Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aja dumped herself onto her bed. She sighed as she sprawled out.

"I thought you wanted to go exploring." Krel said as he rummaged through the various items mother had added to the Aja's room.

"Aren't you the one who hasn't renewed his transduction yet?" Aja retorted. She sat upright and crossed her legs. She pointed at Krel. His bright blue skin and hair looked out of place in Aja's more modern looking bedroom.

"Because someone hasn't decided if we're actually gonna go out and look around!" He told his sister, crossing his bottom set of arms. His other arms were still scraping around the shelves. He held his head up high for a second, trying to look angry, but quickly got distracted by the items he was holding. "What's this?" He held up 2 wooden blocks with numbers on them.

Aja jumped up from her bed to examen the blocks. She ooed and ahh'd at the blocks. She grabbed them from Krel's hands. "So many numbers, with so many combinations!" She giggled and twisted her hands around to see every side of the blocks. "Lively. Why would these be in my room though?"

"I found them in them in this weird wood thing with two squares and a month on it." He pointed to the part of the shelf where he had found the blocks. There, a wooden calendar where you switch out the blocks sat. "It says, Apreail.." Krel read the text on it.

"Oh! It must be one of those weird earth planners!" Aja clapped, the blocks making noise instead of her hands. She dropped them onto the floor and giggled a bit. Krel rolled his eyes.

"Now can we go?" Krel asked, one set of hands on his hips. "We've got to go now if we don't want Vex to catch us."

"If you really wanted to go out exploring, you would have renewed your transduction." Aja laughed and stuck her tongue out at Krel. Her brother stuck his tongue out at her. He scoffed and began to walk out of the room.

"Start getting ready while I do that." He told Aja as he walked out. She nodded.

                                                                                                                  - - - -

"You seriously think that Steve is cute?" Krel asked as he and Aja walked down a street corner.

"Of course I do! His hair is like a baby Gravmok's fur, and his eyes are like pools of Valtrink water." She described, her eyes fluttering at the thought of her blonde oaf.

"Didn't you almost get eaten by a Gravmonk during the summer parade like 3 years ago?" Krel asked, disgust slightly tainting his voice. He had not like Steve too much. Not just because he punched him, but also because he didn't like the idea of 'StAja' or love in general.

"Well, little brother, the day you find someone, I'll be the one teasing you!" Aja said as the two turned a street corner.

"Pfft. You act as if I'm looking around for that stuff." Krel rolled his eyes. He scrolled through his phone.

"I never asked for Steve, but now I have him and I love him." Aja explained. She peeked over at Krel's phone. "What is that?" She asked.

"I'm trying to hack into the cameras around town." He typed a few things on his phone. "If we have access, we can make sure the cameras can't get footage of things." Krel explained. "Annnddd...Done! Now we have access to the cameras."

"Great! Now we ca-"

"The cameras on this specific block!"

Aja paused in the middle of the sidewalk. "Only this part of town!?"

"Hey! The Wi-Fi isn't the best here and it's hard to do this while walking in public!" Krel crossed his arms. The twins gave each other funny looks before a loud crash echoed in the distance.

"What was that!?" Aja asked, pulling out her serator. A car alarm went off and a cat screeched.

"I don't know." Krel followed in pulling out his serrator.

"Do you think it's a bounty hunter?" Aja asked, her blaster ready. She and Krel slowly stepped over to the noise.

"No, they would've directly attacked by now. This is something else." Krel peered past the street corner. The lights above the siblings flickered for a few second before completely turning off. The two held onto each other as Aja also look over at the street they had just passed.

"What is that?" Aja pointed to a weird pink creature. It was a slimy creature, but somehow on fire. Pink. The flames were pink. Krel and Aja looked at the creature, looking for words to describe it.

"Looks like a dead Spulpin." Krel said.

Blue flashed through the street. The creature jumped around and spat out some fire, nearly identical to the kind that covered it.

"You think it's those troll hunter things we saw at the "teen center"?" Aja wondered, remembering the images that had played on the screens and how Jim and the others explained it some sort of show.

"No. Maybe." Krel peeked over to the street more. A boy, who he could really only see the silhouette of, shooted radiant blue light towards the creature. The creature backed away from the boy and closer to the area where the twins were. The two quickly tucked themselves back behind the street corner, though their eyes were still peaking at the fight.

"Maybe it's another troll hunter!" Aja whisper yelled. She retracted her serators blaster and marveled at the magic in front of her. She smiled, attempting to slip away to join the fight.

"No! We might get exposed or attacked!" Krel grabbed the back of her dress and pulled her back. Aja opened her mouth to argue, but a scream in the distance interrupted her. It sounded a little shrill, but somehow deep.

"Come on, you insisted we go out exploring and look, something to explore!" Aja successfully retorted. "And it's the right thing to-"

"AAAaaaaHHHHHHHHHHh!"

Krel rubbed his fingers on the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Ay yi yi....We can help, but from the side."

"Great! Because that person might be getting mauled right now." She readied her serator again and slid onto the street where the fight had been going on, Krel following. The two ducked behind a car. The fight had seemed to pause for second, silence ringing through the area till a posh voice spoke.

"I do hope you have an actual plan on how to defeat the Crouvaine."

"Of course I do!" The boy Krel had sort of saw said. Blue light from his bracelet aluminated his face.

"I swear I've seen that guy before.." Aja commented as she and her brother peeked at the two Brits.

"Well, you better hope he doesn't see us." He crawled behind a few cars and peeked through each till the Crouvaine was in his sights. Aja quickly followed behind.

"Okay. We blast the creature and get on with our day or- um, night." Aja decided. Krel formed his serator into a blaster. He squinted his eyes and aimed towards the pink thing. The two people fighting the creature were having some sort of conversation, or argument.

"You have to use water, remember??"

"I'm sorry but I'm too busy making money to study sometimes!" The boy blasted the creature.

"On the count of 3, we shoot." Aja looked at Krel and he nodded. The siblings aimed towards the weird looking creature. "1...2...3, fire!" Aja whisper yelled. The twins' pulled the triggers of their blasters, blue light crashing into the creature. The Crouvaine bursted into slime, coating the street and people around, barely touching the back of the car they were behind. The only thing the creature left behind was a single flame

"See, we did it." The boy confidently said. He wiped some pink slime off his clothes.

"Uh huh...." The other "person" narrowed their eyes, seemingly at the siblings. Not like the twins could see them. The two began to walk away.

"That was so lively!" Aja smiled.

Krel stood up and walked closer to the boy, still trying to keep hidden. Aja, sat behind a car, watched him with a confused look. "What are you doing?"

"This guy probably has some powerful tech." He pulled out his phone. Aja thought for a moment and realized what Krel was going on about.

"He could have what we need to fix the ship!" Aja realized. Krel quickly snapped a photo of boy. Luckily, he had stopped to look at his phone and talk to his friend. The boy quickly put his phone away and continued down the street, the conversation between the two friends fading into the distance. Aja quickly ran over to her brother to examen the photo.

"Hmm.." Aja scratched her head and looked at the photo. "I know I've seen that guy somewhere.."

"Well, you better figure out where you've seen him before so we can get some help." Krel looked closer at the photo. "Is that a cat?"

"Aw, he has a feline friend." Aja smiled.

"He was talking to something though. Maybe the cat?" Krel theorized.

"He could've been calling someone." Aja suggested.

"Yeah, but with that kind of tech that cat could be some sort of complex talking robot." Krel theorized.

"No matter what it is, we have to find out more about this guy." Aja concluded. Krel nodded. "We better get back before Varvatos realizes were gone."

                                                                                                                          - - - -

"Who blasted the Crouvaine though, that's my question." Archie flew throughout the bookstore.

"There's some wizards who work at hex tech, could've been them." Douxie suggested. He traced his hand over a few books along the shelf till he found the perfect one. "Though they wouldn't have hidden themselves from me."

"The people at hex tech don't go around every night to hunt monsters." Archie reminded his friend.

"You think it was Zoe?" Douxie jokingly said. He knew it wasn't her, if she really wanted to help him, she would've showed herself.

"She only ever does monster hunting because you pay for lunch." Archie rolled his eyes and hopped over to Douxie. "What's that?"

"One of Merlin's old books. I wanna see if I can track the user's magic." Douxie explained, flipping through the book's pages.

"And how do you plan to do that?" Archie asked, perching himself on Douxie's shoulder.

"Well, the user blasted the Crouvaine and it turned into goop" Douxie explained.

"And you think that the goo contains traces of magic you can track?" Archie raised the sort of eyebrow his cat face had.

"Precisely! You always remember those things." Douxie flipped through a few more pages before landing on the right page. He thumped his finger on the page. "Here it is!" He started walking over to a nearby chair, Archie flying ahead.

"You still got some of goo in your fur?" Douxie asked as Archie landed on the arm of the chair. He sat down and pointed to Archie's fur.

"Probably. Don't you have some on you still though?" Archie responded, laying down on the armrest.

"I need like a handful for this spell." Douxie showed Archie the page he was looking at.

"Hmm. Why do you want to find this mysterious spell caster anyway?" The feline asked.

"Because they helped us. And besides, there aren't too many wizards around nowadays, it would be nice to find out there's more." Douxie looked a little said. He got up from the chair. "Come on, we gotta hurry the process of all this, I've got to get some sleep so I can work tomorrow."

Archie quickly followed. "I guess you're going to pick through my fur till you get enough."

"Well, I've got some in my hair and on my pants, and some in uh-" Douxie cleared his throat. "Hard-to-reach places..." He looked away, a little embarrassed.

"I guess we'll do my fur first. I'll leave you to do your thing after that." Archie gave Douxie a slightly disgusted look at the end of his sentence.

"Time for some magic!" Douxie exclaimed. Archie hung his head and sighed a bit. "You wouldn't mind if I used one of those cat combs, would you?" He turned to Archie.

"Oh geez..." Archie shook his head in annoyance.

                                                                                                              - - - -

"Ok, so all we know is that this guy has a talking robot cat and some sort of high tech serrator like weapon." Krel reviewed.

"Uh huh!" Aja nodded.

"Aaannndd.." Krel trailed off.

"And?" Aja asked.

"And that's all we know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we have been over this."

"I know, but I figured with your hacking you could figure out more."

"Well, that's not exactly how it works. I'd need to know this boy's name and such. All we have is the side of his body and part of his back. That isn't exactly enough." Krel explained to his sister. "Besides, you said he looks familiar."

"Well, I don't exactly remember where I've saw him, but if we look around more, we might run into him." Aja suggested. The twins paused for a moment to think.

"Did you see his face?" Aja asked. She flicked her shoes off and undid the bun in her hair.

"For a few seconds. He had like blue hair and I think a jacket." Krel described. He hadn't focused too much on the boys' looks. Really only on the supposed alien stuff that was happening.

"Nothing else? You don't remember anything else about him?" Aja asked.

"No. Didn't you see him too?" Krel asked.

"I was kind of looking at the blob thing and not the boy." Aja admitted.

"Well, we have half of his face and whatever else I remember." Krel bright sided, though he sounded more smug than positive.

"We also know how he dressed." Aja added.

"Right!" Krel said. The door opened and Varvatos entered.

"Varvatos Vex would like to inform you that it is 'past your bedtime' " Their guardian informed them.

"Bedtime?" Aja asked with a confused look.

"Bedtime?" Krel repeated his sister, now in a more frustrated tone. "What the kleb is a bedtime?"

"Mother has informed Varvatos of this 'hooman tradition' where we assist you in going to your sleeping chambers." Varvatos explained. The twins looked at each other and then at Vex with confused looks.

"And you're just telling us this now?" Krel asked.

"Since we might be staying here a while, Mother wants us to learn more hooman activities, so we don't blow our cover." Vex peered over Krel's shoulder, seeing an image on his phone. "What is that?"

"Oh, um, we think we saw someone with advanced technology and think we can maybe get the tech to help fix the ship." Aja explained.

"We might be able to fix the Daxial Array!" Krel exclaimed.

Vex leaned in closer to the phone. "That looks like a regular human and a feline."

"We think it's a talking robot." Aja climbed onto Vex to look over at the phone.

"And he had some misty blue sort of tech." Krel told Vex, who was scratching his chin in thought.

"So, you believe this hooman is some sort of extra-terrestrial like us?" Vex asked, pointing a finger at the photo. "How can you be sure he isn't human?"

"Well, we gotta investigate first to make sure he is one, and that his tech will be useful." Krel explained to Vex.

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Vex asked.

"Simple, we find him and watch him till we find what we need." Aja said.

"What?" Vex and Krel both exclaimed.

"What? I thought that was what we were going to do." Aja shrugged. Krel looked to the side to think for a moment. "You said we should try to stay inconspicuous. If we watch this guy from afar we should be fine."

Krel, still in thought, went over the possibilities out loud. "Well, if we don't investigate, we could be stuck on earth longer, but if we do, we could be exposed..."

"But we could also find a friend who will help us." Aja suggested. She climbed off Varvatos and landed in front of him. "Think about it, a new companion who is also from another planet who can help us!"

"We already have Stuart." Krel reminded his sister.

"Besides, all we have to do is kidnap this 'hooman' and torture till he gives us answers!" Varvatos cheered.

"Vex! You did that with Stuart, we've got to be nicer." Aja told Vex, who was laughing at his idea. "Look, we can do this ourselves, if we need your help we'll ask." She tried to shove Vex out of the room.

"But Varvatos Vex wishes to show this feeble boy to obey House Tarron!" Varvatos reasoned.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll do that too." Aja pushed Vex out of the room. Varvatos opened his mouth to say something, but Aja closed the door before he could.

"You seriously think we should be friends with this mysterious guy?" Krel asked his sister. Aja sighed, her back to the door.

"Of course I do little brother. We need more people to trust, and this guy could give us some tech." Aja reminded Krel.

Krel zoomed the photo in and out, trying to pick up on as many details as possible. He thought on what Aja had just said. Tech. He repeated the word in his head a few times.

"That's it!" Krel exclaimed. "Tech. I can hack into that streets cameras and use the footage from other streets to find things out!"

"Great!" Aja hugged her brother. "We can piece it all together!"

                                                                                                    - - - -

"That goo certainly got everywhere..." Archie scowled. Douxie laughed at his comment, dumping all the goo they could gather into a bowl.

"Now let's see..." Douxie took another look at the page in the spellbook. "Two dashes of Drityan spit, and a pinch of grounded Sqip horns..." He read.

Archie put his paws over his eyes and sighed. "Please tell me you know what you are doing.."

"Oh, come on, ya just gotta trust me on this," Douxie assured his friend "Now keep quiet so I can cast the spell." He held the book in one hand a waved the other over the bowl. "Wrintas, Cinceruis, Maliption!"

Douxie thrusted his hand towards the bowl, blue fluttering around the room, forming into thin flames. The flames swirled around each other, moving like water. The flames began drawing a picture, like wood burning. Lines curved around till they finished.

"What are those? Who are they?" Archie asked, approaching the illusion.

"I don't know, but I'm not sure that they're any magic creature I've seen or read about." Douxie marveled at the drawing in front of him.

"How can you be so sure?" Archie questioned.

"Look." Douxie gestured towards the illusion of sorts. It flickered and glitched. "If they were magic the spell would hold up right, but since the spell isn't working properly, that means they aren't magic."

"Which means..?"

"They're something else. Something foreign." Douxie waved his hand through the illusion. It flickered once more, and for a brief moment, showed two human looking figures. Archie's eyes widened, Douxie may not have seen it, but he did, the cat knew more than it should, or at least it may have.

"So, what could they be? Trolls? Wizards?" Archie asked his friend. "You don't see two sets of arms or bright blue hair every day."

"What if it's neither. Something new." Douxie suggested. He pulled his phone out and took a photo of the illusion.

"Well, if it is something we haven't seen before, I suggest you perform the actual tracking part of the spell before the image disappears. Those only last for a day or so."

"Right! I'll be right on it!" Douxie finger gunned at his friend and prepared to finish the spell. "I guess we look for anyone with brightly colored hair and skin." He concluded, turning his attention away from the image. Archie flew onto his shoulder as Douxie looked at the page of his book. "Now we have to add one more thing and say the words again.." He walked away a bit. Behind him, the image flickered into two humans. A blonde girl and Latin boy.

Chapter Text

Krel tapped a few things on his screen. He adjusted settings, the brightness, the speed, etc.

"You think you've got enough footage to figure out his name?" Aja entered the room, Luug in her hands.

"No, but I've got a full image of his body." Krel told his sister, pulling up a weird collage of various images of the boy. Very stalker-ish, but the twins were more focused on going home then watching some British guy.

"You got all this just from one picture and some security footage? Lively!" Aja beamed as Luug jumped out of her arms. Krel adjusted the music on his orb, Luug running after it. "We need to go out and look now that we've got some more info."

"Not yet. I've still gotta figure out where this guy might be." Krel pushed a few more buttons, revealing several videos of the boy and his 'alien tech'. "

"His weapons are so powerful!" Aja marveled at the magic on the screen. "We must go looking for him right now!"

"We have prison, I mean, school, remember?" Krel walked over to Luug and snatched his music orb out of his mouth.

"The years almost ended; we don't need to go there." Aja argued. "And I think this would be beneficial for you."

"And I think Steve might be helpless without you at school." Krel teased, changing the music on the orb.

"Steve will be fine. I think." Aja said. "Or, maybe not." She paused for a moment before giving up on her idea. "Fine! We'll go to school."

"Great. We have 'exams' anyway." Krel said.

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"Do you even know where were going or what we're doing?" Zoe asked, her voice tired and annoyed. She'd only agreed to helping Douxie find the 'mysterious wizard' because he had promised snacks. "We've been walking for what, an hour?"

"Oh, come on, we've almost found them." Douxie assured his friend. He held some sort of wand in his hand, it slightly pulling him every which way.

"You said that an hour ago." Zoe dead panned. Archie hopped onto her shoulder and sighed. He'd probably have agreed with Zoe if it weren't for the fact they were in public.

"Aren't you at least a bit excited to know if there's other worldly creatures around?" Douxie grinned. Zoe rolled her eyes in response, sticking her tongue out.

"Like aliens and mutants?" Zoe asked, not really wanting an answer.

"I'm not exactly sure..." Douxie admitted. He scratched the back of his head. He didn't exactly have a plan, nor an idea of what he was doing.

"Great, you don't even know what we're looking for!" Zoe scoffed. The two hadn't been walking around town for a long time, though Zoe was tired already.

"Hey, I got out of school early for this, be a little grateful!" Douxie argued. Zoe slightly scoffed, walking ahead of her friend.

"Dude, the second I got out of school you dragged me here." Zoe reminded her friend, crossing her arms.

"Better than going home and playing video games till you fall asleep." Douxie mocked his friend a little. "And it would be good if we- AH"

The wand dragged Douxie across the sidewalk. Zoe's eyes widened with surprise.

"Ok, it's actually working." Zoe shrugged, running after her friend.

"It's not actually leading you to the person." Archie whispered, reminding Douxie. "It's just going to give you hints."

"I know that!" Douxie yelled. The wand continued to pull him, practically dragging him off his feet. Zoe ran after, Archie leaping into her arms as to not fall.

"Where could it be taking him?" Zoe whispered to herself.

"No idea." Archie said. The wand suddenly came to a halt, almost knocking Douxie off his feet. The wand had dragged them to some park.

"Why'd you stop?" Douxie asked the wand, though it was more him asking the weird magic forces. He tapped it on his hands a few times. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"Let me see it." Zoe requested. Douxie quickly obliged, handing her the wand. Archie hopped onto Douxie's shoulder. "Let's see..." She twirled the wand around a few times. After a few turns, the tip of the wand glowed blue. Zoe quickly found the direction it was pointing in and followed it.

"It's like a compass!" Douxie pointed at the wand.

"No shit sherlock." Zoe began walking in the direction the wand was pointing in.

"It sounds so weird when you say that stuff." Douxie said. He'd always decided to not say certain foul words.

"Uh huh." Zoe walked over to a gazebo where a few old men were playing chess. Douxie followed behind. The two stood a foot or two away from the gazebo.

"You think these oldies are wizards of sorts?" Douxie asked, though he quickly realized how wrong he was. "Wait, no, they'd have to be non-magical for me to track em' with this."

"Aw, you're getting smart, only took you like 800 years." Zoe mocked her friend. "They're a clue to this."

"I know that but you're really plucking me feathers with some of these comments." Douxie defended himself. Zoe scoffed.

"And there you go; you always go full brit!" Zoe accused. " 'I love tea and biscuits!' " She mocked her friend, giggling.

"You take that back!" Douxie pointed at her in a slightly joking way.

The two then argued for a minute. The old men stared at them, a little disturbed by the sudden argument in front of them.

"You think we should stop them?" one of the men asked. He had a blue shirt and dark skin.

"Nah, this is too funny to stop." an old man with a green shirt laughed.

"Not to worry, Varvatos will make sure this fight doesn't escalate!" Varvatos proclaimed, raising his walking stick up high. His friends sighed. Varvatos began to walk over to the teens.

"That's because I am better at cleaning than you!" Douxie argued. Archie hopped off his shoulder.

"Dude, you get paid to do that!" Zoe reminded him. Her friend gasped, attempting to argue before being interrupted.

"You children must silence your insolent conflict! Or Varvatos Vex will be forced to give you a glorious dea- punishment!" Vex yelled at the friends. The two paused for a moment to stare at the man. Zoe raised an eyebrow and Douxie coughed.

"Uh, um..." Douxie stumbled on his words. He looked at the wand for a second, which Zoe had unintentionally pointed at the man. He noticed something interesting. Something good. The wand had lit up blue upon being near the man. "Mordrax's Miracles..." Douxie mumbled to himself. "Sorry we were just, uh, checking out the game of chess you geezers are playing!" Douxie excused him and his friend.

"We just love chess!" Zoe continued with Douxie's excuse, swiftly hiding the wand behind her back.

"Didn't know you kids still liked real life games." one of the men chuckled. "Come here and watch!"

"Thanks, but we've gotta go and, uh, give our cat a bath." Zoe nervously laughed.

"Yeah, he ran out, so we've got to clean him!" Douxie nodded. Archie scoffed a little and walked up the gazebo stairs. He knew they'd only be getting farther away from what they wanted to find if they left, so he, being the cute cat he was, forced them to stay where they were.

"Looks like your cat doesn't want a bath." The other man laughed as Archie inched closer to all of them. Douxie shot his friend a look, indicating that he was a little annoyed. A nearby corgi approached Archie, sniffing him a bit before Archie stepped back a little.

"I guess so..." Zoe grimaced, Douxie slumping into the gazebo to see the game of chess.

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"How exactly are you and Kevin siblings?" Mary asked, scrolling through her phone.

"Krel and I's family is very big." Aja explained, putting an emphasis on Krel's name. She opened her locker and grabbed her backpack.

"So, neither of you are adopted?" Darci asked.

"No. We're twins!" Aja explained. She began to walk away from her friends, though they quickly followed after.

"So, what did you all do this weekend?" Mary asked her friends casually.

"I went to Toby's family game night. His Nana does not lose." Darci laughed.

"Me and Krel did some, uh, studying!" Aja told her friends.

"Sounds like you had a fun weekend." Mary giggled, slightly making fun of her friend.

"I better get going, still gotta study!" Aja excused herself, jogging away to find Krel. Her brother was talking to Eli about something by the bike rack.

"Aliens are real! And so are trolls, and wizards, and-"

"Hey little brother, the Eli!" Aja greeted her brother and his friend, interrupting Eli.

"Hey Aja, can you believe that Eli thinks 'wizards' are a thing." Krel scoffed.

"I'm telling you; there's more creatures out there and they're all being taken down by magic!" Eli warned. Krel rolled his eyes, though Aja seemed a little interested.

"Whatever, me and Aja have some things to do at home." Krel grabbed his backpack and stood next to his sister. Eli tried to argue, but Krel was already walking away.

"Sorry, Krel is a little more focused today." Aja excused her brother, following after him.

"Wizards?" Aja said.

"Yeah, wizards." Krel rolled his eyes. "Trolls, I can believe, but straight up spell casters are nonsense."

"Huh. Should we go out looking for that guy?" Aja asked. "I mean, we just got out of school."

"Well, I've already gotten how he looks, it really just comes down to us finding him."

Aja scratched her head for a second. "We've got a few horvaths before we transform back, so let's just use that wisely." She skipped ahead of Krel a bit.

"We've got to check in with Varvatos first. He'll be busting our ear drums with all his yelling if we don't" Krel said. The twins had already passed a few streets corners, they were probably only a few minutes away from their caretaker before they got distracted.

"Hey Aja! And also, Krel..." Steve greeted his girlfriend, and also her brother. He was walking towards the coffee shop but stopped to say hi.

"Hey Steve." Aja giggled. Krel rolled his eyes and shot his sister a confused look.

"So, what are you guys doing?" Steve asked. His question seemed more directed towards Aja though.

"We're investigating some guy we think might h-" Aja tried to explain, but Krel cut her off.

"We think some guy can help us with some homework. Specifically, Aja. She isn't doing good in math class." Krel lied. Aja was doing good in her classes, so she stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"You mean a, uh-uh, a tutor?" Steve corrected, though he sounded a little like he didn't know what he was saying.

"Yes, and we better be off to find one so Aja can pass prison." Krel shooed Steve away. He quickly began shoving Aja away, who looked a little angry.

"Bye Steve!" Aja waved. Steve waved back, saying something about how pretty Aja is.

"Yeah, yeah, bye Steve." Krel mumbled.

"Why do you always do that?" Aja asked, slightly pushing her brother so he would stop shoving her.

"Do what?" Krel asked, pulling out his phone.

"You shoo him away and roll your eyes at him and stuff." Aja reminded her brother, hands on her hips.

"Mhm." Krel seemed a little spaced out. He was messing with something on his phone.

"Are you even paying attention?" Aja poked her brother. Krel jumped a little but quickly stood upright.

"Yes. Kind of." Krel motioned towards his phone. "I'm trying to hack into another security camera."

"How many of those are you going to hack into? You must have at least 20 by now." Aja started walking ahead.

"Well, if we want any chance of surviving this planet and finding that guy we need more eyes." Krel explained, jogging a bit to catch up with his sister. "Even if Varvatos has 2 sets of them."

"Speaking of Varvatos, you think he's winning a game of chess right now?" Aja wondered, mispronouncing the work chess a bit. She and Krel rounded a street corner.

"I don't think he'll ever win one of those games." Krel laughed. He tapped some buttons on his phone. "And there we go, another camera at our disposal."

"You see anything interesting on it?" Aja leaned over the phone.

"Not really. Just the back of some stores." Krel said, sounding a little disappointed.

"It's better than nothing." Aja bright sided. Krel shrugged and put his phone away. The twins crossed the road to the park where Vex was. He was blabbing about victory or something, though his friends did not share the same energy.

"His geezer friends don't seem too entertained." Krel slightly made fun of Vex. They approached the gazebo. Something was different though, well more someone. 2 teens were observing the game of chess. They made comments to each other and whispered things when the geezers weren't paying attention.

"We should go now." Douxie said. "I've got some work to do." Wasn't exactly an excuse, he did have work in 2 hours, and they also seemed to be getting nowhere with the whole watching old people play chess thing. He started to walk away. Zoe picked up Archie, ready to follow.

"Guess you're gonna miss me beating Vex!" Phil laughed, moving a chess piece. Douxie laughed nervously.

"I guess we'll be- AH!" Douxie ran into someone.

"Kleb! Ow..." Krel rubbed his head and bottom. Falling wasn't the most painful, Akiridions can withstand a lot, but falling onto concrete still hurt.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" Douxie apologized. "Here, let me help you up." He held his hand out. Krel gave a confused look before taking his hand and getting up. The boys' eyes met for a few seconds. Douxie held onto Krel's hand for a little longer than need, causing Krel to swiftly pull away.

"Well, you should look where you're going more. I could've fallen way harder." Krel informed Douxie, anger tinting his words. He squinted his eyes slightly, trying to focus on all of Douxie's features. Aja quickly ran beside him. She looked at her brother and then at Douxie. The twins then looked at each other, both realizing something.

"Yeesh, you're a little harsh." Douxie put his hands up. "I'll be more careful next time." He chuckled. Krel raised an eyebrow. This boy seemed too chill and calm for the situation he was in.

"Sorry, my little brother can be a little, uh, defensive sometimes." Aja excused her brother. The siblings knew what Douxie was at that moment, but they didn't really know who. They couldn't just try and confront him in public, they'd have to get him alone at some point.

"No worries, not everyone is peachiest after school." Douxie giggled. He assumed the two had just left school, due to their backpacks.

"Peach? Why would someone be some fruit?" Krel asked himself.

"I think it means how sweet you are. Just like a fruit!" Aja laughed. Krel look confused for a second, but shrugged, indicating he agreed.

"Hey, I think I've seen you before." Douxie pointed at Aja. "You went to the cafe I work at with some blonde guy."

"Yes! I remember you. Those burgerers were really good." Aja said. Krel looked between them two, he almost spoke up but decided to think a bit before doing that. Aja and Steve often went on dates when they had the free time, so Aja seeing Douxie there wasn't too much of a surprise.

Zoe laughed, Archie hopping out of her arms. She spun the wand towards the old man, who had called himself "Varvatos Vex". It glowed blue again. Zoe knew something was brewing, but in order to figure it out she would have to observe; see what the man could do.

"Aja, we have to talk to our 'grandpa geezer' about some things." Krel whispered to his sister, though Douxie could hear him a little.

"Oh, right!" Aja pulled her brother towards the gazebo. Vex didn't seem to notice them too much, he was in the zone. "Nice meeting you alien guy!"

"Alien...?" Douxie whispered to himself. He watched as the twins walked into the gazebo. Alien? Why would they call him that? Aja and Krel were asking that same question. He walked away, not from the gazebo, but from the twins. He signaled Archie to stay there with Zoe to observe while he walked over to a nearby store.

"Why did you call him that?!" Krel whisper yelled. Luug ran up to the twins and barked.

"Because I don't know his name!" Aja argued, picking up Luug.

"That would've been a prime opportunity to learn it!" Krel retorted. Luug craned his neck over to lick Krel's face, he leaned away but still got slobbered on. "Ah! Not now Luug!"

Zoe squinted her eyes at the two. She held the wand to her side and swished it around a few times. It glowed blue when it pointed to the siblings. "Hmm.." She hummed. The two didn't seem interesting. Except for the boy, who had run into Douxie and gotten mad. She slid a little closer to the twins, trying to pick up on their conversation.

"Whatever, we can just follow him." Aja scratched Luug's head. Douxie hadn't gone far anyway, he was in a nearby store and was about to leave anyway.

"Then let's go." Krel whispered. His sister nodded and approached Vex.

"Now I've gotten your king!" Phil laughed.

"And I've got your head!" Vex cheered, raising his cane. He was obviously not victorious but felt as so.

"Uh, grandpa. We have to go do some teen things." Aja told her 'Grandpa'.

"Right. I have a battle to win, be home by curfew." Vex shooed the twins away. They shrugged, knowing Vex was too busy to have a full-on conversation.

"Ok! We'll be on our way!" Aja waved. Zoe stared at the two as they walked off. Something didn't seem right. Douxie leaving, the two arguing, then walking off right after. Seemed very suspicious. The old men were busy anyway, so Zoe could follow. Archie was way ahead of her though, as he was already walking away, meaning that Zoe would have to sit this one out. She threw the wand in Archie's direction, which he picked up in his mouth.

"Let's hope that guy hasn't gone too far." Krel sighed.

                                                                                                            - - - -

"What was even up with that guy?" Douxie asked his feline friend. "He seemed so offended even after I said sorry." He exited a store, a bag in hand.

"Some people are just touchy. I mean he seemed a little worked up even before you bumped into him." Archie whispered. Public wasn't the best place for them to talk to each other, but Douxie wanted to talk, so Archie did.

"Yeah. Guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt." Douxie sighed. "Don't think I got that boy or his sisters names though. Would've probably made him friendlier if I did."

"Aren't we out and about right now because of that person who saved your skin last week?" Archie raised an eyebrow. His friend seemed to have forgotten the task at hand. Douxie crossed the street. The two decided to go around the park and meet up with Zoe, though she had already left for work by then.

"Not my fault we got sidetracked. If that old man wasn't playing chess, we would've found out more." Douxie complained. Archie huffed. Theres always something that gets in the way. A spell, a magic being, something. And this time it was an old man. Yes, old men aren't as big of a problem as monsters, but they were at the moment. The situation seemed a little helpless. It seemed like it would get worse though. Archie looked behind him, feeling someone's presence.

"What's wrong Arch?" Douxie asked. He stopped.

"Something doesn't feel right. It feels like someone's watching." Archie looked around. The streets weren't full, but there were still people around. Not enough to warrant someone watching them, at least in Douxie's opinion.

"Who would be watching us?" Douxie asked.

"Maybe that old man knew more? Or a creature you failed to catch." Archie theorized. "No matter, we should go either way. You have work in a bit."

Douxie nodded and the friends walked away. Who would be watching them? No one really knew about wizards so there wasn't really a reason for them to be followed.

"Ugh, this alley way is so gross!" Krel complained. He scraped some trash off his foot.

"Do you know any other hiding places?" Aja asked. She peered over at Douxie. He was talking to his 'robot cat' again. "So, it was the cat he was talking to!"

"That's a very advanced robot." Krel commented. Well, that is if it actually is one."

"What do you mean?" Aja stepped out of the alleyway.

"I mean it could be a hologram or-" Krel followed Aja and pointed to Douxie. "He's walking away!"

Douxie was crossing the street, much to the twins' dismay. They followed after him. Krel stopped for a moment, realizing how obvious they were being.

"Aja! We can't just blatantly follow! We've got to be more inconspicuous!" Krel whisper shouted at his sister. Aja stopped and turned to her brother.

"So, what should we do? He's already on another street!" Aja gestured towards Douxie. Her brother thought for a moment. What could they do?

"We'll split up! You follow him from behind and I'll go from the front. He'll be less suspicious then." Krel concluded.

"Great! Let's hurry before we lose him!" Aja and Krel ran in opposite directions, Krel deciding to go around, and Aja going straight behind Douxie.

                                                                           - - - -

"So that'll be one kids meal of chicken nuggets and a cheeseburger. Anything else?" Douxie wrote down someone's order.

"No, were good." A woman said. Her child was doing a crayon drawing on the kids' menu he was given.

"Ok, your order will be ready right away!" Douxie walked away from the table. He'd just started work and it seemed to be going well. Archie was resting somewhere in the cafe, orders were being brought out quickly, and not a person watching them in sight! Well, at least it appeared as so.

"A cafe?" Krel stood a block away from the cafe.

Aja ran up behind him. "We should go inside! He won't suspect a thing."

"We could, but the place seems a little full right now." Krel pointed to the amount of people outside. "If I've learned one thing from this mud ball, people only sit outside if there's no room inside."

"Then what do we do?" Aja asked. "We can't just wait for him to get out of work!" She crossed her arms. It was late, and they were probably about to change back into their alien forms in an hour. The siblings thought for a moment, Krel staring off into space. "Let's just go home then. As long as we know what this guy looks like and have those cameras, we'll be fine."

"I guess. But we're already here so there's no point in leaving." Krel argued with his sister, sounding a little annoyed. "We always have to pause adventures for things..." He sighed.

"I think we won't be able to overcome that anytime soon, little brother." Aja sighed. "Besides, we've got to get home before Varvatos gets mad."

"Fine...But next time you do most of the searching." Krel said. His sister giggled.

"Ok, ok, I will." Aja snickered. The two walked in the direction of the mothership, discussing what they should do next.

                                                                                                      - - - -

Krel tossed and turned. He grunted. He couldn't sleep. Like his sister, he had been having nightmares about general Morando and his parents' 'deaths'. It didn't help that Aja seemed sound asleep by then. He dug his head into his pillow. "Ugghhhh...." He grunted. He wasn't staying in bed anymore. He thought about it and decided to get a glass of milk. According to most stories, those help humans sleep, so he figured it would help him.

"Seklos and Gaylen." Krel sighed. He felt a little helpless. He could go to mothership or Aja for help, but he was too tired to. Varvatos wasn't exactly an option either.

He stretched all his arms as he got out of bed. He'd have to be quiet if he wanted to not get caught. So, quietly and slowly, Krel walked out of his room and into the kitchen. Lucy and Ricky were both shut down for the night, so Krel wouldn't have any problems.

"Let's see..." Krel opened the fridge and looked inside. He found the milk and grabbed it, placing it on the counter. Then, he opened the cabinet and grabbed a glass. "That was easy!" He congratulated himself, pouring the milk into the glass. After a few sips, he found himself less sleepy. "The stories kind of lied." Krel sighed. He seemed to have given up on actually going back to bed. But what would he do? He can't just sit in bed all night. He turned towards the fireplace. Maybe there was something he could do. He walked over, the fireplace opening to reveal the un-camouflaged part of the ship.

"I think I've got some work to do." Krel proclaimed, taking another sip of his milk.