Gaia Rangers: Operation W.A.S.P. (critique desired)

[Samuel Grant]

here's my original draft http://deviantfetishlver.deviantart.com/gallery/31592382

and right below is my rewrite; i'm currently in the process of doing them over.
feel free to give feedback on my original; tell me what i'm doing wrong.

Chapter 1
Prologue

"Long ago, in a time before the time of both man and dinosaur, there was a great power created by the moon goddess Luna. This power took the form of seven multi-colored diamonds named after the constellations seen in the night sky: red for Scorpio, Blue for Pisces, Light blue for Andromeda, Pink for Virgo, Brown for Taurus, Orange for Leo, and the Star of Hydra which had no color. By themselves, some of the jewels possess a unique power. One example is the Star of Virgo, which possesses the power over love; another is the star of Hydra, the beast who, if beheaded, grows two more in its place; this one controls the memory of those who wield it. When brought together with this silver chest-like armor that had seven indentations on it, they are said to be able to perform catastrophes or miracles. But anyway, I, Zierian, along with eight others, was meant to guard this power from anyone who sought to use it for their own personal gain." Zierian explained. This guy reminds you of a brightly-shining star. He has shimmering gray eyes that are like two pieces of steel. You couldn't see his face or his hair, because wore his armor most of the time. By looking at his armor, you could tell he has a semi-wide-chested build. His wardrobe is uncomplicated, with a lot of yellow; his friend wore a similar armor in orange, brown, green, red, purple, black, white and blue.
Zierian is seen standing out on a bridge in front of the castle looking towards the sunset. The mixtures of orange and red filling the sky as the sun slowly descended past the border between sea and sky had Zierian so mesmerized that he completely ignored the alarm coming from inside.
Zierian arrives too late. His friend lie on the ground; their life-force extinguished while Celsior and Farenhart go for the jewels in the center of the room.
"No, Stop. What are you doing?"
"We've stood in the footsteps of the gods for far too long, Zierian. It is time we took our rightful place among the cosmos."
"Join us or join your friends."
"Aurenesis," Zierian spoke softly in a melancholy tone to the purple one's corpse. He looks to the Green and the orange knight, "Chloros, Solanois."
"Their deaths were quick. I was half-expecting them to put up more of a fight," Farenhart responded.
As Zierian clenches his fists, tiny sparks of lighting emit from them. He shoots one arm up in front of him like tank turret and yellow lightning shoots from his fingertips. Reacting quickly, Farenhart throws his hand up in a swiping motion as if he were washing a window. In doing so, he conjures a sheet of fire to deflect Zierian's shot. The lightning bounces past him and towards Celsior, missing him by a few centimeters and hitting the jewels to cause a chain reaction where the lightning bounces back at Celsior and Farenhart.
Zierian could not tell from the outside what was happening to his former teammates as they shake back and forth on their feet as if they were standing in an electrified puddle. Within the moments, the same thing began happening to him. As this continued, Celsior and Farenhart's powers began to fade, which caused them to shed their warrior form, which had become two beings with long, stringy hair that came down to their shoulders and long, rounded off cone shaped ears; Celsior and Farenhart both shared this hairstyle, except one was blue (Celsior) and other was red (Farenhart). Celsior wore a blue sleeveless shirt and something resembling cargo pants, which stopped just a couple of inches above his ankles; Farenhart wore a menacing orange-brown armor, shoulder pads, and curl-toed boots.
"What… just happened, what did you do to us?!" Farenhart shouts.
"I did nothing!" Zierian answered back.
It wasn't over yet. The jewels were still giving off power and lots of it. A blue aura surrounds Celsior, a red one surrounds Farenhart, and a yellow one engulfs Zierian. Nothing happened to Zierian at first; only his former friends. The blue aura encased Celsior in a ball of snow and ice, the red aura surrounds Farenhart in fire; and then it shoots them through the roof and into space. Soon after that, the yellow light around Zierian does all except for imprison him in his own element; it just shoots him into space along with his beloved shield and the jewels.

Gaia Rangers: Operation W.A.S.P.
(Weapons and Special Powers)

Creation

The year is now 2009 AD, Yankees win World Series, Michael Jackson dies, Katie Stam is Miss America, and Billionaire, Samuel Grant sets off on some adventure after he hears of the Jewels of the Karma Lunari in a book of myths and legends. The book had its own theory. It assumed the Karma Lunari had a role in the forming of the earth; like they hit the object that was meant to hit the earth, causing it to head into a collision course with the molten ball that is now known as the earth.
Samuel's quest took him to Hong Kong. It was a dark, rainy night in the city and Samuel finds himself pinned down with the armor plate, without a single jewel placed in the indentations, around his chest and a couple dozen mercenaries guarding the only known exit. He peeks out from behind the flipped table and hits a barrel of flammable substance, triggering a small explosion, which he used as a diversion as he climbs up the ladder to the next floor. He follows the corridor until he comes to a corner and presses up against the wall. He then pops his head out to see if the coast was clear before moving ahead. At the next corner, a single mercenary was all that stood in his way; he presses up against the wall, reloads, and waits for the right time. He fires a couple shots and misses. On the third try, he aims for the pipe above the gunman's head; the steam that came out scalded him and gave Samuel an easy target.
After he takes him out, he continues to the roof. A mercenary pops out from the doorway on Samuel's left, which causes him to quickly react. He disarms him of his knife and lands a clothesline strike to the jaw.
Another mercenary shows up with a dozen more men; Samuel pulls out his blaster and fires away; one shot each to the heart and one to the head of the last two.
The mercenary on the ground behind Samuel gets to his feet and grabs him with a bear hug. Samuel steps on the guy's foot, then breaks free of his hold, deciding in the next two seconds to turn, push him towards the edge, and knock him over with a quick right hook to the jaw and watches as he screams on the way down. He then proceeds to look up as a bright yellow light appears in front of him. In it was a man in golden armor; similar to Zierian's. His voice was semi-faded, "You must listen to me…"
"What the… who are you?"
"Your world is in danger, you need to listen closely." Zierian was cut off by the sound of a door being broke open.
As Samuel turns around, more men storm through the roof access door like ants to a picnic and take their positions. Zierian's spirit left before they open fired; Samuel then ran to the adjacent building. He jumps, but misses the ledge and goes right through the window of someone's bedroom; a man and woman, a couple in their fifties. He woke them up before the mercenaries open fired through.
"Get down!" Samuel shouts in Chinese.
"What are you waiting for, get after him?!" one of the men said in Chinese to the other mercenaries.
"Are you crazy? A jump like that is impossible. It's a miracle he made it."
With an impatient look, he takes aim at the guy's head and puts a bullet through it. "Anyone else wanna question me?!"
The others nervously shake their heads.
"Then get your asses over there!"
Some of the men make it through the window; others miss it by a couple of inches.
Samuel puts his gun away and continues running from corridor to corridor, down each level until he makes it to the back alley. He moves towards the crowds weaves his way through; blending in as to not get spotted. He looks back occasionally and then focuses on his GPS tracking system thing as he has his destination mapped out. Realizing he can't lead them to the airport, he leads them around in circles until they eventually lose his trail.
Samuel then arrives at the airport and passes all the security checkpoints on his way to his private jet at hangar 14.
Once over American Air space, the pilot lands the jet at their private hangar not too far from Samuel's estate; the pilot then hands Samuel over to the Limousine driver.
"Where to, Boss?"
"I'm thinking Chinese; stop by Tsing Tao's."
"Yes sir, Mr. Grant."
He gets two orders; a combination of fried rice with shrimp, lemon chicken, and spring rolls for himself and chicken chow mein, honey walnut shrimp, and pot stickers for Bradshaw, his butler, after calling the house to see what he wanted; Bradshaw has been Samuel's butler and loyal friend since as long as he can remember. He's a serene guy has narrow black eyes that are like two cups of black coffee. His slick, gray hair is worn in a style that reminds you of Frank Sinatra Jr. He has a lithe build. His skin is white, but not pale white. He has a medium forehead. His wardrobe was your typical butler's uniform with white gloves, white shirt, black tie, black jacket with the tail resembling a serpent's tongue, gray pants, and black suede shoes.
"Welcome home, sir," Bradshaw greeted Samuel with a smile.
"Thanks, Bradshaw; here you go, this is for you. I ate mine on the way home. Enjoy."
"Thank you, sir." Bradshaw follows him in.
Samuel retreats to his laboratory, "M.E.G.A.N., I wanna open a new file; title it Secret of the Karma Lunari."
M.E.G.A.N. was his personalized super computer. She runs most of the household similar to Jarvis from Iron Man. She can tap into most security cameras, has a 150 terabyte hard drive, the fastest internet speed unknown to man, and is fluent every known language on the planet. Samuel has yet to find a suitable meaning for her acronym, even though he built her.
"Still chasing Fables, sir?"
"Oh I think I'm past chasing something that doesn't exist, don't you?" he shows off the armor plate he extracted from somewhere in Hong Kong, which he is still wearing at this very moment for MEGAN to see.
"Unless you have the seven jewels that attach to the areas indicated by the small holes in the chest, then it is too early to celebrate."
"I know, but…"
"And even if you decided to continue this ridiculous request, it'll take you almost all of your life to track them down."
"Yes, that's true…"
"You'll be an old man before you can even use the power for your own personal gain and…"
"Okay, MEGAN! I GET IT! How about we get off the subject before my feelings get hurt."
"Anyway, your previous project is coming along nicely."
Bradshaw walks in on Samuel as he and a bunch of mechanical arms were busy working on his top secret project. "Are you going to take a break any time soon? You've been at it for two and half hours. What are you working on anyway?"
"Not too tight, you'll strip the bolt." He said to one of the robot arms. "It's a secret, Bradshaw, you'll know when I'm done."
"Do you need any help?"
"No thanks, I've got it covered."
After Bradshaw left, Samuel heard a faint voice in the distance over the sound of him drilling.
"Did you say something, MEGAN?" he asked after he stopped.
"My sensors detect no other bodies present in the room other than yourself, sir, but I did hear a voice."
Samuel continues with his drilling until the voice got louder. He turns to sight of half-visible Zierian hovering in front of him. "It's you again; the guy from the rooftop in Hong Kong."
"The Karma Lunari have awakened and sent their signal out amongst the cosmos. Soon, all manner of evil forces will come looking for them. That must not happen."
"What do you want me to do about it? I've gotten out of the superhero business."
"I have studied your exploits. You were once a great warrior like myself. Why quit?"
"I lost too many of the ones I loved; friends whom I've had to the pleasure of serving under me in the Great War between the Magma Skins. I just couldn't handle losing anyone else. But anyway, why am I discussing this with a complete stranger; who are you?"
"My name is Zierian. I was one of nine warriors chosen to guard the Karma Lunari from falling into the wrong hands. There was an incident where two of my friends, Celsior and Farenhart, decided they wanted to take the jewels for themselves. My friends and I tried to stop them, now there are only three of us left."
"Well, Zierian, mind telling me where they are now and how come they've only just decided to come for them?"
"When Celsior and Farenhart tried to claim them, something happened; it began stripping them of their warrior form, altering their appearances, and imprisoning them in their own element out in space."
"Oh right, I remember reading that in my book. Listen, Zierian, I'm really tired, can we discuss this in the morning?"
"If we don't discuss this now, your world may end. They are on their way now and you need to take action…"
Samuel walked out halfway through Zierian's sentence.
"With all due respect, I don't think he's the man you should be talking to."
Zierian looked around all confused like a child, who has lost his or her mommy, "Who said that?"
"We haven't officially met, I'm MEGAN; Mr. Grant's personal super computer."
"Well then, who should I be talking to?"
MEGAN explains to Zierian the project Samuel was working on; two androids, identical twins, with short magnificently flowing blonde hair, white skin, brown eyes, lying on the table in the center of the room with a tarp draped over them.
The next morning, Samuel was up at about 8:30am in an underground office with long table that had a silvery, liquid-like like top in the center of the room, various consoles and a jumbo TV screen around the room. On the screen, was angry gentleman an in his mid-30's with round black eyes, luxurious, wavy, soot-black hair, medium-length, worn in a bizarre, carefully-crafted style. He's got a full beard and a moustache. He has an angular build. His skin is tan. He has thin eyebrows. His wardrobe is repulsive.
"Chance Castro: born August 9th, 1976. He has a history of drug abuse and assault charges. He got arrested for beating a man senseless with a bedside lamp after he found him in bed with his ex-wife a couple of months back. By order of a judge, he was to attend counseling for anger management and has been going ever since."
"Approve him and send the file to the people at KG enterprises; next…"
Another image appears of on screen of a lady mid-20's. This lady reminds you of an enraged bear. She has almond-shaped gray eyes that are like two windows looking out on an overcast sky. Her luxurious, wavy, strawberry blond hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a holy halo. She is short and has a feminine build. Her skin is black. She has high cheekbones. Her wardrobe is elaborate, and is completely black and red.
"Suzanne Key: Born October 23rd, 1983; accused of being a kleptomaniac, she…"
"Kleptomaniac working as jewelry store, I think know: Rejected; next."
Moments later, two shadowy figures make their way down the winding staircase into the room. Samuel immediately heard the footsteps and assumed it was Bradshaw.
"Just leave it on the table, I'll eat it later…" he then turns around, and to his surprise, he saw two boys in their late teen years, white skin, blonde hair; one wearing a red shirt, the other wearing green; both were wearing the same style of jeans.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"You don't recognize them?" Zierian's voice said out loud as his spirit enters the room like a ghost haunting its victim in the night.
"Zierian, what is going on here?"
"This is my fault, sir. I told him about your secret projects and he used what little power he had left to bring them to life."
"You mean… these are my sons?"
"Correct."
"Do they have names?"
"Since they are yours, I figured I'd leave the naming process up to you," Zierian explained.
"Well how about Max and Willis? The one in the red shirt is Max; the one in green is Willis. Do you guys like those names?"
"I don't know, dad, do you like them?"
"You need to decide that for yourselves, boys."
Just then, the house was hit with a mild tremor.
"Earthquake?"
"I think so…"
"No, it's them." Zierian vanishes in an instant.
"Where's he going?" Willis asked.
"MEGAN, I need the coordinates where the tremor hit."
"Bringing it on screen now, sir…"
"There are two of them and they're several miles apart. Access any working security camera in the vicinity of zone A."
The security camera displays a bright red glowing object on fire, sitting in a crater with a wide array of cars surrounding it and a crowd of people gathered around like flies to a garbage pile. Within seconds, the object started to spew out fireballs. The people standing around started to flee just moments before they touched down and transformed into skinny, dark red, rock golem like creatures with a rigid shape like lava rocks. They had no eyes on their acorn shaped head, but were still able to see. They had prism shaped pieces of rock sticking out of their shoulders and shins; most of them had clubs and swords in their hands while the rest held nothing at all. Farenhart emerges from the object just as the brutish beasts spread out; attacking anyone and anything they saw while Samuel, Max, Willis, and Bradshaw watched.
"Hold on a minute. Where are you two going?"
"We gotta do something, we can't just stand here."
"It's not your responsibility."
"Well whose is it; yours?"
"Because according to Zierian, you turned the job down, dad."
"Will someone get out there before they tear the whole city apart?" Bradshaw interrupted
Samuel hesitates, "Oh alright, fine; but before you go out there, you need be well equipped. Follow me."
At the other location, a bright blue glowing object spews a cloud of gray mist up out of the crater and along the ground. The mist instantly covers the asphalt in ice and from that sheet of ice came an army of skinny, white ape-like beings made of ice with shoulders so massive, you'd swear they looked like football players. They had a V shaped arch line type thing above their bright blue eyes, no mouth, no ears and a blue glowing piece on their chests.
Celsior emerges immediately after them, "Destroy everything!" he bellows.
The first wave of monsters are immediately pelted with yellow lightning, which alerted Celsior to who he was facing; Zierian.
"Good to see you after all these years; well sort of…"
"Celsior, stop this now."
"Why should I? I'm having so much fun with this. Once I have the jewels of the Karma Lunari, I will rule the whole galaxy."
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
"What chance do you have in your state? You have a no body."
"Oh I wouldn't say that…" Max says after he dismounts his motorcycle, a red Kawasaki ninja 100R. "He has me." Max was no longer just wearing a red shirt, he had on a black jacket with a red stripe going diagonally down the chest from his right shoulder to his left side and his blue jeans were replaced with black pants with very little identifying marks; at the scene where Farenhart was, Willis wore the same thing, but with a green stripe down the chest.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Maxwell Grant, but you can call me Max."
"Destroy him!"
The horde of Glacieroids take to battle; the first of them shoots out ahead of the rest with his sword at the ready and takes a swipe at Max, who quickly takes out his gun, holds it by with the trigger facing him and the barrel pointed straight down. He blocks with it, quickly spirals and lands an elbow to the jaw. He immediately holds it the right way and fires a laser beam at the second henchmen to approach. After he goes down and Max takes aim at the third Glacieroid, another one punches him in the arm and causes him to drop it. The creature then uses his other hand to perform an uppercut; Max sidesteps, and with his right leg, delivers a kick to the back of the Glacieroid's knees. At the time, another Glacieroid comes up with a club; Max blocks as the enemy bears down on him with his weapon and then pushes back long enough for him to get out from under it and allow him to bash one his own into white powder.
At the other scene of impact, Willis fights his way past a few dozen golems with a combination of super speed and hand-to-hand combat; by the time he reached Farenhart, more Golems tackle him. While he was on the ground, he quickly reacted to the Golems leaping at him with a single shot each to the chest before he rolled out of the way.
Off in a distance, several police officers were pinned down on all sides by a pack of golems; Willis gets to his feet and speeds off. After he approached, he races around the golems in a circle, trapping them in a vortex, which instantly sucked away their supply of oxygen; no oxygen, no fire; the golems began to crumble like a boulder being savagely beaten by the force of a raging river.
"Thank you," one of the officers replied as he shook Willis' hand.
"No need to thank me, just get these people to safety; I'll take over from here."
"Look out!" he warned as he saw Farenhart leap in from behind with two swords wielded.
Willis turns, ducks, and dodges while waiting for the right opportunity to strike; once every few swipes, Willis hits back with a punch or a kick.
Samuel then calls in on Willis and Max's communicators, "I see you are having a bit of trouble. Allow me to help even the odds a bit." With the push of a few buttons and twist of a couple of knobs, he sends a grayish metallic armor to Max through the black glove on his right hand, which had lines on it running from the palm to the fingers, which wraps completely around his arm like a glove; during his fight against Celsior, Max holds up his right arm, which had the metal wrapped around it and then as he starts to punch back, the armor switches from his right to his left arm.
Samuel does the same with Willis' glove, sending him a long, silver and green axe with blades that resemble elephant ears and a handle that looks like the trunk of the elephant to Willis, Who uses it to block like he would normally before he strikes back with one of the blades.
"Max's weapon is the Pill Bug Armor. It's composed of tiny, microscopic robots known as nanobots, which by using an electrical current, respond to the receiver implanted in your brain, which relays impulses and allows you to move the armor to any part of the body you need it to be equipped to the most; and for you, Willis, your weapon is the Elephant Axe; it may just look like an axe, but it's much more. You can fold down the blades and convert it to cannon mode. Its cannon mode fires a blast of energy more power than your sidearm."
Halfway through the battle, Celsior stops fighting and decides to retreat; but before he does, he performs one last trick. He attaches a device onto one of his Glacieroids; a weird looking bomb. It seemed normal at first until Celsior explains what it can do. "The choice is yours, ranger; once that bomb reaches the center of this city, it will detonate. The explosion will fill this area with enough ice to cut off the power and leave this place looking like a second ice age. So what will it be? Will you continue to pursue me or will you choose to save these people? I bid thee adieu." He disappears, leaving behind a cloud of smoke.
Meanwhile, the Glacieroid with the bomb turns and races off with the rest of his kind following after.
"Forget him for now, Max; save the city."
Max immediately gets back on his bike and pursues. He increases his speed, catches up with the second to last and last of the Glacieroids and deploys a combination of hand to hand combat and laser fire to fight his way to the front while dodging incoming fire as well. Having dealt with all, but the one carrying the bomb, Max continues the chase. After a quarter of a mile, he catches up. He fires his pistol, but his opponent evades every shot. They then come to an intersection; the Glacieroid turns left and Max quickly hits the brakes and drifts tightly around the corner, narrowly avoiding a UPS delivery truck. Max's enemy looks in his mirror, then aims back, firing a light blue beam; Max, who saw it coming a mile away, swerves and ends up jumping over a parked Sedan; pistol at the ready, he aims for the front tire and sends the Galcieroid into a tailspin before sliding off the bike. Max slows to a stop after he lands, dismounts, approaches, kicks him over, pulls the bomb off his chest, and uses his strength to crush it like a soda can.
After the battle, Max and Willis hi-five each other while the crowd cheered. They then returned home to find the place trashed as if someone threw a wild party in their absence.
Bradshaw walks in clutching his right shoulder and limping a bit.
"Bradshaw… What happened here?" Willis asked.
"I did all I could, but in the end… they overpowered me; as for Mr. Grant… they took him."
Later on the beach of some island, Celsior drags Samuel by the arm as he was heading towards his brother, Farenhart.
"Let go of me!"
"As you wish," Celsior said before he tosses him to the ground at his brother's feet.
"Refresh my memory, brother, wasn't the goal to get the chest plate; why'd you bring him along?"
"Well, since he was the one who found it, I thought he'd be of use in finding the jewels to go with…"
"I won't do it; not for either one of you."
"With a little more persuasion, you will."
"I'll hold onto the crown; you take care of him."
"Fine then, go back to your frozen fortress and let me take over."
They both walk away with an evil smirk almost as if one was planning to rip off the other.  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 2
Dad-napped

After looking for Clues, tending to Bradshaw’s wounds, which seemed to be minor cuts, bruises and sprains, Max, Willis, and Bradshaw go to the command center. They’ve been at the search for hours and still haven’t found a thing.
“Don’t worry, boys, we’ll find him; if he remembered to keep his locator watch on him, it’ll be easier to track him.”
“Given Mr. Grant’s past experiences with this device, I highly doubt it. Since he is highly capable of getting himself out of trouble, he’s seen know need to carry it.”
“Thank you… MEGAN.” Willis replied sarcastically.
Back at his base, Farenhart is trying to figure out how to distract Max and Willis from their rescue mission. He sat in his chair, looking at the screen, to see what trouble he can stir up while Samuel stood in the background, in chains and surrounded by Magma Golems.
“You may as well just kill me, because like I said, I will never help you or your deranged brother.”
“Deranged is a matter of perspective, Mr. Grant.”
“I’d like for us to be on first name bases. Besides, why be formal with a man, whom you’re trying to strong-arm into your band of intergalactic terrorists?”
“You see me and my brother as terrorists, but we see ourselves as liberators.”
“Liberators? And what are you ‘liberating’ us from exactly?”
“We are delivering you from your deplorable existence. The way you run your planet disgusts me; the way you lie and kill to seize power, the way you have no regard for nature; for the plants and the animals, whose homes you’ve destroyed to make way for useless establishments like parking lots and gas stations; power plants. You are completely oblivious to the fact that you’re ruining your planet.”
“Some of us are trying to set things right.”
With sarcasm in his voice, Farenhart answers, “Yes, and I see you’re doing a marvelous job of it.
“Well, what is different about what you and your brother are proposing? You’re willing to kill us because of what we’re doing to the earth. Mother Earth won’t be able to flourish with our blood spilt everywhere.”
“Mother Nature will survive as she’s been doing before your wretched kind stepped up on dry land.”
“How do you know, you’ve been trapped inside your own element all these years.”
“Spend that much time floating through space, you notice things; only problem was, I was unable to locate where the jewels fell. If I knew that, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you in chains and no chest plate. Now could you do me a favor and be quiet, I’m trying to think of a way to keep your little ranger buddies occupied.” Once he’s done thinking, he decides to make a monster and have him attack a random location. He creates a beast known as Terror-Watt, a humanoid looking creature with black mask that had three blueish-green V shapes, a blueish-green circular shape at the top; a black suit with blue-green lines running across like that of a circuit board, gold rings around his wrists and ankles, and six black wings on his back.
“Here is your target,” Farenhart said vaguely as he pointed to the image of a power plant on the screen. “They wanna be heroes, then so be it…”
Realizing there was nothing that they could do, Max and Willis sat around the house waiting for MEGAN to call them if anything was wrong.
The alarm sounds and Farenhart’s monster appears on screen; Max and Willis rush downstairs to the command center to see.
“Farenhart’s monster is attacking the power station with a group of Magma Golems,” M.E.G.A.N. responds.
“Look at that ugly thing,” Max answers.
“Now that’s a face for radio.”
“Well what are you waiting for?” Bradshaw says.
They go through a secret passage on the far end of the command center and down a dimly lit corridor to the garage and mount their bikes. A door then opens in front of them, giving them a view of the city below. Max and Willis speed out of the pathway and out onto the road, heading towards the city’s power plant.
At the location, the monster was seen with his hands up against bunches of wires. With each bit of electricity that flowed from them into him, he would jerk back. As he gained more power, he tilted further back and looked to the sky in orgasmic pleasure.
It takes half an hour for Max and Willis to arrive. They dismount, draw their guns, and proceed into the interior; cautiously, they look around corners and up on high ledges for any sign of an ambush.
“Hold it right there!”
“Who are you?” the beast said after he turned around slowly.
“I’m Max; this is my brother, Willis.”
“Who might you be?”
“I’m Terror-Watt, prepare for a shocker!” the electricity he absorbed, he sent some of it back at our heroes through his fingertips. It hits them instantly and they fall on their backs.
Max and Willis lie there for a moment while Terror-Watt gloats. Willis winks as his brother, signaling him that he has a plan. Immediately the two spring to their feet; Willis gives Max a boost. As he flies towards Terror-watt, he summons his pill bug armor while Terror-watt shoots more electricity at him; Max holds out his arm and deflects with the Pill Bug armor while Willis sped up to Terror-Watt with a side kick to the stomach, which pushed him back into a wall; Max lands in close and starts throwing low punches to the gut until Terror-watt teleports behind him and gets back on the offense.
Willis interrupts him with several laser blasts to the back to give Max time to move, but then makes himself Terror-watt’s next target. Willis leans right as Terror-watt rushes him with a left punch and then throws back a knee to the stomach to push him towards Max, who grabs him in a Full Nelson.
“Bad idea…” Terror-watt says with a sure look on his face as he notices Willis aiming for his chest.
“Take the shot, Willis.”
“C’mon…” Terror-watt says again.
Willis thinks long and hard about his next move and then puts the gun down.
“Wise decision.” Terror-watt teleports, grabs Max, and throws him at Willis before he could have time to react. “Gotta bolt; later losers.”
“He got away, Bradshaw.”
“Leave him for now; I’ve managed to locate your father. You’re going to need a plane to get to him; luckily Samuel has one in a hangar at the Oakland airport; Hangar 12. I’ll request clearance for takeoff; just get yourselves there.”
While walking back to their motorcycles, Willis explains, “I’ll check the GPS for the fastest route to the airport.”
They take the route given and make it within minutes of Bradshaw requesting clearance. After they board the plane, they hail Bradshaw the communication frequency and he explains to them where to go.
“He’s on an island far off the coast of New Guinea,” Bradshaw puts up on screen a volcanic island with trees covering most of the inland and a stream of lava flowing down the mountain on the side closest to the water, which seemed barren of life when seen from satellite.
“Doesn’t look like there’s much place for us to land…”

“Sensors are hardly picking up anything, but they have detected a faint energy signature from within the mountain itself.”
“You think it’s dad?”
“Let’s hope so, master Max; Bradshaw out.”
“Pilots, change of plans. We’re going the rest of the way; you turn back.”
“What exactly will you do for a ride?”
“We’ll call you.”
“Just make sure you have the skyhook ready.”
Willis and Max put on their parachutes; the pilot opens the cargo bay hatch and our heroes prepare to jump out.
“Hey, why do you always get to go first?” Willis leaps out seconds after Max.
They discarded their helmets and parachutes for the time being and proceed further into the island towards Farenhart’s base on foot.
“Temperature’s in triple digits; no wonder this place is uninhabitable.”
“Just be glad we don’t have sweat glands.”
“Actually, I think we do.” Max feels his forehead and there’s moisture.
“Probably there to keep the moisture from shorting out our systems…”
“Beats having a fan somewhere on our bodies.”
“Max, hold on for a sec.” Willis stops him before he triggers the semi-invisible string in front of his path.
“Tripwire; Farenhart’s probably got the place booby trapped. Keep your eyes peeled.”
Farenhart, who was watching from his lair not too far ahead, calls forth his army. “They’re somewhere on the island. I want you to spread out, sweep the entire jungle until you find them.”
Samuel overheard, “They’re here? Oh, they shouldn’t have come for me…” he said, sounding worried.
Within moments, the Magma Golems were all over Max and Willis like a rash. They had no choice but to fight their way out. They stood back to back, guns at the ready; the magma golems rush them and get shot down one by one. Anything that got close, Max and Willis dealt with with a combination of hand to hand combat. Max knees one of them in the stomach and finishes with an elbow strike to the jaw; it spirals to the ground and Max crushes with a curb stomp; Willis takes out one of them with a bash to the top of the head with the handle of his weapon. The beast stumbles back and Willis shoots it point blank in the face; it crumbles within seconds and Willis focuses his attention on the next one; another Golem approaches on Max’s side and he gets him with a spinning heel kick. Max then shoots off its left leg and then goes for the face.
Fifteen minutes later, Farenhart marches into the holding cells, opens one and drags Samuel out and back into the throne room and over to a pool of lava several feet deep or more in length. “Okay, Samuel,” he put emphasis on his name, “I realize you have your own chain of restaurants; I’ll make this simple for you. Either you help me with what I need from you or…” Farenhart pauses to hold Samuel’s head over the boiling lava pit, “I boil you and turn you into a special on one of your menus.”
“For the last time, I will not help you destroy my own planet!”
“As you wish…”
A green blur rushes into the room just as Samuel was pushed over. After latching a grappling hook onto the edge and swinging in to get him, it then becomes apparent that it is his son, Willis, coming to his rescue.
“You again?!”
“Looks like the kitchen’s closed, Farenhart; c’mon, Willis, let’s go.”
“Better hold on tight, dad…” after his dad does so, Willis speeds off at the speed of sound. After catching up to Max, his powers started wearing down.
“I forgot to mention, it takes time for your powers to charge back up.”
Max calls for their ride to come pick them up. It was going to take him awhile to get back, so they find themselves waiting on the beach.
Suddenly, Farenhart shows up.
“Leaving without saying goodbye?”
“I’ve never really been one for goodbyes; long or short.”
“Well then let’s just skip the goodbye; Magma Golems, Attack!”
“If you say so,” Samuel unsheathes his katana as his sons call forth their weapons.
They let the enemy come to them before they raise their weapons; Samuel slashes left across the first Golem’s chest; drops him instantly, slashes right, across the stomach. As the golem bends forward, Samuel elbows him in the back, then spirals 270 degrees, and throws his sword; lodging it into a Golem’s chest before switching over to his laser gun. A golem comes in from Samuel’s right and swings its club high above his head. Samuel sidesteps, shoots him in the hand, and then aims up and shoots him in the head before rushing over to the downed Golem and retrieving his sword.
“Dad, watch out behind you!” Max gets a shot in on the Golem sneaking up on Samuel.
Samuel turns to Max, “Thanks…” but as soon as he turns back, Farenhart attacks; Samuel blocks just in time. Before Farenhart got a chance to attack, Samuel pushed him back. Farenhart holds out his hands and jolts of red lightning shoot straight from the fingernails; Samuel swings his sword in front of their path and deflects every shot with speed and accuracy. Farenhart approaches again while Samuel stood his ground; waiting for the right time, Samuel disarms him of his right sword and prompts him to strike with his other. Samuel ducks and then quickly rises as he grips Farenhart’s arm with his right and attacks lands a punch to the jaw with his left. Immediately after, Farenhart spirals with a spinning back elbow, which Samuel dodges as he leans back and performs a spiral kick to the abdomen.
“Guys, I’m on approach, prepare yourselves for pickup.”
“Roger that.”
“Hey, Farenhart; remember how I said I hate goodbyes? Well, I change my mind.” Farenhart takes notice to Samuel, Max, and Willis’ ride coming in from the water. “Goodbye…” Samuel says with a smile as his sons deploy the hook attached to a balloon for the plane to latch onto.
Max and Willis hold onto their dad and the plane makes the pickup.
“No!” Farenhart shouts.
“Later hothead…!”
“I’ll just have my monster attack the nearby island.”
On the island of New Guinea, a black skin tribesman was walking along, minding his own business, when he notices an electric spark off in the distance shooting into the sky; creating a massive thunderstorm over the entire area, which generated large amount of lightning.
Samuel, Max, and Willis slowly approach New Guinea as this is happening.
“Farenhart, he’s nothing more than some whack job bent on total annihilation. He and his brother plan to kill millions of people if they get their hands on the jewels. We cannot let it happen.”
“Mr. Grant, sir, you got a call.” The pilot patches Bradshaw through.
“Sir, we’ve got a situation. A massive storm just appeared out of nowhere; I’ve checked the weather reports for this part of the world and nothing came up; it may be Farenhart’s monster. The one Max and Willis faced at the power plant.”
“Pilot, make a detour.”
Once they land at the sight of the disturbance, Samuel stops his sons before they left. “I’ve been working on a new weapon way before you were created; it may come in handy during the fight. I call it the W.A.S.P. stinger. When you need it, just call out its name and it will teleport through your glove molecule by molecule and assemble in your hand.
“Thanks.”
“Now go; I’ll stay here.”
“You’re not coming?”
“I’ve done all the fighting I’ll ever do for today.”
“First thing we need to do is get everyone to safety.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Willis explained.
“Leave old thunderdome to me.”
Terror-watt was surprised to see Max leap at him, left hand drawn back and his pill bug armor at the ready. With one well-placed strike to the chest, Terror-watt rolls backwards along the ground a few yards before he gets to his feet and retaliates. He teleports in front of Max and latches a rope made of blue lightning around his waist. As he pulls him in close, Max too turns into electricity, goes through Terror-watt’s arm and out through his other one, still attached to the electric rope as he’s hoisted into the air and jerked back towards Terror-watt’s fist in his stomach.
Meanwhile, Willis was ushering people towards the plane and out of the way when he saw Max having a hard time. After escorting everyone he could find, he rushes to Max’s aid.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“He’s too powerful; there’s gotta be a way to stop him.”
“Not stop him; hold him still. We’ll need a lightning rod. Can you keep him busy long enough for me to construct one?”
“Why me?”
“It needs to be done quickly before he realizes what we’re up to; and since you don’t have super speed…”
“Okay, I get it.”
Max thrusts back into battle while Willis heads back to the plane to gather some metal. It takes a couple of hours to set up the grounding plates and the rods, but once he was done, he joins Max and tries to lure Terror-watt in. lightning strikes the rods and then bounce to Terror-watt, wrapping around him like a leash and restricting him.
“Shall we, brother?”
“Let’s…”
Max calls forth the WASP stinger, which was as long as a shotgun, was painted white and black, and had a blue, flashing light between the barrel and handle. As he aims it, his brother stands in front, crouched down as he faces the same direction. They take aim at Terror-watt, who was unable to go anywhere.
The weapon fires a blue beam of energy, which upon contact, separates Terror-watt’s body molecule by molecule until nothing remained.
Soon after the defeat of Farenhart’s monster, our heroes return home.
“Mr. Grant, welcome back,” Bradshaw said with relief. “You had me worried.”
“Glad to see my sons weren’t the only ones who cared.”
“I’m just relieved I don’t have to look for employment elsewhere, sir.”
Bradshaw’s reply had Samuel speechless for a moment.
“Only joking, sir.”
Samuel then turns to his boys and says, “You guys did well out there, but don’t let one success go to your heads and compromise your skills; Celsior and Farenhart will not rest until they obtain the seven jewels and dominate earth, which means it’ll be up to Operation W.A.S.P. with our weapons and special powers to find the jewels before they do and ensure that no harm will befalls our world,” Samuel explains. “To Operation W.A.S.P.?” he raises his glass to propose a toast.
“To Operation W.A.S.P.!” Bradshaw, Max, and Willis responded, raising their glasses and clinking them against Samuel’s.
“If I can share my opinion, sir, the name Operation W.A.S.P., it doesn’t seem like it’ll stick,” MEGAN replied.
(*Samuel looks towards the camera and smiles and winks*)  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 3
The “W” in Operation W.A.S.P.

Samuel Grant is many things; generous is one of those things. News reporters have caught wind of him donating a hundred million to a children’s orphanage in New York to help them get a new library after their old one was burnt down in a fire.
On the show, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”, Samuel said, “The children are our future; I care a lot about the education of the youth of America. I wanna make sure they have everything they’ll ever need to get ahead in life.”
A Caucasian woman in her 20’s; brunette, brown eyes, wearing a pink blouse, dark blue jeans, a black purse, brown high heels, sits down in an empty seat in the front row as the interview was taking place. She whispers to a gentlemen next to her, “Excuse me, is that Samuel Grant up there?”
“Yes it is.”
“Thanks.”
When the interview was over, Samuel and his chauffeur take the back entrance out to the car. As soon as the doors open, thousands of screaming fans were there to greet him, but the guards were there to keep things from getting out of hand.
On top of everything, Samuel manages to stop and sign autographs on the way out; some of them were in notebooks, napkins, and other places, but as soon as Samuel makes it to his car, a turtle shell green Ford GT, he meets the Caucasian brunette.
“Hi.”
“Hello, Mr. Grant.”
“I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting before; who are you?”
“Melanie Daniels.”
“Well, Ms. Daniels, what I can do for you today?”
“Nothing much; I just need you to take this.” She pulls out of her purse a letter stamped with a government seal and addressed to Samuel Grant.
“Oh boy…” Samuel said in a disgusted tone.
“You are to report the Senate Arms Committee in Washington D.C. no later than 9:30am for your hearing.”
“Well, the only good news here is I don’t have to fly out; Harry, how far are we from D.C.?”
“About 229 miles at best…”
“I’m driving.”
Washington D.C. 9:30am
“I’ll say again, Mr. Grant. Do you or don’t you possess an array of advanced weaponry far beyond that of the United States Military?” asked Senator Davis, This generous gentleman has deep-set eyes the color of wild grass. His fine, straight, long hair is the color of dark chocolate, and is worn in an attractive, precise style. He is very short and has an angular build. His skin is dark-colored. He has a hooked nose and thin eyebrows. His wardrobe is businesslike and elegant, with a mostly bluish-gray color scheme.
“Define advance…”
“The weapons your team known as Operation W.A.S.P. currently use. Example: the WASP stinger,” replied Senator Angelique. This woman makes you think of a wise owl. She has round brown eyes. Her fine, straight, chocolate-colored hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a peacock's tail. She is tall and has a slim build. Her skin is white. She has a low forehead and thin lips. Her wardrobe is uncomplicated.
“Without a doubt, Senator.”
“Well then it’s my duty, no make that priority, to get all your lil high-tech toys turned over to the US government…”
“Well, let me stop you right there, Senator, you have your priorities outta whack; it should be the priority of the government to do everything they can to help prevent an alien invasion. Instead, you’re just sitting in your chair all high and mighty while trying to pick on the little guy, i.e. me, lil old Samuel Grant: the face of the hero, who saved Gaia once before in the past; you’ve seen the news, right? You’ve seen what’s going on? The attack on North Richmond was just a first. I have reason to believe these evil forces seek an energy source known as the Karma Lunari and will not rest until it in their possession… and the destruction of our world ensues.”
“Now, Mr. Grant…” a General Daniel Creed of the USMC interrupted, “This Karma Lunari, what is it, where did it come from, and how powerful is this device?” This man makes you think of an impenetrable fortress. He has narrow brown eyes that are like two bronze coins. His fine, wavy, black hair is very short and is worn in a complex, carefully-crafted style. He is not too tall, not too short and has a boyish build. His skin is white. He has a low forehead. His wardrobe was a brown camouflage shirt and pants with a green beret.
“Well, General, it is not a device, it is a piece of armor with seven indentations that house seven jewels of distinct colors, which are named after the constellations Scorpio, Virgo, Pisces, Andromeda, Hydra, Leo, Taurus. On their own, they’re somewhat harmless; it is when you combine them that you need to worry. The one wielding the armor and jewels holds the power to either produce a miracle or cause great catastrophe.”
“And who is it that led you to believe that is what our extraterrestrial friends are looking for?”
“If I tell you, you probably won’t believe me; you’ll have to see him for yourself to know the truth and at this time, he wishes to remain a secret.”
“Then perhaps this is a matter best left in the hands of professionals.”
“Professionals, General? Celsior and Farenhart would make your men, a bunch of professional tough guys, scatter like roaches.”
“You wanna leave the fate of the world in the hands of a couple of teenagers, Mr. Grant?” asked Senator Davis.
“They’re getting the job done, aren’t they? The world couldn’t be in safer hands; General Creed’s boys will just mess everything up if you put them in charge. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’ve got a planet to save.”
“Where do you think you’re going, Mr. Grant, this meeting isn’t adjourned until I say so… Mr. Grant!”
Samuel leaves the courtroom with his heads held high; though it wasn’t over yet, not according the General. As he walks away, he speaks in a muffled voice to one of his advisors, “If Samuel thinks we’re through here, he’s got another thing coming. I need you to set up a research and development lab at my secret base in the Arizona desert; I’m gonna need someone skilled as breaking into secure areas. I wanna get into Samuel’s Grant’s archives no matter what the cost, understand?”
“Yes sir…”
On the plane ride back to California, Samuel speaks with Bradshaw via computer screen.
“You do realize you’re playing with fire, sir…?”
“Look, I don’t expect Creed to make things easy for me. He’s a bully, minus the high school.”
“I was sensing a bit of hostility between you two. What is his problem with you?”
“He’s just holding a grudge. Long time ago, we were both after the same girl. It’s some… crazy long triangle thing that I don’t wanna go into detail about; and MEGAN, if you tell them even a single sentence of the story, I will strip out your voice chip.”
“My lips are sealed, sir.”
“I will tell you when I feel the time is right, but for now just leave it.”
Meanwhile at Grant Industries HQ in Redding, California; it was night time when an African American male in his 20’s, his black hair in a style that reminds you of a rippling ocean wave, is seen sneaking around the grounds in the dark in nothing but a black burglar suit and mask wearing a pair of nightvision goggles. He infiltrates the security office first, sneaks past the guards. He waits for one of them to look the other direction before he tosses a silver coin out into the hall. With one guard out of the way, he proceeds to take out the other, dump him his body and steal his clothing and his cap; then he checks the feed to locate the vault and then proceeds to disable the cameras all before the other guard comes back into the room.
“Gonna make my rounds, I’ll be back.”
“Alright,” with the guy wearing a cap, the guard could not tell the difference between him and his partner, so he let him pass.
He gets on the elevator and rides it to the top floor. “The vault should be right about… here.” He opens the door at the end of the hall and enters the R&D department; but before he takes another step, he pulls out a can of some type of spray and fills the air with its contents to reveal a laser web. He looks to the control panel for the laser web and shuts it off, so he can continue forward. From there, all he had to do was crack the code for the electronic lock on the vault.
Inside the vault was a large super computer with file folders for every project Samuel Grant has either created, is currently working on, or has been abandoned. With a bit more code breaking, Alex gets past the firewall and gains access.
The next day, as the jewel hunt continues, Samuel comes up with nothing every time.
“Sir, we’ve been at it for hours. If anything abnormal were out there, it would’ve shown up by now.”
“Just keep trying, MEGAN, there’s bound to be something we’ve overlooked.”
“Besides looking for trinkets buried in the earth, we have other responsibilities, which include saving the world from our enemies and their random attacks.”
“Yeah yeah, I know; but while we’re doing that, Celsior and Farenhart are probably one step closer to digging them up before we do.”
Marina Bay Park: 15 minutes late; Max and Willis were out playing football with some friends when they were attacked by a monster. This strange beast green and red striped skin, yellow, soulless eyes, and a toothy grin like that of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. It wore a green helmet with three silver horns coming out of it; two on the side of its head and one coming from the forehead. It had a long, black tail with a triangle tip like the devil himself and black hands with long, sharp, black claws to match.
“Get out of here. Get to safety.”
Willis and max reach for their guns; but the monster speeds up faster than they could react and kicks the guns away before he into lays into them with a barrage of claw attacks; Willis was the only one, who could evade the beast’s attacks using his super speed, so he distracts him long enough for Max to get a hit in. with one kick, Max sends him flying; Willis picks up his gun and takes the shot as the monster lands feet first and slides backwards; feet digging into the grass inch by inch. Seconds later, the monster moves at the speed of sound towards Willis, disarms him, and slashes into him some more before Max leaps in with a flying punch and causes the monster to latch onto him, teleport, appear behind Willis and swing Max into him; sweeping him off his feet.
“He’s a lot tougher than he looks.”
“Speak for yourself; I can take him.”
“We need to do this as a team, Willis; and he’s gone…” Max said as he watched his brother take off in a huff towards the monster.
“Your partner is too slow; how about some opponents who are a bit more his speed?” he jumps back, reaches behind him and summons a handful of white, sparkling stones, which he threw to the ground to create Glacieroids. As they march towards our heroes, the sound of afterburners fills the air.
“Max…”
“Yeah, I hear it too.”
From out of the sky, like a bomb, come two human shadows, who slowly descend via propulsion system.
Max and Willis couldn’t see what they look like until they touchdown; and when they did get a glimpse, they were surprised. It was like they were looking into a mirror as they saw themselves standing in front of them; the only difference was their duplicates had an antenna coming out of their forehead; they take over in the real Max and Willis’ place as they destroy every Glacieroid in their path with their array of weaponry that springs from their arms the controller’s command. This thoughtful guy has narrow apricot-colored eyes. He is bald, but used to have luxurious, wavy hair the color of varnished wood He is very tall and has a slim, muscular build. His skin is tan. He has a small mouth. His wardrobe is was a white lab coat and gray pants. He stood off in the distance, controlling the robots through a large, rectangular remote control.
“C’mon Willis, let’s go. They’ve got things handled from here.”
Max’s copy looks back as the real Willis and Max walk away, so General Creed can see what they see.
“Excellent…” the General said with an evil smirk and whispered tone.
Max stops at the footbridge and smacks his palms down on the rail in a fit of rage, “How can he do this to us?”
“We don’t know the whole story yet; maybe dad just thought we could use backup.”
“But why build exact duplicates of us? Why not make whole new designs? We’re being replaced, Willis. Besides, you saw the hardware they carried.”
“Maybe we should call him and see what’s up.”
“No. I’d rather hear it straight from his mouth.” Max marches off. He arrives at the mansion, storms through the front door past Bradshaw, down the hall and past the last door on his left, then down the spiraling staircase and into the command center.
“What’s his problem?”
“It’s a long story, Bradshaw.”
Max confronts his father, “What is the meaning of this?”
“Meaning of what, son?”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
“Listen, Max, whatever game it is you’re playing, we don’t have time for it. I’m trying to find the jewels of the Karma Lunari and save the world here.”
“I’m talking about you sending in your heavily armed replacements to show me and Willis up for the obsolete models we are.”
“I did no such thing.”
“No need to deny it, dad, everyone in the park saw them. If you want to replace us, then fine; go ahead. I won’t stop you.” Just as his brother enters the room, he exits; bumping into his shoulder as he marches off in a huff.
“Oh great,” Samuel said sarcastically, “You’ve come to scold me for something I did not do as well?”
“You really have no idea, do you?”
“Idea about what? Can someone tell me what’s going on here?”
“If you would take a break once in a while, you may have noticed; MEGAN, roll the footage please.”
On the screen, Samuel looked as if he were seeing double as he watched all of what happened up to when Max and Willis’ duplicates arrive on scene.
“This was taken by someone in the park, using a camcorder.”
“Honestly, Willis, I had no idea…” Samuel paused as he noticed the bald scientist in the shadow of a tree off in the distance. “I see the puppets; and that… must be the puppeteer. MEGAN, zoom in on his nametag.”
MEGAN immediately does so.
“Okay, now run a check on that name and the keywords ‘advanced robotics’; maybe we’ll come up with something.”
“No need, Samuel, I’ll tell you what you need to know.”
“Daniel Creed. I should’ve known you’d be behind this.”
“I’m sorry, sir, he barged in.”
“As your sons may already be aware, this is the head of my R&D department, Dr. Cristobal Hooper.”
“Oh really? So tell me, doc, how does it feel working for a thief?”
“You have no proof of that.”
“So I’m to believe that it’s by coincidence that your robots look exactly like mine; aside from the poor fashion sense?”
“Parhaps…”
“You know, I could go to the police with this.”
“Like I said earlier, where’s your proof? Anyway, my version of ‘your’ designs is far superior to that of your boys; that is… if you can call them boys.”
“You watch your mouth!” Samuel angrily points his gun at the General’s face.
“Dad, don’t…”
“You had no right taking my things, you have no right being here unless I invited you; I could just easily tell the cops you were burglars.”
“Sir, I caution you to reconsider your actions.”
“Better listen to your servant, Grant.”
Samuel shoots at Daniel’s feet and then quickly points the weapon back at his face. “Get out. And take your geek with you.”
“I was just leave anyway. Thank you for the new toys, Samuel. Things will start to get interesting between us, you’ll see.”
“Dad, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” He lowers the gun. “That guy’s a real a*****e and just gets my blood boiling.”
“Don’t let him get to you,” Willis said.
“Bradshaw, can you get Max for me? I wanna apologize.”
“That’s just it, sir; I don’t know where he is.”
“What?”
“He stormed out of the house just moments before the General arrived.”
“MEGAN, try contacting him.”
“His communicator has been switched off, sir. He probably doesn’t want to be disturbed. I wouldn’t blame him…”
“MEGAN, now’s not the time; Willis, go find your brother for me. Look everywhere.”
Heading down the road and away from Samuel’s house, General Creed receives a call from his tech support.
“General Sir? The monster’s back again. He’s in the city.”
“Alright, we’re on our way there now. Give us the coordinates.”
Meanwhile, Willis was on his motorcycle in another part of the city looking for his brother. He checked half of the restaurants, the arcades, all the sports places such as: tennis courts, baseball diamonds, the basketball court in the park; no luck. But Willis wouldn’t give up until he found him. “C’mon Max, where are you?” while he continued the search, General Creed and his robot rangers face off with Celsior’s creation in the streets of Sacramento. They march slowly into battle and make the enemy grow tired of waiting and rush forward. They dispatched the Glacieroids with little difficulty; same as before, but as soon as the jokester monster stepped in, things took a turn for the worse.
No matter how strong the robot rangers were on the outside, they could only withstand his barrage of attacks for so long before they crumble.
“Try to anticipate his movements.”
“I’m trying, sir; he’s moving too fast and we can’t match his speed because of all the tech you had us put in.”
“Damn it…”
“Deploying flash-bang grenades.” With the press of a button, the red robot ranger drops a small, gray cylinder out of his ankle. Within a few seconds, the top pops off and the object emits a brilliant flash of light to blind the opponent. Immediately after that, the green robot ranger grabs him by the neck and tosses him aside; the monster lands face first on the asphalt.
“Deploy the finishing blow before he can recover. Do it now!”
The robots lock on target; the monster was struggling to stay on his feet and was unable to zip around at the speed of sound to avoid incoming fire, so instead, he takes aim and gets off one last shot before General Creed’s robots to finish him. His energy blast did something to them; their eyes emitted a quick flash of green light, which was somehow interfering with their systems and reprogramming them. The General’s leading scientist was no longer in control.
“What are they doing, doctor?”
“I dunno. They don’t seem to be responding to any of my commands.” He drops the remote, “I think now would be a good time to flee.”
They run for the truck, but before they could get inside, the robots blew it up.
At the same time, Willis had finally found Max, looking out over the city from the top of some building.
“Here you are, brother, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why’d you turn your communicator off?”
“I wanted to be alone. I thought you’d feel the same way after realizing you’re obsolete.”
“We are not obsolete; at least not to our father. I just thought you’d be happy to know dad wasn’t the one who built our replacements.”
“What?”
“The General did.”
“How did the General get a hold of our blueprints?”
“Dad’s still trying to figure that one out. You should’ve stayed to see the look on dad’s face when Creed showed up and admitted it. He was about to blow his head off, but I stopped him.”
“Willis, come in Willis. We’ve got a major problem.”
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s nothing your old pal, the General, can’t handle.”
“Actually, it’s regarding him; seems he’s traded one problem for another. I’ll send his coordinates.” “MEGAN, I’m gonna need you to hack into Creed’s database, if you can, and download the schematics for his drones.”
“Yes sir…”
“If Max and Willis want to defeat them, they need to know what they’re dealing with.”
A few seconds of searching, MEGAN finally finds what she’s looking for and downloads it onto her hard drive. She carefully looks through and makes a discovery, “He obviously had a team of top scientists who knew what they were doing when they built them; night vision, infrared, .380cal auto ammunition; all that and more packed tight into a platinum alloy. If it were me, I’d pick something lighter and similar to that of a bulletproof vest.
“That means they’re not really light on their feet. Max and Willis may be able to outrun them, but that’s not gonna be enough. We need a way through that armor. Keep an eye out or weak spots.”
“Sir, they’re built like a tank.”
“Something that was constructed within the course of a day must have weak spots. Keep searching, MEGAN.”
As for Max and Willis; when hand to hand combat proved ineffective, they switch to their weapons.
“The armor is significantly weaker in the back of the neck.”
“Max, Willis, you need to aim for the back of the neck, MEGAN says that’s their weak point.”
“I’ll take care of that; Max, give me a boost.” Max cups his hands and holds them at foot level; Willis places his right foot in Max’s hand and waits for lift off. While Willis flew overhead, Max kept the focus on him with a barrage of laser fire.
Meanwhile, Willis switches modes on his weapon and hits them both a blast to the back of the neck.
Within moments, spark flew from every part of the robots’ bodies as they slowly fell on their knees and spontaneously combusted.
Once they were done, M ax and Willis return home to Samuel going over security footage to see if he can get a glimpse at the mysterious thief, who broke into his archives building. He had no luck in determining the thief’s identity.
“I thought he disabled all the cameras?”
“I had one that wasn’t integrated into the systems at Grant Industries HQ just in case something like that may happen.”
“You find anything?”
“No. this guy is good if he was able to sneak past the guards and stuff.”
“Keep trying, dad, you’ll get him.”
Half hour later inside General Creed’s base.
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
General Creed pulls out a check and gives it to Alex, “For your services.”
“Could’ve just wired it to me.”
“Yes I could, but there’s also one other thing; the guys in R&D also have something for you.”
Dr. Cristobal Hooper was waiting for Alex when he arrived at research and development.
“Creed said you have something for me.”
“Ah yes, this new item we’ve come up with, thanks to Grant’s designs, should prove useful in your future assignments. It may seem like an ordinary Samurai sword to the untrained eye, but if you press this button right hear above the hand.” The doctor presses the button and the blade breaks into chain-like links with rectangular pieces connected by a long, flimsy metal strap. “It lengthens into a chain, while still maintaining its sharpness. The green button below it makes it either dull or sharp in case you want to use the weapon to swing across gaps and such. To change it back into a sword, just press the red button again.”
“Gee thanks…”  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 4
In the Line of Fire

Samuel wakes at 7am, a week after the incident with General Creed and his cyborg rangers, in light blue pajamas with dark blue pinstripes. Half-awake, he heads into the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee; later, he takes a casual down to the command center to check the latest weather reports when suddenly, Creed appears on the monitor. If the coffee didn’t fully wake him up, the General sure did.
“Samuel!” Creed bellowed.
Startled by his appearance, Samuel spills some of his coffee, “Jeez!!!” he shouts as the coffee seared his flesh. “Damnit, Creed, what do you want this time?!”
“One of our Satellites mysteriously crashed in a rural town of Iraq and we need you to get it back. It contains vital information that if in the wrong hands, could spell disaster for our country. I know you said your expertise is interplanetary problems, but your team has the weapons and the skills to pull of such a job without sacrificing any of my men.”
“I don’t know… something seems fishy about all this.”
“Must you question my motives?”
“Well, let’s see: you’re walking around with technology that’s not yours, which you ‘claim’ to be yours, you made a mockery of my sons with those mobile wrecking crew you call robots; and you have the audacity to ask why I question your motives? You’ve been this way since the war against the Magma Skins.
“This is a direct order from the President handed down to me and it’s a favor I’m asking of you. I have very little involvement in this.”
“Sure you don’t…” Samuel rolls his eyes. “Tell me something, if it’s so important, why can’t you risk any men to retrieve it?”
“We need all the men we got. We can’t just have them gallivanting around the countryside looking for space junk.”
“Yet, you’d risk the safety of my sons…”
“We’ll pay you.”
“You think money is an issue here? I own my own companies; I don’t need your blood money.”
“Sir, you need to see this.”
“Can I put you on hold for a moment? What is it, MEGAN?”
“This red light here shows the location of the satellite on the map; the other one showed up just moments after.”
“Random energy signature? A jewel signature?”
“I believe so, sir.”
“Then it’s time we get a move on…”
Once his sons were awake and dressed, he briefs them on the mission and then introduces them to their new aerial vehicle, “It’s modeled after a bug known as the ‘diving beetle’, hence the name of the craft being Diving Beetle. Probably the first of its kind that is both a plane and a submarine, it can soar to great lengths, delve to great depths; and has a weapons system for when things get a lil hot. You’re gonna need it where you’re going.”
“Where exactly is it we’re going?”
“Ramul Village.”
“And we’re going there to retrieve info from a downed satellite?”
“Not just a satellite; MEGAN picked up an abnormally high energy reading not too far from where the satellite touched down. Even though I dislike Creed and trust him about as far as I can throw him, we’re going to retrieve the satellite data and retrieve the jewel.”
It was midday the sky was a beautiful turquoise blue and barrn of clouds like the desert; the suns blazing heat made the air hot and dry and sweat began to pour off their brows; it was actually just random moisture generated by their machine parts. Max and Willis approach by motorcycles village from the north of a village called Ramul; crowds of people, men, women and children were seen minding their own business, going about their daily routines.
“I distinctly remember hearing either the general or one of the senators asking Samuel about leaving the fate of the world in the hands of kids, yet they have us, a bunch of kids, go behind enemy lines to retrieve info.”
They’re probably recognizing how important we are.”
“Highly doubt it…”
“How much further?”
“A couple hundred yards to go.”
They finally find what they’re looking for in an abandoned factory at the end of the town, but it wasn’t what they were expecting. The item turned out to be a white, egg shaped pod with tiny red spots as red as human blood.
“This can’t be what we’re after…”
Willis scans it with his communicator, which doubled as in an energy read; it could measure how much it was giving off by generating a random number; no unit of measurement whatsoever. High numbers meant something of great importance. “It’s got an abnormally high energy reading, so the jewel must be inside.”
“Allow me, brother.” Max snatches the egg away from Willis and looks for a rock to bash it on. After finding one, he repeatedly hits it against the rock for almost half an hour; but not a single dent formed in it.
“Max, that’s enough.” But his brother wouldn’t respond. “Don’t you think it would’ve cracked open by now?”
“What else would you have me do?” Max asked in between each attempt to break the egg open. Just then, a compartment opened up. Inside was a note, which Max picked up.
“It’s just a bunch of black dots. Here, you’re the puzzle solver, what do you make of it?”
“Hard to say, really. Let’s send an image back to dad.”
“Hello…” Samuel asked casually.
“Dad, I think we may have found the jewel, but it’s encased in something; Max tried cracking it open, but couldn’t. We also found this note with a bunch of black lines. We’re wondering if you could help us decipher it.”
“Okay, send me the image.”
Willis holds the communicator high over the paper while Max held it flat; a blue light emits from the top like the light inside of a printer and sends a picture of the note and the pod directly to Samuel’s screen pixel by pixel.
“Alright, I’ll get back to you when I got something; continue on with General Creed’s mission and find that satellite.”
Before they could leave the village, Max and Willis must first get past the incoming truck from the south. As it stopped, a couple handful of mercenaries pour out of the back, guns in hand as they move around, gathering everyone they could see; anyone who fought back was instantly killed.
“Whoa whoa, Max, where are you going?”
“What you mean, we can’t just sit and…”
“We have our orders.”
“Orders, Willis? We’re not soldiers. If you won’t do something, I will.”
“Max, wait…”
Without even thinking the situation through, Max storms in firing left and right, bullet flying at him the whole time; as the bullets pierce through the skin, they stop after hitting the metal skeleton; the blood that came out of the wounds instantly stopped and the skin healed up all the while, all of his targets went down with a few shots to their vital areas.
Out of nowhere, one mercenary surprises Max with a hit to the jaw from the butt of his rifle; Max reacted mildly to it before rotating his head back towards him, grabbing him by the neck with his right hand, and decking him with a punch to the jaw.
As he hit the ground, another mercenary pulls out a rocket launcher; thinking quickly, Max summons his Pill bug armor and deflects the shot; the rocket explodes at his feet and the shockwave pushes him out of the way of the flames.
Willis, who couldn’t stand by any longer while his brother kills himself, decides to step in. first, he motions towards the man closest to Max; using his super speed, he races in and lands a palm strike to the heart. Second, he dodges a rocket blast intended for him and then disarms the shooter with a laser blast to the arm before he moves in and knocks him for a loop with an uppercut; Willis was then brought to his knees soon after; surrounded by men, he lays down his weapon and puts his hands behind his head. Everything goes dark after Willis felt the butt of a rifle hit him swiftly in the back of the neck.
Back at the command center, Samuel was still scratching his head over the recent photo his sons sent to him. As they had described, it was just a bunch of small, black dots, that’s all. No bars or any type of identifying marks; just the dots in several lines across the paper, some of them high, some low, others in between.
“I can’t make heads or tails of it, can you, MEGAN?!”
“It all seems undecipherable to me, sir.”
“Let’s run a search on the pod itself, see what we get back.”
“Right away, sir; also, I’ve been monitoring Max and Willis’ progress. Their trail ends after Ramul Village.”
“Could be some sorta interference; it’s a warzone over there after all…”
The men who took Willis and Max, their organization as a mixture of many dialects; Hungarian, Arabic, maybe some Egyptian and French; Willis awakens several minutes later in a dark cave with several lights shining on him and various different languages being spoken. He looks around at the mercenaries gathered around the equipment that filled the room. He tries to get free, but couldn’t; he tries harder to get free until he looks down and sees he is tied to a chair really tight. He looks back at his brother, Max, who was still unconscious as a tan, bald man with a long, downturned nose, in a green jacket, black pants, boots, and a scarf steps into the light.
The man speaks in a Hungarian dialect, “You’ve come a long way to die, Operation W.A.S.P.” the name, Operation W.A.S.P., was the only thing said in English. “And all because of this,” he points to the satellite wreckage. “My men have gone over most of the discs and have more than enough to duplicate your country’s weapons and turn the tide of the war.” The whole time he was talking, Willis continued struggling to break free of the ropes that bound him until Max finally awakened. “You are too late to stop us,” the terrorist leader said in English.
There was a commotion at the entrance to the lair; the sound of gunfire and rocket blasts echoed throughout the cave. A single mercenary rushes into the room, shouting in Arabic about an army of grey ape looking men led by man made entirely out of ice just before a trail of ice ran up his legs and covered his whole body like in the cartoons where you see the character come out of a cold pond encased in an ice cube; his body stood there with stalactites running down his arms, chin, and nose before Celsior takes one hand and performs a karate chop, which shatters him to pieces. “Sorry to drop in unannounced, but you have something that belongs to me…” Celsior then proceeds to take out everyone else in the room, except Max and Willis, who finally break free and summon their weapons.

The horde of Glacieroids take to battle; the first of them shoots out ahead of the rest with his sword at the ready and takes a swipe at Max, who quickly takes out his gun, holds it by with the trigger facing him and the barrel pointed straight down. He blocks with it, quickly spirals and lands an elbow to the jaw. He immediately holds it the right way and fires a laser beam at the second henchmen to approach. After he goes down and Max takes aim at the third Glacieroid, another one punches him in the arm and causes him to drop it. The creature then uses his other hand to perform an uppercut; Max sidesteps, and with his right leg, delivers a kick to the back of the Glacieroid’s knees. At the time, another Glacieroid comes up with a club; Max blocks as the enemy bears down on him with his weapon and then pushes back long enough for him to get out from under it and allow him to bash one his own into white powder.
Willis ducks and dodges Celsior as he swings at him with his snow staff; waiting for his chance to strike, Willis uppercuts him in the chin with his Elephant axe; Celsior immediately responds with a frontal kick, which knocks Willis into the computer. Willis quickly spirals out of the way and allows for Celsior’s next attack to destroy the monitor and the box it was hooked up to.
“Thanks, Celsior; you just saved me the trouble of wiping the hard drive.”
With a confused expression, Celsior say, “You’re welcome…”
With each strike Max throws at his enemies, the Glacieroids, he constantly switches the pill bug armor from his left hand to his right hand; left foot to right foot as he throws a combination of strikes and shatters them like a sledgehammer to a block of ice.
“Willis, go find the jewel; I’ll handle these guys.”
Willis speeds off into the hallway like a cheetah, thoroughly checking all the rooms for the jewel encrusted pod that was assumed to contain the first jewel of the Karma Lunari. It took but seconds to locate it and once it was in his possession, he heads back to get Max.
“They’re getting away!!”
Max and Willis summon their motorcycles, which teleport to them through the glove they keep on their right hand, and mount them. In the long drive it took to get to the ship, Max and Willis find themselves being viciously pursued by the Glacieroids through the blazing heat and over the bumpy, sandy terrain with nothing but their tracking system to guide them. They return fire; taking out most of their pursuers, while the rest swerve all over.
By the time they made it to their aircraft, they had finished off the last of the enemy, got onboard, and prepared for takeoff.
“Max, Willis, you’re back. After your signal dropped off the radar MEGAN began to worry.”
“Sorry. We ran into a lil trouble.”
“Everything alright?”
“Nothing we couldn’t handle; regrettably, we were unable to retrieve what was on the satellite. It was destroyed.”
“The General’s not gonna be happy to hear that.”
“Anyway, have you deciphered the note?”
“It seems to be some sort of sheet music; maybe the reason why the pod was unbreakable is because music is the key to unlocking it. I’ll see you at home.”
Max and Willis land the ship and head inside; the ship teleports back to the place where the larger vehicles are stored; which is somewhere beneath Grant Industries HQ.
“it’s obvious, it’s not a jewel, but it energy signature read just the same.”
“What do you suppose it is?” Samuel asked.
“Only one way to find out; I’ve plugged the musical number on this sheet into the computer and here’s what I’ve come up with.” Samuel turns the speakers and plays the soothing melody. As the song plays, the jewels on the pod light up, going from red to blue to yellow to green, this causes the pod to crack open. Inside it was a brown sheet of paper rolled up in a blood red ribbon. Willis carefully removes it from the pod and unties the ribbon.
“I thought we were looking for a jewel.”
“What is this thing?”
“Obviously it’s a scroll; but what’s the drawing on it?
“Next piece of the puzzle, I assume.”  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 5
20,000 leagues

Max and Willis walk out of a bookstore called Barnes and Noble at the Oakland Pier with a white covered book that had tiny, multicolored gems on the corners, titles “Anything and Everything on Greek Myths”
“I don’t get why send both of us after the book? You could do this by yourself.”
“Dad has his reasons, Max. Besides you need a little lesson in teamwork. You’re reckless.”
“Hey, if you’re referring to what happened in Baghdad, I had to do it. If we didn’t get captured when saving those people, we wouldn’t have found the satellite to begin with.”
A couple of blocks ahead, a tall, thin African American woman in her mid-20’s with, silky, wavy, short brown hair, large eyes the color of milk chocolate, wearing a wardrobe that was classy and unconventional, with a mostly white color scheme, comes around the corner minding her own business just before a slim, muscular white man in a ski mask, black and gray shirt, and blue jeans crosses in front of her path and snatches her red purse. The woman screams for help and Max immediately comes to her rescue, despite Willis begging him to wait a minute and think it through.
As Max chases the purse snatcher for several blocks, Willis takes a shortcut to try and head him off at the pass. Even with his super speed, Willis was too late. Max had already stopped the burglar just past the outdoor market and got the purse back.
The woman comes around the corner and gets her purse back, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Max replied.
“Hey, what was the deal with you going off on your own like that? Dad expects us to work as a team.”
“I wasn’t gonna wait around for you to decide what to do while the bad guy gets further and further away. But anyway, enough of this arguing, we have a book to deliver.”
They return home with the book and find their father still working on solving the riddle of the scroll they picked up.
“Hey, you’re back. While you were away, I did another scan for any irregularities and out of nowhere, something showed up on radar. You’re not going to believe this one.”
“Whoa, is that Atlantis?” Willis said with excitement.
“What does Atlantis have in common with this scroll?”
“A lot by the looks of things; take a look at the symbol in the upper right hand corner.”
“A trident.”
“Not just any trident; this belonged to Poseidon, god the sea.”
“And Pisces has something to do with the sea as well. Perhaps we’ll find the Star of Pisces there in Atlantis.”
While Max and Willis pack their gear, the same thief from before; black and gray striped shirt, ski mask, and blue jeans heads down the stairs to Samuel and removes his mask. Once removed, you see that it’s Bradshaw.
“So how’d things go?”
“Firstly, I’d like to report nothing was broken when Maxwell tackled me; secondly, I regret to inform you they did not work as a team to take me down.”
Max and Willis finish up and board their plane, the Diving Beetle, and head out to the Caribbean, which was scientists believe the Lost City of Atlantis to be. They had no idea what could be waiting for them down there, so they decided to stay in the vehicle and convert it to submarine mode.
Underwater, it was dark and peaceful as Max and Willis piloted their sub through uncharted waters for a place not marked on any map. The only thing that kept them going was the mysterious energy signature hovering over the blank spot on their radar.
“And dad said this is the place where Atlantis is located? There’s nothing here, but reefs and a whole lot of fish. If the city were here, we’d have seen it by now.”
“Indeed, the city should show up on the map surrounding the energy signature, but it’s not.” Willis replied.
They wander the ocean floor for another half hour and still no sign of anything that looked to be an entrance. They approach a large trench and are immediately greeted by several large shadows rising from the depths behind them.
“Max… we’ve got company.” Max points out the dozens of oval, fished shaped rocks with Magma Golems inside surrounded by a glass dome.
“I see them…”
“Better hang on, it’s about to rough.” Willis hits the thrusters and carefully navigates through the trench, avoiding every sharp edge and falling rock in his way while the Magma Golem ships fire upon them with tiny bursts of lava in the shape of medium sized red water drops. As Willis leaned left and leaned right, the shots coming at him miss and create sparks as they hit the trench walls.
They reach the end of the trench and come across something far worse, which Max pointed out by stuttering at first out of shock, “M-m-m-mine field!”
Instead of avoiding it, Willis went straight for it.
“Willis, what are you doing?”
“Playing a game of follow the leader,” he answered vaguely.
The Golems try to keep up as best as they could while Willis narrowly dodges the round, spiky mines in his path. He goes left, then right, over, and under; the Golems were unable to keep up. They started dropping like flies going through a cloud or bug spray as they hit the mines head on and cause a chain of explosions one after the other. Several Magma Golems managed to survive the field followed Max and Willis until they met up with a large, green lobster looking figure in the distance; twelve stories long, two stories high with multiple red eyes on its face and long, flexible whisker like things.
“The Leviathan…” Willis whispered.
“As in the thing that guards Atlantis; that Leviathan,” Max asked.
“I had a feeling we were getting close.”
With its right claw, the beast lashes out at Willis and Max, who perform a barrel-roll the second the claw snaps shut right over them and continue forward.
The magma Golems, who were determined to catch them, maintain pursuit; the leviathan snaps its left claw out and crushes two of them in one blow before it made a full U-turn and followed our heroes.
It gains speed and loses speed as Willis pilots the sub in a serpentine pattern to avoid being cut in half by the huge, monstrous lobster claws.
“If you don’t wanna be fish food for a hungry crustacean, I suggest you do something!”
“What do you call what I’m doing now?”
“Well eventually, it’ll catch up to us.”
“MEGAN, is there anyone we can do from here?”
“If they use their sonar, I can probably create a digital skeleton of it and figure out where its weak spot is.”
“Max, Willis, do you read me, come in…”
“We’re kinda busy here!”
“I can see that; look, we can help you out if you’re able to use your sonar on it. Try flying towards it and activating it; MEGAN can create a digital skeleton thing from what you relay back to us.”
“This thing is matching our velocity; it’s a lil hard to turn around.”
“How about we go up?”
“What?”
“A loop-de-loop; we get behind it and do the sonar thing; engaging thrusters.” He pulls back on the throttle and slowly gets vertical lift. He gets a high as he can do and immediately dive bombs, aiming for the tail area of the Leviathan. Instead of getting horizontal, Willis activates the sonar right above the beast; a wireframe instantly appears on the screen back at the command center for MEGAN to analyze.
Samuel plays around with the 3D image; spinning it 360 degrees horizontally, then stopping and flipping it 90 degrees vertically. “Think I may have found it; there’s a small hairline crack on its belly.”
Willis turns and races away from the monster; leading him towards a cliff, Willis performs a barrel-roll and slowly descends. Once the beast was over top of him, Willis slows down.
“When I give the word, you roll us over.” Max instructs as he opens the hatch in the floor. He waits a few more seconds and then gives Willis the signal, “Now!”
Willis sticks his upper half out the hole in the floor with his laser pistol ready. He takes aims and with one shot, he sends a massive explosion through the beast’s interior; the leviathan slowly drops, its eyes going dark once it squashes the remaining Magma Golems like bugs on the ocean floor.
“You’re crazy, you know that?”
“It got the job done, didn’t it?”
“You could’ve flooded the sub. See what I mean by you being reckless?”
Max zones out for a moment as he sees something his brother didn’t notice until he pointed it out seconds later when he asks, “Max, are you even listening to me?”; Max turns his brother’s head to the sight of a large undersea dome surrounding a skyscrapers and other various buildings, which gave off enough to see from space, if the city was above the surface. They look for an opening somewhere on the dome and find one through a hole in the ground to the left, which led to a cave; an underwater cave.
With no more water in their way, Max and Willis open the cockpit and step out onto dry land.
They follow the cave until they reach the entrance the city several hundred feet off the ground.
“That’s strange…”
“What?”
“For a city that looks brand new, you’d think there’d be inhabitants.”
“There aren’t any?”
“Not a single person. The place is barren.”
“Let’s get down there and check it out.”
“Whoa whoa, Max, we can’t just go down there; not yet anyways.”
“Why not?”
“They could’ve set up an ambush and are in hiding.”
“You said so yourself the place is abandoned; even the tracker proves your theory to be sound.”
“Maybe they figured out a way to mask their energy signature. Legend has it the people who live here are an advanced race; far more superior than our own.”
“I’d love to debate with you, brother, but we’ve got a jewel to find.”
Willis smacks his palm to his forehead as Max was unaware of what he was getting into as he slides down that hill and heads for the city. Once inside, Max and Willis felt like they were being watched and they were; on the top floor of what of the 10 story buildings was some sort of monster; all black, hooves instead of toes, horns coming out of the top of his head, which spiraled upward into the air, horns coming from the side above its ears, which spiraled like goat horns and a mask with red symbols covering its eyes. It was looking through a pair of binoculars down at our heroes as they wander the city unaware of his presence. It moves away from the window and projects a hologram of a red and white shrimp monster with black, beady doll eyes. The beast communicates with it using a series of grunts, and growls like a jaguar or a tiger with a cold as it told him of a couple of outsiders that just entered the city.
“We’ve got company,” the jester looking monster said to his soldiers, which were the palace guards. They had red eyes, bluish gray skin with tiger stripes in a darker shade of gray, they wore helmets with golden goat-like horns, gold belt, boots, and carried a long, golden staff with a gold arrowhead on the top. “Scour the city; find them. Bring them to me.” He turns back to their king, who wore a golden helmet with long horns, which curled at the top and had a long, scraggly beard. “As for you… You will lower the defenses to the city; if not to spare your people’s lives, then for your daughter.”
“You leave her out of this!”
“She will remain unharmed if you do as I say. My men... I mean ‘your’ men are scouring the city for her. When she’s found and brought here, we will then have our discussion as to where your loyalty lies.” Once he left the king’s side, he muttered to one of the guards, “Find me… that girl…”
Back in the city, Max and Willis wander cautiously, looking in every direction.
“This… this emptiness, it freaks me out; hardly anything freaks me out.”
“Willis, will you relax?”
Out of nowhere came a blood-curdling scream that made them jump. They pull out their guns and look around.
“Sounded like it came from over there.” Max was the first one to race off; Willis was not that far behind.
In the distance, there was a girl; gray skin, dark stripes, blue eyes, wearing a white dress, which came down to her ankles. She was seen running from a bunch of palace guards; Max runs to her, leaving his brother behind once again as he plays the lone wolf.
“No, wait!” the girl exclaimed.
“What are you talking about, lady? I’m saving your life.” Max asked in between strikes.
“You can harm them, but please don’t kill them.”
“What? Why?”
“I’ll explain later. Right now, you seem busy.”
One of the guards takes a swing at Max from his right; Max ducks and then throws back a right, a left, and a frontal kick. As the guard stumbles back, he trips over a rock and hits his head on the ground. Another guard attacks 90 degrees from Max’s left; Max blocks his kick with his arm and then throws back a left punch, which the guard blocks; Max was soon greeted by another guard, who sticks his staff out at him; aiming for his head. Max leans back and allows the weapon to pass him before it hits his head up against it and smacks the guard in front of him on the head. Max then takes the staff from the guy on his left and pokes him in the chest and stomach before he performs an uppercut with the butt on the staff.
“Max, look out behind you!” Willis cried as he rushed up, “Duck!” his brother bends forward as Willis places him hand onto his back and performs a kick to the guard coming up behind.
“No guns, Willis,” Max said as he saw Willis preparing to aim. “Her orders, not mine.”
After more fighting, our heroes soon got tired.
“Got any bright ideas, lone warrior?” Willis said with sarcasm.
“Just one.” With a strong right punch, Max hits the ground; causing it to crack a little and making the palace guards sink several feet.
“Nice one; still a bit reckless though.”
“What?”
“How’d you know we wouldn’t go down with them?”
“Oh give it a break, will ya?”
“Thank you for saving my life…”
“You’re welcome. What’s going on around here anyway,” Max asks.
“Yeh, we thought this city was deserted.”
“This city is being overrun by a hostile force. They’re leader, a beast name Crilfite, has taken my father hostage.”
“Why would we take him?”
“I am Nimfeila, princess to the ruler of Atlantis, King Neptune. He controls everything, including the dome covering the city. I overheard him saying something about lowering the defenses to allow easy access for his troops into the city. If that happens, our world will be destroyed. Crilfite’s people were once a peaceful race until he came into power.”
“Why didn’t you want us to hurt these guys?”
“The men you were fighting are palace guards. They do not know what they do; they’re under the influence of some sort of spell thanks to a beast known as Grizzoid, a friend of Crilfite’s. He has instructed them to round up all civilians detain them.”
“Oh.”
“Not that I’m ungrateful or anything, but why are you both here?”
“We were tracking this strange energy signature that led us here; the Karma Lunari.”
“Goddess Luna’s fortune?” the princess interrupted.
“Yeah…”
“We’re fighting against these two elemental beings, Celsior and Farenhart. They’re after the jewels and we’re trying to keep them from getting their hands on them.”
“Do you know where we can find it?”
“No, but I know of something that will help you find it. The item you need is in my father’s treasure room. I’ll go get it while you two free the others.”
“You’re going back to the palace when they’re out looking for you? Perhaps I should go with you.”
“No way, Max, it’s gotta be a team effort.”
“Your friend is right; Grizzoid is a fearsome beast. If you wish to free my people from his spell, it will take both of you to defeat him.”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s guarding the prisoners near where you came in; sector 7G.”
Max and Willis head back the way they came. Looking to the tallest building in the area, they walk in the front door. Weapons set to stun, they wait for the enemy to approach them. Max takes half of the soldiers on the right; Willis, the left.
Max fires to his right, quickly shifts to his left, kicks his opponent’s staff in the opposite direction and then kicks him in the side of the head, instantly knocking him out before he reaches behind his back and attaches his pill bug armor so he can block when his next opponent attacks from the right with a sword; Max holds his arm down and sparks fly from the pill bug armor as their weapons made contact. Reacting quickly, Max smacks him in the face with the barrel of his gun, performs a spiral, and sweeps him off his feet with a kick to the back of the leg. Later, he and Willis stand back to back; Willis takes a hold of his hand and Max swings him around so he could land a high kick to the faces of several opponents at once. Max then let’s go of Willis’ hand; Willis bends forward and allows Max to roll over his back. Before he lands on his feet, the pill bug armor moves down to his right leg just moments before he lands an inside leg kick.
At the same time, Willis summons his Elephant axe. He blocks as of the guards lunges at him with his staff and then lands a low kick to the crotch before he smacks him across the cheek with the butt of his weapon; now holding his weapon with one hand, he shoots the guard in the leg with his gun and lands a frontal kick to the chest after he kneels.
Willis and max stand back to back again; Max ducks as his brother swings his axe high above both their heads and takes a slice out of several of the men on both sides of them; Max then stands back up, delivers a knee to the stomach and an elbow strike to the helmet. As he makes a dent in it, he causes enough damage to render the soldier unconscious.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, Nimfeila gets caught on her way back to the palace. She tries her best to fight them off, but they were too strong for her.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Farenhart comes to her rescue. He defeats her captor swiftly and turns to her.
“Thank you.”
Farenhart grips her throat, “Where… is the Star of Pisces?”
“What?”
“Don’t try and fool me, I know it’s here.”
Nimfeila lets out a gasp to alert Farenhart to the presence of more Atlantis soldiers behind him.
Realizing he had another fight on his hands, he releases his grip on Nimfeila’s throat. With his hands down at his sides and his palms facing his opponent, he conjures a couple of fireballs, which signaled the men to ready their guns.
Meanwhile, after freeing everyone in the building, Max and Willis ride the elevator to the top floor. The second the doors open, they were fired upon.
“Oh great, more of them,” Willis said sarcastically.
“Nope, just one.”
At the far end of the room, Grizzoid fired black goo at them from his hands and chest as they move out of the elevator and towards the pillars for cover.
Willis converts his weapon to cannon mode, he pops out of from behind the bookcase and sends Grizzoid flying with a devastating blast; giving Max a chance to move up before following.
After getting to his feet, Grizzoid lashes out with a long, black tentacle and knocks Max through a wall and into the dining area; Willis jumps in with his elephant axe and attacks high; Grizzoid holds up his arm and sparks fly as Willis’ weapon scrapes up against his armor; Willis swings in low and takes a small chunk out of Grizzoid’s stomach and makes him roar in pain. As he takes a step back, Willis plants his weapon on the ground upside-down and does a pole vault kick, which misses as Grizzoid sidesteps while taking a swipe at him across the chest.
Max leaps through the wall at Grizzoid, who turns to see him coming and blocks his punch with his palm; Max then falls face first onto the hardwood floor and Grizzoid hovers his hoof over him. Max rolls before he gets his head stomped in, pulls his gun out and pushes him back with a single shot. Grizzoid regains his balance and pulls on one of his black tentacles, which instantly turns into a sword. He immediately strikes Max, who blocks with his pill bug armor while rolling left and right; constantly avoiding his enemy’s cold blade until Willis holds out his axe and stops his sword just a few feet from Max’s face.
Grizzoid turns a slashes at Willis, who jumps back when leant forward and narrowly dodges the tip of the blade; he holds up his axe to block as Grizzoid goes for another swing and attacks high. Grizzoid ducks and slashes Willis twice across the stomach; Willis spirals onto his back and Max leaps at Grizzoid with a punch to the back of the head, which revealed a weak spot.
Willis springs back onto his feet with a Kip-up, slashes Grizzoid once from the right, then again from the left; Grizzoid takes his right and draws it back; Max hooks his arm around Grizzoids and gets his attention. As he turns, Willis strikes him in the back of the neck. Grizzoid responds with an elbow strike and knocks Willis’ weapon from his hands. Max switches his weapon to his right arm and pushes Grizzoid back with a punch to the stomach.
Around this time, Nimfeila and Farenhart were escorted into the palace where they were brought before Crilfite.
“Who the flimjorb is this?” Crilfite asked.
“Flimjorb?” Farenhart asked confusedly.
“We are not sure, sir. We apprehended him while trying to capture the girl.”
“Seems I’m not the only one invading this city; we had two more earlier, friends of yours, am I correct?”
“‘Enemies’ is more likely the word I’d use. They’re always getting in the way of my plans for world destruction.”
“So you’re not here to help them?”
“Help them? I don’t even care for these people; so if you wish to recruit me, don’t waste your breath. I’ve got my own priorities.” Farenhart kills his captors and those who hold Nimfeila back before he moves towards Crilfite. “You, on the other hand; time for you to shuffle around your priorities.” As he grips Crilfite by the right arm, several thin, black lines creep up his shell like snakes slithering towards their prey, until they reach his eyes. A flash of white light glimmers for a second and disappears. “You will help me find the jewels, won’t you?”
Crilfite nods.
“Good lil crustacean…” he releases his grip, “Make her tell you where it is.”
Crilfite latches onto her neck and slowly squeezes his claw tighter.
Meanwhile, back to the fight; Max and Willis kept attacking Grizzoid left and right, almost giving no opportunity to respond; Max would throw a left punch and a right one while his pill bug armor switched arms, then he would duck when Grizzoid swings and rise up with an upward elbow strike to the chin. Willis would attack from behind and Grizzoid would turn with a back fist. Willis ducks and performs a sweep with his axe and Grizzoid would kick with both hooves when Max approached to attack from while he’s down and then get on his feet again; and finally, Max and Willis would attack together; throwing the finishing blow, Grizzoid falls forward and crash in a fiery explosion; his spell over the guard was soon broken and Farenhart felt the effects as he was rushed by several armed guards upon entering the treasure room. This time, he unsheathes his swords instead of fighting hand to hand. As two guards rush him at simultaneously, Farenhart blocks with his right sword and slashes them both across the abdomen with his left, then stands and waits for more to come at him. Several more soldiers attempt to tackle him and Farenhart fires jolts of red lightning from his fingertips, which instantly reduces them to ash.
Farenhart wipes them out one by one in a matter of minutes and retrieves the scroll; Nimfeila jumps on his back and places her hands over his eyes, but Farenhart shakes her off.
Max and Willis come in just as Farenhart and Crilfite were about to disappear and see Nimfeila grab onto Farenhart.
Up on the shores of one of the islands, she and Farenhart fight for the scroll long enough for Willis and Max to arrive.
After a long battle, Max summons the WASP stinger; he and Willis hold it and charge it up to fire; Crilfite takes the shot that was meant for Farenhart. The blast knocks Farenhart down and the scroll flies from his hand. Before he had a chance to get it, Willis dashes up and grabs it.
With Crilfite gone, Farenhart retreats to his lair, Max and Willis return the princess safely to Atlantis, and then head for home themselves with the scroll.
“You’re back. How’d everything go?”
“We had some problems…”
“But we worked them out as a team.”
“Good. That’s good, because if we are to protect the earth, we must work together instead of against each other. With that being said, let’s see what the scroll says.”
“How’d you know…”
“That you’d find another scroll in Atlantis? Well, while you were gone, I had time to study the book; and here’s what I found.”
“It looks just like an ordinary sword.”
“It’s actually the Sword of Ares. I read a bit further and… notice anything?”
“The scrolls.”
“Yes, the scrolls.”
“So that means…”
“Only two more to go.”  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 6
Fools in Love

Max had never been much of a fan for the sport, but after going to one rodeo, he began to like it. You see, Max had finally found himself a celebrity crush. Her name was Phoebe Dallas. She was born in Australia and moved to the United States with her parents when she was six. She got into the sport at the age of seventeen, which was three years ago, and became the youngest rodeo champion in existence. In a poster of her, her outfit was a green checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up; a red scarf tied around her neck, blue jeans, brown boots with without spurs, and a cowboy hat covering her long, silky, dark brown hair, and her large, tan colored eyes.
Max couldn’t stop talking about her as he and Willis were leaving the arena somewhere in Southern California.
“You’ve been going on and on about how beautiful and talented she is for several blocks, Max, give it a rest…” Willis pauses as he hears a cry for help. He puts his right hand up to his ear as he listens for where the scream came from.
“What is it, Willis?”
“You mean to tell me you didn’t hear that scream just now…”
“Okay, that time, I heard it.”
“C’mon, I think it came from this way.”
They rush to the rescue as a monster with the head of an owl dressed in black and tan aristocratic clothing attacks too damsels in distress; a blonde Caucasian girl in a pink-camo shirt and blue jeans and a Latino girl in a light blue shirt and gray jeans. The two were seen crawling away from the beast as it creeps closer and closer.
The two ladies had their backs up against a wall, which signaled Max and Willis to make their move, “How about picking on someone a lil more at your level?” Willis said as he and Max jumped down and got between him and the girls.
Willis ducks as the monster is launched over him; Max leaps over Willis’ back with a flying kick and knocks the monster on his back; Willis takes his brother by the hand, swings him around and launches him at the monster. As Max descends, he summons his pill bug armor for a punch to the jaw and the monster spirals face first into the wall. When Willis moved up, the monster backs up, then forward as he performs a wall-kick and a front flip while hovering backwards over his head; Willis hits the wall, and the monster takes him by the arm and throws him at Max. Willis gets up off of him and helps him up. Max attacks first with a right punch, the monster blocks with his left arm and performs a left kick, shifts his leg over to Willis and kicks him with the tip of his shoe and then shifts back to Max with a heel kick and causes him to spiral onto his back. With Willis still standing, he attacks with his left only to have Willis grab him by the arm, lift up and repeatedly throw back several punches and end with a knee kick as he lets go of his opponent’s arm.
At that time, Max gets on his feet and finishes him off with a superman punch.
The monster takes to the skies, saying “I’ll be back…”
“That was really incredible.”
“Yeh, who are you guys?”
“I’m Max and this is my brother, Willis.”
“Hey.”
“Hardly seen siblings that get along so well like you do. You worked like a team; I could never get along with my sister that well...”
“I’m Elizabeth, but you can call me Liz; that’s Carmen.”
“There must be some way we can repay you for your heroics…”
“That’s not necessary, we were happy to help.”
“If you want, maybe we can take you out on a date sometime?”
“Would today be okay for you?”
“Well, uhm….”
“Yes… yes it would. Do you ladies like Chinese food?”
“I was thinking maybe Italian…”
“We know of this great Italian Bistro in Berkeley with the most amazing rolls.”
“Great. We’ll meet you guys in half an hour.”
“Sounds great.”
A half hour later, Max and Willis met Carmen and Liz their favourite Italian restaurant on the other side of town. The decor was fantastic, fresh cut flowers on the table, beautiful pictures on the wall and a fountain next to the entrance. The food was incredible, authentic Italian prepared by the best chefs in Italy that just melts in the mouth and the servers were friendly and attentive. Carmen and Liz come here at least once a month, sometimes more.
“One Rigatoni con la Pajata and Risotto with saffron,” the waiter explains, handing the plates to Liz and Willis.
“Thank you,” Liz answers.
He moves the tray over to Max and Carmen, “and for this lovely couple, Filetti di baccalà” he hands the dish to Max, “Carne Pizzaiola,” he hands the dish to Carmen. “Bon appetit,” he says before parting.
“So how long have you two been here?”
“About a week and half; we moved here from up north.”
“Way… up north,” Liz finished.
“What about?”
“About the same; we’ve been here in California at least 3 weeks.”
“And what made you move out here, if you don’t me asking?”
“Just thought we’d make a fresh start someplace else; you tend to get bored staying in one place for too long.”
“I know how you feel; Max, our dad, and I used to live on the east coast before we moved here; only downside was we left all our friends behind in the move.”
“Speaking of moves, where’d you learn those fancy moves you fought that monster with?”
“Kung Fu films mostly.”
“We learned it so fast it was almost like the moves were ‘programmed’.”
Max elbows Willis in the side from under the table.
“Ow.” He whispered as he looked over at his brother.
“What’s the matter?” Liz asked Willis.
“Stubbed my toe on something…”
After finishing their meal, Max’s pager went off and a number registered to Samuel Grant displays on the screen.
“We got something we need to take care of.”
Willis calls the waiter over and asks for the check. After paying it, Max and Willis step outside and answer the call unknown while a couple of mysterious shadowy figures listen in.
“Got some news for you; I’ve found the other two scrolls we need. They used to be in international museum of antiquities about two years ago until someone by the name Phoebe Dallas purchased them.”
“Phoebe Dallas, the famous rodeo champion?”
“Yes, the very same, How do you know so much about her?”
“Researched her on the net; she’s been undefeated for quite some time. She retired undefeated and untied and decided to settle down and own her own livestock.”
“I’ll send you the coordinates.”
“No need; I know where she lives
The mysterious figures lurking in the shadows nod to each other as Max and Willis ride off on their motorcycles.
They arrive at Phoebe Dallas’ home; it was an average sized dark gray house with white trim with a rocky driveway, a red barn over to the right with white trim. The doors wide open allowing animals to roam in the fenced off region filled with dirt and fresh cut grass. There were a few horses in one area; some cattle in another. Chickens roamed around happily everywhere; a few pigs walking around in the barn. There were a few goats, too.
“You know, I can understand you being a fanboy, but knowing where a girl lives is just borderline stalking, Max.”
“Oh my god, it’s her, Willis. Look; it’s the Phoebe Dallas.”
“Howdy. May I have you gentlemen?”
“Miss Dallas…” Max says as he shakes her hand vigorously, “I am a huge fan of yours. The way you handled yourself when riding that bull, cyclone, you were amazing. He almost tossed you off a couple of times, but you held in there, wow.”
“Thank you…” she said nervously. “You can let go of my hand now.” She jerks her hand away.
“You’ll have to excuse my brother, he’s not normally like this. But anyway, it’s a pleasure to meet you; we need your help with something.” Willis explains everything starting with when Zierian first arrived and ending with the Scroll of Ares as soon as he, Max, and Phoebe went inside her house.
“It’s imperative we obtain these scrolls to ensure the safety of our planet.”
“Would they be any safer with you than with me?”
“Ma’am, you don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into. By keeping them, you’re putting yourself in harm’s way.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but… danger is my middle name,” she directs their attention to her many first place trophies on the shelves. “I’ve won over 30 championship trophies before retiring undefeated and untied. So that means I’m not afraid to look danger in the eye.”
“I know, I’ve read your internet Bio, Ms. Dallas.”
“Please, call me Phoebe. Most of my fans do…”
“Another thing I feel I need to ask… how did you go about purchasing the scrolls and why?”
“It’s not something I go around telling random strangers, but… I’m kind of a nerd when it comes to rare artifacts and antiquities; I bought them at an auction as well as a bunch of other stuff and I’ve had them ever since.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll tell ya what; I’ll give you these scrolls if you promise me one thing: I get to tag along with you on your adventures…”
“What?!”
“You cannot be serious.”
“You just wanna leave everything you know behind so you can help us save the world? That’s very brave of you, but…”
“Look, I’ve been all about fame, I see this as a sign to try new things. Plus, I’m giving you these for free.”
“We can give you money for them…”
“Money? I already have all the money I’ll ever need tucked away in a savings account; I own my own ranch and it’s doing quite well I might add. Does it look like I need more cash?”
“Ms. Dallas… Phoebe…”
“If you want what I got, boys, you’re gonna have make a decision…” she leaves the room and returns a few minutes later with a wooden box about 11 in. long, 7 in. wide and 5 in. tall. She sets it on the glass-top table and opens it. “So what’s it gonna be?”
“Alright fine, you can join us.”
“Awesome.”
Phoebe followed Max and Willis out the front door and they immediately get attacked. They slowly get on their feet.
“So I’m gonna take a stab it and guess that’s of the dangers you were referring to…”
“Well, the ninja girl… she’s fairly new…”
“Hand over the scrolls!”
“Not gonna happen.”
Celsior, who was listening and, decides to send down some of his men to join the fight.
“Who on earth are these guys?”
“I dunno, but we can always the extra help, ATTACK!!”
“I’ll handle the Glacieroids.”
“I assume you mean the blue, icicle looking guys who just appeared out of nowhere,” Phoebe asked.
“Looks like the ninja girl and the owl are all ours, Ms. Dallas.”
“I told you, call me Phoebe. Ms. Dallas was my mother.”
“Well, Phoebe, you might need this,” Willis puts his sidearm in her hands. “I’ll take the ninja girl.”
The ninja girl swings at Willis with the back of her palm and Willis ducks under it; throws a left punch to her jaw, which he followed with a frontal kick; the ninja grabs him by his leg, spins him lunges at him; hitting him in the jaw. As Willis spirals, he performs a sweep kick and misses as the ninja leaps over his leg with a forward roll. Willis summons his Elephant axe and takes a swing at her, but she leaps out of the way. Willis’ weapon was stuck in the ground; the ninja delivers a swift kick to his wrist to get him away from it and then follows up with several frontal kicks.
Phoebe, who was standing in the pose of a boxer, showed a bit of fancy footwork as she and the aristocratic owl monster circled each other. The monster takes a swing at her and she ducks and strikes back with an uppercut; the monster swings with the other arm and Phoebe does the same, except she strikes back with a couple punches to the kidney and then aims high with a right to the jaw. The monster holds out both arms and approaches angrily this time; Phoebe switches up her style and kicks him in the shin; the monster kneels and she takes his head and bashes it into her knee.
The first of the Glacieroids performs an uppercut; Max sidesteps, and with his right leg, delivers a kick to the back of the Glacieroid’s knees. At the time, another Glacieroid comes up with a club; Max blocks as the enemy bears down on him with his weapon and then pushes back long enough for him to get out from under it and allow him to bash one his own into white powder.
“Enough of these games!” she races off and returns with Carmen as her hostage. “If you don’t want her to get hurt, I suggest you hand me the scrolls.”
Max and Phoebe stop their fighting and look in the ninja girl’s direction.
“Carmen?” Max asked looking surprised.
“I’m sorry, Max. She got me by surprise.”
“Give me the scrolls and I’ll spare her life.”
“We don’t have any choice; give them to her…”
“But…”
“Willis, just do it! Wouldn’t you do the same thing if it were Liz’s life in danger?”
“Oh alright…” Willis pulls the scrolls from his belt and hands to the ninja girl.
“Glorious…” she said, marveling in their beauty. She then tosses Carmen to the ground like she were a piece of trash and Willis caught her before she hit the ground.
“I can’t believe this…”
“Yeh, all your hard work… ruined all because of love,” Phoebe commented.
“No matter what the outcome is, a deal’s a deal, Phoebe.” Max explained, offering to shake her hand.
After losing the scrolls their new enemy, Phoebe, Max, and Willis return to the mansion; Max lays Carmen on the couch in the living room.
“You did the right thing in the name of love…” Phoebe said.
“Then tell me, Phoebe, why do I feel so lousy?”
A worried Liz rushes into the room after Bradshaw let her in through the front door. “I came as soon as I could; what happened?”
“She said that ninja girl took her by surprise.”
“What I’m wondering is… where were you when this happened?”
“Well I… after it attacked us, I tried going for help.”
“Why not come find your dates, who were with you before this happened?”
“We never bothered asking where they lived yet…”
“Well, after you tried to find someone, what happened next?”
“I... after I went to the police, they told me they’ll do everything they can to find her, so I went home to rest.”
“Well, seeing as she’s okay, you wanna stay over? Maybe make some popcorn, watch a movie?”
“What about Carmen?”
“How about we let her rest, she’s been through a lot today.”
“Sounds good to me; mind if I freshen up first?”
“Sure. The restroom’s just down the hall, 5th door on the left.”
As she went to go find the restroom, Max and Phoebe went into the kitchen to prepare some snacks before looking for a movie to watch.
“What’s on your mind, Max?”
“I dunno, Phoebe, something just doesn’t add up about her story. She was able to get away from the monster, but Carmen wasn’t; and the fact that I’ve seen that ninja girl’s eyes somewhere else before.”
Around the same time, Liz wanders the hallway, looking for the bathroom; she approaches the door labeled command center, not even reading what the door say.
Just seconds before she gripped the knob, Willis comes out, “Can I help you find something?”
“Yeh, I was just looking for the bathroom.”
“5th door on your left…” Willis literally put emphasis on ‘5th’ just before heading down the path Liz came from.
Realizing she couldn’t gain access without the proper key to do so, she continues to the bathroom to her business, after she was done, she washes her hands and heads back into the living room.
Moments later when they started the film…
Max calls out to Willis, “Willis, the movie’s starting!”
“Where could he be?”
“I’m not sure, but he did say something about him going down to the command center to check something; I’m sure he’ll probably come watch the movie when he’s done…”
As if on cue, Willis shows up from out of nowhere and plops down on the couch beside Liz.
Several minutes into the film, after finishing most of the snacks, Phoebe, Max, Willis, and Carmen fell asleep; Liz, however, slowly removes Willis’ arm from around her and quietly gets up from the couch and down the hall to the command center. Forgetting that she needs a keycard to get it, she heads back to Willis, and quietly pulls it from his pocket.
Later down in the command center, as Liz opens the drawer with the scrolls in them, she holds them in her hands just as Willis finally said something to alert her of his presence.
“Wanna tell me who you really are, Liz…?”
“Oh, Willis… you surprised me.”
“You ninjas really oughta think about wearing something over your eyes in combat, because that’s what gave you away. I just had to get a closer look before putting two and two together…”
“So you found me out, it doesn’t matter. By the way, my name’s Christi, not Liz… what kind of Earth human would name their children Liz? Sounds like a reptile name.”
“So it’s you and Carmen, who were after the scrolls from the beginning, isn’t it?”
“My my… you’re really on top of things aren’t you… And her name is Cameron, not Carmen.”
Max stands in his fighting pose, ready to throw down.
“But that’s not gonna be enough to stop us…” she teleports up to the living room in a puff of smoke and wakes up her friend, Carmen, whose name was actually… “Cameron… Cameron, wake up.”
Max wakes up as Cameron gets up, “Hey, Carmen, what’s the matter…” he rubs his eyes and gets a better look at the new Carmen, “Who are you…? And where do you think you’re going with those?”
“Max!!! Max!!! Wake up, it’s her…” he pauses as he notices that Max already got a chance to meet them.
Cameron and Christi hold out their hands and shoot an electrical beam from their palms, which wakes up Pheobe as well as Knock Willis and Max on their backs.
“Later, losers…” Cameron and Christi vanish in a puff of smoke.
“Who were those guys,” she asked as Max and Willis get up and brush themselves off. “Where’s Liz and Carmen?”
“Those were Liz and Carmen…”
“Or as they’re now known, Cameron and Christi.”
“The ninja girl from earlier; Carmen is working with her.”
“Well, what do we do now?”
“We, as in Max and I, are gonna go after them; you, on the other hand, I have another job I want you to do…” Willis brings Phoebe in closer and whispers his plan in her ear.
“I don’t get it…”
“You will when you see it; c’mon, Max.”
“Willis, what’s this all about?”
Max and Willis track Cameron and Christi’s location to somewhere south of them. Once they got to them, they had already let their monster absorb the energy of the first two scrolls.
“You took something that doesn’t belong to you and we want it back…”
“Well, you can’t have it back… destroy them!” Cameron commanded of her and Christi’s monster.
Max and Willis run side-by-side as they attack the monster head on. Willis jumps as Max holds his hands out. Willis plants his right foot in Max’s hands as he lifts off. As Willis flew over the monster, Max slide under him, firing his weapon at the same time Willis does.
The beast swings at Willis, who ducks while Max attacks with a side kick to the stomach.
The monster teleports from between them and attacks off in a distance with a gust of wind.
Meanwhile, Phoebe heads into Samuel Grant’s office back at home; she pulls the box from under his desk and opens it, not able to believe what she saw, she then closes it just as Bradshaw enters the room.
“May I help you with anything?”
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Bradshaw. I am considered the servant of the household; I get Mr. Grant and his guests everything they need.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Phoebe Dallas.”
“Well, is there anything I can help you with, Ms. Dallas?”
“Well…” she pauses as she looks back at the chest she pulled from under the desk, “I was kinda hoping you could give me a lift into town; Max and Willis need my help…”
“How do you know that?”
“Because Willis sent me in here to grab these…”
Back to max and Willis as they found their new enemies’ monster to be even more difficult to contend with, “I don’t get it; this guy was easy before…”
“He’s already absorbed the first two scrolls, rangers…”
“And now he’s about to get a major power boost…”
“As we give him these two scrolls we so easily stole from you.”
Cameron and Christi realized right away something was wrong when nothing happened; Christi holds the scrolls out once more and still nothing happened.
“Something the matter? Why not try opening the scrolls first…?”
“Willis, what’s going on?”
“You’ll see, brother…”
Christi opens the scrolls, “They’re fakes…”
“Fakes? That cannot be…”
“Like I mentioned to you earlier, Christi, about wearing something to hide your eyes; I realized it was you once I had MEGAN run a facial recognition and found it out. Ever since then, I created duplicate scrolls.
Just then, Bradshaw rolls up in a jeep and Phoebe gets out of the passenger side with the real scrolls in hand.
Willis and Max summon the W.A.S.P. stinger and with the power of the two scrolls Phoebe brought, it was enough to bring Cameron and Christi’s monster to its knees. As it went down, the two scrolls it had absorbed flew into their hands like magic.
“This isn’t over, rangers, we’ll be back…” she calls Christi’s name out as she begins to leave; Christi stood where stood and stared at Willis with puppy dog eyes.
Cameron calls her name once again and she complies as she turns and makes her exit.
“Nice going, guys…”
“And it’s all thanks to you, Phoebe. Thanks.”
“What do you say we get these back home where they belong, huh?”
“Sounds like a great idea; Bradshaw… not a word of this to dad.”
“My lips are sealed, Mr. Max.”
Back at home, they set the four scrolls on the table in the living room in a straight line; the scrolls glow a bright yellow before combining together into a bigger scroll. As the light dimmed, they find to their disappointment that the scrolls had formed a secret map instead of the sword of Ares.  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 7
Shining Light over the Sleepless city

In outer space just beyond the moon, a white ball of light was on a direct course for earth. It had the people of NASA worried.
"Sir, you need to see this." One of the analysts points out a blip on the radar heading for earth at 90 kilometers per hour.
"What on earth is that? Is it a meteor?"
"It can't be; it's maneuvering."
"It's what…?"
"Sir, we have the object's trajectory; it'll land somewhere over the southwest.
"Get General Daniel Creed on the line. He'll wanna hear this."
It was 7pm when the General received the call, which shook him out of his dream like a livestock getting branded on the butt. He drew his gun when he woke and pointed it all around the room before he realized it was just the telephone. "General Creed speaking…" he paused to give the guy on the other line time to explain. "When did this happen?" "And you wait until now to notify me?" he hauled himself out of his old style bed with the roof-like canopy thing overhead, goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth, comb his hair, so on, before he gets dressed in his usual beige camouflage shirt and pants with the brown boots and the green beret and gets in his truck to go down to where his military base was located underneath the Nevada desert. He takes a folder from one of his men titled "Project Star light" as he walks down a long hallway on his way to motor pool area where several helicopters and jeeps were waiting for him and the soldiers.
"We're all set to go on your command, sir."
"Impact was half an hour ago; there's no time to waste. Let's go."
They arrive to a half empty crash site in Emerald Bay State Park at 2am. Whatever was there had been long gone by the time they got there, but had left behind small, white shards of crystals, which shimmered at half the brightness of the stars in the sky.
The General kicks one of the crystal shards in frustration at the fact that his most prized discovery missing in action. "It wasn't the CIA, the FBI, or the goddamn NSA; who the hell stole the find of the century from me, huh?! I WANT… answers…!"
Seven hours ago, a trail of white light climbed up out of the hole with two human-like hands and took its first steps across the brown earth; stumbling a few times before it finally gained balance. It wandered through the desert towards an unknown light source, which it found out to be a billboard of a Caucasian woman, blonde with green eyes in a gray hooded jacket, black nails, and a soda can in one hand; a sprite. The being stares up at it for a while until it took on her form; white skin, blonde, green eyes, wearing the same gray hooded jacket, blue jeans, which came down just short of her ankles and white shoes. "This will do," she said, looking at her body all over from her hands down to her waist. She continued southwest until she reached a highway and was seen by a passing vehicle; a red Jeep Grand Cherokee. The driver was a man with large black eyes like two pieces of obsidian and luxurious, straight, black hair worn in a style that reminds you of a pile of leaves. He is short and has an elegant build. His skin is tanned. He has high cheekbones and thin lips; his wardrobe, attractive and impractical, with a lot of green and black.
His passengers were argumentative gentleman has wide brown eyes. His thick, wavy, cream-colored hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a seashell. He is very short and has an athletic build. His skin is ruddy. He has a weak chin and small feet. His wardrobe is professional, with a lot of black; a younger, laid back woman with narrow brown eyes that are like two discs of wood; fine, wavy, brown hair that was medium-length and worn in a practical, severe style. She is very short and has a voluptuous build. Her skin is black. She has a high forehead. Her wardrobe is risqué and artistic, with a completely violet color scheme; and solem Asian guy with slitted black eyes that are like two half-open windows on the midnight sky with thick, straight, royal purple hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a waterfall. He is tall and has a boyish build. His skin is dark. He has a small nose and a weak chin. His wardrobe is unusual and bizarre, with a mostly white and green color scheme.
"You need a ride?" the driver asked.
The girl nodded her head.
"Well hop in," he answered with a smile.
After she and her new friends drive away, Ling Khan, whose ship was parked in orbit around the earth, watched on as they headed for Las Vegas. "The Lumindemian is fast…" he said softly with a smile. "Well I suppose that's because she's made of light." Ling Khan was Caucasian, but hearing him talk, he had a Chinese accent. Looking at him at first, you'll assume he was part human part gorilla wearing red and gold Samurai armor with the plating for the left arm missing and an orangish-red cape; he wore black fur sleeves on both arms which extended from his wrists up to his elbow and ones on his feet that went from his ankles to his calves. He wore ruby red snowboarding goggles over his eyes, so you couldn't see what color they were.
"What should we do, father?" a young girl said; 9 years old. She has narrow black eyes that are like two spheres of night-black marble. Her Her thick, straight, brown hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a mysterious hood. She is very tall and has a narrow build for her age. Her skin is white. Her wardrobe is semi-revealing; a short skirt which stops halfway down her thighs with diamond shaped tips, white boots stopping at the joint of her knees, and a white blouse.
"For now, I want you to replenish our army of Konglatons; start by looking at all the Zoos, find me the strongest gorillas."
"Yes father…"
The men gather up as much of the crystal shards as possible to take back to the lab for analysis.
"Well where is it? Flying saucers just don't get up and walk away." Creed said.
"Maybe it wasn't in a saucer."
"What?"
"He's right, sir. Unless it was a very small ship, the impact site doesn't look as if a UFO touched down."
"Take a look at this. There are footprints coming out of the hole. ET seems to be heading south of here."
"Vegas, possibly…"
3am in Vegas, the lights of the city's casinos and club and hotels were captivating to the eyes of our alien friend as she and her friends drive through on the way to one of the various hotels on the strip, the Excalibur; which was the same one Max, Willis, Bradshaw, Phoebe, and Samuel were staying in.
Samuel, who was unable to sleep, decided to hit the casinos. He first tries his luck at the crap tables.
"I'll have 10,000 dollar credit."
"The limit is two thousand, sir," said the base dealer
"Mr. Grant's credit is good here, let him have it."
"I'll have two stacks, thank you very much."
The guy deals him in and Samuel places his bet; at the same time, the mysterious blonde in the gray jacket and jeans scopes out the table. She stands close to Samuel, who holds the dice in front of her face.
The girl pushes his hand away and the dice slip from his hands and onto the table, resulting in an instant win.
"Well that was rather lucky; what'd you say your name was again?"
"I didn't…"
"Well, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Samuel Grant." He extends his hand to her.
Instead of reaching out to shake his hand, she responds, "I'm Starla."
"Starla, very interesting name." he turns to the dealer, "I'll take the full odds on the ten, two on the hard way, limit on all the number, and 200 on the 11th please." "So, Starla, you ever play this game before?"
"Can't say I have, sir."
"Call me Samuel; most people do. Here, take the dice, give'em a shake and then throw them." He places them in her hand and closes her fist. Starla shakes the dice and as she throws them, she rolls an 11. Samuel cashes out and leaves the table with Starla following behind him like a lost puppy. "Well, Starla, I'd just like to say thank you."
"For what?"
"Bringing me good luck. We should do this again sometime." Samuel gives her two rectangular casino chip placard things worth 500 dollars each. "I'm going to cash these in and turn in for the night."
"Turn in? turn into what?"
Samuel chuckles at her statement. "You're funny, you know that. Where are you from?"
"Out of town," she replied. "Way out of town; and you?"
"The same; figure I'd take a vacation here with my sons and my butler. Are you here with someone special or by yourself?"
"I came here with some friends, who found me by the side of the road."
"You know someone as pretty as you shouldn't accept rides from total strangers. It's dangerous."
"Danger? I can handle myself, but thanks for your concern."
Samuel cashes in his chips and Starla's too, and then they go their separate ways.
Meanwhile, Daniel Creed's analysts go over footage after footage from various surveillance cams until they find something; footage from a billboard cam of Starla in her light form standing and staring up at the picture before turning into human form. They check the time; it was 2:35am when this footage was taken.
"Got another one; 3:45am, gas station service pump surveillance cam at the Excalibur hotel and casino."
"Zoom in."
They enlarge the image of the only jeep in the station at that hour.
"Not a very good shot of her face. Zoom in closer on the license plate number instead."
The plates read 40FNHO7.
"Let's put out an APB on the truck. When you get a hold of the owner, detain them until I get there."
A while later in San Diego, Sapphira teleports into the zoo; not knowing where to go, she then looks to the map for the Gorilla habitat. With the guards patrolling the grounds, Sapphira had to really quiet. She magically changes her all-white outfit to black to make her look more invisible as she moves throughout the zoo like a ninja; avoiding the guards as they walk around shining their flashlight all over. She reaches her destination and pulls out what looked like a digital camera. She takes a couple of snapshots of the gorillas and after the flash goes off, the primates disappear within an instant until none of them remained.
As the next morning comes, Samuel had slept in while the others were down in the cafeteria.
Halfway through her meal, Phoebe excuses herself from the table to go to the restroom while Max and Willis continue discuss how they will find the first jewel of the Karma Lunari.
Starla was in there when she got there. She was at the faucet splashing water onto her face before Phoebe entered.
"Rough night last night?" Phoebe asked.
Starla doesn't answer. She looks at herself in the mirror just as Phoebe enters one of the stalls.
Phoebe finishes up quickly and comes out to see Starla clutching her arm and kneeling over like she was in pain. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Starla's whole body began to emit a white light, which was dimming at an alarming rate. Phoebe touches her and Starla pushes her away.
"Look, I'm just trying to help, alright? Do you need me to go get help or…" Phoebe was interrupted after she touched her again and found her and Starla being instantly transported through the light above the mirror, across some subspace highway thing and out of a street lamp somewhere in a small town near a large lake.
Phoebe struggles to keep herself balanced as she stumbles away from Starla in a dizzy, confused stated. She finally falls on her butt in the dirt and slowly snaps out of her dizziness.
General Creed, who was interrogating Starla's friends in Vegas, returns the surveillance outpost, a large, black Semi-truck in the parking lot of the Vegas hotel Samuel was staying at, after being summoned to take a look at something on the monitors.
"This better be important, you just pulled me away from my interrogation; what have we got?"
"We picked up a massive energy signature out of nowhere that just disappeared as quickly as it came."
"Where was it located?"
"Just outside of where our extraterrestrial landed."
"Alright then, people, let's get a move on."
"Yes sir."
Back at the hotel around the same time, Samuel wakes to an empty room and realizes he's the last person to get out of bed. He sees a note on the bathroom mirror telling him where Max, Willis, and Bradshaw were. After brushing his teeth and taking a shower, Samuel gets dressed and joins them in the cafeteria. After he fills his plate, he heads over to the table. "Where's Phoebe?" he asked.
"Probably still in the bathroom. You know girl stuff."
"I just don't understand it. They were right here; over a thousand of them and now they're gone." Starla say as she sifts through the dirt in the crater.
Phoebe examines the crystal shard, "So you're saying there's supposed to be more of them like this?"
"I should never have left them, but I was certain Ling Khan would've made it here before I did and I had to stop him."
"What do these crystals do?"
"They're my life-force; without them, I slowly grow weak. They must be reunited with me or I will fade."
"Who would take them; and for what purpose?"
"Hello Starla." A Sapphira replied, which made Starla turn.
"You…"
"I take it there's some history between you two…"
"She killed my father. I'm here to return the favor; Konglatons attack!"
"Hey, what are you doing? You're in no condition to fight."
"It's not like I have a choice. You won't… stand a chance against them."
"You'd be surprised after hearing about all the terrible beasts I've faced." Phoebe summons her new weapon, the Mantis Boomerang; it was green, shaped like a praying mantis' hand and had a steel blade to make it look like a large knife. At first glance, it didn't seem like much, but it had a joint in it so you could bend it into a boomerang shape. Phoebe converts the blade to its secondary position and throws it. The boomerang spirals, hitting most of the Konglatons in the back while Sapphira ducked and waited for it to pass. The Konglatons that were still standing join Sapphira as they rush towards Phoebe and the now weakened Starla. Phoebe takes the lead while Starla drags up the rear. The first Konglaton to get in Phoebe's way, she takes it on with a combination boxing and Mild Capoeira; she throws a left punch to the chest, a right punch to the jaw; the Konglatons strikes back with a strong right hook, which Phoebe ducks under before she spirals around behind him; the Konglaton throws a back elbow, which Phoebe blocks and the Konglaton immediately throws another one from the opposite side; Phoebe spirals around again and lands a back flip kick to the chin.
Starla comes out of nowhere with a blast of light, which sends Phoebe's opponent flying into another Konglaton.
Shortly after that, Sapphira leaps at Starla. She conjures a sword and quickly strikes from her left; Starla managed to lean in the opposite direction in her weakened state before she lands a knee kick followed by a Wire-Fu kick; as Sapphira stumbles back, she quickly spirals; taking a shot at Starla with her sword and missing as she performs a back flip. After landing on her feet, Starla draws back her right hand, creates a ball of light in her palm and throws it like a softball. Sparks fly at Sapphira bats it away with her sword. Before she could react, Starla approaches and knocks her back with a double leg drop kick; after stumbling back again, Sapphira moves forward with an attempt to strike Starla while she's down, but she turns to light and reassembles on her left with her leg raised as she performs a high kick to the face; Sapphira reacts with a spiral and immediately slashes Starla across the abdomen, which sends her spiraling to the ground. "Now to end this,"Sapphira says pausing in the middle of her statement before her final strike was interrupted by an invisible force; after pushing her back, the invisible force was then revealed to be Phoebe.
"Like I said, you're in no condition to handle this alone." Phoebe holds out her hand and helps Starla up on her feet.
"She got one lucky hit in…" Starla replies. "Alright, together then…" Starla suggests. She and Phoebe tackle Sapphira together. They fought for several hours; then General Creed and his boys came in and Sapphira retreats.
"End of the line; your friend is coming with us," Creed said.
"Fat chance of that, General."
"What's it to you? She's an illegal alien on earth, on United States soil and she doesn't even have a passport or anything. So why not hand her over? Don't make it worse than it already is."
"It's okay…" Starla answered as she pushes Phoebe away and walks towards the soldiers.
"Not, it's not okay. I WON'T let them take you!"
Starla had no choice. She quickly disarms Phoebe and shines a blinding light in her eyes from the tip of her index finger, which makes her slip into unconsciousness.
Phoebe awakes back in the bed at the Hotel n Vegas with Max by her side. "How'd I get back here?"
"When you went missing, we had MEGAN track your communicator. Willis and I showed up and we brought you back. What the heck were you doing out there anyway?"
"There was this girl in the bathroom. Something weird had happened; I found myself traveling through a tunnel of light and next thing I know, I'm out there, helping her fight something girl and a bunch of Gorillas in armor. I was trying to help her and she knocked me out just so she could leave with General Creed. I don't know why."
Starla was lying on a white table like thing you'd see in the movies where Dr. Frankenstein was working his creation. A light shined down on her from a flexible lamp type thing while she was there unconscious and still growing weak from not having the crystal shards within her; the scientists couldn't figure out why she was growing weak. Only she knew.  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 8
Race against Time

Ling Khan was scheming, “With Starla growing weaker, she won’t be able to stop me from carrying out my plans. I believe it is time to let this world known of our presence. Sapphira, Fetch me my Monster creator tome.”
“Yes father.”
Samuel, Willis, Max, and Phoebe put their vacation on hold and head back home while Bradshaw stayed behind, “And she just took off with Creed?” Samuel asked.
“I don’t understand it either. Maybe she knows something I don’t; because you usually avoid people who are chasing you.”
Max agrees with what Phoebe said, “Makes sense to me.”
“Wait, you said someone took her source of power, right? What if it was the General who did and she only went with him to get it back.”
At the General’s secret base, his top scientists prepare Starla for the testing phase.
“Sir, this may not be the best idea.”
“What are you saying, you saying we should wait? We’ve waited long enough, Mr. Stokes.”
“We don’t really know much about her alien physiology to begin testing. Sir, we may kill her!” he puts emphasis on kill and that makes Daniel Creed stop and turn.
“Mr. Stokes, you will do well to remember the mission. These orders come from Washington. We are to figure out everything about her; what makes her tick.”
“Sir, I realize the mission, but it’s too soon. Any sudden changes could…”
“Don’t challenge my order, Stokes, just carry it out.”
“Yes sir.”
Back at home, Samuel Grant finally pinpoints the location of General Creed’s secret base via satellite. Samuel proceeds to stock up on weapons; turning himself into a one-man army.
At the same time, Max, Willis, and Phoebe enter the room.
“Samuel, what are you doing?”
“I’ve found his hideout, I’m gonna go there and I’m gonna get her back; you gonna stop me?”
“Stop you from going alone; yes. Samuel, it’s too dangerous.”
“Yeh, dad; all the times you’ve been preaching to me and Willis about working as a team, you really should start taking your own advice.”
While they talked this over, the alarm sounded; on screen was an army of Konglatons and a peculiar beast with a large straw hat on its head, which covered its whole head down to his chin. It wore a light blue blanket that covered most of its upper body except for the two red boxing gloves you could see sticking out. It also wore dark blue bell bottom pants that stopped at its feet, which had long, protruding toenails like a demon from the underworld.
“This is turning out to be an interesting day…”
“Max and I will deal with him; you and Willis go find the girl.”
Ling Khan’s monster was attacking workers down near the Oakland shipyard at the Oakland Pier. It started firing energy blasts randomly to give them a scare.
As the people flee, Phoebe and Max arrive by motorcycle and were confronted by Konglatons. After quickly annihilating them, Phoebe and Max confront the monster; Max throws a couple of jabs and follows with an uppercut; the monster sidesteps the uppercut and throws back a left hook, which Max ducks under; Phoebe blocks the punch and lands a low blow to the stomach; as the monster stumbles back, Max runs up with a superman punch. The monster performs a spiraling back fist and gets max in the jaw just as Phoebe comes in from the right with a few jabs and a kick to the hip; the monster grabs her by the leg and throws a punch to her jaw; Max reaches for his sidearm and fires.
“Hey, no fair!” the monster shouts.
“Then you’ll really hate this.” Phoebe’s boomerang hits and she immediately leaps up to catch it as she moves towards the monster. Upon her descent, she slashes him several times before he spirals to the ground, and gets to his feet; Max summons his pill bug armor and starts laying into him. He blocks left with his pill bug armor and throws back right; the monster blocks with his left and throws back with his right, which Max ducks under; his pill bug armor switches hands as he performs an uppercut. Max performs a spiral kick and flips the monster twice before he falls on his face, gets up, and runs away.
Ling Khan noticed only Max and Phoebe as they were down there fighting the monster, “Strange… I could’ve sworn there were more of them,” he switches views on the screen in front of them to locate Samuel and Willis and finds them en route to General Creed’s base in the Nevada desert via the aircraft, the Diving beetle. “So you’re going to save Starla now, are you? Not if I have anything to say in the matter…” Ling Khan gets up from his chair and teleports down to earth; Samuel and Willis land near the secret entrance to the base and take the lift down.
“When we get down there, we’re obviously going to encounter heavy resistance; I’ve planned for that.” Samuel hands Willis an attachment to go on his belt buckle. “I’ve done a lot of work with nanobots. This thing is a prototype. The bots have a small electromagnetic field designed only to repel projectiles. It works well with bullets and rocket blasts. What this device will do is float in front of you, creating a shield. Any project will hit it and instantly stop; rocket blasts, it’ll contain the explosion on the opposite side of you. I haven’t come up with a name for it yet, but it’s based on a video game.”
“Oh yeah; which one…?”
“Starfox…”
“Star…fox?” Willis sounded confused.
“I’ll show you a youtube video of it later.” Samuel attaches the same weapon to his belt and then checks his guns. “Let’s kick some a**.”
Willis looks up, “Watch out, incoming!”
Ling Khan lands between them like a meteor from space. He springs to his feet and immediately kicks Samuel low to the stomach and up against the wall; part of his jacket gets stuck and immediately rips off; Ling Khan attacks Willis the same style kick; Willis grabs his leg and performs a backhand to the jaw; Ling Khan flinches and then performs a back flip kick to the chin; Samuel latches onto Ling Khan by the waist in attempt to restrain him. Ling Khan elbow him in the kidney; Samuel lets go and Ling Khan knocks Willis into the opposite wall with a spiral kick to the face; Samuel comes in from behind with a right cross, but Ling Khan crouches, grabs Samuel by the waist and throws him over his head. Before Samuel could hit the ground, Ling Khan performs a back kick and pushes him into Willis.
After they get to their feet, Ling Khan mocks them by beating his chest like a gorilla; taunting them into coming at him again; but Samuel stands his ground, pulls out his pistol and fires. Ling Khan dodges all of Samuel’s shots with lightning fast agility and gets in close to disarm him. With the gun out of Samuel’s hands, Ling Khan throws a couple of low jabs, a palm strike to the jaw, and a kick, which Samuel blocked just as Willis leaps in from behind and aids Samuel with a flying elbow to Ling Khan’s head.
The fight continues until they reach the bottom floor; the soldiers see Samuel being thrown off the elevator by a swift kick to the chest before Willis jumps on Ling Khan’s back.
Ling Khan grabs Willis and throws him over his head and off the elevator towards Samuel before he leaps off at the same he was greeted by random gunfire.
“Perhaps while he’s busy with them, we should find Starla,” Willis suggested.
“Good idea.”
In another part of the base, the General returns to the lab where the scientists make a discovery into Starla’s powers. “Okay, what have you got for me?”
“Sir, it’s incredible. Those crystallized shards we picked up, they’re her energy source; they power her like a battery does for any type of electronic device, except they don’t ever run out.”
“What do you mean never?”
“Those crystals are self-sustaining; they’re like… miniaturized suns.”
“Her powers truly are extraordinary then…”
On the intercom, one of the men alerts the General to some distressing news, “Sir, we have a breach at the main elevator!”
“Bring it up on screen.” “Who the hell is that?”
“I dunno; he came in Samuel Grant and some kid.”
Starla snaps out of her unconsciousness at the very mention of Samuel’s name.
Creed exits the lab and makes his way to the security office.
Meanwhile, to avoid getting caught, Samuel and Willis proceed to the lab via ventilation system. Willis takes the lead as they crawl through, heading past crowds of soldiers below going about their usual business.
Several minutes Creed arrives at the security officer, “Gimme eyes on Grant; where’s he headed?”
“That’s the thing, sir, we don’t know.”
“We lost him during the confusion.”
“Send every available officer to engage hostile at the entry way.”
“But sir, he’s…”
“He can’t tackle all of them. He’ll soon get tired; send everyone NOW!”
“Yes sir…”
“Find me Samuel Grant,” General Creed said.
While they search for Samuel and Willis, and while Ling Khan beats up on every soldier who comes at him, Phoebe and Max chase the monster down throughout the shipyard until he finally loses him.
Sapphira then shows up out of nowhere and confronts the monster, “Where do you think you’re going?”
“The rangers… they’re too strong with their weapons. I can’t defeat them.”
“What’s the matter with you? You’re a monster, Shadow Boxer, you’re not supposed fight fair.” Focusing on the monster’s gloves, Sapphira ends up changing them from regular gloves to metallic ones, which could take on any form he chooses; Shadow Boxer concentrates hard enough and generates spikes on the front.
“Now go get’em,” Sapphira exclaims.
Max and Phoebe catch up to him.
“There you are…” Max said.
“Finally found me, huh? Well then, let’s get ready for round 2.” Shadow Boxer makes the first move this time. He throws a haymaker to the side of Phoebe’s chest and ducks and hits back with a right cross; Shadow boxer changes the spikes on his gloves to swords and slashes from the left; Phoebe spirals after taking a hit and Max comes in immediately after; Shadow Boxer hits Max on the top of the head with his right fist and hits him in the jaw with his left.
After Max falls, Phoebe takes her sidearm out of its holster. After she fires, Shadow Boxer rushes in faster than the speed of sound and knocks her for a loop. At the same time, Max gets up with his pill bug armor on his right, leaps at Shadow Boxer and bashes him atop the head. Shadow Boxer becomes dizzy for a few seconds and performs a back elbow, which Max dodges.
While Shadow Boxer was occupied, Phoebe threw her boomerang and it stopped several feet from the monster’s face after he generated an electromagnetic field with his glove, which he used to throw it back. It hit with the same force she used to throw it and she fell in an instant.
Willis summons the WASP stinger when Shadow Boxer was busy with Phoebe; and after he fires, the monster punches at the beam and deflects it back at Willis with the same force as when it was shot.
“He’s gotten stronger,” Willis pointed out.
“There must be a way to stop him.”
“If you have any bright ideas, Phoebe, I’m all ears.”
Phoebe and Max stand back and think of a plan; Shadow Boxer stands in the distance.
Meanwhile, Samuel, Willis, and Ling Khan race to lab where Starla was; Samuel and Willis made it first.
Willis drops down through the vent of the room overlooking the lab from several feet while Samuel crawls out of the vent in the floor of the lab off in the distance where the scientists couldn’t see him. Samuel whispers into his communicator at Willis, “We need to find a way to get these people out of here.”
“Maybe a fire will do the trick.”
“But how are we gonna start one?”
“We don’t really need to.” Willis messes around with one of the consoles and hacks into the systems governing the fire alarm.
A series of blaring noises occur throughout the room below, which set off a cold, white vapor like stuff used for putting out fires, which cause the scientists to flee the room; all except for one, which Samuel dealt with swiftly. “Can you undo her restraints from up there?” Samuel immediately pauses the moment he recognizes Starla’s face. “This is who we’re saving?” Samuel said in a low, shocked tone.
“Yeah…” Willis answered.
“I know this girl. We met in the casino the other night, remember? I told you about her.”
“So this is Starla?”
“Yeah man; take her restraints off.”
After undoing her right side, Starla immediately snaps her hand from its current position and firmly grasp Samuel’s neck.
Samuel replies in a choked up voice, “Starla. Starla! It’s me…”
When she realized who it was, she loosened her grip, “Samuel? What are you doing here?”
“Rescuing you.” He points to his son up in the booth, “My Son, Willis, and I are saving you.”
“Thanks for the assist, but I wanted to get captured. These men have my crystals.” Starla struggles to stand up once her restraints were undone. “Without them, my powers are weakening.”
“How do you know they’re here?”
“The crystals and I are drawn to one another. Once I looked at that soldier, it became apparent that he and his men were the ones who took them.”
“Okay, where, in this building, are they exactly? We’ll take you to them.”
“I’m getting a faint energy reading from them; in that direction. I still can’t tell exactly where, but it’s in a general ‘that way’ direction.”
“Lead the way; we’ll follow.”
Starla, Willis, and Samuel keep their guard up as they head west through the facility; while Willis and Samuel held their guns up, Starla emits a white light from her palms, which she shines in every direction as all three of them rotate clockwise and watch out for any incoming resistance.
“So, Starla…”
“Yes?” she answered.
“Mind if I ask you what are you?”
“Not sure I understand the question, but my people are known as Lumindemians; from a planet with the same name. We are able to harness the power of light and bend it to our will.”
“I’ve seen something similar in a TV series from long time ago, except her power over light was green, not white,” Willis explained.
“What?”
“Never mind…”
“Okay. What about the big, hairy looking guy?”
“Not that I’m ungrateful that you’re here, but how did you know I was captured?”
“We have a mutual friend, named Phoebe Dallas.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“Caucasian, Brown hair; wears a hat, red scarf tied around her neck, blue jeans, brown boots with without spurs, and a cowboy hat covering her long, silky, dark brown hair.”
“Oh her.”
Starla tracks her crystal shards to a huge, gray vault, “They’re in here.”
“Oh great; and we forgot to bring our safe-cracking equipment.”
“I can open it, but it’s gonna take several minutes; by the way, incoming…” At the same time Starla said that, Ling Khan comes rushing up and attacks Samuel, who ducks and causes him to make a dent in the door.
“I’ll open this thing; you two keep him occupied.”
“Us? Why us? He’s your enemy.”
“My powers are weakening drastically. I have to recharge.”
Willis and Samuel take their positions and prepare to confront Ling Khan for a second time. Samuel looks back as Starla turns to light and shines through the crack in the floor and into the vault; leaving them outside by themselves. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!”
Ling Khan performs a windmill attack; and as he does, he absorbs energy from around him into a blue ball, which he then shoots out like a cannonball.
Samuel and Willis leap out of the way and the ball scatters upon impacting the wall. Willis fires his gun at Ling Khan, who ducks, dodges, sidesteps, and rolls over in midair as he dashes at him and performs a scissor-lock, which he uses to trip Willis. At the same time, Samuel runs up and kicks Ling Khan while he’s down; Ling blocks with his left hand and punches him in the other shin with his right before he rolls away and gets to his feet. Samuel comes at him with his sword drawn high above his head and Ling Khan blocks with one arm then delivers a punch to the jaw with the other hand; then, he goes for an elbow shot to the heart, which Samuel blocks with his elbow. Shortly after, Samuel throws a low kick, which Ling Khan blocks with both palms; while Ling’s guard was down, Samuel gets in a lucky punch, which makes him spiral; but as Ling Khan prepares to do a spinning back elbow, Samuel slides under his arm and Allows Willis to land a flying kick; Ling Khan stumbles backwards and over Samuel’s leg and in doing so, he flips once before landing on his stomach.
Meanwhile, on the inside, Starla stands in the middle of a circle she has made out of her crystals. Channeling her energy into them, she makes them levitate at chest level. Each one gives off a glimmer just before her body absorbs them. A moment later, she blasts through the vault door and joins Samuel and Willis, who, for the moment, were down for the count; which meant it was now between Starla and Ling Khan. She stands in a crane stance and eggs Ling Khan to make the first move; knowing he couldn’t resist showing off.
Ling Khan beats his chest like an angry gorilla and charges forward on all fours. Before he could tackle Starla, she reacted with a Wushu style sweep kick. After Ling Khan flipped over onto his back, Starla performed an axe kick; Ling Khan quickly rolled out of the way and waits on Starla to advance.
When she does, Ling Khan bends his knees while on his back and quickly exerts force to Starla’s shins; she falls forward just as Ling Khan rolls out of the way, then rolls back on top of her, and initiates a rear neck choke. Starla breaks free, gets up, and performs an elbow drop, which Ling Khan evades. Once on his feet, Ling Khan goes on the defense. As he gestures Starla to come at him, she does, and he immediately leans right as she comes at him with a left punch; she comes at him with a right punch and he leans left and throws back a quick jab to the nose; Starla leans back and catches him by the wrist with both hands, and throws back a kick to the shin; Ling Khan kneels and Starla quickly elbows him in the top of the head and knees him in the chin.
“Samuel, Willis, get over here!” Starla yells and they join her side as she tackles Ling Khan and teleports them out of the base and to the surface; the fight continued until Starla delivers the final blow; she creates a spectrum, shines light into it, and makes copies of herself that shone in the seven colors of the rainbow. She controlled them like puppets as she gathered them around Ling Khan in a circled and fired a focused energy beam from both hands.
Ling Khan gets up off the ground, brushes the dust off him and retreats.
“Willis, Starla. Phoebe and Max are in trouble; Starla, you up for one more battle?”
“Always…” Starla said vaguely. “Allow me to assist.” Starla stands between Willis and Samuel; and using her power over light, she teleports her, Willis, and Samuel through a lamppost and out another somewhere near where Phoebe and Max were.
“Nice of you to show up, Samuel.”
“We had a friend in need,” Willis answered.
“By the way, you failed to mention the girl was Starla.”
“Honestly, I didn’t know. She failed to mention her name when we first met. She was too busy dying.”
“Tag me in…” Starla assesses the situation with the monster known as Shadow Boxer and approaches him slowly. They both make eye contact as Starla clenches her fists. Shadows Boxer generates spikes on the end of his gloves and swings right; Starla dodges and throws a right, misses and then a left the stomach; Shadow Boxer uppercuts and Starla stumbles back; Shadow Boxer winds up his right hand and strikes forward; Starla grabs his fist, twists his arm, grips his chin and spins him until he’s dizzy before she uppercuts him; Shadow Boxer snaps out of his confusion and goes for a superman punch; Starla holds her arms up and the punch causes her to slide backwards on the soles of her shoes. Once she stops, she completely covers her hands in light and rushes towards him again; with the first move Shadow Boxer threw, Starla counters with a punch to the glove, which completely shatters the glove; Shadow Boxer then attacks with the other and Starla traps his palm, runs her arm down the length of his and shatters the other, and then she shoots a flash of light into his eyes to blind him.
Phoebe, Max, and Willis, summon the WASP stinger again and how Starla out by firing another energy blast; destroying Shadow Boxer instantly.
Back at the mansion sometime later, Samuel tries to convince Starla to join Operation W.A.S.P.; but she respectfully declines.
“I’d love to join your team, but… now doesn’t seem like the right time; I’m sorry.”
“But…”
“Willis, she’s made up her mind and there’s no changing it,” Samuel explained.
“The offer still stands; you know where to find us…” Max responded.
Starla responds with silence as she uses her power over light to teleport.
“I miss her already…”
“She’ll be back, Willis…”
“Oh yeh, Max, when…?”
“Only time will tell, Master Willis,” Bradshaw answered instead of Max.  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 9
Pirate’s Life

Samuel identified a Pawn Shop somewhere in Colorado called “Year-long Shelf Life”. They sold an assortment of items like old watches, VCR’s (for those born in the 90’s), jewelry; speaking of jewelry, Samuel had become aware that that particular pawn shop had recently come in possession of an orange gem on top of a small, gold ring; similar to that, which was shown on the map they received from combining all four scrolls together. He had sent Phoebe and Max to get it, but as soon as they were about to go through the front door, they hear a commotion inside.
An innocent old gentleman in his 50’s; large eyes the color of burnished iron, his silky, wavy, ash-colored hair is worn in a style that reminds you of an elaborate sculpture, and a graceful build with light-colored skin, and a wide forehead and bushy eyebrows, in an unusual wardrobe, was being robbed by two women dressed in ninja costumes from head to toe; no identifying marks.
“Alright, old man, we know it’s here. Just hand it over and we won’t have to tear this whole place apart.”
“Please, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You hear that?” Max asked.
“Yeh, it sounds like Christi and Cameron.”
They pull their guns from their holsters and approach the front door like cops about to catch a criminal; Max kicks the door in and Phoebe follows him in with her gun armed and ready.
“Well, if it isn’t lover boy; and who’s this with him; your new girlfriend?”
“How quickly you forget about me…”
“What’s she talking about?”
“We used to date; that is, until Willis and I found out they were only going out with us to get access to the jewels.”
“Well, I don’t need you anymore; I’ve got me someone new in my life too.” She calls forth a brown-skin, black haired monster with a hairstyle that reminded you of Sonic the Hedgehog, wearing black goggles with red X’s, red, robotic gloves with a white light on the back, a red and black button shirt, black pants, and off-white and black boots.
“His name’s Lurgo,” Cameron said.
“He looks like he came out of a badly developed video game.”
“Go get’em, honey…”
With his arms straight out, Lurgo rockets toward Max; pushing him out the door and dropping him on his back; Max rolls back onto his feet and stumbles backwards while Lurgo continues to follow him. Max ducks as Lurgo throws a left hook and then pushes him with a frontal kick. Putting distance between himself and Lurgo, Max unsheathes his gun fires; Lurgo rushes at him while the shots hit and create sparks and then swats the gun from his hand with a right slap and then a left punch; Max blocks and strikes back with a right, but Lurgo ducks and shoulder bashes Max in the chest; Max comes back at him with a Wire-Fu kick, which Lurgo blocks before he does a leg grab and a throw; Max slides a few yards across the asphalt before he gets up.
Inside the store, the shopkeeper takes cover as Phoebe, Cameron, and Christi literally tear the place apart with their fighting. Phoebe and Christi each grab the other by the shoulders and toss each other into the walls and the shelves before they let go; with her back against the wall, Phoebe dodges left and right as Christi throws punch after punch and then punches her in the stomach with her left, throws a right hook to the jaw and pushes her with a flying knee; at that time, Cameron jumps in, sword unsheathed, and takes a shot at her; Phoebe ducks, waits for Cameron to come back around, traps her arm under her arm, and elbows her in the neck
After Cameron drops her sword and stumbles back, Christi rushes up with a low kick, then a spinning Savate high kick.
Phoebe spirals face first into the wall and quickly goes on the defense as she performs an elbow strike. She got her attack blocked as Christi twisted her arm and pinned it behind her back and then proceeds to land a low kick to the crotch; Christi locks Phoebe’s leg into place, pulls her away from the wall, and grips her neck; squeezing tighter.
Meanwhile outside, Max had Lurgo in an Arm bar; until he reaches across, punches him in the head and gets up once Max releases his grip. Max gets after he does. With anger in his eyes, he quickly drops his right arm down to his side; summoning his Pill bug armor through his glove.
Lurgo holds his arms out at his sides; as he raises them higher, he pulls bits of the asphalt from around his feet; as he spins, so do they, until he spins fast enough and they separate and shoot at Max like big bullets.
Max could do nothing, but stand there as they came at him; sparks fly from him as most of them hit and others pass him by; grazing him. upon being hit by the last one, Max spirals onto his stomach and remains in that position as he waits for Lurgo to approach him; then he turns over as his pill bug armor moves down his body to his lower leg. He then performs a backward roll and kicks him in the hand as he leaps onto his feet; sparks start flying from Lurgo’s left glove and make him lower his guard for Max to perform a flying knee kick; the pill bug armor moves back up to the joint in his leg seconds before the impact.
Back inside, Phoebe tried to break free of Christi’s grip. Once she does, Cameron performs a sweep kick and she lands on her back. She gets up quickly after she falls and continues the fight until Starla shows up out of nowhere to make it a fair fight.
The battle lasts until Cameron gets knocked into the back room and finds what she was looking for; the ring with an orange gem on it. “Christi, I’ve got it. Let’s get outta here!”
“Hate to cut and run…” Christi drops a smoke pellet to cover her and Cameron’s escape; Cameron bumps into Phoebe on their way out and unknowingly drops the ring.
“Lurgo, c’mon; we’ve got what we came for.” Christi says before she vanishes into thin air after her sister.
“Thanks for your help.”
“I’m happy to be of service; but I’m sorry that they got away with what you came for.”
“Actually, they didn’t…” Phoebe holds up the ring.
Meanwhile, far away from the scene, Cameron, Lurgo, and Christi stop running; Cameron notices the ring was missing and that there was nothing they could do as Phoebe, Max, and Starla already headed for home.
“If it wasn’t for Starla, I’d have been a goner,” Phoebe explained.
“Well, thank you, Starla.”
“Was happy have helped. Who were those two anyway?”
“Cameron and Christi; a couple of common thieves from another solar system…”
“And Willis and Max’s former girlfriends.”
“They were after this.”
“May I ask what the importance of such a small trinket is?”
“Well… once we combined all four scrolls, we were hoping to get the sword of Ares, but there was one more piece to the puzzle; this ring. I’m not sure what will happen once we wrap it around this map, but I’m hoping it will lead us to the next jewel of the Karma Lunari.”
“The Goddess Luna’s fortune,” Starla asked.
“That’s correct, Starla. Would you be willing to help us?”
“We can help you with Ling Khan; you don’t have to do this alone.”
“Thanks for the offer, but you have your own problems. I can’t ask you to get involved.”
“You have to; we’re volunteering.”
“Starla… it would mean more to me if you stayed,” Willis pleaded.
“Alright fine, where we going to next?”
“We’ll know once we figure out how to read this map.” Samuel slips the ring on the map, which then glows a bright orange.
According to Samuel, the map was meant to transform into a sword once the ring was put in place, but it didn’t. As soon as it stops glowing, Samuel unfolds it and it shows the map of some island near New Zealand; Phoebe, Max, Willis, and Starla set off on yet another adventure as they follow the map’s coordinates, which led them to an island called Allambee. The weather when they got there was a moderate heat with little air stirring. The place was mostly dense jungle surrounded on all sides by water with very little wildlife.
Our heroes land the ship on the sandy shores and unload their gear; bottles of water in case they get thirsty, compasses so they can find their way, their communicators for when one of them finds something of interest, etc. they decided to split up into two men groups; Max went with Phoebe, Willis went with Starla; each checking out a section of the island.
Back in the United States, Cameron and Christi sit in the bedroom of their house; the one was painted a tan hue with a butter cream floor molding, a brown rug, two beds; pink and yellow, a computer sitting on a wooden desk with a lamp next to it.
Cameron was on the computer, researching more to do with the ring they allowed our heroes to make off with. She didn’t even have to look back at Christi sitting on the bed to realize what she was up to, “Christi, what’s the point of painting your nails when no one’s going to ‘see’ them?”
“Well, you told me to do nothing; doing nothing is boring and I figured this is a better way to pass the time while you hog the computer.”
“Will you come over here for a minute? I think I found something.”
“I need to wait for my nails to dry; can’t I listen from all the way over here?”
“Well I searched for that ring we lost and my top results are a Sword of Ares and some cave on an island off the coast of New Zealand, an Allambee or whatever,”
Christi spells the name more correctly than Cameron could, “It’s Allambee.”
“Whatever, I don’t even wanna think about how you know that, but that’s gotta be where the rangers are heading; we’re gonna need a fast boat and make a few jet skis.”
Fifteen minutes later on the island
“It’s a really beautiful day, isn’t it?” Starla asked Willis in order to start a conversation.
Willis never knew what to say or how to say and mostly stuck to one-word sentences, as he had no idea what else to say. “Sure…”
Starla was confused at the fact that Willis was nervously trying to avoid eye contact with her as they traversed through the knee-high shrubbery. “Is everything okay, Willis?”
“Yeh, why wouldn’t it be?”
“I’m just getting mixed messages from you. It’s almost as if you don’t wanna be around me.”
“No, it’s… it’s just that I…”
“Willis, your Adam’s Apple is quivering.”
On the other side of the island at the same time with Max and Phoebe
“Notice how… strange Willis acts when around Starla?” Phoebe asks Max.
“No…?”
“Well I did; and I think he has feelings for her.”
“Are you serious?”
“It’s as plain as the nose on his face.”
“Uhm… Phoebe…?”
“What?” she asked.
“Did this look as if it was on the map to you?” Max points out the rickety suspension bridge over a large, bottomless chasm ¼ the side of a football field in length.
“Doesn’t look that bad.”
“Not that bad? C’mon, Phoebe…”
“Maxwell Grant, you’re not afraid of heights, are you?” Phoebe teased.
“Me? No…” Max nervously replied.
“Then let’s go, c’mon.”
Max crosses first. He and Phoebe take it one step at a time as the bridge rocked side to side like a cradle being swung by a mother trying to get to her baby to sleep. At the halfway point, when Max took a step, the board broke. He immediately stops and, since he was an android with no saliva glands, he pretends to swallow his spit in fear as he looks down.
“Just keep moving, Max. It may not be safe, but it’s not any safer just standing here.”
They were almost to the other side when suddenly, the ropes snapped; Max and Phoebe quickly dived forward and clung to the bridge like a ladder.
“Hang on, Phoebe!”
“What choice do I have? Really!”
Max drops down a few feet to her level, “You’re gonna need to trust me on this.” He grips her shoulder firmly and then he tosses her upward with all his strength and lands her on the ledge above before climbs up to join her. He plops down beside her as she looks up to admire the beautiful, blue sky and the few clouds that pass overhead.
“You’re really strong.”
“Thanks,” Max said to Phoebe.
While they rested for a bit; Starla and Willis approach a small river as they descend from a mountain. There weren’t that many fish swimming through on account of the water moving very fast downstream of where they were. Starla sticks her hand in and feels the movement of the water on her soft skin while rocks the beneath her feet were slowly crumbling; Willis sensed something was wrong and tried to warn her, but it was too late as she fell in.
Willis, who was up ahead of her when he saw her fall in, tried to reach for her, but she wouldn’t take his hand at first as she was having too much fun splashing around as the current took hold of her. Willis moves further down and this time, Starla pulls him in. the current starts to pick up; carrying them further and further downriver like they were going down a water slide at some park. They traveled this long stream for hours as it zigzagged their way down the mountain; through the layers of foam that were increasing and decreasing at each turn.
Upon reaching the bottom, they emerge with their clothes soaking it wet at the entrance a small cave. On the ground in front of the cave opening was an outline of a spear and shield; like that of Ares the God of War.
Phoebe and Max show up just after them, “What happened to you guys?” Phoebe asked.
“She slipped into the river; I tried to pull her out.”
“And he failed…”
“And we rode the current all the way here.”
“What about you? Why are you clutching your shoulder?”
“Because his brother has a very tight grip…”
“Once the bridge collapsed, we were hanging on for our lives. I gripped her by the shoulder and threw her to safety; by the way, sorry about squeezing so tightly.”
“It’s okay; just hope you didn’t do too much damage.”
“Guys, c’mon, we need to get the map in place when the sun reaches the skylight.”
“You heard the nerd,” Max said to Phoebe and Starla.
“That’s a lil harsh, don’t you think?” Phoebe asks as she passes Max by.
“It doesn’t matter if we put it on too early; as long as we don’t miss our window, we’ll be fine.”
The light shined through the hole in the ceiling at a 45 degree angle near their feet, indicating they had only minutes; so all they had to do was wait. As the minutes go bye, Phoebe and Max pace back and forth; Starla sits on the ground legs folded; rocking back and forth while Willis stood patiently in front of the pedestal, watching the light gradually move across the floor to the map and ring.
“How long is going to take?” Max said impatiently.
“Something should happen in… 3…2…1.”
The light causes the gem atop the ring to glimmer; the light then expands and engulfs the entire map. The shape of the map slowly takes on one of a sword three feet in length; its color was yet to be determined as the light still had hold over the object; the ring slipped around it broke and the gem on top grew larger; when the light finally dimmed, the sword appeared to be bronze with a shining silver blade and Greek Language scattered across it.
“Thanks for doing all the work for us; we’ll be taking that jewel now.”
“These three again?” Starla said.
“Not gonna happen, Cameron.”
“You never wanna make things easy for once?”
“Lurgo, honey, get’em…”
Lurgo charges into battle first and then Cameron and Christi followed. Cameron and Christi took on Phoebe and Starla and left Lurgo to Max and Willis. Lurgo throws a right at Max, who blocks and gives Willis a chance to strike back with a palm punch to the stomach. Willis blocks this time as Lurgo throws a right and Max throws a knee kick, which Lurgo blocks with an elbow before he takes both hands and slashes Max and Willis across the chest like an angry lion or tiger mauling its prey; Max and Willis spiral to the ground. Lurgo picks up Willis by the collar and quickly slams him into a wall. Max comes in from behind and bashes a large chunk of rock over Lurgo’s head; Willis quickly dashes to the left and decks Lurgo with a right punch. Lurgo takes a swing at Max and as he spirals, he gets pushed back by Max and knocked on his back by Willis, who performed a sweep kick; Lurgo flips twice before he lands on his back.
Christi and Phoebe have it out; Phoebe throws a right jab and immediately gets blocked. Christi lands a low blow to the stomach and an uppercut to the chin; Phoebe stumbles back, but manages to stay on her feet. Christi lunges at her and gets blocked as Phoebe traps her palm and spins her around. Christi picks the sword up seconds after she collides with the pedestal and takes several swings at Phoebe, who leans left, right, ducks, jumps back, and summons her Mantis Boomerang. Christi lunges at Phoebe with a left slash and Phoebe blocks, throws back a punch, and finishes with a kick to the shin; Christi takes a slash at Phoebe’s abdomen, but she leaps back just in time; Christi teleports behind Phoebe, elbows her in the back, teleports in front of her and takes another slash; blood leaked from her wound as she spiraled, but immediately stopped as the wound closed as quickly as it was made; before Phoebe landed on her back, she reaches for her gun and fires; taking Christi down with her.
Cameron takes on Starla with several slashes from the left, right, above, and below; Starla dodges all, but the last attack, which she blocked by creating balls of light in her hands, which she used as shields while she threw back several knees to the stomach and finished with several shots of light to Cameron’s stomach, which create sparks on impact; Cameron gets pushed back several feet and lands on her back. Taking the light she had in her hands, Starla throws them one at a time, then conjures more and throws them repeatedly; Cameron rolls out of the way, then takes her sword and slices through the balls of light as they come at her like softballs. When Starla ceased fire, Cameron throws back several ninja stars, which Starla blocks with tiny shimmers of light she conjures out of the air. She waits for Cameron to stop before she shoots through the air, bouncing from one light to the next and up to Cameron; slashing through her midsection and making her fall to her knees.
Lurgo takes a swing at Max, who ducks and comes back at him with an uppercut. When Lurgo was a few inches off the ground, Max’s pill bug armor moves down his leg to his shin as he performs a side kick and sends him flying into a wall; at that time, Willis rushes up and grabs Lurgo by the shoulders; Lurgo knocks releases Willis’s grip and clutches his throat; Willis swats at Lurgo hand and makes him release his grip; Lurgo swings at Willis from the left. Willis ducks and allows Max to run up his back and land a flying punch with his pill bug armor. Lurgo grips Max by the back of his jacket with his left and punches him repeatedly with the right before he tosses him aside. Willis leaps forward and attacks with his Elephant Axe. After a few hits, he switches modes on his weapon and blasts Lurgo out of the cave with one shot.
Back inside, Christi makes a grab for the jewel, but Phoebe stops her by hooking her arm around Christi’s, yanking her back, and hitting her in the right breast before letting get and watching her fly across the room.
Cameron looks at from Starla and tosses a ninja star to get Phoebe’s attention as she reaches for the jewel, which allows Starla to catch her with her guard down and blasts her with an energy ball.
Christi makes another attempt to steal the jewel; Phoebe blocks her with her boomerang and Christi attacks with her sword. Phoebe ducks, takes her gun and fires back.
Outside the cave, Max and Willis call forth the WASP stinger and make quick work of Lurgo with one shot at the same time Starla and Phoebe defeat Cameron and Christi, who retreat with the sword.
With the jewel in their possession, Max, Willis, Phoebe, and Starla head back home.
Samuel tucks the first jewel, the Star of Leo, away safely in a secret compartment on the left wall next to the monitor and then, after closing it, turns to his team. “Well done, team. We’ve got the first jewel of the Karma Lunari.”
“But Cameron and Christi have the sword.”
“That much power in their hands; no human should ever possess that much.”
“Don’t worry, guys, we’ll get it back.”  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 10
Under the Weather

It was the 2nd of February; Groundhog Day. On this fine day, our heroes decided to go bowling.
Phoebe sits back, reading a magazine while she waited on her turn; Max had bowled a strike on his first try and the pins reset themselves.
It was then Phoebe’s turn, she takes her ball firmly in hand, steps up and executes a perfect swing. As the ball rolled down the lane, it veered a little to the left.
“Well, better luck next time,” Willis chuckled as he took his turn. Just like his brother, Max, he also bowled a strike, which caused Phoebe to wonder how it is they’re good at this game and she’s not.
“Okay, that’s the fifth strike you guys bowled since this game started; what’s your secret?”
“What can I say… we’re built for this game,” Willis answered, making it seem like he was joking.
“Whatever…” Phoebe said, sounding annoyed, “I’m gonna get something to eat.”
“I’ll go with you,” Max offered.
“I can go by myself, thanks.”
“It’s no trouble at all…”
“Max, you don’t have to act like my bodyguard all the time,” she explained before taking off.
“But…”
“Max, you really oughta think about backing off a bit and giving her her space, you know.”
“I know…”
“You’re never gonna get her to consider you as more than a friend if you keep crowing her.”
“I know I... I just like her that’s all; ever since we first met.”
“What do you see in her, anyway?”
“I like her hair.”
“Seriously? That can’t be all you admire…”
“No… She’s also smart, pretty, strong, and an independent woman; someone, who’s not afraid to get her hands dirty.”
“Yeh, I forgot she used to own a ranch…”
“And that’s she’s a retired Rodeo champion; youngest one at that.”
“Thank you… Max,” Willis answered sarcastically.
“I’m sensing a bit of hostility in your tone. If this is about the fact you dated a woman, who’s an evil, cunning ninja from space, don’t take it out on me.”
“Hey, that happened to you too, Max,” Starla states.
Max pauses… “Oh yeh…”
“Hey, I wonder where dad is…?”
“He said he had something he needed to take care of.”
Instead of joining Max, Willis, Phoebe, and Starla at the bowling alley, Samuel was holding audition for another member of the team. So far, he had 20 candidates. He narrowed them down to 4; A white guy with deep-set brown eyes, luxurious, straight, yellow hair worn in a style that reminds you of a devil's horns with a very short and has a boyish build; he has long-fingered hands and small feet. His wardrobe is utilitarian, with a lot of black and purple.
The next guy makes you think of a randy demon. He has deep-set eyes the color of milk chocolate. His fine, wavy, brown hair is medium-length and is worn in a precise, practical style. He's got a short beard and a moustache. He is very short and has a wide-chested build. His skin is light-colored. He has thin eyebrows and small hands. His wardrobe is businesslike, and is mostly blue.
The third candidate was a woman, who reminds you of a playful dolphin. She has wide moss green eyes. Her silky, wavy, white hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a pile of shredded paper. She is tall and has an athletic build. Her skin is ruddy. She has stubby-fingered hands and wide feet. Her wardrobe is unusual, and is mostly violet and gray.
The fourth and final was Alex McLaren.
“Someone, not sure who, once said ‘the mind is the greatest weapon of all; and I agree with him. don’t just fight the enemy with this…” Samuel points to the blaster he carries on his side, “But with this as well…” Samuel points to his head. “If you’re not using your head, you will not last; which is why, my friends, the other 16 participants didn’t make it to where you are now. I have gathered you here for a purpose. My team is in need of some extra hands to help them defend the earth from alien menace, who have seen fit to occupy our planet while they search for the legendary power source, Karma Lunari. Keep in mind this is not a military operation, so you can leave if you see fit.”
Inside of his frozen lair in Greenland, Celsior sits on his throne as he tries to think up another plan to destroy the rangers. His Glacieroids returned after gathering random machine parts like he had requested; a bunch of steel plates, wires, a cannon, etc.
“Excellent. My weather machine is nearly completed. It just needs one more part to make it work, but I can’t figure out what.”
The answer to his question appears on screen in the form of a news reporter; Black, male, large blue eyes that are like two pools of water, thick, curly, crimson hair that was shoulder-length and is worn in a utilitarian style; a graceful build. His wardrobe: professional. He discusses Groundhog Day and what its meaning is. The camera takes the focus off of him and switches to a picture of a groundhog.
Celsior displays a smile before he magically pulls the image off screen, brings it to life, and fuses it with the various metals and wires lying around to create a menacing beast with brown fur, two arms; one of them replaced with a cannon it could use to fire bolts of energy into the sky to cause various weather effects, two legs, a compass on its chest, and a mechanical eye. He called him Bear-ometer; despite the fact he was a Groundhog. “He’s still not nearly as powerful as he should be, but once I get my hands on a subatomic generator, he will be; Glacieroids, I want you to go out and find me one. Don’t fail me.”
The Glacieroids find the part they need in a blue and white delivery truck after searching for half an hour. As they stand in the middle of the road, the driver takes notice and swerves, only to ram into someone’s SUV and be immediately surrounded by enemies from all sides.
MEGAN manages to pick up on this footage from an adjacent security camera hang from a traffic light and shows it to Bradshaw, who contacts the rangers at the bowling alley.
“We have Glacieroids in the city. I’m uploading the coordinates to your communicators now.”
They arrive by aerial craft, and as they stand in a circle over the bottom hatch, the door opens and they skydive their way on scene; summoning their weapons, Operation W.A.S.P. springs into action.
Max, with his Pill bug armor, constantly switches positions as he blocks his enemies’ punches and kick, and throws back a few flying knees, low punches, and a back flip kick to the top of the head. He gets ready for the next opponent as he charges up with its right arm drawn back; Max waits for him to make his move and then, with both hands, he twists the beast’s arm counter-clockwise. Unable to see it coming, Max gets hit as the Glacieroid shoots it other arm forward and sends Max rolling and bouncing across the asphalt and into the truck.
Phoebe, with her Mantis Boomerang, quickly throws it to get the creature’s attention; sparks fly as it makes contact with the Glacieroid’s rock-like armor and makes him turn towards her. As she stood there waiting for him, two more Glacieroids restrain her by her arms. As the main one marched forward, Phoebe waited for the right time before she turned invisible. Her captors then became confused as to where she went looked around for her; Phoebe turns visible again to get the attention of one of them and turns invisible again as she steps out of the way and lets him hit his own teammate. The Glacieroid he had hit gets angry, takes a swing at him and misses; hitting the third Glacieroid in the process.
Phoebe stands in the distance and watches them bash each other senseless until she takes her Mantis Boomerang interferes. With one hit to each, the Glacieroids crumble like rocks being savagely beaten by a raging river on a mountainside.
Starla, with her newest weapon, the Armadillo blades, which were round, black, disc-like objects that had a bright white light racing around the outer edge like a blade; the blades were powered by Starla’s powers as she grips one side of the circular devices firmly. Starla attacks her enemies from the right quickly, then rotates left, finishes them off at a third more of the speed it took with the other Glacieroids, and then performs a triple back flip, leaps over one of the Glacieroids, brings her blades together and quickly separates them as she slices through the Glacieroid’s head; instead of blood, out came slurry of snow and ice as Starla sticks the landing, spirals, and slices through her opponent’s back. With another one coming up, Starla spirals clockwise, releases her left blade and cuts through the arm. She left herself vulnerable as she turned to the sight of a Glacieroid ready to strike. She blocks with her right blade and he knocks it out of her hand and backhands her in the cheek. After spiraling on her back, Starla shoots light out of both palms and sends him flying into one of the Glacieroid’s Willis was fighting.
Willis, with his Elephant Axe in both hands, turns to Starla, takes his left hand off and gives a ‘thumbs up’ gesture as thanks for her help before he gets back to the fight. He holds his weapon flat above his head and blocks two incoming Glacieroids before he slashes them from the right and they spiral to the ground. Then Willis spirals; pulls out his gun, and fires before he gets it knocked from his hand and gets pushed to the ground himself; and smashed into the pavement several inches.
Max intervenes with a double leg drop kick to the head, rolls onto his feet, reaches in and pulls his brother out of the hole; they both look to each other with a wink and a nod like they knew what the other was thinking and then Max spins Willis around and tosses him in the air; weapon in hand, Willis changes the axe into cannon mode and fires.
At the same time, Max races up, slides under the Glacieroids before they are hit and shatter into pieces, and lands sliding kick to the shin of the ones coming up behind them.
Phoebe warns the others as she sees Bear-ometer attacking the truck, but out of nowhere, came a small, black aura, which zipped across the asphalt and approached the monster like a blur. It pushes Bear-ometer down before it slows down and the others see Alex standing there. He wore a jacket and pants similar to Max and Willis’, except it was all black; not stripe like what Max and Willis had. He also had a standard issue laser blaster like the others had and a single black glove on his right hand with the circles and lines running across the palm.
The others stop their fighting while their enemy was temporarily unavailable so they could watch this mysterious knew ally in action.
“Who is that?”
“I dunno; maybe another one of General Creed’s.”
“Should we help him?”
“Nah, it looks like he’s everything under control.”
The Glacieroids get back to fighting Max, Willis, Phoebe, and Starla while Bear-ometer deals with Alex. With arms up, he stands in a Muay Thai boxer stance, awaiting his opponent’s next move. When it comes, Alex swats his hand away with one hand, then throws several punches to the chest and abdomen; then an elbow to the chin; Bear-ometer stumbles back, shaking his head as he snaps out of confusion and lunges forward; Alex knocks him back again with a frontal kick then lunges forward to do a superman punch. His opponent strikes with a spinning heel kick and he responds with a leg grab and pulls him in close so he could throw him over his head and body slam him. Alex kept hold of him as he does the same move and slams him to the ground in front of him; Bear-ometer kicks him away with a gust of wind from his cannon of an arm and then gets to his feet.
Once Alex got to his feet again, he holds his right hand at his side 9 inches from his waist as he calls out for his Scorpion Saber; the weapon looked like an ordinary sword, but it was a lot more than that. With the press of a button, the blade extended a more flexible, chain-like structure with fragments of the blade in a rectangular shape same width as the blade once was that were 1 inch in length; each piece an inch away from the other; as his enemy shoots water out of its cannon, jettisons it into a rope-like shape and whips it at him, Alex slings his weapon, cutting through the water and separate part of it from the main stream as he rolls and tumbles his way towards the monster. He gets in close, presses the button and brings the fragments of his weapon together as he slashes left and right, up and down, and diagonally across Bear-ometer’s chest and back, and then spirals around in front again for an uppercut.
At this time, Celsior takes the opportunity to step in while the rangers were busy fighting his Glacieroids and monster. He opens up the back, hops in, and searches until he finds the device; the Subatomic generator. Once it was located, he signals his men to retreat.
“Are you guys okay?”
“We’re fine; but he got away with the subatomic generator.”
“We’ll do our best to get it back.”
“Might I ask what does it do?”
“We aren’t sure.”
“We were only meant to deliver it to where it needed to go.”
Just moments before his team got back home, Samuel had MEGAN running a check on what the device Celsior stole was meant for.
“Well then try again…”
“I’m sorry, sir, but there are no listings for a subatomic generator.”
“Then try subatomic particles, subatomic energy; something.”
“2,540,000 results found, sir.”
“Try that one: Subatomic particles – body, used, earth, life…”
MEGAN reads some of the key parts to Samuel and he makes an assumption based on what he knows.
“He’s building a weather machine…”
“Sir, that is only theoretical… no one, not man or any form of creature possesses that ability; except for Mother Nature.”
“You mean a weather machine as in something to create rain, wind, snow, and all that stuff?” Max interrupted.
“I’ve seen a lot of movies regarding machines that cause atmospheric conditions; but aren’t weather machines usually bigger?”
“Not always; that one movie, ‘the ultimate Christmas present’ or whatever, the weather machine was something you could hold in your hands,” Willis explained.
“Anyway, we need to stop Celsior before he completes his plan.”
“I’ll keep MEGAN on watch; have her look for anything unusual. In the meantime, I have a wedding to get to.”
“You’re getting married, sir?”
“I’m the best man, Alex. Don’t judge me.”
Samuel meets up with the couple whose wedding he’s planning a while later at the park where his staff were finishing up the display. It was a wedding on the beach; white sand cascading across the land. There is a small breeze that offers a slight chill, which provides relief from the warm, sunny afternoon. The water crashes against rocks in the distance. Seagulls squawk overhead. Nature is in tune with your event.
Samuel and friends seemed out of place in their usual attire amongst the other wedding guests, who had on tuxedos and elegant dresses and had their hair done


The bride couldn’t be happier. She was looking forward this day and spending the rest of her life with the man she loved; the groom was having second thoughts about the wedding, but he did know how to tell his future wife, so he did his best to hide his true emotions as he walks down the aisle to the altar towards the Pastor; A tall, witty, bald old man in his 40’s with a lean build, blue eyes that are like two windows on the afternoon sky. His skin is tan. He has small hands. His wardrobe is elegant, and is mostly gray.
Shortly after, a very short and plump light-skin colored old woman with slanted gray eyes, silky, wavy, ebony hair is worn in a style that reminds you of an animal's ears and large hands wearing an artistic yellow and red wardrobe, sits down at a white piano to the right of the altar. After waiting for the bride to appear, she began to play “here comes the bride” and kept playing it until she walked all the way down the aisle.
Samuel turns his attention to what looked to be storm clouds in the distance, making their way slowly along the beach towards them.
“What’s wrong, Samuel?”
“There’s a storm…”
“Oh, it’s nowhere near us. It’ll probably head out to sea.” But Phoebe was wrong.
The wind picks up as it sweeps the clouds over the area, bringing sand, leaves, and all manner of debris from all around. The thunder and lightning started up a while after, bringing heavy rain along with it. People rushed all over the place like cockroaches in an apartment after you turn on the lights; trampling over people and putting them in harm’s way.
One woman nearly got carried away by the strong winds, but Alex quickly summons his Scorpion Saber and lashes it out; catching onto her ankle and pulling her back down.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, now get to safety.”
“We need to get all the people out of here.”
“I agree.”
“Two of you stay here with me to clear these people out; the rest of you head further up the coast. MEGAN says something is causing this storm, because it didn’t show up until a few minutes ago.”
“I’ll stay here,” Phoebe volunteered.
“So will I,” Alex said.
“Be careful.”
“Thanks; you too,” Starla replied as she, Willis, and Max took off via motorcycle down the main road heading north through wind speeds up to 80mph or more and countless amounts of debris; sliding under, drifting around, and jumping over it when necessary.
Meanwhile, Samuel calls the National Weather Service office to get some people down here to help once the storm covers the entire city.
“Okay, I’ve called the NWS. They’ll be here ASAP, but this storm may get worse before they arrive.”
“What do we do?”
“Alex, I’ll need you to go to my warehouse and pick up a device I designed; Climate Anomaly Control Tech unit system, codenamed: C.A.C.T.U.S.!”
“I’m on it…”
“Wait, I didn’t say where my office is located…” but Alex was already gone.
By this time, Willis, Starla, and Max arrive at the source of the storm; Celsior’s monster, Bear-ometer. He was conjuring up this storm using his cannon-like arm, which was plugged into the recently stolen subatomic generator. He had his arm pointed to the sky as water, air, and heat mixed together in a cyclone as it may its way upward.
“Stop right there, Bear-ometer!” Willis races up to him as Celsior appears out of nowhere and backhands him; Willis rolls along the ground and stops face first in the sand.
“Not this time, rangers. My monster will continue causing this storm to build until it covers the entire state and there’s nothing you can do to stop him!”
“That won’t happen!”
“Yeah, not while we’re here!”
“Then I suppose I’ll need to do something about that; Glacieroids, attack!”
Phoebe and Max take on the Glacieroids and left Celsior to Willis. Willis draws his Axe and blocks as Celsior attacks from above with his staff and then strikes back with the lower half; Celsior leans back, then spirals and attacks low at his waist; Willis holds his axe at his side and blocks him and then punches with his left; Celsior blocks with his palm and performs a knee kick to the stomach before he spirals once again and slashes Willis across the chest diagonally. While Willis was on his back, Celsior attacks him; causing him to block and attack back with a kick to the shin. After he pushes him back, he rolls over before Celsior could strike again and springs to his feet. He switches modes on his weapon and he open fires while Celsior whirls his staff in front of his face and deflects the shots; on the last shot, he bounces it back at Willis and knocks him down and then rapidly approaches; with the intent to pick him up, he grips Willis by the throat and throws him; Willis’ back hits a palm tree before he falls flat on his face.
Concurrently, Alex arrives at Samuel’s office; this time, he didn’t have to sneak in. Samuel gave him permission.
“Can I help you?”
“Yeah, Samuel sent me. I need item #386425.”
“Okay, lemme just look it up on my computer…. Here ya go: Climate Anomaly Control Tech Unit Sytem; CACTUS.” The guy prints out a ticket and gives it to Alex so he can go find someone with a forklift to help him get it down. Alex catches a ride to the very back of the warehouse on the forklift and stands back while he gets a large box off the top shelf.
To Alex, the item inside looked to resemble gray, metal ostrich eggs on cone-shaped pedestal with ring-like shapes all around them.
“This is the item?”
“Yeh.”
“How do I use them?”
“You’ll have to ask Mr. Grant; he made them.”
Alex takes out his communicator and contacts Samuel, who was on the way back to the command center in his jeep convertible.
“Yeah…?”
“How do these things work?”
“Oh right. They’re meant to counteract the effects of any type of storm; make any place inhabitable. There’s four of them. We just need to place them in four corners around the source of the storm and just activate them; they’ll do the rest from there.”
“They’re too heavy to attach to my bike.”
“Just ask to borrow one of the trucks.”
Alex gets the key to one of the delivery trucks out back. He gets in one and starts the engine. Meanwhile, after his friends defeated the Glacieroids, they tackled Bear-ometer. Compared to the Glacieroids, Bear-ometer was their toughest challenge. He generated an invisible force field from the elements, which kept them from getting anywhere near him. Starla shows up and they try to combine their strengths, but still weren’t able to get past. They held in a bit longer until Alex arrives with the machines. He explains to them what they need to do and they place the machines around the enemy in a square.
Celsior summons more Glacieroids with intent to stop them from setting them up and Alex and Starla get to work on keeping them away; they stand back to back, weapons in hand, with the enemy closing in from all sides. Alex was the first to spring into action as he spirals and switches modes on his weapon. He aims low and wraps it around the leg and swings him up into the air to distract the others; then he switches back to sword mode, slashes one Glacieroid across the chest, moves onto the next with a right jab and then slashes him across the chest and abdomen; the Glacieroid fights back and Alex holds his weapon above his head; blocking the attack and then turning 45 degrees and performing a back flip kick to knock the sword from his opponent’s hand.
Starla throws her left weapon and sends her opponent to the ground before her weapon comes back and she turns to the next opponent with a right slash across the arm and a front kick to the stomach; she stumbles back after performing the kick and lands in the arms of a Glacieroid, but quickly gets away and spirals with a straight punch; her weapon pierces through and the Glacieroid falls on its back. She takes off running towards the enemy in front of her and slides under its arm as it goes for a right punch and then slashes it in the back with her right blade, brings both weapons together and channels her powers through them to create an intensive beam of light like the light going through a magnifying glass and melts the Glacieroid instantly.
Alex performs a double back flip when the Glacieroid he faces swings from the left and then pulls out his laser blaster, aims for the right arm, the chest, and the leg before he rushes up, switches his weapon to chain mode and slashes through the midsection.
By that time, the C.A.C.T.U.S. was up and running; the ring-like shapes extended from the egg shaped area and made more flat cone shapes similar to the shape of a Nuclear reactor; on the tops of those were lights that flashed in red, green, yellow, blue; all the colors of the rainbow as they shot a beam into the air in a four-sided pyramid shape above Bear-ometer and then shoot into the air like a beacon. After they reach the eye of the storm, the clouds started to separate slowly; as the clouds vanished, so did the wind, the rain, and thunder; all the debris gradually began to fall, and the force field surrounding Bear-ometer vanished.
Celsior knew he was once again defeated as the rangers summon the WASP stinger to finish off his monster; so he retreated.
Alex then accompanies Max, Willis, Phoebe, and Starla back to the mansion, where Samuel had just made a startling discovery; he had recruited a master thief onto his team.
“I should’ve gone with my gut instincts that not let you join,” Samuel said, directing his statement at Alex.
“What’d I do?”
“I wondered how General Creed was able to steal my designs since day one; and then I found a bit of evidence on one of the security cams; one I had put in place just in case a master thief such as yourself found a way to disable the other cameras. Here’s what it picked up.”
The security camera that was hidden inside of a smoke detector outside of the vault managed to catch a glimpse of Alex’s face just as he exits with a bag full of Samuel’s blueprints.
“As of now, you are off this team.”
“But dad…”
“Since that weapon is technically mine, I’d like to ask you to hand over the Scorpion Saber.”  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 11
CinePhilia part 1

It was a warm, sunny Thursday afternoon when Samuel took a ride in his limo on the way home from some charity fundraiser. Samuel was in the mood for fast food, so he asked the driver to stop at Burger King.
Not too far from his location, there was a girl; Caucasian, blonde, blue eyes, blue sleeveless top, dark blue jeans, and a black jacket carrying a brown backpack. She was running from a bunch of thugs; most of them black or Latino in orange, red, or green vests, gray, long sleeve shirts, beany caps in their heads and cargo pants.
She ran for a several blocks towards where Samuel was and then led them into an alleyway, where she proceeded to climb a fire escape; she bounces off the wall and leaps at the bottom rung; pulling it down with her weight as she continued to climb. She takes the stairs all the wall up to the top and ran across the roof until she reaches a large gap and leaps towards one of the power cables; causing it to snap, she swings down, swerving in between the cars on the busy street below while her pursuers stopped just short of the ledge and watched her get away.
They move down the adjacent fire escape and maintain pursuit; meanwhile, Caitlin, after making it down to street level, looks behind her for just a second and bumps into the hood of a cop car.
The officer on the passenger side spilled his coffee, “Aw what the hell…?” he said with anger. He and his partner look up.
“Hey, isn’t that…”
Caitlin ran off before the guy could recognize her.
“Hey, wait…!” he gets out of the driver seat while his partner cleans himself up and follows the girl, who leads him through a Chinese restaurant, through the kitchen with the cooks screaming and throwing things as they pass through.
Caitlin comes to a chain link fence, but instead of running at it, she hops onto the dump, free-runs along the wall to get over it; the cop stops and shoots the lock before proceeding forward. The two of them move out of the alley and out into traffic; Samuel’s limousine was there as Caitlin passes by with the cop on her tail; the 2nd cop immediately comes around the corner.
“Lemme out here thanks…” Samuel leaves his meal behind in its paper sack in the backseat and as soon as he put on foot out of the door, his driver asks.
“What about your burger?”
“Just tell Bradshaw to heat it up for me when I get back, okay?”
“Well at least tell me where you’re going.”
“To catch a thief…”
“You gonna embarrass the police?” the driver pauses when Samuel slams the door. “Let’em do their job; you do yours!”
While the cops chase the girl head on, Samuel tries to head her off at the past. He goes around the block, zigzagging through foot traffic, and jumping over random dogs that got in his way; meanwhile, the girl, who managed to evade the police, ends up in the clutches of the thugs from earlier.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Surprised to see us…?”
“Thought you could get, didn’t you?”
From that point on, Caitlin said to herself “no more fighting.” She dropped the bag and prepares to fight.
Samuel stood back and watched as she handled her opponents with precision and the skill of a green belt in martial arts.
Her opponents grew tired of getting beat up and decided to play dirty; that’s when Samuel stepped in. he grabs a hold of the bottle one of the thugs was going to use to bash the girl with and says, “Now that’s not very nice.”
With a grunt as a warning, Samuel’s opponent strikes with the other hand; signaling him to respond with a shin kick and an elbow to the shin; with him down, another thug grabs Samuel in a choke hold, which makes Samuel respond with a punch to the side followed by a sweep kick and a kick to the jaw. Samuel then unhooks his sword; with the case still on, he whacks one guy in the ribs and slaps him in the chin before he rotates 45 degrees and smacks one of the others in the crotch and makes him sing soprano. As another guy comes up behind, he elbows him in the chest, which pushes him back against the fence.
“Let’s get outta here, man…”
“Don’t think this is over, Caitlin. We’ll get you yet.”
Caitlin turns to Samuel and says, “I dunno who you are, but thanks for your help.” She then turns around to pick up the bag. “I’ll be on my then as well.”
Samuel reaches for the bag as she does and says, “Not so fast. That bag… stays with me.”
“Look, if you want half, all ya gotta do is ask.”
“I don’t want half; this money is going back to its rightful owner.”
“Like hell it is…” Caitlin Lashes out a left and Samuel ducks; she and Samuel tug on the bag back and forth, back and forth until it flies out of their hands and lands on a nail sticking from the fence.
Caitlin throws a frontal kick, but Samuel grabs her leg and pushes it to the side. Caitlin then jabs with her right and Samuel leans back and lunges forward with a left punch, which Caitlin stops with her palm. As she pulls upward and puts pressuring on Samuel, which causes him to kneel, Samuel reaches with his other hand, grabs her wrist and twists; making her release her grip as he gets to his feet and swings with his left; Caitlin blocks with her elbow and aims low with a punch to the kidneys from her other hand and follows with a frontal kick to the chest; Samuel quickly grabs her by the leg and brings her down with him.
“You fight well…” Samuel said with her on top of him.
Caitlin gets off of him with disgust and stands in her fighting stance awaiting his next move when the two cops finally show up.
“Freeze!” the two of them said, guns pointed.
Meanwhile, at the mansion, Max and the others enter the command center to check and see if Celsior, Farenhart, or any of their other enemies were up to no good.
“There seems to be no activity on the scanners,” Phoebe answered.
“Why does today have to be so BORING?!” Alex answered.
“I, for one, am glad we don’t have to fight any monsters; gives us time to ourselves to do something even more fun.”
“Like what?” Alex asked.
“How about a movie?” Phoebe suggested.
“What’s playing…?” Max asks.
Phoebe looks up the listings on screen.
“You know they have a newspaper for this sort of thing,” MEGAN replied.
“Says here they’re shooting a movie up in Fremont and they’re looking for extras.”
“Maybe this might be a cool learning experience for Starla. She can find out how movies are made.”
“I know a bit about some of Earth’s cultures and stuff; I’ve seen movies.”
“Which ones?”
“Casablanca, the Last Dragon, escape to witch mountain, Mortal Kombat, that one movie about this kid, ‘Ferris Bueller’…”
“‘Ferris Bueller’s Day off’ was a good one.” Phoebe replied.
“So was Casablanca.”
Phoebe, Max, and Starla all stare at Willis to make him feel embarrassed.
“What…? It made me cry.” He answered.
“I’m more of a 90’s person; that’s when I started watching,” Max said.
Phoebe turns her attention back to the screen, “Says here they’re making an American ninja movie of some kind.”
“I bet Cameron and Christi would be perfect for it.”
“I thought you two wanted to forget them…”
“It’s difficult to forget two evil space ninjas that constantly beat your face in during every encounter,” Max said, rubbing his cheek to ease the pain.
When they arrive at the address posted in the news article Phoebe read, Starla and Phoebe were the first to audition. The scene takes place on a set meant to resemble a rooftop in some city. They had a sprinkler system set in place to simulate an actual rainstorm. Starla was surrounded by ninja in dressed in black with a red belt tied around their waist, swords mounted on their backs and their side. There was also a man behind them holding an umbrella. He was white, muscular, and rugged. He was wearing a black leather jacket and blue jeans and had a scar on his left cheek.
The co-director yells “Action!”, the sprinkler system starts and the cameras roll.
“You had done well in your first assignment, Akiho.” Thunder and lightning strikes after he makes his statement. He gestures one of the ninjas to bring forth their prisoner; Phoebe was brought out from the shadows in white robe. She had her hands bound behind her back and a leash around her neck. “Now it is time for your next task. She betrayed the clan and must be punished.”
Starla declines the weapon a single ninja had presented her with, “I’d prefer to use my weapon if you don’t mind.”
“By all means…”
The ninja drops Phoebe on her knees and she holds her head down. With great hesitation, Starla holds the katana over Phoebe’s neck; thoughts ran through her mind as she flashes back to the fake memories of her and Phoebe’s character and how good of friends they used to be in the past. The thought of executing her best friend was unthinkable; so she takes aim at Phoebe’s captor and with one clean strike to the neck, he began gushing blood.
“What are you doing?” the man asked as he watched with his own eyes the sight of Starla freeing Phoebe from her bonds. “Kill her!” he shouts slowly.
Soon, Starla had every ninja up on the rooftop with her coming at her with swords and ninja stars; some of the ones that passed by and broke the skin, Starla realized to be real. She became confused, but still managed to stay focused on keeping alive. She grabbed Phoebe and they both took cover behind an air duct. “Phoebe. Something’s wrong here. Their weapons are real.”
“I know they feel that way, but I can assure you…” Phoebe paused after she saw Starla’s wound.
“We need to get out of here.”
“Lead the way.”
She takes a hold of Phoebe and generates a wall of light big enough to shield them from incoming fire as they jump off the platform and into the pool below.
Max and Willis rush over.
“What happened? I don’t remember that in script.”
“They were using real weapons up there; we almost got skewered.”
Willis speaks to the director, who comes down off of the set and removes his leather jacket and folds his umbrella. “Hey, buddy, what’s going on here? You nearly killed them.”
“Well that’s the idea.” He responds.
“What?” Willis asked.
“Well didn’t you read the title? This movie’s called ‘Gaia Ranger Assassination’.” He trades his human form for a monster with a head of a hamster in a gray vest with white pinstripes, white shirt, and black pants; his crew, the extras that were playing the ninjas, they shed their disguises.
“Konglatons…” Phoebe said.
“Allow me to introduce myself, I am your direction, Cine-Mike; and this is the final cut.”
The camera focuses on the rangers; one of the Konglatons steps in front of it with a clapboard and snaps it. Instantly, the rangers were teleported from where they stood.
Meanwhile, Samuel visits the police station where Caitlin was being held. With special permission, he was given time alone with her in the interrogation room. He slams a file down on the table and proceeds to circle her. “That’s a very impressive file; armed robbery, assault, arson. I’m surprised you haven’t added murder onto your record.”
She didn’t respond that time.
“You don’t say much do you?”
She still doesn’t answer.
“You know something, I bet your mother and father would be ashamed of you if they saw what you have become.”
“They’re dead; leave them out of this!” she slams her palms on the table just before attempting to lunge at Samuel, who had just sat down. Shortly after she did, the cops that were standing in the corners of the room make their way over.
“Easy fellas; she’s cool. We’re cool… aren’t we?” Samuel asked Caitlin.
Caitlin sits back down in her seat with her hands on the table.
“I wasn’t lying… when I said you were a great fighter; better than your friends, I must say. With more training, you could possibly kick my a**. Now, I could…”
“Training?”
“Yeah, training. You are too obvious when you do your moves. I could see them coming a mile away. I can help you. I’ll post your bail if you come back with me and consider joining my team, Operation W.A.S.P.”
“After reading my file, you still want me?”
“I’m more interested with where you’re going than where you’ve been. Think of this as an opportunity to turn your life around; be a part of something bigger.”
Samuel and Caitlin walk out of the station together. Caitlin walks away only to have Samuel call out to her and ask, “So now what, you just gonna go back ripping off convenient stores and forget everything that previously transpired, is that it?” he approaches her. “I had expected more from you. Seeing what you could do, you were meant to do more in life than this. You could use your skills to help people.”
“Look, you got the wrong girl, uh….”
“Samuel; my name is Samuel.”
“Samuel. You got the wrong girl; I’m no hero.”
“Like hell you aren’t. Looking at you, I can tell you weren’t always this mean-spirited, lowly street thug.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I’ve seen your type before. C’mon, just give it a try; and if you don’t like the job, you can just quit; how about that?”
“Alright, fine.”
“Great, but first thing’s first. You must be starving. Wherever you wanna go, it’s my treat.”
Back on the movie set, Max appears in his black jacket, black pants, and red shirt; the red stripe missing from the jacket. He rolls up his right sleeve to see the Pill Bug armor attached to it. He looks at it and then his surroundings. He was inside of a museum with beige walls, lights on every other wall as well as glass cases with various priceless artifacts; a dark green vase with Egyptian Hieroglyphs, a bronze statue of a dog-like figure with tentacles on its face and spikes over its body, black spear with a golden tip and so on. The floor of the room was littered with the bodies of the guards, but there was no sign of the thing that killed them.
“This is my mythical creature movie. You got by the name of Darkboy. You’re hunting a monster known as the Goulehg; it is what killed all who you see before you; roll camera!” the cameras were rolling, but they, the microphones, the director and his crew were nowhere to be seen once the action started.
Max takes out his laser pistol and cautiously roams the room looking for the beast, even though he had no idea what the monster looked like or if it was even still in the room. Behind the fifth pillar, Max finally finds the creature. It was green and black and had a cloak on that you would see on wizards in a movie about sorcery and all manner of mythical creatures such as goblins, trolls, etc. the beast had the lower half shaped like human, a demonic face with a toothy grin and spikes all over it’s the top of its head, and a large, black, scaly tail, which rain from the back of its head and down the length of its body.
“Kitchen’s closed for the night, ugly. I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”
The Goulehg stops munching on the corpse of the museum guard, gets up and slowly turns around.
“That’s a face only a mother would love. Wait, scratch that, not even your own mother could love a face so hideous.”
The Goulehg strikes and knocks the gun from Max’s hand as he takes aim; causing Max to block with his left, only to find his pill bug armor wouldn’t switch arms; the Goulehg cuts through his sleeve and Max bashes it repeatedly in the head with his right arm, then grabs it by the neck and slams it into the pillars and the glass cases before throwing him to the ground. Just as he raises his foot to perform a curb-stomp, the beast sweeps his leg with its arm and Max drops onto his back. Max manages to grab his gun as the Goulehg gets up, grabs him by the foot, swings him around and into pillars and then throws him at the entrance to the room.
“Alright, big ugly, playtime’s over.” Max follows him around the room, firing shots that miss until he finally gets him at the far end of the room. Approaching him, he picks him up with his left hand as he cocks back his right arm, ready to punch; one was all it took to send the beast flying clear across the room and out the window. “Not getting away that easily,” Max muttered as he took pursuit.
Down in the alleyway, Max looks around for the beast, who was nowhere to be seen until he hears the sound of metal scraping against the concrete. He turns to see one of the dumpsters sliding towards him. He was too late to react as it squishes him against the wall of the adjacent building.
Thinking he had defeated Max, the Goulehg walks away; Max pushes back on the dumpster and gets the monster’s attention.
“Hey, junk-face. Trash day’s tomorrow.”
The Goulehg runs at Max as Max runs at it; next thing you know, they’re wrestling each other into traffic; drivers start honking their horns as they swerve, trying to avoid them.
Meanwhile, Willis stands in a black sleeveless top and pants, a red cape, sunglasses, a silver helmet with wings and his Elephant Axe gripped firmly in both hands, at the wall of a palace with beige colored stone and reddish-orange rooftops. He looks off to the horizon as Trolls, Goblins, Giants, and all manner of mythical creatures run towards the castle with weapons in their hands and a means to start a war.
Again, the director, Cine-Mike, yells “action” before he, his crew, and the cameras disappear without warning.
Palace guards deploy to the bridge to defend against the incoming assault whilst Willis stood up high, watching.
“Njorth, what do we do? The men are getting slaughtered,” a woman in green dress and gold tiara asked Willis.
“Stay here and protect the king. If I am to fail, you’re his last line of defense.” Willis had been collecting comic books since his creation, so he knew what movie he was in and what to do. He flew down to the bridge and marched past the soldiers defending the palace with honor. His first opponent, a large, brown elf with a muscular build, large, ratty beard and wild hair dressed in tattered brown clothing and a club in his hand takes a swing and Willis holds his axe high in the air, summoning the power of lightning to strike him down. Willis’ next opponent, a large, green, bald-headed goblin with pimples all over his face and horns on its cheeks attacks with a sword; Willis blocks, then butts him in the head with the bottom of his axe and takes a small chunk out of him with one swing from the bladed side. His next opponent, another troll, races at him and Willis brings him down to his level with a swipe to the groin by his weapon. Once he bent forward, Willis lands a left hook and sends him over the ledge.
Willis lets his guard down just as a Giant bears down on him with both hands as a means to crush him; but Willis, thinking quickly, pushes back with the same amount of force his opponent applied. After he pushes its arms high enough, he gets out from under it as it smacks his palms back down on the concrete. He then turns his weapon sideways as swings around and around then finally swings it and hits the monster in the chin; the enemies rushing onto the bridge all retreat as they see the shadow on the ground get bigger.
At this time, Alex McLaren was up to his usual business; stealing rare and priceless gems to sell to the highest bidder. He was last seen descending via suspension cable from a heating vent into a room below where a diamond as big as his fist was being kept. It was surrounded bulletproof glass, laser webs, pressure plates in the floors, the works.
“Alex, are you there?” MEGAN’s voice asked in a muffled tone.
Alex picked up his communicator; the one Samuel forgot to ask for when he excommunicated him from the team. “Almost forgot I had this; MEGAN, what do you want? I’m busy.”
“Busy? Too busy to help out your fellow rangers? I realize Samuel kicked you off the team, but right now, you’re their only hope.”
“What trouble have they gotten themselves into this time?”
“Well, that I am uncertain of. They vanished from this dimension. There’s no trace of their signal anywhere, and I can’t hail them on their communicators.”
“Give me their last coordinates, I’ll check it out.”
“You can’t go like you are; you’ll get yourself killed. I strongly request you come in.”
“Is Samuel there? I don’t think he’d be too happy about me showing up on his doorstep.”
“Master Alex. It’s me, Bradshaw,” he interrupted. “Samuel is out of the house at the moment on private matters. It’s best that you come immediately. You’re right, he won’t be too happy about you being here, but now is the best time.”
“I’ll be there,” Alex hangs up and puts what he is doing on hold.
Meanwhile, it was noon time in her movie dimension when Phoebe awakens in a Saloon wearing a long sleeve, beige shirt, black vest, red scarf, brown pants, cowboy boots and a black hat. In front of her on the table was a large glass of whisky; yet she didn’t drink, at least not anymore after her wild nights of underage drinking back in her sophomore year of high school. Back then, she usually blacked out after downing a whole bottle and forgets the events that transpired, only to wake up in bed with another guy, whose name she couldn’t remember. She turns to the bartender, and asks, “What is this?”
“It’s what you ordered, miss; whiskey.”
Completely ignoring the fact that she swore off drinking forever, she replies, “Oh right, thanks.”
Suddenly, there came a voice from outside; it sounded like an angry buffalo ready to charge. It said, “You in there, Northwood?!”
Phoebe had no idea the voice was calling out to until she looked down at her sheriff’s badge. The name Pamela Northwood stared back at her from that glimmering brass star.
A white guy, huge, brown mustache, slanted eyes, long nose, brown jacket, with a hat to match, who looked through the window “I got you now, Northwood, you yellow-bellied varmint. You killed my brother and I’m here for revenge. Get out here, so we can settle this.”
It didn’t take much to coax her out of the Saloon. Phoebe was a rather adventurous woman and wasn’t afraid of any challenge. So she gets up from her chair, leaving her whiskey untouched, and she walks right out the front door plain and simple. “Your brother got what’s coming to him, Jed, and so will you.”
With hands at their holster ready to draw their weapon, they stand facing one another; fear in their eyes as they didn’t know which of them would make it out alive. On the count of three, they draw; Phoebe and Jedediah fire at almost the same time; but Jed’s shot hits. After Phoebe was down, he laughed as he turned to his men before goes to Phoebe’s presumably dead body to confirm.
She kicks the gun from his hand and quickly springs to life. She turns to each of Jed’s men and nails them all through the heart, but when she got to Jed, she realized she was empty.
Jed knocks the gun from her hand and proceeds to punch her in the stomach, but after he made contact, it felt like he was fighting a brick wall; or something close to it.
Phoebe unbuttons her jacket and what Jed sees is a large, metal plate, king like the one you’d see on a potbelly stove; Phoebe may be the adventurous one, but her character must’ve been the cautious one. She takes off the makeshift bulletproof vest and throws it to the ground. She then grabs Jed by the shoulder and winds back her other arm for a punch. She shoots her arm forward twice; second time, punching even harder and knocking him into the water trough.
The water literally started to boil as Jed got angrier and angrier; you could see steam coming off his face as he lifts his head out and turns to Phoebe, hand at his thigh; Phoebe draws before he could even get the chance to, and sends a bullet straight through his head.
With Phoebe and the others still stuck, it was up to either Alex or Caitlin; Caitlin was with Samuel at her favorite restaurant, the Chez Panisse on Shattuck ave. in Berkeley, California; Alex had returned to Samuel’s home where he finds Bradshaw waiting for him.
“First thing’s first, master Alex, here’s your Scorpion Saber back. Second, which MEGAN explained already, you go up against these kinds of creatures, you’ll get yourself killed. It’s lucky you’re even still alive with no superpower.”
“Well, Samuel was going to give me one, but his team needed me, and I rushed out; and also, I wasn’t able to get one when I got back, because of the events that unfolded, you know…”
“Ah yes, your most recent heist at Samuel’s office…”
“Look, if you’re going to judge me…”
“I wouldn’t dare, sir.”
“May I remind you both that time is of the essence?”
“MEGAN’s right, master Alex, Samuel may be home soon; and you’ve got former team members to save. Please step over here.”
Onboard Ling Khan’s ship orbiting around earth, Ling Khan was busy taking a nap when his daughter, Sapphira barged in in a foul mood.
“Honestly, dear, haven’t you heard of knocking?”
“Sorry, father. It’s just I need a favor is all.”
“If it’s those new boots you’ve seen in the paper, I’m working on it. Daddy’s got important things to take care of; like trying to conquer the earth.”
“First off, those boots are so last month, and second, I’ve got much more important endeavors I want to pursue. I wanna have my name up in lights. Sapphira the movie star!”
“Uhm…”
“Please, father, can you talk to Cine-Mike, and pull a few strings, please?”
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”
Meanwhile at the restaurant, Samuel and Caitlin’s order had arrived at their table. As they dig into their meal, Samuel starts off the conversation by asking Caitlin some personal questions.
“So what happened to your parents?”
“My father was killed in a bank robbery; my mother in a car accident. They both died when I was only 5. I didn’t have anyone else to live with at the time, except my uncle and I didn’t wanna go there, but they made me.”
“Who’s ‘they’? Child services, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
“How come you didn’t stay with them? Why take to the streets?”
“My cousin and my uncle’s girlfriend wanted to make into something I’m not, so I decided ‘the hell with it’ and got outta there.”
“So you’ve been on your own since…”
“Almost a year.”
“Hard to imagine with the record you have hanging over you.”
“Okay, enough about me; what’s your story?”
“My story? Well, there’s not much to tell. I didn’t know my parents. I was abandoned on Bradshaw’s doorstep, Bradshaw is my butler. The previous owners had died before I had a chance to know them either and Bradshaw raised me like a son.”
“Why’s he still your butler then?”
“It’s been about the only thing he knew how to do and I didn’t want to deny him of it.”
“Right…”
“He’s been my best friend since as long as I can remember. I treat him with the utmost respect and he does the same.”
“I was actually referring to your wealth. How did you accumulate it?”
“That I’m not sure of. When I hit 18 years old, the money was just… waiting for me, and I put it to good use in starting a business.”
“How much was it?”
“Ten thousand dollars.”
Having heard that, Caitlin dropped her fork back onto her plate in shock. All she had to say was, “Wow.”
“To me, that was… not much; but it was a start,” Samuel chuckled.
Moments later, Ling Khan arrives on set while Cine-Mike was having lunch. He and a couple of Konglatons were seen at the buffet table. Cine-Mike was putting Spanish rice, rolls, Jell-O, and a hotdog with everything onto a paper plate as Ling Khan approaches the table.
“Ling Khan, so nice of you to honor us with your presence, what can I help you with today, my master?”
“I have but a small favor to ask of you.”
“Anything for you, your lordship.”
“You know Sapphira, right? Well I promised her a role in one of your films, can you help me out?”
“I dunno… how are her acting skills? Because I can’t just hire anybody.”
“Alright then, I tried asking nicely; so lemme put it this way. I’m ORDERING you to put her in a film! You can either comply or the only rolling you’ll be doing is on a hamster wheel, you got that?!”
“Yes sir…” Cine-Mike said nervously. “Even better, sir, how about I put her in the rangers’ films?”
“Fine, whatever; just make it happen.”
“Hey, somebody get me the scripts, I need to make a few changes.”
An unknown crewman hands over the scripts for Max, Willis, Phoebe, and Starla’s movies over to Cine-Mike, who after taking them and saying “thanks”, looks up at the crewman, who turned out to be Alex McLaren in disguise. He pushes Cine-Mike into one of the trailers with a swift punch to the chest and makes him drop the scripts.
“You’re welcome…”
“Who are you?” he doesn’t give Alex a chance to answer, “Doesn’t matter; auditions are over. Someone escort this gentleman off the set, please.”
Alex looks to his right and is immediately clocked with a left hook, which spirals him into another of the Konglatons, who surrounded him, after he stops spinning, he bounces off of the monster’s chest and flies at the one that him with a punch to the top of the head. As he lands, he immediately blocks the punch of a Konglatons standing on his right and lands a kick to the side of the knee. In doing so, the Konglaton kneels, but Alex keeps on spiraling and comes around with a kick to the face, then continues spiraling until he pulls a 90 degree turn, and then reaches for his sidearm. With one shot, the Konglaton was down. 90 degrees to his left, a Konglaton comes at him with both hands coupled together; Alex takes several steps back and the beast puts a dent in the concrete floor; with its hands stuck in the ground, Alex uses his powers and takes the form of a gorilla in order to fight his enemies on their level. He pulls the Konglaton’s hands out of the hole, grips them tightly, and proceeds to swing the beast around like a wrecking ball as he knocks all of them down and then finally releases his opponent, who completely obliterates the buffet table.
“Ugh, what a waste of food…” Cine-Mike said.
As Alex beats his chest, three Konglatons rush him in attempt to tackle him to the ground; Alex uses the fact that two of them have him by the arms to lift him up and perform a double leg drop kick to the one in the middle, and then puts his feet back down and uses his strength to bash the other together get; they release their grip before Alex’s powers wear off. Alex calls forth his Scorpion Saber, as he slides under the Konglaton’s legs, he latches onto him with his Scorpion Saber and yanks it forward; making him do a flip before landing on his face. While on his back, Alex fires his gun to the right, and then quickly rotates left after the Konglaton goes down. He then gets up with his Scorpion saber in its primary mode and blocks his opponent comes at him with a right punch.
“Whoa whoa stop! I’ve seen enough, kid. You got potential.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Save some of that emotion for the film, because I’ve got a part for you.”
“I’m not much of an actor.”
“Are you kidding? After what I just saw, you’re phenomenal; roll camera!”
As the camera starts, Alex is sucked through the lens as if he was going through a black hole in space.  

[Samuel Grant]

chapter 11 part 2
Cine-philia

Samuel returns home thirty minutes after Alex had left to fight Cine-Mike and free the other to find out what Bradshaw did. “You WHAT?!” he exclaims.
“Well, you were unreachable and the rangers were in trouble.”
“Bradshaw, I kicked him off the team for a reason.”
“Yet, it seems you’re hiring her for the exact same reason you fired Alex.”
“That was different, she committed only minor infractions; Alex committed a major felony. He stole my blueprints to give General Creed, my rival. That is unforgivable, Bradshaw.”
“Uh, guys? Can we focus? Bradshaw, where are they now?”
MEGAN answers in place of Bradshaw, “We have yet to determine their current whereabouts. Whoever is doing this must have an energy field in place to block their communicator signal.”
“But we are certain of where they were last located. We sent Alex to check it out, but he hasn’t returned either.”
In the “Darkboy” movie universe, Max’s search for the Goulehg monster takes him to China. There was a graveyard outside of the town where he and his fellow agents and his superior search for a grave belonging to a woman named Ni Chang; the number of grave was 14. There were too many for them to check them all, but Max wouldn’t give up.
“I’m gonna find somebody to give us directions…” he says, patting his superior on the back before he wanders the cemetery.
In Willis’ dimension, all invading forces had been defeated, except for one. It was the toughest enemy of them all. It was big, muscular, and red; not just with anger, I mean literally its skin was blood red. It had on only a pair of blue, stretchy pants.
Every soldier that took it on was easily defeated.
“What manner of beast is that?” Willis said as he and it make eye contact.
It huffed and it puffed as he shrugged its shoulders repeatedly at the sight of Willis standing off in the distance. With a roar as a warning, Willis stands his ground for a bit as the beast charges at him like a bull that’s seen red; then Willis sticks his axe out and performs a sweep of both its legs. The ground literally shook after he fall face first into the dirt. It got up as quickly as it fell and, with is left hand, takes a swing at Willis, who immediately ducks. Shortly after the second swing, Willis throws punch after punch to the monster’s abdomen before it backhands him the face and sends him tumbling backwards several feet. Willis gets up and shakes his head a couple times before he calls his weapon to him. Gripping it by the center, he swings around at half the speed of sound and points it straight out. In doing so, he flies at the monster by the pull of the weapon and pushes him back once he made contact.
His opponent then couples his hands together and performs a hammer fist, which Willis blocks with his axe before he spins it and takes a chunk out of his right side; the wound heals up just as quickly as it was made. The monster then performs a back fist, which Willis blocks yet again before he bashes him in the chest, turns his weapon upside down and butts him in the chin.
It was now night in Phoebe’s world; she and Starla are in jail. Well, Starla was while Phoebe talked to her through the bars. Starla was in a blueish-purple robe with red tips on the collars and Chinese symbols with black hair and a long, braided ponytail; Phoebe had met Starla earlier that
“I’ve been wandering the desert for what seemed like day. I don’t know how I got there or what brought me here. All I knew was to keep going west. I went over a mountain and then came down the other side to see a kid being chased by Indians,” Starla explained. “I rescued him and his tribe accepted me as one of their own. They gave me a horse and I rode here on it, where I see you in some Saloon; you know the rest.”
“Yeah I do…” Phoebe flashes back to earlier, when Starla’s appearance causes a bar fight.
Starla interrupts her train of thought, “Phoebe? Have you had any luck contacting Samuel or Bradshaw?”
“None at all; the communicator doesn’t seem to work in different dimensions.” Phoebe then gets the keys to unlock Starla’s cell.
Back in the command center
“So this Alex person… he was the new member before me?”
“That’s right,” Bradshaw answered.
“I don’t see how I’m any different from him; stealing is stealing no matter how important the item is. Why not give him a second chance?”
“You know I don’t think it’s Alex that your brother hates, miss Rose; it’s the fact he worked for General Creed. That’s the person he truly hates. He and Creed had a history; a very rough history, mind you.”
“If I may interrupt, Bradshaw, I think I’ve found something.” MEGAN brings up on screen the footage of Cine-Mike as his crew snaps the rangers into their movie dimensions. “It’s not just the camera itself that transports them. I think the clapboard is the activator. If the rangers can get a hold of that, they’ll be able to get back out.”
“Now if there was only a way to relay this information to them,” Caitlin replied.
Samuel rushes back into the room moments later after he had just went his warehouse to pick up something, “I think I’ve got a way for us to peek inside different dimensions; establish a line of communication with the others.” He holds up a miniaturized, purple and white satellite dish mounted on the handle of a laser weapon. “It was intended to be a listening device, I made dozens of them for the CIA and Interpol to use, but they decided to go with another company other than mine. I never got what their name was… but anyway, I’ve modified it so it relay signals instead of receiving them.”
“That’s great, Samuel. We also found a way of getting them out.”
“MEGAN brought it to our attention. All the rangers need to do is seize Cine-Mike’s clapboard. We are uncertain how it works. It may instantly transport them out or send them to another dimension.”
“Well I’ll go find out.”
“Caitlin you can’t.”
“Why not?”
“You’re going to need your weapon and a superpower. The superpower will allow you to heal rapidly in battle; your weapon will offer alternative means of disposing of your enemies.”
“What power will I get?”
“It’s hard to say. The machine is a random selector. It’s a 100% guarantee that it will give you rapid healing, but as for a power you can use on your enemies, that part is uncertain. My boys, Max and Willis, have super strength and super speed; Phoebe has the power of invisibility; Starla didn’t really need to use this machine, because she was already born with her powers. What power did Alex get, Bradshaw?”
“I’ve monitored his progress at his last known location and it is safe to assume he has the ability to morph into other animals and use their traits to his advantage.”
“That’s… awesome I guess…”
“Will it hurt?”
“Not at all. It’s a safe, harmless procedure; does kinda tickle though.”
Caitlin stands on a platform in between two 7ft tall, black poles that were half an inch in circumference with her arms down at her sides and immediately a transparent rainbow of light scans her body up and down slowly. The procedure takes 15 minutes to do.
Alex awakens in a large drain pipe with a snowboard on his back and a spiky, golden skull with two green gems for eyes clutched under his left armpit
“Roll Camera, Cue explosion!” after saying that, a huge roaring flame makes its way through the drain pipe and flushes Alex out.
Alex takes a leap of faith, removes the snowboard from his back and places underneath him before he lands on the slope below.
“CUE THE AVALANCHE!” Cine-mike bellowed through his megaphone.
A ton of snow starts pouring and chasing after our hero like a pack of hungry lions, while he maneuvered the icy terrain of his arch enemy’s mountainous lair doing all sorts of tricks he picked up from a snowboarding game. A quarter of the way down the mountain, Alex looks off to his right as a black helicopter approaches. He immediately recognized the dark-haired Caucasian female with a braided ponytail, dressed in an aquamarine sleeveless top and brown booty shorts, who was hanging out of the side door, as Sapphira before she started shooting at him with a R700 sniper rifle. Alex proved to be too fast for her as he ducked and dodged every shot while constantly swerving to avoid the trees and embedded rocks that got in his way.
“You’re gonna have to do better than that, sweetheart!” he yelled. Once he took his eyes off the chopper and faced forward, he is surprised as he sees a low-hanging rock formation in his path. He immediately ducks. He looks back, hoping the avalanche had seized, but it didn’t.
“Get in front of him!” the woman shouts to the pilot; he gets in position in front of the ledge and she takes her rifle and once again locks on target; anticipating this, Alex holds the skull up in front of his own face.
Alex comes at her full speed, and goes straight through one door and out the other. As soon as his rival snatches the skull, Alex takes his Scorpion Saber and latches onto the rail on the underside, then swings back around and kicks both her and the skull out of the chopper. They both get into a fistfight the whole way down while the sheet of snow that was following Alex makes it to the bottom before they do and offers them a cushioned fall.
At first, when Sapphira got up out of the indentation she made in the snow, Alex was nowhere to be found; but as she reached for the skull, Alex’s hand emerged from his icy grave. He feels around for something to grab onto and grips the golden skulls just as Sapphira does. She ends up pulling him up out of the snow while they both tugged back and forth like a game of tug-o-war.
Sapphira kicks the skull out of her and Alex’s hands and into the air; temporarily distracted, Alex allows Sapphira to kick him to the ground while she waits to catch the skull as it descends; Alex shoots the skull and it lands behind her as he gets up. As Sapphira reaches for it, he wraps his Scorpion saber around her wrist and pulls her back; she spirals and Alex swiftly punches her in the breast and then rolls across her back after she kneels and grabs the skull; Sapphira turns quickly and attacks him with a white ball of light, which impacts and sends him flying over to the other side of the object. Getting to his feet, Alex immediately transforms into a Billy goat and rams Sapphira into the stomach. With her on her back, Alex kicks the skull into the air with his hind legs and reverts to his human form to catch it as it lands.
Sapphira approaches with a butterfly kick; Alex steps back and Sapphira continues advancing on him with a sweep kick, a low punch to the stomach, and a spiraling back fist; meanwhile, Alex kept moving backwards and playing keep-away until he decides to go on the offensive. He performs a spiraling kick, which Sapphira dodges by ducking under as she sweeps him off his feet with her left arm. With him on his back, she summons her sword out of nowhere and proceeds to stab him; but Alex rolls and kicks her away before he leaps onto his feet. Sapphira, who then looks to the snow, turns to light and bounces across each snowflake on her way up to Alex and pops up to perform an uppercut, which causes Alex to drop the skull; but before it could hit the ground, Alex kicks it and snatches it out of the air; thinking quickly, he then removes his right arm from around it, stand in a horse stance and delivers a powerful punch to Sapphira’s stomach; she stumbles back a few yards, looks up at Alex, and grunts.
“Alright, this is getting old…” with that being said, Alex delivered the final strike. He slings his Scorpion saber around and deals several strikes before Sapphira could hit the ground in a fiery explosion.
A while later, she and Alex teleport back to Cine-Mike’s studio set.
“Your first role, you’re very first one and you mess it up! You’re lucky you’re Ling Khan’s daughter, otherwise I wouldn’t be giving you so many chances.” Cine-Mike said, furiously. “Cut the Demi-god film.”
Sapphira was now a redhead with black horns coming out the top of her head, who standing there in a red jacket, gold skirt, red pants, red cape, and gold slippers with a sword on her back that had a red ruby on the bottom of the hand. She stood behind an African-American male, mid-30’s, wearing mostly green and yellow with a crown consisting of long, golden horns, which curled at the top like a bug’s antennae. He was seen staring at a crystal ball as he controlled the beast Willis fought against, which was viciously beating him into the ground with its huge, hulking fists.
“You really should take it slow; I can feel your hold on the beast weakening with each strike.”
Despite her warning, he continued his senseless beating until he assumed Willis was dead and moved on.
With Willis down, all that remained of the palace guards rallied together to keep him from getting in; the more soldiers the monster beat, the weaker Sapphira’s control was getting until finally, the monster got his free will back.
Willis’ life was fading fast. He saw a hooded figure tower over him, which he presumed to be death himself. Fortunately for him, it was not; as his vision became clear again, the hooded, shadowy figure revealed herself to be Sapphira; Willis jumped with fright and Sapphira calmed him.
“Easy there, I’m not here to kill you. In fact, I have just denied death his prize; your soul.”
“Why are you helping me? You could’ve easily let me die.”
“If I had done that, the beast would still be running about freely with no one to stop him. It had tremendous power, Njorth. You’re the only one, who is a match for it.”
Just before Willis could say his line, his communicator beeps; “Willis? Willis, can you hear me?” Samuel’s voice called out. Willis head off into the distance, away from Sapphira, and picks up, “Hello?”
“Willis, finally, I’ve been trying to reach you as soon as Bradshaw told me. Are you okay?”
Cine-Mike blurts out, “What? Who’s interfering with my masterpiece?!”
“Willis, listen to me carefully. Cine-Mike’s clapboard; it’s your way out of here. See if you can get a hold of it.”
“I dunno how; Cine-Mike’s isn’t anywhere to be found.”
“Damnit, he must be in an alternate dimension or something. I’ll see if Caitlin can help you.”
“Who’s Caitlin?”
“This new girl I met earlier. She’s the newest member of the team.”
“You’re gonna replace Alex just like that?”
“Can we not get into this now?”
“Alright fine…”
“Besides, Bradshaw let him back on despite my decision.”
“Cut cut cut!” Cine-Mike shouted through a bullhorn. As soon as he said it, he makes himself visible to Willis in his dimension.
“Never mind, I see’em now.” Using his super speed, Willis rushes in, leaps at Cine-Mike’s crewmen and snatches the board from the Konglaton, who was holding it. With one clap of the board, Willis was instantly teleported out of this dimension and into another.
In Max’s world, he awakens in chains to find most of his men were dead; the two who remained were a Chinese male mid 20’s, black hair, wearing a blue jacket, jeans, and a black shirt; he was in chains as well off in the distance; the 2nd of Max’s teammates was a black woman, also mid-20’s, blonde, and wearing a green and yellow robe with Chinese writing; she was lying on a pedestal with a bald gentlemen standing in front of her, facing Max and reading from a book just before noticing Max had awakened.
Again, we see Sapphira in a different costume as she keeps an eye on the Chinese man, who was sitting on his butt in snow with his hands tied behind his back.
Without warning, Willis shows up.
“Willis? What are you…?”
“No time to explain,” Willis interrupted as he undid Max’s chains with his axe and then claps the board together; taking him and Max out of there.
At the same time, Cine-Mike gets another visit from Ling Khan requesting to be put in a movie. He whispers in his ear the particular genre he wanted and Cine-Mike makes it happen
Meanwhile Willis and Max arrive at Phoebe’s movie just as Starla was about to be hung. With a single shot, Willis breaks the rope seconds before her drop and lands her in the coffin below alive.
“That’s a wrap.” Willis said, just before clapping it, but just when our heroes thought they made it back to reality, they noticed something was out of whack.
“I don’t get it… shouldn’t we be home by now?”
“I know… it doesn’t make sense,” Phoebe answered.
“It says we’re in world five; there were only 4 the last time I checked.”
Just as they started wondering about her whereabouts, they heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from one of the skyscrapers. They turn and see Ling Khan dressed as giant gorilla hanging onto the Empire State Building with Phoebe in one hand.
As the clapboard strikes, Max, Willis, and Starla were now in airplanes on a black and white screen flying towards the building.
“I always love a good classic like King Kong…,” Ling Khan shouted with an evil laugh following.
As our heroes buzz around the building in their planes firing bullets at him, Ling Khan rotates around the bullet to avoid being shot and then finally climbs as high as he can go and beats his chest.
Willis flies in low, pulling a double spiral as he fired at the big ape.
“Willis, quit showing off…” Max answered over the radio.
“Chill, Max, I got this.”
Ling Khan climbs down, rotates clockwise and swats at Willis, hitting his left wing just barely.
“I’ll go after Phoebe; get her out of harm’s way…” Starla answered, swooping in on her location while the other distracted Ling for a bit.
Ling spots her right away and swats her right out of the sky.
Starla ejects, turns herself into light and beams onto the ledge where Phoebe was standing.
As the other fly in close firing their guns, Ling climbs back up to the top, spirals at them with a roundhouse kick, which they quickly evaded with barrel rolls.
Meanwhile on the ledge, Starla tries coaxing Phoebe to go with her.
“We can’t, Ling Khan’s got the clapboard, it’s our only way out; it’s stuck in his back via his fur.”
“Leave it to me; you find some way down off this building.” Starla turns back into light and flies up at Ling Khan at half the speed of sound. She grabs the clapboard out of his back and flies away.
Meanwhile, Max and the others deliver the final blow and knock Ling Khan off the empire state building, ending the movie.
Starla claps the board and they leave the black and white movie and enter reality to the sight of Alex and Caitlin as they were surrounded by Konglatons.
“About time you got here!” Alex answered.
“Where have you been?” Caitlin asked before using her laser vision on an enemy blasting him clear through a trailer.
“Last minute scene takes.”
A few minutes later, only Cine-Mike remained; Phoebe summons the WASP stinger to deliver the final blow.
The day was still not over. Cine-Mike may be defeated, but there is still one more opponent to face; and Alex must do this alone.
“What you did is still unforgivable, but that doesn’t mean I should deny you a second chance. I was angry when I found out it was you, who stole my designs and I’m sorry. I would like for you to rejoin the team.” Samuel extends his hand to Alex, who hesitates before he reaches out and shakes it.
“I extend my deepest apology and assure you that I won’t do it again.”
“See to it that you don’t. Anyway, guys, I would like to officially introduce you to our newest addition, Caitlin Rose. She’s my sister.”
“Nice to meet you, Caitlin,” Starla said.
“Sister?” Max asked.
“Not by blood, but I still consider her to be family.”
“I can tell that much, dad, it’s just… you mean to tell us she’s our aunt?” Willis asked.
“That is correct, boys.”  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 12
Love in Bloom

In the majestic outback of Australia, Cameron and Christi were driving along a desert road in a red jeep, heading towards moonlight. The air was still and they could hear various animals in the surrounding area. When they reach a large, red rock formation out in the middle of nowhere with a heart-shaped doorknob at the top, Cameron hoists Christi up on her shoulders, so she could turn it. Once a secret passage opened in front of them, Christi goes in first.
They wander down the corridor until reaching a round room. In the center, sitting on a pedestal, was a gold locket with an angel on the front holding heart shaped arrows.
“This is what we came here for; some rusty old locket in a hole in the ground?”
“It’s not just any old locket; this once belonged to Cupid.”
Meanwhile back in the United States; it is Valentine’s Day, our heroes help set up for the party being held at the Hearst gym at UC Berkeley.
It was nearly noon and Caitlin, Phoebe, Starla, and Samuel were only ¾ of the way done putting up pink and red streamers, balloons, and a silver disco ball.
“Remind again how I let you rope me into this?”
“Well, you needed a sparring partner to test out the new weapon Samuel gave you, remember?”
Caitlin and Phoebe flash back to early yesterday when they were out in the backyard; Phoebe had her weapon, the Mantis Boomerang; Caitlin had replaced her old weapon, the Rhino Hammer with a new one known as the Peacock fan-blades; like their name, they were designed after the tail of a peacock. They had a rounded off triangular tip; razor sharp to the touch
“If I help you out, you need to help me out with the decorations for the Valentine’s Day party, deal?”
“We got a deal.”
Out on the grass in the backyard, Caitlin and Phoebe stand at the ready; practice versions of their respective weapons in hand. Phoebe eggs Caitlin on, but she stands her ground and waits on Phoebe.
Phoebe slings her boomerang around as she shoots forward; Caitlin, with one fan behind her back and one out in front, blocks and immediately strikes with the other hand and misses; Phoebe had arched forward, allowing the blade to pass a couple inches away from her stomach as she attacks with her bare fist; Caitlin folds her right fan and slaps Phoebe on the wrist before she kicks her left leg forward and makes Phoebe kneel on her right knee. Phoebe aims for Caitlin’s waist and she grabs Phoebe’s weapon with both fans, pushes away and then slashes at Phoebe’s throat; she leans back and the blades pass by her neck at close range.
As Caitlin continues her attack, Phoebe gets back on her feet and backs away; waiting for the moment to strike, she blocks, kicks Caitlin back, bends her weapon and throws. Once she blocked, she became too distracted and didn’t see Phoebe as she came at her with a flying kick.
“Don’t remind me…”
“Ladies, let’s not dawdle,” Samuel answered. “We’re nearly finished.”
“This probably would go along faster if we had the boys here to help us.”
“Where are Max, Willis, and Alex anyway?”
“Well, Alex and Max are picking up the cake and organizing the catering for tomorrow’s event; I dunno where Willis is. He’s been avoiding me all day,” Samuel explained.
Cameron and Christi follow Willis across the street on his way to the jewelry store. They were disguised as a man who reminds you of a noble eagle. He has round brown eyes that are like two splotches of mud. His fine, straight, brown hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a bird's wing. He has a slender build. His skin is tanned. He has a wide forehead. His wardrobe is mysterious and severe, with a lot of red; and a woman with wide eyes the color of cold ashes. Her fine, curly, yellow hair is worn in a style that reminds you of the petals of a flower. She is very short and has a wide-hipped build. Her skin is nut-brown. She has thick eyebrows and wide feet. Her wardrobe is revealing and simple, with a completely green color scheme. They stop at the coffee house just outside the jewelry store as Willis wanders around looking at the display cases he determines what he should give Starla as a present.
“Can I help you find anything?” asked a black skin, brunette woman, late 40’s, wearing a burgundy dress, which went halfway down her lower legs.
After eying the one inch egg-shaped emerald chain in the display case at the back for a while, Willis made his decision. “I’ll take this one.”
She removes it from the mannequin inside the case and Willis follows her towards the cash register. “Shall I giftwrap it for you?” she asked just as she rang up the item.
“Might as well; it’s for a special occasion.”
On the way out, the yellow-haired girl bumps into Willis on his way out and drops box similar to Willis’ at his feet.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, miss…”
“No, it’s quite alright. I should watch where I’m going.”
Not watching what he was doing, Willis picks up the woman’s box by mistake and the two go their separate ways.
“Christi! C’mon, I’ve got the perfect plan; but it’s gonna require the locket.”
Christi hands the box to her.
“That’s strange, I could’ve sworn I wrapped it with a green bow.” After opening it, Cameron then notices it’s not the locket; but the green pendant Willis was planning on giving to Starla, “Christi?”
“Yeah?”
“Where is it?”
“What do you mean? Isn’t that it right there?”
“See for yourself…”
“Oh my god, I think Willis and I switched by accident.”
“Willis?”
“The boy I’ve been crushing on; the Gaia Ranger.”
“Oh him. Seriously, I dunno what you see in that boy…”
“We’re meant to be together.”
“Why you always fall for the enemy, I’ll never know…”
“Will you give it a rest; what’s this plan of yours anyway?”
“I was thinking; maybe we should use the power of the locket to enslave the entire world through love.”
“What’ll that accomplish?”
“Think about it. We’ll have men showering us with gifts. Some of those gifts may even be jewels of the Karma Lunari.”
“Brilliant idea.”
“But we have to get the locket back first.”
They look all around, hoping Willis hadn’t gotten very far, but he was nowhere in sight.
“Where’d he go?” Christi asked.
“You go look for him; I’ll get everything prepped for our big debut.”
She looks all over for Willis, who at the time was hiding in plain sight. It was a game of cat-and-mouse; every time she would turn around, Willis would pop up out of nowhere and vanish just as quickly when Christi turned in his direction. But then five minutes later, she catches up to him at the Hearst Gym.
“Finally, Willis, I’ve was worried. Where did you go?” Starla asked.
“Just had to pick up a lil something,” he said with a vague response.
“Like what?”
“It’s a surprise; you’ll just have to wait.”
Caitlin’s communicator beeps. “Hello?” she answers.
It was Alex on the other end.
“It’s Alex; he says the restaurant is on the way here with the food.”
“Oh s**t. I forgot to check if the cafeteria has enough room in storage.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Alright fine; give you something to do since you skipped out on the decorations.” Samuel said to Willis.
Just seconds after they leave for the cafeteria, Phoebe heads for the restrooms and Caitlin goes outside to take a break; leaving Starla to finish up the last of the decorating. Starla’s curious as to what was inside of the box, so she takes a peek while no one was around. When she saw the locket inside all gold with heart shaped arrows in a crisscross pattern and a ruby inside of an oval shape, which made it resemble a human eye, she set it down for a moment while she read the card in her head,

To Starla,
I love you because of your sweetness, your kindness, and your thoughtfulness.
You are a dear friend to me. You always know how to make me smile and so do I.
I love you because I’ve always had a longing to be close to you.
Please accept this gift as a token of my affection.
Forever yours
William Grant (Willis)

Moments later, when Starla goes back to work, Christi sneaks in the side door; using the tables as cover, she would duck whenever she felt that Starla would turn around and see her or when she thought Phoebe or Caitlin would return. Each step she made, she was careful not to step on anything that would create noise. When she finally reached the table Willis had set his box down on, she reaches for it while keeping her head down; without opening, she swiftly and silently walks out the way she came in.
Immediately after, Phoebe came back into the room.
“Was someone else here just now?” she asked Starla.
“I heard something a couple of times, but I didn’t see anyone.”
“What’s that you’re wearing?”
“Oh you like it? Willis picked it out for me.”
“How sweet of him; I wonder why Max hasn’t done anything like this for me?”
“Maybe he’s pegged you for the type, whose love can’t be bought so easily with trinkets.”
“Hey, I love the occasional jewelry.”
Outside on the loading docks behind the dining hall, Max, Willis, Alex, and Samuel unload the back of the truck while the drivers sit back and wait. First, they take in the desserts such as cakes, ice creams, pies; then they bring in the sandwiches, soups, and other entrees from the restaurant’s menus.
“But do you think she’ll like it or not?” Willis asked Max and Alex.
“I wouldn’t know; I’m not Starla, so I don’t have any idea what she likes.”
“Can we see it?”
“Sure, I… oh wait. I left it back at the gym.”
Max and Alex accompany Willis back to the gym, where he finds the pendant is missing from its box. They search high and low for it until Starla comes back in the room with it around her neck.
Alex was the one who stared at it the longest; red hearts like you’d see on a Valentine’s Day card appear in his eyes, his heart beats faster than normal, and a goofy, love-struck expression comes to his face. Willis had to snap him out of it. Literally snapping his fingers in front of his face didn’t work, so he had to resort to punching him in the shoulder; Starla giggles.
“Thank you, Willis, it really is quite amazing, isn’t it?”
“Not as amazing as you are,” Alex answered and Willis looked at him with confusion.
“Uhm… thanks, I guess.”
“Alex? May I have a word…” Willis drags Alex away by his braids. “Look, I respect that you’re a master thief, but can you stick to stealing gems? Because stealing my girlfriend is where I draw the line.”
“Hey, you’re just mad because your girl recognizes a real man when she sees one.”
“Where’s this even coming from? I thought you had a thing for Caitlin?”
“That skank? Forget it…”
“That’s my aunt you’re talking about.” Willis’ anger fueled his need to fight as his first punch spirals Alex into one of the tables. Willis then turns him over and proceeds to grip his neck with intent to strangle; Alex knees him in the groin and then goes for a left punch to the jaw.
Caitlin then enters the room and she and Phoebe break up the fight, “Enough out of both of you!”
“Caitlin, you didn’t hear what he said…”
“I don’t care what he said!” Caitlin barked. “Both of you need to go separate ways and cool off.” She said, putting emphasis on ‘cool’.
“This isn’t over,” Alex whispered in Willis’ ear as he walked past. “Meet me at the park 3pm today; we’ll finish this there.”
“Go. Get outta here!” Phoebe said, rushing him out the front door.
Meanwhile, at a TV studio called TNVKR channel 5, Cameron sits around doing her makeup for when she’ll be on TV while network crew set up everything she needs; cameras, lighting, microphones, the works.
“Ugh, where is that Christi with the locket? I can’t wait forever.”
Christi called in from a payphone somewhere on the grounds and Cameron picks up after two rings.
“Why are you calling from a payphone?”
“My battery died.”
“I told you to recharge it…”
“I forgot, so sue me.”
“This had better be good news, Christi. We got a show to do, remember?”
“About that… I lost the locket.”
“What?”
“The box you put it in was there, but… I think he gave it to someone named Starla already; and I can’t find her or Willis.”
“One thing, you had ONE LITTLE THING, and you drop the ball on that!”
“Well, it was you who decided to change the plan all of a sudden.”
“If this plan works, we’ll have all the jewels and will be able to do away with all our enemies; not just the Gaia Rangers.”
“Know what, just find that locket!” she hangs up on Christi. “It’s so hard to find good help these days.”
“How can you say about your sister?”
“We may be sisters, but not by choice.”
Back at the University campus
“What’s gotten into to you two?”
“He called you a skank, Caitlin. I dunno what’s gotten into him. He takes one look at Starla and he can’t take his eyes off her. It’s like he’s under a spell.
“Okay first off, I can handle guys like him; I don’t need you fighting battles for me.”
“Alright.”
“And second, what do you mean by spell?”
“He just takes one look at the necklace I gave Starla and then something changed in him. He had this attitude where it was like ‘I’m happy for you’, and then he’s all like ‘I wanna fight you for her’.”
“About that, you’re not seriously contemplating this are you?” Starla interrupts.
“Oh definitely, but not for your honor; you’re not some prize to be won. No, I want to do this in order to knock some sense into him; cuz he’s obviously not thinking straight!” Willis gets up and walks out the door.
Caitlin sighs in disappointment, “Ugh. Boys…”
Phoebe, who had now left the campus, went looking for Alex. She had passed by the television station and saw Cameron pacing around the parking lot, smacking her palm against her forehead as she was frustrated; frustrated about how difficult Christi was making things. Phoebe parks the bike far away where Cameron wouldn’t see and crosses the street. Once she snuck in, she wandered about, trying to avoid all the stagehands, camera crew, and security personnel.
A short while later, Cameron strolls in with her cellphone pressed to her ear, “Well, you should’ve thought about that before you tried your ‘love at first sight’ routine on Willis.”
Phoebe moves in closer.
“You should’ve just stayed away from him and none of this would be happening.” Cameron spots Phoebe’s reflection in a mirror, and without looking her way, she sends the guards to take care of her.
Phoebe takes a few steps back and accidentally bumps into one of the guards. This guy reminds you of a wild animal. He has narrow brown eyes that are like two acorns. His thick, straight, gray hair is neck-length and is worn in a businesslike style. He is very short and has a masculine build. His skin is tan. He has thin eyebrows. His wardrobe is plain. As he stared down into Phoebe’s eyes, she loudly swallows her spit. She looked afraid on the outside, but that was only to fool him. More guards surround her like wolves around their prey in the frozen tundra; giving Phoebe no other options, but to fight. As the one behind her on her right rushes forward to restrain her by the way, she elbows him in the nose; the one directly in front of her takes his turn and she kicks him in the crotch and as he bends down, she grabs him by the ears, swings him around and then kicks him into one of the others guards, who flips over him and onto his back. Phoebe then waits on the one to her left to approach before he hits him with a karate chop; he grabs her by the wrist to distract her as the guard on the right tackles her to the ground. Phoebe puts her arms up and dodges his punches before the takes him and puts him in a guillotine headlock; he quickly gets out of it and Phoebe rolls him over and knocks him out with one quick punch; another guard picks her up and restrains her in a full-Nelson, but Phoebe breaks free by first stepping on his foot to make him release her, then she elbows him in the kidney, spirals and performs a shin kick, and finishes him off with an axe kick. She then proceeds to pick up a bucket filled with water; looking at the guards all rushing towards her, she quickly spills the contents on the floor and moves to the side as they all slip and slide on their heels and towards the green screen that was behind her.
Only one guard remained; Phoebe confronts. He throws several haymakers, which Phoebe blocked. Then he throws a high punch and Phoebe grabs his wrist, twists his arm, elbows him in the shoulder, spins him around and then throws him; several inches from her face, the guard spins with a back fist and decks her in the cheek; she spirals back around; the guy throws a right, which Phoebe blocks; the man throws several more, alternating between hands as he does; Phoebe continues to block and finally throws back a right punch to the jaw and then a low double palm punch to the stomach; the man goes for an uppercut shortly after and misses as Phoebe leans left; he then goes for a knee kick to which Phoebe blocks with her elbow before she performs an uppercut and a sweep. After the man falls on his back, Phoebe mounts and deals a series elbow strikes to the face until she completely knocks him out. Just as she was about to get up, everything goes dark as someone throws a bag over her head. Next thing Phoebe knew, she was tied to a chair facing the set where she sees Cameron getting ready for something. She tried to reach for her communicator, but couldn’t; not because the ropes were too tight, but because it wasn’t where it was supposed to be on her waist. That wasn’t the only thing missing. She looked over at her right hand and finds the glove that was meant for summoning her weapon was missing too.
Once she noticed Phoebe awaken, Cameron casually walks over in a yellow and white pop star outfit; long sleeve shirt showing her midriff, skin-tight black jean shorts, which stopped halfway down her thighs, and matching tennis shoes. Her hair looked unnatural with yellow and pink highlights in various sections and spiky looking ponytail coming out of the left side.
“What… are you wearing?” Phoebe said as she tried to hold back a laugh.
“It’s my pop star look. I figured it was the way to go since I’m no longer doing a boring old sitcom. I decided on a music video. See, today’s generation, they seem to… respond better to songs, so I decided that’s the way I’ll get the jewels; by getting the fans of Christi and my video to fall in love with us; then we’ll get showered with so many gifts or get them to go out and find the jewels for us while we sit back and wait.”
“That’s gotta be the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard.”
“It’ll work even better once we have your friend’s locket.”
“Starla’s locket? It’s just a gift Willis bought for her. What would you want with that?”
Cameron chuckles, “No, honey, this is the gift your friend was planning to give her.” She then snaps her fingers and orders one of the crewmen to get her the box with Willis’ green gem necklace inside. “The other one, we found it in a cave in the Australian outback. It belonged to Cupid, the god of love. With it, anyone of the opposite sex will fall madly in love with you. The effects are almost permanent as the person under the spell will stay under even when not in the presence of the wearer.”
“Alex…” Phoebe whispered to herself.
“Ah, so you’ve already seen a sample of its power.”
The time was now 3 o’clock in the afternoon and Alex and Willis come in from opposite sides of the beach.
“How do you want it, Grant?” Alex asked.
“It’s your call, McLaren; I’m just here to knock you into last month.”
“You don’t stand a chance.”
“Just keep telling yourself that; you might get lucky and actually beat me.”
Alex rushes at Willis, right arm drawn back; he gets in close and throws it forward and Willis ducks. Willis attacks low to the point between the stomach and chest and Alex grabs him by the wrist. Willis kicks Alex twice; on the second kick, Alex grabs his leg with one hand and then quickly moves the other to his thigh as he lifts up and tosses him further inward. As Willis gets up, Alex picks up a rock and after throwing it, Willis travels at the speed of sound to the left and out of the way. He then sets his sights on Alex and comes at him with a right cross, which Alex sidestepped as he counters with a back fist to the jaw; Willis quickly comes back around with a spiraling kick to the jaw and Alex lands face first in the sand. While down there, Alex spins and performs a leg sweep; Willis raises one leg, puts it behind him and stands in a horse stance. Alex gets to his feet and comes at Willis with a superman punch, but Willis sidesteps and lands a karate chop to the throat, and then repeatedly punches him in the chest and finishes with a punch to the jaw, which Alex blocks as he kicks him in the shin and elbows him in the chin; Willis stumbles back just as Alex summons his Scorpion Saber and strikes him down and then gets back up, summons his Elephant axe and rushes at Alex. He takes a swipe at Alex, who leans back then grips the axe by the handle as he leans forward; with a single kick, he then knocks it from Willis’ hands. As it flew over his head, Alex slashes Willis twice across the chest and he spirals face first to the ground. Alex then converts his weapon to its other mode, draws back and whips it forward; Willis rolls out of the way and Alex’s weapon makes an impression in the sand. Alex then steps forward, places one foot on the blade, leans forward, takes his foot off of it and lets it fly towards Willis, who blocks; sparks fly as their weapons make contact. Willis spirals his weapon over his head and brings it in front of him as he takes a swing at Alex from the left; Alex slings his weapon upward and it wraps around the handle of Willis’. He then pulls Willis forward and knocks him for a loop with an uppercut.
Their fight goes on for hours until Starla and Caitlin come running towards them. Caitlin yells, “Stop this right now!”
Starla then holds up her index finger as he conjures a ball of light. As the light explodes at their feet, it gets their attention for only a moment before they start back again.
Meanwhile back at the studio; Cameron receives urgent news, which she passes on to Christi back at the University.
“The one they call Starla has been spotted at the beach with three others.”
“Thanks, I’m on my way there.”
“There’s something else you should know; two of them seem to be fight; each other.”
“How odd…”
During their conversation, Phoebe, who after minutes of trying, has finally managed to break free. She looks for her communicator and her glove; after finally finding it, she sneaks outside to call MEGAN, “We’ve got a problem.”
“I am aware that Alex has been put under a spell; they’re down at the beach now, brawling. Starla and Caitlin phoned in and asked me to track them.”
“What about Max and his dad?”
“They’re currently working on the problem. I suggest you get to the beach and help Starla and Caitlin prevent Willis and Alex from killing each other.”
“Will do.”
Christi managed to make it there before Phoebe did; while Willis and Alex fought, she dealt with Caitlin and Starla.
“Starla, do something about them; I can handle her.”
Starla tries to stand in between Willis and Alex and their lovers’ quarrel. Every time she breaks up the fight, the two immediately spring back into the action; it was like separating two very powerful magnets. “Guys, we really could use your help here. Can you please stop fighting?”
Cameron then pops up out of nowhere, “What are you doing? The locket is what we want.” She and Christi leave Caitlin alone and make a rush for Starla. As they fought, Willis and Alex stop fighting and look over to her.
“Starla!” Willis yells and he and Alex rush to her side while fighting over which one will saves her.
“Caitlin, listen to me,” Samuel said over Caitlin’s communicator, “You need to destroy the locket.
Cameron manages to get it from around Starla’s neck. Within an instant, the love spell on Alex expired; Willis speeds up and trips her, which causes the locket to land a few feet away from her.
“Willis, stand aside!” Caitlin shouts.
Willis does as she commands and watches as Caitlin takes aim and obliterates the locket with her laser vision.
“You and your ideas…”
“You know what? I’m done with show business for now. It’s a lotta hard work.”
“I agree. Let’s get outta here.”


At the party; the music was pumping, the party was jumping. Everyone who attended danced, mingled, and had a good time while enjoying the assortment of entrees and desserts.
“So this is what you been up to all this time, eh Mr. Grant?”
“People always need sweets for a sweet day,” Samuel replied as he basked in the glory of how the party was turning out. “So, you gonna go over there or what?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh c’mon, boys. You haven’t taken your eyes of Phoebe and Starla since they got here; it’s obvious you like them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, despite what you are, it’s still written all over your faces. Now go have a good time.”
Willis, after going back to the jewelry store, presents Starla with another necklace; since Cupid’s lock was destroyed and the one he originally bought was nowhere to be found.
“Thank you, Willis.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Starla.”
“You too…” Starla gives Willis a hug and then a kiss; not a peck on the check, but on the lips.
Max had went with Willis to the store as well and picked out something forand Phoebe; Alex openly apologizes to Caitlin and gives her flowers and chocolate.
“Apology accepted, Alex. I realize you were under the influence of a powerful love charm, so that is easily forgiven.”
“Thanks.”
“Just watch what you say next time.”
“I will.”
Max presented Phoebe with a silver bracelet with a dark red gem.
“It’s beautiful, Max. Thank you.”
“Ah yes, sir. Young love…”
“Indeed it is, Bradshaw. Normally, I’d say no fraternizing with teammates, but they’re young and have their whole life ahead of them. let’em enjoy it while they can; speaking of which…” Samuel makes his way towards the DJ as his sons go to Starla and Phoebe. He whispers in the guy’s ear his song request.
“Alright, this next track is dedicated to all the lovely couples mixing it up on the dance floor tonight. He switches the original song with a slow paced love song for hot young couple to dance to.
Max and Willis pull Phoebe and Starla close and dance the day night away.  

[Samuel Grant]

Chapter 13
Fool on April fool’s Day

April fool’s is a time of mischief. People go around playing pranks on one another for no other reason than to be funny, to show they have a sense of humor, and to see the look on a person’s face when they fall for it. Some, however, take this day a little too far.
No one knew his name or what he looked like, but they managed to come up with a name; the Bay Area Trickster or B.A.T. for short. He has hit several business establishments with various practical jokes such mixing up the hair dye, rigging toilet seats so they’d blow up; he even loosened the bolts on a few office desks, so that the slightest shift in weight would bring them crashing down. His shenanigans were legendary, even with Samuel Grant; seeing as most of the businesses he or she had hit were his.
“Can you believe this, Bradshaw?”
“Well, it is April Fools’ Day, sir. What did you expect?”
“Well I didn’t expect pranks like this; these are people’s businesses. Well my business to be exact. What will the people think if they go to buy furniture from my warehouses or… go to get facials or massages or something? This person must be stopped.”
“I think you should allow the proper authorities to do their job and you go on worrying about keeping the planet safe from extraterrestrial threats.”
“Police are already doing the best they can, but are having no luck in catching this criminal.”
“You were saying, Bradshaw…” Samuel said and pointed at the TV screen.
“So they’ve hit a few blocks, it’s still early days, sir.”
“Early days? Bradshaw, it is half past noon.
Checking in on Max at the batting cages we find him easily hitting a few of pitches at first, but as he went along, his luck started to change as something inside the machine went haywire and started pelting him with balls like a crowding throwing rotten vegetables at an act onstage, whose performance was quite horrible.
As the baseballs hit, Max swayed from side to side trying to avoid them all, but he found himself unable to as the machine started spitting them out faster and faster each time.
After half an hour, half the team returned to the mansion, complaining to Samuel. At first, it was difficult for him to figure out what they were saying, but the sooner they decided to speak one at a time, it all became clear.
“At the batting cage, it felt more like I was going through target practice,” Max explained.
“My skin resembles that of Mystique from X-men…” Starla said.
“I like practical jokes just as much as the next guy, but look at this. Someone thought it was funny to leave the top unscrewed on the BBQ sauce bottle at the Rib place; just look at my scarf, it’s all ruined,” Phoebe complained.
Samuel leans to his right and looks over at Bradshaw, “Still think I’m overreacting?”
Phoebe, Max, and Starla look at Bradshaw as well.
Minutes later down in the command center, Samuel tries to piece things together about this mysterious trickster, who’s been plaguing his establishments like the vicious hyena picking on the weakest, sickest prey in the herd, grazing on the dry grass in African savannah. Samuel paces back and forth in front of monitor as it plays back footage from several security cameras at the places the mystery man, or woman, has struck.
“Now, there’s a reason why they gave this guy the acronym, B.A.T., because he person swoops in and out of places so fast, you’d swear he was vampire bat. No one sees or hears anything until it’s too late to do anything about it. Going by what has been said on the news, these are the areas that he or she has hit.”
“How are you so sure it’s a guy?” Caitlin asked.
“Well we don’t, but we gotta assume we know this person’s gender; makes thing a whole lot easier for when it finally comes down to it.”
“It, what do you mean by ‘it’?”
“Seeing as most of these areas are places of business that I own, I’ve decided to take drastic action and bring this guy to justice.”
“Isn’t that a bit harsh to bring him to justice? They’re just practical jokes.”
“Well, if the worst they can give this guy is a ticket, then that’s what I mean by justice.”
“Count me in; I’m looking for some payback.”
“No way, if the prankster catches sight of you two, he’ll definitely know something’s up,” Samuel pointed out to Starla that her skin is still dyed blued. “You two stay here; let the body dye wear off. Max, Caitlin, Alex, and I will take over from here.”
“Won’t the prankster know something’s up if you’re there, Mr. Grant?” Alex replies.
“Not if I go into one of my businesses as a regular customer.”
Meanwhile, somewhere in the lower half of Mexico, Farenhart’s Magma Golems were hard at work digging their way into an ancient temple said to hold a great power in the form of three bird masks. First was a crow, second an eagle, and third was an ostrich. All three had the beak of the bird they represent protruding from them. Before he could enter, he saw a shadow pass by on the ground. He had then known what the shadow was. He then turns to see the ranger land feet first from their aerial craft, the Diving Beetle, to confront him. After ordering his Golems to attack, he leaves to explore the temple.
It was a long drawn-out battle. Caitlin, Phoebe, Max, Alex, Starla, and Willis try to fight their way inside, but the Magma Golems were relentless in their efforts to keep them out as Farenhart reaches the room, which housed the three bird masks. The torches automatically lit up once he set foot inside the rectangular room lined with a tan colored stone and a dirt floor and looked around and wondered if any traps were lying in wait. All had seem calm as he took small steps across the center of the room and over to his prize. He wastes no time in gathering the masks and makes his way back outside, where he calls off his men and retreats to his lair in victory.
Moments after Phoebe, Willis, and Starla make their way towards the command center, Alex, Max, and Caitlin were on their way out. As they walk past each other, they exchange a friendly hello before the Phoebe, Willis, and Starla traverse the winding staircase. After reaching the bottom, Samuel turns his attention away from the table with the silver, liquid-like substances on top, and focuses on them.
“Oh good, you’re back,” he said.
“Samuel, what’s going on? Why were the others in a hurry to get out of here?”
“I sent them on a mission to gather clues on our ghostly prankster. Thought, I regret not sending you, Phoebe. You have the most useful power; invisibility.”
“Where have you sent them to?”
“Well, during your fight with Farenhart and his goons, I went sleuthing, and found something that may link us to the perp.”
“And what is that…?” Starla asked.
“He spends most of his time at a certain novelty shop out in Silicon Valley, I simply looked at the tag on the back of object, a fake spider left at the scene of my hotel and spa, which was found not long ago by local authorities and myself; that’s where I sent the others. This may only be a job for one person, but it doesn’t hurt to have backup.”
“Aren’t you taking this a bit far, Samuel? It’s just someone with a childlike sense of humor.”
“Someone with a childlike sense of humor who is targeting MY businesses and mine alone.” Samuel brings the image of today’s newspaper from off the monitor and displays it on a black tabletop with a thin layer of glass over top. As he presses his index finger and thumb down on the headline, he spreads them out, which automatically zooms the image in on a section of his choosing. “No one else is being targeted; it’s just me. Whoever this guy is, he’s picking on me, and I want to know why.”
“Could be a revenge plot; do you have enemies, dad?”
“I have many enemies.” He answered vaguely. “But I can cross Creed off the list; I doubt he has time to do this.”
“Oh…”
“Then again, there is one person, whom I think would be capable of such depravity; Ned Neebly. He’s been jealous of my success since forever.”
“Who’s Ned Neebly…?”
MEGAN brings up on screen a Black guy with a short head of hair, black, coke bottle glasses, a tan, plaid shirt, brown khakis, and black alligator shoes. “Ned Neebly, owner of Neebly motors. Born Ned Aloysius Needlemeyer Neebly Yankovic III in Oakdale, California 1978; no relationship to actor, Alfred Matthew Yankovic a.k.a ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic. Graduated from Southern Oregon University with a MBA in 1999; moved to the Bay Area 3 years later, became a car salesman.”
Samuel interrupts, “Oh and uh… about the masks you mentioned, I looked everywhere and couldn’t find a thing.”
In the lair of Farenhart, as he sits on his throne; he thinks about how he can get the masks to work. So far, every attempt to use them on his Magma Golems has failed. “On their own, the masks are useless to me…” he paced back and forth talking to himself while his henchmen watched. “The beasts can only be freed when the masks are placed on three humans of purity and strength. None of the people I’ve seen so far fit that description!” “You…” he bellowed, “Go out and gather humans of that description; I’ll need at least nine, so I can make my decision before this day is done, otherwise I won’t get this opportunity again for a long while.”
The first of three Farenhart had sent his men after was a woman at a recycling center standing in front of a blue Hybrid car, unloading sacks filled with plastic and glass bottles. This woman puts you in mind of a busy bee. She has slitted eyes the color of amethysts. Her silky, wavy, yellow hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a pile of leaves. She is tall and has an athletic build. Her skin is black. She has hollow cheeks and small feet. Her wardrobe is dignified.
Out of nowhere, the Magma Golems show. Their presence scare off everyone else who were there minding their own business. They were literally knocking over barrels of glass, climbing over dumpsters, and trampling each other on their way out before the Golems vanished into thin air with the woman as their captive.
The second was a man, who was the host of a popular television show for children. This man reminds you of a noble eagle. He has wide ebony eyes. His thick, wavy, black hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a pair of wings. He is very tall and has a broad-shouldered build. His skin is chocolate-brown. He has a low forehead and a small nose. His wardrobe is revealing and mysterious, with a lot of white and orange.
The Magma Golems knock over everyone and everything in their path to get to them and cause mass panic once again; the crewmen and director flee the scene, throwing papers and clipboards everywhere as they scream for help.
The third was an actress in a live action movie version of a Japanimation film. This woman makes you think of a lost and wandering spirit. She has hooded eyes the color of ivory. Her thick, straight, cobalt-blue hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a tangled bush. She has an angular build. Her skin is ruddy. She has prominent cheekbones and large hands. Her wardrobe is elegant, with a lot of green.
This time, when the people in the studio flee, the rangers immediately answer the call. Three of them manage to get to the scene before the Magma Golems could make off with yet another victim.
Willis speeds in at the speed of sound and softens them up by literally running circles around them, taking away their oxygen and causing most of them to crumble like rock beaten by the bottom of a raging river. He then stops and gives Phoebe a turn; she conjures her boomerang and gives it a throw before she goes rushing in using her boxing skills; after throwing a couple punches to the solar plexus, she ducks at her enemy throws a strong left hook, and then rises to grab him by the shoulders and performs a heaven-and-earth throw. As the Magma Golems flies through the air, Starla zaps him with a beam of light from her fingers before she herself was hit by a stray punch and lands in the director’s chair; the golem that hit her towers over her with its hands coupled together as he prepared to strike; Starla scatters across the room as light and reassembles behind him to perform a kick to the back of the knees. Then she summons her Armadillo blades and slices the enemy’s head off then turns and throws the one in her right hand like a discus. It bounces off one Golem; getting its attention as it hits the next one and creates sparks on impact. The first Golem focuses on Starla and completely ignores Willis, who approaches with a flying kick to the face; his Elephant axe in hand, he quickly swings upward and slashes the beast from its left hip to its right shoulder, then swings his blade in low; tripping him. While the monster was on its back, Willis pulls out his gun and destroys him in one shot.
Meanwhile, as soon as the woman, who the Golems were after, notices an enemy sneak up on Phoebe, she attacks it with a prop, a fake sword she was using in one scene and it instantly breaks against the beast’s rock hard skin.
Meanwhile, Alex, Caitlin, and Max check out the novelty shop.
“Wait, we can’t just go walking in…” Caitlin said.
“Sure we can; just put one foot in front of the other and…”
Max interrupts Alex, “She’s right. We can’t just go in and ask to see the records for all the sales made; there’s a thing called customer confidentiality or something. We need to distract him, while one of us takes a peek at the record books.”
“Well who’s gonna be the distraction?”
“What about you, Alex? You look like the type, who would be up to no good. You are a well renowned jewel thief after all.”
“I wouldn’t even know what to do to distract him…”
“Just try something to keep him busy. We’ll need at least 5 minutes.”
Max and Caitlin walk inside and find the shopkeeper is nowhere in sight. Max signals Alex to do his job; a single flea, which turned out to Alex in animal form, jumps off Max’s shoulder and immediately transforms into a rat. Caitlin immediately yells out to get the keeper’s attention; a very tall Chinese man with a feminine build, wide blue eyes that are like two windows on the afternoon sky, thick, wavy, very long hair the color of charcoal worn in a precise, practical style moustache, and prominent cheekbones wearing brown pants with suspenders, tan colored shoes, and a white, long sleeve shirt comes bursting out of the back room to see a humongous black rat traipsing across the wooden floor. He immediately gets his broom and chases the beast all around, literally making a mess of the place while Max and Caitlin look for the record books.
“Got anything yet?” Max whispered.
“Nope, not yet.” She constantly flips through the pages until getting to the present and then she carefully looks through each entry. “Wait, check this out.”
“What?”
“I think we got a match. Most of the items logged here match the ones found at the scenes mentioned in the news. They were paid for by some business called Neebly Inc.”
When Samuel hears the name, ‘Neebly’, he was more than shocked. He was appalled.
“Ned Neebly? Damn it, I knew he was behind all this.”
“Why would he do this?”
“He’s always been in competition with me since we first met.”
“You guys went to Southern Oregon University together?”
“What? No. we met after that.”
“What do we do about him?”
“We stick to the plan; we catch the prankster red-handed and expose him for the phony he is.”
“As long as the plan doesn’t involve me scurrying around and getting smacked with a broom; That stuff hurt, man. Next time? You guys do the distracting. I’m gonna go recuperate for a bit; call me when you’re ready.”
Later, at Elliot Ware’s estate; Elliot was shocked at what he heard coming out of Samuel’s mouth, “You’re accusing me of doing all this? How absurd,” he exclaimed.
“Well, if the shoe fits, Ned…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’ve been jealous of my success since we knew each other. You’d try anything to make sure you succeed where I fail.”
“Practical joking is beneath me, Samuel. Childish even…”
Ned’s two sons walk into the room, “What’s going on?”
“Nothing, boys; just a lil discussion between old friends is all.”
Next thing you know, the doorbell rings.
“Could you answer that for me?”
“I’ll get; I was just leaving anyway…” with his back turned, Samuel grinned an evil grin as if he already knew who was at the door before answering.
“Hi, is there a Simon and Andy Wares here?”
“That’s us.”
“I got a package for you from Uncle Larry’s house of novelty pranks.”
“You must have the wrong Andy and Simon; we didn’t order anything…”
The delivery guy looks at the address outside the house, “No, I don’t think so. Are you gonna sign for it or what? I got other rounds to make.”
“Novelty shop, huh? What have you boys been up to…? I’ll sign for it since they seem reluctant to do so; I’m their father.” Ned signs for it, so the guy can be on his way.
“About time you two did some explaining…”
Simon and Andy explained the whole thing to their dad and Samuel. Samuel returns home to explain it to the others, “…And the both of them have to spend at least two weeks working at my warehouse as penance for any inconveniences they may have caused.”
“I don’t get it, how’d you manage to frame them in the first place?”
“Well, it’s easy what two brilliant minds can do when they put their heads together.”
Alex puts his arm around Caitlin’s shoulder; she grabs him by the wrist, twists his arms and removes it from her around her, “Yeah, we forged an order form with their names on it and let things run their natural course,” Caitlin explained.
“Girl got skills.” Alex points to Caitlin before he shakes his hand in all directions to ease the pain.
“I just hope their pranking days are over.”
“I agree, Starla.”
“Well, I’ve got work to do, so ya’ll take a break; you deserve it after a long day’s work. When I’m done, maybe I’ll join you…”
Max, Willis and Alex follow Samuel upstairs, leaving Starla, Phoebe and Caitlin down in the command center.
“What I still haven’t figured out… is what Farenhart needs with those mask?”
Meanwhile, at Farenhart’s molten lair; his Magma Golems may not have gotten nine people as he requested, but three was better than none at all. His captives stand before with the masks over their faces and their arms tied behind their back. As the masks take over, the humans struggle to resist its power. The more they fought, the stronger the spirits inside got until finally they stand perfectly still, break free of the ropes that bind them and stand at attention before their new master.
They each recited their name.
“Ravenoire…” the woman answered.
“Stormclaw…” the 2nd guy responded.
“Longoose…”
Then as their last words, they say in unison, “At your service, my liege.”