Phobetor was right in front of Jay and the others, and had cornered them now after a long time of running and hiding.
"Your nightmares will always come back to you," Phobetor hissed.
"Great that we decided on running together," Adam sighed.
"Told you guys to split," Fara said.
"He would have caught any of us," Jay said.
"And now even better… all of us," Jiant said.
"Well, it was nice knowing you people," Flint nodded looking at everyone and looked back at Phobetor.
"Oh don't be so quick at goodbyes," a voice from behind Phobetor came.
"Who are you…?" Phobetor asked turning back; Varun (in his armour) was metres away.
"I'm Varun. The special but common guy people keep talking about these days," Varun said.
"You… you decided to show up finally," Phobetor said.
"Yeah… how are you talking without moving your mouth again?" Varun asked.
"I've had enough with the puns," Phobetor said and rushed towards Varun.
"Beast mode, beast mode, beast mode!" Varun yelled.
Yet, Varun didn't change and put both his arms up front, expecting the lightning-thingy this time… nothing happened.
Phobetor bashed into Varun, throwing him away, dragged through the street. Luckily he was armoured and all that did to him was cause a buzzing in his head.
Aria was right beside Phobetor, barely a metre away, but Phobetor was concentrated and concerned of Varun.
Aria sighed realizing of the same situation, a while ago with Psycho. She was grasping upon a piece that had fallen out after she had got him out of his armour, after he fainted.
Aria had seen Varun go through a lot of things, but whatever happened a while ago, seemed like more than ever. She knew that either way she had to trust him with it… like she always has done.
"Varun," Aria said finally, while Varun was just getting up.
She threw him the white gem she was grasping upon, and reflexively Varun caught hold of it and looked at it in confusion of how it got there.
Aria nodded to Varun and Aria sensed his realisation of the event in him and all he did was sigh. He grasped upon the stone tightly and closed his eyes, though no one could clearly make that part out as he was surrounded with armour.
"Let's go reckless," Varun said under his breath.
Varun lifted his hand up into the air and unclenched his fist. The white gem shined, with blue-ish energy surrounding it. His nails slowly turned into claws and his hand started turning into that of a wolf… an Attear.
Black hairs grew rapidly down his hand, like haze spreading down a road. Like a virus. His armour disappeared and what came out of it was another creature.
Aria seemed to despise this form now. Now all she could think was, this is what created the Varun she saw a while ago. Or was he always this way?
Varun opened his eyes as a wolf and seemed to be overwhelmed by his heightened senses for a moment. He lowered his hand and put the small gem to his wrist, as it almost disappeared into the wrist.
Aria saw Phobetor's expression change from a smirk to horror in his eyes. Phobetor seemed to know what he was going to face now but straightened his body, to show that he did not fear. Now his gem was visible on his chest, a silver one, with some kind of void inside it.
The two rushed towards each other, Phobetor went high and Varun went low. As Varun reached out to the silver gem of Phobetor, he could see the presence of a second one for a split second and even Aria could make it out.
Phobetor seemed to have something else in his mind and flew away. Varun dropped to the ground, laying there and looked at Phobetor fly away. He could make out that Phobetor was going towards the playground.
"That was way too simple of a fight," Fara commented stepping forward towards Varun.
"No point, no Trigon for you," Varun said picking the gem stuck on the wrist of his left hand and turned back, and was back to normal with the grey stone-gem in his hand.
"Come on… bleed a little for me," Fara said.
"At my death, I just might."
"I just might be your death," Fara said.
"Try me," Varun said and moved towards the others.
"Whatever that was, I'm thankful you are alive," Maaz said.
"Hoped I would die?" Varun asked.
"A little," Maaz said.
"That is the big grey rock which gives you armour?" Jay asked.
"Yes… try it Adam," Varun said throwing the bigger stone-gem towards Adam.
Adam caught it and looked at in confusion. Varun signalled to put it against his chest. Adam did, but nothing happened.
"Now… who is the worthy one?" Varun mocked Adam.
"Hehe, get a hammer," Adam replied.
Everyone looked at Adam blankly and then burst out when they realised what he meant, Jay was the last to get it.
"I can shoot lightning out of my hands," Varun said.
"What?" Adam asked and looked at Aria for confirmation, she nodded in agreement. "Not fair man. Is this what friends are for?"
"Mockery…? Always man," Varun said patting Adam's shoulder.
"Get a hammer, really though," Adam said.
"Right, right," Varun said.
"Why did the dragon fear you? Or is it even what just happened?" Jiant asked, with a visibly shocked and confused expression of how a beast could be afraid of 'Varun'.
"Well, Attears are a good match against dragons, so he was afraid. And just in case you forgot, the werewolf thingy is an Attear," Varun said.
"Right… that is what was familiar," Jiant said.
"He seemed to have a weak spot under his gem. We better note that in the book of monsters, under Phobetor," Varun said.
"Yeah, I saw that too," Aria said confirming the statement.
"Note what and where?" Fara asked.
"Like in the RPGs, you won't get it," Aria said.
"But you did, wow," Flint said.
"She gets a lot of things than all of you together," Varun said.
"Rude… but seemingly true," Maaz agreed.
"Let us go back to the house. Or continue to the playground?" Adam asked.
"We need some prep time. And maybe some armour," Varun said.
"That… that excites me," Jay said.
***
Varun was looking into the stone and talking to Kara (while wearing only his helm) as Jay came from behind him. He was just outside the gate of the house, while everyone was inside.
"What do you mean the warriors must go to Monsteruin and get their own?" Varun asked.
"It means what it means. Primevel warriors haven't even met you yet. I don't think they would even agree on helping you any soon. They need proof of you being the one and even then need to know your friends are Primevel warriors," Kara said.
"Then we can just go to Monsteruin and show them who I'm," Varun said.
"It's not that simple," a voice came from beside Kara, it was Manasie. "Going to Monsteruin takes time. Alias and Nemesis' friend had bought them armour. Otherwise it'd have taken longer for them to go to Monsteruin and come back."
"Who cares…? This is important, so let's do it. Let's go," Varun said.
"If they know you are H.O.D., they will obey you," Alias said from beside Manasie. "Without a question, that is true. But, until then, both Pluto and Earth will lose its defence. Many things can happen then. And right now, Psycho has become a problem to both planets."
"Then we must solve Phobetor, and Psycho, before getting stronger," Varun sighed.
"I know it's hard, but no other way Varun," Manasie said.
"Not just Phobetor, there is his brother. Who is the actual guy behind this," Jay finally spoke.
"Wait, what?" Manasie asked.
"Everyone, meet Jay," Varun said, turning the stone-gem to Jay.
"That is what Phobetor said. But also, this guy doesn't know the relationship, some family thing. And they want Varun and also us for getting to someplace called the dream realm. Cause both their parents are there and blah-blah-blah," Jay said.
"I have already heard this story," Manasie said.
"Me too I guess, not full clear though," Alias said.
"I have no idea about any of this," Varun said.
"Me too," Kara added.
"Even Rahambose," Varun said.
"You win," Kara said.
"I guess we must go look into this. Bye, Kara," Manasie said.
"I can help…" Alias said and seemed to walk away with Manasie.
"So, these are your Plutonian friends? That girl looks cute," Jay said pointing at Kara.
"I'm still here," Kara said.
"Oh, I thought that you went away or something," Jay said.
"Don't worry, even you look cute. So, you pass," Kara laughed.
"My name is Jay," Jay said.
"Heard the introduction," Kara said.
"Short for Jayden," Jay said.
"Nice name. Varun gave you that?" Kara asked.
"No, me," Jay said.
"Smart way to make it look real. Nice," Kara said.
"Before I become the third wheel here, I'll go," Varun said handing the stone to Jay.
Varun went inside the house as Kara and Jay talked through the mirror-gem. Inside Aria and Fara were sitting and talking. Just as Varun came in, Fara went away into the shop. The positions of the couches were switched now.
"Wow, am I going to be lectured?" Varun asked removing his helm.
"She just wanted to get some food," Aria said.
"Well, ok, good," Varun said and sat on the other couch, nearby to Aria's.
"But if you insist, we can talk about it," Aria said.
"Oh boy," Varun said.
"And…?" Aria asked.
"I'm sorry for what happened. I just lost my temper," Varun said trying to cover up.
"Good, but that is not the point," Aria said, she knew it was a cover up.
"It's not…" Varun said.
"You can tell me the truth now, Varun," Aria said.
Varun took a deep breath before starting.
***