Lupe Pack Detectives-Copycat:Part Six

     After days of preparation, which included ‘scouting’ reports from a couple of Neopian Times and Neopian Post Office deliverers and the Neohome Builders Association, we were ready for the battle. While the majority of the DoN was on their way to battle the troops outside the mansion known as the Grand Forest Manor, I was tasked by Forest to lead a small group inside the mansion.

      “Okay, our goals are simple enough. One, find Ebenezer and make sure that he is brought to justice by the DoN. The second is to locate any Life Stones in his possession and immediately destroy them,” I addressed the group just outside the hidden passage the Neohome Builders Association had found during their survey of the area. “For now, we wait for our cue.”

      It was roughly fifteen minutes later when Ocean confirmed to us that the battle was starting. I decided to wait a little bit longer before heading in. After all, I wanted the majority of Ebenezer`s troops to be focusing their attention outside, but enough for us to hold off while we performed our mission. When I felt that it was the right time to move in, I unsheathed my Jade Staff from its position on my back and gave the team a quick nod.

      When we exited the tunnel, we found ourselves in the library of the lavish mansion. It was silent inside, so I cautioned the team to be careful as I did not like it one bit. I was not sure about anyone else, but to me, it felt like there was some sort of ambush or trap waiting for us.

      As it turned out, I had made the right call in cautioning the team because as soon as Squire Oak opened the door, he was nearly blasted back by some powerful magic. Since we had not been caught off guard, we were able to successfully defend our position.

      As soon as we exited the room, we found a large group of Neopians, ‘DoN’ members and ‘Faeries’ waiting for us in the hallway, larger than what I had anticipated. Still, I knew that in order to reach our main objectives, we would have to thin out the ranks, and by a considerate amount. Almost immediately, Ocean conjured up a dispel circle to remove the illusions. However, even with the illusions gone, there was still plenty of Neopians for us to deal with.

      “Tch, how many Neopians does Ebenezer have under his control?” Owen grumbled within my earshot as I stunned one of my nearest opponents, a Christmas Ixi. I wanted to reply, however, I was preoccupied with another group headed my way.

      “It doesn’t matter as he has enough to start a war with any location. Neopia Central just happens to be the nearest, due to where his Neohome is based,” Terra responded. I guess she also heard his grumbling, but she also took the words right out of my mouth.

      I had just finished dealing with that small group and was about to take on another group when a Blue Yurble caught my attention. That Yurble was about to attack Major Katrina from behind as she was distracted fending off a couple of Neopians. However, I could not confirm whether or not it was Ebenezer as I was too far away to get a good glimpse.

      As the Yurble began conjuring up a spell, confirming that it was Ebenezer, I knew I had to stop the unfairness as there was no guarantee that Major Katrina would even hear me shout out my warning. Instead, I used my Jade Staff to conjure up a medium sized ball of ice and fired it off, just as the Yurble fired off his spell.

      “I don’t think so!” I roared.

      Whatever the spell was, my ice ball somehow intercepted it, causing an explosion to occur. It managed to knock Major Katrina and her attackers off of their feet, but otherwise, she was unharmed. As soon as she got up, she quickly stunned her attackers before heading off in another direction. That gave me the opportunity to run towards Ebenezer. I could see him glaring towards me, probably irritated that I had thwarted his opportunity.

      “You know, you remind me of a certain Red Gelert who did the same thing to me many years ago after I tried a similar attempt on a Blue Lupe. It’s such a shame that she refused my offer to join my team,” he icily said towards me once I was within earshot.

      “You should be reminded as that Gelert was my mother, Annabella. And I’m not surprised that she turned down your offer as she saw your true colours, in addition to your atrocities that you’ve committed.” I told him. He was surprised.

      “Oh, how fortunate. Instead of asking the daughter to join, once I defeat you, I will brainwash you right into my ranks, just like what I attempted to do you years ago. I can imagine the vast potential already.”

      “I’d like to see you try because there’s no way that Blizzard will lose to you!” Captain Ocean cried out as she summoned her sword with a flick of her arm. She must have saw what had happened and rushed over to support me.

      “Tch, you’re one of the interlopers with barely any information. No worries, I’ll make sure that you’ll have a high rank as well after I brainwash you, thanks to your abilities as I can see that you’re quite adept at magic.”

      He rapidly fired off a barrage of magic spells towards us. While Ocean skillfully dodged them, I simply deflected them with my Jade Staff. As he was preparing for his next move, Ocean summoned a few icicles and launched them, forcing him to defend. That allowed me to slightly close the gap between us, but I was not at the point where I could reach him.

      All of a sudden, I could sense some sort of spell behind me, but there was no way for me to avoid it, so I braced myself for the impact. I attempted to move after taking the brunt of the attack, only to find myself paralyzed. At the same time, I sensed a familiar spell from the attack on us years ago.

      “Oh? You’re quick to notice the hidden spell I placed alongside the initial spell, but it’s too late to counteract it. There’s nothing that you can do to stop it from attacking your mind.”

      I could only watch helplessly as he attacked Ocean. While she was in control of the battle for the time being, I feared that it would eventually turn towards Ebenezer the longer it continued despite her experience. It was at that point that I was determined to help her out in any way possible.

      As I struggled to break free from the spell paralyzing me, more memories of the past surfaced, when I witnessed my mother fight Ebenezer. At one point, she was hit with a spell similar to the one that had been used on me, but she easily broke out of it. Still, I helped her out somehow by blasting Ebenezer with an unknown magic spell as it took some time for my mother to recover from the attack.

      “Wait a minute, what was that spell that I used? And more importantly, how in the world did I forget that I could use magic initially?” I muttered to myself.

      Using that particular memory as a starting point, I began to focus on remembering how my mom broke free and the spell that I had used. It was at that point that I sensed another spell, this time deep inside me, like a mental block of sorts. As soon as I removed that mental block, I suddenly remembered why I had my mom place it, among other memories, as I had felt that the experience was too traumatic.

      With the mental block gone, I was now able to remove the spell attempting to take over my mind simply by using some mental magic to act as magical immune system. That mental block placed on me years ago actually helped me delay the spell attempting to control me, so there was no damage done, but it did leave me a little bit weakened.

      After a brief rest, I decided to conjure up the very same spell, a winter tempest, which I had used when I was younger as I finally remembered the words. Then I blasted Ebenezer with all that I had. Not only did I catch him completely off guard, but he seemed genuinely surprised that I had not been brainwashed as expected.

      Before he could even make his next move, Ocean took the opportunity that I had created to attack him with a barrage of ice shards, giving him no chance to defend. As he was momentarily distracted with Ocean, I took the time to silently trap his feet in ice, allowing me to close the gap between us. Once I deemed that I was close enough, I planted my Jade Staff into the ground, jumped and spun around briefly as I covered one of my legs with ice, and hit the Yurble with a hefty kick, enough to break him out of the ice and send him flying.

      All of a sudden, I could hear a lot of confusion going on. Somehow, I must have broken the spell holding Neopians hostage to Ebenezer’s whim. Ocean gave me a quick nod of approval.

      “No, that’s impossible! My spell on those Neopians was absolute!” Ebenezer ranted. “You, of all Neopians, shouldn’t have been able to counteract that spell that only I know!”

      He tried to brainwash the Neopians again, but he seemed to have trouble concentrating on the spell. It did not take me that long to figure out that my icy spin kick actually did a lot more damage than what I had initially expected. He must have realized that as he ran towards the stairs. Immediately, I went after him as I suspected he was heading back to the Life Stone in order to heal his wounds.

      “Blizzard, stand down. I’m going to blast him from a distance and I don’t want you in the crossfire by accident,” Captain Ocean called out. While I was surprised at the decision, I figured it would be wise to listen to her and stopped the chase.

      I watched as she charged up an unfamiliar spell from her sword, again without any incantations. Then she fired the beam off towards the distant figure, reminding me of the various Frost Cannons. The spell nailed the Yurble right in the back, knocking him to the ground. Before he could even recover and get up, I already had him pinned down with magic. We went up to him, sort of taking our time to retrieve him.

      “So, you want to know who I am. I may be a relative unknown around Neopia, however, where I’m from; one of my titles is the White Witch. I think that should speak volumes,” Ocean told Ebenezer as she hauled him up to his feet, with a little assistance from me. She then handed him off to Solar Flare as we needed to survey the area for anything else that we needed to do.

      Moments later, Major Katrina came up to us, a necklace in her hand. Embedded was a familiar white stone.

      “This Neopian had some orange sized stones, which were promptly destroyed. He also had a fair amount of smaller stones embedded in various pieces of jewelry, mainly necklaces and rings. I could see how he was able to achieve ‘immortality’, in a sense, so I think it would be best if the jewelry was somehow distributed, as on their own, they won’t pose that much of a threat,” she told us. I began thinking.

      “It must have been deliberate on his end as I saw him wear only a couple of rings and necklaces when my mother fought him years ago. For now, I’d think it would be best if sent them over to the DoN. They’re not dangerous artefacts, as you mentioned, Major Katrina, however, they should be made aware.” She nodded and headed off.

      For the most part, we were technically finished; we just had to take statements from his brainwashed victims, although I knew that all of the statements provided would be nearly identical. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that this nightmare was over, pending Judge Hog’s decision, although I was thinking of something else as well.

      “Something on your mind?” Captain Ocean inquired. I turned to face her.

      “In a sense, it is, but it’s not about the case, but about me. You were probably aware of the magic spell locking away a part of my past, and to a certain extent, my true potential, correct? Never mind, I already know.”

      “I’ll still answer the question, Blizzard. I was aware, to a certain extent, but since I only knew you for a couple of days, that wasn’t enough time for someone as skilled as me to remove that spell, despite the fact that we have a lot of things in common.” I nodded in understanding.

      “We still have a lot of work to do, even if it is going to be tedious and repetitive. Let’s get to it and help the rest of the team.”

     To be continued…