324Disclaimer: I own neither the WITCH cartoon-show nor Jackie Chan Adventures; they are the property of their respective creators, writers, and producers.
A/N: Many thanks to author Zim'sMostLoyalServant for being the first review of this crossover. Also, many thanks to my usual guest review Matt, who pointed out a couple of scenes that went missing from last chapter, and that I've already added. This will be mainly a rewriting of It Resumes, but with several changes. As I said, after my rendition of The Key (third episode of the first season) we will start with my own episodes and own plot, which won't diverge extremely from canon, but you'll see… For now, enjoy this chapter. For more notes, see end of the chapter.
Guardians, Wizards and Kung-Fu Fighters
Episode Two
It Resumes with a Rescue
World of Meridian; Throne Room
The Thorn Throne was radiating with energy, Prince Phobos siphoning it from the land and noting how it make him stronger, more powerful than any other meridianite. Albeit Cedric had returned from his mission successful, the Prince couldn't rub the feeling that something had changed, that the balance of power had changed… and not precisely in his favor. Cedric, still in his snake form, bowed before him in order to report about his mission. Phobos was curious; normally Cedric reverted to his human form in court, but not now, and that meant that the Snake of Cavigor was feeling uncomfortable. Also, the Prince noted that he had the remains of a couple of burns over his body, which meant that he had entered battle. The presence of Raythor, who had also been summoned to the Prince's presence, didn't help in the slightest.
Phobos closed his eyes, and breathed deeply in order to calm himself. He acted very impulsively when not calmed. Enemies, enemies all around me; trying to take what is mine by birthright; he thought as he opened his eyes. "Report."
"My liege," Cedric started to say, his voice a reptilian hiss. "I successssssfully captured the rebel leader, but in doing so, I had to cross a Portal to the realm of Earth, and there I faced the Guardians of Kandrakar in battle."
Phobos' eyes twinkled for a second, but he didn't let it to show. "The Guardians? The Guardians are old women now Cedric; and only one has the Heart currently."
"No my Prince Phobos;" the Snake of Cavigor corrected his master, albeit in a humble tone in order to not provoke him. "These were five new Guardians, young girls probably."
Phobos' face showed then a change in his expression, something that the Prince didn't normally let to happen. Emotions meant that you are a regular human being, and thus killable, challengeable. This must be it, what I felt earlier; the Prince thought. "So the Heart has passed to a new generation at last… But they shouldn't be able to reach their full potential if a Veil is raised around Meridian, and they are surely young and inexperienced…"
"There is more, my liege;" Cedric interrupted his Prince. "While battling the Guardians I faced other three opponents. One of them seemed to be a warrior of some kind, and the other two were wizards."
Now Phobos frowned. Kandrakar's allies, perhaps? Maybe sent to aid the new generation? An untrained and inexperienced group of Guardians was one thing, but wizards to aid them? That was dangerous to his reign, dangerous to his plans. He needed to look into it... but first things first, better take care of the problem that lived in the same world as him.
"Good job, Cedric;" Phobos told his second in command. "Now, I would want to meet with the man who leads those idiotic peasants."
Cedric bowed and moved to one side of the room. Shortly after, the sound of titling chains could be heard, and Caleb was dragged into the room, both hands chained to one another. The one dragging him was a bulking being of blue skin, with white, scaly protuberances in one side of his head and chin. This bulky man, a genuine and pure-blooded Galhot was named Vathek, warden of the castle's dungeons... and secretly a member of the Rebellion, spying and giving information about Phobos' forces. It was thanks to him that Caleb had been able to perpetrate the latest attack. The blue Galhot kneeled and put in his best 'loyal soldier' act.
"The troublemaker, Prince Phobos;" Vathek spoke.
As he was dragged in front of the tyrant, Caleb looked back and caught a glimpse of Raythor's waving cape. The Snake was smiling smugly near him, and as he raised his head, he was met by the sight of Prince Phobos himself. There he is, the root of all Evil in this world; Caleb thought. It was as if someone had put all the men he hated in the same room.
"This... this is the rebel leader?" Phobos asked, genuinely surprised and disappointed. "They must have been desperate to put you in command, boy."
"This boy blew up one of your armories," Caleb retorted proudly.
A dry chuckle escaped the Prince's mouth then. "A pathetic and pointless attack which results I can repair by snapping my fingers; and on top you left yourself to be captured," Phobos' grin widened then. "Your first direct act in command and you endanger your whole little Rebellion. Your father must be revolving in his own grave."
That was a very low blow, Vathek thought. Damn it Caleb, don't do anything...
"Don't dare you to speak about my father!" Caleb yelled in anger as he jumped towards Phobos, the chains slipping from Vathek's grip.
Expecting this outcome, Phobos raised a finger and a beam of swirling energy shot from it, taking Caleb and holding him in the air, helpless. The Prince lowered his finger, making Caleb smash against the floor of the throne room, groaning in pain.
"Take him to the oubliette, Vathek," Phobos ordered. "I will see to his interrogation later."
Vathek rose and bowed in faked respect and obedience to his Prince; taking Caleb's chains in his hands again and dragging him out as he had dragged him in.
That left Raythor and Cedric alone with their Prince. Approaching the center of the room, both men expected Phobos' orders. The rebel gone, Cedric transformed into his human self, again in a flashy way.
"That settles that matter. Now..." Phobos reached into his sleeve, were a sand powder always rested. Taking a handful and imbuing it with magic, threw it to the floor, in where it started to twirl until it became a circle that showed an image. The sand mirror showed the image of a redheaded girl, a glowing pink crystal that both Shapeshifter and Half-breed identified as the heart of Kandrakar.
"Who is she?" Raythor asked.
"The new and current Keeper of the Heart," Phobos answered. He took a hand to his chin, ruffling his goatee and thinking his next move. "Cedric, take some of the Lurdens, find a Portal and go to Earth. Bring this girl into my presence."
"As you wish," Cedric answered, excusing himself with a soft bow and exiting the room.
"Raythor," Phobos addressed the Captain after that. "Instruct that Lieutenant of yours to find Frost and see if Tracker has already returned. Tell him that I demand for both of them to be in court immediately. Search for Miranda too, and order her to go to the Alchemical Laboratory and bring the wizard here. After that, maintain yourself near the oubliette. Rebels aren't well-known for surrendering."
"Of course, my Lord," the Captain answered.
Raythor bowed and exited the room too, letting Phobos to recline in his throne and focus on the absorption of power once more. His mind revised once again all the information he had received from his minions, especially from Cedric. While his mind was telling him that all this new characters in the play were a menace, a part of him was thrilled by the new possibilities.
If I play my cards right, I could gain the power of the Heart of Kandrakar alongside my sister's…
Across the Veil; Shell Beach
"C'mon girl, turn that frown upside down!" Irma Lair, in her Guardian form, said to a frowning jade Chan, the orange hoodie wearing girl sitting over a rock in the shore of Shell Beach, near a cave. They all had agreed that this was a great spot in order to train; no curious eyes, no property that could be broken… After the five girls had finished school that day, they all had come to this spot alongside Jackie, Jade and Tohru; Uncle remaining in the restaurant in order to help Yan Lin with something. They all had come here eager to learn how to use their powers… all of them except Jade, who after tomorrow would be attending Sheffield Institute with the girls, albeit a grade less than them.
"But it's so unfair!" the girl protested.
"How's that unfair?" Cornelia asked. "We all have to attend school, why should you be any different?"
"Because I'm not from this city!" Jade protested yet again. "Duh!"
"Neither was Will until yesterday, the same day you arrived," Irma pointed out. "And besides, tomorrow's just picture day, so it's basically the same as not having school at all."
"Tch," was Jade's only response, and she crossed her arms over her torso.
"What I still don't understand is how you were accepted so quickly," Will said as she approached them. "Mom had to do a lot of paperwork in order to get me there in time."
"Friends in high places," Jackie said as he looked for a part of the shore that was stable enough to train the girls. He found one into a little rock formation that was plain enough not to cause stumbles.
You own me a BIG one Captain Black; Jade thought with disdain as she saw how the five girls flew and positioned themselves in front of Jackie, waiting eagerly for the training lesson to start. Well, at least I'll see a good show.
"So, what are we learning today, Mr. Chan?" Hay Lin asked in her usual cheerful manner. "How to escape from a buried coffin using our bare hands? How to break a brick with our heads? Maybe…"
"Today, we will learn how to punch," Jackie said, surprising the quintet of girls.
"Seriously?" Irma asked. "I thought we would be learning, you know; something more flashy."
"The 'flashy' part comes when Tohru teaches you how to work your magic properly," Jackie explained. "Have you ever been in a fight in your whole lives?" The girls looked to each other, clearly acknowledging that they hadn't.
"Do tickle fights count?" Hay Lin asked, just for Jackie to smile and shake his head slowly. "Oh…"
"Then form a line, and one by one, you all will try to punch me;" Jackie explained, and the girls did as he had asked them to do.
Jade wasn't very surprised of seeing Cornelia taking the first spot in the line, with Will at the last one. Even after everything that happened yesterday with the Portal, the Snake and the rebel boy, Will still seemed not fully integrated in the group, mainly due to certain blonde. Jade couldn't avoid smiling to the girl's direction, clearly feeling a bit of pity for her lack of confidence. Jade never had that kind of problem, but she could empathize. Cornelia, meanwhile, positioned herself in front of Jackie, ready to attack.
"When you're ready," Jackie told the blonde, who proceeded to throw a punch towards Jackie. The archeologist, however, dodged quite easily by turning out of the way of the punch, and Cornelia, having put too much strength into it, lost her balance and fell to the ground, where she landed face first with a loud groan.
"Hey! You dodged!" the blonde protested from the ground.
"I never said I couldn't;" Jackie answered. Is as I thought, they aren't accustomed to having so much strength, neither to fighting; the martial artist thought as he helped Cornelia up and she went directly to the end of the line. Irma and Hay Lin tried next, meeting more or less the same results, albeit Irma fell on her butt and Hay Lin was able to stop her falling with her air control and her wings. Surprising Jade immensely, Taranee was the one that did the better, throwing a punch and not losing her balance like the other three did, earning an approval smile from Jackie. Seemed like the bookworm was the only one that understood how the added strength of being a Guardian worked.
Will was, of course, the last one. Jackie had to admit to himself that he was more interested in training the redhead than any of her four companions. While the others had elemental powers in order to use as defense, Will had none. That meant she had just enhanced strength, speed and durability, and that; considerer that kind of magical threats that Jackie had faced in his own, wasn't a very optimistic situation.
Will threw a punch like the others, and she fell to when Jackie dodged, the archeologist taking a few steps back this time. However, as she was falling Will moved her wings and stopped her fall like Hay Lin… and suddenly threw another punch towards Jackie, taking the man by surprise and forcing him to block it.
"You threw another punch," Jackie said as he loosened his grip around Will's fist. This time his was a smile of pride.
"You never said we couldn't," the redhead retorted.
All the other girls looked surprised by Will's successful attempt at attacking Jackie, even Cornelia couldn't do nothing but look completely impressed at the Keeper's display. Jade snickered at the girl's surprising ability to use a loophole, something she had in common with her.
As for Jackie, he was reconsidering his former statement about the Keeper of the Heart. Maybe not so helpless at all, he thought.
Vandom residence
Will let her body fell over her bed completely worn out; night having taken over Heatherfield, and her mother making dinner for the two of them back in the kitchen. While the others had been practicing their powers with Tohru, she had been given an extra lesson in hand to hand combat with both Jackie and Jade, the redhead forced to practice her new moves with the twelve year old girl. Will rubbed her tired legs in an annoyed manner. That kid's too strong for a twelve year old; she thought. Then again, I'll be still twelve until my birthday comes in a couple of weeks.
"Will! Dinner's ready!" she heard her mother, Susan, calling for her.
Will rose up from her bed and went to the kitchen. Her mother was actually quite happy about the fact that Will had seemed to make new friends so easily, but of course she didn't know about all the 'Guardians stuff'. Friends, uh?; Will thought. I don't know if I should be calling them all that so soon. I never was a very social person anyway…; the redhead's mind travelled back to Fadden Hills, her hometown. But she forced herself to stop her mind from going there.
Well, better not think about it, Will told herself. Mom's happy, and a happy Mom means something good for dinner.
As Will Vandom sat at her table with her mother, however, in the dark streets of Heatherfield's night, a shinning Portal opened in an alley, and from it came four Lurdens, and Lord Cedric's human form behind them.
"Search for the redhead girl I told you about," Cedric ordered the quartet of humanoid creatures. "In the moment you see her in the least of company, capture and bring her to me."
The four Lurdens gave an affirmative growl to Cedric and scattered around Heatherfield, searching for Will. Lurdens weren't known for the ability to track any odor, but yes magical might. Maybe that was the reason they had sided with Phobos during the Prince's cup, after all he was the mightiest living being in Meridian.
Cedric looked back at the Portal, the swirling mass of blue energy making him think about his current condition. I hope this one last long enough for us to return without having to wait. I don't want to get stuck in this reeking world.
Next morning
"That's not a very good choice of clothes for picture day," Jade pointed out, as she and Will (using her usual casual and comfortable clothes) walked the street from their homes into Sheffield's direction. Albeit having the possibility of a home in the form of their family connection to the Lins, Jackie didn't want to exploit their kindness, and the Chans had rented a flat near Will's block. So, for the girl it seemed rational to accompany the redhead in the way to school.
"Says the girl that always wears an orange hoodie," Will retorted. "And this is just picture day. I mean, who gets preoccupied with appearing like a model in a school photograph?"
"I bet Corny does," Jade said, having taken in Irma's custom of calling the blonde that nickname. "I'm sure she will be like 'Oh, look at this new pair of jeans, do they make my butt bigger? In a good way?'."
"Jade, that's rude," Will reprimanded her, but the redhead couldn't hide a smile of her own. However, all that fun was cut short when the pair of girls passed in front of an alley, and then a quartet of monsters jumped straight in front of them, taking each pair one of them by force.
"What the-?!" Jade said, but all their pleas fell in a broken sack when they were dragged to the alley, directly in front of a Portal. They struggled in order to get rid of the Lurdens' grip, but the only thing they were able to accomplish was for their bags to fell to the ground. Their hopes of escaping completely died when Cedric, now back into his snake form in order to inspire more fear, appeared and pointed to the swirling hole in the Veil.
"Take them in!" the Lord roared. "They have a very important meeting to attend…"
As the Lurdens dragged both girls into the Portal Cedric shot one last look at Heatherfield. Better to take the other girl too, or she would have alerted the others…; and with that lat thought, the Snake of Cavigor entered the hole in the Veil, which closed behind him.
However, he hadn't count in the presence of Taranee Cook, who having heard the ruckus in her own way at Sheffield, had approached the alley as fast as she could, thinking that she was hearing an assault. Instead, she only found Will's and Jade's school bags, and looking at them, the Guardian of Fire was able to put two and two together.
Sheffield Institute
"Hey, does my new pair of jeans make my butt bigger? In a good way?" Cornelia asked of Irma and Hay Lin as she patted her backside. The two girls looked at Cornelia, and both of them rolled their eyes. "What?" the blonde asked.
"Yeah Corny, your butt is fantastic, as always;" Irma teased her friend, who just scowled at her.
"Haha," Cornelia laughed dry and sarcastically. "Very funny, Irmy. Like you didn't choose that precise top in order to accentuate certain 'assets'."
Irma blushed deeply at the blonde's counterargument, and looked sideways. If she was going to say something back, nobody knew, because in that moment, Taranee appeared in scene, running like the Devil was going after her; carrying two school bags on top of her own.
"Guys, guys, guys, guys!" Taranee shouted as she approached the other three girls. "We've a very big problem!" she said putting the two bags in the floor.
"Aren't those Will and Jade's bags?" Irma asked, just for Taranee to nod like crazy.
"I was coming here, and then I heard all this noise, like an assault;" she explained, almost hyperventilating. "But when I went there, there wasn't anyone, and the two bags were there, and this was inside Will's!" Taranee yelled in worry as she took the Heart of Kandrakar out of her pocket. "I think… I think that those people from Meridian took them!"
"Oh crap," Irma said. "Are we sure of that?"
"What other explanation do you have?" Taranee said.
"And what do we do?" Cornelia asked. "Without Will using that little shiny, we can't transform."
"Better call Jackie and the others," Hay Lin said as she took out her phone. "They'll know what to do."
"Second day on the superhero job, and already have to safe a damsel in distress;" Irma replied dryly.
Across the Veil, World of Meridian
Go and spy on those rebels, Miranda; go and kill that man, Miranda; go and bring the wizard to court, Miranda… I'm a Shapeshifter, not an errand boy!
Miranda, a fourteen year old Shapeshifter with an alternate form that resembled a spider (if spiders were enormous balls of black fur bigger than a man with four humanoid, grey and thin appendages, and four brilliant blue eyes) and that had been in service of Prince Phobos for almost half her life, complained in her thoughts as she climbed the walls of the castle towards the Alchemical Laboratory. She reached the entrance to the wing of the castle that served as Phobos' way of producing abominations like the mudslugs or the larveks, or trying to reproduce already living ones like Tracker.
She maintained her beast form upon entering, crawling inside the Laboratory. There was something awful about that wizard from earth that Phobos' had taken into his service a few years ago. Maybe it was the fact that he demanded prisoners or even guards that asked too many questions to be dragged into his lab and that those weren't heard about again, or maybe it was the fact that his and Tracker's camaraderie and enjoyment of company seemed to be genuine. That, somehow, startled Miranda.
"Wizard!" Miranda called as she crawled around the laboratory and the fuming dark purple potions, the bubbling liquids, jars full with eyes that still moved, and corpses of different species hanging from the ceiling. "Wizard, come out! The Prince demands your presence in the court!"
"I thought me and Phobos agreed that my title was Archmage," a deep and dry voice with a strange accent said at her back.
Spinning around in a fast jump, Miranda was greeted with the sight of Phobos' magical advisor. At first he didn't look nothing but a frail old man, hair white and skin of a sick pale color; black tattoos adorning his face, one eye without any color and the other of a deep greenish blue tone. Wrinkles adorned his face and the rest of his skinny body, and thin arms and hands ended in sharp nails that resembled a Lurden's claws. He was dressed in a robe of dark colors, mainly black and dark green; and his hand carried a twisted root-like staff, in which end Miranda could see purple shadows dancing and screaming.
"I'm sorry, Archmage Wong," Miranda corrected herself. "But the Prince has called for you and the other high ranking members of his regime. Apparently, Cedric has been able to capture the Keeper of the Heart."
"A Guardian of Kandrakar, here?" Daolong Wong asked, more to himself than to Miranda. "Very well, let's go to court, little shapeshifter."
Miranda grumbled something intelligible between her spider teeth, and she followed Wong as they both exited the Alchemical Laboratory.
The Dungeons
As Wong and the rest of members of Phobos' elite were going to court, Caleb was being dragged towards the oubliette, in order to pass a bit of time in a pit before Phobos himself decided it was time to take out of his mind the secrets of the Rebellion. However, the Prince had been right; Caleb (and no other rebel, for that matter) wasn't known for surrendering.
Taking impulse in a moment in which the guards were distracted, Caleb struck them with the very own chain he was being imprisoned with. However, maybe taking such a risky move in a dungeon, full of guards and Lurdens, wasn't the best of ideas. Someone was quick to hit the alarm, and in mere minutes, the dungeon was full of Lurdens, all of them ganging up on Caleb, who just used his chains in order to hit them and send them away.
"C'mon, I can beat any of you!" Caleb challenged the beasts, which then proceeded to form a circle around him. Shortly after that a figure clad in helmet and cape and carrying no weapon, entered in the circle, defiantly standing to the rebel's challenge. Caleb scowled at the sight of Raythor, the Captain standing proudly against him. "You…" Caleb said in a fit of anger.
"Me," Raythor replied. "You really are nothing but an idiotic boy," the Captain told him. "The Prince was right, your father would feel disappointed at you know."
Caleb's eyes bulged in pure hatred. "How dare you?!"
Caleb swung his chains towards the Captain, but he evaded the incoming attack. "You are still tired and wounded from your encounter with Cedric," Raythor explained calmly as he took the chains that held Caleb's hand. No matter how strongly the rebel leader threw from them, Raythor didn't let them go. "And your anger clouds your mind and battle ability. I respected your father as an honorable enemy worthy of being fought, but you?" Raythor said as he pulled strongly from the chains, making Caleb to be launched towards him, whom the Captain met with a butting to the head of the real, who was left unconscious due to Raythor wearing a helmet of thick iron. "You are just a child, trying to play soldier. Put him in his cage Vathek, I had a meeting to attend in court."
"Yes, sir;" Vathek answered, taking Caleb's body and putting it in the cage. Without anyone noticing, he put a little key in the bread he had to give the prisoner, and threw it into the pit alongside Caleb. I hope this gives you a chance, my friend; the blue bulking Galhot thought as he left Caleb in the pit. I hate when I have to do this, when I cannot move a finger to stop innocents to getting hurt. Phobos! I swear I'll see you into a cage like these ones one day!
Throne Room
Jade Chan had been into very uncomfortable situations during her short live. Captured and almost gutted by Tohru? Check. Captured by the Dark hand and held as hostage? Check. Trapped in the Demon Netherworld with Shendu's family? Check. But this, THIS! This was taking the great prize by far.
Will and her had been captured, handcuffed at their backs, and the same snake-man of two days ago had dragged both of them into a throne room that put the ones of those dark lords of her fantasy novels to shame. Seriously, who had designed this room, Sauron? But the cherry on top were with no doubt the people (if you could refer as them as people) that were scattered around the room, looking at them. The snake-man was there, of course, standing left to the throne, his coils resting under him. In contraposition, at the throne's right stood a man with yellowish skin wearing something that clearly was a soldier's attire; perhaps some kind of high commander of the minions, thought Jade.
At the snake's left was a man clad in dark robes that made Uncle look like a twenty year old in comparison. His eyes had been fixated in Will since the beginning, as if he was analyzing her with them. Left to that man was a tall, green skinned… humanoid thing clad in an old hunter's attire (cool hat included); that Jade only could identify as a zombie. His face had dried skin, the teeth exposed, and two red eyes looked at them menacingly.
Whoa, is almost as if Shendu had a son in here; Jade thought before classifying the thought as impossible. Who could have a son with Shendu?
Turning her head to the other side, she saw how a muscular man with deep brown skin stood next to the commander, blond hair adorning his head and pointy ears in place of normal ones. Jade thought that he looked like one of those barbarians of her comic books. Jade was sure that something was in the ceiling too; crawling over their heads, but she couldn't tell due to the shadows in there. Having all of them there, this was clearly a show of power.
But what totally sold the game was without doubt the man in the throne. A man in his late twenties, with pale blond hair and a goatee, dressed in a robe of black and red that just screamed 'I'm the bad guy'. That must be Prince Phobos, the girl thought. He's pretty normal-looking in comparison with the others. And yet, there was something in his eyes, something that made him dreading, especially as his pupils grew and seemed to consume the color of his irises. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then Jade was now looking directly into Phobos'… and she saw nothing, nothing but a bottomless pit, and endless void that seemed to suck everything away.
What is this… sensation?; Jade thought as she looked again at Phobos. There was something wrong with that man.
"Welcome to my court, Keeper of the Heart," Phobos addressed Will from his throne, completely ignoring Jade's presence. "I am Prince Phobos, rightful ruler of Meridian. You may have heard a lot of lies about me."
Seriously? Is he trying to play the 'I'm a nice man' after his minions kidnapped us and the company he has? His freaking right hand snake tried to eat us just days ago!; Jade thought offended.
"Now, I know you may be scared of this situation," Phobos continued to talk. "But I don't desire any harm to you. You and your friend can go home safely, if you give me the Heart of Kandrakar."
He wants the Heart?; Jade thought again. Will don't give it…
"I'll never give it to you!" Will yelled in defiance. "And besides, I don't have it here, your idiotic monsters left it in Earth!"
"And yet, if you give it to me, it will me mine;" Phobos explained. "Surrender the Heart of Kandrakar, and you will go peacefully to that reeking wet rock you call your home-world."
Will shut her mouth, but kept staring defiantly at the Prince. A fond smile appeared into Jade's face then, the orange hoodie wearing girl clearly impressed with the redhead's determination. However, Phobos wasn't as impressed.
"As you wish…" the Prince said, and then his expression changed. His eyes lighted in energy, and vines full of thorns and black roses shot from the floor, enveloping Will. Jade watched in horror as the vines tightened around the redhead, elevating her rom the ground, some of the thorns piercing her clothes, and others her skin, making small yet painfully annoying wounds.
"Surrender the Heart of Kandrakar!" Phobos demanded angrily.
"No!" Will shouted again, and then the light in the Prince's eyes brightened and current of energy enveloped the vines, hurting Will. The redhead screamed in pain, her body fuming from the attack that was being inflected on her. Due to the other attendants' silence, the teen's screams echoed loudly across the room. Cedric and Wong smiled cruelly, while both Raythor and even a brute like Frost couldn't avoid taking their eyes out of the scene.
"Hey, leave her alone, you monster!" Jade shouted, trying to get up and jump to attack the Prince, but then something shot from the ceiling, and the next thing she knew was that she was glued to the ground in what appeared to be spider-web. Something landed them over her, something big and black that looked directly at her with a quartet of brilliant blue eyes.
"Surprise!" Miranda yelled in the girl's face, opened her maw as if she was intending to eat Jade.
"Miranda…" Jade heard the snake-man's hiss, and the spider-like being moved aside, looking disappointed.
What the hell is that?!; Jade thought in fear. Is that one of those shapeshifters?!
Meanwhile, Phobos continued glaring at Will. "Surrender the Heart of Kandrakar!"
"N-no…" Will replied weakly.
"Wrong answer," Phobos replied, and a new current of energy shot from the vines, torturing Will even more. This time the scream was even louder. Across the whole castle, it sounded as if someone was shrieking her lungs out of pure pain. After the energy stream stopped, Will fell unconscious.
Across the Veil; World of Earth
Unknown to Phobos and all his minions, the Heart of Kandrakar was able to sense its Keeper's peril, and was now projecting the image of the tortured Will in its surface, alongside the captured Jade.
"They have them!" Hay Lin shouted. "We've to do something!"
The four girls were back at the Silver Dragon, where Jackie, Uncle and Tohru had arrived shortly after they had called them and informed of the situation.
"But without a Portal…" Cornelia said, genuinely worried about the well-being of the two girls. How was she supposed to apologize to Will for calling her New-Girl and being so mean if she died?!
Yan Lin appeared rushing from the back of the restaurant carrying a map of Heatherfield, which she proceeded to put over a table. "Bring the Heart."
The girls did as told, and then several glowing crosses appeared across the map. "These are Portals to Meridian. We have to use one of them to cross the Veil to that world."
"But which one?!" Irma asked. "They are twelve there!"
As if actually hearing the Water Guardian's words, the Heart started then to point directly to one Portal in particular.
"I think that is the one," Taranee said, pointing to the place where it was. "Right in our school, it seems. Talk about convenience."
"Then let's go," Yan Lin proclaimed, which earned her a confused glare from the teens.
"See, I don't want to be rude here, but aren't you a bit old for… OW!" Irma rubbed her forehead as Uncle slapped her with his usual technique of two fingers.
"We are going into enemy territory! The more help we bring, the better! Do you want to save Will and niece? Yes?" the old Chinese man pointed to the door. "Then obey cousin Yan and mooooove!"
"Don't worry girls," Yan Lin said, rolling the map and putting it aside. "This old lady still has a few cards up her sleeve."
"Then let's go already," Jackie said in a somber tone. How dared those monsters to lay a hand over Jade?! He was angry, incredibly angry, beyond anger! But he won't let it go to his head like it had happened when Captain Black had been harmed thanks to Valmont and the Dragon Talisman.
I won't let anger to get the best of me again; Jackie thought as he exited the Silver Dragon. But if they had touched Jade in the slightest, they are going to pay.
Back on Meridian; the oubliette
Will awakened inside a cage that was being lowered into some kind of pit. She had felt just tired the night before, but now she felt incredibly pained. What happened?; she thought as memories started to come back to her. The alley, the Portal, the court, the monsters, black roses, Phobos…
Jade.
"Jade, where are you?!" Will yelled, even if her chest was hurting.
"Here, here, don't worry;" said the girl's voice, coming from the redhead's… stomach? Looking down, she saw how Jade was laying over her body, chin on top of her chest. The twelve year old hugged the redhead tightly then, and the Keeper could see a couple of tears in her eyes. "Oh my God, Will! I thought I've lost you!"
"You aren't getting rid of me so easily, silly;" Will said ruffling the younger girl's hair, making her to dry her tears. Unfortunately, that tender moment was interrupted as the cage stopped its descent and its lower part opened, dropping both girls into the pit. Fortunately, both of them landed into something soft. Something soft… that moved and protested.
"Get off me!" Caleb shouted to both Will and Jade, whom both quickly get up from the boy's back. Unfortunately, Will fell on her butt shortly after, not having enough strength to maintain herself in her feet. Jade quickly rushed to her side, helping her to stay balanced and not fall to the ground; or worse, lose consciousness.
Noticing this, Caleb's expression softened. It was clear this girl was wounded, she had several bruises and small cuts all over her body. And she looked strangely familiar, almost exactly like one of the Guardians he met a couple of days ago... unless she was a Guardian.
"Is she alright?" Caleb asked.
"No, you jerky doofus!" Jade yelled. "That psycho-prince tortured her!"
Phobos, how unsurprising; Caleb thought with hatred towards the tyrant. If the Prince had tortured her personally, then she really must be one of the Guardians. That meant an opportunity to escape, an opportunity to counterattack... but she couldn't, not in that estate.
"Can you come to your feet?" Caleb asked of Will, but the redhead shook her head.
Blast, Caleb cursed internally. "What did Phobos want of her?"
"The Heart of Kandrakar," Jade answered. "But she didn't surrender it; or something like that." Jade focused a bit over the boy in front of her. "Hey, you're that boy from days ago!"
"I'm the rebel leader," Caleb said, a bit offended for being called 'boy' by a girl younger than himself. "I'm fifteen."
That only made Jade snicker. "And against what do you rebel exactly?"
"Maybe diaper rash?" Will asked as a joke, as she tried to incorporate.
"You better?" Jade asked to the redhead, who answered with a nod.
"Can we get out of here?" Will inquired, but Caleb shook his head.
Searching in one of his jacket's pockets Caleb pulled an iron key out. "This is one of the dungeons' master keys. It can open everything in this place, but if we can't reach the entrance, there is nothing we can do."
"Have you tried?" Will asked, but before Caleb could retort, another voice was heard answering.
"Oh, he tried, ihihihihi! Tried almost as much as Blunk!"
Turning around both Will and Jade saw a small figure to step out of the shadows. In was green, bald, with hair in his hands and dressed in a weird clothing that resembled something that a child with very bad taste should be wearing on Earth. He smelled to trash too.
"What's that?" Will asked.
"This is Blunk," Caleb said. "A Passling," Will noted that there was a change in his tone of voice upon saying that word. It didn't sound like despise, but yes like distaste. "And he's a smuggler."
"Not smuggler; businessman!" the green dwarf said. "Blunk told you already!"
"Cool," Jade, who apparently seemed immune to the Passling's stench. "What are you, some kind of Goblin?"
"Not Goblin; Passling!" Blunk protested. "Goblins build things, we Passling-folk trade!"
"Trade?" Jade asked, just for Blunk to pull out a bunch of chains from the ground.
"Blunk gives you chains for hoodie. Deal?" the green dwarf asked.
"Nope," Jade answered plainly.
"Oh..." the Passling answered disappointed.
Meanwhile, Will and Caleb were looking at the top of the pit. If there was someone who could just threw us a rope... Or maybe if this guy and I throw Jade high enough...
"Did someone asked for a rescue?!" the redhead heard then a too familiar voice.
"Irma?!" Will shouted in utter joy. And it really was Irma. And Hay Lin, and Cornelia, and Taranee too. Even old Yan Lin was there, and so were Jackie, Tohru and Mr. Uncle.
"You guys came!" Will said. "You really are my friends!"
"Of course, you dummy;" Cornelia said. "Don't tell me that you were thinking that we were going to left you two here."
"Never for a second!" Will cheered.
"Hey, I think this is yours;" Taranee said as she dropped something into the pit, something that Will caught. The Heart of Kandrakar started to glow warmly in her hands, the pendant being happy that its Keeper was safe. Will took air in and raised the pendant high.
Guardians Unite!
"Don't miss this, rebel boy; it's the coolest thing ever;" Jade told Caleb as both saw how the power of the Heart transformed the girls.
And for the first time in a long war, Caleb thought that maybe there was still hope in order to depose the Prince.
As each girl exclaimed her signature element, the five Guardians reunited at the top of the pit; Cornelia using some vines that sprouted from the ground in order to literally rip the bars of the pit apart.
"How are you?" Taranee asked the redhead.
Will clenched her fists; the transformation into a Guardian having took care of her injuries and pain. "I'm way better."
"Irma, help me taking Jade and the rebel from the other day from that pit;" Will instructed the brunette. "Be careful, just his mouth must weight a ton already."
Irma nodded in agreement, and she and the redhead went down the pit, coming back carrying Jade, Caleb and Blunk shortly after that.
Good thing we have this 'super-strength', Irma though. Thought for a second I should've to fill the hole with water or something.
"Jackie!" Jade shouted in joy as she threw herself in her uncle's arms.
"Jade!" Jackie answered with a tight hug. "Are you alright?!"
"Yeah, Will took the worst part," the girl answered. "Jackie, this Phobos guy, he…"
"Relax, Jade," Jackie assured the girl. "Everything will be okay now."
"What's that?" Cornelia said meanwhile, pointing to Blunk.
"A Passling," Yan Lin explained. "Haven't seen one in decades, I must say. They're pretty friendly fellows."
"We have to get out of here," Caleb said, without paying too much attention to the people around him. "The alarm could be given in any second…"
Just as the rebel leader ended that sentence, a deafening sound of a horn was heard across the dungeons and the whole castle afterwards.
"You have to say that, didn't you… erh… who're you exactly?" Irma asked.
"The rebel leader," Will answered for Caleb.
"You are the rebel leader?" Cornelia asked, albeit in a much sweeter tone than Jade had done, all accompanied by what Irma usually called 'focus in me, pretty boy'-Cornelia-mode.
But before any of them could retort to the blonde that now wasn't the time for this, the chains above them started to sound, and a whole platoon of Lurdens descended from them, ready to fight.
"Bad day…" Jackie and Jade muttered as both of them, the Guardians, Uncle, Tohru Caleb, and even Yan Lin prepared for battle.
Meanwhile in the throne room, Phobos continued his usual siphoning of energy, eyes closed and body relaxed... until he felt a change of energy in the dungeons, an energy that was luminous and clearly not from this world. Raythor and Frost were long gone to the dungeons alerted by the alarm, but the Prince had regarded it as another attempt of escape from the rebel, or even the Keeper... until now.
The Prince's eyes snapped open, and he incorporated from the Thorn Throne, unable to repress the feeling. "The Heart of Kandrakar... it's here! Wong! Cedric!"
"The Keeper's companionssss must have come to her aid," Cedric hissed. "It's the perfect time to take them all!"
"I will take the advance," Daolon Wong said in his gruff and old voice, moving his root staff and being enveloped in dark purplish smoke, being teleported away. Cedric started to creep out of the room shortly afterwards.
Meanwhile, Phobos returned to his throne, and started to put as much energy as possible inside his body. No one defiant to him walked into his castle two times in a row and went out alive!
Back in the dungeons, Jackie was fighting through a mass of enemies, knocking unconscious guard after guard, but as soon as one of them hit the ground, another took his place; they seemed endless. It was as fighting the Shadowkhan, except this time he had to be careful not to break their spines, or anything else in their bodies for that matter.
This is frustrating, Jackie thought, glancing back to how Jade was doing against those Lurdens the boy had spoken about. His niece was 'fighting', or more precisely, striking down an enemy by surprise (even if Jackie had clearly told her to stay behind them); alongside Tohru and the rebel boy, who were on the defense. Behind them, Uncle and Yan Lin waited calm but in guard, the Passling (as Yan Lin had called it) remained near them, scared to no avail. There was something weird with the rebel boy, though. Jackie had the impression that there was something weird in how he moved, in how he fought. There was too much anger in him, and in a large battle, anger can only lead to defeat. And even if they had rescued the girls, this battle was long from solved. After all, this was enemy territory.
"Haiya!" Jade yelled as she jumped in the air and kicked one Lurden in the head, knocking him out. "Do these guys never end?"
"Hay Lin, find us an exit!" Will said as she and the other girls fought the Lurdens in the front lines. "Taranee, aid Jackie! Cornelia, block the entrance to the stairs; that will give us some time! Irma, with me, let's get rid of the remaining ones!"
Whoa, those are some neat leadership skills; Jade thought about the redhead.
The Air Guardian flew as fast as she could, searching for an escape route around the labyrinth that the dungeons under the castle were. Taranee threw a wave of flames in front of Jackie, which stopped the guards in the tunnel they were using as an entrance. Cornelia was quick too, flying slightly and then landing abruptly, making a vine to emerge and wrap the gate that gave access to the stairs and the upper levels, closing it and stopping the Lurdens behind it. Will and Irma battled the remaining ones, who ended in the ground shortly thanks to the water blasts of the brunette and the punches and kicks of the redhead.
One of the remaining creatures tried to attack Uncle and Yan Lin from their backs, but as the Lurden roared, Uncle turned to face him and delivered a precise hit in his chest sending the creature to the floor, unable to move.
After the Lurdens had been taken care of; and the guards in both the tunnel and the stairs were stopped and forced to found an alternate route thanks to Taranee's flames and Cornelia's plants; the Guardians and the Chan Clan gathered in the center of the room, now filled with unconscious Lurdens and guards; and Hay Lin descended upon them.
"There's no other way out, this place's a complete labyrinth!" the Air Guardian informed, just for the Passling to pick at her pink skirt.
"Blunk knows way out! Secret way!" the green dwarf said as he pointed into a corridor's direction.
"You do?" Will inquired, but before Blunk could say anything, Caleb stepped in the conversation with the angriest of scowls.
"You can't trust him! He's a Passling!" the rebel leader yelled. "They are just a bunch of little, green smugglers!"
"Businessmen!" Blunk yelled.
"Chill out, rebel boy!" Jade yelled at him.
"My name's Caleb," the rebel leader grunted. "And I don't take orders from... ow!"
Uncle had approached Caleb and dope slapped him as strong as he could. "Is Rebel-Boy out of his mind?! Does Rebel-Boy know what Uncle has passed today?! Niece got captured, Uncle had to travel to broken world to rescue her, put apprentice, cousin and nephew in risk for that! We need to escape! Does Rebel-Boy want to escape? Yes? THEN WE FOLLOW PASSLING AND REBEL DOESN'T PROTEST!"
Caleb looked speechless at the stern old man, and shortly afterwards he closed his mouth and stepped aside.
"As rude as ever," Cornelia pointed out.
"I need this man in my house," Irma said thinking about her little brother Chris.
"Good," Uncle said. "Now let Passling to guide us and... Aiyah..." Uncle's whole body trembled, as a shiver ran through him.
"Sensei?" Tohru inquired. "Are you alright?"
"Uncle?" Jackie asked in concern. In all the years he had spent with the stern Chinese man he had never seen him like this. He looked scared. Uncle never was scared.
"You alright, Mr. Uncle?" Will asked of the old man, her four friends sharing her question.
"Uncle has the willies..." the old man answered.
"Willies?" Taranee asked.
"It's when Uncle feels something evil coming," Jade explained. "But I never saw him having such a strong..."
"Is that the unmistakable stench of good chi magic?" an old and dry voice said at her backs.
Turning in the voice's direction, all of them saw Daolon Wong approaching them slow a and calmly, the old wizard walking in such a manner that he seemed to be levitating over the floor. Aside from his voice, he hadn't done any noise upon moving, as if he was a phantom. The dark robes were almost the same tone of the dungeons' walls, making the old man's white hair and pale skin stand out even more
"Who's that?" Taranee asked.
"Dunno, but he was in the throne room." Will explained.
"He could use a lifting," Cornelia said.
Blunk, however, cowered behind Tohru. "Bad man, bad wizard. He does things to Passlings... he opens them to see how they work..."
"Dark chi wizard…" Uncle whispered, almost not believing to find a practitioner of the dark arts here.
"I thought that Cedric may have been exaggerating when he mentioned some 'wizards', but to see a chi wizard in Meridian of all places," Wong said without paying attention to the words of his opponents. His eyes then focused in the quintet of winged girls. "And the new generation has come here too. I'm glad; I haven't faced a full generation of Guardians since your predecessors."
All the eyes turned to Yan Lin. "Grandma, you know this man?" Hay Lin asked of the old lady.
"Never seen him before," Yan Lin answered sincerely.
"Oh, no… no, I phrased thatincorrectly. I'm not referring to the generation that preceded this one," Wong cleared. "I'm referring to the previous one, or maybe the one before that. I'm not so sure myself."
How old is this guy?; Jade thought.
"But enough with the nostalgia," Wong spoke as he raised his twisted root, which lighted in purplish dark energy. "The Prince ordered me to subdue you, and that I will do."
"Yeah? You and who else?" Irma taunted.
Instead of answering to the Water Guardian's taunt using one of his own, Wong merely smiled and pointed his root to the side. "Gan, Ren, Chui!" shouted the wizard, and three balls of purplish dark-blue smoke were shot from his root staff, each one of them quickly becoming a humanoid being of orange skin and red hair (except for the bald one) clad in strange black clothes that left a lot of their bodies exposed, and with totally blackened eyes. One of them was carrying a big hammer, other one a staff, and the third one what looked to be an over growth three-bladed shuriken.
"Me, and my Dark Chi warriors, of course," Wong explained smugly. "Go and conquer!" he ordered the trio, who just jumped in the air, directly headed towards the Guardians and the Chan Clan, who dodged the first assault. The three warriors recovered quickly, rapidly making another attack towards their opponents. Jackie evaded Gan's staff, while Tohru was quick to block Chui's hammer with his own hands. The girls tried to shot them with their respective elements, but the warriors were too fast for them to aim correctly, much less to land a hit.
"Don't worry; we still hold the number advantage!" Caleb said as he picked one of the fallen Lurdens' scimitars and blocked the incoming attack of Ren's bladed weapon. "We still can win!"
But fate seemed to want to deny Caleb's reasoning, and as soon as those words escaped his mouth, the chains of the dungeon titled again, and this time Raythor, Frost and Lothar descended from them, landing at Wong's side.
"Go for the Guardians and the others," Wong told them upon their arrival. "The old man is mine."
In any other circumstance, Raythor would have retorted to the self-entitled Archmage, but not this time. This time, his eyes were focusing solely in the guards lying unconscious and beaten in the ground. Raythor's eyes flashed with fury as he unsheathed his own sword, Lothar making the same behind him.
"What did you do to my men?!" the Captain yelled as he rushed towards battle, Lothar in tow.
Dispatching Gan aside, Jackie had enough time to barely evade Raythor's blow, and counterattack with the strongest kick he could muster to the man's head. This knocked Raythor's helmet of, but didn't send him to the ground. Spitting a bit of blood, Raythor calmed himself and took a real fighting stance with his sword.
"I take you are the warrior Cedric informed us about," Raythor said.
"What if I am?" Jackie answered in a serious tone, kicking one of the shields in the ground that belonged to one of the fallen guards, taking it in midair and holding it with his left hand.
"Nothing," Raythor answered, and attacked Jackie once more, this time with much more discipline, his blows only being stopped by Jackie's prowess in martial arts and the shield in his hand.
Strong and well trained, Jackie thought as he was being forced completely into the defensive. And much more focused and calm than Hak Foo or any enforcer…
As Raythor tried to butcher Jackie for the insolence of invading his Lord's castle, Caleb had been immersed in a battle with Lothar. The scimitar of the rebel leader clashed with the sword of the young Lieutenant; sparks being created each time that the two weapons collided.
"Surrender now rebel;" Lothar said. "And maybe the Prince will be merciful with you!"
"A monster like Phobos doesn't know about mercy!" Caleb retorted in a yell. "Neither does that excuse of a man that you call Captain, Lothar! Look at you! Drake told me that you were one of the best in the academy, humble and moral. What did force you into becoming the lapdog of a waste of flesh like Raythor?!"
Lothar parried Caleb's attack then, and circling around himself, he delivered an ascending blow with his sword that made Caleb lose balance and forced him to take a couple of steps back in order to dodge, albeit he couldn't avoid to gain a wound in his cheek courtesy of the Lieutenant.
The green haired man pointed his weapon at Caleb, his eyes flashing in fury. "Insulting the Captain in my presence is a very stupid move, rebel scum. And that traitorous Drake has no right to speak about me!" And after that sentence, Lothar rushed at Caleb with a battle cry once more.
Tohru was having his own set of problems too. Albeit not as skilled and dedicated as the other two men, and the fact that he was carrying no weapon was of clear help; Frost was proving quite a match to the sumo in terms of strength. But as many in the court would like to point out, brute strength was Frost´s best (and only) asset. The brute limited himself at engaging Tohru at close range, throwing punches at him without putting on a good defense. Meanwhile, Tohru shielded himself against the punches of the brute the best he could, and tried to wait for a moment in which counterattack.
"Is that all you got? Putting on a barely decent defense until I tire out?" Frost asked of the man. "Ha! Frost the Hunter is known for many things, but not from being unable to reduce an enemy to a puddle before he gets tired!"
As those battles progressed in one direction or another, the girls were trying to get rid of the trio of Dark Chi warriors. Irma, Taranee, and Hay Lin were in the air, trying to blast them, while Cornelia and Will remained in land; Yan Lin, Jade and Blunk at their backs. However, the trio of Wong's personal soldiers was proving quite difficult to fight for the girls. Yan Lin understood it as fairly normal, her cousin having spoken about this kind of creatures once. Dark Chi warriors were humans submitted to the will of their master by dark chi magic, which contaminated their bodies and made them mightier than any man in exchange of a life of servitude towards their master. Uncle had explained to her that, once enough time had passed, the dark chi would overwrite their personalities completely, reducing them to obedient puppets. There was the possibility that these three men were normal men once, people with their own personalities, dreams and hopes. But that wasn't the case anymore, now they were just shells of their former shelves; puppets in Wong's hands.
"Stay still so I can hit you!" Irma yelled at Chui, who either evaded her water attacks or blocked them with his hammer.
Hay Lin wasn't doing any better trying to disorient Gan and Taranee was having the same problems trying to burn down Ren. Meanwhile, Cornelia maintained a combat position at Will's side, and the redhead was growing exasperated seeing how the situation was evolving into a direction that clearly didn't favor them.
This is getting us nowhere!, Will turned around and directed to Jade. "Jade, take Mrs. Lin and Blunk and find an escape route, now!"
"Me? Really?" Jade asked, not being accustomed of getting part of the action. Jackie often ordered her to be in the backlines, and albeit there were situations in which she really was forced to do so, she always preferred to lend a hand.
"Do it now! We can't stand this for much longer!" Will yelled, and at her orders, Blunk rushed towards one tunnel, taking Yan Lin and Jade with him.
Will looked towards the Dark Chi warriors, still busy with her companions. "Cornelia, wrap them in all the vines you can get!"
Cornelia nodded and punched the ground trying to; as Tohru had put it that morning during their lesson, get in connection with her element. The earth cracked under the trio of warriors and vines erupted from it, enveloping and stopping them… at least for the moment. The three warriors started to struggle with the vines as soon as they were trapped, trying to free themselves with their weapons. At least, the girls had now time to breathe.
"This is madness," Taranee said, panting a little. "From where did all these creeps appear?"
"They aren't the only ones, there was a zombie like thing, and a spider monster that almost ate Jade," Will explained. "And the snake, and that's not counting Phobos himself."
"You met the big baddie?" Irma asked. "How was he?"
"Terrifying," Will answered plain but effectively. "Go and help the others before…" Will started to say, but then a roar interrupted her. Looking into the direction of the gate that Cornelia had closed, they saw a new swarm of guards and Lurdens approaching them. But this time, Cedric was commanding them, the Shapeshifter ripping apart the gate; vines included; as if it was nothing but a cheap toy, and then entered the room followed by the soldiers, roaring in anger. The roar echoed through the dungeons, alerting everyone of his presence.
"Can't we catch a break?!" Irma protested.
Will rose slightly in the air, and the other four girls did exactly the same. "We have to make sure that he doesn't go after Jackie or any of the others!"
The girls flew towards Cedric, and the Snake of Cavigor waited for them smiling smugly, confident in his superiority. He had faced Guardians before, and these ones were a long way before getting on that level. Still, he won't underestimate them, underestimating someone is what leads to one's defeat.
As the other fights progressed, Uncle stood in front of Daolong Wong. Even with all the ruckus and chaos around them, both wizards had been silently watching one another, as if trying to measure the other's strength. After several minutes, Wong decided to open battle by firing a beam of dark chi energy towards Uncle, which the good wizard answered with a small green barrier casted with one of his dried lizards. Then he answered with a set of smaller blasts, which Wong blocked mainly with his own shield… except one, which he stopped with his bare hand. The dark wizard laughed at his enemy's display.
"That is all? All that you can conjure?" Wong taunted in arrogance. "I was hoping for a real chi duel, but I suppose I'm out of your league."
"You underestimate me, servant of Evil!" Uncle shouted defiantly to his adversary. "I studied under Fong, Master of Chi!"
Something crossed Wong's colorless eye then, and his face twisted in a macabre smile. Then a dry chuckle escaped his throat, which proceeded to evolve into full maniacal laughter shortly afterwards. "Then this must be fate!" Wong said, clearly happy of this outcome. "Allow me to introduce myself properly, then. My name is Daolon Wong, Archmage of Meridian, greatest of all Dark Chi Wizards on Earth! And I am also the man who bested in battle, defeated and killed Chi Master Fong!"
At first there was nothing but silence, even the sounds of the nearer battles seemed to lose their sound. Uncle contemplated the man ahead of him with wide eyes, and then his face contorted into a scorn full of pure anger.
"Then you will pay for that," Uncle said, calm yet menacingly, and Wong seemed pleased with this turn of events.
"Then come, light wizard. Come, and avenge your master;" Wong challenged him.
The two elders fired beams of pure chi energy to one another. As green collided with purple, both men found themselves into a clash of wills, their magic reflecting it. None of them seemed to let the other take any advantage, and in the moment one of them seemed to win the upper hand, the other retaliated. It was as if two halves of the same coin, yin and yang, had met in the battlefield, ready to prove whom of them was the mightiest. However, there was one major difference between Uncle and Daolon Wong aside from their moral orientation. And that was that, for all his bravado, Wong was so confident in the skills he had developed so long ago, that he usually looked down to the youth around him. Uncle, in the other hand, knew that there was always something new to discover, something new to add, or change into his teachings. During the last two years living along with Jade, Uncle had learned something that no scroll or old master could have taught him. He had learnt that sometimes, a guile mind outplayed simple power.
Holding his lizard with just one hand, Uncle directed the other one to his pocket, pulling a second lizard from it. Casting a small spell, he directed it towards Wong, who was then hit by a small wave that somehow made him freeze slightly.
"Wha-" Wong asked in disbelief, just to lose concentration and his beam to weaken, letting Uncle's stream of green energy to overpower the one of Wong, who was hit and send flying, colliding with a wall.
The evil chi wizard fell to his knees, and looked to Uncle in utter surprise. Rising from the ground with some body parts still covered in thin ice, Wong looked how this time Uncle was the one grinning in superiority. "How did you do that?"
"Master Fong taught me well," Uncle proclaimed.
But Wong's face didn't last long until putting into another cruel smile. "Well then, let us see if you are able to withstand the power that defeated Fong!" Wong pointed his twisted root towards the direction in which the Dark Chi warriors had been entrapped in vines. "Come back!"
The trio of minions went poof into smoke, and they returned fast inside Wong's staff. Then dark purplish energy started to shot from it and enveloping Wong, whose tattoos lighted in brilliant purple energy and his skin became of the same scarlet tone as his warriors'. His good eye became pitch black, while the colorless one became pure white.
"Behold the true power of Dark Chi!" Wong exclaimed, and his voice echoed as if the laments of a hundred wraiths spoke in unison with him. "Fǔxiǔ de shìjiè!"
Wong's staff shot another chi beam, but this one was pure blackness in comparison with his previous purple ones. Uncle raised both his lizards and put all his energy into creating the strongest barrier he could, but the beam of blackness struck against it and shattered the shield as if a cannon bullet had been shot against a mirror. Uncle was struck by the beam and hit a wall, which proceeded to break under the intensity of the attack. The Chan patriarch landed in the other side, a few bones broken, and (what was much more important) his chi totally messed up. It was as if that beam wasn't directed to destroy his physical self, but rather harm his spirit, leaving him contaminated, unable to cast spells properly.
So that's how he did it…; Uncle thought, remembering the evil wizard's words about Master Fong. It was in this type of situations that he envied the raw magic that holders of Hearts, Guardians, or the like used. It was pure magic, and albeit there were spells, and those much harder to cast than the ones from chi magic, that raw magic proved to be superior to his in direct and fast combat.
"Uncle!" he heard the concerned voice of Jade. He girl was running towards him, Yan Lin and the Passling following near; and as soon as she reached his fallen body, she helped him to incorporate. "Uncle what happened?!"
"Too strong…" Uncle explained. "We have to… go…"
"Blunk found secret passage, but it has bars!" the Passling cried.
"And the girls, how are they doing?" Yan Lin asked.
In order to answer her, the five Guardians appeared shortly after, flying as fast as they could; Will carrying Jackie, Hay Lin carrying Caleb and the other three helping Tohru. Both the sumo and the archeologist rushed towards Uncle, worried about his condition.
"That old geezer went full Anime-villain, firing energy beams all around!" Irma yelled. "And the snake and the other bad guys are coming right towards us!"
"We have to get out of here," Caleb said. "This battle is lost."
In cue, they all heard Cedric's approaching roar, and then they saw how Wong turned around the corner, reverting to his normal form upon seeing Uncle lying defenseless on the ground. Wong laughed.
"It seems I really overestimated you, good wizard," Wong stated. "Fong needed five of those blasts in order to go down."
The Guardians and the Chan Clan were now surrounded. Wong and Cedric maintained their positions, while the guards and the Lurdens started to put themselves behind them, commanded by Raythor and Lothar. And yet the Guardians readied for battle. They hadn't come this far to let it go. Jackie and Tohru did the same, the sumo drawing out his own blowfish in order to cast chi spells against Wong.
And then the earth trembled. A shockwave hit the Guardians and the Chans as a cannonball in steroids, sending them flying against a wall, their bodies hitting the ground shortly afterwards. The whole dungeons seemed to shake, and both guards and Lurdens looked around in something between fear and awe. The lines of soldiers and commanders started to divide in two, as if forming a passage. And the cheers began; Galhot, Half-breed, Shapeshifter, dark chi wizard, Lurden… all of them cheered. And their cheers sounded like the chants of Hell in the heroes' ears. And Will's body froze in terror, the confidence she had won upon being rescued now smashed to shards.
"Prince Phobos! Prince Phobos! Prince Phobos!"
Indeed, it was the tyrant, having descended to the dungeons in person in order to take care of his enemies with his own hands. He had come in order to take care of them once and for all.
"My Prince," Cedric addressed Phobos. "Asssss you can see, we have everything under control…"
"I have eyes Cedric," Phobos told his right hand man. "I can see by myself;" the Prince spoke, and the directed his eyes to the Guardians, the agents of Kandrakar and Caleb, leader of the Rebellion, always a thorn on his side. "Greetings, Guardians and…" his eyes fell over the Chan Clan and Blunk. "Peasants I don't know about. At the risk of sounding repetitive… surrender the Heart of Kandrakar, and your execution will be as fast as possible."
Before any of the girls or Caleb could retort, or Jade could insult the man; Yan Lin stepped in front of the girls and the Chan family. She looked at Phobos with a look that could melt steel.
"You are still the same you were back in Zamballa, boy;" Yan Lin told the tyrant. "Still the same arrogant, snotty brat that doesn't know when he's chewing more than he can eat."
"Know I remember you," Phobos said nonchalantly. "The former Air Guardian, aren't you? Your threats mean nothing, old fool. I'm the single most powerful being in this castle, in this world! What can you do that I cannot?"
Yan Lin's lips curved into a smile. "I can do this!" she said clapping her hands, and then the Guardians, the Chan Clan, Caleb and Blunk saw nothing but green, and a booming sound, as if something was breaking, as if space was breaking… and the next thing they knew was that they were out of the palace.
"No!" Phobos yelled, and the dungeons trembled again due to all the energy he had absorbed before coming down. She teleported away…; the Prince thought in bitterness, more because that was a skill he never was able to master than because they had escaped. He searched in his sleeve and pulled a bit of sand out, throwing it into the ground, where it started circling. "Show me where they are!"
An image formed shortly afterwards, showing all of the escapes not very away from the castle. "The southern plains…"
"One of the Gargoyles should be protecting the South Gate, my liege;" Raythor informed.
Phobos raised his right hand and made one of his thorny vines to emerge from the ground. He touched its tip with his fingers and send a wave of energy through it towards the Gargoyle in the South Gate. After that, the Prince looked around and saw all the waste laid upon his dungeons.
"Return to your usual duties," Phobos ordered. "Let the Gargoyle handle it, and start repairing my dungeons!"
Outside
"Jesus Christ!" Cornelia yelled. "What the hell was ALL that?!"
"Evil minions, evil wizard… very mean pretty haired dude," Irma answered in her usual deadpan tone.
"That was Prince Phobos?!" Taranee asked as she got up from the mud. "He threw all of us away without even moving a finger!"
"Not that we were doing very good against that weird old guy…" Hay Lin said. "Or the other ones…"
"We still have to go," Caleb said to the girls, getting up too and landing a hand to Jackie in order to incorporate. "They will send someone after…"
"ROARGH!"
Looking back the party saw how a one eyed enormous rock-like monster with one hand considerably bigger than the other and enormous fangs was approaching them slowly. This was one of the Gargoyles of Meridian, strong rocky creatures that Phobos had called to his aid, albeit now only four remained at his side. However, they usually decanted the fights they were part of thanks to their great strength.
"A Gargoyle!" Caleb yelled. "We are Lurden porridge if he takes us!"
"Mr. Tohru, how are they?" Will asked, referring to both Uncle and Yan Lin. Even since they had excited the castle they had been in a complete bad shape. For starters, both of them had fallen unconscious, and she supposed that was just the tip of the iceberg.
"Mrs. Lin is just tired, dried out of energy, I think. Whatever she used to take us out of the castle has let her worn out. Sensei, on the other hand, has been infected by energies that are messing with the current of chi inside his body," Tohru explained as he got up and took both elders in his arms.
"Can you do something about it?" Jackie inquired as he touched Uncle's cheek. The old man was cold.
"I need to get to the Silver Dragon," Tohru explained. "I need a place in which work properly."
"Then we need a Portal," Will explained. She then took Jade over her shoulders and Jackie with her hands; and made a gesture so that the others moved and take Caleb, Blunk and Tohru like before. "Tell me you came here by a Portal."
"It should be near here," Taranee said, and the she looked at how the Gargoyle was approaching them as fast as he could. "That thing's coming!"
"Where the heck is that…?" Jade started to say as the Guardians lifted them in the air, just for the Portal to open a few meters away. "Oh okay, nevermind!"
"But where's that Gargoyle?" Jackie asked while glancing back, the monster gone from their sight.
"My father told me to never face a Gargoyle in a mud field," Caleb commented. "But I don't remember exactly why..."
The party stopped in front of the Portal, letting their 'passengers' down. "Get Yan Lin and Mr. Uncle to the Silver Dragon, Tohru. I don't think any hospital can cure what they have."
The Japanese mountain of a man nodded and crossed the swirling hole of energy, elders in hand. After that, Will looked around. "Is everyone ready?"
"The sooner we leave this Mordor rip-off, the better." Cornelia said, raising one of her feet covered in mud. "I'm so going to need a shower when I get home."
"Good, let's go;" Will said, noticing then a pull in her leg. Looking down, she saw the Passling from before. "What?"
"Can you bring Blunk too? Blunk doesn't want to be back on scary dungeon..." the Passling pleaded.
"No!" Caleb yelled before none of the others could answer. "He could be a spy, or..."
"ROARGH!" they heard again as the ground trembled. The Gargoyle emerged from beneath them, sending them aside and blocking the Portal.
Oh, now I remember; Caleb thought. "Gargoyles can move under mud to travel faster!" the rebel leader said as he took a palm to his face. He should have remembered! Now he felt like an idiot.
The Gargoyle started to swing his bigger arm towards them, trying to smash them into pulps. The girls flew into different directions in order to avoid the attacks, while Jade, Jackie and Caleb dodged the best they could. Seeing an opportunity to escape in the ruckus, Blunk rushed to the Portal, disappearing through it without anyone noticing.
"Hey, stone-face!" Jade yelled to the Gargoyle, distracting it from the others and directing his attention towards her.
"What in the name of God are you doing, Jade?!" both Jackie and Will yelled to her in concern.
"Cross the Portal, I've got an idea!" Jade told them.
"Are you insane?!" Will shouted as she and the others continued to avoid attacks.
"Will, trust me!" Jade told her, and the redhead directed herself to the others.
"Cross the Portal, now!" the Keeper of the Heart told them, and albeit reluctantly, all the Guardians did as told, and even Caleb crossed the hole in the Veil.
"Jade, hurry!" Jackie shouted at the girl.
In cue, the twelve year old girl rushed towards them, the Gargoyle following near. Jade and Will crossed the Portal, and Jackie was the last one to return to Earth. However, as soon as he was met with the surroundings of Sheffield Institute's underground, he noted a grip around his body, and looking down he saw Gargoyle's enormous hand around him trying to pull him back into the Portal.
"Close it!" Jade shouted to the redhead. "Close it now!"
"Got it!" Will shouted as she pointed the Heart to the Portal. "Not this time!"
The Heart shot a pink stream of energy towards the Portal, which started to close, stopping Gargoyle's hand. At first Will thought that the Portal wouldn't close, but it did... severing Gargoyle's hand in the process. The lifeless limb fell to the floor, Jackie still inside it. The archeologist was able to get out of it, and Jade rushed to his side, checking if he was alright.
The five Guardians let their guard down then, and as if sensing that there wasn't any more danger, the Heart glowed and they returned to their normal forms. They fell to the ground exhausted, while Caleb was leaning over a wall.
"So… we won?" Irma asked of the rest of the team.
"By the skin of our teeth," Taranee explained. "But considering that we went there to rescue these two and that they're here… yeah, we won."
"I so don't want to repeat that experience again…" Hay Lin said as she rubbed her back. "I feel like a truck went over me several times…"
"I think we all have earned a break," Will said. "Don't you agree, Mr. Chan?"
"I think that just 'Jackie' is fine by this point," the archeologist told them. "Good job everyone, and Will," Jackie told the redhead specifically. "Thank you for taking care of Jade."
"Don't worry, Jackie;" Will told him. "She helped me more than I helped her."
"Good, then I think I'll be back to the Silver Dragon to check on Uncle and Yan Lin," Jackie said directing a look to Hay Lin, indicating to the girl to not be worried about her grandmother. "Are you coming?" he asked Caleb.
"Not that I have any other option…" the rebel leader said as he started to follow the martial artist. Yet he owned them his freedom, and any man who could fight Raythor, and any woman who stood against the tyrant were worthy of his respect.
"So, is he cute or what?" Cornelia whispered to her friends, all five of them rolling their eyes.
"This is not the time for your 'hormonal-girl' mode, Corny;" Irma whispered too, which produced a snarl from the blonde, and a laugh from the other girls.
Wait, time…; Will thought. "Oh my God! Someone has a watch? What time is it?!"
"Twelve o'clock…" Taranee said looking at her watch, and then her eyes opening in fear. "Twelve o'clock! Picture day ended an hour ago!"
"Oh crap," Irma said. "Knickerbocker…"
Principal Knickerbocker's office
Ms. Knickerbocker was the person in charge of Sheffield Institute, a middle aged heavy woman with her white hair tied in a top bum, tiny glasses over her eyes, and maybe a too much formal clothing for a school's principal. Sometimes authoritative and a lover of rules, yet not abusive of her power, Ms. Knickerbocker had only one thing that pissed her of; and that was that students didn't get to their classes.
"Not one, or two; but the six of you have been out of school during picture day!" the principal shrieked in anger. "What were you all thinking?!"
"That picture day isn't really educational?" Irma asked, just for be shut by a glare of the middle aged woman.
"That is irrelevant," Knickerbocker told her. "You can't get out of school if you want to! I'm especially disappointed with you two, Miss Vandom, Miss Chan. After all the bureaucratic effort this institution had to make in order to take you two in, you just throw it overboard. I'm calling all your parents in this very moment so…"
"Wait, Ms. Knickerbocker," Cornelia stepped in. "It's my fault, I talked the girls into doing it because picture day is boring and…"
"Please, everyone knows you wouldn't miss standing in front of camera," Irma cut in. "It was my idea, ma'am. See, there was this cool new videogame I wanted to show them…"
"Don't be an idiot Irma," Taranee said too. "This was my plan, ma'am, I wanted to show Will and Jade around Sheffield and it went to our heads…"
"No, no, no, no…" Hay Lin said. "I took everyone to rescue puppies in the streets; they're too in need of help for waste our times in this anti-imagination cage…"
"Enough!" Knickerbocker yelled, silencing all the girls. "It seems I won't get nothing out of you, so for the rest two hours of class, you all get detention. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," said the six girls in unison.
Waiting in a designated class for detention, the six girls kept silence at first, but after a while they couldn't avoid talking.
"Hey, good one back there Cornelia;" Jade told the blonde. "In my old school I would've tried to convince the principal that I was in another world."
"Did that ever work?" Cornelia asked, just for Jade to shook her head in negation; followed by the two girls' laugh.
"Hey," Will said too. "Don't know if you heard this one pretty often, but you guys are the most awesome friends I ever got. And thank you for taking me and Jade out of that prison!"
"Same to you, Will;" Taranee told the redhead. "We were… kind of cool back in Meridian, weren't we?"
"You kidding?" Jade asked. "You rocked! Remember how you were blasting all those monsters?"
"No more impressive that how your uncle was knocking them out with his moves, or you kicking one's head!" Irma told the orange hoodie wearing girl.
"Well, duh!" Jade said. "I've been in all this fight against forces of evil much more than you all!"
The room burst in laughter, and the six girls continued to chat and joke about their little incursion into Meridian, the fear and sorrow experienced there driven away but each other's kindness.
"What are you doing, Hay Lin?" Jade asked of her distant cousin, seeing how she was using a pen in her arm.
"Are you writing over your skin?" Taranee asked the bumbling girl. "Again?"
"Yes, but look at this!" Hay Lin said as she raised her arm, revealing the word WITCH written in it. "Our initials make this name! Well, except for Jade, but that's…"
"Hey, no problem," Jade told the other girl. "This Guardian business is your thing, and besides, I'm already part of the Chan Clan, and that's as awesome as having magic powers."
The girls laughed again and spent the rest of detention like that, just talking; just bonding with each other. Just knowing more about the others, just sharing about their lives; comparing vacations, who had the most overprotective adult under the same roof, whose younger sibling was the most annoying one. And at the end of the day, the only thing remaining in each one was a better soul, and a stronger person.
After all, what are friends for?
I never was someone to have a lot of friends; and for what she told me, neither was Will. But the people I met here, people I could talk about magic with, people I could laugh and cry with… All of them made me feel like I had finally found my place in this world. I'm honored that they call me friend. I think I'll never be grateful enough to Uncle for bringing us all to Heatherfield. Jade Chan
Author's Notes: Long A/N ahead, people. I swear to God, I tried to get this chapter shorter! But I couldn't… there were so many things to add to the episode itself… Damn you, desire of expanding the episodes! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one, because oh boy I'm tired of writing it as of now. Now, a couple of things to clear out:
1.- The reason Daolon Wong is part of Phobos' court is because… it bends well with him. At first I thought having him work with another villain I'll present to you in the next chapter, but then I remembered something. Wong is the only antagonist of JCA that isn't actually selfish. His ambition for power is in order to further the 'cause of evil', so teaming up with Phobos seems logical to me, since Phobos (albeit selfish in his goals too) brings the opportunity to Wong to turn a whole world upside down.
2.- Yes, Phobos and Wong are considerably more powerful than in canon. Why? They need to be a threat. In both cartoons they were menacing, but both of them seemed clearly weaker than the heroes, and albeit the WITCH cartoon-verse is one in which you fight more with the brain that with power, the villains need to be powerful enough to suppose a challenge. By the way, Wong's last spell against Uncle is Chinese for 'Decaying World'.
That is all. Next one is my rendition of 'The Key', and after that (finally) I can start with my own episodes and mixing plotlines. Leave a review to tell me how did you see this episode, or send me a PM if you have any idea or question.