Rating: K+
2900 words
Lex and Lana were in the same embrace as when they left the transport room. They now found themselves in the circular cavern of the Kawatche caves. Lois was floating above the table, looking at her empty hands in confusion. Pete, Chloe, and Clark stood on the opposite side of the room.
“Hey, Jor-El,” Lex called defiantly, “why don’t you let us out so I can reveal your son’s destiny to the world? I hear you want to make him an emperor.”
A bolt of lightning shot out from the table and struck Lex. He fell to his knees with Lana quickly dropping to his side. Lois quickly glided away from the table.
“Insolent human! It amazes me how quickly you would betray my son as Sageeth did Naman.”
“
Indecision raced across
“There are Earth men on the other side of this wall, my son. Powerful men. If Lex were to get to them, your secret will be revealed prematurely, Kal-El. You might not fulfill your destiny.”
“Powerful men?” Lex grinned evilly. “Got to hand it to you, Dad. Probably brought in the feds. Kal-El, I hope you like having your face plastered on the front page of every major newspaper in the world.”
The table sparked and everyone took a step backwards.
“How ironic it is that only in the fracturing of your fellowship that you were capable of fulfilling your mission. There may be a time when another planet, another race, is in peril, and you will be called upon again. What then shall you do?”
“Whoa!” Lois cried. “You mean you’re taking about my powers? I was kind of looking forward to the low cost air fare. And the invisibility? I can think of all kinds of uses for that. Take the Sharks’ locker room…”
“Silence! I fear I have done you all a great disservice. I have endangered all your lives by giving you abilities. There is only one solution that I believe will truly repair the damages I have done.”
* * *
Clark, Chloe, and Pete looked around. They were now at the entrance of the larger cavern of the Kawatche caves. The “powerful men” Jor-El mentioned were absent. As they peered down, they noticed that their strange alien costumes had been transformed into jeans, casual clothes, and backpacks. Chloe looked down at her wrist, finding not the Shaman’s Eye bracelet, but instead a few normal bracelets and her watch, which she stared at with a perplexed expression.
“What just happened?” Chloe asked.
“I think the Big J just send us two days into the past.” Pete replied, noting his own watch.
Chloe finished his thought, “Costumes, quests, zipping through the universe, sandy desert, giant castle, big parties, tall enslavers, betrayal, big fights, and last-minute crisis situations?” She took a moment to inhale, before continuing, “Sound familiar? Yeah. And, my watch agrees with Pete’s. Jor-El did say he was gonna reverse things.”
“I’m just kind of annoyed that he can still reverse time.”
Chloe finished the thought, “Not, you know, how the tall Kansas farmboy is a really super-powered alien with whom they just completed a rather amusing but thrilling quest to save an alien race… pretending to be another alien race which in reality they had enslaved? During which time they started a very—shall we say—up close and personal relationship?”
“Sounds good to me,” he responded amicably.
The three spun around in unison and walked out the cave, Chloe rubbing her wrist as if something were missing there. “Gee, let’s get going. This pack feels like it’s full of rocks.”
On their way out, they ran into Lois walking towards them.
“Hey, guys, I heard these caves were the social center of town.” She paused expectantly, and after a moment of exchanging meaningful glances among themselves, Pete, Chloe, and
“Well, Lo, someone lied to you,” Chloe replied. “Now, there is a new pizza place off of
“Sounds great. So, you gonna introduce me to your friend?”
Chloe turned to Pete and lowered her eyebrows at the strange request before the realization hit her. Nodding, she asked, “Pete, you’ve not met my cousin, have you?”
“Don’t believe so.” He extended his hand, and politely commented with a large smile, “Pete Ross; it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
* * *
“Oh, that is so sweet! I had no idea you could be so romantic.” Chloe swooned, as Pete finished telling about his first date with his girlfriend. He rolled his eyes at Chloe’s unusual sense of drama.
“I don’t know how she stands you,”
“More like how she resists me. According to the last survey I took, I believe I’m the only one who’s not single.” Pete smiled overconfidently as the friends laughed. His eyes scanned the two of them, but a hard look at Chloe diverted his eyes away.
Chloe took another sip of her fountain drink. “Look, I’m gonna go wash my hands. The pizza’ll probably be out any second.”
“Good idea. I probably should, too,”
As they got up and walked into the hallway towards the restrooms, suspicious glances appeared on Lois’s and Pete’s faces, and they quickly noted the other one’s expression.
“What are you thinking?” Lois led.
Pete calculated his response, “Uh, that
“Huh, I always figured Mrs.
“Why’re you looking so Velma?” Pete countered.
Lois took a moment to unravel the Scooby reference before replying. “Well,” she began, reaching down to rummage through Chloe’s purse, “I know for a fact that Chloe despises public restrooms, which is why she carries this around.” She plopped a small bottle of liquid hand sanitizer on the table. Suggestively, she asked, “You don’t think…? I mean, Smallville?”
“Well,
“You got that right.” A firm sense of disbelief captured Lois’s face. “Now, granted, I haven’t been in town for a couple of days, but the last time I was here…”
“Look, that’s my buddy Clark for ya. A couple of days came make all the difference in the world.” Pete’s words trailed off as he looked at something behind Lois. There was a man, mid-twenties, about six foot tall, with tan skin and short black hair approaching the table. Lois spun around and her mouth dropped.
The man reached out his hand. “Excuse me, miss, but my have we met before?”
A brief flash of remembrance coursed through Lois’s brain, but she found herself unable to place the man’s face. She strongly wished she could. Taking his hand, she replied distantly, “
“Mark. My friends call me Groo, though.” Lois didn’t flinch at the strange nickname, lost in his green eyes. “Don’t ask,” he added
“About what…?” Lois replied distantly.
“Listen,” he continued, “they’ve got music playing the next room. Perhaps I could interest you in a dance?”
With a wide grin, Lois jumped up. “Sure!” She didn’t even turn to look back at Pete.
As they walked away, Mark turned his head. “Hello, Peetros. Good to see you again.” He bowed his head as he led Lois away.
Pete laughed to himself as the waitress came by to deliver the pizza. When she tried to lay the Veggie Lover’s pizza in front of him, he motioned for her to leave it on the other side of the table so she could leave the sausage-and-pineapple close to him.
“Your friends?” she asked.
“They’ll be back in a minute.”
There was a screech from the back end of the restaurant and another waitress walked up to Pete’s table. To the other waitress, she commented, “Cherie, you remember that story I told you about, from back when I worked at the Talon? It’s them again.” The two women walked away, leaving Pete to chuckle to himself. He picked up a slice of pizza and as he brought it to his mouth, a clip of a Remy Zero song directed him to his cell phone. Laying his slice down, and picked up the phone, smiling at the name on the screen. He flipped it open, leaned back and answered, “Hey, Baby, I was just talking about you.”
* * *
In room 222 of the Gordon Residential Hall of Metropolis University, a small object lay on the magenta comforter of one of the dorm’s two beds. The object was bright red, made out of plastic, and shaped like a handle of sorts. On one end was a rectangular metal plate that crackled softly against the built-up static on the sheets.
* * *
In the upstairs apartment of the Talon Coffeeshop in
* * *
Martha Kent pulled a perfectly browned apple pie from the oven and sat it down on the counter. She opened the refrigerator to check on the milk supply, knowing that when her son returned home and caught a whiff of the freshly baked pie, a cold glass of two-percent would be a necessity. However, something caught her attention: a decanter made out of darkly tinted red-violet glass. She pulled out the rubbery stopper and took a whiff of the unfamiliar container. Some watery liquid sloshed around inside, smelling distinctly of raspberries.
* * *
Three miles away, at the
* * *
Maddinai, or Maddie as she liked to be called, rolled out of her bed. She shook her head, causing the mess of carmine-hued tresses to sway. She pawed at her hair, hoping to get it to lie down, but not worrying terribly about it. She was on a private ship with her housemate, Krisreo, and he had seen her much more disheveled without blinking an eye. She couldn’t hear the engines’ roar, so she figured they must have landed back on Jorja.
She walked into the command room, where her eyes were immediately directed toward the distressed sway of Krisreo’s tail.
“Kris, what’s going on?” She brushed her fingers through her mane-like hair. “Are we back?”
“We’re underground,” he replied gravely.
She froze. “What?” Jorjans were surface-dwellers. Only the infrastructure and emergency shelters were underground. “Why?”
“Goraxes.”
Maddie’s face dropped. “Oh, Rao.” Maddie was very religious; by evoking the name of the Sun God, she was actually soliciting a prayer.
“All communications are dead. They’re all captured. Both sides.” Jorja had two continents and one mega-river encircling the planet. One continent contained Myukans, like Krisreo, and Ruskans, like Maddinai.
“What are we going to do?”
“I tried contacting Urth. It’s too far away. But the Groosalugg is supposed to be on Laintarr. Hopefully, he’s get our message to the Champions.”
“Let us hope to Rao that you are right.”
Let us hope…
~
A/N: I originally intended to do a companion fic to this, but it never fully developed. However, I did create a new series, entitled "Archangel Investigations," which continues this story.
I did get so far as to write a sneak peek of what would have been CoKE II, which I've attached below:
Chloe tried not to roll her eyes at the photographer standing by her desk, asking about whether or not she had plans for the coming Saturday. “The coming Saturday” was tomorrow. Truthfully, she didn’t. Her next assignment was due this evening, and she had kept that day free for a little time off. Since he was the photographer for her story, he knew what he schedule was like.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Jimmy. He was great, a tad on the dorky side, but in a way that Chloe had a weak spot for. And best of all, he noticed her, which shouldn’t have surprised her, but then again Chloe was friends with the painfully oblivious Clark
And it wasn’t as if she was uninterested in Jimmy right now. He had matured just enough for Chloe to be okay with considering dating him, but right now was not the time. Things were complicated. As dense as
Her excuse came in the form of—this was proof of a Higher Power, One with a sense of humor—the tall stature of Clark
Groo.
Groo? Did that mean…? Pete was wearing the tomahawk in his belt. That definitely meant…
“Jimmy,” she said with anxiety in her voice to her fellow intern, “I’d love to go, but this weekend’s bad.” She shoved some papers away, ignoring the few that fell to the floor, and grabbed her keys. Without another word or gesture to Jimmy, who of course hadn’t moved, she unlocked and opened the bottom drawer of her desk, pulling out a silver bracelet with a square turquoise gem, and slid it on her wrist.
She brushed past Jimmy, who at a loss for words, looking at her computer screen. “Your article…”
“Oh, my gosh! Thanks for reminding me, …” All at once, she couldn’t get the intern’s name to the tip of her tongue. She e-mailed her article to the head editor, and met Clark, Pete, and Groo a few feet from her desk. “This what I think it is?”
“Someone needs our help…” Groo began.
^_^ - No! More! Raodammit!
©2006 Godeerc VanDrey Enterprises, Inc. Created Sunday, October 15, 2006. Finished Thursday, October 26, 2006.
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