Hey! Yes, I know . . . I'm getting better, updating more frequently! But I know you're happy so . . . Anyways, I wanna thank all of you who emailed me with the feedback! Keep em coming cause y'all KNOW I love email!
When we last left our heroes . . .
"Hey Just, do you have anything that can put Joey to sleep?" JC asked Justin telepathically, "Cause I know he's not gonna be able to fall asleep on his own."
"Yeah, I think so." Justin replied.
"Joey, come here." Justin said.
"Yeah?" Joey said.
Justin put his left hand behind Joey's neck, and put up his right hand with his index and middle fingers, sticking up. His hands started to glow a light blue color. Joey stared at Justin's hand and within 3 seconds, he was asleep, being held up Justin. JC picked up Joey and brought him to his room.
As JC stared at his sleeping friend, who he had known the longest of everybody, he couldn't help but sympathize with his situation. He knew all too well how it felt to have his lover captured and be worried sick, not knowing if they were dead or alive.
"Don't worry Joey, we'll get him back!" JC whispered stroking the side of Joey's face.
"You ok babe?" Lance said putting his arm on JC's shoulder.
"I just know what he's going through."
JC stood up and caressed Lance and said,
"I love you!"
"I love you!"
They gave each other a quick kiss then stepped out of Joey's room to meet Justin.
And now, we join the guys in their never-ending battle against the dark forces of evil!
"So what are we gonna do now?" Justin asked.
"Well, we gotta figure a way to rescue the guys and take out Lord Samuel at the same time." JC said, "But that will all have to wait until tomorrow, because I really need some sleep!"
"Ok, then I'll see y'all in the morning then!"
"Night Curly!" Lance said.
"Night!"
"Beryl!" Joey said, "I thought you were . . . I thought . . ."
"Shhhh!" Beryl said placing a finger up to Joey's lips.
Joey took Beryl's hand and caressed at against his face. He pulled Beryl in and kissed him for all he was worth. The kiss had new meaning. It was one of relief that Beryl was ok. The kiss lasted long. Beryl started to kiss down Joey's neck. Joey was enjoying the sensation of Beryl's lips pressed up against the sensitive flesh of his neck. Beryl ripped Joey's shirt off and continued to kiss, nibble and lick his way down Joey's body. As Joey let himself drown in the pleasure, he felt his pants starting to become undone.
"Hey, hey, hey! Slow down!" Joey said as Beryl kept at Joey's pants, "Beryl, stop! You're going too fast!" Joey looked down and saw a trail of blood leading down his body, "What the fuck?!?" he yelled.
Beryl slowly lifted himself up and Joey finally got a look at where the blood was coming from. Beryl had a hole in his chest where his heart was supposed to be.
"Holy shit!" Joey said trying to get up but was held down by a pair of hands. He looked to his side and saw a face, which he hadn't seen in months, "Maggie!? What are you doing?!" He yelled as he saw Maggie with her vampire face exposed.
Beryl got closer and Maggie's mouth got closer to Joey's neck.
"W . . . where am I?" Joey said as he was no in a white room.
"You know where the answers are." A deep male voice said.
"If you want to save Beryl, you must help him open his eyes." A female voice said.
"Go!" The 2 voices said joined by 3 new ones.
Joey woke up with a start. He turned his head to look at the clock, which read 9:30. At first he didn't understand what the voices in his dream meant. He sat up in his bed and thought about it. He thought about the things they talked about in the dressing room the day before.
"That's it!" He said as he realized where he could find his answers.
He jumped out of bed, made his way to the elevator and made his way down passed the practice room (which took up 3 of the 5 floors) and to the first floor. As he stepped out of the elevator, he saw some sort of laboratory. As he walked through the floor, he saw various test tubes and chemical concoctions. He finally found the hallway that would lead to his answers. The hallway was elegantly decorated with various, antique furniture. There was nothing there on the first floor that would give him what he wanted, so he went to the next floor. The next floor was 2 floors in 1. It was a sort of den that that had a spiral staircase, leading up to a wall, which was filled with books. He walked over to a desk that had some papers on it and read them. It wasn't anything important so he disregarded them. He noticed a few paintings on the walls. There was one large one of the team that once was. In it was Beryl's parents, uncle, a guy that Joey didn't recognize, a boy about 12, and 2 kids; a boy and a girl both about 3-4 years of age. Joey went up the spiral staircase to a desk that had a lot of dust on it. The closer he got to the desk, the greater his sense of satisfaction. On the desk was a calendar, a lamp. Some books and some pictures of Beryl at different ages. He noticed some drawers on the desk and looked through them. The first one had various office supplies and a knife in it. The second one was empty and the third was locked. He stuck his finger over the lock and it turned into a key. He opened it and found a book and a key inside. He took both of them out and placed it on top of the desk. He opened up the dusty book and read it.
"Looks like some sort of journal." He said to himself.
6/23/99
We are so close to finally figuring out how to penetrate Lord Samuel's armor. Alicia [NOTE: Beryl's mom] thinks she has figured it out. She has created some sort of potion, that when placed on an indestructible weapon, such as a sword, it would counteract the magic protecting his armor. All we need to do now is find that legendary indestructible sword. Tomorrow is Beryl's graduation. While he's out with his friends tomorrow night, we're going to have a meeting at the house to figure out how we're going to do this.
Gabriel [NOTE: Beryl's dad]
"Hey Justin, go wake up Joey, we gotta get some stuff done." JC said.
As Justin went into Joey's room, he saw that Joey wasn't there and screamed,
"JOSH!!!"
JC came running into the room with Lance not far behind.
"He's not here!" Justin frantically said.
"Where'd he go?!?" Lance asked.
"I dunno!"
"Ok, ok, calm down! Now we know Joey wouldn't go and do something stupid, like trying to rescue them on his own! So he has to be somewhere in the building!" JC said trying to keep calm.
"We'll check this floor first then the practice room!" Lance suggested.
As Joey finished reading the last entry, he looked over his shoulder to one of the bookcases and noticed a rusty, dust covered keyhole. He took the key he had placed on the desk and walked over to the bookcase. He put the key in and turned it. To his surprise, the bookcase moved slightly forward. He pulled it open at the crack it made and found out it was a doorway leading to a small hallway filled with more bookcases. He walked inside and noticed that all the books were exactly like the one that was in the drawer. There were volumes and volumes of the diaries.
"I gotta show the guys!" He said to himself.
He walked back into the main library and closed the door. He then hurried down the staircase, ran back to the first floor, ran through the hallway and back to the elevator. As he impatiently waited in the elevator, the guys were waiting impatiently in front of it. When the elevator finally reached the 5th floor, to everyone's surprise, they saw who they were looking for.
"Joey!" They all said as Joey said,
"Guys!"
"Where the hell were you?!?" JC said.
"I gotta show you something! Come on!" Joey said as he pulled them inside the elevator, "You're not gonna believe what I found!"
"What?" Lance asked.
"I know how to kill Lord Samuel!"
"Huh?!?" They all said.
"I had this dream, and . . . And I heard these voices telling me that I knew where to find the answers. Then . . . then I woke up and for some reason, I knew the answers lied in the other part of the complex!" As Joey got more hyper, he led them through the first floor, the long hallway, and into the library all while saying, "So I got up and wandered around down here. And . . . And it wasn't till I got here and found this that I found the answer!"
He showed them the last entry of the diary and they were shocked.
"Great but, where do we find the potion?" JC said after he finished reading.
"I saw some potions in Beryl's lab." Joey said.
"Didi, get out of my laboratory!" Justin joked, but didn't get a laugh, "Sorry . . ."
"But we don't know which one it is, and there's no way to test it without fighting and we might not get another chance!" JC said throwing the book to Joey, who missed and it fell to the floor.
"So we're back to square one." Lance said.
As Joey bent down to pick up the book, he saw a folded piece of paper had fallen out. He unfolded it, read it and said,
"Maybe not!"
"What're you talking about?" JC asked.
Joey showed him the paper and JC said,
"Is this what I think it is?"
"I think so!"
"What?" Lance and Justin asked.
"Ingredients and directions on how to make the potion!" JC said.
"Let me see!" Justin said.
JC gave the list to Justin and he looked it over.
"I could make this!"
"You can?" Lance asked.
"Yeah, all I gotta do is get the ingredients and Beryl has the equipment that I would need in his lab."
"And Lance has the indestructible sword!" JC said.
"Perfect!" Joey said, "So, we'll make the potion, put it on Lance's sword and kick some ass!"
"Down boy!" JC said, "Before we do that, we gotta concentrate on rescuing the guys."
"So what's the plan?" Lance asked.
"Same as before! Except, Lance, you'll come with me through the roof, and Justin and Joey will go through the docks. The only thing, you guys look around down there and if and when you find them, we'll make our move."
"Cool, so I'm gonna go and get the ingredients from Aunt Gladis." Justin said.
"Oh, guys! Look what else I found!" Joey said.
He opened up the secret passage and showed them the library of journals.
"Ok, Curly, you go and get the stuff. We're gonna look through these journals and see what else we can find out." JC said.
"Ok, but I need cab fare." Justin said.
"I got some money in my wallet upstairs." Lance said, "Take a $50."
Justin left and Joey, JC, and Lance started to look through the journals. By the time Justin got back, they had found out a great deal. Not just about Beryl's family, Lord Samuel, and Beryl, but it turns out that Beryl's family had been watching them, since after Xaina and her team's death, and while they were at the safe house in Denver, they had sent someone over to look after them.
"Hey handsome, back so soon?" Aunt Gladis said as Justin entered through the back door.
"Hey, yeah. I need some ingredients to make a potion." Justin said stepping more into the store.
"Well, come on up front and get what you need."
As she led Justin to the front, he saw a familiar face looking around the otherwise deserted shop.
"Rob? Is that you?!" Justin said as Rob turned around.
"Justin! Oh my god!" Rob said.
"What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, but I was just leaving actually."
"But . . ."
"I'll see you around! See yah Aunt Gladis!"
"Bye sweetie!" She said as Rob exited the store in a hurry.
"So what do you need hon?"
"Huh? Oh, here, I have a list." Justin said handing her the list.
"Wow, one hell of a potion you're workin on here!"
"Yup! So, do you have it all?"
"Well, some of the stuff I'll have to give you from my own personal collection, but yeah. I should have all of it."
"Great!"
"Struggle all you want, you'll never break loose! You're magically and physically bound!" Lord Samuel said mocking Beryl's attempts to break the chains, "And as soon as your little friends get here, thinking they're going to save you, I'm going to show them some real fear!"
"I got it! Now all I . . . have to . . . do is . . ." Justin said as he returned to the guys, "What's with the looks?"
"We've just found out a lot of interesting information!" JC said.
"About what?"
"Sit down, this might take awhile!" Lance said.
"Well, after reading a whole bunch of these journals, we've found out a lot of stuff." Joey said.
"Like?" Justin asked.
"Like, Lord Samuel turned Lael!" JC said.
"What?!"
"Yup, he's the one who made Lael a vampire."
"Oh shit!"
"That's not all!" Lance said, "They've known about us for a long time. They were keeping in contact with Xaina and her crew."
"They also were watching us during our whole ordeal in Colorado." Joey said.
"How?" Justin asked.
"They sent somebody to watch after us."
"Who?"
"A certain wolf-boy, who you've come to know and love." JC said.
"What!"
"Yup, and you know what his name is?"
"What?"
"Rob!"
"You mean that same Rob who . . ."
"Yup!"
"I saw him today!"
"What? Where?"
"When I went to buy the stuff, which by the way, I got all of!"
"Good, you'll get to work on it after we finish telling you the rest."
"There's more?"
"Yup!"
"Apparently, as long as Lord Beryl has his armor on, he can't be killed, even if we penetrate it." Lance said, "So, what we have to do is cut it off."
"Then, once it's off, is when he can be killed." Joey finished.
"Oh shit!" Justin said.
"What?" They all questioned.
"That's what she meant!"
"Who?" They all asked again.
"It's not what it appears! Wolf-bo . . . I mean, Rob wasn't the one who was trying to attack Joey, he was seeing if he was ok!"
"Yeah." JC said, "So he ran off cause he knew we thought that he did it."
"We found something out about Janet too!" Joey said.
"Yeah, the reason she knew about us is cause she's an oracle!" Lance said.
"She's THE Oracle! She's known about us even way before anyone else has! That's why we toured with her." JC said.
"There was no other way to keep you guys out of trouble, so I had to look after yah!" A female voice said from the doorway.
They all turned their heads to see Janet standing there in a long midnight blue cloak.
"Janet!" They all said.
"I'd hate to interrupt this little study session you got goin on here, but you have to make that potion, you don't have a lot of time." She said.
"Oh shit! It's 5 o'clock already?!" Justin said.
"Yes, and you have to get a move on!"
"So, you're here to help?" Lance asked.
"Yes and no."
"What do you mean?"
"I am here to let you know some things, but that's all."
"Can you help us in the fight?" JC asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"It's strictly forbidden for me to get that much involved."
"So what are you here to tell us?" Joey asked.
"Well the sacrificial ceremony is supposed to go down at 12 tonight, so you gotta do this before then, or Beryl is toast. And just be careful guys!"
"We will be." JC said.
"Ok, so according to the list, and the recipe, after I put this in, it should be it!" Justin said, about to add the last ingredient into the beaker.
"I hope this works!" Joey said.
"It will!" JC assured.
"Only one way to find out!" Justin said as he put the last ingredient in.
The guys stood back as the potion mixed itself together. It started to turn all different colors, the final one resulting in a florescent blue color.
"Ok, so now that we have it, how are we gonna do this?" Joey asked.
"Well, there's always the direct approach." Lance said, "Pour it on him, then cut it off."
"No, cause if we miss, it'll waist all of it and we're screwed." JC said, "Is there any other way?"
After about 5 minutes of thinking, Justin was looking around the lab and saw some empty smoke bomb shells.
"I got it!" Justin yelled.
"What?" The guys asked.
"We condense the liquid into a gas and put them into those smoke bomb shells! This way, we can make a few of them and it'll be a sure fire way to do it!"
"Great! Now . . . how do we do it?" Joey asked.
"Well, to turn a liquid into a gas, you gotta heat it up right?"
"I think so . . ."
"Wait a second!" Lance said.
"What?" The guys asked.
"I think I saw how to do it in one of the journals! It said how to put gas into the pellet."
"Try and find it." JC said.
After finally figuring out how to do it, they had filled 8 pellets with the gas and had just enough liquid left to pour over the sword.
"Ok, now we need some weapons." JC said.
"So let's go back up to the practice room." Lance said.
"What time is it"
"8 o'clock." Joey said.
"Ok, we have to be out of here by at least 11. So that gives us about 3 hours to get ready."
They made their way upstairs and to the vault of weapons. Once inside JC said,
"Ok, I want all of you to take a pack of throwing knives. They'll come in handy. Put your smoke bombs in the pouches."
"Josh, do you know how to throw these? Cause I know there's a proper way to do it." Joey said.
"Yeah, strap `em on and I'll show you."