Episode XXIII: Mystery Revealed
Joe examined his body,
now much younger and weaker. “Damn, this is not good. Not good at all.” Then
his voice cracked, and suddenly became much higher. “Ahhh, God. This is the
worst thing that’s ever happened to me. I hope I am still strong enough to take
on everyone. Richard halted his current movement and Calabro did also. Richard
couldn’t hold a chuckle over seeing Freshman Joe. Joe the Powerful stepped
forward closer. “Well, this isn’t exactly what I wanted to wish for. But this
unlikely turn of events can be positive. Seeing as the Medallion pieces can’t
be used for a month. You are stuck in that state for quite some time. Well, I
say we battle for old time’s sake.”
Then,
with his finger, Joe the Powerful beckoned the young Joe to attack first. Well,
Joe was happy to give it to him, “I beat you once, I’ll do it again.” He dashed
head on right on front of him and began to punch incredibly fast all around
him. It was a blur to most, but the Joe Duplicate easily was blocking each
attack. He played with his real self and noticed how much weaker he was. Well,
Joe the Powerful became arrogant and played with his prey some more. That is,
until Joe the freshman got smart and decided to knee him into the stomach
instead of punching him across the face. That attack, the duplicate could not
block fast enough and took the shot. “Uhgg…. Err, damn brat!” He slammed him
across the face, causing him to bleed form his nose and mouth. Joe fell
backwards, lowly to the floor. But the duplicate grabbed him from his collar of
his Gi. He raised his hand into the air to form a large ball of energy. “Now to
finish you off.” As he was ready to fire the beam, the sound of wind echoed the
rooftop. Then, there was the sound of light sword slashes and the marks upon
Joe the Powerful’s chest and arms then the appearance of Richard upon his last
slash for his strongest attack against the clone’s arm. Then the arm fell to
the ground followed by a loud scream. Joe the Powerful fell to the ground on
his back. The Zealots moved inward and two took their fallen comrade and then
disappeared as if teleportation was in use of these creatures. The others
disappeared also, as if they moved themselves back to their headquarters of
some nature.
Joe got back up and sat and began pouting
about his terrible fighting habits. “Wait a sec, Joe. Can you use Instantaneous
Teleportation to find each medallion piece and then wait a month till they
become usable and wish yourself back? That might make it easier.” Richard
asked. “Hmm, let me try it.” Answered Joe. He placed his index and pointer
finger on the center of his forehead and concentrated, as he would disappear in
a flash. But this time…he did not. “Uhhh, guys. It isn’t working. I can’t do it.”
Replied Zuk. “Well, Joe can you change to a Super Scholar. If you can that,
then you are still good to go.” Joe agreed, he charged up his powers and
shouted aloud as he would change into his golden haired, green eye self. Joe’s
already blue “chi” changed to a gold as it surrounded his body in a bright
flame. He hair stood up and was ready to change. But Zuk choked and felt his
energy leave him and he fell on his hands and his knees. “I…I can’t do it. It
takes too much out of me.” Calabro interrupted, “Well, Joe. Perhaps you lost
all abilities you learned from after the fight with Li Eclud. You cannot change
into a Super Scholar; nor can you probably form a Genki-Dama. But you can use
Kaio-ken I bet. “Hmm, yea. I can still use the Kamehameha and various “chi”
attacks. Ok, this isn’t so bad. What now?”
All were dumbfounded for a few moments. That it until Richard got an
idea. “Hey Joe, can you go into the Room of Spirit and Time. Perhaps you can
get a lot done in that one day of training equivalent to a year, to equal what
your power would be with this little…’problem’.” Joe agreed instantly. If he
had a chance then he must go and train in the Room of Spirit and Time. So, Zuk
blasted off from the center of the rooftops and flew upwards to Lord
Kaio-sama’s and to train.
Calabro
gathered his thoughts together as he pondered what the C-Team has to do now to
stop this invasion. Well as Richard and Calabro began to converse on some
ideas. When all of sudden a jet sound fired above them and as they looked up
they saw shiny black boots connected to two exhaust ports where fire spat out.
Connected to these boots was a darkened figure, draped in a trench coat and
armed with a double-barreled shotgun. Sporting a gray t-shirt as well, the
figure rolled his shotgun around his wrist and slammed it into a sheath behind
him, “Hey, its Gilday. Good, we got
some more heroes still committed to this cause.” Said Calabro. Gilday slowly
landed onto the rooftop and his jet boots automatically turned it off. “Hey
guys.” The figure replied.
“Gilday,
where’s Bastedo?” Calabro asked. Mike replied, “He got distracted…if you catch
my drift.” Calabro nodded, Bastedo was with some women. Richard could only
shake his head, “Well, I would’ve expected as much. We need to find the medallion
to make a wish, to bring my father back and make Zuk older again. But…there is
still one month to wait... If we had more than one wish, we could do it.” Mike
stared wide eyed back at him, “What? You still have not realized that there are
two wishes on the Arlian Medallion of Wishes? Once a wish is made, the dragon
makes the wish come true and then disappears and the medallion splits. But that
is approximately 5 standard minutes afterward; the medallion refuses into place
again some distance away. There a second wish may be made and then they breakup
and stay will not fuse together for a month. But they can be found” Calabro
replied quickly, “Well, if there was two wishes together all the time, who has
been making wishes to make it seem like there is only one wish allowed?”
Richard and Calabro had no idea, nor did the Mike Duplicate. “Well, let us move
out and search for the pieces and hold out for a month and make both wishes for
Brian and Joe.” Said Richard as he ran five steps toward the football field and
flew off and onward. Calabro reached into his pocket and pulled a capsule. He
threw the capsule on the ground and it exploded into a puff of smoke. When the
dust settled, a small one-passenger air bike was visible. He leapt on it and
flew off. Then Mike activated his boots and followed.
After
flying toward the football field, a lone figure was sighted at the 50-yard
line. Richard was the first to land, followed by Calabro, and Mike. “Moth…. err, I mean Caitlin. We are
searching for the pieces of the medallion. Can you help us out?” The attractive
girl of 16 turned her head toward the party. “Ohh Richard, a pleased to meet
you again. Well, ummm, I am not too sure where they are…” she answered. It was
obvious that she had an uncertain feeling in her voice. “Well, Zuk was wished
into the form of the freshman by them. We need to know where the pieces are
now.” Asked Calabro. “But, you know as well as I do, they are only good for one
wish, and that wish was used. You have to wait a month.” Caitlin replied. Mike
came into the conversation, “Well, it is obvious you do not know that the
medallion allows the user 2
wishes. I know that for a fact...”
“Wait, what is he doing here?” Caitlin asked pointing to the Mike
duplicate, “I thought he was dead.” But Calabro came up to here and shook his
head and explained his scenario. “And wait a second. Where did you hear I was
dead?” Asked Mike, who winked at Caitlin, signaling the end of her confrontation?
Calabro had an idea this young girl knew something that the others didn’t and
he wanted it out of her. “Well, I just assumed because you are so weak…and
stupid, that you wouldn’t last in fight.” The others accepted that response,
given Mike and Caitlin’s history. Yet, the situation still seemed a bit odd,
how was Caitlin just appearing on the field moments after the wish was
initiated? It seemed too strange. But perhaps coincidence was being stretched a
little bit.
Caitlin
then told them of her tale when the attack began, “…I was in the cafeteria
grabbing a quick snack before the pep rally, and I was running late, when they
came. I knew that I was unarmed and wouldn’t be much of a threat to them and so
I hid in the girl’s bathroom and went into one of the stalls and climbed up
where I broke part of the ceiling tiles and hid up there till they exited the
cafeteria. I heard some fighting and assumed that you guys were there. After it
stopped, I came down and heard more voices. I waited till they stopped and left
and I exited the cafeteria.” Calabro pondered, “Yea, it was probably Zuk and I
after he found me at the snack bar. But Anzalone, I don’t recall you being in
the café when I was getting my coffee. But I don’t really pay attention when I
go in there.” Caitlin shrugged her shoulders and told us she must be off, now
that she had her whip and she must go and rescue a few students that maybe
locked in the building.
After
she left, Richard motioned the other two to plan where they should go to get
the medallion. “Well, that was kind of useless to ask her. Well, Mr. Calabro,
you should move out to the school again and search it for a piece, and find
Miss Tara and see if she can rig up a medallion piece finder thing to make this
easier. Mike clone, go on ahead to the heart of Middlebury to search, but keep
a low profile. The place will still be normal. The Zephlin only really attack
the school and keep it controlled quietly for a little bit then take the rest
of the world. I’ll spy on the aliens and figure a way on ship; they probably
have a piece also. Even though the pieces are not useable now, I say it is
possible that they have a piece to gather again and wait till it is usable
again.” The others agreed, they slapped hands together and each flew off into
their own direction and began to explore their area for the pieces.
Meanwhile.
As Zuk entered the Room of the Spirit and Time, he examined it once again.
“Well, I wasn’t here too long ago. It shouldn’t be too bad this time.” He
questioned himself. He remember the strange properties of this room, it is very
warm in the room, about 85 degrees Fahrenheit all the time. He had to stay in this magic room for the
day he had to and when he exited the room, a year instantly passed onto him, in
power, age, and other features that would affect person. The air was thin, due
to the time strain. It was somewhat cloudy in the large room; he could barely
make out the purple glow that lit the room’s corners and walls. Behind him,
where the entrance was, he heard the door open, the sound of footsteps and then
the door closing behind them. He stood for a moment and sensed the mystery
behind him, “Hmm, It’s friendly. I recognize the two powers, but there is a
smaller one with them that I do not recognize.” Joe turned around as if to
confirm his guess and he was correct, it was Stephanie and Chicky. But they had
a smaller figure hiding behind them; it was a small white cartoon-ish duck with
a bright red star covering the majority of his face. “Hey Joe. What’s going on?
Wait a second, I remember you looking a lot older this morning…now you look almost
like a…A FRESHMAN!” Stephanie said and then her and Chicky began to laugh very
hard at the sight. As usually she was garbed in her Sailor Senshi apparel ready
for battle, Chicky was dressed in a comfortable outfit (obviously trademark
battle clothing consisting of swish pants and a tank top.) “Hey, a little
messed up wish by the enemy and it did wonders to me. I am here to fix this
little…error. Besides, I got Calabro and Richard searching for the medallion to
fix this.” He answered. “Oh, and who’s the duck?” Joe asked. “This is my pet
duck, Benedict. He is going to help us this time, and I found him near the
outside of the school when this mess began again. I think he has magical
powers. It may help us later.” Stephanie answered. “Well, alright, we are going
to wait outside until you are finished. We could stick together and stop these
creeps.” Replied Chicky. Joe agreed with a simple nod and as the door closed on
him, he was alone for his day and his training began now. He pulled the level
and ran to the floor pattern in the center and the pendulum swung back and
forth once and the lightning formed at the tip dashed to Zuk and zapped him to
his training grounds.
Stephanie
Chicky, and Benedict walked around the bright corners of lookout near the room
of Spirit and time and walked over the North Chamber. There they relax and meet
up with the deceased and chat about anything in particular. Well when they
reached there, they were in disbelief when they saw Mike Gilday sitting in the
wooden chair near the portal that souls may pass through to this world from the
great beyond. Stranger still was they had a golden halo over his head, as if he
were dead. “Hey girls. As you can see I have a little problem. Not only do I
not have a date for the Ring Dance, but also I was killed in a battle and now
need the medallion to wish Sean and I back. The Good thing is that I know where
they are and if you help me, we can gather them and hold them for the month
until they are usable.” Said Mike. “I got the ok from Kaio so now I’m undead
for a day to help you guys find them all. You want to go with me and help
Bastedo and I? Its not like Zuk’s coming out anytime soon.” “Yea, sure Mike, we got time to kill. Ok,
let’s go then and start finding those pieces.” Said Chicky. The four of them
moved out and flew off. Chicky recently learned to fly from Stephanie (who
learned from the Joes) Mike powered up his Jet boots and Benedict flapped his
wings and they all flew off for a journey of medallion hunting.
Tune in
next episode of part IV, as we see Gilday, Chicky, Stephanie, and her new duck,
Benedict search for the medallion pieces. But wait until they find them and
discover the dragon asking them for their second wish. Next time in episode
XXIV: The Second Wish.