friends, and especially Jackie. That caused her to smile back, to remind her that she wasn't alone in this.
"Thanks… all of you…. For… for everything." She said to them before grasping the door handle and opening up. "Mom…? I'm home…"
"Hi, honey." Susan was at the kitchen table with Yan Lin to greet her daughter.
"Hello everyone." Yan Lin waved to them.
"Grandma? What are you doing here?" Hay Lin asked in surprised.
"I stopped by to better explain to Susan here a few things, preferably in a manner when her life isn't in jeopardy." Yan Lin summed up.
Susan stood up from the table and met her daughter while everyone else gave them their space. Neither really said anything for a minute as Will looked away, holding her own arm.
"Mom… I… I'm sorry." She began. "I'm sorry I never told you about me being a Guardian. I didn't ask for it, I didn't even want it at first. But… everything that I've been through… that we've been through… It… it changed me. I made friends… people that feel like family to me. We've had so much fun and done so much good together." She pulled out the Heart of Kandrakar to show her. "This… this coming into my life… was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Because of this… I have all of them…!" She gestured to her friends behind her as she started to get emotional. "And I know that I'm fighting dangerous monsters but… I can take them! I'm not helpless! And I'm helping so many people I… I just…"
When it looked like she was about to cry, Susan pulled her into a hug, much to Will's own surprise.
"Will… my baby girl… You… you have no idea… just how proud you've made me."
That took the redhead even further by surprise as she pulled away, looking in absolute shock to see her mother smiling at her before she spoke. Did she just say that she was proud of her? Even most of her friends were surprised to hear that.
"Yan Lin told me about all your adventures… or at least gave me a basic summary." Susan began. "You've fought a tyrant in another dimension… an evil wizard… a giant dragon… and even some kind of floating demon head… things that would terrify any adult much less a teenage girl… but you powered through it. You saved the lives of your friends, complete strangers, even a whole world. You've saved so many people… how can I not be proud of something like that?"
"But… I lied to you… over and over again…" Will stuttered.
"Yeah, you did." Susan admitted. "Kinda still miffed at that. But… looking back on it… it's not like I would have really believed it myself. How else do you tell someone that you have magic powers?"
"Heh, yeah…" Will gave a small chuckle, but she looked down with guilt once more. "I'm sorry…"
"It's okay." Susan said before her own smile faded. "I also know that you've been going through a hard time too. That Nerissa-lady… what she's been doing to you and your friends… not to mention that… Jewel-girl."
Will looked up in surprise when that name was brought up, even Jade was somewhat shocked at that.
"Yep, Yan Lin told me about that too." Susan said before looking to her daughter with a sincere expression. "I'm so sorry… I can't imagine what that's like…"
"Mom I… I don't…" Will was tearing up.
"Look, I'll admit it. I still don't exactly like it, this whole Guardian-thing you're doing. I'm still terrified for you." Susan continued. "But… I know I can't stop you either. I also know that there are a lot of people who need you and your friends right now… and as much as I'd like to help… maybe take a baseball bat to that crone's face for what she's done to you... Sadly, there's not much I can do. But… I'm here for you." She kneeled down to Will's level to look her into the eyes with a loving smile. "Even if it's just a shoulder to lean on, I'm here. No matter what happens, no matter what kind of magical stuff comes our way, I'll still be here. I'll face it with you. I love you, Will. And that is never going to change."
In that instant, Will leapt at her mom and cried her eyes out, burying her face into Susan's shoulder who didn't hesitate to embrace her back. "I love you too, Mom…!" She sobbed.
Such a scene caused smiles to be shared across the room, with even Tohru shedding a tear. Hay Lin ended up grasping her grandmother's hand as they shared a smile, with even Yan Lin looking to Jin who nodded. Taranee, Irma, and Matt all smiled as well, with Cornelia reaching for Caleb's hand. Even Jade smiled heartwarmingly, especially when Jackie reached to put a hand on her shoulder to smile down at her as well. Despite the huge defeat they just suffered at the hands of their enemies, suddenly that didn't even matter right now. Because someone they all cared for was able to mend a bridge she feared was broken. That alone was worth a lot.
The two pulled apart as Will let the last of her emotions out, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders before Susan addressed the group in front of her.
"Thank you all, for looking after my daughter." She said. "Jackie… you too. Thank you for helping her get through all of this."
"Of course." Jackie nodded with a smile. "Will is a strong and capable young woman, and I'm proud of how far she has come." He said as he looked at the aforementioned redhead, who smiled back at him.
"And Jade…" Susan looked at her now. "I don't quite understand this whole magic-sister bond that you have going on, but I know that you and Will are especially close. So… thank you too, for being her friend."
"Best friend." Jade said as she walked towards Will and the two shared a hug with one another.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Susan went over to answer it, opening the door to reveal a man that nobody recognized. Nobody except for Susan and Will, the girl gasping in especial surprise.
"Dad…?!"
Done.
So, that was quite a bit.
The heroes have just suffered an enormous defeat. Nerissa, Drago, and the Demon Sorcerers have taken over Kandrakar and have trapped the Council, with Nerissa enthralling Halinor over to her side, so that's two of her former teammates now under her control. With Kandrakar now in control of the Demon Sorcerers, they now have complete access to all the other realms, so… yeah. Things are going to get bad from this point forward.
Still though, Will was able to save the Aurameres by absorbing them into the Heart of Kandrakar. I don't know if that was a canon thing, but it seems like such a thing would be possible.
On the more positive side though, Yan Lin was able to help smooth things over with Susan, and help her and Will make amends. Susan is still struggling to accept the whole Guardian situation, which is natural given her only child is risking her life, but she still loves Will and is offering to serve as emotional support when she needs it.
I'm sure many of you were expecting Nerissa to use that to help further drive Will and Susan apart, which is totally something she would do. But given how she was focused on Kandrakar at that moment, and Yan Lin seemed like the best person to try and talk with Susan, understanding her situation completely, it made sense to go this route. But that doesn't mean that Susan is no longer in danger. Nerissa still has plans for her. As for what those plans are… you'll just have to see.
Oh, and Will's Dad just showed up. So that's going to be interesting.
The next chapter is also going to get very emotional too as there is another certain reveal coming up that nobody will be prepared for.
Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there.