Future Mysticons

Combining Forces Part 1

Zarya strode back into Vivyan's room to find Mystica sitting up and watching a horror movie.

"What's up Mom?" Mystica asked, pausing the movie right as it looked like the good guys might escape.

"We need to go talk to Kasey... Kitty's missing." Mystica was out of bed and following Zarya down the hall to the balcony in an instant. Kasey and Arkayna were already waiting out there.

"What are you doing here?" Zarya asked her sister.

"I came looking for you and ran into Kasey; when he told me what was going on I called an emergency cancel on all of my meetings." Arkayna explained.

"Thanks." Zarya gave a tight smile.

"So... Captain Kaos." Kasey hesitantly got to the point.

"You think he's back?" Mystica questioned.

"It's a possibility." Zarya rubbed her forehead.

"What aren't you saying?" Arkayna arched an eyebrow.

"I... asked some people to quietly keep an eye on the island. Just in case."

"And?" Kasey held his breath.

"I tried contacting them when on the phone with you and didn't get a response." There was a moment of silence after Zarya finished. Then it was broken by the sudden appearance of Shaylia and Tazma.

"Hello." Tazma greeted pleasantly, as if they weren't old enemies.

"What are you doing here?" Zarya asked, rather rudely.

"She claims she wants to help." Shaylia supplied.

"Trust me, this has dark magic written all over it. Who else can you turn to?"

"You seem to know an awful lot about this." Kasey's eyes narrowed.

"Wait, now we think it's Tazma?" Mystica sounded confused. Arkayna sighed.

"Look; let's just go investigate the island for now. If Tazma wants to help, we could use it. If she's tricking us, we have Mystica, Shaylia, me and a very annoyed Kasey and Zarya."

"That sounds fair." Tazma replied with a shrug.

"So we're investigating the island now?" Shaylia sighed as she raised her hands to cast a teleportation spell.

"Yes." Zarya bluntly replied. Shaylia rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. They saw a flash of green and then they were at the island, standing on the top tier of the ruins.

It wasn't a pretty sight. The obelisk in the center looked as if it had been struck by a massive lightning bolt; all that was left was a blackened stump of rock that was about a foot tall. The ground around the obelisk was cracked all the way up the steps and there was a parrot sized hole to one side of the obelisk.

"What now?" Tazma cheerfully asked. Everyone turned to stare at her. "What? It was just a question."

"You're the dark magic expert; you tell us." Zarya challenged, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes.

**************************************

"Why would I tell you anything?" Copper challenged Kaddy, trying and failing to not sound scared.

"Because I asked you a question." Kaddy shot back without even blinking.

"What's going on Copper?" Pyrite looked innocently up at his older brother.

"I..." Kaddy could feel that Copper was close to breaking as he looked his little brother in the eye. She decided to add a bit more pressure.

"Never mind Pyrite; I bet it was nothing. I bet Copper was just pulling a dumb prank on you like he always does." Kaddy took Pyrite's hand and turned them both away, waiting a beat before adding. "He's no hero." And with that she started to walk away.

"Now wait just a minute!" Copper used his super speed to get in front of them and block their path. "I saved Pyrite." Kaddy smirked as he started to spill. Right where I wanted you. She thought to herself.

"From what? His imagination?" She taunted.

"From Captain Kaos!" He shouted in her face. Then they each took a step away from each other, eyes wide with fright. Pyrite stood between the two, eyes flicking between them.

"Explain. Now." Kaddy carefully filtered all emotion out of her voice, leaving it empty and flat.

"I don't know that much." Copper started, shaking in fear.

"All I do know is that he's back and can take on the appearance of anyone. I came to Pyrite's room when I heard him scream and saw Dad creeping in through the room... apparently he didn't think that that would be suspicious or something." Copper shook his head.

"Birdbrain." Kaddy shook her head with her cousin. "But focus." He nodded.

"Anyway; I noticed he had this weird badge on so I threw some water on it and it temporarily bugged out and I saw Captain Kaos so I grabbed Pyrite and ran." Copper finished his story with one breath, talking almost too fast for Kaddy to keep up.

"And why couldn't Vivyan find him with her telepathy?"

"Titanium solarite." Copper replied as if that explained everything.

"I'm not half dwarf." Kaddy pointed out.

"It's what they use to build generators. It also happens to block magical powers. I remember from one time when Chrysy and I were hanging out in Grandpa Goldenbraid's workshop and this whole pile of titanium solarite fell over onto Chrysy and her super strength wasn't working."

"That... was actually some very fast thinking." Kaddy remarked, almost impressed.

"Super speed; my brain works super fast to." Copper replied with a shrug.

"But why try to keep Vivyan from finding me?" Pyrite suddenly joined their conversation.

"Because Captain Kaos can mimic anyone's appearance now; he could be anyone." Kaddy replied for Copper, who smirked.

"Right; but nobody can mimic your manipulative skills." Kaddy gave him a sweet smile and batted her eyes, head tilted to one side. Then she became serious again.

"So, what happens now?"

"I was... kinda hoping you'd have some clues." Copper replied, scratching the back of his head. Kaddy frowned, thinking.

"My first thought would be to regroup with the others; but we don't which of them we can actually trust."

"If we knew for sure that we could trust Vivyan..." Copper trailed off, but Kaddy's eyes lit up with an idea.

"I know what we can do! Mystica is my best friend and she has one of the most unique and noticeable powers in the realm. Captain Kaos would never be able to fake her to me."

"And she has a permanent psychic link with Vivyan and would know if that was the real her or not!" Copper finished. The two grinned at each other over Pyrite's sweet, slightly vacant expression.

A/N I suddenly felt inspired and decided to go ahead and write and post this; especially since I didn't post over the weekend.

And no, I don't plan on having Em's family show up in the story; though they will get mentioned from time to time.