Future Mysticons

Regrouping

          "So, Kitty, Vivyan, Chrysy, Copper and Pyrite are all missing." Arakayna started. Em buried her face in Kasey's shoulder, crying. Kyle and Kaddy sat shoulder to shoulder beside them. On the opposite couch Mystica was resting her head on her mother's shoulder, eyes distant and empty.

          Everyn was on Zarya's other side, trembling. Zarya gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder, holding both her daughter and her niece close. Tazma and Shaylia stood behind Everyn's seat on the couch and Arkayna paced in the center.

          "We know Captain Kaos is back and he very likely has something to do with this. And we know that there's some kind of magic involved that makes us unable to track them either with telepathy or teleportation spells." She continued.

          "Wait, we were tracking Copper with the tracker on him." Kyle mentioned.

          "It's turned off." Kasey shook his head.

          "How did Copper or Captain Kaos or whoever even find it?" Em whimpered.

          "Because that's where I shine." Looking at her best friend's empty expression, Kaddy knew she had to say something. Everyone turned to look at her.

          "Kaddy, what do you know?" Kyle asked her, his tone warning her not to mess around.

          "A lot of things. Including the fact that there could be a traitor in our midst."

          "Please tell me you're just trying to stir up dissension." Kasey said.

          "I wish. I talked to Copper; Pyrite's fine, Copper got him out of there and the two of them are well hidden. Copper fortunately also remembered that titanium solarite blocks magic. I won't say where they are because he also discovered that Captain Kaos has a magical brooch which can let him take the appearance of anyone."

          There was several minutes of silence after Kaddy finished her story. Then Mystica finally broke it.

          "Well there's no brooches here; but I suppose it could have been pocketed."

          "Even if Captain Kaos can mimic people's appearances, he can't mimic their powers." Tazma pointed out, teleporting to stand behind the other couch.

          "She's right." Shaylia realized, teleporting over as well. Everyn disappeared for a moment and Mystica placed a hand on the hex-box, draining it of its power.

          "Mom, what's my favorite color?" Mystica asked, turning to Zarya.

          "Black." Zarya confidently replied. Mystica nodded.

          "Really? I would have thought blue, or maybe even silver. Those are the colors you always wear." Arkayna remarked.

          "Which is what makes that a good question to make sure she's really Mom." Mystica replied.

          "Arkayna, what's the thing that annoys me most about you?" Zarya questioned. Arkayna gave her a look.

          "Really? That's the first question that comes to your mind?"

          "What? There's no way Captain Kaos would know." Zarya defended.

          "When I flick my hair." Arkayna rolled her eyes as she replied.

          "Right."

          "Em, what was I at your wedding?" Arkayna turned to her best friend.

          "You were my Matron of Honor." Em replied.

          "Right."

          "Speaking of my wedding, Kasey, when is our anniversary?" Em asked her husband.

          "Are you asking to make sure it's me, or just to see if I can remember?" Kasey returned.

          "Either way you're in trouble if you don't know." Zarya pointed out.

          "Fair enough; it's the eighth day of the month of the unicorn."

          "Very good." Em replied, satisfied.

          "Kaddy, what was the prank you got into the most trouble for pulling when you were seven?" Kasey asked his niece.

          "Dyeing Chrysy's hair lime green." Kaddy calmly replied. "I don't know why it was such a problem, though. She didn't even notice until she looked in the mirror two hours later."

          "Yeah... I still don't know how you managed to dye someone's hair without them even noticing." Kasey confirmed.

          "I'm good." Kaddy smirked, then she turned to her older brother. "What was the first sentence I ever spoke?"

          "'Kyle did it!'" Kyle mimicked.

          "And so started my long career of framing you." Kaddy gave an evil laugh.

          "Okay, that's all of us. Captain Kaos isn't here." Arkayna gave a sigh of relief.

          "Now where are my sons?!" Em turned to glare at Kaddy.

          "In the Undercity." Kaddy replied. "We came up with a code to tell if we're really us or not. One says Rosa and the other says Belle."

          "Thanks Mom." Kyle shook his head with a smile.

          "Let's go get them." Kasey declared, standing. The others followed suit and Shaylia snapped her fingers, taking them all back to the Snorg Shack.

          "Rosa." Kaddy called.

          "Belle." Copper replied, appearing from the generator with Pyrite.

          "They're all good." Kaddy told her cousins.

          "Mom!" Pyrite ran straight to Em.

          "Pyrite! We were worried sick!"

          "Yeah... sorry about that. But Captain Kaos had disguised himself as Dad, so I didn't know who to trust." Copper said, running a hand through his hair.

          "That was some quick thinking." Kasey told him, putting an arm around his shoulders.

          "Well, super speed does give me a super fast thought process as well." Copper remarked with his usual swagger. "Where's Chrysy? She should have heard that." He added.

          "Chrysy, Vivyan and Kitty have all disappeared." Kasey told him.

          "What?! She's annoying; but nobody messes with my twin sister but me!" Copper clenched his fists, face filled with worry.

          "Don't worry, we'll find them. All of them." Zarya firmly declared, crossing her arms and glaring off into the distance.

A/N Well now most of the mysteries have been resolved and we're starting to get close to the end. I have some exciting plans for the final showdown. Captain Kaos never seems to learn that there are some people that you really don't want to anger.