Phantom Chronicles: Chapter 2
#3 of Phantom Chronicles Season 1 -Complete-
Here is part 2! Thanks :iconAtriusBloom: for editing
As soon as the first panther formed it immediately jumped towards Hope, coming at her with the speed of the best pitcher on the planet's fastball. But like a baseball, the shadow made contact with Hope's staff with a sharp THWACK against its skull and was knocked across the mid-sized room through a door and into Ben's closet where it was hit with a basketball, sports equipment and several pairs of 70 pound weights on its head in rapid succession. "HOME-RUN!! I would have to be a noob to not expect that attack...maybe you should work out a bit more before trying again...next!"
The next shadow was a wolf who managed to take Hope by surprise and managed to take out a chunk of Hope's side with his very long and gleaming fangs. "Oww, that hurt you fucker! Now I have to punish you! Now... BURN!" The wolf then quickly burst into flames. The wolf jumped, howled, and yelped around the room, rolling on the floor as it tried to put the fire out. But it kept on burning until what was left of the monster was a pile of black goo and the blank white eyes floating in it. Several small white lights came from the pile and evaporated. Still holding her side, Hope winced in pain and rolled up her nose in disgust. "Aww where's an air freshener when you need one...? Damn that one got me good though!" A pout formed on her face soon after making the comment. "Oh well at least that takes care of one of them! Three more to go..."
Seeing his comrade reduced to ash, the Panther who she had knocked away earlier broke out of his trance and snarled at the girl. Hope just laughed at how stupid it looked. The Panther still seemed a bit dazed and could barely stand.
"Aww is the little kitty cat upset? Well come and get me, unless of course you can't take on a poor defenseless girl lying in the pool of her own blood!" She taunted lightly. The panther was still very much dazed and probably had a mild concussion, so Hope figured the panther probably wasn't thinking all too clearly when it jumped at Hope, doing the exact same leap with claws outstretched, yowling crazily as it got up two inches from the reapers face when a giant hand made entirely out of earth burst through the wall and crashed into the face of the panther, sending it out a nearby window. It was dead before it even hit the ground as its head exploded with a poof, releasing bits of light like confetti. "It didn't even learn after the first time. Stupid panther...hopefully the other guys will be a bit more creative because this is getting kind of boring." Said Hope, looking out the window while watching both it and the light fade away.
The other panther took this opportunity for to sneak behind with its claws out stretched with its paw aimed for a downward thrust and the wolf got ready for a pounce. Before they could do anything two things happened.
One was another earth hand crashing through the ceiling and smashed the wolf into oblivion. All that was left of the poor thing when the hand was finished was a very pancake like wolf with lights coming out of its mouth as he started to dissolve into darkness.
Second, all the pipes around Ben's room burst through the walls and started to unload massive amounts of water onto the panther, making it look like a very thin kitten who had been thrown into a bathtub (Yet strangely, it seemed somehow that not a drop got on the reaper who was now looking at her fingernails in an almost bored manner.) "Did you really think it would be that easy?" The Panther just snarled before he started running out of the room in a remarkably quick manner and charged into the hallway, running for all that it was worth. Hope would have fell on the floor laughing at the stupid looking shadow running from her, if not for the wound gushing out blood and the fact that three people were still in the house and were now in danger.
"Damn it...! I hope I can make it in time" Hope muttered before she quickly got up using her staff as a walking stick and was careful not to slip on her blood which covered the floor. She hurried herself out of the room and down the hall, mumbling words that were along the lines of not letting some wet kitty-cat eat three innocent souls! She already made one mistake already and she wasn't about to mess up again!
~~~
"Oww...my aching head...did anyone get the license plate number of the bus that ran over me?" I said to myself as I rubbed my head because for some reason I had a splitting headache. "What happened to me anyway? The last thing I remember was a feeling like I was floating and then a strange feeling of peace...after that I remembered finding myself in front of a giant of a man who asked for my name...I told him and he got really pissed off about something...I think that's when a phone rang? Yeah I think that was it...There was an awful lot of shouting too... Once he was done yelling at the person on the other side of the phone I think he smiled at me with one of those 'sorry about this' smiles and said 'sorry for the mix up' before he left the room. Then the floating feeling came back after and before that my memory is a little fuzzy...How did I get there anyway?...What a weird dream..." I said to myself before I got up an stretched. I was about to try and get out of bed before I noticed I was laying on the floor of the living room. "What the fuck? How did I get in the living room? Did Dil pull a prank on me or something? No...I doubt he would be able to pick me up without me waking up..." I stated in a thoughtful manner. But before I could continue this train of thought I heard a small whimpering noise.
Curious, I turned around and saw that Dil was curled up on the floor in the fetal position. He was mumbling to himself about something. Confused, I tried to listen in on his ramblings "Ben...he won't wake up...then this fog is everywhere! Even though it's bright and sunny out! And that bad feeling earlier...just like what happened with...need charm I need my charm...it made bad stuff go away...left it at school...what do i do? What do I do?!" 'What is he talking about? I can only make out every other word...He isn't making any sense...' I thought to myself. I felt a bit worried about the little guy...this wasn't like him.
"Dil what are you doing?" I asked him while I started walking up towards him. He didn't respond so I got annoyed. "Are you ignoring me? Hey!" I yelled but Dil still didn't respond. I was really getting very annoyed by this point so I went up to him and tried to grab his shoulders to shake him out of this fit but froze. My paws just went right through his shoulders as if I were a hologram or something. He reacted to that at least and shivered as if he was drenched in icy water. He quickly got up and went to the window.
"Damn the ambulance still isn't here yet! Whats taking them so long? Ben's still isn't awake...what if he stops breathing again? What will I do then?" That confused me. I was awake! I was right here! Or I think I was...I was standing here but for some reason it seemed that Dil couldn't see me...and my paws went through Dil's body.
"What are you talking about? I'm--" I was stopped mid sentence when Dil walked right through me and sat down next to my body which was laying on the floor. 'Wait a second My BODY?!' I quickly ran up to my body and noticed all I was wearing was my boxers. I blushed slightly. This was very strange...
"I heard of an out of body experience but this is just ridiculous!" I muttered in an exasperated tone. This was starting to be a very strange day. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!" I shouted out in annoyance and slight anger but no one answered. Dil didn't even look my way as he still leaned over my body, shaking it as if trying to get me to wake up and that was when I started hearing footsteps. I quickly turned around and saw a very wet panther. "What the hell? What now?" I asked myself. That seemed to catch the panthers attention. He looked funny though...his fur was all weird...inky black but unlike Dil's shiny fur it just seemed to shift as if it were made out of shadows and his eyes were a blank staring white. 'He can hear me but Dil can't?' I thought to myself again, this time with confusion. How come he could see me but Dil can't? It didn't make any sense. I was shook from my thoughts when I saw the panther shift its posture. It changed from scared into the posture of a predator. It seemed to be looking right at me and Dil with a hungry look in its eyes. This made me very nervous.
"N-n-nice kitty...is the kitty hungry? I'm pretty sure we have some fish leftover in the f-fridge...here, let me just go and grab some..." I stuttered out while backing away, slowly trying to keep its attention away from Dil. I hoped I could get it to chase me and leave Dil alone. I saw he was back in the fetal position.
"Not again!" He whimpered. "The bad feeling is back! Go away!" He said to nobody. The panther began to stroll towards the helpless boy.
"Hey! Get away from him you overgrown kitten!" I yelled. The Panther then looked right at me. 'Uh oh...' I thought to myself. Quick as a flash the panther jumped, hurling itself at me. I put my arms in front of my body prepared to have the cat rend me limb from limb. That was when I heard a very loud crack of thunder. Dil whimpered even louder and I remembered he was terrified of thunder. Whenever he heard a storm, he always hid himself under the bed. I wanted to hold him like I usually did during a storm but remembered what happened last time that happened. A few seconds after the thunder struck I heard a vaguely familiar high pitched voice.
"Phew...that was a close one! I didn't think I would make it in time!" The figure said in between breaths before I heard it settle down to ask if I was alright.
Confused at where the voice came from, I slowly opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the panther. The thing looked like it had stuck its tail into a light-socket. Its fur looked frazzled. I fell on my ass and tried to kick the panther away from me, yet my kick seemed to cause random muscle spasms and made the panther to jerk slightly, causing me to leap back in fright. It seemed to take its last breath before it faded into a mix of shadows and ethereal lights, leaving behind no trace of its existence behind. I heard the same voice cough slightly, bringing my attention back to it.
"Heellloo anybody in there? I just saved your soul! Can I at least get a thank you?" I looked up and saw a figure dressed in a black cloak leaning against a staff. It was the same cloak you would see on trick or treaters dressed in when they go as a stereotypical Grim-Reaper during Halloween.
"T...Thank you? How did you stop that panther?" I asked while gesturing to the spot the monster had been in. She (her body and voice sounded feminine so it was safe to assume it was a girl even though I couldn't see her face) raised her arms and appeared to be concentrating, then suddenly bright yellow streams of electricity that looked similar to lightning danced between her palms.
"Magic." She said simply then added, "You're not hurt are you?" I shook my head in response. "Good..." She suddenly doubled over in pain and clutched her side that I now noticed was bleeding profusely from some sort of bite. I rushed to her side.
"You Okay?" I asked
"Yeah just bleeding this badly happens all the time!" She snapped with a huge amount of sarcasm.
"I was just asking...Jeez, you don't have to be such a bitch about it!" I said with a huff of annoyance though the feeling didn't last long as she groaned in pain.
"Sorry about that...now...hold this for a sec!" She tossed her staff towards me. I noticed it seemed to look very familiar for some reason. While I studied the staff a bit more, the girl put her paws (Odd looking ones too! Not like any I've ever seen...they looked completely hairless) to her side. The fabric was ripped slightly and I could see the gaping bite marks. I hated to think what did that to her. Suddenly, her paws started to glow a deep green aura then placed them on her wound and shouted 'Heal!'. After a brief flash, she removed her paws and I checked her side again. The bite mark were gone, almost like it never had been there and the only evidence of its existence was the dried blood on her hands and the floor.
"Whew that's better, thank you!" She said politely as she took back her staff. It was at that moment that I got over the shocked state I was in due to the ever changing events when I began to remember exactly how that staff seemed familiar. I recoiled in horror, tripped over my own feet, and fell on the floor. A thousand questions formed in my head and some came stumbling out of my mouth before I could stop them.
"You! You're the one that hit me in the head with that staff when I woke up! You sent me to that weird place! What was that thing?! Am I dead?! Are more of those things going to show up?! What are you even doing in my house anyway?! And how-" I was interrupted when she walked up and put something smooth across my muzzle.
"Damn kid, slow down or better yet shut up so I can explain!" Fearing for what was left of my life I shut my mouth pretty quickly but couldn't stop some whimpers that escaped from my throat. "Jeez you're acting like a little puppy with how tense and the fact you won't shut up when I need to think...Wait that isn't very fair...You are kind of a dog so I guess you can't help that. Calm down by the way! If I was going to hurt you don't you think I would have done it by now?" I was about to mention that she did hurt me when she hit me in the head but before I could she started talking again.
"Anyway, I'm...I'm being a bitch aren't I? Sorry this situation isn't your fault, its mine so I probably shouldn't be taking it out on you...I'm just mad that all of this happened when it was meant to be like a two second assignment...Just give me a second to calm down and organize my thoughts...In the meantime..." As she was talking she was pacing back and forth, stopping occasionally with each pause in her words and I just watched her like a student would during a strict teachers lecture. On the last part however, she stopped and sighed before she pulled off her cloak and threw it at me before I could get a good look at the person who rescued me and yet seemed to be the cause of my weird day. The cloak landed on my face, thus covering my view. Her voice was muffled by the cloak but I was still able to hear her when she said "Magic cloak! One size fits all, fabric conforms around the wearer, it will fit so put it on. Pretty handy since you won't be able to wear physical clothes for a while but it will have to do. And take no offense when I say this but...you're kinda cute and everything in a doggy sort of way but you're not cute enough to be strutting around half-naked."
I looked down and realized I was still in my boxer shorts. I blushed deeply and quickly put it on. When I did finally recover from my embarrassment, I studied the weird girl for only a quick second until my eyes and jaw dropped from shock.
"No-No offense but what the fuck are you?" The creature in front of me had a thin waist length, blonde hair tied back in a ponytail while she also had slightly pointed ears but not as pointed as I was used to...but here was the clincher: SHE HAD NO FUR! NOT EVEN SCALES OR FEATHERS! Just smooth and what looked like fair skin. She was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a pink half shirt with a white cartoon bunny face on it. She looked at me funny then looked down at herself then back to me. A flash of understanding crossed across her face.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you probably never saw my species before. I'm a human and my name is Hope by the way." Human? I've never heard of that species before! And before I could question more about the topic, the girl called Hope silenced me. "Look, you must have like a thousand questions but this will go a lot smoother and faster if you just let me talk and you just listen" Typical...women always liked to hear themselves talk but I nodded for her to continue "First thing is that you're kinda dead" It felt like a thousand pound weight dropped on my shoulders and my mouth gaped open in shock. I had my suspicions of course but it still was a shock.
"D-d-dead? How can I be kinda dead? How the fuck does that even happen?! I think I would remember dying!" I shouted out at her but she kept an unnervingly calm facade that bugged me a little.
"Well kinda dead cause your soul is a ghost...or spirit which ever way you prefer to use but your body is in a coma like state but is still alive. On how it happened...? You see I'm a Reaper, it's my job to gather souls whose time is up in the mortal world and then guide them to the afterlife which was the place you visited before you were brought back here. Why you are dead is due to a case of mistaken identity. You see, your grandfather and you have similar names and addresses. I was also very tired so I just went in the door labeled 'Ben's room' and as you can now see how and why we are now in this situation."
"Oh..." I said finally. It felt like a large weight let off my shoulders before another thousand pound weight crashed into me. 'So grandpa was supposed to die today?' I thought sadly to myself. There was a knock on the door. Dil who must have gotten up while we were talking quickly ran and answered it. I saw EMT's rushing in and began working on my body.
"Don't worry, its fixable but it will just take time...about a week if I'm right." Hope said after a moment pause.
"A WHOLE WEEK?!" I shouted
"Calm down! Think of it as an out of body experience..." She mumbled the next part before continuing on, "one that you can't remember because I have to erase your memories of this incident to keep the secret of what happens after death secret!" I said nothing so instead, I watch the EMT's work on me and carry my body to an ambulance with Dil who I just noticed was fully dressed and saw it close behind my body. Hope motioned for me to follow and I did, too numb to do anything else. We got to the ambulance and Hope jumped on top of it and sat down then patted to the spot next to her.
"It'll be fun! Enjoy the breeze...besides when are you going to try this again without consequences? If you fall you won't get hurt!" Hope mispronounced consequences but I let it go, along with the fact of how crazy and stupid it sounded but she had a point...it could be fun, besides what could happen when I was already dead? Speaking of which...Yup I was floating. I didn't even notice until I looked down; which gave me an idea.
Instead of jumping, I concentrated on making myself float higher and somehow I did. It was surprisingly easy! Almost natural. I flew around the ambulance as it raced off to its destination with ease and for the first time that day, I was actually having fun, I was even slightly smiling. Hope saw this and said "See? Being a ghost isn't so bad!"
That wiped the smirk off my face as I glared at her then sat down next to her and faced the opposite direction, saying nothing in reply. After a minute of silence with me thinking of my predicament I broke it by saying "So what was the monster that attacked me anyway?" I questioned.
Hope looked at me with a quizzical look before her eyes shot up in understanding. "What? Oh you mean the Shadows..."
"Shadows? You mean there was more than one?" I asked while catching the plural way she said it instead of singular. I sat up from my lying down position and glanced down at the road, half expecting them to be there chasing us.
"Yeah, two wolves and another panther but don't worry I took care of them" I breathed a sigh of relief. I had enough excitement for one day..."Anyway to answer your question they are dark creatures that eat souls. Usually they come after recently deceased souls or in some cases alive if that person soul is unusually powerful...like if it is pure or spiritual."
"Why does something not alive need to eat?" I questioned as I lazily start to float around the ambulance. I was actually getting used to this ghost and flying around thing pretty quickly if I say so myself.
"Something about filling a void they feel. They usually are very weak opponents but can cause a lot of trouble if they are in a big enough group. The thing is, every time one eats a soul another shadow splits off from the shadow that ate the soul. So every time they feed, they wind up making more and more of their kind... so it's pretty much an endless cycle. While they aren't that hard to kill, keeping their numbers down is always a problem."
"That does sound like a problem" I said nonchalantly while lying down on the ambulance again, just enjoying the sun's rays (which is weird cause how can I feel without a body?)
"You seem pretty relaxed even after I explained everything. Not panicking like I was expecting. A normal teenager would have assumed the fetal position and began crying for their mother by now. That or excitedly asking questions about every little thing, treating this like an adventure! You on the other hand almost look bored...like this happens all the time and it's the furthest thing from your mind." She said as I got up and absently shrugged.
"I adapt to things fairly quickly. I've been told one time that if horrific looking aliens visited the planet, the first thing I would do would be to walk up to them a shake their paw and as a matter of fact I am bored." I said while sticking my head though the roof of the ambulance to see the EM T's trying to get me to wake up and Dil was arguing with someone on the phone. Listening to the conversation, I could tell he was trying to get my parents to come and see me at the hospital. 'Pfft good luck with that buddy' I thought to myself as he looked extremely upset. I wished I could help calm him down...I wonder...
"How's your boyfriend doing? He seems pretty affected by the recent events...I think he can sense us somewhat..." Hope suddenly said which caused me to jump nearly out of my fur and yank my head back through the roof.
"H-He's not my boyfriend! He's just a really good friend is all...and he's fine. I think he's trying to get my parents to come home. He's wasting his time though..." I said, blushing suddenly and finding the scenery very nice. I floated around to the other ambulance and stuck my head through it. I saw my grandpa sitting on one of the beds annoyed.
I'm fine! Don't see why I'm here while my grandson is in a coma!" My heart broke slightly. He was supposed to die today...the only reason he was still alive today was because Hope screwed up. I sighed and floated back towards Hope.
"You okay?"
"No... how can I be? I'm just floating around here and my grandpa was supposed to die!"
"Yeah...sorry about that...but it was his time. And about you and the panther... are you sure you're just friends?"
"Yes we are..." I said blushing slightly and she smirked at that.
"Oh you're so in denial! Are you gay and afraid to tell the panther because he might be homophobic?"
"NO!" I shouted while my face turned a darker shade of red and continued, "and I'm not gay! Not that there is anything wrong with it.. he's gay actually so I'm not afraid of him hating me for it it's just...I'm kinda undecided when it comes to my sexuality." I added, still trying to avoid eye contact.
"Well by the blush and your reaction, I say it's pretty obvious" Hope said, still holding onto that hint of smugness and teasing tone in her voice.
"I said I was undecided so yes, I may have a slight crush on the guy but I think I still like girls and I'm not blushing!" I said my face finally returning to its original color and turned around to glare at Hope.
"Sure! Whatever lover boy...keep yourself in denial it's not my problem!" she said laughing and turning to watch the scenery. I was fuming for the rest of the ride. How dare she act like she knew me all my life and pretend to know something I myself didn't even know and we've only knew each other for about an hour if that! After about 5 minutes we pulled up in the hospital parking lot. "Benedict, we're here" Hope said while jumping off the ambulance.
"REALLY?" The sarcasm heavily dripped into the tone of my voice. "Gee and here I thought we were stopping for gas, never mind the huge sign that says Hospital on it! Names Ben by the way and I hate being called Benedict" I said while also jumping down from our ride (I wasn't in the mood to float down).
Hope glared at me and said "You don't have to act like an ass just because I pointed out something obvious!"
"What did you say? I can't hear you over the sound of stupid in the air!" I shouted back while following grandpa and Dil, who were still arguing with my folks.
"Really mature! Came up with that by yourself? How old are you, five?" Hope said while catching up to me.
"No, I'm 17 going on 18 and says the failure Reaper that can't tell the difference between a teenager and an old man! And that doesn't bother checking before she knocks out someones soul with a stick!" I fired back.
"Oooh you're so infuriating! How does your boyfriend stand you?" I winced at the term 'boyfriend' "You're so lucky my boss hadn't fired me from fucking up this mission or you would have been dead after the Shadows take one measly bite out of you! And speaking of my boss...I probably need to call him and see if he will send me the words and steps to bond a soul back to a body again. It's a complicated process so I'm sure he won't yell at me for forgetting and besides, the faster I get started the faster I can get outta here and away from you." She said while taking out her phone, dialed, and started to walk away (or is it floating?) "Now be a good dog and stay there and do not cause any trouble while big girls are away making important phone calls!"
"I'm a wolf not a dog! And that was speciest! You're lucky your mother isn't here or you would get such a spanking" I yelled back at her while walking or floating away until she added something that made my anger boil.
"Wolf or dog they're both canines so why does it matter? And ha ha very funny I'll be sure to remember that comeback when fighting with a five year old!" She fired back as she floated up to the ceiling, presumably to get away from the hospital noises and me.
"Whatever" I said to no one in particular as I turned back to Dil who just ended the call and looked as stressed as ever as he sat in a chair in the coma patient ward and looked like he was about to burst into tears. He looked so tired. A nurse came to him eventually and asked him if he ate anything today and his response was no. The nurse then asked if he wanted anything and once again, refused but the nurse persisted, saying he had to eat something or else he'd be sick. Giving up, Dil said he wanted a sandwich and a soda, not breaking his gaze from my body as if I would awaken any second. If I know Dil his stomach was hurting like crazy from nerves and his appetite would be non-existent no matter how little he ate that day. He probably told the nurse to fetch the stuff to get her off his back.
He made another call this time to his father. Father Patterson was on a mission trip to some country on in Africa. They talked for a bit before he hanged up and leaned down and started to cry.
I stared at Dil as he stared at my body while I tried to think of a way to put his mind at ease until I remembered of an idea I had earlier. I read in a supernatural book one time (It was actually Dil's. He had several books on spirits and the occult which was odd considering his religious background) that ghosts can possess people and be able to control their body or sometimes just to talk to them inside their head. I was interested in the latter.
"Maybe I should ask Hope if it's possible or legal to try" I questioned to myself as I began walking out of the room. Then I stopped myself and frowned at the mere thought "Why should I ask that bitch when I could just find out for myself?" As I turned back to face Dil I caught movement behind me. I turned to the hallway again to see the darkness converging on ten different points and as I began studying the points I started to see that they were forming to something similar to the monsters that I'd seen at home that Hope fried.
Jumping back in terror, I yelled "Shadows...HOPE HELP! THE SHADOWS ARE BACK AND THEY'VE BROUGHT FRIENDS!!!" but there was no response so I guessed she couldn't hear me. 'Maybe I if I run fast enough through the floors I can get to Hope and she'll take care of them! But didn't she say they go after strong souls? Hope did mention that Dil has a pretty strong soul...I can't leave the shadows with him!' The Shadows finished forming while these thoughts flashed through my brain and from what I saw there were three wolves, three panthers, three tigers, and a lion. All looked hungrily at me and Dil. They suddenly roared then jumped at me and Dil. Time slowed down to a crawl, 5 seconds till impact.
4 seconds- "What do I do? What do I do? I can't leave Dil and I don't want to be eaten so what the fuck do I do?" I said, finally beginning to panic. Dil himself was freaking out and I could hear him mutter something that sounded oddly like 'Not again!'
3 seconds- 'Why did I have to piss off Hope? She would have destroyed these guys by now! But I had to be a dick just because I couldn't hold my temper'
2 seconds- Now Dil and I are going to be eaten, If I only had the power to stop this...
1 second- 'You do' A mysterious voice echoed in my mind and continued, 'I can awaken to help if you wish but you might not be able to have a normal life after this.'
Half a second-'Yes! Yes, I'll do anything if it will save Dil! I don't care about my life! I only care about his!' I screamed in my head, not caring in the slightest who the voice belonged to.
'Good answer' The voice replied. The air around me started to swirl around me like a tornado and my body started to get really hot, almost flame like and I was starting to sweat bullets that immediately evaporated. Then all of a sudden a wall of wind blew back all the shadows when they were centimeters from tearing mine and Dil's face off. Then my body suddenly exploded into a tower of flames that burnt a hole through the ceiling like it was paper (good thing we were on the top floor... hoped nobody was on the roof.)
*meanwhile*
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE THE SOUL BY ITSELF?!" Boss screamed at Hope through the cell phone.
"Because the guy was being a grade-A douchebag! And besides I only stepped away for three minutes, I'm sure nothing bad will happen."
Suddenly, a tower of flame erupted in front of her. Hope yelped as she was nearly burnt to a crisp. If she was only a half an inch closer..."What the hell!? That came from where Ben was..." said Hope as she phased through the floor only to drop her mouth and nearly her phone at what she saw.
There was Ben, holding what looked like a bastard sword with a black curved blade, similar to that of a Scimitar with bright green air swirls running across the blade. The hilt appeared to be also black with bright red stripe swirl patterns with two jewels on the end and it was one bright green while the other, a bright red. Ben was now dressed in a black shirt and baggy jeans that didn't cover his strangely bare foot-paws, yet allowing fluid movement. There was also a chain going along each of his sides that attached to belt loops. Ben also had on a white zip-up hoodie slightly opened with bright red ends on the sleeves with a really big hood coming across and hiding his face, the hoodie also had a bright green wind swirl design on the back.
"Does that smell like something awesome cooking or is that just me?" Said Ben with a confident smirk while leveling his sword toward the group of now completely stunned Shadows who were frozen in shock. Seeing this, Ben's smirk grew wider. "What's wrong guys? Can't stand the heat? Well you know the saying, if you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen!" At the last word Ben dashed forward to strike.