Episode 3

A Devious Duo

“First Tritails, then Robotroid. And the list of disappearances continues to grow every day. What is happening to my servants?”

The dark figure paced around the dimly lit room as he brooded. His two servants stood in the doorway, as they normally did when their master was displeased. They wouldn't dare get any closer than they had to.

“Just goes to show you, you can’t rely on weak Creturians to get the job done,” one of them said. “Besides, nothing is more of an inconvenience than having cops shooting at you when you’re searching for something.”

The other agreed. “Yeah. Why waste your time sending freaky monsters to sneak around the city when you can send people that blend right in?”

“The reason I haven’t sent you two out is because you’re unable to sense the Guardian powers to the same degree as the Creturians,” the master said.

“But we don’t like cleaning up the fortress!”

“Yeah! Just give us a shot, boss. We can find those Guardian powers just as well as any Creturian can.”

Their master seemed to consider it. “I suppose there’s no harm in giving you a chance. The task is now yours. Go into the city and retrieve every Guardian power you come across. Keep in mind, Trey and Troy, that failure is not an option. If you return to me without results, there will be terrible consequences. Understood?”

“Of course, sir.”

“We won’t let you down.”

“See that you don’t.” The master waved them out of the room.

The two servants stepped outside the fortress door, the sunlight streaking through the leaves of the forest trees warming their skin. Both boys were around Rob's age, one with blonde spiky tufts of hair jutting from his head, the other with bright flowing red hair that shot upward like a flame.

“Ah, the sun. It feels good to get out of that stuffy old fortress, eh Troy?” the spiky-haired boy said.

“You know it, Trey,” said the redhead. “Let's go nab us some Guardian powers.”

---

A blue blast of electricity nearly singed the top of Rob’s hair as he jumped to a lower level of the building top he was running across. Pursuing him was Firlug, a bipedal slug-like Creturian that stood at an impressive 6 feet.

“Nice shooting, slug thing,” Rob called back to the creature as he ran. “Maybe one of these times you‘ll actually be able to hit me.”

Over the past few days, Rob had come into contact with several other Creturians after his Guardian power. At first it was a real struggle to put up a good fight, especially with the thought of being unwillingly bonded to the Guardian power forever always whizzing through his head. But as he encountered more monsters and got himself out of sticky situations, he found that he was actually starting to enjoy himself, especially as his skills improved. In fact, he almost looked forward to a Creturian attacking him. Sure, his ideal summer didn't consist of constant life-or-death struggles, but it was leaps and bounds better than being bored.

“Voltage Stream!” Electricity surged between Firlug’s eye stalks, and a bolt sizzled towards Rob, who sidestepped it and continued running.

From a higher building, Wyn watched the battle unfold. He had watched almost all of Rob's battles from afar, but had never taken the time to speak to him, despite the lingering questions they had for one another. There was time for that later. For now, he wanted to see just what kind of skills the boy possessed. And thus far, he wasn't particularly impressed. Pretty cocky attitude coming from such a weakling.

Rob hid behind a smokestack and waited for a good opportunity to attack. Knowing full well his prey was there, Firlug blasted the smokestack into rubble. Hoping to catch Firlug off guard, Rob shot off an attack through the dust. The blast barely grazed the creature, but he still collapsed to the ground in a heap.

“That blast barely even connected,” Wyn said to himself. “I don’t care how weak a monster is, that attack should not have been that effective.”

“Wow, I didn’t think you’d be such a pushover,” Rob sneered at the fallen monster, “but I guess I was wrong.”

Wyn grunted. Firlug had to be be faking it. The boy should get out while he could.

Fortunately, Rob seemed to pick up on it. “Hey, wait a minute…I bet you’re fakin’ it, aren’t ya? Yeah, tryin’ to pull a fast one on ol’ Rob, eh? Nice try, pal.”

He waited for Firlug to respond, but Firlug stayed stone still.

“Heh heh, that’s funny. Get up. C’mon.”

Ever impatient, he began walking towards the monster's motionless body.

“I said--”

“Voltage Stream!”

Rob didn't have time to react. Firlug's unexpected electric blast hit him squarely in the chest, causing him to reel over in pain. “I was hoping you’d try something foolish,” Firlug snickered as he stood back up.

“Cheap…trick…”

“Whatever it takes.” Firlug attacked again, but Rob rolled out of the way of the blast.

And rolled. And rolled...

...right off the building.

Wyn couldn't help but smack his hand against his forehead. “I can’t believe he just did that!”

“I can’t believe he just did that!” Firlug echoed.

Rob landed in—what else—an alley, tumbling into a group of trashcans.

“Ugh…I can’t believe I just--” He stopped mid-sentence as he noticed another blast zooming towards him, and scrambled out of the way as the trashcans he watched them crash around the alleyway, an idea came to him.

Firlug jumped down in front of Rob and attacked again. Rob leaped over the monster, shot one of the cans into the air, and slammed it over Firlug as he shot off another Voltage Stream. Bolts of electricity swarmed around the can, and Firlug fell to the ground—for real, this time—the can still over him as steam poured out from the bottom.

“Yuck, fried slug,” Rob said. “Can’t say I find that very appealing. Looks like you're right where you belong.” He kicked the can—and Firlug—down the alleyway, then de-transformed. “I’m really getting the hang of this.” he said with a satisfied grin. “Soon I bet I’ll be strong enough to give that other guy a run for his money.”

Wyn winced involuntarily.”Don’t flatter yourself,” he said softly. “Amateur beats a weak enemy and thinks he’s king of the world. He didn’t even finish the job.”

A dazed Firlug crawled out of the can to see an armored Wyn scowling at him. “You monsters just don’t get the hint,” Wyn said. “Stay out of our world if you know what’s good for you.”

Firlug snarled. “What’s good for me is getting the Guardian powers! Vol--”

“Guardian Punch!”

Wyn blasted him away with little thought, then turned his attention to Rob, who was walking down the road blissfully. “Hmph. Never send a boy to do a man’s job. I gotta talk to that kid.”

Trey and Troy had seen the whole thing from their perch atop a building adjacent to the one Wyn was on, but they kept out of sight.

“Would you look at that,” Troy said more fascination than alarm at the unexpected sight. “Two of the Guardian powers have been activated. That’s not good.”

Trey motioned to him. “C’mon, we gotta try and find the other three. We may be in for more than we can handle if they’re occupied, too.”

Their ability to sense the otherworldly energy of the Guardian powers wasn't as sharp as they liked, but after a short while of searching, they discovered the nearest source near an apartment complex.

“Now, where is it?” Troy mumbled as he searched the grounds.

“Oh yeah, it’s here, all right.” Trey said, gazing around the alley. “My radar’s going crazy.”

After a few minutes, Troy shouted, “Found it!” He eagerly ran up to Trey and held the bracelet in his hand like a child proudly showing off his new toy.

The bracelet looked as if it had been chewed on by some sort of animal. Probably Tritails before his mysterious disappearance, Trey thought. Oh well. “Rock on. At least one of these stupid things will be easy to recover. Let’s go check out the last two.”

Brittany and Tami were going about their day as normal in their respective apartments, merely several stories apart from each other. Brittany was finishing up cleaning the living room before her mother got home in her apartment, and Tami was watching a soap opera in hers. Neither girl had any idea they were being watched.

Trey and Troy didn't know exactly that they were watching them, either. They just knew that the Guardian power signal was strong. Almost as if there was more than one bracelet somewhere behind one—or two—of those apartment doors.

“It feels like two Guardian powers to me,” said Trey. “But could that really be possible?”

Troy groaned. “Man, how could four of the powers be activated already? We’re gonna have a major fight on our hands.”

“Now now, just because someone has the bracelets doesn’t mean they know how to use them properly. For all we know, some girls could be wearing them as jewelry.”

Troy scoffed. “I doubt it.”

“Anyway, we’ll worry about them later. We did our scouting. Let’s tell the boss what I found.”

Trey took off. But Troy stood there for a moment.

“…Hey! I found ‘em too! Wait for me!”

“Hey, you!”

Rob turned around quickly, afraid of being jumped by another monster. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw who it was. “Oh, it’s only you. Wyn, was it?”

“Yes, yes,” Wyn said. “We need to have a little chat.”

Rob looked around to see who was watching, then leaned over and whispered in Wyn's ear. “I just got done clobbering a monster.” He was unable to hold back his excitement. “You should of seen it. You would have been impressed.”

Wyn sighed. “Come over here.” He dragged Rob into the alley.

“Oh, again with the alleys,” Rob said. “I'm starting to get really tired of them.”

Wyn ignored him. “I did see your fight, actually, and—shocking as it sounds—I was a bit less than impressed.”

Rob gazed at him in astonishment. “You can’t be serious. I was totally owning that little slime ball. You have to admit the trashcan was a nice touch. He was all like, 'zzzzzzt! Ahhhh!'”

“Or how about when you walked towards him, knowing full well he was faking being hit? Or when you managed to 'dodge' your way right off of a building?”

Rob rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah, that was pretty silly of me, but boy, I recovered and rocked, huh? He probably ran home crying.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Wyn said. “This isn’t some silly game. These aren’t neighborhood bullies we’re dealing with here. These are monsters with great destructive power. They want to destroy you. And they don’t care how many innocent lives they have to endanger to do it. This is why I didn’t want you to get involved in this. You’re way too much of a goofball to handle such a responsibility.”

---

The boys' master eyed them as they presented their findings to him. Even in silhouette he didn't appear pleased. “Only one? Where are the others?”

“We think two of them are inside an apartment complex,” Trey replied. “We weren’t really able to get a good look.”

“Hmm, they must have been gathered up by someone,” the master said. “No matter, we’ll deal with them in due time. What of the other two?”

“Well, they've, um…” Trey forced the words out. “...both…been activated, sir.”

He saw his master's eyes grow wide. “Activated? Elaborate.”

Trey swallowed hard. “Uh…well…your turn, bro.” He pushed Troy in front of him.

“Me??” Troy looked at his brother with disgust, then at his master with paralyzing fear. “Uh…heh. You see, we found two guys about our age who have somehow activated the Guardian power. They actually managed to take down Firlug.”

“Inconceivable,” said the master. “How could a couple of teenage punks possibly know how to activate such a power on their own, let alone use it effectively? Could they have possibly taken down Tritails and Robotroid, as well? This makes things a lot more interesting.” He paused. “Okay, then. Even if they’ve occupied the power, I highly doubt they have the ability to stand toe-to-toe against seasoned fighters like yourselves. I want you two to find those boys and eliminate them. Don’t let anything stand in your way.”

“Yes, sir!”

---

“Listen, pal,” Rob said to Wyn, “I may not be as good a fighter as you, but that’s what practice is for. The more I fight, the better I’ll get.”

“Learn how to fight, for starters,” Wyn said. “I’ve never seen such sloppy fighting. Oh, and lose the attitude, too. A fighter with as little experience as you has no room for boasting. It’ll do nothing but hinder you. Also, if you engage a monster in battle, be sure to finish the job. Like I said, if we don’t completely dispose of them, there’s no telling what kind of damage--”

“Hey! You two!”

Rob and Wyn looked upwards to see Trey and Troy standing atop a building, smirking with arms crossed as if they were trying to look cool and mysterious and failing miserably. They jumped to the ground and quickly resumed their poses.

“Who are you two, and what do you want?” Wyn asked impatiently.

“To fight, and enemies,” Troy said excitedly. “Uh…not necessarily in that order.”

“Who we are is none of your concern at the moment,” said Trey, “but what we want is a fight.”

“A couple of back alley punks, eh?” Rob said. “You guys really think you can take us?”

Wyn shot him a dirty look, and he chuckled nervously.

“If you want valuables, I don‘t have any,” Wyn said to Trey, then pointed to Rob. “Of course, I can’t speak for this guy.”

Rob gulped.

“Oh, you carry something of value, all right,” Troy said. “Both of you do.” Trey and Troy held up their arms, and a pair of bracelets glinted in the sunlight. “Take a wild guess.”

Rob and Wyn gasped.

“You both have--” Wyn began.

“That’s right.” Trey nudged his brother. “Quick on the uptake, that one. You could learn a thing or two from him, Troy.”

Troy stared blissfully off into space for a moment, then looked at his brother. “…huh?”

Trey ignored him. “Anyway, we challenge you guys to a rumble. One hour.” He gestured north. “That…forest place on the outskirts of town.”

Rob scowled. “We’ll be there with bells on.”

“No need to get dressed up on our account,” said Troy. “Just come as you are.”

Trey smacked him upside the head. “Ow!”

Trey smiled menacingly at Rob and Wyn. “Catch ya then, boys.”

The duo bolted towards the battleground eagerly, leaving an angry Wyn and a confused Rob in their wake.

A few minutes later, Rob and Wyn were walking down the road in silence.

“So, Mr. Mysterious,” Rob spoke up, “who do you think those guys were?”

“First off, my name is Wyn. And I have no clue who they are, but obviously they’re up to no good.”

Rob cradled his fingers behind his head. “Sheesh, how many Guardians are there? Every time I turn a corner I seem to run into another one.” He looked at Wyn and forced a wry smile. “But at least this time I have someone to be clueless with.”

Wyn didn't return the smile. “Not for long. We’ll get our answers, even if I have to beat them out of those guys.”

Feldnaut City was one of the largest in the region, but it didn't compare to the sprawling forest on the northern outskirts of it. Dark Woods, as the locals aptly called it, seemed to go on for miles into the distance once one left the city area. Rob had always been surprised that they hadn't bulldozed the whole area to make room for more housing or something. It wasn't like it was a popular hangout spot. In fact, very rarely did anyone even bother entering the lonely woods.

Which made it the perfect spot for a Guardian throwdown.

Rob rued the fact that he didn't bother asking the boys where they wanted to meet. Every inch of the forest seemed to look the same. Wyn didn't seem to mind wandering aimlessly.

Somehow, the boys found them. It was almost as if they could sense them coming.

“Wow, didn’t think you guys would show,” Troy said.

“Okay,” Wyn said, getting right down to business, “who are you guys? I want some answers.”

Trey crossed his arms. “Sure, why not? The name’s Trey, master of electricity.” He struck a cheesy pose.

“And my name is Troy, the firey powerhouse!” Troy posed, as well.

“And we’ve been paid to exterminate you Guardians,” Trey added.

Troy looked at him in confusion. “We have? How long has this been going on?”

Trey mumbled so the other Guardians couldn't hear him.“Shut up, it makes us sound cooler.” Then to Rob and Wyn he said, “there’s only room in this dimension for two Guardians, and it’s not...the two Guardians that...aren’t us.”

Rob huffed. “Nicely put.”

“And just how did you two manage to stumble upon the Guardian powers in the first place?” Wyn asked.

“What is this, '20 Questions?'” said Troy. “Less talky, more fighty.”

“Sorry, I just gotta ask one more question.” Rob pointed to them. “Um, what’s up with your hair?”

Trey ran his fingers across one of his massive yellow spikes. “What‘s wrong with our hair? If you're referring to the fact that our hairstyles look like electricity and fire, that's just a really cool coincidence.”

“Fair enough. Now, are we ready to start this little rumble?”

“Hey, now, who says you get to fight?” said Wyn. “I can handle these clowns by myself. Watch and see how a pro does it.”

“You said I needed to learn how to fight, right?” Rob argued. “I'd say fighting other Dimensional Guardians would be a pretty good training exercise, wouldn't you?”

“Sure!” Trey said. “The more the merrier. We’re gonna beat him up either way. He might as well go out fighting. What say we fight one-on-one? I call the tough-looking one!”

Troy started speaking halfway through his brother's statement. “I call the tough--awww...”

Nice to feel wanted, Rob thought.

Trey's eyes glistened with anticipation. “Okay, let’s do it, bro! Dimensional Guardians, power up!”

“Dimensional Guardians…power up!”

Even though Rob had an idea what to expect, as he saw the apparently-evil teenage boys emerge from the light in Guardian armor, he felt an unshakable intimidation. He tried to keep it from creeping into his voice. “Mmm, spiffy. Let’s see how you like this! Dimensional Guardians, power up!”

Wyn transformed, as well. “Dimensional Guardians, power up!”

“Not bad,” Trey commented after their transformations were complete. “Now let’s see if you guys can fight!” He charged at Wyn and threw a punch, which Wyn easily blocked. Trey snickered, transmitting an electric attack from his fist through Wyn’s body. Before Wyn could recover, he kicked him firm in the chest. Wyn flew through the air, but landed on his feet and headed back towards him, undeterred.

“Electric Shock!” Trey cupped his hands, and dozens of forks of electricity danced between them and flew at Wyn. Wyn nullified the electric blast with the energy surrounding his fists, then fired his own attack. Trey zipped around Wyn's blasts. The combatants’ fists met again, and Trey grinned. “Heh, a glutton for punishment, eh? I figured you’d learned your--huh??”

Wyn charged up his fist faster than Trey could charge up his electricity. “I figured you’d know better than to teach a better fighter the same trick,” Wyn countered. “Guardian Punch!” His blast engulfed Trey before he could put up any defense.

At the other end of the battlefield, Rob stood stone still, hesitant, for some reason he couldn't understand, to attack Troy. Troy seemed to notice as he teased him with a narrow line of fire that barely missed him, causing him to yelp in surprise.

“Scared, are ya?” Troy asked. “Then you’ll hate this.” Flames surrounded his arms. He focused them into four fireballs that whirled between his hands. “Burning Wheel!” In an unexpected move, he shot the fireballs straight downward into the ground, causing thick smoke to pile into the air. Rob's eyes watered as it overtook him. “Where did he go?” he wondered, straining to see.

“Boo.”

Rob was knocked to the ground by a kick. Troy must've been able to sense where he was at. Or maybe that was a tactic he used a lot in battle and he knew how to take advantage of it. Whatever the case, things weren't looking good. “Aw, you’re no fun,” came Troy's voice from somewhere in the smoke.

Rob shot wildly every which way, hoping to score a lucky hit. While he nearly took out Wyn and Trey with stray shots, he didn't touch Troy.

“C’mon, are you really this bad?” Rob heard Troy say. “Hit me once, at least.”

But Troy wasn't even going to give him a chance. A punch in the stomach sent Rob falling on his back. Hoping to improve his odds, Rob scrambled out of the smoke. Before he had time to regain his vision, however, he was kicked back to the ground. Troy proudly planted his foot on his back and chortled over his easy victory. “Wow, you didn’t land one attack. That’s got to be some kinda record or something.”

Rob, with his arms still free, managed to blast Troy off of him and get back to his feet. “You were saying, fire boy?” he said, his voice shaky but still confident.

Troy dusted himself off calmly. “A lucky shot, that’s all that was.”

Rob took a moment to look his opponent over. Wyn was right. He was in way over his head. Those guys were good. Real good. If he would've known that, maybe he wouldn't have been so eager to rush into battle. I’ve totally lost my edge, he thought. I need to get in control here. Troy is just a guy like me, right? I can take him. I have to.

Trey frantically ducked and sidestepped Wyn‘s volley of punches. “Sheesh, you need to calm down,” he said with a grunt. “Let me have some fun, too, huh?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Troy saw his brother fly past him and slam into a tree. “Bro! You all right?” he asked.

Trey peeled himself off the tree and fell face first into the dirt. “Just peachy.”

Troy, ever oblivious, sighed in relief. “Ah, good. For a second there I thought he managed to--”

Taking advantage of the distraction, Rob got another shot in. “And that makes two,” he said, the sight of Troy struggling to get back up boosting his confidence. He followed up with a kick, but Troy jumped high into the air as Rob’s foot met the ground. While in the air, Troy charged up another fire attack. Rob rolled out of the way of the blast. After landing, Troy launched a barrage of fireballs that Rob struggled to dodge.

Rob grew more tired with every passing second. This guy just didn't let up. It was obvious he couldn't take him out with brute strength. But maybe he could take advantage of his surroundings.

He maneuvered himself farther back as Troy followed. Then, when the time was right, Rob blasted off a tree branch about his size above Troy's head, and it came crashing down on top of him.

“Ha! Brains beat brawn any day, fire boy,” he said. Maybe he could win the fight after all.

His smile faded as Troy lifted the huge branch up over his head. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Troy said. “Fore!” He smacked Rob through the air like a golf ball. And this time when Rob fell, he didn't get back up.

“Talk about weak. You make my job almost too easy.” Troy said.

Rob's body ached all over. The only thing that apparently didn't hurt to move was his mouth. “Says you. I’m…just getting warmed up.”

“Oh, you’re getting 'warmed up', all right.” Flames spewed from Troy’s fingertips, lighting up his smiling face and making him look more intimidating than ever. “When this is over, you’ll be extra-crispy.”

Rob silently wished he could back up his bravado, but he didn't even have the strength to lift his head up off the ground.

“Hey, bro!”

Before Troy could finish Rob off, he looked over at Trey, who appeared overwhelmed by Wyn's assault. “This guy’s pretty tough.” Trey said, sidestepping a seemingly unending volley of punches. “If you’re done with him, come lend me a hand, will ya?”

“Okie doke.” He looked down at Rob again. “You just wait right here, Nancy. We’ll finish our little dance in a sec.”

Wyn was too caught up in attacking Trey to notice Troy charging at him full-force. Troy slammed into him, and without giving him a second to recover, Trey zapped him. He counterattacked with blasts at the brothers, knocking them away. They managed to land on their feet as Wyn rushed them.

“Burning Wheel!”

“Electric Shock!”

Wyn jumped over the blasts, but before he could focus a midair attack, Trey and Troy were on both sides of him. They each gave him a firm kick in the side, and he landed on the ground. Not wasting a second, the brothers overwhelmed the warrior with attack after attack until he stayed down.

The brothers wiped the sweat from their foreheads. It was a tough battle, but they had come out on top. As always.

“You certainly...pack a wallop,” panted Trey. “I know better than to...take you on one-on-one...I’ll give you that.”

“But it looks like two-on-one...is too much for you. Augh!” Suddenly, Troy de-transformed and collapsed.

Trey gasped.“What was that?”

The smoke trailing from Rob's blaster answered his question. Still on the ground, Rob brought his arm cannon down and strained to hold his head up. “Looks like…I win…our little bout, Trey.” With that, he de-transformed and rested his head on the ground with satisfaction.

“I'm Trey, you punk,” Trey said through gritted teeth. He angrily began charging up his electricity.

“Hey. You forgetting about me?”

Trey whirled back around to see Wyn back on his feet. He was battered and bruised, but the glint in his eyes told Trey he was nowhere near ready to give up the fight. “It looks like it’s down to you and me,” he said.

Trey, frightened by his opponent's fierce determination, glanced down at the nonexistent watch on his wrist. “Oh, would you look at the time? Get up, Troy. We’d better call it a day. Our mom doesn't like us to stay out after dark.” Both boys began to scramble away. “It’s been fun. We’ll fight again later...or something. See ya!”

The boys froze in their tracks as they heard Wyn call out his attack again. “Guardian Punch!” They turned frantically to see who the target was, but it was too late, and Trey was knocked out of his transformation by the attack.

“Hey! You won, okay?” Trey whined as he picked himself up. “Cut us some slack here! Eep!” Another Guardian Punch barely missed him, and he and his brother continued escaping.

Wyn closed his eyes as his knees buckled and he de-transformed. He opened one eye to notice Rob standing over him with his hand extended, but chose to get up on his own power.

“Well, we did it,” Rob said. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it through that one.”

Wyn stood silent, staring off into the distance.

“Uh…what do you think?” Rob asked.

Wyn's eyes shot daggers at him. “You know you would have been toast if I wasn’t here, right?”

“Huh?”

“If Troy wasn’t distracted with me, you know he would’ve finished you off, right?”

Rob didn't answer. But he knew.

“You know it, and I know it,” Wyn answered for him. “Obviously these guys are going to be a thorn in our sides just as the Creturians are. As much as I hate to admit it, we made it through that battle by the skin of our teeth. We have to shape up. Both of us. If we don‘t…” He looked down at the grass beneath his feet. “...we won’t survive for long.”

“No argument here,” Rob said. “We need to train together.”

Wyn continued staring at the ground, then responded without looking up. “No. I can’t.”

“But…why not? If we--”

“I said no! I was able to take one of those clowns down, I can take them both down. I just need to train harder.” He clenched his fists in firm determination. “And I will. Eventually I’ll be able to take down any creature—Creturian or otherwise—that gets in my way. You keep fighting monsters that attack you, I'll keep fighting monsters that attack me, we'll get stronger, and we'll be able to beat stronger opponents. It’s as simple as that. We'll both be just fine on our own, trust me.”

With nothing else to say, he slowly began walking back towards the city.

A few agonizing moments of awkward silence later, Rob called out to him, “I don’t understand you. Why are you so anti-social? Why aren’t you willing to just be friends with me?”

Rob's words seemed to strike a chord as Wyn jerked to a stop. The air was silent once more.

“I don’t do friendship,” he said, resuming his walking away. “Now go home and get some rest. Chances are, you’ll need it.”

Rob continued standing in the middle of the forest after Wyn left his sight. “Super. Not only do I have no-telling-how-many monsters out to kill me, but two psychos with Guardian powers out to kill me, too…and the only guy who can help me is a grade-A jerk. Ugh...I could use a vacation.”

Back in the not-so-far-away fortress, Trey and Troy knelt before their visibly upset master. “How could you possibly lose?!” he barked out in shocked disbelief.

“That one guy was ultra-strong, sir,” Trey said, “but we had him on the ropes until the weak one sucker-blasted poor Troy. It was a fluke that they won. Nothing more.”

“You shoulda seen some of the cheap shots--” Troy began.

“Spare me your pitiful excuses. While I am disappointed that you weren’t able to stop them on the first try, you did help me determine my next move.”

“Ooh, what is it, sir?” Troy asked.

“If they only barely managed to beat you two, then they are easily no match for me, as I expected. Thus, we needn‘t worry about them for now. However, we still have yet to determine the condition of the other two Guardian powers.” The master held out his hand in a commanding gesture. “Listen up, my servants. I have a new mission for you…”

It looks like Rob and Wyn are safe for the moment, but what does the mysterious master have in store for those possessing the other two Guardian Powers? Do you even remember who they are? And will Rob ever get some answers? Find out the answers to some of these questions in the next exciting installment of Dimension Heroes!

TO BE CONTINUED...