Thicker Than Water: Part 4
Tred decided that if the girls were gonna even have a shot at beating Sorceress Kasei, they would have to practice. So, there they were, in Tracy and Amanda’s backyard. But they weren’t exactly practicing.
“Wheee!” Danielle jumped into the huge pile of leaves that they had raked up.
Tred shook his head and attempted to regain control. “You know, when I agreed that raking leaves could be part of the training, I didn’t mean that it was all of it.”
“Tred, stop being so serious!” Amanda came over to him and started to pull Tred towards the leaf pile. “We are training. What if a huge pile of leaves starts attacking us? We need to know how to disperse it.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard... Ahhh!” Amanda quickly pushed Tred into the leaves.
Tracy noticed what had happened and dumped some more leaves on Tred’s head. “Alright! Now you can’t complain anymore because you are playing too!”
“What?! But I’m not... arrggghh! You girls are the most annoying people in the world!” Tred stood up and tried to brush the leaves out of his hair.
“Yep!” Erica ran up and pushed Tred in again.
* * * * *
Three dark figures watched the group from a distance.
“What are they doing?” Ebiru Shizaku tried to get a better look.
“I have no idea.” Darker Shadow shrugged his shoulders. “It looks like they’re battling the leaves.”
“They’re playing.” Ebiru and Darker Shadow both looked at Phineas. “Instead of preparing to fight us they are having fun.”
“They must have no idea of what they are truly up against.” An evil grin spread across Darker Shadow’s face. “Its too bad Sorceress Kasei wants them alive, it would be interesting to see how easy it is to kill them.”
“Then lets find out.” Phineas started walking towards the house. “I want to see what kind of warriors they really are.”
* * * * *
The girls had stopped playing in the leaf pile, mostly because it wasn’t there any more.
“I can’t believe that huge pile spread out so fast.”
“That’s one of the sad truths about life, Erica.” Danielle took a sip of her drink. “Leaves just won’t stay in a spiffy pile for long.” She looked over at her friends. They were on the porch, drinking iced tea. Tred had left, probably to brush his hair. Candice was sitting on the railing, looking kind of sad. “Hey, Candice! What’s wrong?”
“Oh, not much.” She gotten off the railing and sat next to Erica. “I’m just wondering if what Tred said was true, if we really aren’t strong enough to beat Kasei.”
“Ok, this is why you probably aren’t.” Tracy walked over to Candice and smacked her on the head.
“Owww! Why did you do that!”
“Because you got all this loser stuff in there. If you think like a loser you are a loser and I don’t need a loser on my team.”
“Ahem.” Erica cleared her throat. “You mean my team.”
Tracy smiled. “That’s what I said.” She turned back to Candice. “Besides, we have to win, its our job and our destiny.”
“Our destiny? How do you figure?”
“Duh, Candice. Ever hear of the good guys always winning thing?”
“We’re gonna win because you said so?” Amanda looked worried. “Now I feel sooo much better.”
Tracy stuck out her tongue at her sister. “Its a mental thing. I know you are impaired in that area but that doesn’t mean...” She stopped when she saw Erica staring at something past her. “What are you looking at?”
As Danielle turned to look, her face paled. “Uhhh, who is that?”
“Who is who?” Tracy turned around and saw a man walking through the yard. He had red hair and didn’t look very nice. “Uh oh, I hope he isn’t one of Kasei’s goons.”
“Let’s not wait too long to find out.” Erica pulled out the red Guardian Gem. “Come on, let’s transform!”
“Right!” They all pulled out their gems and transformed. After that, they ran towards the man.
Amanda reached him first. “Who are you?”
He laughed. “This is who I was sent to defeat?! A bunch of children? I’ll tell you who I am. I’m your final opponent, I am Phineas.”
“Phineas? How many of you guys are there?” Erica pulled out her gunblade. “Was there a sale at Villains R Us or something?”
“You will soon regret your confidence.” Phineas sent a blast of energy towards them, scattering the group. “Ebiru, Darker Shadow, get them now!”
“With pleasure.” Ebiru appeared behind Erica and Tracy. “This time I won’t leave until you both are finished!”
“Go ahead and try, witch!” Tracy took out her sword and raised it above her head. “Angel Light Strike!” The bolt of lightening that came from her sword rushed towards Ebiru and hit her.
“That’s it?” Ebiru brushed off a piece of imaginary dirt from her cloak. “I can’t imagine why you are so important to Kasei, its not as if you are powerful.”
“Yeah? Then try this! Fireblast Explosion!” Like Tracy’s attack, Erica’s had no affect on Ebiru.
“Oh God.” Erica looked over at Tracy. “This is never good.”
* * * * *
“Yikes!” Danielle darted out of the way of another energy bolt. “Darker Shadow is way too strong!”
“There has too be a way to defeat him!” Amanda looked around. She saw Orion slinking out of harm’s way. “I got it!” Amanda ran towards the cat, picked him up and carried him towards the battle. “Sorry kitty.”
Darker Shadow noticed her holding the cat. “What is this? Are you so weak that you need a cat for protection?”
“Yep! Attack him, Orion!” Amanda threw the cat towards Darker Shadow. Orion landed on Darker Shadow’s head and started to scratch him.
“Woo hoo! Go Orion!” Candice looked around the yard. Phineas was nowhere to be seen. “Let’s go find Phineas now that Darker Shadow is occupied. I think he might be going after Tred.”
“Ok.” Danielle took one last glance at Darker Shadow, who was still trying to get the cat off of him. “Let’s go!”
* * * * *
“Owww!” Tracy had been thrown to the ground again. She and Erica had given up on they’re powers and were trying to physically attack Ebiru. Nothing they did seemed to have any affect on her.
Ebiru telepathically threw Erica. She landed next to Tracy. “Ok, now what?”
“I dunno.” Tracy turned and saw Darker Shadow heading their way. “But we need to think of something soon.”
“But nothing is working!”
“I know! But we can’t lose! We have to win, we’re the good people!” As Tracy said that, she noticed the gem in her sword glowing. “What’s happening?”
Erica had noticed it too. “I don’t know! I hope it’s still working, though!”
“Ohmygodohmygod!” Tracy noticed Ebiru and Darker Shadow getting ready to attack. She got up, grabbed Erica by the arm and started running towards the house. “Hurry up!”
“I’m hurrying!” Erica and Tracy ran into the garage. Tracy’s gem was still glowing. “What’s wrong with it?”
“I’m not sure!” Tracy looked around. “Are we safe for the moment?”
“I guess so.”
“Then let me try something.” Tracy detransformed. “Maybe it was overloading.”
Erica shrugged. “Can mystical gems do that?”
“I hope not.” Tracy held it up. “Let’s try that again.” She started to transform, but instead of the normal green light, a blue one surrounded her. When she was done, instead of her normal green and white sailor suit, Tracy had on black pants and a black tank top. Over it was a blue jacket with a Capsule Corp. logo on it.
Erica’s eyes widened. “You stole Trunks’ outfit!”
“I did not! It’s not my fault!” Tracy looked at her sword. It too had changed. “What happened!”
“We don’t have time to find out, Darker Shadow and Ebiru are coming right now!”
“Oh no!” Tracy looked for a way out of the garage. The only way out would be for them to run past their enemies. “We’re trapped!”
“They’re almost here!” Erica stood in front of Tracy. “Get ready!”
“Ummm...ok.” Tracy tried to think, but she couldn’t concentrate. Three words seemed to dominate her thoughts.
“Are you ok?” Erica turned around towards Tracy, but was knocked aside as she ran past her. “What are you doing?!”
“Saving us!” Tracy ran in front of Darker Shadow and Ebiru. “Ice Bolts Surround!” Huge icicles started to form in the air and shot toward the villains. They tried to get out of the way, but it was no use. They screamed in agony as they icicles struck them. When the attack was finished, they could barely stand up.
“Thi... this isn’t over yet!” Ebiru teleported herself and darker Shadow away.
“Cool! We beat them!” Erica started dancing in the driveway.
“But where did the other dude go?” Tracy scanned the yard, there still was nobody around.
“Let’s go find them, they have to be inside.” With that, Erica and Tracy ran inside the house to help their friends.
* * * * *
When he sent Darker Shadow and Ebiru to attack the girls, Phineas had left to find Tred. He had searched the apartment and didn’t find Tred, so he was looking in Tracy and Amanda’s house.
Phineas was bewildered at the house. “What sort of people need a house this big?” He went upstairs and looked down a long hallway. He went into the first room he came to. It had a blue carpet, and its white walls were covered with posters. Phineas looked over them. Some were maps, but some were of people in odd costumes. They didn’t even look real.
“This is too strange. Sorceress Kasei didn’t mention this when she described the mission. He looked out the window and saw the rest of the block. “All the houses are huge, are they all royalty?”
Phineas heard a noise from down the hall, coming from the upstairs laundry room. He smiled and headed toward it. “I hope that’s you, Tred. Its about time we meet again.” He got about halfway there when Candice, Danielle, and Amanda came upstairs and blocked his way.
Amanda notched an arrow. “Get out of my house, creep.”
“Yeah, we won’t let you get to Tred!” Danielle activated her lightsaber. She looked at Candice, and noticed that she wasn’t following suit. “Uh, Candice? Are you gonna join us sometime?”
“You guys...” Candice took another look at Phineas. “I think he’s Tred’s brother!” When she saw him smirk, she jumped back.
“Huh? Tred has a brother?” Danielle slashed her lightsaber at Phineas. “Are you sure?”
Candice jumped out of the way of an energy blast. “Its not that popular of a name!” She threw her yari at Phineas and hit him in the arm. He just threw it back and continued to fight.
“Yes it is! Wasn’t the dude in 'A Separate Peace' named that?” Amanda shot an arrow, missed, and put a hole in the wall. “And could you guys try to push him out the window, we’re wrecking my house.”
Danielle stopped fighting and started laughing. “Hee hee, we’re fighting Finny!”
“Don’t call me that!” Phineas sent out a blast of energy that sent all three girls flying into the wall.
“Stupid villain!” Amanda got up and loaded her bow. “Screw the repair bill, I’m gonna teach ya not to mess with us!” She pointed the arrow straight at Phineas. “Sonic Arrow Blast!”
* * * * *
Tred had been in the laundry room the whole time, not even realizing the trouble his friends were in. When he was pushed into the leaf pile, Tred’s clothes had gotten all muddy, and he came up here to wash them and to find some new ones.
He was putting the clothes in the drier when the wall exploded in on him. “What was that!” He could see the fight clearly now, there was a hole where the wall used to be. Tred saw Danielle and Candice getting up from the floor, and Amanda facing off against a guy that looked just like...
“Phineas?!” Tred couldn’t believe it. His brother was dead. That couldn’t be Phineas there, it just couldn’t be. “NOOOO!!!!” Tred ran down the hall, tackled Phineas, and sent both of them crashing threw the window.
Amanda was stunned. “Tha... that idiot was washing his clothes while we were fighting for our lives! What a loser!” She turned and ran down the stairs. “Hurry, we need to help that dork!”
“Coming!” Danielle dragged Candice down the stairs and caught up to Amanda. As they were about to leave through the garage, they ran into Erica and Tracy.
Erica pushed Danielle in the direction of the front door. “You can’t go that way.”
“Why not?”
“Because its blocked.”
“By what?!” Amanda looked at Erica, then at Tracy. “And why are you dressed like Trunks!”
Tracy shook her head and headed to the front door. “The driveway is blocked by ice, and you don’t want to know about the outfit. Move it, we saw Tred and Phineas fall outside, so lets go help Tred.”
The five girls ran out the front door and into the lawn. There they saw Tred and Phineas fighting outside. It looked like they had given up on trying to defeat each other with energy bolts, they were now locked in a wrestling hold.
Candice was about to go and help, but Erica held her back.
“What are you doing?” Candice struggled to get free.
“You can’t rush in and attack, you might hurt Tred!” Erica let go of Candice and looked toward the others for help. “What should we do?”
They all looked at Tred, who looked like he was losing.
Danielle scratched her head. “We need to get Phineas away from Tred... I got it!” She whispered to the others and then they all moved closer to the fight. “Ok, on three. One... two... three!”
“HEY, FINNY!!!”
As all the girls yelled that, Phineas turned his head. This gave Tred the opportunity to blast him across the lawn. Phineas landed hard, and then struggled to his feet. It looked, for a moment, that he was going to attack again, but instead Phineas gave one last glare at them and teleported away.
The girls rushed over to help Tred. He was pretty badly beat up.
Erica helped him to his feet. “Wow, that was so cool! We beat them!”
“We didn’t beat them, they just retreated.” Tred surveyed the lawn. It was a mess. The grass was all torn up and glass was scattered over it. He then looked up at the house. The one window was completely broken, and through it you could see the large hole upstairs.
Tracy caught him looking at the damage. “Don’t worry about it, if anybody asks, we’ll say a tornado came threw here.”
Amanda thought about that one. “We don’t get tornadoes in New York!”
“Every so often we do.” Tracy detransformed and headed toward Tred’s apartment. “Come on, Amanda and I will make sure Tred’s ok. You guys go home and rest up, those three will definitely be back.
