Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

The Orchid Veil.

Hundreds of years ago, after a legendary war, a great evil was sealed away. Three legendary groups of heroes had come together, locking it in a prison no one could ever escape from. The prison, dubbed the Orchid Veil, slowly became a repository for some of the most powerful and dangerous magical criminals the world had ever seen.

Those who broke magical law. Those who abused the will of magic and threatened the plane of existence for their own gain. Traitors of the primordial land of magic. Monstrous creatures that would otherwise be uncontainable. Entities beyond mortal comprehension.

Catfish Booray did not know why he was here. 

“Aw, c’mon! I didn’ do nothin! Where’d the swamp go? What happ’n to me Gris-Gris?”

The guards escorting him didn’t respond. Resembling stone statues, they were dressed in armor that seemed to be a combination of modern SWAT uniforms and that of a medieval knight, carrying massive tower shields and a glowing green staff. They were well fortified, but the occasional cracks in their armor revealed the electrifying green energy of their true bodies. 

“Let me GO!”

“Now, I’m afraid we can’t do that, Mr. Booray.”

The prison beneath the walkway Booray was standing on got louder. Beneath him, the sounds of anger roars and frenzied shouting picked up, horrid curses and rude comments flung at the owner of the voice that froze Booray to his soul. 

“The council has judged you to be a dangerous threat to the Central Realm. Not only are you in possession of illegal magical artifacts, but your manipulation and abuse of various wildlife creatures hasn’t given you the… best track record. So, by order of the Magic High Council, you are to be imprisoned in the Orchid Veil.”

From above, a man in a pristine white suit floated down. Contrasted against the dark green stone and rusty purple machinery, he glowed like a spotlight, impossible to miss. A black stetson hat rested on his head, which was just as pale and white as the rest of his suit that it could almost be called skeletal. He smiled, his ethereal pink eyes piercing right through Booray’s soul.

“You… Yous that Walker! The warden of the- NO! I can’t be here! I need to get back to me swamp! I can’t be stuck in- in- NOOO!!!”

“Yes yes, we’ve heard it all before. Unfortunately..."

As if to prove his next point, magical power thundered off of him and his guards like a miniature explosion. The cages nearby rattled and hissed with distain.

"No one leaves the Orchid Veil.”

In a flash, the area below him was suddenly illuminated. What seemed like an endless number of cells descended downwards, every one storing a different kind of criminal. There were impossibly terrifying monsters, mystical sorcerers found only in legends, criminals that every child of magic learned of in horror stories.

“Do enjoy your stay.”

The warden left, disappearing in a veil of white smoke. The guards holding down Booray began dragging him along, hoisting him over the edge of the catwalk and pulling him further and further down. All the way down, Catfish struggled.

“Ngh- Curse you! Curse the Te Xuan Ze! Curse you-”

That name. 

That name garnered a worse reaction than the appearance of the warden. The entire prison seemed to shudder, the mention of the descendants of one of its founders causing the walls to shake as even the oldest and most wretched of its inmates struggled against their eternal bonds. 

But there was something even more prominent. Something that ran through the prison faster than the angered shouts and tortured wails.

Whispers.

Whispers telling stories to anyone who would listen. Hushed tones passing secrets from one person to the next. Rumors that spread like wildfire from prisoner to prisoner about the latest Te Xuan Ze. And for as much hatred and malice their voices they held…

There were also hints of awe.

“ I heard her blade holds the souls of every being she kills! ”

“ She told me that she killed her own mother to gain the powers of the Te Xuan Ze early! ”

“ Did you know she’s the granddaughter of Jasmine Lee, conqueror of Bella Noche? ”

“ Apparently she killed those that imprisoned the legendary Loki, just so she could kill him herself! ”

“ Rumors said that she fought off entire cities’ worth of monster at once, all alone… ”

Soon, the prison turned into a roaring mob, all condemning that name. The most powerful Te Xuan Ze in centuries. The one who put a large number of them in the cells they were rotting in. One of the most hardened, ruthless, effective warriors the world had ever seen. 

That name.

That name-

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Juniper Lee snorted awake.

Choking on the saliva in her throat, she hacked out a lung as the snot clogging her nose was spontaneously cleared. Snapping into a sitting position, a line of drool fell from her face as she groggily blinked awake. Her back was killing her, probably the consequence of sleeping on a bus bench in the middle of nowhere, and she rubbed it absentmindedly. The sunlight felt like it was burning a hole through her head.

“ Ugh… I’d kill to sleep in a bed…”

It had been a very long time since Juniper had gotten a proper night of sleep. Even when she wasn’t up all night and managed to find a place to hunker down, it was usually safer to use “Somnum Nihil Magis,” getting a complete night’s rest in only four minutes. She just didn’t have a choice last night, her mana reserves too exhausted to even make a spark. It had taken all she had just to make it to the bench she was currently resting on.

Whipping her face, Juniper absentmindedly reached her hand down. The familiar feelings of her backpack, far too old for how much action it saw, and her scabbard, holding probably her oldest friend at this point, beneath her fingertips. Nobody had stolen from her in the middle of the night.

That was good. It had happened before, both by the magical and non-magical.

It was always a pain to track down thieves without her stuff. 

Though to be fair, Juniper honestly doubted there would be anyone out in the middle of nowhere at four in the morning.

She was currently off a highway in… Louisiana? Mississippi? Somewhere in between there. This last hunt had taken a few months and a cross country trek, so right now it should be… July? Time and location were difficult to keep track of when every week you were someplace completely different.

Grabbing her belongings from underneath the bench, Juniper got to her feet and stretched her stiff muscles. It was her first legitimate night… or morning of sleep in a long while, but she didn’t really feel much better. Sleeping in the open with nothing but a ratty winter jacket and a bench underneath her didn’t do a lot for a restful night’s sleep.

GgGrRoOoOwLl

But that wasn’t important at the moment, apparently. Right now, if the sounds of her stomach were anything to go by, her next mission was finding something to eat. 

Looking around, a sign on the side of the road said there was a Nasty Burger… 5 miles down. It was probably her best (and only) option, and it was an hour and a half walk away. Maybe only a half if there weren’t any cars and she could pump on the speed. Probably longer based on how tired she still felt. Sighing, Juniper took her first step in the direction indicated by the sign, feet already sore and stomach already growling.

This was going to be a long morning.

Grand magical destiny my butt.

---

When she was 6 years old, Juniper Lee had nearly died.

At least, that’s how she had felt.

Out of nowhere, she seemed to come down with some strange, incurable disease. For months she was bedridden, unable to eat solid foods or even move without searing pain shooting through her body. Her teachers, her parents, and every doctor they had called had no clue what was wrong with her.

Her Ah-Mah did.

From what she could remember, she had never left her side. Jasmine Lee had stuck to Juniper like glue, even when she had been moved to a hospital. Somehow, she always had some kind of herbal tea or soup to fill her aching stomach. They were one of the few things she could properly eat, one of the few things that would soothe the pain. It was like a miracle.

It wouldn’t be until much later that Juniper realized why.

Four months of illness ended with the worst migraine she had ever experienced. It felt like her skull was splitting, two hours of pain far too intense for a six year old to handle. It was a miracle she didn’t pass out. By the time it was over, a full block of her hair had turned stark white, something the doctors had said was caused by stress.

But once it occurred, Juniper was miraculously cured. In fact, she seemed healthier than ever, as if she hadn’t been bedridden for months. She was discharged from the hospital after a week, doctors baffled at how it seemed as if nothing had changed in young June’s body. 

But, quite obviously, something had changed.

Something major.

Later, Juniper would learn that it wasn’t supposed to happen so soon. That her grandmother had experienced the same thing when she was in her 20’s, already trained and prepared for the burden it would have on her body. For poor little June, it came early and without warning. 

And it had disastrous side effects.

All of a sudden, monsters were drawn to her like a beacon. A week after she was miraculously healed, a group of goblins disguised as humans tried to grab her off the street. A few days after that, a giant sea serpent revealed itself to her on a trip to the beach. After that, a size changing leprechaun had nearly burned her house down.

And every time, her Ah-Mah was there, helping her. She had fought off the goblins with a single look, pacified the serpent as if it was a curious dog, and chased the leprechaun back into the woods with her slippers in hand. It was during these incidents that Juniper learned of her true heritage. 

When she learned of the true nature of reality.

When she learned of the ‘grand destiny’ that awaited her. 

When she learned of the Te Xuan Ze.

---

An electronic chime signaled as Juniper entered the Nasty Burger. It was nearly abandoned, a token establishment off the side of the highway. At the counter, a completely uninterested staff worker barely glanced her way, face caked with dark makeup and a bubble of gum popping in disinterest.

“Um… Hi!”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...Whadda ya want.”

“Oh! Uh… …I’ll have a Chicken Nasty… and a small drink. Please.”

Some disinterested taps onto a cash register hit Juniper’s ears as she pulled out her backpack, rooting through it for some loose change. Which pocket held her money again?

“...That’ll be $2.10.”

“Um… One sec…”

She managed to find a dollar bill, extremely crumpled but still usable. Slapping that on the counter, she stuck her arm deeper into the bag and wildly searched for anything else. Rooting around the bottom gave her a dime… and two nickels! What was that… 20 cents? She just needed another dollar…

“...You gonna pay?”

“One sec, one sec. I’ve got something in here…”

Placing the coins on the counter, she started to pull things out of her backpack, stressing the poor thing to its limits. She almost turned it inside out, everything she owned threatening to spill out. A few various items did fall to the floor, some small stone statues and plant seeds, but no more coins. And then, she reached into the front pocket, victoriously pulling out…

A Canadian dollar.

“Uh… does this work? It’s still a dollar… I think…”

The cashier eyed the coin, raising an eyebrow at the display she just witnessed. Eventually, she just shrugged, taking the tangled collection of currency and haphazardly throwing it into the cash register. With a ding, Juniper was given a receipt and left to pick up the things that had fallen onto the floor as the staff member went into the back to make her food. She tried to make it as clean as possible. Didn’t want to give the people here a reason not to feed her.

Stuffing the trinkets in her pocket, Juniper took a seat at one of the various empty booths. No one else was in the restaurant, which made sense considering it was around 5 in the morning in the middle of nowhere. That let her relax, placing her bag in the other booth and her shoulders sagging in the comfiest material she had rested on for a long while. 

She was a mess. The cuffs of her jeans were caked in dust and dried mud, torn at the bottom and the waistband entirely worn out. Her t-shirt smelled like swamp water and skunk, the once vibrant dragonfly faded to the point of simply being a darker shade of green. Her shoes were crusty, her skin felt waxy, and her hair felt like it was made of straw. She’d have to find some public showers soon, and maybe a cheap clothing store. She was too prideful to resort to charity organizations, always had been since she started this life… though it might be her only option. 

Well, only regular option.

As she continued to relax, recovering from the five mile hike she had just been on, Juniper absentmindedly pulled out a piece of pink taffy from her pocket. It wasn’t filling, but it at least got rid of the thoughts of hunger until her food got here. And more importantly, it apparently helped balance her elemental whose-it whatevers. Something something elements, something something basics of magic. 

She was too tired to remember all the complicated stuff.

Her mana was dangerously low, but that was how it usually was after a hunt. That Catfish guy, as goofy as he was, had an entire army of mind-controlled creatures under his control. Most of them extremely dangerous and taxing to fight, especially if you weren’t actually trying to hurt them. Not to mention the Pyth… Panth… whatever he turned into last night. That had been the biggest sink of magic, a flurry of offensive spells and well timed sword swings letting her banish him before he could cause any more damage. 

It was exhausting work. 

Tiring work.

Thankless work.

But that was just her life.

---

The Te Xuan Ze.

Hundreds of years ago, the cracks between worlds were split open, torn by a dangerous magic user who threatened the entire world with his presence. Appearing in the seas between China and Japan, three groups from all across Asia came together and fought him. And though both carried powers and magics far superior to anyone else at the time, neither group was able to permanently defeat the other.

Eventually, using their own mystical powers, the three groups created the Orchid Veil, an interdimensional prison of which escape was nearly impossible. In one last push, the evil magic user was sealed away, the Orchid Veil’s first and most dangerous inmate.

Of the groups of heroes that had fought to save the world, one of those groups had been the original Te Xuan Ze. The Te Xuan Ze were special, warriors with an innate connection to the land of magic. They used this connection to seek guidance from beings of immense magical power, learning spells and magical secrets of their own. 

Once the Orchid Veil was sealed, the original Te Xuan Ze and their bloodlines were tasked with the most sacred of duties. To track down other magical criminals who leaked into the world, and seal them into the Orchid Veil as well. To ensure another Sorcerer never appeared. To ensure the safety of the entire planet, the safety of this realm and those beyond it.

This lofty responsibility, one that most spent their entire lives training and preparing for, was handed down to Juniper when she was 6 years old.

Apparently, the four months she had spent bedridden were her magical powers awakened, tearing her juvenile body from the inside out in preparation for what was to come. It gave her incredible powers, strength beyond men and senses tuned to the magical to name a few. It was a bit of a shock when they first began to show themselves, several doors and windows shattering under her lightest grip. But thanks to her Ah-Mah, she slowly taught herself how to control it, to the point she could live a normal life without complaint.

And that was just one of the first things she was taught.

On top of school and the oh-so-important social life of a preschooler, Juniper went over to her Ah-Mah’s house, a cozy shack on the edge of a cliff, every day, learning the ins and outs of the magical world. For a bit, it was amazing. The magical world had held such mystery, such mystique at first. It was truly magical.

And Juniper loved it.

 She had soaked up information like a sponge, burning through knowledge a rate her Ah-Mah could barely keep up. Over the course of a year, she had learned more about magic and the magical world than many adults had in their entire lives. Every step of the way, her Ah-Mah was there, guiding her into this strange and mystical world.

In hindsight, that was lucky. 

Really, really lucky.

---

“...Here.”

The cashier walked up to the table, Juniper jolted back to her senses as a tray of food was dropped unceremoniously in front of her. Before she could respond, the cashier was walking away, eyeing the scabbard in the other booth with a raised eyebrow. Food suddenly in front of her, it took almost all of her self control to not tear into immediately, trying at least to look like not a crazy person.

Even though that was probably a lost cause.

She took her first bite, chicken and vegetables in a wrap filling her mouth.

It was… fine. 

Which for Juniper, meant it was amazing . 

Trying simultaneously to savor the meal and devour some actual food as fast as she could, the chicken wrap was gone in seconds. So was the drink, clean, non-magically filtered or created water. The taste was noticeably different, a rare treat that Juniper was sad to say she savored. It was probably the best meal she had had in months, ever since the last hunt had started. 

Satisfied, Juniper slumped backwards once again, enjoying the feeling of a semi-full belly. Now that she had food in her stomach, her mana could refill and her brain could function properly. She sat in satisfied silence... before growing bored. Not one to sit around, she pulled out a wrinkled map out of her backpack, laying it out on the table in front of her, careful not to let her tray and empty cup fall over. As the entire country was displayed in front of her, she moved south to try and figure out exactly where she was based on where she had been… 

…and decide where to go next. 

“...Hmmm… I saw Bellwood a few weeks ago… and I didn’t take the I-49, so I should still be in the south part of… …Nasty Burger… Nasty Burger… um… I think this should be it… So I’m still in Louisiana! Great. Now I know where I am... something normal people don’t have to worry about every few days. Whatever, whatever! So now the question is… where to go next?”

Sometimes Juniper would get lucky, and her target would host up in a major city. Cities were nice, there was always free food somewhere, and facilities for people in the know were much more common. Sometimes, she might even get to stay somewhere for free! But of course, Catfish Booray was a crazy swamp man with an illegal magic artifact, fucking around in the middle of nowhere. And now that he was gone, Juniper was the one left in the middle of fucking nowhere.

Great .

“I could backtrack to Bellwood… Actually, you know what? Trekking through the desert in the middle of July is a stretch, even for me. Hmmm… Then maybe Florida? If I’m going to be in a swamp, might as well be in a swamp with people on top of it… Though that’ll probably be a month of travel… mmhh… What is the nearest city anyway? New Orleans? I could go to New Orleans… There should be some places that’ll house the Te Xuan Ze for free… if they don’t try to shoot me… … stupid Salem …”

Juniper traced her calloused finger, rough from years of practical combat, along the routes she could take. One in particular caught her eye.

“Oh man, Adrenaland! Ray Ray was telling me about this, I should totally check it out! He’ll be so jealous the next time… I…”

The thought of her smiling younger brother felt like a knife in the gut.

It had been so long since she had last seen him… He was probably a teenager now. Probably looked totally different than the goofy four year old that stuck to her like glue. What was he, 14? That old? And Dennis… he was 20. Two zero! He was probably in college now! Who knows where he was? Being an adult? That was… that was…

A tear suddenly formed in the corner of her eye.

It was wiped away in an instant.

She couldn’t falter, not now. 

She had a duty. 

She had a responsibility. 

She was the Te Xuan Ze. 

Shaking her head, Juniper focused back onto the problems at hand. Folding the map and packing up all her things, her next plan of action cemented in her head.

“Yeah… yeah. Adrenaland, and then New Orleans. I’ll tell Ray Ray all about it and Catfish the next time I find a payphone. …I need to figure out how to get some quarters…”

Solidifying her resolve, Juniper stood to her feet, ready to start her journey.

And immediately, she fell backwards, light pouring from her eyes until the entire restaurant was swallowed in magenta hues.

---

“ TE XUAN ZE. ”

Four voices echoed into her skull, shocking her into consciousness. Opening her eyes, Juniper stifled two groans, one from the rather abrupt jump into astral projecting and the other as she realized where she was. 

A dream-like world of flowing golden water, with saccharine skies and islands made of pristine pink crystals. In the distance, horse-like beings pranced daintily from pool to pool, glowing horns clear on their heads even from here. From what Juniper was taught, it was the world that linked that of magic to that of Earth. 

And she wasn’t alone. 

Floating above her were four massive magical beings, arranged like a diamond in the sky. To the right was a massive ball of fire, a golden and red eye glancing down at her with the same indifferent expression as the cashier. To the left, a monstrous skull the size of a building that changed the skies into an endless starry night behind it, horns so sharp they could be considered weapons on their own. Below them both, an endlessly replicating gemstone, two snakes coiled around it and devouring each other in an eternal show of futility.

And above them all…

A massive periwinkle butterfly, the largest by far. Its antennas flowed like pearls, the eyes on its wings so real Juniper was always waiting for them to blink. She radiated power, so much that it was nearly blinding, an air of royalty so overwhelming it was nearly impossible not to bow in reverence.

There was no question where she was. No question who this was.

The Magic High Commission.

With practiced grace, Juniper fell to her knees, bowing to the most powerful magical beings she knew of. It was an act she had performed time and time again, every time she was called to this sacred place. The back of her mind screamed in defiance, but she pushed it deep, deep down, never to be heard from.

“Magical High Commission. I am honored by your presence.”

“ TE XUAN ZE. YOU HAVE BEEN SUMMONED TO FULFILL YOUR SACRED DUTY. ”

...

Wait...

Already?

I just finished the last one!

It usually took weeks, maybe a month if she was lucky, between the assigning of targets. The last shortest gap between assignments had been a very hectic week. This one had barely taken a day. This had never happened before, not even to her Ah-Mah as far as she knew.

Juniper had to say something.

“S-So soon, your Graces?”

The crystal fractured, the sounds of shattering glass bringing her to tears. The snakes circling the crystal hissed, eyeing her with venomous rage. His voice, scratchy and deep, echoed into Juniper’s mind.

“ YOU DARE QUESTION THE WORD OF THE MAGIC HIGH COMMISSION? ”

“N-No your Graces! I would never!”

For a few tense seconds, Juniper was scared. She was worried her entire person was about to be shattered, her souls scattered in the endless realms of reality.

“ IT’S FINE, RHOMBULUS. ” 

The butterfly spoke, her voice filled with regal authority. The crystal instantly returned to its former luster, as if nothing had ever happened. 

“ IT IS TRUE, THIS IS FAR TOO SOON FOR YOUR NEXT TARGET. HOWEVER… CIRCUMSTANCES ARE FAR TOO GRIEVOUS TO BE IGNORED. ”

The pupil of the burning eye glimmered. In a burst of flames and a puff of smoke, a humanoid form appeared in front of Juniper. 

It was a muscular woman, nearly a full foot taller than Juniper. Dressed in a teal military uniform, she had long purple hair tied into two buns that peaked through her spiked helmet, which cascaded down in two long, slick ponytails. She was standing at attention, proper and regal, like a high ranking member of the military. As far as Juniper knew, that’s exactly what she was.

This was her next target.

The fireball spoke, seemingly answering her questions. 

“ MINA LOVEBERRY. FORMER GENERAL OF THE MEWNI ARMY AND OUR MOST RECENT DEFECTOR. ”

Juniper’s eyes widened. Yup. Military. Those were always the hardest to beat. She could feel a migraine forming, past criminals and hunts painfully surfacing in her memory.

“ FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON, SHE VIOLENTLY DEFECTED FROM THE ARMY TWO DAYS AGO, KILLING SEVERAL OF HER FORMER ALLIES AND DESTROYING SEVERAL IMPORTANT ARTIFACTS. SHE THEN FORCIBLY BROKE HER WAY THROUGH THE INTERDIMENSIONAL BARRIERS, AND ESCAPED TO THE CENTRAL PLANE. SHE IS NOT ONE TO BE UNDERESTIMATED, TE XUAN ZE. ”

The silky voice of the butterfly spoke again, a hint of an apologetic tone reaching Juniper’s ears, which almost soothed her complaints away.

“ YOU UNDERSTAND THE URGENCY OF THE SITUATION, I PRESUME. A DECORATED MEMBER OF THE MEWNI ARMY HAS ACCESS TO SECRETS THAT NO TRAITOR SHOULD EVER HAVE, NOT EVEN MENTIONING HER DESTRUCTIVE COMBAT CAPABILITIES. IF LEFT TO HER OWN DEVICES, THERE IS NO TELLING WHAT DAMAGE SHE COULD CAUSE TO YOUR WORLD. ”

“Y-Yes, your Grace. I understand.”

The crystal, Rhombulus, spoke again. He spoke Mina’s sentence, like a judge at a trial.

“ FOR THE CRIMES OF TREASON, DESERTION, MANSLAUGHTER, ILLEGAL USE OF VARIOUS MAGICAL ARTIFACTS, AND UNSANCTIONED TRAVEL BETWEEN PLANES, MINA LOVEBERRY HAS BEEN DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED FROM HER POSITION AS MEWMAN GENERAL AND SENTENCED TO IMPRISONMENT IN THE ORCHID VEIL. SO DECREES THE MAGIC COMMISSION. ”

Juniper just nodded mutely, already understanding what was coming next. 

Adrenaland would have to wait.

“ TE XUAN ZE. AS IS YOUR SACRED DUTY AND HONOR, YOU HAVE BEEN TASKED WITH DELIVERING JUSTICE. AS ALWAYS, THE MAGIC HIGH COMMISSION OFFERS YOU OUR BLESSINGS, IN RETURN OF WHICH WE HOPE YOU FULFILL YOUR DUTY SWIFTLY. “

Blessings. Right.

“ ARE YOU PREPARED TO FULFILL YOUR DUTY. ”

No.

No, she wasn’t.

A trip to this nebulous world between worlds did give her mana a major boost, but it was still far too depleted for Juniper to go all out. Not to mention she was tired, sore, and still cooling down and recovering from her last hunt. All she wanted to do was find a real bed, curl up and pass out for a month to catch up on years of lost sleep. 

But no matter how badly she wanted it, she couldn’t just ignore the call to duty.

Not as the Te Xuan Ze.

“Yes, your Graces. As the Te Xuan Ze, I pledge to track down Mina Loveberry and deliver her to justice, by your decree. I will not fail you.”

“ THEN GO. ”

And just as soon as Juniper had been drawn in, her mind was blasted back out.

---

Slamming backwards, Juniper blinked, finding herself back in her own body, still in the booth at the Nasty Burger. Scrambling, she nearly slid off the booth and fell underneath the table, but she managed to pull herself up at the last minute. Unfortunately, her grip on her strength slipped for a moment, causing the entire thing to shatter off its hinges, leaning dangerously as Juniper put her weight on it. She quickly pulled her arms off of it, trying not to break the table any further.

The cashier was staring at her, jaw dropped onto the floor.

“Um… whoops? I-uh… I-I can’t pay for that. So… sorry about that…"

The cashier didn't react.

"…Well! Got to go!”

Grabbing her backpack and her scabbard, Juniper fled from the Nasty Burger, the destroyed table and the gobsmacked employee, who would forever wonder about the identity of the mysterious glowing girl.

It was not the first time something like this had happened to June, and if she had to guess, it wouldn’t be the last.

---

It was several hours later, the sun starting to set over the swamp. Somewhere in the middle of a soaked bog, actually not that far from her battle with Catfish, Juniper had set up camp for the night. Finding a patch of dry land, she had set out her old sleeping bag around the fire she had made, careful not to leave it too close so that it could catch on fire.

Though maybe that would help beat the cold of the night.

She would have to test that at some point. 

But at the moment, camping wasn’t the thing Juniper was focused on. Etched into the grounds was a complicated magical circle, lines running through it like the grid of a city. It was the first step in any hunt, actually figuring out where the target was. 

And for that, a tracking spell was needed.

Cautiously, Juniper made her way to the center of the circle, careful not to smudge any of the intricate lines she had spent 10 minutes drawing into the dirt. Taking a seat in the middle, she took off the bracelet on her wrist, the three jewels shimmering a comforting magenta hue. Smiling, she held it close to her chest before closing her eyes. 

When she opened them again, her eyes were crackling with the same magenta light.

The wind picked up, swirling around Juniper as she floated a few inches off the ground. Eight magenta flames sparked into existence, flickering in and out and causing the magical circle to light up. The bracelet also began to float, the focus of Juniper’s power and her connection to the magics of the Magic High Commission.

The physical symbol of her status as the Te Xuan Ze.

Juniper began speaking the incantation, her voice echoing as if an entire crowd of people was speaking at once. In the back of her mind, she took deep comfort at the voice of her Ah-Mah, echoing somewhere in the cacophony of voices.

“ Darkara Dorotien Aghosto! Omnitraxus Caelum Oculus! Revelare Notatum Malum! ”

Beneath her, the lines etched below her began to move rapidly. They moved and shook, the magic words of the scrying ritual causing them to react. All that was left was to give them something to latch onto. Something to focus on.

A target.

“ Mina Loveberry! ”

---

The first time Juniper had seen magic, real magic, it was when her Ah-Mah had explained the fundamentals of the universal. She drew strange symbols, circles with crosses within them, on a piece of paper and threw them in the air. When they landed, Juniper squealed in delight.

One had caught ablaze, burned to embers before it could land. Another shattered like glass, as stiff as a fallen sheet of ice. The third splattered on the ground, soaked with some unknown liquid. The last was her favorite, as it crinkled and folded into the shape of a candy wrapper before it fully fell. She was even happier when her grandmother untied it, revealing an actual piece of candy within.

“You can make candy for free, Ah-Mah?”

“Of course June. Candy is one of the fundamental elements of reality. Probably one of the easiest things for any sorcerer to conjure.”

“Woah! I wanna make candy! Can you teach me Ah-Mah?”

“Of course I can! Though by the end of it, I doubt you’ll want to eat any of it. Trust me, you have to have a real sweet tooth to enjoy candy after the amount training makes.”

Juniper had to disagree. She never got sick of eating candy, what six year old would? Even today, her sweet tooth was still going strong.

And that was just the start. Those extra years stuck as the only Te Xuan Ze had given her grandma a massive amount of knowledge in nearly every field of magic, from conjuring monsters to every basic utility spell ever created. And Juniper had learned as much of it as she could.

When her Ah-Mah was still there to teach her.

---

In an instant, flashes of images came to Juniper’s mind. A dumpster. A playground. Some kind of taco store. Woods. Woods. More woods. A river. Woods. Mountains. Plains. Plains. Desert. Highway. Dumpster. Back alley. Desert. Desert. Highway. 

Canyon.

Just as soon as it came, it was gone. The images disappeared from Juniper’s mind, and she fell back to the earth with a grunt. The light faded, the flames disappeared, and her bracelet fell gently back into her lap. And the lines below her portrayed a very specific image. 

“Arizona… Shit.”

Guess I’m trekking through a desert anyway.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

“ I’M HUNGRY! ”

“Komodo! We know! You’re always hungry…”

“ Toldya we should’ve busted up that vending machine out by that gas station a few miles back, but nooo . Fisk, that’s not ‘moral.’ Would’ve saved us a few headaches… ”

“Not helping Fisk. And what was even in that machine? Runey Stix? Who’s even heard of that junk? Probably would’ve made you sick or somethin’.”

“ I’d rather be sick than hungry… ”

“ Shut up, Komodo. ”

“ YOU shut up! ”

“Guys…”

The sound of rustling branches came from above. Something heavy fell from the sky, landing right in front of the group.

“ ZAK! I see food! No, wait… no, I see people! ”

“Aw man! Did they see you?”

“ NO! Wait… yeah, no! And then- and then I saw a BIG cat. … No, a goat! …No, bear… wait, which is the one with horns? ”

“Goat.”

“ Oh! So then… a Bear Goat! ”

“A Cryptid! Zon, was it heading towards the people?”

“ Um… yes. ”

“Shit!”

---

The sounds of the forest were one of the few perks of walking everywhere she went. Public transportation was too risky (and she didn’t have the money), especially when you’re a monster magnet like June. Even staying by the highway could be dangerous in the long run. But the woods? She was more likely to walk into another monster’s daily business rather than the other way around. It made it the perfect place for a leisurely stroll without worrying about holding back or hiding.

Her favorite pastime during these walks was just listening. Let the sounds of the wild filter in, trying to understand what was happening without actually seeing anything. When she felt especially daring, she would sometimes walk with her eyes closed, letting her other senses guide her through the world.

She was still a bit too tired for that at the moment though.

Right now, Juniper was hoping the calming sounds of nature would distract from the massive migraine she currently had. Her skull was pounding, overheated and virtually steaming from… well, everything!  

With barely even a full night’s sleep and what could barely be considered a meal, another several weeks or months’ work of tracking and traveling and preparation and survival was waiting for her, not even including actually having to fight a former military commander! From the realm of magic, only the place where the most powerful sorcerers of all time were born! Who did the Magic High Commission think she was? A miracle worker? The Ninja?

She was just one girl!

…

No, that wasn’t true.

Juniper sighed as a fact she told herself over and over again once again surfaced. She was a miracle worker, technically. She was the Te Xuan Ze, the protector of the Central Realm, the magical- blah blah blah… It was even starting to sound sarcastic in her own mind. But it was true.

She had a responsibility to uphold…

No matter how utterly RIDICULOUS it was to ask for her help right after she finished her last-

It was because of the recursive way she was thinking that June almost missed it, her superpowered hearing saving her once again. The snap of a twig from something really heavy, followed by heavy, shallow breaths. She could barely hear it, a whisper in the wind, but… there was definitely something out there. Something that might actually be a threat.

She tensed, slowly drawing her sword from its sheath. There was no guarantee it was something dangerous, or even magical, or even heading her way. But there was nothing wrong with being prepared. Taking as soft of steps as she could, Juniper slowly started to move in the opposite direction, keeping in mind her original direction for when she was sure she was safe.

For a few minutes, she was quiet, straining her ears as hard as she could. Slowly, the sounds of the mystery creatures grew further and further away until it disappeared into the cacophony that was the forest. Juniper paused, waiting a few extra seconds, and…

Nothing.

It was only then that she let out a sigh of relief.

That thing, whatever it was, sounded big. And as a hard and fast rule, most big things tended to be really strong. As good of a teacher her Ah-Mah was…

There were some lessons that could only be learned from experience. 

---

Juniper was 11 years old, and she felt invincible.

It had been a few years since she left home, a few hunts successfully under her belt. Slowly, she was growing more and more confident in her skills. And as all eleven year olds did, when she was good at something, she felt like she was on top of the world. Her inflated ego helped keep away the thoughts in her head she didn’t want to think.

Like about her family. Or her Ah-Mah.

It was… winter. That was all she was able to tell, though the month or day were a bit hazy. The season was definitely clear, though, considering she was wading through snow up to her waist. Her last hunt had her up against some kind of bright pink mutant sasquatch, intelligent and actively aggressive. It had the nasty habit of kidnapping children and… well actually, Juniper never found out what he actually did with them, or why the Magic High Commission cared. But she had beaten and banished him all the same.

Unfortunately, the snowman had holed himself up in a cave at the top of a mountain somewhere in the Great North. Once she had completed her mission, she had to climb her way back down and trek her way to the nearest city, which was a hassle and an annoyance. The cold wasn’t an issue, thanks to her magic, but the snow was annoying to push through. The young Juniper hadn’t cared though. She was on top of the world!

And then she heard something in the woods.

It was the dead of winter in the middle of a snowstorm. Anything alive should have either been asleep or taking shelter. The only sounds should have been that of the storm, the wind blowing through the trees. But she had heard it as clear as day, the sounds of something big crushing dead leaves and branches underfoot.

Her young, naive brain had decided to ignore it. Never mind the fact that she had depleted most of her mana in the battle she had just fought, and the rest was being used to ensure she didn’t freeze to death. Never mind the fact that her shoulder was clicking funny, and kept painfully squeezing this one point in her back whenever she moved it. Never mind she could barely see further than ten feet.

She was the Te Xuan Ze! 

She was invincible!

Nothing could stop her!

And then a giant rat tried to eat her.

It had teeth the size of her head and horns as thick as tree trunks. Not to mention its irritable attitude and flaming bad breath. Juniper probably would have left it alone, but apparently even being in the same vicinity of the thing was enough to set it off. It had come charging at her through the snow, throwing her around like a ragdoll.

“You wanna piece of me, rhino butt! Come get some!”

That was the wrong move, as the creature seemed to grow in size the longer the battle went. To this day Juniper wasn’t sure if it was just something it did normally or if it was because of something she did. Eventually, it towered over her, and even the headstrong 11 year old knew when she was beat. Only a lot of running and a well timed avalanche let her escape in the end. 

She had barely made it back to the city she had stayed at before trekking through the mountains, a friendly clan of leprechauns taking her in and giving her a place to heal. Apparently, she had fractured a shoulder blade during the fight with the sasquatch, so she had spent a few days constantly pouring mana into it to fix it as fast as she could. It could have only been a day if she hadn’t exacerbated it by fighting the rat.

She slept like a rock that night.

From then on, Juniper knew to be… weary of magical creatures and monsters. Her Ah-Mah made it look easy, but she had decades of both experience and reputation over Juniper even after years of being the Te Xuan Ze. Not all of them were as mean as that rat, but there were some that were even worse. Some were even her targets. Some had left scars that still hadn’t healed. 

 It was always better to be safer than sorry.

---

“Man… I really don’t need any more stress right now. Don’t want even more of my hair turning white. Or pink. Or whatever.”

Sheathing her sword, Juniper pulled a compass out of her pocket and tried to realign herself. Once she confirmed the direction she was heading, she stuffed it back in and was on her way. 

She took her first step…

GGGAARRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!!!

And a horrible sound echoed throughout the forest.

Birds began fleeing in a panic, the trees and branches actually shaking from the force of the scream. The sounds of pounding feet and crashing trees rang loudly in her ears, and Juniper just stifled a groan. Pulling out her sword, she took up a defensive stance as the sounds of a monster got closer and closer.

And then-

“... aaaaaaaa aaaaaaaAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAA- ”

There was a human scream!

In an instant, Juniper kicked off the ground, abandoning her defensive stance. Protecting herself from a rampaging beast was one thing. But if there was another person involved, an innocent human attacked, she wouldn’t sit around and do nothing. She had to protect them, then probably wipe their mind of the incident.

Glowing people were one thing, but monsters? People were much more interested in monsters.

Again, more knowledge from experience.

Charging forwards, Juniper dodged through trees as the monster approached. It didn’t take long until the creature came into view, her expanded range of view seeing it even through the sea of trees. And based on how fast it was moving, it would reach her long before she could reach it. 

It had the basic body of a bear, though much larger than any normal bear. Dark indigo fur cascaded down like wet hair, except around its face. Unlike an actual bear, its face was flat, almost ape-like, the same fleshy color of human skin. Bursting out of its skull were two twisted horns, so long they reached the arch of its back. It looked strong.

But not stronger than Juniper.

Skidding to the halt, she once again assumed a defensive stance. Leveling the blade out in front of her, Juniper quickly scanned the area around her. As far as she could tell, there weren’t any people around. Then where was the scream coming from? Was it a trick by the creature? Was that why it was getting closer?

The monster was on her, and Juniper didn’t have any more time to deliberate. It noticed her, its yellowed eyes locking onto her gleaming blade. Mouth full of ape-like fangs wide opened, it raised a hand and swiped downwards. A simple attack, easily dodged. 

She jumped back.

“- AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! ”

And saw someone clutching the creature’s horns for dear life!

“Shit!”

Juniper landed, the guy on the creature's back, not even aware she was there.

“Why kinda crazy idiot-”

Another swipe came her way, Juniper instead choosing to deflect it with her blade. Caught off guard by her strength, the creature recoiled as its attack bounced off of her and reared into the air. That gave the perfect opening for an attack, but June had a different set of priorities at the moment. Instead of attacking, she leaped into the air, even higher than the rearing monster. She landed behind the creature…

And face to face with the guy screaming his head off.

“Woah! What the-”

In an impressive feat of dexterity, Juniper reached forwards, grabbing the guy by the collar and yanking him off of the monster. She didn’t have time to give him a comfy landing, so he fell onto his butt with an oof .

The monster slammed back down all four, eyeing her wearily.

“Yeah, keep looking monkey face. I can do this all day.”

For a few tense seconds, neither of them moved. Juniper with her sword outstretched in front of her and the guy she just rescued, the monster eyeing them both with his glowing yellow eyes. And then, almost with an annoyed huff, the monster turned. All of the rage and aggression it had seemed to disappear. It crashed back through the forest, slowly swallowed up by the sea of trees. 

Juniper sighed, lowering her sword. And then she jumped, the guy she rescued suddenly staring her in the eyes.

“That was awesome! You have a sword? Man, that’s sooo cool dude!”

Now that he was up close and not in immediate danger, Juniper got her first real look at the person she just saved. He had dark, tannish skin with an orange glow to it, dotted with the occasional freckle. His hair was two toned, like hers, though his white spot covered nearly the entire front half of his hairline. It must have been dyed, considering he looked about the same age as her. He was wearing a ragged orange t-shirt and some cargo pants, wilderness boots perfectly fit for walking through the woods. The only thing that really caught her eye was the necklace he had around his neck, some kind of giant wrinkly bird’s foot.

All-in-all, he looked like exactly the kind of summer vacation hiker who ended up on the wrong side of a monster’s wrath. Who knows, maybe he was one of those weirdos that searched for proof of magical creatures, if his wild smile was anything to go by. 

Juniper almost felt bad about how she was going to have to erase his mind.

“I mean, I’ve seen some swords, but man , I don’t think I’ve seen one like this! And you were great too! I mean, you stood down that Howler like it was-”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I’m awesome , I know. Look, I need you to look into this for a second.”

Holding up her wrist, Juniper held up her bracelet to the guy’s eyes. A soft, sublet pink glow began emanating from it.

“Woah… You are just full of surprises! What does this thing do?”

“Just keep your eyes on the big one, and you’ll understand.”

He nodded, training his gaze onto the gemstone as Juniper requested. Slowly, his eyelids began to droop, a light pink haze falling over them. Soon, her own eyes began glowing pink, a connection forming between them.

“Right, sorry about this. Can’t have you blabbing to anyone.”

“No, no… It’s… cool… Only gonna… tell… my siblings…”

Great. Family hike. Probably have to track them down, just in case. 

“Yeah yeah, just focus on my voice.”

Both their eyes were fully pink now, the connection between the firmly established. Slowly, with her other hand, Juniper brought a finger to the guy's forehead, right above the bridge of his nose and between his brows.

“Right. And now… Nero. Longco. Nero. Cutlong. Cefo.” 

Two rings of light formed around Juniper and her unfortunate victim, magic symbols flashing in and out of existence. The light in both of their eyes got brighter, the memory erasure spell slowly taking effect.

“ Tahmany. Nero. Cota. Cota. Nero. Tahmany. Cu- ”

CRASH

In an instant, the rings of light around the two shattered. Instead of pink, the guy's eyes turned a starling golden orange. Juniper was shocked out of her spell, the backlash causing her eyes to widen. The claw on the guy’s chest was twitching, grasping as if it was alive.

And then something appeared in Juniper’s mind.

---

She was in a mental plane, a location conjured by powerful magical minds. It looked deep underground, red stone walls illuminated by an orange glow from below. Crumbling pillars etched with strange markings littered the floor. The sounds of storms and thunder raged in the distance.

Juniper didn’t notice any of these things.

She was distracted by the giant bird staring her down.

In an instant, she recognized what it was. Thunderbirds were legendary creatures especially in North America, harbingers of storms and magic. This one was wreathed in shadows, but its multiple massive wings and spear-like kingfisher beak were instantly recognizable. The claw on that guy’s necklace suddenly made sense, likely cut from one of the creature’s many legs.

“WHAT IN THE-”

“ BE GONE. ”

It had a voice like thunder, filled with raw, undeniable strength. Juniper was blasted backwards, instantly cast out of this stranger’s mind.

Who IS this guy?

---

Both in the realm of the mind and in reality, Juniper was thrown backwards. The guy blinked, the golden glow disappearing, him seeming none the wiser. He looked shocked, like he had just woken up from a daydream.

She didn’t buy it for a second.

Jumping to her feet, she raised her sword threateningly as she eyed the guy in suspicion.

“What was THAT!? What are you, some kinda spring break magic thrill seeker? Trying to stir up monsters for your own enjoyment?”

“What? What are you… What just-”

“Don’t play dumb! My spell didn’t even breach your barrier, not to mention the freakin’ thunderbird you sicked on me. Who does that! I didn’t even go that deep!”

“Thunder- Wait, are you talking about-”

He took a step forward, and Juniper raised her blade to the guy's neck. Whoever he was, he was dangerous.

“Just answer me! Who are you, and what were you doing with-”

“ Bebedah Fe, Benabesuh! ”

Out of nowhere, getting past even her heightened senses, something big slammed in between Juniper and the mystery sorcerer. Forced backwards, she grit her teeth as she realized that this might have been a trap all along. 

Stupid hero responsibilities.

As the dust cleared, her eyes narrowed when she realized she didn’t recognize exactly what was standing in front of her. It looked like a sasquatch, but if it was one it really needed to eat more. It was tall and lanky, yet she could easily attest to how strong it was. Its fur was a sandy beige, with every time a shadow casted over its fur it seemed to turn pitch black. But its most terrifying and noticeable feature was its eyes, circular and blood red, staring directly at her.

“Fisk? Wait, do-”

“ Babanana Keyajahmah, Zejebah, Keyaje Mana Nabo! ”

Something slammed into her back, something fleshy and strong. It didn’t do any damage, but it sent Juniper flying forwards, past the strange sorcerer and his monstrous ally. Spitting dirt out of her mouth, she turned to see another monster appear out of nowhere.

It was a monstrous reptile, not impossible but definitely uncommon. It was the size of a medium dog, with a massive pair of jaws and a whipping tail. The scales along its body seemed to flicker in and out of view, obviously how it managed to get so close without being seen. 

“ HHHISSSS ”

“Komodo, I don-”

“ SCRAHHHHH ”

“Zon, not you too! ”

Something else came swooping in, claws outstretched as it dived down from above. It was a teal pterosaur, a prehistoric reptile from times long past. A multicolored crest rested on the top of its spoon shaped beak, subtle shades of yellow and green scales contrasting against its pitch black wings. It looked just as pissed as the other creatures, going for her eyes with vicious ferocity. 

Luckily, Juniper was prepared this time, her arm already up preventing the flying creature from landing any actual blows. After it lost all of its momentum, she grabbed it by its slender neck and threw it, aiming for the tallest of the group of monsters. It caught the flying reptile with a surprising amount of grace and care, but kept eyeing Juniper with the worst stink eye she had ever seen. Leveling her sword, she was preparing herself for a tough battle ahead, a spell already chanting under her breath.

“WAIT!”

Running forwards, the mystery sorcerer ran between Juniper and the crazy collection of monsters. Juniper’s analytic, battle hardened mind instantly absorbed the information. He needed to physically involve himself, meaning he wasn’t controlling them. Great. That meant it wasn’t just an aim for the main guy type of battle.

“Please… We are not trying to fight.”

“ ... Hihibla Najahbana Naooh Fena… ”

“Not. Helping . Fisk!”

There was a tense moment of silence. Juniper wasn’t lowering her guard, but clearly something else was going on. People don’t have massive mythic gods guarding the first level of their minds and a small army of magical creatures following them around. But they also don’t try this hard to talk amicably with another person they clearly have outnumbered.

Unless they were trying to trick her.

The guy coughed, clearing his throat and keeping his hands in the air. He gave Juniper a weak smile, slowly approaching until he was just out of reach of her blade.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m Zak.”

He gestured to the tall creature behind him, who was still eyeing Juniper with open hostility.

“The big fur ball over there is Fisk. Don’t worry, he looks a lot meaner than he is.”

“Looks pretty mean to me.”

The now named Zak gave a weak chuckle.

“This is- Komodo! No! Don’t bite people we are trying to make like us! ”

Suddenly, something was by her leg. Jumping backwards, the giant lizard that had smashed into Juniper before had appeared right where she had been standing, a sour look on his face.

“Sorry about him! He’s a real sourpuss, he tries to bite every new person we meet.”

“...At least it's memorable.”

A bit more genuine laugh came from Zak, and something about it made Juniper slowly relax her shoulders.

“And this is Zon! Say hi Zon.”

“ SCCRREEEE-YYAAAAAAAHHHH !”

The pterosaur in Fisk’s arms let out a predatory screech, but made no movement to get up. In fact, it seemed to snuggle in closer, seemingly very comfortable in the larger creature’s arms.

A sad part of her said it reminded her of Ray Ray when he was tired. Snuggling up to her or Dennis when he finally ran out of energy.

“...Hi Zon.”

“Yeah! And we’re the Saturdays! Cryptid fighting pros! …Kinda.”

Zak stuck out his hand, still weary of Juniper’s lowering blade, but a much more confident smile on his face.

“Thanks for the save, we were actually trying to lead that thing away from you… But someone decided to give his signature greeting .”

“HIIISSS…”

“Yeah yeah, ya suck up.”

Juniper smiled, finally lowering her sword. She grabbed Zak’s hand and shook, still preparing herself in case it was still a trick. But Zak just smiled, shaking vigorously and beaming brightly.

“...So, who are you?”

Ah. 

Here we go. 

This could still go poorly depending on their position in the magical community. Bracing herself, Juniper stood up straight, pulling her hand back and trying to give her best people-pleasing smile. A life on the road and constant isolation didn’t give her the best people skills, but they seemed like nice people.

If you ignored the fact they tried to bite her multiple times.

“I’m Juniper Lee. I’m-”

But before she could finish, Zak’s voice screeched as he jumped backwards.

“THE TE XUAN ZE?”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Zak had leaped backwards, protected by a once again defensive Fisk and a hissing Komodo.

Juniper just stared, eyebrow raised.

The change in attitude obviously meant they had something to worry about. They probably weren’t evil, but they might have something that would piss off the Magic High Commission. The giant thunderbird immediately came to mind.

“...Yeah. Why, you got a guilty conscience?”

Nervously, Zak raised his hands in the air again, though now it looked like a sign of surrender.

“No! No, no, no… We just, uh…Aren’t really sure how you might- uh… react to a certain… Oh wait, you already saw him. And you didn’t immediately try to kill me, so...”

Yup, thunderbird.

That made sense.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. It’s not my business why some legendary titan is rooting around in your head. You do you.”

And that should be the end of it. Sheathing her sword, Juniper once again pulled out her compass, trying to figure out where she was going.

“...”

“...”

“ ... ”

“...”

“...”

“ ...Bahdahkey jahba … ”

Putting the compass away, again , Juniper gave the strange family one last glance out of the side of her eyes.

“...Well. This has been… something. But I’ve got a job to do… So. Bye.”

And that was the end of a very interesting, but ultimately unnecessary interaction. Juniper would then proceed to walk her way through forests and deserts, find Mina Loveberry, banish her, and get some well earned rest.

---

At least, that’s how it was supposed to go.

“ …Boo Nasuhbanadah Bosuh Mana Banamah Mahjahbeh? ”

“ Fisk! Don’t be rude…”

“ Hihibla Jabona Babodabana! ”

“ HISSS! ”

“Yes, I know what you think…”

“ Keyja Bedeba Jabona Babodah. ”

“We’ve already bothered her enough.”

“ ... ”

“ ... ”

“...”

“ HISS… ”

“Did not!”

“ HISSS! ”

“Take that back!”

The sounds of scuffle behind her finally caused Juniper’s will to break.

Hours of ‘secretive’ whispers and the sounds of fighting were really grating her nerves. How was it that she couldn’t sense them when they were trying to kick her ass, but they suddenly broadcasted their presence when they were trying to be sneaky? They had to be doing it on purpose. Glaring over her shoulder, her enhanced vision immediately caught Zak and Komodo, wrestling on a branch high in a tree.

“Hey! Statler and Waldorf! Stop whispering back there and come talk to me, or I’ll throw you to the next state!”

The sounds of rustling immediately stopped, Zak and Komodo both looking at Juniper in surprise. To be fair, they were several yards away, practically invisible to anyone with regular vision.

Good thing Juniper didn’t have regular vision.

“Oh! Um- One sec!”

In a legitimately impressive feat of athleticism, Zak leaped to the ground, rolling into a light jog as he ran up to Juniper. Komodo followed, matching Zak’s speed, and behind them both was Fisk, still carrying a now sleeping Zon. Juniper’s brow creased in worry.

“Is… she ok?”

Juniper asked the question as Zak finally caught up, gesturing to the slumbering Zon. Looking back in confusion, he just smiled and casually waved his hand.

“Nah, she’s fine. It’s like her nap time anyway, and it’s Fisk’s week to carry her around.”

“ …Hihinabo Bahdekeymahbo Blamah Keydah… ”

Zak just rolled his eyes at whatever Fisk had said, before turning back to Juniper with a nervous smile.

“...”

“...”

“...Right, ok. No more of that. Why are you following me?”

“Oh! Right. Well… We-”

The sound of fake coughing came from Fisk and Komodo, both staring at Zak with half lidded expressions. Zak just shot them another glare.

“ We thought that, since we led that Howler towards you and all, we figured we would find a way to make it up to you. Ya know, as an apology or somethin’.”

“Oh.”

Juniper felt the suspicion that had been rising start to fizzle a little. It was oddly touching how, at least Zak wanted to thank her for what she was doing. Most people didn’t even go that far. It was always “It’s your duty ” and “Why couldn’t you save me faster.”

It was a nice change of pace.

“Yeah, well… You should listen to your brothers, I guess. No need to apologize, I’m fine.”

“Oh! Well… I know, you could join us for dinner! As an apo- as a thank you! Yeah, a thank you! For scaring off the Howler! And saving me! Does that sound good?”

She probably should reject the offer. Night was travel time, where less people were out and it wasn’t as hot.

She opened her mouth to respond-

GgRrRoOoWwL

And her stomach responded for her. Juniper could feel a blush coming over her face as Zak's lit up with a smile. Komodo let out a reptilian giggle, and Fisk sighed, setting Zon on the ground and brushing aside some of the sticks and leaves.

“Great!”

---

“Komodo! That’s not for you!”

“ HISSS! ”

“We have a guest . You can survive eating one less burger.”

“ HISSS! ”

“Zon always gets her own fish! You know that!”

“ SCRAA-AHH. ”

At this point, June was pretty sure she could tell what, at the very least, Komodo was talking about. It was usually something about food. She suppressed a chuckle between a bite of her undercooked burger.

It was delicious.

“It’s cool, Zak. Komodo can have my burger.”

“No, he can’t . Trust me, this is more for him than it is for you.”

“ HISS! ”

Using a travel spatula, Fisk peeled the burger Komodo was eyeing off the grill and put it between another bread bun, offering it to her with a hesitant smile. He seemed much more willing to be polite to Juniper ever since he learned about how she saved Zak. She accepted it with a smile, stomach already doing joyous backflips at the idea of two burgers.

“Yeah, sorry we don’t have any toppings or condiments, but we kinda have to travel light. We’ll have to restock soon… or I’ll have to resupply soon.”

“ HISS. ”

“I always get enough food. You’re just a bottomless pit. If we let Fisk do the shopping, the police would be on our asses everywhere we go!”

“ Najahboo. ”

“See! Even he agrees!”

The Saturdays were a loud, chaotic bunch. They always seemed to be arguing with each other, if not straight up wrestling at the drop of a hat. Mix that with the fact that three of them didn't even speak English, and things quickly devolved into a little traveling zoo.

With Juniper stuck in the middle.

It was… This was nice.

As she finished her first burger and tore into her second, memories of the past slowly surfaced in Juniper’s mind. Ray Ray’s endless energy, Dennis’ oblivious indifference, her parents' obvious enjoyment of their children’s antics… and her, trying to mitigate between them all. 

Yeah.

This was nice.

“-une? June!”

Zak’s snapping finger shocked her out of her recollection. 

“Hey June, you ok?”

“Wh- Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Oh, good. You seemed kinda out of it for a second.”

Taking a bite of his own burger, Zak fell to the ground, taking a seat next to her as Fisk slowly began to pack away the portable grill they had set up.

“So… You’re not after me, totally awesome by the way, so who are you after?”

Juniper shrugged, recalling the few seconds she had gotten of Mina Loveberry to mind. There was no harm in telling some random strangers, even if it did end up biting her in the ass. Maybe they could even help her out.

“Um… some crazy military lady. You see her around? I mean, my tracking spell said she was in Arizona, but she might’ve moved at this point.”

“Military? No, I don’t think so. Hey Zon!”

The pterosaur looked up from her half cooked piece of fish on a bun.

“You seen anyone that looked like military lately?”

“ SCEE-AH? ”

“Uh… Sorry, did they have any noticeable characteristics?”

“...Purple hair? Medieval helmet? Crazy, battle ready look in her eye?”

“Zon! Any of those ring a bell?”

“... SCREEE! ”

“Sorry, haven’t seen her.”

Juniper shrugged, downing the last of her burger and setting the paper plate to the side.

“It’s fine. Didn’t expect you to anyway. It’s not like you were in Arizona the past week.”

“No, we were in… Fisk, where were we?”

“ Jahdahbanabo. ”

“Right, Arkansas. …Why were we in Arkansas?”

“ Bebo Oofe Nasuh Keyjabla… Mamah… Nahihibanamamah… Nahihi Bana Keynasuh Bah Dena Oofe Bomoodabo? ”

“Oh right . That guy was a pain.”

A question came to Juniper’s mind.

“Hey, how can you understand what they’re saying? I mean, I kinda get Fisk, but Zon and Komodo just sound like… Well they sound like animals.”

Komodo hissed indignantly at that, and Fisk just giggled. Zak just tapped his finger to his forehead.

“Ya know, Kur. I think. You saw him, the big bird guy? He’s given me random magical powers ever since I was little. To me, these guys sound exactly like everyone else. In fact, most animals sound like everyone else. It took my parents months to figure out the bird I talked to at my window was actually talking back to me.”

Everyone let out a small giggle at that.

“Hehe, yeah… Magic powers are weird. Where are your parents anyway? You guys on summer break from wizard school or something?”

The change in the air was palpable.

In an instant, the mood plummeted to the ground. Fisk, Zon, and Komodo all looked downwards, while Zak turned away, a dark look coming over his face. Juniper cringed, realizing she had just stepped on a massive landmine.

Way to go, idiot. First people you share a meal with in years and you already fuck it up.

“Hey, I’m sorry, you don’t have to-”

“No, no! It’s cool, it’s cool. I mean, you didn’t know, so… yeah.”

Fisk placed one of his massive hands on Zak’s back, rubbing it comfortably. That at least seemed to raise the mood a little.

“Yeah, my parents aren’t… around any more. They haven’t been for a while now… But it’s fine. Besides, I got these guys!”

“ Mahje! ”

“HISS!”

“SCRAAH!”

Juniper smiled as the Saturdays hugged, or hug as best you can when only two of the members had arms and one of them had massive wings. It was sweet, the perfect image of a strange family. It almost distracted her from her own thoughts.

And the piercing pain in her chest.

---

“June! You can’t just-”

“Ray Ray! We are not having this conversation again! You shouldn’t even be up this late!”

“Neither should you .”

Stuffing the last of her clothes into a rolling suitcase, an 8 year old Juniper Lee stared at her 5 year old brother, tears already spilling down his chubby cheeks. Her own eyes were starting to water, but she shook her head and kept packing, grabbing one of two backpacks she planned to take with her. 

“Please, just-”

“Ray Ray! Ah-Mah’s gone! She isn’t coming back! And that means I’m the Te Xuan Ze! I have to take over the role! And that means stopping the bad people, no matter what it takes. That’s what Ah-Mah taught me."

Defiantly, she shut her suitcase with a click.

"And that’s what I’m going to do.”

She had had her first summoning with the Magical High Commission about a week ago. It was impressive that the little 8 year stood her ground against such powerful deities of magic. She had been tasked with tracking down a sorceress known as Auntie Roon, who had escaped the realm of magic and entered the Central Realm… in New York. 

She lived in San Francisco.

Her parents and Dennis didn’t know about the magical world, they never were allowed to know with their lack of magical abilities. Ray Ray had found out on his own… but he hadn’t gained any powers of his own either. The only magical one left was her. Which meant it was her responsibility, her duty, to stop Auntie Roon.

And fly across the country on her own, to a city she had never been to, without any help or family, and care for herself. 

Her. 

An eight year old.

“Look, Ray Ray… I’ll be back. I bet this lady isn’t even anything special, she rides a fish and plays with lizards. I’ll be back in a week, tops.”

Sniffling, her younger brother wiped away the snot forming at his nose and looked up at Juniper with hope in his eyes.

“...You promise?”

She embraced her younger brother, holding him as tight as she could.

“I promise. You won’t even notice I’m gone.”

That was a lie.

She knew it even back then.

That was the last time she saw her brother in person.

---

The moon sparkled softly in the sky, stars twinkling in the darkness like diamonds in sand. The fire had been extinguished, sleeping bags had been laid out, and the soft sounds of animalistic snoring could be heard nearby. Some might find it annoying, but if she was being honest… It was kinda nice sleeping near other warm bodies again.

That is, if she could sleep.

Images of her brothers, of her parents, of her family kept flashing through Juniper's mind. One of the few nights she had decided to actually try and sleep, at the insistence of Zak and Zon, and she was wide awake, her guilty mind keeping her awake.

“ Sigh… No use, huh?”

Sitting up, Juniper scratched her head and yawned, stretching her aching body. As softly as she could, she got to her feet, careful not to disturb anyone. For a half a second she thought of packing up, leaving before the morning came… but that didn’t stick right with her. She would at least give them the courtesy of an actual goodbye. 

So instead, Juniper found herself wandering. Not far enough that the campsite got out of view, but enough that she could stretch her legs and make some noise without bothering anyone else. Eventually she found a fallen tree, taking a seat and gazing up at the moon.

“...Wonder what you’re doing, Ray Ray.”

The sudden creaking of someone else sitting on the log shocked Juniper to her feet. Whipping around, she saw Fisk staring back at her, brow raised at her sudden output.

“Jeez, Fisk! How do you keep sneaking up on me? At least Komodo actually turns invisible…”

He just shrugged, patting the seat next to him.

Sighing, Juniper sat back down and returned her gaze up at the stars. It was… kinda embarrassing to have Fisk sitting right next to her, but also comforting, in a strange way.

There the two of them stayed, sitting on a log in the middle of the woods, staring at the moon.

She didn’t remember falling asleep that night. Didn’t remember falling into Fisk's fuzzy shoulder not even 20 minutes after he joined her. But when she woke up, Juniper did remember a pair of soft, fuzzy arms tucking her into her sleeping bag.

It was the best night of sleep she had ever had.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

“Seriously? Crazy voodoo man in the swamp was dangerous enough to be locked up?”

“Apparently.”

“ Nasubana, Dedah, Sudefe Nahihi Moojemoode Keyje Bankey Bosudeba Beje Dedaba Boomoo. ”

“Fisk… I mean, you’re not wrong…”

If she had to choose, conversing with Fisk was the hardest.

At least with Zon and Komodo, there was no language to learn. Their cries were animal sounds, no other way around it, only translated directly through Zak’s ears. Fisk though? It was a language. It was so close to a language, to something recognizeable, it was like trying to converse in Chinese to anyone in her extended family. So close to recognizing what they were saying, but not quite there…

Though to be fair, she hadn’t needed to speak or understand Chinese in years. Just a few bits of Spanish and French here and there.

“But, Mr. Lancaster was nice! He let us crash on his couch for a few weeks too.”

“ Maje, Subo Bokeyblamoo Beoobesuh. ”

“A couch is a couch. And Zon loved it there! Fish for every meal.”

Fisk just rolled his eyes.

Speaking of Zon, Juniper shielded her eyes as she craned her neck upwards. Although she still had to squint against the harsh light of the sun, she could just make up the black silhouette of Zak’s pterosaur sister, circling high above and occasionally diving in one direction or the other. 

Juniper half wished she could be up there with Zon. Flying was an extremely taxing drain on her mana reserves, but it would be so much faster. Especially when there was nothing around for miles except barren sands and grassland, and the barest hint of mountains in the distance. There wasn’t even a highway to walk besides and maybe have a generous passerby take her a few miles further. It was faster to cut through the expansive wasteland, especially without the need to worry about the heat or cold. 

Good old west Texas.

At least the company made it more bearable. 

While she had intended to say goodbye to the Saturdays the morning after they had met, they kinda just… stuck around. When she woke up that morning, their campsite had already been completely packed up, Zak wrestling a breakfast bar away from Komodo. Before she could even say anything, they apparently had to catch up to Zon, already starting the flight towards Arizona. She thought about saying something along the way, but between the pleasant conversation, their family antics, and some well appreciated real food, Juniper never really found a reason too. 

It’s not like they had anywhere else to be, according to Zak.

And while it may be slightly slower than her regular traveling pace, the Saturdays were able to keep pace with her no matter how fast she was going.

Plus, the extra nights sleep was a nice bonus.

“C’mon, there has to be something better than that. Who did you get before Catfish?”

“Um… The leader of some freakshow circus. Oh man, yeah, that place was nuts . Took me months to even track the place down, stupid traveling circus… But like, that wasn’t even the weird part! The place had magic freaks coming out of their gills . It was like Halloween town or something.”

“Woah! You banished a whole haunted circus?”

“Nah, just the main guy. Zomboni… Zombepo… Zom-Some kind of energy draining clown. Had some illegal magic tech that let him drain souls, reversed engineered it from stuff that shouldn’t be reversed engineered. So I tracked him and his whole freakshow down, banished him and him alone, and bounced. Idiot had all his cronies go commit actual crimes while he was doing his whole soul sucking shtick. Made it easy to get in and out without being spotted.”

“ Fejadamah. ”

“You said it Fisk.”

Juniper just nodded, still remembering the painful thrashing she had still gotten. That guy, whatever his name was, wasn’t in charge for nothing. His soul powered magics let him throw her around like a ragdoll, she was lucky that everyone else was gone. Some of those other guys looked just as strong.

“So what did you do about those other guys?”

“Huh?”

“The thieves? Did you just let 'em go? That’s not very superhero, protector of justice of you.”

Juniper stifled a laugh.

“Yeah, no. I called the cops, though I don’t know how effective they might be against magic tattoo women and walking cadavers. And I’m not a superhero. This ain’t a comic book… or at least a superhero one.”

A strange look passed over Zak’s face. Behind her, she heard Fisk scoff.

“ Jana. Nade Nasuna Naooh Nasuh Poogahibah. ”

Zak nodded at that. “Yeah, a bit too late to say stuff like that now, don’t ya think?”

“Stuff like what?”

“We aren’t in a comic book? I mean, last month there were like… two? Three? A bunch of new heroes and all that. We might as well be, at this point.”

…

…What?

“Heroes? What are you talking about? Some kinda… movie? TV show? Haven’t really caught up on those lately, sorry.”

That seemed to stop Zak and Fisk in their tracks. When Juniper turned to look at them, their faces shared expressions both surprised, impressed, and utterly confused. Even Komodo, who was walking a few paces behind them all with a sour expression on his face, just looked at her like she was an idiot.

“...What?”

“ …Bablabana, Majade. Boo Bebana Dejabana Boobanabajah Bah Jadah? ”

“June… Have you watched the news, like, at all? In the past… half a year?”

“Uh… I mean, I’m sure I… Huh.”

She must’ve been in the swamp longer than she thought. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been in a gas station with magazines and newspapers out, which was exclusively how she consumed her news media.

“Guess not. Why? You all are looking at me like I’m an idiot.”

“ Hihibla Blajebana, Boo Blana Beje… ”

“Fisk. Rude.”

Slinging his backpack forwards, Zak began to rifle through it, intent on finding something. His backpack was much nicer than hers, Juniper was loath to admit, much newer and with far less wear and tear. It was even more organized, Zak leafing through a stack of papers that was in there for some reason like he was searching for homework. Finally, he found what he was looking for, pulling out an old, tattered looking newspaper.

“Here. And I want to stress, this is real . And has been. For months .”

Taking the newspaper, Juniper unfolded it to see a picture of three girls, waving at a crowd in a park of some kind. She would’ve ignored it as some random new celebrities, if it weren’t for the fact that they were floating a few feet off the ground. Eyes widening, she sped through the article, disbelief growing and growing. She read it once, twice, thrice over, eyes finally resting on the title of the article.

On three words specifically.

The Day is Saved, Thanks to The Powerpuff Girls! 

---

“...”

“ ... ”

“...”

“...June? Are you… ok?”

She had gone quiet, ever since he had given him the newspaper. Zak wasn’t completely sure what to do. He thought everyone knew who the Powerpuff Girls were, how could you not? Even if June never read the newspaper or watched TV, you’d have to be living deep under a rock not to know who the world’s first superheroes were.

Like June, apparently.

“...”

“...”

“ ...I think we broke her. ”

“June? You’re starting to freak us out here-”

CRUNCH

Juniper suddenly crumpled the old article in her hands, crushing it between her hands. When it was nothing but a shredded ball of paper, she threw it to the ground with far more strength than was necessary. It was obvious how upset she was from the hardened look on her face.

And then, that harsh look on her face seemed to melt off, a long sigh escaping instead. She wiped her face, turned, and started walking again, not even responding to Zak and Fisk’s concerned look.

“Uh, June? Juniper? Wait up!”

Ducking down to grab the wadded article and throwing it in his pack, Zak raced to catch up to his new (maybe? probably? hopefully) friend, trying to match her sudden increased pace. Her face was… surprisingly neutral, but he could still see hints of sadness in her eyes.

“...Hey… You know the Powerpuff Girls or something? They, like… magical convicts, later on your list? Yeesh, that would be freaky , especially considering all the-”

“That portal. The article talked about a portal.”

Everyone knew the story at this point.

Well, almost everyone. 

The city of Townsville was having a perfectly average day when the sky broke apart into a giant hole. From it, horrible monsters descended and tried to kidnap people right out of their homes. It was then that the Powerpuff Girls appeared, beating the monsters and their terrifying boss, sending them back through the hole and sealing it for good. There were some more details, like an attack on a school before the hole appeared, but for the most part, that was it. 

“Uh, yeah. Creepy portal in the sky. Why.”

Juniper let out another deep, long sigh.

“That portal… probably means I’ll have more work. No wonder assignments were so close together…”

“Um… what?”

Now she just looked annoyed.

“Didn’t you learn anything about magical channels? Planes? The realms in between? You’d think with one of the strongest magical creatures in your head, you’d know something about how the world works.”

The sound of distant thunder reached Zak’s ears, but he ignored it. Instead he focused on Fisk, who lightly smacked the back of his head.

“ Yeah, idiot. Don’t you know anything? ”

“Can it, furball. You don’t know anything either.”

“ Yeah, but June doesn’t know that. ”

“ Haha, you’re an idiot. ”

“Komodo!”

Ahead of them, Juniper cleared her throat, her long strand of pink hair suddenly glowing as she drew some shapes in the air. Pink light appeared, strange runes and symbols appearing wherever she gestured.

“Before there was anything, there was nothing. And before there was nothing…”

The symbols changed into monstrous shapes, eldritch images that Zak didn’t particularly enjoy looking at. They struck something primal, some deep fear deep within his soul. From Komodo’s defensive hiss and Fisk’s retching, he guessed they didn’t like it either.

“...there were monsters .”

She waved her hand, scattering the images of monsters back into symbols.

“Something killed those monsters, or sealed them, or… something. We’re not sure. But what we do know is that all of the monsters that survived ended up here.”

The runes collected again, becoming a spinning pink globe. Above it, a floating platform inhabited by those same monsters appeared, eyeing the planet below with malice and hatred.

“We call it the Mindscape, cause the only way one plane can reach the other is through the mind. Unless, of course, you force your way through the bonds between realities, fracturing it beyond repair. That creates portals like the one in this story. Very few people are even able to attempt this, in all of the realms of reality. So the fact that one randomly appeared out of nowhere? That is not good. Anyone capable of it is extremely bad news.”

Zak gulped, the back of his neck covered in a fresh coat of sweat.

“B-But the Powerpuff Girls beat the guy who came through! The… a… HIM? I think?”

“Him? Him who?”

“No, HIM. Like his name is HIM.”

“...Huh… I don’t… recognize that name… But still, we were lucky. Anything from the Mindscape is really bad news.”

He caught Juniper whispering under her breath “ Why didn’t the council tell me about this? ”

“ Eugh. Sounds like some serious shit. ”

“You said it Fisk.”

Shaking her head, the pink illusion Juniper made slowly faded away. She turned forwards again, increasing her speed ever so slightly.

“...I don’t like this. A portal the size of a city breaks through from the Mindscape, and I don’t hear a peep? Even I’m not that isolated. Someone would have found and told me in the months since the event. And then, out of nowhere, three superheroes straight out of fantasy come in and save the day? That doesn’t sit right.”

“Are you saying the Powerpuff Girls are demons!? ”

“What? No. That be stupid. But they might be the ones responsible for the hole in the first place.”

“Oh. So they’re… magic? Like us.”

June shrugged. 

“You got a better explanation?”

Zak thought about it for a moment, then returned with a shrug of his own.

“Guess not.”

“Trust me Zak.” Juniper’s voice became a bit harsh. “Nothing like this happens by coincidence. There’s something missing here, something they aren’t telling people. And I’m betting it’s gonna bite people in the ass sooner rather than later.”

Once again, the sounds of thunder echoed in the back of Zak’s mind. Because of it, he almost missed Juniper’s next whispered words.

“ ...And I bet I’M the one that’s going to have to clean it up. ”

---

There was another reason Juniper’s mood had soured.

One she wouldn’t admit aloud, especially to Zak. It was stupid and dumb, and extremely petty . But it was a reason that came from deep within her soul, one she wasn’t entirely comfortable with.

She was jealous .

How long? How long had she been at this? Nine years? Nearly ten! A decade worth of fighting the forces of evil and saving people, and nobody was allowed to know! Sure, people already in the know might thank her and give her some free food, but they were equally likely to try and put a hole in her stomach! It was- It was-

Unfair. 

It’s not fair.  

That was all she could think. These newbies show up out of nowhere, and in the blink of an eye reveal the existence of the magical world, being called heroes for doing so. Months ago! That article was from November! 

Breathing heavily out of her nose, Juniper once again increased her pace. She heard Fisk let out a groan in protest, but Zak was quick to shut him up. 

A dark thought suddenly came to mind.

What if… What if she had done the same thing? On one of her missions, go out and make a big show of her battle, intentionally or not, where tons of people could watch her. Would the same thing happen? Would people praise her? Would she have become a celebrity? 

Had the last nine years of struggle and strife and walking been for nothing? 

…

It wasn’t fair.

It really wasn’t fair.

---

“Ah-Mah? Why don’t you tell mama and baba that you can do magic?”

It was another one of her lessons, early on in her schooling on the magical world. 6 year old Juniper looked up at her Ah-Mah patiently, waiting as she stirred the soup she was making for lunch.

She took a long sip, eyes staring out the window with a distant look. Her face was tight, like she was fighting with herself. It was an expression that seemed to show up more and more often these days, ever since June got her powers.

Finally, she responded to her granddaughter’s question.

“It’s dangerous, June. Magic… is unpredictable. Even the strongest and most powerful magical beings barely understand a fraction of how it works. Kinda like science. Or television cables.”

She turned, pouring the soup into two ceramic bowls as she continued to talk.

“There are times in the past… many times, where I wanted to tell your baba. Where I could explain where his mama went, why she was gone so often. But he didn’t get the spark, as much as I hoped. And that meant he couldn’t know. For his own safety.”

“But Ah-Mah! Baba and mama keep asking me why I come to visit so often. And I think Ray Ray is getting suspicious. ”

That last part was said in a whisper, the younger Te Xuan Ze speaking of it as if it was the most terrifying thought in the world. The older Te Xuan Ze snorted as she placed the bowl of soup in front of her granddaughter, who readily dug into the meal.

“Ray Ray’s three, June. And I know it’s tough.”

She took a seat next to Juniper. She sat down harder than she normally did.

“But you know what would be tougher? Living with the knowledge that your mama and baba… that Ray Ray and Dennis were hurt because of something we did. Just because we told them! It’s a tough burden to carry, I know. But we’re the Te Xuan Ze! We’re the toughest, the strongest there is. And trust me June.”

Her grandmother pulled her into a side hug as June slurped up the last of her soup.

“I’ll be here to shoulder that burden with you.”

---

Right.

That excuse came to mind so often, it was like an automatic response.

Who cared if these “Powerpuff Girls” had become famous. When their mess came to light, it would be her responsibility to clean it up. Their fame wouldn’t help them then.

Who cared if no one knew who she was? She had a job to do, a job that didn’t need an entire crowd of adoring fans to do it. In fact, that would probably make it harder.

Who cared if things could’ve been different. No point in dwelling in the past. Plus, she was good at her job! How many people had she put away in ten years? …She wasn’t sure, but it was definitely a lot! 

Because she was the Te Xuan Ze.

That was her duty .

That was her responsibility.

That was her burden to bear.

“June?”

Zak’s voice, for a moment, snapped her out of her funk. Glancing over her shoulder, she realized the sky was slowly growing darker, the sun set just above the horizon. 

“We were thinking of stopping for dinner? That sound good?”

Juniper turned, scoffing.

“Do what you want. I’m not stopping until we’re out of this desert.”

She heard a couple of groans, shuffles and hisses.

Fine.

It was her burden to bear.

Alone.

…

…

…

She would never admit how important it was to her that the sounds of three extra footsteps and the swooping of wings followed her, even as the sun rose the next morning.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Juniper had mixed feelings about New Mexico.

On the one hand, the verified terrain was a nice departure from the long stretch of flatland they had just left from Texas. On the other hand, climbing was a pain, and it was always impossible to find a big enough camping spot for the five of them that was level for everyone. Fisk seemed to complain a lot about that, according to Zak.

“ Blamah Fena Jah Dahdebanama Blaje… ”

Speaking of…

“What’s he complaining about now? ”

“His feet. Again. ”

“It can’t be that hard to make a pair of shoes. I would’ve done it long ago if I knew he was going to complain this much.”

“He always complains.”

“ Hihi Babana Keybana Naooh Sujah Hihina, Bosuooh Keyjahjejahbo . ”

“You don’t like wearing shoes! I’ve tried to make you wear shoes! You said that they were constricting!”

“Even Komodo doesn’t complain this much…”

“ HISS! ”

“...Is he agreeing with me?”

“Yes.”

“...Nice.”

These conversations were becoming increasingly common, back and forth exchanges between her and the Saturdays. Some were heated, others light hearted, but all seemed to last hours upon hours on end. And regardless of the subject, Juniper couldn’t find a problem with them. Over a week of company was actually really relaxing, constant complaints aside. It was a nice break from the months of solitude that usually followed her during hunts.

Even if she would have much rather enjoyed an actual break.

Still, this was nice.

Though it did have some downsides.

…rumble…

Speaking of...

Something deep in her bones stopped Juniper in her tracks. Before Zak or Fisk even noticed, a hard look of concentration fell over her face.

While she had been forced to adjust to the additional ( loud ) noises that constantly followed her around now, she still had years of training with her powerful senses. Even with constant distractions, she was still able to hear the rumbling from afar, feel the shifting stones beneath her feet long before anyone else could. Before any of the Saturday’s could even guess, she was already preparing for battle.

…RUMBLE…

Against the kind of monster that was rapidly approaching, Juniper would usually just run. Get as far away as possible, and hope it gives up the hunt. But with five people? Especially three that were land locked? No way they could get away without splitting up. And if it chose to chase one of the others… It wouldn’t sit right with Juniper.

“Zak! Fisk! Komodo! Run!”

“Wha-”

Before any of them could even respond, Juniper pulled out her sword and charged forwards, dust flying behind her from the force of her feet. The rumbling suddenly became so severe that even Zon could feel it, hundreds of feet in the air.

“ Kena Nasuh FEBO- ”

The earth beneath Juniper’s feet began to sink and slide. Undaunted, she continued to run forward, even as sand fell downwards into a massive sinkhole that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Gritting her teeth, she mentally prepared herself for what she knew would come next.

This is gonna hurt!

BOOM!

A massive creature, the size of an entire subway, burst out of the sinkhole in an explosion of dust and sand. With five enormous jagged teeth, it snapped its ringed mouth forwards, trying to grab at Zon. Fisk, Zak, and Komodo could only watch with awe as the massive creature in front of them, worried for their sister’s safety.

Juniper felt a bit different.

“Damn it! I missed!”

Jumping as high as she could, she managed to grab a piece of the creature’s segmented armor before gravity pulled its body downwards. As the serrated edges of its armor dug into her skin, Juniper just grit her teeth and started climbing higher and higher. Soon, she was right at the lip of the creature’s mouth.

“ JUNE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU- ”

“IT’S A DRAVEK!”

Zak didn’t have the same kind of enhanced hearing she did, but Fisk did. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have bothered responding with the distances the Dravek was dragging her.

“GIANT WORM CREATURES! THEY’RE AGGRESSIVE AND ANGRY, AND THEIR SHELLS ARE SUPER TOUGH! BUT THEY DO HAVE ONE WEAKNESS-”

“ Hihi Babana Dedah Keyjah Nasubo Hihibo Maoobanama… ”

“-THEIR INSIDES!”

Juniper was not proud of how she had originally found this out, nor how many times she had used this information. Still, there was no other way to get rid of a Dravek. They were aggressive to the point of insanity, and they never gave up prey. Half the reason she avoided most of Kansas was the time she had almost led a Dravek right into the middle of a populated area. If it wasn’t for nearly a week’s worth of memory erasing, she was pretty sure there would have been a lot more questions. 

Wasn’t it someone else’s job to make sure that these things didn’t happen?

That Dravek was curving downwards, gravity pulling its face back towards the desert sands. Turning her head, the ground behind her was approaching far faster than Juniper would like. In a moment, she would either be crushed into paste or smeared along the walls of whatever tunnel this thing was about to dig.

Unless, of course…

“THIS IS GONNA LOOK BAD, BUT IT’S GOING TO BE FINE! JUST GIVE ME AN HOUR OR-”

“ JUNE! ”

The sound of thunder suddenly reached her ears, the smell of ozone filling the air.

“ NO! ”

---

Draveks lacked eyes. As a largely subterranean species, they hunt through a strange combination of mana sensitive cells at the ends of their large feeders, and hypersensitive vibrational organs found beneath their armor. They search for strong sources of mana, particularly those in the air, and ambush them by leaping absurd distances off the ground.

For the most part, Dravek usually hunt in wide open plains and areas, particularly in Mongolia and China. Even in this relatively rural part of New Mexico, it was far too bumpy and hilly for a Dravek to hunt happily. Not to mention a distinct lack of prey. So when this specific Dravek caught wind of some particularly high levels of mana, it nearly leaped out of the ground right then and there.

However, right now, the Dravek was feeling something else. Not hunger, the painful empty feeling it had felt for months. Not fear, like it had when it had been plucked from the earth when it was no larger than a basketball. Not even rage, when it had been locked and caged by those it had escaped.

A monster was staring him down. Something stronger than it, incomprehensibly so. It commanded respect, so much that even the nearly mindless Dravek paused. The sounds of storms echoed around it, its every word echoing out like the roar of a hurricane and the clap of thunder. Every fiber of its being, every piece of its soul, told it to obey. There was no other option.

The voice told the Dravek to stop. 

So it did.

---

“- Oof! ”

The immediate halt in momentum caused Juniper to lose her grip, sending her crashing into the ground. However, the fall was barely ten feet, something she could shrug off even on her worst days. Blinking, she slowly got to her feet, eyes wide at the sight above her.

The Dravek was… 

Still. 

Disturbingly so.

It was like the creature had become some kind of statue, not even the smallest waver in its massive body despite how far out of the ground it was. It shouldn’t even be possible for a creature that size to perform such a feat. Even with everything that Juniper had seen, the sight of the massive Dravek standing still, jaws wide open and feet from her head, sent a shiver down her back.

“What in the…”

“ Jekibah! ”

Fisk’s hand was suddenly on her shoulder, pulling her out from underneath the Dravek's maw. Blinking, she shook her head, trying to get back on her feet, both metaphorically and literally.

“Fisk, what the hell just…”

The question died in her mouth.

Zak was standing where she had left him, which was now a bit away from the lip of the sinkhole the Dravek had made. His eyes were a golden orange, light pouring out of them like smoke. Hands outstretched, he was panting hard, an extreme look of concentration on his face as the bird talon on his chest flexed and wriggled. The sounds of thunder and wind could still be heard, and Juniper could swear that the sky was slowly getting darker.

“...Zak?”

At the sound of her voice, he gasped. The light disappeared, and Zak fell directly onto a concerned looking Komodo. Before she could ask any more questions, the rumbling sound behind her warned her that whatever Zak had done to freeze the Dravek had stopped.

“Shit! Fisk! Get… back…”

That wasn’t right.

It was running away. 

As soon as it was able to move, the Dravek dug its way through the earth below and fled, its massive body disappearing just as suddenly as it appeared. If it wasn’t for the uneven terrain, you wouldn’t even be able to tell anything as big as a Dravek had been there in the first place.

Never, in the three previous long, drawn out encounters that Juniper had with these kinds of creatures, had one ran away. And trust her, it would have saved both her AND the giant worm a massive headache if they did. Even some of the stories she had read about Draveks and their encounters with her ancestors had always ended in death or defeat. 

Never one running away.

The sound of footsteps caused her to turn again, Komodo trotting forwards with an exhausted looking Zak on his back.

“Juniper… Are you… oof , are you ok?”

“Am I o- Zak! What the fuck WAS that?”

“Oh! That was… gasp, that was Kur. You know. The um-um, um… the guy. The guy in my head.”

Juniper was livid.

“Zak. ZAK. You just halted a DRAVEK as it was leaping out of the ground! You’re gonna have to give me more than a giant bird named Kur!”

“Right, right… Just give me a… Give me a minute. This, uh… this takes a lot… out… of…”

…

“...”

…

“... snore …”

“Oh come on .”

---

He was 14 again. 

His hair was shorter, he was shorter, and he was still living in a house. It was a high tech facility looking over a cliff in the middle of the woods, but it was still a house. There was Zon’s tree, his newest sister downing her latest catch. There was Fisk and Komodo’s room, a weird combination of rock climbing wall and indoor terrarium in which his brothers were currently wrestling in. And there, in the living room, working like it was any other day, was…

His parents.

Doc Saturday. A sturdy, broad chested man adorned in a well worn lab coat and his favorite orange and black outfit. He had a tablet in one hand and a mug in the other, sipping a cup of coffee as his scared eye slowly read over today’s test results.

Drew Saturday. A tall, athletic woman wearing a much more casual version of her husband's outfit, worn lab coat and all. She had some kind of relic in her hand, examining and transcribing the symbols adorning the stone onto a piece of paper next to her.

“Hmmm… I don’t know, Doc.”

“Drew, I’m telling you! The readings we have state that the tablet far outdates the timeline we previously had! Magic or not, stone will erode, and that will tell us how old this thing is!”

“Still, that would put its origins long before the dawn of modern magic. It’s even closer to the first discovery of magic! What we’ve translated is far more advanced than anything from the same time period!”

“You’re the one who always says that mysticism isn’t science, as much as I disagree. Who’s to say the origins of some of the magics on the artifact are incorrect? I’m more inclined to believe the closest thing to first hand reference that we can get, over centuries of unreliable word of mouth.”

“You don’t believe Jasmine?”

“Jasmine’s fine. But you can’t tell me everyone was like Jasmine.”

“That’s true… All right, wise guy. If you’re so smart, then- Zak? What’s wrong sweetie?”

His mom had just noticed he was there. His dad turned, the remaining eyebrow he had raised. Their expressions were engraved into his memory. Every piece of the conversation they just had. Every detail of what they were wearing that day. As much as he could remember, as much as his brain was able to recall.

Because…

Because…

Because-

BOOOOM!!!

---

“MOM! DAD!”

Jolting awake, Zak opened his eyes to see a roaring campfire in front of him. He was drenched in sweat, stuffed carefully into a sleeping bag. The sun was gone, the moon and stars replacing it. And instead of the small valley they were previously in, he instead saw that he was on top of a hill, a single tree providing some shelter from the elements.

“ Zak? ”

Fisk suddenly came into view. Without a second thought, Zak pulled him into a tight hug, one that was quickly reciprocated. This was a common sight a few years ago. Back when the event was still… fresh. It hadn’t happened in a while, but there were still occasions where he needed to be reminded that the rest of his family was still there. Thankfully, it hadn’t happened while they were traveling with-

“June!”

The memory of the giant worm and Juniper almost being swallowed suddenly came rushing back to Zak. Pulling away from Fisk, he jumped to his feet… only to find both Juniper and Komodo giving him a bug eyed stare, the two seemingly frozen in the middle of a wrestling match. A stick skewering a few hotdogs rested in Juniper’s hand, clearly the origin of their argument.

“ ... ”

“...”

“ ...I was hungry. ”

“...I bet the rest of these sausages that Komodo just said he was hungry.”

“ Shit! ”

Zak both sighed and giggled, falling back onto his sleeping bag as Fisk handed him a plate of sausages of his own. He took a bite, exhaustion still pulling him down after his use of powers.

“ ...You ok? You haven’t had a nightmare in… almost a month now, I think. ”

“Yeah. I’m fine, Fisk. I just… haven’t used my powers on something that big.”

“Your powers?”

Right. Juniper was still within earshot.

“Yeah… Powers… When I try, I can… influence other creatures. Not humans, but animals and stuff always like to do what I say. Even guys like… well like these guys.”

“ It sucks. Makes my skin crawl. ”

“ I like it! ”

“ You like everything, Zon. ”

“ I do! ”

June’s face was tight, her brow furrowed in concentration.

“...And… this is related to… Kur?”

“Um… yeah. At least, I think. My m… My mom always said it had something to do with him, but we never really figured out what that something was.”

She just nodded.

“So… what? You just… control other creatures? With your voice?”

“...Yes.”

“...”

“...”

“...And?”

“And what?”

“I- I don’t know? This is crazy Zak! No one can just… control someone with their voice! Mostly! Definitely not so casually… You are a human? Like, 100%?”

“Yes. Trust me. Both my mom and my dad did multiple tests confirming that fact.”

It seemed like Juniper’s brow couldn’t crease any further, her face scrunched tight as she began furiously pacing. Behind her, an invisible Komodo slowly began consuming the forgotten hotdogs.

“Zak… I mean, I’ve never… This is nuts! You commanded a Dravek! Without even trying! No incantation or preparation, no nothing! Not even my grandmother could do something like that. It’s… crazy magic power. More than anything I’ve even heard about.”

Zak’s mind was spinning. Whether it was from exhaustion or the memories of his parents, he suddenly had a much harder time breathing. He always knew his powers were special… But this? Juniper was the Te Xuan Ze. She was supposed to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world! And she had no idea what Kur was doing! That was… That was…

Suddenly, there was a commotion. June had pulled up her backpack, urgently rummaging through it. Finally, she pulled out a tattered purple book, faded gold patterns pressed into it. She dropped her bag and rapidly started flipping through the book, clearly looking for something.

“June? What-”

“I’m going to have a talk with this Kur.”

Her voice was harsh, harder than Zak had ever heard it. But it was also… heroic? Powerful? A kind of comforting, one that would soothe panicking souls in the midst of battle.

It must have been her hero voice.

“This is nuts! You’ve lived your whole life with this thing in your head? How I haven’t been sent after him, I don’t know. Doesn’t matter what he is, I’ve fought bigger and badder. I’m going to get some answers.”

Crashing thunder filled Zak’s ears, so loud he recoiled in pain. Feeling him tense, Fisk gripped his brother tightly, a growing look of worry and understanding forming.

“ Thunderclaps? ”

“Oh, what now? ”

Fisk shot Juniper a dirty look, but Zak just waved it off. She didn’t know. How could she? Apparently, no one knew.

“It’s fine, Fisk… I don’t think Kur likes the idea of you rooting around in my head.”

That caused June’s eyes to narrow.

“Sometimes… When he wants to get my ‘attention,’ I’ll hear, like, thunder and shit. Storms. When my mom did things he didn’t like… like when she tried to get rid of him, he’d fill my head with noise until she stopped.”

Her eyes narrowed further.

“So he’s holding you hostage? ”

“No! No, not like that. …Look June, I’m flattered and all, but I don’t hear from Kur, like, at all . I know he’s there, but most of the time, I don’t even feel him. I haven’t for years . It’s only when I started hanging out with you that he… well…”

“...”

“...”

…

…

Oof. Awkward.

“... Fine.”

With a huff, Juniper shoved the book back into her bag, before turning and packing up her sleeping bag. Zak, as well as his siblings around him, suppressed a groan as they realized what that meant.

“Now that you're up, after that 7 hour nap of yours, we can get moving again. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and a lot of time to catch up on. We’ll break at sunrise.”

Her eyes started glowing pink.

“ Incendia Absum! ”

The campfire went out with a huff, bathing the area in darkness. Without another word, the sounds of footsteps filled the air, a sign that June was already walking away.

“ ...Bitch. ”

“Lay off, Fisk. She’s just trying to help. Besides, after all of that…”

Another clap of thunder pierced Zak’s head. He winced, but slowly got to his feet anyway, bundling up the sleeping bag below him as he went.

“I think I need some time to think.”

---

It wasn’t sitting right with Juniper.

That kind of power was nuts. From what little Zak had shown, he could command monsters far above even her weight class with virtually no extra effort. If he just worked on expanding his mana pool… There was no telling the extent of what he could do.

That was scary.

Not because of Zak. If she was being honest, Juniper couldn’t picture a scenario where any of her new traveling companions could be intimidating if they tried. Maybe Fisk, but definitely not Zak. Even with Kur’s magic.

It wasn’t because of Kur either. Thunderbirds were legendary creatures, but she had gone up against some legendary creatures of her own. One self proclaimed god in particular came to mind. Sure, it had taken several months to beat him, but she had done it. Kur wouldn’t be any different.

No, something else scared Juniper. As she trudged through the dark night, the sounds of muffled complaints and animalistic footsteps following behind her, her hand went to the jeweled bracelet essentially fused to her arm. 

Zak’s power was crazy. Depending on how he used it, he could destroy the world. And it was her job to stop people like that.

What scared Juniper was that she didn’t know if she’d be willing to do that. To track, to fight, to hunt. Not them. Not the Saturdays.

Not to her new friends.

Not her only friends.

But a deep, dark part of her said, without a moment of hesitation, that she would. Without a second thought.

Because she was the Te Xuan Ze.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

“So is this the Grand Canyon?”

“...We’re in the middle of a town.”

“But it’s been months! ”

“It’s been 2 weeks. And we’re still in the middle of a-”

“Juuuuune! My feet hurt! Can’t we take a bus?”

“If you can pay for bus fees, and figure out what bus we need to take, AND figure out how to bring Fisk with us, then sure. We can take a bus.”

Zak just grumbled after that.

Juniper turned, eyes scanning the various alleyways tucked behind the buildings around her. Flagstaff was the last semi-urban area before they got to the actual Grand Canyon, last known whereabouts of Mina Loveberry. And in the slight chance she had moved in the last 16 days since she had last casted the tracking spell, chances were she was somewhere around here. 

Assuming she was seeking out populated areas.

And that she was sitting out in the open.

And that she wasn’t already aware the Te Xuan Ze was after her.

And-

“Can’t we at least get a hotel? Sleeping outside has been killing my back.” 

“Zak, if you can pay for a room for the night, I will gladly sleep in a hotel. But seeing as we don’t have any money, that isn’t going to happen.”

“C’mon! I have… some money. And I haven’t slept in a bed in forever . And we’re so close! You wanna be rested for the fight and stuff, right?”

Pinching her brow, Juniper wondered where this shift in personality came from. Around the others, Zak at least seemed to be somewhat responsible. Like a good older brother. Now he was whining like a child. It was grating on her already frayed nerves.

“I already told you-”

Movement out of the corner of her eye. 

Movement too fast to be human, too small to be any kind of vehicle. It would be imperceptible by anyone else, but Juniper’s vision was good enough that she caught it. Whipping her head, Juniper locked her gaze onto an alleyway, searching for whatever that flash of movement was.

“...I saw it too, I think.”

“Good. Stay at the entrance to the alley. Get ready to signal to Zon if the fighting starts.”

Zak nodded, and slowly Juniper crept into the alley. She couldn’t have a sword, sheathed or not, in the middle of a city, so Zon was holding onto it for the moment. If things got really bad, the sole Saturday Sister would swoop in from her position high above, delivering the weapon to Juniper before things got tense. 

But just because she didn’t have a weapon, that didn’t mean she was defenseless.

Not by a long shot.

Movement again. The dumpster was shaking. Something was in there, something too big to be a racoon or stray cat. Slowly, Juniper approached the closed lid, holding her breath and slowly drawing glowing pink runes into the air. Her sense of smell was powerful, but not that much better than the average human. Maybe Loveberry hoped hiding her stench would be enough?

A scary thought suddenly flashed through her head. What if Mina knew that Juniper was traveling with a band of monsters? Was she trying to hide herself from Komodo and Zon? Were they targets as well? 

Clenching her fist over the lid of the dumpster, Juniper’s eyes began to shine a bright pink as she prepared her next move.

“Right. Any chance we can do this peacefully? I’m not even sure you’re the guy I’m looking for, but even if you are, we can still figure this out without beating the shit out of each other. Save us all the headache?”

The dumpster stopped rattling. For a few tense seconds, no one moved.

It seemed like they weren’t coming out.

“Ok then! Don’t say I didn’t-”

Before she finished speaking, she ripped the lid of the dumpster clean off, throwing it down the alleyway. The element of surprise had saved her before, and maybe it would save her a headache this time. Arm outstretched, she cast the spell she had been conjuring for the past few seconds.

“-Warn you! Appendaga Regoria! ”

A flash of pink, and something shot into the air, shackled by Juniper’s magic. A ppendaga Regoria only affected living things, which made it easy to pull someone hiding in a dumpster into the open, but it was extremely fragile and easy to break through if you knew how it worked. If it was just some random animal, it would be the perfect harmless restraint. If it was Mina…

Well…

Luckily, it wasn’t Mina.

It was a dog.

Juniper felt a bit silly, getting so worried over nothing. It was a big dog, to be fair. About the size of her torso, it would probably come up to her waist if it was standing and not suspended in the air. It was some kind of Asian breed, a flatter and wrinkled face, but its paws were massive and there was so much fur and skin around its neck it almost looked like a mane. She might have found it cute if it wasn’t soaked in trash and magically restrained.

She let out a sigh of relief before signaling back to Zak, who was watching the whole thing with fingers clenched around his talon necklace.

“Zak! It’s fine, just a dog. Nothing to worry about.”

The sounds of footsteps echoed down the alley as Juniper slowly lowered the animal onto the ground. It huffed at her as the magic was released, though strangely it didn’t immediately run away.

“Woah! Puppy!”

“ BARK! ”

“Aw, aren’t you so cute!”

“ BARK! BARK BARK! ”

“And it’s Irish!”

“ BARK! ”

“Scottish. Sorry.”

Juniper just sighed, already moving back towards the alleyway’s entrance. A giant dog was cute and all, even covered in trash, but that wasn’t what she was here for. They had spent half a day in Flagstaff, and there were no signs of Mina or any other magical beings for that matter, except for maybe this dog. It was time to stock up on whatever she could get her hands on for free, and maybe a bit that wasn’t , regroup with Komdo and Fisk, and set off for their actual final destination. There was still a day’s travel left, and Juniper wasn’t going to waste it on-

“ BARK BARK! ”

“ WHAT!? ”

Zak’s sudden outburst caused Juniper to turn again, spinning on her heels and putting herself between him and the dog. She softly chided herself. Just because it wasn’t Mina didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous. Maybe they were even working together. Magical creatures and Cryptids were just as sneaky and shifty as any other human. Speaking of, it’s face had contorted, suddenly looking much more intelligent and menacing then it had before. A very human-like expression was suddenly clear on its flat face.

An expression of anger.

“Zak! What did it say!”

“I-It… It said-”

There was a flash of light, this time a pale gold in color. It wasn’t the glimmering magenta of her magic, or the vibrant orange color of Kur’s magic, it was much more pale and light, like aged wallpaper. For a second Juniper thought they were under attack… until she realized it was the dog that was glowing. A Scottish voice echoed out through the alleyway, coming from the glowing mutt.

“ Exfoliax Vox Vir! ”

The light faded as fast as it appeared, leaving Juniper standing flabbergasted and Zak rubbing the spots out of his eyes.

“For pity’s sake! Didn’t think the bloody Te Xuan Ze would need me to use what little mana I have left! What, your apprentice use up all your Yeti hair or something?”

And the dog was talking.

Juniper suddenly felt an even bigger migraine coming her way.

---

“ Booh… Suoh Nasuh Blana? ”

Fisk was setting up camp when they returned with their new monster, Komodo snoring on a branch in the tree. Zak just shrugged as their new acquaintance growled at the hulking cryptid.

“I ain’t no mutt, you overgrown ape. I am a proud Fu Dog, from a long lineage of protectors and guardians of sacred sights! I will not-”

“This is Monroe, Fisk. We found him while looking for Mina.”

From his brow raise, that clearly wasn’t enough information for Fisk. Juniper sighed.

“He said he had some information on her, said he encountered her a few days ago. It’s a better lead than nothing, which was what we were going off of before, so we brought him back with us.”

“Don’t you have any tracking spells? Or are you incapable of casting those too.”

She was this close to throwing this mutt to the horizon. If his bragging was to be believed, he’d probably survive.

“Don’t want to waste too much mana, not when we’re so close.”

That, at least, Monroe seemed to respect. He nodded, eyes suddenly turning serious.

“Aye. Not a foe you’d want to underestimate. Best go at it with full strength.”

He huffed, walking to the half set up campfire and collapsing with a grunt. Juniper turned to look back at Zak, who offered a shrug of support before going to help Fisk with his set up. Suppressing another sigh, Juniper walked up to the campfire, taking a seat of her own next to the mangy canine.

“So… Where’d you see her?”

“Really? Not even gonna offer me a drink?”

A smug grin changed to an apathetic eye roll as Juniper’s face refused to react to Monroe’s poor attempt at humor. Sighing (could dogs sigh? Did she know that dogs could sigh? Unimportant), he rested his chin on the ground, eyes suddenly growing distant and haunted.

“Met her a few days ago, over by Diamond Creek. I was minding me own business, just trying to get clean, but she… she seemed to have a vendetta against me.”

“You sure it wasn’t anything you said?”

It was meant as a joke, a retaliation, but Monroe seemed to take it seriously. By his expression, that apparently wasn’t out of the question.

Figures.

“Aye, that was a possibility, but I had never met her before. Trust me, I would remember pissing off Mewni’s premier traitor general, let alone remember meeting a Mewman in the first place. Apparently it had nothing to do with what I had done, but just the fact that I was a magical creature. ‘Monster’ she called me. That may be accurate, but it’s still rude . Barely got out of there with my life.”

That was… interesting.

“She seems to really hate monsters, by the way. Might not want to bring the ape or the lizard. Her little base camp was surrounded by monster bones. Swear I saw a few skulls on stakes.”

“You saw her base?”

“Aye, though only a glance. Don’t know how or why she set it up so close to a high trafficked area, but there was a little cave she dug for herself, right by the shore. I would’ve ignored it if she didn’t blast my arse out of nowhere.”

That was important. It gave Juniper something resembling a precise location, something to plan around, something she could use. It also meant she didn’t have to waste more time searching. 

“Well, seems like you aren’t a useless mutt after all.”

“I told you, I’m not a mutt!”

It was Juniper’s turn to roll her eyes. Teasing the dog was starting to grow on her.

“Right, Fu Dog. Don’t even know what that is, but-”

“ Really? Th-The Te Xuan Ze doesn’t know about us?”

There was something different about Monroe’s voice. Before, it had carried a sense of humor and levity, clear signs of teasing, trying to get a rise out of her. But that last outburst carried legitimate confusion and shock, and, deeper down, hurt. Turning, Juniper saw Monroe was back on his feet, his canine face turned into one of surprise.

“...No?”

“That’s… That’s impossible! We may not be as important as before, but our history’s our intertwined! The last Te Xuan Ze was my friend! There’s no way she wouldn’t-”

The rug was pulled further out from under Juniper’s feet.

“You knew Ah-Mah?”

“Jasmine? Of course! You don’t become the Te Xuan Ze for an extra half a century without meeting everyone at least once! And we met way more than once! We were inseparable for a time, I’ll have you know.”

Wh- What was going on? Juniper’s head was spinning, her head was spinning as Monroe kept revealing more and more facts about her Ah-Mah’s life.

“We were friends! We are friends! I refuse to believe that she didn’t teach her offspring about me , if nothing else! Oh, the adventures we’ve been on! We’ve saved each other more times than I can-”

“Hold up, dumpster diver! How do I even know you’re telling the truth? You could just be saying this as a way to bullshit me, trying to get something out of me for your own canine desires!”

The world was spinning below Juniper as she tried to understand exactly what was going on.

No one ever mentioned her Ah-Mah. Not even people who knew the Te Xuan Ze! They all treated Juniper as if she was the same person that came before, and the one before that, all the way up her family tree. This had to be a trick, some kind of lie that this stupid dog was-

“How dare you! I will not have some of my greatest memories spit upon by an inexperienced welp like you! You want proof?”

Somehow, without hands, Monroe’s front paws pulled a collar out of his mane of matted fur. Attached to the collar was a shimmering red stone, a familiar symbol etched into it. But the Banishing Stone wasn’t the piece of proof Juniper was looking for.

The dragonfly symbol etched into the side, however, was more than enough.

It was the same one sewn into her shirt.

---

“Ah-Mah? Why are there dragonflies everywhere?”

At the moment, the two generations of Te Xuan Ze were walking through Jasmine’s cliff side house, tapestries adorning the hallway. They depicted many scenes, some of ferocious beasts and others of legendary warriors. But they all had one thing in common. A bright pink dragonfly lined their borders, a symbol that appeared again and again and again.

“Ah, Juniper… That is a very special part of our history. Come here.”

Taking her hand, her grandmother brought her to the first tapestry hanging on the wall. It was the image of a warrior, plunging a sword directly into the skull of a monstrous black and white bird. Behind her, another woman with a massive pair of butterfly wings and a strange, small blue man were watching the woman approvingly.

“See this, June? This is our origins. The first Te Xuan Ze, the first one to draw upon the magics of another world and use it for justice.”

“That lady has pretty wings!”

“Yes, yes she does. That was the first magical being the Te Xuan Ze contacted, an ancient queen of Mewni.”

“Mewni?”

“Yes, June. The kingdom of magic .”

“ Woah… ”

She was led further down the hallway, past a few more tapestries of warriors conquering and defeating monsters. At their next stop, Juniper saw not just one, but what seemed like an entire army of warriors. Weapons drawn, there were a few that possessed the same signature streak of colored hair as her ancestors, but the rest sported much stranger designs. Some were bestial, animalistic claws and massive, leathery wings sprouting from their human frames. Others were clothed in vibrant outfits, black and red suits hiding their faces.

“Who are they, Ah-Mah?”

“Those are… old friends of the Te Xuan Ze, June. This is probably the most important part of our history. This… was the Sealing of the First Sorcerer.”

Delicately, as not to damage the old material, Jasmine slowly pulled down the tapestry from the wall. It unfurled, revealing the previously cut off image. The army was surging towards a long figure, a wicked green being that conveyed malice and hatred, even though it was merely just a stitched picture. Juniper backed away as her Ah-Mah revealed its wretched, crooked grin.

“A criminal, from the lands of magic. He came to our world to bring chaos and destruction… and he almost succeeded. He was unstoppable, turning humans into fiendish beasts and enslaving them to his own will. His name has been lost to time, so most just refer to him as…”

The Sorcerer.

Lighting struck, and Juniper jumped into her Ah-Mah’s arms. She could almost hear a cackling laugh, echoing through the thunder and making her shrink further into her grandmother.

“Ah-Mah! What does this have to do with dragonflies!?”

Her Ah-Mah laughed at her childish fear, returning the tapestry to its original position. Juniper felt a little better as the Sorcerer’s cackling face disappeared, back into the prison of the past.

“I’m getting there! You see, even though the Sorcerer was powerful, he wasn’t invincible. Using the knowledge gifted to them, our ancestors crafted an inescapable prison. A place that no creature of magic could ever escape, no matter how powerful. It was called-”

“The Orchid Veil!”

“That’s right June! But they couldn’t do it alone. They needed help.”

Moving to the next tapestry, a picture of two warriors shaking hands was depicted. One was a Te Xuan Ze, clear from his shock of white hair, and the other was one of the bestial warriors, a pair of massive red wings sprouting from his back.

“So they went to the dragons .”

A gasp of recognition put a smile on the elder Te Xuan Ze’s face.

“With their help, they sealed the Sorcerer away, never to see the light of day again. From that day onwards, the Te Xuan Ze and dragons have always had a tight bond. And so, a symbol was born. A symbol combining the Te Xuan Ze’s greatest allies, taking likeness of both into their own. A symbol of strength, of protection, of family. Generations of our family have worn this symbol with pride, a sign of our friendship and our duty in this magical world. Now do you know the importance of this symbol, June?”

Her Ah-Mah’s face was full of kindness, while Juniper’s had a beaming smile at the new knowledge she had gained.

“Because when you combine the pretty wings of that Mew-mi lady and dragons, you get-”

Proudly, Juniper stretched out her own shirt, a magenta dragonfly sewn into the light green tee just a few days ago.

“A dragonfly!”

---

“You think anyone would be stupid enough to wear the Te Xuan Ze’s personal symbol without express permission? Jasmine gifted this to me after the third bloody time I saved her! And judging by your reaction, you know how important this symbol is.”

Juniper just nodded mutely. Seriously, what was with this past month? It was just bombshell after bombshell after bombshell . She was already exhausted as it was.

As if her life wasn’t hard enough.

Monroe just sighed. He let the collar go, it disappearing back into his fur. He sat back in front of the campfire, eyes growing distant again.

“Look. I know you probably… didn’t have much time with her. You never do, not with someone like Jasmine Lee. I tried visiting as soon as I heard the news, but… 

Monroe shifted uncomfortably. Clearly reliving some bad memories of his own.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that she’s… gone. Gone far too soon.”

The campsite was quiet. Fisk and Zak were staring, confused, while Komodo grumbled in his sleep.

“...I’m sorry, kid. I didn’t mean to… Just always thought she would’ve told you about me. About any of us. Did she? Are there any stories you can remember?”

She didn’t even respond. 

This was… It was too much. As much as she missed her Ah-Mah… she was always secretly thankful no one ever brought her up. It was just too painful when they did.

It was too painful right now.

She needed some air.

Juniper turned on her heels, and ran directly into the woods.

---

“June? Where are you-”

“Don’t bother, kid. For better or worse, I probably just dragged up some powerful memories. Give her some space, while I try to think up an apology for this mess.”

Zak gave Monroe a look while Fisk crossed his arms and huffed.

“What do you mean, powerful memories? And what’s with the dragonfly? Is that why June got so quiet?”

“For pity’s sake, kid, don’t you know anything? You’d think as an apprentice, you’d know a bit more about the Te Xuan Ze’s heritage.”

“I-I’m not her apprentice!”

Monroe finally turned to look directly at his face, eyebrow raised. It was a strange look for a dog, but to be fair, Zak had seen weirder.

“Really? What are ya then? Indentured servants?”

“N-No!”

“Over-eager fanboys?”

“No!”

“...You her little boyfriend, lad?”

“ HA! ”

Zak’s face burned red.

“Wha- NO! Would you shut up! I’m going after her! I don’t care what you say, June needs our help! And I’m going to go give it to her!”

He turned and ran into the woods, the same direction Juniper had left in. The sounds of Fisk’s laughter reached his ears, but the expression on Monroe’s face was one that told him it was still a bad idea. Still. Zak wasn’t about to leave his friend on her own. Not when… whatever just happened happened.

He found her not that far from the campsite, resting on an overturned tree and looking upwards. The sun was low, but the sky itself was still a soft blue, like a perfect summer’s day. She didn’t say a word, not until he made it to the log and took a seat next to her. When he did, she let out a long, strained sigh.

“...Sorry, sorry. It’s just… Ugh, memories.”

That was something Zak could recognize. It was probably the same thing he felt whenever the nightmares came. At least that meant that Monroe was wrong.

She absolutely needed someone around.

“Yeah… I get it.”

Juniper just nodded. She probably knew that Zak did get it. Still, it was a few more seconds of silence before she sighed again, whipping her face with her hands and staring forwards into the woods.

“It’s just… There was so much, I guess. I thought we got through a lot of it when she was still around, but… Never heard anything about Monroe. Or any other friends or companions for that matter. Barely even occurred to me she went on her own hunts, fought her own bad guys. Experience had to come from somewhere, right?”

Thoughts of late nights watching his dad show off in his lab, or those early mornings meditating with his mom came flowing in. Zak grunting in understanding.

“But… she lived this whole life before me, one that she would’ve told me all about. One that I could’ve learned from, grown from. One I could’ve… I don’t know. They were her stories to tell, I guess. You can’t live in the past, right? I got a job to do, the same job she did. I just have to… learn on the go.”

“But that doesn’t mean you have to forget her. Doesn’t mean you have to accept the fact that there was still a lot she would’ve taught you.”

Juniper solemnly nodded her head. Now her eyes were on the ground beneath her feet, while Zak’s were trained straight above.

It was a few more minutes of silence before Zak knew what to say.

“...My mom was a monk. Lived in Tibet most her life.”

That caught Juniper off guard.

“Really? The whole shaved head deal?”

“Yeah… When I was little, I always asked her to teach me how to fight, learn some sweet martial arts. Instead, she taught me how to meditate, how to relax and center myself. We’d spend early mornings together, just… breathing. Next to one another. Letting the morning sun hit our faces. It was…”

A tear came to Zak’s eye.

“... really boring.”

A snort of a laugh let Zak know that his memory resonated.

“...”

“...”

“...My Ah-Mah did something similar. I didn’t really get it, but she liked watching the sun rise over the city. I’d sometimes wake up to see her sitting on the front porch, looking down over the hills and just… watching. Watching the people go by, watching the cars move, watching the city come to life. I asked her about it once, and she told me… She told me it was important to enjoy your favorite things when you could. I tried it once, I woke up super early and sat on one of the big lawn chairs she had on her porch, and…”

The sound of shifting at his side, and soon both Juniper and Zak were looking up at the sky, watching the sun creep lower and lower.

“...I guess that was boring too.”

---

When the two returned, the sun had just set. There, they found Fisk working the grill, smiling and waving as he handed them two paper plates stacked with two simple burgers, each. Komodo and Monroe seemed to be in an argument on who would get the next patty, and Zon was asleep, snoring peacefully at Fisk’s side.

That morning, Zak and Juniper woke up before dawn, watching the sun rise over Flagstaff from the top of a hill.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

“So…”

“ Yes , Zak. THIS is the Grand Canyon.”

The motley crew of two humans, a giant ape, a lizard and a dog were standing along the side of a road, overlooking the majesty of the Grand Canyon. Around them, shelves of rocks towered overhead, casting giant shadows in the late afternoon sun. A few miles ahead, the land dipped down, the sounds of a rushing river barely reaching Juniper’s enhanced ears. 

“It’s a bit…”

“ Nasubo bosunabo bosujana. ”

“Yeah…”

Slinging her bag off her shoulders, the plan she had started making ever since she knew who her target was once again came to mind. While it was possible, almost likely (guaranteed) anything she came up with would fall apart almost immediately, it brought Juniper some amount of comfort to at least pretend things could go to plan.

A Mewman war general- well, ex-war general- is bound to have centuries of experience in combat. There’s no way I can beat her straight on, so purely offensive spells are out. Restraining her is probably my best bet, at least until I can banish her to the Orchid Veil. I’ll probably have to play on the defensive until she exhausts herself… But how long will that take? And how much do I prioritize defense over restraints?

…

…

…

…This would be a lot easier if I knew ANYTHING about Mina…

Griping about her lack of knowledge about her targets was just a part of her pre-fight routine. So was rapidly flipping through the random spell books she had for refreshers on spells she planned to use and grabbing random artifacts that might be useful. Her preparation routine was honestly quite a mess, but she never really thought about it before.

Five sets of eyes staring at her through the process, on the other hand, made her painfully aware of how unprofessional she looked.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“ ... ”

“...”

“...What.”

“Nothing! Nothing, it’s just… I’ve never seen you so-”

“ Blabobomah. ”

“...I was gonna say disorganized . But, uh… yeah.”

With another disturbingly human expression, Monroe shook his head in equal parts exasperation and annoyance.

“For pity’s sake, would you two shut up and let the poor girl work. Or at the very least start your own preparations. Or are you still too much of a wee babe that you can’t make your own preparations?”

“Hey! I’m not a wee babe! And I can make my own preparations, thank you very much!”

“Really? Then do so!”

“Fine! I will!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

“ Fine! ”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“... Fisk, how do you prepare magic? ”

This was worse than the attention.

“Zak. Don’t fight with Monroe. And Monroe, don’t antagonize him. They’re all new to all this.”

“Yeah, Monroe .”

“Listen here, you little-”

“ Monroe. ”

“Right, right, fine.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

A few more moments of awkward silence.

“...So, Juniper. What’s the plan?”

“...The plan?”

“Right. Don’t tell me you’re going in blind? I knew some who believed in the Te Xuan Ze luck, but ya shouldn’t buy into your own hype that much…”

“Wha- oh no, no no… Just, em… One sec.”

The pressure of suddenly saying her plan out loud caused Juniper’s mind to scramble. The loose framework of a plan slowly came out as she scrambled to live up to the reputation of the Te Xuan Ze. In front of her, she started laying out relevant spell book pages and artifacts to try and articulate her points.

“I don’t know much about Mina, but anyone able to become the general of generals of a race of people constantly soaked in magical power is bound to be powerful. Definitely more powerful than me.”

An uncomfortable look flashed over Zak’s face, as if he had a hard time picturing someone stronger than her.

I wish.

“Not to mention, since she has a defensible, familiar position, I can’t risk getting into a close quarters fight with her. Who knows what kind of traps or home field advantage she has in her cave alone… The best course of action is to play defensively. Wearing her out until she makes a mistake. Appendaga Regoria isn’t nearly strong enough to cut it here, no offense Monroe-”

“None taken.”

“-so I’ll have to pump up the juice. Necte Artes Magicas is a better bet…”

“Unless she knows it's direct counter. Or pumps her veins with enough Solarian magic that it fizzles before it can take hold.”

Solaria - Of course. 

“ Of course a war general uses magic that massively buffs her physical abilities. Which means…”

“None of these mana based shields are gonna work. You’ll need physical defenses, not magical ones.”

“ Hihibla Moojanamah Bafebanabojah. Banaba Hihiba Dejah Naooh Debamah Bah Blabanabonajah Subananabanama Benabesuh Ooboona. ”

To prove whatever point he had just made, Fisk started flexing his lanky limbs, taking a variety of bodybuilder poses. 

“Yeah! Fisk can hold her down, and then we can come in with magic blasting… Well, I can’t, but you and Monroe can! Maybe Komodo could sneak in and trick her outside the cave! What do you think, K?”

“ HISSS! ”

“C’mon, in and out! Just grab, like, a skull or something. I’ll give you double servings at dinner tonight!”

“ HISSSS! ”

“Triple is going too far!”

Juniper’s mind, previously distracted by trying to find countermeasures to Solarian magic, suddenly grinded to a halt.

“Wait, wait! WHAT!?”

Both Komodo and Zak turned to look at her, surprised at her sudden outburst.

“Komodo is not going to sneak into Mina’s cave! Are you crazy?”

“...”

“... HISSS… ”

“It was not a dumb plan!”

Somehow, Komodo managed to give Zak a questioning look, even without eyebrows.

“…Fine, maybe it was a little to dumb. Guess we’ll just have to rely on Fisk to do all the heavy lifting. Because some of us aren’t-”

“ Fisk isn’t helping either!”

Now all eyes were on her. A hurt expression crossed over Fisk’s face, and a twang of guilt shot through Juniper’s system.

“ No one is helping. This is Te Xuan Ze business, not Saturday or Fu Dog business. I’ll handle it by myself.”

“What!” “ What! ” “ Kena! ”

“Look, I’m… flattered you guys are willing to fight with me, but this is serious business . This is a magical criminal, a really dangerous one even by my standards. I’m not going to let my fr- a bunch of strangers without any formal magical training jump into this blindly. I’m barely going in with a plan!”

“Lass, this is madness! You’re planning to fight Mina Loveberry , for pity’s sake! Her strength alone without magic is enough to shatter buildings, you can’t go up against her alone!”

“Yeah! C’mon June, what are you talking about?”

“Zak, you don’t even know how to use your own powers, much less traditional magic. I’m not letting you into an active battle zone, especially against one of my targets!”

“Then take Fisk! Or Monroe! He’s smart! And Zon can fly, and Komodo can turn invisible! They can help you!”

“ Majebah! Keje Bebana Subanabade Hihina! ”

“Don’t go at this alone!”

“Lass, listen to reason! Your grandmother rarely went at hunts alo-”

“Well I’m not my grandmother, am I.”

Her eyes were glowing pink, her sword drawn and her knuckles turning white around its hilt. Monroe looked shocked, slowly taking a step back. 

This was how it always was. From the start, Juniper had been on her own. Every successful hunt was only completed because she was good enough, strong and smart enough to overpower or outmaneuver her opponents even by the smallest amount. Mina Loveberry was no different than Auntie Roon, or Conduit Edwards, or the Loki knock-off, or any of the tens of power hungry crazies she had banished on her own. 

She was the Te Xuan Ze. 

She was the protector of this world from magical threats. 

She was the sword of the magical world.

And she was fine going at it alone.

“June…”

Zak tried to say something, but Juniper had already made up her mind. Pushing her way through the group, a determined look on her face.

“You wanna help?”

She threw her backpack down at their feet. Anything she needed was going to have to be on hand anyway, no time to grab things from her mess of an organization system.

“Watch my stuff. I’ll be back by sundown.”

She wouldn’t, but it was better to be positive.

And with that, the Te Xuan Ze set off on her mission. One hand on her legendary sword and the other clutching a spell book tight, her shadow seemed to grow several times, cascading out behind her.

Leaving her friends in the dark.

---

“...”

“...”

“ ... ”

“ ... ”

“...”

“...So we’re following her, right?”

“Oh, certainly. ”

---

The cave was actually pretty easy to find.

Thanks to her magically enhanced senses, the simplistic illusion surrounding the opening might as well have not been there. Instead of the solid rock face that a particularly adventurous tourist or rafter might have seen, Juniper found a crudely scraped away hole, about ten feet in diameter. Monroe’s description was disturbingly accurate, massive rib bones and monstrous skulls on pikes decorating the outside. The interior was too dark to make out from this distance, so she wasn’t positive that Mina was in her home at the moment…

But she was willing to take her chances.

Carefully, Juniper crept along the rock face, keeping herself as hidden as possible. Straight up invisibility might be useful, but it could also backfire instantly if Mina saw through it. Plus, according to the information she had gotten from Monroe, magic might actually be her biggest hindrance in this battle. Tiring out the traitorous general might be her only option at this point.

How fun.

She was about ten feet from the entrance when the sound of dusty footsteps reached her ears. Juniper froze, trying to calm her breathing as best she could as someone exited the cave. Softly, she chided herself for not at least casting spells to enhance her stealth, invisibility or no.

The person who walked out of the cave was swaddled in many different sheets. What looked like a ripped and tattered comforter, stained with dust to the point that the white fabric had become yellow, was wrapped under an old and ratty woolen blanket. Why anyone would swaddle themselves in so many thick layers in this heat escaped Juniper, but it did an excellent job at obscuring whoever it was standing outside of the cave.

For a moment, the both of them were still. Juniper wasn’t even positive the cloaked figure had noticed her presence. Silently, she raised her sword, pointing it towards the figure, both as a threat and a defensive motion.

The figure didn’t react.

…

…

Cautiously, Juniper took a step forward.

Still no reaction.

…

…

…

She took one more ste-

“ AAAAGGGGHHHH!!! ”

“AH!”

Without warning, the figure turned. Before Juniper could even react, a piercing scream echoed through the night. Caught off guard, she raised her sword, anticipating an attack…

“ AAAAGGGGHHHH!!! ”

“ AAAAGGGGHHHH!!! ”

“ AAAAGGGGHHHH!!! ”

…But it never came.

“ AAAAGGGGHHHH!!! ”

“...Uh-”

“OH! You’re here!”

Just as abruptly as she started screaming, the cloaked figure stopped. Before Juniper could react, the figure closed the distance, her hooded head face to face with hers. It was a feat of speed subtle enough that someone less experienced might have missed, but not Juniper. Not the Te Xuan Ze.

And it unnerved her how easily she got right in her face.

“ Finally . It took you forever to get here!”

Seemingly not noticing, or not caring, about Juniper’s extreme discomfort, the figure leaned closer, the scent of old sheets and dust filling the air.

“C’mon, c’mon! I know this dimension doesn’t have portal travel, but you’ve kept me waiting for far too long.”

Grabbing her hand, Juniper was once again caught off guard with this cloaked figure, her strength on par with her own. Stumbling to keep up, she was quickly dragged into the cave, the cloaked figure animatedly gesturing as they walked.

“Of course I’ve already started preparations. Those schmucks on the council have no clue what they’re doing, but that’s what you get when you put non-Mewmans in charge. At least you humans are smart enough to keep up. Course, not that any of that matters. We’ve got bigger fish to fry, you and me. Oh, it’s so great that you’re finally here!”

The cloaked stranger was speaking far too fast for Juniper to keep up. But by the way she was speaking… internally, it caused her to groan. 

Sometimes, especially with old and crazy, people got ‘confused.’ With their experience of time being massively different than a regular human, as well as their ability to tell humans apart being less than stellar, they’d often mistake her for another one of her Te Xuan Ze ancestors. They’d talk about memories she didn’t experience, or attack her for grudges centuries in the making. And sometimes, the reaction to finding out Juniper was a different person altogether was worse than when they thought she was someone else. It seemed this was one of those situations.

Again, how fun .

“And here we are! Home sweet home away from home!”

The two had entered the cave, a relatively narrow tunnel leading to the main cavity. It was… smaller than Juniper had expected, no bigger than a one bedroom apartment. But what it lacked in size, it made up for in decoration. Monster skeletons of all shapes and sizes littered the floor, arranged in a bizarre facsimile of regular furniture. Atop the rotting bones were trash bags, packed to the point of nearly bursting, resting like throw pillows atop severed spines and shattered skulls. 

The smell alone was enough to make Juniper retch. How any one could live here…

“Make yourself comfortable! I’ll make us some tea.

The stranger let go of her hand, turning to rummage through one of the discarded trash bags in the corner. Now, Juniper cursed. She had let herself get caught off guard, and now was falling this stranger deeper into her home base. Slowly, hand now free, Juniper aligned herself with the tunnel exit, ready to run the instant things went bad. 

The figure, to her credit, didn’t seem to notice. Juniper raised her sword again, this time taking a much more defensive stance. The speed of this person couldn’t be underestimated, there was no room for half hearted stances.

Breathe in. Breathe out. 

…

…ok. 

Here we go.

“...Mina Loveberry?”

“Yes?”

She didn’t even look up, the bedsheets cloaked around her rustling as she dug through the trash bag in front of her.

“You’re Mina Loveberry. No tricks, or anything, right?”

“ Yes. Ugh . Here. ”

With a smooth, casual motion, the figure removed her hood. A pair of ratty, purple twintails fell from the fabric, and Juniper caught her first good look at her face.

It was dirtier and more ragged than the original projection she had seen, but it was undeniably the same face. What once was a well kept and perfectly groomed hairline had grown ratty and tangled, peeking out from beneath a dented military helmet like a bird's nest. Her smooth and round face was covered in dust, dirt, and grime, huge bags under her eyes accentuating how discolored her skin was becoming. And the most significant difference, in Juniper’s mind, was the eyes. In the projection, Mina Loveberry was the picture of a military general. Proud, powerful, a steely look of determination and patriotism in her eyes.

These eyes were manic. Fidgeting. Nearly buzzing with some unknown, manic energy. Maybe it was just the lighting, or maybe Mewman eyes were truly so different from humans, but Juniper could swear she could watch the irises… pulse. The teal color of her eyes glowing brighter and darker periodically.

They were the eyes of a crazy person. 

Juniper should know.

She’d seen enough crazy people with those kinds of eyes.

“ See? It’s me! Mina.”

Seemingly satisfied, the now unhooded Mina turned back to her bag of trash, grumbling as she searched through it.

‘ Honestly … You’d think the Te Xuan Ze would know who she’s hunting.”

Juniper adjusted her stance, pointing her sword outwards and adjusting her feet.

“So you do know who I am.”

“Hmm? Course I do! You’re Juniper Lee! The Te Xuan Ze!”

Her name threw her off, but Juniper was undeterred.

“So you know what happens next.”

That finally seemed to get Mina’s attention. She once again looked up from her trash bag… only to scoff.

“Oh poo. Put that thing down . We can really have a sparring match later if you feel like it, but we’ve got bigger things going on right no-AHA! Found it!”

Triumphantly, Mina pulled out a chipped tea set and half shattered teapot from the trash bag, holding them aloft as if they were fine china. Again, faster than Juniper could react, she was dragged to one of the skeleton-and-trash couches, forced to sit down as Mina began setting up the cracked china.

“There we go, all set up. Now that we’ve got refreshments- oh wait. We need actual refreshments. Silly me, one sec.”

And then, from beneath the skull she had set the teacups on, Mina pulled out a squirming rat. Without flinching, she crushed the poor creature’s skull between her fingers, then poured its chunky remains into the chipped teacups. Juniper barely managed to keep a straight face as she was forcefully given a cup, Mina all too happy with her own ‘refreshment.”

Definitely crazy.

“Mmmh, that’s good. Anyway, on to business.”

With a flick of her wrist, a collection of teal runes and images flickered into life. At this, Juniper felt a bit of confidence. For as physically strong and fast as she was, going by her flickering magic, Mina wasn’t as competent at regular magic as she was. 

At least Juniper hoped.

The images Mina had summoned were of the planes of reality, various discs orbiting other, larger discs. The Mindscape, the Realm of Magic, the Phantom Zone, even the miniature planes like the Cage of the Elementals, all orbiting around the largest disc of them all. 

The Central Plane.

The Earth.

“So obviously, our main target should be this den of monsters up here, but even I know that we can’t start with the biggest fish. We’ll probably have to start small, work our way upwards until we get to the big leagues. So of course, why not take advantage of all your hard work? Obviously, our first target should be…”

A flick of the wrist, and all but two of the discs disappeared. 

The Earth, and the Orchid Veil.

---

If Juniper wasn’t used to the crazy ramblings of her targets, this might have been concerning. Instead, it was all quite… boring. Mina Loveberry continued ranting, images of battle tactics and invasion strategies flickering to life in teal magic. But instead of paying attention, Juniper let her mind wander. Probably not smart, but she knew better than to interrupt someone as headstrong as Mina in the midst of their impassioned speech. Speaking of, she was too wrapped up in her own battle planning to notice Juniper’s slipping gaze.

Which also meant she didn’t notice her china cup disappear.

Didn’t notice the clinking sound of porcelain being crushed between teeth.

Didn’t see the rat carcass she had discarded float into the air, only to then disappear a second later.

Didn’t hear the crunching sound of bones and flesh.

Didn’t see the shadow with nothing casting it on the floor next to her.

But Juniper did.

And she cursed under her breath when she realized what that meant.

Komodo!

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

Komodo was finally starting to get this whole Te Xuan Ze thing.

Sure, the purple haired chick seemed crazy and June had been kinda a jerk about the whole thing. But still. This whole magical protector thing had some serious perks.

Like, he had just gotten to eat a whole rat!

For free!

It had even come with a whole crunchy other shell. If Juniper didn’t eat her share in the next five minutes, it was free picking as far as Komodo was concerned.

But yeah. If your job was to eat delicious food in a great smelling cave surrounded by cool bones and delicious looking trash bags, and the only thing you had to deal with in return was some psycho rambled on and on and on about… whatever , well then, of course Juniper would be so against anyone helping her.

Who would want to share this with anyone!?

---

Komodo, I swear. If you don’t haul your ass out of here in the next five seconds, I’m going to turn you into a new pair of shoes and a purse to match! If there’s enough of you left after Mina gets done with you!

Unfortunately, Juniper hadn’t cast anything that let her speak with her mind. So instead, she was trying to stare daggers as subtly as possible at Komodo, hoping he would get the message. 

He didn’t.

Instead, the shadow he cast got closer to Juniper, passing by the oblivious Mina as she rambled on, seemingly unaware of the danger he was in. With a level of arrogance and cheekiness she had learned to expect from the lizard, she felt a set of pointed fangs curl around the cup in her hand, seemingly trying to take it from her hands without her noticing.

For an invisible monster, Komodo sucked at stealth.

“And that’s where you come in!”

As abruptly as she did everything, Mina suddenly addressed Juniper, turning away from her floating diagrams to stare at her. A grunt of surprise died in her throat as she tried to pay attention to the crazy person in front of her, while fighting against the pull of the crazy lizard by her side. Mina still hadn’t noticed Komodo, as far as Juniper could tell, so he was safe…

For now.

“ Obviously , we can’t go in the normal way. Or I guess we could, but that’s a bit above your paygrade. Instead, we’ll use your connection to the intermedium realms between both the Realm of Magic and the Orchid Veil to turn you into a sorta… express line to get yours truly through the side wall instead of through the front door. The chaos my entrance causes combined with any released prisoners, as well as the- blah blah blah- ”

As soon as Mina turned away again, Juniper tuned her out again. Her bigger issue at the moment was Komodo, who was still stubbornly trying to pry the cup of rat guts from her hand. At this point, with how much her hand was shaking from the impromptu tug of war the two had started, she was wondering if it was smarter to just give Komodo the cup and hope that would be enough to get him to leave.

“-and once my epic duel with Walker finishes, ending centuries of tension and sour looks from that smug jerk- ”

Juniper stifled a yawn.

She had never met Walker, but she had met many who had. Apparently he was her counterpart on the other side, keeping the prisoners she sends there trapped in the veil. The number of loonatics and nutjobs who raved to her about someone she’d never met was pretty annoying, but it at least gave Juniper an idea on Mina’s end goals.

Not that she really cared either way.

“-and then we contact our allies in the elemental realms, using our newly recaptured prison as a base for-”

SNAP

Juniper felt something shatter beneath her fingers, the weight she was holding back finally giving way. In an instant, she knew what had happened. In the corner of her eye, she watched the cup of rat guts disappear into nothing, the sound of crunching porcelain and fleshy smacks filling the suddenly silent cave. 

She fought back the urge to scream. A strangled sigh burst from her nose instead.

Mina froze. She turned her head, eyes suddenly bloodshot and wide. With an eerie level of stillness, she slowly, almost imperceptibly, moved her hands, the magical projections in front of her flickering away. Now in darkness, Komodo’s chewing was all the more noticeable. The lizard didn’t even seem to notice that his presence had been revealed. Juniper wanted to scream.

If Mina didn’t kill him, she would.

“... psst… Te Xuan Ze! ”

Juniper didn’t respond. She was too busy massaging her creased brow.

“ ...Te Xuan Ze! I believe we are no longer alone! …Te Xuan Ze! ”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“... Te Xuan Ze!”

Maybe if she ignored everyone for long enough, they would all disappear.

After what felt of an eternity of faux whispering and oblivious chewing, Juniper finally had enough. Dropping what was left in her hands of the tea cup, she grabbed her sword, stood to full height, and pointed the edge straight at Mina’s throat.

“ Aw finally, Te Xuan Ze. Starting to think you had gone deaf. ”

“ I’m not- COUGH- I’m not deaf, Mina. I just-”

“ SHHH!!! Te Xuan Ze! What if the creature hears you! ”

“He can already hear me, you aren’t actually-”

“ Our plan is TOP SECRET! Who knows who our uninvited guest is working for! ”

“Mina, would you just-”

“ Oh, we’ll have to completely start over! Rework the plan, find a new hiding spot, ooh! This is going to be so much work! ”

“Oh, for the love of- Who CARES?! ”

Juniper finally had enough. Her temper was short on the best of days, and what little patience she had left was quickly worn away by Mina’s constant interrupting.

Juniper hated being interrupted.

“Who CARES about your STUPID PLAN and who hears about it! If he wasn’t such AN OBLIVIOUS IDIOT, he could’ve overheard the entirety of your wacko plan without you even noticing! Besides, you’ve already said everything of value when we FIRST walked into the cave; CONFIRMING your NAME. The rest has been nothing but… but… but BORING NONSENSE. I wasn’t even paying ATTENTION to half of it, and I can already tell it’s nothing but the mindless blabbering of a CRAZY PERSON! So PLEASE. Can you PLEASE be quiet for FIVE MINUTES so that I can properly banish you and be done with this stupid mission!”

“...”

“ ... ”

“...”

The cave was silent besides Juniper’s heavy panting. She still had her sword arm pointed upwards, but her grip was a bit more shaky than she would like. She felt pressure on her foot, and then the feeling of Komodo nuzzling into her side. Seemingly as some kind of apology.

It made her feel a little bit better.

Mina hadn’t moved, and Juniper decided that this would be it. If she was thinking a bit more straight, or maybe if Komodo hadn’t distracted her, she would have tried banishing Mina earlier, when she was distracted. But there’s no time like the present, right? So, with a flick of her fingers, Juniper let her own magic flow.

Strange, chunky, esoteric runes flashed into existence, far stronger than the flickering teal magic Mina had shown. Juniper’s eyes started to glow the same color, the jeweled wristband marking her as the Te Xuan Ze starting to hum with power. A magic circle of pure mana formed beneath Mina’s feet, who was still standing in shock at Juniper’s outburst.

Sighing, Juniper moved her sword in front of her, the blade facing downwards, before plunging it into the dirt. Slowly, she started reciting the magical words that had been ingrained in her skull since her first experience with magic.

“ Invocare Zu Xian! ”

Bright light filled the room as the spell began. Juniper’s runes glowed bright white, practically humming with electricity. The still invisible tail of Komodo wrapped around her ankle.

Mina still didn’t move.

“ Ronak Nori Exciase! ”

The space beneath Mina dipped downwards, a hole in reality forming within Juniper’s glowing ring. Beneath it, the flickering black and white static between dimensions took shape, a green glow shining through from the other side.

Almost there. 

One more incantation, and this whole nightmare would be over.

Maybe it would go well this time.

“ Acuam Latre Tats- ”

“Ok, enough of that. Discombobulus Negatum! ”

As the last syllable of the spell was on the tip of her tongue, Mina finally acted. Eyes glowing teal, she let loose a wave of negative energy, Juniper’s runes suddenly fizzling, flickering, and finally flashing out of existence. The hole between dimensions snapped shut, the natural barrier between worlds acting as fast as it could to repair the damage, and Juniper felt her sword shoot out of the ground. She barely managed to catch it before it flew from her grasp, but it knocked her off balance.

“SHI-”

She was exposed!

But instead of going for her open stomach, Mina instead leaped forwards, like a rabid animal, crashing into the space next to Juniper’s leg. Her blood ran cold as a pained hiss filled the air, Juniper slashing with strangely jagged fingernail into the invisible hide of Komodo.

“Komodo!”

“I get it! It’s this monster that made you say all those hurtful words! If I take care of it, everything will go back to how it’s supposed to! And I’ll score a nifty new nightstand from the proce-”

“NO!”

Kicking off her feet, Juniper whipped around, spinning her legs around in a flying roundhouse kick squarely to Mina’s forehead. She jerked backwards, a hunk of scales and skin stuck between scarily sharp teeth. Komodo, realizing he was made, dropped his invisibility with a panicked hiss. As fast as he could, he scrambled towards the exit. Juniper landed, brandishing her sword threateningly as Mina stumbled to her feet.

“Well, we can’t have that .”

Faster than Juniper could see, Mina rocketed to the side, circling around the entire cave before whooshing to a stop in front of the tunnel leading outside, Komodo scrambling to a stop at her sudden appearance. She pulled back a fist, planning to smash it directly into the poor lizard’s skull, but her strike was redirected by the flat of Juniper’s blade, who had jumped in front of Komodo the minute Mina had disappeared from her vision.

Thank her ancestors for Te Xuan Ze reaction speed.

Mina grunted, fist trembling as she pushed against Juniper’s sword.

“Just let me squash the monster! Then we can move on to the real enemy!”

“ Never! ”

With a heave, Juniper shoved her sword upwards, trying to throw Mina off balance. Instead, the Mewman warrior skidded backwards, keeping her guard up as Juniper charged at her. She tried a horizontal swipe, but Mina just ducked. She followed up with an overhead swing, but Mina sidestepped into her blindside, dodging the blade by a hair. 

Soon it was a flurry of movement, Juniper’s practiced yet frenzied swings whipping through the air as Mina dodged them with controlled ease. Komodo could only watch with a strange sense of awe, the backdraft of two warriors kicking up the dust and debris of the cave they were in. It was only inevitable that eventually, the next strike would land. 

It was very unfortunate that the next strike would be Mina’s

After a particularly forceful overhead strike, Juniper was caught off guard for a second too long. As Mina twisted her body to dodge the blade, she saw an opening as Juniper’s head fell with the force of the strike. Clenching her fist, she threw a punch straight into Juniper’s jaw, sending her tumbling to the ground. Bright stars and spots dotted her vision, but Juniper recovered, scrambling to her feet as Mina advanced.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Komodo fell from the ceiling, crashing onto Mina’s face. With a vindictive hiss, he scratched and bit and clawed into Mina, just like she had done to him moments ago. With a strangled yelp, the Mewman warrior was caught off guard by the onslaught of teeth and fangs.

“ACK- What the-”

“Komodo! Move!”

With cat-like grace, Komodo kicked off of Mina’s face, leaping safely out of harm's way. Mina was still scrambling, knocked off balance again by the sudden lack of weight. Juniper charged forwards, her sword gripped with both hands. With a grunt of effort, she thrust the blade forwards, just as Mina opened her eyes.

SHINK

It was a shallow cut, barely tearing through the rags Mina was wearing. But that was all Juniper needed. As soon as the steel touched skin, some of the runes carved into the blade ignited with orange and red light. Flames ignited with a stunning flash, Mina’s eyes widening as she realized what was happening. 

A miniature explosion went off, Mina’s upper body suddenly coated in thick black smoke. Juniper jumped backwards as the flames died down, the runes on her sword powering down. Komodo gave her a wide eyed stare, which she could only shrug in response to.

“Elemental enchantment. Gives me whatever will work best against a target. Guess Mina doesn’t like fire.”

A shift in the smoke, and Juniper was back in a defensive stance.

“Komodo! When I jump, you run for the exit. I’ll buy you enough time to get out.”

“ HISSS! ”

“That bett er be you agreeing with me! I’m not arguing with a lizard!”

“ HISS! ”

The smoke had finally cleared. Physically, Mina looked no worse for wear. The only signs any damage had been taken was a bit of ash on her already dirty face and a new tear in her already ragged clothes. 

Physically Mina was fine.

But she was pissed .

“ AAAAAAAAGGGHHH !!!”

With the same wild yelling she had done when Juniper had first encountered her, Mina shook violently. She grabbed the rim of her helmet, straining as she let loose a string of curses in a language Juniper couldn’t decipher in the moment. Something about Solaria? A Mewman language maybe?

“ AAAAAAAAGGGHHH !!! That DOES IT! I see now! You’re a monster lover! Just like those fools on the council.”

With venom in her voice, Mina pulled something out from beneath her ragged clothes. It was the hilt of a sword, a rust metal cross guard in the shape of a rectangular bell and a handle wrapped in faded leather. Burned into the cross guard was a lightning bolt, the only part seemingly free from rust and decay.

Immediately recognizing the weapon, Juniper rapidly began changing her stance, switching her sword to one hand as she started conjuring magic into her other.

“I was a fool to think that the infection would be contained to Mewni. If the strongest of us aren’t immune to monster charms, then clearly the weak willed humans wouldn’t fare any better. Aw, and we would have had so much fun together.”

A spark of teal magic, and the lightning bolt of Mina’s Solarian Sword blinked to life. A blade made of raw mana extended outwards, red electricity crackling off of it as Mina raised it menacingly. Sweat poured down Juniper’s back as she tried to recall as many protective spells as she could, adjusting her selection to those that would also help out the cowering Komodo.

“Well FINE! You love monsters so much?”

CLASH

With her inhuman speed, Mina kicked off the ground, closing the distance in a blink of an eye. Juniper was forced to cancel whatever spell she had just been channeling, both hands needed to withstand the pressure she now found herself defending against. From the other side of their crossed blades, Juniper saw Mina’s eyes go white, teal and red sparks jumping off of her skin.

“Then you can DIE like one!”

---

“I don’t like it. He’s been in there too long.”

“Trust in Komodo, Monroe. I know he seems unreliable-”

“ He is unreliable. ”

“Wha- But not when it counts . Right, Fisk?”

“ Nah. Pretty unreliable, pretty much all the time. ”

The trio were staring at the hole they had watched Juniper and the cloaked figure sneak down from behind some rocks a few meters away, right at the edge of the river. Fisk complained about his fur getting wet, but Monroe claimed it was the best vantage point that put them in the least amount of danger. Zon was somewhere high above, circling and keeping a lookout for any tourists out too late. 

After much debate and a lot of protest, the group had decided to go with Zak’s original suggestion of sending in Komodo to help Juniper. They three had watched the lizard's shadow and footsteps in the gravel and sand disappear, left to wait for… something.

In the back of Zak’s mind, he rationalized that they should have given Komodo a bit more direction than just follow Juniper. But it was too late for that right now.

All they could do was wait.

“I’m telling ya, talk rarely works when it comes to the Te Xuan Ze. They never work in my experience. Trust me, sooner or later, one of the two of them will come flying out of that tunnel, and we’ll be cowering behind these rocks!”

“You’re the one who said these were the best hiding spots!”

“Point is, we shouldn’t just be sitting here, twiddling our thumbs!”

“You don’t even have thumbs!”

“Oh, for pity’s sake!”

THWANG

The sound of metal hitting something hard echoed through the area. Monroe tensed, his attention suddenly stolen from his argument with Zak and focused back at the matter at hand.

“Told ya.”

“...Right. So…”

Zak turned to look at Fisk, who only shrugged in response.

“...What do we do?”

The pale gold color that Zak had since learned was the color of Monroe’s magic suddenly flickered to life. Snarling like a wild dog, he slowly left the ‘safety’ of the rocky outcropping, bearing his teeth and moving closer to the opening in the side of the cliff.

“ We get ready to fight .”

His voice was more guttural, deeper in tone. It took Zak a second to realize that he had dispelled whatever he had used to talk to June, his voice only understandable thanks to the powers of Kur. 

Zak turned to look at Fisk again, who once again shrugged before getting to his feet and dusting off his thighs.

“ When in Rome, right? ”

He too started to close in on the tunnel, stretching to his full height, an intimidating 10 foot tall stature. He took a wide stance, ready to intercept anything that came flying out.

The sounds of conflict hadn’t slowed down, as far as Zak could tell, the sounds of swords clanging and- was that an explosion? - echoing out as Monroe and Fisk got closer. For  a moment, doubt overwhelmed the poor 16 year old.

What am I DOING? I’m about to jump into a battle between two EXTREMELY POWERFUL magic users, one who apparently HATES monsters, and the other one who doesn't really like me right now. Not to mention, what am I going to do about it? I don’t have magic, I’m not a giant gorilla cat, I can’t even fly! What am I going to do against- against- I don’t know, whatever Mina Loveberry is! 

Who the hell do I think I am?

… 

An image came to Zak’s mind. 

Sunlight streaming through glass windows. Jungle plants bursting through pots. Vines running wild over the walls.

Him. His mom. His dad.

The three of them, engaging in one of those early morning meditation sessions. Fisk, lounging bored in the background. Komodo, snoring in his brother’s lap. Zon out on a flight, occasionally passing by the windows.

A sense of peace fell over Zak, the doubts flowing from his mind.

And then, a new image.

Juniper, throwing him off of the back of a charging Ozark Howler.

Juniper, fighting with Komodo over a few stray hotdogs.

Juniper, regaling him with stories of her past victories.

Juniper, and the early morning sun.

The same Juniper currently fighting for her life against whatever a Mina Loveberry was.

Zak knew exactly who he was.

He was Juniper’s friend.

He stood besides Fisk, who shot him a strange look as he clutched the bird claw strung around his neck. Taking a deep breath, he tried his best to replicate one of the stances his mom had shown him when she agreed to teach him some martial arts, putting one arm and leg in front while twisting his body to the side. Not the fanciest, but it was something.

“ You sure? Me and the mutt could probably handle this, you could stand watch with sis instead. ”

“ Hey! ”

Zak just smirked.

“What, trying to hog all the glory for yourself? Besides, I got opposable thumbs! I’m bound to be better backup than fido over there.” 

“ HEY ”

Fisk snorted in amusement.

“ True, he does seem pretty useless in a fight… ”

“ I can HEAR you, you- ”

An explosion interrupted whatever Monroe was about to say, a spray of stones and dust shooting out of the tunnel entrance. Zak was quick to cover his face, which let him catch a glimpse of the other object flying out of the tunnel. 

A body.

“Juniper!”

With a splash, June was thrown into the shallow edge of the river, skipping to a halt a few feet off shore. Zak bolted to her side, Fisk and Monroe still recovering from the sudden burst of dust and smoke. As he reached down to check on her, he was almost smacked in the face as Juniper bolted upwards, eyes darting as she was looking for something.

They stopped and widened in surprise when they landed on Zak’s face.

“Zak?”

“Yes! Hi! Right, you didn’t want us here- Doesn’t matter we’re here! …Did you happen to see-”

“ KOMODO! ”

At Fisk's cry, Zak whipped around in time to see his youngest brother fly out of the cave in a similar manner to Juniper. Except this time, Fisk was ready. Diving forwards, he caught the squirming reptile like a wide receiver, skidding through the dust as Komodo scrambled with all his might. He looked just as panicked as June, even more so with the weird scratch marks lining his stomach and sides.

“ Bad lady! Bad lady! VERY! BAD! LADY! ”

The smoke finally cleared, and Zak saw the ‘bad lady’ Komodo seemed to be referring to. A feral looking woman, covered in dirt and grime and carrying a fucking lightning sword walked calmly out of the tunnel, eyes widening at the presence of so many more people. With a click of her teeth, she brandished her sword threateningly.

“More of ya? Fine by me. I have plenty of magic to go around!”

Leaping off the ground with frightening speed, Mina was suddenly 20 feet in the air. With a manic glee, an aura of red magic started emanating off of her, sparks of teal and red flashing like lightning.

“You want a piece of me?”

The magic seemed to grow even brighter and more chaotic, the pupils in Mina’s eyes disappearing completely.

“ URSA! APRUM! AQUILAE! NIKE SOLARIA TRIUMPHUM! ”

Her body seemed to shudder, then it began to grow. Grotesque muscles bulged off her once skinny body, her body mass swelling several times in a matter of seconds. Soon, Mina had a body that would put most bodybuilders to shame, veiny muscles flexing with her every movement. Her sword seemed to match her transformation, growing larger and wider in Mina’s now enlarged grasp.

Zak had to choke down the vomit rising in his throat at the sight of Mina’s transformation.

He kinda wishes he had chosen to play lookout with Zon.

“ THERE’S PLENTY OF ME TO GO AROUND! ”

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Mina Loveberry had been a corn farmer, once upon a time.

Corn, for whatever reason, grew like wildfire in the Legerdomain. When the first settlers discovered this, thousands of years before, it became one of the only easily accessible sources of food for Mewmans for the centuries to come. That was still true at the time Mina was a teenager, farms and fields of the stuff stretching as far as the eye could see.

She had been born to a poor family, frontier villagers at the edge of the conquered world. Life had been harsh, crops difficult, and monster attacks frequent. She had lost friends, family, even her own parents, to the relentless onslaught of magical creatures and abominations that refused to leave her little village be. In all likelihood, she would suffer the same fate, some kind of wild beast breaking through the fences and tearing her to shreds.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead, the queen had come. 

She had single handedly vanquished the monsters in the surrounding woods, cutting them down when they encroached too closely on the fields. She cut out the eyes of a spider the size of a mountain, cleaving a new path for trade and commerce for the little village with the rest of the kingdom. She brought scholars, magical adepts, who helped train the villagers in the wonders of magic. And Mina’s village wasn’t the only one saved. The queen repeated this miracle again and again, pushing back the monsters and expanding the reign of the Mewmans further than it had ever been.

All while caring for her infant daughter.

It was no wonder, then, that when the queen called for volunteers, for souls willing to become warriors worthy of her majesty’s greatness, that Mina was the first in line. The first to raise her fist in salute, the first to swear herself to the betterment of Mewman kind.

The first to undergo the early experiments with Solarian magic.

The first to survive the process.

It is also no wonder, with her enhanced abilities, that Mina Loveberry would become one of the most respected generals of the Mewman army.

No wonder that even to the modern day, hundreds of years later, she would continue to serve the nation her queen had built.

No wonder that, when the non-Mewmans infected the council and her precious queen’s descendants, she would be the first to strike back.

For she was Mina Loveberry.

The greatest monster slayer the kingdom of Mewni had ever seen.

---

“ MOVE! ”

Grabbing the back of his head, Juniper slammed Zak down into the river, barely pushing him out of the way of Mina’s sudden attack. Before he could get back to his feet, she was already charging forwards, pink energy pouring out of her eyes.

“ Meus Manus Manus! ”

Out of the cave, cleaving through the remaining dust, Juniper’s sword shot into her outstretched hand as she ran towards Mina. Without even looking, the enhanced Mewman warrior blocked the initial strike with her blade of crackling energy, yawning as she dusted herself off. She then blocked the next, and the next, and the next , all without even looking Juniper in the eyes.

It pissed her off.

“C’mon, Mina , I thought you were some kind of general! You can do more than block, right?”

Mina just scoffed.

“ Sure. Try THIS on for size. ”

Size was right. Instead of blocking, she dodged out of Juniper’s next strike, lifting her sword upwards. With the sound of crackling lightning, the blade of the weapon doubled in width and tripled in length, becoming the size of a surfboard in the blink of an eye. Juniper’s eyes widened, quickly backpedaling as Mina twirled the weapon menacingly.

“ That’s RIGHT, Te Xuan Ze! You might be the strongest of your kind, but you are NOTHING compared to me! ”

With that, she swung downwards, and Juniper felt her teeth rattle. The river around her split in half, the blade of Mina’s sword cracking the earth where it struck. Juniper barely managed to dodge the tip of the blade, but the impact was enough to send her skidding backwards on her feet.

Right next to a sputtering Zak.

“WHAT the HELL EVEN IS-”

“What are you still DOING here?”

Staring at him through the corner of her eye, Juniper was trying not to let her attention split between the defenseless Zak and the slowly oncoming threat of Mina. At the very least he was backing away, but she would’ve felt much better if he dropped everything and ran. Let her focus on one thing at a time.

“I’m trying to- oohthat’sabigsword -trying to help! Not sure how, but I-”

“RUN! Don’t let her kill you! That’s how you can help!”

“I-”

“ Are you done? ”

Somehow faster than before, Mina sped forwards, Juniper backpedaling again before she even knew what was happening. A blade of energy cleaved down, and she realized she could either block or dodge. Except, if the strength shown before was any indication, both would send her flying at the very least. That left her the back up option.

“ Presidium! ”

A dome of pink energy flashed into existence, Mina’s blade striking the surface with earth shattering power. Instantly, massive spider web cracks broke throughout the dome, the hastily summoned construct barely holding together. But it was holding. That gave Juniper a second to think, a second to figure out how to protect Zak and tire out Mina without anyone losing an eye.

“ Bemoo Bemoo, Benabesuh! ”

BARK!

Apparently, it was also a second for Monroe and Fisk to act.

Like a piece of living darkness, Fisk’s lanky frame appeared behind Mina without anyone noticing. Clutching his fists together, he delivered an overhead hammer fist down directly into Mina’s side. From the recoil, it would have been a strike that would’ve sent Juniper flying.

Mina barely flinched.

But the strike caused her to turn her hand, made her pull some pressure off of Juniper’s dome. That was where Monroe came in.

“ Gir Igi-Nu! ”

With the universal speech of magic, pale gold light punctuating those magical words, Monroe slammed his head directly into Mina’s face. While it should’ve done much less than Fisk’s strike, a flash of bright light suddenly ricocheted through Mina’s body. Eyes going wide, she barely had the time to grunt before she was thrown backwards, the force of repelling magic too strong even for the Solarian warrior.

WOOF!

“What?”

“Hey, I’m not going anywhere!”

“ Zejebah, Mana Blajabanama! Keyje Mana Nasubo! ”

“Fisk, I-”

Juniper couldn’t waste any more time. 

“Sorry, Zak.”

Grabbing the cuff of his neck, she spun him around, arms aiming for the top of the rockface.

“ Zephyrius Expectorium! ”

“Wa aaaaiiiiiii- ”

A sudden gust of wind kicked up around the group, grabbing Zak in particular as he flew backwards. He shot upwards and into the distance, out of harm's way and not in the middle of a fight. Turning, Juniper eyed Fisk and Monroe, already figuring the same trick wouldn’t work on them.

“...I’m guessing there’s no way to get you guys to leave?”

“ Banamoo. ”

BARK!

Juniper sighed.

“That’s what I thought.”

The sound of whipping wind reached all of their ears at the same time. Turning, Juniper raised her hand, the fractured remains of her Presidium dome flashing with new strength and sealing back into place. Just in time, Mina swung her sword down, gritting her teeth in annoyance at Juniper’s renewed focus.

“ Grrh - Stupid MONSTER LOVER! ”

Fisk cracked his knuckles.

Monroe bared his teeth. 

Juniper brandished her sword.

“Yeah yeah. Let’s just get this over with, OK?”

---

“ Oof- ”

Zak landed hard, crashing clumsily into the ground atop the cliff overlooking the battle. The magically conjured wind whipping in his ears died down, the dust it blew in his face settling back down. As quick as he could, Zak rocketed to his feet, trying to catch a view of the ensuing battle.

It didn’t look much better from the top of the cliff than it did at the bottom.

Mina’s muscled form was like an out of control truck, smashing straight ahead towards his friends and family with reckless abandon, sending them scattering with each step. Flashes of Juniper’s and Monroe’s magic lit up the battlefield, pink constructs and golden flashes doing little to slow Mina down. Zak couldn’t see Fisk thanks to his camouflage, but by the way Juniper would dive forwards with a shield or Mina would turn her head in reaction to something, he could only assume he was in the mix too. Just like he should be.

“Shit! I need to-”

“ ZAK! ”

Swooping down, Zon nearly crash landed into Zak as she tried to see if he was ok. The two went tumbling over, again, the giant pterosaur poking Zak all over with her giant beak.

“Wh-Zon! I’m ok! I’m fine, get off! We need to help the others!”

“ NO! Bad lady! ”

A hissing voice appeared next to Zak, and Komodo revealed himself. Dusty from his climb up the cliff, he too started to pile on top of Zak with his younger sister.

“Komodo! What are you-”

“ Bad lady! Stay away from the bad lady! She bites really hard! ”

“ ZAK! ARE YOU BIT? SHOULD I GET THE GOOD FISH? SHOULD I GIVE KOMODO THE GOOD FISH? ”

“ Yes. ”

“Hey! I’m fine Zon!”

“ NO! No one is fine! The bad lady is down there! We need to go away from bad lady! ”

“Komodo…”

“ ...she bites REALLY hard… ”

Zak paused, finally taking a good look at his younger brother as Zon stopped trying to push him down.

Komodo wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was brave. He would walk head first into the mouth of some of the scariest and biggest monsters out there if his stomach told him too. But right now, he was shaking. As brave as he was, Komodo’s abilities were meant to keep him hidden. He wasn’t built for combat in the same way Fisk was, and he had just been thrown headfirst into the action packed world of the Te Xuan Ze. The Saturdays didn’t really do fighting. They either ran or relied on Zak to get them out of trouble. And now, facing serious action headfirst, Komodo wasn’t really sure what to do.

“Aw… bro… Come here.”

Wrapping his arms around his neck, Zak pulled Komodo into a hug, squeezing him tight. Komodo’s breathing, which had unknowingly become more ragged and panicked, slowed. A pair of wing membranes wrapped themselves around both, Zon cooing sympathetically as she nuzzled her older brothers. 

They sat like that for a few moments, taking in each other's warmth in the cooling night.

The sound of a wounded scream snapped them back to reality.

Racing to the edge of the cliff, the trio looked over to see a flash of golden light as Monroe went flying backwards, Mina cackling gleefully at the sight. A shadow fell over her head, and Fisk started laying punch after punch straight to her skull. Even from a distance, Zak could tell it only annoyed the jacked up warrior. 

“Shit! Monroe!”

A weak pink light around where Monroe had landed let Zak know that Juniper was tending to him, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. Based on how Mina effortlessly shrugged off everything they threw at her, it was only a matter of time before the situation got worse.

Much worse.

“We need to get down there!”

“ NO! Bad lady too strong! ”

“But we can’t do nothing!”

“ We fly? ”

“Zon, that’s not-”

The cliff shook, the impact from one of Mina’s attacks shaking the dust off the edge.

It reminded Zak of something.

A thought struck him like lightning. From the continued rumbling in his ears, now accompanied with the smell of ozone, maybe that was a sign of where the idea came from.

“Zon! How well do you remember the path we took here?”

“ UM! Not good! Bad at night time! ”

“Can you remember anything? Like the direction of where we came from?”

Zon turned to look behind her, the lights of Flagstaff in the distance.

“... Yes? Maybe? ”

“Ok… Ok!”

Zak’s thoughts scrambled, racing furiously. It was a gamble. A huge gamble. One that was likely to not pay off, lead to nothing, while leaving Juniper and others alone against Mina.

But it was something . The something that Zak had been looking for.

“I think I have an idea. But we’ll need to hurry!”

Another pained yelp, spurring Zak into action even quicker.

“ Ok! Hop on! ”

---

Monroe flew through the air, though his landing this time was more graceful than the last. Juniper barely spared him a glance, before charging forwards. Sword gripped tightly, a magenta glow started streaking from her eyes as her next spell took effect.

“ Facio Gravis! ”

With a shout, Juniper leaped into the air. Beneath her, Mina turned her head away from Fisk, his lanky form backing away from the warping air. With a grunt, the Solarian warrior suddenly fell to her knees, magical gravity pushing her into the sand of the river. From above, Juniper swung her sword overhead, letting the boosted gravity bring her down even faster.

“ GRR- Nope! ”

In a feat of pure muscular strength, Mina twisted her whole body, lifting her giant sword and swinging it to intercept Juniper’s strike. With a clash of sparks, Juniper was forced backwards, the force from their impact causing waves in the water around them. 

But Juniper’s eyes were still glowing pink. Her spell was still in effect.

“ Meton Pondus! ”

Quickly capitalizing on something finally working, Monroe followed up with a spell of his own. Along with the gravity holding her down, Mina started to glow a pale yellow as she was forced even further down, her hands splashing into the riverbed below. Her sword sizzled as it hit the water, the blade of energy crackling as it sank.

“ Ma-Mahje! Nadah Nasuna! ”

Fisk cheered from behind Mina, waving at Juniper and Monroe, who were both furrowing their brows and gritting their teeth in concentration. Unfortunately, he caught the attention of someone else instead.

Mina turned her head again, glaring at Fisk with her crackling, multicolored eyes.

“ Shut it, Monster! I’ll deal with you first! ”

With another grunt, Mina once again twisted her body, this time facing Fisk. She flexed her muscles, the twin colored aura surrounding her body starting to glow brighter and brighter. Monroe let out a pained bark as his spell slowly started to peel off of Mina. 

“Shit! Fisk, move!”

Juniper let out a shout, but it was already too late. Even with his stealthy skills, there was nowhere for Fisk to hide, especially with Mina’s focus on him. With a shattering sound, Monroe tumbled backwards as his spell was forcibly broken by Mina’s Solarian blood. With a few pounding steps, she surged forwards.

“Shi- Presidium! ”

As fast as she could, Juniper dropped the gravity spell she had been concentrating, instead summoning another dome. In the nick of time, pink energy flashed in between Mina and Fisk, her outstretched hands missing his neck by inches.

That wasn’t the end of the attack, however. With an annoyed grunt, Mina pulled her fists backwards and slammed into the dome, a shockwave of force cascading off of it when she did. It wasn’t as powerful as when she attacked with her sword… but the difference wasn’t that noticeable. Cracks still formed in the glowing shield with every hit.

Having no time to spare, Juniper split her attention between maintaining the shield and dashing forwards, sword at the ready. As Mina reared up for another attack, Juniper dived forwards, landing right underneath Mina. With a practiced twist, her sword arced upwards, the blade slashing across Mina’s muscular chest. Like before, a set of runes across her sword flashed a bright orange, a small explosion of smoke and embers coating Mina’s upper body. 

“Fisk, move! Monroe!”

BARK!

“Fire! Hit her with fire!”

At her shout, Fisk backed away, out of sight after moving only a few feet. The pink dome of Presidium flashed out of existence, the runes on Juniper’s sword glowing brighter now having more mana to spare. Before Mina could react, Juniper leaped upwards, two spinning slashes capitalizing on the opening, covering Mina in even more smoke.

“ Meena Goh! ”

Striking her in the back, a ray of pale flames burned its way across the river. Grunting Mina tried to spin, putting out a hand to try and halt the bright light from hitting her through the veil of smoke.

Taking a breath, Juniper adjusted her stance. Her feet dragged through the sand and mud of the riverbed, finding a more solid point to stand. Her grip tightened.

Juniper glared up at Mina, aiming her sword for her exposed neck. 

With a snort, she thrust, a burning sword streaking through the air right at Mina’s weak point. 

Even with the roaring flames around her, Juniper could hear the crisp sound of sharpened metal slice through the air.

But it seemed, even with the ray of fire and cloud of smoke bombarding her, the Mewman warrior still wasn’t done.

Snarling, Mina lowered her hand, letting Monroe’s pale flames burn the side of her face. Her skin sizzled, but she didn’t seem to care, instead focusing her gaze on Juniper’s sword. With lightning fast hands, she smashed her palms together, catching the blade less than an inch away from her neck. With a resounding clap, the smoke surrounding her head was cleared, revealing her snarling face.

The sudden halt of momentum knocked Juniper off her feet, which Mina capitalized on by delivering a painful and powerful kick right to her sternum. She went flying, the air being knocked out of her and her sword ripped from her hands thanks to Mina’s iron grip.

“Shit!”

The pale light of Monroe’s flames faded, his mana likely drained from such a long, sustained blast. Mina’s face was smoking, one of her ponytails sizzled into a much shorter stump and the surface layers of her neck and head sizzled like bacon. But instead of looking bothered, she just looked annoyed. With a flick of her head, the burned skin flaked off, the skin underneath seeming no worse for wear. 

She adjusted her hands, holding Juniper’s sword away from her with a disgusted look.

“ Elemental magic… Disgusting! Who would ever rely on those primeval fools. ”

Her gaze turned to Juniper, who gasped for breath as she got to her feet. Her look of disgust only grew.

“ I’m disappointed, Te Xuan Ze. ”

Juniper sputtered, pulling herself out of the water and she spit out sand and dirt. Mina just snarled, staring at her with contempt.

“ You were supposed to be the best of your kind. The best of the Te Xuan Ze. No one has had a track record like yours. No one has beaten so many monsters like you have. I thought I had found a kindred spirit. Instead… ”

She gestured towards Fisk and Monroe, who regrouped to either side of Juniper.

“ Pathetic. We could have done amazing things together, you and me. Maybe become something like allies. Buddies! Friends . ”

“Even I’m not that lonely, Sailor Moron. Who would want to be friends with you?”

Juniper’s ankle felt kinda funny, but she shrugged it off as Mina continued her speech.

“ Lots of people! You would know that if you were anyone actually important . But clearly , you’re too far gone. Guess that’s my fault for getting my hopes up. ”

With a twisted grin, Mina clutched the hilt of Juniper’s sword in one hand and the blade in the other. Her grip tight, the metal started screeching as she slowly brought her hands down, the runes flashing in a cascade of panicked colors.

Juniper groaned.

“ Guess you're just as much of a disappointment as the rest of your lineage. ”

In a single motion, she pulled her hands down. 

With a sickening crack, Juniper’s sword was split in half.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

In a flash of magenta light, the sound of splitting metal echoed throughout the canyon. A second later, the sounds of wailing spirits filled the air.

Green, blue, orange, and pink wisps, reflections of the magical power Juniper poured into her sword when she last fixed it, dissipated onto the wind as it broke in two. Their screams echoed into the night sky, gone as soon as they had arrived.

Mina smiled with fake concern, casually tossing the two pieces of metal into the river as if they were trash. Its magic gleam disappeared as it sank. 

“ Oops! Was that important? ”

Her face was filled with malice and scorn, her voice filled with a goading sort of laughter.

“Meh.”

To the surprise of everyone, it was met with a thoroughly unimpressed voice.

As Mina sputtered from the casual answer, Juniper just shrugged.

“You think this is the first time that sword has been broken? It’s been broken hundreds of times, even before I got it. I’ve got how to fix it down to a science at this point.”

Juniper tossed her hair off her shoulder, shaking off some of the river water.

“I’ll just put it back together after you're rotting in the Orchid Veil.”

Mina snorted, surprised. Juniper ignored her, stretching her aching leg instead.

“Speaking of, let's get back to that, ok? I’m tired, and I really don’t want to drag this out any further.”

All she did was stretch her back. 

Rolled her shoulder, grimacing as her muscles stretched.

Altogether, it was a very casual move from Juniper.

But the air around her shifted . 

Even though Mina had been dominating the battle thus far, Juniper’s casual attitude seemed to wipe all the smug pride from her face in an instant. The Te Xuan Ze suddenly became calmer, more in control, so dramatically it might’ve sent someone else's mind spinning. 

She was so sure of her victory, so confident , it seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

It pissed Mina off.

Just like Juniper knew it would.

It was a tactic Juniper had honed throughout her run as the Te Xuan Ze. Not magic, but a mind trick that went a long way against the right foe. As simple as it was stupid.

As long as you act like you’re gonna win, then it usually makes it easier to win .

…

That was it.

That was the whole trick.

And usually, it sealed her victory. That was all there was to it. Just act like you're going to win.

Or at least, make your opponent think you’re going to win.

Even if Juniper thought otherwise.

BARK!

Monroe growled with his flabby canine face, preparing for battle. Fisk walked backwards, disappearing into the night.

Mina snarled.

“ Fine. ”

---

“I’m making a big one. Keep her off of me!”

“ GOT IT! ”

Monroe charged forwards, shouting in response. 

Or at least, barking in response. 

Communicating vocally was annoyingly difficult, but there wasn’t mana to waste in the heat of battle. He could chew out Zak for not making him a speaking charm later.

Assuming he’s done with the whole “I can’t do magic” shtick.

“ FISK! Back me up! ”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow nod, rushing forwards past him and towards the towering Mina.

“ Eat THIS! Annexus Ignis Iris! ”

Barking out a spell, Monroe conjured a number of glimmering lights around him as he ran. Pink, yellow, green, red, purple, blue, the magically conjured orbs twinkled in every color of the rainbow. For a second, they sizzled in place, like stars torn from the sky, or fireworks frozen in space.

Then they rocketed forwards at blinding speeds.

Before Mina could blink, multicolored flames bombarded her like bullets from a machine gun. They explode into dazzling fireworks on impact, multicolored flames lighting up the night. The sound of firecrackers rattled through the air, smoke and light dancing off of Mina’s body.

She was, of course, unharmed.

From the shadow of the smoke surrounding her, Fisk leaped out with his hands clasped together. The battle so far proved that the cryptid wasn’t strong enough to actually harm Mina, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t distracting. With enough strength that could crumple a car door, Fisk slammed into Mina’s chin from below. 

Like all the times before, it barely made her flinch.

“ Shit, invulnerability is getting old! ”

“ Quit your yapping , MUTT! ”

With a twist of her body, Fisk was flung over Mina’s shoulder, sending him skidding across the river. She charged Monroe, a fist the size of his body smashing towards him at breakneck speeds.

“ Presidium ! ”

A dome of pale gold light flickered into existence in between Mina and Monroe, though only for a second. Gritting his teeth, Monroe was sent flying backwards from the force of his shield shattering. It was a testament to her strength that Mina’s punch was still strong enough to send him flying even after being blocked.

“ Get dunked on! ”

Fisk leaped back into the fray, grabbing Mina’s face from behind with his giant, ape-like hands. Yanking hard, Mina reared backwards as he pulled at her cheeks, distorting her face into a forced grin. It would be funny in any other circumstances.

Not when Fisk was about to be pulverized.

“ For pity’s sake! Fisk! You’re gonna get yourself killed! ”

“ We ALL are if we don’t buy June enough time! ”

“ Oh-FINE! ”

It was a gamble, but honestly, Monroe couldn’t think of any other option.

He hoped that whatever Juniper was doing, it would end the fight.

Cause he wouldn’t be any help after this.

“ Magnus Vox! ”

At his mighty shout, Monroe felt most of the remaining mana he had left drain from his body. It streamed out of his body in wisps of glittering, golden smoke, taking shape in an avatar above him. A giant, golden lion-dog made of light formed, bearing its saber teeth before roaring.

GRRROOOOOOAAARRR!!!

Bounding off of Monroe’s limping body, the golden lion charged forwards. It leapt, claws out… and sailed right over Mina. Instead, it slammed into the body of Fisk, who was sent tumbling off of the Solarian warrior’s back in shock.

“ OOF- WHAT THE- ”

As he fell into the river below, Fisk’s body started to fill with golden light. Like a more pleasant version of Mina’s own transformation, the lanky cryptid was covered with magical power, his the same pale gold as Monroe's magic. Mina whipped her head around to watch him get to his feet, hands clenching into a fist as he smiled.

“ I feel… AWESOME!!! ”

With almost the same amount of speed Mina had shown off before, Fisk bolted forwards, fist drawn back. With an audible CRACK , his hand rocketed forwards, slamming into Mina’s cheek. A shockwave emanated out from the hit, the water around them being blown back from the strike. A shower of golden sparks sprayed off from the impact, like metal scraping against metal.

For once, Mina did more than flinch.

Stumbling, she fell to one of her knees. With a dazed look in her eyes, she held her cheek with shocked surprise.

“ That… hurt?”

Before she could process what happened, Fisk dove forwards, shooting his own knee upwards as hard as he could. It cracked into Mina’s chin, the painful sound of bone hitting bone once again echoing across the river. Forced off her knee, Mina was left in an unstable standing position from Fisk’s powerful attack.

And he still wasn’t done.

As she recoiled upwards, Fisk used her upturned body to duck beneath her, grabbing her into a chokehold as he grinned maliciously. He may have lost to her in the muscle department, but his lanky frame and long reaching limbs let him reach all the way around her with ease, cradling her on his back like a mother carrying an infant.

Of course, this hold was nothing so caring or careful.

“ Like… I… said … ”

With shaking legs, Fisk rose to his full height, Mina finally starting to come to her senses from her sudden jolt of pain.

“ GET DUNKED ON! ”

A grunt of effort escaping his lips, Fisk shot off the ground, the momentum carrying Mina with him. With masterful technique, Mina’s massive body went flying over his shoulder, smashing back down into the river below with a heavy CRASH!

Water splashed from the impact, the riverbed slightly revealed around Mina’s limp body.

She looked thoroughly dazed.

Monroe let a small amount of tension leave his body.

Magnus Vox was a spell meant to share mana. It has a variety of purposes, but it basically always used the caster as a battery to power something else. In this case, that meant using all of Monroe’s mana to charge up Fisk, so that he would be strong enough to actually hurt Mina. It was a pretty good plan, all things considered…

Except for the fact that it meant Monroe was completely drained of mana, and thus out of the fight.

And for the fact that Fisk had no idea how to use the extra mana aside from releasing it in his punches.

And the fact that the gifted mana was drained with every second that passed.

And-

Fisk was gasping with effort as he backed away, wiping river water off his matted fur. Turning his head, his expression was half exhilarated, half annoyed.

“ WHY didn’t you do this from the beginning! I’m wiping the floor with her! ”

Monroe’s eyes widened, the tension shooting through him just as quickly as it had left.

“ Y-You idiot! Don’t take your eyes off- ”

Silently, almost imperceptibly so, a massive, familiar fist raised out of the water from behind Fisk. It grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, choking him with the force of its pull. 

Fisk’s body went flying upwards…

 Before smashing down into the river below, head first.

Hard.

With a sickening crunch, Fisk’s body went rigid, and then limp. Monroe cringed, before charging forwards as best he could.

His spell filled Fisk with enough mana to help him deal some damage, but it did nothing to boost his actual defenses. Any hit from Mina was just as bad as it was before his power boost. So Monroe needed to help him now , before things got worse.

Speaking of the Solarian warrior, she rose, Fisk still clutched in her hands. Water was dripping from her forehead, a single drop of blood leaking out of her nose. 

“ Nice throw. ”

Rising to her full height, Monroe could only cower as Fisk was pulled from the water. Already, he was bleeding from a wound in his forehead, his fur matted now with water and blood. His face looked squished, one of his eyelids starting to turn an ugly brown.

A single slam from Mina was enough to double all the damage she had taken from the entire fight.

Worst of all, her face was no longer filled with manic glee or crazed curiosity.

It was just angry.

Mina raised Fisk into the air.

“ My turn . ”

“NO!”

Throughout the course of this short exchange, both participants had forgotten about the fourth member of the battle.

Shocked, Monroe and Mina turned at the sound of a voice.

Behind them both, Juniper was holding the sun above her head.

“ MY TURN!”

---

“ Are you sure we should have left Komodo behind? ”

“He’ll be fine! And you can’t carry both of us! We need to hurry!”

Zak yelled over the wind rushing by his face, eyes squinting as he scanned the desert below him.

He was looking for- well, looking wasn’t the right word. If he tried the hard way, dragging his way through the desert and trying to spot anything from this height with his normal, human eyes, he’d be here all week. He wasn’t even sure he’d find it the end! The area he had to search spanned miles , over state borders and beyond. It truly was insane to think he could find what he was looking for in time.

And yet…

There was a rumbling in his ears, a rush of wind that didn’t come from the fact he was on the back of a pterosaur. It was deeper, more powerful. Zak snapped his head to the size, eyes widening as the rumbling grew louder.

“Zon! Turn left!”

He felt the surprisingly powerful muscles of his youngest sibling clench, her powerful wings catching the wind and turning her body in the direction Zak directed her. The rumbling grew louder, cracks of lightning and thunder sounding in the distance.

Alright Kur. You could at least do this ONE thing for me.

“Zon! Lower!”

The wind around him picked up as Zon descended, skirting just above the ground by a hair’s width. It was an impressive feat of flight control, but it wasn’t what the eldest Saturday was focused on.

“C’mon, c’mon… where are you…”

“ Where’s who? Who are we looking for?"

Before he could answer, another thundering crash hit Zak’s ears. He jerked backwards, wincing, the sudden movement almost knocking them both to the ground.

But it wasn’t the only rumbling he heard.

Beneath them, the ground suddenly started to shake. Dust and pebbles started launching themselves off the ground, Zon forcing herself higher up to prevent crashing. And as she did, Zak felt a message appear in his head.

It wasn’t in any language any human spoke. 

But it was the exact same kind of language his siblings spoke.

“ YOU CALLED? ”

And the ground exploded around them.

---

“MOVE!”

With an impressive feat of endurance and agility, Monroe leapt from where he was standing, crashing right into Fisk’s limp body. The pair went tumbling, right out of Mina’s grasp.

And just far enough out of the way.

“ KATA JAQ ZON! ”

A massive sphere, larger than even Mina in diameter, roiled in flame above Juniper’s head. It crackled with magical power, fire of all different colors dancing across the surface, boiling with strength and intense heat. It looked almost angry, like a living star struggling to break free.

With an incantation and a heave, Juniper threw the sphere with all her might. It shot from her outstretched hands with shocking speeds, a trail of stardust and embers left in its wake.

From a distance, Juniper imagined, it probably would have looked beautiful. The spell produced so much light it was blinding, like the sun had peaked above the horizon several hours early. It probably looked like a shooting star made of rainbows, colors, light, and heat condensed into a beautiful, shining sphere.

Mina just stared as it smashed into her. 

She was shot backwards, the force of Juniper’s strongest fire spell bombarding her body with flames and radiation just like that of the sun. And the HEAT . It was scorching, truly bringing to mind the surface of a star. It could boil someone from the inside out if they got too close. For most, that would be enough to cook them alive. It was a spell built to deal with vampires and the like, to burn even the strongest of them to ashes.

“ THECA INCENDIA ABSUM! ”

But Mina wasn’t a vampire.

A flash of teal pushed back against the sun, magical energy beginning to pour off of Mina as she planted her feet in the rapidly evaporating river bed. Her spell wasn’t strong enough to extinguish the magical sun, not completely… but it was making a pretty good dent. The two skidded to a halt, Mina’s magic barely managing to keep Juniper’s strongest spell at bay.

Juniper bit back a groan.

“ RRRH- Monroe! Fisk! You alive?”

An affirmative bark and grunt released some of the weight on Juniper’s shoulders, but she didn’t let it distract her. Instead, she focused further on Mina, pouring more of her mana into her trump card of a spell.

“If you’ve got anything left, I recommend using it! I don’t think this will hold her for long!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Juniper saw Fisk shakily get to his feet, Monroe trying to help him with his small body. Both looked like they were dead on their feet, neither looked capable of continuing the battle.

That didn’t stop them from running towards Mina.

They couldn’t get too close, the heat from Juniper’s spell too much for them. Luckily, the two were masters at adapting at this point. Fisk ducked low as he ran, grabbing a few stones from the drying riverbed. Monroe was right beside him, a few embers of pale energy flashing around his jaws. At once, a flurry of stones were flung as Mina, some with a light sheen of yellow magic, others thrown with extra force by a pair of lanky arms.

The stones burst harmlessly into dust against Mina’s skin, even as she pushed back the force of a sun.

It was honestly kinda pathetic.

Juniper couldn’t have been happier for the help.

But the smile growing on her face was wiped away when Mina started talking.

“ NGH- IMPRESSIVE, Te Xuan Ze! You and your pets are finally putting in some real effort! ”

“They ain’t PETS, creep! They’re m- …m-my friends! Not that you would know anything about that , would ya!”

“ Oh I have PLENTY of friends, Te Xuan Ze. MUCH better than some crummy monsters and monster lovers. But THAT doesn’t really MATTER. Because, unlike you - ”

She shot out her hand, the force of the roiling sun pushing her back further. A crack of red lighting lit up the sky. It hit Mina’s sword, revealed in the rapidly evaporating waters, causing it to spark and glow. Slowly, it began levitating into the air.

“ I DON’T NEED ANY HELP TO WIN MY FIGHTS! ”

With a flash, Mina’s sword was in her hand again, a blade of energy once again crackling from the hilt. 

She swung it down, cutting the sun in front of her in half.

BOOOOOOOM!!!

Juniper was thrown backwards from a combination of the sudden breaking of her spell and the force of the explosion that went off. Heat scorched her skin and light burned her eyes, sending her tumbling out of the drying river and onto the rocky shore. She felt sharp stones cut and dig into her sides as she rolled, small trickles of blood starting to drip down her body.

Not even her impenetrable skin could stop the force of that explosion.

Her ears ringing, it took Juniper a second to even realize where she was. With spots in her eyes, she slowly tried to get to her feet. She winced, her ankle beating painfully. She bit her cheek as she ignored the pain forcing herself to her feet.

Standing face to face with Mina Loveberry.

The Solarian warrior smiled, though Juniper noted with some pride that the skin on her face looked particularly cooked and singed, like a really nasty sunburn. She had her sword casually swung over her shoulders, seemingly unfazed by the red energy cutting into her back. She just smiled her crazed smile, staring down Juniper with a malicious glint in her eyes.

“ A friendly tip, from one warrior to another. Solarian Warriors are NEVER far from their swords. ”

She heaved her’s off her shoulders, swinging it around like it weighed nothing.

“ You should really care more about your weapons, Te Xuan Ze. EVERYONE knows a blade could mean the difference between life and DEATH. You REALLY need to reexamine your priorities. ”

Juniper just glared back. Mina shrugged, putting the tip of her sword casually into the dirt and leaning onto the hilt with an almost uncaring attitude.

“ Now, before I take the skull of you and those MONSTER pets of yours, I have to know. ”

In an instant, she leaned in close. REALLY close. Juniper could see every vein of blood in her milky white eyes.

“ Why haven’t you run away yet? ”

That question caught Juniper off guard.

“Wha-What?”

Mina leaned back, face questioning and curious.

“ I’m a GENERAL, Te Xuan Ze. I know my enemies, even before they BECOME enemies. I did my research. And YOU- ”

She pulled her sword out of the dirt, waving the tip into Juniper’s face. It was strangely less intimidating than Mina’s muscular scowl.

“ ...You don’t fight like this. ”

Mina started pacing, her eyes never leaving Juniper’s face.

“ You’re POWERFUL for a human, sure. Smart? ABSOLUTELY! And your spells really are a piece of ART, I’ll admit. But you aren’t the type to slug it out. You don’t trade blows with an opponent, not if YOU can help it. You’re… craftier than that. You humor them for as long as you can, and then you CUT them down when they aren’t looking. You could have done that to ME! I mean, you had the perfect set up and EVERYTHING! If you had just WAITED a bit longer, it all would have gone… differently… hmm… ”

Mina scrunched her brow, stroking her chin as she stared suspiciously at Juniper. The Te Xuan Ze in question was sweating, confusion bending her own brow.

Mina was right.

This wasn’t like her.

“ If you can’t beat an opponent, you RUN. No judgment, it’s a decent tactic. The only fight that matters is the LAST one. If you can’t win THIS time, use the information you collected to win the NEXT one. And you had PLENTY of time to run this time! Plenty of time to make a CLEAN GETAWAY. But you DIDN’T. ”

Mina was back in Juniper’s face, milky white eyes staring into her soul.

“ Why? ”

At the corner of her vision, Juniper saw movement. A pair of burnt shapes, fur blackened with soot and bodies shaking from exhaustion, slowly started to rise.

Fisk and Monroe.

Mina followed her line of vision, eyes widening in realization at what she saw.

“Ah . ”

Her mind was still reeling, but Juniper’s body reacted before she did. Her legs leaped off the ground, a kick heading straight for Mina’s turned head. It felt like hitting concrete, and didn’t do a thing to the Solarian warrior, but that didn’t deter her. A flurry of punches were thrown as soon as she landed, blow after blow trying to break Mina’s admittedly impressive abs. 

They did nothing.

Mina just sighed disappointedly, though with less malice than when she had previously talked about Juniper’s friends.

“ I see, I see… WELL. Don’t feel bad, Te Xuan Ze. I just learned this lesson recently. And if someone GREAT like ME took this long to learn this lesson… ”

She turned to look down at Juniper’s sweating form, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

“ Can’t expect someone like YOU to know any better. ”

With a grunt, Juniper leaped back, body screaming with effort. As Mina raised an eyebrow questioningly, she charged forwards, flying across the ground in an instant. Leaping into the air, she pulled a fist back, intent on driving it through her enemy’s face.

It was caught easily.

Mina sighed, shaking her head sadly. Her tone was that of a disappointed teacher or parent, trying to educate Juniper in her failures.

“ YOU SEE, Te Xuan Ze, no matter who you are or what battles you face, no MATTER the odds or the CIRCUMSTANCES, the only person you can rely on- ”

Quick like lighting, Mina’s other hand, the one not holding Juniper’s fist, shot to the side. Like a snake it struck, grabbing onto seemingly nothing and squeezing with force.

A shriek went out as Komodo’s camouflage dropped, his neck slowly being crushed in Mina’s iron grip.

“ -is YOURSELF. ”

“ NO! ”

Struggling, Juniper pulled her other fist back and struck with all her might. Her feet swung out from under her, striking Mina’s shins with as much force they could deliver. She even started smashing her head against Mina’s chest, giving everything she could against the Solarian warrior.

It was futile.

Juniper’s face was filled with despair.

Do I have any magic left? Are there any spells that can get me out of this? How do I save Komodo? How do I escape Mina? How do I complete my mission?

How do I win this?

…

I CAN’T.

CRACK!