Chapter 46: Unlikely Alliances

JB POV:

Max and I were joined with Darren, who just had a portal do a ‘Jasmine’ search, since you can’t do a search on a Catalyst. He said that, while the portal had locked onto Jasmine, they must have been invisible. All he saw was one guy, who we assumed must be Andrew, since that’s where we figured Chen was headed.

We ‘heard’ Andrew’s telepathic conversation with Becca and Maxine since Darren was ‘live’. The three of them were excitedly making plans to get together, with Andrew telling them Chen, Jasmine and Wanda would be there within the hour. And that Chen was very powerful and was seriously planning on helping them overthrow their two evil kings. The two girls couldn’t believe Chen had already ousted King Flombay and replaced him!

We watched and listened for several minutes, but, Chen never showed up.

I figured he may have just stayed invisible and he, Jasmine and Wanda were talking in ‘private’ mode.

That would explain why we couldn’t ‘hear’ them.

Darren suggested he back out of that portal and activate a new one, just to see if Chen may have gone somewhere else.

Sure as shit, when we rejoined, we were now in King Flombay’s castle.

Suddenly, all three appeared in a somewhat narrow hallway. They must have been on ‘private’ mode, since we still couldn’t hear them saying anything.

Until, Wanda said out loud, “I still don’t agree with what you said about JB and Max being evil! Last night the two of them were unbelievably nice to me!”

The three of us gasped, wondering what caused her to say that!?

Chen looked flustered and obviously ‘told’ her to only talk silently.

They did that for a couple more minutes, then, they went into the throne room to have a conversation with Elmer and the General.

Elmer told them about a meeting he had with the Royal Bookkeeper concerning collecting this year’s taxes. Elmer was amazed how the General had convinced him that Elmer was really King Flombay, even though the bookkeeper seemed to wonder if Elmer wasn’t much taller that he remembered.

The General was quite convincing by the way he intimidated the bookkeeper into apologizing to Elmer. Anyway, it seemed like Chen really wanted to get involved, but not right now. He left Elmer with some questions to ask, then mentioned that maybe he’d send Max and me to talk to the bookkeeper, for him.

Uh oh, with that, Max and I decided we should break our connection to Darren and end our ‘Spirit Walk’ so we wouldn’t miss Chen’s ‘call’.

Then, we heard something else that left us wondering. Again, Wanda asked, in a disbelieving tone of voice, “How can you trust them if they’re as evil as you say!???”

That made Max and I freeze, hoping more would be said. However, all we saw was Chen looking upset and privately talking to Wanda ... with an angry scowl on his face.

Something underhanded was going on and I didn’t like it! And neither did Max. Since we were joined, neither of us had to say anything. We knew each other’s thoughts. Not wanting to miss Chen’s ‘call’, we left Darren. He told us he’d keep watching and get back to us if he learned anything new.

Just as expected, Chen summoned Max and me asking us to come to the castle to counsel Elmer on what to tell the tax collector we wanted done. He alluded to us that he’d still be there, but for us to come right away since he needed to go meet Andrew and his fellow wizards.

When we appeared, however, he, Wanda and Jasmine were already gone. Elmer looked glad to see us and we stifled a chuckle that he was decked out in real King’s garb and eating a huge turkey leg!

Max chuckled, “Hey ‘E’, looks like you’re right at home here!?”

Elmer nodded and grinned, “I wish my sisters could see me now! Those bitches would be so jealous. Thanks again for trusting me and giving me this gig. The General and I are getting along great and the few people who have come to see me are totally convinced I’m really that Flam-bozo guy.”

I had to laugh, “Well, we told you how much he looked like you. Chen said you had a meeting with the Tax guy?”

“Yes, he said it was time to collect taxes. Chen say youse guys would tell me how you wanted this done?”

Max nodded, “Well, sort of. I’m surprised he didn’t wait for us to get here since we haven’t really talked about how we wanted to do this, exactly?”

Elmer sighed, “That’s what me thinks, too. He sure seemed to be in a big hurry to go somewheres.”

I decided to try and ‘call’ Chen, but, couldn’t reach him. Then I tried Annie and realized I couldn’t get hold of anybody! I looked at Max and he couldn’t either. When we looked back at Elmer his eyes were popping out of his head and he timidly pointed behind us.

When I turned around, the General and 7 of his men all had swords and pikes just inches from Max’s and my heads! When I tried to use my PK to shove them back, it didn’t happen!

Son of a bitch! The General was grinning evilly and shouted, “You two have been judged to be evil Wizards and I’ve been ordered to kill you! Do you have any last words?”

I was stammering, wondering what was going on when Elmer hollered, “Whoa! General, what is the meaning of this!??? You are much mistaken! Max and JB no are evil! Who told you to do this!!!? I order you to stop and let them be!”

The General seemed to be rubbing his temples and shaking his head, “I, I cannot say!? I just know they were deemed to be evil and must die!”

Just when I thought we were doomed, I felt Monte and Maggie fly into my head! I told them that the General must have a psychic nullifier on him somewhere. Monte chuckled, “That won’t affect OUR powers, since we’re still on Earth! Ibera summoned us that you were in dire straits. You now have full power ... times ten!”

I had grave suspicions that Chen had pushed the General to do this. Therefore, I didn’t want to hurt him, or his men, any worse than I had to. I pictured mentally shoving him and his men as hard as I could to give us some room, so, I spun as fast as I could while exerting a mental thrusting force outward.

Thankfully, Max ducked just as everyone else went skittering backwards across the room!

Max grabbed one of the dropped swords and put it against the now prone General’s throat.

His look of fear suddenly turned to agony as he seemed to be trying to crush his temples.

Now I was certain he’d been pushed, and very hard!

Just as his men started regaining their wits, I yelled, “Freeze! All of you, or the General is dead!”

Then, much to everyone’s amazement, Max started glowing!

And turned into Linda’s glowing Angel!

That had much more effect on everyone than my verbal warning had! Even Elmer just stood there, mesmerized, and solemnly made the sign of the cross across his chest!

Max (Linda?) put his (her) hands gently on the General’s temples and the General was instantly cured of Chen’s push! He was smiling and staring up at the ‘Angel’ kneeling over him. He looked over at me, “Where did Max go? And where did this wonderful ... Angel come from!?”

I chuckled, “I cannot tell a lie ... Max is sharing his body with this Angel, so she could rid you of Chen’s evil spell. Wasn’t it he who tried to convince you we were evil?”

The General’s jaw tightened, “YES IT WAS. And every time I questioned it, my head felt like it was going to explode!”

I chuckled, “I know how that is. As you can plainly see, Chen is the evil one...”

I was just about to continue when Monte reminded me to have the General shut off his nullifier.

He did, then handed the now inactive device to me.

He sighed, “Will you please just destroy this damned thing, once and for all? I’m very sorry I had to use it on you.”

I chuckled, then tossed the device in the air, and blasted it with a small lightning bolt, blowing it to smithereens!

Monte chortled in my head, “You’re getting pretty good with that! Nice control. Now ... Maggie and I have to go, but, we were told you’re about to have another ‘visitor’ in your head. It’s time to put Chen out of business ... FOR GOOD.”

Max had already re-joined with me when I felt a huge extra presence.

It was Zeus!

Holy Moly, I couldn’t believe it when he asked, “Why don’t you, Max and I teleport to see Chen!? When we get there, please allow me to take over your body, okay?”

Like I was gonna say no? I tried not to laugh when I assured him that was fine with me.

He chuckled, though, “Oh JB, you are so much like Charlie’s brother, Bob! Save your laughter for just another few minutes! Let’s go James, er, Jim Bob, take me to Chen!”

I pictured Chen and popped in several feet behind him.

He, Jasmine and Wanda were facing Andrew, Becca and Maxine, although I’m not sure which of the two girls was which, yet.

When Max and I appeared, the three of them jumped and gasped, causing Chen, Jazz and Wanda to wildly spin around!

Chen sputtered, “How ... whoa, oh shit ... how did you get here!?”

I smirked, loudly, “Hah! Chen, you bastard, you look like you just saw a ghost!?”

Then I felt Zeus take over my body and suddenly I was looking down at the six of them. Zeus must have made us over 10 feet tall!

There were 6 sets of open mouthed ‘pie plates’ staring up at me.

Zeus bellowed, “Chen, I am very disappointed with you! Just when I thought you were doing good deeds ... you use your power to try and have one of my favorite Catalysts killed!???”

Chen tried to speak, but only squeaks and gasps came out.

Zeus barked out a laugh, “That’s what I thought! Your powers are now totally and irrevocably terminated! On top of that, I am taking away 50% of your previous natural strength, so you’ll only be as strong as a native of this planet! I am urging JB to banish you to a deserted island where you will live out the rest of your miserable life! Miss Jasmine, I am sorry, but, since you received your abilities from Chen, you and everyone else he gave abilities to are also now without psychic powers. You, however, can reacquire them from another Catalyst if they see fit. Tell me, did you actively conspire with Chen to have JB killed?”

Jasmine shook her head, then sighed, “No sir. I only found out a few minutes ago what Chen had done, pushing a spell on the General to kill JB and Max. I should have tried to help them, but, I did not. So, I guess I am partly at fault too.”

Zeus smiled down at her, “Allegiances can sometimes be tricky to maneuver within. At least you told the truth. That puts you in good standing with me.”

Andrew, still in awe, asked, “Um, sir? Just who are you? Do you have the ability to take our powers away, too?”

Zeus smiled, “My name is Zeus. I am not from this world. I am from a planet that no longer exists. I am of the Chaemarian race. I have no control over your natural psychic powers, therefore, I cannot and would not try and take them away. JB and several others, from numerous planets, have been gifted powers from me. They are my Catalysts and can give powers to whomever they see fit. They can also take away those powers if they are betrayed.”

Wanda gushed, “Sir? Chen tried to tell us that JB and Max were evil, that’s really not true, is it?”

“No my child. JB’s goodness aura is almost pure white! I can see yours is too! Andrew’s is a little tainted, but, not bad, as is Maxine and Becca’s. The three of you would do well to make friends with JB, Max and their friends. Even the Gromoriks! You could make this planet a very nice place for everyone to live, if you all worked together.”

That left the four of them with their mouths open, and smiles slowly drifting across their faces.

Then Zeus closed, “It was nice to meet you all, but, I must go now and let JB have his body back! He was gracious enough to let me use it so I could fulfill my mission here.”

“Will we ever see you again?” Andrew asked.

Zeus chuckled, “Not like this, but, I will be watching my two Catalysts from time to time, just to see how things are going. Goodbye, everyone!”

And with that, I found myself back to my normal size. Zeus did say a private goodbye to me and chuckled that he left me a small ‘gift’ before I felt his presence leave me.

The wily old dude didn’t say what it was, though!

Max looked at me, grinning, “Well, do you have any idea what he meant by that?”

“Hell no!” I chuckled, then I felt a deep voiced chuckle in my head, “I’ll give you a hint ... you’re only the second Catalyst to EVER have this ability. Be careful with it!”

I was thunderstruck! Did he just give me power-multiplier? I know that Charlie told me his son, CJ, was the only one Zeus had ever given that power to. That Monte had it was only due to the fact that little CJ didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to pass it on and Charlie wasn’t about to have his son rescind it.

Now Max is looking at me, knowing what I just thought. He was wide-eyed, “So, does that mean you won’t need Monte’s help anymore?”

“I think it might, but, Monte’s help is much more than just that. It’s his insight that’s also why I may need him. And ... he’s my friend.”

Before I could think another thought, I had a passionate Wanda jumping into my arms, kissing me like a long lost lover.

Andrew was snickering along with his two female companions.

Wanda gushed, “Oh JB, I’m sorry I had to ask your ... big friend ... if you were evil, but I wanted my friends to hear him say what he did. I never doubted you for a second!”

“Oh come on, dammit, you had your doubts!” Chen scoffed.

Just as I was starting to say something, I noticed him reaching behind his back. My mind reading must be working in high gear, since I instantly knew he was trying to pull a stunner from his belt. The instant I saw it I snatched it out of his hand and flew it over to me.

“Nice try, asshole! Maybe I’ll just crank this thing up to high power and shoot you with it!?”

“NO, NO ... I’M SORRY! I won’t do it again!” Chen pleaded.

“DAMNED RIGHT YOU WON’T. Your ass is outta here!” I shouted, angrily.

“Please don’t kill him, JB?” Jasmine cried out, desperately.

I just shook my head, “I don’t kill indiscriminately like Chen tried to!” Then I pointed at Chen, “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure out you pushed the General into doing the deed for you? You’re nothing but a cowardly, pitiful maggot, getting others to do your dirty work. Where the hell am I going to stick you? I will NEVER be able to trust you or Jasmine ever again!”

“Whoa! Don’t lump me in with that limp dick! I never had anything against you, honest.” Jasmine retorted, vehemently.

“So, you don’t wanna go wherever I decide to stick him?” I teased.

“Oh, HELL NO, it was his own dumbass idea that caused this! Please, just take me back to the island? I promise to help Naomi and the girls do whatever they need me to do?”

Max grinned, “I believe you, plus, our friend, Tiny, would miss you terribly. Besides, knowing your libido, sticking you alone with Chen now, might be considered ‘cruel and unusual punishment’!”

Jasmine burst into laughter and ran over to hug me and Max, “You got that right! Thank you guys. I hope someday I might regain your confidence and get some of my powers back. But, I understand it could take a while. Just so you know, Tiny had absolutely NO knowledge of anything Chen was planning. I think that’s why Chen left him behind. He knows what happened when Josh and Sly turned on you guys and he knows Tiny would have no part of it.”

“I know, and that’s why he’ll get his powers back as soon as I see him. Tiny has more than earned our trust and Max and I consider him as one of our closest friends.” I told her.

Chen huffed, “Jeez! Why don’t you all just have a damned love fest right here? You make me sick!”

Max and I started laughing. Then Darren came into my head saying he found an island about 100 miles north of the one Lonnie and Lucy were on and it had more than enough resources for Chen to live off of. He focused on a strangely shaped palm tree, so I would have a place to teleport to.

Max also ‘heard’ and ‘saw’. He suggested we take Chen there right now, then come back to talk to Wanda and her friends. Aby doing that, nobody besides the two of us would ever know where Chen went!

I loved the idea.

“Alright Chen, we wouldn’t want to trouble you any further. Give us your hands and we’ll take you to a nice place where you can start over!”

He moved his hands high over his head, “Whoa. Hold on. Are you going to give me any supplies!???”

I had to chuckle, “Fuck no! You’ll have to do like Lola and Marcella did ... and pray to Ibera for mercy. Maybe she’ll feel sorry for you?”

Chen’s mouth hit the ground.

It only got worse when Max added, “Just remember ... Ibera was one of my friend’s lovers and just might be a l i t t l e bit pissed off that YOU tried to have him killed!?”

“AAARGH. Wait, wait, why not just put me with Lola and Marcella?” He pleaded. “Then I wouldn’t need any supplies?”

I just shook my head, “Well, for one, you know too much! You know exactly where they are and they have a boat. We already know they’re considering trying to get back to our island or even the mainland. The only thing stopping them is the fact they don’t really know what direction to go. And second, I’m doing this for your own good. Those two HATE you with a passion and with only having half of your previous physical strength, you wouldn’t even be able to fight them! I saw how you struggled even pulling that stunner. It was almost too heavy for you to handle one handed, am I right?”

Chen’s head slumped, “FUCK. Okay, let’s get this over with.” He said, dejectedly and held out his hands to us.

Wanda was looking at us, timidly, “How long are you going to be gone?”

“Just a few minutes, hopefully. Don’t worry, we’ll be right back. We do have some things we need to talk about, you know?” I said grinning at her.

That made her smile.

Then I gave Max the ‘word’ and we teleported Chen to 100 feet above what is to be his new home.

“Here we are. Where would you like us to set you down?” I asked.

He looked around and picked a nice open grassy spot on the southwest side of the island.

When we descended to the ground, Chen acted desperate, “Can you guys at least tell me where the hell I am here? You’ve undoubtedly picked a new island that’s nowhere near our island or even Lonnie’s.”

I did begin feeling a little sorry for him, not sure if Ibera would really send him anything.

“Well, you’re over 100 miles north of Lonnie’s island and about 220 or so miles northeast of where Lola and Marcella are. So, it’s doubtful they’ll ever ‘accidentally’ run into you here. I’m sorry, but, that’s all the help I’m going to give you. At least you’ve done this before and have a good idea how to survive. There appears to be many fruit trees, so you won’t starve and I was told, just like our island, the stream water is all clean and drinkable.”

Max snickered, “That’s more info than I would have given you. You should feel like an ass for making JB out to be evil!”

“Aaargh, I know. Look, guys, I really am sorry for letting my damned ego write a check my dumbass couldn’t cash! Please take care of Jasmine for me?”

Unbeknownst to me that he had one, Max took off the survival knife he was wearing and tossed it into the weeds. “There, now you have something. There’s a small flint in the handle so you can make fire, a couple fish hooks and some line. Don’t say we didn’t leave you anything!” Max chuckled as we teleported back to Wanda and her friends.

I snickered to Max, “You old softy!”

“Yeah, but, it’s not like we don’t have a couple dozen more of them!” He countered.

Before we popped back to Andrew, we made a quick stop at home to grab a couple of the nice maps Ibera had sent a few weeks ago. Max suggested we try and determine where everything was in relation to Flombay’s Kingdom.

That made sense. If we were still going to help them overthrow their evil kings, we needed to do some recon first. We both hoped we could put this off for a while. We didn’t want to make the same mistakes Chen had by rushing into something that we didn’t know everything about first.

Also, we weren’t going to commit to anything without the Family’s full approval on it.

When we rejoined Andrew and the others, Jasmine was telling them about some of the things we had already done.

They seemed surprised we were back already!

Jasmine giggled, “See, I told you they wouldn’t be gone long! Max and JB never lie about anything. That is just one of the reasons why everyone likes them so much.”

Wanda rushed into my arms and gave me a quick kiss. “Jasmine has started telling us about how you guys got the ugly ones to leave! Andrew thinks something like that may work against our evil Kings?”